Free Republic

Greece has controversially introduced a six-day working week for some businesses in a bid to boost productivity and employment in the southern European country. The regulation, which came into force on July 1, bucks a global trend of companies exploring a shorter working week. Under the new legislation, which was passed as part of a broader set of labor laws last year, employees of private businesses that provide round-the-clock services will reportedly have the option of working an additional two hours per day or an extra eight-hour shift. The change means a traditional 40-hour workweek could be extended to 48...

When Hunter Biden was plotting with one of his business partners early in his career to score business with wealthy Greek businessmen, he immediately identified as key leverage a policy position his father took as vice president. “I'd like you there, but this is a preliminary meeting to introductions into Greek money. If you'd rather sleep in no problem," Hunter Biden wrote his associate Devon Archer on Jan. 26, 2011. "I think he will connect us to the top 10 wealthiest Greeks in the world - who by the way as a community think my Dad is a candidate for...

New insights into the function of the world's oldest analog computer, the famous Antikythera mechanism, have been made with help from an unlikely source: technology developed for the study of gravitational waves...Roughly the size of a shoebox, the device features an array of intricately tooled gears that are surprisingly complex for any innovation from the second century BCE. Over the decades, studies of the device have revealed that it likely functioned as a hand-operated computer that would have allowed its operator to predict the arrival of eclipses, as well as calculate the positions of planets over time.Fast forward to 2020,...

A 750ft cargo ship has sunk in the Red Sea days after Yemen's Houthi rebels said they launched a blistering drone attack on the vessel, reportedly killing one mariner on board. Dramatic footage released by the group shows the moment a barrage of rockets slammed into the MV Tutor, with a direct hit triggering a huge explosion after striking the centre of the defenceless coal carrier. It would be the second ship sunk as part of the rebels' campaign targeting Red Sea shipping after the Rubymar, which was carrying more than 41,000 tonnes of fertiliser, went down in March around...

Ever since archaeologists started digging up ancient Hittite records, researchers have endeavored to link them to the legend of the Trojan War from Greek mythology. Many of these records mention prominent individuals by name. According to some researchers, King Priam of Troy actually appears in these Hittite sources. What do the facts really show? Who was King Priam of Troy? King Priam was the famous king of Troy during the Trojan War. It was his son, Paris Alexander, who took Helen back to Troy and inadvertently caused the enormous war with the Greeks. Priam himself was allegedly a powerful monarch....

Researchers have uncovered unique graffiti on Barako Hill near Vari, Attica that may indicate there once stood a massive ancient Greek temple or structure on Athen's famous Acropolis that has since been lost to history.According to a new study published in the American Journal of Archaeology, this ancient drawing, attributed to a shepherd named Mikon, depicts a building identified as "the Hekatompedon," a term historically associated with large temples...The graffito (a term sometimes used to describe a singular piece of graffiti) was found among over 2,000 ancient engravings on marble outcrops in the hills north and east of Vari. These...

The head of the Shiite Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened to expand his war against Israel in a speech on Wednesday, boasting that he allegedly has 100,000 terrorists at his disposal and suggesting war with Cyprus may also be imminent. Hezbollah, one of many Iranian proxy terrorist organizations, has long maintained ties with the Sunni jihadist group Hamas. The group has expanded its attacks on Israel since October 7, when Hamas terrorists launched an unprecedented invasion of Israel that resulted in an estimated 1,200 deaths, the abduction of about 250 people, and widespread torture, rape, and other atrocities....

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Tuesday that the Greek-owned coal carrier MV Tutor, struck by Houthi missiles and an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) on July 12, has sunk in the Red Sea. The Tutor became the second ship sunk by the Iran-backed Yemeni terrorists since they began their campaign of wanton attacks on commercial shipping in November. It also appears to have been the first ship to be severely damaged by a Houthi USV attack. The weapon was evidently a remote-controlled small boat packed with explosives.

The center of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, a Balkan country born just 33 years ago as an independent state, is awash in history. A statue of Alexander the Great looms over the central square. One of his father, Philip II of Macedon, towers above a nearby piazza atop an oversize pedestal. The city is also littered with tributes in bronze, stone and plaster to generations of other heroes from what the country sees as its glorious and very long history. The problem, though, is that most of the history on display is claimed by other countries. Present-day North...

According to a statement released by PLOS, a purple dye workshop dated to the sixteenth-century B.C. has been discovered on the Greek island of Aegina by Lydia Berger of Paris Lodron University and her colleagues. The researchers identified the workshop through the purple pigment preserved on ceramics that may have served as dye containers; grinding stones; a waste pit; and the crushed shells of marine snails. Most of these shells came from the banded dye-murex species of Mediterranean snail. The bones of young mammals, including piglets and lambs, were also recovered at the site. The animals are thought to have...

Excavations that are underway at the top of Papoura Hill, at an altitude of 494m. NW of the town of Kastellio and the airport under construction, yielded a monumental architectural ensemble, in a circular shape, unique for the...This monumental construction consists of 8 consecutive stone-built rings - through a thickness of 1.40m., And a height estimated. The rings form a circular building in the center ( zone A ) diameter 15m. with differential construction, the interior of which ( diems. Zone A is surrounded by a second main zone ( zone B, with a width of 6.9 ), in which...

Hollywood movies like Marley & Me or Hachi: A Dog’s Tale have brought both joy and tears to millions of viewers around the world, with their ability to capture the special bond between humans and their canine companions – aptly dubbed “man’s best friend”. In some ways, not much has changed over thousands of years. The ancient Greeks had their very own stories concerning this special relationship between man and dog. Of all the tales in Greek mythology, one of the most touching and relatable is that of the loyal dog Argos separated from his master Odysseus. Argos was Odysseus’...

The survey shows that Greece is an exception in its views on the EU. Credit: European Parliament, CC-BY-4.0 According to a Pew Research Center survey published just ahead of European Parliament elections this week, fifty-three percent of adults in Greece hold a negative opinion of the European Union (EU). Greece ranks at the bottom among countries surveyed. The survey by the US think tank found that a median of 63 percent of adults in nine member countries have a favorable view of the bloc. Among the member countries surveyed, views of the EU are most positive in Poland and Sweden,...

The Nazi occupying forces massacred civilians in Crete. Credit: Bundesarchiv, CC BY-SA 3.0 de/Wikipedia Greek scientists have recently identified 18 people who were executed by the Nazis in Crete through DNA analysis. In the Battle of Crete during the World War II occupation of Greece, the German forces faced substantial civilian resistance. The inhabitants of Adele, a prosperous lowland village in the northeastern part of the Rethymnon regional unit, resisted fiercely and had formed an armed resistance group. As a consequence, the German forces surrounded the village on June 2, 1941, and arrested 18 male civilians (including two fathers with...

The Biden administration is planning to refer some migrants in Latin America for resettlement in Greece and Italy as part of another effort to discourage people in the region from traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border, two people familiar with the government's plans told CBS News. The initiative would involve Greece and Italy welcoming migrants processed at immigration offices that the Biden administration set up last year in four Latin American countries to screen migrants who hope to reach the U.S., the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss arrangements that have yet to be announced.

An experiment inspired by Homer's description of combat in The Iliad tested the capabilities of the Dendra armour suit from Greece's Bronze AgeModern military volunteers donned replicas of ancient Greek armour and engaged in exercises inspired by Homer's epic poem The Iliad. The demonstration shows how elite Bronze Age warriors could have fought in heavy protective gear during sustained combat.The experiment's results strongly suggest that the 3500-year-old Dendra armour suit – one of the oldest complete suits of metal armour from Europe's Bronze Age – was indeed suitable for battle. Some scholars have argued that it was merely a ceremonial...

A woman shouts slogans during a protest against Israel's military action in Gaza at Syntagma Square, central Athens, Greece, on May 11, 2024. People protesting at Athens Law School the following Tuesday were arrested [Michael Varaklas/AP] Athens, Greece – Nine people from the United Kingdom and the European Union member states are facing deportation from Greece days after they took part in a protest in solidarity with Palestine at a Greek university. A total of 28 people were arrested by Greek police during the protest and encampment at the Athens Law School on May 14 on charges including disturbing the...

The economy is experiencing a golden moment thanks to exports and tourism after cleaning up its accounts. But the country has paid a price in migration of qualified workers and reduction of public services. Ten years after the departure of the “men in black” — the international managers of the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank who cleaned up Portugal’s accounts with a machete, the country has emerged as the most diligent student in southern Europe. In 2023, for the first time, public debt fell below 100% of GDP (it stood at 98.7%) and there was a...

NKARA, Turkey (AP) – Old foes Turkey and Greece will test a five-month-old friendship initiative Monday when Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visits Ankara. The two NATO members, which share decades of mutual animosity, a tense border and disputed waters, agreed to sideline disputes last December. Instead, they´re focusing on trade and energy, repairing cultural ties and a long list of other items placed on the so-called positive agenda. Here’s a look at what the two sides hope to achieve and the disputes that have plagued ties in the past: Mitsotakis is to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan...

VIDEOWatch the incredible level of extremely childish pettiness displayed by Greek Eurovision contestant Marina Satti while Israeli contestant Eden Golan was being interviewed. However, don't blame Greece entirely for Satti's behavior. Although her mother is Greek, her father was a Sudanese Arab. It will be interesting to see if Satti will apologize SINCERELY for her horrible behavior or will she continue to act like a pathetic child.