Latest news bulletin | September 23rd – Midday - video Dailymotion

euronews (in English)

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00:00The Social Democrats narrowly beat out the far-right AFD in regional elections in Brandenburg.

00:11French locals are frustrated over the appointment of a centre-right government despite the success

00:15of the left in recent elections.

00:22Israel has launched a fresh wave of airstrikes on southern Lebanon.

00:30A blueprint to tackle issues like climate change and security was approved by the United

00:35Nations General Assembly.

00:45German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrat party narrowly won an election in the eastern

00:49German state of Brandenburg.

00:51Three weeks after the far-right Alternative for Germany made gains in two other East German

00:55states, the SPD came out on top.

00:58Results published by the state electoral administration say the SPD won 30.9% while the AFD came second

01:04with 29.2%.

01:32The SPD's victory brought a reprieve to Scholz, whose three-party governing coalition has

01:36fared poorly in elections so far this year.

01:40Scholz has expressed his desire to be his party's candidate for Chancellor in next year's

01:44federal election, with this weekend's vote also being watched for what it might signal

01:49about his political future.

01:58As the dust begins to settle in the East German state of Brandenburg, a few things

02:02are becoming clear.

02:03Firstly, voter turnout at 73% was the highest in the state since reunification 30 years

02:10ago.

02:11Secondly, both the Liberals and the Greens need to have a conversation about the future

02:16of the federal coalition government after both parties failed to win more than the 5%

02:21threshold to win a seat in the state parliament.

02:24And lastly, although these results were a victory for Scholz's Social Democrats, the

02:29far-right party Alternative for Germany has won a second-blocking minority alongside the

02:34East German state of Thuringia earlier this month.

02:38This means that the AFD now has the power to elect constitutional judges in these states.

02:44Liv Stroud, in Potsdam, for Euronews.

02:51French Prime Minister Michel Barnier gathered his ministers for a Monday morning government

02:56breakfast ahead of the cabinet's first official meeting later in the day.

03:01The 39-member cabinet includes ministers primarily from French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist

03:07alliance and the conservative Republicans.

03:11The French presidential palace unveiled the centre-right government on Saturday, more

03:16than two months after elections produced a hung parliament and deepened political divisions.

03:23A left-wing coalition secured the most seats in the mid-year contest, but failed to win

03:28an outright majority.

03:32Barnier put together the government after weeks of difficult negotiations, with Macron

03:38giving it the final tick of approval.

03:42The prime minister's first major political test will come on October 1st, when he is

03:47set to deliver his general policy speech to the National Assembly.

03:55Israel has carried out dozens of fresh air strikes on southern Lebanon, as the Israeli

04:00military calls on people living near Hezbollah targets to evacuate immediately.

04:09The Israel Defense Forces has also warned Lebanese civilians against allowing Hezbollah

04:14militants to use their homes to store weapons.

04:17In the near future, we will attack terrorist targets in Lebanon, we are calling on anyone

04:24who is close to properties or inside houses where Hezbollah is hiding a war weapon, we

04:33are calling on you to get away from them immediately, I repeat, we are calling on you to get away

04:42from them immediately.

04:43This is in the name of your security and defense.

04:46Hezbollah is endangering you, endangering you and your families.

04:51The strikes follow Sunday's heavy exchange of fire, during which Hezbollah launched more

04:57than 100 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel.

05:03Hezbollah's rocket attack came after an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday killed

05:10a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen Hezbollah members, along with

05:15dozens of civilians, including women and children.

05:26An explosion in a coal mine in eastern Iran killed at least 52 workers and injured 17

05:32others, local sources said on Sunday.

05:35The disaster marks one of the worst mining incidents in the country's history, as others

05:40remained missing hours after the blast.

05:45Weeping miners stood alongside mine cars that brought up the bodies of their colleagues,

05:49all covered in coal dust.

05:52The Iranian Red Crescent Society is working on rescuing those still trapped below the

05:56surface.

05:58Authorities blamed the blast on a leak of methane gas.

06:02Such gases are common in mining, though modern safety measures call for ventilation and other

06:07measures to protect workers.

06:09It wasn't immediately clear what safety measures were in place at the mine in Tabas.

06:19The United Nations General Assembly approved a blueprint to bring the world's increasingly

06:23divided nations together to tackle 21st century challenges.

06:29Those issues range from climate change and artificial intelligence to escalating conflict

06:33and increasing inequality and poverty.

06:39The so-called Pact for the Future challenges the leaders of the 193 member nations of the

06:43UN to turn promises into real actions that make a difference in the world.

06:50Its goal is to encourage international peace and security, foster inclusive societies and

06:55ensure technology is for the common good of mankind.

06:59The pact was adopted at the opening of the two-day Summit for the Future, called by UN

07:03Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

07:07International delegations in attendance at the summit included German Chancellor Olaf

07:11Schultz and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala.

07:20Work is in full swing in Greece's capital region Attica to make it flood-proof for the

07:25winter.

07:27Local crews are cleaning streams that could threaten many areas.

07:34For the governor of Attica, Nikos Hardalias, here on a visit to get an impression of the

07:39progress being made, this is essential work.

07:43However, it is beset with problems.

07:46We are fighting the battle of self-interest.

07:49We are raising issues that should have been resolved.

07:52There should be regular clean-up operations.

07:55We are trying to sort all this out, to put it in order.

08:00Our biggest problem is the problem of mismanagement.

08:06There are streams that we clean, there are streams that the ministry cleans, there are

08:10streams that the municipality cleans.

08:12You realize that all this creates a lot of problems and a lot of diseases.

08:21According to the Attica region, so far, cleaning of 19 streams has been completed in more than

08:2710 kilometers, while by the end of October it is estimated that cleaning of 19 more streams

08:33will have been completed, and so in total more than 30 kilometers will have been cleaned.

08:38Delays of important projects in local government due to bureaucracy or lack of resources are

08:44common, but Nikos Hardalias has submitted a detailed proposal which can be implemented

08:50step by step.

08:53Part of the proposal on how to implement these projects is still in progress, so that we

08:59do not lose a lot of precious time.

09:03Some important steps have been taken, but a comprehensive review of the legal tools

09:09that are given to us is needed, and especially the financial tools, because projects without

09:13money do not exist.

09:15Governments easily send us the appropriations, but they also have to pay the necessary taxes.

09:20Without money we cannot carry out projects.

09:23The region had previously suffered severe damage from massive wildfires which reached

09:28the northern suburbs of Athens earlier this month.

09:35Prisoners in Finland have been participating in AI annotation training as part of a rehabilitation

09:41program.

09:44The aim is to reduce repeat offending by equipping inmates with modern skills.

09:50So this current AI labeling, data labeling project started in 2022, so it's been running

10:00for about two years, and it's currently done in three prisons, and one of them is a women's

10:10prison, and then there are two men's prisons.

10:14And this is done in collaboration with a software company.

10:19Human input, such as data labeling, helps AI system development.

10:24And with the Finnish language only spoken by five million people, hiring native speakers

10:30can be costly in a high-wage economy like Finland.

10:35Our software tries to interpret text material and different details about construction projects.

10:43So then we need to teach the language models to understand Finnish language and to understand

10:50construction context.

10:53But experts stress such programs are limited in scope and should focus on rehabilitation.

11:01It's good to give the prisoners something to do, to have structure in the day, to help

11:07them for the adjusted eventual release back to the civilian life, so that you would have

11:14slightly more likelihood of not committing more crimes when you are released in the civilian

11:27life.

11:28And data work in general is seen as really helpful in this.

11:32The Finnish authorities say other Nordic and European countries have also now sought consultation

11:38on digital rehabilitation projects in prisons.

Latest news bulletin | September 23rd – Midday

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