00:00The Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Arakchir declared the Strait of Hormuz completely open for business for the remainder of
00:06the 10-day ceasefire brokered yesterday between Israel and Lebanon.
00:11Vessels will be allowed to pass along the coordinated route announced by the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran.
00:17The announcement came as a coalition of mainly NATO countries were having talks in Paris to prepare a plan to
00:23resume navigation through the waterway, a key oil route choked off by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
00:30French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the hybrid meeting, which is also joined by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer
00:34and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but not the United States.
00:38The mission is set to include military ships, mine-clearing operations, and radar capabilities.
00:44The leaders spearheading the mission insist it will be strictly defensive.
00:50Chancellor Merz said German participation could only occur after a provisional ceasefire and a mandate within a collective security framework,
00:57preferably from the United Nations,
00:59as well as approval from the German government.
01:02The coalition was pushed to create a plan after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to NATO allies.
01:08The waterways closure is set to trigger even more economic pain if efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire fail.
01:19U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, which has now come
01:26into effect, to bring a temporary moment of respite after weeks of ongoing Israeli strikes.
01:32And though the Iran-backed Hezbollah, whom Israeli forces are fighting, are not party to the deal, Trump says they
01:39will abide by its terms.
02:01News of the truce was well-received in Lebanon, with people firing tracer rounds in celebration, and also by the
02:08international community.
02:09We welcome steps that would end hostilities and suffering on both sides of the blue line.
02:16The United Nations, through our political and peacekeeping missions, remains ready to support these efforts
02:21and continues to urge the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
02:28And that full implementation is towards a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution to the conflict.
02:34Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the opportunity for peace with Lebanon, but stressed that Israeli troops will not withdraw
02:42from their occupied so-called security zone.
03:04Israel says it also reserves the right to attack at any time to respond to any threat it perceives, even
03:11preemptively.
03:11The Lebanese health ministry says Israeli strikes since the beginning of the war in Iran have killed at least 1
03:18,200 people, injured thousands, and displaced roughly 1.2 million.
03:26For 1.5 million displaced Palestinians, the choice is between enduring harsh conditions in a tent
03:33or returning home to unsafe living conditions, including roofs at risk of collapse.
03:40By mid-2025, around 90 percent of Gaza's population had been displaced from their homes, many of them more than
03:47once.
03:48Now thousands returning to neighborhoods face the unprecedented scale of the destruction.
03:54The United Nations estimates that around 320,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged, equivalent to 81 percent of buildings in
04:03Gaza.
04:18Winter in the strip has further intensified already dire living conditions for Palestinians.
04:24Heavy rain has flooded tents, creating cold, damp conditions that leave many vulnerable to hypothermia.
04:31But the rain also exposed the fragility of the damaged homes.
04:35Water seeping into the soil beneath these damaged structures significantly increases the risk of sudden collapse.
04:55In addition to the structural hazards, returning residents face another threat, that of unexploded devices buried beneath the rubble.
05:03The United Nations has also warned that Gaza's debris contains hazardous materials, including asbestos, as well as industrial and medical
05:12waste.
05:32But Gazans face a long road ahead of them.
05:35The UN predicts the removal of rubble alone could take up to seven years.
05:38And the reconstruction of Gaza could take decades and is expected to cost over 40 billion U.S. dollars.
05:48Even if the Middle East conflict were to end today, its ripple effects risk creating the conditions for further conflicts,
05:55the United Nations Development Programme Administrator Alexandre de Croque has told Euronews Programme Europe Today.
06:01A report by the UNDP warned that the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East goes beyond the region and
06:09could push more than 30 million people into poverty worldwide.
06:13Sub-Saharan Africa is severely impacted by what is going on in the region.
06:19Small island states, for example, in the Pacific, you start to have a few islands that just don't have enough
06:25fuel anymore.
06:26So the impact of the war and the blockade that is linked to it has a deep impact.
06:34And it shows that war is development in reverse.
06:39It takes decades to lift people out of poverty.
06:42It takes six weeks of war to push them back into poverty.
06:46De Croque, a former Belgian prime minister, explained that the international financial institutions
06:52should be providing targeted and time-limited cash-in-outs to those impacted
06:57or providing free access to fuel and cooking gas.
07:06An unprecedented crisis is shaking up the French publishing world.
07:11115 writers published by Grasset announced that they were leaving the publishing house
07:16after the departure of its CEO, Olivier Nora.
07:19French President Emmanuel Macron reacted to the publisher Tom Hoyle
07:24during an appearance at a Paris Book Festival.
07:26The editor is not simply the one who imprime the books.
07:30It seems to be an industry, as Malraux said, but it's a lot more.
07:34It's an spirit, it's a home.
07:36It's also a part of the literary heritage.
07:39It's our independent libraries, our different libraries.
07:43There are a lot of here.
07:44It's this human chain that matters.
07:46And so I think it's very important to express, to defend this pluralism,
07:51the respect of the authors, the history of these houses and their identities.
07:55Many authors have accused ultra-conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré,
07:59who owns the Hachette Livre Group of having ousted Nora.
08:03In a joint letter, the authors denounced the ideological war waged by Bolloré
08:08to, quote, impose authoritarianism throughout culture and the media.
08:14All three Hungarian parties reported constructive talks
08:18following discussions in Parliament on Friday
08:21regarding preparations for the inaugural session that was swearing a new government.
08:26Peter Maia, president of the TSOP party, which won the election,
08:30said it would give opposition parties more opportunities in parliamentary positions and committees.
08:36Maia, who welcomed an EU delegation to Budapest for informal high-stakes talks,
08:41centering on how Hungary could still draw down EU funds before the august deadline,
08:47announced the Jerusalem oil pipeline could restart next week.
08:51Én egy konstruktív tárgyalásra számítok, nem lesz egyszerű, mert nagyon rövid az idő,
08:55tehát a kormány az előtt, a legköszönő kormány néhány dolgot csinál,
08:59de érdemben nem haladtak előre a dolgok.
09:01Volt három évük, mi alatt lehívhatták volna ezeket a pénzeket,
09:05ami megtörtént mind a 26 tagállamban rajtunk kívül.
09:09Nekünk most egy óriási rohanás lesz, mert augusztus 31-én
09:13sok milliárd eurónak a határideje, vagy annak a felhasználási lekötési határideje lejár.
09:18Magyar Péter a választások óta már kétszer is beszélt az Európai Bizottság elnökével,
09:22Ursula von der Leyen-nel, aki támogatásáról biztosította.
09:25A brüsszeli döntést, hogy mindössze öt nappal a választások után delegációt küldtek Budapestre,
09:30széles körben politikai jelzésnek tekintik.
09:32Kónya Rita, Euronews, Budapest.
09:45Bulgaria's snap parliamentary elections are scheduled for the 19th of April
09:49and will mark the country's eighth election in five years.
09:53The country's former president, Rumen Radev, from the Progressive Bulgaria Party,
09:57who has adopted a Eurosceptic and pro-Kremlin stance, is leading in the polls.
10:02His main opponent is the veteran center-right leader, Bojko Borisov.
10:06Bulgaria joined the Eurozone this January,
10:09which had really opened the gates for a lot of disinformation narratives.
10:15So often the rationale of these narratives is that
10:18because we are in the Eurozone,
10:21the energy crisis is even worse
10:22and we are paying even more money.
10:25To fight off foreign interference threats,
10:27Bulgaria's government has asked Europe's diplomatic service for help,
10:30activating the rapid response system under the DSA.
10:33Bulgaria is actually not a typical case
10:35when we are talking about disinformation,
10:37because it also combines the prolonged political instability,
10:41the weak regulators and actually low public trust
10:44with a really strong domestic network
10:46that spreads and amplifies this type of disinformation.
10:49According to the Center for the Study of Democracy,
10:52the Pravda network, which works to spread pro-Russian news,
10:55targets Bulgaria disproportionately.
10:57The organization tracked nearly 6,000 pro-Kremlin articles
11:00published in Bulgarian every month.
11:02A significant higher per capita intensity of Pravda content
11:06compared to most other European nations.
11:09Bulgarian outlets such as Pogled Info
11:11also worked to disseminate content from sanctioned Russian entities
11:15and Chinese state-controlled sources.
11:18These narratives have favored Radev's politics,
11:20who recently claimed that his pro-EU rivals
11:23were seeking to influence the election outcome,
11:25citing the annulled 2024 Romanian presidential elections.
11:29It has been vindicated on a relatively triple-N airlines
Comments