Greece

Greece’s mussel harvest wiped out by warming seas

When Anastasios Zakalkas pulled up the ropes of his mussel farm in the Aegean Sea last month, the devastation was clear: the lines were not heaving with molluscs as they should be at harvest time but were instead filled with cracked, empty shells. It is the second time in three years that record sea temperatures have hit the mussel harvest in northern Greece, where farmers said they saw a 90% drop in the 2024 catch. Next year will be a dud too, Zakalkas said, because all the seed for the coming...

August 13, 2024 1:19 PM

Wildfire fanned by gales menaces Athens suburbs as residents flee

Greece's worst wildfire this year spread into the Athens suburbs on Monday, forcing hundreds of people to flee as it torched trees, homes and cars and choked busy roads with smoke and ash. The government called for help from fellow EU members to tackle the fire that was burning out of control for a second day, fanned by gale force winds that pushed it from the wooded hills north of the city. Firefighters said flames, threatening apartment blocks, schools and businesses, had reached the deepest...