Greece

The 3rd edition of the Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum is to take place during May 26-27, 2015. The event, focused on the East Med and the Black Sea, promises to be incisive and interesting with a full conference program aimed at highlighting the positive trends and negative barriers that need to be addressed so that the region can reach its true potential.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, already a sex symbol in Germany of all places, is the only FinMin to have made it on the front cover of Greek "Esquire" magazine. Wearing a dark suit, his trademark open-necked shirt, Varoufakis poses with hands in pockets staring suavely at the camera? One wonders when the modeling contract will come.

By Pantelis Boukalas

In the past five years, despite consecutive ?bailout programs,? or maybe because of them, the terms ?last chance,? ?Grexit,? ?ultimatum? and ?destruction? have been doing the rounds with exhausting regularity in Greek and international headlines.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has described his country as the most bankrupt in the world and said European leaders knew all along that Athens would never repay its debts, in blunt comments that sparked a backlash in the German media on Tuesday.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

Piraeus Group head Michalis Sallas is poised to become the new president of the Hellenic Bank Association as soon as the administrative changes at the National Bank of Greece are completed.

Parliament Speaker Zoe Constantopoulou on Monday submitted a proposal for the re-establishment and upgrade of a House committee whose purpose would be to examine Greece?s claims to Second World War reparations from Germany.

The judicial council of the Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that 64 defendants are being indicted to stand trial in the large-scale political bribery case of the so-called 8002 contract to digitize OTE telecom?s network in 1997. According to the case file, Siemens allegedly paid 70 million euros in kickbacks in order to sign the deal.

UN figures show the number of illegal entries into the country by third country nationals increased by a massive 223.22%, while no less than 165,000 people trying to illegally enter EU territory via Mediterranean sea routes until October 2014.

Greece?s opposition parties have called on SYRIZA and its Attica Governor Rena Dourou to publicly condemn a leftist councillor after she launched a verbal assault on a journalist via Twitter.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras would be welcome to visit Berlin, a German government spokeswoman said on Monday, but there are no concrete plans for a visit at the moment.

The leftist Greek leader is not currently on Berlin's guest list, said spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz, adding: «He remains welcome in Germany and in Berlin especially."