Nana Mouskouri says Greek-German relations have hit a bad patch but are not fundamentally in danger, in a German newspaper Friday ahead of a tour of the country.
“We know that the Germans are the most important and indispensable group of visitors for our tourism,” Mouskouri, who was born on the island of Crete and lived through the country’s occupation by the Nazis, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
But the 77-year-old polyglot singer said that ties between Greece and Germany were not just about money. Over the years, mutual esteem and trust had built up between the two which, though currently a little clouded, were solid, she said.
In 2010, Mouskouri, who is about to launch a small tour of Germany, offered Athens the pension she gets as a former member of the European parliament in a drive to help it tackle its huge debt crisis.
The trained opera singer served as a member of the European Parliament between 1994 and 1999. (source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Mediterranean Musical Odyssey – Further Discover World Ethnic Music In a Most Unique Interpretation By Eleni & Souzana Vougioukli
Continuing its tradition of bringing to New York very unique and exceptional musical performances, AKTINA Productions, Inc., proudly presents its annual concert entitled, “Mediterranean Musical Odyssey” featuring the amazing singers/musicians from Greece Eleni and Souzana Vougioukli.
The concert will take place on Friday, May 18, 2012 at 8:30pm at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College on East 68th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues in Manhattan, NY celebrating a wide variety of traditional songs from around the Mediterranean and other parts of the world, including the popular “Rembetika” (Greek blues).
Performing with exceptional style and in original ethnic languages, Eleni and Souzana Vougioukli are renowned for their exceptional vocal abilities and for their unique talent of applying the method of using the human voice as a principal musical instrument. They sing in over 20 dialects and languages both “a capella” and/or accompanied by piano, guitar and percussion, instruments which they play themselves. Whether you come from Greece, Cyprus or any other country this concert is for you!
Tickets are on sale now exclusively through AKTINA and at the Greek Music and Video at 25-50 31st Street, Astoria, NY. Affordable ticket prices start as low as $25. Other prices include: $40, $50, $60 and $75. You can order your tickets by phone by calling AKTINA at 718-545-1151. All major cards are accepted. A $5 credit card surcharge and processing fee applies for every ticket purchase. The seating chart is listed online at http://www.aktina.org/upcomingevents.htm. Wheelchair seating is also available. Organizers wish to stress that tickets will not be sold at all at the theatre prior, or the day of the performance. For more information please send an email to aktina@aktina.org.
Watch the concert video promo and also learn more about this concert at www.aktina.org. If you are on Facebook, the event is listed there as well with several performance videos of Eleni and Souzana Vougioukli.
This is the annual benefit concert for our non-profit and commercial-free media outlets AKTINA FM and AKTINA TV broadcasting on New York’s public station WNYE 91.5FM and WNYE Channel 25 respectively. Please support it and please spread the word to others!
AKTINA Productions, Inc., is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 New York-based cultural organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the rich heritage, folklore and culture of Cyprus and Greece. This new concert from the series, GREEK MUSIC JOURNEY is given to benefit the organization’s public service media, AKTINA FM-WNYE 91.5FM and AKTINA TV-WNYE-Channel 25.
This program is made possible in part by Arch Capital Group (U.S.), Inc., and Astoria Federal Savings Bank, Ditmars Branch in Astoria, NY. Media Sponsor: Antenna Satellite.
Although Jennifer is reportedly living one of the best periods in her personal life her career doesn’t go as great.
The actress’ new movie Wanderlust tanked in its opening weekend, debuting at No. 8 with $6.6 million. The film, which also stars her real-life love Justin Theroux, reunited Aniston, 43, with her longtime pal Paul Rudd, 42, her costar in 1998’s The Object of My Affection.
The story of the movie is about an unemployed Manhattan couple who surveys alternative living options, ultimately deciding to experiment with living on a rural commune where free love rules.
Rumor has it that Jennifer Aniston and her long-time boyfriend and co-star Justin Theroux will get married in 2012.
Athens-based Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co. announced on Wednesday its decision to close two of its five production plants in recession-hit Greece.
The dire economic situation of the country has led to a fall of sales for Coca-Cola, which is adjusting to the new reality of the Greek market by moving the plants from Thessaloniki and Patras to Volos, Heraklion and Schimatari.
In its statement, the company said: “The plan to consolidate operations is the result of weakening purchasing power in Greece, which has led to a continuous decrease in sales, especially over the past three years.”
Some 30 people will be affected by the shut downs but the company claimed in its official statement that with this move, it will continue contributing to the Greek economy.
The two Philhellene mayors from Italy met with the Greek Interior Minsiter, Tasos Giannitsis, on Wednesday. The two deputies from Italy are the founders of an initiative aiming which aims to develop a solidarity network for the Greek people and simultaneously create a European-wide network that will re-establish the values of social solidarity and cohesion in the continent.
Baronissi Mayor Giovanni Moscatiello, and Marco Galdi, mayor of Cava de’ Tirreni, were received by the Greek Minister, who emphasized during their meeting that the European countries must cooperate and show solidarity, realism and national responsibility, so as to overcome the crisis.
The Greek Interior Minister also noted that after last week’s crucial decisions taken in Brussels, the gesture of solidarity of the two mayors towards Greece shows that European States and European local communities are giving Greece a chance to recover.
Mr. Giannitsis thanked the two Italian mayors for their symbolic gesture and wished them the best of luck with their work during the difficult times plaguing their country as well.
The Greater Athens Crematorium scheduled to be built in Markopoulos region, Athens, was finally abandoned after persistent negative reactions from citizens and environmentalists opposing the municipality plan.
The plenary decision of the city council on Wednesday evening against the building of a crematorium in Markopoulos was met amidst tension. 19 of the councilors voted against the construction of the crematorium after examining all details of construction and function.
The council hall was somewhat reminiscent of a people’s court, with an audience of average age between 65 and 70 years old, and the 84-year-old Nikitas Vlahos, the man in charge of the opposing mobilization group, submitting a document of 2,500 signatures opposing the crematorium construction plan.
Booing and verbal attacks from the opposition against the scientists supporting the plan led the latter to exit the hall within the first half hour of the meeting.
The main reason behind the strong opposition to the crematorium construction is attributed to the Metropolitan of Mesogaia, Nikolaos, who issued a paper last Decemebr condemning the “doubtful investments” and “the disregard of Greek Orthodox Church traditions” underlying the construction of the crematorium. Moreover, the priests have refused to perform a funeral service to anyone choosing to be cremated.
(Original Story in Greek By Inga Athanasiadou)
Piraeus Port Authority chairman and managing director George Anomeritis announced that an Architectural Competition will be held concerning the restoration of the old building SILO to construct a new Museum of Marine Antiquities.
On July 21st, the Museum Board of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism approved a preliminary report for a new Museum of Marine Antiquities in the building SILO at the “Cultural Coast of Piraeus”.
Moreover, a preliminary report has been also drawn up concerning the gentrification of the whole region from St. Dionysos Street until A. Papandreou Avenue.
Furthermore, the restoration works of an archaeological place that Piraeus Port Authority gave to the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism will begin shortly.
Greece's interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos (L) and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso meeting in Brussels
ATHENS – Greece’s interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos says he gave up his salary as soon as he was appointed three months ago – President Karolos Papoulias did so earlier this month, relinquishing his annual $400,000 pay. Papademos made the revelation following a meeting in Brussels with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, where both rejected the idea floated by Eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker for the European Union to appoint an overseer for Greece’s finances and check how rescue loans are being spent.
Papoulias said he no longer wanted to be paid as part of a “symbolic act of solidarity” with Greeks whose pay has been cut, taxes hiked, pensions slashed and will be fired by the scores of thousands of part of conditions imposed by the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) to get a second bailout of $170 billion. Greece is surviving on a first bailout of $152 billon.
With mistrust running high about Greece – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble earlier recommended an EU budget czar to watch over the country’s finances – Juncker said he wanted a kind of “reconstruction commissioner” to help rebuild the country, but this was taken in Greece to mean a bailout watchdog chief. Papademos, a former ECB Vice-President, said, “The new economic program for Greece will be implemented by the Greek government and the Greek authorities,” adding that Athens “welcomes the support by the European Commission, the commissioners and the Commission’s services – and I think this is sufficient.”
He was meeting with Barroso and EU leaders to discuss Greece’s still sluggish economy after reports it would shrink 4.4 percent this year despite the bailouts as many analysts said continued austerity measures would deepen a recession in its fifth year, which has brought near 21 percent unemployment – 48 percent for those under 25 – and shuttered more than 111,000 businesses. The second bailout requires Greece to cut the minimum wage up to 32 percent, fire 150,000 workers over the next three years, and cut $4.4 billion more this year, which means slashing pay again as well as pensions, pharmaceuticals and even the once sacred cow of defense. Without the new deal, Greece would have been unable to meet an $18.2 billion loan payment on March 20 nor pay its workers and pensioners. Labor unions have protested and transport shut down for 24 hours on March 1.
Barroso said he thought the first bailout round came with austerity measures that were too tough and that Greece needs to make more use of EU structural funds that have sat dormant. He said that the Greek crisis is a “priority for the commission; not only for one commissioner.” The “crucial part” of implementing reforms is in the hands of the Greek authorities, he said. “It is an illusion to think that someone outside Greece is going to solve the problems of Greece,” Barroso said.
(Sources: Kathimerini, Bloomberg)
Documentary photographer and educator Audrey Gottlieb will have her photographs of the Greek Islands and Cyprus on display at Just Us Chickens Gallery for the month of March.
Audrey studied at the School of Visual Arts and ICP in New York City and currently teaches and lectures on a freelance basis. She has had images exhibited at the Smithsonian, the Jewish Museum and Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Audrey will transform the visiting artist space at Just Us Chickens Gallery into an old stone house on a Greek Island with objets d’art such as copper pots and lamps, embroideries and rugs.
Also on display will be her black and white photographs, hand-colored photographs, C-prints and digital prints. She will have sizes ranging from small greeting cards to framed wall prints.
An Artist’s Reception will be held on Saturday, March 3, 2-5 p.m. at Just Us Chickens Gallery, 9 Walker Street, Kittery, Maine (1-207-439-4209). For more information, visit www.facebook.com/justuschickensgallery.
Euro-zone ministers will have a follow up discussion next week to make a final decision on the second Greek bailout package, Finland and Germany’s finance ministers said Thursday.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said the teleconference to approve a second Greek package would likely happen next Friday after the deadline for the Greek debt swap.
“There are still a few things that we have to evaluate, but we were able to make a positive decision in principle so that we can release the funds that are required for the debt swap,” he told reporters.
“Beyond that, we will decide on releasing funds from the second Greek program when the results of the debt swap have been evaluated. Greece has made a lot of progress and is well on the way,” he said.
European economic affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said he thinks the worst is over for Greece. “I’d say that a very important step has been taken today, following the private sector action, towards reaching the program crucial to putting the Greek economy back on a sustainable path and create growth.”
Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said that “I myself, and all my colleagues, were very pleased” with Greece’s progress on the measures it had pledged to implement to win a second bailout program. They were briefed earlier Thursday in Brussels by Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos.
She said a teleconference between the finance ministers and Greece has been scheduled for next week, where the Greek minister has been asked to go into further details. The final green light for as much as €93.5 billion ($125 billion)—which Greece needs to implement the debt swap—will come next week. (source: Dow Jones)
Nana Mouskouri says Greek-German relations have hit a bad patch but are not fundamentally in danger, in a German newspaper Friday ahead of a tour of the country.
The two Philhellene mayors from Italy met with the Greek Interior Minsiter, Tasos Giannitsis, on Wednesday. The two deputies from Italy are the founders of an initiative aiming which aims to develop a solidarity network for the Greek people and simultaneously create a European-wide network that will re-establish the values of social solidarity and cohesion in the continent.
