Following the elections in Israel, President Yitzhak Herzog officially tasked Gadi Eisenkot with forming a government on 8 November. The former chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces is to form a coalition that could replace incumbent prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Cooperation with Arab parties is also under discussion. Europe's press takes stock of the options for alliances.
Poland is in shock after a gun attack in the centre of Kraków. On Saturday afternoon a 24-year-old man opened fire on passers-by from inside his car, killing six people and injuring a further sixteen. The gunman was seriously wounded in a shootout with police and died in hospital on Monday before he could be questioned. The public prosecutor's office has classified the incident as a terrorist attack.
In Russia, Novaya Gazeta, the last remaining independent and oppositional media outlet, has been forced to end its operations. Founded in 1993, the renowned investigative newspaper was designated a 'foreign agent' in September and has now been deprived of any possibility to raise funds through donations and evicted from its editorial offices in Moscow.
The AI boom is driving the construction of huge data centres in the US, and this expansion was also an issue in the midterm elections. Critics have raised concerns about the facilities' high electricity and water consumption, as well as the political influence of big tech companies. Europe's press examines the consequences of this growing opposition for US politics.
The long-running power struggle over Poland's Constitutional Tribunal escalated on the weekend when a constitutional judge with close ties to the Tusk government announced the suspension of the PiS-aligned president of the court and his deputy and barred them from entering the building. PiS supporters staged a demonstration outside the court in Warsaw and there were also disturbances inside the building. Both sides accuse each other of violating the constitution.
Supermarkets in several European countries have been targeted by cyberattacks. Hackers apparently gained access to the control systems and turned up the temperature in fridges and freezers, with the result that large quantities of food had to be disposed of. There have been several such incidents in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg, Estonia, Finland and the Netherlands over the last few days.
The decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to lift the ban on Russian teams participating in international ice hockey championships has triggered widespread protest. Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway have announced their refusal to play against Russia, with the Finnish Ice Hockey Association explaining that it won't compete against Russia as long as the latter's war against Ukraine continues.
Thousands of people, most of them youths, took to the streets again in several European countries at the weekend to demand better education, more participation and affordable living standards. French trade unions have announced strikes and protests for today, Thursday, in which secondary school and university students also intend to participate. Commentators look at why the wave of protests shows no sign of abating.
On Wednesday, the Hungarian government began releasing secret service files from the communist era to the public. The "agent files" reveal the identities of people used by the Hungarian secret police as informers. The release of the files was one of Péter Magyar's campaign promises. What consequences will this have in the country?
