well. the with. the with. almost half a million people protest in catalonia as madrid decides to impose direct rule dismiss key regional officials and call for a snap regional election. r.t. has been under scrutiny with the u.k. foreign secretary boris johnson britain's the times newspaper and a european think tank all slamming this channel and discouraging guests. on the pentagon hails the liberation of the syrian city of rocket from islamic states by u.s. backed opposition forces as the city has been left mainly in ruins. thank

you for watching the weekly headlines here at r.t. international broadcasting live from moscow i'm kate partridge. but we start with catalonia where almost half a million people have protested in support of independence it follows madrid's decision to impose direct rule on the region and strip the local government of its powers the spanish government is also calling for a regional election within six months castle and leaders have called the move a coup d'etat. this measure we're going to implement has a lot to do with the goal of holding an election in catalonia the region will have to hold an election within six months but mind to mention is to hold it as soon as we recover. all of us by. the spanish government has carried out the worst attack against scotland institutions and. residence since the orders of the military

dictator francisco franco. were who even agreed to irresponsible act christ all boundaries by nasa at a factor coup d'etat to oust a democratically elected government. well the transfer of powers to madrid and dismissing officials alleged to have broken the law or is expected to be approved by the senate within days and while the catalan parliament won't be dissolved it will now be stripped of its capacity to elect a new president. but meanwhile a demonstration in support of unity with spain has been held in barcelona so let's cross live now to regina caution of he was there for us hi there david so what was the mood like there on the streets of barcelona. well protests continue in the streets of wasilla and across the region of council anya now people that gathered here in this area of the city earlier well they were

against the independence and many of them were from different union shops the region now they came here this sunday with their families and with their friends they brought flags shelf spain and they were shouting slogans including out of a spine you know which means a long live spain at the same time on saturday we saw tans of thousands of other up or testers that also took it to the streets of boston long and they were supporting independence and they were supporting the results of the referendum that took place on the first of october now all these people now feel that they are. it will in a way stuck in a state of limbo and at least for the next six months now we managed to speak to some of them here in the streets of barcelona and we gather it's a mixed reactions to the recent events. is the muslim focus urban last is the first time we found ourselves in such

a situation we've heard talk of possible support from durham for example but it seems that the e.u. is not interested as a tool in what's going on here but i think it's a relief when the other in other planets not. even common interest they leave they say what they say all the time the same thing and they repeat the same rewards and that's on money and the power of the other leaders so it's it's it's it's impossible to talk to them so i'm not going to show you don't know what they did by triggering article one five five it was suicidal because as you can see there are millions of people defending catalinas right to independence . poesy differing mood among people industries and a lot of uncertainty really. and old this shows a deep crisis that the region is at the moment and it isn't the biggest constitutional crisis this country has seen in decades now many believe that the

inability to negotiate ways out of the situation between the spanish government and the a local catalan officials outlets to this particular situation to this crisis now spanish government gave the catalan leader up until last thursday to back away from proclaiming independence out or to be ready to face the possibility of a direct rule coming from a treaty. catalan as thor it is a cap confirming the independence however at the same time they're also kept suspending the declaration of independence and all these allowed to the events of saturday when this man from and and nouns that it is invoking article one fifty five of the constitution for the first time avar and this measure can only be applied if the regional government does not comply with the obligations of the constitution so now spanish prime minister calling for a snap elections to take place in this region within the next six months he is also

calling for the dismissal of the local government asked the local government allowed to this crisis but important detail is that all these measures should first be approved by the majority of the spanish senate but nonetheless what we're witnessing here is a big crisis not only a constitutional crisis but also a crisis within the the nation within the catalan people. happens next but in a question in barcelona thank you very much thank you. we spoke to thomas hartington a professor of liberian studies he says exerting this kind of pressure in a democratic country is not legitimate. so the role of the force in elective democracies in the twenty first century. i think the consensus of the cattle on site is a very strong one and i can't imagine that the people who are rightfully elected in the september two thousand and fifteen elections going along with a new election after the government that they were elected to form part of

is is overthrown by the central of ari's and i think president bush among makes a very compelling find when he says well if this can be done to us what other things can be done to other people if you're going to sit by and let it happen. let's take a look at how spain has been cracking down on catalonia push for independence. dot. com. a lot of persepolis been i demanded by those in charge in the council on government who are the protagonists in this challenge to our coexistence and i ask them to cease that illegal activity they should abandon them their objective.

or if you need we are now applying article one five five because no government a tool in a democratic country can accept that the law will be ignored violates it with chains this has all happened on the phones criteria and they impose their rights here. everybody else. now it's been a week of intense scrutiny for r.t. with this channel roundly attacked as kremlin propaganda and you hawkins explains r.t. has been in the spotlight for a while under fire from government officials the media even think tanks here are

some recent highlights. boris johnson led the charge in the u.k. house of commons with an attack on opposition m.p.'s who've appeared on this channel if you study the output of of russia today it is a scandal it is a scandal that members of the party opposite are continuing to to validate to validate you to meet. that kind of propaganda by going on those programmes but some of his fierce criticism the foreign secretary of peers to have missed out a bit of important information his own conservative colleagues have also appeared as guests on the channel as well as someone closer to home his own father stanley johnson was interviewed by going on the ground i was that i should return see just last month. the times newspaper claims there are now calls by the labor party for off the u.k. media watchdog to investigate artie's advertising campaign on the london

underground they even contacted us for our take on the matter later saying our press office refused to comment except we did two questions do you wish to respond to this complaint which advertising agency created the adverts for r t what were they made in-house. hi probably not much point in responding to a complaint to an authority that does not regulate out of door advertising the out campaign was developed in-house by the other team and fully proved by all u.k. vendors we are glad to say many in the u.k. are engaging with our. advertising understood thanks for the swift response. and it gets better one thing tank recently completed the mom of the task of

compiling a list of all the thousands of guests who've appeared on our shows ever from politicians and journalists to academics and thirties and even groups them into categories and then dismisses them as useful idiots many people in europe and the us including politicians in the past sins of influence continue to exhibit troubling naivety about r.t.s. political agenda these useful idiots remain oblivious to our intentions and b. states legitimacy by granting interviews on the shows and news casts so only useful idiot list john mccain one of the most vocal critics of russia even film director rob reiner gets a mention in the celebrity section he's now part of an organization called the committee to investigate russia as not to mention u.s. senator and former presidential candidate bernie sanders as well as none other than the current american president donald trump i guess that's finally the smoking gun

of russian election influence former first lady michelle obama gets a mention although her name only appears in the program description she was never an actual guest checking the episodes would have confirmed this back to boris johnson himself he's listed on the reports official guest list taken from web site descriptions for the comedy show news thing well they may want to double check that one as well it's power to say johnson boris welcome. are we going to get a chance to fight the spanish before america and russia kill us so. to be. portrait of the reporters sponsored by george soros as well as the u.k. and u.s. embassies in the czech republic it certainly spares no criticism of those giving interviews on this channel. well we decided to our some of our guests that were mentioned in the list of useful

idiots what they think about that description. development is somehow trash it gets more and more aggressive across europe the political debates and one of these games they are playing. they are destroying the reputation of politicians they don't like i don't think that it's fair to say that we are simply here is russian stooges i am not anti russian but sometimes i'm quite critical of russia over syria and over the detention of political prisoners like dod and others. you know of course everybody has their agendas but i think it has certainly not tried to constrain my expression or the expression of many other people i know i work with a network we speak our mind and we're critical of the west when it's appropriate and we're critical of russia when it's appropriate. the reality is there is a dissident voice in the u.k.

the only very rarely gets any airtime in the mainstream media r.t. is is the only place that has been providing a regular platform for what used to be dissident voices in the u.k. but now much more mainstream voices. well the recent attacks on r.t. made a russian meddling frenzy the latest comes from britain where a labor party m.p. has called for a probe into moscow's alleged interference in the brics it. given the widespread public concern over foreign and particularly russian interference in western democracies will sure show this house but the government and the electoral commission will examine these reports very carefully and reassure our country that all of the resources spent in the referendum are from permissible sources. well anti russia hysteria has been making headlines for months now it started with the alleged moscow meddling in the us election then moved on to the french and german

votes and there has even been suggestions that russians hacked the cattle on independence vote or president putin says it's all part of a deliberate campaign launched after donald trump's victory that isn't so sure it's the us who put up with this some president and then to a russian campaign which was not provoked by anything someone lost the elections to mr trump and russia was blamed for this then there unfolded this anti russian hysteria and now any failure will be connected to us. one of the loudest complaints comes from the politician who claims russian interference lost the us presidency. in germany members of parliament have been hacked by russia.

and france that crowns campaign was hit by a massive cyber attack just before their presidential election. you know the evidence that russia has a hard q e mails no civil civil war that is not possible to so you've obviously a state it still was still a criminal group it really can be anyone. still the simplicity of the technical part can make us think it's just a simple person who created it and so this person can be in any country with any kind of motivation. maybe you've even seen the ads and london underground one russian state funded propaganda distorted bragging watch our t.v. and find out who we are planning to. the fact is they're also opening a new scottish. goes to show

you yet again the his steria the absolute mind boggling hysteria that occurs whenever the word russian. whenever it's even mentioned people say ah rush is there added again how are they at it again i don't know but you know how they are who the russians what russia and those russians. more of the news making this week's headlines in just a few minutes including shakespeare's plays now come with a warning label at cambridge university well done four hundred years after they were written. when almost seemed wrong why don't we all just don't all.

get to shape out. the ticket and engage with equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. in case you're new to the game this is how it works not the economy is built around . corporations run washington washington the media the media the. voters elected businessman to run this country business equals. boom bust it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before

. welcome back this week the pentagon confirmed the victory of the coalition led kurdish fighters against islamic state in the syrian city of raka the defense department held the operation as a great success in the fight against isis. we're having great success against what was once known as the core caliphate iraq in syria and now we're actually ending the beginning i think the emphasis stage and watch for the caliphate is rocket however the latest pictures from morocco show that despite the victory it's now a virtual ghost city the destruction you can see here was caused by eisel militia shelling and coalition air strikes aid agencies also say a huge effort will be needed to end the city's humanitarian crisis why so claim draco's its de facto capital in twenty fourteen the first major offensive against

the terrorists there began two years later it used to be one of syria's largest cities but it's now mainly in ruins. recently coalition air forces were ready to demolish the whole building to target one member of i so they have no problem killing civilians. we ran from death and any human being would be afraid the sound of the planes makes us afraid they were shelling the civilians destroying buildings and houses rakhal was destroyed by a coalition aircraft only ten percent hit the targets the rest hit civilians.

the u.n. estimates that are now. bridge of twenty seven people are being killed in record every day. and they seem to be no real escape for these civilians their level of suffering. princess peeves family of the children exceptionally. starstruck getting. the humanitarian relief teams are only now beginning to arrive there has been a destruction of the one our supplier has polluted pollution of who because of course the area was under siege for such a long time there is a severe lack of medical services medical care hospitals that are functioning a severe lack of what of course and so there is a massive massive humanitarian need on the ground. now william shakespeare's

works have been stamped with a trigger warning by lecturers at cambridge university to avoid potentially causing students to stress they are being alerted about which texts contain scenes of sexual assault or violence or poly boyko asked why the bonds writings are raising so much concern over four centuries after they were composed. okee me from their worse than killing last and tumble me into some loathsome pits whenever man's i may behold my body do this and be a charitable murderer so should i rolled my sweet sons of their fee no let them satisfy their lust the that's a snippet from shakespeare is a first tragedy titus andronicus the play features graphic violence gang rape and fourteen murders and now certain industry at cambridge university operating special warnings on that timetables when they're going to be covering

potentially distress. top picks like these are going to have to have a lot of disclaimers with the works of shakespeare though some of his plays can be very gory they feature things like incest rape murder and suicide they also happen to have kept people talking about thorny issues like claws relations race relations and anti semitism for centuries i want to know what the people visiting the famous shakespeare globe theatre in london have to say about the warnings i think. demis down the students. in the churn for smart enough to be able to handle this without a warning. being good enough for them. if you're reading literature you should expect to have some surprises you expect to be shocked to see or simulate that particular student i think the problem

with the world these days is that there's just so much focus on being offended by everything that people are just so scared of what they can actually say or do cambridge university has told me that any warnings that they put out are the initiative of individual professes and that it's not a policy adopted by the english department as a whole by the way when the globe says to stage tied to some johnny three years ago several people fainted from the graphic violence including one of the things he said critics reviewing the show that very same critics still gave the production an exceptional review art isn't always comfortable the most challenging art can be anything but and now there are growing concerns not just in academic circles that modern students are being too morally called old if they can handle the content in classic literature how are they going to cope with life in general. and there is

a growing backlash a social media users have also questioned whether students have become overly sensitive others warn that if people can no longer cope with fictional violence then they're likely to struggle with life after university. all the measure has also raised concerns among many in academia and literary circles the artistic director of the cambridge shakespeare festival says shouldn't study the bard if they're not aware his works portray violence or he looked at what other literary classics this might apply to. sykes battles nancy to death in her bed the corpse is so deformed that the person who identifies her body is so scared by the experience that they're led away in

a straight jacket. on. your new court cell in people's half devil and hard choice. is our eyes rested thoughtfully upon the scene you reach for arm and restored dawson scarred with a new report puncture marks finally thrust the show point home press down the time the pistol. society isn't becoming sensitive just a few snowflakes who are in position of the influence universe theory they are pushing this agenda but the real agenda is to cook freedom of speech and freedom of expression. and i'll be back with the latest headlines in just over half an hour

meanwhile for more on the last always. we're here in southern russia in sochi attending the ball by discussion club and our topic is u.s. russia relations and the state of the world. with manufacture consent to public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. with the famous. we can all middle of the room sick.

what politicians do something. they put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or somehow want to. have to go right to be press was like them before three in the morning can't be good. i'm interested always in the waters about how. to.

take. out us is a stronghold for puerto rico's independent body. not only. about. those. we. want to. meet. but the caribbean island which was an expose of the u.s. in eight hundred ninety eight is about to elect a new governor about how many young people have turned out. before. ruth wants to make us. successful but the ticket the number one what i call what if i lose i am a meaningless.