Greece // Current

Mediterranean diet applies for world heritage status

The Mediterannean diet has long beeen famed for keeping people healthy and slim. Now, the diet is dwindling as Mediterraneans... more

nazbags
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Colossus of Rhodes rebuilt as giant light sculpture

One of the world's seven ancient wonders rebuilt as a giant light sculpture to inspire and celebrate peace.

tatorsal
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Dead Parrot sketch ancestor found

An ancestor of Monty Python's famous Dead Parrot comedy sketch has been found in a joke book dating back to Greece in the 4th... more

bedeboop
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The Owl of Athena: Statue and Coin

The Owl of Athena, commemorating the Greek Goddess Athena and adorning coins and a brief historical review of her place in mythology.

glassdesk
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Greek dig unearths Neolithic household gear

A 6,000 year-old set of household gear, including crockery and two wood-fired ovens, has been found in the buried ruins of a... more

goldenways
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Civil unrest in Greece over €28 billion rescue package

ATHENS: Air, rail and ferry traffic ground to a halt throughout Greece on Tuesday and public offices shut down as workers walked... more

Eat_Disco
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Greek police publicly humiliate immigrant

Greece has been upping its police forces in its historical districts due to a rise in illegal immigrants. The police, therefore,... more

InformedTexan
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Country Fast Facts: Greece

Greece achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829. During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the... more

starr111
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Planes circle isle after controller overslept

Two airplanes due to land on the Greek island of Lesbos had to circle above the Aegean sea for more than half an hour because an... more

itenerantsurf
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Bomb scare on Paris-Tel Aviv flight

Fighter planes from three countries escorted a Paris passenger flight to Tel Aviv suspected of carrying a bomb. Israeli... more

GeoffNI
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Missing girl found safe and well after four years

A girl who went missing four years ago, and became known as Italy's Madeleine McCann, appears to have been found safe and... more

JanaPokana
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Greek Robin Hoods, Steal From the Rich & Give To Poor

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek anarchists stormed a supermarket on Thursday and handed out food for free in the latest of a wave of... more

GrandKnow2
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Cyprus rivals begin peace talks

Rival leaders of the divided island of Cyprus are meeting to launch negotiations aimed at reunifying the island after 34 years of... more

riffhard98
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Facebook application turns users into attackers

It seems that unwary Facebook users can be tricked into attacking innocent websites without knowing it. A team from the... more

TravG73
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Ancient gold treasure puzzles Greek archaeologists

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A priceless gold wreath has been unearthed in an ancient city in northern Greece, buried with human bones... more

ivxx
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Boozy Brits - it’s the last straw

About 4am last Thursday, a mob of 200 alcohol-sodden youths gathered outside the Sabotage nightclub on the Greek island of Zakynthos ready for action. Two men were squaring up for a fight. One, a Scouser, had apparently shouted a racist remark at the other, a 6ft 4in black bodybuilder, and it seemed as if things were about to kick off.

Suddenly the black man jumped onto a quad-bike and drove into the crowd, apparently trying to run over his adversary. Bodies went sprawling. Within minutes sirens were blaring and four Greek police officers were wrestling the 19-year-old rider to the ground before carting him off in handcuffs. An ambulance took a teenage girl to hospital.

Elsewhere that night in the popular holiday resort of Laganas, a drunken youth stripped to his underwear and jumped on a car bonnet, drawing roars of approval from his friends, while a young woman hitched up her skirt in the middle of the road to have a henna tattoo painted on her bottom.

Around them, couples barely coherent after downing cheap cocktails – sometimes laced with industrial alcohol – groped each other in public, while others retired to the beach to have sex. “This place is full of girls that are well fit,” said Christopher Duff, 21, an electrician from north Wales. “Four slutty girls have moved into the hotel with us and I intend to sleep with all of them by the end of the holiday. We’ve heard about the reputation of the place and that’s why we’ve come here.”

It was just another night on Zakynthos, also known as Zante, a once-tranquil haven for endangered turtles that is now flooded by thousands of Brits behaving badly. Similar scenes of debauchery are played out across the Ionian Sea at the resort of Malia on Crete, where street brawls have involved hundreds of holidaymakers, and scores of women are reported to request the morning-after pill each day.

Simon Gass, the British ambassador to Athens, recently flew to Zakynthos to see the carnage for himself and to reassure local officials. And Dionisis Komiotis, the mayor of Laganas, has decided enough is enough. “We don’t want the young people to walk out naked, to cause problems and damage,” he said. “We don’t want them to annoy the rest of the guests and tourists and, of course, put their own lives in danger.”

The authorities are launching the biggest crackdown the island has seen, with alcohol targeted as public enemy number one. “Every day I am sending officers into Laganas to protect young people,” the local police chief told The Sunday Times last week. At least that’s the rhetoric. But given the money at stake and the notoriety of Brits abroad, is anything likely to change? EVER since the Spanish resorts of the Costa del Sol opened their doors, British tourists have been traveling abroad in search of sun, sand and sex. What has taken the problems to new depths, say critics, is the proliferation of cheap flights. This summer a week in Laganas, including flights and accommodation, could be booked for as little as £200.

About 4am last Thursday, a mob of 200 alcohol-sodden youths gathered outside the Sabotage nightclub on the Greek island of... more