hello there the weather is generally quite quiet across the middle east at the moment on the satellite picture you can see a little bit of cloud there around positive afghanistan and that's threatening to bring a few more showers around kabul but generally as we head through into sunday the showers are pulling away towards the north and kabul should be drawing at twenty seven degrees will be our maximum look at the temperatures in kuwait they have been incredibly high recently now they have eased finally down to forty one degrees and that's the way we're expecting them to stay as we head through monday so far more bearable here for the east coast the mediterranean while twenty nine degrees will be the maximum that you mean by a route but for the towards the south and here in doha no massive change for us really the winds still feeding in from the east bringing in that humidity on all temperatures topping around thirty nine or forty degrees and that's the way they'll stay over the next few days before the towards the south when the winds are a little bit stronger there around the coast of oman salalah probably getting the

high that around thirty or thirty one degrees even as we head into monday down towards the southern parts of africa and there's been a loss of cloud in the southern parts recently see it all on the satellite picture gradually edging its way eastwards trying to move away from cape town now and with a bit more sunshine the temperatures should recover twenty one degrees will be our maximum is actually higher than durban will only be getting to eighty.

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera the top stories this hour u.k. police have arrested an eighteen year old man in the port town of dover in connection with friday's explosion on the london underground they're also searching a house southwest of the city. at least thirty six refugees from burundi of been shot dead by security forces in neighboring democratic republic of congo according to the united nations. and bangladesh his prime minister will use his speech at next week's un general assembly to demand more international help to deal with the range a crisis. now in other stories we're following the iraqi military and shia militia

have started an operation to retake areas of western anbar province from eisel while syrian forces a squeezing the armed group from the opposite direction i suppose held several towns along the iraqi syrian border since two thousand and fourteen but it's been losing ground in both countries in recent months it now controls less than seven percent of iraq compared to forty percent eighty three years ago meanwhile iraq's prime minister has branded a referendum on independence for the country's kurdish region is illegal and unconstitutional hydro a body said the vote scheduled for later this month would make iraq less secure. we are within one here on this constitution has been voted. on it by all the iraqi people including the one to destroy the iraqi population so i think to challenge the construction of this man there will be nothing. if you challenge the court situation if you challenge the border so far on the border of the region that there

will not be this is a public invitation to the countries in the region to violate iraq before this war which is very dangerous escalation. imran khan is in erbil in northern iraq joins us live now in iran the general sense of tension around this vote and the opposition to it as reflect in the comments there from a body seems to be building. that's. where the been hit with a mixture of defiance and anger anger that these words could actually escalate the situation further defines president you said that the referendum is going to go ahead on september twenty fifth but all really depends now on. the body does next one of the key problems is the disputed territory of care cook what is there what can they do to resolve that issue well one of the things that promised to hire all the body could do is employ a military governor for kirkuk to replace the government of which the iraqis are

already saying that he needed to be removed if they employ this military government then that military action that could take place within itself is an extreme example of what they might be able to do but promise i'd rather body is running out of options he's tried all of his politics right now so that's a real issue what happens next in the rockies really do you know he's also said in the interview the next hit that you just heard that military option might be one of the things that he might get to do. and what about the presence of the. saying he's adamant that this takes place but could that be alternatives. well it's unlikely now at this late stage to perspire the referendum without doing quite a lot of damage to present himself he's been speaking at a rally. in the last few hours he was absolutely defiant and angry at the iraqis he

said we tried to be partners with the iraqis but they simply weren't able to give us what we wanted and what was agreed we want to be paid from the federal iraqi government that didn't happen they stopped paying we try to be good partners now the only choice that we have is to become good neighbors and not be servants to baghdad so already he's escalated his language he knows that the only real way of victory for him. it is going to be that if the referendum goes ahead on september twenty fifth but he has no friends when it comes to this the international community already come out and said no the in the referendum cannot take place the kurds and the iraqis need to get together and concentrate on the fight against the americans have said that the british issued a statement saying very much the same thing the turks are very angry about this the iranians are also very angry about this they've sent from both of those countries people in to be able to negotiate with president abbas who would resign and it's come to no avail you see flags now you see rallies now we're going to see those.

rallies increase big is the kurds see this as a moment when they can take a hold of the self-determination and a nation state something that been striving for since one thousand twenty thanks very much and non-con and. of course in egypt is up helgi life sentence issue to the country's former president mohamed morsi the ruling is final and cannot be appealed morsi was given a twenty five year sentence in two thousand and sixteen out to being convicted of passing on state secrets to cattle he won the presidential election two thousand and twelve after an uprising and it says years of hosni mubarak's rule morsi was then removed in a military coup a year later. when seven hundred mayors from across catalonia have gathered in barcelona to confirm their support for a planned independence referendum despite threats they'll be arrested thousands rallied in the city is an act of defiance against the spanish government which has declared october's vote illegal the maze of been summoned to court for questioning

and face arrested arrest if they fail to show up they've also been warned they face charges of civil disobedience abuse of office and misuse of public funds if they engage in preparations for the vote panel has more from barcelona. thousands of people have crammed into government square in downtown barcelona chanting freedom and chanting we will vote some of them a carrying also the castle and independence flag this is a clear reflection of their determination to go ahead and vote in a referendum on october the first to decide whether the catalonia region will break away from the rest of thank you tom thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you very much thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you very much ok thank you thank you very much for taking thank you we were under threat of arrest thank you for thank you thank you for having us thank you thank you for the first thank

you thank you thanks roger thank you to sergio thank you mayor thank you thank you thank you thank your support of the record thank you thank jail thank you necessary thank god is total respect thank you to. jennifer gray thank your central authorities want you to breath and your breath and elected officials. meanwhile it's the final week of campaigning in germany's general election for the country goes the polls on september twenty fourth. rival martin shoots have been holding rallies on saturday dominic cain has been at the chancellor's rally in the northern town of bint. in rallies across germany angle america's message has been one of continuity urging voters to consider her record as chancellor of this country over the past four years indeed over the past twelve years and saying that germany cannot risk a change of government a change of policy

a change of agenda from her agenda to those of her rivals here in beenz her message was very clear she spoke about the refugee crisis she spoke about the debt crisis in europe and the threats that germany and europe faces from what she considers the dangers of terrorism and she also spoke about the economy here in germany and why the vote for the c.d.u. was the only vote that could secure germany's economic future about their phones yes i'm all of those when it is going well for us we are more likely to avoid leaving further debt to our grandchildren and children and so they are better able to control their own future for that reason it is important not to create new debt in the next four years oh yes beenz is part of angular miracles home state indeed this is her individual constituency so when she was asking for people's votes here it was a direct personal appeal vote for me she said the point she also made was that although the opinion polls suggest that her party is cruising towards victory

voters should not take that for granted complacency was the enemy she said every vote counts and that therefore every vote given to the c.d.u. would strengthen her hand in a future government if the opinion polls are correct and as i say she is heading towards what might be considered to be a handsome victory and some analysts now say the question is not whether she will get elected as chancellor it's whether she will get to choose the party that she would prefer to govern in a coalition after september the twenty fourth. at least fifty four people have now died during three months of tarantula rain in asia the u.n. says more than eleven thousand homes have also been destroyed in the country's capital niamey which is one of the hardest hit areas the severe weather also left nearly twenty thousand people displaced as you know which often faces food shortages and drought is now facing further insecurity after day after the floods destroyed crops and cattle moving to zimbabwe where the opposition leader morgan

tsvangirai has been admitted to hospital after suffering severe vomiting following a party meeting sixty five year old symptoms reportedly came on suddenly during gathering of his opposition coalition the movement for democratic change on thursday he was airlifted from the capital harare and taken to a hospital in johannesburg in south africa he said to be in a stable condition the scale of a humanitarian disaster following last month's flooding and landslides in sierra leone is overwhelming orphanages in the capital freetown more than a thousand people were killed leaving many children without parents nicholas hack reports the chaos of august is landslide came a few miracles. nineteen months old that is one of them rescuers found him with neck deep in mud much to his mother's relief. you know how it's us and i saw him alive my heart melted but when i heard his father had died

his body stuck in the mud my heart went cold in. the recovery effort has stopped an eerie silence hangs over this vast terrain hundreds of bodies still lie buried deep in the mud. some of the buildings destroyed were an orphanage with sixty children inside the church with seventy students studying and hundreds of family home this is a country still in mourning trying to come to terms with the sheer scale of the destruction. and you are some of the hundreds of children that have lost their parents in the much like they are now under the care of the don bosco orphanage in downtown freetown. in mind of them. not that they feel. listened to then many people for example.

some of them the last. nine. children who suffered a brutal civil war in the recent poll the outbreak have found a place they call home here they receive counseling and attend school. volunteers say teenagers suffer the most too old to be called a child but too young to be considered an adult sixteen year old. fears for her future most young girls in sierra leone her age are married off i don't go to school i want. the others will stay here for another three months the government has promised to re house all of them by then but you homes will not take away their trauma after so much loss and destruction these are orphans who are uncertain with what lies ahead because hawke al-jazeera freetown now tunisia's president has overturned

a decades old band now allow women to marry non muslim men and move to base on both sides of the spectrum women's rights activists have held it a victory religiously to say it's a lie lation of islamic law. reports. this is to new zealand president baz subsea attending a gathering to commemorate national women's day. he says he said he was committed to lifting a decades long ban all women marrying on muslims on thursday he fulfilled that promise and overturned in one nine hundred seventy three law paving the way for women to choose whom ever they want to marry regardless of their partner's religion the decision is unprecedented in the muslim world we look at gender equality has been in trying in the constitution but when we call for you quality that doesn't

mean we are against religion our constitution stipulated we are a secular majority people are predominantly muslim. although to the most progressive country in the region conservatives have gained ground since the two thousand and eleven revolution clerics have stepped into the fray criticizing the president for what they consider to be a violation of islamic law by its troops hailed the decision as a landmark victory for women but insists women have a long way to go to get full rights for months there have been protests to ensure equal inheritance rights for women and the local laws where men can only get half the inheritance of what men receive a decision or reforming the inheritance laws has been met with strong opposition

from religious leaders the president insists he is determined to strengthen women's rights and freedoms but many where we are today could see more confrontations between those who support a secular state and those that are not has a lot easier. now here's a story of will have you breathing a sigh of relief and australian quality has had an extremely lucky escape after hitching a fifteen kilometer ride in a car wheel arch the female marsupial had climbed into the arch of a four by four in the hills outside the south australian state capital adelaide when the driver finally heard its cries and called the fire brigade rescuers were amazed to find the terrified. on her despite the smell of burning far after two days of recovery the quality has now been released back into the wild.

write a quick look at the stories making headlines today u.k. police are searching a home southwest of london in connection with five days explosion on an underground train that injured twenty nine people earlier they arrested an eighteen year old man in the port of dover the main departure point for ships to the european mainland and he has more. they haven't commented on who he was they haven't said whether they are actually imminently looking for any associates but all friday they did say that they were hunting for suspects using the period where. the feeling is that the police now are acting as quickly as they can to find out if there were any people beyond the one person who planted the device or much and if there are any other materials around as well. at least thirty six refugees from burundi have been

shot dead by security forces in the neighboring democratic republic of congo according to the united nations the interior ministry says that violence broke out after a group stormed a jail in the east of the country where refugees were being held. north korean leader kim jong un says his nation will complete its nuclear program is vowed to achieve what he calls an echo librium of real force with the united states following the latest north korean missile test on friday bangladesh's prime minister will use her speech at next week's un general assembly to demand more international help to deal with the ranger crisis four hundred thousand refugees have now crossed into bangladesh in the last three weeks fleeing a violent military crackdown in myanmar. malaysian police say they've arrested seven boys suspected of starting a fire at a school which killed twenty three people on thursday but he say the suspects aged

between eleven and eighteen were detained after offices attained c.c.t.v. footage from a neighboring building. and the iraqi military and shia militia have started an operation to retake areas of western anbar province from eisel while syrian forces are squeezing the armed group from the opposite direction and side story is coming up next. muslim women in tunis here can now marry non muslim men the president has overturned the ban that's lasted more than fourteen years clerics say the controversial decision violates islamic law but how far does it go in closing the gender equality gap this is inside story.

a welcome to the program i'm adrian finnegan it is the announcement that's polarizing a nation has overturned a ban on women from marrying non muslim men a law that's been in place for more than forty years the move has sparked heated debate on the streets and on social media human rights groups say that it's a landmark move in guaranteeing women's freedom in the country traditionalists though are denouncing the proposal as a violation of islamic law reports. this is to new zealand president baz a subsea attending a gathering to commemorate national women's day he said he said he was committed to lifting a decades long ban old women marrying the muslims on thursday he fulfilled that

promise and overturned in one nine hundred seventy three low paving the way for women to choose whom they want to marry regardless of their partner's religion the decision is president and in the muslim well. willich gender equality has been in shrine in the constitution but when we call for you quality that doesn't mean we are against religion our constitution stipulates we are a secular state but our people are predominantly muslim and. although to his ear is the most progressive country in the region conservatives have gained ground since the two thousand and eleven revolution clerics have stepped into the fray criticizing the president for what they consider to be a violation of islamic law by its troops hailed the decision as a landmark victory for women but insists women have

a long way to go to get full rights. for months there have been protests to ensure equal inheritance rights for women and the local laws where men can only get half the inheritance of what men receive a decision of reforming the inheritance laws has been met with strong opposition from religious leaders the president insists he is determined to strengthen women's rights and freedoms but many where we are today could see more confrontations between those who support a secular state and those that are not. well prior to the revoking of this lore known muslim man who wish to marry a tunisian muslim woman had to convert to islam and submit a certificate of his conversion as proof under islamic law a muslim men can marry non muslim women the decision to overturn the ban for women

is seen as a milestone in a region where religion in marital ties can be at the heart of a family feud and long struggles against state laws however women in tunisia still face discrimination particularly in matters of inheritance which prioritises sons over daughters. all right let's bring in our guests for today's discussion joining us from tunis is. director of human rights watch in tunisia from washington d.c. cosima rashid is a net gets of the comedy a muslim community in america and joining us also from tunis lawyer riyadh farley welcome to inside story all of you emma let's start with you despite criticism from the region's religious leaders and scholars this move to allow tunisian women to marry outside their faith has been hailed by many as progressive and revolutionary is it. it's definitely a very positive step for women's rights it's

a step that was preceded by several other you know progressive legislation that were enacted recently such as a low on violence against women that is meant to prevent all sorts of domestic violence and i think it's really a very symbolic move from the tunisian government to. to rescind this decree this ministerial decree from one nine hundred seventy three that encroached on many of the principles for which tunisian women fault and for which the tunisian people fought as well such as the principle of equality the this decree. you know installed kind of discrimination between men and women by prohibiting only women from marrying outside of their faith for marrying non muslim men and it also

encroached on several other very important principles that sharia freedom of conscience because it interfered with faith and interfered with the in their you know of beliefs of the people and also encroached on the principle of the right to privacy so it's a very interesting very important move and very important that tunisia has taken this corey just out there or it's a walk away to make of the criticism because to see. is this move in violation of islamic law as some have claimed. well you know the i mean muslim community seeks to represent the revival of true islam and one of the tenets of islam that the prophet of islam a taught with the separation of religion and state so i think you can argue that while islam teaches that muslim women should marry muslim men the idea that you can enforce that or force that upon women is something completely contrary to islamic

teachings in a recent lecture the head of the mit a muslim community his holiness the fleet of islam there's i'm a sewer and it made explicitly clear that in islam men and women are absolute equals and there's no doubt about this so for those who believe that muslim women should only marry muslim men then they have the right to hold that personal belief as part of their state and as a muslim i believe that's what islam teaches but islam is also a crystal clear that you cannot enforce religious teachings you cannot enforce more ality on people or your definition of morality the koran also says a chapter for verse nineteen that do not inherit women against their will so whereas you can have your understanding of islam you have no right to enforce that understanding on people people should be afforded as my colleague a lawyer just said that they should be afforded religious freedom freedom of conscience and if your understanding of morality truly is

a better understanding then it should speak on the merits you shouldn't need a law forcing people on who they can and what people what state they can and cannot marry right into this what do you make of that tunisia's former prime minister said that the president's ideas don't take into account the views of war to this ians just a liberal segment of the population is he right first a phone i want to say that. we just want to talk about the religion and. issue in my mind in my mind it's not it's not about truth as yours issue it's about a fundamental rights i mean i respect to what the last guest was saying about religion but i mean as a tunisian citizen not toward him or especially i just but i don't i mean a lot of tunisian i'm one among them i don't care about what people think about islam our the way they read our understand islam i mean it's about my faith i mean

i don't want to allow anybody to discuss what they believe and want to allow anybody to tell me what is right what is wrong in the public sphere in the public sphere first second i mean it's it's as i said as i mentioned it's not a religious issue it's about fundamental rights and their scope and what i mean about fundamental rights the first two are i mean. i'm absolutely free to do whatever i want to the fruits of my you labor with my money and my possessions i mean i don't want to allow anybody to own me to tell me what i do with them are not second in the tunisian constitution there is the freedom of faith so what does my faith what are my believes and how why and your prate. my religion whether it is the islamic religion or another one that's my business that's my our own business i mean i as a traditional citizen like many other i don't want to discuss religious issues i

don't want to discuss and to birth asians i want to discuss only two things which are as i mentioned my fundamental rights to do whatever i want with the fruits of my labor and my positions ok and my freedom of faith but read it that read i you one of the liberals that the former prime minister is talking about here are the others within two days in society who would fundamentally disagree with you the problem i mean what. i agree with of course i agree with any any anything that goes in the. in the direction of. i mean fundamental rights but in my mind the problem of the first minister and the president of the republic is the way they presented the think because i repeat that internet is you're a raid their legal framework a grunty the freedom of faith and second weren't the fundamental rights

that people do what they want with their. sessions as long as they've done to trouble the public order of course but i mean the legen from framework already you know i don't know where lots of things so i mean i think in my mind it's a very bad direction to talk about religion no it's really it's above the scope about the existing legal frame work is it effective or not when we talk about freedom of faith and again ali in in tunis the president essentially says we're confident that unity in legislators will be able to strike a balance between gender equality on the one hand and religion and the constitution on the other are you confident that they can. i mean i would agree with my colleague saying that you know like the discussion about the religious framework and you know like the interpretation of the koran and interpretation of

the fundamental scriptures is somehow misleading because then we are trapped in all kinds of different interpretations because the interpretation of the modern is those who want to have a modern interpretation of islam that gets away with all the you know a very problematic you know provisions in the islamic sharia would be faced by others who want a very orthodox interpretation and who would fight for it and who would consider that the interpretation of the modernist are completely avion to what the koran sais and what you know fourteen hundred years of practice of islamic sharia has produced so my tendency is while understanding that there should be some kind of you know interpretation and some kind of dialogue on the interpretation of

the religious scriptures we shouldn't be trapped in that and we should really especially like for slater's for policymakers they should take the courage of saying you know we are in a secular country we are in a country that has removed or has never really in trying to islamic law in its nation we have thinking about what is the best for the community we are we have in tunisia in terms of the the they are right their rights their fundamental rights but also in all kinds of other issues that as the economy such as all these debate takes place outside of the religion and so it's important that legislators and policy makers read. you know set the line of course there is debate in tunisia there is disagreement and the disagreement will be very very you know heightened and very tense when it will come to discussing the issue of inheritance law because

this would require a change in the nation's lieschen it would require a reform of the code of personal status and of course there are different streams and different you know categories or parties in the in the parliament that would imply that they don't want to have a reform of this kind of getting away with all the discriminatory provisions of the personal status code such as the discrimination in inheritance but still i think the debate is really very important ok and there are ways to overcome some of the you know reluctance and some of the resistances that exist and right a conservative. constituency ok i want to come to the issue of inheritance that you raised in just a few minutes but first cassim president essentially argues that she does he needs to to fight discrimination to modernize i just wonder is it possible to to shape

or reinterpret ancient islamic laws to modern day societies and our current way of life yeah i don't think there's a need to necessarily reinterpret i think there's a need for revival of what islam actually teaches and this is one of the fundamental issues that we see throughout the muslim world not just in tunisia there's a fundamental shelia of muslim leadership. both in islam a scholarship and in how to apply islam to your personal life while respecting the lives of others you have numerous muslim majority countries tunisia is not one of them but you have numerous like saudi arabia like pakistan that are mixing religion and state they have things that are into islam like blasphemy laws of laws and they try to. label them as islamic and what happens is that not only do you radicalize youth and you create these tensions that are completely unnecessary you also model up and you confuse people in the what islam actually teaches and what the secular

government society under. a muslim society can actually look like if we look at the example that the prophet of islam of actually established in the charter of the you know this was a secular constitution where muslims and jews lived as equal citizens of one state and no person was held accountable to the slick law unless they were a muslim who willingly wanted to be held to an islamic law you did not have a situation where jews were forced to eat here or to islamic law and i think this fundamental principle is lost upon muslim leadership and you have environments where people are asking these questions where do we need to reinterpret islamic law when no you don't you simply need to recognize this fundamental basic fact that islam teaches secular governance it teaches your private faith should remain private and you can believe whatever it is you want to believe as long as you're not hurting anybody else but the government itself should be based on absolute justice and consultation these are the two fundamental pillars of an islamic

government doesn't leave us alone and there's a mr emmott has been advocating that for governments in the muslim world to counter extremism and radicalization we need to go back to this principle of up holding absolute justice until we do that we'll have a thousand different interpretations of islam the law and they'll all be useless but if we focus on justice then we can actually get somewhere as a society and yet some of the is leading in moms and theologians who denounced the plans particularly on it harrison says as a flagrant violation of the precepts of islam. so who's right you will then. well i mean let's even assume that they're right that it is a violation of what islam teaches on inheritance that's irrelevant to the fact that you cannot enforce islam and moral teachings on on people who don't want them and force i mean there's not a single example in the life of the prophet of islam or in the koran where people were forced to follow islam and so to claim that you are upholding islam and values

by forcing people to follow islam is perhaps the biggest argument to show that what you're doing is completely understand it so i will concede to the scholars and clerics that yes islam has a very specific inheritance law but where they have absolutely no ground whatsoever is to say that we can enforce this inheritance law on somebody else and i'll close with this is well what the amity a muslim community has done in two hundred nations worldwide is spread peacefully recognize separation of religion and state and up hold islamic values for millions and millions of muslims without a single act of compulsion or terrorism that is the islam that i invite the world to look at not this fake conflict between religion and state because there should be no one religion and state according to the prophet of islam must remain separate where people can worship freely without oppression and the government rules based on justice not by forcing people what to believe or what not to believe.