threatened but because you sit in the corner of our homes we have to go forward and develop ourselves and help bring peace and stability to our country. she was a society hostess in beirut in the one nine hundred forty she was in touch with a lot of people from the request to make this work. name. and she spied for mossad in lebanon before. it was such a big break. out world douses story of. the beirut spy at this time. iraqi forces celebrate as they take control of the kurdish held city of kirkuk.

on the i've listed are you watching al jazeera live from london also coming up evading the question catalans leader fails to answer yes or no whether the region has declared independence from spain. turkey steps in to help the victims of somalia's twin bomb attacks as the death toll rises to more than three hundred. and the desperate bid to escape the violence in mid march ends in tragedy for more wreckage of refugees six children are among twelve dead as another boat capsizes. we begin with major developments in iraq where government forces have taken control of the contested city of kirkuk from kurdish forces tensions have been mounting in the oil rich region ever since the kurds held a referendum on secession. that has more from

a deal the kurdish no longer flowing in the center of kirkuk. the city now officially back in the hands of the iraqi government its forces but made a rapid advance mulched in the middle of the night fifteen hours later the industrial area airports military base and critical all fields were under the control of iraqi forces. soon after they marched into the center of the city. iraqi officials were quick to declare victory but a live shot of the joint military operation was launched at dawn in progress significantly as the troops approached the area to crete and the north oil company they were confronted by some rebels who tried to hinder the progress of the advancing units turned five and silenced that fourth thank god today we have achieved all our goals according to our plan. the u.s. military which a trained both sides in this dispute trying to downplay the escalation in

a statement blaming the firefight on the darkness calling it a misunderstanding. but kurdish fighters painted a different picture of what was happening on the ground. give them another moment i don't know what is happening exactly because we have been in the fight since four in the morning in the areas of tasa we have suffered casualties including martyrs and now we have withdrawn into this position and some of the other forces have pulled that they didn't fire a single shots and that so but we are seventh brigade holding up a session here. thousands fled the city as the forces approached mixed in among them kurdish fighters nows the u.s. urges dialogue and calm the question is what's next will iraqi forces and their militias pursue the kurdish people and fight is that answer will have an impact here and around the globe oil prices are climbing with the news the possibility. of a civil war perhaps in iraq with kurdish forces fighting both iraqi army and possibly

iranian militias. did not play well with the with the well so traders and so the perception is that prices will rise. until that's what we meant risky is completely character russia was saying understood most world powers at will the kurdish regional government and not to go ahead with a non-binding referendum where the majority of people voted for secession from iraq now the people of this region and their government finding out there is a very real price to be paid in this search for independence the speed with which the iraqi army were able to achieve their aim is left the kurdish regional government shocked and wanting and already there are questions being asked as to whether certain members of one of the main two kurdish political parties may have colluded with the iraqi military in order to ensure such a swift and easy victory in and around kirkuk strafford al jazeera.

castle only years later has failed to car fi whether his regime plans to secede from spain or not just hours before a deadline from the spanish government colors preached them all instead asked for more dialogue in a letter to the central government so you're going to reports from barcelona. it was supposed to be a monday deadline but the catalan president's response to madrid's demands that he clarify his position on secession lacked any definitive answers in his letter to spain's prime minister might enter a catalyst you want said that the suspension of the political mandate given by the poles in october first demonstrates our firm will to find a solution and not confrontation not exactly the yes or no response required by the spanish government before it decides whether to push ahead with suspending catalonia as autonomous powers them and they're going to pretend that i know that

on such an important issue we only asked for clarity to extend uncertainty will only favor those who wish to end peaceful coexistence and to continue with the poor project the government hopes that in the following hours up until the next deadline on thursday mr persia will give the clarity that all citizens demand and the rule of law requires we can understand his preservations and confusion and that he is doing that to meet the demands of the most radical groups the spanish government is maintaining it's tough stance on mr prejudgment but it has given away just a fraction on the question of the deadline the ball and the fact is back in the catalan government's caught with a constitutional crisis is far from over. the back and forth between madrid and barcelona has prolonging the standoff between the two sides and the catalan government is adamant about its position organizing a referendum is not a crime so that when we are confronted with there is no separation of powers in the spanish state there is no respect for the basic laws and the only thing we can

address east politically to respond would be use demanding us to do. in madrid the head of the catalan police force luis capita was questioned at spain's national court despite pressure from the prosecution he's not being detained but all thora teams have withheld his passport he's accused of. failing to enforce a ban on the october first referendum a vote to madrid says that was illegal under the constitution. it has angered many in catalonia behooved up arrow is a hero to the region secessionist after his force took a much less aggressive position than the national police force they came under international criticism for their violent crackdown on voters. there is little clarity about how this will end and which side will back down and many here whatever the catalan government decides to do it will pay the price for holding the referendum in the first place so you go out jazeera barcelona more than three

hundred people have now died after twin bomb blast in somalia on saturday with forty of most severely wounded being flown to turkey for further treatment it is the deadliest single attack in somalia's history catherine sawyer has more from nairobi. attack military plane was used to transport several somalis with serious injuries from saturday's attacks in mogadishu they'll receive treatment in touch. other countries like kenya and ethiopia are also offering logistical help while locals have reason to the occasion helping where they can like retrieving bodies from the rubble providing food and water for my agency workers and just being there for those who are grieving. we have been able to take those. systems of the government and other partners we will prevail. but people here are also angry hundreds to to the streets of the city protesting against the attack blaming al

shabaab the armed groups fighting the government and african union peacekeepers inside somalia i thought. it was a message i've never seen anything like it in the last twenty seven years i saw a little boy's head lying on the ground it was shocking. no one has yet claimed responsibility while speaking to al-jazeera and al shabaab spokesman refused to confirm or deny responsibility the president has visited the scene blames what he calls terrorists targeting innocent civilians saturday's attack happened in two different areas during rush hour a busy intersection in another business district in the heart of the city the number of those killed continues to rise residents of mogadishu a still. cathy zoi al jazeera nairobi a high profile investigative journalist in malta he was strongly critical of the government has been killed in a car bombing daphne karoo on a galicia rose

a popular blog highlighting alleged corruption with many articles involving politicians on the mediterranean islands prime minister joseph must pass to face accusations from. earlier this year made a t.v. statement denouncing the killing. at least twenty seven people have been killed in wildfires ravaging parts of portugal three people have died as a result of fires that broke out across the border in spain a state of emergency has been declared as firefighters continue to battle the flames which have been worsened by storm ophelia from the home reports. a prolonged drought plus i'm usually high in mid october heat already deadly combination was. the wildfires herring's through the parched forests of central and northern portugal have claimed dozens of lives and made many more homeless of the rhythms of humans but. obviously we would like to present our deep

condolences to the families of these victims as you know sunday was a day when all records registered this year were beaten we reached the maximum of five hundred twenty four fires and today since midnight we've already registered a total of one hundred ten fires. and over the border fires raged in spain's northwestern gully theory to. more than one hundred separate blazes there's been a number of fatalities including two people who died when their car was trapped by the flames thousands have been evacuated much of the destruction here is not natural but deliberate in spain arsonists are said to strike every year prime minister mariano rajoy is a native of here to look at. what we are dealing with here is something that is not caused by accident it has been provoked we are here in perth us the border then where there's been a big far which began at one in the morning at five different points so you can see

it's impossible for this to be triggered under natural circumstances in spain schools were shocked as the fires closed in on towns and villages threatening more lives and livelihoods like to brain fall is forecast that may help existing wish the flames. soon enough to avoid portugal second such tragedy in four months after sixty four people were killed by wildfires in june john the whole al jazeera. or storm ophelia has killed three people in ireland and left three hundred sixty thousand properties without power schools have also closed and the irish government has deployed the army to bolster flood defenses residents in northern ireland now being warned to stay indoors as ophelia makes its way to the u.k. from the door and in donegal bobby phillips has. from space an ominous sight storm ophelia approaching an island at dawn in the skies about the southern coast it seemed the crows knew something unusual was coming no longer

a hurricane by the time she hit land but of battered islands coast and inland her winds wreaked havoc knocking things over sending them flying even as if in rage a school's roof picked up and thrown we were further north in donegal where the worst of the storm didn't arrive until towards the end of the day. in this town as in towns all over ireland it's been a very unusual day streets all but deserted shops closed pubs close restaurants closed schools closed families waiting at home for the worst of ophelia to pass. this morning and it was like christmas eve it was packed with people. you know we're in for the storm kind of. street scary looking forward to getting home. i think we're just in the brunt of it right now for the next couple of hours.

meanwhile to the east over england calm but ophelia brought a strange glow to the sky not an impending apocalypse a scientists but sunlight filtered through dust pulled up from the sun harra and the forest fires in spain and portugal barnaby phillips al-jazeera on islands west coast or i still ahead on the program we're going to report from the philippines where the government says its battle against feiss is nearing its. end good crop bad crop zambia has a bunch. of fallen as the weather can still hold. so clear lovely weather across central and eastern parts of europe they've got a big area of high pressure keeping things settled but we are still feeling the

effects of what remains of aurukun a fairly i just about the far northwest of the continents pass of olland and scotland as we go on through tuesday feeling very disturbed by the little hook of cloud that will make its way just to the far north of northern ireland running across the northern half of scotland as we go through choose day temperatures back where they should be so no more twenty three celsius for london than we was for paris sixteen degrees there for london just noticed some useful right there will come into spain and western parts of portugal pushing right across by and actually i say useful because we have had wildfires here so that is good news cooler air coming to madrid as well as around eighteen degrees celsius central parts of europe still on the quiet side still on the settle side but a bit of any morning mist and fog into those central areas but twenty one in vienna asked to babie getting into the most twenty's to across northern parts of africa maybe a thirty four cairo we see a little bit of cloud just getting with the far north of libya rather. more cloud

also making its way just across the far north of morocco as we go on through each day and push into northern areas of algeria by wednesday. a family business handed down from generation to generation but when this funeral director retires will his son continue the tradition i don't think he was actually before just like i don't feel like i was actually built for a difficult choice for an al-jazeera producer caught between two worlds worlds really by tending to the dead with a living a better an intimate portrait of an industry most encounter only fleetingly al-jazeera correspondent death in the family at this time.

welcome back and reminder of the top stories here on al-jazeera the iraqi army says it has taken full control of the oil rich northern city of kirkuk without resistance from kurdish forces. leader has failed to declare if his region plans to secede from spain and said call us push them all has asked for more dialogue in a letter to the central government. and the death toll from somalia's twin bomb explosions on saturday has risen to more than three hundred with forty of the most severely wounded victims transferred to turkey the trip. more civilians are fleeing eisel self-proclaimed capital raca as the final assault to push out the last remaining isis fighters continue u.s. backed syrian forces say victory is near despite fierce resistance. has more from

the tie on the turkey syria border. a group of men believed to be i.c.l. fighters surrender in iraq. they are mostly syrians who handed over themselves to local officials after the deal brokered by tribal leaders. who wish that you start a new life and turned a chapter of the dark times you lived in removed those ideas that were injected into your brains and which made huge harm to islam and to our country the deal was not extended to foreign fighters who still remain in the city syrian democratic forces a coalition of kurdish and arab groups backed by the us are all of the offensive they are seen here demanding i sell fighters surround but i still is down for using snipers suicide bombers and trapped buildings to block their enemies from

advancing i mean. i still will be defeated soon they launch attacks under the cover of the night they capabilities have diminished civilians caught up in the fighting are fleeing the area they have been trapped iraq since i still took control of the city into thousand and fourteen. the s.d.f. accuses isael of using civilians as human shields. record is a big deal we were trapped for three years we tried three times to escape but couldn't because i saw snipers shoot anyone who's leaving the city taking control of iraq is crucial for kurdish factions since the start of serious conflict the kurds have expanded their influence in the region they now control an area stretching from the north all the way to three or the border with turkey the capture of rock is a major setback for i said which is losing ground in eastern syria the armed group

is now retreating besieged from everywhere by the kurds the syrian army and constantly under threat from u.s. and russian strikes its presence in syria is now approaching it and. the tie on turkish border with syria al-jazeera is demanding the release of its journalist mahmoud hussein who's now been imprisoned in egypt for three hundred days he's accused of broadcasting false news to spread chaos what cheney and al-jazeera strongly deny saying has repeatedly complained of mistreatment during his incarceration he was arrested in december while visiting his family the israeli government has approved the building of israeli settlement units in hebron in the occupied west bank is the first time the government has given official approval for construction of hebron in fifteen years ari forces reports from hebron. hadrons newest israeli settlers are due to live here on what is now

a military base adjoining another settler building the approval for plans for thirty one housing units is the first in this bitterly divided city since two thousand and two. it resided leads me on to the balcony of the house that he was born in seventy years ago it overlooks the site for him this decision will only increase the burden of restrictions on movement that have been his daily life. we can hardly manage it with ten settlers in front of this can you imagine how two hundred we turn our lives upside down. hebron streets are marked by stark close quarter separation hundreds of settlers kept apart from thousands of palestinians with cages barbed wire and a large israeli army presence conditions which attract mostly religiously radical right wing settlers the approval would change the designation of this land from a military base to housing use and given that the israeli army seized it on security grounds that does open up the prospect of a legal challenge. says he plans to do just that this is the first announcement in

a series of approvals planned for this week nearly three thousand eight hundred housing units are expected to be given either advance or retrospective approvals bringing this year's total to more than twice that of twenty sixteen all of which are illegal under international law the israeli prime minister while telling settler groups he remains under u.s. pressure to rein in construction apparently feels freer to build with president donald trump in the white house than with his predecessor the israeli government is offering no comment beyond announcing the approval in recent weeks netanyahu has been looking to shore up his prosthetic credentials saying not a single israeli settlement would ever be given up the one in hebron is due instead to get bigger hairy force at al-jazeera hebron in the occupied west bank. twelve people including six children have died after a boat carrying revenge of muslims escaping fighting in capsized in the bay of

bengal survivors of told local officials up to sixty five people were on board at the time well one hundred eighty were had to have died in boating accidents while crossing into find a dish a move the health a million have fled since fighting broke out in mammals a constant well a field hospital is opened in bangladesh to help some of the hundreds of thousands of refugees from me i'm all the government run hospitals have been struggling to provide proper medical care from coaxes bizarre time to child free. a fully cured failed hospital open in cote de paulo refugee areas with the help of norway d. and finnish red cross society there are doctors and nurses volunteers from bangladesh red crescent society as well here now this is about the size of. this going to accommodate up to sixty in-house patients don't patient clinic there is facilities that are surgical unit their delivery unit their maternity unit a very impressive set up i must say it's got electric supply water supply and

a highly sanitized place filled also but i like this are very badly needed within the refugee camp areas the government hospitals are in adequately acute to deal with the number of refugees crossed over into bangladesh let alone local people they're also not well acute this hospital got all the modern equipment from makes the departure six hour journey you need if in the long run hospital like this are set up filled ospital like this are set up within the refugee camp area it could made the long term strategy to deal with the refugees health issues in bangladesh in coming years. the defense minister of the philippines says two senior commanders of armed groups linked to i saw have been killed in fighting in the southern city of moral way they've been battling the army for control of the city since may the government says it's now on the verge of finally driving them out and has the latest from the city. it is the end of an era says the philippine military the leaders of the multi-group nealon happy law and omar were

killed in a military operation early on monday morning but it says the victory is bittersweet it is a conflict that has dragged on for far too long even military officials here admit more than a thousand people have been killed and a hundred thousand more displaced since the fighting began the more than four months ago. a bundle on. one of the leaders of the abu sayyaf group in the southern philippines he pledged allegiance to isolate a few years ago and declared leader of an islamic state he wanted to set up in southeast asia together with his supporters he joined forces with another armed group called them out in last year the mountain started as a private militia in la now those who are province or mar and they've pledged allegiance to eisele to the group took control of several parts of the city

a few months ago. it raised its black flag over several government facilities and took thousands of civilians hostage. there was killed a few months ago in one of the battles inside but are we. more than four months on much of morality is now in ruins according to the philippine military the fighting may finally end this week. about two hundred meters across that blake is the last remaining stronghold all of them out to. around thirty of them continue to battle it out against the philippine military. but they still have hostages with them and it's making the situation complicated. in the midst of congratulatory salutes are questions whether lessons have been learned. from. the fighters there may have been

a setback to the leadership but it doesn't signal the end of the mounting are there i so inspired troops in mindanao the people of morale we say they are happy knowing the seach will be over soon so much blood has been spilled here they say and the city they love has turned desolate. dogon. city southern philippines venezuela's opposition is refusing to recognize the results of sunday's regional elections the ruling socialist party won the seventeen of the twenty three governorships president nicolas maduro is calling it an emphatic victory is a major surprise with the south american nation in the grip of a long running economic crisis the opposition is calling for street protests if there isn't a full recount. pope francis has called on all governments to work together to do more to end world hunger saying the attitude of someone else will do it isn't good enough speaking in rome on world's third day the pontiff said conflicts and climate

change now made hunger widespread the u.n. says hunger levels have risen for the first time in a decade and eight hundred fifteen million people are affected well after a long drought several countries in southern africa are enjoying bumper harvest zambia is even selling excess maize to other countries but poor farmers remain vulnerable to unpredictable weather patterns reports. the christers says this maize is the last of her reserves if the rains come late this season or if there is another drought her family will be in trouble it won't be in a if i can't get a job washing claude's i won't be able to buy food if the maize runs out the united nations estimates that small scale farmers grow about eighty five percent of zambia's food. and her sister say it's been a frustrating few years the drought and a pissed invasion earlier this year by the fall army were destroyed some of the maize production costs are also high reduce the will grow even less than we used to

grow even garbage is for cars now reduced because of the. electricity prices are high margaret says she pays on average four hundred dollars a month for power to irrigate his land despite the challenges that beah has had good crops of maize the country's staple food which it sometimes sells to other countries in africa we had a crop of maize. three point six million times compared to last year where we had a drought of two point six million tonnes so means that you have. moments in time but weather patterns in southern africa keep changing farmers know at some point they will be another drought despite relative political stability and more than a decade of consistent economic growth that b.s. still has a lot of talent has the world food program says more than sixty percent of the population is poor it's also is to make it forty percent of children under the age of five in zambia have stunted growth because of money tradition the government is

body more may storage facilities and also trying to encourage farmers like alice to grow drought resistant crops such as millet sorghum and. china has unveiled its new twelve billion dollar airport in beijing is to come one of the world's largest when it opens in two years and will eventually be able to serve one hundred million passengers a year the beijing airport as part of a massive infrastructure drive by the chinese president xi jinping as he battles to offset serious of a slowing economy. and if not how much more about many of the stories we're covering by going to our website that's what it looks like at the moment on the address al-jazeera dot com al-jazeera dot com for the latest news. and reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera the iraqi army has taken full control

of the oil rich northern city of kirkuk according to security forces troops moved inside the provincial government building with no opposition from kurdish forces deployed in the city thousands of civilians have fled the kurdish districts of the city heading cars and buses towards kurdish controlled areas in northern iraq child strapped it has more from a deal. thousands of families that we saw. cause rushing to get away from kirkuk as quickly as possible and also many. as well what was so interesting was that a lot of people were standing by the side of the road and demanding and telling people and the pressure to get back into the city and fight i think what is so incredibly surprising is the speed with which this victory for the iraqi forces has happened the spanish government has warned catalonia separatist leader he has only three days left to return to legality it comes after colors praised him or refused

to say whether he would follow through on a threat to secede from spain is that he asked for more dialogue in a letter to the central government. the death toll from somalia's twin bomb explosions on saturday has risen to more than three hundred forty of the most severely wounded victims have been transferred to turkey for further treatment it is the deadliest single attack in the country's history the government blamed the armed group al-shabaab twelve people including six children have died after a boat carrying the hinge of muslims in the bay of bengal all the refugees were approaching the bangladeshi border district of cox's bazaar whenever capsized survivors of told local officials up to sixty five people were on board at the time . at least twenty seven people have been killed in wildfires in central and northern portugal over the past twenty four hours really six thousand firefighters are battling the thirty major fires which are still brave the blazes which broke

out over the weekend being found by strong winds from storm ophelia the state of emergency has been declared and those are the latest headlines here on out is there i'm back with an update in twenty five minutes the stream is next by. me ok and you're in the stream today what's it like to go undercover in the world of white supremacy we hear the extraordinary stories of people who post as racist in an attempt.