Eurotopics.net

Fifteen Asia-Pacific countries signed the world's largest trade agreement on Sunday. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) comprises around a third of global economic output. Close allies of the US such as Australia, Japan and South Korea will also participate in the agreement initiated by China. The press examines how much of a breakthrough the agreement really is and how Europe might benefit.

Joe Biden plans to reverse some of Trump's decisions by decree on his first day as US president. According to his chief of staff, Biden wants to return to the Paris Climate Agreement, introduce protection for underage migrants and adopt new measures in healthcare. For Europe's media the key question is what direction US foreign policy will move in.

In Austria, a comprehensive lockdown will be reintroduced for at least three weeks starting Tuesday. Schools and almost all shops will have to close, and restrictions on leaving home will apply around the clock. "Do not meet with anyone," Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told the population in dramatic terms. Austria currently has one of the highest infection rates in Europe. How did it come to this?

A few days after the resignation of Boris Johnson's director of communications Lee Cain his chief adviser Dominic Cummings also has left. Just a few weeks before the Brexit transition phase ends, two longtime companions of Johnson's - both of whom are considered staunch Brexiteers - are leaving Downing Street. Does this bode well for a deal with the EU?

A fire broke out in the intensive care unit of a hospital in the city of Piatra Neamţ in northeastern Romania on Saturday. Ten Covid-19 patients died and seven people suffered severe burns, including a doctor on duty in the ward. A short circuit is suspected to have caused the blaze. Romania's media are appalled and examine the causes.