“The bail-outs to Greece are turning out to be much less costly for banks than anticipated,” reports Der Standard. Based on a study by Barclays Capital, the daily writes that institutions holding Greek securities would lose only from five to ten percent of their initial investment, rather than the 21 percent estimated. Barclays’ new estimate is based on the current value of Greek bonds and not their nominal face value, which is fixed when the bonds are issued.
However, notes Der Standard, “doubts are growing among experts over whether the expected participation by the banks in the rescue of Greece will really diminish the debt.” According to the newspaper, the head of the European Financial Stability Fund, Klaus Regling, has said the plan “does not work. The idea was to buy time. Countries should fulfil their obligations. That works in Portugal and Ireland, but not yet in Greece.”
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.