Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-28

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] 'We did not try to delay the review' says Tsakalotos, briefing MPs on Eurogroup

[02] BoG governor discusses CBD's intention to fund infrastructure projects in Greece

[03] Digital Policy Minister Pappas: Greece will forge ahead in new comms networks, IoT

[04] ToposText wins best digital app for the public at 'Digital Humanities Awards 2016'

[05] Family of driver involved in fatal car crash near Thebes are trying to 'live with the unbearable'

[01] 'We did not try to delay the review' says Tsakalotos, briefing MPs on Eurogroup

The government's goal is to conclude talks on the programme's measures and counter-measures in time for the next Eurogroup in March, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told MPs on Tuesday. Briefing Parliament's Economic Affairs Committee, Tsakalotos also denied that the government had tried to delay the completion of the review.

"We did not try to delay but negotiated on what we consider part of the solution, based on our principles," Tsakalotos said.

Opposition criticism blaming the government for the delay in completing the review, he added, was in stark contrast to statements in Europe and America that blamed disagreement between the lenders. Tsakalotos pointed to the major "systemic" differences between the IMF and the European institutions and asked whether the opposition would have agreed to end the review in December, with an additional 2 pct of GDP of austerity measures.

The minister highlighted statements by Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem and European Commission Pierre Moscovici that the measures taken now will have a "net" neutral fiscal impact, as well as the shift in the IMF's original position - which forecast that Greece will fail to meet targets - to its current demand for "structural reforms" instead.

"It is within the agreement that structural-type reforms will be carried out," Tsakalotos said, adding that the Eurogroup on February 20 ratified a political agreement for the return of the institutions to Athens.

[02] BoG governor discusses CBD's intention to fund infrastructure projects in Greece

The meeting was held following the signing of an MoU between the Bank of Greece and CDB in July 2016, which foresees the promotion of bilateral relations and the economic and trade cooperation between Greece and China.

On his side, Hu noted that CDB prioritizes Europe for its expansion into the international markets and that it has created special funds for the funding of businesses in several European countries, among which Greece. CDB also noted it wants to boost its presence in Greece through cooperation with Greek lenders.

[03] Digital Policy Minister Pappas: Greece will forge ahead in new comms networks, IoT

"We will cover the lost ground that now divides us from the rest of the developed countries in this area," Pappas said. The minister said that Greece needed to develop new networks and improve its infrastructure in order to better exploit the comparative advantage offered by its geographical position, as a potential hub for north Africa and southeast Europe, as well as an EU memebr-state.

Noting the multiple potential applications that open up from the adoption of new networks, Pappas said also pointed out a need to ensure that all areas of Greece have equal access and that none are excluded.

"The recipe for leaving a region of the country behind in the new wave of growth is precisely to leave it unconnected with high-speed networks. Then you can be certain that you have laid the foundations for new, more intense, regional inequalities," he said.

[04] ToposText wins best digital app for the public at 'Digital Humanities Awards 2016'

The innovative tool, available to download for free, allows users to access thousands of mythical and historical locations relevant to the ancient Greek world - from ancient cities and shrines, medieval castles and towers, modern museums and excavation sites - in Greece and other locations, along with a slew of ancient texts referring to them, with one click on the smartphone.

The idea and work for ToposText belongs to former U.S. diplomat and scholar at the American School of Classical Studies Brady Kiesling, while the app was built by IT company Pavla AE with the support of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation.

The other winners of the 2016 DH Awards were "A Generator of Socratic Dialogues" for its "Best Use of DH For Fun", "Peripleo" for "Best DH Data Visualization", "EAGLE MediaWiki" for "Best DH Tool or Suite of Tools" and "The Programming Historian" as "Best DH Blog Post or Series of Posts".

The awards are an annual event where the public nominates resources for the recognition of talent and expertise in the digital humanities community which are then nominated and voted for entirely by the public. They are overseen by an international Nominations Committee comprised of five university professors from educational centers around the world.

[05] Family of driver involved in fatal car crash near Thebes are trying to 'live with the unbearable'

"God is asking us to manage the unthinkable and live with the unbearable. In these difficult times, we want to express our warm condolences to the other families and thenk everyone for their support for the tragic premature loss of three young people and one child," the family said in a statement send to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Tuesday.

Vakakis' son was driving a luxury car which crashed at high speed into a car parked at a rest area near Thebes, causing both vehicles to burst into flames. The driver and a passenger in his car were instantly killed, along with the 33-year-old mother and her three-year-old child inside the second car.

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