Leadership crises

Rupert Murdoch has closed down News of the World, which has been involved in a major phone-hacking scandal. This is a cynical move, writes The Guardian. Croatia is set to join the EU in 2012. The Wall Street Journal calls this the final victory of Otto von Habsburg, who died days after the announcement.

Fired up

Rupert Murdoch will close down the 168-year-old News of the World newspaper, which the Australian bought 42 years ago, and which allowed him to build his News Corp media empire in Britain. The decision to close the successful paper, which has been at the centre of a major phone-hacking scandal, is the most cynical of Murdoch's career, writes The Guardian.

... None of this currently makes much sense except as a desperate exercise in saving executive skins... It may be that the board of News Corp ... is aware of further revelations which — coupled with an already burgeoning commercial boycott — could have proved terminal to the paper's already damaged credibility and finances. Some suspect there is a simpler commercial explanation involving already well-advanced plans to merge the Sunday and weekday editorial staffs into a seven-day operation. ...

Mission impossible

The announcement that Croatia will join the EU in 2012 coincided with the death of the man who helped make it happen: Otto von Habsburg. Croatia's accession is the final victory for Habsburg, whose mission was a prosperous, unified and free Europe, writes The Wall Street Journal. But what will the EU look like when Croatia finally joins?

... Two more years of bailing out sovereigns, monetizing public debt and scapegoating outsiders will not bring Europe closer to the "continent of freedom" Habsburg conceived. ... The EU and its members face no small challenge in preserving the union as envisioned by Habsburg. ...