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00:00Voting underway in Belarus's presidential election that observers project long-time
00:06leader Alexander Lukashenko is set to win.
00:11Ukraine says it can supply Moldova with coal to keep the power on in Transnistria after
00:16a gas transit deal with Russia ends.
00:20At least 15 people have been reportedly killed amid protests in southern Lebanon as Israeli
00:26forces remain after a withdrawal deadline.
00:31Polls are underway in Belarus in a presidential vote that analysts and observers expect will
00:36extend the reign of long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko.
00:40More than 5.3 thousand polling stations opened on Sunday for the election.
00:45According to the Central Election Commission, around 6.8 million eligible voters are expected
00:51to cast their ballot.
00:52The election is Belarus's first presidential vote since the unprecedented and deadly anti-government
00:58mass protests that followed the 2020 disputed election.
01:02The opposition and Western nations accused incumbent Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko
01:08of rigging the election and imposed sanctions.
01:11Five candidates are currently taking part in this election, including Lukashenko, who
01:16cast his vote at a polling station in Minsk on Sunday morning.
01:21Analysts project the 70-year-old, who has been ruling the country since 1994, to win
01:26a seventh five-year term after a campaign in which four Turkish challengers have all
01:31praised his rule.
01:38Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Kyiv can supply Moldova with coal to ensure
01:42its energy needs.
01:45Zelensky was speaking in Kyiv with his Moldovan counterpart Maya Sandu.
01:49These comments come after natural gas from Russia to Europe via Ukraine ended on the
01:531st of January after Kyiv refused to renew a transit agreement.
01:58Moldova's pro-Russia breakaway territory of Transnistria has been particularly hard hit
02:03by that decision.
02:05It was heavily dependent on Russian gas and when that supply ended, so too did most industrial
02:10activity.
02:12Authorities in the region declared a state of emergency and implemented power cuts of
02:16up to eight hours a day.
02:18Russia says it shut off the gas to Moldova because of an alleged 688 million euro debt
02:24for past supplies, an allegation that the Moldovan government has fiercely denied.
02:29Sandu accused Russia of a calculated strategy to create social and economic chaos.
02:41Israeli authorities say displaced Palestinians won't be allowed to return to northern Gaza
02:45until a civilian hostage held by Hamas is released.
02:49Israel said Arbel Yehud should have been released by Hamas this week.
02:53A senior official for the militant group said Yehud would be released next week but gave
02:58no reasons for the apparent delay.
03:00Hundreds of Palestinians began gathering in central Gaza on Saturday, hoping to return
03:05to their homes in the north.
03:07The IDF withdrawing from populated areas to allow Palestinians to return home is one of
03:12the points agreed to in the ceasefire which came into effect on the 19th of January.
03:17Another part of the deal is the exchange of Hamas hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
03:22On Saturday, the second such exchange took place when Hamas released Karina Ariev, Daniella
03:27Gilboa, Nama Levy and Liri Albag, all female Israeli soldiers.
03:33Hours later, 200 Palestinians were freed from Israeli prisons.
03:42At least 15 people have been killed and more than 80 people injured in southern Lebanon
03:48after Israeli troops opened fire on protesters who had breached roadblocks that the army
03:53set up a day before the 60-day deadline to withdraw Israeli troops.
03:59According to Lebanon's health ministry, the demonstrators on Sunday attempted to enter
04:04several villages in the border area to protest Israel's failure to withdraw its troops.
04:10The Israeli military set up the roadblocks across border towns and roads in a strategic
04:15valley in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
04:18Israel has said it needs to stay longer because the Lebanese army has not deployed to all
04:23areas of the region as stipulated in a ceasefire deal that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war
04:30in late November.
04:31A day before the deadline, the UNIFIL peacekeeping forces' trip to border towns in southern Lebanon
04:38showed large swathes of the area destroyed from Israeli bombardments.