In June, scientists discovered up to 453 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the reservoir. The find comes in addition to that discovered at the two Tamar drilling sites near Haifa, which is said to be enough to provide for Israel’s needs for at least 30 years.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated this year that some 122 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, recoverable natural gas lie in the Levant Basin Province in the eastern Mediterranean region – an area that includes the coastal region near Israel and Lebanon, which claims the energy field is off its coast.

Israel is considering construction of an underwater gas pipeline to export all this natural gas to Europe and Greece. According to sources quoted by the Globes business news service, the idea was raised during a meeting last week between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreaou. Relations with Greece, a member of the European Union, have grown closer over the past several months. Turkey, a nation that once would have been considered a natural partner in such an endeavor, and a rival with Greece, is not being considered for the project. The Muslim-led Ankara government has increasingly distanced itself from the Jewish State since Operation Cast Lead, the counter terrorist war against Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers in the winter of 2008-2009.

(source: IsraelNationalNews.com)

“We’ve made it clear we’re prepared to give tax concessions for domestically based airlines…so you would get a tax holiday for example-but the big concern has been the price of aviation jet fuel here, “ Jagdeo said. “It’s over US$5 per gallon, when you can buy that for US$2.10, US$2.35 in New York. So it makes an airline that is based here simply not competitive if they have to refuel here,” he added. “If we can bring that price down, it makes it very attractive to have a home-based airline.”
Jagdeo said it was with this situation in mind that he raised the issue about importing aviation jet fuel while he was in Venezuela recently. He said if GuyOil could import this fuel, it would help reduce the cost significantly. He noted that even if GuyOil does not make much of a profit doing this, there would be several other benefits. He identified cheaper air travel, the earning of revenue from air departure taxes and a boost in the tourism industry. Jagdeo said that the airline would fly to North America and the Caribbean and he said that the investors were talking about having three aircraft operating from here.
In March of this year, the President indicated that he did not rule out the possibility of the state re-entering the airplane industry in order to break the monopoly held by Caribbean Airlines. According to him, there is a need for services to be appropriately priced so as to ensure that people get value for money.

However, the establishment of a local airline service to serve the Guyana/North America routes by the authorities may take a few years to materialize as the local aviation body would have to upgrade its operations significantly.
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) structure and operations were audited by the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS) to identify the requirements which would bring it up to standard where the granting of a licence by the United States authorities is concerned. The United States will not allow any airline to operate between Guyana and airports there, unless the local body meets certain international standards. Currently, Guyana falls in the Category 2 rating of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is among 22 nations which fall within the category alongside Belize, Nicaragua and Haiti.

A category 2 certification implies that a lower safety level is maintained within the state, which would result in severe restrictions on the current operations of the state’s flag carrier in respect of flight operations to the United States.
Other consequences of such a classification are a limit to the country’s growth potential in the air industry; severe restriction on the expansion of the flag carrier’s service; and suspension of service growth to and from US markets.

The core activity of the Greek Tourism Week will be an exhibition under the theme “You in Greece” aspiring to highlight closely-related facets of Greece’s tourism industry and cultural traditions and suggest ways of further promoting them in the Chinese market.
Important segments of the exhibition include: a 3D interactive gateway to Greece’s famed scenery, island architecture and landscape; Greece and its magnificent Aegean sea as a honeymoon destination where young couples will have the opportunity to be photographed in front of their favorite landscapes; regeneration of urban landscapes in post-Olympics Athens; the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern era and the significance of the Games and similar mega-events for the development of urban spaces; the Athens-Attica 2014 urban regeneration program engineered by the Environment, Energy and Climate Ministry; the Piraeus Port Authority renovation program aimed at transforming Greece’s largest port into an international maritime and cultural center; a presentation of various alternative forms of tourism in different areas of Greece as evidenced in the activities and displays of various local museums and cultural institutions; Greece’s celebrated history in ceramic art, both ancient and contemporary, etc.
Within the context of the Greek Tourism Week, two forums will be also organized:

A forum titled “Alternative Forms of Tourism – Therapeutic tourism; the Greek and Chinese Approach” will be held on Aug. 29 in the Shanghai Library; attendees may learn more about the synergy between Greece’s rich cultural and scientific tradition in the fields of alternative medicine, health management and Mediterranean diet on one hand, and tourism and leisure on the other.
A second forum titled “Sustainable Tourism and Urban Regeneration: The Way to Growth” will be held on Aug. 30 in the Shanghai Library. The morning session of the forum, aspires to pinpoint the comparative advantages of Greece’s tourism industry, especially with regard to the utilization of Olympic property and Olympic cultural heritage, environmental protection, urban regeneration, cultural preservation and accessibility.
The afternoon session will present new forms and competitive tourism products, such as ecotourism, conference tourism and therapeutic and Spa tourism. Attendees may learn ways through which tourists may avail themselves of Greece’s unique natural environment and cultural traditions, so they can make their sojourn in the country a most enjoyable experience.
Taking into consideration the importance attached by both Greece and China to culture and tourism and the common experience shared by the cities of Athens and Beijing, which successfully hosted the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, respectively, the aforementioned themes of Greek Tourism Week resonate well with the concept of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo “Better City Better Life.” Athens, Beijing and Shanghai may share and reflect on their common experiences as hosts of events of international significance and their relevance and importance for the field of domestic and international tourism.

Mr. Eugenios Trivizas signing his book The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig for his young readers, during the 2010 Nanguo Book Fair

An agreement of cultural exchange between Greek and Chinese authors and publishing houses will be signed during the 17th Beijing International Book Fair, promoting further cooperation in the field of literature and culture, said a press release of the Press & Communication Office of the Embassy of Greece in Beijing.
According to the agreement, two children books will be published, one written by a Greek author and illustrated by a Chinese illustrator and the other written by a Chinese author in collaboration with a Greek illustrator.
The signing ceremony of the agreement will take place in Beijing, on Monday, 30th of August.
Both books, in the same bundle, will be published simultaneously in Greece and China and will help to bring the two ancient cultures even closer together.
Mr. Eugenios Trivizas, a famous Greek author has already agreed with The People’s Literature Publishing House, a member of China Publishing Group, to write one of the books and Qin Wenjun, a well known Chinese children book writer, the other.
The agreement is part of the Chinese “all people” civil reading program, which promotes international books to Chinese children, parents and teachers. The book, translated in simplified Chinese, will be distributed to schools and youth organizations around China.
Mr Trivizas has already introduced his book The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig in China during the 2010 Nanguo Book Fair on Aug. 19th. The book launch promoted cultural exchange in children’s literature publication between Greece and China, and was attended by the Secretary General of Tourism, Mr George Poussaios. Furthermore, two more children books by Mr Trivizas are scheduled to be introduced in the Chinese market in September, namely The Last Black Cat and Magic Pillows.
Many of Qin Wenjun’s books have been translated into English, Japanese, Germany and Korean.
The two countries have intensified their cultural exchanges in literature during recent years, with China being the guest of honor in the 7th Thessaloniki Book Fair, a major book event in Greece, and Greece being the guest of honour at the Beijing Book Fair in 2008.

The General was shown the exhibits and documents. He was told about the Armenians’ heroic struggle, which saved thousands of lives.

The museum management presented the Greek General with an album about the tragic events in Ottoman Turkey early in the 20th century. General Frangoulis Frangos presented the museum with a statuette, a symbol of Greece’s support for international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Any people’s history should be respected. “Freedom requires courage,” Pericles said. The Armenian people, which sustained such great losses, but gained independence and proved it does not lack courage, the Greek General said.

During the meeting Liang noted that China-Greece relations have developed smoothly and that the bilateral relationship has witnessed expanded political mutual trust and enhanced economic cooperation. The two sides have also enhanced coordination in regional and international affairs, Liang added.

“China considers Greece a reliable friend and is willing to advance the comprehensive strategic partnership,” Liang said.

As an important part of bilateral relations, the two sides’ militaries have maintained regular exchange and enhanced cooperation, Liang added.

Klokozas said deepening friendly exchanges between the two militaries will benefit the bilateral relationship and that Greece hopes to expand pragmatic military cooperation with China.

The Greek delegation was comprised of the ambassador, the commander of Kabul ’s international airport, Hellenic Air Force Lt.-Gen. Dimitris Pantelatos, and the other two high-ranking Greek officers in the central Asian country, Constantinos Takopoulos and Apostolos Masalis.

Additionally, on August 17 Amb. Mavroidis and the Afghan Deputy Defence Minister Mohamed Fauzi signed an agreement in Kabul concerning the training of four Afghan cadets at higher military educational establishments in Greece.

Sultan himself is a Greece-educated archaeologist and a one-time assistant and researcher to late Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos, while he also participated in the 1970s-era excavations at the Vergina site, the seat of the ancient Macedonian dynasty.

The reverse side of the coin illustrates two “overlapping cornucopias decorated with fillets,” according to the IAA.

Improved Greek-Israeli ties were “for the good of Greece and all of the Middle East region… and do not exclude our close cooperation with the Arab world, and particularly our Palestinian friends,” Dimitris Droutsas, Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister, said in an interview with radio station Flash. “Our rapprochement with Israel is not opposed to our traditional relationship of exceptional trust with the Arab world,” he said, adding that the improvement in ties had been discussed with “all our friends in the Arab world. The cooling of relations between Turkey and Israel is not a reason for the political rapprochement with Israel.”

The minister said bilateral discussions had focused on security, military cooperation and economic cooperation.

Some 3,600 athletes from 205 countries will take part in the 26 events that make up the traditional Olympics, with a simultaneous cultural and education programme running to teach them about Olympic values and global issues. Some of the sports have been adapted, with new formats like street basketball and triathlon with mixed gender teams. There will even be competitions with mixed teams from different nationalities.

The opening ceremony of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Singapore was closed, as it happens in the Olympic Games, with members of the Greek delegation. This is a tradition which represents the fact that Greece was the country where the Olympic games were born.