Broadcast timeline
Channel 4 — Channel 4 News
Tuesday 11 August 2026 · 19:00 BST · 1h · 7 stories · 15 annotated moments · 53 of 60 min on news stories (89%)
Broadcast overview
An AI-generated overview based on this broadcast's transcript.
The programme leads with Prime Minister Andy Burnham's promise to prevent the early release of PC Andrew Harper's killers, despite earlier statements that it was not possible to exempt them. His mother expressed cautious hope after a call from Downing Street, while the Conservatives accused him of U-turns and probation officers voted for potential strike action. The report also covered the wider prison crisis, including the ongoing issue of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences, with more than 2,000 inmates still held under the abolished indefinite sentences, and frontline probation officers warning that early releases would endanger the public.
In Colombia, rescue workers found a baby alive under rubble after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake that killed at least 200 people, with hundreds more feared missing. The programme also reported that a Syrian court sentenced former dictator Bashar al-Assad and his brother to death for war crimes and crimes against humanity, though Assad remains in Moscow. Additionally, it revealed that Donald Trump was secretly moved to a different aircraft during a return from a NATO summit in Turkey due to a credible Iranian threat, with his staff and journalists used as a decoy.
The broadcast covered the Trump administration's intervention in currency markets to support the Japanese yen, amid concerns about Japan's debt crisis, and a Russian attack on Ukraine that killed at least 10 people, including a 15-year-old boy. Finally, a report from Devon examined the decline of seaside towns, highlighting high crime rates, homelessness, and closed shops in Torquay, while Ilfracombe faced poverty and negative headlines despite some positive community efforts.
- 0:11
- 1:19
Charged quote PM pledges to keep PC Andrew Harper's killers in prison
Even as he tried to reboot the agenda of government touting some radical moves on social care or education, he kept getting pulled back to the question of their release. A family in despair, a prison system in collapse and the public outraged. This is the shape of the trap the new Prime Minister must escape.
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 1:19-1:24
- 3:39
Contested quote PM pledges to keep PC Andrew Harper's killers in prison
Then with pressure building from PC Harper's family and the police, Downing Street said yesterday it was not possible to exempt one or two offenders convicted of manslaughter. Today though, an apparent contradiction from the Prime Minister. I've not accepted it's impossible to do more. I believe there is more that can be done.
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 3:39-3:43
- 22:16
- 26:52
Charged quote Powerful earthquake in western Colombia kills at least 160
I'm trying to lie to myself and to believe that my brother is alive but I know it's not likely I don't know what I'm going to find hope is fading fast for so many families here their anguish compounded by no power no running water and a real fear of potential aftershocks Guillermo Galdas reporting from Colombia now the UK is on course to have its warmest summer
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 26:52-27:03
- 27:10
- 28:47
Charged quote UK set for hottest summer on record with amber heat warning
thankfully it's only a one-day burst of heat because by Friday we get cooler air coming in so the temperatures will drop significantly by that point now I've asked you this before but my brains are fried by the weather what's causing the heat wave well it's high pressure it's been an influence across the UK all summer you can see here in the bigger picture
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 28:47-28:52
- 30:14 Story begins Syrian court sentences Assad to death for war crimes
- 30:34
Charged quote Syrian court sentences Assad to death for war crimes
Syria's civil war though in 2024 Assad flew and fled to Moscow Jonathan Rugman has this president of Syria and mrs al-Assad he was the dictator who with his London-born wife once met the queen but a decade later used chemical weapons to kill his own people under Bashar al-Assad around a half a million Syrians died in over 13 years of civil war
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 30:34-30:40
- 30:57
Charged quote Syrian court sentences Assad to death for war crimes
under Bashar al-Assad around a half a million Syrians died in over 13 years of civil war before he fled into exile in Moscow and in a Damascus courthouse today the cheers of Syrians who survived his blood-stained rule after a judge condemned Assad and his brother Maher to death for murder for torture for crimes against humanity
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 30:57-31:03
- 31:03
Charged quote Syrian court sentences Assad to death for war crimes
before he fled into exile in Moscow and in a Damascus courthouse today the cheers of Syrians who survived his blood-stained rule after a judge condemned Assad and his brother Maher to death for murder for torture for crimes against humanity the judge said including intentionally killing children Syria's revolution of 2011 began in the
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 31:03-31:13
- 31:13
Charged quote Syrian court sentences Assad to death for war crimes
the cheers of Syrians who survived his blood-stained rule after a judge condemned Assad and his brother Maher to death for murder for torture for crimes against humanity the judge said including intentionally killing children Syria's revolution of 2011 began in the city of Deraa inspired by the toppling of the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt Assad's cousin
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 31:13-31:24
- 31:31
Charged quote Syrian court sentences Assad to death for war crimes
the judge said including intentionally killing children Syria's revolution of 2011 began in the city of Deraa inspired by the toppling of the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt Assad's cousin Atif was his security chief here no mere bystander to the torture and killing which followed 15 years later Atif Najib now in the dock and sentenced to execution the courtroom cage
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 31:31-31:37
- 31:48
Charged quote Syrian court sentences Assad to death for war crimes
Atif was his security chief here no mere bystander to the torture and killing which followed 15 years later Atif Najib now in the dock and sentenced to execution the courtroom cage today keeping him safe from the families of his many victims outside they celebrated the verdicts holding up pictures of those they had lost those who were murdered or made to disappear
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 31:48-31:58
- 31:58
Charged quote Syrian court sentences Assad to death for war crimes
15 years later Atif Najib now in the dock and sentenced to execution the courtroom cage today keeping him safe from the families of his many victims outside they celebrated the verdicts holding up pictures of those they had lost those who were murdered or made to disappear this wave of emotion shared by millions of Syrians who sought refuge in Turkey and in Europe
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 31:58-32:04
- 32:24
Charged quote Syrian court sentences Assad to death for war crimes
I was detained by the Assad regime they took me from my school when I was 13 years old thank god Assad fell and Atif Najib will be executed and god willing it will be Bashar Assad's turn next this is Syria's president now an astonishing turnaround for an ex-jihadist who led his fighters into Damascus made welcome in Downing Street a few months ago
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 32:24-32:33
- 33:53 Story begins Trump switches planes over assassination threat
- 34:14
Charged quote Trump switches planes over assassination threat
plane with his White House staff and the journalist who'd been told that he was they became the decoy while the president was smuggled on a third plane inside Waitford a Turkish food truck Darshan Soni is in Washington Darshan wow this is an incredible story Matt of an undercover maneuver that had the president of the United States
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 34:14-34:30
- 34:30
Charged quote Trump switches planes over assassination threat
a Turkish food truck Darshan Soni is in Washington Darshan wow this is an incredible story Matt of an undercover maneuver that had the president of the United States hiding in a catering truck to swap airplanes to avoid a potential threat from Iran Donald Trump had been in Turkey for a NATO summit in July he was due to fly home when American
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 34:30-34:42
- 34:48
Charged quote Trump switches planes over assassination threat
Donald Trump had been in Turkey for a NATO summit in July he was due to fly home when American officials say they detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at air force one and so they came up with an elaborate ruse this is how the secret switch apparently happened footage shows president Trump boarding the presidential jet as normal after the summit
Channel 4, Channel 4 News, 11 August 2026, 34:48-35:01
- 37:07
- 42:43 Story begins Deprivation and decline in UK seaside towns
- 55:29 ~5 min without annotations
Source: Channel 4, "Channel 4 News", Tuesday 11 August 2026. Transcript excerpts and stills are shown only to support the analysis annotated alongside them. Search-result excerpts are distinct from the editorial annotations — see our copyright basis. The full broadcast is not reproduced.