00:00August was the hottest month on record, tied with July 2023,
00:05according to data published by the European Climate Observatory, Copernicus.
00:10The European Commission has announced an affordable housing plan
00:14aimed at encouraging long-term rentals and making housing more accessible.
00:20An explosion at a weapons depot near Syria's northwestern city of Idlib
00:25killed at least 14 people and injured 11 others.
00:31August was the hottest month on record, tied with July 2023,
00:37according to data published on Thursday by the European Climate Observatory, Copernicus.
00:42The global average air temperature was 1.65 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial reference value.
00:50August was the first month since November 2025 to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius,
00:57the limit set by the Paris Agreement on climate change.
01:01The extra-polar oceans also broke a record for their average temperature last month,
01:06due to global warming, Copernicus points out.
01:09The average temperature reached 21.07 degrees Celsius in August,
01:15the highest ever recorded for that month, surpassing the record set in 2023.
01:20For the European continent specifically,
01:23these figures marked the end of the hottest summer ever recorded in Western Europe,
01:28with prolonged, intense and early heat waves beginning as early as May.
01:33For the region, the summer of 2026 broke the record set during the same period in 2003.
01:40The continent also suffered from widespread drought,
01:44with exceptionally low water levels in rivers such as the Rhine, the Danube, the Vistula, the Rhône and the Poe.
01:51The drier-than-average conditions also led to numerous wildfires in several regions across Europe.
02:02The European Union is making an effort to cut emissions at home,
02:07but 35% of its carbon footprint was generated abroad in 2023.
02:12More than one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions are now linked to global trade.
02:17It creates a political problem for Brussels,
02:19which is heavily investing in the decarbonisation of factories, power plants and cars,
02:24as the bloc still consumes goods whose production generates emissions abroad.
02:29The EU-China relationship is not just about Europe's dependence on Chinese solar panels,
02:35batteries, electric vehicles, machinery or critical raw materials.
02:39It is also about the carbon embedded in the supply chains that support European consumption.
02:45A new report suggests that cooperation with trading partners such as China
02:50could deliver the largest emissions reductions,
02:52particularly through common product standards.
02:55Alternatively, EU lawmakers should facilitate bringing production back to Europe.
03:00However, the report stresses that reshoring is not automatically a climate win.
03:05If European production is itself carbon-intensive,
03:08relocating factories could simply shift emissions geographically rather than eliminate them.
03:19The EU has announced an affordable housing plan aimed at encouraging long-term rentals
03:24and making housing more accessible for Europeans.
03:27Unveiled on Wednesday, the plan aims to create clarity and predictability
03:32in how rules are applied by local authorities,
03:35particularly in neighbourhoods popular with tourists,
03:38where short-term rentals have displaced residents.
03:43Over the past 10 years, rents have gone up by 59% in Berlin,
03:48by 75% in Madrid,
03:53by 103% in Lisbon.
03:57This means that normal people with normal jobs,
04:03nurses, school teachers, police officers,
04:06are not able very often to live where they serve.
04:11Short-term rentals represent only 1.2% of the EU's total housing stock,
04:17but they can account for up to 20% in some tourism hotspots.
04:21Brussels estimates it needs more than 2 million new homes every year to fix the problem.
04:27Airbnb has criticised the plan as not sufficiently clear.
04:30The Affordable Housing Act will not add a single home to the long-term rental market,
04:36while adding regulatory uncertainty for hosts across European cities,
04:40the company wrote in a press statement.
04:43Housing policy choices remain the preserve of national authorities.
04:48The new Commission plan aims to provide a common European framework of rules
04:52to guide implementation on the ground.
05:01Norway bade its final farewell on Wednesday to King Harald V,
05:05with crowds lining the streets for a funeral procession and ceremony
05:09dedicated to the long-serving king,
05:11who was remembered as a popular monarch with a down-to-earth touch.
05:16A 21-gun salute rang out over the capital
05:19at the start of a funeral procession from the royal palace to Oslo Cathedral.
05:25Harald's son, New King Hakon VIII,
05:27and other senior royals walked behind the casket,
05:30draped with a red Norwegian royal banner,
05:33as it was transported along the city's main avenue.
05:36Norwegian officials, foreign royals,
05:38and leaders from more than 20 countries joined them in solemn procession.
05:43As the casket arrived at the cathedral,
05:46the funeral service began with a nationwide minute of silence.
05:51At the end of the religious service,
05:53four F-35 jets flew over the cathedral in formation,
05:56as the casket made its way to the Akershus Castle,
05:59where it would be placed in the royal crypt following a private ceremony with the family.
06:05Once the funeral was over,
06:07flags across the country, which were lowered to half-mast after Harald's death,
06:11were to once again be raised and church bells to ring for an hour.
06:16The square in front of the palace has been covered with flowers,
06:19drawings, and candles for days,
06:21as Norwegians honoured the man they dubbed the grandfather of the nation.
06:32The arrival of around 80,000 migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July
06:37was a hybrid attack on an external border of the European Union.
06:41Former Foreign Affairs Minister of Spain, Arantxa González-Laya, told your own news.
06:46The situation is a hybrid attack suffered by Europe in its external border.
06:53This external border happens to be in Spain.
06:55But if we want to characterise the situation,
06:58it's an attack on an external border of the European Union,
07:01using humans, using migration as a tool.
07:06The arrival heightened tension with Rabat
07:08after police reports pointed to permissiveness
07:10by Moroccan security forces towards the border crossings.
07:15The objective is, and let's be very clear about that also,
07:19to weaken Spain, and through that, to weaken the European Union,
07:24at a time when the European Union is going through a lot of electoral process,
07:30at a time when there are questionings in the European Union,
07:34including from political parties within the European Union,
07:37and where migration is a sensitive social issue.
07:40González-Laya believes Spain and the EU
07:43must have the best relationship possible with their neighbours,
07:45adding, this is good for the stability of Europe.
07:52An explosion at a weapons depot near Syria's northwestern city of Idlib
07:56killed at least 14 people and injured 11 others,
08:00the country's health ministry said on Wednesday.
08:03The depot was used to store weapons and munitions
08:06left over from the country's civil war from 2011 until 2024,
08:10according to authorities.
08:12They said the cause of the blast near the town of Sarmada was not immediately clear.
08:17Initial assessments indicated the explosion was caused by munitions.
08:21The incident was the second deadly blast in Idlib this month,
08:25after a car carrying ammunition exploded,
08:28killing five in the city of Binnish.
08:31Syria is ranked among the world's most heavily contaminated countries
08:35for unexploded ordnance.
08:38Explosions involving munitions-laden cars or arms depots
08:42have sporadically occurred in Idlib,
08:44a former frontline province among the areas
08:46most severely affected by the civil war,
08:48where multiple armed factions stored weapons throughout the conflict.
08:52Humanitarian organizations have called for intensified
08:55international and local efforts to clear mines and war remnants
08:59from the province,
09:00which they said continue to claim Syrian lives on a recurring basis.
09:09Finland has completed a 200-kilometer security fence along its border with Russia.
09:15The project was launched after Helsinki accused Moscow of hybrid warfare
09:19by orchestrating the movement of third-country nationals towards the frontier,
09:23a charge the Kremlin denied.
09:25The authorities' risk assessment, that risk is still high,
09:30that if we open the border crossing point,
09:34the instrumentalist migration will start again.
09:38More than 1,300 migrants without visas arrived at Finland's eastern border in 2023,
09:45leading Finland to shut its land border with Russia later that year.
09:48Apart from a brief reopening of two crossings that December,
09:52the frontier has remained closed ever since.
09:54Since we closed the borders, as I mentioned,
09:57the situation has been pretty calm.
10:00And we haven't faced not so very many illegal border crossings at the moment.
10:08The 4.5-meter high fence has been built in sections
10:11and is equipped with cameras and sensors.
10:18Today's financial systems are being shaped by digital currencies,
10:22crypto reserves, stable coins and artificial intelligence.
10:26The changing global financial architecture was among the key issues discussed
10:30at the Astana Finance Days this week.
10:32The ninth edition of the forum gathered 8,000 participants from 90 countries
10:36with a combined 22 trillion euros in assets under management.
10:41For two days, participants discussed capital markets,
10:44investment products and financial infrastructure.
10:47Amid geopolitical instability and increasingly volatile global markets,
10:51speakers examined how banks, regulators, investors and companies
10:55can navigate the changing financial landscape.
10:57Kazakhstan's progress in developing digital tools and financial ecosystems
11:01was also highlighted, as the country seeks to strengthen its position.
11:07We have to think, how do we elevate Kazakhstan in the international indexes
11:12to the emerging markets?
11:13Recently, the country's rating was upgraded.
11:16You know, that also helps, but there is so much work
11:19in terms of regulation, legislation, product development
11:22and increasing number of participants.
11:25For Kazakhstan, the challenge now is to turn its financial ambitions
11:28into greater international market participation.
