Euobserver.com

Turkish police fired tear gas at clashes in Istanbul during a rally for women's rights Thursday, which called for the government to resign because it abandoned a treaty, the Istanbul Convention, on violence against women. Campaigners told the BBC 345 women died so far this year in Turkey due to domestic violence. Marches were also held in Barcelona, Paris, London, and Mexico City, with police firing smoke bombs in Mexico.

Polish president Andrzej Duda has called for more Nato jets to patrol the alliance's eastern border and more troops to be sent to the region in light of Russia's aggressive behaviour. "We should ask ourselves a question whether this is not the right time for the Nato to again show the adequate response by at least temporarily strengthening its ... presence," Duda said while visiting the Nato HQ on Thursday.

The ex-head of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's St Petersburg office said she has left Russia, becoming the latest opposition figure to depart the country amid a wide-reaching crackdown on dissent, The Moscow Times writes. Irina Fatyanova said she relocated to an unspecified country last week, after the jailing of another member of Navalny's political network on extremism charges. Both are subject to criminal charges of creating an "extremist" organisation.

Interpol, the French-based international police agency, has chosen an Emirati general tainted by torture accusations in France and Turkey, Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, to be its president for the next four years. Thursday's choice would "undermine the mission and reputation of Interpol," three MEPs have warned. The Emirates, which is also accused of abusing Interpol arrest notices to go after political opponents, had contributed generously to Interpol funding, The Guardian said.

Paid political ads will have to show how much was spent on the ad, the sources of funds, the name of the sponsor. "Without providing this information, political advertisement will be illegal," commission vice-president Věra Jourová said.

The European Central Bank operates independently - with good reason - but in cases like climate policy more coordination with democratic authorities are needed, two influential economists have argued.

The European Commission wants to extend the EU Covid certificate beyond next summer, along with new conditions on booster and third shots.

A surprise new cabinet bringing together the former political foes of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Social Democrat Party (PSD) has been sworn in by the Romanian president.

Much supply-chain abuse remains hidden from plain sight – not only to consumers but to the companies themselves, who have built increasingly longer, more complicated, and more opaque supply chains, which have become harder to monitor, control and account for.

Magdalena Andersson, was announced as leader on Wednesday but resigned after her coalition partner quit the government and her budget failed to pass, the BBC writes. Instead, parliament voted for a budget drawn-up by the opposition which includes the anti-immigrant far right. Andersson told reporters she hoped to try to become prime minister again as a single-party government leader.

French president Emmanuel Macron urged Polish president Mateusz Morawiecki to solve a rule-of-law dispute with the EU, while voicing solidarity on the Belarus migration crisis, in a meeting in Paris on Wednesday. Poland should "find a solution that safeguards the core values of the European Union", Macron's office said. Russian president Vladimir Putin told EU Council president Charles Michel by phone extra EU sanctions on Belarus would be "counterproductive".

Bosnia would lose EU money and halt its accession process if Serb entity Republika Srpska pulled out, the EU Commission has warned. "Withdrawing the Republika Srpska entity and dismantling the state institutions would take Bosnia further away from ... the EU 'acquis' and would put the EU path on hold for the entire country," enlargement commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said in Sarajevo Wednesday. Bosnia had a "credible European perspective", he said.

Internal divisions are bedevilling Western efforts to show strength over Russia's military stalking of Ukraine.

Over 30 people are feared dead after a migrant boat capsized in the English Channel on Wednesday, the deadliest disaster on the route to date, reports AFP. The deaths were confirmed by French interior minister Gerald Darmanin. "Strong emotion in front of the tragedy of the numerous deaths due to the capsizing of a boat of migrants in the English Channel," he said in a tweet.

Athens is concerned that Turkey's economic and financial crisis is turning its government more aggressive, Ekathimerini writes. In recent days, Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar and other officials in the Recep Tayyip Erdogan government have resorted to increased rhetoric against Greece, while Ankara has also made provocative actions - including flights by Turkish fighter jets over Greek territory, specifically the islands of Panagia, Anthropofagi, Makronisi and Oinousses.

Ethiopia has expelled four of six Irish diplomats from the country because of Ireland's stance on the conflict there, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said on Wednesday, Reuters reports. "I deeply regret this decision by the government of Ethiopia. Our engagement internationally on Ethiopia, including at the Security Council, has been consistent with the positions and statements made by the European Union," Coveney said in a statement.

The EU approved the renewal of sanctions against four Chinese officials and one Chinese entity on Wednesday on human rights grounds, reports Reuters news agency. The officials had been added to its sanctions list in March over human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region. China has threatened to scrap the ratification of a December 2020 trade deal over the issue.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, has said he has failed to reach a deal with Iran over renewed access to key nuclear sites after talks in Tehran, The Guardian writes. Grossi said the failure was seriously affecting the agency's ability to do its work and chances of a restoration of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

EU agencies said member states should now consider booster doses for all adults, with priority for those above 40, plus new restrictions, to tackle the fresh wave of Covid-19 infections.

Germany's SPD, the Greens and the pro-business FDP on Wednesday unveiled their 177-page coalition government programme - agreed after two months of behind-the-scenes wrangling.