Latest News from Greece

Greece beats Gibraltar and banishes ghosts

Greece survived a first-half scare by Gibraltar to begin its campaign for qualifying to the 2018 World Cup with a 4-1 away win, all goals coming in the first half of the game on Tuesday.

Bad weather hits Greece

Storms, high winds and whirlwinds are sweeping across Epirus, Thessaly and Peloponnese.
The last 2 days were very difficult for residents in western Greece, since their homes were put in danger by the floods.
In Igoumenitsa, a 36 year old mother of two almost fell in a stream when her car was drifted by a flow, while roads in the region are turned into rivers.

Annual VAT lost at around 5-6 bln

Greece's annual value-added tax losses are roughly equal to the latest package of austerity measures (of 5.4 billion euros), according to European Commission data on the VAT deficit across the European Union, which adds up to 159 billion euros per year.

Pensioners protest in Athens over new round of cuts

A pensioner holds up two 5-euro notes during a protest against additional cuts to auxiliary pensions outside the Labor Ministry, in Athens, Tuesday. Meanwhile, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said that part of Greece's bailout funding would go toward meeting delayed pension payments.

Paris confirms report on Greek sell-off fund and Le Pape

A senior French government official is set to head the board of a new privatization fund that will be established to speed up sales of Greek state assets, a French Finance Ministry official said on Tuesday.

DT mulls job cuts at Greece's OTE

Deutsche Telekom is considering options including thousands of job cuts at its German business, a review of its holdings in eastern Europe and Greece and a partial sale of its subsidiary T-Systems, German daily Handelsblatt reported.

Ex-speaker heralds justice watchdog

Former Parliament speaker and leader of the Sailing for Freedom party, Zoe Constantopoulou, announced the creation on Tuesday of a special body to "monitor and facilitate" high-profile court cases involving the state and intervene with the submission of relevant evidence to ensure that the tenets of the Greek Constitution are upheld.

Event to mark third World Duchenne Awareness Day

The third World Duchenne Awareness Day is set to take place Wednesday and is being marked at the offices of Greece's Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA Hellas) at Victoria Square, downtown Athens.

The event, organized by parent and patient associations, aims to spread awareness about this rare genetic disorder which is characterized by progressive muscular weakness.

Romanian tourists rescued from flood water

Rescue workers in Thesprotia, northern Greece, Tuesday saved a family of Romanian tourists who had become trapped after the car they had been traveling in was swept into a stream by rain-induced floods.

A 36-year-old woman had been driving with her two young children when she lost control of the vehicle and ended up in a stream in the area of Karavostasi.

Greek volunteers win Nansen Refugee Award

The Hellenic Rescue Teams are seen conducting a training exercise on the Greek island of Samos, earlier this summer. More than 2,000 sea rescue volunteers, who last year saved thousands trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, have won the annual Nansen prize, the UN refugee agency announced on Tuesday.