anchor: welcome to your. these are the top stories this hour. did you declare independence or didn't you? spain's prime minister calls for clarity the day after catalonia signed a statement of independence, and called for dialogue with the state. parliament says if one candidate withdraws from

reelection, the other one wins. it comes the day after regarding the -- after riley odinga withdrew from the race. people remain unaccounted for following unprecedented wildfires in california. 17 people have been confirmed dead. have been confirmed destroyed. first to our top story. spain's prime minister has called for clarity the day after catalonia's signed a statement of independence and called for dialogue with the state. catalonia's leader was pushed to clarify whether or not he declared i independence. the disputed referendum catapulted spain into its deepest political crisis in decades.

here is prime minister mariano rajoy speaking a second ago. joy: the cabinet has agreed to formally ask the catalan government whether it has declared independence. given the double -- given the deliberate confusion concerning its implementation, this request is an indispensable prerequisite to any action the government may take in connection with article 155 of our constitution. the objective is to provide citizens with the clarity and security that the question of such importance requires. rochelle: for more, sarah morris is in madrid. she has the latest on the joy -- on rajoy's statement. sarah: he said there had been confusion last night in the catalann parliament.

the president announced he did feel he had the mandate from that october 1 referendum to declare independence. he then said he would be asking the catch long catal -- the catalan parliament to suspend independence. he then signed a declaration of independence with pro-independence mp's. minister of spain says he wants a clear vacation of whether they have declared independence, and said t that would be prioror to taking measures under article 155. the prime minister did not spell out how long he would give would pushed them on -- how long hehuman -- would give. many viewed the speech is the activation of article 155.

we know the prime minister will be speaking later today. we do not know when he could take additional measures under that article 155, or whether he will wait for carl's puigdemont to react. rochelle: if there is verification over whether mr. puigdemont declared independence , no dialogue, one assumes. the spanish constitution says that spain is indivisible. regions cannot have national referendums because sovereignty is supposed to live people. spanish it is unlikely the prime minister would change his position on that. he said it was unclear what wantedpuigdemont

dialogue about -- about the process of breaking away or about a further referendum, or whether he wanted some of the options to be put on the table by the spanish government. rochelle: sarah morris, our correspondent in madrid. in barcelona, claire is standing by. , still no talk about dialogue with catalonia's leader. clear: here in barcelona, puigdemont has been clear he does one dialogue. he tried to cite a tolerant, open town. he said in his speech to parliament that "we are not ," talking about his followers, saying they simply wanted to express a desire for independence. withid they respect people different points of view.

madrid would differ and thinks the offer of dialogue is in genuine, and is not interested in going down that road with catalonia. madrid has always said it will not engage in dialogue when it comes to the idea of an independence referendum. ball backthrown the into carles puigdemont's court. donald tusk, the european council president, was very clear on tuesday in saying that was out of the question, that this was an internal affair in spain. it is up to carles puigdemont to make the next step. mariano rajoy has thrown the ball back. rochelle: in the meantime, how catalonia's regional parliament reacting to all of this? claire: we have seen several reactions on the right and on the center, with the liberal party as well as the people's party. the catalonian versions of those 'srties -- we have seen two mp

saying they want mariano rajoy to invoke article 100 55, which would allow him to impose direct rules on catalonia, dissolve the regional parliament, impose fresh elections. they say it is time for a shakeup. new elections are needed in the region. on the opposite side, the far left, which is a member of that party, that coalition in the m -- catalan regional parliament has said we are giving punched pushed them giving puigdemont 30 days. it is worth seeing mother divisions emerge within carlos pushed them on -- carles

puigdemont's coalition. rochelle: from barcelona, thank you. and other world news, some 2000 got -- r00 voting ohingya muslims are living in makeshift tents on a riverbank as they wait for boats. 5000 total have fled to bangladesh since security forces launchched a crackdodown on roha militants. scenes of devastation with rohingya villages reduced to ashes. we joined a rare government trip and met with those ready to risk their lives in a perilous river journey to banglgladesh. fiveadesh is only

kilometers away, according to the rohingya we spoke to, but it seems further than that. , and manyf rohingya children, many women, with little food. no humanitarian n aid has reachd b burmat of berman -- four weeksks. they come e from ts state torn up by violence. fierce figighting has left hundreds of thousands of neighboringo flee to bangladesh. all the people we spoke to still dream of having to bangladesh.h. say they livens in fear of beining attacked byy buddhist mobs, and ask for help by burmese ministers. x we cannot live in vermont -- >> we cannot live in burma. we are afraid. it will come and steal our cattle.

we cannot go to our fields and work. reporter: but the response is not what they hoped for. they are told to return to their villages. >> on top of that, we have started talking to myanmar so we can bring the people back from bangladesh. the n neighbors seem to be wororking together to tackle this humanitarian crisis. but it is hard to imagine the rohingya ever returning to violence. formal processes are gathering in nairobi after kenya's parliament passed an amendment saying if one candidate withdraws from a repeat presidential election, the other one automatically wins. on tuesday, raila odinga withdrew from a vote, citing concerns over transparency. the amendment has been heavily criticized by the opposition.

julia steers is standing by in nairobi. more and more protesters are turning out. what is the mood where you are currently? as you said, the protesters are picking up speed theowntown nairobi, and mood is definitely one in support of odinga's claims that not enough reforms have been made to hold an election on october 26. that is what he said yesterday when he withdrew him the election, and that is what his supporters are chanting as they walk through the streets of nairobi. this recent court ruling adds fuel to the fire. many see it as a move by kenyatta, who has been increasingly authoritarian in passing these new laws just weeks before a scheduled election. he is doing so simply because he has the majority in parliament. kenyatta president

will still have to sign this. is it a done deal or not? julia: he introduced the proposed amendments shortly after the supreme court overturned the last election, which he was declared to have one. it is seen as a move to prevent that. one would prevent the supreme court from overturning an election result, even if there have been irregularities. that is what happened in august and is what president kenyatta is hoping to avoid. all sites point to him signing these bills into law, even in the face of these increased protests. in nairobi, thank you julia. police in northern california remainleast 150 people unaccounted for after huge wildfires swept through the region. at least 17 people have been killed, and authorities fear the death toll could rise.

people have been assessing the damage to their homes. 1500 have been completely destroyed. picking up the pieces of shattered lives, residents of santa rosa return to their homes with the painstaking task of sifting through the rubble. the flames from several major wildfires in golfing entire communities in northern california. >> it is memories, all gone. .othing we can do we will start all over again. >> i do not have anything left anymore. it feels pretty empty. reporter: the devastating fires have swept californian wine country since late sunday night, destroying thousands of homes, businesses including wineries, and claiming at least a dozen lives.

100-year-old charles and his 98-year-old wife are just two of e victims.s. the coupuple rececently celebrad their 75th wedding anniversary. school,met in grade fourth grade, sixth grade, and they have been together ever since. those of us in the family always would wonder what would happen if one of them died and the other one was still left, because we knew thahat there e o ,ay that they would d be happy whoever was the last one. and so they went together. firefighters are still battling the blazes, which are fanned by high wind and hot, dry conditions. according to a report in "the new yorker" magazine, the number of women claiming harvey weinstein harassed or assaulted them is growing.

the women told the magazine they were raped by weinstein, an allegation refuted by his dutch rejected by his eagle team. actress is saying the incidence occurred early on in their careers. qualified for the world cup. a hard-fought win in belarus on tuesday night. they are on a road to beating -- they had a tricky two qualifiers. they enjoyed the attention of the playoffs they had to endure to reach the finals. here is the french coach speaking. done: i feel like we have the job. of course, i am really happy for the players. they deserve it. i am happy for all of the staff. >> the most important thing was to get results and to reach our

objective. now that it is done, we can work more serenely. >> it is going to be a beautiful world cup with great teams. on, we have time to work preparation for brazil. rochelle: from sport to business. out with a nafta renegotiation talks set to begin a bit later today. they are. the talks around the north american free trade agreement will take place this wednesday, as the u.s. and canada trade barbs over allegations from washington that the canadian government unfairly subsidizes certainly aircraft. the u.s. is warning of consequences if the deal gets tweaked too much. rebecca russman reports. rebecca: the mood is expected to be tense when justin trudeau meets his counterpart at the white house, i in part becausesf canadianest rift over

jets. the canadian chambererf commerce l looking too impose e a tax in the u.s., claiming canada provided under subsidies to the planes. threatened to scrap a multibillion order of 18 boeing fighter jets. the dispute comes as the fourth round of talks to renegotiate nafta kicks off in washington, and washington said it is prepared to walk out. prepared to say no, and if necessary, to walk out of the dialog. if necessary, we believe the treaty. mexico is bigger than nafta. rebecca: president trump repeatedly said he prepared to scrap the deal in favor of bilateral trade agreements. but his stance lacks widespread support, mainly from u.s. businesses and the powerful chamber of commerce lobbying group.

to north american free trade and to the north american free trade agreement is , andeat to our partnership vibrancy. and clearly the national security and safety of all three nations. rebecca: the u.s. chamber of commerce also criticizes what it calls a poisoned pill proposal meant to sabotage nasa, including a sunset clause that would require regular renegotiations. while on the campaign trail and as president, donald trump has repeatedly threatened to rip up free trade agreements, which has pressed authorities in mexico to travel to brazil and argentina to talk about the import of corn, present in virtually all mexican cuisine, currently imported almost entirely from the united states. correspondent on the ground in mexico filed this report.

reporter: in mexico, if you get lucky, you can savor an air of local corn at a roadside food stamp. >> the corn is very delicious. repoporter: it tastes juicy and sweet, but the trade of corn has turned bitter. since 1994, u.s. corn has arrived in mexico in huge want peace, tariff free. of hundreds of small producers, decided to stop growing it. jesus: in the past, all of this was corn. reporter: hard to compete with american corn, open to subsidies and trans genetic varieties. jesus: how can we compete? reporter: this local corn, not resistant to the forces of nature, and only be found in local markets. nicholas, an anthropologist specializing in grains, has seen the biodiversity collapse in the last decade. nicholas: this is used in making

a corn-based drink. we have a blue cornflower and a red one. thanter: mexico has more 64 endemic varieties of corn and is the birthplace of corn, but today, they import what they consume. " on thejust write "corn back. it could be locally produced, since 7% of the yellow corn here is. 90% is imported from the u.s. canada. inorter: yellow corn is hundreds of process products, but to take advantage of the excess production, the u.s. .ransforms it into corn syrup in such forms, american corn is present in almost all mexican dishes. delano: let's get a check on the markets. in europe, all the main indexes are flat. the lyrical uncertainty surrounding catalonia's future is weighing on sentiment, but stocks in madrid are trading higher, up over 1.5%.

that is the business news. back to you. rochelle: thank you for keeping us up-to-date. time now for the press review. take us through the stories that are making headlines around the world. good to have you this morning. let's start with football qualification news. qualified for next year's world cup with a win against belarus yesterday. argentinians are also celebrating after their 3-1 win against ecuador. it was a must win game for the argentinians, are they risked a humiliating non-qualification. hat trick helped them get through. he has been elevated to godlike status if he was not already there in the argentine social media. he is the king of kings and has been compared to luke skywalker. high praise for messi. for the americans, not so good

news. the u.s. football team failed to qualify for the first time since 1986. they lost to trinidad and tobago 2-1 yesterday, a humiliating and shambolic defeat for the americans. at how theet's look spanish papers are reacting to the title and leader's speech yesterday. it did not go down well. >> "el mundo" is not impressed with the speech. "farce and blackmail," it says on the front page. the paper says it is not a step back or a step fororward. carles puigdemont is entrenching himself into his position. and "this sort of cold war with the government will keep continuing on." a paper that is close to the separatist movement and based in catalan welcomed his decision to suspend independence, because in doing so the paper's editors say he has transferred the pressure

on to mariano rajoy. rochelle: allegations keep mounting against the hollywood director harvey weinstein. he has been accused of rape, according to an article in "the new yorker." an explosive expose in an article that says he has gone from aggressive overtures to sexual assault. it is well worth a read, and it is harrowing when you read the accounts of three women who have come forward and said they were allegedly sexually assaulted and raped by harvey weinstein. this article was written by ronan farrow. it is important to note that he helped his sister dylan ferro -- farrow file accusations against their father, woody allen, for sexual assault. one of the actresses, asia argento, said she felt obliged to submit to his sexual advances anduse of his position hollywood. his sexual harassment was an open secret in hollywood, this

article says, and weinstein's legalsed payoffs and threats to fend off these allegations, that it appears his past has caught up to him. there have been a lot of reactions on twitter from various hollywood celebrities. boyfriend is the renowned chef anthony board game he has been tweeting about it. "can we finally use the word rape" is what he said. rochelle: how our colleagues reacting to the allegations? daily mail" columnist says the behavior is at best repulsive, at worst, criminal, but he is a symptom of something bigger and nastier --hollywood itself, an industry that allows young women to be exploited by old, ugly, powerful men. there is another take from the wall street journal. one of their columnists is taking a conservative look at

the scandal and say we know weinstein was a major donor to the democrats. the author of this article says the conservatives are somewhat enjoying the scandal because for once the spotlight is on the liberals. he says liberal hypocrites were a big reason 63 million americans voted for a conservative hypocrite like donald trump. to lebanon,t's head where a high profile murder rate tensions with the syrian refugees in the country. >> you can read more in "the washington post," which reports a the murder/rape of 26-year-old woman in a northern lebanese village. she was the daughter of a , and a local businessman syrian caretaker has confessed to that crime. what ensued across the country was backlash against syrians, and "this feeling lebanese people are shouldering a disproportionate share of the

refugee crisis." calls or even mounting for syrians to be sent back across theborder, irrespective of situation there. after the girl's funeral, syrians in the local village all fled for fear of reprisal attacks. rochelle: a man in austria in a shark suit got fined as part of the anti-burqa loss? isthis is not a job -- this not a joke. faces cannot be covered in austria under their new anti-burqa law. appears there is a little bit of confusion about to whom it applies and does not apply. a young man who you see here was wearing a shark suit as part of his job as a paid promoter for a computer store. foras fined 150 euros refusing to take his shark mask off, which was covering his face. under the law, wearing a clown mask in the streets is also

forbidden, much like a woolly scarf that covers this part of your face, unless it is cold, in which case it is acceptable -- thank goodness. authorities have promised that wi

narrator: 2008, discontent turns into confrontation. around the world peoeople take o the streets. ♪ music momar: they use tear gas, electric batons, plastic bullets. it was a very, very hard day. narrator: protests like these in dakar and senegal spread to many other cities. there were similar riots in egypt and in india. in haiti the president was overthrown. the reason? high food prices. one of the major causes: climate change. villagers are leaving their homes simply to survive.