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The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said it was time for Lebanon "to deliver results, without further delays" into last year's massive Beirut port explosion, which killed at least 218 people. "One year after this tragic event, the families of the victims and the Lebanese people are still waiting for answers," said Borrell, in a statement on Tuesday.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has told Reuters that the regime of president Alexander Lukashenko must come to an end. "What is going on in Belarus is our pain - we want this hell finished as soon as possible in our country," she said, in an interview on Tuesday. She said a peaceful transition of power remains feasible.

An oversight system in Croatia intended to guarantee migrants are respected at the borders falls short, according to eight NGOs. They say the Croatian system will likely be limited "to police stations around the border, border crossing points, and detention centres", when in fact most crossings occur elsewhere. They also note that details behind the new oversight system have yet to be made fully public.

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights has demanded Austria postpone deportation of an Afghan national, given the worsening conflict in the war-torn country. The court ruled the applicant should not be expelled from Austria before 31 August. Such deportations have already been suspended in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Afghans in Germany are also increasingly winning their appeals against deportations, with a 76-percent success rate between January and May.

There are no fixed rules. Anyone can criticise, condone and codify women's apparel. The game is inclusive, bringing together an assorted collection of voyeurs, misogynists, racists, bigots, religious fanatics and culture warriors – but also feminists and other equality campaigners.

Vitaly Shishov, who led an NGO helping Belarusians flee persecution (Belarusian House in Ukraine), was found dead on Tuesday, one day after being reported missing by his partner, Reuters reported. "Belarusian citizen Vitaly Shishov, who disappeared yesterday in Kyiv, was found hanged today in one of Kyiv's parks, not far from his place of residence," a police statement said, announcing an investigation.

Telegram messaging boards are providing false hopes for young migrants seeking to enter Lithuania through Belarus. A handful seen by EUobserver include links to travel agencies, costs, and routes. Most will likely ended up being detained in Lithuania.

The European Union said on Monday it has imposed sanctions on Nicaragua's first lady, who is also vice-president, Rosario Murillo, plus seven other individuals responsible for serious human rights violations. The move follows US sanctions on senior officials and family members of her husband, president Daniel Ortega, accused of undermining the country's rule of law and arresting political adversaries ahead of November's election. EU sanctions now apply to 14 Nicaraguans.

Vitaly Shishov, the head of a NGO helping Belarusians flee persecution (Belarusian House in Ukraine) was reported missing in Ukraine by his partner after failing to return from jogging, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Earlier this week, Belarusian journalist Tadeusz Gizcan said in a tweet that Shishov had been followed recently. "We will investigate, until there is information about what happened to him," said a police spokesperson.

Twitter announced on Monday it would start collaborating with two of the largest international news agencies, Reuters and the Associated Press (AP), to tackle disinformation, the BBC reported. Twitter said this new initiative would increase their "capacity to add reliable context to conversations happening on Twitter". This is the first time that Twitter will collaborate with news sites on fact-checking, although Reuters and AP had previously worked with Facebook.

Cybersecurity researchers said on Tuesday that Chinese state-backed hackers had exploited the vulnerabilities of five global telecommunication companies across southeast Asia to steal their users' data, Bloomberg reported. Researchers from US-based security firm Cybereason named the groups "operating in the interest of China": Soft Cell, Naikon and Group-3390. Cybereason chief Lior Div said hackers had "the holy grail of espionage," gaining total control of the telecommunication networks they had infiltrated.

Activists took the streets of Zurich's financial district on Monday and blocked entrances to Switzerland's two biggest banks offices - Credit Suisse and UBS - to protest against the financing of fossil fuels, Reuters reported. Police said they arrested some 30 people during the peaceful protest. The protest is part of a wave of civil disobedience in Switzerland, where the climate is warming quicker than the global average.

Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya will be flying to Poland on Wednesday, after she was granted a humanitarian visa earlier this week, her supporters have said, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee has launched an official investigation into allegations over how her team tried to force her to return home against her will. Belarus said Tsimanouskaya was removed from the Olympic Games due to her emotional state.

In Denmark, Syrian men aged 18-42 are protected against returning, as they would be conscripted into the army, while many women, children and elderly Syrian refugees are having their asylum revoked.

Around 200,000 people, according to the Financial Times, took to the streets of Paris and other French cities on Saturday against the mandatory Covid-19 health pass needed to enter museums, cinemas, swimming pools or public venues, Reuters reported. This was the third weekend people protested against the measure, recently approved by the French Parliament - in a bid to halt the fourth wave of infections driven by the Delta variant.

The International Olympic Committee said on Monday that the Belarus athlete who refused to board a flight from Japan, claiming she was taken to the airport by her team against her will, was "safe and secure" in Tokyo, Reuters reported. Both Poland and the Czech Republic offered the 24-year old Krystsina Tsimanouskaya a visa to apply for international protection, although various officials said she had asked for asylum in Japan.

Greece issued 9,575 detention orders for migrants in the first half of this year, according to official figures released by the Hellenic Police. Of those, 7,247 were issued in the context of returns to their home countries, 1,980 for deportations, and 348 in the context of the asylum procedure. Less than one-in-10 detention orders were challenged before the courts, said Greek NGO Refugee Support Aegean.

The NGO rescue vessel Ocean Viking has 555 people onboard, while Sea Watch 3 has 250. The rescues come as the Libyans intercept over 1,000 people in two days, while another boat in Malta's search-and-rescue zone pleas for help.

US drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna have raised the price of their Covid-19 vaccines in their latest supply contracts to the European Union, the Financial Times reports.

Regrettably, it seems that the EU has turned a blind eye to deforestation in the Amazon. So much so that over 400 NGOs are pushing 'Stop EU-Mercosur', to derail the free trade agreement with South America.