“Was Columbus a Pole?” wonders Newsweek Polska, citing the theory put forward by the Portuguese historian Manuel Rosa. Rosa claims that the man who discovered America was not the son of a poor weaver from Genoa, but of the Polish king Władysław III who, contrary to what is commonly believed, did not die fighting the Turks in the Battle of Varna (1444) but, after “years of wandering”, found refuge in the Portuguese island of Madeira, where he was known as Henrique Alemao. Rosa also claims that it is probably here that Christopher Columbus was born. “There are many indications showing that Henrique Alemao’s wife was called Annes de Sa Colona, and the name Christopher adopted in Spain was Colón – sounds similar, doesn’t it?” Rosa claims, adding that, like Columbus, Alemao had “red hair, blue eyes and fair skin, so characteristic of people from the north and east of Europe”.
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.