Eurotopics.net

After the US deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships to the Middle East last week, it remains unclear whether there will be an attack on Iran. According to the Iranian state news agency Irna the country's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Media reports suggest that talks on a new nuclear deal are taking place behind the scenes. European commentators warn of the dangers of a military strike.

The US Department of Justice has released further files in the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: according to US Attorney General Todd Blanche the more than three million pages of documents, thousands of videos and well over 100,000 photos contain "disturbing material", but do not provide grounds for new investigations. Commentators call for clarification at various levels.

Storm Kristin has caused fatalities and severe damage to buildings and infrastructure in Portugal, and more storms are forecast. Disaster management has become the dominant issue in the presidential election campaign, with the run-off election between the socialist candidate Antonio José Seguro and the right-wing populist André Ventura due to take place on Sunday.

Three months after the general election, three parties in the Netherlands have agreed to form a minority government. The left-liberal D66, the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the right-liberal VDD have presented their coalition agreement. Since a future government under D66 leader Rob Jetten would only have 66 of the 150 seats in the lower house, the national media examine how open it will be open to compromise in parliament.

According to Donald Trump, Russia has agreed to halt strikes on Ukrainian cities for one week. The US president said he had made an appeal to Vladimir Putin to do this citing the extreme cold in Ukraine. The Kremlin has not commented. However, a long-discussed "energy ceasefire" may already be in effect, as both parties have reported hardly any air strikes on their energy infrastructure since Thursday. The media take a closer look.