Daily Archives: December 24, 2014

A German company that specializes in eyewear has offered to buy customers a Greek island if they buy 420,000 frames from the company.

Libuda Optic World, which manufactures and sells glasses, has offered to buy the island of Aghios Athanasios, with a land surface of around a hectare, in the Corinthian Gulf as part of a regular incentives program it offers its big customers.

A company spokesman told Kathimerini that the company has offered flights to space in previous programs and that the latest offer is based on Germans’ fondness for spending their vacations in Greece.

Real estate agents value the island at around 1.5 million euros. Libuda will also purchase the island for their customers if they buy 155,000 frames and contribute another 1 million euros toward the transaction.

source: ekathimerini.com

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to make one last public appeal to wavering MPs to back his presidential candidate, Stavros Dimas, but will not offer anything more in exchange than he already has, Kathimerini understands.

Samaras has to find another 12 votes to secure Dimas’s election in the third and final round on Monday after 168 MPs backed the candidate in Tuesday’s vote. Eight more independent lawmakers backed Dimas than in the first ballot but that still leaves the government needing support from Democratic Left (DIMAR) and Independent Greeks deputies.

Kathimerini understands that Samaras may make a public address on Sunday, as he did last Sunday, to repeat his offer of introducing independent and opposition MPs into his cabinet and holding elections toward the end of next year if Parliament elects a president on December 29.

After Tuesday’s vote, though, the premier took a tougher line with MPs who are so far refusing to back the government’s candidate. “The third ballot will not be one where they can just vote present,” he said. “There will be names and surnames. Each MP will have to face up to Greeks’ concerns and the country’s interests.”

It is thought that in his TV address, Samaras will highlight the possible negative consequences of failing to elect a president and going to snap elections. However, government sources said he will not set a specific date for snap elections next year as part of his compromise toward MPs who might switch their support at the last minute.

The government hopes to pick up the votes of Niki Founta, who quit DIMAR on Tuesday, as well as a couple of independents in the final round. However, coalition sources said there is an acceptance that the chances of drawing the seven to 10 votes needed from DIMAR and Independent Greeks are not strong.

In the ranks of SYRIZA, officials are all but certain that the government will be unable to garner the required 180 votes in the third presidential ballot and avert snap polls. Speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s vote, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras declared that “neither Parliament nor the people will give Mr Samaras a mandate to continue with memorandums.” “In the new year, the country will turn a page, with democracy, with a strong popular mandate for real negotiation.”

The leftist opposition is now preparing for the government to intensify its rhetoric of the risks that a potential SYRIZA government will bring, sources said.

New Democracy and PASOK are also in pre-election mode, with the junior coalition partner facing a fresh headache due to the planned creation of a new party by former party leader and ex-Premier George Papandreou. A last-ditch attempt by PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos to bring Papandreou back into the fold on Tuesday failed to lead anywhere.

source: ekathimerini.com

AUSTRALIA is on track to harvest a record cherry crop of up to 18,000 tonnes, an industry expert says.

BUT it won’t only be Australians looking for somewhere to put the stones, with about 40 per cent of the haul marked for export during the 2014/15 summer.

Of the 30 countries that buy Australian cherries, major markets for the popular red fruit include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, with China alone expected to take up to 400 tonnes, said researcher Penny Measham from the University of Tasmania. “More than 40 (Australian) cherry orchardists have been registered to export cherries this season, which is the largest number to ever be registered,” Dr Measham said. Growing international demand for the fruit has coincided with changes to export requirements and a joint venture involving Cherry Growers Australia has helped prepare farmers for the change. In 2013/14 Australia produced 10,000 tonnes of cherries.

source: news.com