in washington, i'm ray suarez. the message from the united kingdom is very clear, we urge all iraqs leaders and communities to unite. the british foreign secretary flies in to iraq to try to resolve the deepening political crisis. within of iraq's most powerful shia leaders also calls for change and saudi arabia is used an alert for a potential terrorist threat. the latest from ey iraq coming .

governor is charged with murder following an attack. banned for nine matches, a game an striker luis suarez is kicked out of the world cup for biting an opponent. ghost towns in china, 15 million homes lie empty. so what will another real estate slump mean for the world's second biggest economy. ♪ ♪ the chorus of calls for a unity government in iraq is growing. britain's foreign secretary has been meeting the prime minter nouri al-maliki in baghdad. william haige called for unity echoing the message from the u.s. earlier in the week. iraq's parliament has been order today convene next week in the first step towards forming a new government. >> the message from the united kingdom is very clear.

we urge all iraq's leaders and communities to unite. the iraqi state faces an ex-st a step shall threat. and the growth of expansion of the area controlled by isis or isil with huge implications for the stability of that country and many other countries. we believe the most important factor that will determine whether or not iraq overcomes the challenge is political uni unity. and as friends of iraq we believe the urgent priority must be to form an inclusive government following on from the recorrect elections that can command the support of all ira iraqis and work to stop terrorists and their terrible crimes. >> prime minister and i discussed each of the individual, many hotspots that

we are challenged by today. we particularly agree on iraq, that we want a government formation as rapidly as possible. that represents unity for the country. well, one of iraq's most powerful shia leaders is also calling for a national unity government. he says iraq risks spiraling in to chaos without a change of leadership. from baghdad imran kahn reports. >> reporter: from fire brand to potential peacemaker a man whose militia once fought american troops and al are at qauda in awry says he wants a unified government. >> the iraqi government must fill the can he member demands n sunnis because they have been marginalized for so long. we need to rush the formation of a national government with new names and from all background and not to be based on the usual sectarian quotas. >> reporter: his words are being ecoed by others across the

political spectrum. kurdish regional prime minister says peace can only be achieved through political means. >> translator: what happened was caused by the marginal ionization of an important component in the iraqi community and that's the sunni component. the sunnies in iraq felt that they were not part of the political practice sews in the country and what happened two years ago in fallujah was a legitimate appeal by the people in those areas and the iraqi government was supposed to answer their demands. and find a political solution instead of resort to go violen violence. >> reporter: but prime minister nouri al-maliki is defiant and sticking to his position. he says he's the only man that can lead iraq out of this crisis. the next big test for him is on july 1st that's what parliament immediatmeet to discuss the forf a new government, a government that prime minister nouri al-maliki will want to control. >> the call for forming a national emergency government as they like to call it is simply

an attempt by some in the opposition to launch a coup against our political process in order to detroit it. >> reporter: so the prime minister faces pressure at home and internationally. the british and the americans say that before they can give anymore help, iraq needs a unity government. imran kahn, al jazerra, baghdad. meanwhile, saudi arabia has issued an alert for what it's calling potential terrorist threats. king abdullah has ored all necessary measures to be taken to safeguard against any threats. now u.s. secretary of state john kerry is due in saudi arabia on friday. will, as you saw a little bit early john kerry addressing the ma media in paris. alongside the french foreign minister. let's go to roslyn george canned in washington d c. it seems ever more clear that john kerry sees the problem in a regional context and also seeking an international

response to the problem. >> reporter: that's right, that's because there are many countries, even if they did oppose the u.s.-led war in to iraq, they do have concerns about the ongoing stability of the iraqi government. and so it is natural for the u.s. to reach out to the u.k., to france, to other countries in the e.u. as well as countries across the greater middle east to try to find ways of helping to stabilize the situation inside iraq. it's heavy lifting but it seems as if everyone is willing at this point at least, to discuss what might be the most efficient way of making a difference without undercutting iraqi sovereignty. >> and with so much pressure on nouri al-maliki himself, he seems rather isolated at the moment. and he seems convinced that he's the man to take iraq forward in to the next phase. i am just wondering whether you are aware whether mr. kerry agrees with that and whether he thinks that maliki is the than to do business with or not?

>> reporter: well, if you put the question to the secretary of state or to any of these spokes people, they will say that it's not for the u.s. to pick who should be the leader of a rack, that is iraq,that is a matter fi voters and members of parliament that are going to be meet buying monday at the latest to try to start this process of forming a new government. that said, there is a lot of frustration with nouri al-maliki. there is a widespread belief here in washington especially, that the way that maliki led iraq in his previous two terms did not bode well for the ideal of national unity that sunnis were cut out from major policy decisions, weren't given appropriate government portfolios and there was a similar sentiment among iraqi kurds in the north. so there is this sense that someone who can be more of a uniter, to use the word, is

probably most required. but as we saw in imran kahn's piece, nouri al-maliki says he won the most votes in the last elections in april, and that unless someone can come forward with the same kind of electoral qualities that he brought, then he would be happy to step aside. >> "ookay, roslyn, thanks for that. a couple of other developments in the iraqi situation. the government saying that it now has control of the country's largest oil refinery. earlier sunni fighters led by the islamic state of iraq and the levant said that they had seized refinery. the government is now saying more troops have been flown in to the compound in order to vend off the assault. thousands of iraqis have been displaced by the fighting including many christians, they abandoned their homes in the town east the mosul. after an attack. they are now seeking to stay in

a kurdish zone. charged with murder and terrorism. he was arrested this week after an attack in the town earlier this month: gunmen killed more than 40 people when they opened fire in several hotels and a police station. the governor will remain in custody until monday. katherine has more from the kenyan capital nairobi. >> reporter: he has been charged with very serious offenses, murder, forceful mass transfer of a population, and terrorism as well the prosecution has asked for more time to investigate. they have been analyzing his phone records, the defense is arguing that he needs to be released on bond. the judge is going to rule on that on monday. this is a very high-profile attack. the government has said from the on set that what happened there

is as a result of political instigation with an aim of ethnic cleansing. el shabob claimed responsibility for that attack there, but the government rubbished that saying that el shabob is taking advantage of the situation for publicity. the opposition has blamed the government, criticized the government for using politics as a ruus to cover up it's incompetence in preventing the many attacks that have happened in the country since kenyan soldiers went in to somalia to fight el shabob in 2011. there has been about 66 attacks in the country and many people have died and the opposition is saying that the government has failed to prevent this and it should own up instead of covering up and playing a blame game. neighboring somalia, the armed group el shabob says it carried out an attack on a hotel which is being used as a base by african union soldiers. fighters remember dressed in

military clothes and stormed the building. they say two djibouti soldiers and who el shabob fighters were killed. the armed group boca huh ham ramirez is suspected the carrying out the attack in abuja. at least 22 people were killed in the last near a busy shopping center it happened as people were getting ready to watch nigeria play at the world cup. well, the top story from the world cup is luis suarez who has been kicked out of the competition for biting the italian defender giorgio chi key lean i. he has been banned for nine matches and any football activity for four months. fifa's disciplinary committee also fined him more than $100,000. suarez was seen biting his opponent as uruguay beat italy 1-0 on tuesday. well, a former british referee mark halsey thinks the

ban is rather lenient because suarez has bitten before. >> it's unprecedented but fifa have done this, because they have never, ever done this before. so to include a club ban as well as four months. but if you look at the whole scenario i think he could be back playing football before the end of the year. i do feel it's lenient for what he's done. it's accepted in the game that people will punch someone, headbutt someone or elbow someone as we saw in the france game last night. they don't seem to mind that, because it goes on. but this just doesn't happen on the football pitch. we have seen luis do it many times now, three or four times. and to say he's a world class player, there is something -- only luis can tell us why he's doing it. he has done fantastic from come back from his suspension from the liverpool-chelsea game and he's done really well. done fan as it till tic fantastf

liverpool football club and he's let everybody down especially liverpool. a strike by government workers, why haven't they been paid for month? gaza. plus, how a drummer is making an exhibition of himself underneath the arches of london's famous bridges. ♪ ♪

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performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. >> hundreds of days in detention. >> al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. >> thousands calling for their freedom. >> it's a clear violation of their human rights. >> we have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. >> journalism is not a crime. ♪ ♪ let's have a look at the top stories here at al jazerra. the british foreign secretary is in iraq pushing for a unity government to try to counter the

growing sunni rebellion. one of iraq's most powerful shia leaders is echoing that call, saying iraq risks spiraling in to chaos without a change of leadership. the governor of kenya has been arrested over the recent violence. he has been charged with murder, false. transfer of people. and terrorism. luis suarez has been kicked out of the world cup for biting the italian defender giorgio chiellino. our guy's star striker has been banned for nine matches and any football activity for four months. now, muslim cleric who was at the sent of a complex legal extradition case has been cleared of involvement in a failed plot against an american school in the jordanian capital there. he was removed from britain last year following a near decade-long process. but despite the acquittal, he remains in detention in jordan.

he's facing more charges in relation to a plan to attack tourists during new year celebrations in 2000. now, 50,000 palestinian workers are on strike in gaza, claiming that they haven't been paid for two months. hamas hired the workers when it took over gaza in 2007, but the reunited palestinian authority is not yet ready to pay them. here is an explanation. >> reporter: locked out in the gaza strip. public buildings are empty. their employees are outside on strike. these people are angry and unpaid. and they are blaming the palestinian president. >> translator: everyone is responsible for our problems. president mahmoud abbas is presents of all the palestinian people and he's the father of all of us. he represents all palestinians all over the world, therefore he must solve these problems as soon as possible.

>> reporter: what the gaza workers want seems easy enough. they want to be paid. but the new government, says it doesn't have the money. it also wants to vet the workers before paying them. hamas hired them in 2007 when it took control of gaza. but that could take months. and that's angered the strikers who want to be recognized as state employees. just like these men in the west bank. >> translator: this strike is a protest on depriving 50,000 palestinian families from tear daily bread. they sucher a lot as a result. therefore we started this step as a warning. the general strike is paralyzing gaza. we demand the unity government solve our problems and consider us legitimate employees like the west bank ones. >> reporter: the new government is also under pressure over the disappearance of three israeli teenagers in the west bank. israel blames hamas. hamas and the palestinian authorities signed a

reconciliation agreement in april. the new unity government has promised to hold a national election within six months. but the rising pressure is threatening not only unity, but the prospect of that ever happening. al jazerra. now to libya where there has been a pour turn out in the parliament the election. fewer than half of registered voters actual a turned out to cast their ballots on wednesday. the country is trying to elect a unity government. it's an attempt to end the political turmoil and violence that followed the overthrow of muammar qaddafi in 2011. well, wednesday's vote was further marred by the murder of a prominent libyan human rights activist in the east of the country in benghazi. attackers broke in to her home. she was one of the founding members of libya's national transitional council. we can go live to washington, d.c. and speak to melanie who is from vital voices and works with women leaders around the world.

clearly this woman was amazing. she was a vital voice. you awarded her your top prize, didn't you, in 2012? but does this mean the end of her work in libya today? >> one of the core things about women leaders around the world is that they pay it forward. and they bring others with them. and it's important to know that she was engaging others in libya and it is a great loss for the libyan people today. but there are other women leaders that embody what vital voices believes in. and they will continue her work. >> so she was engaged, then, what you are saying is that perhaps this is a characteristic of women leaders generally, she was engaged in mentoring and in order to progress her work, even without her being there? >> that's right. she was mentoring. she was paying it forward. she was insuring that the next generation would also have a

voice and that is critical for women's leader blip is & is this something that women leaders tend to do? >> yes. we have found it globa globally. at vital voices, there are core leadership principles that all women leaders exhibit, and that is deep roots in their community, paying it forward, crossing lines that divide, bringing others with them. these are principle that his women believe in for their societies as well as for their countries. >> and how do you think, then, that the leadership of women in libya can help improve the situation which is pretty dire, both in triply and to th tripolt in benghazi? >> i think this is a question for all of us as a collective. what do we do to change the perception of women across the world? and their leadership and economic empower. and political par take and partd

ending violence against women. this is the responsibility of individuals, of governments, of media, of civil society. it is all of our responsibility. >> melanie, thank you very much indeed. she works with if the ngo vital voices. thank you. now, one of the three al jazerra staff imprisoned in egypt has spoken out. peter guesters along with mo hammer famoham. on monday a cairo judge found them guilty of having ties to a terrorist organization. and of airing false news. the verdict was widely condemned around the world. with the evidence presented by the prosecution being described as farcical. peter greste says i will fight the wrongful conviction against him and his two colleagues. >> i am devastated and outraged by monday's vert. verdict. throughout this trial the

prosecutor failed to present a single piece of concrete evidence to support the outrageous allegations against us. at the same time, our lawyers have highlighted countless procedural errors, irregularities and abuses of due process that should have had the entire case throne out of court many times over. that is why i intend to do everything i can and consider all possible measures to overturn the conviction. the verdict confirms that our trial was never simply about the charges against us, it's been an attempt to use the court to intimidate and silence critical voices in the media. that's why i know that our freedom, and more importantly the freedom y egypt press will never come without noisy sustained pressure from individuals, human rights groups, government and anyone who understands the fundamental importance of a free press to egypt's fledgling democracy. we are all grateful for the extraordinary and unprecedented public support, the countless people have offered us

throughout this ordeal. it's kept us strong and continues to do so. we must all remain committed to fight this gross inning just for as long as necessary. well, the canadian government is increasing its pressure to try to help free mohamed fahmy who has been sentenced to seven years in jail and is a dual canadian-egyptian citizen. now, pakistan's military has launched a ground offensive in the main town of the tribal area. it's been shelling the area with tanks and artillery in the latest round of its offensive against taliban fighters. this comes after nearly two weeks of air raids in the region. almost half a million people have already fled the fighting. and the majority of those who have left there have gone to the nearby town. the authorities there have been struggling to provide enough food and with overcrowded hospitals, some people have had to walk for 24 hours to find

safety. here say temporary shelter. >> reporter: i am at the high school which has now become a temporary shelter for the effect-yes of the conflict. most of the people here are christian even though we have talked to a number of hindus who have also sought protection here, the the church was tellins all minorities are welcome. they told the hundred true community that they should bring the hundred dies first and the christians later. that is the spirit of cooperation, that is the spirit of help that these people are providing to people who have no one. now, we have been told by a number of these people that they were forced to walk for over 24 hours with their well, with their children, with their parents. some of them too hold to make such a difficult journey. what they are disappointed with

is the fact that leadership is nowhere to be seen. after all, they are also sit sense of pakistan. they would want help from their elected representatives who keep making tall promises that they will try to help their people. yet we have not seen anybody come to the school which has become a temporary shelter. we have talked to the reverend here who tells us that this is honor deal that they have not seen before. people who have lived there for over a century and have been accepted as a part of the community of that city, are now on the run. and looking for protection. what they want is to see their leadership to come here and match their words with deeds. now about 50 million homes in china are empty. now, this is really a worrying sign for a country that is still recovering from a property bubble as adrian brown reports the economists are fearful of

another real estate slump. >> reporter: china's property market is a pretty scary place right now. remember just a few years ago the market here had seriously overheated, leading the government to tighten the lending criteria for banks. that led to a number of property developers going bust, they walked away from projects, and left millions upon millions of homes standing empty. now, chinese who have money and want to buy property are doing so, but they are doing it overseas, they are buying in places like the united states, canada, britain, australia, and new zealand because they believe those markets are much safer places for their investments. they simply have no faith in china's economy. in the past, property has always been a principle source of the investment in this country because people didn't trust their stock markets or their banks. now, on top of that, we have been seeing property prices fall on average by about 10% during the past few months, construction across the country is down about 20%.

but there is a demon overhanging all of this, and that is the shadow banking sector. the unregulated banking sector. and economists say that this sector is exposed to loans totaling around 7 trillion u.s. dollars. yes, 7 trillion u.s. dollars. and the worry is that if even half of those loans can't be repaid then this country would be facing a nightmare scenario. now tower bridge is one of britain's most famous landmarks and it's london's fame is crossing over the thames that is a scene of a new exhibition. jessica has been to take a look. >> reporter: tower bridge, westminster bridge, albert bridge, waterloo bridge, the bridges are the heart of the city. and artists have been inspired by them for more than 300 years. ♪ >> reporter: beating the bridges is just that.

the drummer tests the reverberations under all london's 30 bridges, from the leafy suburbs in the west to the industrial east. it's just one of a anybody of works on show until november at the museum. 19th century photographers were experimenting with new technologies, just as the bridge builders were using new materials to create bigger spa spans. >> there is much to know about bridges. they are a taming of god's creation the river and of course artistically the prospects from bridges have move artists and poets. >> reporter: today bridges aren't just a means of crossing the river. the newest bridge, a pedestrian bridge, is an architectural statement. 900 years ago when the first masonry bridge was built, london bridge, it had to be blessed by clerics because it was considered an act of god, changing the nature of things. it will take more than a

blessing for the next bridge. organizers need to raise more than $200 million for the garden bridge. once built, it will be a central city park and for walkers and cyclists, the latest link in nearly 2,000 years of london bridges. jessica baldwin, al jazerra, london. hi, i am lisa fletcher and you are in "the stream." today are men the oppressed gender? we take you inside a world where american men believe they are the widely disadvantaged sex. their claims, like rape is used as a scam, fuel controversy. yet their movement is growing. and later, why fed up dads are mobilizing across the country demanding their right to be in their child's life. hear why they believe courts and the child custody system are stacked against them. ♪ ♪