September 2013

The Greek government is very close to finalizing a proposal on the future of defense industries and the LARCO mining and metallurgy group (http://www.larco.gr) and will probably tender this to the troika of lenders by the end of the week.
The government is standing fast on its plan to divide the iνdustries along civilian – military manufacturing lines, somehow, keeping the military manufacturing sector under its wing. One trump card is a voluntary pension scheme for 350 employees, to the burden of the state.
The government expects to sell some real estate assets, belonging to EAS (Hellenic Defense Systems) to lower the company's debt to 800 million euros. The company owns a large chunk of prime real estate in Daphne (Δάφνη) near the center of Athens which it can not use due to proximity of residences... But the company's balance sheet, the last available on the internet, from 2009, shows a (then) debt of over 900 million.
The government's plan also calls for a 'special liquidator' with extraordinary powers to act in the case of ELVO (Hellenic Vehicles Industries) that builds vehicles for the Greek armed forces and whose employees are around 350.
Meanwhile, Alternate Defense Minister Fofi Genimata was catcalled during her exit from the Finance Ministry, after a two-hour session, there, by unionists from defense industry employees.

Greek teacher's umbrella union OLME, has announced rolling five-day strikes, after an extremely long session of their assembly. Of the 85 local representations, 72 voted in favor, of the strikes. The union reps stated that they would re-examine their position after every five day strike.
Meanwhile OLME has issued a call, through the media for parents to support their "struggle for public schools that will cater for all students and all teachers."
Certain tertiary and vocational education institutions, across the country have also decided to go on strike, mostly for reasons of employee side transfers in the state sector .
Recently, Education Minister Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos refuted all rumors that the government would resort to a "mobilization" of teachers.

Την στροφή της Ελλάδας στην αναδυόμενη κινεζική οικονομία αναδεικνύει σχετικό ρεπορτάζ του BBC. Επενδύσεις, αγορά εργασίας και τουρισμός σε πρώτο πλάνο, την ίδια στιγμή που τα Κινέζικα εξελίσσονται σε μια από τις πιο περιζήτητες για εκμάθηση ξένες γλώσσες.  

Την δυσαρέσκειά του για το γεγονός ότι κανένας υποψήφιος Δήμαρχος δεν έχει ενδιαφερθεί να ενημερωθεί για θέματα κατά της τρομοκρατίας εξέφρασε ο Αστυνομικός Διευθυντής της Νέας Υόρκης, Ρέυ Κέλυ.

Ξεκίνησε επίσημα σήμερα η νέα σχολική χρονιά στη Νέα Υόρκη.

Η Εθνική Ελλάδας υπέστη την δεύτερη ήττα της στο Ευρωμπάσκετ της Σλοβενίας, καθώς έχασε με 86-77 από την Φινλανδία στο τελευταίο παιχνίδι της πρώτης φάσης. Ως συνέπεια, η Εθνική θα περάσει στη δεύτερη φάση ως τρίτη του ομίλου της, μεταφέροντας τις δύο ήττες που υπέστη από Ιταλία και Φινλανδία.

New York City's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Spring Summer 2014 kicked off on September 5 and runs through to September 12th at Lincoln Center.

Designer Loula Loi Alafoyiannis showcased her day wear at Couture Fashion Week with a presentation of her latest distinctive outerwear designs on Saturday September 7, 2013.

Just 48 hours to go before the primary election for Mayor and the leading candidates are in crunch time for the final phase of drama trying to get people to the polls to vote.

Serena Williams wins her 5th US Open singles title and her 17th Grand Slam singles title in a rematch of last year's women's final, defeating Victoria Azarenka, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-1.