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Recent ....... World News
Here some articles about recent news of Greece and Athens and maybe Global are Posted.


Patrick Swayze Died...
LOS ANGELES, California -- Patrick Swayze, whose good looks and sympathetic performances in films such as "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" made him a romantic idol to millions, died Monday 14-Aug-2009. He was 57. Swayze died of pancreatic cancer, his publicist, Annett Wolf, told CNN. Swayze's doctor, Dr. George Fisher, revealed in early March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from the disease."Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," Wolf said in a statement Monday. Most recently, Swayze starred in A&E Network's "The Beast," which debuted in January. He agreed to take the starring role of an undercover FBI agent before his diagnosis. The network agreed to shoot an entire season of the show after Swayze responded well to his cancer treatment.In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters in January, Swayze said his work on that show was exhausting, requiring 12-hour workdays in Chicago, Illinois, doing his own stunts. But he said the show's character "just felt right for my soul." "If I leave this Earth, I want to leave this Earth just knowing I've tried to give something back and tried to do something worthwhile with myself," Swayze told Walters, when asked why he decided to do the show. "And that keeps me going, that gets me up in the morning. My work ... is my legacy.""The Beast" was canceled in June because of Swayze's illness, after doctors told him the cancer had spread to his liver."We are saddened by the loss of one of our generation's greatest talents and a member of the A&E family," a statement from the network said. "Patrick's work on 'The Beast' was an inspiration to us all. He will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with his wife, Lisa, and his entire family during this difficult time." Swayze was mostly known for a handful of supporting roles when he broke through with his performance as dance instructor Johnny Castle in 1987's "Dirty Dancing." Co-star Jennifer Grey, who played his young lover, Baby Houseman, in the film, described Swayze as "gorgeous and strong."



Source : CNN



Last Fires In Athens
Greek firefighters planned to continue to work through the night to contain dozens of wildfires, including a massive blaze outside Athens, authorities said.
Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis called for calm on Saturday and said ground forces "will continue their superhuman efforts" until dawn, when air operations and water drops will resume. Authorities reported 75 fires across the country."What I want to emphasize is the sacrifice of all those fighting under extremely difficult circumstances that complicate the task of fighting these fires," he said in a statement. The fires began late Friday in Grammatiko, 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of the capital, said journalist Anthee Carassava. Wind whipped a single blaze into three fires, which joined again Saturday. No injuries were reported. Authorities mobilized units from the navy, air force and marines to assist the firefighters in Grammatiko, the state fire department said. "The fire is particularly complex given the weather, the large quantity of fuel, the terrain and the proximity of residential areas," a statement from the fire department said. The fire zone was bounded roughly by the communities of Sesi, Varnavas and Grammatiko, according to the Athens News Agency.The cause of the original fire, which belched clouds of heavy dark smoke, was unknown, and officials were investigating, Carassava said. Forest and brush fires are common during Greece's hot, dry summers.





There were no official numbers Saturday on the extent of destruction, which including burned homes, some of which were vacation houses. It was hard to see in the fire zone because of the smoke. The fires were burning in a mostly rural area on the outskirts of Athens that is sparsely populated, Carassava said. Firefighters were attacking the main blaze along a front 12 kilometers (7 miles) long. The government declared a state of emergency and deployed more than 300 firefighters and soldiers to battle the blazes, she said. Officials said it was the worst fire on the mainland since forest fires in the same area burned in 2007, killing at least 65 people. M. Stylianaki of Afidnes, just outside Athens, estimated the fire could be as close as two miles from her home. iReport.com: See aircraft combat fire in Greece "I'm looking at the flames right now and it's very difficult. The planes, it looks like they have stopped flying. I can see some helicopters trying to maintain the line of the fire," she said Saturday in an iReport to CNN. Six firefighting aircraft were helping firefighters, according to the Athens News Agency. ANA said three wildfires were reported on the Ionian island of Zakynthos on Saturday, with some 300 hectares (740 acres) of forest burned so far. Carassava said 60 wildfires had been reported across Greece.



Source : CNN


 

Harricane Jimena Bearing
Down on Baja California
With winds of 135 mph, Hurricane Jimena was approaching Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Sunday as a Category 4 storm, forecasters said. "There's a good chance this system could be a Category 5 in the next 24 hours," said Dave Roberts, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center. As of midday Sunday, Jimena was located about 285 miles (458 km) south of Cabo Correintes, Mexico, or about 500 miles (804 km) south-southeast of the southern tip of Baja California, Roberts said. The storm is expected to continue in a north-northwest motion and approach the southwestern tip of Baja California sometime early Tuesday, he said. Jimena is the 10th named storm of the Pacific season.




"It started out kind of slow for the Pacific," said Robbie Berg, another specialist at the hurricane center. "But actually August, now we've had seven named storms form, and that's pretty busy for August. We haven't seen that -- I think it's been a couple decades since we've seen that many storms in August." The hurricane could bring some much-needed rain to southern California, where wildfires have scorched thousands of acres in the greater Los Angeles area. There's no reason for people in that area to panic, but they should keep an eye on Jimena, Berg said. "There's no watches or warnings in effect, but we would like residents and tourists in the area to monitor the progress of the storm," Berg said. "We do expect it to maintain its major hurricane strength as it heads up into that area." Tropical Storm Kevin has also emerged in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. However, Berg says it is weak -- with winds at 50 mph -- and is not expected to pose a serious threat.




Source : CNN



India Loses Radio Contact
With Moon Orbiter
Indian space scientists were scrambling Sunday to regain contact with their unmanned moon mission a day after they abruptly lost contact with the orbiter. System failures on the Chandrayaan-I apparently led to loss of contact, said S. Satish, a spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization. The craft was equipped with what officials said were highly-sophisticated gadgets. "We are trying to revive the contact, but chances are slim," Satish said. The space organization had originally announced that Chandrayaan-I would stay in orbit for two years. "That probably was a mistake because such craft do not have this much life," Satish said. However, Chandrayaan-I had met most of its scientific objectives by providing "large volume of data," the space organization said. In 312 days, it completed more than 3,400 orbits around the moon, according to the space organization. Chandrayaan-I aimed to take high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the lunar surface, especially the permanently-shadowed polar regions. The craft carried payloads from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria. One of its objectives was to search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical composition of certain lunar rocks. Earlier this year, the Indian government increased the federal budget for space research to about $1 billion from $700 million.



Source : CNN



Beatles are still relevant after decades
The repetitive refrain from one of The Beatles' most mind-bending journeys into psychedelia -- "Revolution 9," the audio pastiche from "The White Album" -- is now serving as the backbeat of a big day for the biggest band in rock 'n' roll history.On Wednesday -- 9/9/09 -- remastered versions of the Beatles catalogue will be released, giving listeners what the remaining members of "The Fab Four" say is the closest reproduction ever of how their music sounded in the studio.The same day, the video game "The Beatles: Rock Band" is set to be released by Harmonix. Modeled after the already popular "Rock Band" game, and closely supervised by The Beatles and their estates, the game lets players sing and strum along on a huge list of Beatles classics over scenes ranging from Liverpool's Cavern Club to their final performance on a London rooftop.And on top of that, there's rampant speculation that a planned "music-themed" announcement by Apple Inc., also scheduled on 9/9/09, could involve the supergroup.The Beatles are one of a handful of groups whose music has never been approved for sale by Apple's iTunes, and the timing of the announcement has fueled speculation that could finally change -- or even that specialized Beatles iPods, like the ones sold in 2004 loaded with U2's music, could be in the works.It's a remarkable amount of buzz for a band whose roots stretch back nearly five decades. And it's a clear sign, observers say, that through time and a multitude of cultural shifts, the group's hold on the public's imagination has endured."People are still looking at Picasso.






People are still looking at artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original," said Robert Greenfield, a former associate editor at Rolling Stone magazine who has written about the band. "In the form that they worked in, in the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive than The Beatles were."Research shows that more than 40 years after their last public performance, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr's music remains as interesting to young people now as it ever was. A Pew Research survey released last month showed that 81 percent of respondents between ages 16-29 said they liked The Beatles. Eleven percent said they dislike the band and only 4 percent said they have never heard of them. By comparison, current rockers Coldplay received 39 percent positive responses, with 45 percent saying they'd never heard of them. Forty-two percent said they like hip-hop star Kanye West."To put this in perspective: Try imagining young adults back in the 1960s putting the big jazz bands of the roaring '20s at the top of their list of favorites," the survey reads. "Not very likely." Walter Everett, professor and chairman of music theory at the University of Michigan, said his students know The Beatles catalogue as well today as they would have 30 years ago. He said the cultural phenomenon that was The Beatles -- the frenzy-inducing early concerts, the furor when John Lennon said the group was "more popular than Jesus," the pre-Internet obsession over "Paul is dead" rumors -- made them something more than just another rock group. "They were just idolized," said Everett, who has written several books on the band. "It was a musical revolution, but [also] the hair, the clothing, their attitude about the establishment, their support of everybody, young and old alike, to try to understand each other at a very difficult time. "Some of that message endures." But at the heart of the phenomenon, experts agree, is the music. From the charming, school-boy bop of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" to the blistering assault of "Helter Skelter," the songs, they say, were just that good. "The point is how great the music is," Greenfield said. "It isn't about the fact that The Beatles were willing to practice and get better at what they did -- it was the fact that that band contained at least two-and-a-half geniuses [Lennon, McCartney and, at times, Harrison]." Wednesday's announcements -- and, in Apple's case, possible announcement -- show that the minders of The Beatles legacy are keeping up with how today's music consumers behave, said Bruce Birch, director of the University of Georgia's music business program. "A lot of bands and artists have been slow to embrace the fact that technology is driving the industry," Birch said. "Their music is not going away and this is a step for them for their music to come into the 21st century." EMI, which will be releasing the remastered recordings, has been famously protective of The Beatles brand and music. Digital reproductions like MP3s have lower sound quality than albums or compact discs -- one of the reasons they've been slow to embrace iTunes. But if an announcement on that front is coming, Birch said, it would signal an acknowledgement that such quality-control concerns may be obsolete for the majority of the music-buying public. "It's just a different audience out there," he said. "They're used to listening on ear buds. The sound quality, in some cases, maybe isn't' as important to them." Everett said that, even with all of the news expected Wednesday, the Beatles music will no doubt remain popular for decades to come -- meaning more new wrinkles are almost certain. "There's still more that can be done," he said. "Who knows where technology may be in another 10 years? We may have holographic images." And regardless of how it's delivered, no one's expecting another band to ever eclipse the four lads from Liverpool who would go on to shape popular culture the world over.



Source : CNN