🇬🇷Week of October 19

Greece and Egypt have begun discussions on extending the demarcation of their exclusive economic zones, with Cairo's foreign ministry announcing agreement to continue consultations on maritime zones on the basis of UNCLOS. The talks follow Libya's parliament in Benghazi ratifying a maritime zones agreement with Turkey, a memorandum Greek coverage treats as illegal and a threat to Greek maritime rights.123

The ratification vote in Benghazi was described as unanimous, and eastern Libya is where Khalifa Haftar holds sway. Greek outlets present the Turkey-Libya memorandum as erasing Crete, and a new Turkish NAVTEX in the Eastern Mediterranean was issued after the vote; Athens answered with a NAVTEX of its own.45

The Egyptian foreign ministry said the two sides agreed to continue consultations on maritime zones on the basis of UNCLOS, the framework Athens cites in the dispute. The Greek-Egyptian talks cover extending an existing demarcation rather than starting from scratch.231

Websites around the world went offline after two critical security vulnerabilities were disclosed, prompting alerts across the technology and security press. The flaws affect PHP, the widely used server-side scripting language behind millions of sites.123

Governments pulled their own websites offline in response to the vulnerabilities, according to ProtoThema, which reported that state sites were left exposed to hackers. Newsbeast reported that government websites were at the mercy of hackers because of the PHP flaws.45

Coverage on Thursday shifted to how the flaws were found: in.gr reported that artificial intelligence located a backdoor on the internet, and newmoney reported that the security gap threatens millions of sites.67

Pupils, students and teachers took to the streets across Greece in a nationwide education mobilisation, with thousands of young people marching. The Athens rally began on Wednesday and similar demonstrations were held around the country.1234

The Athens demonstration wound down gradually through the day, while police were deployed for the mobilisations. Marchers carried the demand "what we need is the means for knowledge," and one centre-left outlet reported the slogan "studies or survival?"5367

After the Athens rally, a riot police officer fired a flash-bang grenade inside the Omonia metro station, according to in.gr. The report did not state whether anyone was injured.8

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara does not oppose the planned Crete-Cyprus electricity interconnector but wants written notification of the survey work rather than a verbal one. He also asked for the coordinates of the operations, according to Greek coverage of his remarks.123456

Fidan used the same remarks to address the casus belli threat and Turkey's "Blue Homeland" doctrine, the maritime claim at the centre of Greek-Turkish friction. The cable dispute sits alongside a new Turkish NAVTEX in the Eastern Mediterranean issued after Libya's parliament in Benghazi ratified a maritime zones agreement with Turkey.1734

Athens answered Ankara with a new NAVTEX of its own. ProtoThema reported a formula under which the Crete-Cyprus cable surveys could restart without entanglement with Turkey, with the two sides' navigational warnings serving as the channel for signalling.8910

Attributed claim: The accounts differ on what Fidan actually asked for. Centre and centre-right outlets including CNN.gr, Newsit and ProtoThema report that he said Turkey has no objection to the cable and seeks written information about the surveys, while HuffPost Greece and economico.gr quote him demanding written notice rather than oral notice and the coordinates of the work.23456

An explosion in a flat in the Kolonos district of Athens injured four people, among them two police officers. One of the officers was struck in the head and was taken to surgery. Investigators are examining whether the blast was a booby trap.123

A witness said an officer tried to open a package and shouted a warning before the blast. "He was shouting don't step on it and there was a big explosion," an eyewitness said. A resident said the officer attempted to open the parcel.45

Police are focusing the investigation on the criminal sphere, according to CNN.gr. A special unit rushed to the scene, and reporting identified the two injured officers and the two civilians hurt in the blast.67

The four injured were still being treated the day after the explosion, with the wounded officer in surgery. Coverage on Thursday tracked the condition of all four casualties.89

Libya's parliament ratified a maritime zones agreement with Turkey, with the vote in Benghazi described as unanimous. The deal covers the two countries' maritime zones and was approved by the legislature in eastern Libya.123

The ratification marks a shift in position by eastern Libya, where Khalifa Haftar holds sway. Turkish investors are named among the interests behind the vote, and the approval is described as a parliamentary coup in Benghazi.345

Greek coverage presents the memorandum as illegal and as a threat to Greek maritime rights, with ProtoThema saying it "erases" Crete. The same account ties the ratification to Haftar and Turkish investors and to what it calls a parliamentary coup in Benghazi.45

The trial over the Tempe train disaster continued with testimony from survivors and relatives of the dead. A mother told the court her daughter was travelling home on a train she described as a time bomb. Survivors described the scene after the collision as resembling a war film.123

One survivor testified that rescuers passed beside him and assumed he was dead. The mother of Elissavet Chatzivasileiou told the court she could not have imagined that nothing was working, and said the survivors and families faced a hostile state.4567

Testimony also addressed rail safety equipment. A witness said it was inconceivable that no safety system had operated for years, a claim carried in coverage of the proceedings.8

Student protests against Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama have continued in Tirana and many other cities, with demonstrators demanding his resignation. Protesters threw stones at the parliament building and at ministries and set fire to rubbish bins, and the unrest spread beyond the capital to other cities.12

On the sixth day of demonstrations, a police station in Tirana was set on fire. Rama said he was certain that "the state will win the battle," and students called a new gathering for the same day.32

Rama described those taking part in the demonstrations as "people with psychological problems." The remark drew coverage in Greek media as the prime minister faces pressure from the continuing protests.4

The European Commission condemned the violence during the demonstrations. Greek reports also raised the prospect of early elections and pointed to Rama's threats of expulsions and dismissals.51

Twelve migrants drowned in two separate shipwrecks off the Greek islands of Lesbos and Samos, among them an infant. The sinkings were reported on Monday as a double tragedy in the Aegean. The Samos chapter of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) linked the deaths to what it called an inhumane anti-migration policy.123

At Samos, a speedboat carrying migrants capsized, killing six people and leaving 15 survivors. Footage published by Alpha TV showed the vessels that collided in the wreck. The total toll across the two islands stood at 12 dead.451

Attributed claim: The KKE's Samos branch blamed the mass-casualty shipwrecks on the government's migration stance, calling the deaths the result of an inhumane anti-migration policy. That attribution came from the left, while centre outlets reported the sinkings and the rescue counts without assigning responsibility.24

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis inaugurated Daedalus, the national supercomputer, which is now in operation. At the launch he said the journey from lagging behind to the front rank was and remains fascinating.123

The Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence Ministry published 14 questions and answers explaining the national supercomputer. LiFO described Daedalus as the largest Greek supercomputer.45

Mitsotakis said Greece is on the front line of the artificial intelligence revolution, and newmoney reported that he pressed the button to start Daedalus. BusinessDaily.gr reported the machine in operation with the inauguration held by the prime minister.32