Author: Aura Logatou

Southern Europe will continue to swelter next week as an intense heatwave shows no sign of abating. Italy, Spain and Greece have been experiencing high temperatures for several days already. The Italian health ministry issued a red alert for 16 cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence for the weekend. The heatwave is expected to continue well into next week, with 48C (118.4F) possible in Sardinia, according to Italian media. Such a temperature would, however, fall short of the European record high of 48.8C (119.8F) – which was recorded in Sicily in August 2021. The Italian weather service said Sardinia would…

Want to experience the authentic spirit of Greece and the Greek people? When you are looking for the perfect place to vacation in Greece, consider some of the charming and less traveled islands that offer unique experiences for your unforgettable Grecian vacation. The most traditional and least spoiled islands in Greece Koufonisia, Cyclades The Koufonisia islands have been described as Greece’s “hidden paradise,” and they have recently become a favorite vacation spot for both Greek and foreign tourists. Koufonisia is a group of islands belonging to the East Cyclades archipelago consisting of Pano Koufonisi (Upper Koufonisi) and Kato Koufonisi (Lower Koufonisi). These idyllic isles are…

The Greece-Bulgaria natural gas interconnector saw strong international interest in an auction of available non-exempted capacity, after over 70% of volumes offered, or over 37 million kWh per day, were booked for the 2023-2024 gas year, independent transmission operator ICGB said on Friday. The remainder of the capacity will be made available in quarterly, monthly and daily auctions, ICGB said in a press release. “The auctions held on two major platforms offered available capacity for five consecutive gas years and we’re delighted with the interest that the IGB pipeline gained. There are several new shippers just entering the local market…

Amid improving military ties with the United States and Japan, the Philippines appears ready to also include European countries within its security architecture as it steps up opposition to Chinese belligerence in the South China Sea. A new EU-Philippines subcommittee on maritime cooperation was formed last week, around the same time that a senior French military official visited Manila to appeal for greater military cooperation. Analysts reckon that under Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took over as president 12 months ago, the Philippines has reverted to its more traditional pro-Western alignment and taken a more assertive stance in the South China Sea, a maritime area of global economic importance. China claims…

The Croatian government recognized the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkov announced. “We support the initiative put forward by the parties in the Croatian parliament,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenkov said. The Holodomor is defined as “a violent famine that was deliberately organized by the communist Stalinist regime in Ukraine in 1932-1933”, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Croatia, Zdenko Lucić, said. In addition, the official added that Holodomor is a crime of genocide against the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian World Congress expresses its gratitude to the Ukrainian community in…

Mayor of northern Albanian town resigns after video of him having sex in his office circulated online. The Mayor of Kukes, Safet Gjici, has resigned following publication of a tape showing him having sex in his office. Albania’s prosecution SPAK told BIRN that it had started a criminal proceeding about the case though it is not clear what the exact charges might be. Most likely he might face charges of “abuse of duty”. Gjici, Mayor of Kukes for the ruling Socialist Party, who had just won municipal elections there on May 14, resigned and asked for forgiveness through his Facebook channel.…

Authorities vowed the 10 suspected human traffickers they arrested would be ‘severely punished’. Pakistan authorities have arrested 10 alleged human traffickers after it emerged that many of the dozens of migrants and refugees who drowned off Greece’s coast on June 14 were from the South Asian nation. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also ordered an immediate crackdown on Sunday on agents engaged in people smuggling, saying they would be “severely punished”. “The prime minister has given a firm directive to intensify efforts in combating individuals involved in the heinous crime of human trafficking,” his office said in a statement. The federal…

The death toll from Tuesday’s train disaster in central Greece has climbed to 46, the Greek Fire Service announced on Thursday. The head-on collision of a passenger and freight train, which ended up on the same track moving in opposite directions, occurred near the city of Larissa late on Tuesday night. The train station master in Larissa, who admitted that the accident was caused by his own handling errors, is to appear before an examining magistrate, Greek national news agency AMNA reported. An investigation into the cause has been launched, as the country remains in a three-day period of national…

The death toll from the collision of two trains in central Greece on late Tuesday night has increased to 36, while 66 injured people were still hospitalized, including six in serious condition in intensive care units, the Greek Fire Service said on Wednesday. More than 150 firefighters, including special units, were participating in an ongoing search and rescue operation for survivors in the wreckage, the spokesperson of the Fire Service, Vasilios Vathrakogiannis, told a press briefing. Efforts are focused on the first three carriages of the passenger train that crashed onto a freight train close to midnight at Tempi municipality,…

A series of protests were held Tuesday against U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Greece in Athens and other cities. The U.S. official was on a two-day visit to the Greek capital on Monday and Tuesday. The youth division of the Communist Party of Greece (KNE) and the party’s workers union PAME held a protest outside the United States’ embassy in Athens, the Greek national news agency AMNA reported. Hundreds of protesters chanted that Blinken was a persona non grata, raising banners with slogans against U.S. policies, the local newspaper Efimerida Syntakton (Editors’ Journal) reported. Protesters also shouted…