tom bateman, bbc news. since the island legalised same—sex marriages. taiwan is the first place in asia to allow gay people to marry. rachel stanton reports. music. celebrating in style. the island has long hosted the region's largest pride marches, but this year, there is a difference. music. taiwan will now allow same—sex couples to get married. it is a first for asia, as same—sex marriages are not legal in other parts of the region. since the law was changed in may, more than 2000 couples have taken advantage of this. translation: we hope everybody can understand that gay people are around them. they are your neighbours, families and friends. we can all be good neighbours and march together. despite this change in the law, the lgbt community says further steps need to be taken. translation: marriage equality's the beginning. it's not the end. we have to keep pushing for many other issues, including international gay marriage recognition, parental and adoption rights, as well as surrogacy. and most import

our middle east correspondent tom bateman has the story.ousands. they chanted for freedom, they demanded jobs and an end to corruption. in the southern city of nasiriyah, a group of protesters tried to storm the house of a local official. at least two people died in the violence. in the capital, baghdad, security forces were ready to protect the green zone — the fortified area that hosts iraq's parliament. protesters blame a political system put in place after the us—led invasion of 2003, when government jobs were handed out on religious and ethnic lines. they say it has impoverished the people, but enriched their leaders. "these are my brothers," this woman said. "if i don't protect them, i can't protect my country." more than 50 people died in clashes yesterday as security forces used live ammunition to break up protests. today, they buried the dead. it's the second serious bout of violence this month, with the government's handling of the demonstrations only fuelling more unrest. iraq's prime minister, adil abdul—mahdi — in office for on

tom bateman, bbc news.and in the rugby world cup final — and the rest of today's sport — here's lizzi greenwood—hughes, at the bbc sport centre. yes, reeta. it's less than 12 hours until wales take on south africa in the second semi—final at the rugby world cup, and the tantalising prospect of a possible place in the final. patrick geary has been following the build up. ijust want i just want to wish the boys all the best for the match. if they could, an entire nation would give wales their team hope, one message. good luck to the welsh boys over the weekend. win and this rugby mad country were playing a world cup finalfor country were playing a world cup final for the first country were playing a world cup finalfor the first time. country were playing a world cup final for the first time. the trophy is in sight, a golden prize at the end of a golden era. i have two games to go as the welsh coach and i really wa nt games to go as the welsh coach and i really want to enjoy those last two games and there are

tom bateman, bbc news.in japan, leaving at least ten people dead.the chiba and fukushima regions, have been badly affected — with a months worth of rain falling in half a day in some areas. the prime minister, shinzo abe, said the authorities were doing everything possible to help people in the affected areas. it comes just weeks after typhoon hagbis left almost 80 dead and caused widespread damage. millions of people in california, face having their power cut — as the emergency services continue to battle two rapidly—spreading wildfires in the state. 50,000 people have already been forced to leave their homes, and a state of emergency has been declared in two counties. angus crawford reports. through smoke and flames, help from the skies. emergency services at either end of the state tackling wildfires driven by 70 mph gales. wine country north of san francisco under threat. everyone evacuate! the fire's coming up! everyone evacuate! and fear further south in santa clarita. 50,000 residents forced to evacu

tom bateman, bbc news. pinera has promised to lift a state of emergency that's been in place in several cities after widespread protests about living standards began a week ago. he said the emergency decree would be revoked at midnight local time if circumstances permitted. with me is our americas editor, leonardo rocha. so the state of emergency, just tell us so the state of emergency, just tell us why it was put in? it's been a week, seven nights of violence in chile, and it all came unexpectedly after the government announced a hike in the public transport fares in santiago, the metro, the underground fares. but there was a lot of discontent about inequality in chile, which is south america's richest country. but many believe that only the wealthiest, the wealthy elites of chile were benefiting from that. so we have an unexpected sequence of events, 17 people killed over that we, and what the government has announced now as the government has announced now as the curfew being lifted from overnight in san

but his ideology and thousands of his ardent followers remain. 0ur middle east correspondent tom batemany syria border and has sent this update. 0ne resident who lives in a town in this province close to the border with turkey told us that they saw helicopters and jets, a significant operation there. the uk based wool monitoring group said that helicopter gunfire targeted a car under house in that part of the province. they said nine people were killed in that. we have no independent confirmation of who was the target of that operation, because we know that the white house has said that president trump will make a major statement later on sunday, and he tweeted, saying something very big had happened. amid all that, us media have reported that the target was abu bakr al—baghdadi and that he was killed. if that is confirmed, it will amount a significant blow to the ah —— islamic state group. it is only a few weeks since an audio tape emerged of abu bakr al—baghdadi, in which it was purportedly hidden calling for the women, the wives of alleged islamic state fighters to be released from ca

tom bateman is there.he mentioned corporation of turkey. do you have met any idea of what turkey might or might not be able to do but so might or might not be able to do but so might we certainly have extremely vivid account from president trump of that special forces operation flyover territory which he repeatedly referred to as the most dangerous part of the operation. he said they had to fly over us with of territory in syria here which included that's controlled by russian forces, by turkish forces and repeatedly talking about the strength of firepower that those airborne troops had to potentially come into contact with. he said that they didn't apart from some limited fire that he believe not to be from any of the main players. he described it as individuals who didn't like helicopters flying over them. they said the town they did that fire. as for that cooperation he repeatedly talked about different countries and specifically fight people stop you had a us president thanking syria, thanking russia a

occasions in the past. 0ur middle east correspondent sent this update. 0ur middle east correspondent tom batemanrder. what more are you hearing about the persistent reports that abu bakr al— baghdadi has been killed? what we do know is that there was a significant military activity in that particular area of the province. we spoke to one resident close to a nearby town said that late last night they saw and heard helicopter gunships. there were jets, and also they reported some troop presence on the ground. now, this is the precise area where us media has reported that american special forces to took place in an operation. they reported he was killed. we have no independent confirmation of that other than to say, of course, president trump with that tweet last night saying something very big it happened and the news that the white house said it will make a major statement later today but of course if those reports are confirmed this would amount to a hugely significant blow to iis after having lost the last remaining stronghold in syria early this year. how big a deal would it be if he was dead?

the snp have joined forces in an attempt to trigger an earlier poll. 0ur political correspondent tom batemanelection like the one borisjohnson wants is to be held, in normal circumstances, you need a two thirds majority in parliament. that can't happen without labour's support. this proposal would see the parties changing the law to set the election date. that only needs half of the mps and so could happen without labour. just in the last hour or so, jo swinson, the leader of the lib dems, has been setting out how the proposals would work. i haven't spoken to borisjohnson, but i think the challenge is absolutely on him. because if he is serious about wanting an election, and if he is genuine that it's about having an election before christmas, then he can back this bill. because the other problem with his plan is that it leaves the ability to set the date of the election down to the prime minister. he says the 12th of december, but, i mean, this is a man who is prepared to say anything. he doesn't do what he says. the advantage of this bill is that it enshrines the date in the law, and we kn

our correspondent tom bateman is on the turkey syria border, tom, what do we know?d, very few details from president trump, just alluding to a big news event. what more do we know about what this could be? well, i think the fact the white house has said there will be a major statement later today is suggestive of the fa ct later today is suggestive of the fact that there has been some kind of operation to target militants in northern syria. now, us media is reporting that the target in question was al—baghdadi, the leader of is, and some outlets suggesting he was killed in that operation. but thatis he was killed in that operation. but that is yet to be confirmed. the bbc has spoken to one local resident in the town of samada, just close to the town of samada, just close to the turkish border, just inside syria in northern italy. he said they saw helicopter gunships and troops on the ground, sealing off a major area in what appeared to be a significant operation there. if the news is confirmed by the white house later that al—baghdadi was targeted in this raid, and

we can speak now to our middle east correspondent tom bateman, who joins us from the turkey—syria bordert‘s the latest? well, i think the fact president has made the tweet you talked about there, and also does the white house is saying a major statement will be made later today suggests the target of this reported operation is the islamic state leader. us media is reporting that there was a raid near the town of samada, very close to the town of samada, very close to the turkish border, inside syria in the turkish border, inside syria in the province of italy. some us media are reporting that al—baghdadi has been killed, but that is yet to be confirmed. now, according to those reports, there were us special forces that rated a convoy of militant leaders. the bbc has spoken to one resident in the town of tweet who spoke of hearing helicopter gunship fire and seeing troops on the ground, and major activity in that area. but at this stage, those details are quite sketchy. as i say, they are yet to be confirmed. this would obviously be major news if it we re would obviously be major news if

our correspondent tom bateman is on the turkey syria border and sent us this update a short time ago.ne resident who lives near this assyrian town close to the border with turkey told the bbc that late on saturday night they saw helicopter gunships and jets and described what amounted to a significant operation there. meanwhile a uk group has said that helicopter gunfire targeted a car and a house in that part of the province. they said that nine people we re province. they said that nine people were killed in that but we have no independent confirmation of who was the target of that operation because we know that the white house has said that president trump will make a major statement later on sunday and he tweeted, of course, that something very big had happened. us media have reported that he was the target and that he was killed. it then uses to be confirmed it would amount toa then uses to be confirmed it would amount to a significant blow for the eis group after the last couple of yea rs, eis group after the last couple of years, which has seen its last remaining significant re

our middle east correspondent tom bateman is in turkey near the syrian border. have been getting the most extraordinary level of detail about the raid, not least of course from president trump himself who gave vivid detail in his account of what had happened. he said that al—baghdadi was cornered, effectively, into a tunnel. that is where he detonated his suicide vest, also adding the three children were in the tunnel at the time but were also killed. it has to be said that he, in his account, described al—baghdadi as whimpering and crying. the us media has also asked the us defence secretary about that particular detail. he said he didn't have any details of that himself and other officials have been suggesting they would have been no sound on the drone footage that mr trump had watched. some elements perhaps called into question but more broadly, we had last night kurdish y pg malicious who are active across the border in northern syria here who mrtrump the border in northern syria here who mr trump thanked for their role in the intelligence and that al—baghda