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Study shows young Greek families hesitant to have more children in fear of economic crisis

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Study shows young Greek families hesitant to have more children in fear of economic crisis

Eight out of ten young couples in Greece would like to have a large family, but cannot afford one, according to a new study concerning the causes of infertility in the country, conducted in January-February 2019.

In brief, poverty experienced by Greek households is the biggest obstacle that reduces births, Greek newspaper “TA NEA” reported Sunday, citing the results of the study.

The research was carried out by the Department of Statistics and Insurance Science of the University of Piraeus in collaboration with HOPEgenesis, a non-profit organization in the field of medicine that addresses the issue of low birth rates in Greece.

Low birth rates are characterised by experts as a “time bomb” on the foundations of Greece’s development prospects.

More specifically, one in two Greeks (52.9 percent) names the high financial cost of pregnancy (prenatal screening and childbirth) and the upbringing of a child, as the most significant hurdles.

Of them, 89.7 percent stated that they would have a child immediately if they were offered the cost of childbirth, while 86.3 percent would start family-planning efforts even tomorrow, provided they received financial incentives for the cost of the nursery.

The study sample consisted of 121 adults, 25-35 years old, from the HOPEgenesis database who had expressed a desire to have a child. Participants resided in remote and inaccessible areas of Greece with a severe birth deficit.

According to the scientists of the study, the birth deficit changes the size as well as the structure of the whole population.

Today, half of Greece’s population is over 43 years old, the population of people over 65 years old exceeds that of children under 15 years old, and people over 80 years old are the fastest-growing age group.

Meanwhile, the migration of young people – mainly scientists – which is yet another consequence of the financial crisis – accelerates population shrinkage.

In Greece, births have been steadily declining since 2008, reaching, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority’s (ELSTAT) recently published data, a historic low below 86,500 in 2018.

The natural balance (births/deaths) has been negative since 2011, while the estimate of the permanent population for 2018 was 0.25 percent lower than the previous year.

In this context, the Greek government has birth support high on the agenda and is already promoting some first measures – starting in 2020, with a bonus of 2,000 euros for every child born in Greece, based on socio-economic criteria.

Sourced from Xinhua.

Scientists are using waste from Greek yoghurt to create ‘green’ antibiotics

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Scientists are using waste from Greek yoghurt to create ‘green’ antibiotics

The modern biomedical industry requires new approaches to the production of antimicrobials. The production of Greek yoghurt is often wasteful, so research has been carried out recently into its uses in the field of “green” antibiotics.

Waste process of Greek yoghurt

Three cups of milk are required to produce one cup of yogurt.

The main component of the waste stream is acid whey, which has a comparatively high acidity, BOD (biological oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) concentration.  

Combined with large volumes of wastewater, the COD/BOD elements mean that Greek yogurt production has a high environmental footprint.

Using acid whey for energy production

Acid whey has shown promise as a feedstock for energy production. It has been widely used to produce high-quality feedstock for animals, due to the highly concentrated presence of sugars, protein and lipids.

However, this is limited by the problem of lactose fermentation and the production of acid whey being higher than the demand in the animal industry. A large amount of this valuable by-product is going to waste.

Using acid whey for ‘green’ antibiotics

Recent research carried out by a team in Germany, found that acid whey can be converted to MCCAs (medium-chain carboxylic acids).

MCCAs are present in the biofuels and chemicals that produce ‘green’ antimicrobials. The research team are proposing that the acid whey from Greek yoghurt should be utilised by converting it into MCCA oil.

There are many environmental factors that currently lead to an increase in the cost of any industrial process using MCCAs. This makes it economically unviable at the scales of production needed for large-scale use of MCCA oil as a feedstock and “green” microbial.

Though, the continued research that has been undertaken has provided proof that there may be a possibility of future sustainability and cost-reduction in this field.

You can read the full scientific journal here.

Jiajie Xu et al. (2018) Temperature-Phased Conversion of Acid Whey Waste Into Medium-Chain Carboxylic Acids via Lactic Acid: No External e-donor, Joule Vol. 2, Issue 2 Pages 280-295

With reference to News Medical.

Navarino Challenge 2019 thrills and educates in Greece

The Greek Herald
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Navarino Challenge 2019 thrills and educates in Greece

The award-winning Navarino Challenge lived up to its theme “Sports Unite People” as 2,700 people of all ages participated in the activities for a 7th consecutive year, October 11-13 in Messinia and Costa Navarino.

With ideal weather conditions and a rich program of more than 30 activities, the event, hosted by The Westin Resort Costa Navarino supports the ideals of the Olympic Movement, contributing towards the development of a peaceful and better world without discrimination, through sports.

The wellness event promoted the benefits of exercise and raised awareness of the Mediterranean diet in the effort to fight childhood obesity and the event exhorted young people to get involved in games and sports, through the Active Kids program, by adding even more kids’ activities this year.

Navarino Challenge brought together athletes, families, and children from 40 countries.

The full schedule of the event included activities for the whole family.

On October 11, Greek Hall of Fame basketball icon Nick Galis, this year’s guest of honor, tipped off the 4on4 basketball tournament by Nutramins that was held with the participation of the basketball legend Joe Arlaouckas and two-time Olympic silver medalist Alexandros Nikolaidis.

The day continued with many sports activities and ended with the screening of Barney Spender and Roddy Gibson’s award-winning documentary The Road to Sparta at the Agora, Costa Navarino.

On October 12 sports action was held in the Municipality of Pylos-Nestor that supported the event for another year and helped in the smooth implementation of the activities at Navarino Bay with the assistance of local companies. For the first time in the event, participants had the opportunity to try sea kayaking and headed to the island of Sphacteria with the support of Explore Messinia.

Open water swimming enthusiasts had the chance to compete in a chip-timed event at the beautiful Navarino bay from the scenic Pylos harbor, covering the unique 1 mile (1.6 km) route of the open water swimming race by Vikos.

The Challenge The Wind interclub sailing race of triangle course with OPTIMIST and LASER 4.7 boats was co-organized with the Maritime Athletic Pylos Association “Nestor”.

The sea activities also marked the beginning of the Navarinia event for the 192nd anniversary of the Battle of Navarino, which will culminate this week.

In addition, Pylos came alive with local flavors and scents. A station with traditional lalagia, loukoumia, pasteli created by Poseidonia and Pylos Poems welcomed visitors.

A visit to the refurbished family home of the Olympic champion Kostis Tsiklitiras was held with the presence of Olympic medalist Spyros Gianniotis.

Greek sporting greats honoured

Hall of Fame basketball legend Nick Galis was honored for his contribution to sports by Costantza Sbokou-Constantakopoulou on behalf of TEMES, along with the Minister of Tourism, the Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports, and Theresa Cissell, Qatar Airways Country Manager for Greece and Cyprus.

The Greek-American ultramarathon runner and the event’s ambassador Dean Karnazes was awarded by the Minister of Tourism.

Greek gold Paralympic medalist and world champion in boccia Grigoris Polychronidis was awarded by Byung Moo (Theofilos) Shin, President & Chief Executive Officer of Samsung Electronics Hellas.

Silver Olympic medalist Spyros Gianniotis was awarded by the Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports.

Two-time Olympic medalist in rowing Vassilis Polymeros was awarded by Petri Logara, Operations Manager of Ford Motor Hellas.

World karate champion Eleni Chatziliadou was awarded by Cissell, while bronze medalist in sailing world championship Maria Tsamopoulou was awarded by Stefanos Theodorides, Managing Director of TEMES. The event was presented by Joe Arlauckas with music by the Pylos Conservatory duo.

The Half-Marathon route is described by runners as one of the most beautiful around the world, and the 5km route also impressed participants. Navarino Challenge was included in World’s Marathons world community with runners from the Sports Club with people with special needs from Kalamata, Diaforozo, celebrating their participation at the event one day before the International White Cane Day (October 15).

The eco-friendly event included strictly smoke-free areas for the start and endpoints of the Navarino Dunes runways and declared the beautiful Voidokilia beach strictly plastic-free.

Navarino Challenge supports the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Environmental and Occupational Health, Prolepsis with a program on Food Aid and Promotion of Healthy Nutrition, DIATROFI, and through Captain Vasilis and Carmen Konstantakopoulos Foundation, WWF Greece and Karkinaki, through the GivenGain online platform.

Navarino Challenge is part of the #BeactiveHellas 2019 program of the European Commission and was held under the auspices of the General Secretariat of Sports.

The event was held under the auspices of the Greek National Tourism Organization with the approval of the Hellenic Swimming Federation.

Navarino Challenge was co-organized by Costa Navarino, The Westin Resort Costa Navarino and Active Media Group with the support of the Municipalities of Pylos-Nestor and Trifilia.

Sourced from Tornos News.

Basketball EuroLeague: Greece’s Panathinaikos beat Turkey’s Anadolu Efes

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Basketball EuroLeague: Greece’s Panathinaikos beat Turkey’s Anadolu Efes

Greece’s Panathinaikos defeated Turkey’s Anadolou Efes, on Thursday at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.

Greece won the match 86-70.

Home team Panathinaikos’ Point guard Nick Calathes was a key player for his team as he had a “double-double” in the match, scoring 11 points and dishing out 10 assists.

Greece’s point guard Tyrese Rice was on fire against Anadolu Efes as he scored 18 points, coming off the bench.

Jimmer Fredette helped his team with 11 points, while Georgios Papagiannis tallied 10 points in the victory for Panathinaikos.

It was the second less for the Turkish club in EuroLeague, this year.

Sourced from Hurriyet Daily News.

Vasili’s Taxidi: Danas Deli Café – Marrickville’s longest running shop

The Greek Herald
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Vasili’s Taxidi: Danas Deli Café – Marrickville’s longest running shop

By Vasilis Vasilas

Climbing up Illawarra Road, as you approach Marrickville, the first shop situated on the very edge of the suburb is ironically Marrickville’s longest- running Greek shop, Danas Deli Café, run by Dimitris and Agathi- and their two daughters, Tina and Olga.

As the shop’s awning states, the shop has been operating since 1962; over 57 years, the Danas family has witnessed Marrickville’s so many changes and they have adapted accordingly to continue providing its customers high quality products and great service.

When Dimitris bought the shop, Marrickville was a very different suburb to what transform into- only a few years later- with the mass influx of Greek migrants. Buying the shop off a New Zealander, who had owned the shop for many years, he highlights the difficulties in undertaking a new business as he was now the ‘dago’ running the shop and all of the previous owner’s customers no longer came to the shop.

Dimitris praises the support of his previous employer, Andreas Antoniou, who ran a delicatessen in George Street, Sydney city, as he gave him enormous support to transform the shop into a delicatessen, Mediterranean Delicatessen.

Shopping attitudes and behaviours were very different at the time; as Flemings supermarket was down the road, the Greek shoppers would do their shopping there, then come and buy what they needed from the delicatessen… then, Dimitris would deliver all their shopping- including all the items from Flemings- to their homes.

With so many newly arrived Greek migrants not knowing English and how various financial and bureaucratic institutions worked, Dimitris’ delicatessen was also a hub for advice, support and services. Becoming a Justice of the Peace, he helped so many migrants with officiating legal documents.

Having married Agathi in 1974, they are a dynamic duo as they have worked together ever since. Business grew and the delicatessen was extended to accommodate more products to satisfy customers’ yearning for Greek products. In the meantime, Dimitris diversified his business by owning a liquor store in Leichhardt and buying Marrickville’s Flemings supermarket.

However, the opening of Woolworths across the road from Danas’ delicatessen had a great impact on the small businesses in the area; customers could conveniently do their fruit and vegetables, groceries and meat shopping in the one place.

Moving with the times, the Danas reinvented the family business into a deli café in 2004; the front section, run by Dimtris and Agathi’s daughters, Tina and Olga, is café while Dimitri and Agathi run the delicatessen in the rear of the shop. Dimitri does not hide his joy of working with both his daughters in the deli café as it highlights they are a family business.

Until recently, the outside of the deli café proudly waved both an Australian and Greek flag as Dimitri is proud of his two homelands; he wishes the younger generation of Australians of Greek heritage maintain a strong sense of Greek identity and support the Greek business network.

For me, what I admire about the Danas family is their perseverance and determination to continue servicing the local area; they have experiences so many changes in the local area and adapted to them… successfully.

Greek airline Sky Express partners with Qatar Airways

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Greek airline Sky Express partners with Qatar Airways

Greek airline Sky Express said, on Thursday, it had signed an agreement with Qatar Airways to cooperate on flights connecting Doha with the Greek islands, in a boost to the country’s key tourism industry.

Tourism accounts for about a quarter of economic output in Greece, which saw a record number of about 33 million visitors last year.

The privately owned carrier, which competes with Aegean Airlines’ subsidiary Olympic Airways on domestic routes, flies to 24 Greek destinations, including the popular islands of Corfu, Santorini and Crete on ATR42 and ATR72 twin engine turboprop aircraft.

Sky Express said the deal would allow passengers to travel across its network.

Qatar Airways, the country’s flagship airline, has been flying to Athens since 2005. Last year it added flights to Thessaloniki and Mykonos.

Sourced from Reuters.

Greek Minister Lina Mendoni meets Ariana Rockefeller in Athens

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Greek Minister Lina Mendoni meets Ariana Rockefeller in Athens

On Wednesday, the Greek Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, met with Ariana Rockefeller, the granddaughter of the philanthropist, David Rockefeller Sr.

The Rockefeller family relationship with Greece goes back decades. John D. Rockefeller Jr., David’s father, appreciated and adored antiquity and the history of ancient Athens, Pericles and the creation of the Acropolis. David Rockefeller maintained his family’s love for Greece and ancient Greek Culture by visiting Mount Athos.

In addition, the Rockefeller Foundation funded excavations in Ancient Agora in the 1930s. In 1929, the Foundation provided the capital to complete the construction of the Museum of Ancient Agora along with scholarships to train archaeologists.

For their meeting, Rockefeller gifted the Minister of Culture and Sports with her grandfather’s memoir along with a copy of the record of the donation from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1949. This bequest gave $150,000 to the American School of Classical Studies to continue their work excavating Ancient Agora. The original document lives in the archives of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York.

Rockefeller assured the Minister that she would continue the Rockefeller legacy with her continued involvement in Greek issues as a representative of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Sourced from Cision PR Newswire.

Greece and Israel Foreign Minister’s “eye to eye” on military cooperations

The Greek Herald
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Greece and Israel Foreign Minister’s “eye to eye” on military cooperations

Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, is in Greece for an official two-day visit.

On Thursday, Katz met with Greece’s Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, where sources say their discussions touched on diplomatic relations between the two countries and their need to find “new ways” to further increase their military cooperation.

The same sources said talks focused on the threat posed by Iran, Turkey’s policy in northern Syria and its actions in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone.

The Israeli embassy announced the discussions would centre around defence and energy issues.

“Mr. Katz’s visit to Athens at a time when deliberations are being held in Israel for the formation of a new government after elections is a sign of the importance Israel attributes to Israeli-Greek relations and maintaining their momentum,” the Israeli embassy notes.

“The two countries attach the highest importance to ongoing exchanges on regional and global developments.”

Foreign Minister Katz is also set to meet with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Bank of Greece head worried over risk of new global economic recession

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Bank of Greece head worried over risk of new global economic recession

Bank of Greece governor Yiannis Stournaras on Thursday expressed his concern over the risk of a new global economic recession.

He warned that in such a likelihood monetary policy would not be able to lift “on its own” the burden of defence against a new crisis, ANA reports.

Stournaras underlined that central banks can no longer fortify the global economy against any danger and said that uncertainty in the relations between Britain and the European Union, geopolitical concern in the Middle East, a trade war and its repercussions on Asian economies, are some of the main challenges facing the global economy, raising concern over the possibility of a new global recession.

Sourced from Tornos News.

Greece will extend 112 emergency number nationwide

The Greek Herald
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Greece will extend 112 emergency number nationwide

The European emergency phone number 112 will be fully operational in Greece by the end of 2019, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, the minister of digital governance, pledged on Thursday.

The introduction of the 112 service has been repeatedly delayed in Greece, and “systemic failings” were identified in the aftermath of the summer 2018 wildfire in Mati, a seaside resort near Athens, which claimed 102 lives.

Authorities believe that Greece, as one of the world’s most popular tourism destinations, also needs to introduce all necessary measures to ensure the safety of travellers.

“Citizens’ security, safeguarding their property and environmental protection is a matter of life and death for all of us involved in the General Secretariat for Civil Protection,” said Nikos Hardalias, general secretary of Civil Protection.

“In a very complex environment and having to deal with a global crisis such as the climate crisis, we have undertaken a very difficult task: to make the citizens of this country feel safe again,” he said.

The system, he said, “will be able to inform citizens in highly targeted and specific areas if necessary. It can isolate the most remote and small areas across the territory and inform a specific number of citizens who face an extreme threat.”

“The system will be ready at the end of the year,” Pierrakakis said, adding that the Greek authorities have resolved important problems with the system, such as including the required software in all smartphone brands.

The line will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and will allow the immediate location of the caller.

According to a Eurobarometer survey, six to eight percent of Greeks do not even know that the 112 emergency number exists, let alone how to use it.

Sourced from Xinhua.

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