The Economist.

Hello, you're listening to the free edition of the world in brief from The

Economist. As a reminder, if you subscribe to the economist, you'll get access to a deeper look at the day ahead, updated three times a day.

If you're already an economist subscriber, visit Economist.com slash Espresso,

or visit our Espresso app to start listening.

Here's today's free edition. This is the world in brief from The Economist.

Our top stories.

In a keenly awaited report, Mario Draghi,

former head of the European Central Bank, proposed a set of policies to make the European Union more competitive.

He called for common borrowing in the EU, a joint plan for decarbonisation and more aggressive trade policies to reduce the

bloc's dependence on America and China.

The report also proposes measures to boost the tech sector, such as making it easier for researchers

to commercialise ideas.

Mr Draggy outlined his plan in a guest essay for the economist.

Germany will extend temporary controls to all of its land borders in an effort to

crack down on illegal migration. The restrictions will be in effect for six months

starting next week. The country is a member of the visa-free Schengen area, yet has imposed restrictions on its border with Austria since 2015 and

with Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland since last year. The EU said that it had credible information that Iran has

supplied Russia with ballistic missiles to use against targets in Ukraine.

The blog said that if the deliveries were

confirmed it would impose more sanctions on Iran. Iran has already sent drones

ammunition and artillery shells to Russia, which has recently stepped up its attacks on

...