welcome to bbc news. i'm nkem ifejika. five people have died after huge wildfires sweep through northern california. almost 40,000 people have already left their homes in the city of redding. officials say gale—force winds are creating fire tornados. our correspondent james cook reports from los angeles. even by the wild standards of rural california, this fire is exceptional. driven by galeforce winds, the blaze was so intense it created tornadoes of flame, uprooting trees and hurling cars aside. that's a home i believe, some kind of structure completely on fire right there. oh my goodness! nearly 40,000 people were forced to flee. fire everywhere on both sides of the road. there's houses coming down, houses that were already down. hundreds of homes have been destroyed, including some built during the gold rush of the 19th century. two firefighters were killed, and ed bledsoe was searching for his family. i want god to help me out.

help me get ‘em. i just can't see how i can go without them. somebody has to know where they're at. the news was not good. two children and their great—grandmother have now been found dead. across the us and canada, 130 major wildfires are now burning, from alaska to texas. oregon has been particularly hard hit. in california, more than 9,000 firefighters are battling seven big blazes. one has closed yosemite national park. a damaging blow to tourism. ever since, you know, we've had the drought issue for years now in california, the wildfire aspect has intensified over the years, so we've experienced more and more damaging wildfires, more fires that ignite rapidly. it's like throwing gas in these type of fires. scientists say human activity, natural weather patterns and man—made climate change are to blame, and the immediate forecast

is worrying too — more hot, dry, dangerous weather is on the way. james cook, bbc news, los angeles. pope francis has accepted the resignation of a cardinal, the first such case in nearly 100 years. the catholic church found ‘credible and substantiated' claims that theodore mccarrick had sexually abused a teenager nearly 50 years ago. john mcmanus reports. and to speak with civility and pray together... theodore mccarrick was one of the best—known clerics in the us catholic church. as of now, he is no longer a cardinal. he submitted his resignation to the pope after allegations that he sexually abused a teenage boy nearly 50 years ago. he denies the allegations but last month the archdiocese said that they were

credible and substantiated. due to the statute of limitations, too much time has elapsed for a criminal prosecution but the former archbishop of washington will now face a church trial. in a statement, pope francis ordered theodore mccarrick who had already finished his duties to seclude himself in a life of prayer and penance until after his trial. the scandal is doubly embarrassing because he was involved in drafting guidelines on sexual abuse following former scandals. anyone with this problem will never work in the united states, that is clear. 0ther unsubstantiated allegations have also emerged including that he coerced former seminarians into sharing his bed. two dioceses in newjersey said they had received allegations of sexual misconduct with adults, two of which were settled financially. some catholics have now called for a

further enquiry. there were also three allegations of sexual misconduct with adults, two of which were settled financially. qatar's successful bid to host the football world cup in 2022, is alleged to have used an american based pr firm, to discredit and undermine rival bids from the us and australia, against fifa's rules. the claims are made in the british sunday times newspaper. it says e—mails, show the firm recruited american pe teachers to lobby congressmen, saying money for the games could be better spent, and in australia students were recruited to protest against its bid at rugby matches. qatar was cleared of any wrongdoing following a fifa investigation. parts of the uk have had almost a month's rainfall in just a few hours, as thunderstorms replaced the long summer heatwave. lightning strikes added to the misery of thousands of travellers, with cancelled flights and trains, on one of the busiest weekends of the summer.

stanstead airport and eurotunnel were badly affected. here's simonjones. the holiday getaway from hell. the queues grew and grew at stansted airport as flights were cancelled. blamed on the thunderstorms that meant planes could not fly safely. ryanair, the main operator at stansted, has apologised to customers. it's incredible how unaccountable they are. there is no one here to deal with it. the queues are neverending and people are supposed to wait. it's ridiculous. we were on board the plane for six hours and then they say, "it's delayed. the flight is delayed." then we come back here. another queue for ten hours. the storms that swept in forcing middlesbrough's friendly against sunderland to be abandoned... and heralding the end of the heatwave, were supposed to put a stop to this, too, the chaos at

the channel tunnel. for three days, trains had been unable to run at full capacity because it was too hot — the air conditioning could not cope. the queue of cars trying to get into eurotunnel tells the story. some are having to wait six and a half hours to get on a train. the company is advising people not to travel unless it's absolutely necessary. but those with holidays booked have little choice. to many it became a case of killing time. i got a football in the car, got a field behind me, we'll kill some time. no, i'm not going to wait, i'm going to leave. going to go back. you're going home? yes. 0n the france side there is no queue, nothing, why is it so many queues? it is the same temperatures. whoa! lightning strikes have also taken out some rail services, as have strikes of a different kind — this time by members of the rmt union on south western railway and eurostar. even just getting around became difficult in northern ireland.

parts of belfast saw a whole month's rainfall in just one afternoon. simon jones, bbc news. four men have been charged with attempted murder and weapons offences in east london following a shooting in leytonstone‘s lascelles close on thursday night involving police. no—one was hurt in the exchange. the men were found in possession of a shotgun, an axe and a zombie knife and will appear in court on monday. a 24—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and sexual activity with a child, following the death of a 13—year—old girl. lucy mchugh‘s body was discovered in woodland in southampton on thursday. she'd been reported missing the night before. the british actor ed westwick won't be prosecuted following accusations of rape and sexual assault made against him in america. investigators say there's "insufficient evidence". after the allegations emerged last year, the bbc cut his performance from the agatha christie drama 0rdeal by innocence. it also halted the recording of a second series of his hit comedy white gold.

the 30—year—old, has always denied he did anything wrong. the chief constable of west midlands police says budget cuts are seriously affecting the service he can provide. dave thompson has apologised to the public, saying crimes now have to be prioritised more rigorously. 0fficer numbers in the force area have fallen by 2,000 since 2010. the two main candidates in zimba bwe‘s presidential election have addressed huge crowds of supporters on the last day of campaigning. the vote on monday will be the first in almost four decades without robert mugabe on the ballot. he was forced to step down last november, after nearly a0 years in power. 0ur africa editor, fergal keane, reports now from the zimbabwean capital, harare. this is freedom square in harare, and today, in their massed tens of thousands, it belonged to the opposition. out of the dust their leader

arrived, greeted by raw, unchoreographed enthusiasm. from early mistakes, he has gained stature. bye bye, zanu—pf, bye—bye. all: bye-bye! bye—bye, mnangagwa, bye—bye. all: bye-bye! nelson chamisa is 35 years the president'sjunior, and promising a decisive break with the past. after nearly a0 years of often brutal and corrupt ruling party government, this should be the time that the opposition wins. there is a surge of hope here. this is our year, we are winning this election. it's been the most momentous campaign since independence in 1980. with the ruling party now positioning itself as the guarantor of stability and economic progress. zanu—pf presided over killing, torture and economic disaster, but still expects to win. "we will build our new zimbabwe

on unity, peace, love and harmony," the president told his final rally. the ruling party has the money, it has the backing of state media and immense powers of patronage. people here simply can't conceive of losing this election. i'm quite positive on monday he will be the absolute winner over his rivals. so much hope, but for such different outcomes. fergal keane, bbc news, harare. more protests are expected in russia on sunday over a proposed rise in the pension age for men and women. they come a day after demonstrations organised by the communist party and will be led by the liberal opposition. the government wants to raise the pension age from 60 to 65 for men. 55 to 63 is the proposed raise in pension age for women in russia. russian men have a life expectancy ofjust 66 according to the world health organisation.

women fare a bit better with a life expentancy age of 77. opponents of the changes argue people won't live long enough to enjoy their pensions if the changes are passed. lebo diseko has more a rare sight in vladimir putin's russia, thousands on the streets of moscow challenging proposed pension reforms. this sign and the skeleton with it expressing theirfears. "worked all his life but did not get his pension." translation: sadly a significant number of both men and women will not make it to the age of planned retirement that our government is proposing, so this may unfortunately mean many of our citizens are not even destined to live until their pension age and will have to work into the grave. russia's lower house of parliament, the duma, gave first reading approval to the measure earlier this month. the proposal was put forward by cabinet on the eve of the world cup and opponents accused the government of trying

to slip the changes through while the nation was distracted. protesters are demanding a referendum on the issue, and around three million people have signed a petition against the changes. president putin says he doesn't like the idea of raising the pension age, but doing nothing was not an option. he also says, though, that he will listen to all opinions. public trust in his presidency has fallen from 80% in may to 64% this month, according to the state pollster. some are now describing the government's move as the most dangerous and risky reform of president putin's rule. lebo diseko, bbc news. our main headline: at least five people have died, including two children and their great—grandmother, as a huge wildfire sweeps

across northern california. well, more on this now. brianna sacks is covering the wildfires for buzzfeed news in redding. she gave me an update earlier after attending a community meeting in the city. they had all the top they had all the top officials from the federal, state and local authorities here, helping to fight this fire. there is about 31100 personnel on this incident. they we re personnel on this incident. they were talking with concerned residents about the fire status. it is still holding a 5% contained, despite almost doubling in size. it is now more than 80,000 acres, something close to 81,000 acres. i spoke with the incident commander, a fire chief here in shops to county

—— shosta county, and he was saying that every time we say a fire is in prison at it, we have never seen it before, it is the same sentiment with this one, they have not really seen a fire in this type of situation before, and he has been doing this for 30 years. you have been out with the firefighters while they have been battling the fires. what is it like out there? a yeah, so, i have been tagging along with the teams and it is extremely smoky, which makes it difficult for them to see the big fire, is what one of them said to me. they don't even really know where it is. there are some areas where the aircraft cannot go over, pictures they cannot drop the fire retardant because of the smoke. it makes it hard when they are on the ground to see what is going on and where it is going. and you did see some of the devastation, didn't you? i did, yes. reding, like

much of northern california, at is a sort of oral, farm like area. lots of the houses are set on these winding country roads. they are still smouldering, very much burnt to the ground, and it is heartbreaking. it is very surreal. there is still livestock wandering around through the ruins. it is definitely a wild experience. let's get some of the day's other news. a prominent lawyer who helped to defend the former nationalist serb president, slobodan milosevic, has been shot dead. dragoslav 0gnjanovic was killed in front of his apartment building in the serbian capital, belgrade. mr 0gnjanovic served on the legal team that helped to defend mr milosevic at his un war crimes trial at the hague. chile's president, sebastian pinera, says the local roman catholic church could and should have prevented many cases of child sexual abuse committed by priests in the past decades. mr pinera said that as a catholic he was disappointed that such

horrific crimes had been covered up. thousands of anti—government protestors in nicaragua have taken part in a march to show support for the roman catholic church, which has been mediating in talks between the opposition and president 0rtega's government. the government says catholic bishops have sided with the opposition. more than three hundred people have died in three months of protests against mr 0rtega. let's go back to zimbabwe. dr kenneth mufuka is a zimbabwean historian who grew up 16 kilometres from the ruins of great zimbabwe, a medieval city in the south—eastern hills of zimbabwe near the town of masvingo. it is now a unesco world heritage site. dr kenneth mufuka tells our witness team about how its ancient structures have been used as a political tool by generations of ruling elites. this is one of the most remarkable sites in africa.

these are the corridors of power of an ancient african civilisation. this is great zimbabwe. everybody in power wants to control history because it brings them legitimacy. the europeans said the africans did not build the ruins. it belonged to someone else, the phoenicians, the arabs, the queen of sheba, anybody else except the africans. the great zimbabwe was the greatest civilisation south of egypt. it carried about 10,000 people. that was quite a large city. it was also the scene of religion and the economy of zimbabwe, it was gold. it could be traced as far back as 1100. i was raised about ten miles away from. i was obsessed with history

so i visited it as a child. there was a bus to the great zimbabwe but this was for tourists, blacks were not allowed there. but we just turn up and if there were no white visitors, you can wander about. the structures are massive. the stones are chiselled to be exactly the same size and they are not connected by mortar or cement. we felt in some ways deprived of what belonged to us. that we belonged to a great people. that we are oppressed by the colonial regime. newsreel: when europeans first saw great zimbabwe in the 1890s, they could not believe that so imposing a structure could have been built by the ancestors of the africans they found living there.

zimbabwe was not built by either blacks or whites. the people who built it were semitic. they were brown in colour and were evidently the people who were a mixture of arabs and jews. the europeans, they were going there to civilise africans who were in darkness, who had no history. so if they accepted that some of these africans had these wonderful civilisations, their reasoning would fall apart. newsreel: on april18, 1980, zimbabwe became independent. it was a great moment for us. history became important. they were going to find a new identity by going into the past. i was the first black director of national museums. i was supposed to use my abilities as a writer to write a new manual for the great zimbabwe, getting away from the eurocentric

interpretation so that heritage could be reclaimed. it was one of my happiest times but it was also full of challenges because the politicians insisted that i must say that the great zimbabwe was built by revolutionaries. and i refused, isaid, no, there is nothing revolutionary. they were just ordinary people building as they were told by the king. they were angry with me and i had to leave zimbabwe, in a hurry, because now they were looking to lock me up. i think my life explains why history is very exciting because look at the problems i have gone through because of my writing of history. that was historian, dr kenneth mufuka talking to our witness team. britain's geraint thomas

is set to win the tour de france after maintaining his overall lead on the penultimate stage of the race, a 31km time trial. he came third during saturday's time trial but still has a 1 minute and 51 second advantage over his nearest rival. the four—time winner, chris froome, will finish the race in third place. joe curry has more from paris. a maiden tour de france title in his sights with a lead ofjust over two minutes, giraffe thomas would never get a better chance to be crowned champion, something no welshman had ever achieved. —— geraint. just a 31 kilometre time trial stood between him and sporting immortality. chris froome started the day in fourth. his hopes forjoint record fifth title realistically over before today's stage. world time trial champion and the biggest threat to thomas' crown, tonder malone, went

faster yet. the vultures were circling but the title was within thomas' grasp. not even a slipup would deter him, and while his legs started to show the strain, he was able to do in. it wasjust a whirlwind. 0bviously across the line it was massive emotion. and now, it is going to take a while to sink in, for sure. i is going to take a while to sink in, forsure. iam hearing is going to take a while to sink in, for sure. i am hearing the stories about what it is like back home in wales. like i said, i've stayed in the bubble, i haven't let any of that in. i've no idea what it is like. i obviously have some sort of idea but it is just insane, really. tomorrow's processional finale traditionally dictates nobody attacks the yellow jersey, traditionally dictates nobody attacks the yellowjersey, which means all thomas has to do is cross the finishing line here in paris and he will be crowned champion. he becomes just the third ever brit on to it windy to do france, and there to it windy to do france, and there to congratulate him was a surprise visit from his wife on the finishing line. —— briton to win the bid to do france. the changing of the guard

has begun. the lieutenant has become the captain. after almost 65,000 kilometres at sea, history has been made in the clipper round the world yacht race. for the first time a female skipper, wendy tuck, has led her team of amateur sailors to victory. thousands turned out to watch the teams sail into liverpool after nearly a year at sea. peter harris reports. for the winners, a moment to savour, and a first too for the round the world yacht race. wendy tuck becoming the first women to skipper the winning crew. the hardest part is getting the team to gel. you might have people who are really competitive, people who aren't and just trying to get them all together, that's the hardest part. you can teach anybody to sail and i had a few people who could sail but that's the easy part. it's making the team come together that's the hardest part. it had been an 11—month journey across 40,000 nautical miles.

the 11 yachts, each with around 20 crew, tackled everything the elements could throw at them. all but the skippers are non—professionals including a teacher and a nurse. for them, it was a life—changing experience. my main aim from this was to come away a better person, it was an ideal way to take a step out of my normal day—to—day life for a year. a pretty extreme way of doing it but i definitely managed to achieve that. the round the world yacht race will be staged again next year. this year's competitors say it has been a feat of spirit and stamina that they will never forget. a giant panda at the yunnan safari park in south—west china has been celebrating his fourth birthday with a special cake and young tourists singing happy birthday. zookeepers prepared mao zhu a four—layer iced cake, with each layer topped by different food including bamboo, bamboo leaves, apples, honey and corn—bread. mao zhu and his partner zhen duo moved to the park in 2016. it was the second birthday mao zhu has spent at the zoo. now the weather

with matt taylor. good morning. not only was yesterday our first day below 25 degrees sincejune 23, it was also for some an especially wet one, flooding in northern ireland as we saw a month's worth of rainfall in just three hours. bringing about the change has been been a shift in the position of the jetstream. instead of being to the north of us, it's taken a dive southwards across the atlantic and pushed towards the south, circulating an area of low pressure around the uk and dragging in cool air off the north atlantic. it has two discrete centres, one to the north—west of scotland, very strong winds, and one to the south of england. again, some strong winds to come. accompanied by a spell of steady rain, not the intensity we saw on saturday. the big story will be the strength of the wind. 40, 50 mph gusts around southern and western coasts and hills, persistent rain to go with it. little bit drier in eastern areas of england first thing. the rain is spreading north and east quite

smartly through the morning. maybe just clipping the east of northern ireland and into southern scotland first light but much of northern ireland, a good part of scotland, a dry and bright start with some sunshine, although in the hebrides, some of the strongest of winds. 50—60mph gusts in the morning with outbreaks of rain. but getting better here, compared to the rest of scotland where it will turn cloudier and wetter through the day, especially through central and eastern parts. northern ireland, just one or two showers clipping the east, many will have a much better day than saturday. england and wales, the cloud and persistent rain of the morning will ease back to sunshine and showers for the afternoon. some of those on the heavy side, but also, note the temperatures. it will be the first day in a while where we have seen temperatures lower than the average for this time of year quite widely. into sunday night, lots of dry weather, clear skies but a few showers to southern and western areas later. still have a south—westerly wind. while we dropped down into single figures in rural parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern england, further south, temperatures will be in the mid—teens. we start the new working week not on a cold note but with low pressure still circulating to the north—west. still pushing weather fronts our way. these are not as potent as sunday's. a fairly fragmented area

of cloud and rain spilling northwards and eastwards. still breezy but not as windy as on sunday and a bit more sunshine between the afternoon showers. the showers heaviest and most frequent the further north you are. temperatures still in the teens here but getting back into the mid—20s for some towards the south and the east as they will be again on tuesday. always a bit cooler and breezier further north you are on tuesday with a few showers still in the forecast. but after a fresher and showery weekend and start to next week, things do warm up later on. summer is not done yet. this is bbc news, the headlines: at least five people have died, including two children and their great—grandmother, as a huge wildfire sweeps across northern california. 17 people are missing and nearly 40,000 have been

forced to flee. firefighters are battling the blaze. they say it's only 5% contained so far. pope francis has accepted the resignation of a prominent us cardinal. the catholic church found that allegations theodore mccarrick had sexually abused a teenager were credible and substantiated. the 88—year—old is the first man to leave the college of cardinals in almost a century. the two main candidates in zimba bwe's presidential elections have addressed large crowds of supporters in the capital, harare. president emmerson mnangagwa of the zanu—pf party faces a challenge nelson chamisa of the opposition mdc. it's the first presidential poll since robert mugabe was ousted from power in november, from power in november. what's the perfect way to celebrate your 80th birthday? how about a trip around the world on a private plane? that's exactly what one couple from cheshire have decided to do,

but they won't be travelling on a luxuryjet. jim jones will be flying the small two seater aircraft himself, and his wife dot will be navigating. mark edwardson has been to see them before they set off. jim has been a pilot for more than 50 years. right, 0k, everything all right, yeah? fuel on.