00:00Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky
00:04have received the highest of three levels of honor of the European Order of Merit Awards.
00:10The EU's new fertilizer plan aims to supply farmers with EU emergency agriculture funds,
00:16but only if they switch to more sustainable practices.
00:21Europol has taken down thousands of online posts, accounts and links
00:25tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
00:30The European Parliament on Tuesday held the inaugural conferral ceremony
00:35for the newly established European Order of Merit in Strasbourg,
00:39with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky
00:44receiving the highest of three levels of honor.
00:47Created to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to European integration and values,
00:54the first class included 20 laureates spanning politics, culture and sports.
01:01Merkel was elevated to the highest category of court's distinguished member alongside Zelensky and Lech Walesa,
01:10a symbolic trio linking democratic resistance, European unity and political endurance.
01:16According to the European Parliament, 13 of the some 20 laureates accepted the honor in person.
01:24The award comes as Europe faces renewed uncertainty, Russia's war against Ukraine,
01:30pressure to massively increase defense spending, fears triggered by the second disruptive Trump presidency
01:37and intensifying competition with China.
01:40Other notable personalities such as the Vatican's top diplomat, Pietro Parolin,
01:45Moldovan President Maya Sandu and former European Century Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet
01:51received lower levels of the honor.
01:58The European Commission has presented a revised fertilizer plan to avoid another wave of farmer protests across Europe
02:07as the Middle East conflict has sent fertilizer prices soaring.
02:11EU officials are worried that high fertilizer prices could reduce crop yields,
02:17diminish food production and deepen resentment toward green policies.
02:22At a time when the far-right and populist political movements are gaining more support in rural areas.
02:29In the EU's draft fertilizer plan, farmers are set to benefit from emergency EU agriculture funds and advance payments.
02:38While there will be no new funds for farmers, the plan proposes short-term actions to improve access to affordable
02:45fertilizers,
02:46which implies a reshuffling of EU agriculture funds under the Common Agricultural Policy, or CAP.
02:54Christopher Hansen, European Commissioner for Agriculture, recently said that 200 million euros remains in the CAP's crisis reserve
03:03and said that they want to at least double this amount to support farmers.
03:08This comes under the condition that farmers switch to more sustainable practices,
03:13like cutting synthetic fertilizer use and embracing bio-based ones.
03:18The Commission's plan also looks at boosting domestic production of fertilizers.
03:29Europol has taken down thousands of online posts, accounts and links tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,
03:36including its main ex-account.
03:38The agency was able to do so as the EU formally designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in February.
03:46This gave law enforcement the legal basis to move against its online infrastructure.
03:52Investigators said the IRGC had built a highly structured digital network spanning major social media platforms,
03:59streaming services, blog hosting sites and independent websites.
04:03The content, which was distributed in numerous languages, included political messaging intertwined with religious martyrdom narratives.
04:11Also, AI-generated videos were widely distributed, including videos praising the IRGC
04:17and calling for retaliation in the name of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
04:23Further details on the methods and tactics uncovered are expected to appear
04:28in Europol's upcoming EU terrorism situation and trend report.
04:36Iranian state television has been broadcasting weapons training programs
04:41with instructions on how to operate and dismantle weapons such as Kalashnikov rifles,
04:46machine guns, sniper rifles and RPGs.
04:49The programs included simulated shooting at U.S. President Donald Trump,
04:54Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and at the flag of the United Arab Emirates.
04:59Meanwhile, in Tehran, an audience gathered around a revolutionary guard
05:04to learn how to use an AK-47 assault rifle.
05:07Men, women and even children were pictured learning on how to fight against the U.S. and Israel.
05:34The RIGC also announced a civilian recruitment campaign setting the minimum enlistment age at just 12 years old.
05:42A human rights watchdog warned that the youth-targeted recruitment campaign violates children's rights
05:48and constitutes as a war crime when those recruited are under 15.
05:55The European Union's top military general, Sean Clancy, says Ukraine remains the number one priority for Europe
06:02as the ongoing war continues to shape the continent's defense strategy.
06:07Joining Euronews on its morning program Europe Today on the EU Military Committee's quarter-century anniversary,
06:14Clancy noted that this is time for reflection rather than celebration.
06:19I think flocking into celebrations, I think it's a moment of reflection more than celebration.
06:23I think it's, you know, it's a time to pause and reflect how far the European Military Committee,
06:28but the European paradigm of security and defense has come as a whole over that period of time.
06:32No more so in the last four years, and you've mentioned it, Ukraine, which is the number one priority for
06:36all of us
06:37and the focus of everyone.
06:38The top EU generals stress that Ukraine, which suffered a massive Russian overnight barrage of over 500 drones
06:45and close to two dozen missiles, remains crucial to continental security.
06:50The extraordinary resilience of the Ukrainian armed forces, but the Ukrainian people as a whole,
06:54has transformed Ukraine into a fortress nation now.
06:58And Ukraine, from a European point of view, is integral to the future security of Europe.
07:03So this isn't just beneficiaries of European charity, this is strategic initiative and imperative for Europe.
07:11Clancy says the EU Military Committee has today trained over 90,000 Ukrainian soldiers,
07:17an initiative it plans to continue doing, in his words, unrelentingly.
07:25Kazakhstan launched the cloud-seeding project, first of its kind in Central Asia.
07:30The first artificial rain fell on the city of Turkestan on the eve of the informal summit of the Organization
07:35of Turkestates.
07:37Central Asia is among the world's regions most affected by global warming and water shortage,
07:42and the aim of the project is to alleviate the effects of drought on the agricultural regions of Kazakhstan.
07:47For last year, eight months in this Turkestan region, there were eight months of draft period.
07:53That's why we have to bring new technologies in order to come up with additional water resources.
08:01The cloud-seeding is one of those technologies, and we are basing on UAE experience.
08:07The project is done in cooperation with the National Meteorology Center of the United Arab Emirates.
08:13So it is educational, it is a pilot project, and we will see the result after this project.
08:19Emirates specialists are training Kazakh meteorologists, engineers and pilots to use the technology that they have been using since 1980s.
08:27We fly, we take off to the certain locations that we started to build up the cloud,
08:33and we give them the feedback of the cloud behavior, such as the updraft, temperature, the cloud type,
08:42and based on communication with the operation, the specialists decide how many flares are utilized for this cloud,
08:50and we start applying the flares.
08:52The cloud-seeding process is based on dispersing salts on the clouds, which causes moderate local showers.
08:58It is environmentally tested and can increase the precipitation in the region by 10-20%.
09:04It is estimated it will save Kazakhstan around 65 million euros every year, mainly through the increase of crop yield.
09:43The urban art Biennale 2026 is really an international show.
09:47We have 50 artists from 17 countries from three continents,
09:51and it's really showing street art, graffiti, urban art at its best.
09:56We have the car, like installations like this behind me, which are sort of monumental,
10:02fossil mobility, which is covered from a Pompeii-like dust cover,
10:07or we have the huge roof of Amparito, the writing on the roof of the Möllerhalle,
10:14which is really the biggest work in the show.
10:41Thank you, everybody.
10:56I think that it's so dusty and it's so old and but it's beautiful you know there's
11:03there's a there's beauty in decay and I think what I've done makes you kind of
11:07just perceive it in a bit of a different way. It's like a nice place, people
11:12walking around, there are bees, there are beautiful flowers but yeah we still
11:18remember the history and that's super important
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