and the health costs. china's communist party is holding its annual congress what will it mean for the country and its people. turn on al-jazeera. in india a mining company is heading to australia to build one of the world's biggest mines will it be an economic but names or an ecological disaster. at this time on al-jazeera. her. iraqi civilians celebrate after government forces push i sell out of its last stronghold in the north of the country.

you know i'm mariam al jazeera live from london also coming up the report on how armed groups in the central african republic of being accused of using right and sexual slavery as weapons of war. she is a national police. fifth biggest bank moves its legal base from catalonia and its top the catalan parliament from meeting. and keeping the planet's blue heart beating wild leaders meet in malta to find ways of saving the world's oceans from the effects of pollution of exploitation and global warming. iraqi forces

a capture the town of how we and the surrounding area last stronghold in northern iraq iraqi military says some fighting is still going on to the north and east of the town where i still is surrounded troops are greeted by jubilant villages and six kilometers northwest of the town the capture of how we are the only area that now remains on the eisel control in iraq is a stretch alongside the western border with syria but the military operation has come as a cost as charles stratford reports from a nearby checkpoint in northern iraq. exhausted and scared it took this family five days to reach the peshmerga defensive position. they walked across these parched hills from their village in eisel controlled territory sometimes struggling to find shelter from coalition airstrikes and iraqi army shelling. the situation is tense there are airstrikes artillery shelling i have escaped with my family as soon as we could i saw were relocated from one place to another and many

of them were pushed and squeezed further into how egypt there is no food or water available and i want a village. condition so he barely managed to get out we used to live off the scraps of food property and lebanese all destroyed . the peshmerga are defending this position against potential leisel fighters. from this area as the iraqi military and shia militias advance in this direction this area here is still a number of villages there that are controlled by i saw in the last few minutes we've seen two i saw fighters come here and surrender the commander of this position says that in the last two weeks around two hundred fighters have surrendered at this position alone. the peshmerga took control of this area from high school in two thousand and fourteen after the iraqi army fled. it is beyond

the official boundary at the same meal thomas kurdish regional government controlled area of northern iraq but the commanders here say the peshmerga won't withdraw when the fight against the last pockets of eisel is over the country she had r.t. has all these lanes you see have been taken and defended by the peshmerga and we will not give them back many pacemaker died defending these lands we've been she managed hereon and military corridos of people displaced and military personnel who asia was the last stronghold for eisel in northern iraq iraqi prime minister hydrilla body says the town has been retaken but disagreement between the kurds and the iraqi government about who will control areas such as where we have just begun john strafford al jazeera debases in iraq. right cross says syria is experiencing some of its worst fighting since last year's

battle for aleppo at least one hundred thirty people have been killed in multiple as strikes over the past two days in the arizona province there are also reports of at least ten hospitals being damaged cutting off hundreds of thousands of syrians from health care kathy lopez had diane reports. death destruction and desperation are the results of our thoughts of the russian air strikes towns destroyed thousands displaced in the syrian problem. the syrian observatory for human rights as the airstrikes over the last six days killed at least one hundred eighty five people including women and children more than a we have looked at houses and went to the desert would be like this but by the situation is catastrophic we've seen rockets artilleries and warplanes and we don't know who is who and what is what the international committee of the red cross says the number of civilians killed is the highest at this year since the fight over aleppo the strikes damage at least ten hospitals leaving the injured helpless

humanitarian organizations are struggling to care for syrians to scaping the attacks this includes search and rescuers from the white helmets organization everyone is. iceland chills most of darrow's or and is under attack by the russian air force russia's defense ministry says forty nine members of al qaeda and putting its top seven leaders in syria have been killed recently the russian government says it targets insurgents not civilians but first responders say they see the opposite when we go with. the women we see men old men entire towns already devastated are now left wondering when the next airstrike will be. al-jazeera. russia and saudi arabia who backed rival sides in syria's war of agree to work

together to unite syria's opposition saudi arabia's king cell line has been meeting the russian president vladimir putin in moscow is the first saudi monarch in history to visit russia and the delegation accompanying him as agreed to joint investment deals worth billions of dollars that you countries also agreed that syria's territorial integrity and state institutions be preserved. towhee to modernise really mattered like what o.c.s. and as far as syria is concerned we are certainly cooperation closely with russia in terms of the opposition and the shared told rounds of talks in geneva and of course we fully support the talks and the need to make sure we preserve territorial integrity and sovereignty. but. it's obvious that the vice against terrorism means that we have to fight extremist ideologies which are well known to our saudi friends we hope very much they are contributing to these efforts will lead to peace and stability in the islamic world and good work on the islamic

council. twenty people have been killed and at least twenty five injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a shia shrine in pakistan southwest the attack happened in the village and province . human rights watch says on groups in the central african republic using rape and sexual slavery to terrorize women and girls investigators documented more than three hundred cases of rape torture and sexual violence in the past four years some women and girls were held as sex slaves for up to eighteen months but jim say they've been targeted by both muslim seleka rebels and christian. fighters but not a single person is face charges since the overthrow of the president françois in two thousand and fourteen fighting has killed thousands of people and more than a million have fled their homes thirteen thousand united nations peacekeepers are struggling to contain the violence imraan khan has more on this now in just

a warning that you might find some of the images in his report upsetting. hidden beyond the tall grass and veiled behind curtains survivors in the central african republic talk of barbaric acts cruel and brutal crimes that are still unpunished. one of them took a grenade and they put it in my vagina did they remove the grenade and they raped me. this thirty five year old is among hundreds of women and girls who've told human rights watch about sexual violence and torture. when i think about it my heart beat so fast and really hard when i remember my heart beat so hard so hard so hard even right now when i'm thinking about it it's beating hard and so fast fast fast three of the victims the children when they were raped and became pregnant. they raped me over and over again they never stopped

not for even one day when i was eight in the house months pregnant i escaped when i had the baby i didn't want to hold him i felt like killing him. the survivors say they were raped by a dozen men fighters beat the women and left them with broken bones smashed teeth and head wins. the fighters kidnapped women beat them up rape them and tortured them young girls older women they just didn't have. he when rights watch says the abuses are not only crimes under central african law but also constitute war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity a new task force is trying to address the plight of survivors. those that we know responsible for these grave crimes of rape and violation of human rights if they are not arrested right now and taken into custody no victims will have the will to seek justice and that makes justice inaccessible you have to talk about zero impunity then you need the women to have the courage to come forward and report the

facts human rights watch says only eleven of the two hundred ninety six survivors interviewed try to initiate a criminal investigation so far no member of any armed group has been arrested or tried to committing sexual violence. is there aid agencies are warning that zambia is facing humanitarian crisis countries dealing with more than twenty seven thousand refugees have crossed the border from the democratic republic of congo at least three thousand have entered in the last month the u.n. says on average one hundred asylum seekers and each day congolese government forces are fighting a local militia in the region more than one point four million people have been displaced by the violence there since august last year. has more now from northern gambia. this transit center was set up three and a half weeks ago the people are many from attending and some from the troubled

region is a running away from ethnic tensions and fighting between government forces and militia groups aid workers say if one is given to eighteen hundred people coming into zambia every day and conditions a basic the new arrivals haven't yet their own form of structure to live and stay in these communal kind of compounds held together by reading mats and some top hole in tents to cover the top three or four families can live in here and till they move to a spot where they can build their own temporary structure with their families some aid workers say that they see a large number of mainly women and children coming into the strands at center and about sixty percent of those who are coming here are children under the age of eighteen there is a communal set up already whereby the meals are prepared by the women the men cut the firewood the people are then given food in the morning and then at supper but ad agencies say they need more help the rainy season is about to start in

a few weeks that concern once it's rains all this to be flooded with water people need some kind of decent accommodation in the mosquito nets and it medicine they need more food and a concern that as long as the violence keeps continuing in the d.r. seeing more people crossing into zambia for protection. and more tell you about on the program police say the last vegas gunman had previously broke rooms overlooking two other music festivals. and why israel is planning to close its borders with the occupied west bank and the gaza strip for eleven days. hello and welcome to international weather forecasts it's all looking very unsettled across europe at the moment a series of what weather fronts some strong winds pushing them behind them across more southern parts here the weather doesn't look too bad generally fine conditions

but you see that northerly flow pushing into just fourteen in london on friday and they've got this cold air digging down across the alps and through into wards the balkans are quite unsettled temperatures nothing special across more eastern areas now as you head on through into saturday we've got a trough of low pressure digging right down across here into southeastern areally really stormy here through greece and through the western side of the black sea still on the chilly side from moscow there at ten and still pretty unsettled across more western areas but for much of france down in therapy and potential the weather conditions here at least are looking pretty good on the other side of the mediterranean the weather's looking fine for our tears and for tonight's house where we've got a few showers through the gulf of sirte but generally weather conditions are looking fine and for karo temperatures rising up to thirty five degrees celsius into central parts of africa and we have plenty of shower activity across central africa public through towards cameroon we'll see some showers affect in lagos in nigeria and also seeing some showers affect in akron encounter with

a high here of twenty nine degrees. well is it alison whether online we were in hurricane. almost like thirty six hours these are the things that you u.p.a. has to address or if you join us on saturday. but. a relationship this is a dialogue tweet us with hash tag stream and one of your pitches might make the next show join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera.

quick reminder of the top stories this hour iraqi forces say they've recaptured the town of how we ourselves last stronghold in the north of the country the troops were greeted by jubilant villages nearby the red cross says syria is suffering its worst fighting since last year's battle for the east and the left at least one hundred thirty people have been killed in as strikes in there as or over the past two days and human rights watch has documented hundreds of cases in the central african republic of on groups using rape and sexual slavery to terrorize women and girls. now u.s. authorities say the gunman who killed at least fifty eight people at a concert last vegas on sunday had booked rooms overlooking two of the music festivals but it's not clear if steven actually went to those events one in chicago the other in las vegas meanwhile officers investigating sunday's attack is still trying to work out what led him to open fire on the country music festival they say

he stockpiled his huge arsenal of weapons and ammunition over decades bidets girlfriend marty donnelly says she had no idea what a partner was planning describing in. kind caring and quiet. let's go live now to castro who's in las vegas for us and that have been some developments with the national rifle association in the past hour the talking about tougher regulation and devices. that's right this is not something that you would normally expect to marry him after a mass shooting the national rifle association a huge lobby here powerful among conservatives usually says we should not do anything to regulate and control guns further but in the statement that the organization just released they are calling for a federal review of a device called bump stocks now these devices were key according to investigators for the gunman stephen paddick to like the mass casualties that we saw here fifty

eight people dead these devices allowed him to convert a semi automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon sensually a machine gun allowing for that quick fire that killed so many in the n.r.a. statement they're asking for more regulation of these devices which is significant but is this a complete change in tone for the large swaths of american culture that support gun rights no it is not the n.r.a. in that same statement did it de cry the immediate call for more gun control after sunday's massacre and in fact is pushing congress to allow more americans to carry concealed weapons more easily but there is mounting pressure from the public and from democrats on the n.r.a. to do something as well as on fellow republicans and we heard some movement there as well this morning house speaker paul ryan telling reporters that he and other

top republicans will consider banning these bomb stocks now with n arrays indorsement to do so that change may be more likely merriam. and of course investigators. still desperately searching for a motive for this attack what are they learned from the gunman stephen politics girlfriend. that's right mary lou dannelly is the key witness here for the f.b.i. and for the police officer she is the woman who lived with the gunman in two homes in this area she was overseas during the shooting and according to a statement released by her attorney she was sent away by patrick a few weeks prior she wasn't told why he wired her one hundred thousand dollars to the philippines where she has family and she according to the attorney thought that he was about to break up with her he she told she told f.b.i. agents who interviewed her yesterday that she had no idea this was happening and still many questions though how could you not notice when there are forty seven

weapons accumulated in the two homes that she lived in with this man but that's just one of so many questions as far as determining a motive which investigators still do not have the answer to miriam. thank you. the speaker of the council. spain's constitutional court after it suspended its session planned for monday it was expected to declare independence unilaterally from spain off to two million catalans voted in favor of secession. but this is an act of extreme seriousness because it tells the freedom of expression of members of catalonia parliament this shows the total incapacity of the spanish government to result political problems in the political way we repeat what we've always said that we will not allow the parliament to be. meanwhile two of spain's biggest banks appear to be preparing to move their headquarters out of catalonia over fears the region will secede and which is spain's fifth largest bank

has already decided to move its legal base to l.a. county and there are reports the board of chi should bank is also considering relocation because of the political uncertainty is spain's third largest lender and the biggest catalan company by market value so let's get the latest from call pan hole in barcelona call out to people out there on the streets feel about these latest political and economic developments actually with the banks. well mahram it very much depends what political side of the street you're standing on and right now you can see this relatively small but very loud very passionate very forceful crowd these three forced to flee opposed to catalonia breaking away from spain they described themselves the spanish troops and they turned out to fight the civil guard units in this barracks here in their attempts to stop catalonia breaking

away from the rest of spying talking to members of that crowd they have well tried the constitutional court decision to suspend the kaplan parliament meeting for monday they say that the spanish state must do everything in it how to stop catalonia writing away of course on the other side as you already mentioned we've heard this week of the catalan allaman comment for a crackdown describing the constitutional court decision are sounding good off and she was a little ambiguous when she she didn't give a clear answer as to whether that parliamentary session on monday would go ahead or not right now we do know the legal experts are looking at that decision and see what the future will be for monday's parliamentary session area and of course we were talking about the banks transferring their legal base out. of the region how much of a blow could this deal to catalonia a time when they're trying to break away. we're talking potentially about

banks about their land also the price of bank breaking away both of those are in the top five spanish banks facing catalonia back to feel a bit close to the spanish economy in general catalonia or spain's wealthiest regions contributes about one fifth of the entire national economy so will be a blow to catalonia but it will also be applied to the spanish national economy it's not just the banks. the high tech industries or so considering that we were told today they want fire to say they are heading back to be afraid of leaving facts alone but of course listen to this crowd here right now they are singing the it's fine yes long live by they are calling on the spanish government to state strong measures to make sure the break up never happens and hence if the breakup doesn't happen they hope the economic damage will only be temporary and emotions

are running high there thank you very much call penn hole in barcelona well while much of the focus from the catalan secession referendum has been on barcelona there are claims in smaller villages of a campaign of intimidation by far activists people in the countryside say car tires have been slashed and windows broken since sunday's vote from the village of voters has largely reports. this is what verges woke up to on wednesday on street after street every single car that even parked outside had been worked over one hundred three cars in total very professional very fast nobody heard or saw a thing nor did the attackers care that some of the cars were full of children's playthings you keep some of your things in the car mark is a gardner so. he needs his car for work so no work there is exactly

why it is i feel that. if the far right did this then we'd be surprised they never did it before but we all suspect is the national police or people close to them. vergers reeks of cancer land history they barely speak spanish air and afford for independence for hundreds of years the us signs from the referendum are everywhere if you want to hit the heart of the enemy it's as good a place as any as you can imagine a little tiny village like this in the middle of nowhere is never known anything like this at all the council and police have begun dusting for fingerprints but you haven't got to be sherlock holmes to figure out the conclusion the villagers have come to that this was a form of collective punishment for backing cattle and independence. bit of humor given all the talk from the doorsteps and balconies as a shock. revulsion against violence and resolve that they will not be overcome.

several other villages were targeted as well local officials point out acidly that the spanish media are nowhere to be seen. that we know very well the message they're trying to foster the post truth message being created from spine that are trying to turn the truth upside down that we're acting violently in catalonia it doesn't exist. the nagging question of course is whether this is a one off or the start of a campaign of violence towards the cancer lands one thing is certain it feels like the wheels of falling off in spain lawrence li al jazeera verges catalonia israel is planning to close its borders with the occupied west bank and the gaza strip for an unusually long period the closure for a jewish holiday means no palestinians will be allowed to cross into israel for eleven days palestinians say the move is collective punishment as high force that reports from the occupied west bank. it's typical for israeli checkpoints to close

on public holidays but not for this long israeli government announced this week that the occupied west bank and gaza strip would be sealed off for eleven consecutive days the longest such closure for more than a decade hardest hit by the tens of thousands of palestinians who crossed daily from the west bank to work mainly in construction in israel. on thursday someone renewing work permits and reflecting on the loss of nearly a half a month's wages for some it's worse he paid a broker of his permit it costs him more than twenty five dollars a day whether he works or not and to me about that it's hard on everyone that's daily suffering it's going to cost me more than three hundred dollars for my permits the economic situation in the country is. the forced closure has been linked by israel to an attack last month in which a palestinian worker killed three israeli security forces at the entrance to an illegal settlement israeli media report that the army's closure recommendation came

only after political pressure from government ministers what israel is calling a security measure palestinians are referring to as collective punishment and with seventy five thousand permit holders working inside israel that comes at a serious cost to the palestinian economy the cost says the palestinian government that goes beyond the loss in wages of up to fifty million dollars. that is the new home and it means they won't be able to buy goods and so impacts on the economic cycle especially given that a number of workers purchased permits from brokers for more than seven hundred dollars a month that. permit renewed. is back home and while in israel work will resume on and off throughout the super hot holiday like tens of thousands of other palestinians who have to wait out the full eleven days it is a considerable expense sorry for sit al-jazeera in the occupied west bank. european union has pledged nearly six hundred sixty million dollars to help deal

with ocean pollution it's estimated that there is five hundred times more micro plastic in the sea and there are stars in our galaxy and it's taking its toll on hundreds of species lauren taylor takes a look at the problems facing one of the world's greatest resources. across the world our oceans and seas are being ravaged by pollution overexploitation and the effects of manmade global warming rising sea temperatures are believed to be exacerbated the effects of the recent spate of deadly hurrican in the caribbean and the united states warmer oceans also mean acidification dead zones and invasive species jeopardizing the marine ecosystem and threatening our fish and seafood supplies then this pollution virtually every part of the world's oceans are affected by it particularly by micro plastics and every year more than eight million tons of new plastic trash end up in our cities and there's the impact of an reported in unregulated fishing it's worth billions of dollars to the world economy

but at an unknown cost to the natural environment syria's world cup dream is still alive after its national team drew one all against australia in the first leg of the confederation play off the syrians have been forced supply all of our games in neutral malaysia because of the civil war syria's national team is never qualified for the world cup both teams will play in the second leg in sydney on october tenth and the winner will secure a place in next year's world cup finals in russia. so there's more on everything we're covering right here comment analysis and video on demand you can find that al-jazeera dot com. quick recap of the top stories for you now iraqi forces say they've recaptured the

town of how we judge myself last stronghold in the north of the country iraqi military say some fighting is still continuing to the north and east of the town where i solicit around it but more and more of the groups fighters are surrendering as charles traffic explains from the nearby davis district and kirkuk. from this area as the iraqi military and shia militias advance in this direction this area here the still a number of villages there that are controlled by i saw in the last few minutes we've seen through i saw fighters come here and surrender the commander of this position says that in the last two weeks around two hundred fighters have surrendered at this position alone. the right cross says the worst fighting since last year's battle for eastern aleppo is raging in several parts of syria the organization says at least one hundred thirty people have been killed in as strikes in their resort over the past two days sources on the ground accused russia of

being responsible for the strikes meanwhile russia and saudi arabia who backed rival sides in syria's war have agreed to work together to unite syria's opposition the decision came out of a meeting between saudi arabia's king salmon and the russian president vladimir putin in the capital moscow. at least twenty people have been killed and twenty five injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a shia shrine in pakistan southwest attack happened in the jar muggsy village and pollution stunt province. human rights watch has documented hundreds of cases in the central african republic of armed groups using rape and sexual slavery to terrorize women and girls victims say they've been targeted by both muslim seleka rebels and christian fighters and aid agencies are warning that zambia is facing a humanitarian crisis with more than three thousand refugees arriving from the

democratic republic of congo in the last month congolese government forces are fighting a local militia and he can reach in more than one point four million people have been displaced by the violence there since august twenty sixth in. those the headlines the stream starts now on al jazeera a few after that. i am like an alley and you're in the street and i'm damning how do you rebuild an entire island one that's already under an enormous amount of that after.