Latest news bulletin | September 12th – Midday
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00:00Ukrainian President Zelensky calls for maximum support from leaders present at the fourth
00:06summit of the Crimea platform.
00:10On the final leg of his tour through Asia and Oceania, the Pope praised Singapore for
00:14its economic development, but urged the city-state to take care of its weakest too.
00:25Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for maximum support from participants at the
00:30fourth summit of the Crimea platform.
00:34He reminds leaders that the war began with the occupation of Crimea, and that its freedom
00:39is essential to lasting peace in Ukraine.
00:42Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for maximum support from participants at the
00:57Crimea platform.
01:09The summit was initiated by the Ukrainian President in 2021.
01:15It focuses on efforts to reclaim the Crimean Peninsula, which has been under Russian occupation
01:20since 2014.
01:23Zelensky stresses that Ukraine will not trade its land, nor will it abandon its people.
01:29The Ukrainian leader also unveiled a memorial in Kiev dedicated to the victims of the 1944
01:36Crimean deportation.
01:40The United States and Britain pledged nearly 1.4 billion euros in additional aid to Ukraine
01:46on Wednesday.
01:49Much of the effort was aimed at bolstering the energy grid that Russia has repeatedly
01:53pointed ahead of an expected difficult winter.
02:10meeting of the Energy Coordination Group in the next couple of weeks.
02:14I'm also announcing today $290 million in new humanitarian support to help provide vital
02:19services like safe drinking water, food, shelter, medicine to millions of people in Ukraine
02:26and around the region who've been displaced by Putin's war.
02:30And finally, we're announcing $102 million in additional funding in humanitarian demining.
02:37British Foreign Secretary David Lammie confirmed that his country will provide another $709
02:43million in assistance and loan guarantees.
02:54German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rolled his sleeves up for a passionate speech in the German Parliament
02:59on Wednesday morning.
03:01Scholz underlined the public's wish for serious politics rather than a theatrical performance
03:06after talks about migration with opposition party CDU collapsed on Tuesday.
03:12Scholz added that many people from other countries have helped the German economy, but stressed
03:17that the government must be able to choose exactly who comes to Germany.
03:30Addressing the recent success of anti-immigration far-right party alternative for Germany, AfD,
03:35during the two recent East German state elections, Scholz said that the AfD party is married to
03:41the past and trying to rob Germany of its future.
03:58Although Chancellor Scholz aggressively defended his coalition government's policy to welcome
04:03migrants, other EU countries, such as Poland, said the German government's decision this
04:09week to extend spot controls to all its land borders undermines Europe's Schengen Agreement
04:15and could destabilise the EU as a whole.
04:18Liv Stroud, in Berlin, for EURONEWS.
04:22In the end of August, Ukraine presented to the US a list of potential targets in Russia
04:34that Kyiv aims to hit.
04:36The list included airfields used by Russia to launch attacks on Ukrainian cities, which
04:41are within ATOCOM's range.
04:44According to the Institute for the Study of War, there are 245 military and paramilitary
04:51objects and this list does not include the various field camps and new installations
04:56that the Russian military has erected near Ukraine to support Russia's war.
05:00So it is rather conservative and only identifies a portion of all the military objects in range
05:06of ATOCOMs.
05:08The regimental, brigade and division headquarters provided in the list are mainly relevant in
05:13how these objects facilitate training and serve as storage areas, since the combat units
05:18that are normally permanently based here are forward deployed in Ukraine.
05:23So even though Russia redeployed some of its combat aircraft from the airfields within
05:27the ATOCOM's range, and there are 16 of those in the area, it does not reduce the
05:33importance of allowing Ukraine to use ATOCOMs against hundreds of other Russian military
05:39objects, states the Institute for the Study of War, and it is unlikely that the Russian
05:44military has redeployed assets away from all the 245 objects to the same degree as
05:51it has done with aircrafts.
05:57Pope Francis was welcomed by Singapore's president and government officials on the
06:01final leg of his trip through Southeast Asia and Oceania.
06:05He arrived in one of the world's richest countries from one of its poorest, Timor-Leste.
06:10During his visit, he praised Singapore's economic development as a testament to human ingenuity,
06:16but urged the city-state to look after the weakest as well.
06:20The pontiff called especially for dignified pay and conditions for migrant workers who
06:25helped build Singapore into a global financial powerhouse.
06:30Francis' visit will include a speech to political authorities and a mass at Singapore's
06:35National Stadium, which the Vatican expects to draw around 55,000 people.
06:41Singapore is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world, and Francis is expected
06:46to encourage its small but growing Catholic community.
06:50The pope will also hold private meetings with Singapore's president and prime minister.
06:55For many Catholics in Singapore, this will be their first time seeing a pope.
06:59The last pope to visit was John Paul II in 1986.
07:06Police authorities in North Mitrovica say at least four people were arrested following
07:11the visit of Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Monday.
07:16Kurti's visit to the town, divided along ethnic lines, was seen by the local Serbs as an act
07:21of provocation amid rising tensions in the northern region.
07:25Two of four border crossings with Serbia have been closed after protesters on the side
07:29of the town where most of the ethnic Serb minority lives blocked the road and prevented
07:34motorists with Kosovo-issued license plates from passing through.
07:38We now have an agreement, an agreement that must be respected, an agreement that must
07:43be implemented, but Belgrade does not recognize the agreement it has recognized, because now
07:51they have seen that the great Serbian ideology...
07:58Northern Kosovo, with a predominantly ethnic Serb population, has long been a flashpoint
08:03of tensions between Pristina and Belgrade.
08:06The tensions first spiked over the possibility of opening the bridge on the Ibar River.
08:12Any decision in this respect must be taken through dialogue and in timely and effective
08:20coordination with the international community.
08:24Serbian activists say they want Kosovo police officers withdrawn from the city.
08:29Some have also demanded that KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, assume control
08:35over the northern region.
08:37Serbian authorities say they will respond to Prime Minister Albin Kurti's actions, which
08:42they consider provocations, by Friday.
08:45But they have also said that they are ready to continue the dialogue in Brussels and the
08:49hope to join the EU bloc.
08:52Despite a 13-year-long dialogue, Kosovo-Serbia relations remain tense.
09:03Almost 7 million students from elementary and high school are starting the new school
09:07year in Italy.
09:08It is only the first day and parents have already spent a considerable amount on school
09:12supplies such as stationery, bags and books.
09:17School expenses are constantly increasing.
09:19This year, Italian families will spend around 7 percent more on school supplies compared
09:24to last year, according to Feder Consumatori, a non-for-profit association.
09:30Maria Rosaria and Giovanni have already had to face an initial expense of around 600 euros
09:35for their two children, and this is just the beginning.
10:00Parents say they try to save wherever they can, for example on transport costs by carpooling.
10:12For children and boys, the first day of school is certainly something exciting, but for parents
10:34it means not only the start of the daily routine made of school, work, homework, but also
10:41a considerable expense that has a great impact on the family economy.
10:47Patrizia is a single mother who has already spent almost 700 euros on her daughter Giulia,
10:52who starts sixth grade today.
10:55Because of her low income, she will be reimbursed for almost 300 euros spent on textbooks.
11:01She says she worries more than just on a financial level.
11:05There is anxiety, there is concern, also because the management is only mine, so go back and forth,
11:12bring it here, bring it there, I will try to make it autonomous, but the expenses are there,
11:18because between gym, school, there will still be readings, it is heavy, but you face it.
11:27Book prices have increased by 18 percent compared to the previous year.
11:33Buying books online or second-hand is becoming more common.
11:37Many families in Italy feel it is one of the only ways to face the expenses necessary
11:42to educate the generations of tomorrow.