Latest news bulletin | February 18th – Midday - video Dailymotion

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00:00Europe's leaders remain divided on the prospect of sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine

00:06in the event of a peace deal with Russia.

00:22Thousands of visitors climbed Sicily's Mount Etna to witness the volcano's latest eruption

00:27up close.

00:44Some of them met for emergency talks in Paris after seemingly being excluded from the negotiations

00:49between the US, Russia and Ukraine.

00:53UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he's ready to consider sending British troops.

01:22German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it is premature to consider the idea without Keefe's

01:27involvement.

01:53Other leaders, including Dutch Prime Minister Dix Hof, have not excluded the idea but not

02:00committed either.

02:02Shortly before the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with US President Donald

02:07Trump but Macron's office would not disclose the details about the discussion.

02:37Ukraine is considering any negotiations about Ukraine or without Ukraine that have no result

02:48and we can't disclose any things or any agreements about our non-provocative war.

02:58Ukraine is considering any negotiations about Ukraine or without Ukraine that have no

03:05result and we can't disclose any things or any agreements about our non-provocative war.

03:17Ukraine is considering any negotiations about Ukraine or without Ukraine that have no result

03:24and we can't disclose any things or any agreements about our non-provocative war.

03:37Also, in Ukraine, in this closest time, thank you, thank you, Vice President, for meeting,

03:43thank you, colleagues, thank you so much.

03:44Great.

03:54Will Europe have a say in the Ukraine peace process?

03:58As US President Donald Trump seems to be going it alone in negotiations with his Russian

04:03counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Europe is trying to make itself heard.

04:09Well, Trump has shown that he's not very willing to share the negotiations with anyone.

04:15He is rather willing to give things away to Putin.

04:19I think Europe just has to act on its own now.

04:22We have to be clear that our commitment is not going to change and we really have to deliver now.

04:30We have to make sure there's the money, there's the support, there's the military, which is now needed.

04:37US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Ukraine should give up the territories occupied by Moscow

04:44and abandon its ambitions to join NATO.

04:48Europe has repeatedly said that no decision should be made about Ukraine without Ukraine.

04:55The US has asked European capitals to clarify what security guarantees they can provide for Ukraine.

05:03Well, Europe has to do much more now.

05:07Because the US is not willing to underpin any kind of ceasefire,

05:14Trump, unfortunately, is giving away a lot to Putin.

05:19That means Europe has to give the support to Ukraine, it has to give the security guarantees,

05:25it has to put the troops there to make sure that Putin does not cross that line.

05:31An unstable ceasefire would not guarantee lasting peace in Ukraine or Europe.

05:36Therefore, Europe must map out the architecture of its future security,

05:40says European Council President Antonio Costa.

05:44We have to have a ceasefire which, yes, does stop the military action for the moment,

05:53but also has the guarantees to make sure that it can last,

05:57to make sure that we are not back in this situation in a few years' time,

06:03or even worse, with an invasion of the Baltic states, of Finland, of the rest of Europe.

06:12European leaders met in Paris on Monday to thrash out which defence strategy to adopt.

06:18Homeless people in Belgium are being forced to draw lots for spaces in night shelters,

06:29amid a critical shortage of available beds.

06:32At a refuge in Verviers, additional beds have been provided under the city's extreme cold plan,

06:39but they remain insufficient to accommodate the growing number of homeless on the streets.

06:45When I see people struggling to find a place, there is not enough space.

06:51Seven places, seven places, and we are at least 15 a day.

06:56In December, 45 people were turned away from the shelter,

07:00and in January, the figure rose to more than 60.

07:04We have to close the door and tell someone,

07:06it's minus three, but here's a sleeping bag, you can go outside.

07:09It's just unbearable.

07:11The homelessness crisis in the Belgian capital Brussels is well documented,

07:16but national statistics often overlook rough sleepers in smaller towns.

07:21According to the King Baudouin Foundation,

07:24roughly one in six people who sleep on the streets reside in municipalities with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants.

07:34Four candidates are bidding to be Germany's next leader in Sunday's election.

07:38The would-be chancellors are the incumbent, the opposition leader, the current vice-chancellor,

07:43and for the first time, a leader of a far-right party.

07:46Germany's 69-year-old opposition leader Friedrich Merz has been the front-runner in the election campaign

07:52with his centre-right union bloc leading polls.

07:55He became the leader of his Christian Democratic Union party

07:58after long-time chancellor and a formal rival, Angela Merkel, stepped down in 2021.

08:03Merz has taken his party in a more conservative direction.

08:06He has also made irregular migration a central issue.

08:09He started his political career back in 1989 when he joined the European Parliament

08:13before becoming a lawmaker in Germany.

08:15But he took a break from active politics after 2009, therefore lacks experience in government.

08:20He practiced law during that time and worked for global investment company BlackRock's German branch.

08:26The 66-year-old centre-left Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, on the other hand,

08:30has significant government experience.

08:32He has been Germany's chancellor since December 2021,

08:35previously served as Hamburg's mayor and as German Labour and Finance Minister.

08:40But as chancellor, he quickly found himself dealing with multiple crises.

08:44He launched an effort to modernize Germany's military after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

08:48and has made Germany Ukraine's second biggest weapons supplier.

08:52His government prevented an energy crunch and tried to counter high inflation.

08:56But his three-party coalition became notorious for infighting and collapse in November

09:00as it argued over how to revitalize the national economy, which is Europe's biggest,

09:05but has shrunk for the past two years.

09:08The 55-year-old Robert Habeck, meanwhile, is the candidate of the environmentalist Greens.

09:12He is also Germany's current vice-chancellor and the economy and climate minister

09:16with responsibility for energy issues.

09:19As co-leader of the Greens from 2018 to 2022, he presided over a rise in the party's popularity,

09:25but in 2021 he stepped aside to let Annalena Baerbock, who is now Germany's foreign minister,

09:30make the first run for the chancellor's job.

09:33Habeck's record as a minister has drawn mixed reviews,

09:36particularly his plan to replace fossil fuel heating systems with greener alternatives

09:40that deepen divisions in the government.

09:43Finally, the 46-year-old Alice Weidel is making the far-right anti-immigration alternative for Germany's

09:48first bid for the country's top job.

09:50An economist by training, she joined the party shortly after it was founded in 2013.

09:55She has been a co-leader of the party since 2022, along with Tino Chrupalla.

10:00In December, she was nominated as the candidate for chancellor,

10:03though other parties say they won't work with her party,

10:06so she has no realistic path to the top job at present.

10:13Thousands of visitors from all over the world climbed Sicily's Mount Etna

10:18to witness the volcano's latest eruption up close.

10:22Etna's first eruption of the year started on February 11th,

10:26but intensified on Monday, sending plumes of ash and lava into the air.

10:31Catania Airport diverted dozens of flights over the weekend due to the spread of clouds of ash.

10:38While hikers could only go up with a qualified mountain guide,

10:43could not always stop people from getting as close to the volcano's mouth as possible.

10:48The regional civil protection service said it had deployed volunteer emergency units

10:53to provide assistance where necessary.

10:56During previous eruptions, nearby towns have been covered in black volcanic ash.

11:01However, this eruption has caused minimal disruption.

11:05Although Mount Etna erupts frequently, lava has not reached nearby towns in centuries.

11:13A Delta Airlines plane crashed while landing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

11:21Local media reports say the plane flipped over on landing,

11:25with paramedics adding that 19 people were injured, including one child.

11:30The child and at least two other people were taken to hospital with critical injuries,

11:36but police confirmed that most people remain unharmed.

11:39All 80 people on board have been evacuated from the plane.

Latest news bulletin | February 18th – Midday

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