Pope Francis says he has felt "used" by people claiming to be his friend since he became pontiff, in a radio interview touching on the personal side of his papacy.
As Russians voted in local elections set to confirm the ruling party's dominance, the opposition reported mass vote rigging and police stormed the office of independent vote monitors.
Tens of thousands of people marched through London in protest against Britain's refugee policy, with new Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attending in his first political engagement only hours after being elected.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the EU to agree to a proportional distribution of refugees with no limits on actual numbers, going much further than plans unveiled by the European Commission.
Prime Minister David Cameron said that veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn's election to the Labour leadership made the main opposition party a threat to Britain's national security.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Europe should stop looking on helplessly as "murder" rages on in Syria, as he called on the bloc to review its strategy on the conflict.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban defended Hungarian police against accusations of maltreating refugees, saying the migrants had "rebelled" against Hungarian law.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia of challenging the "entire democratic world" by annexing Crimea and allegedly arming separatist rebels in the east of his ex-Soviet state.
Catalan leader Artur Mas kicked off campaigning for a regional election billed as an indirect poll on independence from Spain by urging voters to determine their "political future".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought Britain's cooperation to "turn back the tide of militant Islam" as he met Prime Minister David Cameron in London.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk criticised as "anti-Ukrainian and anti-European" a deal between Russia's energy giant Gazprom and several Western firms to build a second gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea.
Chancellor Angela Merkel won a hero's welcome as she visited a Berlin migrant centre, with Syrians cheering and taking selfies as Germany threw open its doors to thousands of refugees.
Around 450,000 refugees have arrived in Germany so far this year, including 37,000 in the first eight days of September, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told parliament.
Catalan separatists hold a massive rally in Barcelona in favour of independence that will kick off campaigning for a regional election billed as a de facto referendum on secession from Spain.
Hundreds of migrants broke through police lines in Hungary near the Serbian border for a third day running, as the army began mobilising for a possible role in guarding the frontier.
Britain celebrated Queen Elizabeth II becoming the country's longest-reigning monarch, a milestone the 89-year-old herself downplayed as "not one to which I have ever aspired."
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned that any attempt to hold "unlawful" elections in rebel-run areas in the country's east would constitute a breach of a February peace deal.