News archive of July 2020

The eurozone's economy recorded its deepest contraction on record in the second quarter, preliminary estimates showed on Friday, while the bloc's inflation unexpectedly ticked up in July.

Greece is probably the only country that is constantly dealing with its pensioners. This single issue appears to be consuming the attention of the system - meaning the political class, the media, the judiciary (to a very large extent), unionists of all political hues, experts and pundits, thousands of agents in the public and private sectors and, of course, the pensioners themselves.

Rumors that the government plans to rent hotels to house asylum seekers have renewed tension on the northern Aegean island of Lesvos, and particularly in the town of Molyvos, between hoteliers, locals, organizations and volunteers dealing with the refugees.

Russian businessman Roman Abramovich and his partners are selling a 40.06% stake in Russian mid-sized gold producer Highland Gold to a Russian businessman, who will make a cash offer to the remaining shareholders, they said on Friday.

The Public Debt Management Agency announced on Friday it is planning to auction 13-week treasury bills on Wednesday, August 5, with a maturity date of November 6.
The amount to be auctioned is 625 million euros and the settlement date will be next Friday.
Only Primary Dealers are allowed to participate, according to their operation regulations.

More than 100 kilos of contraband hookah tobacco was found on Friday in a container at the port of Piraeus that was reportedly bound for a well-known nightclub on the popular holiday island of Mykonos.
The tobacco was located by Piraeus customs authorities in cooperation with inspectors from Greece's Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs that the Italian authorities have extended by ten days the measures saying people coming from Romania must self-isolate, which measure was supposed to expire on July 31.

Divers removed half a ton of abandoned fishing gear covering a British submarine that sank off the Greek island of Kefalonia in 1941 as well as other wrecks in an effort to protect the area's loggerhead sea turtles, dolphins and monk seals.

Lost fishing nets - known as "ghost nets" - wrapped around shipwrecks often turn into death traps for marine life.

Greece will make face masks compulsory in all public indoor spaces to avoid further spread of the coronavirus.
The measure, which will go into effect on Saturday, was announced during an emergency briefing by Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias on Friday.
The mask requirement also applies to churches, he said. 

Greek health authorities on Friday said they had confirmed 78 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours in the country, raising the total number to 4,477.
It was the largest single-day increase in new cases since the end of the lockdown on May 4.