Greece

It is not often that a Greek man discusses politics and a listener must strain to hear; high decibels and hand gestures are standard Greek rhetorical tools. And yet, during a chat with Georgios Kordis the other day, a hearing aid would have been helpful. Even a buzz saw did not alter Kordis' Zen-like whisper inside a new Greek Orthodox church in Montgomery County, as he discussed this week's German-led 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) bailout to keep Greece from defaulting on its loans.

Center City took on aspects of Athens yesterday for a celebration of Greek Independence Day with a parade that included guards of the Royal Army (far left), and a float from Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church with Debbie Kiziriglou, 17, and Alex Varkados, 22, portraying the Virgin Mary and the angel Gabriel. A wreath-laying at the Liberty Bell by state Supreme Court Justice Nicholas P. Papadakos also marked the 169th anniversary of the struggle that ended Greece's domination by the Turks.

Concerns grew that Greece's departure from the euro was near. Yet there were also hints that a new phase of talks with European lenders could begin. A3.

ATHENS, Greece - Greece was in turmoil and the world economy in limbo Thursday as political brinkmanship in Athens led Prime Minister George Papandreou to abandon his explosive plan to put a European rescue deal to a referendum. The developments overshadowed the G20 summit of world leaders in the French resort of Cannes, where President Obama implored European leaders to work out a eurozone plan quickly to deal with the continent's crisis, which threatens to push the world back into recession.

ATHENS, Greece - Greece has faced down street violence and strikes for the sake of financial aid it was promised and needs to avoid bankruptcy. Now its fellow European countries will be expected to come up with a second rescue package to convince investors that the 17-nation euro will survive the debt crisis. A new austerity package that lawmakers cleared in Athens is required to get more rescue loans but will force deep changes on all parts of society. Minimum wages will be taxed more and key assets like water, gas and oil companies will be sold, possibly to foreigners.

ATHENS, Greece - Greeks took to the streets by the tens of thousands on Saturday to commemorate the 39th anniversary of a deadly student uprising against the country's former dictatorship. While the marches went on peacefully, clashes between anarchists and police erupted briefly in the capital, Athens and Greece's second-largest city of Thessaloniki, in both cases far from where the marches took place. Police announced they detained 70 people in Athens and 19 in Thessaloniki. With more than 6,000 police deployed in the city center, protesters marched from the National Technical University of Athens, where the 1973 uprising kicked off, to the U.S. Embassy.

ATHENS, Greece - Hopes rose slightly Thursday that Greece could end its post-electoral deadlock without having to hold new elections, as international partners warned that Athens must stick to its hugely unpopular austerity program or abandon the euro. Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos, who received the presidential mandate to try and form a government after two other party chiefs failed, said a meeting Thursday with a left-wing potential kingmaker had proved encouraging. If this third mandate fails, President Karolos Papoulias will convene party leaders in a last-ditch effort to get a deal - otherwise new elections will be held in a month.

After the snub of 1996, the Olympics are returning to their Greek birthplace in 2004. Athens was awarded the first Summer Games of the new millennium yesterday, bringing the Olympics to the Greek capital for the first time since the modern games began in 1896. "We're giving back to the Greeks what they gave to us," International Olympic Committee member Jacques Rogge said. "The extra value of the Greek tradition made the difference. " The decision set off celebrations in the streets of Athens, where young people linked arms in traditional Greek dances near the Acropolis and motorists honked in joy. Some of the jubilant Athenians said the decision was a sweet payback for Greece's devastating loss to Atlanta for the 1996 Centennial Games.

There is a wall map of Greece beside Paul Kotrotsios' desk. A colored pushpin marks the city of Yiannena, which once was his home, just as other pushpins mark the former homes of other employees of the Greek Radio Network of America, based in Media. The red pin stuck into the southern city of Kalamata is there for a different reason: It marks disaster. Ever since Sept. 13, when an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale severely damaged the seaside city, the cable radio station has directed its efforts toward relieving the town's distress.

Her husband was asked about "closure" - that amorphous, almost unemotional term psychologists use to describe the process of healing a terrible wound. "There's not going to be closure on this," said Timothy Nist, the heartbroken ex-husband of dismembered model Julie Marie Scully. "Not for any of us - not for the rest of our lives. " Instead, Nist and the Scully family and the once-happy couple's 3-year-old daughter will have to settle for the best a murder victim's kin can hope - a measure of justice.

TORONTO - A Palestinian convicted of hijacking an airliner in Greece in 1968 has been deported from Canada 26 years after entering the country using an alias, the immigration minister said Monday. Jason Kenney said the case "made a mockery of Canada's generosity and our fair immigration system for 21/2 decades. " The minister said Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad made a false refugee claim in 1987. The government learned a year later that he was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and had participated in a terrorist attack on an El Al airplane in which an Israeli citizen was killed.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - European finance ministers met Monday to discuss the economic plans of Italy's new government and take a closer look at Slovenia's precarious financial situation - and whether it could become the bloc's sixth nation to require a bailout. The ministers from the 17 countries using the euro currency were also discussing the outlook for Portugal, Greece, and Cyprus, which have already received emergency loan programs and must meet tough conditions. The group's finance ministers approved the next batch of 7.5 billion euros ($10 billion)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Police say a 24-year-old man stabbed four people yesterday at a Catholic church in Albuquerque as a Sunday Mass was nearing its end. Police spokesman Robert Gibbs said Lawrence Capener jumped over several pews at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church about noon yesterday and walked up to the choir area, where he began his attack. The injuries to the four victims weren't life-threatening. An off-duty police officer and others at the church subdued Capener and held him down until police arrived.

ATHENS, Greece - Greek officials on Thursday promised "swift and exemplary" punishment for three strawberry plantation foremen who allegedly shot and injured 29 Bangladeshi laborers protesting late pay. Police are seeking the three suspects who disappeared after Wednesday's shootings, which occurred during a confrontation with about 200 Bangladeshi farm workers in the country's rural south who say they have not been paid for half a year. Seven Bangladeshi workers were still receiving hospital treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.

ATHENS, Greece - A long-standing debate over whether Germany still owes Greece war reparations stemming from the Nazi occupation erupted anew Thursday in a spat between Greece's foreign minister and Germany's finance minister. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted by German media as suggesting that Greece should focus on reforming its economy and that the issue of war reparations was closed years ago. In a riposte, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos said the reparations issue was one for international law to determine, stressing it was completely unrelated to Greece's financial bailout.

ATHENS, Greece - Greece's cash-strapped government detailed Monday its plans to sell 28 state-owned buildings on long-term lease, including tax offices, ministry buildings, and the main police headquarters in Athens. A government privatization fund said it hoped to make 30 million euros - $39 million - annually from the lease agreements lasting 20 to 25 years. Included on the list of buildings for sale are the main properties used by the ministries of justice, education and culture, 12 tax offices, and the greater Athens police headquarters.

ATHENS, Greece - A bomb exploded at a shopping mall in Athens on Sunday, slightly wounding two security guards and forcing the evacuation of about 200 people. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, the latest in a string of violent attacks. Two warning calls were made to local media about 50 minutes before the blast, leading authorities to evacuate people from the four-story mall in the Maroussi suburb, a police official told the Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

ATHENS, Greece - The Standard & Poor's ratings agency on Tuesday upgraded Greece's credit grade by six notches, yanking the debt-heavy country out of default but keeping its devalued bonds in junk status. The agency said the upgrade to B-minus - the highest grade it has given Greece since June 2011 - reflected its view that the 16 other European Union countries using the euro are determined to keep Greece inside the currency union. It also gave Greece a stable outlook, meaning it is less likely to change its rating again soon.

ATHENS, Greece - European and global financial leaders have agreed to release 44 billion euros ($57 billion) in critical loans to Greece and provide billions in additional debt relief in order to help the country stabilize its ailing economy. After three weeks of negotiations, Greece's euro partners and the International Monetary Fund agreed early Tuesday morning to release the loans in four installments beginning next month. The leaders also settled on a raft of measures - including a debt buyback program and an interest-rate cut on loans - that will reduce the country's debts by about 40 billion euros.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco lawmakers have narrowly approved a proposal to ban public nakedness. The 11-member Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 Tuesday on an ordinance that prohibits anyone from ambling about with exposed genitals in most public places, including streets, sidewalks and public transit. A first offense carries a maximum penalty of a $100 fine, but prosecutors have the authority to charge a third violation as a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine and a year in jail.