Obama congratulates Papandreou on Greek polls

October 5th, 2009 ATHENS - Greece's Socialists under the leadership of George Papandreou won elections Sunday after voters expressed their discontent over the conservative government's handling of the economic crisis and corruption. With nearly 30 percent of ballots counted, the Socialist PASOK party was leading with 44 percent of the vote and an absolute majority in parliament.

October 4th, 2009 Exit poll: Socialists to win Greek electionATHENS, Greece — The main opposition Socialists will easily win Greece's parliamentary election on Sunday, as voters angered by a faltering economy and a string of corruption scandals turned against Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' governing conservatives, exit polls indicated. Initial nationwide results, with just over 8 percent of the vote counted, gave the Socialists 43.3 percent and the conservatives 36.2 percent, while turnout was at 67 percent.

October 4th, 2009 Socialists claim victory in Greek electionATHENS, Greece — Greek voters angered by repeated scandals and a faltering economy ousted Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis in an early election Sunday, returning the Socialists to power after five years of conservative governance, initial results indicated. Final projections issued by the company carrying out the vote counting indicated that former foreign minister George Papandreou's Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, would win with a landslide, gaining 43.8 percent of the vote with Karamanlis' New Democracy trailing with 33.9 percent.

October 4th, 2009 Conservatives concede defeat in Greek electionATHENS, Greece — Greece's governing conservatives have conceded defeat to the main opposition Socialists in Sunday's parliamentary election. A party statement says Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis phoned Socialist leader George Papandreou to congratulate him on the party victory.

October 4th, 2009 Socialists trounce conservatives in Greek electionATHENS, Greece — Greece's Socialist leader George Papandreou trounced the governing conservatives in a landslide election victory after a campaign focused on dramatically different visions of how to dig the country out of its worst economic crisis in years. Papandreou, a 57-year-old former foreign minister whose father and grandfather were both prime ministers, had insisted that Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' plans for austerity to face the international financial crisis were wrong.

October 4th, 2009 Greece's new leader is a low-key veteran polATHENS, Greece — Two years ago, when George Papandreou led Greece's Socialist party to its worst election result in three decades, he was widely derided as an ineffective politician. The son and grandson of Greek prime ministers, Papandreou was seen by critics as a pale shadow of his dynamic and charismatic father, Andreas Papandreou, who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement party, or PASOK, and led it with an iron fist to three election victories from 1981-1993.

October 4th, 2009 Greek voters set to reject ruling conservativesATHENS, Greece — Greek voters were expected to reject the ruling conservative party Sunday, angered by a faltering economy and a string of corruption scandals. The opposition Socialists led Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' New Democracy party by 6 to 7 percentage points in the last opinion polls two weeks ago, enough for a small parliamentary majority that would let them form a government on their own.

October 3rd, 2009 Socialists favored to win Greece's electionATHENS, Greece — Greeks cast ballots Sunday in a snap general election likely to produce a change in government, as voters angered by scandals and a foundering economy were expected to reject the conservatives in favor of the opposition Socialists. Polling stations opened at 7 a.m.

October 1st, 2009 Greek PM faces tough fight for 3rd mandateATHENS, Greece — Greece's beleaguered prime minister faces a tough fight to win a third mandate in early elections Sunday, with voters widely expected to reject his conservative party in favor of the opposition socialists. Whoever wins, Greece will have the heir to a long-running political dynasty at its helm once more.

September 30th, 2009 Papandreou vows crackdown on Greek corruptionATHENS, Greece — Socialist opposition leader George Papandreou, who is widely expected to win Greece's national election next weekend, says fighting endemic corruption and creating a stimulus package are essential if Greece is to emerge from a deep financial crisis. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis called an early election for Oct.

September 5th, 2009 THESSALONIKI - Thousands of people marched in the northern port city of Thessaloniki Saturday to protest the ruling conservative government's austere economic reforms ahead of elections next month. More than 10,000 people marched through downtown Thessaloniki towards the International Trade Fair where Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis was giving a speech on the state of the economy.

September 2nd, 2009 Greek conservatives call early election Oct. 4ATHENS, Greece — Greece's Conservative prime minister on Wednesday called an early general election for Oct.

July 1st, 2009 Former Greek Siemens exec ordered held in GermanyMUNICH — A German court said Wednesday it has ordered that a former head of Siemens AG's Greek branch be kept in custody pending a decision on his possible extradition to face money laundering and bribery charges. Michael Christoforakos, who holds both Greek and German citizenship, was arrested in Bavaria last week on a Greek-issued European warrant.

June 8th, 2009 Obama congratulates Lebanese on voteWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is congratulating the Lebanese people for a peaceful national election held with "courage" and a "commitment to democracy." The Sunday vote produced a clear defeat for Hezbollah, the Iranian-back Islamic militant group that the United States classifies as a terrorist organization. "Once more, the people of Lebanon have demonstrated to the world their courage and the strength of their commitment to democracy," the Obama statement said, without reference to Hezbollah.

May 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - US President Barack Obama Saturday telephoned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to congratulate him on his victory in the general elections and hoped for a continuity in the India-US strategic partnership, an official said. Manmohan Singh reiterated his invitation to Michelle and Barack Obama to visit India, a key aide to the prime minister said.