Miltiades Varvitsiotis

Opposition parties condemned a homophobic tirade unleashed on Tuesday by Independent Greeks (ANEL) MP Konstantinos Katsikis, after he equated homosexuality with pedophilia during a parliament debate over a bill that would allow couples who have signed a cohabitation agreement - including same-sex couples - to become foster parents.

The government will submit at the end of April a draft bill to accelerate and simplify the asylum procedure, Migration Policy Minister Dimitris Vitsas said on Friday, as a spike in refugee arrivals in the islands of the eastern Aegean this week deteriorated overcrowding in the so-called hotspots.

Opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis (c) is seen during a visit to the Moria refugee camp on Lesvos, on Friday. Mitsotakis attacked the leftist-led government's handling of the refugee crisis, describing the situation at the camp as "disheartening." "It is inconceivable today to have people living in wrecked tents, in the mud," he said.

Merchant Marine Minister Miltiades Varvitsiotis and Deputy Infrastructure and Transport Minister Michalis Papadopoulos have signed a decision paving the way for the country’s first hydroplane strip at the Ionian island of Corfu.

 On tour of Lesvos center, minister tells commissioner gov’t needs more support

Coast guard officers gathered 18 undocumented immigrants, including a child, off the coast of Symi in the southeastern Aegean on Saturday morning after their suspected smugglers pierced the dinghy they had been travelling in to force a rescue operation.