Greek far-right parties could end up with as much as 20 percent of the vote in Sunday's elections. The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has intensified the xenophobic atmosphere in the country.

At night, the streets leading to Omonoia Square are empty. That wasn't always the case. The area was the premier multicultural neighborhood of Athens and one of the first quarters to be gentrified. Jazz bars and Indian restaurants lined the streets, separated by the occasional rooms-by-the-hour hotel. It was a quarter full of immigrants, drug addicts and African prostitutes, but also of journalists, ambitious young artists and teenagers from private schools. Today, the immigrants stay home once night falls. They are afraid of groups belonging to the "angry citizens," a kind of militia that beats up foreigners and claims to help the elderly withdraw money from cash machines without being robbed. Such groups are the product of an initiative started by the neo-Nazi Chrysi Avgi -- Golden Dawn -- the party which has perpetrated pogroms in Agios Panteleimon, another Athens neighborhood with a large immigrant population. There are now three outwardly xenophobic parties in Greece. According to recent surveys, together they could garner up to 20 percent of the vote in elections on Sunday: the anti-Semitic party LAOS stands to win 4 percent; the nationalist party Independent Greeks -- a splinter group of the conservative Nea Dimokratia party -- is forecast to win 11 percent; and the right extremists of Golden Dawn could end up with between 5 and 7 percent. My name is Xenia, the hospitable. Greece itself should really be called Xenia: Tourism, emigration and immigration are important elements of our history. But hospitality is no longer a priority in our country, a fact which the ugly presence of Golden Dawn makes clear. A Personal Attack Shaved heads, military uniforms, Nazi chants, Hitler greetings: How should a Greek journalist deal with such people? Should one just ignore them and leave them unmentioned? Should one denounce them and demand that they be banned? One shouldn't forget that they are violent and have perpetrated several attacks against foreigners and leftists. I thought long and hard about how to write about Golden Dawn so that my article was in no way beneficial to the party. On April 12, the daily Kathimerini ran my story under the headline "Banality of Evil." In the piece, I carefully explained why it was impossible to carry on a dialogue with such people and why I thought the neo-Nazi party should disappear from media coverage and be banned. Five days later, an anonymous reply to my article appeared on the Golden Dawn website. It was a 2,500-word-long personal attack in which the fascists recounted my entire career, mocked my alleged foreign roots (I was born in Hamburg) and even, for no apparent reason, mentioned my 13-year-old daughter. The unnamed authors indirectly threatened me as well: "To put it in the mother tongue of foreign Xenia: 'Kommt Zeit, kommt Rat, kommt Attentat!'" In other words, watch your back. Most Greeks believe that Golden Dawn has connections to both the police and to the country's secret service. Nevertheless, I went to the authorities to ask what I should do. I was told that I should be careful. They told me that party thugs could harass me, beat me or terrorize me over the phone. It would be better, they said, if I stopped writing about them. If I wished to react to the threats, they suggested I file a complaint against Golden Dawn's service provider. That, however, would be difficult given that the domain is based somewhere in the United States. Like Weimar Germany A friend told me that I should avoid wearing headphones on the street so that I can hear what is going on around me. My daughter now has nightmares about being confronted by members of Golden Dawn. Three of her classmates belong to the party. The three boys have posted pictures of party events on their Facebook pages. For their profile image, they have chosen the ancient Greek Meandros symbol, which, in the red-on-black manifestation used by Golden Dawn, resembles a swastika. The group's slogans include "Foreigners Out!" and "The Garbage Should Leave the Country!" The fact that immigration has become such an issue in the worst year of the ongoing economic crisis in the country can be blamed on the two parties in government. The Socialist PASOK and the conservative Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy, or ND) are running xenophobic campaigns. ND has said it intends to repeal a law which grants Greek citizenship to children born in Greece to immigrant parents. And cabinet member Michalis Chrysochoidis, of PASOK, has announced "clean up operations" whereby illegal immigrants are to be rounded up in encampments and then deported. When he recently took a stroll through the center of Athens to collect accolades for his commitment to the cause, some called out to him: "Golden Dawn has cleaned up Athens!" Yet, Chrysochoidis is the best loved PASOK politician in his Athens district, in part because of his xenophobic sentiments. His party comrade, Health Minister Andreas Loverdos, is just as popular. Loverdos has warned Greek men not to sleep with foreign prostitutes for fear of contracting HIV and thus endangering the Greek family. High unemployment of roughly 22 percent, a lack of hope, a tendency toward violence and the search for scapegoats: Analyses in the Greek press compare today's Greece with Germany at the end of the Weimar Republic. "We didn't know," said many Germans when confronted with the truth of the Holocaust after Nazi rule came to an end. After elections on May 6, no Greeks should be able to make the same claim.

Locked Up Abroad is different.

Reality TV is, at its core, about letting viewers revel in the bad decision-making of others: those who speak without thinking, who backstab, who have sex without condoms, who cheat. Frustratingly, though, reality shows—to which I am unapologetically addicted—tend to reward bad behavior, by giving its villains notoriety, spinoffs, opportunities to endorse weight-loss products, a nice sideline in paid interviews with supermarket tabloids, and other D-list rewards.

Locked Up Abroad is different. The National Geographic show, the sixth season of which premiered last week, gives its stars something they wouldn’t get on other reality shows: their comeuppance.

Having debuted in the U.K. (under the title Banged Up Abroad), Locked Up Abroad showcases one person (sometimes a couple) who ends up in prison overseas. Participants fit into one of two categories. The first group are the (largely) innocent: the married missionary couple who were kidnapped in the Philippines by the Islamist group Abu Sayyaf, for instance, or the seemingly goodhearted duo who wanted to help children in Chechnya, but ended up held hostage. These tales of the altruistic and naive can be difficult to watch.

But then there are those who rather deserve what happens to them. Typically these are drug smugglers, and their episodes follow a familiar arc. A young person—they’re almost always young—is bored or in need of cash (usually both). She is desperate or feels invincible (usually both). Someone approaches her and offers a seemingly great deal: an all-expenses-paid, luxurious overseas trip in exchange for a small favor. Sometimes the would-be employer is upfront and admits he needs a drug mule, but downplays the risk; other times, he hints at harmless-sounding illegalities, like bringing back legal goods to beat the export tax. In a few cases, the cover story is painfully thin: Come with me to check out this cool new nail polish technology only available in Thailand, for example. (That woman was in a vulnerable place: She had just been released on bail after killing her partner’s former husband—in self-defense, she claimed.)

The drug smugglers are caught, of course, usually at the airport, and brought to prison. And while a few episodes have taken place in developed countries—Spain, Japan, South Korea—the majority of our anti-heroes end up incarcerated in places with some of the dirtiest and most dangerous penitentiaries in the world.

Take last week’s episode, “From Hollywood to Hell.” (And pardon my spoilers, but this installment is too good not to describe in detail.) In 2001, actor Erik Aude was living the marginal Hollywood dream. An ür-bro, he had played bit parts in Dude, Where’s My Car?(credited as “Musclehead”) and 7^th Heaven (“Boyfriend”) when a gym buddy asked him to go to Turkey to bring back “leather goods.” Aude makes the trip, and though a drug-sniffing dog alerts authorities at the Turkish airport, they find nothing—so Aude feels sure the whole thing is legit. He even recommends that one of his brothers start couriering for his friend. Then, when his brother backs out of a planned trip to Pakistan in 2002, Aude steps in, and shit gets real.

It is difficult to feel sorry for Aude. After his escort dumps him in an Islamabad hotel and warns him not to leave because the area is unsafe for Americans, he doesn’t head to the embassy or the airport. Instead, he goes jogging—and even tries to flirt with girls in headscarves on the street (with disastrous results). And when he is taken to the airport with just one suitcase, he is (he claims) not the least bit suspicious that he might be a drug mule. When a customs official asks him whether his trip was for business or pleasure, he cheeses, “Pleasure is my business.”

Aude’s episode is mind-bogglingly watchable, not least because he—of course!—plays himself in the re-enactment. In his telling, he was a virtual action star: On at least three occasions, he single-handedly fights back dozens of Pakistanis. After he takes out a prison bully, he is hailed a hero. He rejects a reduced sentence because it would require him to plead guilty—and his pride is more valuable than his freedom, he says.

Aside from those truly in the wrong place at the wrong time, the most sympathetic characters of Locked Up Abroad may be the embassy employees called in to assist the suspected smugglers. Inevitably, Locked Up Abroad participants are horrified that the embassies of their homelands—usually English-speaking countries like the U.S., the U.K., or Australia—can’t do more for them. I can just imagine U.S. Embassy workers calling “not it” every time they get word from local authorities about some young American knucklehead who thought he could sneak past security with a bag full of cocaine.

Tonight’s episode is called “The Juggler Smuggler,” and its “hero” is Mark Greening, a “party-loving” drug-runner who knows his latest trip is “doomed” when he doesn’t get his fortune told by “his favorite Gypsy woman.” I can’t wait.

Low fare airline bmibaby to close

Low fare carrier bmibaby is set to close later this year, threatening the loss of hundreds of jobs and the ending of its flights. The carrier transferred to International Airlines Group, the owners of British Airways, last month, but consultations have now started with unions about its closure in September. The GMB union said it was "devastating" news, especially for the East Midlands, where hundreds of jobs are now threatened with the axe. With bmi Regional, bmibaby transferred to International Airlines Group ownership on completion of the purchase from Lufthansa. IAG has consistently said that bmibaby and bmi Regional are not part of its long-term plans. A statement said: "Progress has been made with a potential buyer for bmi Regional, but so far this has not been possible for bmibaby, despite attempts over many months by both Lufthansa and IAG. Bmibaby has therefore started consultation to look at future options including, subject to that consultation, a proposal to close in September this year." Peter Simpson, bmi interim managing director, said: "We recognise that these are unsettling times for bmibaby employees, who have worked tirelessly during a long period of uncertainty. Bmibaby has delivered high levels of operational performance and customer service, but has continued to struggle financially, losing more than £100 million in the last four years. In the consultation process, we will need to be realistic about our options. "To help stem losses as quickly as possible and as a preliminary measure, we will be making reductions to bmibaby's flying programme from June. We sincerely apologise to all customers affected and will be providing full refunds and doing all we can with other airlines to mitigate the impact of these changes." Jim McAuslan, general secretary of the pilots' union Balpa, said: "This is bad news for jobs. Bmibaby pilots are disappointed and frustrated that, even though there appears to be potential buyers, we are prevented from speaking with them to explore how we can contribute to developing a successful business plan. "The frustration has now turned to anger following the news that Flybe (which is part owned by BA) has moved onto many of these bmibaby routes without any opportunity for staff to look at options and alternatives. Balpa's priority is to protect jobs; and we will use whatever means we can to do so." The changes mean that all bmibaby flights to and from Belfast will cease from June 11, although this will not affect bmi mainline's services to London Heathrow. Bmibaby services from East Midlands to Amsterdam, Paris, Geneva, Nice, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newquay, and from Birmingham to Knock and Amsterdam, will end on the same date.

No sunny delight for Arantxa in Marbella

TENNIS great Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario enjoyed the Marbella sunshine, despite her team losing in a major tennis tournament. The Spanish captain praised the local fans despite being beaten by the Slovak Republic in the Fed Cup play-off. “Playing at home is great, and we could hear the Spanish crowds supporting us,” the three-times French Open winner told the Olive Press at the Puente Romano Tennis Club. Unfortunately the Spaniards, up against a Slovak team containing two world top 20 players, were eventually outdone – thereby losing their place in the Fed Cup’s top group. It was an all round better tournament for Slovak player Daniela Hantuchova, who spent the following day lying on Marbella beach.

The Only Way is Essex star showed off her slender new figure in the Marbella sunshine yesterday

Frankie Essex has won her fight with the flab, shedding a whole stone in just two weeks.

The Only Way is Essex star showed off her slender new figure in the Marbella sunshine yesterday - just a fortnight after she started a gruelling diet and exercise regime in a desperate bid to swap her muffin top for a toned tummy.

And while Frankie may not have managed a six pack, all that sweat and starvation clearly paid off as there was barely a stretch mark or inch of fat on show.

Tanned and toned: Frankie Essex showed off her slender new physique on holiday in Marbella

Frankie piled on the pounds during a recent trip to Miami with TOWIE co-star Lauren Goodger.

The pair overindulged during their American vacation and made a pact to lose weight when they returned.

They started following the Cambridge Diet Plan, dropping their calorie intake to just 400 a day.

 

'No carbs before Marbs': A combination of diet and exercise helped Frankie shed a stone in two weeks

 

Miami vice: The TOWIE star decided to diet after piling on the pounds during a trip to Florida

And Frankie signed up the services of personal trainer and Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star Tony Giles to whip her into shape.

Frankie and Tony were photographed on April 17 working out in an Essex Park.

She seemed well aware of her excess weight, grabbing her belly while exercising and pinching the fat on her thighs.

Sitting pretty: Frankie looked very toned and tanned as she lapped up the sunshine

What's wrong? Frankie checks out the marks left by her bikini bottoms as she rearranges her swimwear

Golden brown: Frankie does her best to ensure an even tan as she soaks up the sunshine

Tony - who is engaged to glamour model Danielle Mason - put Frankie through her paces making her do star jumps and squats, before strapping on boxing pads and sparring with her.

She clearly stuck to the work out sessions and the diet shakes.

Frankie showed off the effects of her weightloss during a night out in Marbella on Sunday night, posing with friends and TOWIE co-stars Billi Mucklow, Cara Kilbey in a trio of red, white and blue matching bandage dresses from Celeb Boutique.

Lauren Goodger proudly displayed her own diet efforts during a night out on April 23.

 

 

Frankie Essex

Fighting fit: Boxer & Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star Tony Giles whipped Frankie into shape 

She looked back to her slender best, but revealed she still wants to lose two stones before she'll venture back into a bikini.

She said: 'I want something quick because I’m going away again soon. 

'I want to go to Marbella and Ibiza and when I’m walking around I want everyone to go, ''My God, have you seen Lauren?''

'The quick fix will act as a motivator for me.'

Sunseekers: Frankie, Cara and Billi sip wine and soak up the sun in Marbs

 

Bashful: Frankie and Cara cover up their curves from the cameras

Red white & blue: Billi Mucklow, Cara Kilbey and Frankie Essex pose during a night out in Marbella on April 29

The Only Way Is Essex stars head to Marbella for the ‘sexiest ever’ show

STARS of The Only Way Is Essex are promising sizzling scenes when they hit Marbella later this month. 37 comments Related Stories Bit nippy in Marbs Maria? FORMER The Only Way Is Essex star Fowler has a swimwear malfunction on hols TOWIE'S Sam and Joey are back onDavid Cameron throws in TOWIE Bed-hopping not the only wayLauren finds a Good outfit Essex stars told to behave TV Biz told last month how bosses planned a special in the Spanish resort. Yesterday they confirmed that Lucy Mecklenburgh and boyfriend Mario Falcone, James Argent and his ex Lydia Bright, and Sam Faiers and her on-off-on again fella Joey Essex would all be flying to the sun. So it will definitely be “no carbs before Marbs”, as they famously say in Towie, for that lot. One name missing is Lauren Goodger. She’s being left at home after a row with producers. They will meet her this week to discuss her future on the show. An insider said of the special, to be shown this summer: “Those who have been chosen to go to Marbella can’t wait. “The girls have pledged it will be the sexiest Towie ever, with lots of bikinis and bare flesh on show. “There will be a lot of boozy partying and cameras will follow them 24/7 for a week.” All eyes will be on Lucy — she cheated on Mario with Mark Wright in Marbella last year when members of the cast were enjoying their hols in the sun.

Easter airport 'gridlock' warning

 

Airlines have warned the Home Secretary that Britain "risks gridlock" at airports including Heathrow and Gatwick over the Easter break due to staff shortages. More than 370,000 passengers will leave Heathrow airport between Good Friday and Easter Monday, and 200,000 will pass through Gatwick. A spokesman for Heathrow owner BAA told the Daily Telegraph: "Immigration waiting times during peak periods at Heathrow are currently unacceptable and we have called on the UK Border Force to address the problem as a matter of urgency. "There isn't a trade-off between strong border security and a good passenger experience. UK Border Force should be delivering both." Meanwhile, Britons attempting to travel by rail and road face delays because of engineering works taking place on motorways and train lines. Stretches of the M1 and M25 will be affected, and the seven million passengers travelling by train over the weekend will see disruption to travel to and from Euston, King's Cross, Liverpool Street, and Waterloo stations in London. British Airways and Virgin Airlines are among 11 firms that have written to Theresa May in anticipation of "unacceptable" delays to hundreds of thousands of passengers travelling over the long weekend. The UK Border Agency is under fire for a lack of staff able to carry out full security checks, which the airlines say must result in a recruitment drive or the relaxing of some of the more stringent measures currently in place. A spokeswoman for Virgin Airlines said: "While the decision on what level of check should be made at the border is, of course, a matter for Government, we are concerned that there is currently a mismatch between policy and resource. "After years of reducing frontline staff, returning to a 100% check system will undoubtedly mean lengthy queues at UK airports over critical holiday periods such as Easter and the Diamond Jubilee."

Legal High Mexxy, Alternative To Ketamine, To Be Outlawed

 

legal high known as "mexxy" is to be outlawed, the Government has announced. It follows concerns that two people whose bodies were found in Leicestershire in February may have taken some form of the drug after buying it over the internet. Methoxetamine, or mexxy, will initially be made illegal for 12 months while Government advisers decide whether to ban it completely. Crime Prevention Minister Lord Henley said: "Making this drug illegal sends a clear message to users and those making and supplying it that we are stepping up our fight against substances which are dangerous and ruin the lives of victims and their families. "But making drugs illegal is only part of the solution. "It is important for users of these harmful substances to understand that just because they are described as legal highs, it does not mean they are safe or should be seen as a 'safer' alternative to illegal substances." Anyone caught making, supplying or importing the drug faces up to 14 years in prison and an unlimited fine. Under the change in law, police and border officials will also have new powers to search or detain anyone they suspect of having the drug and seize, keep or dispose of a substance they suspect is methoxetamine. After its growing use as a party drug, the Home Office referred mexxy to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) for its views on controlling it earlier this month. The drug, used as an alternative to ketamine, is widely available on the internet. Its effects include a faster heart rate, hallucinations, hypertension, loss of balance, higher blood pressure, agitation and cardiovascular conditions. Tests by the ACMD also found evidence that use of methoxetamine can lead to "significant additional toxicity". Professor Les Iversen, chairman of the ACMD, said: "The evidence shows that the use of methoxetamine can cause harm to users."

Russian shot in UK was due to give evidence

 

Russian banker shot five times close to London's financial district had been days away from giving evidence to an investigation into the attempted murder of a former business associate, his lawyer has said. German Gorbuntsov, who at the height of his business empire owned four Russian banks, was walking towards his apartment block near the Canary Wharf banking district when a gunman opened fire on Tuesday evening, leaving him badly injured. London police said on Saturday they were keeping an open mind about the motive of the attack. Gorbuntsov's lawyer, Vadim Vedenin, said the 45-year-old remained in a medically induced coma to give him a chance to recover, and that doctors were hoping to revive him in about three days. Vedenin said his client had been due to give evidence before the end of the month to an investigation by Russian prosecutors into the attempted murder of another Russian banker and former business associate of Gorbuntsov's, Alexander Antonov, in 2009. "He was preparing to give evidence on certain people. He has already given it in written form and he was going to do so in official testimony," Vedenin said by phone on Saturday, adding that Gorbuntsov had come to London because he feared for his life. The attack occurred outside the door of a block of high-end serviced apartments a short walk from the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf. A member of the building's staff, who declined to give his name, said he heard no shots, but ran outside when he heard frantic shouting. "He is a customer here. He was still alive. He spoke to us in Russian. I understood what he was saying," the member of staff, a Polish man, said. "He was swearing a lot." LONDON RUSSIANS London is home to thousands of Russian business people seeking capital, prestige and, in many cases, a haven from the rough and tumble of their home country's financial world. Alexander Antonov made his career in the nuclear industry, then became its banker as owner of Konversbank, a financial institution founded to serve the nuclear industry about two decades ago. Antonov said he and Gorbuntsov had disagreed over the terms of a bank sale just before the debt crisis of 2008, but that there had been no acrimony. "Our relationship is friendly, and it has always been friendly," he told Reuters. "I have a great personal interest in his testimony." The attempt on his life in 2009 was linked in Russia to the 2008 murder in Moscow of Ruslan Yamadayev, a powerful opponent of the Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The two incidents were tried as a single case and three men were convicted. But the person or persons who ordered the murders was never identified, and the case had lain dormant until this year. Diplomatic relations between Russia and Britain have been tested by a series of disputes involving Russian emigres. Russia has refused to extradite the man suspected of murdering former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko by putting radioactive polonium in his tea in London. Meanwhile London courts have refused to extradite men wanted in Russia, including the Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, a former Kremlin insider turned fierce critic with criminal convictions in Russia. Berezovsky, who says the charges brought against him in Russia are politically motivated, said by telephone from London that he did not know Gorbuntsov personally, nor did he know of any Russian criminals hiding out in London. "One can give differing views, but it is important to understand that, from my not-exactly-dilettantish point of view, there is no place safer than London from Kremlin bandits or from Russian or international criminals," he said. "But that of course is no guarantee they won't get you."

More and more footballers are going bankrupt despite Premier League wages now averaging £1.47 million a year,

 

More and more footballers are going bankrupt despite Premier League wages now averaging £1.47 million a year, experts have claimed.  Mark Sands, head of bankruptcy at accountancy firm RSM Tenon, said the lavish lifestyles of the players coupled with poor investment choices has led to increased vulnerability. "In 2010 the average salary of a player in the Premier League was £1.47 million, 56 times the average UK wage," Sands told the Birmingham Mail. "But as their wages have increased so have the number who become insolvent. "We have certainly had an increase at RSM Tenon in the past three years. The main reasons for this can be unsustainable consumption, falling incomes after leaving the top flight, poor investment and lack of financial awareness." Last month former England international Lee Hendrie was forced to declare himself bankrupt after racking up debts of more than £200,000 with the taxman, despite earning £24,000 a week at the peak of his career. RSM Tenon stated: "The debts have apparently been a result of a tax scheme Hendrie was advised to enter into which was rejected by HM Revenue & Customs, leaving an unpaid tax bill which led to the petition. “Investments made during his peak years, in properties and film-related partnerships, went bad, leaving no money for Hendrie to turn to when times were tough.” Last year, current Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel was also declared bankrupt after his non-profit US football academy ran up debts of close to £5m.