Urban decay

Greek police officers on Thursday morning arrested 10 people who took part in a sit-in inside the main building of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA) to protest a deadly train collision on Feb. 28.

The Finance Ministry of Cyprus has stressed the importance of having stable legislation regulating out-of-court auctions in tandem with an effective insolvency framework in order to achieve a reduction of bad loans.

Cyprus' Finance Ministry is considering possible actions to tackle nonperforming loans and is examining a set of measures aiming to address the issue, Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said in a statement on Friday, calling on banks and servicers to refrain from foreclosures on primary residences held by vulnerable borrowers.

Tuesday marked the end of the most recent three-month suspension of property auctions in Cyprus, imposed by a resolution of the House of Representatives in Nicosia. Starting on Wednesday, numerous foreclosure letters are expected to be sent out.

A gang suspected of burgling at least 72 homes in different parts of the Greek capital since last February has been broken up by the Greek police with the arrest of 15 suspects, the force said in an announcement on Tuesday.

According to investigators, the gang is believed to have made off with cash and valuables worth an estimated 1 million euros in the past year.

Red loan management companies are looking for ways to break out of the impasse in the execution of foreclosure auctions, after the government's refusal to resolve the issue by interpreting the existing law.

Ahead of more heavy rain, residents of several neighborhoods in the devastated Brazilian city of Petropolis were called to evacuate Thursday, just two days after flash floods and landslides killed 117 people.

Ecuador's president has declared a state of emergency in the prison system following a battle among gang members in a coastal lockup that killed at least 116 people and injured 80 in what authorities say was the worst prison bloodbath ever in the country.

Officials said at least five of the dead were found to have been beheaded.

Another angry open letter was sent today by the Association for Modern Trade (MTA) , an organization that brings together some of the largest food and non-food retail stores in Bulgaria. It once again notes that the decision of the authorities not to open from April 1 the large non-food stores is detrimental to their business.

The government and its creditors have clinched an agreement that will remove restrictions on foreclosure auctions for all properties on June 1, including primary residences, sources told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Sunday.