dparents and parents, as well as three other siblings two girls and a boy escaped. The father sustained slight burns. The couple and the children were spending the weekend at the home in the village of Mesoropi, 130 kilometers (80 miles) east of Thessaloniki. The fire threatened nearby houses, but firefighters extinguished it after about 45 minutes. The house had central heating, firefighters said, but residents say the family switched to wood recently. "They had oil heating. They put on a stove this year,toms shoes, as many other villagers did, because of the crisis. Things are very tight," said Vangelis Bozoudis, a resident of Mesoropi. The price of heating oil has soared this year in Greece. Until last spring, heating oil was sold at a much lower price than diesel fuel, but, because a lot of heating oil was used illegally as diesel fuel to circumvent the higher price,http://www.xiaolin-kk.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=762604, the government decided to harmonize the prices. As a result, the cost of heating oil has increased almost 40 percent, leaving many Greek families whose incomes have already taken a big hit from years of recession, fiscal austerity and soaring unemployment no option but to switch to cheaper forms of heating. Bozoudis and other villagers of Mesoropi, contacted by phone, said that this incident would not have happened if the family still used heating oil and wondered how many more accidents like that would take place across the country. ___ Demetris Nellas contributed to this report from Athens, Greece. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,toms shoes sale, rewritten or redistributed. An insider's guide to politics and policy, available on the iPad or as a PDF download.[标签:标题]
By IAN DEITCH, Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) Jews around the world ushered in the eight-day Hanukkah festival Saturday evening, lighting the first candles of ceremonial lamps that symbolize triumph over oppression. In Israel, families gathered after sundown for the lighting, eating traditional snacks of potato pancakes and doughnuts and exchanging gifts. Local officials lit candles set up in public places, while families displayed the nine-candle lamps, called menorahs,http://nycdayhiking.com/blog/nyc_day_hiking/2009/04/what-is-the-most-popular-day-hike-in-new-york-state-and-why-is-there-no-information-board-there.html#comments, in their windows or in special windproof glass boxes outside. Hanukkah, also known as the festival of lights, commemorates the Jewish uprising in the second century B.C. against the Greek-Syrian kingdom,toms outlet, which had tried to impose its culture on Jews and adorn the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem with statues of Greek gods. The holiday lasts eight days because according to tradition, when the Jews rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem, a single vial of oil, enough for one day, burned miraculously for eight. For many Jewish people, the holiday symbolizes the triumph of good over evil,http://www.daneihan.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1275482. Observant Jews light a candle each night to mark the holiday. Oily foods are eaten to commemorate the oil miracle, hence the ubiquitous fried doughnuts and potato pancakes, known as latkes. In Israel, children play with four-sided spinning tops, or dreidels, decorated with the letters that form