"Morocco keeps tight control of Laayoune using network of informers," headlines the daily El Mundo, reporting on Rabat’s “iron grip” on the capital of Western Sahara in the wake of riots prompted by the dismantling of the Gdem Izik Sahrawi refugee camp on 8 November. The violence led to the deaths of 11 members Moroccan security forces and an unspecified number of Sahrawi civilian victims (between 2 and 4 according to Rabat, 36 according to representatives of the separatist Polisario Front). The daily looks back on the news blackout imposed by Morocco, which was finally lifted on 21 November. Rabat insisted on keeping foreign journalists away from the former Spanish colony annexed in 1976, claiming that they were supporters of the separatist political movement – a move that heightened diplomatic tensions with Madrid. However, in the interest of preserving good relations, the Spanish government stopped short of condemning the Moroccan attack on the camp.
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.