going to the. russian submarine some marines fire rockets at almost or a terrorist positions and western syria the russian defense ministry says all targets were hit. north korea threatens to test a hydrogen bomb in the pacific just hours after washington slapped the state which yet more sanctions. thousands gather in barcelona demanding the release of a dozen regional officials arrested by spanish authorities madrid called catalonia upcoming indifferent independence referendum illegal. with

a german election just around the corner signs of outside meddling have been revealed not coming from russia as everyone had been predicting but from america's all right all too right. it's just turned five pm here in the russian capital i'm jacqueline lugo coming to you live from r t h q thanks for joining me. we start in syria where the russian defense ministry says that submarines have targeted illness or terrorists in the province of it led. courser of is following developments for us submarine of the russian the black sea fleet which is currently stationed the sport of the naval group in the mediterranean shots caliber cruise missiles towards terrorists or gets in syria according to russian defense ministry old charges that have been destroyed in the. those are terrorists command post training bases weapons storage facilities

armored vehicles and of course military power as well now all of those have been destroyed now defensive ministry stresses that some of the tsar gets had been those that militants. who ambushed its twenty nine a russian military police personnel in the province on a wednesday now the russians were heavily outnumbered by but despite that they were able to fight back and the russians have not lost any matter whatsoever but three of those men have been injured so you could say that's a couple of days later after that ambush a russian defense ministry came out with this so-called the engines. almost ninety percent of syria's territory is now liberated from islamic state this is the latest figure from the russian defense ministry on the ongoing battle against the

terrorists since the beginning of their campaign two years ago russian air forces have killed more than fifty thousand terrorists russian fighter jets have conducted almost one hundred thousand air strikes during over thirty thousand flights to limit terrorism in syria one of the country's main battles is now in dera zor where syrian troops backed by moscow are trying to get rid of the remaining pockets of jihad this are to travel to the city to talk to people there who lived under eisel sieged for three years. have no money to buy food for my children i've only been able to feed them prove who comes in the last few months shell exploded and killed many innocent people including children has been soaked in moment. that i would play with them i would push them and trust them i was like

a mother and a father to go but only because she died. when i went outside for ramadan to pass through it and that simple my mother she was sick she had a strong going to heart attack when i was injured by a shell what can i do now i used to do all the housework and stand in line to buy food now i can only see and cry. north korea has threatened to test a powerful nuclear weapon in the pacific ocean saying it would be a response to escalating saber rattling by 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 that the final decision

had not yet been made and will come from the country's leader japan says it's bracing for the possible launch as its defense minister warned the feis could fly over the country's territory the north's announcement came just hours after donald trump promised a new round of economic sanctions against pyongyang however the russian foreign minister speaking at the u.n. general assembly stressed that sanctions are just quote provisions to return to the negotiating table but i am announcing a new executive order just signed. that significantly expands our authorities to target individuals companies financial institutions that finance and facilitate trade with north korea and the other thing they 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 and a destructive path there's no doubt at all resolutions of the un security council

should be fulfilled day long with sanctions continued provisions for the need to return to negotiations and we call for a halt to the blocking that these provisions it's a bill is the fresh threats came amid a round of name calling between washington and pyongyang donald trump took to twitter branding kim jong own quote a madman that's after the north korean leader slammed trump as mentally deranged i think he was not a politician but a rogue and a gangster. bear in mind that a few days ago at the u.n. general assembly trump also threatened to quote totally destroyed north korea but as caleb martin explains the u.s. president appears to be turning off world leaders with his hawkish words 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 trumpet ministration they will be met with fire fury things will happen like they never thought possible we heard the foreign minister of germany slam trump for his national ego and warned against pursuing the interests of just one country. the country needs to more national conference ation and less prosperity

and there will be. looking round the world today it seems now will be which puts one's own national interests first and is no longer engaged in the bouncing of winches between nations and countries of this world is gaining even more ground national and was worthless as a principle for all for this world views describes the world as in the icon of ground which everyone has parts and yes everyone else and which everyone has to so the run interests 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 caleb r.t. new york. the u.s. representative to the un nikki haley has admitted washington always puts america's interests before other nations but global policy expert george some only believe such an approach is doomed to fail first let's take a listen to what haley had to say it has never moved the u.s.

to care about what other countries say what does move the president is are we doing everything in the best interest security interest for the american people saying what she said she's expressing a kind of us our egos in which you know you just say it's just does whatever it feels like doing it it will not be restrained by any forces at all of course this is completely idiotic because it was just simply isn't strong enough big enough to be able to have its own way on everything international cooperation requires everybody to be on the same page and work on the same script and try to achieve the same objectives. now to catalonia where thousands have gathered outside a court in barcelona demanding the release of dozen of a dozen regional officials they were arrested by spanish authorities in a crackdown against the region's upcoming independence vote which madrid has

branded as. illegal here's a look back at the events surrounding the cattle and regret. this legally legitimate for a thousand year old nation like the ones of catalonia referendum will be held on sunday the first of october. ok ok. it's just us the house the problems in this case and spanish justice and not the some one hundred twelve minus. this aggression is and was sort of the law of the damages the states of law and all of the constitutional guarantees.

this referendum can be it was never legal or legitimate. was i i i. i. was. earlier we heard differing opinions on the issue from a political analyst from madrid and a pro independence activist from barcelona. they screw up random it's our league out it's against the law. of the of their regional all that is suspended by the highest court in a spain it was. young when he was there all of the house of their original parliament some of the terminations democracy is legal we have voted with absolute my journey of the members of our apartment and if they have

a problem with them or cressy they will have to just. fire to international community because it's madness natalee government members are being arrested private people that they all know warehouse they're being arrested and they're being questioned here not only against the spanish law on the european revelations it's even against the. most important things right now. have to restore their order their under law in dr ian. we're not going to step back we will talk with all the international committee. with which we already have thousands of treaties the main places that they are certainly in the things and their business is the rest of the country so. business in catalonia without the rest of the country they are there that can do anything so

that is an important thing on madrid is not forcing anything catalonia is a dynamic contrie with gives a net result to the european europe we are not defeated to terry and we are the ones of most exports and the ones i've received the most their international investment. there is no compromise on the river and whom they have to drop that idea and to leave the referendum back because that the river and is not going anywhere catch on only as a nation he was. 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 catalonia bid for freedom has the backing of a number of other regions in europe where talk of secession is strong one of which is of course scotland i think is of concern anywhere is for

a state to seek to deny the road. people to democratically express their will and the right of self-determination is an important international principle and i who very much that it will be respected in catalonia and if you today's event has a chance for glaswegians to stand with the people of council want to know. about them on the basis of fundamental democratic values we believe that whatever your views on the indian independence the catalonian people themselves should be the ones who have to make 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 living glasgow now for a year to see that they demonstrate in favor of the government process that we're leaving that we should we shall have a referendum we will cover it for in them and that we will we will vote and so yeah i'm very moved to saying that. in fact catalonia is push for independence was very much encouraged by scotland's own attempt to go it alone it held

a referendum back in two thousand and fourteen but fifty five percent voted against leaving the u.k. however following the break that vote of two thousand and sixteen when i mean when the 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 catalonia and calls for independence with columnist leslie reddock. 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 do you tend to think as an onlooker what else can the catalans do if their attempt to even have a vote 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 open general election just two days away news outlets are dumping 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 of course artie's peter all of our 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 hof and 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 angler merkel and other leading german pundits while

putting online and promoting support for the anti immigration alternative for germany party. a lot of the stuff we've seen in germany can be or at least inspired by the old 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 favor asli 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 the earth is possible but her see should look into the german government's own election software since it apparently only took warner i t enthusiastic not too long to find holes in it. we have found several

fundamental errors in the p.c. will software had tasted fourth of july twenty seven scene including insufficient protection of the services and lack of encryption the transmitted results the weaknesses allow an influence an election results in various attacks naruse with fewer than two days to go before polls open fear mongering over a russian hacker if 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 angela merkel c.d.u. and martin schultz as s.p.d. leave the race however a third place could play kingmaker should there be a minority government currently predicted to edge that spot is alternative for germany or a f d known for its strict anti immigration policies we discussed the f.t.

and many other issues in an exclusive interview with german foreign minister signature gabriel here's a quick extract mr gabrielle firstly thank you for one ring ounce by agreeing for a second interview agreeing for a second interview is a big no no according to the spiegel yes that's how we would like to thank you can we take it as a step towards a tongue tie between germany and russia. the fact that i'm giving you an interview no i think we should get accustomed to having more media outlets covering german politics we also communicate with turkish channels and newspapers in germany many people watch russian channels so of course we should pay some attention to them to make sure german policies are expressed in their content i'm convinced that we do need a new day terms with russia despite some very complicated disputes of the crimea and the situation in ukraine we can't tackle global problems without working with

russia. you can catch the four version of that interview on r.t. dot com and tomorrow will begin our special coverage of the german election two thousand and seventeen.

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

welcome back facebook has agreed to release to congress data about ads allegedly bought by russia that's amid the ongoing investigation into moscow's alleged interference and the two thousand and sixteen presidential 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 look to russia running ads and when we recently uncovered this activity we provided that information to the special counsel we also briefed congress and this morning i directed our team to provide the ads we've found to congress as well 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's discovered

three thousand paid for political ads that could have links to russia they cost one hundred thousand dollars in total and were bought between two thousand and fifteen and two thousand and seventeen the company adds all the purchased advertisements are linked to quote in authentic accounts the kremlin has reacted to facebook's moves saying it has never placed any political ads on the social network meanwhile donald trump has reacted on twitter saying the accusations of moscow meddling in u.s. elections are just quote a hoax we discuss the latest with the founder of the unseen encrypted server chris kits. well they're running out of time they can't prove anything that russia did anything 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 is 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. recently battered by hurricanes harvey in the americas are now suffering the terrifying effects of a new storm the high winds and driving rain of hurricane maria are already barreling the islands of puerto rico.

marias the strongest hurricane to hit the territory in eighty years and has already left one thousand dead and dozens injured with hundreds of households destroyed the turks and caicos islands and the bahamas are expected to be the next in line however maria has now week into a category two storm. and with one hurricane falling on the heels of another people are coming up with some rather surprising explanations from bad politics to divine intervention artiest america 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 and see fall stands with b.o.c. to resist trump and his call him a manipulative racist administration how the whole say and cuts i blame triumph of this heart of the government who 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 red state we deserve some bad karma too right yet those who voted for him he 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 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. you automatically hate the opposite entirely you're either this

after years this happen you too or specific. 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. a black woman from texas who criticized the sale of cotton decorations for being racially insensitive has faced backlash online daniel rider who wrote this facebook post after seeing raw cotton being sold as a decoration and a high street store she complained that cotton represents the hardship of african-american slaves and should therefore be removed from sale however her post sparks such a strong reaction she's now blocked her social media account what is really wrong with my post is the reaction that is receiving from across the nation i have to block by page because my facebook page has turned into. a feeling of burning racism

. a group of black students also found offense when similar cotton decorations were used as a table centerpiece at a dinner hosted by their university's president he later apologized for the incident saying he should have been more sensitive although that's got many questioning just how far a fence can go. you know slaves in a lot of different things and there you see the wash dishes d p. turnip greens mostly greens the whole thing is just silly because if you don't.