14/08 – Today’s headlines from across the EU

EUROPEAN HEADLINES

FT – Greece buoyed as debt relief calls gather momentum. Berlin isolated as Brussels and ECB back IMF stance on “sustainability.”

WSJE – Outlook for Greek debt deteriorates. A bleak debt forecast for Greece is raising pressure on Europe to grant the country softer loan terms, exacerbating tensions among its creditors as they try to seal a new Greek rescue deal within days.

INYT – ISIS enshrines a theology of rape. Victims detail abuse of girls and women as form of “prayer.”

BALTIC STATES

Baltic Times – PM Butkevicius: integration of refugees more important than burqa ban. Lithuania’s Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius, believes helping its quota of 325 refugees affected by the Mediterranean Crisis integrate into the country, is a more important issue than discussing whether to ban the burqa.

FRANCE

Le Monde – Investigation into the very lucrative business of migrant smuggling. A smuggling network was dismantled in Calais this week. This year, 19 groups have been arrested, compared to four in 2014.

Les Echos – Pork crisis: the trap closes on the government. Cooperl and Bigard once again boycott the session of quotation on the auction market, on Thursday. Agriculture Minister Stéphane Le Foll denies the existence of a labour cost competitiveness problem between France and the rest of Europe.

GERMANY

Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ) – China’s government promises explanation of Tianjin disaster. Warehouse for hazardous materials in industrial area explodes: more than fifty dead.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung – The big drought. After six weeks of high temperatures and extreme drought, the first consequences are appearing in Germany and southern Europe: withered crops, water shortages and heat-related deaths.

ITALY

La Repubblica – Athens: rail and port to go private. Beijing devalues yuan for the third consecutive day.

Il Sole 24 Ore – Stock markets rebound. Following Renminbi’s third devaluation, China officially announces that fine adjustment has been found. The ECB is concerned about a slowdown in Chinese GDP.

NETHERLANDS

NRC.Next – Child protection council ‘at a loss’ on child would-be jihadis. Children who threaten to travel to Syria are sometimes locked up in a youth institution. Once there, they are offered no treatment, a spokesman told the paper, because ‘we do not know how to deal with themChild protection council ‘at a loss’ on child would-be jihadis’.

POLAND

Gazeta Wyborcza – The faithful are calling but Bishops do not hear them. The strength of a long-lasting debate about the condition of the Polish Church doubled after Bishops had issued a letter about politicians committing a sin by supporting in-vitro fertilisation.

SPAIN

El Pais – Explosion rises doubts about China’s industrial security. “It was like a nuclear bomb,” said one of thousands of evacuees.

Expansion – Mortgages rise 30% in the Spanish banking sector. CaixaBank, Sabadell and Popular’s housing loans soar 40%.

The Times – Women take record lead in university admissions. The gap between women and men at university has grown to its largest in modern times as the number of female student increases.

The Guardian – Labour race hits fever pitch as rivals scramble to stop Corbyn. The Labour leadership frontrunner, Jeremy Corbyn, will today set out his 10 priorities for government and put winning in Scotland at the heart of his campaign.