deep into urban areas before it can be contained zeros many on a hundred pools. the wildfire tool through neighborhoods like this one in the city of reading in the middle of the night fire crews were forced to go door to door officials used loudspeakers to tell residents to leave the wildfire moved with such speed many had just minutes to get out i drove up before my mom and dad. this is what i saw a spot. i don't know how many minutes after. he left the house but it went to police but he said he could see the fire. as he was leaving. and. so on somebody made it out and i don't i'm afraid some people may not. police say the wildfire was spotted by a mechanical failure in a vehicle on monday but in the spice of forty eight hours it had tripled in size

and then on thursday night the blaze exploded and crossed the sec room into a river. you know the city of reading home to more than ninety thousand people was in its path firefighters say using the tim fire tornado to describe it firefighters are out there actively rescuing evacuating engaging and defending homes. scorching temperatures a full cast to continue as of the strong winds that offending the flames californias governor has declared a state of emergency in several counties as crews struggle to contain the fire is mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in some cities and central california the ficus and fire has been burning for two weeks visitors to the national package been ordered to evacuate with or she said the blaze is only twenty five percent contained. scientists say rising global temperatures are leading to higher risk of lung. fi's in the eastern united states the fire that cut

a swathe through parts of reading has now moved on and some people have been allowed to retune six houses can be rebuilt i say but precious positions and in some cases much loved pits have been lost for reeva and the speed and the ferocity of the blaze maidana honed them to zero we're going to weather update next here on al-jazeera then we'll take a look at the challenge of ensuring a free and fair election in mali. that it was all eyes up to watch the longest total lunar eclipse this century. hello typhoon jong darley is making itself felt in japan you can see the are just

an edge your screen here on its way just south of tokyo it's left one hundred fifty millimeters so far on the island a long way to the size that's about the old we expect hundred fifty to two hundred millimeters of rain falling on the was probably parched gras in which two weeks goes for the brands that stop particularly good unless the rough in the course is taking so south to take you and then it goes more or less west was i went time the potential for flooding of course exists the strength of the wind will drop but it's currently roughly speaking category two. on a scale it goes from one to five course and here it is as a spinning tropical depression most likely of bringing its rain to sayas korea monday so active weather here we've often takes the energy out of the sphere elsewhere but not so for the southwest the child's almost the circulation has been heavy rain here and in north vietnam and in north and last in the trust be on to bangladesh and that's still going with occasional big showers in the middle child along the yangtze as well back towards sichuan and the shower potential exists further south as well to crawl along crawl import singapore and probably half way

down through sumatra still there if you're in bali i think the sun's there for at least two more days. a survivor of the genocide there are people who beg me to kill them when they're suffering but i didn't have the heart and he's dedicated his life to searching the woods for bones of the victims of the srebrenica massacre. holding them here is due to all. you know hope of finally laying the past to rest and giving peace to the victims' families if i could just trying to think about i could bury him. on al-jazeera.

hello again this is al jazeera our top stories this hour a court in egypt has sentenced seventy five people to death for their involvement in a city to twenty thirty that's when thousands protested in cairo against the ousting of the democratically elected president mohamed morsi members of the muslim brotherhood or among those sentenced. party of former cricketer imran khan has emerged as the official winner of pakistan's general election with results now in for all two hundred seventy seats but some opposition groups are calling for a pete elections a bit allegations of meddling by the military. to fire fighters and died battling wildfires in northern california in the u.s. five hundred structures have been destroyed evacuation orders have been issued for thirty seven thousand people hot weather but strong winds a fueling the flames. son major developments to end syria's seven year

civil war to tell you about representatives from kurdish held areas say that they've agreed to form committees with the government of bashar al assad a leading member of the syrian democratic council told dizzier that they will work towards handing back territory under their control to the government while planning a democratic decentralized syria the s.t.c. is linked to the u.s. backed military alliance known as the syrian syrian democratic forces which controls much of north eastern syria let's get more on this now. is head of development and humanitarian affairs at the syrian democratic council she's now on the line from in northern syria good to have you with us kind of just before we begin our discussion here i just want to clarify something. with you. a leading member of the syrian democratic council told our sister network al jazeera arabic in arabic earlier that the committees will work towards handing back territory that are currently under their control to the syrian government did we get that right or

something been lost there in translation. got. a little sorry i don't time i'm getting good connections kind of all thank you for a job you know what their current fade back to the new thing with the t.v. government that was pulled over that petition all form committees i want to live i mean through the window that we are located and negotiation i was hoping i was or what the movement was and i was that hard over all of them that ability to buy government all that only leaves you sure it's not correct i'm left to be forced onto my that that that negotiations will be for us only that there's these issues like any station on the a front and that is center of election and b.p. or maybe most and this is like i do because of the people meeting because they act

like they have been ages need to put out any kind of sense because from that governing so what this means now we don't call that the plan from them to be a geisha in because they just are like drunk so maybe we can wait for that and that the chance statement what they discussed in indiana would be the i going no i'm not i am a member of that to get them across the console i earned them and i think can tell me steve i noted it and i know where the roadside only point to which was the sponsor it aids. which go to the on its technical issue with us on other issues like that you can keep it it's a job or management of this surge of the other must do wasn't it wasn't involved the pagan define it was this new thing was only for the trade zine tools to to see how who and how it can be six. foxes and if these new things first we think boxes maybe pick an open door for more we can or want to discuss your

interpretation is this is that the looking to hand must look into. well to work towards handing back territory to the. control of the more looking to open the door to talks and perhaps find a roadmap towards a more decentralized syria is the times that a correct interpretation of what you're saying yes yes yes it's great because we are now discussing that system tries living. in charming the democratic c.v.i. and these new thing wasn't there some leaping bonding between the committee some the two parts he did not concede none specially keeping it in effect because one week ago you have being dumb i think i'll be all over between to its main theme and i'm steady and and the boys leaping on the boys and this is going seemingly put up in more of the outlook of the good it's coming from seeds from the from the mosque

or from live on street so you thinking that the official meeting between the government and student of the public competent to go and then. act upon the people they're committing i mean it from the two o'clock maybe down back to you throughout and. like i did something example i need something for this new thing so we are now at the things that this is the frontline lighting and exceed the i would think the government is all things that we all look like a big deal of we hope that the meeting to continue because if there's a fifth of all all big meetings in the air the big issues muchmore ok good stuff too many facts deeds is an illusion. and from my niece in syria. front runners in zimbabwe's general election of making a final push for votes ahead of the country's election on monday rival rallies are being held by the ruling zanu p.f.

so emerson and gang. these are live pictures from harare right now this will be the first in first time in nearly forty years the first election rather in nearly forty years without former leader robert mugabe well. let's move on to next story mali security proving a big concern as mali prepares for presidential elections on sunday at least seventeen people have been killed in campaigning people will choose between twenty four candidates including the incumbent incumbent president abraham cater his opponents say the past five years under his leadership of been a disaster as mohammed vall reports from bamako the voting is about to begin but many registered voters can't find their names on the electoral roll the u.n. peacekeeping mission middle smart is trying to help them in. the organizing and security of this election is the task of mali an authority in minister we provide

support such as the transportation of logistical material and personnel as well as government officials especially democracy and the north will act this is difficult we also sensitize the public through radio and other media outlets to the importance of voting it's a daunting task less than half the eight and a half million registered voters had received their election cards by last week that's just one of the many challenges facing election organizers in security is another the government has little influence in large remote areas of northern and central mali armed groups linked to al qaeda have threatened to disarm in the electoral activities their security is being grabbed up in the capital bamako. the government says it has mobilized more than thirty thousand personnel to maintain security at polling stations special forces organize daily patrols and exercises such as this one to raise the state of readiness as the countdown to words election

day begins in don't move limit only for we have provided resources to our regional governors to ensure the safety is traditional voter cards and polling centers we guarantee the security of this process with the help of our partners in the noosa and french operation as well as armed movements voters have a choice of twenty four candidates including president he will work akita who is seeking reelection he won by a landslide in the last election five years ago since then has lost much support his opponents say he has failed to restore stability and improve their livelihood mollies among his long list of rivals orpen in polls say the main one is former finance minister. to come up informally. this is the first time in mali when opinion polls have shown a very tight race between the incumbent president and the opposition leader by the looks of it the current president may not have much luck five years in power led to grave insecurity about deep social crises the army hasn't been restructured as

promised and corruption levels are unprecedented. the stakes are higher for mali illicit election with some saying it could be the last chance for the country to step back from the brink of more violence poverty and unemployment mohamed fun al-jazeera by marco. a few minutes ago we told you about the front runners in zimbabwe's general election holding rival rallies today emerson non-god well is holding a rally with his new p.f. party's day we took you there live earlier on al-jazeera the leader of the opposition movement for democratic change nelson chamisa is also holding a rally in harare today al-jazeera is malcolm webb is there let's take you live now to the venue for that rally nelson chamisa sounding fairly confident ahead of monday's poll malcolm saying that after monday he will be president what makes him social. that's what he's got many several

thousands of supporters who gathered here to come to the rally this is take a look at them all the rallies follow the same for hours and hours of build up loud music musician cheerleaders waiting for the leader to arrive at this is the biggest of the campaign here in the capital harare and it here in the capital harare and other urban areas that for many years the opposition at a very solid base people here waiting to see what he's got to say but the message throughout the campaign be very much one of a promising transformation that we can be very critical of the past nearly forty years of the rulings down u.p.s. parties rule criticizing them for human rights abuses collapse of the economy the opposition of also being complaining to the electoral commission that there were the serious irregularities with the polling process and there were problems with the ballot papers problems with the arrangement of the polling station no transparency and that's what they say the electoral commission and the ruling party

vote for a few just a short while ago and to be the chief election officer just by hearing them address the crowd and told them no more than forty thousand agents all over the country. and their supporters to vote and then at the polling station they. make sure the votes are counted fairly and probably they can still win this on numbers in spite of the problems that they've been complaining about who really thinks they don't is there is melcombe with their lives in harare. the longest bloodmoon eclipse of the century has thrilled millions of people around the world the moon turned a red brown color during the celestial events the entire transition lasted nearly two hours and was visible in much of the world one of the best vantage points was in kenya and katherine sawyer was there. so it's a clear sky here in my god he and we are looking at the blood moon right now it's

completely in the shadow of the awful quite a beautiful sight and right next to it is a planet mars another ref a nominal happening right there. planet mars in the sun won't opposite sides of the art a phenomenon that happens every fifteen to seventeen years but it's a moon that amazed no longer a new ring this could mean to use to see. to use a better translation on the moon the moon the day the sun last day but we have come to realize that it is. and. this in only you know not true i have just seen the. like something is covering it the traveling telescope group has come to this canyon village to show the local modify community. the marvels in the sky i'll be trying to get as many

people to look through to look at the sky and to appreciate what we have in the sky but also to look through the telescopes and to you know lamb a bit of science i spoke about mars and the opposition phenomenon just tell us a little bit about that quite red and it's more prominence now because it's much closer to was so it looks brighter it's more rare it's quite exciting interacting the people here many of them telling us they have not seen the stars as plan next and even the moon so close you know through this telescope the next lunar eclipse of this duration is going to happen in the next century so a lot of people saying they are happy that they get to see this in their lifetime. but probably more video like that along with the latest news and analysis of all the day's top stories at our website take a look at i was there a doc. it

is good terry with us adrian filling in here in the other top stories this hour on al jazeera caught in egypt the sentenced seventy five people to death for their involvement in the city and in twenty thirteen that's when thousands protested in cairo against the ousting of the democratically elected president but have a bossy members of the muslim brotherhood are among those sentenced by saying. is an egypt campaign at amnesty international and has condemned the verdict. it's very shocking who's got about seventy five minutes to scoop this bill t. . just not a single security service member's bill. is over nine hundred and to see it and it's there i'm. looking in line with. this and mrs musgrave down is there is must think.

the party of former cricketer imran khan is emerged as the official winner of pakistan's general election with the results now in for all two hundred seventy seats but some opposition groups are calling for a repeat of the election amid allegations of meddling by the military there's been a significant development in attempts to end syria's seven year civil war representatives from kurdish held areas say they've agreed to form committees with the government of bashar al assad they say that the group will go see it a democratic decentralized syria. afghan special forces are battling several gunman who stormed the school for midwives it's in the eastern city of jalalabad dozens of people were trapped in the building some reports say that many of them have now been freed two firefighters have died battling five wildfires in northern california in the u.s. five hundred structures have been destroyed and evacuation orders issued to thirty

seven thousand people hot weather and strong winds of fueling the flames and front runners in zimbabwe's general election of making a final push for votes ahead of the election on monday live pictures here from harare rival rallies are being held by the ruling zanu p.f. so innocent and gagged work. walk crowds have gathered for his rival nelson chamisa the opposition movement for democratic change of another part of the capital. more news of the inside story next. how big a threat to the syrian regime the group says if carried out coordinated attacks killing dozens in southern syria as the army backed by russia and iran continues to

crush the rebellion by the opposition to be white to this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program eisel fights as have carried out their deadliest attacks for months in southwest syria suicide bombers targeted a vegetable market a hospital and a public square in the government held city of the way to own weapons day all the gunmen raided nearby towns and villages dozens were killed including pro-government fights as some activists and doctors say the number of fatalities is at least two hundred forty also wait which is home to the druze community has mainly managed to avoid attacks during the conflict which is now into its seventh year. well control

of syria is largely divided between four main players in the northeast of the country kurdish groups control one third of all territory and they aim to establish their own autonomous government so the west turkish backed rebel forces control much of italy province and western aleppo home to around three million internally displaced syrians the asset regime backed by iran and russia have regained control of the majority of syria's provinces eisel stronghold in southern syria is under russian and syrian bombardment after losing territory seized in both syria and neighboring iraq eisel continues to control scattered patches of land regime forces are battling to regain control over the border with the israeli occupied golan heights that's close to where i saw launched suicide attacks on the city of the weight of let's bring in our guests today here on inside story joining us from vermont on skype is joshua landis he is the director of the center for middle east

studies at the university of oklahoma in london we have hate haid a syria consulting research fellow at chatham house and here in doha we're joined by marwan he's a syrian academic and writer welcome to you all meaghan in doha coming to you first what we're talking about in suede it was a suicide mission we haven't seen an eyesore suicide mission for many months how significant is that. i think this is important in my being in but it doesn't represent an existential threat to the syrian regime i think. as it loses more territories in syria whether in the southwest part of the conflict or even in the and the east of the contrie it will be actually resorting to the sort of tactics that it was actually using in iraq especially. during the u.s. occupation of that contrie so most probably we're going to see more of these attacks in fact but as i said before that is not going to be representing and the

existential threat for the syrian regime because. eisen is being actually confronted by most of the powers who are interested in the syrian conflict that would include the united states russia iran the sunni our countries turkey so i said actually is almost fighting almost against everybody in this conflict so there is no chance in my being and for i said towards this sort of existential threat for the syrian regime what we are going to see as i said is more of these attacks and less we have the sort of political solution to the syrian crisis understood hate hate in london there was a particularly vicious element to what i saw was doing with this suicide attack because after the bombs went off they were going round door to door killing people in their own homes but leaving one survivor what's the message that i still is trying to get out now well it's it's not surprising to see or hear about this

tactic because from the beginning isis has been trying to basically brought cuz the fire its brutality and is to mainly scare its enemies but also to realize its allies and supporters around and what we saw in the way that is just another tactic. basically aimed to make their at pagg to the headlines and living survivors to tell the stories about what happened will make sure that syria's and the rest of the war will continue to fear isis for years to come and i think that is the main message and joshua what does this tell us about the preparedness of the syrian forces. well this is a classic isis attack isis today is a is a cornered tiger it's lashing out as a diversionary tactic to show that it's still lethal even as it's being destroyed

in southern syria so it it attacked the jebel druze and the jury's minority of course is seen as an evil minority by isis their ninth issue of their davetta magazine was about the druze and how they all their shakes their religious leader should be killed their women could be sold into slavery like the use e.t.s. so the druze have long been a target for isis it's a way to so. in a sense distrust between the syrian regime and a bruise because the druze were very upset they said it how come this could happen how do you let them get here why did they did massacre us so there's a lot of internal squabbling the syrian opposition has blamed this on aside and said that isis an aside are one that they're working together in a conspiracy to punish the druze are not wholeheartedly being a loyalist this is. seems to me rather conspiracy theory but but it has so in

dissension and it's diverted the gaze from doing real defeat that isis is undergoing today it's nothing like it was two years ago when it had a big caliphate the size of great britain and today it's its last little enclaves are being wiped out but it's still a lethal force and it can carry out these very dangerous attacks with a small number of men paid what does this attack by ice so the perpetrating of this attack by so tell us about those people who are perhaps rushing to judge and say bashar al assad is actually very close to a complete victory well it's was two main issues the first one is that there is jeanne as. still unable to secure the areas it has been with the support of its allies able to capture so far and the other thing is that their

region has been depending made early on short term. strategy or tactics that bleed to basically brutal results at a later stage meaning. what just two hours referring to here why not only opposition groups but people from the way that themselves then assert for because most of the fighters who carried out that the way the people said that they came from the countryside of them ask us and from basically maly from the refugee camp here move in damascus where the regime brokered the deal was some isis fighters basically allowed them to be you look at it to basically area that is close to the way that and the desert of eastern syria and this is why i think that the problem here is that assad is moving basically one problem or solving one problem now creating ten others later on and the other issue i think that people

are basically blaming us that for and the russians as well is that because recently there has been some russian led efforts to demobilize and this local militias and do it and so whether. after that there were no measures taken by the regime or their actions to protect those areas and then after the isis fighters took advantage of that security vacuum and attack and this is why also another reason the for what for for why people are blaming us that and russians for a moment coming back to you here in doha i mean what are the chances here that bashar al assad starts going after the troops because the government forces don't control the specific area that is obvious on the one hand and. on the other hand the druze the young male druze do not sign up they refuse to sign up to this conscription system that he's got going for the syrian army. and yes indeed i think

that there was in fact in a very awkward position because on the one hand as you said they are not playing they are in fact trying actually not to be part of this war which is waged by assad against i mean the sunni majority of syrians so they don't want to be part of that on one hand on the other hand they are seen by isis as not really muslims so they are on one hand attacked by ice and on the other hand they are not very well protected by the assad regime and in fact what the recent attack by isis demonstrates is that as as as your other two guests actually have been suggesting it shows that the syrian regime is still in fact very vulnerable very weak and cannot provide the sort of protection that those people who are under its control actually are expecting him to to to to provide and this also demonstrated that military solution to this crisis will not actually end it we still need to see

a political solution because and this will bring almost everybody on board. in order to end this conflict we are going to see as we said earlier more attacks by isis and more of the colonization not only by isis i want to see more of the colonization of among the moderate sunny's who who have seen actually their houses destroyed they are their brothers killed by this regime and after all the sort of wives. after all the regime actually has. as it is jane some or most of their of the of the of the contras so i think it's the really important here to see the sort of political solution to this conflict. despite the progress with the progress on the ground that has been made by the regime and its. and it's a lie so it's not the end yet we are not there yet i think the end will not be. when it will not be see it unless we see the sort of constitution that i was

talking about and you joshua landis in vermont if what we're talking about here with the druze community is like a microcosm of the broader conflict how does that mesh with where we are the point that mom is making the how does that mesh with where we are in the political arena there are kurds in damascus having discussions with the asset regime as we speak on the one hand and on the other hand the reality is what if eisel is not defeated what if iceland's just regrouping and kind of returning to it's the gold standard of what it does is just regrouping well isis is regrouping. and it's attacked recently in libya and yemen and other places but it isis can only grow where there is a power vacuum and quite clearly isis book the united states which was backing the syrian rebels to destroy the syrian government in a syrian army under assad.