Author: Dionissis Andras

Greece on Thursday sold a 22% stake in National Bank (NBG), its second-biggest lender by market value, with the sale oversubscribed by more than eight times, a source close to the process told Reuters. After injecting about 50 billion euros ($54 billion) to prop up Greece’s four largest lenders in return for shares during the country’s decade-long debt crisis which ended in 2018, state-controlled bank bailout fund HFSF started divesting its stakes last month. Eurobank (EURBr.AT) was the first to end the state’s participation in its share capital in October, days before S&P Global became the first among the “big three” rating…

Rome (16/11 – 57) Sri Lanka is mired in a deep political and economic crisis and the country’s then President Rajapaksa has flown out of the country, days after a huge crowd of protesters stormed his residence in July 2022. Protesters for months have demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose government has been blamed for chronic mismanagement of the country’s finances. The island nation of 22 million people has suffered months of lengthy blackouts, acute food and fuel shortages, and galloping inflation in its most painful downturn on record. Here is how the crisis unfolded: April 1: State of emergency Rajapaksa declares a temporary state of emergency, giving security forces sweeping powers to arrest and…

Perched atop a metal ladder, Athanassia Pistola helps her husband nail the roof of a temporary pen for their farm animals that survived a gigantic fire that ravaged northeastern Greece in August. Next to it, all that remains of their previous sheepfold is a pile of melted iron and other materials, the rest of it swept away by the flames that also destroyed part of the important Dadia national park, situated near the Greek-Turkish border. Out of the Pistola family’s nearly 80 goats, only three survived, their backs still charred. Unprecedented in Greece in its intensity, the Dadia fire has been classed by…

Taste of Greece is back for a 7th year in Fort Myers this weekend. The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church along Cypress Lake Drive is hosting a journey to the Mediterranean with Greek cuisine, traditional Greek music. It’s a weekend-long event that started Friday and runs through Saturday from 11:00 a.m – 7:30 p.m., and Sunday 11:00 a.m – 6:00 p.m. Lisa Osario with Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church along says this free event has a lot in store. “You can expect to go Greek!” said Lisa. “ It’s twice a year, our festival in February, and our little mini festival this weekend brings you…

In addition to the many magnificent historical monuments in Greece, the country has several unique sunken cities and archaeological sites. These submerged sites aren’t mere shipwrecks or antiquities but fully submerged settlements once teeming with life. Each sunken “Atlantis” boasts its own rich history, intriguing enthusiasts of the extraordinary. Several of these sites are accessible for exploration through scuba diving, showcasing historical and scientific treasures now at the bottom of the sea. Epidaurus, the jewel of the Peloponnese, is famous for its well-preserved ancient theater. One of the most significant archaeological sites of Greece, it attracts thousands of tourists and antiquity…

Polling stations are reopening nationwide on Sunday for the second and final round of Greece’s local government elections. Voting will take place in the country’s regions and municipalities where no single party candidate – or coalition of candidates – managed to surpass the required 43% threshold of votes. Of the country’s 13 regions only 7 elected a regional governor in the first round of elections on October 8, while only 248 municipalities elected mayors out of the 332 municipalities total. Therefore, on Sunday local government elections will be carried out in 6 regions and 84 municipalities across Greece, including Athens…

The app, called “Chronos” for the Greek god of time, means to entice visitors to learn more about Greece’s most popular archaeological site. Ever wondered what the Parthenon in Athens looked like back in its heyday? Visitors to the Acropolis – armed with a smartphone – can now take a peek into the past, pinching and zooming their way around the ancient Greek site, with a digital overlay showing how it once looked, as far back as the 5th century BC. A new augmented reality app called “Chronos,” supported by Greece’s Culture Ministry, allows people to point their phones at…

Writing a book is a long, lonely, indoor job. While I was working on “Greek Myths: A New Retelling,” which weaves together classical stories from Homer to Apuleius, that sense of isolation was compounded by the pandemic. There was no chance of travel, no escape from the island of my London study. But the landscapes of Greece were a crucial reference point for my book, so I spent more time than was necessary Googling sunlit mountains and tangled coastlines, island harbours and flower-dappled meadows — places that, at the time, I could visit only in my imagination. Pelion is home to some…

Franco-German experts unveiled a proposal for sweeping structural reforms to the European Union as pressure builds to bring in new member countries by the end of the decade. The report, commissioned by the EU’s two biggest countries, aims to overhaul rules and prepare to govern in a union of 30 or more nations. The authors envision an model EU in four concentric circles. “1. The inner circle; 2. The EU; 3. Associate members; 4. The European Political Community [a loose association of European leaders that meet twice a year to talk],” they write. EU ministers are discussing the paper on…

Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe must comply with one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people see online. The European Union’s groundbreaking new digital rules took effect Friday for the biggest platforms. The Digital Services Act is part of a suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc — long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants. The DSA is designed to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content that’s either illegal or violates a platform’s terms of service, such as promotion of genocide…