Piraeus

Piraeus Mayor Yiannis Moralis has rejected speculation that authorities are planning to create a facility for migrants.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the mayor said that recent media reports claiming that authorities were working with nongovernment groups with the aim of setting up a so-called hotspot in Piraeus belong "only in the sphere of fantasy."

Piraeus Port, Greece's largest, aims to increase its cruise traffic from 1 million passengers a year up to 1.5 million in the short-term and to 3 million long-term, its managing director, Fu Cheng Qiu, said on Friday.

The Athens Court of First Instance on Thursday brought criminal charges of breach of faith against the former governor of the Bank of Greece, Giorgos Provopoulos, and the former chairman of Piraeus Bank, Michalis Sallas, after a probe allegedly found them responsible for losses suffered by social insurance funds ahead of the country's economic crisis.

The first Celestyal Cruises ship carrying a group of Chinese passengers will set sail from Piraeus on Friday, signaling the opening of this huge market for Greek destinations - a target shared by Athens and Beijing, and also by Piraeus Port and Cosco alike.

To this end, the Greek Foreign Ministry has accelerated visa-issuing procedures at Greek consulates in China.

A woman was being treated in a hospital in northern Athens on Tuesday after falling on the tracks at KAT station of the urban electric railway (ISAP).

A team of 15 rescue workers form the local fire service were dispatched to the station to remove her from the tracks after she was apparently dragged along by the train.

The HS Olympias is an astonishing reconstruction of a trireme, an ancient type of galley commonly used by the maritime civilisations of the Mediterranean.

This reconstructed trireme, built in 1987 by a shipbuilder in Piraeus, is one of a kind. It is a commissioned ship in the Hellenic Navy of Greece, the only commissioned vessel of its kind in the world.

The exodus of city dwellers for the Easter long weekend holidays is culminating on Good Friday. Athenians are leaving the city through cars, trains, ports and airports, with the volume of traffic on major exit roads being high. Greek traffic police are on alert for the exodus as emergency measures are in effect to facilitate the travellers leaving Athens.

The coastal shipping sector showed a reduction in turnover in 2016 but not operating profits, thanks to the significant decline in fuel prices.

A judicial council on Wednesday ordered the release from prison of former defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos because of his frail health in response to the latest in a series of appeals lodged by the veteran Socialist politician.

A display stall is seen on the opening day of the seventh annual Olive & Olive Oil Festival, at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Neo Faliro, on Athens's southern coast, on Friday. The event, which ends on Sunday, brings together producers from all over the country, as well as chefs who are preparing dishes at the event using the showcased products. [Pantelis Saitas/ANA-MPA]