Heavy snowfall and plummeting temperatures shut schools and shops in the Greek capital on Monday, with many public services and businesses switching to remote working.
Traffic was halted on some central roads and on a national road connecting Athens to central Greece, as storm Barbara swept across the country, blanketing the capital.
Some metro stations close to the city's international airport were also shut and train routes to the northern city of Thessaloniki were suspended.
Authorities urged the public to avoid non-essential travel.
Fire brigade rescue crews had evacuated four people whose car was stuck in the snow in the Athens suburb of Aspropyrgos, according to state TV ERT.
The cold snap was expected to last until Tuesday, gradually affecting eastern and southern regions, including the island of Crete.
Heavy snow is rare in the Greek capital but the country has now been hit by extreme weather for a third consecutive winter. Until Monday's snow, winter in Greece has been unusually mild so far this year.
Indonesian rescuers were searching on Sunday for 140 people from a passenger ship that was earlier reported missing in the Java Sea after 103 others were evacuated, one of whom died, a search and rescue agency official said.
Saudi Arabia shut its East-West oil pipeline on Friday after it was hit in a drone attack, disrupting a key route used to bypass shipping problems in the Strait of Hormuz.
BRICS members agreed on a joint declaration on Saturday, expected to condemn unilateral aggression by any country without naming individual states, according to sources cited by Reuters.
Philippine rescuers recovered 41 more charred remains from a ferry fire, authorities said on Saturday, raising the death toll to 76 and leaving 13 people unaccounted for, as forensic teams faced the daunting task of identifying the victims.
Russian air strikes in several Ukrainian regions on Saturday killed six people, injured dozens and damaged residential buildings and infrastructure across the country, officials said.