Otto Rehhagel, the German football coach who led Greece to victory in the 2004 European Championships was unmasked as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s latest weapon in a campaign to restore Berlin’s tattered image in Greece and Cyprus.

Famous film trade mag Variety is adapting for the web by killing off its daily print edition in favour of a once-a-week edition and removing its online paywall. In its honour here are some of its best inside-Hollywood lexicographical inventions (dubbed slanguage):

Panagiotis Vlastos attempted to break out of prison using a chartered helicopter full of heavily armed men

The next tranche of bailout cash cannot be released next week, even though the Greek parliament narrowly backed more unpopular austerity measures yesterday.

Crowds burn swastikas and throw rocks at officers in Athens as they blame Germany for austerity crisis

The meeting of eurozone finance ministers that was meant to approve the bailout that Greece needs to avoid defaulting on its debts was called off last night.

Theo Angelopoulos, acclaimed as one of the greatest film-makers in his lifetime, was fatally injured on a desolate urban landscape under an overcast, drizzly sky, hit by a motorcyclist while trying to cross a highway.

Greece's government says that negotiations with private creditors aimed at lightening Greece's debt load have been suspended unexpectedly and that the creditors' representative has left Greece.

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Flares and fire fill the streets in the Greek capital as police and protesters clash.

As explosions boom, the town's loudspeakers blare: "Attention! Attention! We are under attack!" Air raid sirens wail through the streets, mingling with the frantic clanging of church bells. Clouds of tear gas waft between houses as helmeted riot police move in to push back the rebels.

The thought of running a marathon is daunting enough for most of us. But a marathon every day for a whole year? Beyond comprehension.

Police in Greece said a powerful bomb has exploded outside a closed night club in Athens, causing no injuries, in an attack linked with criminal extortion groups.