we are verily better than. the sea people you've never heard of low down for the night and broke the world so very. seriously. almost half a million people protest in catalonia as madrid decides to impose direct rule to dismiss key regional officials and call for a 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 insulting i guess. and the pentagon hails the liberation of the syrian city of raka from islamic states by u.s. front opposition forces as the city has been left in ruins.

this is the weekly at r.t. international coming to you live from moscow i'm kate cockroach thank you for joining us. hundreds of thousands have been on the streets of council are expressing their support or opposition to the move for independence it follows madrid's decision to impose direct rule and strip the local government of its powers the spanish government is also calling for a regional election within six months catalan leaders have branded the move a coup. but you have this measure we are 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 my intention is to hold it as soon as we recover. the spanish government has carried out the worst attack against scotland institutions and residents since the orders of the military

dictator francisco franco we. appreciate them. or why in a greatly irresponsible act christ all boundaries ban asking at a factor coup d'etat to ask a democratically elected government. for the transfer of powers to madrid in the dismissing of 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 president. protests continue in the streets of wasilla and across the region of council on and 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 either a protest or is that also a ticket to the streets of boston lawn 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 no 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. it's nonsense that the cattle in the region wants to become independent it's about territorial unity formed in the roman times spanish unity is worth fighting for against the nonsensical actions of the council on board was easy for me though we've come here to honor and express respect to the spanish on forces because they're insulted and blamed in catalonia the children of the civil god and national police offices are told in school that their fathers to reduce the spanish constitution does not forsee any referendum

because it's illegal and most of all it doesn't foresee a referendum to break up spain for centuries spain was one it won't break up to do the will of criminals poesy differing mood among people industries and a lot of uncertainty really old this shows a deep crisis that the region is at the moment and it is indeed the biggest constitutional crisis this country has seen in decades now many believe that the inability to really go. 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 treat. catalan as sore it is it kept 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 the spanish government and nouns that it isn't vote king 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 met and 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 of the nation and within the catalan people we spoke to thomas hartington a professor of iberian studies he says exerting this kind of pressure in

a democratic country is not legitimate. what is the role of the force in elective democracies in the twenty first century. i think the consensus of the catalan side 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 last year the government that they were elected to form part of is is overthrown by the central of artes and i think president bush among makes a very compelling fight 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 throughout the week madrid has been signing it's great to have a catalonia on monday to independence leaders were arrested for the roles they played in organizing the referendum well one of them is the leader of the council on national assembly the other is the president of an organization that provides the council on language and culture well since then barcelona seen even bigger

demonstrations uniting hundreds of thousands of people. i was. i was. a guy. was not enough. but knowing something i'm going to pick us off one of us has. quote. was well let's take a look at how spain has been cracking down on catalonia has pushed for independence .

there are those in charge in the council on government who are the protagonists in this challenge to our existence and i ask them to cease illegal activity they should abandon their objective.

need we are now applying article one five five because no government at all in a democratic country can accept that the law be ignored violated or changed this has all happened under false criteria and they impose their criteria on everybody else. now our teams faced a week of intense scrutiny with the channel coming under sustained attack what critics call its crime in propaganda the new hawkins explains altie has been in the spotlight for a while under fire from government officials the media even things x. here are some recent harlots. boris johnson lead the charge in the u.k. house of commons with an attack on opposition m.p.'s who appeared on this channel if you study the output of russia today it is a scandal it is a scandal that members of the party opposite continuing to to validate

to validate and lead you to meet. that kind of problem. by going on those programs but some of his fierce criticism of 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 show as well as someone closer to home his own father stanley johnson was interviewed by going on the ground i was the afshin rattansi 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. high probably not much point in responding to

a complaint to an authority that does not regulate out of two 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 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 all 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 and of the persons of influence continue to exhibit troubling naivety about r.t.s.

political agenda these useful idiots remain oblivious to r.t. . intentions and be seriously just really see by granting interviews on the shows and news casts so only useful idiot list star 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 foreign secretary boris johnson boris welcome. are we going to get a chance to fight the spanish before america and russia killer saw. you saw. the blue portion of the report is 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. but we decided to our some of our guests that were mentioned in that list of useful idiots what they think about that description. developer is somehow trashy 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 in others. you know of course everybody has their agendas but r.t. i think 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 were 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 and now much more mainstream voices well the recent attacks on aussie come amid a frenzy of claims about russian meddling the latest has appeared in britain where a labor party m.p. called for

a probe into moscow's alleged interference in last year's praxis vote. given the widespread public concern over foreign and particularly russian interference in western democracies we'll sure show this house that 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 were from permissible sources there until russia hysteria has been making headlines for months now it started with alleged moscow meddling in the u.s. election then moved on to the french and german votes there have even been suggestions russians hacked the catalan independence vote for president putin says it's all part of a deliberate campaign launched after donald trump's victory it is 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 they unfolded this anti russian

hysteria and now any failure will be connected to us. some of the loudest complaints have been coming from the politician who claims that russian interference cost 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. now the evidence that russia has a hockey you e-mail no civil civil war that is not possible to so you've obviously a stated silverstein 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 archaean find out who we are planning to. the fact is they're also opening a new scottish. goes to show you yet again the hysteria the absolute mind boggling hysteria that occurs whenever the word russian. whatever is 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 this week's headlines stories coming up including the syrian city of raka is declared free of islamic state but it's now in ruins more on this after the break. we're here in southern russia attending the ball by discussion club and our topic is u.s. russia relations and the state of the world. in case you're new to the game this is how it works the economy is built around corporate corporations from washington to washington.

voters elected to businessman to run this country business if. you must it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before. but with these gaming anymore i do sanctions are breaking but. it's a reality. the russian economy. and i know a lot of people who are looking for creative ways to get better results. welcome back this week the pentagon confirmed victory for coalition led kurdish troops fighting islamic state in the syrian city of raka the defense department hailed the operation a great success. we have a 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 stone age and why for the caliphate is rocket however the latest pictures from morocco show that despite the victory it's now a virtual ghost town the destruction you can see here was caused by i still militia shelling and coalition air strikes aid agencies also say a huge effort will be needed to end the city's humanitarian crisis i saw a plane draco's this de facto capital in twenty fourteen when the first major offensive against the terrorists there began two years later used to be one of syria's largest city is but it's now mainly in ruins.

recently called mission after us is we're ready to demolish the whole building to target one member of i said 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 back it was destroyed by coalition aircraft only ten percent hit the targets the rest hit civilians. the u.n. estimates that's an average of twenty seven people are being killed in iraq every day. and they seem to be no real escape for these civilians the level of suffering you're seeing friends relatives family of the children it's actually. it's just i get it.

would be humanitarian relief teams are only now beginning to arrive there has been a destruction in the larger supply their political mission of 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 a lot of course and so there is a massive massive humanitarian need on the ground. well members of the u.s. led coalition have already pledged millions in humanitarian help to rocka but this has prompted questions from russia's defense ministry which has provided aid to other liberated syrian cities what is this rush of western countries to finance rucka alone based on it seems only one thing remains to quickly cover the tricks of the barbaric bombing of the u.s. and the coalition which buried thousands of civilians liberated from still in the ruins of record. what am shakespear may have died over four hundred years

ago but he still causing a stir his works have been stamped with a trigger warning by lecturers at britain's elite cambridge university staff awarding students which text could contain sensitive material such as violence or scenes of sexual assault artie's pretty boy tell us why the body is now a course for concern. ok me from their worse than killing last and tumble me into some loathsome pit whenever mans 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 lost on 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 english lecturers at cambridge university are putting special warnings on their time tables when they're going to be covering

potentially distressing topics like these they're 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 close 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 to. meant as a whole by the way when the globe theatre to stage tied to some jonica three years ago several people fainted from the graphic violence including one of the thesis reviewing the show that very same critics still gave the production an exceptional review ot isn't always comfortable the most challenging all it can be anything bugs and now they're all growing concerns not just in academic circles that modern students are being to more lee called old if they can handle the content in classic literature how are they going to cope with life in general. i'll be back at the top

of the hour. how does it feel to be a sheriff the greatest job in the world it's as close to being a king as any job there is what business model helps to run a prison now we just do or don't like i said nobody over these attacks and i don't know what comes into them or we don't have to sarge only them or it's cost effective that's what they want to do that you know if they don't give a damn if you do the charge on that they're actually paying us to put it back into . the louisiana incarceration rate is twice as high as the u.s.n. breach what she could is behind such success. about your sudden passing i've only just learnt your yourself in taking your last

bang turn. your act up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry 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 time. but then my feelings. started to change you talked about more like it was a game still some more fun to view those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never be like it's one does not leave a funeral the same as one enters mind gets consumed with this one to. speak to us there are no other takers. to claim that mainstream media has met its maker.

long welcome to worlds apart after years of being unable to strike a peace deal with the palestinians israel now wants to have a say in the resolution of another conflict this time in syria its objective is clear to minimize the regional influence of iran but isn't it a little bit too late in the game well to discuss that i'm now joined by believe me a prominent israeli politician and former foreign minister of israel ms levy it's great to see you thank you very much for talking to us thank you now you are currently in the opposition to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu by this far as i understand when it comes to the issue of iran most israeli politicians agreed that it represents

a major deadly threat to israel that has to be curtailed through all possible means i am i right in there formulating your position yes and not only for recently politicians so we believe that iran is a problem to you but not only to you but to the interludes and need to be dealt with into the international community as such. i see him prime minister netanyahu who recently visited russia communicated something along those same lines to russian president vladimir putin do you by any chance know what how the russians have responded to those concerns raised by the israeli prime minister i hope that those of us who would understand that these were. the teasers concern. of the concerns of other states in the region the not only listen iran is both of the problem iran would not accept the right of israel to exist the wrong course below which is a total waste of the.