Greece pioneers the use of AI in education

Several decades ago, when the Green movement was getting under way, a panellist in a discussion on British TV said, with a considerable degree of prescience: “The Green movement is just an excuse to sell everybody everything all over again”. Today, much the same could be said about Artificial Intelligence. AI is being promoted to sell everything from washing machines to air conditioners to software to web platforms. Programs which one has used in the past for the most mundane activities – writing text, sending emails, opening and reading documents – have suddenly sprouted an “AI” button in their latest iteration, the use of which is promised to increase one’s output and enrich one’s experience of interacting with the program.

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Greece a pillar of stability in a turbulent region, PM tells UN

Addressing the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on 26th September, the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted that Greece was a founder member of the organisation which for the past 80 years has stood as a custodian of internal law, safeguarding the rules and principles that make international cooperation possible.

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Chania hotel workers benefit from minimum wage increase

The subject of the minimum wage is in the news. Last Monday a local agreement was reached for a minimum wage in the hospitality industry, based on an assumption about the national minimum wage for 2025, while two days later, the Prime Minister announced an increased national minimum wage with a slightly lower figure. This will presumably result in further negotiations between the Hoteliers and their employees – unless the provision for an adjustment has already been made. As reported in Haniotika Nea:

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Prime Minister meets US Senators in Chania

On Saturday 5th October, the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had a working breakfast with a group of US Senators at his residence on Akrotiri. Taking part in the meeting were the minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias and, on the American side, Republican Senators Jerry Moran, Susan Collins, John Boozman, John Cormyn and John Hoeven, and the US Ambassador to Greece George Tsunis. The Senators are all members of Senate Standing Committees, including those on Appropriations, Intelligence and Energy.

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The Prime Minister’s speech at Thessaloniki – 2024

On 7th September, Kyriakos Mitsotakis made his annual speech as Prime Minister at the International Fair in Thessaloniki. This is a traditional event at which the leader of the government in power aims to explain its past actions and set out its vision for the future. With his government reelected by a handsome majority in 2023 and the prospect of three uninterrupted years to carry out its future plans, Mr Mitsotakis was relieved of the need to justify his position and was able to concentrate on a catalogue of the changes introduced in the past 15 months, and to articulate a wide-ranging vision for a country which will be “more just and productive, more social, greener, more digital” by the end of his current term in 2027.

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The Prime Minister interviewed at Davos

Last week the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the international talking shop at which prime ministers and presidents, bankers and economists, rub shoulders with captains of industry, tech billionaires and others and try to solve the world’s problems. The event is seen by many as an elitist gathering overweighted with Western-centric attitudes and policies, however on the basis that it is better for people of influence from different parts of the world to talk to each other than not, we can at least applaud the intention.

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At Epiphany, the US Secretary of State visits Chania

Last Saturday, as we mentioned in a previous post, Greeks across the country and around the world celebrated Epiphany with the traditional ceremony of the Blessing of the Waters. In Chania, the ceremony was performed in the Venetian harbour by Damaskinos, Metropolitan of Kydonia and Apokoronas, and was attended by the Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who had a rendezvous with the US Secretary of State later in the day.

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President Erdogan visits Athens in a sign of improving relations

On Friday 7th December, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his first visit to Athens in six years, accompanied by an army of ministers and officials. It began and ended with expressions of mutual friendship and hopes for improved relationships in the future, representing a remarkable turnaround from the previously existing state of Graeco-Turkish relations.

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