Dirty weekend

The government yesterday unveiled plans to raise about 1.6 billion euros from the sale of state-owned assets in 2006. Money from the sales is intended to help Greece reduce its massive public debt, now the largest in the European Union.

A work stoppage by unionists brought much of Athens to a standstill yesterday as the ruling conservatives sought to adopt a more worker-friendly approach in labour relations.

A medical centre operating in Athens’s Olympic Village has received 3,500 visits from local residents in about six months despite the accommodation area being only marginally used.

Authorities uncovered 7.2 million illegal firecrackers in a warehouse in Yiannitsa, northern Greece.

Concerns over avian flu are culminating throughout Europe, as the H5N1 virus was detected in a dead cat in Germany.

And it looks like a dirty weekend ahead of Clean Monday: a blanket of sand from the Sahara Desert is likely to cover Greece today and again on Monday.

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