The Greek government has ordered banks to open today, three weeks after they were shut down to prevent the system collapsing under a flood of withdrawals, as prime minister Alexis Tsipras looks to the start of new bailout talks next week.

Greece cannot make debt repayments to the IMF next month unless it achieves a deal with creditors, its interior minister said yesterday, the most explicit remarks yet from Athens about the likelihood of default if talks fail.

THE claim by Greece that the country will run out of money by the end of next week unless more credit is advanced must be a chilling prospect for the millions of Greeks dependent on their government for the very basics of life.

A Greek lawyer claimed seven Pakistani immigrants were abducted and questioned by British security agents in Greece following the July 7 bomb attacks in London.