facing the reality your president said that there would be a complete audit a hundred percent audit that order hasn't happened getting to the heart of the matter so are you saying that the future of the. story. referendum the government in iraq kurdish region.

coming up. government with a referendum vote on sunday. president trump plans to cut the number of refugees entering the u.s. to the lowest level for decades plus south korea. celebrates another four. hours after winning a landslide in the secession referendum the government of the rocks kurdish region has rejected baghdad's demand to hand over control of the results been announced despite a last minute appeal to cancel it by the iraqi prime minister reports and to build . up the percent of voters city. yes to

secession to the kurdish region of northern iraq. the referendum is very important it will for my future and i hope at least that baghdad will eventually to be independent. with the federal government in baghdad has called the referendum on constitutional and he's refusing to even recognize the result let alone start negotiations with the kurdish regional government ok allergy over future independence for iraq. events of the last few days here can only be described as some of the most momentous in this region's history but the political ramifications are massive the threats continue from the baghdad governments and neighboring countries and there's a sense here of great uncertainty as to what could happen next. the federal government has threatened to close the region's international airspace it could heal thora g.'s don't hand over control of the two main airports by a friday deadline turkey is threatening to cut off the kayleigh g.'s oil pipeline

and close the land border turkey is the biggest supplier of goods and food to the k r j we can. feed ourselves. we don't have that much power. and threats that a body is making are the same as the saddam regime but the kurds don't have a life if they stay with baghdad. they may be determination among the people who have wanted a country of their own for generations but the celebrations here may not last long . but al jazeera has built. bodies from indiana university he says urgent measures need to be taken to deescalate the standoff. the reaction and but it was entirely predictable that there would be. an immediate reaction as for turkey and iran also they warned of what would if the

referendum and yet the referendum went forward all of the region regional states including the arab states. by consensus the united states and united think that again the european union and the united nations recommended against holding this referendum referendum proceed so what i would say is that the escalation has been mutual the question we should be asking now is how to deescalate and how to get the parties sitting around the table focused on islam for iraq understands landlocked. and it is surrounded by neighbors who are not friendly to the independence project that for. some intermediate solution at least for the time being for the foreseeable future needs to be entered into catalonia says it will go ahead with an independence referendum on sunday despite spain declaring it illegal the

government in madrid as promised to stop people from voting call penhall reports from boston. last thing at night activists stay up late campaigning for catalonia to break away. the first thing in the morning their adverse freeze get up early calling for spain to stay. in. the spanish government has declared the secession ballot illegal but catalan interior minister forn explained why regional authorities are pressing ahead. with the i mean the. government is not just trying to stop a referendum to stop catalonia citizens from deciding it's political future things have gone beyond the simple call for self-determination and what we're also

debating here is the defense of democracy and of the most fundamental freedoms. the dritte is stepping up efforts to stop the referendum many schools are going to be potential to stop them being used as voting centers and. into the area. madrid has also said it will take command of the capitol police force that is the source this. capital an authority is a resisting that order. from the most also the security force of catalonia and they're responsible for law and order their role should be to permit people to vote in peace we don't want a confrontation but we will defend our rights and responsibilities as. the referendum is planned for this sunday. see.

of course things would have been like in the scottish referendum both sides to debate the alternatives that's been impossible in spain. on the streets of barcelona. and not in the mood the whole measures they would like to see spain remain united for the cattle and government to be completely shut down. penn or al-jazeera. the u.s. government has sent navy ships to puerto rico to help with the growing humanitarian crisis caused by hurricane maria more than a week on the u.s. territory still without power food and water supplies are running low reports and someone. is still trying to recover her belongings from the damages caused by hurricane she lives in san juan puerto rico's capital because.

i didn't want to leave my house when the hurricane came i stayed inside with my two sons and tried to protect. just like in the rest of the capital in this neighborhood there is still no water or electricity and this is one of the poorest neighborhoods many of the houses here have been completely destroyed mostly because they were built with metal and wood those who are living here had to seek refuge in a shelter and that's where they remain in days after the category four hurricane hit this u.s. territory in the caribbean the united states government says aid is on the way to address the growing humanitarian crisis in some parts of the island the federal emergency management agency has said badly damaged airports and seaports are making it difficult to get aid and personnel. so puerto rico has tremendous problems with floods and with the damage and collapse we were still looking for people were still

looking for people but i'm going to be going there are tuesday and i may also stop at the virgin islands the governor there is done a terrific job on the streets of san juan people are lining up for hours to get fuel and cell phone towers have not been fully restored people like my p.s.a. aid is going to slow down when are we going to go and i don't like i still haven't received any help or do you see much going on around the city it's like nobody kid is many here feel the same way as they struggle to get by every day because i will i just seen at some point in puerto rico. the u.n. has met to discuss the humanitarian crisis in syria it's alleged that russian led airstrikes have destroyed hospitals and killed dozens of civilians both in libya and how my provinces have come under heavy bombardment this week but russia says it only struck i saw fighters our diplomatic editor james bates has more. after more than six years of bloodshed the un security council has heard about so many

atrocities in syria the latest attacks bombardment of civilians including the targeting of hospitals acts of escalation by the syrian government and its russian allies in what's supposed to be a deescalation zone british and french diplomats have described it as an acceptable and the palling yet the words of the un's own special envoy were markedly less harsh for the first time things april some areas today some allegedly hitting civilians and theory their infrastructure including health facilities human rights groups say there's nothing allegedly about it i think there should always be talk about what happens after the conflict ends but it's not ending right now what we saw last week as i said was direct hits on hospitals as the start of intense have been apartments are civilian areas so what that tells us is that this looks like

a strategy to punish the civilian population and take out the hospitals first so that health care is impossible the u.n. is trying to reconvene talks in geneva the man who many believe torpedoed previous rounds of negotiation by refusing to discuss political transition was in the council chamber syrian ambassador bashar al jeffrey is his country's chief negotiator mr de mistura put pressure on him but his toughest words were reserved for the opposition no one is asking the opposition to thunderous dubbing the. but we are urging their belligerent to realize that it is most credible. in effect the when is down to good and ensure radian is to negotiate which read give and take the high negotiations committee position is that they are the only legitimate representative of the opposition and it's definitely true that some of the other groups that call themselves opposition have in the past had close contacts with the

assad regime in a famous quotation winston churchill once said history is written by the victors and it may just be that's what's now happening in syria the russian military help the syrian regime turn things around militarily and it seems there are some who now want to give them the are perhaps in the diplomacy to end the war james pays out his era of the united nations a senior russian commander killed in syria has been given full military honors at his funeral in moscow that and general valery asop of was reportedly hit by shelling from myself fighters near dera saw russia intervene in the syrian conflict two years ago on the side of passion and. it's lost thirty eight members of its military. also to coming on al-jazeera including the u.s. is allies i'm very optimistic tariff is imposed on a canadian plane making us. from a sound. bite strike like. the president jacob.

we got more wet weather just around the black sea which was a caspian sea that a lot of clout here just getting pulled out keep pushing across georgia mania into azerbaijan elsewhere across the levant across the middle east jimmy stays dry northern parts of iraq could see one of two showers that area of cloud as you can say making its way up towards new might even see a little bit when she weather over the higher ground here but elsewhere it's generally got to be settled with will warm sunshine kuwait about thirty celsius and that's the sort of temperature well spent seeing in doha over the next few days right across the peninsula well suffices sunshine a little more cloud just a bit was the southern end of the red sea but nothing much to speak of that

a bit of cloud in south africa right over the next day. a little bit just around the southern cape that's a possibility but for most i think we might see a few showers into central areas. going on into friday a little drier advised to put shall is a possibility just about botswana into eastern possible south africa could see some showers there still into ethiopia maybe into uganda into south sudan. kenya will see a few showers just around uganda but a possibility of further showers so much of the gulf of guinea. russian filmmaker. explores how. the russians are famous cultural legacy. and conservative. and authoritarian.

sexuality the significance of it. is that he's like a fake you who controls the cobra in such a putin's russia at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back at the top stories this hour after winning a succession referendum the government of iraq's kurdish region has rejected baghdad's demand control of airports several airlines have announced they're suspending flights to. catalonia says it will go ahead with an independence referendum on sunday despite spain declaring the. government in madrid has promised to stop. and the us government sent

a flotilla of ships to puerto rico to help with the growing humanitarian crisis caused by hurricane maria the ships are bringing thousands of extra military personnel to help distribute aid now senior officials in the trumpet ministration a brief congress on the president's plans to cut refugee numbers donald trump wants to cut the numbers next year at an all time low of forty five thousand a white house correspondent reports. donald trump first announced he would seek to permanently reduce the number of refugees entering the united states as he addressed the united nations we offer financial assistance to hosting countries that will seek to host refugees as close to their home countries as possible this is the safe responsible and humanitarian approach now trump secretary of state is meeting with lawmakers to formalize the goal of capping

the number of refugees entering the u.s. to around forty five thousand this is an historic reduction in two thousand and seven more than forty eight thousand word mid under president bush under barack obama almost seventy thousand refugees settled in the united states but this year under donald trump the refugee cap is set to fall to around fifty four thousand and by twenty eight thousand the president hopes to reduce that number even further its fury ating activists the troubled ministration says the lower cap on refugees is for national security and safety it's just based on fear and not facts and because of that we're turning away people that could die if we don't let them in and the white house claims that even with the lower number of refugees being admitted to the united states it says it still takes in more refugees than any other nation kimberly hellcat al-jazeera washington. changes to immigration rules under

president trump are threatening to separate families yes now reports. allison chang never imagined that she'd be a single mom. last year she married cambodian refugees soon percy chang but just eight months later he was deported from america. we're going to have a baby over by a house like why would they do this to us back in ninety ninety five when percy was just fourteen he was convicted of second degree murder in a robbery gone wrong despite completing his sentence years ago that conviction made him a target for deportation because he was a permanent resident in the us and not a citizen some people change i'm not going to say all but the ones that do

change and can make a living and give them back. david halberstam. posi has never met his son he was sent to cambodia five months ago a country he has never been to before because he was born in a time refugee camp. since two thousand and two the u.s. has deported more than eight hundred ethnic cambodians to this country these men and women can never go back to america not even as tourists. the u.s. has been paying the government here nine hundred fifty dollars to every deportee cambodia has recently refused to accept any more convicted criminals until they're paid more we need more more and more. money in there to make those people can live. like the other people in the country. the u.s. government refused our request for an interview but as the deportations hang in

limbo so does the face of hundreds of families like allison and post sees corish al-jazeera from penn and you can see a curse movie houses full program cambodia deportations on one zero one east on thursday twenty two thirty g.m.t. right here on out as it thailand's government has confirmed that former prime minister yingluck shinawatra is in dubai on wednesday she was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison for negligence and a rice subsidy scheme disappeared from thailand last month when the verdict was originally meant to be delivered a brother texan also a former prime minister lives in self-imposed exile in dubai after he was found guilty of corruption south korea's marking at sixty nine forces day with a show of military might some of its strategic weapons were put on display including ballistic missiles tensions have been high on the korean peninsula for months as north korea ramps up tests of missiles and nuclear weapons.

you know our military possesses defense capabilities capable of overwhelming north korea based on the strong south career u.s. combined defense posture the government has been tightening military readiness and also making efforts to manage the situation in a stable manner so that escalating tensions would not lead to military confrontations kathy novak has more from seoul. this is a commemoration all of south korean troops it happens every year it marks the day that south koreans broke through the border with north korea in one nine hundred fifty during the korean war but of course the timing this year is significant and it's an opportunity for the south korean military to send messages to the north it's taking place for the first time in a very important strategic naval base that is responsible for patrolling the western waters where there have been in the past conflicts with north korea along the sea border and also as you mentioned earlier which is an opportunity to display

to the public for the first time some strategic missiles that south korea has at its disposal we've seen shows of force using those missiles in a recent days and weeks when north korea for example launched a missile over japan and south korea responded by launching a missile of its own into waters off the country but in that case the distance that it traveled was significant because it displayed to north korea that it could target the launch site from which north korea launched its missile so this is all as we talk about often messaging shows of force messages to the north that as i mentioned south korea says it has the power to overwhelm north korea it doesn't want to have to use that but it's this message of deterrence that south korea together with the united states has the military might to take on north korea if necessary the u.s. and two of its closest allies are in the middle of a trade row washington the canadian. body with

a heavy tariff and this measure may cost the jobs of many workers in canada and the united kingdom done your luck reports from toronto. several years behind schedule and more than a billion dollars over budget bombard the series passenger jet is finally flying a modest number of planes have been ordered including by the u.s. airline delta but this u.s. commerce department ruling in support of a complaint by rival boeing could trouble the price of the bombard planes and this government is holding crisis meetings obviously were disappointed by the decision and i will continue to play hard for the canadian jobs canada's not standing alone in the u.k. bombarded day is a major employer in northern ireland where the largest political party props up prime minister to resign may's government she's expressed bitter disappointment so have workers at the bombarded a factory in belfast who want britain to take action of its own against boeing

that's we're going to lose weight and i need to speak that's what the politicians me the railings that. we sell for. one of our cars commercials this week. and they need to. say to believe that they need to sell less with those it kills over us canada too is said it will take a serious look at future business dealings with boeing a five billion dollars deal to buy fighter jets from the u.s. company could be scrapped according to the prime minister justin trudeau but the country also says it has legal means to challenge the ruling at the world trade organization and under the terms of the north american free trade agreement nafta with president trump threatening to scrap that agreement the current talks to renegotiate nafta haven't been going well canada says it invests in not subsidizes bombard and as it points out the u.s. has bailed out general motors in the past and gives boeing preferential treatment by some measures canada and the u.s. have the world's largest trading relationship but it's growing more hostile by the

day daniel lak al jazeera toronto. tens of thousands of people in south africa held street protests against president jacob zuma they say corruption has become endemic under his leadership the marches were organized by the country's largest workers' union twenty pages more. miners teachers and laborers are among the thousands of workers taking part in a nationwide strike against corruption. and the man they say is to blame for it is president jacob zuma they say he's been compromised by private business leaders have kept control of the state the president has indicated that he's not willing to go and we know the reason is because he has been the brain of. the president. says ninety members of the.

camp is that. was the demonstrators switched through the city delivering their demands to government the banks and big employers like the mining industry. because it was pressure on the president. and then. lions with the african national congress and the south african. history not only. tells. it's deeply divided. the a.n.c. says its partners are free to protest but it can't be happy at the level of corruption being uncovered by the opposition democratic alliance which won control of johannesburg at the last election. not far from the dogs protect an almost empty construction site these supposed to be a new power station here where we. are just one example where

almost five million u.s. dollars was paid to a contractor without doing any job i mean. if you look around you can see that nothing has been done keenan lost his job at the site and now his community suffers frequent power cuts because the upgrades have stopped it's. something. you know keenan is the victim of corruption that cost south africa about two billion dollars a year but it's far from certain that it will cost the president his job no matter how loud the call is from one of the n.c.s. oldest partners for him to go tony a page out of there to hannah's birth. security concerns a forest a major american modern not museum to pull three controversial exhibits in a show with chinese aren't they prestigious guggenheim in new york let's talk about it by protest as ever exhibits that animal rights groups call cruel and inhumane and shuffle as more on the controversy. the video grabs you and is disturbing to

watch attack dogs chained and running to exhaustion in a futile attempt to reach each other it's just one of three exhibits the guggenheim in new york is removing from a show titled art and china after a one nine hundred eighty nine theater of the world art created between the time of the tiananmen square protests and the two thousand and eight beijing olympics another video exhibit shows decorated farm animals mating in front of a human audience and the third is a live display of insects and reptiles by chinese artist one young ping it was planned at a local pet store would replenish this exhibit periodically as the entrapped lizards and bugs died off or devoured each other then williamson is with people for the ethical treatment of animals one of several groups opposing the exhibit if that happens in the wild show that this is where the animals live but how about in and

is in. there are an amusement. it's believed in that's went straight and this is still going on protesters marched outside the museum this past weekend and an online petition drew more than a half a million signatures in a matter of just days now the museum is backing down releasing a statement that reads in part the guggenheim regrets that explicit and repeated threats of violence have made our decision necessary as an arts institution committed to presenting a multiplicity of voices we are dismayed that we must withhold works of art and that decision has drawn criticism as well notably from. chinese artist ai wei wei not involved in this show who called it tragic that a museum cannot exercise freedom of speech and would be forced to limit its offerings the museum has not provided details of any specific security threats and says freedom of expression will remain

a paramount value moving forward activists say the guggenheim has done the right thing and it's not cruelty to animals and it should be rightly left out of. the art pieces in question have been displayed elsewhere but when the show funded in part by a us government agency opens in new york next week these troubling and powerful metaphors for life in modern china and the modern world won't be on display and one shot for al-jazeera washington d.c. hugh hefner the founder of playboy magazine has died at the age of ninety one the men's magazine was founded more than sixty years ago hefner quickly rose to fame for its first issue was published in december one thousand nine hundred fifty three featuring a nude man in monroe's family member say he passed away at the famous playboy magazine.

for the top stories here hours after winning a succession referendum the government of iraq's kurdish region has rejected baghdad's demand to under the control of airports in the region several airlines say they'll suspend flights to cities but despite threats from the government in baghdad they have been jubilant scenes an advil a child's traffic reports. despite . the great. great. great. joy many of the people. will tell you great. about. the u.s. congress has been briefed on president plans to cut refugee numbers from the

numbers in twenty eighteen an all time low of forty five thousand. than the one hundred ten thousand limit set by president barack obama last year the u.s. government ships to puerto rico to help with the growing humanitarian crisis caused by hurricane maria the ships are bringing thousands of extra military personnel to help distribute aid more than a week after the storm the island is still without electricity food and water. catalonia says it will go ahead with an independence referendum on sunday despite spain declaring the vote illegal the government in madrid has promised to stop people from voting thailand's government has confirmed that former prime minister. on wednesday. to five years in prison. disappeared last month when the verdict was a regime in. south korea is marking it sixty nine day with a show of military might some of its weapons were put on display including

ballistic missiles tensions have been high on the korean peninsula for months as north korea ramps up missile and nuclear weapons tests but those were the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after witness. in the hash tag era when news coverage of looking for an easy solution we delved deeper from on says and challenge the status quo join me man the hot sun for a new season of love from at this time of his era.