THESSALONIKI, Greece: The stone walls that cut through the old quarter of Greece’s second-largest city defended Thessaloniki for more than 2,000 years. For a 24-year-old Pakistani immigrant, parts of the remaining ramparts mean survival.
Muhammed Adeel and other homeless men sleep in the old reinforced gun positions. Filthy blankets, rolled-up mattresses and empty food packaging fill the protected chambers that once housed cannon.
“I came here with a dream, but I have nothing — no job, nowhere to live, nothing at all,” Adeel said after a near-freezing night in a dome-shaped casemate.
The European Union struck a deal with Turkey nearly two years ago to halt the surge of asylum-seekers attempting the dangerous sea voyage from Turkey to the Greek islands, the most popular route to Europe at the time. The crackdown also left tens of thousands of newcomers confined to Greece’s eastern islands or mainland camps during the long asylum application process.
Some desperate migrants, particularly those with slim chances of winning asylum, have turned to another route — heading overland through Turkey and wading across the heavily policed Evros River to neighboring Greece.
The land route’s increasing appeal is clear. Greek police caught 1,072 people who had entered the country’s Evros region illegally in October 2017, compared to 655 in the same month a year earlier.
Adeel was among those who slipped through the cracks. The young man said he paid smugglers $2,500 to take him from Turkey to Thessaloniki, a trip that involved crossing the river and a six-hour ride hidden in the back of a truck.
His money and hope ran out in Thessaloniki, where destitute and homeless migrants number in the hundreds, afraid to seek help for fear of deportation. The vast majority hoped Greece was just a stepping-stone to more prosperous European countries. But when they got here they found the routes north into Europe closed off to keep them out.
With chances of successfully gaining asylum slim and jobs near impossible to find in a country where unemployment still runs at 21 percent, most get by in Greece as best they can while waiting for a way to smuggle themselves onward.
“Everyone in Pakistan has a dream. And everyone who makes it to (Europe) comes with hope of achieving something, to do something for their parents,” Adeel said.
Taking shelter in a tiny casemate built in medieval times and depending on food handouts from volunteers and charities is far from his dream. Adeel wants to make it to the economically stronger heart of Europe, where he believes he has a better chance of landing a job.
“This is not a future,” he said.
Border jumps usually get more expensive the farther into central Europe immigrants try to get. From Greece, they can expect to pay $3,000-4,000 for the next leg of their journey, according to multiple interviews conducted by the Associated Press.
That might be traveling across Greece’s northern border by foot into Macedonia and from there to Serbia, hiding in an Italy-bound freight container or risking a flight with forged ID papers.
It’s a journey that remains out of reach for Kamran Misi, 33, a Pakistani immigrant who got stranded in Thessaloniki after he crossed the Evros River. Misi was homeless for six months until a church-run shelter took him in.
His goal now is to have something resembling a normal life.
“When we came here, we came here with a lot of hopes,” Misi said. “We had lot of dreams that we would find a peaceful life, a place to stay, and get work, whatever — like what all normal people need.”
Elena Stamatoukou, a volunteer at Solidarity Now, a charity that serves both Greeks affected by their country’s economic crisis problems and new immigrants, said the organization received aid requests in December from 289 people in Thessaloniki.
“They wanted shelter or legal advice, and all had one thing in common: They were homeless,” she said.
Many of Thessaloniki’s migrants sleep rough in the same places as the city’s resident homeless people — vacant buildings, park benches, abandoned construction sites, the main square.
“We go there at around 3 a.m., when there is nobody else around, and we leave very early,” Muhammad Fiaz, an 18-year-old Pakistani who has spent more than five months wandering the streets of Thessaloniki.
“I want to go to Italy,” he said. “But each time I try, the police arrest me.”
Migrants on stalled route hide in Greek city’s ancient walls
Migrants on stalled route hide in Greek city’s ancient walls
Pope Francis calls for investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute ‘genocide’
- First time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip
- Last year, Francis met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war
It’s the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon have been “immoral” and disproportionate, and that its military has gone beyond the rules of war.
The book, by Hernan Reyes Alcaide and based on interviews with the Pope, is entitled “Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims toward a better world.” It will be released on Tuesday ahead of the pope’s 2025 jubilee. Francis’ yearlong jubilee is expected to bring more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome to celebrate the Holy Year.
“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope said in excerpts published Sunday by the Italian daily La Stampa.
“We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he added.
Last year, Francis met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war and set off a firestorm by using words that Vatican diplomats usually avoid: “terrorism” and, according to the Palestinians, “genocide.”
Francis spoke at the time about the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians after his meetings, which were arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal and a temporary halt in fighting was announced.
The pontiff, who last week also met with a delegation of Israeli hostages who were released and their families pressing the campaign to bring the remaining captives home had editorial control over the upcoming book.
The war started when the militant Hamas group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 as hostages and taking them back to Gaza, where dozens still remain.
Israel’s subsequent yearlong military campaign has killed more than 43,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, whose count doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters, though they say more than half of the dead are women and children.
The Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has triggered several legal cases at international courts in The Hague involving requests for arrest warrants as well as accusations and denials of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
In the new book, Francis also speaks about migration and the problem of integrating migrants in their host countries.
“Faced with this challenge, no country can be left alone and no one can think of addressing the issue in isolation through more restrictive and repressive laws, sometimes approved under the pressure of fear or in search of electoral advantages,” Francis said.
“On the contrary, just as we see that there is a globalization of indifference, we must respond with the globalization of charity and cooperation,” he added. Francis also mentioned the “still open wound of the war in Ukraine has led thousands of people to abandon their homes, especially during the first months of the conflict.”
Survivors still trapped after deadly Tanzania building collapse
- The four-story block came down at around 9:00 a.m. on Saturday in the east African country’s busy Kariakoo market
- Dar es Salaam has been the scene of a frenetic property boom with buildings shooting up at speed, often with scant regard for regulations
DAR ES SALAAM: Tanzanian rescue workers dug through the ruins of a collapsed building for a second day on Sunday, hoping to pull survivors from beneath the rubble.
The four-story block came down at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT) on Saturday in the east African country’s busy Kariakoo market, in the center of the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
Five people have been confirmed dead from the disaster, the fire brigade said. At least 70 people had been retrieved alive from the site.
Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Albert Chalamila on Sunday said there were more people still trapped in the basement floor of the shattered building, without specifying how many.
“We are communicating... and already we have supplied them with oxygen and water,” he said.
“They are stable and we believe they will be rescued alive and safe.”
The fire brigade chief John Masunga said the search and rescue had been hampered by the many walls making up the structure of the building.
In the aftermath of the building’s floors rapidly buckling beneath each other until they formed a mountain of debris, hundreds of first responders used sledgehammers and their bare hands to pull away masonry for hours.
Cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were then brought in to help.
It is not clear why the commercial building collapsed but witnesses told local media that construction to expand its underground business space began on Friday.
The incident has renewed criticism over unregulated construction in the Indian Ocean city of more than five million people.
One of the world’s fastest growing cities, Dar es Salaam has been the scene of a frenetic property boom with buildings shooting up at speed, often with scant regard for regulations.
In 2013, a 16-story building collapsed in Dar es Salaam, killing 34 people.
Indian police battle Maoist rebels, five killed
- More than 10,000 people have died in the insurgency against the Maoists
- The clash took place in regions bordering Kanker and Narayanpur
RAIPUR, India: Indian security forces have killed five Maoist rebels in jungle clashes, an officer said Sunday, as security forces seek to quash the decades-long insurgency in the resource-rich central regions.
Gun battles took place in the Abujhmad forests of Chhattisgarh state on Saturday, taking the toll of the conflict in 2024 to around 200, one of the highest in years.
More than 10,000 people have died in the insurgency against the Maoists — known as the Naxalite movement, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized indigenous people.
“In the gunbattle five Maoists have been killed,” senior police officer P. Sunderraj said, adding that two of the rebels were women.
The clash took place in regions bordering Kanker and Narayanpur, with police seizing rifles and ammunition from the corpses.
Two officers were wounded in the clash.
India’s government has warned the insurgents to surrender, with Amit Shah, the interior minister, saying in September that he expected the rebellion to be defeated by early 2026.
The Naxalites, named for the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
They demanded land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for the local people, and made inroads in a number of remote communities.
India claimed to have confined the insurgency to about 45 districts in 2023, down from 96 in 2010.
Authorities have pumped in millions of dollars for new investments in local infrastructure projects and social spending.
India’s successful test of hypersonic missile puts it among elite group
- Missile is designed to carry payloads for ranges exceeding 1,500 km for armed forces
- India is striving to develop long-range missiles along with China, Russia and United States
NEW DELHI: India has successfully tested a domestically developed long-range hypersonic missile, it said on Sunday, attaining a key milestone in military development that puts it in a small group of nations possessing the advanced technology.
The global push for hypersonic weapons figures in the efforts of some countries, such as India, which is striving to develop advanced long-range missiles, along with China, Russia and the United States.
The Indian missile, developed by the state-run Defense Research and Development Organization and industry partners, is designed to carry payloads for ranges exceeding 1,500 km (930 miles) for the armed forces, the government said in a statement.
“The flight data ... confirmed the successful terminal maneuvers and impact with high degree of accuracy,” it added.
The test-firing took place from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam island off the eastern coast of Odisha state on Saturday, it said.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh called the test a “historic achievement” in a post on X, adding that it placed India among a select group of nations possessing such critical and advanced technologies.
Russia targets Ukraine’s power grid in ‘massive’ missile strike, officials say
- Ukrainians have been bracing for a major attack on the hobbled power system for weeks
- A crippling damage to the grid that would cause long blackouts and build psychological pressure
KYIV: Blasts rang out across Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and other cities early on Sunday, as Russia staged its biggest missile attack since August and targeted power facilities with the winter setting in, officials said.
Ukrainians have been bracing for a major attack on the hobbled power system for weeks, fearing crippling damage to the grid that would cause long blackouts and build psychological pressure at a critical moment in the war Russia launched in February 2022.
“Another massive attack on the power system is under way. The enemy is attacking electricity generation and transmission facilities throughout Ukraine,” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on Facebook.
Air defenses could be heard engaging drones over the capital in the night, and a series of powerful blasts rang out across the city center as the missile attack was under way in the morning.
The scale of the damage was not immediately clear. Officials cut power supply to numerous city districts, including in Kyiv, the surrounding region and Dnipropetrovsk region, in what they said was a precaution to prevent a surge in case of damage.
Authorities in the Volyn region in northwestern Ukraine said energy infrastructure had sustained damage but did not elaborate. Officials often withhold information on the state of the power system because of the war.
In Mykolaiv in the south, two people were killed in the overnight drone attack, the regional governor said. Blasts shook the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia and the Black Sea port of Odesa, Reuters witnesses said. More blasts were reported in the regions of Kryvyi Rih in the south and Rivne in the west.
“Russia launched one of the largest air attacks: drones and missiles against peaceful cities, sleeping civilians, critical infrastructure,” said Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
He described the strike as Moscow’s “true response” to leaders who had interacted with President Vladimir Putin, an apparent swipe at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who placed a phone call to the Russian leader on Friday for the first time since late 2022.
NATO member Poland, which borders Ukraine to the west, said it had scrambled its air force within its airspace as a security precaution due to the Russian attack, which it said used cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones.
Poland “activated all available forces and resources at his disposal, the on-duty fighter pairs were scrambled, and the ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems reached the highest state of readiness,” the operational command of its armed forces posted on X.
Ukraine’s air force urged residents to take cover, providing regular updates on the progress of Russian cruise, ballistic and hypersonic missiles it said were hurtling through Ukrainian air space.
In Kyiv, the roof of a residential building caught fire due to falling debris and at least two people were hurt, city officials said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Emergency services were dispatched to the scene,” Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Russia last conducted a major missile strike on Kyiv on Aug. 26, when officials said it fired a salvo of more than 200 drones and missiles across the country in an attack that attack killed seven people.
