Latest news bulletin | November 29th – Morning
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00:00 12 more hostages and 30 Palestinian prisoners are exchanged as the temporary truce between
00:07 Israel and Hamas is extended.
00:10 Finland says it will close the last of its eight border crossings with Russia on Wednesday
00:14 over migrant concerns and an unusual surge in arrivals.
00:20 The European Court of Justice gives the green light to public officers across the EU to
00:24 ban religious symbols from the workplace in a "general and indiscriminate manner".
00:32 Hundreds of Palestinians lined the streets of Ramallah late Tuesday to welcome 30 Palestinian
00:37 prisoners freed by Israel in the latest swap with hostages in Hamas captivity.
00:44 This was the fifth day of the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas after a 48-hour extension
00:49 was agreed.
00:51 The military wing of Hamas Al Qasem Brigades posted a video late on Tuesday, this time
00:56 showing crowds in Rafah greeting a convoy of vans arriving at the meeting point where
01:01 the militants handed 12 hostages to the Red Cross.
01:06 There were marked celebrations among Israelis gathered in Starot who cheered as the vehicles
01:11 transporting the released hostages arrived.
01:14 Hamas and other militants still hold about 160 hostages out of 240 seized in their October
01:21 7 assault on southern Israel that ignited the war.
01:26 A spokesman for the Israeli government has said it would be open to an additional five
01:30 days of truce under the current hostage prisoner exchange agreement.
01:35 During the pause in fighting, the UN World Food Programme is delivering desperately needed
01:40 food to more than 120,000 people in Gaza, but has reiterated that the supplies it was
01:46 able to provide were woefully inadequate to address the level of hunger.
01:51 Hundreds of thousands that are facing an immediate risk of starvation.
01:56 WFP hopes for the extension of this pause which offered a window of relief that could
02:01 pave the way for a longer term calm.
02:03 Safe and impeded humanitarian access cannot stop now.
02:07 While there does appear to be a willingness to extend the truce which is due to end after
02:12 one more captive exchange on Wednesday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
02:17 says the fighting will resume with full force.
02:23 A change of tone in the NATO Secretary General`s statements on Ukraine ahead of a meeting of
02:30 the alliance`s foreign affairs ministers started a conversation behind closed doors in Brussels
02:35 about what a possible end to the war could look like.
02:41 Some analysts think that Jens Stoltenberg is slightly removed from the way he has been
02:45 in the past, where he`s always talked about defending Ukraine for as long as it takes.
02:52 I was left wondering why did he say that Ukraine had already recaptured 50 percent of its territory.
03:00 And I was thinking to myself, well, is this a sign that maybe NATO is thinking about the
03:08 future of Ukraine?
03:11 Despite official reassurances of continued support for Ukraine, the EU is struggling
03:15 to keep its word amid disappointment over Ukraine`s summer counteroffensive and with
03:20 the West`s attention shifting to the Israel-Hamas war.
03:25 Although no European leader would say it officially, there is a growing feeling that the war in
03:29 Ukraine won`t end any time soon.
03:33 Is this putting pressure on Kiev to start negotiations?
03:36 Not according to the EU`s foreign affairs chief, Joseph Bure, who met with Ukraine`s
03:40 minister for foreign affairs on Wednesday in Brussels, both of whom denied any pressure.
03:48 I don`t see any sign of members having what you call fatigue.
03:57 Everybody is concerned.
03:59 Everybody recognizes the successes of the Ukrainians.
04:04 And I am sure the member states will continue supporting Ukraine because it`s an existential
04:10 issue for us.
04:12 We cannot afford to get tired.
04:16 According to some experts, the real problem is that Russian President Vladimir Putin seems
04:20 to be in no hurry to even think of the word negotiations.
04:26 And at this stage, it would be extremely difficult for Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy
04:31 to enter into negotiations, especially if this would impact the territorial sovereignty
04:36 of the country.
04:38 I think some European countries would accept the exchange of land for peace.
04:45 This is very complicated, highly political, highly emotional.
04:50 But President Zelenskyy himself would be the person who would have to make this decision.
05:00 But it`s a kind of treacherous decision as well.
05:04 NATO support could play an important role for the future of the conflict.
05:07 The possibility of Ukraine becoming a member of the alliance could also be critical.
05:19 The big freeze on movement between Finland and Russia continues.
05:24 Helsinki is about to close its last remaining border crossing along its shared 1,300-kilometer
05:29 frontier, due to a surge in migrant arrivals, predominantly from the Middle East and Africa.
05:35 Prime Minister Petri Orpo has accused Moscow of undermining his country`s national security
05:40 and trying to create a migrant crisis after Finland joined NATO earlier this year.
05:45 In April, the Kremlin warned it could be forced to take "countermeasures in response to the
05:50 Nordic countries` accession to the U.S.-led alliance."
05:59 The headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, ahead of a joint
06:03 announcement from the Baltic nations that their foreign ministers will boycott the next
06:08 two-day OSCE meeting in North Macedonia, because their Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov,
06:13 says he is attending.
06:15 The Baltic officials say Lavrov`s visit risks legitimizing Moscow`s offensive.
06:20 It will be Lavrov`s first visit to a NATO country since Russia`s full-scale invasion
06:24 of Ukraine began.
06:26 Ukraine`s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also says he will not be attending.
06:35 Police truck drivers continue to block the border crossings with Ukraine over what they
06:39 see as unfair competition.
06:42 The EU`s craft entry permit requirements for Ukraine to support its war effort against
06:47 Russia.
06:48 Police truck drivers now want these requirements to be reinstated.
06:52 For Ukrainian truck drivers, the three-week-long blockade has not been easy.
06:57 "The situation is difficult.
07:00 The procedure that used to take 10-15 hours now takes a week.
07:07 It is not easy to assess it, because the conditions are not humane."
07:14 Ukrainian sources claim that contrary to what was promised earlier, essential goods such
07:19 as humanitarian aid are being blocked at the border.
07:22 Ukrainian officials said police demands are unrealistic, with some claiming a pro-Russian
07:27 sentiment among police truckers.
07:35 Despite the war still raging on, the EU and Ukrainian government are starting preparations
07:40 for the post-war reconstruction of the embattled country, with the aim of rebuilding it better
07:45 and greener once the fighting is over.
07:49 The European Commission, Ukrainian government and businesses all gathered in Vilnius on
07:53 Tuesday to discuss the necessary preparations, saying that once the war ends, reconstruction
07:58 plans must already be in place.
08:02 The war started by Russia has had devastating effects on nature in the country.
08:06 For example, the destruction of the Kharkov water dam, which resulted in the worst human-made
08:11 ecocide since the Chernobyl nuclear plant incident in 1987.
08:16 "We have a unique opportunity to build back better and greener.
08:22 So when we talk about cities that were destroyed, we talk about the sustainable planning of
08:28 those cities, integrating the most recent knowledge.
08:34 I'm very pleased to see so many architects across Europe who are actually devoting their
08:41 time.
08:42 When we talk about public buildings which massively were destroyed, the hospitals, schools,
08:48 kindergartens, they all will have to be energy efficient.
08:52 They all will have to be powered with the renewable energy."
08:57 Ukraine currently has the most landmines in any European country, and around 34 animal
09:01 species have disappeared due to the fighting.
09:05 The country`s forests have also suffered serious losses.
09:09 The biggest challenge is not only restoring nature, but also to have a climate neutral
09:13 economy after the war finishes.
09:16 For this Ukraine needs to transform its energy network, rebuild public and residential buildings
09:20 in an energy efficient way.
09:23 The reconstruction of the country is a tempting opportunity for many European countries who
09:27 have already signaled their interest.
09:30 Representatives of the building industry as well as water and waste management companies
09:34 also took part in the discussions in Vilnius.
09:36 "We are not talking about just about international support, like directly support to restore
09:44 something.
09:45 No, we are talking about some investments.
09:48 And first of all we need to cooperation with investors to build new facilities, to build
09:54 new technologies, to build new maybe industries, but using best available technologies in a
10:02 European way, like in European legislation signed."
10:06 According to the European Commission, the reconstruction of Ukraine will have a massive
10:09 cost and Russia must pay for it.
10:14 Another challenge will be to convince the six million Ukrainians currently living in
10:18 Europe to move home and contribute to the rebuilding efforts.
10:30 Any public office across the European Union now has permission to ban employees from wearing
10:35 religious garments or symbols in the workspace.
10:38 That's according to the EU's Court of Justice.
10:42 The announcement came after a labour court in Belgium banned a woman from wearing an
10:46 Islamic headscarf in the office.
10:48 "An internal rule of a municipal administration that generally and indifferently prohibits
10:56 members of the staff of this administration from wearing visible signs on the workplace,
11:03 including any sign that reveals philosophical or religious convictions, can be justified
11:10 by the will of the said administration to establish, given the context of the matter,
11:16 a totally neutral administrative environment."
11:20 Leinar stressed that each member state has a right to determine what a neutral environment
11:25 looks like.
11:26 While previous rulings by the top court determined that such bans infringed on religious freedoms,
11:31 this time it stressed the need for "equal treatment" for all in employment and occupation.
11:36 [SWOOSH]