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European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to hire more people from racial minorities after meeting anti-racist MEPs on Tuesday

Maltese health authorities said 65 migrants from a group of 94 brought to Malta this week have tested positive for coronavirus and been placed in isolation, the Times of Malta reported on Tuesday. This cluster represents the biggest outbreak in Malta since the beginning of the pandemic.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, who is running for a sixth presidential term, told military officials on Tuesday that he recovered from Covid-19, Reuters reported. "Today you are meeting a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on his feet. Doctors came to such a conclusion yesterday: asymptomatic," he said. Lukashenko avoided strict lockdowns and, instead, suggested remedies such as drinking vodka. Belarus has registered 67,366 coronavirus cases and 543 deaths.

The European Court of Auditors on Tuesday launched a probe to assess whether the European Commission improved cooperation with priority third countries after 2015 - when an action plan on returns was in place. EU auditors found less than 40 percent of irregular migrants ordered to leave the EU return to their home country, or a third country.

The head of the Robert Koch Institute for health, Lothar Wieler, said on Tuesday that he was "very concerned" by the surge of new coronavirus infections in Germany, the BBC reported. "We don't know yet if this is the beginning of a second wave, but of course it could be," Wieler said. Last week, Germany recorded 3,611 new infections.

EU states have agreed to curb exports of "sensitive equipment and technologies for end-use in Hong Kong" repression, including for "interception of internal communications or cyber-surveillance" in reaction to China's security crackdown in the semi-autonomous former British colony. They also agreed, on Tuesday, to help Hong Kong citizens resettle and study in Europe and to increase support for pro-democracy NGOs trying to oppose the new measures, risking China's wrath.

British businesses are to be hit by the "simultaneous impact" of anti-coronavirus lockdowns and Brexit in autumn, according to a new study by the London School of Economics out Wednesday. The net downturn in business due to coronavirus in April and June ranged from -124 percent for the rubber and plastics sector to -41 percent for retail. But Brexit would subtract a further 15 percent from the chemicals sector.

The new spike in Covid-19 infections in Europe is due to the general public having become "negligent" on hygiene rules, Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany's Robert Koch Institute, told press Tuesday, the BBC reports. "We are in the middle of a rapidly-developing pandemic," he noted, while urging people to wear masks and respect social distancing. The recent increase in infections made him "very concerned".

People ought to break anti-coronavirus lockdowns for the sake of their psychological and other health needs, Andrea Bocelli, an Italian opera singer known for a recent Easter performance outside an empty cathedral in Milan, said in a speech at the country's senate Tuesday. "I am a certain age and I need sun and vitamin D," he said. "Let's refuse to follow this rule ... move around," he said.

According to a spokesperson for the UN high commissioner for human rights, the draft law "would give the state powerful tools for asserting even more control over the media landscape".

Previous claims that migrants bring communicable diseases to host countries have been debunked by a review of the existing evidence carried out earlier this year. In fact, migrants are currently more at risk of contracting Covid-19 from Europeans.

Facebook, a US tech giant known for abusing its users' private data, has filed a complaint at the EU court in Luxembourg, saying the EU Commission's data request was too broad and would affect its employees' medical and financial information.

Ukraine's military officials said there were two breaches of the ceasefire on Monday when pro-Russian separatists opened fire with grenades and small arms, Reuters reported. "I assure that in case the enemy violates the ceasefire and threatens their lives, the response of the armed forces will be immediate and decisive," said commander Volodymyr Kravchenko in a statement. A full ceasefire in eastern Ukraine took effect from Monday.

The EU and China will hold on Tuesday a high-level trade and economic dialogue via videoconference. The meeting will be co-chaired by European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis and vice-premier of the Chinese state council Liu He. Discussions will be focused on the coronavirus crisis, global economic governance and taxation cooperation, but also about the reform of the World Trade Organization and the ongoing negotiations for an investment agreement.

Spain's health emergency chief, Fernando Simón, on Monday thanked Belgium and the UK for discouraging trips to Spain, saying less tourists reduces the risk of cases of imported coronaviruses. "I thank the Belgians for not coming to Spain; that's one less problem that we have to deal with," Simón said during a press conference on Monday. The statement has triggered strong criticism from the several political parties in the opposition.

Germany has rejected a proposal by US president Donald Trump to allow Russian president Vladimir Putin back into the Group of Seven (G7), according to DW. "We need Russia to solve conflicts such as those in Syria, Libya and Ukraine," German foreign minister Heiko Maas told the Rheinische Post newspaper in an interview published on Monday. Russia was expelled from the G7 in 2014 after its annexation of Crimea.

The European Council on Monday appointed the 22 prosecutors of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), who will work together under new European chief prosecutor Laura Codruţa Kövesi. The decision suffered a delay because of Malta's difficulties in appointing three candidates meeting the conditions of experience and independence set by this body. The EPPO is responsible for prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.

The World Health Organization head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Monday that the number of cases worldwide has doubled in the past six weeks, The Guardian reported. "Covid-19 has changed our world," he told reporters. Ghebreyesus will convene later this week the WHO's emergency committee to revaluate the situation - a procedural requirement six months after the agency's declaration of a public health emergency of international concern.

Germany's health minister Jens Spahn announced on Monday plans to make tests mandatory for people returning from risk-risk areas, DW reported. "We must prevent returning travellers from infecting others unnoticed and thus triggering new chains of infection," Spahn tweeted. The new measure would go into effect next week and the tests would be free of charge. Germany has recorded over 206,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Spanish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said an "inflexion point" has been reached in the dispute over oil- and gas-drilling in the eastern Mediterranean, during a news conference in Ankara with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday. "We have reached some inflexion point mainly on the drilling in the eastern Mediterranean and this was a useful dialogue with Mevlut to deescalate tensions that exist," Gonzalez Laya said.