Demographic and social trends are fuelling debate in Europe. The proportion of older people in the total population is increasing while the working-age population decreases, putting a severe strain on pension systems. Birth rates are also falling, and the option of using immigration to rebalance the social security systems is highly contentious.
The early hours of Thursday morning saw a new barrage of Russian missile and drone attacks on the Kyiv metropolitan area in which 16 people were killed. President Volodmyr Zelensky has urged Western partners to provide swift assistance with air defence. Meanwhile, Ukraine is sending salvoes of drones into Russia. According to the mayor of Moscow, as many as 620 drones hit the capital region on Tuesday night.
A Romanian F-16 fighter jet has destroyed an explosive maritime drone in the Black Sea. According to the Ministry of Defence, the sea drone was near a production platform in Romania's Neptun Deep gas field, where hundreds of people are working. Romania's President Nicusor Dan has blamed Russia for the incident.
With the two-month negotiation period between Iran and the US now over, there is still no sign of a deal. Trump has threatened to wage an economic war against Iran, adding that the US will punish any country that supports Iran. The president directed particularly harsh words at Oman, saying the US would "bomb the shit" out of it if it gets in its way. Tehran has threatened to launch attacks on US allies in retaliation.
Former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov's call for elections in Ukraine is making waves. In a video message to the Ukrainian people he said a legal, safe and realistic mechanism must be found to allow elections to be held despite the ongoing war. Commentators debate the motives behind the popular politician's move.
On 19 August 1991, a "State Committee for the State of Emergency" (GKChP) formed by Soviet hardliners seized power in Moscow. The coup against reform-minded President Mikhail Gorbachev failed after three days due to resistance from the people of the major cities and from the leadership of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic under Boris Yeltsin. The USSR collapsed within several months of the coup.
A new bone of contention has arisen between neighbouring Greece and Turkey. After Greece designated two marine protected areas in the Ionian and Aegean Seas in July 2025, Turkey has now followed suit by establishing two marine protected areas of its own. Athens has protested that the Turkish protected areas extend beyond Turkish territorial waters and are aimed at partitioning the Aegean.
Belgium's largest wildfire in more than a century has already destroyed an area of around 30 square kilometres in the High Fens nature reserve near Germany's border, and is still not fully under control. Around 500 people are working to contain the flames, and many residents have been forced to evacuate the area. Commentators discuss what the rest of Europe can learn from the disaster.
Shortly before joint US-South Korea military exercises are due to begin, US President Donald Trump has ordered them to be scaled back, citing both the costs and his relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. He said their relationship was now "very good". The media examine the implications of Washington's U-turn.
A court in the city of Pskov sentenced Lev Shlosberg - a politician from the opposition party Yabloko, which is calling for an end to the war in Ukraine - to eleven years and one month in prison on Monday. The charges were "discrediting the army" and "spreading disinformation”. On the same day, the Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court upheld the decision to exclude Yabloko from the State Duma elections due to take place in mid-September.
France's Constitutional Council has blocked the social media ban for under-15s which was passed by parliament in July, ruling that it constitutes a "disproportionate infringement" on freedom of expression and communication. French President Emmanuel Macron has now asked his government to rewrite the legislation to make it "legally viable". The European press draws its own conclusions.
Jason Arday, a Cambridge professor who resigned in early August following allegations of plagiarism and inaccuracies in his biography, was found dead at his London home on Friday. In 2023, at the age of 37, the sociologist of education became the youngest Black professor to be appointed at Cambridge. University Chancellor Chris Smith condemned what he described as a 'racist feeding frenzy' prompted by the allegations against Arday.