Turkish tourism hit by bird flu

People who have taken possession of state land illegally may soon be able to buy the property, as the Economy and Finance Ministry is preparing legislation that could reap the state some €700,000,000. It will allow the encroachers to buy the land at a preferential rate.

In a recent poll, 62% of Greeks said that the seamen were “probably right” to protest.

Turkey has seen a 50% drop in tourism from the UK since the outbreaks of bird flu on its soil, according to operators.

David Beckham has admitted that he cannot understand his six-year-old son's maths homework. Brooklyn attends an exclusive school that requires prospective pupils to score at least 110 in an IQ test.

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Seamen's strike over

As of 6pm, ships’ routes will be performed as normal, following a unanimous decision by the Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) to end the strike in ports. It seems this follows a decision by the Merchant Marine Ministry to use the rarely applied measure of civil mobilization, effectively making the sailors conscripts and subject to military orders. Many islands are desperately short of supplies.

The European Commission said yesterday that Greece’s finances are improving and are on target to abide by EU rules but warned that various obstacles still stand in the country’s way, including tax evasion.

Private security is one of Greece’s fastest-growing industries but the sector is riddled with employers dodging obligations to their staff and the government, according to the general secretary of the Security Guards’ Union.

Two more cases of avian flu in wild birds were confirmed in Greece yesterday as the government promised to give poultry farmers hit with dwindling sales more than 50 million euros in aid.

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No way to treat children

“For several days, television news bulletins were all focusing on the case of the 20-year-old woman who allegedly shook her 7-week-old baby to death because it would not stop crying.

“Another shocking fact revealed on television last weekend was the existence of a domestic cage designed for parents to lock up their children when they leave the house. The US-made product, sold via the Internet, is reportedly available in various sizes for children aged from 4 to 17 years of age, according to a report on Alpha channel. A more “advanced” model allegedly comes equipped with a 100-volt electroshock feature for disciplining restive youngsters. This particular model also has a facility to feed children who may be locked up for a long period of time.” from Kathimerini





“The Teenager Cage.
The biggest cage we offer. Ruggedly designed with the rebelious teenager in mind. Suitable for children ages 9 to 17 years old.
Price: $999.99”

“Electronic Shocking Systems
We also offer an electronic shocking system with all of our cages for an additional $100.00 on any cage. This will protect your investment and make sure your child does not cause a ruckus by touching the metal bars on the cage. If the bars are touched, a 100 volt shock will be administered.”

http://www.babycage.net/

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Piraeus & Patras remain closed

The Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) decided to prolong collective actions at the ports of Piraeus and Patras. Routes to all other Greek ports should be running as normal.

Greece’s two largest unions will hold a 24-hour general strike in March.

Greeks are above the European Union average when it comes to being able to speak a foreign language with 57% Greeks speaking a foreign language at least to a conversational level.

More details in the www.GoingGreek.info Forum

A touch of reality from ND

Due to suspiciously low income levels declared, the National Economy and Finance Ministry is broadening the number of professions going under the taxman’s microscope in a bid to take in 1.5 billion euros from tax dodgers this year.

As more employees go on strike, it’s nice to see a touch of reality from ND Labour Minister Savvas Tsitouridis:

“We are obliged to continue to make sacrifices, especially those who have benefited in previous years. And these people, of course, were not the workers.”

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Southern disComfort

Maritime employees are continuing their strike over pay and conditions and look unlikely to return to work until Wednesday morning, at the earliest.

The Balon Oriental Disco Bar in Athens earned the wrath of the Hindu community in Europe by displaying large posters depicting the Goddess Durga carrying bottles of Southern Comfort whiskey in her hands.

Emigration from the UK has reached a record high.

And just to prove how big a business adware is: one adware company in the USA is pulling in over €1,000,000 a week by serving ads to people who have its adware installed on their computers.

More details in the www.GoingGreek.info Forum

Road deaths decrease in Greece

In the third fatal train accident this month, two people were killed near Serres yesterday when a train smashed into a vehicle attempting to traverse an unauthorized crossing.

The number of people dying on Greece’s roads fell last year for the seventh year in succession but the figure is still high: in 2004 Greece had the third-highest ranking in the EU for road accident fatalities.

Greece granted asylum to 1.9% percent of the refugees who applied last year, well below the EU average of 26.4%.

According to declared incomes submitted via tax returns, bar and restaurant owners in Greece have a lower average annual income than Greek pensioners.

Well, maybe they need something new on the menu to draw people in – here’s an idea: a new restaurant has opened in Beijing, specialising in animal penises.

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The quiet before the storm?

News is a bit quiet in Greece today, but maybe that’s the quiet before the storm:

Kostas Tsalikidis’ “suicide” was, allegedly, impossible -"the clues do not indicate a suicide but a death" in the phone-tapping scandal that’s continuing to shake Greece.

Environmentally-friendly biodiesel, produced in Greece, is now available on the Greek market.

Microsoft has released the beta 2 version of its AntiSpyware program and a new version of CCleaner has been released – albeit amid a bit of controversy. More in the members’ section at GoingGreek.info

And how about the NARO – is this the shape of things to come on Greece’s congested city roads and narrow country lanes?

More in the www.GoingGreek.info Forum

New FM for Greece

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis has conducted his first Cabinet reshuffle, Athens mayor Dora Bakoyianni is the new Foreign Minister, the first woman to hold the post.

A Greek man has appeared before magistrates charged with abducting and killing a 20-year-old travel agent in the UK.

A probe has been launched into claims that a 15-year-old Afghan national was beaten by coast guards at the port of Patras.

In the UK, Tony Blair's controversial plan for a new law to stop people "glorifying" terrorism has been backed by MPs.

Oh, and wash your hands when you’ve been to the… supermarket – chances are, there’s more germs on a supermarket trolley than on a toilet door handle!

More fascinating news in the www.GoingGreek.info Forum

More snow in Greece

Snowy weather made its third appearance in less than a month with a sudden decrease of temperature, snowfall in mountainous regions and gale-force winds.

A dead goose found on Skyros tested positive for the fatal H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, bringing the number of birds found to be infected with H5N1 in Greece to four.

Greek scientists believe they have discovered a method using genetic engineering that will prevent olive fruit flies from affecting the production of olives and the acidity levels of olive oil.

Six in 10 Greeks do not consider getting married to be absolutely necessary and 40% do not have a positive view of marriage as an institution. Almost 90% of Greeks believe that Valentine’s Day has become too commercialised.

And a treasure trove of undiscovered marine life has been found on an underwater mountain top in the Caribbean.

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Spy software belongs to Vodafone

Swan on the Koutavos Lagoon, Kefalonia

Three men have been hospitalised in Thessaloniki, suspected of contracting bird flu.

Spy software at the heart of Greece’s phone-tapping scandal has always been part of Vodafone's central system, enabling authorities to monitor phone calls.

The gradual introduction of income tax cuts is being proposed in an attempt to reduce incentives for tax dodgers and stoke economic growth.

Banks and seamen are set to strike this week.

As the weather eases in Greece, New York received record snowfall and thousands of travellers in America were left stranded yesterday. The bad weather looks set to sweep across to the UK.

News and views welcome at the www.GoingGreek.info Forum

H5N1 bird flu confirmed in Greece

The WHO Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, London, announced that the dangerous strain H5N1 was detected in all three of the dead swan samples from the Thessaloniki area.

The Greek Federation of State School Teachers of Secondary Education (OLME) has been deciding on the course of collective actions they will embark on to pursue their claims. Strikes seem likely.

The Iranian Foreign Minister ruled out any possibility of the country withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). At the same time, US strategy planners are compiling attack plans against Iran, however, "the attack will be an ’extreme mean’ in order to prevent the development of nuclear weapons from Tehran."

A shocking video allegedly showing British soldiers beating Iraqi protestors has brought widespread condemnation in the UK.

A documentary crew went undercover to expose “tired crews, dirty planes and pilots complaining about the number of hours they fly”. And no, the airline isn’t Olympic.

Designer bottled water is b*ll*cks, according to Bob Geldorf. A major new study has concluded that its production is seriously damaging the environment and that, in industrialised countries, bottled water is no more pure and healthy than what comes out of the tap.

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Greece is getting colder in winter (official)

The Opening Ceremony of the 20th Winter Olympics took place in Turin yesterday, Greece will be participating in the Winter Olympics for the 16th time.

Perhaps a good omen for the Greek team, if not for anyone else – Greece is getting colder in winter. Data released yesterday showed that temperatures last month were among the lowest recorded in January in the last 100 years.

A farmer in northern Greece has stumbled across a 2,300-year-old chiseled cave, measuring some 63 square meters, with eight chambers. The cave, the biggest of its kind discovered in Greece, was found near the ancient city of Pella, capital of the Macedonian kingdom.

A wild goose found on the island of Skyros is the newest avian flu case, the fourth so far in Greece.

A rabidly anti-American film, Valley of the Wolves Iraq, the most expensive film ever made in Turkey, is pulling record crowds there.

And an interesting comment in Kathimerini, “…we are living in the worst country in Europe, we are being governed by crooks or incompetents, we are overrun with foreigners, 80 percent of our telecommunications are rigged, our food is moldy or otherwise inedible, all traders are thieves and swindlers and all civil servants are lazy and corrupt.” Oh my, I’ve never heard those views before! Posted in the Temple of Athina (registered users area).

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Bulgarian babies sold in Greece

Three wild swans in northern Greece tested positive for a fatal strain of the H5 virus — which is lethal only for birds. The samples have been sent to a special laboratory in England to determine whether they match the H5N1 strain, which has killed more than 80 people worldwide.

The family of Kostas Tsalikidis, the Vodafone software engineer who allegedly committed suicide two days after spy software was discovered in the company's central system, yesterday filed a lawsuit against “those responsible” for complicity in his suicide or murder. The Communications Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE) has allegedly been told that someone working for Vodafone or Ericsson must have helped activate the spy software.

Seven members of a drugs squad were arrested in Kilkis, northern Greece, yesterday after a raid on their offices by Internal Affairs found small quantities of drugs in their desks.

A Bulgarian gang has been bringing pregnant women to give birth and sell their babies in Greece. The women received between €500-€5,000 for their babies, which were sold for up to €15,000.

The detection of foods unfit for consumption is becoming an everyday occurrence in Greece. More bad milk has been confiscated, also a brand of squid containing double the recommended quantity of cadmium.

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an intact, ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the first since King Tutankhamun's was found in 1922.

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New abduction adds to bugbear

The sun and the wind could supply Greece with power yet the Public Power Corporation continues to invest in petrol-based energy production, and looks likely to until 2040, despite the fact that it can’t meet its commitments to the EU emissions-trading scheme, which Greece only signed up to in June. For failing to meet the agreed targets, the PPC was billed €69,000,000 euros in the first nine months of 2005 and, whereas Greece has a commitment to restrict the increase in carbon dioxide emissions to 25% by 2010, in comparison to 1990 levels, the increase looks set to be around 40%, according to the Athens Observatory.

Let’s hope the proposed windfarms blow a breath of fresh air through the foggy thinking of the PPC.

Kostas Tsalikidis almost certainly knew about the spy software when he allegedly killed himself, a former colleague of the high-level Vodafone software engineer reportedly told a prosecutor in the phone tapping scandal that’s rocking Greece. Tsalikidis’ technical diary, submitted to the prosecutor, contains the statement “something is wrong” in English.

According to the newspaper ‘Pontiki’, a member of PASOK’s Political Council was abducted and questioned by the secret services in Bulgaria while he was visiting the country on business. The politician is among those on the mobile phone wiretap list.

Nicosia has sent a letter of complaint to the British Government over recent statements by British Foreign Minister Jack Straw, in which he launched a severe attack against the Cypriot Republic on the issue of occupied Cyprus.

The deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has infiltrated Africa. The World Health Organisation did not hide its deep concern and asked African governments to stay alert, as an epidemic outbreak in the world’s poorest continent, where health systems and veterinarian infrastructure are highly insufficient, could turn into a serious threat to the world.

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Rebel Without A Cause

Greece yesterday joined the calls for calm around the world after violent demonstrations by Muslim protesters over the publication in (some) Western newspapers of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. “Greece is in favor of and believes in dialogue between civilizations,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos. “We are against the clash of civilizations. We hope that dialogue and reason will reign so that the violent protests of the last few days can stop.” Sounds good to me.

Prompted by the dwindling number of pupils, the Inner Cabinet yesterday approved plans to scrap technical high schools.

Seizures of pirate compact discs dropped last year, police said yesterday, but this is partly due to a growing trend in music being downloaded from the Internet, according to industry experts. Hm, sure I read recently that, in effect, less than 30% of Greece is connected to the 'net.

Spanish energy companies have set their sights on Greece, with plans to build windfarms. Platies on Kefalonia might be a good place… just hope the ‘windmills’ are stronger than the pylons…

More than 300 villages around Greece were isolated due to heavy snowfall yesterday as the temperature dropped to a record low.

Turkish newspapers fear the murder of an Italian priest on Sunday may have damaged Turkey's standing in the eyes of the world and the trial of five Turkish journalists charged with insulting the country's courts began yesterday with the judge ordering two lawyers to be removed after a fight broke out in the courtroom.

FIFA held up its own “Welcome to Hell” placards to Turkish football last night when it ordered the national team to play their entire European Championship qualifying campaign abroad as punishment for the ugly scenes in Istanbul that marred their World Cup exit in November.

In the UK, Muslim leaders have welcomed the conviction of controversial cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri for inciting murder and stirring up racial hatred. Prominent British Muslim Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui described Abu Hamza as "an embarrassment to the Muslim community" and an "arrogant, illiterate person, with no knowledge of Islam.” Imam Sajid said, "He has nothing to do with the majority of British Muslims who are not only law abiding but also peaceful-loving Muslims."

And James Dean would have been 75 today.

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Where are these kids?

Disappearances of children in Greece rose 143% in 2005 compared to 2004, according to Chamogelo tou Pediou Association (‘Smile of a Child’), an association against child abuse.

Police in northern Greece yesterday continued their search for an 11-year-old boy who disappeared from his hometown of Veria on Friday, but were hindered by persistent snowfall in the area.

With bad weather grounding a number of flights yesterday, authorities have placed emergency services on standby in anticipation of the heavy snow and rainfall that is expected to hit many parts of Greece. The government will be hoping that this cold snap is less intense than the one in January that brought serious power shortages to the Ionian islands of Kefalonia and Ithaca. The residents of Samothrace were the first to suffer a power blackout yesterday.

In the UK, Abu Hamza was today found guilty of soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred. Hamza did not aim his vitriolic rhetoric only against Jews, unbelievers and the democratic West, his targets included homosexual vicars, the tourist industry, the royal family and women in bikinis.

A convicted drug dealer who was jailed in 2002 and released on licence last year after serving half his sentence has been recalled to prison after imitating a suicide bomber during a protest over cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

And a "slimmer's potato", with as few as half the calories of the normal variety, has been discovered by scientists.

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Greece (not) online

An overwhelming majority of Greeks — including a large proportion of very young children — own a mobile telephone, but Greece remains a European laggard in terms of computer and Internet use.

The 24-hour strike declared by the Hellenic Federation of Bank Employee Unions has considerably disrupted today’s bank transactions. Hospital doctors in Athens and Piraeus plan a 24-hour strike later in the week.

A priest has been shot dead outside his church in north-east Turkey. It was unclear if the shooting was connected to widespread Muslim outrage over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Passengers using Luton Airport have been warned to expect delays after it was closed on Sunday because a jet from Germany overshot the runway.

A disgraced Soviet submarine captain has posthumously been put forward for the Nobel Peace Prize for averting a Chernobyl-style nuclear explosion at the height of the Cold War.

Two of the world's biggest email account providers are to roll out a system giving preferential treatment to companies that pay for an e-postage stamp guaranteeing delivery.

And a man in America took a look in the loft of his new home and found an old toffee jar containing a pickled baby ‘Roswell’ alien. Hm......

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Aphrodite revisited

Greece is pretty quiet news-wise as the phone-tapping scandal continues to dominate the national news.

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, is to have a new representation - Kate Moss is to be immortalized in marble as "a kind of Aphrodite figure of our age." Marc Quinn is working on five life-size bronzes of the supermodel in contorted yoga positions with her feet behind her ears. Quinn is best known for his 12ft marble sculpture of a naked Alison Lapper, who was born without arms and with shortened legs. Moss was interviewed by police last week over allegations of cocaine use.

A drug dealer is languishing in Utah County Jail after reporting the theft of his stash to police. He rang the cops to complain that someone had broken into his home and made off with the "quarter-pound of marijuana he had been trying to sell". Police arrested a suspect found in possession of the stolen drugs then asked the owner of the drugs to pop down and identify his property. He duly did so. And was cuffed for his trouble. As a police officer commented, "Even the dumb criminals are generally smarter than this.”

And going back to mobile phones, pigeons in California are to be fitted with a backpack consisting of a mobile-phone, GPS and camera so they can monitor the weather. Bird-brained? We’ll see.

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Greece allows EU spying

In a new twist in the on-going phone-tapping scandal, it’s been alleged that the PASOK-led government of Greece signed an EU directive allowing one EU country to monitor the telephones of another without any technical involvement by the country under surveillance.

Meanwhile, the present administration is winning the war on tax evasion, having equipped the tax ministry with high-tech tax-crosschecking systems and quietly targeting big companies hiding profits through sister companies rather than mounting raids on small- and medium-size firms.

As part of a plan to promote a new digital strategy in the period 2006-2013, Greece has signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft, offering preferential financial terms for the purchase of software licenses by the Greek state and free software use rights for Greek civil servants.

In the UK, Muslims protesting against the publication of cartoons of Muhammad (which haven’t been published in the UK media) waved placards bearing slogans such as "Behead the one who insults the prophet" and "Free speech go to hell", while others called for more terrorist bombings.

Other demonstrators complained that the extremist slogans do not represent the majority of Muslims.

Egyptian authorities admitted last night that a ferry that sank in the Red Sea with more than 1,400 people on board was unsafe and did not have enough lifeboats. Nearly 1,100 are feared dead.

And Greece may turn into a desert as more land becomes arid.

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Who's tapping who in Greece?

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and several ministers had their mobile phones tapped for more than a year, the government has confirmed. About 100 mobiles belonging to politicians from both parties are thought to have been monitored.

Of the 44 or so names listed by ERT News, 11 seem to have names of Turkish, and therefore presumably Islamic, origin.

The mystery deepens, though, as it wasn’t ‘just’ government ministers and politicians whose mobile phones were tapped. Besides Kostas Karamanlis and his wife, most of Greece's top military and police officers were also targeted, as were foreign ministry officials and a U.S. embassy number. Also tapped by spyware – spy software installed in the central system of Vodafone, the mobile telephony provider that served the targets - were some journalists and human rights activists.

The (apparent) suicide of an administrative member of Vodafone’s Software Development team on 9 March 2005, a day before the State’s briefing on the wiretappings case, is also raising concerned questions.

The cost of Greece participating in the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev on May 21 will be 288,000 euros, according to PASOK Deputy Michalis Karchimakis. If that’s correct, is it really worth the money?

In the global news, Muslims around the world are incensed about the publication of images of the prophet Mohammad in several European newspapers. Many editors are claiming this is an issue of the right to freedom of speech versus fundamentalist oppression. There’s a link to the cartoons in the forum, see for yourself.

More for registered users, including a very accurate observation of “Why Men Can’t Win” in the Funny Farm, an odd story about a giant European eagle owl attacking dogs in the UK, and news on the earthquake that shook Kefalonia early this morning.

Comments welcome in the www.GoingGreek.info Forum