Latest News from Greece
Convicted embezzler Sorras calls on supporters to rally
Artemis Sorras, the man who claims to have enough money to pay off Greece's entire public debt and that of its citizens, has called on his supporters to protest outside Parliament if he is arrested following his conviction on Friday for embezzlement.
Truck theft racket in Veria believed to have been active for years
A prosecutor in Veria, northern Greece, has issued criminal charges against five suspected members of a racket that has been stealing and reselling trucks for years.
Piraeus, Med's biggest port, plans its next development steps
With 16.54 million passengers in 2015, Piraeus is the biggest coastal shipping port among 69 organized ports in the Mediterranean, according to data compiled by MedCruise, while the new management of Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), controlled by the Cosco Group since last year, is preparing to add to its real estate as a part of its general upgrading plan.
Nikos Kotzias: Germany wants to punish Greece
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said Germany had a hegemonic role in Europe and was demanding more austerity measures from Greece in an interview to magazine “National Interest”. In his interview given to the magazine’s publisher J. Heilbrunn, Mr. Kotzias argued Germany’s goal was to drain Greece and not bring growth to the country.
Forces that grind us
Every day, Greece is crushed between fantasy and self-interest, as well as numerous other problems which, like millstones, grind down whatever efforts there may be to take the next step toward even the smallest degree of revival and rejuvenation. Trapped between such forces, the country is suspended, paralyzed in a state not of survival but of decline.
Over 10,000 refugees relocated, IOM says
More than 10,000 asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea have been relocated from Greece to other European Union states since the launch of the bloc's relocation program in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration, which is implementing the scheme.
Government, creditors fail to bridge gulf in bailout talks
Attempts by Greek government officials to bridge a gulf in dragging negotiations with representatives of the country's international creditors failed to bear fruit on Friday, indicating that a breakthrough in bailout talks may be unlikely until May.
Terror probe sheds light on parcel bombs sent to Schaeuble, IMF
A parcel containing explosives that the guerrilla group Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire sent to the office of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was dispatched to Germany on a commercial flight from Athens to Frankfurt, police sources have revealed.
Ministry launching Greek language classes for foreign prisoners
The Justice Ministry on Friday said it is working with the Center for the Greek Language to provide lessons to foreign inmates at the country's prisons.
The program will initially be launched at the prisons of Thessaloniki, Nigrita and Grevena, all in northern Greece. It will also include seminars to train Greek or Greek-speaking inmates to teach the language to fellow prisoners.
Banks need safeguards
Greece's real economy will never be able to get back on the path to growth unless someone cuts the Gordian knot of nonperforming loans. For this to happen, however, the country's lenders will need certain legal safeguards that will allow them to open the way.
Mitsotakis: Elections the only solution for the country
Leader of Greece’s major opposition party New Democracy (ND), Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused PM Alexis Tsipras and his administration of incompetence, political dishonesty and flippancy after the latter announced his intentions to set up a special parliamentary inquiry into the scandals in the public health sector in a speech in the plenum of the Greek parliament, Friday. In his statement Mr.
Brussels clears regional airport privatization
The European Commission has approved the transfer of 14 Greek airports to a German-led consortium and says it's now up to Greece to finalize the deal, a key element of the country's bailout program.
The Commission says the 1.23-billion-euro agreement can go ahead as it did not involve state aid, was transparent and in line with market conditions.
Turkish Threat to Scrap EU Refugee Deal Questioned
Turkey is unlikely to act on recent threats uttered by Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu who said that they could send 15,000 refugees to Europe a month to shock Europeans.
Soylu issued the threat on Thursday following a diplomatic row between Ankara and Germany and The Netherlands, fuelled by the latter's ban on allowing Turkish ministers to stage rallies there.
Sorras gets eight years in prison for embezzlement
The self-proclaimed "trillionaire" Artemis Sorras, who claims to have enough money to pay off Greece's entire public debt and that of its citizens, was sentenced Friday, along with his wife, by a court in Patras, western Greece, to eight years in jail on charges of embezzlement.