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00:00Ursula von der Leyen's EU Commission has received its final approval by the European Parliament after weeks of scrutiny.
00:10Albanian opposition lawmakers and supporters blocked the streets of Tirana, accusing the government of corruption and election manipulation.
00:21Grieving Father convinces Australian community and lawmakers to ban social media for children under 16, but not everyone believes it's the right move.
00:30US President Joe Biden said the deal brokered between Israel and Hezbollah that aims to achieve a 60-day ceasefire is designed to be a permanent one.
00:43Ursula von der Leyen's new Commission has received the approval of the European Parliament.
00:49The German politician's team received 370 votes, with 282 against and 36 abstentions.
00:56Among those who supported her were the European People's Party, the Social Democrats and Renew Europe.
01:04MEPs from the Greens and the European Conservatives and Reformers were split, while radical right, far-right and far-left groups voted against her.
01:26During the evaluations, all candidates were individually screened before they passed the test.
01:37However, several of them, such as Vice President Teresa Rivera, who was opposed by the Spanish People's Party, or the Hungarian Oliver Varhey, who was questioned by several parties, found themselves in the hot seat.
01:57I know this was not easy, but overcoming divisions and forging compromises is the hallmark of a vivid democracy.
02:07The new EU executive will begin its term in office on December 1.
02:12Albanian opposition lawmakers and hundreds of their supporters blocked the main streets of Tirana, the capital, on Tuesday,
02:25accusing the government, led by the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama, of corruption, manipulating elections and seizing the powers of the judiciary.
02:36They demand it to be replaced by a technocratic caretaker cabinet, where experts rather than politicians make decisions until the 2025 parliamentary elections.
02:47Clashes broke out between protesters and anti-right police trying to clear the streets.
02:53The protests ended after three hours, with the opposition leaders pledging to continue with rallies all around the country.
03:00The Conservative Democratic Party and its supporters have also been protesting the arrests of their leader, Sally Berisha, claiming the corruption charges are politically motivated.
03:16Wayne Holdsworth became an advocate for banning Australian children younger than 16 from social media.
03:22That is because last year his 17-year-old son, Mac, committed suicide after falling victim to an online sextortion scam.
03:30A 47-year-old man from Sydney, posing as an 18-year-old girl, demanded money for an intimate image that the boy had shared.
03:38Since then, the grieving father has taken his tragic story to schools in the country and warned students of the risks of social media.
03:46I presented to now over 10,000 people, of which 3,000 are secondary school children.
03:54I asked them to put their hand up if they would support it.
03:57Yes, they support it. They're the kids that are supporting it.
04:01We can't rely on the tech giants to help. It's not in their interests. So we have to take control.
04:07But not all parents, lawmakers or experts are convinced that banning young children from social media is the answer.
04:14I understand both the limits of that particular policy and the expert evidence that is coming out from people who work in this space about the problems for young people being excluded from those spaces.
04:25I also think there's very significant privacy concerns for all Australians who may, in fact, be required to give up some of their privacy in pursuit of this particular policy.
04:36Platforms such as X and Instagram announced that they find the ban problematic.
04:41Australia's House of Representatives on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly in favour of the ban and the Senate is expected to make it law soon.
04:48Once it enters into force, even parental consent will not be able to override the ban.
04:56The governing party in Georgia has picked a former footballer as its candidate for the country's new president.
05:04The Georgian Dream Party nominated Mikhail Kavilashvili, a 53-year-old former national team player and Premier League footballer, as its candidate for the country's largely ceremonial presidency.
05:16The nomination follows the party's controversial election victory which sparked protests and led to a boycott of parliament by opposition parties.
05:25The opposition claims the election was rigged under Russian influence.
05:32Russia launched almost 200 drones towards 17 regions in Ukraine in an overnight blitz, marking the record number of drones fired by Russia in a single attack.
05:43Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said that while most of the drones were shot down, the shelling damaged apartment buildings and critical infrastructure such as a national power grid.
05:56Almost 200 Russian drones against Ukraine in one day is almost 200 proof that Russian aspirations are far from any ideas about real peace.
06:08In many regions, efforts are still underway to address the aftermath of the drone strikes.
06:14Zelensky also said a rescue operation was underway in the Sumy region after an attack on an auto repair shop killed two people.
06:21Meanwhile, in a rare official acknowledgement, Moscow said that long-range missiles launched by Ukraine damaged infrastructure and injured several servicemen in Russia's Kursk region.
06:32Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin urged the West to refrain from escalating tensions as it could ultimately harm the citizens of Europe.
06:51Volodin also said that the new Oreshnik ballistic missile was necessary to protect Russian citizens.
07:09French Prime Minister Michel Barnier might lose his seat due to a controversial budget move.
07:14He argues that 40 billion euro in spending cuts and 20 billion euro in tax hikes are needed to reduce the country's debt spiral, which is over double the EU limit.
07:23However, lawmakers from other parties have refused to back his measures, meaning Barnier would need to use a constitutional clause to forcibly pass it until December 21.
07:33This could lead to a no-confidence vote, which left-wing politicians have threatened and members of the far-right National Rally also warned they would back the vote unless budget changes were made.
07:44Marine Le Pen disagrees with the tax increase but wants cuts to medical aid for migrants and bureaucracy.
07:50U.S. President Joe Biden said the deal brokered between Israel and Hezbollah that aims to achieve a 60-day ceasefire is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.
08:04Good afternoon. For the next 60 days, the Lebanese army and state security forces will deploy and take control of their own territory once again.
08:14Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt.
08:19And over the next 60 days, Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces.
08:25Biden thanked France's President Emmanuel Macron for his partnership in reaching the deal and said they would work together to provide assistance to ensure its successful implementation.
08:37Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that they would respond strongly to any violation of the proposed ceasefire deal.
08:46With full understanding of the United States, we maintain full military freedom.
08:54If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to retaliate, we will attack.
09:00If it tries to rebuild terrorist infrastructure close to the border, we will attack.
09:05Shortly after Biden's announcement, an Israeli airstrike shook the Lebanese capital of Beirut,
09:10and at least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country in the day leading up to the deal.
09:17Hezbollah had also been firing rockets, triggering air raid sirens across the north of Israel.
09:25The agreement does not affect Israel's war in Gaza, but Biden expressed hope that the ceasefire would be a catalyst to also reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas.
09:36Romania is reeling from the unexpected rise of far-right extremist Kalin Djordescu, who won Sunday's first round of the presidential elections as an independent.
09:50His come-up went unnoticed by the political system, with his victory representing the first time a fringe candidate won a national election solely through a sophisticated media campaign.
10:01Djordescu wrote a wave of public discontentment with the political establishment, combined with an intensive, years-long social media assault filled with anti-Western rhetoric.
10:12He is selling an utopic story, he is selling a dream for conservative Romanians as an opposite to the classical politicians that are very transactional.
10:24We have now a TikTok messiah or something like that, very successful, and we are not sure if he will be able to win in the second round.
10:37Djordescu captured the protest vote against the mainstream political parties and their economic performance, using a well-oiled social media machine, propagating extreme nationalist and pro-Russian messages to devout followers.
10:54A very important thing is this idea of viralization, of propaganda and the use of hashtags for this purpose,
11:04which somehow presupposes some effects of people, this time I'm not talking about bots and algorithms, which are somehow extremely activated, so to speak.
11:17And Djordescu's pseudo-messianic speech, with the way in which it was presented, managed to win more or less followers, rather than, as we have in other parts, rational supporters.
11:34Bordering Ukraine and on NATO's eastern flank, Djordescu's statements have all the hallmarks of a hybrid war against the West, following the same narrative which can be seen in other European countries.
11:47For more UN videos visit www.un.org