Greece took a significant step towards a more sustainable future by announcing the establishment of a €2 billion Decarbonization Fund specifically tailored for the Greek islands. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the news during the 9th Our Ocean Conference held in Athens this week. The Decarbonization Fund, backed by the EU Emissions Trading System, aims to connect the Greek islands with the mainland power grid, support renewable energy and storage infrastructure initiatives including offshore wind farms and the development of multipurpose water reservoirs. Addressing the conference, a 2014 initiative by former United States special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry, Mitsotakis highlighted Greece’s commitment to accelerate the country’s transition to a ‘bluer’ economy with 21 initiatives totalling €780 million. These time-specific actions include the creation of two new national marine parks in the Ionian and Aegean seas, a ban on bottom trawling in designated areas – the first such initiative in Europe – the implementation of an advanced surveillance system utilizing drones and AI, and ambitious targets for the reduction of plastic waste in Greek waters. In this effort, Mitsotakis also referred to the urgent need to protect coastal areas, which recent legislation on beach and shoreline use aims to do. The 9th Our Ocean Conference in Athens came to a close on Wednesday with 469 new commitments worth over an estimated $11 billion. Source: tovima.com
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Arrival data from Athens International Airport (AIA) show that tourist flow to Greece’s capital is off to a good start. However, to the hoteliers’ concern, this increased traffic is not reflected in hotel bookings around the city. Passenger traffic at AIA during the first quarter of 2024 totaled at 5,215 million, a 16.5% increase compared to the same period last year, while the number of flights amounted to 46,334, a 12.8% increase. Nevertheless, hotel reservations in the capital do not seem to be fairing as well. Secretary-General of the Athens – Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association Evgenios Vassilikos mentioned that this tourism surge is now distributed among the short-term rentals, which have reached 14,000 in Athens alone. Vassilikos explained that hotel occupancy rates in Athens this year is just about the same as in 2023, despite the spike in reservations during the previous days due to the Catholic Easter holiday. According to data for the first two months of 2024, hotel occupancy reached 59.3% compared to 54.4% during the same period in 2023. He also mentioned how hotel prices have remained almost the same since last year, despite increases in costs, which are getting harder to cover. According to recent data from the Association, the average room rate in Athens in February 2024 was 92.58, a 3% increase from last year. This number is significantly lower than the average rate in cities like Istanbul (114.85 euros), Madrid (138.03), Paris (279.98), Barcelona (154.39) or Rome (162.57), which also record better revenue per available room (indicatively, 68.45 euros in Istanbul, 183.39 in Paris, 93.86 in Madrid, 103.13 in Barcelona and 88.93 in Rome.) Vassilikos also touched upon the unfair competition between hotels and short-term rentals regarding climate change fees. He explained that while the specified fee for a room at a 4-star hotel is 7 euros, and 10 euros for a room in a 5-star hotel, it only amounts to 1.5 euros in short-term accommodations that can host up to 4 people and often charge higher than hotels. Nevertheless, Vassilikos remains cautiously optimistic for this year’s season, stating that “while things are good, they could be better.” Source: tovima.com The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strict response, today, to the announcement from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which expressed concern about the upcoming creation of marine parks in the Aegean. In this statement, it’s noted that the neighboring country is “politicizing an environmental issue,” while Greece pledges to “steadfastly defend sovereignty and sovereign rights in line with foreign policy principles.” Athens’ announcements regarding the establishment of two marine parks in the Aegean yesterday, April 9, sparked Turkey’s reaction, with the neighboring country pointing the finger at Greece for “exploiting environmental issues” speaking of islands in the Aegean “whose sovereignty has not been transferred to Greece through international agreements.” In its response, the Greek ministry emphasizes that the universal challenge of environmental protection should sensitize governments and not be used to create impressions. Further adding that “The Greek government will continue to unequivocally support the sovereignty and sovereign rights of the country within the framework of foreign policy principles. Drawing on international law and, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, of which Greece is a contracting party. The practice of transactional diplomacy and the use of hybrid means for geopolitical benefits do not befit Greek foreign policy.” Source: tovima.com Currently, renovations in the EU countries are only reducing annual energy consumption by 1%, according to the European Commission. This month, EU lawmakers passed a directive on building energy efficiency, mandating hefty renovations for property owners to curb carbon emissions and energy consumption. The development will be gradual – it will last more than a decade – but property owners who lag behind risk being burdened with assets that can no longer be sold or rented. The directive aims to compel property owners to undertake large-scale renovations to improve the environmental characteristics of buildings across Europe and ensure that the bloc meets its commitments under the Paris Agreement of Dec. 2015, to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. Currently, renovations in the EU countries are only reducing annual energy consumption by 1%, according to the European Commission. To meet its climate requirements, the EU says property owners must increase renovation spending by 275 billion euros annually. The new European law on energy efficiency is likely to impact tens of thousands of buildings across the entire region. By 2033, property owners will need to have renovated one quarter of the largest energy-consuming buildings in the EU, what is more, by 2030, all new buildings must be emissions-free. In the EU, around 85% of buildings predating 2000 are major energy consumers, relying heavily on fossil fuels for heating and cooling. The EU targets a 60% emissions reduction in this sector by 2030. Source: tovima.com THIS weekend marks a quarter-century since a landmark act of aggression — Nato’s bombing of Yugoslavia, which began on March 24 1999. The war is often presented as a success. An easy war in the honeymoon period of Tony Blair’s premiership, before it was clear he would be associated, more than anything else, with war, through the longer, bloodier conflicts he threw Britain into in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is misleading. Nato’s air war involved three months of intensive bombing. Our bombers pulverised barracks, bridges, roads: but also schools, hospitals, homes. Thousands were killed. As the US academic Noam Chomsky noted, it was a war justified by misleading propaganda: that Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic was engaged in ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians. In fact ethnic clashes had claimed scores of lives in Kosovo in the preceding year, but these included massacres of Kosovar Serb civilians by the Kosovo Liberation Army as well as Serb militia attacks on Albanians, and the bombing prompted a massive escalation in such bloodshed. As so often since, a complex local conflict involving ethnic and religious differences was exploited by imperialist powers to further their own geopolitical goals — in this case, the final break-up of the once multinational socialist state of Yugoslavia — who pitched it to people back home as a battle between good and evil. That complex local conflict has not been resolved. Nato carved an independent Kosovo out of Yugoslav territory, but drawing borders on ethnic lines rarely works to everyone’s satisfaction, and Kosovo now includes separatist Serb-majority areas — whose residents rioted and attacked the garrisons Nato still maintains there last spring. Nato’s war had consequences way beyond south-east Europe. It showed hopes were in vain that the end of the cold war would bring a “peace dividend” and the diversion of arms spending into socially more useful channels. Instead, the United States used its “unipolar moment” following the fall of the Soviet Union to assert its will by force wherever it wanted. Yugoslavia was the first in the sequence that Joe Biden later dubbed the “forever wars.” Washington, with London loyally in tow, would proceed to set fire to Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, fuel and fund conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and murder thousands of people across the world in drone attacks. International law went out the window, with the doctrine of “humanitarian intervention” allowing any state strong enough to violate the UN Charter whenever it claimed the moral right. How partial these questions become, once the law no longer counts, is shown by Russia adopting precisely the justification Nato used in Kosovo — protecting an ethnic minority — to march troops into the Donbass two years ago. Many of the conventions by which armies had been supposed to behave since the second world war were dropped. Nato openly admitted to targeting civilians, most notoriously by bombing the Radio Television of Serbia HQ, killing 16 people, arguing its role broadcasting Serbian propaganda made it a legitimate target. This formalised the treatment of journalists as enemy combatants, something which has placed journalists in warzones at heightened risk ever since. Washington’s unipolar moment has passed. But the frenetic aggression of the US and its allies, Britain above all, in those years not only killed millions, it inured our politicians to seeing war as the normal state of affairs, the constant backdrop to our political life. That explains their blasé attitude to the prolonged slaughter in Ukraine. After the drawn-out morasses of Iraq and Afghanistan, endless military action without any real prospect of achieving anything we might define as victory is nothing new. And the casual use of military force against weak countries, that cannot hit back, has bred a dangerous complacency, one that sees our political leaders openly moot war with great powers like Russia and China — war on a scale that could end life as we know it. (morningstar) History knows many events which, by virtue of their profound impact on the international order, marked a change of eras. The NATO attack on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on March 24, 1999 is certainly one such event. It went beyond being a tragic milestone in the life of the Serbian people with thousands of ruined lives and desecrated national dignity, and included a devastating blow to international law and European security foundations that had been laid after World War II. The United States and the EU got finally convinced in their own impunity and moral superiority which was bad news for those who prefer to choose their own path rather than become someone’s tool in their efforts to realise their own interests. The strategic balance of power collapsed, and a drawn-out crisis of international relations ensued which continues to worsen. The US and its allies who assaulted a peaceful European country trampled on the UN Charter and the CSCE/OSCE principles, and desecrated the very notion of sovereignty. They have thus made it clear that they will stoop to anything, including radioactive contamination of vast swathes of land, to achieve global dominance. The widespread use of depleted uranium munitions by NATO has led to a multifold increase in cancer cases in that region, contaminated the environment where millions of people had lived for many years, and went down in history as a separate dark chapter on the list of NATO crimes. During the 78 days of military aggression 14,000 bombs were dropped on Yugoslavia and over 2,000 missiles were fired, including cluster and demolition shells. Under the mocking front of a “humanitarian intervention,” mostly civilian targets were hit, including residential districts, hospitals, schools, bridges, mass transit vehicles, and refugee convoys. Thousands of civilians were killed, including 89 children, whom the Western coalition cynically referred to as “collateral damage.” No one has ever been held accountable for these atrocities, and international justice turned a deaf ear to the suffering of the Serbs and let NATO atrocities go unnoticed. Not only the bombed-out buildings of the Yugoslav General Staff and Defence Ministry in central Belgrade which irritate the US officials to this day remind us of those terrible days. Serbia has many other unhealed wounds. A portion of the country’s ancestral territory, Kosovo and Metohija, has been forcibly taken away. The West has taken under its wing terrorists from the Kosovo Liberation Army, gave the province the status of a pseudo-state, and encourages the expulsion of the indigenous Serbian population. This inevitably begs the question: was the “Kosovo project” worth the sacrifice and destruction that the alliance brought upon Yugoslavia? Has the self-proclaimed “republic” added stability or prosperity to the Balkan region? There is no doubt that the United States’ concern for the rights of Kosovo Albanians is a fake claim from the get-go. It is nothing but a false pretext for the crackdown on Serbs. The West’s goal was to turn the provisional self-governing bodies in Pristina into a tool for anti-Serb ethnic cleansing and a festering trouble spot to put pressure on Belgrade. At the end of the day, the Kosovo settlement is in a deadlock, and the situation on the ground threatens to escalate into an armed conflict. This is what the Western “peacemaking” is all about. Its disastrous ramifications can now be seen in Ukraine, where a neo-Nazi regime has been nurtured on the basis of Washington and its supporters’ rejection of the principles of equality and mutual respect in international affairs, a regime that committed genocide against the Russian population and plunged the country into a military face-off. We can hear the US and the EU increasingly call on Serbs to “turn the page” and forgive NATO for the invasion that took place 25 years ago. On top of that, they lay the bulk of the blame on the Serbs for the dramatic events during the breakup of Yugoslavia, including the 1999 bombing attacks. I’d be hard pressed to find proper words to describe the extent of Western shamelessness and lack of self-criticism. The Alliance will never be able to wash off the shame of war crimes. No one believes its demagoguery about defending freedom and democracy anymore. The United States and the rest of NATO have no right whatsoever to talk about implementing an obscure new “rules-based order.” Their every effort to put together some kind of “global security architecture” is by definition malevolent and toxic, and aimed solely at perpetrating the neocolonial hegemony of the West. Russia and its partners in Belgrade will continue to oppose the attempts to distort the history of the Yugoslav crisis and to shift the emphasis to demonising Serbs and justifying the 1999 aggression. The attempts to insult the memory of the innocent victims of NATO hangmen are unacceptable. (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation) Twenty five years ago, Zoltan Dani achieved a miraculous military feat: wielding outdated missile equipment, his army unit shot down an American F117 "stealth fighter" flying over Serbia as part of NATO's 1999 air strike assault. The David-vs-Goliath victory was one of the most surprising achievements of the Serbian side as it was battered by NATO bombs that began dropping 20 years ago on Sunday, in a bid to halt Belgrade's war with Kosovo. But in perhaps an even more remarkable twist, the retired army officer is now close friends with the American pilot whose Nighthawk he brought down. "Bingo," Dani, now 67, recalls saying when he first learned he had struck the American aircraft, which was touted as invisible to radar. ADVERTISINGThe downing of the F117 three days into the NATO assault earned Dani national hero status. It was the first and only time a F117 has been shot down in combat, leading celebratory Serbs to print shirts and posters with the slogan: "We didn't know it was invisible!" After three months of air strikes, Serbia was forced to withdraw its troops from Kosovo, where its forces had been battling ethnic Albanian separatists. While the NATO intervention is celebrated as the basis of Kosovans' liberation today, traumatic memories of the bombs remain deeply etched in Serbia's public memory. But Dani and his US counterpart, Air Force pilot Dale Zelko, managed to put their past behind them. Around a decade ago, they started exchanging emails. "It was important, among other things, to learn what kind of man he was," Dani, who is part of Serbia's Hungarian minority, told AFP from his home in eastern Skorenovac. "After two to three years we decided together that it was time to meet." - 'Message of peace' - That 2012 encounter, filmed in a documentary called 'The Second Meeting', saw Zelko travel to Dani's home where he had opened a bakery after retiring from military service. "When he arrived... I handed him an apron, he took it and we worked together," recalls Dani with a grin. In the documentary, the two men are seen rolling out pastry dough together before visiting a Serbian museum where tattered pieces of the F117 are on display. "Hey, that's my stuff," Zelko jokes, pointing at the display. They also visit the field where the American pilot landed after he ejected from his aircraft in a parachute. "As soon as I saw those missiles I thought, oh man, they got me," Zelko says standing in the field. At a screening of the film in Belgrade in 2012, Zelko addressed the room. "I am sorry for your suffering and sorrow, loss and anguish," he said, visibly shaken. "War is not between normal, average people, it is between the governments," he added. Dani says he was initially hesitant about making contact with his former war foe, but ultimately decided it would "be an opportunity to send a common message of peace and understanding". The following year he visited Zelko and his family at their home in New Hampshire. Now they still talk "once or twice a week by email", reports Dani. Near his computer is a large chunk of dark metal -- another recovered piece of the F117 -- leaning against the wall. ? AFP Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is seeking €100,000 (£85,374) in damages after deepfake porn videos of her were uploaded online. Ms Meloni is due to testify before a court in the Sardinian city of Sassari on 2 July. A deepfake image is one where the face of one person is digitally added to the body of another. A 40-year-old man, thought to have produced the videos, and his 73-year-old father are under investigation. Police have said they were able to find them by tracking down the mobile device that was used to post the videos. Both men are accused of defamation. Under Italian law, some defamation cases can be criminal and carry a custodial sentence. According to the indictment, the videos were posted on a US pornographic website, where they were viewed "millions of times" over the course of several months. Ms Meloni's legal team has said that, if her request for damages is successful, she will donate the €100,000 to a fund to support women who have been victims of male violence. Maria Giulia Marongiu, Ms Meloni's lawyer, said the sum was "symbolic" and the demand for compensation was meant to "send a message to women who are victims of this kind of abuse of power not to be afraid to press charges." The deepfake videos of Ms Meloni date back to before she was appointed prime minister in 2022. In recent years, deepfake porn has become commonplace on the internet. Victims have spoken about the trauma of seeing their faces digitally edited onto photos of women in sexually explicit scenes. (BBC) If you’ve seen the new Netflix docuseries about a religious group called the Raëlians founded by Maitreya Raël (formerly Claude Vorilhon) in the 1970s, you may be wondering if Brigitte Boisselier’s claims about having created the first human clone, whom she calls “Baby Eve,” are true. Warning: Spoilers follow for Raël: The Alien Prophet. In 2002, Boisselier announced publicly that she had successfully produced the first human clone through she and Vorilhon’s company Clonaid. Calling her “Baby Eve” to protect the child’s identity, Boisselier said that Eve was cloned using the DNA of her mother, and that she was born in Israel on Dec. 26, 2002, according to CNN. She said used the same process, called somatic cell nuclear transfer, that was successfully used to clone a sheep named Dolly in 1996. Is ‘First Human Clone’ Baby Eve Real?No formal evidence that Eve was truly a genetic replica of her mother — or that she ever even existed — has ever been shown, and the validity of Boisselier’s claims remains unproven, according to StatNews, a health news website produced by Boston Globe Media. In 2004, Clonaid said it had produced 14 total human clones, StatNews added — but these claims have also never been proven due to the company’s refusal to allow independent tests on the children, or even to provide proof of their identities. Indeed, the idea of Eve’s existence — or that any human cloning was ever achieved by Clonaid — has been called an elaborate hoax, according to the docuseries. Former Raëlian Says Baby Eve Doesn’t Exist“Having been on the inside, I can tell you assuredly, it’s all fake,” former Raëlian Damien Marsic, who left the religion in 2016, says in Raël: The Alien Prophet. Marsic says that he was the only scientist actually working in the Raëlians’ lab, and that they were nowhere near the scientific capability of bringing a human clone to term through surrogacy when Boisselier made the claim that Baby Eve had been born. “This is by far the craziest and most bizarre story I have ever heard in my life, because it wasn’t true,” Miami Herald journalist Jay Weaver says in the docuseries. “And fortunately, it didn’t hurt anybody. I guess the only real victims here and I say this with tongue in cheek, are the Raëlians. They come across as complete fools.” Boisselier still maintains that Baby Eve is real, but that she prefers to maintain her privacy rather than to come forward. She remains a devout member of the Raëlians religious sect and is interviewed extensively in Netflix’s Raël: The Alien Prophet. Raël started the Raëlians in the 1970s based on the story that he had met an alien who told him that extraterrestrials were the creators of humanity. Referring to the aliens as the “Elohim,” Vorilhon grew the religious group with the goal of building a multi-million dollar embassy from which to welcome the Elohim’s arrival on earth in the year 2035. In his own interview in the docuseries, Vorilhon — who remains the leader of the Raëlians to this day — denies having ever participated in cloning, saying that Clonaid was nothing more than a shell company. “I have neither the will nor the skill set. I’m not a scientist,” Vorilhon says in Raël: The Alien Prophet. “To tell you the truth, I probably would have never even mentioned cloning if the Pope himself had not mentioned it. He was against cloning, and I thought, ‘Let’s create a cloning venture.’ Everything the Pope says, I try and counter it. To me, he is the epitome of guilt and the worst for humankind. He continued: “So I created a shell company, Clonaid, a P.O. Box in the Bahamas, just so people could say ‘Raël is launching human cloning company.’ Then Brigitte Boisselier came along and told me, ‘I’d like to do it for real.’ I said ‘Go ahead.’ And suddenly, there was a massive outcry that led us to the American congress to testify with Brigitte. We thought it was hilarious.” All four episodes of Raël: The Alien Prophet are now streaming on Netflix. Main Image: (L-R) Claude “Raël” Vorilhon and Brigitte Boisselier pictured in Raël: The Alien Prophet courtesy of Netflix (moviemaker) Chinese officials have cancelled two Argentina friendlies that were due to take place in the Asian country after Lionel Messi did not play for Inter Miami in a match in Hong Kong. The world champions were set to face Nigeria in Hangzhou and Ivory Coast in Beijing in March. Fans in China were angered when the Argentina captain did not play for his club against a Hong Kong XI on Sunday. Messi, 36, said he could not play because of a groin injury. However, his non-appearance drew widespread criticism in China when he then featured off the bench three days later against Vissel Kobe in Japan. "Beijing does not plan, for the moment, to organise the match in which Lionel Messi was to participate," the Beijing Football Association said on Saturday. When the Hangzhou match was cancelled on Friday their sports bureau said: "Given the reasons that everyone knows, according to the competent authorities, the conditions for the event to take place are not met." Fans in Hong Kong jeered Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham and chanted for their money back after Messi did not take to the pitch. They have since been promised a 50% refund by match organisers Tatler Asia. (BBC) The US and UK have carried out a number of strikes on Houthi bases in Yemen, after the group repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis are an Iranian-backed rebel group which considers Israel an enemy. Why are the Houthis attacking Red Sea ships? In response to the war in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis started firing drones and missiles towards Israel. Most have been intercepted. On 19 November, the Houthis hijacked a commercial ship in the Red Sea and have since attacked more than two dozen others with drones, missiles and speed boats. The Houthis say they are targeting ships which are Israeli-owned, flagged or operated, or which are heading to Israeli ports. However, many of the vessels which have been attacked have no connection with Israel. Also among those attacked wasa British-linked tanker, which the Houthis said was in response to "American-British aggression". US-led naval forces have thwarted many of the attacks. Major shipping companies have stopped using the Red Sea - through which almost 15% of global seaborne trade usually passes - and are using a much longer route around southern Africa instead. Why are the UK and US bombing Yemen? The US and UK started carrying out air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on 11 January. There have been several more strikes since then. President Joe Biden said they were in "direct response" to the attacks on Red Sea ships, which "jeopardised trade, and threatened freedom of navigation". UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the action was "necessary and proportionate" to protect global shipping. Who are the Houthis? The Houthis are an armed political and religious group which champions Yemen's Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis. They declare themselves to be part of the Iranian-led "axis of resistance" against Israel, the US and the wider West - along with armed groups such as Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement. Formally known as the Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), the group emerged in the 1990s and takes its name from the movement's late founder, Hussein al-Houthi. The current leader is his brother, Abdul Malik al-Houthi. In the early 2000s, the Houthis fought a series of rebellions against Yemen's long-time authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, in an attempt to win greater autonomy for the group's homeland in the north of Yemen. During the 2011 Arab Spring, a popular uprising forced President Saleh to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. President Hadi's government was overwhelmed with problems. The Houthis seized control of the northern province of Saada before taking the Yemini capital, Sanaa, after forming an unlikely alliance with Saleh and security forces still loyal to him. In 2015, the rebels seized large parts of western Yemen and forced Mr Hadi to flee abroad. Neighbouring Saudi Arabia feared the Houthis would take over Yemen and make it a satellite of its rival, Iran. It formed a coalition of Arab countries that intervened in the war. But years of air strikes and ground fighting have not dislodged the Houthis from most of the territory they seized. Saudi Arabia is now trying to make a peace deal with the Houthis, and a UN-brokered truce has been in effect since April 2022. The war has killed more than 160,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). More than four million people have been displaced. Who backs the Houthis and how do they get their weapons? The US says Iran enabled the Houthis to target ships, and President Biden has sent a "private message" to Tehran urging it to stop. Iran has denied involvement. Saudi Arabia and the US say Iran has smuggled weapons - including drones, and cruise and ballistic missiles - to the Houthis during Yemen's civil war in violation of a UN arms embargo. It says such missiles and drones have been used in attacks on Saudi Arabia, as well as its ally, the United Arab Emirates. Iran denies supplying weapons to the Houthis and says it only supports them politically. "The Houthis could not operate at this level without Iranian arms, training and intelligence," says Dr Elisabeth Kendall, a Middle East specialist at Cambridge University. However, she adds: "It is unclear that Iran has direct command and control over the Houthis." According to the Italian Institute of International Political Studies, Iran has helped the Houthis build factories to make drones in Yemen. The Houthis have also received military advice and support from the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah, the US-based Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Military Academy says. How much of Yemen do the Houthis control?The Houthis control Sanaa and the north-west of Yemen, including the Red Sea coastline. Most of Yemen's population lives in these areas, and the Houthis run a de facto government which collects taxes and prints money. The internationally-recognised government of Yemen is based in the southern port of Aden. It is overseen by the eight-member Presidential Leadership Council, to which President Hadi handed power in 2022. (BBC) (photos) Houthi fighters hijacked a British-owned and Japanese-operated ship in the Red Sea on 19 November Wreckage of a drone launched from Yemen at the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, in 2022 The Houthis are part of an "axis of resistance" against Israel A wave of inflation Greece, Europe and much of the world, in the wake of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has made one iconic food item, the beloved pizza, a pricier fare. According to Eurostat figures for 2023, a European citizen now pays more to buy a pizza than even a year and two years ago. Specifically, the average price of a specific size of pizza jumped by 5.9% in Europe in December 2023, compared with the corresponding month of 2022. The rate of increase in Greece for the same period was 3.9%, on an annual basis. The increase between December 2022 and December 2021 was even more pronounced, 15.2%. The biggest hike, yoy, was recorded in non-Eurozone member Hungary (13.4%), followed by Luxembourg (11.3%) and Latvia (10.6%). Conversely, pizza prices actually fell in the Netherlands by 0.9%. Source: tovima.com In Greece, there are two distinct realms: one comprises the major urban centers, such as greater Athens area and Thessaloniki, where half of the country’s population resides and the bulk of its GDP is produced, while the other encompasses the entirety of the nation’s regions. The disparity between these two worlds is substantial. According to the latest data from ELSTAT, in 2021 the broader region of Athens accounted for 47.9% of the domestic Gross Value Added, with Central Macedonia following at 13.7%. The Ionian Islands accounted for 1.6%, and the islands of the Northern Aegean for 1.3%. Regarding GDP per capita, the capital is again at the top with 23,335 euros, with the North Aegean being at the bottom position with 10,658 euros. Stelios Gialis, Associate Professor of Economic and Labor Geography at the University of the Aegean, explains that in Greece, the economy’s free market nature exacerbates the gap between the central areas and the periphery. This disparity is amplified due to the lack of robust regional development initiatives. Consequently, agricultural and informal sector activities, prevalent in rural areas, yield lower incomes compared to the urban centers where large wage labor markets and self-employed professionals are concentrated. This observation is confirmed by Athanasios Malliaras, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Serres, who emphasizes the challenges faced by the prefecture, consistently ranking low in GDP per capita. He notes the decline of the primary sector as a significant issue and highlights the impact of cross-border smuggling due to the proximity to Bulgaria. Additionally, he mentions the allure of favorable taxation in the neighboring country, prompting business migration, especially during the economic crisis. Malliaras calls for the establishment of a Special Economic Zone in Serres to address these issues. On the contrary, the picture emerging from the region of the South Aegean, is encouraging. According to professor Stelios Gialis, the dynamism of this region is attributed to its tourism sector, which did not suffer the same blow as other industries during the period of the great recession. Tourism supported construction and employment, despite the fact that “many of the jobs it provides are not well paid.” Source: tovima.com
Tucker interviews Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia. February 6th, 2024.
The US Supreme Court will wade into uncharted legal waters on Thursday as it considers if Donald Trump should be barred from running for president. The justices will weigh if Colorado can strike Mr Trump off its ballot after finding he engaged in insurrection over the US Capitol riot. Their decision will also determine if similar bids to keep Mr Trump off the ballot in other states are valid. He is the definitive frontrunner to be the Republican party's candidate. Unless the justices rule against Mr Trump, he looks likely to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in November. It is the most consequential such case to reach the court since it halted the Florida vote recount in 2000, handing the White House to Republican George W Bush over Democrat Al Gore. The challenge has been expedited by the US Supreme Court, and there is pressure for a decision before 5 March, when voters in 15 states - including Colorado - cast their ballots in Republican primaries. Mr Trump's name so far remains on the Colorado ballot, pending the court's ruling. Maine also has excluded Mr Trump from its ballot, a decision on hold, too, while the justices consider the matter. The legal challenge hinges on a Civil War-era constitutional amendment that bans anyone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding federal office. This prohibition has never been used to disqualify a candidate for president. In December's ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court wrote that it was aware of the magnitude of its decision. "We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach," the justices wrote. In turn, Mr Trump's lawyers argued that the Colorado ruling had "unconstitutionally disenfranchised millions of voters in Colorado" and could be used to further disenfranchise millions more across the country. His argument has been supported by the chief legal officers of 27 states, who filed a brief saying the Colorado ruling would sow "widespread chaos". "Most obviously, it casts confusion into an election cycle that is just weeks away," the attorneys general wrote. "Beyond that, it upsets the respective roles of the Congress, the States, and the courts." Courts in Minnesota and Michigan have dismissed parallel efforts to remove Mr Trump from their ballots, while other cases, including in Oregon, are pending. The US Supreme Court's decision in this case is expected to turn on how a majority of the justices interpret the provision of the 14th Amendment, which includes the insurrection clause. Lawyers for the former president have provided several reasons to the court for why he should not be removed from the ballot. In one, they argue that the 14th Amendment does not apply to presidential candidates. In another, they contend that Mr Trump's conduct at the time of the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 did not amount to insurrection. The case lands with a thud before a Supreme Court that is already facing near all-time lows in terms of public approval. No matter the ruling by the nine justices - three of whom were nominated by Mr Trump - it is likely to prove hugely divisive. The top court has a history of finding ways to extricate itself from politically charged legal issues by sticking to the narrowest of legal grounds, which could turn out to be the case here. Mr Trump, who is in the midst of his third presidential campaign, is not expected to attend Thursday's hearing. He is facing a number of legal challenges. Last month, he was ordered to pay $83.3m ($65m) for defaming columnist E Jean Carroll, who he was found to have sexually assaulted in a separate case. The Supreme Court itself - which holds a 6-3 conservative majority - may soon be asked to weigh in on another case involving Mr Trump. Earlier this week, a federal appeals court in Washington DC rejected his claims of presidential immunity, ruling he could be prosecuted on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. Mr Trump has until Monday to ask the Supreme Court to pause this ruling. By Holly Honderich BBC News, Washington bbc.om Nearly a week after a drone strike in Jordan killed three US soldiers, retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militias have begun. The strikes had been expected for several days, and in the interim, the Biden administration began to face questions and criticism from Republicans about the timing and forcefulness of the US response. But foreign policy experts believed the approach allowed Iran to withdraw personnel, potentially avoiding a wider conflict between the US and Iran. "This would allow them to degrade the capacity of these Iranian-backed militias to attack US forces, but not escalate," Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East, told the BBC. "Although it is likely not going to be a deterrent to future attacks." The ultimate benefit, he said, would be "to avoid a direct war" between the US and Iran. The US struck the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militias in Iraq and Syria, at seven sites in total. Bombers hit 85 individual targets, according to US defence officials. "Let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond," President Joe Biden said. US officials have blamed an Iranian-backed militia group, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, for the Jordan attack. The organisation - an umbrella group of multiple militias - is believed to have been armed, funded and trained by Iran. Iran has denied any involvement in the drone strike, which also injured 41 US troops. Defence and security officials said that weather had made it difficult to retaliate sooner, with Friday presenting the best conditions for launching strikes. Though the White House and Pentagon also repeatedly said they were avoiding "telegraphing" operations in the days leading up to the strikes, experts believe they did just that - with the ultimate intention of avoiding a wider war with Iran. Arabian Gulf States Institute of Washington fellow Hussein Ibish, said the delay appeared to be the US signalling "what they're not going to do, which is strike inside Iran". Mr Mulroy told the BBC it is possible that the US allowed Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel "to leave the facilities that are going to be struck". Experts noted the US must walk a fine line between deterring a country like Iran without igniting a greater conflict. "Telegraphing" the strikes could allow the US to adopt a "Goldilocks" approach to the operation that is "not too hard and not too soft", said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Washington DC-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. From the Biden administration's perspective, that approach "would inflict pain on our adversaries so they stop attacking our forces, but not so much that they feel a need for a massive escalation, thereby avoiding a regional war" National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Friday that Washington won't "telegraph future operations" but confirmed "there will be additional response action taken in coming days". However, Republicans in Congress have been quick to condemn Mr Biden's approach for being too lenient on Iran. Speaker Mike Johnson, the most powerful Republican in Congress, said after the attacks that "public handwringing and excessive signalling undercuts our ability to put a decisive end to the barrage of attacks endured over the past few months". In a post on X, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas called Mr Biden's response "anaemic" and claimed "it has only emboldened the ayatollahs further." "Only further, more devastating attacks against Iranian forces will scare the ayatollahs," he wrote. Senator Markwayne Mullin invoked the more aggressive actions of past Republican presidents, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, as a contrast to Mr Biden's plan of attack. "Deterrence isn't delayed half-measures," he wrote on X. "Deterrence is taking the head off the snake." But Mr Ibish noted that the Biden administration may be trying to avoid domestic political pitfalls that would come with the US getting dragged into a more serious conflict. "If they did strike in Iran, the Republican standard bearers like Donald Trump would denounce Biden for being a warmonger," he said. "It's a political trap. Everybody gets that, so they're not going to fall into that trap." By Bernd Debusmann Jr & Kayla Epstein BBC News, Washington and New York Source:bbc.com On the heels of the Special European Council meeting in Brussels yesterday which was marred by protests of the agricultural sector, Prime Minister Mitsotakis will address Greek parliament today to discuss the issues and concerns of farmers in Greece. The PM noted yesterday, while still in Brussels, that he would attend parliament to answer questions posed by the New Left party leader Alexis Charitsis. While the government is expected to announce some measures that aim to reduce production costs, such as the cost of diesel and electricity, the PM is not expected to announce any large measures, according to reports at ToVima. The PM said yesterday when speaking to press that there should be a European solution stemming from the revision of the common agricultural policy. “I believe, I think, that the time has come, without calling into question the core of the green transition, the possibility to discuss some adjustments to the policy that will consider the new realities that we can’t ignore. And I want to stress that many of the concerns of farmer are understandable to me and, to a degree, justified.” Source: tovima.com RIYADH: Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah arrived in Riyadh on a state visit to the Kingdom on Tuesday. He was received by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and an official reception ceremony was held at the Saudi Royal Court in the capital. The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a message on social media platform X welcoming the emir to the Kingdom, referring to it as his “second home.” Later, the emir was received by King Salman. SaudiArabia’s King Salman receives Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Tuesday. (SPA)Sheikh Meshal became emir in December after the death of his predecessor Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. The visit is expected to strengthen bilateral ties and foster cooperation between the two Gulf nations. Last week the European Union came to an agreement to limit cash payments to €10,000 in an effort to combat money laundering. The rules still need to get approval from members of the European Council and also be voted on by the European Parliament, which means that they could take years to come into force. Hopes are that the rules will but a squeeze on illegal transactions and money laundering, including through cryptocurrency, and assist financial investigators by enabling them to suspend suspicious transactions. If passed, providers of cryptocurrency and various crypto-assets will be required to conduct better monitoring of transactions that are valued at €1,000 or above. For Greece and for several other European countries, the new rule is not expected to face resistance, as they already have lower limits for cash transactions. For example, France has a €1,000 limit and Greece, where tax evasion is many times higher than Germany and Austria, has a limit of just €500. The new rule however is expected to make waves in Germany, which is known for its limited use of credit cards and preference for cash, even for big purchases like cars. Source: tovima.com North Korea experts - by nature, a cautious group who seek to avoid sowing panic - have been left reeling by two of their own. Last week, the two eminent analysts dropped a bomb - so to speak - in stating their belief that the pariah state's leader is preparing for war. Kim Jong Un has scrapped the bedrock goal of reconciling and re-uniting with South Korea, they said. Instead, he's presenting the North and South as two independent states at war with each other. "We believe, that like his grandfather in 1950, Kim Jong Un has made a strategic decision to go to war," wrote Robert L Carlin, a former CIA analyst and Siegfried S Hecker, a nuclear scientist who's visited the North several times, in an article on specialist site 38 North. Such a pronouncement set off alarm bells in Washington and Seoul, and a massive debate in North Korea watching circles. Most analysts, however, disagree with the war theory; the BBC spoke to seven experts across Asia, Europe and North America - none of whom supported the idea. "Risking his entire regime on a potentially cataclysmic conflict is not on-brand for the North Koreans. They have proven to be ruthlessly Machiavellian," says Christopher Green, a Korea watcher from Crisis Group based in the Netherlands. He and others note the North often acts out to bring Western powers to the table for dialogue; and there are political pressures at home too. But they do agree that Mr Kim's increased bluster can't be ignored and his regime has grown more dangerous. While most argue war may still be unlikely, some fear a more limited attack could yet be on the cards. What has led to this? Close watchers of North Korea's Kim Jong Un are used to his nuclear threats, but some say the latest messages from Pyongyang are of a different nature. Kim set a new path at the Supreme People's Assembly session on 15 JanuarySix days on from his New Year's Eve declaration that "it is fait accompli that a war can break out anytime on the Korean peninsula", his military blasted artillery across the border. North Korea has also claimed a test of a new solid-fuelled missile, and its underwater attack drones, which can supposedly carry a nuclear weapon, since the start of January. They follow on from two years of near-monthly missile launches and weapons development in blatant contravention of UN sanctions. However, it was his announcement of formally abandoning the goal of unification that last week furrowed brows. Reuniting with the South had always been a key - if increasingly unrealistic - part of the North's ideology since the inception of the state. "This is a big deal. It fundamentally alters one of the regime's core ideological precepts," says Peter Ward, a senior researcher at Kookmin University in Seoul. Kim Jong Un would now be tearing down that legacy - literally. Along with shutting diplomacy channels and cross-border radio broadcasts, he has announced he will demolish the Reunification Arch, a nine-storey monument on the outskirts of Pyongyang. The arch, showing two women in traditional Korean dress reaching towards each other, had been built in 2001 to mark his father's and grandfather's efforts towards the goal of reunification. Kim Jong Un plans to destroy this unification symbol to show his disgust with the SouthKim Il Sung had been the one who went to war in 1950, but he was also the one who set the idea that at some point North Koreans would be united with their southern kin again. But his grandson has now chosen to define South Koreans as different people altogether - perhaps to justify them as a military target. A limited strike on the cards? Mr Carlin and Dr Hecker, the analysts who predicted war, have interpreted all of this as signs that Kim Jong Un has settled on actually pursuing a fight. But most analysts disagree. Seong-Hyon Lee, from the George HW Bush Foundation for US-China relations, points out the country is due to reopen to foreign tourists next month, and it has also sold its own shells to Russia for war - something it could ill afford if it were preparing for the battlefields. The ultimate deterrent, however, is that were the North to launch an attack, the US and South Korea armies are just so much more advanced. "A general war could kill a lot of people in the South, but it would be the end of Kim Jong Un and his regime,"says Kookmim University's Mr Ward. Instead, he and others warn the conditions are building for a smaller action. "I'm much more concerned, in general, about a limited attack on South Korea… an attack of that sort would take aim at South Korean territory or military forces but be limited in scope," says analyst Ankit Panda, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. This could even be in the form of shelling or attempted occupation of contested islands west of the Korean peninsula. In 2010, the North struck the island of Yeonpyeong killing four South Korean soldiers, infuriating the South. A similar provocation again could be done to test the South Korean's limits, analysts suggest, and to push the buttons of President Yoon Suk Yeol, a defiantly hawkish leader who has vowed to respond to a North Korean attack with punishment "multiple times more severe". "North Korea may expect to draw out a disproportionate retaliatory attack from Seoul," says Mr Panda, something that might spark a broader escalation in fighting. Playbook move for leverage Others say war fears should also be put in the context of Kim's operating patterns. "Looking at the history of North Korea, it has often used provocation to attract the attention of other countries when it wants to negotiate," says Seong-Hyon Lee. The regime continues to suffer from economic sanctions and 2024 is an election year for its enemies - with the US presidential vote and South Korean legislature poll. "This presents a good opportunity for Kim Jong Un to provoke," explains Dr Lee. The current US administration under President Joe Biden - tied up with Ukraine and Gaza - hasn't paid North Korea much heed and Pyongyang has also typically had most engagement with Republican administrations. Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump famously had a bromance in 2019 before the denuclearisation talks soured - and the North Korean leader may be waiting for the former US president to return to the White House, where he might weaken the alliance with South Korea and be open to dialogue again. North Korea's closer friendship with Russia and continued economic support from China in the past year may have also boosted its audacity, analysts suggest. It's received technical help from Russia to achieve a long-term goal of launching its spy satellites and the two states had several high-profile meetings including a leaders summit last year. Kim travelled to Russia's leading space facility last November after which his regime was able to launch their satellite"Much of what we're seeing is a result of broader North Korean confidence in its own capabilities and its geopolitical position given Russian, and to a lesser degree, Chinese support," says Mr Panda. Domestic goals And others say Kim Jong Un's behaviour is all aimed at stabilising his own regime. "This appears to be an ideological adjustment for regime survival," argues Leif-Eric Easley, an associate professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul. "North Koreans are increasingly aware of their Communist country's failings compared to the South." He suggests a policy focused on defining the enemy justifies Mr Kim's missile spending at a time where there are reports of starvation across the country. Presenting the South as the enemy also makes it easier to resolve "cognitive dissonance at the heart" of the North's view on South Korea, points out Mr Ward. "Previously it was an indelibly evil state that was supposed to be the object of unification with a hopelessly corrupting culture that should not be consumed under any circumstances but with people who need to be liberated from their evil government," says Mr Ward. "Now the country and its culture can just be branded evil and that justifies the continued crackdown on South Korean culture." The BBC last week published rare footage showing two North Korean teenagers sentenced to 12 years hard labour for watching K-dramas. "He doesn't actually want a war - a huge gamble where he would have "nothing to gain and everything to lose", says Sokeel Park, from Liberty in North Korea, an NGO helping North Korean refugees. His threats are instead aimed at cementing his new North and South policy, designed ultimately to shore up his power at home, he says. While it's important for South Korea, the US and allies to prepare for the worst-case scenario, it is also worth a thorough examination of the internal situation in North Korea and the wider geopolitics, analysts say. At the end of the day, the best way to find out what the North's leader is thinking is to engage with him, argues Dr Lee. "The international community does not see the US talking to Kim Jong Un as surrendering to Kim Jong Un's threats. It is seen as a necessary means to achieve a goal," he says. "If necessary, one should consider meeting with the leader of an enemy nation to reduce misjudgements and prevent war." With reporting by Kelly Ng/ Source: BBC.com/ Frances Mao A southwest Calgary school and preschool were temporarily locked down after a woman was stabbed to death outside the premises by a man who was previously charged with domestic violence offences, released under a no-contact order and had active warrants against him, and who was also later found dead nearby. Officers were called to John Costello Catholic School around 7:30 a.m. to respond to what they had deemed earlier as a targeted incident. It wasn’t believed students or staff at the school were ever in danger, police said. However, they later confirmed the woman was stabbed in front of the school. As officers continued to speak with witnesses, police said the incident was domestic in nature and there was no threat to the public. Police later revealed in a news conference that the offender had been previously charged, released under a no-contact order and had active warrants against him. A vehicle is removed by a tow truck at John Costello Catholic School, which was cordoned off by Calgary police as officers investigated a domestic homicide outside the school on Tuesday, January 16, 2024. Brent Calver/Postmedia Susan Sidorak, a resident living across from the school, said she was home when she heard police sirens blaring outside. Her neighbours on a Facebook group began speculating about the incident, but when she learned the details, she was horrified. “I don’t know why they would choose a school as a site to carry out whatever they’re doing,” said Sidorak, whose children attend Olympic Heights, nearly 300 metres from John Costello. “That’s just so wrong.” She added that based on her conversations with others, the neighbourhood is in shock. Police said the identity of the victim won’t be released even after an autopsy is completed, to protect the identity of her family. “This was a very traumatic event that occurred in a public place,” the Calgary Police Service said in its statement. “Our Victim Assistance Support Team is engaged and is heading to the scene to speak with anyone who may be impacted by this incident.” Greek regional airports under Fraport Greece, a German-based operator, managing 14 Greek airports, posted record international arrivals and departures in 2023, according to the company’s report. The data revealed international passenger traffic witnessed a 6.5% increase compared to 2022 and a substantial 14.14% rise compared to 2019. In 2023, the 14 airports managed by Fraport Greece recorded 26,535,378 international arrivals compared to 24,920,400 in 2022 and 23,247,951 in 2019. The data confirms the surge in growth of the Greek tourism sector for 2023, which is expected to close with record arrivals and revenues. Despite tough competition as stakeholders say, the outlook is positive for 2024. Turkey anticipates a growth of +11% for 2024, while Spain projects an increase of +15-18%. The airports of Santorini and Mykonos were the only ones to experience a decrease (-9.9% and -5.9%, respectively) in passengers to and from international destinations, while all other airports reported a boost, with Kavala Airport leading in percentage terms (19.2%). Rhodes Airport served the most passengers to and from international destinations, with international arrivals and departures reaching 5,291,888, marking a 2.8% increase despite the island being affected by significant wildfires in the heart of the summer. Thessaloniki Airport followed with 4,750,634 passengers (an increase of 18.8%), and Corfu Airport with 3,695,641 passengers (an increase of 8.6%). In terms of overall passenger traffic (domestic and international), Thessaloniki led with 7,029,957 passengers (an 18.7% increase), followed by Rhodes with 6,142,813 passengers (a 4.9% increase). Source: tovima.gr DUBAI: A Marshall Islands-flagged, US-owned bulk carrier was reportedly struck by a missile while transiting near Yemen’s Aden, British Maritime Security firm Ambrey said on Monday. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said that a vessel was hit from above by a missile 95 nautical miles southeast of Aden, without identifying the vessel. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea it says are linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports, aiming to support Palestinians in the war and Hamas in Gaza. US and British forces responded last week by carrying out dozens of air and sea strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. Ambrey said three missiles were reportedly launched by the Houthis, with two not reaching the sea and the third striking the bulk carrier. The 130,000-car threshold had not been reached since 2010, the year that saw Greece propelled into a punishing economic crisis and financial downturn. Petrol and hybrid vehicles led car sales in Greece in 2023, with last year’s months-long delivery delays now mostly a thing of the past. Specifically, 134,514 new vehicles hit Greek roads over the year, a 27.8% increase compared to 2022, when 105,283 new sales were recorded. The last month of the old year witnessed 8,287 new car sales, up 26.3% compared to the same month in 2022. December 2023 actually marked the 12th consecutive month of sales that were higher than the corresponding months in 2022. The 130,000-car threshold had not been reached since 2010, the year that saw Greece propelled into a punishing economic crisis and financial downturn. The most popular models were petrol-driven (gasoline) vehicles in the 1.0 to 1.2-liter range, while there was also a significant surge in sales of hybrid vehicles. The latter now account for 32-percent of new car purchases, as per 2023 figures. Source: tovima.com |