The International Monetary Fund began inspecting Greece's public finances today to make sure the government is implementing promised austerity measures before it gains access to a second rescue loan instalment in mid-September.

An easyJet Boeing 737 carrying 123 passengers on a flight to Luton from Greece malfunctioned shortly after take-off and was forced to make an emergency landing, the airline said.

DISGRUNTLED fans of Liverpool who paid top rates to get to the Champions League final in Athens will be able to get a refund from their travel agent if they missed the game, industry bosses said last night.

About 35 Liverpool football fans were left stranded at Stansted Airport today following confusion over flight times, a tour operator said.

A transatlantic jet has made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport today following a hoax bomb threat.

A London-bound Olympic Airlines passenger jet turned back shortly after take-off from Athens Airport today due to a malfunctioning smoke alarm, the Greek airline said.

An Olympic Airlines flight to Cyprus returned to Athens International Airport today following a false claim that anthrax had been hidden on the plane.

Elena Becatoros, Athens

GRIEVING relatives, many black-clad and weeping, arrived at a central Athens morgue yesterday to identify the remains of some of the 121 people - including 10 families - killed in Greece’s worst plane crash.

Grieving relatives, many black-clad and weeping, arrived at a central Athens morgue today by bus, taxi or on foot to try to identify the remains of some of the 121 people – including 10 families – killed in Greece’s worst plane crash.

Greece’s worst plane crash, in which 121 people died yesterday, appeared to have been caused by a sudden drop in oxygen.

TWO armed men who hijacked a bus in Greece and threatened to blow it up surrendered last night and released the six remaining hostages.

Passengers were still being held on a Greek commuter bus tonight by two armed Albanians whose bungled hijack stalled where it began when the driver escaped with the ignition keys.

A Greek bus with 26 people aboard was hijacked today by two men, reportedly Russians, who demanded to be taken to Athens airport, police and government officials said.

A Greek airliner bound for New York was diverted to Shannon Airport today, in the second bomb scare to affect the carrier Olympic Airlines in three days.

A 57-year-old former Irish priest remains in police custody in Greece today after disrupting the men’s marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens yesterday.

Gold medal winner Cian O’Connor leads the homecoming today for a 39-strong Irish Olympic team.

JAMIE COSTIN was joined by family members at the KAT hospital in Athens yesterday as he awaited an air ambulance flight to Dublin for treatment on his injured back.

Irish walker Robert Heffernan nearly became the latest Irish athlete to fall foul of disaster at the 28th Olympiad in Athens when the car in which he was supposed to be travelling crashed yesterday.

A former Russian media mogul who clashed with the Kremlin and fled under fraud accusations three years ago was in Greek custody after being arrested during an airport check, authorities announced tonight.

A state of emergency has been declared in Greece after the heaviest snowfall in decades blanketed its ancient capital.

The pope arrived in Greece today for a personal pilgrimage with much wider implications: trying to heal nearly 1,000 years of discord between the Vatican and Orthodox churches.