News archive of December 2016

Deaf people make a gesture that in sign language means 'victory' as they take part in a demonstration yesterday by disabled people and their families in central Athens to express their opposition to the government's ongoing austerity drive.

The wait-and-see strategy adopted by many traders on the Greek bourse ahead of Sunday's referendum in Italy and Monday's Eurogroup, which will discuss the progress of the Greek bailout review, resulted on Friday in a mixed picture at the end of a week of contraction for the benchmark at Athinon Avenue.

The Ergon Ensemble performs "In Vain," a composition by Austrian-born, US-based composer Georg Friedrich Haas at the Onassis Cultural Center, known as Stegi, in Athens on Tuesday, December 6. Admission ranges from 12 to 18 euros; special prices for students and groups. The concert is set to start at 8.30 p.m.

The Half  Note Jazz Club in Athens presents American jazz and funk trombonist Fred Wesley and his band in a residency running through Monday, December 5. Wesley has collaborated with leading funk and soul artists, including James Brown. Shows take place at 10.30 p.m. on Saturday and at 9.30 p.m. on Sunday and Monday. Admission ranges from 20 to 35 euros.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has said he has a strong preference for giving the Reformist Bloc coalition a mandate to form a government.

Plevneliev, in an interview with the public broadcaster's Panorama, has put an end to speculation that he intends on giving the nationalist Patriotic Front coalition a chance to form a government later in December.

Laurentis Laurentiadis and six co-defendants who faced serious charges in a case of attempted murder of hotelier Athenagoras Andreadakis were judged innocent of having placed an explosive device in a flowerpot intended for the plaintiff.

Turkey's escalating rhetoric with regard to Greece's sovereignty over islets in the eastern Aegean drew a stern response from the European Commission on Friday which called on Ankara "to respect the sovereignty of EU member-states over their sea and air space."

Members of Greece's crime prevention unit (OPKE) are seen standing next to a new batch of police patrol vehicles unveiled Friday at the headquarters of the Hellenic Police (ELAS) in Athens. A total of 25 semi-armored Toyota Land Cruisers will be put at the service of OPKE and EKAM, the country's special anti-terrorist unit.

The Prime Minister's Office said the government has not ruled out a bilateral meeting between Alexis Tsipras and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the January 12 multiparty summit concerning Cyprus that Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci agreed on late Thursday night.

More than 1,200 unaccompanied child migrants are on waiting lists for a spot at one of the country's special hostels for vulnerable children, aid workers told a seminar organized by Doctors of the World in Athens Friday.