Crete

The Culture Ministry said on Friday it will submit the final nomination file to UNESCO at the end of the month seeking the declaration of Crete's Spinalonga islet, with its impressive 16th century Venetian fortress, a World Heritage Site.

Police in Greece say nine people have received medical attention as a precaution after letters containing white powder were sent to five university campuses around the country.

Crete's technical college (TEI) on Tuesday came a step closer to becoming the country's 22nd university after the University of Crete and the Technical University of Crete refused to merge with it and an expert committee deemed that the TEI's performance justified its elevation to university level.

US firm NCH Capital has received the necessary approvals from the Economy Ministry for its investment plan concerning a five-star hotel it intends to develop in the Erimitis area of Corfu (pictured) and is hoping the construction license will be issued soon so work can get under way during 2019.

The timetable of the 120-million-euro project provides for the hotel to open in 2021.

The Regional Council of Crete on Thursday approved the strategic study of environmental impact for a tourism investment by Mirum Hellas at Elounda, eastern Crete, amounting to 450 million euros.

The Hellenic Ornithological Society has embarked on a campaign this holiday season to count the growing number of ring-necked parakeets living in the parks of Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities.

This species of parakeet is common in the wild in parts of North Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Latin America.

Greek consumers will have to shoulder the cost of an extra 356 million euros should the power interconnection between Crete and Attica proceed as a national rather than a European Union-subsidized project, warns EuroAsia.

Unseasonably balmy temperatures are set to drop in many parts of Greece, the national weather service (HNMS) warned on Monday, adding that chilly northerly winds will reach gale-force at sea over the Christmas holidays.

The capital's mountains will be getting a dusting of snow in starting on Tuesday afternoon and through Wednesday, with a frost setting in on Thursday.

The Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology in Athens and the Museum of Ancient Eleutherna on the island of Crete have been nominated for the prestigious European Museum of the Year Award for 2019.

Minos Zombanakis, a Cretan who became an influential international banker, died at 92 Saturday following a long illness.

He was born in 1926 at Kalyves, a village near the Greek city of Chania, the second of a farmer's seven children.

Zombanakis entered the University of Athens in 1943, during the German occupation, but never got his undergraduate degree.