Latest news bulletin | November 14th – Midday
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Intense battles between Israel and Hamas are raging around hospitals in Gaza, putting medics
00:06 and patients on the front line of the fighting.
00:11 Russia continues to shell Ukraine`s eastern cities, as the EU considers a 12th sanctions
00:15 package on the Kremlin.
00:20 EU foreign affairs ministers condemn Hamas for using hospitals and civilians in them
00:24 as shields, while at the same time urging Israel to show maximum restraint.
00:31 Sadness and uncertainty for an Icelandic town abandoned after scientists predicted a volcanic
00:36 eruption was imminent.
00:40 EU countries explore the idea of placing migrants outside the EU while analyzing their asylum
00:46 requests.
00:54 Battles between Israel and Hamas around hospitals are forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee
00:59 from some of the last perceived safe places in northern Gaza.
01:03 At least 11,240 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,630 children and 3,130 women by
01:12 the Israeli military since October 7.
01:15 That`s according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
01:18 The World Health Organization has warned Gaza`s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, is nearly a cemetery,
01:24 with bodies piling up inside and outside.
01:27 Images of premature babies struggling to survive without functioning incubators has heightened
01:32 international concerns for all patients in the hospital without power.
01:37 The suffering had President Biden calling on Israel to change tactics.
01:41 And it`s my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action relative to
01:51 the hospital.
01:54 Israel`s military has released a video for what it claims was a children`s hospital that
01:59 its forces moved into over the weekend.
02:01 It shows weapons it said were found inside, as well as rooms in the basement where it
02:05 believes the militants were holding some of the hostages they abducted during the initial
02:09 attack.
02:13 I want you to understand, this kind of gear is a gear for a major fight.
02:21 These are explosives.
02:24 These are vests, vests with explosives.
02:26 Yes, it`s a body vest for terrorists to explode on forces, among hospitals, among patients.
02:35 At least 1,200 Israelis have died, mostly civilians killed in the initial Hamas attack.
02:40 Palestinian militants are holding around 200 hostages.
02:43 One of them has been declared dead by her captors, saying she died in an Israeli airstrike.
02:52 The European Union is condemning Hamas for using hospitals and civilians in them as shields,
02:57 while at the same time urging Israel to show maximum restraint.
03:03 This is the double message of the 27 member states to both Hamas and Israel in view of
03:07 how the situation in Gaza`s hospitals is deteriorating.
03:13 We ask Israel to show maximum restraint in order to save civilian lives.
03:22 We condemn the use by Hamas of people at hospitals as shields, but also we express our concern
03:30 for the dire situation of the hospitals that are being heavily affected by the bombing.
03:37 Joseph Borre will go to the region to meet with leaders and discuss the situation.
03:41 According to Hamas, all hospitals in the north of Gaza are now out of service.
03:46 EU foreign affairs ministers gathered in Brussels on Monday to discuss the situation, who say
03:51 they are concerned.
03:52 "We have to see what is happening in the hospitals in Gaza.
03:58 They are not battlefields.
04:00 And we have to listen, in my opinion, to the doctors on the border, to the world health
04:08 organization, which says that people, patients who are in intensive care have no chance.
04:21 There is no oxygen, no water, no medicine.
04:27 So, these people are going to die."
04:30 But divisions remain at the European level.
04:32 While officially Brussels is asking for humanitarian pauses to let more aid into Gaza, some countries,
04:37 including Spain and Belgium, are asking for a ceasefire.
04:41 But Germany does not want to go so far.
04:43 "I totally understand the impulse in this terrible situation, where innocent children,
04:50 people, women, mothers, families not only suffer so terribly, but are also killed.
04:56 I understand the impulse for a ceasefire.
05:00 But impulses are not enough to help people, to guarantee security and peace."
05:07 The European Union says all civilians must be allowed to leave the combat zone in Gaza.
05:11 And that any humanitarian pauses must happen immediately.
05:22 At least three people were killed and six were injured during Russian shelling of the
05:25 southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
05:30 Russian troops abandoned the city in the western bank of the Dnieper River in the region last
05:34 year, but now regularly shells those areas from positions on the eastern bank.
05:42 On November 12th, Russian troops also reportedly targeted the city of Kharkiv with an S-300
05:48 anti-aircraft missile system, but caused no casualties.
05:53 In Brussels, EU officials are finalizing the last details of a proposed new package of
05:59 sanctions on Russia.
06:02 As the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has applied 11 packages
06:08 of sanctions to diminish the Kremlin`s ability to finance the war.
06:14 According to EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell, the latest package will include new
06:19 export bans, among them, diamonds and actions to tighten the oil price cap, to decrease
06:24 the revenue that Russia is getting from selling its oil.
06:33 Poland`s pro-EU parties have scored their first victory in the new parliament, with
06:38 their candidate Szymon Holonia elected speaker of the lower house.
06:42 It`s the first parliamentary session since the October elections.
06:48 Law and justice won the most votes, but not enough for an outright victory.
06:52 "Poles have told us very clearly, enough is enough.
07:01 The party is not the only one to change, the politics is to change.
07:07 It started to break down since the Sejm.
07:11 And since the Sejm, it has to start to be fixed."
07:16 An alliance of pro-European union parties led by former Prime Minister Donald Tusk says
07:21 it`s ready to form government.
07:25 President Andrei Duda has given law and justice the opportunity to try to do that first.
07:34 Russian activist Ksenia Fedorova, who`s an ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny,
07:39 has herself been jailed for alleged extremism.
07:42 She`s facing up to 12 years in prison.
07:44 Fedorova was previously under house arrest, but the court ruled it too lenient.
07:48 Fedorova is an anti-corruption champion, but is now classified as a terrorist.
07:53 Navalny is currently serving 19 years in prison and is also on extremism charges.
07:59 His associates face a growing crackdown intensifying since Russia`s Ukraine invasion.
08:09 As the imminent threat of a volcanic eruption in Iceland becomes more evident, residents
08:14 of a threatened village have returned to their homes to salvage their belongings.
08:18 Grindavik has been hit by a series of small earthquakes in recent weeks.
08:22 After being ordered to evacuate, residents were allowed to return briefly to collect
08:26 valuables and essential items.
08:30 Actually, there`s just like this tension loss, because now I`ve actually gone and seen my
08:36 house for the first time since Friday.
08:38 So, now it`s just like a tension coming down and, well, I`m really emotional.
08:44 That`s basically how I`m feeling right now.
08:49 Only two people per vehicle were allowed into the area.
08:52 For some, it was a quick dash to rescue pets or check on farm animals.
08:56 For others, it was a window to retrieve irreplaceable items of sentimental value.
09:01 No one knows when they`ll be able to come back for good or what they`ll discover when
09:05 they do.
09:14 Barking migrants outside the EU while analyzing their asylum requests.
09:18 Italy paved the way, other countries may follow soon.
09:22 The Italian government recently struck a deal with Albania to build their two reception
09:26 centers hosting 3,000 people at a time.
09:29 This includes those rescued in the Mediterranean Sea by Italian authorities, excluding minors,
09:35 pregnant women and people with disabilities.
09:37 Despite being located in Albanian territory, the centers would be subject to Italian jurisdiction,
09:43 something that could be a violation of EU law.
09:47 The European Commission for the moment remains cautious on the topic and after almost a week,
09:51 its analysis of a nine-page document is still ongoing.
09:54 We are in contact with the Italian authorities on this matter.
10:01 We have just received the protocol between the Italian and Albanian authorities and we
10:07 are assessing it.
10:08 So, we will not be able to go into further details until we have fully assessed it.
10:15 Meanwhile, the idea of externalizing asylum procedures is being floated across Europe.
10:20 Berlin is exploring this possibility even if there are some reservations from Chancellor
10:24 Olaf Scholz`s socialists.
10:27 Austria is suggesting to the European Commission that asylum procedures be done from outside
10:31 of Europe.
10:32 As Vienna`s interior minister, Gernot Kahn, has said after signing a migration and security
10:36 agreement with the U.K.
10:40 Denmark went even further by passing a law allowing the processing of asylum seekers
10:44 outside Europe, even if it`s still in search of a partner country to work with.
10:50 Processing asylum applications outside the EU is not a new idea in Europe, but it has
10:54 so far never been successful.
11:01 If you look back in history, these kind of proposals never went ahead for a number of
11:06 reasons.
11:07 There are legal questions about the impact for fundamental rights protections.
11:13 There are also policy, moral and practical questions that prevented these ideas from
11:21 going ahead.
11:23 These kind of deals will probably be promoted again in the future, but in order to do so,
11:27 they will have to comply with new EU laws on migration currently under discussion.
11:36 (wind blowing)
11:38 (whooshing)