When p.r. And w. When p.r. 81 merit in at 90.5 w p k t n w p k t h d one Norwich at 89 point one w w f m Stamford at 88.5 w.r.i. Southampton at 91.3 and w. When p.r. Dot org How about 4 hours g.m.t. Welcome to the newsroom from the b.b.c. World Service I'm Ben planned calling for calm the Iraqi government retake the city of Kut kook from Kurdish fighters but the u.s. Urges them to settle the dispute through talks we have had for many years very good relationship with the Kurds as you know and we've also been on the side of Iraq even though we should have never been in their 1st place we should never have been there we don't like the fact that they're clashing in Syria the u.s. Backed Syrian defense forces say they've retaken rocket once the stronghold of I asked these militants a fled that's a problem because there's some of them managed to come to Europe there is some of them in France and Germany and Britain managed to escape and come to this country as though at any interception from security forces because their numbers are sound and an investigative journalist in Multan has been killed in a car bomb near her home there were people who were not happy with what she was writing or where you're going to but I strongly really know it was because of her embassy and this is the b.b.c. World Service. Hello I'm here in a MacDonald of the b.b.c. News the u.s. State Department has called for calm after Iraqi government forces seized the northern city of Kirkuk a nearby oil fields from Kurdish control armored vehicles moved into who can Monday in advance that took less than 24 hours Peter Bowditch reports a spokeswoman for the State Department said the United States was calling on all parties to coordinate military activities and restore calm earlier Donald Trump speaking at the White House said we don't like the fact that they're clashing He added that the u.s. Was not taking sides the State Department said it supported the peaceful exercise of joint administration consistent with Iraqi constitution Washington arms and trains both Iraqi federal forces and the Peshmerga the Kurdish forces to fight Islamic state militants. U.s. Backed Syrian democratic forces say the former Islamic state stronghold of Raka is now under its control with only a few dozen militants remaining near the National Hospital and stadium fighting is reported to have stopped inside the city and the s.d.f. Says its forces have retaken name Square where i-s. Once held public executions. Further Street protests are expected later across Catalonia today after 2 leading separatists were detained on the orders of Spain's high court has already Sanchez and Jordi coup shart are both suspected of sedition against the Spanish state they are the 1st senior independence campaigners to be jailed since the Catalan independence referendum earlier this month which the Spanish government considered illegal before he entered detention Mr Sanchez called for permanent protest until an independent Catalonia was realized amendable Meanwhile as Israel as a Jesuit a step but it was a get out of that unfortunately the judge's decision to take away our freedom now is an act that doesn't correspond principles of justice the ground it's an act frosting us and punishing us for defending freedom and peacefully taking to the streets as we have done so many times children and that's why I want to sincerely ask respond with permanent protests which will lead us to the proclamation of the republic they can't defeat us if we remain strong. More than a 1000 people have taken part in a vigil and mortar for a journalist murdered on Monday by a powerful car bomb Daphne Cairo on a Galatea was a leading investigative journalist she highlighted alleged corruption by senior politicians including multis prime minister has denied any wrongdoing done here behind reports the killing of Daphne carry on a girl it's essential quavers through Maltese society and beyond Mrs Cairo on the glitzy ahead tussle with politicians from both the motors main political parties earlier this year she accused the island's prime minister Joseph and his wife of using secret offshore bank accounts to hide payments from Azerbaijan's ruling family something they deny Mr Muscat called The Killing a barbaric kept b.b.c. News the United Nations is replaces peacekeeping mission in Haiti with a smaller operation focused on training local police and strengthening human rights the un mission for justice support comprises more than a 1000 police officers and 350 civilians un peacekeepers helped to rebuild Haiti after a devastating earthquake in 2010. Australia's coalition government has been heavily criticized for refusing to adopt a clean energy target recommended by its own chief scientist more from our Sydney correspondent how Griffith just 4 months ago a stray as chief scientist Alan Finkel published a landmark review the country's electricity market the key recommendation was to adopt a clean energy target reducing carbon emissions by up to 28 percent over 25 years but after a protracted debate over the merits of coal under a liability of renewables like wind the government has now backed away from the target under Gnome's to new national energy guarantee instead which it claims will both cut energy bills and reduce emissions. The new un envoy for the disputed territory of Western Sahara is visiting the region to assess the possibility of restarting peace talks between Morocco and the pro independence policy front reports say Horst Koehler a former German president met the Moroccan foreign minister and robot on Monday later in the week is expected to travel to Algeria where he'll meet Polisario officials. A new study by British scientists has suggested that cancer cells that survive after treatment maybe use the patient's own immune system to reawaken after lying dormant for long periods the Institute of Cancer Research tests on mice have shown that leftover cancer cells reactivate a hijacking a signal sent out by immune cells a scientist said they were able to reduce the chance of cancer risk recurring by using immunotherapy b.b.c. News. How you're listening to the news room from the b.b.c. World Service with me Ben bland Kirk is now in the hands of Iraqi government forces they swept through the province and into the city itself in just 24 hours taking it back from Kurdish fighters who've controlled it since 2014 as government forces advance they took control of oil fields and an important military base by dad said the Kurdish Peshmerga withdrew from key locations without fighting but gunfire was heard and there were reports of clashes Iraq's vice president hired allow He told the b.b.c. His government wants a peaceful resolution I just spoke to Mr Rose on why so far spoken to the French presidency. Corman quote Yes creational the issue. Right out from the questions. And we hope that this woman lost her because the u.s. Military has previously backed both the government and the Kurds it's now urging the 2 sides to settle their differences through talks President Trump spoke to reporters at the White House we've had for many years very good relationship with the Kurds as you know and we've also been on the side of Iraq even though we should have never been in their 1st place we should never have been there we don't like the fact that they're clashing but we're not taking sides in that battle thousands of Kurdish civilians have been fleeing the ethnically mixed city is outside the self-governing Iraqi Kurdistan region Kurdish fighters seized the major city in 2014 after driving out his La mixtape militants and government forces fled but Baghdad decided to retake the city after last month's disputed independence referendum in Iraq e Kurdistan which increased tension between the Iraqi government and Kurds there are fears that the 2 sides which have led the fight against i-s. Might now turn against each other as our correspondent Paul Adams as the battle against so-called Islamic State comes to an end at least in Iraq another conflict is bubbling dangerously back to the surface 3 years ago. Iraqi forces fled Kirkuk as I asked conquered large parts of the north Kurdish fighters backed by u.s. Airpower halted the jihad the advance and over the next 3 years took territory for themselves earlier this year they raise the Kurdish flag over Kirkuk a city to which they feel a deep historic attachment the government in Baghdad objected to this and to last month's independence referendum but was too busy fighting I asked to do much about it now emboldened by their recent success on the battlefield Iraq's security forces also trained and supported by the United States have turned their attention to Kirkuk and it's important nearby oil fields amid chaotic scenes thousands of civilians are fleeing east and north many of them say they fear the Iranian backed Shiite militias who are part of the government operation but parts of the city appear to have fallen quickly and without much of a fight the Kurdish flag has been pulled down from the provincial government headquarters and some people notably the city's Turkmen minority have been celebrating some Kurds are vowing revenge but they're divided among themselves and for the moment at least appear to have few options the B.B.C.'s Paul Adams. There he sees gained rare access to the Syrian city of Raka which was the stronghold of the self-styled Islamic state and capital of the so-called caliphate Kurdish fighters part of the Syrian democratic forces backed by the u.s. Led the recapture of the city our correspondent quoted some of the sun this report from Russia. Iraq has Center fighters from the Kurdish led Syrian democratic forces have retaken name it means Paradise Square where the so-called Islamic State once held public executions the card celebrated by taking selfies it's a landmark moment and the recapture of the city which i-s. Once declared as the capital of its Caliph that the b.b.c. Gained access to the city area and for the 1st time in months there were no airstrikes shelling no gunfire it's thought a few dozen I s. Fighters remain near the National Hospital and stadium more strong members left earlier on buses with their families as part of a locally agree deal to in the fighting the whereabouts of foreign i.a.s. Fighters is unknown and faecal has been patrolling the streets with a load speaker Arjen people to come out into the open and eat hot soup. More than 3000 civilians have escaped rock in recent days according to local forces the S.T.'s is expected to declare official victory in the city in the coming days Granted some of. From b.b.c. Arabic says losing control of cities like Raka in Syria and Mosul in Iraq may mean the end of the physical existence of the so-called caliphate but it doesn't mean the end of the ideology it's the end of it but. Still on the Internet the ideas of the still they are in Europe and there is a report was published recently by exchange saying that Britain is the 5th country consuming Yeah this. Is the 1st one is still key 2nd the us and Britain is number 5 so it's still very dangerous. Level that's a problem because it's all of them managed to come to Europe there is some of them in France and Germany and Britain and. Managed to escape and come to this country without any interception from security forces because their numbers are sounds insane Europe there are. More than 5000 people left from Europe to Iraq and Syria to be able to fight us so some of them went back to to to the west and the supposed threat to the national security and Britain other countries and if you will also still there is because there is no way to have rehabilitate these people because they they find you went through that part of it was built on them so it's very hard for these people to be rehabilitated so they will pose a threat less they are put in prison or under detention or somewhere you can have an eye on them otherwise it will be more dangerous for the West because it can come easily under 48 passport under the Migration refugees like what happened in Germany from some Syrian chemical moving there and the threats seriously are breaks. Thousands of people have attended a candlelight vigil on the island of Malta to mourn the journalist Duff Neko Ana Palacio who was killed in a car bomb on Monday. The vigil ended with a burst of applause to celebrate the journalist's life in the crowd singing the Maltese national anthem definitely kind of want to listen as blog posts often attracted more readers than the combined circulation of Baltar's newspapers the writings were a thorn in the side of both politicians and criminals Matthew is head of News of the times of multi newspaper he told me more about that I think are going to say it was one of the most known and the secret journalists in what is been a journalist since 1907 in the vaults 2008 she launched her all my blog the running commentary to. Come switch with the complete sort of pick on corruption mostly controversial issues so I was speaking to one of my colleagues in this huge city whenever something happens on the island people would go on her website to see her take on that issue it seems extraordinary to think that this sort of thing can happen in a member state within the European Union Exactly that's what people are saying but just this year alone and he may be the last year we've had several car bombs people getting criminal it was a matter of criminals targeting criminals but this time we had criminals targeting idea and all day one silence and do you think that was the reason she was killed because of her work as an investigative journalist Rick fork away only to say there were people who were not happy with what she was right there were politicians who work og repeated by log you hear people saying. Well what I fail what I do because on and on the news look as I said it's far too little in the to but I strongly believe that it was because of her investigative journalism and it was because of what she was writing and some of the Snes investigations implicated people at the very top of political society in Malta didn't she broke the news on the Panama paper where a motif minister Conrad Miter and the prime minister's chief of staff each Embry where implicated in the planning of papers and as having offshore companies the implication there was that they were using those companies to hide funds and more as a means of money No 3 they admitted they had the companies but they always denied any wrongdoing what sort of reaction has there been to her death in the wordly outrage because as I said you would never expect something like that so happened that the prime minister was cut described it as a barbaric attack on the press on the freedom of the press and either of the opposition made more of a political statement that this was political murder because there was according to him a collapse of the rule of law and more than the rule of law was what the news the right used to write about corruption right about lack of the rule of law a lack of respect for the laws from top down that's what's used to write about and that is what people are angry about Matthew Shara head of News of the times of Multan news paper here is an hour with some more stories from our news desk the u.s. Defense Department says the forces of carried as an airstrike onto Islamic state group training camps in Yemen killing dozens of militants in a statement the Pentagon said it's a so carried out in the central region of al-Baida was a serious blow to the organizations ability to train new fighters. Wildfires in Portugal are now known to have killed at least 36 people Allison Roberts reports from Lisbon more than 660 separate forest fires have been reported in Portugal since Sunday the prime minister Antonio Costa has pledged to act to ensure in his words that nothing remains the same a special Cabinet meeting next Saturday is to look at ways to implement the findings of an expert report submitted last week on a fire in June that claimed 64 lives Meanwhile public prosecutors have begun investigations into reported arson in several areas the governor of the Us state of Florida has declared a state of emergency ahead of a public speech by a white nationalist leader later this week Governor Rick Scott said his executive order would ensure the security forces had all resources necessary to police the event at the University of Florida on Thursday Richard Spencer helped organize a demonstration in Charlottesville in August which ended in violence and one day. The United States has warned Cambodia against suppressing legitimate political activity and call for the opposition leader came so hard to be released from prison the State Department said it was worried that amendments to Cambodia's election law in conjunction with legal moves to dissolve the opposition party could disenfranchise millions of people came through car was charged with treason last month accused of accepting u.s. Help to overthrow the government he denies the accusation. The Canadian aircraft manufacturer bombarded entered into a partnership agreement with a European company Air Bus to sell the c. Series jet Bombardier had been under pressure because of a trade dispute with its American rival Boeing the United States government has imposed tough preliminary Judy's on sales of the c. Series Jets Boeing argued the Canadian firm received illegal subsidies and sold the planes to American Airlines for below market prices. South Africa's Palms is due to begin an inquiry today into alleged corruption at the highest levels of government was all blows and prominent officials are expected to be called to give evidence and regarding reports from Johannesburg it could be an uncomfortable 3 days for some powerful people in South Africa ministers tycoons the president's son and many other witnesses are likely to be summoned and if they show up grilled by M.P.'s investigating claims of a giant corruption conspiracy it's widely alleged that a powerful business family the Gupta's have bought into the highest levels of government in order to win lucrative state contracts the gutters have denied such claims as their friend President Jacob Zuma some South Africans see a parliamentary inquiry as a poor substitute for police investigations arrests and trials but at a time of rising political tension and the Who will succeed President Zuma this week's probe is likely to produce some fireworks It's 420 g.m.t. . The United States has condemned Venezuela's regional elections as neither free nor fair and vowed to use its economic and diplomatic power to help Venezuelans restore democracy in the South American nation candidates from the ruling Socialist Party of President Nicolas Maduro took 17 of 23 states in Sunday's election from Caracas Well Grant reports the opposition in Venezuela was never likely to recognize an election that handed President Maduro such a wide margin of victory now their concerns have been echoed by the trumpet ministration the u.s. State Department said it condemned the lack of free and fair elections and said the flaws included a lack of independent credible international observers and the lack of a technical order it for the final vote count in the us is already imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan government and further action may now follow as long as the door government acts like a dictatorship the u.s. Will use economic and diplomatic power to support Venezuelans the State Department said in a statement none of this will come as a surprise to President Nicolas Maduro indeed he generally thrives off the conflict with Washington and the e.u. In the short term he simply pleased to have been able to announce to the nation a significant victory at the polls but the people believe the result or not his government will now press ahead with the process of having the new governors swearin before the controversial new legislative body the Constituent Assembly Well crawled now as part of everyday life for how secure is the wife I connection at your home or office you may have passwords an encryption and think well I'm pretty safe but your research has found that networks around the world are at risk of being hacked a glitch known as crack affects an authentication system commonly used to secure wireless connections has Professor Alan Woodward a technology expert from the University of sorry Well when everything 1st connects to a wife I router say from your laptop there's a little conversation goes on which is where basically you agree. What's the secret keys going to be to encrypt the data to scramble the data model research the found is that there's a particular step in that conversation that you can take over and you can thereby hijack the conversation has to do with repeating something that should never be repeated and encrypt ssion when you repeat something is actually really very bad because it weakens it terribly allows you to easily break it it's something that seems to affect the vast majority wife i Device his wife I'm able devices the problem being it's not a particular vendor that's done this wrong they've all done the right thing they followed the standard it's the standard it's the so-called protocol that appears to be flawed it's been around for 1516 years so what we have that was spotted it before we don't know but these researches did so it's something that we're all vulnerable to all our routers but it's a very targeted attack so somebody had to come after you specifically it's not like a massive viruses and they're all going to be subject to it if somebody wanted to get at you they could. Do it. 6 months after reports emerged of gay men being detained illegally and tortured in Chechnya a young man has spoken publicly about his ordeal for the 1st time Maxim up love is from Siberia and was working in Chechnya his described being holed beaten and threatened by police Mr Fernald reported it to your Thora G.'s but activists say nothing has been done many other men who had similar ordeals have since fled Chechnya for their own safety almost no Correspondent Sara Rainsford reports makes him up and off says he was held in a cell soaked with blood for 12 days there he was beaten with sticks across his back legs and ribs by police and every day he says they threatened to kill him the reason because he's gay Maxine up an office one of dozens of men who say they were tortured in Chechnya in what's been described as an anti gay witch hunt but he is the 1st to detail such abuse publicly and crucially the 1st to report it formally to the authorities here when such allegations 1st surfaced in spring and referred to them as rumors but he ordered law enforcement agencies to investigate almost a month after Maxime up north came forward his lawyer says nothing concrete has been done human rights activists argue that points to a lack of control over Chechnya who strongman leader ram Sankoh did f. Has called the claims nonsense because he says there are no gays in the Republic Maxime up an office received multiple threats for suggesting otherwise but he says he is still haunted by nightmares about what happened to him and he wants those responsible to be punished Sarah Rainsford. Now this could well be a plot twist in a political drama a man apparently involved in Russian attempts to influence the u.s. Presidential election last year says part of their training involved watching the t.v. Series House of Cards which dramatizes shady dealings in the u.s. Government the man identified only as much as I'm. Claims to have been part of the St Petersburg troll factory has been speaking on Russian television the newsroom's Terry Egan asked Stephen Ennis from the b.b.c. Russian Service for more on what mechanism had been saying he gives some of the background about how they work and how they were schooled in sort of the offer training as it were and they were told sort of to sort of bone up about some very slow aspects American life sort of he issues of hot button issues such as gay rights gun control but also to actually to look into the so details of the tax system which I suppose must be rich the fact that they thought that Hillary Clinton was somehow wonderful when it came to her tax affairs but they also sort of told a nurse themselves in American culture in some way and as part of that they were told to some house of cards the Netflix serial based on the British drama about sort of political machinations what kind of things it was thought they might man from house it may be partly a linguistic thing but they may have been also taking on things like classical jargon it may also possibly have been a means of indoctrination because although house of cards of America made serial the kind of dark picture of American politics that presents in a very America leading to power that's the sort of thing that you often see in the Russian t.v. Propaganda about the United States suggesting that kind of democracy is a very sort of hollow institution and it wasn't just a house of cards was a it was other American media newspapers things like that well yes I mean as part of their job they were asked to comment on our schools in leading publications are interesting not the kind of publications that tend to sayit or to embellish or to sort of echo sort of Russian talking points such as Info Wars but these were the kind of solid American sort of websites such as The New York Times website unwashed host website but their task there was the sort of like trying to manipulate the discussion on the comment boards and to somehow i mean Maxine uses the term rock the boat. Now who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf it's an image many of us have grown up with since nursery stories but new research casts doubt on that rather negative portrayal scientists in Vienna say they found wolves are more tolerant and better at cooperating with each other than dogs are now size reporter Helen Briggs has been looking at the findings they did this test which is called the rope pulling test it's used quite widely in animal research what the animals have to do is work as a pair and if they can pull the rope at the same time they pull food treat towards them and they can eat it so they tested wolves and they tested dogs and they found that wolves were pretty good at it pairs of wolves managed to get this food reward about one in 4 times the dogs were pretty terrible there any managed it about once or twice in 400 temps so it seems that the image of wolves as the illusion uncooperative animals is wrong they're actually very good at corporate in much better than domesticated dogs and I'm sure the wolves will be delighted that their image is being upgraded as it were but what practical use is this this finding in terms of what it could be used for is another piece in the puzzle about this is hotly debated area really about how walrus came to become dogs if you like wolves are the only big cannibals that to actually turned into something that we would welcome in our homes is hotly debated area because what they thought happened was that dogs over this time would become naturally much more co-operative they certainly more cooperative people the idea was that they'd become more co-operative with each other but that from this research it doesn't appear to have happened do they compare how well the wolves performed in comparison with other animals well they've done this sort. Work on a lot of different animals actually they've done is an elephant and hyenas know all sorts of animals it turns out that wolves are actually quite like chimpanzees they did pretty well they did as well as chimpanzees these do in the central prey she just is a good tool to look at cooperation skills in animals and so the wolfsbane added to the list is one of the better ones in terms of this particular feature of animal behavior that's Helen Briggs I'm Ben bland this is the news room on the b.b.c. World Service. Distribution of the b.b.c. World Service and the us is made possible by American Public Media producer and distributor of award winning public radio contact a.p.m. American Public Media with support from home advisors matching homeowners with background checks professionals for home projects for minor repairs to major remodels see homeowner reviews compare prices and book appointments at Home Advisor dog called. I'm Ok no billowing smoke high on the rooftops documentary thing to bust ups to music concerts bringing people from all backgrounds together on stage and in the audience each time out once to dissolve foundries through the arts He's the artistic director of make a dash it and also Culture Festival taking place across to raise them join me Andrea kid in the studio as it prepares for the speak city wide festival after the news. B.b.c. News if you own a McDonald the u.s. State Department has called for calm after Iraqi government forces seized the northern city of Kirkuk a nearby oil fields from Kurdish control the State Department spokeswoman said there was still much work to be done to defeat the Islamic state group and tensions between Iraqi and Kurdish forces distracted from what she called a vital mission u.s. Backed Syrian democratic forces say the former Islamic state stronghold of Raka is now under its control with only a few dozen militants remaining near the National Hospital and stadium fighting is said to have stopped the s.d.f. Says it has retaken a central square where i.a.s. Held executions further Street protests are expected across Catalonia later after 2 leading separatists were detained though the order of Spain's high court Jordi Sanchez than Jordi coup shart are both accused of sedition against the Spanish state. International medical teams and supplies have been sent to Somalia to assist victims of the bomb attack in Mogadishu on Saturday Somalia's information minister told the b.b.c. That Qatar was expected to send an air ambulance to transport more of the wounded abroad for treatment about 30 people have already been flown to Turkey the u.n. Is replaces peacekeeping mission in Haiti with a smaller operation which will concentrate on training local police and bolstering human rights un peacekeepers help to rebuild Haiti after an earthquake in 2010 but they were accused of committing sex crimes and blamed for starting a cholera epidemic the United States is one Cambodia again suppressing legitimate political activity and called for the opposition leader chems of car to be released from prison the State Department said it was worried that amendments to come Bodi as election law in conjunction with legal moves to dissolve the main opposition party could disenfranchise millions of people b.b.c. News. Thank you. What does it take to create and push on a major Arts and Culture Festival in one of the most beloved and disputed cities in the world to recent history to mislead. Us maybe I'd love to. See how you make it up to smile you thought you told me so much about subway welcome to in the studio from the b.b.c. World Service today when the company if you time out now the Israeli artistic director of Mecca Desh it the Jerusalem season of culture as you play his last festival it's a beloved place it's the best city in the world it's my fantasy it's my inspiration thank you so much so that's why I'm. Sure a star that's the reason is the main issue is the main character is the main protagonist of everything that we do promise full weeks during the make it a shit festival each time his team bring arts and culture to all areas of Jerusalem the soundscapes theatrical bus events installations on the rooftops DOT's film and concerts in the town of David bringing together all tastes and musicians from every part of the city both east and west Jerusalem thanks to the condition is a huge word that cannot really be translated maybe to sanctify and I think that's the role of art to allow us to go out of for comfort zones to go out of things that we do on a regular basis our automatic responses and when we go out of that that's a sacred moment that's a good moment and what we're striving in our festival is to invite people to allow to have more and more of these special moments it's that big I know that I said really big words and we're striving really really high but I think the only reason to do an art and culture festival in Jerusalem is not just to have like nice parties and have just a good time in our city that's important but that's not why. We're in the game we're in the game because we believe the culture can bring change in a personal level and be on a city or national or international. The biggest event that it has been working on for the festival is happening in Mitchell park close to the walls of all Jerusalem this huge open and one night concert is. A word that has its roots in both Hebrew and Arabic and means all of us one of the basic premises of the night festival called a music festival is bringing the sounds from the neighborhood around us bringing the sounds from the countries around us so why did we not invite a Lebanese thinker and player from Egypt or you know from all the different countries around us well that's very simple because we cannot we cannot invite them and they cannot come if they come here a I don't know if anybody will let them in from our side and if they get a special permission to get in if they go back to their countries they will be banned in their countries because they came to perform and so you have to have a different concept of God or a different approach to the same concept which was to say these are the sounds and the influences of the music that was played in Egypt in Lebanon enjoyed in Iraq in Iran in all the different countries around us that are coming to Jerusalem and being performed on stage by local artists for the 1st time we're going to have artists fund is the part of Jerusalem which we usually do not take part in these big festivals they're not invited and if there are invited they don't want to take part because of political issues and grabbing all kinds of different mixtures on stage and you cannot record to see the game is. Hard enough so my Yamato for me. His choice of sight for the concert is significant it's in what's called the Green Line all seem line on what was the border between Israeli controlled. Este and Jordanian controlled East Jerusalem the line that divides the city 50 years ago this year Israel captured the whole of Jerusalem and extended its boundaries as you might imagine it's a controversial anniversary the city's status remains disputed and Israel's occupation of the east is considered illegal under international law while Israel would like to claim the whole city is divided capital Palestinians East to Islam as the capital of what they hope will become their future state so you can begin to see what a festival aims to cross this divide is up against. This part where we're standing right now is where the green line crosses this is a very very important place in a very important landmark that talks about a city that was divided and now is unified or we can ask questions if it is really unified or stage one of the biggest events of our festival maybe the biggest event of our festival in this part because it's significant in so many ways but it's specially significant to the concept into the content that we want to deliver in our concert in less than 2 months and this is a concept about being together and the pick of the naggers going to be $35.00 different musicians onstage Arabic music and give your music together almost 2000 people that are going to be sitting here now you see it's flat what we are going to do some massive building as artistic director it ties role is not only to come up with ideas and concepts but also to oversee the teams of people it takes to put on a festival of this size including the artistic director is responsible for the individual arts and culture elements but ultimately for all things arts he's the boss so now what I need to do is to go back to the office I'm going to have a meeting with and music section the music segments of the festival trying to check out how the sales are going and what else do we need to do I have around 6 other artistic directors that work with me. And them going into my motherhood state of mind and trying to meet all the other artistic directors so now is the time to be as open as I can to their problems because they're dealing with the day to day issues about finalizing concepts and brings a lot of for emotions I make them good coffee and give them a good how to allow them to blossom and what they too. Were just entering our offices and now we're going to declare she wrote the big board room that we're going to have a meeting of the music segment on. The. Path . We burst into in what are we doing now and if you compare a month and a half before last year to this year what's your feeling about it the sales are much better at this year yeah yes and literally are you going to have like a good little bit we need to I don't think my life is meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting and we next meet before yet another meeting this time it's for the conduct of the Jerusalem east west Tom Cohen it on his own Tom to create and perform in the Khulna concert Tom knowledge in Belgium but today is in Israel so they get a rare chance to meet outside a coffee shop I'm just waiting for Tom to arrive Oh I see Tom coming. Hello hate that welcome welcome it's good to see him and I'm sorry for the weather I'm sorry that it's too hot here I missed this weather yeah I want to sit there grab a chair Ok. Can you give me a small update about what's going on yeah it's a really cool. Place we're at now in the process because it's exactly the moment where everything starts shaping up you know the sculpture comes out of the stones and when we're sitting here about a month and a half before the event when you close your eyes you can see the concert. You can really understand how it goes with the flow of it what's the vibe I think that 2 nights ago was the 1st time that they could really see the concert in detail in more details because when they have a night like the one I had 2 nights ago I'm very tired of being people maybe 2 weeks and then having a night knowing that my body physically just wants to shut down but I cannot sleep because I'm running through scenes imaginary scenes of the event I think in a way this is the biggest gift that they get from my work it's kind of creating reality or helping reality for and at the end of the day that's the thing with art with music it's kind of magic you create something from nothing. So if for example we have a loon and Israeli Arab Palestinian or it depends how she defines itself but coming from a Christian family it was a minority in Israel and Apple was part of the Armenian community in Jerusalem and there is something over to the minority of the minority community housing people who are totally out of the conversation when you talk about this one Palestine no one talk about you know politics nevertheless they are with a big important part and Tempus Terry yes and then you have and you have a very interesting questions coming out of identity or loyalty. For me if we have a great statement or Dick statement passed very clearly but the show wasn't a good product you see at the end of them I'm an entertainer if people did not really really enjoy and felt like they had the musical experience then it's not worth it and I think and I know our hands I mean we're all of them the same side but just for the sake of the conversation this is going to be a great music concert and everybody will be very happy and dancing and enjoying it and said wow it was worth the money that we bought the ticket with but if I catch people outside ask them what was this concert about and I said. I don't know I don't feel anything then for us it would be a failure. The problems of putting go festival in Jerusalem are really major problems and I must say fascinating problems maybe we can use the American term of challenges because on our problems these are challenges because you have a very different population here the vast majority of the population here and there to do list I think culture is one of the last topics that they have on their list there's a language barrier Palestinian population of the city one 3rd of the population in the city speaks mostly Arabic they don't speak Hebrew the other 3rd. Society which is they want to orthodox society speaks not all of them but the vast majority and I speak Yiddish and they don't speak Hebrew and I think that's what makes it fascinating because as curators we cannot only think about ourselves we have to think about the city that we work in we have to think about terror attacks it is difficult but I'm not weeping about it right now it's difficult because it's difficult that's it and I myself I find even some joy in these difficulties because it makes it much more interesting you are sure to show up for the show it's also. How I feeling well the nights are becoming shorter and shorter I think because I sleep less and less and the heart pounding faster than it did 2 months ago but on the same time I'm feeling very much well produced I feel that our team around us is really supportive and every time I meet our team there's a confidence in what they're doing. Hi good morning and know me and the head of the tourism season schedule them at the Just that 1st of our was another meeting the cool new team made up of Israelis and Palestinians along with invited guests nor can I say sions across the country meet to discuss how to ensure the audience for the big music concert is reflective and Ivan. Yes as the musicians on stage who exactly as audience boy is here where I work out there how we approach them we're talking about specific Ok Ok just for Easter is in my eyes the kind of make it easier for them to do comedy was money was the experience working with the person we heard today Bill that is there is awfully good cause to be your boss is you do you're away. From your resume so it's all. Here or there was. Listening to in the studio from the b.b.c. World Service and today we're in the company of a timeout now as he prepares for his last festival at the artistic director of Megadeth it to Slim's 3 and a half weeks season of arts and culture. As well as music concerts it is overseeing around 40 different cultural events and at the festival starts people can experience soundscapes designed to allow them to hear things they wouldn't normally come across in their daily lives. And documentary theatre tools 5 hour mystery bus tours to meet people from different areas of the city accompanied in English version by the voice of John Murray in the headphones as they guide. Welcome to our journey. Have you found a seat. On. The journey has begun. Crossing boundaries and exploring the city is something that I do a lot sometimes a physical boundaries just an invitation for a change or container in which a question lurks. One of the events that it is particularly proud to have created is called above and beyond a series of art installations high on the rooftops of Jerusalem there you can find a huge copy of Ok no designs. The aunt is Tom Panini billowing smoke close to the seam line the old border between East and West Jerusalem. But this rooftop is an amazing rooftop because it's basically on the same line of the $967.00 border and it's worse than it writes beneath it right now and you can see if you look at it it's the connection between the old city and the new city and the volcano is sitting right on that spot. And it's all about going on rooftops and changing your perspectives in a very easy way to change your perspective is basically just stepping up climbing on roofs because silently the city that you know so well looks very very different to you. I'm afraid of for volcanoes when I'm abroad I try to catch a volcano because there's something so beautiful about really understanding what is beneath Jerusalem brought me back this image of awful came because basically we are sitting here on Earth and came and this all came to burst out a lot. Taking the volcano that we have throughout the years underneath us which is the on scene volcano and then simply. Lifting it up and putting it on a roof to allow everybody to look at it and maybe to enjoy the presence of this Ok now. As the festival continues I'm interested to find out what it is does an artistic director do join this time my world right now is 2 different worlds one was to really take care of small details sometimes when you know just now with the we're talking I see my phone bursting and the last semester I got was saying we need to decide now and with big capital letters so sometimes we need to really decide really really fast and on the other hand my role and I think it's the best role is to have a really good time this is a really really great time. Because you go out every night you go to great cultural stuff it's the best times that we can think about and of course dealing with problems and there are always problems you know one of the problems that we're facing right now is the hurricane that goes on we have a band coming from Jamaica we have a problem for them to get the flights so I'm like crisscrossing between dealing with helping the other people deal with what will happen with the hurricane and then the other hand me think journalists from all over the world that are coming in joining the night so all these kind of stuff it's a very very very special time what. Is the 2nd week of the festival approaches the conductor Tom Cohen is back in Israel to host the Jerusalem east west ahead of the big Conan comes at a popular songs from across the Middle East many of which he's arranged especially for this event it's been 2 months now that when writing their arrangements they've just finished we could go and there this week is the big week where rehearsing or with the orchestra we eventually finalize the set list of artists that I'm very very proud of we have 9 artists on stage representing I think 9 different faces of Jerusalem of this country in general starting with. Muslims think it was one of the most famous singles in Israel today declared it was also a very big act in Israel's if your friends could raise an Orthodox Jew Most people below without a big kick out sings you know a big can speak some writer now a big show it's about a very great doubt this very connected to is a human eye towards the case the poet and Muhammad Mugabi that I perform and share for the refugee camp. Christian from Nazareth point of course is who represent Armenian community come Asli man who is big act in their Palestinian scene in there. Israeli Arabic seen Did I forget anyone how many did I mention they get to 9. So right now we're on the 7th of September finally we're on the 7th of September after waiting for this date for us so it's such a long time and so were many days we're going to have the Khulna night tonight the biggest thing that we're doing in our festival this year the stage is already been set I've been there I've walked in the field yesterday to see how it goes on the musicians will arrive in a few hours starting 6 30 pm people are going to start to come into the venue and see what we have been planning for the last more than 8 months for them alongside there are some worries of course and there's also there are always worries and it's it's an inner balance it's an inner fight between being really excited and happy about it and feeling very proud and feeling a little bit worried about what can happen and what can go wrong so it's a mixed feeling right now and there has been a problem it has plans for the cooling evening had been met with opposition from organizations campaigning against Israeli settlements in the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation the big thing that happened last week the concert that we're doing was attacked by the b.d.s. Which is a movement which wants to do boycott this invest and sanctions against Israel and our guys are Palestinian guys that are performing live will will perform live to tonight on stage got a personal phone call they want him to not go on stage and I'm happy to say that none of them agreed with it and they're all are going to be on stage tonight and just to sing again to to do the art. And to do their music. You know. The slogan for the queen the festival is celebrating the Ching of what the Middle East can be one of the loves of our the culture is to allow all of us to rethink and reach me more dream again the dreams that we used to have and maybe that will bring maybe maybe maybe that will bring a change in our reality. I think. It's going to stick to the 6. I am going to be a Palestinian refugee from Jerusalem. I think this is a great opportunity for me as a Palestinian refugee to get on this stage to tell my story and to have no audience I'm part of Jerusalem and there's a Jewish part of Jerusalem there is Christian part of Jerusalem there's many cultures and that's what makes Jerusalem special the diversity of our. Favorite moment is when it happens when it really happens because I never feel better and these are the best days of the year something I. Feel like seeing. I am shots of our and Imam and Israeli Singur I believe the Israelis no matter from which origin if they're Arabic or Jews or Arabic Jews so Ashkenazi Jews have more in common than they usually think and in my work I am for size this and really glad to be part of this kind of concert that brings this ideology to the front of the Israeli culture seem like a. Fantasy of. The show there's been a foul out with audiences from the. West and east. Here where all of us live in. Everyone is here. You have all of us here. That's me. I came up. From shock but. I think that. The festival. Is extremely significant I think it's a place where we come across one another but we don't necessarily stop to look at each other together. This is a special moment for us to meet at this meeting. Or the crowd from a. Lot of things and I'm happy to say that most of the things that we did happen 1st of all. We were able to get these mini buses that we bring people for free from eastern part of Jerusalem to come to our concerts number wise these are not huge numbers but when you compare it to the. Cultural events happening in. These small numbers they're very unique. We caught up with each other after the concert I think it was amazing you talked to me before that so you know that we had some fears. The crowd will react to it and what kind of crowd will come here and the crowd went crazy and you know what's so magnificent of this it felt natural. The creator during this night so I felt maybe as the Dream Act that started. The cool concert maybe ever. There is still 8 days left of the festival 8 days of late nights and early mornings a problem solving and enjoyment at sunrise events over the city I'm wondering how it is feeling now for these last festival is coming to an end most of the time and you guys have been with me in the last half year and I was feeling simply great but I suddenly felt this thing in my heart because I kept on a very very good mood throughout all these weeks and basically not feeling any fear or anxiety of all goes on and suddenly like a minor minor like a panic attack I think and luckily enough my father was in front of me and we had for about 2 minutes so that started its about a 2 hour process so from me letting go of this inside to the list was going to closing music concept how did the town of David the team had a surprise that I am. So I don't think there were a few balloons having a balloon that they were holding a sign and they started going off just behind the stage and he said he tight thank you for enabling all of us to fly and they grew up in the air and it was so beautiful and it was a surprise and the bands played on bad times so everybody applauded and it was really really really touching. To be tempted back next year I guess I will leave my phone off and so if any phone calls come in and if you want to consolation me or ask me for guidance or think so thoughts or anything like that I would be happy to share but I'm stepping out I'm out of here and it's a big fake to be out on such a great. You've been listening to in the studio from the b.b.c. Both of us with these very artistic director. The producer and presenter is a kid. And don't forget you can hit a lot small creative people as they work on all parts cost just search and subscribe to in the studio wherever you get b.b.c. . Snap Judgment from n.p.r. . Your kids. Are just going to have to wait. Until the story is over. For snap judgment. Storytelling of the. Saturday afternoon at 2 this is w. When p.r. Connecticut's public media source.