Latest news bulletin | March 8th – 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 While Palestinians bury bodies, negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of more Israeli
00:06 hostages are on hold until next week.
00:11 Sweden has officially joined NATO as the 32nd member of the military alliance.
00:21 European People's Party officially elects Ursula von der Leyen as their lead candidate
00:26 for the June elections.
00:28 The people of Ireland will vote in two constitutional referendums that will recognize the modern
00:36 family and the role of carers in the home.
00:44 While Palestinians bury 43 bodies returned to Rafa by the Israeli authorities in a mass
00:49 grave, negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of more Israeli hostages are on hold
00:54 until next week.
00:56 The announcement put an end to the hope of a truce before Ramadan.
01:00 This Thursday, the Israeli Prime Minister said that the IDF will continue to operate
01:04 throughout the Palestinian enclave, including Rafa, until they eliminate Hamas, recover
01:09 all the captives and prevent future threats from Gaza against Israel.
01:14 Whilst humanitarian aid continues to reach the Gaza Strip by air, after almost five months
01:19 of war, much of the Gaza Strip has been destroyed and created a growing humanitarian catastrophe.
01:25 In the south of the Gaza Strip, hundreds of thousands of people who fled from other areas
01:30 of the enclave live in tents and struggle with food shortages, rising prices and a lack
01:35 of source of income.
01:37 In addition to appeals from international leaders, British humanitarian organizations
01:42 have united in a call for an end to hostilities, marking International Women's Day in advance.
01:54 Sweden has formally joined NATO as the 32nd member of the military alliance, ending decades
02:00 of post-World War II neutrality.
02:05 Russia will stay a serious threat to the Euro-Atlantic security for the foreseeable future.
02:11 It was in this light that Sweden applied to join the NATO defence alliance.
02:18 Sweden's membership comes as concerns about Russian aggression in Europe have heightened
02:23 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
02:25 Sweden and Finland both abandoned long-standing neutrality that was a hallmark of the Nordic
02:30 state's Cold War foreign policy.
02:36 The European People's Party has elected the current EU Commission President Ursula von
02:41 der Leyen as the lead candidate for the June EU elections.
02:45 Von der Leyen, who has a track record of crisis management during the pandemic and the war
02:50 in Ukraine, promised stability and security and lashed out at both the far right and the
02:55 far left.
02:59 They want to trample on our values and they want to destroy our Europe and we, the EPP,
03:06 will never let that happen.
03:16 So this is a defining moment.
03:20 The signal of Bucharest today is that EPP is standing for Europe, strong and secure,
03:30 peaceful and prosperous, democratic and united.
03:36 We stand pro-EU, pro-Ukraine, pro-rule of law.
03:44 Von der Leyen was the only candidate of the party.
03:48 She gained 400 votes with 89 delegates who are against her.
03:52 EPP leaders think if they win the elections, the European Council will formally nominate
03:57 von der Leyen to be the Commission President.
04:01 Look, if the European People's Party wins the European election, I believe we are going
04:08 to win it.
04:09 If the elections indicate this will happen, then keeping the President of the European
04:15 Commission should be a basically automatic process.
04:19 Unfortunately for von der Leyen, a big percentage of the 800 delegates did not vote.
04:26 Ursula von der Leyen is a significant victory.
04:30 She can celebrate the fact that the People's Party supports the re-start of the struggle
04:35 for the position of the President of the Commission.
04:37 But this is a bitter victory, because 300 of the 800 delegates did not vote at all,
04:44 more than 80 of them opposed the position.
04:48 Zsíros Sándor from the Euronews in Bucharest reported.
04:56 Since 1937, the Irish Constitution always recognized the family as being based on marriage
05:01 only.
05:02 However, the Irish government now wants to acknowledge same-sex, cohabiting and single-parent
05:07 families with equal status.
05:10 Plans to also recognize carers in the home is seen by some as a constitutional move long
05:16 overdue.
05:17 We in Labour are asking for a yes-yes vote on both referendums.
05:20 On the family referendum, we want to see a yes vote to create a more inclusive definition
05:25 of family beyond that just on marriage, because we know that recognises the reality of the
05:29 wonderful diversity of family life in Ireland today.
05:32 On the care referendum, we want to vote yes to that, to delete the sexist and outdated
05:37 language about women and mothers, and to replace it with a gender-neutral provision that for
05:41 the first time will recognize and value care in our society.
05:46 The second referendum on care in the home promises that the government will strive to
05:50 make provision for those who look after loved ones.
05:53 One expert on Irish law says both referendums are legally flawed.
05:57 These two referendums will have the following effects.
06:00 Firstly, they will change the definition of family from a family based on marriage to
06:06 a family based on marriage or what is termed other durable relations.
06:10 But that term has not been clarified and it means different things in European law and
06:16 it is completely uncertain as to the consequences it will have for the Irish constitution.
06:21 In relation to the second referendum, it's to amend the same article, but to remove from
06:27 that article the references to giving special protection to women who want to remain in
06:34 the home as parents and who should not be forced against their wishes to work outside
06:38 the home due to economic necessity.
06:41 The government's intention is to modernize constitutional law that was put in place in
06:46 1937 when Ireland was a much more religious and conservative place.
06:52 Voter turnout for these two referendums is expected to be low due to apathy and a sense
06:57 of confusion.
06:58 If one or both referendums are rejected, then the people of Ireland will probably have to
07:03 go to the polls again in the coming years.
07:05 This is Ken Murray for Euronews in Dublin.
07:11 With Athens Acropolis introducing a daily visitor cap of 20,000, a new travel trend
07:16 is emerging across Europe.
07:19 Introducing the destination dupe where other lesser known destinations are suggested instead
07:23 of overcrowded hotspots, swap Tunis for Santorini, Pula for Rome, Ljubljana for Venice.
07:29 It's really important to alleviate the pressure on certain destinations, promoting the offering
07:37 in other destinations which are not so well known internationally.
07:42 With tourism numbers returning to pre-pandemic levels, countries are welcoming new trends
07:47 to help stem the flow of visitors who disrupt residents' lives by bringing issues such as
07:52 high rents and pollution in tow with them.
07:55 We don't actually even have mass tourism in Slovenia.
07:59 Also, we don't have any bigger resorts or everything like that.
08:04 Overcrowded destinations such as Venice and Amsterdam are hiking tourist taxes in an effort
08:08 to combat over-tourism.
08:10 Iceland will also introduce a tax later this year to help the country with its goal to
08:14 become climate neutral before 2040.
08:16 It's true that at some point Tunisia was perceived as a destination for mass tourism,
08:26 over-tourism.
08:27 But this model, this image has been improved thanks to the work and effort of all the actors
08:40 of the tourist ecosystem in Tunisia.
08:42 France plans to launch a one million euro campaign encouraging domestic and foreign
08:47 tourists to visit destinations off the beaten track instead of the 20% of the country where
08:51 80% of visits are concentrated.
08:54 Destination duping is not only beneficial for residents of overcrowded cities and undiscovered
08:59 places, but it can also help the environment.
09:02 With the price of flights soaring, travelers are welcoming this new travel trend that can
09:07 help them get away for less.
09:09 Liv Stroud in Berlin for Euronews.
09:12 Higher quality and cheaper prices of drugs in the EU are challenging the fight against
09:19 illicit drug markets.
09:21 This is the main takeaway from an annual analysis on the EU drugs markets.
09:25 This poses a threat to prevention.
09:28 A team for drugs and addictions in Belgium, they receive 2,000 calls per year, both from
09:33 consumers and their relatives worried about possible addictions.
09:37 Most of them are related to marijuana.
09:40 In most EU countries, the use of cannabis is illegal.
09:44 But recently Germany plans to legalize cannabis for recreational use.
09:48 This move could impact prevention.
09:52 It will also be way more easier to do like prevention and risk reduction towards the
09:59 general public because when a drug is legal, you can do way more than when it's illegal.
10:05 You can just say, well, it's illegal so you shouldn't take it.
10:09 And that's all we can say.
10:11 When a product is legal, we can like offer, and the government, I mean, can also offer
10:18 like guidelines and what you should or shouldn't do.
10:22 There are already some EU countries with more permissive laws.
10:26 Malta is the only one that has legalized its use.
10:29 But Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal or the Netherlands allow or tolerate private use.
10:34 The EU drugs market is worth a total of 31 billion euros.
10:39 Cannabis is the drug with the biggest share.
10:41 It accounts for 39% of the total and 12.1 billion euros.
10:46 Followed closely by cocaine, with 37% of the total and 12.6 billion euros.
10:52 Now on the rise due to the availability of cheaper cocaine.
10:55 Since there are more drugs, drug dealers have to fight for their share of the market.
11:00 This can be dangerous for citizens.
11:02 The increase in drug-related violence is general everywhere in Europe.
11:07 Certainly there is a huge pressure on the different actors of the illicit drug market.
11:13 And this violence has partly been boosted by the huge increase in the availability of
11:19 cocaine on the drug market in the recent years.
11:23 Even if the drug-related violence started slowly but surely 10, 15 years ago around
11:28 the cannabis market in Europe.
11:31 This is the case in Belgium.
11:33 In the past months, drug violence has increased.
11:36 In the month of February there were around 10 shootings in Belgium, one of them with
11:40 a fatal victim.
11:41 (crowd murmuring)
11:44 (whooshing)