The Ukrainian military has carried out its first attack on Russian territory using US-made Atacms missiles, as confirmed by both Moscow and Washington. Kyiv has not provided details on the type or number of missiles used, but said that an ammunitions depot in the Bryansk region had been hit. Europe's press analyses the operation and its potential consequences.
Vladimir Putin has signed the changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine that were announced in September into law. According to the document, any attack by a non-nuclear power supported by a nuclear power would be considered a joint attack on Russia. The threshold for Russia to respond using nuclear weapons has also been lowered. Media assessments of what the changes mean are sharply divided.
For 1,000 days Ukraine has been defending itself against the full-fledged Russian invasion that began on 24 February 2022. Two months before a new US president takes control of the future Ukraine policy of Kyiv's strongest ally, Russia is intensifying its attacks across the country. Europe's press looks back in horror at the developments so far and outlines future scenarios.
The Labour government in the UK has announced plans to abolish the exemption of farms from paying inheritance tax on their land. The new rule would apply to all those whose farm is worth more than one million pounds (around 1.2 million euros) and aims to plug a tax loophole. Farmers are protesting against the tax, arguing that it will mean the end for their farms. The press weighs up arguments on both sides.
According to reports in the media, US President Joe Biden has given Ukraine permission to use US missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometres to attack military targets in Russia's Kursk region, in a move that breaks with Washington's policy so far. What motivated the decision, and what effect will it have?
Denmark has become the first country to introduce a carbon tax for the agricultural sector. From 2030, farmers will have to pay a levy of 120 Danish kroner (approx. 16 euros) on average on each tonne of emitted CO2, rising to 300 kroner (40 euros) by 2035. In addition, agricultural areas that leak methane will be put out of operation. Both the farmers' union and the nature conservation union support the plan.
Several thousand opponents of Putin demonstrated in Berlin on Sunday, following the call of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, and Kremlin critics Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were released from Russian custody at the beginning of August. However, exiled Russians and opposition members are at odds over whether such actions make sense.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke on the phone with Vladimir Putin on Friday. He explained that he had called for Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and emphasised that the West stands united behind Kyiv. Europe's commentators criticise the call and discusse it in connection with Scholz's candidacy in the upcoming federal elections.
Following the announcement that Elon Musk has been officially tasked with making US authorities "more efficient" under Donald Trump, the British newspaper The Guardian and the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia have closed their accounts on X. Musk bought X, which was Twitter at the time, in 2022, and has since been accused of doing too little to combat fake news on the platform. Europe's press debates whether leaving X is the right approach.
On 17 November 1989, demonstrations at Prague University and Wenceslas Square marked the beginning of the virtually non-violent end of the communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia: the Velvet Revolution. Thirty-five years on, how do things stand with the ideals that so many fought for back then?
Donald Trump's latest cabinet appointments are likely the most controversial: he has picked anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary and Matt Gaetz, who supports the conspiracy theory that Trump's 2020 election was stolen, as attorney general. Tulsi Gabbard, who accuses the Biden administration of disregarding Russia's "legitimate security interests" in Ukraine, is to head the intelligence services. Commentators assess the risks.
The figurehead of the French right is facing five years in prison and a ban from politics. The public prosecutor's office has accused Marine Le Pen and other party leaders of the former Front National of using EU funds to employ staff who worked directly in France on party affairs between 2004 and 2016 - which constitutes embezzlement of EU funds. A litmus test for the polarised French public.