Pink flamingos in Greece

At the southern end of the protected area lies the wetland of the Lagoon of the Alyki Kitrous. This region extends over approximately 1,500 hectares, including the lagoon of Kitrous, with its salt production unit, as well as the wetlands extending to its south, and reaching Korinos.

This whole region is particularly valuable as to the biodiversity it hosts and mainly as to its avifauna, its herpetofauna as well as the flora to be found there, thanks to its great diversity of habitats. These habitats range from the shallow lagoon waters, to its southern salty water marshes, the coastal scrubland and the sand dunes flanking the coastal zone.

The region belongs to the Natura 2000 network as the ‘ALYKES KITROUS – BROADER REGION’ Special Preservation Zone (code GR1250004) ranging over 1,440.56 hectares, while a part of it ranging over 1,558 hectares belongs to the broader avifauna ‘DELTA OF THE RIVERS AXIOS-LOUDIAS-ALIAKMON-ALYKES KITROUS» Special Preservation Zone (code GR1220010)

The Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) that visit the lagoon , are one of the six species of flamingos. They can also be found in the wetlands of the coastal countries of the Mediterranean, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. On average they have a length of 120-140cm and they can reach a height of up to 187 cm. Like all flamingos, it feeds mainly on shrimp, algae and aquatic plants.

Flamingos are present all year long at the Alyki Kitrous lagoon, but especially in the winter, one can see them by the hundreds. In order to reproduce they travel to France, Spain, Turkey and in other countries of the Mediterranean. In the early 2000’s an attempt was undertaken to create a colony, with nests and laying in the lagoon, but the colony was abandoned for unknown reasons.

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Greece wildfire declared largest ever recorded in EU

A forest blaze in Greece is the largest wildfire ever recorded in the EU and the bloc is mobilising nearly half its firefighting air wing to tackle it, a European Commission spokesperson has said.

Eleven planes and a helicopter from the EU fleet have been sent to help extinguish the fire north of the city of Alexandroupoli, along with 407 firefighters, Balazs Ujvari said on Tuesday.

The EU’s civil protection service said the fire had burned more than 310 sq miles (810 sq km) – an area bigger than New York City.

“This wildfire is the largest in the EU since 2000, when the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis) began recording data,” the service said.

Greece’s fire service said the blaze was “still out of control” in the north-east region’s Dadia national park, a vital sanctuary for birds of prey.

Since it began on 19 August, the blaze has killed 20 people, 18 of them migrants whose bodies were found in a region that is often used as an entry point from neighbouring Turkey.

The EU calls on a fleet of 28 aircraft – 24 water-dumping planes and four helicopters – supplied by member countries to help battle blazes in the bloc and in neighbouring territories.

It is working on creating a standalone, EU-funded air wing of 12 aircraft that will be fully in place by 2030.

The Guardian

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Kyriákos Mitsotákis : Fears over possibility of third ballot

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says he will not try to form a government after his party won the general election by a huge margin.

“I don’t believe there’s any basis for the formation of a government in this parliament,” the leader of the conservative New Democracy party told President Katerina Skellaropoulou on Monday after she gave him the order to do so.

Mitsotakis is expecting to be in an even better position after a second vote, which could take place as early as next month.

New Democracy targeting 39% mark to secure single-party rule and avert the prospect of another election.

Given that a third election is a distinct possibility in the case that frontrunner New Democracy decreases its electoral percentage and a seven-party Parliament emerges, the polls on June 25 have added significance

https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1212469/fears-over-possibility-of-third-ballot/

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

13 years ago : Greece hit by strikes, riots over austerity plan

Masked rioters set fire to a car during a demonstration against the Greek government’s austerity plan in Athens, Thursday, March 11, 2010. Street clashes have erupted between rioting youths and police in central Athens as more than 30,000 people demonstrated during a nationwide strike against the government’s austerity measures

The movement that is referred to as the Greek anti-austerity movement was in fact a series of mass mobilizations that extended from 2010 to 2015, occasionally involving hundreds of thousands of participants. The mobilizations adopted different forms and organizational patterns as time went by, depending on the broader social and political developments of the time.

During 2010, fears of a Greek default have undermined the euro for all 16 countries that share it, putting the Greek government under intense European Union pressure to quickly show fiscal improvement.

The second austerity package was approved by the Hellenic Parliament in March 2010.

It has announced an additional €4,8 billion ($65.33 billion) in savings through public sector salary cuts, hiring and pension freezes and consumer tax hikes to deal with its ballooning deficit, but the measures have led to a new wave of labor discontent.

The cutbacks, added to a previous €11.2 billion ($15.24 billion) austerity plan (February 2010), seek to reduce the country’s budget deficit from 12.7 percent of annual output to 8.7 percent this year. The long-term target is to bring overspending below the EU ceiling of 3 percent of GDP in 2012.

The new plan sparked a wave of strikes and protests from labor unions whose reaction to the initial austerity measures had been muted. Thursday’s strike shut down all public services and schools, leaving ferries tied up at port and suspending all news broadcasts for the day. However, some private bank branches were open despite calls from the bank employees’ union to participate in the strike.

While their colleagues clashed with groups of protesters, some police joined the demonstration.

About 200 uniformed police, coast guard and fire brigade officers, who cannot go on strike but can hold protests, gathered at a square in the center of the city shortly before the marches got under way.

“The police and other security forces have been particularly hard hit by the new measures because our salaries are very low,” said Yiannis Fanariotis, general secretary of one police association. He said the average policeman made about €1,000-€1,200 ($1,360-$1,635) a month if weekend and night shifts were included.

Joining the protest “doesn’t feel strange, because we are working people like everybody else and we are all shouting out for our rights,” he said.

The government says the tough cuts are its only way to dig Greece out of a crisis that has hammered the common European currency and alarmed international markets — inflating the loan-dependent country’s borrowing costs.

But unions say ordinary Greeks are being called to pay a disproportionate price for past fiscal mismanagement.

“They are trying to make workers pay the price for this crisis,” said Yiannis Panagopoulos, leader of Greece’s largest union, the GSEE.

“These measures will not be effective and will throw the economy into deep freeze.”

The first wave of the anti-austerity mass protest that emerged during 2010 intensified after the bailout agreement in May.

Three people were killed on 5 May in one of the largest demonstrations in Greece since 1973.

https://eu.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2010/03/11/greece-hit-by-strikes-riots-over-austerity-plan/28929379007/

–

–https://lejournaldupeintre2.wordpress.com/

Painting news project

Les tableaux du peintre

Twitter

–

–

–https://lejournaldupeintre2.wordpress.com/

Painting news project

Les tableaux du peintre

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Parthenon Marbles may return to Greece in exchange deal with UK

Created between 447 and 432 BCE, the Parthenon marbles depict gods and heroes, an ancient Athenian festival called the “Panathenaea,” and a battle from Greek mythology. Much of the sculptural program has been destroyed, but the majority of what remains is housed at the British Museum.

The marble friezes lined the Parthenon atop the Acropolis in Athens, until the turn of the 19th century, when they were removed by the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Greece at the time.

For decades, Greece has asked the UK to return the sculptures: It filed its first formal request back in 1983. Maintaining the country’s firm stance, last March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson rejected the marbles’ return and said they had been acquired completely legally.

In a meeting last November between Johnson and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Johnson said that the return of the sculptures was up to the British Museum, not the UK government. This idea was reiterated at a parliament meeting in February, when Parkinson stated: “Our Prime Minister emphasized the UK’s longstanding position that this is a matter for the trustees of the British Museum, who legally own the sculptures. The British Museum operates independently of the Government, meaning that decisions relating to the care and management of its collections are a matter for its trustees.”

In 2023, the British Museum and the Acropolis Museum in Athens are closing in on an agreement that would see the Parthenon Marbles returned over time to Greece as part of a cultural exchange, ending a feud over the historical artifacts that dates back to the 1800s.

An agreement would see a proportion of the marbles sent to Athens on rotation over several years, according to people familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified because a deal hasn’t been sealed. In exchange, other objects would effectively be loaned to the museum in London, and Britain.

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

EU corruption scandal: Greek MEP Eva Kaili denies Qatar bribery after €1.5m seized

Greek MEP Eva Kaili has denied involvement in an alleged bribery scandal involving World Cup host Qatar at the European Parliament.

She is one of four suspects charged after Belgian investigators found €1.5m (£1.3m) in two homes and a suitcase.

MEPs have voted – by 625 to one – to strip Ms Kaili of her role as one of its 14 vice-presidents.

Parliament leader Roberta Metsola has spoken of “difficult days for European democracy”.

“[Eva Kaili] declares her innocence and that she has nothing to do with bribery from Qatar,” her lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, told Greek TV on Tuesday.

There was uncontested evidence, he added in a later statement, that “every move, contact and statement made by Eva Kaili regarding Qatar was made in execution and application of the official policy of the European Union”.

Prosecutors carried out a string of searches over several days and said cash worth about €600,000 had been found at the home of one suspect, €150,000 at the flat of an MEP and €750,000 in a suitcase in a Brussels hotel room. 

Belgian police released a photo on Tuesday showing piles of notes in €200, €50, €20 and €10 denominations.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63952993

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

–

–

–

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Irene Papas

Irene Papas, was a Greek actress who starred in films like “Z,” “Zorba the Greek” and “The Guns of Navarone” but who won the greatest acclaim of her career playing the heroines of Greek tragedy.

Ms. Papas was best known for her intensely serious and sultry-strong roles in the 1960s. In “The Guns of Navarone” (1961), filmed partly on the island of Rhodes, she played a World War II resistance fighter who dared to do what a team of Allied saboteurs (among them Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn) would not: shoot an unarmed woman because she was a traitor.

In “Zorba the Greek” (1964), with Mr. Quinn, she was a Greek widow who is stoned by her fellow villagers because of her choice of lover. In Costa-Gavras’s Oscar-winning political thriller “Z” (1969), set in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, she played Yves Montand’s widow, who evoked the film’s meaning with one final grief-ridden look out to sea.

She was also a singer. She made two albums of Greek folk songs and hymns, “Odes” (1979) and “Rapsodies” (1986), and created something of a scandal with vocals that were condemned by some as lewd on “666,” the 1971 album by the rock group Aphrodite’s Child.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/movies/irene-papas-dead.html

–

–https://lejournaldupeintre2.wordpress.com/

Painting news project

Les tableaux du peintre

Twitter

–

–

–https://lejournaldupeintre2.wordpress.com/

Painting news project

Les tableaux du peintre

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Lesbos: Is another Moria in the making?

Lesbos : after Moria fire

Conditions were supposed to be different in the Tara Kepe camp — more orderly, safer — after the controversial and completely overcrowded Moria refugee camp burned down about a month ago.

“The conditions in the new camp remind us a lot of Moria, while we hear from our patients that in reality, the situation is even worse,” said Marco Sandrone, director of operations for MSF on Lesbos.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4028780

Le journal du peintre

Les tableaux du peintre

Painting news project

Twitter

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Refugee crisis in Greece: Anger and foreboding grow on Lesbos

προσφυγικό κέντρο Μόριας / Prosfygikó kéndro Mórias

https://lejournaldupeintre2.wordpress.com/

 

Painting news project 

Les tableaux du peintre

Twitter

–
–
–
–
–
–
–

–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–