Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-09-16

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

CONTENTS

[01] Temple of Athena Nike on Acropolis restored

[02] Unemployment at 11.8% in Q2

[03] Trade deficit down 8.0% in H1

[01] Temple of Athena Nike on Acropolis restored

The small temple was among the ancient marble structures on the Acropolis that had suffered the most extensive damage over the years, even as far back as 1687 when it was badly damaged by a mortar shell lobbed by besieging Venetians against an Ottoman garrison barricaded on the hill.

It had also been frequently restored since 1935, though not always correctly.

When the Monuments Preservation Service took charge of it, most of the building blocks were incorrectly placed, the west side leaned by 4.5 centimetres and oxidation had penetrated to the lower, archaic-era temple. The placing of a metallic grate made of stainless steel, a change not originally envisaged as part of the restoration, was one of the factors that delayed delivery of the monument. (ANA-MPA)

Other causes of delay were two further studies, one concerning the positioning of the slabs making up the frieze and another on the construction of the marble lion heads on the cyma, something done for the first time on the Acropolis.

The temple of the 'Wingless Nike' stands in the southwestern corner of the Acropolis, where in Mycenaean times there was a turret protecting the entrance to the Acropolis. The temple was built between 426-421 B.C. based on a plan by Kallikrates and is the successor of earlier temples dedicated to "victorious Athena" or Athena Nike.

The temple was first described as that of the 'Nike Apteros' (wing-less victory) by Pausanias, who described the cult statue of Athena as lacking wings -- so that victory could never leave the pre-eminent Greek city-state of antiquity. (ANA-MPA)

The temple has been handed over before the start of a new round of restoration work in October, this time on the western side of the Parthenon and Propylaea. (ANA-MPA)

ANA-MPA photo: ORESTIS PANAGIOTOU

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[02] Unemployment at 11.8% in Q2

The number of unemployed people totaled 594,032 in the second quarter, up 151,469 or by 34.2 pct within a year, reflecting the impact of an economic recession in the labour market. The number of new unemployed seeking jobs accounted for 23.8 pct of total unemployed people, while long-term unemployment accounted for 47.7 pct of total unemployment in the country. (ANA-MPA)

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[03] Trade deficit down 8.0% in H1

(ANA-MPA) Germany (74.3 billion euros) recorded the biggest trade surplus in the six-month period, followed by Ireland (20.4 billion euros) and the Netherlands (19.3 billion), while the UK (52.8 billion), France (30 billion), Spain (26 billion), Italy (14.2 billion) and Greece (12.7 billion) recorded the highest trade deficits in the EU-27. (ANA-MPA)

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