Eurotopics.net

On 4 August 2020 a huge warehouse full of chemicals exploded in the port of Beirut in the largest non-nuclear blast in human history. The investigations so far points to the country's authorities and politicians sharing most of the responsibility for the disaster. However, they are the ones who are now blocking the investigations. A symptom of the dysfunctional state, writes the press.

In Operation Luxor, Austrian police raided the houses of more than 60 suspected members of the Muslim Brotherhood last November because they were believed to form part of a terrorist organisation and financing terror. Now the Graz Higher Regional Court has declared that nine of the raids were unjustified as there were insufficient grounds for suspicion. Journalists say the state really made a mess of things with this action.

So many refugees have arrived in Lithuania since Alexander Lukashenka decided to stop preventing migration flows in protest at EU sanctions that Vilnius has declared a state of emergency and massively increased border patrols. The influx has triggered protests in the country, only two percent of whose population are foreigners. The commentaries on the situation are increasingly harsh in tone.

Pride Month was celebrated worldwide in June - but in some countries the celebrations are only just starting now. Stockholm Pride and Baltic Pride in Riga are taking place this week. A glance at the two countries' press shows how different the attitudes are in the two cities.

The Belarusian track and field athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has been granted a humanitarian visa by the Polish embassy in Tokyo. The sprinter had publicly criticised sports officials in her country, and was apparently to be flown home early against her will. At the airport she sought protection from the police. For Europe's press the episode sheds light on the repression and lack of prospects in Belarus.