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The government and the main conservative opposition New Democracy party clashed Thursday over the progress of United Nations-mediated talks aimed at breaking a deadlock between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over the latter's name.

A new opinion poll carried out by the firm Pulse for Skai puts conservative New Democracy 10 percentage points ahead of ruling leftist SYRIZA.

Asked who they would vote for if general elections were to be held now, 31.5 percent of respondents said ND and 21.5 percent said SYRIZA.

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said on Friday that German judicial authorities have relayed evidence to their counterparts in Greece suggesting that Greek state officials received bribes from rail firm Deutsche Bahn to influence contract decisions related to construction work at the Athens metro between 2003 and 2007. 

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. 

A prosecutors' report alleging that Swiss drugs manufacturer Novartis bribed Greek government officials has fuelled a vehement row between the government and conservative New Democracy, Greece's main opposition party. 

Surging shale oil production in Texas and North Dakota is being felt on trading desks in Chicago, Houston and New York, where a brisk business in West Texas Intermediate crude futures is far outpacing contracts for London-based Brent crude.

The main opposition party, conservative New Democracy, is maintaining a steady lead over ruling leftist SYRIZA, according to a new opinion poll carried out by Public Issue which puts ND 15.5 percentage points ahead. 

According to the survey, if elections were to be held now, 37 percent of respondents would vote for ND, compared to 21.5 percent for SYRIZA.

The Euro Parliament leader of the European People's Party Manfred Weber on Thursday expressed his support for Greece's conservative New Democracy opposition.

"We have complete trust in ND, Greece's pro-European party, and in @kmitsotakis," Weber tweeted, in Greek, referring to conservative chief Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Conservative New Democracy maintains a 12 percentage point lead over ruling SYRIZA, according to a new opinion poll carried out by University of Macedonia for Skai TV which found that more than seven in 10 Greeks feel the country is headed in the wrong direction. 

The controversy surrounding the arms agreement with Saudi Arabia took on a new twist on Thursday after Defense Minister Panos Kammenos tweeted that he plans to allow lawmakers access to classified documents pertaining to the deal and to declassify other related documents.

It was unclear, however, if a defense minister has the right to declassify documents.