Month: January 2014

Source: dailymail.co.uk

George Michael has forced the BBC to pull the plug on an interview he gave in which he reveals he is too scared to have an AIDs test.

The star made the admission to Stephen Fry for a new two part documentary shown on BBC2 next month.

In the programme, the former Wham singer is understood to have revealed he had not had a test to see if he is HIV positive for years because he is scared of what result would come back.

Mr Michael, 44, whose former partner Anselmo Feleppa died of an Aids related illness in 1995, is said to have told the BBC the subject was too personal and emotional to be broadcast.

It is understood that Fry and Michael clashed over the singer’s stance over whether to be tested or not during the interview, which was recorded earlier this year.

In June, Fry’s producer, Ross Wilson, revealed: “George says he does not believe in tests .

“He says he finds the wait for results to harrowing and that he hasn’t had a test since at least 2004 due to his fears it might be positive.”

But yesterday the BBC issued a short statement saying: “George Michael isn’t in the documentary, because on reflection, this was too personal a journey for George to revisit”.

There is also speculation that Michael may have been unhappy over the way BBC programming chiefs used his discomfort to promote the programme, which also sees Fry himself take an HIV test, which is provides a negative result.

The singer has talked frankly about the issue and his feelings about the death of former boyfriend Anselmo Feleppa, who died from the disease in 1985.

A spokesman for the star confirmed that he had asked for his contribution to be removed and claimed it had also been too personal a subject for Anselmo’s family to revisit as well.

He said: “On reflection, he felt it was too close and too personal a journey.”

The spokesman added: “It was too personal for Anselmo’s family to revisit.”

The documentary series called Stephen Fry: HIV and Me, which airs in the first week of October, follows on from his acclaimed programme The Secret Life of the Manic depressive, where he revealed his personal struggle with mental illness.

It has already been an eventful year for Michael after he became the first singer to perform at the new Wembley Stadium in June, almost seven years after the last concert at the venue.

But just a day before the gig, he was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and given a driving ban for two years after pleading guilty to driving while unfit.

He said he had been ashamed of risking other people’s lives as he drove his Mercedes erratically in North London in October last year.

Police found the car stopped at traffic lights with Michael slumped at the wheel, drooling and sweating.

Blood tests showed a cocktail of drugs in cluding anti-depressant, sleeping pill, cannabis and the illegal dance club drug GHB.

Michael was previously forced to complete 80 hours of community service in 1998 in the US for “lewd conduct” in an LA park.

Pop star GEORGE MICHAEL has returned to Twitter.com after a year-long absence and vowed to put the troubles of 2013 behind him.

The singer logged off the social networking website last January (13), and went on to endure a nightmare year which reportedly included a two-month stint at a clinic to treat anxiety issues, and a horrific freak accident in which he fell out of a car on a motorway in May (13).

He was subsequently rumoured to be retiring from music before announcing a surprise comeback this month (Jan14).

Michael has now returned to Twitter.com for the first time in 12 months, and asked fans to forgive him for the problems he suffered last year (13).

He writes, “Hello my lovelies!!! A belated happy new year to you all!… Firstly, I can only apologise from the bottom of my heart for worrying you for so long with my silence… Suffice to say that 2013 was a year that I am glad to put behind me and that I hope you can forgive me for… Symphonica the (new) album is ready to go, and I hope it rekindles memories of the nights we spent together over the last few years.”

Source:

A deserted hotel on Parnitha mountain

If there is one building in Greece that keeps attracting the attention of paranormal enthusiasts and urban explorers, that is the abandoned Xenia hotel, over mount Parnitha.

Xenia was built in 1912 as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. Its location, 30 km away from the city of Athens, inside a forested area was ideal for the sufferers of the disease. In the following decades though, with the use of penicillin and other antibiotics to cure TB, there were fewer patients and the sanatorium shut down in 1960.

Greek National Tourism Organisation bought the building next,  and operated it as a member of the -now defunct- Xenia state-run hotel chain. The hotel, with a capacity of 200 beds, couldn’t withstand competition from the nearby Mont Parnes hotel and casino and eventually shut down a few years later. It continued to operate though as a School of Tourism Professions from 1967 to 1984.

Then, the building was left abandoned and over the years has been heavily vandalised. Due to its remote, isolated location it has become the center of attention for urban explorers and paranormal phenomena researchers.More deserted places in Greece

Copyright © 2014 euronews

Source: bbc.co.uk

The Greek coastguard said it had tried to save the migrants

The UN has called for an inquiry after a boat carrying migrants capsized while being towed by a Greek coastguard vessel, leaving up to twelve dead.

Two bodies were found but a further 10 people were missing after the incident near the island of Farmakonisi on Monday. Sixteen people were rescued.

The coastguard says it judged it safer to keep migrants on their own boat than to take them aboard in bad weather.

Greek officials say panicking migrants caused the boat to capsize themselves.

According to reports, two migrants fell or dived overboard and others rushed to one side of the boat to rescue them, causing the boat to tip.

The deaths of a woman and a child have been confirmed.

One non-government organisation, Pro Asyl, accused the Greek authorities of trying illegally to prevent the migrants, believed to be 26 Afghans and two Syrians, landing in Greece.

“It is highly likely that this action by the Greek coastguard was an illegal push-back operation rather than a rescue at sea,” said Karl Kopp, the NGO’s director of European affairs.

Another NGO, Ecre, said: “Survivors tell that they were crying out for help, given that a large number of children and babies were on board.”

Greece is one of the main destinations for clandestine migrants and refugees seeking to enter the EU, through its land or sea borders.

Correspondents say there has been a sharp increase in sea-borne refugee traffic over the past year because of stricter controls on the Greek-Turkish land border to the north and the ongoing war in Syria.

‘More bodies’

In a statement on Tuesday, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was “dismayed” at the events off Farmakonisi.

It quoted survivors on the island of Leros as saying the Greek coastguard had tried to tow the boat towards the Turkish coast at high speed when it capsized.

“UNHCR is urging the authorities to investigate this incident and how lives were lost on a boat that was under tow,” said Laurens Jolles, its southern Europe regional representative.

“In addition survivors need to be quickly moved to the mainland so that their needs can be better looked after.”

Responding to the UN on Wednesday, the Greek coastguard insisted it had been trying to tow the boat, which had broken down, to Farmakonisi – and not to Turkey – after receiving a distress signal.

It put out a fire on the stricken boat and rescued 16 people from the water, it said.

Following the disaster, a Greek helicopter searched the area, which is near the Turkish coast, for survivors.

According to a report in Greek newspaper Kathimerini, two more bodies have been found by the Turkish authorities – those of an 11-year-old child and a 38-year-old woman.

There have been persistent reports of Greek officials forcing migrants back into Turkish waters.

Pro Asyl and Ecre called for an “independent and effective investigation of the circumstances that caused such loss of life”.

“The NGOs reiterate that push-backs are illegal, endanger people’s lives and have to end immediately,” they said in a press release.

Source: buffalonews.com

Source: infowars.com

Judging by the collapsing Greek yields, which at this rate may drop below US bonds soon enough, the Greek economy has never been stronger.

After years of recession, Greeks cannot even afford electricity. Credit: russavia via Wiki

Sadly, manipulated bond levels driven by yet another bout of pre-QE euphoria (suddenly the conventional wisdom is that the ECB will conduct QE in a few months as first explained here in November) no longer reflect anything besides a massive liquidity glut and momentum chasing lemmings. Alas, as usual the reality on the European ground is much worse. The latest example comes from the Greek Public Power Corporation which has reported that Greek households and corporations are finding it increasingly difficult to pay their electricity bills. In total, debts to the power utility from unpaid bills currently amount to some €1.3 billion and growing at an average rate of €4 million per day. Also known as the Grecovery.

Not surprisingly, it is the poorest households who have the bulk of the debt. Remember: “the rich hold assets, the poor have debt.”

Kathimerini reports more:

The lion’s share of that debt is owed by low- and medium-voltage consumers – households and very small enterprises. The total arrears of these categories amount to an estimated 600 million euros, of which some 65 percent concerns households. The debts of the broader public sector amount to 190 million euros. The arrears of corporations connected to the medium-voltage network total some 130 million euros, while mining company Larco alone has run up debts of more than 135 million euros.

So since such a substantial portion of low-income society, and in Greece that by definition means society period, is unable to even afford their electricity, the Greek state’s solution is perfectly anticipated for a country which is insolvent due to too much debt but can’t declare bankruptcy because it is ruled by a few not so good bankers: convert one’s basic social amenity into a liability, and pay it off over time. i.e., a debt.

In an effort to make it easier for households to repay what they owe and to boost the cash inflow into its coffers, PPC introduced a flexible and extensive payment plan scheme last year that over 700,000 consumers have joined. The scheme has proven so popular that the utility has given its customers the option of securing a payment plan via telephone in order to reduce long queues at its offices, as staff had been unable to handle the volume of applications.

PPC customers can now complete the process over the phone, by calling 11770 and applying to pay 12 monthly installments along with a down payment of between 20 and 50 percent. The category of socially sensitive consumers (the unemployed, those with low incomes etc) can pay their dues in up to 40 installments. Consumers only have to go to PPC offices to pay their installments.

In other words, for the low low price of €49.99, payable in 40 installments, you too can have electricity!

Which perhaps explains why the vast majority of households who had their electricity cut off opted not to fall even more in debt, but to take the short cut.

An estimated 7,500 households who had their supply cut off have now been reconnected thanks to a government decision to secure power for the country’s poorest households. There are, however, another 35,000 households, according to official figures, that have illegally reconnected their electricity supply, which is very dangerous.

Since Greece is now nothing more than a placeholder figurehead designed to preserve the stability of Deutsche Bank, the German export miracle, and the myth that all insolvent peripheral European banks are viable, who can blame them.

Source: BBC.co.uk

Xiros appears in his video in front of images of Che Guevara, two heroes of Greece’s revolutionary war against Turkey and a Greek civil war Communist guerrilla leader

A Greek fugitive who disappeared while on prison leave has threatened the government with armed action, accusing it of ruining the country with austerity measures.

Christodoulos Xiros, who was convicted in 2003 of belonging to the far-left November 17 organisation, has vowed to return to arms.

He was serving six life sentences for bombings and shootings.

He vanished in January while on leave from prison to visit his family.

In a video posted on the internet, Xiros said: “I’ve decided to fire the guerrilla shotgun against those who stole our lives and sold our dreams for profit.”

He criticises the media, the judiciary, the police and the extreme right-wing Golden Dawn party, and invites Greece’s security forces to join with him.

He also condemns the two parties in Greece’s governing coalition, the conservative New Democracy and the socialist Pasok, accusing them of treason and stating that the “price of their treason is death”.

November 17 emerged in the mid-1970s and claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks against foreign diplomats and Greek politicians and businessmen over nearly three decades, killing at least 23 people.

The group was named after a student uprising against Greece’s US-backed military junta in 1973, and mixed Marxist ideology with nationalism.