from. sun blessed beaches breathtaking scenery but there's another reason that draws people to cyprus it's not always easy for mixed faith couples to marry in the middle east and that's why the mediterranean island has become an ideal destination for couples and love to have a civil marriage al-jazeera world looks at what happens when romance cuts across religious lines cyprus island if it didn't love at this time on al-jazeera. uncertainty in zimbabwe mediators from south africa arrive in iraq the day after the military seized power from the mugabe dinnerstein.

and i'm adrian from again this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up cambodia's opposition about to find out whether it'll be disbanded after being accused of trying to mount a coup. as lebanon awaits the return of its prime minister president of france invites me to paris and. the base is so. good what's going to why solid rarely and out of the vinci painting sets a new record of auction in new york. a south african delegation has arrived in zimbabwe to mediate a way out of the political crisis that the army seized power on wednesday and placed president robert mugabe under house arrest. it was angered by the sacking of

the vice president last week and reports from harare. parts of harare are now on lockdown and soldiers in army vehicles have blocked roads to government offices parliament and the courts people say they are cautiously waiting to see what happens next many are relief so far there has been little violence i can see. moving as usual no more business. moving around freely. the country's war veterans say they have had enough of president robert mugabe many helped keep him in power for nearly forty years we. should have been recalled from is a row as the president insisted. the mob his army said on wednesday the president robert mugabe and his wife are safe in their private residence south africa's president jacob zuma city was concerned about the situation in

a phone call with zuma mugabe confirmed he was fine we would like to call for calm in the strained. particularly to the defense force and also to the two forces in zimbabwe i have also. conducted he said president mugabe. whom i had. time to to talk. and he is fine but confined in his home zuma plans to send a special envoy to the country. the crisis began on tuesday with reports of military vehicles rolling towards the capital good morning the army gave a statement on state television insisting the situation is not a military takeover we are only targeting criminals are only. committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice hours after issuing the statement the army again restated its

position. the state run newspaper printed a special edition on wednesday are in the army says president robert mugabe is still head of state and commander in chief. zimbabweans and only known one leader since one thousand nine hundred eighty the mugabe family is an institution some people love the president and his wife grace mugabe are the say over the years the mugabe's have destroyed the economy this is uncharted territory for the country zimbabwe's military has said soldiers will only return to the barracks when all those are the keys are trying to destabilize and destroy the party from within had been arrested we have correspondents following the story across the region tony pages in south africa but first let's speak. in zimbabwe's capital harare. what more do we know about this south african delegation that arrived in the cup. well we know that they are in talks with members of the army the mugabe is and some

officials in the rulings on appear positivistic elation they're trying to negotiate an exit package for the president mugabe and make sure that he has some guarantees from the state that he and his family will be safe there's also speculation that this delegation will try to push for us to additional government to be led by the former vice president emerson and other leaders from other political parties but this is all speculation at the moment is at the moment calm and quiet the government is telling people to go to work all civil servants have been told to report for g.t.e. shop owners have been told open their businesses and schools have been told to function as usual so it is calm and quiet but people are just be watching waiting to hear what comes out of these negotiations overnight the the youth wing of the president's zanu p.f. party apologized to the military what do you make of that. well it came as a big surprise to many zimbabweans it was announced late last night on the state's

t.v. news channel a big sigh and went on the screen saying breaking news and after or the events that have happened the barbarians were now saying now what what could have possibly happened so when they saw the youth league leader because and i appear on screen there were surprised to hear him say what he said never expected he would ever say what he said on me. to apologize for the statement i made. together with my executive. is the leader of the practice youth league i have reflected. therefore i can be requested you know we're trying to please say i accept my apologies were in behalf of the youth league and to myself we have two young people we are still growing up we learn from our mistakes and from this big mistake we have a lot. i had previously chris's not criticize the

army and he was a staunch supporter of grace mugabe who is of our ways first lady he and i the senior so maybe of officials have been arrested or of her many thanks indeed let's cross to johannesburg zero zero study page is the southern african development community into governmental organization to hold a meeting on zimbabwe president jacob zuma is the current chair of that community what are we expecting to come out of that meeting. well this is an emergency meeting that's being called it will be held in botswana which is the home of the said secretariat and prison there are going to be the foreign ministers of course of south africa. and angola they are going to hear a report from that delegation that has been ends and bob way on exactly what the current state of play is and we are expecting at the end of that meeting for there

to be some kind of statement or news conference that also includes sorry that comes after the statement from the african union which reiterated many of the positions put forward by south african president jacob zuma calling for a constitutional process to be followed and for anything that happens in zimbabwe in the coming days and weeks to follow due process and to promote the democracy human rights and these social economic development of zimbabwe what happens in zimbabwe crucial of course because if anything unconstitutional word to take place that would basically put both said m e a you in the position of having to expel zimbabwe from both bodies turn everything steve turn a page there live in. to the rest of the day's news in cambodia riot police have blocked the streets around the supreme court in the capital phnom penh ahead of

a ruling on the main opposition party the government has filed a lawsuit accusing the opposition of plotting a coup it comes ahead of next year's election and it's being seen as the climax to a crackdown that's been going on for months now in february sam rainsy resigned as head of the cambodia national rescue party he'd been living in exile since two thousand and five and in march when rights activists can soca replaced sam rainsy as the new leader in september soca was charged with treason and now the supreme court will decide whether to dissolve the party entirely let's go live to it upon phnom penh mcbride is there what's happening there right now. the court is now broken up. adrian they have been deliberating all morning looking at various submissions mainly from lawyers representing the department of the interior here on why the party should be dissolved basically the case all stems

from remarks made by the opposition leader a number of years ago now but which was which were recorded where he according to the ruling party was calling for the overthrow of the cambodian government the opposition party says this is nonsense basically he was talking about normal democratic process of his party and seating the ruling party through peaceful democratic means whatever the truth of it the upshot is the court is using this is the prime minister to dissolve the party and if that is the case then the opposition party which very nearly beat the ruling c.p.p. party at the last election will be dissolved the members of this opposition party are expecting that some of them are in hiding others are fearful of a rest what does this call case mean then for the future of political opposition movements in cambodia. it means basically that what people are suspecting is that in preparation for the election

next year is very concerned the. opposition party was becoming too strong there were local elections here a few months ago back in last june where the where the opposition party was gaining ground over the ruling party and i think that really has really has shocked and who's been in power now for the best part of thirty years and he was determined that he is still going to be in power after the next election it seems as though if they can dismantle the structure of this main opposition party take away the seats of the sitting m.p.'s they won't be allowed to be in politics for another five years then what will be left with is a much smaller opposition parties that he'll be facing next year much easier for him to defeat so there is real concern here i mean. there have been as you said

there are rolling back of the civil society there have been clampdowns on n.g.o.s and also some winding up of some of the free media outlets and some of the free press activities here in cambodia people are concerned about now the political situation this is certainly not a one party state but as the day goes by it does start to look more and more like that. serious rock mcbride live on penrod many things. at least eighteen people including four female suicide bombers have been killed in a series of blasts in northeastern nigeria twenty nine others were injured in the attacks in on the outskirts of my degree the group boko haram has been active in that area twenty thousand people have been killed by the group since two thousand and nine when it began its campaign against the nigerian government let's go live to what lagos and. what exactly happened in this attack.

well basically. looked like a coordinated attack by the group although i did not claim responsibility for suicide bombers. were driven to carry on the outskirts of my degree and then. the most casualties were at ground. late evening prayer a female suicide bomber walked into the crowd. and killed at least nine people one other suicide bomber. detonated instantly killing a woman and one other person and then the third female suicide bomber killed a small child in a similar incident when she hugged the child and then detonated. the device went off and so she was killed and one other person twenty nine people like you said were injured and are currently receiving treatment what we hear now in my degree is that funeral services for those who have been killed in yesterday's

attack. what is the general security situation that the mother in northeastern nigeria. well basically attacks encounter on the rise in the northeast the military has stepped up its operations. and in the air in the past two weeks they have claimed several successes against book autumn fighters but also responding in its own way they have. in the northeast of nigeria killing civilians and soldiers alike and they also claimed in one particular video released recently but they have taken some. military convoy but the military is also saying that it has a lot of quite. attacked and destroyed several of the camps they have noticed so the fight is still ongoing it's difficult to say at the moment. what is exactly on

the ground but the military said its operation is continuing i'm not quite i mean when it started when i had many thanks indeed al jazeera is out address there live in lagos. a weather update next here on al-jazeera then president trump has found an ally in saudi arabia's crown prince but some u.s. foreign policy experts wonder if the prince has taken on too much and that as well assigns a multi-billion dollar debt restructuring deal with russia as it grapples with the ongoing shortages of food and goods. hello it is still stormy in the central military miss well this or its brother has been iran after about two weeks of circulations virtually never ending so picking

a place in his past in italy hundred eighty five millimeters of rain a significant amount there has been flooding there's been stove forming in the balkans and mainly it's a rain picture and the low itself with fronts wrapped around it is drifting away it's been replaced baldwin once and it's the most active weather in europe and it still will be throughout thursday the rain bit further south still italy greece and macedonia and probably to the south of that now beyond it most the rest of europe is now enjoying much quieter and not even as cold with the temps has dropped a single figures in many places you can as you can see the next band of clouds is just start a band of cloud if anything it makes things slightly less co eighteen billion ten in passes for the two of rain but the rain is still falling they be not so much in italy but in greece you'll notice and that's come friday obviously with where it is going to find rain forty again and still in algeria tunisia and libya the second ations very obvious it just stone eastward so it might take the showers even as far

away as north need shoot some comes out behind and surprisingly it's not like much colder. right.

well again the top stories this hour on al-jazeera a south african delegation has arrived in zimbabwe to attempt to mediate a way out of the political crisis that the army seized power wednesday and placed president robert mugabe under house arrest it was angered by the sacking of the vice president last week in cambodia riot police have blocked the streets around the supreme court in the capital phnom penh the government has filed a lawsuit against the main opposition party accusing it of plotting a coup at least eighteen people including four female suicide bombers have been killed in a series of blasts in northeastern nigeria twenty nine other people were injured in the attacks in. which is on the outskirts of my degree says he. france's foreign minister is due to meet lebanon's prime minister saad hariri on a visit to saudi arabia the president of france emmanuel macron has invited her to

visit paris on wednesday lebanon's president michel aoun said that nothing justified the apparent detention of howdy by saudi arabia how he announced his resignation in riyadh nearly two weeks ago. this is an act of aggression against lebanon this is a violation of the vienna convention in the bill of rights this isn't a resignation this is an aggression on our independence sovereignty and our dignity the new york times is reporting that u.s. officials are increasingly concerned with the actions of the saudi crown prince saying that they could damage u.s. interests probably calling reports from washington. a less than flattering article about the recent moves made by saudi crown prince mohammed bin solomon in the new york times the headline reads at thirty two he's begun a war and jailed his rivals what's next paints a picture a prince making rash moves and possibly destabilizing the region putting american interests at risk now oftentimes the way this works in washington because we've

seen president come out with his tweets and his statements giving his full support to the moves that n.b.s. has made as he's known here in the united states oftentimes though if the rest of the government wants to send a message they do it by speaking off the record or using anonymous sources to the new york times and the message in this article from officials at the state department defense department but also the intelligence communities is they're growing increasingly concerned about these moves that are being made and there is growing fear in washington that it will destabilize not just saudi arabia but the entire region and human rights watch investigation as uncovered disturbing cases of security forces raping women and girls it's a new report accuses troops of using rape as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign in rakhine state activists interviewed fifty two range of women and girls twenty nine of them were rape survivors three of them under the age of eighteen many women

say they were gang raped and walked for days with swollen and torn genitals to seek refuge in bangladesh they described witnessing soldiers murdering their children parents of the husbands phil robertson is deputy director of the asia division of human rights watch he says their research disproves a minimum military report which cleared troops of wrongdoing. it directly contradicts the total denial that the burma army gave itself in their own internal report just released two days ago it shows that. rape and other sexual abuse was used systematically as part of the ethnic cleansing campaign initiated by the military and these these that things that we found were absolutely brutal i mean we're talking about at least eight cases a multiple rape with more than five men volved we're talking about women who have had their children killed and then there raped you know the process of these just go on and on and on well we sent our own researcher in to do the documentation

certainly we talked with different humanitarian groups working with the refugees in bangladesh but the research is all ours and what we found was also a lack of services being taken up by rohingya women and girls who have been raped in part because of the stigma involved in being a victim of that crime iran's president hassan rouhani is promising to find the build a suit constructed poorly designed buildings that collapsed in sunday's earthquake at least five hundred thirty people died when the magnitude seven point three quake struck the mountain the iran iraq border region survivors of building temporary shelters with whatever they can find while they wait for emergency supplies ronnie says the government built structures collapsed but privately built ones are still standing. but oppose president of catalonia as parliament is planning to run in next month's spanish regional elections colace push to mount is choosing pro independence candidates to join him he plans to manage the campaign from belgium

where he and four of his cabinet members are facing extradition to spain on charges of sedition and rebellion pushed months regional government held a vote last month on splitting from spain. what they are doing to us is so absurd we run a campaign and one elections and are not being able to take charge of our duties because of what we had proposed during our campaign it's illegal such a serious anomaly must be evident i can't understand how people don't realise this nonsense i run for elections i win and then i can't be elected president by a parliament even though the majority of the citizenship said so we must denounce it u.s. president donald trump is lambasted north korea again in a speech following his asia tour he called on governments to put maximum pressure on pyongyang and he praised his own achievements during his twelve day visit mike hanna reports from washington. well the speech eventually turned out to be

a score card of president trump's asian visit one in which not unexpectedly he gave himself the highest possible marks he spoke of the many deals he was doing he spoke of the greater respect being established for the united states he spoke of the need for the u.s. to put itself first in any future trade negotiations and he also did to discuss the issue of north korea obviously of great concern to the region he did make a speech in south korea vitriolically attacking north korea but this is what he had to say i made clear that we will not allow this twisted dictatorship to hold the world hostage to nuclear blackmail i called on every nation including china and russia to unite in isolating the north korean regime cutting off all ties of trade incomers until it stops its dangerous provoking on and this is the tall

key to what we're doing on d. nuclearize ation but also in his speech president trump sharply attacked previous administrations he blamed them for the policies trade situation that he says the u.s. now finds itself in including the eight billion dollar trade deficit that it has with countries like china he said that experience administrations and were naive in some cases mistaken in other cases and even he said corrupt in some cases well this is a very strong criticism from a sitting president very rare for a president to criticize his predecessors in quite the way in which president trying to russia has extended the deadline extended a venezuela a lifeline rather to help it get out of debt under the restructuring deal it will play it will pay moscow three billion dollars over ten years for the first sick.

make minimal payments it's the result of talks with credit is from nine nations in the capital caracas on monday two of the world's major credit agencies downgraded venezuela's raising it failed to make bond repayments. greece has declared a day of mourning after at least fifteen people were killed in flash floods on the western outskirts of athens more bad weather is expected in the coming days. reports now from floods hit. bulldozers are trying to push this river back into its bed to wrench will rains well that so much that it burst its banks and sliced through a network of roads. this flood came before dawn catching people in bed some drowned in their apartments others were found in their front yards two bodies washed out to sea the body of one woman was found in the street even this dog couldn't outrun the water the mayor has opened up the town hall for people who have nowhere to sleep because their houses are ruined. it is a catastrophe

a biblical proportions the entire town was flooded before daylight the water came with the force carrying materials with it and blocking drains cars were swept away and people were trapped in their houses some climbed on to their roofs nothing like this has happened before the damage is still being assessed but dozens of homes and businesses have been destroyed until wednesday this was a doctor's waiting room there's nothing left of this flower shop stock and equipment destroyed the owner has lived next door for over fifty years and was lucky to escape alive. i always leave this window open a crack and i heard the moan of the torrent and came out and i shouted to my grandchildren to get out of bed but the time we were out of the house the water was already flooding in it took seconds the manholes in the street broke open and the water was jumping two meters up into the air the water came into the others house

amee. hi destroying everything she owns even her clothes are unusable she saved just her dressing gown this is partly a manmade disaster people who grew up here remember the driver that used to run through this intersection thirty six years ago it was built over but the piping used wasn't wide enough to carry the torrential rain down to the sea and the area flooded even when it was rebuilt eighteen years ago the same thing happened but other factors may also play a role in the mountains above were recently devastated by fire the loss of vegetation means heavy rain more easily eroded the soil the cleanup here will take days or weeks but repairing the damage to people's lives will take months or years jumpstart ople us algis are not going to. a rare painting by rene song leonardo da vinci has become the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction the portrait of jesus christ went for four times its estimated value but some experts believe

the high selling price is the result of savvy marketing fintan one hundred points. the masterpiece of christ the savior previous in the collection of three kings of england. a treasure of the renaissance and a triumph of capitalism in order to vinci's masterwork salvatore monday or savior of the world has gone under the hammer for a record breaking four hundred fifty point three million dollars it's a far cry from the one nine hundred fifty eight when it first a mere sixty dollars at the time it was thought to be painted by a student of davinci rather than the master himself the sale is quite a coup for christie's auction house coming at a time when collectors early ning towards more contemporary artists many critics point to a highly successful marketing campaign this advertising video doesn't even show the picture itself only the reactions of visitors. can house hard an outside agency for the first time to build hype for the event billed as the last of in tens of thousands flocked to pre option viewings in hong kong london san francisco and new

york all to catch a glimpse of a bona fide masterpiece not only does it add public excitement and around the sales it brings in perhaps more people than would normally come through our doors and but it also sparks also some great conversations around the arts and adds a greater richness i think. to the sale season the salesmanship seems to have worked even before the auction began they'd secured a guaranteed bid of one hundred million dollars salvatore monday is the only known painting by the renaissance master still in a private collection davinci died in fifty nineteen and fewer than twenty of his paintings are left inexistent. al-jazeera. could tell you that this adrian fenty going to here and with the headlines on al-jazeera a south african delegation is arrived in zimbabwe to attempt to mediate

a way out of the political crisis that the army seized power wednesday and placed president robert mugabe under house arrest it was angered by the second of the vice president's last week reports from harare. we know that they are in talks with. some officials in the. they trying to negotiate an exit package for the president and make sure that he has them guarantees from the state that he and his family will be safe is also speaking that this delegation will try to push to additional government to be led by the former vice president. and other leaders from other political parties but this is all speculation at the moment in cambodia riot police have blocked the streets around the supreme court in the capital phnom penh the government's filed a lawsuit against the main opposition party accusing it of plotting a coup it's being seen as the climax to a crackdown by prime minister hun sen head of next year's elections at least

eighteen people including four female suicide bombers have been killed in a series of blasts in northeastern nigeria twenty nine others were injured in the attacks in. which is on the outskirts of my degree city france's foreign minister is due to meet with lebanon's prime minister saad hariri on a visit to saudi arabia france's president and money on mark wrong has invited howdy to visit paris on wednesday lebanon's president michel aoun said that nothing justified the apparent detention of honeybee by saudi arabia really announced his resignation in riyadh nearly two weeks ago. the deposed catalan leader is planning to run in next month's spanish regional elections colace push to mount is choosing pro independence candidates to join him he plans to manage his campaign from belgium where he and four of his cabinet members are facing extradition to spain on

charges of sedition and rebellion and a day of mourning has been declared a greece after at least fifteen people were killed in flash floods on the western outskirts of athens. well there's the headline. inside story. for you. just horrific. america's top diplomat hits out at the suffering of the real him but stopped short of calling it ethnic cleansing or demanding sanctions as me and more government leaders clear themselves of any crimes what now for the persecuted minority this is inside story.