Greece says to begin evacuating migrants camped at border within days Reuters (May 22) Greece will begin in the coming days to evacuate a makeshift camp on its northern border...where thousands of migrants and refugees have been stranded in dire conditions for months, the government said on Monday.  The sprawling camp in a field near the Greek town of Idomeni sprang up in February after border shutdowns across the Balkans left the people stranded there. They had mostly been heading for Germany and other wealthier northern European countries.  The migrants, mostly from conflict zones in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have refused to move despite having to sleep in the open in very difficult conditions...They have largely ignored appeals by Greek authorities to move to organized camps set up around Greece.  read more 

 

 

Cyprus parliamentary vote puts far-right in parliament Ekathimerini (May 22) Cyprus's ruling conservatives took the lead in Sunday's general election, results showed, while a far-right party won its first seats in the legislature amid voter disillusionment after a 2013 financial meltdown.  With the voting tally at 100 percent, and an unprecedentedly high abstention rate, the right-wing Democratic Rally party was ahead with 30.6 percent of the vote followed by Communist AKEL with 25.6 percent.  Compared to the previous elections of 2011, those two main parties on the Cypriot political scene suffered setbacks. AKEL's Communists lost up to seven percentage points while Democratic Rally lost 3.7 percentage points.  read more