Street traders under scrutiny October 19, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Business & Economy, Shopping.Tags: business, China products, economy, Greece, Import Taxes, Imports, Street Traders, Thessaloniki, Unfair Competition
add a comment
Thessaloniki’s top prosecutor, Vassilis Floridis, yesterday ordered the police to seize all the Chinese-made products sold by street traders because of alleged evidence to suggest they enjoy an unfair advantage over other goods.
Floridis gave the order after a meeting with representatives of the former financial crimes squad, customs officers, police and local officials where the participants discussed measures to tackle tax evasion and unfair competition. Floridis was informed that the Chinese products sold on the city’s streets often arrive in Greece in such a manner that taxes are avoided.
One way that this happens, according to authorities, is for invoices that accompany the products from China to show a smaller amount than the true value of the goods so less tax is paid. If the goods arrive in Greece via another EU country, then documentation is produced to suggest taxes have already been paid, which authorities say is not always the case. Floridis also asked for tighter checks at customs.
Grabbers eye Holargos land October 19, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Environment, Nature.Tags: Environment, Forest Service, Greece, Holargos, Land Disputes, Mount Hymettus, Nature, Papagou, Pendeli
add a comment
About 100 hectares of land on Mount Hymettus, northeast of Athens, that was burned this summer is being persistently pursued by landgrabbers, who have been fencing it off or dumping building materials there, forest rangers said yesterday.
The land is adjacent to the affluent northeastern suburbs of Holargos and Papagou and the forestry service in Pendeli, northern Athens, which is responsible for looking after the greenery on the mountain is fully stretched in its effort to protect the area.
“We are trying to do the best we can with the personnel that we have at our disposal,” said Alexandros Rigas, who is in charge of the Pendeli forestry service.
Earlier this week, rangers witnessed a worker placing a fence around a small church, Aghia Eleousa, in the foothills of Hymettus in Holargos. When challenged, he said he had been ordered to fence off the area because it was private land. A couple of days later residents ripped down the fence. Rigas said that the land is public but “is being claimed by many people.”
A large chunk of the 100 hectares that was burned in August had been handed by the Defense Ministry to an officers’ cooperative in the 1960s but a number of other private, as well as public, interests believe they own part of the land.
Locals claim that the Athens Water Company and the Public Power Corporation, which legally own plots in the area in question, are constantly encroaching on the land around them. The Holargos cemetery has also been accused of expanding illegally but denies the claims.
The Mayor of Holargos, Dimitris Nikolaou, said that he plans to combat the landgrabbers by building an “ecological park.”
Penalties for polluting firms hiked October 19, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Environment.Tags: Greece, Environment, Environmental Pollution, Pollution, Lake Koroneia, Milos island, Markopoulo
add a comment
Maximum up to 2 million euros > Environment and Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias yesterday decided to quadruple the maximum fine imposed on firms found to be harming the environment, from 500,000 to 2 million euros.
Souflias announced the move following complications with a fine imposed on a quarrying firm allegedly operating illegally in Markopoulo, east of Athens. The court questioned the Minister’s right to impose a 1-million-euro fine on the quarry firm when the limit was 500,000 euros.
“We did what we had to in Markopoulo… now it is up to the Development Ministry and local prefectural authorities to close down the quarries,” Souflias said. The Minister also announced inspections of heavily polluted Lake Koroneia in northern Greece, as well as on the island of Milos where mining companies are allegedly operating illegally.
Of 25 firms near Lake Koroneia inspected over the last month, all were found guilty of environmental violations, Souflias said. Also, most of some 2,500 water bores in the region are believed to lack licenses while many Municipalities do not have an adequate waste disposal system. Inspections will be stringent and violators will face steep fines, Souflias said, adding that the number of state inspectors would be increased from 19 to 45.
The Minister stressed that central government had done its bit, saying the onus was now on local authorities. “It is not the job of the environmental inspectors and the Ministry to monitor everything,” he said. Responding to recent comments by Thessaloniki Prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis about alleged lack of funding, Souflias said he had recently approved 42 million euros for Psomiadis’s prefecture. “They can’t just wait for state cash, they need to take all the action they are entitled to by law,” Souflias added.
On Milos, where mining firms are being probed for alleged illegal activities, inspections have led to the imposition of 390,000 euros in fines. Questioned by reporters, Souflias did not rule out the possibility of inspections at a landfill in Fyli, western Athens, following a European Commission warning.
Doctors link cancer in women to stress October 19, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Health & Fitness.Tags: Breast Cancer, Cancer, Greece, Health, Oncology, Theageneio Hospital, Thessaloniki
1 comment so far
Stress, particularly that caused by the death of a loved one, can have a serious impact on women’s health, with 7 out of 10 breast cancer patients having suffered great stress before their diagnosis, doctors in Thessaloniki said yesterday.
A total of 67 percent of Greek women with breast cancer had displayed high stress levels and 63 percent had lost a loved one before diagnosis, according to data revealed yesterday at an oncology conference.
Medics gave a positive outlook for the treatment of thyroid gland cancer. The illness is treatable through surgery or new forms of therapy which can be applied even at an advanced stage, according to Kalliopi Pazaitou of Thessaloniki’s Theageneio Hospital. Unfortunately, there are usually no symptoms. A series of tests in Finland on female corpses showed up to 36 percent had thyroid cancer without knowing it.
Diabetes insulin withdrawal October 19, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Health & Fitness.Tags: Diabetes, Exubera breathable insulin, Greece, Greek Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Technolo, Health
add a comment
Diabetes sufferers using the breathable insulin product Exubera are being advised to contact their doctors for new prescriptions after the product’s manufacturer withdrew it from distribution yesterday due to poor sales.
“Patients who had been taking Exubera should ask their doctors to return them to their previous treatment,” said Constantinos Lourantos of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Technology. Less than 150 people are registered as taking Exubera in Greece, Lourantos said.
Greek warning to FYROM October 19, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Politics.Tags: athens, European Union, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, FYROM, Greece, Greek Heritage, Greek History, Greek Macedonia, NATO, Politics
add a comment
Greece, unflinching on name issue, hints economic aid will be curbed
Greece will not agree to NATO or European Union accession for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) unless a resolution to its name dispute with the neighboring country has been found, Deputy Foreign Minister Theodoros Kassimis said yesterday.
“There is no way that Greece will accept FYROM’s accession to either NATO or the EU if a mutually acceptable name has not been found,” Kassimis said. Also, while Greece will not freeze economic aid to FYROM, it will curb it substantially. “Greece does not want to economically strangle FYROM… but we are following this policy so they realize that the restoration of smooth ties will be significant for their growth,” Kassimis added.
grhomeboy
