Piraeus

Greece should reach a deal with its eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund next week on a package of reforms, which will help to unlock remaining bailout funds, the country's economy minister said on Wednesday.

By Ilias Bellos

Boosted by last weekend?s statement by Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis from China that the government will go ahead with the sale of the majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), Cosco will now be able to implement its plan for the creation of a ship repair unit on the island of Salamina.

Traffic restriction began in Piraeus on Monday as work began to extend the tram line to the port.

Drivers are advised to follow the diversions put in place by authorities. The work on the tram extension from the Peace and Friendship Stadium (SEF) in Neo Faliro is scheduled to last until October 2016.

Work is also underway on the extension of the metro to Piraeus.

A list of reforms submitted by the Greek government to the Brussels Group reportedly includes the sale of a majority stake in the Piraeus Port Authority as well as the sale of 14 regional airports, two major privatizations tenders that the new leftist government promised to overturn before it came to power.

Police are on the trail of a criminal who is alleged to have played a part in supplying the weapons November 17 terrorist Christodoulos Xeros and other accomplices were due to use to help Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire members to escape from Korydallos Prison.

Tension was reported in one wing of the greater Athens-area Korydallos prison with several groups of inmates refusing to enter their cells in protest over the continued incarceration of a woman whose son was arrested recently on urban terrorism-related charges.

The woman stands accused of harbouring a fugitive, also charged with various felonies.

The Vitsentzos Kornaros passenger ferry, which had run aground near the port of Kasos last Wednesday, left the southeastern Aegean island?s port in the early hours of Saturday after another vessel helped to free it late on Friday.

A vehicle fell into the sea in the area of Pagoda in Piraeus on Saturday.

Coast guard officers who rushed to the scene located the car?s 64-year-old driver, who claimed that the vehicle had been empty and had fallen into the water because its handbrake wasn?t working.

Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis announced from Beijing on Friday that the privatization of the Piraeus Port Authority will come in a few weeks.

According to Dragasakis, the Chinese multination Cosco, considered amongst the favorites to assume a controlling share of the port, has tabled a competitive bid.

Greece's coast guard says a tug boat is heading to a ferry that ran aground overnight outside port on the Aegean island of Kassos with 282 passengers and crew on board.