• Bomb near Acropolis shakes central Athens

    John Kolesidis / Reuters

    Police officers search for evidence near the home of a prominent Greek ship owner after a makeshift bomb exploded in central Athens on Wednesday.

    By Kari Huus, Staff writer, NBC News

    Police in Athens cleared people from an area close to the Acropolis on Wednesday, before a bomb apparently targeting the nearby home of a Greek ship owner exploded, reports said.

    There were no reported injuries from the blast at the entryway of a home owned by the Tsakos family, which operates one of the country’s large shipping companies, nor was there any reported damage to the historical site.

    A police source said an anonymous caller alerted a Greek daily newspaper that a bomb outside the Tsakos home would go off at 8:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. ET), AFP reported.

    The bomb was in a black backpack left at the home’s entrance, located just a few hundred yards from the south side of the Acropolis, one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations.


    By the time the blast occurred — around the time predicted by the caller — police had evacuated one or two people from the building and sealed off the area, according to The Associated Press, citing police spokesman Panagiotis Papapetropoulos.

    "Judging by the minor extent of the damage, it can't have been a very strong explosive device," Papapetropoulos said.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.

    In the past three years, amid a deep financial crisis and painful austerity measures, Greek anarchist groups have carried out a string of attacks against police and symbols of institutional authority and wealth in the country.

  • Dramatic rescues as torrential rainstorm hits Greek capital

    John Kolesidis / Reuters

    A woman is rescued from floodwaters by a man standing on top of her car during heavy rain in the Chalandri suburb, north of Athens, Greece, on Feb. 22, 2013.

    John Kolesidis / Reuters

    The woman had become stuck as water engulfed her car.

    John Kolesidis / Reuters

    The woman is carried to safety after being rescued.

    Pantelis Saitas / EPA

    An employee of the Greek Parliament hangs precariously after falling through the glass roof of the Greek Parliament Hall while trying to prevent rain water leaking into the building, in Athens on Feb. 22, 2013.

    Simela Pantzartzi / EPA

    People stand on a bench at a bus station during a heavy storm in Athens on Feb. 22, 2013.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    A heavy rainstorm in the Athens region on Friday morning flooded streets in the Greek capital and interrupted transport on land and sea. In the suburb of Chalandri, a woman had to be rescued from her car as raging torrents of water engulfed the vehicle.

    A worker at the Greek parliament had to be rescued after she crashed through the glass roof of the building while trying to stop a leak. The woman found herself hanging through a broken panel in the roof and was slightly injured, according to local reports cited by Xinhua.

    -- The European Pressphoto Agency and Reuters contributed to this report

    Heavy rains has caused widespread flooding in Italy and Greece. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

  • Thousands of Greeks rally in anti-austerity strike

    Giorgos Moutafis / Reuters

    Protesters march during a 24-hour strike in Athens, Feb. 20, 2013. Tens of thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday during a nationwide strike against wage cuts and high taxes that kept ferries stuck in ports, schools shut and hospitals with only emergency staff.

    By Renee Maltezou and Lefteris Papadimas, Reuters

    Tens of thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday as part of a nationwide strike against austerity that confined ferries to ports, shut schools and left hospitals with only emergency staff.

    Beating drums, blowing whistles and chanting, "Robbers, robbers!" more than 60,000 people angry at wage cuts and tax rises marched to parliament in the biggest protest for months over austerity policies required by international lenders.

    In the capital, riot police fired tear gas at hooded youths hurling rocks and bottles during a demonstration, mostly of students and pensioners, which ended peacefully.


    The two biggest labor unions brought much of crisis-hit Greece to a standstill with a 24-hour protest strike against policies they say deepen the hardship of people struggling through the country's worst peacetime downturn.

    Representing 2.5 million workers, the unions have gone on strike repeatedly since a debt crisis erupted in late 2009, testing the government's will to impose the painful conditions of an international bailout in the face of growing public anger.

    "Today's strike is a new effort to get rid of the bailout deal and those who take advantage of the people and bring only misery," said Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the ADEDY public sector union, which organized the walkout along with private sector union GSEE.

    "A social explosion is very near," he told Reuters from a rally in a central Athens square as police helicopters clattered overhead.

    The eight-month-old coalition of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been eager to show it will implement reforms promised to the European Union and International Monetary Fund, which have bailed Athens out twice with over 200 billion euros.

    The government has cracked down on striking workers, invoking emergency laws twice this year to get seamen and subway workers back to work after week-long walkouts that paralyzed public transport in Athens and led to food shortages on islands.

    Demonstrations were also held in Greece's second-biggest city, Thessaloniki, and on the island of Crete where dozens of protesters hit the streets waving black flags.

    In Athens, crowds began to disperse from Syntagma Square outside parliament, but minor clashes between riot police and hooded youths moved to sidestreets.

    Labor unrest has picked up in recent weeks. A visit by French President Francois Hollande in Athens on Tuesday went largely unreported because Greek journalists were on strike.

    "The period of virtual euphoria is over," said opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, whose Syriza party has regained a narrow opinion poll lead over the governing conservatives.

    "Those who thought Samaras would renegotiate the terms of the bailout ... are now faced with the harsh reality of unpaid bills, closed shops and lost jobs," he said.

    Under pressure
    Anger at politicians and the wealthy elite has been boiling during the crisis, with many accusing the government of making deep cuts to wages and pensions while doing too little to spread the burden or go after rich tax evaders.

    "This government needs to look out for us poor people as well because we can't take it any more," said Niki Lambopoulou, a 43-year-old insurance broker and single mother.

    "I work night and day to make ends meet and the government is killing our children's dreams."

    In a sign it may be buckling under pressure, the government announced on Monday it would not fire almost 1,900 civil servants earmarked for possible dismissal, despite promising foreign lenders it would seek to cut the public payroll.

    "The strike highlights the growing gap between the plight of ordinary Greeks and the demands of Greece's international creditors," said Martin Koehring, analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, forecasting more social unrest this year.

    Greece secured bailout funds in December, ending months of uncertainty over the country's future in the euro zone, and analysts said this had created expectations among Greeks that things would improve for them personally.

    "If these expectations are not satisfied by the summer, then whatever is left of the working class will respond with more protests," said Costas Panagopoulos, head of Alco pollsters.

    Six years of recession and three of austerity have tripled the rate of unemployment to 27 percent. More than 60 percent of young workers are jobless.

    Most business and public sector activity came to a halt with schoolteachers, train drivers and doctors among those joining the strike. Banks pulled down their shutters and ships stayed docked as seamen defied government orders to return to work.

    "I'm on the brink of going hungry. My life is misery," said Eleni Nikolaou, 60, a civil servant who supports her unemployed brother on her reduced wage. "If this government had any dignity it would resign. I want them to leave, leave, leave."

     

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Firebombs, teargas fly as anti-austerity rally turns violent in Greece

    Greece's government has approved another round of deep cuts to spending, wages and pensions, which sparked fierce clashes between police and protestors. ITV's James Mates reports. 

    By Reuters

     


    Updated at 5:25 p.m. ET

    ATHENS — Greek police fired teargas and water cannons at protesters hurling firebombs outside parliament on Wednesday in one of the biggest rallies in months against the cuts the country needed to secure aid and avert bankruptcy.

    A majority of lawmakers passed the unpopular austerity and labor reform bill, even as the rally attended by about 100,000 disintegrated into violence, with protesters and riot police fighting running battles in Syntagma Square.

    Earlier, chaos reigned inside the assembly, where the session was briefly interrupted when parliamentary workers went on strike to protest a clause that would have cut their salaries. In a humiliating about-face, the government was forced to cancel the measure to allow the session to resume.

    Outside, loud booms rang out as protesters hurled firebombs and rocks at police, who responded with teargas, stun grenades and water cannons — the first time they had been used in an anti-austerity protest. Billowing smoke and small fires could be seen on a street next to parliament.

    The violence erupted as a handful of protesters tried to break through a barricade to enter parliament, where Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to scrape a win for the belt-tightening measures despite opposition from within his coalition.

    CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera reports that new austerity measures being voted on in Greece are causing a market selloff as rioters hit the streets.

    Earlier in the evening, Greeks outside the parliament in a downpour held flags and banners saying, "It's them or us!" and "End this disaster!"

    Protesters — some chanting "Fight! They're drinking our blood" — packed the square and side streets in one of the largest rallies seen in months.

     

    Some held aloft huge Italian, Portuguese and Spanish flags in solidarity with other nations enduring austerity.

    "These measures are killing us little by little and lawmakers in there don't give a damn," said Maria Aliferopoulou, a 52-year-old mother of two living on 1,000 euros a month.

    "They are rich, they have everything and we have nothing and are fighting for crumbs, for survival."

    Public transport was halted, schools, banks and government offices were shut and garbage piled up on streets on the second day of a two-day national strike against the cuts.

    Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com 

    Backed by the leftist opposition, unions say the measures will hit the poor and spare the wealthy, while deepening a five-year recession that has wiped out a fifth of the country's output and driven unemployment to a record 25 percent.

    The cuts and tax hikes expected to be worth 13.5 billion euros are required to unlock a loan tranche of more than 31 billion euros ($40 billion) from the European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout.

    Dimitri Messinis / AP

    A riot police officer is engulfed by petrol bomb flames thrown by protesters in front of the parliament during clashes in Athens, Wednesday Nov. 7, 2012.

    The vote is the biggest test for Samaras's government since it came to power in June. A 'yes' will give Athens cash to shore up its ailing banks and pay off debt due later this month.

    EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn called on the Greek parliament to do its part in securing its next tranche of bailout aid by passing the measures.

    But protesters outside said they were on the brink.

    "You live in constant fear and uncertainty. You never know what's waiting for you around the corner," said Panos Goutsis, 58, who works in a small corner shop in Athens.

    "How many times will they tell us these are the last measures? We're sick of hearing it."

    Greeks have been angered by the relaxed approach consecutive governments have taken towards catching tax cheats, with many saying officials have dragged their feet on investigations to protect a wealthy elite.

    Following the publication last month of a list of more than 2,000 wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, the Swiss government said on Wednesday it was hoping to clinch a swift deal with Athens on taxing secret holdings.

    The austerity measures being debated in parliament are accompanied by steps to make it easier for businesses to hire and fire workers.

    PhotoBlog: Striking Greeks clash with police

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    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • General strike in Greece turns violent: 'Enough is enough,' says austerity protester

    Orestis Panagiotou / EPA

    Workers shout slogans in front of the Greek Parliament during a general strike in Athens, Greece on Thursday. Greek trade unions called a 24-hour general strike to oppose new austerity measures.

    By NBC News and wire services

    ATHENS - Greek police clashed with anti-austerity protesters hurling stones and gasoline bombs on the day of a general strike that brought much of the near-bankrupt country to a standstill.

    In the second major walkout in three weeks on Thursday, almost 40,000 protesters marched in Athens in a bid to show EU leaders meeting in Brussels that new wage and pension cuts will only worsen their plight after five years of recession.

    Tensions mounted when a small group of protesters began throwing pieces of marble, bottles and gas bombs at police barricading part of the square in front of parliament, prompting riot police to fire several rounds of teargas to disperse them.

    Thanassis Stavrakis / AP

    Protesters throw gas bombs at riot police officers during a 24-hour nationwide general strike in Athens on Thursday.

    A 65-year old protester died of a heart attack, hospital sources told Reuters. Greek media, however, were reporting the man was tear-gassed, the BBC’s correspondent in Athens, Mark Lowen reported.

    Another three people were injured. Police detained about 50 protesters suspected of attacking them.

    Most business and public sector activity ground to a halt at the start of the 24-hour strike called by the country's two biggest labor unions, ADEDY and GSEE.

    Thanassis Stavrakis / AP

    Protesters clash with riot police in Athens, during a 24-hour nationwide general strike on Thursday. Greece was facing its second general strike in a month Thursday as workers protested over another batch of austerity measures that are designed to prevent the bankruptcy of the country.

    PhotoBlog: Striking Greeks clash with police

    "Enough is enough. They've dug our graves, shoved us in and we are waiting for the priest to read the last words," said Konstantinos Balomenos, a 58-year-old worker at a water utility whose wage has been halved to 900 euros and who has two unemployed sons.

    It was the third time since late September that tens of thousands of Greeks have taken to the streets holding banners and chanting slogans to show their anger at austerity policies imposed by EU and IMF lenders in exchange for aid.

    Thousands of Greeks protest Angela Merkel visit

    Riot police use tear gas and stun grenades in response to fire bombs and bottles thrown by protesters during a demonstration against austerity cuts in Greece. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Some were carrying Greek, Spanish and Portuguese flags and shouted: "EU, IMF out".

    "Agreeing to catastrophic measures means driving society to despair and the consequences as well as the protests will then be indefinite," said Yannis Panagopoulos, head of the GSEE private sector union, one of two major unions that represent about 2 million people, or half of Greece's workforce.

    Greece is stuck in its worst downturn since World War Two and must make at least 11.5 billion euros of cuts to satisfy the "troika" of the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF, and secure the next tranche of a 130-billion-euro bailout.

    Lenders demand austerity
    European Union leaders will try to bridge their differences over plans for a banking union at a two-day summit which starts on Thursday. No substantial decisions are expected, reviving concerns about complacency in tackling the debt crisis which exploded three years ago in Greece. 

    Christine Lagarde, IMF managing director, says she would rather have a difficult, yet a credible program for Greece.

    The austerity policies being pursued in Europe's indebted Mediterranean countries at the behest of Germany and other rich euro zone members will drive the euro apart, protesters warned.

    "This can't go on. We sure need measures but not as tough as the ones (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel is asking for," said Dimitris Mavronassos, a 40-year-old shipyard worker who has not been paid for six months.

    The strike emptied streets and offices in Athens. Ships stayed in port, Athens public transport was disrupted and hospitals were working with emergency staff, while public offices, ministries, bakeries and other shops were shut.

    Newspaper kiosk owners, lawyers, taxi drivers and air traffic controllers were among those protesting over the cuts, which include further drastic reductions in welfare and health spending.

    Rising anger
    Opinion polls show rising anger with the terms of the bailout keeping the economy afloat, and Greeks becoming increasingly pessimistic about their country's future. 

    "The new, painful package should not be passed," the ADEDY public sector union said in a statement.

    "The new demands will only finish off what's left of our labor, pension and social rights."

    But with Greece due to run out of money next month, Athens has little choice but to push through the austerity package being discussed with lenders.

    Greece and inspectors from the troika say they have agreed on most issues. Athens is expected to secure aid needed to avoid bankruptcy given EU determination to avoid fresh market turmoil threatening bigger economies such as Spain and Italy.

    But the protests are expected to increase pressure on Greece's fragile three-party coalition cobbled together in June to implement the harsh austerity terms under its international 130-billion euro bailout agreed in March.

    Emboldened by the strikes, the main opposition Syriza party turned up the heat on the government.

    "Their time is running out," said the party's 38-year old leader Alexis Tsipras who took part in the march.

    "People are taking matters into their own hands."

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • 'Enough is enough': Striking Greeks clash with police

    Thanassis Stavrakis / AP

    Protesters throw petrol bombs at riot police officers during a 24-hour nationwide general strike in Athens on Oct. 18, 2012.

    Orestis Panagiotou / EPA

    Workers shout slogans in front of the Greek Parliament during a general strike in Athens on October 18, 2012. Greek trade unions called a 24-hour general strike to oppose new austerity measures.

    Thanassis Stavrakis / AP

    Protesters clash with riot police in Athens on Oct. 18, 2012.

    Reuters reports — Greek riot police fired teargas to disperse demonstrators protesting outside parliament on Thursday against a new wave of wage and pension cuts demanded by foreign lenders.

    Tens of thousands of Greeks took to the streets in Athens on the day of a general strike that brought much of the country to a standstill. Tensions rose when protesters began hurling petrol bombs and stones at police blocking off parts of the main square before parliament.

    "Enough is enough. They've dug our graves, shoved us in and we are waiting for the priest to read the last words," said Konstantinos Balomenos, a 58-year-old worker at a water utility whose wage has been halved to 900 euros and has two unemployed sons. Read more about the background to Thursday's strike.

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  • Tens of thousands protest in Greece as Angela Merkel says austerity will pay off

    As German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, made her first trip to Greece since 2007, she was greeted by angry demonstrators in the country's capital city. Greeks came out in droves to protest the visit, as many Greeks believe Germany to be a central player behind the austerity measures taken by the debt-stricken country. CNBC's Carolin Roth reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire services

    Tens of thousands of angry Greek protesters filled the streets of Athens on Tuesday to greet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who offered sympathy but no promise of further aid on her first visit since the euro crisis erupted three years ago.


    As police fired tear gas and stun grenades to halt angry crowds chanting anti-austerity slogans and waving swastika flags, Merkel's host, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, welcomed her as a "friend."

    Blamed by many Greeks for imposing draconian budget cuts in exchange for aid, Merkel reaffirmed Berlin's commitment to keep the debt-crippled Greek state inside Europe's single currency.

    "I have come here today in full knowledge that the period Greece is living through right now is an extremely difficult one for the Greeks and many people are suffering," Merkel said during a joint news conference with Samaras just a few hundred yards from the mayhem on Syntagma Square, outside parliament.

    "Precisely for that reason I want to say that much of the path is already behind us," she added, offering a public display of support to Samaras's three-month-old government on her first visit to Greece since 2007.

    Reuters

    Police try to disperse protesters reacting to the visit of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in Athens on Oct. 9.


    She tried to reassure her hosts that their reforms would eventually pay off, but also made clear that Greece, which has seen its unemployment rate surge to nearly 25 percent and economic output shrink by a fifth, would not solve its problems overnight.

    Angela Merkel greeted warmly by prime minister, but not by Greeks

    Samaras promised to implement economic reforms necessary to restore confidence: "The Greek people are bleeding but are determined to stay in the euro," he said.

    "All of those who made bets that Greece would fail... will lose," Samaras added, according to Spiegel.

    On the other side of the parliament building, tens of thousands of demonstrators defied a ban and gathered to voice their displeasure with the German leader, whom many blame for forcing painful cuts on Greece in exchange for two European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout packages worth more than 200 billion euros ($260 billion).

    Greek police fired teargas and stun grenades when protesters tried to break through a barrier to reach the cordoned-off area where Merkel and Samaras were meeting. Some demonstrators pelted police with rocks, bottles, paint bombs and sticks.

    Four people dressed in World War II-era German military uniforms and riding on a small jeep, waved black-white-and-red swastika flags and stuck their hands out in the Hitler salute. Some protesters carrying banners bearing slogans such as, "No to the Fourth Reich," the BBC reported.  

    Other banners read "Merkel out, Greece is not your colony" and "This is not a European Union, it's slavery."

    Reuters

    Police try to disperse protesters reacting to the visit of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in Athens on Oct. 9.

    Some 6,000 police officers were deployed, including anti-terrorist units and rooftop snipers, to provide security during the six-hour visit. German sites in the Greek capital, including the embassy and the Goethe Institute, were under special protection. This security operation was one of Athens' biggest in a decade, the BBC reported.

    Among the peaceful protesters, teacher Christina Vassilopoulou, 37, told AFP that despite having a doctorate, she only makes 900 euros (about $1,160) a month.

    "We have children that go hungry and most of the parents are unemployed," she told the AFP news agency, the BBC said.

    Constantine Spiliagopoulos, a lawyer who was also taking part in the protests said Merkel was "one of the main reasons that Greece's low income and the working classes of Greece are under attack," according to the BBC.

    "That is why we must make our presence felt, we must shout against these polices and show that we will do everything so that they do not continue," she added.

    Constantinos Siathas was more hopeful, telling The Associated Press: "I think most people, at least those who think and don't act based on feelings or utopian ideas, are pleased and are expecting a lot from Mrs. Merkel's visit."

    Yiannis Bournos, a spokesperson for the leftist Syriza party, criticized Merkel's visit, telling the BBC that Greeks were "frustrated and enraged because they clearly understand that Mrs. Merkel's visit is just a theater play for the political support of a collapsing coalition."

    Aid money "urgently needed"
    After steering clear of Greece for the past five years, Merkel decided to visit now for several reasons.

    She was keen to show support for Samaras, a fellow conservative, as he struggles to impose more cuts on a society fraying at the edges after five years of recession.

    Yannis Behrakis / Reuters

    Demonstrators, dressed as Nazis, wave a swastika flag as they ride in an open-top car in Syntagma Square in Athens to protest against the visit of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, Oct. 9, 2012.

    With a year to go until Germany holds a parliamentary election, Merkel also hoped to neutralize opposition criticism at home that she has neglected Greece and contributed to its woes by insisting on crushing budget cuts.

    After her government flirted earlier this year with the idea of allowing Greece to exit the eurozone, she now appears determined to keep it in, at least until the German election is out of the way.

    IMF: Global economic slowdown is getting worse, US must avoid 'fiscal cliff'

    Greece is in talks with its "troika" of lenders - the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund - on the next tranche of a 130 billion euro ($170 billion) loan package, its second bailout since 2010.

    Without the 31.5 billion euro tranche, Greece says it will run out of money by the end of November.

    The European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, said Tuesday that Greece's creditors would not allow the country to go bankrupt, according to the German publication Spiegel. As European Union finance ministers met on Tuesday, Rehn said the next aid package would be granted "at the latest by November."

    Merkel said the aid payment was "urgently needed" but stopped short of promising that the funds would flow.

    "The troika report will come when it is ready. Being thorough is more important than being quick," Merkel said.

    "We are working hard on this, but we must resolve all the problems," she added. "I think we'll see light at the end of the tunnel."

    "This is an effort that should be seen through, because otherwise it would make the circumstances even more dramatic later on," she added, according to Spiegel.

    Ties between Germany and Greece run deep. Thousands of Greeks came to Germany after World War II as "guest workers" to help rebuild the shattered country and more than 300,000 Greeks currently reside there.

    But the relationship is clouded by atrocities Greeks suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Samaras' own great grandmother killed herself after she watched Nazi tanks rolling down the streets of Athens and the swastika flying over the Acropolis.

    Greek President Karolos Papoulias, whom Merkel also met on Tuesday, fought against the Germans as a teenager, before fleeing to escape persecution by the Greek military dictatorship and finding refuge in Germany.

    The crisis has revived long-dormant animosities, with Greek protesters burning effigies of Merkel in Nazi gear and German media playing up images of lazy Greeks keen for German cash.

    Relations hit a post-war low early this year when Merkel's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, likened Athens to a "bottomless pit" and proposed imposing a European "Sparkommissar" on Greece to control its finances.

    "The average German voter is irritated at the thought of dispatching more taxes or savings to feckless southerners, yet is desperate for the respect and goodwill to Germany that comes from public displays of magnanimity," said David Marsh, chairman of think tank OMFIF.

    "When Merkel flies to Athens, she's showing she's in charge, and she cares."

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Snipers, commandos to welcome Germany's tough-talking Merkel in Greece

    /

    People walk past graffiti in central Athens on Monday ahead of the visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    By Anthee Carassava, CNBC.com

    Debt-swamped Greece braced for two days of strikes, protests and potential violence as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, long demonized for her tough-talking, austerity-minded approach to Europe’s deepening woes, prepared to visit the epicenter of the crisis, three years since it began here.

    To fend off potential attacks, at least 7,000 plainclothes police and hundreds more undercover agents have been mobilized from across the country to lock down the capital and erect steel fences around parliament. Snipers were already visibly stationed on the roof tops of government buildings in Athens; Commando Seals and Frogmen were also ordered on standby as helicopters began patrolling the Athenian skyline from Monday.

    “It will be one of the biggest security drills in recent years,” said a senior police official speaking on condition of anonymity because of his knowledge of the security preparations.

    Highly symbolic visit
    In 1999, amid swelling opposition to NATO-led bombing raids in Kosovo, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton shortened a visit to Athens because of heightened security concerns mounted by a rash of rolling protests.


    Deemed highly symbolic, Merkel’s seven-hour trip on Tuesday signals Berlin bid to keep Greece in the 17-nation euro and further mend strained relations with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the 61-year-old conservative leader, and one of the chancellor’s staunchest anti-austerity critics.

    “We want to help Greece stabilize itself in the euro zone,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in announcing the surprise visit, on Friday.

    CNBC: World’s biggest debtor nations

    Looming budget cuts have uncorked fresh social unrest, with the young, firebrand leader of Greece’s main opposition party, Syriza, calling on workers to flood the streets of Athens on Monday and Tuesday to show Merkel “the real Greece.” Other opposition parties are urging Greeks to gather at the German embassy and form a human shield around the building as Merkel meets with Samaras.

    GSEE and ADEDY, the umbrella labor unions for private and public sector employees, have called for a three-hour job walk out across the greater Athens area Tuesday, bringing the country’s already anemic economy to fresh standstill as a rash of demonstration are set to grip the capital.

    Swelling anti-German sentiment here has revived haunting memories of Greece’s Nazi occupation. While West Germany paid $22 billion in reparations to Greece in 1960, opposition parties have staked fresh demands for added outlays. At least 300,000 Greeks starved to death after the Nazi regime requisitioned food and other material.

    CNBC: Which country has the lowest debt in the euro zone?

    Thousands of people were slaughtered, the country's gold reserves were plundered by Hitler's forces and nearly 90 percent of the country's Jewish population was deported and exterminated.

    The timing of the trip could not be more crucial: Samaras is struggling to reach agreement with his country’s international lenders on some $14 billion in added budget cuts. Failure to seal a deal could propel European leaders meeting on Oct. 18 to hold off on some $40 billion in bailout funds to Greece. That could push this tiny Mediterranean nation to bankruptcy within weeks, imperiling the fate of the European single currency.

    CNBC: Spain finance minister’s ‘no bailout’ remark sparks laughter

    “The stakes are enormous,” George Pagoulatos, professor of European Politics and Economy at Athens University, told CNBC. “That Merkel, however, has agreed to come to Athens and afford political backing to Samaras demonstrates in most demonstrable way possible, her decision to tackle Europe’s debt troubles with Greece within the euro equation.”

    “For markets, international lenders and European leaders heading into that summit next week, this is a powerful message and any decision to arise [from that summit] will most probably be within that context,” he said.

    Debt-choked Greece looks to sell off islands, marinas and more

    Austerity
    Even so, pundits and politicians here say that support will fall well short of any design by Europe’s biggest economy and Greece’s most powerful lender to let up on Berlin’s curative approach to the continent’s deepening debt woes: austerity.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    Over the weekend, in fact, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that any disbursal of bailout funds to Greece hinged on Athens’ compliance with agreements to press ahead with added budget cuts -- a condition Samaras has already agreed to in securing a second $170 billion rescue loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund earlier this year.

    Samaras, who fought his way to the helm of government after two divisive elections in May and June, has been trying to win over more time from creditors to ease the pain of a deeper-than-expected recession -- now in its fifth year.

    Read this story on CNBC.com

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  • Greek seniors protest pension cuts

    Alkis Konstantinidis / EPA

    Pensioners shout slogans during a protest against the government's austerity measures and pension cuts in central Athens, Greece, on July 12, 2012.

    Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP - Getty Images

    Pensioners march towards the Health Ministry in Athens on July 12, 2012.

    Despite an ongoing heatwave, hundreds of pensioners marched in Athens and other Greek cities on Thursday to protest against the government's austerity measures and pension cuts, Agence France Presse reports.

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  • New Greece government agreed, says socialist party leader

    AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis

    Greece's newly sworn-in Prime Minister Antonis Samaras gestures to supporters after taking over from caretaker Prime Minister Panayiotis Pikramenos at Maximos Mansion in Athens.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    ATHENS - A conservative-led Greek government has been agreed and will form a team to "renegotiate" the international bailout deal that would save the country from bankruptcy, the leader of one of the coalition parties said Wednesday.

    Socialist PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos said his party would enter a three-way alliance with the larger conservative New Democracy and that cabinet posts would be decided by Wednesday evening.

    He said the key issue would be to form a team to renegotiate the $164.79 billion bailout deal from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

    Greece avoids 'Drachmageddon' but Europe debt crisis remains

    "Greece has a government and this is the message that the outgoing finance minister [George] Zanias will take to the Eurogroup," Venizelos told reporters.

    Reuters said Antonis Samaras would meet President Karolos Papoulias later on Wednesday to announce the coalition deal, after which he expected to be sworn in as prime minister.

    Greece appeared to have avoided crashing out of the euro currency zone early Monday after political parties in favor of an international bailout deal won a slim election majority – but the region's debt crisis showed no sign of abating. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    The opposition radical leftist bloc SYRIZA came second in the election and strongly opposes the bailout. A graph illustrating the results was published on the BBC website.

    A Greek exit from the euro joint currency zone is still viewed as a possibility, despite a narrow majority for parties who are broadly in favor of a bailout, despite the inevitable tough austerity measures.

    The Daily Telegraph reported that although public sector wages and pensions have been cut by 25-30 per cent since the country’s economic crisis took hold, thousands of redundancies have not taken place as promised, a privatization program has barely got off the ground and tax evasion remains endemic.

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  • 'It is virtually impossible to find a job': Brain drain is new Greek tragedy

    "Things are getting worse and worse in Greece. There is no future for the next few years there," says Christos Christoglou, a Greek inspection engineer who moved to Germany to find work.

    By Andy Eckardt and Carlo Angerer, NBC News

    MAINZ, Germany – Thousands of well-educated workers are fleeing Greece as the eurozone crisis batters their homeland.

    Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse and a country which has been criticized by many Greeks over its harsh demands for austerity cuts in return for bailout cash, has experienced an influx of young skilled immigrants.

    Der Spiegel magazine noted that while Greek newspapers "printed cartoons depicting the Germans as Nazis, concentration camp guards and eurozone imperialists who allow their debtors to bleed to death," the Greeks have kept arriving – bringing an "anything is better than Athens" attitude with them.

    With more than 50 percent of young Greeks out of work, it's not surprising that official statistics show the number of Greeks who moved to Germany increased 90 percent during 2011. 

    Unemployment rates have consistently been shrinking in Germany in recent years and the economy is thriving despite Europe's ongoing financial crisis. Relaxed cross-border employment regulations for member states of the European Union also make Germany an attractive choice for job seekers. And while Germany is in need of specialized workers, the Greek labor market has little to offer.

    Leftist tipped to be next Greek leader warns of 'Cold War' over cuts

    "It is virtually impossible to find a job in Greece at the moment," says Christos Christoglou, an inspection engineer who took a job at German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer at the start of the financial crisis in June 2010. "It is not that there are only very few jobs for young graduates to seek, no, there are none, zero, there is nothing."

    A year after moving to Germany, Christoglou's wife Mary and their 5-year old daughter Georgina joined him last summer. The family now lives in a four-bedroom apartment in Leverkusen. They are likely to stay for good.

    "My wife, an English teacher, and our daughter, do not speak German yet. But my Mary will soon also try to find a job," Christoglou told NBC News. "And while, yes, it is quite difficult to be without our close friends and family in Greece, I do not want to waste my six years of intensive studies to find myself without hope for the future."

    Christoglou, 38, says incentives are needed to prevent Greece's well-educated workforce from abandoning the country.

    "I know many Greek academics, but also ordinary workers, who have moved to wealthier European countries, like France, the Netherlands or Sweden," he added.

    Greek debt woes put Europe on financial knife edge

    According to Germany's national statistics office, some 24,000 people left Greece last year to live and work in Germany, almost double the number who did so in 2010. However, Der Spiegel quoted Hamburg-based immigration expert Vassilis Tsianos as pointing out that those figures did not include people who had not registered with German authorities. Tsianos told the magazine he estimates that 60,000 new Greek immigrants arrived in Germany in 2011.

    There was also a significant spike in the number of immigrants relocating to Germany from other economically depressed southern European countries last year, with official statistics showing an increase of 52 percent from Spain, 28 percent from Portugal and 23 percent from Italy.

    So much for 'the Spanish dream': Euro crisis turns suburbs into ghost towns

    Until a few weeks ago very few people had heard of him, but Alexis Tsipras could soon be the next Prime Minister of Greece. His anti-austerity stance won his party second place in the recent election, and the forecasts for next month's run-off suggest they could do even better.

    The recent arrivals include 27-year-old IT specialist Vasileia Paschali, who decided to bid farewell to Greece's political and economic turmoil and arrived in the quaint southern German city of Boeblingen nine months ago. She didn't speak a word of German.

    "The most difficult thing was learning German, it was terrifying at the beginning," Paschali told NBC News. "Life is so quiet and structured here in Boeblingen, which is quite a contrast to the hectic routine I experienced in Athens."

    She responded to a job offer from German engineering development supplier Ruecker, a company which mainly services the automobile and aviation sectors.

    Europe told to prep for Greek exit scenario

    Wiesbaden-based Ruecker is actively recruiting technical engineers from Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, offering them a two-month paid language course followed by an open-ended contract with a guaranteed base salary of about $4,500 per month.

    "There are simply not enough qualified applicants on the German market," says Thomas Aukamm, who works for Ruecker's marketing and recruiting department. "These are investments that we need to make in order to secure the workforce that we work with in the future."

    The company has received about 3,500 applications, mainly from southern European countries, and is presently evaluating about 500 of them.

    "Even if we could only fill 10 percent of the open positions, we would be very happy," Aukamm added.

    Many residents fear that a slow economy is cutting into the number of foreign visitors. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    'Leaving everything behind'
    For Paschali, whose parents, 28-year-old brother and other close family members remain in Greece, the move to Germany was not an easy choice.

    Paschali already had a job at a local company in Athens, but she was forced to accept a 20 percent pay cut due to the financial crisis.

    "Leaving everything behind with an uncertain future was difficult, of course, but I was seeking stability and believe that I can find it here in Germany," says Paschali, who is originally from the rural town of Trikala.

    Greeks withdraw $894 million in one day

    Greece's national unemployment rate presently stands at nearly 22 percent overall – German tabloid BILD has depicted Greeks as "lazy" – and widespread protests against the government's austerity measures continue. However, an estimated 70,000 engineering positions remain unfilled at the moment in Germany.

    Courtesy Anna Sioki

    University graduate Anna Sioki moved to Germany from Greece two years ago. "I was one of the lucky ones because I left at the beginning of the crisis," she says.

    "Germany's skilled labor shortage could have severe economic consequences," said Dr. Ina Kayser of the the German Association of Engineers (VDI). "We estimate that the labor market could face economic losses of up to 7 billion euros, or nearly $10 billion, as a result of, for example, production delays or necessary relocation of production abroad."

    Other German business sectors are also starting to look abroad.

    'Vicious circle': Europe crisis threatens world economy, OECD says


    Hospitals and private medical practices are also in need of highly trained personnel, especially in Germany's rural areas, where many workers have migrated to cities.

    Karl Horn, staff manager at the Rheinhessen Clinic in Alzey, says that health care executives are increasingly looking at the southern European labor market.

    "We've already sent out tweets in Spanish to advertise openings at our clinic," Horn said. 

    Why so glum? Germans struggle to find joy, poll suggests

    Despite a degree in applied foreign languages, Anna Sioki was only able to find work at a book store in Thessaloniki after finishing her studies in 2009. She decided to come to Germany two years ago.

    A new election is scheduled for June 17, as debate continues over the country's place in the euro zone. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    "I was one of the lucky ones because I left at the beginning of the crisis," the 27-year-old told NBC News.

    Her parents were not as fortunate. Sioki's father, an electrician, had to close his shop due to a lack of business and has been unemployed for nearly two years. Her parents now live on a small pension that her mother receives.

    "It is pretty bad that all the specialists are going abroad," Sioki self-critically remarked. "How is Greece supposed to make progress that way? But, I see no other solution for myself and the other young Greeks."

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  • Greek voters deal blow to parties that have governed for decades

    Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP - Getty Images

    A man casts his vote for Greece's general elections at a polling station in Athens on Sunday.

    By ELENA BECATOROS and DEREK GATOPOULOS , The Associated Press

    Updated at 6:15 p.m. ET: ATHENS, Greece -- Greeks angered by a protracted financial crisis punished the parties that have dominated politics for decades Sunday, with projected election results showing them hemorrhaging support to anti-bailout groups and no party gaining enough ballots to form a government.

     

    Responding quickly to the protest vote, the heads of the parties in first and second place pledged to seek to either renegotiate the terms of Greece's multibillion dollar international bailout agreement or overturn it.

    More than two years of repeated austerity measures in return for bailout loans from other European Union countries and the IMF have pushed Greece into a deep recession that has seen the jobless rate explode and tens of thousands of businesses close. The misery has infuriated voters who on Sunday dealt a massive blow to the decades-old dominance of the country's two main parties, the socialist PASOK and conservative New Democracy.

    The two, which have alternated in power since the end of the seven-year dictatorship in 1974, had managed to coexist in an uneasy alliance for the past six months as a governing coalition cobbled together to secure a second bailout deal and the biggest debt writedown in history.

    Official projections Sunday showed New Democracy winning 18.9 percent, giving it 108 seats in the 300-member parliament - far short of the 151 needed to form a government. The anti-bailout left-wing Syriza party was projected second with 16.8 percent and 51 seats, and the formerly majority socialist PASOK lagged behind with 13.4 and 41 seats.

    Following votes in France and Greece, the euro fell to a three-week low. The votes are a response to austerity measures pushed by Germany. CNBC's John Harwood has more.

    The extremist far-right Golden Dawn party, which ran on an anti-immigrant platform and wants landmines along Greece's borders, is projected to win 7 percent of the vote, giving it 22 deputies in Parliament - a massive gain for a party that until a few months ago was on the fringes of Greek politics.

    With no outright majority, a coalition government will have to be formed. If successive efforts by the top three parties fail, the country will head into new elections - a prospect that has alarmed Greece's international creditors.

    Both New Democracy head Antonis Samaras and PASOK leader and former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos voiced support for a coalition - but with certain caveats.

    "The fact that New Democracy is the first party increases its responsibility, as it is now the only pillar of political stability in Greece," Samaras said. "We are ready to take up the responsibilty to form a new government of national salvation with two exclusive aims: For Greece to remain in the euro and to amend the terms of the loan agreements so that there is economic growth and relief for Greek society."

    Before the elections, Samaras had insisted he would not form a coalition with his socialist rivals.

    Syriza head Alexis Tsipras said the drubbing of New Democracy and PASOK, which had signed Greece's loan agreements, meant "their signatures have lost legal legitimacy by the popular vote."

    "The people have rewarded a proposal made by us to form a government of the Left that will cancel the loan agreements and overturn the course of our people toward misery," Tsipras said.

    Both statements are likely to alarm Greece's international creditors, who will be watching the debt-ridden country closely to see if it is meeting the strict fiscal targets of spending cuts and boosting revenue in return for rescue loans that are keeping it from default. The country is expected to take yet more austerity measures in June.

    Partial official results with 48 percent of the vote counted showed New Democracy with 20.05 percent, Syriza with 16.02 percent and PASOK with 13.84 percent.

    Golden Dawn, which rejects the neo-Nazi label and calls itself a nationalist partriotic party, had 6.86 percent - a meteoric rise for a party that won just 0.23 in the previous elections in 2009.

    "Greek citizens should not fear us, the only ones who should fear us are the traitors," Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos told The Associated Press. The outcome is particularly devastating to PASOK, which won a landslide victory in the last parliamentary elections in 2009 with more than 43 percent of the vote.

    "For us at PASOK, the day is particularly painful," Venizelos said. "We new that we would pay the price, having taken a emotionally and politically unbearable position to take the measures that were necessary."

    He ruled out a two-party government with New Democracy and called for a broad coalition of pro-European parties, regardless of their stance on the bailouts.

    "A coalition government of the old two-party system would not have sufficient legitimacy or sufficient domestic and international credibility if it would gather a slim majority," Venizelos said. "A government of national unity with the participation of all the parties that favor a European course, regardless of their positions toward the loan agreements, would have meaning."

    Days of talks are expected as parties attempt to hammer out a governing coalition.

     

    Yannis Androutsopoulos / AP

    Former Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou, second left, is welcomed by supporters prior to casting his ballot in Kalentzi, western Greece, on Sunday.

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