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  • 17/07/2024
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00:00The new European Parliament displays immediately its full support for Ukraine, adopting a support
00:05resolution until victory. Far-right groups are divided on the matter.
00:10Ursula von der Leyen loses a COVID-19 vaccines transparency case on the eve of a crucial
00:16vote to confirm her nomination as European Commission president.
00:21The UK Labour Party has set out its plans for Britain at the state opening of Parliament.
00:31Victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash have been remembered during a service
00:36at the crash site in eastern Ukraine ten years on.
00:45The new European Parliament displays immediately its full support for Ukraine.
00:49The first resolution of the first plenary session doubled down the commitment to support
00:53the country politically, economically and militarily for as long as it takes to guarantee
00:58victory against the Russian invasion. The text was approved by a large majority
01:03of 495 MEPs and condemns the recent visit to Moscow by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor
01:09Orbán who holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
01:13I am quite confident. Such a behaviour of Prime Minister Orbán is
01:20a real violation of the treaties. But of course also from a political point of view I think
01:27this is a big mistake of Prime Minister Orbán, showing that he is really not only that he
01:40is not following EU goals and rules but also he is serving like an agent of Mr. Putin.
01:52Meanwhile, support for Ukraine divides far-right groups.
01:58The European Conservatives and Reformists promoted the resolution and voted unanimously
02:02in favour. The Patriots for Europe group and the Europe of Sovereign Nations group, however,
02:07voted against as did the left.
02:11My delegation is for peace in Ukraine. We want the killing to stop. This is our desired
02:18outcome. How to get there? I think one of the elements is dialogue and diplomacy. And
02:24if we stop talking to each other with all the relevant actors, Mr. Orbán not only talked
02:29to Mr. Zelensky but also to Mr. Putin, Mr. Xi, Xi Jinping and in the United States to
02:34Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump. So I think you need to enter into dialogue to look for ways to
02:41get to this desired outcome of the killing that should be stopped and the peace to re-enter
02:45in this country.
02:47So far, the European Union and its member states have provided Ukraine with total sum
02:51of around 95 billion euros of which a third is in military aid.
02:57The European Commission has not given the public sufficient access to its contracts
03:05to purchase vaccines against COVID-19, according to the EU Court of Justice. The missing information
03:12concerns in particular declarations of absence of conflict of interest and compensation.
03:19Coincidentally, the long-awaited verdict was delivered the day before the vote in the European
03:24Parliament in Strasbourg to elect the presidency of the Commission.
03:30A crucial vote for Ursula von der Leyen, who is running for a second mandate.
03:35The Commission has responded that it grants in general wide access to documents under transparency rules.
03:42According to the court, the Commission should have provided more justifications for its refusal
03:49to grant access to certain provisions in the contract. So it's very much an issue of justification,
03:55I would say, rather than one of substance.
04:01According to the court, the purchase of vaccines on behalf of the 27 member states allowed the
04:05bloc to quickly disperse 2.7 billion euros to place an order for more than 1 billion
04:10doses of vaccines.
04:13The court has been criticized by MEPs and individuals. They lamented that the Commission
04:18only provided them with partial access to certain contracts.
04:24The NGO Transparency International, which fights corruption worldwide, did applaud the verdict in principle.
04:31In general, it's very good news for transparency and ethics at the European level.
04:36It's a shame that we have to wait for the court's decision and that the Commission
04:43hasn't ensured transparency and given access in advance.
04:47We hope that the court's decision will encourage the Commission to be more transparent and proactive in the future.
04:56Another case about SMS exchanges between Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer over COVID-19
05:02vaccine orders is still ongoing.
05:05The Labour Party has set out its plans for national renewal at the State Opening of Parliament in the UK.
05:13In a speech delivered by King Charles III, newly installed Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed his government
05:20will ease the cost of living crisis and bring change to Britain at modest cost to taxpayers.
05:27My government will govern in service to the country.
05:30My government will govern in service to the country.
05:34My government's legislative programme will be mission-led and based upon the principles of security, fairness and opportunity for all.
05:45Stability will be the cornerstone of my government's economic policy.
05:50And every decision will be consistent with its fiscal rules.
05:55The King's speech included 40 bills ranging from house building to nationalising Britain's railways
06:01and decarbonising the nation's power supply.
06:12The Austrian government has announced a tough new set of rules for asylum seekers
06:17which will require them to work whilst in the country.
06:21The new measures mean that refugees will be obliged to do charitable work for the federal, state and local governments
06:27or at companies with at least five community service workers, in the nursing service or in homeless shelters.
06:36The country's Interior Minister Gerhard Kahne announced the new measures
06:40that came into effect for asylum seekers in Austria from Tuesday 16th July.
06:50Anyone who does this work will be shortchanged from €40 to €20 in the first instance.
06:57This is one of the clear consequences and part of this regulation.
07:01The new measures are intended to strengthen the integration of refugees.
07:12Victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash have been remembered
07:17during a service at the crash site in eastern Ukraine 10 years on.
07:22The Boeing 777 was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17th 2014
07:29when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine during the conflict between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces.
07:37It killed all 298 people on board.
07:42In the village of Hrabow, residents laid flowers and toys at the memorial service, honouring the victims.
07:49Some of them could not hold back their tears, remembering the day of the tragedy.
08:12An investigation led by the Dutch Safety Board concluded that a Russian-made missile brought the plane down.
08:20Investigators said it came from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade,
08:25a unit of the Russian Armed Forces based in the city of Kursk.
08:29But Moscow denies any responsibility.
08:33It's wildfire season in Albania, with flames engulfing the Geocastra district in the country's south.
08:40Emergency services are on high alert and the country has asked for European support.
08:46For the past two years, Albania has been receiving help from other countries
08:51as part of the EU's civil protection mechanism.
08:55A state supreme audit found that Albania's fire engines are old and badly maintained.
09:00The defence ministry is in possession of four helicopters,
09:03and the military has ordered a number of people to be evacuated to the area.
09:08The army is also being called to the area to respond to the situation.
09:12The military is also being called to the area to respond to the situation.
09:15The army is also being called to the area to respond to the situation.
09:18found that Albania's fire engines are old and badly maintained.
09:22The defence ministry is in possession of four helicopters to use in emergencies, but only
09:26one of them is active, according to the report, with others rejected from failing safety tests.
09:32However, firefighters are becoming more innovative with technology to cope with the blazes.
09:37Albania is prone to summer blazes because of high temperatures and its landscape.
10:02Each year, the wildfires burn an average of 10,000 hectares of land.
10:10The mayor of Paris has been swimming in the Seine in an attempt to prove the river is
10:15clean enough to host open swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics.
10:21She was joined by Paris 2024 Olympic chief Tony Estanguet and the top government official
10:28for the Paris region, Marc Guillaume.
10:58Anne Hidalgo made a promise to bathe in the river months ago, amid concerns about unsafe
11:11levels of E. coli bacteria in the water.
11:17Her swim follows that of French sports minister Amélie Oudea Castera, who took a dip in the
11:23Seine last weekend wearing a full bodysuit.
11:28Swimming in the Seine has been banned for 101 years, but will be reintroduced to the
11:33general public in Paris from 2025.

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