00:02International oil prices hit their highest intraday level since 2022 on Thursday,
00:07reaching as high as $126 a barrel as the US and Iran show no signs of breaking the
00:13deadlock in negotiations and lifting their blockades of the Strait of Hormuz.
00:18The price remained elevated but slipped below $115 a barrel by early afternoon in Europe.
00:26Meanwhile, the United States announced that it intends to launch an international coalition
00:30under the name of Maritime Freedom Construct to restart shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
00:36Iran, however, remained defiant as Ayatollah Mushtaba Khamenei insisted the US had been
00:41defeated in the war, rejecting American interference in the Strait as both the US and Iran maintained
00:47their blockades. The standoff has heavily impacted Iran's economy, with Iranian Riyal hitting a
00:54historic low on Wednesday, trading at 2.1 million Riyals to the euro.
01:00US President Donald Trump has said he has no intention of lifting the blockade,
01:04rejecting Tehran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to
01:09the US naval siege of Iranian ports.
01:15A diplomatic row between Ukraine and Israel appears to have reached an end.
01:21After the unloading of a cargo vessel allegedly carrying stolen Ukrainian grain to an Israeli
01:27port was halted. The Ukrainian government said that the grain was stolen by Russia from
01:33territories that it occupies through its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Officials claim that the
01:39Panama-flagged Panometis, which had been waiting to dock an unload in Haifa, is carrying more than
01:456,200 tons of wheat and 19,000 tons of barley. Israeli import company Zenzippa announced that the
01:53vessel will have to find an alternative destination for the goods, while Kyiv said it would continue to
01:59track its location and warn against any operations it undertakes. The row between Israel and Ukraine
02:06erupted this week after Israeli authorities allowed another vessel with similar cargo to unload at the
02:13port of Haifa. Israeli officials denied receiving sufficient evidence from Ukraine and criticized
02:19Kyiv for going public with the issue on social media.
02:25Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Peter Maia has said that EU funds could soon be released to Hungary following a
02:31series of high-level meetings in Brussels on Wednesday. Maia met with European Council President
02:37Antonio Costa and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in their first direct talks since his election
02:43victory on the 12th of April. According to Commission President von der Leyen, the pair discussed the steps
02:50necessary to unlock EU funds he imaged for Hungary, held up during the premiership of Viktor Orban,
02:57a long-standing critic of von der Leyen's presidency. In a social media post, Maia said that the talks were
03:04highly constructive and productive as he called for discussions to move at speed. Hungary risk losing
03:12around 10 billion euros in post-pandemic funds intended to support its economy unless Maia secures
03:19a deal before an August deadline. The Hungarian Prime Minister-elect will return to Brussels for an
03:24official visit on 25 May once in office. Press freedom has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter
03:35of a century, reporters without borders warned on Thursday. The index shows that press freedom is in
03:41decline in 100 of the 180 countries and territories it evaluates. In addition, only seven countries in
03:48northern Europe, led by Norway, have a press freedom situation that is considered good.
03:53If we measure in terms of color, in the world's class, you can see that at the beginning of the
04:01class in 2002, 20% of the world's population lived in countries where the situation was considered
04:08as good or rather good. Today, it's only 1%. The report also highlights the decline of press freedom in the
04:16United States,
04:16which it says is caused by systematic attacks on journalists under the Trump administration.
04:22...inquiétante. La parole politique sous Donald Trump contre les journalistes est complètement débridée.
04:28Vous avez des injures à répétition contre les reporters. Vous avez une délégitimation du travail des journalistes.
04:35Vous avez aussi un définancement délibéré des médias publics, que ce soit les médias publics nationaux ou
04:42internationaux américains. Bref, tout ça dresse un paysage qui est particulièrement sombre et qui explique
04:48que les États-Unis est dévissé de sept places dans le classement mondial de la liberté de la presse.
04:52RSF states that while EU member states retain their leading positions in the index, partly thanks to
04:57the recent European Media Freedom Act, some EU countries remain in breach of the legislation.
05:07Belgium is planning to take control of all nuclear power plants in the country.
05:12The federal government is currently negotiating with French energy group ENGIE,
05:16which currently owns and manages all nuclear activity in Belgium.
05:21The move comes in an effort by Brussels to secure control of its own energy supplies.
05:26On social media platform X, Prime Minister Bart de Weivre said the Belgian government chooses
05:32quote, safe, affordable and sustainable energy and wants to transition away from fossil fuels.
05:39Currently, only two out of the country's seven reactors remain active.
05:44De Weivre has pushed back against the closure of the two remaining power plants
05:47and even seeks to reopen decommissioned ones.
05:51ENGIE, however, opposes that idea.
05:53The energy giant instead wants to invest in wind, solar, batteries and gas-powered stations.
06:00The negotiations are expected to conclude in October.
06:04But until then, De Weivre said that the plans to decommission nuclear operations in Belgium,
06:09which had been initiated by ENGIE, are now on hold.
06:16Authorities in the Netherlands say the recruitment of army reservists in the country
06:20has seen a significant boost amid commitments of the Dutch government to raise military personnel
06:26from its current 80,000 to 120,000 by 2035.
06:32The recent enlistments by the country's queen and her eldest daughter as reservists
06:38look to be helping with authorities now scrambling to arm and train new recruits.
06:43We have more application than we can handle because we have a lack of training capacity,
06:52a lack of housing.
06:53You have to give them all uniform forms.
06:56You have to give them weapons.
06:58You have to give them the training.
06:59You need space to train.
07:02So that are the difficulties at the moment.
07:04But it's a luxury problem, I say.
07:08According to the State Secretary for Defense, Dirk Boswick,
07:11there are about 9,000 reservists in the Netherlands
07:15and recruiters aim to have at least 20,000 in 2030.
07:19The recruitment drive reflects moves across Europe to expand and modernize militaries,
07:25as leaders warily eye the grinding war launched by Russia against Ukraine
07:30and the disenchantments expressed by U.S. President Donald Trump with the NATO alliance.
07:39Activists on board the Global Samut Flotilla say Israeli forces intercepted more than 20 of their boats
07:44in international waters near the Greek island of Crete.
07:48The group said soldiers carrying guns boarded the ships and, quote,
07:52kidnapped activists at gunpoint, damaged engines and communications devices.
07:57The Israeli foreign ministry later announced that its forces had arrested 175 activists from more than 20 boats,
08:04adding that they're now making their way back to Israel, quote, peacefully.
08:09The interceptions began in the early hours of Thursday, more than 600 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza.
08:16Representatives of the group called the act a flagrant violation of international law
08:20and announced the arrests in international territory, which Israel holds no jurisdiction over.
08:27The group also said that some boats were damaged and left stranded at sea,
08:31and it remains unclear whether Israeli forces left any activists on board those vessels.
08:37The flotilla was carrying aid and was aiming to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza
08:42and shed light on the plight of the Palestinian people.
08:46Activists say they remain committed to sailing to Gaza, despite what they described as Israeli harassment.
08:52Israel has previously described the flotilla as a political provocation,
08:57with alleged ties to Hamas, a characterization the group has rejected.
09:04In a classified location in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Ramatuel,
09:10French authorities made a miraculous discovery.
09:12At a depth of 2,500 meters lies Camara IV, the deepest shipwreck ever discovered in French waters.
09:19It's a 16th century vessel, which was located in 2025 during a seabed survey operation conducted by the military.
09:27It was an exceptional discovery for Operation Calliope 26, a mission conducted jointly by Cephysmaire,
09:34a unit of the French Navy, and the Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research of the Ministry of Culture.
09:41The goal for us is that this position remains a secret, because today there will be several missions that are
09:50going to be done
09:51to evaluate the vestige on a long term, on a long time, on a long time, and understand why it
09:58has fallen here,
10:00its characteristics, and also do the construction of the mobiles, to have additional information on the following this discovery.
10:08The tugboat used for this operation is equipped with a remotely operated underwater vehicle capable of descending up to 4
10:16,000 meters.
10:17The vehicle also had several cameras and articulated arms to retrieve items.
10:22We are going to take a series of cliches that are separated by each other and that will be restored
10:27by a photogrammetric treatment,
10:29which will allow us to generate an ortho-image, a complete plan of the EHPAD,
10:35and also a 3D model on which we will be able to make measurements,
10:38and take the calibre of the fer, the loader roulante, the dimensions of the cannon.
10:43All of these are basic elements that will allow us to collect all the documentation of the EHPAD.
10:50Hundreds of pictures and richly decorated plates were discovered,
10:54some of which were collected for analysis once back on land.
11:01At the agency's laboratory in Marseille, the ceramics were gently cleaned by professionals.
11:17A temporary exhibition is planned at the Musée de la Marine in Toulon next November
11:22to showcase the mission's findings to the general public.
11:25The wreck, meanwhile, will remain on the seabed to comply with the conservation guidelines recommended by UNESCO.
11:32UNESCO
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