Euobserver.com

Some Covid hygiene rules were reimposed in the Czech Republic and Romania on Monday, while Poland and the Netherlands said they were considering similar steps, amid a surge in infections, especially in eastern Europe. "The pandemic is far from over," the World Health Organisation said. "It's mainly unvaccinated people who need care, who have the highest risk of getting infected and infecting others," Dutch health minister Hugo de Jonge said.

We propose a mandatory solidarity mechanism that allows for flexible options. Every member state will have to contribute in one way or another - through either relocation, return sponsorship or capacity-building measures, writes EPP rapporteur Tomas Tobé MEP.

In 2009 Connie Hedegaard presided over the Copenhagen climate conference that ended in rancour - and left Europe on the sidelines. Hedegaard went on to become the first European commissioner for climate action.

The European Commission has demanded the immediate release of the detained Sudanese leadership, including its prime minister and other cabinet members. "We call on the security forces to immediately release those they have unlawfully detained," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. PM Abdalla Hamdok was detained after the military dissolved the civilian government and declared a state of emergency.

The European Union has demanded Israel stop settler expansion, after Israeli authorities on Sunday announced the publication of tenders for the construction of more than 1,300 housing units in the occupied Palestinian territories. "We call upon the government of Israel to halt settlement construction and to not proceed with the announced tenders," said an EU spokesperson in a statement.

Facebook will fuel more episodes of violent unrest around the world because of the way its algorithms are designed to promote divisive content, whistleblower Frances Haugen told the British parliament, Reuters writes. According to Haugen the social network follows a start-up culture where cutting corners was a good thing and said it was "unquestionably" making hate worse.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has "welcomed" comments by eight out of the 10 embassies whose envoys he threatened to expel they would abide by the Vienna Convention on non-interference in internal affairs. The statements by Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden were a "step back", pro-Erdoğan media added. France and Germany said nothing. The 10 ambassadors earlier called for justice for a jailed Turkish philanthropist.

Poland is raising the number of soldiers on its Belarus border from 6,000 to "about 10,000" to stop Middle East migrants being flown in by the Minsk regime, Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Monday. Two border guards were temporarily hospitalised over the weekend when a group of 60 to 70 asylum-seekers tried to storm a barbed-wire fence. One guard was hit in the face with a stone, Poland said.

An EU foreign-service spokesperson urged China to "act in line with its international commitments and to respect Hong Kong's rights and freedoms" on Monday, after Amnesty International said it was closing its office there due to a Chinese security law. EU states have not issued a high-level statement on Hong Kong since Hungary vetoed one in May, despite promises to do so at the EU 26-level, leaving out Hungary.

Belarus is working with a notorious organised-crime boss to terrorise opponents in EU states, a former regime insider has alleged.

The EU Commission says war rhetoric has no place between member states, following an interview by Poland's prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who warned the Brussels executive not to "start the third world war" by withholding EU funds.

MEPs from across the political spectrum suspect Russian gas giant Gazprom manipulates market prices. They have written to the EU Commission asking for an investigation. According to the signatories, Gazprom is pressuring Europe to open the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

France has called a US deal to develop nuclear-powered submarine technology with Australia and the UK, but not any EU countries, unveiled Thursday, a "stab in the back," in the words of French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. The move is to see France lose out on a multibillion-euro submarine-technology deal with Australia. "This is not over. We're going to need clarifications. We have contracts," Le Drian added.

Russians will head to the polls on Friday. Widespread anger over the stagnation economy has been rising in recent years, and the ruling party, United Russia, polls at historic lows. But it is expected to find a way to maintain its hold over the State Duma. Due to the size of the country, the polling takes three days. Voters will be able to cast ballots through to Sunday.

Russians head to the polls on Friday for parliamentary elections in a test of authority for president Vladimir Putin, whose United Russia party is polling at a near-historic low of just 30 percent. There are few legitimate international observers, after the ODIHR, a Warsaw-based European monitoring body, declined to go because authorities refused to give them proper access. But some pro-Russian MEPs, such as France's Thierry Mariani, are going anyway.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will invite British counterpart Boris Johnson to join a security-and-defence cooperation pact with the EU when he visits London on Friday, in a project backed by France and Germany, British newspaper The Times reports. "Afghanistan is a catalyst for further discussion on European defence co-operation, preferably including the UK," a British diplomat said. "We can be a bridge [to the EU]," a Dutch diplomat said.

The Dutch foreign minister, Sigrid Kaag, has resigned after the lower house of parliament passed a motion of censure against the government over its handling of evacuations from Afghanistan amid the Taliban takeover. Hundreds of Dutch citizens, many of Afghan origin, and an unspecified number of Afghans whose work put them in danger, were unable to reach the airport in Kabul.

The German Greens' candidate in upcoming elections, Annalena Baerbock, has been targeted with sexist abuse as well as with more disinformation and conspiracy theories online than her male counterparts from other parties, according to a study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a German think-tank. RT Deutsch, a Russian-state news outlet, for instance, targeted Baerbock, who has promised to mothball a new Russian-German gas pipeline if she gets into government.

The European Commission has launched a new health agency to help prepare for future pandemics. The 'health emergency preparedness and response authority' (Hera), will assess threats, fund research, and build stockpiles of drugs, with a budget of €6bn in 2022 to 2027. The agency "will be our main instrument to coordinate preparedness and, if needed, response ... This is what we are missing today," EU commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas said.

With the drive for lower prices and emergence of more and more 'fast-fashion' brands, durability is inevitably compromised. However, through new regulation, selling durable products shall no longer be a design option - it will be a legal requirement.