Latest Greece government News

Greek authorities say boat capsizing victims and survivors were from Afghanistan. 2 Turks arrested

Dec. 21, 2024 16:00 PM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's coast guard said Saturday it was searching for survivors or victims of a speedboat capsizing a day earlier involving migrants off the eastern Greek island of Rhodes. The capsizing, the result of the boat’s maneuvering to evade a patrol vessel...

Greece’s former royal family seeks to reclaim citizenship 50 years after monarchy abolished

Dec. 20, 2024 14:28 PM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Members of Greece’s former royal family have applied for Greek citizenship and formally acknowledged the country’s republican system of government, in a landmark move 50 years after the monarchy was abolished, officials confirmed Friday. The late King...

The year in review: Influential people who died in 2024

Dec. 20, 2024 12:47 PM EST

It was a murder case almost everyone had an opinion on. O.J. Simpson 's “trial of the century” over the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend bared divisions over race and law enforcement in America and brought an intersection of sports, crime, entertainment and class that was hard to...

8 dead, 18 rescued as speedboat carrying migrants capsizes near Greek island of Rhodes

Dec. 20, 2024 11:36 AM EST

ATHENS, Greeece (AP) — A speedboat carrying migrants capsized Friday morning off the eastern Greek island of Rhodes, leaving eight dead, Greek authorities said. The coast guard said the incident occurred while the speedboat was carrying out “dangerous maneuvers” to try and...

Greek authorities rescue 23 people near Lesbos and warn pressure on migration routes is rising

Dec. 17, 2024 06:25 AM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say 23 migrants were rescued from a dinghy near the island of Lesbos in the eastern Aegean Sea on Tuesday. Rescue teams also recovered two more bodies after a boat carrying migrants sank off of Gavdos over the weekend, bringing the death toll to seven. ...

Scars of December: A pivotal Cold War-era battle in Greece quietly passes its 80th anniversary

Dec. 06, 2024 13:03 PM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Across the street from the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the ancient monument in central Athens, historian Menelaos Haralabidis pauses in front of a drab apartment building. The building's facade, freshly painted a mustard color, is riddled with bullet holes made...

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov re-elected president of fencing's governing body

Nov. 30, 2024 16:29 PM EST

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has been elected to a new term as president of the International Fencing Federation while he faces ongoing sanctions. The federation, known as the FIE, said in an emailed statement that Usmanov won 120 votes for a...

UN refugee agency expresses concern over rise in fatal migrant shipwrecks in Greece

Nov. 29, 2024 11:54 AM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency has voiced concern at a rise in deaths of migrants trying to reach Greece by sea in small boats from Turkey, following two fatal shipwrecks this week. The UNHCR said in a statement Friday that 17 people have died in such...

Cyprus could become a member of NATO when conditions permit, the country's president says

Nov. 28, 2024 13:37 PM EST

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus could apply to become a member of NATO once its armed forces receive the necessary training and equipment with U.S. help to bring them up to the standards of the world's premier military alliance, the president of the Mediterranean island nation said Thursday. ...

Four dead, including two children, in latest migrant shipwreck off Greek island of Samos

Nov. 28, 2024 10:30 AM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Four people, including two children, died after a boat carrying migrants ran aground on a rocky shoreline of Samos, the second shipwreck this week on the eastern Greek island, officials said Thursday. Sixteen people were rescued, but it remained unclear how...