Around 30 masked men, some of whom were heavily armed, marched through the Dutch village of Overasselt early on Tuesday morning before attacking a property. One man was killed and two police officers were seriously injured amid gunfire. The incident has sparked a debate about escalating drug-related violence. The Dutch press calls for action - and also holds drug users to account.
Children across Europe are back at school after the summer holidays, and with their return the national debates about how schools and teachers should handle the use of digital devices have reignited. Strategies under consideration range from controlled use to outright bans in schools. Commentators ask if and how smart phone use can be meaningfully integrated into school life.
Last week Denmark agreed to pay an amount equivalent to 40,000 euros in compensation to some 4,500 Greenlandic women who were fitted with contraceptive intrauterine devices [IUDs] without their knowledge or consent between 1960 and 1991. Two expert reports commissioned to assess whether this constituted genocide failed to reach a unanimous conclusion. Danish media discuss the implications of the IUD scandal.
The eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt will elect a new state parliament on Sunday. Polls show that the the nationalist-populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) could secure an absolute majority. Among other things the party is promising a tougher stance on migration, a U-turn in energy policy and a patriotic cultural policy. Commentators ask what an AfD government would mean for Europe.
The Icelanders have voted by a narrow majority against joining the EU. On Saturday, 52.8 percent rejected the resumption of accession negotiations in a referendum. The Social Democratic government initiated the vote in the hope that EU membership would offer the country better protection against territorial claims such as those made by Trump regarding Greenland. For opponents, national sovereignty and control over fishing waters took precedent.
Lucian Pahonțu has been head of the SPP, the secret service responsible for protecting high-ranking state officials, for over 20 years. Now the investigative news portal Recorder has revealed that he was a member of a unit of the notorious Securitate secret police that was involved in the bloody suppression of protests during the 1989 revolution. President Nicușor Dan has defended Pahonțu, saying "I don’t see what all the scandal is about."
Last week the European Court of Human Rights again ruled against Turkey and demanded the immediate release of Turkish businessman and cultural patron Osman Kavala, who has been held detention since 2017. Ankara has failed to comply with all previous rulings on the issue. Sources close to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggest that the country is considering withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights.
Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian Serb former general nicknamed the "Butcher of Bosnia", died on Thursday in the United Nations Detention Unit in The Hague. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2017 for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Serbia's Minister of Justice, Nenad Vujić, has announced that he will be given a state funeral - sparking a major controversy.
Hungary has created a new top anti-corruption body, the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office (NVVH). Its investigators are tasked with recovering state assets that were misappropriated during the Orbán era and are also empowered to bring legal charges against suspects. Political scientist Anna Róza Unger was selected by the Hungarian parliament from a shortlist of three candidates to lead the new authority.
A 16.68 billion-dollar fine and fundamental changes to youth protection: this is the settlement reached by Meta and the US states that brought the lawsuit. The plaintiffs had accused the company of deliberately designing its Facebook and Instagram platforms to be addictive to young users. The settlement, reached in Oakland, California, is also making waves in Europe.
At least 472 people have died in a flash flood in the mountainous region between China and Nepal. The flood, which was apparently triggered by the collapse of a glacier, swept almost 170 kilometres along two rivers through Tibet and Nepal on Wednesday, destroying entire villages along the way. More than 1,400 people are still missing. Commentators see the disaster as a result of climate change.