Waiting 20 kilograms heavier than his title rival and just what saudi arabia is getting ready to host the middle east and the heavyweight championship fight. Ok we begin in iraq where theres been a dramatic escalation of violence in whats already been a chaotic 2 months of antigovernment unrest an attack by unidentified gunmen on protesters in baghdad killed at least 23. 00 people raising new security concerns they stormed one of the main protest sites in Killarney Square on friday night less than 24 hours after that attack gunfire has again been heard in the capital on saturday sending people running for cover and what appears to be a related event sources close to the prominent shia cleric. Say a drone has dropped a bomb on his home in jaffa his party says he wasnt there at the time he has been a backer of the antigovernment protests which have swept across the country. Lets get more now from correspondent dosage of body he joins us from baghdad door so as to what happened to those home what else do we know well we know that this drone was armed and that attacks this compound in that province in the early hours of the morning now we believe this is in response to how the souther campaign responded to the call by the demonstrators late last night when they came under attack by unknown gunmen the protesters have been speaking to us they said that they want to protection from these armed men but nobody was helping them so that is when there are southers camp try to and sent in their armed wing and thats when this gunfire ensued between the 2 sides weve been told that this battle took place over 45 minutes just north of there here square and claimed already over 20 lives but this attack on the souther compound in the province is being seen as a retaliation for that response that the federal souther campaign had to the demonstrations and the protection they were trying to provide them and is this feeding into existing tensions on the ground. Yes certainly this is not going to be helping the situation any further along its going the going to make things worse this is exactly what the highest shia cleric in iraq grand are told society had warned against just on friday saying that the demonstrators cannot let divisions make things worse that they shouldnt besides within the peoples voice who are trying to demand change within their government system they dont want just new elections or a new Prime Minister but they want a complete overhaul of the countrys electoral process and the other point that we need to mention is that the current grand ayatollah also pointed to the fact that there can be no foreign interference in the process thats going to be unfolding in iraq there has to be a process that is only about the iraqi people for the iraqi people and by the iraqi people hinting at the fact that the americans and the iranians presence in this country is not helping the situation thanks very much ok well stay with her story and well drill down into it a little more over the next couple of minutes lets talk. Hes a researcher at the university of exeter he joins us on skype from london. Who do you think who would want to launch a drone attack on such a prominent cleric. I think early indications suggest that its a perhaps an alliance of the other. Factions who are more closely linked to iran thats not to say that most of the souther isnt going to get on probably i think currently there right now however these factions often have kind of intro family familial conflict and if we go back to for example the early 2000 there was an operation in basra designed to force the mehdi army out as called operation charge of the knights the mehdi army being knocked to the sudden as militia in basra the time they were forced out and that was an internal conflict so between these rival parties there they each control their own militias and they each have arms coming in from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary guard corps and sometimes that forces for example Major General us and so they may need to step in and force them to come to the table and to calm down so i think its likely to be another i. R. G. C. Proxy that set up this attack ok lets talk about the deaths last night and overnight who was responsible for that do we think. Well i mean from what ive seen been a number of attacks and the perpetrators were carrying flags for the Popular Mobilisation forces. The shabby this probably means that again these are closely aligned to the prevailing system in iraq a political system of the human heart as of the compression isnt and also the way that the system is currently run now so these are vested interests in making sure that the protesters demands go unmet and its worth bearing in mind as well that the vast majority of those protesting are actually from the arab demography so that demographic itself was a core supporter and you know kind of the electorate electoral base of these she has not just parties who are linked to iran many of them so its very very dangerous situation right now and its clear that something has to be done to ensure the safety of protester lives and i dont think that the recent u. S. Sanctions against senior iraqi shia militia figures go far enough to do that ok if the situation is dangerous is it more dangerous than it was say 36 hours ago because of the perpetrators of the gun killings last night when the government to do a u. Turn the governments already taken the 1st step will certainly the Prime Minister has taken the 1st tentative step towards giving the protesters what theyve been asking for for weeks and weeks because he tended his resignation. Well you had that is ready resignation but i mean as your reporter pointed out the main issues not just one politician or another taking the position of Prime Minister its about reforming groups and branch the entire iraqi political system which is based on you know and theres a lot of nepotism theres a lot of corruption theres a lot of foreign interference as ayatollah sistani said from both the United States but predominantly from iran so these concerns are always going to remain the protesters know that if they go home now then its unlikely that theyre going to achieve anything further so the kind of you know how can i say is going to kind of an olive branch i suppose from the authorities isnt being taken seriously the resignation of the Prime Minister wasnt taken seriously which is why theyre staying in the protest sites and which is why theyve not escalate the violence against them so what i believe is going to happen here if this continues it could actually cause a civil war and this is something which is you know its going to be unbelievably bloody and on par in terms of the loss of life with the war against eisel just a couple of years ago this is something that needs to be avoided and thats why these political issues need to be addressed ok we must leave it. In london thank you. The u. S. And iran have exchanged prisoners in a swap facilitated by the government of switzerland the iranian government has released a chinese american g u r who faced spying charges after being detained in 2016 now in exchange the u. S. Has released an iranian scientists must sued the money who flew back to iran with foreign minister Mohammad Javad zarif thats a big is live for us here on the news in tehran with more on this evolving story or horse the backstory to how we got to where we are with this prisoner swap. Well from into divides reve has been talking about a possible swap for a while back in september he had said they had offered an exchange of prisoners but it had to be for an iranian he said that as foreign minister he couldnt just go to the courts here in iran and ask for the release of sure where want that it had to be for an iranian that uranian was the Stem Cell Research of prominence themselves a researcher mohammed so the money that he was detained last year in october at a u. S. Airport and accused of violating u. S. Sanctions and seeking to transfer a growth hormone to iran without a license not sure one was a student hes a student american citizen and he was detained back in 2016 accused of espionage found guilty in 2017 and sentenced to 10 years here in iran now at Princeton University where she where one is a researcher his wife and the u. S. Government maintains that he was here for Research Purposes here to study the dynasty now why has this happened now well this comes at a time of increased tensions with iran the United States and its allies theres been protests here in iran we dont know how many people have been killed human rights organizations say its over 200 United States president on a trance that is thousands and also theres sanctions the u. S. Sanctions that have been hitting the iranian economy hard and that this could be a way of iran showing the world that they are willing to negotiate and talk but they have to be treated with respect and met halfway and thats exactly whats happened here foreign minister divides reeve tweeted out that he was glad that both men would be reunited with their families and the white house protest statement saying thanking the swiss but also saying that theyre flying american citizens is of the utmost importance and vital importance to Donald Trumps administration ok so this is being seen by the authorities into iran as something of an olive branch so i guess the the obvious key next step is will it be seen as an olive branch on the part of the u. S. Government and the trumpet ministration in washington. Well thats a difficult one because the United States has not treated iran with much respect from the iranian perspective they pulled out of the nuclear deal unilaterally put out the 2015 nuclear deal in pole sanctions on iran they want iran to curb back on his Ballistic Missile program but also the europeans have also country United Nations accusing iran of violating a u. N. Resolution and saying that theyve been listed missile tests tests violated those resolutions so iran is in a difficult position they but they want to stick to their guns they want to negotiate with the United States but on the condition that those sanctions are lifted so what they are saying to the United States now is look weve released this prisoner because youve met us halfway and iran is willing to do the same terms of negotiations but if the United States removes those sanctions against iran. Thanks very much. Ground still to cover for you here on the news hour including education under occupation is really for sues move against students in the occupied west bank. Force officer training at a u. S. Naval base shoots dead 3 classmates. And in the sports news well hear from formula one World ChampionLewis Hamilton whos just got his hands on this trophy for a 6th time. Syrian coast guards have intercepted another boat carrying migrants and refugees a surge of people are making their way along the socalled western route to europe 64 died when their boat capsized on weapons day 80 managed to swim to shore. Im a doll joins us live now from the mauritanian coast mohammed so another boat cept to tell us more about that and how the situation is being handled where you are. Yes that boat was intercepted yesterday in a location thats about 200 kilometers from where i stand now its called in and it is north of the cops on the workshop 192 migrants were on board that boat they included 11 women and 2 children all of them safe and in good health. Medical tests have been run there by the authorities those people have been holes in that location until this morning and they have been moved so the cops dont like such a long with those who are also escaped from the disaster of the last couple of days near this place all of them have been moved by buses to the cops on the rocks out and theyre going to be sent back to their countries senegal and gambia later today according to the sources that told us this this morning foreign media is being denied access to the migrants is that perceived as being slightly unusual any was the understanding as to the reasoning behind that. Thats right we have been trying to access the migrants and the facilities and the accommodation and everything that has been taking place during the last couple of days and the authorities denied access we understand and some people here are so. I understand that this is unusual never been like this before this is a humanitarian story and every side wants to show how much care and how much importance they give to these sunned what kind of help is provided i. O. M. The United Nations organizations are here the local authorities. The understanding is that probably because this is a this has been one of the biggest incidents here in the in this area for the mauritanian authorities they have been overwhelmed suddenly and the response to that has been a bit problematic to them and they dont want to be exposed to the media some people speculate about probably the facilities where not to deep to host these people but also some sources said no they have been well hosted by the organizations in coordination with the mauritanians however this is unusual and people here i mean its it gave it gave. It gave rise to some moments about something being hidden by the authorities particularly the fact that these migrants those who died have been buried very hastily in the city often people who are expected to be those people expected to be sent back to their countries to be buried there but didnt top and mohamed thanks very much. At least 7 Kenyan Police officers have been killed after the bus was attacks close the border with somalia the kenyan president says gunman from the Group Al Shabaab stopped the vehicle on remove crude but in the tons of wood and monday in june 8 Police Officers were killed in a similar attack in one county. To syria now where at least 10 civilians have been killed in russian and Syrian Government air strikes they targeted 2 villages in the province of idlib is the last remaining rebel held area in syria around 25000 syrians have fled the province in the past week alone due to an escalation in regime airstrikes the taliban and u. S. Negotiators have resumed talks aimed at ending the war in afghanistan the u. S. Delegation said renewed discussions in qatar will focus on the quote reduction of violence that leads to intra afghan negotiations and a cease fire in September Donald trump abruptly stopped talks just as both sides did appear close to signing a new deal well thousands of afghan workers and refugees are leaving iran every week because of a dire Economic Situation there caused by u. S. Sanctions for some afghans the desperation to work now outweighs the dangers they once ran away from tony burke he reports now from the islam colored Border Crossing between iran and afghanistan. Getting a job in iran provided a lifeline for many afghans crossing the border was both and a skate from fighting between taliban and Government Forces as well as from u. S. Airstrikes. But the afghans couldnt escape the u. S. Sanctions which are crippled the iranian economy many have left because of hyperinflation. Prices for food have doubled and its hard for us to find the jobs its hard living in iran because our wages lost so much value in the price of basic things increased a lot and its difficult to survive here. At the iran afghanistan Border Crossing point at islam color really 500000 afghans are returned so far this year adding further to the overstretched resources of aid organizations coping with the countrys internally displaced at one point it was an estimated 3000000. 00 afghans in iran half of them illegally those who are caught without identification documents are deported even unaccompanied children. Said and i think. Attention for your family isnt for you have is the fact they did 40 of. Them in our area and you are an example of this child. Those without papers could be treated harshly. The police hit me with an electric rod and i fell into a ditch i was not able to move my leg but there are no jobs in afghanistan so i will try and go back when my leg is better can ali is one of the desperate he is heading to iran even though times there are hard but he is the sole breadwinner for 12 family members and something is better than nothing. I know it is expensive in iran but if i understand there is hardly any job and those that its only a few dollars a day thats not enough you cant family. Afghans are having to make stark and often life changing choices. Afghans may have been suffering economically but at least they were safe in iran theyre now returning to a country that is dangerous and highly unpredictable and once again their futures are far from certain Tony Berkeley out a 0 islam karla Border Crossing between iran and afghanistan. To india and a rape victim who was doused in petrol and set on fire has died b. 23 year old was attacked on thursday whilst on her way to court to give evidence against her alleged assailants she told police 5 men beat and stabbed her before setting her on fire in the Northern State of pradesh families demanding similar treatment for her attacker as the accused in the hyderabad rape case all 4 suspects accused in that case was shot dead by the police on friday accords directed the police to preserve the bodies in order to properly investigate the killings the Police Shooting is being condemned by human rights activists but praised by many in india until for a sense the lease is cases of rape have intensified frustrations across the country. Even a very angry there are several protests that have been organized in several cities across the country have you seen the similar anger similar protests back in december 2012 when a girl