you do exactly hour a day by name of the new tool and i work at the top of your. business t w news live from berlin it's a landmark day in zimbabwe where voters are going to the polls for the first ballot since autocratic rulers robert mugabe was ousted last year polling stations have opened and the high turnout is expected we'll get the latest from the capital harare also coming up the death toll in places across california rises to ten forecasters are warning of get more talked and dry conditions after an earlier than

normal start to the state's fire season. and great thomas seals victory in the tour de france becoming the first welshman to win one of cycling's grand tours will bring you the highlights from the final stage. i'm swimming so much kind of good to have you with us people in zimbabwe have started to vote in landmark presidential and parliamentary elections it's the first time in nearly four decades that the name robert mugabe is not on the ballot paper the former president resigned after pressure from the military last year holes have opened across symbolic way with a high turnout expected more than twenty candidates are running for president and a tight race is expected to between the two front runners gobby successor president emerson my god from these down and p.f. party and opposition leader nelson chamisa a lawyer and pastor. now in

a rare public appearance on the eve of the election mugabe said his successor and former ally took power illegally he said he would vote for opposition leader nelson chamisa rather than the ruling party that he led for decades but he did encourage zimbabweans to accept the election results regardless of which party emerges victorious the many hope that the elections will bring long overdue change his way which is suffering from high unemployment and economy in meltdown. melanie core of the bollen adrian krishna sent us this report from harare. and tending our granny with. her effigy that is something quite extraordinary campaign events like this one organized by the opposition m.d.c. party used to be extremely dangerous brutal crackdowns by the government was commonplace that was would you know. i was beaten up and had to spend three months in hospital i was bedridden and could only eat porridge my back was badly injured

and i thought i would never be able to become a father but by god's grace i recovered. because i know. now many are hoping for a fresh start with a new president the preacher and lawyer nelson chamisa. i was there. was what it was there like this is no woman who did what they got. to the past is never far behind in zimbabwe the country's economy has collapsed way down by high unemployment high fence nation and binion's and foreign that is the legacy of that eighteen years of rule by the party. now is to have them in the tree having our president open. and i am not some man on god why then take over and now at

seventy five years old he wants to continue running the country. although he is a former vice president and was part of the very system that brought the country to the brink of collapse when god promises a break from the book of iraq and bob way just like his opponents he likes to portray himself as an advocate for change. tearing his short time in office moment god has opened his country up to her own investment and planted said. great freedom . but doesn't believe his sudden change of heart of the governing party and its president he acknowledges some positive developments though for the first time in

his life he doesn't have to hide his red opposition shot on the way home after a rally he can wear it with pride and without fear. that report from melanie and she joins us from harare with more on the story hi melanie good to see you so voting is underway this is an historic election is the first as we said without former president robert mugabe how significant is this day for the people that you've been speaking to there. to me it's a very significant day for the almost six million voters here in zimbabwe i'm in harare at one of the polling stations and look at these queues behind me they are massive people have been queuing from four am in the morning at seven am is when the when the polling station opened and people here have really excited they feel like this is a fast election that could potentially be free and transparent and that they have

vote this time around will really count well mugabe himself has hardly been seen or heard of since his ouster but melanie he made a surprise appearance as we said in front of the cameras the night before voting and he turned against his successor president immersed in one god well let's listen to what he said is our new you're. here so. worked very hard. to resign. no one why are we seeing mugabe here turn against his successor and his former ally . well let's remember he did not leave the political stage voluntarily he was ousted by the military and now someone who once was on his side is running for president so of course he is quite resentful he has been saying there are so many names on the ballot paper there are twenty three but my name is

not on that and that is very painful he also said that his party has become undemocratic and unconstitutional which is quite a strong statement considering that he ruled the country and what was essentially a dictatorship for almost four decades and he's not particularly popular with a lot of people in zimbabwe right now is his apparent endorsement of nelson chamisa going to hurt his chances. you can actually not underestimate how much of a political to play he still has with some parts of the population there are some people who are still supporting zanu p.f. no matter what but there are also some people who really supported mugabe and if he is the one saying that he will not vote for a month and got one that could mean that those people will go out and they will vote for to me and you can tell them when i got what has felt threatened by this because yesterday he did put out a video in which he said if you moche more to me you vote for mugabe so apparently

he does still have a say. ball speaking to us a little bit earlier in the day from harare. now israel has released palestinian teenager i had to many from prison she was jailed for months along with her mother for slapping and kicking two israeli soldiers there her home in the west bank during demonstrations there last year israelis call her a terrorist but for palestinians she became a symbol of resistance. tommy has finally returned to her hometown in the israel occupied west bank mel seventeen years old she served and eight month prison term for assaulting israeli soldiers last year sami says she now plans to study law at university in a bit to defend palestinians. and their resistance will continue until the occupation is removed all female prisoners in jail are strong and i thank everyone who stood by me while i was in prison and he stood with all women prisoners.

video went viral online in december showing tommy and her relative slapping and kicking israeli soldiers he's frail handed her twelve criminal charges over the incident including aggravated assault she agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge sheet and much. her case drew global attention to israel's controversial detentions of palestinian minus rights groups including amnesty international and human rights watch have condemned such detentions after timeliness release human rights watch his director for east row and post time tweeted that although tommy is free hundreds of palestinian children remain locked up with little attention on their cases. many israelis see her jailing differently tahmina street acts have dismissed her as a provocateur a worse one israeli government minister dumped her a terrorist upon her release on sunday. but many palestinians have to mimi's

actions president mahmoud abbas is a man to me mr morris praising her as a. of civil resistance following her release. now to some other stories making headlines around the world malaysia's government says it cannot determine with any certainty why flight m h three seventy mysteriously disappeared its official report says the pilot and first officer well rested and showed no evidence of anxiety or stress the malaysia airlines plane carrying two hundred thirty nine people disappeared over the indian ocean in two thousand and fourteen some wreckage has been found but not the plane itself. the party of cambodian prime minister one sense says it has won a landslide victory in disputed elections it claims to have won all the seats in parliament official results will be out next month but rights groups are calling the election a sham after the main opposition party was banned prime minister hun sen as the world's longest serving leader the editor of the new york times says he's met with

the u.s. president are there cells berger says he told us president donald trump to stop labeling journalists enemies of the people because it's putting their lives at risk to trump denies that he says the press is putting public safety at risk by reporting on internal government to say. emergency services in the u.s. are battling wildfires in northern california that have killed at least eight people and destroyed thousands of acres of land tinder dry conditions and very hot temperatures have caused almost twenty wildfires to ignite police have now confirmed that the fires killed two young children and their great grandmother in shasta county one of the areas worst affected by the flames. neighborhoods reduced to ash and rubble the smell of char still hanging in the air some families in this northern california community had only fifteen minutes to flee. the wind just took off and i don't remember exactly what they called it it's almost like

a tornado with fire in it and it came over the hill and. it wiped out our house and wiped out our next door neighbor's home. firefighters and emergency personnel have been working around the clock to alert residents before the wildfires reached them and shasta county some thirty eight thousand people have been evacuated so far but with firefighters struggling to contain the fast moving flames the local fire department cautions that it could be a while before people can return home we understand how how that feels a lot of us are evacuated as well we want to get you back in and help this community come back together so just know and be patient with us that we are clearing areas and making it safe for you to go home as fast as we can. as officials hope for the best weather forecasters warn it could get even worse the dangerous ongoing heat wave promises more hot and dry conditions that could further feed the flames.

now after three tough weeks on the roads of france great thomas is the new tour de france champion thomas only needed to complete the final stage to ensure victory and secure his maiden tor title he becomes the sixth team sky writer in seven years to win road cycling's top competition. champagne all round for team sky at the end of the trial but she would have fronts just like in the last three years what's strange though is that when himself the right thomas i'm likely to hear of the welshman secured his first ever told win off the completing the rights of paris on sunday it's customary that the race leader is live a challenge on the final stage meaning he could enjoy so but competition remains fierce of on the sprinters and exotic christophe taking the final stage when on the shelves of music. but all eyes are on chamas as he crossed the finish line. joining him on the podium was teammate chris froome the defending champion having

finished third. for thomas picture it was a dream come true you are going to slug him because of this very sort of on the road at home from school to watch the answer that's all that runs in the dream is always just to be a ball. the let's hope. so another emphatic win for team sky thanks to the unlikely as the champions. extreme sports might seem like a modern innovation for adrenaline junkies but in the bosnian town of mostar diving has been a test of courage dating back centuries several thousand spectators that lined the banks of the river the river never read but to see forty daredevils brave the twenty seven meter jump into the depths below most earth natives lower and police to won the competition for the second tier running it is this twelve to win over all other divers for and in it for the win though they just want to test their courage and cool off. hand which is the time for a minder of our top story here on d w boaters are going to the polls in landmark

elections in zimbabwe these are the first elections to be held. since former leader raul got he was deposed by the army last november. thank you for watching state of your cherry martin will have an update on your headlines at the top of the hour. letter we were. when we were. eighty percent of americans at some point in our lives will experience hardship.