Latest news bulletin | August 7th – Midday
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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00:00Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate in the 2024
00:07presidential election.
00:11The World Health Organization, WHO, warns that COVID-19 infections are surging globally
00:17including at the Paris Olympics.
00:20France Olympic swimming hero Leon Marchand says he is still in his bubble after winning
00:26four gold medals and a bronze in Paris.
00:30Kamala Harris has confirmed her running mate in the 2024 presidential election will be
00:36Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
00:38Harris praised Walz's record as governor, writing he'd delivered for working families
00:43like his in a post on X.
00:45Walz, who grew up in a small town in Nebraska, was a social studies teacher, a football coach
00:52and a union member before he got into politics.
00:57He ran for governor in 2018 and defeated Hennepin County Commissioner Geoff Johnson by more
01:03than 11 points.
01:06He governed through the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests that emerged in the wake
01:11of the murder of George Floyd.
01:14Harris will introduce Walz at a rally on Tuesday evening in Philadelphia.
01:23At least eight people have been injured after a rocket attack on the centre of Kharkiv,
01:28according to the regional prosecutor's office.
01:32Twenty-five cars and at least 15 buildings were also damaged in the attack, the office
01:38said.
01:39At 9.55am a rocket was fired on the central part of the city, namely on Shevchenkivsky
01:52district.
01:53We are now collecting information on the injured, as there are a lot of civilian buildings,
02:01educational institutions, medical institutions and residential buildings.
02:07It comes as the governor of Kherson reported a Russian drone dropped explosives on the
02:12outskirts of the city, injuring at least five people.
02:17Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defence has released footage of what it says shows
02:23the crews of Ka-52 helicopters striking a temporary deployment point of the Ukrainian
02:29armed forces.
02:31It is a rare public display of Russian secret agents.
02:40The Russian state television interviewed two former spies who have returned to Moscow as
02:45part of the biggest prisoner exchange since the Cold War.
02:49Prior to their arrest in Slovenia in 2022, the couple were posing as Argentine citizens
02:55and allegedly had been using Slovenia as their base since 2017.
02:59We were threatened that the Argentine side allegedly wanted to take our children, that
03:04our children could be taken to another family.
03:09But we felt that the Slovenian special services were doing everything possible to save the
03:19children in Slovenia, so that we could be together.
03:24The West released Russian spies as well as a convicted Russian assassin, while Russia
03:29released journalists, a former US Marine and political activists.
03:34One of the political activists released by Russia is Ilya Yashin, who was serving time
03:39in jail for criticizing Russia's war in Ukraine.
03:43Upon his release to Germany, the Russian opposition politician thanked his supporters on a live
03:48stream.
03:55The chief of the committee to protect journalists says that the release of journalists from
04:02Russian captivity does not mean that press freedom in Russia is improving.
04:07Our concern is that this doesn't set a precedent for future governments to feel that they can
04:14simply take innocent journalists, for example, imprison them and use them as bargaining chips
04:21for the release of prisoners abroad.
04:26She adds that Russia was the fourth largest jailer of journalists worldwide in 2023, making
04:31it one of the most restrictive environments for journalists globally.
04:40Iran and Russia have agreed to fast-track their friendship, according to political officials
04:45that attended a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday.
04:49Secretary of Russia's Security Council Sergei Shoigu met with Iran's new president Massoud
04:55Bezeshkian amid increasing hostilities in the Middle East.
04:59In a document provided by the Iranian government, Bezeshkian referred to Russia as a friend,
05:05with a Russian delegate emphasizing the need to speed up the build of the North-South Corridor,
05:10an international transport hub connecting the countries.
05:14Bezeshkian also spoke about Gaza, describing the assassination of Hamas's top leader,
05:20Ismail Haniyeh, as a violation of international law and stating Israel will receive a
05:26response for its crimes.
05:29The talks come as the U.S. and its allies work to prevent a wider regional war after
05:34Israel killed Iran-allied militants.
05:37The European Commission also called for calm in the region, with a spokesperson telling
05:41reporters in Brussels its leaders continue to work to defuse the tensions.
05:49COVID-19 infections are surging globally, including at the Paris Olympics.
05:54According to the WHO, the virus is unlikely to decline anytime soon.
05:59The virus is circulating in all countries.
06:01Data from our Sentinel-based systems across 84 countries reports that the percent of positive
06:07tests for SARS-CoV-2 has been rising over the last several weeks.
06:12Overall, test positivity is above 10 percent, but this fluctuates by region.
06:17In Europe, percent positivity is over 20 percent.
06:20The UN Health Agency is also warning that more severe variants of the coronavirus may
06:25soon be on the horizon.
06:27The Olympic Games have not been spared.
06:31In recent months, regardless of the season, many countries have experienced surges of
06:35COVID-19, including at the Olympics.
06:38Currently, there are at least 40 athletes who have tested positive.
06:41The WHO is urging governments to strengthen their vaccination campaigns, making sure that
06:46the highest risk groups get vaccinated every 12 months.
06:52As Japan sweltered through its hottest July temperatures in over a century, more than
06:57100 people died in the capital from suspected heat stroke.
07:01Tokyo's medical examiner's office reported 123 people died in July, with the majority
07:07being over the age of 60.
07:09Last month, Japan sizzled through the warmest July since records began in 1898, with the
07:15temperature reaching 2.16 degrees Celsius above average.
07:19Over 37,000 people were treated for heat stroke across the country, authorities said.
07:26When Leon Marchand dives, France holds its breath.
07:31The 22-year-old French Olympic swimmer won four gold medals and one bronze medal at the
07:37Paris Olympics, a record for France.
07:56In the fan zones and behind the screens, the extraordinary performances of the four-time
08:02Olympic champion gave rise to scenes of joy.
08:25After the Tokyo Olympics, Leon joined coach Bob Bowman in Arizona, former mentor to Michael
08:31Phelps.
08:32His legendary flows have been particularly praised.
08:56After the Olympic excitement, Leon Marchand says he wants to take a vacation.
09:01After that, he will be training to do more exploits ahead of the Los Angeles Games.
09:08The black mussels produced by Romania are exclusively wild, harvested from great depths
09:15and rocky areas.
09:17Although they are as good as the Bulgarian ones, they are smaller and far fewer.
09:26It seems very bad to me.
09:30It is normal to harvest them from us, to eat all the mussels from us.
09:35I mean, why import them from Bulgaria?
09:38Where do you get the mussels you serve at the restaurant?
09:41Well, at the moment, most of them are from Bulgaria and we try to do it with our own
09:48power, to collect from the Black Sea, from our area.
09:52But there have been some problems, I don't know what our sea has, I don't know what
09:57has developed, I don't know what bacteria, I don't know what non-bacteria, and they push
10:02us towards the Bulgarians, which I don't think is okay.
10:06Matei Daciu has been waiting years for the green light from the authorities to be able
10:11to grow Romanian mussels in the sea near the restaurant he owns.
10:16He has invested in storage spaces and bivalve sand cleaning devices, which are lying unused.
10:46How much did it cost to invest?
10:4812-15 thousand euros, even more.
10:50So practically everything is prepared, just the sand.
10:53Yes.
10:55Romanians have been eating Bulgarian mussels for a long time.
10:59In fact, they often go directly to Bulgaria to get them.
11:08The famous mussel farms in Dalboca are a real treasure for the merchants.
11:12The mussels are collected directly from the sea, then brought with the boat to the restaurant
11:17directly in front of the customers, who then eat them with appetite.
11:21Many of those who come to eat in Bulgarian restaurants are Romanians, amateurs of fresh
11:27fish and mussels from the Black Sea.
11:30Without an agreement between the authorities and traders, the Romanian seaside risks losing
11:36tourists who, in search of good seafood, will have to cross the border into Bulgaria.