Ο Σαρούνας Γιασικεβίτσιους παραδέχθηκε την ανωτερότητα του Ολυμπιακού, στις δηλώσεις του μετά την ήττα στον ημιτελικό με 79-61. Ένα βήμα μακριά από την κορυφή της Ευρώπης είναι ο Ολυμπιακός, που έκανε μεστή εμφάνιση κι έστειλε πίσω στην Τουρκία την κάτοχο του τίτλου, κλείνοντας θέση στον μεγάλο τελικό της Κυριακής (24/5, 21:00, ΕΡΑ ΣΠΟΡ). Ο προπονητής της Φενέρμπαχτσε παραχώρησε δηλώσεις μετά την λήξη της αναμέτρησης, τονίζοντας πως η ομάδα του δεν εμφανίστηκε όπως άρμοζε στην περίσταση. Οι δηλώσεις του Σαρούνας Γιασικεβίτσιους: Νομίζω πως δεν ήμασταν ο εαυτός μας. Ο Ολυμπιακός ήταν ο Ολυμπιακός, αλλά εμείς δεν ήμασταν αυτοί που έπρεπε. Κάθε φορά που παίρναμε μία δόση ελπίδας τους δώσαμε εύκολους πόντους. Δύο-τρεις φορές φτάσαμε στους 7-8 πόντους αλλά μετά δεχθήκαμε εύκολους πόντους. Συγχαρητήρια στον Ολυμπιακό έπαιξε πολύ καλύτερα“. Πηγή: ertsports.gr www.ertnews.gr

Η Μαριέλα Κάστρο, μία από τις κόρες του πρώην ηγέτη της Κούβας Ραούλ Κάστρο, απέρριψε σήμερα κάθε ενδεχόμενο απαγωγής του πατέρα της από τις αμερικανικές δυνάμεις στην Κούβα, λίγες ημέρες μετά την απαγγελία κατηγοριών σε βάρος του στις ΗΠΑ. Ο πρόεδρος της Βενεζουέλας Νικολάς Μαδούρο, ένας σύμμαχος της Αβάνας, είχε απαχθεί τον Ιανουάριο στο Καράκας, κατά τη διάρκεια μιας θεαματικής επιχείρησης των αμερικανικών ειδικών δυνάμεων. Προηγουμένως, η αμερικανική δικαιοσύνη είχε απαγγείλει κατηγορίες σε βάρος του, ιδίως για «διεθνές εμπόριο ναρκωτικών» και κρατείται έκτοτε στις ΗΠΑ εν αναμονή της δίκης του. Η κόρη του Ραούλ Κάστρο, ηλικίας 94 ετών, δήλωσε ενώπιον δημοσιογράφων πως «κανείς δεν θα τον απαγάγει, ούτε εκείνον, ούτε κανέναν. Είμαστε έτοιμοι να αγωνιστούμε κατά του ιμπεριαλισμού». Η Μαριέλα Κάστρο είναι το πρώτο μέλος της οικογένειας Κάστρο που εκφράζεται δημοσίως σχετικά με το θέμα. Σε βάρος του μικρότερου αδελφού του Φιντέλ Κάστρο (1926-2016), του ορκισμένου εχθρού της Ουάσιγκτον, απαγγέλθηκαν κατηγορίες την Τετάρτη στις ΗΠΑ, ότι διέταξε το 1996, ως υπουργός Άμυνας τότε, την κατάρριψη δύο πολιτικών αεροσκαφών, με κυβερνήτες μέλη μιας αντικαστρικής οργάνωσης, που πετούσαν στα ανοικτά των ακτών της Κούβας. Τέσσερις Αμερικανοί είχαν σκοτωθεί. «Δεν φοβάμαι, διότι γνωρίζω πως δεν θα το κάνουν», συμπλήρωσε η Μαριέλα Κάστρο, στο περιθώριο μιας διαδήλωσης συμπαράστασης προς τον πατέρα της, η οποία πραγματοποιήθηκε μπροστά από την αμερικανική πρεσβεία στην Αβάνα. Η Μαριέλα Κάστρο, ηλικίας 63 ετών, ανέφερε πως δεν έχει συζητήσει άμεσα με τον πατέρα της το θέμα της απαγγελίας κατηγοριών: «Δεν μιλήσαμε για αυτό, όμως όταν άκουσα ότι του το είχαν αναφέρει, χαμογέλασε, σαν παλιός επαναστάτης (guerillero) που ξέρει ότι είναι ασφαλής, με το πόδι του στον αναβολέα, και ότι κανείς δεν πρόκειται να τον απαγάγει, επειδή πάντα έλεγε: “Θα πεθάνω στη μάχη, αν χρειαστεί”». Ο Ραούλ Κάστρο δεν κατέχει κανένα επίσημο αξίωμα ούτε στους κόλπους της κυβέρνησης της Αβάνας ούτε στο Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα της Κούβας, όμως ασκεί σημαντική επιρροή στις πολιτικές αποφάσεις στη νήσο και χαίρει της αφοσίωσης των ενόπλων δυνάμεων. Η κόρη του εκτιμά ότι η απαγγελία κατηγοριών από την αμερικανική δικαιοσύνη «παραβιάζει όλα όσα προβλέπει ο νόμος στις ΗΠΑ», παρόλο που, όπως λέει, τα μέλη της κυβέρνησης του Ντόναλντ Τραμπ «κάνουν ό,τι θέλουν και παραβιάζουν ακόμη και το Σύνταγμα». Η «τακτική» τους είναι «να λένε ψέματα, να δημιουργούν αβεβαιότητα και να προκαλούν φόβο», συνέχισε. Σύμφωνα με την ίδια, η απαγγελία των κατηγοριών σε βάρος του πατέρα της δεν θα έχει αντίκτυπο στις συνομιλίες που βρίσκονται σε εξέλιξη μεταξύ της Αβάνας και της Ουάσιγκτον. Πηγή: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ www.ertnews.gr

A new political party called “Hope for Democracy” -Elpida gia ti Dimokratia – was announced by Maria Karystianou, the activist mother of a young woman killed during the Tempi train tragedy in February 2023. Karystianou announced the party at the ‘Olympion’ theater in Thessaloniki, the city on northern Greece known for its conservative voters, on […] The post “Hope for Democracy”: Karystianoy’s political party stirs conservatives in Greece appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.

Strict security measures with 4,000 police officers and 600 cameras and drones are to secure law and order in Athens on Friday, due to the Olympiakos-Fenerbahce game within the Basketball EuroLeague Final Four 2026. At the same time, by order of the Greek, stations of and of metro line 1 will be used […] The post Euroleague Final Four: Strict security measures in Athens , some metro trains reserved only for fans appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.

The Christian concept of Hell evolved from a vague shadowy realm to a vividly structured place of moral consequence. Credit: Sandro Botticelli, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. Long before the fiery pits and pitchforks of Christian Hell haunted the religious imagination, the afterlife in ancient Hebrew thought was a muted, shadowy place known as Sheol. The Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades In early Hebrew belief Sheol was not a realm of torture or glory but a land of forgetfulness—where all the dead, both righteous and wicked, shared a common fate. In many ways, Sheol resembled the Greek Hades—not in its geography or grandeur but in its indifferent stillness for humans. It was a silent cavern of shadows, where even the most luminous of biblical figures—Adam, Moses, David—drifted as insubstantial shades, unseeing and unfeeling. This early view of the afterlife was stark in its impartiality. There was no moral calculus at work. Like Hades, which offered only a few exceptions like the Elysian Fields for heroic souls and Tartarus for divine rebels, Sheol was not a realm of judgment. Tartarus in Greek cosmology was the abyss reserved for beings and demigods which had disrupted cosmic order—Cronus and the Titans, Sisyphus, Tantalus, etc. Similarly, in early Jewish thought, the concept of eternal punishment was not for humans but reserved for cosmic transgressors. The fallen angels, Watchers, and eventually, Satan himself were among these transgressors. Human beings would end up into Sheol, regardless of virtue. Babylonian exile and the seeds of change Everything began to shift during the Second Temple era, especially after the Babylonian exile. Exposure to Persian and Babylonian cosmologies brought with it a dualistic lens—light versus darkness, reward versus punishment, and a more layered concept of the soul’s journey after death. The once-shadowy Sheol began to split. By the time we reach texts like the Book of Enoch and later 2 Maccabees, we find something new: consciousness after death. Some souls now appear to experience joy and closeness to the righteous forefathers—in the “bosom of Abraham“—while others suffer for their moral failings. The idea of resurrection, known as the time when the dead rise, are judged, and receive either eternal reward or damnation also enters the scene. Sheol was no longer neutral ground; it had become a moral landscape. The punishment of the rich man in the parable of Jesus. Credit: James TIssot, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Jesus and the harrowing of Hell Into this evolving spiritual world steps Jesus of Nazareth, whose teachings reflect and further shape these Second Temple ideas. In the Gospels, Gehenna becomes the word most commonly translated as “Hell.” However, Gehenna was not a metaphysical realm. It was a real valley outside Jerusalem, once a site of child sacrifice and later a cursed landfill. Jesus used it to describe the fate of the eternally damned who never repented after resurrection. He evoked Hell to stir moral urgency, often in parables, and talked about the rich man and Lazarus and how he was punished in the outer darkness. He spoke of the weeping and gnashing of teeth—images heavy with consequence. The rich man is punished and wants to warn his own people about the reality of eternal damnation. The apocalyptic dimension deepens in the Harrowing of Hell, the moment between Christ’s death and resurrection. Though not described in the canonical Gospels, it is elaborated on in early Christian tradition and Byzantine hymnography, wherein Jesus descends into Sheol (or Hades), breaks open its gates, and raises Adam and the righteous dead. In iconography, Christ pulls Adam and Eve from their tombs, crushing the gates of Hell underfoot. This is a triumphant, cosmic jailbreak. A mosaic in Hosios Loukas depicting a resurrected Christ descending into Hell. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/ Public Domain St. John Chrysostom’s summarizes the views of the Church Fathers St. John Chrysostom, one of the most influential Church Fathers, offers vivid and unequivocal teachings on the reality and nature of Hell. He emphasizes that Hell is not a metaphor but a tangible, eternal punishment for the unrepentant. Chrysostom describes Hell as: “A sea of fire—not a sea of the kind or dimensions we know here, but much larger and fiercer, with waves made of fire, fire of a strange and fearsome kind.” He further elaborates on the eternal nature of this punishment: “For that it has no end Christ indeed declared when he said, ‘Their fire shall not be quenched, and their worm shall not die.'” Chrysostom’s vivid imagery and firm stance underscore the seriousness with which early Christian theology regarded the concept of Hell. Chrysostom even acknowledged that the idea of posthumous justice was not exclusive to Christian doctrine but resonated across human thought and culture. “Even poets, philosophers, and writers,” he writes, “have contemplated future retribution and spoken of the punishments that exist in Hades.” While their accounts lacked precision and were shaped by distorted echoes of Christian truths, they nonetheless glimpsed the concept of divine judgment. He references vivid imagery from Greek mythology and speaks of rivers such as Cocytus and fiery Phlegethon, the water of Styx, and Tartarus buried deep beneath the earth. Chrysostom saw these as symbolic reflections of a real and terrible judgment. Charon brings the dead to Hades, the underworld realm to which the ancient Greeks believed people went after death. Credit: Alexander Litovchenko / Public domain / Wikimedia Commons Dante’s Underworld and the Western imagination Yet for all this theological richness, the modern Western conception of Hell owes just as much to poetry as to scripture. Dante Alighieri’s Inferno crystalized an image of Hell that has lingered for centuries. This image is an elaborate, layered abyss tailored to specific sins, complete with vivid geography and moral symbolism. Dante, steeped in classical education, weaves Greek myth into Christian theology. He borrows Virgil as his guide. Virgil, who had described Aeneas’ descent into the Underworld, now leads Dante through the nine circles of Hell. Within these circles, Minos judges the damned while Charon ferries souls across the river of Acheron. Pluto, no longer merely the Greek god of the dead, becomes a guardian of infernal secrets. The punishments of Tartarus, Cerberus, the Furies, and Titanic all reappear—except they now serve a Christian vision of justice. Dante’s hell is deeply literary, but it codified an emotional and visual grammar of damnation. This shaped sermons, paintings, and imaginations ever since. A painting of Eugène Delacroix depicting Dante and Virgil crossing the river of Acheron. Credit: Eugène Delacroix, Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain From shadows to fire: A legacy of transformation The Christian concept of Hell did not begin as fire and brimstone. It began as a quiet, cold shadow—a Sheol where even the best of humanity slumbered without voice or vision. Over time, with the influence of foreign cosmologies and inner theological evolution, Sheol gained color, sound, and flame. It split into places of rest and punishment, opened to the possibility of resurrection, and finally became a moral arena with eternal consequences. The Christian story made Hell dynamic rather than a mere destination. It was a battleground, where Jesus defeated death itself. And yet, its form continued to evolve, shaped not just by theologians and saints, but by poets and painters, preachers and philosophers.

The historic yacht Christina O. Credit: Stef Bravin / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 The legendary yacht Christina O has departed Greece for Cagliari, Italy, where restoration and upgrade work will continue on one of the world’s most famous luxury vessels. Strongly associated with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, the yacht remains one of the best-known symbols of the golden age of Greek shipping and international high society. The vessel recently spent several weeks in Greece undergoing repair and maintenance work before continuing its journey to Italy for further modernization and preservation efforts. A floating symbol of luxury and power Aristotle Onassis. Credit: Public Domain At nearly 99 meters (325 feet) long, Christina O is considered one of the world’s most recognizable yachts. Throughout the 20th century, the vessel welcomed world leaders, royalty, celebrities, and business figures, helping build its reputation as a symbol of wealth and influence. Originally built as a Canadian warship during World War II, the vessel was later purchased by Onassis, who transformed it into one of the world’s most luxurious private yachts. Under his ownership, Christina O became closely linked to glamour, political influence, and elite social circles during the postwar years. The yacht played host to many of the era’s most prominent personalities and became part of the international image of luxury yachting. Restoration efforts preserve historic vessel After the decline of the Onassis era, the yacht went through periods of deterioration before major restoration projects helped revive the historic vessel. The legendary Christina O, once owned by Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, has departed Greece for Italy as restoration work continues on one of the world’s most iconic luxury yachts. pic.twitter.com/8MXah3dHEF — Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) May 22, 2026 Extensive refurbishment work carried out in the early 2000s restored much of the yacht’s classic appearance while upgrading its facilities for modern luxury travel. The latest work in Italy is part of ongoing efforts to preserve the vessel’s historic identity while ensuring it remains operational in the modern charter market. Today, Christina O continues to operate as a luxury charter yacht and remains a major attraction for maritime enthusiasts and travelers interested in historic vessels. Yacht returns to international spotlight Christina O has again attracted global attention after being listed for sale with an asking price of about €52 million. The figure marks a significant drop from earlier estimates that valued the yacht at nearly €90 million. Still, the vessel remains among the world’s most exclusive and expensive yachts because of its size, luxury features, and historical importance. Industry observers say yachts with strong historical connections continue to hold unique value in the global superyacht market, where heritage and prestige often carry as much weight as modern technology and amenities. For any future owner, Christina O represents more than a luxury vessel. The yacht remains a rare piece of living maritime history tied to the legacy of Onassis and the rise of Greek shipping on the global stage.

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Armed groups have taken the conflict to the skies by making greater use of cheap, widely available drone technology.

Tensions between tennis players and the Grand Slams escalated at the French Open on Friday, as Novak Djokovic warned the sport risked deeper divisions amid growing demands for fairer revenue sharing and greater player influence. Several stars ditched media commitments in a show of solidarity, though many were cautious about the prospect of a boycott after Aryna Sabalenka raised the possibility earlier this month. 

As the final features competing for the Palme d'Or hit the big screen in Cannes, Eve Jackson takes us through her highlights of the 79th film festival. She tells us why "Fjord", a powerful drama from Cristian Mungiu starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan, packs a psychological punch and flags up the charming ensemble drama "I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning" from British filmmaker Clio Barnard.