Greece

ATHENS, July 27 (Reuters) - An Iranian-flagged tanker anchored off Piraeus port is expected this week to retrieve part of its cargo which was confiscated by the United States and sail back to Iran, following a Greek top court ruling, government sources said on Wednesday.

The case has strained relations between Athens and Tehran amid growing tensions between Iran and the United States.

The removal of oil from the Lana, formerly Pegas, prompted Iranian forces to seize two Greek tankers in the Middle East Gulf which have not yet been released.

ATHENS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Greece and Saudi Arabia will explore further bilateral cooperation in many sectors with emphasis on energy, as announced by the two sides during the two-day visit of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz to Athens on Tuesday.

"We would like to explore further opportunities between our two countries and our two economies to partner and to attract more Saudi investment into Greece," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in statements welcoming the Saudi Crown Prince, according to Greek national broadcaster ERT.

ATHENS, July 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Greece on Sunday battled three ferocious wildfires across the country which forced hundreds to evacuate, as higher temperatures raised concern over more blazes.

The country is in the grip of a heatwave that began on Saturday and is expected to last 10 days. Temperatures were set to rise to 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in some regions.

Experts blame climate change for the soaring temperatures — and warned that worse is yet to come.

Fires raged in the north, east and south of Greece including on the island of Lesbos.

ATHENS, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Greece on July 26 to meet Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek foreign ministry said, in his first visit to an EU country since the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The ministry said the pair were due to sign bilateral deals, without giving details. A Greek diplomatic source said the deals were in the fields of energy, military cooperation, and an undersea data cable, among others.

PALINI, Greece (AP) — Nearly 500 firefighters struggled to contain a large wildfire that threatened hillside suburbs outside Athens for a second day Wednesday, after hundreds of residents were evacuated overnight.

Fires continued to burn across southern Europe, but authorities in France, Spain and Portugal all reported improved conditions with a respite from severe heat wave conditions.

ATHENS, July 19 (Reuters) - A Greek wildfire fuelled by gale-force winds raged on the mountainous area of Penteli near Athens on Tuesday, damaging homes and prompting authorities to order the evacuation of at least four areas and a hospital.

Heavy clouds of smoke were rising into the sky billowing over Mount Penteli where the fire broke out at 1430 GMT, some 27 km (16 miles) away from central Athens.

ATHENS, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Greece will file a demarche (protest presented through diplomatic channels) with Serbia over the country's failure to inform Athens about the dangerous cargo carried by the Antonov plane that crashed in northern Greece last Saturday, Greek media reported on Monday.

The crash killed the plane's eight Ukrainian crew members. Their bodies were found and identified on Sunday, the Greek news agency AMNA reported.

PALAIOCHORI, Greece (AP) — Experts were investigating the site of a plane crash in northern Greece Sunday to determine whether any dangerous chemicals or explosive cargo remains.

When they finish their job later in the day, they will clear a path for forensics experts to collect the bodies of the crew, authorities said.

The An-12 cargo plane smashed into fields between two villages late Saturday. Its fuselage dragged on the ground for some 170 meters before it disintegrated, authorities said.

06 July 2022; MEMO: Greece has secretly been establishing a system of defence against Turkish drones, using Israeli technology to counter them in the case of an attack.

In the Greek newspaper, Kathimerini, its diplomatic-defence correspondent and journalist, Vassilis Nedos, wrote that Athens has set up a "veritable umbrella against enemy unmanned aerial vehicles" over the past two months, particularly over islands and important sites in the country.

03 July 2022; MEMO: An Iranian-flagged tanker seized by Greece in April, part of whose cargo was confiscated by the United States, was being towed to the port of Piraeus on Saturday, Greek coast guard officials said, after Greek authorities approved its release, Reuters reported.

For over two months the Iranian-flagged Lana has been anchored off the Greek island of Evia in a diplomatic impasse which strained Athens' relations with Tehran amid growing tensions between Iran and the United States.