Eurotopics.net

The US has announced that it is ending all funding for the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA. In a further move the White House is considering stripping the Palestinians of their refugee status. With his policy Trump is not only exacerbating the Palestinians' suffering but also further destabilising the region, commentators write.

The chances that Jens Weidmann, head of the German Bundesbank, will succeed Mario Draghi as president of the ECB are apparently dwindling. According to media reports, Chancellor Merkel would prefer to see a German in charge of the EU Commission. She is making a mistake, some commentators feel. Others are happy that Weidmann appears to be out of the running.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker announced on Friday that the results of an EU-wide survey on Daylight Saving Time would be respected. More than 80 percent of the 4.6 million respondents said the time change should be scrapped. For commentators the decision is long overdue.

The governments of Serbia and Kosovo are discussing redrawing the border between their countries in a bid to resolve the frozen Kosovo conflict. Areas that are mainly inhabited by Serbs in the north of Kosovo could be swapped for municipalities in the south of Serbia with mainly ethnic Albanian populations. Commentators see this as a bad idea.

After the rioting by far-right demonstrators in the city of Chemnitz in eastern Germany on Sunday and Monday, the debate about xenophobia in Germany continues. Some commentators blame Merkel's open borders policy for the rise in anti-foreigner sentiment. Others, however, see cracks in this reasoning.

Media group Tamedia has replaced the long-standing editor-in-chief of La Tribune de Genève, Pierre Ruetschi, with his deputy. In view of tensions between the company's management and its employees many are saying the move was forced. Tamedia employees had protested against the company's cost-cutting measures this summer. What are the ramifications for the Swiss media landscape?