Subdivisions of Greece

The list of the 18 new measures sent to the Brussels Group in order to find common ground between the partners and the Greek government included a measure which indicates a VAT raise in Aegean isles.

Despite the obvious obstacles that may arise, the widely-accepted fact is that the Public Sector may end up receiving 300 million euros per annum extra from it alone.

Unlicensed settlements created without the required paperwork from the town planning departments are commonplace in Greece and a gordian knot for the state to handle. Urban planning is has been chaotic as unlicensed buildings spurt over the countryside without even a proper unified land registry.

Fields in Serres, northern Greece, have been flooded after the Strymonas River burst its banks on Sunday.

Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis has warned against abolishing the tax breaks offered to several Aegean islands.

Speaking to Antenna TV on Thursday, Stathakis said ?there are many reasons why the favorable status must be maintained,? although he said he was willing to consider improvements to the existing framework.

The Committee for Investigating Airplane Accidents and Flight Safety (EDAAP) was on Monday investigating the circumstances under which a training flight went down in Kilkis, northern Greece, on Sunday, injuring the pilot and two Italian trainees.

The Cessna went down on an islet in the middle of the Axios River while heading back to Thessaloniki?s Makedonia Airport.

Six Turkish Air Force planes entered Greek air space on Monday without permission, flying in the area between the eastern Aegean islands of Lesvos and Chios shortly after 11 a.m.

The formation exited at 11.30 p.m. south of Samos.

A small training aircraft crashed on an islet on Axios river in Epirus on Sunday, at around 15.00 in the afternoon.

According to the fire department, three people were rescued, including the pilot and two Italian nationals. The pilot was slightly injured and the two other passengers are unharmed, but were transferred to the hospital of Kilkis for precautionary reasons.

A 35-year-old driver and his 19-year-old passenger died on Wednesday after their car veered off the old national highway between Kozani and Thessaloniki in northern Greece.

The vehicle crashed into a tree, inflicting fatal injuries on both the driver and his female passenger.

By Giorgos Lialios

The Council of State approved on Tuesday a major tourism development planned at Lasithi, eastern Crete.

The ?Itanos Gaia? project concerns the creation of a hotel and tourism installations on a plot of 22.1 square kilometers at Cavo Sidero and is the first such project to have reached such an advanced stage.

Hundreds of friends and relatives have gathered today at the small village of Seli, in Rethymno, Crete, to attend Vangelis Giakoumakis's funeral.

The unfortunate student of the Dairy College of Ioannina, whose body was found on Sunday, was missing since February 6 and he reportedly spent the last days of his life as the victim of incessant bullying, that caused him to commit suicide.