News archive of May 2020

Turkey is maintaining its presence in the sea area between the island of Crete and Libya, with six frigates and an oil tanker observed in the region on Friday.

The frigates are in international waters secured for naval exercises by four navigational telexes issued by Ankara.

Ahead of opening day on Monday, open-air movie theaters in Athens are putting the finishing touches in their venues, tidying up, disinfecting, pruning the plants and arranging the seating so there's a distance of at least 1.5 meters between members of the audience.

It is official that the Eco will replace the CFA franc as the new currency for the eight Francophone countries that form the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

France's Council of Ministers officially passed a bill earlier this month that ratified the reform of the monetary agreement that bound the French government to the eight member states.

Health Minister Nelu Tataru said that as the coronavirus pandemic is controllable at this moment, the COVID-support hospitals will resume their pre-outbreak activity once the number of patients lessens and after the public health directorates conduct an analysis of the situation. "The pandemic is controllable at the moment, but thanks to our cooperation with the population.

Another five people infected with the novel coronavirus have died in Romania, taking the number of COVID-19 fatalities to 1,253, the Strategic Communication Group (GCS) announced on Saturday. The latest victims are two women and three men, ages between 62 and 90, from Bucharest, Brasov, and the counties of Iasi and Ilfov; they all had underlying medical conditions.

Three US-based organizations have reacted to the fiesta organized by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday outside the Byzantine-era cathedral Hagia Sophia on the occasion of the 567th anniversary of the Turkish conquest of Constantinople.

The Greek Foreign Ministry has denounced a decision by Turkey that verses of the Quran be recited at the Byzantine-era cathedral Hagia Sophia on the anniversary of the fall of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) in 1453 as an "unacceptable attempt to alter the site's designation as monument" and as an "affront to the religious sentiment of Christians throughout the world.

Of 1353 samples examined for the past 24 hours, 14 have a positive result. This was announced by the National Operational Headquarters this morning.

2499 are the total cases of COVID-19 registered in Bulgaria. 1064 people have already been cured.

The cases confirmed during the last 24 hours / 14 in total / are distributed by districts as follows:

Greece announced on Friday that it would be opening its borders to tourists from 29 countries on June 15, although Germany is the only country from the list of the five key markets for Greece's tourism sector, as the UK, Italy, France and the US continue to have high rates of coronavirus infections.

Exploring the elements that shape great personalities and the principles that define them is a process that is both fascinating and useful. One such endeavor was carried out by Vassilis Papadopoulos, a former ambassador and the general secretary of the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic, in his book "Diplomacy and Poetry: The Case of Giorgos Seferis," published in Greek by Ikaros.