Capitals

Israeli groups have begun to play a dominant role in the Athens hotel market, originating both from the hospitality sector and real estate.

Hundreds of mulberry trees in Athens have been decimated by the wood borer insect Xylotrechus chinensis and many more have been infected, municipal plant specialists said on Tuesday.

High school students held a mass rally in downtown Athens on Monday calling for increased funding for education.

Looser regulations governing student transfers between universities introduced under the previous leftist-led government have resulted in a steady rise in first-year student populations, putting a strain on resources at Greece's most popular universities.

Greece's Health Ministry has ordered the operation of an additional 15 beds at intensive care units (ICUs) at state hospitals in the Greek capital to meet with increased demand.

Athens mayor Kostas Bakoyannis presented his vision for the Greek capital during a discussion at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, in Harvard, this week.

Bakoyannis said his plan for "Reinventing Athens" was created after speaking with local residents in his pre-election campaign.

A fire broke out in a flat of an apartment building in Athens' southern suburb of Palio Faliro on Thursday morning.

The building is located at the corner of Proteos and Mouson Streets. It was not clear on which floor the blaze was.

A large firefighting unit were at the scene. 

An exhibition titled "This Is What We Fought For: Antiquities and the Greek Revolution" will open at Athens' National Archaeological Museum on February 11, as part of the 1821 bicentennial initiative. The event juxtaposes 26 antiquities from NAM's collections with 26 artworks from the 18th and 19th centuries, mostly by European artists.

The return to normality that Greece so desperately needs will not be achieved solely by effective policing.

The truth is that it will also be achieved by interventions that, despite not being widely advertised or attracting great media attention, significantly improve the daily life of citizens in the Greek capital.

A campaign by the City of Athens to prettify the capital continued on Sunday with a cleanup of two of the city's most popular squares: Exarchia and Kolonaki.