2010

Events

January 6: Unknown arsonists set fire to the Jewish synagogue of Chania, Crete.
January 11: Cypriot Media executive, Antis Hadjikostis, is murdered outside his house at Engomi.
January 16: Marcos Baghdatis defeats Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) to claim the Sydney International ATP.
January 18: Greek-owned super-tanker, Maran Centaurus, is released by Somali pirates after a ransom was paid. Its crew of nine Greeks and 19 foreigners were unharmed.
January 19: The British Court of Appeal judges in favour of Cypriot refugee Meletis Apostolides in the case of Apostolides v Orams. Apostolides had sued Mr and Mrs Orams for illegal use of his property in Lapithos in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.
January 19: Olympiakos FC sack coach Zico.
January 20: Values on the Athens Stock Market drop 3.39% to 2,030. The drop is blamed on the uncertain state of the Greek economy.
January 30: Aphrodite Skafida breaks the Greek women's indoor record in the pole vault with 4.41m.

February 3: Karolos Papoulias is re-elected President of Greece.
February 5: The Athens Stock Exchange closes at 1878.91 after losses of 3.73%.
February 8: EDEK decide to pull out of the governing coalition of Cyprus.
February 10: Greece is hit by a general strike of public workers in protest of PM Papandreou's announced austerity measures.
February 15: A state of emergency is declared for Evros prefecture due to severe flooding.
February 16: PM Giorgos Papandreou visits Moscow and has talks with President Dmitri Medvedev and PM Vladimir Putin.
February 17: Michalis Stamatoyiannis breaks the Greek shot put indoor record with 20.36 in Athens. The old record had stood for 24 years.
February 20: Olympiakos win the Greek Basketball Cup defeating Panathinaikos 68-64. This snapped an 8-year Cup-winning streak by the Greens.
February 22: The two largest Greek airlines - Οlympic Air and Aegean Airlines - decide to effect a merger in October.
February 24: A general strike by the major unions of Greece paralyse the country as private and public sector workers protest the Papandreou government's austerity measures.
February 24: Greek-Australian Lydia Lassila (née Ierodiaconou) wins gold for Australia in freestyle skiing at the Vancouver winter Olympics.
February 25: Panathinaikos advance in the Europa Cup after a 3-2 triumph over AS Roma in Stadio Olimpico. The first game in Athens had also ended in a 3-2 victory.

March 3: PM Giorgos Papandreou announces a series of new austerity measures designed to combat the country's huge economic deficit. These include increases in VAT, a 15% increase in petrol tax, freezes in pensions and a 30% cut in Easter and Christmas bonuses for civil servants.
March 8: PM Giorgos Papandreou arrives in Washington for a programmed 3-day official visit to the USA.
March 8: The remains of Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos, which were stolen on December 11, 2009, are found by the police after an anonymous tip.
March 11: A general strike, called by the unions ADEDY and GSEE, cripples Greece as private and public sector workers again protest against the Papandreou government's austerity measures.
March 11: The remains of Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos are re-interred in Deftera Cemetery.
March 12: Karolos Papoulias is sworn in for his second term as President of Greece.
March 19: Unknown culprits blow up the offices of "Golden Dawn" - a far-right organisation - in the city centre of Athens.
March 22: Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus crosses into the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus to visit the monasteries of Saint Barnabas and Saint Andrew.
March 28: A bomb goes off in Athens killing a 15-year old boy.

April 8: Athanassios Lerounis, a Greek national kidnapped by the Taliban eight months ago in Pakistan is released. He was abducted while based in the northern district of Chitral, where he worked as the curator of a heritage museum for several years.

May 1: Violent protests against proposed austerity measures, take place throughout Greece.