Category Archives: Greece

Leftwing faction splits from Greece’s main opposition party, Syriza

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Recently elected leader Stefanos Kasselakis accused of ‘Trumpian practices’ and ‘rightwing populism’

A leftwing faction of Greece’s main opposition party has announced that it is breaking away, accusing Syriza’s recently elected leader of abandoning its core ideology for a sort of “rightwing populism.”

Umbrella, a faction led by Euclid Tsakalotos, a former finance minister during Syriza’s government of 2015-19, announced its departure with a blistering statement that accused Stefanos Kasselakis of “Trumpian practices (and) right-leaning populism”.

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Greece’s gay Syriza leader says he told of plans to become parent to ‘stir’ debate

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Stefanos Kasselakis says he wanted to open up the subject of same-sex couples having children

Greece’s first openly gay political party leader says he was deliberately trying to “stir stagnant waters” and tackle the taboo subject of same-sex couples having children when he announced he and his partner planned to become parents through surrogacy.

Weeks after his unexpected election to the helm of the main opposition left-wing Syriza, Stefanos Kasselakis insisted his comments had aimed to give the issue visibility in a nation where LGBT rights were rarely publicly discussed.

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Weather tracker: South Africa floods kill at least 11 people

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Cape Town mayor declares major incident as roads closed and 80,000 people left without electricity

Extreme rain and strong winds across South Africa’s Western Cape province have caused flooding, torn off roofs, destroyed crops and damaged roads this week. It is estimated that the 48-hour rainfall totals between Sunday and Monday were between 100mm to 200mm (4-8in) in this region.

According to the Cape Town Disaster Risk Management Centre, 12,000 people were affected, but a further 80,000 people were left without electricity, according to the national power utility. The mayor of Cape Town signed a major incident declaration for additional resources and relief measures as 80 roads have been closed, 200 farm workers have been stranded and rail services have been suspended in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces.

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Political outsider Stefanos Kasselakis wins race to lead Greece’s Syriza

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Centre-left entrepreneur wins 56.69% of vote in stunning and unprecedented rise ‘from nowhere’

Stefanos Kasselakis, an outsider with no previous experience of politics in Greece, has emerged the victor of an electric race to lead the leftwing Syriza, the country’s main opposition party.

The Greek-American entrepreneur, who announced his candidacy for the post barely four weeks ago, attained 56.69% of the vote against 43.31% for Efi Achtsioglou, a former labour minister who had long been viewed as the favourite. Kasselakis’ win now makes him one of the most powerful people in Greece.

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Global heating made Greece and Libya floods more likely, study says

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Report says climate change made rainfall heavier but human factors turned extreme weather into humanitarian disaster

Carbon pollution led to heavier rains and stronger floods in Greece and Libya this month but other human factors were responsible for “turning the extreme weather into a humanitarian disaster”, scientists have said.

Global heating made the levels of rainfall that devastated the Mediterranean in early September up to 50 times more likely in Libya and up to 10 times more likely in Greece, according to a study from World Weather Attribution that used established methods but had not yet been peer-reviewed.

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Weather tracker: Libya floods caused by Storm Daniel ‘medicane’

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Country hit by record rainfall that followed Mediterranean storm with similarities to tropical cyclone

After battering Greece last week, Storm Daniel caused further devastating floods, this time affecting Libya. As the storm moved across the Sahara, it developed into what is informally known as a medicane, a storm in the Mediterranean that develops characteristics similar to those seen in tropical cyclones, notably a central eye. The particularly warm Mediterranean water fuelled by the extreme heat seen over southern Europe this summer, helped strengthen Daniel as it approached Libya.

By Saturday 10 September, Daniel had reached north-eastern Libya, with winds of 70-80mph, according to Libya’s National Meteorological Centre. The devastation then came from extreme rainfall, as 24-hour totals of 150mm-240mm were widely recorded in the region. One station in the city of Al-Bayda recorded a rainfall total of 414.1mm in 24 hours, a new record for the area. These torrential rains caused two dams to collapse, which resulted in devastating flash flooding that has killed thousands of people.

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Charges brought against Greek ferry crew over death of passenger pushed into sea

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One crewmember accused of homicide with possible intent and two more with complicity over drowning of Antonis Kargiotis

A Greek prosecutor has brought criminal charges against an island ferry captain and three of his crew over the death of a passenger who was pushed into the sea as he tried to reboard the departing vessel in the country’s main port of Piraeus.

One crewmember was charged with homicide with possible intent, and the other two with complicity, while the captain was charged with severe breaches of shipping regulations, state-run ERT television reported.

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Crew radio leak increases outrage over Greek ferry passenger pushed into sea

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Recordings of conversations appear to reveal racist attitudes among crew in connection with death of Antonis Karyotis

Outrage over the drowning of a passenger who was pushed from the ramp of a Greek ferry has mounted after leaked recordings of radio conversations appeared to reveal racist attitudes among the crew.

In one extract, the ship’s master is apparently heard saying that he thought the passenger, subsequently identified as a Greek, was a foreigner.

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Greek PM under attack over handling of Storm Daniel disaster response

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Kyriakos Mitsotakis faces biggest crisis yet as residents ask where money for ‘immediate’ flood relief has gone

The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is facing his biggest crisis yet as – less than a week after rainstorms left vast tracts of the country’s heartlands under water – his government has come under attack for its handling of the disaster that left 15 dead.

Health experts have described conditions in the flood-stricken Thessaly region – one of Greece’s richest agricultural areas – as ripe for the spread of infectious diseases after a summer of unprecedented heat-induced forest fires.

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Greek rescuers work through night to locate villagers trapped by flood

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Death toll reaches 12 as hundreds still thought to be marooned after deadly downpours

Rescuers in central Greece were working through the night to locate people trapped in villages deluged by flood waters as the death toll from rainstorms rose to at least 12.

Emergency services, backed by elite commando units and an ever-growing army of volunteers, sought to find hundreds still thought to be marooned in homes five days after downpours, described as the worst in the country’s history, struck.

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Hundreds of people rescued from flooded villages in Greece

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Officials say many people are still trapped in central areas of the country hit by Storm Daniel

Firefighters backed by the army have rescued hundreds of people from villages in central Greece cut off by floods that have claimed at least 10 lives.

“More than 2,850 people have been rescued since the beginning of the bad weather,” Yannis Artopios, a fire department spokesperson told the broadcaster Mega on Saturday.

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Rescue efforts stepped up after deadly floods in central Greece

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Greek PM tours crisis-hit area amid fears death toll could rise as water levels continue to rise in some places

Helicopters and lifeboats have been deployed to rescue hundreds of villagers stranded by flood waters in central Greece after rainstorms left at least 10 people dead.

Touring the crisis-hit area of Thessaly, 185 miles north of Athens, Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, vowed to do “whatever is humanly possibly” to assist residents in areas deluged by torrential rain that also hit neighbouring Bulgaria and Turkey. A total of 22 people have died across the three countries since Tuesday.

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Weather tracker: Omega block brings torrential rain to Greece and Spain

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Europe-wide formation is partly responsible for Storm Daniel, while the north of the continent has high temperatures

An Omega block has been in place over Europe this week, leading to some extreme weather for many. An Omega block is a synoptic setup consisting of a high-pressure region sandwiched between two low-pressure regions, creating a shape resembling the Greek letter omega.

Storm Daniel developed over the Ionian Sea partly due to this setup, causing devastating flooding across central and eastern Greece. The region’s warm seas at this time of year also helped produce the moisture needed for this storm.

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Afghan refugee wrongly jailed in Greece wins thousands in compensation

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Akif Rasuli spent more than two years behind bars after being accused of people smuggling

A Greek court has awarded thousands of euros in compensation to an Afghan refugee who spent more than two years in prison after being wrongfully accused of people smuggling, in a rare step hailed by campaigners.

A three-member appeal court sitting on the Aegean island of Lesbos ruled that Akif Rasuli had not only been unjustly jailed, but should be recompensed for the ordeal he had been made to endure.

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Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria hit by fatal flash floods

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At least 12 people die across three countries as torrential rainstorms cause severe damage to buildings, roads and bridges

At least 12 people have died in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria as flash floods from torrential rainstorms turned rivers into torrents, swept away bridges and inundated streets, homes and public buildings.

Greece’s climate crisis and civil protection minister, Vassilis Kikilias, said after an emergency cabinet meeting: “This is the most extreme phenomenon in terms of the maximum amount of rain in a 24-hour period since records began in the country.”

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Syrian refugee deported from Greece loses case against EU border agency

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Ruling against man who claimed family were ‘pushback’ victims seen as blow to efforts to make Frontex accountable

A Syrian refugee has lost a landmark case against the EU’s border protection agency, Frontex, after he and his family were forcibly deported from Greece before his asylum application was processed.

The ruling is seen as a major blow to efforts to make the operations of Frontex in Greece and other countries more transparent and accountable to the member states who employ them.

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‘So many precious things were lost’: Rhodes after the fires – photo essay

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The photographer Gideon Mendel travelled to Rhodes a month after the fires as part of his Burning World project. He sought to document the impact on lives and landscapes

July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded, and Rhodes in Greece was one of many places that faced scorching temperatures and wildfires. There were no human casualties but the fire ravaged about 135,000 hectares of forest and vegetation, burned more than 50,000 olive trees and many domestic animals, destroyed about 50 homes and led to the mass evacuation of tourists from the area.

I travelled to the region a month after the fires, making new work for my Burning World project. I choose not to document the flames but rather seek out their aftermath, the traces left behind on lives and landscapes.

The Ekaterini hotel in Kiotari, south Rhodes

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Families of Yorkshire divers who died on Greece trip ‘may never know what happened’

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Investigation into deaths of Vincent Hong and Timothy Saville ‘let down’ by Greek authorities, says coroner

The families of two men from Yorkshire who died on a scuba diving trip in Greece have been told they may never find out exactly what happened to their loved ones.

A Hull coroner has said it is not possible to determine what caused the deaths of Dr Vincent Hong, a consultant cardiothoracic anaesthetist, and Timothy Saville, a Huddersfield businessman, who died within three days of each other on the same trip.

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Hundreds of firefighters battle raging Greek wildfires

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Gale-force winds and hot, dry conditions whip up flames and hamper firefighting efforts

More than 600 firefighters, including reinforcements from several European countries, backed by a fleet of water-dropping planes and helicopters, are battling three major wildfires in Greece, two of which have been raging for days.

A huge blaze in the country’s north-eastern regions of Evros and Alexandroupolis, believed to have caused the deaths of 20 of the 21 wildfire-related deaths in the last week, was burning for a ninth day.

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Two men accused of lighting wildfires in Greece are arrested

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One man confessed to having set four other fires on island of Evia as Greek authorities struggle to contain blazes

Fire department officials in Greece have arrested two men for allegedly starting wildfires on purpose, while hundreds of firefighters battled blazes that have killed at least 21 people in the past week.

One man was arrested on the Greek island of Evia for allegedly setting fire to dried grass in the Karystos area. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.

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