00:00The centrist liberal D66 has officially beaten the far-right party for freedom and become
00:06the biggest winner of this week's nail-biting snap parliamentary election race in the Netherlands.
00:13With nearly all votes counted, Dutch press agency ANP announced that Geert Wilders-PVV
00:19no longer has a chance at overtaking the D66 led by Rob Jetten.
00:24The remaining votes come from just one municipality, Fenray, where a fire that broke out in the
00:41town hall delayed ballot counting. Also remaining are the mail-in ballots from voters living abroad,
00:48which will be announced by Monday. Their win means D66 will take the first initiative in
00:53forming a coalition and puts Jette as a likely candidate for prime minister.
00:58Jette's wish to build a centrist coalition will depend on the willingness of major parties
01:03on the left and the right to collaborate.
01:12Cleanup efforts are underway as Hurricane Melissa, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded,
01:17left a trail of destruction across much of the northern Caribbean.
01:21The death toll further rose to 49 on Thursday, with deaths recorded in Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
01:30In Jamaica, where Melissa made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane,
01:35emergency relief flights enter the country carrying water, medicine and other essentials.
01:41Government workers and residents are working to clear roads and reach isolated communities,
01:47and search efforts are underway to find victims under the rubble.
01:52Aerial images of Black River reveal the damage the hurricane caused.
01:56Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness said up to 90% of roofs in the coastal community were destroyed.
02:04Meanwhile, in Cuba, residents slowly started returning back home after the civil defense evacuated
02:10hundreds of thousands of people across eastern Cuba ahead of the storm.
02:28In Haiti reported the highest number of deaths. At least 30 people were killed after the country was hit
02:35by catastrophic flooding unleashed by the hurricane.
02:59Melissa brushed past the southeast Bahamas on Wednesday, and on Thursday night,
03:04the hurricane weakened to a Category 2 storm as it passed by the west of Bermuda.
03:12The United States is restricting the number of refugees admitted annually to the country to 7,500,
03:20the lowest refugee admission cap in the U.S. history.
03:28According to a registered notice published on Thursday, but dated September 30,
03:33the admission of the 7,500 refugees during the 2026 budget year is, quote,
03:41justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest, end of quote.
03:47The new numbers are a steep decrease from last year's ceiling of 125,000 set under Democratic President Joe Biden.
03:58Trump suspended the refugee program on his first day in office, and since then, only a trickle have entered the U.S.,
04:07mostly white South Africans. The announcement cements a major shift in policy toward refugees
04:14that aligns with the Trump administration's goals of keeping out foreigners whom it deems a risk to U.S. security or a threat to jobs.
04:23But analysts believe the move effectively suspends America's traditional role as a haven for those fleeing war and persecution.
04:33The Dutch election is going to the wire, with forces led by newcomer Robiette of the centrist liberal D66 party making spectacular gains in a blow to the far-right PVV led by Geert Wilders.
04:51But with the PVV looming close behind and the final result too close to call, many questions remain open about the possibilities for the potential next coalition.
05:00There is a big distinction between D66 and the PVV here, because D66 might actually form a government, right?
05:07It's a centrist party. There's many majorities that D66 could form.
05:11The PVV not so much, because basically the entire Dutch political centre has said that they will not cooperate with them.
05:18Although Wilders may still come out on top in terms of the popular vote, yet it remains a much more likely choice for prime minister.
05:25But other big parties on both the left and the right may prove decisive on where the coalition will end up on the political spectrum.
05:33The Green-Left Labour Party has just lost a lot of seats. Their leader has stepped down and they are in no talking mood.
05:39However, it is very clear that they do want to participate in the government also with the VV.
05:43The VV, however, has basically run their campaign on not being willing to cooperate with the Green-Left Labour Party.
05:49So that will be a very difficult hurdle to take.
05:52In 2023, the Netherlands took more than six months to reach a coalition agreement.
06:00At least 11 people were injured, including four children, as Russia carried out a series of strikes in Sumi region overnight into Friday.
06:10According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the strikes hit a residential area and infrastructure facilities.
06:17Rescuers said they evacuated 12 residents from a nine-story building after the strike sparked a fire in the apartments on the upper floors.
06:27The Sumi region borders Russia and has been under constant attack from both drones and missiles.
06:49According to local officials, Russia has conducted 543 attacks using various types of weapons on the city since the beginning of the year, killing at least 72 people and injuring nearly 500.
07:06Aegean Airlines will become the first European carrier to fly directly to Baghdad, the Greek foreign minister said on Thursday during a visit to Iraq.
07:13The Greek airline is scheduled to operate its inaugural flight from Athens to Iraqi capital on the 16th of December.
07:21Greek foreign minister Yorgos Kerafetritis said this step will substantially boost economic and cultural ties.
07:29His Iraqi counterpart, Fouad Hussain, welcomed the move, saying recent visits from European leaders show the stability country is experiencing.
07:37Hussain added that the two countries also discussed cooperation in agriculture, investment and tourism.
07:42The news comes as plans are underway to upgrade Baghdad International Airport.
07:50A Turkish court sentenced the owner of a ski resort hotel and 10 others to life in prison,
07:57convicting them of severe negligence in connection with a deadly fire that killed 78 people in January.
08:03The blaze broke out at the 12-storey Grand Carta Hotel at the Kartalkaya ski resort in the province of Bolu during the winter school break.
08:13Thirty-four children taking family holidays were among the victims.
08:18The hotel owner, his wife, two daughters, hotel managers, a deputy mayor and a deputy fire chief were all sentenced to life imprisonment.
08:26The defendants, who have rejected responsibility for the deaths, are expected to appeal the decision.
08:37The Israeli military has confirmed the identities of the remains of two more hostages returned by Hamas.
08:44The bodies were identified as Sahar Baruch and Amiram Cooper,
08:48who were both captured during the 7 October 2023 Hamas militant attack on Israel.
08:53The two sets of remains were given to the Red Cross in Gaza before being transported into Israel by troops
09:01and taken to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification.
09:06Hospital officials in Gaza also announced that the bodies of 30 Palestinians had been handed over by Israel.
09:13The exchange of Palestinian remains for hostage remains is the latest indication
09:18that the fraught Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement is moving forward,
09:22despite more deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza this week.
09:26Hamas has now returned the remains of 17 hostages since the start of the cease-fire,
09:31with 11 others still in Gaza and set to be turned over under the terms of the agreement.
09:36U.S. President Donald Trump returned to Washington after a face-to-face meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday.
09:50Trump called the meeting a success and said he would cut tariffs on China.
09:54In return, Beijing agreed to allow for the export of rare earth minerals and would start buying American soybeans.
10:01Trump had implemented the tariffs as a punishment on China for selling chemicals used to make fentanyl in the U.S.
10:30In response, China hit back by imposing additional export restrictions on its rare earth minerals.
10:37While these controls were initially a response to U.S. tariffs, the EU had become collateral damage in the dispute.
10:44Chinese President Xi Jinping admitted the U.S. and China did not see, quote,
10:49eye-to-eye with each other at times, adding that it was normal that two leading economies have frictioned from time to time.
10:55However, he said that China and the U.S. are able to help each other succeed and prosper together.
11:03Trump announced that he will travel to China in April and also invited Xi for a visit to the United States.
11:09King Charles is stripping his brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicting him from his royal residence,
11:18Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Thursday.
11:21The palace said Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and not as a prince.
11:27The move follows revelations about his relationship with committed sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
11:32The renewed attention follows claims from Virginia Roberts Jeffrey, who died by suicide in April,
11:38that she had sexual encounters with Andrew when she was 17.
11:42Andrew has long denied Jeffrey's claims but stepped down from loyal duties in 2019.
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