Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The Social Democrats narrowly beat out the far-right AFD in regional elections in Brandenburg.
00:11French locals are frustrated over the appointment of a centre-right government despite the success
00:15of the left in recent elections.
00:22Israel has launched a fresh wave of airstrikes on southern Lebanon.
00:30A blueprint to tackle issues like climate change and security was approved by the United
00:35Nations General Assembly.
00:45German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrat party narrowly won an election in the eastern
00:49German state of Brandenburg.
00:51Three weeks after the far-right Alternative for Germany made gains in two other East German
00:55states, the SPD came out on top.
00:58Results published by the state electoral administration say the SPD won 30.9% while the AFD came second
01:04with 29.2%.
01:32The SPD's victory brought a reprieve to Scholz, whose three-party governing coalition has
01:36fared poorly in elections so far this year.
01:40Scholz has expressed his desire to be his party's candidate for Chancellor in next year's
01:44federal election, with this weekend's vote also being watched for what it might signal
01:49about his political future.
01:58As the dust begins to settle in the East German state of Brandenburg, a few things
02:02are becoming clear.
02:03Firstly, voter turnout at 73% was the highest in the state since reunification 30 years
02:10ago.
02:11Secondly, both the Liberals and the Greens need to have a conversation about the future
02:16of the federal coalition government after both parties failed to win more than the 5%
02:21threshold to win a seat in the state parliament.
02:24And lastly, although these results were a victory for Scholz's Social Democrats, the
02:29far-right party Alternative for Germany has won a second-blocking minority alongside the
02:34East German state of Thuringia earlier this month.
02:38This means that the AFD now has the power to elect constitutional judges in these states.
02:44Liv Stroud, in Potsdam, for Euronews.
02:51French Prime Minister Michel Barnier gathered his ministers for a Monday morning government
02:56breakfast ahead of the cabinet's first official meeting later in the day.
03:01The 39-member cabinet includes ministers primarily from French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist
03:07alliance and the conservative Republicans.
03:11The French presidential palace unveiled the centre-right government on Saturday, more
03:16than two months after elections produced a hung parliament and deepened political divisions.
03:23A left-wing coalition secured the most seats in the mid-year contest, but failed to win
03:28an outright majority.
03:32Barnier put together the government after weeks of difficult negotiations, with Macron
03:38giving it the final tick of approval.
03:42The prime minister's first major political test will come on October 1st, when he is
03:47set to deliver his general policy speech to the National Assembly.
03:55Israel has carried out dozens of fresh air strikes on southern Lebanon, as the Israeli
04:00military calls on people living near Hezbollah targets to evacuate immediately.
04:09The Israel Defense Forces has also warned Lebanese civilians against allowing Hezbollah
04:14militants to use their homes to store weapons.
04:17In the near future, we will attack terrorist targets in Lebanon, we are calling on anyone
04:24who is close to properties or inside houses where Hezbollah is hiding a war weapon, we
04:33are calling on you to get away from them immediately, I repeat, we are calling on you to get away
04:42from them immediately.
04:43This is in the name of your security and defense.
04:46Hezbollah is endangering you, endangering you and your families.
04:51The strikes follow Sunday's heavy exchange of fire, during which Hezbollah launched more
04:57than 100 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel.
05:03Hezbollah's rocket attack came after an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday killed
05:10a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen Hezbollah members, along with
05:15dozens of civilians, including women and children.
05:26An explosion in a coal mine in eastern Iran killed at least 52 workers and injured 17
05:32others, local sources said on Sunday.
05:35The disaster marks one of the worst mining incidents in the country's history, as others
05:40remained missing hours after the blast.
05:45Weeping miners stood alongside mine cars that brought up the bodies of their colleagues,
05:49all covered in coal dust.
05:52The Iranian Red Crescent Society is working on rescuing those still trapped below the
05:56surface.
05:58Authorities blamed the blast on a leak of methane gas.
06:02Such gases are common in mining, though modern safety measures call for ventilation and other
06:07measures to protect workers.
06:09It wasn't immediately clear what safety measures were in place at the mine in Tabas.
06:19The United Nations General Assembly approved a blueprint to bring the world's increasingly
06:23divided nations together to tackle 21st century challenges.
06:29Those issues range from climate change and artificial intelligence to escalating conflict
06:33and increasing inequality and poverty.
06:39The so-called Pact for the Future challenges the leaders of the 193 member nations of the
06:43UN to turn promises into real actions that make a difference in the world.
06:50Its goal is to encourage international peace and security, foster inclusive societies and
06:55ensure technology is for the common good of mankind.
06:59The pact was adopted at the opening of the two-day Summit for the Future, called by UN
07:03Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
07:07International delegations in attendance at the summit included German Chancellor Olaf
07:11Schultz and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala.
07:20Work is in full swing in Greece's capital region Attica to make it flood-proof for the
07:25winter.
07:27Local crews are cleaning streams that could threaten many areas.
07:34For the governor of Attica, Nikos Hardalias, here on a visit to get an impression of the
07:39progress being made, this is essential work.
07:43However, it is beset with problems.
07:46We are fighting the battle of self-interest.
07:49We are raising issues that should have been resolved.
07:52There should be regular clean-up operations.
07:55We are trying to sort all this out, to put it in order.
08:00Our biggest problem is the problem of mismanagement.
08:06There are streams that we clean, there are streams that the ministry cleans, there are
08:10streams that the municipality cleans.
08:12You realize that all this creates a lot of problems and a lot of diseases.
08:21According to the Attica region, so far, cleaning of 19 streams has been completed in more than
08:2710 kilometers, while by the end of October it is estimated that cleaning of 19 more streams
08:33will have been completed, and so in total more than 30 kilometers will have been cleaned.
08:38Delays of important projects in local government due to bureaucracy or lack of resources are
08:44common, but Nikos Hardalias has submitted a detailed proposal which can be implemented
08:50step by step.
08:53Part of the proposal on how to implement these projects is still in progress, so that we
08:59do not lose a lot of precious time.
09:03Some important steps have been taken, but a comprehensive review of the legal tools
09:09that are given to us is needed, and especially the financial tools, because projects without
09:13money do not exist.
09:15Governments easily send us the appropriations, but they also have to pay the necessary taxes.
09:20Without money we cannot carry out projects.
09:23The region had previously suffered severe damage from massive wildfires which reached
09:28the northern suburbs of Athens earlier this month.
09:35Prisoners in Finland have been participating in AI annotation training as part of a rehabilitation
09:41program.
09:44The aim is to reduce repeat offending by equipping inmates with modern skills.
09:50So this current AI labeling, data labeling project started in 2022, so it's been running
10:00for about two years, and it's currently done in three prisons, and one of them is a women's
10:10prison, and then there are two men's prisons.
10:14And this is done in collaboration with a software company.
10:19Human input, such as data labeling, helps AI system development.
10:24And with the Finnish language only spoken by five million people, hiring native speakers
10:30can be costly in a high-wage economy like Finland.
10:35Our software tries to interpret text material and different details about construction projects.
10:43So then we need to teach the language models to understand Finnish language and to understand
10:50construction context.
10:53But experts stress such programs are limited in scope and should focus on rehabilitation.
11:01It's good to give the prisoners something to do, to have structure in the day, to help
11:07them for the adjusted eventual release back to the civilian life, so that you would have
11:14slightly more likelihood of not committing more crimes when you are released in the civilian
11:27life.
11:28And data work in general is seen as really helpful in this.
11:32The Finnish authorities say other Nordic and European countries have also now sought consultation
11:38on digital rehabilitation projects in prisons.