Latest news with #CohesionPolicy
Euronews
5 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Austrian gunman was obsessed with school shootings, police say
According to police, the gunman was fascinated by school shootings, but his motive remains a mystery. After killing 10 people at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school in Graz, the perpetrator killed himself. He left the school three years earlier. The incident in Austria's second-largest city was the deadliest mass shooting in the country's recent history. Although his motive for the attack remains unclear, investigators can 'say with certainty that, over the years, he developed a passion for school shootings,' said Michael Lohnegger, the head of Styria province's criminal police office. 'He glorified not just the acts in general, but also the perpetrators who carried out these acts." The gunman had planned the attack meticulously, according to investigators, but they did not know why he chose the date he did for the massacre or why he stopped shooting when he did - the gunman still had many additional bullets. The shooter had no prior criminal record. During a search of his house, police found plans for an explosive attack as well as a non-functioning pipe bomb. Officers also discovered a digital and handwritten suicide note addressed to his parents, although the Director of Public Security Franz Ruf said that it offered no motive. Nine of the 11 people wounded in last week's attack remain in hospital, Lohnegger said on Tuesday, adding that they were not in critical condition. The shooter used two firearms he legally owned to carry out the attack. On Monday, Chancellor Christian Stocker vowed to tighten Austria's gun laws. In the wake of the attack, the mayor of Graz, Elke Kahr, called for a complete ban on private weapons. Gun licenses are "issued too quickly," she said last week. The European Water Resilience Strategy presented this month by the European Commission aims to reduce water pollution, prevent waste and make water accessible to all. The EU's executive body promises to help member states better implement the 2000 Water Framework Directive and three related laws. It will also promote more investment, given the seriousness of the situation. Only 37% of the EU's surface waters have a good ecological status and only 29% have a good chemical status. The continent is the fastest-warming region in the world due to climate change, which has increased the number of water-related natural disasters. Currently, 30% of the EU suffers from water scarcity due to prolonged droughts. Meanwhile, devastating floods caused €325 billion in damage between 1980 and 2023. "Everyone knows the emergency we are in and the investments needed in the sector. We have the numbers," said Hildegard Bentele (Germany/EPP), a centre-right lawmaker who chairs the MEP Water Group at the European Parliament. "We can react with the next EU budget and make better use of Cohesion Policy, because we have seen that the funds have not been used for the necessary investments," she added. According to the European Commission, around €55 billion is spent on water investments across Europe, but there is an annual gap of €23 billion additional funding needed. To address this gap, the EU executive will allocate a larger share of the Cohesion Policy funds, which are intended for less wealthy regions, to water management. In addition, the European Investment Bank will launch a new programme: €15 billion will be available over the period 2025-2027 and it aims to attract a further €25 billion from commercial investors. Industry and agriculture are two sectors that use a lot of fresh water and also contribute to its pollution with chemicals. One of the main issues the Commission intends to address is water pollution, particularly caused by chemicals called PFAS or 'forever chemicals'. "PFAS are substances dubbed forever pollutants because they don't easily break down. So they tend to accumulate over time in the environment. Research has shown that exposure to certain types of PFAS causes serious health problems," said Amandine Hess, Euronews reporter who covered the communication. "The Commission is planning to launch a public-private partnership to support innovation, to clean up pollution from PFAS and other chemicals. The 'polluter pays' principle will be applied, so it means that public funding would be used only for the sites where it has not been possible to identify who is responsible for the pollution," she added. NGOs and the European Green Party say the strategy falls far short of providing concrete answers to the complex problems surrounding water management, pointing to a lack of clear legal requirements and a failure to tackle pollution at source. "The environmentalists are calling for strict management of fertilisers and chemicals. On the other hand, the Commission call to increase water efficiency by at least 10% by 2030 but does not set clear binding targets," said Amandine Hess. MEP Hildegard Bentele admits that a 10% target for water efficiency is "a modest good intention" and acknowledges that member states are lagging behind in implementing legislation, going so far as to say that "we could sanction member states that do not meet the targets". "We are behind schedule, we have not seen much progress in the last 20 years. That is why we need to move faster. I would like to see the Commission more rigorous in this regard in the coming years, including in the new strategy",said MEP Hildegard Bentele. Watch the video here! Journalist: Isabel Marques da Silva Content production: Pilar Montero López Video production: Zacharia Vigneron Graphism: Loredana Dumitru Editorial coordination: Ana Lázaro Bosch and Jeremy Fleming-Jones
Euronews
5 days ago
- Business
- Euronews
Will a new strategy improve European water management?
The European Water Resilience Strategy presented this month by the European Commission aims to reduce water pollution, prevent waste and make water accessible to all. The EU's executive body promises to help member states better implement the 2000 Water Framework Directive and three related laws. It will also promote more investment, given the seriousness of the situation. Only 37% of the EU's surface waters have a good ecological status and only 29% have a good chemical status. The continent is the fastest-warming region in the world due to climate change, which has increased the number of water-related natural disasters. Currently, 30% of the EU suffers from water scarcity due to prolonged droughts. Meanwhile, devastating floods caused €325 billion in damage between 1980 and 2023. "Everyone knows the emergency we are in and the investments needed in the sector. We have the numbers," said Hildegard Bentele (Germany/EPP), a centre-right lawmaker who chairs the MEP Water Group at the European Parliament. "We can react with the next EU budget and make better use of Cohesion Policy, because we have seen that the funds have not been used for the necessary investments," she added. According to the European Commission, around €55 billion is spent on water investments across Europe, but there is an annual gap of €23 billion additional funding needed. To address this gap, the EU executive will allocate a larger share of the Cohesion Policy funds, which are intended for less wealthy regions, to water management. In addition, the European Investment Bank will launch a new programme: €15 billion will be available over the period 2025-2027 and it aims to attract a further €25 billion from commercial investors. Industry and agriculture are two sectors that use a lot of fresh water and also contribute to its pollution with chemicals. One of the main issues the Commission intends to address is water pollution, particularly caused by chemicals called PFAS or 'forever chemicals'. "PFAS are substances dubbed forever pollutants because they don't easily break down. So they tend to accumulate over time in the environment. Research has shown that exposure to certain types of PFAS causes serious health problems," said Amandine Hess, Euronews reporter who covered the communication. "The Commission is planning to launch a public-private partnership to support innovation, to clean up pollution from PFAS and other chemicals. The 'polluter pays' principle will be applied, so it means that public funding would be used only for the sites where it has not been possible to identify who is responsible for the pollution," she added. NGOs and the European Green Party say the strategy falls far short of providing concrete answers to the complex problems surrounding water management, pointing to a lack of clear legal requirements and a failure to tackle pollution at source. "The environmentalists are calling for strict management of fertilisers and chemicals. On the other hand, the Commission call to increase water efficiency by at least 10% by 2030 but does not set clear binding targets," said Amandine Hess. MEP Hildegard Bentele admits that a 10% target for water efficiency is "a modest good intention" and acknowledges that member states are lagging behind in implementing legislation, going so far as to say that "we could sanction member states that do not meet the targets". "We are behind schedule, we have not seen much progress in the last 20 years. That is why we need to move faster. I would like to see the Commission more rigorous in this regard in the coming years, including in the new strategy",said MEP Hildegard Bentele. Watch the video here! Journalist: Isabel Marques da Silva Content production: Pilar Montero López Video production: Zacharia Vigneron Graphism: Loredana Dumitru Editorial coordination: Ana Lázaro Bosch and Jeremy Fleming-Jones Six weeks after Spain and Portugal suffered a massive power outage, authorities in Madrid issued an official report on Tuesday saying April's cascading blackout that left tens of millions disconnected in seconds was caused by technical and planning errors that led to the grid's failure. Spain's Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen, who manages the nation's energy policy, said in a press conference that small grid failures, concentrated in the south of Spain, led to a chain reaction among larger ones. The minister said several technical causes that contributed to the event, including "the poor planning" by operators of the grid who didn't find a replacement for one power plant that was supposed to help balance power fluctuations. Aagesen explicitly ruled out a cyberattack as the cause of the blackout, blaming instead "vulnerabilities, shortcomings or misconfigurations of security measures that could expose the networks to future risks." The 28 April outage started shortly after 12:30pm in Spain and lasted through nightfall, disrupting businesses, transport systems, mobile networks, Internet connectivity and other critical infrastructure. In just five seconds, Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity, equivalent to 60% of its supply. Portugal, whose grid is connected to Spain's, also went down. Only the countries' island territories were spared. Power was fully restored by the early hours of the following day. The government report included analysts from Spain's national security agencies, which concluded, according to the minister, there were no indications of cyber-sabotage by foreign actors. The only solid information made public shortly after the system went down came from Spain's grid operator Red Eléctrica, which had narrowed down the source of the outage to two separate incidents in southern Spain where substations had failed. In the weeks following the blackout, citizens and experts were left wondering what triggered the event in a region not known for power outages and igniting a fierce debate about whether Spain's high levels of renewable power had something to do with the grid failing. Spain is at the forefront of Europe's transition to renewable energy, having generated nearly 57% of its electricity in 2024 from renewable energy sources like wind, hydropower and solar. The country is also phasing out its nuclear plants. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pushed back against such speculation and defended renewables. He asked for patience and said that his government would not "deviate a single millimetre" from its energy transition plans, which include a goal of generating 81% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
Euronews
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Euronews
Roma children, fighting discrimination with chess, here's what they do in Romania
Adriana Pascu, 16 years old, of Roma ethnicity, is a skilled chess player. Thanks to the game, she has developed strong analysis and concentration skills that also help her in her studies. Playing chess was not a matter of course for her and the other children of the Roma community in the Romanian city of Satu Mare. They learnt through the 'Chess for change' project started in 2019 by the Stea association, active in the social integration of Roma children. These children made progress in all areas, especially at school. "I am much more reflective, more focused, and memorise lessons faster," Adriana explains. Chess activates memory, the ability to analyse and anticipate. For Alex Geiger, a chess teacher, it is one of the most democratic sports: "Chess teaches children fair-play; it is the only sport, I would say, where we are all equal, no matter if you are male or female, if you have a handicap." The first objective of the Stea association was precisely to combat early school leaving and motivate children to at least complete the compulsory school cycle. "Chess allows these youngsters to realise that if they put their mind to it and are persistent, they can achieve good results," explains Cristina Bala, the director of the Stea centre. "Children and teenagers," she says, "have managed to participate in competitions, even international ones, and have also won prizes; they have been able to gain positive experiences and gain the recognition and esteem of others. Initially, teachers at school were sceptical, not thinking that Roma children could ever succeed in chess: today they support the project because the children involved are more motivated and better at studying as well. As Delia Sabou, Adriana's teacher, says: "We have noticed in all the children involved in the project that there is an important cognitive progression, an increase in concentration and an improvement in social interaction with their peers and teachers. The director of the Stea centre, Cristina Bala, immediately realised the potential of chess and introduced the activity in 2019. The total cost of the project for the first year was EUR 70,000, with the European Union contributing EUR 60,000 thanks to Cohesion Policy funds. The chess piece that Adriana prefers is the queen, because it is the most powerful piece. She plans to be an accountant when she grows up. It is clear that her life has taken on a new impetus and she will be the real queen of her future. Off to Barcelona in the summer? Make sure to pick a proper travel agent. Taking a trip to London? Watch out for fake car rentals. The risk of being scammed at popular tourism spots jumps by 28% during peak seasons. Some examples are fake destination photos, broken confirmation links and bogus deals. Travel agencies seem to be the places most at risk, with scam rates "four times higher than the global average," according to a new report by the Mastercard Economics Institute. Fraudsters often establish fake tourism companies, attracting customers with juicy offers for excursions, guided tours or supposedly exclusive experiences, while offering unusually low prices. Once the transaction is processed, these tours either never take place or differ entirely from expectations. The report compared around twenty different cities to establish where the risk is highest. In general, tourists reported the lowest travel-related frauds in San Francisco, Dublin, Seoul, Budapest and Edinburgh, while the highest rates were reported in Cancun, Hanoi, Dhaka and Bangkok. So, how are tourists most likely to fall into a trap in these places? Travel-agency related frauds are the most likely in Hong Kong (70%), Delhi (64%), Barcelona (64%) and Cancun (48%). Taxi and car rentals aren't immune either: Tourists may pay for a service that never materialises after booking, or overpay due to hidden fees, inflated prices or rigged taximeters. Jakarta (66%) has the highest taxi fraud rate across all cities analysed, followed by Bangkok (48%), Istanbul (39%) and London (34%). Food scams also pose problems, such as meals that never arrive, or being overcharged at a restaurant through high service fees. That is particularly true in American cities like LA and New York, where food scams represent respectively 75% and 63% of the total. At the same time, in fraudsters in the accommodation sector may use holiday rental platforms or travel websites to create fake listings and lead tourists to book non-existent properties, or ones that greatly differ from the descriptions advertised. Tourists headed to Phuket in Thailand and Antalya in Turkey should be particularly wary, as accommodation scam rates there represent 39% and 35% of the total, respectively. Looking on the bright side, booking flights and trains remains relatively safe across all surveyed cities, with scam rates generally staying below 10%. However, travellers are at risk of fraud well before they leave home. An analysis of aggregate transaction data shows that in 2024, fraud linked to early trip planning rose by over 12% compared to the previous year. "Fake travel agency websites and excursions that closely resemble genuine services can make it harder for consumers to spot red flags", Mastercard's Executive VP Services Europe Michele Centenaro tells Euronews. He adds that the company aims to eliminate manual card entry by 2030 to boost security: "Digital wallets, protected by tokenisation and advanced AI-driven fraud prevention tools are improving consumer protection".
Euronews
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Euronews
Roma children, chess for integration, the inspiring activity of a Romanian association
Adriana Pascu, 16 years old, of Roma ethnicity, is a skilled chess player. Thanks to the game, she has developed strong analysis and concentration skills that also help her in her studies. Playing chess was not a matter of course for her and the other children of the Roma community in the Romanian city of Satu Mare. They learnt through the 'Chess for change' project started in 2019 by the Stea association, active in the social integration of Roma children. These children made progress in all areas, especially at school. "I am much more reflective, more focused, and memorise lessons faster," Adriana explains. Chess activates memory, the ability to analyse and anticipate. For Alex Geiger, a chess teacher, it is one of the most democratic sports: "Chess teaches children fair-play; it is the only sport, I would say, where we are all equal, no matter if you are male or female, if you have a handicap." The first objective of the Stea association was precisely to combat early school leaving and motivate children to at least complete the compulsory school cycle. "Chess allows these youngsters to realise that if they put their mind to it and are persistent, they can achieve good results," explains Cristina Bala, the director of the Stea centre. "Children and teenagers," she says, "have managed to participate in competitions, even international ones, and have also won prizes; they have been able to gain positive experiences and gain the recognition and esteem of others. Initially, teachers at school were sceptical, not thinking that Roma children could ever succeed in chess: today they support the project because the children involved are more motivated and better at studying as well. As Delia Sabou, Adriana's teacher, says: "We have noticed in all the children involved in the project that there is an important cognitive progression, an increase in concentration and an improvement in social interaction with their peers and teachers. The director of the Stea centre, Cristina Bala, immediately realised the potential of chess and introduced the activity in 2019. The total cost of the project for the first year was EUR 70,000, with the European Union contributing EUR 60,000 thanks to Cohesion Policy funds. The chess piece that Adriana prefers is the queen, because it is the most powerful piece. She plans to be an accountant when she grows up. It is clear that her life has taken on a new impetus and she will be the real queen of her future. The Romanian association Stea deals with the integration of children from vulnerable communities. In Satu Mare, a small town on the Hungarian border, the fight for inclusion is particularly aimed at the children of the Roma community. Stea has been working in this field for 20 years. In 2019, thanks to funding from the European Cohesion Policy, it introduced chess teaching among its activities; the game has been a success among the Roma children and has transmitted energy and enthusiasm to the entire community. Cristina Bala, director of Stea and project manager of Chess for change, looks back on the experience: at first the teachers themselves were not convinced. And yet in the very first year, within eight months, thanks to the perseverance of Cristina and her team, the children, 35 in all, learnt to play and 12 of them took part in international competitions and even won prizes. Chess develops the ability to concentrate, reflect, and analyse and this has had a positive impact on the daily lives of the youngsters involved in the programme. "Chess also has a positive effect on children with behavioural disorders. Some of them could not sit for more than five minutes, in front of the chessboard they can concentrate for more than forty minutes,' Cristina says. "Children who started playing chess in 2019 today continue their studies in high school. And this is the most important result, because our association was looking for ways to change the approach to schooling of these children.' Cristina says that another achievement, thanks to the regional competition she has been organising since 2019, is to have created a space where Roma children and young people meet with Romanian children and young people: the love of chess creates bridges for other activities in common. An inclusion and integration initiative with incredible results: in addition to the development of the children's cognitive and emotional skills, there is also an improvement in their interaction in society because their self-esteem increases. It goes without saying that these adolescents continue to go to school beyond the compulsory age, eventually graduating. Many continue afterwards and go on to university. In an attempt to encourage young Roma to go to university, a law in Romania provides for a percentage of places reserved for them, without having to pass any selection. Today, they are often not awarded because no candidates apply. The Chess for Change project is slowly changing the approach of the most vulnerable communities towards education. Just as the interchange between Roma children and their Romanian peers, parents included, now takes place without barriers and without prejudice. The project started in 2019 with 60,000 euro from European Cohesion Policy funding. The total cost of the project was 70,000 euro. Every year, Stea is looking for new patrons so as not to be forced to discontinue the programme. Off to Barcelona in the summer? Make sure to pick a proper travel agent. Taking a trip to London? Watch out for fake car rentals. The risk of being scammed at popular tourism spots jumps by 28% during peak seasons. Some examples are fake destination photos, broken confirmation links and bogus deals. Travel agencies seem to be the places most at risk, with scam rates "four times higher than the global average," according to a new report by the Mastercard Economics Institute. Fraudsters often establish fake tourism companies, attracting customers with juicy offers for excursions, guided tours or supposedly exclusive experiences, while offering unusually low prices. Once the transaction is processed, these tours either never take place or differ entirely from expectations. The report compared around twenty different cities to establish where the risk is highest. In general, tourists reported the lowest travel-related frauds in San Francisco, Dublin, Seoul, Budapest and Edinburgh, while the highest rates were reported in Cancun, Hanoi, Dhaka and Bangkok. So, how are tourists most likely to fall into a trap in these places? Travel-agency related frauds are the most likely in Hong Kong (70%), Delhi (64%), Barcelona (64%) and Cancun (48%). Taxi and car rentals aren't immune either: Tourists may pay for a service that never materialises after booking, or overpay due to hidden fees, inflated prices or rigged taximeters. Jakarta (66%) has the highest taxi fraud rate across all cities analysed, followed by Bangkok (48%), Istanbul (39%) and London (34%). Food scams also pose problems, such as meals that never arrive, or being overcharged at a restaurant through high service fees. That is particularly true in American cities like LA and New York, where food scams represent respectively 75% and 63% of the total. At the same time, in fraudsters in the accommodation sector may use holiday rental platforms or travel websites to create fake listings and lead tourists to book non-existent properties, or ones that greatly differ from the descriptions advertised. Tourists headed to Phuket in Thailand and Antalya in Turkey should be particularly wary, as accommodation scam rates there represent 39% and 35% of the total, respectively. Looking on the bright side, booking flights and trains remains relatively safe across all surveyed cities, with scam rates generally staying below 10%. However, travellers are at risk of fraud well before they leave home. An analysis of aggregate transaction data shows that in 2024, fraud linked to early trip planning rose by over 12% compared to the previous year. "Fake travel agency websites and excursions that closely resemble genuine services can make it harder for consumers to spot red flags", Mastercard's Executive VP Services Europe Michele Centenaro tells Euronews. He adds that the company aims to eliminate manual card entry by 2030 to boost security: "Digital wallets, protected by tokenisation and advanced AI-driven fraud prevention tools are improving consumer protection".
