Generous when it comes to saving the economy of their own countries, the G8 are stingy when it comes to Africa. Following the recent gathering at L’Aquila, Corriere della Sera compares money promised to Africa with funds allocated to tackle the financial crisis, and the result is worrisome. "Five euros and 18 cents each year. 43 cents per month. This is the amount allocated for every African by the G8 leaders, writes the Milanese daily. Just 0.13 per cent of what was allocated in recent months to stem the economic crisis in rich countries".
A sum so trifling as to be irrelevant, according to the Italian newspaper: "We endlessly repeat that it is better to give Africans a rod and teach them how to fish, instead of giving them fish. Well, with this money, an African can buy a hook and two meters of wire once a year. But no rod, no worms. And the problem of the water remains ".
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.