welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories. president trump says he's ready to meet iran's leaders "any time" and with "no preconditions". the hunt for is fighters escaping syria 0 we have a special report from the border. here, in the last four months, they have stopped more than 1000 is fighters. some of them small fry, some of them commanders. many more are still on the run. burning out of control — raging wildfires in california force 50,000 people to leave their homes. high turnout — and hopes for a better future. counting is under way in zimbabwe's historic elections. and a crushing blow against crime in the philippines. millions of dollars of luxury vehicles a re destroyed to deter smugglers. hello.

president trump has suggested he's willing to meet the leaders of iran without "preconditions" "any time they want," to discuss how to improve relations. strains have deepened since may, when mr trump pulled out of the international deal designed to limit iran's nuclear ambitions and the white house is about to reimpose sanctions. leaders of iran and the us have not met for around four decades. this is what president trump said. i would certainly meet with iran if they wanted to meet. i do not know that they are ready yet. do you have preconditions for a meeting? no. anytime they want. i would certainly meet with iran. i don't know if they're ready yet. they're having a hard time right now. but i ended the iran deal, it was a ridiculous deal. they will probably end up wanting to meet. i'm ready to do that. i don't do that from strength or from weakness. it is an appropriate thing to do.

if we could work something out that is meaningful, not the waste of paper that the other deal was, i would certainly be willing to meet. an advisor to iran's president rouhani has responded on twitter. we asked our north america editor jon sopel, at the white house, about mr trump's words. i think it would be easy to think of it as a throwaway remark, but then few people thought that donald trump would be meeting vladimir putin, and we all saw what happened in helsinki. and fewer thought that he would meet the north korean leader, kim jong—un. we saw what happened in singapore. there is something of a north korean playbook in this. donald trump threatening, weapons "locked and loaded," and "fire and fury." eight days ago, he tweeted this, "never ever threaten the us again or you will suffer consequences

the likes of which few throughout history have suffered before." "we are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words or violence and death." and now, today, eight days later, we get donald trump saying, yeah, we can have talks at anytime, no preconditions at all. they might happen as soon as this september at the un general assembly. what we don't have yet is the reaction of israel or saudi arabia, implacable foes to iran. well, earlier i spoke to the journalist geneive abdo, who's also a senior fellow at the atlantic council. i asked her what she made of it all. well, i think that, as your correspondent alluded to, it is unclear. and just as we should take his inflammatory rhetoric all that seriously, that he tweeted eight days ago, we should also really question what he is talking about today about meeting iran.

and despite what people on the outside might perceive as us policy or the us government, president trump doesn't speak for the entire us government. so there will be other people weighing in on this, and when he tweets and talks off that doesn't necessarily mean that is us policy. the iranians have suggested that president trump tried to meet president rouhani last september. do you think there might be such a meeting? yes, i do think so. this is the perfect venue for a official and unofficial meeting. and according to the iranians, and this hasn't been confirmed in washington, according to the iranians president trump asked president rouhani several times to have a meeting last september. so i think it is possible. but even if we get beyond a meeting, what can actually be accomplished? we have to get beyond the rhetoric.

i wasjust in iraq, for example, and the iranians are basically making huge inroads into iraq, they are influencing the next government and the us is pulling out of iraq. so we need to separate the sort of reality from the rhetoric. let's get some of the day's other news. american intelligence officials have told the washington post that north korea appears to be building new ballistic missiles, in spite of apparently improving relations with the united states. they say new evidence suggests work is still going on at a factory near pyongyang that produced the first missiles capable of reaching the united states. a british parliamentary group has fiercely criticised aid organisations for what it calls their "abject failure" to deal with sex abuse by staff. the group's report says a "culture of denial" has persisted

since the revelations that 0xfam staff used survivors of the 2010 earthquake in haiti as prostitutes. nicaragua's leader daniel 0rtega has accused the united states of backing anti—government protesters in his country. at least 300 people have been killed in three months of unrest. as many as 50,000 foreign fighters from across the world poured into syria through turkey, tojoin militant groups including islamic state. now, after the fall of is, there's increasing concern about those who haven't been captured. 0ur middle east correspondent quentin sommerville has been following the trail of the extremists. syria is a country of checkpoints and of escape routes. these free syrian army rebels are on the lookout for the so—called islamic state. is are flooding out

of the former caliphate, trying to leave the country. this bus, it's full of civilians, gets the all clear, but it's a haphazard hunt. translation: after we take their pictures and record their voices, we message locals who know if they are is members or not. if not, then we let them go. foreigners arouse suspicion here. he may be only 13 years old, but this boy is a long way from home. "i'm from saudi arabia," he tells the men. his knees are shaking. he says he wasn't in is, but was taken away for further questioning. this may not look like much, it might seem very far away, but this checkpoint is one of the last defences against is making it to europe. here, in the last four months, they've stopped more than 1000 is fighters, some of them small fry, some of them big commanders. many more are still on the run, and they aren't just stopping here in syria.

we've been following the escape of is fighters from syria for months. many were set free in separate deals across the country. thousands have escaped the battlefield, and some are already in turkey. it's1am on the streets of istanbul and the counterterror police are on the search for is hideouts. this neighbourhood is full of syrians and other foreigners. turkey, which has been blamed for letting so many fighters into syria, says the flow has now reversed. the swat team is taking no chances. they're worried that the suspect may be armed or have a suicide vest. there are women and children inside. police are ready to break down the door. there's stand—off,

but eventually they're let in. turkey has a list of 50,000 names of foreign fighters who went to syria. they're now searching the apartment for evidence to link the suspect to any terror activities, but that's almost immaterial because he will be deported in any case. he won't be returning to this apartment. they get their man, an uzbek. he's accused of having fought for is in syria. this is one of nearly a dozen raids tonight across istanbul. in about a fifth of all of these raids, and there have been hundreds, the suspect has already fled. these are civilians. this is the last leg of their escape route from war, but it's also being used by the islamic state. it's just before dawn on turkey's aegean coast. they're just half an hour

away from lesbos. there are no fighters here today, but, says the people smuggler in charge, they use this route regularly. translation: yes, the number of is members fleeing to turkey has definitely increased during the last four orfive months. we learned some people made it to germany. this is new footage of chechen and syrian fighters crossing into turkeyjust last month. britain and others don't want the foreign fighters back, but syria's darkness won't be contained. plenty of islamic state fighters are determined to return to europe regardless. quentin somerville, bbc news, istanbul. the so—called islamic state group has claimed it was behind the attack in tajikistan which left 4 foreign cyclists dead. the interior minister has told journalists the tourists were killed

by armed attackers. he said one had been arrested, 2 others killed by police. it was originally reported as a hit—and—run road accident. counting is underway in the presidential and parliamentary elections in zimbabwe, the first without robert mugabe running for high office. voters seem to be relishing the opportunity for new leadership. turnout is said to be as high as 75%. emmerson mnangagwa of the ruling zanu—pf is up against nelson chamisa of the movement for democratic change. 0ur africa editor fergal keane reports from the capital harare. just a year ago they believed democracy was a sham, a rigged exercise designed to keep an ageing tyrant in power. but today felt like something very different. african laughter, and the high hopes of long—suffering people. i would like to be employed. and i would like some medicine. i would like people to go to school,

more schools, more clinics, morejobs for everyone. this day i am very hopeful for a new zimbabwe. i am very happy that i am able to make a change. my decision is being considered for a better zimbabwe. i am happy and hopeful. it was peaceful across zimbabwe, in the rural areas of matebeleland, and in midlands province, where the man who overthrew the regime cast his vote. once an enforcer for robert mugabe, he is gambling that voters will want change. the process for campaigning was peaceful. voting today is peaceful. i will not doubt that the end process of the entire electoral process will remain peaceful.

in the capital, harare, stronghold for the movement for democratic change, its young leader nelson chamisa arrived at a local school to vote. he has campaigned energetically for months. how is it going? is it going well? "very good," he said. nelson chamisa, just after voting, it is chaotic, but it is democracy, as zimbabwe has never known it before. a few moments later i caught up with him again. will you accept the result even if you lose? i have told you that we are not losing in this election, we are winning this election. i am not interested

in impossibilities. you are confident. we will win to the extent that it is a free and fair election. it has been a hard road to this place. the mess that zimbabwe became is rooted in the struggle against white minority rule. thousands were killed. before, independence brought hope. but the heroes of liberation became despots. zimbabwe might have become an enduring success story. but over time ordinary lives became hostage to the terror of robert mugabe's one—party rule. millions fled, like this man, who spent 15 years in exile in britain. now he has come back as an election observer. i think this is what it should have been. this is what everyone has advocated for. so what we are getting out is obviously not perfect, but i think it is quite commendable. we can't take away the fact that this has been very peaceful. with voting over, they are preparing to count tonight. this was the scene in one harare polling station. this day passed in peace, but the days to come,

when victory is declared, will prove the ultimate test of zimba bwe's democracy. the ultimate test of zimba bwe's democracy. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: india has stripped more than four million people of their citizenship in the state of assam, mostly bengali—speaking muslims. 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 — now no more after almost four decades. if one is on one's own in a private house, not doing any harm

to anyone, 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 were cute. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: president trump has suggested he is ready to meet the leaders of iran any time and with no preconditions. wildfires in california have now forced 50,000 people to flee and claimed at least seven lives, including four firefighters. the party of cambodian prime minister hun sen, who has been in power since 1985, has won a landslide victory

more than four million people in the indian state of assam have been left off an official register and stripped of their citizenship. most of those affected are bengali—speaking muslims, who had to prove they were living in india before the creation of bangladesh in 1971. the indian government says it is rooting out illegal migrants but there are fears of a witch hunt against assam's ethnic minorities. joe miller sent this report. they've always called india home, but these villagers now expect to lose their citizenship, their land, their voting rights and, perhaps, even their freedom. this schoolteacher feels her family has been targeted. "it's a witchhunt," she says, against the bengali muslim community." translation: this is our country. i grew up here, i studied here. i got married here. how come we're not indians? authorities claim settlers from nearby bangladesh are enmeshed in assam's bengali population. hiding in plain sight,

often with forged papers. to help pinpoint them, all 32 million inhabitants have been forced to produce documents proving their assamese roots go back to before 1971. but record—keeping in remote areas is patchy and human rights groups are crying foul. the government says assam is in danger of being overrun with illegal bangladeshi migrants, but, strangely, no—one can tell us where they are, how many of them there are or what fate awaits them. all they say is they come here to exploit this vast, fertile landscape. muslim activists claim the numbers are being deliberately exaggerated to justify a sinister hindu nationalist agenda. translation: they are openly threatening to get rid of muslims. what happened to the rohingyas in myanmar could happen to us here. such fears have been exacerbated by prime minister narendra modi, who pledged to deport bangladeshi

intruders unless they were hindus. in assam, a fellow party member is clear about his intentions. everybody will be given a right to prove their citizenship. but, if they fail to do so, the legal system will take its own course. you're saying these people will be expelled? yes, yes. for now, bengali muslims are staying put, clinging to the hope that after next year's national elections, such pledges will simply fade away. joe miller, bbc news, assam. the party of the cambodian prime minister hun sen, in power since 1985, has won a landslide victory in a general election that lacked any serious challengers.

the country has been pursuing rapid economic development with foreign investment, including plenty from its big neighbour, china. but infrastructure projects have displaced thousands of people and damaged the local environment. the areas affected have been largely inaccessible to foreign media. the bbc‘s nga pham has this report. it used to be a thriving community, now this is all that's left. the entire village and surrounding farmland, two square kilometres, has turned into a huge water world. since november last year, when the floodgates of the lower sesan 2 dam were closed, more than 60 indigenous families in this village were forced to abandon their homes. this man has been living here for more than a decade. where his family used to farm, he now comes to fish. yet he says he doesn't want to relocate. cambodia's government has high hopes

once the dam is fully operational. this is one belt, 0ne road. in reality, the huge lower sesan 2 hydroelectric power station that is becoming active later this year is going to provide energy to the whole country of cambodia, as well as for export. in the provincial capital, stung treng, the local governor gave us his only interview to the western media, explaining china's investments. this man and his family have set up new homes just a few yards away

from the edge of the new reservoir lake. with no access to water and powered by generators, they hope to stay as close as possible to their ancestral land. latest we heard, the governor has agreed for them to stay there. however, nobody can be certain whether they will be uprooted again soon. nga pham, bbc news, sung treng province, in northern cambodia. a massive operation is still underway to help hundreds of stranded hikers down a mountain in indonesia. their path had been blocked by landslides, triggered by an earthquake. many were rescued on monday but more than 100 have just spent another night on mount rinjani on the island of lombok.

0ur correspondent rebecca henschke has the latest from the island. search and rescue team say all of those hikers have now come off the mountain, there's only six remaining near the crater like. they need to be brought down today and should arrive this afternoon, so in a few hours' time here. also coming off the mountain is the body of an indonesian climate, a young man in his 20s, he was killed by falling rocks when an earthquake triggered landslides that block pathways out. 0fficials landslides that block pathways out. officials say they had to evacuate 1000 hikers after the earthquake, the majority of them foreign nationals from countries like france and thailand, as well as the netherlands. elsewhere on the island, the re—building has begun of thousands of buildings damaged in the quake and we're also getting a lot of after—shocks here, which is keeping everyone tends with people

afraid to go back inside, fearing more earthquakes here on lombok. more than 60 luxury cars and motorbikes have been smashed by a bulldozer on the orders of the president of the phillippines. lebo diseko has the story. president rodrigo duterte came to show that he means business. his target, illegally imported luxury vehicles. harley—davidsons, porsches, lamborghinis and mercedes—benzes were among the smuggled loot all about to be destroyed. a total of eight motorbikes and 68 cars worth more than $5 million were crushed, smashed to smithereens as a bulldozer ran over them. the president has been criticised for his tough stance on crime. rights groups say his war on drugs has led to extrajudicial killings. but he is hugely popular in his country and his crackdown on smuggling seems in keeping

with his overall approach so as painful as this might be for any car lover to watch, the president will be hoping pictures like these will serve as a powerful deterrent for anyone thinking of smuggling in the future. lebo diseko, bbc news. and before we go, a dog is a man's best friend and clearly also for barcelona forward lionel messi, captured showing off his skills with his dog hulk via his wife's instagram account. probably driving the dog nuts in the process! much more on that and all of the news on the website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbcmikeembley. thanks for watching. hello again.

love it or loathe it, it looks like the hot weather is set to return to south—east england towards the end of the week and the weekend as well. before we get there, though, we'll showers on monday. there will be further showers around today as well. of more immediate concern is this developing area of cloud towards the south—west approaches. this is going to reactivate a weatherfront, and during the early hours of tuesday, we will see showers widespread in southern england, wales, the midlands and one or two in northern england as well, but as well as those showers, there's going to be a clump of heavier rain that will probably become quite widespread across central, southern england, the south midlands and swinging into east anglia and south—east england. the thing with this big area of rain is we will have squally winds and could have some lightning in it as well. the rain could be intense, so we could have some pretty awful conditions on the roads first thing in the east midlands,

east anglia and south—east england, somewhere in that part of the world. the rain could be quite slow to ease off in the morning. by the afternoon, they will be long out of the way and we will see sunshine following on behind. looking at the weather picture further northwards and westwards, it was always going to be a kind of cloudy and windy kind of day and there's rain in the forecast too, especially in the highlands and western isles. a few showers pushing into north—western counties of northern ireland, but otherwise, there should be a fair bit of dry and cloudy weather. temperatures, 18 in belfast. moving further south and we lose the early rain in eastern areas, that could be quite heavy and the afternoon is much brighter with some sunshine, and temperatures pushing on to around 25 degrees. it might feel a little on the humid side for you. that's tuesday's weather, let's take a look towards the middle part of the week, and we've got this warm front approaching the british isles. that's going to thicken the cloud up in northern ireland, and outbreaks of rain setting in here through wednesday afternoon, turning quite heavy as well. i think it probably will cloud over across wales and south—western england too. we'll get some rain towards the end of the day working into west scotland, but that still leaves east anglia and the south—east of england with warm air, temperatures up to 27.

so pushing into the 80s in terms of fahrenheit. showers will continue to be a feature on thursday into north—western areas, some of these could be quite heavy, and normally there's a good deal of cloud in the north—west, keeping the temperatures generally in the low 20s. not bad for the time of year, but it's the heat is really lingering in east anglia and the south—east of england as well. those temperatures build further towards the end of the week into the weekend. look at cambridge, not far from 30 here. cloudy but bright in north—western parts of the uk but towards the end of the week, some areas could reach the low 30s in the very hottest spots. that's your weather. this is bbc news. the headlines — president trump says he's willing to meet iranian leaders without preconditions, to discuss how to improve relations between the two countries. tensions have increased since may, when mr trump pulled out of the iran nuclear deal, while the white house is preparing to re—impose sanctions. more than 50,000 people have now fled their homes in california as wildfires continue to ravage the state. at least seven people have died, including four firefighters. thousands more are working around the clock to try to battle the blazes. the worst, the carr fire, is now 20% contained, up from 5% on sunday. votes are being counted

in zimbabwe's presidential and parliamentary elections. turnout was high, with long queues at some polling stations. observers say it had been a peaceful day, which might prove to be the country's first day of democracy. now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur speaks to the australian writer, tim winton.