Eurotopics.net

Six weeks after the parliamentary elections there is still no sign of a new government in Italy. Talks led by the speaker of the Senate, Elisabetta Casellati, also seem likely to end without any results today, Friday. The main sticking point is that the Movimento Cinque Stelle is only willing to form a coalition with the Lega Nord if the latter ends its alliance with Silvio Berlusconi and his Forza Italia party. What will become of the voters' hopes of a fresh start?

Following huge tensions in the UN Security Council in particular regarding the Syrian war, the diplomats of 15 member states have convened today Friday for a weekend of informal talks in a country house in southern Sweden. The General Secretary António Guterres will also be in attendance. Just how important is the work of the United Nations these days?

The Cuban parliament has elected the former Vice-President Miguel Díaz-Canel to take over from 86-year-old President Raúl Castro, who stepped down on Thursday. In 2006 he took over government duties from his ailing brother Fidel Castro, who died in 2016. What opportunities will the new leadership bring?

In an address to the EU Parliament French President Macron has warned against a further rise of authoritarianism and called for speedy reforms to the EU. Paris is taking over the role as Europe's leader from Berlin, commentators observe. But not all are convinced that the other EU states will play along.

The US has hailed the airstrikes it carried out in Syria together with Britain and France as a success, claiming that they have considerably reduced the Assad regime's ability to produce chemical weapons. Journalists speculate on what comes next - with Iran in particular in mind.

Poland is banned from logging in the ancient Białowieża Forest, the European Court of Justice has ruled, upholding a complaint filed by the EU. The court concluded that the country had broken EU environmental laws with its large-scale logging, which it argued was necessary to protect trees from an outbreak of bark beetle. Warsaw has said it will respect the ruling. Commentators find it noteworthy that this time a major confrontation appears to have been avoided.