Kathimerini English
NTUA reclaims historic buildings after decades of occupation
The Michanourgeio, a five-story, 996 sq.m. building on Athens’ Patission Avenue, was fully evacuated in May 2025 following the end of its occupation in July 2024. After years of squatting – some for as many as 29 years – several historic buildings...
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On Good Friday, grief becomes ritual
From a strictly rational perspective, it is a funeral. Yet every Good Friday, this lived ritual of grief gathers kin and community, reenacting a tradition spanning centuries. In one small village in the Pindos mountains, parishioners once carried the...
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The missionary who captured the heart of Africa
Defying danger and convention, Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos, canonized in 2025, emerged as a pioneering Orthodox missionary in Africa, reshaping lives across a volatile continent. In the 1960s, he reached communities in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and...
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A road reborn in Athens after years of standstill
Athens is set to reopen Vasilissis Olgas Street in the coming days after long-delayed construction works were completed, city officials said Tuesday. Mayor Haris Doukas made the announcement on social media, saying, `Works on Vasilissis Olgas have...
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`Exodus into the light': Messolonghi marks 200 years of defiance
The city of Messolonghi marked the 200th anniversary of its historic Exodus with ceremonies defined by solemnity, symbolism and a powerful sense of collective memory. Over three days of events culminating on Palm Sunday, state, religious and political...
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Lawmakers and their `clients'
shocked by the dialogues included in the case file of the OPEKEPE agricultural subsidy scandal because they exude clientelism, corruption and endless cynicism. In reality, however, they reflect the desperate effort of lawmakers and party supporters to...
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A generation on guard: Greece reckons with youth violence
`When we go out, we stay alert,’ a student said, capturing the quiet vigilance shaping teenage life, as youths and experts gathered at an event organized by Kathimerini on Thursday at the 3rd High School of Kifissia. The discussion focused on youth...
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Mapping Kifissia's threatened architectural heritage
Kifissia's villas face mounting pressure from overdevelopment, as demolitions rise and preservation efforts intensify, according to a recent documentation initiative by Monumenta. The organization has recorded more than 1,100 buildings constructed...
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ND lawmakers face new subsidy probe
A total of 18 sitting and former lawmakers from the ruling New Democracy party are at the center of a second major investigation by the European Public Prosecutor's Office into the OPEKEPE farm subsidy scandal, according to case documents transmitted...
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Bound for eternity: The Gennadius library marks a century
The Gennadius Library in Athens is marking its centennial with an exhibition of rare treasures drawn from its founding collection and a century of remarkable acquisitions. The library – housed at the American School of Classical Studies –was the vision...
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Greece raises alarm over Christians
Athens moved swiftly and forcefully to ensure that the protection of Christian populations in the Middle East remains on the international agenda, following an outbreak of violence on March 28 in the central Syrian town of Suqaylabiyah, in Hama...
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Post-election alliances will test PASOK unity after congress
PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis (right) speaks with Athens Mayor Haris Doukas during the second day of the socialist party's congress, in Athens, on Saturday. Doukas, once and potentially again a rival for the leadership, wants the party to commit...
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PM orders shadow-free lists for ballot
The ruling New Democracy party has begun quietly preparing electoral candidate lists for the next parliamentary elections, with a focus on excluding members under judicial investigation or with ethical red flags, according to party officials familiar...
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Cavafy takes his place on storied Areopagitou Street
On April 29, marking the birth and death anniversary of the poet CP Cavafy, a redesigned gateway to Dionysiou Areopagitou Street will be unveiled, the result of a project led by the Onassis Foundation. At the junction with Amalias Avenue, near the...
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Wreaths, marches and memory on Independence Day
Evzones of the Presidential Guard march in front of Parliament and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a parade in Athens on Greece's Independence Day on Wednesday. The parade began at 11 am and featured the armed forces, security corps, high school...
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Overcrowding delays start of Tempe train disaster trial
Chaos and anger erupted inside a courtroom in Larissa, Central Greece, where the long-awaited trial over the 2023 Tempe train disaster was halted before proceedings began, amid protests over suffocating conditions. About 200 lawyers, more than 250...
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The unbearable lightness of politicians
Since the end of 2008, we have been living through successive and violent crises, sometimes local and sometimes global in scope. With one difference: A generation of people who had experienced wars, civil wars, and brutal economic crises has died or is...
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Greece, Cyprus push EU defense debate
Greece and Cyprus have brought renewed attention within the European Union to the bloc's mutual assistance clause, as recent military and diplomatic developments revive debate over collective defense priorities, officials said. The visibility Greece...
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A century of thought: Athens honors its Academy at 100
The Academy of Athens marked its centennial Wednesday evening with a ceremonial gathering attended by President Konstantinos Tassoulas, capping a century of scholarship with reflection on the institution's past and its obligations to the future....
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Greek `FBI' joins vulture poisoning investigation
Greece's organized crime unit, known as the “Greek FBI,” has joined the investigation into a mass poisoning of black vultures and other wildlife at Dadia National Park, authorities said. The unit's involvement was triggered by the use of banned...
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Athens bets on `made in Greece' military drones
Greece has moved to advance domestically developed military drone systems, awarding initial research and development contracts for three unmanned combat aerial vehicles and two related defense technologies, the Ministry of National Defense and the...
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Prime Minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses the IAEA Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris, Tuesday. Mitsotakis highlighted Europe's strategic misstep in turning away from nuclear power. `We cannot accomplish all the things we care about in Europe – strategic autonomy,...
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Europe signals unity as Cyprus tested
Cyprus is emerging as a test of European resolve to defend the territory of a European Union member-state, following the concentration of forces from several EU countries after drones were launched in recent days against British bases on the island. A...
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Reading the secrets beneath the paint
Experts use a multispectral imaging camera to examine `The Healing of the Paralytic,' by Luca Giordano, a fascinating case of forgery that began in a Naples monastery in 1653 and reaches present-day Athens. Nearly 3,000 confiscated artworks have been...
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Steam and stone: A 15th-century bathhouse is reborn
For 582 years, the Bey Hamam has stood at the heart of Thessaloniki. Now, following a €1.5 million restoration, the city's oldest and largest Ottoman bathhouse is fully open to visitors for the first time in decades. Founded in 1444 by Sultan Murad...
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The men who stared down death
The Culture Ministry has unveiled a newly acquired collection of photographs documenting the Nazi execution of 200 Communist prisoners at the Kaisariani shooting range on May 1, 1944 – images so historically significant that the state has declared them...
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Greece braces for potential refugee wave
Greece, like the rest of Europe, may face new refugee arrivals from Iran and neighboring countries, depending on how long military operations in Iran and the wider Middle East continue, officials and analysts say. Concern is mounting within the Greek...
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`Cyprus is not far away,' says Dendias
Greek warships were expected to arrive off Cyprus early Wednesday, completing what Athens described as a defensive deployment aimed at shielding the island from a possible Iranian strike and underscoring Greece's solidarity with Nicosia. The arrival...
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Athens prioritizes de-escalation
Confronted with a widening Middle East conflict and mounting security concerns in nearby Cyprus, the Greek government has moved to protect its citizens abroad while placing de-escalation and regional stability at the center of its response to the...
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Tens of thousands rally on anniversary of Tempe disaster
Protesters gathered in front of Parliament on the third anniversary of the Tempe train crash, Greece’s deadliest rail disaster, on Saturday. Tens of thousands rallied across the country, demanding justice ahead of a criminal trial starting this month....
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Two fleet veterans lower flag after decades at sea
Two main units of the fleet are being decommissioned after more than four decades of service and countless nautical miles: the frigate (pictured) Themistokles (F-465), type S, and the submarine Poseidon (S-116), type 209. Built in 1981, the...
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USS Gerald Ford sails from Crete to East Med as diplomacy dims
After a refueling stop in Souda in Crete, the USS Gerald R. Ford set course for Israel, signaling a sharper American posture in a region on edge. At the same time, American and Iranian officials met in Geneva for what was described as an effort to find...
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Greece, France near defense renewal
A few days after Easter, and in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron, Greece and France are expected to sign in Athens the renewal of their strategic partnership agreement on defense and security cooperation, which expires later this...
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A village between drought and deluge
Vangelis Simoglou did not sleep a minute the night the Evros River rose to swallow his fields and lap at the first houses of his village, Pythio in northern Evros, in northeastern Greece. He and his neighbors started up their tractors and spent hours...
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Shoplifting surge plagues supermarkets
Shoplifting at Greek supermarkets has surged, costing stores more than €320 million annually, exceeding the sector's total pre-tax profits as income pressures from years of inflation push households to the breaking point, industry officials say. The...
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A night at the museum
The harpist Sissi Rada at the Museum of Cycladic Art in 2024. Greek museums are ditching their hushed, reverential reputations – and throwing parties instead. From rooftop cocktails gatherings and DJ sets at the Goulandris Foundation to experimental...
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Mitsotakis pitches Greece as AI bridge
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. The Greek PM took part on Wednesday in the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, joining global leaders as part of a two-day visit to India. The gathering centers on shaping a...
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Space dreams meet planetary facts
At 11 a.m., the foyer of the New Digital Planetarium filled with middle school students, arriving at the day's peak hour for school visits. Many had grown up on science fiction and a torrent of online images where space travel seems effortless, one...
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Greece seeks return of Nazi execution photographs
The Culture Ministry said experts have contacted a collector who put up for auction photographs depicting the execution of 200 communists on May 1, 1944, at the shooting range in Kaisariani, and will visit him in Ghent, Belgium, to assess their...
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Farmers drive their protest to capital
A nationwide rally of farmers, livestock breeders and beekeepers concluded Friday in Syntagma Square, with dozens of tractors parked in front of Parliament and protesters vowing to press on with their demands. The farmers began arriving in Athens...
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One avenue, two competing visions
The future of traffic on Vasilissis Olgas Avenue now rests with the government, even as a long-delayed redevelopment project nears completion, city officials say. The renovation of the avenue, closed in 2020 under former Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis, is...
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Low expectations for Ankara summit
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are scheduled to meet midday Wednesday in Ankara, 17 months after their last encounter, amid last-minute disruptions reflecting the persistent lack of trust that defines...
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Violence at university spurs safety push
The Education Ministry announced it will implement a university safety law following violent clashes at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki early Saturday morning. Unknown individuals emerged from the Polytechnic school after midnight and attacked...
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Media at a crossroads
The news of mass layoffs at the Washington Post added to a series of signs that the media worldwide are facing an unprecedented crisis. And because no country – especially no democracy – can get very far without robust and independent media, this news...
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Air Force spy case: One man or wider network?
Authorities are investigating whether a 54-year-old Air Force squadron leader (center) recruited additional military personnel in an alleged espionage network. The officer, charged with collecting and transmitting classified military information to...
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Espionage case rattles military
A senior Air Force officer was arrested Thursday on espionage charges, accused of transmitting highly classified military information to China using specialized encrypted software, according to government and security sources. Officials said the...
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Where Aristotle once walked, digital guides now follow
The Culture Ministry is modernizing the archaeological site of Aristotle's Lyceum in Athens with new infrastructure and digital enhancements. Two projects are planned under the `Lavrio-Athens-Eleusis' integrated spatial investment program, to be...
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Documenting the grace of another era
The Diamantidi Mansion, Paleo Psychiko; the work of architect Alexandros Nikoloudis around 1925. The suburbs of Psychiko, Neo Psychiko and Filothei, now administratively unified, still contain a substantial stock of historic houses that trace patterns...
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Corfu's masks awaken: Venetian revelry ignites Ionian isle
Corfu Town ushered in the 2026 Carnival on Sunday evening with a spectacle that fused pageantry, history and satire, as masked revelers in powdered wigs and brocaded gowns filled the island's historic squares beneath showers of confetti and the blare...
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Lessons from the Imia crisis
Have we learned anything from the 1996 Imia crisis? Have the lessons been incorporated into the DNA of the Greek state so that the next one will be managed differently? Let's see what the main problems were and whether they have been corrected. The...
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Schools struggle with unfit educators
Greek education authorities have recorded about 2,500 teachers nationwide who are deemed unable to perform classroom duties, mostly for psychological reasons, according to senior officials at the Ministry of Education. The educators are described...
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Turkey doubles down on Aegean lines
Turkey says any research activity east of the 25th meridian, which notionally divides the Aegean Sea in half, should be conducted in coordination with Turkish authorities, according to sources at the Turkish Defense Ministry. The clarification was...
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France underscores EU unity on SAFE
France's minister of the armed forces said access by non-EU countries to loans under the European Union's SAFE defense financing regulation requires unanimous approval by all member-states, as she reaffirmed France's deepening strategic defense...
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Tragedy strikes Greek soccer fans in Romania
Firefighters and police officers stand near the vehicles involved in a road accident with a minibus carrying PAOK soccer fans, in Romania on Tuesday. Seven people were killed and three injured in a multi-vehicle crash shortly after 1 p.m. near...
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Gas leak blamed in deadly blast
An early-morning gas leak is the leading cause of a powerful explosion and fire that tore through the Violanta biscuit factory in the central Greek city of Trikala, killing five workers, according to initial findings by the fire service, which has...
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A capital choking on its own wheels
Finding parking in Athens neighborhoods like Kypseli (photo) can take over 30 minutes, reflecting Greece’s status as the EU region with the fourth-highest car ownership: 872 vehicles per 1,000 residents, far above the European average of 550. Despite...
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A final slips away, but a medal remains within reach
Greece's goalkeeper Panagiotis Tzortzatos, right, tries to block a shot from Hungary’s Szilard Jansik during the semifinal match between Greece and Hungary at the men’s European Water Polo Championship in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday. Greece lost 15-12,...
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When crisis warnings stay in the drawers
Images and videos laid bare the scale of destruction caused by flooding across the Athens basin, from Agios Dimitrios and Ano Glyfada to Vari, Keratsini, Perama, Salamina, Alimos and western Attica. Despite preparations ahead of the expected weather...
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Heavy rain
flooded Athens’ streets Wednesday as authorities moved to curb travel during severe weather. Schools were closed, public services scaled back and many workers shifted to remote work as intense rainfall overwhelmed urban infrastructure. Scientists...
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Athens navigates US-EU tensions
Greece is navigating a precarious diplomatic path as tensions escalate between the US and the European Union over Greenland, with concerns mounting about initiatives from Washington that could fundamentally reshape the international system. The focus...
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A state-of-the-art warship anchors new era
The frigate Kimon, the first of the Navy’s FDI-class ships, arrived at the Salamis Naval Base on Thursday, welcomed by Greece’s political and military leadership. Two more ships of the class, Nearchos and Formion, are scheduled for delivery in 2026,...
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48-hour ultimatum issued to farmers
The government and protesting farmers moved closer to confrontation on Tuesday after some farm groups refused to attend talks with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and insisted on escalating road blockades. Mitsotakis met representatives from 14...
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The gods departed; the crowds arrived
Mount Olympus is no longer the mountain of the gods but of visitors. Since the pandemic, crowding has spread from roadside tavernas to high elevations, with tents filling the Plateau of the Muses and bot‑ tlenecks forming on the trail to the summit,...
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Energy deals anchor US-Greece ties
Athens views the energy agreements signed last November as the most significant achievement in bilateral relations during the first year of Donald Trump's second term in the White House, according to Greek officials. At the same time, concern persists...
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Farmers signal possible dialogue shift
Forty days after the start of nationwide protests, farmers decided to move toward dialogue with the government, concluding weeks of road blockades and internal debate that disrupted daily life across the country. The shift followed multiple meetings,...
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Breaking stereotypes: Blind climber shines in 2025 highlights
Ten-year-old Theodoros Vasilakis from Ioannina, who was born blind, poses on a climbing wall in a portrait by photographer Dimitris Tosidis. ‘Through his example, he breaks stereotypes about disability, showing that nothing is impossible with...
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