inquiry rather than an independent one. it means it will have greater legal powers to force the people who might have been able to stop the nurse from attacking babies to give evidence. our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. hello, lucy, is it? can i step in for two seconds?— for two seconds? yes. thank _ for two seconds? yes. thank you. _ for two seconds? yes. thank you. lucy - for two seconds? yes. thank you. lucy letby| for two seconds? yes. - thank you. lucy letby seemed bewildered _ thank you. lucy letby seemed bewildered by _ thank you. lucy letby seemed bewildered by her _ thank you. lucy letby seemed bewildered by her arrest, - thank you. lucy letby seemed bewildered by her arrest, butl thank you. lucy letby seemed - bewildered by her arrest, but what she did and why she killed, she has never explained to the families of her many victims. over 12 months, the nurse killed seven vulnerable babies and attempted to murder six others. the scale of her crimes are such that the health secretary says the inquiry into what happened will now have greater powers. me the inquiry into what happened will now have greater powers.- now have greater powers. we will have a statutory _ now have greater powers. we will have a statutory inquiry _ now have greater powers. we will have a statutory inquiry into - now have greater powers. we will have a statutory inquiry into the l have a statutory inquiry into the letby murders, into the events at chester. that will be a judge led inquiry, as the prime minister has confirmed, and that reflects the wishes of the families, which i discussed with them. those that worked alongside lucy letby at the countess of chester nhs trust will now be compelled to give evidence, to answer the families' many questions. the judge who will lead the inquiry has not yet been named. among the issues that will need to be addressed are why she was able to kill for at least a year, what systems were in place to stop her, and why didn't they work, and how did the nhs handle the concerns doctors were raising about her. the families will be pleased with this announcement. we need an inquiry— this announcement. we need an inquiry that can get to the truth. they— inquiry that can get to the truth. they want— inquiry that can get to the truth. they want the truth to come out here, _ they want the truth to come out here, and — they want the truth to come out here, and we need an inquiry which is effective — here, and we need an inquiry which is effective and can do that, so we need _ is effective and can do that, so we need an— is effective and can do that, so we need an inquiry which has the powers to compel— need an inquiry which has the powers to compel witnesses, has the powers to compel witnesses, has the powers to compel— to compel witnesses, has the powers to compel documents. it looks like we have _ to compel documents. it looks like we have got that here, and that's really— we have got that here, and that's really good news. a key— really good news. a key witness will be tony chambers, letby�*s former boss, seen here last year at the opening of the royal liverpool hospital. some staff on the neonatal units accuse the former chief executive of ignoring their concerns about the nurse, and threatened to report them to medical regulators for misconduct. he resigned two months after the killer was arrested, but then got a promotion as interim chief executive of this east london trust, a job the bbc has learned that nhs england helped him get. they also proved further interim chief executive post he got, in fact the inquiry will examine. in a statement, nhsengland said mr chambers had been appointed after a competitive process. lucy letby has never revealed her true self to the victims�* families. this inquiry should now be able to fill in some gaps as to how she was able to kill so many for so long stop michael buchanan, bbc news. lucy letby refused to appear in court for her sentencing. nowjudges in england and wales are being given new powers to force the most serious offenders to attend court for sentencing. if they refuse, they may be given a longer prison sentence. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds is outside the old bailey. tom. yes, sophie, this has become a problem in the courts in major cases. it wasn�*tjust lucy letby. in this court, the killer of sabina nessa refused to attend when he was being sentenced, and in another case, that of zara alina. a deprives the families of seeing justice done in front of their eyes. judges are currently able to make an order requiring someone to attend which could result in a contempt of court if it is not obeyed. but the ministry ofjustice says it has only found one case in ten years where a judge has done that, hence two years will be added to the senses are given as an additional sentence if someone refuses to attend to hear their sentencing. the problem is, can you force somebody literally kicking and screaming into the dock? well, the custody officers who bring people to court do have the sort of training to allow them to do that, but they will, i am told, be able to say it is simply not safe to drag somebody who is intent on fighting their way out of the dark in front of a judge. they may also say that they won�*t be able to do so without using reasonable force, or if they can�*t use reasonable force, they won�*t be able to do so. so a judge will still have the ability to say that a defendant doesn�*t appear in court. he or she could also say that a defendant can appear via a video link, so there will be plenty of options in future. thank you, tom. russia is using increasingly sophisticated drone technology to strike targets in ukraine. kyiv suffered its biggest air attack in months last night, leaving two people dead. in the north east, the ukrainian military say more than 100,000 russian troops have gathered as they try to retake ukrainian territory they lost a year ago. and they are already making progress. near the city of kupiansk, civilians have been killed in the renewed fighting, and towns and villages have been evacuated. our correspondent quentin sommerville and camera journalist darren conway have spent the last few weeks on the front lines between kupiansk and the city of lyman, both cities occupied by the russians until ukrainian troops won them back a year ago. but now, with the help of so—called russian kamikaze drones, russia is pushing hard and trying to win them back again. the battle on ukraine�*s eastern front has reawakened. it�*s in these fields and trenches that the conflict now burns at its hottest, ukraine says. there�*s been a lot of russian activity in this area over the past couple of days. in fact, there were air strikes on the village just behind me, so we�*re now having to move before dawn to get to the trenches. south of kupiansk, they cast russian forces out of here almost a year ago. but their enemy is threatening to return. beyond these fields, russia has advanced in recent weeks. the men of the 68th jaeger brigade, newly installed, are here to make sure that they go no further. go, go, go! they are up against infantry and artillery attacks daily along these lines. you can see here... that�*s outgoing artillery. along the front, it�*s said some 100,000 russian troops have gathered in newly—formed battle groups, some beyond this tree line. and if you look all around here, there�*s been incoming fire here. there�*s lots of damage. so there�*s plenty of trench positions to take cover in. it�*s easy to forget with so much focus on the counteroffensive in the south of ukraine that there are vicious battles going on here in the east and the north. in the south, they�*re making progress bit by bit, but here in the east, it�*s russia that�*s advancing. this is a war on many fronts, and it�*s straining russia�*s resources, but it�*s also straining ukraine�*s too. so in the south and the east, the demands on ukrainian forces are rising. this is front line, front line. yeah, i cannot go... andriy�*s taking us forward, but a russian drone spotted his vehicle before we took cover. explosion we must go, he says. get in the car. a dozen shells land in as many minutes. come on, we need to get to the car. come on! we first met andriy injune when he was fighting in the southern counteroffensive around velyka novosilka. this eastern front is far deadlier, he says. translation: velyka novosilka was less dangerous. _ there were far fewer soldiers there than there are here, and they have more weapons here, more of everything. that�*s why it�*s more dangerous here. its gains are modest, but from kupiansk to lyman further south, russia is resurgent. and in the serebryansky forest, it�*s especially fierce. we are heading deeper into this forest. there�*s been a lot of fighting here. this is artillery strike this morning, maybe a couple of hours ago. you see it is still burning. all this road is shelled by drones and missile systems. can you see? no tops of the trees. the men compare the artillery barrages to the first world war�*s verdun, but there�*s a new lethal threat to contend with here — kamikaze drones. bleep the gunner has fallen inside. he is unhurt, he signals. that was a drone attack against our car. that was a russian drone. so they saw us, they sent a drone, now they are seeking us and hunting us, so we need to go faster. we are just a couple of hundred metres from our position. the drones work in pairs. a surveillance drone is still up above, so they get off the road. so we�*ve had to... we had to stop going forward, because the danger here is, the deeper you get into the forest, the cover doesn�*t get better. there�*s constant russian artillery. it�*s setting some of the trees on fire, and it�*s turning these areas into wide—open areas, very exposed. there�*s no tree cover here, so we�*ve had to come off the road. there are drones up above, and we just saw what they can do. the humvee�*s thick armour and the driver�*s quick thinking means that everybody inside was unhurt. but of course, civilians along these reignited front lines have no such protection. young and old, villagers around kupiansk are being evacuated from their homes. they are now in range of russian guns, and russia doesn�*t discriminate. last year, they endured six months of occupation here. they refuse to again. once more on the eastern front, the advance of russian guns is casting ukrainian families apart. viktor gives his family a final hug before they separate. sophia isjust five months old, too precious to remain in harm�*s way. why are you leaving? translation: because it's very scary to live here. - i want to safeguard my children. it�*s very scary not knowing if the shelling will hit or not, if we will survive or not. viktor hoped that he was done with goodbyes. but as russia advances, he is once again left praying that he�*ll see his family again. quentin sommerville, bbc news, kupiansk. quentin sommerville and darren conway with that report from near the frontline in ukraine. wel, russia is also being hit by drone attacks on its own territory. overnight, ukrainian drone strikes left an airport ablaze in the northwestern city of pskov and damaged military planes. according to bbc verify, there have been over 190 suspected aerial drone attacks this year in russia and in russian—controlled territory in ukraine. our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. imagine seeing this from your window. it�*s terrifying, she says. what are thought to have been ukrainian drones had just attacked a russian airfield and destroyed military aircraft. this is pskov, hundreds of miles from ukraine. the response from the ground. overnight, six russian regions were targeted in one of the most extensive drone attacks on russian territory. here�*s a factory in bryansk. you can hear the drone... ..and the result. explosion russia�*s foreign ministry promised that attacks on russia would not go unpunished. but they have gone underreported. this bulletin boasted about russia attacking ukraine, but not a word about the drone attacks on russia. some state media here have mentioned them, but only in passing. there were no drone attacks on russian cities before russia�*s full—scale invasion of ukraine. now, they happen more often. now, you might think, and it would be logical to assume, that more and more russians are putting two and two together and concluding that it�*s the invasion that�*s to blame, that the invasion was a mistake. but i don�*t get the sense that�*s happening. i think it�*s because many here still believe, or want to believe, the kremlin narrative that russia�*s a victim, not the aggressor. to stop the drones, leonid says, we must defeat those who are launching them. if russia hadn�*t begun the special military operation, says irina, nato would have invaded us. as for anastasia, she doesn�*t follow the news closely. she says she tries to think about war were more positive things. ——she says she tries to think about more positive things. i�*ve heard many russians say that. they don�*t believe they can change what�*s happening, so they try not to notice. steve rosenberg, bbc news, st petersburg. the time is 6:16. our top story this evening: the government has announced a statutory inquiry into circumstances surrounding the murders and attempted murders of babies by the nurse lucy letby, giving it greater powers. coming up on sportsday in the next 15 minutes on bbc news, we will head live to flushing meadows in new york where great britain�*s lily miyazaki is looking to reach the third round of the us open. identify early signs of conditions like parkinson�*s? and one londoner tells us the secrets of surviving four decades of market trading. a powerful hurricane has hit florida, with evacuation orders in place for people living in its path. some areas on the gulf coast have been hit with winds of 110mph as the hurricane continues its path into georgia and towards south carolina. the winds are also carrying seawater inland, with warnings of storm surges reaching 16 feet in height. some residents have already seen their streets submerged. our north america correspondent john sudworth has the latest from the town of hudson, in florida. the storm surge was always the biggest threat and, as expected, idalia has brought serious flooding to florida�*s west coast. these residents are being brought out of the evacuation zone, an area where the authorities had been telling people for days that it wasn�*t safe to stay in their homes. about three o�*clock, the water was still two feet below the sea wall. so i went back to bed, and he woke me up about 7:30 and said, "we�*ve got water in the house". so, that�*s where we�*re at. did you guys not get the warnings to leave? yes. but we left the last one and didn�*t have to, so... right. ..we thought we�*d be able to sit it out. guess not. don't ever trust the weatherman! the whole front building at the faraway end, - where the swings were, _ just came apart and it's washing up the street towards us. the hurricane made landfall on what�*s known as florida�*s big bend, a relatively less populated area of the coast. but once again, the warnings were clear, the floods pose a major threat to life. but while many thousands have followed the advice, others — worried about damage or looting — have taken their chances with the storm. it�*s just one of these things that in florida, we live with these storms, you know? we live in florida because we don�*t like snow, but in the fall, we have to deal with storms like this. and unfortunately, these storms move about. they come to the left, they go to the right, we don�*t know which way they�*re going. so a lot of times, people just become, "oh, it�*s not going to hit us, it�*s not going to hit us." well, sometimes, we get punched in the mouth. another rescue vehicle is heading into the flooded area. they tell us they�*ve brought out around a0 trapped residents so far. more are still inside. a clear illustration of the dangers of not heeding those warnings. the damage to property is expected to be severe, and tens of thousands of engineers and members of the national guard are on standby to deal with the aftermath. sophie, remarkably, we havejust heard florida�*s governor ron desantis say that so far, there have been no confirmed fatalities. that may change, it is still early days, but it is still welcome news. but the threat remains as the storm continues to make its way across other us states, as does the longer term challenge, with scientist pointing to the increased climate change risks of these type of events. the storm once again fuelled by the unusually warm waters out in the gulf of mexico. john, thank you. three women who were raped by the same man are calling for changes to the way victims like them are treated in court. jennifer mccann, hannah mclaughlan and hannah reid all waived their right to anonymity after logan doig was jailed for a series of rapes and sexual assaults. the women say they were treated as liars in court, and that they�*d think twice about reporting an attack again. catriona renton reports. i don�*t think any of us realised, once we walked out of these doors seven weeks ago... what was going to happen. ..what was about to happen. recreating the selfies they took after their court ordeal was finally over. hannah reid, hannah mclaughlin and jennifer mccann�*s pictures on social media symbolised the strength of their unique bond. along with holly prowse — who couldn�*t be there for our interview — the young women waived their anonymity. their shared determination got them through the legal process. there was a time that each and every one of us wanted to drop out and be finished with it. it was such a long, - long, horrible process. it wasjust... it just was so consuming for those two and a half years. _ and, like, we couldn't move on with our life. how do you feel victims are treated? terribly. there needs to be stricter- guidelines on what defence lawyers can say to a victim giving. evidence because you aren't treated like a human. in the court system, you�*ve got to stand there and defend your truth, and all he�*s got to do is sit there. because he�*s innocent until they�*ve made their minds up, but you�*ve got to convince them... that you�*re not lying? uh—huh. we've put ourselves through this, come out battered and bruised i by the end, and we have essentially got a serial rapist and abuser - locked away so he's not i going to hurt anyone else, and that's why we did all this. and even after logan doig was found guilty, the women felt they weren�*t given the chance to be heard. in scotland, it is not standard practice for victim impact statements to be read out in full in court. we were under the impression if we wanted to, we could read our victim impact statements. we never got to. having that opportunity to be able to directly say to them, "this is what you did," and making them listen to how it did impact your life, but also where you are now and the position that you're in now, i almost feel like it's a bit cheated. the scottishjustice secretary said she�*s listening and change must happen. i want to improve the experience for victims overall. there isn�*t one solution, there are many to that. victim statements are of particular importance. i mean, i don�*t, you know, different victims will want to participate in the process in a different way, so that choice is important. the women recently met scotland�*s most senior law officer. the lord advocate dorothy bain kc described them as "inspirational". afterwards, the crown office said the women had shared their experiences with an ongoing review, which will make important changes into how sexual crimes are prosecuted in scotland. so we're turning our pain into power and trying to make a difference for those that are coming behind us. and there�*s more on their story on the bbc sounds app, in the 5 minutes on podcast with survivors: turning pain into power. and if you have been affected by sexual abuse or violence, details of help and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline. or you can call forfree, at any time, to hear recorded information on 0800 077 077. video games are big business. by 2026, the industry is expected to be worth around £250 billion. now netflix wants to get in on the action by adding gaming to its streaming service. netflix want to make more games based on its shows, like stranger things, to appeal to those who like play, as well as watch. will it work? our gaming correspondent steffan powell reports. thanks to shows like stranger things, squid game, the crown and others, netflix helped change the entertainment landscape. now, if i said to you i was on the set of a netflix production, this isn�*t necessarily what you�*d have in mind. you�*d be thinking of big spaces, with cameras, actors and directors making televisions and movies. but it is development studios like this one, in liverpool, that could hold the key to the streaming giant�*s future. a lot of gamers play chess... to not fall behind its rivals, netflix is turning to companies like ripstone, who make video games. because you're a female in a gaming world, we really wanted to tap into that and help people learn chess. since 2021, the streaming service has offered subscribers the chance to play games on its app. the offering hasn�*t captured the imagination of the games industry so far, but there are now 70 playable titles, and more being made, tied to their intellectual property. games is a really huge part of entertainment, and so it really is a natural progression for us to start thinking about how to offer games to our members. so to stay relevant, netflix is trying to leverage its famous franchises, to have a stake in an industry that sees mobile games like candy crush make £135 billion a year. but success is not guaranteed. other mainstream entertainment and technology companies like amazon and google have tried. earlier this year, google�*s stadia service was shut down, and amazon laid off workers at its games division. i think when mainstream entertainment organisations have tried to enter the games space, they've struggled a little bit, and i think most of that comes down to the fact that they fundamentally misunderstood what it is about games that people love in the first place. they had these big budgets behind them, but ultimately lacked the creativity and uniqueness that we've come to expect. netflix is trying something slightly different, focusing on mobile games that are cheaper and quicker to make, so easier to build up a big portfolio. but the risk is that this approach could lack a scale and ambition to grab players�* attention, in a crowded market. but in liverpool, the belief is their involvement will open doors. netflix has an audience of 238 million people now, many of which probably have never experienced a game before, so i think it�*ll make the games audience bigger. and so in this fierce battle for subscribers, netflix hopes this gaming gambit is a good move. steffan powell, bbc news. from gaming to get moving. you should be doing at least two—and—a—half hours of moderate exercise a week — brisk walking, bike riding, even mowing the lawn. children should be doing a lot more — an hour a day. now the government�*s launcing a national activity taskforce to get millions of inactive adults and children on the move. will it work? our sports correspondent joe wilson reports. north paddington youth club, london. when too many people in britain are still still, here�*s activity. and here to investigate, a new government task force. is the need for this strategy an admission that previous strategies have failed? absolutely not. we�*ve had more people involved since our 2015 strategy, even though we�*ve had covid, but what we�*re doing is building on that strategy. we're talking about a huge scale, huge number, and we're really ambitious, but i'm thinking about the end goal. imagine if we hit our targets. imagine if this truly was a nationwide body where we got more people moving, that'd be revolutionary. ok, so how does it happen? well, a man who�*s worked in youth sport for 20 years has a clear idea. what would you tell the task force? well, i think it's time i to spend some money. this is our next generation. these are the ones that'sj coming through the door. they want to be involved, i but if it's not being exposed, you know, we can't deliver. that's what we're here for, we're here to deliver. - so investing in facilities? yeah, invest in it, - give us new equipment, fund it, support it, - be around, see it happen, see it progress and be a part of it. there�*s a full programme of free sport here, but that will change when the school term resumes. at the moment, we will go from seven days a week, from nine in the morning until ten at night, right down to next week from just thursday, friday and saturday, six until nine, because that�*s all we can afford. there are surely many solutions to a stubborn problem, but trust is often built locally. and the message from this facility — fund it and they will come. joe wilson, bbc news, north paddington youth club. and "once in a blue moon", that�*s what they say. and you�*ll get the chance to see one tonight, when a rare super blue moon will be visible — the first since 2009. these are shots from last night, spectacular already. a blue moon occurs when you have two full moons in the same month, and that happens every two or three years. tonight�*s super blue moon, though, when it appears larger and brighter than usual, is much more rare. you won�*t see the next one until 2037. let�*s hope it�*s not too cloudy tonight. chris? indeed, and the good news is that for most of us, i think tonight, a decent shout of seeing that super blue moon. today, lumpy clouds on the horizon in northern scotland. they are shower clouds and showers have been widespread in scotland and east anglia today. aside from that, a lot of dry weather. however, as we look out into the atlantic, this cloud is an area of low pressure and these weather fronts over the next 12 hours will be moving into the uk bringing a renewed bout of rain. the heaviest rain moving in across parts of southern and western wales and southern counties of england. however, initially tonight, once we lose those showers, decent shout of seeing that super blue moon before the cloud thickness from the south and west later. with the cloudier zone of weather, temperatures lifting about 12 to 1a degrees across the south and west, eight to ten for the north and east where it is quite a cold start to the day tomorrow, a north east and south west split in the weather, rain heavy across southern and western wales, south west england. ten, perhaps 20 millimetres of rain. rain is lighterfurther north perhaps 20 millimetres of rain. rain is lighter further north west and scotland and north east england should stay dry with spells of sunshine. rain arriving late in the day across east anglia. overall, not too bad for many. friday, the dregs of that weather system still with us. a zone of cloud, scattered showers around, the best of the sunshine in parts of scotland. heavy showers and may be thunderstorms left over. temperature is about 18 to 21 for of us. into the weekend and into the early part of next week and into the early part of next week a look at this. an area of high pressure moving again we haven�*t seen many of those over recent months. the weather will be settled, plenty of sunshine and feeling warmer, temperatures widely in the low 20s. some are at last! thanks, chris. and that�*s bbc news at six. you can keep up with all the latest developments on the bbc website.