Is al jazeera. Also coming out the leader of the Iraqi Kurdish region is stepping down as he defends his controversial push for secession. Marching for unity hundreds of thousands of people rally in barcelona to protest against catalonia tearing independence. And being heard the Global Online campaign against Sexual Harassment takes to the streets in france. Says the countrys behind the gulf crisis trying to force a change of leadership. Was speaking to the u. S. Television Program Sixty minutes this countrys been living under a blockade for almost five months since four arab states cut diplomatic and economic ties michaela reports from washington. There was no sign of friction. Among gulf leaders when they met President Trump on his first foreign trip it was all smiles and a common pledge to combat terrorism in all its forms yet less than two weeks later the blockade against qatar was launched much to the surprise of carters emir shaikh bin. We were praising each other. Laughing with each other this cussing you know how to solve this terrorism that is a threat for the rest of the world they are making demands of you that you shut down aljazeera that you may give them your word that youre not supporting any Islamist Groups are you going to meet these demands our sovereignty is a red line we dont accept anybody interfering our sovereignty when you tell me to close a china like aljazeera history were right one day in fifty or sixty seventy years how it changed the whole idea of free speech in the region do you believe that they want regime change yes they one they want a regime change its obvious history as well tells us teaches us that they tried to do that before in one thousand ninety six after my father. Became the emir of qatar has denied any support for terrorism. Offered this explanation as to why the taliban was allowed to open an office in doha the reason why they came here its not because we asked them to come here because other people like the United States america United States wanted the taliban here they wanted to have dialogue so they asked us if we can host them here and have the dialogue so that we host of them here this is the reason why theyre here how what they say and we want to turn and believe me charlie we want to turn. But nothing is going to be about our dignity our sovereignty but we wanted to and i almost say that if they get no walk one meters toward me and willing to walk ten thousand miles towards them but maybe left to others to persuade those continuing the blockade to take that first death mike hanna aljazeera washington was so much a heart is an associate professor of middle east studies at the university of oklahoma he says the emirs interview shows theres no softening of his countrys position. I think that certainly the emir was speaking directly to the American People going well beyond the government and Rex Tillerson the secretary of state making the appeal to the American People that this is unjust and so on i think his claims about sovereignty which he made in an earlier in dress over the summer are not new i think what he did show determination and that and the claim that this was about regime change which we wish we all knew from the very beginning i think also is a toughening of stance as it were all of us knew from the very beginning that the saudis and the emirates hes behind these new directions would have loved to bring about regime change and in fact there might have been a military possibility in the first couple of days and they also miscalculated thinking that the cuts every people would somehow rebel against their governments after the ending of formal relations and so on none of that happened so this was about regime change but see here the emir say that it was a bit startling so i think this was a serious attempt to address the American People and also the kind of educated classes and so on and i think its also important to point out that in addition to his determination and his top stance he did offer a leaf or a possibility as you mention with this claim but he said its said twice in the interview that hes willing to go ten thousand miles if they are willing to come one meter so in addition to determination there was also a claim that we are that qatar is moderate and reasonable and willing to find a reasonable solution to this crisis you know all bahrains foreign minister is calling for qatar to be frozen out of the regional bloc the Gulf Cooperation Council college but i dont have the phone has tweeted that bahrain one to attend the upcoming g. C. C. Summit unless consomme meets the demands of the train and the three other blockading nations. The president of the Kurdish Regional government in iraq is stepping down he says he wont stand for reelection his term in office and just two days time he was the driving force behind last months controversial kurdish referendum on succession which the Iraqi Government dismissed as illegal from a bill to stephanie deca. An independent kurdistan was supposed to be his legacy and yet it seems to have led to his downfall a somber looking mustard better than a finally addressed the people directly on sunday night after relative silence for weeks. According to the law the president s camp extended by the Parliament However i inform the parliament and i will not extend my term i will not accept any amendment in the law to extend my term as president supporters of the president gathered outside parliament they managed to get into its grounds despite the presence of riot police at the entrance opposition media was attacked and these men also asked around for the names of critical opposition m. P. s but it didnt disrupt parliament which after hours of talks approved the redistribution of president ial powers among the Government Parliament and the judiciary. After twelve years as president come wednesday by design he will take some lot of the back seat he remains head of the k. G. B. Party and hell still lead the High Political Council a body created to deal with the post referendum phase and he said he will remain what he called the highest rank especially references to the peshmerga featured heavily in his televised address last saturday darts in the fight against isis the clash mirka showed great bravery the people of kurdistan showed defending spirit the International Community came here the role of the peshmerga the people of kurdistan but unfortunately at the time they had to show action they all went back to their own interests and all the principles disappeared you also referenced a kurdish proverb saying again we realize that the kurds only have the mountains as our friends but you also mentioned the betrayal over losing her cook in reference to fellow kurds in an Opposition Party at the end of his address president must food but is that the kurds to be unified theyve always been internal divisions here but the aftermath of that controversial referendum seems to have widened those cracks in kurdish unity could perhaps be the biggest challenge in the short term Stephanie Decker aljazeera. A seventh round of talks on syrias ongoing war is due to begin in kazakhstans capital in the coming hours a key outcome of the talks and i stammer so far has been an agreement on deescalation zones in certain areas it laid out the areas where rebels and Government Forces should hold hostilities including air strikes for six months although no one includes it province as well as northeastern parts of the takia Western Areas of aleppo and northern parts of Hama Province more than a Million People live there the rust on them to be set on klav in northern homs forms part two and eastern time the northern damascus countryside is home to about six hundred ninety thousand people its part of zone three in the rebel controlled south along the border the jordan which includes parts of dead and can atra are in zone for. Well despite the deal and the escalation zones theres been no end to the fighting imran khan has more on what to expect at the meeting in a stop. So the flags out for the various delegations are going to be arriving here in stana on monday and tuesday for the seventh round of talks now the sixth round of talks took place in september where there was a major breakthrough for deescalation zones agreed upon within syria and places like the taqiyya homes and lives now those deescalation zones to some degree say the russians the iranians and the turks with a guarantee guarantor story all of those deescalation zones however others say that clashes have taken place now the russians say that theyve been fighting groups like hates t s a crawl a sham and isis fighters now the observers that actually civilians have been caught in the middle of those clashes now in the next couple of days we are going to see talks taking place between those three guarantor countries russia turkey and iran are also going to be saying talks take place with the Syrian Opposition and with representatives of the Syrian Government also here are the United Nations and the United States now thats going to be interesting because Rex Tillerson has in the last few days the secretary of state said that he wants to see independent verifiable elections take place within syria but he doesnt see a role for the assad family doesnt see the outside family having a political role of any kind in syria so thats going to be an interesting conversation theyll take place between the americans and the syrians if they actually do sit down and talk so a lot of talking going on in the next couple of days lets see what happens but its likely that were going to see some sort of movement on these deescalation zones and whether they extend the deadline for the deescalation zones to last longer than the current six months not twenty six syrian hostages who escaped from i still have received an emotional homecoming in humps there among seventy people abducted by the armed group almost ten days ago when the syrian army and proGovernment Forces regained control of al qaeda attained some hostages are still missing syrian Authorities Say eisel kill more than a hundred people in a Revenge Campaign before that pushed on the town. Hundreds of thousands of people have rallied in barcelona calling for spain to stay united the protesters say they have a sonnet majority who dont support that and has been for independence some way even dividing the rest of the council on the. Other simmons reports from barcelona. Two days after the vote to break from spain and for anyone who wondered how strongly those opposed to the move feel then is the answer i they call for the jailing of carlies police drama and they describe themselves as the silent majority you couldnt find silence in the center of barcelona this sunday in sound square the seat of power for a Regional Government has been sacked by the state it was tense and a small number of pro unionists pushed against barriers in front of the Government Palace overall it was a peaceful protest though the crowds cheering the Spanish NationalPolice Helicopters that provoked anger when overflying procession demonstrations for those who say catalonia should stay in spain this day belongs to them aside for a stranger people here whats striking about it is the number of people who are actually demonstrating for the first time this is a family day out luis a column a and two of her daughters were reticent about its a bit. Like you wouldnt normally do people would literally in the street i watch out whatever i dont know like i wouldnt feel comfortable doing it because of that. To be quite. The kind of hate crimes people sometimes. Says unionists on not extremists they are less people theyre not right were not fascist im never in the social splits it would be maybe two generations three generations. In a neighborhood nearby some of the session campaigners are working out their next moves and the mood isnt celebrated. This man says the movement is losing momentum because the Regional Government is spending a weekend doing little while the madrid government makes all the moves and he isnt alone we have plenty of confidence in our president. But its very difficult Vice President at this very difficult for us to understand rights in their own mind most of the campaigners here say theyre prepared to defend public buildings if the police try to arrest politicians with institutions all returning to work on monday their plans could soon be put to the test Andrew Simmons aljazeera barcelona. Also to come here and i just. Dont think. That message for the u. S. President is the head of the Nuclear Watchdog visits iran. And from the cabinet we examine the new growth industry and the lebanese that are in that state. Bit wet and windy weather on its way across the eastern med to the levant at the moment the most active stuff from satellite is up over turkey heading towards the caucasus but ahead of it the winds already picking up and focus for us were knocking temperatures back to the low twentys the cloud will pick up you know if i was forced to run in passing shots which may well get as far north as the far north of iraq in the next day or so but mostly concentrated and im still north twenty don degrees is the forecast in baghdad but got to get to choose day for that thirty two down in kuwait has been a bit of a drop but two rounds was to see the sunshine throughout iraq which is still true throughout the Arabian Peninsula the temperatures still low to mid thirtys on this side low to high thirtys further west but nothing hitting forty youll notice but an onshore breeze in miamis increase humidity in salalah maybe a bit more cloud even the potential for a shower running off the horn of africa is a facet of yemen but most of the rain africa is concentrated still in the tropics and thats curling dions here im going to botswana its tailed off and eastern side of south africa and mozambique where recently weve seen wet weather but in two days itll be ready to speaking dry and warm. In the most heavily country in the world if theres any country that would be experiencing p. T. S. D. It would be a nation thats been at war for for generations aljazeera externals the reason those drones are there is to assist the innocent civilians they exist in even theyre not firing is them frightening because any moment think im living the dream. This time aljazeera. Welcome back a quick reminder of the top stories here on aljazeera. Told a u. S. Television Program Sixty minutes of the countrys behind the gulf crisis want regime change this countrys been living under a blockade for almost five months after a four hour countries cut ties in june he says he never saw it coming. The president of the Kurdish Regional government in iraq is stepping down. Was the driving force behind last months referendum to secede from iraq voted to distribute his powers between itself the government and the. Thousands of people have rallied in basle of spain to stay united is the biggest show of force yet from the socalled silent majority who dont support independence but some are even arrest. Kenyas Opposition Leader has branded the president ial election a rerun man called for a new poll within ninety days. Church leaders and supporters in the capital as a country remains in political limbo but the poll was marred by violence and a low turnout of just forty three percent of the dough has more from nairobi. Theres little doubt president two who headed for lunch when after thousands election was boycotted by the opposition but his shrunken electron monday. Time out continues to tarnish the credibility of a process. Opposition leader leading the company to describe it. I think. Is a bizarre it is. I think elections. In the turnout. From. Kim. We said. Three point five Million People. But it printed in the so called addiction. Custody. I was on the bottle of and boy has declared that he will play no part in the run up to the repeat tell action but didnt get demand of the Electoral Commission make reforms that he believed necessary to avoid previous mistakes that did not happen the Election Commission has promised for now so one voltage will take place in twenty five constituencies and was then kenya where Security Fears and violence prevented polling from taking place with voting incomplete its unclear whether the commission would wait or declare victory. Its violence between cannot time rain a supposed is the cosmos kenyans consigned in nairobi scalding water still some members of canal to. Stand over the remains of their houses and shops of time i took clashes with the biggest supporters. Both sides were armed with machetes my voice and other crude weapons whats taught that the violence is disputed with each side blaming the other yet wolf like knowledge the thing is its a place its bought Kenyas Deputy president says theyre willing to hold conditional talks with the opposition we cannot engage in any discussion outside the negro or from work on the constitutional provisions that fix