Latest news bulletin | July 23rd – Morning
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Transcript
00:00 Final preparations are underway in polling stations across Spain ahead of Sunday`s snap
00:05 election, which could result in a major shift to the right.
00:11 Another drone attack in annexed Crimea. Russia claims Ukraine is behind the strike.
00:20 Gale force winds, heavy rains, blistering heat and forest fires. Europe struggles through
00:25 another week of extreme weather and its effects.
00:31 The countdown to Spain`s snap election is on. But this time around, in-person voters
00:36 will have to battle the extreme heat on the way to the ballot box.
00:42 Thousands of bottles of water are on standby at polling stations. Fans have also been installed
00:47 to provide some relief to the staff at hand.
00:51 Two and a half million registered voters out of a total 37.4 million have opted to vote
00:56 by post. More than double the number of mail ballots in the 2019 general election.
01:03 With no party expected to win an absolute majority, the main question the electorate
01:07 is asking itself is, will this be another leftist coalition or one between the right
01:12 and the far right?
01:14 After five years of social democratic government, the Conservatives` People`s Party is the favourite
01:18 to win. The result could put the far right back in office for the first time since the
01:23 end of Francisco Franco`s regime.
01:30 More claims of drone attacks in Crimea. The region`s Russian-installed governor, Sergei
01:35 Aksyonov, said Ukraine had attempted to launch a strike on the annexed peninsula. The alleged
01:40 attack has temporarily brought three long-distance trains to a grinding halt.
01:45 "The attack on the Krasnodar region by the drone is almost identical to the one in the
01:52 Kirov region. The ammunition depot was detonated. According to the situation, I have decided
01:59 to evacuate the population within a radius of five kilometres from the epicentre."
02:05 Roadblocks have been set up to divert traffic away from the Kursh Bridge. This after Ukraine`s
02:09 President Volodymyr Zelensky says the bridge linking Crimea to Russia "brings war, not
02:15 peace".
02:16 On Monday, two civilians were killed by explosions on the overpass. It was severely damaged in
02:21 a similar attack last October and only recently had all its lanes reopened.
02:31 Three deaths in Serbia after another deadly storm. Gusts of wind and heavy rain swept
02:36 through much of the Balkans, while authorities reported power distribution issues, fallen
02:41 trees, destroyed cars and rooftops.
02:44 The storm also brought chaos to neighbouring Bosnia, with property damage reported in the
02:48 north of the country. In Croatia, the storm wreaked havoc in various parts of the country,
02:53 as authorities were already scrambling to make ends meet after Wednesday`s storm.
02:58 Several people were injured in a tourist campsite in the northern Ithria peninsula. Authorities
03:03 in Slovenia`s Alps say there has been extensive damage to forests and have warned of potential
03:08 flash floods.
03:09 There are weather warnings also in northern Italy. Milan was badly hit on Friday night,
03:14 while hailstones pelted the streets of Veneto. Elsewhere in Europe, a continuing heat wave
03:19 has caused wildfires and public health warnings. Firefighters on the island of Rhodes in Greece
03:24 are battling a massive blaze now in its fifth day.
03:30 Making a stand against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Romanian nationalists demonstrated
03:36 outside the Tuscanios festival in Transylvania, Romania on Saturday. Protesters say the plan
03:42 was to disrupt Orban`s annual message, but they failed to gain access.
03:46 Viktor Orban is Vladimir Putin`s right hand man, terrorist Vladimir Putin, who has been
03:52 a member of the international community for more than a decade. He is the one who has
04:01 been in charge of the international community.
04:02 In his speech, the populist leader decried what he called the EU`s LGBT offensive and
04:06 shared his views on the US, China and New World Order.
04:09 The war is inevitable. The condition is that the world should be able to find a new balance
04:18 in the world. The greats should accept that there are two days in the sky.
04:25 Viktor Orban first spoke at the Free University in 1998. At that time, he emphasized the need
04:31 for NATO membership as the newly elected prime minister. Now he called the European Union
04:37 a rich but weak union that feels surrounded. As he said, the EU is an old boxing champion
04:43 who is showing his teeth but doesn`t want to enter the ring.
04:49 [SWOOSH]