all. right. this is a recap of some of the week's biggest stories independence referendum six spanish police use of force against voters in the fall and crack down as madrid calls the push for secession illegal. coming up empty handed the u.s. senate intelligence committee admits finding no evidence that so-called russian meddling affected the presidential election. fortunately the committee who's here a wall the issue of collusion is still open no vote were affected plus the prosecutor general is reportedly considering registering american media outlets as quote unwelcome in russia in response to unprecedented pressure against the u.s.

. i'm just the syrian army continues to push back islamic state in. residence in liberated towns talk to us about life under a terrorist siege. one c three sons many families gave me when they beat me up they so blood flowing down my back. started screaming eating. in moscow this sunday october welcome to the weekly with me calling bright as we look at some of the biggest stories of the past seven days as reported right here first off the spanish prime minister has said he will not allow catalonia to go independent in an interview with a national newspaper last sunday's referendum so the majority of catalans or voted say yes to leaving spain riot police across catalonia used rough tactics on the day

of the votes in what's been described as a violent crackdown on democracy. if you. look.

at the. video in particular shows the tactics used by riot police as people queue to vote in barcelona one officer can be seen drop kicking a person down a staircase while others were thrown down they. were just helping the people because they were throwing them from up. the stairs and throwing them down upon them probably. and kicking them someone is on the floor and there is a guy that jumps on the person that's down they were now i'm very sure they got this girl that was one of the organizers and they grabbed her and they broke their her hand if you imagine if that's supported by the democracy you're there is saying that's the law that's what you consider the law since the vote catalonia and other regions in spain have seen

a number of mass protests both for and against catalan independence our correspondents have been following how it all unfolded. i do know is that just two blocks away from here there was another polling station at a building of a school and just an hour ago police raided that building and forcibly removed people out of there ok ok this is not like a tele aware as you can see the protests continue here on the iconic sware of the barcelona says he i think i was thinking that this really impressed than the kids i was seeing out on the street because the law that so many people young people who came here holding blacks up in the ground and consul and you know we see here families with small children we see elderly people here and you are asking if they're shouting at the national police forces to leave the region the consul lining up thank god

thank you thank god we can see that hundred people was gathered there was there. for you to see and and so it kind of i say are quite loud and really are symbolic fascinating to me was hearing her. because as you can see the atmosphere is quite stands out as the protesters here the ones who are against the police brutality and for the independence are being confronted by another group of protests over there you can see that there are so police between these two groups to avoid any kind of trouble thank you thank you entire square in front of the cattle on leaders headquarters is popped with thousands of people dressed in white who are here to call for dialogue thank you. in terms of

reaction elsewhere and e.u. commission statement called catalonia as independence but illegal but stated that it was an end to the. matter that spain should do with that prompted angry reactions inside the european parliament. why did the madrid government feel it necessary to stop dish in such a heavy handed brutal and in the final analysis counterproductive manner we now have a chen place which every independence movement so no consonant can use to provoke unrest and violence so disproportionate cannot be justified no buts and no excuses whatever you think about the referendum whatever you think of independence i think that has to be clear that violence is not to mean for solving political conflicts and what have the european union's response their first response should have been to completely condemn the violence but no this is by the e.u.

who recognize the independence or cost of a without a referendum and who recognized palestine as a nation state even though the e.u. treaties did not permit the m.e.p. you just heard speaking there stephen wolfe also shared his thoughts with us on the e.u. his reaction to the violence in catalonia. it's been despicable it's been dishonest and it shows really that the e.u. has favorites and they will stick by ban by their favorites as long as it means keeping everybody in the club by demanding that they must be some sort of negotiations and talks between the spanish government and also those in catalonia with the must first be a denunciation of the violence by the police over vies the police who feel that they could do it again. well let's bring you up to date we got some live pictures to show you of another rally that's taking place in barcelona this is a pro unity rally and there was one earlier on as well in madrid well this is in the run up to you'll know that the catalan leaders had to declare independence

within forty eight hours of last sunday's referendum result now that didn't happen but carlos put them all is due to address the castle on parliament on choose day and it's widely predicted that that is when he may well tuesday clear independence for catalonia but there in barcelona right now another while attended rally a massive turnout for unity and avoiding the breakup of spain people crossovers of protests and rallies for the coming out. for. there's still no evidence of collusion between donald trump's election campaign and russia according to the u.s. senate intelligence committee on wednesday they briefed the public on the ongoing probe looking into moscow's alleged meddling in last year's presidential election

the issue of collusion is still open. we continue to investigate both intelligence and witnesses is it relates to the steel dossier. unfortunately the committee has who have a wall we can certify. that no vote totals were affected they did not in any way shape or form that we've been able to find alter that now this channels also being on washington's radar ati's editor in chief says the network is now facing unprecedented pressure in the united states with both stuff and contributors being targeted although no evidence suggests r.t. in any way influence the election. the r.t.s. on twitter were almost uniformly anti clinton and those i think you look at them and you have to conclude you know there was a clear design in these ads so that's one congressman's opinion yet on the same day the senate intelligence committee probing alleged russian meddling so the complete opposite there is no way that you can look at that and say that that was to help

the right side of the ideological shore. and and. not the left or vice versa or they were indiscriminate it seems that the overall theme of the russian. involvement in the u.s. looks create chaos at every level all of this is just the latest segment of the russians did it saga we're now all attention seems to have shifted to our channel and its social media ads well it's no secret that r.t. does advertise on twitter and other platforms just like most other media outlets the little blue bird sing a song of russian meddling last week and a report that disclosed how much we spend on ads the sum was two hundred seventy five thousand dollars and it's funny to consider is that being able to make a sufficient influence on the election when all the candidates spend about one billion dollars to make it look as if we've done something obscure shady or semi-legal of course i don't nonsense tutors contacted us with their proposal like sheen he sure does

a presentation of the adverts so that is how much it would cost and we greet recently google became the latest internet giant to jump on the anti r.t. bandwagon when it yanked us from its premium ad service in the us without any warning whatsoever now that move is unlikely to have an adverse effect on our channels reach as we are already the most feared news network on you tube and fact last month we hit the milestone of over five billion views nevertheless this ban only adds to the mounting pressure on the channel until recently no active measures except those getting our reputation have been taken against last specifically no where else have we average spring. it's a kind of shared experience of danger to the point a three fourths of it out of the country is absolutely insane with the idea that our t. is out there and they want to condemn it as somehow russian propaganda but the fact of the matter is whether you love our tea or hate our tea the idea that the us

government can tell you what you can watch in can't watch the idea that there's a government censor or something like google in bed with the government telling you what you and or can't watch this is like something out in one thousand nine hundred four but in response to all this rush's prosecutor general is reportedly mulling over whether to declare some u.s. media outlets as unwelcome in russia and that could possibly see big networks being removed from russian cable television but will have no impact on any of the bureaus or journalists who are stationed in the country before ministries also said like for like measures are on the table. the russian foreign ministry can take countermeasures against journalists representing media outlets of countries that have restrictions on russian journalists we can he said to julian assange has weighed in on the issue as well tweeting a guide to modern western journalism his advice for being a reporter in twenty seventeen is to take a random global news story and if the russian media is already reporting on it then you can simply link the story back to moscow and suggest the kremlin is responsible

for whatever it may be donald trump as you might imagine also took to twitter to ask why american intelligence officials aren't looking into u.s. news outlets and their possible role in manipulating public opinion with false reports we heard from the director of grassroots political consulting he told us he shares the president's concern over the state of american media. we have about five corporations that control or entire media apparatus people are profiting off of them and it's completely controlled and at the same time you have congress investigating and seeking regulation on free media any alternative news media coming from international sources like this channel to bloggers social media now facebook having to go troll through with physical people so many different news stories that their focus is on shouting voices of anything that's not mainstream media and it was an interesting tweet from president trump. next americans

are still trying to come to terms with suffering that country's deadliest mass shooting fifty eight people were massacred at a country music festival in las vegas last sunday another five hundred were injured .

we need to try to get people out of the hospital care. of the gunman knocked out the windows of his hotel room overlooking the festival before unleashing a shower of bullets on the crowd he also fired shots of fuel tanks that were stationed nearby luckily they didn't explode when police stormed the room they

found the shooter's body as well as an arsenal of weapons including a handgun and numerous rifles. you can just hear the rounds almost like creeping up on you. feels like they're just if i cut you down and make those shots don't stop you don't hear that i think being in a word alone when i realize we're actually. actually still kind of frozen tundra is this she's actually have. some. in just the fact of having to run over. to you and i know. i'm just so grateful that i wasn't i just missed it but there's also so much pain and thinking like oh i mean why did those people. the shooter was sixty four year old steven public who lived in a community for retired people in nevada he turned the gun on himself before the

authorities got to him police say he had no prior criminal record and no military background and the f.b.i. says he wasn't link to any terrorist groups despite claims by islamic state. u.s. authorities later released police bodycount video shots can be heard as officers try to locate the gunman and clear people out of the firing line. them up over the way. they are through and i rather doubt there are three don't they now. play this like this like this by the way this thing will go go go go out without a doubt without the authorities say they found twenty three weapons in publix hotel room one thousand more were discovered at his home it's also reported that the killer had two devices with him called bump stocks which allows semiautomatic weapons to be modified into fully automatic weapons that were also thousands of ammunition rounds at publix house and explosives in his car the tragedies reignited the debate over america's gun laws critics have highlighted the absurdity that it's

illegal to carry a fake gun on the famous las vegas strip but that there are no restrictions for carrying a real firearm security analyst charles bridge says it's never enough impossible to prevent attacks like this considering nevada's gun laws. given that the initial acquisition of the weapons themselves is in nevada and certainly perfectly legal. needs to be kept so if the amount of ammunition or weapons you're buying 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 vantage point such as in his hotel room and then using that weapon and indeed any number of weapons in the way that he did and so unless 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 running from arms 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. this is a t. we'll take a look at syria's ongoing operation to remove islamic state from the country when the weekly returns after the break.

europe has to either change or cease to exist people who work in this building. should change the rules. to work on fewer issues with better results. as well as economic policies. that. would transform strange. driving islamic state. government forces. considered to be one of. strongholds in the country the. aerial support in the latest advances.

on after three long years the city of deer is or has finally emerged from being under eisel siege at least from a military perspective as reports people there are now struggling to recover from living with tara in there as or you'll find little unmocked by war every crater has its own tragic story and i think actually it exploded right here

a neighbor was sitting here holding his two year old nephew another man was there and my son isa was right here shrapnel hit him in the back in the waist and the legs a piece one to his lungs he still suffers pain from it isa has now survived isis shells twice he well remembers his last brush with death and how his sister found him. i said judy judy my back hurts but she said only my legs were hit when they picked me up they so blood flowing down my back my sister started screaming and hitting herself the first time he was nearly killed by an isis shell he was just ten months old then shrapnel peppered the baby isa slicing off a toe in all he has eleven scars and

a lump of jagged metal in his lungs that could still eventually kill him but at least he made it the other two year old boy at the scene wasn't so lucky hell lasted for three years it left a mark on everyone. the word tragedy does not begin to describe what happened in there is or any door you knock on any family you talk to tell you of their loss and their suffering truly the one thing that unites this city is that everyone has a horrific story there was no place in daters or where the population could find sanctuary there is no place that the battle left untouched dust craters bullet holes and devastation everywhere entire districts of the city are in ruins entire generations traumatized entire generations lost.

during the battle with isis i was shot just above my jaw the bullet is still there my left eye was destroyed and i have ten percent vision in my right eye. the reality of war i delves to where others were also in the army defending dad as order they were literally protecting their family against isis he is the only one left alive these families loss is neither unique nor the worst thing i was a moment one to lose one or three sons many families give more than me in my office there was a man who lost five sons and a daughter this is war war is it consumes and destroys everything. for many the worst is over the breaking of the siege of daters or heralded

a new beginning yet for others in the areas still being liberated it's just the start psychological scars left behind will take decades to heal more i guess the. from divorce syria. the king of saudi arabia made his first official visit to russia on wednesday and it's been seen by many as an unexpected shift in riyadh foreign policy because the kingdom's a long term ally of the united states and the saudi king's visit didn't offer the best of starts as he disembarked his plane his iconic golden escalator which usually travels with him everywhere suddenly stopped however king solomon may have been cheered up on his drive into moscow where he was welcomed by a number of posters across the city center to mark his arrival and king solomon didn't cut corners when it came to choosing accommodation either the saudi delegation didn't just reserve several hotel rooms they booked out at least three entire luxury hotels in the city center was no great surprise when your travel to

centrals included furniture carpets and of course that golden escalator. i had of the talks with the saudi monarch president putin was asked about saudi arabia's choice of allies. but let's face so. it's always going to be the united states when it comes to you. do you worry that the saudis are using you. you said always will remain is that anything in the world that is so absolutely consistent with. the meeting resulted in three billion dollars worth of arms deals being signed and future investments in technologies also were agreed or oil industry economist octomom to sell them a belief that saudi arabia and russia working together could solve a number of global issues. better cooperation could help stem the production cuts and thus that of the oil price in coming months and of course such cooperation between saudi arabia and russia could be

a positive or could lead flecked positively on the conflict is syria although saudi arabia add that i sure hope wasn't side and you called but a shim between them could come to the situation and do know is they could reach eventually a break in the deadlock and bring peace to syria. the weekly for this kevin will be here in the coming hours to keep you updated on what's happening around the world not least of all those rallies in spain of pro unity demonstrations in catalonia this is. just manufactured to send to the public will. the ruling classes protect themselves. with the final.

lifts and be the one percent. we can all middle of the room sick. when you look at the world. about your sudden passing i've only just learned you worry yourself and taken your last wrong turn. you're out caught up to us we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry suddenly i could so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each day. but then my feelings started to change you talked about war like it was a cave still some more fun to feel those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave

a funeral the same as one enters in mind it's consumed with death this one to. speak to now as there are no other takers. and that mainstream media has met its maker. bot.