Environmental Protection Agency

Photo: EPA/S. SABAWOON

BELGRADE - Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that, no matter what are the results of the presidential elections in the United States, the leadership of that country should actively participate in resolving global conflicts.

El Greco's painting of the Apostles Peter and Paul is displayed at the Christian and Byzantine Museum in Athens as part of "The State Hermitage Museum: Gateway to History" exhibition, which opens to the public Tuesday. Running to February next year, the temporary display showcases 80 pieces from the Russian museum's permanent collections, including antiquities, paintings and sculptures.

Hundreds of hospital staff protested cutbacks in Athens on Thursday, some driving ambulance service vehicles and others on motorcycles or horses. The union of hospital workers said the government's promise to hire 4,000 staff using money raised from a recent television license auction was a lie, claiming that any new jobs would be short-term contracts.

Three French law students from Sete in southeastern France are seen canoeing in the Corinth Canal, which separates the Peloponnese from mainland Greece, Friday. The students are on the final leg of a canoeing trip to Istanbul which they have dubbed L'Odyssette (The Little Odyssey). The route from the coastal village of Sete to Istanbul covers around 7,000 kilometers.

Employees are seen working with tobacco at a family enterprise, Vamma Del Sol, at Kria Vrisi village, in Pella Prefecture, Greece. Vamma Del Sol was built in 2012 by two brothers, Aris and Kostas Konstantinidis, who make the product without adding any chemical substances.

Pupils attend a ceremony on the first day of the school year in Athens, on Monday. Schools all over Greece start their academic year this week. [Yannis Kolesidis/EPA]

The U.S. Justice Department on Jan. 4 filed a civil lawsuit against Volkswagen AG  for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act by installing illegal devices to impair emission control systems in nearly 600,000 vehicles.

Japan, the world's third largest economy by nominal GDP, expects the finalization of two agreements with Turkey which will increase its investments in the country and the $3.5 billion trade volume between the two nations, a spokesperson for the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. 

The head of Volkswagen's US division apologized to Congress and said the company takes "full responsibility" for an emissions cheating scandal, according to testimony released Oct. 7.

Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said in an interview with a German newspaper that the company would launch a recall for cars affected by its diesel emissions crisis in January and complete the fix by the end of next year.