Latest news bulletin | March 13th – Midday
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Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/13/latest-news-bulletin-march-13th-midday
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00Canada will impose reciprocal tariffs of 25% on over $20 billion of U.S. goods starting on Thursday.
00:10The Congolese government is to meet with M23 rebels for peace talks in Angola next week,
00:16after the group captured key areas in the east of the DRC.
00:20Ukraine has shown willingness for a ceasefire if Russia reciprocates,
00:24but will Putin abandon his no-temporary ceasefire policy?
00:27Moscow's stance remains unclear.
00:32Canada will impose reciprocal tariffs of 25% on over $20 billion of U.S. goods starting on Thursday.
00:41The measure was announced on the day that U.S. President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium went into effect.
00:49The EU also announced retaliatory measures on Wednesday in response to U.S. tariffs.
00:55In the announcement, Canada's foreign minister called on Europe to work together to remove them.
01:01I've been telling my European colleagues that Canada is the canary in the coal mine.
01:08If the U.S. can do this to us, their closest friend and ally, then nobody is safe.
01:14Today, these unjustified tariffs were imposed upon you as well, so let's work together to eliminate them.
01:22Let's work together to encourage Americans to pressure their elected officials.
01:28Canada's new tariffs would be on steel and aluminium products as well as goods including computers, sports equipment and water heaters.
01:36They are in addition to its 25% counter tariffs on U.S. imports that were put in place on March 4,
01:43in response to other Trump import taxes which he has partially delayed by one month.
01:52The Congolese government is to meet with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels for peace talks in Angola next week.
02:00Tensions escalated between the two after the militant group took control of the strategic Congo city of Goma in January.
02:09M23 is one of the around 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo.
02:17The announcement comes after several cancelled peace talks hosted by mediator Angola that had previously excluded M23 rebels
02:24and instead focused on their Rwanda backers.
02:28The conflict between the two has created one of the world's most significant humanitarian crises,
02:33with more than 7 million people having been displaced.
02:47Defence ministers from five major military European powers, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain,
02:56met on Wednesday in Paris to discuss a new security framework for Ukraine
03:02as a response to the rapprochement between the U.S. and Russia.
03:07This meeting came a day after 34 military chiefs from NATO countries as well as Japan and Australia
03:14met in the French capital in rare and confidential talks without their U.S. counterparts.
03:22French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said during a press conference on Wednesday evening
03:29that at this stage 15 countries are interested in continuing this process of developing this new security framework.
03:38France and Britain have been leading the charge to try to shore up as much support as possible for Ukraine
03:45since the U.S. have started to pull back.
03:48Lecornu also announced that a new meeting will be held in two weeks with more defence ministers
03:55and without the U.S. present in order to come up with more concrete proposals on security guarantees in Ukraine.
04:08The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was awaiting details from Washington
04:13about a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
04:19Moscow has repeatedly rejected freezing hostilities along the current front line,
04:24believing it has the upper hand on the battlefield.
04:30I can't see them accepting anything that doesn't legitimize their land grab and ethnic cleansing in Ukraine.
04:36That's what they will set out to get from these negotiations.
04:39They've made it clear it's not, as they often say for external consumption, about NATO expansion.
04:44It's about destroying the Ukrainian people and destroying the Ukrainian state.
04:48That is still the objective.
04:50And the fear is that if you simply freeze this conflict, that you just freeze the injustice,
04:56you freeze the occupation, you freeze the displacement.
04:59Putin himself has repeatedly rejected the possibility of a temporary ceasefire,
05:04saying that he was focused on addressing what he calls the, quote, root causes of the conflict.
05:10One thing I think that's interesting and perhaps worth emphasizing
05:13is how shaky Putin's commitments are to some of his objectives.
05:16Look back to 2023 with the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
05:21Look how far they advanced in one day.
05:24800 kilometres in one day.
05:26And nobody came out to support Putin.
05:29There weren't all these banners saying, we support Putin, stop this Yevgeny.
05:32People were looking for selfies with Yevgeny Prigozhin and Rostov-on-Don.
05:35So the regime in that respect is quite fragile.
05:40And I think that, and this is the pity that Trump isn't applying pressure on Putin
05:44because he has so much potential to apply pressure.
05:47And power in Russia is much more important to Putin than victory in Ukraine.
05:53Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday Ukraine has shown it is willing to adopt a ceasefire.
05:59Now, he says, Russia needs to respond.
06:12This building in the heart of Brussels is at the centre of intense political discussions within the European Union.
06:19Euroclear is believed to hold 258 billion euros in frozen Russian assets.
06:26The 27 are divided over whether this money should be confiscated to support Ukraine.
06:34This divide is reflected in the European Parliament, which debated the issue on Wednesday.
06:40Some member countries, such as France and Belgium,
06:43believe that seizing these assets would be illegal and are urging caution.
06:49This is the reason why the different governments,
06:52which are particularly involved together with the European Central Bank and other institutions,
06:57are working to verify what are the legal and financial possibilities.
07:03It's clear that if there were no risk on the market and no risk from the legal certainty
07:09to confiscate the Russian funds, we would push to confiscate them immediately.
07:15For the time being, the EU has already seized the interest on these assets,
07:19valued at 3 billion euros per year.
07:23Others point out that confiscating Russian assets could also threaten
07:27the confidence of foreign investors in the single currency.
07:32The Baltic states, Poland and other countries close to the Russian border
07:36that wish the money to be seized reject this argument.
07:40Any decision needs to be anchored in international law.
07:43So, as long as international law is abided in the confiscation, it is possible to do it.
07:49It's a separate thing.
07:52Euro stability and the euro market is very reliable for anyone to invest into.
07:58The capitals that are defending prudence believe that these Russian funds
08:02could also enable the Union to invite itself to the table of power.
08:07It could also enable the Union to invite itself to the table of any peace negotiations.
08:12What's more, these assets could be used as a bargaining chip.
08:21Austria's three-party coalition agreed with temporarily halt family reunification procedures for migrants.
08:28A move critics say is a violation of European asylum law.
08:33Chancellor Christian Stocker justified the proposal by pointing at Austria's social services,
08:39which he claimed were under strain.
09:04Critics say the plan violates European asylum law.
09:08It would involve invoking the EU's emergency clause,
09:12which stipulates that national law can take precedence over EU law
09:16in the event of a threat to public order or security.
09:21Bosnian state-level prosecutors issued arrest warrants for three top Bosnian Serb officials
09:26over a series of alleged separatist moves in recent weeks.
09:30The Bosnian Prosecutor's Office issued orders for Bosnian Serb majority entity
09:35President Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister Radovan Visković,
09:40and Prime Minister Miloš Štefanović.
09:43The Bosnian Prosecutor's Office issued orders for Bosnian Serb majority entity
09:47President Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister Radovan Visković,
09:51and Parliament Speaker Nenad Stevandić.
09:54Dodik has repeatedly said he does not recognize the state-level jurisdiction
09:59and will not go to the capital, Sarajevo, for questioning.
10:02There is no blow or pain that I am not ready to endure for the Republic of Serbia.
10:08Milorad Dodik will do his job well and travel,
10:13but he will never leave the Republic of Serbia.
10:17And if anyone thinks that we are puppets, they are mistaken.
10:22Bosnia's court previously convicted Dodik of disobeying orders
10:26from the country's international peace envoy, Christian Schmid.
10:30Shortly after, Dodik introduced new laws meant to ban the operation of state-level security
10:35and judicial institutions in the Serb majority part of the country.
10:40The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an order to the judicial police
10:46to bring in the political leadership of Republika Srpska entity,
10:50including President Milorad Dodik.
10:53The Prosecutor's Office charged them with committing the criminal offense
10:58of attacking the constitutional order.
11:02This is a consequence of political decisions of the region of that entity
11:07where the National Assembly adopt laws that prohibit the activities of the state,
11:12judicial and police agencies which the government Republika Srpska considers unconstitutional.
11:20All of these decisions have been temporarily suspended by the constitutional court Bosnia and Herzegovina.
11:29Belmina Corbic, Euronews, Sarajevo.