Butchered dogs were hanging from the trees in the small town of Moires in Heraclion, Crete.
Police officers found 20 unfortunate animals having suffered in the hands of their killer-trainer. As soon as the news of the dogs’ abuse was published by adespoto.gr, the Pan-Hellenic Coordination Committee of Animal Welfare Organizations ordered the immediate research of the abuse case.
Policemen descriptions of the place were horrifying. The dogs had been cruelly killed, hanged from different trees around the place and it was impossible to go anywhere near them without a mask due to the stench of the carcasses. 3 of the dogs were still in a comatose situation when the police arrived.
The case was handed over to Heraclion Attorney General.
Horrifying Dog Massacre in Heraclion, Crete
Zografeion School in Istanbul to Celebrate 118th Anniversary
The Vice President of DEREE – American College of Greece, Mr. Nikos Georgiadis, will be the keynote speaker at the glorious celebration of the Zografeion school for its 118th Anniversary. The event will take place in Istanbul at the school’s campus on September 19th, 2011.
Georgiadis, a former member of the Greek Parliament, will meet with the Greek Consul General in Istanbul Mr. Vasilios Bornovas and will attend a Breakfast meeting hosted by DEREE for school counselors from prestigious schools in Istanbul.
Zografeion was founded in the late 19th century, as the growing number of Greek students proved to be more than the Zappeion and Panayia schools could accommodate. The community decided to build a new school, and donations were collected from a number of people. Christakis Zografos, who was living in Paris at the time, made the largest contribution, of 10,000 gold liras. In 1890, the Greek community decided that the school be renamed after Zografos. The school was inaugurated in 1893 and its first alumni were graduated in 1899.
The school, like all minority schools in Turkey, is a secular school. Many famous artists, architects, politicians and theologians of the Greek diaspora have studied at the school, including Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. Zografeion, like all minority schools in Turkey, applies the full Turkish curriculum in addition to Greek subjects: Greek language, literature and religion.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Grants Hellenic Studies in Canada
The Simon Fraser University of Canada (SFU, www.sfu.ca) announced yesterday the establishment of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies after receiving a series of exclusive grants from The Stavros Niarchos Foundation since 2003.
The Centre will be offering courses in Greek and Byzantine History, Greek language and Culture and will render the SFU one of the top study abroad destinations on this particular object of study.
Additionally, the Centre aims at significantly broadening the already existing Greek language tutoring programs used mainly by Chinese students, which have been established with the help of a previous grant from The Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The core of these tutoring programs is “The Odysseas Online Language Tutor”, an e-learning platform offering various levels of Greek language, that is recognized as a pioneer of online Greek language instruction and is being used around the world, most notably in 15 universities in China.
The new Centre will also focus on further developing its corporate university bilateral relationships with Chinese academic institutions in order to support the induction of Hellenic Studies in China. The post-graduate program offered by the Centre will seek to teach Greek History to Chinese scholars and educate Chinese professors, in order for them to be able to teach the Greek language and several other courses connected to Greece and its civilization back in their own country’s universities.
Decision on New Greek Bailout Funds Delayed Until October
Eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker says the 17 countries using the European common currency have delayed until October a decision on an 8 billion-euro installment of a bailout loan for Greece.
The tranche is seen as needed to keep Greece from a disastrous debt default. But officials from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have delayed their assessment amid questions about whether Athens is doing enough to cut the country’s deficit.
Juncker, speaking at a news conference in Wroclaw, Poland, after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers, said officials welcomed “the renewed, firm commitment of Greece” to its austerity program, but they “would decide in October on the next tranche.”
The talks were also attended by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, whose presence at the meeting in the city of Wroclaw is seen as a sign of the gravity of the eurozone’s debt crisis.
In a closed address, Geithner reportedly warned that deepening divisions in the eurozone over the Greek debt posed a “catastrophic risk.”
Finnish obstacle
On Friday, Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen reiterated her country’s demand for collateral in return for new loans in connection with the second bailout of Greece – a major obstacle to the deal.
“I think we are going to negotiate about it [collateral] but unfortunately I don’t see that we can find a solution [on Friday],” Urpilainen told reporters.
“We continue to negotiate, I’m optimistic that we can find a solution that everybody can accept.”
Venizelos: Structural Changes Are Critical
Greek FinMin stressed the need for implementing the agreement of July 21, after a Eurogroup meeting on Friday.
“It is vital for Greece. The global environment fuels uncertainty, which affect the implementation of Eurozone’s decisions and Greek policymakers’ performance”, said Evangelos Venizelos in Poland.
“This vicious circle must break”, he stated.
Venizelos said that he informed the Eurogroup for the tough decisions that the Greek government has made in order to achieve the budgetary target for 2011 and 2012.
But, there is great mistrust for Greece, because of the structural characteristics of the Greek State, said the Minister.
“Thus, structural changes are of critical importance: shrinking public sector and public spending, privatizations, deregulation of labour market, strengthening competitiveness of the country”, said Venizelos, also Deputy Prime Minister.
Eurozone member states proceed with the ratification of the new institutional framework of the EFSF, while the debt swap program PSI is advancing normally, according to Evangelos Venizelos.
“Our obligation is to do anything to protect the country” he added.
(source: AFP, AP, Reuters)
Two Nations Cup: Greece-Turkey Friendship Bridge
A rowing race is going to take place in the Golden Horn of Constantinople on the 23rd of October, as part of the “Two Nations Cup” competition, something that will serve as a friendship bridge between Greece and Turkey.
Two crews of 8 members each, one Greek and one Turkish, will complete a distance of approximately 5 kilometers, having Galata Bridge as a starting point, and Phanar, where the Patriarchate is located as a crossing point.
The official the concept of the organization is going to be presented on Monday, the 19th of September at noon, in Constantinople.
Furthermore, the presentation is going to be attended by representatives of rowing federations, the organizing authority as well as by the basketball teams of Olympiacos FC, Panathinaikos FC, Efes Pilsen and Ulker.
These teams are going to take part in friendly games on the 1st and 2nd of October as part of the “Two Nations Cup” comnpetition.
Diaspora Painter Nikos Kypraios Gains International Recognition
The “Steiner Gallerie” in Vienna, Austria, is hosting famous Nikos Kypraios’ newest exhibition under the general title “The Ecstatic Breath of Freedom”.
The well known Diaspora painter was born in Vathy of Samos, Greece, in 1944. In 1972, he moved to Melbourne, Australia, and some years ago, he returned permanently to Greece, travelling abroad from time to time in order to exhibit his artworks.
Mr. Kypraios’ work is deeply affected by artistic movements of the 20th century, such as surrealism and pop art. His early paintings express isolation and loneliness of immigration. Being himself a Diaspora Greek, Mr. Kypraios, who enjoys international recognition for his work, is an artist who leaves his personal stamp on his paintings and is able of turning pictures into symbols, colours into signifiers and techniques into meanings.
Exhibition on Mt. Athos in Sofia
Doug’s Patterson painting exhibition on Athos, the Holy Mountain, travels to Sofia, Bulgaria.
The exhibition titled “Painting at Sacred Places, Athos-Sinai” , is organized by the Agioritiki Estia (Centre of Mount Athos) in collaboration with the Greek Institute of Culture, within the “City Celebrations” of the municipality of Sofia.
In the exhibition are going to be presented 45 paintings of Doug Patterson, whose inspiration were Mountain Athos and the St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai.
The exhibition will be open for the public from the 20th of September till 16th of October.
Greece's Shipping Sector Grows Larger and Younger
Greek shipowners placed orders for 91 new ships worth 9.4 billion USD and bought 98 used ships of all kinds, worth 3 billion USD, in the first seven months of 2011 as daily Kathimerini reports.
They currently have 654 ships under construction (310 in Korea, 298 in China, 22 in Japan and the rest elsewhere), totaling a capacity of 63.2 million deadweight tons.
Chinese shipowners, by contrast, invested a total of only 2.4 billion USD in the same period, according to a survey by Clarksons.
The Greek-owned fleet in June numbered 4,714 vessels, from 4,655 a year earlier.
Of these, only 2,046 were Greek-flagged (compared to 2,126 in June 2010), comprising 567 cargo vessels, 544 tankers, 705 ferry boats and 230 ships of various other categories.
Greek-managed shipping companies with vessels up to nine years old rose to 151 in 2011, from 30 in 1998.
Mass Public Administration Resignations
Fear of changes in Greece’s public administration sector following the creation of a new single office for the payment of all public sector workers and for possible cuts to wages and pensions are behind the mass resignations of public sector workers in the country in recent days.
In September, according to figures circulated by the Minister of Finances, an unusually high number of resignations was tendered to the state offices. The resignations regard all categories of workers who are entitled to a pension, and deprive the public sector of experienced staff.
Xinhua: Ditching Greece From Euro Zone Not An Option
Kicking Greece out of the euro zone would be tantamount to giving up Europe΄s fight against the debt crisis, which is “not an option,” China΄s state-run Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary Friday.
Such a move “would inevitably raise serious questions about the E.U.΄s ability to deal with a messy crisis and cast a shadow over the bloc΄s long-term future,” the commentary said.
Now at stake in the crisis isn΄t just the fate of peripheral E.U. countries but that of the euro zone and the region΄s common currency, it said.
“To ditch Greece at this difficult time would send a shivering message to global investors,” it said.
China has repeatedly expressed support for debt-stricken euro-zone countries but has been coy about the financial support it is willing to provide them.
(source: Dow Jones)