the mpla has ruled angola for nearly five decades. most of it under president jose eduardo dos santos, who was in power from 1979-2017. let's take a look at some of the key moments. the country gained independence in 1975. that marked the end of portugal's colonial rule of angola. it was also the start of the civil war. the former president became president in 1979. he attempted to improve relations with the west, especially the united states. in 2002, the conflict came to an end. the last election was held in 2017, when incumbent president joao lourenco succeeded dos santos. let's bring in our guests. jose gama, member of the mudei civic movement. an organization that works for fair elections. borges nhamirre, research consultant at the institute for security studies africa. and marisa lourenco, independent political analyst with a focus on angola, mozambique and south africa. she is not related to angola's president. a very warm welcome to each of you. as we have been saying, polling has showed that the mpla is i had. we are waiting

will the left wing and pla party hope -- -- mpla party hold onto power? u.s. president biden announced a plan to cancel $10,000 of student loan debt, fulfilling a campaign promise he made to younger voters. i'm brent goff. two viewers in the united states and around the world, welcome. we begin with breaking news from ukraine. president zelenskyy saying at least 15 people have died in a russian airstrike on a train station in the central part of the country. this comes on a day laden with hope and sorrow. today is independence day, the national holiday marking independence from the former soviet union. today marks six months of the russian invasion. in a moment, a report on the nation scheduled to celebrate freedom before a war got in the way. first, our reporter is in kyiv with more on the attack on a train station. >> we have heard 15 people were killed and several dozens wounded in thettack. today is a day where many people have expected such attacks to happen, possibly even on the capital of kyiv. this hasn't happened so far but quite a few rockets have bee

unita leader adalberto costa jÚnior says the mpla grip on power is to blame for many of the nation's power a one party regime. a big cancer this country needs to get rid of. a cancer that feeds on everything that continues to govern. today,, we can see everywhere that everyone is tired of this party, this single party that holds angela hostage to its interests, the single party that does not allow angela to be a democracy. >> the mpla and unita were on opposite sides of a 27 year civil war which began shortly after angela became independent from portugal in 1975 and ended in 2002. analysts say this election is less about the country's history, and more about the people who are struggling to get by, and feel let down by the leaders. >> we are not content or happy with the government actions. we are way more from them. >> so if you ask me to vote, i have no one to vote for because even if i vote no one will help my son in life. >> election experts say they expect the vote to be a tight race and many will be watching to see if it is a free and fair one. as the country's ruling party fac

developments as the accounting continues, but it looks like angola's set for more of the same with the mplaina's record heat wave starts to subside, farmers are assessing the damage caused by a prolonged route and the government is urging them to replant or switch crops where they can. within 70 days of extreme temperatures and low rainfall have brought havoc along the basin of the yangtze river, which supports more than 100 50 million people as well as/3 of the country's crops. >> it is normally surrounded by water in august in the middle of china's biggest freshwater lake. >> usually the water comes up to their -- to there. less summer, we had water up to here. quest this is wt it looked like two years ago when the region was hit by floods. water levels fluctuate as floodwaters from the yangtze river low into it during the normally wet summer before receding dramatically in the dry autumn and winter. this year, the lake has already shrunk to 1/5 of its size. china is experiencing the hottest summer on record with a heat wave now stretching over 70 days. it is breaking records almost every

the governing mpla party, which has been in power for more than four decades, is up against oppositionmains the favourite to retain a majority but has been criticised for not tackling inflation and poverty despite huge oil wealth. china has re—opened forforeign students for the first time since the covid pandemic began. around half a million overseas students were at chinese universities and colleges before covid hit more than two years ago. it marks a major step towards re—opening the country, but it's not clear yet when foreign tourists will be allowed back in. it's been five years since hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims fled their native myanmar, after a deadly crackdown by the government there. more than 700,000 people escaped the country. the majority left for neighbouring bangladesh, ending up in the world's largest refugee camp in cox's bazar. others are now in other asian nations, including india. both india and bangladesh want to send them back to myanmar — but with the military in charge there, it's not an option. our south asia correspondent rajini vaidyanathan sent