Christmas

In its annual statement issued on Sunday, the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral blasted "same-sex fornication" and implicity accused Montenegro's pro-EU government of encouraging it.

Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner who is a leading foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been found guilty of fraud and given a suspended sentence of three and a half years.

By Dimitra Manifava

Reduced disposable incomes and political turmoil have this year resulted in a further reduction to retail stores’ Christmas turnover, despite shops being open an additional Sunday compared with December 2013.

The stock market regained its composure somewhat after Parliament’s widely anticipated failure to elect a new president and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s announcement of general elections next month, as losses of up to 11 percent in afternoon trade were reduced to less than 4 percent by the end of the first session after Christmas.

Commuters in Athens will be able to swap their paper tickets for smart cards similar to those used on public transport systems in other European cities in December 2016.

The number of inspectors dispatched by Greece’s Financial Police (SDOE) to check whether businesses are complying with the law over the holiday season has been increased, with the first round of the raids over the week before and during Christmas revealing that the majority of law breakers did not issue sales receipts or employed workers who were uninsured.

Greek lawmakers failed to elect a new president in a final round of voting on Dec. 29, leaving the country facing an early election that could derail the international bailout programme it needs to keep paying its bills.

Bulgaria's national weather service has issued a code yellow warning for snow and high winds on Monday, December 29.

Gusts of wind blowing at up to 25 m/s should be expected across the country, with blizzards and black in all but one (Blagoevgrad) of the 28 districts, the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology at the Bulgarian Academy of Science (BAS) has reported.

Many Croats will be spending part of the first Sunday after Christmas going to the polls to select a new President.

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Fifteen senior high pupils from a school in Larissa, central Greece, were hospitalized over the weekend with alcohol poisoning after drinking excessively at a post-Christmas party at a local nightclub on Friday night.