Free Republic

Greece has launched a multi-billion euro claim against one of Germany’s biggest defence firms who sold the financially-beleaguered country four submarines in a complicated deal which has become symbolic of the country’s economic woes. The controversial deal has threatened Greece’s position in Nato, according to well-placed sources, led to the criminal prosecution of the country’s defence minister and the resignation of a senior Naval figure. The Telegraph today publishes photographs of the four submarines, which are still unfinished in a Greek shipyard almost 15 years after they were first ordered. It can now be disclosed that the Greek Government has...

According to Ethnos, ancient love inscriptions dating back to the early 6th and the late 5th centuries B.C., were recently discovered in Astypalea. Spirals, shapes of ships, tools in triangular shapes were mostly drawn by the Neolithic inhabitants of Astypalea. One of the first findings of the Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology, Andreas Vlachopoulos, was rock paintings located in Vathi at the Pirgos Peninsula and date back to 4th-3rd millennium B.C. In 2013, more unexpected findings were discovered, which present an aspect of privacy of the ancient Greek inhabitants in the early 6th and late 5th centuries B.C. The Secretary General...

Here’s John Kerry having a good time with Nabih Berri, the head of the Amal Movement, and speaker of the Hezbollah dominated Lebanese parliament. What better way to follow up the Taliban deal than to meet with another terrorist hijacker. Back in 1985, Amal and Hezbollah terrorists used the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 to demand the release of imprisoned terrorists. A TWA airliner, Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome, was hijacked by Shia terrorists of the Hizballah organization who demanded the release of Shia prisoners held in Kuwait, Israel, and Spain. The airliner was forced to fly...

Mycenae -- the ancient city of the legendary King Agamemnon, best known from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and its iconic Lion Gate and cyclopean defensive walls, has long fascinated scholars and site visitors alike with the epic proportions of its imposing citadel remains... But there is another Mycenae -- one known for centuries from ancient historical documents -- which has nevertheless eluded the eyes of archaeologists, historians, and tourists. One might call it "Greater Mycenae", the Lower Town. It is invisible because most of it still lies undetected, unexcavated, below the surface. In its heyday it was a second millenium...

Like an underwater Iron Man, a diver will fly around the wreck of an ancient Greek ship later this year, looking to shed light on the Antikythera mechanism THE world's most advanced robotic diving suit is getting ready to help search for one of the world's oldest computers. Called Exosuit, the suit has a rigid metal humanoid form with Iron Man-like thrusters that enable divers to operate safely down to depths of 300 metres (see photo). Though designed for diving in the bowels of New York City's water treatment plants, earlier this month it underwent its first trials in seawater...

In last month's elections a majority of Greeks – now routinely depicted by the gods of Europe as lousy managers and born tax-evaders – reacted by shunning the pro-EU parties. They made the anti-European and populist left and far-right parties the rising stars at the polls. Even Syriza, the radical (though not so radical any more) leftwing party that secured 26.6% of the votes did not do as well as expected. Once very anti-austerity and ready to go up against Brussels, it has since watered down its tactics. Analysing the results via ideological labels is perhaps less important than seeing...

NICOSIA, Cyprus – Several thousand people turned out for Cyprus’ first gay pride parade on Saturday, exceeding the expectations of organizers who said the event’s popularity shows that Cypriots are shedding their conservative attitudes.

One hundred and ten of Greece’s best beaches are on sale by Greece’s privatization agency, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (TAIPED) in the name of supposed “development” and “utilization of public assets”. In fact a sale off of Greece best beaches for cash so that the debt-ridden country can pay back its lenders. The beaches plots are to be on sale with “50 years of utilization by the new owners.” In the list of TAIPED are featured among others Myrto Beach in Kato Achaia, Vasiliki Beach in Lefkada, Kalmitsi beach in Chalkidiki and – what a shame – two...

Excavations could reveal much about a little-explored archaic Greek settlement. It was in July 1984 when rescue excavations conducted by Dr. Elena Korka, now Director of the Ephorate of Private Archaeological Collections and Antiquity Shops, turned up an ancient sarcophagus of the Greek early archaic period near the town of Chiliomodi in Greece. The sarcophagus contained a female skeleton along with offerings. The interior of the sarcophagus slab was adorned with a composition consisting of two lions of monumental character. It was a remarkable find. But this was not altogether surprising, as archaeologists and historians believed that somewhere in the...

An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude struck off the coast of northern Greece on Saturday and was felt as far away as neighboring Turkey and Bulgaria but there were no reports of serious casualties or destruction, police and fire brigade officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake occurred some 77 km (48 miles) south-southwest of Alexandroupolis, between the islands of Lemnos and Samothrace, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles). Greek police said the quake had caused minor damage to shops and houses on the two islands.

Since 1999, the monthly town board meetings in Greece, New York, have opened with a roll call, a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, and a prayer given by clergy selected from the congregations listed in a local directory. While the prayer program is open to all creeds, nearly all of the local congregations are Christian; thus, nearly all of the participating prayer givers have been too. Respondents, citizens who attend meetings to speak on local issues, filed suit, alleging that the town violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause by preferring Christians over other prayer givers and by sponsoring sectarian...

Socccer fan arrested for dumping several kilograms of anchovies on team’s bench before a game described as a ‘disgrace to Greek football’Police in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki arrested a PAOK fan accused of dumping a crate of fish on the visiting Olympiakos bench, in a stunt that delayed a tense Greek Cup semi-final for more than an hour. Another six PAOK supporters were arrested during clashes with police before and after Wednesday’s match, which PAOK won 1-0 to advance.

Egypt Archaeologists May Have Found Alexander the Great’s Tomb Nikoleta Kalmouki April 30, 2014 In Egypt, a team of archaeologists and historians from the Polish Center of Archaeology have revealed a mausoleum made of marble and gold that might be the tomb of Alexander the Great. The site is situated in an area known as Kom el-Dikka in the heart of downtown Alexandria, only 60 meters away from the Mosque of Nebi Daniel. The monument was apparently sealed off and hidden in the 3rd or 4th century AD, to protect it from the Christian repression and destruction of pagan monuments...

The European Left's candidate for the European Commission presidency, Alexis Tsipras, Friday called for the immediate release of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams who is been held for questioning in connection with the 1972 murder of Jean McConville. Tsipras called the arrest a "politically inflammatory act against democracy".

Watching the celebration at the NRA convention over the defeat of background checks was the most nauseating experience of the day. I am not a New York gun control liberal, either. I support a shotgun for home defense, a handgun for limited conceal/carry, and an assortment of hunting rifles to balance West Virginia's exploding deer population (as evidenced by hourly collisions with cars). So, I am hardly out of the mainstream. But, the gun safety debate is B.S. This foaming at the mouth, Obamar is coming for the guns, Nanny Bloomberg is a bad billionaire, and most despicable of all,...

In a bizarre op-ed in The Charleston Gazette last week, journalism professor Christopher Swindell argued that the National Rifle Association “advocates armed rebellion against the duly elected government of the United States of America.” Stirring words, to be sure, but Swindell was hardly done — not even close. He also said that the NRA is guilty of “treason” “worthy of the firing squad.” “To support the new NRA president’s agenda of arming the populace for confrontation with the government is bloody treason,” Swindell charged in his wacky essay. After briefly playing the race card and alluding to the Civil War,...

Many believe the world is run by a secret organization like the Illuminati, and the people we think are in power are nothing but stooges. It sounds implausible, but is it really a crazy idea? Yes. Yes, it is. And yet there have been secret organizations that created the world as we know it. 10The Carbonari After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, the European powers had to decide what to do with the territory that he’d ruled as part of the First French Empire. The borders of Europe were redrawn at the Congress of Vienna, mainly decided by Great Britain, Russia,...

A statue, believed to be the ancient Greek goddess Demeter, has been unearthed at an illegal excavation in Simav, western Turkey. The statue, weighing in at 610kg and standing 2.8 meters tall, was discovered by two Turks, Ramazan C. And Ismail G, 26 and 62 years old respectively, who are alleged to have been conducting illegal excavations in the wider area where the statue was found. The two men were taken into custody by the Turkish police and sent to court. The head of the statue and the altar, missing during the raid, were later found in a house in...

Greek archaeologists discover rare example of 2,700-year-old weaving The Associated PressPublished: May 9, 2007 ATHENS, Greece: Archaeologists in Greece have recovered a rare section of 2,700-year old fabric from a burial imitating heroes' funerals described by the poet Homer, officials said Wednesday. The yellowed, brittle material was found in a copper urn during a rescue excavation in the southern town of Argos, a Culture Ministry announcement said. "This is an extremely rare find, as fabric is an organic material which decomposes very easily," said archaeologist Alkistis Papadimitriou, who headed the dig. She said only a handful of such artifacts have...

A retired Egyptian general has accused a historic monastery of being a threat to national security, and a Salafist weekly newspaper alleged that the monastery collaborates with Israeli intelligence officials, according to the Egyptian weekly Watani and the Fides news agency. Saint Catherine’s Monastery, now Eastern Orthodox, was built by the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century and is located at the foot of Mount Sinai. It stands accused of being a beachhead of Greece and the European Union on Egyptian territory. “It is weird that our monks, and there are no more than 37 of us, would be accused...