Clouds of thick smoke build over Greek capital’s southern suburbs as more than 100 firefighters fight blaze
A wildfire on the outskirts of the Greek capital Athens is threatening homes and infrastructure, with some residents being evacuated by the authorities.
The blaze has spread across the slopes of Mount Hymettus, which overlooks Athens, sending clouds of thick smoke drifting over the city’s southern suburbs. Strong winds have helped fan the fire.
Continue reading...IRGC forces swoop on ships in what appeared to be a reprisal for Greece’s role in earlier seizure of Iranian oil tanker
Iran has seized two Greek tankers in helicopter-launched attacks in the Gulf amid a dramatic rise in tension and violent incidents in the region.
Forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) descended on the tankers – one of which was named as the Prudent Warrior – in helicopters in what appeared to be a reprisal for the Greek government’s role in assisting the US seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in the Mediterranean in a sanctions-enforcement action earlier in the week.
Continue reading...Analysis: The presence of cooler water can have wider-ranging impacts on global weather patterns
It’s not the first time recently that chilly conditions have gripped parts of southern South America in the lead-up to the southern hemisphere winter. Over the past couple of days, an area of low pressure has positioned itself just south-east of the continent and allowed cold air to filter northwards into southern Chile and Argentina. This process will continue over the coming days with temperatures 5-10 degrees below normal in Argentina from Thursday.
In fact, the western side of South America, including farther north into Peru, has experienced almost perpetually cool conditions of late linked to an ongoing La Niña event in the Pacific Ocean. During these events, which usually occur every few years, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the south-eastern Pacific cool significantly as colder waters from the deep upwell to the surface. Current observations suggest SSTs just off the coast of Peru are between 1.5 and 3.5C colder than normal and they have been cooler than normal since last autumn. The presence of cooler water has an often moderating impact on temperatures in South America but can have wider-ranging impacts on global weather patterns too.
Continue reading...Tribunal finds Babis Anagnostopoulos culpable of premeditated murder and perverting course of justice
A Greek helicopter pilot who claimed he killed his British wife, Caroline Crouch, 20, in a fit of anger after a row that had “blurred” his senses, has been found guilty of murder at the end of a trial watched closely in Greece and abroad.
The seven-member mixed tribunal of judges and jurors concluded unanimously that Babis Anagnostopoulos was culpable of premeditated murder and perverting the course of justice. He also killed the family’s dog.
Continue reading...Babis Anagnostopoulos spent 10 chilling hours in an Athens courts calmly describing the murder of his wife
Last week, Greek helicopter pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos stood in the dock of an Athens court and related the circumstances that led him to suffocate his British wife. Over the course of 10 hours he barely paused. Coolly and calmly, from 10am to 8pm, he addressed the tribunal.
He recalled the dream life he had shared with the woman whom he would go on to asphyxiate; his decision to choke her beloved puppy, Roxy, hanging the pet dog from the banister of the couple’s maisonette; his love for his baby daughter, whom he would place next to her dead mother’s body; and his determination in a moment “of chaos” to cover up the killing as a robbery gone terribly wrong.
Continue reading...Two men convicted of killing Zak Kostopoulos but human rights groups express dismay as officers walk free
A Greek court’s decision to exonerate four police officers involved in the brutal death of an LGBTQ+ activist in Athens has alarmed human rights groups, which deplored the verdict as profoundly unjust.
Two men were found guilty on Tuesday of participating in the killing of Zak Kostopoulos, but the four police officers, also accused of causing fatal bodily harm, were allowed to walk free.
Continue reading...Investigation suggests Frontex’s database recorded incidents of illegal pushbacks in Aegean Sea as ‘prevention of departure’
The EU’s border agency has been involved in the pushbacks of at least 957 asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea between March 2020 and September 2021, according to a new investigation.
Frontex, the EU’s best-funded agency with a budget of €758m, is being investigated over previous allegations of complicity with Greek authorities in illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers, something the organisation has denied.
Continue reading...Therapist who saw Crouch and Babis Anagnostopoulos says marriage had become increasingly abusive
A Greek pilot accused of murdering his British wife, Caroline Crouch, as she slept in their Athens home, exerted “extreme control” over her, a court has heard.
On day three of a murder trial that has gripped the nation, Eleni Mylonopoulou, a counsellor who had seen the pair over several months for couples counselling, testified that the young Briton had fallen victim to an “extremely manipulative” man.
Continue reading...Second adjournment prolongs agony of Afghans Amir Zahiri and Akif Rasuli, serving 50-year sentences for piloting a migrant boat
MEPs appalled by “shocking” legal proceedings against two Afghans convicted of people smuggling in Greece have vowed to raise the issue with the European parliament.
Lawmakers who had flown into Lesbos for a scheduled appeals court hearing of the asylum seekers on Thursday – the second in three weeks – were outraged when judges again adjourned the case, prolonging the agony of the refugees, who are currently serving 50-year prison terms.
Continue reading...Babis Anagnostopoulos alleged to have confessed to Athens murder and to hanging puppy
The trial of a Greek helicopter pilot accused of strangling his British wife as she slept next to their baby daughter is due to begin on Friday in Athens.
Nearly a year after Caroline Crouch was found dead in the couple’s maisonette, her husband, who had originally tried to blame the murder on ruthless “foreign thieves”, will appear before a mixed jury court in the Greek capital. It will be the first time Babis Anagnostopoulos, 33, has been seen in public since his alleged confession to a crime that has gripped the nation.
Continue reading...Unlike the UK, EU countries have offered open sanctuary to the millions fleeing Russia’s attack in biggest refugee crisis since second world war
Over the past few days, images of desperate Ukrainian families being turned away by officials have thrown the UK’s response to what has been termed the biggest refugee crisis since the second world war into stark contrast with its European neighbours.
So far the UK has refused to match the EU’s decision to offer Ukrainians open sanctuary, instead operating a limited family reunification and humanitarian sponsorship system.
Continue reading...While cause remains unconfirmed, green groups fear the three whales could be the ‘tip of iceberg’ with many more animals hurt
Environmental groups have linked the beaching of three whales in Corfu to seismic testing for oil and gas in the waters off the Greek island.
Two Cuvier’s beaked whales were found stranded at Arillas and Agios Gordios beaches on the west of the island on 20 February. A third beaked whale ran ashore on Agios Gordios beach the day after.
Continue reading...A passenger listed as missing after a blaze swept through a ferry sailing from Greece to Italy has been found alive by rescuers, a Greek shipping ministry official said on Sunday. The Greek coast guard rescued 280 of the 292 passengers and crew onboard when the blaze broke out on the Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympic early on Friday. It was en route from the Greek port of Igoumenitsa to the Italian port of Brindisi. According to the ferry operator and Greek authorities, 11 passengers are still missing
Continue reading...Efforts to bring the blaze on the Italian Euroferry Olympia under control hampered by gale-force winds
Greek rescue forces were desperately trying to extinguish fires raging for a second day on an Italian cruise liner off the coast of Corfu, as the search for 12 people believed to be missing intensified.
Firefighters battled flames leaping from the ferry’s interior as state TV showed images of the Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympia engulfed in thick, acrid smoke. Efforts to bring the blaze under control were hampered by gale-force winds on Saturday, while intense heat from the ship made it impossible for rescuers to land on it, the broadcaster reported.
Continue reading...Tug boats sent to help passengers on the Euroferry Olympia, which was headed to Italy
A fire has broken out on a ferry sailing from Greece to Italy with 288 people on board, according to the Greek coast guard.
The Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympia was headed to the port of Brindisi from the Greek city of Igoumenitsa when the fire broke out on Friday morning near the island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea.
Continue reading...An investigation alleges two men seeking international protection were pushed from a boat off the coast of Samos
On 15 September 2021, Sidy Keita from Ivory Coast and Didier Martial Kouamou Nana from Cameroon, boarded a dinghy from Turkey to Greece. Despite making it to the Greek island of Samos, their bodies were found days later, washed ashore in Aydin province, on the Aegean coast.
Interviews with more than a dozen witnesses, analysis of classified documents, satellite imagery, social media accounts and online material, and discussions with officials in Turkey and Greece, have helped piece together what happened over five September days during which the two men died, likely victims of a pushback by the Greek authorities.
Continue reading...Lawyers say delay in case against three defendants including a Briton is to avoid embarrassing China
The trial in Greece of activists who protested against Beijing holding the Winter Olympics has been postponed amid accusations that proceedings were delayed to avoid embarrassing China on the eve of the Games.
The highly anticipated hearing had been due to take place on Thursday in the town of Pyrgos, with human rights lawyers travelling from the UK and Athens to attend. The activists, who included a Briton, an American and a Tibetan-Canadian, were arrested when they briefly disrupted the Olympic flame lighting ceremony in October.
Continue reading...Finds date to sixth-century BC Battle of Alalia, in which the Greeks defeated Etruscans and Carthaginians
Two ancient warrior helmets, metal fragments believed to have come from weapons, and the remains of a temple have been discovered at Velia, an archaeological site in southern Italy that was once a powerful Greek colony.
Experts believe the helmets, which were found in good condition, and metal fragments date to the sixth-century BC Battle of Alalia, when a Greek force of Phocaean ships clinched victory over the Etruscans and their Carthaginian allies in a naval battle off the coast of Corsica. One of the helmets is thought to have been taken from the enemies.
Continue reading...A rare snowstorm has hit the capitals of Greece and Turkey, disrupting traffic, closing schools and coating the cities’ tourists sites in white
Continue reading...Istanbul airport was forced to shut down while motorists were trapped in cars around Athens as rare heavy snow falls across southeast Europe
Europe’s busiest airport shut down in Istanbul on Monday while schools and vaccination centres closed in Athens as a rare snowstorm blanketed swathes of the eastern Mediterranean, causing blackouts and traffic havoc.
The closure of Istanbul Airport – where the roof of one of the cargo terminals collapsed under heavy snow, causing no injuries – grounded flights stretching from the Middle East and Africa to Europe and Asia.
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