Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Giorgia Meloni has denied having discussions about a deal with Elon Musk to provide secure
00:06telecommunications for the Italian government.
00:09Not only did Italy's Prime Minister Meloni confirmed it in the end-of-year presser postponed
00:14to January, but a statement issued earlier by her office said that no agreement had been
00:19signed.
00:20But what would the deal mean for Italy-EU relations and what about the security concerns
00:24at play?
00:25The government insists the EU's efforts to breach the gap with Starlink might have arrived
00:30a bit too late.
00:55From a political standpoint, the deal could have a significant impact on several fronts.
01:05The EU Commission explained that Italy is a sovereign state and that the agreement would
01:10not be compatible with IRIS Square, the EU's flagship satellite system project.
01:39An Italian representative for Musk's aerospace businesses stated that Italy would have full
01:44control of its data.
01:45Ferdiano Finucci, a journalist and author who recently wrote a book on the use of satellites
01:49in conflicts around the world, believes there is more to it.
02:13George Orlandi, for Euronews, in Rome.
02:44Irregular entries into the European Union have reached their lowest level in three years.
02:50239,000 irregular border crossings into the EU were recorded in 2024, according to Frontex,
02:58the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.
03:01This represents a 38% drop compared to 2023.
03:06It went down a lot due to the EU's support for the Tunisian and Libyan authorities, which
03:14intercept boats attempting to cross to the European Union.
03:20There has also been a marked decrease on the Balkan route, the Western Balkan route, where
03:29I think the reason is different.
03:31It's probably the EU's effort to work with the Western Balkan countries to align their
03:37visa policy with the visa policy of the EU.
03:41Irregular border crossings in the central Mediterranean and Western Balkans fell by
03:4659% and 78% respectively in one year.
03:51On the other hand, irregular arrivals to the Canary Islands have increased by 18% in a
03:57year, putting pressure on Spain.
03:59They have nearly tripled at the EU's eastern land borders, mainly due to Belarus' use of
04:05migrants as a tool to destabilize the EU.
04:11Irregular migration flows do not disappear as a result of these policies, but their direction
04:17and also the level of risk for human life might change.
04:22So increased surveillance or deterrence measures along certain routes might have an impact
04:31on the change.
04:33However, these figures should be taken with caution as some crossings go undetected.
04:39They also do not distinguish between economic migrants and asylum seekers.
04:44For instance, how many people actually of those who have attempted to enter, despite
04:51the many obstacles they have to escape from unsafety and war, how many of those numbers
04:57hide asylum seekers, people legitimately seeking asylum with a right to asylum in Europe?
05:04How many of the people behind those numbers have lost their lives in their ways to Europe?
05:10In 2024, more than 2,300 people were reported missing crossing the Mediterranean.
05:19My fellow Americans, I'm speaking to you tonight from the Oval Office.
05:24U.S. President Joe Biden used his farewell address on Wednesday to deliver stark warnings
05:29of a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of the ultra-wealthy.
05:34Today an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that
05:41literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot
05:47for everyone to get ahead.
05:50Biden referenced former President Dwight Eisenhower's final address in 1961, in which he warned
05:56of a military-industrial complex.
06:00Six decades later, I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex
06:09that could pose real dangers for our country as well.
06:14Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling
06:20the abuse of power.
06:22The free press is crumbling, editors are disappearing, social media is giving up on fact-checking.
06:30Biden used his 15-minute address to offer a model for a peaceful transfer of power and
06:35raise concerns about his successor, Donald Trump, without mentioning his name.
06:40His remarks come after some of the world's richest individuals in the technology industry
06:44have flocked to Trump's side in recent months.
06:54The European Union is laying preliminary ground to a wide-range lifting of sanctions on Syria,
06:59according to a non-paper seen by Euronews.
07:03The bloc is considering lifting sanctions on transportation, exports of oil and gas
07:08and financial and banking activities.
07:11The informal EU document says that any possible change to terrorist designations of al-Qaeda-affiliated
07:16groups, like Syria's ruling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, must be implemented at the UN Security Council
07:21level before the bloc adopts it.
07:24The paper says that delisting terror groups will have to be conditions-based, as to prevent
07:29any risk of financing terrorism.
07:32The non-paper was produced by the EU Council for Negotiations and is expected to be substantively
07:37discussed during a meeting of EU foreign ministers on January 27.
07:43The document states that the country's ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, and affiliates
07:47cannot benefit from the lifting and will still be subjected to sanctions.
08:07I had an idea that's been following me ever since and that was crazy, maybe idiotic, but
08:19at the same time, in my mind, really poetic thought to put a red house with white corners
08:26on the surface of the moon.
08:28And now it's going to happen.
08:37It's going to reach space, separate, land on the moon, after four months of traveling,
08:48releasing the rover.
08:49The rover will go out, release the house, take some pictures, and leave it alone, standing
08:55there for thousands and thousands and maybe millions of years.
09:12Pope Francis fell on Thursday and hurt his right arm, just weeks after a similar incident
09:17in which he injured his chin.
09:20Francis didn't break his arm, but a sling was put on as a precaution.
09:24The incident occurred at his home in the Vatican.
09:27The 88-year-old pope has battle medical problems, including long bouts of bronchitis and a major
09:32intestinal surgery.
09:35He often has to use a wheelchair because of bad knees.
09:38But despite constant speculation about his health, Francis says he has no plans to resign.