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Greek coast guard vessels and a helicopter continued searching for potential missing people off an eastern Aegean island Wednesday following a deadly overnight collision between a patrol boat and a speedboat carrying migrants that left at least 15 dead. Twenty-four migrants, including 11 children, were injured and hospitalized on the island of Chios, authorities said. Two coast guard officers were also injured, with one remaining hospitalized Wednesday. The bodies of 11 men and three women were recovered from the sea shortly after the collision, and one woman later died in the hospital, officials added. The total number of people on the speedboat remains unknown. Four patrol boats, two helicopters, and divers launched the search overnight, which continued Wednesday morning with a helicopter and five patrol vessels. According to a coast guard statement, a patrol boat encountered the speedboat late Tuesday night near Chios, which was traveling without navigation lights. Despite sound and visual signals to stop, the speedboat reportedly changed course, collided with the patrol boat, and capsized. Photos released by the coast guard showed abrasion marks on the right side of the patrol boat. The account could not be independently verified. Michalis Giannakos, head of Greece’s public hospital workers’ union, said hospital staff in Chios were put on alert overnight to handle the sudden influx of injured and dead. Several of the injured required surgery, he said. Greece remains a major entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Fatal accidents are common, as migrants often attempt the short but perilous crossing from Turkey to nearby Greek islands in overcrowded dinghies or high-speed boats operated by smugglers. Increased patrols and allegations of pushbacks by Greek authorities have reduced such attempts. The European Union has tightened migration regulations in recent years, including streamlining deportations and increasing detentions. Migration has been a contentious issue across EU member states, fueling the rise of far-right parties and hardened asylum policies, with the number of asylum-seekers now well below record levels.

Researchers say two artifacts discovered along a lakeshore in Greece are the oldest known wooden tools yet uncovered, dating back about 430,000 years. One artifact is a slender stick measuring roughly 2½ feet (80 centimeters) in length that may have been used to dig into muddy ground. The second is a smaller, more enigmatic handheld piece made from willow or poplar wood that researchers believe could have been used in shaping stone tools. The findings were published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists believe early humans relied on a wide range of tools crafted from stone, bone and wood. However, evidence of wooden tools is rare because the material decomposes rapidly over time. Preservation typically occurs only in specific conditions, such as icy environments, caves or underwater settings. The newly discovered wooden tools were found in Greece’s Megalopolis basin, where researchers believe they were rapidly buried by sediment and preserved over time by wet conditions. Scientists have previously uncovered other remains at the site, including stone tools and elephant bones bearing cut marks. Although the wooden tools were not directly dated, the site itself is estimated to be about 430,000 years old, offering clues to their age. Read More: Science and local sleuthing uncover 250-year-old Shipwreck on Scottish Island “I’ve always just been thrilled to be able to touch these objects,” said study author Annemieke Milks of the University of Reading. No human remains have yet been identified at the location, leaving uncertainty over who used the tools. Possible users include Neanderthals, early human ancestors or other hominins. Archaeologist Jarod Hutson of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History said the site may contain additional discoveries, though the plain appearance of the tools makes interpretation difficult. The find adds to rare examples of ancient wooden tools and sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of early human technology.

Greece is deploying a record number of firefighters and nearly doubling its drone fleet this summer to address growing wildfire risks driven by climate change, officials said Thursday. Civil Protection Minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis said 18,000 permanent and seasonal personnel, supported by thousands of volunteers, would be mobilized as wildfire damage has increased steadily over the past two decades.  Gaza's main hospital overwhelmed with children in pain from malnutrition “It is clear that the conditions this year will be particularly difficult,” Kefalogiannis told reporters after attending a firefighting exercise south of Athens. Rising average temperatures and low rainfall have significantly worsened conditions in recent years. Greek Fire Chief Lt. Gen. Theodoros Vagias said that additional elite firefighting units would be deployed to high-risk areas during the May–October fire season. “The climate crisis is here to stay, and we must be more effective in surveillance, preparedness, and how we mobilize our resources,” Vagias said. Wildfire damage surged to more than 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) in 2021 and 1,745 square kilometers (675 square miles) in 2023 — roughly three times the 2011–2020 average — according to data from the European Union’s Forest Fire Information System. Firefighters held an exercise Thursday to test Greece’s evolving wildfire response, which increasingly relies on advanced technologies such as drone surveillance and mobile command centers.  Israeli strikes kill 51 in Gaza as limited aid begins to arrive Fire planes skimmed treetops, releasing plumes of water in coordinated low-altitude drops, as commanders on the ground huddled over tablets streaming real-time drone footage. The coast guard and armed forces took part in a drill simulating the evacuation of a children’s summer camp threatened by fires on multiple fronts. Officials said the number of firefighting personnel has increased by roughly 20% over the past two years, while the fleet of fire-surveillance drones has grown to 82, up from 45. Around 300 firefighters from the Czech Republic, France, Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria are being sent to Greece under a European Union prepositioning program, officials said.

A marble statue of a woman believed to be more than 2,000 years old was found abandoned in a garbage bag near the Greek city of Thessaloniki, police said Wednesday. A resident discovered the 80-centimeter (31-inch) headless statue beside a trash bin in Neoi Epivates, outside Greece’s second-largest city. The man turned it over to local authorities, who contacted archaeologists to assess its significance. A $6.2 million banana and the Bangladeshi vendor who sold it for 25 cents in New York Police said experts, following an initial evaluation, determined the piece dates to the Hellenistic era, a period roughly between 320 and 30 B.C. that was marked by a flourishing of art and culture following the conquests of Alexander the Great. The statue was sent for further examination by archaeologists. It will ultimately be handed over to the local antiquities authority for preservation and study. Police opened an investigation to determine who discarded the statue and briefly detained a man for questioning who was later released without charge. Accidental archaeological discoveries are relatively common in Greece, a country renowned for its ancient heritage, and often made during building construction or public works. In December, workers installing natural gas pipelines near Athens uncovered a Roman-era statue of Hermes buried upright in a brick-lined pit near the Acropolis. Thessaloniki weeks ago unveiled a trove of antiquities found during the decades-long construction of its metro system, which officially opened in November. Key finds, including a marble-paved Roman thoroughfare and tens of thousands of artifacts spanning the Greek, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods, are now showcased at subway stations.

Thousands of workers marched through the Greek capital Athens on Wednesday as part of a 24-hour general strike called by labor unions to protest the rising cost of living and timed to coincide with the government submitting the 2025 budget to Parliament. Public and private sector workers walked off the job as part of the labor action that disrupted public transport and left ferries connecting the Greek islands with the mainland tied up in port. Medical staff at state-run hospitals and teachers were among those who joined the strike, which was called by labor unions to protest the high cost of living and demand collective wage agreements that were scaled back during Greece’s nearly decade-long financial crisis that began in 2010. Around 12,000 protesters marched through central Athens, while another 5,000 demonstrated in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city. “We want to showcase the rage and resentment of salaried employees for what is happening to their income,” said Yannis Panagopoulos, head of the General Confederation of Workers of Greece, the umbrella union representing private sector workers. “We have no other way to be able to cope with the high cost of living other than with an increase to our income. But our incomes remain frozen in the bailout era,” he said. Greece’s financial crisis saw a quarter of the country’s economy wiped out after decades of profligate spending left it locked out of international bond markets. Successive international bailouts came on condition the country implement deeply unpopular reforms that included pension and wage cuts and saw poverty and unemployment rates spiral. Greece has since returned to healthy growth and recently achieved investment-grade status again, but it still retains the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the European Union. “Greece needs a pay rise,” Esther Lynch, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said Tuesday ahead of the strike. She said she was in Athens “to bring the solidarity greetings from 45 million workers and their trade unions from around Europe.” The European confederation supports “all workers in Greece who are going to come out to demand that pay rise and to demand the genuinely binding collecting agreement to guarantee a fair day's pay for a fair day's work,” she said. Unions have criticized the center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for failing to tackle inflation and housing policies, which have eroded workers’ living standards. Journalists at Greek media outlets held their own 24-hour strike in support on Tuesday, pulling all news broadcasts off the air for the day so they could cover Wednesday’s general strike.

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has attended the "9th Our Ocean Conference Greece 2024" held in Athens on April 16-17. He led a delegation at the Conference which is a regular platform for governments, international organisations, academia, private sectors and NGOs to come together with the aim of sharing  a common vision for the protection of oceans and taking actions to support this vision. The conference was inaugurated by the Greek President through a video message, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  On the first day, apart from various plenary sessions on greening of the shipping sector, confronting plastic pollution, effective management of marine protected areas, ocean-climate nexus, the foreign minister participated in a high-level segment with the participation of Heads of State/Government, preceded by an event where the Geek Prime Minister delivered the keynote speech.  The foreign minister also took part in a working lunch hosted by the Greek foreign minister in honor of the participating toreign ministers.  9 BNP men land in Naogaon jail In the morning of 16th April, on the sidelines of the conference, the foreign minister had a bilateral meeting with the Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis.  The ocean plays a key role in human existence; it is essential for people's survival, well-being and prosperity.  It provides food, regulates our climate, and generates most of the oxygen we breathe.  It also serves much of the world’s economy, supporting sectors from tourism to fisheries and to international shipping while it is connected to our culture and is a major source of inspiration.  Number of Benazir-like wealthy people increased: Rizvi However, the health of seas and the ocean, and of marine ecosystems in particular, is threatened by unsustainable practices such as discharges of wastewater and marine litter, unregulated and unreported fishing, unsustainable shipping and tourism activities, said the speakers.  To mitigate the negative impacts from human interventions and improve the current state of our oceans, it is essential to join efforts on a global scale, they said. Collaboration among nations, NGOs, private entities, academia, professional groups, civil society organisations and more, is of paramount importance for implementing effective solutions, fostering sustainable practices, and safeguarding the delicate equilibrium of oceans. Read more: SeaKeepers Society: Making waves in ocean conservation

Thriving for healthy living and aspiring for an extended life is a common pursuit. People often wonder if there are places where this aspiration transforms into reality. The Blue Zones concept seems to make that imagination come true. This article is going to decode the mysteries of living longer, healthier lives. Let’s try to hold the key to unlock an exceptional sense of well-being. What is the Blue Zone?  The origins of the Blue Zone concept can be traced back to the inquisitive demographic research of Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain in 2004. Their discovery led them to Sardinia's Nuoro Province, a place so abundantly endowed with male centenarians that it earned the name. This initial revelation stirred the curiosity of explorer Dan Buettner, prompting him to unveil four additional zones of wonder. These regions each offer a distinct blend of factors contributing to the prolonged, vibrant lives of their inhabitants. Read more: 13 Tips to Avoid Mosquito Bites Blue Zone Locations around the World Nuoro Province, Sardinia, Italy Sardinia, a rugged island off the Italian mainland, where the concept of Blue Zones first took root. This remarkable enclave boasts a population where men live almost as long as women, an unusual occurrence when compared to most other regions worldwide. The diet here consists mainly of whole grains, vegetables, beans, dairy products, and limited meat consumption. Their lifestyle encourages daily chores and walking, as Sardinia is a mountainous island. Many traditional shepherds still can be found walking over five miles. Read more: Superfood Moringa Powder: Know Its Health Benefits, Side Effects Sardinians also enjoy local wine, as part of their social tradition, called Cannonau or grenache. Strong family and community ties are central to their way of life, with multiple generations often residing in the same household. In Sardinia, it's about living better and cherishing family above all else.

A fishing boat crammed to the gunwales with migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank Wednesday off the coast of Greece, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year. Coast guard, navy and merchant vessels and aircraft fanned out for a vast search-and-rescue operation set to continue overnight. It was unclear how many passengers were missing, but some initial reports suggested hundreds of people may have been aboard when the boat went down far from shore. An aerial photograph of the battered blue vessel released by the Greek coast guard showed scores of people covering practically every inch of deck. Greece’s caretaker prime minister, Ioannis Sarmas, declared three days of national mourning, “with our thoughts on all the victims of the ruthless smugglers who exploit human unhappiness. Coast guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou told state ERT TV that it was impossible to accurately estimate the number of passengers. He said it appeared that the 25- to 30-meter (80- to 100-foot) vessel capsized after people abruptly moved to one side. “The outer deck was full of people, and we presume that the interior (of the vessel) would also have been full,” he said. “It looks as if there was a shift among the people who were crammed on board, and it capsized.” Also read: Greece: 32 migrants dead, more than 100 rescued after fishing vessel capsizes A coast guard statement said efforts by its own ships and merchant vessels to assist the boat were repeatedly rebuffed, with people on board insisting they wanted to continue to Italy. Coast guard officials said the trawler’s engines broke down around 1:40 a.m. Wednesday, and just under an hour later, the ship started to list abruptly from side to side before capsizing. The ship sank 10 to 15 minutes later, the statement said. Ioannis Zafiropoulos, deputy mayor of the southern port city of Kalamata, where survivors were taken, said that his information indicated there were “more than 500 people” on board. Authorities said 104 people were rescued after the sinking in international waters about 75 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of Greece’s southern Peloponnese peninsula. The spot is close to the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea, and depths of up to 17,000 feet (5,200 meters) could hamper any effort to locate a sunken vessel. Twenty-five survivors ranging in age from 16 to 49 were hospitalized with hypothermia or fever. At the port of Kalamata, around 70 exhausted survivors bedded down in sleeping bags and blankets provided by rescuers in a large warehouse, while paramedics set up tents outside for anyone who needed first aid. Also read: At least 39 migrants dead in bus crash in Panama Katerina Tsata, head of a Red Cross volunteer group in Kalamata, said the migrants were also given psychological support. “They suffered a very heavy blow, both physical and mental,” she said. Rescue volunteer Constantinos Vlachonikolos said nearly all the survivors were men. “They were very worn out. How could they not be?” he said. Rescuers said many of the people pulled from the water couldn’t swim and were clutching debris. The coast guard said none had life jackets. The Greek coast guard said 79 bodies have been recovered so far. Survivors included 30 people from Egypt, 10 from Pakistan, 35 from Syria and two Palestinians, the agency said. The Italy-bound boat was believed to have left the Tobruk area in eastern Libya — a country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Human traffickers have benefited from the instability, and made Libya one of the main departure points for people attempting to reach Europe on smuggler’s boats. The route from North Africa to Italy through the central Mediterranean is the deadliest in the world, according to the U.N. migration agency, known as IOM, which has recorded more than 21,000 deaths and disappearances there since 2014. Smugglers use unseaworthy boats and cram as many migrants as possible inside — sometimes inside locked holds — for journeys that can take days. They head for Italy, which is directly across the Mediterranean from Libya and Tunisia, and much closer than Greece to the Western European countries that most migrants hope to eventually reach. In February, at least 94 people died when a wooden boat from Turkey sank off Cutro, in southern Italy, in the worst Mediterranean sinking so far this year. The Italian coast guard first alerted Greek authorities and the European Union border protection agency, Frontex, about an approaching vessel on Tuesday. The IOM said initial reports suggested up to 400 people were on board. A network of activists said it received a distress call from a boat in the same area whose passengers said it carried 750 people. But it wasn’t clear if that was the vessel that sank. After that first alert, Frontex aircraft and two merchant ships spotted the boat heading north at high speed, according to the Greek coast guard, and more aircraft and ships were sent to the area. But repeated calls to the vessel offering help were declined, the coast guard said in a statement. “In the afternoon, a merchant vessel approached the ship and provided it with food and supplies, while the (passengers) refused any further assistance,” the coast guard said. A second merchant ship later offered more supplies and assistance, which were turned down, the agency added. In the evening, a coast guard patrol boat reached the vessel “and confirmed the presence of a large number of migrants on the deck,” the statement said. “But they refused any assistance and said they wanted to continue to Italy.” The coast guard boat accompanied the migrant vessel and later headed a major rescue operation by all the ships in the area. Alarm Phone, a network of activists that provides a hotline for migrants in trouble, said it was contacted by people on a boat in distress on Tuesday afternoon. That boat was in the same general area as the one that sank, but it was not clear if it was the same vessel. The organization notified Greek authorities and Frontex. In one communication with Alarm Phone, migrants reported the vessel was overcrowded and that the captain had abandoned the ship on a small boat, according to the group. They asked for food and water, which were provided by a merchant ship. “We fear that hundreds of people have drowned,” Alarm Phone said in a statement. The Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwreck in living memory occurred on April 18, 2015, when an overcrowded fishing boat collided off Libya with a freighter trying to come to its rescue. Only 28 people survived. Forensic experts concluded that there were originally 1,100 people on board.

At least 32 people have died off the coast of southern Greece after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank, authorities said Wednesday. A large search and rescue operation was launched in the area. Authorities said 104 people have been rescued so far following the nighttime incident some 75 kilometers (46 miles) southwest of Greece's southern Peloponnese region. Also Read: At least 39 migrants dead in bus crash in Panama Four of the survivors were hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia. It was unclear how many passengers might remain missing at sea after the 32 bodies were recovered, the Greek coast guard said. Six coast guard vessels, a navy frigate, a military transport plane, an air force helicopter, several private vessels and a drone from the European Union border protection agency, Frontex, were taking part in the ongoing search. Also Read: Migrant boat breaks up off Italian coast, killing nearly 60 The Italy-bound boat is believed to have sailed from the Tobruk area in eastern Libya. The Italian coast guard first alerted Greek authorities and Frontex about the approaching vessel on Tuesday. Smugglers are increasingly taking larger boats into international waters off the Greek mainland to try to avoid local coast guard patrols. Also Read: Death toll from Greece train crash rises to 57 On Sunday, 90 migrants on a U.S.-flagged yacht were rescued in the area after they made a distress call. Separately Wednesday, a yacht with 81 migrants on board was towed to a port on the south coast of Greece's island of Crete after authorities received a distress call. Also Read: Greece: 3 dead after boat with migrants hits rocks  

Tens of thousands marched Wednesday in Athens and cities across Greece to protest the deaths of 57 people in the country's worst train disaster, which exposed significant rail safety deficiencies. Labor unions and student associations organized the demonstrations, while strikes halted ferries to the islands and public transportation services in Athens, where at least 30,000 people took part in the protest. More than 20,000 joined rallies in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, where clashes broke out when several dozen youths challenged a police cordon. Twelve students from the city’s university were among the dead in last week's head-on crash between two trains. Police fired tear gas in the southern city of Patras, where a municipal band earlier played music from a funeral march while leading the demonstration. In the central city of Larissa, near the scene of the train collision, students holding black balloons chanted “No to profits over our lives!” The accident occurred on Feb. 28 near the northern Greek town of Tempe. A passenger train slammed into a freight carrier coming in the opposite direction on the same line, and some of its derailed cars went up in flames. A stationmaster accused of placing the trains on the same track has been charged with negligent homicide and other offenses, and the country's transportation minister and senior railway officials resigned the day after the crash. But revelations of serious safety gaps on Greece’s busiest rail line have put the center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the defensive. He has pledged the government's full cooperation with a judicial inquiry into the crash. “This is more than a train collision and a tragic railway accident. You get the sense that the country has derailed,” Nasos Iliopoulos, a spokesperson for Greece's main left-wing opposition party, Syriza, said. Senior officials from a European Union railway agency were expected in Athens as part of promised assistance to help Greece improve railway safety. The agency in the past publicly highlighted delays in Greece's implementation of safety measures. Safety experts from Germany also were expected to travel to Greece to help advise the government, Greece's new Transport Minister George Gerapetritis said. “I, too, express my anguish and heartbreak over what happened in Tempe. This is an unprecedented national tragedy, which has scarred us all because of the magnitude of the tragedy: this unjustified loss of a great number of our fellow human beings,” Gerapetritis said. He acknowledged major omissions in safety procedures on the night of the crash. Strikes have halted all national rail services since the collision. Wednesday’s protests were also backed by striking civil servants’ associations and groups marking International Women’s Day. Subways ran for a few hours in Athens to allow people to get to the demonstration. The strikes also closed state-run primary schools and had public hospitals operating at reduced capacity. ___ Thanassis Stavrakis in Athens and Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, contributed.