Today's front pages

In its progress report on the state of Romania's justice system, published in the wake of the "insidious coup in Bucharest", the European Commission "believes that democracy in Romania is in danger" and has called on Prime Minister Victor Ponta to "correct these questionable developments before the end of the year."

EU puts Romania under surveillance – Süddeutsche Zeitung

The autonomous region has piled up debts of 5 billions euro because of wasteful public administration. Prime Minister Mario Monti has asked governor Raffaele Lombardo, under investigation for alleged links with the mafia, to confirm his resignation announced in May and has not excluded the possibility of a bailout from Rome.

Sicily on brink of default – La Stampa

Belgium has sold three month bonds at a negative rate for the first time ever. The Brussels daily believes that the country has become an "anti-eurocrisis refuge" like Germany, the Netherlands or France, although this mainly reflected investor nervousness due to the economic difficulties of Spain and Italy.

Belgium, markets’ pet – Le Soir

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has sent an official request to Warsaw to find out whether there was an official agreement between Poland and US with regard to secret CIA prisons. According to independent reports, in the years 2002-2003 the CIA operated a “black site” in the north of Poland where it interrogated and allegedly tortured Al-Qaida suspects. So far, Polish authorities have denied its existence.

Strasbourg asks about agreement – Rzeczpospolita

HSBC is accused by American politicians of putting commercial interests before preventing money laundering by drug cartels and terrorists around the world. The UK’s largest bank was accused of allowing clients linked to Mexican drug gangs, al-Qaeda and rogue regimes such as Iran, North Korea and Burma to move money around the world with little or no scrutiny.

HSBC was used to ‘clean drugs money’ – The Times

Since the beginning of the year, 40,625 Spaniards have left the country, an increase of 44.2% over last year. Among the causes cited — "the crisis and poor employment prospects". The new emigrants "between 18 and 40 with university education" will mainly go to the United Kingdom, France and Germany. According to forecasts, their number will reach 80,000 by the end of the year.

Desperation pushes up number of Spanish emigrating – La Gaceta

Antonín Holý, the inventor of Truvada, the world’s most effective treatement until now against the HIV virus and AIDS, has died at the age of 75. The Czech chemist worked at Prague’s Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB), the country’s most profitable scientific institution.

Compliments to great scientist – Mladá Fronta DNES