European Union

The COVID-19 health crisis has exposed the racism people of Asian descent face today. EURACTIV France spoke to post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), Ya-han Chuang to discuss how such "awareness" has been formed in France.

Ship traffic has come to a standstill on the Suez Canal, where the 400-meter-long container ship Ever Given has been stuck since Tuesday, with its bow dug into the canal bank. More than 200 ships are now waiting to the north and south of the site, but according to recovery teams it could be weeks before the waterway - which is a vital route for the international shipping industry - is navigable again. Once again, the world is being confronted with its own vulnerability, commentators note.

The Covid crisis has increased poverty, unemployment and social inequality across Europe and in the rest of the world. Young people, the culture and hospitality sectors and tourism are the worst affected, as well as groups that were already structurally disadvantaged before the pandemic. Commentators paint a bleak picture and call for urgent and effective action.

The German government has proposed the launch of preliminary negotiations for the EU to purchase the Russian coronavirus vaccine. Although Sputnik V has not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency (Ema), with the other vaccines talks were held before the approval came through. Commentators support the initiative and call on politicians to set ideological differences aside.

The Swedish company Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) and other major Western brands like Nike and Adidas are facing an extensive boycott campaign in China. The boycott was triggered by statements by these companies - in some cases made months ago - to the effect that they no longer want to purchase cotton from Xinjiang Province due to human rights violations perpetrated there against the Uighurs.

In Spain, a documentary series aired by private broadcaster Telecinco in which the well-known TV presenter Rocío Carrasco, disparaged by many as a "bad mother", talks about being psychologically abused by her husband and losing custody of her two children, has triggered a fierce debate. Among other things, commentators criticise the one-sided perspective of the documentary, which they say fails to do justice to the complexity of this important issue.