US gather pace at FIBA World Cup on day of historic wins

MANILA -- The United States gathered momentum with a win over Greece at the FIBA World Cup on Monday, while there were historic first victories for debutants South Sudan and Cape Verde.

Defending champions Spain, Serbia and a Luka Doncic-inspired Slovenia picked up their second wins of the tournament, while New Zealand and Cote d'Ivoire got off the mark.

The United States faced a Greece side missing Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo in their second game in Manila, and they wasted little time in showing their quality in a 109-81 win.

"Our thought process every game is to wear the opponent down," said head coach Steve Kerr.

"We're 12-deep on our roster and we're just trying to stay solid on every possession and really put pressure on the opponent."

Austin Reaves led the United States in scoring with 15 points, followed by Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards with 13 each.

The Americans were rewarded with impressive performances throughout the lineup, with the hard-working Josh Hart pulling down 11 rebounds.

"He has the ability to do things on the court as every other NBA player does, but he takes pride in always doing the little things on a nightly basis," Brunson said of Hart, his teammate with the New York Knicks.

"He brings that toughness, that effort, and he's a different man. He goes out there and he's relentless."

Antetokounmpo withdrew from Greece's squad on the eve of the tournament, saying he was not ready to play after undergoing knee surgery last month.

The Greeks can still advance to the next round if they win their final group game against New Zealand, who beat Jordan 95-87 in overtime earlier in the day.

"If we want to have a possibility to win the game against New Zealand, we've got to be more physical," said Greece head coach Dimitris Itoudis.

"For them and for us, it's a final."

- Historic wins -

Spain also made it two wins out of two, beating Brazil 96-78, while elsewhere in Group G, Cote d'Ivoire beat Iran 71-69.

In Group B, debutants South Sudan stunned China 89-69 for their first ever World Cup win.

The world's number 62-ranked team scored 15 three-pointers on the way to victory in Manila, putting them right in the mix for a place in the next round.

South Sudan head coach Royal Ivey said his players "stuck to the game plan from the opening tip to the closing horn".

"They were resilient, persistent, they had laser-like focus, they followed the game plan and competed at the highest level," he said.

"They played with emotion, they played with fight, they played with fire. We competed all 40 minutes and we came out with the victory."

The result left China needing to beat Puerto Rico in their final group game on Wednesday and hoping that other results go their way to avoid a first-round exit.

China head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic accused his players of lacking "aggressiveness".

"In moments of difficulty, you have to find your spirit to respond on the floor," he said.

"It cannot be everything on paper -- you have to find it. Those moments are making winning teams."

Serbia beat Puerto Rico 94-77 to stay in control at the top of Group B.

In Group F, Cape Verde also pulled off their first World Cup win, beating Venezuela 81-75.

The smallest country ever to appear at the World Cup were down by 10 points early in the fourth quarter but took the lead with 57 seconds remaining.

"This is a historical moment for us," said Cape Verde head coach Emanuel Trovoada.

"It's a small nation with a big heart."

Elsewhere in Group F, Doncic scored 34 points and had 10 rebounds and 6 assists as Slovenia beat Georgia 88-67.

Agence France-Presse

'Tragic human error' caused Greece's worst train crash: PM

LARISSA — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday said a "tragic human error" was likely responsible for a train collision that has left at least 38 dead in the country's worst rail tragedy.

Two carriages were crushed and a third engulfed in fire when a passenger train and a freight train late Tuesday collided near the central city of Larissa, on a route plagued by years of safety warnings.

The fire department had earlier increased the death toll to 38, adding that 57 people were still hospitalised, six of them in intensive care, while several were missing.

"Everything shows that the drama was, sadly, mainly due to a tragic human error," Mitsotakis -- who is seeking re-election this year -- said in a televised address.

He said it was a "terrible train accident without precedent" in Greece which would be "fully" investigated.

"I've never seen anything like this in my entire life," said one rescue worker, emerging from the wreckage. "It's tragic. Five hours later, we are finding bodies." 

The accident left a tangled mess of metal and shattered glass in a field.

In some cases, passengers are being identified from body parts, volunteer fireman Vassilis Iliopoulos told Skai TV, warning that the death toll would rise.

Seventeen biological samples have been collected from remains, and from 23 relatives seeking a match, the police said.

"It was the train of terror," Pavlos Aslanidis, whose son is missing along with a friend, told reporters.

Greece's transport minister submitted his resignation just hours after the accident.

"When something so tragic happens, we cannot continue as if nothing had happened," Kostas Karamanlis said in a public statement.

On Wednesday evening, police in the capital Athens fired tear gas at protesters throwing rocks at the offices of the railway's operating company, Hellenic Train.

- Years of safety concerns -

The passenger train, carrying more than 350 people, had been travelling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki.

The 59-year-old station master of Larissa was arrested several hours after the accident and charged with negligent homicide.

Government spokesman Yiannis Economou said the two trains were left running on the same track for "several kilometres".

But train unionists said the station master was likely a scapegoat as the safety shortcomings of the Athens-Thessaloniki railway line had been known for years.

In an open letter in February, train staff said track safety systems were incomplete and poorly maintained. 

A safety supervisor had resigned last year, warning that infrastructure upgrades pending since 2016 were incomplete and that train speeds of up to 200 kilometres (124 miles) an hour were unsafe.

The president of the train drivers' union Kostas Genidounias told AFP from the scene that the accident "would have been avoided if the safety systems were working".

 'Complete panic'

Health Minister Thanos Plevris said most passengers were "young people", with the train carrying many students returning to Thessaloniki after a long holiday weekend. 

"It was a nightmare... I'm still shaking," 22-year-old passenger Angelos told AFP.

"Fortunately we were in the penultimate car and we got out alive. There was a fire in the first cars and complete panic.

"The collision was like a huge earthquake."

"I was stained with blood from other people who were injured near me," a passenger named Lazos told the newspaper Proto Thema.

Some 150 firefighters and 40 ambulances were mobilised for the response, according to Greek emergency services.

Crews were still struggling to lift one of the smashed carriages, lying on its side, to enable a search inside, Iliopoulos said.

"My thoughts are with the people in Greece this morning," tweeted the head of the European Council, Charles Michel. 

"Shocked by the news and images of the collision of the two trains," he added.

Neighbouring Albania, Italy, Serbia and Turkey were among states to send condolences, as did China, the United States, France, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and the Vatican.

Nicosia said two Cypriots were among the missing.

 'Windows exploded'

On the local media site Onlarissa, a young woman said that the train "was stopped for a few minutes when we heard a deafening noise".

Another passenger told Skai TV that "the windows suddenly exploded. People were screaming."

"Fortunately, we were able to open the doors and escape fairly quickly. In other wagons, they did not manage to get out, and one wagon even caught fire," he added.

Authorities have declared three days of national mourning.

Agence France-Presse

Greece allows music in bars and restaurants again as COVID cases ease

ATHENS - Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month now that coronavirus infections and the pressure on hospitals are easing, authorities said on Thursday.

The country last month forced bars, nightclubs and restaurants to close at midnight, with no standing customers and no music, following a surge of cases over the Christmas holidays due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

"We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks," Health Minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement.

He said that despite ongoing pressure on the health system, the rate of hospital admissions and discharges and a shorter duration and less severe illness for the Omicron variant compared to Delta allowed authorities to ease the curbs.

Capacity restrictions will remain in place for sport events, while a double mask is mandatory in supermarkets and transport.

Greece reported 19,712 new cases on Thursday. Infections have been easing since a record high of around 50,000 in early January.

A total of 23,083 deaths linked to COVID-19 have been reported since February 2020 and 1,867,935 cases out of a population of 11 million people. (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Lefteris Papadimas; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

-reuters-

Greece, Spain advance to water polo semifinals

TOKYO (AP) — Greece is one win away from its first men’s water polo medal at the Olympics.

Konstantinos Genidounias scored five goals to lead Greece to a 10-4 victory over Montenegro in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Games, and Spain also advanced with a 12-8 win against the United States on Wednesday.

Greece is making its first appearance in the semis since it finished fourth at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It finished sixth at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.

Next up is the winner of the Croatia-Hungary quarterfinal. Genidounias said winning a medal for Greece “means absolutely everything.”

“We’re not fighting for just the 13 of us and the coaching staff,” he said. “We’re fighting for (the) entire county. It would mean everything for us.”

Backed by a noticeable cheering section comprised of people from the country’s Olympic party, Greece limited Montenegro to one goal in the first half. Genidounias then scored three times in the third quarter to help his team open a 6-1 lead.

“We brought the good defense from the preliminary round, which was our goal,” Genidounias said. “One hundred percent it’s what gave us the win.”

Spain improved to 6-0 in Tokyo, outscoring its opponents 73-39, but it was pushed into the second half in the United States’ best performance of the tournament.

Spain was clinging to a 7-6 lead in the fourth quarter when a video review showed U.S. attacker Luca Cupido entered too early after an exclusion. Alberto Munarriz Egana buried the ensuing penalty shot, and Blai Mallarach Guell and Roger Tahull Compte added big goals down the stretch.

“It was not easy. It’s Olympic Games, it’s like that,” Spain captain Felipe Perrone said. “But it was important that we keep playing our way of playing.”

Daniel Lopez Pinedo, who turned 41 on July 16, made 11 saves for Spain, which will play the Italy-Serbia winner in the next round.

Hannes Daube scored three times for the U.S., which has dropped four straight. Alex Obert had two goals, and Alex Wolf finished with eight stops.

“We were great. I’m proud of my guys,” said U.S. coach Dejan Udovicic, who declined comment when asked about the video review that led to the penalty shot.

The 6-foot-4 Daube, the youngest player on the U.S. roster at 21, is considered a rising star, but he has struggled with inconsistency in his first Olympics. He scored five goals in five games during group play.

“Every game’s different,” Daube said. “So I try to go out there, do my best, stay confident, and my teammates have my back and I have their back.”

-Associated Press-

Greece shuts down all schools as COVID-19 deaths cross 1,000

ATHENS – Greece on Saturday announced the closure of primary schools, kindergartens and daycare centres as coronavirus deaths crossed a thousand.

Authorities reported  2,835 new coronavirus cases, taking the total to 72,510, and 38 new deaths, raising the toll to 1,035.

Since late October, the daily number of deaths in this country of nearly 11 million has quadrupled while the number of infections has doubled to around 3,000.

Out of the 533 total COVID-19 intensive care unit beds nationwide, 366 were occupied, authorities said Saturday.

The most hard-hit area is Thessaloniki in the north, the second largest city in Greece.

Earlier on Saturday, the government announced the closure of primary schools until the end of this month.

“Closing elementary schools was the last thing we wanted to do. This is a measure of how serious the situation is,” Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias said.

Secondary schools have already closed and all lessons have taken place remotely since Monday.

Most European countries have kept schools open during the second waves of cases that has hit the continent since September, unlike in March and April when they were shuttered during the first lockdowns.

The World Health Organization recommends that schools only be shut as a last resort.

“The coming weeks will be extremely critical”, Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Thursday.

The current restrictions started on November 7 and will last until November 30, although experts suggest it might be extended.

Since Friday night a curfew is in place from 9 pm to 5am all over Greece.

Agence France-Presse 

Greece opening to tourists in July but hoteliers fear empty beaches

ATHENS - Greece hopes to welcome back tourists from July, but hoteliers expect a bleak season, fearing the coronavirus pandemic will keep visitors away and beaches empty.

Tourism is a major income earner for Greece. It drew 34 million visitors last year, bringing in 18 billion euros ($19.52 billion) in revenue, about 10-12% of economic output, and provided employment for about one in five of the workforce.

"Tourism is facing its biggest crisis of our generation," said the president of Corfu's hotel association Charalambos Voulgaris, owner of two resorts on the Greek island on the Ionian Sea.

Long stretches of beach, some dotted with rows of umbrellas, lie empty on Corfu and hoteliers like Voulgaris wonder whether they will open their doors this summer.

A lockdown from March 23 to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, which was effective in avoiding high rates of fatalities seen in other European countries, is expected to take a toll. Greece is now trying to save what is left of the season.

Passenger traffic plunged by as much as 90% for ferries, according to the Passenger Shipping Business Association, and by 59% percent for domestic and international flights in March, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.

"We are going to have very low occupancy rates. We don't know if our hotels will open, when they will open, so we are right now on the brink of very hard times," Voulgaris said.

Harry Theocharis, Greece's tourism minister, says the plan is to welcome back tourists in July.

The government will begin to gradually ease the lockdown on May 4 and hotels operating year round will be able to open on June 1.

"I guess this is the million-dollar question. We are aiming to open up sometime in July," Theocharis told Reuters TV.

"This season is not going to be like the other years, I would be a fool to believe that this could ever be the case. However, there is a lot that we can do to re-open the tourist economy, the flows," he said.

Greece has recorded 2,566 cases of COVID-19 infections and 138 fatalities. 

(Reporting by Deborah Kyvrikosaios; Writing by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

-reuters-

‘We expected this’: Greece confirms first COVID-19 case

ATHENS - A Greek woman who recently returned home from northern Italy has become Greece's first coronavirus case and she is being closely monitored, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

No further information was immediately available on the previous movements of the 38-year-old woman, though one Greek media outlet, Proto Thema, said she had traveled to Greece by road.

Greece has not introduced any travel restrictions to Italy, which is the country in Europe most affected by the outbreak with more than 370 cases and 12 deaths reported.

"She is in good health and is being monitored by a team of exceptional colleagues in Thessaloniki," health ministry representative Sotiris Tsiodras told a news briefing.

Authorities are in the process of identifying people the woman has come into contact with, he said, adding that those who have been in close proximity would be placed in isolation.

A health ministry official said 10-15 people the patient had been in touch with had already been quarantined.

Coronavirus is believed to have originated in a market selling wildlife in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and has infected about 80,000 people and killed more than 2,700, the vast majority in China.

It causes respiratory symptoms similar to a cold or flu and like other respiratory infections, it spreads between people in droplets from coughs and sneezes.

Authorities in Athens unveiled a contingency plan on Tuesday which includes school closures, bans on public gatherings and suspension of all means of public transport in the event of a health emergency.

"The first case of coronavirus has been confirmed in our country. It was something we expected and we are absolutely prepared," said Vassilis Kikilias, Greece's health minister.

Greece, which has 11 million people but attracts more than 30 million foreign tourists annually, has identified 13 hospitals across the country for treating infected patients. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wedding misery for man named Thomas Cook as travel firm collapses

LONDON - A British man named Thomas Cook said Monday he feared his dream wedding in Greece was ruined after the collapse of the holiday firm with the same name.

Cook, 29, is on the island of Rhodes with his partner Amelia Binch, 27, and their two children ahead of their planned wedding on Friday.

But they worry the ceremony may not go ahead while they wait to be repatriated, while some guests are still in Britain, the Nottingham Post newspaper reported.

"Thomas Cook promised us a surprise on our wedding because of my name but this was not the surprise we were expecting," he told the paper.

The couple, from the town of Hucknall near Nottingham in central England, said they had spent almost £10,000 (11,300 euros, $12,400) on a wedding package with Thomas Cook.

"I am just devastated. We have got 30 plus friends and family coming out, half are stuck at home in limbo. My best man is still in England. No one here knows anything," Cook said.

"I have been planning this for two years and it has all gone to pot. We have paid for everything. It is shattering. We don't know what we can do."

The travel group collapsed into bankruptcy on Monday, leaving around 600,000 holidaymakers stranded.

The British government is planning to bring home around 150,000 Britons stuck abroad, in the country's biggest repatriation since World War II.

ar/jwp/pld/dl

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Strong quake jolts Athens, knocks out phone service

ATHENS, GREECE - A strong, shallow earthquake jolted Athens on Friday, knocking out phone and cellphone service and sending worried residents rushing into the streets, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

According to the Greek geodynamic institute, it was a 5.1-magnitude quake with an epicenter 23 kilometers (14 miles) northwest of Athens and was followed by aftershocks.

The quake struck at around 1100 GMT at a depth of 13 kilometers, news reports said.

Worried residents and office staff have crowded outdoor areas but the government denied it had ordered an evacuation alert.

The fire department rescued over a dozen people trapped in elevators in the capital, state broadcaster ERT said.

"People must remain calm," said Efthymios Lekkas, head of the state anti-quake protection agency.

"There is no reason for concern. The capital's buildings are built to withstand a much stronger earthquake," he told ERT.

The epicenter was near the area where a 5.9-magnitude quake left 143 people dead in and near Athens in 1999.

The US geological institute said Friday's quake had a magnitude of 5.3.

"For the time being we cannot be sure whether this was the main earthquake," seismologist Gerassimos Papadopoulos told ERT.

"There have been at least three (smaller) aftershocks already, which is a positive sign," he said, adding that the quake was felt as far as the Peloponnese islands.

"People in the capital must remain calm... they must be psychologically ready for more aftershocks," he said.

News media reported electricity outages but said internet connections were still operating.

Greece lies on major fault lines and is regularly hit by earthquakes, but they rarely cause casualties.

In July 2017, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake killed two people on the island of Kos in the Aegean sea, causing significant damage.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

2 injured in blast outside Athens church

GREECE - A homemade device exploded in front of a church in central Athens on Thursday, injuring its caretaker and a police officer, police said.

The device was placed outside the Orthodox Church of Saint Dionysius in the upmarket Kolonaki neighborhood and exploded at 7:10 am (0510 GMT), police said.

The police officer was hospitalized with minor injuries to his face and hands sustained when he went to inspect a "suspicious" package after being alerted by the caretaker.

The caretaker was also hospitalized.

A cafe worker nearby told Skai television the blast had been "powerful."

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' Syriza party condemned what it called an "atrocious act" and voiced support for the 2 wounded men.

Tsipras' main domestic rival Kyriakos Mitsotakis, head of the New Democracy party, accused the government of tolerating repeated acts of violence and warned that "the feeling of insecurity" had reached a new level.

Socialist Party leader Fofi Gennimata said: "There is a problem of security in the country, the government must take responsibility."

Anti-terrorist police have launched an investigation focused on anarchists or far-left groups. 

Non-fatal attacks targeting centers of power, embassies, banks and media outlets have become common in Greece in recent years, and have often been blamed on such groups.

Ten days ago, a homemade bomb exploded outside the headquarters of the Skai media group in a seaside Athens suburb causing major damage. There have been no claims of responsibility.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Greek wildfires death toll rises to 91

ATHENS - Greek fire services on Sunday said three more people were confirmed killed by the wildfires that have devastated seaside resorts near Athens, bringing the death toll in the disaster to 91.

Another 25 remain missing, said spokeswoman Stavroula Malliri, giving a precise figure for the first time after mounting criticism over the issue.

But some or all of the missing may be among 28 victims whose bodies are currently being examined by forensic pathologists and have not been identified, civil protection spokesman Spyros Georgiou told AFP.

Several children -- the total is not yet known -- have become the face of the tragedy, including 9-year-old twin girls, a 6-month-old infant, a brother and sister aged 11 and 13, and another 13-year-old.

Four foreign victims have so far been identified including a young Irishman on his honeymoon, a Polish woman and her son, and a Belgian man whose daughter was rescued.

Finger-pointing over the authorities' handling of the crisis intensified on Sunday as the rightwing and centrist opposition accused the government of initially trying to hide the loss of human life.

The fire services on Sunday continued to probe the causes of the wildfires, with the government suspecting criminal origins.

The daily Kathimerini said that an initial report pointed to criminal negligence on the part of a resident who lit a bonfire of dead leaves and branches. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Greek wildfires toll rises to 81 amid search for survivors

ATHENS, Greece - At least 81 people died in huge wildfires around Athens, Greek authorities said Wednesday, as rescuers scoured scorched homes and burned-out cars for survivors of one of the world's deadliest fire outbreaks.

Scores of locals and holidaymakers fled to the sea to try to escape the flames as they tore through towns and villages near the capital stoked by 100-kilometer-per-hour wind gusts, devouring woodland and hundreds of buildings.

Greek media have described the disaster as a "national tragedy", while Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras cut short a visit to Bosnia and announced 3 days of national mourning.

A young Irishman on honeymoon was among those who died, the British embassy in Greece confirmed.

According to British media, Brian O'Callaghan-Westropp had been on honeymoon in the coastal village of Mati when his car was caught in the wildfires.

Although his new wife Zoe managed to escape to a nearby beach, she was taken to hospital with burns, the reports said.

Fire service spokeswoman Stavroula Maliri said 81 people were now known to have died. The toll surpasses the 77 people killed in the previous deadliest fires in Greece, on the southern island of Evia in 2007.

Apart from the Irishman, the victims included 3 other tourists -- a Polish mother and her son, as well as a Belgian national whose teenage daughter survived the blaze.

Maliri said firefighters continued to search for bodies after receiving numerous calls reporting people missing.

It is possible that some of those unaccounted for "will be among the victims", Maliri said.

She added that relatives of those missing had been asked to provide DNA samples to help authorities identify bodies.

'WALL OF FLAME'

When the fires broke out on Monday evening, terrified residents and tourists were overtaken by the flames in homes, on foot or in their cars. AFP photographers saw the burnt bodies of people and dogs.

"My husband said we had to leave with our seven-year-old grandson," Kiriaki Alexiadou, a resident of the devastated village of Mati, told AFP.

"We ran to the car as the pine cones were burning on the trees."

Choking back the tears on Wednesday, she pointed to the charred skeleton of a house next to hers.

"The policewoman who lived there, her husband and their two children left on foot towards the sea but they were trapped by this wall of flame."

The burned bodies of 26 people, including small children, were discovered at a villa in Mati, 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Athens, rescuers said.

Rescue teams on Wednesday were going house-to-house to search for survivors in the village.

RAIN FORECAST

Volunteers were also doing the rounds to provide food to those whose houses survived relatively unscathed but which have experienced sporadic power cuts since the fire struck.

"In 40 years here we've seen several fires each year" in the hills where Monday's blaze broke out said resident Andreas Matsios. "But we never imagined they would ever reach Mati."

Rain is forecast for the coming days, which will help efforts to douse the flames after temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Monday.

But another blaze was threatening houses near the seaside town of Kineta, 25 kilometers west of Athens.

Dozens of firefighters were battling the flames around Kineta aided by helicopters and planes dropping thousands of gallons of water.

Some 187 people were hospitalized after Monday's fires, with 71 still being treated on Wednesday, including almost a dozen children, most of whom were in a "serious condition", the fire services said.

Shock was giving way to public anger Wednesday, with several media questioning how such a devastating blaze could have hit a country well used to wildfires.

The opposition Te Nea daily criticized the government's "inability to protect its citizens just a few kilometers from Athens".

The front page of the Ethnos newspaper showed a charred Greek flag with the headline: "Armageddon."

Tsipras chaired a meeting of his emergency management committee on Wednesday though no statement was issued.

'IT HURT TO BREATHE'

At least 6 people died trying to escape the flames into the sea, where some 715 people were evacuated by boat, the government said.

"There was at least 300 of us. The worst thing was the smoke, it hurt to breathe," said Mati resident Sabi Kissov.

The European Union activated its Civil Protection Mechanism after Greece sought help. Several countries said they were sending aircraft to help fight the flames.

"Today is a day of great sorrow for the Greek people and for all of Europe," The EU's humanitarian crisis manager Christos Stylianides said on Twitter.

The wildfires come as record temperatures in northern Europe have also seen blazes cause widespread damage in recent days.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Greek wildfire kills at least 24 near Athens, residents flee homes

Greece issues urgent appeal for help
Worst recorded wildfires since 2007
Fires destroy homes, disrupt transport
Drone deployed to track 'suspicious' activity

MATI, Greece - At least 24 people died and more than 100 were injured when a wildfire swept through a small resort town in eastern Greece, with many victims trapped by flames as they fled.

The fire in Mati village, some 29 km (18 miles) east of Athens, was by far the country's worst since flames devastated the southern Peloponnese peninsula in August 2007, killing dozens. Monday's late afternoon fire was one of several that broke out in the country amid a sweltering heat wave.

"Mati doesn't even exist as a settlement anymore," one woman told Greece's Skai TV. "I saw corpses, burned-out cars. I feel lucky to be alive."

Mati is in the Rafina region which is a popular retreat with local tourists, particularly pensioners and children at holiday camps.

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said in a televised statement early on Tuesday that the death toll exceeded 20 while more than 88 adults and 16 children were injured.

The coastguard later said the bodies of four more people were retrieved from the sea.

One of the youngest victims was thought to be a six-month-old baby who died of smoke inhalation.

A Reuters witness earlier saw at least four dead on a narrow road clogged with cars heading to the safe haven of a nearby beach.

Hundreds of people had scrambled to the sea as the blaze closed in close to the shore. They were picked up by passing boats.

Some parts of Mati were still smouldering white smoke early on Tuesday. Burned-out cars were scattered outside gated compounds where three- and four-storey buildings bore signs of fire damage.

"We are dealing with something completely asymmetric," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, looking pale, said after cutting short a visit to Bosnia.

Greece issued an urgent appeal for help to tackle fires that raged out of control in several places across the country, destroying homes and disrupting major transport links.

Cyprus and Spain offered assistance after Greece said it needed air and land assets from European Union partners.

The inferno dominated front pages in the country on Tuesday, with headlines such as "killer fire" and "hell" and newspapers reporting fears the death toll would climb.

Authorities said they would be making use of an unmanned drone from the United States on Tuesday to monitor and track any suspicious activity.

Tsipras and Greek officials have expressed misgivings at the fact that several major fires broke out at the same time,

Wildfires are not uncommon in Greece, and a relatively dry winter helped create current tinder-box conditions. It was not immediately clear what ignited the fires.

Reuters witnesses reported seeing a hillside of homes gutted by flames east of Athens. A mayor said he saw at least 100 homes and 200 vehicles burning.

In a fire earlier Monday, Greek authorities urged residents of a coastal region west of Athens to abandon their homes as a wildfire burned ferociously, closing one of Greece's busiest motorways, halting train links and sending plumes of smoke over the capital.

The main Athens-Corinth motorway, one of two road routes to the Peloponnese peninsula, was closed and train services were cancelled.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Global Markets: Euro slips on Greece bailout, Italian vote concerns; stocks drift

SINGAPORE - The euro came under pressure on Tuesday after a media report that Greece may forego its next bailout payment if creditors cannot strike a debt relief deal, while Asian stocks were shackled by holidays in some regional markets and the United States and UK.

The common currency slid 0.2 percent to $1.1136 in its third session of declines after a German press report Athens may opt out of its next bailout payment.

Euro zone finance ministers failed to agree with the International Monetary Fund on Greek debt relief or to release new loans to Athens last week but did come close enough to aim to do both at their June meeting.

"The bailout payments are necessary to meet existing debt repayments due in July, so if Greece were to forgo this bailout payment the probability of a default would spike, reopening the discussion around a Grexit from the Euro-zone," said James Woods, global investment analyst at Rivkin in Sydney.

However, Woods cautioned against reading "too much into it" without more details or confirmation, adding that it is unlikely that Greece would opt out of the bailout payment at this stage.

A statement by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi reiterating the need for continued stimulus, and the prospect of early Italian elections also weighed on the euro.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat early on Tuesday.

Japan's Nikkei slipped almost 0.1 percent.

China, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets are closed for holidays on Tuesday.

European blue-chip stocks fell 0.2 percent on Monday, with Italy's banking index sliding 3.4 percent, its biggest loss in nearly four months, after two lenders sought help to cover a capital shortfall.

Sterling retreated 0.2 percent to $1.281 after British Prime Minister Theresa May's lead over the opposition Labour Party dropped to 6 percentage points in the latest poll to show a tightening race since the Manchester bombing and a U-turn over social care plans.

The dollar inched back 0.1 percent to 111.15 yen in early trade.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of trade-weighted peers, advanced 0.2 percent.

In commodities, oil prices climbed in light trade but failed to make up last week's losses as concerns lingered about whether the extension of output cuts by OPEC and other producing countries will be enough to support prices.

US crude futures added 0.4 percent to $50 a barrel.

Gold was steady at $1,266.89 an ounce.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Greece approves Christmas bonus for pensioners

BRUSSELS/ATHENS - Greece snubbed its international lenders and legislated plans on Thursday to give pensioners a one-off Christmas bonus despite misgivings from creditors in a standoff over the country's third bailout.

Lenders on Wednesday said they were suspending a deal clinched earlier this month to offer Greece short-term debt relief after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras unexpectedly said he would grant low-income pensioners a pre-Christmas payoff.

Tsipras' action infuriated officials in Germany and several other member states, but French President Francois Hollande and his finance minister came to Tsipras' defense on Thursday in a sign of European divisions over how to handle Greece.

Tsipras, a leftist firebrand who swept to power in early 2015, promising to do away with austerity only to sign up to another bailout months later, insisted the one-off fiscal break would not derail the economic targets outlined in Greece's bailout plan.

"I want to stress that these are measures that do not jeopardize the programme nor the primary surplus for 2016 and have no fiscal impact on 2017 and 2018," he told a news conference in Brussels.

Greece, Tsipras said, was meeting its bailout commitments "to the letter." He was due to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.

Merkel said she anticipated there would be a discussion about the issue, but said she did not intend to get involved in negotiations on the Greek package.

As shadowboxing over dealing with Greece's conundrum deepened, lawmakers in Athens backed the decision to allocate 617 million euros ($642.54 million) - a surplus from savings - in a bonus to pensioners.

"(Greek) people have to see that sacrifices of now six, seven years are at last starting to pay off," Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said.

About 5,000 pensioners, jaded by those sacrifices and almost a dozen pension cuts which have pushed almost half of the country's elderly into poverty, marched peacefully through the streets of Athens on Thursday night.

"We came here to send a message. No more!" protesting pensioner Efstratios Bozos told Reuters. "Our pensions have become restaurant tips."

Arriving at the Brussels summit, France's Hollande said it was wrong to prevent Greece from taking "sovereign decisions" and suggested that euro-zone ministers had not granted Athens sufficient debt relief.

REFORM IMPLEMENTATION

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, speaking in Paris, expressed understanding for Tsipras' decision to spend 617 million euros on pensioners.

Greece unveiled the pensioner payout and a separate decision to keep lower value-added tax on some islands without consulting euro zone governments, which now own most of Greece's public debt, although the bailout agreement says such a consultation is a must.

The consultation would have given lenders time to assess the fiscal and economic consequences of the two Greek decisions for the bailout reform programme and targets. Germany has asked the institutions to check if the Greek decisions are in line with bailout obligations.

The differences come amid a deep rift between Athens, its European partners and the International Monetary Fund over the reforms needed to get the Greek economy, in recession since 2009, back on track.

The IMF sees the euro zone's economic targets for Greece as overly ambitious and the assumptions about reform implementation too optimistic.

The IMF is also at odds with Germany and some other northern European countries over granting Greece more significant debt relief. Berlin wants to retain leverage over Athens and is reluctant to grant it favours that could anger conservative allies of Merkel before a federal election in the autumn.

The IMF, which participated in the first two bailouts for Greece, has so far refused to inject funds this time amid the standoff over economic assumptions and debt relief.

"I'm hopeful that we will be able to reach an agreement," Tsakalotos said. "I am very disappointed with the IMF, which said it would be a roaring lion in forcing the Europeans to provide more in debt relief, but has turned out to be a rather tame pussycat instead."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Fingerprints from Paris bomber match man registered in Greece - prosecutor

PARIS - Fingerprints from one of the suicide bombers behind the attacks at the Stade de France in Paris matched the prints of a man registered in Greece in October, a French prosecutor said on Monday.

"At this stage, while the authenticity of a passport in the name of Ahmad al Mohammad, born Sept. 10 1990 in Idlib, Syria needs to be verified, there are similarities between the fingerprints of the suicide bomber and those taken during a control in Greece in October," the Paris prosecutor said in a statement.

The prosecutor also said a second bomber at the Bataclan concert hall had now been identified. The prosecutor named him as 28-year old Samy Ammour from Drancy, north of Paris and said he was known to counter-terrorism units after being placed under investigation and judicial control for attempting to go to Yemen.

He disappeared in the autumn of 2013 and an international arrest warrant was issued for him.

"Five of the terrorists killed have now been identified," prosecutor added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Syrian girl dies in new migrant boat sinking off Greece

ATHENS, Greece - A five-year-old Syrian girl was found dead on Saturday and several other refugees were believed to be missing when their boat sank in an attempted crossing from Turkey to Greece, the state ANA agency reported.

The Greek coastguard rescued another 13 people and was looking for other survivors, the agency said.

The accident occurred north of the island of Lesbos, one of the Greek islands that have seen a heavy influx of refugees from war-torn Syria this year.

Many have perished trying to cross the Aegean Sea in search of a better future in Europe.

Earlier this month, harrowing pictures of three-year-old Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi, whose body was found washed up on a Turkish beach after the boat carrying his family to the Greek island of Kos sank, caused an outpouring of emotion around the world, pressuring European leaders to step up their response to the refugee crisis.

The body of another four-year-old Syrian girl washed up on a beach in western Turkey on Friday.

Migrants have in recent days turned to Turkey's land borders with Greece and Bulgaria to avoid the sea voyage that has cost over 2,600 people their lives in the Mediterranean this year.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Spanish parliament approves new Greece bailout

MADRID, Spain - Spanish lawmakers Tuesday overwhelming approved Greece's third bailout package following a debate in parliament which the ruling party used to defend its economic record ahead of a year-end general election.

Members of the lower house of parliament voted 297-29 in support of the 86-billion-euro (96-billion-dollar) aid package with only the tiny far-left United Left party voting against it.

Spain, which received European financial aid for its ailing banks in 2012, will supply 10.15 billion euros to the latest Greek bailout.

Unlike other eurozone nations such as Germany, Spain was not required to have its parliament approve the bailout but Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he decided to put it to a vote because Madrid's contribution to the aid package is "significant".

The vote was guaranteed to pass because Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) has an absolute majority in the assembly.

The PP used the debate to promote itself as the guarantor of Spain's economic recovery going into elections due at the end of the year where they face a stiff challenge from new anti-austerity party Podemos, a close ally of Greece's radical left ruling Syriza party.

"There are three lessons to learn from the Greek crisis. First of all, we can't get around the obstacle (of reforms). Secondly, populist siren songs only end in mirages," Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told the assembly.

"Finally... irresponsible policies have a price," he added.

During an interview with news radio Cadena Ser, the Podemos secretary for political affairs, Inigo Errejon, accused the government of debating the Greek bailout in parliament "for propaganda reasons".

Rajoy is betting on Spain's economic recovery to win re-election to a second term despite poor personal approval ratings.

Spain emerged in 2013 from five years of on-off recession, and the government forecasts the economy will grow by 3.3 percent this year -- more than twice the average forecast for eurozone countries -- and by 3.0 percent next year.

But unemployment stood at 22.4 percent in the second quarter, the second-highest rate in the eurozone after that of bailed-out Greece.

Eurozone finance ministers on Friday gave the green light to the latest Greek bailout package, which averted the country's expulsion from the euro but will require more sacrifices from Greeks.

Finland, one of the eurozone countries most sceptical about pouring more aid into Greece, also backed the bailout last Thursday. The German parliament will vote on it on Wednesday.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Greece prepares to reopen Athens stock market

ATHENS, Greece - The Athens stock exchange, which has been closed for nearly a month due to Greece's debt crisis, is expected to reopen in a few days after receiving approval from the European Central Bank, a stock market source told AFP Tuesday.

"The ECB gave its green light to reopen the stock market in Greece, (and) we are waiting for a ministerial decision which will specify the conditions of the reopening," the source said.

A spokesman for the Greek finance ministry said that a decision would be published later Tuesday but did not indicate when the Athens stock exchange would resume trading.

The stock market in the Greek capital closed on Friday June 26, a few hours before Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced a referendum on the bailout conditions demanded by Greece's international creditors.

Greeks rushed to their banks' cash machines over that weekend prompting the government to impose capital controls from Monday June 29, followed by the closing of the banks and the stock exchange.

The aim was to protect the banking sector which has seen huge withdrawals over the past six months by people nervous about Greece's economic and financial future.

The banks reopened after three weeks on July 20, but withdrawals and money transfers abroad remain under tight controls. Greeks can only withdraw up to 420 euros ($464) a week.

For businesses the capital controls were slightly eased last week but economic activity especially imports continues to encounter numerous obstacles.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Banks reopen, taxes rise as Greece pays billions to creditors

ATHENS, Greece - Greece's government hiked taxes and paid billions of euros to its creditors on Monday, as banks reopened just days after the debt-laden country reached a reforms-for-cash deal with its European partners.

Greeks woke up to widespread tax rises -- on everything from sugar and cocoa to condoms, taxis and funerals -- as part of the tough reform package agreed last week in exchange for a three-year bailout of up to 86 billion euros ($93 billion) aimed at keeping Greece from crashing out of the eurozone.

The nation's banks were thronged with customers after a three-week shutdown estimated to have cost the economy 3.0 billion euros. The banks were ordered to close on June 29 to prevent mass cash withdrawals that could have caused the financial system to collapse.

Banks are continuing to offer only limited services -- with a ban on most transfers to foreign banks among the capital control measures still in place -- but a daily cash withdrawal limit of 60 euros ($65) has been relaxed.

Bank tellers were dealing with a hectic stream of customers, many expressing frustration over continuing restrictions on financial services.

"I came today to collect my pension but unfortunately I could only get a small percentage of it," said Spyros Papasotiriou as he left his bank in the northern Athens suburb of Neo Psychiko. "It's a big hassle."

A source close to the Greek finance ministry meanwhile confirmed that the government had completed payments of billions of euros that were due to the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund on Monday, after the EU granted emergency bridge funding of 7.16 billion euros.

The IMF separately announced that Greece was no longer in default on its loans after remitting about two billion euros ($2.2 billion) to make up for missed repayments, while an ECB spokesperson said: "The ECB confirms it has been repaid."

Value-added tax (VAT) has gone up from 13 percent to 23 percent on a wide range of goods and services, although the tax on medicines, books and newspapers eased from 6.5 percent to 6.0 percent.

Tryphon Alexiadis, the new finance vice minister in charge of tax, vowed that "not a single euro from the tax rise will escape state coffers", adding that "a wave of inspections will be launched" to prevent tax evasion in a country where the problem is notoriously rife.

Along with the tax hikes, the Greek government -- led by the radical-left Syriza party that came to power in January promising to end austerity -- is also set to overhaul its ailing pension system as part of the reforms deal, and launch privatisations it had previously opposed.

'Crash test'

Louka Katseli, the head of Greece's bank association, said some 40 billion euros have been withdrawn from Greek banks since December by customers anxious over the safety of their deposits, seriously damaging the banks' ability to function normally.

She urged people to bring their savings back to the banks to support the crisis-hit financial system.

"If we take out the money from our safes and our houses -- where, in any case, it isn't safe -- and we deposit it in the banks, we will reinforce liquidity," she told the Mega TV channel.

Greeks are now able to withdraw a maximum of 300 euros at once until Friday, when a new weekly limit of 420 euros takes effect.

They can also use their credit cards for foreign purchases again, and certain exceptions to the capital controls have been introduced to help Greeks who are studying or undergoing medical treatment abroad.

But most people remain unable to take out large sums, transfer money to other countries or open new bank accounts.

The capital controls are taking a heavy toll on Greek businesses, with 23 percent of firms saying they are seeking to move their headquarters abroad to improve stability and cash-flow, according to a survey released Monday by non-profit group Endeavour Greece.

The austerity package caused a mutiny among lawmakers of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's ruling Syriza party -- forcing him to carry out a limited cabinet reshuffle on Friday -- and he faces a fresh challenge on Wednesday when parliament must approve a second wave of reforms tied to the rescue package.

Pro-government newspaper Avgi said the vote would be a "crash test" that could even result in Tsipras's resignation.

"If there are new losses, in whatever form, (Tsipras) will hand back his mandate," the daily said.

Analysts have said the divisions within the ruling party could force early elections.

Government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili ruled out another vote while Athens was still negotiating the bailout.

"Elections are not useful at the moment and the government has no intention of organising any," Gerovassili told state news agency ANA.

"The goal is to finalise the deal (with Europe) and restore normality and stability," she said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com