News archive of May 2018

Following the recent visit of Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Turkish Central Bank Governor Murat Çetinkaya to London, the exchange rates in Turkey have seriously retreated. Some commentators have said that it was because foreign investors were reassured, whereas others deem the change just as a rebound from the Turkish Lira's historic lows.

Despite the excessive taxation, tourism last year directly accounted for the creation of 10.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product, while the sum of its direct and indirect contribution is estimated at between 22.6 and 27.3 percent of GDP, according to the head of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), Yiannis Retsos.

Featuring a record 1,920 exhibitors from 92 countries and covering 16 percent more space than its last edition two years ago, Posidonia 2018 opens at Athens Metropolitan Expo on Monday. The landmark event of global shipping will this year be covering an ever greater spectrum of related products, services and activities.

The stock rebalancing due to changes in the MSCI indexes led to significant shifts in the closing auctions of Thursday's trading session in Athens that accounted for about two-thirds of the entire day's turnover. It concluded the month of May at Athinon Avenue, with the benchmark suffering losses of 11.93 percent over that period.

Brussels, 31 May 2018

The US announced that starting on 1 June 2018 it will impose additional duties of 25 % and 10 % respectively on imports of steel and aluminium from the EU.

Athens prosecutor Ilias Zagoreos launched an investigation on Thursday into claims by residents of the area around the Pedion tou Areos park in downtown Athens regarding drug dealing and other criminal activities and a parallel probe into threats against an actress and mayor who have supported the residents' campaign. 

The American Hellenic Council of California (AHC), a Los Angeles-based Greek-American advocacy organization, has launched a campaign to support House Resolution 5508 - legislation to lift the US arms embargo on Cyprus introduced by Washington in 1987.

Muharrem Ince, Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) candidate in the presidential election, meets with members of the Muslim community in Komotini, Thursday. [Ziya Koseoglu/Reuters]

Police were on Thursday seeking the perpetrators who planted a bomb outside a homeware store in Glyfada, southern Athens - the third outlet owned by the same businessman to be struck within three months. 

According to police sources, the assailants broke into the store and planted the bomb which detonated at 4.20 a.m., causing damage but no injuries.

The Turkish drillship Fatih was to set sail on Thursday from the Gulf of Izmit for the eastern Mediterranean to begin exploration for oil and gas. 

The state-run Turkish Petroleum company said that the first stop by the Fatih - formerly known as DeepSea Metro-II - will be Antalya on the southwestern coast of Turkey, but it did not clarify where exactly it intends to start drilling.