The Minister of the State and government spokesman Elias Mosialos announced the changes to be made in the public television.
Mosialos announced the closing of ET1, while NET would be upgraded to an information and entertainment channel. ET3 would be upgraded to a national and regional channel.
The government proceeds with a radical restructuring of public television aiming at quality and objective information, said Mosialos stressing that “we want to be competitive with the private media”.
(source: capital)
End Titles For ET1 Public Broadcast
AEK and PAOK Win in Europa League
Both AEK and PAOK will go into next week’s Europa League play-off second legs with an advantage from the home legs on Thursday.
AEK beat Dinamo Tbilisi 1-0 of Georgia at the Olympic Stadium in Athens while PAOK overcame Karpaty of Ukraine 2-0 in Thessaloniki.
The goals for PAOK came early in both halves. Striker Stefanos Athanasiadis struck on 15 minutes and Brazilian defender Lino doubled the lead in the 57th minute to give Laszlo Boloni’s men a cushion ahead of their trip to the Ukraine.
Things were not so comfortable for AEK who had to wait until the 88th minute for what may prove to be a crucial goal. Spanish midfielder Jose Carlos grabbed the goal with a header on his debut in competitive football for the Yellows.
Panathinaikos suffered a humiliating 3-0 loss at Maccabi Tel Aviv for the first leg of the Europa League playoffs on August 18, to see thir chances of reaching the group stage all but evaporate.
The Greens had a decent first half at the Bloomfield Stadium in Israel but made nothing out of the three or four good chances that fell to Toche and Quincy Owusu-Abeyie.
The return legs for both teams are on August 25.
(source: sport in greece)
GreekFest a Salute to Ottawa’s Rich Community, 80,000 People Expected to Visit 11-Day Festival
Ottawa’s annual GreekFest is on in full swing, celebrating that country’s culture and food and letting anyone who loves celebrations to live a day the Greek way.
The festival offers 11 full days of events, with an estimated 80,000 people expected to attend, according to festival chairman Jim Reklitis.
GreekFest takes place daily on the grounds of the Hellenic Banquet Centre at 1315 Prince of Wales Dr. until Sunday, Aug. 21.
With free admission, people attending GreekFest can customize an evening of entertainment of their own choosing.
All proceeds from GreekFest go to support religious and cultural activities in the Greek community, said Reklitis, with part of the proceeds going to two local groups.
Organizers will be donating part of the proceeds of this year’s festival to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and on Thursday, Aug. 18, all proceeds from the sale of loukoumades – the sinfully delicious honey puffs dipped in syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar all Greekfest visitors know and love – will be donated to the Ottawa Food Bank.
For more information orfor a complete schedule of events, visit www.ottawagreekfest.com.
[youtube]UhDgpXWkFHE&feature[/youtube]
Winged Greek Goddess Hopes to Find New Home
A four-metre bronze statue of Nike, the Greek winged goddess of victory, is to be erected on the Cordova Viaduct in downtown Vancouver.
The city issued an Aug. 5 notice of intent to hire the Ausenco Sandwell engineering firm for a $25,000 no-bid contract to “provide foundation designs and supervisions of its construction.”
The notice says Ausenco Sandwell was chosen because “they are the original designers and the engineer of record for the Cordova Viaduct and have the expertise required for the addition of the Nike statue and its foundation to the pre-existing structure.”
The target date for the statue’s installation was not disclosed.
The bronze Nike statue was donated to Vancouver by Mayor Georgios Aidonis of Olympia, Greece to commemorate the link between winter 2010-host Vancouver and Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Games. A replica model was presented to Mayor Gregor Robertson at the Oct. 22, 2009 ceremonial lighting of the Olympic flame in Ancient Olympia.
“As Greek-Canadians we are so proud to have our feet in both countries, we can’t wait for this legacy to become part of our city,” said Demitri Douzenis, past-president of the Hellenic Canadian Congress of B.C. and Hellenic Community of Vancouver. “We have been anticipating this moment.”
Douzenis, who attended the lighting ceremony in Olympia, said the actual statue was presented to Robertson during the Games, but has been in storage since.
Douzenis said the provincial government rejected the original desired site on Jack Poole Plaza, near the permanent Olympic cauldron.
(source: vancourier)
Finnish Collateral Deal Needs Euro Zone Approval – Greek Finance Minister
“The financing scheme which we reached in our discussions with the Finns is subject to approval by the other member-states of the euro zone,” Venizelos said in a statement.
“The relevent discussions began today at a technical working group level and will continue next week among finance ministry deputies,” the statement added.
On Tuesday, the Greek government announced that it had reached a deal with Finland on collateral needed to secure the Nordic country’s participation in a new bailout for Greece.
Under the terms of the deal, Greece will deposit about EUR500 million in an escrow account with the Finnish state, as a precondition for Finland to release funds to the European Financial Stability Facility, Europe’s temporary bailout fund, which is being used to finance fresh aid for Greece.
That cash would be invested in triple-A securities over a period of about 25 years. Taking into account both the principal and accumulated interest, the Greek collateral would be equal to Finland’s contribution to the EFSF, or about EUR1.6 billion to EUR1.8 billion, according to a Greek finance ministry official.
But the deal has also drawn criticism and questions from other euro-zone members. Earlier Thursday, both Austria and The Netherlands said they would be interested in pursuing a similar deal, while Estonia has criticized the deal in principle.
Other countries, such as Slovakia and Slovenia have also raised questions over the deal.
(source: Dow Jones)
6000 Teachers Retire, 600 Are Appointed this School Year
According to an article of the Greek newspaper “Ta Nea”, Minister of Education Anna Diamantopoulou announced that for this school year, only 600 teachers will be appointed, while 6,000 will be retiring. In addition, the number of substitute teachers will be decreased by 50% in comparison with last year.
Mrs. Diamantopoulou assured that there will be no vacancies at schools. However, she warned that there will be mergers of 2000 schools and all the teachers will have full working hours, while strict criteria will be imposed for any demand of secondment. Controls will also take place to examine whether there is a surplus of teachers at some schools, as, the Minister claimed, they had discovered that some teachers only had 0-3 teaching hours.
Concerning the books, the Minister said that, by September 12, all the basic books will have arrived at schools and within 20 days, all the books will have been delivered.
This year, the new school programme will be applied in 180 high schools, which will include a smaller number of courses, with emphasis especially on physics, mathematics and language courses. Students will also have to make projects in groups, which will be taken into consideration for their final grade. Also, in 961 primary schools, extended school hours will be imposed.
48-Year-Old Man Threatens Website Administrator after Losing at Backgammon
A 48-year-old man who could not accept defeat at online backgammon was accused of threatening and insulting a 33-year-old online website administrator. The man was arrested by the Police Bureau of Economic and Cyber Crime, following the administrator’s complaint.
The 33-year-old man, executive officer of a private company that manages the Greek version of an international social networking website, complained to the sub-directorate of Cyber Crime that he was receiving messages via e-mail, with threatening and abusive content regarding the management of an online game, for which he was responsible.
The offender was sending anonymous messages in which he expressed threats to the administrator’s and his family’s lives, while serious and extensive property damage was caused at the company’s offices, in the form of threats. The 48-year-old man was continuously losing in the online backgammon game, and believed he was being cheated and that the game was fixed.
To identify the offender, a digital analysis of his electronic traces was carried out, which resulted from the investigation of his electronic messages, following the opinion of the Advocate of the Supreme Court. In an investigation conducted at the suspect’s home in Alimos, the police, in the presence of the Prosecutorial Officer, identified that the 48-year-old man was the sender of the anonymous threatening messages.
A laptop computer was found and seized in the house, which will be sent to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for the necessary laboratory tests. The file was submitted to the Prosecutor of Athens.
No Personal Assets Declaration Needed until End of 2013
The Finance Ministry announced that no personal assets declaration will be needed for any kind of assets (first residence, second residence, holiday home, tenement house, etc.) until December 31, 2013.
This announcement includes the construction of swimming pools as well.
The Finance Minister noted that there will be an extension of the deadline for tax refunds concerning the necessary supporting documents which should be declared to the authorities by farmers regarding their farming services in 2010.
25,000 Unemployed to Be Hired in the Municipalities
The plan, promoted by the Ministry of Interior in cooperation with KEDKE and OAED, for hiring 25,000 unemployed in municipalities in the years 2012-2015, is being processed. These workers are being selected from lists of unemployed of the local OAED and will not be able to work more than 135 hours per year. They will be hired for projects of direct labor, mainly in the construction field.
This was an earlier proposal of Deputy Interior Paris Koukoulopoulos, which is designed to enable municipalities to implement development projects in their area. The funding will be made by the European Investment Bank and the repayment of loans by the municipalities themselves, by commitment of revenues from specific taxes such as retaliatory charges, advertising taxes etc.
The criteria and other details are now being discussed as the project is still at an early stage.
First Greek Crematorium at Thermi in Thessaloniki
According to the newspaper “Aggelioforos”, the first Greek crematorium will open in Thermi of Thessaloniki at the Renaissance of Christ cemetery.
Until now, those wanting to cremate their dead relatives had to travel abroad. The majority went to Bulgaria or Germany. The cost is higher than a regular funeral and can reach 4000 euros.
The crematorium will be 600 square metres and will be built in an area where there is currently a nursery.
The deputy mayor Konstantinos Zervas is discussing with the General Secretary of the Ministy of Environment, Energy and Climate Change the presidential decree which will give the green light for the beginning of the necessary procedures.