Obviously, most comments regarding Greece have not been very flattering lately, due to the country’s crisis and ailing economy; yet there are still various examples of Greek people succeeding in their lives and efforts, and thus gathering positive attention.
This time it is a young rhythmic gymnastics female athlete, Varvara Filiou, that has become the centre of attention despite the fact that she did not make it to the finals.
Her picture (see left) taken during a test event at the gymnastics premises of North Greenwich Arena that will host the Olympic Gymnastics of 2012 has covered the front page of UK daily newspaper “The Telegraph”.
The Telegraph article includes other impressive photo shoots of Austrian athlete Nicole Ruprecht, Mexican Cynthia Valdez, German Jana-Berezko-Marggrander and Swiss Daria Kondakova.
In cooperation with the Greek Embassy in Beijing and the Embassy’s press and communication office, a traditional Greek dance group from Trikala, a city in central Greece, will perform at the Chaoyank International Spring Festival (New Year’s celebrations) in Beijing.
The Chinese celebrations will begin on January 23 and end on January 28. With this event, China celebrates 2012 as the year of the Golden Dragon, according to the Chinese calendars.
The Greek dance group will present the Greek myths and cultural traditions connected to dragons, such as the Golden Fleece of the Argonauts, the first battles between Gods and Titans, and will present the cultural differences found between the two countries in terms of the dragons’ symbolism.
The Greek dance group has represented the cultural traditions of Greece in several other events in the past.
The eminent Professor Rudolf Fritz of the Department of Mathematics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich will hold a lecture on the 25th of January at the central hall of the university. The lecture will be titled ‘ Constantine Karatheodori (1873-1950): Engineer and Mathematician from Nile to Isar’.
Professor Rudolf Fritz is widely known for having conducted a lot of research on the life and work of the Greek mathematician Constantine Karatheodori.
The Bavaria Church Head Priest, Apostolos Malamousis from Greece, emphasizes that the Greek mathematician was strongly associated with Hellenism in Munich.
In 1924 Constantine Karatheodori was declared a Professor following Lindeman at University of Munich. In 1938 he retired from Professorship, but continued working for the Bavarian Academy of Science.
Karatheodori’s contacts in Germany were numerous and diverse, and included such famous names as: Minkowski, Hilbert, Klein, Einstein, Schwarz, Fejér. During the difficult period of World War II, his close associates at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences were Perron and Tietze.
The Greek Ambassador to Hungary, Spyridon Georgiles, emphasized during a discussion held on the occasion of the Blessing of the Waters and the casting of the Holy Cross at the Danube River on the Epiphany, that the Orthodox Church in Hungary always promotes and supports diaspora Hellenism.
The ambassador also praised the humanitarian work of the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Austria – Exarch of Hungary and Middle Europe Arsenios.
This year Blessing of Waters was the first one for Metropolitan Arsenios, who succeeded the late Metropolitan Michael, and stressed the importance of the Epiphany for Orthodoxy. The celebration was attended by Greek and Cypriot authorities led by the new Ambassador of Greece in Austria, Themistoklis Dimidis. The event was held in Danube Canal on the bridge next to the historical Greek quarter in Vienna.
During his speech Metropolitan Arsenios made an appeal to Greece for greater brotherhood and unification within the population under these poor economic circumstances that Greece is facing at the moment.
Finally, Arsenios had the opportunity to meet diaspora Greeks in Hungary that guided him to the Greek language school there, while it was emphasized that the Greek presence in Hungary dates back to the 10th century.
The ‘Yasou Aida’ opera premiered at the Neuköllner Oper of Berlin, co-produced by the Neuköllner Oper and the Thessaloniki Concert Hall.
The musical adaptation of the opera was made by Kharálampos Goyós, the text was written by Dimitris Dimopoulos, while the idea was inspired by Alexandros Efklidis.
The main characters of the opera are played by Elpiniki Zervou, Lydía Zervanos, Mária Devitzaki, Michael Brieske and Fabian Martino.
The story takes place at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt where Aida (Elpida) is trying to pursue an education and a better future. The German Rainer is a Troika representative that will soon be disappointed from the unsuccessful measures that he will impose.
The Mayor of Thessaloniki in Greece, Yannis Mpoutaris, and Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Germany, attended the premiere of the play.
The performances will run through the 26th of February in Berlin and on the 9th of March the play will be transferred to the Music Hall of Thessaloniki.
European Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn warned against the failure of an aid deal for Greece, according to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung΄s Friday edition.
In an interview, Rehn said it΄s necessary that Greece΄s European partners persuade the indebted country to implement reforms linked to aid. “Otherwise, this program will fail,” he said, “and that will help neither Greece nor Europe.”
Top officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, known as the Troika, are expected to arrive in Athens on Friday to start negotiations with Greece on the aid deal.
Greece and its European partners hope the outlines of that new bailout package can be ready for a Jan. 30 EU summit. In March, Greece faces a EUR14.4 billion bond redemption it can΄t pay without some form of financing from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund.
Rehn said that internal Greek political problems have led to delays. He urged European officials involved to press their Greek colleagues to push through the reforms, according to Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Rehn also urged Germany and other heavy exporters to do more for weaker euro- zone states, the newspaper said.
Furthermore, he said the European Stability Mechanism will need more firepower than planned. “We need a big solution,” he said, according to the newspaper. He predicted that Europe will have a sufficient protective mechanism in place by summer, the newspaper reported.
The draft treaty for the European Stability Mechanism will be discussed by euro zone finance ministers on Monday, and Rehn urged France and Germany to keep their fellow European states and Europe΄s institutions in mind, the newspaper said. (source: Sueddeutsche Zeitung, capital)
PASOK president George Papandreou gave the “green light” to PM Lucas Papademos to reshuffle the current government, according to protothema.
During the meeting of the three political leaders involved in Papademos’ government, Papandreou raised the problem of the government’s performance. They discussed both the issue of persons and the number of ministers of the government scheme. Papandreou urged the PM to handle the issues of reconstruction, the number and the evaluation of ministers concerning government members from PASOK as he sees fit.
During the meeting Papademos particularly mentioned the participation of parties in his government and the best method of understanding between the three sides. He gave the three leaders proposals that describe the political framework of obligations, commitments and conduct of their parties.
This framework focuses on the daily practice of the three parties, so as to avoid the obstacles being placed in the work of the government. For example, there was the matter of negative votes on bills from ND members, on the occasion of the forthcoming multi-bill from the Finance ministry. According to reports there were many disagreements by the leaders and the only thing they agreed upon was to study the text and review it shortly in another meeting.
According to reports, PASOK leader George Papandreou stressed the issue of the dissenting ND members. He talked about a dual behavior by the party of Antonis Samaras saying that it rests on two bases, the co-governing and the opposition, and that he phenomenon of the “blue” members voting against bills that are the result of contractual obligations of government cooperation cannot go on.
Cocnluding, Papandreou raised the issue of a temporal extension of the government’s life, something upon which LAOS president George Karatzaferis agreed. (source: protothema, capital)
More than two months after taking office, interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos still doesn't have a deal for a second bailout
ATHENS – While the government keeps insisting it soon expects a deal with private investors to write down the country’s debt, as part of a second bailout package needed to keep the country from defaulting, there was reportedly little progress in a meeting on Jan. 19, just a day before Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said an agreement must be reached. He has repeatedly given rosy predictions of a settlement with investors, but they are balking at being asked to accept a lower interest rate in a re-financing of the country’s loans that could give them losses of 70 percent or more, instead of the 50 percent forecast. When Greece reached a tentative deal with European Union (EU) leaders last October for a second rescue package, this one for $165 billion, the so-called “haircut” investors would have to take was 21 percent.
Greece is surviving on a first round of $152 billion in emergency loans, but without reaching a deal on the second bailout – that also includes yet more pay cuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions and scores of thousands of layoffs – the Troika of the EU-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank said it won’t release the next round of money needed to pay an $18.5 billion loan repayment to investors and keep paying workers and pensioners.
Reuters reported that the negotiations had snagged again, a week after they broke off because Venizelos won’t back down and demands that Greece not repay most of its loans. Interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, whose coalition government is trying to keep the money tap open, said he may force investors to take bigger losses, but they have threatened to go to the European Court of Justice to get their money. If Greece doesn’t get a voluntary agreement, it could trigger an involuntary default that could push the country out of the Eurozone of the 17 countries using the euro – jeopardizing the union itself – and force a return to the ancient drachma with catastrophic economic consequences.
A senior Greek official also played down speculation that terms of a deal had been nearly pinned down, saying: “Nothing has been concluded yet,” hours after the government predicted a deal was coming. Papademos and Venizelos are talking with Charles Dallara, head of the International Institute of Finance representing private bond holders, but one hedge fund with holdings in Greece has already walked out and there were reports that other hedge funds were trying to derail the negotiations so that Greece would have a disorderly default, and they could cash in big by gambling that Greece would fail.
Even if a deal is struck quickly, the paperwork will take weeks and Greece says the work must be cleared before funds are doled out from the second rescue plan of $165 billion. Even that may not be enough to save Greece, as IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the country needs at least “tens of billions” of euros more because the first bailout has failed and there has been little effort to go after tax evaders who owe more than $60 billion, not to mention the proposed privatization plan has gone nowhere. Venizelos said that there must be an agreement in principle by Jan. 20, formalized before a Jan. 23 meeting of Eurozone finance ministers. “Now is the crucial moment in the final battle for the debt swap and the crucial moment in the final and definitive battle for the new bailout,” Venizelos told Parliament. “Now, now! Now is the time to negotiate for the sake of the country,” he said.
The swap is aimed at cutting $130 billion off Greece’s $460 billion debt, and would effectively give Greece free money, which critics say would only encourage more of the profligate overspending the created the economic crisis and keep the country reliant on welfare-style grants from lenders. The loans have come with requirements for austerity measures that have created 18.2 percent unemployment – nearly 50 percent for those under 25 – and led to more than 100,000 businesses closing as Greeks buried under an avalanche of tax hikes and pay cuts have slowed or stopped spending.
Venizelos said the deal is critical to reducing the country’s 10 percent deficit, which is three times the ceiling allowed by the Eurozone, and lower the debt from 160 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 120 percent by 2020, although Greece is already technically bankrupt and the crisis has consigned the next generation of Greeks to a drastically-reduced lifestyle, poverty for many, created the biggest increase in suicide and homelessness rates in Europe, and led 500,000 people to flee the country for better prospects. The crisis was precipitated by generations of the PASOK Socialist and conservative New Democracy parties packing public payrolls with unnecessary political hires in return for votes so they could stay in power, but it has led disgruntled Greeks to walk away from the major parties and turn more and more to minority parties, including the Communists, who are rapidly gaining ground.
Despite all the pessimism, Horst Reichenbach, head of the European Commission’s task force to help rebuild the Greek economy, appealed to Europe for patience with the Mediterranean country, saying reforms were moving slowly but no miracles should be expected. In Washington, an IMF spokeswoman said staff at the Fund had sought executive board approval for talks with Greece that might lead to a deal requiring more “exceptional access” to IMF loans, although Greece already has it and has borrowed more than six times its limit.
A documentary exhibition entitled “Pellegrino Artusi and Italian unification in cooking” opens tomorrow, Saturday January 21, at the prestigious 47 Patission Street in Athens. The show is being put together by the Italian Cultural Institute in the Greek capital, in collaboration with the Emilia-Romagna region and the Casa Artusi foundation.
Pellegrino Artusi, the exhibition catalogue recalls, was born in Forlimpopoli, in the heart of Romagna, on August 4, 1820, the only boy amongst Agostino and Teresa Giunchi’s 13 children. The Artusis were chemists and the young Pellegrino, who had set out to follow in his father’s footsteps, studied intermittently, with mainly literary interests. In 1851, after the arrival in Forlimpopoli of the group led by the “Passatore” (The ferryman), and the brigand Stefano Pelloni, the Artusi family moved to Florence. At his home at 25 Piazza d’Azeglio, Pellegrino cultivated his passions, which before “Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well”, resulted in a biography of Ugo Foscolo and a commentary on the letters of Giuseppe Giusti. Artusi would live in the house until his death on March 30, 1911.
Pellegrino Artusi, a moderate liberal and passionate patriot, intended his recipe book to be a contributing factor to the construction of a national culture, having a profound effect on the daily lives of Italians. His broad outlook allowed him to go beyond the local or regional particularism of 19th century cookbooks. Though “Science in the Kitchen” is anchored in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, the essence of national cooking is ensured by drawing from the wealth of different local Italian cuisines, whether through direct knowledge or with help from his audience. His project remained incomplete and uneven, but Artusi’s desire to tell the story of the gastronomic richness of the freshly unified country is very clear. From this point of view, the coinciding of the centenary of Artusi’s death and the 150th anniversary of Italian unification seems particularly fitting.
(source:ANSAmed)
Chris Coleman
Club Larissa has announced its intention to take legal action against the Football Association of Wales over the appointment of Chris Coleman as Wales manager.
Coleman was unveiled as the successor to his former Wales team-mate Gary Speed at a press conference in Cardiff on Thursday, having left his role with Larissa last week, citing the Greek club’s financial problems as the reason for his departure.
But within hours of the FAW confirming Coleman’s appointment, with the 41-year-old being handed a contract through to the end of Wales’ World Cup qualifying campaign, Larissa posted a statement on their website stating that the former Fulham manager remained under contract with them, and a Larissa spokesman told BBC Sport: “We have started legal proceedings…to claim compensation from the Welsh FA.”
The spokesman added: “We are also prepared to take the matter to FIFA.”
But the Press Association Sport understands the FAW are confident that they and Coleman have been thorough and correct in all matters relating to his appointment, with Larissa’s failure to pay Coleman and members of his staff due to their financial problems meaning they were in breach of his contract.
Coleman has previously said the club had not paid him, and during his unveiling he claimed: “I left Larissa two points off the top of the league. I left them because financially they are in big trouble. Some of the staff had not been paid for six months, eight months, up to a year.”
Coleman had taken charge of Larissa in May of last year, and they were enjoying a successful season under his guidance.
A statement on Larissa’s website read: “On January 8, 2012, Chris Coleman gave his last interview as head coach of Larissa, saying the causes of his departure were unrelated to the national team of his country; today, 11 days after he quit, it has been announced officially that he will be the new national coach of Wales.
“Once it became known that Chris Coleman, who has a contract until next June, would be leaving, the club has been heavily criticised despite the president saying publicly he did everything to keep Coleman at the club.
Instead of asking for an apology from all those who criticised us, we instead feel the need to apologise for our choice in appointing Chris Coleman.” (source: UKPA)
Obviously, most comments regarding Greece have not been very flattering lately, due to the country’s crisis and ailing economy; yet there are still various examples of Greek people succeeding in their lives and efforts, and thus gathering positive attention.
