Latest news bulletin | August 11th – Morning
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00:00 The West African Eco-Waas bloc has said it will deploy a standby force to Niger to restore
00:06 constitutional order following the country`s coup.
00:10 With dozens confirmed dead, officials in Hawaii warned further casualties are expected as
00:15 devastating wildfires swept through the island of Maui.
00:20 Russia is claiming to have stepped up its offensive near Kupyansk, while Ukrainian soldiers
00:25 say they`ll keep fighting the war for as long as it takes.
00:34 In Abuja, leaders of the West African Eco-Waas bloc prepare their latest response to the
00:39 coup in Niger. The deadline they`d set for a restoration of the president passed on Sunday.
00:46 Emphasizing there was still hope, the Nigerian president announced a more robust approach.
00:52 Direct the committee of the chief of defense staff to activate the Eco-Waas standby force
01:00 with all its elements immediately. Order the deployment of the Eco-Waas standby force to
01:11 restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.
01:16 It`s not the first time Eco-Waas has delivered a military response to a political crisis
01:21 in the region. There have been seven interventions in the last 30 years. However, it seems to
01:26 pose President Bizoum`s life could be on the line, with the coup leaders telling the Associated
01:30 Press he would be killed if there was any military attempt to restore him to power.
01:36 We still recognize President Bizoum as the elected -- democratically elected president
01:43 of Niger. And the conditions he is being held in right now are unacceptable.
01:51 The president and his family are under house arrest in his palace with limited food and
01:55 water as with each passing day, the coup leaders grip on power in the country appears to be
02:00 strengthening.
02:06 Thousands of Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as blazes swept across the island.
02:12 This was a home.
02:14 Destroying parts of a centuries old town and killing at least 36 people in one of the deadliest
02:19 American wildfires in recent years. The fire took the island by surprise, leaving burned
02:25 out cars on once busy streets and smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings had
02:29 once stood.
02:31 For all of the fires, they haven`t been able to determine what ignited the fires. There
02:37 is three conditions that we got from the National Weather Service. They call it a red flag alert.
02:45 So that`s dry conditions, right? So you got dry fuel, trees, plants. You got low humidity
02:53 and high winds.
02:54 The reason it spread so fast is there are reports of gusts of up to 85 miles per hour.
02:59 So you know, that is so fast and that`s why Maui County had such a hard time doing containment
03:06 of the fire and because the winds were so high, we couldn`t provide the helicopters
03:10 to do the water bucket support.
03:13 In historic Lahaina, dozens of homes and businesses were flattened, including on Front Street,
03:18 a favorite with tourists. As winds died down, some aircraft resumed flights, giving pilots
03:24 a view of the devastation below. President Biden said he`d ordered all available federal
03:29 assets to help the island.
03:36 Russia is claiming to have recaptured Kupyansk, a village it was driven out of a year ago,
03:41 as residents of 37 villages in the Kharkiv region are ordered to evacuate their homes.
04:02 On the Ukrainian front line, there are reports of increasing attacks in border areas. Even
04:07 President Zelensky openly admits progress is slow, but soldiers training for the front
04:12 say there are good reasons.
04:13 It`s not a game or it`s not just a news from the wallpapers or something like that. So,
04:35 for my opinion, we are not moving too slow or way too fast. We are moving like in that
04:43 way that we can.
04:44 It`s coming up to 18 months since Russia invaded Ukraine. Soldiers training for the front line
04:50 know they may well be fighting for many more months to come.
05:00 Speculations about the Wagner Group`s withdrawal from Belarus suggest that aspects of the deal
05:05 between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Wagner Group leader Evgeny Prigozhin following
05:09 Wagner`s armed rebellion on the 24th of June have collapsed.
05:14 In its latest update, the Institute for the Study of War reports that Russian inside source
05:19 claims that Wagner forces are conducting the first stage of withdrawal from Belarus by
05:24 busing groups from five to 600 personnel from Belarus to the regions of Krasnodar, Rostov
05:33 and Voronezh, and that the second stage will begin after the 13th of August.
05:38 Now, the U.S.-based think tank insists it has not observed visual evidence of Wagner
05:43 forces moving out of Belarus, adding that the insider source claimed that a small group
05:49 of Wagner instructors would remain in Belarus to train Belarus forces.
05:54 The images provided by Planet Lab suggested that dozens of tents were erected in July
05:59 at a former military base outside Asipovichi in Tselny.
06:04 This is less than 100 kilometers southeast from the capital Minsk and 230 kilometers
06:11 north of the Ukrainian border, which has been fortified since Russian troops crossed it
06:17 moving towards Kyiv in the early days of the full-scale invasion.
06:22 According to the Institute for the Study of War, the insider source claimed on the 6th
06:26 of August that Wagner forces that did not deploy to Libya urgently went on leave in Russia
06:33 and that Wagner`s command called on their fighters to keep in touch because the new
06:37 orders could come at any time.
06:45 People in Norway are preparing for more flooding and destruction after facing the onslaught
06:50 of storm hands earlier this week.
06:54 Rivers swollen by days of heavy rain carried large amounts of water through the country`s
06:59 mountainous southeast, where vast areas were either inundated or hit by landslides.
07:07 Thousands of people living near waterways were evacuated, houses emptied and cars moved
07:12 to higher ground.
07:15 On Wednesday, a nearby dam partially burst after Norway`s largest river spilled over
07:21 and broke through the structure.
07:22 Police said the situation is being continually assessed.
07:26 Helicopters were on standby to help move people out of remote areas.
07:32 Authorities said the flooding could last until Friday and major roads are likely to be closed
07:37 for days.
07:38 Both Norway and Sweden have issued orange and red weather alerts.
07:49 Residents of the small city of General Tishevo in Bulgaria turn out to show support for their
07:54 mayor.
07:55 He`s been accused by European prosecutors of misuse of 169,000 euros in subsidies, granted
08:02 for improvements to municipal housing.
08:06 After his release on bail, the mayor declared himself calm and ready to plead his innocence
08:10 in court.
08:21 The allegations relate to declarations made about energy efficiency improvements made
08:25 between 2017 and 2019.
08:35 Dmitrov is backed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party and with elections due next October,
08:40 some supporters believe the legal process is politically motivated.
08:48 Pisa celebrated the 850th birthday of its famous Leaning Tower on Wednesday.
08:54 It was the 9th of August 1173 when the cornerstone of the Pisa Cathedral bell tower was laid.
09:01 The celebrations included free entry to all the monuments in Pisa`s Piazza del Duomo,
09:07 except the tower, which was lit up and closed for security reasons.
09:12 There was also a free concert by Iranian pianist Ramin Barami, featuring pieces by Bach, Beethoven,
09:18 Mozart, Brahms and Chopin.
09:26 The fisherman's quick hands and sunburned face conceal the strong and noble soul of
09:31 an environmental activist and an art lover.
09:34 Paolo the fisherman, as everyone in Tuscany's Morema area knows him, has been fighting against
09:40 trawler fishing for almost 40 years.
09:42 This type of fishing is illegal within three nautical miles of the coast and in protected
09:47 marine reserves.
09:49 Paolo has been fighting against the interests of big industry and the infiltrations of organized
09:54 crime.
10:15 Trawler fishing in coastal waters destroys the Poseidonia, a marine plant providing the
10:20 sea with oxygen and it devastates the entire marine ecosystem with the disappearance of
10:25 fish and the whole sea life cycle.
10:28 Through his association, the House of Fish, Paolo the fisherman managed to involve entrepreneurs
10:33 and artists in the creation of a submerged museum, where the beauty of the statues laid
10:38 on the seabed is actually preventing the trawler fishing and repopulating the sea.
10:44 The fight of Paolo the fisherman continues uninterrupted with the same determination of
10:51 40 years ago.
10:52 He has experienced loneliness, discomfort, but also the support of many people and international
10:55 environmentalist associations.
10:56 Now his project goes on.
10:59 He does not intend to stop because the sea is a good of all and is fundamental for our
11:04 survival.
11:05 "The sea is my life and this gave me a great emotion when that light is taken
11:12 from the sea.
11:14 If I had said I would continue to put blocks of cement in the sea, now you would not be
11:22 here.
11:23 Nobody would have listened to me."
11:28 Where there were only concrete blocks before, now there are 44 statues from famous artists,
11:34 among them the British sculptress Emily Young.
11:37 They're protecting the seabed from trawler fishing.
11:40 Paolo wants to get to 100 and you can bet he'll make it.
11:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]