Eurotopics.net

The Irish will elect a new legislature on Saturday. Polls put the left-wing nationalist Sinn Féin - which is highly contested due to its historic ties to the IRA - in the lead. Commentators discuss why voters are pinning their hopes on Sinn Féin and whether the party is fit to be in government.

Thomas Kemmerich, a politician from the liberal FDP, has been elected premier of the German state of Thuringia - thanks to votes from his own party, the CDU and the far-right AfD. He won in the third round against the incumbent premier Bodo Ramelow of The Left party. The fact that this is the first time the far-right AfD has helped a state premier to be elected is making headlines, and not just in Germany.

US President Donald Trump vaunted his own track record in his State of the Union address. He had several reasons to celebrate: the primaries for the US presidential election began with a vote-counting debacle for the Democrats, and he was acquitted in the impeachment proceedings against him. What can the Democrats do to gain ground, apart from tearing up the manuscript of Trump's speech?

Coronavirus, the first cases of which were discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, continues to spread across the globe. More than 28,000 cases and 563 deaths have been registered so far. European media examine the efficacy of the measures already taken against the virus and those still in planning.