A thin, tacky film on kitchen cabinets is rarely just dust. Over time, airborne cooking fats bond with particulate matter and polymerize, creating a dense organic layer that resists plain water and standard soaps. While the impulse is often to scrub harder, abrasive sponges and harsh chemical strippers frequently strip the luster or leave permanent scratches on cabinet facades.
The Chemistry of Grease Removal
Effective removal depends on breaking the lipid bonds without compromising the surface finish. A combination of alcohol and mild acid can soften these layers through a process of gentle dissolution. To create this solution in a 500 ml spray bottle, combine 250 ml of warm water, 100 ml of 9% white vinegar, 50 ml of rubbing alcohol (or vodka), and one tablespoon of concentrated dish soap. Shake the mixture until a light foam forms.
This formulation is compatible with most common kitchen materials, including MDF panels, plastics, ceramics, and glass. However, it is not a universal remedy. The acetic acid in the vinegar can etch natural marble or penetrate the pores of untreated wood, potentially altering the stone's structure or the wood's color.
The final price tag for the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) remains an unknown, while the project is now estimated to come online a year later than initially forecast, the energy regulator said on Tuesday.
Head of the energy regulatory authority (Cera) Polis Lemonaris was giving MPs a status update on the GSI – a planned subsea electricity cable linking Cyprus’ grid to that of Greece.
He said the final cost of the GSI cannot yet be “safety estimated” – but added that judging by other interconnectors, the €1.9 billion cited does not seem realistic.
Moreover, in the event that seabed surveys – still ongoing – show a need to reroute the subsea cable, the cost would likely go up.
But going with the standard €1.9 billion number, the official explained the cost distribution for Cyprus and Greece, currently set at 63 per cent to 37 per cent, respectively. Minus the €657 million in EU grants, Cyprus’ share of the cost comes to €749 million, and Greece’s to €440 million.
In addition, the contracting parties bear the operating costs equally; these come to €2 million annually up until the project’s completion, and then €15.5 million per year during actual operation.
As part of the incentives agreed, Lemonaris said, Cyprus will pay €25 million per year for the 2025-2029 period, with a maximum payment of €125 million.
Cyprus has yet to pay Admie the first €25 million installment.
In 2025, Admie – Greece’s independent power transmission operator and project promoter for the GSI – made a filing claiming it had incurred €302 million in expenditures.
Having reviewed the documentation, however, Cera concluded instead that expenses were €82 million up until that time.
The two countries have also agreed on a guaranteed rate of return on investment of 8.3 per cent for the project manager. This rate applies for seven years, later dropping to 4.6 per cent for the next 17 years.
On the actual work done, Lemonaris said that so far 280km of cable has been laid on the seabed, out of the total distance of 900km between the two points in Crete and Cyprus.
Meanwhile, another 232km of cable has been manufactured but yet not laid.
And 60 per cent of the necessary seabed surveys have been completed; the remaining 40 per cent would take about six months.
The seabed surveys are included in the approved capital expenditures budgeted for the 2024-2025 period, which altogether tally at €571 million.
Elsewhere in his presentation, Lemonaris said that the original target of January 2030 set for the project’s completion now looks like January 2031, according to fresh estimates.
MPs wanted to know the status of ownership and control in the project following the acquisition by Meridiam – a French infrastructure investment firm – of 66 per cent of the shares in the holding company based in Greece. Admie retains a 33 per cent strategic minority stake.
Based on their most recent information, Lemonaris said, the ownership and management permits still appear to be held by Admie, which also remains the project promoter.
However, Cera is awaiting an update from Admie regarding ownership and management following Meridiam’s entry into the project.
Cera formally requested the update in August; it has yet to receive a response.
Regarding the cash value of the 66 per cent shares acquired by Meridiam, Lemonaris said this is also an unknown.
Last month President Nikos Christodoulides said Cyprus would release the first €25 million contribution towards the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) once a Navtex is issued for the resumption of seabed surveys.
Energy Minister Michael Damianos said the Navtex would be issued by Greek authorities by the end of this month.
European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday offered “solidarity” to both Greece and Cyprus after the Libyan parliament had earlier in the day ratified a maritime boundary agreement with Turkey which both Greece and the Republic of Cyprus consider to be illegal.
“We deeply regret the ratification today by the Libyan parliament of the so-called Libyan-Turkey memorandum of understanding on the delimitation of maritime jurisdictions in the Mediterranean Sea. We recall that the EU’s position on this matter was clearly stated by the European Council in 2019 and remains unchanged,” they said.
They added that the agreement “infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states”, “does not comply with the law of the sea”, and “is null and void”.
“We reaffirm our solidarity with Greece and Cyprus. We reiterate the EU’s well-known position against any outside interference in Libya,” they said.
The European Council’s conclusions on December 12, 2019, had stated similarly that the agreement “infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states, does not comply with the law of the sea, and cannot produce any legal consequences for third states”.
Libya’s parliament voted unanimously to adopt agreement
Earlier on Tuesday, the Libyan parliament voted unanimously to adopt the agreement, which states that Libya and Turkey agree that their respective exclusive economic zones share a border in the Mediterranean sea, and that that border is located southeast of the Greek island of Crete.
The ratification came on a day on which a day on which Turkey’s national intelligence organisation (Mit)’s chief Ibrahim Kalin was in the country to meet Libya’s government of national unity’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dibeybe.
Turkey had signed an agreement with the Libyan government of national accord in 2019, but it had not until Tuesday been ratified by Libya’s legislature. The government of national unity superseded the government of national accord in 2021 and is now the sole internationally recognised government of Libya.
Mit chief Ibrahim Kalin and Libya’s government of national unity’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dibeybe
After the agreement was signed, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos and his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis held a telephone call, after which both ministries released condemnatory statements.
“The Republic of Cyprus’ foreign ministry condemns the Libyan parliament’s decision to approve the illegal Turkish-Libyan ‘memorandum of understanding’ of 2019. This ‘memorandum’ violates the sovereign rights of third states and is contrary to the recognised principles of the United Nations convention on the law of the sea,” the Cypriot ministry said.
It added that the agreement also violates “customary international law regarding the rights of islands in maritime zones, including the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf”.
“Therefore, the foreign ministry continues to consider the said ‘memorandum’ illegal, null and void, and that it does not produce, in any way, legal effects against third states,” it said.
Turkey is not an Unclos signatory, Libya signed but did not ratify
Greece’s foreign ministry said that that it “rejects” it and that the decision “does not change the illegal, null and void nature of the memorandum, which is contrary to the international law of the sea and violates the sovereign rights of the states of the region”.
“Geography and the international law of the sea do not change with unilateral, legally unfounded parliamentary decisions. Turkey and Libya do not have opposing or adjacent coasts which would provide a legal basis for the attempted delimitation of maritime zones,” it added.
While Greece and the Republic of Cyprus are signatories to the United Nations convention on the law of the sea (Unclos), Turkey is not, and while Libya under its then leader Muammar Gadaffi signed the convention in 1984, no Libyan legislature ever ratified the signature.
Turkey’s belief is that the convention gives too much weight to islands, which it says should instead only be allowed 12 nautical miles of territorial waters as their own exclusive economic zone (EEZ), whereas Greece believes that its islands are entitled to full EEZs of their own.
As such, Turkey’s view is that its own EEZ stretches south to meet Libya’s EEZ, and as of Wednesday, Libya agrees, whereas Greece’s position is that Turkey and Libya do not share a maritime border because the sea in question belongs to Crete.
Given this to be the case, Turkey’s presidential press office director Burhanettin Duran described Tuesday’s vote as “an important advancement towards protecting the shared rights and interests of both nations in the eastern Mediterranean, establishing maritime jurisdiction areas on the basis of equity, and strengthening regional cooperation”.
“Under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey will continue to safeguard its rights and interests within the Blue Homeland, while further developing its relations with friendly and brotherly Libya and promoting equitable resource sharing, peace, and stability in the eastern Mediterranean”.
Cypriot members of the European Parliament on Tuesday evening stressed the importance of building up the Mediterranean region’s energy sector as the Strasbourg plenary session discussed the parliament’s latest motion regarding the European Union’s pact for the Mediterranean.
The resolution, which will be voted upon on Wednesday, sets out the European Parliament’s position on the pact and relations between the EU and the Mediterranean region, and Diko’s Costas Mavrides was keen to stress that the EU “has the potential” to “lead the entire Mediterranean toward stability and prosperity” through its energy sector.
“The common rules for the Mediterranean are, naturally, those of international law, specifically including UN conventions regarding the law of the sea. Institutions and infrastructure already exist … such as the EastMed gas forum, the European project of common interest the Great Sea Interconnector, and the EastMed gas pipeline,” he said.
On this front, he said that the Republic of Cyprus has “consistently been playing a leading role”, but that “the neo-Ottoman regime in Turkey remains the transgressor and the expansionist”.
As such, he sarcastically asked European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who was present for proceedings, whether she is “rewarding this transgressor and expansionist”, or whether she is “bestowing gifts upon it”.
Geadi highlights resolution’s GSI amendment
Elam’s Geadis Geadi, meanwhile, called for a new pact which “must serve as an essential tool for cooperation, focusing on energy security, electrical interconnections, addressing illegal migration and human smuggling, and combating terrorism and hybrid threats”.
“However, cooperation in the Mediterranean must be grounded in international law, rather than in unilateral claims or provocations,” he said.
At this point, he offered his thanks to “colleagues from across the political spectrum” who supported an amendment to the motion which, he said, “underscores the importance of European projects of common interest, such as the Great Sea Interconnector and the EastMed pipeline”.
He added that the amendment also “simultaneously condemned Turkish provocations which hinder their implementation”.
Then, he, too, offered a shot at Kallas, saying that “the Mediterranean cannot be allowed to fall victim to Turkish blackmail directed against European interests, and Ms Kallas, it is your responsibility to move from words to action”.
Two amendments on Cyprus to be tabled on Wednesday
The amendment to which he was referring is his own, which was co-signed by fellow Cypriot MEP Fidias Panayiotou, as well as high-profile right-wing Greek MEP Afroditi Latinopoulou, among others.
It states that the parliament “underlines the importance of EU projects of common interest, including the Great Sea Interconnector and the EastMed pipeline, for the EU’s energy security and autonomy and the diversification of its energy supplies”.
Additionally, it states that it “condemns Turkey’s interference in energy infrastructure projects in the eastern Mediterranean and calls for these projects to be able to proceed without obstruction”.
The amendment was one of two to be tabled which mention Cyprus, with Latinopoulou having tabled her own amendment, which was co-signed by Geadi.
It states that “Turkey’s ongoing provocations against Greece and Cyprus, including repeated violations of their sovereign rights in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean, its continued threat of a casus belli against Greece, the so-called Blue Homeland doctrine, and the continued occupation of part of the territory of an EU member state, fundamentally undermine regional stability and any credible Euro-Mediterranean cooperation”.
Georgiou calls for ‘different approach’ to Mediterranean
Akel’s Giorgos Georgiou, meanwhile, took a different angle in Tuesday’s debate, saying that “the Mediterranean is a region of immense potential, yet one marked by profound contradictions, wars, inequalities, the plight of refugees, and environmental threats”.
“A pact for the Mediterranean could represent a genuine opportunity for peace, cooperation, and shared prosperity, but not if it is treated merely as a tool to expand the European Union’s geopolitical influence, nor if security, militarisation, and the control of migration are prioritised over the needs of people,” he said.
He said that the European Parliament’s “The Left” grouping, on whose behalf he was speaking, has “advocated for a different approach … one centred on people, social justice, labour rights, and environmental approach”.
This approach, he said, “ensures the meaningful participation of societies, is backed by adequate funding, and respects both state sovereignty and international law”, before he pivoted to the matter of international politics.
“We cannot invoke international law while simultaneously accepting that it be selectively applied, as is the case regarding Cyprus and Palestine. The Mediterranean does not need new geopolitical rivalries, it needs solidarity, cooperation, dialogue, and peace. This is the Mediterranean we must strive to build,” he said.
Cyprus’ foreign ministry on Friday declared the maritime boundary agreement signed by the governments of Turkey and Libya to be both “illegal” and “null and void” after it was ratified by the Libyan parliament earlier in the day.
“The Republic of Cyprus’ foreign ministry condemns the Libyan parliament’s decision to approve the illegal Turkish-Libyan ‘memorandum of understanding’ of 2019. This ‘memorandum’ violates the sovereign rights of third states and is contrary to the recognised principles of the United Nations convention on the law of the sea,” it said.
It added that the agreement also violates “customary international law regarding the rights of islands in maritime zones, including the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf”.
“Therefore, the foreign ministry continues to consider the said ‘memorandum’ illegal, null and void, and that it does not produce, in any way, legal effects against third states,” it said.
The Libyan parliament’s spokesman Abdullah Bliheg had said earlier in the day that the legislature had “voted unanimously” to adopt the agreement, on a day on which Turkey’s national intelligence organisation (Mit)’s chief Ibrahim Kalin was in the country to meet Libya’s government of national unity’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dibeybe.
Turkey had signed an agreement with the Libyan government of national accord in 2019, but it had not until Tuesday been ratified by Libya’s legislature. The government of national unity superseded the government of national accord in 2021 and is now the sole internationally recognised government of Libya.
Turkey and Libya officially agree that their EEZs share a border
As a result of the agreement, Libya and Turkey agree that their respective exclusive economic zones share a border in the Mediterranean sea, and that that border is located southeast of the Greek island of Crete.
Greece, too, reacted furiously to the Libyan parliament’s approval of the deal, with the country’s foreign ministry that it “rejects” it and that the decision “does not change the illegal, null and void nature of the memorandum, which is contrary to the international law of the sea and violates the sovereign rights of the states of the region”.
“Geography and the international law of the sea do not change with unilateral, legally unfounded parliamentary decisions. Turkey and Libya do not have opposing or adjacent coasts which would provide a legal basis for the attempted delimitation of maritime zones,” it added.
It then said that the agreement “also disregards the Greek islands and their rights to maritime zones based on [the United Nations convention on the law of the sea] Unclos and customary international law”.
“Having already concluded maritime delimitation agreements with Egypt and Italy, in accordance with the international law of the sea, Greece has demonstrated its respect for international law and the sovereign rights of neighbouring states. We call on the Libyan side to refrain from any action which is contrary to international law and undermines stability in the eastern Mediterranean,” it said.
It added that it has “already informed its partners and allies” and that it will “take all appropriate action to safeguard its sovereign rights”.
Libya’s parliament
Turkey is not an Unclos signatory, Libya signed but did not ratify
In this, the country’s Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis had earlier held a telephone call with his Cypriot counterpart Constantinos Kombos shortly after the Libyan parliament voted on the matter.
While Greece and the Republic of Cyprus are signatories to Unclos, Turkey is not, and while Libya under its then leader Muammar Gadaffi signed the convention in 1984, no Libyan legislature ever ratified the signature.
Turkey’s belief is that the convention gives too much weight to islands, which it says should instead only be allowed 12 nautical miles of territorial waters as their own exclusive economic zone (EEZ), whereas Greece believes that its islands are entitled to full EEZs of their own.
As such, Turkey’s view is that its own EEZ stretches south to meet Libya’s EEZ, and as of Wednesday, Libya agrees, whereas Greece’s position is that Turkey and Libya do not share a maritime border because the sea in question belongs to Crete.
Given this to be the case, Turkey’s presidential press office director Burhanettin Duran described Tuesday’s vote as “an important advancement towards protecting the shared rights and interests of both nations in the eastern Mediterranean, establishing maritime jurisdiction areas on the basis of equity, and strengthening regional cooperation”.
“Under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey will continue to safeguard its rights and interests within the Blue Homeland, while further developing its relations with friendly and brotherly Libya and promoting equitable resource sharing, peace, and stability in the eastern Mediterranean”.
Union furious as bank scraps remote-first policy from February 2027, requiring all of its UK employees to come in at least twice a week
NatWest has ordered 13,000 staff to increase their in-office days from two days a month to two days a week, angering its staff union.
The banking group, which serves customers under the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Ulster Bank and Coutts brands, will require all of its nearly 40,000 UK staff to follow a strict two days a week office schedule from February 2027, abolishing a remote-first policy for thousands of employees.
Cypriot member of the European Parliament Michalis Hadjipantela on Tuesday presented the parliament’s budget committee (Budg)’s plans for the European Union’s general budget for next year, which reverses all the cuts which had been made to it by the Council of the EU when it agreed its own position in July.
The budget foresees that the EU will make €194 billion worth of commitments and €203.3bn worth of actual payments over the course of the year, with the committee’s position therefore including more spending not only than the Council’s , but also than the European Commission’s position.
This is because the committee had voted to approve €1.17bn of extra spending next year compared to the commission’s position, including €260.5 million for the Connecting Europe facility, the EU’s funding instrument for infrastructure investment, and the instrument through which the EU offered grants for the Great Sea Interconnector.
Other increases include an extra €85m for the European agriculture guarantee fund, through which the EU pays farmers directly, and a €20m increase for support for young farmers.
Additionally, increases in funding amounting to €140m have been granted for the EU’s neighbourhood policy, through which the EU offers funding and partnerships for countries in eastern Europe and north Africa.
Hadjipantela, who belongs to Disy, said of his plans that “at a time when the European Union faces growing security challenges, we must ensure that our institutions possess he necessary means to carry out their mission effectively and independently”.
‘European taxpayers expect us to manage public funds responsibly’
“Let me be clear: budgetary discipline is non-negotiable. European taxpayers expect us to manage public funds responsibly and to remain efficient, while avoiding unnecessary expenditure,” he said.
On this front, he said that “all institutions must identify opportunities for savings and improve the way they operate”, and that the European Parliament itself “is called upon to continue improving how it manages and spends its budget”.
However, he stressed, “efficiency cannot simply mean making cuts without regard for the responsibilities which our institutions are required to fulfil”.
“We must avoid a situation where cuts create operational problems or, worse still, lead to higher costs in the future. The goal is to strike the right balance,” he said.
He stressed that the Budg committee’s position “has focused on specific, well-substantiated operational needs”, and stressed that “we have advocated for retaining essential resources where justified while maintaining a disciplined and proportionate approach to expenditure”.
To this end, he said that the EU’s various institutions “have already made significant efforts to improve their efficiency and save resources”, and hat “these efforts must continue, and should be accompanied by a realistic assessment of the tasks and obligations incumbent upon each institution”.
MEPs to vote on Wednesday
His co-rapporteur, Latvia’s Nils Usakovs, meanwhile, said that the committee had “put partisan politics aside and adopted a focused budgetary resolution … in order to shore up parliament’s unity for the negotiations to come”.
“Parliament proposes to restore all Council cuts – €1bn in commitments and over €500m in payments, and add €1.17bn to the draft budget. Behind every budget line we vote on tomorrow are real people and their needs,” he said.
MEPs will vote on the parliament’s position on Wednesday. If they approve the position set out by Hadjipantela and Usakovs, the “conciliation committee” of the parliament and the Council will convene on November 3 with the aim of reaching a compromise by November 16.
Should a provisional agreement be reached by that date, the joint text will then be voted on both at the Council and at the parliament for final approval.
NatWest is forcing tens of thousands of staff members back into the office in the latest crackdown on remote working that mushroomed during the pandemic and has remained stubbornly high.
O crédito à habitação continua a crescer em Portugal, mas encontrar um imóvel dentro de um determinado orçamento depende também da oferta disponível no mercado. Segundo o Banco de Portugal, o stock de crédito à habitação aumentou 11,2% em agosto de 2026, face ao mesmo mês do ano anterior, enquanto os dados do Imovirtual mostram […]
A Shanti-Som, marca de hotelaria especializada em turismo de bem-estar, vai estrear-se em Portugal com a abertura de uma unidade de 22 quartos em Moncarapacho, no concelho de Olhão, prevista para fevereiro de 2027.
A CATAI lançou o novo Catálogo Noivos 2027, que reúne 76 programas de viagens de lua de mel, incluindo mais de 15 novidades em destinos de África, Médio Oriente, Ásia, América, Caraíbas, Pacífico e Europa.
O produto Generation Gap assenta na criação de fundos de investimento fechados para ativos hoteleiros e pretende preservar o património das famílias, profissionalizando a gestão e evitando a venda das unidades. A solução já foi adotada por hotéis portugueses.
O grupo Lufthansa vai lançar dez novas ligações intercontinentais e reforçar frequências em várias rotas na programação de verão de 2027, naquela que classifica como a sua “maior expansão da rede desde 2020”.
I’m obsessed with sleep data, but I don’t love wearing a smartwatch to bed. Can the Hatch Sleep Clock give me the best of both worlds at an affordable price?
As reservas hoteleiras para o último trimestre de 2026 estão abaixo dos níveis registados no período homólogo de 2025, mas as perspetivas para os preços médios continuam maioritariamente positivas.
A pair of fabric scissors often begins to "chew" through cloth long before the metal itself is actually dull. When the blades fail to make a clean cut and instead tear the fibers, leaving a jagged edge, the problem is usually not a loss of the edge but the presence of microscopic burrs and nicks along the cutting line.
These imperfections prevent the two blades from meeting flush against one another. To correct this, one can use a heavy-duty sewing needle to realign the edge. Because the steel of a quality needle is typically harder than the steel used in household scissors, it can be used to smooth out these minute irregularities through a process known as honing.
The Honing Process
To perform this maintenance, select a thick sewing needle-specifically sizes 3-5 or a needle designed for denim. Thinner needles are unsuitable as they may bend or scratch the blade surface without effectively correcting the edge.
Over time, the softwoods used in sauna paneling undergo a predictable transformation: the vibrant golden hues fade into a dull gray, and dark, oxidized streaks appear where bodies frequently contact the walls. While many assume heavy sanding is the only way to restore the wood, a chemical approach using sodium percarbonate-an oxygen-based bleach-can lift these surface stains without stripping away the wood's structural layers.
The Chemistry of Oxygen Cleaning
Sodium percarbonate works by releasing hydrogen peroxide when dissolved in water, which breaks down organic contaminants and lifts grime from the wood pores. To prepare the solution, mix 3 tablespoons of fragrance-free sodium percarbonate into 5 liters of warm water. It is critical to avoid adding citric acid to this mixture; the acid neutralizes the alkaline properties of the percarbonate, rendering the solution ineffective.
Because different wood species react uniquely to alkaline agents, apply the solution to a small, inconspicuous area first to ensure the wood does not discolor or react unexpectedly.
A hotelaria portuguesa registou uma taxa de ocupação média de 80% entre junho e setembro de 2026, menos um ponto percentual do que no período homólogo, enquanto o preço médio por quarto (ARR) aumentou 3%, para 171 euros.
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