title: Pearl (2022 film)

text: "Pearl" had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2022, and was released in theaters in the United States on September 16, 2022.


title: Pearl (2022 film)

text: The film was released on VOD on October 25, 2022, and was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 15, 2022.


title: Pearl (2022 film)

text: In the United States and Canada, "Pearl" was released alongside "The Woman King" and "See How They Run", and was projected to gross around $4 million from 2,900 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $1.3 million on its first day and went on to debut to $3.1 million, finishing third at the box office. It made $1.92 million in its second weekend, finishing fifth at the box office.


title: Pearl (2022 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 152 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's consensus states: ""Pearl" finds Ti West squeezing fresh gore out of the world he created with "X" – and once again benefiting from a brilliant Mia Goth performance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave the film a 75% overall positive score, with 54% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Pearl (2022 film)

text: Reviewing the film following its Venice Film Festival premiere, Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" praised West's direction and Goth's "grandiose performance", assigning it a perfect rating of five stars and remarking: "Perhaps I shouldn't have enjoyed "Pearl" as much as I did: but it's clever, limber, gruesome and brutally well acted. A gem." In his review for "The Hollywood Reporter", David Rooney described it as a "cleverly packaged pandemic production with narrative echoes of that global anxiety", praising the screenplay, cinematography, score, and Goth's performance—which she compares to that of American actress Shelley Duvall. In a negative review, Ewan Gleadow of "Cult Following" wrote that while West “doubles down on what made "X" such a chilling feature and consolidates what he is good at,” the film ultimately “feels like a weak parody of the MGM days of "The Wizard of Oz".”


title: Pearl (2022 film)

text: Filmmaker Martin Scorsese was reportedly very impressed by the film, calling it "mesmerizing" and stating that it was "powered by a pure, undiluted love for cinema". "The New York Times" named the character of Pearl one of 93 Most Stylish 'People' of 2022, highlighting her "her blood red dress, lacy blue bow, smudged makeup, boots … and ax".


title: Pearl (2022 film)

text: West announced in March 2022 that he was working on the script for a third movie in the film series, to be set chronologically after the events of "X". That project will explore another subgenre of horror and will continue depicting how cinema in general, and the development of home video releases in particular, have influenced society. West stated that, while a viewer can watch each movie independently without having seen the previous film, they are made to "complement each other". In describing his creative processes during the development of these films, West stated, "I'm trying to build a world out of all this, like people do these days." The filmmaker further noted, "You can't make a slasher movie without a bunch of sequels".


title: Pearl (2022 film)

text: In September 2022, at the first Midnight Madness showing of "Pearl" for the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, a third film was officially announced with a short teaser played after the credits. The clip was later released online for those not present at the event. West once again serves as writer/director and one of the producers, while Mia Goth will reprise her role from the first movie. Serving as a sequel to "X", the film takes place in 1985 and is titled "MaXXXine". The plot was confirmed to center around Maxine, the only survivor of the "Massacre of "X"" as she continues to pursue her future in Hollywood. Though principal photography has not yet begun, the teaser trailer was shot with the film fast-tracked to being green-lit by A24, following the successes of the previous two installments. Jacob Jaffke, Kevin Turen, and Harrison Kreiss will be producers, while Goth will additionally serve as an executive producer.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast.


title: Saint-Malo

text: The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Allies heavily bombarded Saint-Malo, which was garrisoned by German troops. The city changed into a popular tourist centre, with a ferry terminal serving the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as well as the Southern English settlements of Portsmouth, Hampshire and Poole, Dorset.


title: Saint-Malo

text: The famous transatlantic single-handed yacht race Route du Rhum, which takes place every four years in November, is between Saint Malo and Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe.


title: Saint-Malo

text: The population in 2017 was 46,097 – though this can increase to up to 300,000 in the summer tourist season. With the suburbs included, the metropolitan area's population is approximately 133,000 (2017).


title: Saint-Malo

text: The population of the commune more than doubled in 1967 with the merging of three communes: Saint-Malo, Saint-Servan (population 14,963 in 1962) and Paramé (population 8,811 in 1962).


title: Saint-Malo

text: Inhabitants of Saint-Malo are called "Malouins" in French. The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Saint-Malo proper in its geography for the given years.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Founded by Gauls in the 1st century BC, the ancient town on the site of Saint-Malo was known as the Roman Reginca or Aletum. By the late 4th century AD, the Saint-Servan district was the site of a major Saxon Shore promontory fort that protected the Rance estuary from seaborne raiders from beyond the frontiers. According to the "Notitia Dignitatum", the fort was garrisoned by the "militum Martensium" under a "dux" (commander) of the "Tractus Armoricanus and Nervicanus" section of the "litus Saxonicum". During the decline of the Western Roman Empire, Armorica (modern-day Brittany) rebelled from Roman rule under the Bagaudae and in the 5th and 6th centuries received many Celtic Britons fleeing instability across the Channel. The modern Saint-Malo traces its origins to a monastic settlement founded by Saint Aaron and Saint Brendan early in the sixth century. Its name is derived from a man said to have been a follower of Brendan the Navigator, Saint Malo or Maclou, an immigrant from what is now Wales.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Saint-Malo is the setting of Marie de France's poem "Laüstic," a 12th-century love story. The city had a tradition of asserting its autonomy in dealings with the French authorities and even with the local Breton authorities. From 1590 to 1593, Saint-Malo declared itself to be an independent republic, taking the motto "not French, not Breton, but Malouin."


title: Saint-Malo

text: Saint-Malo became notorious as the home of the corsairs, French privateers and sometimes pirates. In the 19th century, this "piratical" notoriety was portrayed in Jean Richepin's play "Le flibustier" and in César Cui's eponymous opera. The corsairs of Saint-Malo not only forced English ships passing up the Channel to pay tribute but also brought wealth from further afield. Jacques Cartier lived in, and sailed from, Saint-Malo to the Saint Lawrence River, visiting the villages of Stadacona and Hochelaga that would later become the sites of present-day Quebec City and Montreal respectively. As the first European to encounter these sites and learning the local word "Kanata" (meaning a group of houses), Cartier is credited as the discoverer of Canada.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Inhabitants of Saint-Malo are called "Malouins" in French. From this came the Spanish name for the "Islas Malvinas", the archipelago known in English as the Falkland Islands. Islas Malvinas derives from the 1764 name "Îles Malouines", given to the islands by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville. Bougainville, who founded the archipelago's first settlement, named the islands after the inhabitants of Saint-Malo, the point of departure for his ships and colonists.


title: Saint-Malo

text: In 1758, the Raid on Saint-Malo saw a British expedition land, intending to capture the town. However, the British made no attempt on Saint-Malo and instead occupied the nearby town of Saint-Servan, where they destroyed 30 privateers before departing.


title: Saint-Malo

text: In World War II, during fighting in late August and early September 1944, the historic walled city of Saint-Malo was almost totally destroyed by fires lit by German troops as well as American shelling and bombing. The beaches of nearby Dinard had been heavily fortified against possible Allied commando raids. Artillery at the two locations provided mutual support. The fortification complex was garrisoned by more than twelve thousand German troops from different services and units as well as stragglers from other battles in the Cotentin. About eight thousand Germans were in Saint-Malo itself when the battle began.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Colonel Andreas von Aulock, the German commander, refused to surrender when asked to do so by the town's authorities. He said he "would defend St. Malo to the last man even if the last man had to be himself".


title: Saint-Malo

text: The first American attack was launched by the 83rd Infantry Division on 5 August 1944. German positions at Châteauneuf quickly fell. Cancale was abandoned and occupied by the Americans on the 6th. In the same way and on the same day, Dinan fell to Free French forces. The Germans shortened their lines and drew closer to the ancient citadel at St. Servan-sur-Mer, now reinforced with concrete.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Effective German artillery emplacements on the island of Cezembre were out of reach of American ground forces. German garrisons on the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney were able to use small craft to bring in water and remove the wounded from the battle.


title: Saint-Malo

text: On 13 August, the walled city was on fire and a short truce was declared to allow French civilians to flee the city. Outlying German positions at St. Ideuc and La Varde fell to infantry attacks. This fighting ended resistance on the north shore of the peninsula. Only the citadel remained. Surrounded by American artillery and under frequent air attack, this last holdout surrendered on the afternoon of 17 August.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Cezembre surrendered on 2 September when the three-hundred-man garrison ran out of drinking water. The Americans had taken more than ten thousand prisoners during the two-week fight, von Aulock among them.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Saint-Malo is a subprefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine. The commune of Saint-Servan was merged with Paramé, and became the commune of Saint-Malo in 1967.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Saint-Malo was the site of an Anglo-French summit in 1998 that led to a significant agreement regarding European defence policy.


title: Saint-Malo

text: The bay of Saint-Malo has an oceanic temperate climate. Temperatures are softened by the Gulf Stream and the range of average temperatures between winter and summer is very low (from 6.1°C in January to 17.8°C in August) with an average temperature of 11.6°C.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Saint-Malo is part of Ille-et-Vilaine's 7th constituency, and is currently represented in the National Assembly by Republicans Member of Parliament, Gilles Lurton.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Saint-Malo has a terminal for ferry services with daily departures to Portsmouth operated by Brittany Ferries and services on most days Poole in England via the Channel Islands operated by Condor Ferries. It also has a railway station, Gare de Saint-Malo, offering direct TGV service to Rennes, Paris and several regional destinations. There is a bus service provided by Keolis. The town is served by the Dinard–Pleurtuit–Saint-Malo Airport around to the south.


title: Saint-Malo

text: Now inseparably attached to the mainland, Saint-Malo is the most visited place in Brittany. Sites of interest include:


title: Mountain Monsters

text: Mountain Monsters is an American cryptozoology-themed reality television series airing on Travel Channel. It originally premiered on June 22, 2013 on Destination America. The series follows the Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings (A.I.M.S.) team, a band of seven native West Virginian hunters and trappers, as they research and track unidentified creatures in the Appalachian Mountains. There is also a side-series titled "Mountain Monsters: By The Fire" that features extra facts and never-before-seen footage from different episodes of the series.


title: Mountain Monsters

text: The series aired for five seasons on Destination America. After an 18-month hiatus, it was announced that the series was renewed for a sixth season and would be moving to Travel Channel.


title: Mountain Monsters

text: In 2021 it was announced that a TV special titled "Mountain Monsters: A Tribute to Trapper" would premiere on January 3, 2021. It was also announced that the seventh season will premiere on January 10, 2021. It was announced shortly after the premiere of Season 7, that new episodes would only release exclusively on the Discovery+ streaming platform for the rest of the season.


title: Mountain Monsters

text: The official Mountain Monsters Instagram account revealed on December 10, 2021 that an eighth season would premiere in January 2022. Season 9 will be released in 2023.


title: Mountain Monsters

text: The A.I.M.S. team is a self-styled, cryptozoology research team founded by West Virginians John "Trapper" Tice, Jeff Headlee, and Willy McQuillian. Their goal is to prove the existence of mysterious creatures such as Bigfoot, Wampus cat, Grafton Monster, Spearfinger, Werewolf, Hellhound, Lizard Man, and Mothman. The episodes normally begin with Trapper, Jeff, Huckleberry, and Buck discussing the specific creature they are hunting on the way to the location where the creature was spotted. They then meet with eyewitnesses who have encountered the creature, giving the team an idea of where to conduct an initial night investigation to find evidence of the creature being in the area.


title: Mountain Monsters

text: After concluding their initial night hunt, Willy and Wild Bill begin work on a trap to contain the creature while the rest of the team searches for more evidence, meeting with additional eyewitnesses who normally possess photographic, video, or audio evidence of the creature. After testing the completed trap the team begins the final night hunt.


title: Mountain Monsters

text: The creatures are, supposedly, occasionally caught on camera, such as the Cave Creature, Chupacabra, Wildman (Bigfoot), Waya Woman and Smoke Wolf's eyes. They are also shown as a digital rendering that appears before and after commercial breaks. The team attempts to capture these creatures (with Hogzilla, three Devil Dogs and two wolves from the Tygart Valley being their most recent trapped creatures). In some instances, the team places trail cameras and/or infrared camcorders near the trap to capture photographic evidence of the creature in question. They have caught fleeting, blurry images of what they claim to be the Grassman, Shadow Creature, Cherokee Death Cat, Black Wolf and the Bigfoot from the Tygart Valley on camera, to name but a few. More recently a recurring rogue team has spied on and sabotaged the A.I.M.S. team and their investigations. But the Rogue Team did not have much involvement in the show's 6th season, which focused more on the team hunting monsters like in the earlier seasons.


title: Mountain Monsters

text: As of the 7th season, Trapper has died, and the rest of the team continues to hunt creatures in his legacy.


title: Mountain Monsters

text: Prior to the season six premiere, John "Trapper" Tice announced that he would have limited involvement due to a myriad of serious health issues. He made a minor appearance in the first episode of the season where he was visited by Huckleberry and Buck to whom he expressed the severity of his situation. He made one more brief appearance in the season's eighth episode. Tice died on December 16, 2019.


title: Mountain Monsters

text: On April 5, 2015, Matt Moneymaker of "Finding Bigfoot" tweeted that "Mountain Monsters" was scripted and the A.I.M.S. team were merely actors. "Trapper" John Tice responded to the tweet, denying that he was an actor and referring to Moneymaker's show as "Losing Bigfoot". The online feud has continued with "Finding Bigfoot" castmember Cliff Barackman chiming in that the show is "fiction" and the official "Finding Bigfoot" Twitter account calling "Mountain Monsters" a "fake-hoax" show in regards to the series' April 2017 return.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The economy of Greece is the 53rd largest in the world, with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $222.008 billion per annum. In terms of purchasing power parity, Greece is the world's 54th largest economy, at $387.801 billion per annum. As of 2021, Greece is the sixteenth-largest economy in the European Union. According to the International Monetary Fund's figures for 2022, Greece's GDP per capita is $20,876 at nominal value and $36,466 at purchasing power parity.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece is a developed country with an economy based on the service (80%) and industrial sectors (16%), with the agricultural sector contributing an estimated 4% of national economic output in 2017. Important Greek industries include tourism and shipping. With 18 million international tourists in 2013, Greece was the 7th most visited country in the European Union and 16th in the world. The Greek Merchant Navy is the largest in the world, with Greek-owned vessels accounting for 15% of global deadweight tonnage as of 2013. The increased demand for international maritime transportation between Greece and Asia has resulted in unprecedented investment in the shipping industry.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The country is a significant agricultural producer within the EU. Greece has the largest economy in the Balkans and is an important regional investor. Greece was the largest foreign investor in Albania in 2013, the third in Bulgaria, in the top-three in Romania and Serbia and the most important trading partner and largest foreign investor in North Macedonia. The Greek telecommunications company OTE has become a strong investor in certain former Yugoslav and other Balkan countries.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece is classified as an advanced, high-income economy, and was a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). The country joined what is now the European Union in 1981. In 2001 Greece adopted the euro as its currency, replacing the Greek drachma at an exchange rate of 340.75 drachmae per euro. Greece is a member of the International Monetary Fund and of the World Trade Organization, and ranked 34th on Ernst & Young's Globalization Index 2011.


title: Economy of Greece

text: World War II (1939–1945) devastated the country's economy, but the high levels of economic growth that followed from 1950 to 1980 have been called the Greek economic miracle. From 2000 Greece saw high levels of GDP growth above the Eurozone average, peaking at 5.8% in 2003 and 5.7% in 2006. The subsequent Great Recession and Greek government-debt crisis, a central focus of the wider European debt crisis, plunged the economy into a sharp downturn, with real GDP growth rates of −0.3% in 2008, −4.3% in 2009, −5.5% in 2010, −10.1% in 2011, −7.1% in 2012 and −2.5% in 2013. In 2011, the country's public debt reached €356 billion (172% of nominal GDP). After negotiating the biggest debt restructuring in history with the private sector, a loss of 100 billions for bonds private investors, Greece reduced its sovereign debt burden to €280 billion (137% of GDP) in the first quarter of 2012. Greece achieved a real GDP growth rate of 0.5% in 2014—after 6 years of economic decline—but contracted by 0.2% in 2015 and by 0.5% in 2016. The country returned to modest growth rates of 1.1% in 2017, 1.7% in 2018 and 1.8% in 2019. GDP contracted by 9% in 2020 during the global recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the economy rebounded by 8.3% in 2021. On 20 August 2022, Greece formally exited the EU's "enhanced surveillance framework", which had been in place since the conclusion of the third bailout package exactly four years earlier. According to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the event heralded "greater national leeway in our economic choices" and marked the end of a "12-year cycle that brought pain to citizens".


title: Economy of Greece

text: The evolution of the Greek economy during the 19th century (a period that transformed a large part of the world because of the Industrial Revolution) has been little researched. Recent research from 2006 examines the gradual development of industry and further development of shipping in a predominantly agricultural economy, calculating an average rate of per capita GDP growth between 1833 and 1911 that was only slightly lower than that of the other Western European nations. Industrial activity, (including heavy industry like shipbuilding) was evident, mainly in Ermoupolis and Piraeus. Nonetheless, Greece faced economic hardships and defaulted on its external loans in 1826, 1843, 1860 and 1893.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Other studies support the above view on the general trends in the economy, providing comparative measures of standard of living. The per capita income (in purchasing power terms) of Greece was 65% that of France in 1850, 56% in 1890, 62% in 1938, 75% in 1980, 90% in 2007, 96.4% in 2008 and 97.9% in 2009.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The country's post-World War II development has largely been connected with the Greek economic miracle. During that period, Greece saw growth rates second only to those of Japan, while ranking first in Europe in terms of GDP growth. It is indicative that between 1960 and 1973 the Greek economy grew by an average of 7.7%, in contrast to 4.7% for the EU15 and 4.9% for the OECD. Also during that period, exports grew by an average annual rate of 12.6%.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece enjoys a high standard of living and very high Human Development Index, being ranked 32nd in the world in 2019. However, the severe recession of recent years saw GDP per capita fall from 94% of the EU average in 2009 to 67% between 2017 and 2019. During the same period, Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) per capita fell from 104% to 78% of the EU average.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece's main industries are tourism, shipping, industrial products, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products, mining and petroleum. Greece's GDP growth has also, as an average, since the early 1990s been higher than the EU average. However, the Greek economy continues to face significant problems, including high unemployment levels, an inefficient public sector bureaucracy, tax evasion, corruption and low global competitiveness.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece is ranked 58th in the world, and 23rd among EU member states, on the Corruption Perceptions Index. This represents a steady improvement over recent years (roughly returning to its pre-crisis ranking ), especially as compared to its worst performance, which occurred during the culmination of the Debt Crisis, in 2012: in that particular year it had dropped to 94th in the world and last in the EU. However, Greece still has the EU's lowest Index of Economic Freedom and second lowest Global Competitiveness Index, ranking 77th and 59th in the world respectively.


title: Economy of Greece

text: After fourteen consecutive years of economic growth, Greece went into recession in 2008. By the end of 2009, the Greek economy faced the highest budget deficit and government debt-to-GDP ratio in the EU. After several upward revisions, the 2009 budget deficit is now estimated at 15.7% of GDP. This, combined with rapidly rising debt levels (127.9% of GDP in 2009) led to a precipitous increase in borrowing costs, effectively shutting Greece out of the global financial markets and resulting in a severe economic crisis.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece was accused of trying to cover up the extent of its massive budget deficit in the wake of the global financial crisis. The allegation was prompted by the massive revision of the 2009 budget deficit forecast by the new PASOK government elected in October 2009, from "6–8%" (estimated by the previous New Democracy government) to 12.7% (later revised to 15.7%). However, the accuracy of the revised figures has also been questioned, and in February 2012 the Hellenic Parliament voted in favor of an official investigation following accusations by a former member of the Hellenic Statistical Authority that the deficit had been artificially inflated in order to justify harsher austerity measures.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The Greek labor force, which amount around workers, average 2,032 hours of work per worker annually in 2011, is ranked fourth among OECD countries, after Mexico, South Korea and Chile. The Groningen Growth & Development Centre has published a poll revealing that between 1995 and 2005, Greece was the country whose workers have the most hours/year work among European nations; Greeks worked an average of 1,900 hours per year, followed by Spaniards (average of 1,800 hours/year).


title: Economy of Greece

text: As a result of the ongoing economic crisis, industrial production in the country went down by 8% between March 2010 and March 2011, The volume of building activity saw a reduction of 73% in 2010. Additionally, the turnover in retail sales saw a decline of 9% between February 2010 and February 2011.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Between 2008 and 2013 unemployment skyrocketed, from a generational low of 7.2% in the second and third quarters of 2008 to a high of 27.9% in June 2013, leaving over a million jobless. Youth unemployment peaked at 64.9% in May 2013. Unemployment figures have steadily improved in recent years, with the overall rate falling to 11.6% and youth unemployment dropping to 27.3% in October 2022.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Between 1981 and 1993 it steadily rose, surpassing the average of what is today the Eurozone in the mid-1980s (see chart right).


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece was accepted into the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union by the European Council on 19 June 2000, based on a number of criteria (inflation rate, budget deficit, public debt, long-term interest rates, exchange rate) using 1999 as the reference year. After an audit commissioned by the incoming New Democracy government in 2004, Eurostat revealed that the statistics for the budget deficit had been under-reported. However, even after all corrections that followed, the reference year budget deficit did not exceed the allowable upper limit (3%) according to the Eurostat accounting method in force at the time of application, and thus Greece had still met all critiera for Eurozone entry (details given below).


title: Economy of Greece

text: Most of the differences in the revised budget deficit numbers were due to a temporary change of accounting practices by the new government, i.e., recording expenses when military material was ordered rather than received. However, it was the retroactive application of ESA95 methodology (applied since 2000) by Eurostat, that finally raised the reference year (1999) budget deficit to 3.38% of GDP, thus exceeding the 3% limit. This led to claims that Greece (similar claims have been made about other European countries like Italy)


title: Economy of Greece

text: had not actually met all five accession criteria, and the common perception that Greece entered the Eurozone through "falsified" deficit numbers.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In the 2005 OECD report for Greece, it was clearly stated that "the impact of new accounting rules on the fiscal figures for the years 1997 to 1999 ranged from 0.7 to 1 percentage point of GDP; this retroactive change of methodology was responsible for the revised deficit exceeding 3% in 1999, the year of [Greece's] EMU membership qualification". The above led the Greek minister of finance to clarify that the 1999 budget deficit was below the prescribed 3% limit when calculated with the ESA79 methodology in force at the time of Greece's application, and thus the criteria had been met.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The original accounting practice for military expenses was later restored in line with Eurostat recommendations, theoretically lowering even the ESA95-calculated 1999 Greek budget deficit to below 3% (an official Eurostat calculation is still pending for 1999).


title: Economy of Greece

text: An error sometimes made is the confusion of discussion regarding Greece's Eurozone entry with the controversy regarding usage of derivatives' deals with U.S. Banks by Greece and other Eurozone countries to artificially reduce their reported budget deficits. A currency swap arranged with Goldman Sachs allowed Greece to "hide" 2.8 billion Euros of debt, however, this affected deficit values after 2001 (when Greece had already been admitted into the Eurozone) and is not related to Greece's Eurozone entry.


title: Economy of Greece

text: A study of the period 1999–2009 by forensic accountants has found that data submitted to Eurostat by Greece, among other countries, had a statistical distribution indicative of manipulation; "Greece with a mean value of 17.74, shows the largest deviation from Benford's law among the members of the eurozone, followed by Belgium with a value of 17.21 and Austria with a value of 15.25".


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece, like other European nations, had faced debt crises in the 19th century, as well as a similar crisis in 1932 during the Great Depression. In general, however, during the 20th century it enjoyed one of the highest GDP growth rates on the planet


title: Economy of Greece

text: For the next 15 years, from 1993 to 2007 (i.e., before the Financial crisis of 2007–2008), Greece's government debt-to-GDP ratio remained roughly unchanged (the value was not affected by the 2004 Athens Olympics), averaging 102% - a value lower than that for Italy (107%) and Belgium (110%) during the same 15-year period, and comparable to that for the U.S. or the OECD average in 2017.


title: Economy of Greece

text: During the latter period, the country's annual budget deficit usually exceeded 3% of GDP, but its effect on the debt-to-GDP ratio was counterbalanced by high GDP growth rates. The debt-to-GDP values for 2006 and 2007 (about 105%) were established after audits resulted in corrections according to Eurostat methodology, of up to 10 percentage points for the particular years (as well as similar corrections for the years 2008 and 2009). These corrections, although altering the debt level by a maximum of about 10%, resulted in a popular notion that "Greece was previously hiding its debt".


title: Economy of Greece

text: The Greek crisis was triggered by the turmoil of the Great Recession, which lead the budget deficits of several Western nations to reach or exceed 10% of GDP. In Greece's case, the high budget deficit (which, after several corrections, was revealed that it had been allowed to reach 10.2% and 15.1% of GDP in 2008 and 2009, respectively) was coupled with a high public debt to GDP ratio (which, until then, was relatively stable for several years, at just above 100% of GDP - as calculated after all corrections). Thus, the country appeared to lose control of its public debt to GDP ratio, which already reached 127% of GDP in 2009. In addition, being a member of the Eurozone, the country had essentially no autonomous monetary policy flexibility.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Finally, there was an effect of controversies about Greek statistics (due the aforementioned drastic budget deficit revisions which lead to an increase in the calculated value of the Greek public debt by about 10%, i.e., a public debt to GDP of about 100% until 2007), while there have been arguments about a possible effect of media reports. Consequently, Greece was "punished" by the markets which increased borrowing rates, making impossible for the country to finance its debt since early 2010.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Thus, the Greek economy faced its most-severe crisis since the restoration of democracy in 1974 as the Greek government revised its deficit forecasts from 3.7% in early 2009 and 6% in September 2009, to 12.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in October 2009.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The aforementioned budget deficit and debt revisions were connected with findings that, through the assistance of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and numerous other banks, financial products were developed which enabled the governments of Greece, Italy and many other European countries to hide parts of their borrowing. Dozens of similar agreements were concluded across Europe whereby banks supplied cash in advance in exchange for future payments by the governments involved; in turn, the liabilities of the involved countries were "kept off the books".


title: Economy of Greece

text: According to "Der Spiegel", credits given to European governments were disguised as "swaps" and consequently did not get registered as debt because Eurostat at the time ignored statistics involving financial derivatives. A German derivatives dealer had commented to "Der Spiegel" that "The Maastricht rules can be circumvented quite legally through swaps," and "In previous years, Italy used a similar trick to mask its true debt with the help of a different US bank." These conditions had enabled Greek as well as many other European governments to spend beyond their means, while meeting the deficit targets of the European Union and the monetary union guidelines. In May 2010, the Greek government deficit was again revised and estimated to be 13.6% which was among the highest relative to GDP, with Iceland in first place at 15.7% and the United Kingdom third with 12.6%. Public debt was forecast, according to some estimates, to hit 120% of GDP during 2010.


title: Economy of Greece

text: As a consequence, there was a crisis in international confidence in Greece's ability to repay its sovereign debt, as reflected by the rise of the country's borrowing rates (although their slow rise – the 10-year government bond yield only exceeded 7% in April 2010 – coinciding with a large number of negative articles, has led to arguments about the role of international news media in the evolution of the crisis). In order to avert a default (as high borrowing rates effectively prohibited access to the markets), in May 2010 the other Eurozone countries, and the IMF, agreed to a "rescue package" which involved giving Greece an immediate € in bail-out loans, with more funds to follow, totaling €. In order to secure the funding, Greece was required to adopt harsh austerity measures to bring its deficit under control. Their implementation was to be monitored and evaluated by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The financial crisis – particularly the austerity package put forth by the EU and the IMF – has been met with anger by the Greek public, leading to riots and social unrest, while there have been theories about the effect of international media. Despite - others say because of - the long range of austerity measures, the government deficit has not been reduced accordingly, mainly, according to many economists, because of the subsequent recession.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Public sector workers have come out on strike in order to resist job cuts and reductions to salaries as the government promises that a large scale privatisation programme will be accelerated. Immigrants are sometimes treated as scapegoats for economic problems by far-right extremists.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2013, Greece became the first developed market to be reclassified as an emerging market by different financial rating companies.


title: Economy of Greece

text: By July 2014 there were still anger and protests about the austerity measures, with a 24-hour strike among government workers timed to coincide with an audit by inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and European Central Bank in advance of a decision on a second bailout of one billion euros ($1.36 billion), due in late July.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece exited its six-year recession in the second quarter of 2014, but the challenges of securing political stability and debt sustainability remain.


title: Economy of Greece

text: A third bailout was agreed in July 2015, after a confrontation with the newly elected leftist government of Alexis Tsipras. In June 2017, news reports indicated that the "crushing debt burden" had not been alleviated and that Greece was at the risk of defaulting on some payments. The International Monetary Fund stated that the country should be able to borrow again "in due course". At the time, the Euro zone gave Greece another credit of $9.5-billion, $8.5 billion of loans and brief details of a possible debt relief with the assistance of the IMF. On 13 July, the Greek government sent a letter of intent to the IMF with 21 commitments it promised to meet by June 2018. They included changes in labour laws, a plan to cap public sector work contracts, to transform temporary contracts into permanent agreements and to recalculate pension payments to reduce spending on social security.


title: Economy of Greece

text: There was a 25% drop in Greece's GDP, connected with the bailout programmes. This had a critical effect: the Debt-to-GDP ratio, the key factor defining the severity of the crisis, would jump from its 2009 level of 127% to about 170%, solely due to the GDP drop (i.e., for the same Debt). Such a level is considered unsustainable.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In a 2013 report, the IMF admitted that it had underestimated the effects of so extensive tax hikes and budget cuts on the country's GDP and issued an informal apology.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted all sectors of the Greek economy, and tourism in particular. As a result, GDP shrank by 9% in 2020, but rebounded by 8.3% in 2021. In June 2021, the European Commission agreed to disburse approximately 30 billion Euros in COVID-19 related economic aid (12 billion in loans and 18 billion in grants).


title: Economy of Greece

text: The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2020 (with IMF staff estimates in 2021–2026). Inflation below 5% is in green.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2010, Greece was the European Union's largest producer of cotton (183,800 tons) and pistachios (8,000 tons) and ranked second in the production of rice (229,500 tons) and olives (147,500 tons), third in the production of figs (11,000 tons) and almonds (44,000 tons), tomatoes (1,400,000 tons) and watermelons (578,400 tons) and fourth in the production of tobacco (22,000 tons). Agriculture contributes 3.8% of the country's GDP and employs 12.4% of the country's labor force.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece is a major beneficiary of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. As a result of the country's entry to the European Community, much of its agricultural infrastructure has been upgraded and agricultural output increased. Between 2000 and 2007 organic farming in Greece increased by 885%, the highest change percentage in the EU.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2007, Greece accounted for 19% of the EU's fishing haul in the Mediterranean Sea, ranked third with 85,493 tons, and ranked first in the number of fishing vessels in the Mediterranean between European Union members. Additionally, the country ranked 11th in the EU in total quantity of fish caught, with 87,461 tons.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Between 2005 and 2011, Greece has had the highest percentage increase in industrial output compared to 2005 levels out of all European Union members, with an increase of 6%. Eurostat statistics show that the industrial sector was hit by the Greek financial crisis throughout 2009 and 2010, with domestic output decreasing by 5.8% and industrial production in general by 13.4%. Currently, Greece is ranked third in the European Union in the production of marble (over 920,000 tons), after Italy and Spain.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Between 1999 and 2008, the volume of retail trade in Greece increased by an average of 4.4% per year (a total increase of 44%), while it decreased by 11.3% in 2009. The only sector that did not see negative growth in 2009 was administration and services, with a marginal growth of 2.0%.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2009, Greece's labor productivity was 98% that of the EU average, but its productivity-per-hour-worked was 74% that the Eurozone average. The largest industrial employer in the country (in 2007) was the manufacturing industry (407,000 people), followed by the construction industry (305,000) and mining (14,000).


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece has a significant shipbuilding and ship maintenance industry. The six shipyards around the port of Piraeus are among the largest in Europe. In recent years, Greece has become a leader in the construction and maintenance of luxury yachts.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Shipping has traditionally been a key sector in the Greek economy since ancient times. In 1813, the Greek merchant navy was made up of 615 ships. Its total tonnage was 153,580 tons and was manned with 37,526 crewmembers and 5,878 cannons. In 1914 the figures stood at 449,430 tons and 1,322 ships (of which 287 were steam boats).


title: Economy of Greece

text: During the 1960s, the size of the Greek fleet nearly doubled, primarily through the investment undertaken by the shipping magnates Onassis, Vardinoyannis, Livanos and Niarchos. The basis of the modern Greek maritime industry was formed after World War II when Greek shipping businessmen were able to amass surplus ships sold to them by the United States Government through the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece has the largest merchant navy in the world, accounting for more than 15% of the world's total deadweight tonnage (dwt) according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The Greek merchant navy's total dwt of nearly 245 million is comparable only to Japan's, which is ranked second with almost 224 million. Additionally, Greece represents 39.52% of all of the European Union's dwt. However, today's fleet roster is smaller than an all-time high of 5,000 ships in the late 1970s.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece is ranked fourth in the world by number of ships (3,695), behind China (5,313), Japan (3,991), and Germany (3,833). A European Community Shipowners' Associations report for 2011–2012 reveals that the Greek flag is the seventh-most-used internationally for shipping, while it ranks second in the EU.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In terms of ship categories, Greek companies have 22.6% of the world's tankers and 16.1% of the world's bulk carriers (in dwt). An additional equivalent of 27.45% of the world's tanker dwt is on order, with another 12.7% of bulk carriers also on order. Shipping accounts for an estimated 6% of Greek GDP, employs about 160,000 people (4% of the workforce), and represents 1/3 of the country's trade deficit. Earnings from shipping amounted to €14.1 billion in 2011, while between 2000 and 2010 Greek shipping contributed a total of €140 billion (half of the country's public debt in 2009 and 3.5 times the receipts from the European Union in the period 2000–2013). The 2011 ECSA report showed that there are approximately 750 Greek shipping companies in operation.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The latest available data from the Union of Greek Shipowners show that "the Greek-owned ocean-going fleet consists of 3,428 ships, totaling 245 million deadweight tonnes in capacity. This equals 15.6 percent of the carrying capacity of the entire global fleet, including 23.6 percent of the world tanker fleet and 17.2 percent of dry bulk".


title: Economy of Greece

text: Counting shipping as quasi-exports and in terms of monetary value, Greece ranked 4th globally in 2011 having exported shipping services worth 17,704.132 million $; only Denmark, Germany and South Korea ranked higher during that year. Similarly counting shipping services provided to Greece by other countries as quasi-imports and the difference between exports and imports as a trade balance, Greece in 2011 ranked in the latter second behind Germany, having imported shipping services worth 7,076.605 million US$ and having run a trade surplus of 10,712.342 million US$.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Between 1949 and the 1980s, telephone communications in Greece were a state monopoly by the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, better known by its acronym, OTE. Despite the liberalization of telephone communications in the country in the 1980s, OTE still dominates the Greek market in its field and has emerged as one of the largest telecommunications companies in Southeast Europe. Since 2011, the company's major shareholder is Deutsche Telekom with a 40% stake, while the Greek state continues to own 10% of the company's shares. OTE owns several subsidiaries across the Balkans, including Cosmote, Greece's top mobile telecommunications provider, Cosmote Romania and Albanian Mobile Communications.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Other mobile telecommunications companies active in Greece are Wind Hellas and Vodafone Greece. The total number of active cellular phone accounts in the country in 2009 based on statistics from the country's mobile phone providers was over 20 million, a penetration of 180%. Additionally, there are 5.745 million active landlines in the country.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece has tended to lag behind its European Union partners in terms of Internet use, with the gap closing rapidly in recent years. The percentage of households with Internet access more than doubled between 2006 and 2013, from 23% to 56% respectively (compared with an EU average of 49% and 79%). At the same time, there was a massive increase in the proportion of households with a broadband connection, from 4% in 2006 to 55% in 2013 (compared with an EU average of 30% and 76%). By 2022, the percentage of Greek households with Internet access had reached 85.5%.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Tourism in the modern sense only started to flourish in Greece in the years post-1950, although tourism in ancient times is also documented in relation to religious or sports festivals such as the Olympic Games. Since the 1950s, the tourism sector saw an unprecedented boost as arrivals went from 33,000 in 1950 to 11.4 million in 1994.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece attracts more than 16 million tourists each year, thus contributing 18.2% to the nation's GDP in 2008 according to an OECD report. The same survey showed that the average tourist expenditure while in Greece was $1,073, ranking Greece 10th in the world. The number of jobs directly or indirectly related to the tourism sector were 840,000 in 2008 and represented 19% of the country's total labor force. In 2009, Greece welcomed over 19.3 million tourists, a major increase from the 17.7 million tourists the country welcomed in 2008.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Among the member states of the European Union, Greece was the most popular destination for residents of Cyprus and Sweden in 2011.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The ministry responsible for tourism is the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, while Greece also owns the Greek National Tourism Organization which aims in promoting tourism in Greece.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In recent years a number of well-known tourism-related organizations have placed Greek destinations in the top of their lists. In 2009 Lonely Planet ranked Thessaloniki, the country's second-largest city, the world's fifth best "Ultimate Party Town", alongside cities such as Montreal and Dubai, while in 2011 the island of Santorini was voted as the best island in the world by Travel + Leisure. The neighbouring island of Mykonos was ranked as the 5th best island Europe. Thessaloniki was the European Youth Capital in 2014.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Since the fall of communism, Greece has invested heavily in neighbouring Balkan countries. Between 1997 and 2009, 12.11% of foreign direct investment capital in North Macedonia was Greek, ranking fourth. In 2009 alone, Greeks invested €380 million in the country, with companies such as Hellenic Petroleum having made important strategic investments.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece invested €1.38 billion in Bulgaria between 2005 and 2007 and many important companies (including Bulgarian Postbank, United Bulgarian Bank Coca-Cola Bulgaria) are owned by Greek financial groups. In Serbia, 250 Greek companies are active with a total investment of over €2 billion. Romanian statistics from 2016 show that Greek investment in the country exceeded €4 billion, ranking Greece fifth or sixth among foreign investors. Greece has been the largest investor in Albania since the fall of communism with 25% of foreign investments in 2016 coming from Greece, in addition business relations between both are extremely strong and continuously rising.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Since the start of the debt crisis, Greece's negative balance of trade has decreased significantly—from €44.3 billion in 2008 to €18.15 billion in 2020. After a temporary reduction in trade during the COVID-19 recession of 2020, exports and imports rebounded in 2021 by 29.8% and 33.7% respectively.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece is also the largest import partner of Cyprus (18.0%) and the largest export partner of Palau (82.4%).


title: Economy of Greece

text: As of 2012, Greece had a total of 82 airports, of which 67 were paved and six had runways longer than 3,047 meters. Of these airports, two are classified as "international" by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, but 15 offer international services. Additionally Greece has 9 heliports. Greece does not have a flag carrier, but the country's airline industry is dominated by Aegean Airlines and its subsidiary Olympic Air.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Between 1975 and 2009, Olympic Airways (known after 2003 as Olympic Airlines) was the country's state-owned flag carrier, but financial problems led to its privatization and relaunch as Olympic Air in 2009. Both Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air have won awards for their services; in 2009 and 2011, Aegean Airlines was awarded the "Best regional airline in Europe" award by Skytrax, and also has two gold and one silver awards by the ERA, while Olympic Air holds one silver ERA award for "Airline of the Year" as well as a ""Condé Nast Traveller 2011 Readers Choice Awards: Top Domestic Airline"" award.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The Greek road network is made up of 116,986 km of roads, of which 1863 km are highways, ranking 24th worldwide, as of 2016. Since the entry of Greece to the European Community (now the European Union), a number of important projects (such as the Egnatia Odos and the Attiki Odos) have been co-funded by the organization, helping to upgrade the country's road network. In 2007, Greece ranked 8th in the European Union in goods transported by road at almost 500 million tons.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece's rail network is estimated to be at 2,548 km. Rail transport in Greece is operated by TrainOSE, a current subsidiary of the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane after the Hellenic Railways Organisation had sold its 100% stake on the operator. Most of the country's network is standard gauge (1,565 km), while the country also has 983 km of narrow gauge. A total of 764 km of rail are electrified. Greece has rail connections with Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Turkey. A total of three suburban railway systems (Proastiakos) are in operation (in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras), while one metro system, the Athens Metro, is operational in Athens with another, the Thessaloniki Metro, under construction.


title: Economy of Greece

text: According to Eurostat, Greece's largest port by tons of goods transported in 2010 is the port of Aghioi Theodoroi, with 17.38 million tons. The Port of Thessaloniki comes second with 15.8 million tons, followed by the Port of Piraeus, with 13.2 million tons, and the port of Eleusis, with 12.37 million tons. The total number of goods transported through Greece in 2010 amounted to 124.38 million tons, a considerable drop from the 164.3 million tons transported through the country in 2007. Since then, Piraeus has grown to become the Mediterranean's third-largest port thanks to heavy investment by Chinese logistics giant COSCO. In 2013, Piraeus was declared the fastest-growing port in the world.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2010 Piraeus handled 513,319 TEUs, followed by Thessaloniki, which handled 273,282 TEUs. In the same year, 83.9 million people passed through Greece's ports, 12.7 million through the port of Paloukia in Salamis, another 12.7 through the port of Perama, 9.5 million through Piraeus and 2.7 million through Igoumenitsa. In 2013, Piraeus handled a record 3.16 million TEUs, the third-largest figure in the Mediterranean, of which 2.52 million were transported through Pier II, owned by COSCO and 644,000 were transported through Pier I, owned by the Greek state.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Energy production in Greece is dominated by the Public Power Corporation (known mostly by its acronym ΔΕΗ, or in English DEI). In 2009 DEI supplied for 85.6% of all energy demand in Greece, while the number fell to 77.3% in 2010. Almost half (48%) of DEI's power output is generated using lignite, a drop from the 51.6% in 2009. Another 12% comes from Hydroelectric power plants and another 20% from natural gas. Between 2009 and 2010, independent companies' energy production increased by 56%, from 2,709 Gigawatt hour in 2009 to 4,232 GWh in 2010.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2008 renewable energy accounted for 8% of the country's total energy consumption, a rise from the 7.2% it accounted for in 2006, but still below the EU average of 10% in 2008. 10% of the country's renewable energy comes from solar power, while most comes from biomass and waste recycling. In line with the European Commission's Directive on Renewable Energy, Greece aims to get 18% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. In 2013 and for several months, Greece produced more than 20% of its electricity from renewable energy sources and hydroelectric power plants. Greece currently does not have any nuclear power plants in operation, however in 2009 the Academy of Athens suggested that research in the possibility of Greek nuclear power plants begin.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece had 10 million barrels of proven oil reserves as of 1 January 2012. Hellenic Petroleum is the country's largest oil company, followed by Motor Oil Hellas. Greece's oil production stands at 1,751 barrels per day (bbl/d), ranked 95th worldwide, while it exports 19,960 bbl/d, ranked 53rd, and imports 355,600 bbl/d, ranked 25th.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2011 the Greek government approved the start of oil exploration and drilling in three locations within Greece, with an estimated output of 250 to 300 million barrels over the next 15 to 20 years. The estimated output in euros of the three deposits is €25 billion over a 15-year period, of which €13–€14 billion will enter state coffers. Greece's dispute with Turkey over the Aegean poses substantial obstacles to oil exploration in the Aegean Sea.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In addition to the above, Greece is also to start oil and gas exploration in other locations in the Ionian Sea, as well as the Libyan Sea, within the Greek exclusive economic zone, south of Crete. The Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate Change announced that there was interest from various countries (including Norway and the United States) in exploration, and the first results regarding the amount of oil and gas in these locations were expected in the summer of 2012. In November 2012, a report published by Deutsche Bank estimated the value of natural gas reserves south of Crete at €427 billion.


title: Economy of Greece

text: A number of oil and gas pipelines are currently under construction or under planning in the country. Such projects include the "Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy" (ITGI) and "South Stream" gas pipelines.


title: Economy of Greece

text: EuroAsia Interconnector will electrically connect Attica and Crete in Greece with Cyprus and Israel with 2000 MW HVDC undersea power cable. EuroAsia Interconnector is specially important for isolated systems, like Cyprus and Crete. Crete is energetically isolated from mainland Greece and Hellenic Republic covers for Crete electricity costs difference of around €300 million per year.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece has a tiered tax system based on progressive taxation. Greek law recognizes six categories of taxable income: immovable property, movable property (investment), income from agriculture, business, employment, and income from professional activities. Greece's personal income tax rate, until recently, ranged from 0% for annual incomes below €12,000 to 45% for annual incomes over €100,000. Under the new 2010 tax reform, tax exemptions have been abolished.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Also under the new austerity measures and among other changes, the personal income tax-free ceiling has been reduced to €5,000 per annum while further future changes, for example abolition of this ceiling, are already being planned.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece's corporate tax dropped from 40% in 2000 to 20% in 2010. For 2011 only, corporate tax will be at 24%. Value added tax (VAT) has gone up in 2010 compared to 2009: 23% as opposed to 19%.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The lowest VAT possible is 6.5% (previously 4.5%) for newspapers, periodicals and cultural event tickets, while a tax rate of 13% (from 9%) applies to certain service sector professions. Additionally, both employers and employees have to pay social contribution taxes, which apply at a rate of 16% for white collar jobs and 19.5% for blue collar jobs, and are used for social insurance. In 2017 the VAT tax rate was 24% with minor exceptions, 13% reduced for some basic foodstuffs which will be soon abolished and everything, as it seems, will soon go to 24% in order to fight the phantom of tax evasion.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The Ministry of Finance expected tax revenues for 2012 to be €52.7 billion (€23.6 billion in direct taxes and €29.1 billion in indirect taxes), an increase of 5.8% from 2011. In 2012, the government was expected to have considerably higher tax revenues than in 2011 on a number of sectors, primarily housing (an increase of 217.5% from 2011).


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece suffers from very high levels of tax evasion. In the last quarter of 2005, tax evasion reached 49%, while in January 2006 it fell to 41.6%. It is worth noting that the newspaper Ethnos which published these figures went bankrupt; it is no longer published and some sources suggest that the information it had published was highly debatable. A study by researchers from the University of Chicago concluded that tax evasion in 2009 by self-employed professionals alone in Greece (accountants, dentists, lawyers, doctors, personal tutors and independent financial advisers) was €28 billion or 31% of the budget deficit that year.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece's "shadow economy" was estimated at 24.3% of GDP in 2012, compared with 28.6% for Estonia, 26.5% for Latvia, 21.6% for Italy, 17.1% for Belgium, 14.7% for Sweden, 13.7% for Finland, and 13.5% for Germany, and is certainly related to the fact that the percentage of Greeks that are self-employed is more than double the EU average (2013 est.).


title: Economy of Greece

text: The Tax Justice Network estimated in 2011 that there were over 20 billion euros in Swiss bank accounts held by Greeks. The former Finance Minister of Greece, Evangelos Venizelos, was quoted as saying, "Around 15,000 individuals and companies owe the taxman 37 billion euros". Additionally, the TJN put the number of Greek-owned off-shore companies at over 10,000.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2012, Swiss estimates suggested that Greeks had some 20 billion euros in Switzerland of which only one percent had been declared as taxable in Greece. Estimates in 2015 were even more dramatic. They indicated that the amount due to the government of Greece from Greeks' accounts in Swiss banks totaled around 80 billion euros.


title: Economy of Greece

text: A mid-2017 report indicated Greeks have been "taxed to the hilt" and many believed that the risk of penalties for tax evasion were less serious than the risk of bankruptcy. One method of evasion is the so-called black market, grey economy or shadow economy: work is done for cash payment which is not declared as income; as well, VAT is not collected and remitted. A January 2017 report by the DiaNEOsis think-tank indicated that unpaid taxes in Greece at the time totaled approximately 95 billion euros, up from 76 billion euros in 2015, much of it was expected to be uncollectable. Another early 2017 study estimated that the loss to the government as a result of tax evasion was between 6% and 9% of the country's GDP, or roughly between 11 billion and 16 billion euros per annum.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The shortfall in the collection of VAT (sales tax) is also significant. In 2014, the government collected 28% less than was owed to it; this shortfall was about double the average for the EU. The uncollected amount that year was about 4.9 billion euros. The DiaNEOsis study estimated that 3.5% of GDP is lost due to VAT fraud, while losses due to smuggling of alcohol, tobacco and petrol amounted to approximately another 0.5% of the country's GDP.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Following similar actions by the United Kingdom and Germany, the Greek government was in talks with Switzerland in 2011, attempting to force Swiss banks to reveal information on the back accounts of Greek citizens. The Ministry of Finance stated that Greeks with Swiss bank accounts would either be required to pay a tax or reveal information such as the identity of the bank account holder to the Greek internal revenue services. The Greek and Swiss governments were to reach a deal on the matter by the end of 2011.


title: Economy of Greece

text: The solution demanded by Greece still had not been effected as of 2015. That year, estimates indicated that the amount of evaded taxes stored in Swiss banks was around 80 billion euros. By then, however, a tax treaty to address this issue was under serious negotiation between the Greek and Swiss governments. An agreement was finally ratified by Switzerland on 1 March 2016 creating a new tax transparency law that would allow for a more effective battle against tax evasion. Starting in 2018, banks in both Greece and Switzerland will exchange information about the bank accounts of citizens of the other country to minimize the possibility of hiding untaxed income.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2016 and 2017, the government was encouraging the use of credit cards or debit cards to pay for goods and services in order to reduce cash only payments. By January 2017, taxpayers were only granted tax-allowances or deductions when payments were made electronically, with a "paper trail" of the transactions that the government could easily audit. This was expected to reduce the problem of businesses taking payments but not issuing an invoice; that tactic had been used by various companies to avoid payment of VAT (sales) tax as well as income tax.


title: Economy of Greece

text: By 28 July 2017, numerous businesses were required by law to install a point of sale device to enable them to accept payment by credit or debit card. Failure to comply with the electronic payment facility can lead to fines of up to 1,500 euros. The requirement applied to around 400,000 firms or individuals in 85 professions. The greater use of cards was one of the factors that had already achieved significant increases in VAT collection in 2016.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece's most economically important regions are Attica, which contributed €87.378 billion to the economy in 2018, and Central Macedonia, which contributed €25.558 billion. The smallest regional economies were those of the North Aegean (€2.549 billion) and Ionian Islands (€3.257 billion).


title: Economy of Greece

text: In terms of GDP per capita, Attica (€23,300) far outranks any other Greek region. The poorest regions in 2018 were the North Aegean (€11,800), Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (€11,900) and Epirus (€12,200). At the national level, GDP per capita in 2018 was €17,200.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Greece is a welfare state which provides a number of social services such as quasi-universal health care and pensions. In the 2012 budget, expenses for the welfare state (excluding education) stand at an estimated €22.487 billion (€6.577 billion for pensions and €15.910 billion for social security and health care expenses), or 31.9% of the all state expenses.


title: Economy of Greece

text: In 2011, 53.3 percent of employed persons worked more than 40 to 49 hours a week and 24.8 percent worked more than 50 hours a week, totaling up to 78.1 percent of employed persons working 40 or more hours a week. When accounting for varying age groups, the percentage of employees working 40 to 49 hours a week peaked in the 25 to 29 age range.  As workers got older, they gradually decreased in percentage working 40 to 49 hours, but increased in working 50+ hours, suggesting a correlation that as employees grow older, they work more hours. Of different occupation groups, skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers and managers were the most likely to work 50+ hours; however, they do not take up a significant portion of the labor force, only 14.3 percent.  In 2014, the average number of working hours for Greek employees was 2124 hours, ranking as the third highest among OECD countries and the highest in the Eurozone.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Recent trends in employment indicate that the number of working hours will decrease in the future due to the rise of part-time work. Since 2011, average working hours have decreased. In 1998, Greece passed legislation introducing part-time employment in public services with the goal of reducing unemployment, increasing the total, but decreasing the average number of hours worked per employee. Whether the legislation was successful in increasing public-sector part-time work, labor market trends show that part-time employment has increased from 7.7 percent in 2007 to 11 percent in 2016 of total employment. Both men and women have had the part-time share of employment increase over this period. While women still constitute a majority of part-time workers, recently men have been taking a larger share of part-time employment.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Between 1832 and 2002 the currency of Greece was the drachma. After signing the Maastricht Treaty, Greece applied to join the eurozone. The two main convergence criteria were a maximum budget deficit of 3% of GDP and a declining public debt if it stood above 60% of GDP. Greece met the criteria as shown in its 1999 annual public account. On 1 January 2001, Greece joined the eurozone, with the adoption of the euro at the fixed exchange rate ₯340.75 to €1. However, in 2001 the euro only existed electronically, so the physical exchange from drachma to euro only took place on 1 January 2002. This was followed by a ten-year period for eligible exchange of drachma to euro, which ended on 1 March 2012.


title: Economy of Greece

text: Prior to the adoption of the euro, 64% of Greek citizens viewed the new currency positively, but in February 2005 this figure fell to 26% and by June 2005 it fell further to 20%. Since 2010 the figure has risen again, and a survey in September 2011 showed that 63% of Greek citizens viewed of the euro positively.


title: Economy of Greece

text: As a result of the recession sparked by the public debt crisis, poverty has increased. The rate of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion reached a high of 36% in 2014, before subsiding over the following years to 28.9% in 2020. Those living in extreme poverty rose to 15% in 2015, up from 8.9% in 2011, and a huge increase from 2009 when it was not more than 2.2%. The rate among children 0-17 is 17.6% and for young people 18-29 the rate is 24.4%. With unemployment on the rise, those without jobs are at the highest risk of poverty (70–75%), up from less than 50% in 2011. Those out of work lose their health insurance after two years, further exacerbating the poverty rate. Younger unemployed people tend to rely on the older generations of their families for financial support. However, long-term unemployment has depleted pension funds due to fewer workers making social security contributions, resulting in higher poverty rates in intergenerational households reliant on the reduced pensions received by their retired members. Over the course of the economic crisis, Greeks have endured significant job losses and wage cuts, as well as deep cuts to workers' compensation and welfare benefits. From 2008 to 2013, Greeks became 40% poorer on average, and in 2014 saw their disposable household income drop below 2003 levels.


title: Divergent (book series)

text: Divergent is a series of young adult science fiction adventure novels by American novelist Veronica Roth set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian Chicago. The trilogy consists of "Divergent" (2011), "Insurgent" (2012) and "Allegiant" (2013). A related book, "" (2014), presents a series of short stories told from the perspective of one of the trilogy's characters, the male love interest Tobias. A later short story, "We Can Be Mended" (2018), serves as an epilogue five years after the events of the trilogy, again from Tobias's perspective.


title: Divergent (book series)

text: The trilogy is set in the future in a dystopian society that is divided into five factions. The trilogy's society defines its citizens by their social and personality affiliations, with the five different factions removing the threat of anyone exercising independent will and threatening the population's safety. Beatrice Prior, who later changes her name to Tris, is born into Abnegation but transfers into Dauntless; she must figure out her life as a Divergent, conceal her true nature, and live with the danger of being killed if her true nature is discovered by the Erudite and Dauntless leaders.


title: Divergent (book series)

text: The first main installment in the series tells the story of Beatrice Prior, a teenager who lives in a post-apocalyptic Chicago in which society has been divided into five factions, each with a specialized social function: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite. Beatrice, a member of Abnegation, transfers to Dauntless at the age of 16, takes the new name Tris in the process, and forms a romantic relationship with a fellow Abnegation transfer, Tobias Eaton. As she eases herself into her new home, Tris slowly uncovers a conspiracy that threatens to tear the balance of the faction system.


title: Divergent (book series)

text: Tris, Tobias, and their allies begin rallying the favor of other factions and the Factionless, those who do not fit with the faction system, against the tyranny of the Erudite leader Jeanine Matthews, in order to save the Divergent.


title: Divergent (book series)

text: The third and final main installment in the series takes place after the ending of "Insurgent". Tris, Tobias, and their allies escape from a Chicago that is now dominated by the Factionless towards the fringes. They learn the real nature of Chicago's faction system and must then find a way to prevent a civil war from wreaking havoc on their hometown.


title: Divergent (book series)

text: The anthology consists of five short stories previously released separately as e-books, in addition to three new ones. The book focuses on Tobias Eaton and is both a prequel and a retelling of certain events of the first book, "Divergent".


title: Divergent (book series)

text: The short story serves as an epilogue to the series. Taking place three years after the events of "Allegiant", it focuses on Tobias and Christina as they slowly form a romantic relationship as a way to fill the void left behind by their dead lovers: Tris and Will.


title: Divergent (book series)

text: The trilogy received positive reviews from critics. Critics praised "Divergent" for its plot and action, and "Insurgent" was praised for its writing and pace.


title: Divergent (book series)

text: Another critic said, "No one can argue that "Divergent" is not a fun, edge-of-your-seat read. It is easy to get submerged in, effortless to remain engaged in, and impossible not to enjoy even the slightest bit." "Allegiant" was praised for being "gripping" and for the love story, but was criticized for its ending and prose.


title: Divergent (book series)

text: Summit Entertainment had bought the rights to film an adaptation of the novel and recruited Neil Burger to direct, with Shailene Woodley starring as Beatrice "Tris" Prior and Theo James as Tobias "Four" Eaton. Lionsgate and its subsidiary Summit Entertainment distributed the film. Kate Winslet was signed as Jeanine Matthews. Also recruited into the cast were Maggie Q as Tori, Zoe Kravitz as Christina, Ansel Elgort as Caleb, Miles Teller as Peter, Ashley Judd as Natalie Prior, Tony Goldwyn as Andrew Prior, and Jai Courtney as Eric. "Divergent" was released on March 21, 2014. "" began filming in Atlanta on May 27, 2014 and was released on March 20, 2015. The adaptation of "Allegiant" was split into two parts; the first part, "Allegiant", was released on March 18, 2016, while the second part, titled "Ascendant", was originally planned to be released in June 2017. The big screen release of "Ascendant" was shelved due to the poor box office results of "Allegiant". On July 20, 2016, it was announced that "Ascendant" would be released as a TV movie, but later scrapped.


title: Oliver Peck

text: Oliver Peck (born July 29, 1971) is an American tattoo artist, restaurateur, and reality television personality. Along with singer Dave Navarro and tattoo artist Chris Nunez, he was a judge on the competition reality television show "Ink Master" for seasons 1 through 13. He left the show after considerable backlash when earlier images surfaced of him in blackface. Known for his American traditional style tattoos, he is co-owner of Elm Street Tattoo in Dallas, Texas and owner of True Tattoo in Hollywood, California. His restaurant Tiki Loco is in Deep Ellum, Dallas.


title: Oliver Peck

text: Peck started giving himself and his friends tattoos at age 17. In 1991, at age 19, he started professionally tattooing.


title: Oliver Peck

text: In January 2012, the first season of "Ink Master" premiered, with Peck, Dave Navarro, and Chris Nunez as judges. Peck continued on as a judge through season 13 in 2020. During season 13, photos of Peck in blackface circulated on the internet after gossip site TMZ published them. One photo showed Peck wearing "brown face paint, an Afro wig and a superhero costume with the letter "N" on it." Peck announced on Instagram he would be leaving the show, stating, "The offensive photos of me which recently surfaced from many years ago can only be a distraction to the amazing show I have loved being a part of and its many talented artists."


title: Oliver Peck

text: Peck is credited with creating the ritual of offering $13 tattoos on Friday the 13th. In 1995, he threw a tattooing party that lasted 24 hours to celebrate the day, and the trend took off. Peck stated, "I definitely wasn’t the first person to do it, the number 13 on the Friday the 13th", though he is credited with popularizing the event. Elm Street Tattoo generally expects about 1,200 customers for the event each year.


title: Oliver Peck

text: Peck broke the world record for tattooing the most tattoos in a 24 hour period in June 2008 when he tattooed the number 13 on 415 different people at his Elm Street Tattoo shop in Dallas. The record was previously held by Peck's ex-wife and fellow tattoo artist Kat Von D. The record was listed in the "Guinness Book of World Records". Peck introduced "tattoo roulette" at Elm Street Tattoo in 2018, where a client picks a random flash tattoo from a gumball machine. "Inked Magazine" wrote, "Certainly we've gotten some arbitrary tattoos on a whim, but allowing a random machine to pick a design to be permanently tattooed on your body is just nuts."


title: Oliver Peck

text: In 2015, Peck won "Best Tattoo Artist" in the "Dallas Observer" Best of Dallas contest. In 2017, Pete Freedman of "Central Track" wrote Peck is "...an internationally renowned tattooer for years now..." That same year, the "OC Weekly" wrote, Peck is "one of the most visible and respected tattooers in the world." In 2018, Andrew Braca of the "Waxahachie Daily Light" called Peck "world-renowned". That same year, "Tattoo Journal" wrote, "Oliver Peck tattoos are famous for their classic American style and theme and the attention to detail."


title: Oliver Peck

text: In October 2018, Peck opened Tiki Loco, a "coffee shop and vegan restaurant hybrid" in Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas. The restaurant, located on Elm Street, took over the space held by previous restaurant Zini's Pizza. The restaurant is a combination of Hawaiian and Mexican, and serves coffee, fresh-pressed juices, shaved ice, smoothies, and vegan tacos. The marinades and spice blends are both made in house. "D Magazine" writer Catherine Downes characterized Tiki Loco as a "smash hit" and stated they have good food. The leftover produce not used in the restaurant is distributed to hospitals in the area.


title: Oliver Peck

text: Peck resides in Dallas, Texas. He married fellow tattoo artist Kat Von D in 2003. They divorced in 2007, with Peck stating, "She [was unfaithful] to me, got messed up and left me... I don't think anything with her will last."


title: Skaði

text: In Norse mythology, Skaði (; Old Norse: ; sometimes anglicized as Skadi, Skade, or Skathi) is a jötunn and goddess associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains. Skaði is attested in the "Poetic Edda", compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the "Prose Edda" and in "Heimskringla", written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the works of skalds.


title: Skaði

text: Skaði is the daughter of the deceased Þjazi, and Skaði married the god Njörðr as part of the compensation provided by the gods for killing her father Þjazi. In "Heimskringla", Skaði is described as having split up with Njörðr and as later having married the god Odin, and that the two produced many children together. In both the "Poetic Edda" and the "Prose Edda", Skaði is responsible for placing the serpent that drips venom onto the bound Loki. Skaði is alternately referred to as Öndurguð (Old Norse 'ski god') and Öndurdís (Old Norse 'ski dís').


title: Skaði

text: The etymology of the name "Skaði" is uncertain, but may be connected with the original form of "Scandinavia". Some place names in Scandinavia refer to Skaði. Scholars have theorized a potential connection between Skaði and the god Ullr (who is also associated with skiing), a particular relationship with the jötunn Loki, and that "Scandinavia" may be related to the name Skaði (potentially meaning 'Skaði's island') or the name may be connected to Old Norse nouns meaning either 'shadow' or 'harm'. Skaði has inspired various works of art.


title: Skaði

text: The Old Norse name "Skaði", along with "Sca(n)dinavia" and "Skáney", may be related to Gothic "skadus", Old English "sceadu", Old Saxon "scado", and Old High German "scato" (meaning 'shadow') - compare also the Irish Scáthach, a famous woman warrior known as 'the shadowy one'. Scholar John McKinnell comments that this etymology suggests Skaði may have once been a personification of the geographical region of Scandinavia or associated with the underworld.


title: Skaði

text: Georges Dumézil disagrees with the notion of "Scadin-avia" as etymologically 'the island of the goddess Skaði'. Dumézil comments that the first element "Scadin" must have had—or once had—a connection to "darkness" "or something else we cannot be sure of". Dumézil says that, rather, the name "Skaði" derives from the name of the geographical region, which was at the time no longer completely understood. In connection, Dumézil points to a parallel in "Ériu", a goddess personifying Ireland that appears in some Irish texts, whose name he says comes from "Ireland" rather than the other way around.


title: Skaði

text: Alternatively, "Skaði" may be connected with the Old Norse noun "skaði" ('harm'), source of the Icelandic and Faroese "skaði" ('harm, damage') and cognate with English "scathe" ("unscathed", "scathing").


title: Skaði

text: Skaði is attested in poems found in the "Poetic Edda", in two books of the "Prose Edda" and in one "Heimskringla" book.


title: Skaði

text: In the "Poetic Edda" poem "Grímnismál", the god Odin (disguised as "Grímnir") reveals to the young Agnarr the existence of twelve locations. Odin mentions the location Þrymheimr sixth in a single stanza. In the stanza, Odin details that the jötunn Þjazi once lived there, and that now his daughter Skaði does. Odin describes Þrymheimr as consisting of "ancient courts" and refers to Skaði as "the shining bride of the gods". In the prose introduction to the poem "Skírnismál", the god Freyr has become heartsick for a fair girl (the jötunn Gerðr) he has spotted in Jötunheimr. The god Njörðr asks Freyr's servant Skírnir to talk to Freyr, and in the first stanza of the poem, Skaði also tells Skírnir to ask Freyr why he is so upset. Skírnir responds that he expects harsh words from their son Freyr.


title: Skaði

text: In the prose introduction to the poem "Lokasenna", Skaði is referred to as the wife of Njörðr and is cited as one of the goddesses attending Ægir's feast. After Loki has an exchange with the god Heimdallr, Skaði interjects. Skaði tells Loki that he is "light-hearted" and that Loki will not be "playing [...] with [his] tail wagging free" for much longer, for soon the gods will bind Loki to a sharp rock with the ice-cold entrails of his son. Loki responds that, even if this is so, he was "first and foremost" at the killing of Þjazi. Skaði responds that, if this is so, "baneful advice" will always flow from her "sanctuaries and plains". Loki responds that Skaði was more friendly in speech when Skaði was in his bed—an accusation he makes to most of the goddesses in the poem and is not attested elsewhere. Loki's flyting then turns to the goddess Sif.


title: Skaði

text: In the prose section at the end of "Lokasenna", the gods catch Loki and bind him with the innards of his son Nari, while they turn his son Váli into a wolf. Skaði places a venomous snake above Loki's face. Venom drips from the snake and Loki's wife Sigyn sits and holds a basin beneath the serpent, catching the venom. When the basin is full, Sigyn must empty it, and during that time the snake venom falls onto Loki's face, causing him to writhe in a tremendous fury, so much so that all earthquakes stem from Loki's writhings.


title: Skaði

text: In the poem "Hyndluljóð", the female jötunn Hyndla tells the goddess Freyja various mythological genealogies. In one stanza, Hyndla notes that Þjazi "loved to shoot" and that Skaði was his daughter.


title: Skaði

text: In chapter 23 of the "Prose Edda" book "Gylfaginning", the enthroned figure of High details that Njörðr's wife is Skaði, that she is the daughter of the jötunn Þjazi, and recounts a tale involving the two. High recalls that Skaði wanted to live in the home once owned by her father called Þrymheimr. However, Njörðr wanted to live nearer to the sea. Subsequently, the two made an agreement that they would spend nine nights in Þrymheimr and then the next three nights in Njörðr's sea-side home Nóatún (or nine winters in Þrymheimr and another nine in Nóatún according to the "Codex Regius".). However, when Njörðr returned from the mountains to Nóatún, he said:


title: Skaði

text: The sources for these stanzas are not provided in the "Prose Edda" or elsewhere. High says that afterward Skaði went back up to the mountains and lived in Þrymheimr, and there Skaði often travels on skis, wields a bow, and shoots wild animals. High notes that Skaði is also referred to as "ski god" (Old Norse "Öndurgud") or Öndurdis and the "ski lady" ("Öndurdís"). In support, the above-mentioned stanza from the "Poetic Edda" poem "Grímnismál" is cited. In the next chapter (24), High says that "after this", Njörðr "had two children": Freyr and Freyja. The name of the mother of the two children is not provided here.


title: Skaði

text: At the end of chapter 51 of "Gylfaginning", High describes how the gods caught and bound Loki. Skaði is described as having taken a venomous snake and fastening it above the bound Loki, so that the venom may drip on to Loki's face. Loki's wife Sigyn sat by his side and caught the venom in a bowl. But when the bowl becomes full, she must leave to empty it, and then Loki is burned by the acidic liquid and he writhes in extreme pain, causing the earth to shake and resulting in what we know as an earthquake.


title: Skaði

text: In chapter 56 of the "Prose Edda" book "Skáldskaparmál", Bragi recounts to Ægir how the gods killed Þjazi. Þjazi's daughter, Skaði, took a helmet, a coat of mail, and "all weapons of war" and traveled to Asgard, the home of the gods. Upon Skaði's arrival, the gods wished to atone for her loss and offered compensation. Skaði provides them with her terms of settlement, and the gods agree that Skaði may choose a husband from among themselves. However, Skaði must choose this husband by looking solely at their feet. Skaði saw a pair of feet that she found particularly attractive and said "I choose that one; there can be little that is ugly about Baldr." However, the owner of the feet turned out to be Njörðr.


title: Skaði

text: Skaði also included in her terms of settlement that the gods must do something she thought impossible for them to do: make her laugh. To do so, Loki tied one end of a cord around the beard of a nanny goat and the other end around his testicles. The goat and Loki drew one another back and forth, both squealing loudly. Loki dropped into Skaði's lap, and Skaði laughed, completing this part of her atonement. Finally, in compensation to Skaði, Odin took Þjazi's eyes, plunged them into the sky, and from the eyes made two stars.


title: Skaði

text: Further in "Skáldskaparmál", a work by the skald Þórðr Sjáreksson is quoted. The poem refers to Skaði as "the wise god-bride" and notes that she "could not love the Van". Prose below the quote clarifies that this is a reference to Skaði's leaving of Njörðr. In chapter 16, names for Loki are given, including "wrangler of Heimdall and Skaði". In chapter 22, Skaði is referenced in the 10th century poem "Haustlöng" where the skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir refers to an ox as "bow-string-Var's [Skaði's] whale". In chapter 23, the skald Bragi Boddason refers to Þjazi as the "father of the ski-dis". In chapter 32, Skaði is listed among six goddesses who attend a party held by Ægir. In chapter 75, Skaði is included among a list of 27 ásynjur names.


title: Skaði

text: In chapter 8 of the "Heimskringla" book "Ynglinga saga", Skaði appears in an euhemerized account. This account details that Skaði had once married Njörðr but that she would not have sex with him, and that later Skaði married Odin. Skaði and Odin had "many sons". Only one of the names of these sons is provided: Sæmingr, a king of Norway. Two stanzas are presented by the skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir in reference. In the first stanza, Skaði is described as a jötunn and a "fair maiden". A portion of the second stanza is missing. The second stanza reads:


title: Skaði

text: Lee Hollander explains that "bones-of-the-sea" is a kenning for "rocks", and believes that this defective stanza undoubtedly referred to Skaði as a "dweller of the rocks" in connection with her association with mountains and skiing.


title: Skaði

text: Another figure by the name of Skaði who appears in the first chapter of "Völsunga saga". In the chapter, this Skaði—who is male—is the owner of a thrall by the name of Breði. Another man, Sigi—a son of Odin—went hunting one winter with the thrall. Sigi and the thrall Breði hunted throughout the day until evening, when they compared their kills. Sigi saw that the thrall's kills outdid his own, and so Sigi killed Breði and buried Breði's corpse in a snowdrift.


title: Skaði

text: That night, Sigi returned home and claimed that Breði had ridden out into the forest, that he had lost sight of Breði, and that he furthermore did not know what became of the thrall. Skaði doubted Sigi's explanation, suspected that Sigi was lying, and that Sigi had instead killed Breði. Skaði gathered men together to look for Breði and the group eventually found the corpse of Breði in a snowdrift. Skaði declared that henceforth the snowdrift should be called "Breði's drift," and ever since then people have referred to large snow drifts by that name. The fact that Sigi murdered Breði was evident, and so Sigi was considered an outlaw. Led by Odin, Sigi leaves the land, and Skaði is not mentioned again in the saga.


title: Skaði

text: Scholar Jesse Byock notes that the goddess Skaði is also associated with winter and hunting, and that the episode in "Völsunga saga" involving the male Skaði, Sigi, and Breði has been theorized as stemming from an otherwise lost myth.


title: Skaði

text: Scholar John Lindow comments that the episode in "Gylfaginning" detailing Loki's antics with a goat may have associations with castration and a ritual involving making a goddess laugh. Lindow notes that Loki and Skaði appear to have had a special relationship, an example being Skaði's placement of the snake over Loki's face in "Lokasenna" and "Gylfaginning."


title: Skaði

text: Due to their shared association with skiing and the fact that both place names referring to Ullr and Skaði appear most frequently in Sweden, some scholars have proposed a particular connection between the two gods. On the other hand, "Skaði" may potentially be a masculine form and, as a result, some scholars have theorized that Skaði may have originally been a male deity.


title: Skaði

text: Scholar Hilda Ellis Davidson proposes that Skaði's cult may have thrived in Hålogaland, a province in northern Norway, because "she shows characteristics of the Sami people, who were renowned for skiing, shooting with the bow and hunting; her separation from Njord might point to a split between her cult and that of the Vanir in this region, where Scandinavians and the Sami were in close contact."


title: Skaði

text: Modern works of art depicting Skaði include "Skadi und Niurd" (illustration, 1883) by K. Ehrenberg and "Skadi" (1901) by Emil Doepler the Younger. Skaði also appears in Adam Oehlenschläger's poem (1819) "Skades Giftermaal".


title: Skaði

text: Art deco depictions of both the god Ullr (1928) and Skaði (1929) appear on covers of the Swedish ski annual "På Skidor", both skiing and wielding bows. E. John B. Allen notes that the deities are portrayed in a manner that "give[s] historical authority to this most important of Swedish ski journals, which began publication in 1893".


title: Skaði

text: A moon of the planet Saturn (Skathi) and a mountain on Venus (Skadi Mons) are named after the goddess.


title: Skaði

text: Named after the goddess, "Skadi" is the main character in a web comic by Katie Rice and Luke Cormican on the weekly webcomic site "Dumm Comics".


title: Skaði

text: Skadi appears in the Japanese smartphone game "Fate/Grand Order", summonable as a Caster-class Servant, where she is fused with Scáthách.


title: Skaði

text: In the 2002 Ensemble Studios game "Age of Mythology", Skadi is one of nine minor Norse gods Norse players can worship. Skadi is also one of the playable gods in the third-person multiplayer online battle arena game "Smite".


title: Skaði

text: In 2017 video game "", Skathi is one of the patron deities player can choose. She provides skills and bonuses for archers and her shrines grant environmental resistance.


title: O. R. Tambo International Airport

text: O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second busiest airport, with a capacity to handle up to 28 million passengers annually. The airport serves as the hub for South African Airways. The airport handled over 21 million passengers in 2017.


title: O. R. Tambo International Airport

text: It was originally known as Jan Smuts International Airport, after the former South African Prime Minister of the same name. The airport was renamed Johannesburg International Airport in 1994 when the newly elected African National Congress (ANC) government implemented a policy of not naming airports after politicians. This policy was later reversed, and on 27 October 2006 the airport was renamed after anti-apartheid politician Oliver Reginald Tambo (1917–1993).


title: O. R. Tambo International Airport

text: The airport was founded in 1952 as Jan Smuts International Airport, two years after Smuts's death, near the town of Kempton Park on the East Rand. It replaced Palmietfontein International Airport, which had handled European flights since 1945.


title: O. R. Tambo International Airport

text: In 1943, a decision was made by the Cabinet of the Union of South Africa to construct three international airports with a Civil Airports Advisory Committee formed to investigate and report on the viability. That report was submitted to the Cabinet in March 1944 with one main international airport on the Witwatersrand and two smaller international airports at Cape Town and Durban. The South African Railways and Harbours Administration was given the role of managing the project and later in 1944, a member went to the United States to study standards and methods of construction. Four possible sites around Johannesburg were identified, with one south of Johannesburg chosen but soon discarded due to being situated on land with gold bearing reefs below. Sites were then narrowed down to Kempton Park and the existing airport at Palmietfontein.


title: O. R. Tambo International Airport

text: Layouts and rough costing for the two sites were established and submitted for a ministerial decision. The site would be at Kempton Park and be named Jan Smuts Airport. The area outside Kempton Park was an expropriated undulating dairy farm of 3,706 acres with a 598 acre eucalyptus plantation. Sitting on a plateau, the area sloped away towards the east. The area was drained by the Blesbok River. The airport became operational on 1 September 1953. The new airport was officially opened by Minister for Transport, Paul Sauer on 4 October 1953 having taken eight years to build at £6.2 million. It had one main runway of 3,200m and two smaller ones of 2,514m that crossed the main with all runways being 60m wide. A 1,000 men had been employed in the repair workshops. The technical areas consisted of 2,957m of roads, 26,477sqm of concrete apron while the hangars had openings of 106m at a height of 21m. It was expecting to manage thirty flights-a-day and over 200,000 passengers that year. Airlines using the airport at its opening were BOAC, Air France, KLM, SAA, Central African Airways, Qantas, El Al, SAS Group and DETA.


title: O. R. Tambo International Airport

text: In the late 1950s, jet passenger aircraft became the norm and there was a need to expand the existing ground facilities at the airport, which began in the 1960s and early-1970s. In addition to the new airside facilities, ground developments included: improved road access, parking areas, hotel, retail areas and car hire.


title: O. R. Tambo International Airport

text: The late-1960s saw a new choice of aircraft for South African Airways, the Boeing 747. A decision was made by the Minister of Transport to obtain three, later five 747s for the airline. Delivery would begin in October 1971 with the first flight to London on 10 December 1971 with daily services from February 1972. These purchases however required new hangar facilities with the contract awarded in September 1969 initially worth R2,983,408. Construction started in December 1968 and was completed in October 1971 for R8,000,000 while other work at the airport associated with the arrival of these new aircraft brought the costs to R40,000,000. Other new buildings such as workshops, testing facilities, stores, staff accommodation and air cargo handling building were built. The new hangar would allow for two 747s in each bay with dimensions of 73.2 m wide, 24.4 m high and a depth of 91.4 m.


title: O. R. Tambo International Airport

text: It was used as a test airport for Concorde during the 1970s, to determine how the aircraft would perform while taking off and landing at high elevations ('hot and high' testing). During the 1980s, many countries stopped trading with South Africa because of the United Nation sanctions imposed against South Africa in the struggle against apartheid, and many international airlines stopped flying to the airport. These sanctions also resulted in South African Airways being refused rights to fly over most African countries, and in addition, the risk of flying over some African countries was emphasised by the shooting down of two passenger aircraft over Rhodesia (e.g. Air Rhodesia Flight 825 and 827), forcing them to fly around the "bulge" of Africa. This required specially-modified aircraft like the long-range Boeing 747SP. A second runway was built at the airport in the late-1980s.