Greece

SAMOS, Greece, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Greece inaugurated on Saturday a new type of enclosed controlled reception and identification camp for asylum seekers on the outskirts of Vathy town on Samos island aimed to improve conditions for refugees, migrants and local communities.

The camp, funded by the European Union (EU), is the first of the five structures under construction in five Aegean Sea islands (Samos, Kos, Leros, Chios, Lesvos) that have received the bulk of the influx of irregular arrivals since 2015.

19 Sep 2021; MEMO: Mediterranean nations must lead the way in addressing climate change, the Greek prime minister said, warning that the cost of doing nothing was unimaginable, with mankind possibly struggling to survive beyond the turn of the next century, reports Reuters.

ATHENS, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of nine Mediterranean European Union member states (EUMED 9) held talks here Friday, calling for closer cooperation to face various common challenges.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The top U.S. military officer said Friday that calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the final stormy months of Donald Trump’s presidency were “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities” of his job.

In his first public comments on the conversations, Gen. Mark Milley said such calls are “routine” and were done “to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability.” The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke to The Associated Press and another reporter traveling with him to Europe.

ATHENS, Sept 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Greek authorities are investigating the crash of a private plane from Israel that killed a prosecution witness in Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial.

Haim Geron, a former senior official at Israel’s ministry of communications, and his wife Esther were killed when the single-engine Cessna 182 plane crashed late on Monday off the island of Samos.

Geron was one of more than 300 witnesses prosecutors listed for Netanyahu’s trial on corruption charges.

ATHENS, Sept 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two people died Monday when the private plane they were travelling in crash in the sea near the island of Samos, a Greek navy source said.

   State TV ERT said a man and a woman were on board the Cessna aircraft.

   Local media said the single-engine plane had been flying from Israel to Samos, and that there was an explosion shortly before landing at the island’s airport.

   The bodies were taken to the Samos port town of Pythagoreio, the reports added.

Archanes (Greece), Sep 6 (AP-PTI) Greece has begun administering vaccinations for COVID-19 outside churches in a pilot program recently announced by the government as a means of encouraging more people to get the shots.

Mobile National Health Organization units began administering shots Monday in a church yard in Archanes, a town near the city of Heraklion on the southern island of Crete.

ATHENS, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Greece will not become a gateway to Europe for irregular migration flows, like it happened in the period 2015-2019, Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi told the Greek parliament on Friday, pointing to recent developments in Afghanistan.

The Taliban takeover of most of the country following the withdrawal of U.S. forces has sparked deep concern in Greece, and across Europe, over a possible replay of mass migration flows and the humanitarian crisis of recent years.

23 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Greek government on Friday announced that it has finished building a 40-kilometre long wall along its border with Turkey, CNN International reported.

Greece took the decision amid concerns that NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation could cause an influx of people seeking asylum in Europe making their way through Iran, Turkey, and then onto Greece.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s fire department sent helicopters and firefighters to the country’s second-largest island of Evia on Monday, while the coast guard readied boats in case a sea evacuation became necessary as yet another forest fire broke out that was fanned by strong winds.

This month, which began with Greece’s most severe heat wave in about three decades, is quickly turning into one of the country’s most destructive fire seasons, with dozens of wildfires breaking out every day across the country.