Activity has been strong so far in 2007, despite the impact of forest fires and a slowing of housing investment towards a more sustainable level. Growth is set to weaken in 2008, before edging up to around 4% in 2009. Inflation is likely to rise in light of demand pressures and the current account deficit is expected to remain large.

Though legend has it that the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles, a son of Zeus, the very first Olympics of the modern era took place in Athens, in 1896. The government at the time was unable to fund construction of a stadium, so a wealthy architect donated a million drachmas (over $100,000) to restore and use the Panathenaic Stadium, originally built in 330 BC.

New economies, new politics, new technologies, new media. New products and services, new software and hardware. New, new, new. . . the modern world is devoted to innovation, the promotion and exploitation of new ideas and discoveries.