00:00Europe's early heat wave continues to wreak havoc as temperatures creep to new highs and red alerts spread across the
00:06continent.
00:11Germany's defense minister wants smaller ships for the German Navy rather than the planned world's largest frigate.
00:21Germany's entire railway network came to halt due to a problem with the communication system,
00:26leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
00:3054 countries of Czechia, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary renewed their commitment as Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar hosts its leaders.
00:41Europe's early heat wave continues to wreak havoc as temperatures creep to new highs and red alerts spread across the
00:48continent.
00:48Tuesday was the hottest day ever in France with the country's national thermal indicator reading 29.8 degrees Celsius.
00:57France has recorded 40 fatalities from drowning in the past week as people seek relief in rivers and other bodies
01:04of water,
01:05despite authorities' warnings about unsupervised swimming.
01:09In the UK, schools have been closed on Wednesday as a rare red weather warning comes into force.
01:16The country is bracing for record-breaking temperatures.
01:19Multiple UK train operators were forced to cancel or reduce services on Tuesday to avoid heat-related problems.
01:27Railway operators urge people to travel only if absolutely necessary on Wednesday and Thursday.
01:33Italy put 16 cities on red alert for heat waves on Wednesday, including Milan, Rome, Turin, Venice and Bologna.
01:41People have been advised to eat light foods and stay indoors during the hottest times of the day.
01:47A spike in households using air conditioning for cooling has sparkled blackouts in Milan and Turin.
01:54In Spain, the extreme heat is starting to abate with National Weather Service saying temperatures would drop in most of
02:01the country.
02:02Parts of the Basque country in the northern Spain remained on red alert, but this is expected to end by
02:08Thursday with no areas rated red or orange.
02:12It will come as a relief after temperatures reached 44 degrees Celsius southern Andalusia on Tuesday.
02:19High-level heat warnings have also been issued in Western Poland, where record temperatures are anticipated,
02:26while Hungary will raise its heat alert to the highest level between Saturday and Tuesday.
02:31Further heat-wave alerts have been issued in Croatia, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
02:40Iran's parliament speaker, Mohamed Bakker Kalibaf, on Wednesday described the U.S.-Iran framework deal as,
02:48quote, a declaration of U.S. defeat.
02:51According to Kalibaf, Washington and Israel had miscalculated in launching the war.
02:56Speaking at the PUIC parliamentary summit in Baku, Kalibaf, who heads the Iranian negotiating team, said the Islamabad understanding was
03:06not the result of pressure and coercion,
03:08but rather the result of the resistance and authority of the brave Iranian nation.
03:14His remarks came as technical talks under the 60-day framework continued with Iranian and U.S. negotiators still divided
03:23over key outstanding issues,
03:25most acutely on the future of the Strait of Hamus and nuclear inspections in Iran.
03:32In a social media post, U.S. President Donald Trump said that Tehran had assured Washington there would be,
03:39quote, no tolls, no insurance costs and no other charges of any kind for ships passing through the crucial waterway.
03:47Trump warned if the information proved false, negotiations would end immediately.
03:53He added that released Iranian funds would be spent exclusively on U.S. food exports,
03:58something that Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Ismail Bakay, has rejected.
04:04On Tuesday, the U.S. Congress passed the War Powers Measure for the first time, nearly four months after Iran
04:11was first struck.
04:12The move breaks with Trump and demands that the U.S. President hold the war in Iran or seek congressional
04:17approval before continuing military action.
04:24The European Union has scaled back its ambitions for Ukraine's accession talks, now targeting the opening of just two negotiating
04:31clusters in July rather than five.
04:34Ukraine opened one cluster earlier this month after a two-year wait under Hungary's veto.
04:39The change of plans comes as the new government in Budapest signaled several times its opposition to speeding up Ukraine's
04:47membership bid.
04:48For Budapest, opening all six clusters in a condensed period is considered a fast-tracked accession.
04:55The characterization is rejected by a majority of member states, which see the clusters as just the beginning of an
05:02arduous, complex journey.
05:04The climb down marks a significant retreat for Brussels.
05:07The European Commission has consistently indicated that Ukraine was technically ready to negotiate the six thematic clusters, which altogether cover
05:1733 chapters.
05:19Momentum behind enlargement surge following the Hungarian elections in April after Viktor Orbán's electoral defeat.
05:25The newly elected Prime Minister, Peter Maguiar, offered an olive branch by lifting the country's long-standing veto on the
05:33first cluster in early June.
05:34But Maguiar has since signaled that he is unwilling to support a faster pace of negotiations.
05:43Hunsburg Catalonia increased the immense pressure on Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday, demanding that he resign as Prime Minister and that
05:50Congress elect a new head of government to preserve the legislature.
05:54The sharp demand from the Catalan separatists came during a high-stakes debate over the legal cases affecting the president's
06:01inner circle, completely reshaping the political landscape.
06:05Sánchez appeared before a tense Congress of deputies on Wednesday to make his defense against a wave of corruption allegations.
06:12The high-stakes appearance followed a landmark Supreme Court ruling that handed a 24-year prison sentence to his former
06:18transport minister, José Luis Ábalos.
06:21Sánchez opened his 32-minute address by acknowledging that the national public debate has been completely flooded with judicial news,
06:28though he rejected claims of structural wrongdoing.
06:31Because it is important to know that behind this accumulation of titulars, of filtration, of speculation, there are three different
06:39questions.
06:40Three different questions of nature and of different scale.
06:44That, by the way, certain political and media actors are trying to mix, to equip and, with that, confuse the
06:52people,
06:52creating a sense of generalized corruption that, as I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, does not exist.
06:58Addressing the influence-peddling cases involving his brother David and his wife Begona Gomez, who was recently ordered to face
07:05trial and surrender her passport,
07:07Sánchez claimed the judicial files are built entirely on unfounded accusations and a coordinated pattern of personal harassment.
07:17However, conservative opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijo framed the prime minister as the absolute epicenter of what he termed a
07:25corrupting political nexus.
07:27You bear all the political responsibility, Feijo said, reminding that Sánchez initially rose to power in 2018 on an anti
07:35-corruption platform spearheaded by the now convicted Abalos.
07:38The opposition leader declared he would table an immediate motion of no confidence.
07:46The authorization of the activity is one issue and alleged misconduct is a different type of question.
07:54The European Commission has stated that former commissioner Dimitris Abramopoulos' approved NGO activities are a separate matter from the alleged
08:01misconduct,
08:02which is suspected to be a part of the ongoing Qatargate investigation.
08:06When asked whether the commission's credibility is damaged, the spokesperson underlined that everything was done by the book.
08:12At that time and at that moment, back in 2022, when we looked at the matter, we had no indication
08:17of any breach of the conditions that were included in the respective college decision.
08:23In contrast to the commission's ethical and practical procedures, Abramopoulos' NGO activities are being investigated as part of a cash
08:31-for-influence corruption network.
08:33For that purpose, the Belgian Supreme Court Prosecutor's Office has just forwarded a European arrest warrant to the Greek Parliament,
08:39along with a formal request to lift Abramopoulos' immunity as he is still a member of the ruling New Democracy
08:45Party.
08:45After his term as commissioner ended in 2019, Abramopoulos has become a member of the Honorary Board of Fight Impunity,
08:53an NGO founded by the suspected mastermind Antonio Panzeri to influence European Parliament decision-making and received €75,000 in
09:02total.
09:03Abramopoulos categorically rejects any involvement in the case and states that he will not invoke parliamentary immunity, calling for a
09:11full judicial investigation.
09:12The former Migration Commissioner stated that all monthly payments were transparently declared, taxed and formally approved by the European Commission.
09:25Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius now wants smaller ships for the German Navy rather than the planned world's largest frigate.
09:34Local media reported that more than €2 billion have already been sunk into the project.
09:39In place of six F-126 class frigates, which were scheduled for delivery in 2029, eight smaller ships will now
09:48be ordered.
09:50The reason for the downsize are significant delays at the Dutch shipyard tasked with building them, as well as expected
09:57cost increases.
09:58The decision marks a significant setback for Europe's biggest economy, especially as Germany has been accelerating its efforts to build
10:07up its armed forces in an attempt to bolster its role in NATO and deter Russian aggression.
10:17Iran has emerged in a stronger position from the war against the U.S. and Israel, former U.S. Deputy
10:23Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told your own news.
10:26The seasoned diplomat who led the team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran criticized the reported cost of
10:34the framework agreement linked to reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
10:37Iran has certainly put itself in a stronger position.
10:41They can close the Strait of Hormuz at any point that they want.
10:45They have shown that they are resilient, that a military effort alone cannot undo them.
10:52U.S. and Iran are in dispute over whether Tehran had agreed to allow these inspections of its nuclear sites.
10:58The head of the U.S. nuclear agency said Wednesday that his inspectors would visit them.
11:03If the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, gets back into Iran, even though Iran says that is not agreed,
11:12that would be a very positive thing because you can't do anything in the negotiations or anything that you resolve
11:19without knowing that you can verify and monitor what the reality is.
11:23And we need the IAEA on the ground to be able to do that.
11:27Sherman also warned that Iran could emerge with greater influence in Lebanon and across the region,
11:33complicating wider efforts to secure stability.
