Greece to Play Gibraltar First in World Cup Qualifying

UEFA officially added Gibraltar to Greece’s FIFA World Cup Qualifying Group and Greece will kick of qualifying against FIFA’ newest member. The first game is scheduled for September 6th, in...

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8 things you should never do in a museum

[museums goers]Flickr/Alan Light Art, science, puppetry, medical oddities—there's a museum for every interest. And while each may showcase a different passion, all are united by some basic rules of conduct. Some of these rules are posted — don't touch the art, for example — but just as many are unspoken codes that help a visitor make the most of a visit while not diminishing the experience for others. Here's what not to do if you want to win at visiting any kind of museum. You can reward yourself with a trip to the gift shop. RELATED: Incredible Free Museums Around the World BRING YOUR TRAVEL BAG. SmarterTravel There are plenty of reasons a traveler would be bound to their baggage for an afternoon (or longer). Maybe you’ve already checked out of your lodging, maybe those airport lockers you were depending on no longer exist — but there's no reason you should head to a museum with a hefty suitcase in tow. At best, it’s rude and at worst, it will be the reason a museum guard won't let you through the doors. The museum might provide lockers equipped to handle a shoulder bag or even a backpack, but the staff can and should turn you away if you try to take a huge travel bag in. Aside from taking up too much space, large bags and rolling suitcases can damage floors, knock over precious artifacts, and disturb other visitors. No one wants to hear suitcase wheels barreling across the gallery as they try their best to ponder the meaning of a giant monochrome cube. Most hotels will hold onto your luggage for the day, even if you’ve already checked out. If you don’t have that option because you opted for Airbnb, try any nearby hotel or hostel — sometimes a small tip and asking politely is all it takes. CLIMB ON OR TOUCH ANYTHING. SmarterTravel Museums are not playgrounds, and despite my hope that everyone above the age of seven already knows this, it’s clear that some people don’t. Multi-million dollar artworks have been climbed on and ruined by selfie-hungry tourists—like the student who smashed an ancient Greek sculpture at a Milan institution in a quest for a picture atop it, or the British parents who saw no problem with their child climbing onto a $10 million Tate Modern installation. How you feel about an artwork or artifact doesn’t affect its worth and importance to others. You can think it’s awful, but you’d still likely be liable for any damage. Ignorance isn’t always bliss. There are museums that antsy kids (and adults) can enjoy without climbing the exhibits. Washington DC’s Renwick Gallery always has jaw-dropping decorative exhibitions that visitors can reasonably interact with, for instance there's giant hand-woven nests you’re welcome to walk into, and a 100-foot woven ceiling sculpture that guests are encouraged to lie beneath and gaze up at from the softly carpeted floor. Just because you can’t touch doesn’t mean you can’t participate. SKIP THE WALL TEXT. SmarterTravel Even the stuffiest museums are full of incredible stories and powerful statements that can wow you if you let them. The best way to understand an exhibit is to read the information that the curators provide. Reading the wall text might have helped the museum-goers who were recently duped by two teenagers at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art when one of the kids placed his glasses on the floor to poke fun at the decidedly underwhelming displays, which apparently included stuffed animals placed on a blanket. Photos of the visitors crowding around the spectacles swiftly went viral, and art lovers everywhere groaned. If you don't see wall text anywhere there are likely brochures or audio guides available. Ask a guard how you can follow along. SEE THE REST OF THE STORY AT BUSINESS INSIDER

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Europe's policy towards Russia is starting to crack

[Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2016 (SPIEF 2016) in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor/File Photo]Thomson Reuters BERLIN (Reuters) - As the European Union squabbled over refugees, Greek bailouts and austerity in past years, it showed striking unity in another area: its resolve to punish Russia for the annexation of Crimea and support of separatists in eastern Ukraine. That consensus was possible because German Chancellor Angela Merkel was able to keep Russia-friendly members of her own government on-side and convince skeptical EU states like Slovakia, Hungary and Italy to back extensions of the bloc's economic and financial sanctions against Moscow. Another six month extension seems likely to be agreed on Tuesday. But that cannot hide the fact that the mood in Berlin is shifting. And with that shift, the first real cracks are emerging in the European consensus on how to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In recent weeks, as NATO advanced plans to deploy battalions along Russia's western border, Russian athletes were banned from the Olympic Games over doping and Moscow was threatened with ejection from the European soccer championships because of violent fans, officials in Berlin have begun to express concern that ties with Moscow could suffer irreparable damage. Coupled with these fears has been growing frustration with the government in Ukraine and its struggles to implement its side of the Minsk peace deal by pushing through a law that would allow elections to take place in the disputed east. More generally, some German and European officials have begun questioning how many fronts Europe can afford to fight at a time when the bloc faces major threats like Brexit, attacks from Islamic State militants and the simmering refugee crisis. "People are tired of confrontation with Russia. They don't like the tensions and they see that Ukraine is not delivering enough on the reform front," said Ulrich Speck, a senior fellow at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington. "When you're confronted with ISIS, Putin doesn't look so bad. Because of this fatigue, there is a growing risk that the anti-sanctions camp grows stronger," Speck said, a view also expressed by officials in the United States, which has imposed its own sanctions on Russia over Ukraine. [putin merkel]Thomson Reuters DIVIDE Over the past weeks the divide between the parties in Merkel's "grand coalition" government has widened, with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier leading the push for a more conciliatory approach towards Russia, and a step-by-step easing of sanctions. At the weekend, he raised eyebrows by suggesting that NATO risked provoking Russia with military maneuvers in eastern Europe. "What we shouldn't do now is to inflame the situation by loud sabre-rattling and shrill war cries," he told the Bild newspaper. There are two ways to read Steinmeier. The first is that he is playing good cop to Merkel's bad cop, and that the hardline German stance on sanctions is unlikely to change substantially. "What has changed on Russia policy? I think nothing has changed," said one senior German diplomat. "Still, with the sanctions deadline looming, we have to show we are doing everything we can to engage with Russia." The other interpretation is that Steinmeier's comments point to a deeper split between Merkel's conservatives and his Social Democrats (SPD) which will only grow as the 2017 German election approaches. Some officials fear this split could send a signal of disunity to Berlin's partners, undermining the EU consensus. One thing is sure: domestic German politics is playing a role in the Russia debate. Steinmeier has come under significant pressure from SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel over the past month to soften his rhetoric on Russia, officials familiar with their discussions say. [Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel Sigmar Gabriel]Thomson Reuters SYMBOLIC VISITS Gabriel is the presumptive challenger to Merkel in next year's election and is scrambling for issues that can lift the struggling SPD in the polls and differentiate them from the chancellor's conservatives. Russia is a natural place for the SPD to start. For many in the party, attitudes towards Moscow were shaped by former chancellor Willy Brandt's "Ostpolitik" engagement policy in the 1970s and the crumbling Soviet Union's support for German reunification. "We can't allow the successes of Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik to be squandered," former SPD chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a friend of Putin and former mentor to Steinmeier, cautioned in a weekend newspaper interview. Later this month, Gabriel is scheduled to travel to Russia to meet with Putin at his private residence outside Moscow. On the same day, June 27, Ukraine's new Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman is due to make his first official visit to Berlin for talks with Merkel. The symbolism of the two meetings will not be lost on Germany's partners, some of whom are already talking about a gradual dismantling of sanctions. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker both attended a major Russian investor conference that was held in St. Petersburg last week - visits that would have been unthinkable a year ago. Slovakia, one of biggest skeptics on Russia sanctions, takes over the EU presidency in July. The country's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, speaking to Reuters in Luxembourg on Monday, said: "I see a growing demand for a political discussion about sanctions after this rollover and I expect that to happen." (Additional reporting by Robin Emmott, Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; writing by Noah Barkin; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Hudson Warehouse Re-Invents Greek Classic with LYSISARAH

Hudson Warehouse celebrates its 13th Summer Season in Riverside Park with a new take on a Greek classic. Aristophanes's Lysistrata was a woman who persuaded her sisterhood of friends to withhold sex from their husbands and lovers in an attempt to persuade ...

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Greece: Stocks Jump, Capital Controls Lifted Soon?

Greece might lift most or all its capital controls by the end of 2016, and that sent the Global X MSCI Greece exchange-traded fund (GREK) up 5% Monday. Greeks have not been allowed to withdraw more than 420 euros ($475) each week from banks since last July.

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DVDs return to a GREEK wedding and let the 'Midnight Special' shine its light

The Portokalos Family is back as the original cast of the 2002 blockbuster hit "My Big Fat GREEK Wedding" reunite in the hilarious sequel "My Big Fat ...

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Photos From Greece's Refugee Camps Show The Importance Of World Refugee Day

This year's World Refugee Day comes as the number of refugees across the world is at a record high, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. By recent estimates, one out of every 113 people in the world have been displaced by conflict.

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