this is news line from berlin zimbabwe prepares to go to the polls campaigning is winding down as the country holds its first presidential election since the end of the mugabe era but will the vote be free and fair we'll get the latest from harare also coming up. forest fires raging across the northern hemisphere i mean a record hot summer in northern california firefighters are struggling to contain an inferno that is engulfing forests destroying homes and threatening lives. i'll

bring you the latest from the tour de france are great thomas is set to win his maiden title thomas will become the first welshman to win the tour in sunday's final stage we'll show you how he reached the pinnacle of the cycling world. and welcome to the program as i'm bob prepared to head to the polls they'll be casting their vote for a leader not named robert mugabe for the first time in a generation it's the first election since the former president was ousted from power last year current president emerson men and dog walk is running in a tight race against opposition leader nelson chamisa and both sides are pushing for every vote before the polls open. asin barclay's presidential race enters the final days both sides are turning out in force rallying and dancing in support of

their candidates the zanu p.f. the fancy footwork is all for this man imus and. was once mccarthy's right hand man with the ominous nickname of the crocodile he took over when mccarthy was forced to resign but has enthusiastic backers from his supporters who called him e.d. that is not easy i have come voluntarily to support my president god. i want to assure him that i've got your vote come monday i'll call my ex and eating my president. may day e.d.s. author is simple revive the economy tackle unemployment and attract foreign investment and that seems enough to get the greens dancing on the pitch. but in the red corner the movement for democratic change is rallying its support and not just with that dance moves there is

a show of strength for the forty year old preacher nelson shimmies. we saw five here now. that we're going to have gays who are buying case blood ya we don't care food. he was trying to not going to israel because of mine or. everything kerry called for. on the campaign trail shimmies have made a few rash promises like bringing the world cup under lympics to the country and building a high speed train system too controversially chemise is already saying that he has won the election and any other result would prove the poll is rigged whatever his claims analysts say monday's vote will be a close run race with the possibility of a runoff later in september. to tell the corresponding adrian krishna's in harare and sent us this update. without

a doubt. the freest and fairest elections in the history of the country for the first time since two thousand and two the european union was allowed to send election observers also the opposition was allowed to complain even in rural areas but despite all these signs of optimism there's also a reason for concern will be opposition really accept the results in case the president wins and how will the powerful military react if there will be a change of power. now to some of the other stories making news around the world voters in mali go to the polls on sunday to elect a president incumbent leader abraham. is favored to secure a second term in office his closeness challenger is former finance minister so my last few say five years after an international military intervention to restore peace mali is still facing an ethnic violence. militants in afghanistan have killed at least two people and injured five others in assault on

a training center for midwives nearly seventy people were inside the center in jalalabad when the extremists attacked witnesses heard gunfire and several no group has yet claimed responsibility. tens of thousands of russians have protested against plans to hike the retirement age rallies organized by trade unions and the communist party mobilized people in over a dozen cities across the country president vladimir putin had previously vowed not to raise the age before russians could collect their state pension which hasn't changed since the stalin years. pope francis has accepted the resignation of cardinal mccarrick one of the most prominent figures in the catholic church in the united states this follows allegations of sexual abuse including a case involving an eleven year old boy the pope has ordered mccarrick to remain in seclusion and in prayer until

a church trial is held. extreme summer temperatures in many parts of the northern hemisphere have left firefighters battling massive blazes in the united states two firefighters have died after struggling to bring an inferno in northern california under control dozens of homes in the city of writing have gone up in smoke and the blaze has not yet been contained. forward. it's a vision of hell fire is swirling at high speed this is reading california at night wildfires raging through the forests and into the suburbs at incredible speeds. and this is what they left behind hundreds of homes tents a char and rubble devastation for homeowners. to find find says have already been killed while stuck in the flames in california it's an uphill battle. only five

percent of the blaze is under control so far current conditions high temperatures and wind are going nowhere. so we need to experience more and more damaging wildfires more fires that ignite rapidly it's like throwing gas in. these type of fires they wrap them they they spread so fast california is used to fires. but over in europe sweden isn't this summer huge places broke out even as far as the arctic north of thirty one conditions could get a lot worse in the. high winds may cause the fires to spread and the thunder is likely to start new fires have also we are still on high alert and ready to fight for any new fires hawg from this craft for them tyranny a bit on those what sweden's neighbors have been coming to the support sending people and planes planes sweden has never needed in the past but swedish officials say some of those international volunteers may have to be pulled out so great are

the risks elsewhere in europe like california and europe is facing an unprecedented fire season and firefighters are at their limits. and in greece they'll begin burying the victims of a devastating wildfire near athens this weekend at least eighty eight people lost their lives and inferno is being called some of the deadliest europe has seen in decades and the government's handling of the disaster is causing great anger charlotte chiles impel is in greece and has this report. of your son this is the place the nothis once called home again his wife to take on the second fuel now blackened and burned forever scarred by this tragedy he's now joined the growing chorus of voices angered authorities for not doing enough to limit the scale of this disaster could have hidden ever the effort of yes no one cared to notify the residents to leave their homes. initially we could see the fire far away in the

mountains. the little items which the houses in five minutes nobody informed us that we were in danger. he takes me up into his home now filled with memories of the night he had to run for his life with. his calendar still marking the day at the finest there's. he tells me that he's happy to be alive. living directly on the beach he and his wife were able to flee to the safety of the sea they're going to become so many who lived in land once they're lucky. enough this is house is one of many buildings here in marty built illegally along the waterfront on the night of the fire is buildings like these that block the route the people desperately trying to flee to the safety of the sea walls like this one made access even harder essentially leaving people trapped in lands to bend to their depths if they did then manage to reach the corridors like this one

that go on to the waterfront they often then found that there were no steps leading down on to the beach is known a girl fell to her death just a few meters from here. people here now want answers why were these pleas safety violations ignored by the government but now they all authorities can do is assess the damage. enough this is lucky his house is still habitable almost inspectors say they're doing all they can to help residents like him try and rebuild their lives in a kind of golf but i doubt the engineer will register the damage and submit the repair estimate to the ministry for approval i want to stress that the state is present we here and we're helping people we're with them all of us just have a vision to bring the country back to its feet just like alexis our prime minister has such as most people get to later like so with there wasn't. enough just doesn't know when he'll be able to return home but now he can only wait and hope that authorities can provide the support to this community so desperately needs so.

the tour de france is coming to a close and appears we have a new winner to tell us all about bad ed mccambridge from sports joins me in studio add the penultimate stage took place today how do things stand at the moment well it was the second to last stage and of final opportunity for the chasing part to try new cirque there on thomas at the top of the league. board now cycling fans will tell you that it's customary for some bizarre reason that the race leader is never challenged on the final day so all thomas had to do today was maintain his lead over second place tom do milan and as we're about to see the watchman held his cool. the moment go right thomas has dreamed of the tour de france title is as good as his thomas produced another excellent display in the penultimate stage he finished the time trial in third place and crucially retained a lead of almost two minutes in the general classification. to do on the biggest

stage of all. over three weeks. since the. time trial world champion tom to milan won the stage an outcome that keeps the dutchman in second place overall. he finished narrowly ahead of chris froome the four time tour de france champion has had a difficult few weeks but will at least end up on the podium in paris but barring a disaster it's his team sky colleague thomas who will take his crown as the holder of road cycling's most prestigious title. so add thomas looks set for victory his computer on the tour though for several years but never been in contention before what's different this time around where he's always been a source supporting cyclists he's been an integral member of team sky he's helped chris froome his victories in the past but the highest he's a finished previously was fifteenth so i think for a lot of people it seemed like

a bit of a shock victory but i think cycling fans a few experts at least may have expected this because he wasn't actually in second place on last year's tour when he fell for his bike and broke his collarbone so it was clear that there was some pedigree there and the luck just hadn't gone his way yet but he struck while the iron's hot a few of the other big competitors weren't having the best horse and he really has done an excellent job he also didn't take part in the big italian cycling event the giro just before the tour so he may have been a little fresher than the likes of froome who did take part and it everything in the end just went his way and he's had a fantastic ride and it's things have turned around for him but it's the same old success story for team sky it's their sixth winner in seven years there's been controversy surrounding them hasn't there well massively chris froome. see the full time champion he's been spat he's been booed by fans he's actually been in physical altercations with fans on the mountainside during this a lot of people weren't happy with him participating he was investigated for doping allegations before the tour started now he was cleared but cycling isn't the type

of sport where docking allegations go away people remember this or thing fans weren't happy like i said but way from the cyclist dave brailsford the team manager of skype also was forced to apologize actually saying that spitting was part of french culture after it happened he was clearly very annoyed and he came out apologized but aside from the side from another great victory it's not been the greatest few weeks it seems going so controversy away from the actual cycling but a success story nonetheless you know it's correspondent green bridge thank you very much. back here in berlin hundreds of thousands of people have been taking part in the city's annual christer first straight day parade it's one of europe's biggest gay pride events organizers say it's more than just a street party they call it a political demonstration calling for equal rights for all the event is named after a new york street where gay and trans people fought back against police harassment and brutality in one thousand nine hundred sixty nine kickstarting. rights movement

around the world. watching the news my colleague sarah harman well here with you at the top of the hour with more news i'm not a croissant in berlin thanks for joining us. it's all happening going to be coming. your link to news from africa the world your links to exceptional stories and discussions continue and will comes after doing program tonight from germany from the news azizi taiwan i would say don't be too much africa join us on facebook t.w. africa.