writing occupied golan heights from a stephanie decker reports a rare attack in the government held town of psuedo syrian state television says a suicide bomber blew himself up in the market and two more attackers were killed before they could detonate their explosives according to the reports. we heard the sounds in the early morning people started screaming there's an explosion stay away . i salute claimed responsibility for the attack it says it targeted government soldiers the group has lost huge swathes of territory over the last few years one of the last pockets of territory that i still controls is here behind us in the southern golan heights how the bombardment has also been very close to the fence with the israeli occupied golan heights has been intensive campaign underway by the syrian government and its russian ally to take it back he's really army is keeping a close eye on what is happening. russian jets roared through the sky before unloading their explosives we've seen syrian jets to one of which was downed on

choose day by two israeli patriot missiles we heard the warning sirens go off we immediately saw this field on fire and we moved closer to find out what we could see we weren't the only ones these israeli soldiers arrived soon after to inspect the ground. another field on fire and this one right opposite the offensive against eisel in the area where the jet went down. on wednesday both syrian and russian jets were back in the sky sources tell us that the syrian government is sending reinforcements to this area one succeeds here it will be back in control of all of southwest syria stephanie decker al-jazeera in the israeli occupied golan heights. coming up on this news hour from london the families are stuck in limbo on the bridge between the u.s. and mexico. thousands waiting for rescue in laos some stranded on rooftops after

a dam collapsed flooding their remote villages and how this player has found himself in the middle of a chance for a fight between two european rivals more coming up with joe. of a number of people who've died in greece following wildfires near athens has risen to eighty after the death of a survivor in hospital rescuers are searching the sea and on land as a trying to track down people who are still unaccounted for following the blazes barkha reports. lifeguards scour the sea where hundreds fled for their lives many people are still missing including children. a relief efforts underway to get supplies to those in need two and a half thousand homes have been completely destroyed four thousand uninhabitable many survivors have been relocated to hotels in the capital as the search continues

the death toll is expected to rise our estimation is that where he. didn't imagine that from mountain to the shore the time that the fire needed was about ten to fifteen minutes so it was not possible to evacuate. the whole. only one hour. to get. some locals have returned to a town they scarcely recognize this is where twenty six people died their bodies were found locked together at the top of a cliff in a final embrace the owners of this land had opened their gates to allow people to flee down to the sea but the fire swept through here at such speed and such force they had no chance of escape the place it was my paradise but now. it's gone the owners son saw everything the fire was in front of them so it was impossible even you think knew how to access the beach to go there because there

was already a fire in front of them behind them they were trapped were kids kids were taking them down the cliffs all the ladies a pregnant lady i was helping them until a certain point. and then. i said. we have lost everything everything. without rain the most effective defense greeks have is the sea water scooped from the a g. and is flown to fire still smoldering of the hills in this parched brittle landscape small fires can quickly become infernos. in the town of marty the cleanup has begun streets normally bustling with holiday makers are clogged with burnt out cars the blaze was so intense it turned metal into liquid many seaside businesses were relying on a profitable summer season now they're salvaging what they can. grease is no stranger to wildfires but many public services including the fire service have been

crippled by years of a starer to the full scale of this disaster is still unfolding but the author of cheese are investigating the possibility some of the fires were started deliberately whatever the cause is the consequences have ruined homes and destroyed lives neve barker al jazeera marty. now to some breaking news on saudi arabia says it will temporarily halt all all shipments through the. strait is in response to an attack on two of its crude vessels in the red sea i am assuming the rebels will bring you more on this story as we get it. it comes as president chung's top diplomats has been grilled by a senate panel and washington d.c. secretary of state might pump a.o.s. quiz fifty to play on what was actually discussed between russian president vladimir putin and the helsinki summit nine days ago in jordan is on capitol hill

for us so we also have not a secret meeting only chance later as present did the panel find out just what was discussed around those closed doors. also the hearing is still underway in the senate foreign relations committee room and there have not been any definitive answers there have been a few dustups as it were but the secretary of state mike pompei o has been insisted that he was told by the u.s. president donald trump what happened during that discussion with vladimir putin here's some of what paul peo testified to. the president disclosed what he said divided by putin about russian interference in our elections and he said that he is confident that as a result of the conversations lattimer understands that it won't be tolerated. what else do they have to talk about in the in the committee meeting. well because this hearing was going to try to cover the totality of the trumpet in the straits of

foreign policy there were some questions raised about the u.s. efforts to try to preserve security in some parts of war torn syria there had been a suggestion by the russians that perhaps there's some sort of potential for a broader military to military cooperation agreement on resolving the civil war in that country but it has not actually been confirmed by the u.s. side there was also discussion about north korea and whether the two page statement which donald trump side with kim yong moon about north korea's getting rid of its nuclear weapons program whether or not north korea is actually keeping its promises and one point that might pay zero did stress was that a was and until that nuclearization has been fully verified the u.s. is not going to change its so-called maximum pressure strategy or campaign meaning

all the sanctions on north korea remain in place especially enjoyed an ally for us on capitol hill. and the united states and the european union have agreed to work together on lowering trade barriers u.s. president says it will start trading r.c.a. sions with the e.u. and was all steel and aluminum tariffs as well as retaliate cherry tariffs in hours from the fall of the meeting at the white house for sale in china and european commission president. tensions have been rising cost of both sides stop tyrus of billions of dollars worth of enforce. of course. on the understanding that as long as when it was sitting on that's one part you would stop the negotiations we would hold over further tariffs and commuters reassess existing tariffs on steel and aluminum this will open markets for farmers and workers increase investment and lead to greater prosperity in both the united states and the european union it will

also make trade fairer and more reciprocal and the united states has lifted restrictions on one hundred ninety five million dollars in military aid to egypt a u.s. state department official says cairo will now be allowed to use the military financing funds because steps are being taken by egypt's to recognize what he calls specific u.s. concerns. the u.s. government has asked a federal judge to allow the quick deportation of undocumented immigrant parents once they're reunited with their children it has until first day to reunite families separated and the president trumps a so-called zero tolerance policy well high nature caster reports on the toll that policy is taking on families trying to cross into the u.s. . it's over forty degrees celsius as the sun

beats down on the u.s. mexican border atop a concrete bridge connecting the two countries a few dozen families huddled under what little shade they can find some have been here for three days the heat is unbearable but we've already suffered to get here this man and his five year old son are from honduras they travel twenty days to make it this far near steps from the u.s. now they're waiting to claim political asylum at eleven thirty zero center where they tried to make us leave to intimidate us but we aren't moving once a person steps foot across the middle of this bridge past these orange cones they would technically be standing in the united states and there they are guaranteed by law the right to make an asylum claim the now for the first time of the nearly forty years of the law was written many people are being denied that chance u.s. border patrol agents are here making sure they do not pass it around them or the

good living let me beg them to let us pass because the heat is suffocating the children why are you guys not allowing these asylum seekers to pass and i'm not allowed to give you anything a customs and border protection spokesperson says individuals without documents sometimes must wait to be processed due to strained resources meanwhile the troubled ministration has made clear it wants to keep out what the president calls an influx of illegal aliens. eight month pregnant the tourist says she and her son were forcibly removed from the bridge she says u.s. border patrol which cannot cross into mexico had asked mexican police to arrest her getting there the whole day said to me you think the u.s. president is offering political asylum that doesn't exist anymore she had hoped to give birth in the united states away from the dangers of her native one door as now without a plan she's returned to a shelter on the mexican bank of the rio grande a river so close to the u.s.

yet so far. heidi jo castro al-jazeera reynosa mexico. and heidi now joins us from port isabel detention center in los fresno us in texas kind of for those families who did cross and were separated and what the government's effort now to try and really we unify them. and i think we've lost heidi now unfortunately. yet we've just added a startling much more to come on the program including the chinese president warns there will be no winner in a global trade war as fellow bric economies unite to enhance economic ties that becomes even harder in the gaza strip as more than two hundred fifty jobs are axed following a massive cost in funding from the u.s. plus racing through russia we hear from two time dakar rally champion nasa as he

stays in the hunt for another way. hello there is still very hot for many of us across europe at the moment there's two areas where we are seeing some wet weather there in the east we're seeing some scattered thunderstorms some of these are fairly violent though and they are bringing some very gusty winds and heavy downpours and then the other area where we're seeing some wet weather is out towards the northwest in this system is slowly going to be pushing in as we head through the next few days ahead of it there will be some thunderstorms developing but it's also going to be very hot so the far eastern policy of the u.k. will be very very hot there on friday we're also going to see the temperatures rise over parts of france through the low countries and into germany so generally speaking across europe the heat is still with us there's just a few areas where things are now

a little bit more unsettled for the other side of the mediterranean largely fine and dry for us here the temperatures though have shot up again forcing chuen is so our maximum movie around thirty five or thirty six degrees as we head through the next few days the central belt of africa this is where all the wet weather is really we're seeing plenty of heavy showers through parts of sudan and then they rumble their way towards the west was in quite a few of them around nigeria at the moment to further north for new jet seeing quite a few showers here on thursday as we all further west so for some of us in mali is also going to be a little bit what the times. when people think of cuba they think of revolution but ivana is undergoing a revolution. that is and. we're here to discover if those changes are reflected in the play if this is just a q.

and future. russian owner i'm trying to make sure today really a.j. it's on al-jazeera. capturing a moment in time snapshots of other lives other stories. providing the clips into someone else's work. inspiring documentaries from impassioned filmmakers everybody's going to. be. on al-jazeera.

welcome back reminder of the top stories here on al-jazeera saudi arabia says it will temporarily halt all or shipments through bab al monday of straight it's in response to an earlier attack on chu of its crude vessels in the red sea by yemen's truthy rebels parenting is taking place in a tightly contested general election in pakistan has been overshadowed by another attack at least thirty one people were killed in a suicide bombing outside of polling station in the city of quests. on pro-government media in syria reporting that at least one hundred forty seven people have died in isolate tax in the south. at least eighty people have been killed in japan's record breaking heat wave with thousands of people being sent to hospital the temperature has reached forty degrees celsius in many cities on the forests these are warning that the hot weather will continue until the beginning of

august the elderly make up the vast majority of deaths. rescue teams are heading into are remote parts of allow to help more than three thousand people who've been left stranded after a dam collapsed at least nineteen people were killed when the hydro power dam failed in the southern province of act per on monday sending a deluge of water rushing down stream flowing slowly reports from neighboring thailand. from the at the devastation is clear huge tracts of land under water with only rooftops and treetops visible six thousand people are homeless after a dam on the river collapsed early on monday morning the death toll is expected to rise as dozens of people remain missing the walls of water swept away homes and destroyed roads making rescue and emergency work in this remote part of laos even more difficult over the last few years the government launched a plan to build hydroelectric power dams to export energy as

a way to help its economy but it's had to rely on foreign expertise and money the dam that collapsed was being built by lao tie and south korean companies s.k. engineering and construction one of the south korean companies involved said fractures in the dam were first discovered on sunday and efforts to move people to safety started then the south korean government says it's providing assistance. president in issued the order to provide aid without hesitation as our companies are participating in the construction of the dam while looking into the cause of the accident one of the companies that has a stake in the project is run electricity generating holding company in bangkok it said in a statement on wednesday it set up a relief fund and that it stopped travel to the affected area in laos to help provide assistance experts have said the dam can only be fixed when the rainy

season is over the search and rescue work goes on florence. bangkok and flooding caused by has reached neighboring cambodia photos posted online show residents in cambodia strung trying province being evacuated officials say water levels in parts of the mekong river have risen to more than eleven meters. chinese president says there'll be no winners in a global trade war is verged the brics nations us brazil russia india china and south africa to unite in the wake of tariffs threats by the us changing paying of coal came with the start of a three day break summit in johannesburg are a much faster is that. leaders from brazil russia india china and south africa say they are united in fighting protectionism and promoting global trade is the first time presidents on the brics trade bloc are meeting since donald trump's administration said it was ready to impose tariffs on all chinese imports

a movie karima say could also hurt smaller countries like south africa we are meeting here ladies and gentlemen. at a time when the multilateral trading system is freezing unprecedented challenges. we are concerned by the rise unilateral measures that are incompatible with world trade organization rules and we are worried about the impact of these measures especially as the impacts developing countries and economies. the faculties of the brics but this is in some of the world's biggest emerging economies more than thirty percent of the global population china has a world they could largest economy after the united states already started return for the markets to buy and sell their products countries. have become privatized.

community activists feel describable resources could undermine human rights and good governance in perspective of india there are many infrastructure projects coming which are causing a lot of human rights violations so we have farmers who are fighting against the language. there is a project called industry pardo that's coming which will acquire forty percent of the india's line and so we are just concerned about the amount of displacement that when having some economists say improving and increasing trade among brics countries could make the election economies competitive and perhaps challenge the u.s. it was some insist is an attempt to stoke tension and start a global trade from a. gender split. zimbabwe's main opposition leader is accusing the country's electoral commission of biased days before the country votes nelson chamisa says monday's presidential election will be fraudulent but other than that his party

will not boycott the vote is up against president and the same man and god and his zanu p.f. party is the first election since the ousting of. what we have resolved to do is to make sure that we defeat for their free. the player be someone god must be defeated defeated in terms of the overwhelming sentiment in the country that we're not going to allow them to get away with murder literally and metaphorically what does it mean what it does mean is that on monday they said of july it is independence day for the second republic we are going to be voting overwhelmingly for change south sudan's rival leaders have agreed to share power again three years after their previous still to lapse some of the care and wrecked my chance to sign off on the final call all because the fifth so dunn's official news agency says kiro will lead the transitional government while my char

will whitten as vice president that she men are attempting to end a four year civil war that skilled tens of thousands of people and displaced millions of dollars mohamad has more from khartoum. after nineteen days of deliberations parties insult sudan's conflict covered here in home signed a preliminary agreement on power sharing it's unlikely to stop the war in south sudan though because it is complete and they say that while the agreed on most of the issues they discussed they could not agree on how to share power of the local level while their full five to the point is a transitional period of three years in which president salva kiir remains president the appointment of five vice presidents four of them from the opposition to debate those for the president and also a referendum on how many states the country should help and where the boundaries should be the final agreement they say is going to be signed on the fifth of august

with leaders from the regional neighbors such as kenya uganda sudan if you appear witnessing the signing of the final agreement. israeli forces have targeted have mass military positions in the gaza strip killing at least three palestinians israel's army says its troops came under fire near the border with gaza and in response to shelled several hamas posts it comes just days after hamas leaders agreed to a cease fire with israel to prevent hostilities from escalating the united nations agency for palestinian refugees has announced it will axe more than two hundred fifty jobs in the occupied west bank and the gaza strip the mass redundancies followed the decision by the united states to slash three hundred million dollars in funding child struck for reports from gaza. after weeks of

negotiations with their employer the shock of being told they had lost a job was for many too much to bear the united nations refugee and works agency in gaza says lack of dona funding means it doesn't have enough money and so jobs must go i should have been told that i will no longer have a full time job after the thirty first of august then we will i need to able to work part time until the end of the year then my job will end i'm really sad not just for me but for my colleagues that have families this is the office of the head of the u.n. agencies operations in gaza and that's a special marley was chaperoned out of the building on monday night but hamas god to protect children from the angry crowd. the head of the workers' union here says strikes by employees will continue and threaten to close down u.n. aid distribution medical centers and schools if the jobs are not reinstated.

climbing was the sit in and said here we were not expecting this from a humanitarian organization like anwar we've tried to find a solution for three weeks since negotiations started but it looks like they have their own agenda from the start the u.n. refugee and works agency says it needs around two hundred seventy million dollars to sustain its work in gaza this year it says in the merge and see appeal for money from international donors has failed under here in gaza have suffered years of shortfalls in their funding as the crisis here has got worse this latest announcement not only has devastating implications for palestinian employees on the road but potentially for others work in general across gaza as the people here continue to suffer israel's blockade all the hoff of gaza's population relies on humanitarian aid from the u.n. organization. the job cuts show just how desperate the situ. has become in gaza

conditions for the two million people living here continue to deteriorate and finding a lost in political solution to ending the violence between hamas and israel remains remote chance strafford al jazeera gaza. a flotilla of boats is continuing its journey towards garza in a bid to bring a peaceful end to the israeli blockade which has trapped more than two million palestinians since two thousand and six down the name el amrani is on board one of the boats and follow this update for us. well i would vote i say from a little more on the twenty first of july is still on its way to gaza to the gaza strip besieged by the israelis on i'll duck boat morrow is high amongst the disciplines who are adamant to break the blockade the bows on the palestinian strip by the israeli army we are right now somewhere to the south of the islands of greece and we're going to be is sailing for another few days before reaching our

goal which is that the shores of gaza to speak a little bit more about this i got to ask you know they got to know when i would not. have money what can you tell me right now about our trip and specially about the problems we got a couple of days ago oh of course we are driving and all she we are doing these some donations so we are doing the most we can all our money so we find in the ministry we could do for our money so of course we will get on to trouble when we need to be and we hire going along the way and we will continue to fix these and get it all the way ok. another quick question i know that's a it's not stable here on the boat but you're still adamant that we're going to be reaching gaza and the what do you think about the more off your troops if i may say so all the different disciplines of the flotilla murrell off troops are very good and we are as long as the main engine ground we are on board we are going to the

shores of gaza all right guys this is then captain herman rexton on board of the flotilla with the old the other participants here so the trip is still going on and the aim is to reach a to reach the shores of gaza to meet the people of gaza especially the fisherman to give them this boat which was initially a year fishing boats from norway that's been transformed especially for this trip this is optimal but i knew from onboard the. allowed a boat in the mediterranean sea for just iran. a team of italian scientists say they've discovered a huge underground lake on mars it lies beneath a seven ice cap and is the first time a large stable body of liquid water has been discovered on the red planet named barbara reports a stunning discovery is what they're calling it one that could help scientists know for sure whether life ever formed on mars or even exists today the study led by

italian researchers says they found what could be an underground lake it's a large body of liquid water twenty kilometers wide and one point five kilometers below the surface and it was found using radar instruments on board the european space agency's orbiter mars express scientists looked at radar readings from the planet's southern ice cap which provided ideal conditions ice is a very transparent medium expression if it's called the impurity of the electromagnetic waves so it's good they can leak to apply to the the much simpler caps of course these these caps. have some impurities but definitely the scald there then the ice on the mars might be cold and dry now but we already know thanks to rovers on its surface and other probes examining it from orbit that it was once a warm place with plenty of liquid water and lakes. the new study doesn't tell us how deep the reservoir is so researches can't say whether what they found resembles

an underground pool or is simply a layer of sludge but they do believe it's potentially a huge breakthrough liquid water cannot exist on the surface of mars it's simply not possible because of the the misfiring pressure on mars is still incredibly thin for water to remain liquid it has to be buried deep underneath the surface and it also has to be very very altie and that is also of huge importance because a stalled water lake is potentially exactly the sort of place you would go to look for life on the search for life on mars has been going on for decades scientists now have to find out whether this discovery can help them in that quest knitting baba al-jazeera. and joining me now in this year is francisco diego he's a senior research fellow at the department of physics and astronomy at university college london thanks very much for coming in and loving the tie by the way thank

you very managed does this tell us about what mars used to be like and indeed whether or not there was more than there is now on the planet rather than what's happening now absolutely yes we know about that and in the past there was a lot of liquid water on the surface of mars probably has to figure out the most fear there is evidence for that but all the water has gone i mean mars has lost the sadness fear and they know doesn't have any any pressure to as we saw here any pressure to retain this liquid water on the surface so the water has gone on the ground where it is frozen the param of frost in the first few meters on luckily now the m r six press has found evidence for liquid water why deep below the south pole you know there's a lot of talk about you know sort of tiny little microorganisms of what it could they exist in this sort of water it is difficult it is the water is leak with that means it has to be very cold that means a hostile lot of salt extreme dislike kind of brine temperatures minus thirty minus

forty minus sixty degrees it's going to be very difficult to find life in those conditions but you never know we know that the extremophiles which are the kind of bacteria which are frightening in very difficult conditions here on earth in very hot springs already called water with various see the water all kinds of the nasty environments they can still thrive but they think the conditions on mars in this particular lake are going to be even harder i'm sure a great celebration that it's been discovered but i was in late summer probably sitting back going why is it taken so long it taken so long well they kind of technology is being used it's fascinating in their marks express these are huge all with their friends being around mars for fifteen years and it has these massive very long boom which are twenty meters long each on its side. that produces radio waves that they're going to penetrate the kind of radar that penetrates the surface of mars and they can big information for a few kilometers inside. that data the analysis of that data has been gathered for

years and years only now the scientists are confident to release the information and publish it so it's a to long process of recovering the data and allies in it and finally releasing it does it point to likely to be other discoveries of the same nature yes absolutely yes we expect to find i mean remember this is a little lake i mean it's only twenty kilometers perhaps a few meters deep although it is one and a half kilometers inside the crossed but there will be more there is a speculation that they may be connected between them and then they will be more and more and more scans of on these of these nature and when the mission was launched as you say fifteen years ago do you think this is a sort of thing that was expected to be discovered i don't think so they having looking for for all their i mean this radar when it goes on in encounters a difference in in the conceit.