European Union

At the end of his trip to the US, French President Macron expressed pessimism about the future of the Iran agreement. During his visit he had tried to explain to the US president how the deal could be extended - and ultimately maintained. France and the US are snubbing Tehran, some commentators criticise. Others stress that it will be difficult to renegotiate the agreement.

Nowhere in the world has press freedom deteriorated as drastically in the last year as in Europe, according to the index published by Reporters Without Borders. As the key causes for this negative trend the organisation cites attacks against the media by politicians, murders of journalists and stringent libel laws. Commentators point to further causes.

The government of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany has ordered all government buildings to display a cross at their entrance. This reflects the cultural values of the Germany, Bavaria's new state premier Markus Söder said justifying the decision, and had photos taken of himself hanging a cross on the wall of his office. The decision has drawn fierce criticism from many quarters - and also from certain members of the Church. Rightly so?

Right-wing extremists attacked refugees protesting the living conditions in overcrowded hotspots on the Greek island of Lesbos on Sunday night. The resulting street battle lasted into the morning and left several people injured. Greek media conclude that the refugee deal with Ankara has failed and fear that the conflict will escalate.

For roughly two weeks the Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor has been trying to block the popular messaging app Telegram. To this end it has also blocked 16 million IP addresses of Amazon, Google and other network operators in a bid to prevent Telegram from circumventing the ban. Millions of websites are currently inaccessible. Will the blockade backfire?

Madrid's regional president Cristina Cifuentes resigned on Wednesday after media published a video taken seven years ago allegedly showing her shoplifting. Cifuentes had already come under fire over reports of a faked master's degree. What will be the consequences of her downfall?