this is news live from bird land the lunar eclipse of the century is starting right now it is the night of the blood moon and it is visible across much of the globe we're going to find out what is so special about this astronomical event and those are live pictures you're looking at right now from south africa also coming up north korea returns what incentives are the remains of american soldiers killed in the korean war sixty five years after the fighting and in and greece's prime

minister except political responsibility for this week's devastating wildfires a bitter debate is raging over who was to blame for the tragedy. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program people across the world are watching the longest lunar eclipse of this century we're getting in some live visuals actually now would like to bring them up for you they're coming in from south africa you just saw them a short while ago and and what you're seeing here is the moon slowly fall into the earth's shadow as it aligns itself with our planet and the sun at its peak we are expecting the moon to turn and are in nj hugh also known as a blood moon and people across europe asia australia and south america they're

going to be able to watch all parts of this phenomenon and will however not be visible from north america. and from where i'm this we can cross now to science journalist daniel fisher from the boca planetarium in western germany welcome so much to you daniel and you know this is really something that everyone for the moment is waiting for that the moon which is turning red can you explain to our viewers how this happens. has not turned wrote yet but it will do so another hour for know except we at the bottom of the or the moon will be immersed completely in the. us is casting a long shadow coing into space and once in a while to move all the cheryl cole right now all about two thirds of the moon are covered by the cone and when it is completely in the cone it will be much much darker and if you are in a dark spot you will see still some lights in the cone trying in

a used to your stock red or orange depends on the conditions of the earth's atmosphere because its atmosphere is still directing light from the sun international call and makes this special rich moved effect and perhaps we can clarify for our viewers because you know we have been watching this of course from western europe but you know how you experience this event really depends on where you are in the world right tell us more about that yes in principle two thirds of the world can see each and every six weeks because it's last several hours and the us or teasing underneath but there are some continents and always miss up and this time unfortunately it's not america that doesn't get to see if there's. just a perfect view all of asia and also africa because of mexico to snow when times are not so much longer and so they are of you enjoying the beautiful except on there in south africa you can be out from there have been watching live feeds for the past hour as we mentioned this is the longest eclipse of the twenty first century you

know the moon appearing darkest for for around one hundred three minutes why so long. because the moon is pretty far away from the earth right now the moon's orbit is not circular. and right now the moon is very close to leave prior end of the ellipse so it's far from earth and therefore takes a longer time than typically to move the earth's shadow colin and that's why it takes so long it can take several minutes longer even once to conditions we had one such extremely long eclipse in the year two thousand but the new century started only in the year two thousand and one and so this will really be the longest one of the century it's called the blood moon as we mentioned this phenomenon it's known for that reason and you know this is now the red planet mars also being visible in the sky near the moon to tell us a little bit more about that and you know how it's impacting the way that we're feeling things it's a total coincidence but the sun test a coincidence because to date the moon is the mars mars is opposite to the sun it's

in opposition as we call it in the sun of meat and it's also unusually close to us that means planet mars shines very very bright in the sky after venus which is a setting for most people know it's the brightest planet in the sky or. since and so it looks very spectacular especially close to the red and orange moon and the fact that they are so close together you see the acquaintance and so. on the few times a year centuries so now something just enjoy it so it's no deeper meaning but it's just a fantastic incidents and we just enjoy it because i know with a solar eclipse for example i mean it can be quite dangerous if you look directly at the sun to people need to keep certain precautions in mind if they want to see this eclipse. absolutely not but you know it was a perfectly harmless because anything else in the book it was just that the movie star for it was going to upset you but just only twenty five minutes away. from the

mold is only one ten thousandth of what we get so much of the film and so it's very safe to watch and especially if you what psychosis is if you are in the countryside or shift time to most of the do a film by its lights you will totally enjoy this oil in this sitting among the stars it's just a fantastic beautiful sight you could completely feel free daniel fisher a science journalist from the book home planetarium in western germany thank you so much for joining us to tell us a little bit more and explain more about this phenomenon we appreciate it thanks for having me. to some other news now north korea has handed over what they say are the remains of american soldiers killed in the korean war which raged from one thousand nine hundred fifty eight to nine hundred fifty three a u.s. aircraft brought the remains to an air base in south korea the handover which coincides with the sixty fifth anniversary of the wars and follows an agreement reached by north korean leader kim jong un and us president donald trump at their

singapore summit back in june. and for more let's bring in correspondent claire richardson who is standing by in washington and claire as we just heard there this is now sixty five years after the korean war we're seeing this repatriation of the remains of u.s. soldiers that were fallen during that war and the timing is interesting isn't it. hi sara that's right this is really the first tangible result that we've seen from the meeting between president donald trump and north korean dictator kim jong un back in june in singapore that was mainly aimed at convincing north korea to give up its nuclear weapons program now transferring his remains has taken longer than some u.s. officials had hoped for but it really is the first step implementing the agreement that the two leaders said they came to back in a singapore and it's a small diplomatic victory for trump he of course says that this is evidence that his willingness to meet the north korean strongman is paying off that conjunction

is good for his word and is actually going to follow through on some of the things they discussed and you can really hear that reflected in trump's comments from today let's take a listen to what trump had to say to the north korean leader. or what are they sure were german or. even his word we're pretty sure it is coming. or want to thank germany or for. their behavior for over a promise that he made to break and i'm sure that he will continue through for all the promise as a surgeon searchers are ok so the u.s. president helen this is a diplomatic victory there but clear how significant is this repatriation we're talking about the ground scheme of u.s. north korea relations. right well the white house says that this will set a positive tone for future negotiations with north korea and considering the fact that the two leaders were exchanging threats and insults on twitter in just the

last year it certainly does seem like the good news for international security that they are now at least not on that page and this really is a relatively easy confidence building step for north korea to return these remains expectations for progress in the ongoing nuclear talks after the summit have been relatively low even though it at this summit north korea committed to work towards a nuclear nation it didn't really offer any details of how it would go about doing so and many doubt that the regime is willing to give up its nuclear weapons at all that it's going to see its nuclear weapons program as a central kim jong un's political survival and that this is really a nonstarter so in the grand scheme of things it does seem that this is small step could offer somewhat modest hope in terms of ongoing talks and future negotiations on how they could actually get north korea to go about denuclearization claire richardson in washington thank you. now let's get a quick check of some other stories making news around the world osama bin laden's

alleged former bodyguard seen here in a german court is freed after a judge ordered his release in tunisia citing lack of evidence against him he was deported to tunisia earlier this month after living in germany off and on since one nine hundred ninety seven. israeli police have reopened jerusalem's off the mosque mosque following a brain they say that they have been pursuing to view to see who had thrown rocks during a confrontation with police at the mosque also known as the temple mount is holy to jews and muslims and protesters in poland have clashed with police during demonstrations against changes to the country's judicial system and to government activists accuse the ruling right wing law and justice party of trying to sack the courts with its own judges the government insists that the reforms are necessary to rebuild the country. greece's prime minister alexis tsipras has accepted political

responsibility for this week's wildfires which have killed at least eighty seven people at a cabinet meeting broadcast live he also said that evidence suggested that the fires have been started deliberately that he didn't know who might have been behind it a bitter debate is raging over the way that the authorities handled the fires and why they failed to order an evacuation. of the car doris last of. the mediterranean sea gleams as blue as ever but on shore so many of the homes and hotels that once stood here a gone on monday the flames charged through here at sixty kilometers per hour almost everyone fled towards the bates's. only the firefighters have the mains to try and resist the flames often in vying. and this is their first time in thirty years of my service. seeing so

much. of it sometimes we can in the course it's something. to stop this investigators say the blaze took just ninety minutes to write down the mountain towards the coast many residents simply had no chance to a skype and while monday was extremely hard and we need grace the government suspects the worst fires were no accident. that utility in the middle. as you've all been informed. the indications that we have and which authorities in charge are already investigating. lead to the conclusion that arson was behind the deadly fires. and the police are also still trying to identify victims relatives of the missing have been gathering need their forensics lab the agony is compounded by anger at the government which they choose of

botching the evacuation of residents one confronted grace's defense minister as he visited victims. no one notified anyone to fire engines didn't come to nothing you leftists of the massey of god. with the residents worst hit by monday's blaze were living in an area known to be prone to fire breaks are now asking why authorities weren't better prepared and why so many perished. tour de france leader grant thomas has a golden opportunity to claim the biggest prize in road cycling after maintaining his lead there stage nineteen the two hundred kilometer route from laura this to us was the best chance that his rival had to knock him off of his perch before sunday's final stage but thomas was imperious once again have a look. a decisive day so right his head through the pyrenees with everything on

the line the first big winner of the stage was home favorite julian i love philippe the frenchman now has an unassailable lead in the race for the king of the mountains title. in the general classification leader garang thomas was under attack throughout slovenian ride of primrose road lidge raced into contention with a phenomenal performance which saw him cross the finish line in first place. and. i just really cried a lot of times and finally i went away then on the descent. but thomas was in hot pursuit a final sprint gave him a second place finish extending his lead to more than two minutes. with just a single time trial stage and the procession to paris to go welshman thomas has a first tour de france title within his grasp. and finally before we go we want to let you know that people across the world are watching the longest lunar

eclipse of the century check this out these are live visuals now coming to us from australia what you're seeing is the moon slowly fall into the earth's shadow as it aligns itself with our planet and the sun and at its peak we are expecting the moon to turn an orange reddish hue thanks for watching. surely the people of the world over information they provide the peons they want to stress g.w. on facebook and twitter up to date and in touch and follow us.