when we grow old we take life at a slower pace well not for this centenarian. online dating teaching the human getting in the door. she's a blogger adored around the globe and she's doing it to own way. life begins at one hundred eyewitness documentary at this time on al-jazeera. t.v. this is. fresh air intensifies on the kurdish regional government after the secession referendum as the iraqi parliament calls on the prime minister to mobilize troops.

hello and welcome i'm peter w. watching al jazeera live from my headquarters here in doha also coming up catalonia remains defiance against madrid's insistence that sunday's independence referendum will go ahead despite spain declaring the vote illegal. for lanka's government to hunt down buddhist monks suspected of attacking a u.n. shelter for revenge or refugees in the capital colombo. dozens dead and missing in germany as hurrican maria devastates the caribbean island. we begin with the latest on the fallout from monday's secession referendum in the kurdish region of northern iraq initial results a ninety two percent. voted yes to secede but pressure on kurdish leaders is

increasing iraq is demanding the vote be an old the country's parliament has called on the prime minister to deploy troops to disputed areas including the oil rich city of kirkuk that area is controlled by kurdish military units but officially it's governed by baghdad the iraqi prime minister also says the kurdish leadership must relinquish control of border crossings and oil revenues several international airlines have agreed to baghdad's request to avoid flying into regional government controlled airports as of friday charles stratford now from bill. celebrations on the streets of appeal up to ninety two percent of voters said yes to secession from 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 little known 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 these regions 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 if kurdish authorities don't hand over control of their 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 g. we can't. beat ourselves. we don't have that much power.

and threats that a body is making of the same is the damn regime but the kurds don't have a life if we stay with baghdad. maybe determination among the people who have wanted a country of their own for generations but the celebrations here may not last long john stratford al jazeera has built. a top u.s. democrat has come out in support of an independent kurdish state chuck schumer leads the democrats in the senate he's calling on the u.s. government to recognize what he calls monday's historic vote he says it should back the creation of an independent kurdish state is in a bill joining us live this hour here on al-jazeera so different people saying different things but the pressure is mounting across the board. how do we think this is going to play out. well i think. people anyone. happy they were saying in the same breath yes we are very happy and

satisfied but we know that the problems are going to start now. we have a deadline looming which is friday fifteen g.m.t. for all international flights to be suspended from two airports in the kurdish region threats the borders might be closed. parliament in baghdad. prime minister to send iraqi forces into the disputed many of those disputed territories actually took part in the referendum according to the commission about more than a million people from those who voted in this referendum even though we don't have the breakdown and that would be very indicative really about the mood in the center of all that is obviously the oil rich city. the turnout there among kurds

was more than sixty percent. of the city that didn't vote. moving the iraqi forces would actually be something that worries everybody here because there was a very serious back in two thousand and twelve. face to face on the borders of threatened really the time to bring to choose sides a civil war and it had to take a lot of you as an international intervention to stop that. is part of the problem when you mention kirkuk there holder is part of the problem with kirkuk the way that it's technically speaking some people say look it's outside the region that would become an independent kurdistan and on top of that it's got oil and on top of that as well i guess it is a blend of different people from different groupings. absolutely i mean since the fall of saddam hussein in two thousand and three has been

a bone of contention between the two sides and article one forty of the constitution which is the one that was supposed to deal with the issue of the disputed. calling for population census and then a referendum basically asking the same question that this is more or less the same question i would say that was asked in this referendum people there were supposed to answer whether they wanted to be part of the kurdish region or remain. part of the central government in baghdad that never happened in the meantime there's a lot of accusations that after the fall of saddam hussein hundreds of thousands of kurds have relocated to kirkuk they say that they had been pushed out of kirkuk on the former regime it is at the heart of all that also because turkey has something to do. turkmen. community there it's the second largest after the

kurds today at least that is according to what we're told by officials there and it is a big pipeline that goes from there to goods have done that by plan goes from. all the way to turkey and you have a second. that is in the making in its final stages stages that is also going. all the way to europe through turkey and those pipelines have actually been a big problem because the kurds know that with those pipelines they actually have at least economically viable states here. and briefly harder if you're mr erdogan in ankara or indeed mr body in baghdad you've got to accept and they've spoken about this publicly that the kurdish peshmerga have done a lot of the heavy lifting in the fight against eisel but they can never accept the idea that the kurdish peshmerga might start fighting for an independent quote kurdistan. yes absolutely absolutely right and i think one of the issues is

that when you speak to people here they bring up. all the time they say listen we did. this part of the country we kept it safe for the last fifteen years then we took a leave role in the fight against. the disputed and even if you remember at the beginning of the mosul offensive i had the leads and it was starting from the push was starting from the north into the city into the surroundings of the city. a lot of. the moment are not being recognized respected by the government in baghdad. all the time and the military forces. forces they say well they have been integrated into security forces they come under the command of prime minister they get more financial and military support.

have ever gone now they say if there is a confrontation. government. they will be able to protect this part of the country. you keep us posted i'm sure in the meantime thank you. turkey has killed thirteen kurdish fighters in northern iraq a statement from the country's armed forces. a group preparing an attack the p.k. k. has been fighting for kurdish autonomy in the south east of turkey and northern iraq since the one nine hundred eighty s. he says it is a terrorist organization. in catalonia the leader there has criticized european institutions for ignoring the region's wish to hold an independence vote. spain's crackdown on the referendum is boosting support for the vote he will go ahead on sunday spanish police chiefs have meant to plan taking control of polling centers to prevent people voting. no european country has openly supported the referendum

the spanish government and the courts have ruled it to be illegal but in all the major actually done most even people on sunday will go out and vote massively peacefully also for only one reason one of the most important reasons regardless of what their vote will be there is a firm conviction that the state today is an inheritor of franco's spain that wasn't overcome in this transition stage but today more than ever it is a problem that we need to fight democratically. ok let's get more on that one for you call pain of all reports now from barcelona. last thing at night activists stay up late campaigning for catalonia to break away. the first thing in the morning there are 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 were pressing ahead. i mean the. government is not just trying to stop a referendum to stop. the citing its 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 crime scenes to stop them being used as 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 of 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. c. thing would have been like in the scottish referendum sides to debate the alternatives that's been impossible in spain. on the streets of barcelona this group is small loud and not in the mood for harsh measures they would like to see spain remain united and for the cattle and government to be completely shut down. penned all al-jazeera barcelona spain and. the thai government has confirmed that the former prime minister yingluck shinawatra has been living in dubai she was

sentenced to five years in prison on weapons for negligence in a rice subsidy scheme which lost billions of dollars left thailand last month ahead of the verdicts unconfirmed reports are now claiming that she actually left by on september the eleventh and is as of today in london when he now from bangkok. prior to the verdict being delivered on wednesday the prime minister of thailand general prior china china said that he knew where it was and would tell everyone after the verdict well we now know that the former prime minister yingluck was given a five year jail term for negligence and he now says that she is in dubai the prime minister saying the police will now have to proceed and coordinate with the foreign ministry and interpol in reality though if she is in dubai it seems there is very little that the thai government will be able to do to get her back because presumably she is in dubai with her brother taxon chin what another former

thai prime minister who has been living in dubai for years after he too was ousted in a coup in two thousand and six and cynics in thailand would also suggest that the prime minister. knows where young like is because she had help getting there there's been speculation that she may have made a deal with the military government to allow her to leave thailand remembering that she disappeared a couple of days before the original verdict dates which was on august the twenty fifth. funerals been held outside moscow for a russian general killed in syria of ten in general valeri off with reportedly had by shelling for beisel fighters need a dinosaur he's the russian military's thirty eight loss in syria russia began its operation to support the syrian army offensive against iceland twenty fifteen mainly providing air cover to government forces on the ground. ukraine is blaming russia for a fire at

a military munitions depo which triggered multiple explosions the blast started on tuesday night the base is around two hundred kilometers southwest of kiev rescue services evacuated thousands of people from six nearby villages soldiers have now been sent to patrol abandoned residential areas. still ahead here on al-jazeera. a lavish ceremony marking fifty years of the israeli occupation of the west bank and the golan heights plus what do you mean you are with me. and i have it on. riding a bike injuries rise dramatically in the u.s. we'll tell you why.

i think we should see some quiet weather into central parts of the matter over the next couple days still a few showers lurking around across southern italy over towards the ball this little more cloud still coming in here but i'm hopeful they will over the next few days the main weather action will be across the northwest british isles looking rather disturbed wet and windy weather streaming in here not too bad as we go on through thursday as you can see for much of the u.k. at least al it will turn increasingly wet catherine will make its way east was still a few showers down towards greece and the balkans not a little further research. as we go through friday hopefully becoming fewer and further between seventeen. fourteen. just ten degrees for moscow but not bad temperature wise for paris for example twenty five but nineteen in the cloud in the right in the blustery conditions for london as we go towards the weekend we got some rather wet weather some damn weather a possibility of course the northwest of africa a few showers into northern iraq and northern areas. for much of north africa we

will be fine and dry temperatures typically getting up to the mid twenty's maybe still touching thirty four shows continue across central africa with more showers right across a good part of the west. you

with al jazeera remind of the top stories this hour the iraqi parliament has voted to allow troops to be sent to areas controlled by kurdish military units now that follows monday's kurdish referendum in which ninety two percent voted in favor of secession. thailand's government has confirmed the former prime minister yingluck shinawatra is in dubai she was sentenced to five years in prison on weapons state over corrupt rice subsidy scheme. and the governments of the catalonia region in spain is insisting the independence referendum on sunday will go ahead the central government is warning the vote is in the. at least twenty seven people have been killed in dominique or off to the caribbean island nation was devastated by hurricane maria many more

a missing al-jazeera as gabriel elizondo is in the capital. i'm here in a side street in the capitol of a road so you can get a sense of how bad this hurricane was there just destruction here everywhere now look at this vehicle that i'm about to show you again it shows you how strong the winds were and how ferocious this storm was you can see a helicopter about to land here this is near the stadium and we see a helicopter various countries. thirty minutes when we flew into the country what we saw was absolutely devastating this is normally a very lush green island but it was all brown the worst of the hurricane winds just ripped all of the trees and vegetation completely out of the ground it was absolutely astonishing when we got to one of the main airports we saw aid convoys that were arriving from various different countries helicopters also large military

planes as well aid is finally starting to get into the country and it's needed desperately on the drive we saw more of the extreme devastation that's been hitting this country at one point there were people with gathering water from a precious water stream because that's the only access to water that they had very very bad way off to the right that he believes like i just don't know. the steroid the the what's. in the room and. we came here to speak to the country's prime minister roosevelt skerritt this is what he had to tell us complete devastation and every street and every village in the country. it's as it is it is very painful to see the suffering and on which people well aid is starting to come into the country it's very clear the recovery of dominique is

going to take weeks months know it's going to take years. u.s. government sent naval ships to puerto rico to help with the growing humanitarian crisis caused by hurricane maria more than a week on u.s. territory is still without power food and water supplies are running low to reasonable reports now from san juan. is still trying to recover her belongings from the damages caused by hurricane my dear she lives in san juan puerto rico's capital because having only see her i didn't want to leave my house when the hurricane came i stayed inside with my two sons and tried to protect even little we have just like in the rest of the capital in this neighborhood there is still no water or electricity and this is one of frank ones poorest neighborhoods as you can see many of the houses here have been completely destroyed mostly because there 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 in personnel so puerto rico has tremendous problems with floods and with damage and collapse we're still looking for people still looking for people but i'm going to be going there are tuesday 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 t.s.a. aid is going to slow. down when i go you know i still haven't received any help 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. i just see it at some point in puerto rico. the united nations refugee agency says it's concerned about an attack on ranger refugees in the sri lankan capital colombo a mob led by buddhist monks threw stones what have you and shelter for the refugees the thirty one ranger inside the building were mainly women and children who fled after the attack because government has condemned the attack is shameful urging police to hunt down the perpetrators. israel has hosted a lavish ceremony marking fifteen years of jewish settlement in the occupied west bank and golan heights prime minister benjamin netanyahu vowed that the settlements will never be removed to they are however illegal under international law are a force that has the story. it was branded a state a vent produced as a t.v.

special a celebration of fifty years since israel and its governments language liberated the west bank in the golan heights territories it is occupied ever since and the celebration of settlement construction in that land staged inside the illegal settlement block of goo shits yun it's a project that israel's prime minister for the second time in a month vowed would never be reversed last year your. i'm saying this very clearly we will never operate settlements in the land of israel it's not only a matter of connection to the homeland it's not the way to make peace. for the palestinians it's a vital part of any future deal and a fading hope for farmers like even him. he tends his crops in the fields around. but his family's land has steadily shrunk he says he lost more than a this year alone and struggles to access land now behind settlement walls.

when we are prevented from entering our lands or to fix the harvest i prepared to lend it cost me around ten thousand dollars but they didn't allow me to plant the saplings. ibrahim's town of our harder is part of a wider picture nearly six hundred thousand israeli settlers live in the occupied west bank including east jerusalem in a meeting with their representative council earlier on wednesday the prime minister reportedly promised another three thousand three hundred new units would be approved next month which would make more than seven thousand this year the residents about how to talk not just of having lost their land but of continuing to lose it the israeli prime minister recently promised that not a single israeli settlement will ever be uprooted any time in the future the reality is they continue to expand. this and that's what makes this is danceable historical commemoration a charged and divisive one israel supreme court declined to send a representative to what its president called a political event israel's pro settler right remains at the center of power its

prime minister doubling down on his commitment to the settlement project are a force that al-jazeera in the occupied west bank south korea is marking sixty nine years of its armed forces day with a show of military might in the city of. some of its strategic weapons have been put on display including its ballistic missiles tensions have been high on the korean peninsula for months now as north korea ramps up tests of its nuclear program. hugh hefner the founder of the playboy magazine empire has died at the age of ninety one the men's magazine was founded more than sixty years ago half and quickly rose to fame after its first this year was published in december one thousand nine hundred fifty three featuring a nude marilyn monroe family members say he passed away at the famous playboy mansion. the sale of bicycles has taken a dramatic leap in america and that means there's also been a serious rise in injuries and that is one of the main topics for

a big gathering of cycling experts research as in town plan is taking place in the u.s. jacob has that story from davis california two hundred years after bikes were invented cycling in the united states is on the rise it's healthy it's cheap it's fun but still only one percent of u.s. troops to work or play involved a bike compared to thirty percent in countries like another. at the same time u.s. bike feed talent and road twelve percent in twenty fifteen alone the international cycling safety conference is gathering in the united states for the first time to discuss the reasons why kate testy from the university of british columbia studies how the safety of bike routes affects our motivation to ride and our rate of injury she says that clear findings are emerging what everyone wants to do is not be in a crash in the first place so our research tells you what you can do to prevent

being in a crash in the first place and that is real cycling face to the fundamental question among traffic researchers has always been this question of whether or not i should be out here among all these cars pretending that i'm a motor vehicle. or is it safer for me to be on a bike path like this one with no cars no pedestrians and really no distractions of any kind. the belief in north america used to be that cyclists should just be out in the room no bike paths necessary so the law is my bike is the same as your car i follow the same rules. what do you mean you're the one who was. close and that's illegal and i have it on film amish man who studies cycling fatalities in new zealand says the design of a city can protect people on bikes or in danger depending on what roads cyclists are encouraged to take the cycle crashes sometimes result in fatalities and even

environments but if that other vehicles a truck in the likelihood of that being a fatal crash really really. the math suggests that riding on separate bike paths is as much as ten times safer than riding on a busy street be separated lanes fantastic safety and and not also where people would prefer to ride and when you provide those cycling magically goes up separate bike paths are the safest way it seems to get americans out of their cars and onto a bike jake aboard al-jazeera davis california. hello again this is al jazeera the headlines today the iraqi parliament has voted to allow troops to be sent to areas controlled by kurdish military units now that follows monday's kurdish referendum in which ninety two percent voted yes in favor

of secession. a top u.s. democrat has come out in support of an independent kurdish state chuck schumer leads the democrats in the senate he's calling on the u.s. government to recognize what he called monday's historic vote. regional leaders in catalonia are pressing ahead with plans for sunday's independence referendum and ignoring threats from the government in madrid which says the breakaway vote is illegal police chiefs have discussed plans to seize control of polling booths and block catalans from casting a vote pleasure in the major actually don't miss even people on sunday will go out and vote massively peacefully also for only one reason one of the most important reasons regardless of what their vote will be there is a firm conviction that the state today is an inheritor of franco's spain that wasn't overcome in this transition stage today more than ever it is a problem that we need to fight democratically the united nations refugee agency says is concerned about an attack on ranger refugees in these three lankan capital colombo a mob led by buddhist monks threw stones at

a un shelter for the refugees the thirty one ranger inside the building who were mainly women and children fled without injury because government has condemned the attack is shameful in the police to hunt down the perpetrators. unconfirmed reports say the thai former prime minister yingluck shinawatra left her by on september eleventh and is now in london she was sentenced to five years in prison on weapons to over a corrupt subsidy skiing involving rice which lost billions of dollars. south korea is marking sixty nine years of its armed forces day with a show of military might in the city of. some of its strategic weapons have been put on display including its ballistic missiles tensions have been high on the peninsula for months as north korea ramps up tests of its nuclear program. hugh heffner the founder of playboy magazine has died at the age of ninety one the men's magazine was founded more than sixty years ago he quickly rose to fame after his first as he was published in december of one nine hundred fifty three featuring

a naked marilyn monroe family member say he passed away at the famous playboy mansion you are right up to speed with all our top stories up next it's inside story i'll see in twenty five minutes but it's not just phones contributing to sound phones bumper profits if we look at the u.s. economy the moment it does seem to be in pretty good shape up until around two thousand and five greek debt levels were basically stable we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost at this time on ounces zero. women in saudi arabia finally allowed to drive from next year is lifting the ban the fine of real reform in the kingdom but it speed up for action with a powerful religious establishment this is inside story.