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00:00A Pentagon spokesperson said there was no US involvement in the major explosions in

00:06Lebanon and Syria.

00:11Trying to balance politics, geography and gender, Ursula von der Leyen revealed her

00:15next team of European commissioners and their portfolios.

00:22have been placed under audit following the escape of five inmates.

00:32Italy braces itself for heavy rainfall as a storm sweeping over Central Europe heads

00:37south.

00:45A Pentagon spokesperson said there was no US involvement in the major explosions in

00:50Lebanon and Syria and said the Pentagon is monitoring the situation.

00:56Militant group Hezbollah blames Israel for the Pager explosions that killed at least

01:01nine people and wounded thousands in what seemed to be a planned remote attack.

01:09The Pagers were used to communicate by the Iran-backed militant group after their leader

01:13warned group members from using cell phones.

01:17A veteran war correspondent who said he had spoken with a member of Hezbollah says the

01:22devices were allegedly bought six months ago.

01:26Many experts believe the explosion may have been the result of a supply chain interference

01:32where the explosive devices were built into the Pagers before their delivery to Hezbollah.

01:38The Israeli military has so far declined to comment.

01:43Meanwhile, blood banks have opened to help Lebanon's hospitals that were overwhelmed

01:47with wounded patients.

01:59Russia has likely suffered over 610,000 casualties in killed and wounded since the beginning

02:05of its full-scale invasion, says the UK defence ministry in its latest intelligence update.

02:12Russian officials said that in 2023 the defence ministry was recruiting at a rate of 1,600

02:18daily, but publicly cited figures this year put the rate at around 1,000 daily.

02:24These figures are themselves probably inflated to an extent, but they do demonstrate that

02:28the tactics based on mass infantry waves has required Russia to continuously replenish

02:34frontline forces, including those in the region of Kursk.

02:39The Financial Times, citing a senior Ukrainian military intelligence official, reports that

02:43Russian forces have committed 38,000 personnel to fighting in Kursk region, including assault

02:51brigades redeployed from southern Ukraine.

02:55Russian forces recently recaptured territory in the Ukrainian salient, advancing northern

03:00Obukhavka, which is southeast of Korunovo.

03:04Ukrainian and Russian forces also continued to advance in Glushkovsky district amid continued

03:09fighting in the area.

03:12Ukrainian forces recently advanced south of Veselye, which is southwest of Glushkovo,

03:17and west and north of Medvezhye.

03:19This is southeast of Veselye, bringing them in close range with Glushkovo and therefore

03:25threatening to split this pocket south of the same river into two.

03:34After weeks of consultations behind closed doors, the Commission's president announced

03:38on Tuesday the policy portfolios of her 26-strong team of commissioners.

03:47There will be six executive vice presidents who will deal with big umbrella portfolios.

03:52In picking these specific ones, Ursula von der Leyen ensured that her new team will have

03:57geographical as well as political representation.

04:00Two from Socialists, Spain and Romania, one from EPP, Finland, one from ECR, Italy, and

04:06two from Liberals, France and Estonia.

04:10Six executive vice presidents, four women, two men.

04:14If you look at the geographical balance, three are from member states that joined before

04:21the fall of the Iron Curtain.

04:24Three are from member states that joined after Europe was reunited, from the Baltics,

04:31the Nordics and Eastern Europe.

04:35We have ministers and prime ministers, very different backgrounds, with one common goal

04:42and that is to make Europe stronger.

04:45One of the names that are more controversial is Rafael Lefito from Meloni's hard right

04:50party who has been nominated to be executive vice president for Cohesion and Reforms.

04:57The 22 commissioners from the other member states complete the team.

05:01There are some new portfolios such as Energy and Housing, Mediterranean and Defense.

05:08Last time the topic of global warming was absolutely top and this was the reason why

05:15I started the European Green Deal.

05:18The dominance of this topic is still there, but this time, for example, the topic of security

05:25triggered by the Russian war in Ukraine, but also the topic of competitiveness has a much

05:32broader, much more impact on the composition and the design of the political guidelines

05:38and then of course the organization of the college.

05:42It was also a surprise that the hardliner Austrian commissioner, Magnus Brunner, will

05:46be the commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration.

05:50The Hungarian commissioner, Oliver Varhely, got the weak portfolio for Health and Animal

05:54Welfare.

05:55I have already carried out for the commission.

05:58Ursula von der Leyen's first goal was to have gender balance in her new team, but the best

06:02she could do was the 40-60 ratio.

06:06She gave, however, four of the executive vice president positions to women.

06:10One of them is Romania, which retracted its original candidate after von der Leyen lobbied

06:15for that.

06:16After the first relief, now comes the hard part of the commissioners.

06:22The new commission is expected to be in place at least the 1st of December.

06:31It's been a big day for German opposition party, the Christian Democrats.

06:35Firstly, CDU politician Ursula von der Leyen unveiled her new EU Commission cabinet on

06:41Tuesday.

06:42Both the CDU and Germany can celebrate having a woman in the top EU role for the second

06:48time.

06:49Additionally, Friedrich Merz was confirmed as the CDU chancellor candidate ahead of next

06:55year's German federal elections.

06:58With tensions between Germany and Austria rising after the German government reintroduced

07:02spot checks at all of its land borders starting from this week, Austria has already put its

07:08foot down and said it wouldn't accept any migrants that were turned away at the German

07:13border.

07:15However, with Magnus Brunner being nominated for the top migrant commission job in the

07:20EU, it seems likely that Austria may use this to defend its tough stance on migration.

07:28Liv Stroud, in Berlin, for Euronews.

07:36After the escape of five inmates from a Portuguese high security penitentiary, the justice minister

07:42announced urgent audits of the security and management systems of the country's 49 prisons.

07:59One of the flaws in security is the deactivation of the watchtowers, which were replaced by

08:04a video surveillance system due to lack of personnel.

08:07These towers not only observed the prisoners, but also detected any strange movement outside

08:13the prison.

08:31Prison guards have also complained about being assigned multiple responsibilities for which

08:35they have not been trained.

08:49In

09:08this problem there is also an increase in the overcrowding of prisons.

09:12Data from 2023 show that the occupancy rate is above 90% and already considered high risk.

09:18Above the limit are 24 prison establishments, including the one in Porto.

09:23Joana Mourão Carvalho for Euronews in Lisbon.

09:31A storm Boris moves south, Hungary remains on high alert.

09:35The mayor of Budapest warned residents the capital could face the biggest flood of the

09:39decade with the Danube water levels expected to crest at 8.5 meters near the city.

09:46But a local water management authority said the water levels will be 30 to 50 centimeters

09:51lower than in 2013.

09:54The floods are expected to impact 540 kilometers along Hungary's rivers.

10:00Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban approved the opening of an emergency reservoir along

10:05the river Litha, which will hold some of the excess water.

10:09Preventative measures such as traffic restrictions were imposed along a handful of Danube settlements.

10:16International train services between Hungary and Czech Republic, Poland and Germany will

10:21also be affected.

10:23It usually takes five to eight days for water levels to decrease on the Danube, but this

10:28time it may take longer for water to go down.

10:35Italy braces itself for heavy rainfall as a storm sweeping over Central Europe is heading

10:41south.

10:42At least 21 people have died as a result of flooding in Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria

10:47and Romania.

10:49The threat of flooding in the Czech Republic is gradually decreasing, but South Bohemia

10:54is still at risk.

10:56The country's number of flood sites reduced from over 200 to just over 130.

11:03Also in Poland, the storm left a trail of devastation.

11:07Local residents and emergency response teams joined efforts to secure rivers in some areas

11:13and bring water and food to evacuated people in others.

11:19The enormous extent of the damage can be seen on aerial images of Austrian villages bordering

11:25the Danube river.

11:27Entire villages in the area are underwater and many people were forced to evacuate.

11:33Hungary fears for a similar scenario and worries that the Danube river will spill over

11:37its banks in the country's capital.

11:40The mayor of Budapest warned that the city might face the worst floods it's seen in a

11:44decade.

Latest news bulletin | September 18th – Midday

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