this is bbc news. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: voting begins across iraq — a critical election as the country rebuilds after years of war against islamic state militants. this is the scene live at a polling station in the capital baghdad. the us secretary of state suggests that pyongyang could be in for a financial boost — if it gives up nuclear weapons. the dispute over america's new sanctions on iran deepens. the british pm joins other european leaders in warning about the effects on trade. kenya's hardline approach to the war on plastics — the country cracks down on vendors and manufacturers. the polls are opening across iraq —

this is the scene at one polling station in baghdad. there are 7000 people for election. this is the first election since the government declared victory over so—called islamic state. the poll will decide the 328 members of the council of representatives who will in turn elect iraq's president and prime minister. if no—one party wins outright and a coalition is needed, it could take weeks before a new government is formed. the last parliamentary elections took place in 2014 — and since then, the country has been transformed by several major events. the bbc‘s rami ruhayem assess how they have reshaped the country's political, and electoral landscape. in june 2014, isis fighters took over mosul, iraq's second—largest city. as they advanced across much of northern and central iraq, the iraqi army fled without a fight. the prime minister, nouri al—maliki,

came under intense external and internal pressure to step aside. in his place came haider al—abadi, a little known politician from the same party, the islamic dawa party. today, each of the two men heads a separate coalition and the party that's held the position of prime minister since 2005 is split for the first time. after the invasion, the world's most influential shia authority based here in najaf in southern iraq called on iraqis to volunteer to fend off the isis attack, which was threatening baghdad and even the south. a new paramilitary force took shape, known as the popular mobilisation units, or pmus. it was formed partly of pre—existing shia factions as well as large number of volunteers

who were influenced by the call of arms. form the pa ramilitaries, a new political force came to be from the pa ramilitaries, a new political force came to be and is now one of the main alliances contesting the elections. the religious authorities in najaf, however, maintain their distance from all coalitions contesting the elections, including the one borne of the pmus. just as isis was losing its grip and iraq recapturing its territory, the country's autonomous kurdish region held an independence referendum. the vast majority of voters backed independence but their euphoria quickly turned sour. federal iraqi forces and the kurdish peshmerga, which were both fighting isis, clashed with each other. the kurdish forces were beaten back and the federal government recaptured the disputed territories. in the wake of the defeat, the two parties that had been in power for almost three decades traded bitter accusations.

today, they contest national elections separately as smaller opposition parties try to break their hold on kurdish politics in iraq. across the country, the largest coalitions have fractured, and new forces have entered the fray. the american secretary of state mike pompeo has said that america would work to help bring prosperity to north korea if the country agreed to take bold action to de—nuclearise. speaking after meeting his south korean counterpart in washington, mr pompeo said he had asked the north korean leader kim jong—un to commit to a robust international verification programme. rajini vaidya nathan reports. another step towards the historic summit between america and north korea. as us secretary of state mike pompeo welcomed his south korean counterpart to washington. both countries have a shared goal of what they want from pyongyang. if north korea takes bold action to quickly be nuclearised the us it

prepared to work with north korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our south korean friends. it has been a whirlwind week for mr pompeo. on monday night he flew to north korea where he met kim jong—un. he returned on thursday with three americans who had been detained by pyongyang. his boss president trump was there to welcome the freed prisoners back to american soil. for a president whose style of diplomacy isn't to everyone‘s case, it has been quite a turnaround. the north korean leader once the pariah now the recipient of praise. kim jong—un did a great service to himself, to his country, by doing this. and remember, it has only been eight months since he described him as "little rocket man". speaking to a crowd in indiana the president was full of optimism for the summit. i will be meeting with kimjong—un

to pursue a feature of peace and security for the world for the whole world. the two men will come face—to—face in a months time in singapore. and for president trump the stakes could not be higher. one question that could be crucial to the success of the talks is — what exactly do both sides mean, when they talk of de—nuclearisation? michael crowley is senior foreign affairs correspondent at politico. that is the key question. it is still an open question and mike pompeo was asked a question to that effect today. i don't feel that he gave a totally clear answer about what the north koreans are saying. it is possible that the north koreans believe for instance that denuclearisation is a process that you might start at this summit with president trump, or soon thereafter, as opposed to what some hardliners, people like the new national security adviserjohn bolton might say which, for them, it would mean dismantle all the nuclear weapons, ship all the nuclear material out of the country,

smash up the infrastructure with hammers if you have to. basically scrub north korea free, clean of nuclear weapons material and production capability. there is a big gap between those two definitions. and we are going to find out soon whether it can be bridged. michael crowley on the korea diplomacy. the british prime minister has spoken to president trump about the impact on european companies of the revival of us sanctions on iran. britain, france and germany, are concerned that european companies operating in iran will be punished by the us. 0ur political correspondent, chris mason, reports. this was the first time the prime minister had spoken to president trump after his announcement on tuesday that the united states would withdraw from the agreement

with iran drawn in 2015. under that deal known as thejoint comprehensive plan of action, orjcpoa, iran promised to curb its nuclear ambitions in return for an easing of sanctions placed upon it. but president trump's decision this week has driven a wedge between washington and london. a downing street spokesman said theresa may had reiterated the government's position and said the uk and its european partners remained firmly committed to ensuring the deal was upheld. mrs may also raised the potential consequences of new us sanctions on british firms currently doing business in iran, a concern also raised by france and germany, fellow signatories to the iran nuclear deal. the french economy minister urged european leaders to show strength. translation: do we want to be baffled, deferring with a curtsy

and a bow to decisions made by the us so the us becomes the world economic police, or do we want us european people say that we have our own economic interests? we want to keep on doing business with iran. on tuesday, the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, will meet his french, german and iranian counterparts in brussels at a summit hosted by the european union's foreign policy chief, federica mogherini. her adviser is nathalie tocci: let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news:

the iaea says the chief inspector for the un's nuclear watchdog has resigned. no reason was given for the sudden departure, which comes days after president trump took the us out of the iran nuclear deal. under the deal, the iaea conducts inspections in iran to verify compliance. officials in gaza say israeli troops have shot and killed a palestinian protester on the territory's border with israel. at least 170 others are said to have been injured during another day of demonstrations along the boundary fence. there have been protests every friday for several weeks. the united nations‘ human rights office has asked nicaragua to let it investigate the deaths of dozens of students in protests against the government of president daniel 0rtega. tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of managua. they want an outside investigation into the students‘ deaths and, for president 0rtega to step down. the main hospital in bikoro — in the northwest of the democratic republic of congo has received

a new suspected case of ebola. so far 18 people are thought to have died and the world health organization says it's "preparing for the worst—case scenario." kenyan authorities say the dam that burst on a commercial farm this week, killing at least 45 people, had been illegally built. the dam collapsed on wednesday night after heavy rain near the town of solai, 190 kilometres from the capital, nairobi. dozens of houses were destroyed and many people are still missing. ann soy reports. the recovery effort is a slow process. up until now, they were collecting bodies that were on the surface and that is done, so now they are having to dig deeper into the mud, into pools of water like this one to make sure that no bodies are left behind. they have collected several bodies today and those are then taken to the mortuaries.

we're told that families will be viewing the bodies and identifying their kin. and only when this effort is complete will they really know how many people were swept away, how many people lost their lives. this is how it all started. imagine a lake with millions of cubic metres of water, all of it released in an instant. that is what happened here on wednesday night. it came down here with such force, it created a path for itself. this looks like a river bed now but it was once occupied and you can see how high the water close to the roof of these houses that managed to withstand the pressure and it cleared everything in its path, like here, this is a foundation of a building that stood here before the tragedy. the people who are trapped were washed downhill, and this went on for kilometres and kilometres. the search and rescue effort has been going on in that direction. these streams of water started

flowing in the morning, sending the villagers here, who are recovering from shock and grief, into more panic. but they have been reassured now that this is deliberate, to keep them safe. a team of engineers has been sent to the farm where we are told a number of dams are located, next to the one that burst on wednesday night and they have been releasing water through the day to make sure that the pressure on those dams is eased. rains are ongoing and therefore, they expect that the dams will be collecting more water and therefore, it is very important for them to release some of the water downstream. anne soy reporting there. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come — what to wear at the world's biggest song contest. eurovision fans show off their choices. the pope was shot,

the pope will live — that's the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon, that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism had come to the vatican. the man they call the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked a woman just sentenced to six years in jail. the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out effort to help the victims of a powerful earthquake, the worst to hit the country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion garry kasparov. it's the first time a machine has defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. god bless america! this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: voting begins across iraqi. that is their live picture. a critical election as the country rebuilds after yea rs of election as the country rebuilds after years of war against is militants. that is a polling station in the capital, baghdad. the daughter of the us senatorjohn mccain has lambasted a white house aide who joked that his opposition to president trump's choice for cia director didn't matter because "he's dying anyway." mr mccain is battling terminal brain cancer. his daughter meghan had this to say. and whatever you want to say, in this kind of environment, the thing that surprises me most is, i was talking about this with you, joy, i don't understand what kind

of environment you are working in where that would be acceptable and then you could come to work the next day and still have a job and that is all i have to say. 0ur north america reporter anthony zurcher has more from washington. what we know is that it was kelly sadler who reportedly said this. she is a white house aide, came over to the trump white house from a local washington conservative newspaper. she was responding to the criticism ofjohn mccain blocking gina haspel, the cia nominee, said, "it does not matter, he's going to die anyway." this was a closed—door meeting but i think it is reflective of the atmosphere in this white house that word of her remarks leaked to multiple media outlets and were confirmed by multiple media outlets. when cindy mccain — sorry — meghan mccain talks about the environment here in this white house, you have to remember that donald trump himself in the campaign in 2015, early in his campaign, criticised john mccain in very personal terms and said he was not a war hero, he was only a war hero because he became a vietnamese prisoner of war and he prefers his heroes, or likes his heroes,

not to be captured. the idea this was an attitude that comes down from the top, from the president. the president and john mccain have sparred repeatedly in the past few years, most recently with the cia head story but also you'll remember john mccain voted against donald trump's healthcare repeal bill last year. there's a lot of bad blood and i think a lot of this is spilling out now in the last days ofjohn mccain, releasing a memoir criticising donald trump, speaking out vociferously from arizona, where he is recuperating from brain surgery and i think you are just seeing this reaching a crescendo. countries around the world are trying to find ways to combat the environmental harm caused by plastics. in kenya they introduced strict laws eight months ago, penalising the production, use or sale of plastic bags. violators can face fines of almost $40,000 or be jailed for up to four years, and inspectors patrol the streets daily. virginia langeberg reports.

0n the streets of nairobi, this is now a daily sight — inspectors on the hunt against plastic. i came here one time and they chased us away with knives. now today, they are good friends of ours. now we are friends. and you can see now, other than this, compliance is good. any grace period is now well and truly over. in recent months, ten butchers from one meat market were arrested after piles of plastic were found, and the hardline approach is seeing results. we need to be out there to check what is happening. even though we can that say compliance is almost at 80%, but there is a lot to be done, yes. we are maybe giving ourselves maybe another two years to be really plastic free. here, the inspectors enter a factory, the company allegedly found in clear breach. this one is banned

in kenya, totally! plain bag! we are beyond the grace period. that is there in law. therefore, we are taking to court today the ones we are finding with flat bags they are not labelled. we will take you to court. the manager was arrested. eight months on from the harsh laws being introduced, the problem is still highly visible across the east african nation, but the fix was never going to happen overnight. it was estimated at one point that kenyans used around 24 million plastic bags per month. translation: the situation has improved. there are fewer plastic bags. this field used to be covered by plastic bags. now it is a lot cleaner. and the message seems to be ringing through at the supermarket where linen bags have become part of the daily norm. this in kenya today is like drugs, like you're found with cocaine or...

it's actually illegal to have this in kenya. virginia langeberg, bbc news. earlier this year the bournemouth symphony orchestra formed what's 0ver over 500 nights are fighting this weekend in the world's biggest mediaeval combat championship. it was started 20 years ago by historical re—enactors who were bored with simply playing out scenes from the past. it is the first time the sport has come to the uk, and was in to help from across the known world, they came hither. the old and not quite so came hither. the old and not quite so old, the brave and not quite as brave. the bold and not quite as bold. a force like never before. a chance to keep alive the conflict and culture of the time gone by. but this is no re—enactment. it is a recognised sport with 31 countries here. hello, we're from china!

we are obviously re—enacting a period of time in history but we are definitely doing it as a sport. this isa definitely doing it as a sport. this is a full contact sport. this is mma in armagh. —— armour. most things are allowed. there are certain places you shouldn't it. you shouldn't hit the groin for obvious reasons. you shouldn't hit the back of the knees. you shouldn't twist limbs and a natural direction. we don't want bone breaks. the get a few injuries but it is not that bad. 0ther full contact sports, hockey and rugby and stuff, that is basically the same level of injuries. we do have them but now that common. watching scotland against the not so ye old usa, it is amazing barrage more injuries, but it is that dick armour and helmets that protect. —— ye olde usa. brutal! i can't even watch ufc or

anything like that, boxing, i find it too violent. yes! you can kick... right. psychologically, it is hard to take a hit sometimes. the main thing is to stay on your feet, because the people to win, the team that wins is the one with the last person standing. hourly times you been out? i've never been hurt. never been hurt? just a bruised now and then, more from the arm pinching than the actual hit. that's what i mean, it feels worse than it is. reassured, it was time to me, sir mikealot, to fight a lot. the tactic was to give a bit of a runaround, until kovac‘s tallest gladiator came to put chink in my arm. i had a cunning plan. hold on for dear life.

in the end, a pure contest of force, with andrew from quebec victorious. that wasn't exactly the hardest fight, sir. you were fine, though. some flights go on a lot longer. this outnumbered australians did his ground against the odds to beat england. ibid. site we both got off lightly. a reminder here away that issue try this at home. a crestfallen fighter from finland carted off by ye olde paramedics. luckily, a precaution. he will be ready to fight another day. the final of the world's biggest song contest, eurovision, takes place in portugal on saturday. thousands of fans have descended on lisbon to support their country's entries, many dressed to impress. here's a look at some of the fashion on display. all about the pink! would you like to try it on? i love sparkle. it's about self expression, flamboyancy, having a crack.

this sequinned mini is actually a top. i didn't like it as a top so ijust shimmied it down and turned it into a skirt. and this, actually, the top is a swimsuit. we came via turkmenistan and we got some garb. the hats — sheepskin. the hats that are big and the people always can look to us in the crowd and everything. and i have the — my scarf. i'm wearing comfortable shoes and a short skirt so i can dance in it and something to keep my hair up but easy to let it go if i need to. yeah, it'sjust a chopstick! just a bit of imagination. i love the freedom and the sheer — just the texture of the cloth. turkmenistan is a desert. this hat, although it looks hot, is actually very cool. and you can wear this in 40—degree temperatures and you will be cool as a cucumber — that is what they told us when we bought it! i'm a trendy guy!

the flag of australia is blue, red and white, so i decided to buy this shirt in barcelona, then the red shoes, which are amazing, and, of course, the blue pants. orange boa, because we are from holland. my lucky bag and my lucky shoes and the best colour in the world. pink makes the boys wink! afamily a family has had a narrow escape after getting out of their car at a safari park in the netherlands. a group, including a woman carrying a child, defied signs warning visitors to the partner to get out their vehicles. the incident happened on monday but staff at the park only became aware of this after footage emerged on the internet. though there was injured because the family was able to re—enter their car. hello once again.

after a bright enough start, friday rather disappointingly certainly went downhill across central and eastern parts of the british isles. bright start and then the cloud filled in, not only across birmingham, the shield was quite extensive. but as things moved from west to east, some in the west popped out in something a bit brighter to finish off the day. you can see it very well on the big picture. this whole raft of cloud gradually crept its way further east, allowing northern ireland, the western fringes of wales, down into the south—west of england to pop out into something a bit brighter. this is how we start saturday. the remnants of that banner of cloud still there to be had across the northern and eastern parts of scotland. should just about be clear of the east coast but that is not the last you'll have seen of it because there could be another little ripple on it, just bringing rain back in to some eastern parts to finish off your afternoon. temperatures nothing to write home about, really. not bad for the time of year. pretty much par for the course. a scattering of showers out towards the west,

perhaps, one or two flirting with the channel islands, the isles of scilly, coming up through devon and cornwall, maybe one or two getting to northern ireland but generally speaking, the western side of the british isles faring nicely indeed. that rain becoming more intense through the early part of the evening onto the wee small hours of sunday as it continues its journey up the eastern side of the british isles. now, just how far west it comes is still open to some debate. underneath the cloud, you will not have the coldest of nights but it could be a cool start to sunday. a bright one for some of you across northern and western parts of the british isles but don't be surprised if, come sunday morning, some of this rain is a good deal further towards the west. if you've got a plan for sunday, you'd better keep up to date with the forecast as it develops. i think generally speaking, that whole plume of cloud and rain moves a bit further north and east, allowing somewhat drier conditions eventually to break out across the south—eastern quarter. but again, sunday, rather like saturday, i think we see the very best of the weather rather out towards the west. come monday, i think you will notice across the south—eastern quarter more generally of the british isles,

is that the wind will have picked up. a big area of low pressure over the near continent keeping it breezy, but you will notice on the bigger scale again quite a lot of dry weather around, quite a bit of sunshine away from this north—western quarter where you will fill in that cloud as the day goes on. trends for the forthcoming week — certainly starting off mainly dry, sunny spells, and the first couple of days could really turn really quite warm. take care. people in iraq are voting in the first general election since the government declared victory over islamic state militants. under the constitution, there's a 90 day deadline for a government to be formed after the election results are declared. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has said that if north korea agreed to denuclearise and took bold action, america would work to help bring prosperity to the country. mr pompeo said he had asked the north korean leader kimjong—un to commit to a robust international verification programme. the british prime minister theresa may has spoken to president trump about the impact on european companies of the revival of us sanctions on iran.

britain, along with france and germany, is concerned that european companies operating in iran will be punished by the us.