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The EU has urged Israel to let it deploy an election-observation mission in the occupied Palestinian territories ahead of a vote on 22 May. "Despite continuous contact with the Israeli authorities, over the past five weeks, a reply granting access has yet to be received," Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, the EU 'representative to the Palestinians' said in Jerusalem on Tuesday. The delays had "considerably reduced" the EU's effectiveness, he added.

Austria is in talks with Russia about purchising the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Tuesday. The Russian vaccine is not yet approved by the EU regulator, while Hungary has been using it. "When it comes to the vaccine there cannot be any big geopolitical blinkers," Kurz said, adding: "The only thing that can count is if the vaccine is effective and safe, not where it comes from."

Local authorities in Berlin and Munich, Germany's leading cities, have suspended the roll-out of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for under-60s due to new data on blood-clot side-effects Tuesday. The move was a "precautionary measure", Berlin health minister Dilek Kalayci said, after German publication Der Spiegel reported the German federal regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, had discovered 31 blood-clot cases, mostly in younger and middle-aged women. Munich followed in a separate move.

FridaysForFuture activists Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, Anuna De Wever, and Adélaïde Charlier met online on Tuesday with commission vice-president Frans Timmermans, as a follow-up to the discussion they had last year on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) reform. The activists call for the withdrawal of the current CAP reform, arguing that it is not aligned with the Paris Agreement. The #WithdrawTheCAP collected more than 71,000 signatures for this letter.

The European Commission wants to lock out the UK from EU-funded research into quantum-computing due to security concerns over the "strategic" technology, according to a document seen by The Guardian. The proposal, by French single market commissioner Thierry Breton on the EU's 'Horizon' research programme, saw several EU states voice concern. "You can't put the UK and Switzerland in the same box as China and Iran," an EU diplomat said.

China has passed drastic changes to Hong Kong's electoral system that tighten Beijing's grip on the city, while leaving a facade of democratic structures in place, The Guardian writes. Beijing has amended Hong Kong's Basic Law, or constitution, to almost halve the proportion of directly-elected representatives in the city's legislature, which already had limited powers, and require all candidates to be vetted for political loyalty.

The European Committee of the Regions and the Under2 Coalition - representing 220 governments worldwide committed to keep global temperature rises to well below two degrees - on Tuesday signed a joint 2021-2022 action plan to promote climate action cooperation. One of the key objectives is to ensure that the Covid-19 recovery pushes the climate agenda forward, fostering the participation of regional governments in priority activities aimed at reducing emissions.

The World Health Organization and 25 countries have backed a call for an international treaty on pandemics - first announced by the European Council president Charles Michel. "The next pandemic is not a question of 'if', but 'when'," he said.

Earlier attempts to unite Europe's far-right parties have failed because of domestic rivalries and deeply diverging views on Russia.

The UK says it has an "exclusivity deal" with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm. The EU says no other contract overrides its own.

Jean Monnet went from his father's Cognac business, to masterminding the First World War shipping channels, to founding the EU. The bloc could do with some of his business acumen right now.

Behind each product with a EU quality seal penalised by Nutriscore, there are smallholder farmers, producers, agricultural workers and a whole industry hit hard by Covid-19.

The European Commission on Monday published the final sustainability-impact assessment of the trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). The report argues that enforcement of regulations would "overshadow the minor effects of the EU-Mercosur" on deforestation, as the deal would lead to a small increase in production of some products. The EU ombudsman criticised the commission for closing negotiations without an assessment.

Thousands of British people living in Spain who never claimed residency rights cannot stay there for over 90 days at a time in the wake of full Brexit in January, Spanish authorities have confirmed to The Guardian. Police would not hunt for over-stayers, Spanish sources said, despite recent scare stories in British media, but violators would be asked to leave if identified by the police acting in other routine work.

The stranding of a container ship in the Suez Canal has created disruptions in the global shipping industry that could take weeks and possibly months to clear, top container shipping lines said, Reuters reports. "Even when the canal gets reopened, the ripple effects on global capacity and equipment are significant," the world's largest container shipping company Maersk said in a customer advisory on Monday.

The planet could have a year or less before first-generation Covid-19 vaccines are ineffective and modified formulations were needed, according to a survey of epidemiologists, virologists, and infectious disease specialists, The Guardian writes. Persistent low vaccine coverage in many countries would make it more likely for vaccine-resistant mutations to appear, said 88 percent of the respondents, who worked in several illustrious institutions.

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has warned Lebanese officials of EU pressure if they obstruct government-making after months of deadlock, wreaking economic havoc. Le Drian, in an official communiqué Monday, warned of "identifying European Union leverage for stepping up pressure on those responsible for the deadlock", in an allusion to potential sanctions. The statement came after he spoke by phone with the Lebanese president, parliamentary speaker, and prime-minister designate.

A Chinese executive at a global consultancy firm was at the centre of suspected Maltese corruption schemes linked to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, according to an investigation.

Some 30 out of 132 firms surveyed by Britain's Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) have temporarily halted exports to the EU due to red tape, while five stopped permanently. "What we hoped would prove to be teething problems are in danger of becoming permanent, systemic ones," FSB head Mike Cherry said, Reuters reports. The "unusual figures" were caused by a "unique combination of factors", including Covid, a government spokesman said,

The worst maritime animal welfare tragedy in history could, by now, be unavoidable, says Gabrile Păun, the EU director for Animals International, an NGO.