Hercules

The Bank of Greece will activate a plan to resolve the 60 pct of nonperforming loans (NPLs) not covered by the "Hercules" plan proposed by the government, bank governor Yannis Stournaras revealed while speaking at the Thessaloniki Summit 2019 on Friday evening.

The state's asset protection plan, dubbed Hercules, will render securitizations a more attractive instrument for the reduction of nonperforming exposures (NPEs) of Greek banks, Morgan Stanley says in a new report, while Germany's Scope Ratings notes that securitization conditions in Greece are improving.

The European Commission on Thursday approved the Greek state's "Hercules" plan to reduce local banks' bad loans by up to 30 billion euros, and Deputy Finance Minister Giorgos Zavvos called on the country's lenders to utilize the project, making the most of the favorable market climate that cuts the cost of state collateral.

Rehearsals for the December 1 Greater Union centennial parade in Bucharest continued on Saturday at Arcul de Triumf, the Triumphal Arch, the venue for the parade, to correct some elements in the event's schedule.

A 2,000-year-old statue of the ancient Greek goddess of love Aphrodite, one of a batch of antiquities stolen from a museum storeroom on the resort island of Santorini, has been recovered from traffickers in a car trunk, Greek police said Wednesday.

Florin Ianculescu, commander of the C-27 J Spartan aircraft dispatched by Romania to extinguish wildfires in Greece, says he was unpleasantly surprised by the magnitude of the fires in the vicinity of Athens.

He told the Romanian public radio broadcaster on Thursday that that the Romanian Air Force's aircraft already participated in containing outbreaks in western Athens.

Romania's Defense Ministry says it has sent two planes and personnel to aid firefighting efforts in Greece.

The ministry said it had dispatched a C-27J Spartan firefighter and a C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft Wednesday to help with logistical support.

A team of 20 defense ministry officials will work with Greek emergency crews.

Romania's Defence Minister Mihai Fifor said on Wednesday that two aircraft will take off the same day from Base 90 for Greece to assist Greece in suppressing recent wildfires.

Nine US soldiers died in a plane crash crashing into Savannah, Georgia, the BNR reported.

The plane is a cargo C-130 "Hercules", which belongs to Puerto Rico's National Guard.

It crashed in the immediate vicinity of Savannah Hilton Headquarters International Airport, the US Air Force said in a statement.

The plane carried out a training flight, added the National Radio.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - More than 100 people were killed when an Algerian military plane crashed into a field outside the capital on Wednesday, local media reported.

Television footage showed crowds gathering around the smoking and flaming wreckage near Boufarik airport southwest of Algiers.