Brussels - The Greek government must claim back 230 million euros (360 million dollars) from shipbuilder Hellenic Shipyards (HSY) which it paid out in breach of EU competition rules, European Commission officials in Brussels said Wednesday.

According to officials at the European Union executive, which is tasked with enforcing EU rules, the Greek government gave HSY 16 separate handouts between 1996 and
2002 to keep it afloat, without always clearing them with the commission first as EU rules demand.

Athens/Nicosia - The drought-stricken eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus accepted its first water shipment from neighboring Greece on Tuesday in order to deal with a severe water shortage.

London, June 23: The Greek government has dispatched extra staff to guard the great cultural antiques of Greece, in a response to the criticism that it has faced of the handling of its national treasures at museums and archaeological sites.

According to a report in The Guardian, tour guides, travel companies and tourists have expressed their irritation with the conditions at prime archaeological sites in Greece.

“The situation at museums and sites around the country is bad,” the culture minister, Michalis Liapis, conceded in parliament last week. “It has to be corrected,” he added.

In lie of the current situation, the ruling conservatives last week rushed hundreds of additional personnel to staff museums and open-air antiquities.

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Athens  - Seismologists warned Monday that the strong earthquake that struck southwestern Greece over the weekend, killing two and injuring more than 150, will be followed by a strong aftershock.