baghdad left them. they didn't leave baghdad. one of the reasons we are doing this report is to have a wake-up call to policymakers that there is so -- no such thing as a unified iraq. we need to begin to help that process go forward. what happens to the sunnis in iraq that are welcoming isis because they would rather have isis than the iranian backed militia that are shiia? that is a bad choice. in terms of a timeframe and the exact conditions, president ours on he told us he was first worried about isis. i think it is very much undecided. is things that are decided they are not going to work through baghdad again, they will work towards independence. is a book and of the aspirations of iraqi-kurdistan. he was born on the days and all of that. we were certainly assured there is no precipitous action. to have the international thatnity ignore the fact they are not working to baghdad anymore is a mistake her. >> it is important to see baghdad for what it is, not for what we wish it were. the supply of weapons from russia to the ba

also on the show, iraq's prime minister opens parts of baghdad's green zone to the public for the firste in 12 years. record rainfall batters the southern united states. south carolina's governor calls it a one in a thousand year event. and unlikely visitors, hundreds of whale sharks gathering each year in the heart of the gulf. >>> the northern afghan city of kunduz has become a battlefield form a week now control of the streets this one backwards and forwards between government forces and the taliban. now while the fighting rages, civilians suffer. doctors are refuse to go operate in the main government hospital for fear of air strikes. let's go straight now to to south of kunduz city. so, is the government offensive coming together now? >> reporter: well, sammy, we have talked with the residents of kuhn dues city and afghan security forces, they are telling us now afghan security forces are in control of city center kunduz city. afghan security officials are telling us that the taliban are still hiding in the neighborhood around the city. i have talked with one of the leading general

baghdad left them. they didn't leave baghdad. they, i think one of the reasons we're doing this report is to have a wake-up call to policymakers. there is no such thing as unified iraq anymore. we need to help the process go forward. what happens to sunnis in iraq welcoming isis. because they would rather have isis than iranian-backed militia or shia? that is a bad choice in terms after time frame and conditions, president barzani told us he would worry about isis and then worry about independence. it is very much undecided. things are decided will knot work through baghdad again. they will move towards independence. barzani's life is aspiration of iraqi-kurdistan. he was born on the days and all that. we were certainly assured there is no precipitous action here but have the international community ignore the fact they're moving in this direction and ignore baghdad anymore is i think a mistake. >> important to see baghdad for what it is, not for what we wish it were. the supply of weapons to the base requires overflight, through

since sunday parts of baghdad's heavily fortified green zone are open to the public. the decision was announced by the prime minister, and it's seen as part of attempts by his government to address growing public anger over security, corruption, and poor public services. measure 123 -- for 12 years it's been closed most iraqi citizens. after the 2003 u.s.-led invasion it was turned into the administrative head "s for coalition forces. today the 10-square kilometer compound is surrounded by concrete blast walls, barbed wire and heavily guarded checkpoints. it contains a number of foreign embassies, goth offices and the luxury homes of srp iraqi officials, which is why for many it symbolizes the disconnect between the leadership and it's people. this won't last long. it will add a lot of traffic to want main checkpoint with a lot more searches. trust me, this will be shut down soon. >> reporter: the easing of some restrictions inside the green zone is surprising to many here. over the years it's a frequent target for bombings and robecke and comes at a time when the ove

baghdad left them. they didn't leave baghdad. one of the reasons we are doing this report is to have a wake-up call to policymakers that there is so -- no such thing as a unified iraq. we need to begin to help that process go forward. what happens to the sunnis in iraq that are welcoming isis because they would rather have isis than the iranian backed militia that are shiia? that is a bad choice. in terms of a timeframe and the exact conditions, president ours on he told us he was first worried about isis. i think it is very much undecided. the things that are decided is they are not going to work through baghdad again, they will work towards independence. his life is a book and of the aspirations of iraqi-kurdistan. he was born on the days and all of that. we were certainly assured there is no precipitous action. to have the international community ignore the fact that they are not working to baghdad anymore is a mistake. >> it is important to see baghdad for what it is, not for what we wish it were. the supply of weapons from r

they have agreed to work with us and they have tried and baghdad left them, they didn't leave baghdad and i think one of the reasons we are doing this report is to have a wake-up call to policy makers that, there's no such thing as a unified iraq anymore. and we need to begin to help them get this moving forward. in terms of a timeframe and the exact conditions, we were told that he would first worry about isis and then do the independents. it's very much undecided and i think the things that are decided is they are not going to work through baghdad, they are going to move toward independence. the life is a book end of the aspiration of iraqi, kurdistan and he is born on the days and all that. so, but i think we were assured that there's no action here. but to have the community ignore that and not go through baghdad anymore is a mistake. >> it important to see baghdad for what it is, and not for what we wish it were. the supply of weapons from russia, to the basin required over flight. through iran, and iraq, the u.s. officials on september 5th, raised concern with iraqi counterpa co

south of the baghdad are shiite. large swath, one-third of iraq that spills into syria is sunni land. this is where isis has taken control, this is what it has turned into a de facto islamic state. iraq ends here but only on maps, the border between iraq and syria drawn by the french and british after world war oi has become meaningless. most inhabit this area and the islamic state controls large swaths of it, as well. so any boots on the ground fight against isis would likely have to be in both iraq and syria. >> this is the aftermath of russia's first air strike in syria. >> another twist, vladimir putin's military has joined the fight. it is now dropping bombs in syria to support its ally bashar al-ass al-assad. a chaotic picture. all of which leads back to one question. can we fight isis in iraq? when there really is no iraq left. >> at the end of the day we can't put that country together. >> the blame blame escalates. president bush or president obama. >> the person i blame is barack obama, not george w. bush.

there's an intelligence cell in baghdad meaning our intelligence about who we have been working with is now quite likely to flow to the russians. they're going to squash them flat and we've got people trying to help them. that's a little scarier than a couple of aircraft getting into a dog fight. >> where's isil in all of this? is there really still an effective fight against a pretty dangerous enemy in that part of the world? >> well, in syria, clearly, you know, the united states is still taking air power to isil. but that aside, no, we don't seem to have any proxies willing to take the fight to them. the kurds i think have demonstrated that they're very potent in their own areas but have no interest many moving south of those. our train and equip program has been a failure. isil and nusra might fight each other but certainly not at our behest. so, no, we don't have a ground power force in syria to take the fight to the enemy. the iraqis might not be the best army on the planet but they are a reasonably effective proxy and there are several thousand of them. >> i was looking at a m

part of baghdad's heavily protected green zone are open. prime minister haider al-abadi announced the easing of monitoring. ixght iments imtiaz tyab reports from baghdad. >> heavily fortified green zone is opened to the public. the decision was announced by prime minister haider al-abadi, attempts to address growing public anger for poor public services. for 12 years the green zone or international zone as it is officially known has been closed to most iraqi citizens. after the 2003 u.s. led invasion it was turned into the administrative headquarters for coalition forces. today the ten square kilometer compound is still surrounded by concrete blast walls, barbed wire and heavily fortified checkpoints. it includes the luxury homes of senior iraqi officials, for many symbolizes the disconnect. >> this move won't last long. we may as well enjoy it as long as we, it will add more time to the checkpoints. trust me this will be shut down soon. >> reporter: the easing of restrictions inside the green zone is surprising to many here. it has been th

baghdad's heavily fortified green zone has been open to the public.s been large on off limits to ordinary iraqis since the up advantages of the u.s. in 2003. >>> at least eight people have been killed from shootings in the capital of burundi. ongoing tensions between police and protesters since the president was elected for a third term in july. people are accusing the police of killing unarmed civilians, caroline malone reports. >> reporter: in the suburb a woman cries out for her husband. he's one i've number of people whose bodies were found on sunday morning. people in the area say he was shot by police. she says she can't look after their children without him. there were similar scenes in neighboring districts, an administrator has confirmed there are a number of dead. >> translator: as you have seen for yourself there were bodies on the ground. it leaves us to believe yesterday's situation wasn't normal. >> reporter: people living in the area say the police rounded up a group of young men and took them way on saturday. other people armed with gu

they have tried, and baghdad has left them. they didn't leave baghdad and they, i think one of the reasons we are doing this report is to a wakeup call to policymakers that there is no such thing as a unified iraq anymore. we need to begin to help that process go forward. what happens to the sunnis in iraq, for instance, that a welcoming crisis because they would rather have crisis than the iranian backed militia that ours is shia, and that's a bad choice. in terms of a timeframe in the exact conditions, president barzani told us he would first worry about isis and then do the independence, so i think it's very much undecided. i think the things that are designed it will not work for baghdad to get bigger good move towards independence. president barzani's life as a book in of the aspiration of iraqi kurdistan. u.s.-born on for days and all that. but i think we were certainly assured that there is no precipitous action here, but have the international tuner to ignore the fact that they're moving in this direction not working to

parts of baghdad's fortified green zone has been open to the public and off limits to iraqi since theasion of iraq in 2003 and we report from bag d-- baghdad. >> reporter: from the office said the green zone would be reopened by people in baghdad hopings for an easing of the major congestion we see in the city of 7 million people and just as importantly a symbolic shift in the way this city operates, the green zone of course is a ken square kilometer large area which eats up three big neighborhoods in the heart of the iraqi capitol. it is where large embassys are based. it's where the seat of government is based and to open that up really in the views of many people here was symbolic in the sense that it would perhaps lead to this perception or the end of this perception of its disconnect between the rulers here in iraq and the needs the street. they only have to consider just what exactly followed the announcement of the prime minister and we tried to access this newly opened section of the green zone and we were told it was closed for what we were told was maintenance purposes and w

the united states or the one that sends a general to knock on the door of the american embassy in baghdad to let them know that the bombing starts in a couple of minutes in syria? >> these are the russians. they certainly know how to play the game and how to play all the cards. none of this should surprise us though. the russians have long interest in syria. first the russians have been in syria for about 50 years. there are lots of russian nationals who are married into important syrian families. so there's a long standing tie between these two countries. second, vladimir putin has made it very clear he's not a fan of western nations doing regime change. he sees that happening and he saw an opportunity to stop that. third, you have a very serious coalition that has a serious view here. the putin government along with iran, iraq, syria, have a very simple view of what the problem is here. in their minds, the problem is sunni islamist terrorism. mostly isil but also other groups. and they intend intend to fight that wherever they find it. we can argue about how seriously they take this and

iraqi police say there was another explosion on the northern outskirts of baghdad. >>> parts of baghdad's heavy fortified green zone have been re-opened to the public. it's largely off limits to iraqis since the u.s.-led invasion of the country in 2003. al jazeera has more now from baghdad. >> reporter: it would have been unthinkable just a few days ago to see traffic movely freely down this road. since sunday parts of baghdad's heavy fortified green zone have been open to the public. the decision was announced by the prime minister and is seen as part of attempts by the government to address growing public anger over security, corruption, and poor public services. we're told that the green zone or international zone as officially known has been closed to most iraqi citizens after the 2003 u.s.-led invasion, it was turned into the administrative headquarters for coalition forces. today it's still surrounded by concrete blast walls, barbed wires and heavily guarded checkpoints. it contains a number of foreign embassies and fwovt homes and the luxury homes of senior iraqi officials, which i

so i came and stayed in baghdad and worked in baghdad, instead of with the u.s. military. it used to be you could do a mix of both. i tried to keep it 50/50, so i saw the war from the soldier's point of view, and from the local iraqi's point of view. >> journalists play this vital role of sort of an outside presence to see how this war is being conducted. >> if you want to get to some of these stories, you have to take the risk of the people who are living through the same thing. sometimes that means risking torture, kidnapping and death. >> i faced several amounts of danger. i was shot at. i brar bullets. i was chased several times, i had letters taped on the outdoor of my house. >> kidnapping was and is a real problem in iraq. considering gangs, militias, this is why we had doctors, academics, lawyers. a whole lot. they are at grave risk of being kidnapped. anyone is at risk who can fetch a better rann soment. >> you have to think "it doesn't matter that i'm a reporter. i'm a wernaler with a big price tag on my head -- westerner with a big price tag on my head. >> you lo

in baghdad, open to the public for the first time since the u.s. led invasion in 2003. >>> but first a look at th stories making headlines across the u.s. in our american minute. at least nine weather related dets are nodeaths are now reporh carolina. torrential rains caused passive flooding across the state, some areas have seen more than 200 feet of rainfall. president obama has signed a federal disaster declaration. >>> survivors of the cargo ship alfaro, the ship that went missing in hurricane joaquin likely sank. it headed for puerto rico, vanished late last week. 28 americans on board. >>> hospitalized passengers after a southbound amtrak train, officials say none of the injuries appear to be life threatening. the accident happened in northfield vermont. the train was traveling to washington, d.c. >>> tensions are running high between israel and the palestinians. clashes spread across the occupied west bank. and israel has banned palestinians who don't live work or go to school in the old city of jerusalem from intergs them. entering. mike ha

and seven suspected isil fighters are killed, plus: >> reporter: i at the copper market in central baghdadre fathers & sons have for generations turned sheets of copper into works of art. comingup, find out why so few of the artisans remain. ♪ >> a strong earthquake with its epicenter in northern afghanistan has shaken buildings from kabul to new delhi you injuring 1,250 people. the 7.5 magnitude quake centered on the hindu kush mountains. tremors were felt across the region in pakistan, india and china. a t.v. station in afghanistan's taptol, kabul, was broadcasting at the moment that the quake hit. tran . >> as you can see, the presenter for the channel which broadcast to kabul was forced to flee. the station's broadcast was cut off. let's get more from our reporter, jennifer glasse, who was also in kabul. >> reporter: the powerful earthquake was felt across afghanistan. it brought down walz in kabul, 260 miles south of the epicenter? >> i was sitting at home when the earthquake happened and i came outside with the children but one of my grand sons started running. i asked him not to run

horror in burundi and the latest people of the violence tied up and shot at close range and bad -- baghdaden zone is now opened up in more than a decade. ♪ i just had a horrible nightmare. my company's entire network went down, and i was home in bed, unaware. but that would never happen. comcast business monitors my company's network 24 hours a day and calls and e-mails me if something, like this scary storm, takes it offline. so i can rest easy. what. you don't have a desk bed? don't be left in the dark. get proactive alerts 24/7. comcast business. built for business. ♪ welcome back, let's recap the headlines on al jazeera, there have been multiple clashes between palestinians and israeli security forces in the occupied west bank, israeli security forces conducted raids in the area after two separate attacks on israelis in resent days, doctors in the afghan city of kunduz refusing to operate in the main government hospital for fear of air strikes and doctors without borders wants an independent investigation after one of its hospitals was hit on saturday killing at least 22 people. turkis

and i just followed up with attacks in baghdad and other counterattacks. i think that iraq is doing this, it will be preserved, but if and only if the real center of gravity can be in baghdad. this is not just front lines against the conventional military power, there are politics in baghdad. during the surge, we worked really hard with iraqi leaders to come back into the fabric of iraqi government. it was stripped away, from the insurgents, leaving leaders who would target more aggressively with special operations. --unfortunately, in our departure, some of this was undone, so agreement that were made, commitments made, were not honored. leaders had it legal charges against them and peaceful demonstrations were put down violently. that is what created these fields for the planting of extremism, which had been defeated during the search. it gravitated to syria and now we know as the islamic state. gary: there is a battle for space in the territory, but also the war of ideas. important, it is not fought in traditional media, it is spot in ht in social media

>> partly, and also partly with the relationship with baghdad.e baghdad government is afraid once the kurds take over the area they want, they will then be fighting against the baghdad government for their independence and controlling what are called the disputed territories between the kurdish regional government and the baghdad government. they're thinking of the longer-term future, not just the war against isis. it in the south, i found the opposite. the popular militias are receiving vast resources from iran and the united states to fight against the islamic state. while i was there, they took an oil refinery much of the area around ramadi from them with thousands of troops who had very good, modern weapons. amy: i want to turn toormer british prime mister tony blair who was speaking to cnn saying they were "elements of truth to the claim that removing saddam hussein played a part in the creation of isis. >> you can say those of us who beared saddam in 2003 that no resnsibility for the situation in 2015. it is imrtant to also realize, one, th

a russian official in baghdad informed u.s. embassy personnel that russian military aircraft would begin flying anti-isil missions over syria. and he requested that the u.s. aircraft avoid the air space during these missions. the u.s.-led coalition will continue to fly missions over iraq and syria as planned and in support of our international mission to degrade and destroy isil. our pentagon team broke that story this morning. let's get in our panel. jonah goldberg, senior editor at "national review." and amy stoddard. let's get this straight, charles, the president and putin meet at the u.n. saying they're going to have this deconflict ion about the russian military. the way we find out that russia is going to start strikes, that are not on isis by the way, is a russian general essentially knocking on the door of the u.s. embassy in baghdad. >> and delivering a demarche. a nasty statement, a kind of ultimatum. we're doing this, we're going to do it within an hour and we don't want you in the air when we're doing this. it's on

because today in baghdad, today in baghdad, the giant fortified u.s. embassy in baghdad that we taxpayers paid for to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, the u.s. embassy today in baghdad got an unexpected visitor, a russian, a russian official of some intermediate rank in iraq, walked into the u.s. embassy compound in baghdad today, unannounced, and made a startling pronouncement to u.s. embassy personnel. the russian who walked into the embassy today said without warning, without preamble, the united states military should please get all its airplanes out of the air space over syria right away because russia was about to start sending in its own airplanes into syria to start dropping bombs there within the hour. and so they demanded that all american planes get out of syria air space because the russian missions were already under way. surprise, that was their announcement. so, like, china at this point, is having the best day of their life. china is psyched. they're the only major international military power not fighting in the war in syri

but since sunday parts of baghdad's heavily fortified green zone have been open to the public. the decision was announced by prime minister haider al-abadi, seen as attempts by part of his government to address growing public anger for insecurity and poor public services. the green zone or international zone as it's been officially known has been closed to citizens. but it was turned into the administrative hazardous for coalition forces. it's been surrounded by barbed wire and heavily manned checkpoints. it's the area for homes of high profile iraqis. >> there will be a lot more searches, trust me this will be shut down soon. >> reporter: the easing of some restrictions inside the green zone is surprising to many here. over the years it has been a frequent target for bombings and rockets. it also comes tsa at a time when the overall security across baghdad and the parts of iraq that remain under government control continue to decline. in recent months shia militias which are backed by iran have been accused of abducting and killing sunni men. committing major abuses including

. >> i'm imtiaz tyab at the central copper market in baghdad, where generations have changed sheet of copper into works of art. coming up why few of the artisans remain. artisans remain. >> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target weeknights 10:30p et >> hello again a reminder of the top stories here an al jazeera. add least 288 people have been killed in an earthquake in southern asia. the 7.5 earthquake centered in afghanistan. strong evidence the myanmar government has committed genocide against the country's rohingya minority. the world health organization has released a report that says processed meat causes cancer. >>> two turkish policemen have been killed during a shootout with suspected i.s.i.l. fighters. police say they were ceark ou cg out raids when the gun fight occurred. bernard smith reports. >> reporter: as turkish officials raided several properties around diabakir, gun fire broke o

imtiaz tyab at the safafir market in central baghdad. >> reminder you can keep up to date with our website, the address aljazeera.com. and can you watch us by clicking on the watch now icon, aljazeera.com. >> both afghanistan and pakistan are hit by an earthquake. more than 200 people are dead, and that number is expected to rise. >>> a health scare, ham, sausage and processed plates could lead to cancer crisis. homes and cars underwater from dangerous flooding. this is al jazeera america, live from new york city i'm tony harris. the death toll is climbing in afghanistan at this hours. 7.4 mooutiond earthquak magnitue city near the northern city of jarm. nearly 270 people died across the region. the earthquake felt in pakistan and india, and in kabul, jennifer glasse. >> reporter: the injured and dead here in afghanistan are in 11 provinces. almost a third of the country really a sign of how strong and powerful this earthquake was. and its reach across the country, we felt it here in kabul, 150 miles south of the epicenter, deep underneath the hindu kush mountain range. that is a real conc

we have the report from baghdad. >> reporter: they stand confidently for the cameras. they begin their assault on villages and then begin surrounding the town. in many ways this phase is the most simple. isil fighters have largely abandoned the victimages and fall easily. this is the regional government to travel to the front lines to visit the troops. >> reporter: these territories you were under isil control, and now they're back in our hands due to our well-organized plan. >> reporter: well-osrganized th plan might be, but they know how to use urban areas. they said they could take ramadi quickly. isil knows how to use urban area and that will be a challenge for the force the. for now they wait until they have sufficient territory on the outskirts to launch an attack on the town sometime in the next few weeks. >>> now, in the last few minutes we have reports of two large bomb blasts which have hit the shia neighborhoods in the iraq capital of baghdad. at least 18 people have apparently been killed in the neighborhoods. there's no immediate claim of responsibility, b

i believe that: would be delivered by ambassador jones in baghdad. mr.tton: bulgaria accepted it. general dunford: decline the request. mr. cotton: and let russian air >> they have limited air capability. >> if the united states government requested airspace over russia, surely they would assist iraq. >> it is a sovereign decision by iraq, we are not an interested in it. you raise an important question. is iraq going to cooperate with -- wrongheaded approach in syria. from the primed no uncertain terms, the statement that he will not work with the russians. to bel not allow them partners with iraq in that regard. we are the preferred partners of iraq. the prime minister has repeated those pledges. i only say that because we feel emphatically about receiving those pledges. we intend to have been implemented by private history body.- prime minister of >> i raise it both with the mr. and france and private mr.. -- and prime minister. nots assured that they had extended that invitation. they don't intend to extend an invitation to do that. our request renew

. >> at the century's old market in central baghdad where fathers & sons have for generations turnedheets of copper into works of art. comi coming up, find out why so few of the artisans remain. ♪ >> after a very contentious emergency submit, a new measure to help deal with europe's refugee crisis. humanitarian aid will be provided to thousands of asylum seekers. from that summit in brussels. >> every day counts. otherwise, we will soon see families in the cold rivers of the balkans perish miserably. chilling words from the chairman of the european commission at another meeting about the refugee crisis. a 17-point action plan was approved first and foremost, the delivery of humanitarian aid and the building of new shelters for the people seeking sanctuary inside the european union. >> the summit also agreed to speed up the processing and registration for genuine refugees. they will no longer be waved on across borders for the next country to deal with. slovenia's prime minister described his country as unbearable and have a stark warn to go his counterparts. >> if we do not deliver s

russia's first word when a russian official appeared in baghdad warning the u.s. to stay out of syrian air space. cnn's barbara starr asked ash carter about this unusual move. >> reporter: you have been dealing with the russians for years. a russian general shows up this morning at embassy in baghdad and apparently reads you your people a note saying air strikes begin in one hour. what do you make of that? as secretary of defense, is that acceptable military relations with you and where does this leave you if you sit down and talk to the regime military about the way ahead? is this not bizarre? >> i have been dealing with them for a long time and this is not the kind of behavior we should expect professionally from russian military professionally. that's one reason why i think it is a good thing to have an avenue of communication that is less unprofessional than a drop-in. >> remarkable. the u.s. accusing russia of misleading of the target of air strikes. american officials say the war planes were not flying in isis held regions. the washington post reports that t

speaking from baghdad, the time for a counter offensive is right. >> we would like to see them move as as possible. we believe now a combination of the recent successes that they have had along with the increased air power and increased i.s.r. that we have allocate today the ramadi fight account we believe that now is the time for a final push. nba to ramadi. so we are continuing to encourage the iraqis. the iraqis are encouraged by their own success that they have had here recently and we'll continue to watch and see how this develops. >>> for the latest let's speak to al jazeera's imtiaz tyab months in baghdad for us. what exactly is the situation on the ground now near ramadi? >> reporter: well, very fluid situation near ramadi. we understand that iraqi security forces have erected what's been described at a ring armed the city as they inch closer and closer to the capital of anbar province, which is in western iraq, it's the large he have province, sunni dominated which shares a border with syria. as we have been saying it's been under isil control, ramadi has been under isil contr

it is moving east of baghdad.t will bring the potential of flooding to places like tehran and the eastern sections of iran. 50 to 75 millimeters of between additional rainfall. so something we'll monitor into the weekend coming off of the potential of more flooding. now i need to transition to, well, a common holiday to celebrate across much of the world. that's halloween. october 31st. and believe it or not, we have a near miss asteroid that is going to fly precariously close to here on planet earth. this is asteroid tb-2015 tb-145. we had to doctor this up to make it look like a jack-o'-lantern. that's not actually what it looks like. it's amazing. it's not a trick what i'm talking about, it's more of a treat. astronomers like yourself perhaps can take a telescope and go outside and see this with your own eyes. so something you might want to consider as you make your way outside early saturday morning. put this into perspective. this is 400 meters wide. that is roughly the same height as the willis tower in chic

and later intricate copper treasures sold in baghdad may soon be a thing of the past.past. >> in a a big surprise argentina is facing its first runoff election ever. the ruling party was expected to clean up but yesterday's initial vote put it neck in neck with the opposition. leftist ruling party candidate daniel scioli narrowly edged out mauricio macri. >>> today, the two candidates began campaigning for votes from those who supported third party candidates. al jazeera april teresa vo has been covering the election from buenos aires. she spoke to voters many of whom said they are ready for new leadership. >> everyone in argentina, the polls have suggested there could be a second round, nobody suspected it to become such a close race. the difference between mauricio macri and daniel scioli is so close, the differences that exist between one caircht and thcandidate andthe other. a very close aid of cristina kirchner in the process of buenos aires, the largest in argentina, this is the first time that a woman is going to be ruling in a parones stronghold. everyone was s

for generations some of the best artisans worked in central baghdad.but the industry is now in danger of vanishing forever. >> for 40 years, he has hammered sheets of capper into works of art. the intricate hand work was taught to him by his father, who learned from his father. he has worked in this stall for as long as anyone can remember, but he is afraid that he's the last one. >> my sons are not going to follow my footsteps. unfortunately, they believe this profession is going to be extinct. there are just a handful of us artisans remaining due to economic conditions of the country as well as a lack of foreign tourists. >> baghdad's market has been around for century. all sorts of goods are sold here but for generations it was the top destination for traders from across the middle east looking for copper handy crafts. that only started to change with the u.s.-led gulf war in the 1990s. at the time there were hundreds of stalls selling handmade copper goods in the market. now only 18 shops remain with five crafting new pieces. >> the artisans of the

and the political leaders in baghdad have not made the progress in the broader gender of inclusiveness of the iraqi government in addressing the long-standing kurds, sunnis, shias. the recent operation by kurdish peshawari forces, demonstrated that such targeted efforts can have significant success in protecting innocent civilians in degrading isil. these kinds of operations can support the coalition's broader campaign against isil. while these operations are obviously not without risk, the time may have come to evaluate whether our troops can play a more active role in enabling the isf, including by accompanying the forces at lower echelons especially when direct contact with the enemy is not expected. according to reports, the coalition's provisions of air support to kurdish forces have shown success in northern syria. the recent decision by the administration to equip a group of sunni tribes who have come together to form syrian-arab coalition to fight along syrian kurdish forces place additional pressure on isil and the surrounding areas. if successful this would be a positive deve

. >> 18 people have been killed in baghdad and 60 others injured. there has been no immediate claim of responsibility, but isil controls large parts of the country and claimed several previous attacks on iraq's shia majority. security forces in iraq have launched operations to take control of an area held by isil. >> the peshmerga stand confidently for the cameras. they begin their assault on villages on the out skirts and begin surrounding the town. in many ways, this phase is the most simple. isil fighters have largely abandoned the villages and they fall to the peshmerga easily. the head of the kurdistan regional government traveled total front line to visit the troops. >> these territories were under isil control, but back in our hands. this is due to our well organized plan. >> well organized plan it might be, but isil know how to use urban areas. seven weeks ago, the prime minister announced they would take ramadi and anbar from isil quickly. that did not happen. isil know how to use urban areas. it will be a challenge for the peshmerga forces

as well as the lack of foreign tourists. >> reporter: baghdad's market has been around for centuries goods are sold here, but for generations it was the top destination for traders from across the middle east looking for highly-prized copper hand crafts. that only start today change with the u.s.-led gulf war in 1990. at the time there were hundreds of stalls selling hands made copper goods in the market. now only around 15 shops remain. with just five still crafting new pieces. the artisans of the copper market say it's not just successive wars, economic sanctions, now nearly nonexistent tourism that has hurt their profession. it's also the growing popularity of cheaply-made factory goods that are produced in a similar style. this coffee pot was imported from india. he says goods like these are roughly assembled by machines and are made out of inexpensive materials. but the replicas cost less than a quarter of his handmade creations so he says he is left with little choice t but to sell them to keep his business afloat. >> translator: when i sell my handmade items it's like parting

. >>> well russia' russia's intr n from baghdad, imtiaz tyab has the details. >> reporter: this is what many across iraq want to see. russian air strikes against sieferl like these once in syria. well it's too soon to say how successful moscow's campaign has been. there is growing frustration, to help take the vast territory i.s.i.l. still controls across iraq. hakim zamalie, one of the most vocal supporters of russian involvement in the fight against i.s.i.l. >> we know russia did not get involved in the middle east for our sake but for rather their interests. >> it's not just politicians who want to see russia take a more powerful role, late last month russia and iraq signed an intelligence sharing agreement that also included syria and iran. washington says it does not want russia in the region targeting i.s.i.l. abadi now finds himself in a position of trying to appease its political and security allies while keeping washington on list side. whatever the case, it would appear that the position has already worked to his advantage. >> yes, they well not ask for any help from russian.

embassy in baghdad with a note warning to stay out of the area.ara starr asked ash carter about the move. >> you have been dealing with the russians for years. a russian general shows up at embassy in baghdad and apparently reads you a note saying air strikes will begin in one hour. what do you make of that? is that as secretary of defense, is that accept military to military relations with you and where does this leave you if you sit down and talk to the russian military about a way ahead? is this not a little bizarre? >> you are right. i have been dealing with them for a long time. this is not the kind of behavior that we should expect professionally from russian military professionally. that is one reason why i think it is a good thing to have an avenue of communication that is less unprofessional than a drop-in. >> a drop-in. the u.s. accusing russia of misleading about the target of the air strikes. american officials say the war planes were not flying in isis held regions. the washington post reports that strikes hit anti-government rebels i