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.........

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The extent of the floods in Pakistan..[ 1574 ]

Pictures show the extent of the floods in Pakistan

These two NASA images captured one year apart show the extent of the flooding in Pakistan. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA?s Terra satellite captured these images on August 1, 2009 (top) and July 31, 2010 (bottom). These images show the Indus River in northwestern Pakistan. Both images use a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land
These two NASA images captured one year apart show the extent of the flooding in Pakistan. 
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured these images on August 1, 2009 (top) and July 31, 2010 (bottom). 

These images show the Indus River in northwestern Pakistan. Both images use a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land
Picture: NASA
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Iran rejects Brazil's offer of asylum ..[ 1573 ]

Iran rejects asylum offer for woman sentenced to die by stoning

By the CNN Wire Staff
August 3, 2010 -- Updated 1700 GMT (0100 HKT)

A boy signs a petition calling for an end to stoning during a recent demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London.
A boy signs a petition calling for an end to stoning during a recent demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London.

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Despite international pressure, for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed Saturday to give sanctuary to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose case has garnered global attention.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Lula lacked sufficient information about the case, the state news agency Agencia Brasil said.
Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006 and was originally sentenced to death by stoning. Iranian authorities say the sentence has been put on hold, but there have been no reports as to whether a new sentence has been imposed.
Meanwhile, a human rights activist who has taken up Ashtiani's case penned a letter to Lula, saying that his offer was an "important step" in saving Ashtiani from undue punishment.


Mina Ahadi of the International Committee against Stoning said the campaign to save Ashtiani's life will continue. She said she hopes Brazil and other governments will keep up pressure on the Islamic regime in Tehran, which she said rules through fear and punishment and should not be recognized by the international community.
"Allow me, as a representative of the oppressed people in Iran, to say that I not only want to save Sakineh and abolish stoning, but that I also ask all heads of state not to recognise the Islamic regime as the representative of the Iranian people but to see it as the murderer of people in Iran," Ahadi wrote in her letter to Lula.
Brazil's relations with Iran have improved in recent years and it recently participated in talks with Tehran aimed at restarting negotiations about Iran's nuclear program. In May, Brazil helped broker a deal with Iran that would provide the government with enriched uranium for medical research.
Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, is reportedly still being held in Tabriz prison. Iran's judiciary could reinstate her sentence of death by stoning, execute her by other means, or possibly even grant her a reprieve, according to human rights groups.
Ashtiani's attorney, Mohammad Mostafaei, has gone into hiding since last weekend after being interrogated by Iranian authorities, human rights groups say. Advocates and Mostafaei say his wife and brother-in-law are being held by Iranian authorities.
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9 killed in beer distributor shooting..[ 1572 ]

Conn. official: 9 killed in beer distributor shooting; company says gunman was asked to quit

Published August 03, 2010
| Associated Press
FoxCT/Alan Chaniewski
August 3, 2010: A company executive says a warehouse worker who had been called in to resign opened fire at a beer distributor in Connecticut and at least three people were shot.
MANCHESTER, Conn.
A warehouse driver who was asked to resign his job at a beer distributor went on a shooting rampage Tuesday morning that left nine people dead, including himself, and others wounded, company and government officials said.
The number of dead was confirmed by a Connecticut government official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
Authorities were notifying victims' relatives before confirming the number of deaths, state police Lt. J. Paul Vance said.
The driver, Omar Thornton, had worked at the distributor for a couple of years and been called in for a disciplinary hearing, said John Hollis of the Connecticut Teamsters, who was with company officials at the scene of the shooting.
Hollis would not say why Thornton was being disciplined. When police found him, he had been shot, Manchester police Lt. Joe San Antonio said.
About 50 to 70 people were in the warehouse during a shift change when the gunman opened fire around 7 a.m., said Brett Hollander, whose family owns Hartford Distributors. Adding to the chaos was a fire at the warehouse, about 10 miles east of Hartford, that was put out. Police did not know whether the fire was related to the shootings.
Among the victims was Hollander's cousin, a vice president at the company who was shot in the arm and the face. Hollander said he thought his cousin would be OK.
"There was a guy that was supposed to, was asked to resign, to come in to resign and chose not to and shot my cousin and my co-workers," Brett Hollander told the AP.
Joanne Hannah told the Hartford Courant her daughter Kristi had dated Thornton for eight years. Thornton, who is black, had complained about being racially harassed at work, Hannah said. Thornton complained to his superiors, who did nothing about it, she said her daughter told her.
Kristi Hannah did not immediately return a call for comment.
Two victims were taken to Hartford Hospital, spokeswoman Michaela Donnelly said. One was in critical condition, and one was in fair condition. Families of workers gathered at the town high school to wait for information and comfort each other.
The rampage was the nation's deadliest since 13 people were fatally shot at Fort Hood, Texas, last November. A military psychiatrist is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in that case.
It was the worst workplace shooting in Connecticut since 1998, when a state lottery worker gunned down four supervisors before committing suicide.
Police officers from numerous agencies and police and fire vehicles surrounded the warehouse, on a tree-lined road in an industrial park just west of a shopping mall.
In a statement, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell offered condolences to the victims' families and co-workers.
"We are all left asking the same questions: How could someone do this? Why did they do this?" she said.
___
Associated Press writers Susan Haigh and Dave Collins in Hartford, Conn.; John Christoffersen in New Haven, Conn.; and Michelle R. Smith in Providence, R.I., contributed to this report.
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Wheat harvest problems..[ 1571 ]

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* Place a burga to the Status of Liberty ???..[ 1570 ]

NY mosque near September 11 site wins approval


Linda Rivera of New York City carries a sign and an American flag as she attends a meeting of the New York City Landmarks Commission in lower Manhattan, August 3, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar


By Karina Ioffee
NEW YORK | Tue Aug 3, 2010 12:28pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) -
A New York city agency on Tuesday cleared the way for construction of a Muslim cultural center near the site of the September 11 attacks.

In a case that triggered national debate, the City Landmarks Commission voted unanimously to deny landmark status for an old building currently on the site of the planned center.

Opponents of the Muslim center, which would include a mosque, say it will be a betrayal of the memory of victims of the September 11 attacks, which were carried out by the militant Muslim group al Qaeda with hijacked passenger planes.

Critics had hoped to stall the project by having the 1857 Italianate building declared a historic landmark worthy of protection because pieces from one of the hijacked planes hit it.

Commission members argued the building, situated among a row of businesses about a block from attack site, held no historic value and their vote will allow the old building to be demolished.

At least one more legal challenge looms but the commission's ruling will clear the way for construction of the Cordoba House, which will include a prayer room and a 500-seat auditorium as part of a 13-story Muslim cultural complex.

"We are grateful to the Landmarks Commission," said Sharif El-Gamal, chairman and CEO of Soho Properties, which owns the building. "It has been a whirlwind for the past four months, during which we have worked tirelessly to realize an American dream which so many others share."

The commission's vote attracted several people with signs reading "This mosque celebrates our murders" and "Don't glorify murders of 3,000."

SURVIVOR GROUP APPROVES

But the September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, founded by family of those killed in the 9/11 attacks, praised the commission for making its decision without caving in to politics and emotion.

"We strongly support the establishment of the Islamic Cultural Center as we believe that welcoming the center, which is intended to promote interfaith tolerance and respect, is consistent with the fundamental American values of freedom for all," the group said in a statement.

The American Center for Law and Justice, representing a firefighter who survived the attacks, said it will file a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging the decision and seeking to stop the building of the mosque.

The group said in a statement that the city was guilty of "ignoring proper procedure and ignoring a growing number of New Yorkers and Americans who don't believe this site is the place to build a mosque."

Some opponents of the Muslim center had pointed to comments by imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, leader of the project, that "United States' policies were an accessory to the crime that happened" as evidence to the center's ulterior motives.

Rauf, a Muslim scholar born in Kuwait who opened his first New York mosque in 1990, condemned the September 11 attacks and was later chosen by the FBI to teach sensitivity training to law enforcement.

Another contentious issue was how the center would raise the needed $100 million to finance the project, giving rise to speculation that the money could come from extremist groups in the Middle East.

Sharif El-Gamal dismissed such allegations, saying the money would come from a mix of equity, bonds, grants and contributions.

He also called the building's proximity to the World Trade Center site accidental and said it was purchased to meet the needs of a growing Muslim community.
(Editing by Mark Egan and Bill Trott)

* Added by bloger Nearchus
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