Heavy snowfall and below-freezing temperatures have continued to sweep the European continent, causing more than a dozen deaths, grounding planes and crippling ferries in Italy and Turkey.

According to a report in Science News, Europe’s oldest living thing is a tree growing in the Pindus Mountains of Northern Greece.

Greece is in all the news bulletins as I write this and I suspect most Irish people have sympathy for the difficulties this ancient democracy finds itself in these days. 

Greece has been hit by an unprecedented wave of metal thefts as its recession-hit people turn to crime.

Protesters have broken into a conference centre and clashed with police in northern Greece after gathering to demonstrate against the presence of a German government official.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 struck northern Greece today, authorities said, but no injuries or damage were immediately reported.

Austerity-weary Greeks lashed out against more tax rises and pension cuts with a new round of strikes today.

TWO teenage girls have been accused of stabbing an 80-year-old man to death as they robbed him of €10.

Two teenage girls have been accused of stabbing an 80-year-old man to death as they robbed him of €10.

A convicted kidnapper on prison leave forced his way into a school in northern Greece – for the second time in three years – and took three staff members hostage for an hour before releasing them unharmed, police said.

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a 6,500-year-old farming settlement in central Greece.

President George Bush has told Nato members he wants to expand the alliance to include three Balkan countries and put Ukraine and Georgia on track for membership.

Heavy snow left 200 villages cut off across Greece today and forced airports to cancel dozens of flights.

Three people were killed overnight in wildfires that ravaged southern Greece and destroyed dozens of homes.

A British soldier serving in Kosovo was killed in a road accident while on holiday at a resort in northern Greece, police said today.

Firefighters raced today to exploit a lull in winds fanning a wildfire that ravaged holiday resorts in northern Greece, leaving a German tourist dead and dozens of people injured.

Hundreds of tourists and residents have been evacuated as a forest fire swept through resorts in northern Greece, destroying homes and cars.

Another seven wild birds were confirmed positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, increasing the number of confirmed cases for Greece to 16, the Agriculture Ministry said today.

Italy’s health minister toured parts of southern Italy today where six wild swans infected with the bird flu virus were found.

A special committee responding to the discovery of the deadly H5N1 virus in swans in southern Italy warned today that people should not touch sick or dead wild birds, but should seek professional help.

Bird flu has been detected in migratory birds in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, it was revealed today.

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 shook Greece today, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said.

A murder suspect who escaped from a police van after allegedly killing two officers was found dead in northern Greece today after a massive manhunt, authorities said.

A British Airways plane flying to London’s Gatwick Airport returned to northern Greece today after experiencing a problem with its electrical system, Greek authorities said.

The Christian Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria was killed today when an army helicopter that was transporting him and his entourage to a monastic enclave in northern Greece crashed in the sea, government and church officials said.

Gillian O’Sullivan, the Irish 20km race walker and one of our strongest medal hopes, has pulled out of the Olympics in Athens.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Greece’s muslim minority today in a rare visit that underscored the efforts by both nations to end decades of confrontation and tensions.

Tens of thousands of protesters preparing to rally at a European Union summit in northern Greece later this month will get help from an unlikely ally: the Athens government.

CHURCH bells tolled across the northern Greek village of Makrohori yesterday as funerals were held for 11 of the 22 teenagers killed in one of the country’s worst traffic accidents.

Church bells tolled across the northern Greek village of Makrohori today as funerals were held for 11 of the 22 teenagers killed in one of the country’s worst traffic accidents.

At least 14 people, including two children, died when a bus plunged over the edge of a bridge in northern Greece today.

Greece’s crackdown on the November 17 terrorists foiled a major attack on Nato peacekeepers, it was claimed as police said a tenth suspected member of the group had been arrested.

Heavy snow trapped more than 100 people on a passenger train in Greece today, as bad weather cut off hundreds of villages and closed airports in the north of the country.