Eurotopics.net

Two days after the explosion on the Crimean Bridge on 8 October, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka announced his intention to form a joint regional military task force with Russia, which would be stationed in Belarus. He cited Ukraine's alleged plans for an attack as the reason for the move. This has renewed fears in Europe's press that Belarus could join Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Israel and Lebanon are officially at war with each other, but after years of negotiations the two countries have reached an agreement on offshore gas fields and therefore on where the maritime border between the two countries lies. According to Israeli sources, Lebanon is giving up its claims to the Karish gas field in exchange for access to the Qana gas field, a small part of which lies in Israeli waters. Israel will receive a percentage of the revenues in return.

The Catholic Church has been hit by a massive scandal in Portugal: an independent commission has gathered more than 400 testimonies of sex abuse which will be passed on to public prosecutors. Leading Portuguese bishops have apparently known about the crimes for years, but none has admitted any guilt so far. The national press voices outrage.

Both Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden are expected to attend the G20 summit in Bali in November. Now Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has signalled that the Kremlin is open to the idea of face-to-face talks between the two leaders and is also willing to "listen to any suggestions" on peace talks. Biden said in a CNN interview that he saw no good reason for a meeting. Commentators take different views of Lavrov's comments.