A visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Greece, his second in less than a year, is expected to focus on a deepening of bilateral military cooperation and Greece’s plans for defense procurements, while also evaluating tensions with Turkey and developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Pompeo is to visit the US naval base at Souda Bay on Crete on Tuesday following talks in Thessaloniki on Monday with Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. Apart from the Souda visit, which has prompted annoyance in Turkey, the US envoy will also be hosted by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at his home on the island.
The visit is seen as underlining the significance of Greek-American cooperation in defense and security and of Greece’s place as a hub of stability in the region.
An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale was recorded at 7.12 this morning in the sea area near Mount Athos, in northern Greece. According to experts, it is an aftershock of the seismic activity noted in the area since Sunday morning.
The death toll from COVID-19 cases worldwide has exceeded 1 million.
Greek health authorities announced 218 new cases of the coronavirus.
Of the new cases, 39 concern international arrivals.
The total number of confirmed cases since the coronavirus campaign began is now 17,448, with 381 deaths. There are also 68 patients on ventilators and 200 have left intensive care units.
Employees working in the food and tourism industry will hold a rally outside the Ministry of Labor at 11 this morning.
The electronic prescriptions for the new flu virus will open to the public today. Vaccination will take place, as every year, in mid-October.
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has called his Armenian counterpart, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, and expressed Greece’s readiness to assist in de-escalating the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.
Fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces has erupted again over the disputed separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh and a top territorial official says 16 people have been killed and more than 100 others wounded.
During the phone call, Dendias condemned the loss of lives and reaffirmed the strong bonds of friendship between the two countries.
Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax both in 2016, the year he ran for the US presidency, and in his first year in the White House, The New York Times says.
The newspaper – which says it obtained tax records for Mr Trump and his companies over two decades – also says that he paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years.
The records reveal “chronic losses and years of tax avoidance”, it says.
Mr Trump called the report “fake news”.
And the weather forecast…
Partly cloudy in Attica today, with showers expected in the western and northern suburbs. The temperature today will reach a maximum of 27 degrees Celsius.
