Thessaloniki

September 17-21, 1975. Official visit of French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to Greece (Athens and Thessaloniki). Substantial talks with Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, in a warm atmosphere. Dinner at the Presidential Palace. Greek civilization and French enlightenment.

The vaccination of the Greek population against the coronavirus is undoubtedly the country's biggest bet and challenge over the coming months, according to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Tuesday.

A large-scale operation involving the police, coast guard and the armed forces has already been prepared for the storage and transport of vaccines when the first delivery arrives on December 26, and the first inoculations begin the day after.

Greece will receive the first batch of coronavirus vaccines on December 26, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Friday, adding that the first vaccinations will take place at five Covid-designated hospitals in Athens and Thessaloniki.

The curfew in West Attica's Elefsina, Mandra and Aspropyrgos has been extended and will start at 6 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. as of Friday, Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said on Thursday, announcing measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus in three of the area's five municipalities.

Municipal police in the northern port city of Thessaloniki conducted an operation on Wednesday to remove electric scooters from several parts of the seafront which are not allowed to circulate, as part of the measures introduced to battle the coronavirus.

The city police collected 59 scooters belonging to a private rental company.

Greek authorities on Sunday detained two foreigners for suspected human trafficking.

Two Pakistani citizens, aged 25 and 29 years old, were detained on the Egnatia Odos highway near the port city of Thessaloniki for trafficking nine migrants from Syria.

Three of the migrants were found inside the trunk of the car.

The bulk of Greece's lockdown measures will remain in place over the Christmas period although bookshops and hairdressers can reopen next week and the quarantine on people entering the country will be relaxed, authorities said Friday.

Seagulls fish in the surf beneath an overcast sky at sunset in Faliro Bay, on Athens' southern coast, on Thursday. A storm earlier flooded streets and created bottlenecks on many main roads of the Greek capital, while other regions reported damage from hailstorms as a wet weather front swept across the country.

Greek authorities have announced that bookshops and hairdressers will be allowed to open as of next Monday, while all other retail stores, entertainment venues, restaurants, bars and cafes will remain shut throughout the Christmas period as part of the country's second lockdown.