As China's growth seems to be slowing, some observers see the country amid what the New York Times called a "severe downturn". As they mistake China's secular deceleration with cyclical fluctuations, they miss the rapid increase in Chinese living standards.

Ahead of a crucial year in the EU, with Brexit and European elections in the next few months, Germany's leader argued for protecting the multilateral world order, as the French president urged calm.

Romania holds the EU presidency for the next six months - with a possible clash brewing with the European Commission over corruption and the erosion of the rule of law.

The EU needs to get its act together as US leader Donald Trump continues to wreck the global order.

Romania's press freedom is "in free fall" as it takes over its EU presidency, Reporters Without Borders has warned, amid wider EU concern on judicial meddling and corruption.

France's ambassador to Poland has said he was "shocked" by the Polish foreign minister's remarks that France had become the "sick man of Europe".