Evenimentul Zilei, 27 octobre 2009
"The president could make you rich", reads a headline from the Evenimentul Zilei. The Bucharest daily says that in the run-up to the 22nd of November elections," a race for the presidency has made it onto the online betting market, a first for Romania". And according to bookmakers, current president Traian Basecu is the favorite, running 1.85 to 1. Many punters have already registered, spurring the newspaper to declare this a new Romanian trend, inspired by the Americans. "Betting on Traian Basescu vs Mircea Geoana (his main Social Democrat opponent) is more exciting than betting on a Real-Barca match!".
The leader of Greece’s leftist alliance SYRIZA is the new bright hope of Greek politics. Steering a course between pragmatism and the rhetoric of class warfare, he has unsettled Berlin, and not just those who back Angela Merkel's austerity policies. 
Europe’s economic woes have forced us to try to understand the secret Olympian world of global finance. But now that we pay more attention to bond yields and stability mechanisms, isn’t it clear that the experts up on their lofty peaks don’t know what’s going on either? 
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is hosted by Azerbaijan, a country that is far from being a model democracy. An Estonian journalist takes a critical look at the deferential treatment enjoyed by the regime in Baku.