Dimas

Nko Efstathiou, an Athens-based journalist and author of a best-selling biography on Olympic Champion Pyrros Dimas, joins me to look at the buzz around the Olympics in Greece this summer, and break down whether Greek sport - which took a hit during the crisis - is bouncing back. 

Pyrrhos Dimas appeared emotional during the presentation of New Democracy’s ballot for the European elections, referring to Freddie Beleris, the elected mayor of Himara who is currently in an Albanian prison

Ruling New Democracy announced Fredi Beleri, an ethnic Greek mayor-elect in Albania recently sentenced to two years in prison for vote-buying, as a candidate for the upcoming European Parliament elections.

He was represented by his brother, Leonardo, at the ballot announcement in downtown Athens, as Beleri is currently in Albanian police custody.

As part of the state's effort to promote modern Greek culture, the Greek Film Center (GFC) is to implement five new financial programs to boost the local industry.

The programs will be bankrolled through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RFF), while just last week, the GFC approved financial support for 13 film projects to the tune of 1,262,000 euros.

The first Sino-Hellenic International Theater Festival kicked off on Saturday, with Chinese dramas bringing an audio-visual feast to the audiences.

"The festival is an amazing initiative. It is something that of course we fully support from the side of the Greek government," Christos Dimas, Greek Deputy Minister of Culture, told Xinhua at the opening ceremony.

Start-ups in agriculture/food come fourth in terms of population in the National Register - Elevate Greece and the goal of the Ministry of Development and Investment is, more effectively, link the agricultural economy and production with research and entrepreneurship, combined with use of new innovative technologies.

The government and opposition New Democracy clashed Wednesday over comments by three-time Olympic gold medal winner and former PASOK MP Pyrros Dimas on Tuesday that he was forced to leave Greece and head to the US because the SYRIZA-led government slashed funding to the weightlifting federation he was advising.

Greek MPs are due to vote in the third and final presidential ballot at noon, local time, with the government’s candidate Stavros Dimas needing to gather 180 votes so snap elections can be avoided.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to make one last public appeal to wavering MPs to back his presidential candidate, Stavros Dimas, but will not offer anything more in exchange than he already has, Kathimerini understands.

Greek Parliament failed to elect a president for a second time on Tuesday after 168 of 300 MPs voted in favor of the candidate, Stavros Dimas, meaning a third ballot will be needed on December 29.