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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, March 14, 2017

Amidst changing regional and international landscapes and bomb threats, American Jewish leaders return home from Israel

Just as the conference began with successful meetings in Egypt and Morocco, so too did it end with an amicable meeting in Greece. President Nicos Anastasiades announced, “In a world characterized by the rise of turmoil, extremism, sectarianism ...


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U.S. Sorority Opens Its Doors to Trans Women Nationwide

“A transgender woman is just as much of a woman as I am,” member Melissa Medved said. "I think it would be really cool for Greek life as a whole to accept the people who are identifying as one way or the other." “I don’t see how we wouldn’t make ...


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Orthodox Church Moves Closer To Ordaining Women Deacons

By then, FitzGerald was a student of theology at the famous Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School in Brooklyn, Massachusetts. That was then. Now, FitzGerald is a professor in the same school, and she’s built a reputation as a tireless ...


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No Specific Proposal Made to British Museum on Parthenon Marbles, Says Greek Culture Ministry

No official or unofficial proposal has been made to the British Museum by the current leadership of the Culture ministry on the return of the Parthenon Marbles, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, responding to an article by “The Independent.”


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Artsakh Foreign Minister Meets ARF Greece

ATHENS, Greece—Within the frameworks of his working visit to Greece, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh Karen Mirzoyan on March 13 met with members of the ARF Central Committee of Greece in Athens. Ambassador Extraordinary and ...


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Greek program to top agenda of Monday’s Eurogroup meeting

  The review of progress made in the implementation of the Greek bailout program is high on the agenda of a Eurogroup meeting of Eurozone Ministers of Finance that is schedule for Monday 20 March. “The Eurogroup will examine the latest developments regarding the second review” a statement reads. The European Commission spokesperson for Economic […]


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Discover Athens with GTT Global

Having survived nearly 25 centuries, the Acropolis of Athens is where the heart of the ancient Greek spirit lives on today. On the rocky outcroppings overlooking the city stands one of the most recognizable monuments in the world. The Acropolis of Athens ...


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“This Is Love” lyrics – Demy (Greece, Eurovision 2017)

In January ERT, the national broadcaster for Greece, announced that superstar Demy would represent the sunny nation at Eurovision 2017. A few short weeks later, we were treated to a national final of three songs and “This Is Love” came out on top.


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ECB’s Nouy: Greek Banks Have Improved ‘Noticeably and Substantially’

BRUSSELS – There has been a significant improvement in the situation of Greek banks, both in terms of capital adequacy and governance, the European Central […] The post ECB’s Nouy: Greek Banks Have Improved ‘Noticeably and Substantially’ appeared first on The National Herald.


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Warning: Uniting Europe Means Conquering and Plundering the Weak

A number of countries have threatened to leave the Eurozone including at one time or another Greece, Italy, France, Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain. All of these countries are struggling with enormously high debt. Reps from lower parliament chamber in ...


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Artsakh Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan Visits Greece

ATHENS, Greece (A.W.)— The Foreign Affairs Minister of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh) Karen Mirzoyan is currently on a working visit to Greece to participate in the event titled “Our Heroic Artsakh,” hosted by the Armenian National ...


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Can You Score 12/12 On This Greek Letter Test?

Either you were in Greek life or you remember your math and econ classes really well. 2. Did you know you can sign up for a BuzzFeed Community account and create your own BuzzFeed posts? Here’s a handy guide to help you start posting today!


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Greece needs contributions by 10 workers to pay just one pension

We saw it coming when wages in Greece started to plummet. Now the data obtained by social security experts confirm it: A lot of people need to work in order to pay one single pension. It takes the contributions of ten workers to pay one single pension. Before the crisis it required the contributions of … The post Greece needs contributions by 10 workers to pay just one pension appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.


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A financial planner shares the 10 money lessons he learned the hard way

[man walking]Flickr/abstrkt.ch Have you made investing decisions you regret? I know I have. I recently turned 40 and thought it was a good time to reflect on my own investing mistakes and lessons learned from my 17-plus years of experience. 1. DON'T FOLLOW THE HERD I started investing in June 1999, right near the top of the technology bubble, and made the same mistakes as many others by buying hot tech stocks. Everyone was making money; why not just invest in a handful of technology stocks and watch them go up 20% to 30% per year? Obviously, this did not happen for me — or many others — as the Nasdaq 100 dropped almost 80% from peak to trough. Lesson learned: Following the crowd is not a recipe for investment success. It's OK to be different. 2. THE BEST INVESTMENT MAY BE THE ONE YOU DON'T MAKE My decision to not invest in a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, condo in the mid-2000s was a smart decision. Many "experts" were saying real estate never loses money, but I couldn't get the numbers to work. Twelve years later, those same condos sell for 25% less than their long-ago sale price, not even mentioning the ongoing property taxes and maintenance costs. Many investors struggle with the fear of missing out, but resist the temptation. LESSON LEARNED: Sometimes saying no is the best decision. 3. INVEST IN YOUR OWN HUMAN CAPITAL In 2003, I decided to go back to school and get my MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. This investment took time and money, but the result was additional knowledge, a lifelong network, and a higher-paying job with greater earning potential. A lot of people try to find the perfect investment, but sometimes the best investment is themselves. LESSON LEARNED: Making yourself more marketable and attractive to employers through personal development will only help you in the long term through increased earnings and job security. 4. AVOID LARGE HOLDINGS OF YOUR COMPANY STOCK Before the financial crisis, I worked for a financial services firm in New York that compensated employees via stock options and employer stock in their 401(k). Financial stocks in the mid-2000s were a lot like technology stocks in the late 1990s; they only went up. Then the financial crisis occurred, and the stock price declined over 90%. In addition, there were massive layoffs at the firm. Fortunately, I survived the layoffs, but many employees lost their jobs and a significant part of their nest eggs. LESSON LEARNED: Limit your employer's stock to no more than 5% to 10% of your portfolio. 5. DON'T TRY TO TIME THE MARKET It's really hard to time the stock market. Every day you'll hear or read about one person saying to buy stocks and another urging you to sell stocks. I've found the easiest way to invest is to make scheduled monthly contributions to your various accounts — 401(k), IRA accounts, 529 plans or investment accounts. This is called dollar-cost averaging. The benefit is that if stocks drop, you'll buy more shares because they're less expensive, and if stocks rise you'll buy fewer because they're pricier. LESSON LEARNED: Take the emotion out of investing by setting up an automated investing schedule. 6. AVOID THE NOISE Early in my career, I'd watch popular cable business news programs that would provide "stock tips." I learned pretty quickly that their goal was to make money selling advertisements, not to boost my long-term portfolio wealth. I've stopped watching these kinds of shows and focus on things I can control, such as my savings, life insurance, taxes, estate planning, and so on. LESSON LEARNED: Don't get caught up in the short-term noise; focus on the things you can control. 7. EQUITIES ARE FOR GROWTH, AND BONDS HELP YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT I started my investing career in 1999, and during the first 10 years I witnessed two of the worst stock market crashes in history with a peak-to-trough decline of over 50% each time. Take your portfolio and divide it by two, and how does that make you feel? How did high-quality bonds do during this time? They increased in price or stayed flat, which allowed me to rebalance my portfolio. They also helped me sleep better at night. LESSON LEARNED: A diversified mix of stocks and bonds gives you a better chance of sticking with your investment plan than a 100% stock portfolio. Stocks may provide a greater long-term return, but if you sell at the bottom it doesn't matter. 8. IMPLEMENT A DISCIPLINED INVESTMENT STRATEGY AND STICK WITH IT There are many investment strategies, and there are times when one strategy will work better than others, but over the long term the returns shouldn't be materially different. The problem is most people jump to what has done well lately when they should be doing the opposite. LESSON LEARNED: Implement and follow an investment strategy and stick with it in good times and bad. If you don't have a strategy, implement one or have a financial planner help you. 9. CONTROL YOUR BEHAVIOR Controlling costs is the current fad, which is a good thing for investors, but investors controlling themselves is much more important. Right now that's easy to say, because the U.S. stock market has done very well the past seven years, but how you feel and act when the market drops 50% will have a big impact on your long-term investing results. Buying high and selling low is not a recipe for investing success. LESSON LEARNED: If you can avoid pouring too much money into equities when the market is riding high (March 2009) or too little when it's sinking low (October 2007), you'll be better off. Studies by Vanguard, Morningstar and Dalbar show the average investor trails the market by 1.5% to 3% per year due to poor decisions caused by wanting to jump on the latest fad. 10. TIME IS YOUR BEST FRIEND I've invested for over 17 years and remain amazed by the power of compound interest. I've invested through Y2K, 9/11, the '01-'03 recession, SARS, a real estate bubble, the great financial crisis, Greece's potential exit from the eurozone, the debt ceiling debate, ebola, and four presidents. The global equity markets have marched on. For example, a portfolio of $500,000 17 years ago with a 5% annualized return would have grown to over $1.1 million, assuming no contributions or withdrawals. Lesson learned: Implement a disciplined investment strategy, be patient, focus on what you can control (savings, taxes, and so on) and avoid a big mistake. If you can't do this, hire a fee-only financial planner to help you stay on track. _Mike Eklund is a financial planner at Financial Symmetry in Raleigh, North Carolina._ NOW WATCH: What happens when you eat too much protein


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How the search for the value of pi has transformed math

[Pi_plate]Piledhigheranddeeper/Wikimedia Commons The number represented by pi (Ï€) is used in calculations whenever something round (or nearly so) is involved, such as for circles, spheres, cylinders, cones and ellipses. Its value is necessary to compute many important quantities about these shapes, such as understanding the relationship between a circle’s radius and its circumference and area (circumference=2Ï€r; area=Ï€r2). Pi also appears in the calculations to determine the area of an ellipse and in finding the radius, surface area and volume of a sphere. Our world contains many round and near-round objects; finding the exact value of pi helps us build, manufacture and work with them more accurately. Historically, people had only very coarse estimations of pi (such as 3, or 3.12, or 3.16), and while they knew these were estimates, they had no idea how far off they might be. The search for the accurate value of pi led not only to more accuracy, but also to the development of new concepts and techniques, such as limits and iterative algorithms, which then became fundamental to new areas of mathematics. FINDING THE ACTUAL VALUE OF PI Between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago, people used trial-and-error approximations of pi, without doing any math or considering potential errors. The earliest written approximations of pi are 3.125 in Babylon (1900-1600 B.C.) and 3.1605 in ancient Egypt (1650 B.C.). Both approximations start with 3.1 – pretty close to the actual value, but still relatively far off. [Archimedes pi]Leszek Krupinski/Wikimedia CommonsThe first rigorous approach to finding the true value of pi was based on geometrical approximations. Around 250 B.C., the Greek mathematician Archimedes drew polygons both around the outside and within the interior of circles. Measuring the perimeters of those gave upper and lower bounds of the range containing pi. He started with hexagons; by using polygons with more and more sides, he ultimately calculated three accurate digits of pi: 3.14. Around A.D. 150, Greek-Roman scientist Ptolemy used this method to calculate a value of 3.1416. [Liu Hui pi polygons]Gisling and Pbroks13/Wikimedia CommonsIndependently, around A.D. 265, Chinese mathematician Liu Hui created another simple polygon-based iterative algorithm. He proposed a very fast and efficient approximation method, which gave four accurate digits. Later, around A.D. 480, Zu Chongzhi adopted Liu Hui’s method and achieved seven digits of accuracy. This record held for another 800 years. In 1630, Austrian astronomer Christoph Grienberger arrived at 38 digits, which is the most accurate approximation manually achieved using polygonal algorithms. MOVING BEYOND POLYGONS The development of infinite series techniques in the 16th and 17th centuries greatly enhanced people’s ability to approximate pi more efficiently. An infinite series is the sum (or much less commonly, product) of the terms of an infinite sequence, such as ½, ¼, 1/8, 1/16, … 1/(2n). The first written description of an infinite series that could be used to compute pi was laid out in Sanskrit verse by Indian astronomer Nilakantha Somayaji around 1500 A.D., the proof of which was presented around 1530 A.D. In 1665, English mathematician and physicist Isaac Newton used infinite series to compute pi to 15 digits using calculus he and German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz discovered. After that, the record kept being broken. It reached 71 digits in 1699, 100 digits in 1706, and 620 digits in 1956 – the best approximation achieved without the aid of a calculator or computer. In tandem with these calculations, mathematicians were researching other characteristics of pi. Swiss mathematician Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777) first proved that pi is an irrational number – it has an infinite number of digits that never enter a repeating pattern. In 1882, German mathematician Ferdinand von Lindemann proved that pi cannot be expressed in a rational algebraic equation (such as pi²=10 or 9pi4 - 240pi2 + 1492 = 0). TOWARD EVEN MORE DIGITS OF PI Bursts of calculations of even more digits of pi followed the adoption of iterative algorithms, which repeatedly build an updated value by using a calculation performed on the previous value. A simple example of an iterative algorithm allows you to approximate the square root of 2 as follows, using the formula (x+2/x)/2: * (2+2/2)/2 = 1.5 * (1.5+2/1.5)/2 = 1.4167 * (1.4167+2/1.4167)/2 = 1.4142, which is a very close approximation already. Advances toward more digits of pi came with the use of a Machin-like algorithm (a generalization of English mathematician John Machin’s formula developed in 1706) and the Gauss-Legendre algorithm (late 18th century) in electronic computers (invented mid-20th century). In 1946, ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, calculated 2,037 digits of pi in 70 hours. The most recent calculation found more than 13 trillion digits of pi in 208 days! It has been widely accepted that for most numerical calculations involving pi, a dozen digits provides sufficient precision. According to mathematicians Jörg Arndt and Christoph Haenel, 39 digits are sufficient to perform most cosmological calculations, because that’s the accuracy necessary to calculate the circumference of the observable universe to within one atom’s diameter. Thereafter, more digits of pi are not of practical use in calculations; rather, today’s pursuit of more digits of pi is about testing supercomputers and numerical analysis algorithms. CALCULATING PI BY YOURSELF [circle inscribed in a square]AskMeHelpDesk Forum There are also fun and simple methods for estimating the value of pi. One of the best-known is a method called “Monte Carlo.” The method is fairly simple. To try it at home, draw a circle and a square around it (as at left) on a piece of paper. Imagine the square’s sides are of length 2, so its area is 4; the circle’s diameter is therefore 2, and its area is pi. The ratio between their areas is pi/4, or about 0.7854. Now pick up a pen, close your eyes and put dots on the square at random. If you do this enough times, and your efforts are truly random, eventually the percentage of times your dot landed inside the circle will approach 78.54% – or 0.7854. Now you’ve joined the ranks of mathematicians who have calculated pi through the ages. _Xiaojing Ye, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics_, _Georgia State University_ This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.  NOW WATCH: A $2.5 trillion asset manager just put a statue of a defiant girl in front of the Wall Street bull


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Stand Firm in Grace

In this lab, Pastor John covers the exhortations of 1 Peter, including the one to stand firm in grace. The New Testament was originally written in Greek. Therefore, it is beneficial to learn some Greek to be able to engage with the original texts.


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Scholarly Workshop Addresses Questions about the Mutual Influences between Egypt, Greece, and Rome

The differentness of ancient Egypt, Herodotus’s “alien land full of wonders,” was the theme of a recent scholarly workshop at the Getty Villa bringing together Getty curators and visiting scholars who are pursuing research on cultural and artistic ...


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This Magical Greek Island Will Inevitably Entice You!

Magical beaches, archaic jewels, and countryside enveloping alive towns and otherworldly suburbs...Did you imagine the scenery? How was it? Heavenly! Mystical! Ethereal! Out of this world! You will run out of words and synonyms but would not be able to ...


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Greece gets hit with snow as it rebounds from windstorm

Last week, the Town of Greece may have been the hardest hit area after a windstorm ripped through our area. Now, just about a week after the storm, the town is getting hit with more snow, as crews work to repair the remaining power and cable outages.


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Greece’s Opposition Leader Mitsotakis Wraps up Crete Tour With Promise for Lower Taxes

With a pledge to lower taxes if his party comes to power, main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday concluded a two-day tour of eastern Crete in Agios Nikolaos, Lasithi. He said that ND’s top priority will be to reduce the ...


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A Greek flavour for Monday jazz session at Bedford Arms

… Klampanis grew up on the Greek island of Zakynthos, surrounded by …


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The Brexit bucket list: what to do before you leave the EU

So act now if you want to drop everything and move to Greece. Or perhaps you’d like to apply for an agricultural subsidy The people have spoken. What they said wasn’t clear, but we got the gist and so, by the end of March 2019, the UK will have left ...


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Dozens of asylum-seekers in Hungary continue hunger strike

Hungary's Office of Immigration and Asylum said in a statement to The Associated Press that it boosted medical services because of the hunger strike, with social workers and armed security guards monitoring the asylum-seekers for any signs of sickness. According to a ruling by European Court of Human Rights, Ilias Ilias and Ali Ahmed were each awarded 10,000 euros ($10,645) plus costs because of their detention in a transit zone at the Hungarian border with Serbia, where both applied for asylum, and later deportation to Serbia. Among other issues, the court found that Hungarian authorities had failed to carry out an individual assessment of each applicant's asylum case and put them at risk of being sent back all the way to Greece "to face inhuman and degrading reception conditions."


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ECB's Nouy says bad loans 'major challenge' for Greek banks

ATHENS, March 14 (Reuters) - Bad loans pose a major challenge to Greek banks but the sector has improved "substantially," European Central Bank supervision chief Daniel Nouy told the Athens News Agency on Tuesday. "The situation of the Greek banks has ...


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Greece Offers UK Its Ancient Artifacts as Incentive for Returning the Parthenon Marbles

After the decision made last year by the Greek government to not legally pursuit forcing the UK to return the Parthenon Marbles to their rightful home in Athens atop the Acropolis, they have decided instead to offer an incentive of cultural exchange in ...


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In The Kitchen: Greek and Grain Salad With Lemon Greek Yogurt Cheesecake Bars

Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window) Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – March is National Nutrition Month so Lisa ...


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Greek Prosecutor Ties 17 Suspects to Defense Ministry Bribes

ATHENS – Greece’s scandal-tainted Defense Ministry, used by officials to steal hundreds of millions of euros in contracts over the years, has been hit with […] The post Greek Prosecutor Ties 17 Suspects to Defense Ministry Bribes appeared first on The National Herald.


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Greek Police Raid Squats, Round Up Refugees, Migrants

ATHENS – Greek police on March 13 detained dozens of immigrants after raiding a building where they were living as squatters. Officers entered a building […] The post Greek Police Raid Squats, Round Up Refugees, Migrants appeared first on The National Herald.


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Foreign Minister’s, N. Kotzias, statements following his meeting with the Armenian FM, Mr. E. Nalbandian (Yerevan, 10/3/2017)

I would like to thank Edward for his warm welcome here in Armenia, and for our cooperation all of these years being together in the international fora and organizations. Today, like yesterday, we had a very constructive meeting during which we discussed all our bilateral and multilateral interests. As you know, this year we are celebrating the anniversary for the 25 years of our diplomatic relations, but that stands for our modern States and as I say we have had thousands of years of diplomatic relations, without having official diplomacy. We explored ways to expand our relations in all the fields. We have three asymmetries in our relations: we have much stronger feelings than the reality of our relations proves, hence we love each other as countries, but we have not deepened our relations enough· we have very good political relations, but our economic relations are still lagging and finally, we have always had the will to cooperate but from our side, as Greece, but we have not done enough to implement everything. So we have agreed to find the way in order to create the institutions we need for our cooperation and to take stock of all our treaties and agreements in order to decide what we are going to do and which initiatives we need to start or restart. We think that on trade and investments there is a lot of possibilities, so we have agreed to organize at the end of this year a Business Forum, here in Erevan, where Greek companies will come to seek ways of cooperation and investments in fields like energy, health, telecommunications, construction, etc. For me and Edward, as well, diplomatic relations are not only about economic relations. There are relations in other very important fields, like education, culture, cooperation between universities and research centers. We also discussed how to deepen our cooperation in the field of tourism. We would like to see more Armenians visiting the Greek islands; we would like to see more Greeks visiting the beautiful Armenia. We have also discussed how we can cooperate in questions regarding European Union and how to find ways in order to deepen the relations between Armenia and EU. As you know, we are one the oldest members of the EU, with a long tradition and expertise. We would like to find ways to deepen our cooperation on European matters. One of the most important issues is to make efforts concerning the visa regime, so that the EU opens up a real discussion for the visa liberalization for Armenian citizens. Last but not least, we have discussed the cooperation between our Diasporas. We are not big countries – maybe small or medium in size- but we do have very important Diasporas. We have not only discussed our cooperation, we have also discussed important regional problems, such as the Cyprus issue and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. We support the peace process, the peace negotiations, the OSCE Minsk group Cochairs’ efforts. We support security and stability in these crisis ridden regions. Once again, Edward, my good friend, thank you very much for our discussions, for what you have done for the development of our relations. Many thanks to the Armenian people. Thank you!


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Deputy FM I. Amanatidis meets with Romanian Secretary of State G. Ciamba (MFA 10 March 2017)

Τhe Romanian Secretary of State for Political Bilateral and Strategic Affairs, George Ciamba, concluded a working visit with Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Amanatidis today, Friday 10 March, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the course of the meeting, which was conducted in a positive atmosphere, the multilateral cooperation between the two countries was emphasized by both sides, with the goal of stability and growth in Southeast Europe and the Black Sea region, also through participation in regional fora and Organizations such as the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), as well as the Trilateral Cooperation “Romania-Bulgaria-Greece” and the similar quadrilateral “Bulgaria-Romania-Croatia-Greece” configuration. Deputy Foreign Minister Amanatidis made the reminder that Greece remains among the main investors in Romania, where Greek businesses boast a shining and dynamic presence, while also noting that Greece has traditionally been a fervent supporter of Romania in European issues, including Romania’s very accession to the EU. Mr. Ciamba expressed the appreciation of the Romanian Government for our country’s continued support of Romania and referred to the usefulness of bilateral coordination on issues of a regional and broader international nature in regard to which the two nations share common interests and a common vision. Additionally, they exchanged views pertaining to issues of cultural/educational and religious diplomacy, which fall within Deputy Minister Amantidis’ portfolio. More specifically, Deputy Foreign Minister Amanatidis expressed his delight at the fact that the Greek language is presently being taught in many Romanian Universities, while the discussion also carried over to specific ways to further strengthen and intensify bilateral cooperation in the fields in question.


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Foreign Minister N. Kotzias' interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency and journalist S. Aravopoulou

JOURNALIST: What resulted from the visits to Georgia and Armenia?N. KOTZIAS: It was an important visit to the Caucasus, to two friendly countries, Georgia and Armenia. We agreed with both countries to further develop our political dialogue and the cooperation between respective ministries. We also agreed to expand our cooperation, especially on EU issues, and we agreed to offer our expertise to these countries. JOURNALIST: Both countries are located in a geostrategic region of particular importance and with a number of problems ...N. KOTZIAS: Yes, we considered the region's problems, we assessed the geostrategic situation, and we saw that we have a strong convergence of views and interests. We explored the potential for developing our economic cooperation, in terms of business and more generally. In particular with Armenia, we agreed to hold a business mission, late in 2017, with the aim of developing trade/business relations, because they are at a very low level.As my interlocutors and I observed, while the emotional ties -- of history and tradition -- are very strong with these two countries, they are not reflected in our inter-state relations of recent years. Likewise, while we have a good political dialogue and frequent political meetings, our economic cooperation is not correspondingly strong. JOURNALIST: What moves are you planning for the immediate future? What did you agree concerning the upgrading of our bilateral relations?N. KOTZIAS: Given that there are a number of older agreements that are inactive, we agreed to create special committees that will study the legal texts of the agreements and assess which have been implemented and which have not. At the same time, we need to adopt measures for their implementation and decide which of these agreements are no longer needed because they are out of date, and what new agreements need to be concluded.I also extended invitations to my counterparts to visit Greece, and I conveyed invitations from the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic for an exchange of visits. JOURNALIST: Both of your counterparts stressed the strategic importance of your visit to their countries ...N. KOTZIAS: What we agreed is that our partnership is not a simple partnership, but a strategic partnership. We agreed with Georgia and Armenia to develop types of trilateral cooperation schemes similar to those we have developed in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. We specifically discussed what other European country, apart from Greece, will participate in these trilateral cooperation schemes, and we also explored the extent to which we might create a quadrilateral cooperation scheme among these two countries and two EU countries. JOURNALIST: What are you personal impressions from this mission?N. KOTZIAS: I am very moved that we visited historic places, historic monuments of the two peoples. I admit that the visit to the museum of the Armenian genocide, in Yerevan, was especially moving, the documents and archival materials on exhibit were also very compelling.I must tell you that this trip was a particular honour for me, not just in my capacity as Foreign Minister, but also in the capacity of university professor. The University of Tbilisi and the Department of Greek and Byzantine Studies organized an event at which I was the keynote speaker, and I was presented with an award by the University. In Yerevan I also delivered a lecture, to a packed hall, on issues in international politics, at the Department of International Studies, and I had the honour of being awarded an honorary doctorate, with all the commitments that entails. JOURNALIST: How were your meetings with the spiritual leaders of the two countries?N. KOTZIAS: We met with the Patriarch of the Orthodox Christians of Georgia and with the Armenian Catholic Patriarch. We talked about the Church's role in the current era and the importance of spirituality, and I invited them to participate in the International Conference on the protection of religious and cultural communities, which is taking place on 1 and 2 November of this year. JOURNALIST: You attach great importance to culture as a link for political and economic cooperation. What kind of response did you get from your interlocutors?N. KOTZIAS: Beyond religion, one feels Hellenism everywhere – ancient Hellenistic culture, Byzantium – as well as the current Greek reality in these two countries. This is why we talked with the two Foreign Ministers about the ways in which we will develop the cultural relations between the two countries. Because, as you know, I personally, along with the Foreign Ministry as a whole, put great emphasis on cultural diplomacy. This is why, at the end of April -- a month and a half from now -- we are holding the International Conference of the great ancient civilisations that continue to be relevant and influence humanity. Specifically, I am referring to these ten countries: China, India, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Bolivia and Peru. As I have agreed with my Chinese counterpart – together with whom we are inviting the others to Athens, in a joint letter – this will be an initiative also open to third countries.I want to underscore that culture is a strong power in today's world: what we call soft power, or smart power as other schools of thought call it. But it isn't just one power, because with culture you influence and develop relations. Today, culture is an important economic power: what we call the industry of culture. So we have taken special measures on this, too, for the promotion of collaboration in the sector of culture, as in the sectors of education and research. JOURNALIST: You have a busy schedule of meetings in the American capitol. Would you like to talk about that?N. KOTZIAS: In Washington we have meetings with the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor, and other high-ranking members of the new administration. We also have a number of meetings with think tanks, with members of Congress, and interviews have also been scheduled. JOURNALIST: What are Greece's relations with the new Trump administration?N. KOTZIAS: I think we have firm relations with the current President's administration, and we have had a lot of meetings. I hope our relations develop further. We will talk about the region's problems and we will look at the degree to which our views and planning coincide. I also hope to be able to further promote the development of U.S.-Greek relations with other Ministers -- a vital element for our country and in our international relations. JOURNALIST: You had already met with National Security Advisor Michael Flynn ...N. KOTZIAS: Yes, after the Trump administration was sworn in, I met with the former National Security Advisor, Mr. Flynn. And on Tuesday, in Washington, I will meet for the first time with the new National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster.


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Alternate Foreign Minister G. Katrougalos' speech at the conference on "The Future of Europe"

Europe is currently disappointing its peoples because the austerity policies it is implementing favour the few, are exhausting the workers and the middle class, and are dismantling the welfare state. For Europe to be saved, economic governance has to become more democratic, and wealth redistribution and welfare state mechanisms have to be restored, Alternate Foreign Minister G. Katrougalos stressed, speaking at today's conference – hosted by the Foreign Ministry, under the auspices of the President of the Republic – on the Future of Europe.It would be hypocritical, Mr. Katrougalos said, for one to attribute the lack of confidence in the European plan only to the negative repercussions of globalisation. Globalisation, in any case, is not a natural phenomenon. Globalisation is a combination of economic, political and social processes that can be faced through a different policy mix. Neoliberalism is not the only path.We need to admit, Mr. Katrougalos stated, that the European response to the crisis was not what it should have been. It weakened the welfare state, leaving the most vulnerable citizens unprotected. And this was done without the improvement of overall economic performance. The opposite was the case. The austerity policies in Europe generated much worse results than the expansionary policies of President Obama, not just in terms of economic growth, but also with regard to job creation and social cohesion.If the European dream is to survive, we have to abandon the business-as-usual mindset. Europe will either recover its social face or cease to exist. On the other hand, the policy of concentric circles and closed clubs of the powerful would dissolve the European Union that much sooner, Mr. Katrougalos concluded. To this end, the Greek government is in favour of the Europe of many choices, so that the social and democratic dimension of European integration can be strengthened within the provisions of the Treaties and based on the criterion of political agreement on deepening, beyond any exclusion-based mindset.In this context, the Alternate Foreign Minister presented a number of substantiated and innovative proposals, among which is support of a new European Pillar of Social Rights that will include the setting of a European minimum wage, a European programme of social insurance against unemployment, the reshaping of the European Support Mechanism into a European Monetary Fund, and more direct involvement of the European Parliament and national parliaments in the European Semester.


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Meet Greece’s Best White Wines

I’ve witnessed the challenge of translating Greek wine for an American audience at least since the 1990s, when I lived in the Greek enclave of Astoria, Queens. Back then, you could locate high-quality wines from Greece in the neighborhood’s fancier ...


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Anyone having problems with ‘Comments Captcha’?

anyone having problems with comments ‘captcha’? I think I saw a relevant comment by GiGi but the moment I approved it it …disappeared. thanks for the feedback KTG   The post Anyone having problems with ‘Comments Captcha’? appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.


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3 more Turkish commandos allegedly fled to Greece but went missing

Three more Turkish commandos have allegedly fled to Greece but went missing in the country they were supposed to seek asylum. According to a local lawyer, the three entered Greece together with the two commandos who sought asylum in Greece in February. However, once they entered the country, the group split and ever since there … The post 3 more Turkish commandos allegedly fled to Greece but went missing appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.


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Crews continue to work to restore power, cable services as snow moves in

Last week, tens of thousands of homes were in the dark. In Greece Tuesday morning, many residents were happy to see the lights back on. Time Warner crews were still working to fix the cable lines some of them using ice fishing huts to do the job.


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Iceland, Symbol of Financial Crisis, Finally Lifts Capital Controls

The country’s success in engineering a recovery stands in contrast to the efforts of Greece, which uses the euro and does not have its own currency to manage. Greece has continued to falter since Athens imposed capital controls in 2015 as the country ...


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The beautifully simple method Archimedes used to find the first digits of pi

[archimedes]Wikimedia Commons Happy Pi Day! It's March 14, or 3/14, matching the first three digits of Ï€.  Ï€ is one of the fundamental constants of mathematics: the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  Ï€ is an irrational number — it can never be written as a fraction of two whole numbers, and it does not have a terminating or repeating decimal expansion. The decimal expansion of Ï€ goes on forever, never showing any repeating pattern. Since Ï€ is irrational, all we can ever hope to do is get better and better decimal approximations. So, how did the ancients first approximate Ï€? HOW THEY FOUND Π The Greek mathematician Archimedes developed one of the first somewhat rigorous approaches to approximating Ï€. Archimedes observed that polygons drawn inside and outside a circle would have perimeters somewhat close to the circumference of the circle. As described in Jorg Arndt and Cristoph Haenel's book Pi Unleashed, Archimedes started with hexagons: [hexagons and circles with lengths corrected]Business Insider/Andy Kiersz We start with a circle of diameter equal to one, so that, by definition, its circumference will equal Ï€. Using some basic geometry and trigonometry, Archimedes observed that the length of each of the sides of the inscribed blue hexagon would be 1/2, and the lengths of the sides of the circumscribed red hexagon would be 1/√3.  The perimeter of the inscribed blue hexagon has to be smaller than the circumference of the circle, since the hexagon fits entirely inside the circle. The six sides of the hexagon all have length 1/2, so this perimeter is 6 × 1/2 = 3. Similarly, the circumference of the circle has to be less than the perimeter of the circumscribed red hexagon, and this perimeter is 6 × 1/√3, which is about 3.46. This gives us the inequalities 3 < Ï€ < 3.46, already moving us closer to 3.14. Archimedes, through some further clever geometry, figured out how to estimate the perimeters for polygons with twice as many sides. He went from a 6-sided polygon, to a 12-sided polygon, to a 24-sided polygon, to a 48-sided polygon, and ended up with a 96-sided polygon. This final estimate gave a range for Ï€ between 3.1408 and 3.1428, which is accurate to two places. Archimedes' method of approximating Ï€ with polygons, and similar techniques developed in China and India, would be the dominant way mathematicians would approach the calculation of the digits Ï€ for centuries. Today we use algorithms based on the idea of infinite series from calculus, and our ever-faster computers allow us to find trillions of digits of Ï€. 


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Turkish Hurriyet “thanks” Katrougalos for support over row with Netherlands

Greek Minister backs Turkish position with his statements


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Greece offers Agamemnon mask in exchange for Parthenon Marbles

Greece calls it a symbolic act in the fight against far right populism


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Greek Defence Minister inspects military drill on Thasos (photos)

Mr. Kammenos says that when people and army are united they cannot be defeated


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'The Iliad, the Odyssey, and All of Greek Mythology in 99 Minutes or Less' to open at RTG

RACINE — Togas, swords, a Trojan horse, Pandora’s Box and more make appearances in the Racine Theatre Guild’s production of “The Iliad, the Odyssey, and All of Greek Mythology in 99 Minutes or Less” March 31 through April 9 at RTG, 2519 ...


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Costa Cotsilinis, New Zealand Honorary Consul-General talks about his work in Greece

That is a long time! What kind of activities are you involved in? A part from the day to day enquiries relating to Consular activities, over the years there have been a number of high level New Zealand visitors to Greece. I have met two Governors-General ...


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United Nations fellowships available for grads, post-grads

The Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America invites graduate and recent post-graduate students to apply for its fellowships at the United Nations. “Our programs at the U.N. have been ...


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Cyprus Airways preparing to fly again

On March 4, the airline conducted a test flight from Larnaca to Heraklion in Greece with an Airbus A319, as part of the procedure to obtain the certificate. "Our next step," said Popova, "is to get the licence for commercial flights, for which we have ...


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As Greek crisis grinds on, children pay price

… 14 ATHENS, March 14 In Greece's grinding economic crisis … sign of economic devastation in Greece, where traditionally strong family ties … of depression. A quarter of Greece's workforce is unemployed …


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MWHS thespians win One-Act Play honors; to perform 'Medea' locally March 24

"Medea" is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by Euripides and based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 B.C. The plot centers on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the "barbarian" kingdom of Colchis, and the wife of Jason.


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Charities criticise new government rules on Dubs child refugees

Cut-off date set by Home Office will exclude the majority of lone children now in camps in Greece, campaigners say New Home Office criteria to fill the last 150 places under the Dubs scheme to bring lone refugee children in Europe to Britain have been ...


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Seanergy Announces Proactive Covenant Deferral and Waiver Agreements of its Bank Lending Facilities

The Company is incorporated in the Marshall Islands with executive offices in Athens, Greece and an office in Hong Kong. The Company’s common shares and class A warrants trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “SHIP” and “SHIPW ...


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Rights court orders Hungary to compensate 2 Bangladeshi migrants

Mohammed Ilias Ilias and Ali Ahmed, both in their 30s, had arrived in Hungary via Greece in September 2015 after taking the so-called Balkans route along with tens of thousands of other mainly Syrian refugees at the height of Europe's migrant crisis.


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