now. midday here in moscow headlining this hour a russian airstrike takes out twelve high profile commanders from the. syrian with its main leader said to be in a critical condition as well of course we'll bring you the latest on a number of patients. coming up to the break we reached a couple of that's going to be in the news again big time today it says it's going to declare its independence from spain in a matter of days later as over half a million people go on strike against spanish go in the going to talk dates today and ahead to. visit the king of saudi arabia makes his first ever official visit to

russia with. oil and syria into. a good afternoon for me kevin irwin thanks for watching out international life for most courageous q. this hour and this thirty minute news update starts with this story developing all morning we're hearing. a terror group leader. in the is been gravely injured in a russian air strike in syria russia's defense ministry says it's fighter jet successfully targeted an el newsroom meeting at the time lot of people together there in one place killing twelve commanders will skip more details from here and whichever way you look at it this is going to be a big blow to the terror group isn't it the latest blow to the on those who are very poor job at tongue israel which have you want to call it this is this. second

strongest insurgent group in syria after islamic states of course and this comes as the ministry of defense has confirmed that russian intelligence were able to confirm the time and place that a meeting between the heads of this on this war terror group would be taking place and once these people were confirmed to be in attendance russian as strikes pounded the area subsequently killing over fifty on this refined twelve commanders as you just said under secure a cheap security chief excuse me but most ignorant lee the leader of the on this recruit was also in attendance and we do believe that he has been severely injured in this strike so i think it's fair to say that they are on this route has taken a pretty devastating beating over the past couple of weeks it comes just one week after the ministry of defense confirms that an ass strike in italy a province in syria had eliminated five prominent. field commanders now these commanders are believed to have been the brains behind an attack on some russian military police offices and a demilitarized zone in that area they were there to monitor the cease fire now for

more on the outcome of that attack his the minister of defense. as a result of the. police numbering twenty nine people was trapped for several hours . despite being outnumbered so like you said some pretty significant blows them gains against the on this were terrible this is an ongoing fight of course but for the leader supposed to be some deals where they disturb him behind the scenes here but. what is interesting now to mohammed very little is actually known about him we don't even know where he's from we don't know what his nationality is but when it comes to his career as a terrorist if you like well if he would be ranked as a very well established figure in the community if you like we know that he for u.s. troops in iraq we know he quickly rose through the ranks of al qaeda he was released from a u.s. prison in iraq and then went on to join. islamic state where he also did marry well

he rose through the ranks there to become a senior member of islamic state in iraq he then broke away to become the leader of when the group was established in two thousand and twelve he is the self-proclaimed and mia of the group now those who were once known as al-qaeda in syria tried to rebrand itself if you like in two thousand and sixteen it changed its name but his tactics launching remained the same let's take a look. well while generate a highly effective. gap to pocket the

extremely toxic chemical weapons on the site this is one of the methods of torture that was used by the militants. more on this russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov a stated that the u.s. led coalition in syria needs to focus more of its attention on al nasra not just are you still. with us but we have long been trying to draw the international community's attention to the fact that the us led coalition before the russian military had started its anti-terrorist campaign in syria was quite possibly citing eyesore and not striking hour news retaught after russia launched its operation the coalition became more active force roosting it strikes against i saw but even after the new u.s. administration stepped in we haven't seen the coalition making any serious efforts to target al nusra. catalonia as leader has vowed to declare the region's

independence from spain in the coming days seems on wednesday the local parliament will announce the exact date of that declaration alison said churkin has been following events than in barcelona she still. it's quite uncertain as of yet whether or not on which particular day this declaration of independence that the catalan leaders have been pushing for is going to come what we do know is it's certainly going to be within the next couple of days according to them we do know that the catalan leaders said it could come as early as this week maybe early next week what we can tell you at this point is that we're standing outside the cats parliament where the members of this parliament the majority of whom are pro independence are going to be meeting throughout the day to figure out some deadlines when it comes to this now technically the catalan leaders did say that this announcement would come within forty eight hours following the referendum on independence this has already occurred this timeline has passed but we do know that

there are still certain discussions in the works all of this comes following the referendum on sunday and of to where first when ninety percent of the people who did come out to vote did support this idea of independence thus now this huge crisis continues to unravel in spain as of course madrid continues to deny that this referendum even happened they believe it's illegal they are certainly continuing to be against any kind of discussion in terms of independence but we do know is the european parliament also later throughout the day will be getting together to discuss what is happening in spain european leaders obviously watching this very closely but they have said that this is a spanish issue that they don't want to necessarily get involved but certainly quite concerned they do want spain to remain unified and all of this certainly has been bringing people out onto the streets night after night especially given the violence with which police had met the referendum on sunday and we've been talking to some people on the streets of barcelona here last night let's take

a look. you know we will not accept anything like this anymore we are heartbroken we just wanted to use our right to vote and we think it's not normal how the government behaved the moment. you don't need to support. someone you have to be. be you you. know you think he was your god. if. you're if you know. what i. was. well those crowds there that we just saw were part of the general strike that took place throughout the day on tuesday yesterday where tens of thousands of people part to a can taking to the streets of catalonia we do know that businesses and transport services and even football club barcelona were pretty king in these strikes where

they basically came out to say that they're not happy with the way madrid handled the situation and with certainly expecting for this and then this referendum to be taken seriously but certainly lots to watch here throughout the day you know it's going to take off more to we've got reaction from the editor in chief of the people magazine who told us only a small percentage of county represented in the independence vote. it was probably not the right thing for mr hart the prime minister of spain to stand the view of the police force on the day of the referendum itself because it was confronting citizens but for the rest don't forget that ninety percent voted for the independence but that only thirty eight thirty nine percent of the people that results only thirty eight thirty nine percent of the faulting population the five point two million. could do should have voted so they are in

a minority very vocal minority in the demonstration going on but still a minority. all across this is having rippling effects is even crossed into football now in spain big game there is national teams prepare for their final qualifiers to reach the twenty eighteen world cup here in russia of course but also to defend the european headlines an hour of it all an outspoken backer of catalan independency was booed as c. trained with the spanish world. was i or could well this goes off the tone between his beliefs in a sport as mentioned pick his from catalonia exit a glittering career for both the local club and the spanish national team for whom he's won the world and european cup indeed but piquet has said he is willing to retire now from international football despite the fact he loves it so much over a staunch backing of catalan independence a bus load of football club itself is

a focal point of cattle and nationalism supporters can be heard chanting independent slogans during matches after seventeen minutes and fourteen seconds the reason why is that in seventeen fourteen that was the year that catalonia became a part of spain the club also took part in the strike against the government two it must be noted after a game behind closed doors because of fears for the road safety last weekend gerrard piquet got really emotional while talking about independence during a t.v. interview he gave chase at sawyer in a simple got to land a year stories old or much going to miss him total your saw. the win over the build the southern port bomber yes i mean it almost little too much of the notion of close. nor. the norm nor you only want to. was annoying or not but. or.

are you. going to. follow. on the other side of this spanish authorities continue to say they see the vote as illegal and unconstitutional the european union says it won't condemn the police violence in spain either and as instead given it's back into the spanish prime minister of oil to resolve the crisis that strong criticism from elsewhere with now the president of serbia accusing the e.u. therefore of double standards regarding what happened over in kosovo way back or how was that that the twenty two countries of the european union declared legal and legitimate the succession of cassava even without any form of referendum breaking international public law breaking the tradition of european law the policy that the european union is based on how is that the referendum does not counted catalonia when cassava can do it even without a referendum kosovo declared independence back in two thousand and eight but unlike

catalonia the referendum was a knowledge by the majority of e.u. member states in one thousand nine hundred ninety nato launched an air offensive over what was then called yugoslavia as its opposed kosovo withdraw over two thousand civilians were killed in the raids the operation conducted by nato it was the first case when it used military force about the approval of the un security council we spoke to mark a gas it in international affairs commentator told us the difference between then and now is that europe's got no interest in supporting catalonia as breakaway. i think also see the comparison between catalonia and kosovo in the talk here in the case of yugoslavia and indeed cos of all you have e.u. deciding on the fate of countries outside the european union so they eat european union want stability in european union countries but it's quite happy with instability on its neighborhood because that gives the european union an excuse to project itself into those areas this is clearly

a schizophrenia position in yugoslavia they were saying that. they did not matter what the constitution said in spain he was saying the constitution is all important and yugoslavia said you have two weeks to decide whether you want to dependents you parts of yugoslavia and we will decide within a week for you this was in one thousand nine hundred two in spain it is saying anything about so you can hardly blame the catalyst the seizing the opened pandora's box that that you eat you is responsible for it's a little bit late for the e.u. to remember international law now on its western border what it was ignoring it on its eastern border. a high profile of a controversial visit now king solomon of saudi arabia said to make it a story visit to russia it's going to be groundbreaking it's the first ever official trip of a saudi monarch to this country he's going to meet for talks with the russian president vladimir putin told us what to expect. saudi king solomon is coming to

moscow and it's the first time in the kingdom's history that its monarch is officially visiting russia the trips being heralded as a groundbreaking visit and here's why numerous unprecedented energy deals are on the table for one moscow and riyadh plan a one billion dollar fund to invest in a wide range of projects from oil and gas to renewable energy plus russian firms are apparently discussing an agreement with saudi energy giant aramco for joint ventures on saudi soil riyadh is also looking to invest in russian gas production which could benefit both countries given that it is not all about the energy six a bit about developing relations between our countries and expanding business corporation energy though is still a dominating thing russia and saudi arabia of the biggest oil producing countries and we could use our experience in the field. and benefits for all states. essentially what it boils down to is two of the top players on the world energy market responsible for a quarter of global oil production are forging ever closer ties which will

definitely have a global impact cutting oil output is also on the cards paving the way to extend a historic opec deal they helped to seal last year. my what some were in moscow in riyadh have a history of tension and seem unlikely partners between locking horns on the oil market and saudi arabia's close ties to the u.s. with whom relations with russia have hit new lows such close cooperation could also seem quite surprising but despite saudi arabia's reignited love affair with the trumpet ministration the opec kingpin also needs russia a key and growing player both on the world energy market and in the middle east. video of las vegas police operation to take responsible for what turned out to be

the country's deadliest shooting dramatic pictures coming up after this break. in case you're new to the game this is how it works the economy is built around corporate crime from washington to washington to meet. the.

voters elected to business to run this country business because. it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before. choosing us today so that as was mentioned before the break us authorities have released body camera footage of police responding to the deadly last vegas shooting that took the lives of fifty nine and injured over five hundred more shots can be heard as officers try to locate that gunman turns out they think it was up in that hotel above and they were trying to clear people out of the foreign line to try to get him to safety what happened so quickly. yeah here there are drugs out there. where i was. there either through i have

a garden or third out there that. you play this way this way this way the raiders will go go go go that way that we got with our so the latest is police say that that shooter steven perfect had twenty three guns in his hotel room nineteen more were discovered in his home he also reportedly had two devices with him called bump stocks seems these allows shooter very legally to modify a semiautomatic weapon into a fully automatic one there are also thousands of rounds of ammunition of products home and explosives were found in his car the latest shootings reignited the huge long running debate over gun laws in america critics for instance say it's absurd that it's illegal to carry a toy gun on the famous las vegas strip of casinos and hotels but it's totally legal to carry a real firearm security on this chelsea bridge told us it's impossible to prevent attacks like it's just been witnessed again given nevada's gun laws. given that the

initial acquisition of the weapons themselves is in nevada it certainly is perfectly legal and needs to be kept so if the amount of ammunition or weapons are part and since it's also perfectly legal to buy the very simple mechanisms that are required to convert those semiautomatic weapons into far more lethal fully automatic or effectively fully automatic weapons there's really very little it can be done to then stop an individual from going to a high planted point such as in his hotel room and then using the weapon and indeed any number of weapons in the way that he did and so that you're going to have metal detectors that each and every hotel to detect such weapons and even then you're going to have a mechanism a legal mechanism in place to prevent people actually any firearms and possessing them in this way there's nothing that can be done to stop this kind of attack taking place the fact is that america has a firearms problem while america is still trying to come to terms with what has

been the deadliest shooting in u.s. history somebody using it as a platform for the political aspirations of the girl santiago. vegas used to be known as the city of entertainment is now associated with yet another charity that shook america and the world stories of bravery and self-sacrifice grief for their loved ones the struggle of coming to terms after the worst mass shooting in modern u.s. history but now this tragedy has got dragged into political mudslinging here is c.b.s. is vice president of business affairs and her view on the horror i'm actually not even sympathetic because country music fans often the republican gun. yes she was fired shortly after that post of course following with an apology but the rest of the media haven't been shy of pigeon holing the massacre into their political and bi partisan agenda something else i think to keep in mind a lot of these country music supporters were likely from supporters and this is something that of course is hitting the tapestry of all americans and it's not just

the news outlet celebrities fall in line just as easily saying there's just no way not to politicize this event after all it contains three of the most controversial elements in america's melting pot white men with guns and we obviously can guess who those type of men are said to support should you be surprised not really even national disasters are used to point the finger at political opponents here is hollywood's darling jennifer lawrence essentially blaming the hurricanes on trump that climate change is due to human activity and we continue to ignore and the only voice that we really have is through voting. early voting and it was really startling. thing watching these hurricanes now and it's really hard especially while promoting this movie not to. feel mother nature is. rage the wrath and online you could also see people cheering for the floods because they quote are cleansing texas from racist white people and it doesn't change from one horrific

event to another no matter if it's a hurricane or a mass shooting so what are we left with the so much needed uniting in the face of tragedy is marred by hateful messages of division think about it we go france giago r.t. . controversial detainees from the infamous time a prison in the us sort of but the creative side go on show mission in new york. of course an unusual entrance into the new york city art scene this is art from guantanamo bay thirty six pieces of art created by detainees and get model some of the artists whose work is on display are a bit controversial to say the least. organizers

of the exhibition say they did it to draw attention to the prisoner's plight the goal of the exhibition is to give other people a different way to think about this man but also for them to think about themselves in a different way there are workers on display on the very same island where the twin towers once stood we decided to talk to some new yorkers and see how they feel about this controversial exhibit sixteen years after nine eleven i can see why that would be difficult for a lot of new yorkers are inside resume are two different things and usually a fairly recent doesn't both as the same think it's a sensitive issue. you know to give support to people who brought a lot of you know. it's still very visceral even years later i think the memories are still there in new york how would i tell the bout it in two thousand and two. i

would have been surprised it would even get this far. presenting it out of the world space walk three sixty project great this the first ever virtual reality video from space. so let me tell you more the r t three sixty project created alongside russia's space agency ross cosmos and the country's leading spacecraft producer went on to show the russian museum of cosmonaut ics virtual reality glasses allowed people to experience what it be like to walk out of the international space station into the

great abyss her russian cosmonaut some people attending the event shared their thoughts on the project. i'm really happy that it was us russians who were the first ones to try this technology in outer space i'm also really excited to see it because i've been in outer space numerous times but no idea how it looks in virtual reality but i know for sure that it's a unique experience that i think everyone would want to share is very cool or. lose your cool knowledge. i don't know i know people made this this is very credible which is doro is great that they not only do the important chops ask cosmonauts the also think about ordinary people who pay a lot of attention to space so make us feel like we are actually there. the front page of r.t. dot com check it out check it out see dot com as well for the latest news and so much more from us i'm kevin o. in for now saying thanks for watching this latest life news update.

what politicians do you shop to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so if you want to be president sure. somehow i want to. get you to go right to beatrice to see what the before story of the morning can't be good that i'm interested always in the waters in my house. first city. lemme walk selling you on the idea that dropping bombs brings peace to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battles they don't believe in you stop spreading tell you that celebrity gossip and tabloid bias files little supporters today. about how do you think you are not cool enough and let's fight their products lists . all the hawks that we along with all those walker who.

live. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle the people of catalonia went to the polls seeking independence the spanish state

reacted with force against peaceful voters still again the question arises what is the e.u.'s commitment to democracy and who is allowed self-determination. cross-talk in catalonia i'm joined by my guest up in london he is a professor of political science at coventry university as well as author of referendums on ethnic conflict also in london we have matthew goodwin he is an expert in european politics from the university of kent and chad ham house and in paris we cross to john laughlin he is director of studies at the institute of democracy and cooperation right gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate let me go to john first in paris john can you give me your assessment of what happened on sunday because from an optical point of view it was an utter disaster what are the.