Pedro Olalla Gonzalez de la Vega, born in 1966, in Oviedo, Spain, has multiple qualities: Hellenist, philologist, translator and filmmaker.

Greek-by-choice, despite being born in Spain, he has maintained a strong relationship with Greece for over 28 years and driven by his love for it, he moved to Athens in 1994, to research, create and teach.

The Greek State recognized him as an “Ambassador of Hellenism”, a title he was awarded on 4 March, 2010 for his multifaceted work about the Greek culture, in an event at the Athens Concert Hall.

During their one-hour visit they were guided through all the Dodona monuments and expressed their admiration for the brilliance of the ancient Greek civilization.

The ancient site of Dodona is located 22 km south of Ioannina, in the narrow valley between the mounts Tomaros and Manoliassa. The first remains on the site date back to the prehistoric period and the first deity worshiped there was the Earth goddess. The cult of Zeus and the sacred oak tree were brought to Dodona by the Selloi, a branch of the Thesprotian tribe, between the 19th and 14th centuries B.C., and soon became the prevalent cult of the sanctuary.

The impressive ancient theater of Dodona, which is one of the largest theaters in antiquity with a capacity of 17,000 spectators, has withstood the passage of time and remains in very good condition (currently on restoration work), built in the early 3rd century B.C , during the reign of Pyrrhus.

The 20-year-old allegedly stabbed Nikita twenty times last week after stealing his laptop and mobile phone. He faces court charges of attempted murder.

Shortly after the attack, Schrijver’s mother claimed that her son was autistic and needed special medication and supervision. She has submitted Cirino’s medical file to the Cretan authorities, but it has to be officially translated, as reported in Kathimerini newspaper.

The 20-year-old faced a magistrate in Heraklion, Crete on May 20, but during the 15-minute session the accused declined to cooperate. His court-appointed lawyer said it was not possible for his client to answer any questions.

The attorney apologized for his defendant, stressing the accused suffers from a severe mental disease and that in the Netherlands he had been on medication, but stopped taking the prescribed drugs while in Crete.

According to the lawyer, Schrijver was deemed legally incapable by a Dutch court, adding he hadn’t been able to give a logical answer to a single question and wasn’t authorized to sign any legal papers.

In the meantime, 12-year-old Nikita is still hospitalized in Athens, where he has started physiotherapy. Doctors fear that the boy may not be able to walk again.

The public opinion of both Russia and the Netherlands is following the case closely.

This tsipouro is dangerous for the public health, because in most cases hygiene rules are not respected during its production and packaging.

In the case of illegally imported tsipouro, rotten or overripe grapes are used and the grape marc is not separated from the grape stalks. As a result, a series of toxic substances, among which methanol that causes blindness, enter the final product.

The first and last stage of distillation, which also include a series of toxic and dangerous substances, are not divided. Consequently, there is more production, but the public health is at risk.

On many occasions, grape marc is mixed with sugar or molasses, so the product is adulterated. The stills used are not appropriate and as a result, a series of toxic metals are transferred in the tsipouro.

The product is packaged in plastic bottles, which is prohibited by law, because it has been proved that toxic and dangerous substances can be transferred from the plastic into the tsipouro.

“The Greek State loses millions of euros per year and is completely indifferent about the revenue lack and consumers’ health,” Nikos Katsaros, former President of the Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) and current cooperator with the National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, reported.

Tsipouro is a strong distilled spirit containing approximately 45 percent alcohol, product from the pomade of grapes particularly brewed in Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia, the Mani Peninsula and the island of Crete, where it is called tsikoudia. In other areas of Greece the name raki is used.

The Navigator of the Seas sailed from Kusadasi, Turkey and arrived in Souda. According to AMNA, the vessel follows the same itinerary every Friday and departs at 3:00 p.m. weekly.

The cruise ship Azamara, having sailed from the Greek port city of Nafplio, anchored outside the Venetian port of Chania and the 605 passengers were transferred to the port on boats. Azamara sailed off to Israel at 6:00 p.m on May 17.

Approximately 14,000 cruise ship tourists of 62 different nationalities have already visited the area, most of them from the United States.
Crete is the largest island in Greece, and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. It is undoubtedly one of the best tourist destinations. Its remnants of brilliant civilizations, glorious beaches, impressive mountains, fertile valleys and rich gastronomic culture lure thousands of tourists annually.

The UN’s new envoy on the FYROM name dispute

Matthew Nimetz, the United Nations “special” envoy on the tedious issue of what to call the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has a better job than even Joe DiMaggio did, although it was pretty special to play center field for the New York Yankees in the 1930′s and 40′s, live in a luxury hotel with room service, be married to Marilyn Monroe and have Simon and Garfunkel make you an ever bigger legend long after retirement.

Nimetz, a New York city lawyer, has pretty much since 1995 been trying to get Greece and the FYROMians to settle on what to call the former Yugoslav Republic, a question of a single word. Except for the guy who first said “F–k!” nobody’s made a better living off a syllable, although even the low-key Nimetz, who’s so dull you can sand the rust off your car with him, must have yelled it a few times during the frustrating process of finding an answer.

Still, Nimetz has had a good life being the special envoy on a question that is apparently harder to solve than Fermat’s Last Theorem or that equation that Matt Damon’s character figured out in Good Will Hunting. Nimetz gets to fly first-class, stay in luxury hotels, file his nails while he listens to Greek and FYROMian (they’re the villains in the new Star Trek movie although not to be confused with Vulcans) negotiators drone on and go nowhere. At this point, the only guy who could bring some logic to this might be Mr. Spock.

Nimetz holds a brief meeting a  couple of times a year and goes home, secure in the knowledge he can get to do it again and again and again and there will likely never be a resolution on his watch, which must be the way he likes it because the suggestions he comes up with are staler than yesterday’s news. It figures he used to work for President Jimmy Carter, who defined malaise and was the subject of one of the most famous newspaper headlines – albeit used in error and withdrawn – “Mush From The Wimp” in The Boston Globe in 1980.

This whole mess began 22 years ago, after the break-up of Yugoslavia – the key syllable here being Slav – which was disintegrating faster than the Chicago Cubs’ chances of winning a World Series. Being pretty much a non-entity neighborhood – not a country really – tucked between emerging new countries and Greece’s northern province which includes the real Macedonia, the name FYROM was born out of a political compromise, which always results in disaster.

After then-Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, showing that almost nothing is worse than a vacillating politician, caved in and allowed the use of the word Macedonia, his upstart young foreign minister, a guy named Antonis Samaras wouldn’t go along with what he properly saw as weakness and walked out, bringing down the government.

Yes sir, Samaras would have none of this stuff about Greece giving up the name Macedonia, even as the last word in an acronym so silly it sounds like something you use to loosen up a stuck lug nut. “Hey, I can’t get this off. Pass me the FYROM, would you?”

MACEDONIA IS GREEK

Macedonia is Greek, or at least it was until Mitsotakis gave away the name and sold Greece down the river. Since then, Greece, trying to close the barn door after the horses have already escaped, has been trying to get it back, resulting in negotiations that have gone nowhere. Cyprus will be re-unified before Greece and FYROM find an answer to this endless feud over a single word. All this proves is that you really can’t unring a bell.

Macedonia is Greek. Macedonia is Greek. No matter how many times a FYROMian crosses his fingers, closes his eyes, and whispers, Macedonia is Slavic, Macedonia is Slavic, it’s not going to happen and when they open their eyes Macedonia will still be Greek and they’ll be cross-eyed. This is the problem with irredentists: they keep taking out the same tooth and claiming it’s theirs. It must be tough living in a country with no heroes and be next to a country which has a legion of them, which explains why the Slavs think Alexander the Great was theirs.

In yet another one of the occasional fake breakthroughs he puts on the table before someone wises up that he’s not really doing anything, Nimetz has recommended that the two sides accept a new name. Get ready because you can’t make this stuff up. Instead of FYROM, he is proposing it be called the Upper Republic of ……. Macedonia.

In case you missed it, that’s the name that Samaras said he would never accept but now is reportedly considering because he’s Prime Minister and doesn’t have a foreign minister like he used to be to stand up to him. Maybe he can beam back in time and bring himself back to give himself some advice. Someone already beat me to it in suggesting the name be Up Yours Macedonia.

But the Skopians tirelessly insist that Macedonia is Slavic and are miffed that because they won’t accept that it’s not and that Greece keeps blocking their country’s hopes to get into NATO and the European Union, where it’s had an application on hold for eight years.

Nimetz’s proposal wants to let the new name (UPM) to be used during the negotiations on FYROM’s accession to the EU, which would take at least another seven to eight years. After that, a referendum would be held and the citizens of FYROM would be asked to vote on the two issues: joining the EU and changing the name to the Upper Republic of Macedonia.

That will take this into a third decade of yapping, none of which would have been necessary if Mitsotakis stood his ground. FYROM would enter an amendment into its Constitution that would read as follows: “From the day the Republic of Macedonia joins the EU, the international name of the country will be the Upper Republic of Macedonia and will be used in all languages ​​- except in official languages ​​of the country.” So their country would have an official name that didn’t use the official language. Spock, get in here!

Greece has not reacted to the new proposal. According to some reports, Athens would like the geographical determinant Upper to be placed before the word Macedonia, the name being Republic of Upper Macedonia (RUM, you gotta love that one,) but still allowing the use of the word Macedonia that Samaras has always adamantly opposed. He might have to issue a civil de-mobilization order to make himself stop working.

Risking the chance that FYROM’s leaders might suggest that given its crushing economic crisis that Greece change its name to Souvlakistan or West Turkey, for your consideration here are a number of names that could be used to finally settle this. Pick one and e-mail to Matthew Nimetz, c/o the United Nations.

1. Inside-Out Republic of Macedonia
2. Who Dat Macedonia?
3. Lower Upper Inner Outer Republic of Macedonia
4. Northern Republic of Southern Macedonia
5. Former Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
6. Yugo
7. Former Yugoslav Republic of Yugoslavia
8. Northern Greece
9. Outer Upper Zone Of Oblivion ((OUZO)
10. Alexland

But let’s leave the last word about FYROM to Spock himself: “If I were human, I believe my response would be: Go to Hell.”

Oh wait, good idea.

11. Hell

The man pulled the shell out of the water himself. The authorities were informed and headed to the spot. Army bomb disposal experts rushed to the scene to neutralize the shell, which was found close to the lifeguard tower, 10 meters from the land and 3.5 meters deep, according to sources.

The beach was evacuated for safety reasons under the pretext of technical problems so that bathers would not panic. Employees were ordered to prohibit the entrance to Vouliagmeni beach until the research was completed. In the afternoon, the bomb disposal experts managed to neutralize the shell, and the beach re-opened to the public.

Golden Dawn MP Panagiotis Iliopoulos ejected from Parliament last week

A Member of Parliament from the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party who drove into the underground parking lot there with a gun on his passenger’s seat was asked by a police guard to put it away but drove on after telling him, “I prefer to get someone first, before they get me,” the newspaper Eleftherotypia reported.

The MP was not identified but the incident came after other lawmakers said they believe that Golden Dawn lawmakers are bringing guns into the chamber instead of checking them at a secure location as required.

MP’s can carry guns anywhere they want and have immunity from all crimes unless the protection is lifted by their colleagues.

Only MP’s personal police body guards are allowed to carry guns inside the Parliament building. There was no information on whether MP’s are checked before they enter the chamber.

A member of the major opposition party Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) Petros Tsatsopoulos and PASOK Socialist Paris Koukoulopoulos have in the past warned that Golden Dawn MPs have been entering Parliament armed.

Last week, Golden Dawn MP Panayiotis Iliopoulos was ejected from the Parliament after breaking rules of decorum by insulting major opposition party Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras.

Iliopoulos continued to scream angry insults as a guard was escorting him out of the chamber, and while a SYRIZA MP mocked him by yelling “Heil Hitler!” three times.

New Democracy MP Fotini Pipili said she feared that Iliopoulos brings his gun into the body and said she feared one of the party’s members would open fire in the chamber.

Earlier this month, Golden Dawn MP Giorgos Germenis reportedly reached for his gun while being restrained by Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis’ bodyguards and after throwing a punch at the mayor for barring the neo-Nazis from conducting a Greeks-only free Easter food handout. MP’s have immunity from all crimes unless the protection is lifted by a majority of their colleagues.

After pushing its banks into deep trouble by imposing 74 percent losses on investors and bondholders last year, Greece is recapitalizing its four largest banks and winding down others with bad assets to try to kick start an economy deep in debt an as banks have suffered huge losses from non-performing loans as many Greeks, buried under pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions, can’t afford to pay their loans, credit cards or mortgages.

Postbank and Proton were split into “good” and “bad” divisions and are now fully owned by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) which received 50 billion euros ($64.25 billion) from Greece’s second bailout from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) which ordered hard austerity measures in return.

The original Proton Bank had its license revoked and was liquidated after it was found to have more than €700 million ($900 million) in bad loans. New Proton Bank was then created as a so-called good bank, into which all Proton’s deposits and sound assets were transferred.

The recapitalization of the National Bank, Alpha, Piraeus and Eurobank  is expected to be completed by June 14. The four lenders need €27.5 billion euros ($33.53) and must raise at least 10% from private investors via share offerings to retain management control. The bulk of the funds will be pumped in by the HFSF rescue fund.