ATHENS: The body of a missing British scientist has been found in a ravine on the Greek island of Ikaria two days after she disappeared, Greek public television reported on Wednesday.
The cause of death of Nicosia-based astrophysicist Natalie Christopher, who had been on holiday with her partner, was not yet determined, the ERT channel said.
Greek police had been searching for the 35-year-old after she reportedly failed to return from a run on Monday.
A Greek police spokeswoman earlier told AFP that police had late Tuesday joined Ikaria port patrols, firefighters and volunteers already looking for the scientist.
According to Greek and Cypriot media, Christopher and her 38-year-old Cypriot partner had arrived on the Aegean island on Saturday and stayed near the port of Agios Kirykos. She left their hotel for a jog on Monday morning but never returned, her partner told media.
“The couple talked by phone around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) and she said she had gone for a run in the neighborhood,” a police spokesman told Cypriot television.
The Cyprus Mail website said Christopher’s companion notified the police that she had not returned at around 12:40 pm, while other press reports said her phone has been traced to the island of Fournoi, about 10 kilometers (six miles) away, without saying how it might have got there.
Greek media reports also said traces of blood had been found in the couple’s hotel room and were being examined.
Christopher, well known in Cyprus as an active sportswoman, was involved in several social media projects, including one — “Cyprus Girls Can” — which aims to break down barriers between Greek and Turkish youngsters on the divided island.
The incident comes three weeks after the murder of US molecular biologist Suzanne Eaton on the Greek island of Crete.
The 59-year-old had been attending a conference near the city of Chania and gone out on July 2 without taking her mobile phone, the police said.
Her body was found six days later in an abandoned World War II bunker near the town of Chania.
A 27-year-old farmer confessed to raping and killing Eaton, who had worked for the Max Planck Institute at Dresden University.
Missing British scientist found dead in Greece
Missing British scientist found dead in Greece
- Body of missing British scientist Natalie Christopher found in ravine on Greek island of Ikaria
- Greek police had been searching for Christopher after she reportedly failed to return from a run on Monday
US bars five Europeans it says pressured tech firms to censor American viewpoints online
WASHINGTON: The State Department announced Tuesday it was barring five Europeans it accused of leading efforts to pressure US tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.
The Europeans, characterized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations, fell afoul of a new visa policy announced in May to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States.
“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose,” Rubio posted on X. “The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.”
The five Europeans were identified by Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, in a series of posts on social media. They include the leaders of organizations that address digital hate and a former European Union commissioner who clashed with tech billionaire Elon Musk over broadcasting an online interview with Donald Trump.
Rubio’s statement said they advanced foreign government censorship campaigns against Americans and US companies, which he said created “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US
The action to bar them from the US is part of a Trump administration campaign against foreign influence over online speech, using immigration law rather than platform regulations or sanctions.
The five Europeans named by Rogers are: Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organization; Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index; and former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was responsible for digital affairs.
Rogers in her post on X called Breton, a French business executive and former finance minister, the “mastermind” behind the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep Internet users safe online. This includes flagging harmful or illegal content like hate speech.
She referred to Breton warning Musk of a possible “amplification of harmful content” by broadcasting his livestream interview with Trump in August 2024 when he was running for president.
Breton responded Tuesday on X by noting that all 27 EU members voted for the Digital Services Act in 2022. “To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,’” he wrote.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France condemns the visa restrictions on Breton and the four others. Also posting on X, he said the DSA was adopted to ensure that “what is illegal offline is also illegal online.” He said it “has absolutely no extraterritorial reach and in no way concerns the United States.”
Most Europeans are covered by the Visa Waiver Program, which means they don’t necessarily need visas to come into the country. They do, however, need to complete an online application prior to arrival under a system run by the Department of Homeland Security, so it is possible that at least some of these five people have been flagged to DHS, a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details not publicly released.
Other visa restriction policies were announced this year, along with bans targeting foreign visitors from certain African and Middle Eastern countries and the Palestinian Authority. Visitors from some countries could be required to post a financial bond when applying for a visa.
