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The centre-left Social Democrats and Greens presented a united front in the third and final TV debate, with a snap poll seeing the SPD's Olaf Scholz as the clear winner, Deutsche Welle reports. A Forsa poll released shortly after the debate showing that 42 percent of viewers thought that the Social Democrat had won the debate, followed by 27 percent for CDU's Armin Laschet, and 25 percent for Annalena Baerbock.

Countries in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) should create an EU-type bloc to counter US influence, Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at a Celac meeting in Mexico Saturday, Reuters reports. "We should build in the American continent something similar to what was the economic community that was the beginning of the current European Union," he said, calling Celac a "principal instrument" for the move.

"The EU is important for us because it provides Hungary with a market," Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán told public radio on Friday, Reuters reports. "We need to stand up for the EU and remain in it. That is why I say no matter how it creaks and crackles, we will be among the few still in the union should it ever end," the more typically eurosceptic leader added.

Russian president Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won Sunday's election, with at least 48 percent support, according to exit polls. It was said to have won by a similar amount (54 percent) last time (2016). Sunday's vote was marred by allegations of fraud and most independent candidates were not allowed to run, while opposition leader Alexei Navalny was in jail. There were also no credible international observers.

US president Joe Biden and French president Emmanuel Macron are to hold special talks after America scuppered a French-Australian nuclear submarine deal with its own contract. France recalled ambassadors to the US and Australia in what it called a "grave crisis" of "strategic" proportions. EU ambassadors also held talks in Brussels about the affair Friday, but most EU states thought France's reaction was a bit over-the-top, an EU diplomat said.

Insistence on primacy of EU over national law was "an unbelievable demand that undermines the foundations of our sovereignty, our constitutional order, the right of the Republic of Poland to success," Polish ruling party leader Jarosław Kaczyński said in an open letter Saturday, Reuters reports. The EU was helping the "[Polish] opposition's fight to overthrow the democratically elected government" to "impose a new, revolutionary order in Europe", Kaczyński added.

A leaked Council document provides a partial overview of member state positions on a new EU strategy on voluntary returns and reintegration. The Dutch are concerned any new legal framework on voluntary returns could lead to greater rights.

The EU fishing fleet receives up to €1.5bn from tax breaks each year - despite emitting the same amount of CO2 as Malta in a year from burning fuel, according to a new report.

In order to download the green Covid pass, Italy's online national health system requires users to key in their national health card code. As such, migrants might be vaccinated, but they are unable to prove it.

The Polish Constitutional Tribunal is holding a hearing on the issue of whether EU law has primacy in the country. It is not clear whether the tribunal will deliver a ruling.

Libya's political disarray and the internationalisation of its civil war are profoundly concerning, not only morally but also for Europe's security and dignity.

MEPs from across the political spectrum suspect Russian gas giant Gazprom manipulates market prices. They have written to the EU Commission asking for an investigation. According to the signatories, Gazprom is pressuring Europe to open the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

France has called a US deal to develop nuclear-powered submarine technology with Australia and the UK, but not any EU countries, unveiled Thursday, a "stab in the back," in the words of French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. The move is to see France lose out on a multibillion-euro submarine-technology deal with Australia. "This is not over. We're going to need clarifications. We have contracts," Le Drian added.

Russians will head to the polls on Friday. Widespread anger over the stagnation economy has been rising in recent years, and the ruling party, United Russia, polls at historic lows. But it is expected to find a way to maintain its hold over the State Duma. Due to the size of the country, the polling takes three days. Voters will be able to cast ballots through to Sunday.

Russians head to the polls on Friday for parliamentary elections in a test of authority for president Vladimir Putin, whose United Russia party is polling at a near-historic low of just 30 percent. There are few legitimate international observers, after the ODIHR, a Warsaw-based European monitoring body, declined to go because authorities refused to give them proper access. But some pro-Russian MEPs, such as France's Thierry Mariani, are going anyway.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will invite British counterpart Boris Johnson to join a security-and-defence cooperation pact with the EU when he visits London on Friday, in a project backed by France and Germany, British newspaper The Times reports. "Afghanistan is a catalyst for further discussion on European defence co-operation, preferably including the UK," a British diplomat said. "We can be a bridge [to the EU]," a Dutch diplomat said.

The Dutch foreign minister, Sigrid Kaag, has resigned after the lower house of parliament passed a motion of censure against the government over its handling of evacuations from Afghanistan amid the Taliban takeover. Hundreds of Dutch citizens, many of Afghan origin, and an unspecified number of Afghans whose work put them in danger, were unable to reach the airport in Kabul.

The German Greens' candidate in upcoming elections, Annalena Baerbock, has been targeted with sexist abuse as well as with more disinformation and conspiracy theories online than her male counterparts from other parties, according to a study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a German think-tank. RT Deutsch, a Russian-state news outlet, for instance, targeted Baerbock, who has promised to mothball a new Russian-German gas pipeline if she gets into government.

The European Commission has launched a new health agency to help prepare for future pandemics. The 'health emergency preparedness and response authority' (Hera), will assess threats, fund research, and build stockpiles of drugs, with a budget of €6bn in 2022 to 2027. The agency "will be our main instrument to coordinate preparedness and, if needed, response ... This is what we are missing today," EU commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas said.

With the drive for lower prices and emergence of more and more 'fast-fashion' brands, durability is inevitably compromised. However, through new regulation, selling durable products shall no longer be a design option - it will be a legal requirement.