The situation in Lebanon has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Israel's intensified air strikes against Hezbollah have killed hundreds of people and forced thousands more to flee their homes. Statements by the Israeli military have been construed as an indication that a ground offensive is imminent. The Hezbollah militia has continued to fire missiles into northern Israel and also targeted the greater Tel Aviv area for the first time. Calls by the US and other states for an immediate ceasefire have gone unheeded.

For three days Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been promoting his "victory plan" at various levels in the United States. The plan involves forcing Russia into submission with the help of massive military support from the West. Today he is due to discuss the concept with President Biden. The press expresses doubts – regarding the necessary US support and the feasibility of the plan.

Swedish battery maker Northvolt, which also has production sites in Poland and Germany, has announced plans to axe 1,600 jobs, amounting to roughly 20 percent of its workforce. The company cited production problems and the loss of a two-billion-euro order from BMW as well as falling demand for electric cars and fierce competition from the Chinese as reasons for its decision.

Romania is forecast to have a budget deficit of around eight percent this year. According to EU rules, member states are required to keep their budget deficit below three percent of GDP and gross government debt below 60 percent of GDP. In October, Romania and other highly indebted states are to present Brussels with a detailed plan for the coming years. The national press is not optimistic.

Italian bank giant Unicredit is seeking to take over Commerzbank, in which the German state has been the largest single shareholder since the financial crisis. Unicredit wants to take advantage of a gradual sell-off of the state's shares. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he will oppose a Unicredit takeover. Europe's press comments.

The SPD has won a narrow victory against the far-right AfD party in the state election in Brandenburg. Neither the Greens nor the FDP made it into the state parliament, but the new BSW party secured well above the necessary number of votes. The Social Democrats in Brandenburg now want to hold exploratory talks with both the third-placed BSW and the fourth-placed CDU. Commentators examine the mood in Germany and the role of federal politics.

Ireland has the highest percentage of employees working from home in the EU. Now Amazon, one of the country's top employers, wants to reverse this situation, which arose mainly due to the pandemic, and has asked all employees to go back to working in the office five days a week from next January. The issue of remote working has prompted a wider discussion beyond Ireland.

France has a new government under Prime Minister Michel Barnier. Most of the cabinet members come from Emmanuel Macron's centre-right camp and the conservative Les Républicains. Thousands of people protested in cities across the country against the allocation of posts because the left-wing alliance NFP had won the most seats in the parliamentary elections.

After a few hiccups and a lot of grumbling in the selection process, Ursula von der Leyen announced her list of 27 commissioners-designate for the new EU Commission last Tuesday. The next step is for the EU Parliament to approve her candidates. Each member state has been assigned a post, but a glance at the commentaries shows that not everyone is happy with the distribution of the portfolios or the leadership style of the German EU Commission chief.

Ano, the main Czech opposition party led by former prime minister Andrej Babiš, has secured a major victory in regional elections. It won 10 out of 13 constituencies and is now on track to replace Petr Fiala's liberal-conservative government in the 2025 parliamentary elections. At the EU level, Ano forms part of a new far-right alliance with Hungary's Fidesz and Austria's FPÖ.

Israel has been carrying out airstrikes against Islamist Hezbollah militia targets in southern Lebanon since Thursday night, according to its own statements. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced that the war was now entering a new phase. Europe's press discusses this latest development, and also the foregoing mass attacks involving exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, and their potential to set a precedent.

Rail Baltica, an 870-kilometre-long, double-track, high-speed railway line that will run through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Poland, was first conceived 30 years ago, and when the three Baltic states joined the EU 20 years ago it was already considered a priority. But the project is making slow progress, and the costs have now risen to 15 billion euros. The main bottleneck is in and around Riga.