Makis Voridis

The government has effectively rejected a proposal by opposition New Democracy to amend voting laws so that Greeks living overseas can participate in general elections.

The tender to issue new, more secure identity cards in Greece that will meet the standards and technical specifications of European Union countries will be announced "in a matter of days, and not weeks," Alternate Minister for Citizens Protection Nikos Toskas said on Thursday, during a debate in parliament.

After casting doubt on the authenticity of the documents Defense Minister Panos Kammenos submitted to Parliament on Monday that supposedly prove Vassilis Papadopoulos was authorized by Saudi Arabia to broker a deal for Greece to sell it arms and missiles, New Democracy on Thursday accused the Independent Greeks leader of breaking the law and deception.

Guards at Greece's Parliament had to eject a lawmaker with far-right Golden Dawn on Monday after he violently lashed out at a colleague.

Wearable mementos from a life fully lived in Athens and New York, via London and Gstaad, among other locations, are going on sale in the Greek capital this week.

The government faced a deepening political crisis on Tuesday as Parliament's ethics committee was expected to summon State Minister Nikos Pappas and the four winners of a recent auction of television licenses and a senior cabinet member expressed serious concerns about one of the victors, the son of a construction magnate with leftist links who is under investigation for tax evasion.

Most members of SYRIZA-ANEL “covered themselves” behind the President of the Institutions and Transparency Committee of the Greek Parliament that examined the New Democracy’s request to bring before the Parliament the four new TV channel owners, together with the Minister of State Nikos Pappas and the Representative of the Secretariat General of Information Eleytherios Kretzos.

Conservative New Democracy leader Vangelis Meimarakis met with the secretary of the ND political committee, Andreas Papamimikos, on Monday night. During their meeting it was decided to kick off procedures for the election of a new party leader as soon as possible.

During a stormy session in Parliament on Friday, with vehement exchanges between coalition lawmakers and the opposition, the government rejected an objection by conservative New Democracy against a government decree that obliges state bodies and local authorities to transfer their cash reserves to the Bank of Greece.

MPs on Thursday approved in principle draft legislation that scraps maximum-security prisons and paves the way for the early release of seriously disabled prisoners, including November 17 terrorist Savvas Xeros.