News archive of January 2017

Prominent Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Meral Danış Beştaş was arrested on Jan. 31 as part of a terror probe launched in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Beştaş, a deputy for Adana, was arrested for "being a member of an armed terrorist organization."

After the results of last week's Eurogroup effectively took the wind out of the government's sails, the prime minister's aides say Athens has now entered a "phase of reflection" as it strives to break the deadlock in the negotiations to wrap up the second review of the country's third bailout.

A court will sit on Friday to determine whether the referendum held in November on the voting system is binding and whether machine voting should be mandatory for all polling stations.

Voters overwhelmingly backed in November the introduction of a majority electoral system, a drastic cut in party subsidies, and mandatory voting in both elections and referenda.

Staff shortages combined with Athens's growing number of inoperable or dilapidated buses and trolley buses have led to a reduction of some 24 percent in services over the past three years, according to officials at OSY, the authority responsible for the operation of the two means of public transport in the capital.

A "non-partisan", right-wing alliance called New Republic (originally "Nova Republika") is to be formally launched on Tuesday, seeking to offer an alternative to GERB party of Boyko Borisov in the coming election.

Radan Kanev, the leader of DSB party which broke away from the Reformist Bloc, is the driving force behind the project.

It used to be that a newly elected president or prime minister had to complete 100 days in office before you could draw a relatively safe conclusion about their intentions. Not so with Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States. One could say that everything takes place at nearly internet speed.

Failure to follow procedures and lapses at key decision-making centers were the main mistakes made during the Imia crisis, which brought Greece and neighboring Turkey to the brink of war in 1996.

The same shortcomings became painfully evident on Sunday after a Turkish gunboat carrying Turkey's Chief of General Staff sailed into Greek waters and around the eastern Aegean islets.

The government is treading carefully, aiming not to further escalate tensions with Ankara after a Turkish gunboat carrying Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar sailed into Greek waters and around the Imia islets on Sunday.

A senior Turkish government official has criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's imposition of a ban on the nationals of seven Muslim countries and called Washington to correct the "wrongful measure."

The Austrian government will demand clearance from the EU Commission to curb access of poor EU members' nationals to its labour market, mostly targeting those from Eastern Europe, local media report.