"The stakes couldn't be higher."

That's what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told journalists in Brussels today, as the all-important leaders' summit on a bloc-wide COVID-19 recovery package kicked off. 

If anyone was hoping the temperature may be turned down a notch after yesterday's pre-conference hype, they will be sadly disappointed. 

While some such as Austrian leader Sebastian Kurz are (outwardly at least) positive about the chances of a deal before daybreak on Sunday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is less confident. 

Asked how likely a deal was, he replied "I would say less than 50 percent."

"You never know, we could still come to a compromise. It's still possible," he added, convincing precisely nobody. 

Another big European headline is the announcement from British Airways that it will retire its fleet of 31 Boeing 747 Jumbo Jets, joining the likes of Air France and United in mothballing their iconic double-decker planes. 

Finally, let me again show you towards our podcasts. There isn't any Global Business Daily over the weekend, so why not download a few episodes of Notes on a Pandemic to see you through? You can listen to the latest episode here. 

Happy reading, 
Patrick Atack

Digital business correspondent 

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Today is the day leaders of the European Union member states meet in Brussels (their first face-to-face summit since the pandemic began) to attempt to come to a deal on a pandemic relief package, which could be as large as $850 billion. 

Social media site TikTok says it has taken down at least 29,000 videos that broke its rules on misinformation regarding COVID-19 since the start of the year. The short-video sharing app said 3,000 of these including false medical information. The firm, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, said at least seven million videos have been uploaded in 2020 from European users. 

British Airways has announced it is to retire its Boeing 747 "jumbo jet" fleet with immediate effect. The UK-based airline said the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting downturn brought the decision to ground the 31 747-400 models forward from 2024. It said the move will also help the firm meet its carbon-neutral promise by 2050. 

Both the FBI in San Francisco and the New York state government have launched investigations into the Twitter hack that gave unauthorized access to hundreds of "verified" accounts and swindled other users out of at least $100,000.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the country's controversial pension reform negotiations with unions will be postponed until 2021, to help the economy recover from COVID-19. The push for a simpler pension system is a key policy for President Emmanuel Macron. 

British consumer bank Lloyds has set a target to increase the number of black staff in its senior roles to at least 3 percent by 2025 from just 0.6 percent today. The bank said on Friday it was introducing a "Race Action Plan" after listening to black employees following Black Lives Matter protests. It said it would also set up an advisory board on race issues. 

At least 2,000 easyJet pilots have voted "no confidence" in the company's chief operating officer, Peter Bellew. The BALPA union said Bellew misjudged the pandemic and proposed redundancies at a rate the union said was unjustified. 

The leader of the UK's central bank, the Bank of England, told a webinar: "We are seeing activity return. We are beginning to see this recovery." Andrew Bailey said the housing market and new car sales were performing well, though unsurprisingly the hospitality and entertainment sectors are still lagging, with lockdown restrictions and social-distancing remaining. 

German car maker Volkswagen said its strategy in China will be focused on electric vehicles. Stephan Wöllenstein, VW's China CEO, said nearly all cars sold in China would be EVs and a new range will launch later this year. 

In the U.S., the federal government has lowered the employee requirement for non-profit organizations and charities to access the COVID-19 lending program. Instead of 50, organizations will now have to employ only 10 - opening up funding to many more smaller charities. 

Japan is continuing with its "Go To" tourism campaign, despite the global pandemic. Through the scheme, the Tokyo government will spend millions on subsidies for Japan's regions to attract foreign visitors, even as travel is restricted to the capital due to coronavirus.

Helena Huang, China economist at ICBC Standard in London, spoke to CGTN about yesterday's new Chinese GDP figures.

Are you encouraged by yesterday's China GDP figures? 

In the Q2 figure, it really shows that the recovery is gaining firmer footing. But at the same time, the latest June data also reveal some fragilities that we are seeing through the recovery, particularly on the consumption side.

June GDP figures were quite strong. The retail sales figures were quite disappointing. It really is quite a mixed picture, isn't it? 

If you take a look at the first half of this year, the aggregate retail sales gross in total is still [far] below compared with last year.

All eyes are on China, aren't they, as the first economy to emerge from lockdown? What is going to drive global growth? 

China is still on course to be the first major economy to register a positive annual growth towards the year's end. 

Gradually, step by step, we will see consumers coming back to the market.