Latest news bulletin | August 22nd – Morning
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
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00:00 British nurse Lucy Letby will never be free after a judge sentences her to a whole life sentence for murdering seven babies on a hospital ward.
00:09 Volodymyr Zelensky thanks the people of Denmark for the F-16 jets it's pledged, delivering a message of gratitude, hope and solidarity.
00:19 The president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, has apologised for giving a forced kiss to World Cup winner Jenny Hermoso.
00:30 July 2018 and the moment neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was arrested.
00:36 Last week jurors found her guilty of murdering seven babies in her care and trying to kill six other infants on the ward.
00:46 During the course of this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing and so I ask you to please step down.
00:57 You have no remorse. There are no mitigating factors.
01:06 In their totality the offences of murder and attempted murder were of exceptionally high seriousness and just punishment, according to law, requires a whole life order.
01:23 The sentence means Letby, who's pleaded her innocence, will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
01:28 She wasn't at Manchester Crown Court, preferring to use her right to be sentenced in absentia.
01:34 The government's launching an inquiry into how Letby was allowed to continue her killing spree at the Countess of Chester Hospital, despite warnings from senior doctors.
01:48 A sea of Ukrainian flags outside the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen, a greeting for President Zelensky.
01:55 He responded with a message of gratitude, solidarity and hope.
02:01 Dear friends, today we are confident that Russia will lose this war. But this is not the only main thing. The main thing is what we prove with our victory, with our cooperation, what you prove supporting Ukraine.
02:25 Together we prove that life is a value, that people matter, freedom matters, Europe matters.
02:36 Along with the Dutch, it's the Danes who are spearheading Europe's response to President Zelensky's pleas for F-16 fast jets.
02:44 From the pomp and splendour of the Queen of Denmark's palace, he can return to Kiev with fresh hope for the safety of Ukraine's skies.
02:53 Ukraine's forces conducted counter-offensive operations on at least two sectors of the front and advanced near Robotyne, according to the Institute for the Study of War and the geolocated footage.
03:12 Kremlin affiliated mill bloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces captured unspecified Russian positions west of Verbove.
03:21 There it is, about 18 km southeast of Orihiv and continue to attack Russian positions along the Robotyne-Verbove line.
03:32 The Russian mill blogger claimed that Ukrainian forces have partially succeeded in bypassing Robotyne and breaking through Russian defences to Novoprokopivka, which is right here.
03:44 The Institute for the Study of War says Ukrainian strikes against Russian deep-rear areas are generating discontent in the Russian infospace and could threaten the stability of Russian defences on multiple critical areas of the front.
03:59 It adds Russian front-line units, particularly in southern Ukraine, have frequently struggled with degraded morale following Ukrainian strikes on rear areas.
04:08 The UK Ministry of Defence assessed that the Russian leadership has likely been pressuring the Russian Air Space Forces Command to improve Russian air defence coverage in western Russia,
04:19 suggesting that both the higher Russian leadership and the ultranationalist information space are placing pressure on the Russian military command in response to the strikes.
04:29 South Africa is preparing to host the 15th BRICS summit in Johannesburg with dozens of national leaders invited and one important absentee, Vladimir Putin.
04:43 He won't be able to come as he's subject to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, yet this summit is crucial for Russian foreign policy.
04:50 In this current geopolitical landscape where the West is seeking to isolate Russia, it's become very important for Russia to expand its linkages with the BRICS countries, but also their various regions.
05:09 So, you know, because of the current conditions, BRICS has actually become even more important for Russia.
05:15 The ICC in The Hague has accused Putin of the unlawful deportation of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.
05:23 Putin's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent Russia at the BRICS summit, though it's understood Putin will communicate with other leaders.
05:38 The area around Alexandroupolis in northern Greece has been in the grip of raging forest fires for three days.
05:45 And people from three villages have had to leave their homes.
05:51 In the Prodromos region, northwest of Athens, a man in his 80s died from smoke inhalation while trying to save his animals from another fire.
06:05 As each summer day ends, smoke from the fire shrouds the setting sun.
06:09 On the Spanish holiday island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, firefighters have been battling wildfires for six days.
06:19 More than 12,800 hectares of forest and scrub have burned in a 90-square-kilometre part of the island.
06:28 The authorities in Tenerife believe the worst is over, but accept the flames are not fully under control.
06:33 While they work, police officers say the original fire was started deliberately.
06:38 France is reluctantly living under the scourge of a new heatwave, the worst so far this long and torrid summer.
06:49 More than 50 departments are under orange alert, red alerts could be declared in some places.
06:55 Temperatures haven't dropped below 30 degrees for days and many find the nights unbearable.
07:21 In the city of Lyon, tourists are cooling off in the fountains or seeking the shade.
07:25 The Minister of Health has warned some parts of the country could see record temperatures on Tuesday.
07:33 More bloodshed in the occupied West Bank on Monday after another deadly shooting near the Palestinian city of Hebron.
07:50 An Israeli civilian was killed in another attack and another settler is reportedly in critical condition.
07:55 A manhunt for the suspected Palestinian assailant is underway.
07:59 According to an Israeli army spokesperson, 25 bullets were fired.
08:03 This after a gunman shot two Israelis dead in the northern West Bank on Saturday.
08:08 The sharp escalation in violence follows several Israeli military raids on Palestinian refugee camps this year.
08:16 A bomb from a Russian airstrike lands near the Syrian city of Idlib.
08:23 The air raid targeted a base of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadist group, killing at least eight people.
08:30 According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the attacks occurred early Monday on the north-western outskirts of the city of Idlib.
08:39 The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham partially controls the province of Idlib, which houses a significant portion of armed opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
08:47 With Russia's military support, the Syrian army has managed to recapture a substantial portion of the territory taken by various rebel groups.
08:54 The Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011, is estimated to have claimed over half a million lives and displaced more than 13 million people.
09:06 In Syria, civil defence volunteers known as the White Helmets remember the 10th anniversary of the Ghouta chemical attack.
09:12 Some painted murals as a memorial to those who died on August 21, 2013.
09:18 Doctors' charity Médecins Sans Frontières estimated hundreds were killed and thousands wounded in President Bashar al-Assad's chemical attack.
09:26 The UK-based Syrian Network of Human Rights believes as many as 1,100 died.
09:32 Ten years on, the war continues, with half the country's population displaced and thousands killed.
09:37 A moment of triumph for Spain's Women's World Cup winning side, but one that was to be overshadowed by an unsolicited kiss for player Jenny Hermoso from the president of the Spanish football association, Luis Rubiales.
09:56 He's now apologised.
10:00 There's also something I have to regret, and that is everything that happened between a player and me,
10:07 with a wonderful relationship between both of us, as well as with others, and where I'm probably wrong, I have to admit.
10:14 Because in a moment of maximum effusivity, without any bad intentions, without any bad faith, well, what happened happened, I think in a very spontaneous way.
10:26 The scandal arose after the ceremony following the Women's World Cup final, where Spain had beaten England 1-0.
10:32 Afterwards, Hermoso wrote on social media that she didn't like the kiss at all.
10:37 The Minister of Culture and Sport called Rubiales' behaviour unacceptable.
10:42 When Spain's captain scored what proved to be the winning goal in Sunday's FIFA Women's World Cup final against England,
10:53 she dedicated it to her friend's recently deceased mother, but unbeknown to her was that her own father passed away hours before the final.
10:59 As Spain celebrated the goal, the player's family wiped away their tears and kept silent, deciding not to tell Carmona until after the game so she could stay focused.
11:08 After the final whistle, she was among the Spanish players celebrating and dancing on the field, and then appeared to participate normally during the trophy presentation.
11:16 The Spanish Football Federation informed the Real Madrid player of what happened Sunday evening.
11:21 "In the early hours of the morning," she wrote on social networks, "I know you have given me the strength to achieve something unique.
11:29 I know that you have been watching me tonight and that you are proud of me. Rest in peace, Dad."
11:34 On Monday, she posted again to say that she would be attending the official team celebrations in Madrid, but added Sunday was the best and worst day of her life.
11:43 (whooshing)