Eurotopics.net

Professors at the prestigious Lund University in southern Sweden have voiced concern to the newspaper Sydsvenskan about how their students' reading skills are declining. Even top students are often unable to read longer texts and books, they say. The national press examines the causes.

After his election as US president, Donald Trump's first picks for key foreign policy positions have become known. Military veteran and Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth is to head the US Department of Defence, while Marco Rubio is under discussion as the next Secretary of State and Mike Waltz as the new National Security Adviser. Both are considered hardliners vis-à-vis China and have criticised the current policy on Ukraine. Europe's press weighs in.

Another major row has broken out in Vilnius in the process of forming a new government: contrary to previous statements, the Social Democrats have announced that they will form a coalition with the centre-left party Vardan Lietuvos and the populist party Nemuno Aušra (NA). NA's leader, Remigijus Žemaitaitis, was forced to give up his seat in the Seimas before the elections after making antisemitic statements. President Gitanas Nausėda has said he will reject any ministers put forward by NA.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has resigned from his post after coming under fire for his handling of an abuse scandal in the Anglican Church. As head of the Church of England, he was criticised for not making public decades of abuse against over 100 boys and young men by a Church employee who died in 2018.