September 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
Greece raises pensioners’ annual payment to 400 euros
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a 2.2 billion euro tax and income package at the Thessaloniki International Fair. Pensioners’ annual payment rises to 400 euros in November, while public servants receive a 500 euro gross Christmas bonus from December 2027. Farmers and families with three children also gain income-tax relief. The announcement comes as the government expects a primary surplus almost twice its initial forecast this year.
Greece sets 2 billion euros for housing loans and raises the tax on non-EU buyers
Greece's new package includes a 2 billion euro housing-loan programme through the Hellenic Development Bank. The property transfer tax for buyers from outside the European Union rises from 3 per cent to 15 per cent. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's 2.2 billion euro package also provides income-tax relief for farmers and families with three children, alongside payments to pensioners and public servants on different timetables.
Gulf companies post record quarterly profit of 74.8 billion dollars
Net profit at Gulf Cooperation Council-listed companies reached a record 74.8 billion dollars in the second quarter, up 31.3 per cent from a year earlier. Kamco Invest attributed the increase to energy and banking companies and higher average crude prices. As a separate measure of the region's banking momentum, total Saudi bank credit rose 7 per cent year on year to 3.54 trillion riyals at the end of July.
Guyana receives its first six deportees from the US
Six Cuban and Afghan nationals arrived in Guyana on Saturday under a migration agreement with the US. Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud said the one-year arrangement does not provide permanent resettlement. The government says the International Organization for Migration will handle housing and support, while Guyana retains discretion to review and reject proposed transfers. Those received will await immigration decisions in the country.
Himawari-9 tracks smoke moving in different directions over Sumatra and Kalimantan
BMKG's reading of Himawari-9 images showed wildfire smoke moving northwest and north over parts of Sumatra, and north and northeast over Kalimantan. The same haze episode reached Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines, where residents described stinging eyes and breathing difficulty. Rain improved visibility in Pontianak, but smoke remained visible that evening.
Humanoid robots dance and show combat moves on IFA Berlin’s runway
Humanoid robots walked, danced and demonstrated combat movements at IFA Berlin’s first Robots on the Runway show on September 5. Unitree, Agibot, EngineAI and Dobot took part, alongside four-legged robots. Visitors could approach the robots after the demonstrations. These were public show performances, with no comparable measurements of reliability in everyday work reported.
HyperVault plans an AI campus of up to one gigawatt in Hyderabad
TCS’s data centre arm HyperVault and its partners plan to invest up to 700 billion rupees in a Hyderabad campus with capacity of up to one gigawatt. The approximately 107-hectare site is secured, with development planned in phases according to customer demand. TCS envisages liquid cooling, green energy and water neutrality for AI training and inference.
IFA robots danced on stage as some demonstrations paused on the floor
Humanoid robots walked, danced and demonstrated combat movements at IFA Berlin's first Robots on the Runway show. Elsewhere at the fair, JoongAng Ilbo photographed a popcorn robot that had stopped and a Haier household robot charging instead of demonstrating. These moments from the stage and exhibition floor do not measure reliability across the products; they make the limits of a public demonstration visible.
Israel strikes four southern Lebanese towns after its first evacuation warning in weeks
France 24 reported that Israel's latest air strikes hit four towns in southern Lebanon, killing four people and wounding 20 according to the ministry. Israel's military said it acted after Hezbollah sent two drones towards its soldiers; Hezbollah did not comment on that claim. The new strikes followed an earlier wave against five locations, for which the ministry reported four dead and 32 wounded.
Italy holds 17th place in the global attractiveness ranking
TEHA Group's 2026 Global Attractiveness Index, presented at the Cernobbio forum, kept Italy in 17th place with 62.1 points, up 1.3 points from the previous score. Closing the same forum, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said Italy was more respected abroad than at home. The index and the minister's assessment put the country's externally perceived economic standing on the agenda through two different measures at one gathering.