Christmas

By George Georgakopoulos

Greece ended up goalless with Hungary in Budapest on Sunday, on manager Sergio Markarian?s debut on the national team?s bench, a result that has left Greece at the bottom of its Euro 2016 qualifying group with two points.

The Council of State, the country?s highest administrative court, on Friday ruled that the abolition in 2013 of the Christmas and summer bonuses awarded to pensioners before the crisis was constitutional and cannot be challenged.

The court said that the measure was in line with need to cut public spending and that it contributed to the reduction of Greece?s fiscal deficit.

A Picasso painting stolen from the Georges Pompidou center in Paris in 2001 was discovered in the United States, where it was sent as… a Christmas gift, according to New York’s judicial authorities.

The painting is valued at many a million dollars, according to the Brooklyn D.A. It is estimated at 30 million euros.

Members of Srpska List, the Serbian party in the Kosovo government, are to consult with Serbian government officials later this week and discuss whether to continue to participate in Kosovo government institutions.

The politicians, who make no secret of their close links to Belgrade, will make their minds up only after consultations with the Serbian Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic.

? murder-suicide late Friday has shocked Kalamata, in extreme southern Greece, after a 30-year-old Albanian national shot and fatally injured his ex-girlfriend, 32-year-old Elina Vahaviolou, before turning the gun on himself.

BELGRADE - Branimir Stojanovic, Kosovo deputy prime minister, said on Saturday that representatives of Kosovo Serbs will decide on further participation in Kosovo institutions after a meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic next week.

NEW YORK - Members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) welcomed the announced resumption of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina scheduled to take place on February 9 and 10 in Brussels, while expressing concern over the violence that broke out during the recent protests in Kosovo.

Serbian ministers in Kosovo's coalition government threatened to withdraw after the dismissal of Minister of Communities and Returns Aleksandar Jablanovic on Tuesday.

The decision of Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa to dismiss Jablanovic came after a series of violent protests in the country, which demanded his resignation.

BELGRADE - The Serbian Liberal Council (SLS) and the Movement of United Local Parties (PULS) on Friday joined the opposition patriotic bloc formed by the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the Dveri movement in November last year.

Chaos and violence on the streets of Pri?tina during mass demonstrations Kosovo Liberation Army wants to steal Trep?a