Latest news bulletin | August 30th – Morning
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00:00The EU's foreign policy chief proposes sanctions on Israeli ministers over their remarks on
00:07the war in Gaza.
00:11Russia continues to fire missiles and drones onto Ukraine, some of which have been intercepted
00:17by Kiev armed forces.
00:22Emmanuel Macron signs a deal with Alexander Vucic to sell Serbia 12 Rafale fighter jets.
00:30Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has finished his tour of West Africa, where he
00:35signed a number of agreements on curbing migration.
00:45The EU's foreign policy chief has said the bloc should consider sanctions on some Israeli
00:49government ministers over their remarks about the war in Gaza.
00:54Josep Borrell said some members of the Israeli cabinet, who he didn't name, had released
00:58hateful messages and proposed things which clearly go against international law.
01:03I think that the European Union has not to have taboos in order to use our toolbox in
01:12order to make humanitarian law respected, but it's not my decision.
01:17I only have the capacity of proposal.
01:21Member states will decide.
01:24But the 27 EU member countries are divided over their approach to the war in Gaza and
01:29it's unlikely that all would agree to the proposal.
01:32There's already been pushback to the suggestion from Italy's foreign minister, who called
01:37it unrealistic.
02:03Those comments come on the same day the World Health Organization announced that Israel
02:07had agreed to limited pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow a polio vaccination campaign
02:12to go ahead.
02:14Described as humanitarian pauses that will last three days in different areas of the
02:18territory, the vaccination program will start on Sunday and will be run together with UNICEF,
02:23UNWR and local partners.
02:26I'm not going to say this is the ideal way forward, but this is a workable way forward.
02:32Not doing anything would be really bad.
02:35We have to stop this transmission in Gaza and we have to avoid the transmission outside
02:42Gaza.
02:45The WHO says it aims to vaccinate 640,000 children under the age of 10 and that the
02:50campaign had been coordinated with Israeli authorities.
03:01Russia has continued its days-long missile and drone attack on Ukraine, but Ukrainian
03:07officials say air defences intercepted most of the aerial rockets.
03:13The Ukrainian Air Force says it stopped two missiles and 60 Shahed drones from reaching
03:19their targets on Thursday.
03:22Kyiv City military administration officials say they blocked more than 10 drones fired
03:27upon the capital city.
03:30Debris from destroyed drones fell in three city districts, causing minor damage to civilian
03:36infrastructure.
03:38No injuries or deaths were recorded.
03:41Meanwhile, as new Ukrainian armed forces learn how to fire grenade launchers, Ukraine's Army
03:47General Staff acknowledged Kyiv's recent strikes on oil depots deep inside Russia.
03:55The Rostov region has been put on high alert due to burning fuel from the attacks, Russian
04:01media reports.
04:09French President Emmanuel Macron has signed a deal with President Alexander Vucic to sell
04:14Serbia 12 Rafale fighter jets.
04:17The announcement was made during a news conference in Belgrade during Macron's visit to strengthen
04:22Serbia's ties with the European Union.
04:25Macron called the deal historic and important.
04:46Serbia needs to upgrade its fleet and Vucic said the Rafale deal was huge news.
04:52The total value of the deal is 2.7 billion, 12 completely new planes will be owned by
05:05the Republic of Serbia.
05:07Russia has been the traditional supplier of military aircraft to Serbia, which has refused
05:12to join international sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
05:16Macron warned that after the Russian invasion, Serbia's balancing game between world powers
05:22was an illusion.
05:24He said Serbia will only be able to protect its interests and preserve its identity as
05:28part of the EU.
05:52But selling Rafales to Russian ally Serbia, which has occasionally expressed an aggressive
06:00stance towards its Balkan neighbours, has raised some concerns.
06:05One of those is how France plans to prevent sophisticated Rafale technology from being
06:10shared with Russia.
06:14Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced that Poland's budget for 2025 will include
06:20record spending on defence.
06:24At more than 43 billion euros, Poland's Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski says the proposal
06:30would constitute 4.7% of GDP.
06:37This is compared to the 4.2% in 2024, which had already made Poland a top defence spender
06:43in both NATO and the EU.
06:50The Eastern European nation borders war-torn Ukraine, making security a high priority.
07:21Since the start of the Ukraine war, Poland has made large purchases of military equipment,
07:27including fighter jets, tanks and missile defence systems from the US and South Korea.
07:36The budget plan will be debated with the trade unions and still needs approval from Poland's
07:41lawmakers and from President Andrzej Duda.
07:47Spanish President Pedro Sanchez has finished his tour of three West African countries,
07:53Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal, during which he committed to increasing legal migration
07:58channels but also signed partnership agreements aimed at curbing illegal crossings.
08:06Experts say one of the reasons behind the increase in arrivals to the Canary Islands
08:11is the recent agreement signed by the European Commission with several Mediterranean countries,
08:16including Tunisia.
08:18For political reasons, there is an engagement both from Libyan militia and from Tunisian
08:23government to intercept and send back migrants violating human rights. So if we look at the
08:32Mediterranean region as a whole, we can see as the increase of the Canary Islands means
08:37also an increase of interception in other entry points in Europe.
08:42To stem the surge in arrivals, one of Sanchez's proposals is to promote what is known as circular
08:48migration, that is to host foreign workers temporarily before sending them back to their
08:53country of origin.
08:55Morocco and Senegal already have an agreement, which is now being extended to Gambia and
09:01Mauritania.
09:03NGOs welcome Sanchez's suggestion but warn there are risks.
09:07When we speak about circular migration or legal pathway, it is mainly related to seasonal
09:14workers. Seasonal workers that we clearly know when we think to Huelva but also to Puglia
09:22or to Calabria in the south of Europe means often exploitation.
09:27There has been a 154% increase in the number of arrivals to the Canary Islands in the first
09:34few months of 2024.
09:37The journey from Gambia or Senegal is considered to be very dangerous. It can take several
09:43days and is subject to strong Atlantic currents.
09:48One option for dealing with the surge in migration is a system in which migrant miners are distributed
09:54across the different Spanish communities, something similar to the European Solidarity
10:00system.
10:02And although European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is not expected to make
10:08a visit to the Canary Islands for the time being, her team says she hasn't ruled it out.
10:19More than a hundred tons of dead fish has washed into the central port of Volos. The
10:25freshwater fish have filled both the bay and nearby rivers after they were displaced from
10:30their normal habitats by flooding last year.
10:33Fishing trawlers have been chartered by regional authorities along with earthmovers to scoop
10:38the fish out of the sea and load them onto trucks where they will be taken to an incinerator.
10:44We are in cooperation with all the people who want to help this phenomenon end as soon
10:50as possible. Our region asked for the approval of the law in an urgent need.
10:57Water levels rose abruptly last autumn during a storm that caused extensive flooding in
11:02central Greece but have since receded due to low rainfall and successive heatwaves this
11:07summer.
11:09Experts say a net wasn't placed at the mouth of the river leading into Volos, so when the
11:13freshwater fish were carried with the floodwater, they died when they came into contact with
11:18seawater.
11:19The mayor of Volos accused regional authorities of acting too slowly and said the rotting
11:24fish could cause an environmental disaster.
11:27And the city's Chamber of Commerce said it was taking legal action to seek damages after
11:32commercial activity in the popular tourist destination dropped by an estimated 80 percent
11:37over the last three days.