Latest news bulletin | August 16th – Morning
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Transcript
00:00The World Health Organization, WHO, declares the ongoing Mpox outbreak in Africa a global
00:07health emergency.
00:11YouTube has suspended the account of a far-right group in Portugal.
00:21Postcards make a comeback in Belgium, despite the decline in letter-sending.
00:31Ukraine claims its forces have gained more ground in the Russian region of Kursk.
00:43Spanish footballer Luminio Mal's father has been stabbed in a car park in the Rocafonda
00:48neighborhood of Mataro, in Catalonia.
00:53A local newspaper says Munir Nasraoui was attacked while he was walking his dog, which
00:58led to a fight in which Nasraoui was stabbed with a knife.
01:03He was taken to a hospital in Badalona, where he is receiving treatment for non-life-threatening
01:09injuries.
01:10Reports say at least three people have been arrested.
01:18The Irish government is to hold the executives of social media companies personally responsible
01:23where delays occur in removing hate and hostile content from digital platforms.
01:28There needs to be a responsibility on the social media companies to take some ownership
01:33or some accountability of what's on their platforms.
01:36Ultimately, they're the host.
01:39They're generating profits from having this content up online.
01:43So there needs to be some obligation on them to mind and monitor and manage what is hosted.
01:48Commission na mBan, the Irish media commission, is currently working on a code of ethics that
01:52aims to make social media companies more vigilant when it comes to removing harmful or defamatory
01:58online material.
01:59The code is expected to be law in the coming months and could see companies face fines
02:03of many millions of euro for breaching the proposed ethics.
02:08A number of the top ten social media companies in the world have major offices in Dublin,
02:13including Meta, X and TikTok.
02:16The Irish government says the time has come to clean up social media once and for all.
02:21So we're seeing patterns, we're seeing harmful behaviour, everything from suicide promotions
02:26to age-inappropriate content, gratuitous finance, pornography.
02:30We're seeing attacks on elected officials, we're seeing attacks actually on civil servants,
02:34public officials.
02:35And we're seeing, I suppose, a very low common denominator.
02:38Recent online threats against Irish government ministers and the Taoiseach, or Prime Minister
02:42Simon Harris, is believed to have created a sense of alarm to clamp down on social media
02:47companies who appear to attach no urgency in removing harmful content.
02:53Experts in the area of technology say proposals by the Irish media regulator to impose large
02:58financial fines on social media companies is likely to produce positive results in the
03:04years ahead.
03:05Most of the tech companies probably will honour this new code of conduct from Commission na
03:10to.
03:11And it's backed up by the Digital Services Act, which is an EU-wide law, with very large
03:15fines and most of the companies involved have an awful lot of revenue.
03:19It's global turnover that is hit.
03:21There are a few outliers, which local politicians here in Ireland and across Europe, up to and
03:26including European commissioners, have taken aim at.
03:28The notable one is X.
03:31The Irish Media Commission here behind me in Dublin is sending out a very strong message
03:35to tech companies that have offices here in Ireland.
03:39That message is, clean up your act and be careful what you publish, or else you'll pay
03:43a very heavy price.
03:45This is Ken Murray for Euronews in Dublin.
03:51The World Health Organization, WHO, has declared the Mpox outbreak in parts of Africa a public
03:58health emergency of international concern.
04:03The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of Mpox in eastern DRC, its detection in neighbouring
04:11countries that had not previously reported Mpox, and the potential for further spread
04:17within Africa and beyond is very worrying.
04:21In addition to other outbreaks of other clades of Mpox in other parts of Africa, it's clear
04:28that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save
04:34lives.
04:36The highly contagious disease, formerly known as monkeypox, has killed at least 450 people
04:41in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
04:44According to the WHO, the virus has been found in 13 African countries.