Greece

ATHENS, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four children and a woman died Sunday after a boat carrying around 40 migrants from Turkiye sank off the Greek island of Leros, Greece’s coastguard said.

Three rescue boats and a helicopter were continuing with search operations but were being hampered by strong winds and choppy seas after the migrants’ inflatable boat sank in the Mediterranean.

The teams managed to rescue 41 people, including six children and two adults who were transferred to hospital in Leros, the coastguard said.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — High winds and a cold snap in Greece halted ferry services and highway traffic and dusted the Acropolis and other ancient monuments in Athens with snow on Monday.

The inclement weather prompted authorities in greater Athens in close schools and courthouses and suspend debates in parliament. Cellphone alerts sent by authorities to the capital’s residents urged the public to remain indoors.

ATHENS, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- A Greek Air Force two-seat airplane crashed off Greece's western coast on Monday, Greek national broadcaster ERT reported.

A search and rescue operation was underway to locate the pilot and co-pilot of the F-4 Phantom jet fighter.

The incident happened during a training flight near the Andravida Military Airport on Peloponnese peninsula.

FERES, Greece (AP) — Greece prevented around 260,000 migrants from entering illegally in 2022 and arrested 1,500 traffickers, an official said Saturday.

Citizens’ Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos was speaking to ambassadors from other European Union countries plus Switzerland and the United Kingdom as he guided them to a still expanding border wall in the country’s northeast.

Theodorikakos emphasized to the 28 envoys that Greece’s border is also the EU’s external border.

13 Jan 2023; MEMO: A court on the Greek island of Lesvos today suspended proceedings against 24 aid workers accused of espionage, ending a controversial trial that was criticised by the UN and rights groups for condemning volunteers who were helping refugees in danger.

The court in Mytilini, the largest city of the island in the Aegean Sea, announced that it made the decision due to procedural flaws.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Constantine, the former and last king of Greece, who won an Olympic gold medal before becoming entangled in his country’s volatile politics in the 1960s as king and spent decades in exile, has died. He was 82.

Doctors at the private Hygeia Hospital in Athens confirmed to The Associated Press that Constantine died late Tuesday after treatment in an intensive care unit but had no further details pending an official announcement.

LESBOS, Greece (AP) — A Somali migrant serving life in prison for people smuggling appeared in court Monday to appeal his sentence, in a case backed by a group of European Parliament members who say he was wrongfully convicted.

Mohammad Hanad Abdi was sentenced to 142 years in prison in 2021 after being convicted following a deadly crossing in a dinghy from Turkey to the nearby Greek island of Lesbos the previous year.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Even by the standards of Turkey’s and Greece’s frequently strained relations, it was a remarkable escalation. Speaking to youths in a Black Sea town, Turkey’s president directly threatened his country’s western neighbor: Unless the Greeks “stay calm,” he said, Turkey’s new ballistic missiles would hit their capital city.

26 Dec 2022; MEMO: Greece has moved to postpone a major arms purchase from Israel, local media reported on Saturday.

Defense Ministry officials fear that the purchase of Spike NLOS missiles, a particularly desired system for the navy's fast attack boats and the ground forces' AH-64 attack helicopters, risk being postponed indefinitely, private broadcaster CNN Greece reported.

26 Dec 2022; MEMO: Greece plans to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles to the south and west of the island of Crete in March, local media reported on Sunday.