Eurotopics.net

In St. Petersburg, artist and pacifist Aleksandra "Sasha" Skochilenko has been sentenced to seven years in prison for "knowingly spreading false information about the Russian military" and its deployment in Ukraine. She has already been in custody for one and a half years. Her "offence" consisted of replacing five price tags in a supermarket with pieces of paper bearing anti-war messages.

The UK's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that London's plan to deport refugees to Rwanda without an asylum procedure are unlawful. There were grounds to believe that asylum seekers would be deported from there to their home countries without due process, the court concluded. In a bid to push through the plan despite the ruling, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to introduce "emergency legislation" classifying Rwanda as a safe third country. Divided reactions in the media.

Spain's Congress of Deputies will vote today on whether Pedro Sánchez will become prime minister again. His PSOE party wants to form a government together with the leftist alliance Sumar. However, he needs the support of the pro-independence parties Junts and ERC, and that support is contingent on the passing of an amnesty law against which hundreds of thousands of people protested on Sunday. Europe's press observes the developments with concern.

The meeting in California between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping has ended with a cautious rapprochement. Xi promised to restrict exports of chemicals used to make fentanyl to the US, and communications between the armed forces of the two countries are to be resumed. However tensions continue over Taiwan.

A research collaboration between the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and other media has uncovered dubious dealings by Cypriot financial service providers. More than 270 journalists from 54 countries sifted through vast amounts of data and exposed how Russian oligarchs are using Cyprus as a back door to sidestep sanctions and conceal and increase their assets. How should the country react?