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00:00Exit polls suggest the three biggest parties have won equal shares of the vote and Ireland
00:06is headed for another coalition government.
00:12Thousands of people protest for a second night against the Georgian government's decision
00:16to suspend EU accession talks.
00:21The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as
00:25humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate.
00:32The official exit poll in Ireland's parliamentary elections suggests the three biggest parties
00:37have won roughly equal shares of the vote and the country is headed for another coalition
00:42government.
00:43The Ipsos poll released as voting ended showed the centre-right party Fine Gael was leading
00:48with 21% of the vote.
00:50Its centre-right coalition partner in the outgoing government, Fianna Fáil, was polling
00:54at 19.5%.
00:57Coming in third is the left-of-centre Sinn Féin at 21.1%.
01:02Though Sinn Féin could become the largest party in the 174-seat lower house of parliament,
01:08it may struggle to find coalition partners to form a government.
01:11Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have refused to form alliances with it because of its historic
01:16ties to the IRA.
01:18Ballot counting starts on Saturday morning, but because of Ireland's complex electoral
01:23system it could take several weeks for full results to be known.
01:32Thousands of people have protested for a second night against the Georgian government's decision
01:37to suspend European Union accession negotiations.
01:41Protesters swarmed the parliament in the capital, Tbilisi, with some trying to break the metal
01:45gates to the building.
01:47Riot police used tear gas and pepper spray to push protesters back.
01:52That elicited an angry response from the country's pro-EU president, Salome Zubishvili, who called
01:57it Russian-style repression in a post on X.
02:01The ruling Georgian Dream's victory in October's election sparked massive demonstrations, with
02:06the opposition claiming the vote was rigged.
02:09That led EU lawmakers to press for a rerun under international supervision.
02:13But Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Kobachidze hit back, accusing the EU of blackmail and
02:19suspended accession talks until 2028.
02:22The EU granted Georgia candidate country status in December 2023.
02:32The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
02:37In a press release, his office detailed the grim realities on the ground following a recent
02:42visit to the Strip.
02:44Starvation was outlined as the most immediate threat facing Gazans, as Israel continues
02:49to restrict the flow of humanitarian aid.
02:53Media reports say a Hamas delegation is set to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for talks with
02:58Egyptian officials.
03:01It comes just days after U.S. President Joe Biden expressed desire to reopen dialogue
03:06with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey to bring an end to the violence in Gaza.
03:12Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's open for a pause in fighting in
03:16exchange for the release of hostages.
03:20The implementation of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel
03:25is raising hopes for a similar path for Gaza.
03:32The European Commission has approved a package proposed for the German flag carrier Lufthansa
03:37to acquire a minority stake in Italy's ITA Airways.
03:41Lufthansa won EU antitrust approval in July to buy 41% of state-owned ITA.
03:47The deal is worth 325 million euros and is aimed at boosting the Italian airline's presence
03:53in the lucrative southern European market.
03:56The Italian economy ministry had to commit to allow competitors such as EasyJet to operate
04:01more routes from Italy.
04:06The Polish border guard says it detained nearly 40 people who attempted to illegally cross
04:10the border with Belarus in the past 24 hours.
04:13Authorities say there have been over 29,000 attempts at illegal crossings through the
04:18Belarusian border this year alone.
04:20The crisis began back in 2021, when Belarus said it would no longer help prevent illegal
04:25migration into the EU after their bilateral relations deteriorated.
04:31Brussels has routinely accused Minsk of engineering a crisis by encouraging asylum seekers to
04:36illegally migrate into the bloc.