all of us to explore. and it's a strange thing for us to be apart. cats are always going places together. a journey both dark if you know there's a very for everybody and there's a lot of corruption and beautiful like the beautiful lady you have to be very patient and order is also the city has ascended i was introduced to in the one my father and my mother or our king for king for how the personal story to discover the source of one of the most expensive commodities sent from heaven this time on al-jazeera. new yorkers are very receptive to help because it is such an international city they're very interested that global perspective that al-jazeera provides.

spain moves to suspend catalonia autonomy after the region's leader refuses to back down over declaring independence. in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up taliban attacks killed one hundred twenty people in just a few days with at least forty three afghan troops the latest casualties. the un voices concerns that kurds are being driven from their homes in areas retaken by iraq's forces. and scientists one of the looming ecological armageddon is new research reveals the flying insect population is shrinking like never before. the confrontation over catalonia is intensifying spain's government says it will suspend the region's autonomy after its president refused to back down on

independence a prime minister mariano rajoy will hold a cabinet meeting on saturday to trigger article one fifty five of the constitution a measure that's never been used before which allows madrid to impose direct rule of the catalonia they've bought is in barcelona. spain political crisis is deepening after failing to comply with the spanish government catalonia stripped of its total me. q four in the absence of a clear response we note that he has not answered our request and therefore we will continue procedure of triggering article one five five of the constitution to restore the galaxy in catalonia the caps president. had been given until thursday morning to clarify and revoke the independence play last week he unilaterally declared independence when. he suspended it to allow for talks. but instead of clarifying his position he sent a letter to madrid calling for an end to repression and for dialogue prime minister

mariano rajoy has repeatedly refused to mediate with the secessionists we're now in uncharted territory article one five five has never been invoked in mainland spain before you can see devolved powers over the raising of taxes education health care in the police soon in madrid hands of the very worst you could see the suspension of the government and the arrest of its leaders it's hard to imagine any of these scenarios unfolding without more massive protests or perhaps even a change of tactics i think there's no possibility of following like taking arms phrasing arms and or even like. seeing the birth of a terrorist group i don't think that is a possibility at all but some kind of more aggressive i don't want to say by a land but more stronger organized insurgency in terms of political insurgency and organization i think it's it's

a problem. but with the show restraint amnesty international's urged the spanish government to avoid a repeat of these scenes on the day of the cattle referendum. they've also asked for two independents leaders jailed by spanish judge to be released the spanish government six-pack to to finalize plans for direct rule at a cabinet meeting on saturday. in the sperms the cattle and leadership say they'll now be dependent with a vote of the regional parliament this tense standoff is entering a critical new phase the parquet al-jazeera hostility. all the european leaders meeting in brussels have expressed their support for spain's government spanish prime minister my honor hoyer is also in brussels for that today e.u. summit the french president and the german chancellor angela merkel gave him their backing but european council leader donald her schooled out any european union role in the dispute between madrid and barcelona. of course from and the reasons in the

permanent contact with the prime minister mariano rajoy. hiding that the situation in spain is concerning but to. position. i mean the institutions and member states. clear the. room for in the kind of mediation or. international. initiative or action. or say in brussels the e.u. leaders of welcomed a proposal by british prime minister to resign aimed unblocking breaks it talks but said concessions to ease the fears of e.u. citizens living in britain and not enough arriving at that summit in brussels may sought to shift the focus away from a divorce settlement and on to trade talks just seventeen months before britain is due to leave the union finally said he'll be spending more time in frankfurt because of brecht's that britain is currently home to most of the company's

european operations but it's pushing ahead with plans to make the german city a major base johnno has more from brussels. the reason may has had the opportunity to address over dinner her fellow e.u. leaders here in brussels talking about what she described as concrete progress in bricks and talks so far she had hoped until recently to be able to persuade them that sufficient progress had been made in the thorny talks around money the so-called rex's brakes a divorce bill to be able to move on to the next substantive phase talks about the future of trade relationship between for britain and the e.u. at a cost big business in the u.k. is desperate to know about as it tries to plan for the effects of breaks it down the road well the e.u. is not convinced about sufficient progress they are not sold on britain's offer of meeting its outstanding liabilities and commitments to the tune of twenty billion plus dollars over a two year transition period the figure they have in mind is likely tens of billions higher than that so she's not going to get the breakthrough in talks with

achieve hoped for but will the allow her to go away empty handed while the e.u. knows only too well how politically weakened she is at home they don't want to damage her any further that only makes talks even harder the hope exists i think that on friday after she's left they may offer some kind of an olive branch some kind of a concession which allows her to go home at least with a minor victory and the possibility of preserving what's left of her political office already. taliban fighters have killed forty three afghan soldiers after storming a military camp in the middle of the night the group set off two suicide car bombs at a base in the my one district of kandahar which was followed by gun battle that lasted hours more than one hundred twenty people have been killed in a series of taliban attacks this week jennifer gas has more from kabul. the taliban

attack the afghan army base in southern afghanistan in my want near the helm on the border in the early hours of thursday morning killing forty three afghan soldiers there elsewhere in afghanistan at about the same time five soldiers killed five police killed the numers and six killed in northern province that of course coming after earlier this week two separate attacks in eastern afghanistan gardez impact and in gaza killed another eighty people as well most of them afghan security forces some of them civilians the gardez attack involving two suicide car bombs also wounded three hundred people security forces as well as civilians but the fact that these attacks have taken place in the north in the east in the south and the southwest show really the the breadth of. the taliban has across the country the fact that they are able to make launch these significant major attacks across the

country and hold certain areas and also that they're willing to attack military posts and inflict large amounts of casualties shows that they really can still fight now afghanistan i think that's the message they're trying to send to the afghan government and to the international community particularly perhaps the united states government which is starting to send a several thousand additional troops here to afghanistan to support the afghan security forces and the and the american secretary of state saying that the united states will remain in afghanistan as long as the taliban don't come to the peace table that is the ultimate goal of the afghan government to make peace with the taliban or fight them so that they're no longer relevant so far that the taliban have shown really no indicate indication that they plan to come to the peace table and the fighting becomes more intense. one person has been killed and six others wounded off the iraqi forces opened fire on kurdish protest is in keen the kurdish demonstrators were protesting against the takeover of the city by iraqi forces and

i came as claimed by both the kurdistan regional government and the central authority in baghdad meanwhile about one hundred thousand kurds of fled the kokoda region since it was retaken by iraqi forces the u.n. says it's worried by reports civilians are being forcibly displaced in their houses and businesses looted and destroyed from air bill in northern iraq stephanie deca reports. in a dusty abandoned housing project on the outskirts of reveal these are unexpected occupants of. kurdish families who fled their homes in kirkuk and surrounding areas just a couple of days ago now scrambling for basic supplies. to man abdul kareem says she left because she was scared of shia militia fighters called her who arrived alongside the iraqi army but they weren't good with kurds they didn't trade as well they used to take and imprison them even hit women my husband is dead all i could

do is take my four children and run away we came to a build it is ours to get here the bride was cyc routed iraqi prime minister hi there has ordered all armed groups out of kirkuk with only the iraqi army and federal police remaining he insists safe and calls for the protection of civilians the men here tell us they won't return. just like mohammed and his family he was a policeman in kirkuk until he fled two days ago. people are saying is safe now but it is propaganda and i they came out and beat the us they have burned houses that's why we got scared because of our families that's why we left a political party sold us out not all kurds are refugees this is all political. hinting at the internal divisions among the main two kurdish political parties the ruling accuse the p u k of colluding with the iraqi government leaders iran and turkey in orchestrating the takeover of the cook

a complex web of age old kurdish rivalries and geopolitical interests. through her sixty seven years. on a lot happened to us we don't own our own house now we don't even know if we have a house or out things every year there is a war this war then leads to this fight that leads to this war. they came to our homes and bird things wish should we go now. what is life in iraq she asks since i was a child i've never seen happiness it's we were off to war she tells us. many warned that regaining territory captured by eisel would mean little in solving iraq's complicated territorial ethnic and sectarian tensions it seems they may have been right stephanie decker all jazeera. and watching al-jazeera. protests in pakistan on to the ousted prime minister nawaz sharif is formally

charged with corruption. it was a ten and gives his administration logs for its response to the harken disaster in puerto rico. head of the recent flooding in queensland has moved north and it's not quite as dramatic run time so you see the cloud now not so much neighbor has been there's rather more happening further south that's a cold front a ragged cold front on its way eastwards it means it's left behind a big drop in temperature for all of victoria a good part of south australia as well as here in the high teens here and sydney's twenty one probably drops down to the teens as well the day after as a cold front moves up now the chances are we'll get more significant thunderstorms

down the queens and coast by sunday as a result of that was all settled further west purse warmed up about twenty six degrees but on a good saturday in the sunshine that in new zealand had a good couple of days to be honest it looks like another good couple days are still to follow that stuff from just going through tasmania and the tasman sea but the bottom end of it isn't that dramatic it just brings a bit of cloud radiance of far to the south island but otherwise you're in the sunshine it's high teens rather than low twenty's but a slight warming trend i have to admit by saturday there is rather more in the way of cloud and sherry right there most it's going to be inside north island where if you know clint and look at the west you'll see it coming in look out to the east you see blue skies. an indian mining company is heading to australia to build one of the world's biggest mines will it be an economic bonanza or an ecological disaster.

at this time on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. with every. without just their let's update you on the top stories spain's government says it will hold a cabinet meeting on saturday to try to article one fifty five of the constitution that will allow it to impose direct rule of the catalonia after the region's president ignored a deadline to back down on secession. taliban fighters have killed forty three

afghan soldiers in an overnight assault on a military camp in the southern province of kandahar. and about one hundred thousand kurds have fled the coop legion since it was retaken by iraqi forces the u.n. is now saying it's worried about reports of civilians being forcibly displaced. now the u.s. secretary of state is criticise saudi arabia for failing to result that standoff with cata rex tillerson says he has little hope the crisis will end anytime soon and blame the saudi led bloc for lack of progress to listen made the comments a day before you embark on a trip to the region in a renewed attempt to mediate saudi arabia the u.a.e. bahrain in egypt severed ties with cattle in june accusing it of supporting terror groups that's good idea or castro in washington d.c. has to listen what to say in marion what we heard from tillerson today was a change in tone gone was the optimism the u.s.

secretary of state had expressed back in july that was his last visit to the middle east region since then three months have passed and there has been little progress to show in mediating this gulf crisis and today tillerson expressed his frustration in an interview with bloomberg news saying there seems to be a real on willingness on the part of some of the parties to want to engage it's up to the leadership of the quartet when they want to engage with qatar because qatar has been very clear they're ready to engage now the emir of qatar yesterday called this blockade an unjust sea and indicated that his country is open to dialogue to resolve this crisis and the timing of these remarks ahead of his upcoming trip to the region what are the prospects for any potential talks. well tomorrow tillerson is off to riyadh and then it's on to doha after that he's indicated that he will push to renew this mediation efforts but he's also said his

expectations are low that a resolution will be achieved any time soon what we've seen here is a shift in an evolution in the way the u.s. has responded to this crisis if you remember in june when this all started president donald trump immediately tweeted on the side of saudi arabia taking claim taking credit that this blockade was a result of his visit to the region well since then the white house has been much more quiet on this as the u.s. state department has taken a lead in diplomatic efforts to mediate this dispute and we see the intervention of the u.s. department of defense as well last month there were several military joint operations at the u.s. halted that were supposed to take place with its u.s. allies in the gulf and this was in the interest of regional unity also we saw u.s. secretary of defense jim maddest make a surprise visit to doha last month in which he met with qatari leaders all of this

activity taking place in the a cabinet level in the united states in the ministration with little words coming from the white house itself which is an indication mariyam of just how fine of a line the u.s. is seeking to walk here in trying to mediate this dispute between its allies heidi joe castro in washington d.c. thank you. oya developments the white house chief of staff john kerry has defended president trump's handling of a phone call to the widow of a u.s. soldier killed in asia in which he allegedly made insensitive remarks and really how could correspondent at the white house has more. the white house is continuing to try and contain the controversy surrounding the president's condolence call to the widow of sergeant lead david johnson he is one of four u.s. soldiers killed in earlier this month the president's chief of staff made

a rare appearance to the white house briefing room speaking with emotion he says that he told the president not to make that call but if he did he says he advised donald trump to tell the family that the soldier knew what he was getting into something that donald trump denied just one day earlier he knew he was young and self into it because he enlisted there's no reason a list in which he was where he wanted to be. exactly where he wanted to be with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken that was the message that was a message that was transmitted it stuns me that a member of congress were to listen in on a conversation absolutely stuns me and i thought at least that was safe for now the democratic congresswoman who listened in on that call and who has been a critic of the president for some time fredricka wilson says in fact that it is

her belief and she maintains that she believes donald trump did disrespect sergeant johnson in that call she knows the family well she has known him since he was a child mentoring him before he enlisted as a soldier still the white house is taking aim at the congresswoman saying that not only is her argument inappropriate in fact the chief of staff calling her actions selfish behavior. donald trump has given his government a ten out of ten rating for the way it responded to the hurricane disaster in puerto rico meeting with the caribbean islands governor ricardo reseller at the white house u.s. president such a federal government has done a great job despite heavy criticism that the response to hurricane maria was insufficient especially when compared to how hard canes in texas and florida were handled troubles admitted hark a maria was worse than hurricane katrina which devastated new orleans earlier this month when visiting puerto rico the president said it had been a real catastrophe like trina. how would you rate the way. it was

a ten i would say it was probably the most difficult. when you talk about relief when you talk about search when you talk about all of the different levels. and even when you talk about lives saved. if you look at the number of leave this was i think it was worse than katrina it was in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. has again criticized the organization for overspending on programs she says don't work in an office in america's interests nikki haley's attack follows the country's withdrawal from unesco and the defiance of a security council resolution which underpins the iran nuclear deal mike hanna has mall. it was supposed to be the quarterly security council discussion on israel and palestine we can't talk about stability in the middle east without talking about iran joining the us in disdainful defiance of today's agenda the israeli ambassador

also made no mention look israel palestine i think. reign of terror penetrates entire continent the fact that some delegations didn't even mention the word palestine is something that gives us concern at the same time as the u.s. uses some u.n. institutions to unilaterally advance its policy it threatens to withdraw funding from others we've cut off seven hundred million dollars of the peacekeeping budget at the u.n. but we didn't cut helping people we made them smarter we made them better i think you're going to see the following problem if funding for the united nations is cut and you go and try to work on reform you're not going to be listened to because you don't have the leverage under president trump this liberate just aimed at advancing the policy of america first policy in which critics contend human rights takes

second place to the advancement of u.s. isolationist interests there's no doubt that every country has a duty to protect its own people we believe though that it has to be consistent with human rights standards and principles and not at the expense of human rights standards and principles because ultimately if you follow this logic to its eventual conclusion state degrades the great self during the u.s. electoral campaign you said tonight quote donald trump as president would pose a global danger and the reason for you to have changed your mind of the last few months. for many of us what seemed to be an erratic approach to human rights questions. made us feel i'm easy and i said it was like being in the back of a bus or the driver who wasn't completely in control of the boss careening down

a mountain path the contention that in the trumpet section of america first human rights sign danger of being run over by the bus by kind of al-jazeera united nations. now researches in germany have discovered that flying insects are dying office in a long wait and they're warning of an impending ecological almog all mageddon over the past twenty seven years the research as you sticky traps to collect insects at sixty three nature reserves across germany over that time they found an average decline of seventy six percent scientists are not sure why there's been such a big drop but believe pesticides could be to blame casper holman is a researcher of experimental plant ecology at rabat university and was the lead research author of the study. what would be the goal as well the study was conducted in the not least well nature reserves that were embodied in the landscape . human tomato particulary agricultural landscape. it may be the

case type size of the area or this it would be insufficient to stand up. and being surrounded the not hostile area not by then might be drained out of there so that's what we know a lot of measures of the beneficial for insects and we know a lot of things that are not that cemented to insects first one should be enhanced on the second. of all of it so we could avoid for example the effects of our gold sure and we can ride. well or better managed various just our rich russians in stocks we did like maltese police believe a bomb they killed a prominent journalist and was attached beneath a car and triggered remotely the car want to go let's see who is

a renowned anticorruption blogger and a fierce critic of the government died on monday as she was leaving her house early and more than two hundred journalists marched in support of have hope. and support if i walk a group of journalists have also filed a court case to ensure his sources on have phones and computers remain confidential as the investigation into her death continues. togo's opposition says three people have been shot dead in a third day of anti-government protests demonstrators have been fighting running battles with police in the capital may and demanding changes to presidential term limits president has i mean his family has been in power for more than half a century and he could continue until twenty twenty on the current laws. pakistani courses formally charged the ousted prime minister nawaz sharif his daughter and his son in law with corruption opening a trial that could see the former leader jailed the twenty sixteen panama papers revealed the family had used offshore companies to buy expensive properties in

london and their wealth did not match that income at a call hey records. supporters cheered on miriam sharif and her husband mohamed saft are as they appeared in court in islamabad when they left they were formally facing corruption charges still sending a defiant message and denying the accusations. you know they should stop wasting their time and not so it's a country in the nation if they hand down a punishment then let them do it but they should stop making a mockery of the constitution or deprive the family of basic human rights a fair trial they should stop making a mockery of justice the leaks showed she and her family had much greater wealth than reported which helped them buy elegant expensive homes in london she is the heir to the sharif political dynasty her future complicated by the release of the panama papers that revelation lead to pakistani supreme court judges disqualifying the prime minister his third time in office once again ended early. wasn't in court

he's visiting his alien wife in europe but his daughter says he will return to face the charges political analysts say prosecutors have a strong case against them in this case there is a case of corruption. corruption is just it's a just a matter of thirty days if the procedure takes its natural course the family will be you know in jail and they will be jailed for from for a period of seven to fourteen years still his is a powerful name and to many pakistanis the rightful leader. and we have always shown our respect to the law of the country and even to all. situations we are here to peacefully support our leaders and to show our solidarity with them sharif previously was deposed by coups in the courts for that he paid a political price but now facing a future with his very freedom. al-jazeera. at least

eight people have been killed and twenty others injured in an explosion at an unlicensed fireworks factory in eastern india rescuers working to clear the debris of the collapsed building which is located in orissa state authorities are investigating the cause of the grassed accidents are common in indian factories because of weak safety standards the blast happened just hours before the beginning of diwali or the festival of lights in which firecrackers play key part in the celebrations meanwhile indian and pakistani troops have exchanged sweets says part of celebrations in the border village of atari the annual tradition takes place between a soldiers during major a hindu or muslim festivals to promote pace. of the stories making headlines this hour spain's government says it will press ahead

with plans to suspend catalonia autonomy after leaders there ignored a final deadline to back down on succession prime minister mariano rajoy will hold a cabinet meeting on saturday and trigger article one fifty five of the constitution a measure that's never been used allowing madrid to impose direct rule over the region. is in barcelona. it's not going to be an instant process the drip governments will have to qualify exactly where they believe that the catalonia leadership transgress their normal parameters where they basically essentially broken the rules they have said repeatedly that they want to bring the region back to legalities that the prime minister mariano rajoy those close to him have phrased it but so exactly how long it will take to pinpoint the detail where the transgressions will be made it is very unclear in our other top stories taliban

fighters have killed forty three afghan soldiers in an overnight assault on a southern military camp a group set off two suicide car bombs at a base in the my one district of kandahar followed by hours of gunfighting more than one hundred twenty people have now been killed in a series of attacks by the taliban this week. about one hundred thousand kurds have fled the kook region since it was retaken by iraqi forces the u.n. says it's worried by reports civilians are being forcibly displaced in their houses and businesses looted and destroyed the u.s. secretary of state has hit out at saudi arabia for failing to resolve that standoff with cata rex tillerson says he has little hope that the crisis would end soon blame the saudi bloc for a lack of progress to listen made the comments today before you embark on a trip to the region in a renewed attempt to mediate and e.u. leaders have welcomed a proposal by the british prime minister to resign may end unblocking writes it talks but said concessions to ease the fears of eastern isn't living in person and

not enough arriving at the today e.u. summit in brussels may sought to shift the focus away from a divorce settlement and on to trade talks this just seventeen months before britain is due to leave the union. that's it for myself here in london one a one east is next. valued as a gem of africa nairobi has gone through many changes over the past decades took to al-jazeera travels to the kenyan capital to hear from those who witnessed the city's progress to becoming a metropolis and discusses where it's heading now at this time on al-jazeera. in australia's remote northeast big lands are in the pipe. the largest coal mine in the country and.