Latest Greece government News

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. ...

The year in review: Influential people who died in 2024

Dec. 13, 2024 08:44 AM 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...

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...

New NATO chief Rutte says alliance ‘needs to go further’ in support for Ukraine

Nov. 26, 2024 06:47 AM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — NATO’s new Secretary General Mark Rutte on Tuesday said the alliance “needs to go further” to support Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion and accused Moscow of dangerously escalating the conflict by bringing in thousands of North Korean troops. ...

A migrant boat sinks near the Greek island of Samos, killing 6 children and 2 adults

Nov. 26, 2024 01:01 AM EST

SAMOS, Greece (AP) — Eight people, including six children, died when a small boat carrying an unspecified number of migrants sank off the coast of the Greek island of Samos, officials said Monday. In a separate incident on a different island, an elderly man died as a group of 27...

Greece's left-wing Syriza loses its status as the main opposition party as infighting intensifies

Nov. 21, 2024 08:02 AM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s left-wing Syriza party has lost its position as the country’s main opposition group in parliament during an intensifying leadership battle. Two members of parliament announced Thursday they were quitting the party, reducing Syriza’s number of...