Farewell to the floppy disc

Athens:  Greece has thrown out nearly a dozen items such as floppy discs, photo film and matches from a list of "nearly extinct" goods used until now to calculate inflation, the state statistics agency said.

"Ten old items that no longer represent average household purchases or are nearly (or fully) extinct from the market have been erased," the Esye agency said in a statement this week.

The eliminated items include common lightbulbs, ladies' pullovers and retsina, the traditional resinated wine.

They were replaced by 26 goods more reflective of modern Greek society such as espresso coffee, MP4 and Blu-ray players, GPS devices, baby wipes, low-fat cheese, diet biscuits and mouthwash.