Refugees and other migrants pouring into Greece will be kept on Aegean Sea islands on ferries used as floating shelters, government officials said, as thousands who went before them find themselves stranded in increasingly desperate conditions following border closures in the countries to the north.

Greece’s parliament cleared a former minister in a corruption probe that had threatened to trigger early elections.

European Union foreign ministers today declared the spread of bird flu from Asia into Europe a “global threat” requiring broad international co-operation.

Greece today said it had banned the export of live birds, poultry meat and products from Aegean Sea islands neighbouring an islet where the country’s first bird flu case was detected yesterday.