we're going to the. north korea threatens to test a hydrogen bomb in the pacific just hours after washington slapped the state with yet more sanctions. thousands gather in barcelona demanding the release of a dozen regional officials arrested by spanish authorities in a crackdown over the upcoming illegal independence referendum. and almost ninety percent of syria is now free from islamic states according to the latest figures from the russian defense ministry but the country faces a long road to recovery after suffering the horrors of war. shell exploded in cuba

many people including children. you want to call to international live from moscow with me in a day or two to welcome to the program north korea has threatened to test a powerful nuclear weapon in the pacific ocean saying it comes in response to escalate military talk from washington the north korean foreign minister says it could be the most powerful detonation of a hydrogen bomb the pacific region has ever seen he added the final decision had not yet been taken and will come from the country's leader. the announcement came just hours after donald trump announced there will be a new round of sanctions against pyongyang however the russian foreign minister speaking at the un general assembly stressed that sanctions addressed the quote

provisions to return to the negotiating table but i am announcing a new executive order. that significantly expands our authorities to target individuals companies financial institutions that finance and facilitate trade with north korea and the little man went through we strongly condemn the rockets and nucular adventurism of pyongyang in violation of un security council resolutions but the pressure of military history is not just a dead end in a destructive path of this no doubt all resolutions of the un security council should be fulfilled the day long with sanctions continued provisions for the need to return to negotiations we call for a halt to the blocking of these provisions it's apology meanwhile leaders are not exactly behind all washington's diplomatic these kaleb more print explains. as world leaders gathered for the united nations general assembly the united states

seems to be out there on their own when it comes to the iran nuclear deal donald trump called it one of the worst and most one sided transactions that the united states has ever entered into france sees things differently. i would like to defend the nuclear agreement with iran our engagement on nonproliferation allowed us to work out on the fourteenth of july two thousand and fifteen a solid robust and verifiable agreement that enables us to ensure that iran does not obtain nuclear weapons renouncing it would be a great era this could apply to north korea to immediately dialogue control and multilateralism these are the efficient weapons this is the only way forward meanwhile russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov stressed the need for diplomacy on north korea and stern of the pressure and threats we've been hearing from the trump administration they will be met with fire and fury things will happen like they never thought possible we heard the foreign minister of germany slam

trump for his national ego and warning against pursuing the interests of just one country. to more national compensation unless prosperity and there will be losers. looking round the world today it seems there will be which puts one's own national interests first and is no longer engaged in the balancing of winches between nations and countries of this world is gaining even more ground national and was worthless as a true principle for a world for this world views describes the world as in the marina a kind of ground which everyone is fighting against everyone else and which everyone has to serve their own interests the united states likes to present itself as the leader of the free world but if you look at this year's general assembly speeches it seems like the free world is a little bit reluctant to follow washington's lead. are to new york.

or to catalonia now with thousands have gathered outside a cotton ball to learn a demanding the release of around a dozen reasoner officials they had been arrested by spanish authorities in a crackdown against the upcoming vote on independence. well. i. protest this talented pro referendum and pro independent slogans the vote on whether catalonia since a part of spain is set for october the first central government opposes me and that every player has deployed a wide range of measures to prevent the vote taking place we heard differing opinion from political analysts from the trade and the pro independence activists from buffalo. race referendum it's our legal it's against the law.

of the of their regional law that is suspended by the highest court in a spain it was. with was their only of the house of their original parliament some of the terminations democracy is legal we have voted with absolute majority of the members of our parliament and if they have a problem with them or cressy they will have to justify it to international community because this madness natale government members being arrested private people that they all know warehouse they are being arrested and then being questioned he is here not only against the spanish law and they're being revelations it's even against the. most important things right now. they have to restore their order there on the law. we're not going to step back we will talk with or did so that show

a committee. with which we already have thousands of treaties the main places that they are selling their things and their business is the rest of the country so. be. alone yeah without the rest of the country they are there and do anything so that this. is not forcing anything catalonia is a dynamic i can treat with gives the net result to the european and europe we are not defeated see terri and we are the ones i'm most exploited and the ones i've received the most the international investment there is not compromise on their offer and whom they have to drop that idea and to leave the referendum bar because that the reform is not going anywhere catch on only as a nation it was all. three hundred years ago they did on the legality when they occupied us and we are just correcting we're just amending that mistake.

it's little surprise can't learn his freedom has the backing of a number of other regions in europe where talk of succession is strong one of which is scotland i think is of concern anywhere is for a state to seek to deny the rate of people to democratically express their will at the rate of self-determination is an important international principle and i hope very much that it will be respected in catalonia and if we did a survey and there's a chance for glaswegians to stand with the people of council want to go and stand with them on the basis of fundamental democratic values we believe that whatever your views are on cartoon independence the catalonian people themselves should be the ones who have the big to choose the future course of the country i feel very proud and that's well very moved to see scottish people especially glaswegian people are willing. to see the demonstrate in favor of the government process that

we're living that we should we shall have a referendum we will cover it for in the and that we will we will vote for you i'm very moved to saying that. in fact catalonia has pushed for independence was very much encouraged by scotland's own attempt to go it alone it held a referendum back in twenty fourteen but fifty five percent voted against leaving the u.k. however following the braggs vote of twenty sixteen when a majority of scots went against the national decision to leave the e.u. talk of a new referendum emerged again we discussed both scottish and catalonian calls for independence with columnist leslie riddick for the catalans and for the scots the case is being made as an aspiring saying these are nations who want to become states now who you tend to think as an onlooker what else can the cattle arms do if their attempt to even have a thought is resulting in such heavy handed approaches so it looks like it will be

in practical terms it may be impossible to halt but the question is what next. with the german general election two days away news outlets are dubbing it one of the most boring campaigns in memory especially after the fireworks of the vicious french campaign just months ago and many were waiting for reports of russian meddling to emerge just to spice things up artie's peter oliver picks up the story . we're into the final stages of this german federal election but one question keeps popping up with the question suppose to interfere in this. expectations that russia would try and meddle in the german vote happened being met

but that doesn't mean that there hasn't been interference the house just hasn't come from moscow german researchers say they've tracked down online trolls who've been posting attacks against angle or merkel and other leading german candidates while putting online and promoting support for the anti immigration alternative for germany party a lot of the stuff we're seen in germany can be or at least inspired by the right movements in the us the german cabinet meets every wednesday morning just behind me and after this week's meeting the interior minister came out and sounded almost disappointed that they haven't uncovered a russian plot to the ferrous the fiddle in this year's federal elections. we don't see that putin has meddled in the election campaign maybe they didn't try maybe it's still common since mr seems to think that an attack is possible perhaps he

should look into the german government's own election software since it apparently only took one. not too long to find holes in it. we're transceiver all fundamental errors in the p.c. will software dated fourth of july twenty seven c. including insufficient protection of the servers and lack of encryption the transmitted results the weaknesses allow and influence an election results in various attacks nauru's with fewer than two days to go before polls open fear mongering over a russian hacker of the election come to nothing perhaps with this election being something of a foregone conclusion it's no wonder that we've seen conspiracies and fantasies about foreign intervention and interference being a little more interesting and more exciting to pitch than talking about the race itself peter all of our. latest polls show that two parties anglo merkel's

lot in. the race however third place could play kingmaker should there be a minority government currently predicted to edge that spot is alternative for germany for it straight down to immigration policies we discussed with. in an exclusive interview with the german foreign minister sequoia capital who's a member of one of the opposing parties. a german parliament has never given the floor either in borno or in berlin to people who promote nazi propaganda i think it will change once again not all members of the f.d.a. and not all of their voters and nazis but you have to be aware of the fact that some of the party leaders do have those ideas and they want to encourage other people to act in a particular way it is not just alexander garland there are other people who have lived off the state who get a state pension and are now pitting the people against the government we know it

can happen and it is happening right now it is outrageous there are also people really dark intentions there are people who will not work for the peace of our country or europe we need to talk about it out loud. i was in. let me know and i would like to refer to a quote by hillary clinton who wants called half of trump's voters a basket of deplorable. to have a concern that by talking in this way you only mobilize those people that we saw that in the us people responded to such statements in the following way you know it is not true and i will vote for them anyway. and first of all i think we need to stop pretending that the issue doesn't exist voters need to act responsibly to you can say i want to live in the country use the opportunities provided by the democratic system and then disappointed by something vote for politicians who would destroy democracy unlike other countries this nation had prior experience of what

could happen if these people become part of society i have never seen an election campaign like this one before so much for russia to even violence when members of democratic parties are exposed to verbal and sometimes physical attacks during door to door campaigning the country is in good shape and we want to keep it that way we do not want discordant division here are my two major points we must expose the real intentions behind the ideology of people like beer and hooka and at the same time talk to us citizens about their concerns i've always argued that germany is facing the challenge of a dual integration we need to help refugees settle down here and at the same time unite people who already live here shouldn't create the impression that the authorities are doing everything for one group of people and nothing for the other i think angle of merkel made a major mistake when she refused to back the idea of a minimum level of pension benefits it is something our nation needs then i would

be able to tell those communities that are seeing a wave of refugees we will compensate your expenses regarding refugees and will also provide the same amounts for your own residence we need to. paid to improve our schools health care and child protection services so that people do not have a false impression the authorities have forgotten about them but there is one thing we cannot agree on we cannot downplay the threat of what is happening in the mines and unfortunately hearts of some of the f.t.'s leadership this is a dangerous path for the country. have been made against islamic state in syria it tells the coming up after this break.

strength of the european union was very detrimental for the development of local and regional economies and only if these economies are developed and. recreate a livelihood for the people there will be in the final event see the stop of this i mean gratian from these countries.

welcome back to the program almost ninety percent of all syrian territory is now liberated from islamic state these are the latest figures from the russian defense ministry on the ongoing battle against the tyrus since the beginning of that campaign two years ago russian air forces have destroyed almost one hundred thousand terrorist positions in a strikes russian fighter jets have conducted more than thirty thousand flights one of the main battles in syria is now ongoing interest or west syrian troops backed by moscow are trying to eliminate remaining pockets of terrorist travel to the city to talk to people who lived there for three years and i still see each. i have no money to buy food for my children i've only been able to feed them

properly once in the last few months the shell exploded and killed many innocent people including children the result has been soaked in blood. that i would play with them i would push them and trust them i was like a mother and a father to go but all of those children died. when i went outside for ramadan to buy food and that's it for my mother she was sick she had a strong going to heart attack when i was out i was injured by a shop must what can i do now i used to do all the housework and stand in line to buy food now i can only sit and cry. by hurricanes haul the end of the americas and suffering the terrifying effects of

a fresh weather storm the high winds and driving rain of hurricane area over barreling the islands of puerto rico. maria's the strongest hurricane to hit the territory in eighty is it has already left nineteen dead and dozens injured with hundreds of households destroyed the took and keiko's islands on the bahamas are expected to be the next victim however maria as we can to a category two storm. and with one hurricane following on the heels of another people are coming up with some rather surprising explanations from bad politics to divine intervention auti some in a column reports. with natural disasters ravaging entire cities and driving millions from their homes some see them as

a form of divine punishment. i'm looking at all this and i'm saying here's a city that has boasted of its l.g.b. t. devotion its affinity for the sexual perversion movement in america they're underwater. and most americans repent and misused to repent unless new orleans repent they will likewise perish that's the message that the lord jesus christ is sending home right now but if you don't buy into the divine punishment idea what about the blame trump theory stands with p.r.c. to resist trump and his call him a manipulative racist administration how the whole say and katia i blame triumph of this hard the government will manipulate the weather to exterminate blacks even if they have to queue whites some hollywood celebrities have turned that around suggesting mother nature has an axe to grind with trouble that climate change is due to human activity and we continue to ignore it and the only voice that we

really have is through voting. so. we voted and it was really startling. watching these hurricanes now and it's really hard especially while promoting this movie not to. feel mother nature is rage around celebrities love making outrageous claims for attention but that's hardly what you'd expect from a respected academic i don't believe in instant karma but it kind of feels like it for texas i guess since we're a red state we deserve some bad karma too right yet those who voted for him hate deserve it as well can story a sociology professor was fired for tweeting that texans deserved hurricane harvey because they voted for donald trump and guess who else believes hurricanes and earthquakes are divine punishment. the islamic state well i just think it's

absolutely ridiculous i mean anybody who thinks that a hyper active hurricane season is anything new doesn't know how to do minor historical research i think there's been a growing trend i've noticed at least in america that this belief that whatever you like. or think or agree with you automatically hate the opposite entirely you're either this half or you're this half and you two are supposed to hate one another and so now we're at a point where no matter what anybody believes or says even if it's a joke they're demonized by an entire group now it seems that when it comes to natural disasters rationality and common sense can be overridden so long as it serves their political agenda. facebook has agreed to release to congress data about adverts bought by russia that submit the ongoing investigation into moscow's alleged meddling in the twenty sixteen u.s. election we were actively working with the u.s.

government on its ongoing investigations into russian interference we've been investigating this for many months now and for a while we had found no evidence of counseling to russians to russia running ads i directed our team to provide the ads we've found to congress as well now as a general rule we're going to be limited in what we can discuss publicly about ongoing law enforcement best occasions so we may not always be able to share all of our findings publicly but we support congress in deciding how to best use this information to inform the public and we expect the government to publish its findings when their investigation is complete facebook claims it discovered three thousand paid political ads which could have links to russia they cost one hundred thousand dollars in total in the port between twenty fifteen and twenty sixteen the company adds all the purchased at the moment so linked to quote in authentic accounts we discussed the latest with encrypted server founder chris kits. well

they're running out of time they can't prove anything that russia did anything bad with the with the american election so they're obviously trying to you know put some news out there to make to try and keep the story alive well they're contributing to the russian hysteria there you know there's two sides to this there's president trump and then there are the other people and the other people lost power they were surprised they lost the election and now what they're trying to do is get back at president trump it's just that simple and what's happening now is they're finding that their whole russian story fell apart right in front of their eyes because there was nothing there and now they're trying this so it's going to be it's another bit of nothing they may try and use this as a way to try and regulate people like matt drudge or other with news websites to say well you're accepting ads from you know potentially from foreign people but you know there's no way that a news website really even knows who the advertisers are. around the news. you can find this all over social media facebook twitter and of course our web site. at

the top of the hour do stay with us. at the united nations u.s. president donald trump described his vision of foreign policy as principled realist he also tried to convince the gathering of the general assembly that his idea of america first is compatible with this vision none the less he sees the world differently than his predecessors.

is. the most get a little. bit cooler than. you but i. know both on the west but i guess we're kind of on this side of this yes. but if you dump a lot and just she refuses. to. wear the blue he won't get a good area for immigrants it's hit and miss we never really know for sure but this has been a active area. so i. you know. when i started no i.

welcome to comb sophie shevardnadze german chancellor angela merkel looks all set to win another mandates in the upcoming election. for the right to the fourth term be asked smoots as it loops and what will this vote mean for europe evans to your claunch today it's better in german diplomat and former ambassador to russia is my guest today. amidst the rise of populist politics mergers of euro skepticism from both right and left and voter fatigue with established candidates instrument's turn to take center stage for election season chancellor angela merkel expected to

secure a fourth you know how will the choice of europe's most powerful nation influence the e.u. the chancellor set out to reform the block after a challenging period in the radical of a shake up this election for the union. dr adams to york phone student it's welcome to the show it's good to have you with us one more time so oh who are the germans choosing here the t.v. debate between the leading candidates showed that there isn't much difference between social democrats march and shoals and christian democrats incumbent challenger americal well i mean as far as the soundings in the. present. as one consider presently see this is quite a difference between the two parties because if the christian democrats of chance of america are leading by about thirty six point five percent where as the source for democrats of mr schultz.