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00:00 Polls have opened in the Netherlands as four days of voting in the EU parliamentary elections
00:06 begins.
00:07 A new report warns there's a possibility famine has hit northern Gaza, although no formal
00:16 declaration has been made.
00:20 Polls show Europe's far-right parties are struggling to find cohesion ahead of the EU
00:25 elections.
00:26 It's the only country to start its single-day vote so early, but will be followed by Ireland
00:33 on Friday and the rest of the EU nations over the weekend.
00:37 400 million citizens will be casting their votes in the elections, which are expected
00:43 to deliver significant results.
00:45 The European Parliament has announced it will be holding a general election on Wednesday
00:49 and Thursday.
00:50 In the Netherlands, voting comes six months after the far-right Party for Freedom became
00:56 the largest in the Dutch national parliament.
00:59 Polling suggests it will build on that popularity.
01:05 A new report warns there's a possibility famine has hit northern Gaza, although no formal
01:11 declaration has been made.
01:13 A new report warns there's a possibility famine has hit northern Gaza, although no formal
01:20 declaration has been made.
01:24 Famine exists when 20% of households are essentially starving, at least 30% of children suffer
01:31 wasting and two adults or four children per every 10,000 are dying daily of hunger and
01:37 its complications.
01:38 But the report's authors, known as the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, say their ability
01:45 to collect data has been impeded by the war and restrictions on humanitarian access.
01:54 Israel has repeatedly denied there is famine underway in Gaza and rejected allegations
01:59 it's used hunger as a weapon in its war against Hamas.
02:04 A formal declaration could be used as evidence at the International Criminal Court as well
02:09 as at the International Court of Justice where Israel faces allegations of genocide.
02:18 The report also cautioned efforts to increase aid into Gaza are insufficient and urged Israel's
02:24 government to act urgently.
02:31 Much of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced since the war began and their
02:37 health ministry claims more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed.
02:46 Israel's expanding offensive in Rafa has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other
02:51 supplies to Palestinians facing widespread hunger.
02:57 In the south, thousands have returned to Khan Yunis where basic infrastructure is lacking
03:02 and people are struggling to get the minimum amounts of water to survive.
03:10 Meanwhile, despite pressure from the United States on Israel and Hamas to accept its three-phase
03:19 ceasefire proposal, no agreement has yet been made.
03:23 A candidate of the far-right German AFD party was stabbed in Germany's southern city of
03:33 Mannheim.
03:35 Heinrich Koch, a candidate in the local elections, allegedly saw an individual tearing up campaign
03:41 posters and tried to stop him.
03:45 The 25-year-old suspect allegedly assaulted him with a cutter.
03:50 The victim was not critically injured.
03:54 The alleged attacker has been arrested and is said to have psychiatric disorders.
04:04 Slovakia's capital Bratislava is preparing for intense flooding as heavy rainfall in
04:08 Germany and Austria continues to raise the water levels of the Danube River.
04:15 The Slovak Hydro-Meteorological Institute has announced a second level flood warning
04:20 for the Bratislava district.
04:23 They believe this will be exceeded near the station and in the borough of Davinska Nova
04:27 Ves, which borders the Morava River.
04:32 Several areas near the Danube and Morava rivers have already been closed to the public and
04:38 the city's police force has urged people to avoid these locations for safety reasons.
04:45 Meanwhile heavy downpours have already caused flooding in the Slovak districts of Vranov
04:50 nad Toplou where a third level flood warning is in place.
04:55 Driveways, gardens and cellars are overflowing with water.
05:08 Firefighters in the western village of Kamenoporuba have also been pumping out excess water from
05:13 an overflowing stream.
05:19 Europe's ultra-conservative parties are being forced to seek out more moderate political
05:24 allies in an attempt to secure enough votes to influence future EU legislation.
05:29 According to the Euronews Superpolls, while the conservatives are expected to see significant
05:34 gains in the upcoming elections, they are still too divided to produce a viable EU Commission
05:40 leader.
06:03 According to the Euronews Polls Centre's simulations, if the conservatives decide to
06:10 go into coalition, their best option would be to join up with the Liberals of the Renew
06:14 Party.
06:15 This way they could match up parliamentary seat distribution with the Realpolitik of
06:20 the EU government.
06:22 Coalition between the conservative groups would be difficult as it would be too weighted
06:26 towards the right.
06:27 There are also many issues the two main far-right parties, the European Conservatives and Reformists,
06:32 led by Italy's Prime Minister Giorgio Maloney, and the Identity and Democracy Party, led
06:37 by France's Marine Le Pen, are not united on.
06:42 At the moment, the only issue that can create some cohesion within the right is the struggle
06:47 against immigration.
06:49 But even then, solutions to the matter differ between the southern flank and the eastern
06:53 and northern parts of the EU.
06:56 "The centre of gravity will certainly move to the right.
07:01 And this is something the EPP, which will then be the central player, will be able to
07:05 use as a blackmail potential vis-à-vis the Liberals and the Social Democrats, if not
07:10 the Greens.
07:11 I don't believe that the EPP is serious about working with identity and democracy.
07:17 It would also be political suicide at the national level.
07:21 But they will certainly use it."
07:24 According to the Euronews Polls Centre, Europe's mainstream political parties are likely to
07:29 face the difficult task of creating a ruling parliament using votes from the fragmented
07:34 radical right bloc.
07:39 Unravelling the threat of social networks and revealing the real from the fake.
07:44 But above all, to detect the manipulation of information.
07:48 That's the job of this analyst, who works discreetly for the domestic intelligence service.
07:53 "What we are trying to detect are anomalies, we can call them.
07:58 A sudden increase in the number of posts, retweets or likes on a particular topic,
08:05 or the appearance of new actors."
08:10 In April, European figures from the conservative right and far-right met in Brussels.
08:15 The foreign intelligence service scrutinised the exchanges.
08:19 "The grey area, which represents the majority of what we see on the screen, is related to
08:25 a discussion or a de-discussion related to the political conference that took place in
08:31 mid-April here in Brussels.
08:33 While the actors who are in the blue areas are actors that we monitor on a daily basis
08:41 for the simple reason that they are from the pro-Russian movement.
08:46 It seems clear that the fact of engaging in a political conversation, which is physically
08:52 based here in Belgium, has the objective of amplifying the existing chaos or polarization
08:59 related to this conference."
09:00 The risk of foreign attempts to manipulate public opinion are high during elections.
09:05 In Poland, a special commission has already begun to investigate Russian and Belarusian
09:09 influence in the country.
09:14 Citizens go to the polls during the European elections with an expectation for change,
09:19 for improvement.
09:21 According to Boyd Wagner, chief analyst of the Euronews Poll Center, data shows that
09:26 the main concerns for Europeans are the economy and security issues.
09:30 They are expecting more stability from the upcoming parliament.
09:36 "Number one would be the economy, would be things like purchasing power and inflation.
09:44 I think secondly, the one that is very common across every country is migration, remains
09:51 to be an important issue."
09:53 The economy, migration and climate policies are some of the top concerns that people in
09:57 Brussels have as the EU elections loom.
10:04 "If you want to do anything about the climate, you have to pay.
10:14 So economically it's important."
10:16 "It's important that we manage to become climate neutral as the EU and to find a way
10:24 to start and still be socially acceptable.
10:35 The rich can't afford it and the poor are getting poorer."
10:38 "Well, economic stability, all our economies are so interlinked in the globalist world.
10:44 And we have local problems as well in Ireland.
10:46 You know, it continues to be a massive housing crisis, cost of living crisis.
10:52 And I don't think politicians are taking seriously these issues, especially European parliament
10:58 politicians."
11:00 At the political level, the focus is on competitiveness, while for European citizens it's about their
11:05 daily lives and for some, it's two sides of the same coin.
11:10 On the other hand, the issues of defense also appears to be a key priority for Brussels.
11:15 "If politicians worry about competitiveness, this is about the budgets of the states.
11:20 And the budget of the states is then of course necessarily also translates into the money
11:25 of the people.
11:26 So there is of course a strong connection.
11:28 Now, when it comes to defense, then we see that people also worry about that.
11:33 But that very much depends on where they live."
11:37 Water expectations vary across member states, but they all unite in the hope for better
11:41 management of both present and the future.
11:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]