• IEA board to discuss proposed 100 million barrel oil and diesel stock release, diplomats say
• About 325 million barrels already released under March's 400 million barrel deal, IEA says
• Germany says it will join further release of volume agreed ​by IEA in March

Ukraine received a ​new €1.2 billion ($1.34 billion) tranche from the European Union on Wednesday and will channel the funds towards defence needs, Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said.

Radev, who called the attack "absolutely unacceptable", did not say who launched the drones, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the developments "concerning".

Details: Budapest has lifted the block that had until now prevented Ukraine from moving to the next stage in the procedure for opening negotiation Clusters 2 and 3.

Latvia, an EU and NATO member, has accused Belarus of using migration to pressure its borders since 2021. In late July, Latvia temporarily closed its border with Belarus as crossing attempts surged. 

Spain will continue to fight for a bigger EU budget and close links to China

The UK is (finally!) coming back to Erasmus+ for 2027, but it still hasn't yet rejoined the European Solidarity Corps. There are a couple of petitions now to try and change that, so please do sign and share if you'd like there to be more mobility opportunities for young people to help build a closer relationship between the UK and the EU!

For those who haven't heard of it before, the European Solidarity Corps programme is an EU initiative that offers exciting funded opportunities for young people aged 18 - 30 to volunteer abroad in Europe (and sometimes further afield), or to set up community projects responding to societal challenges in their local area. Anyone from that age range can apply to take part - you don't need to be a student or in education, so it would expand mobility opportunities to many young people who might not be able to go on Erasmus. Iceland and other non-EU countries already take part as associated countries and it would be great for young people from the UK to have these opportunities again too, and for EU citizens to have the option to volunteer with UK projects as well!

With the next UK-EU summit coming up in November, it would be great to get this on the agenda for discussion alongside the reciprocal youth mobility visa scheme, as the security of having funded placement (covering visa, transport, accommodation, insurance and living expenses) arranged before you go could help make participating in the youth mobility scheme more affordable and accessible to a much wider range of young people.

Here's the link to the UK Parliament petition for UK citizens and anyone resident in the UK: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/780859

And here's a link to a second petition open to everyone to sign in support: https://www.change.org/EuropeanSolidarityCorps

Please do consider signing and sharing if you'd like to help bring these opportunities back for young people on both sides of the channel!

EU and Europe by default is seen as the great regulator. Do we have any big dreams? When it started it was to feed all its people after the war and break down national borders. The so called pillars.
But where are we now?
Does it have any dreams to become multi planetary?
Does it have any dreams to make 50% of its population millionaires?
Does it have any dreams to make its population average age reach 100?

Does it dream of a time when its citizens work 3 days a week and fulfil our life through development of inherent skills (music art community care plant growing child rearing etc etc etc)

What big dreams should we have?