Latest news bulletin | December 20th – Morning - video Dailymotion

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00:00 President Zelensky says he is confident that the United States will not betray Ukraine.

00:11 Russian President Vladimir Putin says his troops are holding the initiative in Ukraine.

00:23 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an end of year press conference on Tuesday,

00:29 in which he expressed hope for the future of Ukraine and his conviction that although

00:34 the U.S. Congress failed to agree on a 54 billion euros aid package to Kyiv, he still

00:40 had their full support.

00:52 Zelensky said he wanted to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to find solutions

00:59 after suffering a tough blow from Hungary as they blocked a vital EU aid package of

01:04 50 billion euros.

01:06 "We have made big bets on the European Union.

01:14 We have achieved one victory on the European Union, 50 billion.

01:20 I am sure we have already achieved all of this.

01:24 The question is now for some time."

01:30 The Ukrainian President hailed the great victory of his country's army over Russia in the Black

01:34 Sea.

01:35 It is not known when the war will end, as he himself admitted, but the army intends

01:40 to mobilize up to 500,000 more people.

01:48 Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking at the meeting of the Defense Ministry's board

01:54 on Tuesday said his troops were holding the initiative in Ukraine.

01:59 Putin also says that the West continues a hybrid war against Russia and insisted that

02:04 Russia is not planning war against Europe.

02:07 "The enemy is suffering heavy losses and has spent a significant amount of reserves,

02:14 trying to show its real masters some result of its so-called counteroffensive.

02:24 By the way, the myth of the invulnerability of Western military equipment has also collapsed."

02:31 Russian Defense Minister stated this Tuesday that Russian troops now control a territory

02:37 in Ukraine that is five times larger than that occupied before the start of the war

02:43 in February 2022.

02:49 Russia has damaged or destroyed almost every building in the eastern Ukrainian city of

02:53 Advika, according to a new report.

02:57 It is part of a major assault plan, which has seen civilian infrastructure like schools

03:02 and hospitals deliberately flattened.

03:04 Over the last 24 hours, Russia has launched dozens of drones at Ukrainian cities in what's

03:11 become a nightly barrage, while trying to put together a ground offensive in eastern

03:16 Ukraine with limited success, Ukrainian troops so far being relatively well armed.

03:22 But with U.S. aid remaining blocked by Congress, the situation could change.

03:27 "We are still planning one more aid package to Ukraine later this month.

03:33 However, when that one's done, as the Comptroller, Mr. McCord, made clear in his note to Congress

03:40 today, we will have no more replenishment authority available to us, and we're going

03:44 to need Congress to act without delay."

03:48 Ukrainian President Zelensky thanked the EU for adopting a 12th package of sanctions against

03:53 Russia.

03:54 It focuses on imposing additional import and export bans, combating sanctions, circumvention

04:00 and closing loopholes.

04:02 The Russian Defense Ministry released footage it claims is Russian artillery firing at Ukrainian

04:08 positions.

04:09 For months now, neither side appears to be making progress.

04:18 Fourteen Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians have been found guilty of espionage against

04:23 Poland.

04:24 The court in Lublin found the defendants guilty of preparing acts of sabotage and espionage

04:29 on behalf of Russia against Poland.

04:35 The judge said some of them operated within the framework of an organized criminal group,

04:40 a spy network that has since been dismantled.

04:46 Among the operations being prepared was the attempted derailment of aid convoys to Ukraine

04:51 and the surveillance of military installations and crucial infrastructure in Poland.

04:58 The sentences range from one month to six years in prison.

05:04 Two other alleged members of the network, the only ones who withdrew their initial guilty

05:09 pleas, will be tried separately.

05:12 "Protect, strengthen, anticipate" - those are the watchwords of the 13th Belgian presidency

05:22 of the Council of the EU, which begins on January 1st.

05:28 The country will take the lead in joint discussions during what promises to be a turbulent political

05:32 period with the European elections at the beginning of June in its sights.

05:37 In practice, the Belgian presidency will not have the usual full six months to complete

05:42 the 150 dossiers on the table.

05:44 For the Prime Minister, the first priority is to protect citizens and turn the EU towards

05:49 the future.

05:50 "The second element is to strengthen our economy, an economy that creates prosperity,

05:56 that creates employment, that finances our social solidarity, help this economy to transition

06:04 to a sustainable economy, an industry that helps us to achieve the objectives of the

06:09 Green Deal."

06:10 When it comes to the EU`s Green Deal, the Belgian presidency will have to reach an agreement

06:15 on carbon emissions from trucks and buses.

06:18 It will also have the task of reaching an inter-institutional compromise on packaging,

06:23 which aims to reduce, reuse and recycle these products.

06:28 Finally, Belgium will oversee the first discussions on the bloc`s environmental targets for 2040.

06:37 A Belgian-style compromise will also be required to reach agreement on the revision of the

06:42 union`s multi-annual budget.

06:45 Last week, the EU`s 27 leaders were unable to agree on a budget increase requested by

06:50 the European Commission.

06:52 Finally, reform of the EU and the possible enlargement of it will be discussed during

06:57 this six-month period.

06:59 "It`s preparing our Europe to be more efficient.

07:06 And before we become bigger, we have to become better.

07:10 We have to become better in a quicker decision-making process that helps us to keep our unity."

07:17 The signals being sent out by the Belgian authorities on enlargement will be closely

07:21 followed by the 27 EU member states as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of the union`s

07:26 great eastward enlargement in the first half of the year.

07:35 Several thousand Serbian opposition supporters have been protesting outside the electoral

07:39 commission building in Belgrade after political tensions rose following reports of irregularities

07:45 in the country`s weekend elections.

07:47 An early official vote count confirmed victory in the parliamentary elections for the ruling

07:52 populist party of President Aleksandar Vucic.

07:55 But international election observers say the snap election was held in unjust conditions

08:00 with multiple reports of irregularities.

08:02 Opponents of President Vucic are claiming the vote was rigged.

08:06 "The opposition has also ordered to re-register the Belgrade elections.

08:20 Citizens have gathered in the King`s Street in front of the Republican election commission.

08:26 They are ordering, they are ordering, that they do not give a victory and that the election

08:32 was stolen."

08:33 Serbian populists have been in power in Serbia since 2012, despite this being the third election

08:38 in three years.

08:40 Observers say there is a chronic lack of pluralism in the country.

08:44 "In the run-up to elections, yes, there are some systemic issues and they have to do with

08:51 the level playing field, they have to do with the state of the medias in the country, the

08:57 freedom and independence of media and this must be improved.

09:00 Part of it had to do with the fact that the institutions of democracy, the parliament

09:06 have for a number of years been dominated by the ruling party.

09:11 In part also because the opposition decided to boycott these institutions in the past."

09:16 Some coalition Serbia against violence members have submitted their evidence of vote rigging

09:20 and are planning a hunger strike until the results of the Belgrade city hall elections

09:25 are cancelled.

09:28 The intensity of a volcanic eruption that began last night southwest of Iceland's capital

09:34 Reykjavik is decreasing, according to the country's meteorological office.

09:39 Icelandic authorities have created a safety zone in the affected area, which was evacuated

09:44 weeks ago.

09:45 Some residents are worried, others excited.

09:48 "I'm very excited to be here in this place, in this time and just being able to see this

09:54 natural phenomenon happen.

09:56 This is like something from a movie."

09:58 "Now this time there is a lot going on and the town involved, which might end up under

10:07 the lava that's flowing behind us.

10:09 So yeah, that's kind of mixed feelings to be honest.

10:12 So yeah, let's see how it goes and how long it lasts.

10:16 It's still amazing to see, but that's kind of a bittersweet feeling at the moment."

10:24 The Icelandic meteorological office explained in its latest bulletin that the eruptive fissure

10:29 is about four kilometers long.

10:31 There have been no air traffic disruptions so far.

10:38 At least 120 people have been killed and more than 700 injured in a 6.2 magnitude earthquake

10:46 in China.

10:48 As rescue operations are ongoing, many people will spend the night in tents in camps set

10:53 up by the authorities.

10:55 Houses and roads have been destroyed and high voltage power lines have fallen.

11:01 Electricity and communications were cut off in the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai.

11:07 The quake was the nation's deadliest in nine years.

11:13 NASA has used a state-of-the-art laser communication system on a spaceship 31 million kilometers

11:19 away from Earth to set a high definition cat video.

11:22 The 15 second movie featuring an orange tabby named Tatters is the first to be streamed

11:27 from deep space.

11:28 It took just 101 seconds to travel to Earth after being sent by an instrument on NASA's

11:33 Psyche probe.

11:34 Videos have already been transmitted via this laser technology from space, but from much

11:38 closer.

11:39 NASA wants to use this instead of traditional radio communications in preparation for sending

11:44 manned missions to Mars.

11:46 (whooshing)

Latest news bulletin | December 20th – Morning

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