Daily Archives: May 12, 2016

PAOK comes from behind to beat AEK as play-offs start | Sports | ekathimerini.com https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pub-config/r20160212/ca-pub-5242430365160383.js//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.jshttp://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js/scripts/user-script.js?2710120109/scripts/vendor/custom.modernizr.js?2710120109/scripts/foundation.min.js?2710120109/scripts/jquery.mCustomScrollbar.min.js?2710120109http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-mousewheel/3.0.6/jquery.mousewheel.min.js/scripts/jquery.flexslider.js?2710120109/scripts/jquery.zoom.js?2710120109/scripts/chosen/chosen.jquery.js?2710120109//

Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos and his wife and party MP Eleni Zaroulia declared a joint annual income of 271,000 euros in 2013, the highest among party leaders, while the general secretary of the communist KKE party, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, had the lowest earnings at 44,000 euros, according to their “pothen esches” (income source declarations) made public by Parliament on Wednesday.

The earnings of the far-right leader and Zaroulia – 87,188 euros from their MP salaries and 183,862 from other sources – reportedly spiked once they entered Parliament in 2012, compared to previous declarations.

The declarations, which refer to 2012, do not include those of Union of Centrists leader Vassilis Leventis, Potami chief Stavros Theodorakis and other current lawmakers who were not MPs at the time.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared an income of 66,864 euros from his MP salary, a further 2,460 euros in other earnings and 6,999 euros in the bank.

Opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared annual earnings of 70,397 euros from his MP salary and another 11,203.79 euros from other sources. The conservative leader also declared bank deposits of 162,306 euros.

Panos Kammenos, defense minister and leader of the ruling coalition’s junior party, declared annual earnings of 179,493 euros and bank deposits of 44,439 euros.

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos earned 45,512.63 euros from his MP salary and 16,737.72 euros in other income, while Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis declared 28,113.23 euros from his MP salary and 44,521.97 euros from other sources.

The declarations were made public following repeated criticism of Parliament for delays in the release of lawmakers’ sources of income.

Source:ekathimerini.com

Greece’s jobless rate eased to 24.2 percent in February from 24.4 percent in the previous month, statistics agency ELSTAT said on Thursday.

The number of officially unemployed reached 1.158 million people. Hardest hit were young people aged 15 to 24 years though their jobless rate dropped to 51.4 percent from 51.8 percent in the same month a year earlier.

February’s reading, based on seasonally adjusted data, was the lowest since May 2012 when unemployment stood at 24.1 percent. The jobless rate hit a record high of 27.9 percent in September 2013.

Unemployment has come down from record highs but remains more than double the eurozone’s average of 10.2 percent in March.

Greece’s economy expanded slightly in the last three months of 2015 as national output grew 0.1 percent quarter-on-quarter, driven by private consumption and investment. It shrank 0.3 percent in the year as a whole.

Source:ekathimerini.com

Utopian Land became the first song to not cut it to the final

The Pontian-style rap song representing Greece in the Eurovision semifinals failed miserably in the competition’s first semi final which was hosted in Stockholm on Tuesday.

The Thessaloniki-based outfit Argo who were directly appointed by ERT’s management gave justice to the thousands of Eurovision fans betting against them.Bosnia & Herzergovina, Estonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Moldova and Finland were also disqualified.

For Greece, however, it is the first time a song fails to advance to the finals this year.The Hellenic song, entitled “Utopian Land” fused rap with the traditional Pontian lyra.

The narration revolved around the country’s financial hardships and the refugees crisis.

Utopian Land, started getting negative reviews since its selection with fans calling the lyrics “poor” and the music “unimaginative”.

Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom get automatic qualification into the final round since they are founding members of the contest while all other European nations must qualify in a semifinal round. Azerbaijan, Russia, The Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia, Austria, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Malta have all qualified for the grand final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The second semi final takes place on Thursday, while the 18 acts who made it to the final, will be vying for a place in the European spectacular.

Meanwhile, Australia’s favourite Dami Im will have a strong contender to go up against, Russia’s Sergey Lazarev, who with his song You Are the Only One, wowed the professional juries and audiences alike.

Dami Im told Fairfax Media she was “calm but in a competitive state of mind, keen to bring the Eurovision crown to Australia.”

“I want to do well, I want to make Australia proud. I know the most important thing for me is to perform well on the night,” she said.

“If I do well in the performance it’s up to the viewers whether I win. All I can do is do my best.”

Now that Greece is out of the equation, Stockholm has suggested London and Paris as potential co-hosts in case Australia wins.

The show’s grand finale, hosted by Måns Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede will be broadcast live from the Globe Arena in Stockholm on Saturday night.

Source:Neos Kosmos