Three years after the withdrawal of the US and Nato and the Taliban takeover, women and girls in particular are suffering most from the situation in Afghanistan. They are barred from higher education and severely restricted in their everyday lives. Commentators ask what stance the West should adopt.
Germany's Prosecutor General forwarded an arrest warrant for one of three Ukrainians suspected of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline to the Polish authorities in June. According to the Wall Street Journal, President Zelensky authorised the attack. August Hanning, former chief of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, suspects that Warsaw was also involved in planning the blasts. Time for a reassessment?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern. The virus, also known as monkeypox, is far less infectious than Covid-19, but a new variant is spreading increasingly around the world from Central Africa. Is the WHO's response too radical or too weak?
After reaching a high in 2022, the birth rate in Hungary has dropped significantly: it was 11 percent lower in May 2023 than in May 2022 and currently stands at 1.5 births per woman. The national press asks whether Orbán's family policy has failed. At the same time other European countries are also wondering how to counter population decline.
For many European countries, summer poses a growing number of threats, including wildfires, droughts and record heatwaves. In Greece, Athens' suburbs are facing wildfires for the first time, while in Spain some regions are on red alert for extreme heat. The EU has announced it is investing an additional 600 million euros in its Civil Protection Pool fund. Commentators discuss what action should be taken.
Negotiations aimed at preventing the situation in the Middle East from escalating further begin today in Doha. Officially the aim is a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but observers hope that a deal will also be struck to dissuade Iran from carrying out its plans for revenge. European media analyse the conditions under which the negotiations are taking place.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian troops continue to advance into the Russian border region of Kursk and more Russian soldiers have been captured. Russian authorities have said that around 120,000 people have fled or been evacuated from the area. European commentators discuss reactions and potential consequences.
In a letter published on X, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has warned multi-billionaire and X boss Elon Musk not to violate European legislation against the dissemination of hate speech and incitement to violence on the Internet. Breton was referring to Musk's posts on the violent riots in the UK and 'interviews in the context of elections'. A good idea?
The new Catalan regional government under the Socialist Salvador Illa has been sworn in. By promising "fiscal sovereignty" and to strengthen the Catalan language, Illa and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez managed to secure the support of the moderate separatist party ERC. The central government's amnesty law had already done much to ease the tensions. The national press heaves a sigh of relief, mixed with concern.
A court case against two female doctors has sparked a debate about the healthcare system in Romania. According to the indictment, a seriously ill 54-year-old man was deliberately killed in a Bucharest intensive care unit by underdosing a drug in order to free up beds for patients with better chances of survival. Twenty patients in the intensive-care unit died within a three-day period. Excerpts from quotes in the national press.
US entrepreneur Elon Musk, multi-billionaire and boss of the social network X, is one of the most influential people in the world. He backs former President Donald Trump's election campaign, provokes with his political statements and interprets freedom of speech very broadly on X. European commentators take a closer look at the immense power he wields.
A wildfire broke out north of Athens on Sunday and quickly spread to the Greek capital's suburbs for the first time due to strong winds. Several villages had to be evacuated and the government activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The question of how the authorities are responding to the situation is already being hotly debated in the country's media.