>>how kurdistan is pitching itself as the gateway to iraq >>kurdistan is a stable, secure part of iraq and has a friendly business environment, and i cannot think of a better place to set up a base to service this promising, emerging market of kurdistan and the larger iraqi market. >>and why high tech tyres and engines are causing a revolution in the world of wheels. >>this is one of our engineering vehicles and as you can see one of the things that missing is the engine. this vehicle is a pickup truck, it's normally run with a 2.5 litre diesel, and with our drivetrain you remove all of that. as you can see there's also no gearbox as well, there's no transmission tunnel or axle as well. >>hello and welcome. i'm raya abirached and this is world business, your weekly insight into the global business trends shaping our lives. you may not have heard of them, but rare earth metals have a massive impact on your life. they are the incredibly rare elements, crucial for the construction of high tech devices across the world. and 97 percent of the world's supply comes from china. >>reporter: sau

those are the headlines up next our special report on kurdistan a central asian country where ethnic tensions dating from the one nine hundred thirty s. recently turned violent claiming hundreds of lives. has long been kurdistan's national color at one point the words could be used and rather even member the same. on the national flag is the law says. the golden sun in the sun church represents one asked for eternal life.

rest has long been kurdistan's national color at one point the word scared and rather even meant the same. on the national flag it symbolizes valor. the golden sun in the sun to.

our correspondent traveled to kurdistan to meet the leader. >> somewhere in the mountains,pkjk fighters are training. turkey says that these men are terrorists. the u.s. and european union agreed. here is why. a splinter group has admitted to carrying out the attack. this has been going on for 26 years. >> we were invited to visit one of their camps a secret location in the mountains of northern iraq. around one-third of the fighters are women. for more than one decade they have used these mountains as the base for executing attacks inside turkey, challenging their leaders and justifying killing. telling me that the group was willing to disarm. the turkish government, if they agreed to a cease-fire. >> they warned that if their demands were not met, there would be more killing. >> we will go on, there will be other sacrifices. >> this war is being fought on two fronts. turkey to the north, iran to the east. artillery bombardments and air strikes, you can see the results of some of this in a massive crater, deeper than i am tall, towards the end of june 1 night it dropped two bombs. one

our correspondent traveled to kurdistan to meet the leader. >> somewhere in the mountains, the fighters are training. this video, film by the group itself, showing one side of a conflict that has claimed the lives of around 40,000 people on both sides. turkey says that these men are terrorists. the u.s. and european union agreed. here's why. this attack on the bus in istanbul killed five people, four of them soldiers, one of them a 17-year-old girl. a splinter group has admitted to carrying out the attack. this has been going on for 26 years. we were invited to witness a camp at a secret location in the mountains. the fighters were not keen to be filmed. for more than one decade they have used these mountains as a base from which to plan and execute attacks inside turkey. justifying killing in the name of a political cause. saying that the un supervision would mean a cease-fire. they accused the utilization of the bodies of fighters and that the war would continue. >> they cut out his eyes. we will go on to fix what is needed. >> this war is being fought on two fronts. turkey to the nor

the kurdistan workers party, the pkk, lifted a ceasefire in may.since then it has carried at several attacks against turkish forces. authorities have promised a tough response. at the same time, the turkish prime minister has pledged reconciliation with the kurds. so far, political reforms have failed to materialize. there is concern that violen and bloodshed wietur to the region. our reporter visited the region to take a look at the impact of the conflict on people there. >> a kurdish former -- former lives not far from the syrian border. the closer it gets to his village, the more upset he becomes. in a voice tinge with rage and grief, he tells the human rights lawyer with him what happened in his village. >> 15 years ago, the village was cleared by the turkish army and partially destroyed. the fighting between the turkish army and the kurdish militant group the pkk stopped after that. some village residents even returned. but he says at the end of june the soldiers from a nearby army base returned and intentionally set a fire that burned the vil

well that your signifies product of all the people living in kurdistan. for the first two decades could just dance flag has served as a banner of christie. every leader every government that pulled this country promise freedom and a better life. but so far they could just be fully tested only one right the right to kill. it's not done the residents of washington didn't see the writing on the wall tensions between caregivers and those back communities have been simmering for decades when joseph stalin held draw of the region's administrative borders patches of his back land and up cutting through caracas territory with the help of those who nobody took it seriously as if the borders were appointed by reference to the terrain nobody could ever even think that these borders would become the frontiers between the independent states it was just dumb to put a stumbling block into the interethnic relations just to let moscow be the main result of the problem. for decades the two communities leaf side by side attending the weddings of their children and going to

rest has long been kurdistan's national color of one point two words could be used and rather even members same. on the national flag it symbolizes valor. the golden sun in the sun to represents one asked for eternal. let.

rest has long been kurdistan's national color at one point the words could be used and rather even meant the same. on the national flag it symbolizes valor courage. the golden sun and the sun to represents one asked for eternal life. signifies product of all the people living. but if those two decades could just flat chest.

gay was detained in february after a plane he was flying on from dubai to kurdistan was intercepted by the rain in absolutes. the european union's foreign policy chief says gaza's blockade must end to let the region's economy prosper catherine ashton also called in the meantime for further easing of a zero three year old blockade to improve the lives of ordinary gazans israel recently relaxed its blockade to allow in more consumer goods by branding needed construction materials are still behind ashton also urged direct talks between israeli and palestinian leaders. much of a year of sweltering in a record breaking heat wave crops and causing severe forest fires greek emergency services are battling several dangerous blazes the first of the yam to a large forest fires raged near the capital athens find by strong winds forcing some people to flee their homes as all teasingly have been notional reports russian helicopters are among the most effective weapons in combat eight someone dies. every year hundreds of thousands will have to reserve spanish floors disappear the reason. the combina

from around the world at least twenty nine people have been killed in a fire at a hotel in iraq's kurdistan region used by many visiting workers and businessmen the dead include foreigners from thirteen different countries twenty two others were injured in the blaze the fire took five hours to put out with something different injuring the phone rather with some jumping rather from windows as they tried to escape. believe and electrical fault was to be. all the first time in almost three months they massive oil leak in the gulf of mexico has been temporarily stopped the breakthrough came. with the installation of a special cap on the deep sea well b.p. says results from the pressure tests are so far positive while engineers search for other undiscovered leaks america's worst environmental disaster began in april after the deepwater horizon rig exploded killing eleven workers with around seven hundred million liters of oil flowing into the seasons that. the first woman elected official has resigned in germany. yes been a was under fire for allegedly having knowledge of sexual abuse cases for

best has long been kurdistan's national color at one point the word scared and rather even meant the same. on the national flag it symbolizes valor courage. the golden sun and the sun to represents one asked for eternal life. signifies a product of all the people living. but if those two decades could distance flag has served as a banner of christie. every leader average government that told this country promise freedom and a better life. but so far.

russia has long been kurdistan's national color one point two words and rather even members same. on the national flag symbolizes the courage. to build in some.

pitts: there was violence in kurdistan. today there is good news. on sunday the people of kurdistan held a refer dumb on the new -- referendum on the new constitution. they voted to establish a new parliamentary government. this would make them the only nation in the area to go to representative-style democracy. despite the recent violence, the intern government undertook heroic efforts to include as many citizens as possible with 2/3 of the eligible voters participating. election officials visited hospitals and refugee camps to ensure that the injured and displaced were not denied the right to a ballot. the government faces many challenges before the general election this fall, and much to be done for kurdistan to establish a stable government that protects the rights of all of its citizens. but the referendum is a good start and the united states should stand by with assistance in support. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the spea

rival is a video from kurdistan of a little boy trying to eat his way through a watermelon. you can vote on the morning team's facebook page. they'll have the results on monday morning's program. >>> oakland a's never looked so good. we are not talking about their record this season. that's not bad either. we are talking about brad pitt joining the team. it's for a movie, of course. he is coming to town to fill "money ball" based on the book how general manager billy bean built a winning team in 2002 despite having the smallest payroll in the league. pitt will play bean in the movie. how cool is tt to have brad pitt playing billy bean. the crew is looking for extras. to find out how you can be an extra, go to nbc bay area.com and search money ball. >> i want a job as a lady who sells the frozen lemonade. i can do that in the stands. i think i'm perfect for that. and a sign for billy bean. >> have a great weekend.

. >> did that include ukraine and the stands, you know the -- [inaudible] and all that, kurdistan, and also georgia and those states, were they all included then in the governing unit? >> when the civil war happened in 1918 through to the early 1920s, first the communists took over russia, then they took over ukraine again. until the second world war they didn't take over estonia, latvia, and lithuania. but they did take over the transcaucasus, georgia as a [inaudible] and they did take back central asia, and they took over the whole of siberia. so essentially the russian empire was reconstituted. >> and lenin was born where? >> he was born in the vulgar region in a place called [inaudible]. >> in russia. >> in russia. >> and stalin was born where? >> in georgia. and he was a georgian. >> what's the difference? >> the difference is the difference between let's say, an englishman and an albanian. the georgians were a small -- are a small nation to the south of the caucasus mountain range. they speak an entirely different language from the russians. and this was one of the reasons why th

a baby from kurdistan. look at that. eating a watermelon. whoo!at him go. >> it's pretty cute. >> that is pretty cute. >> he's hungry. >> all right. so, which one do you like better? do you like the little girl all psyched up and ready to roll or this guy chowing down on watermelon? >> they just stuck him in the watermelon, not cute. but the fact that he's eating it, i mean, that's -- >> tell us what you think. you can vote on our facebook page right now, search "nbc bay area mornings." we'll tell you which of the ones the viewers chose. which one you like best on monday morning. >> we've already got some votes going on. >> and you can become our friends. >> yeah. >> we're cutest. >> eating watermelon. >> we can get scott to eat a watermelon. >> don't forget john mayer coming up on the "today" show in a little bit. and we'll have a local news update in half an hour. >> have a great one.

like kurdistan. like what is happening in anbar province right now. what's happening here is there is an election that's taken place. what happened is -- there's 325-plus members of what they call their core, their parliament. no one party won more than 91 seats. the with major parties. one won 89 seats. state of law. they're in negotiations to figure out how to allocate the power within the government. in other words, share power. it's about just that. and it's under way. it's going to happen. there will be a central government with control of its foreign policy. with control of the military. but you will see that there are going to be significant amounts of autonomy in each of the areas that exists in the provinces. the constitution there calls for that. it took the dutch six months to form a parliament the time before last. it took the folks in the netherlands six months, 280-some days if i'm not mistaken. so this is their first crack at democracy. i used the phrase politics has broken out. not war. we're moving in that direction. >> and the combat

in fact there have been recent news reports that shown they were captured on the iraq kurdistan side of the border and that was recently published. and we figured they would be detained, figure out that our friends meant no harm to iran, did not intend to enter iran and they would be released. some similar cases there were belgium folks biking through iran and they were captured and released after three months and the british stale lohrs were released after a week so we didn't think it would go on this long. >> how concerned are you? we keep hearing of health problems and now captivity is taking its toll. what do you think is happening? and what's your plan for what's next? >> i'm glad you brought that up. that's what we are focusing on now it has been a year and 365 days of detainment has mental and physical tolls, you know, that are going to affect our friends and my friend sara actually has some health conditions that are not being addressed and we have requested medical attention and that hasn't happened. so we are very frustrated and saddened and concerned that it has gone on th