Foreign Minister Dr. Hassan Mahmud and his Greek counterpart George Gerapetritis vowed to forge bilateral  cooperation in different areas including migration and mobility, trade and investment, shipping, manpower and recruitment, development of renewable & alternation energy infrastructure during a bilateral meeting held Tuesday (April 16) morning in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens on the sidelines of the 9th Our Ocean Conference.   They also expressed satisfaction at the continuous cooperation and excellent bilateral relations between the two nations. The Greek Foreign Minister also cordially accepted the invitation of Bangladesh Foreign Minister to visit Dhaka and mentioned that the visit can be a good option to inaugurate the Greek Diplomatic Mission there. Earlier in the discussion, he assured the Foreign Minister that opening a Diplomatic Mission in Dhaka is a priority for the Greek government.  Bangladesh Foreign Minister requested the Greek Foreign Minister to encourage Greek businesses to import state of the art quality Bangladeshi items and urged him to facilitate the exports from Bangladesh. Greek Foreign Minister agreed on the need to enhance bilateral trade where there remains huge untapped potentials and stressed on the need to find a suitable strategy to help grow bilateral trade and investment.  Hassan Mahmud thanked the Greek government for legalizing more than 10,000 Bangladeshi nationals who were living in Greece under the MOU on Migration and Mobility and called for smooth implementation of the second part of the MOU. The Greek Foreign Minister stated that Greece prefers recruiting Bangladeshi professionals for their hard work and law abiding nature. Greece will recruit a good number of Bangladeshi workers for its agriculture, tourism and hospitality and construction sector in the coming days. Besides two Ministers also agreed that meaningful cooperation between the two countries in the shipping sector can create a win-win situation as they complement each other and also agreed  on  building the legal framework for fruitful cooperation in the shipping sector. Deputy Prime Minister of Spain meets Foreign Minister Hasan Later on Tuesday Foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud had a fruitful discussion on issues of bilateral importance and mutual interest with Spanish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenges Maria Jesus Montero on the sidelines of 9th Our Ocean Conference in Athens. Both sides agreed to establish cooperation in the climate change, water management , food and agriculture cooperation, green energy, environmental sectors and issues of mutual interest.  

Greece has raised a wildfire alert to its second-highest level after dozens of blazes broke out over the weekend. They come following a record warm winter in the country. Greece on Sunday raised the wildfire alert level for several regions to "high risk" — the second-highest —  after more than 70 forest fires were reported across the country on Saturday. Although most were brought under control, one on the island of Crete was still burning on Sunday, the fire department said, adding that three people had been lightly injured in the blaze. High winds expected On Saturday, "71 fires were declared in agricultural and forestry regions across the country in 12 hours, between 0300 GMT and 1500 GMT," said the Civil Protection Ministry, which is also in charge of responses to the climate crisis. The raised alert comes as strong winds of up to 60 kph (37 mph) are expected until Tuesday in parts of Greece, "making the situation extremely dangerous for the outbreak of fires," the ministry said.  The areas concerned include the Athens region, the center, the Cyclades islands and Crete.  Dry conditions amid climate change Greece has experienced five weeks with little or no rain as the Athens Observatory warns of a worrying level of drought. The Mediterranean country recorded a record average temperature of 11.8 C (53.2 F) over the winter, and temperatures have been unseasonably high since April started. On Tuesday, Chania on Crete reached 31 C. Like many other parts of the Mediterranean, it suffered an extensive heat wave last summer in which 20 people died and almost 175,000 hectares (430,000 acres) were scorched by blazes. Around 20,000 holidaymakers and locals had to be brought to safety as fires raged in the south of the island of Rhodes, a popular tourist destination. Experts say that Greece's wildfire season, which used to begin in May, is likely to begin progressively earlier due to human-made climate change.    

A bill approved by Greece's parliament allows same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. Same-sex parents hailed the move as a historic moment for the country. The Greek parliament on Thursday voted in favor of a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry. It makes Greece the first Orthodox Christian country to legalize same-sex civil marriage. The bill was approved by a cross-party majority of 176 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament. "This is a historic moment," Stella Belia, the head of same-sex parents group Rainbow Families, told Reuters. "This is a day of joy." Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the outcome "a milestone for human rights" and noted that Greece was the 16th country in the European Union to legislate marriage equality.   Parental rights extended to same-sex couples The bill also grants adoption rights to same sex couples. "Both parents of same-sex couples do not yet have the same legal opportunities to provide their children with what they need," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said ahead of the vote on Thursday night.  "To be able to pick them up from school, to be able to travel, to go to the doctor, or take them to the hospital. ... That is what we are fixing." However, the law does not allow parenthood through surrogacy for male couples — an option which is available to women who cannot have children for health reasons.   Cross-party support Opinion polls suggest that most Greeks support the reforms by a narrow margin. The bill was supported by many lawmakers from Mitsotakis' center-right New Democracy party along with four left-wing parties, including the main opposition party Syriza. "This law doesn't solve every problem, but it is a beginning," said Spiros Bibilas, an openly gay lawmaker from the small left-wing Passage to Freedom party. However, three small far-right parties as well as the Stalinist-rooted Communist Party of Greece (KKE) rejected the bill. The head of the Orthodox Church of Greece, Archbishop Ieronymos, also condemned the law as a "new reality that seeks only to corrupt the homeland's social cohesion." Outside parliament, opponents of marriage equality held religious icons and prayed while supporters waved rainbow flags.

Temperatures in Greece are expected to rise above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) over the next couple of days, as much of the world grapples with extreme heat this summer. Greece's heat wave is set to become the longest in the country's recorded history, according to senior official with the national weather institute. "According to the data, we will probably go through 16-17 days of a heatwave, which has never happened before in our country," Kostas Lagouvardos, the director of research at the National Observatory, told ERT television. That's as temperatures were forecast to rise above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) over the next couple of days, which could make it the hottest July weekend in half a century. "This weekend risks being the hottest registered in July in the past 50 years," said Panagiotis Giannopoulos, meteorologist with state broadcaster ERT. "Athens is going to have temperatures above 40 Celsius for six to seven days, through to the end of July." Authorities have been warning people to stay out of the sun during the hottest periods of the day and to remain hydrated. Greek wildfires Firefighters meanwhile have been battling dozens of wildfires burning across Greece. On Friday fire services spokesman Vassilios Vathrakoyannis reported that 52 new fires were burning, while teams were tackling a total of 79 fires. During the week, firefighters  from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Malta and Slovakia traveled to Greece to assist with efforts. Vathrakoyannis said that the country would remain in a state of alert through the weekend amid concerns that strong northerly winds could spark more fires. US in the grip of 'dangerous, long-lived' heat wave The southern US is also sweltering with temperatures of 41 degrees Celcius and above this weekend, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). In Phoenix, Arizona temperatures of up to 46 degrees have been forecast and follows a record-breaking three weeks in a row of highs above 43C. The NWS on Saturday said that "A dangerous, long-lived, and record-breaking heat wave will continue over the Southwest this weekend," and said low-lying desert areas would feel the heat particularly. July on track be hottest month Scientists from NASA have warned that the heat is likely to get worse. Temperatures in June were already found to be the hottest on record, while July was expected to be the hottest month overall. Scientists from the space agency previously saw a spike in temperatures like this in July and August of 2016 due to a super El Nino event. The current El Nino event has according to NASA, only just emerged. El Nino is associated with the warming of ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Chinese cities brace for floods Meanwhile, several cities in China including Shanghai and Beijing are bracing for floodwaters. There was heavy rain over the financial hub Shanghai on Friday, with precipitation logging 125.4 mm (4.9 inches) within an hour, according to the local weather authority. The heavy rainfall comes as areas further inland are being scorched by heat, threatening the largest supply of fresh water in the country.  

Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has won his second election in less than two months. He said his party now has a "safe majority" in parliament that will allow it to enact "major reforms." Greece's conservative New Democracy party (ND) claimed victory at Sunday's parliamentary election, which had been called to break a political deadlock caused by an election last month. With 95% of ballots counted, the party of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis came out on top with 40.5% of the vote. "The people have given us a safe majority. Major reforms will proceed rapidly," Mitsotakis said in a televised address on Sunday night. Addressing a cheering crowd outside his party headquarters, the 55-year-old former McKinsey consultant promised robust growth that he said would lead to wage increases. Mitsotakis' party is set to hold around 157 out of the 300 seats in parliament thanks to a law for repeat elections that grants the winning party 50 bonus seats. In the elections held in May, Mitsotakis' party had a landslide victory among individual parties but fell just five seats short of being able to form a single-party majority in parliament.  Rather than seeking to set up a coalition government, Mitsotakis chose to call for another vote, confident that Greece's rules if a second election was required would improve his chances of outright victory, given how close he came at the first attempt. How did the opposition parties fare? About 9.8 million Greek voters were eligible to choose from 32 political parties on Sunday. The Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) gained around 18% of the vote — worse than the result at the previous election in May. "We have suffered a heavy electoral defeat," party leader Alex Tsipras said. "It goes without saying that I will be the first to face the judgement of the party members." The center-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) received almost 13% of the vote, while the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) received more than 7% and the ultra-nationalist Spartans party has around 5%. Left-wing party MeRA25, founded by former Syriza Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, did not pass the 3% threshold required to enter parliament. An expected outcome The election was held on the heels of a migrant shipwreck on June 14 in which hundreds of people are feared to have died. Pre-election polls had suggested strong prospects of victory for the conservative Mitsotakis, who has been Greece's prime minister since 2019. He has touted the strong economy under his leadership and most analysts attribute ND's strong position to the country's gradual recovery from its financial crisis of roughly a decade. Mitsotakis' first term was marked by a return to economic growth and falling unemployment rates in Greece. Syriza was expected to garner the second-highest share of votes, but still lag far behind the ruling party. Tsipras has been critical of Mitsotakis over a wiretapping scandal and on migration. His party's support evaporated in 2019 after Syriza stewarded Greece through some of the most turbulent years of its debt crisis.

Election polls have predicted strong winning prospects for conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who stepped down after the inconclusive vote last month. Voters in Greece head to the polls on Sunday for the second time in little over a month to elect new parliamentarians. About 9.8 million Greek voters will be electing their new representatives from a pool of 32 political parties standing in this election. The polling began at 7 a.m. local time (0400 UTC) and will continue for the next 12 hours across Greece. While initial forecasts will be available based on exit polls, the results are expected by around 1700 UTC. The repeat election comes at the heels of a migrant shipwreck on June 14 in which hundreds of people are feared to have died. Main parties standing in election Polls have suggested strong prospects of victory for the conservative Nea Dimokratia, or New Democracy (ND), led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. He has been Greece's prime minister since 2019. Some polls have indicated that the party could take over 40% of the vote. Mitsotakis has touted a strong economy under his leadership. The Alliance of the Radical Left (Syriza), led by Alexis Tsipras, could garner the second-highest share of votes, with some polls suggesting that it could get 20%. Tsipras has been critical of Mitsotakis over a wiretapping scandal and on migration. In the elections held in May, Mitsotakis' party had a landslide victory but it fell short of just five seats in parliament to be able to form a single-party government. Confident of winning with a clear majority in the 300-seat parliament, Mitsokasis decided to hold another round of voting. As per election rules in Greece, the winner in this election round will get 50 bonus seats in the parliament.

Dozens of people have drowned after a fishing boat carrying migrants capsized off the Greek coast. Another hundred have been rescued but many remain unaccounted for as a large-scale search and rescue operation continues. The death toll from a capsized fishing boat carrying migrants off the coast of southern Greece has risen to 79, the Greek coast guard has announced. A large-scale search and rescue operation was underway on Wednesday morning after the boat, which is believed to have been transporting up to 400 people from near the Libyan port of Tobruk to Italy, capsized during the night in strong winds some 75 kilometers (46 miles) southwest of Greece's southern Peloponnese region. So far, 104 people have been confirmed rescued and taken to the Greek town of Kalamata. They received dry clothes and medical attention in shelters set up by ambulance services and the United Nations Refugee Agency. Four people have been hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia. Authorities initially put the death toll at 32, before increasing it to 59 and then higher still to 79. Fears remain that it could yet increase even more. How many people are still missing? The search, which involves 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, is ongoing. A Greek Migration Ministry source told the AFP news agency that, according to the coastguard, there could have been "hundreds" of people on board the boat. "We fear there will be a very large number of missing persons," the official said. The International Organization for Migration estimated that "up to 400" people may have been on board, noting in a tweet: "We fear more lives were lost." Authorities said the vessel was first spotted in international waters early on Tuesday evening by an aircraft belonging to EU border agency Frontex and two nearby ships. The Greek coast guard said the people on board — none of whom were wearing life jackets and who did not immediately disclose their nationalities — had initially "refused any help." What's the bigger picture? Greece is one of the main routes into the European Union for refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. About 72,000 refugees and migrants have arrived so far this year in Europe's frontline countries Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta and Cyprus, according to United Nations data, with the majority landing in Italy. Mediterranean smugglers are increasingly taking larger boats into international waters off the Greek mainland to try to avoid local coast guard patrols. On Sunday, 90 migrants were rescued in the area after they made a distress call. And in a separate incident on Wednesday, a yacht with 81 migrants on board was towed to the south coast of the Greek island of Crete after authorities received a distress call. On the other side of the Mediterranean, Libyan authorities launched a crackdown earlier this month, with activists saying that several thousand migrants, including Egyptians, Syrians, Sudanese and Pakistanis, have been detained. Many Egyptians have reportedly been deported back to their home country through a land crossing point.