If you are young and looking for a budget-friendly way to explore Europe, there’s good news.

The EU is giving away 35,500 free rail passes to 18-year-olds under the DiscoverEU scheme.

The initiative is part of the Erasmus programme and aims to foster cultural connections in the EU.

Those eligible will have the opportunity to explore Europe’s heritage and history while meeting people from across the continent.

All you need to do is answer six questions.

DiscoverEU: How to apply for a free EU rail pass

To be in with a chance of winning a free rail pass, applicants must be born between 1 January and 31 December 2006.

The scheme is open to legal residents of the 27 EU member states or Overseas Countries. Residents of third countries associated with Erasmus can also apply. These include Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Türkiye.

If that’s you, the next stage is to head to the European Youth Portal to take an eligibility quiz.

You will have to answer five multiple-choice questions about the EU and one additional question. These cover general knowledge about the EU and its initiatives aimed at young people.

You will also be asked to give more information about your travel plans. This includes when you plan to travel, whether it will be the first time you have travelled alone without your parents, what you would like to learn from the experience and how you will finance your trip.

This information will not have any impact on the selection process.

The Commission will rank applicants based on their EU quiz responses and will offer travel passes following their ranking up to the limit of available tickets.

Applications are already open and end on 16 October at midday CET.

You cannot apply if you have previously been given a DiscoverEU pass.

How will the free rail pass scheme work?

Those who prove successful will get a free rail pass to travel in Europe for up to 30 days between 1 March 2025 and 31 May 2026.

At the application stage, you can choose to either travel alone or with a group of up to five friends. If you choose to travel as a group, you can share your application code with your friends to allow their registration.

Only the group leader has to answer the EU quiz questions; group members just need to supply personal data to complete the application and fulfil the age and residency criteria.

The travel pass can be used in your residency country only for one outbound and one inbound journey. It must include travel to at least one other country eligible under the scheme.

The overall journey can last from one day up to a maximum of one month, including up to seven travel days.

Participants will generally be eligible for a pass worth up to €283.26 in second or economy class. The amount may be raised for applicants travelling from remote or overseas regions.

In some cases, coach and ferry passes will be included too. To ensure young people living in remote areas or on islands are not excluded, flights may also be awarded in exceptional cases. Preference will always be given to the most sustainable option.

If you’re one of the lucky awardees, you will also be given a European Youth Card (EYCA) valid for one year. This grants discounts for cultural visits and activities, learning, nature, sports, local transportation, accommodation, food and more across the EU.

How will applicants for the free rail pass be selected?

Applicants will be selected up to the available budget and ranked following the correctness of their replies.

There is a quota of travel passes set for each country. If a country has fewer applications than the quota, the remaining passes will be distributed to countries with a higher number of applications.

If there are too many eligible applicants, a ‘first come, first served’ principle will apply – meaning earlier applications could be favoured as a last resort.

Special support is available for participants with disabilities or health conditions.

Successful applicants will be notified by email after the selection period has ended in October.

They will then be connected with an EU contractor who will take care of the travel bookings and payments.

Passes purchased directly by the selected applicants will not be reimbursed.

Is anything expected in return for the free rail passes?

When you apply for a free pass, you are invited to become a ‘DiscoverEU Ambassador’. This means you are encouraged to report back on your travel experiences through social media or school and community presentations.

The scheme’s app will allow you to create a customised map of your itinerary with statistics on the number of trains taken, number of countries visited and CO2 savings, which can be shared on social media.

Young travellers will also need to report back in an online survey after taking part in the scheme.

On its completion, travellers will receive a certificate of participation highlighting competencies and skills gained from their travel experience.

Flights over the Middle East had to abandon their journeys yesterday after Iran launched a missile attack against Israel.

The airspace above Iran, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and other countries in the region was closed, causing airlines to change their flight paths to keep passengers and crew safe.

European leaders have condemned Iran’s attack and tensions are high as the world waits to see how Israel will respond.

Which airlines diverted flights to avoid Middle East airspace?

In total, 81 flights were diverted by 16 airlines on Tuesday.

As you would expect Middle Eastern airlines diverted the most flights, with Qatar Airways and Emirates leading the pack. Istanbul airport was the worst affected airport, with 19 flights diverted.

According to FlightRadar24, at least three flights operated by German carrier Lufthansa on the way India and Dubai turned around before reaching Iranian airspace. Their journeys back to Europe extended flight times by up to eight hours.

Another flight operated by Swiss from Zurich to Dubai diverted to Antalya, Turkey, shortly before it would have crossed into Iran, FlightRadar24 shows.

The flight-tracking website also showed several Emirates flights bound for Dubai were impacted. The airline told AirlineGeeks that it was diverting some flights and cancelling others.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and are making all efforts to ensure minimal disruption to customers while assisting those impacted,” a spokesperson said.

A British Airways flight from London to Dubai, a Royal Jordanian Airlines flight from Paris to Amman, and an Israeli airline El Al flight from Rhodes, Greece, to Tel Aviv were all diverted to Larnaca, Cyprus, FlightRadar data shows.

British Airways told Business Insider, “Safety and security are always our highest priorities, and we continuously assess and adjust our operations accordingly.”

Where in the Middle East is airspace currently closed?

Throughout the day, some restrictions were lifted, FlightRadar24 said.

Jordan and Iraq reopened to flights late on Tuesday local time, though few were passing through the region.

Iran’s has extended the closure of their airspace in anticipation of Israeli’s retaliation for their attack. Follow Euronews’ live coverage of unfolding events here.

How are travellers affected by Middle East airspace closures?

Many European and Asian airlines fly over the Middle East on their way between a number of popular destinations and have expressed concerns that the necessary rerouting will prolong flight times and add to fuel costs.

Airspaces throughout the region are often plagued by risks and complexities due to ongoing conflicts.

Iran’s airspace is one of the most frequently used by airlines travelling between Europe and India or Southeast Asia.

At the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza in 7 October 2023, airlines were forced to cancel or change the routes of flights through and around Tel Aviv. That situation has been monitored closely since.

Ongoing airspace closures could see airlines add hours of flight time to circumvent Iran and Israel to reach places in Europe, the Middle East, India, and beyond – similar to what happened after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Airlines like Japan Airlines, British Airways, and Finnair added up to four hours of flight time to avoid the Kremlin’s airspace on flights between Asia and Europe amid Russian airspace closures and sanctions.

Although it is impossible to find out what route your flight will take ahead of time, you can monitor the flight paths of the same flight on previous days. This may give you some clues as to whether your flight is likely to be diverted or take longer than usual.

As always, check the status of your flight via your airline’s website or app before heading to the airport.

Train commuters in Italy are facing a nightmare day after Rome’s two largest train stations came to a standstill.

No trains were able to depart from Rome’s Termini and Tiburtina stations, the two biggest railway hubs of the Italian capital, causing huge delays and cancellations across much of the country’s network.

The chaos began at around 6.30am local time when an unspecified “failure” hit the section between the two stations.

To make matters worse, departure boards at the stations went completely black, leaving hundreds of passengers clueless and raising fears of a cyberattack.

“Simply put, you don’t know from which platform your train is leaving,” one traveller posted on X. “But you can always board a random one, you might be lucky.”

Another said he had been stuck on a platform for an hour and a half.

“The staff doesn’t know anymore what to tell us,” he wrote. “They’ve cancelled dozens of trains. It will take hours, if not days to go back to normal. It’s a collapse!”

National operator Trenitalia said train traffic remains “heavily disrupted” and is advising travellers to reschedule their trips.

At least 22 high-speed and intercity routes have been shut down, and 14 have been partially cancelled. The disruption is affecting major corridors including Naples-Milan, Rome-Naples, Rome-Milan, Milan-Salerno, Florence-Rome and Rome-Turin.

Other trains are facing delays of between 60 and 180 minutes.

Trenitalia has published the list of cancelled or partially cancelled trains here.

Since June, Rome has already been hit with at least five days of severe travel chaos.

Although the incidents are unrelated, it is the second consecutive day of disruption for travellers in Italy. On Tuesday, all flights in and out of Milan Bergamo airport were cancelled after a Ryanair plane got stuck on a runway after a tyre exploded upon landing.