Eurotopics.net

The US is issuing increasingly urgent warnings about an escalation of the situation in Ukraine before the end of the Olympic Games. While Moscow, Washington, Paris, Berlin and Kyiv engaged in intense telephone diplomacy over the weekend, several states called on their citizens to leave the country. Commentators warn against the use of war rhetoric and advise a change of strategy.

In a referendum held on the weekend the Swiss voted by around 55 percent against a new law on media subsidies. The envisaged package of measures amounted to 151 million Swiss francs per year [about 144 million euros] and would have supported private media outlets. Left-wing parties campaigned for the package while the conservative and the right-wing populist SVP were against it. Reactions in Swiss media are also divided.

Mandatory vaccination has been in force in Austria since 5 February. Now influential provincial governors are calling on the government to repeal the corresponding legislation. Chancellor Karl Nehammer is already backing away from the measure on the grounds that the Omicron variant causes milder symptoms than earlier forms of the virus. An expert commission is to make the final decision.

In some Arabic-language Internet forums, there appears to be a campaign spreading misinformation about Swedish authorities taking children away from Muslim parents to sell them or lead them away from their religion. Swedish media discuss what can be done to counteract such hate campaigns.