Latest news bulletin | August 2nd – Morning
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00:00 A skyscraper in Moscow was hit by a drone attack for the second time in around 48 hours,
00:05 while a doctor was killed in Ukraine.
00:10 France begins to evacuate hundreds of European citizens from Niger as tensions rise following
00:16 last week`s military coup.
00:21 Poland remembers the Warsaw Uprising, an act of rebellion against the Nazis that killed
00:25 at least 180,000 people.
00:34 Workers in Moscow`s financial district are looking at the sky with increasing concern.
00:39 For the second time in three days, a drone allegedly launched by Ukraine has hit the
00:44 same skyscraper, sowing bewilderment in the neighborhood.
00:47 There were no victims.
00:49 "It`s unexpected that the second time, in the same place, we didn`t expect it, of course.
00:56 Now I don`t want to come at all.
00:59 Security, I don`t even know how to comment it, because we live in the neighboring tower,
01:03 here it is, the tower of the Eye.
01:05 We see the police coming here at night, ambulance and so on.
01:10 It`s very scary, because you wake up at night under the explosion.
01:17 According to the Kremlin, two other drones were shot down by air defense in the Moscow
01:23 region.
01:25 Meanwhile, one of Russia`s military heads visited the country`s troops in Zaporizhia,
01:31 a region that is home to Europe`s largest nuclear power plant and where two people were
01:35 killed just last week in a strike on an apartment building.
01:40 And in Kherson, a doctor was killed when a Moscow bomb hit a health center.
01:45 A nurse who was injured in the attack is in critical condition.
01:49 The shelling is taking place against the backdrop of the Ukrainian counteroffensive against
01:53 Russian troops.
01:56 Further north in Kharkiv, Russian forces targeted a vocational school with Iranian-made drones.
02:07 France has begun flying hundreds of European citizens out of Niger`s capital, Niami, as
02:12 tensions rise following last week`s military coup.
02:16 Paris has set up a crisis center to organize the evacuations amid a deteriorating security
02:22 situation on the ground.
02:23 Separately, Brussels has backed the ECOWAS group of African nation sanctions against
02:28 the rebel regime.
02:31 We have clearly affirmed our support for all the measures adopted by the CDAO at its summit
02:38 on July 31 in response to the coup d`etat.
02:42 But so far, we have not received any request from the CDAO.
02:46 So, if we were to receive a request, we would examine it in order to define the best way
02:54 to respect the political commitments we have made.
02:58 As the French cabinet met to discuss the crisis, Mali and Burkina Faso declared their support
03:02 for the coup and issued a stark warning against any African or European intervention.
03:08 The transition governments of Burkina Faso and Mali warned that any military intervention
03:15 against Niger would be like declaring war against Burkina Faso and Mali.
03:23 Chad`s president has met his ousted Nigerian counterpart, Mahmoud Bazoum, now under house
03:28 arrest in a mediation effort.
03:31 But so far, there seems little prospect of a negotiated settlement.
03:35 A military coup in Niger last week has raised fears that the West African nation, a key
03:44 Western ally in the fight against jihadist groups in the region, could pivot towards
03:49 Russia.
03:50 The ousting of democratically elected president Mahmoud Bazoum has been widely condemned by
03:55 the European Union, the U.S. and from within Africa.
03:58 Jean-Hervé Gessikel at the International Crisis Group says while Niger is central to
04:03 Western security efforts in the region, it`s too early to say if it might turn to Russia
04:08 or the Wagner Group.
04:10 We are - we know that Wagner is interested in, you know, developing its capacity, you
04:15 know, in West Africa.
04:19 We anticipate also that within the new military regime, if they were to stay in power, they
04:29 will look for different allies and they might be tempted to establish closer relationships
04:33 with Russia.
04:34 It`s a possibility that there is a change in alliance and that Russia might develop
04:40 its capacity for Wagner in the region.
04:43 But right now, it`s also a red flag that is very convenient to use in order to, you know,
04:48 to be in a stronger position when you negotiate.
04:53 There are also concerns about the coup`s potential impact on the import of uranium to power Europe`s
04:58 nuclear plants.
05:03 As the world`s seventh largest producer of the chemical element, it supplies the EU with
05:08 almost 25 percent of its reserves and France about 10 percent.
05:13 But Gessikel says the impact is not critical.
05:18 France used to be much more dependent on uranium in the past than it is today.
05:25 There have been, you know, diversification of access to uranium in the world, you know,
05:33 including Canada, including also Kazakhstan.
05:38 So it`s a different market than it was 20 or 30 years ago.
05:44 So it`s still an important interest, but it`s not central, it`s not vital to France as it
05:51 used to be.
05:54 And he says it`s far from clear yet whether the military will stay in power.
06:00 There is still a possibility for President Basu to come back.
06:07 It will be extremely difficult.
06:09 This is not the most likely scenario, but this is still the scenario on which many actors
06:15 are working on.
06:18 Many actors in the international community.
06:19 And as a matter of fact, even Russia is encouraging, you know, is pushing for the return of the
06:24 elected president.
06:25 But if this external pressure does not connect with, you know, an internal pressure, I`m
06:33 afraid it won`t work.
06:37 Clashes have erupted in Senegal after opposition leader Ousmane Sanco was charged with insurrection
06:43 and his party dissolved.
06:45 He`s also restricted Internet services to counteract what the government called hateful
06:50 and subversive messages.
06:52 Sanco is a candidate in next year`s presidential election and a fierce critic of the incumbent
06:58 Macky Sall.
07:00 His popularity is rising, particularly among the youth, and he`s seen as a threat to the
07:05 ruling party.
07:06 He has already been convicted in abstentia on moral corruption charges.
07:11 Last month, Macky Sall announced he wouldn`t be running for a third term, but is expected
07:16 to throw his weight behind a candidate from his party.
07:19 The political turmoil has rocked a country long considered a bastion of democracy in
07:24 Western Africa.
07:30 Europe is on fire.
07:32 Approximately 2,600 hectares of land have been decimated across the EU.
07:37 And the UN warns there will be more aggressive fires in the decades to come.
07:41 37.7 percent of the EU`s land area is covered by forests.
07:45 Many of them contain highly flammable trees.
07:48 So, what is Europe doing to prevent the continent from burning to the ground?
07:52 The European Commission says it will buy a fleet of Canada Air jets to boost Europe`s
07:57 firefighting capacity.
07:58 But these planes will not be ready until 2027.
08:02 We can`t keep just throwing money at the problem.
08:05 We need to assume that our communities will burn at a certain point.
08:08 So, we need to take, you know, short-term technical measures to protect the, you know,
08:12 infrastructure.
08:13 We need to fireproof our fields, our homes, our structures.
08:17 We have to adapt to this new reality.
08:20 And this is true not only for the countries in Southern Europe where we have this problem.
08:25 And it is already quite bad.
08:28 And it`s getting worse.
08:29 But also to countries in Central and Northern Europe where the problem of wildfires is emerging.
08:36 And they have to be prepared not only to fight them, but to prevent them.
08:44 And preventative measures are exactly what the European Forest Institute and Fire-U-Risk
08:49 are working on.
08:52 We know that in Europe, most fires are caused by human action, but some are also natural.
08:57 So we are looking at the previous history of casualty of fires in the different parts.
09:06 And we are also looking how we can reduce these man-made fires.
09:11 Fire-U-Risk has surveyed every square kilometer of Europe to make civilians and governing
09:16 bodies aware of the risks and the types of vegetation most likely to burn.
09:21 Fast-growing weeds, grasses, eucalyptus and pine trees all promote the spread of wildfires.
09:26 For now, fuel breaks and buffer zones can help them from spiraling out of control.
09:31 But replanting and stepping away from flammable monocultures would be effective in the long
09:37 term.
09:38 Since we can`t change topography and since we can`t change weather, what we can do is
09:42 we can change the vegetation.
09:45 And that means we can change the structure, the type and the arrangement.
09:50 What we eventually want to achieve is that when a fire does burn, it is not as severe.
10:00 Team USA scraped through to the last 16 of the Women`s World Cup following a disappointing
10:05 goalless draw against Portugal on Tuesday.
10:07 The defending champions were nearly dumped out of the competition when Anna Kepita hit
10:11 the post in the dying minutes of the game.
10:13 The result sees Megan Rapinoe`s teammates finish second in Group E, just behind the
10:18 Netherlands after they hammered Vietnam 7-0.
10:20 Elsewhere, England outclassed China 6-1 to book their place in the knockout phase and
10:25 top Group D.
10:26 Lauren James produced a stunning performance to score a brace, while Russo, Hemp, Kelly
10:31 and Daly also found the back of the net.
10:34 Denmark beat Haiti to finish in second place, just behind England, who will take on Nigeria
10:38 on Monday.
10:45 Sirens and military parades through Warsaw marked the 79th anniversary of the city`s
10:49 uprising against the Nazis during World War II.
10:58 Across the Polish capital, cars and public transport stopped for a minute to honor victims
11:03 of the Warsaw uprising.
11:07 A two-month rebellion by the Polish underground resistance that left some 180,000 people dead
11:13 and a city completely destroyed.
11:19 The Polish president told crowds it was a struggle that involved the entire city, not
11:24 just fighters, and the act must never be forgotten.
11:30 At least 18,000 insurgents were killed and another 25,000 were wounded after fighting
11:35 erupted on August 1, 1944.
11:40 The Polish capital fell to the Soviet army one year later.
11:43 (whooshing)