La Repubblica, 14 January 2011
"Half a shield for Berlusconi," headlines La Repubblica the morning after Italy’s constitutional court partly quashed the “Legitimate Impediments” act the Prime Minister had pushed for to ward off corruption trials in which he is implicated. The Roman daily explains that, according to the court, the prime minister, who has branded its judges “leftists”, can’t "auto-certify" his inability to attend hearings: it’s up to the court seized of the matter to assess his alleged impediments. The constitutional court ruling isn’t likely to affect the outcome of the pending trials, all of which will soon be statute-barred, adds Turin daily La Stampa, "or the prevailing climate of uncertainty that has stymied the government and parliament for months”.
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.