Alexis Tsipras

Law professor and New Democracy member Prokopis Pavlopoulos was elected as Greece?s seventh president on Wednesday after receiving support from 233 of the 300 lawmakers in Parliament.

Defense Minister Panos Kammenos drew parallels on Wednesday between Greece?s negotiations with the eurozone and Greeks? resistance to Ottoman occupiers more than two centuries ago.

The leader of junior coalition partner Independent Greeks also made a provocative comment regarding Skai TV.

Greek government bonds climbed for the first time in three days, as an administration official said the nation planned to request a six-month extension of its international loan agreement.

The potential for a Greek deal eased tensions, after talks on financial support had broken down on Monday.

Greece's parliament on Wednesday elected Prokopis Pavlopoulos as the country's new president.

The election of Pavlopoulos, 64, ends a stalemate over the selection of a head of state as Greece is trying to wrench a revision of the terms of its bailout deal international lenders.

Brinkmanship is apparently giving way to semantics on Wednesday as Athens and its eurozone creditors scramble to find the right language to seal a crucial deal between the two sides.

The more-or-lesss predictable vote in Parliament for a new president of the republic starts around 20:00pm

PM Alexis Tsipras spoke by phone with the leader of the now out-of-Parliament Democratic Left (DI.MAR) party on Wednesday, with the latter reportedly expressing his support for the government's negotiations at the eurozone level.

According to a statement by DIMAR, Tsipras briefed DI.MAR leader Fotis Kouvelis on the government's proposal for a six-month extension of a loan agreement.

By Andrew Mayeda

US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew urged Greece to reach a deal with international creditors, warning that failure to do so would bring immediate hardship to Europe?s most indebted-state.

By Ian Wishart

Investors should take confidence from signals that the Greek government is planning to request an extension to its country?s bailout loan agreement, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said.

Stavros Theodorakis, the leader of centrist To Potami party, stated on Wednesday that he supports the efforts of the Greek government in its negotiations with the country's International creditors.