Greek Islands: Santorini, Mykonos, and Rhodes

Migrant 'Chaos' on Greek Islands - UN Refugee Agency

BBC AMERICA: The refugee crisis on the Greek islands of Kos, Chios and Lesbos is "total chaos", the UN refugee agency UNHCR says, with inadequate accommodation, water and sanitation.

Around 50,000 people arrived in Greece in July alone, the organisation says.

Greece's leader said the country was unable to cope, and called for EU help.

Separately, Italian police arrested five suspected traffickers over the deaths of about 200 people after a migrant boat sank on Wednesday.

They included two Libyans, two Algerians and a Tunisian, held on suspicion of multiple murder and people trafficking.

Survivors have said that traffickers used knives to slash the heads of African migrants and belts to thrash Arabs to keep them in the hull. (+ BBC videos) » | Friday, August 7, 2015

Qatari Emir Buys Six Greek Islands for a Song
THE GUARDIAN: Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani pays €8.5m for Ionian retreats for family with seller happy to strike deal after 18 months of red tape


The suitor is one of the world's wealthiest men; the location happens to be the eurozone's poorest country. But in an unlikely coming together of economic circumstances, the emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has opted to splash out €8.5m (£7.35m) on six idyllic isles in the Ionian sea.

Closure of the deal – the latest in a global shopping spree that has seen the sheikh's property portfolio spread from London to Beijing – has been met with glee in Greece, the west's most bankrupt state, and Doha, where the royal household experienced 18 months of excruciating drama to take possession of the outcrops.

"Greece is that kind of place," said Ioannis Kassianos, Ithaca's straight-talking Greek-American mayor. "Even when you buy an island, even if you are the emir of Qatar, it takes a year and a half for all the paperwork to go through."

The isles, known as the Echinades, caught the oil-rich monarch's fancy when he moored his super-yacht in the turquoise waters off Ithaca, took in the view and liked what he saw. That was four summers ago.

When the royal eventually got off the yacht, he inquired about the pine-covered chain as he strolled about Ithaca in sandals and shorts. "They have a fund with a couple of hundred million in it," enthused Kassianos, a former US economics professor who assumed the mayorship of Homer's fabled isle three years ago. "And as far as I know they want to buy all 18 of the islands, the whole lot." » | Helena Smith in Athens | Tuesday 5 March 2013