International organizations

Pakistani authorities have arrested 14 people in connection with the alleged trafficking of several migrants who drowned last week after their overloaded boat capsized in the sea off Greece, police said.

Hundreds of people, including from Pakistan, are thought to have died when the vessel capsized and sank in one of Europe's deadliest shipping disasters in recent years.

Kathimerini launched the "Reimagine Tourism in Greece" initiative last week, an attempt to explore the future of tourism in Greece and the need for sustainability in the industry. 

The Greek economy will be upgraded by credit rating agencies to investment-grade level following the national elections on June 25, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras asserted on Monday.

The signs are there, everywhere. Athens is full of foreign tourists. You see them packed into the narrow city-center streets, but also unexpectedly wandering around the suburbs, smiling from ear to ear, slaloming between the cars parked on the sidewalks. Some of Greece's most popular destinations are already packed - with foreigners. Others are getting there.

Dublin-based low-cost giant Ryanair recently announced it was adding Albania to its roster for the first time as its 37th country destination, with new flights from Edinburgh, London Stansted and Manchester, alongside a host of European cities.

The tragic shipwreck off the southern coast of Greece on Wednesday, with dozens of deaths and hundreds missing, has become a source of confrontation between the country's caretaker government and leftist SYRIZA, which referred to "unanswered questions" in relation to the management of one the Mediterranean's worst tragedies of its kind.

Russian tourists' bookings for holidays in Türkiye, especially in Antalya, have increased by 20 percent in the past few weeks compared with April and May, Turkish daily Milliyet has reported.

Russian holidaymakers had delayed vacation plans due to the ongoing war and elevated inflation which eroded their purchasing power. Russians were looking for alternative destinations to Türkiye.

There were many issues that needed to be discussed in Thursday's television debate between the leaders of the five parties represented in the Parliament after the May 21 election, which was canceled because of the tragic shipwreck off the coast of southwestern Greece.

Slovenia will get an additional seat in the European Parliament under a proposal adopted by the parliament on 15 June. The new distribution must now be okayed by the heads of state.

The proposal would award two seats to Spain and the Netherlands, and one to Slovenia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, Ireland and Latvia.

Slovenia would thus have nine seats.

The shipwreck that killed at least 79 people in international waters off Greece happened in search and rescue waters under Greek responsibility, Italy's interior minister said on Thursday.

"The event occurred, and was confined within, the Greek search and rescue area, under the specific responsibility of that country", Minister Matteo Piantedosi told Italy's SkyTG24 TV channel.