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00:00Multiple people have been injured after Russia launched a massive overnight attack across
00:07Ukraine.
00:11The aftermath of wildfires in California, United States show more than 12,000 houses
00:17in ruins.
00:21With a ceasefire deal imminent, the light at the end of the tunnel may be closed for
00:25the families of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.
00:41Poland's presidential race officially begins with 11 candidates launching their bids for
00:46office in the May 18th first round vote.
00:54Eight people, including two children, were injured in a Russian strike on a multi-story
00:59residential building in Ukraine's Donetsk region on Wednesday morning.
01:04The strike was part of a massive overnight attack on Ukraine that targeted several regions,
01:10forcing the country to introduce preventive power cuts, according to the energy minister.
01:32One man was killed in Kharkiv and several people were also injured in Kherson.
01:37Moscow launched more than 40 missiles and 70 drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
01:43said.
01:44The attack comes a day after Ukraine launched what its military called its most massive
01:48attack on Russian military facilities.
01:52Ukrainian forces reportedly struck as deep as 1,100 kilometers inside Russia.
01:58Russia's Ministry of Defense vowed to retaliate, accusing Ukraine of firing multiple Western-made
02:04missiles.
02:06Wednesday's attack has further exacerbated the strain on Ukraine's energy infrastructure,
02:11which Russian forces have persistently attacked during the almost three-year war.
02:19Authorities in the United States say they have begun recovery efforts after fires that
02:22have been burning homes and businesses in California.
02:26At least 25 people have been killed and thousands displaced from the fires, which have left
02:32more than 12,000 buildings destroyed.
02:35Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has cautioned residents that the emergency isn't over yet.
02:54Meanwhile Southern California residents continue to face dire new wildfire warnings and power
03:00shutoffs as fire-fueling winds blasted across the scarred landscape.
03:05Much of the area was under an elevated fire risk on Tuesday.
03:10Officials have said the wildfires, which started on January 7, might be the most expensive
03:16set of conflagrations in U.S. history.
03:20Investigators say they are still trying to determine what sparked the wildfires.
03:30The presidential race has officially begun in Poland, with the first round taking place
03:34on May 18.
03:36Eleven candidates have announced their run for the office.
03:39The Polish governing coalition relies heavily on the results of this election.
03:43The current president, Andrzej Duda, comes from the right-wing opposition Law and Justice
03:47Party and has the power to veto pieces of legislation proposed in parliament.
03:52The main issues of the campaign so far include abortion rights, civil partnerships, the rule
03:57of law and security, the last of which is especially relevant in the context of the
04:02ongoing war in Ukraine.
04:03According to the latest polls, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski is the current favorite
04:08to win.
04:09His greatest competitor is Karol Nowroczki, a candidate running in name as an independent
04:14but who's endorsed by the Law and Justice Party and who currently heads the Polish Institute
04:19of National Remembrance.
04:21Polling in third place is Sławomir Mensan from the right-wing Konfederacja party, but
04:26the race is expected to be a close competition between the two favorites.
04:31Trzaskowski's party, the Civic Coalition, is described as a centrist pro-European, whereas
04:35Nowroczki's Law and Justice Party is described as more skeptical of the European Union.
04:40In the last presidential elections, which took place in 2020, Trzaskowski narrowly lost
04:45to incumbent Andrzej Duda, who's no longer eligible to run due to term limits.
04:50That year, over 10 million polls voted for each of the two candidates.
04:55Only Lech Wałęsa, the first president of Poland to be elected after the fall of communism,
04:59received a higher number of votes.
05:01If a majority of polls do not vote for any of the candidates in the first round, a second
05:06round between the top two candidates will take place on the 1st of June.
05:15The light at the end of the tunnel may be closed for the families of hostages held in
05:19Gaza by Hamas.
05:22Negotiations underway in Qatar could soon lead to the release of their loved ones and
05:26a ceasefire agreement.
05:28Gilad Korngold, whose son Tal is being held captive in Gaza, is in Brussels, waiting for
05:34the hostages to return before he can believe it.
05:36I got a nephew who was killed in the war in 2014, on the same day that was announced a
05:44ceasefire.
05:46So I know ceasefire, it's the last time to both parties, to bombing everything.
05:53So I'm not excited now.
05:55I'm just waiting to believe if it's something real.
05:59On his phone, Yotam scrolls through photos of his brother Nimrod, an Israeli soldier
06:04taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th.
06:07He hopes that Donald Trump's return to the White House will put an end to the war.
06:12I think Trump has declared publicly that he wants peace in the Middle East.
06:17And I think he understands that Bibi is stalling and the Israeli government intentionally prolonging
06:22the war.
06:23And I think he decided to put an end to it and tell our government enough is enough,
06:28you have to close the deal.
06:30And he wants to have a quiet front in the Middle East to focus on rebuilding America.
06:38Udi Gorin is campaigning for the return of the body of his cousin Tal Haimi, who was
06:42killed on 7th October in kibbutz near Yitzhak and then taken by Hamas.
06:47He denounced the opposition of certain Israeli ministers to any prisoner exchange agreement.
06:52I would only tell them they should be ashamed of themselves.
06:56It's, you know, coincidentally somehow they consider themselves religious.
07:04Judaism is about compassion.
07:07Judaism is about being kind to others.
07:11Judaism is about community and about community reliance.
07:18And this is the complete opposite.
07:21Hamas is still holding 94 hostages captured in Israel on October 7th, 2023.
07:27At least 34 are dead, according to the Israeli government.
07:35SpaceX launched a pair of lunar landers on Wednesday for two separate companies, the
07:41latest in a stream of private spacecraft aiming for the moon.
07:46The Tokyo-based iSpace plans to test potential food and water sources for future explorers,
07:52while Texas-based Firefly Airspace is flying 10 experiments for NASA.
07:58The two shared the ride to save money but parted an hour into the flight to take separate
08:02routes to their shared destination.
08:15The European Union and the United Kingdom are the most skeptical about Donald Trump's
08:19return to the White House as U.S. president.
08:23This is according to a survey of 24 countries carried out by the European Council on Foreign
08:28Relations.
08:30The historical European allies' skepticism contrasts with a more positive opinion emerging
08:35elsewhere in the world.
08:37Historian Timothy Gartin explains why Europe is wary.
08:42What do we have in common?
08:43We're both U.S. allies who depend on the U.S. for our security.
08:47So that's a very telling and dramatic finding.
08:51You know, we already face a world of transactional great powers, Russia, China, India, Brazil,
08:58South Africa.
08:59And you know what?
09:00With Donald Trump, we see the United States, for the first time since 1945, again becoming
09:09a kind of transactional great power.
09:12That's why countries like China or Russia or India are quite relaxed about it, and we're
09:18definitely not.
09:20For the historian, one of Europe's main challenges will be presenting a united France to the
09:26next U.S. president, but also to the entire international stage in order to influence
09:32geopolitical decisions.
09:34According to the survey, the EU is considered by many citizens to be on par with the U.S.
09:39and China.
09:42We asked the question whether the EU can deal as an equal with the U.S. and China.
09:48I expected most of the world to be sceptical.
09:51Actually, the world has quite a positive view.
09:53Majorities or pluralities say yes.
09:57So in a way, we Europeans don't have enough confidence in our own power, but of course
10:04it's potential power.
10:06We have to make it actual.
10:10The authors of the new report say that the differences in how the U.S. and Europe are
10:14seen show that the West is no longer a single united geopolitical force.
10:21However, it remains the strongest international military alliance, according to the political
10:26analysts.
10:32At least 17 Palestinians were killed as Israeli airstrikes hit central Gaza.
10:38Gaza's health ministry says an attack on a house in Deir el-Balah killed 11 people whose
10:42bodies were brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
10:46Another strike in the densely populated Nusayrat refugee camp killed six others and wounded
10:51seven more.
10:53The Hamas-run health ministry says Israel's war on Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians
10:59in 15 months of fighting.
11:02The fresh attacks come as Israel and Hamas appear to be narrowing in on a ceasefire deal.
11:08The pair have been engaging in ceasefire talks brokered by the United States along with Qatar
11:12and Egypt.
11:14The deal, structured in three phases, would see the release of dozens of hostages held
11:19under Hamas captivity in Gaza, the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel and
11:25weeks of peace.
11:27Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza.
11:31Israeli officials say progress has been made, but details of the deal have not yet been
11:35finalized.
11:36White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says there is hope the deal will
11:40close out this week.
11:44For more UN videos visit www.un.org