Ο συναγερμός στην έδρα του Πενταγώνου, στη Βιρτζίνια των ΗΠΑ, αποδείχθηκε εσφαλμένος, όπως μεταδίδει το CNN επικαλούμενο καλά πληροφορημένες πηγές. Κατά την έρευνα που διενεργήθηκε, οι μετρήσεις έδειξαν πως δεν συντρέχει λόγος ανησυχίας. New: Here's video of fire and EMS units from @ArlingtonVaFD and neighboring jurisdictions that have been staging at the Pentagon for a hazmat incident involving an odor and possibly detectors going off. They have been in a long standby mode waiting for lab testing. @ARLnowDOTcom… pic.twitter.com/MZEiVFs49V— Dave Statter (@STATter911) June 11, 2026 «Το Πεντάγωνο διαθέτει προηγμένα συστήματα για την ασφάλεια του κτιρίου και του προσωπικού του. Αυτά τα συστήματα ανίχνευσαν ζήτημα που αφορά την ποιότητα του αέρα και απαιτούσε τη λήψη προληπτικών μέτρων έως ότου καθοριστεί η σοβαρότητά του», δήλωσε ο εκπρόσωπος Τύπου Σον Παρνέλ. Περίπου 23.000 έως 27.000 άνθρωποι εργάζονται στο Πεντάγωνο.  Το γραφείο του Αμερικανού Υπουργού Άμυνας Πιτ Χέγκσεθ και το γραφείο του στρατηγού Dan Caine, δεν βρίσκονται στους διαδρόμους που έχουν τεθεί σε αποκλεισμό, μετέδωσε το FOX Νews.  Πηγή: CNN, Reuters Διαβάστε επίσης: ΗΠΑ: Συναγερμός στο Πεντάγωνο – Eκκένωση ορόφων www.ertnews.gr

Οι αγώνες που θα διεξαχθούν στις έντεκα αμερικανικές πόλεις που θα φιλοξενήσουν το Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο του 2026, το οποίο ξεκινά σήμερα και θα διαρκέσει περισσότερο από ένα μήνα, «θα είναι πολύ ασφαλείς», αλλά «δεν μπορούμε να ελέγξουμε έναν μοναχικό λύκο», δήλωσε σήμερα ο υπουργός Εσωτερικής Ασφάλειας των ΗΠΑ Μαρκγουέιν Μάλιν. «Έχουμε πραγματικά κινητοποιηθεί. Όλες οι πόλεις μας που φιλοξενούν αγώνες έχουν πραγματικά συνεργαστεί. Οι αγώνες θα είναι πολύ ασφαλείς. (…) Είναι όσο πιο ασφαλείς γίνεται. Αλλά δεν μπορούμε να ελέγξουμε έναν μοναχικό λύκο», τόνισε σήμερα ο υπουργός της κυβέρνησης Τραμπ στο Fox News, συγκρίνοντας τους επερχόμενους αγώνες στα αμερικανικά στάδια με «78 Super Bowl σε 38 ημέρες». Ο αξιωματούχος προσδιόρισε συγκεκριμένα την ζώνη «πριν την είσοδο στην περίμετρο ασφαλείας, κάτι που μας ανησυχεί πολύ». «Αλλά ενισχύουμε» την αστυνομική παρουσία εκεί, ανέφερε. Έντεκα από τα δεκαέξι στάδια για το Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο του 2026 βρίσκονται στις ΗΠΑ, από τη Βοστώνη μέχρι το Σαν Φρανσίσκο, συμπεριλαμβανομένων της Ατλάντα και του Κάνσας Σίτι. Ο πρώτος αγώνας που θα διεξαχθεί εκεί θα είναι οι ΗΠΑ εναντίον της Παραγουάης στο Λος Άντζελες αύριο Παρασκευή. Ο τελικός θα διεξαχθεί στις 19 Ιουλίου στα προάστια της Νέας Υόρκης. Ο εναρκτήριος αγώνας, μεταξύ Μεξικού και Νότιας Αφρικής, θα πραγματοποιηθεί στην Πόλη του Μεξικού σήμερα το βράδυ (ώρα Ελλάδας). www.ertnews.gr

A catamaran boat was destroyed and a sailboat sank on Thursday, during a fire in the port of Paxos in the Ionian Sea. The captain of one boat jumped into the sea to save himself. The fire broke out on one tourists boat and spread to the one anchored right next to it, engulfing both […] The post Fire on touristic boats in the port of Paxos in Ionian Sea (Videos) appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.

A senior Greek government official resigned on Thursday due to alleged implication in the urban-planning bribery scandal. It is the second resignation of a secretary general of conservative ruling New Democracy party since Monday and in connection with this building licenses scandal.  The Secretary General of Culture Ministry, Giorgos Didaskalou, also resigned in the backdrop […] The post Urban-planning scandal: 2nd resignation of ND Secretary General appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.

A digital depiction of a battle during the Byzantine-Norman wars. Credit: Greek Reporter archive The invasion of the Byzantine Empire by the Normans is a fascinating chapter of Roman history that is often overlooked. Imagine descendants of Viking raiders, now known as Normans after settling in northern France, setting their sights on southeastern Europe and threatening the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. Eager to expand their influence beyond their French territories, these ambitious warriors turned their attention to the wealthy Byzantine lands. What followed was a century-long struggle that would fundamentally reshape the balance of power in medieval Europe. The beginning of the story between the Normans and the Byzantine Empire The first signs of trouble appeared around AD 1017, when small groups of Norman knights began turning their attention toward southern Italy, initially in search of mercenary work. The Byzantines, who still controlled significant territories on the Italian peninsula, believed these foreign fighters could prove useful in defending their holdings. After all, they needed additional manpower to deal with local rebellions as well as the frequent Arab raids originating from Sicily. What the Byzantine administration failed to grasp early on was that the Normans came from a culture that placed extraordinary value on land acquisition above almost everything else. In Normandy, in northern France, younger sons were often left landless due to inheritance laws that favored the eldest child. Southern Italy, with its patchwork of competing communities and loosely defined borders, therefore looked like an ideal opportunity for expansion. The Byzantines would learn this lesson the hard way. Within a few decades of their arrival, the Normans—initially seen as hired help—had begun establishing permanent bases across the region. Although Norman groups often fought one another in the early years, a more unified front gradually emerged. They would accept Byzantine payment for military service, only to use their positions to seize territory for themselves and steadily challenge Byzantine authority throughout the region. The rise of Robert Guiscard A man who would play a crucial role in what followed was Robert de Hauteville, better known as Robert Guiscard, “the Cunning.” This Norman was not the eldest son nor was he especially wealthy, and he was certainly not expected to carve out lands and establish his own realm. Nonetheless, he did so anyway. Guiscard arrived in southern Italy around AD 1047 and immediately set about strengthening and consolidating Norman power. He possessed an almost uncanny ability to turn enemies into allies and allies into subjects. Through a combination of strategic marriages—a common practice at the time—military strength, and sheer boldness (which others might have called recklessness), he gradually unified the fragmented Norman factions under his leadership. It would take until AD 1071 for Byzantine Italy to finally collapse. Guiscard captured Bari, the last major Byzantine stronghold on the Italian peninsula. For the Byzantines, the loss was deeply symbolic. For more than five centuries, the Eastern Roman Empire had maintained a presence in Italy, a living link to the legacy of the Western Roman Empire and the origins of the Roman world itself. That connection was now severed by a band of opportunistic outsiders. Norman aggression against Constantinople The conquest of southern Italy was only the beginning for the Normans. Robert Guiscard’s ambitions extended far beyond the Italian peninsula. His ultimate goal was Constantinople itself. In AD 1081, he launched what can only be described as one of the most audacious military campaigns of the Middle Ages. The plan was bold in scope. Guiscard intended to cross the Adriatic Sea, establish a beachhead in what is now Albania, and then march overland toward the Byzantine capital through northern Greece. His first objective was Dyrrhachium, the critical fortress controlling access to the main route into the Greek mainland. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos suddenly found himself confronting a nightmare scenario. The Normans had already demonstrated their ability to seize and hold territory, and now they were effectively at his doorstep, threatening the survival of the Byzantine Empire itself. To make matters worse, his army was a patchwork force of mercenaries, including (ironically) Anglo-Saxon refugees who had fled the Norman conquest of England. The Battle of Dyrrhachium in October AD 1081 proved disastrous for the Byzantines. Guiscard’s tactical skill, combined with his son Bohemond’s aggressive cavalry charges, shattered the imperial army. The road to Constantinople lay open, and for a brief moment, it seemed as though the thousand-year-old Eastern Roman Empire might actually fall to these descendants of Viking raiders. Desperate measures and unlikely alliances Alexios I was many things, but he was not a man to surrender easily. Faced with the possibility of total collapse, he executed one of the most impressive diplomatic maneuvers of the medieval world. First, he effectively bribed the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV to attack Norman territories in Italy, forcing Guiscard to divide his attention across two fronts. Then, in a move that would have lasting consequences, he granted extensive trading privileges to Venice in exchange for naval support against the Normans. These concessions were enormous for an empire like Byzantium. The commercial rights awarded to Venice would eventually help transform the city-state into one of the wealthiest powers in Europe, often at Byzantium’s own expense. However, in AD 1082, Alexios was fighting for survival, and generosity was not a choice but a necessity. The strategy worked—but only just. Guiscard was compelled to return to Italy to confront the German intervention, leaving Bohemond to continue the eastern campaign against Constantinople. What followed was several years of brutal mountain warfare across the Balkans, with neither side able to secure a decisive victory and both remaining locked in a tense stalemate. The long shadow of conflict and the Byzantine Empire attack by the Normans Although Robert Guiscard’s ambition to destroy the Byzantine Empire ultimately failed, the Norman-Byzantine conflict did not end with his death in AD 1085. A few years later, Bohemond attempted to revive the campaign in AD 1107, launching another invasion that also ended in failure. The final (and perhaps most devastating) Norman assault came in AD 1185, when a joint Norman-Sicilian force captured and sacked Thessaloniki, the empire’s second-largest city. The events in Thessaloniki were brutal. Contemporary sources describe widespread slaughter of civilians and the systematic destruction of the city. The scale of devastation shocked even medieval observers, who were accustomed to the violence of war. For the Byzantines, the psychological impact was profound. It demonstrated that no part of the empire was truly safe from Norman ambition, as even its greatest cities could fall to such overwhelming force. The Norman campaigns against Byzantium had consequences that extended far beyond Thessaloniki. They helped establish a powerful Catholic kingdom in southern Italy that would remain a persistent rival to the Byzantine Empire for centuries. More importantly, they drained Byzantine resources at a time when the empire was increasingly pressured by Turkish advances in the east. The prolonged conflict also deepened the divide between the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic worlds, turning former Christian counterparts into bitter adversaries. The Normans saw themselves as champions of Latin Christendom, while the Byzantines regarded them as little more than barbarian raiders. This growing hostility would ultimately culminate in the Fourth Crusade, when Crusader forces turned against Constantinople itself and sacked the city. Even today, traces of this once-forgotten conflict remain scattered across the Mediterranean. Norman castles still stand along the coastlines of southern Italy and Sicily.

The Turkish Ministry of National Defense building in Ankara. Turkey criticized the Cyprus-France defense agreement, warning it could affect the balance in the Eastern Mediterranean. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Modern Primat / CC BY SA 4 Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense has condemned a new defense agreement between Cyprus and France, warning that it could destabilize the Eastern Mediterranean and threaten regional security. The move came after Cyprus and France signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which strengthens defense cooperation between the two countries and allows for the conditional deployment of French military personnel and assets on the island nation. Following a ministry press briefing, Rear Admiral Zeki Aktürk, Press and Public Relations Advisor and Spokesperson for Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense, said Ankara was closely monitoring what it described as a provocative move that could escalate tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. Turkey objected to the agreement by arguing that France has no guarantor role in Cyprus. Ankara also claimed that the deal disregards the will and sovereign equal rights of Turkish Cypriots and seeks to unilaterally alter the delicate balance on the island. Cyprus and France agreement challenges balance, Turkey claims According to the Turkish Ministry of National Defense, the agreement signed between France and the Republic of Cyprus is contrary to the 1960 Cyprus Agreements and international law. Aktürk warned that actions of this kind, which, according to Turkey, lack legitimacy and have not been carefully reviewed, could have dangerous consequences for the southern part of the island. Furthermore, any military alliance in the region that disregards the balance in Cyprus and targets the rights and interests of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots would not succeed against Turkey, he proclaimed. “As a guarantor country, we will continue to protect the rights and interests and ensure the security of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, as we have done in the past and as we do today,” Aktürk maintained. He added that the Turkish Armed Forces have both the power and will to respond to the appropriate degree and in the most efficient way possible to any hostile stance which Ankara believes could pose a threat to the security of Turkish Cypriots. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı Haftalık Basın Bilgilendirme Toplantısı, Denizkurdu-II Tatbikatı’nın Seçkin Gözlemci Günü dolayısıyla Akdeniz açıklarındaki TCG Anadolu’da gerçekleştirildi. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı Basın ve Halkla İlişkiler Müşaviri ve Bakanlık Sözcüsü Tuğamiral Zeki… pic.twitter.com/whGFkfYCLD — T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) June 11, 2026 Cyprus and France sign SOFA in Nicosia The agreement was signed in Nicosia on Monday by Cypriot Defense Minister Vasilis Palmas and French Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin, who met on the sidelines of the informal meeting of European Union defense ministers, hosted by Cyprus. The SOFA had been discussed during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Nicosia on April 23 and was later negotiated between the two governments. It provides a legal framework for the presence of French military forces in Cyprus and also allows French military assets to be deployed in the southern part of the island under specific conditions, particularly in support of activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Agreement expands France-Cyprus defense cooperation Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides announced that the agreement has entered into force, reportedly granting France access to military bases and infrastructure in Cyprus. The deal is also said to include provisions for the sharing of military technology, the conduct of joint exercises, and the establishment of a strategic dialogue framework between Cyprus and France.

Scientists say the invasive species has raised unnecessary concern among swimmers, while warning that its spread is affecting marine ecosystems and fisheries across the Mediterranean

Works form part of wide-ranging modernization program at the Athens Olympic (OAKA) complex following years of safety and maintenance concerns

During his trip, the Pope will appeal for a humane approach and respectful welcome for migrants seeking a better life.

Bruel was released from custody under judicial supervision while an examining magistrate looks more deeply into the case.

The UK's competition regulator is investigating the airline over charges it imposes on parents to sit next to their child.

The final conclusions of the investigation have yet to be published, although more could become apparent in the coming days.

Bahrain released video of damage in Manama after debris from intercepted Iranian drones fell in populated areas

Israel expands ground operations in southern Lebanon as ceasefire efforts remain stalled.

Xenophobic violence and displacement are escalating across South Africa as tensions over foreign nationals boil over. In Mossel Bay, two Mozambicans were killed and dozens of homes torched in informal settlements, in attacks residents have linked to ethnic targeting – leaving hundreds displaced and entire areas in ruins. Outside Durban’s Department of Home Affairs, dozens of Congolese nationals remain after similar xenophobic protests forced them from their homes.

The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has forcibly recruited thousands of people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and detained them in inhumane conditions, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. The anti-government group has seized vast swathes of territory since it re-emerged in 2021 in eastern DRC, which has been plagued by conflict for over 30 years. For more, FRANCE 24’s Jean-Emile Jammine is joined by Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Great Lakes researcher at Human Rights Watch.