Greek city marks 80th anniversary of Auschwitz train convoy
March 19, 2023 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, commemorated on Sunday the 80th anniversary of the departure of the first train convoy for the Auschwitz camp.
Officials, led by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, marched from Eleftherias ("Freedom") Square, where members of the city’s Jewish community were rounded up by the German occupying forces, to the city’s Old Train Station, where they laid red carnations on the tracks.
Tens of thousands march in Greece to protest train disaster
March 8, 2023 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Tens of thousands of people marched in Athens and cities across Greece on Wednesday to protest the deaths of 57 people in the country's worst train disaster, which exposed significant rail safety deficiencies.
Wreckage cleared, days after deadly Greek rail disaster
March 6, 2023 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Recovery crews in northern Greece cleared the final sections of wreckage from a deadly train collision off the tracks on Monday, as protests and political fallout from the country’s worst ever rail disaster continued.
Epiphany celebrated in Greece after 2 years of restrictions
January 6, 2023 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greeks celebrated Epiphany Friday with blessing of the waters ceremonies across the country.
The holiday is known as Three Kings Day for Catholics and the Baptism of Christ for the Orthodox.
Greece: Bail set for police officer who shot Roma teenager
December 19, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A court in Greece ordered the release on bail of a police officer accused of fatally injuring a Roma teenager during a car chase over an allegedly unpaid gas station bill.
Greece: Funeral held for Roma teen shot during police chase
December 15, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — More than 1,500 mourners gathered in a Roma settlement in northern Greece on Thursday for the funeral of a teenager who died days after being shot in the head by a police officer during a chase over an unpaid gas station bill.
Greek Roma leaders urge calm after teen shot by police dies
December 13, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Thousands of protesters marched through the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki and the capital Athens Tuesday night, as Roma community leaders appealed for calm hours after the death of a teenager shot in the head last week during a police chase over an allegedly unpaid gas station bill.
Greece: House arrest for police officer in shooting of teen
December 9, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A Greek police officer accused of shooting and seriously wounding a Roma teenager during a police chase over an allegedly unpaid gas station bill will remain under house arrest, after a prosecutor and an investigating judge disagreed Friday on whether he should be jailed until his trial.
Greece: 3rd night of riots over police shooting of Roma teen
December 8, 2022 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Clashes broke out for a third night Thursday outside Roma settlements near Athens over the police shooting of a teenage Roma boy in northern Greece, after the government issued a public appeal for calm.
Greece: Police officer appears in court over teen shooting
December 6, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Clashes broke out Tuesday at a police station outside Greece's second-largest city of Thessaloniki as residents of a nearby Roma settlement protested the police shooting of a teenage driver during a chase over an unpaid gas station bill.
Greece: Protests over teenager’s shooting in police chase
December 5, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Violent protests broke out in Greece's second-largest city over the police shooting Monday of a Roma teenager after he allegedly filled his vehicle at a gas station and drove off without paying.
Nearly half a ton of cocaine seized in Albania, 10 arrested
November 25, 2022 GMTTIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian authorities on Friday said they have seized 430 kilograms (1,000 pounds) of cocaine in a coordinated operation with neighboring Montenegro and other law enforcement international institutions.
Greek police nab German suspect sought on 4 arrest warrants
November 19, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek police say that they have arrested a 35-year-old German citizen who has four outstanding arrest warrants on him for fraud and cybercrime, three from Germany and one international.
Greece: Thousands march on anniversary of student uprising
November 17, 2022 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of people marched Thursday through central Athens, accompanied by a heavy police presence, to mark the anniversary of a 1973 student uprising that was brutally crushed by Greece's military dictatorship at the time.
Inflation strikes disrupt trains, flights in Greece, Belgium
November 9, 2022 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Workers walked off the job in Greece and Belgium on Wednesday during nationwide strikes against increasing consumer prices, disrupting transportation, forcing flight cancellations and shutting down public services in the latest European protests over the rising cost of living.
Greece: Unruly passenger forced landing, had fake ID
October 3, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A 41-year-old Tunisian man was arrested Monday for alleged disorderly behavior on a commercial flight that prompted the pilot to make an unscheduled landing in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, police said.
Greek leader says armed conflict with Turkey won’t happen
September 11, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister says that he cannot imagine that tensions with neighboring NATO ally Turkey could ever escalate into armed conflict.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke at a press conference Sunday at the Thessaloniki International Fair, where he gave the keynote speech Saturday outlining his government’s economic policy goals.
Greek leader: EU must respond as one to Putin’s ‘blackmail’
September 10, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — The European Union should have a coordinated response to the challenge posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “blackmail” with the supply of natural gas, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Saturday.
Greece: Briton released pending trial over flight disruption
September 5, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A British man who faces charges of disrupting an easyJet flight from London to Cyprus has been released with no restrictive conditions pending his trial in Greece.
The 22-year-old supermarket employee told an examining magistrate in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki Monday that he was sorry about his behavior that led to the flight being diverted to Greece so he could be arrested.
British airline passenger faces charges in Greece
September 3, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A British man has been charged in Greece with several offenses after his flight from London to Cyprus was diverted, authorities said.
One of the charges, a felony, is endangering transportation and passenger and crew safety.
Splendid Byzantine churches head Thessaloniki’s holy sites
August 3, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Under fluttering strings of Greek and Byzantine flags, three men raised a party tent on the terrace of the 5th century Osios David church one recent Saturday, hoping it would shelter festivalgoers from the heat that already shrouded the view of Mount Olympus across the gulf.
Greece: Cars hit wild boars, 2 people killed in road pileup
July 12, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A three-car pileup caused by a pack of wild boars in northern Greece killed two people and left four more hospitalized, police said Tuesday.
The accident happened shortly before midnight Monday on a two-lane road about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Thessaloniki.
Greece: Serbian vacationer held on war crimes warrant
June 27, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Police in Greece have detained a 59-year-old Serbian man wanted in Croatia for alleged war crimes committed in 1991, during the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia.
Authorities said the man, who has not been named, was detained Monday after crossing the border from North Macedonia, en route to a holiday resort in northern Greece with his wife and daughter.
Greece: Cocaine found in banana shipment, 4 Britons arrested
June 10, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Authorities in Greece say four British nationals have been arrested on drug smuggling charges after nearly 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of cocaine was found stashed in a shipment of bananas from South America.
2 killed as Greek police chase stolen car carrying migrants
June 4, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Two people, one believed to be a migrant and the other the alleged trafficker, died Saturday in northern Greece while trying to evade a police checkpoint, police in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki said.
Violent protest in Greece over planned campus police force
May 26, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Riot police in this northern Greek city fired tear gas to disperse crowds attacking them with gasoline bombs and stones late Thursday during a protest against government plans to introduce policing on university campuses.
Fire in Greek COVID-19 hospital ward kills 1 patient
April 6, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A fire Wednesday in the COVID-19 ward of a hospital in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, left one patient dead and two seriously injured, firefighters said.
The fire department said it evacuated 34 patients from the COVID-19 ward of the Papanikolaou hospital.
Draw for the Europa Conference League
March 18, 2022 GMTNYON, Switzerland (AP) — Draw for the Europa Conference League quarterfinals and semifinals:
Greece to close supporters’ clubs after soccer-linked murder
February 21, 2022 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Soccer supporters’ clubs will be shut down in Greece for five months as part of a crackdown announced Monday, triggered by the murder of a 19-year-old who was stabbed and beaten to death by soccer hooligans in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
3 face terror charges for arson attack on Greek Church group
February 9, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A Greek prosecutor on Wednesday brought terrorism charges against three people accused of participation in an arson attack by an extremist anarchist group against an Orthodox Christian religious society in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
Greek comedian gets suspended sentence for online sex videos
February 9, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A Greek TV comedian was given a suspended prison sentence Wednesday after being convicted of posting on the internet sex videos of his former partner without her consent, a case that prompted a public debate on online privacy abuses.
Greece promises new rules for soccer fan clubs after murder
February 7, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Authorities in Greece promised Monday to toughen rules governing soccer supporters’ associations in the wake of a fatal attack last week on a 19-year-old man who was stabbed and severely beaten by a gang of youths in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
8 arrested in Greece for murder of rival soccer club fan
February 7, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Police in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Sunday arrested eight people for the murder of a 19-year-old in an attack connected to soccer fan rivalry.
Authorities had issued 10 arrest warrants for people, all aged 20-23, allegedly involved in the murder of Thessaloniki resident Alkis Kambanos late last Monday.
Greece: Police raid soccer fan clubs after deadly attack
February 3, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Police raided multiple soccer supporters’ clubs in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki late Thursday in the wake of an attack linked to violent fan rivalry that left a 19-year-old man dead.
Protesters clash with Greek police over university eviction
January 15, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A protest march by 1,500 far-left activists in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki turned violent Saturday towards its end, when some protesters threw firebombs and rocks at riot police, who responded with stun grenades and tear gas.
Greek crews find 2nd body where torrent swept away migrants
January 13, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities have found the body of a woman believed to be the wife of an Iranian who drowned crossing a rain-swollen torrent, as the couple and several other migrants trekked through the hills of northern Greece to avoid police patrols.
Migrant drowns in swollen torrent as storms lash Greece
January 12, 2022 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — One man was swept away and drowned and a woman was missing after a group of migrants trekking through the hills of northern Greece to avoid police patrols crossed a swollen torrent amid rainstorms Wednesday, authorities said.
Greek TV comedian arrested over sex video allegations
December 22, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A popular Greek TV comedian was arrested Wednesday following allegations that he posted sex videos of his former partners on the internet without their consent.
Police and court officials in the northern city of Thessaloniki said the 58-year-old man was taken into custody for alleged breaches of personal data protection laws.
Greece: 3 jailed pending trial for attack over virus checks
December 13, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Court authorities in the northern Greek town of Katerini late Monday jailed three people pending trial over an attack on a high school principal by vigilantes opposing virus restrictions.
Greece: 11 held for attack on principal over virus checks
December 10, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Police in northern Greece arrested 11 people Friday after a high school principal was handcuffed by alleged members of a self-styled vigilante group that opposes pandemic restrictions.
Minor clashes at marches honoring Greek youth shot by police
December 6, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek police fired tear gas Monday to disperse youths attacking them with firebombs and stones in the northern city of Thessaloniki at a march marking the 13th anniversary of the fatal police shooting of a teenager.
Flight carrying over 100 evacuated Afghans reaches Greece
November 22, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — More than 100 Afghans believed to have been at risk from the Taliban were granted temporary shelter Monday in Greece after being evacuated on a special flight to the northern city of Thessaloniki.
Greece: Vehicle carrying migrants crashes; 7 dead, 8 injured
November 19, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say seven migrants have been killed and eight others injured after the driver of the vehicle they were traveling in lost control and crashed near a highway toll station in northern Greece.
Greeks hold peaceful march on deadly uprising anniversary
November 17, 2021 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Some 20,000 people marched peacefully through Athens on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of a bloody anti-dictatorship uprising in 1973, police said.
More than 5,000 police were deployed to keep order, as violence involving anarchist demonstrators has often marred the annual march to the U.S.
Greek anti-vaxxers insult masked film festival attendees
November 14, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greece’s premier film festival took an unexpected turn Sunday night when anti-vaxxers showed up outside the theater where the awards ceremony was about to begin and shouted obscenities at arriving moviegoers and festival personnel.
French film wins top prize at Greece’s top film festival
November 14, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — The French movie “Petite Nature” (Softie), the story of a sensitive, gifted 10-year-old boy growing up in a rough neighborhood and taken under the wing of a new teacher, won the top Golden Alexander prize Sunday at the 62nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
Greek police say 9 men being held for ransom have been freed
October 28, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities said Thursday that they have rescued nine men from Pakistan who were being held for ransom in the northern city of Thessaloniki and arrested another three — also Pakistanis — as their suspected kidnappers.
Greece marks WWII entry anniversary with military parade
October 28, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Fighter jets flew over the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki Thursday as parachutists landed and troops marched in the city’s center to mark a national holiday commemorating Greece's defiance of Fascist Italy that forced it to enter World War II.
Car carrying migrants crashes in Greece; 1 dead, 9 injured
October 19, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A vehicle carrying 10 migrants hoping to head from Greece north into the Balkans crashed in northern Greece overnight, leaving one person dead and nine injured, including one seriously, police said Tuesday.
Bus tips into sinkhole as deadly storms lash Greece
October 15, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A bus transporting oil refinery workers fell into a sinkhole in the center of Greece’s second-largest city Friday as storms continued to batter the country, damaging roads, closing schools and causing the deaths of at least two people.
6 arrested at Greek school protest backed by far-right group
September 29, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Police in northern Greece have arrested six people and detained at least 59 others following clashes involving young people backed by an extreme right-wing political group.
Greek leader vows crackdown against migrant traffickers
September 12, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has promised to “break and smash” the human trafficking networks that smuggle migrants across the border from Turkey.
Mitsotakis, in a news conference Sunday following his Saturday keynote speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair, also said, in response to a question by the Associated Press, that he does not anticipate a new wave of refugees from Afghanistan.
Greece’s economy to grow 5.9% in 2021, prime minister says
September 11, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greece's economy will grow 5.9% during 2021, far more than the original 3.6% estimate, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Saturday.
Mitsotakis gave the keynote address at the Thessaloniki International Fair, where heads of government traditionally announce the coming year's economic policies.
Norwich signs Greece winger Christos Tzolis from PAOK
August 12, 2021 GMTNORWICH, England (AP) — English Premier League club Norwich signed Greece winger Christos Tzolis to a five-year contract on Thursday.
The 19-year-old Tzolis arrives from Greek club PAOK for an undisclosed fee.
Moroccan arrested in Greece on suspicion of being IS member
July 28, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A 28-year-old Moroccan man appeared in a court in the Greek city of Thessaloniki on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing after being arrested on suspicion of being a member of the Islamic State group.
Greece: Tear gas fired during protest of vaccine mandate
July 21, 2021 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters who gathered Wednesday in Athens to oppose coronavirus vaccination requirements proposed by the Greek government.
Plan to vaccinate teens triggers large protests in Greece
July 14, 2021 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of anti-vaccine demonstrators gathered in Greece’s two largest cities Wednesday to protest plans to make coronavirus vaccines available to children 15 and older.
The protests took place outside parliament in central Athens and in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
Glue gaffe: 2 men freed in Greece after drug bust mix-up
July 8, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A public prosecutor in northern Greece cleared two men arrested on drug trafficking charges after authorities acknowledged that a white substance seized in their car was adhesive powder and not cocaine, court authorities said Thursday.
Greek police arrest 2 trying to sell rare Roman-era statue
June 27, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek police said Sunday they have arrested two 56-year-old men for trying to sell a rare Roman-era statue of the Greek goddess Hecate for 40,000 euros (about $48,000).
Police in Thessaloniki said they also arrested a 35-year-old farmer from nearby Pella, who allegedly admitted that he had found the statue on his farm and gave it to the two men to sell.
Suspected migrant car crash in Greece kills 2, injures 6
June 4, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek police said Friday a car suspected to have been ferrying migrants from the Turkish border toward the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki crashed, killing two people and injuring six.
Syrian family reunited, against the odds, in Greece
May 13, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Torn apart in the deadly chaos of an air raid, a Syrian family of seven has been reunited, against the odds, three years later at a refugee shelter in Greece's second city of Thessaloniki, a centuries-old melting point of cultures overlooking the Aegean Sea.
Greece welcomes young students back to school; courts reopen
May 10, 2021 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece reopened primary schools and junior highs for in-person classes Monday for the first time in months, as the country eases coronavirus restrictions even as daily infections and deaths remain stubbornly high...
Romanian man arrested in Greece over Swiss watch theft
March 29, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities have arrested a 48-year-old Romanian man wanted in Switzerland over the theft of four watches with a total worth of over 1 million euros ($1...
Greece: Dozens arrested in clashes over campus security law
February 22, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Police clashed with protesters and arrested 31 people in Greece’s second-largest city Monday during a demonstration against a new campus security law...
Greek PM accused of flouting lockdown rules
February 8, 2021 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s left-wing opposition leader has accused the country’s prime minister of showing contempt for lockdown rules after attending a large outdoor lunch gathering.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on a weekend visit to the Greek island of Ikaria attended an outdoor lunch hosted by a local lawmaker...
Greek students, teachers protest planned education reform
February 4, 2021 GMTThousands of university students and instructors marched in Athens and the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Thursday to oppose a draft education reform bill that will include the policing of university campuses...
Japan midfielder Kagawa signs for Greek club PAOK
January 27, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Former Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa signed with Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki on Wednesday.
The club, which won the Greek title in 2019 for the first time since the mid-1980s, said the Japan international signed an 18-month contract...
In Greek city, segregated graves extend COVID-19 isolation
January 12, 2021 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Even after death, COVID-19 victims endure harrowing isolation in Thessaloniki, the city in Greece most acutely affected by the coronavirus pandemic...
Greek nurse erects ICU at home to treat relatives with virus
December 30, 2020 GMTAGIOS ATHANASIOS, Greece (AP) — What does a medical professional do when his wife and in-laws contract the disease at the center of a months-long pandemic...
Greece extends coronavirus lockdown by a week
November 26, 2020 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's government spokesman on Thursday announced a weeklong extension to the country's current lockdown, due to the continued spread of the coronavirus, particularly in the north of the country...
Greece: 2 private clinics appropriated to treat COVID-19
November 20, 2020 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities are taking over two private health clinics in the northern city of Thessaloniki as the region’s public hospitals struggle to cope with a surge in coronavirus cases, the country's Health Ministry said Friday...
Mexican border drama wins Greece’s top film prize
November 16, 2020 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — “Identifying Features,” a drama about a mother’s harrowing journey through Mexico to find her teenage son who went missing while trying to reach the United States, won the top prize at Greece’s Thessaloniki Film Festival on Monday...
Greece: Bishop’s death revives debate on communion safety
November 16, 2020 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A senior clergyman in Greece’s Orthodox Church was buried Monday after dying of COVID-19, reviving a debate over the safety of receiving communion before the Christmas season.
Pompeo pledges US support to ease Greece-Turkey dispute
September 28, 2020 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that Washington will use its diplomatic and military influence in the region to try to ease a volatile dispute between NATO allies Greece and Turkey over energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean...
Pompeo speaks with NATO chief about Mediterranean tensions
September 27, 2020 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is due to arrive in Greece on an official visit early Monday, has had a conversation on tensions in the eastern Mediterranean with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg...
Greek leader calls for greater EU involvement on migration
September 13, 2020 GMTMORIA, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister demanded Sunday that the European Union take a greater responsibility for managing migration into the bloc, as Greek authorities promised that 12,000 migrants and asylum-seekers left homeless after fire gutted an overcrowded camp would be moved shortly to a new tent city...
Woman with husband’s bones gets close look at Munich Airport
August 4, 2020 GMTBERLIN (AP) — Police at Munich Airport got a surprise during their search of a wooden box being transported by a 74-year-old passenger that turned out to contain the bones of the woman's dead husband, authorities said Tuesday...
1 migrant dead, 6 injured in car chase and crash in Greece
June 19, 2020 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A car carrying seven Pakistani migrants believed to have just crossed the land border from Turkey crashed in northern Greece, killing one man and injuring the other six passengers, police said Friday...
Greece lifts its lockdown on hotels, pools, golf courses
June 1, 2020 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece lifted lockdown restrictions Monday for hotels, open-air cinemas, golf courses and public swimming pools as the country ramped up preparations for the crucial summer tourism season to start in two weeks...