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00:00 Scorching wildfires in the south, destructive storms in the north,
00:04 emergency services battle the effects of climate change across Italy.
00:08 As locals clear the rubble in Odessa after Russian shelling,
00:14 fighting continues across Bakhmut, Le Mans and Avdivka.
00:17 Amid the political chaos, could Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez
00:24 really form a new government with a Catalonian separatist party?
00:29 The battle against wildfires raging across southern Italy continues.
00:38 Firefighters are doing what they can, but the flames are being fanned by high winds and scorching temperatures.
00:45 Overnight, 15 people had to be evacuated from towns outside Palermo in Sicily,
00:50 suburbs threatened by encroaching flames.
00:53 They could be seen carrying luggage and being escorted by Italian Air Force personnel and firefighters with an inferno in the distance.
01:01 The destructive nature of these fires is all too obvious, but they have also turned deadly.
01:09 Emergency services were unable to reach an 88-year-old woman who had fallen ill on the island due to the flames.
01:16 And more than 200 people in Palermo have reportedly sought medical attention for smoke inhalation.
01:23 On Tuesday, a blaze surrounded Palermo airport.
01:28 It was forced to close for safety reasons, but with temperatures rising to 47 degrees Celsius,
01:34 the tarmac melted and flights were cancelled.
01:38 And while southern Italy burns, violent storms have lashed the north of the country.
01:44 Hail, strong winds and heavy rains have hit the Italian provinces of Milan, Verese and Brescia,
01:50 causing the collapse of many large trees and flooding streets.
01:54 Public transport was hit with widespread damage and breakdowns.
02:00 Without enough seats on either the left or the right,
02:06 could Catalonia's pro-independence parties be decisive in forming Spain's new government?
02:11 If so, the Junts party says its exiled leader, Carles Puigdemont, who remains a fugitive in Belgium,
02:18 must receive an amnesty from the state for organising an illegal independence referendum in Catalonia.
02:24 It may be possible for Puigdemont to act as the kingmaker,
02:43 but Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has always ruled out helping Catalonia's separatists.
03:10 But on Monday, the public prosecutor's office asked for Puigdemont's international arrest warrant to be reactivated,
03:16 making it appear even less likely.
03:39 A firefighting plane on the Greek island of Evia has crashed, killing the two pilots on board.
03:44 The plane had just dropped water on a fire when it hit a hillside.
03:48 The Ministry of Defence said they were pilots from the Greek Air Force.
03:52 The accident happened near the town of Christos on Tuesday
03:55 and was captured by a camera crew from ERT state television.
03:59 At least three other aircraft and around 100 firefighters were working nearby.
04:04 Fires have broken out on other islands, including Rhodes and Corfu.
04:08 As the country endures a ninth day of extreme temperatures,
04:12 the dryness of the ground and high winds has made them much worse.
04:16 The Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said on Tuesday that we have a difficult summer ahead of us,
04:22 as his cabinet was meeting to discuss the fires.
04:25 The wildfires are still raging across the island of Rhodes out of control.
04:34 Desperate residents have watched as flames approach their homes,
04:37 while firefighting planes and helicopters are dropping water on them.
04:41 A third successive heat wave is pushing temperatures up above 40 degrees Celsius again.
04:48 The wildfires in Rhodes are what we call the "explosions of the forest fire".
04:52 The environmental conditions that were in place,
04:56 combined with the previous temperature, the very hot dry weather,
05:00 and the strong winds, helped the fire to get a lot of intensity,
05:05 to develop a lot of heat load, and this eventually led to its explosion.
05:10 And when we say explosion, we mean that suddenly,
05:13 all this heat load starts to spread and this extreme behavior appears.
05:19 If we were talking about a basic fire that appears to be extreme behavior,
05:40 no, it is not. We have to understand that extreme fires,
05:45 and those that can lead to major fires, are not dealt with.
05:49 And this is not only about Greece, but about any other firefighting mechanism in the world.
05:54 What we can do is invest in prevention,
05:59 and that is why we can talk more in detail with our colleagues.
06:02 However, in terms of readiness and prevention,
06:05 we can use scientific tools that are already available.
06:10 Despite the near impossibility of taming the fires,
06:13 many countries have sent help, including Turkey, Israel and Egypt.
06:17 The EU has now sent 500 firefighters, 100 vehicles and 7 planes.
06:22 Death Valley in California, the hottest place on Earth.
06:32 The extreme heat may be a mere curiosity for these tourists,
06:35 but for others on this planet it is life-changing and even life-threatening.
06:40 The fingerprints of climate change are all over the intense heat waves gripping the globe this month.
06:45 That's the conclusion of World Weather Attribution,
06:48 a research group comprised of international climatologists that released their findings on Tuesday.
06:54 It found that our atmosphere, having been warmed by carbon dioxide and other gases for decades,
07:00 has made the current European heat wave 2.5 degrees Celsius hotter
07:05 and the one in the United States and Mexico 2 degrees hotter.
07:08 Using tree rings and other data sources,
07:10 the report says this month's heat is likely the hottest Earth has been in about 120,000 years,
07:17 easily the hottest of human civilization.
07:20 In China, the report found that greenhouse gases
07:23 has increased the possibility of heat waves by a factor of 50,
07:27 and everywhere the heat waves will be more intense, more frequent and last longer.
07:31 It's a cocktail that not only disrupts human lives,
07:34 but is behind other weather-related disasters such as droughts and wildfires.
07:39 And since industry began burning greenhouse gases, the world has warmed by 1.2 degrees.
07:45 The jury has delivered its verdict over the terror attacks at the Brussels airport and metro station in March 2016
07:56 that killed 32 people.
07:58 There are 10 defendants, among them Salah Abdel-Slam,
08:02 who is already serving a life sentence in France over his role in the attacks that hit Paris in 2015.
08:08 The suspects were tried on charges including murder, attempted murder and participation in the acts of a terrorist group.
08:18 The biggest trial in Belgium's judiciary history unfolded over more than a half a year.
08:23 Sentencing will be decided in a separate process in September.
08:27 If convicted, some could face up to 30 years in prison.
08:31 After seven months of hearings and the jury spending the last 19 days locked together in isolation deliberating,
08:41 the verdict is out.
08:43 Families and victims will still have to wait a couple of weeks longer
08:46 until they hear the precise sentences to give all those involved
08:50 in this highly emotional, gruelling trial a long break.
08:55 Maeve McMahan, Euronews, Brussels.
08:57 Residents of Odessa clear rubble after Russian strikes on the city.
09:05 The total damage has yet to be assessed.
09:08 In the coming days UNESCO representatives will arrive in the region for inspection of the cultural heritage sites affected by the attacks.
09:17 On Tuesday Ukrainian commander Alexander Syritsky visited combat brigades in the Bakhmut and Leman directions to adjust military plans.
09:25 According to the briefing by Kyiv, active fighting continues in these areas as well as Avdivka.
09:31 Meanwhile Russia's lower house, the Duma, passed an amendment
09:35 extending the age for military call-up to include citizens from 18 to 30 years old.
09:40 Previously military service was compulsory up to 27 years old.
09:44 The Duma also drafted laws on penalties for failure to appear for military service.
09:49 Fines will increase tenfold.
09:51 Meanwhile Russia's Ministry of Defence says its army has pushed back several Ukrainian advances in the Donetsk region.
10:00 Chinese Foreign Minister, Ching Gan, has been relieved of his duties, according to state media.
10:08 No further explanation was provided.
10:11 In office since the end of December 2022, Mr. Chin has not been seen since the 25th of June.
10:16 Since then he missed several diplomatic events, including a major meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Indonesia around early July.
10:26 The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs justified Ching Gan's absence on the grounds of health reasons.
10:32 But that was not enough to quieten online rumours and speculation of his whereabouts.
10:38 Mr. Chin has been replaced by his predecessor, Wang Yi.
10:41 Over the past month in Ching Gan's absence, Wang Yi was already fulfilling some of the duties of the now ex-minister.
10:48 One year to go and the Olympic torch has been unveiled in Paris.
10:57 With much flair and with the help of athletics great Usain Bolt,
11:01 Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet and International Olympic Committee Chief Thomas Bach presented the torch for all to see.
11:10 Crafted by French designer Mathieu Lehaneur, the torch encapsulates the spirit of 2024, guided by three central themes - equality, water and tranquility.
11:24 It will be carried by 11,000 people and will then embark on a historic journey across France,
11:31 covering thousands of kilometres, passed from hand to hand in a spirit of unity and celebration.
11:38 The final destination is of course in Paris for the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the Games opening ceremony on July 24.
11:48 (whooshing)