European Union

Germany is sending 250 soldiers on a frigate for a five-month mission to enforce the Libya arms embargo. The mission is part of the European Union efforts to enforce a United Nations embargo, also known as Operation Irini. Irini was launched in May to prevent the flow of weapons to Libya. The German frigate set sail on Tuesday.

The head of a German doctors union warned that the spike in covid-19 cases is a signal that the second wave of the virus is already hitting the country. "We are already in a second, shallow upswing," Susanne Johna, the president of Marburger Bund, told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper on Tuesday. Germany has registered over 212,000 cases and more than 9,000 deaths.

Some 47 percent of Germans are happy the US is pulling 12,000 soldiers out of Germany, according to a survey by pollster YouGov for the DPA news agency. Some 25 percent would like all US soldiers to leave. Some 66 percent also wanted the US to remove nuclear weapons from Germany. The poll came after US president Donald Trump said he was pulling troops to punish Germany on defence spending.

A US decision to build new military bases in Poland is the "crowning glory" of the Polish government's foreign and defence policy, Polish defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak said Tuesday. The US intelligence, infantry, and aviation facilities are to be staffed by some 1,000 troops on a "rotational" basis, but Błaszczak said it meant an "enduring" US presence. The Russia-deterrent forces will join 4,500 US soldiers already on rotation in Poland.

Coronavirus infections have risen by 58 percent in Belgium in the past week to reach 535.4 per day, while the rate of infection per 100,000 inhabitants went up 200 percent in two weeks, according to Belgian public health body Sciensano. Belgium is a part-amber, part-red zone for coronavirus in Europe, along with Romania, Spain, and other isolated hotspots. Large parts of France, Poland, Sweden, and the UK are also amber.

The 33 men from Russia's Wagner mercenary firm recently detained in Belarus were planning a "massacre" to destabilise the country ahead of elections on Sunday, Belarus president Aleksander Lukashenko said Tuesday. "An attempt to organise a massacre in the centre of Minsk is already obvious," he said. He also accused Russia of having sent a second mercenary unit to south Belarus, amid mounting domestic opposition to his 26-year rule.

France, Italy, and the UK offered aid to Lebanon after an explosion in Beirut killed some 100 and injured 4,000 on Tuesday. The blast, initially blamed on chemical stockpiles in a port warehouse, was heard in Cyprus. "The EU stands ready to provide assistance and support," EU Council president Charles Michel said. It had also made available its "Copernicus" satellite observation system, EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarčič said.

The United States recovery focused on a number of important issues, including unemployment benefits and funding for health care providers, but lacked any programs directed towards addressing pollution, renewable energy industries, and clean technology improvements.

Azerbaijan ambassador to EU Fuad Isgandarov had shared a virulent rant against George Floyd. Asked why, Isgandarov told this website he doesn't recall the message and forgot how he had responded to it.

Suspected state-backed Russian hackers are believed to have stolen the entire contents of a personal email account used by former British trade minister Liam Fox as part of an attempt to sway the 2019 UK election, two sources told Reuters.

Egypt on Tuesday (4 August) called for a suspension of meetings with Ethiopia on Addis Ababa's massive dam construction project on the Nile.

“We need at least 100 charter flights a day,” says Plamen Kopchev, head of the hotel owners’ association in Bulgaria’s mammoth Black Sea resort of Sunny Beach, laid waste by the coronavirus pandemic. But the trouble is, only a fraction...

Poland's conservative nationalist government cranked up its campaign against Europe's accord on violence against women, calling it a tool for the EU to foist "leftist ideology" on unwilling member states.

Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday (4 August) accused the opposition and Russia of planning violent unrest and vowed to defend his regime as early voting began in presidential elections.

Lebanese rescue workers dug through the rubble looking for survivors of a powerful warehouse explosion that shook the capital Beirut on Tuesday (4 August), killing 78 people and injuring nearly 4,000 in a toll that officials expected to rise.

The European Central Bank is committed to supporting the euro zone's economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, using its massive bond purchases as its main tool, chief economist Philip Lane said on Tuesday (4 August).

The European Commission launched an "in-depth investigation" on Tuesday (4 August) into whether US tech giant Google's planned €1.7 billion purchase of smartwatch maker Fitbit would give it an unfair market advantage.

Europe's air safety watchdog has no firm date for Boeing's grounded 737 MAX to resume flights, it said on Tuesday (4 August), adding that the US planemaker had some more work to do before a 17-month-old safety ban could be lifted in Europe.

Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz said it would not resume buying natural gas from Russia, suspended since late 2015, until Moscow offered it competitive prices and conditions.

The EU issued a declaration on the postponement of the Legislative Council elections in Hong Kong