The Hellenic Navy (HN) (Greek: Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, Polemikó Naftikó, abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence. During the periods of monarchy (1833–1924 and 1936–1973) it was known as the Royal Navy (Βασιλικόν Ναυτικόν, Vasilikón Naftikón, abbreviated ΒΝ).The total displacement of all the navy's vessels is approximately 150,000 tons.The motto of the Hellenic Navy is "Μέγα το της Θαλάσσης Κράτος" from Thucydides' account of Pericles' oration on the eve of the Peloponnesian War. This has been roughly translated as "Great is the country that controls the sea". The Hellenic Navy's emblem consists of an anchor in front of a crossed Christian cross and trident, with the cross symbolizing Greek Orthodoxy, and the trident symbolizing Poseidon, the god of the sea in Greek mythology. Pericles' words are written across the top of the emblem. "The navy, as it represents a necessary weapon for Greece, should only be created for war and aim to victory."...............The Hellenic Merchant Marine refers to the Merchant Marine of Greece, engaged in commerce and transportation of goods and services universally. It consists of the merchant vessels owned by Greek civilians, flying either the Greek flag or a flag of convenience. Greece is a maritime nation by tradition, as shipping is arguably the oldest form of occupation of the Greeks and a key element of Greek economic activity since the ancient times. Nowadays, Greece has the largest merchant fleet in the world, which is the second largest contributor to the national economy after tourism and forms the backbone of world shipping. The Greek fleet flies a variety of flags, however some Greek shipowners gradually return to Greece following the changes to the legislative framework governing their operations and the improvement of infrastructure.Blogger Tips and Tricks
This is a bilingual blog in English and / or Greek and you can translate any post to any language by pressing on the appropriate flag....Note that there is provided below a scrolling text with the 30 recent posts...Αυτό είναι ένα δίγλωσσο blog στα Αγγλικά η/και στα Ελληνικά και μπορείτε να μεταφράσετε οποιοδήποτε ποστ σε οποιαδήποτε γλώσσα κάνοντας κλικ στη σχετική σημαία. Σημειωτέον ότι παρακάτω παρέχεται και ένα κινούμενο κείμενο με τα 30 πρόσφατα ποστς....This is a bilingual blog in English and / or Greek and you can translate any post to any language by pressing on the appropriate flag....Note that there is provided below a scrolling text with the 30 recent posts...Αυτό είναι ένα δίγλωσσο blog στα Αγγλικά η/και στα Ελληνικά και μπορείτε να μεταφράσετε οποιοδήποτε ποστ σε οποιαδήποτε γλώσσα κάνοντας κλικ στη σχετική σημαία. Σημειωτέον ότι παρακάτω παρέχεται και ένα κινούμενο κείμενο με τα 30 πρόσφατα ποστς.........

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Μιλτιάδης Έβερτ, πολιτικώς απερχόμενος [ 446 ]

Επιστολή του Μ. Έβερτ στον πρωθυπουργό για το ψηφοδέλτιο Επικρατείας

Ο Μιλτιάδης Έβερτ με επιστολή του προς τον πρωθυπουργό, ζητά να τοποθετηθεί στην 12η και τιμητική θέση του ψηφοδελτίου Επικρατείας.

Σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες, αναφέρει ότι μετά από τόσα χρόνια συμμετοχής στα κοινά νοιώθω ότι πρέπει να συμβάλλω στην ανανέωση του κόμματος, την οποία εγώ έκανα πάντα πράξη και γι' αυτό είμαι υποχρεωμένος να αρνηθώ την πρότασή σας και επιθυμώ να καταλάβω την τελευταία θέση.

Χρωστώ ευγνωμοσύνη, αναφέρει ο κ. Έβερτ, στον ελληνικό λαό και ιδιαίτερα στον αθηναϊκό που μου έδωσε τη δυνατότητα να εργαστώ για το καλό της πατρίδας.

Σας διαβεβαιώ πως θα είναι αμείωτο το ενδιαφέρον μου για την πατρίδα μου και την παράταξη, τονίζει ο κ. Έβερτ στην επιστολή του προς τον πρωθυπουργό και πρόεδρο της Νέας Δημοκρατίας Κώστα Καραμανλή.

Human rights situation in Russia...[ 445 ]

Russia, human rights situation 'far from perfect' - Dimitry Medvedev said.

MOSCOW, September 18 (RIA Novosti) -

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said during a televised interview on Friday that the human rights situation in the country was "far from perfect."

"We must protect [human rights] using all possible methods, first of all through legal processes," Medvedev said, adding: "There are so many [human rights violations] because there is no effective government and no effective legal system."

Click and Read full story from en.rian.ru

Mexico ; subway shooting...[ 444 ]

Camera footage shows fatal Mexico subway shooting

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -Sept .19,2009- The Mexican government posted security camera footage Saturday of a shooting inside a subway station that left two people dead and eight wounded at the height of evening rush hour.

Camera footage shows Luis Felipe Hernandez Castillo brandishing a gun.

Camera footage shows Luis Felipe Hernandez Castillo brandishing a gun.

The shooting at the Balderas station in central Mexico City happened after police stopped Luis Felipe Hernandez Castillo, 38, from writing graffiti on the wall of one of the subway platforms.

Hernandez Castillo was writing "Este gobierno de criminales," or "this government of criminals," federal District Attorney Miguel Angel Mancera said. As police tried to stop him, he drew his gun -- a .38 Special handgun -- and began firing.

The security camera footage shows a busy subway platform as the train pulls into the station just before 5:15 p.m. Friday. Just as the train comes to a stop, there is a disturbance in the crowd, and Hernandez Castillo is seen shooting at an officer in uniform. Video Watch the dramatic incident unfold »

The crowd disperses, and the officer runs out of view of the camera. The officer, who was a bank policeman, is later seen on the footage lying dead, face down on the platform.

The footage shows a man in a white shirt running off the train and trying to wrestle Hernandez Castillo. The man, who Mancera said was a federal security agent in civilian clothing, chases Hernandez Castillo around the platform. He frequently falls either because he slips or tries to avoid being shot.

The federal agent is on the floor facing him, about to get up and try to grab him, when he is shot in the head and falls to the ground.

Amazingly, a scattered handful of people remain on the subway platform during the shooting. Some are on the train, afraid to get off or at times making a run for it. Others are walking on the platform very close to the shooter, seemingly undisturbed.

Seven minutes later, the camera pans out to show Hernandez Castillo's two victims -- the federal agent lying on his back and the bank police officer in the foreground. Hernandez Castillo remains on the train, occasionally firing his gun and peeking out of the train.

At 5:23 p.m., the camera shows first one, then two, then three plain-clothes police getting into position on the platform. Within moments they rush Hernandez Castillo and pull him out of the train, with nearly a dozen police officers then wrestling him to the ground.

Hernandez Castillo was treated at a hospital for a bullet wound to the right shoulder before being transferred to the local attorney general's office, a common place to hold prisoners during preliminary investigations, a spokesman for the attorney general said.

He faces two counts of murder and one count each of attempted murder, aggression, resisting arrest, and disturbing the peace, said the spokesman, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

In addition to the two people killed, five people were wounded by gunfire and three were hurt in the crowd's stampede, the spokesman said.

Hernandez Castillo's motive is still under investigation, Mancera said. Witnesses told local media that they heard Hernandez Castillo yelling slogans against the government before the attack.

The names of the two dead are not yet known, Mexican justice officials said.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Pakistan, 33 people have been killed..[ 443 ]

Carnage in Pakistan market attack

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Aftermath of Pakistan market attack

( BBC Friday, 18 September 2009 14:29 UK)

At least 33 people have been killed and dozens injured in a suicide car bomb attack at a village market in north-west Pakistan, police say.

The explosion is said to have taken place at a busy intersection close to the garrison town of Kohat.

Most of the dead are said to be members of the Shia Muslim minority. The area has a history of sectarian tension.

A little-known militant group calling itself Lahskar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi says it carried out the attack.

It says the attack was in revenge for the death of a prominent religious leader, Maulana M Amin, who was killed in Hangu in June.

Correspondents say the group is likely to be linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni extremist group which has links to the Taliban.

ANALYSIS
aleem maqbool
Aleem Maqbool, BBC News, Islamabad

The Taliban operate widely in Kohat and had at one point warned barber shops in the area to stop giving, what they described as, un-Islamic haircuts.

Pakistan's army has since carried out major operations against the Taliban in the North West of the country and last month a US drone strike killed the Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

But there are signs that the Taliban is trying to reassert itself under its new leader Hakimullah.

Astarzai village, where the blast took place, has a substantial Shia population and is close to the Orakzai tribal region, a stronghold of the Taliban's present chief.

Hakimullah Mehsud took over as the leader of the Pakistani Taliban - a Sunni group - after his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed by a US missile strike.

The head of Astarzai's village council told the BBC that it was still waiting for machinery to help lift the debris and pull out bodies.

"The blast took place at 11am, and now it's 5pm, but there is still no shovel or crane available to lift the debris or pull out dead bodies.

"People are doing it with their bare hands," Mehtabul Hasan told the BBC.

Police officials said that not all of the bodies had been identified because of the extent of the injuries.

Thronged with shoppers

The car bomb was detonated close to a hotel owned by a Shia Muslim businessman.

map

A local police official told the AFP news agency: "Dozens of shops were destroyed. Their roofs caved in and many people were trapped under the debris."

Television footage from the local hospital showed bloodied and bandaged patients being treated by medical staff.

"I was standing in front of my shop when all of a sudden, a car blew up outside a restaurant," Sohail Ahmed told AFP from his hospital bed.

At the time of the explosion, the area was reported to be thronged with shoppers buying supplies for the weekend and for iftar, the break of fast during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Astarzai lies 18km (11 miles) west of Kohat, where a bomb was detonated on Thursday wounding at least six people.

NORTH-WEST PAKISTAN BLASTS
18 September: At least 25 people killed in a suicide bombing at a market in the north-west
30 August: Suicide bomber kills 14 police recruits in Swat valley
27 August: 22 police guards killed at checkpoint on Afghan border
14 August: Seven killed in market blast in Dera Ismail Khan
5 June: Mosque blast kills at least 38 in Upper Dir district
20 February: Dozens of Shias killed in market bombing in the north-west

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that Sunni Taliban militants in the area have carried out frequent attacks on minority Shias.

Sunni Muslims account for around 80% of Pakistan's population and are the dominant group in the tribal areas.

Pakistan's army has been bombing Taliban hideouts in Orakzai for the past month, correspondents say.

There were reports of more aerial bombings in the area on Friday morning, shortly before the bomb attack.

The last month has seen a series of major militant attacks on targets across the NWFP.

On 30 August a suspected suicide bomb in Pakistan's north-western Swat valley killed at least 14 police recruits and injured others.


U.S. and France ,Civil Space Cooperation [ 442 ]

U.S. and France Sign Agreements for Civil Space Cooperation
WASHINGTON -- NASA Σεπτ.18, 2009.-Administrator Charles Bolden and French Space Agency President Yannick d'Escatha signed four agreements in support of U.S. and French space cooperation during a ceremony Thursday at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
"The French Space Agency has a long history of participating with NASA in Earth and space science missions," Bolden said. "I am pleased to see this cooperation expand as we look to further engage the international community in exploring space."

The Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, or CNES, is the French government agency responsible for shaping and implementing the country's space policy in Europe. It was founded in 1961 and headquartered in Paris. The CNES mission is to invent future space systems, bring space technologies to maturity and guarantee France's independent access to space.

The agreements involve missions in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. They are:
  • A Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission scheduled to launch in 2013. This NASA-led project will provide the first direct measurements to address key scientific questions about the evolution of the red planet. CNES will provide the Solar Wind Electron Analyzer sensor to measure solar wind and ionospheric electrons.
  • A Magnetospheric MultiScale mission scheduled to launch in 2014. This is a NASA-led, four spacecraft project. It will make measurements to help explain the fundamental physical processes involved with magnetic reconnection, particle acceleration and turbulence on both the micro and meso scales in the Earth's magnetosphere. CNES will provide portions of the instrument suite for the investigation.
  • A Convection Rotation and Planetary Transits mission launched in December 2006. The project is led by CNES in conjunction with the European Space Agency and other international partners. The agreement involves participation by U.S. scientists in the data analysis of planetary observations in return for NASA time for follow-up ground observations by the Keck telescope in Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
  • A Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission for the study and definition of potential cooperation on this Earth Science Decadal Survey mission. The project could give scientists the first comprehensive view of Earth's freshwater bodies from space and more detailed measurements of the ocean surface than ever before, thereby enabling improved water management and climate predictions.

NASA's Science Mission Directorate engages the nation's science community, sponsors scientific research and develops and deploys satellites and probes in collaboration with NASA's international partners to answer fundamental questions requiring a view from and into space.

The directorate studies Earth as a planet, explores the planetary bodies of our solar system, studies the sun and its influence throughout the solar system, and scans the universe to gauge its expanse while searching for Earth-like planets.
Gwenaelle Verpeaux
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Paris
+33-0-1-76-74-04
cnes-presse@cnes.fr