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Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Greek toy retailer Jumbo's sales beat target

Greece’s largest toy seller Jumbo saw an 8 percent rise in sales for its fiscal year, helped by a robust performance in Cyprus and Bulgaria, the company said on Tuesday. The rise beat Jumbo’s guidance for annual sales growth of 4-6 percent, the company sa... ...

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Kouvelis bids for unifying role in Greek center-left

Democratic Left (DIMAR) leader Fotis Kouvelis wrote on Tuesday to several political leaders, including PASOK’s Evangelos Venizelos and SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras, in a bid to create common ground between center-left parties. Kouvelis, whose party is in a sta... ...

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This Is The Prettiest Beach In Greece, Which Basically Makes It The Prettiest ...

This Is The Prettiest Beach In Greece, Which Basically Makes It The Prettiest ...Huffington PostNavagio has been called the prettiest beach in all of Greece, which, if we can all agree is one of the prettiest places in all the world, then this beach is the prettiest beach in the whole wide world. Logic works for us. And so do these pics. Like ...

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Mysterious crocodile spotted thousands of miles away from home, lurking in Greek lake

A six-foot crocodile has been found in nearby lake on the Greek island of Crete, terrifying locals who claim it's been feeding on lambs and ducks

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More Skouries suspects released, handed restraining orders

Another 10 people who were detained last year following an attack on a gold mine in Skouries, Halkidiki, were granted conditional release on Tuesday after being questioned by a magistrate in northern Greece. Six were bailed on Monday. The defendants were ... ...

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Greek ministries launch action against civil servants’ union

The Finance and Administrative Reform ministries have launched legal action against the ADEDY civil servants’ union over a strike it has called for Wednesday in protest at the public sector evaluation process. The ministries want the courts to deem the ac... ...

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Medea: How Goldfrapp scored the Greek tragedy

The IndependentMedea: How Goldfrapp scored the Greek tragedyThe IndependentHow do you solve a problem like Medea? Euripides's play, in which a mother murders her own children as revenge after her husband marries another woman, can be seen as a pinnacle of Greek tragedy: it doesn't get any more howlingly painful than ...

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The Privatization of Greece's Postal Service Is Underway

BusinessweekThe Privatization of Greece's Postal Service Is UnderwayBusinessweekIt looks like the long-awaited privatization of Greece's postal system, Hellenic Post, is finally under way. Greek News reports that CVC Capital Partners, a private equity fund that has equity stakes in the Belgian and Danish postal services, is ...

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Little Greek celebration features tasty samples

Little Greek celebration features tasty samplesTbo.com (blog)On Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July 13 all thirteen Tampa Bay area locations, including the newly opened Citrus Park and Trinity locations, will be celebrating with free samples of classic Greek treats such as baklava, rice pudding, avgolemono soup, ...

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The Quest To Build The World's Fastest Bike

Robertson and Reichert plan to show off their Eta bike—the name is inspired by the Greek letter that in engineering circles stands for efficiency—at the World Human-Powered Sp...

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Beach Wrestling Worlds end with Greece on top

KathimeriniBeach Wrestling Worlds end with Greece on topKathimeriniThe 2014 World Beach Wrestling Championship ended up in a triumph for the hosts as Greece swept the team trophies in cadet, junior and senior men and women at Katerini, central Macedonia, in the attendance of the head of the International Wrestling ...

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Beach Wrestling Worlds end with Greece on top

KathimeriniBeach Wrestling Worlds end with Greece on topKathimeriniThe 2014 World Beach Wrestling Championship ended up in a triumph for the hosts as Greece swept the team trophies in cadet, junior and senior men and women at Katerini, central Macedonia, in the attendance of the head of the International Wrestling ...

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Authorities puzzled by crocodile spotted on Greek island of Crete

Phys.OrgAuthorities puzzled by crocodile spotted on Greek island of CreteShanghai Daily (subscription)A team of Greek scientists has already launched a search for the crocodile and more experts are due to join the operation later this week to trace and capture the reptile alive and relocate it to a tropical environment, local authorities said. A large ...Wanted: owner of Greek isle's mystery crocPhys.OrgMystery crocodile found on Greek island of CreteNewstalk 106-108 fmall 31 news articles »

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Authorities puzzled by crocodile spotted on Greek island of Crete

Phys.OrgAuthorities puzzled by crocodile spotted on Greek island of CreteShanghai Daily (subscription)A team of Greek scientists has already launched a search for the crocodile and more experts are due to join the operation later this week to trace and capture the reptile alive and relocate it to a tropical environment, local authorities said. A large ...Wanted: owner of Greek isle's mystery crocPhys.OrgMystery crocodile found on Greek island of CreteNewstalk 106-108 fmall 31 news articles »

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Greek government outlaws power workers strike

Novinite.comGreek government outlaws power workers strikeWorld Socialist Web SiteOn Saturday morning, the Greek government issued civil mobilisation orders to striking Public Power Corporation (PPC) workers, ordering them back to work by placing them under martial law. The order was issued after a ruling by the Athens Court of ...Greek Power Workers Put an End to Their StrikeNovinite.comGreek public electricity workers end strike, continue mobilizationShanghai Daily (subscription)Greek government moves to end power utility employees' strike over ...Fox BusinessFinancial Times -Reuters UKall 72 news articles »

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Greek church buys Club Lafayette to bolster footprint in Lowell's Acre

LOWELL -- It's a classic win-win situation for Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church and Club Lafayette.

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Moldy Chobani Yogurt Posed Health Threat, Tests Find

Microbiologists say the fungus responsible for more than 400 illnesses tied to recalled Chobani Greek yogurt wasn't harmless after all.

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Greeks Gone West: Matthew Bogdanos

"Greeks Gone West" is a series of video vignettes the US Embassy in Athens made about the world of work in the US. Through the prism of Greeks and Greek-Americans with interesting work lives, we hope to improve the understanding of US society and to show ... ...

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Border guards arrest 21-year-old carrying 4 kg of cocaine

Guards at the Evzones crossing on Greece's border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on Tuesday arrested a 21-year-old man after he was found carrying nearly 4 kilograms of cocaine hidden in his luggage. The 21-year-old is said to have... ...

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Estes Valley Library program

With an extraordinary and profound history, Greece and its capital city Athens remain alive today with culture and beauty. Understanding the history of this remarkable region to gain clues into its contemporary society, as well a glimpse into its future ...

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Short-term bond sale tempting for Greece but would bring risk forward

Greece may be tempted to capitalise on increasing demand for short-term euro zone debt with a three-year bond sale in coming days, but in doing so it will give up its valuable status of having virtually ...

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Short-term bond sale tempting for Greece but would bring risk forward

Greece may be tempted to capitalise on increasing demand for short-term euro zone debt with a three-year bond sale in coming days, but in doing so it will give up its valuable status of having virtually ...

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Greek Orthodox Congress Opens In Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is holding its Congress in Philadelphia, during which high-ranking clergy and lay people are discussing the Orthodox-Christian family. Mayor Nutter welcomed the Congress to Philadelphia ...

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Consumer group offers tips ahead of summer sales

Summer sales in the Greek retail sector will begin on Monday, July 14, and run through Sunday, August 31, in a bid to boost activity in the sluggish sector. Consumer watchdog EKPOIZO on Tuesday issued a series of tips for consumers to ensure the best buys... ...

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Arrest made over 2012 fire at Mount Athos

Police in northern Greece have arrested a 35-year-old Latvian national in connection with a large fire that burned for five days near the monastic community of Mount Athos in the summer of 2012, it was reported on Tuesday. The suspect, who faces charges o... ...

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Greek Orthodox Congress Opens In Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is holding its Congress in Philadelphia, during which high-ranking clergy and lay people are discussing the Orthodox-Christian family. Mayor Nutter welcomed the Congress to Philadelphia ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT philadelphia.cbslocal.com

Over 10,600 artifacts looted in WWII returned to Greece

More than 10,600 artifacts dating from Neolithic times that were removed illegally by Nazi archaeologists during World War II have been returned to Greece from the German Pfahlbaumuseum, the state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency (AMNA) reported on Tuesda... ...

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China, Greece to strengthen military ties

China and Greece Monday decided to enhance cooperation between their armed forces, Xinhua reported.

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Dijsselbloem remarks following the Eurogroup meeting

by  KG/EUROPA

President of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that the most important issues on Eurogroup's agenda were apart from Greece, the banking union, and a debate about the the tax wedge in euro area countries. President Dijsselbloem said on July 7:

Good evening everybody and welcome to the press conference. First of all, I would like to welcome back to Commission VP Siim Kallas, who took over Olli's portfolio pending the confirmation hearing, I think that is the correct wordof Jyrki Katainen. We also welcomed in our meeting the new Finnish Finance Minister Antti Rinne, who presented us the policy priorities of the new Finnish government, and we welcomed Danièle Nouy, the ECB supervisory board who reported on the setting-up of the Single Supervisory Mechanism.

The most important issues on our agenda today were apart from Greece, the banking union, a debate we had on structural reforms, in particular the tax wedge in euro area countries.

Coordination of structural reforms: tax wedge  

Let me do that in the reverse order. First of all on the tax wedge

Increasing the growth potential of the euro area is the main point on our agenda in the coming period. In our last meeting we already agreed to start a new process on the coordination of structural reforms, where the Eurogroup can act as a driver for this process.

We identified several topics to discuss: among which the reduction of high tax wedge on labour and also reforming services markets.

11 euro area Member States have received the recommendation of the Commission to reduce the tax wedge on labour (that is to say the difference between the salary costs of a worker to their employer and the amount of net income that a worker receives or "take-home-pay") as it is called. This is one of the structural reforms that can make our countries more competitive. And Euro area countries have a joint interest in raising employment.

So, today we had a first discussion on how to reduce the tax wedge on labour in different countries.

Three of our colleagues, namely from Spain, Italy and the Netherlands presented their domestic initiatives in this respect to kick off our discussion. We summed up up our discussions in a statement which you may have already received, but let me go through the main points for you:

First of all we recognised that several Member States have undertaken or are in the process of undertaking reforms to address the high tax wedge on labour but more efforts are needed, of course, taking into account country-specific circumstances and these will determine the scope, the focus, the design, the time path etc. of these kinds of reforms.

We stressed the need for tax wedge reductions to be financed through cuts in less productive expenditures or through revenue-neutral tax shifts. Away from labour to revenue sources that are less detrimental to growth such as consumption taxes, recurrent property taxes and/or environmental taxes.

While such policies clearly remain a national responsibility, we agreed that a coordinated approach, notably through the exchange of best practices, will help Member States in carrying out these reforms.

We will get back to this issue in September, on a basis of a proposal by the Commission on common principles for implementing reforms. And the Commission's anlysis of best practices will be the basis for that.We also plan to take stock of the implementation of these reforms, as well as other structural reforms in the autumn, in particular when discussing the draft budgetary plans of Member States, which will be on our agenda in November.

And we will have an ex-post assessment in early 2015 to follow-up on the process.

As we have learnt from previous European semester exercises that there is a need for a better follow-up to the continued implementation of structural reforms.

Banking Union

Let me now briefly report on our discussion on the banking union.

We welcomed Danièle Nouy, the Chair of the Supervisory Board of the SSM, reports regularly to the Eurogroup on the setting up and the operations of the SSM.

Today she debriefed us on the setting up of the SSM in particular of the progress being made with the comprehensive assessment in preparing the start of the SSM in November.

The second phase of the Asset Quality Review, which is going on at this moment will be finalised later this month and will feed into the stress test conducted by the EBA and the national supervisory authorities whose results will then be published in October.

As announced by the ECB, capital shortfalls will need to be covered within 6-9 months, starting from the release of the stress test results.

As you know, the first port of call to address possible capital needs will be private sources, as we see happening in practice already over the last few months.

Should any public capital injection be considered, it would be subject to the State aid rules which, as a general rule, require burden sharing from shareholders and junior debt holders before any public support is given. Member states are or will be preparing the required necessary legislative frameworks and we took stock of the progress being made in this respect.

Greece

Finally, a few remarks on Greece. We welcomed that Greece has achieved the first set of milestones related to the fourth review, the so-called May set of milestones This will unlock a disbursement of EUR 1 billion by the EFSF. The Greek colleague reassured us that the second set of milestones, part of that fourth review, will be completed by early August. And we called on Greece to also make swift progress with its other MoU commitments.

The Troika informed us that they planned a technical mission to Athens later this week to take stock of the situation. The fifth review mission will only formally start when all the milestones of the fourth review are met.

That is where we are on Greece for now.


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China, Greece vow to intensify military ties

IANSChina, Greece vow to intensify military tiesPeople's Daily OnlineBEIJING, July 7 -- China and Greece on Monday pledged to enhance cooperation between the two countries' armed forces. During his meeting with Mikhail Kostarakos, the chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, Vice Chairman of China's Central ...China, Greece to strengthen military tiesFirstpostall 6 news articles »

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Tuesday, July 15

by  Associated Press Tuesday, July 15 by The Associated Press, Associated Press - 7 July 2014 20:06-04:00

Today is Tuesday, July 15, the 196th day of 2014. There are 169 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1099 - Three years after the First Crusade set out, the Christian army storms Jerusalem and puts its Muslim inhabitants to the sword.

1685 - James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of King Charles II and claimant to the throne, is beheaded in England for his part in the rebellion to overthrow King James II.

1789 - France's King Louis XVI is awakened and told that his authority has collapsed with the fall of the Bastille.

1801 - France and Papacy sign agreement saying French clergymen are to be appointed by the government and merely confirmed by the Pope.

1822 - Turkish invasion of Greece begins, and Turks overrun peninsula north of Gulf of Corinth.

1857 - British women and children taken by Indians at Cawnpore in India are murdered.

1893 - The Matabele, Bantu-speaking people of southwestern Zimbabwe, stage uprising against rule of British South Africa Company. They are defeated and administered by the company in separate districts.

1909 - Mohammed Ali, shah of Persia, is deposed in favor of 12-year-old Sultan Ahmad Shah.

1945 - Italy declares war on Japan, its former Axis partner in World War II.

1948 - U.N. Security Council orders truce in Palestine.

1958 - United States dispatches troops to Lebanon at request of President Chamoun; South Africa resumes full membership in United Nations.

1965 - U.S. Mariner IV spacecraft sends to Earth first close-up photographs of planet Mars.

1974 - Officers in Cyprus favoring unification with Greece oust Archbishop Makarios from presidency. The coup leads to a Turkish military intervention.

1975 - United States' Apollo and Soviet Union's Soyuz spacecraft blast into orbit for rendezvous in space.

1987 - Taiwan ends 38 years of martial law to pave the way for multiparty elections.

1990 - Tens of thousands of people march to Kremlin walls to protest Communist Party control of Soviet government, army and KGB.

1992 - NATO says its warships will begin patrolling Yugoslavia's coast in an effort to tighten a U.N. trade embargo and step up pressure to end the fighting in Bosnia.

1994 - Tens of thousands of Hutus flee the Tutsi-led rebel advance in Rwanda, flooding across the border into Zaire in one of the greatest human flights in history.

1997 - Fashion designer Gianni Versace is shot to death outside his Miami Beach mansion by Andrew Cunanan, who kills himself a few days later.

1998 - Nigeria's military government orders the immediate release of at least 400 people imprisoned under the late military ruler Gen. Sani Abacha.

1999 - China declares that it has invented its own neutron bomb, making an unprecedented disclosure about its nuclear arsenal to counter and reject U.S. accusations of atomic spying.

2000 - In a rare display of force, U.N. troops launch a rescue mission that frees all 222 peacekeepers and 11 military observers trapped by rebels inside a U.N. base in eastern Sierra Leone.

2001 - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves her post after five years in office, longer than any other Bangladeshi leader.

2002 - A Pakistani judge convicts four defendants in the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

2003 - The White House projects a $455 billion federal budget deficit for the 2003 fiscal year, the largest ever in dollar terms.

2004 - The annual U.N. ranking of the global rich and poor shows that AIDS is pushing African nations further into misery while most of the world creeps toward higher development.

2005 - Investigators probing the U.N. oil-for-food program say they have found evidence of "gross mismanagement" and possible corruption by the U.N. agency that oversaw compensation for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

2006 - Thousands of demonstrators demanding the return of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide march to Haiti's National Palace, pushing past riot police in a dramatic show of support for the exiled former leader.

2007 - Five Darfur rebel groups agree to join forces in a coalition called the United Front for Liberation and Development to push for a solution to the four-year conflict in the western region of Sudan.

2008 - Protesters storm past barricades near the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during a rally marking the 55th birthday of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

2009 - Israeli soldiers who fought in last winter's Gaza War say the military used Palestinians as human shields, improperly fired incendiary white phosphorous shells over civilian areas and used overwhelming firepower that caused needless deaths and destruction.

2010 - The Vatican revises its in-house rules to deal with clerical sex abuse cases, targeting priests who molest the mentally disabled as well as children and doubling the statute of limitations for such crimes.

2011 - Rupert Murdoch accepts the resignations of The Wall Street Journal's publisher and the chief of his British operations as the once-defiant media mogul struggles to control an escalating phone hacking scandal, offering apologies to the public and the family of a murdered schoolgirl.

2012 - Syria's 16-month bloodbath crosses an important symbolic threshold as the International Red Cross formally declares the conflict a civil war, a status with implications for war crimes prosecutions.

2013 - Human rights lawyers ask Nigeria's Federal High Court to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan's leader Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of genocide and war crimes, but he receives a warm welcome when he arrives in Nigeria for an African Union health summit.

Today's Birthdays:

Rembrandt (Rembrandt Harmes van Rijn), Dutch artist (1606-1669); Marie Tempest, English actress (1864-1942); Walter Benjamin, German literary critic (1892-1940); Iris Murdoch, British writer (1919-1999); Jacques Derrida, French philosopher (1930-2004); Linda Ronstadt U.S. singer (1946--); Forest Whitaker, U.S. actor/director (1961--).

Thought For Today:

It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods — Margaret Fuller, American journalist and social critic (1810-1850).

News Topics: General news, Rebellions and uprisings, War and unrest, Protests and demonstrations, Executive changes, Newspapers, Crime, Genocides, Political and civil unrest, Corporate management, Corporate news, Business, Personnel, News media, Media

People, Places and Companies: Gianni Versace, Andrew Cunanan, Daniel Pearl, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Rupert Murdoch, Omar al-Bashir, Linda Ronstadt, Forest Whitaker, Nigeria, United States, Turkey, Sudan, Middle East, East Asia, West Africa, Africa, North America, Western Europe, Europe, North Africa, Asia

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Greek central banker warns political risk could threaten recovery

Yannis Stournaras, the former finance minister, reiterated that he expected moderate growth of about 0.5 percent of GDP this year, but in his first comments on politics since taking over as central bank governor last month said there were still downside ...

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