Ta Nea, 23 December 2010
At last, the 2011 budget has finally been approved, reports Ta Nea. On another gloomy day in Greek politics, the socialist majority voted for a further round of public spending cuts, public sector wage reductions, and tax hikes, while anti-government and anti-IMF protesters marched in the streets of Athens. The budget aims to reduce the annual deficit to 7.4 percent of GDP from its current level of 9.4 percent, which is one of the conditions imposed by the IMF for the release of a further tranche of funds. Headlining with "The government is walking in in a mine field," the daily remarks that in the new year, "the government will return to face a mountain of problems,” which will include the deregulation of a number of business sectors.
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.