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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

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Greece Euro

Greece consists of two broad areas – mainland Greece and the Greek islands. There are plenty of islands of different sizes dotted around in the Aegean Sea and hundreds of thousands of people choose to visit them every year on holiday. Before the Greeks ...

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Panathinaikos beats Asteras 1-0, maintains 3-point lead over PAOK in Greek league playoffs

by  Associated Press PAOK, Panathinaikos win in Greek league playoffs Associated Press - 11 May 2014 16:01-04:00

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Marcus Berg scored with a header in the 51st minute to lead Panathinaikos to a 1-0 victory over Asteras in the Greek league playoffs on Sunday.

Berg connected to a cross from the right by Giorgos Koutroubis and headed in from close range. Asteras goalkeeper Dani Hernandez got a hand to the ball.

Panathinaikos retained the lead in the playoffs with 10 points from four games, three more than PAOK, which scored two late goals in a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Atromitos.

PAOK has had three points deducted for crowd trouble in a Greek Cup semifinal against Olympiakos.

The playoff winner will join Olympiakos in next season's Champions League. The others get to play in the Europa League.

News Topics: Sports, Men's soccer, Professional soccer, Soccer, Men's sports

People, Places and Companies: Greece, Western Europe, Europe

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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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PAOK, Panathinaikos win in Greek league playoffs

PAOK, Panathinaikos win in Greek league playoffsMiamiHerald.comATHENS, Greece -- Marcus Berg scored with a header in the 51st minute to lead Panathinaikos to a 1-0 victory over Asteras in the Greek league playoffs on Sunday. Berg connected to a cross from the right by Giorgos Koutroubis and headed in from close ...

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Greek Supreme Court clears neo-Nazi party for EU vote: laywer

Greece's Supreme Court has allowed neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn to participate in upcoming European parliament elections, a party lawyer said on Sunday. We have faith in Greek justice,\" lawyer Pavlos Sarakis told AFP. The authorisation came despite an ongoing criminal probe against the political party, six of whose lawmakers including its leader are in prison awaiting trial. Under Greek law ...

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Greece's top court allows far-right party to contest EU vote

Greece's top court allows far-right party to contest EU voteReuters UKATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's Supreme Court on Sunday allowed the far-right Golden Dawn party to run in European elections this month, despite calls to ban it as its leader waits in jail to be tried for membership of a criminal organisation. The court ...

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Airlines seize on tourism rise in Greece

KathimeriniAirlines seize on tourism rise in GreeceKathimeriniAir seats to Greece have increased by 10 percent this year as not only are low-fare airlines choosing the country as a destination despite Athens International Airport's high costs, but established carriers are now returning to the country's airspace ...

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Dickens letter on shelter for women: clean underwear, baths and pianos

Letter to be sold at auction about London philanthropic project in 1852 reveals author's concerns for women fallen into poverty

If Eliza Wilkins was going to be helped, in 1852 the ever practical Charles Dickens decided she first needed clean underwear and a bath preferably two baths.

In 1847 Dickens had founded a "home for homeless women" with his friend the wealthy philanthropist Baroness Burdett-Coutts. With typical energy he found the premises Urania Cottage (it came with the unfortunate name, after a Greek goddess associated with astronomy and love) in London's Shepherd's Bush and then flung himself into organising every detail of it, from the food to the flower garden, and the piano around which the women would gather for wholesome evening entertainment.

Continue reading...

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Greek-Australian ‘Fronditha’ Aged Care Center Expands

Greek-Australian aged care center “Fronditha” will invest 35 million Australian dollars in expanding its facilities, as announced by its president Sakis Zafeiropoulos at the Melbourne center’s annual gala on May 10. More than 450 Greek-Australians ...

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Five Detainees Bust out of Pyrgos Police Station

Five detainees at a police station in Pyrgos, southwestern Greece, managed to escape their holding facility Saturday night by breaking a window

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Greece Selling Off Its Seashore To Developers

One of the most accepted disgraces in Greece is that developers have bought up or flat out stolen much of the prime seafront property, particularly in Athens.

The post Greece Selling Off Its Seashore To Developers appeared first on The National Herald.


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3 Interconnected Risks Threaten Europe's Recovery

Two sets of numbers tell a contradictory story about the euro zone.

Economic data point to improvements by the month, even by the day: growth is picking up and the borrowing costs of even the most indebted countries keep falling.

The crisis is over, say some Eurocrats.

By contrast, polls ahead of this month's European elections point to political upheaval.

Voters are exasperated with their governments and with Europe; anti-establishment groups are on the rise and may come top in some places.

Europe may be about to test de Tocqueville's contention that the most propitious time for revolution is not when conditions are worsening, but when they start to improve.

"Evils which are patiently endured when they seem inevitable become intolerable once the idea of escape from them is suggested," he wrote.

Having witnessed the evils of falling living standards and mass unemployment, and with a general sense that citizens have had to pay to save banks (all worsened by leaders' mismanagement of the crisis), there are signs that escape is at hand.

This week euro-zone finance ministers congratulated Portugal on making a "clean exit" from its bail-out, forgoing the safety net of a precautionary loan.

In following the examples of Ireland and Spain, Portugal is perhaps being reckless. If these countries run into trouble, they will be able neither to draw quickly on loans nor to rely on the backstop of the European Central Bank, whose never-used bond-buying policy, Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT), depends on there being a formal programme. But politics has trumped prudence.

Debtor countries can claim to have rid themselves of the hated "troika" (the ECB, the European Commission and the IMF); creditors can claim vindication for their policies of austerity and structural reform.

Greece and Cyprus remain under programmes. Euro-zone ministers belatedly acknowledged that, after years of austerity and a deep slump, Greece has at last achieved a primary budget surplus (ie, before interest payments).

Under a promise made in 2012 but delayed until after the European election, the euro zone will consider if Greece needs more help to bring down its vast debt. Nobody will talk of a write-off. Instead ministers may "extend and pretend" by stretching out already-long maturities.

The recovery is gaining strength, with modest but accelerating growth expected in the euro zone this year and next. Cyprus, the only country still in recession, is likely to grow next year.

Unemployment has peaked. Investors are rushing into peripheral European debt. Yields on ten-year bonds for Italy and Spain have dipped below 3% for the first time since the euro began (though that partly reflects very low inflation). Last month Greece returned to the bond market for the first time in four years.

Yet markets are in danger of reverting to the folly of the first decade of the euro, when investors paid almost the same price for the debt of Greece as of Germany.

There are good reasons to restrain the euphoria. The prospect of a chaotic default and the break-up of the euro may have receded, but economic problems are far from over.

Debt levels have risen sharply, growth is sluggish and unemployment is worryingly high. More than a quarter of workers are out of jobs in Spain and Greece. Bank lending, on which euro-zone firms are still dependent, is shrinking. Similar companies in neighbouring euro-zone countries pay widely different interest rates. With inflation consistently below 1%, troubled countries will struggle to close the competitiveness gap with Germany and work off heavy debts.

The prospect of even more damaging deflation is uncomfortably close.

Europe faces three interconnected risks: prolonged stagnation, reform paralysis and political backlash. Especially in southern Europe, growth will be sluggish at best and joblessness will remain high for many years.

Despite the arrival of energetic new prime ministers, France and Italy have yet to make a convincing commitment to liberal reforms, while Germany is unapologetic about running a large demand-sapping trade surplus.

Beware Of Reform-Phobia Too

The euro zone, too, is shy of change. The ECB has dragged its feet over unconventional measures like quantitative easing to fight deflation.

Other European Union institutions are in pre-electoral doldrums; there is a good chance of stalemate over the choice of a new commission president. There is little energy left for measures to strengthen the euro zone through greater risk-sharing, or to boost growth by deepening the single market.

Negotiations on an ambitious transatlantic trade deal with America are losing steam (also because of nervousness in America).

One reason why European politicians are worried about further reform is the fear of populism. Eurosceptic parties are leading the polls or running second in France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy and in non-euro Britain and Denmark.

Talk of leaving the euro zone is resurfacing. Silvio Berlusconi, a former Italian prime minister, has said Italy and other countries might have to give up the currency unless the ECB loosens monetary policy.

And in Finland, a creditor country, a paper published by a group of economists this week suggests that it would be better to leave the euro lest Finland gets dragged into a more federal system with joint liabilities such as Eurobonds.

If markets once seemed ready to push the weakest countries out of the euro, now it is voters who may pull their escape cord.

With a primary surplus, Greece no longer needs to borrow for itself; so it could now more easily default on its debt.

Support for the European project, always fragile, will keep falling if it fails to deliver greater prosperity. Europe's leaders still face testing times. As de Tocqueville put it, "a sovereign who seeks to relieve his subjects after a long period of oppression is lost, unless he be a man of great genius."

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Iowa State gets 2014 commitment from Greek 7-footer Giorgos Tsalmpouris

Iowa State gets 2014 commitment from Greek 7-footer Giorgos TsalmpourisNBCSports.comTsalmpouris, who won't turn 18 until June, will play for the Greek national team before arriving in Ames this summer, according to Hines. Follow @terrence_payne. Tags: Fred Hoiberg, Giorgos Tsalmpouris, Iowa State Cyclones, recruiting · Skip to Comments.7-foot-1 Greek center commits to ISUAmes Tribuneall 2 news articles »

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Police Believe Xeros Aided By Italian Anarchists; New Plots Planned

Greek police believe seven members of Italian anarchist group Federazione Anarchica Informale (Informal Anarchist Federation, FAI) are collaborating with escaped November 17 member Christodoulos Xeros. The group last

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7-foot-1 Greek center commits to ISU

7-foot-1 Greek center commits to ISUAmes TribuneGreek national Girogos Tsalmpouris has commited to Iowa State and will join its 2014 recruiting class, a source tells the Ames Tribune. Tsalmpouris is a 7-foot-1 center that will play for the Greek national team this summer before coming stateside to ...and more »

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Greek Spring Food Festivals held in Athens

Thousands of Greek and foreign visitors were offered the opportunity to take a journey into the amazing world of Greek gastronomy and unique Greek traditional food products this weekend in Athens. Two festivals of Greek gastronomic culture held at the ...

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Giro d'Italia 2014: stage three live!

Live updates from day three of the Giro d'ItaliaSend your thoughts to simon.burnton@theguardian.comOr do it the social media way over at @simon_burnton

2.59pm BST

"A German living in Ireland with his Greek wife is watching the Giro," writes Roland Tritsch. "In Clontarf. Breezy, but we are looking good for a dry sprint. Go Kittel, go. And Happy Birthday."

2.58pm BST

Crash! Lots of people have been introduced to a grass verge, with some of them going full-on hedgewards. Michele Scarponi, wearing No1, is among them. Enrico Gasparotto, also of Astana, is having a faceful of mud wiped off. Valerio Agnoli also in Astana's light blue is limping and holding his back.

2.52pm BST

If anyone's still reading this from streetside, having recently been cycled past or preparing to be cycled past, are you finding this more exciting that Eurosport's commentators are? Because they're basically only a small step up from unconscious.

2.48pm BST

Sorry, just took a comfort break. The leaders are indeed now in Drogheda. 66km to go.

2.40pm BST

The crowd being cycled past is about 30% umbrella-holding, I'd say.

2.33pm BST

The front five are currently a smidgeon under three minutes clear of the pack, with 77km to go (which means they're gradually approaching Drogheda).

2.30pm BST

Endless photographs of pink-clad people having maximum if slightly damp fun. Though I think there probably are some parties even better than a Giro Dundalk party.

Ain't no party like a #GiroDundalk party... pic.twitter.com/7cVsKSwYGR

2.19pm BST

Exactly 100km into the stage, 87km to go. That puts the leaders somewhere between Castlebellingham and Dunleer.

2.10pm BST

The breakaway are just two minutes clear now, with 92km to go. TV cameras are largely showing cyclists taking jackets off, or cyclists putting jackets back on again.

2.05pm BST

Is it acceptable to paint a cow pink? I feel a little uncomfortable about it, but am willing to accept it if it makes their milk taste of strawberry.

After the sheep and the horses, today pink cow on #giro course. Now just waiting for elephants. pic.twitter.com/iYOSWyAhMD

2.02pm BST

The main thing Eurosport are broadcasting is a picture of the finish line, which I'd suggest is extremely premature. They've promised to sort themselves out during the ad break that's just begun.

2.00pm BST

Newsflash. The gap is shrinking, though still quite slowly.

100 km to go, 302 gap for Godoy, Rubiano, Cecchinel, Dockx and Tjallingii #giro

1.59pm BST

Another crash. The roads in Dublin are absolutely sodden, and there may be several slides ahead. Manuel Belletti is one of the fallers this time, and he looks in some distress as he's seen to by medical staff.

1.56pm BST

Super photograph, this. Well done.

Great views and buzz as the #girostart2014 peloton turn the corner at Red Lion Crossroads near Kilmore, Co. Armagh pic.twitter.com/8BfWZ2e0aA

1.54pm BST

Andrea Fedi has had a fall. He looks fine, but his back wheel looks all messed up. As he stands up, some chap sticks a camera at his knee for a full-on close-up of a freshly-sustained graze. Nice pic, laddo. One for the living-room wall, that.

1.48pm BST

The cyclists spent the first hour going at, on average, 39.6km/h. At that speed the stage will take four hours and 43 minutes to complete the 187km stage and finish a little after 4.30pm.

@Simon_Burnton Here in Sunny Dundalk awaiting the first riders to come through, should be any minute now pic.twitter.com/AFWRikAgHo

1.45pm BST

Your chance to own a piece of history! With a special sun roof!

if you want a Giro car suppliers http://t.co/V0b1oLZ26k are selling 80 vehicles used for the Giro here including 10 with special sun roofs

1.44pm BST

It's Marcel Kittel's birthday today. He's 26. Happy birthday Marcel!

He may be too busy to read the liveblog at present, but I'm sure he plans to catch up later.

1.43pm BST

Eurosport have finally flicked the switch, so things are looking up. There is evidence of some sunshine, and lots of people in pink.

1.41pm BST

Another photo from today, showing grey skies from which no water is falling. Heavy showers are forecast for the afternoon.

1.37pm BST

The breakaway fivesome lead by a little over five minutes. The fab five are Godoy, Miguel Angel Rubiano, Gert Dockx, Maarten Tjallingii and Giorgio Cecchinel.

1.26pm BST

Another email, this from James Longhurst: "I'm at the stage finish in Dublin (in a pub at about 400m from the finish) it's soaking here and there's a dog-leg in the road covered with a yellow junction box and plenty of puddles already if it doesn't dry out the corner is gonna be very skiddy expect a crash in the sprint!" Aha, that'll be the "chicane in the final 500 metres" that William Fotheringham mentioned. "Picture from Kennedy's pub window attached."

1.19pm BST

"Just leaving house to walk along coast road Portmarnock to Malahide," reports John Caul, who is on the scene. "Excited, roads closing, lots of pink. Sunshine at the moment. Mass was short because of race and priest is a Liverpool supporter!" Good to get the priorities right

1.16pm BST

Here's a live picture from today. Umbrellas very much in evidence.

1.14pm BST

No television coverage as yet, but the leaders appear to be approaching Fews Forrest with Yonder Godoy whose name is spectacularly hard to read on the official Giro website, where it basically looks like GOOOY at the front of a five-man break.

1.07pm BST

Incidentally, you can catch up on yesterday's rainy shenanigans with William Fotheringham's report, which can be found in full here but starts like this:

Mark Cavendish might well have something to say about it, and indeed will have his say at the Tour de France, but for the moment, cycling's new sprint king is Marcel Kittel. Victory on Donegall Square here the day before his 26th birthday means the German has now taken stages in all three Grand Tours. With his four stage wins at last year's Tour de France, and his victory at the Vuelta in 2011, he has achieved the first item on most top sprinters' to-do lists; extending his repertoire to include the points jersey here or at the Tour is for the future.

This was by no means a straightforward win. With a right-angle bend just 270 metres from the finish line the same as Friday night's team time trial but taken from the opposite direction Kittel needed to be one of the first through the corner to be in a good position. Instead, after a chaotic build-up to the sprint, with no team in control, he was a dozen places back in the field and had to come from behind.

12.30pm BST

Giro d'Italia, day three. Armagh to Dublin, via Keady, Forkhill, Castlebellingham, Balbriggan and Swords, and the last stage in Ireland before everyone jets off back to Italy. You can find today's route in full here, but in profile it looks something like this:

Cosy! MT @pcdonachy #girostart2014 #kilmore #armagh main pack pic.twitter.com/gE8UwpmEfG

Continue reading...

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1,500 Ballots, 40,000 Candidates To Run in Local Elections

Greece’s Interior Ministry has counted 1,438 municipal ballots and 105 regional ballots that have been approved by Greece’s courts to stand in the forthcoming local elections, which

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elections 2014

A new poll on May’s Euro elections conducted by Pulse RC for the Greek website www.topontiki.gr showed SYRIZA has retained its 1.5% lead over New Democracy, with... SYRIZA member and WWII hero Manolis Glezos Greece’s main opposition party ...

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Larisa Drozdova: From Greece, with Love

Family ties in Greece, as with other nations facing economic and politic turmoil, have perhaps never been stronger than they are today. This is what Larisa Leonidovna Drozdova learned on a recent trip during which the French-based grand-mother of one ...

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Trichet Blames Greeks For Austerity

The former head of the Eurozone said it was Greece's own fault it had to ask for the rescue and the harsh austerity measures that came with it.

The post Trichet Blames Greeks For Austerity appeared first on The National Herald.


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Turkish, Greek teams hold friendly football match 84 years after kick-off

Hurriyet Daily NewsTurkish, Greek teams hold friendly football match 84 years after kick-offHurriyet Daily NewsThe first friendly football match between Turkish and Greek football teams – interrupted by a downpour of rain in its third minute 84 years ago – ended on May 10 in a 5-5 draw, on the Greek island of Chios. Turkey's Karşıyaka, from the western province ...Kick off after 84 years between a Greek and a Turkish football teamDaily SabahFootball match will resume after 84 yearseuronewsall 5 news articles »

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The 15 Sayings Greek Mothers Use for Their Children

In our days, modern Greek mothers take fire from everywhere. They are unemployed, facing many financial difficulties, the misery of Greek bureaucracy, while being always put under pressure due to rising food prices, joblessness, defunct public education ...

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Why Investors Are Going Crazy For The Very European Government Bonds They Used To Hate

The above chart tells one of the most important stories in the world of economics. It shows the yield on Italian 10-year bonds.

Not long ago, Italy was one of a handful of so-called "PIIGS" countries, peripheral European countries that investors were avoiding like the plague. Others in this category included Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal. And even France made investors nervous. These countries had (and continue to have) high levels of government debt, and generally mediocre economies overall. 

The fear was that the countries wouldn't be able to service their debt, and that they would possibly default and revert to their old currencies, leaving bond investors in the lurch.

But now look, Italian government bond yields are at their lowest levels in history. Not only has the trend reversed, the pendulum has swung far in the other direction. Investors are buying European government bonds like crazy.

What caused the turnaround? 

In the Summer of 2012, ECB chief Mario Draghi laid out a plan that would allow the ECB to backstop countries that got into fiscal trouble. Specifically, if a country was having problems in the bond market (borrowing money), then the ECB would agree to step in and buy an unlimited number of bonds (which the ECB has the ability to do, because it creates money), provided the country in question agreed to undergo further fiscal reforms.

The program Draghi spelled out was known as OMT.

As it turns out, Draghi never needed to use OMT. No country has actually had to call in the ECB for help.

But just the knowledge of the program's existence — that it can be used as an escape valve if necessary — was all it took to produce a ferocious rally in government bonds and a big drop in yields.

Today

These days there's even more reason to be bullish on European government debt.

Inflation is exceptionally low in Europe, particularly in peripheral countries.

Going back to Italy (which we're just using as an example) the rate of inflation is about as low as it was during the worst of the economic crisis.

Falling inflation tends to create demand for fixed income assets, like government bonds.

Again, this story is being repeated all over the place in Europe.

Furthermore, there's a "shortage" of safe assets in the world. The Fed has bought up a lot of US debt (through QE) and we're not producing as much government guaranteed housing debt in the US like we used to. So a European government bond that has a theoretical guarantee from the ECB (if Italy ever gets into trouble) suddenly looks kind of appealing.

So what we're seeing across Europe are historic lows in peripheral government borrowing costs, as low inflation, a shortage of safe debt, and an ECB backstop conspire to make these assets look very attractive.

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Greek Election Campaigns Crank Up

A week before Greeks go to the polls to vote in local elections – and two weeks before those for the European

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Greece Promises Tax Cuts – Maybe

After four years of brutal austerity measures, the Greek government said it will lower taxes in 2015 - but only if it can collect from tax evaders first.

The post Greece Promises Tax Cuts – Maybe appeared first on The National Herald.


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Greek Elections Too Close To Call

The ruling New Democracy Conservatives and SYRIZA Leftists are in a horse race in elections for Greek municipalities and the European Parliament.

The post Greek Elections Too Close To Call appeared first on The National Herald.


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Greek Tax Cuts: Wait Till Next Year

After showing a primary surplus, the Greek government is planning to implement tax cuts in 2015, but only if tax collections near 100 percent and tax evaders are reined in. Greeks have been reeling under big pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions for ...

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Once Europe's lead preacher of budget prudence, Finland loses righteousness

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Vesa Vihavainen is worried. Merivaara, his Finnish-based hospital bed-making business, is struggling - just like the economy that Finns once held up to debt-laden Greeks as a model of what national thrift can achieve.

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Ancient Greek Flavors in Athens

For 14 years, Athenian diners have swarmed to Karaiskaki Square in Athens to dine at the themed restaurant Archaion Gefsis (Ancient Flavors). Thousands

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Greek fare gets a lift with spin on omelet

It is a place I fell in love with and had owners I also grew to love.

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HTSF Scholarship Gala a Hit on Broadway

NEW YORK – The 23rd anniversary Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund (HTSF) gala lived up to its reputation as one of the community’s parties of the year, but onstage, front and center and in the spotlight as the guest walked in, were the true highlights of the event, the 35 young scholarship recipients, the community’s best […]

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Weekend Diversion: The Top 5 Spectacles from Eurovision 2014! (Synopsis)

Source: scienceblogs.com - Saturday, May 10, 2014 “If there’s one thing that I love as an entertainer, it’s a spectacle.” - JC Chasez I know that about half of those of you who read Starts With A Bang regularly hail from outside the United States, but I was completely unprepared for the joyous spectacle that is the Eurovision song contest when I first encountered it last year . Have a listen to the best (not the winning) song from last year’s contest, as Koza Mostra and Agathon Iakovidis sing their brilliant Greek entry, Alcohol is Free . But each year, the Eurovision song contest gives us some of the world’s most interesting and entertaining spectacles, and I’ve gone and highlighted my top five for you — along with some additional thoughts and color — once again. Image credit: Getty Images. For example… 3.) Austria’s Conchita Wurst singing Rise Like A Phoenix . Okay, look, I’m not going to lie. When I first saw Conchita Wurst, I may have mistakenly asked why Prince was competing at Eurovision. The drag queen alter-ego of musician Tom Neuwirth, Conchita’s performance was controversial in countries like Belarus and Russia, because those countries haven’t learned lessons of basic human decency and dignity yet. Well, guess what, haters? Conchita won Eurovision 2014, Austria gets their first win since 1966 , and everyone who snubbed their noses at it gets to look like the intolerant jackasses they chose to be in front of the whole world. Good on you for rewarding creativity, braveryAll Related

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Greek Festival This Weekend

The sun is coming out, now is a good time to go the 42nd Annual Greek Festival at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, which is in full-swing this weekend. The event features Greek cuisine, including the ever popular Gyros and Souvlaki. Other Greek ...

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Sceptics set to fight EU from the inside after vote

Two weeks ahead of European Parliament elections, polls are predicting a eurosceptic surge, packing the assembly with members set to fight the EU from within for the next five years. Sceptics and far-right parties are set for major gains in the likes of heavyweight European Union nations Britain and France, as well as in the Netherlands. In Germany, the AfD party aiming to abolish the euro, is rating well while Beppe Grillo's populists and the radical left Syriza are front-runners respectively in Italy and Greece. \"The Eurosceptic surge could be more dangerous than the emergence of the Tea Party in the US,\" said Mark Leonard of the European Council on Foreign Relations.


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For Mother’s Day: Thyme, Greek Honey, and Granola

Did you know that KFC’s day of largest gross sales is Mother’s Day? Think about that for a second. Why not give mom a real treat with a selection of these easy to make recipes for a breakfast in bed or a memorable brunch? Greek Thyme Honey Granola Makes 2 servings Ingredients: Grape seed oil […]

The post For Mother’s Day: Thyme, Greek Honey, and Granola appeared first on The National Herald.


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The Sponge Wars of Tarpon Springs in 1914

No short account can hope to even outline every clash, engagement, or battle of the extended Sponge Wars. For nearly fifty years, Greek immigrant sponge divers fought American-born fisher folk over the richest sponging grounds on the planet. Spanning literally thousands of miles of water, these deadly engagements in the waters of Gulf of Mexico […]

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Turk-Greek post-war soccer friendly ends after 84 years

Lailapas – Karsiyaka friendly ends in 5 - 5 draw Saturday after a delay caused by rain extended to 84 years following the demise and resurrection of one of the clubs ANKARA The first friendly soccer match between Turkish and Greek soccer teams ...

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Tourism Minister Calls on Australians to Visit Greece

Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni sent out a message to the Greek-Australians on the occasion of her upcoming visit to Australia, calling on the Greeks of the diaspora to visit Greece this year. The minister, who is visiting Australia as of Monday, will ...

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Charlemagne: Beware Of Europhoria

Two sets of numbers tell a contradictory story about the euro zone.

Economic data point to improvements by the month, even by the day: growth is picking up and the borrowing costs of even the most indebted countries keep falling.

The crisis is over, say some Eurocrats.

By contrast, polls ahead of this month's European elections point to political upheaval.

Voters are exasperated with their governments and with Europe; anti-establishment groups are on the rise and may come top in some places.

Europe may be about to test de Tocqueville's contention that the most propitious time for revolution is not when conditions are worsening, but when they start to improve.

"Evils which are patiently endured when they seem inevitable become intolerable once the idea of escape from them is suggested," he wrote.

Having witnessed the evils of falling living standards and mass unemployment, and with a general sense that citizens have had to pay to save banks (all worsened by leaders' mismanagement of the crisis), there are signs that escape is at hand.

This week euro-zone finance ministers congratulated Portugal on making a "clean exit" from its bail-out, forgoing the safety net of a precautionary loan.

In following the examples of Ireland and Spain, Portugal is perhaps being reckless. If these countries run into trouble, they will be able neither to draw quickly on loans nor to rely on the backstop of the European Central Bank, whose never-used bond-buying policy, Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT), depends on there being a formal programme. But politics has trumped prudence.

Debtor countries can claim to have rid themselves of the hated "troika" (the ECB, the European Commission and the IMF); creditors can claim vindication for their policies of austerity and structural reform.

Greece and Cyprus remain under programmes. Euro-zone ministers belatedly acknowledged that, after years of austerity and a deep slump, Greece has at last achieved a primary budget surplus (ie, before interest payments).

Under a promise made in 2012 but delayed until after the European election, the euro zone will consider if Greece needs more help to bring down its vast debt. Nobody will talk of a write-off. Instead ministers may "extend and pretend" by stretching out already-long maturities.

The recovery is gaining strength, with modest but accelerating growth expected in the euro zone this year and next. Cyprus, the only country still in recession, is likely to grow next year.

Unemployment has peaked. Investors are rushing into peripheral European debt. Yields on ten-year bonds for Italy and Spain have dipped below 3% for the first time since the euro began (though that partly reflects very low inflation). Last month Greece returned to the bond market for the first time in four years.

Yet markets are in danger of reverting to the folly of the first decade of the euro, when investors paid almost the same price for the debt of Greece as of Germany.

There are good reasons to restrain the euphoria. The prospect of a chaotic default and the break-up of the euro may have receded, but economic problems are far from over.

Debt levels have risen sharply, growth is sluggish and unemployment is worryingly high. More than a quarter of workers are out of jobs in Spain and Greece. Bank lending, on which euro-zone firms are still dependent, is shrinking. Similar companies in neighbouring euro-zone countries pay widely different interest rates. With inflation consistently below 1%, troubled countries will struggle to close the competitiveness gap with Germany and work off heavy debts.

The prospect of even more damaging deflation is uncomfortably close.

Europe faces three interconnected risks: prolonged stagnation, reform paralysis and political backlash. Especially in southern Europe, growth will be sluggish at best and joblessness will remain high for many years.

Despite the arrival of energetic new prime ministers, France and Italy have yet to make a convincing commitment to liberal reforms, while Germany is unapologetic about running a large demand-sapping trade surplus.

Beware Of Reform-Phobia Too

The euro zone, too, is shy of change. The ECB has dragged its feet over unconventional measures like quantitative easing to fight deflation.

Other European Union institutions are in pre-electoral doldrums; there is a good chance of stalemate over the choice of a new commission president. There is little energy left for measures to strengthen the euro zone through greater risk-sharing, or to boost growth by deepening the single market.

Negotiations on an ambitious transatlantic trade deal with America are losing steam (also because of nervousness in America).

One reason why European politicians are worried about further reform is the fear of populism. Eurosceptic parties are leading the polls or running second in France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy and in non-euro Britain and Denmark.

Talk of leaving the euro zone is resurfacing. Silvio Berlusconi, a former Italian prime minister, has said Italy and other countries might have to give up the currency unless the ECB loosens monetary policy.

And in Finland, a creditor country, a paper published by a group of economists this week suggests that it would be better to leave the euro lest Finland gets dragged into a more federal system with joint liabilities such as Eurobonds.

If markets once seemed ready to push the weakest countries out of the euro, now it is voters who may pull their escape cord.

With a primary surplus, Greece no longer needs to borrow for itself; so it could now more easily default on its debt.

Support for the European project, always fragile, will keep falling if it fails to deliver greater prosperity. Europe's leaders still face testing times. As de Tocqueville put it, "a sovereign who seeks to relieve his subjects after a long period of oppression is lost, unless he be a man of great genius."

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IMF Postponing Next Tranches to Greece

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