Athens, Greece News

Athens - Greece's newly elected Socialist government insisted Wednesday that the country was neither this year's Iceland, nor the new Dubai, as worries increased over public finances, causing its debt rating to be downgraded to the lowest level in the euro zone.

World markets mostly rose after Dubai said it had received $10 billion in emergency funds from its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi, helping to allay investor fears that the emirate will default on its debt.

Greece's public deficit is still expected to surge to 12.7 per cent of output this year - well beyond the 3.0 per cent limit imposed by the eurozone.

Police detains a demonstrator in central Athens on December 6, 2009 during a massive demonstration commemorating 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos' fatal shooting a year ago.

ATHENS, Greece a " A Greek ship-owning company says it has paid a ransom to Somali pirates holding one of its freighters for the past seven months.Athens-based Alloceans Shipping says the ship should be freed later Thursday.

ATHENS, Greece - Prime Minister George Papandreou has called on Greece's major opposition leaders to hold rare joint talks on the troubled economy.

Students at Athens Middle School have used history, art, language, science and math to turn an auditorium into Athens, Greece.

Originally published December 9, 2009 at 10:33 a.m., updated December 9, 2009 at 10:37 a.m. ATHENS, Greece a ' A major new exhibition in Athens explores the many facets of love in Greek and Roman antiquity a ' the sacred, profane, graphic and mundane.

Put away the passport and leave the money for plane tickets in the bank. To visit Athens, Greece, just go to Athens.

Protesters and police in Athens, Greece, clashed Sunday during demonstrations marking the 2008 shooting death of a teenage by police, the BBC said.

Some see Greece as "soft underbelly of Europe" and an entry point to the rest of the continent for weapons and radicals.

Some children get severely obese because they lack particular chunks of DNA, which kicks their hunger into overdrive, researchers report.

Athens, Greece Riots broke out in Athens today to commemorate the first anniversary police shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the 15-year-old protestor that was killed last year on Dec.

Residents stand next to a memorial for Alexandros Grigoropoulos, on the spot where he was shot dead by a policeman a year ago in central Athens, on Saturday, Dec.

At the Big Picture, photos of the Olympic Torch Relay . After departing Athens, Greece on October 30th, the Olympic Flame has been traveling across Canada, now about 1/3 of the way into its 106-day, 26,000 km overland relay .

An appeals court in Greece has cleared three suspected members of a far-left terrorist group that was blamed for more than 30 attacks on American targets, citing insufficient evidence.

The Friendly City's Vice Mayor Bo Perkinson is traveling this weekend to Athens -- the ancient city in Greece.

ATHENS, Greece -- The 17th meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council wraps up in Athens on Wednesday .

In his meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian , Davutoglu discussed Turkey-Armenia relations and the approval process of the protocols signed by the two countries as well as Nagorno Karabakh issue which would also be taken up in Minsk Group meeting.

Event is organized in accordance with CSTO member states' 2009-10 Consultation Plan on Foreign Policy, Security and Defense.