welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm 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 1a 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. celebrations in wales as geraint thomas triumphs in the tour de france. he says his surprise win is the stuff of dreams. hello and welcome to bbc news. at least six people are now known to have died in a wildfire

which has destroyed hundreds of homes in northern california. the blaze is one of around 130 large wildfires currently burning in the united states and canada. more than 10,000 firefighters have been deployed in california alone. 0ur north america correspondent james cook has sent this report. even by the wild standards of rural california this fire is exceptional. driven by gale—force winds, the balze was so intense it created tornadoes of flames, uprooting trees and hurling cars aside. that is a home, i believe. it's 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. houses coming down. houses that were alreay 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 am glad they are helping me out. help me get ‘em. i just can't see how i can go without ‘em. somebody has to know where they're at. the news was not good — two children and their great—grandmother has 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 we've had the drought issue, for years now, in california, the wildfire aspect has intensified over the years. so we experienced more and more damaging wildfires, more fires that ignite rapidly. it is 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 on the way. james cook, bbc news, los angeles. dale kasler is covering the wildfires for the sacramento bee newspaper and joins me live from sacramento in northern california. thank you forjoining us. what is it like in your region? well, it is very hot here, temperatures rn the 90- very hot here, temperatures rn the 90 - 100 very hot here, temperatures rn the 90 — 100 degrees range. —— temperatures are in. it is hazy, it is smoky. where i am in sacramento, which is 2.5 hours south of the fire in redding, we can still see that hayes and smell it. —— haze.

in redding, we can still see that hayes and smell it. -- haze. lots of the counties around you are affected by these fires, aren't they? yes, it isafair by these fires, aren't they? yes, it is a fair distance removed from sacramento and it is remarkable that you can see smoke here. or at least see the haze in the air here, 2.5 hours away. it's just incredible that that's what summer is like of them around here. —— often. as your reporter said, the death toll in the redding fire is up to six. the sixth body was discovered earlier today. ironically, the situation in redding has actually gotten somewhat better today and they are starting to talk about allowing some of the 38,000 people who were evacuated, to go back home. we are not sure when but they are starting to talk about it,

pretty soon. it is probably more or less every summer pretty soon. it is probably more or less every summer that we talk about wildfires in california and i'm sure you guys at the sacramento bee are no stranger to covering these fires but what is so different about it at this year? it is getting worse and it is getting earlier. the pick of the fire season is supposed to be august, september, october. we have ready had several major fires already starting in june ready had several major fires already starting injune and early july. the climatologists that we speak to say it really is about climate change. the vegetation, the trees, the grass, they dry out quicker and sooner in the year. it is just waiting for the match to be lit. some people at the statewide fire department say there is really no fire season any more. it is a

year—round. no fire season any more. it is a year-round. 0k, thank you very much. indonesian authorities say more than 100 hikers are still trapped, unable to come down from mount rinjani on the indonesian island of lombok, after sunday's earthquake triggered landslides. an evacuation effort to get the remaining hikers off the mountain is underway. the dead toll from the quake remains at 1a. 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 0choa, bbc news. let's get some of

the day's other news. a number of landslides have been triggered by heavy rainfall in southwest china. in yunnan province, cars were submerged and houses flooded after 5cm of rain fell in three hours. hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes and in sichuan province, landslides swept away houses leaving thousands of tonnes of mud and rocks blocking off roads. in the next few hours, 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. votes are being counted in mali's presidential election which has been marred by violence. election observers say voting was disrupted in several areas

and at some places polling didn't happen at all despite a large security precence. president ibrahim boubacar keita is standing against more than 20 challengers. 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. 0ur washington correspondent chris buckler has more details. well, if this meeting between the new york times and donald trump was intended to mend or build bridges, well, the relationship is not lasted very long. the first thing we actually knew about the meeting was when president trump tweeted about it, even though it took place over a week ago. he said they had a very good

and interesting meeting at the white house and that they discussed, "the vast amounts 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 what president trump on occasion calls 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, who is a publisher of the new york times, says he went there to speak about president trump's anti—press rhetoric and the damage it was doing. he says that there are concerns that other regimes are using it to justify their own media crack—downs. he says it is proving to be damaging and devisive in terms of the us. and he says it is undermining democratic ideals in the united states, particularly those of a free press and free speech. now, he goes on to say that as far as he's concerned president trump can criticise the new york times can

criticise, can criticize their coverage, if he feels it is not fair but he is very 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 was are going to be threatened as a result of what president trump is saying and that he needs to be more careful with his language. there has, of course, been a response from president trump. he says freedom of the press comes with a responsibility to report the news accurately. and he is concerned that what he says is 90% of the coverage is negative but there have been some positive things from the administration that have not been reported fairly, for example, he really believes the economy and good economic news in recent months has not been properly reported. but there is some name—calling as well. he talks for example about the "failing new york times" and also singles out the washington post for criticism. it gives you a real idea that this hostile relationship between

donald trump and the press is not going to be solved and is not going to be resolved very easily. cambodia's president has said he has won a landslide victory. many have criticised the government for a crackdown on all opposition factions. 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 re—elected 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 regional director at the centre for humanitarian dialogue. he believes 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's 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 there are two things. first all on the government side, the challenge really the same. even if they come back to power with a much slimmer majority, which i think would have been a likely outcome, i think the government is still going to have to address the key issues of corruption

and reform of the government. the economy has been doing well, more than 8% growth over the last decade. 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. 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 world news, the latest headlines: massive wildfires sweep north america, bringing death and devastation from new mexico to alaska. 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. 0ur africa editor fergal keane reports from the zimbabwean capital, harare. enter the ghost of elections past to make mischief and seek pity. he is 94 and, for the first time in the history of an independent zimbabwe, robert mugabe's name is not on the ballot. he is bitter. what have we seen, i was sacked from the party i founded. for days there have been rumours that grace and robert mugabe would declare support for the opposition leader, nelson chamisa, as an act of revenge against president mnangagwa. fergal keane bbc news, would you prefer to see the opposition win tomorrow,

rather than see ed mnangagwa return to power? 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? i think it is just chamisa. so the press conference has ended with an endorsement of sorts for nelson chamisa but will that help or hinder him in a country with such a long memory of brutality under the mugabes? in fact, this was what robert mugabe's thugs once did to nelson chimesa. it might explain his cautious response to the endorsement. mr mugabe's wishes are his wishes. they have to be respected but, as for me, i am going to accept any voter with open hands and an open heart.

the violence of the past has haunted this election. down here, in rural matabeleland, any alliance with robert mugabe is potentially toxic for the opposition. these are the mass graves of some of the thousands killed when mugabe unleashed terror soon after independence. this woman's father disappeared during the terror. translation: ijust wish we could find the remains of those who were killed so we can bury them respectfully but everything else is in the past now. nothing that happens now will bring them back. tonight in harare, president mnangagwa seized on mugabe's intervention, ignoring, as ever, his own role in past violence. today, rober mugabe's limousine seemed to be bogged down

in the grounds of his grand mansion, where he and his wife, grace, seethe in their enforced retirement. the fallen despot hungry to justify himself, he is out of power but his malign legacy looms over this election. fergal keane, bbc news, harare. geraint thomas has become britain's third winner of the tour de france, crossing the line in paris. he finished arm in arm on the champs—elysee with team mate and four—time winner, chris froome. the 32—year—old who rides for team sky took control of the race by winning two stages in the alps in the second week. he was greeted in paris by his wife, sara. already the tour de france victor has been inundated with congratulations, especially from wales. garaint thomas' former cycling club said he's inspired a new generation.

sian lloyd joined them for their party in cardiff. 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 aged nine. it's amazing, but also unbelievable in a way that that little boy, the boy next door, sort of thing, has now won 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 to 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. bbc news, cardiff bay. weddings among couples in lgbt communities in the us 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 son being gay, now she helps others disowned by their parents. i'll 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 weren't 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's 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're

trying to navigate through that, go to the wedding, celebrate your children. now, it's often thought of as an expensive and elite art form but one ballet company in mexico city is breaking convention by taking its shows to a new, potentially unlimited, audience. andy beatt reports. taking swan lake to the streets and the nutcracker to a whole new neighbourhood. ballet is bringing culture to the heart of mexico's capital, and in the city with the world's worst traffic, helping commuters beat the blues. people think ballet is only for certain sectors of the population. that is why it is great to take it to public spaces, so that anyone can see it. tightly choreographed in time to correspond with the traffic lights,

each of the dancers's special performances lasts just 58 seconds — only enough time for a pirouette or a pas de deux, but enough time to delight passers—by. translation: sometimes ordinary people do not have access to see this. 0rganisers say they have found a whole new fan base, people who may now go to the theatre for the first time or even take up performing themselves. ican think i can think of many cities around the world were red lights would not stop them from getting run over. thank goodness for mexico city. thank goodness for mexico city. thank you for watching. bye—bye. 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, and in doing so, 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 chart 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‘s underway on the indonesian island of lombok

after a powerful earthquake left fourteen 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.