coastline. -- surges that of the coastline. —— strong surges batter the coastline. russia has reported ukrainian drone attacks in six different regions — we'll have expert analysis from the bbc verify team. we bring you an exclusive report from quentin sommerville on ukraine's eastern front, as russian drones target ukrainian forces. 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. rishi sunak confirms plans to give judges in england and wales the power to order an offender to attend a sentencing hearing. hello, i'm nancy kacungira, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. we start in the united states, as a major hurricane has made landfall in florida, bringing with it fierce winds and water surges. it's now a category two hurricane, but it's still a very serious threat to life.

these are live pictures from tampa, high winds continuing to batter the highways as storm c surges threatened to overpower low—lying areas. some areas of the state are already seeing flooding, with knee—deep water covering roads and inundating towns. these are the latest pictures from jacksonville near to where the hurricane hit land. although the storm has continued to weaken, it is still bringing sustained winds of up to 105 miles per hour, that's 165 kilometres an hour. in a briefing just before the storm made landfall, florida governor ron desantis warned people against taking any risks. more than a quarter of a million people are without power. you don't want to be messing around with these winds. there's going to be things flying all over the place. obviously, if you're in a place that's close to the coast

and you see that surge, that's going to be a legitimate surge. it's going to be a big, big deal and it's going to be very, very dangerous. and there we go with our power here. we're back. sandra viktorova is a reporter at florida —based television station wgcu. she gave me the latest. the storm came in at the big bend area along the western side of florida along the gulf of mexico. the damage we are expecting to see is not in that area. i can tell you here in charlotte county, which is several hundred miles south of the actual storm, we are still feeling those outer bands. the expectation is that where the storm came in, there is going to be a substantial storm surge.

they were predicting up to 15 feet of water into the early morning hours. we know there is one confirmation on cedar quay of water being as high as seven feet, but they were pleading with folks to get out of that area. it's an area that hasn't been hit by a storm in over 120 years. so many of those folks have had no experience with these strong storms. the concern was about whether the homes in those areas and structures could withstand that high storm surge and the winds coming in. what are florida residents thinking and feeling at this time and how are they dealing with the storms? some areas haven't seen anything like this before, as you said. it's been frightening for folks up and down the coast. it's not even been a year since hurricane ian made impact, causing billions of dollars of damage. almost 150 deaths were attributed to that storm. that is fresh in the memories

of floridians, especially here in southwest florida. the concern was where exactly the storm would come on shore. people were frightened about where the storm was going to go. there were many folks along the area of the coast who are still dealing with damage to their homes. they haven't had all the roofs repaired here. there is still a lot of damage to businesses. so folks are still repairing notjust from hurricane ian, but also from hurricane nicole which impacted parts of our state. so it's been scary. i have seen lots of people talking about the storm coming and folks talking about ptsd and worried about what it will mean for them. they have been unsure whether to leave or to stay.

how many people have been evacuated, do we have any idea? i don't have the exact total, but it is into the hundreds of thousands. over 20 plus counties were asked to evacuate, certainly along the gulf of mexico. all the folks in low—lying areas along the coast were being asked to evacuate. the truth is, here in charlotte county, i am several hundred miles south of where the direct impact was made, but we even have bridges closed because of the flooding that this storm has brought. it is a widespread area that is being impacted. the biggest concern, as i mentioned, is that this is an area that hasn't had experience with storms in over 120 yea rs. emergency operations folks will tell you that unfortunately, it often takes communities going through a storm to really understand the danger of it. the concern was whether or not folks heeded the warnings to get out of the community. the concern was for loss of life, because when you have predictions of up to ten feet of water or higher, that's a very

difficult situation. they were trying to convince folks, you don't have to go hundreds of miles away. just come further inland, find shelter and stay for the night. that makes the difference between surviving a storm and not. that was sandra viktorova. let's show you some live pictures of that storm and its impact. this is a camera in dixie county, surveying some of the after effects of that storm. hurricane idalia made landfall in florida, bringing winds of 110 mph. we have received news that there has been one storm —related death confirmed in flowing's pasco county according to floyd's highway patrol. a driver in that county lost control of his vehicle. so that is again echoing

the governor's warning urging people to stay indoors and away from the storm as far as possible. those are the live pictures from tampa on your screen. the still water surges have been threatening to cause flooding on streets, with reports of roads and bridges being closed. these pictures are going back to dixie county. you can see the extent of the flooding. there are many reports of flooding in florida at this time. many areas are submerged. some areas of the state are already knee deep in water, covering roads and inundating towns. 0ne death has already been attributed to conditions caused by the storm. we will keep an eye on those pictures and bring you more as we get it. let's turn to the war in ukraine, because both ukraine and russia have launched a wave of air strikes against each other. the biggest air attack on ukraine's capital kyiv in months

has killed two people. meanwhile, russia has also reported ukrainian drone attacks in six different regions, with military cargo planes damaged at an airport in pskov. the local governor said the military was repelling an attack. he uploaded video showing a large fire while an explosion could also be heard. all flights have since been cancelled as local officials investigate the scene. pskov is more than 600 kilometres — or about 370 miles — away from ukraine, close to the border with estonia. bbc verify�*s 0lga robinson has been taking a closer look at the footage from the attacks. it's been a night of aerial attacks, both in russia and ukraine. two security guards have been killed in a missile strike on ukraine's capital, kyiv. this image shows the aftermath of the attack that hit a shopping centre in the east of the city. meanwhile, russia has seen the most widespread drone attacks in a single day since the start of the year. let's look at the map.

russia says six regions have been targeted. the heaviest damage is reported here at an airport in pskov, which is in north—west russia. that's deep into russia's territory, well over 600 kilometres from ukraine. and russian media report that at least two ilyushin ii—76 transport aircraft have been damaged, like the ones here on this satellite image that we found earlier. now, we have also been analysing this footage here that claimed to be from the scene. the outline of the plane here matches that of the ilyushin and we know that the footage is new and some of the details in the background, for example these trees, appear to be similar to those around the base. but it's hard to say for sure whether it's from the scene because it's just so dark. there have been multiple reports of drone attacks also in the city of bryansk, including at least two incidents this morning. this is cctv footage that was verified earlier showing the moment of an explosion

near a major russian microelectronics plant, based in the city. now, drone attacks like these have been happening regularly both in russia and the crimean peninsula that russia annexed in 2014. in fact, since the start of the year, we have counted more than 190 reported incidents. moscow has put the blame for the latest attack squarely at ukraine's door, saying its actions won't go unpunished. as for officials in kyiv, we haven't heard from them yet, they have rarely commented on attacks on russian soil. bbc verify�*s 0lga robinson there. kamikaze drones are also being used on the front line of the war. so far, kyiv has focused its counteroffensive in the south—east of ukraine. it's hoping to split the areas in red, occupied by moscow, to reach the sea. but progress has been slow. but in the north—east of ukraine, russia itself is pushing forward,

towards kupyansk and lyman. 0ur correspondent quentin sommerville reports now from the eastern front line, where he's spent the last few weeks speaking to ukrainian soldiers and civilians, who are being bombarded by russian artillery. 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 jager brigade, newly installed, are here to ensure that they go no further. 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. now, 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 counter—offensive

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. i cannot go. andriy�*s taking us forward. but a russian drone spotted his vehicle before we took cover. "we must go," he says, "get in the car! a dozen shells land in as many minutes. come on, we need to get it together, come on. we first met andriy injune, when he was fighting in the southern counter—offensive 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 serebryans'kyy forest, it's especially fierce. we're heading deep into this forest. there's been a lot of fighting here. this is artillery strike this morning, maybe a couple of hours ago. can you see it is still burning? all this road is shelled by drones and missile systems. can you see it? no tops of the trees. the men compare the artillery barrages to the first world war�*s verdun. but there is a new lethal threat to contend with here. kamikaze drones.

the gunner has fallen inside. he's unhurt, he signals. that was a drone attack against our car. that was a drone, russian drone. so they saw us, they send a drone, and now they are seeking us and hunting us, so we need to go faster. they're 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 stop going forward because the danger here is the deeper you get into the forest, cover doesn't get better.

there's constant russian artillery, 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 re—ignited 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 is just 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's once again left praying that he'll see his family again.

quentin somerville, bbc news, kupiansk. now let's go to a story we are keeping an eye on, hurricane idalia. this is clearwater beach in florida. as you can see, still very high winds. the storm did touch down as i category three hurricane. the national hurricane center said a catastrophic storm surge on the florida big bend reached 6.8 feet. it has since been downgraded to a category two storm, but more than 230,000 homes across the state are without power. you can see the effects on the ground. this is the view from the international space station of the storm. we are continuing to follow that story. around the world and across the uk,

this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the man who was chief executive of the nhs trust where lucy letby murdered seven babies wrote in a now—deleted blog about being "persuaded" to run a london trust by a senior nhs england boss. tony chambers went on to get three senior nhs jobs following the serial killer's arrest. nhs england said its london region was unaware of the murder probe. the property website zoopla says the number of houses sold in the uk this year is on track to be the lowest in more than a decade. around 1 million sales are set to be completed, down almost a fifth from last year. the cost of mortgages and rents have risen sharply since banks started increasing rates on lending. hundreds of tents have been left behind at campsites following leeds festival at the weekend. drone footage shows camping equipment littered all over the fields at bramham park. volunteers and charities who visited the site to salvage the tents described it as appalling. this year, the festival featured headline acts including

billie eilish and the 1975. you're live with bbc news. judges in england and wales will be given the power to order an offender to attend a sentencing hearing, including by force if necessary. it follows a number of high—profile cases where offenders refused to appear for sentencing, including the most recent case of nurse lucy letby. prime minister rishi sunak confirmed plans to introduce a new law after calls from victims and families, but the opposition labour party says it should have been done earlier. this will happen in the new session of parliament when it commences in the autumn. critically, like many, i was appalled that people who have committed awful crimes somehow are able to take the coward's way out and not appear in court for their sentencing and to hear the impact that their crimes have had on the victims�* families. i don't think that's right, there shouldn't be an easy way out, and that's why we're going to change the law so that courts can compel

these offenders to be present for the sentencing and to hear the impact that their actions have had, but also if necessary to use reasonable force to bring those people to court and also to add time onto their sentence if they don't appear. i wish the government had done this long ago. this is something labour has called for, and if the government had taken action, it would have meant that in the lucy letby case, those powers would already have been in place. they should have done this. we want to see it in place, they've just been too slow. i think there has to be a requirement for people to properly face justice, for criminals to have to face the judge and to face their victims when they are sentenced. at the moment, that's not happening and it's why labour has called for reform to make this possible, and called for it long ago. i'm worried that the government has been much too slow, but they need to take action on this. our political correspondent iain watson told us that this has come in the wake of lucy letby refusing to show up for her

sentencing for murder. she refused to attend her sentencing hearing and also refused to listen to the statements by the victims�* families, and people felt she should have listened to the impact that her actions had had. there was anger and disgust. you heard from the prime minister, who said he was appalled when people don't take to the dock in court and listen to the sentence being passed down to them by the judge or listen to the victims or their families. that said, at the moment, judges can compel offenders to attend and listen to the sentencing because if they don't, they can be found to be in contempt of court, and judges do have the power to increase the sentences. in addition, there are guidelines which allow prison officers to use reasonable force to try to compel people to attend. the only thing that is really likely to change is that these powers

are going to be enshrined unequivocally in law. basically, the ministry ofjustice, which will be responsible for this legislation, is saying thatjudges are not using their existing powers swiftly enough or often enough. and if it is clear in the law that they have those powers, they can go ahead and use them perhaps more frequently. that said, simply by saying there will be the power to compel people to attend a sentencing, doesn't mean thatjudges will compel them to attend the sentencing. that will be at the judge's discretion for a simple reason — thejudge may decide, for example, that the victims or their families might be disturbed if, for example, the offender indulges in some kind of behaviour which is seen as disruptive or prison officers might be put in danger if they try to use reasonable force and they face unreasonable force by the offender in return. so this would still be at the discretion of the judges. so we are seeing a step forward in terms of legislation,

but in practice, the only difference it might make would be to encourage judges to do a little bit more when people are reluctant to appear in court. the other thing i should make clear is that in the case of life sentences, which don't necessarily mean life, it could mean 16 or 18 years, if a judge says, "ok, you are not going to appear in court, i will increase your sentence by two years", that might be an incentive for some offenders to listen to their sentences. but in the case of lucy letby, she was given a whole life order. there is no chance of her being set free or being given parole, so there is no incentive for her to appear in court simply because a judge would increase her sentence for her refusal. now let's tell you about a unique challenge faced by authorities in india's capital delhi were having to scare away monkeys around an

international summit. life—size cutouts of gray langur monkeys — which typically scare smaller monkeys — have been put up in various locations, and there are plans to deploy people trained to mimic the animal's sounds. delhi has a huge monkey population, and the authorities hope these steps will keep the animals from disrupting the summit. this is verified live. we have more after the break, including all the latest in business. hello. it's a day of sunny spells and scattered cumulus clouds with a few showers. overall, not a bad day and for many of us, skies like this, so a fine day. however, tomorrow, we are expecting some thicker cloud and rain in one or two places. here is the forecast for the rest of the day. you can see just a scattering

of showers here and there. these are the temperatures at the end of the afternoon. it's just a fraction below the average. tonight, we have the super blue moon on the way. why is it a super blue moon? super because it's very close to the earth, and it will appear large, and it's a blue moon because it's the second full moon of the month, which happens once in a blue moon. so we want some clear weather tonight. it won't be completely clear, there is a weather front approaching on the satellite picture. we are just ahead of this weather system, and there is enough of a weather window to catch that super blue moon. let's look at the forecast for this evening. here is that weatherfront approaching ireland. at this stage, you can see the super blue moon across central and eastern areas, but then by the early hours of the morning, it turns wet across south—western parts of the uk. there will be a nip in the air first thing on thursday. lots of sunshine across northern and eastern areas,

but out towards the west, we have thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain for a time across southern areas. some of this rain could be heavy and thundery, and it will be a cool day, disappointing. a little bit warmer in northern scotland, because we'll have more sunshine. it will take time for the rain to clear away, still hugging the south coast of england on thursday. eventually, it pulls away towards the east and then we're left with sunny spells and again, a scattering of showers. temperatures around the high teens or 20 degrees. by the weekend, this jet stream loops around the uk through scandinavia and back towards the south, and in the middle, we have an area of high pressure building. that bodes well for the weekend. at the end of the week, a little unsettled with a few showers. then saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday, the weather is looking not bad at all.

this is bbc news, the headlines: one person has died as hurricane idalia continues to batter parts of florida with warnings the worst storm surge is yet to come. this is a live in an area called clearwater.

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