welcome to bbc news. broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: california fights its biggest everfire. the mega blaze has already burned through over 290,000 acres. kidnapped and held hostage by so—called islamic state. wejoin a spanish photographer as he returns to syria and faces his alleged captors. shares in the us electric car maker tesla close almost 10% higher, after elon musk says he's might take it into private ownership. theresa may backs calls for her former foreign secretary borisjohnson to apologise, for comments about muslim women who wear full—face veils. hello.

officials in california say they're now dealing with the largest wildfire ever to hit the state, and they're warning it could burn for the rest of the month. it's now two fires joined together, a mega—blaze which has already destroyed nearly 300,000 acres of land. it's one of sevreral fires nine people have died since the fires started in california last month. lebo diseko reports. it looks like hell on earth. firefighters battle to contain this wildfire, the biggest recorded in california's history. it is actually two leases which joined together and now covers an area almost the size of la. it has destroyed buildings and thousands have had to leave our homes as it rages to the countryside. it is devastating. really devastating to seek. so many lost their homes in the back. what can you say? it makes you sick to your stomach. everything have worked

for all of their life born in a heartbeat. dry, hot weather along with high wind has allowed the fire to grow at an extraordinary way. it jumped at least four creeks and one major rd over the weekend. meanwhile, more fires have broken out across the state where more than a dozen are burning in several counties. the conditions mean something as ordinary as a flat tyre can set is off, that is what is thought to have started one fire, a spark from a wheel which hit the road which is still raging two weeks later. the president is declaring the situation in the state a national emergency. our incredible firefighters and first responders are firefighters and first responders a re really great firefighters and first responders are really great people. i have been watching them go into areas where no people would go and some of them do not come out alive. they are risking their lives and yet to contain these devastating fires. . donald trump

has been criticised for suggesting the state's environmental policy exacerbates it the situation, his detractors say this is a result of global warming. detractors say this is a result of globalwarming. 0fficials detractors say this is a result of global warming. officials had hoped to put out the mendocino fire by next week, they now say they will need until september. lebo diseko, bbc news. the brutal treatment of kidnapped journalists and aid workers by the extremist group, the so—called islamic state, graphically highlighted their cruelty. spanish photographer ricardo vilanova was an is captive. in this exclusive report, he's been back to syria with our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville to find the prisons he was held in, and the men he believes locked him up. the four british jihadists, nicknamed "the beatles", who are thought to have tortured and murdered as many as 27 people. 0n the river euphrates, photojournalist ricardo vilanova is on a personal assignment. war, he says, brings out the best of us —

and the worst. in raqqa, he experienced both. under kurdish escort, he's come to find his formerjail. and his formerjailers. an is gang of britishjihadists, known to their prisoners as "the beatles". this is the right place but we don't know exactly, because maybe the house is there... ricardo was held captive for eight months. he and his british, french and american cell—mates were moved regularly to prevent any western rescue attempts. once an is stronghold, this ground now belongs to the kurds. the house was destroyed by a coalition air strike. this is the place. this was the view that ricardo saw, a rare glimpse of sunlight from underneath his blindfold.

we are here in the room, and we used to sleep there, and we had the toilet there, on the second floor. now, ricardo is free to go where he wants. the cells under raqqa's stadium are a reminder that is brutalised a population. and new sadism was born here in this is prison. he was held nearby. ricardo heard the screams of the tortured and the dying on a daily basis. yeah, we spent three months here in a cell like that, three people. eventually, his government secured his freedom. ransoms were paid. then, he went back to work. but his task here is not complete.

here are the men suspected of imprisoning him. alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh are accused of torturing and killing 27 hostages. ricardo wants to confront them. he says they're cowards who fled the battlefield. they refused to answer his questions and quickly bring the interview to a halt. before he leaves, he takes a final picture. but they want to shut him out. afterwards, he gave me his reaction to the meeting. translation: i wanted to see the suspects and look them in the face, that's it. the first thing i thought when i saw them was gaddafi or saddam. they were able to torture and murder, but when the moment arrived, they handed themselves in order to survive. i think that's despicable.

should they face the death penalty? translation: no, i don't believe in the death penalty. but i think they should spend the rest of their lives in prison, and in the same conditions they kept their hostages. his tormentors are now dead or injail. ricardo vilanova had the strength and the opportunity to survive. but more than that, he's had the courage to return here so that these dark horrors won't be forgotten. quentin somerville, bbc news, raqqa. the tesla boss elon musk has suggested he's considering taking the electric car firm private. in a tweet, mr musk said he could buy outstanding shares

in the company for $420 each, more than they're currently worth. trading in tesla shares was briefly halted when the price spiked on his announcement. our business reporter kim gittleson has more from new york. it is quite a surprising development in the endless saga of tesla and whether it can hit its production targets and turn a profit. now elon musk is saying that he believes because so many investors are betting against tesla's stocks, that has created a hostile environment of the country —— company and that is why he thinks taking it private would be better for tesla's future. for that price, $420 per share would give the company a value of $82 billion, a significant premium of what it is trading at on the nasdaq and it would be one of the biggest player in us history. i want to mention that shares in tesla resumed

trading for the last 15 minutes here and closed up 2/ii trading for the last 15 minutes here and closed up 2/11 and on these developments. he is not alone in saying that wall street focuses on quarterly results and put pressure on companies to focus on the short term and not long—term, elon musk said on twitter that he has secured investor backing and in a blog post, he said while no decision was final he said while no decision was final he did leave that ultimately investors in the company would support him in this decision and he added that you might wonder what would happen with his other private company, space x is, he said he had no plans to merge the companies if they went private said it would be better for the future of the company if they could focus on producing model free cars instead of pleasing wall street. —— model three. 80,000 people are in need of shelter, driven from their homes by the 2 powerful earthquakes that hit an indonesian island.

it's now confirmed at least a hundred people have died. sunday's quake, magnitude 6.9, was the second to hit the area injust over a week. mehulika sitepu reports from lombok. it's 48 hours after the earthquake hit lombok. a man is pulled out a collapsed mosque, and a search for survivors continues. nearby, a 23—year—old woman is rescued after being trapped beneath a flattened convenience store. translation: they thought they smelt dead bodies, but when we opened up an access point, it turns out the smell came from rotten eggs. then we heard a voice. the ones that survived have been taken to the nearest hospital which has also been damaged by the earthquake. patients are being treated in tents outdoors, mostly suffering from broken bones. translation: there are too many patients.

we have to prioritise who among them need the most help. so, for patients that can bear the pain, we put them on hold. we handle those who are in emergencies first. on the gili islands, many continue to wait to be ta ken to safety, but now thousands have been able to leave. it was really scary. there were so many people injured, but nobody came to the island. so maybe we were there for, like, 12 hours before a boat came or anybody came. since sunday's earthquake, hundreds of after—shocks have been felt in the area, with more expected. for the rescue crews it means treacherous conditions, as they continue their search for survivors. mehulika sitepu, bbc news, lombok. donald trump has threatened nations looking to trade with iran, many of them american allies.

following up his decision to pull out of the international nuclear deal with iran, and re—impose us sanctions, the president tweeted that anyone now doing business with iran would not be doing business with the us. this is possibly a response to a promise by the european union to protect firms trading with iran. here's the eu's foreign policy chief. the trade that the european union has compared with the trade we have worldwide, is very little. but it is a fundamental aspect of the iranian right to have an economic advantage in exchange of what they have done so in exchange of what they have done so far, which is being compliant with all their nuclear commitments. the prime minister has backed calls for britain's former foreign secretary to apologise, for comments he's made about moslem women wearing full—face veils. borisjohnson wrote in a newspaper that women in a burka "look like letter boxes,"

and that the garment is "weird" and "ridiculous." prime minister may says women should be able to choose how they dress, and that some of borisjohnson‘s words "obviously caused offence." here's our chief political correspondent vicky young. from online abuse to attacks on mosques, crime figures suggest islamophobia is on the rise in britain and the conservative party has faced accusations that it has not done enough to deal with incidents in its own party. and now borisjohnson is underfire with prime minister backing calls to him to apologise. boris johnson used language in describing people's appearance and has caused offence. it was the wrong language to use and he should not have used it. on the key issue of to wear a burqa, if they choose to do so, that should be a matter for the woman to choose. another tory party chairman has told

borisjohnson to apologise for comments he made about muslim face veils. writing in the telegraph, the former foreign secretary said, a total ban is not the answer but schools should be able to tell students to remove a burqa if they turn up looking like a bank robber. he went further saying, it is ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letterboxes. baroness warsi was britain's first muslim cabinet minister. for years she has been calling for an inquiry into islamophobia in the party. she says borisjohnson is using bigotry to further his career. to use language like letterboxes and armed robbers and colourful language to further this debate is not about having a serious debate on a serious issue, it is about trying to get airtime and attention on an issue that he knows will resonate with a certain part of the tory party. but friends of mrjohnson say it is ridiculous that his views are being attacked and that difficult issues had to be debated. it was an erudite column with a bit of humour about the pertinent issue,

that denmark have banned the burqa but boris does not think that is the answer to the issue in our country. and he made his comments, nothing to apologise for. it has all been blown out of all proportion by those who wish to cause him political damage. senior tories have criticised mrjohnson using offensive language. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: marking the 100th anniversary of the battle that helped end the great war at amiens. the question was whether we want to save our people, and japanese as well, and win the war or taking a chance to win the war by killing all our young men. the invasion began at 2am this morning. mr bush, like most other people,

was clearly caught by surprise. we call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all the iraqi forces. 100 years old and still full of vigor, vitality and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen in british history has lived so long, and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she's achieved this landmark anniversary. this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the anglican community. this is bbc news. our main headline: firefighters in california continue to battle the biggest blaze ever to hit the state, and it could be burning for weeks.

let's stay with that story and donald trump earlier tweeted about these fires — with an explanation of what he thinks is to blame for the worse—than—usual fires. he said "california wildfires are being magnified and made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren't allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized. it is being diverted into the pacific ocean. must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading!" professor roger bales is director of the sierra nevada research institute at the university of california merced. he is a climate and water scientist. hejoins me from merced now. iam happy i am happy to be with you. firstly,

theissue i am happy to be with you. firstly, the issue was not enough water for fire is, at best, a distraction. the officials in charge of the firefighting have indicated they have plenty of water. firefighting water comes from local sources near the fire, not water that has been flowing out from the sacramento dealt to the ocean. dissecting these tweets a little bit more, there are a couple of things we can focus on. let's come back to the water and first focus on the fire issue. where are they occurring. well, in part they are occurring because we have hotter condition and dry fuels as the climate warns. the other factor, however, is these fires are very dense. we have had 100 years of suppressing naturalfire dense. we have had 100 years of suppressing natural fire which dense. we have had 100 years of suppressing naturalfire which means we have more growth and there are

far more trees in the forest. to be clear, if you don't mind. sticking to what the president said, there is no water shortage despite what he said at. water is not diverted into the pacific ocean. is a point about the pacific ocean. is a point about the trees needing to be thinned? but thatis the trees needing to be thinned? but that is a problem for the federal government, not the californian state government. these fires are occurring on federal land so the federal land management simply does not have the money from congress to do the stewardship of the land that they are cast to do. he is starting a conversation about how do we get the resources to clear these forests. i think this state and federal partnership and private sector partnership are the way to go but the federal government needs to put their part into it. thank you very much indeed for your insights. on wednesday, argentina's

senate will vote on whether to allow abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. abortion is currently illegal there, except in the case of rape or if the woman's health is in danger. if the bill passes, argentina would become only the fourth country in latin america to broadly legalize abortion, and by far the largest. our south america correspondent katy watson reports. the call for change came from the streets. the decision is now in the hands of congress. these women are ready and they are making sure the politicians can hear them. campaigners have been fighting to legalise abortion for a decade now. they presented to congress seven times and got nowhere until now. the women's rights movement has become powerful in the last few years and it has played a big role in pushing

abortion up the political agenda. argentina's strict laws make criminals out of millions of women at. like woman and her two daughters who have all had a legal abortions. she supports women who are looking to end their pregnancies as well. translation: and abortion is not trained —— traumatic tic but being a mother when you do not want to be is. it causes desperation. you can understand how a woman will grab a knitting needle to end her pregnancy. for the past few weeks she has been helping a friend to purchase drugs to induce abortion. this is a massive chat going back and forth trying to find a pharmacy that has the necessary pills. she has another four weeks. the that has the necessary pills. she has anotherfour weeks. the morning after pill failed this woman and she is scared. she has come to a support

network to learn how to take abortion pills at home. she does not wa nt to abortion pills at home. she does not want to be identified because what she is doing is illegal. translation: i feel so unsupported. iam dodging translation: i feel so unsupported. i am dodging the law, try and find a solution. it is not easy. ifeel so ashamed to go around asking pharmacist is for the pill. in this country, the birthplace of the current pope, religion holds an important place. father pepe is close to pope francis and shares the view of abortion being wrong. he says it has become a political debate not relevant to the slums of the city. translation: abortion does not have the meaning here it does for the middle class. people want to have a child. politics is being used to make that hard. change will not be easy. argentina could bank history this week but there are plenty of

people determined not to let that happen. —— argentina could make history this week. let's get some of the day's other news. ivan duque has been sworn in as president of colombia in the capital, bogota. at forty—two he is colombia's youngest president and he faces several pressing concerns, including shoring up a shaky peace deal with the farc rebels. polls have now closed in ohio where people have been voting in a special election for a new member of the house of representatives. latest polls suggest the race between the republican troy balderson and democrat danny o'connor is neck and neck. commemorations will take place in the french city of amiens on wednesday, marking the one hundredth anniversary, of the battle that proved so decisive, in ending the first world war. prince william and the british prime minister theresa may, will take part in a cathedral service there. robert hall has been looking at why the battle of amiens was so important to the outcome of the war. on a hilltop, north of amiens, stands a white tower of portland stone. a memorial to australian forces, some of whom

advanced across a landscape which has changed little as a century rolled by. it is the perfect spot to view the start line of a surprise attack which changed the course of the war. if you had stood here on the morning of august 8 1918, you would have seen the smoke and flames as allied artillery systems systematically destroyed german guns and you would have heard the rumble of engines as 500 tanks and more than 50,000 troops advanced through the fog towards enemy lines. with every step, the men left the stalemate of trench warfare further behind. in front of them and protecting them, the tanks were able to move unhindered across open country. the preparation was absolutely enormous, right down to the last piece of sticking plaster in moving forward of the casualties clearing station, they had everything to the nth degree. stories of that day will be told

at tomorrow's commemoration, which reflects the range of countries brought together for the attack. we travelled light and stayed in the woods in the daytime. it was supposed to be a surprise. the canadians captured 27,000 prisoners and the whole thing of 45,000, besides those who were killed. the german high command called it a black day of the german army. we called it the beginning of the last 100 days. exhausted german defenders did what they could to slow the attacks, but the allies, now joined by the americans, were growing stronger. the men who fought and died here didn't know it, but on that august day their advance took the world closer to peace. and you can get in touch

with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbc mike embley. hello there. tuesday marked the end of the heat wave across the south—east, we saw temperatures reaching the low 30s celsius, but it all ended with showers and thunderstorms late on tuesday and into the early part of wednesday. these tending to clear out into the north sea, leaving a legacy of cloud here. a few showers across the north—west of the country, otherwise a dry and a clear start to wednesday morning. a cooler feel, 10—16 or 17 degrees. for today it really will feel cool and fresher right across the board, including the south—east, with a mixture of sunshine and showers. most of these in the west. the reason for the change and dropping temperatures is because we have cooler north—westerly airflow of the atlantic, pushing all of that

heat into the near continent. so this is the picture for today. maybe a bit of cloud to start with off across the south—east, but most of it will be across northern and western areas where we will see scattered showers, some heavy and maybe thundery. showers around, the temperature is 17—24 or 25 degrees, feeling cooler than what we are used to over the past few days. on thursday and other largely dry day, could see some rain into the near continent clip the south—east of england, uncertainty as to how far westwards this will be. most of the showers will be across the north—west corner with temperatures pretty much where they should be. 17—23 degrees. on friday it is another similar story of sunshine and showers. some of them could be quite heavy across northern and western areas, but probably the best of the sunshine across sheltered eastern parts, temperatures in the high teens to the low 20s celsius. significant change into the weekend for some of us. a big area of low pressure hurtling off the atlantic and at this point

it looks like it will affect more northern and western parts of the uk with persistent and heavy rain at times. it could be a dry start on saturday across northern and eastern areas, before the cloud tends to push in as the day wears on. i put wind arrows here because it will be a blustery day wherever you are. pretty dusty over southern and western coasts and over the hills. temperatures wise, 19—22 or 23 celsius. into sunday, most of the heavy rain will be again across the northern half of the country, maybe a few showers into wales and western england, but notice the south—east could escape and we could see quite a bit of sunshine. a blustery day on sunday, variable amounts of cloud and most of the rain across the northern and western areas, the best of the sunshine in the south—east, temperatures range from 18—25 celsius. this is bbc news. the headlines: officials in california say they're now dealing with the largest

wildfire ever to hit the state, and they're warning it could burn for the rest of the month. it's now two fires joined together — a mega—blaze which has already destroyed nearly 300,000 acres of land. more than 80,000 people on the indonesian island of lombok are seeking help after losing their homes in a powerful earthquake on sunday. medical staff are treating some of the injured in tents. several days after the quake — the second to hit the area in a week — aftershocks are still being felt. the number of dead now stands at 105. the british prime minister, theresa may, hasjoined calls