Hello im Maryam Namazie in london youre watching aljazeera also coming up kenyas Opposition Leader shocks the nation announcing hes withdrawing from the rerun of august election. Wildfires rage across california killing at least thirteen people and destroying entire neighborhoods. And greeks are given greater rights to choose their own gender identity a government vote has divided opinion. Spains Prime Ministers called an extraordinary Cabinet Meeting for wednesday morning off to catalonia as president signed a symbolic declaration of independence. As binged among told the Catalan Parliament the region had the right to become its own state but he did fall short of declaring actual secession saying he wanted talks with spain first john holl reports from boss alone. He arrived at the Parliament Building bristling with expectation a heavy Police Presence hinted at the weighty announcement to come but carlos president of catalonia is Regional Government stopped short of a full declaration of independence. As president its my responsibility to declare that catalonia should become an independent state in the shape of a republic. Should become the words greeted with rounding applause in the chamber before the independent state party was put on hold. We asked the parliament to suspend any effects of the declaration of independence so that we can have dialogue and so that we can find the necessary solution we need to lower tensions and show our will and commitment to meet the demands of the catalan people the reaction in madrid came swiftly and this course not kato your present day that the speech that the catalan president has made today is a speech by a person who doesnt know where he is where hes going or with whom he wants to go the government cannot accept that the catalan referendum be validated because its been suspended by the constitutional court. Having consistently refused to talk one centrist politician suggested the time may have come for the government to compromise i think the better way they can solve the problem is with that negotiation some kind as i said of mediation. A disappointment perhaps to some staunch secessionists tonight would be their night but sweet relief to many who fear the consequences of an upright declaration of independence after threats from madrid and the flight of Top Companies from catalonia since the referendum on october the first. Place that you dont regret was losing the faithful who gathered to watch the speech on the big screens left deflated but accepted that all was not lost im happy that hes given us time in order for people things we really dont understand whats the situation what does it mean what the president just said so a signed declaration but independence deferred which demands speech stipulated no timeline for talks with madrid the drama of catalonia is independence that has played out in this Parliament Building for nearly one hundred years isnt over yet jonah hill aljazeera barcelona. Kenyas president says the rerun of august president ial election will go ahead in just over two weeks time despite the Opposition Leader with a drawing from the race announcing the move. Would give the Electoral Commission enough time to introduce reforms to help deliver a more credible vote Catherine Sawyer reports from nairobi. Well into. The. Unprecedented times in kenya the only other kind of data expected to be on the ballot paper for the Election Rerun late in the month has pulled out. His not Opposition Coalition say they will not participate in a poll they feel is predetermined one where the same individuals and companies that oversaw the last election are still in place. For. Almost a foldable. Going to have to. Have a big liberal to help them. In this battle. Over themselves with the people ok. Weve got a new world of hurt. Believe that all reversed. But judging from the bench in front of the liberals did you. Talk. To. Opposition supporters have been staging demonstrations against the Electoral Commission. And calling for elektra forms commission official say some of the opposition demands are and reasonable and there is simply no time to implement them the political situation in the country is worrying many im afraid of what fellas i think have moved on i am a strong feeling that. Theyve accepted that peace is. This and that. In order to go in a conflict that. People would accept that and. Already. Everywhere that this tension everywhere. Kenya is in uncharted territory politically and constitutionally the law isnt clear on what happens in a situation like this the constitution does not envision an eventuality where no reelection is held within a sixty day legal timeline which expires at the end of the month lawyer save no election is held by the deadline there will be a constitutional crisis president who has been busy campaigning he says hes ready for an election with all without trial. Should he be declared the winner in induced anyway then the legitimacy of his presidency will inevitably be questioned many kenyans are fearful about what the political grandstanding between the two sides is doing to the country tensions are high the economy is struggling the country is very much in limbo catherine aljazeera Nairobi Kenya the death the death toll from wildfires raging around california has now risen to at least fifteen went up by high winds and dry conditions the flames of destroyed as many as two thousand houses businesses and wineries. And inferno in the California Wine country multiple blazes burning out of control in the northern part of the state we were. Just actually decent just basically if. I could put one of these people. More than twenty major fires are burning with nearly thirty thousand hectors already scorched its being called the worst fire event in twenty five years thousands of homes and other buildings have been destroyed including a hilton hotel that burned for hours in the famous napa valley wine country carefully tended vineyards have been reduced to ash at the senior allo winery even the wine bottles were blackened and melted by the heat at least twenty thousand people have been evacuated from nearby communities including patients at two hospitals california Highway Patrol helicopters searched for people trapped on roads with no way to safety making more than forty rescues the fires sprang up quickly fanned by winds gusting up to eighty Kilometers Per Hour and aided by extremely low humid he knew these kind of conditions the rest is just a stream of new stars and thats what happened last night and this morning the plan thats going online to have these explosive missions in Southern California a major blazer erupted in the hills above anaheim home to the disneyland Amusement Park and winds are very unpredictable the fire can create its own environment its own weather pattern so it it it varies so what we do is is weve been doing a fire dance or fall or fire following throughout the day as the fire moves forward we move with it meteorologists say the winds have begun to die down giving hope that thousands of firefighters can get the situation under control rob reynolds aljazeera los angeles. Well lets go live now to jake award whos in santa rosa in california and quite incredible scene surrounding you seems to be uttered devastation just shows a bit more of that neighborhood yes sure merriment it is a devil suit community here in santa rosa this is really a tourist mecca people come from all over the world to. Enjoy. This to this is a fair. And. I would use for that but were trying to establish a line there with jacob ward he is in the city of santa rosa this is a northwest california and actually quite remarkable images that weve been seeing on google imagery just showing the extent of the devastation there near a local park and a school and actually the neighborhood was one of the areas where a forced evacuation had to take place but when you just take a look at this before and after shot you can see theres just barely anything left this is a neighborhood thats been reduced to rubble and that we can get back to jake award is in santa rosa for us jacob sorry about that we did get cut off but please tell us more of what youre seeing what youre witnessing there sure. Positivity here is really one of the great problems of a fire like this that the local systems shut down very quickly and so as a result the not only was this place just devastated by wildfire and the fire was incredibly intense people were taped. You can see here people are had to not only abandon their homes but in some cases their vehicles because cell towers came apart and as a result of the Text Messages the people rely on to give each other warnings give each other information were gone the air here approach fifteen hundred degrees celcius the point steel and as a result to sixty. Devastation almost everywhere you go not just homes and cars were destroyed but fundamental infrastructure sewage lines the fundamentals of traffic lights all of that seems to be destroyed sort of from block to block so as you go from one place its a very normal scene of sort of suburban covered california life and then another scene it is absolutely raised and so this really a its just a very surreal scene of devastation here in northern california. All right jake thank you very much just giving us a sense of the devastation and the damage as a result of wildfires there in santa rosa and northwest california. One of the worlds biggest cholera and United Nations campaigns is underway in bangladesh in response to the range of crisis nine hundred thousand doses of the vaccine and been prepared to protect new arrived refugees and local communities mama june reports now from sheffield cuts a refugee camp in cox is bizarre. For these or hinder refugees whove been exposed to so much violence and who still dont feel safe this is an attempt to at least keep them healthy. A massive Cholera Vaccination Campaign led by bangladesh is a ministry of health and supported by groups like the World Health Organization and unicef the goal is to vaccinate six hundred fifty thousand people during the first phase many in this makeshift camp are happy its happening but say far more needs to be done. Funny little water is too far away thats a problem and people are suffering there are just too many people here and thats why its so do everyone is getting seen. More than half a million refugees have fled from me and more to bangladesh in just six weeks at the sheffield like cut to camp the signs of overcrowding are everywhere. Aid workers worry that extremely and hygenic conditions in camps like this one could make an already awful situation even worse which in turn could lead to a full blown Health Crisis among the many causes of concern are thousands of diarrhea cases reported and treated just in the past week and when you see like thousands of people are suffering from the idea that actually gives you an indication that the locked us up life situation as well as lessening titian situation is not in good shape and if we dont react if we dont think the preventive measures things may go really wrong. Shortages of food water and shelter all indicate how dire things have become recently and we have just talked with a number of people and among nineteen out of them ninety percent have said that theyre leaving on a one man party so the situation is really bad but everybody here down here is working really hard to make that humans. With very little clean water at their disposal life which is already hard only gets harder especially in such severe heat good obama made sure she and her children were vaccinated but that has done little to lessen her worries. Now that after home there are very few toilets here in a period of three to five days it becomes full and unusable it stinks and not there are too many people here we can live without eating once or twice a day but we cant live without being able to use the toilets struggling to survive is nothing new for these refugees and its likely their struggle wont end any time soon im a gentleman dizzy into at the shop you like qatar refugee camp and coxs bazaar on the dish. Still to come for you this half hour voting has wrapped up in liberias president ial election where the choices included a former rebel leader a warlords exwife and a football star. Also why deep seated inequality still exist in u. K. Society today. With. With. Hello there weve got a lot of showers over australia at the moment and actually a fair amount of thunder and lightning mixed in with those showers as well the whole system is gradually edging its way towards the east and its bringing us some heavy downpours as it does so so so expect to see some damn pours in Alice Springs and for adelaide there on wednesday and then if the system sweeps its way east with its going to turn a fair amount cooler behind it so one thursday then adelaide will only be getting to seventy matching the temperature were expecting in melbourne at least here its dry that rain will be working its way through parts of New South Wales and just about making its way into bryza been there for the west generally a lot quieter hipper twenty two degrees as we head across towards new zealand a thing fairly miserable so far this week but things will improve lots of cloud lots of rain already thats trying to clear away and behind it things are beginning to clear up its still going to be quite windy during the day on wednesday but even the winds will ease as we head into thursday and then most of us will have a following day on thursday there should be a good deal of sunshine around as well now further north there is a lot of rain here and some of it very very heavy is galloping its way away from the Korean Peninsula edging its way eastwards heavy downpours expected in the northern parts of japan there on thursday but still lots of clouds still expected to follow it. With. Oh east the rain forest of the sea we continue on our current way we wont have whole race within twenty thirty forty years from now so youre essentially trying to recreate the ecosystem but under controlled conditions the nice girl is so isabella still has a chance for the decline of the Great Barrier reef is still sizeable but were going to start mail and we need to get everyone behind the solution ted no this time on hold as iraq. Welcome back a quick look at the stories making headlines this hour catalonia as president has signed a symbolic document declaring independence spains Prime Minister has called an extraordinary Cabinet Meeting on wednesday to discuss the response. Of kenyas Opposition Leader raul or dangerous shock the country by withdrawing from an upcoming rerun of the president ial election set to take place later this month and wildfires in the u. S. State of california have left at least fifteen people dead and more than one hundred injured. Well now polls have closed in liberias president ial election which is expected to be the countrys first democratic transfer of power in more than seven decades twenty candidates seeking to replace Ellen Johnson sirleaf it became africas first female president in two thousand and five after a brutal fourteen year conflict from monrovia might address reports want to know it africas first female president Ellen Johnson sirleaf just spoke to tuesday. The Nobel Prize Winner is standing down after sending two terms. At this polling station the process was largely orderly. But another centrist tempus flap as the process began the situation in this polling scenting painesville delayed the casting of ballots for hours. And he queued up for two hours but says she was turned back at the ballot box. They said i cannot vote so i was here for hours i went to one place where i was redirected to another they dont want me to vote i will go home. Johnston gave a man living with disability cast his vote but was not impressed with the arrangements and one of the genes i want to see change in public Buildings School buildings the disabled people to enter easily we should have access and be part of decision making. The Election Commission said it has worked hard to address most of the complaints the result today i think i should have my all preparation though we have i want to two. Problems but the successes of a women and i think we are heading for success hundreds of those of us also deployed for the vote. Liberians are passionate about this election to choose a new president and seventy three legislators people queued up for hours before polling stations open. These elections are not only about who will succeed Ellen Johnson sirleaf after years in power now also about things like. Roads Health Care Education and building upon the existing plans but whoever wins this election will also have to work very hard to unite liberia still divided by the war and by the politics of the last one year. President ial candidates will need more than fifty percent of the vote to weed outright some of the of a say a runoff may be required. Monrovia the u. S. State department is offering a seven Million Dollars reward for the capture of to hezbollah officials in an effort to crank down on the group the Lebanese Group has been designated a terrorist organization by the us in their award is being offered for the head of hezbollahs external Security Organization and a top military operative a state Department Official said the people of iran is suffering as a result of that Government Support for the organization. The u. N. Special envoy for yemen has accused the countrys war need is of refusing to end the fighting because they dont want to lose their wealth or their power last week a United Nations report said both the Saudi Led Coalition and who it caused the deaths of hundreds of children but the air raids are still going on as are some reports. The site of what used to be mohammeds home brings back painful memories. This is where three members of his family died in the near strike but i want. All of a sudden i heard the air raid the house was hit by rocket it was totally destroyed shelling continued to rush my family home where i saw my mother she told us her house was hit my father my brother and sister were killed their bodies were torn into small pieces the house was reduced to ashes if you look at it now youd never think a house once stood there. Not many people can afford a house in hard to many here are displaced from the war and live in wooden structures which barely protect them from the elements this village is close to the saudi border we are fighting between progovernment forces and who the rebels continues is the same area where their strike at a refugee camp killed more than forty people. About there had the fighter jet targeted by neighbors home he was a fisherman came home with a small catch not even worth two dollars he asked his son to go get some water he started to prepare said breakfast with his children but they were taken by surprise the house was shelled by a wall about seven thirty eight and i morning by the time we came the house was destroyed it was reduced to ashes we couldnt even find a trace of a body. Its not a unique story as the Saudi Led Coalition has continued to dog to the rebels since two thousand and fifteen. And many more than ten thousand victims of the war have been civilians as more words are used to describe a manmade crisis which has resulted in the worlds worst cholera outbreak malnutrition and famine like conditions. Many yemenis have already lost all of what little they had. Out of their. A report from the British Government has found deep seated inequalities in all sectors of u. K. Society Racial Disparity and it was started last year by a Prime Minister to reason made to examine how people of different races and backgrounds are treated in britain today or brannan reports. In the eighteen nineties Charles Booths maps of the rich and poor areas of victorian london showed the glaring inequalities of the age but more than a century later at a round table in downing street britains Prime Minister admits that inequality remains endemic nationally employment rates are higher for white people than ethnic minorities but the gap between the two in the north of thirteen point six percent is significantly wider than that in the south at nine percent black caribbean children are excluded from school at least three times at the rate of white pupils but chinese pupils excel at Primary School with seventy one percent reaching the expected standard for reading writing and math or though just thirteen percent of white roma and traveller children achieve the required grade. The newly collated statistics confirm that in almost every aspect of society a persons racial and economic background profoundly affects the opportunities and treatment they receive its not a reverse racism in vats people are saying i dont want to black person working for me but its more of a subtle things around ok with person have a right communication skills teresa mayes Racial Disparities orders had been due to report its conclusions in july but then in june came a tragedy which turned the widespread concern about Equality International outrage. The ground for tough are. Almost eighty people were killed and in the midst of recriminations about cost cutting and social housing a shocking reality emerged that in one of the u. K. s richest boroughs the numerous safety concerns raised by some of its poorest residents had apparently been ignored or dismissed by authorities to some i doesnt need to do an o. T. On rice look at your south and how you treat and try and work out why you do that rather than constantly coming in and doing all day its what lives are like because our lives will only china if you china if you treat us differently. Britains Prime Minister has echoed that call and demanded that if disparities cannot be explained they must be changed better data should mean accountability and reform but Charles Booth probably also thought that a century ago paul brennan aljazeera london violence has broken out between police and Public Sector workers in france who are striking by the labor of forms members of the nine unions were protesting against president emanuel microns plans to streamline the Civil Service the reforms will allow employers to hire and fire workers more easily and enable companies to negotiate directly with employees that were working conditions. Now some news from greece where the Coalition Government has voted to allow people to change their gender identity without medical treatment a bill became law by a narrow majority it allows people to make their choice on gender from the age of fifteen but the move has divided Public Opinion in greeces Johnson Office reports from athens. Russia has felt trapped in her male body since she was thirteen her family reacted by throwing her out on the street where her life began to unravel. I wanted to study astronomy i never got the chance i was rejected and thrown out of schools because of my appearance because of a transgender person i was denied the right to education and to follow a career i would love after that i had no choice but to prostitute myself in order to survive its the only choice i was given routine things like withdrawing money from the bank called boarding an airplane are all deals for rafaela because her name and appearance differ from the information on her i. D. Card other transgender people at this protest outside parliament faced similar problems problems the new law will now solve last april the European Court of human rights broke new ground when it ruled that a legal change of gender should not require surgical sex change or sterilization in other words Sexual Orientation should be determined by how a person feels not by their genitalia greece is one of twenty European Countries where the law was in contravention of that ruling but the new law is controversial too because it will give people the right to determine their own gender at the age of fifteen Greek Society is strongly family oriented which reinforces traditional gender roles and it is ninety eight percent of the dogs which means that the church is opinion carries weight for the church agrees we understand the right of each and every person to be different to feel different to be however this is completely different from the legal imposition of being different as the dominant social norm child psychologists agree. When people search for that broader identity who am i what i my goals what is my sexual interest but this doesnt mean that everyone has found. Sexual orientation by the time the fifteen its too early to say that a child has settled this issue. Has already recognized same sex marriage and says transgender rights also have to be upheld but its political opponents say this bill is a cynical attempt to cultivate nonvoters in view of future elections people like rafael or dont care about the politics though they will rejoice to be able to board planes and perform banking transactions jumps are open aljazeera athens. Has more in everything were covering feature stories and of course analysis that takes you behind the headlines. But look at the top stories this hour spains Prime Minister has called an extraordinary Cabinet Meeting on wednesday morning after Council President signed a symbolic declaration of independence. And said the region had the right to become its own state but fell short of declaring actual session from the rest of the country thanks. As president its my responsibility to declare that catalonia should become an independent state in the shape of a republic we asked the parliament to suspend any effects of the declaration of independence so that we can have dialogue and so that we can find the necessary solution we need to lower tensions and show our will and commitment to meet the demands of the catalan people. Kenyas president says the rerun of the president ial election will go ahead in just over two weeks time despite the Opposition Leader raul midon go with drawing from the race the dentist says his withdrawal would give the Electoral Commission enough time to introduce reforms to help deliver a more credible election present a hurricane yet or was declared the winner of the aug eighth vote marking protests. Wildfires in the u. S. State of california have left at least thirteen people dead and more than one hundred injured or than two thousand homes and businesses have been destroyed in the Northern Wind producing region meanwhile in southern parts five thousand homes have been evacuated as fire crews struggled to control the blaze moshing is wrapped up in liberias president ial election the first democratic transfer of power in seventy three years Ellen Johnson sirleaf is stepping down after two terms in office the Nobel Peace Prize winner was africas first female elected head of state twenty candidates are taking part in the poll including former football star george weah. And the u. S. State department is offering a seven Million Dollar award for the capture of to hezbollah officials Lebanese Group has been designated a terrorist organization by the us or award is being offered for the head of hezbollahs external Security Organization and top military operative. Youre up to date with all of our top stories thats it for myself and the team here in london but there is much more news coming up from daryn twenty five minutes time after techno which is next. We understand the differences and the similarities of cultures across the world. So no matter where you call home aljazeera will bring you the news and Current Affairs that matter to. Aljazeera. Coral reefs of the rain forest of the sea prize for their beauty and resources the world over. They are also one of the earths most fundamental ecosystems threat to Climate Change and no place better symbolizes their importance and their plight