MAJOR SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH FOR KIDNEY DISEASE FROM DR. CHRISTODOULOS XINARIS AT BERGAMO'S MARIO NEGRI INSITUTE

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22398-pioneering-labgrown-kidney-does-its-job-in-animals.html

A kidney-like organ grown from scratch in the lab has been shown to work in animals – an achievement that could be the prelude to growing spare kidneys for someone from their own stem cells.

Donated kidneys are in huge demand worldwide. In the UK alone, there are7200 people on the waiting list – a state of affairs that the new study takes a small step towards ending.

Christodoulos Xinaris of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Bergamo, Italy, and his colleagues extracted cells from the kidneys of mouse embryos as they grew in the mother. The cells formed clumps that could be grown for a week in the lab to become "organoids" containing the fine plumbing of nephrons – the basic functional unit of the kidney. A human kidney can contain over 1 million nephrons.

Chemical broth

Next, Xinaris's team marinated the organoids in a chemical broth called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which makes blood vessels grow. Then they transplanted the organoids onto the kidneys of adult rats.

By injecting the rats with extra VEGF, the researchers encouraged the new tissue to grow its own blood vessels within days. The tissue also developed features called glomeruli, chambers where blood enters the nephrons to be cleansed and filtered.

The researchers then injected the animals with albumin proteins labelled with markers that give out light. They found that the kidney grafts successfully filtered the proteins from the bloodstream, proving that they could crudely perform the main function of real kidneys.

"This is the first kidney tissue in the world totally made from single cells," says Xinaris. "We have functional, viable, vascularised tissue, able to filter blood and absorb large molecules from it. The final aim is to construct human tissues."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121018184850.htm

"The ability to build functional renal tissue starting from suspensions of single cells represents a considerable step toward the practical goal of engineering renal tissues suitable for transplantation and offers the methodological basis for a number of investigative and therapeutic applications," said Dr. Xinaris. For example, disease-related genes could be introduced into an organoid to help researchers study the mechanisms of complex kidney diseases and to perform a preliminary screening of new drugs to treat them.

Study co-authors include Valentina Benedetti, BiolSciD, Paola Rizzo, BiolSciD, Mauro Abbate, MD, Daniela Corna, Nadia Azzolini, Sara Conti, BSc, Mathieu Unbekand, PhD, Jamie A. Davies, PhD, Marina Morigi PhD, Ariela Benigni, PhD, and Giuseppe Remuzzi, MD.

http://jasn.asnjournals.org/content/early/2012/10/17/ASN.2012050505.abstract

In Vivo Maturation of Functional Renal Organoids Formed from Embryonic Cell Suspensions

1. Christodoulos Xinaris*, 
2. Valentina Benedetti*, 
3. Paola Rizzo*,
4. Mauro Abbate*, 
5. Daniela Corna*, 
6. Nadia Azzollini*, 
7. Sara Conti*,
8. Mathieu Unbekandt^†, 
9. Jamie A. Davies^†, 
10. Marina Morigi*, 
11. Ariela Benigni*and 
12. Giuseppe Remuzzi*^‡

+Author Affiliations

1. ^*Department of Molecular Medicine, ‘Mario Negri’ Institute for Pharmacological Research, Bergamo, Italy;
2. ^†Centre for Integrative Physiology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom; and
3. ^‡Unit of Nephrology and Dialysis, Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy

1. Correspondence:
   Dr. Christodoulos Xinaris, “Mario Negri” Institute for Pharmacological Research, Centro Anna Maria Astori, Science and Technology Park Kilometro Rosso, Via Stezzano 87, 24126 Bergamo, Italy. Email: christodoulos.xinaris@marionegri.it

• Received for publication May 21, 2012.
• Accepted for publication July 26, 2012.

Abstract

The shortage of transplantable organs provides an impetus to develop tissue-engineered alternatives. Producing tissues similar to immature kidneys from simple suspensions of fully dissociated embryonic renal cells is possible in vitro, but glomeruli do not form in the avascular environment. Here, we constructed renal organoids from single-cell suspensions derived from E11.5 kidneys and then implanted these organoids below the kidney capsule of a living rat host. This implantation resulted in further maturation of kidney tissue, formation of vascularized glomeruli with fully differentiated capillary walls, including the slit diaphragm, and appearance of erythropoietin-producing cells. The implanted tissue exhibited physiologic functions, including tubular reabsorption of macromolecules, that gained access to the tubular lumen on glomerular filtration. The ability to generate vascularized nephrons from single-cell suspensions marks a significant step to the long-term goal of replacing renal function by a tissue-engineered kidney.

• Copyright © 2012 by the American Society of Nephrology

READ ALSO

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cypriot/cypriot-leads-breakthrough-kidney-transplant-field/20121019

ONE MAN DEAD IN MASSIVE ATHENS PROTESTS AGAINST POVERTY MEASURES TODAY

OBAMA COMES OUT SWINGING AND WINNING THE VOTE IN TV DEBATE WITH MITT ROMNEY

Mitt Romney continued his defamation of the Greek nation as a bankrupt country in yesterday's televised debate with Barrack Obama. Obviously there are no protests from the American Greek community. American Hellenic organizations had fallen asleep, or been hypnotized with the 600 B dollars of fraudsters like Artemis Sorras of END NATIONAL DEBT, much like their Greek counterparts.

..Back to the debate: Obama didn't blew it up this time around. Stand his ground. And made even the monoliths of journalism at Fox TV to recognize the substance of his political speech and style over the GOP presidential nominee's.

After Mitt Romney's “47%” comments I seriously doubt there's going to be any hard-working American in his, her right mind to vote for him. Unless the sugar and junk food genocide terminated any logic and reason. I am not writing middle class. American middle class is a species under extinction.

DER SPIEGEL:CORRUPTION CONTINUES UNCONTROLLED IN GREECE. POLITICIANS AND RICH ARE POCKETING EU AND IMF AID.

(...)  For instance, a "G. D." stands at the top of a list with the names of 54,000 Greek citizens who relocated major assets abroad between 2009 and 2011. The list stems from the Greek central bank and is now in the hands of the Finance Ministry.

It is the longest of four lists that are currently circulating in Athens. Each contains the names of people whose financial circumstances -- bank balances and real estate holdings -- do not correspond at all with what they claimed on their tax returns. But hardly anything is being done about it. The Greek reality is sometimes paradoxical: While the governing coalition was busy squabbling with international creditors over how many hundreds of euros can still be trimmed from teachers' and nurses' paychecks, and Athens continued slashing employee pensions, wealthy Greeks moved billions abroad with relative impunity.

The odyssey of the "Lagarde list," as it's known, exemplifies the typically lax attitude toward tax criminals. For many months, it was thought to be lost, but then it resurfaced in early October. Now, the public prosecutor for financial crimes has a copy. It lists 1,991 Greek owners of Swiss bank accounts, and reportedly includes many prominent individuals from the realms of politics, business and culture.

List Goes Missing

The story of this list primarily illustrates the unwillingness of politicians to do anything to improve the situation. In the autumn of 2010, Christine Lagarde, who was still the French finance minister at the time, gave her Greek counterpart Giorgos Papakonstantinou a digitalized list of bank accounts with information on Greek customers at the HSBC Bank in Switzerland. The accounts contained a total of some €1.5 billion. While the French state was using this list to help collect half a billion euros from its own tax offenders, the Greeks showed little interest in attempting a similar initiative (...)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/corruption-continues-virtually-unchecked-in-greece-a-861327.html

SPIELBERG, GEFFEN, KATZENBERG DONATE 90 MILLION TO RESCUE MPTF

...After Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg pledged 30M, Steven Bing another 30M, Kirk Douglas and wife Ann 20M, today Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and David Katzenberg with wife Marilyn announced that they are kicking in another 90M. Still there's along way to go for the target of 350M USD to keep afloat the long-term care clinic of Motion Picture and Television fund.

GREEK STATE BROADCASTER ERT CENSORS MALE KISS OF "DOWNTOWN ABBEY"

...The biggest challenge that Greece is facing is not poverty, despair, homelessness, and total extinction but a 12 seconds kiss between two men in "DOWNTOWN ABBEY". So after the director and cast of the local production of Terence McNally's CORPUS CHRISTI received death threats, and the theater was surrounded by a chanting mess of religious fanatics, Neonazi party members and Swat team DOWNTOWN ABBEY was standing up next for the "cutting room floor victim" nomination.
Oh, yeah, sorry pals, The Greek occupation government prefers to kiss the German chancellor's b------s.

"MADE IN NY" PRODUCTION HUB TO OPEN IN BROOKLYN OPERATED BY IFP

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Media & Entertainment Commissioner Katherine Oliver and New York City Economic Development Corporation President Seth W. Pinsky yesterday announced that IFP will develop and operate the “Made in NY” Media Center, a centralized hub for the local media industry to collaborate and grow. The “Made in NY” Media Center will provide workspace, educational programs in partnership with General Assembly and networking events for content creators and entrepreneurs. The center will be housed in DUMBO, Brooklyn at an 18,000 square foot facility that will bring together professionals from the film, television, advertising, new media, gaming, marketing and branding industries for collaboration and new opportunities. It is expected to open in May 2013. 
At the Center, a host of programs and workshops will be offered to foster the development of the next generation of content creators. General Assembly, a leading global education company headquartered in New York, will provide classes, workshops, and long-form educational programming covering technology, entrepreneurship, and design. IFP will offer classes on creativity & craft, cross-media strategy, and career sustainability. The curricula will be designed to address the needs of would-be entrepreneurs seeking to transition to emerging career fields in media, individuals looking for specific skills and practical knowledge to fill gaps in their toolkit and those looking to stay current in their chosen career. To encourage interaction and collaboration among the different participants in the “Made in NY” Media Center, several programs will be embedded into the agenda, including the Transmedia Incubator, the nation’s first dedicated transmedia incubator to jump-start and support innovative projects from idea to conception and beyond. Networking events, workshops, training sessions and panels will also take place at the center. 
To read the full press release of yesterday’s announcement, click here. 

TALENTED CINEMATOGRAPHER HARRY SAVVIDES DEAD AT 55

Harris Savides, a prolific cinematographer who was a frequent collaborator of Gus Van Sant and lensed movies for the likes of David Fincher, Noah Baumbach, Woody Allen and Sofia Coppola, died today. He was 55. Savides, a native New Yorker, started his camera career shooting fashion in Milan and Paris, work that eventually got him noticed by commercial and music video directors. (He did music videos for Madonna and R.E.M. among others.) One of his first feature films was Fincher’sThe Game (1997); the two would collaborate again on 2007′s Zodiac. That same year, he lensed Noah Baumbach’s Margot At The Wedding. Savides was nominated for five Indie Spirit Awards — for Van Sant’s Gerry (2003), Elephant (2004), Last Days(2005) and the Oscar-nominated Milk (2009) as well as Baumbach’s Greenberg (2011). He did six features with Van Sant, the most recent Restless last year starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper. In addition to DP credits on James Gray’s The Yards and Ridley Scott’s American Gangster, Savides worked with Coppola on 2010′s Somewhere, which won the Golden Lion at Venice, and the two paired again on Savides’ latest job, The Bling Ring, which will be released next year.
http://www.deadline.com/tag/harris-savides/

ROBERT SCHEER: OBAMA CARE EXPOSED AS GOP PLOT IN WSJ INVESTIGATION

http://larryflynt.com/robert-scheer-articles/obamacare-exposed-as-gop-plot/

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY CAN’T HIDE HIS MOST INSIDIOUS FLIP-FLOP

Mitt Romney is such a liar. The contradictory garbage spewing out of this hack on healthcare has set a new standard for deception even for a power-hungry politician desperate to be President. Whatever you think about healthcare policy—and I for one am opposed to the stated plans of both Barack Obama and his Republican challenger because they do nothing to control costs while forcing consumers to buy coverage at inflated rates—it is Romney’s willingness to outright lie over his flip-flops on this issue that is most troubling in considering whether or not he merits being President.

Mitt thought he could get away with those lies concerning his sorry record as governor of Massachusetts because he had his staff destroy electronic messages and other key information documenting it. “When Mitt Romney left office as Massachusetts governor,” the Wall Street Journal reported, “his aides removed all e-mails from a server computer in the governor’s office, and purchased and carted off hard drives from 17 stateowned personal computers.”

But in June of this year, the newspaper obtained a treasure trove of incriminating evidence that had survived the purge. The Wall Street Journal proceeded to publish a devastating exposé based on e-mails that proved it was Mitt Romney who on the state level pioneered the identical healthcare reforms he now blasts Barack Obama for having signed into federal law. The same provision for an individual mandate requiring everyone to purchase health insurance coverage from private insurers, which is the source of controversy over what Republicans have attempted to denigrate as “socialistic Obamacare,” originated with Mitt Romney.

As the e-mails prove, it was then- Governor Romney who first championed this idea as an alternative to the public option being pushed by U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), which was based on an expansion of the government-sponsored Medicare program to supplement private coverage. Romney’s idea that everyone in Massachusetts be forced to purchase healthcare insurance from private insurance companies came out of the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank as a way of killing any expansion of a public option.

The e-mails confirm that the Democrats in Massachusetts, led by Kennedy, were cool to the idea of forcing people to buy health insurance from private companies, but Romney pushed it through. Yet when President Obama abandoned the public option and modeled his national healthcare plan on the one Romney had developed for Massachusetts, Mitt denounced it as socialist.

Yes, his deceit is that blatant, as was revealed in the aforementioned Wall Street Journal exposé: “In Massachusetts, Mr. Romney didn’t include an individual mandate in his original proposal, but soon adopted the idea. The e-mails show his aides later came to champion it, even amid uncertainty from some Democrats. At the time, the mandate was a favored policy of the right, with the left instead pushing for government-run insurance programs (...)

BAΡΥ ΠΡΟΣΤΙΜΟ ΣΕ ΕΙΣΠΡΑΚΤΙΚΗ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑ ΙΔΙOΚΤΗΣΙΑΣ ΣΙΟΥΦΑ, Ο ΠΑΤΕΡΑΣ ΕΜΦΑΝΙΣΤΗΚΕ ΑΥΤΟΠΡΟΣΩΠΩΣ ΣΤΟ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΓΙΑ ΝΑ ''ΣΒΗΣΕΙ" ΤΟ ΠΡΟΣΤΙΜΟ!

Οι ελεγκτικές υπηρεσίες επέβαλαν τσουχτερό πρόστιμο και σε ελεγκτική εταιρεία είσπραξης ληξιπρόθεσμων οφειλών η οποία ανήκει στην οικογένεια του πιο άθλιου πολιτικού, του ΣΙΟΥΦΑ, και αυτό τον εξόργισε τόσο πολύ που προσήλθε ο ίδιος στο υπουργείο για να ζητήσει εξηγήσεις, αντί να σκάψει ένα λάκκο και να μπει μέσα. Κι ενώ το ήξερε ότι η εταιρεία των παιδιών του έχει … σοβαρά προβλήματα με τον νόμο , εν τούτοις παρίστανε τον … ανήξερο και τον …θιγμένο.

Οι γιοι του (Γιώργος και Μάριος) έχουν εισπρακτική εταιρεία, η οποία λειτουργεί στα Πετράλωνα. Όπως μάλιστα είχε αποκαλύψει η εφημερίδα ΘΕΜΑ, οι κ. Γιώργος και Μάριος Σιούφας (υιοί του Προέδρου της Βουλής) συνεργάζονται, µεταξύ άλλων, εδώ και χρόνια και µε µεγάλη εισπρακτική εταιρεία, διεκπεραιώνοντας τις νοµικές ενέργειες για λογαριασµό όλων των µεγάλων τραπεζών, ακόµη και το στάδιο των πλειστηριασµών. Με την ίδια εταιρεία όµως συνεργάζεται και το δικηγορικό γραφείο του κ. Γιάννη Μούργελα, ο οποίος είναι ο πρόεδρος της «Τειρεσίας Α.Ε.», δηλαδή της εταιρείας που έχουν συστήσει οι τράπεζες προκειµένου να προφυλάσσονται από τους κακοπληρωτές πελάτες τους! Η δικηγορική εταιρεία των νεαρών δικηγόρων και υιών Σιούφα γνώρισε πλήρη άνθηση και τεράστιο τζίρο κατά τη διάρκεια της νεοδηµοκρατικής διακυβέρνησης, εξασφαλίζοντας µεγάλα πακέτα συνεργασίας µε όλες τις τράπεζες.

Μέσω της οικογενειακής δικηγορικής εταιρείας οι κύριοι Γιώργος και Μάριος Σιούφας δηµιούργησαν «βιοµηχανία» κατασχέσεων και πλειστηριασµών ακινήτων σε συνεργασία µε τις µεγαλύτερες ελληνικές τράπεζες (Alpha Bank, Εµπορική, Eurobank, Aspis κ.λπ), από τις οποίες παίρνουν πακέτα προσηµειώσεων ακινήτων, διαταγών πληρωµών, κατασχέσεων και πλειστηριασµών εισπράττοντας ως αµοιβή εκατοµµύρια ευρώ. Αρκεί να αναφερθεί ότι
ο νεότερος Σιούφας, την πρώτη χρονιά της άσκησης του επαγγέλµατός του, έκοψε γραµµάτια προείσπραξης (η κατώτερη επιτρεπόµενη αµοιβή δικηγόρου) από τον ∆ικηγορικό Σύλλογο Αθηνών ύψους 300.000 ευρώ, όταν κανένα από τα µεγαλύτερα και παλιότερα δικηγορικά γραφεία δεν φτάνει σε αυτό το επίπεδο. Eίναι χαρακτηριστικό ότι η εταιρεία των αδελφών Σιούφα δήλωσε στην εφορία για το 2007 καθαρά κέρδη 639.336 ευρώ. Το θέµα, όπως είναι φυσικό, είχε γίνει αντικείµενο συζητήσεων σε όλο το δικηγορικό σώµα.

Ο ίδιος ο Δημήτρης Σιούφας, τότε, έκανε πώς δεν ήξερε και έκανε λόγο, μάλιστα, για επιχείρηση σπίλωσης του ονόματος του δικού του, όπως και της οικογένειάς του.

Via http://www.daneiakartes.info/%CE%BE%CE%AD%CF%81%CE%B5%CF%84%CE%B5-%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%82-%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%82-%CE%B1%CF%80%CF%8C-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%82-%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B9%CE%B5/

ksipnistere.blogspot.gr

Πρόστιμα συνολικού ύψους 390.000 ευρώ επέβαλε το Τμήμα Μητρώου Εταιρειών Ενημέρωσης της Γενικής Γραμματείας Καταναλωτή του υπουργείου Ανάπτυξης, για παραβάσεις του νόμου 3758/2009 περί εταιρειών ενημέρωσης ληξιπρόθεσμων οφειλών (γνωστές ως εισπρακτικές).

Ειδικότερα, οι επιβληθείσες κυρώσεις αφορούν έξι εταιρείες Ενημέρωσης Οφειλετών, έναν Δανειστή και μία Εταιρεία μη εγγεγραμμένη στο Μητρώο των Εταιρειών Ενημέρωσης και προέκυψαν μετά από έρευνα καταγγελιών και διαμαρτυριών καταναλωτών. Συγκεκριμένα:

• Στην εταιρεία ΕΜΠΟΡΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΑΕ, για ανάθεση ενημέρωσης σε εταιρεία που δεν είναι εγγεγραμμένη στο μητρώο (άρθρο 4 παρ. 2 και άρθρο 9 παρ. 3 του ν. 3758/2009), συνολικό χρηματικό πρόστιμο ύψους 100.000 ευρώ.
• Στην εταιρεία CREDICOM CONSUMER FINANCE ΑΕ, για διενέργεια ενημέρωσης χωρίς να είναι εταιρεία του μητρώου (άρθρο 4 παρ. 2 και του άρθρο 9 παρ. 3 του ν. 3758/2009), συνολικό χρηματικό πρόστιμο ύψους 100.000 Ευρώ.
• Στην εταιρεία FIRST CALL ΑΕ, για συχνότητα οχλήσεων πέραν της μίας ανά δεύτερη ημέρα (άρθρο 4 παρ. 4 του ν. 3758/2009), για κλήση που αφορούσε μη ληξιπρόθεσμη οφειλή (άρθρο 4 παρ. 2 του ν. 3758/2009), για ενημέρωση οικείων (περίπτωση 9 του άρθρου 5 του 3758/2009), συνολικό χρηματικό πρόστιμο ύψους 65.000 Ευρώ.
• Στην εταιρεία KLISIS SA, για συχνότητα οχλήσεων πέραν της μίας ανά δεύτερη ημέρα (άρθρο 4 παρ. 4 του ν. 3758/2009) και για κλήση που αφορούσε μη ληξιπρόθεσμη οφειλή (άρθρο 4 παρ. 2 του ν. 3758/2009), συνολικό χρηματικό πρόστιμο ύψους 45.000 ευρώ.
• Στην εταιρεία PRS HELLAS SA, για κλήση στο χώρο εργασίας, χωρίς να έχει δηλωθεί από τον οφειλέτη ο αριθμός ως μοναδικός (άρθρο 4 παρ. 4 του ν. 3758/2009) και για άρνηση χορήγησης αναλυτικών στοιχείων για το ύψος και την προέλευση της ληξιπρόθεσμης οφειλής (άρθρο 6 παρ. 3 του ν. 3758/2009), συνολικό χρηματικό πρόστιμο ύψους 35.000 Ευρώ.
• Στην εταιρεία EOS MATRIX ΑΕ, για όχληση στο χώρο εργασίας, χωρίς να έχει δηλωθεί από τον οφειλέτη ο αριθμός ως μοναδικός (άρθρο 4 παρ. 4 του ν. 3758/2009), χρηματικό πρόστιμο ύψους 25.000 ευρώ.
• Στην εταιρεία E-VALUE ΜΕΠΕ, για ενημέρωση πριν την πάροδο 10 ημερών από την ημερομηνία που κατέστη ληξιπρόθεσμη η οφειλή (άρθρο 4 παρ. 4 του ν. 3758/2009), χρηματικό πρόστιμο ύψους 10.000 ευρώ.
• Στην εταιρεία TELEPERFORMANCE DEBTORS INFORMATION SERVICES, για ενημέρωση πριν την πάροδο 10 ημερών από την ημερομηνία που κατέστη ληξιπρόθεσμη η οφειλή (άρθρο 4 παρ. 4 του ν. 3758/2009), χρηματικό πρόστιμο ύψους 10.000 ευρώ.

Σημειώνεται ότι κατά των αποφάσεων επιβολής προστίμου, χωρεί η άσκηση ενδίκων βοηθημάτων ενώπιον των αρμόδιων Δικαστηρίων σύμφωνα με την κείμενη νομοθεσία.

GERMAN PULLS THE GREATEST ART SCAM IN HISTORY...

    http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/10/wolfgang-beltracchi-helene-art-scam

The Greatest Fake-Art Scam in History?

One of his forgeries hung in a show at the Met. Steve Martin bought another of his fake paintings. Still others have sold at auction for multi-million-dollar prices. So how did a self-described German hippie pull off one of the biggest, most lucrative cons in art-world history? And how did he get nailed?

IKEA, MICHELIN, REGENCY CAZINO PAY ZERO REAL ESTATE PROPERTY TAX IN GREECE

Mετά την χθεσινή συνέντευξη τύπου που έδωσε ο πρόεδρος της ΓΕΝΟΠ-ΔΕΗ, κ. Νίκος Φωτόπουλος σχετικά με την καταγγελία ότι έχει στοιχεία πως «το χαράτσι της ΔΕΗ το πληρώνουν μόνο τα κορόιδα», έδωσε στην δημοσιότητα την λίστα με τις επιχειρήσεις που έτυχαν… ειδικής μεταχείρισης από την ΔΕΗ.

Ο κ. Φωτόπουλος κατήγγειλε τον εμπαιγμό των Ελλήνων πολιτών που κλήθηκαν να καταβάλουν το δυσβάσταχτο «χαράτσι», την ώρα που μεγάλες επιχειρήσεις είτε πλήρωσαν μειωμένο τέλος ακινήτων -ακόμη και σε ποσοστό 60%- είτε εξαιρέθηκαν του σχετικού μέτρου. Σε άλλες περιπτώσεις δε επιχειρήσεις εμφανίζουν μειωμένο αριθμό του εμβαδού του κτηρίου, αποκομίζοντας κέρδη εκατοντάδων χιλιάδων ευρώ!
Ενδεικτική είναι η περίπτωση τεσσάρων κτηρίων του επιχειρηματία Μπάμπη Βωβού, επί της λεωφόρου Κηφισίας. Στην πρώτη παροχή, σύμφωνα με τα στοιχεία της ΓΕΝΟΠ – ΔΕΗ, τα τ.μ από 15.578 έγιναν 9.985 και ο επιχειρηματίας γλίτωνε 196.585 ευρώ χαράτσι. Στη δεύτερη παροχή τα τ.μ από 33.705 έγιναν 19.981 και ο επιχειρηματίας γλίτωσε 446.626 χαράτσι. Στην τρίτη παροχή τα τετραγωνικά από 20.956 έγιναν 9.728 και ο επιχειρηματίας γλίτωσε 310.364 ευρώ. Στην τέταρτη παροχή τα τετραγωνικά από 22.173 έγιναν 12.844 και ο επιχειρηματίας γλίτωσε 296.891 ευρώ.

Πέραν των παραπάνω στη συνέντευξη Τύπου οι εκπρόσωποι της ΓΕΝΟΠ – ΔΕΗ έθεσαν τα παρακάτω ερωτήματα: 

1η Περίπτωση: Πώς γίνεται το REGENCY καζίνο στην Θέρμη Θεσσαλονίκης, ενώ το 2011 χρεώνεται με ΕΕΤΗΔΕ με βάση τα τετραγωνικά του, το 2012 μηδενίζονται τα τετραγωνικά του, με αποτέλεσμα να του επιστρέφεται και το ποσό που είχε χρεωθεί το 2011; Ανήκει στις Ουρσουλίνες; Έχει ανάγκη στήριξης; Είναι φιλόπτωχο ταμείο;

2η Περίπτωση: Πώς γίνεται και γιατί το ΚΑΖΙΝΟ ΠΑΡΝΗΘΑΣ ενώ αρχικώς πλήρωσε, δεν πληρώνει ΕΕΤΗΔΕ; Ανήκει στην εκκλησία; Έχει ανάγκη στήριξης;

3η Περίπτωση: Πώς γίνεται και ο τηλεοπτικός σταθμός ΣΚΑΙ δεν πληρώνει καθόλου χαράτσι; Είναι φιλανθρωπικό Ίδρυμα; Είναι βιομηχανία; Είναι εκκλησία;

4η Περίπτωση: Πώς γίνεται και τα εκπαιδευτήρια ΚΩΣΤΕΑ – ΓΕΙΤΟΝΑ δεν πληρώνουν χαράτσι; Έχει ανάγκη φιλανθρωπίας ο κ. Γείτονας;

5η Περίπτωση: Γιατί ενώ ο εκδοτικός Οργανισμός Λαμπράκη και η εφημερίδα Ελευθεροτυπία, μετά το δώρο Βενιζέλου, πληρώνουν μειωμένο χαράτσι; Ο εκδοτικός οίκος Πήγασος δεν πληρώνει καθόλου; Αν η απάντηση είναι διότι έχει βιομηχανικό ρεύμα, τι διαφορετικό βγάζει – κάνει – εκδίδει από τον ΔΟΛ και την Ελευθεροτυπία που να του δίνει την δυνατότητα να έχει βιομηχανικό ρεύμα;

6η Περίπτωση: Πώς γίνεται και τα ελαστικά ΜΙΣΕΛΕΝ δεν πληρώνουν χαράτσι; Παράγονται εδώ;

7η Περίπτωση: Πώς γίνεται και το ΙΚΕΑ στα Σπάτα δεν πληρώνει; Οι Σουηδοί έχουν δική τους οικονομική ζώνη;

harryklynn.blogspot.gr

ATHENS PROTESTS NO 4: YOUR FRIENDLY GREEK COPS AT WORK

ATHENS PROTESTS NO 3: ANTINAZI PROTESTERS TORTURED BY NEONAZI COPS WHILE IN CUSTODY

Fifteen anti-fascist protesters arrested in Athens during a clash with supporters of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn have said they were tortured in the Attica General Police Directorate (GADA) – the Athens equivalent of Scotland Yard – and subjected to what their lawyer describes as an Abu Ghraib-style humiliation.

Members of a second group of 25 who were arrested after demonstrating in support of their fellow anti-fascists the next day said they were beaten and made to strip naked and bend over in front of officers and other protesters inside the same police station.

A protester shows his injuries

Several of the protesters arrested after the first demonstration on Sunday 30 September told the Guardian they were slapped and hit by a police officer while five or six others watched, were spat on and "used as ashtrays" because they "stank", and were kept awake all night with torches and lasers being shone in their eyes.

Bruising on the protester's leg

Some said they were burned on the arms with a cigarette lighter, and they said police officers videoed them on their mobile phones and threatened to post the pictures on the internet and give their home addresses to Golden Dawn, which has a track record of political violence.

Golden Dawn's popularity has surged since the June election, when it won 18 seats in parliament; it recently came third in several opinion polls, behind the conservative New Democracy and the leftwing party Syriza.

Last month the Guardian reportedthat victims of crime have been told by police officers to seek help from Golden Dawn, who then felt obliged to make donations to the group.

One of the two women among them said the officers used crude sexual insults and pulled her head back by the hair when she tried to avoid being filmed. The protesters said they were denied drinking water and access to lawyers for 19 hours. "We were so thirsty we drank water from the toilets," she said.

One man with a bleeding head wound and a broken arm that he said had been sustained during his arrest alleged the police continued to beat him in GADA and refused him medical treatment until the next morning. Another said the police forced his legs apart and kicked him in the testicles during the arrest.

"They spat on me and said we would die like our grandfathers in the civil war," he said.

A third said he was hit on the spine with a Taser as he tried to run away; the burn mark is still visible. "It's like an electric shock," he said. "My legs were paralysed for a few minutes and I fell. They handcuffed me behind my back and started hitting and kicking me in the ribs and the head. Then they told me to stand up, but I couldn't, so they pulled me up by the chain while standing on my shin. They kept kicking and punching me for five blocks to the patrol car."

The protesters asked that their names not be published, for fear of reprisals from the police or Golden Dawn.

A second group of protesters also said they were "tortured" at GADA. "We all had to go past an officer who made us strip naked in the corridor, bend over and open our back passage in front of everyone else who was there," one of them told the Guardian. "He did whatever he wanted with us – slapped us, hit us, told us not to look at him, not to sit cross-legged. Other officers who came by did nothing.

"All we could do was look at each other out of the corners of our eyes to give each other courage. He had us there for more than two hours. He would take phone calls on his mobile and say, 'I'm at work and I'm fucking them, I'm fucking them up well'. In the end only four of us were charged, with resisting arrest. It was a day out of the past, out of the colonels' junta."

In response to the allegations, Christos Manouras, press spokesman for the Hellenic police, said: "There was no use of force by police officers against anyone in GADA. The Greek police examine and investigate in depth every single report regarding the use of violence by police officers; if there are any responsibilities arising, the police take the imposed disciplinary action against the officers responsible. There is no doubt that the Greek police always respect human rights and don't use violence."

Sunday's protest was called after a Tanzanian community centre was vandalised by a group of 80-100 people in a central Athens neighbourhood near Aghios Panteleimon, a stronghold of Golden Dawn where there have been many violent attacks on immigrants.

According to protesters, about 150 people rode through the neighbourhood on motorcycles handing out leaflets. They said the front of the parade encountered two or three men in black Golden Dawn T-shirts, and a fight broke out. A large number of police immediately swooped on them from the surrounding streets.

According to Manouras: "During the motorcycle protest there were clashes between demonstrators and local residents. The police intervened to prevent the situation from deteriorating and restore public order. There might have been some minor injuries, during the clashes between residents, protesters and police."

Marina Daliani, a lawyer for one of the Athens 15, said they had been charged with "disturbing the peace with covered faces" (because they were wearing motorcycle helmets), and with grievous bodily harm against two people. But, she said, no evidence of such harm had so far been submitted. They have now been released on bail of €3,000 (£2,400) each.

READ MORE

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/09/greek-antifascist-protesters-torture-police?INTCMP=SRCH

ATHENS PROTESTS 2: ONE FEARLESS MAN ON A WHEELCHAIR AGAINST THE SWAT TEAM (YOU GOT BALLS OF STEEL, MAN)

ATHENS PROTESTS AGAINST POVERTY: THE LONELINESS OF THE NAKED BRITISH RUNNER

ViaVia prezatv.blogspot.com, iefimerida.gr, enikos.gr, http://anergoidimosiografoi.blogspot.com, daily mail, #S90

RED ALERT FOR GERMAN CHANCELLOR: SHE VISITS HER GUINEA PIGS IN ATHENS, GREECE TUESDAY

 

With over 16.000.000 Germans living below the poverty line, the German chancellor visits  Athens, Greece today. Peaceful protests all over Greece will effectively demonstrate that Greece, and Greeks, shall overcome, shall prevail. As for the government ban of peaceful labor union protests that's a throwback to the dark ages of the military dictatorship.

WATCH THE CNN REPORT "Greece's disappearing middle class"

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_bn6#/video/business/2012/09/25/pkg-chance-greece-middle-class-poverty.cnn
   
  ANONYMOUS HAS  A LIST OF DIAL UP NUMBERS IN CASE THE GREEK  
   GOVERNMENT CUTS OFF 3G NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS TO JOURNALISTS,  
   CAMERAMEN, TV PRESENTERS, AND HUMANS PROTESTING AGAINST  
   PEACEFULLY THE POVERTY MEASURES (SOME OF THEM WERE ALSO USED IN   
   THE TAHRIR SQUARE REVOLT OF THE ARAB SPRING. 
   http://pastebin.com/HRfNq6JF
   Source:http://www.protothema.gr/greece/article/?aid=228432