Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-10-08

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Gov't focuses on combating large-scale tax evasion‏

[02] Cry against injustice, sculptor captures the Syrian drama with pebbles and stones

[01] Gov't focuses on combating large-scale tax evasion‏

In a television interview, Alexiadis said there were currently around 25,000 tax evasion cases with an estimated average tax of 600,000 euros each, of which less than 1,500 have been inspected.

"We do not want to focus mainly on small and medium-sized tax evasion. We move towards copying the operation of European tax agencies which focus mainly on large-scale tax evasion," Alexiadis said.

[02] Cry against injustice, sculptor captures the Syrian drama with pebbles and stones

Syrian sculptor Nizar Ali Bander lives in Latakia and gives voice, motion and context to the stones and pebbles. In the five years of the civil war he has created more than 10,000 works which are a "cry against injustice, suppression, death and migration."

"At the beginning of the war, I started discovering myself," he said to ANA-MPA and explained how he started his new works on which he depicts stories from every day life in his country as well as his feelings.

Asked on the condition in Syria, he gives answers through his work. Nizar does not like to speak very much. "People and stones were destroyed in the five years of the war in Syria. We have learnt to live waiting for death to come," he said.

The artist collects the stones and the pebbles from the beaches of Syria. He has named them "safoun," an Arabic name that relates to their natural colours. He claims that the stones have colours as golden-red and if you observe them closely they have a shape, a pattern.

Nizar speaks with wounded pride for his country, that has existed as a lighthouse of culture throughout history. He said that he will continue, through his work, to send messages of humanism in order to change the people's direction and at the same time show the great determination of the Syrians. He also clarified that he does not care if he will become rich or famous because "he has lived poor and he will die poor."

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