Category Archives: Greece

‘The blue flags are proof’: how Greece cleaned up its act on sewage

Posted on by

Greeks take their seas seriously, with the construction of one of the world’s biggest sewage treatment plants a real game-changer

The shimmering waters along the Athenian riviera offer a welcome respite in the summer heat. In one of Europe’s most congested cities the sight of ever more beaches attaining blue flag status – a mascot of water quality – has heightened the sense of relief that the coastal location affords. For those who flock to its coves, rocks and sandy stretches, the shoreline that extends from the Greek capital’s southern suburbs has become the perfect antidote to the rising temperatures that have accompanied climate breakdown.

It was not always so.

Tell us what you think about the Guardian’s climate reporting – it takes just two minutes

Continue reading...

Runner killed after lightning strikes athletes during Greek mountain race

Posted on by
  • One other man seriously injured after strike on Mt Falakro
  • Fire crews attended scene of accident in early hours of Sunday

One runner was killed and another seriously injured on Sunday when they were struck by lightning during a nighttime trail race up a Greek mountain, local police said.

The two men were competing in the Six Peaks race, which takes place on Mount Falakro in northern Greece, when lightning struck the group of runners. The incident happened at 4am at an altitude of 1,340 metres (4,400 feet).

Continue reading...

Greece finally aids refugees stranded on scorpion and snake-infested islet

Posted on by

Five-year-old child reportedly died of scorpion sting after nearly 40 Syrians spent a month marooned between Greece and Turkey

A group of adults and children who spent a month stuck on a scorpion- and snake-infested spit of land between Greece and Turkey – and denied help by both nations – were finally taken to temporary accommodation by Greek police this week.

Among the group of nearly 40 Syrian refugees forced to seek refuge on the islet in the Evros river was a five-year-old girl, Maria, reported to have died from a scorpion sting. Her nine-year-old sister remains gravely ill.

Continue reading...

Dozens feared dead as migrant boat sinks off the coast of Greece

Posted on by

Officials say navy and air force efforts to rescue up to 50 people has shown no signs of progress

Dozens of people are feared to have died off the coast of Greece after their boat sank while attempting to make the perilous crossing from Turkey.

Efforts by Greece’s navy and air force to rescue up to 50 people who went down with the vessel in stormy waters off Rhodes had shown no signs of progress by late Wednesday, coast guard officials said.

Continue reading...

Greek PM denies knowing about tapping of opponent’s phone

Posted on by

Kyriakos Mitsotakis said eavesdropping on the Pasok party chief, Nikos Androulakis, was wrong

The Greek prime minister has attempted to douse a wiretapping scandal engulfing his government, claiming he had no idea the country’s socialist party leader was being monitored by intelligence services reporting directly to him.

In an address to the nation on Monday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the phone tapping of the Pasok party chief, Nikos Androulakis, as a mistake that should never have occurred.

Continue reading...

Greek PM under pressure over tapping of opponent’s phone

Posted on by

Government accused of ‘darkest practices’ in eavesdropping scandal that evokes worst days of country’s military rule

An eavesdropping scandal that sees Greece’s intelligence chief and the head of his personal office resign within minutes; calls for further resignations amid revelations of “dark practices”, and a spy crisis likened to Watergate.

The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is facing his toughest hour in office following the discovery that the mobile phone of his political opponent, the leader of the country’s third largest party, was tapped by order of EYP, the intelligence service that reports directly to his office.

Continue reading...

Is British Museum’s stance shifting on Parthenon marbles return?

Posted on by

Changing public attitudes have made issues of repatriation and decolonisation harder to ignore

“Stolen goods”; “Looted by the Brits”; “Did you steal this like the Parthenon marbles?”

A glance at the social media channels of the British Museum underlines why, when it comes to the long-disputed Acropolis sculptures, it is so eager to “change the temperature of the debate”.

Continue reading...

Greece rolls out red carpet for crown prince, as Khashoggi killing falls off agenda

Posted on by

With Europe grappling with an energy crisis, Mohammed bin Salman finds he is once again welcome

Smiles, handshakes, backslaps and the Acropolis all to himself. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has landed in Europe – his first trip west since the brutal killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi – and on a continent jittering with energy worries, the Saudi royal has received red-carpet treatment.

Human rights concerns aside, the de facto leader of the world’s greatest oil producer has luxuriated in a welcome that only recently may have seemed impossible.

Continue reading...

British tourist, 21, killed by helicopter blade in Greece

Posted on by

Three arrested after Jack Fenton hit by rear rotor while reportedly trying to take a selfie at heliport in Athens

Three people have been arrested after the death of a 21-year-old British man killed by a spinning rotor blade when he disembarked in Athens from a helicopter chartered by his family from Mykonos.

Greek authorities said the aircraft’s pilot and two ground engineers were detained after the incident.

Continue reading...

Plane carrying munitions crashes in Greece killing all onboard

Posted on by

Army and explosive experts use drone amid toxicity fears from wreck reported to be Ukrainian aircraft

A large cargo aircraft transporting munitions from Serbia to Bangladesh has crashed and exploded in a ball of flames in northern Greece, killing all eight crew onboard.

Serbia’s defence minister, Nebojša Stefanović, said the plane was carrying 11.5 tonnes of military products, including illuminating mortar shells and training shells, and the buyer was the Bangladesh defence ministry.

Continue reading...

Forest fires rage across Europe as heatwave sends temperatures soaring

Posted on by

Civil defence authorities battle blazes that have forced evacuation of thousands of people across continent

Firefighters in Portugal, Spain, France, Greece and Morocco are battling forest fires raging across tens of thousands of hectares as this week’s heatwave continues to bring extreme temperatures and cause hundreds of deaths across south-western Europe.

The second heatwave of the summer – with temperatures hitting 47C (116F) in Portugal and 45C in Spain – has triggered wildfires that have forced the evacuation of thousands of people.

Continue reading...

Hard cheese: EU court scolds Denmark over feta labels in win for Greece

Posted on by

Ruling targets Danish firms that have exported white cheese labelled as ‘feta’

Twenty years after feta cheese was recognised as exclusively Greek, the EU’s highest court has gone one step further and announced that Denmark would be breaking the law if it continued to allow dairies to sell counterfeit feta outside the bloc.

In Athens, the news elicited immediate glee. “This is a wonderful day for authentic feta cheese,” said Christos Apostolopoulos, who heads the Association of Greek Dairy Industries, which produces 80% of the country’s stock. “We are very pleased and delighted. Our complaints have finally been heard.”

Continue reading...

Greece tells Germans fearing huge heating bills to ‘come here for winter’

Posted on by

German pensioners seeking ‘asylum’ from soaring energy costs and rising inflation are welcome in Greece, says minister

Greece’s tourism minister has sent an invitation to German pensioners wanting to escape astronomical heating bills and other high living costs this coming winter, urging them to see his country as an attractive alternative.

With gas bills already having doubled in Germany and expected to rise to around seven times the level they were a year ago, Vasilis Kikilias has said Greece offers the promise of warmth, hospitality and lower grocery and restaurant prices.

Continue reading...

Holidaymakers warned of rising coronavirus cases at European destinations

Posted on by

Increases reported in countries including Greece, Spain, France and Germany as Omicron variant BA.5 spreads

Holidaymakers heading to and from the European mainland are being warned of a growing incidence of coronavirus, especially in tourist hotspots, which risks hampering travel plans.

Health officials are calling in some cases for a reintroduction of face masks and other measures, and are urging travellers to exercise personal responsibility, warning that an escalation of the virus could lead to the swift return of restrictions.

Continue reading...

‘TurkAegean’ tourism campaign draws angry response from Athens

Posted on by

EU approval of slogan deepens rift between rival Nato members as Greeks claim their culture is being usurped

A Turkish effort to lure tourists with a “TurkAegean” promotional campaign – against a backdrop of historic Greek sites and the sound of the bouzouki – has elicited anger and embarrassment in Athens.

With its western shores that straddle the Aegean, Turkey says the time has come to stop associating the region exclusively with Greece. Last December, it lodged a request with the EU’s intellectual property office to trademark the term TurkAegean.

Continue reading...

Cyprus unity in fight against wildfires hailed as ‘very positive’

Posted on by

With relations between island’s two communities at a low, assistance from Greek Cypriots has been welcomed

There is not much that can bring Greek and Turkish Cypriots together these days. But when wildfires raged across the Mediterranean island last week, they put differences aside to jointly combat the blazes. So rare was the sight that on Monday the war-split country’s permanent UN representative praised the “very positive” show of unity.

“It illustrates a fundamental point about this island, and that is the solidarity among Cypriots,” Colin Stewart said on Monday after meeting the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, whose forestry department had rushed to help extinguish the blaze.

Continue reading...

Covid surges across Europe as experts warn not let guard down

Posted on by

Calls grow for greater measures against wave of BA.4 and BA.5 cases in countries from Spain to Denmark

Multiple European countries are experiencing a significant surge in new Covid-19 infections, as experts warn that with almost all restrictions lifted and booster take-up often low, cases could soar throughout the summer leading to more deaths.

According to the Our World in Data scientific aggregator, the rolling seven-day average of confirmed new cases per million inhabitants is on the rise in countries including Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Continue reading...

Group of British MPs and peers say Parthenon marbles must return to Greece

Posted on by

Six legislators call for return of cultural treasures held by British Museum ‘to their Athenian home’

More MPs and peers have expressed support for the repatriation of the Parthenon marbles to Greece as protesters in London mark the 13th anniversary of the opening of the Athens museum where they believe they belong.

Calls for the reunification of the antiquities, removed by Lord Elgin from the Acropolis in controversial circumstances more than 200 years ago – and regarded as vital to the nation’s cultural memory – mounted on Saturday with six UK lawmakers telling the Greek daily, Ta Nea, that restitution was the only proper thing to do. The British Museum acquired the sculptures from the diplomat in 1816.

Continue reading...

Appeal trial for jailed Golden Dawn leaders to start amid anti-fascist protests

Posted on by

MPs from Greece’s neo-Nazi organisation return to court 18 months after original criminal convictions

The imprisoned protagonists of Greece’s once powerful neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party will seek to overturn prolonged prison terms in an appeals court trial due to open amid anti-fascist protests in Athens this week.

Eighteen months after members were convicted of operating a criminal organisation that masqueraded as a political party, appellate judges will start hearing the case afresh on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Greek pilot jailed for murdering British wife ‘fears contract killing’

Posted on by

Babis Anagnostopoulos claims he is living in fear from those he initially blamed for Caroline Crouch’s death

The Greek helicopter pilot given a life sentence for the brutal murder of his British wife in Athens last year claims to be living in fear of those he initially blamed for the crime.

Weeks after being found guilty of suffocating Caroline Crouch, Babis Anagnostopoulos has said his own life is in danger because he has become the target of a “contract killing”.

Continue reading...