Subject: Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-01-23 From: "HR-Net News Distribution Manager" CONTENTS [01] Supreme Court's ruling on Turkish soldiers postponed to Jan 26 [02] Emirates to launch new flight from Dubai to New York via Athens [03] 10,463 people stranded on the northern Aegean islands; thirty five refugees arrested on Kastellorizo --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [01] Supreme Court's ruling on Turkish soldiers postponed to Jan 26 The ruling of the Criminal Department of the Supreme Court on the eight Turkish soldiers who came to Greece by helicopter after the attempted coup d' etat on July 15 was postponed to Thursday, January 26. [02] Emirates to launch new flight from Dubai to New York via Athens Emirates airlines will launch a new daily flight from Dubai to New York's Newark Liberty International Airport via Athens, the company announced. According to the announcement, Athens is a market with important investment opportunities especially in today's highly competitive environment of the airline industry. According to surveys of the Athens International Airport, passenger traffic between Athens and the US with a stopover exceeds the 570,000 passengers annually, while only in summer 2016, the traffic in direct flights to New York increased by 52 percent, reaching 156,000 passengers. "Therefore, the size of the New York market provides a unique opportunity for activities in the US. Emirates decided to take advantage of that opportunity and also play an important role in the Greek market," the announcement added. Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura welcomed the decision and stressed the importance of supporting "the efforts of the Tourism ministry to further enhance the already increasing tourist flows from the USA and the United Arab Emirates to Greece, on an annual basis, traveling either for leisure or business purposes." [03] 10,463 people stranded on the northern Aegean islands; thirty five refugees arrested on Kastellorizo A total of 72 refugees and migrants arrived on the northern Aegean islands in the last three days. 22 were recorded on the island of Lesvos , two on Chios and 48 on the island of Samos. According to police, 10,463 people that have applied for asylum which has been not examined yet remain stranded on the northern Aegean islands. Moreover, thirty five refugees including 11 children were arrested on the island of Kastellorizo for illegal entry to Greece. The arrested, three women and five children from Syria, eight Iraqi nationals (four men, a woman and three children) and 19 Palestinians (12 men, four women and three children)had left from the opposite Turkish coasts.