00:00Ukraine's power grid has suffered mass outages on Saturday after a technical malfunction.
00:05Residents are facing energy, heating and water outages.
00:08A powerful explosion struck the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, damaging an eight-story
00:15building.
00:16Unofficial reports suggest that an Iranian Navy commander may have been the target.
00:21Ukraine's power grid has suffered mass outages on Saturday after a technical malfunction
00:25tripped key transmission lines.
00:28Energy Minister Denis Shima said a 400 kW line between Romania and Moldova failed, along
00:34with a 750 kW line linking Western and Central Ukraine.
00:38The Ukrainian-Moldovan border is temporarily closed to vehicles and goods due to what is
00:42described as a failure of central databases on the part of Moldovan customs authorities.
00:48The Ukrainian energy ministry confirmed no cyber attack was involved.
00:52Energy provider DTEK reported emergency shutdowns in Kiev and surrounding areas amid
00:58freezing temperatures.
01:00Residents are facing energy, heating and water outages following the accident.
01:06President Volodymyr Zelensky said restoration work is underway to quickly stabilize the grid.
01:14A powerful explosion struck the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, damaging
01:19an eight-story building and shattering windows across the structure.
01:23Unofficial reports suggested that IRGC Navy commander Ali Reza Tangsiri may have been the target.
01:30But the Tanzanim news agency, linked to the Revolutionary Guard, dismissed the claims as completely false.
01:36Some local sources have blamed a gas leak, though witnesses say the building had no gas piping installed.
01:42Reports also describe sounds of other explosions in cities, including Ahwaz, near the Iran-Iraq border.
01:48At least five people were reported dead and two were injured.
01:51The cause of the blast remains unclear, but the US Navy vessels continue to approach Iran.
01:56At the same time, Iranian media reported that their exercises with Russia and China have been postponed.
02:02Videos circulating this afternoon showed a large plume of smoke near Paran, a new city near Tehran.
02:08Officials in Tehran province denied reports of military activity in Paran and Robert Karim,
02:14saying the smoke there came from burning dry vegetation along the Shah River.
02:23Dutch Prime Minister-elect Robert Jetten said on Friday that US President Donald Trump's
02:28territorial ambitions in Greenlands were a wake-up call for Europe.
02:33The centrist D66 leader stressed the need for stronger European cooperation,
02:38to ensure security and prosperity, rather than focusing on the United States.
02:44Jetten made the comments after presenting his policy blueprint alongside his minority coalition partners.
02:51We can continue talking and complaining about the US, but what we should do instead is make sure
02:58that the European cooperation is strengthened, that we can guarantee security and prosperity for our own citizens.
03:04So one of my first things that I will do as soon as I'm in office is talk to my colleagues in Europe to see
03:12what role the Dutch can play again in strengthening the European cooperation.
03:16Jetten said he would still seek closer cooperation with Washington on security, Ukraine and the economy.
03:23Last week Trump dropped threatened tariffs on eight European nations, including the Netherlands,
03:28amid his push for control of Greenland.
03:31Venezuela's acting president has announced a proposal for mass amnesty in the country in her latest
03:40significant reform since the US chaplain of Nicolas Maduro just weeks ago.
03:46In a speech at the Venezuelan Supreme Court on Friday, Dulce Rodriguez said she would propose a general
03:53amnesty law covering the entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present.
03:59Leftist revolutionary Hugo Chavez assumed the presidency in 1999 and was succeeded upon his death in 2013 by Maduro.
04:09Formerly Maduro's vice president, Rodriguez has moved quickly in less than four weeks in power to
04:16overhaul Venezuelan society in ways sought by the US. However, opposition figures in the country have
04:23expressed reserved optimism about the changes, wary that Maduro's closest allies remain in power.
04:30According to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado,
04:36Rodriguez's amnesty proposal came only after she was pushed by Washington.
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