this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at two. wildfires rage across northern california — five people are dead, hundreds of buildings have been destroyed. thousands have fled their homes. homes were exploding, cars were exploding. i have a wife and kids andi exploding. i have a wife and kids and i said i betterface time my wife just in case. i wanted to see herface one more wife just in case. i wanted to see her face one more time. a powerful earthquake on an indonesian island popular with tourists has killed at least 14 people and caused widespread damage trolls — people who abuse others online and who try to intimidate election candidates and campaigners could be barred from public office, the government says qatar denies claims it ran a secret campaign to sabotage other countries‘ bids for the 2022 world cup also this hour — on the brink of taking cycling's greatest prize. geraint thomas will

ride into paris later all—but assured the tour de france crown. and at two thirty westminster in review looks back at mps clashing in the commons over brexit, the windrush scandal and the nhs. good afternoon. welcome to bbc news. welcome to bbc news. fire fighters are tackling more than 100 separate fires along the west coast of north america, from canada down to the us state of new mexico. in california, 40,000 people in a single town have been forced to abandon their homes. the wildfires are known to have killed five people, two of them children, but many remain unaccounted for. caroline davies reports. with the force to pull trees from the earth and overturn cars, gale force winds have turned this californian wildfire into what survivors called a tornado of flame.

it's torn through forests and buildings, forcing nearly 40,000 to flee their homes and offices in just one town, including one local tv station. we are going to leave the station because it is now unsafe to be here. from the air and on the ground, firefighters are trying to control the blaze in and around the city of redding, but stopping it has been difficult and dangerous. the winds were so strong, the fire jumped the sacramento river. to fight fire in rugged country, we're used to doing that, but when it blows into a whole community or a city, it is a whole different element. this is the devastation it leaves behind. many who left don't know if their homes are still standing. some chose not to leave at all. homes were exploding. cars were exploding. i have a wife and kids and i said i'd better facetime my wife just in case. i didn't let her know why i was doing it but i wanted

to see her face one more time. five people have died in the fires so far including an elderly woman and her two great grandchildren aged just four and five. the fire moved so quickly it is difficult to know who escaped and who didn't. at least 12 people are reported to be missing. this is just one of 130 wildfires burning across north america, and as the dry weather continues, so too does the danger. caroline davies, bbc news. at least 14 people have died and dozens have been injured after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck a popular tourist destination in central indonesia. residents and tourists poured onto the streets and into open fields to escape damaged buildings on the island of lombok. the tremour was felt in bali, 60 miles away. 0ur correspondent katharine da costa reports. buildings and lives shaken to the core. this was the scene dozens woke up to in northern lombok. the distress clear to hear.

the quake, measuring 6.4 on the richter scale, was quickly followed by more than 60 smaller earthquakes. than 80 smaller earthquakes. the jolt was felt 60 miles away on the holiday island of bali. many buildings have been damaged. it is thought at least 40 people are injured, many are still being treated after being hit by falling debris. a malaysian tourist on a hiking trip is reportedly among those killed. the epicentre of the earthquake struck 30 miles north—east of the city of mataram in the north of the island. indonesia is prone to earthquakes. it lies on what is called the ring of fire, the line of quakes and volcanic eruptions that circle virtually the entire pacific rim. the region is on constant alert for tremors that might trigger tsunamis. this time no alert was issued. the country's disaster agency says the main focus now

is evacuation and rescue. at least 13 people are known to have lost their lives. authorities believe that number could rise. the bbc‘s vinayak gaikwad was just off the coast of lombok?at the time of the earthquake and described what he saw. it was really powerful, i have never seen an earthquake like this. because it was 6:37am, local time there. everyone was sleeping, and we did not understand what happened. suddenly everything was shaking, shaking really hard, so we came out of the room. many people actually came out of the room butjust in a couple of seconds, we understood it was an earthquake. the horrifying thing was the pool and the water, they turned like the sea, because there were waves in the swimming pool. we had never seen that. so we ran out of the hotel to safe ground. the locals actually were really worried because the statues here in lombok, and around

the gili islands where i was, they are made from bamboo and wood. they were really worried that these statues and the houses might fall down, but fortunately nothing happened of that sort. the tourists, like me, they were worried because there only mode of transport from the gili islands to the mainland of lombok was by boat, by the fast boats and speedboats. but after the earthquake, many feared that there would be a tsunami but the locals assured that there would not be a tsunami. they had checked with the local administration. the fishermen on the island, they also said looking at the sea, the sea is very cool and calm, so no tsunami would turn up. that was the only time, you know, we could not think much and we had to trust them. so we trusted them. the best part was the locals were really, really calm and supportive, because the tourists

were panicking a bit. it was a major earthquake and after—shocks also happened after 30 minutes or so. the after—shocks also lasted for 15 seconds, and that was for a bigger time, actually. so the locals assured the tourists, they calmed them down. all of us travelling from the gili to lombok, they assured that we reached lombok really well. when i reached lombok, the person who had come to pick me up, he said that his village, which isn't farfrom the point where i landed in lombok, that was affected. the houses had broken, the roots have fallen down. the roofs have fallen down. so the devastation was there, but we did not know. it was really early in the day, so we really did not know the magnitude of it. we only got to know when i came through lombok international airport, after three hours when we got good internet and then we could understand what has actually happened. fortunately, the lombok

international airport was functioning well. all the flights were on time, so there was nothing panicky at that moment. after suffering an unprecidented heatwave which killed at least 300 people, japan has now been battered by a powerful storm moving across the country. the storm has injured at least 21 people, disrupted flights, road and rail transport, and cut power to thousands of homes. residents in the south of the country have been warned to evacuate their homes, with up to 200 millimeters of rainfall forecast over the next 24 hours. the government is looking at making political adverts online more transparent so people know who is behind them. it also wants to crack down on online abuse against political candidates in elections. it follows the publication of a report into the extent of "fake news" on social media and its impact on the democratic process. here's our political

correspondent susana mendonca. what's real and what isn't? in the digital world it can be difficult to pick out what's fake news. revelations that people's personal data was being harvested by a company called cambridge analytica to influence the us elections through social media outlets like facebook has raised questions about the impact on democracy. a committee of mps is calling for the rules to be made clearer, amid concerns about foreign meddling in british elections. this is something you see, the palm of your hand, every time you pick up your smartphone and go onto your facebook app, so it's much more intrusive than before. but secondly, it's not always clear who is advertising to you. the reasons the russians could abuse facebook to run ads to target people in elections was because you didn't know that was who was doing it. the report looks into the kinds of adverts sent to users during the eu referendum. it calls for the creation of a register which allows everyone to see the messages that have been targeted at others, and makes it clear where adverts have come from. but does fake news

change the way you vote? there's little evidence to show that it definitely has an impact because that's a difficult thing to measure but it certainly has the potential to influence both how someone votes, in terms of their views and which side they support, but also whether they turn out to vote which are crucial elements in an electoral contest. facebook has been sending its own adverts out to tell users what it's been doing to combat fake news. it told the bbc it's working on ways to authenticate and label political adverts in the uk. meanwhile the government has announced plans to make social media a safer place for election campaigning. this is putting people off going into public service and putting voters off from taking part in politics. what we're doing is a couple of measures which we hope will really help to get voters to be well—informed about digital campaigning, but also to be able to be protected from intimidating behaviour during elections. labour said the government needs

to wake up to the new challenges we face, to make sure that future campaigns and elections can't be abused or manipulated. a five—year—old british boy has drowned at a resort in portugal's algarve region. according to police, the five—year—old had been playing with his two siblings in a swimming pool at the resort near silves on saturday. the foreign office has said officials are providing support for the family. that follows news this morning that a six—year—old girl has died after getting into difficulty in the sea in margate. kent police say they were called to the harbour yesterday afternoon after concerns were raised about a child in the sea. the girl, who was from erith in south—east london, was taken to hospital where she later died. qatar's succesful world cup bidding team has flatly denied that it ran a covert "black ops" public relations campaign to discredit rivals for the 2022 football finals. it follows allegations made by the sunday times that the qataris employed a pr agency and former cia operatives to try and undermine bids by the us and australia

in breach of fifa rules. our sports news correspondent richard conway reports. qatar! it was a moment that stunned the sport and the watching world. ever since that day in 2010, the qatari world cup has been embroiled in controversy, and today the sunday times has further allegations of wrongdoing. the paper claims to have seen leaked documents that show the qatari bid team employed a us pr team and ex—cia agents to smear its rivals, mainly the united states and australia. some of the alleged aspects of the smear campaign include a group of american pe teachers being recruited to ask their us congressmen to oppose an american world cup on the grounds that the money would be better used on high—school sports. grassroots protests were organised at rugby games across australia, opposing the country's bid. journalists, bloggers and high profile figures were recruited in each country to hype up negative aspects of their respective bids.

there are now calls for fifa, football's world governing body, to hold an independent inquiry. if the qatari bid team were involved in a campaign like that, then that means they would have broken the rules of the bidding process, so it's a really serious matter. i think it requires proper investigation and fifa to be involved in investigating that as well. in a statement, qatar's supreme committee for delivery and legacy said it rejects each and every allegation put forward. fifa says a thorough investigation into corruption claims was conducted in 2014, with michael garcia, a us attorney, clearing qatar of any wrongdoing. qatar is locked in a fierce political feud with neighbouring countries saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. these claims will therefore be seized upon by its critics as further reason to strip them of the tournament, despite the fact there appears little appetite from fifa to act. richard conway, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... wildfires in northern

california kill five people, destroy hundreds of buildings and cause thousands to flee their homes. and a powerful earthquake on an indonesian tourist island kills at least 14 people, injures over a hundred and damages thousands of homes. under new government proposals trolls who go online to intimidate election candidates and campaigners could be barred from public office. hundreds of people have attended a church service in the greek seaside resort of mati in memory of more than 80 killed by wildfires. a greek orthodox bishop said the community was mourning the loss of family, neighbours and friends after fires swept through the area last monday. dozens of volunteer divers have continued searching the sea for those who are still unaccounted for. the former president of zimbabwe, robert mugabe, has given his first news conference since being deposed last year.

his intervention comes a day before the country goes to the polls to elect a new parliament and president. mr mugabe said that he had planned to stand down at his party's congress in december anyway. he denied that he planned to hand the leadership to his wife, grace, and said since his forced removal from office the people of zimbabwe had not been free. they have not been free since that day. when tanks rolled through and across the country. when there was a takeover, by the army. we can speak to our correspondent

nomsa maseko who's in harare. whatever you can say about his physicalfrailty, mr mugabe whatever you can say about his physical frailty, mr mugabe has whatever you can say about his physicalfrailty, mr mugabe has not lost his sense of political timing, has he? and he also urged people to go out

and vote tomorrow in the elections, but also more importantly, this is the party that he founded and he said he would not be voting for zanu—pf at alland said he would not be voting for zanu—pf at all and he sounded like he was endorsing the movement for democratic change is on the other candidate. this is a bit of a kick in the teeth for the current president, the man who effectively forced him out of office and one of his oldest political allies. the two men were cheek byjowl for the best pa rt men were cheek byjowl for the best part of 40 years. that is correct. he even went as far as saying that emerson and anger, the current president, was a good worker, but he was not always an honest person. so he went far to say that he does not believe in zanu—pf and their politics and a lot of people say

when mr mugabe took over in 1980 he first started out as freedom fighter, but then became a tyrant, which he denied. he said during his rule zimbabwe was democratic and the country was in the right direction. he is also trying to put his interpretation on what happened to him back in november and all the official voices in zimbabwe have been telling us there was no coup, there was no question of anyone being forced out, it was all done constitutionally. he is saying, no, this was effectively a political hostile takeover against the rulers of the country. he went as far as to say it was a coup d'etat and that the neighbouring countries in southern africa should not believe lies which they are told by the

current president. he also said he was quite resentful and it was painful because his name and his photograph will not be in the ballot paper when millions of people go out to vote tomorrow. will that make any difference? a lot of people are accusing him of even breaking the electoral rule by endorsing a candidate the day before the elections when officially the campaigns should have ended yesterday. in fact, the people surrounding him, all his bodyguards and the pr people surrounding him, i saying this is not true, this is mr mugabe's press conference and he is not campaigning for anybody. but at the same time a lot of people wanted to hear what mr mugabe had to say

and the fact he is now denouncing a party that he founded is not surprising, but it does sound like he is very resentful and he has not got over the fact that he was deposed by people that he trusted. we will know tomorrow when the election takes place. you will have a busy 36 hours. look forward to speaking to you. the bbc understands that the labour mp ian austin is facing suspension following his criticism of the labour leadership in backing a new anti—semitism code of conduct for the party. an investigation is under way by the labour party into the events following the labour nec meeting where the definition of anti—semitism was discussed and the decision taken not to endorse word—for—word the international holocaust remembrance alliance definition. a palestinian teenager has been freed from an israeli prison, after serving an eight—month

sentence for slapping and kicking an israeli soldier. ahed tamimi was 16 at the time of the incident, and the footage of it happening went viral around the world. her sentence was widely condemned, as children are protected by international law from imprisonment. this is the scene where she was speaking to her mother. ahed tamimi was reunited with her family after nearly eight months in israeli jails. she was released along with her mother nariman, after a case which drew fresh attention to israel's military occupation of the west bank, now into its 52nd year. translation: from the house of the martyr, i say resistance is continuing. until the occupation is removed. all female prisoners injail are strong and i thank everyone who has stood by me while i was in prison and who stood with all women prisoners. aged 16, in a video that was live streamed on facebook by herfamily, she slapped and kicked an israeli

soldier outside her home. she demanded the troops get out. she was said to have been angry, having just learned her teenage cousin was seriously wounded in clashes with israeli soldiers. her home village of nabi saleh is the scene of regular palestinian protests. there was unrest at the time after the us decision to recognise jerusalem as israel's capital. in march, she was tried in an israeli military court where she agreed to a guilty plea to assault and incitement while other charges were dropped. the case drew worldwide attention. human rights groups criticised israel's system of military trial for palestinian children. many israelis, though, saw restraint in their soldiers actions, in their soldiers' actions, they accused the tamimi family, frequent activists, of exploiting their daughter by live streaming her actions.

they say the more serious point was that she called for large demonstrations, and she said president trump must bear responsibility for any palestinian violence or attacks. but to palestinians, ahed tamimi has become a symbol of resistance against occupation. a 16—year—old girl who defended her home against soldiers, they say. her actions have sparked intense debate. she says she has paid a heavy price. tom bateman, bbc news, jerusalem. let's get more now on the tour de france and as we've been hearing in sport, geraint thomas is on the brink of becoming the first welshman and the third british cyclist to win the event. sir dave brailsford, the man in charge of geraint thomas and team sky, says their plan was to have him ready to perform strongly this month. we decided with him for the first time that his entire season should be built around peaking injuly. previously, he'd done the tour of italy in may, he'd hit the racing peak sooner and dropped off and come back

up forjuly, but this season was all about july and building for july. we can speak tojo currie who's in paris where geraint will cross the finish line later today. i hope it is going to be quite a reception there for him. remind people why it is we can be so confident that he has one and nobody will scoot ahead of him at the last minute. it may be the final day of the tour on paper, but effectively it finished yesterday. the last stage has always been seen traditionally as a procession and traditionally as a procession and traditionally no one ever attacks the yellow jersey on traditionally no one ever attacks the yellowjersey on the final day. along the route heading into paris you might see pictures of geraint thomas and his team—mates linking arms and drinking the odd glass of champagne ina arms and drinking the odd glass of champagne in a celebration of the last three weeks. it has been a

gruelling three weeks. they have ridden over 3500 kilometres and when they get into paris they wanted eight laps of the shop elysee. the matter what, as long as he finishes today, he will be crowned champion of the tour de france. how did he do it? i'm so of the tour de france. how did he do it? i'm so sorry, i did not quite catch that. how did he do it? how did he get himself in pole position? it isa did he get himself in pole position? it is a good question. this year all the talk was about chris froome, the defending champion coming in, the four times winner, and thomas were seen as four times winner, and thomas were seen as his understudy. but as the tour went on and chris froome started to falter, that is when thomas came out of the shadows and showed he was a potential champion in waiting. he survived the mountains, the dissents, the time trials and he kept himself out of trouble. no accidents or punctures.

0n trouble. no accidents or punctures. on paper he has pretty much ridden the perfect race. and in terms of the perfect race. and in terms of the reception in paris this afternoon? it could be a bit of a mixed action if i'm honest. team sky have failed to shake off the doping rumours that have dogged them for the last couple of years, despite nothing ever been proven. along the way they have been booed. chris froome was spat at. they have had eggs thrown against the car. but in paris there might be a warm welcome for geraint thomas. he will be the first welshman to ever win the tour. he will be only the third british man to win the tour and for team sky it is six out of seven over the last few years. there will be plenty of crowds and thousands of people expected, so hopefully a very warm reception. apparently he is looking for a few beers and a burger to go along with that champagne. you can't blame him. we will hear more a

little later when geraint thomas arrives for his lap of honour. here, blue badge parking permits are to be made available for people in england with "hidden disabilities" such as autism or mental health problems. the department for transport said people with non—physical disabilities would have an equal right to free parking from next year. similar changes have already come into effect in scotland and wales. the weather forecast is getting a lot more interesting. lucy is there. good afternoon. it certainly is more interesting. we have got cool, wet and windy weather, words we have not said that much this summer. most of the rain has cleared england and wales. still some heavy bursts for eastern empires of scotland. it is working its way north east. an improved today on yesterday for northern ireland. writer intervals for parts

of western counties of wales and england, but holding on to that gusty wind. 45 miles an hour across england and wales. the maximum is 23 degrees. 0vernight the rain will clear up degrees. 0vernight the rain will clearup and degrees. 0vernight the rain will clear up and there will be showery outbreaks of rain in the early hours. cooler in the north, but warm in the south. tomorrow more showery rain in the south—east in the morning, but gradually brightening up. we are looking at the day of sunshine and showers. the odd rumble of thunder possible. the highest temperature is 25. this is bbc news, the headlines... an emergency has been declared in northern california as wildfires continue a rampage through the state, killing people and damaging hundreds of homes. at least 14 people have been killed on the centre and knees in island of lombok, over 100 people have been

injured due to an earthquake. here, online trolls who intimidate election candidates or campaigners could be barred from public office. a move has been considered after social media abuse was found to be rife during an investigation into the election last year. qatar's successful bid to host the football world cup in 2022,