Latest news bulletin | September 29th – Morning
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Transcript
00:00 Dismay and despair among ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh as half the population flees and the breakaway region's government dissolves itself.
00:09 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said Ukraine's closer than ever to the alliance as French and British ministers visit Kiev.
00:19 A blast in Opsala, Sweden has killed a 25-year-old woman. It's the latest death in a series of attacks linked to a gangland feud.
00:28 With more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh's population having fled to Armenia, the separatist government of the breakaway region says it will dissolve itself.
00:42 It means the unrecognized republic will cease to exist by the year's end after a lightning military operation reasserted Azerbaijan's control.
00:50 Many of those who fled across the border voiced their dismay.
00:56 It's a shame. What should be a shame? We've been born, raised and lived in Artsakh all our lives, we've created everything over the years.
01:05 Now everything is destroyed. Our past life, our 32-year-old life is ruined.
01:12 Because Armenians can't stay in Azerbaijan, only Karabakh Armenians, Artsakh Armenians, are left.
01:20 If our mother Armenia was protected, we would be Arkhians, we would work and remain as Armenians.
01:30 Azeri authorities have released new images of the former head of the separatist government who was arrested while trying to cross the border.
01:39 They've charged Ruben Vardanyan with financing terrorism and creating an illegal army.
01:47 Among those being transferred to Armenia are people injured in Monday's fuel depot explosion that killed 68.
01:53 Russian peacekeepers say the last remaining survivors have been flown out.
01:58 A warm welcome in Kiev today for French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Le Corneux
02:10 and for the UK's new defence secretary Grant Shapps, meeting the Ukrainian president for the first time.
02:16 And in a surprise visit, NATO's secretary-general, with words of encouragement for the Ukrainian forces on the front line.
02:26 Every metre that Ukrainian forces regain is a metre that Russia loses.
02:36 And there is a stark contrast. Ukrainians are fighting for their families, their future, their freedom.
02:47 Moscow is fighting for imperial delusions. Ukraine is now closer to NATO than ever before.
02:58 It's a conversation between allies and the question of when Ukraine will become a member of the alliance.
03:06 We are doing everything to bring this time closer.
03:09 At the same time, Moscow is doubling down on its defence spending to support what it calls the Special Military Operation.
03:16 Defence will account for 30% of federal spending in 2024, 6% of GDP.
03:22 And that's a first for post-Soviet Russia.
03:27 A lone gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire in an apartment and a hospital in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on Thursday,
03:37 killing two people and seriously injuring a 14-year-old girl, police said.
03:42 The shooting sent patients and medics fleeing the Erasmus Medical Centre in downtown Rotterdam,
03:47 including some who were wheeled out of the building in beds.
03:51 Others barricaded themselves into rooms and stuck handwritten signs to windows to show their location.
03:56 The police told reporters the shooter was a 32-year-old student from Rotterdam.
04:01 In Sweden, a woman has died after what police believe may be the latest in a series of explosions linked to a gang war.
04:11 It happened in the residential area of Fulure, north of the city of Uppsala.
04:17 Investigators say the 25-year-old victim was a neighbour of the targeted premises and had no criminal links.
04:23 Several other people were injured in two other blasts across the country, one in the south and one in a suburb of Stockholm.
04:30 The attacks are said to be part of a long-running feud between two rival gangs in a turf war of drugs and weapons.
04:43 French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed a limited form of autonomy for Corsica on a visit to the Mediterranean island.
04:50 The territory has been part of France since the 18th century,
04:53 but has been subjected to a sometimes violent campaign for independence in recent decades.
04:58 Macron gave few details but spoke of changing the constitution to reflect Corsican identity.
05:06 Let us have the audacity to build autonomy in Corsica, in the Republic.
05:13 This autonomy must be the means to build together the future without the disengagement of the State.
05:25 It will not be an autonomy against the State, nor an autonomy without the State,
05:32 but an autonomy for Corsica and the Republic.
05:35 This speech was well received by the island's assembly.
05:39 A leading autonomy campaigner said he was satisfied but curious.
05:45 Satisfied because hearing about the future of a singular community,
05:50 the inscription of our island in the constitution,
05:53 hearing about the powerful means for the language, the land,
05:58 these are all powerful reasons for interest and satisfaction,
06:02 but at the same time we must be careful because we all know that at this stage
06:06 it will not be enough to guarantee political success and that we still need to work a lot in the coming months.
06:11 Macron proposed a six-month timeline for the French government and local parties
06:15 to agree on a text for autonomy proposals.
06:18 Any changes to the constitution would require the approval of the French Parliament.
06:23 A bird's eye view of Volos after Storm Elias.
06:32 The Greek city's 150,000 residents woke up to floods just weeks after Storm Daniel had left the waterlogged.
06:39 Surrounding villages have been evacuated, 4,000 people abandoning their homes.
06:46 The city's waterlogged waterfront.
06:51 I've been here for 25-28 years and I can't stand it anymore.
06:56 We can't do anything. We've been here twice.
07:00 We're going to throw up. There's no water left.
07:04 It's worse. They've made ditches to get the machines down.
07:09 The river is already unclean. It's been unclean for 3-4 years.
07:14 It's been a disaster. The river is breaking. It's the biggest river in the city.
07:20 Greece has been fighting the elements for months.
07:23 During the summer it suffered devastating fires in which tens of thousands of hectares burned and at least 26 people died.
07:30 Then the storms came. First Daniel and now Elias.
07:39 A 14-year-old pupil has been arrested after three teachers and two pupils were stabbed at a secondary school in Jerez de la Frontera, southern Spain.
07:46 The attacker was armed with two kitchen knives.
07:49 The victims were struck several times shortly after classes started in the morning.
07:54 A classmate quoted by Spanish media described the accused as always quiet in class and alone during recess
08:01 and admitted that there were classmates who made jokes about him.
08:04 Four of the five injured were taken to hospital.
08:08 In the UK there's consistent growth in the number of people who say they regret Brexit.
08:16 Around 62% of Britons believe leaving the EU is a failure according to the UK polling company YouGov.
08:22 Food prices have risen 25% from January 2021, a consequence of the extra trade barriers from leaving the single market.
08:31 Meanwhile researchers at the Centre for European Reform say business investment was 23% lower than it would have been in 2021 due to Brexit.
08:39 Rejoiners say the public is ahead of politicians in calling for the UK to rejoin the EU.
08:46 I think it's the reality of the cost of living crisis that people who may have been wrapped up in the ideology,
08:54 the debates that we had six or seven years ago about all that sovereignty stuff, Britain standing on its own and all that sort of stuff,
09:01 have just come face to face with the fact that there are more important things in life.
09:05 Can you feed your kids? Right now half of low-income families in the UK are skipping meals to feed their kids.
09:10 We cannot afford Brexit. If we can't afford food, we can't afford Brexit.
09:14 But the process in joining the EU is deeply complex.
09:18 Moreover, there's no precedent for a country rejoining and the EU has changed significantly since the UK voted to leave in 2016.
09:25 Meanwhile, there are several other countries waiting in the wings, including Ukraine, as well as countries in the Western Balkans.
09:32 However, it can be said that the UK side has decided to have a more pragmatic, closer relationship with Brussels in recent months,
09:40 including when the British rejoined the EU's Horizon Science programme.
09:46 First and foremost, we'll be talking about an entirely new discussion.
09:52 It will not be about a possible UK rejoining on past terms.
09:59 And then I think there's a very interesting point you're pointing to, which is the EU is in an enlargement process now,
10:06 not only about the Western Balkans, it's also about Ukraine, it's also about Moldova and potentially beyond.
10:14 So it is in itself a very big challenge to the EU.
10:17 Meanwhile, there's no appetite currently for politicians on either side, either the UK or the EU, to reopen what was a deeply corrosive debate.
10:25 Polls show a strong outlook for a Labour-led government in the UK in the next year.
10:30 However, its leader Keir Starmer has ruled out a return to the EU.
10:34 Seán O'Mary, Euronews, Brussels.
10:40 Police have raided the referee's committee offices as part of an investigation into alleged corrupt payments by Barcelona to an official.
10:48 The probe began in March, with allegations that the Catalan side paid over 7 million euros to firms owned by José María Enríquez Negrera, a former committee vice-president.
10:58 No arrests were made during the Madrid search, and Barcelona has so far denied any wrongdoing.
11:05 UEFA, which has provisionally cleared the club for this season's Champions League, is also investigating the matter.
11:11 Veteran actor Michael Gambon has died at the age of 82.
11:19 He was known to many as Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight Harry Potter films.
11:29 An accomplished stage actor, winner of three Olivier's and a Tony, his screen performances included The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, The King's Speech, Gosford Park and Paddington.
11:38 He won four BAFTAs for roles including The Singing Detective.
11:42 His publicist said he died of pneumonia.
11:45 I have no idea.
11:47 (whooshing)