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00:00As a rebel leader meets the Syrian Prime Minister to discuss the political transition in the country,
00:05cabinet ministers are reportedly getting back to work.
00:10Ukrainian forces are producing leaflets and videos encouraging North Korean soldiers to desert.
00:20European Commission President is trying hard to get the Mercosur free trade deal done.
00:24However, Emmanuel Macron is determined to block it.
00:27The European Parliament will have the last word.
00:30The NYPD arrested a man in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO,
00:35reportedly recovering a note expressing his motivation against corporate America.
00:42Syria's Prime Minister said that most cabinet ministers were back to work
00:46after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad.
00:50However, a UN official said the country's public sector had come to a complete and abrupt halt,
00:56with some state workers reportedly failing to return to their jobs.
01:01Syrian rebels announced that rebel leader Ahmed al-Shara met in Damascus
01:05with the outgoing Prime Minister who chaired Assad's government.
01:09Talks focused on the political transition in the country, according to the rebel coalition.
01:16The UK and US are both reportedly considering whether to remove the main anti-Assad rebel groups
01:21from their lists of designated terrorist organizations.
01:26Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighboring countries,
01:30hoping for a more peaceful future.
01:36Across swathes of Syria, families are now waiting outside prisons, security offices and courts,
01:42hoping for news of loved ones who were imprisoned or who disappeared during Assad's rule.
01:49The European Union is currently not in direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,
01:56but is willing to revise its position as a transition of power in Syria moves forward.
02:02The group was blacklisted for terrorism by the United Nations in 2014,
02:07but Western allies are now forced to rethink their stance.
02:12Now more than ever, it is imperative that all stakeholders engage in an inclusive,
02:17Syrian-led and Syrian-owned dialogue on all key issues to ensure an orderly,
02:22peaceful and inclusive transition guided by the respect for international law,
02:27human rights, fundamental freedoms, pluralism and tolerance among all components of society.
02:34It is not yet clear what changes will be made to the European Union's long-standing policy on Syria,
02:40such as on its sanctions.
02:43Next week, Foreign Affairs Ministers from the bloc are scheduled to meet for an initial debate
02:48with Vice President of the European Commission Kayak Alas.
02:57Syria has been devastated by a bloody civil war since 2011,
03:01which has its roots in a failed uprising against Bashar al-Assad during the Arab Spring.
03:07While many of the region's rulers either stepped down or were forcibly removed, Assad hung on.
03:13He directed the military to launch a brutal crackdown on the unrest,
03:16with an estimated 3,500 protesters killed.
03:20After months of violence, armed rebel groups began forming across the country,
03:25and what started as an insurgency had, by 2012, escalated into full-blown civil war.
03:31The UN Refugee Agency says that more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes.
03:37More than 7 million of those remain internally displaced, the rest have fled abroad.
03:43While many settled in the countries closest to Syria, others sought asylum in Europe,
03:48and the news of Assad's downfall has been met with a mixture of disbelief and joy.
04:01Humiliation. Dictatorship. We're free. We can't believe it.
04:08Sometimes I'm afraid to sleep to wake up. It's a dream.
04:14It's our country. It's our territory. It's where we lived. It's where we grew up.
04:19It's where we want to live our lives without any problems.
04:23We've been waiting for freedom for 14 years. We've been asking for freedom.
04:27And now we've finally got it, and we're very happy to be here.
04:32We just want peace.
04:34It's a revelation. It's not a civil war in Syria.
04:38Please. The media in Austria says it's a civil war in Syria.
04:42It's not a civil war. It's a revelation.
04:45And now it's finally over. Assad's regime is over. It's over.
04:49Super happy. Really. And super proud too.
04:53What are you so proud of?
04:55That finally, finally Syria is free.
04:58We're all optimistic. We're all Syrians and we're going to build Syria together.
05:03Of course we won't forget that Germany has helped us a lot.
05:07I studied medicine. My studies are over.
05:10I have the state citizenship and I will return to Syria to rebuild my country.
05:20Ukrainian military forces are producing leaflets and videos
05:24encouraging North Korean soldiers to desert.
05:28Kyiv's intelligence began their work after news broke that thousands of North Korean troops
05:33joined Moscow's forces in the Kursk border region.
05:37The project originally was aimed at Russian soldiers who didn't want to participate in the war,
05:42but its scope has since expanded.
05:45We all know the conditions of life in North Korea.
05:50So many people are thinking that this could be a chance to escape the regime
05:58and to escape to another country.
06:03Leaflets show North Korean forces how to surrender
06:06as well as what conditions are like on the other side.
06:10These leaflets are dispersed either by drone or through projectiles.
06:20The Netherlands began implementing renewed additional border controls on Monday.
06:26The tightened border checks are set to last six months
06:29across roads, railways and a select number of flights.
06:33The measures were proposed by the right-wing coalition
06:36led by the well-known anti-Muslim nationalist PVV party of Geert Wilders.
06:41Despite criticism, the Dutch Minister of Asylum and Migration
06:45said the move is not just symbolic and expects it will succeed
06:49in bringing down the influx of illegal migrants.
06:52There are always people who have a reason not to do something.
06:55But I won't let them do it.
06:57We take these measures because I want the influx to go down.
07:00And this is one of the measures to put it into practice.
07:04The Dutch military police carrying out the checks
07:07said most people will not notice a huge difference at borders.
07:11While they are now technically able to carry out checks at all border crossing points,
07:15this is unlikely to happen, as they must operate at the same capacity as before.
07:23Journalists have joined the protests in Georgia
07:26to denounce what they call an increase in violence against the media
07:30during the coverage of ongoing mass rallies in the country.
07:34Several hundred media workers on Sunday
07:36marched down Tbilisi's Central Rastaveli Avenue
07:39holding posters and pictures of their colleagues they say had been assaulted.
07:44The demonstration comes as tens of thousands of Georgians
07:48continue their protest against the ruling party.
07:51It is the 11th day of protests in Georgia.
07:54Over the weekend, the unknown masked thugs
07:56attacked a journalist and a cameraman during a live broadcast.
08:00The following day, the journalists protested the attacks on more than 50 journalists
08:06who were severely injured while performing their journalistic duties.
08:10The media representatives marched to the Parliament Building of Georgia
08:14where the Christmas tree had been placed earlier that morning.
08:18The journalists attached the protest posters and the photos of the injured journalists
08:23to the Christmas tree, transforming it to the protest tree.
08:32The ceremony to reopen Notre Dame Cathedral
08:34brought world leaders and some big names to Paris last Saturday.
08:38It was almost an unofficial summit
08:40where bilateral and even trilateral meetings were held.
08:43However, one important figure was missing.
08:46The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen
08:49was conspicuously absent from the prestigious occasion.
08:52She had been in Uruguay the day before to conclude a political free trade agreement
08:56with the South American countries of Mercosur,
08:59a text rejected by the French President.
09:02For some, von der Leyen is openly challenging Paris.
09:06For others, it was simply a scheduling problem that prevented her trip.
09:10There were scheduling issues.
09:13I have no information on the exact, what was exactly the scheduling issues,
09:21but that was the reason indeed, and as said,
09:23we had not yet formally confirmed the participation of the President.
09:28Ursula von der Leyen is criticized for announcing her trip to Montevideo at the last minute.
09:33But above all, this agreement comes at a time of political crisis in France,
09:38as the country is currently without a fully-fledged government.
09:42However, the French President's representatives in Brussels
09:45show that Emmanuel Macron still intends to prevent the text from being ratified.
09:52We have concrete issues that we raised a long time ago,
09:57so we continue to work on this and to show that,
10:02to really see that if the Commission moves forward on all this area or not.
10:08So, in fact, now, like I said, it's a new step.
10:12President Macron, but also French Minister, will work on the Council level,
10:19and me, I continue my job in the European Parliament.
10:23The political battle is far from over.
10:26The agreement must be ratified by the Member States.
10:29France is therefore trying to muster a blocking minority.
10:34If the capitals fail, Paris will have another opportunity to derail the text,
10:38since the Parliament also has to vote.
10:48New York's Police Commissioner said the NYPD arrested a 26-year-old
10:53with a weapon consistent with the gun,
10:55using the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
11:00Thompson died in a dawn ambush on Wednesday
11:03as he walked to the company's annual investor conference
11:06from his hotel across the street.
11:11NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney said
11:14Luigi Nicolas Mangione was taken into custody on Monday.
11:19He was arrested after police received a tip that he had been spotted
11:22at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania.
11:26Authorities reportedly recovered a handwritten document
11:29speaking to both his motivation and mindset.
11:32NYPD officials said the document indicated ill will towards corporate America
11:37rather than specific threats.
11:40The arrest appears to bring an end to a sprawling manhunt
11:43that expanded across the U.S.