United Kingdom
The reputation of a seaside town in Essex was on the line in Britain.
— The Independent reported that a U.S. politician had apologized for using an “out of date” image of the English seaside village of Jaywick Sands to warn Americans of what their country could look like if voters don’t support Donald Trump.
— ITV News reported on fears that medicinal cannabis, which is available in the U.K. from Thursday, could spark an addiction crisis.
— The BBC, among others, reported on the fallout from comments made by Chief Constable Sara Thornton, who told the National Police Chiefs’ Council conference on Wednesday that police officers are too under-resourced to deal with “deserving” issues, such as taking reports on gender-based hate incidents.
— The Times reported that the EU and U.K. had struck a tentative financial services deal.
France
A public health investigation into babies born in the department of Ain without upper limbs made most French papers.
— Ouest France featured an article with five questions about the health authorities’ probe.
— FranceInfo had an explainer article on the topic.
— Ouest France nabbed an interview with French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he warned that Europe currently looks strikingly similar to the way it did in the 1930s, between the two world wars.
Germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to quit the leadership of her CDU party continued to reverberate in Germany.
— Bild wrote about the “Duel of the Merkel opponents.”
— WAZ reported that Serdar Yüksel, an SPD politician, had rescued an AfD employee who collapsed in the middle of a state parliament hearing. Yüksel is a trained intensive care nurse.
— Zeit reported that a consumer group had filed a lawsuit representing tens of thousands of diesel drivers against Volkswagen over its emissions scandal.
Russia
A preliminary report into a terror attack carried out by a teenager at the office of Russia’s security agency, the FSB, in the city of Arkhangelsk earlier this month was the big news in Russia.
— TASS noted the report, released on Wednesday, indicated the attack was planned for a long time. RIA reported that one of the victims of the attack remained in a critical condition.
— TASS covered talks on Wednesday between Russian and NATO envoys in Brussels. “The alliance tried to accuse Moscow of violating the INF,” the paper wrote, referring to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
— Russia24 picked up on comments made by Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko, who said at a security forum earlier this week that if she is elected she will demand Moscow pay Kiev €100 billion in reparations for its “aggression.”