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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

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Bulgaria Ready to Build Fence on Border with Greece to Stop Migrants – Defence Minister

… fence along its border with Greece to tackle a potential increase … to cross into Bulgaria from Greece, Nenchev said. That number can …  Bulgaria from Greece after Macedonia sealed off its border with Greece last …


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On the road with migrants in Greece

… migrants through its border with Greece, blocking the main route for … is at Idomeni on the Greek- Macedonian border.


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Western Balkans route sealed off

One day after the EU summit in Brussels, Slovenia and Croatia have halted immediately the transit of refugees through their countries. Greece meanwhile welcomed the EU-Turkey deal reached on Monday, but some Eastern countries already pointed out that they might not fully comply with the terms. One day after the EU-Turkey summit, where the EU […]


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Greece 'deliberately' exploited migrants: Research

Successive GREEK governments have deliberately adopted lax border controls in order to reap the benefits of exploitable labor, a new piece of ...


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From Alpha to Omega: The GREEK Alphabet

Have you ever been talking to members of GREEK Life and find yourself saying “What is that?” when they use terms like quota, sweetheart, and little?


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Benefit set for American Farm School in Greece

GREENWICH — It’s nearly 5,000 miles from Greenwich to the nation of Greece, but the sun-swept nation where democracy was born will feel much closer when a benefit is held at the Millbrook Club Saturday to raise funds for scholarships at the American ...


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Europe effectively shuts its borders, stranding thousands

[A man holds a child covered in a blanket while waiting in line for food during rainfall at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. Despair and confusion spread through the camp at the Greek-Macedonian border as thousands of stranded refugees were forced to acknowledge that the route through Europe that had carried their hopes and dreams was now shut. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)]IDOMENI, Greece (AP) — After welcoming hundreds of thousands of people into its heartland, Europe seems to be finally closing its doors.


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Pentagon unveils plans for 'avatar' fighter jets and swarms of microdrones

[f-16]US Air Force High over Alaska last summer, the Pentagon experimented with new, secret prototypes: Micro-drones that can be launched from the flare dispensers of moving F-16s and F/A-18 fighter jets. Canisters containing the tiny aircraft descended from the jets on parachutes before breaking open, allowing wings on each drone to swing out and catch the wind. Inch-wide propellers on the back provided propulsion as they found one another and created a swarm. The experiment was run by the secretive Strategic Capabilities Office, a Pentagon organization launched in summer 2012 to figure out how to best counter growing strategic threats from China and Russia. The specifics of what the mini-drones can do are classified, but they could be used to confuse enemy forces and carry out surveillance missions using equipment that costs much less than full-sized unmanned aircraft. Video reviewed by The Washington Post shows the tiny aircraft, which weigh about a pound each, moving in packs and gaining situational awareness after sitting inert in the flare canisters. WATCH AN F-16 DEPLOY THE MICRODRONES IN THE FOOTAGE BELOW: RAW Embed SCO's staff labored in the shadows since its inception, with virtually everything it did withheld from the American public. But the shroud of secrecy was lifted partially in recent weeks. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter for the first time disclosed last month the existence of some of the office's projects while previewing his proposed 2017 budget. He called for $902 million in funding for SCO in 2017 -- nearly twice what it received this year, and 18 times what it started with. [irans drones]US Air Force Carter's disclosures raised some questions in the Pentagon about whether he had revealed classified information while previewing his 2017 budget. But in a rare interview, the director of SCO said the secretary sought a green light to disclose snippets of the mini-drone experiment in Alaska and a few other programs as part of a broader effort to get the attention of potential adversaries. "I have been in the classified, black world for my whole career, so all of this is new for me and I really wish I could go back," said the director, William Roper, a physicist who previously worked in missile defense. "You can't win wars if everything is outside the doors, but you can't deter wars if everything is behind them." The story of SCO -- pronounced "Skoh" -- is one that underscores the Pentagon's efforts to move beyond more than a decade of counterterrorism operations and combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to prepare for new strategic threats. The office initially called the Pentagon home, but was later moved a few miles away to a larger space in the same building in Virginia that houses the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), perhaps the Defense Department's best known agency focused on futuristic technology. [DARPA drone]US Air Force But DARPA and SCO are different organizations with different missions, both Roper and DARPA officials said. DARPA, created during the Cold War in 1958, is focused on looking for ways to revolutionize military operations with new inventions and technology. It has an annual budget of about $3 billion. SCO is charged with creating new "trick plays" for the Pentagon through creativity and engineering, using old weapons, teaming existing equipment together or adding new commercial technology. Roper, 36, compared the US military to a top football team that has been closely studied for years by opponents who want to exploit potential weaknesses they have observed. "Football teams — great football teams, dynasties — don't throw out their playbook when that happens," he said. "They say, 'Alright, well, my opponents have optimized against what I do today, so I've got to get surprise and get trickery back on my side.' So they weave trick plays into their playbooks. They start running when it looks like they're going to pass, and pass when it looks like they're going to run. They force their opponent to play honestly by catching them off-guard early in the game. I think that analogue holds very well for us." DARPA's director, Arati Prabhakar, said in a statement that SCO's focus on addressing immediate needs adds to a robust research ecosystem that includes both the public and private sectors. "In a world of fast-morphing technologies and diverse threats, no single military capability or tech development strategy is going to ensure our national security," she said. [eric schmidt]US Air Force SCO's public emergence comes as the Pentagon continues to look for new ways to adapt more quickly. Last week, the Defense Department announced it would establish a new Defense Innovation Advisory Board run by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. It also opened an office in Silicon Valley last spring to strengthen relationships with technology companies there, who have historically not collaborated much with the Defense Department. SCO was "essentially built around one smart guy" -- Roper -- who impressed Carter several years ago, the defense secretary said last week while in San Francisco. Carter, then the deputy defense secretary, challenged Roper to tackle problems confronting the Pentagon and he "found solution after solution after solution," the secretary recalled. "All of our service chiefs, our Joint Chiefs of Staff, love the guy because he's providing real solutions," Carter said. "So there are ways that you can be an exception to what I know is the rule of the government: [being] ponderous." [f-35c f/a 18]US Air Force The belief, Roper said, is that US troops are bright enough to find new ways to use existing weapons. And some plans are extremely ambitious: One new project not previously reported is called Avatar, and calls for the Pentagon to pair high-tech "fifth-generation" fighter jets like the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with unmanned versions of older jets like the F-16 Fighting Falcon or F/A-18 Hornet, which would be flown without a pilot for the first time. The Avatar effort was previously called Skyborg by SCO and is known as "the Loyal Wingman" concept in the Air Force, Roper said. The program will require unmanned fighters to act with enough autonomy that the pilot in the manned jet doesn't have to direct them all the time. "There will be a lot of questions on safety, on reliability of the links between the planes," Roper said. "All of these things have to be resolved. Bringing up that point is exactly what we try to infuse in the folks in our office. If there's a question where you say, 'Oh, we can worry about that later…' Nope, we're going to worry about that now." Another early concept is adapting the Navy's Standard Missile-6 to be able to strike enemy ships. The missiles, filed vertically from the decks of destroyers and cruisers, were originally envisioned to intercept ballistic missiles high in the atmosphere, but are now considered dual-use following a recent experiment by the Navy. [sm 6 missile uss dewey rocket blast off]US Air Force The office also has worked on a concept known as Arsenal Plane. It calls for an undisclosed plane to carry a variety of weapons that can be directed by nearby stealth fighters like the F-22. The Pentagon wants to build a prototype next year, and says it could be ready for combat by the 2020s, Roper said. "We don't have to develop new planes," Roper said. "We don't have to develop fundamentally new weapons. But we have to work the integration and the concept of operation. And then you have a completely new capability, but you don't have to wait long at all." The office currently has six full-time government employees and about 20 contractors, Roper said. Many details about the organization remain classified, but it receives technical support from several contractors who specialize in part on simulation and modeling, including Modern Technology Solutions Inc., in Alexandria, Va., and Science Applications International Corp. in McLean, Va. [hawg a 10 warthog]US Air Force The mini-drones were tested over Alaska last year as part of the military exercise Northern Edge, which focuses on training for crises in the Pacific. The program is named after Perdix, a character in Greek mythology who was changed into a partridge by the god Athena. It costs about $20 million, Roper said. The drones are constructed using 3-D printing -- important considering the specific size needed to launch them through an aircraft's flare dispenser and the toughness needed to survive such a violent birth. Roper said SCO has been testing the mini-drones since 2014, but last year's experiment during Northern Edge showed that they can find each other while airborne and create a swarm. Perdix drones were tested 150 times during the exercise in Alaska, including 72 from fighter jets. They also can be launched from the ground by US troops, either with a slingshot-like launcher or by hurling them. RAW Embed NOW WATCH: This military tradition calls for swimming where no human has ever swum before


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Greek Banks Further Cut Borrowing from ECB, ELA in February

Greek banks in February further reduced their dependence on borrowing from the European Central Bank and the Emergency Liquidity Assistance mechanism of the Bank of Greece. The central bank said that borrowing from these mechanisms at the end of February ...


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Macedonia to stop allowing migrants through border with Greece

Macedonia has said it will no longer let any illegal migrants through its border with Greece, effectively blocking the Balkan route north. The decision came after Slovenia barred access to migrants transiting the country, and Croatia and Serbia then said ...


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GREEK-Israeli stamps mark quarter century of friendship

“It is another example of the GREEK-Israeli friendship, reflecting the historical ties, the multifaceted cooperation and the cultural affinity of the two ...


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Greece: Utopian Land radio premiere tomorrow

The Greek national broadcaster, ERT, has officially confirmed that the country’s song for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest will be entitled Utopian land. Making its premiere tomorrow, Argo will present the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest ...


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Greek restaurant Saloniki, from chef Jody Adams and crew, to open March 14

The Fenway gets an authentic, fast-casual Greek sandwich shop on March 14. Chief culinary officer Jody Adams and partners Jonathan Mendez and Eric Papachristos will open Saloniki (4 Kilmarnock St. at Van Ness Street), which serves sandwiches, plates, and ...


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Nancy Papaioannou Lauded at AGAPW Woman of Year Fete

  NEW YORK – The Association of Greek American Professional Women AGAPW celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8 by presenting Atlantic Bank President Nancy Papaioannou with its “Greek American Woman of the Year” and presenting an Excellence Tuition Scholarship to Madelein Ball at a reception in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Club. The men and women who filled […]


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Three Priceless Scythian Artefacts at New Acropolis Museum

The New Acropolis Museum this week will receive and exhibit three priceless artefacts from St. Petersburg’s Heritage Museum, namely, a trio of golden objects from the famed museum’s Scythian Treasures collection. The pieces are a precursor of a larger exhibition at Greece’s pre-eminent museum to celebrate the “Year of Russia in Greece”. As part of […]


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Winning the Greek Vote

  Whoever the Democrat and Republican nominees for the presidency of the United States ultimately will be, one thing is for sure: every vote will count. Therefore, if ever the privilege to vote was a precious right and honor – and a duty – it certainly is in this election. A recent New York Times […]


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Report: 9 Areas Creditors Want Resolved Before Approving Bailout Review

Representatives of institutional creditors returned to Athens on Wednesday for resumed negotiations with the leftist Greek government in order to finally conclude the first review of the current bailout program, the third consecutive memorandum. Wednesday’s meeting between Greek FinMin Euclid Tsakalotos and the creditors merely touched on the time-frame of negotiations and deadlines, with another […]


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Macedonia officially closes border with Greece

Skopje, Mar 9 (EFE) .- The Republic of Macedonia officially announced on Wednesday the closure of its border with Greece after two days in which the border was sealed and no migrants managed to cross. The Macedonian interior minister said that no migrant ...


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Fewer GREEK households have power cut off in 2015

The number of households in Greece that had their power cut off last year due to not paying their electricity bills fell considerably, according to figures ...


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ELA for GREEK banks drops again

Emergency central bank funding to GREEK lenders fell by 1.2 percent or 850 million euros in February compared to the previous month, Bank of Greece ...


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Protests at GREEK-Macedonian border as Balkans migrant route “closed”

Migrants blocked at the GREEK-Macedonian border protest at the closing of borders along the Balkans route that leads to Europe. Macedonian officials ...


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The Morally Bankrupt EU-Turkey Refugee Deal Aids and Abets Human Rights Violations

ISTANBUL -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is taking advantage of the refugee crisis in Europe to obtain the European Union's support for his own authoritarian regime. The 2.5 million refugees in Turkey are the ultimate trump card for Erdogan. He's the one calling the shots. A meeting in October between Erdogan and the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission resulted in a shady deal by which the release of an EU progress report for Turkey -- which contained serious criticisms of Erdogan's party -- would be delayed for Erdogan's sake. The European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, even seemed willing to overlook Turkey's diminishing freedom of the press and human rights. Even so, Erdogan acted insulted by the EU's offer of 3 billion euros in financial aid, noting that Greece, during its own crisis, had received 400 billion euros in aid. He then threatened to "open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria" and "put the refugees on buses" into Europe. All of this may explain why Angela Merkel, the leader of the most powerful country in the EU, has met five times with Turkey's leaders in recent months. On Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, negotiating once more with EU leaders in Brussels about the refugees, succeeded in doubling the EU's offer from 3 billion to 6 billion euros. In addition, the EU may lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens traveling to Europe's Schengen zone. In return, Turkey will allow NATO access to its territorial waters to stem the flow of refugees and will also readmit some of the refugees who have traveled to Europe. > Europe is unwise to trust Erdogan, given his long history of > political opportunism. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has expressly stated that the deal struck between Turkey and the EU -- which would send refugees in Europe back to Turkey -- runs counter to international law and the European Convention on Human Rights. Nonetheless, the German minister of the interior, Thomas de Maizière, has defended his government's current policy vis-à-vis Turkey, declaring, "We cannot be the world's arbiter regarding human rights." For the moment, it seems, both Brussels and Ankara are satisfied with the deal. But both sides are aware that Erdogan can always wrest new concessions from the EU by threatening to flood Europe with refugees. With this deal, the EU also turns a blind eye to Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian rule. Under the current Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government, anyone deemed an enemy of the state -- including journalists, politicians, businessmen and academics -- is fair game for prosecution. Recently, _Cumhuriyet_, one of the country's most venerable newspapers, reported on the AKP's shipments of arms to jihadis in Syria. Erdogan then denounced the paper's editor-in-chief, Can Dundar, and its Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul, declaring that those responsible for the story would "pay a heavy price" for it. On Erdogan's orders, Dündar and Gül were arrested and charged with espionage, then held in custody for 92 days until the constitutional court ruled their detention unlawful. Upon their release, the Turkish president expressed his contempt for the rule of law, stating that he was "unwilling to abide by or respect the court's decision." The AKP government has likewise targeted academics critical of its policies. Since July, clashes in the Southeast between Turkey's security forces and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, have become more and more deadly. Well over 100 civilians have lost their lives, while thousands are eking out a precarious existence amidst weeks-long curfews. > Both sides are aware that Erdogan can always wrest new concessions > from the EU by threatening to flood Europe with refugees. In January, a total of 1,128 Turkish and foreign academics signed a petition calling attention to this humanitarian crisis. Erdogan castigated the academics as "traitors," giving the go-ahead for a judicial inquiry. Those under investigation face potential penalties ranging from six months to two years in prison. At the same time, a motion has been submitted to Parliament to lift immunity for five deputies from the Kurdish People's Democratic Party, the HDP, on the grounds of "being members of a terrorist organization." The AKP's crackdown on journalists reached a new milestone last week, when the government took over one of Turkey's best-selling newspapers, _Zaman_, which is known to have ties to the Gülen movement, a Turkish religious and cultural organization. The government also arrested the owners of the Boydak Group, one of Turkey's largest furniture manufacturers, which is likewise affiliated with the Gülenists. The charges were the same in both cases: setting up a terrorist organization in order to overthrow the Turkish state. As in Stalin's Russia, almost everyone in Turkey whom Erdogan labels a "traitor" is soon tried and put behind bars. However, in eliminating threats to his own rule, Erdogan has been opportunistic rather than capricious. When Erdogan and the AKP came to power in 2002, the biggest obstacles they faced were Turkey's pro-secular judiciary and its military, which had carried out four coups since 1960. Abroad, with his promises of "advanced democracy," Erdogan enjoyed the support of the EU and the U.S. > As in Stalin's Russia, almost everyone in Turkey whom Erdogan labels > a 'traitor' is soon tried and put behind bars. At home, Erdogan had the backing of the Gülen movement, which had long ensconced itself in Turkey's police force and judiciary. He had little trouble clipping the military's wings through show-trials of hundreds of officers, including dozens of generals. Gülenist assistance also made it easier for Erdogan to replace secular-minded judges in all high-level judicial bodies. Years later, when some Gülenists alleged corruption in Erdogan's government, he instantly reversed course and branded his closest ally a "terrorist organization." Erdogan has taken a similar approach to the PKK, with which Turkey has been at war for more than 30 years. During a ceasefire that lasted from 2013 to 2015, Erdogan held peace talks with imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan; he also turned a blind eye to the PKK's stockpiling of weapons in Turkish cities and refused to let a trigger-happy army carry out anti-PKK operations. When the talks fell through in July 2015, however, Erdogan was transformed overnight from peacemaker to warmonger. From that point forward, anyone who campaigned for peace was considered a "terrorist" in Erdogan's eyes. Erdogan's political maneuvering has followed a consistent pattern over his 14 years in power: form temporary alliances of convenience, negotiate with opponents when it suits him to do so, then turn on old partners once their purpose has been served. Evidence of Erdogan's mercurial nature can be seen as far back as the 1990s, when he famously declared democracy to be "a means, not an end;" a decade later, he was preaching about "advanced democracy" in order to quash opposition in the military and judiciary. Europe is unwise to trust Erdogan, given his long history of political opportunism. > With this refugee crisis, we are witnessing the decline of another > European 'empire,' brought about by its own moral bankruptcy. At the same time, the EU's own foreign policy record over the past five years has been shameful. Following the Arab Uprisings, it helped overthrow the Muammar Gaddafi regime by bombing Libya, only to leave the country in ruins. In Syria, it allowed Turkey and the Gulf countries to arm the opposition, escalating civil demonstrations into a civil war. Now the EU is making under-the-table deals with Turkey in an attempt to solve the very refugee crisis it helped create. In caving to blackmail from unscrupulous partners and in refusing to take consistent, moral stances, the EU is betraying its founding principles of democracy and individual liberty. A millennium and a half ago, the Western Roman Empire collapsed due to waves of nomadic incursions. Today, with this refugee crisis, we are witnessing the decline of another European "empire," brought about by its own moral bankruptcy. _EARLIER ON WORLDPOST:_ -- 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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Plant-based Greek cooking class set for March 19

… . Learn how to spin traditional Greek fare into deliciously healthy eats … , moussaka with cauliflower bechamel and Greek fries with lemon vinaigrette. The … spot, go to yogitrition.com/greek-night-january-17/ or call Kim White at …


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CoE representative says EU must help Greece with refugees

Google to be fined by EU in antitrust... Greece cannot carry by itself all the burden of the refugee crisis and the EU must show its solidarity both on a legal and practical level, the special representative of the Council of Europe’s secretary general ...


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Refugees in Greek Camp Fight Anxiety, Illness, Boredom

For the refugees camped out on the Greek-Macedonian border, the day begins with hope – as it has every day has for weeks. Maybe today the Macedonians will open the border. Maybe today it won’t rain and clothes and tents can be dried out. Maybe today ...


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APTOPIX Greece Migrants Ai Weiwei

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei visits the Greek border camp near Idomeni, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. Ai Weiwei has visited the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greek-Macedonian border, where about 14,000 people, mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees, have ...


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Kurdish officials say ISIS used 'poisonous substances' in village shelling

[Members of the Kurdish security forces inspect the site of bomb attack in Kirkuk January 30, 2015. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed]Thomson Reuters More than 40 people suffered partial choking and skin irritation in northern Iraq as mortar shells and Katyusha rockets filled with "poisonous substances" exploded in their village on Tuesday evening, fired from positions held by Islamic State, local officials said on Wednesday. None of the casualties died and five of them remain in hospital, said health officials in Taza, a mainly Shi'ite Turkmen village 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the oil city of Kirkuk, in a region under Kurdish control. "There were poisonous substances in these shells. We don't know what," Kirkuk province governor Najmuddin Kareem told reporters on visit to the village on Wednesday. A total of 24 shells and rockets were fired into Taza from the nearby Bashir area, said Wasta Rasul, a commander of the Kurdish peshmerga forces in the region. _(Reporting by Mustafa Mahmoud and Isabel Coles; Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Dominic Evans)_ NOW WATCH: IAN BREMMER: Greece is headed for a humanitarian disaster


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'Here there are no children any more. Only small adults'

[Syria ceasefire]REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail Sick children dying as lifesaving medicine waits at checkpoints, youngsters forced to survive on animal feed and leaves, and families burning their mattresses just to find something to keep them warm. Schools moving underground for shelter from barrel bombs, the crude, explosive-filled and indiscriminate crates that fall from the sky and are so inaccurate that some observers have said their use is a de facto war crime. The wounded left to die for lack of medical supplies, anaesthetics, painkillers and chronic medicine; children dying of malnutrition and even rabies due to the absence of vaccines, while landmines and snipers await anyone trying to escape. The scenes are not from second world war death camps or Soviet gulags. They are the reality of life for more than a million Syrians living in besieged areas across the war-torn nation, according to a report by Save the Children. Tanya Steele, the charity’s chief executive, said: “Children are dying from lack of food and medicines in parts of Syria just a few kilometres from warehouses that are piled high with aid. They are paying the price for the world’s inaction.” At least a quarter of a million children are living in besieged areas across Syria, Save the Children estimates, in conditions that the charity describes as living in an open-air prison. The report is based on a series of extensive interviews and discussions with parents, children, doctors and aid workers on the ground in besieged zones. [syria]REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail It illustrates with startling clarity the brutality with which the conflict in Syria is being conducted, five years into a revolution-turned-civil-war that has displaced half the country and killed more than 400,000 people. The suffering of people in besieged areas in Syria is also an indictment of the failure of the international community to bring an end to the crisis. Less than 1% of them were given food assistance in 2015 and less than 3% received healthcare. Rihab, a woman living in eastern Ghouta near Damascus, which has been besieged by Bashar al-Assad’s regime, was quoted as saying: “Fear has taken control. Children now wait for their turn to be killed. Even adults live only to wait for their turn to die.” A truce negotiated last month by major powers was supposed to bring relief and aid into the besieged areas, but humanitarian workers and activists say the Assad government, which is conducting the vast majority of siege warfare in the country, has repeatedly delayed access, potentially in violation of the truce agreement. [syrian refugees macedonia]REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail The halting ceasefire has therefore brought scarce relief to what agencies including Médecins Sans Frontières estimate are 1.9 million people living in besieged and hard to reach areas. Nearly all those surveyed by Save the Children reported that children had died in their communities due to a lack of medication caused by the siege. Many had cut down their meals and some did not have enough for even one meal a day, while 25% reported that local children had died from a lack of food. The report documents other tragedies of life under siege: an increase in sexual violence, child labour, petty crime, violence and school closures as a consequence of airstrikes and material shortages. [Syrian refugees wait on a roadside after Turkish police prevented them from sailing off to the Greek island of Farmakonisi by dinghies, near a beach in the western Turkish coastal town of Didim, Turkey, March 9, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas]REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail Ahmed, a boy living in the besieged Damascus suburb of Douma, told interviewers: “When I hear the sound of a shell or a plane then I get very afraid and I hurry to escape and hide under my bed.” Rihab said: “Here there are no children any more. Only small adults.”RAW Embed NOW WATCH: Watch this heartbreaking eyewitness account of the Syrian refugee crisis in Greece


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Alternate FM Xydakis meets with António Guterres (Lisbon, 9 March 2016)

The Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, met in Lisbon today with Portugal’s candidate for the position of UN Secretary-General, António Guterres.Mr. Guterres set out for Mr. Xydakis his candidacy for the position of UN Secretary-General. The discussion, which took place in a friendly atmosphere, focussed on issues of common concern to Greece and Portugal, as well as on the latest developments in the refugee and migration crisis, a priority issue for the two countries as well as the European Union.Mr. Guterres noted that Greece is under pressure from a lack of solidarity in the management of the...


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UNIVERSAL PICTURES, GOLD CIRCLE ENTERTAINMENT, HBO AND PLAYTONE PRESENT THE PREMIERE OF MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 arrives in theaters nationwide on Friday, March 25, 2016. http://www.mybigfatgreekweddingmovie.com View photo Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130128/LA49757LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire ...


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Turkey and Greece to work together on refugee situation

That means Serbia will act accordingly and close its borders with Macedonia and Bulgaria for those who do not have valid documents. They accused the government of backing the European Union plans, which they said would weaken global protection for refugees ...


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The Latest: Greece: Refugees at border should move to camps

Greece's public order minister says refugees living in a squalid camp at the country's border with Macedonia must accept that the border is shut and move to organized facilities. Nikos Toskas says the country can provide better conditions in other camps ...


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Fantasy basketball stock report: The GREEK Freak's all-around excellence

In his last five games, The GREEK Freak is averaging 21 points, 9.6 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 2.8 steals and 2.0 blocks per contest. He's one of the game's ...


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Greece&Institutions to draw up economic review plan for week

EU-US: Negotiations on TTIP will continue into... The heads of the institutions' missions in Athens and the government's economic team will have another meeting on Thursday at 5:00 pm, a senior source within Greece's economic team revealed on Wednesday.


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Background checks for first seven refugees

TALLINN - A total of seven refugees staying in Greece have agreed to be relocated to Estonia and their backgrounds are being checked at the mome......


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Prepare For More Portokalos Nuptials With This 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2' Clip

There will soon be another big, fat, Greek wedding to behold. In the sequel to the 2002 runaway hit, the elder members of the Portokalos clan -- Gus (Michael Constantine) and Maria (Lainie Kazan) -- realize their marriage certificate was never signed.


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Aunt Voula Takes Charge in This Exclusive 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2' Clip

The Portokalos family is back, bigger and Greeker than ever, in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2," due in theaters later this month. And as we see in this new clip, premiering today on Moviefone, not too much has changed with Toula's (Nia Vardalos) flamboyant ...


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Today’ meanders with ‘Greek Wedding’ design

NBC News‘ “Today Show” has pulled out a timeless Greek design motif for its “My Big Fat Today Wedding” series. The series, which is a not-so-subtle cross promotion with NBCUniversal’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” is featuring couples of ...


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Best Bites: Green Mountain Farms GREEK Cream Cheese

Green Mountain combines the flavors of cream cheese and GREEK yogurt for a delicious spread that's perfectly creamy. If you love cream cheese, this ...


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GREEK SMEs and the EU common market: Recognizing opportunities

As the GREEK economy enters its seventh consecutive year of recession, there are many medium-sized enterprises – with less than 250 employees as ...


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Greek MEP booted out for calling Turks ‘wild dogs’

Parliament president orders Golden Dawn MEP to leave after racist outburst.


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European Council decides on emergency support for Greece

The Council of the European Union on Wednesday agreed on an emergency support mechanism to help Greece in response to the humanitarian situation caused by the refugee crisis, according to a European Council press release. This will enable the EU to help ...


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Greece's Piraeus Bank posts Q4 loss, bad debt provisions surge

Piraeus, which is 26.2 percent owned by the country's bank rescue fund HFSF after its recapitalisation late last year, reported a loss of 1.238 billion euros ($1.36 billion) versus net profit of 495 million euros in the third quarter of 2015. The group ...


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Macedonia says no migrant entries since Monday

[Migrants look through a fence at the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni on March 3, 2016]Not a single migrant has entered Macedonia for the past two days, police said Wednesday, but denied that the country had closed its border with Greece entirely.


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Kava Neo-Taverna Brings Greece to the South End this Spring

When the team behind Trattoria Newbury got ahold of a prime Union Park spot across from the South End Buttery, they initially planned to open another Italian restaurant. According to the owners, however, the space just “felt more Greek,” and from ...


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The 25 highest-paying jobs in America in 2016

[Greece Greek Pharmacist Drugs]REUTERS/John Kolesidis Unsurprisingly, doctors and lawyers are in the top echelon when it comes to pay. But as a new report from Glassdoor proves, there are plenty of other routes to high earnings that don't involve litigating or blood. "This report reinforces that high pay continues to be tied to in-demand skills, higher education, and working in jobs that are protected from competition or automation," says Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor's chief economist. "This is why we see several jobs within the technology and healthcare industries." Based on salary reports shared by employees with these jobs on Glassdoor over the past year, here are the 25 high-paying jobs in the US, the current number of job openings, and what these people do: wavebreakmedia/shutterstock 25. INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER MEDIAN BASE SALARY: $106,000 NUMBER OF JOB OPENINGS: 147 An information systems manager learn about new technology and look for ways to upgrade their organization’s computer systems. 24. ANALYTICS MANAGER MEDIAN BASE SALARY: $106,000 NUMBER OF JOB OPENINGS: 988 An analytics manager performs business and financial analysis to help the company measure its success and predict its needs. 23. DESIGN MANAGER MEDIAN BASE SALARY: $106,500 NUMBER OF JOB OPENINGS: 510 A design manager works to optimize design and deliver a product. They will collaborate with a product manager on internal and external design and budget issues. SEE THE REST OF THE STORY AT BUSINESS INSIDER


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Western Balkans countries close borders to migrants

The western Balkans route is the main route taken by migrants heading from Greece to northern Europe.          


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Foreign Minister Mardas to visit Istanbul (10-13 March 2016)

The Deputy Foreign Minister for International Economic Relations, Dimitris Mardas, will carry out a visit to Istanbul from 10 to 13 March, for a series of meetings and talks with entrepreneurs and sectoral agencies of the neighbouring country. His visit will take place following the 4th meeting of the Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council, which took place on 8 March, in Izmir.On Thursday, 10 March, Mr. Mardas will visit His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and he will then address the members of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).On Friday, 11 March, Mr. Mardas will meet with...


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Turkey denies begging the EU for money in migrant deal

[More than a million people have crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey into Greece since the start of 2015]Turkey's foreign minister on Wednesday rejected the idea Ankara was "begging" the EU for money, after it dramatically doubled its demand for funding during crunch talks on Europe's migrant crisis.


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How Mata's GREEK Pizza & Grinders became Alabama's Best Pizza

So she ignored the naysayers, and she and her husband opened Mata's GREEK Pizza & Grinders in the old Pasquales building on Quintard Avenue.


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