Eurotopics.net

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent a letter via his lawyer to President Isaac Herzog asking for a pardon. In 2019 Netanyahu was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust - and of having received luxury gifts to the value of 174,000 euros, including jewellery, cigars and champagne. He recently claimed that pardoning him would promote the "reconciliation our country so desperately needs".

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Tuesday, the UN published a landmark report on femicide. It states that a woman or girl is killed by a family member or intimate partner every ten minutes. The numbers are gruesomely high and yet "only the tip of the iceberg" according to the report. Europe's press reflects.

Belgium has been paralysed since Sunday evening by a nationwide strike against the government's reform plans. The work stoppage is expected to continue until Wednesday evening. The multi-party coalition had agreed on various measures to reduce the budget deficit by 9.2 billion euros, including increasing VAT on certain products and services and imposing cuts on pensions and public spending.

Former Greece prime minister and erstwhile head of the leftist Syriza party, Alexis Tsipras (in office 2015-2019) has written a book titled Ithaka. It deals with his turbulent time in office during Greece's debt crisis in the mid-2010s. For the Greek press the book is Tspipras's attempt to launch a political comeback.

Obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease - according to the latest scientific findings, the consumption of UPFs significantly increases the risk of such diseases. In the latest edition of The Lancet, scientists call for action to promote a diet based on minimally processed fresh food. Commentators discuss where the problems lie and how they might be addressed.