In iraq there has been a dramatic escalation of violence in what has already been such a chaotic 2 months of antigovernment protest there was an attack by an identified gunman on protesters in baghdad that killed at least 23 people and raise new security concerns they stormed one of the main protest sites in Killarney Square on friday night and 24 hours after that gunfire was again heard in baghdad sending people running for cover and in what looks like a related event there are reports one home was hit by a drone strike but the Influential Shiite cleric is said to have been away at the time is in baghdad and says the violence is likely to continue if no action is taken by the government. It certainly complicates things in an already very complicated country we heard from the president who has called this attack a cowardly act by criminals and we also know that there has been a call for parliament to hold an emergency session on sunday with various heads of security apparatuses in the country to try and get to the bottom of what actually happened and also discuss the attack on the southern compound in the province this is something the highest authority cleric grand ayatollah sistani had been warning against specific lee in his sermon on friday to not have these kinds of divisions created within the protesters in the demonstrators they know there needs to be one united voice when it comes to trying changing the changes that they actually are demanding that is an overhaul of the complete the electoral system in the country so this really makes things much more complicated and there is a real sense of worry here that unless the government does something immediate the this can only make things much much worse to have the news in the u. S. And iran of Exchange Prisoners in a swamp facilitated by the swiss government the iranian government released the chinese american who faced spying charges after being detained in 2016 in exchange the u. S. Released the iranian scientist so many who flew back to iran with the foreign minister mohammad serif a u. S. State Department Official says he is hopeful ones release is a sign iran is willing to come to the table to talk about all issues. In teheran and says the prisoner swap has been in the works for a while. Foreign minister divides reeve has been talking about a possible swap for a while back in september he had said that he had offered 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 iranian 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 now sure one 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 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 dentistry the f. B. I. Has detained 6 Saudi Nationals for questioning in connection with the deadly shooting at a u. S. Naval base in pensacola florida on friday Mohammad Saeed al shaab rania was a military member in training at the site he killed 3 of his fellow students and injured at least 8 before he was shot dead by sheriffs detectives are investigating whether the shooting was an act of terrorism more from mike hanna in washington on the profile of the gunman. Law enforcement officials have not formally confirmed to the detention of a number of Saudi Nationals but it is being reported in a number of sources now certainly there are many questions to be answered about this killing a series of killings not least the motive of the gunman now the Site Intelligence Group reports that the gunman had actually put a will up on the internet shortly before the shooting happened it also says that he had tweeted support of asama billard in and had expressed his outrage about the u. S. Policy the current u. S. Policy on the middle east and on jerusalem in particular so many questions now as to what were the motives for this particular shooting what is known about to mohamed are from rami is that he was a 20 year old Saudi National he went to the Pensacola Base back in august 2017 for a 3 Year Training Program so he has been there for a period of time but another very important fact or possibly important fact is that the Site Intelligence Group reports as well that his twitter account has been in existence since 2012 now the fact that he is 21 according to several reports indicates that this twitter site has been in operation for a long period of time so as i said f. B. I. Now investigating its got agents in riyadh as well cooperating with saudi authorities but theres a long way to go to establish motive in the 1st place. In india there have been more demonstrations against violence towards women after the deaths of 2 rape victims. Dozens joined a flash mob in new delhi chanting a protest song against rape torture on friday a rape victim who was set on fire died of her injuries in an old state of wood to pradesh she was attacked while on her way to court to give evidence against. Her alleged assailants and then the 4 suspects accused of rape and murder in hyderabad they were shot dead by a place on friday and a court has directed the police to preserve the bodies in order to properly investigate the killings. Tells us now that people feel the Justice System has failed them. Apologies for that didnt quite have an inch of errors reports there but what you were seeing was syria at least 19 civilians killed including 5 children in russian and Syrian Government air strikes they targeted 2 villages in the province of idlib the last remaining rebel held area in syria around 25000 syrians fled the province in the past week alone because of an escalation in regime airstrikes several bushfires in australia have now combined into a single socalled mega fire strong winds a stoking the blaze north of sydney and in New South Wales 6 people have been killed and around 700 homes destroyed during weeks of unprecedented profits this report from the moment. The giant inferno is spreading in bushland and forest across large areas of New South Wales emergency crews are battling to controlled more than 100 fires as the flames burned into the night they formed what firefighters are describing as a mega fire destroying several homes and scorching 300000 hectares of land firefighters say they cant cope but notice what for the next minute theres a 30 minute fly morris i mean. Highlighting the dangers facing emergency crews a water bombing helicopter crashed while trying to douse the flames the pilot survived. Thousands of firefighters are battling to protect communities and wildlife with many australians forced from their homes who are all covered in ash and you just had to. Australias bushfire season started early this year its considered the worst on record fueled by drought soaring temperatures and high winds the smoke is going. On. Communities that far away so far are significant the fallout is extraordinary australias largest city is shrouded in orange skies many weekend Sports Events are cancelled in sydney and doctors are treating many patients struggling to breathe just over the last week we see a 25 percent increase in the number of people presenting to our Emergency Departments with us and breathing problems thats an increase from an average of about 900 to just over 1100 people dozens of firefighters a flown in from canada and the us to support emergency efforts temperatures are expected to rise of a 40 degrees in the coming days and the summer heat wave is set to continue for weeks rain is the only thing that could bring some relief to sydneys 5000000 people. Coast guards in mauritania have intercepted another boat carrying migrants and refugees increasing numbers are being spotted on the socalled western route to europe in the Atlantic Ocean at least 64 died when their boat capsized on weapon state more than 80 managed to swim ashore but unlike previous cases foreign media have been denied access to my home and is in. March. There has been a lot of speculation as to why that. The mauritania authorities have in the past been very cooperative with the media they even invited the International Media and the local media to see how they treated the migrants i saw the n. G. O. S the u. N. Agencies of every interest in showing that they are dealing in a very good way with his migrants they that situation now the new situation the reason and the lack of access for the media has given rise to some speculations about why this time around this issue is in has been blocked from the eyes of the International Public speculations talked about but that perhaps the facilities were not up to standards when those people suddenly. Showed up on the shore but also the authorities here and the ngos are saying that thus not the case are the speculations you know also given rise to because these are the people who died were buried very quickly with coordination between the 3 countries mauritania senegal and the gambia they want to buried outside the city in a matter of they are even less than. Not clear why this time around they are being secretive about it. A 3rd successive day of nationwide strikes in france is causing weekend travel chaos public transport flights hospitals or disrupted again protesters around the area president emanuela from his plans for Pension Reforms the government insists the strikes there wont stop the changes from happening in the news ahead education under Occupation Authority forces move against students in the occupied west bank. Im Catherine Sawyer the home of the royal drums. Ill be telling you about a culture that has been going on. However whether its set fire across much of china at the moment in largely 2 into the philippines places a little more clout there in between the 2 but generally the fair weather friday might catch one or 2 light showers into type one over the next day or so but as you can see the suns pretty much out every 19 cell just there for hong kong could well touch 21 as we go through monday and as you say but it dry and 5 across a good part of the philippines most central southern parts could catch one or 2 live shows as is the case 2 to those central areas a vietnam much of indo china is looking dry and sunny and a good deal of dry weather now central areas of india down into the south the showers somewhat fewer and further between them they have been recently we got some wet weather still coming into southern parts of through sunday and going on into monday but for the most part it does loot dry a little more clout the up towards the northwest of in the public cloud so into southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula could ever see want to be showers around the u. A. E. Pushing to the east the side of oman down to the south or towards the gulf of aden where we still have some very heavy rains to link him with the old Tropical Cyclone and the showers set to continue here a couple of days. The shocking treatment of disabled people in Eastern European state run cabs in these cages who cannot have access to a toilet or water and the bureaucratic indifference to their plight she has his hands and his fates tied to the bed 5 years off to fast highlighting such abuses people in power returns with a 2 part investigation to continuing mistreatment and neglect europes recurring shame hard won on aljazeera. Youre with al jazeera and these are the top stories this hour more gunshots heard in baghdad after 23 people were killed overnight and reports to the home was hit by a drone strike the shia cleric is said to have been away at the time. The u. S. And iran of Exchange Prisoners in a swap held helped by the government iran released an american held on spying charges while the u. S. Released a scientist accused of violating trade sanctions and f. B. I. Agents are questioning 6 Saudi Arabians in connection with fridays shooting at the u. S. Naval base in Florida Air Force officer Mohammad Saeed. Killed 3 students training with him before he was killed. Donald trumps delayed his plans to legally designate drug cartels in mexico as terrorist groups u. S. Attorney general william was in mexico city on thursday to discuss Security Issues the president s plans declaration follows the killing of 3 women and 6 children they reveal us mexican nationality in an ambush in northern mexico. Taliban and u. S. Negotiators are resume their talks aimed at ending the war in afghanistan the u. S. Delegation says renewed discussions in qatar will focus on the reduction of violence that leads to intra afghan negotiations and then a cease fire. But thousands of afghan workers and refugees are leaving iran each week because of the dire Economic Situation caused there by u. S. Sanctions for some afghans the desperation for work is so bad about ways the dangers they once ran from in their home country only berkeley reports 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 have 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 one point it was an estimated 3000000. 00 afghans in around half of them illegally those who are caught without identification documents are deported even unaccompanied children. They denied. Attention for your families and for you this stuff they did for your. Family are in your heart and i come from this truck. 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 than ali is one of the desperate he is heading to iran even though times there are hard but he is the sole bread winner for 12 family members and something is better than nothing. I know it is expensive in iran but if i understand it is hardly. Only a few dollars a day thats not enough 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 aljazeera islam call a Border Crossing between iran and afghanistan. The israeli army is accusing the occupied west bank most Prestigious University the reset of being a Recruitment Center for what it calls terrorism dozens of students are currently in israeli jails and while the university denies the accusations are told are busier they fear more raids are to come around with this report now from the occupied west bank. A 1st glance at present university looks like an ordinary campus that could be anywhere in the world thats because it is the university in the occupied west bank goes about its daily business but the Israeli Army Says its far from ordinary and that this campus is a Recruitment Center for what it calls a terrorism and incitement to violence according to his latest video. Since the beginning of 2964. 00 students have been arrested in total 80 students are in jail the vast majority have yet to be convicted this video from march 2018 shows Israeli Special forces arresting students on campus a gun point the students currently awaiting trial on charges of activities relating to the hamas islamic bloc which is the student wing of the Political Party the University Fairs more israeli incursions and more students arrests from our long. Experience with Israeli Occupation whenever they launch a campaign. Of this information about the university it means that they are preparing for a campaign awful pressure and increasing going to stick sions on the education process in the palestinian territories especially because it university. Because it does pride itself in encouraging students to take part in political life and fight the occupation by israel using the old means. Because a university has been subject to harassment and raids by the israeli army for decades now because of the occupation is very difficult the visiting lecturer is the com