98 Ellopia Press NY

Ellopia Press NY - January 2016 Issue 98

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I Hope Humanity finds a cure for Visas

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Freedys game or reality?

I was really excited when my 12 year old Godchild Emma Chrisavgi, invited me to play “Five Nights at Freddy's” with her. It is a video game, I am sure many parents are familiar with!

I heard her screams more than a few times while she was playing it with friends, but I thought it was just kids’ excitement.

Well no!

It is a very simple game with minimal graphics (comparing to other games) and an interesting twist - very scary - at the end – If you make it alive!

It is a good game but the background story isn't. One day a guy dresses up as a restaurant worker and lures kids into the back to murder them. To hide their bodies he hides them inside robots. Over time people notice blood coming out of the robots mouth. If you look around on the later nights the poster of the 4 kids laughing turn into 4 kids crying.

All kids know this story! And yet it is addictive to almost all of them.

Well I admit I played it too with my God Children, and I observe them as they are playing it numerous times.

To tell you the truth, I am confused and upset. You see I feel the fear, scare, agony, the screaming the one second madness in their eyes (when Freedy finaly kills them).

Yes, it is a game! To entertain kids in safe and civilized societies! To fill their spare lives with joy and happiness!!! Don’t get me wrong, they love to play it even if it scares them “to death” !

On the other hand, I met kids their age, in different part of this planet. With no access to video games, electricity, home or food. But they have the exactly same reactions (fear, scare, agony, the screaming the one second madness in their eyes). You see they don’t have the game, they only carry on in their everyday reality. Their “game” does not end at 6.00 am or when they decide to stop.... they are the actual characters ...

The Freddys of their world are so much alive...

Contributors S. Papathemelis (Greece), Arkas (Greece) G. Kalaras, (Chicago) Titos Christodoulou, (England) Writers G. Skabardonis (Greece) Costas Krikelis (Greece) Anita Diamantopoulou (USA) Kostas Mpliatkas (Hellas) Nick Christophers Poly Votsi (Cyprus) Senior Editor (English) Music Editors NIKOS TATASOPOULOS CHRISTOS ALEXANDROU PETROS HATJOPOULOS

Business Consultant Maria Papapetros Creative Art Director Hellas kostas Krikeli Anna Papakonstantinou Advertising Director LIA DELKOTZAKI Ellopia Media Group Ltd. USA KAUFMAN ASTORIA STUDIOS 141 East 55 str New York NY 10022 Tel: (718) 720 4522 infoellopia@aol.com

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THE WORLD

Should the Greek islands be nominated for a Nobel?

By Yorva Tsiakara Special to Al Arabiya NewsTuesday, 12 January 2016

By Yorva Tsiakara Special to Al Arabiya NewsTuesday, 12 January 2016 The online campaigning group Avaaz, recently launched a petition inviting its members to vote that the Greek Islands receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their contributions aiding the refugee crisis.

As mentioned in the campaign, “the native populations of the Greek Islands in the Aegean Sea (and many other external, worldwide, non-profit organizations and diaspora Greeks) have done and are doing anything possible to help the displaced Syrian refugees and make them as comfortable as possible, although they themselves have very little to offer, despite being subjected to a severe economic crisis for many years. They have shown their Christ-like behavior with acts of “filotimo”, love, respect and “filoxenia” to those who are total strangers to them!

Their acts and sacrifices shall not go un-noticed, because they are significant contributors to World Peace and Stability, and are clear examples of love for others in the world to use and to learn from”!

Greece is currently in a humanitarian

crisis within the economic crisis. The people of Greece are facing further years of economic hardship following a Eurozone agreement over the terms multiple bailouts. However, its people never lost their sense of “filotimo”, as it appears. Filotimo involves personal pride, dignity, courage, duty, sacrifice – even one’s life – and above all demands respect and deep personal freedom.

“Filotimo to the Greek is like breathing. A Greek is not a Greek without it.

He might as well not be alive”, as defined by Thales.

The Greek people are of course very familiar themselves with how upsetting the experience of a refugee can be.

Back in 1922, the Greek refugees swarmed into Greece

THE WORLD

Should the Greek islands be nominated for a Nobel? from Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), raising the population of the destitute nation by 25 percent to nearly five million people. There was little food and medicine.

Men, women and children died of disease and starvation by the thousands. Homeless refugees slept in the streets of Piraeus, Athens and Thessaloniki. The country faced another similar crisis with the refugees from the Greek civil war back in 1940s.

their transportation and provide them with food and clothes. Thousands of donations have been made for the refugees, until now.

The candidates eligible for the Nobel Peace prize are those nominated by qualified individuals. 75,000 signatures need to be gathered so that the peer pressure group, Avaaz, can act in a way to influence the Nobel Selection committee in order so that it can include Since the peak of the refugee crisis, back in Greek Island to the list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Until this moment, 55,900 people have signed in the summer of 2015, local people of the is- Prize. favor of the petition. The deadlines for submission are lands of Lesvos, Chios, and others, exposed in February. themselves to threads and possible legal ac- As of 2015, the Peace Prize has been awarded to 103 tion by helping newly arrived refugees. They individuals and 23 organizations. Never in the history the prize, it has been given to a geographical location. were doing their best in tough circumstances of This nomination would be an exception among the big to provide as warm a welcome as possible for names of famous people and fancy organizations. This the less fortunate new-comers. nomination is more about the automatic creation of a community, in times of need; more about the people of In most cases, disappointed by the local and interna- this specific group of islands, is more about recognizing tional authorities and their inexistent contribution, and rewarding their compassion towards others. they have taken things into their own hands, turning old scout camps into makeshift, volunteer-run migrant Last Update: Tuesday, 12 January 2016 KSA 11:52 reception centers. Themselves, they would help with GMT 08:52

World

By Nadia Massih CPJ Middle East Correspondent

For journalists fleeing Islamic State, Turkey ‘is as dangerous as Syria’

For the past two years, activists and journalists seeking refuge from Islamic State repression in Raqqa would take sanctuary across the border in southern Turkey, setting up safe houses and offices, and darting back to Syria regularly with camera equipment and other vital supplies. But that sanctuary is now under threat.

Islamic State is increasingly able to reach into Turkey and members of media organizations covering the militant group’s crimes have told CPJ they are scared to operate out of the country.

Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), the citizen journalist collective honored with CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, and other groups are trying to help staff escape Turkey following the murder of three Syrian journalists in cities near the border at the end of last year, and the release this month of a video showing the killing in Raqqa of five men Islamic State accused of collaborating with journalists in Turkey.

The murders in Turkey represent a broadening of Islamic State’s strategy of silencing dissent by targeting journalists, a practice CPJ documented last year in the Islamic State strongholds of Mosul in Iraq, where at least five journalists were kidnapped and murdered by the group, news outlets were forced to close, and where CPJ received reports of more than 30 missing, presumed held captive or killed by the militants; and Raqqa, where Islamic State uses its slick propaganda machine to show forced con-

World

fessions and murders of victims it claims are press as a way to spread fear and try to silence its critics.

The first murders in Turkey took place in October 2015, when Fares Hamadi, who worked for Syrian news website Eye on the Homeland, and Ibrahim Abd al-Qader, who worked for RBSS, were killed in the Turkish city of Urfa.

Supporters of Islamic State claimed responsibility on social media for their deaths. When Naji Jerf, a filmmaker who produced a documentary on Islamic State and another on RBSS, was shot in Gaziantep two months later, journalists with whom I spoke said they knew were being targeted directly.

“After Naji was killed, we all became much more afraid.

We now see those first two murders [of Hamadi and Abd al-Qader] as beginning of a campaign, not as a one-off attack. All Syrian journalists are feeling very threatened at this time. Personally, I know I cannot stay in Turkey much longer,” a freelance Syrian journalist and friend of Jerf ’s, who asked to remain anonymous, told me via Skype. On January 10, Turkish state media reported that three men suspected of being involved in his killing were in custody in Gaziantep.

On January 3, 2016–a week after Jerf was killed–Islamic State released a 10-minute video showing the murder of five men. The victims said they covertly filmed life in Raqqa and set up Internet cafés to share footage with Turkey-based activists. The men, who appear to be speaking under duress, linked their reporting to networks in Turkey. One victim said he traveled to Turkey to collect a camera and another said he transferred money between the two countries and helped establish an Internet café.

CPJ was unable to verify that the victims were media workers. One of them said in the film that some of his footage was used by the BBC and Syrian opposition channel Orient TV. The BBC did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment, and Orient TV told CPJ it is

For journalists fleeing Islamic State, Turkey ‘is as dangerous as Syria’

investigating whether one of the victims had worked for the station under a pseudonym. Syrian news website Eye on the Homeland and RBSS, two of the most prominent groups transferring footage from Syria to Turkey, deny any of the five worked with them. Following the murders, two RBSS members, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, said the group is discussing how to relocate its journalists from the south of the country to the comparatively safer cities of Istanbul and Ankara, and if possible out of Turkey altogether.

“We have many staff in Turkey and since the latest attacks we have tried to establish new ways to protect them. Nobody working near the border should stay in the same house for more than a few weeks, they must use social media less, and change their pseudonyms a lot. Effectively, they must go into hiding,” one of the members said.

“Getting prominent staff members out of south Turkey is important right now. But even in Istanbul members have been getting death threats on Facebook and by phone,” added another journalist from the group. “We need to find a new base in a different country. We are trying to [get staff to] apply for visas to as many different countries as possible.”

“For media work, Turkey feels as dangerous as Syria these days,” he said.

In response to these fears, the manager of a small Syrian news outlet, who asked that he and his outlet not be named, said he has temporarily banned his reporters from traveling to Syria. “Anybody who crosses the border regularly is easily identifiable to militants. In this environment we cannot take any chances,” the manager, who requested anonymity because of the threat from Islamic State, said.

[Reporting from Beirut]\ Nadia Massih is CPJ’s Middle East correspondent. Massih, who is based in Beirut, is a freelance journalist who worked previously at The Daily Star in Lebanon.

HELLAS

Without reforms, New Democracy and Greece commit suicide

By Nicholas Economides, Stern School of Business, New York University

After a six-year very extensive economic crisis, the opportunity showed up to have an election of the leader of the New Democracy (ND) party through a popular vote process.

menos-Varoufakis exceed €100 billion, over half of the Greek GDP. They also exceed by 30 times the amount of the unpopular real estate tax. As capital controls remain in effect in Greece, the economic losses continue.

Without reforms, a reduction of the State sector, reducThis is an important opportunity that will determine tion in taxation and increase in production, not only the leader but also the policy that ND and Greece will continue to repeatedly need EU loans, with Greece will follow. Things have reached the point of no its misery increasing. Still prime minister Tsipras is return for both Greece and ND. Without a program popular because the opposition parties, and especially of reforms, both Greece and ND commit suicide. The ND have not yet presented reforms and policies that ruling parties Syriza and ANEL have gambled with would solve the present problems. the Greek economy, and Greece lost big. Presently the Greek economy is run by the representatives of the For these reasons, the election in ND is not only a matcreditors (EU and IMF). ter of the person who will be the leader. It is necessary for the leader to have reformist positions and sufficient The losses caused by Syriza’s gamble are huge. Greece experience to be able to implement them. Today, Kyrilost the €25 billion that it invested in Greek banks in akos Mitsotakis is the most suitable choice to lead ND. 2013 and 2014. In contrast to the tremendous success He has the right positions on the economy (supports of Greece issuing bonds in the Spring of 2014 lighting entrepreneurship, reducing the State sector, lowering the path out of its dependency on EU loans, the pre- taxes, extensive privatizations, evaluations of civil servsent government signed a new EU-IMF loan of €87 ants, excellence in government) and has a significant billion with very tough terms for Greece. Additionally, following among center-right voters. the present Greek government reduced GDP by at least 3% bringing the economy to a new recession. In total, He has pushed for dialog within ND and brought forthe losses created by the government of Tsipras-Kam- ward his reform positions in very moderate ways. He

HELLAS Greece will continue to repeatedly need EU loans, with its misery increasing. Still prime minister Tsipras is popular because the opposition parties, and especially ND have not yet presented reforms and policies that would solve the present problems.

“Without reforms there is no hope of revival of the Greek economy� has tried to convince voters through logic and has worked against populism. He has the biggest chances to reform the party and to create new policies that would solve the economic problems on the basis of entrepreneurship, smaller State sector, lower taxes, excellence in government and no to populism.

Going beyond the election of a new leader, ND needs a lot of work to become a modern centerright party, and Kyriakos Mitsotakis has committed to work for that if elected. ND is fortunate in today’s Greek politics. It got rid of the right-wing extremists of Golden Dawn as well as the populists of ANEL. PASOK has left uncovered the space at the center of the electoral spectrum, and Potami needs much time to pull itself together.

matters, such as considering excellence ineducation to be a stigma.

The empty space at the center of the political spectrum is so large, that many will say that ND does not need a significant change to win. But radical change and support for reforms by ND is necessary. First, because it is necessary for Greece. Without reforms there is no hope of revival of the Greek economy. Second, ND needs to transform itself at last from a supporter of statism

before the economic crisis to becoming a lever of change and the main party for economic reform. Of course, ND also needs to convince the Greek people that it has changed. Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the most suitable for this job. There is a lot of work to be done in the party, as The governing party of Syriza lives a huge contradic- well as and primarily in the effort for the acceptance of tion, on the one hand implementing the toughest eco- reformist ideas and policies in the Greek 266 54th St nomic measures, such as deep reductions in pensions, society.

Brooklyn, NY 11220 following the strict instructions of the creditors, and on Sunset Park the other hand * Original publication in Kathimerini newspaper in (718) 238-3771 implementing the craziest positions in non-economic Greek

WORLD

(Image: Flickr/ Justin Goring)

Next Generation Warfare: Russia Unleashes Cyborg Rats To Fight Against Terrorists

BY MUHAMMAD ON JANUARY 14, 2016

T

“ he primary objective of the Russian scientists is to establish a connection between a rat’s brain impulses and the scents that the animal perceives”.

So far, countering terrorism is being done in various ways and while some have proven to be effective, it has resulted in several countries exhausting their monetary resources in order to do. However, the latest research being conducted by Russians shows that by implanting a microchip into the brain of rats, it will transform them into a cyborg operative who will be thoroughly capable of infiltrating the most impregnable facilities. Due to their small size and sheer numbers, it looks like the Russian scientists might have discovered the craziest, yet near perfect way to curb terrorist activities taking place around the globe.

Rats already possess a heightened sense of smell, along with extreme agility, not to mention that they can traverse in water, making them the perfect soldier to infiltrate ‘hard to enter’ locations and learn about the next move that can actually result in devastating ramifications. However, with the implanted chip, rats would also be able to decode information flowing into the creature’s brain, allowing the handler of the enhanced rodent to detect

the smallest traces of substances that the rat would have otherwise ignored.

The primary objective of the Russian scientists is to establish a connection between a rat’s brain impulses and the scents that the animal perceives. It will still take quite a long time for rats to be officially (or unofficially, depending on how sensitive the operation is) deployed at the terrorist location, primarily because the microchip is yet to be perfected. Additionally, scientists will also have to make sure that the electrical signals sent to the rats’ brains are actually controlled since a large amount of shock could actually incapacitate, or worse, kill the poor animals.

Furthermore, there is one more obstacle that needs to be scaled quickly; it takes around two to three months to train these rats, and a fun fact here is that rodent’s life expectancy barely exceeds one year. Scientists are looking to drastically reduce the training regime of these animals, along with perfecting the microchip necessary to make them the ultimate soldiers of espionage.

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world

The Necessity of Art

By Petros Hatjopoulos

Conductor -Ass. Professor of Education, University of Bridgeport

Very few philosophers – Plato is one of them – have seen art and society as inseparable concepts – that society, as a viable organic entity, is somehow dependent on art as a binding, fusing and energizing force. That has always been my own view of the relationship, and I should like to give some account of what such a relationship involves (or has involved in the past) and of the fatal consequences that follow from the absence of any such relationship in our contemporary civilization.

A new study has analyzed handprints left in caves by ancient artists—possibly a prehistoric signature. Archaeologists and art historians think the artists placed their hand on the cave wall, and simply dusted pigment over it. Artists stenciled these handprints in Cuevas de las Manos, Argentina, between 9,000 and 13,000 years ago.

Photograph by Marianocecowski, courtesy Wikimedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

“Art” and “society” are two of the vaguest concepts in modern language.

In English the word “art” is so ambiguous that no two people will define it in the same sense. Sophisticated people try to isolate some characteristic common to all the arts and soon find themselves involved in the science of art, in aesthetics, finally in metaphysics. Simple people tend to identify art with one of the arts, usually painting. They are confused if they are asked to consider music or architecture as art. Common in both sophisticated and simple people is the assumption that whatever art may be, it is a specialist or professional activity of no direct concern to the average man.

“Society” is equally vague as a concept. A society may be taken to mean the total population of a country - it may even mean mankind as a whole. At the opposite extreme it may mean a few people who have come together for a common but special purpose - the members of a religious sect or a club. But just as we have a science of art – esthetics – that tries to bring order to a confused subject, so we have a science of society – sociology – that tries to give logical coherence to this second concept. The two rarely overlap, but there have been attempts to create a sociology of art, and various utopias and works such as Plato’s Politics are concerned with the art of society, with government or social organization conceived of as art rather than as a science.

world “Whatever may be the nature of the relationship between art and society, the work of art itself is always the creation of an individual It is true that there are arts, such as drama and dance and ritual that are complex by nature and depend on a group of individuals for the execution or presentation; nevertheless the unity that gives force and singularity and effectiveness to any one example of these arts is the creative intuition of a particular dramatist, choreographer or architect”

The Necessity of Art Very few philosophers – Plato is one of them – have seen art and society as inseparable concepts – that society, as a viable organic entity, is somehow dependent on art as a binding, fusing and energizing force. That has always been my own view of the relationship, and I should like to give some account of what such a relationship involves (or has involved in the past) and of the fatal consequences that follow from the absence of any such relationship in our contemporary civilization.

Both art and society in any concrete sense of the terms have their origin in man’s relation to his natural environment. The earliest surviving works of art are the fairly numerous Paleolithic paintings and a few figurines in bone or ivory of the same period. We have no precise knowledge of the origins or purpose of these works of art, but no one supposes that they were works of art for art’s sake. They may have had a magical or religious function and as such were intimately related to the social structure of that time. This is also true of the art of all the succeeding civilizations of which we have historical evidence. If we examine the first records of the early civilizations of Sumer, Egypt or the Middle East, we always find artifacts that’s still appeal to our esthetic sensibility – indeed, our knowledge of these societies is largely based on the evidence derived form surviving works of art.

All the way down the long perspective of history it is impossible to conceive of a society without art, or of an art without social significance, until we come to the modern epoch. We may next ask, how does it come about that modern socie-

ties have become insensitive to the arts? The hypothesis that at once suggests itself is that this fundamental change is, in some sense to be determined, a consequence of the sudden increase in the size of societies, a development that accompanies the industrialization of a country. It has always been a matter for wonder that the greatest epochs of art - Athens in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., Western Europe in the twelfth and thirteen centuries, the city-states of Italy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries – are associated with communities that, in comparison with the typical modern state, were miniscule. We tend to ignore this fact, to regard it as irrelevant, and even to assume that the biggest and most powerful nations must naturally, in due course, produce the greatest art. It is a conclusion for which history offers no support.

The most cursory consideration of the nature of the creative process in the arts will give us the explanation of this paradox. Whatever may be the nature of the relationship between art and society, the work of art itself is always the creation of an individual. It is true that there are arts, such as drama and dance and ritual that are complex by nature and depend on a group of individuals for the execution or presentation; nevertheless the unity that gives force and singularity and effectiveness to any one example of these arts is the creative intuition of a particular dramatist, choreographer or architect.

But the individual does not work in a vacuum. The whole complexity of our problem arises from the fact that the artist

ART

The Necessity of Art

is in some sense dependent on the community, not merely in the obvious economic sense, but in a sense that is far subtler and awaiting a psychological analysis. That would define two separate but interacting psychic entities: on the one hand the subjective ego of the artist, seeking to adjust itself to the external world of nature and society; on the other hand, society itself as an organism with its own laws of internal and external adjustment. Herein lies one of the basic paradoxes of human existence: Art is the pattern evolved in a complex interplay of personal and societal processes of adjustment.

There are certain evasions of the problem. The first is the one found in most democratic countries, that is to say in all those that have become aware of the problem. It is realized that art as a social activity has characterized the great social systems of the past, from prehistoric and primitive civilizations to the great aristocratic, ecclesiastic and oligarchic societies of more recent times.

This inevitable and apparently significant association of art and society is then seen to break down with the inception of the modern age – the age of industrialization, mass production, population explosion and parliamentary democracy.

Two deductions are then possible. The first, which prevailed generally during the nineteenth century, assumes that art is a thing of the past, and that a civilization such as ours can dispense with it. The second deduction, which is more and more characteristic of our own time, denies this historicist assumption, asserts that what is wrong with our civilization can be diagnosed, and proceeds to recommend various remedies.

The most popular and in my opinion the most ineffective of these remedies is economic subsidy. It is pointed out, quite truly, that art in the past always had its patrons – the church in the Middle Ages, the princes and city councils of the Re-

naissance, the merchants of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This is a superficial generalization that would not survive a scientific analysis – there is no demonstrable connection between the quality of art in any period and the quantity of patronage: Patrons for the most part have been whimsical, inconsistent, and sometimes positively tasteless or reactionary. But there is no need to examine this explanation of the present situation because the patronage at present enjoyed by the arts is probably greater in amount that at any previous time in European history. In the past ninety years vast sums have been expended on the purchase of Italian “old masters” and Impressionist paintings, and equally large sums have been spent on the building of museums, theaters, opera houses, concert halls, and so on, and on the subsidy of performances in such institutions. All to no effect on the basic problem, which is the creation of a vital democratic art to correspond to our democratic civilization. Our civilization, in its visual aspects is chaotic; it is without a characteristic poetry, without a typical drama; its painting has sunk to a level of mindless incoherence and its architecture to “economic” functionalism that projects its own “brutalism” as an esthetic virtue.

There are exceptions to these generalizations, but nowhere in the world today is there a style of art that springs spontaneously from the basic social and economic realities of our way of life.

WORLD

Like It or Not, The FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules Are Here to Stay

by Nicholas Economides FORTUNE

The regulations benefit society, not just cable and tel- for reaching Internet users faster. ecom companies.

When the FCC last February passed these rules amid As observers await the outcome of a federal appeals fierce opposition from telecom companies, the agency court’s challenge against the Federal Communications used a section of the Telecommunications Act called Commission’s net neutrality rules, it’s likely that the “Title II,” which gives the FCC very broad powers to court will uphold the agency’s regulations preventing regulate telecommunications. Because of the strong Internet providers from slowing down or blocking Web legal authority granted to the FCC under Title II, it is content that they do not like or charging Web sites a fee likely that the court will support the rules.

Τhe Conservatory at Rye Old world music education

tech World

Teen hacker hacks into US National Intelligence Director James Clapper’s email account

BY KAVITA IYER Teen Hacker who had earlier hacked into CIA Director’s emails, breaks into US National Intelligence Director’s email accounts Hackers have now turned their attention to the personal online accounts of James Clapper, the director of US National Intelligence just months after breaching the personal email of John Brennan, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Citing an intelligence official, the Associated Press confirmed that the personal email and other accounts connected to Clapper have been hacked.

DNI spokesman Brian Hale said on Tuesday that Clapper’s office is aware of the hacking and has reported the incident to appropriate authorities. He declined to provide other details.

tech world

Teen hacker hacks into US National Intelligence Director James Clapper’s email account

An individual not authorized to discuss details who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was aware of the hacking incident before it was first reported on Tuesday by Motherboard.

Motherboard reported that the same teenage hacker who broke into Brennan’s account also targeted Clapper. The hacker, who goes by the name ‘Cracka’ online, and is a part of the “Crackas with Attitude” group, claimed that officials were not aware of the attack.

The alleged hacker claimed to have broken into accounts connected to Clapper including his home telephone, Internet and his wife Susan’s Yahoo email, Cracka told Motherboard.

The hacker also stated that he was able to reroute calls intended for Clapper’s home phone to the Free Palestine Movement, a pro-Palestine advocacy group.

Cracka also told Motherboard that he changed the settings in Clapper’s Verizon FiOS account so that every call to his home phone was forwarded to the Free Palestine Movement.

Motherboard said Cracka provided them with what was said to be Clapper’s home phone number and when called, Paul Larudee, co-founder of the Free Palestine Movement answered.

Brennan said in October that he was annoyed that someone hacked his personal email account and publicized sensitive data, including his contact list and his wife’s Social Security number.

He called the hack an “outrage” that highlighted the challenges faced by intelligence and national security communities in a more connected world.

“What it does is to underscore just how vulnerable people are to those who want to cause harm,” he said in October, according to a CNN account of a speech at an intelligence conference. “We really have to evolve to deal with these new threats and challenges.”

The hacker has said he is a high school student protesting U.S. policy. He said he fooled Verizon into providing him access to Brennan’s account.

Meanwhile, security expert Michael Adams, who worked for US Special Operations Command, said it was “insane” that Clapper’s personal information wasn’t hidden better.

“If I’m the Director of National Intelligence of the United States of America nobody is going to know where the f*** I live, nobody is going to have my goddamn phone number or address,” he told Motherboard.

Until now, it is not clear if anything other than Clapper’s some personal information anything else has been exposed.

When Brennan’s accounts were hacked, documents and draft papers detailing the CIA chief ’s thoughts on torture and Iran were stolen and published later by WikiLeaks.

tech world

Do you know Facebook knows everything about you and your preferences? Find out how If you are a Facebook user, then you should know that by using Facebook, you have given consent to the company to track your activity for advertisers, who in turn hope to show you products that you will want to buy. This means that you cannot opt out of ads on Facebook unless you stop using Facebook completely.

However, you can do a lot to control the ads you see and stop Facebook from tracking what you do on the rest of the internet in service of its advertisers.

Besides all the usual arguments about privacy, there is another good reason to figure out what Facebook knows about you. It shows you ads based on what it thinks you like. The better it does this, the more likely you are going to see ads on things that truly interest you.

Facebook has three ways to figure you out According to Business Insider, Facebook finds out information about you from what you tell them directly (name, age, marital status, parental status, where you live, work, went to school, etc.), what you do while you are on Facebook (stuff you have “liked”, groups you joined, photos you shared), and all the other things you do outside of Facebook on the internet. This includes the websites you visit, which track this information via cookies. Facebook reads these cookies and uses that information to display ads on its site and other websites.

Visit your Ad Preferences to see what Facebook thinks you like It’s easy to see the things you’ve directly shared with Facebook (and your friends) on your Timeline profile page. However, to view a full total of what Facebook thinks you like, you need to find a tool called Ad Preferences.

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So, Facebook has published a slideshow that helps you it, since it may sound unfamiliar. You can find it by using the controls Facebook has inserted into the ads themselves Facebook Ad control arrow Go to your Facebook news feed. Move your mouse over any ad you see in the right-hand column and look for the little “x” to appear in the corner of the ad and click on it. Otherwise, you can look for an ad in your news stream, look for a little arrow and click on it.

By locating “Why am I seeing this?” you can reach the Ad Preferences page where you can tell Facebook which types of ads you prefer.

Facebook ad controls In fact, Facebook states that changing this “won’t change how many ads you see…because we’ll know more about what you like, [the ads that appear]should be more relevant.”

You can make Facebook stop tracking you on the internet You can make Facebook stop tracking you on the internet by selecting the lock icon in the top blue bar, then click on “Ads” in the left column and switch it off.

Facebook ad controls While this will not stop Facebook from showing you just as many ads, it won’t be using your web activity for them.

Facebook ad preferences You can also decline other companies from tracking your web activity for ads through the Digital Advertising Alliance in the USA, Digital Advertising Alliance of Click on Manage Your Ad Preferences Based on the things you have liked, you can manage your Canada in Canada or the European Digital Advertising ad preferences from a list of generic categories. Under each Alliance in Europe. entry are the specific categories and things you have liked.

These influence the ads you see.

Facebook ad settings You can also opt out of letting other companies track Facebook ad preferences1 your web activity for ads through the Digital AdvertisEven after you change your preferences Facebook warns that, ing Alliance in the USA, Digital Advertising Alliance of “you might still see ads that seem related to things you reCanada in Canada or the European Digital Advertising moved. For example, you might see an ad if it’s broadly tarAlliance in Europe. geted to everyone in your town or city.”

people Panos Philippou: His short film " Greek Skies" wins two international awards in 2016 This as a catalyst, my recent talk in USA, and my promise to my dear Dad to make this happen although I knew he wouldn’t be here to watch it together, made me start a One Year & One man finally project.

"Hollywood Independence Documentary Awards" "Gold award experimental category Romania" !

Panos is a Hellene who spends most of his time abroad, with on thing in his mind. To promote Hellas in the best possible way. ​"In 2014, during my trip to Los Angeles, I realize people didn't see Greece the way I do!. Negativity and mostly financial news are coming out of my country. We need to change that" Panos Philippou, got this right! Hellas is much more than that! Hellenes of today even through their financial crisis and capital control, they still have a vision, specially the youngest generations. Its not only the vision though that makes the difference! Its the ability the knowledge and the passion they carry!

Bureaucracy and political fraud "prohibits" young artists to "promote" Hellas. It feels like they want the country to go down the drain!

And then a Panos Philippou comes along and breaks their plan! "Greek Skies" are unstoppable! Like "Mt. Olympus the Creation" , like so many other projects that the Greek Government cannot control or force to destroy.

"At a film festival talking with people, I was told that the Greek element is missing, most of the times is exploited negatively by foreign, and also by Greeks who don’t do anything about it.

In such a discussion I was asked whether it would be possible to do something Greek that would have resonance also in Greece. Leaving from America and going back to my work in Bucharest, having a lot of things in my mind, I returned to Greece a few days of vacation.

Coming back to Greece, I witnessed my Dad passing away within months to cancer. A battle I gave myself 5 years ago against all odds and thanks to God I m above earth at this very moment".

Having driven more than 8400kms, 365 days, 55000 photos, 825 hours of shooting and more than 625 hours of editing, finally Greek Skies was ready.

A piece of Greece, for everyone to have and share, from one place of the world to another, it is a piece of myself, a piece of my Dad, a piece of my mother Greece and it belongs to everyone who is Greek and who isn’t, and it is at the same time something that has soul in it, all of mine at least, made with love, praying and philotimo as the famous video very nicely explains it (https://youtu.be/vyOIgzVKLT4).

His aim is to make a start and establish a flow of people who share the same ideas and abilities and be able to help and support children that do give this unfair battle in Greece.

"It is a long shot but I would rather shoot and miss than just exist, and thank God some things have already been established as we talk. I hope more will come to place and this will finally take flesh and bones soon".

HELLAS

«Ο Μίκης της Θεσσαλονίκης» του Μάκη Τρικούκη, συγγραφέα (Από το Αφιέρωμα «Ο Μίκης της Θεσσαλονίκης», Θεσσαλονικέων Πόλις, τεύχος 54)

Το 1959 ήμουν πρωτοετής φοιτητής της Νομικής Σχολής στη Θεσσαλονίκη. Τα μεσημέρια, όταν τέλειωναν τα μαθήματά μας, επέστρεφα στο σπίτι μου με μια συμφοιτήτριά μου, γιατί μέναμε στην ίδια γειτονιά, Πύργο, για να ανέβουμε μετά την οδό Ευζώνων, καθώς τα σπίτια μας ήταν πάνω από τη λεωφόρο Στρατού. Σαν φτάναμε ωστόσο στη διασταύρωση της παραλιακής λεωφόρου με την οδό Αιμιλίου Ριάδη, στεκόμασταν πάντα σε μια εξοχική ταβέρνα που βρισκόταν εκεί και είχε στην είσοδό της ένα τζουκ-μποξ με μεγάλη ποικιλία δίσκων μουσικής. Τα τζουκ-μποξ ήταν τότε η εφεύρεση της εποχής, και δεν υπήρχε μικρό ή μεγάλο κέντρο διασκέδασης που να μην διαθέτει είτε στην είσοδό του είτε σε κάποια αίθουσα ένα τέτοιο μηχάνημα. Το τζουκ-μποξ λοιπόν είχε μια ειδική υποδοχή, στην οποία έριχνε κανείς ένα κέρμα και πατούσε ένα κουμπί με το όνομα του δίσκου που ήθελε να ακούσει. Οι δυο μας προτιμούσαμε πάντα τη μουσική του Μίκη Θεοδωράκη, ενός νέου συνθέτη, το όνομα του οποίου είχε διαδοθεί ήδη στο πανελλήνιο. Σε λίγο, η αρρενωπή φωνή του Γρηγόρη Μπιθικώτση, τραγουδιστή το όνομα του οποίου είχε επίσης γίνει τότε γνωστό, κυριάρχησε στη γύρω ατμόσφαιρα Μέρα Μαγιού μου μίσεψες, Μέρα Μαγιού σε χάνω... Δεν ήταν βέβαια η πρώτη φορά που ακούγαμε αυτούς τους στίχους, μας ήταν ήδη γνωστοί από την ποίηση του Γιάννη Ρίτσου, ο οποίος εμπνεύστηκε το συγκεκριμένο ποίημα έχοντας δει τη φωτογραφία μιας μάνας να θρηνεί τον σκοτωμένο γιο της στην άσφαλτο της Εγνατίας, που είχαν δημοσιεύσει οι εφημερίδες. Το εντυπωσιακό μάλιστα στην τότε ποίησή του ήταν ότι έδινε λυρική διάσταση σε γεγονότα θλιβερά και αποτρόπαια, όπως η εντολή που είχε δώσει ο πρωθυπουργός της χώρας, Ιωάννης Μεταξάς, στην αστυνομία Θεσσαλονίκης τον Μάη του 1936 να χτυπήσουν “στο ψαχνό” τους απεργούς καπνεργάτες της πόλης, που διαδήλωναν άοπλοι, διεκδικώντας τα δικαιώματά τους. Το αποτέλεσμα ήταν να αφήσουν πολλούς νεκρούς στον

κεντρικότερο δρόμο της πόλης, την Εγνατία. Την επόμενη χρονιά πήγαμε με την ίδια φίλη να ακούσουμε μια συναυλία που έδωσε ο Θεοδωράκης με τον Μπιθικώτση σε ένα θερινό σινεμά που υπήρχε τότε ανάμεσα σε μερικές όμορφες βίλλες στη δεξιά πλευρά του δρόμου από τον Λευκό Πύργο προς τα ανατολικά. Την εποχή εκείνη δεν θα μπορούσα να φανταστώ ότι πολύ αργότερα θα δενόμουν με στενή φιλία με τον μεγάλο μας συνθέτη. Οι περιπέτειες της Αριστεράς συνέβαλαν ασφαλώς στη φιλία αυτή, πρόκειται όμως για μιαν άλλη ιστορία, που δεν είναι της στιγμής. Δεν πρέπει άλλωστε να μας διαφεύγει ότι ο Μίκης Θεοδωράκης είχε παλιές φιλίες με πολλούς Θεσσαλονικείς, αξίζει μάλιστα να θυμηθούμε ότι είχε στενό φιλικό δεσμό με τον ποιητή Μανώλη Αναγνωστάκη, στο λογοτεχνικό περιοδικό Κριτική του οποίου δημοσίευσε και ένα άρθρο για τη μουσική. Ο Μίκης μάλιστα μελοποίησε και αρκετά ποιήματα του Αναγνωστάκη, ανάμεσα στα οποία και το «Δρόμοι παλιοί», δίνοντάς του συγκλονιστική μουσική διάσταση. Με τη Θεσσαλονίκη συνδέεται επίσης μια άλλη πρωτοβουλία του Μίκη, η ίδρυση, στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του 1960, της ελληνοτουρκικής επιτροπής φιλίας, με επικεφαλής τον ίδιο, και της τουρκοελληνικής με επικεφαλής τον Τούρκο αρχαιολόγο και πανεπιστημιακό καθηγητή, Εκρέμ Ακουργκάλ. Η ίδρυση των δυο επιτροπών ανακοινώθηκε στη Θεσσαλονίκη, παρουσία όλων των μελών τους. Οι επιτροπές εκείνες έχουν εδώ και καιρό αδρανήσει· παρόμοιες βέβαια επιτροπές δεν συστήνονται για να υποκαταστήσουν τις κυβερνήσεις αλλά για να ωθήσουν στον διάλογο μεταξύ των δυο πλευρών. Φωτογραφία: Γιάννη Κυριακίδη, Ο Μίκης Θεοδωράκης στη 2η Εβδομάδα Κινηματογράφου Θεσσαλονίκης για την ταινία «Συνοικία το όνειρο», 1961.

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NASA launches new “Office of the Apocalypse” to protect us from doomsday asteroids

BY KAVITA IYER ON JANUARY 13, 2016 NASA forms task force called “Office of the Apocalypse” to tackle looming threat of doomsday asteroids NASA is taking the doomsday asteroid scenario seriously. It has formed a special task force with a solid budget to combat against incoming asteroids and other dangerous extraterrestrial objects that are headed towards Earth.

According to a recent NASA release, the Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) monitoring program has seen an increase in the financing from $4 million to $50 million since 2010. The space agency cited incidents such as the Chelyabinsk meteor strike as one of the reasons for a heightened need for defence against the potentially hazardous space rocks.

Starting 2016, a special NASA Planetary Defence Coordination Office (PCDO) task force dubbed as “The Office of the Apocalypse” will be assigned the job of keeping an eye on all the asteroids with an orbit that brings them close to our planet, so that humanity has a fighting chance of deflecting or destroying space rocks heading our way. PDCO will manage various activities between many national and international observatories and governmental bodies, including the Pentagon and the European Space Agency. Lindley Johnson, lead program executive for the PCDO, said: “The formal establishment of the Planetary Defence Coordination Office makes it evident that the agency is committed to perform a leadership role in national and international efforts for detection of these natural impact hazards, and to be engaged in planning if there is a need for planetary defence.”

Part of the new team’s objective will be to develop and implement new technology, which can be used to redirect or deflect asteroids that are on a collision course with Earth.

“In addition to detecting and tracking potentially hazardous objects, the office will issue notices of close passes and warnings of any detected potential impacts, based on credible sci-

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ence data,” NASA said.

Every year, about 1,500 NEOs are detected and added into the database. NASA’s aspiring plan is to determine and recognize 90 percent of NEOs at the size of, or a bit larger than, a football field in diameter – 140 meters (450 feet) – by 2021, as most of the bigger objects (1 km / 3,000 ft in diameter) have already been added, NASA reported.

Potential threats that could eliminate cities or the entire planet have been separately studied by NASA and the Nuclear Security Administration. To understand how asteroids could be stopped from entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the two agencies have surveyed cosmic fragments, designed rocket interceptors, and carried out simulated tests for years.

In order to protect the planet’s survival in the event of an incoming celestial object, the two agencies closed an agreement in summer 2015 to work together. The aim of their partnership is to develop a plan that consists of using nuclear device detonation to intercept asteroids.

The meteorite went unnoticed, and if bigger meteorite had In 1988, the asteroid survey that was funded by NASA struck a densely populated area, it could have caused a lot was launched for the first time, which till date has discovmore damage. ered over 13,500 NEOs in numerous sizes.

In a statement, John Grunsfeld, associate administrator An Asteroid Watch Widget has been published on the for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, agency’s website. said “Asteroid detection, tracking and defense of our planet is something that NASA, its interagency partners, and the global community take very seriously.”

Recent incidents such as the Chelyabinsk incident in 2013 have been a cause for concern, wherein a meteor entered the atmosphere above the Russian city, which exploded in mid-air and damage buildings and trees.

“While there are no known impact threats at this time, the 2013 Chelyabinsk super-fireball and the recent ‘Halloween Asteroid’ close approach remind us of why we need to remain vigilant and keep our eyes to the sky.”

The newly-formed task force’s one instant planetary defense goal is to develop a practical technology that can amend the course of an asteroid coming towards our planet.

Seeing asteroids more clearly: How radar imaging has improved from 2001 to 2015. http://www. nasa.gov/feature/jpl/asteroid-looks-even-bettersecond-time-around …

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CYPRUS

Παρέμβαση Φόρεϊν Όφις προς τη Δικαιοσύνη Η αλήθεια για τις αγωγές Κυπρίων προσφύγων στα βρετανικά δικαστήρια Η Τουρκία σκόπιμα άφησε να γίνει η διαρροή, δημοσιοποιώντας ό,τι εκείνη ήθελε ΤΗΣ ΦΑΝΟΥΛΑΣ ΑΡΓΥΡΟΥ

Στις 8 Ιανουαρίου 2016 το τουρκικό Υπ. Εξωτερικών, επιχειρώντας να προκαταλάβει την απόφαση του Δικαστηρίου στη Βρετανία, το οποίο ακόμα δεν έχει λάβει τελική απόφαση, βγήκε να γνωστοποιήσει (πρώτο δημοσίευμα στην τουρκική εφημερίδα «Χουριέτ») ό,τι αυτή ήθελε. ΄Ισως για να δημιουργήσει σύγχυση μεταξύ των Ελληνοκυπρίων. Αυτό το έκανε η Τουρκία, προφανώς έχοντας υπόψη και την επίσκεψη του Βρετανού Υπ. Εξωτερικών στη χώρα, που πραγματοποιήθηκε λίγες μέρες αργότερα, ούτως ώστε να δοθεί η εντύπωση διπλωματικού επεισοδίου και να δικαιολογηθεί το αδικαιολόγητο, δηλαδή μια παρέμβαση του Φόρεϊν Όφις στη Δικαιοσύνη. Όπως έγινε με τις δηλώσεις, σε κοινή δημοσιογραφική διάσκεψη στις 15 Ιανουαρίου 2016, μεταξύ του Τούρκου Υπ. Εξωτερικών κ. Μ. Τσαβούσογλου και του Βρετανού Υπ. Εξωτερικών και Κοινοπολιτείας Φίλιπ Χάμοντ στην Τουρκία.

Merkez Bina, P.K. 06573, Kizilay/Ankara, αποτάθηκαν στη Βρετανική Δικαιοσύνη για εφαρμογή των αποφάσεων του Επαρχιακού Δικαστηρίου Κερύνειας. Το οποίο αποφάσισε όπως η Τουρκία και ο Πρωθυπουργός της πληρώσουν αποζημιώσεις στους οκτώ Ελληνοκύπριους για απώλεια χρήσης των περιουσιών τους στα κατεχόμενα.

Interim third party debt order (προσωρινό διάταγμα για πάγωμα λογαριασμών) Το Ανώτερο Δικαστήριο (High Court of Justice) στο Λονδίνο, στις 18 Δεκεμβρίου 2015, εξέδωσε ένα Interim third party debt order, με το οποίο διέταξε το παράρτημα της τουρκικής τράπεζας στο Λονδίνο, Halk Bank London Branch, να παγώσει τα κεφάλαια της Τουρκικής Δημοκρατίας που βρίσκονται κοντά της και όχι ονομαστικώς τους «λογαριασμούς των διπλωματών» της, όπως λέχθηκε. Σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες μας, οι διπλωματικοί υπάλληλοι φαίνεται να συνεχίζουν να πληρώνονται.

Τα γεγονότα Οκτώ Ελληνοκύπριοι πρόσφυγες με δύο ξεχωριστές πετυχημένες αγωγές τους (2014) από το Επαρχιακό Δικαστήριο Κερύνειας -που εδρεύει προσωρινά στη Λευκωσία- εναντίον της Τουρκίας και του Πρωθυπουργού της, εδρεύοντος εις Vekaletler Caddesi Basbakanlik

Το Δικαστήριο όρισε ακρόαση της υπόθεσης για τις 10.00 το πρωί της 26ης Ιανουαρίου 2016, όταν και ο Δικαστής θα αποφασίσει κατά πόσο θα πρέπει να εκδοθεί ένα τελικό διάταγμα. Υπάρχει πρόνοια για αναβολή της ημερομηνίας αυτής, αν η τουρκική πλευρά το ζητήσει, οπόταν και το θέμα θα συζητηθεί σε νέα ημερομηνία που θα ορισθεί.

CYPRUS

Παρέμβαση Φόρεϊν Όφις προς τη Δικαιοσύνη

Το ποσό Συνολικά το ποσό που η Τουρκία και ο Πρωθυπουργός της καλούνται να πληρώσουν στους 8 Ελληνοκύπριους πρόσφυγες, σύμφωνα με την απόφαση του Επαρχιακού Δικαστηρίου Κερύνειας, και όπως καταγράφτηκε στο interim third party order του Βρετανικού Δικαστηρίου 18 Δεκεμβρίου 2016, είναι 102.393.381 ευρώ.

Τα ναι, μεν, αλλά του Χάμοντ Σε ανταπόκριση της Άννας Ανδρέου στο βραδινό κεντρικό τηλεοπτικό δελτίο ειδήσεων του ΡΙΚ στις 15.1.2016, μεταδόθηκε (κατέχουμε ηχογραφημένο το σχετικό κομμάτι) ότι: «Η Άγκυρα έθεσε και το θέμα του παγώματος των λογαριασμών των Τούρκων πρέσβεων από βρετανικό δικαστήριο έπειτα από προσφυγές Ελληνοκυπρίων. Ο Βρετανός Υπουργός είπε ότι κάνουν τα απαραίτητα βήματα για να λύσουν αυτό το ζήτημα, αλλά δεν είναι μια διαδικασία που μπορούν να ελέγξουν. Υπογράμμισε, μάλιστα, ότι στη χώρα του τα δικαστήρια είναι εντελώς ανεξάρτητα από την κυβέρνηση. »Για το ίδιο θέμα ο Μεβλούτ Τσαβούσογλου απάντησε ότι και η Τουρκία στηρίζει την ανεξαρτησία των δικαστηρίων, ωστόσο είπε ότι τα δικαστήρια πρέπει να τηρούν τις διεθνείς συνθήκες - αυτές οι συνθήκες, είπε, είναι πάνω από τον εσωτερικό κανονισμό. Μάλιστα ο Μ. Τσαβούσογλου ανέφερε πως όλοι πρέπει να αποφεύγουν κινήσεις οι οποίες θα διακόψουν τη διαδικασία των διαπραγματεύσεων στην Κύπρο».

«Τα απαραίτητα» του Χάμοντ

Σύμφωνα με έγκυρες πληροφορίες μας, και αντίθετα με την παραπλανητική δήλωση Χάμοντ στην κοινή δημοσιογραφική στην Τουρκία, το Φόρεϊν Όφις έχει ήδη προβεί στα «απαραίτητα» με διάβημά του προς τη Δικαιοσύνη με υποδείξεις υπέρ της Τουρκίας. Ενώ δηλαδή υπογράμμισε ότι στη χώρα του τα δικαστήρια είναι εντελώς ανεξάρτητα από την κυβέρνηση και είναι μια διαδικασία που δεν μπορούν να ελέγξουν, εντούτοις ήδη έχουν αποπειραθεί να την επηρεάσουν. (Υπενθυμίζεται ότι δεν είναι η πρώτη φορά που το Φ.Ο. αποπειράται τέτοιες παρεμβάσεις προς τη Δικαιοσύνη. Υπάρχει το προηγούμενο της επιστολής της Βαρώνης Κίνοκ, η οποία ως Υφυπουργός Ευρώπης τότε στο Φόρεϊν Όφις, την απέστειλε προς τους Δικαστές του Εφετείου στην υπόθεση Αποστολίδη εναντίον Όραμς, ζητώντας από το Δικαστήριο να πάρει πολιτική απόφαση υπέρ της Τουρκίας. Μια ενέργεια που καυτηρίασε και εξέθεσε έντονα στην απόφασή του το Δικαστήριο. Και τότε είχε προηγηθεί τουρκική απαίτηση προς το Φόρεϊν Όφις για παρέμβαση του τελευταίου).

Η κατάσταση όπως έχει σήμερα Το Βρετανικό Δικαστήριο δεν έχει ακόμα πάρει τελική απόφαση, αυτή αναμένεται είτε στις 26 Ιανουαρίου 2016 είτε σε άλλη ημερομηνία, που θα καθοριστεί σε περίπτωση που η τουρκική πλευρά ζητήσει αναβολή. ΦΑΝΟΥΛΑ ΑΡΓΥΡΟΥ Ερευνήτρια/δημοσιογράφος Ανταπόκριση για τη «Σ» 17.1.2016.

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Supreme Court: Former Child Slaves Used in Cocoa Production Can Sue Nestle Supreme Court ruled a lawsuit filed by former child slaves against mega-corporation Nestle can move forward. The decision finalizes a lower court’s prior ruling, which Nestle previously attempted to overturn in an attempt to halt suits from individuals who worked in the African cocoa trade as children.

As Reuters reports, three former Malian child laborers, known as “John Does” in the case, “contend the companies aided and abetted human rights violations through their active involvement in purchasing cocoa from Ivory Coast.

While aware of the child slavery problem, the companies offered financial and technical assistance to local farmers in a bid to guarantee the cheapest source of cocoa, the plaintiffs said.” West African nations are some of the largest exporters of cocoa, and though Nestle does not employ child slaves directly, the company consistently engages in business deals with farmers who do.

Though Americans are largely unaware of the sources of their chocolate, the use of child labor and slavery in Afri-

can cocoa production has been public knowledge for many years. A 2000 documentary, Slavery: A Global Investigation, detailed the perilous conditions children face in West African nations. As Anti-Media summarized: “Nineteen children freed from slavery near the Ivory Coast — and their new guardian — detailed the staggering conditions of the cutthroat trade: the young children worked ‘from dawn until dusk every day’ and were forced to sleep in small sheds.

They were given a tin cup in which to urinate. The children endured a six-month ‘breaking in’ process which included regular beatings. Sadly, they had difficulty understanding why they were not paid for their hard labor, which included carrying 100-pound bags of cocoa beans and, often, exposure to hazardous conditions.”

When the story of the abused children garnered significant public attention, the candy companies claimed they were unaware of any such conditions.

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