Latest News from Greece
Voting against multi-bill could lead to euro exit, Georgiadis warns
Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis has warned deputies who have threatened to vote against a government multi-bill containing reforms agreed with the troika that failure to back the measures could force Greece to leave the euro area.
Lamda development raises offer for Europe’s largest urban plot [Update]
Paul Tugwell & Nikos Chrysoloras
A venture led by Lamda Development increased its initial offer by 25 percent for 100 percent of Hellenikon SA, topping an independent valuation, the Greek state-asset sales fund said.
Rights groups slam proposed Greek law on migrants
Europe's top human rights official has called on the Greek government to drop plans to include a clause in a draft immigration law that would allow for the deportation of migrants deemed to have made false claims of abuse by law enforcement officials.
Qatar Airways revives investment strategy that involved Olympic Air ‘offer’
Qatar Airways Ltd Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said on Wednesday hes pursuing acquisitions after reviving an investment strategy that saw the company offered stakes in carriers including Greeces Olympic Air.
Free Wi-Fi around Greece from fall
Free Internet access will be available across Greece as of November through a network of up to 4,000 Wi-Fi points in closed and open public spaces, Transport and Networks Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis said Wednesday.
Germany’s Schaeuble says Greece could be model for Ukraine aid
By Rainer Buergin & Patrick Donahue
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that European nations looking to throw Ukraine a financial lifeline could use Greeces bailout as a blueprint.
Greek New Wave artist Lakis Pappas dies aged 76
Lakis Pappas, one of the leading singers of Greeces so-called New Wave, died on Wednesday at the age of 76.
Pappas worked with composer Manos Hatzidakis in the early 1960s and gradually became drawn to the New Wave style, which emerged in the mid-1960s and combined Greek music with French chansons.
Police in Drama arrest four on multiple arson charges
Four suspects have been arrested in Drama, northern Greece, in connection with multiple fires in parkland and rubbish skips.
Authorities said the four are connected to 68 arson attacks between June 2012 and October 2013.
The suspects have also been charged with setting up and participating in a criminal organization.
Greek banks’ capital increases signal end to isolation
By Nikos Chrysoloras & Eleni Chrepa
Alpha Bank SA and Piraeus Bank SA (TPEIR) raised 2.95 billion euros ($4.07 billion) in new capital from foreign investors in the latest sign Greek lenders are bouncing back from the worlds biggest sovereign debt crisis that pushed them into isolation from international money markets.
Mural aims to fill urban black hole
By Dimitris Rigopoulos
When Andreas Varelas, deputy mayor for sanitation at the City of Athens, posted a digital mock-up on his Facebook page of a mural by artist Manolis Anastasakos to be painted on the walls around an empty plot of land in the Hafteia district of Athens, near Omonia Square, he had no idea much interest it would generate.
Two arrested on human-trafficking charges
Two Turkish nationals, aged 37 and 45, were expected to face a prosecutor after being arrested late on Tuesday in connection to an alleged human trafficking ring after police discovered a group of 56 undocumented immigrants, mostly Syrian nationals, in two lorries they were driving. The arrests were made at the port of Igoumenitsa in western Greece.
Mrkic, Davenport discuss Serbia's EU integrations
BELGRADE - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic conferred on Wednesday with the head of the EU delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport, who said that the EU foreign policy and security chief Catherine Ashton wishes to visit the Republic of Serbia after its new government has been formed.
Thank God For Bulgarians Abroad
Georgi Papakochev, Deutsche Welle Bulgaria
The Bulgarian seasonal workers and the permanently living abroad emigrants have long since become “sponsors of the fatherland”. Without their money transfers, thousands of people in Bulgaria could not survive.
Rushed ‘Name’ Talks 'Reflect NATO's Balkan Worries'
The unusual timing of the round of talks, while Macedonian politicians are focused on the April presidential and general elections and while Greece is gearing up for May local polls, has prompted observers to suspect a link with the crisis in Ukraine.
Bulgaria-Romania Gas Grid Interconnection to Become Functional in June
Following a number of technical delays, the Bulgaria-Romania gas grid interconnection will start functioning in June, according to Economy and Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev.
Speaking Wednesday at a conference on natural gas, Stoynev claimed that the delay had been caused by a collapse of the ground below the Danube River, adding that the problem had been dealt with.