Physical geography

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has told the Financial Times that her country should not be asked to choose between the West and Russia.

According to the London-based newspaper, Brnabic "insisted that Serbia's ties to Moscow are not an obstacle to its EU membership bid."

Authorities say that the body of an 83-year-old man has been found in the Athens suburb of Mandra that was struck by flash flooding, raising the overall death toll to 20, Ekathimerini writes. 

The body was dug out from debris on Sunday several kilometers from where the man was last seen. He had gone hunting when the deadly flash flood struck on Wednesday.

BRUSSELS - PM Ana Brnabic said in Brussels Thursday Serbia was ready to open five chapters in its EU accession talks but that she was expecting three or four to be opened in December.

"We are trying not to associate this with numbers, but stay focused on implementation of reforms and on where we are heading as a society," she said.

As emergency services recovered the bodies of another three victims of last week's flash floods in western Attica over the weekend, environmental experts have warned of the perils of unchecked construction and inadequate infrastructure.

A five-member committee of experts set up at the behest of New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis to determine the reasons for the scale of last week's fatal flash floods and to promote measures that would prevent a repeat of such a disaster is expected to submit a first initial report to the ND leader on Monday.

 Greek authorities said three more people have been found dead from a flash flood that hit a district west of Athens, raising the total death toll to 19. 

“When the Atlantic hurricane season begins to quiet down in late October and November, it’s time to cast an eye toward the Mediterranean Sea for “medicanes”–a nickname for storms that develop tropical characteristics just off the coast of southern Europe,” said Weather Underground’s Bob Henson in a Washington Post report.

Greece's fire department says two more people have been reported missing after deadly flash flooding west of Athens that is confirmed to have killed at least 16 people, Ekathimerini writes.

The fire service said Friday it is now searching for a total of six people missing in the district of Mandra, on the western outskirts of the Greek capital.

The weather will remain unchanged today. It will be mostly cloudy and rains will fall in many areas. There will be light to moderate wind from East-Northeast.

Temperatures will range between 7°C and 12°C in most areas, in Sofia around 7-8°C.

Greece's fire service says rescue teams have recovered the body of a man who was reported missing after flash floods inundated the outskirts of Athens, bringing the death toll from the flooding to 16.

The man's body was found Thursday afternoon in the basement of a home in Nea Peramos, a coastal area west of Athens.