back to a labor. it's the only link between remote villages and the outside world. the swallow has been around for more than fifty years like a local bus it stops a virtually every station passengers clamber the remaining seats people cram into whatever space they can find. nearly two thousand people all together three times the official capacity for those who weren't able to find a place or who can't afford a ticket there's always the route. travelers have to remain alert a lapse in attention could be fatal. the danger comes not just from above. even at the moderate speed of thirty kilometers an hour a tree branch can become like a machete.

iraqi forces launch an assault on last strongholds in the country. logan on peterbilt we're watching al jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also ahead kenya's president cast his vote in the election rerun but an opposition boycott is overshadowing the process. bidding farewell to a revered moment bangkok comes to a standstill for kingpin the problems five day funeral. and the catalan leader and the parliament are to meet to discuss madrid's plans to take control of the region . iraqi forces have launched an assault to recapture two key towns held by isis and ra in the west of iraq and near the syrian border and they are among the last

strongholds in the country stephanie deca is in bill in northern iraq so stephanie we've got this offensive going on in west and what are your sources telling us the latest information. when it started early this morning there has been an offensive in unbar province led by the iraqi forces for quite some time pushing ice a lot of those areas this now is significant because seems to be the final push to areas particularly the border town of all this is still controlled by iceland's is the last international border the last border controlled by the group and that's of course significant because of the huge propaganda campaign that the group did in sort of bulldozing down borders and establishing it so cold state so this is now under way there been preparations for quite some time it's being led as i said by the iraqi counterterrorism forces federal police the need tribal fighters on the ground and also the hash which is the shia militia and certainly the people you

speak to will tell you that they don't believe this is going to be an extremely long battle they are of course still the morale is high following the victory in mosul it has been difficult that's for sure but yes this is sort of the last effort of taking back the last held eisel territory in iraq the last pockets and we've also got these reports of iraqi forces taking on peshmerga forces so they're not totally united and focused on the fight against isis. no since the referendum the kurdish referendum on secession in september and it's already fractured and also because that common enemy has largely been defeated. the old scores in the old unresolved issues are now being addressed it's not surprising peter many people would have worried that this would have happened but perhaps how it's happened is quite shocking what you're seeing now is skirmishes a both sides shelling sporadically around an area around thirty kilometers south of

the border crossing which is between iraq and syria now the intentions we understand from baghdad is to retake all the border crossings currently within the k r g. under federal control then of course the significance of that is huge this particular border crossing has been held under kurdish will since one thousand nine hundred ninety one it is skirmishes it is concerned i think if you look at the why did you political things that are going on you have the iraqi prime minister who was in turkey yesterday today with the announcement from turkey that they intend to open another a new border crossing with iraq and turkey he's also currently in iran and just come back to this whole issue of you know between the kurds in the iraqis we've just heard from the iraqi prime minister in a statement that he says again peter going back to the carriage offering to freeze the referendum results to get an immediate ceasefire to stop all this fighting we're seeing and dialogue between. saying no we're sticking to what we said all

along that you need to and make a boy to the results of that referendum which was of course overwhelmingly a vote for yes for kurdish independence stephanie thanks very much. security forces in kenya have fired live rounds on people protesting against the presidential election rerun. of. the opposition leader raila odinga has asked his supporters to boycott what he called a sham election the polls opened a few hours ago except in a stronghold of kisumu with some voting material has yet to be delivered to the supreme court and the old the first poll held in august irregularities catherine sawyer joins us live now from kisumu in western kenya katherine what's the picture where you are. peter i am at a place called conveyor there's been running battles between police and protesters

for quite a while police have been pushing them back using tear gas and we also heard what sounded like gunshots a little earlier and then those young men there have been using slings to throw stones at police so we've been here for a while and it's also been very difficult getting to this location peter they've been there roadblocks improvised roadblocks that have been set up and it took us we had to very carefully negotiate our way through this roadblocks to make sure people there telling us that they want to make sure that no materials gets to the polling stations and peter actually no but syrians have got into police stations in this area it's called central earlier we were at a polling station the only polling station that we managed to get to it was a struggle getting a polling station that's open and we tried several of them we spoke to the electoral officials there peter who were very concerned and they said the biggest

challenge really is getting election materials to the polling stations then one hundred and one thousand one hundred ninety nine polling stations here in kisumu central another concern that the officials are telling us is to get in there is to get their staff members to go to work three half of three hundred and one thousand nine elections stuff members clarkson people like that unable to go to work citing security concerns and we also saw some observers in hotels we did not see them out in the field we did not see in the other polling station again a lot of security concerns especially when it comes to the people who are really involved in this election peter looking at live pictures there catherine it looks as if that crowd is ready for something of a punch up potentially with your fellow writers who want to the electoral authorities. if a big percentage of people either through choice or through fear do not cast

a vote. chairperson of the electoral commission one. has said that even. the returning officers the chiefs the both sides of the electoral commission in the constituencies even a feel for some reason or that security or any other reason that the election is not able to take place then they have the authority to console or postpone this election perhaps for the election to be carried out a later date we spoke i said to one of the returning officers who said that he is waiting it's still too soon he's waiting for the end of the day to be able to make that call and before he makes that call he has to do a lot of consultations but then again the low the constitution also says that all the results from the two hundred ninety constituencies have to be an announcer that could be a problem and that's also being interpreted in different ways as some lawyers i've

spoken to said that just the fact that electro materials and they are not able to get to some places that can be used by the election commission to justify why an election was not held but then again that's a pita this leaves really room for a lot of legal challenges people will most likely go to court to challenge this election. this is in theory catherine a vote on who the people of kenya want to become president but is it also a vote on the credibility or how the people of the country perceive the electoral commission and the supreme court because when those two parties handed down their judgment on the first election that generated a lot of controversy in itself. it did generate a lot of controversy and in fact the decision by the supreme court who are on the hitch so to speak of the supreme court yesterday really angered

a lot of people particularly here with us saying something must not be right we've seen the president going around over the months really castigating the electoral commission no no sorry the castigating the supreme court a lot of people saying that there's a lot of interference within the sort of the supreme court interference of the electoral commission by politicians so that is certainly something that is being talked about here but again like you mentioned the election here is really between still reloading and. between those who are going to vote both were not going to vote or who are looking at a need a high voter turnout to be able to sort of legitimize he's win and the right loading the need the low voter turnout to be able to say look my supporters and there are millions of them have not voted they have not and those this when they will not and those who are looking at this president's secret are katherine thanks very much. the incrimination ceremony of the late thai king. it is the

main part of a five day funeral service the ceremony is led by his son rama the tenth the time on it died just over a year ago after reigning for seven decades has more now from bangkok. the funeral ceremony lasts for five days but of course the main day he's the day when the late king jr day will be cremated there are actually two cremation ceremonies one a symbolic ceremony and then the main cremation which will take place late on thursday evening in a purpose built funeral site a purpose built crematorium on a site just outside the grand palace before then it's a very slow procession taking the royal urn containing the body all the late king from the grand palace where he has been lying for the past year eventually making its way just outside the gates to that funeral but it's a very slow procession will take around three hours before they arrive at that site

as you can imagine it's a very hot day in bangkok but that hasn't stopped thousands of people coming out onto the streets the palace says it was expecting some two hundred fifty thousand people to fill the streets around the funeral sighed to say a final goodbye to the late king want to do a new day. still ahead here on al-jazeera travels to one of the most dangerous places in central african republic for a firsthand look at the bloody conflict there. through tranquil a rave you can you. can freeman to use and it's in the shape. how those big thunderstorms around the g. in the bosphorus of the last. die down are still shadows around this line of cloud is still potentially west. drifts across the eastern side of the black sea the rest

of europe has a lot of cloud around very little in the way of rain i have to say that cloud is just the top of a warm dome this running up from spain and portugal through france twenty degrees today in paris sixteen in london that's above where it should be may not last because there is cold air tucked in there it's only thirteen in berlin and this breeze quite obviously is telling and i think it will dig down i will win so we're down to about forty in vienna rain coming in as you can see for sixteen in paris fourteen in london definitely a northerly breeze there the way it doesn't look quite as good as it is currently except in spain portugal now those storms there are still showers around they've been running around the gulf and there has been typically twenty thirty millimeters reported in libya there drifting slowly eastwards in the mud even hit the far north of egypt as it was circulation carries on the same is true of cyprus and maybe the south of turkey otherwise it's fine in north africa relatively warm the big showers in tropical after moving slowly south to disarm cameroon is typical and gab all of

the west is places in the last two days. the weather sponsored by cattle and place . where on line we were in hurricane. almost like thirty six hours these are the things that has to address or if you join us on saturday i'm a member of the ku klux klan but we struck up a relationship this is a dialogue tweet us with hash tag stream and one of their pitches might make them actually join the conversation at this time on.

welcome back you without zero life from the how your headlines iraqi forces have launched an assault to retake the last times held by i saw on iraq's western border with syria and iran are among the last strongholds in the country. kenya's president uhuru kenyatta has cast his ballot in the controversial election rerun but the vote is being overshadowed by protests and an opposition boycott the supreme court an old the first poll which was held last august because of polling irregularities and the information of the late thai king has now begun it's considered the main part of a five day funeral services led by his son rama the tenth. the u.n. secretary general has made his first visit to one of africa's most troubled countries and turning visited those displaced by the conflict in the central african republic and paid tribute to u.n. troops killed there and it was heart reports from bangor through one of the areas

worst affected by the violence. alive but the fear remains for to mom and her two children were among hundreds of muslims praying in a mosque when a christian vigilante started shooting at them. scores were killed were all peacekeepers eventually came to the rescue bringing them to this church for protection. since then every night and identified gunmen come back and shoot towards the church. they want to kill us and all we want to see peace and for this violence to. but guess who is regarded as one of the most dangerous places to be in central african republic christian militias control this town under un escort to our minders told us it is too dangerous for us to venture out alone or christian vigilantes are accused of killing muslims animosity is said to be fanned by politicians and local leaders on the other side of this conflict or the

selective muslim fighters located just outside of town they're accused of targeting christians both groups are said to be responsible for attacks on un forces and aid agencies the violence in the region is said to have displaced an estimated one million people mostly muslims the safety and security of these people depends on the presence of un peacekeepers in the eyes of some they are the only force capable of bringing stability back to the country but human rights groups accuse some of them of sexually abusing those they're meant to protect the u.n. secretary general says he has zero tolerance for this. about the sexual abuses allegation against un peacekeepers what is being done to address this why are there cases coming up again and again we have national. international victims' rights advocate that i have appointed we have now signed with more than

eighty countries a compact with a code of conduct and norms to guarantee that there will be no impunity because peacekeepers come from countries and they are subject to the legislation of those countries we are taking a number of other measures to put the victims in the center and i'm visiting victims here in silicon republic and we are creating a number of conditions that will offer the tolerance policy that we have to be fully implement the challenges for those who have fled never seem to end aid agencies are cutting food rations because of lack of funds from international donors as a result children are not just going hungry in some places they're dying of malnutrition. the secretary general says what's happening here cannot be ignored. that her world is marked by the wall by the walls of a church but at least for this time being she and her children are safe. because following the u.n. secretary general's visit he joins us law is there any efforts to bring the rebel

groups to the table here. well peter all the previous efforts such as the rome peace agreement that was signed in june have failed in fact rebel groups got together in italy signed a deal but the day after the violence just escalated and it just got worse the problem is these former and. former are all fragmented in various groups and they each want to be at the table to sign their peace any sort of peace agreement on this visit early on said that's the root of this conflict is found in politicians and politics politicians for mentoring hate speech and he says that the solution to this will also come from politics back in january the un is backing what is called the african initiative where dozens of african leaders will come to the central african republic in november try to meet the various rebel groups in

order to find a long lasting peace but of course peter to find peace is the solution the most important aspect of it is to address the issues of the muslim population here who have for decades felt discriminated against and so there are more than a million people displaced many to neighboring country most of them muslims and so the government needs to address this issue of how will these people return back home how will they be received will be will there be allowed to come back and repossess their lands their neighborhoods here in benghazi where we met muslims that are scared of leaving their neighborhoods when they leave their neighborhoods they change their identity. they take off their skull cap they change their names in order to go about their daily business because if they told in christian areas that they were muslim then they risk being lynched so such is the level of tension among the population and it's up to politicians with the backing of the un and the

international community to try to find a long lasting solution to this conflict that's quickly descending into civil war peter nicholas thanks very much. the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. has been evacuated from account for displaced people in south sudan nikki haley was forced to leave after security guards fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating against president salva kiir she had earlier held talks with the president to find ways to end the country's civil war following the breakdown of last year's peace deal more than two million people have fled the country since fighting broke out in twenty thirteen. the u.n. chief is in yemen to see for himself the deteriorating humanitarian crisis there this war torn country is facing severe food shortages and an outbreak of cholera has killed more than two thousand people here is what. the conflict in yemen has been going on for more than two and a half years the u.n. says more than ten thousand yemenis have been killed and almost forty thousand

injured since twenty fifteen eighty percent of the population is in need of humanitarian aid millions of people on the verge of famine. the world's worst cholera epidemic as well the. major problems with the basic services like water and health education a saudi like coalition of countries has been bombing the capital sanaa and other parts of yemen to try to restore the internationally recognized government ousted by his rebels human rights groups accuse both sides of committing atrocities millions are on the brink of famine and the economy has collapsed. people are struggling not only because of the siege and on paid salaries but because prices have increased in an insane way it's causing a terrible amount of suffering. analysts say the depreciation of the yemeni reale

means basic goods are out of reach for many yemeni. the. war has caused yemen's currency reserves to decrease and as halted oil and gas exports as well as donor support dollars in the market have dried up amid an increase in foreign currency demand yemen imports all of its goods this is led to a price increase. to add to the prices the color outbreak has killed more than two thousand people and infected more than a million the un is edging all sides to negotiate a political deal to bring the fighting to an end. the catalan parliament will meet to discuss its response to madrid's plans to take control of the region the catalan leader will attend the meeting in barcelona on thursday politicians will discuss how to tackle the possibility that the central government will impose direct role if article one five five is triggered on friday

he's turned down an invitation to speak to senators in madrid. they have been more protests in barcelona as the spanish government seems poised to take control of catalonia he is under simmons. this demonstration is of two groupings school teachers and parents protesting at what they say are false allegations from the spanish government indoctrination in the education system here in terms of procession they say that's not the case many of them protesting are in fact against the session then there's another grouping which is the defense committee for the referendum and they are intending to march to parliament with their message the steep. is rising here in the sense that there is more and more suggestion that there is now a path towards a declaration of secession from spain and in fact the real jim care ass who is the vice president of catherine yeah has in fact told associated press that quote there

is no option now but to proclaim a new republic one of the big issues we're seeing at the moment is the future of the regional police force was also because a lot of people fear that they're going to be under cold awful pressure when article one five five goes into effect on friday. brazil's lower house of congress has voted to reject corruption charges against the president michel tema the seventy seven year old was in hospital when the vote took place he's accused of taking bribes which he denies the vote in his favor means he won't face the supreme court trial on charges of criminal conspiracy and obstructing justice argentina's former president cristina kirchner has been ordered to testify in the investigation of an alleged terror a cover up she's accused of conspiring to deal rail an investigation into the bombing of a jewish center in one thousand nine hundred four in which eighty five people were killed to reason bono from buenos aires. it was

a death that shocked argentina and that is the only man was found with a shot in the head in january two thousand and fifteen he was a prosecutor investigating the bombing of a jewish community center in the capital when a site is more than eighty five people were killed. he was found a day before he was scheduled to testify before congress against former president cristina fernandez de kirchner and her alleged ties with iran. while the world says that this is the right time to seek justice and. the previous administration controlled the justice system and had managed to block the investigation now there is an investigation that will hopefully let us know what happened cristina kirchner has already attended this courthouse several by that time just to be questions about the accusations made by prosecutors. claimed her administration had a secret deal with iran that guaranteed iranian officials that were allegedly

involved in the attack against the jewish community center in one thousand nine hundred forty. four years ago argentina signed a memorandum with the iranian government that would allow argentina authorities to interrogate suspects nice man said that the administration's real motive was to do business with tehran. says that the investigation against kirschner is politically motivated. the riddle it's from interpol when they were lifted one says that we wanted the iranians to walk around freely we want to the solution because nash and tina you cannot be judged a few not present we want an argentine judge questioning the suspects last sunday christina kirshner was elected a senator or she has become a staunch critic of the current administration since leaving office businessmen and politicians close to her have been detained accused of corruption on wednesday former planning minister who was detained and stripped from immunity i mean that is

. the same justice used by the previous administration is being used by some sectors of this one the truth is most argentinians do not trust the justice system because the real structural problems are never discussed head. the circumstances surrounding the murder of a lot of money remain a mystery in the meantime the families of the victims of the community center bombing continue to await answers and justice. and jesse when a. council will implement a range of labor law reforms including the introduction of a minimum wage reforms also aim to prevent employers from blocking employees who want to leave qatar. has been under international scrutiny over migrant workers' rights in the lead up to the world cup in twenty twenty two there are an estimated one point five million ex-pat workers in qatar most of whom work in the

construction industry a u.n. report into the death of secretary-general diag hamish told fifty six years ago has found it is plausible that an external attack and his plane vanished old died in an air crash whilst on a peace mission to the then congo in one nine hundred sixty one mike hanna from the united nations. a memorial service for un peacekeepers have been killed in the central african republic antonio good terraces there to remember the dead at the same time as urging further investigation into the death up another u.n. peacekeeper who died on the continent. the plane carrying secretary general died come a shelter crashed while he was on a peace mission to the then congo nearly sixty years ago initial inquests attributed the crash to pilot error but following the emergence of new evidence in recent years the un appointed an eminent person tanzanian judge mohamad chanda ottoman to launch a new investigation and this has now been handed over to the president of the

general assembly the report though is in cancun saying more information is needed. as to the cause of the crash them in person considered it plausible that an external attack or threat may have been the cause them any person also noted that it remains possible that the crash was an accident caused by pilot error without external interference and that it was plausible that human factors including fatigue played a role in the crash there are uncontested claims that the u.s. and the u.k. had intercepted radio traffic in the area at the time of the crash and while not specifically naming the states the secretary general has called on u.n. members to allow an independent search of classified archives that could cost further light on the crash. unless member states make that decision the death of dad is likely to remain a mystery mike hanna al jazeera united nations. this

is al jazeera these are your top stories in iraqi forces have launched an assault to recapture some of the lost tons held by i saw on iraq's western border with syria. are among the last wrong holds in the country stephanie decker is following developments from a bill in northern iraq. that is significant because it is some of the last territory they hold in iraq and also the particular location route was an area just before all time is the town on the border so this is the last border crossing that i so still hold the syrian side of that is cool and would come out and of course it's also a symbolic victory once the iraqi forces would take that area because i saw made such a propaganda about you know bulldozing down the borders and establishing their so-called state. iraqi forces are targeting kurdish controlled areas in northern iraq they're

trying to advance towards border crossings at the syrian iraqi border in the province of nineveh it's part of the iraqi prime minister's campaign to gain control of disputed areas the fighting was triggered by the pro secession referendum held by the kurdish regional government last month the kurdish government offered to suspend the results of the vote but the prime minister says he will only accept a cancellation. we're live in kenya as the president kenyatta has cast his ballot in the controversial election rerun but the vote is being overshadowed by protests and the opposition boycott the supreme court announced the first poll held in august because of irregularities. the cremation ceremony of the late thai king has now begun it's considered the main part of a five day funeral service is led by king son rama the tenth the catalan parliament will meet to discuss its response to madrid's plans to take

control of the region the lead. with attend the meeting in barcelona on thursday politicians will discuss how to tackle the possibility that the central government would impose direct rule if article one five five is triggered on friday those are your top stories so far more news in thirty minutes up next it's the stream. news has never been more of a liberal but the message is a simplistic and misinformation is rife listening post provides a critical counterpoint challenging mainstream media narrative at this time on al-jazeera. during the stream now live on you tube and i'm only going today what's next i saw has been pushed out the city destroyed it.