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Greece
built 240 days ago
Greece's contribution to the Allied efforts in World War II was decisive despite the country's small and ill equipped armed forces. At the start of the war Greece sided with the Allies and refused to give in to Italian demands. Italy, invaded Greece on 28 October 1940, but Greek troops repelled the invaders after a bitter struggle. This marked the first Allied victory in the war. Hitler then reluctantly stepped in primarily to secure the strategic southern flank and troops from Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Italy succesfully invaded Greece. When... the Germans seized Crete so as to protect themselves against a British invasion from Egypt and to prepare for the planned invasion of Russia, a massive Greman parashute drop was met with fierce resistance by Cretan civilians and present Allied forces.
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Greece is a signatory of the Schengen agreement along with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. There are no passport checks when traveling between any two Schengen countries. A non-Schengen national who plans on visiting multiple Schengen countries -and who needs a tourist visa to visit them- may do so on just one visa from one Schengen country; but he is best advised to specifically obtain the visa for the first country he will be visiting.
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In 2005 Greece had an adult literacy rate of 98 percent. Education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 14; the remaining years of secondary school are optional and ... free. Many Greeks place a high value on education as the key to upward social mobility and a secure job. However, there are an inadequate number of public universities, and the constitution prohibits private ones, making access to higher education highly competitive. Many students of means attempt to gain an edge by attending privately run educational establishments called phrontisteria, which prepare them for university entrance examinations. Students attend the phrontisteria in addition to high school.
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According to the 2001 census, Greece had a population of 10,964,020. Of those, 58.8% lived in urban areas, whereas only 28.4% lived in rural areas. The population of the two largest cities in Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki, reached almost 4 million. Although the population of Greece continues to grow, Greece faces a serious demographic problem: for the first time in 2002 the number of deaths surpassed the number of births.
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PIRAEUS, Greece, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. ("Navios") announced today that its subsidiary, Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (the "Partnership") has priced the initial public offering of 10,000,000 of the Partnership's common units (the "Offering"), representing a 54.1% limited partner interest in the Partnership, at $20.00 per unit. The Offering will increase to 11,500,000 common units if the underwriters exercise in full their over-allotment option. Concurrent with the Offering, Amadeus Maritime S.A., a corporation owned by Angeliki Frangou, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Partnership, will acquire 500,000 common units, representing a 2.7% limited partner interest in the Partnership, at the initial public offering price. Navios owns the remaining interests in the Partnership, including subordinated units, incentive distribution rights and the 2.0% general partner interest. The common units have been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange, subject to official notice of issuance, under the symbol "NMM."
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Greece claims a special interest in the Middle East because of its geographic position and its economic and historic ties to the area. Greece cooperated with allied forces during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War. Since 1994, Greece has signed defense cooperation agreements with Israel and Egypt. In recent years, Greek leaders have hosted several meetings of Israeli and Palestinian politicians to contribute to the peace process. Greece has been traditionally supportive of Palestinian claims. However, beginning in the late 1990s, efforts to strike a more balanced relationship with Israel received a boost.
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