Athens - Truck drivers clashed with farmers along the Greek-Bulgarian border Thursday as farmers continued roadblocks across Greece for the fourth straight day to protest falling commodity prices and to demand increased farm subsidies and pensions.

Tens of hundreds of tractors continued to block the Athens-Thessaloniki national highway at the Pembi intersection in central Greece as well as the Mikrothebes intersection in Larissa and Kastro, causing traffic chaos for thousands of motorists.

Athens - More than 9,000 tractors blocked major highways across Greece and the main airport on the island of Crete on Wednesday as protests by farmers against plummeting prices for their crops continued across the country.

Tens of hundreds of tractors blocked the Promachonas border crossing in Serres, northern Greece while hundreds more gathered at the Exochia customs point in Drama causing several kilometres of traffic jams from the large number of trucks that had been prevented from leaving the country.

Athens  - Greek shipping magnate Pericles Panagopoulos was freed unharmed by his abductors after a weeklong kidnapping in which a ransom was apparently paid, according to media reports early Tuesday in Greece.

The amount of the ransom was not known.

Panagopoulos, 74, founder of Greek ferry operator Superfast Ferries, was abducted on January 12 by three men carrying Kalashikov assault rifles as he was being driven to work. The chauffeur was quickly released and reported the kidnapping to police.

Athens - Greece's left-wing militant group Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the spate of recent attacks in Athens, including the shooting of a policeman, police said.

The left-wing group sent a statement to the weekly Pontiki newspaper saying it was behind the January 5 shooting, which left a 21-year-old police officer in serious condition in hospital, as well as an attack on a riot police bus.

The group also said it was responsible for the foiled bombing of petrol company Shell's headquarters in Athens.

The attack against police followed Greece's worst rioting in decades in December, which was triggered by the police killing of a teenager.

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Athens  - Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyianni on MOnday condemned air violations by Turkey and said relations between the two traditional foes had stagnated last year.

"The attempts to improve our relations with Ankara stagnated in 2008 and we will strive to improve this in the new year," Bakoyianni said following a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

Athens claims that Turkish fighter jets have repeatedly been violating Greece's air space in recent weeks.