Author: Athanasios Koutoupas

Egypt 2-0 Ghana: Pharaohs maintain perfect start to World Cup qualifying

A first-half Mohamed Salah penalty and a late goal from Abdallah Saied guided Egypt to a 2-0 victory over Ghana in their World Cup qualifier on Sunday.

Egypt, who won 2-1 in their opening match in Congo last month, sit firmly on top of Group E with six points while Ghana are now at serious peril of failing to qualify with just four more games to come.

Ghana full-back Harrison Afful brought down Mahmoud Trezeguet in the box two minutes before the break and Roma forward Salah made no mistake from the resulting penalty, calmly converting into the middle of the goal.

Ghana came back strongly after half-time, with Egypt’s 43-year-old goalkeeper Essam Al Hadari forced into making key saves from Christian Atsu just after the hour mark and Emmanuel Agyemang Badu in the 79th minute.

However, Saied finished off a counter-attack with five remaining to seal victory for Egypt, who are bidding for a first World Cup spot since 1990.

Victory secures revenge for the Pharaohs, who were heavily beaten by Ghana in a qualification play-off for the 2014 World Cup.

(www.dailymail.co.uk)

November 16, 2016
World Travel Market: Tourism in Egypt, Greece, Turkey ‘Getting Back on Track’

Tourism “could be getting back on track” in Egypt, Turkey and Greece, according to an industry report released by the World Travel Market on Monday.

“After a difficult couple of years, the signs are that Egypt, Greece and Turkey are back on the agenda, while Tunisia is starting to turn the corner,” said Simon Press, the Senior Director of World Travel Market. “The WTM Industry Report talks to people who have the power to sign deals and the high proportion of potential buyers interested in having conversations with suppliers from these destinations is a great positive.”

The report is based on a poll that included input from 2,000 buyers at the World Travel Market, which kicked off in London on Monday.

According to the report, more than half the buyers at the market said they were looking to discuss deals with Egyptian, Turkish and Greek suppliers.

However, Egypt seemed to be the least popular among the three, “with 37% of the total sample looking to talk to Greek businesses, 29% looking to talk to Turkish suppliers and 17% heading toward the Egypt stands.”

Egyptian tourism minister Yehia Rashid traveled to London on Monday to attend the World Travel Market and promote tourism in Egypt through the “This is Egypt” campaign.

Egypt’s tourism industry, once the flagship of the economy and the second most important earner of hard currency, has been struggling greatly since the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak from power.

Several incidents, including the accidental killing of eight Mexican tourists and the downing of a Russian passenger plane last year, in addition to the brutal murder of Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni in January, have taken their toll on the country’s tourism flow.

More than 14.7 million tourists traveled to Egypt in 2010, with that number falling to 9.8 million in 2011. Tourist arrivals have largely failed to pick up during the course of 2016; according to statistics from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of tourists traveling to Egypt in June dropped by nearly 60 percent year-on-year to reach a meager 320,000.

According to a report from Egypt’s Ministry of Planning, the tourism trade in the country shrank by 34 percent during the first nine months of the 2015/2016 fiscal year.

The falling tourism revenues have been amplified by the dwindling foreign currency reserves that negatively affected the budget deficit.

However, some hope that the recent steps taken by Egyptian authorities, including the Central Bank of Egypt’s surprise move to devalue the Egyptian pound and the expected USD 12 million loan from the International Monetary Fund, will help set the country on the right track and bring back foreign investments and tourists.

Despite Egypt’s dwindling tourism revenues, which have played a part in triggering the country’s ongoing foreign currency crisis, Egypt aims to attract 12 million tourists by the end of 2017 by way of implementing an ambitious six-point plan, which will include increasing the presence of the national airline EgyptAir abroad, cooperating with low-cost airlines and improving services.

(egyptianstreets.com)

November 14, 2016
Elefsina Wins ‘European Capital of Culture 2021’

Elefsina, west of Athens, has won the title of “European Capital of Culture 2021”, the selection panel of independent experts responsible for assessing the Greek cities competing for the title announced on Friday.
Three cities had been short-listed after the initial pre-selection round in February 2016: Elefsina, Kalamata and Rhodes.

“In 2021, Greece will host its fourth European Capital of Culture after Athens in 1985, Thessaloniki in 1997 and Patras in 2006″, Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner responsible for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, said.

Underlining how popular the EU initiative is with cities and citizens, Navracsics congratulated Elefsina on its successful bid.

“I look forward to seeing Elefsina give visitors from Europe and all over the world the opportunity to discover the city and its cultural assets but also to appreciate the diversity of cultures in the European Union as well as our shared values – this is today more vital than ever”, he said.
Navracsics added that — as many previous European Capitals of Culture have shown — the title can bring the selected city significant long-term cultural, as well as economic and social benefits. “Benefits that Elefsina now stands to reap as well”, he said.

The main idea of Elefsina’s bid — Eleusis 2021 — was summarized in the phrase “Transition to EUphoria”, which highlighted the relationship between sustainability and the connection of all human activities with art and culture.

There are three European Capitals of Culture for 2021. Elefsina in Greece, Timisoarain Romania and Novi Sad in Serbia, a candidate country for EU membership.

Born in 1985 on an idea of the then Greek Minister of Culture, Melina Mercouri, the European Capitals of Culture have grown into one of the most ambitious cultural projects in Europe and one of the best known – and most appreciated – activities of the EU. Their objectives are to promote the diversity of cultures in Europe, to highlight the common features they share and to foster the contribution of culture to the long-term development of cities.

(news.gtp.gr)

November 14, 2016
Bear cubs stray into town of Kastoria in northern Greece

Residents in the northern Greek town of Kastoria were roused from their slumbers on Monday night after two young bears strayed into the town center.

According to a member of the Arcturos bear conservation society, the two cubs are around a year old and were initially spotted in a street beside Kastoria Lake shortly after midnight.

Nikos Panagiotopoulos, who is also a member of the Kastoria Environmental Protection Society, told the ANA-MPA news agency that four police patrol cars and two civilian vehicles were dispatched to the scene to contain the bears from wandering any further.

“Flashing our headlights and honking our horns, we tried to usher the bears to the town’s exit and back into the woods,” Panagiotopoulos. “Instead, they went into the cemetery and then started walking around the town center.”

Panagiotopoulos, who coordinated the effort to push the bears back into the forest, noted that the pair has been spotted near the town before, accompanied by their mother, and appeared undaunted by the human presence.

“There’s a playground right on the edge of the mountain where it slopes down into Kastoria and we’ve seen bears having a ball of a time, especially on the seesaw and spring rides,” Panagiotopoulos said.

After rousing dozens of residents who joined the effort, Panagiotopoulos and his team were able to escort the bears safely back into the woods after around four hours.

(www.ekathimerini.com)

November 10, 2016