Welcome to The National's weekly news round up with journalist and broadcaster Tim Marshall.
This week, Tim looks at monumental reforms in Saudi Arabia which have granted women the right to drive, and reaction from around the world.
Results from Monday's referendum in Iraqi-held Kurdistan showed that 92.73 per cent of voters backed statehood, which has sparked international concern and angered Baghdad and its neighbours. The central government has repeatedly said the referendum was illegal.
Meanwhile, Catalonia heads into a watershed moment in its modern history this weekend, and no one really knows how it’s going to play out. Almost 7,000 volunteers are ready to open 2,315 polling stations across the region of 7.5 million people, but the Spanish government says there’s no way the regional administration will pull it off.
In Germany, Angela Merkel won an historic fourth term in power, and the strong anti-immigration, anti-Muslim and eurosceptic bloc called the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has garnered nearly 100 seats in the national legislature.
_______________
Read more:
Saudi women overjoyed to be hitting the road soon
Saudi driving decree is a profoundly emotional moment for the kingdom
International flights to Erbil are suspended after independence vote
China tells North Korea to pull back from the brink
Juncker: it will take a ‘miracle’ for trade talks to start in October
Germany's far-right steps out of the shadows and into parliament
_______________