Eurotopics.net

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is screening nominees for the EU Commission in a first round this week. Von der Leyen has insisted that the next Commission must respect gender parity. Member states have until the end of August to name their candidates - and are faced with very different challenges.

India's Hindu-nationalist government has announced that it is revoking the special status of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is also deploying thousands of additional troops to the Kashmir Valley and imposing curfews. Pakistan also lays claim to this predominantly Muslim region which is continually plagued by unrest. Commentators warn that India is playing with fire.

French inventor and entrepreneur Franky Zapata successfully completed a flight over the English Channel on his newly developed flyboard on Sunday. After landing he announced that he is currently working on a flying car. Commentators have mixed feelings about such technological innovations.

The debate about gun violence in the US has reignited after shootings in two US cities in which 30 people were killed. While the motives of the attacker in Dayton Ohio are still unclear, the shooter in El Paso was presumably a white racist. Commentators discuss whether President Trump bears partial responsibility for the killings.

Police in Moscow have again arrested hundreds of people protesting the exclusion of key opposition candidates from the Moscow city council elections in early September. Liberal activists had called for a protest walk. The weekend before last the police had already taken roughly 1,400 people into custody. Commentators fear the conflict could spread.