Eurotopics.net

The ZDF docudrama "Hours of Decision: Angela Merkel and the Refugees" has met with mixed reactions both in Germany and in Hungary. The film deals with the run-up to Angela Merkel's decision on 4 September 2015 to allow the refugees who had made it into Hungary to enter Germany.

Moscow and Kiev exchanged 35 prisoners from each side on Saturday. Among others Russia released director Oleg Senzov, who made headlines with a hunger strike, as well as seamen taken into custody last autumn over the Kertsch incident. Ukraine handed over the pro-Russian separatist Volodymyr Tsemach, who is said to have played a key role in the downing of MH17. Which side can chalk up the exchange as a big success?

US President Trump cancelled Afghanistan peace talks with the Taliban in a surprise move on the weekend, citing an attack in which a US soldier was killed. Trump said he had also called off a secret meeting with the Taliban and the Afghan president planned for Sunday. Commentators discuss the new situation.

The leader of the opposition party CHP in Istanbul, Canan Kaftancıoğlu, has been sentenced to almost ten years in prison after she was found guilty of sending old tweets in which she spread terrorist propaganda and insulting the president. Since she showed no remorse and read a poem by the left-wing poet Nâzım Hikmet in court, the sentence was not suspended.