welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: massive wildfires sweep north america bringing death and devastation from new mexico to alaska. a relief operation‘s underway on the indonesian island of lombok, after a powerful earthquake left fourteen people dead and damaged thousands of homes. just hours before zimbabwe's historic election, former president robert mugabe says he won't back his successor and the man who ousted him. president trump's attacks on the press are branded divisive and dangerous by the publisher of the new york times. celebrations in wales as gerant thomas triumphs in the tour de france. he says his surprise win is "the stuff of dreams". hello and welcome to bbc news.

firefighters in the united states say 90 large wildfires have now burned a million acres in m states. the deadliest fire is in northern california, where six people have died and president trump has declared a state of emergency. and president trump has declared a state of emergency. thousands of people have had to abandon their homes in the town of redding, from where james cook has sent this report. even by the while standards of rural california this fire is exceptional. he created tornadoes of flames, uprooting trees and hurling cars aside. that is our home, i believe. it is completely on fire. nearly 40,000 people were forced to flee.

fire everywhere on both sides of the road. houses coming down. hundreds of homes have been destroyed, including some built during the gold rush in the 19th century. to firefighters were killed and this man was searching for his family.” am glad they are helping out. but i just cannot see how i can go on without them. the news is not good. two children and their great—grandmother has now been found dead. 130 major wildfires are now burning rom alaska to texas. 0r dead. 130 major wildfires are now burning rom alaska to texas. or has particularly been hardest hit. firefighters blazing seven big blazes. 0ne firefighters blazing seven big blazes. one has closed the national park, a blow to tourism. the

wildfire aspect in california has intensified. we experienced more and more damaging wildfires, more that ignite rapidly. it is like throwing gas into these types of fire. human activity, natural weather patterns and man—made climate change are to blame say experts. but there is more hot, dry and dangerous weather on the way. brianna sacks is covering the wildfires for buzzfeed news and joins us on the line from redding. has the threat reduced since last speaking yesterday? for the first time officials are sounding a bit optimistic. even though the fire grew a little bit to 90,000 acres. today at a meeting they were saying

they are a little bit of ground. not so they are a little bit of ground. not so much in it defensive mode but able to kind of make some more room on the line and get more control. does this mean that residents will be able to return to their homes any time soon? well, they keep pushing back on that. some people have. they are being a bit cautious. i think probably tomorrow and tuesday we will see more people start to return but they are still wanting to keep people out because of the erratic wind and weather that keeps turning. are people still being rescued? is there a search under way for missing people? there have been some missing people? there have been some missing people report is still coming through. a lot of them they are

hoping it is a communications issue. i think today they were investigating seven and reading police had 10— 11. they are hoping that it police had 10— 11. they are hoping thatitis police had 10— 11. they are hoping that it is communications difficulties. i am looking at the number of fire alerts and it is covered in almost the whole country but particularly california, or higuain and a lascar. —— or or 0regon there is a big fire in the yosemite area. the lake county has

two fires erupted yesterday. 24,000 acres in a day. the state isjust really dealing with a lot of major incidents right now. firefighters keep saying that we are being efficient with what we have but it is getting more and more difficult to keep throwing personnel and resources at this carr with more going on in the northern border and san diego. more than 100 aftershocks have been felt following a powerful earthquake on the indonesian island of lombok. at least 14 people have been killed on the island, but officials say hundreds have been injured and the number of casualties is expected to rise. lombok is located

about 40km east of bali and is popular with tourists. the main quake hit early in the morning, when many people were still sleeping and was then followed by the numerous aftershocks. pablo uchoa reports. right side! a scenic morning trek ending in panic. a mountain guide who was leading a trek on an indonesian mountain, a site popular with tourists, captured the moment the earthquake struck. the footage shows a group of climbers trying to get down the mountain as quickly as possible, as clouds of dust rise from nearby landslides. this is what residents in northern lombok woke up to. the quake of magnitude 6.4 was quickly followed by more than 100 smaller earthquakes. thousands of homes were damaged. it's thought that dozens of people were injured by falling debris. translation: it happened

all of a sudden, around 6am, and then everything collapsed. my house collapsed. my kid was inside, but thank god he's safe. the epicentre of the earthquake struck 50 kilometres north—east of the city of mataram, in the north of the island. indonesia is prone to earthquakes. it lies on what's 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. authorities fear the number of people killed could rise. palbo ochoa, bbc news. the publisher of the new york times has warned donald trump in a white house meeting, that the president's attacks on the news media are "dangerous and harmful to the country." president trump's meeting

with arthur g sulzberger took place on the 20th ofjuly, following a request from the white house for what appeared to be a routine get—to—know—you session. our washington correspondent chris buckler has more details. if this meeting between the new york times and donald trump was intended to mend or build temperatures will the relationship is not lasted very long. we heard about the meeting when president trump tweeted about it even though it took place over a week ago. he said they had a very good meeting at the white house and they discussed the vast amount of fa ke they discussed the vast amount of fake news being put out by the media and how that fake news has morphed into the phrase enemy of the people. that is why president trump on occasion calls of the press and it has led to a very strong statement coming back from the new york times in which they say that is not how

they saw the meeting. ag sulzberger, publisher of the new york times, says he went to speak about the anti— press rhetoric of president trump and says the row concerns that other regimes are using it to justify their cracker. —— there are concerns. he says it is undermining democratic ideals in the us, particularly those of a free press and free speech. he goes on to say that as far as he's concerned president trump can criticise the new york times and their coverage if he feels it is not fair but concerned about the broader attack onjournalism which he concerned about the broader attack on journalism which he says has concerned about the broader attack onjournalism which he says has been harmful and damaging to the country. he also says it is risking violence and putting lives at risk. he says there are journalists threatened as a result of what president trump is

saying and it is to be more careful about his language. that has of course been a response from the president. he says it comes with... freedom of press comes with responsibility. that some things have not been reported fairly for example the good economic news in recent months has not been properly reported. there have been name—calling as well. he singles out the washington post for criticism. it gives it a real idea that this hostile relationship between donald trump and the press is not going to be solved and resolved very easily. let's get some of the day's other news: iran's currency has continued its record—breaking fall as the country braces for the us to re—impose sanctions next month. the value of the rial has plunged on the unofficial market — $1 now buys more than 100,000 rial.

the currency has lost half its worth since april. the return of american sanctions follows president trump's decision in may to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal. later today the malaysian government will publish its final report on what happened to flight mh370. the malaysia airlines plane vanished with 239 people on board as it was flying from kuala lumpur to beijing in march, 2014. it's believed it crashed in the southern indian ocean. malaysia has said it would consider resuming the search if new clues came to light. the polish jazz trumpeter and composer, tomasz stanko, has died at the age of 76. stanko was inspired early on by american trumpeters, miles davis and chet baker, but went on to experiment in free—form jazz. zimbabwe's former president, robert mugabe, has addressed the media, on the eve of the country's first elections since he was ousted from office. he said the people of zimbabwe hadn't been free since he was removed.

mr mugabe also said he won't be voting for the man who succeeded him, emmerson mnangagwa. our africa editor fergal keane reports from the zimbabwean capital, harare. enter the ghost of elections past to make mischief and seek ditty. he is 94 and for the first time in the history of zimbabwe independent robert mugabe's name is not on the ballot. he is bitter. what we have seen, i was sacked from the party i founded. the days they have been rumours that grace and robert mugabe would support nelson chamisa as an act of revenge towards emmerson mnangagwa. i cannot vote for a party

01’ mnangagwa. i cannot vote for a party or those in power that have brought me to this state. i cannot vote for them. so what is there? nelson chamisa. it ended with an endorsement of sorts for nelson chamisa but will it help or into him with the country and a memory of violence. it might explain robert mugabe's cautious response. —— nelson chamisa. mr mugabe's wishes have to be respected but as the me i am going to accept any voter with

open hands and a open heart. down here, any alliance with robert mugabe is potentially toxic for the opposition. these are the most graves —— mass graves from robert mugabe times. translation: ijust wish we could find the remains of those who were killed so we could bury them respectfully but everything else is in the past now. nothing that happens now will bring them back. tonight in harare, president emmerson mnangagwa seized on mugabe's intervention, ignoring his own role in past actions. you can his own role in past actions. you ca n vote his own role in past actions. you can vote for mugabe under the guise of nelson chamisa of all you vote for a new country under my

leadership. the fall in despot hungry to justify himself, he is out of power but his malign legacy looms over this election. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we meet the stand—in mum helping same—sex couples shunned by their parents on their wedding day. the us space agency, nasa, has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk. the last foot patrol

in south armagh. once an everyday part of the soldier's lot — drudgery and danger — now no more after almost four decades. if one is on one's own in a private house, not doing any harm to anybody, i don't really see why these people should wander in and say, "you're doing something wrong." six rare white lion cubs are on the prowl at worcestershire park, and already they've been met with a roar of approval from visitors. they're lovely, yeah. really sweet. yeah, they're cute. this is bbc news. the headline: mass to sweep north america, bringing death and devastation from new mexico to alaska. the relief

operation is under way on the indonesian island of lombok after a powerful earthquake left 14 people dead and damaged thousands of homes. cambodia's prime minister, hun sen, says that he has won a landslide election victory. the election is cambodia's sixth since it emerged from decades of war in 1993, and many have criticised the government for a crackdown on all opposition factions. hun sen, who has ruled cambodia for 33 years, has been reelected with an estimated 80% of the vote, with his party, the cpp, taking at least 100 of the 125 parliamentary seats. the official results won't be announced until mid—august. michael vatikiotis is the regional director at the centre for humanitarian dialogue. he believes that there will be some concerns about the credibilty of the election result. it's going to be very hard actually to get sort of facts because we are relying entirely on the government's election commission, and international observers have been very limited

in their access and it has mostly come from countries that are not necessarily the most credible election observers. however, from what we can tell, there was a large block of votes that went to the prime cpp, but it could be upwards of 30% of ballots in some areas that were spoiled. when you consider that in the last election, the opposition got almost over 40% of the vote, so let's say that half that total amounts to spoiled votes and let's also assume that perhaps the government is inflating the actual number of votes and the turnout. so i think a large number of people still registered their displeasure with the government. i think we are going to have to see

the opposition grow more grassroots support, there was a grassroots support, it could have done better if it had more time. hun sen is a famously mercurial, unpredictable leader and what he made well end up doing, given there is a degree of pressure from the international community, not as much as many people would have hoped but to a degree, and of course the eu is a major investor in cambodia, he may relax now that he has been elected, he does not have to worry about the opposition, may release the opposition leader. he may start to open up the ground that had been there for civil societyjust a year ago, and it is quite possible that we will see a somewhat return to normality. weddings amongst couples in lgbt communities are on the rise, but unfortunately, some of their parents are unwilling to attend, leaving people on their own on their big day. well, to combat this, one woman from oklahoma has offered to step in as the ‘stand—in mom' to fill that void. sara cunningham came to terms with her own son being gay, and now she helps others disowned by their parents. throw the rice and blow the bubbles, whatever you need... if you need a mum to come

to your same—sex marriage because your biological mum won't, i'm your girl. ijust started again hearing about parents who were not accepting the relationships between the couples, not recognising their marriage as holy. it's the most profound day of their life. i was that mum too. i was that mum wondering, could i go to my own son's wedding? i had to reconcile my own fears about that. it doesn't seem like a monumental action but it is so important. it's the highlight of one's life

to be married to someone that they love and adore, and to not celebrate that, i think no matter where you stand, if you're not sure about it or how to accept this, as you are trying to navigate through that, go to the wedding, celebrate your children. geraint thomas has become britain's third winner of the tour de france. the 32—year—old, it arrives the team sky, took control of the stage by winning two stages in the alps within a week. he was joined by his wife, sarah. a lovely look in his eyes there. geraint thomas has been

inundated by congratulations, especially from wales, where he is from. the party was in full swing by the time geraint thomas finished the tour in paris. back home, friends and fans had gathered to celebrate their champion. some have known g, as they call him, since his journey into cycling began at age nine. it's amazing, but also unbelievable in a way that that little boy, the boy next door, sort of thing, has now won in the biggest sporting event in the world. for the young members of his former club, this was a huge day. excited and proud of his connection with the maindy flyers. i'm really happy and excited because he has won the tour de france, and it proves that, because he came from the same club as us, that we can get to his standard, and i wish that there was also a tour de france for women.

he's helped chris froome on the past four tours, and he's never had any recognition, but now he gets a chance to shine. i definitely look up to him. he's like a hero, the first welshman to win the tour de france. it's amazing. he's long had place in the hall of fame at his former school in cardiff. steve williams coached him, alongside two other pupils who made it to the top: former wales rugby international sam warburton and footballer gareth bale. cool character and i would say, for his own sport, same as sam, same as gareth, a breath of fresh air in his own sport. tonight, hundreds of cyclists decided to pay their tribute with a celebratory bike ride. couldn't resist, take the opportunity tonight to come and celebrate with everyone else. to watch geraint thomas's career has been truly remarkable, and he's such a great ambassador for wales. experienced cyclists and those new to the sport set off, and the partying is likely to continue here for some time.

lovely scenes. now just lovely scenes. nowjust before we 90, lovely scenes. nowjust before we go, let's show you some scenes from the ancient bosnian town of mostar because for centuries, young men have participated in the tradition which involves jumping from this bridge into the river below. there we re bridge into the river below. there were some international and local competitors and there was an audience of several thousand watching. and one more before i let you go, pandas, we all love them. actually i am not a big fan, but i know you love them. the world's only surviving panda triplets surviving their birthday on sunday in guangzhou city. how lovely. thank you forjoining us. good morning.

the much needed rain we saw over the weekend does not signal the end of summer as we know it because, throughout this week, we're still going to see some sunshine and some warmth. we finished yesterday with some sunshine in the west, more of that to come today and through this week. as well as a bit more sunshine, it's not going to be quite as windy. the rain that we do see — and there will be some — will be mainly in the form of showers, only forming a small portion of the day if at all, and gradually we will see temperatures rise yet again. the weekend weather was courtesy of a overall low pressure centre to the south of iceland, bringing these weather fronts around the bottom edge of it. butjust notice that circulation, with the cooler air, starts to weaken as we go through the week, we start to tap in to warmer air across western europe later on. but out there this morning, it is a reasonably warm and not muggy start to the day, across parts of the south and east in particular, temperatures 17—18 celsius

for the morning commute. a few showers in the south and the west. cooler, even with the sunshine across northeast scotland, around 6 or 7 degrees. through the morning, we'll see showers develop quite widely. areas most prone to it — east anglia and south—east the odd heavy one. also from the south—west of wales, midlands, towards yorkshire and again across scotland, some of those can be heavy and thundery in the afternoon. there will be a few showers elsewhere but a lot of the time we'll be dry through the afternoon with some longer spells of sunshine than we saw through the weekend. with that and lighter winds, it will feel a little bit warmer, temperatures up a couple of degrees for many of you. into monday night, the showers we do see will fade away for a time. but then they'll get going again towards some southern and western areas, particularly across england and wales, where temperatures will stay in the teens. but northern england, scotland and northern ireland slightly fresher night to take us into tuesday, with temperatures more widely away from the cities in single digits. lots of sunshine here to begin, before cloud gathers later on. early showers across southern eastern england will depart into the north sea. much of the day then will be dry, some good sunny spells. we'll see a little bit more cloud through the afternoon but temperatures still at levels of monday.

around 19—25 degrees. we finish the day with some rain across scotland and northern ireland. we will see more returning as we go through wednesday. a lot of dry weather around though on wednesday, best of the sunshine in the morning. sunshine turning hazy into the afternoon with those showers developing towards the west, but by this stage, temperatures are on the up across that south—east corner, into the higher 20s. we'll see temperatures climb more widely through the end of the week. to get us into thursday, we still have a few weather fronts to deal with — here they are here, pushing in — but around an area of blossoming high pressure, so thatjust means a few showers across western parts of the uk. but further east, increasing sunshine. and, yes, we're likely to see a 30 degree temperature on the charts again. bye for now. this is bbc news. the headlines: firefighters in the us say 90 large wildfires have now burned a million acres in 14 states. the deadliest fire is in northern california where six people have died and thousands of people have had to abandon their homes. president trump has declared a state of emergency. a relief operation is underway

on the indonesian island of lombok, after a powerful earthquake left 14 people dead and damaged thousands of homes. the main quake hit early in the morning when many people were still sleeping and was followed by numerous aftershocks. officials say the number of casualties is expected to rise. just hours ahead of zimbabwe's historic election, former president robert mugabe has said he won't vote for the ruling party candidate. he was ousted last year and replaced by his former ally emmerson mnangagwa. the main challenger is the leader of the opposition mdc, nelson chamisa. those