NEWS ABOUT: Athens
Athens stories: 13 news briefs
MUSEUM REVIEW
Vanity Fair Jun 17, 09 1:52 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
The Parthenon has been called the one “absolutely right” building on the planet, and it now has a fitting memorial, Christopher Hitchens writes in Vanity Fair . Hitchens is among the first to visit the new Acropolis Museum in Athens, and it does not disappoint. Artifacts, expert reproductions, and a stunning view of the Parthenon are key. The one problem is what isn’t there.
More »
Associated Press Apr 25, 09 9:41 PM CDT
(AP Summary) -
Authorities were on a nationwide manhunt for a University of Georgia professor suspected in the shooting deaths of three people, including his ex-wife, at a community theater near campus today. Police were searching for 57-year-old George Zinkhan, who has been a marketing professor at the university in Athens since the 1990s.
More »
Paris smelly? Athenians surly?
Los Angeles Times Jan 4, 09 5:29 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Italy? Ugly. Grand Canyon? A pain. No travel hot spot is safe after cranky readers filled Los Angeles Times inboxes with their picks for "overrated travel destinations." Bali: "Mosquitoes ate us up," wrote two travelers, and "there was poverty everywhere." Austin: "About the only thing Austin has going for it is a plethora of Tex-Mex restaurants," wrote one Yankee who ventured South. Seattle: "The city is nothing more than an overcaffeinated shopping mall filled with upper-middle-class white people," sniffed a Virginian.
More »
Meanwhile, few attend economic protest
Der Spiegel Dec 10, 08 8:43 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Athens police said yesterday that they were pursuing a de-escalation strategy, but the scene that unfolded outside Athens Polytechnic last night didn’t look like de-escalation. As black-clad rioters shouted slogans from behind the university’s fence, police on the other side threw rocks at them, yelling “Come on out, you cowards! Come out and get us!” Neither side seems interested in ending the violence, Der Spiegel reports.
More »
Violence erupts after protest
New York Times Dec 9, 08 12:04 PM CST
(Newser Summary) -
More violence broke out today in Athens following the funeral of the 15-year-old boy shot by police on Saturday, the New York Times reports. Hundreds gathered for the hour-long funeral, which was ringed by riot police. After the otherwise peaceful ceremony, groups of youths began throwing gasoline bombs and rocks, prompting the police to fire tear gas into the crowd.
More »
Third night of violence across Greece as nation braces for shot teen's funeral
Guardian (UK) Dec 9, 08 2:44 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Greek officials vowed to crack down on rioters battling police and tearing up Athens and other major cities in the worst street violence in three decades, the Guardian reports. The rioting was sparked Saturday after police shot to death a teenage boy, and intensified violence is expected today as the boy’s funeral takes place. Officials have been criticized for failing to bring the rioters under control, but promised after an emergency meeting yesterday to get tough.
More »
Police see no sign of protests' end
Guardian (UK) Dec 8, 08 3:08 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
More than 30 people have been injured and streets ripped apart as thousands of protesters torched buildings, smashed windows and battled Greek police in a second day of pitched rioting in downtown Athens and other cities, the Guardian reports. "I've never seen anything like this," said a store clerk. "So much of Athens is destroyed and it all happened in just a couple of hours."
More »
Two police officers arrested, but unrest spreads
BBC Dec 7, 08 2:55 PM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Hurling firebombs, thousands of demonstrators in Greece continued to clash with police during a second day of riots protesting the police killing of a teenager, the BBC reports. Protesters in Athens attacked banks and shops and lobbed rocks at police, who responded with tear gas. Six people were arrested during yesterday’s riots, which wounded 24 police officers.
More »
Worst violence in years spreads to other cities
BBC Dec 7, 08 5:59 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Riots erupted in Athens and several other Greek cities late last night after police shot dead a teenage boy, reports the BBC. Young rioters, many of them anarchists, battled police, firebombed buildings and cars, and smashed shop windows in Athens, Thessaloniki, Komotini, Ioannina, and Crete. It was the worst street violence in Greece in several years. Two officers have been suspended, and an investigation into the shooting is under way.
More »
Work said to be 'liberated' from Nazis billed as third portrait of Dr. Gachet
Guardian (UK) May 19, 08 6:35 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
A painting under examination in Greece is being billed as the last work of Vincent van Gogh, the Guardian reports. Seized by the Nazis from French Jews, then "liberated" by Greek resistance fighters in 1944, the work appears to be a third portrait of van Gogh’s physician, Dr. Gachet—though a notebook found with the portrait has been dismissed as not van Gogh's.
More »
Demonstrators try to block torch as it passes from Greeks to Chinese; 10 arrested
New York Times Mar 30, 08 3:23 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
Protesters against China’s Tibet crackdown shook up today’s Olympic torch hand-off in Athens, the New York Times reports. Some 15 people dodged security to fly banners and shout “Free Tibet” as they tried to block Greek officials from passing the flame to Beijing authorities. Ten were nabbed by police, but it’s not yet clear whether they’ll face charges.
More »
Villages stranded, schools closed, flights canceled
Bloomberg Feb 18, 08 9:02 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
A freak snowstorm stranded as many as 200 Greek villages and halted hundreds of flights yesterday and today in Athens, reports Bloomberg. Power and water supply problems were reported across the country and civil defense authorities were on alert. Up to six inches of snow buried the Greek capital, a rare occurrence in the usually balmy town, and temperatures plunged below zero.
More »
Officials say blazes are contained, but critics condemn 'national humiliation'
BBC Aug 29, 07 5:21 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
Firefighters in Greece said today they have tamed the wildfires that have ravaged the countryside, the BBC reports, but the political tempest over the handling of the crisis is just heating up. As protesters demonstrated in Athens against the government, crews said the fires that have claimed 63 lives are “generally receding” but admitted that some blazes continued.
More »
