News archive of November 2014

By Semina Sarantopoulou *

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Greece is not without people who have faith in its prospects, who are willing to invest billions of euros in its future, as is the case with the port of Piraeus and the tender for the country’s regional airports. They obviously feel more confident about the country’s future than the majority of the Greek people do.

By Alexis Papachelas

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Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov on Sunday backtracked on plans to freeze the minimum wage at its 2014 level in the next year's budget.

Instead, he said he will propose to increase the minimum wage by BGN 40 from its current level of BGN 340 in two steps next year  - to BGN 360 from January 1 and, "in the absence of a major cataclysm," to BGN 380 from the middle of 2015. 

BELGRADE - The implementation of the new law on planning and construction should begin immediately upon adoption in December and it will considerably improve the business environment, which will attract new investors and boost the country's overall economic growth, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic.

Turkey's first nuclear power plant to be built on the country's southern coast will connect Turkey and Russia for at least 100 years, said the plant's Russian builder, Rosatom.

"We are giving 60 years of guarantee for the Akkuyu nuclear plant, but I'm sure that it will have a lifespan of 80-100 years," said Rosatom CEO Sergei Kirienko.

The family of Tuğçe Albayrak, who was declared brain dead after being beaten for trying to rescue two German women from being harassed, has donated their daughter's organs.

Albayrak had had a donor card and her family donated her organs to achieve the 22-year-old girl's last wish after she was declared brain dead on Nov. 26, according to private broadcaster NTV.

The latest testimonies from former ministers at a parliamentary commission on corruption have revealed that the implicated ministers have different positions toward wiretap recordings that were presented during a graft probe case that was launched in December 2013.

The head of the riot police department was wounded in a gun attack by an unknown assailant in the eastern province of Bingöl late Nov. 29.

The attacker on motorcycle opened fire on Ali İhsan Güngör while he was getting into his car following a visit to a village guard in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan neighborhood.

Egypt's jailed ex-president Hosni Mubarak could be released early after having served two-thirds of a corruption sentence and seeing murder charges dropped, his lawyer said on Nov. 30.
      
An Egyptian court on Saturday dismissed the murder charge against Mubarak over the deaths of protesters during the country's 2011 uprising.