this is date of when it was live from berlin to national emergency increases fast moving wildfires cause death and destruction to port st louis seventy four people have died as the flames close in on the capital the government calls on the european union for assistance to hear live from athens for the latest also on the program. hundreds missing as a dam collapses in laos. there have been fatalities and thousands left homeless. it's time to deploy troops to polling stations on the eve of national elections but

are they there to protect or to intimidate the ministries accused of trying to influence the election and of attacking press freedom. i'm still going to welcome to the program greece has declared a state of emergency as wildfires fanned by strong winds raced through residential areas around the capital athens a fire brigade official says at least seventy four people have been killed more than one hundred seventy have been injured the government has declared three days of national mourning called on the european union for assistance. they're the worst wildfires grace has seen in a decade the flames moved quickly and took many by surprise and coastal towns residents and holiday makers scramble to the ocean the shock still visible on their

faces hours after being rescued. for a little bit you know what my sight. it's all over their life you know corporate should. be here for the cause of that with all of the flames were chasing us all the way to the water it was like going to our backs and we dive into the sink it was her wish. for others the fire moved too fast in the seaside town of matty and unspeakable tragedy was revealed as daylight broke enough to see me all. this morning we discovered this place with twenty six people. men women and unfortunately children. they were found in the courtyard of a villa huddle together hugging the image is too graphic to show. enos you know mothers don't carry on building as they were in groups of three and four. there were friends and families who are trying to protect themselves. or

innocent. but. the devastation is evident everywhere and matty have banned and litter the streets some with the key still in the condition the cleanup will have to wait. multiple fires are still batting around athens too many for greek fire fighters to tackle in spain cyprus and other european countries have a fit assistance. well they don't need correspondent to youngest pop dimitri on the line from athens close to what i thought was a five russia welcome we've been hearing about horrific incidents as people flee the fire towards the say. yes. finally the fire contained more or less today but i have to say there were some revival of fires in the holiday resort of the met on the west coast line and that's where the fire

started yesterday now coming to the eastern coastline of the regime. the greek saudi government said today there were at least four dead about one hundred eighty stealing hospital among them many children unfortunately the rescue groups are working through the area they are searching every single house they are searching vehicles so probably call away the rise in the next hours a greece has suffered a sort of forest fires before how have all thought is coped. well it's not easy to handle or to prevent this these are for the fall i mean region single he said nor the management to guide things like housing goal protection against fire secondly in recent years stamping to public services and local authorities and then guests today we had an unusual situation to make things even worse just a few hours before the fires on the eastern coastline it was another fire on the

western coast and the fire service gave priority to the western front at that point this decision was up hearing right and finally the fire on the eastern coast broke out in the late afternoon from this is crucial because after some fire plain water bumpers cannot operate so it seems quite impossible to to handle the situation that is papademetriou in athens thank you. the state media in laos a saying that several people are dead and hundreds more are missing after hydroelectric dam collapsed the dam was under construction in the province of at a point in the country's south east when it collapsed late on monday leasing five billion cubic metres of water well the six thousand people are reported to be homeless after several villages were flooded and they have to. remain stranded but i'm a shadow to begin operating this yeah. journalist

afrojack sport is monitoring the situation from bangkok welcome frederick i wanted to stop by bring us up to date. well we don't we still don't have a clear picture yet we still don't know the all the numbers what we do know is that there are still hundreds of missing already several have been confirmed dead and it seems pretty clear that thousands more than six thousand pav lost their homes and i mean we see some pictures already and it's pretty clear that this will be made. catastrophe for allow us for the whole region and right now still rescue operations going on that stock now but boats have been moved to that area and this flow to the flooded area is search for survivors and how is the government doing to people believe the government is handling the situation well i believe this is the second

. well it's certainly a priority now for the government the prime minister. directly moved to the. cat house to get us for you disaster area because it's a hot it's a big issue it's a hot topic in a lot of it has been always been controversial those dams in laos they were and were mental environmentalists concerns that were also safety concerns and what becomes to you already is that the government but also the companies might have to answer some questions for example one is the foreign ministry of south korea a fast korean company was participating in building the dam that that all the korean nationals half and they were created in advance so of course that laid the question of why only the task we invest in rescued also the south korean company is called. engineering and construction company they said they want to villages they

need the dam but the question is did they want them enough that they want loud enough so those are the questions that need to be answered and in the future or the next day you mention that this is a big issue in the country the building of these dams because i don't more and more of them perhaps you can give us an idea of what the government's grand plan here is well the thing is that laois economies but we cannot sign with anything and it's not our manufacturing up it's having skilled labor but what it has is hills and a lot of water so this strategy was to make allow a kind of that that's a really of asia so in recent years a lot of foreign investment has been pulled in. more than fifty dams under construction are being planned right now and so this was one strategic aim to to make laos the battery of asia and how it needs to be seen if this plan goes on now in the next as it as it did in the past years after this disaster footage for

in the bangkok. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world the northeastern coast of sicily is burning high temperatures and strong winds on the italian island not only strengthening the fires but also making the job of firefighters more difficult the fires are threatening homes and businesses north of the city of katanning. turkey's president very tired one has praised him as a decision to quit germany's national football team the star midfielder who has to his roots made the announcement at the weekend and was heavily criticized back in may for posing for a photograph with iran during the referendum campaign criticism that he says quickly turned to racism and disrespect from the public and the media. democratic republic of congo has declared its abdalla outbreak over the disease is believed to have killed thirty three people since april last reported case was forty two days

ago the world health organization congolese will force is distributed an experimental vaccine to more than three thousand three hundred people. on a list in the united states a north korea has begun dismantling key facilities at a missile test site the satellite images are said to show decommissioning taking place of a so hey satellite launch station north korea's leader kim jong un promised to dismantle the site at a summit with u.s. president donald trump in june. pakistan is deploying troops to polling stations as it prepares for national elections on wednesday the government says the troops are necessary to ensure the vote is free and fair however critics say the military is backing former cricketer iran calm for prime minister and the troops there to boost his chances journalists who report on khan's main rival say they face intimidation . in pakistan's second largest city lahore election campaigning is in full swing but behind the scenes many fear strings are being

pulled to favor one candidate imran khan. his party p.t.i. is in a neck and neck race with the pakistani muslim league run by one of the country's most high profile politicians now watch sharif sharif angered the country's powerful military with his attempts to improve relations with pakistan's archrival india and rein in the army support a visit midsts earlier this month he was jailed on corruption charges. and now journalists like sarita legal are bearing the brunt of the standoff those who dare to openly criticize the p.t.i. or appear to support now while sharif risk the wrath of the security agencies. and the party of the talk about the pm alone if you speak for it in any way richard articles really in a very balanced manner to speak for it there's going to be trouble brewing

somewhere down the line previously like i said there were there were certain areas you can speak about but it was never about political parties not to do things stand you just you just kind of reporter the balance mother and you're you're at it you know they're at it they're after you and there's this was really startling to many of the editors but but then of carrying on some of us some of us are really really struggling. many of her colleagues have received intimidating calls and threats on social media and journalists know all too well which stories editors want to afraid to run but on the record few data point their fingers. aren't. well. i'll take the safest route out of this. the human rights international human rights organizations and the local human rights organizations have repeatedly called out the military for doing this and the

military would mean the intelligence agencies that are associated with the military and they feel your rights organizations and i'm quoting them i mean quoting them understand diffuser they have too much power over the civil demat government a democratic government a democratic set up and they often will this power to get the you know really. and thing a thing that stuff serves i don't want to speak more about those. just to be on the safe side in pakistan the generals have always pulled the political strings and dictated the red lines that journalists trust in peril but talk to human rights activists and they agree that the degree of meddling in this election is unprecedented the military has a record of in defeating. each and every election that has been held in pakistan this is part of.

we wanted to confront the military with the accusations but our interview requests what turned down in the post the generals have denied any involvement in pakistani politics and with the p.t.i. and give neck and neck the outcome of the elections this fall from such. as a reminder of our top stories at this hour greece has declared a state of emergency as wildfire spread near the top to athens at least seventy four people have been killed and the government has called on the e.u. for assistance these are the worst fires increase for more than a decade. on the collapse of a hydroelectric dam and the problem so what's appealing southeast laos has left several people dead and hundreds missing if you have swept away buildings armed left thousands of homes. essential of today's i'll have more for you at the top of the hour of course of course more on the web site bestie w dot com other good.

it's all happening much of it coming. your link to news from africa around the world your link to exception the stories and discussions continue and will come to either of us recruiting program tonight from funny jimmy fallon uses easy time i would say don't read it comes much africa join us on facebook w africa.