i almost half a million people protesting catalonia is madrid decides to impose direct rule this miscue officials and call for a regional election. go 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 our guests. also the pentagon hails the liberation of the syrian city of rock after an islamic state by u.s. banks opposition forces although the city has been left in ruins.

good to have you with us is just to past midnight here in moscow neil harvey this is the weekly on r.t. international. hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of catalonia expressing their support or opposition to the move for independence that follows madrid decision to impose direct rule and to strip the local government of its powers spanish government is also calling for a regional election within six months catalan leaders have branded the move a coup. but you have to know 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. 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 we appreciate endurance. rowena greatly irresponsible act crossed all boundaries ban asking at a factor coup d'etat to ask the democratically elected government the transfer of powers to human trait and the dismissing of officials alleged to have broken the law is expected to be approved by the senate within days and while the 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 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 protesters 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 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 capital of the region wants to become independent it's about ter tauriel unity formed in the roman times spanish unity is worth fighting for and against the nonsensical actions of the council on board was eat some worse than 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 father on 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 breakup to do the will of criminals or 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 at last to this particular situation to this crisis now spanish government gave the catcher 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 might 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 as 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 we spoke to thomas harrington a professor of iberian studies he says that exerting this kind of pressure in the

democratic country is not legitimate. what is the role of the force in elective democracies in the twenty first century. i think the consensus on 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 after the government that they were elected to form part of is overthrown by the central of ari's 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 tightening its grip of account alone you had last monday to independence leaders were arrested for the roles they played in organizing the referendum one of them is the leader of the catalan national assembly the other is the president of an organization that promotes the council on

language and culture since then boss lerner seen even bigger demonstrations uniting hundreds of thousands of people with. with was was. was. was not. back away isn't going to think that that's one of us has. was i mean take a look now just how spain has been cracking down on catalonia push for independence

. to those in charge in the government who are the protagonist in this challenge to walk coexistence and i ask them to cease illegal activity they should abandon their objective. i.

need. a one five five because no government at all in a democratic country can accept to be violated changed and this has all happened under false criteria and they impose their criteria on everybody else. on the heels of catalonia as referendum to break away two major italian regions are finishing voting for more autonomy on sunday the region's latest explained how they see the historic ballot. we want to overcome the inability of europe to solve problems and face up to them by offering a new dimension we want to a more united stronger europe one that takes into account the specifics of territories this is what can be simply called the europe of regions. more than a page of history will be written in any case village so will not be the same as before we want to initiate this in

a manner that's democratic lawful and compatible in line with the constitution the poles were open for the areas first referendums of their car and although the votes are non-binding meaning they won't change any powers they are expected to send a signal from locals angry at having to subsidise poorer parts of the country beneteau and long but they are two of italy's economic powerhouses and a major tourism industry hot spots including milan and venice local leaders explained why this vote is needed. on this i'm joined now by power bennett dean he's professor of modern european history at the university very good evening to you now mention it just there the votes are non-binding though as i understand though they're expected to have some kind of impact what will that be on the country. while we'd be certainly great impact that to my understanding post a wall italy would understand the finally that all the telly is a state that is kept alive about for we germans ban into lombardi the number one

banner of the me of a man in tuscany second that those especially venet that i long for the boat of today don't want anymore to be like a comet in the driving force of italy because spite of the fact that the billions and billions are given every year to the central state to redistribute to all over italy the g.d.p. per capita and the total g.d.p. of sicily is to the offer of the g.d.p. of lumber the and the same applies to being at the g.d.p. of bentley's doubled in the g.d.p. of colombia per capita which means the eagle is divided into two halves and. is a long process with a long story but should stop because by giving out all these mounted to the side of the government we don't tell the southern region to go in to double up they are very much subsidize and the situation is quite similar to that of the louvre and so i think the county i work out of will be aware of the legal powers in economy sure

that have well more political power and they able to dispose of they was sold to to to to use the money and of a sources they produce in their own territory you mention catalonia that you think that what's happening in spain has had any effect as it kind of given confidence or unfold and some of the areas and it's. thought on the serpent is wood or they are macho i had grown in catalonia than in benetton lumber because people are marching in the streets on the tiles in the cage and we did you have in september a million so people these dots not happened so far even better than lombardi so we just ask for more autonomy and that is not. in the plan and. yet. but the same tired my event will lead to a referendum for independence over the year or so if we don't get enough autonomy that we are asking so people went badly to vote in granite

a little lesson number three busty life think it's a very it's a report of the brand entirely and constitution of the in political history which is going to affect the country strongly when at the end the banks will be better than alone but they will have some gains for the central government although i think we'd be a long process and talking of influence stroke inspiration italian politicians have been talking about a possible domino effect is it possible of the regions might start asking for autonomy all while yes yes even though we have no way the five we just. told the monster and we my are abit more we don't ask if you will talk to me i think about possibly tasco to you and me go manya hope you had monitor them i asked for autonomy and more tommy you know the case of we tell your readers to some we don't have autonomy in above a constitution and in those regions which of course stuck to the status of autonomy

are not apply that otherwise if you applied the status of autonomy or sort or sisterly they would be they you were independent they would be ideal independent or because they question retain of the young territory all their tax revenues they can't have it they own fiscal policy and these would change a completely the situation would be they for there why the status of walked on but certainly the domino effect is foreseen enough and i and my understanding is going to happen on over some years good to till to my guest paolo bene dini professor of early modern european history at in super university thank you so much a nice evening by. yes indeed good evening to you too. let's just have a look at what's to come because islamic state self-proclaimed capital city of rocco was liberated this week wasn't without sacrifice that will explain all after the short break.

just. to shape our. engagement. find themselves worlds

apart. to look for common ground. welcome back r.t. has faced a week of intense scrutiny with the channel coming under sustained attack what critics call its kremlin propaganda daniel or king's exploits. ati 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 validate

to validate to meet. that kind of propaganda 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 shuttle 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. vendettas 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 mammoth 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 thirty's 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 artie's political agenda these useful idiots remain oblivious to r.t.c. intentions and b.c.'s 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 its power in say three boris johnson boris welcome. are we going to get a chance to fight the spanish before america and russia killer saw. the . proportion 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. we decided to ask some of our guests who were mentioned in that list the so-called useful idiots what they thought about the 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 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 now much more mainstream voices. this week the pentagon confirmed

a victory for coalition led kurdish troops fighting islamic state in the syrian city of raka the defense department held the operation a significant breakthrough. 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 end stage and why for the caliphate as rocket latest pictures from our show despite the victory it's now a virtual ghost town the destruction you can see here was caused by eisel militias shelling and coalition air strikes aid agencies also say a huge effort will be needed to end the city's humanitarian crisis i will claim rock car as its defacto capital twenty fourteen first major offensive against the terrorists began two years later it used to be one of syria's largest cities now it's mainly in ruins.

recently called nation after us is well ready to demolish the whole building to target one member of i say 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 or houses rakhal was destroyed by a coalition aircraft only ten percent hit their targets the rest hit civilians. the un estimates that's an average of twenty seven people are being killed in iraq every day. and they seem to be no really escape for these civilians their level of suffering friends relatives family of the children it's actually.

it's just targeting. the humanitarian relief teams are only now beginning to arrive there has been a destruction of the larger supply their political mission of food 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. of the u.s. led coalition have already pledged millions in humanitarian help to rack up but that's prone to 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 ball beric bombing of the u.s. and the coalition which buried thousands of civilians liberated from my sil in the ruins of wrecker. thanks staying with us all about with more at the top of the hour .

here in southern russia in sultry attending the ball by discussion club and our topic is u.s. russia relations and the state of the world. how does it feel to be a share of the greatest job in the world it's as close to being a king as any job there is one business model helps to run a prison now we just do or don't like nobody you know visitation i don't know what comes in and we don't have to serve them anymore it's cost effective that's what they want to do that they don't give

a damn if you do the chores and there are actually paying us to put it back into. the louisiana incarceration rate is twice as high as the u.s.n. breach what's. is behind such. music could she have the flu jab. which is. about an expensive machine which. political mental image of the can visit. is a. matter that. you. need to. thank you.

the money. this. money that's going to. me that i'm about to pull. it.

off. of you you would. when you pray that. all. the money moderates will get some i mean. you might have been the alan ball be proud. of that. for you as well in that i get all the. other both of you but i want to give you that. how to get out of the you. know what in the end of all this and i'm not a mark on the lucky i'm awful galba. alive are you mom. it's the idea of a whole lot of our of our when we're not doing it for us so you know a little bigger as a swindler getting.