Author: Fotini Stamatidi

Punishing hot weather affects not only a person’s health or work productivity but also affects couples’ fertility and birth outcomes, a project by the National University of Singapore (NUS) found. Rising temperatures could further reduce Singapore’s resident total fertility rate, which dipped below 1 – a record low – in 2023. The rate refers to the average number of babies each woman would have during her reproductive years. Researchers from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine studied sperm samples from 818 men that were already stored at the National University Hospital’s (NUH) andrology section. The scientists then traced the men’s…

European court of human rights orders Athens to pay €80,000 to family of Belal Tello, who died after 2014 incident The European court of human rights has ruled that Greece violated a Syrian refugee’s right to life when coastguards fired more than a dozen rounds at the people smugglers’ boat he was on nearly a decade ago. The Strasbourg-based court ordered Greece to pay €80,000 (about £68,000) in damages to the wife and two children of Belal Tello, who was shot in the head as Greek coastguards attempted to halt the boat he was travelling in. Tello died in 2015, after months in hospital.…

Largely undiscovered by non-Greeks, the tranquil island of Agistri offers an idyllic escape. Nestled off Greece’s Peloponnese coast, the serene island of Agistri beckons with pristine beaches, clear waters and a tranquil retreat from busy Athens. Popular with outdoor enthusiasts, the island offers activities such as hiking, cycling, sailing, kayaking and horseback riding. Rarely known by non-Greeks, Agistri offers an idyllic escape with only three villages on the island; Skala, Megalochori, and Limenaria. From Athens to Agistri, daily ferries depart from the port of Piraeus making the island easily reachable from the Greek capital. Gambrinus beer stein valued at $2,000…

The Council and the European Parliament has reached a provisional political agreement on the anti-coercion instrument. The Swedish presidency, on behalf of the Council of the European Union, agreed on a regulation on the protection of the Union and its member states from economic coercion by third countries (Anti-Coercion Instrument – ACI). This instrument aims to deter third countries from targeting the EU and its member states with economic coercion through measures affecting trade or investment. Among the measures that could be applied to the third country as a response to economic coercion are the imposition of trade restrictions, for…

Greece’s Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis dismissed as completely unfounded the criticism that the Cyprus issue has been put on the back burner to avoid disturbing the climate in warming Greco-Turkey relations. He argued that improving Greek-Turkish relations can contribute to restarting negotiations for a Cyprus settlement. In an interview with the Sunday edition of Greece’s “Proto Thema”, the minister was asked to comment on the criticism that Cyprus is being shelved. And whether there can be full normalisation of Greek-Turkish relations without resolving the Cyprus issue. Source : FM

France’s decision to bar its athletes from wearing the hijab as it prepares to host its first Olympics in 100 years is the latest in a series of government bans that have drawn Arab and international condemnation. The country, where around 10% of its 67 million inhabitants are Muslim, has again attracted attention with its latest decision to ban its athletes from wearing the Islamic veils effective July 26, 2024, the date the Olympic flame will be lit. French Minister of Sports Amelie Oudea-Castera announced during a television program that sportswomen in the French delegation will not be able to…

The loss of cheap gas from Russia played a part, but decisions in the boom years are now being questioned. For most of this century, Germany racked up one economic success after another, dominating global markets for high-end products like luxury cars and industrial machinery, selling so much to the rest of the world that half the economy ran on exports. Jobs were plentiful and the government’s financial coffers grew as other European countries drowned in debt, and books were written about what other countries could learn from Germany. No longer. Now, Germany is the world’s worst-performing major developed economy,…

Ankara continues its efforts to secure international recognition for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday.
 “We will continue to do our best to ensure that the Turkish Cypriot State is recognized in the international community,” Fidan told a news conference with his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Tahsin Ertugruloglu in the capital Ankara. Fidan said that Turkish foreign policy toward the Island of Cyprus is focused on the status of the TRNC in the international community and the welfare and security of the Turkish Cypriots. The Cyprus issue has been left unresolved by…

Poland’s Minister of Development and Technology Waldemar Buda has said that the government has decided to maintain an embargo on Ukrainian grain and agricultural products, with the decree taking effect on Saturday. The EU embargo expired on Friday, and the European Commission decided not to extend it. “Due to the incorrect decision of the EC not to extend the grain embargo, in accordance with the instructions of (Prime Minister) Mateusz Morawiecki and the entire Council of Ministers, I signed a national regulation maintaining the embargo,” Buda said in a statement. The EU ban on the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed,…

Italy has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Hong Kong which aims to boost the distribution of Italian films and foster collaboration with the special administrative region of China. The agreement was signed at the Venice Film Festival in the presence of Nicola Borrelli, director general of Italy’s DGCA-MiC; Carmelo Ficarra, conselor general of Italy in Hong Kong; Roberto Stabile, advisor for international relations and head of special projects at DGCA-MiC/Cinecittà; Victor Tsang, head of Create Hong Kong; Joe Wong, permanent secretary for culture, sports and tourism, Wilfred Wong, chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council and Shirley Yung,…