this is bbc world news today. i'm tonya beckett, our top stories... five people have been confirmed dead in california where firefighters are battling huge wildfires. tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes when the shares come to your house and say it's time to go, please get out. —— aaron. they are only here to ta ke out. —— aaron. they are only here to take care of you and help you, don't help them get hurt because of what we don't do. —— when the sheriffs come to your house. at least 17 people are killed in car bomb attacks in mogadishu. a militant group says it was targetting government officials. together in remembrance, the leaders of france and britain honour those killed in the great war. also coming up in the progrramme, a sharp decline in the global birth rate, with nearly half of countries having too few children to sustain their population. hello and welcome to world news today.

wildfires burning out of control in the us state of california have killed at least five people. the deaths occurred in butte county, where a massive blaze has devastated the town of paradise. the fires have forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes. residents abandoned their vehicles on gridlocked roads and ran from the fast—moving flames. the bodies of the dead were found in burnt—out cars. map in further south, two fires are burning in ventura and los angeles counties, forcing people to evacuate their coastal homes in malibu. officials there have been giving a press conference, take a listen. sot in screen let's get the latest now, our correspondent it's been a very difficult time

here, andi it's been a very difficult time here, and i want to appreciate all of the hard work and effort. one of the thing i would like to see is aspire continues to tell people in these mandatory evacuations, please get out. —— as fire continues to tell people in these mandatory evacuations please get out. that's a key. we put people's lives at risk especially all of our first responders when we do not get out in time. look at the latest from lauren maas. it is a landscape of destruction. wildfire ravaging parts of california, tearing through homes, hospitals, shops, and schools. roads are gridlocked as thousands try to flee the flames, taking only what they can carry. one of the fires in the northern town of paradise burned through 20,000 acres of dry forest in a matter of hours. further south in ventura county near los angeles strong winds

are hampering efforts to tackle another fast moving blaze in what has become a race against time. right now we are trying to protect exposures by stopping the fire spreading from one house to the next. it is very hard with the high winds, and very hard to save some of these homes, so we are putting the water between some homes to stop the fire leapfrogging to other homes. firefighters have been battling through the day and night, helicopters are releasing water to keep on top of the raging fire. this last year has been the worst the state has ever seen for wildfires. as scenes of devastation were left behind, there is a red warning on the horizon that the fight against them is by no means over. cbs correspondent david begnaud has the latest now from the northern californian town of paradise where homes have been destroyed. it's incredible how the smoke is

just smothering this area, and you can see the orange behind me. the fire is still burning, the winds have died down, and firefighters are getting the upper hand, that is the good news. this campfire has exploding from 20,000 acres to 70,000 acres, an estimated 1000 structures have been destroyed. this fire according to officials exploded. winds were gusting and sustain in some places up to 50 mph, and the fire just became too much to handle in the sense that people who are trying to evacuate could knock it out. some of them abandoned their vehicles on the side of the road, and ranfor vehicles on the side of the road, and ran for their lives. some people found when they get in line to evacuate, the line was backed up for miles so they gave up and went back home. some people could not get out the exit way because the fire was

blocking the roadway. we heard a story about a bulldozer being used to push abandoned vehicles off the roadway. in paradise california where patients had been evacuated and were sitting in the gurneys in front of the exit of the emergency room door being waited to taken to safety. the sound i'm standing near is gone. the owner asked us if we had a way to get out. he said i watched the fire burn my house to the ground. why didn't you leave i asked, he said they had pets, and the line was backed up too far. he said they went behind our house and we took shelter in a horse pasture. that is what saved our lives he said, and everything burned around us. said, and everything burned around us. our house our neighbours house, incredible stories of survival. there have been a series of explosions in the somali capital, mogadishu.

the islamist militant group, al shabab, said it carried out the attacks which the police say have killed at least 20 people and injured a0 more. david campanale has the details. the first explosions were near two hotels in the somali capital, the sahafi and the nearby hyatt. twin blasts timed for maximum impact. the explosions rocked the area, which is close to the police headquarters at a busy junction known as k—ii. a short while later, there was a third blast. flames and plumes of smoke could be seen rising into the air as gunshots rang out, with police and security guards from the sahafi opening fire. the islamist middle east militant group al—shabaab said it carried out the attacks and targeted the sahafi because government officials stayed there. the hotel owner is reported to be among the dead. his father died when the same hotel was attacked by the jihadist

group three years ago. mogadishu faces frequent bombings at the hands of al—shabaab, an al-qaeda affiliate, which has been fighting for over a decade to overthrow the internationally—backed somali government. the shabaab was forced out of the capital by african union troops in 2011, but they still control parts of the countryside and attack government, military and civilian targets seemingly at will in mogadishu and also in regional towns. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... sri lanka's president, maithrapala sirisena, has sacked parliament and announced a snap election, in an apparent attempt to avoid a damaging parliamentary vote next week. the election will take place on the fifth of january. it's the latest twist in a political crisis which erupted last month when the president tried to replace the prime minister. us officials say the gunman who shot dead 12 people at a bar

in california on wednesday posted on social media during his attack. reports say ian david long wrote that he was bored but sane and knew his mental state would be debated for years. no motive has yet been established for the shooting by the former us marine, he killed himself after the attack. australian police say they are treating a knife attack in melbourne in which one person was killed as a terror attack. two other people were wounded. the assailant was shot at the scene and later died in hospital. police say he was originally from somalia and was known to the authorities but was not on a terror watch list. we've all been familiar with a ‘baby boom'....well, nearly half the countries in the world face what's known as a "baby bust", which means they are having insufficient children to maintain their population size.

that's according to a new report out today in the journal the lancet, which finds there's been a remarkable global decline in the number of children women are having. earlier i spoke with professor sarah harper from the oxford institute of population ageing about the implications of the latest statistics. this is a long process and the surprising thing is that it spread across the globe and in about 25 yea rs, across the globe and in about 25 years, that's one generation we had where women are deciding to have a reduction in fertility. this is actually a very good thing, because remember the maximum world population was opposed to reach 2a billion, and we now know that it will probably come to donate —— come

to ten in 2050. the problem is the transition from young to old which is what we're going to have, before we stabilise. we now know that after tuesday's midterm elections, the us senate remains with a republican majority but democrats have retaken control of the house of representatives. california is a place often in opposition to the policies of president trump. but how do the state's residents feel now that the democrats wield more power going forward with a trump administration in the white house? nuala mcgovern is in sacramento, california. this is the golden state, but also known as a blue state as a predominately builds and supports democrats is that hillary clinton one california by over 4 million votes in the 2016 presidential election, and since then, it has also been known as the home of the resista nce also been known as the home of the resistance movement against president tromp. california had long

been the blue wall against donald trump and his policy, mr cody and policies on immigration —— his draconian policies on immigration, andi draconian policies on immigration, and i think california has the responsibility to step up. after the midterms, what do people want to happen in relation to mr tromp? there has to be an investigation. we wa nt there has to be an investigation. we want to see his tax returns and his context, and business interest in other countries. another popular request for the democrats to work on... supporting and re-enacting was when it comes to health care. ken barnes is a businessman and a democrat from sacramento. floyd johnson is a young republican who is a student in the city. some of the best legislation and the history of the united states has been done when you parties of different backgrounds in the house and senate, working

together we often come up with fantastic and solutions, so other is extremes on both sides, hopefully they can come together and decide that we all want to get reelected silicates let's get something accomplished. i think california will try to play itself into the seat of resistance. the new data governor has talked about fighting against the tribe regime. —— our new lieutenant governor has talked about fighting against the tromp regime. lieutenant governor has talked about fighting against the tromp regimelj think defining california has resisted the trend is giving him too much credit. he may be the person in the white house, but that will come and go in due time. there are two yea rs left and go in due time. there are two years left at the neck of the presidency, and democrats here are focusing on what they can achieve in this time. —— two years left of the presidency that

i would say i guess crimea river because they had the majority in all three branches of government, and they have done nothing with them. -- cry me a river. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: a first win away from home for two years for england's cricketers as they thrash sri lanka in the first test in galle. this is bbc world news today. i'm tonya beckett. the latest headlines. firefighters in california are battling huge wildfires that have caused thousands of people to flee their homes. five people are known to have died. many migrants who try to reach the us are escaping violence and poverty in central american countries. these include nicaragua, where in april, anti—government protesters began demanding the resignation of the socialist president, daniel ortega.

he refused to go, or negotiate, and deployed the security forces. hundreds of people died in the space ofjust a few months. a notable development was the presence of radical pro—government paramilitaries working alongside the official police. our correspondent will grant went to the town of diriamba, where he obtained unprecedented access to one of those underground armed groups. here's his report. life may appear calm, butjust weeks ago the streets were under seized both the small town were caught in the grip and the violence that swept across nicaragua as masked government loyalists clashed with protesters demanding president daniel ortega stepped down. these paramilitaries made sure he did not. ina paramilitaries made sure he did not. in a secret location, the bbc gain exclusive access to the armed group

who cleared access to the government describes them by the euphemism volu nta ry describes them by the euphemism voluntary police. calling us paramilitaries is voluntary police. calling us pa ramilitaries is not voluntary police. calling us paramilitaries is not right. we have never been military, we are volunteer police who acted to clear the streets, but never to kill.|j volunteer police who acted to clear the streets, but never to kill. i am not defending a dictatorship. a dictator is not elected democratically elect our president was. i cried for how the opposition has hurt my country. few nicaraguans have sympathy for his tears. instead, they point to atrocities like this one when a mattress factory was set on fire with a family of six living about it. they all died family of six living about it. they alldied in family of six living about it. they all died in the flames. cctv footage show paramilitaries and police attacking the building together. the government denies its forces were involved. of all the acts of violence that have taken place in nicaragua recently, this arson attack is among the most appalling.

an entire family from small children to grandparents were killed in this way, simply for refusing to take a side is a sign ofjust how far things have some pentagon. cynthia lopez managed to escape the fire but she lost everything. overcome with grief she posted a video online. today she is in hiding, scared for her life as one of the few survivors who get identified the perpetrators. ata who get identified the perpetrators. at a safe house, she it was ortega's paramilitaries. the whole house was on fire. there was no way out for anybody. my father hugged us and said, i'm sorry, i cannot get you out. they have attacked us, but may god forgive them. faced with such abuses, one might expect the

nicaraguan government to condemn the paramilitaries, and in fact they have official approval. the volu nta ry have official approval. the voluntary police force pixies is a recognised organisation, aligned with the national police to help maintain the police to make these. —— the national peace. maintain the police to make these. -- the national peace. i wish they we re -- the national peace. i wish they were an event i can ask them to their faces, why did you do this? for what reason did you kill my family. why have you destroyed my life? will grant, bbc news nicaragua. sunday will mark 100 years since the end of the first world war. also known as ‘the great war‘, it lasted four years and was fought mainly between european powers. at the tower of london, thousands of flames have been lit, filling the moat and creating a circle of light. they'll be lit for the last time on sunday night, exactly 100 years after armistice day. four years ago, to mark

the start of world war one — almost a million poppies filled the same moat. today, britain's prime minister theresa may and the french president, emmanuel macron, jointly laid a wreath at the thiepval memorial in france. the two leaders honoured more than 72,000 men from britain and the commonwealth, who died at the somme and have no known grave. lucy williamson reports. buried in the soil of europe is part of britain's past, its sacrifices and its souls. in belgium today, the prime minister laid wreaths at the graves of two british soldiers, the first and last of their countrymen to die in the first world war. waiting for mrs may at the town of albert in the somme, the french president told schoolchildren, "never forget your history". before commemorating the past, the two leaders met for talks on present—day challenges.

as the prime minister was greeted with a reserved and formal handshake, someone in the crowd shouted, "stay with us!" this visit is a reminder of the shared military history that unites france and britain. today, they are divided by a political conflict over brexit, but their joint commitment to europe's defence won't change, they say, no matter how tough the negotiations or the terms of their future relationship. at the thiepval memorial in the somme, the two leaders walked through a cemetery honouring their dead. beneath the arches of the monument, they laid a wreath of poppies and cornflowers, the national blooms of remembrance in britain and france. the building here, carved with the names of 72,000 british and commonwealth soldiers lost, is a symbol of anglo—french cooperation, a place to remember shared sacrifice and shared values. a moment for their leaders,

amid the tensions over their future relations, to recognise and honour their past. lucy williamson, bbc news, the somme. hugh woozencroft has all the sport. they are currently 165/5 after all of in the final over, the opening match that saw india beat new zealand by 3a runs. the wait is over for england's men with their first away win since

october 2016, and that came to cousin a massive 211 run victory. it means england ta ke take a one nil lead in their three match series. they were booked out forjust they were booked out for just 250 and their second between them. england's three spinners took three wickets in the match, and that is the second best return but england spinners and a test match and 16 yea rs. spinners and a test match and 16 years. it's notjust us. it's not the only side that struggles away from home. it's very difficult to win test matches abroad now. i think that makes it sweeter when you do come to a very difficult venue like this and managed to win games. every food we can build on this, and use this as a one —— hopefully we can build on this. mercedes dominated

practise this week merecedes dominated second practice for the brazilian grand prix as valtteri bottas and lewis hamilton were first and second quickest at interlagos. bottas was just three thousandsth of a second quicker than world champion hamilton, with ferrari's sebastian vettel not far behind in third. renault‘s nico hulkenberg had a heavy crash at the tricky juncao corner. the incident brought out the red flag for six minutes as the wreckage was cleared. pep guardiola believes manchester united have improved ahead of sunday's derby with his city side. united come into the game off the back of their champions league win atjuventus and having been beaten by united at home last season, guardiola knowsjust how significant these games are... i know the derby we left barcelona, andi i know the derby we left barcelona, and i know how it was against a real madrid, andi and i know how it was against a real

madrid, and i know in germany we played brooch adornment, and especially i know that.|j played brooch adornment, and especially i know that. i know the game is three points, and we have the focus. i am not leaving the outside to understand how important this is. we lost the derby, but we played quite quite good in that game, but we lost, and today we are champions that that is what counts. arsenal have said that danny welbeck has suffered a significant injury to his right ankle. the striker was carried off during their goalless europa league draw with sporting lisbon at the emirates last night. the club say he remains in hospital and will continue to be assessed and that a further update will be issued over the next 72 hours. england's rugby union co—captain owen farrell says they must throw themselves into their match against new zealand on saturday. the two sides meet at twickenham, but england haven't beaten the world champions since december of 2012 and farrell says they have to be committed from the start to achieve that once again.

i think they are a very good side, they are a side that do a lot of things very good, and, and they are a tough opponent, but we have got to make sure we don't dip our toes into the weekend and feel our way in. we have to make sure we are throwing ourselves into it, and a pretty confident with that, like i said we prepared well this week, we are looking forward to it. that's all the sport for now. we were going to show you something with kids sport, but that's it for me. good evening, the next two hours. wet weather across the usa. there is

a warning from the met office across the southwest of whale, but many parts of the uk will also see bouts of rain. it is already raining in northern ireland. the rain is already moving in, but there are also showers waiting in the wings —— follow. it will drive in the west as agoto follow. it will drive in the west as a go to the night. it will be particularly cold. you can see that many of the northeast of scotland. it will take a few hours to see the clearing away, but it is an improving picture, but there will be a lot of showers surrounding western and southern areas. the winds will be in costa rica with blustery and hailand be in costa rica with blustery and hail and thunder is they are becoming widespread. —— the winds will be blustery today. there will be further heavy showers of sunshine in between. at 10pm, jane hill will be here with a full round up of the days news. first one—xtra dj jamz supernova meets six young entrepreneurs who want to do things their own way

in diy generation — young hustlers. hi, i'm jamz supernova. i present on bbc radio 1 xtra and every week i speak to young entrepreneurs hearing their stories and finding out how and why they went it alone. the number of the 16—24—year—olds working for themselves has almost doubled since 2001. better technology means people can now work from anywhere and at anytime. as well as a radio presenter, i also dj, run a record label and create club nights. i want to speak to other entrepeneurs to find out why not isn't for them and how they are trying to make it work. so i'm travelling around the country to follow the journey of four businesses and the young

entrepreneurs behind them. the first person i have come to me is keaton. we met before when he came on my radio show. he is a photographer. he normally earns about £850 per shoot but also sometimes work forfree. he has photographed artists and djs and me. hey, keaton. these are out taking pictures of his mates in the southwood skate bar. yes, it was kind of where the whole creative side of me took place. with skating for me, it is very angular and you always want to get the best angles. so for me i have my portraits. again, that's what i like. you mentioned you dropped out of university. what happened ? lastjuly, i asked my mum, for me it was the first

sense of being alone and being still employed anyway, you are very alone because it is just you but i am using the energy that she gave over when she got me to go forward and achieve more and get billboards since she can see them. and just keep pushing and keep striving. i'll be the best. i want to do make sure that what i do is the best of my capabilities.