Latest news bulletin | July 16th – Evening
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00:00Romania is suffering in the heat once again as temperatures reach over 40 degrees Celsius
00:07in the shade. The emergency services have been inundated with people affected while
00:12freight trucks are being pulled over for safety and trains are running at reduced speed. The
00:17heatwave is also straining the nation's energy system, with production not able to
00:20keep up with consumption. That means that power blackouts are increasingly frequent.
00:26In Ukraine, locals are also suffering. While doctors often recommend staying indoors during
00:31extreme heat, this advice is impractical in Ukraine. Russian missile attacks have destroyed
00:36much of the country's electricity generation capacity, preventing the use of air conditioners.
00:40In North Macedonia, efforts to put out wildfires on Serta mountain in the Megatino region are
00:58continuing. Helicopters and firefighting aircraft are being deployed in the extinguishing operations.
01:04At the worst point, the country's crisis management centre said that seven wildfires were active
01:08across the country.
01:17Donning his Real Madrid jersey, French footballer Kylian Mbappe has been officially welcomed
01:23as the newest player of the Spanish club. Nearly 80,000 fans gathered at the Santiago
01:31Bernabéu stadium to watch Mbappe's presentation after he signed a five-year contract with
01:38the team.
01:42Surrounded by relatives, club officials and several former players, Mbappe entered the
01:47stage to loud cheers, while the song Nessun Dorma was played on the loudspeakers.
01:54Images of Mbappe's career were displayed, as well as photos including Mbappe wearing
02:00Real Madrid's uniform as a kid and posing alongside former club star Cristiano Ronaldo.
02:07Club president Florentino Perez called Mbappe's inauguration a historic act for the club.
02:19China and Russia's naval forces kicked off a joint military exercise only days after
02:25NATO allies called Beijing a decisive enabler of the war in Ukraine.
02:31Forces from both sides patrolled the western and northern Pacific Ocean, according to the
02:36Chinese defence ministry. However, the ministry also said in their brief statement that the
02:42operation had nothing to do with international and regional situations and did not mean to
02:48target a third party.
02:51The joint drills came on the heels of China's latest tensions with NATO allies last week.
02:58Only days ago, NATO's deputy secretary-general said China was seen as directly enabling the
03:04war between Russia and Ukraine.
03:07Before that, a sternly worded communication from NATO expressed concerns over Beijing's
03:13nuclear arsenal and its capabilities in space, making it clear that China is becoming a focus
03:19of the military alliance.
03:24The debate over the vote that is taking place on Thursday to confirm the bond alliance candidacy
03:29as president of the European Commission is particularly heated across European capitals.
03:34This is especially true here in Rome, where Italy's prime minister is also the president
03:38of the ECR political group, one of the largest groups that has remained undecided over its
03:44support to von der Leyen.
03:46As we know, at the end of June, Giorgio Meloni abstained from the vote to confirm von der
03:51Leyen's re-election. And more recently, she stated that regardless of the dual roles,
03:56she wants Italy's position to be recognized. In other words, she aims to ensure that Italy
04:01gets a top post in the EU Commission.
04:06Every vote will count on Thursday when von der Leyen will attempt to convince MEPs to
04:11give her a second mandate. But given it's a secret ballot, the result is not guaranteed.
04:18From the new stability pact to migration policies, analysts say there's so much at stake for
04:23Italy that the country must preserve the good relations it has maintained with the EU Commission.
04:53During these challenging times, both Italy and other EU countries face an increased responsibility.
05:24Much will depend on the meeting Ursula von der Leyen held with the ECR group on Tuesday
05:46ahead of this week's vote.
05:48Giorgio Arlandi for Euronews in Rome.
05:58The European Parliament in Strasbourg reopens its doors after three months of renovation,
06:03taking advantage of the break for the elections.
06:07More than half of the 720 MEPs enter Parliament for the first time and they have a lot to
06:13discover about EU institutions, specifically the Parliament.
06:18Benedetta Scuderi, elected in Italy for the Greens EFA group, is one of them.
06:43Newcomers must first navigate the building, which can be perceived as a labyrinth for
07:01some of them. The eve of the first plenary session is dedicated to getting to know the
07:07new workplace and new colleagues.
07:21Their schedule is packed, starting with the election of the President of the Parliament
07:25and then the confirmation vote for the President of the European Commission.
07:32Scuderi states her priorities.
07:46Scuderi, born in 1991, is one of the youngest faces of the new Parliament, in which deputies
07:51under the age of 40 represent around a fifth of the total.
07:59Roberta Mezzola has been re-elected by absolute majority as President of the European Parliament
08:04during the opening session of the new term. The Maltese politician, who had 562 votes
08:10in favour, will represent the institution for the next two and a half years.
08:14This last mandate we have learnt that the future is anything but predictable, but come
08:21what may I will keep working with all of you to face the tests when they do come.
08:28One by one, the MEPs cast their votes to the ballots placed in the corners of the hemicycle.
08:34Mezzola, member of the EPP, has been able to build a consensus in a difficult time for
08:39the Parliament and the initial discrepancies over her candidacy, like her position on abortion,
08:44have been diluted. But she will have to focus on reconstructing the damage caused by the
08:49corruption scandal known as Qatargate. Mezzola brought in some reforms, but for several MEPs
08:56they are not enough.
08:59There were issues that had to be tackled about transparency, the risk of interferences and
09:04of corruption and there were steps taken by Mezzola that we supported, others that still
09:10need to be taken and that we will need to push for in the new mandate so that we are
09:16sure that we are protected from the risk of foreign interferences and the corruption risks
09:23that are everywhere in institutions and the Parliament needs to be fully defended from
09:27this risk.
09:29She had only one opponent, the newly elected MEP from the left, Irena Montero, the former
09:35Spanish minister who ran symbolically, had 61 votes. After this election, the new European
09:41Parliament will start working with the first big task in mind, the election of the President
09:45of the European Commission on Thursday.
09:48The 10th term has 54% new MEPs and for the first time it has reduced the number of women
09:53elected to 39%. It has eight political groups, one more than in the past five years.
10:03Arriving to rapturous applause, Donald Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention
10:08on Monday evening with a bandaged ear after a would-be assassin's bullet grazed him during
10:13a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
10:16At the conference, Trump officially secured the presidential nomination after running
10:20unopposed in the primaries. He nominated Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate 20
10:26minutes before the nomination via his Truth Social platform. Trump was widely applauded
10:31by the audience upon his entry and shook hands with a large number of supporters.
10:40President Joe Biden has reaffirmed he is still in the running for the upcoming U.S. presidential
10:46election and defended his rocky performance. In an interview, the presumptive Democratic
10:51nominee, whose checkered campaign has been dominated by verbal slip-ups, said it's his
10:56job to get this done.
10:58I'm on the horse. Where have you been? I've done 22 major events, met thousands of people,
11:05overwhelming crowds, a lot's happening. What I'm doing is going out and demonstrating to
11:10the American people that I have command of all my faculties, that I don't need notes,
11:16I don't need teleprompters. I can go out and answer any questions at all. And I stood there
11:20when NATO was in town, I stood there for an hour and answered questions.
11:25The U.S. president made headlines at the Washington NATO summit when he incorrectly referred to
11:31Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Biden is expected
11:38to attend a convention this week to convince African American and Latino voters, a key
11:44voting bloc, that he should remain in the White House.