Saudi arms deal approval retracted

The Parliament's arms committee decided on Friday to retract its previous approvals for the controversial sale of missiles and bombs to Saudi Arabia. 

The decision, which is nonbinding, was taken after an initiative by ruling SYRIZA in what was seen as a bid to extract the coalition government from an arms deal that opposition New Democracy has dubbed a "scandal." 

Conservative lawmakers abstained from the vote, charging that the procedure was a pretense to exonerate the government and Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, who is at the heart of the controversy as he is accused by the opposition of concluding the deal illegally. 

"The procedure that we were invited to attend was a pretense. We will not take part in a badly staged theater [performance]," said ND lawmaker Konstantinos Tasoulas. 

The meeting, which was described as "confidential," was attended by...