Eurotopics.net

At the Champions League final in Porto, visiting fans of the British clubs Manchester City and Chelsea FC enjoyed freedoms that are still denied to the Portuguese under Covid restrictions. The policy was at the very least poorly communicated to the public, if not completely misguided, national media criticise.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenka discussed their countries' economic cooperation in Sochi on the weekend. They agreed on the release of a 500-million-dollar credit tranche, but according to media reports no futher major decisions were reached. Commentators assess whether Minsk can still count on Moscow's help.

The inflation rate in the US rose to 4.2 percent in April, and prices are also rising in Europe. Among other factors, inflation in the Eurozone is being driven by the growth of the Chinese and US economies and the associated rise in oil prices. Not all commentators see this as a cause of concern, however.

According to official figures, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has won the presidential elections with 95.1 percent of the vote. Voting was only allowed in areas controlled by Assad's regime, which make up about two-thirds of the civil war-torn country. Around twelve million people have been displaced by the war which has been raging since 2011, and almost four million Syrian refugees live in Turkey alone.