A gun battle between two feuding families in the mountain village of Vorizia on the Greek island of Crete left two people dead and four injured on Saturday. Members of the rival families shot at each other with pistols and a Kalashnikov. Three brothers are wanted in connection with the deadly shootout, and the police fear further bloody acts of revenge.
Rob Jetten's left-liberal D66 has won a razor-thin victory against Geert Wilders' right-wing populist PVV in the Dutch parliamentary elections. The 38-year-old, whose party tripled its seats in parliament, is seen as the clear winner and future head of government. The press takes a closer look and draws lessons for Europe.
During German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's visit to Ankara, he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed the similarities between the two countries. Differences in their respective positions on the Middle East conflict were discussed but not considered problematic. Berlin's approval of the delivery of Eurofighter jets to its strategically important Nato partner is seen as an important step for Turkey.
King Charles has stripped his scandal-ridden brother Andrew of all his royal titles and evicted him from his residence at Windsor Castle. The king's decision comes in response to revelations in the posthumously published memoirs of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who accused the British prince of repeatedly abusing her as a minor under the aegis of Jeffrey Epstein.
The US has announced it is withdrawing some of its soldiers from Romania. In an attempt to allay fears, the Ministry of Defence in Bucharest said the decision had not come as a surprise and takes account of the fact that Nato has boosted its overall presence on the eastern flank. Press commentaries nonetheless reflect a sense of foreboding.
According to a report by the Politico news website, Hungary is planning to forge an anti-Ukrainian bloc in the European Union with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The new Czech government has also said it wants to revitalise the cooperation between the four Visegrád states - although Poland has so far shown no interest in such plans. Could this be the birth of a pro-Russian lobby in the EU?
US President Donald Trump has announced plans to resume nuclear weapons testing. On his Truth Social platform he justified the move citing tests carried out by other countries. China has reminded the US of its commitment to a moratorium on nuclear testing and to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. The last US nuclear test was carried out in September 1992 under former president George H. W. Bush.
The parliament in Riga has voted to withdraw Latvia from the Istanbul Convention, which obliges countries to provide better protection for women and girls. Critics of the convention say the gender ideologies it contains pose a threat to the country's traditional family values. If the decision is implemented, Latvia would become the first EU country to withdraw from the Convention. More than 5,000 people protested against the decision outside the parliament on Wednesday.
El-Fasher, the capital of the Sudanese province of North Darfur, is in a catastrophic state following its capture by RSF militia. There are reports that the RSF has killed at least 1,500 civilians in the last few days. More than 460 of the killings took place in a hospital, according to the World Health Organisation. European media lament the lethargy of the international community.
At their meeting in South Korea, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump have agreed on several compromises in the trade dispute. While Trump says the dispute is now 'settled', Xi was more cautious and called for further consultations to reach tangible results regarding rare earths, agricultural imports and tariffs, among other things. What does the trial of strength between the two superpowers mean for the international order?
President Maia Sandu has nominated Alexandru Munteanu as Moldova's new head of government. The physicist, investment banker and entrepreneur with Moldovan, Romanian and US citizenship is an independent and was virtually unknown in Moldova up to now. He is to be confirmed in office on Friday by parliament, where the pro-European party PAS, which has close ties to Sandu, secured 55 of the 101 seats in the last parliamentary elections.