European Union

Protests broke out in cities across Belarus on Sunday after the announcement of a landslide victory for Viktor Lukashenko in Belarus's presidential election. According to the authorities the president won 80 percent of the vote while his main opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaya received only 9.9 percent. However independent exit polls carried out with the help of foreign embassies give the opposition candidate 71 percent. Is the country's future on a knife edge?

In most European countries the school summer holidays don't end until September but in some the new school year is already beginning. School life is to go back to normal in as far as possible and the risk of infection minimised with masks, extensive ventilation and distancing. Most commentators welcome this approach but some also have their doubts.

The number of Covid-19 cases is rising sharply again in many areas in Spain. Health authorities have attributed half of the new infections to family celebrations and parties. The head of the coronavirus management team, Fernando Simón, has warned the country's youth: "You are endangering not only yourselves but the entire country." Commentators warn politicians against responding with more bans.

Poland on Monday (10 August) called for an emergency European Union summit on the situation in Belarus after clashes in the night in Minsk following a disputed presidential election.

The EU must shape at least two different policies towards Belarus - one for the regime that stole the elections and one for the civil society, writes Urmas Paet.

French president Emmanuel Macron and EU Council president Charles Michel called for an independent enquiry into the Beirut explosion at a UN-organised virtual donors' conference on Sunday, which raised €253m in aid. There also ought to be "urgently needed reforms" in Lebanese politics, German foreign minister Heiko Maas told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, amid mass protests in Beirut against government misrule and corruption.

A vaccine against Covid-19 may be available before the end of the year, said European Commissioner for health Stella Kyriakides. In an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt on Sunday. "Although making predictions is risky at this point, we have good indications that the first vaccine will be available toward the end of this year or beginning of next year," she is quoted as having said.

Images of bloody injuries after police attacked protesters with batons and stun grenades marked Belarus' latest sham election, posing questions on EU sanctions.

With more and more trade moving to the digital realm, Europe can ill-afford to cut itself off. Meanwhile, China continues to advance a vision for an internet that is fractured along national boundaries and controlled by governments.