Urban planning experts propose sharp increases in minimum land plot sizes required for construction, new zoning protections and limits on large-scale tourism projects for Ios, Sikinos and Folegandros to curb scattered development and unregulated tourism growth. www.ekathimerini.com/news/1282573...

Athens is facing new pressure from NATO allies to provide aid to Ukraine, mainly by reselling some of its 25 Mirage 2000-5 fighters to intermediaries. Greece has previously chosen to provide antiquated weapons systems, part of the Army’s arsenal since the 1960s. www.ekathimerini.com/politics/for...

The EU’s chief prosecutor Laura Kovesi said that Article 86 of the Greek Constitution stands in the way of the investigations, especially those concerning the EU farm payments agency OPEKEPE and a delayed railway safety infrastructure contract. 👀 www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1282...

Douglas Barrowman and Michelle Mone's company, PPE Medpro, has just been ordered to refund the Government £122m from a PPE contract. There are two very odd things about PPE Medpro that may affect the odds of the Government ever getting that £122m... Thread:

How Syria’s first elections since Assad’s ouster are expected to unfold apnews.com/article/syri...

EU prosecutor Laura Kovesi called for the strengthening of the EPPO in Athens during a visit to Greece. Reports said she also discussed the controversial article 86 of the Greek Constitution, which grants politicians immunity from prosecution. www.ekathimerini.com/politics/128...

Greece has yet to pay its share of the EMBO Installation Grants for 2025, leaving two awardees unable to form teams or begin projects nine months into the year. www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1282...

Pay your taxes, get spied on? EU citizens may be footing the bill for their own surveillance. Millions of euros, to be more precise. Public funding has ended up in the pockets of commercial spyware firms, whose tools have been used against journalists, lawmakers, and ordinary citizens.

In a blistering ruling, a federal judge in Boston found the federal government violated the free speech rights of international students and academics who engaged in Pro-Palestinian activism.

Greece's EU farm subsidy scandal: OPEKEPE has informally halted payments for three months, leaving 598 million euros owed to farmers for 2024 subsidies as deadline looms. www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1282...

There are only 41,000 coal miners in the United States. By way of comparison, there are 100,000 **registered** yoga teachers, 361,000 Starbucks baristas and 265,000 faculty and staff members working for the University of California system alone.

Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/

Greece extradites Kremlin-linked billionaire Vladimir Plahotniuc to Moldova The Moldovan Prosecutor’s Office has filed charges against Plahotniuc in three cases, including the theft of $1 billion from the country’s banking system in 2014.

Netanyahu’s flight to US takes extended detour, avoiding most European airspace https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahus-flight-to-us-takes-extended-detour-avoiding-most-european-airspace/

“without a stated reason” www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

I seem to remember that there was a political movement in the US that was powered by resentment over bailouts and an opposition to sending “our money” to other countries. Blanking on the name right now, but it’ll come to me.

⚡️Ukrainian journalist Roshchyna died in Russian custody in September 2024, investigation finds. Viktoriia Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 while reporting in Russian-occupied territories. Russian authorities confirmed her detention the following year.

⚠️ A new study shows that the cause behind the tens of thousands of earthquakes Santorini experienced earlier this year were volcanic. "The seismic activity was typical of magma ascending through Earth's crust," says Dr. Marius Isken, geophysicist at the GFZ. phys.org/news/2025-09...

I like Aegean Airlines but their "40% discount for children" is a scam. tl;dr: The "40% off" is based on a fake inflated fare. The effective discount is 14% for 1 adult + 1 child, 0% for 2 adults + 1 child, and actually increases for adult:children ratios > 2:1 with no opt-out. An exposé. [1/7]

Karen Attiah, a Washington Post opinion writer fired this month for her social media posts about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, has filed a grievance arguing that she should have been allowed to share her views on news events under the company’s labor agreement and social media policy.

New argument against AI regulation just dropped. Checkmate, atheists. www.wsj.com/tech/peter-t...

⚠️ The trial of four company executives linked to Greece’s Predator spyware scandal was adjourned until October 22, after a defense lawyer asked for time to examine an encrypted document from the Hellenic Data Protection Authority. www.ekathimerini.com/news/1281833...

The four private individuals on trial in Athens are all facing misdemeanor charges - allegedly connected with the marketing of Predator. Two of the accused are said to have ties with state officials, but it was never seriously investigated, opposition and watchdogs said. #Predator #Greece

⚠️ Faulty power lines were the leading cause of major wildfires in Greece this summer, overshadowing arson & negligence, preliminary fire brigade data seen exclusively by Reuters shows. Of 41 major blazes investigated, 15 were likely caused by the electricity network. www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Kirk was nominated by - who else - the nationalist Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) group.

“Your countries are going to hell,” Trump says in his speech at the United Nations

If you haven’t seen this (I hadn’t), you need to:

US has now applied Global Magnitsky sanctions that are intended for grave human rights violationsto the wife of Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes. Total perversion of the law.

This has to be a moment of reckoning. Broadcasters must focus on the practical consequences and make them clear. It would be utter, society altering chaos. That should dominate the approach, as it would coverage of any other party's policies.

Reform will apparently pledge today that they'd abolish indefinite leave to remain - including retrospectively, to people already granted it. Obviously this is a moral abomination but it is also a practical and legal impossibility.

The UK, Canada and Australia have officially announced their recognition of a Palestinian state. France is expected to imminently follow suit.

Congress already decided "the point of immigration," and it isn't this lawless shakedown

Saving this list for the next time I have a student ask why I say that Watergate was small potatoes compared to what goes on in an average week with this administration.

This is it, essentially. The core of it. The goal of ICE detention in the mass deportation system is to make people give up their case without fighting; to have an officer say “if you want to see a judge and plead your case, you’re going to be jailed for months and months, so why not give up now?”

A cyberattack targeting check-in and boarding systems has disrupted air traffic at several major European airports.

In 2023, storm Daniel flooded huge parts of the Thessaly plain, destroying crops and killing livestock. “When we thought we had recovered a bit, the sheep pox came and finished us off,” Karajiolis said. www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1281...

Among the shortcomings cited are Greece’s land parcel identification system, which must include images not older than three years. The Commission urged Greece, “given the seriousness of the deficiencies,” to strengthen animal traceability. www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1281...

💥🕵️Several people in Czechia work for spyware firm Intellexa, accused of aiding human rights abuses and now on trial in Greece. Documents tie its operations to Israeli entrepreneur Dvir Horef Hazan, found in a Silesian town beneath a large Israeli flag.

Over 40 French nationals linked to Islamic State sent from Syria to Iraq for trial

⚠️ Η Κομισιον επισημαίνει ότι όσα έχει προτείνει η Ελλάδα στο πλαίσιο του σχεδίου δράσης για την αντιμετώπιση των ελλείψεων στον ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ και κατά συνέπεια την αποκατάσταση του κύρους του οργανισμού που διαχειρίζεται ευρωπαϊκά κονδύλια, δεν επαρκούν.

Incredible reporting.

Greece has suspended the rejection of asylum applications, as authorities face a lack of detention capacity under a new migration law - the “return or prison” doctrine - for people denied asylum. Τhe Asylum Service told staff to halt denials until further notice. www.ekathimerini.com/politics/128...

Ανεφάρμοστο στην πράξη αποδεικνύεται το δόγμα της κυβέρνησης "επιστροφή ή φυλακή" που θεσμοθετήθηκε με την ψήφιση του νόμου 5226 για τις επιστροφές του υπουργείου Μετανάστευσης στις αρχές Αυγούστου, καθώς δεν υπαρχούν υποδομές για να κρατηθούν όσοι απορρίπτονται. www.kathimerini.gr/society/repo...

Not again

Of course, US media bowing to pressure from Trump is one thing. But the EU not standing up to social media companies is just as important. As @mariettaslomka.bsky.social recently wrote: “The EU doesn’t dare take on the tech world’s parallel universes. That will have bitter consequences.”

“ABC and CBS are making a serious miscalculation. Their servility to Trump will not earn them peace, only greater pressure.” That’s the German professional association of journalists, @djv.de, calling on major US media to support their journalists instead of preemptively silencing them.

More than a quarter of a million people displaced from Gaza City in past month, UN figures show

Greece has until October 2 to submit a revised plan for agricultural subsidies or risk a suspension of payments, the European Commission has warned. www.ekathimerini.com/politics/128...

Strong argument for moving Bluesky's data infrastructure to the EU

UN Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees Ruvendrini Menikdiwela raised concerns about how governments are using the threat of migrants to satisfy their interests, speaking in a closed briefing to European journalists. www.ekathimerini.com/politics/for...