Latest news bulletin | March 5th – Morning
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
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00:00 France becomes first country in the world to enshrine abortion into its constitution.
00:11 One killed in missile attack on Israel`s northern border as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
00:17 calls conflict a powder keg.
00:21 Ukraine denies farm products are harming EU farmers incomes.
00:30 Brussels has fined Apple 1.8 billion euros for breaking EU competition law in its distribution
00:37 of music streaming apps.
00:45 France will officially change its constitution to make abortion a guaranteed right after
00:50 lawmakers gathered in Versailles on Monday.
00:53 A joint session of both houses of parliament needed a three-fifths majority after gaining
00:58 approval of the Senate.
01:01 The vote will give women a guaranteed right to abortion enshrined in the company`s constitution.
01:07 We are still far from the end of the road, but step by step equality is getting closer.
01:13 By guaranteeing the freedom to resort to voluntary abortion in our constitution, we give a second
01:19 victory to Simone Veil and all those who have opened the way.
01:23 We are addressing a message to all women.
01:26 Your body belongs to you and no one has the right to dispose of it in your place.
01:31 The measure had been backed by French President Emmanuel Macron who vowed to enshrine abortion
01:36 in the constitution after the US Supreme Court overturned the right for the procedure in
01:41 2022 in the United States.
01:44 France is the first country in the world to write abortion as a right into its constitution.
01:56 A missile attack on Israel`s northern border has killed one foreign national and wounded
02:01 several others.
02:05 The missile was launched from Lebanon but has so far not been claimed by Hezbollah.
02:13 This Monday, Hezbollah has said it prevented two attempts by Israeli forces to cross Lebanese
02:18 territory.
02:27 The Arab League Council has met to discuss the crisis in Gaza and ask for more aid to
02:32 be sent to the territory.
02:34 As attempts are being made to reach a ceasefire agreement.
02:45 On the ground, two residential blocks were hit in Rafah on Sunday, killing at least 13
02:50 people, including four children.
02:53 On the same night, attacks in Nusrat refugee camp killed 12 as conditions in the Gaza Strip
02:59 continue to deteriorate.
03:03 Widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law...
03:08 Also on Monday, Volker Tuck, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, called the war in Gaza a
03:14 powder keg that had the potential to escalate and ignite wider war in both the region and
03:19 beyond.
03:23 The US Supreme Court has overturned a Colorado judge`s ruling barring Donald Trump from running
03:28 in the presidential election over the capital riots.
03:32 The panel of nine justices ruled that, without prior action from Congress, states alone cannot
03:37 invoke a constitutional provision to keep candidates off the ballot.
03:41 The Supreme Court`s intervention also strikes down actions against Trump by Maine and Illinois.
03:47 It comes a day before the Super Tuesday round of Republican voting, which appears set to
03:52 confirm Trump as the party`s candidate.
03:58 Ukraine denies claims by Polish and other EU farmers that farm exports are damaging
04:03 their income.
04:04 Polish farmers are sabotaging Ukrainian grain while blocking border points between both
04:08 countries.
04:09 The Ukrainian trade representative is in Brussels to try to resolve the issue.
04:12 Poland and Ukraine are very particular neighbors in terms of agriculture, because in comparison
04:20 with other neighbors, we have intensive agricultural trade in both directions.
04:26 Sometimes the products that are subjects of complaints of EU farmers are the products
04:32 that are as well exported to Ukraine, even in bigger amounts, like poultry, for example,
04:38 because we export to Poland only 4,000 tons, and we purchase from Poland 40,000 tons of
04:46 poultry.
04:47 So we are not importer of poultry from Poland.
04:49 But this paradox is in the statistics, but not in the minds of farmers who believe that
04:57 Ukraine is a source of problems for Polish agriculture.
05:00 So is it fair to say that a lot of the protests or the protestations from farmers in Poland
05:07 and Slovakia and so on, I mean, it doesn`t stand up to scrutiny, essentially, that the
05:12 problem isn`t as bad as they`re making it out to be and can easily actually be reconciled?
05:19 If this problem is tackled in classical EU way, with analysis, figures, boring decisions,
05:26 committees, etc., it can be tackled easily.
05:30 But now we have like a new political era in the EU with a lot of protests, with a lot
05:37 of emotions, and this is something new that we need to learn how to tackle, both within
05:43 the EU and for Ukraine, because it will impact our accession process.
05:46 And on that, are you confident that the EU has your back here, that it will defend the
05:51 reality rather than the emotions?
05:54 I really believe in EU institutions experience on how to manage very contradicting interests.
06:04 And this is exactly the topic of Green Deal, because Green Deal is the, let`s say, is number
06:09 one in ranking of protest of farmers across Europe.
06:15 Ukraine is a solution for the problem of Green Deal and farmers, because Ukrainian farmers
06:21 use less fertilizers, less pesticides.
06:25 We have more land that can be free, as it was proposed within Green Deal, so this 4%
06:33 of land that should be, let`s say, less used for agricultural purposes.
06:40 So if you include Ukraine into this equation, you can be surprised that the goals of climate
06:48 policy as proposed by the EU and the interests of farmers can be, let`s say, equalized and
06:55 can be balanced.
06:56 OK, Minister, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
07:00 Brussels has ordered Apple to pay a fine of 1.8 billion euros for breaking EU competition
07:07 law in its distribution of music streaming apps.
07:10 The European Commission found Apple had blocked users of its apps store from switching to
07:15 cheaper music subscription alternatives.
07:17 It follows a four-year probe launched after Swedish company Spotify filed a complaint
07:22 in 2019.
07:24 This is illegal and it has impacted millions of European consumers.
07:30 They were not able to make a free choice as to where, how and at what prices to buy music
07:37 streaming subscriptions.
07:41 It is the first time that the Commission has fined Apple and the third biggest antitrust
07:45 levy it has ever issued.
07:48 The move is part of Brussels` plan to rein in the power of big tech companies that abuse
07:52 their market dominance under the Digital Markets Act.
07:57 The Commission says holding big tech to account will help small European businesses thrive.
08:05 It is of fundamental importance to hold companies like Apple accountable for their violation
08:11 of EU law.
08:13 Today`s decision shows that competition law continues to provide a very powerful basis
08:20 to tackle illegal behavior by companies like Apple to the benefit of consumers.
08:26 And it will work hand in hand with the DMA to ensure that digital markets work, that
08:32 they indeed deliver for people.
08:36 Similar levies against Google are currently being appealed in courts.
08:40 Apple has said it will also challenge the decision and claims Spotify`s success story
08:44 as the largest music streaming app in the world is partly due to the support it has
08:49 received from Apple and its app store.
08:54 Italian workers` safety has been at the center of the government`s debate after the recent
09:01 death of five workers at a construction site in Florence.
09:05 In 2021, Italy registered the second highest number of workplace victims in the EU after
09:10 France and with the count on the rise this year compared to the same period in 2023,
09:16 Rome is unveiling a new plan to improve working conditions.
09:19 The initiative which falls under the EU-backed national recovery and resilience plan includes
09:24 the introduction of an additional number of inspectors and a new points-based license,
09:30 forcing contractors to comply with safety standards to get permission to work.
09:35 But both the country`s builders association and Italy`s main unions have criticized the
09:41 move.
09:42 We have declared that we are not in favor of the patent, but not because we don`t want
09:46 to restrict the control and the qualification.
09:50 Because the patent for those who want to be smart, I can say, means that a private market
09:57 company opens on the first of January, closes on the 31st of December and then reopens with
10:02 a new company on the first of January.
10:04 So maybe it has consumed the points, but they return them.
10:08 Obviously we haven`t yet read what this patent provides, but it doesn`t seem to us that this
10:13 is the right mechanism.
10:15 Trade unions see subcontracting as the main cause behind these accidents.
10:19 A clear rule on the qualification of the companies, that takes into account the history of the
10:26 companies, that takes into account the behavior in the construction sites of those companies.
10:30 The company that managed the construction site of Florence had already had certain irregularities
10:37 always in health and safety matters on other Italian construction sites.
10:41 Changing the system, trade unions say, would also help attract international investments.
10:46 It will take several weeks to convert the decree into law and both trade unions and
10:51 business organizations hope that the plan can still be improved.
10:55 Giorgia Orlandi for Euronews in Rome.
11:01 Four astronauts are heading to the International Space Station on a SpaceX ship where they
11:07 will stay for six months.
11:09 SpaceX`s Falcon rocket blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center carrying three U.S. and
11:14 one Russian astronauts.
11:15 The astronauts are due to reach the orbiting lab on Tuesday.
11:19 They will replace a crew from the U.S., Denmark, Japan and Russia who have been there since
11:23 August.
11:24 Crew eight is the eighth rotation mission of SpaceX`s human transport system.
11:29 It's the ninth flight with astronauts to the space station through NASA`s commercial crew
11:33 program.
11:34 [WHOOSH]