Athens

China's State Grid Corporation (SGCC), the world's biggest utility, on Friday signed the purchase of a minority stake in Greece's power grid operator ADMIE, China's second big investment in the debt-laden country in a matter of months.

ADMIE was fully owned by Greece's state-owned power utility Public Power Corporation (PPC).

The institutions involved in Greece's aid program have issued a "critical" report assessing whether unilateral measures announced by Athens are compatible with its bailout obligations, a German Finance Ministry spokesman said on Friday.

The Greek economy will expand by 2.5 percent next year after growing just 0.1 percent this year, but the country must end a standoff with its lenders over reforms to maintain the positive momentum, the central bank said on Friday.

Certain forms of cancer have been on the rise among people living in the municipality of Schimatari in the vicinity of the Asopos River, which was severely polluted by industrial waste up until the late 1990s, according to a new study by the University of Athens, which added that there is an increased risk for all the people who used water that came from the river.

A recent decision by the Greek government to give pensioners a one-off Christmas bonus despite misgivings from creditors is expected to be at the center of talks between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel over a working lunch in Berlin on Friday.

A joint press conference has been scheduled for 12.30 p.m.

The Economy Ministry has drafted its final list of 275 projects that remained incomplete after the end of the previous funding period in December 2015 and will be transferred to the current period (2014-20), absorbing 3.4 billion euros of European Union subsidies.

Their total budget comes to 5.1 billion euros, and the expenditure from the previous period reached 1.7 billion.

The union representing Attica's police officers on Thursday condemned what it said was an antiquated and essentially useless wireless communications system that left members of the Greek Police's (ELAS) DIAS motorcycle unit without support during an armed robbery and chase in a northern suburb of Athens on Wednesday.

Construction company Aktor on Thursday won the tender for the first phase of regeneration works at Faliro Bay in southern Athens.

Sopranos Vassiliki Karayanni and Anastasia Symeonidou, countertenor Nikos Spanatis, tenor Giannis Filias and baritone Dimosthenis Stavrianos perform works by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Antonio Vivaldi at St Paul's Anglican Church in central Athens on Friday, December 16, accompanied by the Kodaly Conservatory Mixed Choir and Ensemble 1619 on period instruments under the baton of Gerasimos Hoi

The City of Athens, Aegean Air and Athens International Airport are joining forces to promote the Greek capital as a modern, year-round cultural attraction and city break destination.

The "Athens Tourism Partnership" has an initial budget of 600,000 euros for the implementation of promotional activities that will mainly target Germany and France.