Two people were injured on Thursday night when a drone struck a block of flats in Galați, Romania. According to official reports the drone was Russian and carrying an explosive payload. At the same time, the Ukrainian Danube port of Reni, 20 kilometres away, was attacked. Romania ordered the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Constanța. Commentators see this response as insufficient.
Despite a series of corruption scandals, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is clinging to his post: at a congress of his party's youth organisation on Sunday, he ruled out new elections. Police raided the headquarters of his Socialist Party (PSOE) in Madrid last week, and former socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has been placed under investigation over alleged influence-peddling.
In its fight against the Hezbollah militia the Israeli army has advanced further into southern Lebanon, capturing the strategically and symbolically important Beaufort Castle and raising the Israeli flag there for the first time in 26 years. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and the UK have criticised the advance and called on both Israel and Hezbollah to cease hostilities.
Scenes of violence have overshadowed Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG) victory over Arsenal in the Champions League final on Saturday: clashes broke out between masked individuals and the police in 15 French cities, mostly in the Paris region. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 416 people were arrested across the country.
According to a media report, the US is planning a major reduction of its military contributions to NATO. German magazine Der Spiegel reports that Washington intends to provide far fewer key resources such as fighter jets, warships, drones and refuelling aircraft. Commentators are alarmed, and try to gauge how well prepared Europe is to defend itself right now.
On 14 June, Switzerland will hold a referendum on an initiative by the national-conservative Swiss People's Party to cap the country's population at 10 million. Under the terms of the proposal, Switzerland would be obliged to introduce measures at various levels to restrict the right of residence if the population exceeds 9.5 million before 2050. The country currently has 9.1 million inhabitants.
Armenia will hold parliamentary elections on 7 June. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is hoping that the vote will bolster his pro-Western course. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump declared his "full and unconditional support" for Pashinyan. Meanwhile, Russia is stepping up the pressure on Yerevan by imposing import bans on Armenian goods and threatening to disrupt supplies of natural gas.
In Slovenia, a centre-right government has replaced the left-liberal coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Golob. The new head of government, national conservative Janez Janša, has already held this office three times in the past. Slovenia's media discuss the new minority government's coalition agreement, which is supported in parliament by the right-wing populist party Resni.ca.
The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) has accused leading companies in the berry industry of illegal price-fixing. The authority classified this practice as a very serious breach of competition law and has proposed a 9.4-million-euro fine, which the Market Court has yet to approve. A few years ago, several Finnish berry companies were found guilty of human trafficking.
Western Europe is currently in the grip of an unusually early heatwave. In France and the UK, meteorologists have recorded new record temperatures for the month of May, with highs of up to 36 degrees Celsius. In some parts of Spain, temperatures have soared to 40 degrees, and there have already been several heat-related deaths. Commentators point to past failures and warn of what lies ahead.
The US and Iran are engaged in talks in Qatar aimed at resolving the complex conflict. Washington is sending mixed signals: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the two countries were close to an agreement, but the next day he warned he wouldn't be rushed into a deal. And despite the ceasefire in the Strait of Hormuz, there have been mutual attacks on ships and land-based positions in recent days.
The number of respondents in a poll in Saxony-Anhalt who said they intend to vote for the AfD in the next state elections rose to above 40 percent for the first time in early May. Although the elections in this economically weak eastern German state are not due to take place until 6 September, the prospect of a clear AfD majority gives the media food for thought. Why have right-wing populists gained so much support? And how can their political rivals counter this trend?