Treasure islands? Greek PM ponders plan to lease untouched terrain

For those on the lookout for the perfect holiday home, Greece's sovereign-debt crisis might provide the answer: a chunk of Aegean rock to call your own.

With mountainous debts and an economy struggling a prolonged recession, tightening the collective belt can only do so much. Now, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has mooted the unthinkable: leasing some of the country's thousands of uninhabited islands to raise cash. "On condition that it doesn't pose a national security problem, some of the isles could be used commercially," Mr Samaras told Paris daily Le Monde this week.

"It would not be a case of getting rid of the isles, but of transforming unused terrain into capital that can generate revenue, for a fair price," he added.