This is bbc news, im aaron safir. Our top stories. Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny has been driven out of hospital in siberia and is expected to travel by air ambulance to germany he remains in a coma the governor of california says lightning strikes have sparked several hundred more wildfires including some of the biggest ever seen in the state. A human chain across the capital in belarus, the latest protest against the president , as the Opposition Leader tells the bbc she won t give up. We have no right to step back now because if not not, we will be slaves. And swifts gift why a london student is celebrating her taylor made donation. Hello and welcome to bbc news. We start in russia where in the past half hour News Agencies citing eyewitness accounts say the seriously ill opposition politician Alexy Navalny has been driven out of hospital. His spokeswoman says an air ambulance will take him to germany for treatment. His supporters say he was intentionally poisoned and theyve accused the kremlin of trying to cover it up. Our correspondent Sarah Rainsford has this report from moscow. She spent all day battling for her husband. Convinced Alexei Navalny has been poisoned, yulia wants him moved abroad. Away from a siberian hospital that is bristling with plainclothes security. Translation this situation is outrageous. It is clear they are hiding something. We demand that the hospital release alexei to us immediately, so we can take him to doctors we trust. Alexei navalny collapsed on a flight to moscow, carried off in a coma after an emergency landing. Crooks and thieves, is what he calls those in power here. Mr navalny is russias loudest voice of opposition and his forensic Anti Corruption investigations are hated by those they target. Today, his russian doctor suggested there could be an innocent explanation. Not poison, but low blood sugar, perhaps. His family are not chancing it. An air ambulance was flown in, and when the german medics on board finally saw mr navalny, theyjudged him stable enough to leave. So the russian team have done a u turn, earning themselves a round of relieved applause. Alexei navalny remains critically ill tonight, still unconscious, but his family hope a foreign clinic can give them some clearer answers. Sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. In california, lightning strikes over the past 2a hours have ignited several hundred more wildfires including some of the biggest ever seen in the state. Six people have died and at least 175, 000 people have now been forced to flee their homes. The coronavirus pandemic is complicating efforts to fight the wildfires. Sophie long has more from los angeles. Vast infernos blaze throughout northern california,
claiming at least five lives, destroying hundreds of buildings and an area bigger than los angeles. Copy, were going in now. Satellite images show the smoke cloaking most of california creating the worst air quality on the planet at a time when people are fighting a respiratory pandemic. And yet, this is political. But there are massive fires again in california. Maybe were just going to have to make them pay for it because they dont listen to us. We say, you got to get rid of the leaves, you got to get rid of the debris, you got to get rid of the fallen trees. But most of the blazes were sparked by whats being called a trifecta of fire conditions. A freak summer lightning storm, the most intense for more than a decade, collided with a heat wave recording record temperatures, and the resulting flames fanned by high winds. If you are in denial about climate change, come to california. 11,000 dry lightning strikes we had over a 72 hour period leading to this unprecedented
challenge. California is no stranger to scenes like this but the ferocity of these fires so early in the season has astonished many of the thousands fighting them on the front line. Temperatures are expected to ease but the fires are now generating so much heat, they are creating their own winds pushing them in multiple unpredictable directions, threatening tens of thousands of homes. Sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. Thousands of british holiday makers are racing to get back to the uk, before new government coronavirus quarantine restrictions come into force. In three hours time here in london, anyone returning from croatia, austria and trinidad and tobago, will have to self isolate for two weeks, because of a rise in infections in those countries. Gavin lee reports from croatia. A late summer getaway
on croatias dalmatian coast, where there are more british holiday makers than from any other country. 17,000 uk tourists are here at the moment. For many, the break is now over just as it was beginning. Theyre leaving before mandatory quarantine rules kick in. Im a teacher, so if i dont go back today, i miss being back at school, and the kids have been off for six months. Were both key workers in england, so weve had to pay an extra £400 for a flight home which leaves in two hours time. So, were heading there now. Im just getting into a taxi, by the way. Lawrence mannings on holiday with his partner in dubrovnik. They were due to fly back on saturday, but theyre rushing to the airport this evening. Our flight for a return was Something Like £350, and we just had to payjust over £750 to get two tickets back to the uk. Further up the coast in the harbour of sibenik, a group of students from Nottingham Trent University Say they need to be back for the start of term, but they cant afford the ticket prices. We obviously dont have that much money saved up to get a flight home because of the inflation of prices. We are just really stuck here. Weve all got part time jobs as well, its slightly annoying, because now we have to take time off of work, so we dont get any money to save up for uni. So whats going wrong in croatia . Back in may and june, this country of 5 Million People barely registered a single case a day. In the past week, there has been a notable rise 265 cases in the past 2a hours. Other eu countries are attributing clusters of new cases to tourists coming back from here. The countrys secretary of state for tourism said the british decision was unfair but acknowledged there is a problem. It is true that we have several hotspots in croatia in recent days, but they are the result of non compliance with the epidemiological measures. Mostly, its younger people in some nightclubs and other gatherings. But the uk isnt the only country to add croatia to the quarantine list. There are four other countries this week, and its here in split, where theree concern that its the epicentre, that people arent listening to social distancing advice, and thats why its become a problem here. Tonight, this was the last uk bound flight out of the country. A frantic day almost at an end for those getting back in time. For others, thinking ofjetting off for a late break elsewhere, the official advice is be prepared to unexpectedly have to quarantine. Gavin lee, bbc news, split on the dalmatian coast. To the situation in belarus where Opposition Leader svetla na tikhanovskaya has called on her supporters to step up their strikes at factories across the country to try to force new president ial elections. Belarus is facing its biggest political crisis since the break up of the soviet union,
with tens of thousands of demonstrators saying veteran leader alexander lu kashenkos re election on the 9th of august was rigged. In the latest protest against lu kashenko, activists formed a human chain across the capital minsk. Ms tikhanovskaya has been speaking exclusively to our europe correspondent Jean Mackenzie in lithuania. The woman many think shouldve been crowned president of belarus. A woman who never even wanted to be a politician breaking cover for the First Time Since being forced into exile. She now leads the 0pposition from afar. And when we sit down with her, that reluctant sense of duty still shows. I just cant step away now, you know, because i became like a symbol of freedom. I understand that im not a leader. Im more frightened than anybody else among them. What frightens you 7 im afraid that maybe i will not be able to do enough. I dont know, itsjust a fear of responsibility. This was the moment she disappeared, the day after the election when long time president lukashenko declared himself the victor. When she emerged in lithuania, she hinted at a terrible choice shed had to make to keep her children safe. Can you tell me anything about what happened in those election offices and what choice you were given . Im sorry, but i cant. Not now. Bela russians have ta ken to the streets like never before, to show they voted for tsikhanouskaya and are ready for change. Enough is enough, was her message for the regime today. Enough lying, intimidation and violence. The past weeks have seen protesters detained and badly beaten. How do you feel when you see
the reports of violence that have come out of the country in the last week . You know. I was really shocked. I didnt tell anybody, but i couldnt find peace, i was just crying. After a couple of hours, when we saw the first pictures, i cant imagine that belarussian people can be so cruel. With protests and strikes nearly into the third become Alexander Lukashenko shows no sign backing down. Are you worried that the movement could fail . No, im not worried because i believe in belarussian people the same way they believed in me. We have no right to step back now because if not now, we will be slaves. And our people understand this, and im sure we will stand till the end. That end for her is new elections, ones that are free and fair. Only then, she tells us, will bela russians know who their president truly is. Jean mackenzie, bbc news. The us postmaster general has told a Senate Committee that ballots in novembers president ial election will be delivered securely and on time. Amid concerns that recent policy changes were made to help re elect President Trump louis dejoy denied he had spoken to the president about Service Operations and said he himself would be voting by mail. Barbara plett usher has more. Louis dejoy landed in the centre of a perfect storm when he became postmaster general two months ago, or did he create it . Thats what this hearing was about. Cutbacks that hes made to the Postal Services have delayed the mail and theres concerned that they will also delay mail in ballots especially in a year where there is going to be a lot of them. And theres a suspicion that this is deliberate
because President Trump is against expanded mail in voting, he says its going to lead to widespread fraud although theres no evidence of that. And he has opposed extra funding to the Postal Services because of that. But mr dejoy said there was no conspiracy to undermine the vote. He said that allegation was outrageous. He said he was a businessman whod been brought in to fix the postal service, to whip it into shape because it was billions of dollars in debt. He said the changes he made so far did not reduce the capacity to deal with a lot of mail in ballots but because of the concern expressed, he would put them on hold until after the election and he would make sure that things went as smoothly as possible with the mail in ballots. But this isnt over yet, hes going to be appearing in front of another congressional hearing on monday and hes being sued by dc and six states. So thatjust shows you how much concern there is among democrats about this issue of Voter Suppression in this election year. This is bbc news, the latest headlines
russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny has been driven out of hospital in siberia and is expected to be flown by air ambulance to germany in the next few hours. His supporters say he has been poisoned. Californias governor says lightning strikes have ignited several hundred more wilfires in the state. 12,000 firefighters are battling several hundred blazes. In california, a mass murderer known as the golden state killer, has been sentenced to life in prison. 74 year old joseph de angelo murdered at least 13 people while working as a Police Officer in california in the 1970s and 1980s. He was only caught by a quirk of modern technology and earlier was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. A plea deal spared him the death penalty. 0ur north america reporter ray gan morris is in los angeles. Thanks forjoining. Thanks for joining. There thanks forjoining. There were so thanks forjoining. There were so many people affected by this
mans crimes that they couldnt even fit it in a courtroom, could they . Thats right. He was sentenced inside a University Ballroom and coronavirus had something to do without because people had to be safely distanced and there we re d oze ns be safely distanced and there were dozens of people there, nowhere near the number that we re nowhere near the number that were impacted by this man, but they sat together as families and some of them gave impact statements, talking about his crimes, what the effect was on theirfamilies, crimes, what the effect was on their families, and he crimes, what the effect was on theirfamilies, and he was sentenced right there in that courtroom. He did apologise, he was in a wheelchair, he took off his mask and he told them, im truly truly sorry. Why did it ta ke truly truly sorry. Why did it take so long then for him to be caught and convicted and sentenced . Well, he was a Police Officer, and during the 70s, some people actually speculated that they thought maybe it was a Police Officer because he always seemed one step ahead of investigators. He knew what he was doing. He was
actually fired in 1979 for shoplifting. So he stopped being a Police Officer and thats when he moved from the north of california down to the south. Thats when his crime spree really widened. But, you know, they found him with this very unusual, first time in the United States this has happened, where the detectives uploaded some dna from a cold case and they matched it to some members of his family. They narrowed it down. It was just on a genealogy websites, it wasnt through some database of criminals, it was through a genealogy website, so they were able to link him to his family, eventually they were able to identify him as the golden state killer. You mention the impact on some of the families. We have also heard of them in todays proceedings, havent we . We have heard from quite a few over the last few days, they are just harrowing stories. He not only raped and killed people, he tortured them and he tortured their family members. He would break into womens homes in the middle of the night and didnt seem to
ca re the night and didnt seem to care who was home, if there was a husband or a daughter or grandmother, he would make his victims tie up the other members of the family and he would actually commit so sadistic, he would play dishes on their backs and say if i hear these fall and break or shatter, im going to kill you all. You know, he threatened children and husbands, mothers, his youngest victim actually was a child, 13 years old, her mother was tied up in the next room. Absolutely horrific crimes. Thank you for bringing us crimes. Thank you for bringing us up to date. The man is not behind bars. Thank you. The man is now behind bars. Scientists have repeatedly warned it could be many months before we know if any of the thirty or so coronavirus vaccines currently undergoing trials, are effective. But one way to speed up the process would be to use so called challenge trials where volunteers are given the vaccine and then deliberately infected with coronavirus. Heres our medical editor fergus walsh. The longer we go without a vaccine, the longer people will die unnecessarily. Young, healthy and determined. Sean mcpartlin is 22 and studying in oxford. He keeps fit by swimming in the thames. I volunteered to be infected with the coronavirus. Sean wants to take part in a so called challenge trial, where he would first receive a vaccine against covid 19 and then be deliberately infected with coronavirus, to see if the vaccine protects him. My mother has a hereditary lung disorder, and every day we go without a vaccine is a day where she faces a risk that she might not have to. So i want to do everything i can to help get that vaccine to her and everyone else like her as quickly as possible. The only way well know if a Covid Vaccine works is if volunteers later get
exposed to the virus. But at the moment, thats being left entirely to chance. It could take months. Deliberately infecting volunteers could speed things up. One day sooner is a group campaigning for vaccine challenge trials and it has the support of 15 nobel Prize Winners and many leading scientists. Dominic wilkinson is an expert in medical ethics and an intensive care doctor. If you look at whats at stake, that thousands of lives that might be saved if we could get to a vaccine sooner, there is an ethical imperative to investigate and conduct challenge studies. A safe and effective vaccine against coronavirus is probably the only way our lives, our society, the economy, will return to normal. So anything that can speed up its delivery has to be worth considering. But what about the risks
of challenge trials . They are hard to calculate. But for Healthy Volunteers in their 20s, they are probably lower than the chances of dying from donating a kidney or having your appendix removed. Dr katrina pollock is not convinced at least not yet. Shes running the trial of Imperial College londons coronavirus vaccine. Im not sure that its going to necessarily accelerate development of the vaccine in a way that some people might hope. And there are certainly significant, at this point, ethical and safety considerations for doing it. We need a lot more understanding of this disease before we start thinking about those kind of studies. If coronavirus challenge studies do you ever take place, volunteers would need to spend at least two weeks in quarantine at a Clinical Research unit. There are plenty like sean who are ready to sign up, hoping to play their part in the search for a vaccine. Fergus walsh, bbc news. The head of the World Health Organisation says he hopes the Coronavirus Crisis can be over in less than two yea rs. The comments by Tedros Adhanom ghebreyesus come as cases of the disease continue to surge in europe. France, spain, italy and germany have recorded their highest numbers of daily cases since the spring. Let s get some of the day s other news. Volunteers in mauritius say the government is blocking efforts to help clean up a recent oil spill. The Authorities Say the area has been restricted for health reasons. But there s concern the government is trying to silence criticism of its handling of the spill. On tuesday, the ships captain was arrested and charged with endangering safe navigation. Us Actress Lori Loughlin has been sentenced wbr id wbr13150 to two months injail for her part in a College Admissions scam. b
along with other wealthy parents, she paid bribes for her children to get into top universities as fake athletic recruits. More than 50 other people are facing charges over the scheme. In libya the internationally recognised government of National Accord has ordered its forces to cease hostilities and said parliamentary and president ial elections should be held in march next year. For its part, the eastern based parliament backed by the rebel leader general Khalifa Haftar have said their forces will also stop fighting. In football, seville have won the Europa League final against inter milan. The spanish side won an entertaining match by three goals to two in germany. Theyve now won the trophy six times. The game was played before an empty stadium in cologne. The last few weeks have been uncertain for many School Leavers hoping to get into university, but one students dream is a step wbrid wbr13750 closer, thanks to the kindness of a very special stranger. Vitoria mario, whos 18
and from london, set up an Online Fundraising page to help pay for College Accomodation and living costs. And guess who decided to chip in, none other than the us pop star, taylor swift. Heres david sillito. I couldnt believe it. Ifeel, like, even now, i am still processing it. Ijust cant believe it. It began with this text message. 18 year old Vitoria Mario was in church and a friend wanted to let her know there had been a donation to her University Gofundme page. From taylor swift. 2a hours later, it is still rather difficult to process. I was overwhelmed, i was happy, of course, very happy. I was very grateful. I wanted to hug taylor swift, i guess i want to say thank you, its so amazing. I dont even know how to feel or how to handle my feelings. Taylor swift had also left a message saying she had been
inspired by vitoria story. She had arrived from portugal on her own at 1a. Four years later, she has two a stars and a. You came to britain on your own at aged 14 . You are not eligible for any maintenance grants, because you arrived here in britain on your own at aged 14 . Thats correct. Speaking no english. No english at all. I learned mostly from the netflix. Watching with the subtitles, so i can learn how to say it and learn how to write it. Of course, this isnt the first pop charitable donation. Ariana grande, rhianna and stormzy with his Scholarship Programme for black students of all made large donations for those who are struggling. But taylor swift, who does have a new album out, has a track record of surprised gifts. But why goals story touched her in particular is a mystery. But why victorias story touched her in particular is a mystery. Where are you a taylor swift fan . Of course youre a fan now. Of course, i know who she is, of course. Ijust dont know. I dont know. David sillito, bbc news. Before we go lets take a look at some youngsters who are causing quite a stir at a wildlife park in northwest china. They are a group of siberian tigers four siblings born earlier this year. Theyve only recently been shown to the public who seem rather keen on the animals. Their keeper said the cubs were initially rather shy but have now got used to being the centre of attention. A reminder of our top story. In the last hour or so russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny has been driven out of hospital in siberia and is expected to travel by air ambulance to germany he remains in a coma
its claimed he was poisoned. We will bring you up to date with that as it happens. Bye. Hello there. The last few days has brought some very windy weather across many parts of the country. On friday, we had winds well over 60 mph here in the southwest of wales, also the southwest of england. And we saw those very strong winds pushing through the English Channel as well, leading to some very dramatic weather watcher pictures ta ken early on in the day. Now for the weekend, it wont be as windy thats because the deep area of low pressure that brought those unseasonably strong winds is moving into the norwegian sea, so already winds are dropping. But we will continue to see some sunshine and showers during saturday. There could be some heavier ones moving down into scotland for a while, actually some longer spells of rain for northern ireland, and those showers pushing in england and wales. Driest and sunniest weather likely to be across southern counties of england and into east anglia. But for england and wales in particular, its still a blustery day not as windy, but still those
gusts of 35 40 mph taking the edge off the temperatures, which may be a bit lower than we had on friday, with the top temperature 22 celsius there. Further north and west, quite a few degrees cooler than that. Those heavy showers continue into the evening before fading away overnight, and the wind continuing to drop, as well. As we head into the second half of the weekend, theres a brief sign of this ridge of High Pressure from the atlantic but all its doing is changing the wind direction to a cooler northwesterly. Again, the Winds Continuing to drop, though, on sunday with lighter winds for much of the country, some sunshine and showers for scotland, the heavier ones for northern ireland, pushing it in northern and eastern parts of england with the risk of some thunderstorms, too. Our top temperature will be 21 celsius in the southeast on sunday. But quite a bit cooler than saturday across scotland with those northwesterly breezes. Into the early part of next week first of all, we have a weather system coming in from the atlantic. Its quite a weak affair, really, and the winds are light on monday,
but were looking at a lot of cloud to move its way eastwards and some patchy rain, too, maybe a little bit heavier for a while across southern parts of england and wales. Dryer weather in the northeast of scotland, but its only 13 celsius in aberdeen and around 19 celsius in cardiff. Then for tuesday and wednesday, we have another deep area of low pressure heading our way, threatening to bring some more very strong winds across the uk. A spell of rain probably will be followed by some sunshine and some showers. This is bbc news, the headlines. Russian Opposition Leader, Alexei Navalny, has been driven out of hospital in siberia and is expected to be flown to germany for treatment. Hes remains seriously ill in a coma. There are claims he was poisoned. The governor of california says lightning strikes over the past 2a hours have sparked several hundred more wildfires in the region. Some of the fires are the biggest recorded in the state. 12,000 firefighters are fighting the blazes, and more than 100,000 people have been evacuated. Thousands of british holiday makers are racing to get back to the uk before new government coronavirus quarantine restrictions come into force. In a few hours time, anyone returning from croatia, austria, or trinidad and tobago, will have to self isolate for two weeks because of a rise
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