AQIM targets Europeans for ransom money
"Al-Qaeda is stocking up on European hostages in a bid to force the EU to resolve the hostage crisis in the Sahel," reports ABC. The Spanish daily notes that five Europeans are now being held in the Sahel: three French nationals abducted in Mauritania by "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb" (AQIM) on 29 November, and two Italians, who were captured in Mali a few days later. "In consultation with Spanish and Italian intelligence agencies, the French secret service, which is extensively deployed in the region, is directing operations to contact and negotiate with the terrorists," reports ABC. The terrorist group, which benefits from the support of a number of Tuareg tribes as well as drug and arms smuggling gangs operating in the largely lawless region, "may even demand a single ransom payment for all of the hostages," within the framework of a "probable plan to exert greater pressure on the EU," concludes the daily.
In a time of crisis with high unemployment, young Lithuanians are following in the footsteps of their emigrant ancestors. Tens of thousands have left the country in search of a better life, mainly in the British Isles and Scandinavia. The weekly Veidas reports: 
The new Eurogroup meeting on February 9 is not enough to banish the spectre of a Greek bankruptcy. While Athens may largely be responsible for the crisis, the EU and its partners are not blameless themselves. La Stampa argues that their confused messages and the absence of any strategy have transformed a resolvable problem into an explosive chaos. 
Two camps, two theories, and two visions of France: 18 years after the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis, the precise role played by Paris is still the subject of heated debate, fueled by the findings of successive criminal investigations.