Athens

The European Investment Bank has approved a 100-million-euro loan to Cosco to finance part of the Chinese company's investment in the port of Piraeus.

The funds will be used for the first stage of the 612-million-euro master plan, providing for the expansion of the cruise terminal, a new passenger terminal, a car park and a new logistics area.

After more than a decade of delays, plans to move the section of the electric railway (ISAP) between Neo Faliro and Piraeus underground appear ready to move forward following the approval of a sum for a pre-tender study, Kathimerini understands.

Three associations representing different departments of Greece's Ministry of Culture announced on Friday that they have filed a motion with the Council of State challenging the development of the plot of Athens' former airport on the southern coast of Elliniko.

The authorities' decision to evacuate a building owned by the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) in central Athens that had been occupied by squatters for about 13 years on Saturday has sparked clashes between riot police and self-styled anarchists who use the campus as a base from which to launch attacks.

Athens is projected to record Europe's highest increase in property prices and rental rates for commercial properties (office buildings, stores logistics etc) next year according to the annual survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

The report puts Athens on top of the chart of 31 European cities, followed by Lisbon, Berlin, Amsterdam and Munich.

The Athens Concert Hall is screening a live performance from the National Theater in London of Simon Woods' new play "Hansard: The Official Report of All Parliamentary Debates," a witty and devastating portrait of the governing class in the UK, directed by Simon Godwin and starring Olivier Award-winners Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings.

Chinese airliner Juneyao Air Co. will launch direct flights connecting Shanghai to Athens in July, Greece's tourism ministry said on Monday. 

Juneyao and Greece have signed a deal on the new route during a three-day visit by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Shanghai.

The Council of State has upheld an appeal by residents in the central Athens district of Makriyianni against a pre-approved building license for a nine-story hotel that blocks the public's view of the Parthenon.

A tourist is reflected in a puddle during a rainfall as he walks in front of the 5th century B.C. Parthenon temple at the ancient Acropolis hill, in Athens, Thursday. [AP]

We Need Books, an Athens-based NGO dedicated to creating small libraries and cultural spaces that provide marginalized refugees and migrants with access to literature, information, conversation and company, is launching its new venue, a multilingual library, on November 1 and 2 in the downtown Athens district of Kypseli. Doors will open at 7 p.m.