Kalamata

The legal battle surrounding the Ark of the World charity organization is entering a critical phase after an Athens court prosecutor on Monday requested the conviction of its founder, Father Antonios Papanikolaou, for five charges related to physical abuse at the organization's facilities.

The court's decision is expected by early November.

A cruise ship rescued 77 migrants found overnight in a sailboat in distress far off the southwestern coast of Greece and was transporting them to the nearest major port, Greek authorities said Tuesday.

Authorities in Kalamata, the capital of Messinia in the southwestern Peloponnese, appealed to residents and visitors on Wednesday to be frugal with their use of water, after shortages were noted across the region.

A Greek judge has dismissed a case against nine Egyptian men accused of causing a shipwreck that killed hundreds of migrants last year and sent shockwaves through the European Union's border protection and asylum operations, after a prosecutor told the court Greece lacked jurisdiction.

The legal defense team for nine Egyptian men due to go on trial in southern Greece next week accused of causing one of the Mediterranean's deadliest shipwrecks said Thursday they will argue that Greece has no jurisdiction in the case, and insisted their clients were innocent survivors who have been unjustly prosecuted.

Three people, including a 15-year-old girl, died in less than 12 hours in two traffic accidents in different parts of the country.

The first deadly incident took place late on Monday night on the Methoni-Pylos road in the southwestern Peloponnese and involved a car, which was being driven by a 31-year-old man, crashing into the metal protection railing and a tree.

Authorities in the southern Peloponnesian city of Kalamata have rescued 81 people stranded on a ship south of the mainland, on a route frequently used to take migrants illegally to Italy, local officials have said.

Municipal officials said the city had provided a temporary shelter for the people rescued, who identified themselves as coming from Egypt, Pakistan and Syria.

Workfromgreece.gr, an initiative of Marketing Greece, carried out a series of actions over the last few weeks in Athens, Paros, Evia, Hania, Kalamata and Syros, with the aim of attracting the interest of digital nomads and remote workers to Greek destinations, as well as to hold a discussion with local tourism communities about the phenomenon of digital nomads.

Nine men suspected of crewing a migrant smuggling ship that sank off Greece leaving more than 500 missing were ordered held in pretrial custody Tuesday, as new accounts emerged on the sinking and the appalling conditions on the trip from Libya towards Italy.

Fardi (L) from Syria, hugs his rescued brother Mohamed (R), between a fence in the port of Kalamata, Greece, 16 June 2023 after a migrant boat capsized off the coast of Pylos. Photo: EPA-EFE/YANNIS KOLESIDIS

The coastguard claims that during these hours the boat was still on course for Italy.