welcome to newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl, in singapore. the headlines: counting is underway in mexico's elections with polls suggesting the country could elect its first left—wing president in decades. in the world cup, penalty dramas deliver a surprise win for russia and a narrow victory for croatia. i'm babita sharma, in london. also in the programme: the rains stop and divers make progress in the hunt for the boys missing in the cave in thailand. and a helicopter prison break — one of france's most notorious criminals is sprung from prison he's still on the run. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. good morning.

it's 8 am in singapore, 1 am in london and 7pm in mexico city where the polls in presidential and parliamentary elections are now closing. mexico is thought to be on the cusp of a decisive political shift. the frontrunner in the presidential race is the left—wing former mayor of mexico city, who's pledged to clean up politics. it follows a campaign plagued by violence, with more than 130 candidates and party members killed. will grant is in mexico city. how is a we start to see the first results 7 how is a we start to see the first results? —— sued. how is a we start to see the first results? -- sued. it is probably a good few hours but this is the important it of the day. by and large voting has gone through peacefully. already, based on a few

axel paulsen it looks like it might have been a successful night for andres manuel lopez obrador's party at the governance ship level. but there is a big caveat when it comes to exit polls, take everything with a big pitch of salt until we get the official results. we do violence has been a big issue, as has corruption. what a back —— mexico is worried about? those two issues and andres manuel lopez obrador underlined the question of tackling corruption is above all others. on top of that it is the economy that a lot of people are worried about. this is a country where levels of inequality are vast

and the difference between those connected to the political and is this leads and those that simply struggle to get by is very bad and had andres manuel lopez obrador focused on them and their plight heavily and it may have played out well for him in the polls. and we will find out if the next few hours. indeed we are and you will be keeping a cross on that. our other top story:. the hosts of the football world cup, russia, have caused a major upset by knocking out the former champions, spain. russia, who were the lowest ranked team at the start of the tournament, took spain — who were among the favourites — to extra time and then penalties. olly foster has all the latest from moscow. what a game! russia was so resolute. we expected it to be very one—sided. you get all the statistics thrown at you after the match and one stood out, spain tried to pass russia to death, they played over 1000 passes,

almost as many as russia have played in all four matches. but one thing you cannot get away with is the shootout. russia was absolutely fabulous. and own goal to get spain into the match but it was one all by half—time with a russian penalty and we did not know we would be getting many more in the shootout. russia scored all of theirs and their goal keeper was the hero, igor akinfeev, he saved two spanish spot kicks. russia are going through 4—3 on penalty and they are in dreamland. the party when they got out of the group was special. but it is a whole new level. that was the first knockout win since 1966.

the scenes in the fan fest on across the way, in the grounds of the state university which holds a 25,000 people, were amazing. scenes replicated across the country because they are now looking forward to a quarter—final, theirfirst since 1970, in sochi. we can hear the party behind you. what about the other action, it was notjust penalties for this game? russia are now going to face croatia and croatia and denmark that went the distance. one all at the end, their goals coming early. kasper schmeichel two penalties saved in the shootout and one during play by the croatian goalkeeper was even better,

saving three penalties so croatia going through. it has been a day for the goalkeepers. they get overlooked sometimes with the fabulous goals scored from 30 yards out and goalkeepers are always on a hiding to nothing in the shootouts but we have seen them on the top of their craft today. and stanislav cherchesov carrying croatia through. it is a drama so far, and japan in action tomorrow and also england on tuesday. we go back to the tricky other half of the draw it still has the french in there who obviously knocked out argentina. uruguay also going through. the blue samurai,japan, just squeaks into this stage after having a better disciplinary record than senegal. this could be very one—sided because belgium are looking very strong. they won with a second

stream against england. they scored five against tunisia. belgium looking very good and they should beat the blue samurai. brazil against mexico could see a lot of goals and should be a great match. also this hour... reports from germany say the interior minister horst seehofer has offered to resign because of his differences with chancellor merkel. mr seehofer is said to have made the offer at a meeting of his csu party — which is part of germany's governing coalition. he was reported to be unhappy with this week's european union deal on migration. it is threatening to tear a fragile coalition government apart. mrs merkel has come back from the summit with eu leaders with a migration

strategy of sorts and that has been discussed with horst seehofer and his party leadership and the indication we are getting out from people inside the meeting is that he is not prepared to accept some of what she is proposing, that it is not enough to answer what he sees as the challenge of migration in germany. a suicide bomb attack in the eastern afghan city of jalalabad has killed at least nineteen people. most of them were members of the country's sikh minority, including the only sikh candidate in the parliamentary elections due in october. they had all turned out to welcome the afghan president, ashraf ghani, who had visited the city hours earlier. hot weather and drought conditions are fueling wildfires across the western united states. hundreds of firefighters have been battling more than a0 big wildfires. thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes so far, with almost half a million acres burned. briton‘s andy murray has withdrawn from the wimbledon tennis tournament that starts on monday. the two—time wimbledon champion posted on his facebook page that it is too soon for him

to return to five—set grand slam matches. the 31 year—old came back last month to a warm—up tornament for wimbledon after almost a year out, during which time he had hip surgery. and climbing season is under way at mount fuji for trails on the yamanashi prefecture. on the first day, a crowd of 150 people gathered at the summit of japan's highest mountain and cheered as the sun came up. last summer around a quarter of a million people climbed the mountain, which is a designated unesco world heritage site. it's now nine days since twelve boys and their football coach were trapped in a flooded cave in thailand. china is sending robots to assist with the search as divers continue their efforts to save them. but nobody knows which part of the cave they're in, or even if they're still alive. jonathan head sent this report from the cave.

we are now at the end of the eighth day of this gruelling search for the 12 missing boys and football coach. at the base, it is more organised than it was, less chaotic and they are restricting the number of vehicles coming up and those that do are entirely dedicated to bringing in what is needed to keep the search going. there are still climbers looking around the mountain for other possible access points but everything at the moment, the biggest hope, is centred here and that is because behind these yellow lines this is where the divers go in to the main entrance to the cave and they have been making much more progress today than in previous days. there is pumping going on. less rain.

the divers are telling us they have now reached a third chamber. they have built a base and they are moving on towards the area where they think the boys are. it is a high, dry area. no one knows if they are there. there are around two kilometres of underwater tunnels that they will have to manage if they are going to reach there but they are making progress and they have a small window of opportunity right now. weather forecasters saying we may have heavy rain again in three days so a tremendous sense of urgency notjust because of the time the boys have been there but also because of this spell of fine weather. let's get more now on our top story. mexico's election, in which anti—establishment leftist andres manuel lopez obrador looks poised to sweep into power. earlier i spoke with political analyst gena ro lozano, who voted earlier in the day it has been a very happy day for mexicans elections, for the electoral history.

many people are very hopeful that andres manuel lopez obrador will become president of mexico by a wide margin. polls have just closed in central mexico. they are still open in some parts of the country — we have three different hours. in a couple of hours more, northern mexico will close. the first exit polls are showing that andres manuel lopez obrador‘s party, morena, will win six states in play in this election. including mexico city. the party pan, with its alliance will retain one state. there are still no expert polls for the presidency but a few days before the election, andres manuel lopez obrador was ahead by 20—25 points ahead of his next competitor.

it will be a party, a celebration, in mexico city's biggest square, where mexicans the gathering. listening to the message from andres manuel lopez obrador. it is an historic election the many reasons. one is because it is the biggest election in history, over 90 million people were called to vote today. we still do not have numbers. but mexico, over 65% of electoral participation is normal. this time over 70%. it is also the biggest election in mexico because of the number of people who were going to be elected to different offices around the country.

more than 31100 elected officials... we're getting a sense of the scale of this election, like you said, and many people saying this is a moment of history in the making. we cannot verify the exit polls, we are still waiting. theyjust closed and it may take some time. if your predictions are correct, and you believe andres manuel lopez obrador is on his way in, sum up for me what kind of a moment this would mean the mexico and its people? it would be the first time that a candidate from the left will take the mexican white house, the first time a party just created three years ago, morena, will rise to the presidency and apparently to the majority for seneta and congress. it is a very important victory for andres manuel lopez obrador and his party but also a very

important moment for mexican voters. this election was a referendum of enrique pena nieto, and the way he conducted the presidency. he's not running for office. he needs to go after six years and many people were very angry at the violence, at rampant corruption of the administration, the killing of over 136 candidates who have been killed since the last fall. in this election many voted with anger. and also andres manuel lopez obrador i think was able to transform that anger into hope. especially young voters, will show that he was ahead. forgive me for interrupting.

you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: 10,000 metres up and jumping into the jetstream. all in the name of scientific research. also on the programme: a case of real life being stranger than fiction, a nortorius gangster escapes jail for the second time in france china marked its first day of rule in hong kong with a series of spectacular celebrations. a huge firework display was held in the former colony. the chinese president, jiang zemin, said unification was the start of a new era for hong kong. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly, that was cloned in a laboratory using a cell from another sheep. for the first time in 20 years,

russian and american spacecraft have docked in orbit, at the start of a new era of cooperation in space. challenger powered past the bishop rock lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering a record that had stood for 34 years. and there was no hiding the sheer elation of richard branson and his crew. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: votes are being counted in mexico's parliamentary and presidential elections, the largest in the country's history. football fans across russia have taken to the streets to celebrate their team's surprise

world cup victory over spain. in the other match, croatia beat denmark. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. here on bbc world news we've been reporting on the protests and commemorations surrounding hong kong's handover to china and so too has the south china morning post. the paper contrasts the official celebrations with a pro—democracy march, where thousands demonstrated against the future direction of the territory. the straits times reports on russia's stunning victory against spain at the world cup. the match in moscow went to a penalty shootout, knocking the 2010 world champions out of the tournament. russia are now in the quarter finals for the first time in 48 years! let's turn now to the japan times. it reports that unesco has decided to add 12

sites in southwestern japan that are linked to the history of the country's persecuted christians to the world heritage list. the sites include the oura cathedral in nagasaki, the oldest surviving church in the country. on up—to—date with some of the papers. —— that brings you up to date. now for a dramatic prison break. french police are searching for a notorious gangster who escaped from jail by helicopter. redoine faid had been serving a 25—year sentence for a failed robbery during which a police officer was killed. richard lister has the details. a career criminal, inspired by gangster movies. redoine faid is now on the run. his escape from this prison in the paris suburbs had all the hallmarks of a film script. as he waited in a visiting area, two accomplices in a hijacked helicopter landed in the grounds. using smoke bombs and heavy tools, they broke through to faid, bundled him onto the helicopter and flew him away.

the helicopter was later found 60 kilometres from the prison. its pilot had been seized as he waited to give a lesson. after flying faid and his accomplices out, he was released unharmed. redoine faid had a measure of fame after writing a book about his life of crime during a previous jail term. he revealed how hollywood had affected his robbery technique. in the book and in the documentary that followed he explained that he was fascinated by the cinema, that he used to see hollywood movies with robert de niro. also french movies that talked about spectacular attacks and spectacular escapes. but french police say his crimes often involve heavy weaponry and brutal violence. faid was serving a 25—year sentence of this policewoman was killed in 2010 in a raid he organised. this is actually his second jail break. last time, he used dynamite to blast off the prison doors and was on the run for six weeks. another manhunt is under way. richard lister, bbc news. even for a man used to throwing

himself into thin air, this was a particularly adrenaline packed weekend. swiss skydiver and pilot mark houser was taken up in a hotair balloon and literally threw himself into the jet stream over the skies of australia on saturday. but it wasn't just for the thrill of australia on saturday. but it wasn'tjust for the thrill or of australia on saturday. but it wasn't just for the thrill or to break a record, this is a serious mission and could highlight an untapped energy in the jet stream and other high altitude wind sources. markjoins us in one piece. great to see you. how did the jump on saturday, ? great to see you. how did the jump on saturday,? thank you, i'm really happy to be on safe ground now ——

how did thejump on happy to be on safe ground now —— how did the jump on saturday go? we wa nted how did the jump on saturday go? we wanted to get up 10,000 metres and get in the core of the jet stream. we had to stop at 7600 metres, we had big problems with the oxygen supply, had big problems with the oxygen supply, it was leaking, because the heat is went off, we don't know why. at the same time the three burners went down so we had no fire in the hotair went down so we had no fire in the hot air balloon and i had to exit. that does sound like a very stressful episode, but we are glad to see you here in one piece. what exactly a re to see you here in one piece. what exactly are you trying to achieve by throwing yourself into the jet strea m throwing yourself into the jet stream like this? we are having some problems... the key messages... yeah, can you hear me? yes, we can hear you now. i was saying, what are you trying to

achieve with this, it's incredibly stressful, quite dangerous as well as you describe, what's the purpose of this? the reason is we want to show the world the high energy potential of the clean energy source of this jetstrea m. the clean energy source of this jetstream. you can put up kites, you can bring down this energy, and, from time to time, you have to come up from time to time, you have to come up with strange... right, we are having some issues hearing mark again. let's see if he will come back. all right, we will have to apologise and leave that interview there. thank you so much forjoining us, mark hauser, the skydiver extraordinaire, whose attempted this feat on saturday. back to the world cup, and as we heard earlier, russia have knocked out former champions spain. as you can imagine, there's a bit of a party going on in moscow at the moment. steve rosenberg is with the

fans. chanting they never stopped believing. as they followed the big match on the big screen in the moscow fan zone, russians experienced every possible emotion. including the sweetest one of all. euphoria. screaming and cheering "it's great! he says. "we'll be the champions". screaming and cheering "it's great! he says. "we'll be the champions." well, from the way they're celebrating here, you might think that russia had just won the world cup. but this joy is understandable, because a quarterfinal place is a huge achievement for a side which went into this tournament the lowest ranked team. and russia isn't just

winning matches. it's winning hearts and minds, too. i'm from australia. it's nothing like they say, mate. russia's like one of the nicest places i've ever been to and i've been to about 20 countries in this world. and that is a public relations victory for president putin. he sees it definitely as a political victory. it is something he has achieved. they were able to get the cup and they not only were able to do that but against all predictions to the contrary, make it very successful. tonight, the whole of russia is out partying. russians are brimming with pride and daring to dream of world cup glory. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. all the drama from the world cup later this hour with sport today. that's it from us, nice to see you. hello there, good morning.

we turned up the heat again on sunday, 32 celsius, 90 fahrenheit in hampshire. london, 31, through the midlands in the strong sunshine that we had here. and there's going to be more than sunshine over the week ahead, if you're looking for rain, you're probably going to be out of luck, just one or two isolated showers, but on the whole it's now, the first day ofjuly did bring some rain in towards the south—west of the uk from that area of cloud there, about half an inch of rain in devon, for example. those earlier showers, some thunderstorms as well, have pretty much moved away out into the english channel over towards the near continent, so probably going to be dry on monday. a little bit of cloud mayjust linger in the far south—east of scotland and behind that we've got some slightly cooler air, so low 20s across scotland. but widely towards 29, 30 degrees in england and wales. 32 perhaps towards south—east wales and midlands. so, sunshine to end the day then for most areas. overnight we'll see a little bit more cloud coming down these

north sea coastal areas but staying dry and warmest of all again across southern parts of england and wales, where, for a little while longer, it will feel rather humid. more sunshine on the way for tuesday. there's still a very small chance of picking out a late shower there for the far south—west but otherwise it's dry, very sunny out there on tuesday, hardly a breath of wind around. strong sunshine and those temperatures beginning to lift a little more for scotland and northern ireland too. now, high pressure is sort of in charge of our weather over the weekend. it's not a particularly dominant area of high pressure, but it doesn't need to be. nothing much is moving, there's hardly a breath of wind again on wednesday, a bit of low cloud coming down through the north sea, but on the whole it's sunny skies, a bit of fairweather cloud developing, few, if any, showers towards the south—west and the heat continues to arrive at the numbers of 29, maybe even 3a england and wales, mid—to—high teens for scotland and northern ireland. little bit of a change perhaps and a fly in the ointment

as we move into thursday. low pressure to the north of the uk. that weather front there is very weak, it will bring a band of cloud towards scotland and northern ireland, may squeeze a shower out over the grampians, but further south, it's likely to be dry, some long spells of sunshine. the heat is certainly still there, so temperatures into the high 20s at the very least. so it's a very quiet week ahead. i'm going to stick my neck out, looks like it will be a dry week in london at the wimbledon tennis championships and elsewhere likely to stay dry with someone sunshine at times. i'm babita sharma, with bbc world news. the top headline: in mexico, the elections have been under way but they have been marred by violence. votes are being counted as we speak in the country's largest elections with prediction that the left‘s

andres manuel lopez obrador is set to win. football fans across russia have taken to the streets to celebrate their team's surprised victory over spain. it was penalty drama also for the croatia versus denmark game with croatia winning. firefighters working around the clock to control the situation in lancashire in what has been described as extremely testing conditions. more on that to come. we have