IMF breaks off negotiations with Greece over debt deal. Bundesbank president warns over rising insolvency risk

The International Monetary Fund has dramatically raised the stakes in Greece's stalled debt talks, announcing that its delegation had broken off negotiations in Brussels and flown home because of major differences with Athens.

EU Refutes Reports on Preparing For Greek Default, Eurozone Exit

The  is not preparing for a default by Greece or its potential exit from the eurozone, a spokesman of the European Commission told reporters on Tuesday.

Greece offers olive branch as search for allies begins

Greece sought to repair relations with its international creditors on Saturday (Jan 31) as the new anti-austerity government began a charm offensive in European capitals, even as Germany insisted it would not support any debt relief...

Greece warned against trying to reverse bailout deals

The head of the Eurogroup warned on Friday that Greece could not ignore its international obligations, after a first meeting with the new anti-austerity government that wants to renegotiate its multi-billion-euro bailout...

Greek PM Tsipras pledges radical change, markets tumble

Leftwing Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras threw down an open challenge to international creditors today by halting privatisation plans agreed under the country's bailout deal, prompting a third day of heavy losses on financial markets...

Spain's anti-austerity Podemos hails Greek ally Syriza

Spain's anti-austerity party hailed on Sunday its Greek radical left-wing ally Syriza which appeared on course for a stunning election victory.

Greece arrests four over foiled Belgium terror attacks

At least four people were arrested in Athens on Saturday (Jan 17) as part of a probe into an extremist cell that was dismantled in Belgium this week before it could carry out any attacks, a Greek police source said.

Germany: Greek euro exit is now possible, report says

 Germany is prepared to accept a Greek exit from the euro, the magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

"The German government considers a Eurozone exit by Greece to be almost inevitable if opposition leader Alexis Tsipras leads the government after the election and abandons budgetary discipline and does not repay the country's debts," Der Spiegel reported on its website, citing unnamed government sources.

Winds hamper burning ferry rescue off Greece (About 160 rescued)

At least one person has been killed and hundreds more remain trapped after an Italian ferry with almost 500 people on board caught fire off the Greek island of Corfu, the Italian Navy has confirmed.
About 160 people have been rescued so far, while Italian and Greek helicopter crews prepared to work through the night to airlift passengers in pairs off a burning ferry adrift in the Adriatic Sea.

Figurines From Ancient Greek Tomb Called Major Discovery

ATHENS- Amphipolis. -Archeologists have unearthed two sculpted female figures, known as Caryatids, as they slowly make their way into an ancient tomb recently discovered in Greece's northeast, the country's culture ministry said on Sunday. They mark a significant new finding in the tomb on the Amphipolis site, about 100 km (65 miles) from Greece's second-biggest city Thessaloniki, which archeologists have hailed as a major discovery from the era of Alexander the Great.
The figures made of Greek marble were unearthed on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement.

Christians mark Holy Fire rite on eve of Easter Read more: Christians mark Holy Fire rite on eve of Easter

Thousands of Christian pilgrims thronged the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City Saturday amid tight security to celebrate the Holy Fire ceremony on the eve of Easter.


Believers hold that a divine fire from heaven ignites a flame in the church, built on the site where Christians say Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected.

The flame is then passed between worshippers, candle to candle.

Greece probes extremist link to the two young people murders.

AFP - Greek authorities believe an extremist group may be behind a drive-by shooting outside the offices of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in which two men were killed and another wounded, sources close to the investigation said Saturday.

Investigators are examining "all avenues, particularly those that link these events to extremist groups" behind a series of attacks on politicians, police, banks and the media, according to one source.

The revelation came as the mother of the wounded man, 29-year-old Alexandros Gerontas, called on Greek people to "overcome their differences" for the good of the country and to "stop the bloodshed".

Greece arrests neo-Nazi party leader ....

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AFP - Greece on Saturday arrested the leader of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party and hunted for dozens of members as part of a crackdown launched after the murder of a leftist musician, a police source said.

Nikos Michaloliakos, 56, was arrested along with Golden Dawn lawmaker and spokesman Ilias Kassidiairis and two other party members on charges of belonging to a "criminal organisation," the source said on condition of anonymity.

Greece to end free police protection for rich. Τhey will have to pay 2,000 euros ($2,650) per month for each officer acting as a bodyguard

Wealthy Greeks fearing attacks by anarchist groups will no longer be entitled to free police bodyguards in the latest cost-cutting plan from a government trying to meet budget targets set by international creditors.
The Public Order Ministry said on Tuesday that individuals with a net income of more than 100,000 euros ($132,500) a year will have to pay for their own police protection from potential terrorist and organised crime attacks. 

 Under the plan, they will have to pay 2,000 euros ($2,650) per month for each officer acting as a bodyguard and a daily fee of 50 euros for use of a patrol car.

Stournaras: Greece could have been like Egypt. Finance minister says default and euro exit would have made Greece like Egypt

'We would have been like Egypt if we went bankrupt and left the euro, as some argued,' Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said, after a meeting with the troika that went into the early hours...

The finance minister has claimed that Greece would have shared the same fate as Egypt, where a military coup removed the democratically elected president on Wednesday, if it had defaulted and left the European common currency. 

Nabucco project fails, placed by Trans Adriatic Pipeline project

The Nabucco pipeline to be built to carry natural gas to Shah II sea field in Azerbaijan was failed for the consortium preferred Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), using another route

VIENNA / ANKARA (AA) - The Nabucco pipeline to be built to carry natural gas to Shah II sea field in Azerbaijan was failed for the consortium preferred Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), using another route.

The Nabucco project faced a removal possibility after Austria's gas and oil company OMV announced its detachment to the project and stated they approved TAP for its being "more economic".

Azerbaijani natural gas would have been carried through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria to Europe within the scope of Nabucco project, where Turkey was a member. However, consortium active in Shah II sea field in Azerbaijan showed TAP as an alternative to Nabucco, which would carry the gas in a shorter route through Turkey to Italy. It was announced that Azerbaijan, Turkey, Switzerland, Norway and Germany were partners of the project. 

Government of Greece and TAP sign host government agreement / Endgültiges Aus für Nabucco - Konsortium entscheidet für TAP

The Greek Government (the Ministry of Energy, Environment and Climate Change – MEECC) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project have today signed the Host Government Agreement (HGA) in Athens, agreed in principle last week.

The HGA sets out the framework by which the project will be realized and operated on Greek territory. This includes processes related to land easement and acquisition, the implementation of technical, safety, environmental and social standards and permitting.

TAP will be one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in Greece, and is estimated to cost approximately Euro 1.5 bn for the Greek section. During construction, TAP is anticipated to create some 2,000 direct, and up to 10,000 indirect, new jobs across a number of industries including manufacturing and utilities, transport, communications and financial and business services. The project already collaborates with a number of Greek businesses and experts, and will seek to expand such cooperation in line with its commitment to Local Content.

Deutsche Bahn to Suspend Operations in Corruption-Ridden Countries - Μίζες έδιναν στην Ελλάδα οι γερμανικοί σιδηρόδρομοι....Διεξάγεται εισαγγελική έρευνα στη Φρανκφούρτη....

German railway company Deutsche Bahn, DB, is suspending operations in a number of countries with high levels of corruption. Suddeutsche Zeitung reported on Tuesday that DB was withdrawing from Greece, Algeria, Libya, Rwanda and Thailand due to the corruption risk.
The decision of the German railway giant was explained with findings of the prosecuting authority in Frankfurt that that DB International, a subsidiary of DB, had been paying bribes in a number of countries to secure contracts for consultancy and planning for railway projects.
According to the German daily, DB International paid EUR 315 000 in bribes to Greek officials to secure contracts for the construction of a metro line.

Greeks work longest hours in eurozone .... OECD survey shows them to spend more time working than peers and to have lowest income in bloc

By Sotiris Nikas
Greeks work more than other eurozone citizens and are paid less, which predictably places them among the least satisfied people among 36 nations surveyed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Greeks are the third least satisfied with their lives in the survey, given that in most indexes they are below the OECD country average. The only nations to be even less satisfied are the Portuguese and the Hungarians, the survey found. The Swiss top the list.

China offers 4-point proposal on furthering cooperation with Greece .... Greece will play a constructive role in helping address trade disputes between China and the EU

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BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) --

 Chinese Premier Li Keqiang offered a four-point proposal on boosting the country's cooperation with Greece on Thursday.
The proposal was raised by Li during his talks with his visiting Greek counterpart Antonis Samaras in the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing.