Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-11-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] ND leader Mitsotakis condems terror attack at French embassy

[02] Invader plant species spreads rapidly and threatens protected areas

[03] Greek unemployment rate eased to 23.4 pct in August

[04] Greece ranks third in orange exports to Germany

[05] Gastronomy and Tourism Festival on Nov 11-13 in Kozani

[01] ND leader Mitsotakis condems terror attack at French embassy

[02] Invader plant species spreads rapidly and threatens protected areas

Professor in the Biology department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Nikos Krigas has covered thousands of miles of the rural road network and the motorways in order to locate and recorde the spread of the Solanum elaeagnifolium, a plant of American origin that is one of the most dangerous invaders worldwide.

"The plant follows the road networks because its round grains are drifted by the passing vehicles and spread rapidly," he said.

The plant was initially spotted in 1927 in Thessaloniki and was imported probably with goods that came from the US. In 1930 it started growing in the city and during WWII the locals named it "German" because it spread everywhere.

According to an urban myth, the German occupiers brought it in Greece to feed their mules, something that is not true because the plant is poisonous, said Krigas adding that in 1950 the plant made its first appearance in Athens.

The plant does not have any natural enemies in Greece. On the contrary in America there are insects that eat its flowers.

In his study, professor Krigas found that the recorded populations of this species increased by 1,750 percent and 10 percent of Natura 2000 protected network has been invaded. "The natural ecosystems with structured societies when not disturbed appear to work as a barriers against the invaders. "A strong and broad programme with pesticides and constant uprooting must be applied against the invader. The most important is to be aware the the bigger the human intervention on the ecosystems the weaker they became in the invasion of the solanum elaeagnifolium," said professor Krigas.

[03] Greek unemployment rate eased to 23.4 pct in August

The statistics service, in a report, said that the number of unemployed people totaled 1,126,455, with unemployment remaining a big problem among young people and among people aged 55-64 where unemployment grew by 3.5 points in one year. Also, unemployment grew by 4.0 points in Aegean islands (attributed to a decline in tourism because of the refugee crisis).

The number of unemployed people fell 59,894 in August (5.0 pct) compared with August 2015, but grew by 1,669 or 0.1 pct compared with July 2016. The number of employed people was 3,687,465, up 57,683 (1.6 pct) from August 2015, but down 7,001 (0.2 pct) compared with July 2016. The number of economically non active people was 3,228,437, down 1.1 pct from August and up 0.1 pct from July 2016.

The unemployment rate among women was 28 pct in August, from 28.5 pct in the same month last year, while among men it was 19.7 pct from 21.5 pct.

The unemployment rate among young people, aged 15-24 years, was 46.5 pct from 48.3 pct in August 2015, in the 25-34 age group it fel to 30.2 pct from 30.9 pct, in the 35-44 age group it eased to 19.9 pct from 21.9 pct, in the 45-54 age group it fell to 18.8 pct from 20.1 pct, in the 55-64 age group it rose to 19.4 pct from 15.9 pct and in the 65-74 age group it rose to 13.1 pct from 11.7 pct.

Epirus-Western Macedonia recorded the highest unemployment rate among the country's regions (26.3 pct in August 2016 from 27.7 pct in August 2015), followed by Thessaly-Central Greece (25 pct from 26.7 pct), Macedonia-Thrace (25 pct from 25.3 pct), Peloponese-Western Greece-Ionian Islands (23.3 pct from 24.4 pct), Attica (23.2 pct from 24.7 pct), Crete (22.2 pct from 23.5 pct) and Aegean (19.5 pct from 15.5 pct).

[04] Greece ranks third in orange exports to Germany

Spain ranked first with a market share of 81.7 pct of imports, followed by Italy with 5.9 pct. In total, German imports of oranges came from EU countries (90.9 pct), with the remaining 9.1 pct from third countries. 2015 imports grew 25.2 pct from the previous year.

German exports of oranges were distributed to Austria (15.3 pct), followed by Poland (14.4 pct) and France (12.4 pct). German orange exports grew 25.3 pct in 2015. Wholesale prices were 56 euros per 100 kilos for Greek navel, 66 euros for Egyptian valencia late, 79 euros for Moroccan salustiana, 82 euros for Spanish Lane late, 81 euros for Spanish navel, 83 euros for Spanish navelate, 73 euros for Spanish navelina, 83 euros for Spanish salustiana and 88 euros for Turkish washington navel.

Orange grow covers an area of 147.7 thousand hectares in Spain, 84.5 thousand in Italy, 37.1 thousand in Greece and 54 thousand hectares in Turkey.

[05] Gastronomy and Tourism Festival on Nov 11-13 in Kozani

"Our region is proud of its beans and peppers, its mushrooms, wines, and saffron. We will offer these products to customers and promote Central Macedonia," the president of the Tourism Organisation of Western Macedonia Panagiotis Kottas said to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency's radio station Praktorio 104.9 FM.

The Festival aims to promote the region of Western Macedonia as an important gastronomy and tourist destination. In an effort to showcase the Greek products in foreign markets, Italian, Turkish, Romanian and Serbian journalists have been invited to the festival.

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