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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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.
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