Euractiv.com

Russian ex-president Dmitry Medvedev issued a veiled threat on Friday (12 August) to Ukraine's Western allies, who have accused Russia of creating the risk of a nuclear catastrophe by stationing forces around the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia power station.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has begun preliminary technical discussions with Elon Musk's SpaceX that could lead to the temporary use of its launchers after the Ukraine conflict blocked Western access to Russia's Soyuz rockets.

A European bank has agreed to process a payment for the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine, two sources familiar with the matter said, removing the cause of a stoppage of oil supplies to central Europe last week.

A European Union proposal to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal “can be acceptable if it provides assurances" on Tehran's key demands, the state news agency IRNA said on Friday (12 August), quoting a senior Iranian diplomat.

Kazakhstan is expected to sell some of its crude oil through Azerbaijan's biggest oil pipeline from September, as the nation seeks alternatives to a route Russia threatened to shut, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Two more ships left Ukraine's Black Sea ports on Friday (12 August), including one laden with the first Ukrainian wheat to be exported under an UN-brokered deal, Turkey's defence ministry said.

An unidentified highly toxic substance in the Oder river, which runs through Poland and Germany, appears to be the cause of a mass die-off of fish, the German state of Brandenburg's environment ministry said on Friday (12 August).

While the EU plays an expanding but still limited role in disaster response, climate change effects in the long-term could force the bloc to rethink the management of its capacities, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič told EURACTIV.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised a new package of measures on Thursday (11 August), including tax relief, to help people struggling with rising prices and higher energy bills.

Germany's Uniper is prepared to swap liquefied natural gas (LNG) it gets from Australia's Woodside for US gas, so it can boost supplies in Europe more quickly during the coming winter, it said.

Sweden's government has decided to extradite a man to Turkey wanted for fraud, it said on 11 August, the first case since Turkey demanded a number of people extradited in return for allowing Stockholm to formally apply for NATO membership.

US federal agents were looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons when they raided former President Donald Trump's home in Florida this week, the Washington Post reported on Thursday (11 August).

Ryanair, famed for its no-frills approach to flying, will not be offering rock-bottom fares for several years in the wake of soaring fuel costs, chief executive Michael O'Leary said Thursday (11 August).

Several people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday (11 August) after police opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in several towns in the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland, opposition party members and witnesses said.

Firefighting teams and equipment from six EU nations started to arrive in France on Thursday (11 August) to help battle a spate of wildfires, including a fierce blaze in the parched southwest that has forced thousands to evacuate.

A Russian national who burned his passport in Bulgaria in protest against the war in Ukraine is likely to be extradited to his country of origin after a decision of a Bulgarian court.

Russia and Ukraine accused each other of shelling Europe's biggest nuclear power plant as the UN chief proposed a demilitarised zone at the site amid fears of a catastrophe.

Latvia and Estonia withdrew from a cooperation group between China and over a dozen Central and Eastern European countries on Thursday (11 August), following in the footsteps of Baltic neighbour Lithuania which withdrew last year.

Italy's right-wing parties, heading for victory in September elections, released a plan for government Thursday. (11 August), promising low taxes, "defence of the homeland", EU reform and support for NATO and Ukraine.

Latvia's parliament on Thursday (11 August) designated Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism" over the war in Ukraine and called on Western allies to impose more comprehensive sanctions on Moscow in order to bring an end to the conflict.