Chios

The battle is on for another day with flames firefighters and volunteers, with the effort being concentrated – mainly – in Kos and Chios where the fire continues its destructive work, while without an active front are the fires in Monemvasia and Gortyna in Crete.

More than 250 individuals were arrested across Greece on Wednesday by the police. 

According to the police, officers took into account local operational plans and focused on areas with increased crime in an effort to improve public safety. 

From the 21,609 people that were checked, 733 individuals were brought into police stations and 282 people were arrested. 

The Fire Service has warned residents of two villages on the island of Chios to evacuate because of a nearby wildfire.

The message to residents of the inland villages Diefcha and Katavasi, on the northwestern part of the island was issued after midnight Sunday.

The founder and former head of children's charity "Kivotos tou Kosmou" (Ark of the World), Father Antonios Papanikolaou, on Friday was formally charged with sexual abuse of minors.

The criminal charges relate to actions that took place from September 2020 to January 2022, and include sexual acts against two underage boys, now aged 19 and 15. 

The government will have to speed up the construction of a new, closed camp for migrants on the eastern Aegean island of Chios after a local court ruled that the current reception facility of VIAL must be returned to its owner, the municipality of Chios, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Tuesday.

Residents of Chios continue to resist the Migration Policy Ministry's efforts to install more prefabricated huts at the Vial hotspot on the island, as the two sides debate the issue of financial compensation.

Stepping up their conflict with the government over its plans to expand a state migrant reception facility on their island, local authorities on Chios have appealed to the Council of State (CoS), the country's highest administrative court, in a bid to block the project.

The entire Municipal Council of Chios and its mayor, Manolis Vournous, on Friday said that members of the far-right Golden Dawn party will be treated on the eastern Aegean island as "personae non gratae."

The municipal council convened to vote on its stance towards the neo-Nazi party ahead of an event Golden Dawn has planned next week to present its "solution" to the refugee crisis.

Gale-force winds caused numerous problems in the northern port of Thessaloniki on Thursday, both at the airport and in the city center.

The battle between the Municipality of Chios and the government over the expansion of an overcrowded hot spot for refugees on the island shows no signs of abating.

Local authorities on Chios had sought an injunction against the Migration Policy Ministry's plan to install new prefabricated huts at the island's Vial hot spot.