so. one man's quest to realize a lifelong ambition. and it's. going behind the lens. brings his personal story to life. al-jazeera correspondent my own private bollywood this time. iraqi kurds vote in an independence referendum despite fears opposition from iraq turkey and iraq. hello this is al jazeera life. also coming out. despite big losses for hagel and merkel in germany selection as far right nationalists win seats in

parliament for the first time since the nazi era. but some of. the distress of villages as they rushed to escape a volatile volcano in indonesia plus. i got a daughter you have to live in this world. n.f.l. players responded by nailing or sitting after u.s. president donald trump attacks those protesting against racial inequality. iraqi kurds are voting in a controversial referendum on the region's independence the ballot is strongly opposed in iraq and by neighboring countries that are fears that it could fuel the separatists aspirations of kurds in the region. our armed forces are on the borders with iraq to do whatever it takes iran is well

we'll do whatever it takes our air force stands ready we will never allow anyone or anything to go from turkey to iraq this week we will adopt so many other measures will close the borders nothing will go across the border. let's hear now from al jazeera. who sent a bill the capital of iraqi kurdistan. there's been a steady stream of voters throughout the morning people coming here in what they call a historic day some people even said that they didn't think that it will happen in their lifetime not the procedure is that they come in they check their name against the registry and then once they do that they get their ballots on the ballot you have the question voters have to answer do you want the kurdish region and the regions outside of the kurdish region but under kurdish administration to be part of an independent state yes or no now the question is asked in four different

languages kurdish arabic turkish and assyrian fota christian minorities that's because a lot of people in the displaced territories don't necessarily speak the kurdish language now once the vote behind this box they will then put it in the ballot they're all going to be counted here at the station after fifteen g.m.t. we understand that there's been a high turnout in erbil and the whole areas that are traditionally strongholds of mustard bars arnie and his party however we did speak to officials of the go around movement in silly many over there through in the run up to the referendum there is absolutely no joyous atmosphere celebrations that we have seen in this part of the kurdish region and as we understand it as of now there has been a low turnout not

a ground movement who is the second largest party in the kurdish region has said that it was not against the referendum it was against the timing of the referendum there were many issues that needed to be solved among them the kurdish unity before going ahead with such a historic vote they went as far as saying that actually this vote at this moment in time. purposes of one political party obviously hinting at the king of masoud barzani that said the ground movement told its people you can go and vote and make your choice whether you want it yes or no we also understand all this while all this is happening the threats from the neighboring countries seem to be coming true just today a few hours ago iran has announced closed its three land border crossings that come just twenty four hours after it has announced that it has closed its

airspace for all flights to and from the could is region many people here would tell you they expected such moves from both iran and turkey and indeed even baghdad but at the moment they say they will enjoy this day for many the first step towards independence let's hear live now from two of our other correspondents in the region andrew symonds is in hubble and turkey on the border with iraq but first let's speak to charles stratford's who's at the the baghdad displacement camp in northern iraq even there then charles where people displaced from from their actual homes they're voting in this referendum. that's right yes this is one of three camps in this particular area which is in an area which is called disputed it's particularly controversial because there is no agreement about really who

controls this area certainly in the future this is an area where we saw i saw come in were pushed back by peshmerga forces by the coalition and now in this area it is the peshmerga that are in control here and we understand according to the election commission that there are around two million people in these disputed. areas that are going to be potentially voting in this referendum now can say one of three camps in this area around three thousand people here who are going to be voting we've been speaking to some of them and it's what's interesting is that all kurds you know there are a lot of arabs here there are years edis in this area assyrians as well and everyone certainly that we've spoken to is very enthusiastic about voting yes in this referendum for potentially future independence they talk about the suffering that they insured under i saw they say how disappointed they are with the baghdad

government and how they believe that the only way that potentially they can get any security any peace to be able to pick up their lives to be able to restart their lives in the future is to be part of a future kurdish independent region of northern iraq so it's very interesting here listening to the diversity of ethnic groups ethnic groups that might not be immediately associated with wanting to obviously align themselves with any kurdish government here that is that view chiles shared by people who live in the disputed cities in the region cook for example. kirkuk is of particular importance because cookies that oil rich city it's about half an hour from here two large oil fields there. the vote particularly controversial there are security fears in that city we understand that thus far so far today there have been no incidents we've seen pictures of people celebrating on the

streets but it is as i say again very ethnically diverse you have turkmen shia in that area you have a syrians christians arab sunnis and kurds and certainly the area around it as we know is still under threat from eisel the area south the area of how we we know there are ongoing military operations in there still battling with lysol an operation that the kurds say that they are still going to be very much involved in the kurdish government says that kirkuk is ours i mean to the point where kurds actually refer sometimes to kirkuk as their jerusalem and they say that they will not be giving it up people down there voting in this referendum but as i say it's cities like that which have so much potential wealth that make it so controversial all right charles many thanks indeed for that there let's bring in andrew symonds

that is in on the turkey iraq border turkey not at all happy about this referendum we saw president want to earlier talking about what he is going to do about what he says he's going to do about about this why is turkey so unhappy andrew about this advisory referendum. well there's a lot of background to it but in a nutshell the there is an incredibly large number of kurds the largest grouping of anywhere in the middle east here in turkey and they are concerned the government is concerned about destabilizing this country and indeed the whole region by giving people the thought that independence could be round the corner it simply isn't a chiva ball they say and they're also anxious because they've given so much help to the kurdish regional government over the years in times of trouble backing trade even training the peshmerga as well and now this slap in the face this very

large difficulty for the turkish government now you heard from president heard one in that clip earlier on saying that the border would be closed that hasn't happened yet this border just a short distance away from me is still open in both directions but one direction will be closed one way will be closed very soon and then later in the week it will be closed completely now this is on the request of the iraqi government. and the turkish prime minister have pointed out that they are now engaged with the iraqi government rather than the kurdish regional government about exactly what happens there coordinating with them aspace requests were made to iran that was met with a decision by iran to to stop all flights going to and coming from the kurdistan region it appears that turkey has had the same request from iraq decision hasn't been made yet on that we've heard from the prime minister

a number of issues are still being discussed among them security this exercise behind me has been going on for a week now it will go on for another day whether that will be extended now the room the iraqi prime minister did say that this is not a war situation however these forces and others may be used for hit and run a tie. if need be to defend the country to defend turkish citizens so the military situation is one that's still in question as to what the progress will be on this economic one much more complicated than that even because turkey is so reliant on trade with with with with many parts of iraq particularly the kurdistan region the biggest issue of all is oil the third one in his speech threatened to turn the tap the oil tap from iraq from kurdistan comes through turkey and through to the mediterranean and more than half a million gallon barrels of oil

a day flowing through and turkey could switch that off and the president threatened to do that if necessary it's something that's being considered and of course that would not only mean a disaster for the kurds in iraq but commercially would also affect turkey's needs because it has projection in twenty eighteen of using of buying and or for oil for a third of its needs from kurdistan so this is big very big indeed adrian and are many thanks now to other news opposition fighters in syria say that russian warplanes have attacked them the syrian democratic forces say they were targeted near a natural gas field endeavors or province the s.d.f. recently seized the gas field from eisel fighters with the help of u.s. forces u.s. jets and specialist units are supporting the s.d.f. to drive eisel from the eastern bank of the euphrates river syrian government troops backed by russian airpower targeting eisel from

a different directions. japan's prime minister has called a snap general election next month opinion poll shows strong support for shinzo our base conservative l.d.p. party and its strong stance against the threat from north korea pyongyang has threatened to quote sink japan into the sea it has fired two missiles over the northern island of hokkaido within the past month rob mcbride reports from tokyo. shinzo are be calling this napa election more than a year before he had to do so it seems trying to capitalize on his unexpected boost in the opinion polls largely or as the result of the standoff with north korea a couple of months ago his approval rating was languishing at about thirty percent and now he has an approval rating of around fifty percent it seems that people are rallying around him they see him as a strong leader standing up for japanese interests in the face of this north korean threat he also is capitalizing at the moment on

a weakness in the opposition there does seem to be a disarray amongst the opposition groups but he is also very concerned about the rise of one potential opposition leader yuriy coco ek the governor of tokyo who is rapidly building a support base and has been talking about setting up a national party to challenge the ruling l.d.p. by calling this election day is hoping that he prevents that that he doesn't give cory k. anough time to establish herself there is a risk though in calling this election the people are questioning that at a time when japan should be showing national unity as it faces the threat from north korea why are they seems to be going out to make personal political gain from this crisis.

germany's chancellor angela merkel has won a fourth term in office but she's been punished for her immigration policies with the far right nationalist sweeping into parliament for the first time since the nazi era lawrence lee reports from berlin. the most important politician in europe the most important female politician anywhere the flag bearer for liberal democracy in an uncertain world four wins in a row for angela merkel even if her party's vote share shrunk from the far right emerged once again it was a problem she was quick to acknowledge and that's really what's annoying also of course we are facing a huge task the a.f.p. entering parliament will carry out a profound asses because we want to win back the voters of the air by solving problems and listening to their lorries and sometimes that's fair but above all through good politics. as recent opinion polls have predicted the far right and see immigrants alternative for germany which wants to close mosques and stop

immigration took thirteen percent meaning more than eighty seats in parliament yet they disorganized by monday morning the woman who led them to this position said she was so angry with the direction of the party that she would not be joining their bloc this and what you might see here such an anarchic party as we've seen in the last two weeks can be successful as an opposition but it can't offer realistic expectations of taking over the government i have decided that i would not be part of the f.t. clique in the bundestag the morning papers tell both these stories the tabloids in shock at the symbolism of the far right getting into the german parliament again the more sober media arguing it was still merkel's night despite some losses a sample of opinion in central billion on monday morning reflected both these views . of the russian state we are democrats and we have to accept that and i'm confident they will find a solution and i also think that the next day if they want to be as strong anymore it's been said i am our thread poor germany to

a bad set against recent european elections in austria the netherlands and france in which it was fair the far right might actually gain power and given that anglo-american herself as i did to take a million refugees into germany it is quite striking that she's actually still in power it's all her job now is to try to dismantle the f.t.'s influence in the german parliament and their core argument that immigration is a threat to germany's way of life. once the headline writers are finished with the f.t. story expect more focus on merkel's bigger concerns how to deal with the u.s. presidents on issues such as climate change iran and north korea as well as stabilizing the european union think about merkel though if she knows how to win lawrence lee al-jazeera belin. we got a weather update next here on out zero then donald trump north korea chad and venezuela to the list of countries whose nationals are subject to a u.s. travel ban.

however saying some very heavy rain moving out of the east china sea heading towards the south of japan big part of very wet weather coming into work here why pressure keeps things settled across the korean peninsula and over towards. generally staying fine in try one pleasant here over the next day but that right not too far away from mchugh she was to go on through tuesday move on into wednesday it will make some progress. a possibility by the state into south korea so. there we have seen the heaviest of the rainfall recently and of the massive cloud in shanghai seeing a staggering one hundred seventy one millimeters of rain in twenty four hours spin rather wet cement in northern parts of vietnam courtesy of our old tropical

depression and part here it's a very heavy right seventy six millimeters in twenty four hours things should quieten down as we go on through the next day was still remain in the forecast as is the case to into shanghai the west the weather trying to move a little further north west but you can see where the stylus another wet day we see some flooding here then as we go on through the next day or two maybe sunshine and showers continue across much of southeast asia the heaviest showers for the philippines i will say time. too often on the street to you you are victims but a new force is that plain. female police officers are combative sexual assault and domestic abuse. but changing society is a challenge. and so is life behind the badge for india's lady called.

peace time. again the top stories on al-jazeera this hour iraqi kurds are voting on a controversial referendum on the region's independence there are fears that it could feel the separatist aspirations of kurds across the region turkey's president has denounced the post but says the turkish army stands ready. us backed forces in syria said the russian warplanes have struck their positions in dallas all called profits the syrian democratic forces say they were targeted their natural gas field that they've been but they have retaken from isis fighters had to pass prime

ministers call a stop general election next month opinions polls show strong support for shinzo our base conservative l.d.p. party at its strong stance against the nuclear missile threat from north korea. monday marks a month since the latest military crackdown on the revenge of began in may and mass rakhine state nearly four hundred thirty thousand people have been forced to flee but as jonah hill reports now from cox's bazaar those who've escaped are being welcomed by bangladesh's government. all the aid response is scaling up quickly here in southeast bangladesh there is a far greater presence of international aid organizations on the ground backing up adding to the very impressive work that's been done done by bangladeshi n.g.o.s since day one in this crisis in the u.n. looking at funding now to last six months ahead as they are looking anything up to two hundred million they are likely to be calling for tova but already they must be

looking even longer term than that because there is no political solution in sight to this crisis that may be here for a very long time and certainly that is something that worries deeply the bangladeshi government who have seen and anticipated if you like the threat of the range of population spilling over into this country for years they don't want to see these people integrate into society and become a burden on the economy they see them as a security threat and efforts are under way now to concentrate to confined to isolate really these refugees into a very tight pocket of camps in the southeast corner of bangladesh they're not allowed to buy certain cards vital for communications and they have no freedom of movement the army is patrolling now ensuring that they don't leave this area so the message is from the bangladesh government if you like but if they are going to be here for a long time then they are going to have to remain tightly controlled and isolated in this area. dozens of missing hindu villages and feared dead in me and after

twenty eight bodies were discovered in two mass graves i mean military says that it's evidence of a massacre by russian jet fighters in rakhine state hindus say that they've also been victims of ethnic violence since the military crackdown against began a month ago. a state of natural disasters been declared on the indonesian island of bali where a volcano is expected to erupt for the first time in more than fifty years when mount iraq did erupted in one thousand nine hundred sixty three more than a thousand people were killed stuck fast and reports now from communities on the flank of the volcano. these are to villages on the slopes of mount are. people still staying here are ordered to leave immediately some villages have returned after spending the night in africa away shin santas to quickly collect their belongings also know. what. i actually

don't want to go i want to stay here i don't want to be separated from my family i can see my grandchildren they are all in different evacuation centers i cry every day i miss my grandchildren terribly seismic activity of the volcano continues to increase with hundreds of shallow folk anik quakes felt on monday and multum liquids being pushed to the surface. we're going to. becoming more active and is heading towards an eruption we don't know when it could be soon it could be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or next week we just don't know. some villages are angry at the f a q a sion orders and worried about the loss of income but fall can knowledge is say lives are at risk. the last time mount argo erupted more than one thousand people died and houses as far as time kilometers from the crater were destroyed. remembers that day with deep sadness she lost four members of

her family. i knew then you go first i heard this very loud bang i saw a lot coming down from a gong and there was volcanic ash everywhere small rocks fell from the sky and then everything was dark and the slopes here are many fear the worst they are left in a hurry they're afraid of not a deadly eruption like what happened in one thousand nine hundred sixty three. more than sixty thousand people living in what's been called the red zone around the volcano have been ordered to leave their homes but depending on the activity of mt albert this number could go up step fasten al-jazeera at mount. thousands of people remain homeless six days after the earthquake in mexico city that killed more than three hundred people heidi jocasta reports. with government estimates of more than a thousand buildings seriously damaged by tuesday's quake in mexico city it's the

lucky ones who still have a home. and his wife and daughter escaped only with their lives. when we were about to eat then the floor rolls like d.c. then because the door was a stuck we couldn't get out again to for a roast and the door opened. the family is now among the thousands of people staying in shelters many here suffered injuries from the quake but it's the invisible wounds that cause more worry they don't know where they'll go next. morning it was i'm very nervous very nervous i'm almost in shock. the shelters director says more people will become homeless in the coming days. thousand of dealings been inspected many more will be demolished. and then there are the hundreds of lost pets that are also in need of shelter volunteers have gathered them in the city park and organized an adoption effort to

find these animals temporary homes until they can be reunited with their owners that if. he doesn't have a color because he was in the house and escaped he's been lost since that day. while some hope for a happy reunion others are saying good bye this boy is giving up his cat because his family is without a home for a city that suffered so much the loss seemingly small feels unbearable. castro al-jazeera mexico city. three countries including north korea have been added to the u.s. travel ban it now extends restrictions on people from eight countries replacing the original ban on citizens from six muslim majority nations the new war that now applies to north korea chad venezuela iran libya somalia syria and yemen sudan though has been dropped from the original list that's expected to take effect from

october eighteenth. ball players of the most popular sport in america joining the protest against the national anthem and racial inequality two days after president donald trump called for protesting national football league players to be fired the n.f.l. has become a symbol of political division and unity leasehold the reports. the n.f.l. play is taking a stand some by taking in a by sitting while the national lab them played all by raising a fist. it was a scene repeated at fourteen games right across the united states and london was. they were responding to comments made by president trump on friday night attacking players who had knelt over the past due to protest racial inequality a gesture started by colin kaepernick when you love to see one of these n.f.l.

owners when somebody disrespects our flag this is a get that son of a the field right now out by. the seattle seahawks and tennessee titans chose to stay in the locker room while the national lead them played as did the pittsburgh steelers with the exception of one player a one hundred villanova either an army veteran. elsewhere other players chose to lock arms together in solidarity beyond politics is about being a human being and having they are going to break into that reports to take you live to berlin where. chancellor angela merkel is about to work give a press briefing following her victory in yesterday's election let's listen to what she just say today as is customary after election day we carried. off the election result. but at the presidium level and at the

federal leadership of the party we analyzed what we have achieved and what we haven't achieved it was a very matter of fact and that is let's look at what we have achieved first of all . we have many colleagues who are no longer members of the german bundestag which of course is a great shame and it is. that's the result of. election day. yes we had expected overall a better result we then analyzed as far as we can say in terms of vote migration about one point three million voters we've lost to the f.t.p. and one million to the f.t. now especially with. people voting a fifty we want to gain them back to

a political work for solving solutions but we had a wider analysis. what a situation of the large peoples party the c.d.u. and see as you are. the party with over thirty percent we need to course how can we times of digitalisation with members of the support of. parties in this time and age we will have a closer look at this club meeting which we will have after state elections. we have a chief we are the strongest party i think everyone. the team here in the. various party associations are all to think the young party members are

station and connects seventy we've got a clear job to govern we are the strongest group in the parliament and. the leader of the. coude i was the person i suggested today to take this post as a leader of the parliamentary group. consensus i would also talk to her or see her far about how we will proceed in terms of the other parties. for dialogue both with the f.t.p. and the greens but also with the. p. d. because it is important that. stable good government i heard about the f.t. piece saying but we should still. remain in touch with those parties and you know

the federal. leadership agreed on this. then we talked about the next elections it's coming in less than three weeks it's the state election in lower saxony we will be very active there so that based on the results yesterday. to. start so that parent i just i just become. the premier of lower saxony so we had you know. many discussions. like a point but also some shadowy points however apathy it was very constructive or the way we talk was very constructive and the at the thirty's that we. have responsibility for the future of.