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Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros

Monday, February 8, 2016

Macedonia begins erecting second fence on border with Greece

Skopje, Feb 8 (EFE) .- The Macedonian army began on Monday building a second fence on the border with Greece, in order to strengthen measures to prevent the influx of illegal migrants, an official from the armed forces told EFE. The government of Skopje ...


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Greece’s Prime Minister on the Ropes

January was a bad month for Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The election of Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Jan. 10 to the leadership of the official opposition and the rise of mass protests against the government’s plans for pension reform have ...


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(Photos) Students at the American Farm School's “GREEK Summer” Program Get Experience of a ...

Created in 1970, GREEK Summer has been teaching generations of students how to become one with the land, as well as with the people and culture ...


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A new right wing party in Greece might affect the “centrist” maneuvers of Mitsotakis

Athens, February 8, 2016/Independent Balkan News Agency By Olga Mavrou Takis Baltakos, a close friend to Antonis Samaras (the former Prime Minister of Greece and former president of the right wing party “New Democracy”), announced that he plans to form a new party.  His decision is due to the intention of the new president of the […]


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Greece woos Kuwaiti investors to real estate sector

… 8 (KUNA) -- Ambassador of Greece in Kuwait Theodoros Theodorou said … of the Greek Real Estate Exhibition. He underlined that Greek investment laws … and current economic situation in Greece is a chance for investors …


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The Latest: Greece: Stop Migrants in Turkish Waters

Greece's defense minister says he wants an agreement with neighboring Turkey that would allow the European Union's Frontex border agency to stop and turn back — within Turkish waters — boats carrying migrants to the Greek islands. Panos Kammenos said ...


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Greece: the missing link between Israel and Palestine

As Greek Jews living in Jerusalem we follow closely Greece’s current change of strategy with regard to Israel and Palestine. A few op-eds were written on the subject by various analysts and politicians but nothing has so far appeared from the perspective ...


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Migrant arrivals to Greece's Lesbos rise after days of bad weather

[Greek Coast Guard officers move a baby from a dinghy carrying refugees and migrants aboard the Ayios Efstratios Coast Guard vessel, during a rescue operation at open sea between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Lesbos]By Karolina Tagaris ON BOARD THE AGIOS EFSTRATIOS, Greece (Reuters) - They waved, cheered and let out sighs of relief as their rubber boat, packed with dozens of mainly Syrian and Afghan refugees, approached the Greek coast guard ship that would rescue them at open sea near the island of Lesbos. After being pulled aboard one by one, the men, women, and children staggered, exhausted and relieved, to the boat's rear, where they huddled alongside strangers on Monday and waited quietly to be transported to the shore. By early afternoon, more than 1,500 refugees and migrants reached the eastern Aegean island, a sharp rise in the rate of arrivals from Turkey after days of gale force winds and freezing temperatures.


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Greece ETF in Full Retreat

The Greece country-specific exchange traded fund broke down to an all-time low Monday as Greek equities plunged to their lowest in a quarter-century on the deepening global rout and rising yields. The Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF (NYSEArca: GREK) declined 6 ...


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Ilinden Crossing on Bulgaria-Greece Border Expected to Reopen at 10 p.m. Monday

Traffic at Ilinden-Exochi crossing on Bulgaria’s border with Greece is expected to resume after 10 p.m. on Monday, the Interior Ministry in Sofia has said. The crossing has been closed to all traffic since 5 p.m. on Monday by strike action of Greek farmers on their side of the border. Kulata-Promachonas crossing has been reopened for cars and buses since 4 p.m. The other crossings on Bulgaria’s border with Greece were operating normally on Monday afternoon.


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Hundreds of thousands celebrate Carnival in Cologne

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of Cologne for its annual Rose Monday parade, the culmination of five days of Carnival festivities that took place amid heightened security following robberies and sexual assaults in the city on New Year's Eve. The figure of Syrian President Bashar Assad as an angel of peace also wound its way through the city, joined on its float by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. There was a float showing Merkel haunted by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras bearing a lightning rod, a reference to last year's showdown over Greece's new bailout, and one with suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter clutching banknotes.


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Soccer-Greek championship results and standings

Feb 8 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the Greek championship matches on Monday Monday, February 8 Panionios 2 Panaitolikos Agrinion 0 Sunday, February 7 Atromitos Athinon 1 AEK Athens 0 Iraklis 1 PAS Giannina 0 Olympiakos Piraeus 1 PAOK ...


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Turkey: at least 27 migrants drown as boat sinks off coast near Edremit

At least 27 migrants and refugees have died off Turkey's Aegean coast trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos, according to the Turkish…


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Foreign Affairs for a New President

Recent speeches of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz - the top four seeking the presidency - focus mainly on the turbulent and fascinating domestic issues in America: guns, gays, abortion, taxes, education and health care. However, the new president will likely find that the hot spots on his agenda demanding swift action will be foreign policy - the overlooked issues of our time. These items from Iran to North Korea to Crimea to Syria to the Zika virus show up one morning on the doorstep of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue screaming for the mother's milk of action. So, to be somewhat useful to the new president, I have listed below some global issues likely to claim attention of a new U.S. leader. Islamic fundamentalism. This religious/political movement emerged after 1990 when Afghan and Arab fighters funded by U.S. and Saudi cash defeated the Soviet superpower. Since then, Osama bin Laden and his Islamist followers opened dozens of new fronts seeking to impose Islamic supremacy over Western values. That battle is today being fought in Paris, California, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Somalia, Mali and Nigeria. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/what-is-islamic-state-iraq-and-syria/ The Obama Administration has sought to contain the most violent of these battles -- Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) -- by airstrikes and by arming and training allies willing to put their boots on the ground. A new U.S. president must fear a quagmire if he or she sends U.S. troops to fight violent Islamists motivated by ideology and willing to suicide them selves. Fifteen years of US military involvement in Afghanistan leaves us unable to go home lest the Taliban or ISIS seize power. We're also stuck in Iraq where trillions in military costs and 4,000 dead U.S. troops since 2003 have left a weak, bitterly divided Iraqi government and army, unable to fend off ISIS. Iraqi troops in 2014 dropped their guns and fled an ISIS takeover of Mosul. Our only reliable friends are the feisty Kurds who are paying back the 1988 poison gas and mass executions by Saddam Hussein's generals now running ISIS military operations. Former US general Anthony Zinni, who knows the middle east and served there for many years, said in 2014 at the start of the ISIL reign of head chopping and rape, "if you put two brigades on the ground right now of U.S. forces, they would push ISIS back into Syria in a heartbeat." The new U.S. president would be hard pressed to argue that this festering blot on human history should continue to pour mainly Muslim blood into the thirsty sands of time. His first decision should be to unleash Zinni's brigades -about 10,000 troops. After cleaning out the ISIS killers, we must swiftly hand the region over to Iraqi and Syrian forces - do not repeat the error of Iraq and Afghanistan by staying around as occupiers. Israel, Palestine and Iran. Recently, Barack Obama made the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He went to honor four people who risked death to save Jews from Nazi Germany. By video from Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the event, underlining that the United States remains Israel's best friend, despite his opposition to lifting of sanctions on Iran in January in return for dismantling its nuclear program. But if the Iranians resume nuclear enrichment, a new president must be ready to re-start sanctions. Another Middle East issue is the need to end Israeli occupation of the West Bank. The peace process started in Oslo in 1994 has stalled, frustrating Palestinians who are taking up knives and have killed dozens of Israelis in recent months - and been killed in greater numbers by Israeli security forces. Shuttle diplomacy by Secretary of State John Kerry failed, as did previous efforts from Henry Kissinger to James Baker. The issue remains a festering sore point to Muslims and peace would have great repercussions world wide. A presidential effort to break the Arab-Israel logjam can succeed and needs to be based on gradually removing Israeli troops and some Israeli settlements far from the old Green Line Israeli border; beefing up Palestinian police; opening European export routes for West Bank fruits, vegetables and other products. Immigration. More than one million Muslims flooded Western Europe this summer and fall, invited by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who was seeking labor for German factories. Turkey obliged by opening the gates for the exodus towards Greek islands. Some fled war in Syria but many came seeking a better life. Public opposition grew rapidly as the migrants soon presented an image of angry young men hostile to women's rights and unwilling or unable to exchange the authoritarian, absolutisms of their native lands for secular democratic lifestyles. Sweden just said it was ready to use force to expel 80,000 migrants who were denied asylum. China. It has aggressively claimed control over thousands of miles of the South China Sea, sending oil drilling rigs and warships to explore and build up mini-islets on coral reefs, creating landing strips for military planes. The U.S., Philippines, Vietnam and other regional players fear and oppose China's unilateral moves. U.S. planes and warships have tested China's claim risking a breakout as China's navy grows in power. The new president must assert the right of nearby countries to share the seas and reject China's refusal to negotiate rival claims. The United States also opposes China's violation of human and religious rights of Tibetans, Uighurs, and independent writers and lawyers. And U.S. unions and labor activists continue to say that China has stolen millions of jobs and income from America. Donald Trump is one of many who say China has taxed American exports and built up huge $500 billion a year surpluses in trade. Russia The nuclear-armed superpower was down on its luck after the fall of Communism. But then Vladimir Putin took power and turned the Russian media into a mouthpiece for aggressive nationalism and anti-Western sentiment. It continues to claw its way back onto the American agenda, hanging on to Crimea and other portions of Eastern Ukraine it seized, and threatening former Soviet Baltic countries as well as Nordic Finland and Sweden. Yet the new president must continue to work with Russia on the common enemy of Islamist terrorism. Global Issues. The new president must tackle the loss of American jobs to low-labor producers from Mexico to China. Influential business interests such as Apple have stymied previous efforts to stop the flow of jobs as well as use of overseas tax shelters. This will be a tough fight. Climate change is another global issue the president needs to tackle. But the battle may be domestic - persuading the American public and Congress to act and reduce carbon emissions. Health and pollution are also on the White House agenda. Brain damage cause by the Zika virus has already begun to threaten the United States. Like HIV/AIDS, Malaria, drug-resistant TB and Ebola, Zika needs a strong U.S. response because global travel spreads illnesses so quickly. Support for democracy and US values. This was the top of the agenda for incoming president George W. Bush but foundered as we learned how difficult it is to intervene in other cultures and political systems. The Arab Spring started with U.S. backing and quickly imploded as we learned how resistant to democracy some nations are. We see it again as Afghan men buy and sell children to be wives, journalists are assaulted, and corruption overpowers all restraint. I expect the new president will pay lip service to this issue and little more. Population Here is a place that a U.S. president can have an important impact on the world. We're at seven billion and going up to 10 or 15 billion people by the end of this century. All the growth will be in the poorest countries, increasing demand for water, education, electricity and food. Support for global family planning is now held prisoner by the unholy triad: the Catholic Church, Islamic clerics and U.S. conservatives who mistakenly conflate birth control with abortion. A new president can break the taboos and offer contraceptives to all the families that want them. This list is just the tip of the iceberg and many other issues will confront the new president. Good luck. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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GREEK customs seize large quantities of contraband tobacco in Jan, Feb

European anti-fraud agents netted 54 million contraband cigarettes in Greece in cooperation with GREEK and Cypriot customs agents in December and ...


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Best Greek Pizza, Pizza Palace, Old Saybrook

Tucked away in a little building off Route 1 in Old Saybrook is a family business that has been making pizza in their own special way since 1977, which has not gone unnoticed. The Pizza Palace received the most votes for the best Greek pizza on the Shoreline.


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Greek Prime Minister Tsipras Meets With Iranian Leaders in Tehran

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday became the first Western leader to visit Iran since the lifting of trade sanctions against the Middle Eastern nation, as Greece aims to become a conduit between the European Union and Tehran. “Greece will ...


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Greece talks to resume next week

Greece’s lenders still need to be persuaded that Athens can plug a bigger-than-expected fiscal gap when talks on reforms needed under an international bailout resume next week, the finance minister says. Talks between the heads of the EU/IMF mission ...


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Greece bailout review set to resume

Greece Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos says the heads of the EU/IMF mission are expected to resume talks on the country's reforms next week. Greece's lenders still need to be persuaded that Athens can plug a bigger-than-expected fiscal gap when talks on ...


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Man confronts Donald Trump: Could you look at refugee children 'in the face' and bar them from the US?

[donald trump]AP Photo/Charles Krupa Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was asked an emotional question Monday during a campaign event in Salem, New Hampshire. A man started off by saying he was from an unnamed community in Connecticut in which Trump owned a home. Trump correctly guessed the city was Greenwich. "He's a rich guy. Did Hillary send you, by any chance?" Trump said, referring to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The man said no and then pressed Trump about his hardline position on Syrian refugees. Trump has said that, in addition to barring new refugees fleeing the violence in Syria, he would send back any of the refugees already in the US. "There's plans in place now to relocate a few Syrian families in the [Greenwich] community," the man told Trump. "The community has been very open and welcoming of these families. Some of their children are — ages 5, 8, 10, 12 — are planning to go to school there." He continued: "I think we all probably know what your general policies are toward refugees. I'm wondering if you would be able to look at these children in the face and tell them that they are not allowed to go to school in the community?" Trump said he could, in fact, look those children in the face and tell them the US wouldn't accept them. The Republican front-runner warned that their parents could be aligned with the Islamic State, the terrorist group also known as ISIS. [donald trump]AP Photo/Charles Krupa "I could look in their face and say, 'You can't come.' … I'll look them in the face," Trump said. "We don't know where their parents come from. Their parents should always stay with them. You have to keep them together. That's very important. But we don't know where their parents come from." Trump said he had talked to the "greatest legal people" and "greatest security people" and those experts confirmed that there was no safe way to accept thousands of refugees fleeing the Islamic State and the oppressive Syrian government. But Trump also said he had a "a bigger heart than anybody in this room" when it came to protecting the refugees. He said he would instead create a safe zone for them in the Middle East so they could more easily return to Syria after civil war there ends. "I don't think they should be moving into Greenwich, Connecticut," he said. "I don't think they should be coming into the United States." Trump also said he was suspicious of the refugees' cellphones: You see them on cellphones. Where the hell did they get their cellphones? This is a migration. They have no anything, and yet they have cellphones. And then they have cellphones with ISIS flags on them … Where the hell did they get the cellphones? Who the hell pays the bill? Who's paying the bill for the cellphone? And you see little things like that. Does that make any sense, OK? But you look at it and you say, "We have enough problems." NOW WATCH: An AT&T spokesperson and former refugee is now helping Syrian refugees in Greece


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Internet unsure if ancient Greek 'laptop' is a Mac or a PC

If you've been busy on social media over the past few days, you may have seen a photo making the rounds showing a carved stone relief dating back to ancient Greece along with the word "laptop" displayed prominently in the headline. The relief shows a woman ...


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Cornell students want to 're-examine' Greek system after frat president was charged with sexual assault

The Cornell Daily Sun, Cornell University's student-run newspaper, is calling for the reexamination of the Greek system after the president of a frat was arrested Thursday on charges of sexual assault. Wolfgang Ballinger, the president of Psi Upsilon, the ...


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Beyond Tolerance: An Interview Never Meant to be Published

As I was entering the old Cathedral of the Ethiopian Church, I felt my heart pounding out of fear that my mission would fail. Two days before, I was contacted by an Egyptian Bishop asking me to conduct an interview with his Holiness Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Church. The main objective was to soften the man's attitude towards the late Pope of Egyptian Orthodox Church, his Holiness Pope Shenouda. After a while of discussions and argument, I agreed to take the mission on the condition of having two Egyptian diplomats (the press attaché and a member in the African Union Secretariat) with me during the interview. Having the Egyptian Church both in my heart and mind, I, the Muslim, felt a massive weight of responsibility leaning over my shoulders. The irony was that I kept reciting verses of Holy Quran praying that God would help me succeed in what this man of God, the Egyptian Copt, entrusted to me. As I climbed the stairs headed for the Patriarch quarter, I was thinking about the absurdity of many people back home talking about the necessity of tolerance, when Egypt doesn't have one tenth of the religious discrimination that many other countries greatly suffer. I thought to myself, since what I'm just about to do is not meant to be part of my professional C.V, then definitely it is out of tolerance, nothing else. There is no third explanation in light of the over sensitive nature of the issue, except being crazy, which I am not. After a few minutes, the two Egyptian Copt escorts and I were in the audience of Patriarch Paulos, Head of the Ethiopian Church. The man was very welcoming and started by asking me about my journalistic background, then encouraged me to start asking the questions. In order to avoid going into areas of conflicts, I decided to start by a question about an uncontroversial issue, which is the glorious history of the two Churches. The man didn't fail me and started off with an emotional response about the bond that has tied the two Churches for 16 centuries in an almost chronological order. The more his Grace came closer to the troubled present, the more nervous I felt. Arriving at -the then present 2004 - Patriarch Paulos' tone of voice suddenly became sharp. After he finished what came across to him as infringements on his status as Head of the Ethiopian Church from the late Egyptian Pope, I had to resume the interview. Before I asked further questions, I appealed to his Holiness, however, in a firm way stating that there should be a sort of code of reference. "Since everyone in this room addresses your Holiness with the spiritual title you rightly earned then, with all due respect, I will not accept anything less for his Holiness Pope Shenouda; no one has the right to talk about him without using his much deserved and rightly earned spiritual title before his name", I told the Head of the Ethiopian Church. "Also, it is pointless to use such harsh language when talking about the successor of Saint Mark. Both of you have been chosen by God to occupy the highest spiritual positions you already have, let alone the hearts of hundreds of millions of Christians in your two countries and in many other countries as well," I added. I was relieved when I saw a smile on the man's face before I started talking about the greatness of the relations between the two Churches and the necessity of regaining it as such. "Okay, how can you justify His Holiness Pope Shenouda's move when he presided over the enthronement ceremony of a Patriarch to the Church of Eritrea back in 1994, separating that Church from its mother Church of Ethiopia? He had no right to do so" he angrily said. I could clearly see the anxiety on the faces of my two Egyptian Copt diplomats. "Your holiness, maybe you have the right to be angry. However, the Ethiopian Church was the daughter to the Egyptian Church for almost 16 centuries until it decided to secede and become independent back in 1950. By the same token, don't you see that the Egyptian Church had the same right to be angry? Why did you give yourself a right, and then deny it from the others?" I asked. "Good argument", the Patriarch said with a smile on his face. Yet, his smile quickly faded before he started a new offensive. "But Pope Shenouda treats me as if I am of a lesser status. I stand on equal footing with him and I should be treated as such. Our Churches are as sisters, not as a mother and daughter. Ethiopia had known of Christianity before Egypt," he protested. "Indeed, you stand on equal footing. However, I totally disagree with what your Holiness has just said about which was first to know Christianity and embrace it. History tells us that the two Egyptian brothers, Frumentius and Aedesius, were the first to introduce Christianity to Ezana, Emperor of Ethiopia in 320 A.D., and managed to convert him from Judaism to Christianity and that's when and how Ethiopia became Christian," I said. "Now, if Ethiopia had embraced Christ before Egypt, there would have been no reason for the two Egyptian brothers to preach to the emperor," I attested. "I know that some argue about the Greek names of the two brothers. However, Greek names and Roman as well were common in Egypt then. Moreover, if they were not Egyptians, why did Emperor Ezana ask Frumentius to travel back to his home town, Alexandria, where the Egyptian Orthodox Church was based then, to ask its Patriarch St. Athanasius to appoint a Bishop for Axum before the latter named Frumentius himself as such, giving him the new name of Abuna Selama, in Arabic: Father Selama" I added. "It seems that Pope Shenouda has sent one of his agents to interview me," the Patriarch angrily said. My two escorts were as much shocked as I was. One of them told the Patriarch that this wasn't true for a simple fact that I am a Muslim. The Head of the Ethiopian Church looked at me suspiciously waving his head in disbelieve. Throughout the interview, it never occurred to me that the patriarch thought I was Christian. When I asked, I found out that the reason for being taken for a Christian was the fact that I subconsciously kept using the possessive pronouns of my and our whenever I referred to the Copt Church. That was the first time in my life I realized that deep in my Egyptian Muslim subconscious mind, I always felt that the Church belongs to me just as much as Al-Azhar, the highest Muslim institution in Egypt. The Patriarch was both surprised and amused after I explained to him that for many Egyptian Muslims, whenever they talk about the Egyptian Church while being abroad, they subconsciously use the possessive pronouns of my and our and that this emotional- psychological phenomenon reflects how both the Church and Al-Azhar have practically woven themselves in one Egyptian socio-cultural fabric. "What you have just stated doesn't change the fact that Ethiopia came to know Christianity before Egypt" the Patriarch insisted. "Your holiness, let's take it one step at a time. Which Church was the first to introduce the notion of "Non-Chalcedonian" Monophysite of Jesus Christ? According to unchallenged history, it was the Egyptian Church of Alexandria which did. This thing happened when the Church of Alexandria refused to follow the "two nature" doctrine decreed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. Later, other Churches followed the Egyptian Church, including the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church, which is the official name of your Church. That specific Tawahedo word was taken from Arabic, after it became common in Egypt, which means the one nature of Jesus Christ. That is the true discourse of the history of Christianity in this part of the world. However, that history doesn't mean by any way that there is any lesser Church than the other; they are all equal" I elaborated. "Then, Pope Shenouda has to know that I am Head of a Church of equal footing and that I should be treated as such. I cannot accept his temper anymore" the Patriarch said in what seemed as a good sign, in terms of being close to his accepting a standing invitation by "my" Church. "Your Grace, his Holiness Pope Shenouda is in his 80s. He is an old man suffering serious health problems, whereas you are 13 years younger. Age and illness are what makes you think he has a temper. Cannot we respect the man's age and appreciate his severe health problems" I passionately asked. All of a sudden, I could see the true kind nature of the Patriarch when he said in a cracking voice that Pope Shenouda had always been his spiritual father and that he loved almost like his real father. "Your Grace, don't you want to see your spiritual father?" I emotionally asked. "Indeed, I do want to see him. However, I am not willing to go without receiving a formal written invitation from him" he firmly said. "And if you receive this invitation, will your Grace go?" I asked. "Indeed!" "If I publish this interview, can I use your acceptance of an invitation, when you receive it, as a headline?" I asked aiming at verifying how serious the man was. "When I say something I mean it and never back away" he reassured me. As we were lining up for a photo and just before the camera snapped, the Patriarch stepped out of line to face one of my escorts with a big smile on his face. "Now I know why Pope Shenouda is so strong. Even Egyptian Muslims are standing squarely behind him" the man said before we all exploded into laughter. Since that interview, the late Holiness Patriarch Paulos visited Egypt several times, most recently in 2012, the year he passed away, whereas late Pope Shenouda made a historical visit to Ethiopia in 2007. However, although I never published that "impossible interview" except for a small part of the story behind it in Al-Ahram newspaper on September 22, 2007, it is one of the most meaningful interviews of my career. Every time I look back at what I did, I feel very proud that I translated what Jesus says in Mark 9: "What therefore God has joined together let no man separate." And though I know this is one of Jesus Christ's teachings about marriage, who is to say that we Muslims, who believe Christianity to be part of our own faith, are not in reality, joined in marriage with Christians? This article was published on:www.yehiaghanem.com http://yehiaghanem.com/beyond-tolerance-an-interview-never-meant-to-be-published/ -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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Stocks are cratering - here are 7 headlines you need to know right now (DIA, SPX, SPY, QQQ, CHK, AMZN, FB, GOOGL, NFLX, GLD)

[crater lava lake Kilauea]Stocks are cratering. US stocks opened lower to start the week extending Friday's sell-off. Around 11:09 a.m. ET, the three major indexes were down more than 2%, with the Dow down 364 points, the S&P 500 off 43, and the Nasdaq down 124. And that's just the beginning. In the last few trading hours, a bunch of huge economic and business headlines have come out, so we put them all together to make sure you didn't miss a thing: * The so-called FANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) are getting slammed, which is notable as they were the best-performing tech stocks in 2015. * This follows last Friday's sell-off across the tech sector as LinkedIn plunged 44% after weak earnings and Tableau Software lost about half its value. * Greece is getting slammed. The benchmark ASE Index fell 7.9% on Monday and Greek bank stocks lost 24.3%. This was the ASE's lowest close since 1990. Greek bonds are getting crushed too. * Chesapeake shares dropped more than 50% on Monday morning, and have been halted at least four times for volatility after reports the company had hired restructuring lawyers. In a statement on Monday morning the company said it currently has "no plans" to pursue bankruptcy. * Gold jumped $36 an ounce, or about 3.13%, to at least three-month highs near $1,199.  * Deutsche Bank's Joe LaVorgna thinks that March is off the table for an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve after a recent run of disappointing economic data and stock market volatility.  * Crude oil is also lower, with WTI falling 3% to move back below $30 per barrel. _STICK WITH BI: MARKETS FOR UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY » _ SEE ALSO: 14 INCREDIBLE FACTS ABOUT TEXAS Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's the question that prompted Cam Newton to storm out of his postgame press conference


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Portugal has worried workers on low wages

[womenatwork]International body, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has drawn up a list of the worst countries in Europe in which to work - Portugal lies in fourth place due to high unemployment rates and low wages. The OECD looked at wages, occupational safety and unemployment rates in showing that Portugal was marginally better than Greece, Spain and Turkey in a list of 36 countries led by Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.


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Iran, GREECE Ink 3 MoUs to Boost Cooperation in Various Fields

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – High-ranking officials from Iran and GREECE signed three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) as part of efforts to deepen ...


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Turkey's Erdogan threatened to flood Europe with migrants

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan threatened in November to flood Europe with migrants if European Union leaders did not offer him a better deal to help manage the Middle East refugee crisis, a Greek news website said on Monday. Publishing what it said were minutes of a tense meeting last November, the euro2day.gr financial news website revealed deep mutual irritation and distrust in talks between Erdogan and the EU's two top officials, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk. The EU officials were trying to enlist Ankara's help in stemming an influx of Syrian refugees and migrants into Europe.


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Black Monday for Athens Stock Exchange: collapse in three year low reflects uncertainty over recovery prospects

Athens, February 8, 2016/Independent Balkan News Agency By Marina Spyropoulou The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) collapsed to a three year low on Monday reflecting renewed uncertainty over Greece’s economic recovery prospects. The general price index had plunged to 462.97 basis points, down by 8 percent at 16:30, lower than the level it had reached in […]


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Refugees will cost EUR 600 mln to Greece

Athens, February 8, 2016/Independent Balkan News Agency By Olga Mavrou According to the Greek newspaper “Kathimerini” the Bank of Greece estimates that Greece will have to find about 600 million euros to cope with the refugee crisis this year. This amounts to the 0.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. About 36% of this […]


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Fears rise in Athens that Greek bailout review could stall 

Athens, February 8, 2016/Independent Balkan News Agency By Zacharias Petrou Rumors emerged on Monday that the quadriga of Greece’s creditors could return to Athens after February 18 – the initial plan was for them to return by Feb. 15 – meaning the completion of the Greek bailout review could be significantly delayed. Government sources believe […]


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Little Greek expands in Central Florida

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Greek stocks slump to lowest close since 1990

Greece’s main stock index fell to its lowest close in more than 25 years on Monday. The Athens Stock Exchange General Index dropped 7.9 per cent on the day and is now down more than 26 per cent this year. An index of the country’s banking stocks also ...


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Packaged Facts: Chobani Rejects PepsiCo's Bid For Stake in Greek Yogurt Giant

ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Late last week Greek yogurt titan Chobani announced its decision to reject offers from beverage industry mainstay PepsiCo and other investors for a stake in the company. Several parties propositioned Chobani in ...


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At Least 35 Refugees Die After Boats Capsize on Way to GREECE

At least 35 refugees on their way to GREECE drowned in two separate incidents on Monday, according to reports in Turkish media. The Anadolu and ...


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Boat Sinks Off GREECE, Killing 27 Migrants and Refugees Including 11 Kids

ISTANBUL — Twenty seven migrants and refugees drowned on Monday after their boat sank while trying to reach a Greek island, Turkey's coast ...


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Supreme Leader receives Greek premier

Tehran, Feb 8, IRNA – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met on Monday with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khameni and discussed issues of mutual interests along with regional and global developments. The Greek premier ...


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Migrant boat sinks en route to Greece, 27 dead

Istanbul: Coastguards have confirmed 27 migrants, 11 of them children, drowned off Turkey's Aegean coast as they tried to reach the Greek islands. The news broke as Greece confirmed it would soon have refugee processing centres open, which locals fear will ...


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What will happen when the pope meets the patriarch?

The latest diplomatic coup for Pope Francis I – whose papacy has been marked by an ever-more expansive foreign policy – is the announcement of an interesting development in relations between the Roman Catholic and the Russian Orthodox churches, relations that have been more-or-less non-existent for more than 1000 years. On February 12, Pope Francis – who will be on his way to visit Mexico – will meet Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill at Havana Airport in Cuba. Kirill is not the formal head of the world’s estimated 200m Orthodox Christians – that is his All-Holiness Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch, whose seat is in Istanbul, not Moscow. >  But the Orthodox churches are effectively independent, national units with Bartholomew enjoying only a sort of “primacy of honour” over them – rather like the archbishop of Canterbury over the world-wide Anglican Communion. The Russian Church is easily the largest of the Orthodox churches with more than 80-100m members. Consequently, the Russian Church and its patriarch have enormous influence in the Orthodox world, arguably even more than Bartholomew himself. The Vatican’s relations with Russian Orthodoxy have historically been poor. The papacy was at loggerheads with the Tsars over their treatment of Polish Catholics when Poland was ruled by them. And during World War I, the Vatican feared a possible Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire, leading to a reinvigorated Orthodoxy and the creation of a sort of “Vatican on the Bosphorus”. In 1917 it thought Catholicism could profit from the collapse of Tsardom and the subsequent disestablishment of the Orthodox Church but those hopes were quickly dashed by the Soviets’ “Godless campaigns” which were aimed at all religious groups, not just the Orthodox. The end of the Soviet Union in 1991 did not improve relations between the Catholic and Orthodox churches – on the contrary, the Russian Orthodox Church has consistently accused the Vatican of proselytism, of trying to poach its own faithful, a not entirely unjustified accusation. BONES OF CONTENTION So what will Francis and Kirill talk about? They will seek détente, a general improvement in their relations, but this will be difficult given the highly nationalistic mood of Russian Orthodoxy at the moment. As in previous centuries, many Russian Orthodox prelates are deeply suspicious of Western Europe – Catholic, Protestant and secular – which they see as an area of religious and moral decadence. The schism between eastern and western Christianity, which originated in the 7th and 8th centuries and centres around the dispute over the nature of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, but also in the Orthodox rejection of the Bishop of Rome’s claims to universal primacy over Christians, is still unresolved despite ecumenical gestures on the part of Rome. Another issue between Rome and Moscow is the question of Ukraine. Rome is unhappy about Putin’s annexation of the Crimea and his assistance for the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine which sections of the Orthodox Church have supported with jingoistic fervour. In the western Ukraine, the Greek Catholic Church, which – like the Orthodox – has a married clergy and shares similar liturgical practices, is nevertheless in communion with Rome. No love is lost between the Greek Catholics and the Ukrainian Orthodox. Will Francis and Kirill talk about this thorny problem? One issue which they will certainly discuss and on which they may reach a measure of agreement is the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, though even here the situation is complicated by Putin’s foreign policy objectives in Syria. “OLD MAN IN A HURRY” Pope Francis is 80 this December and has only one lung. He was elected on a reform ticket and so far has succeeded in sorting out the scandal-ridden Vatican Bank – and Vatican finances in general. He has started the process of reforming the Roman curia (the central government of the Catholic Church in the Vatican) and devolving power to local bishops. He has other objectives, including re-establishing diplomatic relations with China and thereby achieving some sort of re-unification of the state-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association and those Chinese Catholics who lie outside the CPA and are therefore subject to occasional governmental repression. Vatican diplomacy also played an important role in bringing about the restoration of diplomatic relations between the USA and Cuba last year. He probably also nurtures hopes of an historic compromise between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches – and his meeting with Kirill may prove to be a step in that direction. It is, however, unlikely to lead to any radical change in the relationship in Francis’ lifetime. This schism runs deep. [The Conversation] _John Pollard receives funding from the British Academy and the Scouloudi Foundation._


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Macedonia builds fence to keep out migrants

The Macedonian army on Monday began building a fence along its border with Greece to prevent migrants from entering the country, according to reports. The fence, which will be more than 30 kilometers long, is being constructed five meters from a fence that was put up in November at the crossing at Gevgelija, a border town in southern Macedonia. “The idea is to send a message to migrants that there is a double fence, so give up crossing illegally,” an army official told the AFP news agency. Since November only migrants fleeing war from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have been allowed access to Macedonia to continue their journey to Western Europe. * [European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker] Also On Politico JUNCKER DROPS GREECE, BETS ON MACEDONIA Florian Eder More than 68,000 refugees have been registered entering Macedonia since the beginning of the year. Police stopped around 4,000 people trying to cross the country illegally last month. EU member states plan to send more border guards to Macedonia’s border with Greece in a bid to stem the flow of migrants. Macedonia in early February introduced restrictions at its border with Greece, only allowing passage to refugees wishing to go to Germany or Austria.


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Which GREEK restaurant is opening its first Georgia location in Kennesaw?

Little GREEK Fresh Grill, a fast-casual GREEK restaurant chain, has announced that it will open its first Georgia location in Kennesaw. The eatery will be ...


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GREEK students bag top prize for nanotech doc

A GREEK video on the nanotechnology employed by local firm Glonatech, a subsidiary of the ONEX Group, has won the top prize in a European student ...


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Deposits trickling back into GREEK accounts

GREEK banks have seen only a trickle of deposit inflows six months after the country clinched a third bailout to stay in the eurozone, and will remain ...


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Cigarettes: Burning a Hole in GREEK Government's Pocket

More people smoke in Greece than in any other European country, Dr Filippos Filippidis, told Sputnik, suggesting that the GREEK government is ...


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Opa! GREEK Fest returns to Charlotte County

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – You might as well call it GREEK Week in Southwest Florida as several GREEK festivals return to the area, including the 23rd ...


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'35 migrants killed' as two boats capsize off Turkey’s Aegean coast

At least 35 migrants have drowned off Turkey's Aegean coast as they tried to flee to Greece, according to Turkish media reports. Two separate boats…


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Minister Koenders: Greece and western Balkans need more support in migration crisis

Speaking in Amsterdam on Saturday at an informal meeting with the foreign ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, foreign minister Bert Koenders argued that Greece needed more support for its fellow EU ...


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We Can Bus The Refugees To Greece’

Leaked documents published today by Euro2day.gr showing the minutes of a meeting between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan and President of the European Council Donald Tusk in October 2015 You ...


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Fear and Loathing of Refugees in Europe

After a year in which Europe's response to a surge in boat migration went from deeply flawed to truly awful, the situation in 2016 has only deteriorated. EU leaders are becoming increasingly shrill, policy proposals ever more unhinged, and dire predictions about the collapse of the European Union itself commonplace. One million asylum seekers and migrants reached Europe by sea last year, and more than 65,000 crossed the Mediterranean in January. The numbers are high but manageable if it weren't for the abysmal failure of collective leadership, with European governments proposing one bad idea after another in what seems to be a panicky scramble to stem the flow at all costs. Bad idea #1: Pay Turkey to keep people there. Late last year, the EU agreed to give Turkey €3 billion to improve conditions for the 2-3 million Syrian refugees Turkey hosts in exchange for stopping people from getting on the boats. The agreement could lead to important improvements in the lives of many, particularly if Turkey fulfills its commitment to grant Syrian refugees the right to work, but it also carries risks. And certainly it makes sense for the EU to provide generous support to countries of first asylum which are struggling to cope with the massive numbers of refugees they are hosting. But, while Turkey has been generous toward Syrian refugees, it has also begun to close off access and push people back into the Syrian war zone. A heavy-handed crackdown on departures could involve gross human rights abuses. So far, of course, the deal with the EU hasn't actually worked, with an average of 2,000 people per day arriving on Greek islands, in the worst winter weather. Now, the leader of one of the parties in the Dutch coalition has proposed that EU countries agree to resettle hundreds of thousands of Syrians per year from Turkey in exchange for an agreement that Turkey take back, automatically, anyone who crosses the Aegean Sea. Never mind that such a move would be illegal under EU and international law and that Turkey doesn't have a functioning asylum system or offer effective protection; imagine the prospect of taking exhausted people landing on beaches in the Greek islands, locking them up, ignoring their pleas for asylum or help, and putting them on the next ferry to Turkey. Bad idea #2: Trap people in Greece. Since last Fall, countries along the land route from Greece have built or reinforced border fences, and periodically closed their borders entirely or to all but a handful of nationalities. Now Slovenia has proposed to virtually seal the Greece-Macedonia border, with Belgium advocating massive detention centers on the Greek side. The European Commission just gave Greece three months to get its act together--reinforce border controls and stop people from traveling onward--or risk being thrown out of Schengen, the open border arrangement shared by many European countries. That sounds a lot like chucking everything off your bedroom floor into the closet and saying you've tidied up. Except we're talking about human beings. Everybody knows that Greece's asylum system is a mess, that most asylum seekers receive no accommodation or assistance whatsoever, and that the country is still in a deep economic crisis. That's why many domestic courts in Europe have blocked efforts to send asylum seekers back to Greece under the EU's Dublin rule, which emphasizes the responsibility of the country of first entry to the EU. Greece has done a lot of things wrong, but trapping hundreds of thousands of people in Greece will create a humanitarian disaster in the EU country probably least able to deal with it. Besides, people will find other routes to reach effective protection further north. The only way to manage migration and refugee flows is with an orderly, collective approach that fully respects the rights of migrants and asylum seekers. The relocation plan agreed by the EU Council last year, to move asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy, would be a start if member states would begin seriously implementing it. Bad idea #3: Make life miserable for those who get here. Denmark just adopted a law allowing it to confiscate assets over €1,340 from asylum seekers to offset the costs of housing and services, and to delay family reunification for three years. Hungary locks up and prosecutes asylum seekers for unauthorized entry into the country. The UK has slashed support for asylum seekers--many of whom are entirely dependent on government aid because they are not allowed to work--by almost one third. Sweden and Germany, known for their generous policies, are moving to limit family reunification. What's completely lost in all of this is not just any sense of compassion but even a grip on reality. Fearmongers talk up the threat of terrorism, but most of the people risking their lives to get to Europe are fleeing the horrors of war in Syria; the brutality of insurgent groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia; or the repression of the Eritrean or Iranian governments. Demagogues thunder that asylum seekers just want to steal jobs or bleed the welfare system dry, but almost everyone acknowledges that the EU needs labor migration, and study after study shows that immigration brings net benefits to societies over the long-term. Xenophobes warn that Europe's cultural identity is at risk, and yet the founding treaty of the EU calls for societies characterized by pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men. That means welcoming refugees, and taking steps to integrate them in a way that respects these values and their identity. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is now paying a political price for her leadership in the refugee crisis, famously said "we can do this" - wir schaffen das - in calling for a reasonable, collective, and compassionate response to the flow of asylum seekers. These days, pretty much all we're hearing from EU leaders is "We just can't cope." There's no doubt that the refugee crisis poses many challenges large and small today and in the years to come. But the EU, one of the richest regions of the world, is surely up to meeting those challenges while also upholding the EU's laws and values. People, we can do this. .. Judith Sunderland is the associate Europe director at Human Rights Watch. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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Greek Bank Shares Crash Due to Political Instability

Bank shares crashed at the Athens stock exchange on Monday, losing 20 percent of their value within hours, due to continuous political instability. Greece is in the midst of violent protests over the building of migrant registration and hospitality centers, while at the same time farmers and most professional groups demonstrate loudly against government policies. In


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BBC2 TV Series to Travel Across Greece in Symi, Crete and Mount Athos

BBC2 released a new travel television series about Greece, which is scheduled to air every Sunday. The series’ host, Simon Reeve will travel across the country in various “exotic” places. The idea for the television series was formed a long time ago ...


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