A heatwave is scorching southeast Europe, intensifying wildfires and sending residents flocking to the coast, public fountains and air-conditioned locations to find some relief.

Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, will travel to Lithuania on Sunday, 1 August, to meet with senior government officials to discuss the situation at the external border with Belarus. They will also talk about any additional European support needed for border and migration management or diplomatic outreach, in line with the principles of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, EC announced.

The European Commission provides financial support to six Member States through the Mobility Package of the Emergency Support Instrument amounting to over €14 million, for the transport of Covid-19 vaccination-related equipment and Covid-19 therapeutics. This comes on top of the €150 million already made available for the transport of essential medical items since last year, EC announced.

The Czech government on Friday approved a programme of help for Afghans who worked with Czech troops during their deployment in NATO missions, AP reported. Defence Minister Lubomir Metnar said the help meant for Afghan interpreters and their families includes their relocation, an offer of asylum and financial aid.

The gross domestic product of the 19 nations sharing the euro posted a robust growth in the second quarter of this year driven by rapid economic recovery in Italy and Spain which grew by 2.7% and 2.8%, outpacing the bloc's average 2.0% quarter on quarter. On annual basis the growth was 13.7 percent, Reuters reported, quoting official figures of Eurostat.

The phone of France's finance minister Bruno Le Maire is currently being investigated to determine whether it has been infected by a spyware known as Pegasus, Reuters reported. "We are in an investigation phase, and that includes my own device," Bruno Le Maire told France Inter radio on Friday. He refused to elaborate on the investigation.

At the Global Education Summit, held in London on Thursday, the European Union and its Member States, as Team Europe, pledged €1.7bn to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to help transform education systems for more than one billion girls and boys in up to 90 countries and territories. This represents the biggest contribution to the GPE. The EU had already announced its €700 million pledge for 2021-2027 in June.

The largest EU economy posted a growth in the second quarter of this year but still missed the target set by analysts' forecasts. The supply chains bottlenecks are the main factor behind the slower rebound from the recession caused by pandemic, Reuters reported. The German economy accelerated by 1.5% quarter on quarter. That result comes after a revised contraction of 2.1% in the first quarter, and by 9.2% on annual basis, the Federal Statistics Office said.

Italy’s cabinet of PM Mario Draghi has reached an agreement on a compromise in relation to a reform of Italy's criminal-justice system, sources said on Thursday, ANSA reported. The compromise has the backing of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), the sources said. The reform, drafted by Justice Minister Marta Cartabia, is aimed at speeding up Italy's criminal-law system.

Greece's south Aegean islands were marked dark red on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control's Covid-19 map on Thursday after a rise in infections, meaning all but essential travel to and from the region is discouraged, Reuters reported. The cluster of 13 islands includes Greece's most popular destinations for foreign tourists - Mykonos, Santorini and Rhodes - which, combined, draw millions of people every summer.