Greece

NAXOS, Greece (AP) — In her kitchen, Kyriaki Kapri has enough food to feed an army. Piles of squid for frying, lemons to be quartered, thumb-thick potato wedges to make oregano-sprinkled French fries, and seafood for the dishes famous on the Greek island of Naxos.

She’s done everything she can think of to prepare for tourists at her Naxos beachside restaurant Gorgona — Greek for Mermaid — but customers are still a rare sight.

Greece launched its tourism season Friday amid a competitive scramble across the Mediterranean to lure vacationers emerging from lockdowns.

ATHENS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday called for waiving intellectual property rights protected by patents for COVID-19 vaccines in order to speed up production to assist countries in need.

"The health crisis has highlighted more than anything the need for joint action to address threats," Mitsotakis said following a meeting with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez in Athens.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Cafes and restaurants reopened in Greece on Monday for sit-down service for the first time in nearly six months, as the country began easing coronavirus-related restrictions with a view to opening the vital tourism industry in the summer.

Cafes, restaurants and bars, which had been shut to all but takeout and delivery services when lockdown-type measures were imposed in early November, reopened for outdoor seated service only. Tables are set a certain distance apart to maintain social distancing, while standing customers and music aren’t allowed.

(Reuters) --- Greece began opening to tourists on Monday with few bookings but hopes for a better season to help make up for a 2020 devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

On Rhodes island, where most visitors are from abroad, hoteliers are scrubbing, polishing and painting in anticipation of a make-or-break year.

"We're preparing the hotel in order to start as soon as the government gives us the green light," said George Tselios, general manager of Sun Beach Hotel, whose customers are from Scandinavia, Germany, Austria and Britain.

(Reuters) --- Greece cannot ignore its differences with Turkey over territorial disputes in the Mediterranean and other issues but while a solution is difficult, it is not impossible, its foreign minister told a newspaper on Sunday.

The two countries are NATO allies but at odds over many issues, including competing claims over the extent of their continental shelves in the Mediterranean, air space, energy resources and ethnically split Cyprus.

ATHENS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The end of the tunnel of the COVID-19 pandemic is now near and the world will exit it through cooperation and the ongoing vaccination programs, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said during a visit to Athens.

"This is the only way out of the pandemic. We have to scale up indeed the vaccinations and give faith in the vaccinations," he said in a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, according to Greek national broadcaster ERT.

15 Apr 2021; MEMO: Greece has agreed to resume talks on demarcating the maritime border areas in the Mediterranean with the Libyan authorities, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced yesterday.

ATHENS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Greece and Libya's new leadership agreed to discuss the delimitation of their maritime zones, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday during a meeting with the visiting President of the Libyan Presidency Council Mohammad Menfi.

"Greece will stand by you and the Libyan people, in your difficult task of rebuilding your homeland," the Greek prime minister said, welcoming the Libyan leader in Athens in a statement broadcast on Greek national broadcaster ERT.

ATHENS, April 10. /TASS/: Europe’s economic sanctions against Russia cost dearly to Greece, whose exports fell sharply when those measures were introduced, the Greek first deputy foreign minister, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, was quoted as saying by the ministry’s press service.

During a meeting with Ukraine’s ambassador to Greece, Sergei Shutenko, "Varvitsiotis pointed out that our country had to pay huge economic price in terms of exports to Russia, as a result of European sanctions against Russia," the press service said.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece said on Sunday it was extending restrictions on domestic flights until April 12 and on international flights until April 19 as the number of new COVID-19 infections continues to rise.

Under the restrictions, passengers flying to Greece must receive a negative PCR test 72 hours before arrival and undergo random testing for COVID-19.