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Italy's various mafias are allegedly exploiting the chaos caused by the Covid-19 emergency to infiltrate even deeper into sectors where they are already present, such as healthcare, mortuary services, and waste disposal (both medical and non-medical).

As a German national, I see German history as a constant warning to defend the rule of law - and to be vigilant to detect even the slightest beginnings of its erosion.

Data from hundreds of millions of Facebook users was leaked online, including personal information such as phone numbers, full names, and email addresses, Deutsche Welle writes. The leaked data from 533 million users in 106 countries was posted on an obscure hacking forum. The data is believed to be more than a year old, but security experts say the information could still be used by criminals to commit identity fraud.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, are in Turkey on Tuesday, meeting president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara to discuss relations - which have been strained over the past year. The EU has taken a cautious approach towards Turkey over disputes dealing with energy exploration, migration, and aggressive behaviour towards Greece and Cyprus.

Preliminary results from the parliamentary election on Sunday suggest Bulgaria's incumbent prime minister Boyko Borissov will come out with a win but a weaker public mandate. His centre-right GERB party led with 26 percent of the vote, losing ground to parties on the back of corruption allegations. The populist party There is Such a People (ITN) came in second with 17.9 percent, followed by the Socialists on 15 percent.

The Saudi hajj and umrah ministry announced that three categories of people would be considered "immunised": those who have received two doses of the vaccine; those administered a single dose in the past 14 days; and people who have recovered from the virus, The Guardian writes. Unlike hajj, the shorter umrah pilgrimage is non-compulsory and can be performed at any time of year.

French energy firm Total has justified ongoing operations in Myanmar despite its massacre of civilians, by saying a shutdown would lead to forced labour or electricity blackouts. "Can we halt production of this gas that supplies electricity to a large population ... adding to their suffering?", Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said Sunday. He was "appalled by the repressive action", Pouyanne added, after opposition leaders urged Total to pull the plug.

Finnish foreign minister and EU special envoy Pekka Haavisto has embarked on a second trip to Addis Ababa to appeal for humanitarian access to Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region and to urge that "Eritrean forces shall withdraw from Tigray". He will also visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, amid concern on regional instability. Ethiopia was fighting a "difficult and tiresome" guerrilla war in Tigray, its prime minister said Sunday.

Greece has accused a Turkish coastguard vessel of twice crashing into a Greek port-authority boat in a recent incident and other Turkish ships of pushing migrant dinghies toward Greece. The reports come amid EU efforts to reset relations with Turkey, including new funds for refugees. "Everyone in the region, including the United States, are interested in stability and peace, the only troublemaker is Turkey," Greek military chief Konstantinos Floros said.

Russia has suddenly started preparing for full-scale war in Ukraine, but what does it really want?

The EU failed to reach its target of having at least 80 percent of the elderly and healthcare workers vaccinated by the end of March. According to estimates, 55 percent will be vaccinated by the end of June.

A family law bill currently under talks in Greece was drafted by an international men's movement, says Giota Massouridou, vice-president of the European Democratic Lawyers Association. Critics say the bill rolls backs international treaties to protect women against domestic violence.

According to the latest opinion polls, Matteo Salvini's League party is leading with 24 percent, followed by Brothers of Italy at 18 percent.

Iceland's international reputation masks two blunt realities that face the country's women - the disproportionate levels of gender-based violence that they experience, and a justice system that is frequently suspicious and hostile towards victims of this violence.

Jens-Peter Bonde, one of the longest serving MEPs in the European Parliament, lost his battle against cancer on Sunday (4 April) near his hometown of Copenhagen. He was elected member of the European Parliament in the first direct elections in 1979. He was re-elected six times consecutively and was a member of the conference of presidents for 17 years. Bonde is the husband of Lisbeth Kirk, the founder of EUobserver.

French economy minister Bruno Le Maire has said Europe should follow America's example by pouring in more money to stimulate its economy after the pandemic. "Whatever we may think about it, the American stimulus plan shows ambition, and the return of US ambition is a good thing," he said. The US plan is worth $4.2 trillion (€3.6 trillion) while the EU's equivalent is worth €750 billion only.

China's Irish embassy has attracted an inundation of online jokes and memes internationally after tweeting a confusing analogy about its tough new style of diplomacy and a Greek fable. "Some people accused China of so-called 'wolf-warrior diplomacy'. In his well-known fable, Aesop described how the wolf accused the lamb of committing offences. The wolf is the wolf, not the lamb … BTW, China is not a lamb," the tweet said.

Dutch caretaker-prime minister Mark Rutte has narrowly survived a vote of confidence over his conduct in coalition-forming talks by MPs. "Parliament has given me a serious message," he said. The motion to censure Rutte came over his handling of rebellious MP Pieter Omtzigt. Rutte had first claimed not to have spoken of sidelining Omtgizt, then to have forgotten having had the talks, but opposition MPs said Rutte had lied.

The European Union has asked India to allow it to buy 10 million doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine from Serum Institute of India, a government official told Reuters. The EU wants the doses to offset supply shortfalls from AstraZeneca's European plants and speed up the bloc's vaccine rollout. Any quick approval of the EU request is unlikely, however, with India scrambling to expand its own domestic vaccination drive.

UK's prime minister Boris Johnson said that experience had shown that the Covid-19 situation usually hit the UK a few weeks after it hurt France. "I'm afraid you can see what's happening in France... It's very sad actually - it's very, very sad," Johnson said. "When they get it in France and they get it bad, two or three weeks later it comes to us."