Antonis Samaras

All opposition walked out of Tuesday's session of a parliamentary committee that is supposed to be investigating the Novartis affair as coalition lawmakers insisted that the probe focus on whether the panel is in fact competent to continue with the investigation or whether it should be returned to prosecutors. 

As prosecutors continue investigating the Novartis case, pending further evidence, judicial sources are expressing concern that the findings could be discredited due to the way they are being handled in the parliamentary probe.

Former conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras has accused Greece's leftist-led government of using the Novartis bribery case to smear the reputations of its political rivals in a campaign that amounts to an "unprecedented attack on independent institutions and the rule of law."

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (center) speaks with Fotis Kouvelis, the new alternate defense minister, at a swearing-in ceremony Friday at the official residence of President Prokopis Pavlopoulos (r).

The main conservative opposition party New Democracy on Wednesday submitted to Parliament its proposal for the formation of an investigative committee to probe whether former health ministers Panayiotis Kouroublis and Andreas Xanthos, as well as Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis, are guilty of breaches of faith. 

Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis is to assume the portfolio of the Economy and Development Ministry after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was forced to moderately reshuffle his cabinet on Wednesday, following the resignation of two ministers this week. 

Journalist Costas Vaxevanis was arrested on Monday following a legal suit lodged against him by former conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras for defamation.

Shortly before his arrest, an appeals court in Athens had exonerated him over another defamation suit against him brought by Lina Nikolopoulou, the wife of Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras.

Bomb disposal experts were dispatched to the Ambelokipi police precinct just north of central Athens on Monday afternoon to take control of a hand grenade handed in by a citizen, who claimed he had found it on the street.

The journalist Costas Vaxevanis was arrested on Monday following a legal suit lodged against him by former conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras for defamation.

Vaxevanis had been at the Athens appeals court for the hearing of another legal suit against him brought by Lina Nikolopoulou, the wife of Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras.

Former prime minister Antonis Samaras has filed a defamation suit against journalist Costas Vaxevanis over a Facebook post last week in which he accuses the ex-conservative leader of lying about his involvement in the Novartis case.