Eurotopics.net

The Brics states are convening in Johannesburg for a summit that ends on Thursday. The goal is to push for a "redesigned global order", South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said. In addition to members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, more than 30 countries from Africa, Latin America and Asia want to participate in the meeting - and in some cases also join the group. Europe's press discusses where all this could lead.

The highly indebted Chinese property developer Evergrande can no longer service its debts in the US and filed for bankruptcy protection in Manhattan on Thursday, according to media reports. And now in China itself, Country Garden, another property giant, has run out of money. Is China's real estate business on the brink of collapse? Is a financial crisis looming? Probably not, commentators say.

The number of top international football players joining the Saudi Pro League is growing. Last Tuesday Neymar transferred from Paris St. Germain to Al-Hilal, one of Saudi Arabia’s four, mainly state-owned top clubs - for an annual salary of 200 million euros. And more and more younger players are also signing up with the absolute monarchy’s clubs. Money rules the football world these days, commentators observe.

On 21 August, the Czechs and Slovaks commemorate the suppression of the Prague Spring mass protests by troops from the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria in 1968. The tanks crushed the hope for a reformable "socialism with a human face". Commentators note that the war in Ukraine is proof that the Kremlin leadership has not changed over the decades.