Latest news bulletin | July 21st – Morning
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00:00 Several Ukrainian cities are reeling after a wave of Russian shelling.
00:04 Nikolayev and Odessa have been under constant bombardment since Tuesday.
00:11 Spain's electoral commission has extended the deadline for postal voters to mail their
00:15 ballots until 2 p.m. on Friday.
00:20 The United Nations human rights chief says refugees, women and the LGBTQI community are
00:26 the most affected by populist rhetoric.
00:30 Danes dominate at the Tour de France with Kaspar Askeren winning the 18th stage and
00:34 Jonas Vinnarhal protecting his huge overall lead ahead of Sunday's finale.
00:43 Growing disdain in Ukraine for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nikolayev in the south of
00:48 the country has been reduced to mounds of rubble.
00:52 Residents here have been bombarded by the Kremlin's forces since Tuesday.
00:55 Dozens of homes have been completely destroyed and rescue workers are doing what they can
01:00 to salvage what's left.
01:21 Meanwhile 100 kilometers southwest, the port of Odessa has come under fire for three consecutive
01:27 nights.
01:28 At least one person died on Wednesday.
01:30 Beijing, who claims it's neutral in the conflict, confirmed that a Chinese consulate building
01:35 currently under construction was damaged in the attack.
01:38 Russian state TV says drones have also dropped on cities controlled by invading forces.
01:43 This apparent Ukrainian attack supposedly targeted an administrative building in the
01:47 Crimean city of Rozdolnoye and reportedly left one person dead.
01:55 A new twist in the run up to Spain's general election on the 23rd of July.
02:00 The country's electoral commission has extended the deadline for postal voters to mail their
02:05 ballots.
02:06 Post offices were to remain open until 10pm Thursday night to give the remaining 230,000
02:12 postal voters time to exercise their right.
02:14 But the deadline has been moved to 2pm Friday.
02:18 A record 2.6 million people had registered to vote by post.
02:23 But unions say that "Spaniards tend to leave things to the last minute."
02:31 He was nicknamed El Guapo, the handsome one, when he began to climb the ranks within the
02:35 PSOE party in the early 2000s in Madrid.
02:39 Tall, athletic and determined, Pedro Sanchez was an economist who spoke multiple languages
02:44 and reached the position of party secretary general in 2014.
02:48 However he had many faces, and not all of them were pleasing to his socialist colleagues,
02:53 who ousted him two years later after a poor electoral result.
02:57 Sanchez displayed resilience and returned to the PSOE summit in May 2017.
03:03 As leader of the opposition, he witnessed the failure of Catalonia's bid for independence.
03:07 "As we hold hands to dialogue, we will also support the response of the social state
03:14 to any attempt to break the unilateral coexistence between Spaniards."
03:20 While this gave the ultra-right a boost, it also conditioned its political failure.
03:25 Months later, he brought down his predecessor's government through a vote of no confidence,
03:30 the only successful one of its kind in Spanish democratic history.
03:34 On the 2nd of June 2018, he became the head of a minority government.
03:39 His first visit as Premier was to France.
03:42 The new Prime Minister was well-liked in Europe, an idol that he was careful to nurture.
03:47 But internally, Sanchez had difficulties.
03:50 Failing to pass budgets, he called for new elections in April and November 2019, resulting
03:55 in an alliance with the leftists UDEOS Podemos and forming Spain's first coalition government.
04:01 While the coalition had a distinctly progressive and feminist agenda, it soon had to dedicate
04:05 its greatest efforts to more pressing matters.
04:08 The Covid-19 pandemic completely derailed the programme for government, but the cabinet
04:13 managed to get substantial financial aid from Brussels.
04:16 "Today I have just communicated to the head of state the celebration tomorrow of an extraordinary
04:25 council of ministers to decree the state of alarm in our entire country, in all of Spain."
04:33 Two years later, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, his government implemented
04:37 ambitious labour and pension reforms and raised the minimum wage.
04:42 Sanchez was often forced to make pacts with nationalists and pro-independence parties,
04:47 which brought him fierce criticism from the right wing.
04:49 The opposition did not applaud his reform on the crime of sedition, which had landed
04:53 many Catalan separatists in prison with the lesser crime in the penal code.
04:58 They also rejected the controversial U-turn on the Western Sahara conflict.
05:03 Although the conservative opposition made significant gains in the local and regional
05:07 elections in May, Sanchez assumed the defeat of the party and decided to gamble everything
05:12 on the 23rd of July.
05:14 He now has everything against him, as he's had many times before in his political career.
05:23 A heated campaign debate against Pedro Sanchez elevated the opposition leader's political
05:28 standing in the eyes of many Spaniards.
05:31 Alberto Núñez Fejo emerged victorious against the seasoned head of government, projecting
05:36 a presidential image that ultimately persuaded numerous undecided individuals seeking a change
05:41 in direction.
05:43 Despite leading the popular party for over a year, Fejo has a low profile.
05:48 He spent much of his political career in Galicia, heading the regional government for 13 years.
05:54 Renewing his mandate with majorities, he prevented the local rise of the extreme right.
05:59 Amidst internal conflicts within the party at national level, Fejo garnered significant
06:03 attention, projecting a strong image.
06:07 Born into a modest family, he was a "responsible and obedient young man" who pursued a law
06:12 degree during the early years of democracy.
06:15 Although he aspired to become a magistrate, he chose to become a civil servant to support
06:19 his family when his father lost his job.
06:22 In 1995, a photograph was taken of him that he would regret years later.
06:27 Fejo was in the Galician government, posing on a yacht with a narco dealer, but the politician
06:33 assures he didn't know and that they were not even friends.
06:37 First published in 2013, the photo reappeared in the press in the final stretch of this
06:41 electoral campaign.
06:42 In 2006, he assumed the leadership of the popular party in Galicia.
06:48 Three years later, he met his current partner, a Galician businesswoman with whom he has
06:52 a son, and firmly took the reins of the regional government.
06:55 For years, Fejo rejected the allure emanating from Madrid.
06:59 His sole ambition was apparently Galicia.
07:01 However, when the party faced internal conflicts, he could not decline the call to help.
07:06 Fejo represented unity, efficiency and predictability.
07:11 His positions on internal politics remained somewhat undefined.
07:15 His primary discourse centers around abolishing "el Sanchezmo", which he defined as the art
07:20 of agreeing to do whatever, with whomever and at whatever price in order to remain in
07:24 power for as long as possible.
07:28 This promise could be a poor but straightforward appeal for the Spaniards who desire a change
07:32 in direction.
07:35 Following the last debate, the only one between them in the campaign, the polls indicated
07:39 a shift of votes from the extreme right towards the popular party, as well as from socialist
07:44 ranks.
07:46 Similar to his approach in Galicia, Fejo called for a majority that enables him to govern
07:51 without constraints or surprises.
07:53 In a rare sign of public opposition to Taliban orders, dozens of Afghan women have held a
08:04 protest against a nationwide beauty salon ban.
08:09 Beauticians and makeup artists along with their clients gathered in the capital, Kabul.
08:14 The women defied security forces who used fire hoses and tasers to break up the protest.
08:20 The Taliban move has drawn international concern about the impact on female entrepreneurs.
08:27 They say the salons are forbidden by Islam.
08:35 The United Nations Human Rights Chief says he is worried about an increasing rise in
08:39 populism and anti-freedom or rights movements in the world, including in Europe.
08:45 In an interview with Euronews in Brussels, Volker Turk said that the main victims of
08:49 this concerning trend are refugees, women and the LGBTQI community.
08:55 We need to fight against bigotry and populism because all of it is ultimately about who
09:02 we are, embracing human diversity and the richness of who we are, accepting who we are.
09:09 No matter who we love and how we want to engage in our lives, I think we need to respect this.
09:16 This was the biggest promise from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and we need to
09:21 educate all those who want to push us back into an era that is long gone by.
09:27 I would like to ask you if you think that the United Kingdom migration bill that has
09:32 just been passed, somehow to avoid that asylum seekers present their demands in the UK territory,
09:41 is a blunted disregard of humanitarian law?
09:44 Well, it's clear that the UK illegal migration bill is in violation of both international
09:50 refugee law as well as international human rights law.
09:54 Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights talks about the right to seek
10:00 and to enjoy asylum from persecution.
10:04 So you have a right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution.
10:07 But if that law bars that right, it is a tragedy.
10:12 What do you think of the recent agreement between the European Union and a country such
10:16 as Tunisia, which of course also was mentioned by United Nations agencies as a country where
10:25 human rights violations occur?
10:27 We need to understand why people are moving.
10:29 They are moving because of human rights violations in their own countries.
10:33 Sometimes they end up in horrible situations, in Libya for example, or in Tunisia, where
10:39 they are pushed back or where it's very difficult for them to survive.
10:44 I mean, Libya has these horrific detention centers for migrants and asylum seekers.
10:49 So the big thing and the big ask is, can we not find alternatives to these horribly dangerous
10:56 routes that migrants and asylum seekers often have to take?
11:00 Mr High Commissioner, thank you very much for being with us.
11:03 Thank you very much.
11:07 First Kasper Asgreen has much to celebrate after winning the 18th stage of the Tour de
11:11 France.
11:12 The Danish rider was part of an early breakaway and later stepped it up a gear, leaving Pascal
11:16 Achelhorn to settle for second place, while Jonas Abrahamsson completed the podium.
11:21 Meanwhile, Jonas Vinaard has protected his huge overall lead with some jaw-dropping fast
11:27 riding to crush Slovenia's Taj Pogacar in the Alps.
11:31 Thursday's stage offered respite to the main contenders on a flat 185-kilometer route from
11:36 Montaigne to Bourg-en-Bresse.
11:38 The defending champion leads two-time Tour winner Pogacar by seven minutes and 35 seconds,
11:44 with the UK's Adam Yates sitting third.
11:46 [WHOOSH]