00:00U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held urgent talks with EU and NATO officials on
00:06boosting support for Ukraine.
00:10Former President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso says nobody believes Crimea
00:14will ever go back to Ukraine because European governments believe it is a special case.
00:21Gazan children brought to Lebanon to treat their wounds face consequences of Israel's
00:26expansion of the war there.
00:30U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Brussels on Wednesday for urgent talks
00:37with EU and NATO officials on boosting support for Ukraine.
00:43Officials anticipate a policy shift concerning U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO when Donald
00:48Trump returns to the White House.
00:50In the months leading up to the end of President Biden's term, Democrats are trying to implement
00:55as many priorities as they can while they have the majority in the Senate.
01:01While in Brussels, Blinken outlined plans for additional U.S. support to Ukraine before
01:05January.
01:06We've obligated just recently and pushed out the door another $8 billion in security assistance
01:12for Ukraine.
01:13That was in September.
01:14Another almost half a billion dollars just a few weeks ago.
01:18And President Biden is committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal
01:22will be pushed out the door between now and January 20th.
01:27NATO Chief Mark Rutte said instability across Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific
01:31is increasingly interconnected, pointing to Moscow buying dual-use goods from China and
01:37drone technology from Iran.
01:40Blinken emphasized that NATO would also pursue a highly intense agenda during the last months
01:45of President Joe Biden's administration.
01:50The recent floods in Spain have led to intense scrutiny over the role of regional governments
01:55in managing climate change-related disasters.
01:58And here at COP29 in Azerbaijan, European regional leaders are asking for more investment
02:05in adaptation because they are realizing that everything from the concrete infrastructure
02:10they have to their emergency management systems are just not ready for the future.
02:15Here's the president of the European Committee of the Regions, Vasco Cordero.
02:19Over the years, decisions have been taken that at the time would seem to be the most
02:24correct decisions and that end up having these consequences.
02:28This happens in Valencia, or it happened in Valencia, as it happened in a set of other
02:32affected locations by floods, by floods, by drought.
02:38Making investments in watercourse management is one of the kinds of proactive investments
02:43that can really pay off in the future.
02:46According to the president of the region of Bratislava, Juraj Droba.
02:50You really have to think very well how you spend the limited amount of money that you
02:55have.
02:56What paid off in my region was building small dams in the hills, which actually streamed
03:03the little rivers in such a way that they didn't do more damage than they did.
03:08And I think this is something which doesn't cost too much.
03:11You can do it at the time of normal weather conditions, and then you are much better prepared.
03:17There are many voices clamoring for attention here at COP29.
03:22But mayors, city leaders, regional councillors say they need to be listened to, because when
03:27it comes to climate change, they're the ones on the front line.
03:30And when things go wrong, they're the ones facing the backlash too.
03:34Jeremy Wilkes at COP29 in Azerbaijan for Euronews.
03:41Last night and this morning, the Russian army attacked Kiev and several other regions with
03:44UAVs and missiles.
03:46A warehouse caught fire in Brovary district of Kiev region, but the fire has been localized.
03:51Air raid warnings blared for hours on Wednesday, as a total of eight regions were targeted.
03:57Six ballistic and cruise missiles and 90 drones were used in the attack, the Ukrainian Air
04:01Force reported.
04:03Some of the missiles and drones were intercepted by Ukrainian air defence systems.
04:08Russian Minister of Defence released footage of the airstrikes on a concentration of men
04:12and armoured military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units in the border area of the
04:16Kursk region.
04:18The air assault came as 10,000 North Korean troops sent by Pyongyang to help Moscow are
04:23engaged in combat in Russia's Kursk border region.
04:27Also in Annex Sevastopol, Russian telegram sources reported that the senior Russian naval
04:32officer of the Black Sea Fleet, Valery Trankovsky, was killed as a result of a car explosion.
04:37The war in Ukraine continues with no sign of de-escalation.
04:44Nobody believes Crimea will ever go back to Ukraine as part of any final resolution to
04:49the war there, says former President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso.
04:55Mr Barroso led the European Commission from 2004 to 2014, the period when Putin first
05:01began his territorial incursions into Georgia and Ukraine.
05:06Speaking exclusively to Euronews, he says there was a feeling amongst member states
05:10that Crimea was a special case and many countries rejected the ideas of strong sanctions for
05:16Putin following the annexation.
05:18What do you think of the period, I suppose?
05:22Do you think that the warnings weren't taken seriously?
05:25Was there a belief that in 2014 maybe we shouldn't escalate by applying such extreme sanctions
05:31against Russia for Crimea?
05:33It's very easy today to say what should have happened afterwards, because we did not at
05:40that time have the information.
05:41We have to see what was possible at that time.
05:44The reality is that the governments were not ready to go further.
05:48That is the reality.
05:49The Commission would be ready to go further, but the governments were not ready to go further
05:54because of their own interests and probably because they thought, and that's instinct,
05:59that what I'm going to say, no, it's delicate, but I'm going to say it.
06:03Because at least in the back of our minds or the minds of the European governments was
06:06the idea that Crimea is a special case.
06:12That's why today, honestly, nobody believes that Ukraine is going to get back Crimea.
06:18That's the reality.
06:19And what should we do now?
06:21We should support Ukraine.
06:24Whatever happens with our American friends, we should support Ukraine.
06:28Because if not, it's not only going to be a tragedy for Ukraine, it's a very important
06:33country, but it's a tragedy for Europe.
06:36And it's going to be the best possible offer we give to the movement against democracy,
06:43against international law, against also our own values.
06:48If Russia and others that are now supporting Russia continue to say all over the world,
06:53including in the so-called global south, that Europe and the West, they are gone, they
06:57are decadent, they no longer count, democracy is completely corrupt ideology.
07:04And the rest of the interview will be broadcast on Euronews' Europe Conversation next Thursday.
07:15The Biden administration said that Israel made good but limited progress in increasing
07:19the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and that it therefore would not limit arms transfers
07:25to Israel as it threatened to do a month ago.
07:30The U.S. had initially set a deadline last month for Israel to send more food and aid
07:35into Gaza or risk scaled-back military support.
07:39However, relief groups say conditions are worse than at any point in the 13-month-old
07:44war.
07:45The decision from the U.S., Israel's key ally and largest provider of arms and other military
07:50aid, comes despite aid organizations declaring that Israel has failed to meet U.S. demands
07:56to allow greater humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.
08:00Eight international aid groups said in a report that Israel failed to meet U.S. criteria and
08:05in fact took steps that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly
08:10in northern Gaza.
08:16Gazan children who were brought to Lebanon to treat their wounds are now finding themselves
08:21caught in another war, with serious consequences for their mental and physical health.
08:27After Israel expanded its war in Gaza to a new front in Lebanon, Gazan families there
08:33are now seeing destruction that reminds them of home.
08:36Hassan Abu Sitta, a British-Palestinian surgeon who was active in Gaza, facilitated the arrival
08:42of many children to Lebanon.
08:45We've tried to keep them as close to the hospital and shield them because it is, I mean, there's
08:50a sense that, you know, they've been through it before and, you know, there's a lot of
08:56work that was done in terms of mental health and post-traumatic stress and so it's been
09:03tough on them. And it's also been tough on them not knowing whether the treatment is
09:08going to continue or not.
09:10The Hassan Abu Sitta Foundation stopped bringing wounded Palestinian children to Lebanon but
09:15continues to treat the existing patients, while also turning to the treatment of more
09:19Lebanese children. Over 1,200 Lebanese children have been wounded since October 2023.
09:27Germany's biggest industrial union reached an agreement over a wage dispute within the
09:35country's metal and electrical industry. The new agreement by trade union IG Metall
09:41stipulated a wage increase amounting to 5.5% over the next 25 months.
09:57Workers initially demanded a 7% wage increase over a period of 12 months. In response, employers
10:04had offered a wage increase of 3.6% over a period of 27 months.
10:09Millions of employees at companies including Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Siemens will be affected
10:16by the agreement. Hundreds of thousands of employees across Germany have taken part in
10:21warning strikes over the last few weeks.
10:40The head of the Church of England resigned after an investigation found that he failed
10:45to tell police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps
10:51as soon as he became aware of it.
10:53Pressure had been growing on the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby since Thursday
10:58when his refusal to accept responsibility for his failure to report the abuse in England
11:04and in Africa in 2013 kindled anger about a lack of accountability within the English Church.
11:11The news comes against the backdrop of widespread historical sexual abuse in the Church of England.
11:17A 2022 report by the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse Organisation found that
11:23deference to the authority of priests, taboos surrounding the discussion of sexuality and
11:29a culture that gave more support to alleged perpetrators than their victims helped make
11:33the Church of England a place where abusers could hide.
