oh is it when they're on line we were in hurricane winds for almost like thirty six hours these are the things that has to address or if you join us on set. but. this is a dialogue tweet us with hostile a.j. stream and one of your pitches might make the next show join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera i really feel liberated as a journalist was. going to the truth as i would that's what his job. at least three dead in kenya as protests against a disputed election prevent voting in parts of the country.

there and julie my time of the live from london also coming up no end to the standoff in catalonia as the regional president rejects the idea of early elections . the rocket forces launch an offensive against the last i saw stronghold in the country. we can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic we can do a. president trying on bills a tough new approach to the opioid crisis declaring it and nationwide health emergency. a very warm welcome to the program we begin this hour in kenya where at least three people have been killed on election day a vote that's been marred by violence and an opposition boycott about

a dozen others were injured in kisumu one of several areas where election materials have not been delivered assume it is among four opposition strongholds who are voting will now be held on saturday the government says it's because of security challenges for me to miller has more now from nairobi. protesters lighting fires and throwing rocks leaving some polling stations empty and police responding with tear gas or what's characterized voting day in nairobi's opposition strongholds other polling stations of not open to told officials too frightened to report for duty. explaining ourselves very clearly. there is no reason for anybody to take any violent action against the officials a.b.c. officials should be allowed to conduct their duty. and as they conduct their duties it is the rate of a canyon. in any particular part of the country to either decide to vote or not.

the opposition called for its supporters to boycott the polls after a lack of reforms at the electoral commission also withdrawing its presidential candidate raila odinga. at many polling stations voting did go on as normal even if in lower numbers compared to august election the indicators that we have so far that we are seeing people being intimidated in some parts of the country or it is not a very good thing in terms of transparency you see with you the process while incumbent president to work in yard is assured of victory is concerned that some of his jubilee party supporters may stay home guaranteeing a low voter turnout. by mid day at this polling station in kenya as home county of . less than a half of registered voters had cost the ballot in august this polling station had long queues this time the spike the area being a governing party stronghold far fewer voters have turned up.

with potentially six million opposition supporters staying away analysts say a poor voter turnout and the conduct of the electoral commission could impact the legitimacy of the selection. for me to malaya al-jazeera nairobi. well the opposition stronghold of kissimmee has experienced some of the worst violence catherine saw is there and said the strong. it's been running battles almost all day between police important stores in parts of key so we're at a place called can barely hear police have been firing tear gas at a group of mostly young men who are behind this truck they've been trying to push them back but the men have been using slings to throw stones are the police the police are also using water cannons to disperse the crowd has been very difficult also getting to this particular location a road blocks have been set up by people have been put up by people we spoke to

some of them were trying to get through and they were saying that they want to make sure that no ballot materials get to the various polling stations or people here are very angry and frustrated they say that they will not recognize are who are looking at a win there will not recognise his presidency either. this is not our election just not us but we will do our only election we will not recognise. several people who have been injured were brought to this hospital some like this man had gunshot wounds. and this nineteen year old succumbed to his injuries he was shot in the fire but housework a city could not stop the bleeding. we've visited appalling station it's been a struggle just getting an open polling station we are at one polling station which

is one of the main ones in doubled up as a tiling center as well and just to paint a picture for you in august in the last election this place was full of people waiting to cast their ballots now nothing is happening ballot boxes and ballot papers are here i spoke to officials of the electoral commission here who said that the biggest problem is just getting this ballot materials to the various polling stations in this region and also they're saying that it's also difficult to get stuff members of the electoral commission to come to work a lot of them are citing security reasons well let's cross live to mohammed who's in nairobi for us hi there more so polls of obviously closed what happens next. hi jim the constituents you talling sent in the two hundred on line to constituencies across the country right now tallying the votes from the different polling stations in those constituencies and once they complete the they will stand

without with the necessary documentation to the national telling center here in nairobi this is a process stop was bypassed in the last election something the electoral commission full to the the supreme court fault of the electoral commission for and we do not expect results of such a day when the people in the four counties where elections was suspended hold the vote and now the electoral commission chairman has been talking in the past few moments talking about a forty eight pos sunt time out this is the most in the history of kenya. still there live from nairobi mall thank you. catalonia us president carlos put them all refuse to hold

a snap election unless the central government agrees to certain conditions he says he hasn't received enough guarantees from madrid that it won't impose direct rule on the a ton of this region if a new election is held thousands of protesters have gathered outside the capital government headquarters in anticipation of his speech under sentence of live for us in barcelona hi there andrew that's what's been happening. jimmy right now in parliament which is just convened just finished its session it's had a big debate about what's happened of the dramatic events of the past week and i just bring you a few snippets from that to bring you completely up to date firstly there's been a call for push them all to actually go straight to the senate and try to get back on board to try to get some dialogue going that came from the center right another call here that shows sorry are correct that that was from the socialists

also a call for more dialogue even at this late stage and then a war on the very passionate. speech which basically said that we should resist one five five i'll see you on the streets. all those who think that franco ism has not finished yet need to protest so this is the sort of thing that's going on it gives you an idea of the range of calls being made from politicians here but as far as the way thursday played out it was really confusing for everyone and pretty chaotic first of all you had demonstrators all over the center of barcelona students high school students university students then suddenly reports came out on local media that pushed them all had actually done a deal with madrid and was going to announce snap elections now snap elections really are so there's some way of actually putting article one five five in the

bin so to speak because a deal apparently was in the process of being done but anyway everyone resisted that in the crowd in the center of barcelona and then started marching on the government building to protest against the the government effectively so this was a really confusing situation for anyone watching it and then there was a statement suggesting that pushed them all was going to make his announcement that then was suspended in the words of his officials a few hours later he did make an announcement it was brief and this is what he had to say. one issue that's been. you know that i'm willing to call an election so long as there are certain guarantees so that we can hold elections under normal circumstances those guarantees of not being provided and after elections are not warranted my duty was to try to hold elections and to do it honestly and truthfully in order to avoid any impact on our institutions. so what's been the reaction then

in barcelona. well really it's been. really cold it's a roller coaster initially people the students in particular young people large numbers of them some of most of them were pro secession many were against it it has to be said but they were in small red and smaller numbers they were surprised at what the video was reporting and then they were pretty nonplussed when they heard from the president but then they were cheered up in the sense that they were going down a road that was still open to possible secession now as far as the politicians here go there is a majority in favor of secession here but whether they're prepared to go the whole hog and press for its actual declaration is another matter now it's really

a case of the president here being right on the edge of the cliff and choosing not to take that step right and right across into the unknown now there is a body of opinion within the coalition certainly amongst the socialist side of it that there is no other option but to declare a move away from the spanish government and also basically go through this a session but it would seem that the president does not want that to happen although you cannot be sure so now you have a powell process on friday you will have the senate meeting to push through article one five five new york also have parliament here convened with a lot of people the mayors of kut the lumia coming who are all also produce a session they will be speaking both bodies will meet and it could well be at the

end of it article one five five will become law the government will be sacked the president will be sacked will they resist what will happen next it will be a big step into the unknown julie anderson is there live for the latest vassallo and you think you. well the spanish senate has been debating the triggering of article one five five what abdel-hamid has the latest from madrid. it's a very robust debate and we've been listening through for the past two hours or so and what you do get is really a lot of finger pointing at the. government the view here from madrid is that for the past month or so they have been trying their best to reach some sort of compromise between the two sides as the deputy prime minister put it all but what madrid got in return is what was a lot of noise they point to the fact that actually the leader was supposed to be here in madrid attending that debate happening at the moment in another chamber

here in the senate and then the last minute yesterday he did announce that he was coming here there is a representative that is attending the but for many of the lawmakers we've been listening to this is actually approved the regional government is not intent on trying to find any compromise and really the message you get is that. come tomorrow. article one five five will be triggered even though. it is something very difficult for the government here in madrid it's never been triggered before ever since the constitution was ratified back in one nine hundred seventy eight so somehow even though it. was a rule of law. stability to ensure. it is a big step for the government in madrid it's entering uncharted territory and

certainly that is a source of anxiety for many in spain who don't know what's going to happen next. reporting there watching al-jazeera still ahead. a former president is accused of trying to derail an investigation to benefit everyone will have those details and after a year of mourning thailand says goodbye to its late. we've got signs of some colder air tucking into western parts of europe over the next couple of days not just yet we still got the winds coming in from the atlantic always a mild direction lost in the warm front here just pumping a little bit of warmth up across that western side of europe there across the british isles but as we go on through friday those winds come screaming in from the north fourteen cells is top temperature in london believe you may it will feel cold

and that when you add on the strength of the winds chilly northerly blouse coming through fourteen celsius the. amounts of wet weather into central parts of here i will continue to push its way for the south which as we go on through sas day vienna struggling to get into double figures by that stage fair amount of cloud is into central and eastern parts just fifteen celsius for london and paris and we still hang on to that northerly wind into the northeast of europe was go for the top temperature just two degrees celsius i said the signs of or some of the winds are pushing through some of the showers still in place just around the eastern side of the mediterranean just around crete pushing a little further research and starting to fizzle out as we go on through the weekends the temperatures in cairo well be paid back to around twenty celsius not too bad in a bat with a high of twenty four. does

that mean. that. we want to do good. jump on the drug. with children today. this time zero. or might of our top stories just seem right at least three people have been shot dead in election related violence in kenya prompting officials to delay the vote in

four counties catalonia us president called it a crucial moment says he won't call a snap election until spain's central government agrees to certain conditions. the madrid government says it's prepared to implement article one hundred five on saturday which will retake control of catalonia as a let's go paris and it's fine says. iraqi forces have launched an assault to recapture all came from i so the times on iraq's western border with syria are amongst the armed groups last strongholds in the country stuff the echo reports from are a bill in northern iraq. ready for the final phase the iraqi prime minister has given the go ahead now the tosk of these men is to push out of the last areas of western anbar specifically which is the border town with syria the group still holds. that i don't buy that as you must be encountering some sporadic attacks but i saw that they are weak especially since the. last defeat the most

holiday and help the enemy is in desperate situation right now and hopefully will retake all the remaining areas for. a long time. iraq's army and unbar police together with pro-government sunni tribal fighters and the hash shabbier shia militias are part of the offensive. we are now engaging in the offensive to retake . we have received full military support from the iraqi army to participate in this offensive the tribal fighters have now become a supporting force in this offensive we aim to help that and after we retake these areas we will take control of security with the help of the iraqi forces. the campaign will also be backed by coalition air support and ground advice the towns of. the last few territories isis still controls in iraq many here feel that it won't be a long protracted battle but ridding eisel of its territory in iraq does not mean

the group's threat has been eliminated it is still capable of carrying out large scale attacks the announcement of the all crime offensive comes at a time when iraqi forces together with shia militia are involved on another front sporadic fighting with the kurdish peshmerga in the aftermath of that controversial secession referendum is putting huge pressure on air beale and the leadership here many kurds believe that this offensive is an attempt to divert attention from sporadic fighting we're seeing northwest of there along the border with iraq many believe ultimate aim is to reassert federal control over the border crossings that the kurdistan regional government currently controls stephanie decker al-jazeera. the iraqi prime minister says his government won't accept anything but the cancellation of the kurds secession bit body is in tehran for talks with the reigning leaders both countries have launched kurdish populations and oppose any talk of separation iraq's kurdish regional government has offered to freeze in

secession but iraq says that doesn't go far enough. the u.k. defense secretary has angered human rights groups by appealing to british politicians to stop condemning saudi arabia saying it's affecting arms sales to riyadh michael fallon told a parliamentary defense committee a fighter jet deal was being compromised and a british politicians have openly criticized saudi arabia over its intensive bombing campaign of yemen the u.n. says the war there has killed more than ten thousand people and injured more than forty thousand i was and i have to repeat sadly to this committee that obviously. the other purposes of saudi arabia in this poem is not. believe it that. we need to do everything possible to encourage the rabia towards but i believe they will commit to that we continue to work well in the. us president donald trump has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency by declaring an emergency the government will have more

power to address the issue and more freedom to change legislation it's estimated more than sixty four thousand americans died last year due to opioid addictions and overdoses can be how cut is at the white house for us hi there kimberly trump said this would be one of his priorities. that's right he certainly made this promise on the campaign trail we heard him as president in august promising to address the issue of opioid overdose deaths that occur in the united states some seven every hour that the president speaking here at the east room in front of families and those who are dealing on the front lines of this crisis of opiate epidemic calling it the worst drug crisis in american history just in terms of the numbers the number of deaths going up some three hundred percent in the last fifteen years alone seven every hour are killed by this epidemic according to the white house so the president says redirecting what he says needs to be

a national priority and now saying that this is a national public health emergency what he says will be a critical first step in addressing the crisis for too long we have allowed drugs to ravage american homes cities and towns we owe it to our children and to our country to do everything in our power to address this national shame and this human tragedy we must stop the flow of. illegal drugs into our communities so kimberly by declaring this an emergency what effect could it have. well this is what it will do in terms of the effect it will have people obviously hope that this is going to stop the sort of epidemic of deaths in the united states but in terms of the specifics with this language what this does is it redirects resources to the crisis that allows states more flexibility with their funds to

address it on the front lines and also kind of cut some of the bureaucratic delays here's what it doesn't do it doesn't provide additional federal funding and that's what many are disappointed about that's what many thought the president had promised but by declaring it a public health emergency versus a national emergency it is not allowing many states the access to those federal funds they say they desperately need the other thing that it does is it just puts in place a ninety day renewable period for addressing this versus the national emergency which would have been one year so many people feeling a little bit disappointed hoping for more but also acknowledging it's a step in the right direction maybe even encouraging congress to take action as well to try and address this issue for so many americans that have been affected by it can be ok there live from the white house committee thanks. argentina's former president christina kirshner has been made to testify in an investigation into one of her country's deadliest bombings eighty five people were killed when a jewish center in what is iris was attacked in one thousand nine hundred four

kirschner is accused of covering up the wall of the rainy and security forces in the bombings to resemble has more. we're here outside the courthouse where christina kirshner just left it once outside she said but she's being a victim and being politically persecuted not only by the current administration. but also by members of the judiciary she said that she's innocent let's not forget that she's being investigated. for based on an accusation made by a late prosecutor i've got to be said that at the time she heard restrictions signed a memorandum with iran that would allow argentine judges to travel to iran to interrogate suspects of an attack that happened here in one of cite is back in one nine hundred ninety four but the prosecutor said that there were other reasons why the memorandum was signed that dot the argentine government wanted to do business with iran well kirschner is basically saying that that's not true that her only

objective was to bring justice to an incident that happened over twenty years ago also because there was elected a senator or last sunday she has over three million people voted for her during that election and that in a way gives her immunity but still many here have doubts that kirshner could end up in prison an explosion at a fireworks factory in indonesia killed at least forty seven people and injured dozens the blast happened the complex in the city of tango in west of the capital jakarta a local official says all the victims were factory workers the death toll could rise as many of those who escaped also suffered extensive so related has more now from jakarta. a firecracker factory. lowder in the city of tongue twenty five kilometers or west of. local residents reported hearing a loud explosions before seeing a cloud of smoke above the warehouse more than half of the factory workers were

killed or injured many of the dead burned beyond recognition families have been asked to identify the bodies by dental records or by the jury victims all wearing according to police officers and rescuers many of the bodies were found trapped at the back of the warehouse possibly trying to find a way out management are being questioned by police investigating the cause of the blast the factory has only been operating the last two months employing around one hundred people. after a year of mourning thailand's lake king has been created can pull me paul. died last year aged eighty eight and was the world's longest serving monarch his five day funeral ceremony began a weapon state drawing hundreds of thousands of mourners scott in the capital. it's a combination a year of mourning and reflection the people of thailand have said goodbye to the

king are doing yet they're. enduring late monsoon rains and searing heat hundreds of thousands of thais clad in black descended upon bangkok. bucket come. arrived in the pre-dawn hours will have to continue with our lives but i will do good things for him so we. will not have to worry full of ceremony and tradition a procession carrying an opulent turn left the royal palace for the two and a half a kilometer journey to the royal crematorium crafted over the last eight months the elaborate crematorium is designed to represent a mythical mountain sending the late king to heaven here and one applause thousands have gathered there laying sandalwood flowers on this replica of the world crematorium dozens have been set up across bangkok and across thailand giving thais the opportunity to actively participate in their king's funeral when you get loose son decided that he was a young boy when he met. his father was the king's tutor for twenty six years in

switzerland when some type do not abandon us he said if the thai people had been. abandoned then and that was he's now you and he's performed. he wanted to to be there for thai people in thailand has progressed greatly under king put me upon some field that's part of the grieving yes for the man but also for the period of transformation he led the nation through i think first and foremost people. because they're saying goodbye to a part of themselves a part of their collective identity that was form and shape during the king's time he was called father by many thais even viewed by some as a demagogue the way this is. as we lose all type people the late king's son and heir king. long gone lit the crematorium on thursday

evening it was followed by traditional dances and performances they carried on throughout the night marking the end of the year of mourning scotter al-jazeera bangkok roman catholic pope has opened up a direct line to the heavens by dialing the international space station surely is appealing the vatican this is space station and we hear you loud and clear. francis asked the crew some of life's big questions including man's place in the universe talian astronaut paolo nespoli apply that despite the bird's eye view of earth he too remains per bag francis is not the first pontifical space in two thousand and eleven his predecessor benedict the sixteenth also made contact with astronauts. you can find out much more about the stories we're following head to our website for lots of video on demand at al-jazeera dot com.

our top stories here on al-jazeera at least three people have been shot dead in election related violence in kenya prompting officials to delay the vote in four counties about a dozen others were injured in the opposition stronghold of kisumu which is one of the four counties where voting materials have not been delivered overall forty three people have been killed in election related violence since the august election victory of president hu kenya this was later overturned by the supreme court prompting. mohammed abdul sent this update from nairobi well in most parts and particularly in oppositions troll holes there was violence particularly young people. relentlessly trying to. vaulters from accessing the polling stations and also more to allowing all together polling station polling officials from taking polling material to the different stations where votes were supposed to have been cast. for the independent electron

bombs commission to expand elections and hold elections in a blue. counties. catalonia president says he won't call a snap election until spain central government agrees to certain conditions karla's puja mom says she hasn't received enough guarantees from madrid that it won't impose direct rule on the autonomy this region if a new election is held sizes of protesters have gathered outside the capital and government headquarters to show their support for. the iraqi prime minister says his government won't accept anything but the cancellation of the kurds secession bed bodies in tehran for talks with the reigning leaders both countries have large kurdish populations and oppose any talk of separation rox kurdish regional government had offered to freeze its secession bid to iraq says that doesn't go far enough iraqi forces have launched an assault to recapture al

qaim and rai from the tons on iraq's western border with syria remember. last strongholds in the country. today those are our current headlines stay with i'll just see where the stream is coming up next we'll see you a bit later but by. i am really good bill.