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00:00 The EU gives the green light for accession negotiations with Ukraine, but failed to approve
00:05 a vital financial aid package.
00:12 Palestinians lack access to their basic needs, like drinking water, as conditions in Gaza
00:17 get worse.
00:23 Mixed news for Ukraine on Thursday, as the European Union failed to agree on a 50 billion
00:28 euro aid package for the war-torn country, but did open accession negotiations with Kiev
00:33 for it to join the bloc.
00:35 The historic decision to start talks with Ukraine and neighbouring Moldova comes after
00:40 weeks of veto threats from Hungary.
00:43 Supporting Kiev was welcomed in Brussels as a symbolic step.
00:46 "I would like to send a positive and reassuring signal because we have tools to guarantee
00:55 that we are reliable and that the Ukrainians can count on our support."
01:04 Ukraine's president welcomed the news, but stressed that there would be a long road ahead.
01:11 "It's a big job to integrate the state, all institutions, all norms, all this to the
01:19 European Union, but we will do it.
01:25 Ukraine has already shown many times that we are capable.
01:26 There will be another successful decision.
01:27 There will be a time when we will be able to celebrate Ukraine's accession to the EU."
01:32 But the failure to agree on a new financial aid package was also a heavy blow, as Ukraine
01:36 desperately needs the money to stay afloat.
01:39 Earlier this week, Zelensky visited Washington, an unsuccessful bid to persuade US lawmakers
01:45 to approve additional funding.
01:47 "Conditions in Gaza are getting worse.
01:51 The Palestinian enclave lacks even the most basic needs, drinking water most of all.
01:57 The Gaza authorities, currently led by Hamas, say there is but 10% of the water that Gazans
02:03 need to survive.
02:05 Despite the risks, some people are drinking water from the sea."
02:08 "We have water, but because of the war, we have to fill it up.
02:16 We have to bring water because there is no water."
02:22 The Israeli offensive, which has been underway since the 7th of October, the day Hamas launched
02:28 an attack on Israeli territory, has destroyed Gaza's health infrastructure and most of the
02:33 water wells.
02:34 Floods in recent days have worsened the situation.
02:37 UNICEF have warned that children and those seeking shelter on the ground urgently need
02:42 food, medicines, blankets and warm clothes.
02:52 Serbia goes to the polls this Sunday in a key parliamentary election, the fifth in a
02:57 decade.
02:58 The opposition are challenging the dominance of populist president Aleksandar Vucic and
03:02 his SNS party.
03:04 Vucic's government is in hot water after two mass shootings earlier in the year, protests
03:09 and tensions in neighbouring Kosovo.
03:13 Initially scheduled for the 30th of April 2026, the 53-year-old called the snap election.
03:18 He won the 2022 presidential elections with around 60% of the votes.
03:24 In opposition is the Serbia Against Violence Coalition, or SPN, a union of candidates from
03:29 eight different liberal, environmental and pro-European parties.
03:34 But according to the latest polls, the opposition might not secure enough ballots to get them
03:38 over the line. If predictions are correct, the ruling party will get 40% of the vote,
03:42 while the opposition coalition will come in second with around 26%.
03:50 A moment of calm away from the trenches, accompanied by the sweet sounds of a fiddle.
03:56 These are Ukrainian soldiers attending a concert performed by fellow troops at a recovery centre
04:01 in the eastern Donetsk region.
04:04 This unit has been fighting relentlessly for the city of Avdiivka. Some of these men are
04:08 recovering from infections likely caused by hypothermia.
04:12 I like that I haven't heard about it for a long time.
04:19 It's like a civilization.
04:22 You always hear about it in trenches or in houses.
04:25 You don't see people.
04:28 Of course, when you listen to music, you don't think about it.
04:33 There are songs, for example, that I've heard, or a rhythm.
04:38 It reminds you of something that a person said or said.
04:43 Memories, something like that.
04:46 Of course, there are.
04:49 The show concluded with a special guest, Daniela Zayushkina, the lead vocalist from the indie
04:54 rock band Vivian Mort from Kyiv.
04:56 Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefront are finding themselves short of ammunition.
05:07 The biggest challenge for US President Joe Biden is that he's not getting the money he
05:11 needs from Congress to continue supporting Ukraine, which is facing dwindling supplies
05:15 of artillery shells and air defence ammunition.
05:20 Deliveries from Europe have also fallen dramatically. In the Donbass, a military unit leader said
05:25 that last year they were receiving three or four times more shells from the EU.
05:32 The soldiers are taking part in a war with no end in sight, but having to undergo a period
05:37 of restraint.
05:41 And it's not just international support that worries the Ukrainians. In Kyiv, hundreds
05:45 of people demonstrated on Thursday to demand more support for the country's armed forces.
05:50 They want the authorities to prioritise spending on the war effort at a time when family and
05:54 friends are dying on the front line.
06:00 Finland says it will reseal its entire eastern border starting at 8pm on Friday due to an
06:06 ongoing influx of migrants at two crossing points on its frontier with Russia that were
06:10 temporarily reopened early on Thursday.
06:14 Local authorities say that more than 70 migrants without proper documentation or visas had
06:19 arrived at the two checkpoints by Thursday evening, with the number predicted to increase
06:24 rapidly.
06:25 Helsinki has accused Moscow of orchestrating an influx of asylum seekers in what it's called
06:31 an act of hybrid warfare.
06:36 Polish President Andrzej Duda attended a Hanukkah celebration in parliament on Tuesday, joined
06:43 by Polish politicians and Jewish community members who lit candles on the last night
06:48 of the Jewish festival.
06:51 It was a show of solidarity for the Jewish community after a far-right lawmaker, Gregor
06:56 Szybrosz-Brown, earlier this week used a fire extinguisher to put out burning candles on
07:02 a menorah.
07:03 Polish prosecutors say they have opened an investigation into the incident.
07:08 Two leading human rights groups have accused Greek authorities of failing to properly investigate
07:15 the deaths of hundreds of migrants who drowned when their overcrowded boat sank off the coast
07:20 of southern Greece last June.
07:22 In a joint report, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said little meaningful
07:27 progress has been made in examining allegations that a rescue mission was delayed and mishandled.
07:33 About 750 people were crammed into a rusty fishing trawler travelling from Libya to Italy.
07:40 104 people were rescued and 82 bodies were recovered.
07:46 A 17-year-old British boy who went missing in 2017 and was found this week in southern
07:51 France is set to be repatriated to England in the coming days.
07:55 Alex Baddy disappeared when he was just 11 years old during a vacation in Spain with
07:59 his mother and grandfather.
08:01 His grandmother, who was his legal guardian at the time, believed that he had been taken
08:05 to live in a spiritual community in Morocco and that his mother did not want him to go
08:09 to school.
08:10 Baddy`s mother and grandfather are wanted in connection with his abduction.
08:14 Their whereabouts are unknown.
08:21 Prince Harry has won his case against the Daily Mirror for hacking his mobile phone.
08:26 Harry will receive compensation of almost 165,000 euros for 15 of the 33 newspaper articles
08:34 at issue in the trial.
08:36 The High Court Judge Timothy Fancourt ruled that this type of practice had been widespread
08:40 and habitual at Mirror Group newspapers for many years.
08:46 Private detectives were an integral part of the system of illegal information gathering.
08:51 The judge said that newspaper executives were aware of the practice and covered it up.
08:55 This is the first of several lawsuits that the youngest son of King Charles III has started
09:00 against British tabloids.
09:08 A prison in the French town of Saint was evacuated on Thursday after rapidly rising water levels
09:15 in the River Charente triggered flood warnings.
09:18 142 inmates were moved to other prisons.
09:21 Residents of the town were also advised to leave.
09:24 Five departments across southwestern France are still under orange flood warnings.
09:30 Recent heavy rains combined with a very wet September left soil unable to absorb any more
09:35 water.
09:36 Yet there is cautious hope that the worst is over.
09:43 The world beneath Simona Halep's feet crumbled last year when she was found guilty of doping.
09:49 The two-time Grand Slam champion has now been banned from tennis for four years until 2026,
09:55 but she's hoping that ruling will soon be reversed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
09:59 The hearing for her case has been set in February after the International Tennis Integrity Agency
10:04 found she deliberately took performance-enhancing drugs.
10:07 Halep, however, says that verdict is wrong.
10:10 "It's very clear that it was a contamination.
10:13 Three days before the positive urine test I was negative blood and urine.
10:18 So I've been told at the beginning that it's extremely low quantity of this substance,
10:24 banned substance, and in those three days I could not have doped.
10:29 It was not my intention and never has been my intention to do something wrong or something
10:35 disrespectful to this sport because I have respected everything and I dedicated my life.
10:41 My principles are not like this so I didn't think to cheat in tennis."
10:48 There was another twist in the tale last month when a high-profile coach, Patrick Moratuglu,
10:53 admitted after a year's silence that his technical team were to blame for giving Halep a contaminated
10:58 substance.
11:00 She's expressed great relief about the revelation as it may prove to be crucial for her return
11:04 to court.
11:05 "That's why you hire people because you need information, you need to be better.
11:11 So I always trusted this and my trust is broken a little bit right now and in the future I
11:17 don't know how it's going to be.
11:19 If I can trust again and probably I have to learn because this is my principle in life.
11:25 If you hire somebody and you work with that person you have to trust."
11:32 Watch the full interview with Simona Halep on Euronews from 10 o'clock on Friday night.
11:37 [SWOOSH]
11:40 (cymbal crash)