Eurotopics.net

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov has reported that his country's troops have engaged in battle with North Korean soldiers for the first time. According to US sources, 11,000 to 12,000 North Korean soldiers are now actively fighting in the war, primarily in the Russian region of Kursk. Commentators find the news that Moscow's new ally is on the front lines in the Ukraine war alarming.

Seventeen people have been killed as a result of drug-related violence in France this year. Most recently a 15-year-old boy died in Poitiers and a five-year-old was left seriously injured in a shootout in Rennes. The violence is increasingly spreading to rural areas. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has spoken of a 'Mexicanisation' of the country and said he wants to tackle the problem by combating drug use in particular. The national press would take a different tack.

The citizens of the United States will decide today, Tuesday, whether they want Kamala Harris or Donald Trump to lead their country. In the congressional elections taking place at the same time, all the seats in the House of Representatives and roughly a third of those in the Senate will also be filled. A glance at the commentaries shows that for Europe, too, there's a lot hanging in the balance.

A policy paper by German Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) that was leaked on Friday has triggered a major dispute among the three members of Germany's traffic light coalition government in Berlin. The SPD and the Greens have harshly criticised the economically liberal proposals set out in the paper, which include cutting business taxes and postponing climate protection targets. Commentators are not alone in wondering whether this is the beginning of the end for Germany's government.