Western Greece

A handful of Corfu residents walk down the Ionian island's colonnaded Liston promenade in the snow, on Friday. Heavy snowfall blanketed many parts of northern and northwestern Greece, as well as the highlands of the central mainland, the Peloponnese and even some of the Aegean islands yesterday, during a cold snap that plunged temperatures near or below the 0 Celsius mark.

Cars and buses will pay higher tolls for the Rio-Antirrio bridge in western Greece as of midnight January 8 to January 9, with electronic card payments rising as of February 1, the managing company said.

Gefyra SA said that passenger car price would rise to 13.50 euros (from 13.20 euros) but that prices for motorcycles and regular travellers using the bridge would remain the same.

The Church of Aghia Paraskevi in Ano Hora, near Nafpaktos, western Greece, was shrouded in snow Tuesday as wintry weather set in in many parts of the country. Snowfall was also reported in north, northwest and central Greece, while the weather system also brought gale-force winds in the Aegean and the Ionian.

European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu said on Wednesday the EU will fund with 121 million euros a motorway connecting the Aktio peninsula to the Ionia highway, a key transport section serving Western Greece.

The announcement came during a meeting with  Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis, as part of her three-day official visit to Greece.

Police on Sunday arrested a man suspected of multiple acts of arson in the municipality of Ancient Olympia in the Peloponnese, the fire service said in a press release.

The 44-year-old man is accused of setting three fires in land plots in the areas of Vasilaki, Louvro and Kamena between August 21 and September 1.

Vehicle traffic on the 2,880-meter-long Rio-Antirrio Bridge in western Greece rose 9.7 percent in the 12 months from July 2017 to June 2018, compared to an increase of 8.6 percent a year earlier, according to data published by Gefyra SA, the consortium that manages and maintains the bridge.

Four youngsters were arrested on Monday after they were caught swimming in the reservoir of a small water dam at the hydroelectric plant of river Glafkos, near the city of Patras, in the northern Peloponnese. 

The four men, aged 16 to 19, went to the dam on Sunday afternoon, closed down the water supply and jumped in the reservoir, police said.

A motorway linking the cities of Pyrgos and Patras in the northwestern Peloponnese will be funded with 293 million euros from the EU's Cohesion Fund, after the project received the green light from the European Commission on Wednesday.

Located on the Trans-European Transport network (TEN-T), the new road will ensure faster and safer travel, the Commission said in a press release

A Greek actress releases a pigeon during the dress rehearsal for the Olympic flame lighting ceremony for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the site of ancient Olympia in Greece. [Costas Baltas/Reuters]

A state of emergency has been declared in six western Achaia communities after a fire ravaged homes and farmland on Monday.

Western Greece's Regional Governor Apostolos Katsifaras submitted a request for the declaration to the head of the Civil Protection Authority, Yiannis Kapakis, on Monday night.