00:00A fast-moving wildfire in Spain has killed at least 12 people in a prominent tourist district, leaving 23 people
00:06missing.
00:10European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will offer to a museum.
00:14The gun President Erdogan gifted her at the NATO summit.
00:20Europe needs a safe asset to reassure the world that they can safely lend money to the Eurozone,
00:25French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told EuroNews.
00:30The European Commission is charging Meta with a potential multi-billion euro fine,
00:34alleging it breached the Digital Services Act by intentionally designing platforms to exploit young users.
00:39A fast-moving wildfire has killed at least 12 people in Andalusia, southern Spain,
00:44as an out-of-control blaze swept through a prominent tourist district,
00:48trapping fleeing motorists in burning vehicles and on foot.
00:52The fatal outbreak erupted near the whitewashed village of Bedar,
00:55a highly popular destination for international retirees,
00:59located 15 kilometers from the Mediterranean coast, leaving 23 people still missing.
01:04The emergency escalated rapidly when a group of victims reportedly strayed from designated evacuation corridors,
01:10seeking an alternative exit via a dry riverbed that ultimately became a deadly tactical trap as the flames overtook them.
01:18It was a shock that you don't see, that I didn't see the shirt on my body,
01:23because it was very fast.
01:27The fire was a Formula One, the fire.
01:32Regional authorities confirm that the vast majority of the deceased are believed to be foreign nationals,
01:37including four suspected British citizens who perished in the flames.
01:42To combat the aggressive front line, around 500 firefighters,
01:46backed by Spain's Specialized Military Emergency Unit,
01:48are scrambling across parched ravines to protect homes
01:52and search for survivors amid thick plumes of smoke.
01:56This is attributable to human-caused climate change.
02:00And what that means is,
02:02in each year we're much more likely to see these fire weather extremes
02:08that combine these multiple compound events,
02:10even if the likelihood of extreme winds stays about the same.
02:13In response to the mounting tragedy,
02:15Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated he was utterly devastated,
02:18while King Philippe VI cut short an official engagement
02:21to observe a minute of silence alongside the royal family.
02:30The 27 countries of the European Union have unanimously agreed to open
02:35a new cluster of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova,
02:39marking another step in their arduous road to membership.
02:43During a meeting on Friday, EU ambassadors endorsed their common position
02:47to unblock Cluster 6, which covers external relations.
02:52This decision builds on the momentum generated by Hungary's change of government,
02:57which ended two years of obstruction of Ukraine's accession process.
03:01Hungary's new Prime Minister, Peter Magyar,
03:04lifted the contentious veto in early June,
03:07paving the way for the opening of Cluster 1,
03:09known as Fundamentals.
03:12The decision leaves four clusters still pending.
03:15The European Commission considers both Ukraine and Moldova
03:18to be technically ready to open all of them.
03:21Kiev has publicly pushed to advance all steps before the summer break,
03:25a goal shared by the Commission and a majority of member states.
03:29Hungary has expressed serious reservations about the idea of proceeding at such a pace,
03:35arguing that this would amount to fast-track accession.
03:44Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered a rather unusual gift to EU leaders
03:50at this week's NATO Summit in Ankara, a revolver and six rounds.
03:54Some said the gift was meant to showcase the Turkish growing defence industry.
03:59Some leaders had to leave their gift behind due to gun laws in their countries,
04:04while others, such as the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,
04:08plan to donate it to museums.
04:11So, the President obviously thanked President Erdogan for the gift.
04:17Now, because it is a firearm, it will be securely transported and stored,
04:24and once it is decommissioned, it is the intention of the President to donate this gun to a military museum.
04:35In a more challenging world, the EU-Turkiye partnership matters more than ever,
04:40Ursula von der Leyen wrote on her social media account.
04:43After meeting with President Erdogan alongside EU Council President Antone Kosta at the NATO Summit,
04:49von der Leyen stressed Turkey has been an important partner in addressing the crisis in the Middle East
04:55and the war in Ukraine, and called for a settlement of the Cyprus issue through the UN-led process.
05:04Europe needs a safer set to reassure the world that they can safely lend money to the Eurozone and get
05:09it back.
05:10French Economy and Finance Minister Roland L'Escur told Euronews ahead of talks with EU finance ministers in Brussels.
05:17European economies have been quite resilient, despite the impact of the war in the Middle East,
05:22but a recovery is needed, the Minister said.
05:25We are not exposed directly to the crisis in the sense that there was no volume issue.
05:31We still got oil, we still got gas, we still got fertilizers,
05:35but the fact that some of the oil that was flowing is not flowing anymore to Asia has risen the
05:40prices,
05:41and obviously this has had an impact on our consumers, you know, the oil tanks have been more expensive to
05:46fill.
05:46This week, the Spanish government proposed a new joint EU debt instrument worth up to 850 billion euros to boost
05:54the European economy.
05:56National debts would be pooled, auctioned on the market, and then lent back to the country.
06:01It's an interesting proposal that solves some of the issues that usually debt on top of debt can address.
06:08There's one issue that concerns me, I've talked to Carlos about it, and we need to study it further,
06:12it's the moral hazard, you know, the fact that if one country transfers the debt to the whole community,
06:18that might be an incentive for that country to take more debt.
06:23Liskeur said we need more competitiveness, as well as a capital market union,
06:27to make the euro stronger, deeper and more liquid.
06:35European tourism has demonstrated strong resilience during the first half of the year,
06:39with international arrivals increasing by 5% despite a more turbulent global environment
06:44characterized by rising economic and geopolitical uncertainty.
06:49According to the latest quarterly report from the European Travel Commission,
06:52overnight stays across the continent also climbed by nearly 5%,
06:56even as weaker consumer confidence and aviation disruptions squeezed long-haul markets.
07:02The robust regional expansion is being spearheaded by southern and Mediterranean hotspots,
07:07with Greece recording a staggering 38% surge in visitor numbers,
07:11followed closely by robust double-digit gains in Italy and Malta.
07:16However, performance varied significantly across sub-regions,
07:20with travel spending in Italy rising only 4% despite massive volume growth,
07:25suggesting lower average spend per individual traveller.
07:29In sharp contrast to this growth,
07:31some destinations faced a particularly challenging start to the year,
07:35with Cyprus suffering an 18% decline and Turkey dipping by 2% due to weaker travel sentiment
07:41linked to its proximity to the Middle East conflict.
07:45This divergent spending behaviour demonstrates that while leisure travel remains an absolute priority
07:50for global consumers, changing economic pressures are forcing holiday makers
07:55to become far more price-sensitive and selective.
07:58Consequently, destinations that align closely with tighter consumer budgets
08:02and offer greater safety and flexible travel options are best positioned to capture demand,
08:08as millions of travellers deliberately shift their bookings
08:11to the cooler, more affordable shoulder month of September.
08:21The European Commission has preliminarily found Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act,
08:27opening the door to a multi-billion euro fine over allegations
08:30that the tech giant intentionally designed its core platforms
08:33to exploit and hook young users.
08:35The executive charge sheet explicitly targets highly addictive features,
08:39including infinite scroll, video autoplay, and push notifications,
08:43which regulators argue shift the human brain into an unthinking autopilot mode.
08:48Consequently, investigators concluded that
08:51Meta deliberately disregarded internal data showing how late-night usage
08:55damages the mental and physical well-being of teenagers.
08:59While Meta maintains that its current controls protect adolescents,
09:02European officials dismissed the existing time management and parental safety tools
09:06as fundamentally ineffective and easily bypassed by minors.
09:11The Commission has demanded structural changes to force less engagement-driven layouts,
09:16giving the company a formal window to examine the evidence and launch a legal defense.
09:21If these preliminary findings are ultimately confirmed,
09:25Meta faces an unprecedented financial penalty capped at 6% of its annual global turnover,
09:31a sum exceeding 11 billion euros based on recent revenue figures.
09:41Greenpeace Hungary and Greenpeace Austria have created an interactive asbestos map
09:46to help people stay informed and to assist authorities in determining the extent of the affected areas.
09:52The map will mark cases that have already been documented and surveyed,
09:56as well as areas where contamination is suspected.
10:00They're counting on residents' cooperation to generate the most accurate and detailed picture possible
10:05that highlights the extent of the problem.
10:26Simon stressed that coordinated, centralized action is needed.
10:47Asbestos is a slow killer that can cause tumors to develop in the body even decades after exposure.
11:15The minister of the environment personally inspected the neighborhood in western Hungary in May,
11:20inhabited mainly by families with young children,
11:24where it was discovered that the road surface was contaminated with asbestos.
11:28Greenpeace alerted the relevant authorities and is awaiting a response,
11:32but hope that the measures the government has promised will be implemented soon.
Comments