controversial referendum on the region's independence the president of iraq's kurdish regional government masoud barzani cost his ballots in the last couple of hours around five million kurds are eligible to vote the referendum is normally binding but it could trigger a process of separation in a country already divided along sectarian and ethnic lines well that's taking place in. provinces of the hawk. and. areas that are officially under the control of the kurdish regional government disputed areas outside it's of ministration claimed by both the kurdish government and baghdad also voting that includes the multi ethnic and oil rich province of kirkuk this is for the anger of the iraqi government which along with iran turkey and syria oppose the votes they fear an independent kurdish state in iraq could fuel further separatism among their own kurdish populations here in. the u.s. is also against the vote calling it provocative and destabilizing the u.n. has issued a similar warning and is refusing to monitor the vote let's take you live now to what. this vote is nonbinding how enthusiastically then peo

controversial referendum on the region's independence the president of iraq's kurdish regional government masoud barzani is among those who've already cast that ballots around five million kurds are eligible to vote turkey's prime minister says that ankara will not recognize any changes resulting from the referendum well the vote is underway in the provinces of to hook. areas that are officially under the control of the kurdish regional government disputed areas outside its ministration claimed by both the kurdish government and baghdad are also voting that includes the multi ethnic and oil rich province of kirkuk this is for the anger at the iraqi government which along with iran turkey and syria oppose the vote they feel. an independent kurdish state in iraq could fuel further separatism among their own kurdish populations here in orange the u.s. is also against the vote calling it provocative and destabilizing the u.n. has issued a similar warning that is refusing to monitor the vote let's take you live to bill in northern iraq. for us given the controversial nature of this vote in the fact that it's

this it appears we do now have the translation so let's listen to the kurdish regional president masoud barzani now and also the process of and felt campaign which has resulted in the one hundred eighty two thousand people that the majority of women and children their fate system and accounted for that was shared was the arab by his ation and force the fourth day sion the killing of two hundred to three hundred thousand faily young curt's and all that they were aged between twelve to thirty years old the genocide of a thousand birds on these the chemical going back one of her looked at that in few minutes because the i saw five thousand citizens the majority of them were women and children and most of you are with you have witnessed the footage is of those chemical buttons on atrocities. so you feel it. the peak. in two thousand and three that that stage of relation is was over and the new stage of relationship started in postbag three dream. with one that i think you told. me. to go in the democrat the. race lake you get ten. where you go on one with the. we had a lot of hope in this new iraq

the pressure on the k r g here on the masoud barzani the baghdad government saying that the k r g.-o. sorties have until friday evening to hand over control of the airports in the k r g all potentially face an international area and the government also saying that kayla geo sources should hand over control of their land borders their international land borders also by friday all neighboring countries would be invited to take control from them as well a big indication of just how much pressure is being put on the k r g i mean the build up to this it has been steadily getting worse it was only yesterday that following meetings with military officials the prime minister. said that those held responsible for causing what he described as chaos in this region would be held responsible i mean pretty much a blatant finger being pointed at masoud barzani. as well of course the kurds say and barzani says himself that they have a right to hold this held this referendum they say they feel very let down by the country p.t. promises made by the baghdad government towards negotiating a potential

people on the ground we do know that in the hope and it would be the traditional stronghold of masoud barzani and his k.g.b. party turnout was quite high we also know that there was quite a high turnout in the lab and insulin many here we are hearing actually conflicting reports i have to say i was there just a few days ago and you see none of the atmosphere you see here behind me which i've been going on for three days already people here celebrating even before casting their ballots whether none of that didn't eliminate the main political parties there coolly i guess the timing of the referendum not the idea of a referendum but just last night they actually came out and they told their supporters you can go and vote yes or no it's just a choice and you might have a bigger turnout because of that and worth stressing again hold on that this is a non binding referendum a yes vote doesn't mean independence right away if there is a yes vote so what would happen next if the referendum passes as expected. well it is a nonbinding reverendo even though when you speak to people for them it's a ready.

but kurdish president, masoud barzani, said that independence was the only way to secure safety for kurdse from the european union starts today. they'll be the first chance for the eu delegation to respond to friday's speech by prime minister theresa may, in which she promised to meet britain's eu budget commitments. she didn't give a figure, and some european politicians are demanding more clarity on this and other issues including the status of eu nationals living in britain. japan's prime minister is to hold a news conference at his official residence in the next few hours where he's expected to announce an early election in october. though polls show a lead for his party, reports suggest he may struggle to keep a two—thirds parliamentary majority. the us treasury secretary says america will do everything it can to avoid nuclear war with north korea. in a television interview, steve mnuchin also talked about economic sanctions and said president trump had authorised him to cut off financial institutions anywhere in the world that support north korea. i can assure you, the president's n

but even as he spoke, the kurdish leader, masoud barzani, was giving a defiant news conference.he risks of a new conflict in the middle east. do you accept whatever your intentions, there is a risk that this referendum will spark violent confrontation? either with iraq, or with your neighbours, or perhaps both? translation: we do not have any intentions, we do not initiate any violence and we don't expect that and we do hope also that the others will not think and initiate that. we will be very patient, because we do believe that violence is not going to add to any solution. 0n the contrary, it is going to complicate the situation. but it is plenty complicated already. these are turkish tanks near the border of the kurdish region. it is a military exercise, but also a clear message. turkey, which has a kurdish minority of its own, says the referendum is a terrible mistake. but the kurds believe the arc of history is bending their way. they say tomorrow's vote is about self—determination and democracy and, whatever the risks, there can be no going back. 0rla guerin, bbc news, nor

masoud barzani said it was only through independence that kurds could secure their safety, and promised carry out the result of the vote. and this extraordinary scene from the back of a moving train in perth has stunned australians. a man was filmed clinging on to the windscreen wiper with one hand, while the train moved at 110 km/h. local australian police detained a 23—year—old after the train arrived at the next station. you might think that donald trump has quite enough arguments going on, what with north korea and other global tensions. now, the us president has become embroiled in a row with leading us sports stars. several have refused to stand during the national anthem, as a protest against racism in america. the president has called them unpatriotic, and wants them fired. jon donnison reports. # 0 say, can you see... you might think only a fool would pick a fight with these guys, but president trump is not shy of punching above his weight. today, though, at wembley, by refusing to stand for the star—spangled banner, dozens of players defied him. it came just days after preside

anger in the kurdish region of northern iraq the president of the kurdistan regional government masoud barzani spoke at a rally north of erbil in the city of the whole. rejected our partnership not us if you have a look at the iraqi constitution it says the commitment to this constitution keeps the free unity of iraq we decided to live with baghdad but they didn't accept our partnership now they have to accept we will be good neighbors if they want to accept our partnership we won't be their servants turkey's president also voiced his concerns referring to his country's national security so you know. we will have a meeting with the iraqi prime minister mr a body in the united states and from what we can see our goal is the same our goal is not dividing iraq but now the northern iraqi authority is taking a step towards the separation of iraq. one source of tension is the disputed territory of coke cook which the kurds say belongs to them but is also claimed by iraq the kurds have been clear that the referendum will take place in part cook and have sent troops to the city but the local iraqi shi

masoud barzani said it was only through independence that kurds could secure their safety, and promised. more than 35,000 people on the indonesian island of bali have fled their homes, fearing that a volcanic eruption could be imminent. villagers from the foothills of mount agung have received medical treatment, while officials urged people to stay at least nine kilometres away. the authorities announced the highest possible alert level on friday. donald trump has become embroiled in a row with several leading us sports stars after criticising american football players who refused to stand during the national anthem. he also cancelled an invitation to the white house for the national basketball champions after one top player said he might not go. jon donnison reports. you might think only a fool would pick a fight with these guys. but president trump is not shy of punching above his weight. today, though, at wembley, by refusing to stand for the star spangled banner, dozens of players defied their commander—in—chief. it came just days after president trump had this to say. wouldn't you

it there's no point in doing so until kurdistan itself declares independence and the president masoud barzani made it very clear that the referendum would not immediately lead to a declaration of independence now every kurd knows and every israeli knows that there is a warm relationship between the two peoples that goes back a very long time in the one nine hundred sixty s. the kurdistan democratic party was supported by israel and by the soviet union in its struggle with the government in baghdad there's a significant population in israel of kurds who have their origins in the kurdistan region of iraq and israel of course welcomes the prospect of another democratic ally and of course. they regard their primary regional enemy to be iran so anything that we can zoom range an influence will be positively accepted by israel now israel has a long subscribed to a policy of creating facts on the ground in the occupied territories and when i listen to the kurdish president. speak it often strikes me how often he employs kind of fed accompli our argumentation is that just a coincidence any of you arg

result only a few minutes after the speech the kayleigh g president appeared on kurdish television masoud barzani invited in leaders of neighboring countries for dialogue but he remained defiant he said the wishes of iraq's kurds should be respected but . yes in the beginning we agreed on the constitution and partnership and the role of the kurdistan region in the establishment of iraq is very clear but you violated every agreement there is no need for anger and threats you have only yourself to blame. the results of the referendum on not binding but the kurdish president wants a mandate to push the baghdad government into negotiations towards independence for iraq's kurds. neighboring countries such as turkey fearful of the effect such a drive towards independence by the iraqi kurds could have on their own large kurdish populations have threatened sanctions and even not ruled out military intervention against the kayleigh gee. that seems unlikely at this stage but the referendum is certainly increased tensions across the region already struggling to deal with so many problems and when the battle

anger in the kurdish region of northern iraq the president of the kurdistan regional government masoud barzani spoke at a rally north of erbil in the city of. baghdad rejected our partnership. if you have a look at the iraqi constitution it says the commitment to this constitution keeps the free unity of iraq we decided to live with baghdad but they didn't accept our partnership now they have to accept we will be good neighbors if they want to accept our partnership we won't be their servants. one source of tension is the disputed territory of kirkuk which the kurds say belongs to them but is also claimed by iraq the kurds have been clear that the referendum will take place in kirkuk and have sent troops to the city but the local iraqi shia led militia says any ballot box will be seen as an act of aggression the international community also reacted brett mcgurk who is the u.s. special representative to the coalition said that this referendum would not be supported by the u.s. on the iraqis and the kurds needed to get together and concentrate on the fight against and that's also a view echoed b

that went from year to baghdad but those talks really reached an impasse and after that we saw masoud barzani very defiant saying well the vote will go ahead despite all criticism is just an opinion expressed by the kurdish people at this point and seeing all the rhetoric coming out of baghdad calling this vote unconstitutional also parliament asking prime minister body to take certain steps like deploying iraki forces to do so called disputed territories that took part in the vote yesterday all of that is something people here are monitoring closely and many would tell you they did expect that no one would accept this referendum especially in the region a lot of disappointment perhaps because of the reaction of the international community but these are going to be very very difficult times. thanks for the. now israel radio is reporting there's been a gala tack in the occupied west bank it's reporting a palestinian opened fire on three israelis near the heart of settlement near jerusalem a palestinian was reportedly shot will bring you more details on this as we get them the first refugees to

the kurdish president masoud barzani over the past few weeks is the finance that the vote will go ahead and no one can stop the kurds from this siding their own fate and their own future but certainly in new york they will be a lot of bilateral meetings we know that for example the turkish president eridu one is going to meet with the iraqi prime minister that will be the main focus of that conversation we know that probably prime minister body is going to speak also to the americans trying to have them put as much leverage as they can under kurdish region to stop this vote going at head and we also heard earlier late last week from the u.s. special envoy for the coalition against i said he was here and he was talking about about this referendum even according to some local reports put forward the alternative of ok you guys you can have your referendum but only in the kurdish regions as stated in the constitution of two thousand and five meaning that you exclude all the so-called disputed territories now those are for example aldrich kirkuk but also allowed a lot of towns and villages t

tough negotiations between the two sides especially that really just yesterday still president masoud barzani was holding talks with these various political factions some worried about the vote in the disputed territories trying to maybe cancel that at the moment in the end they all came out and showed a little show of unity and said that the vote will go ahead even in kirkuk which is maybe the most difficult place to hold that vote at the moment but after that they will be some political bickering for sure and talking about those disputed areas i mean you mentioned kirkuk that the demographics the the different blend of people that was one of the big issues and they've only just managed to say yes kirkuk will be part of this. well you had in this case which is the main one but you have a whole string of town and villages that the kurds have taken control of after the iraqi army pulled out in the wake of really the. ice now what is going to happen is that people in those disputed territory many of them live in camps because those places are completely destroyed when you speak to them they'll

defense secretary michael fallon is here in erbil where he is meeting with kurdish president masoud barzani he was earlier in baghdad and he said from there that he was coming here to try to convince the kurds to postpone the vote he also said that the u.k. was firmly against it at this point now this comes after earlier in the day the federal supreme court issued a state order cooling for the suspension of the referendum until it reaches a final ruling now this is actually an order that should be buying the forward to kurds even though shortly after the supreme court expressed itself a statement came out from the regional prime minister's office saying that the referendum was still going ahead but according to the do thousand and five constitution well the federal supreme court is the authority that rules in case of ethnic sectarian and regional political problems in this country and the kurds were fully part of the process of writing that constitution so they are at the moment at least publicly showing still that posture of the. whether there are some sort of negotiations going on between

parliament must now really negotiate with the kurds for a settlement to this issue president masoud barzani of the k r g has been very clear he wants this to go ahead this referendum to go ahead it's an interesting constitutional dilemma now though because backed out of voted and kurds are part of that it means that if they don't reconvene their own kurdish problem and somewhere around the fifteenth to take a vote on whether the referendum should go ahead on the twenty fifth fixedly puts them in challenge with the decision made by the baghdad polman so now all eyes are on the kurdistan regional government they need to reconvene polman they need to say that they want the referendum to go ahead if they don't do that then they're in violation of that decision made by the iraqi parliament now let's see what happens there all political factions here in the iraqi kurdish region they say they don't want the referendum to go ahead there is this campaign is called no for now meaning that they want the referendum to go ahead they will vote for an independent kurdistan but not right now they say that

purposes of one political party obviously hinting at the king of masoud barzani that said the ground movement told its people you can go and vote and make your choice whether you want it yes or no we also understand all this while all this is happening the threats from the neighboring countries seem to be coming true just today a few hours ago iran has announced closed its three land border crossings that come just twenty four hours after it has announced that it has closed its airspace for all flights to and from the could is region many people here would tell you they expected such moves from both iran and turkey and indeed even baghdad but at the moment they say they will enjoy this day for many the first step towards independence let's hear live now from two of our other correspondents in the region andrew symonds is in hubble and turkey on the border with iraq but first let's speak to charles stratford's who's at the the baghdad displacement camp in northern iraq even there then charles where people displaced from from their actual homes they're voting in this referendum. that's

know what no matter what he is we're going to handle it for a leave me iraq's kurdish leader masoud barzani has promised monday's independence referendum will definitely go ahead despite international pressure to stop it he says whatever the outcome the kurds will continue to fight alongside iraqi forces against isis i mean reports from northern iraq. on this she said the kurdish colors are flying high oil rich city is giving tours of the story. and self-determination even though it's not part of the iraqi kurdish region. the governor who made to push to take part in the vote against all odds i have the support of my people we feel it's the right time and they tell us you should engage in negotiations i think that's a good idea we have been doing it since two thousand and three with different governments after the fall of saddam hussein. and we really haven't. gotten anywhere. kirkuk is part of the so-called disputed territories it's also home to turkmen and arabs many of them say they will boycott the vote. there's increased ethnic polarization and it will be difficult to control once it s

unconstitutional referendum held in the k r g that we had a reply from the president of this region masoud barzani in a statement he said that the wishes of the people of this region should be respected not only by the baghdad government but by regional countries he said. were not the solution and he invited members of the baghdad government and neighboring countries to come to a bill for discussions to try and negotiate some sort of solution to this crisis meanwhile more threats from the baghdad government the cabinet saying that the k r g have three days to hand over control of their international airports here or they will face an international air in bargo we understand that domestic flights will continue it's highly unlikely we understand that the k r g will agree to these threats also the cabinet saying that again the k r g have three days to hand over control to border crossings land border crossings or neighboring countries will be invited to take control of those border crossings themselves so yet again we're seeing an escalation of the rhetoric from the baghdad government from neighborin

this was the final tie we hear from kurdish president masoud barzani before the reverend takes place on monday and he had some very harsh words for the government in baghdad he said the didn't you iraq because participated in building and went willingly to baghdad for back in two thousand and three turned out to be a crack take and think tarion country he said the kurds did all what they could they believed a key role in ratify the constitution back in two thousand and five but they did not get what they expected in return then he went on speaking about all the current problems with the central government in baghdad and he said that after the vote they will still be a time for negotiation that independence won't come on the next day and maybe it will take a year or two or even more depends on how good these talks with go but within minutes the prime minister either allowed by the gave us choice statement and he also didn't mince his words he said that baghdad when never accept the disintegration of iraq and that this referendum will lead actually to a creation of a racist and sick ta

that turkey has for example now the mood here remains defiant over the past few days president masoud barzani has held rallies and he has said very bluntly that the referendum will go ahead because the alternative put forward by the international community mainly the u.s. the u.k. and the u.n. is actually not clear enough is not is not binding enough in the sense that. it. is to postpone this referendum until after the iraqi general elections are to be held in two thousand and eighteen but i think it would be would like to get a assurance guarantees from baghdad that after that it will go. had with this referendum now at least ten iraqi soldiers have been killed in an isolated hack in the country's west that happened near the jordanian border and province two car bombs exploded at a military barracks near the city of by a large number of isis fighters are believed to have been killed by iraqi military air support following the attack. a convoy of eighty turkish armored vehicles as arrived at a crossing on the border with syria moving into opposition controlled areas and side syria to create s

national unity but the governor of kirkuk insists he won't leave his post and the kurdish president masoud barzanihas also condemned his removal. twenty three people including twenty one teenage boys have died in a fire at an islamic boarding school in the malaysian capital kuala lumpur the five blocks the only exit to the dormitory which had its windows covered in metal grilles u.n. children's fund is calling for new foss eighty procedures to be established and enforced in all nations schools. two more random muslims have drowned making the crossing from man mount to bangladesh bringing the number since the start of the crisis to eighty eight and died when a refugee boat heading for the town of tech nuff capsized thousands of minority revenger a still flooding into bangladesh almost four hundred thousand of fled since the minute she cracked down or launched a crackdown three weeks ago after a range of fighters attacked a number of police posts. there's the headlines to stay with us up next it's inside story of news after you off to that scene a bit by for. catastrophic and completely unacceptable

of its own so it does rely very heavily on oil from this region there have been moments where masoud barzani has visited istanbul and met with with the one the president of turkey and they both leaders have had a visit convivial relations to the very least this is putting a drain a strain on those relations so this is very much a warning from to say that the independence referendum should not go ahead and the whole idea of self-determination and nationhood is a worry for ticky as well because it's been fighting a low level on and off insurgency against the p.k. k. within its own territory that's a kurdish group kiddish turkish group within the within the borders of turkey since the eighty's now this means the president or the one is very concerned about any knock on effect that an independence movement has hit on territory that turkey controls and that's a real concern for him so this is likely to be a ratcheting up of the diplomatic language already they cut the text of womanhood saying this isn't the time to go forward with all of this we need a much more planning if you're going to have a

of masoud barzani that said the ground movement told its people you can go and vote and make your choice whether you want to yes or no respect forces in syria say russian warplanes have struck their positions and are as or province the syrians in a crowd of forces say they were targeted near a natural gas field which they were taken from isis fighters japan's prime minister has called a snapshot of all election next month opinion polls show strong support for shinzo obvious conservative l.d.p. party and its strong stance against the nuclear missile threat from north korea indonesian island of bali has declared a state of natural disaster with seismologists warning of volcanic eruption is imminent or have been hundreds of tremors around the area of kong tens of thousands of people have been moved to temporary shelters or so the headline news continues now to zero after india's lady cops keeping her. why. barber and when i'm home. so you mean the border the hang on. that's you know make me the league of their. vision mamdani out or do it all of it. and why you. i say he prepared me will be

but the president of iraq's kurdish regional government masoud barzani is insisting the vote will go ahead he says officials in baghdad have failed to live up to the promises they made to the kurds. and they have been continuing in threatening and humiliating now people the state the we agreed on should have been a state based on citizenship federalism pluralism multiculturalism and democracy but unfortunately the state we have right now in iraq is a theocratic sectarian state. well correspondent hoda abdel-hamid has more now from the capital of the kurdistan region will. this was the final time we hear from kurdish president. before the reverend and takes place on monday and he had some very harsh words for the government in baghdad he said the didn't you iraq the kurds participated in building and went willingly to baghdad for back in two thousand and three turned out to be practical and think tarion country he said the kurds did all what they could they believed a key role in ratify the constitution back in two thousand and five but they did not get what they expected in return th

only a few minutes after the speech the kayla president appeared on kurdish television masoud barzani invited l.-a body and leaders of neighboring countries for dialogue but he remained defiant he said the wishes of iraq's kurds should be respected but . yes in the beginning we agreed on the constitution and partnership and the role of the kurdistan region in the establishment of iraq is very clear but you violated every agreement there is no need for anger and threats you have only yourself to blame the results of the referendum on not binding but the kurdish president wants a mandate to push the bank dad government into negotiations towards independence for iraq's kurds. neighboring countries such as turkey fearful of the effect such a drive towards independence by the iraqi kurds could have on their own large kurdish populations have threatened sanctions and even not ruled out military intervention against the kayleigh gee that seems unlikely at this stage but the referendum is certainly increased tensions across the region already struggling to deal with so many problems and when