Euobserver.com

"China has to convince us that it is worth having an agreement," EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said, telling China to move on key reciprocity issues on the planned bilateral investment agreement.

After a little over a year in Brussels as an MEP, and closely following the EU's foreign affairs, it astonishes me how ineffective the European Union leverages its power on the world stage.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recorded a record one-day rise in the number of new coronavirus infections, with 307,930 reported over 24 hours, the BBC reports. The agency said that deaths rose by more than 5,500, bringing the global total to 917,417. The biggest increases in infections were reported in India, the US, and Brazil. Countries across Europe are recording a rising number of daily cases too.

The EU foreign service has "welcomed" the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and Israel, following a similar, historic announcement with the United Arab Emirates under US diplomacy. The US-brokered Arab deals "represent a positive contribution to peace and stability in the Middle East", the EU said. It also urged a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict over Palestine, amid ongoing fears of Israeli annexation, however.

Some 6,000 yellow vest-wearing protesters against social injustice took to the streets of Paris and other leading French cities on Saturday, prompting 250 arrests, in a throwback to pre-coronavirus events. Protesters had wanted to block the Champs-Élysées boulevard in Paris, but were forbidden. The demonstrations came as French infection rates jumped to more than 10,000 per day - the highest levels there since the pandemic first struck Europe.

Some 100,000 people took to the streets of Minsk for the sixth Sunday in a row to call for free and fair elections, even though masked security forces had snatched dozens of women protesters off the streets Saturday and arrested another 400 people Sunday. The EU foreign service said diplomats were "staying ... intermittently" at the home of Svetlana Alexievich, a writer and activist, to try to prevent her arrest.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan harangued French president Emmanuel Macron in a TV speech Saturday. "Don't mess with Turkey," Erdoğan said, referring to French pressure against Turkish strategy in the eastern Mediterranean. "Mr Macron, you're going to have more problems with me," Erdoğan added, saying Macron was "on his last legs" politically. Turkey also announced a live-fire naval drill in Cypriot-claimed waters starting this weekend and lasting through Monday.

Greece is to buy six new and six second-hand F18 Rafale fighter jets from France as well as new frigates, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced this weekend, amid heightened tensions with Turkey. He praised as a "positive first step" Turkey's decision to return an oil-drilling ship from Greek-claimed waters. "We want to talk with Turkey but in a climate without provocations," he said.

Perpetrators of genocide and torture, but not corruption, are to face new-model EU human rights sanctions, a leaked document says.

Von der Leyen's first annual speech launches the autumn political semester in the EU, in which she is expected to address the Covid-19 pandemic, migration and key foreign political issues.

The European Commission's long-awaited pact on migration and asylum is now set to be unveiled on 30 September. Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas has likened it to a "house with three floors".

EU regions say the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe is a "timely opportunity" to debate how to make local and regional authorities full- involved in the EU response to Covid-19 - even including possible EU treaty changes.

For too long we have defined our relationship with China solely on trade, in which Europe mainly regarded China as an interesting export market and low-cost producer.

The micro-targeting of narrow, homogenous groups of people with very specific messages that exploit their vulnerabilities, makes it easier than ever to distort political debate, pushing people deeper into their echo chambers and stimulating single-issue voting.

A group of 35 MEPs from the European Parliament's LGBTI Intergroup has urged the government and police in Ukraine to guarantee protection for the upcoming Pride marches in Kharkiv and Zaporizhia. "The situation of anti-LGBTI counter-protests, which are often violent, is unfortunately not new to Ukraine, and therefore the police response should be swift, efficient and sufficient," MEPs said in a letter sent to the Ukrainian authorities on Friday.

Just 32 percent of Germans told the R+V Insurance Group in a poll out Thursday they were afraid of getting a serious illness amid the coronavirus pandemic. But 53 percent of Germans put US president Donald Trump at the top of their fears, saying his politics were creating a "more dangerous world". Meanwhile, 49 percent said they were wary of paying for EU debt related to the pandemic's economic fallout.

French authorities confirmed 9,843 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, surpassing, by 900, its previous daily record, since the pandemic struck Europe earlier this year. The number of patients in French intensive care units was also on the rise, the BBC reported. More than 30,800 French people have died so far - then seventh highest figure in the world, with French authorities warning of "tough" new lockdown-type measures due out Friday.

Cyprus is holding hostage EU sanctions on Belarus in return for a new Turkey blacklist, as Greek and Turkish ministers traded harsh words in the EU parliament.

A Kremlin spokesperson has said there are no grounds for an investigation into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. But Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte said earlier after a call with Russia's president Vladimir Putin that Putin "assured me Russia intends to clear up what has happened, and told me that he would set up a committee of inquiry and was ready to collaborate with the German authorities."

New fraudster schemes in Europe include EU funds for environmental or sustainability projects and using the procurement and tendering process to get access to EU funds for illegal purposes.