my name is you sure and i work you know but. i am. sure this is you know we news live from berlin bellwether election in zimbabwe people are voting for the first time for someone other than longtime autocrat robert mugabe zimbabweans braving long alliances dawn to cast their ballots were in the capital harare for the latest in this landmark vote also coming up fatal inferno california firefighters say they're gaining ground on

a massive blaze that has killed seven people forecasters are warning there will be no and soon to the hot and dry conditions and a one party state cambodia's leader just extended his more than the reid decade long rule last year he got rid of the main opposition party and now he claims a clean sweep for his party in sunday's election and all the seats in parliament. i am. her rock a very warm welcome everyone always start off with a landmark election underway in zimbabwe where for the first time in nearly four decades to the people of zimbabwe are voting and the name of former author of terry in a leader robert mugabe is not on the ballot was in bahrain's have been turning out in large numbers forming long. lines at polling stations and around the country

long time leader mugabe may have stepped down after pressure from the military last year but that hasn't kept him from casting his vote today and it looks to be a tight race between the two presidential front runners there are a mugabe successor president and some god well from the zanu p.f. party scene of voting here and opposition leader nelson kmita a lawyer and pastor and after casting their votes both candidates expressed hope for a democratic and peaceful election with no doubt. if the ballot is an appropriate one a genuine and not to bust. effect one victory set in for the people that people have spoken the people are speaking and it's clear that the vote is a vote for victory i vote for freedom a vote for democracy i've worked for and use them but with me add to that what you propose is will be was easy for me to put into the gate is useful

i removed and the presence of the. little presence would have been. all right to do that when users on the ground melanie or curve the ball is in the capital harare for us where she has been witnessing history unfold for symbolic reasons money how is it going so far. it's really been such a significant day here in zimbabwe in harare we have six million voters in zimbabwe who went out this morning very early in fact the first people were out at four am when the polling stations were only opening at seven because they were so excited because they told me this time around they really know that they vote will count because it will be as free and fair as it can get. now of course we haven't heard from robert mugabe the the long time leader of zimbabwe or since he stepped down in

november he made an appearance today and he cast his ballot like all zimbabweans and he spoke out in support of the opposition candidate what you why do you think he did that. what it's been really hard for him that his name this time around it's not. and my sincere apologies i think we have lost melanie for the bulk of putting from harare the link has been lost there for a moment yes it's frozen so i suggest we try to establish contact with her a little later on and in the meantime you can find more information about the ism bob reelections these historic elections on our website do you dot com slash africa can also follow us on twitter for the latest at the news all right now we're heading to the u.s. where emergency services there are battling wildfires in northern california that

have killed at least seven people in the story thousands of acres of land tinder dry conditions a very high temperatures have caused almost twenty wildfires to ignite and one of the worst affected regions is the area around reading city and shasta county police there have confirmed the fires killed two young children and their great grandmother. 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 the it's almost like a tornado with fire in it and it came over the hill and. it wiped out our house it wiped out our next door neighbor's home. firefighters and emergency personnel have been working around the clock to alert residents before

the wildfires reach 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 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 you 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. all right let's forget the speed now with some of the other stories making news around the world. the editor of the new york times says he's met with u.s. president arthur sulzberger says he told u.s. president donald trump to stop way billing journalists as quote enemies of the

people because it's putting their lives at risk trump in the eyes that he that he says the press is putting a public safety at risk by reporting on internal government debates malaysia's government says it cannot determine with any certainty why flight m h three seventy mysteriously disappeared its official report says the pilots and first officers were well rested and shown no evidence of anxiety or stress in malaysia airlines plane carrying two hundred thirty nine people disappeared over the indian ocean back in twenty forty some wreckage has been located but where the plane came down is still unclear. cambodia's ruling party has claimed it has won all the seats in the parliamentary election that took place on sunday now if true and the official results won't be declared until august eleventh cambodia would become a one party state under its veteran leader who are insane. it was

a wonderful victory that the both of you take up your kind of mind with the detention of actually. a gushing reception for prime minister has been sent back at work today after what his party claimed was a landslide victory after thirty three years in power he was confirmed in office again after a relentless crackdown on opposition preliminary election results show the incense party taking at least seventy percent of the vote in exile in indonesia the leadership of the main opposition party had a different story to tell plenty more and you are all. locked down. in cambodia. who. see history. in the us to be a celebration of the laws. that exist sized right to choose their government

unfortunately that choice had been made for them before polls opened. after one send nearly lost to the converge international rescue party all see an r.p. and the last election he made sure they wouldn't threaten him again last year compared to his main opposition party was dissolved by court order its leader jailed for treason websites critical of one sense party were blocked. a country that after the bloody rule of poll part was enjoying decades of stability seems to be steadily turning into an autocratic leave ruled state. you know this is the resoundingly victory that one san guaranteed himself when he dissolved the sea in r.p. and now he's going to do is victory lap the gay issue is what is the international community and about this next. while china has congratulated hinson on the smooth

running of his election both the u.s. and the e.u. have already threatened to impose sanctions on company as high ranking officials. are all joining us for more is going to be a correspondent on the heart to he's been covering events for us in cambodia busta anna is cambodia today a one party state for all intents and purposes and what does this mean for the country and the wider region. well yeah it definitely is a one party state and it was pretty much before since the main opposition party as we heard in the report was the solved later that year then the ruling party they took all of the seats that belonged to the opposition so basically it was a one party one party state in effect before as well but now of course it's official now they announce that they officially one all of the seats in parliament

and of course that means that then the prime minister and who has been prime minister for thirty three years he can he can tighten its grip on power even further and that is a development layer that is not unique to cambodia it's something that happened in many countries in this region take thailand for example a military dictatorship and then me even me and mari we had you know historic elections a few years ago but still the military. very important and holds twenty five percent of the seats in parliament and he resources and. the ministries in very. very influential in the government very powerful so that's something that's not unique to come badia but we're seeing this all over the region but still it's remarkable because he laid the groundwork for the last year of getting rid of the main opposition party what do the cambodian people themselves make of this election

. well you know they are they saw this coming when. at the latest when the opposition party was dissolved it was clear that this was going to be a one horse race now that doesn't mean that every day that they're just accepting it and that they're happy with it many people actually there are a lot of people who genuinely support the ruling party in cambodia but there are of course also a lot of supporters of the opposition if you take the election results of the the last election five years ago where when the opposition got some forty four percent of the votes that tells you that a lot of people are not happy with the government but what change now i think in contrast to a few years ago is that there is a climate of fear people don't want to talk about politics like five years ago after the election there were allegations of election fraud and there were protests

for months and months there were protests in cambodia i'm not sure if we're going to see that this time because i have the feeling that cambodian right now are laying low they are now what next a bastion in conclusion for cambodia i mean we're already seeing some countries threatening with the harsh harsh sanctions. that's right so we have different approaches here the u.s. for example more of a personalized approach sanctioned again leading figure is they've already started doing this they've already slapped sanctions on the head of one cent bodyguard for human rights violations and they're talking about expanding that that now we're talking about visa restrictions freezing of assets for example the e.u. on the other hand it's going to is looking more at trade sanctions they have preferential trade scheme with cambodia now they're thinking about putting that on ice and raising paris especially on imports. garment

imports because the garment is being compiled is very very important and a lot of the exports actually go to the e.u. but they're going to think twice about it they're actually going to do that because that doesn't hit the government so much as it hits the workers and there are some seven hundred thousand mainly young women employed in the garment industry and there historically or in the past they were a major support base for the opposition so they have to think carefully about if those are really the people that they want to target with these kinds of sanctions later all right that's enough to have reporting on their cambodian election outcome thank you. all right we're going to transition finally to something completely different extremes forts might seem like a modern innovation for adrenaline junkies but in the boston town of mazar diving has been a test of courage dating back centuries all of several thousand spectators lined the banks of the river near rectified to see forty dear their bulls braved the

twenty seven meter jump into the depths below astar native lawrence lister won the competition for the second year running it's his twelfth to win over all other divers weren't in for the win though they just wanted to test their courage and cool off. the brave man ok just a reminder of our top story that we're following for you right now long lines started forming as dawn and zimbabweans voted in the first elections to take place since the removal of former president robert mugabe. will be back at the top of the hour to. make your screen t.v. even smaller than. what you want but you want it. up to date. extraordinary. you decide what's. going to be double.