Latest news bulletin | May 31st – Morning
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00:00Russia's army has struck the southern part of Kharkiv, hitting the administrative building
00:05of one of the subdivisions of Kharkiv heating networks.
00:10Shock waves and shrapnel shattered windows in surrounding homes and damaged vehicles.
00:16Six women and one man were slightly injured in the night strike.
00:20One person is still in hospital.
00:23At 2 a.m. we woke up from a terrible explosion.
00:31I heard glass flying at me, at my bed.
00:40I have pictures on the wall, my friend painted them on me, a photo in a frame is also on me.
00:54I grabbed Bini, this is my dog, he barks, and we ran out into the corridor.
01:05The Russian army launched the offensive in the Kharkiv region in the northeast of the
01:09country on May 10 to try and break through Ukrainian lines.
01:17NATO's foreign ministers met to discuss whether to allow Ukraine to use their weapons to launch
01:23strikes on Russian territory.
01:25The two-day gathering in Prague focused on the question of potentially lifting restrictions
01:30that have so far limited Ukraine's ability to inflict damage across the Russian border.
01:36So far, the West has refrained from allowing its weapons to be used for that purpose, for
01:41fear of escalating the conflict into a wider war with Russia.
01:49Ukraine can still prevail, but only with continued robust support from NATO Allies.
01:55So at the NATO Summit in July, we plan to put our support on a firmer footing, including
02:02with a greater NATO role in coordinating security assistance and training, as well as a multi-year
02:08financial commitment.
02:10The ministers will also tackle the question of who should become the next Secretary General,
02:16with Stoltenberg due to step down in October.
02:19Slovenia has become the latest European country to recognize Palestine following a proposal
02:31by its Prime Minister.
02:32He said he pushed for a swift decision following deadly Israeli attacks in Rafah.
02:50The country's parliament must ratify the decision before it can come into effect.
02:58However, this is considered a mere formality as none of the parliamentary parties in the
03:0490-seat National Assembly are expected to oppose the motion.
03:13Iran has begun the formal registration of presidential candidates hoping to replace
03:18the late Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month.
03:23With just five days to register, a large number of candidates have already put themselves
03:28forward, but the qualification process is tough.
03:31Applicants must be cleared by a body selected by Iran's Supreme Leader.
03:35Influenced by his hardline conservative ideologies, its likely moderate candidates will be eliminated.
03:41The final list of nominees will be announced on the 11th of June.
03:48A volcano in Iceland has continued to erupt for a second day, but authorities say winds
03:54are expected to carry poisonous gas pollution away from the capital Reykjavik.
03:59Iceland's Met Office says the eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, the fifth since December,
04:04is the most powerful since volcanoes in the area became active again after lying dormant
04:09for more than 800 years.
04:11The town of Grindavik is again subject to an evacuation order for the handful of people
04:16who returned to their homes after an eruption earlier this year.
04:23A series of scandals and spying allegations are jeopardizing the EU election campaign
04:29of Germany's AfD party.
04:31They were expected to be the driving force of Europe's far right and presented themselves
04:37as the only patriotic force in Germany.
04:47The most serious allegation surrounds the party's top candidate and MEP Maximilian Krah.
04:56At the end of April, his assistant was arrested on suspicion of passing information to China.
05:03Police later searched Krah's office.
05:06One week ago, AfD was finally expelled from the far right European group Identity and Democracy
05:15after Krah gave an interview saying not all SS members were criminals.
05:21Experts say recent scandals spoiled AfD's image in Germany.
05:45The party's number two, Petr Bristron, also faces an investigation over allegations
05:51he may got money from a pro-Russian network.
06:15They are selling their souls on Russian propaganda outlets and videos.
06:20AfD's hardcore voters probably won't be put off by recent news.
06:26However, the scandals could sway away those right-wing or conservative voters
06:31who haven't made up their mind yet.
06:36Political parties are targeting young people ahead of the European elections.
06:41Many populist or far-right parties hope they will join their elders in rejecting traditional parties.
06:47I think that young people, they look at the future and the future looks grim for them.
06:53How can they have trust in the European Commission?
06:56How can they have trust in these traditional parties, the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats,
07:00the Liberal Democrats, who have been governing us for decades
07:04and who have brought us into this mess of uncontrolled borders,
07:08of mass migration, of insecurity, of Islamic terrorism?
07:12To do this, the European far-right is targeting young people on social networks,
07:17including the Chinese platform TikTok.
07:19In Belgium, the Vlaams Belang posts frequently on social networks
07:23and spends huge sums on trying to attract young voters.
07:26Italy's Matteo Salvini, Portugal's Andre Ventura and France's Jordan Bardella
07:32regularly publish short videos, a format popular among a youth
07:36sometimes described as disillusioned with politics.
07:40I think there is still a partial disinterest of the youth
07:45because we say to ourselves, well, it's the politicians who are at the top,
07:48it's the men with their suit and tie who are in their big berlin,
07:54who are not going to listen to us, so we feel a little disinterested.
07:57We say to ourselves, well, whatever we do, it won't change anything, they won't listen to us.
08:02Yet the 2019 European elections had seen record turnouts, thanks to young people.
08:0962% of all the people polled believe that joining the European Union is beneficial,
08:14which rises to 67% if only 18 to 29-year-olds are considered.
08:19Fighting rising prices, reducing social inequalities and unemployment,
08:24supporting economic growth and fighting climate change
08:27are priorities for the majority of young people,
08:30according to a recent Neuronews Ipsos survey.
08:35Belgium is headed for a triple election,
08:39with voters casting ballots to elect a new federal parliament,
08:42regional parliaments and members of the European Parliament all on the same day.
08:46Millions of paper election ballots are also already being boxed up and shipped out across the country.
08:52The INI group is responsible for printing and preparing about 8 million ballots for the elections.
08:58Yes, we hope that it will always be paper ballots, or even more in the future.
09:05We saw the example of the Netherlands, where they came back to paper voting.
09:09I think in Wallonia they also came back to paper,
09:13because many of the people are quite afraid of the digital way,
09:19that there might be some infractions in one or another way.
09:22There's also the pricing issue, which the paper,
09:25working with the paper is cheaper than the digital way to do this.
09:30Flemish nationalists are predicted to win what the country calls the mother of all elections.
09:34In Wallonia, the French-speaking southern half, Social Democrats,
09:37and the far left have dominated the campaign.
09:40Elections will be held on June 9th.
09:42Good morning, I'm Gloria Muñoz.
09:53I've been in a small shop for 35 years, in the neighborhood of Salamanca in Madrid.
09:59If I were a MEP, I would change many things.
10:07First of all, I would help the small business a lot more,
10:12because if there's a study, the small business, at least in Madrid, is disappearing.
10:18All the big companies, I'm not going to name them,
10:25are making the small business unable to defend itself,
10:32and they have to close little by little,
10:36and the shops are disappearing,
10:38because they have been there all their lives,
10:40and there are very few of us left.
10:49Hi, I'm Marta Barandi, candidate for European elections with FOREU.
10:53If I am elected as an MEP, I will stand for a stronger Europe,
10:58for migration based on European values,
11:00but most and foremost, for entrepreneurs.
11:04As an entrepreneur myself,
11:06I believe that individual entrepreneurship should be encouraged,
11:11and in terms of taxation, and in terms of administration,
11:16the burden should be less,
11:18and of course, the social justice for entrepreneurs should be the same as for employees.
11:24They should receive the same rights as employees when they lose their business.
11:29It is not fair for entrepreneurs who create working places,
11:33and who add value to society,
11:35to be in worse conditions than those who work.