00:00Top US counter-terrorism official Joe Kent resigned, citing his concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran.
00:11Consumption of MDMA is dropping in Europe, while that of ketamine and cocaine is on the rise, according to Wastewater's
00:17analysis.
00:23Joe Kent, the director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing his concerns about the
00:32justification for military strikes in Iran and saying he cannot in good conscience back the war.
00:38In a statement posted on social media, Kent wrote Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States.
00:44He added that the United States, quote, started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.
00:51His resignation reflects unease within US President Donald Trump's base about the war and shows that questions about the justification
00:59for the use of force in Iran extend to at least one senior member of Trump's Republican administration.
01:05Speaker of the House Mike Johnson pushed back on Kent's claims that Iran posed no imminent threat when asked about
01:13the resignation at a press conference on Tuesday.
01:17There was clearly an imminent threat that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability, and they were
01:24building missiles at a pace that no one in the region could keep up with.
01:30European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubrovka Tsitsa has defended her presence at the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump's Board of
01:36Peace, insisting that her attendance did not constitute a formal endorsement of the body.
01:41The meeting in Washington took place just 48 hours before the outbreak of the war in Iran, sparking intense criticism
01:48from several EU member states who argued the move breached EU treaties.
01:52At that moment, it was meant for the reconstruction of Gaza.
01:56The Commission for the Board of Peace was received by President von der Leyen, and I was representing her at
02:03that meeting.
02:04So it doesn't mean that we legitimized this board. We were just observing what was going on. This was a
02:11good occasion for me as commissioner to meet all the ministers from the region.
02:14We are not in line with some of the Board of Peace rules of procedure, with the scope and the
02:21different issues, so that we are not members. They are for courtesy reasons.
02:26Will you continue to attend any meeting that are specifically related to the situation in Gaza?
02:31We will decide on a case-by-case basis.
02:34While the EU remains the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the region, Tsitsa admitted that Brussels' current influence is
02:40limited, and that it is very difficult to draft a long-term Middle East strategy while the conflict continues to
02:46evolve.
02:47President von der Leyen wanted us to be present and to be not only passive spectators, but to be players
02:54in the region.
02:54At this moment, unfortunately, we are mostly payers. We are paying a lot, and our influence is not that huge.
03:02But we want to increase our influence in the region and globally.
03:07Addressing the spillover into Lebanon, Tsitsa backed French efforts to broker a settlement, but warned that the impact on global
03:13energy prices will make returning to a zero position nearly impossible.
03:23Ukraine has agreed to an external inspection of the damaged Druzhba pipeline, funded by the European Union, European Commission President
03:32Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President Antonio Costa said on Tuesday.
03:36The announcement was made just two days before European leaders gathered in Brussels for a summit hoping to lift Hungary's
03:43veto on a 90 billion euros loan for Kiv.
03:46The Ukrainian authorities are welcoming the technical support that we are offered, that we put on the table, technical and
03:58financial support. And in this sense, an expert is available to go to Ukraine.
04:07Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claims the pipeline is operational and has been kept shut by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
04:16for political reasons to influence the upcoming Hungarian elections on the 12th of April.
04:22Zelensky argued the interruption was caused by Russian attacks on the infrastructure and complained he was being pressured by European
04:29allies to reopen the pipeline.
04:37Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London for talks on peace and sanctions
04:44on Russia.
04:46Starmer stressed the importance of continued support for Ukraine despite the ongoing US-Israeli war in Iran.
04:53I think it's really important that we're clear that the focus must remain on Ukraine. There is obviously a conflict
05:03in Iran going on in the Middle East, but we can't lose focus on what's going on in Ukraine and
05:11the need for our support there.
05:12And secondly, it's really important that Putin can't be the one who benefits from a conflict in Iran, whether that's
05:23oil prices or the dropping of sanctions.
05:29Zelensky said the talks would also assess energy security after Russia hammered Ukraine's power grid over the winter and the
05:37battlefield situation.
05:38He also criticized Washington's move to ease oil sanctions on Russia and a bid to ease pressure on global supplies
05:45triggered by the war in the Middle East.
05:47He warned that it would provide a windfall for Moscow to keep up its attacks on Ukraine.
05:58Consumption of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, is dropping in Europe, while that of ketamine and cocaine is on the
06:05rise.
06:05In 2025, residues of MDMA detected in European wastewaters decreased by almost 16% compared to the previous year, according
06:15to a new study of the European Union Drugs Agency, which analyzed wastewater samplings in 115 European cities.
06:23I would say that the sharp drop in MDMA is the biggest surprise we have this year in Europe.
06:29From 15 to 24, we see that the user preferences are going towards different substances like ketamine, but also the
06:38synthetic ketanons.
06:39So this might be one of the explanations for the drop we are seeing.
06:44On the opposite, from 2024 to 2025, the load of cocaine metabolites detected in European wastewaters increased by 22%
06:53and ketamine by 41%.
06:56Regarding cocaine use, we know and we are seeing this steady increase already for the last three or four years.
07:03It also mimics an increase in the availability of cocaine in the European market, but also a bit worldwide.
07:12So we are not so surprised.
07:14The study highlights different drug consumption habits across Europe.
07:18The highest loads of MDMA were found in cities in Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
07:24Cannabis, Europe's most commonly used illicit drug, was more found in the Netherlands, Germany and Slovenia.
07:31Amphetamine was more common in Northern Europe, while methamphetamine is more consumed in Czechia, Slovakia and parts of Germany.
07:42For medicine shortages, European health sovereignty and the ethical lines of AI,
07:48Euronews Health Summit in Brussels sparked a flurry of debate.
07:52Here are some of the main takeaways from the event, which gathered some of the world's top political and business
07:57leaders in health.
07:58We continue to face many challenges, conflict, displacement, poverty and inequality, non-communicable diseases and mental health conditions,
08:10antimicrobial resistance, climate change and epidemics and pandemics.
08:16None of these dangers can be managed in isolation.
08:21Shared threats demand a shared response.
08:25I think the lesson from COVID-19 is that protectionism doesn't work.
08:30And even if we were in Europe, even if we were in a single market,
08:34we know that there was a period of time where there were very strong protectionist temptations within Europe.
08:41And luckily, there was awareness and people realized that this was not the way forward.
08:48So when we look at AI and health or AI in general, when you look at the United States,
08:53it's primarily funded by the private sector, venture capital.
08:56When you look at China, the other big powerhouse, it's mainly state driven.
09:01I think this is actually the biggest opportunity for Europe, which is to be right in the middle,
09:06to bring together the public and the private sector to work together.
09:10If Europe is able to find that solution, and I think it's critical that the European institutions
09:15understand that they need to work closer with the private sector,
09:19that the regulators need to create a pathway of conversation with companies developing the innovations
09:23from the start, from the moment they start developing the technology, all the way to access to market.
09:28We have faced challenges imposed by the pandemic, but we have also taken a very important lesson,
09:34which is that health is a strategic asset for Europe.
09:39And having said that, what I mean is if health systems are in trouble, everything else collapses,
09:49the societies are suffering, everything else is suffering.
09:54So I would say that it doesn't really matter where are the different competencies levels.
10:01It matters what kind of health care delivery will be reaching the patients.
10:27It's the outcome of his time in Normandy.
10:30He moved there in 2018 and then worked there very intensely also during the lockdown.
10:36And a year in Normandy is very much basically a composite image.
10:40It's a 70-meter-long work here, composed of, you know, a hundred works he did on the iPad, plein
10:46air, outdoors.
10:48It was inspired, of course, by the Chinese scrolls he saw in the 80s in the Metropolitan Museum,
10:53but also very much inspired by Bayeux.
11:01I think foreign artists, as they get older, of course, they've got a lot of memory to lean back on
11:07and all their career that they've been through.
11:08But he's also living in the present.
11:10This is him living in Normandy, spending a year there, seeing how the seasons change.
11:14He's still enriched by nature, which I think is really beautiful and wonderful.
11:19I think it's beautiful.
11:19I think it's beautiful.
11:26I think it's beautiful.
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