samos

• Greece
• Turkey

Authorities say EU border agency Frontex has provided the Greek coast guard with a crewless airship to help combat irregular immigration and to augment search and rescue operations in the eastern Aegean Sea, where close to 20,000 migrants are staying in overcrowded camps on Greek islands. Separately, police found nearly 130 migrants in vehicles and detained two smugglers in two unrelated incidents, one in Greece and one in North Macedonia.

• Greece
• Italy

The Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome is promoting an initiative thanks to which 150 volunteers, together with a group of cultural mediators, will take turns to spend the summer with refugees on the Greek islands of Lesvos and Samos. The initiative runs through August 31.

• Greece
• Spain

The Aita Mari was supposed to run search and rescue missions in the Central Mediterranean. But the Spanish government denied the ship permission to do so and blocked it from setting sail for months. That's why the crew decided to go on an aid mission in Greece instead.

• Spain

Spanish charities including Proactiva Open Arms received the green light to set sail from the port of Barcelona on Wednesday. Instead of returning to the central Mediterranean to save migrants, the NGOs will deliver aid supplies to migrants on the Greek islands.

• Greece
• Turkey

One woman reportedly died as a boat overturned on the rocky coast of the Greek island of Samos. 50 migrants survived.

• Greece

A primary school on the Greek island of Samos is at the center of a controversy after a group of local parents refused to send their children to school. Their protest is indicative of a growing frustration among local Greek communities over the arrivals of refugees since 2015.

• Greece

A boat carrying migrants has sunk off the Greek island of Samos. Greek authorities said three people drowned, including two small boys. Nine others were rescued.

• Greece

Two new facilities are set to open soon in a bid to ease the pressure on the overcrowded refugee camps on the north eastern Aegean islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros.

• Greece

On the Greek island of Samos, thousands of migrants and refugees from Africa feel trapped. They are disappointed with the long asylum procedures, leaving them in limbo in overcrowded camps amid horrid living conditions.

• Greece

Greece's government is scrambling to clear-out thousands of migrants from the island of Samos - home to the country's most crowded and abysmal refugee camp. Authorities have already failed to meet a deadline for its evacuation, stoking a showdown with local authorities that have threatened to sue the migration minister for failed action. Anthee Carassava reports from the refugee camp of Samos.

• Greece

More than 4,000 refugees and migrants currently reside on the Greek island of Samos, and the refugee camp with a capacity for only 700 people is bursting. Poor hygiene and harsh weather conditions are posing a threat to the migrant population. The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR warns the situation could escalate to become as catastrophic as on the neighboring island of Lesbos.

• Greece

Authorities on the Greek island of Samos have urged a quicker transfer of refugees and migrants off the island. Reception centers are currently holding thousands more people than they were built for.