Athens

Three employees of the Ministry of Culture were among those involved in the activities of a ring that provided protection to shopkeepers and owners of hotels and properties for a hefty fee, which was dismantled after an investigation and a coordinated operation by the Internal Affairs Service of the Security Corps.

The conversations reveal the inner workings of an extortion scheme orchestrated by private individuals and municipal police employees of the Municipality of Athens, targeting local business owners.

The leading members, a 43-year-old and a 64-year-old, approached shop owners, mainly in the Athens area, offering protection to avoid administrative violations.

The “mafia” of municipal employees in Athens, which, in collaboration with private individuals, provided protection to shopkeepers in the capital, extorting them, with no compensation, had the organization and “structure” of a criminal organization, with “brains”, a “cashier”, a “collector” and a driver.

It started as a queen’s vision and evolved into the country’s only botanical and at the same time historical garden, but mainly into an irreplaceable island of greenery in the concrete chaos of Athens.

A Natsu Matsuri summer festival occurred late last week in Athens' public Japanese Park, in the Pangrati neighborhood. The event, which brought together Athenian locals, tourists, and Japanese people, is rooted in the Shinto tradition and is meant to honor the spirits of the people's ancestors.  

The Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, and the Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas signed on Tuesday an updated memorandum of cooperation between the Hellenic Police (ELAS) and the Municipal Police of Athens.

In terms of AI integration in public administration, Greece is "at a good level," Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said on Tuesday at the annual conference on "Shaping the Future of AI," organized by the Digital World Summit Greece at the National Hellenic Research Foundation, under the auspices of the United Nations, the Ministry of Digital Governance and the Municipality of A

Aiming to encourage walking, the Athens Municipality has introduced a digital tool with valuable data informing citizens and local authorities about the state of sidewalks and streets in the Greek capital.

The Municipality of Athens is joining the effort to block the issuance of building permits based on the bonuses included in the new building regulation. 

The controversial issue of the maximum heights of buildings in the Greek capital will be addressed on Monday at the municipal council of Athens. 

The municipality will reportedly present a legal opinion, according to which the building height bonuses included in the building regulation cannot be applied, since they go beyond what is defined by a relevant decree issued in 1955.