Bog pools are sensitive to large numbers of visitors and frequent swimming alters their ecosystems. To preserve biodiversity, scientists recommend swimming in other bodies of water.

Japan's Hiroshima Animation Season is putting Estonia's Priit and Olga Pärn in the spotlight this year with two retrospective programs celebrating their distinctive worlds.

The new ruling coalition of the Pärnu city council passed a vote of no confidence in Mayor Kristel Voltenberg at its Monday session, even though she announced at the start of the meeting that she would resign. The council elected Siim Suursild (Isamaa) as the new mayor.

Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise, who announced that she has agreed to run for president, will meet with the Riigikogu parliamentary groups on Monday to discuss her candidacy with MPs.

Bog pools are sensitive to large numbers of visitors and frequent swimming alters their ecosystems. To preserve biodiversity, scientists recommend swimming in other bodies of water.

Dozens of kilograms of Lego bricks donated to an Estonian NGO are being eagerly embraced by girls in Kenya.

Teisipäeva hommikul katkes reisirongiühendus Jõhviga, kuna Kohtla-Nõmme-Püssi jaama vahel on öösel lõhutud ehitatavat kontaktvõrku. Parandustööd kestavad arvatavasti keskpäevani.

Läti peaminister Andris Kulbergs märkis usutluses Politicole, et riik peaks saama Euroopa Liidult 7 miljardit eurot toetust selle eest, et paneb NATO idatiiva riigina vastu Venemaa ohule.

Moscow says nine people have been killed in the past 24 hours, while Kyiv reports four deaths.

Lev Schlosberg is found guilty of "discrediting" Russia's army - a verdict he condemns as punishment for his political position.

As we hit peak holiday season, the BBC looks at the dos and don'ts of composing a good out-of-office message.

Mark Carney will need to sell Canadians on any concessions made to the US as negotiators scramble to reach a deal to avoid Trump’s latest tariffs.

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Chinas Exporte treffen die deutsche Kernindustrie in nie da gewesener Härte und Geschwindigkeit. Weil massiv Arbeitsplätze wackeln, sucht Europa händeringend nach einer politischen Notbremse. Rixa Fürsen spricht mit Janka Oertel über die existenzielle Bedrohung für den Autobau und Maschinenbau. Oertel ist Politikwissenschaftlerin und China-Expertin, bei der Denkfabrik „European Council on Foreign Relations“ ist sie Direktorin des Asienprogramms und Senior Policy Fellow. Wie hart Peking inzwischen zurückschlägt, zeigt die Reaktion auf jüngste EU-Sanktionen. Binnen 24 Stunden konterte China mit Exportrestriktionen gegen Rüstungskonzerne wie Rheinmetall. Trotzdem wächst in Europa der Widerstand, sodass beim EU-Rat im Oktober scharfe Handelsschutzmaßnahmen folgen könnten. Während wir noch über E-Autos diskutieren, plant China längst die nächste industrielle Revolution. Im Bereich der sogenannten Biomanufaktur will Peking eine globale Dominanz aufbauen, um unabhängiger von fossilen Rohstoffen zu werden. Oertel warnt davor, dass Europa auch bei dieser Zukunftstechnologie seine aktuelle Führungsrolle verspielen könnte. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Rixa Fürsen gibt es auch hier:Instagram: @rixafu | X: @rixa_fursen. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbHAxel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 BerlinTel: +49 (30) 2591 0information@axelspringer.deSitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 BUSt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

ATHENS — Greece’s attempt to lure top scientists back to their homeland after the trauma of the financial crisis has stalled after an ambitious program to reverse the brain drain descended into fiasco. A group of professors who hoped to bring back young researchers through a much-advertised program financed with EU funds are now feeling betrayed, having been left waiting for years only to find out the program won’t happen. To rub salt into the wound, no one from the government bothered to inform them that the scheme was dead, they said. “All this ‘brain gain’ talk isn’t just a joke; it’s a massive step backward,” Aristides Hatzis, a professor at the University of Athens, said. “During the financial crisis, there was only one area where there was money invested: research, as the EU prioritized this. Now there’s nothing; it’s at the very bottom of the list of priorities — a complete abandonment.” An estimated 500,000 people moved abroad during Greece’s financial crisis, which began in 2008, shrinking the country’s economy by a quarter and driving unemployment to 28 percent. Greece had experienced mass migration before, including in the decades after World War II, but this time it was many citizens with high levels of education and skills who emigrated. “Brain Regain,” an initiative by the ruling conservative New Democracy government to reverse the mass exodus of scientists and professionals, comprises several schemes, such as offering a 50 percent income tax exemption for seven years, and is expanding to include high-skilled public sector roles. And overall, the situation has improved since the crisis era. According to the survey OECD Diaspora Review Greece, from 2021 onward, there has been a steady increase in the number of citizens returning to Greece, with 2023 marking a milestone year when — for the first time since the start of the crisis — more people returned than left. Specifically, during the two-year period of 2023–2024, 69,000 Greeks left their country while 98,000 returned. But when it comes to scientists, there is still a major problem. Star-crossed project The current fury of many researchers and scientists hinges on a Greek government project called “Trust your Stars” — an €80 million research funding program backed by funds from EU’s post-Covid recovery fund, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Research teams were called to submit their proposals, with 145 out of a total 1,241 submissions selected. Thirteen months later, after several complaints regarding the delay, the selected list of projects was finally published on July 22, 2025. Then, it all started to unravel. A man walks outside the headquarters of bank of Greece during a demonstation against government’s austerity measures in central Athens. | Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images Those not selected for funding reacted fiercely, with some 203 submitted objections and calls for reevaluation. Scientists raised their concerns over the evaluation process itself, and some even submitted complaints to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. In January 2026, Greece’s development ministry then issued a statement, saying payments of some €40 million had already been made, and that the remaining half of the program’s budget was earmarked for completion by Dec. 31, 2029. But complaints only escalated, with some of those selected for funding sending formal legal notices to the education ministry, seeking details about where the money had been spent since the program had not yet started. Then, the final bombshell dropped: Trust your Stars was not going to receive the EU funds anymore. In a statement published in May, Greece’s education ministry said the country’s finance ministry had decided to “remove the project during the review of Greece’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan.” It was later revealed that on the day the list of selected proposals was officially published, the government also delisted the program — but no one informed the applicants for 10 months. “It was ultimately not possible to implement the project ‘Trust your Stars’ within the time frame set out by the RRF,” said an official from the education ministry. “For this reason, the project was removed, as part of a review of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan by the Council of the European Union.” “As regards the funds linked to the actions in question, these were redirected to finance other actions undertaken by the RRF and the Education Ministry. Consequently, under no circumstances was there any loss of resources from the RRF,” added the official. Shattered hopes On July 15, Greece’s finance ministry issued a statement, saying it was trying to secure funds “to settle any outstanding financial obligations arising from legal commitments entered into at the time of the revocation of the program.” While the statement rekindled hopes that a solution would be found, Hatzis argues that it was just a legal trick and that the education ministry has no legal commitment since no contracts were signed following the initial announcement of accepted proposals. “What happened violates a fundamental principle, one that is sacrosanct in states governed by the rule of law: ‘reliance,’ the citizen’s legitimate trust in the state,” he said. “There may be no contractual liability, since we did not sign an agreement, but there is a political, moral and even legal obligation. Many young people turned down other offers or did not take up jobs elsewhere because they hoped they would be paid through the program.” Hatzis added that with its handling of the situation, the government had managed to turn the entire scientific community against it — both those who had been successful and those who had not. “If you’re a young scientist and you’re abroad, stay there! If you’re a young scientist and you’re thinking of moving abroad, go for it. Don’t wait a minute!” he wrote in a lengthy social media post. Pantelis Kammas, an associate professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business who was co-leading one of the teams that had a successful proposal, said the program was a chronicle of a death foretold. “The perception within the scientific community was that this was EU money and that it could be handed out hastily through nontransparent procedures. There was a sense of mistrust because this was a one-off emergency program,” said Kammas. “The ministry lacked an organized framework for evaluation, the academic community’s objections were based on these well-known shortcomings, and media that seek to oppose the government jumped on that. This was the perfect storm, so the government decided to backtrack and cancel the program.” Petros Bouras-Vallianatos, an associate professor of the history of science at the University of Athens, said he had gathered a team of 25 young scientists to come to Greece from countries like the U.K. and Germany for a study of medicines used during the Byzantine period, which could serve as inspiration for new pharmaceutical formulations. Fortunately, they had not already traveled by the time the project was canceled. “The most offensive thing is that the government never bothered to meet us or give us a reasonable explanation about what happened,” he said, noting the government’s handling created even greater problems with the scientific community than those that already existed. Bouras-Vallianatos himself returned to Greece in 2022 after a 15-year career in Edinburgh, and has not regretted the decision, as he wanted to raise his children in his homeland. However, he added that while many others wanted to return to Greece, the conditions for doing so were not in place. Some of them do but only for sentimental, personal reasons, he said. “There has been no serious policy by the Greek state to get its scientists back.” According to preliminary statistics, research spending in Greece has declined, dropping to €1.27 billion — or 0.51 percent of GDP — in 2025, from €1.30 billion in 2024. “Funding and low salaries is a big issue,” continued Bouras-Vallianatos. “An independent body should be set up, which would allocate funds for research and adheres to international standards in terms of evaluation. We are a small country; we all know each other, so a large proportion of the evaluators should be foreigners.”

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Operator granted UK track access for as many as 20 daily return trains to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030Business live – latest updatesVirgin Trains has been granted track access by the rail regulator to enable it to run services between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030, in a key step towards breaking Eurostar’s monopoly on the cross-Channel passenger route.The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said it had given approval for Richard Branson’s company to run as many as 20 daily return services using the High Speed 1 line that runs between London St Pancras and the Channel tunnel. Continue reading...

Vegetable and grain growers call for urgent action, warning of ‘catastrophic’ harvests due to continent-wide droughtSuccessive intense heatwaves and an increasingly severe, continent-wide drought have left many of Europe’s farmers in an “unprecedented” crisis, with vegetable and grain growers in particular warning of “catastrophic” harvests.French vegetable production is down by “a very significant extent” compared with previous years, French growers have said, with shortfalls put at 25% for courgettes, 35% for lettuces, 40% for peas, 60% for broccoli and 50% to 100% for artichokes. Continue reading...

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