The Dresden Elbe Valley, one of the most beautiful river valleys in the world, is no longer listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. In the wake of 10 years of controversy, the capital of Saxony "has lost its title," reports Tagesspiegel, because it has decided to build a 600-metre-long bridge that will be visible from the city centre, and disfigure the fabulous landscape of the valley. After Oman, deleted in 2007, it is the second time that UNESCO has a removed a site from the World Heritage List. Quoted in the Berlin daily, the director of the German Cultural Council, Olaf Zimmerman, blames municipal authorities in Dresden: "Dresden's stubborn persistence has done a major disservice to German culture." He further adds that "Germany has been made to look ridiculous in the eyes of the world."
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.