Monthly Archives: January 2013
The voices of angry lawmakers could be heard in the corridors of the Greek Parliament. Inside the room where the parliamentary committee investigating the involvement of former finance minister George Papakonstantinou in the Lagarde list was examining a witness, blood was boiling and tension was high. Markogiannakis, Kapernaros, Georgiadis, …
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Colonel Dertilis funeral turns into a show for junta remnants
A 22-year-old man was arrested during the funeral of one of junta architects Nikolaos Dertilis on Thursday. Police arrested the man because of possession of 21 bullet shells, after gunshots were fired during the funeral to honour the deceased junta colonel. The funeral was attended by several lawmakers and supporters of extreme-right …
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Greek Communist party slams gov’t “vulgar propaganda” over video footage
A row broke between Greek communist party KKE and the government after media broadcast of a video footage showing damages in the labour ministry apparently caused by the party’s unionists PAME during Wednesday’s occupation. Video: broadcast by Skai TV, displaying the pictures given by Labour Ministry embedded by Embedded VideoYouTube …
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Man in bank elevator crushed by coins – dead!
A unbelievable accident occurred in an Athens on Tuesday, when a money transport cart overturned inside an elevator and bags full of coins claimed a victim. A 47-year-old security guard. According to Greek media, the security guard was taking the transport cart full of coins in bags from the ground floor …
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Dynan-Hospital and Red Cross president arrested for owing insurance funds 6.6 million euro
Andreas Martinis, ex president of private hospital “Errikos Dynan” and former president of Greek Red Cross has been arrested on Thursday morning for owing Greece’s biggest insurance fund IKA, 6.6 million euro in employees contributions. Martinis was arrested inside the hospital and is expected to appear before the prosecutor in the …
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Marfin bank arson: 32 months later prosecutor has evidence to raise felony charges
For 32 months authorities have been collecting eye-witnesses testimonies and other material and now the prosecutor is about to call two suspects to testify on the arson attack at Marfin bank on 5. May 2010 that claimed the lives of three employees and an unborn child. The suspects are expected to testify …
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Labour Ministry occupation: Communist unionists clash with police, 40 detainees, 3 injured
Teargas was fired and unionists were beaten outside the Labour Ministry in downtown Athens when riot police moved to ‘free’ the ministers’ office symbolically occupied by members of Greek Communist Party (KKE) union PAME. Video: riot police carries protester outside the ministry video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player Around 10.30 in …
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Public sector, seamen, train workers, doctors… strikes on Jan 31/Feb1 2013
Several sectors of public and private life will be on strike on January 31st and February 1sr 2013, with hospitals working on emergency staff and public transport passengers to face some problems. Buses: 24h strike TrainOSE trains and Proastiakos: 24h strike (therefore metro up to <Doukissis Plakentias> station, not up/from …
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Athens: Buses back to the streets, new 24h strike on Jan 31/2013
Blue buses returned to the streets of Athens after 42% of 4,000 members voted in favor during a marathon union session on Tuesday. However, as the voted proposal included also another 24-hour strike, there will be no buses tomorrow Thursday, January 31st 2013. Next union meeting is scheduled for February 14th 2013, therefore I …
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Sweden’s jobless youth should find work in …Greece and Spain
What if in Greece youth unemployment is over 56%? There are always work opportunities for jobless from around the globe. In this case from Sweden, the Scandinavian country that is unable to create 30,000 jobs needed for its own unemployed youth. Therefore Sweden has only one advice: go find seasonal work in …
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Greek, Turkish PMs talk about Halki & the Mosque in Qatar. Samaras to visit Ankara, Mar 5/2013
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had an informal meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Doha, Qatar. During the meeting that lasted 45 minutes, the two leaders talked about issues of mutual interest between the two neighboring countries like the Theological School of Halki in Istanbul and the opening of …
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Huffington Post: Bill Frezza “How Long Until Junta?”
How long does it take until Greek society explodes under the heavy load of austerity measures? “How long will these proud people put up with such degradation?” asks himself Bill Frezza, a Greek-American whose columns appear in Forbes and The Huffington Post. Frezza’s article appears in KTG with the author’s …
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Protesting Farmers: new collision front for Greek government
Protesting farmers moved their tractors near the national highway, just kilometers away from the city of Larissa on Tuesday morning threatening to block the traffic in Greece’s North-South axis. However the farmers were hindered from parking their tractors on the highway by strong riot police forces. Tension was high between farmers and police, …
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Tsipras: Early elections, loan agreement negotiation and European Conference on Debt Crisis
Leader of main opposition party and chairman of left-wing SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, wants early elections in order to negotiate the loan agreement between Greece and its lenders and a new ‘haircut’. Speaking to state broadcaster NET TV, Tsipras declared, “the loan agreement is already dead” and “it needs to be …
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Greek FinMin confirms, lawmakers enjoy tax immunity with 65-75% of income ‘tax-free’
What we all know is officially confirm: that our esteemed lawmakers who decide the unemployed and the low pensioners will have to give their last cent to the state, enjoy tax immunity, as almost two-thirds of the income they receive form the Greek Parliament is tax-free. Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras …
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Greek communities in Germany protest neo-nazi Golden Dawn branch in Nuremberg
Greek communities in Germany are in uproar and vehemently oppose the establishment of a branch by extreme-right, neo-nazi party Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi) and thus in Nuremberg, the Bavarian city that became the centre of Nazi propaganda and the place where the notorious racial laws against Jews were adopted by the then …
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Greek gov’t considers building …”tax prisons”
Advisers to Greek finance ministry seem to never run out of creative ideas: the latest proposal on the table is to create tax prisons for those refusing to pay even a small amount of their debts to the state. As there is not space in the current prisons for additional prisoners, …
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Revenues tsar claims, he had no money to pay emergency property taxes (lol)
Charis Theocharis, the new revenues general secretary claimed in public that he cannot pay the emergency property tax. During his appearance at the congress of the Association of Property Owners, a number of people started to shout and protest about the many different taxes imposed at properties. “I have no …
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MP Kourakis’ “Church-Tax” proposal sparks new dispute between ND-SYRIZA
Left-wing SYRIZA lawmaker Tasos Kourakis made a ‘revolutionary proposal’: that clerics’ wages should be funded not by the state but by those who declare themselves to be Christian orthodox and thus through a special tax similar in other European countries like Germany. The funding scheme was proposed by Kourakis in …
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Athens: Trolley, Train-OSE, Proastiakos suspend strike, Buses continue, Jan 28/2013
UPDATE: workers at trolley, Train-OSE and Proastiakos suspended their strikes on Monday afternoon. However, it is not known when exactly they will resume full operation schedule. Blue bus workers to take decision tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11 a.m. With Proastiakos in operation, passengers to/from Athens aiport can use the metro again …
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