The ISFNK will acquire an annex in Japan, while its newsletter will be published in Korean, Japanese and Chinese, in addition to the eight languages it is already published on a four-month basis.

In May, the Society organized events in South Korea, Japan and China, countries where the work of Nikos Kazantzakis is read by thousands of readers. Kazantzakis visited Japan and China in 1935 and in 1957 and loved their cultures, people and landscapes.

Also, in May 2014 the three countries will host conferences around the philosophy of Nikos Kazantzakis and his relationship to Buddhism, Taoism, Confucius and other thinkers of the Far East.

Events about the work of the Cretan author were also held in Armenia and Australia. Furthermore, professor Marta Silvia Dios Sanz, will give a seminar on the topic in Argentina, in an event co-organized by the local department of ISFNK).

No injuries or damage to the building were caused.

The Agence France-Presse, reported that according to information by a security service man, the homemade bomb had been placed near a car which was parked there and the explosion caused damage to the vehicle’s tires.

According to data from the Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Greek Embassy in Beijing, the total of productive investments in China from 1978 until the end of 2010 is analyzed in 101 investment projects with conventional capital of approximately $175 million and with implemented investments of $89.5 million, an amount equivalent to approximately 0.02% of the country’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stock.

The Greek companies that have developed stable trade relations with China are more than 1,000 and are importing more goods than exporting them. There are almost 100 companies that are moving into the Chinese market.

One of the most well-known companies operating in China is Folli Follie, with more than 100 branches in cooperation with Fosun International. Other companies are S & B Industrial Minerals, who have signed an agreement for the establishment of a joint company with Angnag Industry Group in Northern China, Crete Plastics SA, FHL Kiriakidis – Marbles and Granites SA, Iktinos Hellas Greek Marble Industry SA, Coco-Mat, the natural cosmetics company Apivita, the elevator systems industry Kleemann Hellas SA, the Frigoglass, Intralot, the color industry Vitex, YALCO – Socrates D. Constantinou & Son SA, and the oil company MINERVA SA.

This is an important distinction, as Syraka is the first Greek designer to present her jewellery at this place and even under the auspices of the Egyptian Minister of Culture Mohamed Saber Arab, the Greek Embassy and the Greek Cultural Center in Cairo.

The jewellery collection NOUR reveals the unique talent of Syraka by bridging the Oriental world with modern aesthetics, while the creator of Yatzer.com, Kostas Vogiatzis has undertaken the collection’s artistic care.

Syraka has been designing jewellery for the last 10 years. She studied at the Veloudakis School of Fashion in Athens, Euromode Textila in Thessaloniki and ESMOD in Paris. She has been approached and has collaborated with many leading international companies, as Levi’s, Clinique, Absolut Vodka, Lacoste and Cosmote, as reported on her official website.

The Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art asked her to create a range of jewelery inspired by their permanent and semi-permanent collections, at the end of 2007. Syraka has also styled and designed accessories and jewellery for various Greek theatrical and film productions.

According to “all africa“, the company has produced a variety of high quality dairy products for 20 years now and is well known for its creams, yoghurts and cheeses.

Kefalos won First Prize in the Plain Full Cream Yoghurt Category with their Greek Style Yoghurt, First Prize for Dairy Ice-Cream with Condiments with their Premium Hazelnut Ice-Cream, and Third Prize for their Mozzarella Cheese, so widely used by our pizza outlets and restaurants nationwide. In the Pizza Mozzarella Cheese category, entries were judged both for their taste and their functionality.

The company makes the products at a modern factory. They include: Halloumi cheese, the Cypriot delicacy so popular fried as a starter in many of Zimbabwe’s restaurants; mozzarella, favored by pizzerias; Provolone cheese; Feta cheese, a staple in classic Greek salads; Kefalotiri cheese (the Greek equivalent of hard, tasty parmesan); and Ricotta cheese.

What few pizza lovers realize is that Kefalos Mozzarella is also delicious when eaten uncooked as part of a simple Italian-style salad that also includes, fresh tomatoes, basil and olive oil. It can be enjoyed on its own too.

Since their captivity, there has been almost no news about them even as efforts have beem made to get them released. The Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the East released a communiqué requesting all members of their churches to pray for the release of the Archbishops.

According to recent information, an extremist Islamic organization may be responsible. As reported by Al Mannar Lebanese TV station, the kidnapped clerics are being detained by the Soldiers of the Islamic Caliphate, in the countryside of Aleppo.

The Syrian opposition insists that this organization is even more dangerous than Al Qaeda and the rebels said they are assisting in trying to find the men.

The Greece-Japan Center in cooperation with the International Society of Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis and the Japan-Greece Society have organized an event for May 14 in Tokyo to celebrate the 25 years of activity of the International Society to honor, preserve and present the work and life of Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis to the world.

Organizer of the event Junko Nagata said that the anniversary of the 25 years of action of the International Society of Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis is a perfect opportunity to remind the Japanese public of one of the greatest writers in the world.

The Japanese readers know Nikos Kazantzakis mainly from his work, Life and Adventures of Alexis Zorbas,  but there is great interest in Kazantzakis’ entire work as well as his thoughts and quotations. Kazantakis had visited Japan twice and even wrote a book, Japan, China, which is considered one of the most insightful western outlooks on prewar Japan and poverty-stricken China of the 30′s.

George Stasinakis, President of the International Society of Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis will address the audience about the Society’s 25 years of action, Kazantzakis’ work and the writer’s relations to Japan. A video footage with regard to the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum will also be screened.

The organizers have established a special webpage about the honoring event available at http://kazantzakis.greecejapan.com/.

The International Society of Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis is an international cultural non-profit organization founded in 1988 in Geneva and is still based there with a view to promoting the work and wisdom of the great Greek writer. It includes 5,000 members in 119 countries, issues an annual review entitled Le Regard crétois (in Greek, English, French, Spanish) and the four-month newsletter, Synthesis (in Greek, English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese and Russian).

The event will take place on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 18:30-20:00 p.m. at the venue Belle Salle Kudan Room 3, Kudan-kita 1-8-10, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Tel.: 03-3261-5014. Admission is free.

Aleppo’s Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim were kidnapped on April 22, while they were passing from the Turkish border on their way to Aleppo.

The Lebanese website dailystar reported that  the Acting President of the Syrian National Coalition George Sabra said by telephone to Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel, who was in a meeting with Syriac Orthodox Bishops with a delegation in Beirut, that the two clerics are being held by a small rebel group in Bshaqtin, a small village 20 kilometers northwest of Aleppo and are okay.

The meeting was held at the Kataeb Party’s headquarters in Saifi and was attended by Mount Lebanon’s Syriac Orthodox Bishop George Saliba, Beirut Bishop Daniel Koriyeh, Syriac League President Habib Efram and Deputy Bishop of Aleppo Joseph Shabo. Bishop Saliba also spoke to the Syrian opposition leader over the phone and urged him to act in order to secure the release of the abducted Archbishops.

Gemayel reportedly said during the meeting that the abduction of the Archbishops is a bad message for the Christian communities of Syria, while Bishop Saliba said that it will provoke fear if they were not released: “I don’t know whether the Christians would leave the region because of this or stay and react to this kidnapping in a way that we do not want.”

Syria has many close historical and cultural ties with Greece. The Greek population of Syria is mostly concentrated in the country’s two big cities, Damascus and Aleppo, and in the village Al-Hamidiyah, which is located in the southern part of the country.

The largest modern wave of immigrants of Geek decent occurred after the Asian Minor Catastrophe of 1922. Damascus has 800-900 Greeks and there are Greek schools in both of the city’s largest cities. Damascus’ Greek community was begun in 1917.

The Greek community of Aleppo has reportedly exceeded that of Damascus in population, due to the immigration of many residents of the capital to Greece, in order to find a job. In 1982, with the help of the Greek embassy and particularly of the Church, the Greek community of  Aleppo was given its own space for Greek language courses, the Prophet Elias school, which is attended by about 50 people.

The Greek school in Damascus was founded but stopped operation about 10 years ago. Representatives of the Greek-speaking communities of both cities agree that seconded teachers from Greece, often cannot integrate into local society and they are not sufficient to cover the educational needs.

Many Greek doctors are picking Dubai, an affluent city in the United Arab Emirates, located within the emirate of the same name. Medicine flourishes in Dubai, as many Europeans ans wealthy Arabs visit the city to receive health services.

According to the Medical Association of Athens (ISA), during the last months about 300 doctors and dentists have requested to go abroad, to countries such as the United Kingdom, Sweden, but also to the United Arab Emirates. In 2011, ISA issued 1,500 certificates for doctors wanting to flee abroad, while during the first semester of 2012 hit more than 1,000 in rapid order.

In Dubai, many clinics have been established and staffed by Greek doctors who carry out major surgeries, which are more well-paid than in Greece. Greek doctors have a sterling reputation in Dubai and many wealthy Europeans visit them even for cosmetic surgeries.