Penelope was only 25 years old. She had studied biology and moved to Igoumenitsa to take up a job in her field, in a fish-farming facility. On Sunday night, she was stabbed to death by her former boyfriend. The 27-year-old had traveled from Athens, carrying a small foldable knife. Still, he claims, he killed her in a “fit of rage.” Penelope is the 11th woman killed in a femicide this year, according to the Diotima Center. The data from the Hellenic Police paint a similar picture. From 2020 till 2025, 99 women were killed in femicides, with a record 24 women murdered in 2022 alone. There has also been a sharp increase in domestic violence cases. From 2020 to 2025, there has been an increase of 349.5%. Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis acknowledged this week that “violence has increased significantly,” with police making around 100 arrests every night, following complaints.

The fate of the Parthenon Marbles was thrust into the spotlight this week. The Telegraph reported Wednesday that talks over their return have effectively collapsed, citing Greek frustration over stalled progress and Greece’s rejection of a long-term loan in place of permanent return. On Thursday, the Guardian published an op-ed by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, arguing the dispute “concerns the restoration of the physical, aesthetic and conceptual integrity of a dismembered monument,” and that Greece “cannot accept any arrangement that would require it to recognize the British Museum’s ownership of the sculptures.” A British Museum spokesperson told the Greek state news agency its “position and willingness to reach an agreement remain unchanged,” citing Director Nicholas Cullinan’s recent comment that the Bayeux Tapestry loan might offer “a glimmer of possibility to move forward,” a proposal Mitsotakis had already dismissed in his op-ed.

Greek police arrested two people earlier this week after catching a tanker dumping acidic industrial waste into a drain at a gas station in Aigaleo, the fourth such discharge their surveillance had tracked in 20 days. Investigators found the waste flowed through the stormwater network into the Kifisos and out to sea. Pollution has long plagued Athens’ largest river. Research by the Hellenic Center for Marine Research, along with sampling by the University of Athens and the National Technical University, has found high concentrations of industrial chemicals at specific points along the river. For nearby residents, that means living beside a moving sewer, one where oxygen levels can fall to zero and fish die from lack of it.