oliver of r t america is this. better than. the sea people you've never heard of. the. president of the world bank they. sent us an e-mail. barcelona with joy the parliament votes to declare independence from spain. madrid reacts to the move by triggering article fifty five to impose direct rule on the region with prime minister rudd deciding to the county government called snap elections for the. usa they do not recognize catalonia as a sovereign state. twenty

four hour news live from moscow to the world this is our international my names you know me welcome to the program the latest news here on r t international spotlight prime minister mariano rajoy house decided to suck the council and government on coal snap elections stop the spanish government will assume the powers of the current administration this of course all comes after the council on parliament today voted to declare independence from the country. yeah truly historic day for the catalans today the results of a secret ballot that ruled in favor of independence were released in the late

afternoon a total of seventy lawmakers voted in favor of the regions the session night ten voted against to upstate. do you . wish. i knew of that i. was. before. i was. in the midst of all the celebrations in barcelona charlotte dubin ski has been there for a number of hours taking it all in you've also charlotte been seeing how the day

unfolded in parliament just tell us about that first please. thank you. will that motion to declare or to vote on a declaration of independence was pushed to the council and told that this morning when it was accepted to put into place we found some old people position members of parliament to see what your main cost of space actually was outside the building said they wouldn't even take a call to vote of the eighty thousand remaining seventy thousand so did yes which meant that motion to declare independence cost and they then declared that that's only it was an independent public and the reaction from the council and present president told us who she was one assumes and not you will see who. today in parliament the parliaments of our country a legitimate parliament to go largely expected step and largely for four step. citizens of cattle or any other comes

a time when it is up to all of us to maintain the pulse of our country our peace our civic duty and dignity as we have always done and always will without any doubt . thank you. well the reaction that she had the declaration also came and false told opposition members in parliament he said that they wanted to stab that declaration down immediately. yes but i'm like they're saying i have yet this will put a shot you have an ocean novaya to me he said i am vice none of them have been easy to handle. but we were out in the streets where around twelve

thousand people got the estimation from the national guard in catalonia who waiting food that vote in the announcement when the announcement came that cutting and you would be an independent republic i can honestly say as never seen anything like it juries of ecstasy people screaming yes or c. as it is in catalan and spanish that's announcements and many people said that this was a historic day that not just themselves but previous generations their families that parents in the grandparents had been waiting for take a listen to their reaction and need to be off to that face. it's very exciting at this moment and the day started got a moment and put us off so years and years and days and years dreaming about leaving the spring which is not to them across it we are finally in catalonia a new member of the international community a republic a good feeling. to so that the space for people can win.

by a land of all our life our parents around town and they are waiting for the same. indeed charlotte we can we can hear really what has been a very noisy reaction to our continues to dine through the hours in barcelona in madrid though the reaction has a it's been strong as well maybe not quite as noisy as where you are but what is spain been saying. well it's been quite incredible and a moving feast throughout the day while people are still celebrating here in the streets of barcelona for that declaration of independence senators in madrid actually passed article one fifty five not very much longer after that declaration of independence that allows the government in madrid to take back control all of catalonia and as we've been hearing thick and fast from the spanish prime minister

tonight that that means that he says he has sacked the catalan government he's called those snap elections for december twenty first and he's also the chief of police over the catalan police force now a lot of that still will be waiting to be sinking down with the people here in catalonia and to be honest with the we are in very muddy waters because the catalan government was in full control when it made that vote earlier on friday article one five five was passed afterwards said legally it's a little bit unclear where this actually stands the result is they will have to be some very big mediation between the spanish government and those people in catalonia and we understand that many people are fearful that they could be a lot of protest and some unease and like they saw during the referendum just a few weeks ago many people telling me today that they were concerned about the idea of madrid taking back control particularly sending in police officers because

they say so many hundreds of people were injured when they tried to do what they believe carry out their democratic right and peaceful right to vote this month in that referendum. when there's escalation on one side be on two years off on the other charlotte dubin ski live from barcelona this hour with the update for you. well throughout their push for independence custom only has repeatedly faced for yourself position from madrid here's a recap. to those in charge in the council and government who are the protagonists in this challenge to a coexistence i ask them to cease illegal activities they should abandon their

objectives. we are now applying article one hundred five because no government a tool in a democratic country can accept that the law will be ignored or violated or changed and this has all happened under false criteria and they impose their criteria on everybody else. yes so plenty to discuss with today's developments in this hour's developments and joining me to discuss it is dr. professor

of spanish history newcastle university in the u.k. you're very welcome to the program. there doesn't seem to be a happy medium here told us there you've got the council on parliament declaring independence and you've got the spine ish prime minister saying he's the council on government in europe who's got the upper hand here. it's for the difficult to act. and the time and was was for important. because the couple in government occurred in the pens. in a strong position the spanish government in article one five five remains within the constitutional framework and that's crucial because the last thing the spanish government wants is to have. international mediation in. this confrontation so it's difficult to tell at this. special most were very.

many and within the legal framework having say that. the question of independence as it's been it's been made. no one really knows what we're going to follow from from that when you see the logistics of how it might come about how how would the removal from power cuts a lot of officials be implemented should we expect violence or even military action . that is really the one million dollar question and. how physically that can be actually actively done it is very very difficult to see because obviously it's never been applied and. government is going to receive. implementation of article one five five terms of violence yet again for it difficult to forecast what is going to happen. and there will be the case that.

doesn't play ball. and say that i would imagine that it is in the very interest of spanish government to keep violence to a very minimum so the footage that emerged after the referendum on the first of october this not happen again yet we did see the police and before they were called by some heroes by others just today. according to different reports almost twenty fellow. people were on the streets of barcelona to celebrate while the pro unity rally gathered less than five hundred tell us anything about the sentiments of the people in the capital. well. difficult because the mobilization. over the last years but it is the pride of the pendants camp the one who's mobilized more people so if

we go to the people who's been mobilized in this thread it could be telling but actually if we go to the opinion polls still today most catalans were against independents and certainly over seventy percent of. independents so. people aren't going to get a soda are they there's not going to be an actual referendum though it's been left to the parliament. no no certainly certainly not i mean that that's not in the car so at this point what happened was that the government had this window for paternity they had to pass this in the parliament as soon as possible and and that's what they did but what i would say is that the opinion polls are showing. that the unilateral declaration of independence was not supported by the majority of catalans haven't say that obviously independents can mobilize much more sort of you know union camp yeah hence the scenes that we're seeing today of course dr alan

got the fresher of spotless history you cast the university thank you very much. so with the parliament voting to declare independence here's a short recap of the push to be a sovereign state by now you've surely heard about cats alone desire to go it alone the prosperous region in northeast spain the counts for almost a fifth of the country's economy and believes it's paying madrid way more than it gets back catalonia is home to seven point five million people boasting its own language culture and history which is why many council lands consider themselves a separate nation. but it has been a part of spain since the fifteenth century courtesy of king ferdinand and queen isabella for the origins of the modern says sation its movement let's fast forward to the twentieth century spain becomes a republic and cats alone it gets a statute of autonomy but six years later franco comes to power and takes that away

the three decades of franco's oppression only bolstered the catalans desire for independence and after his death and strange transition to democracy catalonia got its autonomy back but not enough as many locals believe when the countries can stitch new court limits on cancer and claims to nations that it started a chain reaction. with protests and symbolic referendums in cities and towns across the region some cats lands now compare madrid pressure to the decades of franco's dictatorship the region held a non-binding independence vote back in twenty fourteen about eighty percent said yes to independence but it was declared illegal by spain look it will you go up there on your. own up a few undemocratic the catalonia is crashing ahead regardless it seems more determined than ever to be in the sand. yes so with major decisions being made in spain there's a reaction coming in from around the world detailing now for us

a less to see a trickle. there is plenty of reaction coming in given these major developments happening in catalonia albeit with very few surprises we have heard from the president of the european council donald to school has said that nothing changes and that the e.u. will continue to speak directly with madrid we've seen reaction from germany of course the german government said they do not recognize this unilateral declaration of independence we've heard from of course the french president also showing his support and full support to the spanish prime minister mari honor of oil here in the u.k. of course also plenty of reaction we've heard from downing street saying the does not and will not recognize the unilateral declaration of independence because this vote the referendum on october first was deemed illegal by spanish courts that was a reaction from to recent but from scotland's nicolas sturgeon we have seen a reaction of seeing the people of catalonia should have the ability to determine

their own future so supporting what has happened in catalonia given scotland's own sort of plight when it comes to this issue we've heard from the u.s. as well the u.s. state department has the support keeping strong and united spain together also similarly from nato so as all of these reactions are continuing to come in it's important to really remember that despite the fact that political leaders throughout the european union have consistently said they don't want catalonia to break away from spain to really keep the european union and tax the pro independence movement in catalonia has repeatedly said that despite the fact that they want to leave spain they don't necessarily want to leave the european union whereas throughout the you we've heard them say that if catalonia doesn't fact leave spain they're going to have to essentially get at the back of the line to get back into the european union. ok leslie move on to more global and use twitter was blocked from one for typing on its platform to be clear it does not

affect any news for you to which you can still follow as usual to try and go has been following reaction to twitter. vladimir putin's press secretary had a few things to say about it twitter's decision is disappointing he says and he has become a victim of deep prejudice against the russian media going back to twitter's ickes asians the problem was apparently that r.t. interfered in the u.s. presidential race there citing the u.s. intelligence community's report from january although the tech giant didn't put forth any clear ickes ations of wrongdoing misconduct or breach of policy twitter did publish confidential data on how much are spent on ads on their platforms so we decided to reveal something else which might change how everyone sees this story twitter's own special offer to boost r t on their platform ahead of the vote and

whether that r t would have delivered an unbiased point of view of the us elections there were many anti seeing features suggested from special moggi hashtags to stuff on analytics and research solutions plus a team of experts to help with strategy and tactical support that brings us to the cost one and a half million dollars with a bunch of extra options three point three million the customized ma g.'s eight hundred thousand bucks alone well we choose not to accept now when twitter's management took part in a private briefing with the us senate intelligence committee they never mentioned the special offer to r t or at any other point as a spokesperson for the committee told reporters are editor in chief thinks it's not that simple when it comes to how twitter is dealing with u.s. officials honestly i didn't believe the twitter was controlled by american security

services it looked like a conspiracy theory to me but twitter has just confessed it's a pity especially because american news outlets operating in russia will now feel the tenderness of russian tit for tat measures in the bird. witter will publicly testify before the u.s. congress while the tech giant mentioned their special offer this time once again i want to stress that we declined it and then a year later twitter published confidential data on how much we spend on ads as i've mentioned that was a much smaller saw compared to their business proposal less than three hundred thousand dollars now they banned ads even though it was twitter that once suggested we can use their platform to get more involved in covering the american election. the european parliament and pay rate finch from the u.k. independence party has been casting as i over the story and i'm happy to say he joins me live on the program hello to you ray. just first of all. what do you think

or why twitter has resorted to such radical measures against. well it's all part of the the leftist american media onslaught against mr trump trying to actually connect mr trump to the russian state and the fact is r.t. russia today everyone knows that you all have a russian perspective you know put the point is adult grown up people get to choose to watch what they want and to understand what they want since the take what they want from every channel i mean c.n.n. will always call it the clinton news network we'll do stand its biased but we we read it we watch it we'll do stand and we take what we take from it the same with russia it's a day in the same with the b.b.c. who many people in the u.k. call the brussels broadcasting corporation we still watch it but we're smart enough

to understand every meter organization has its own slant. to stop anyone. behaving it is just sort of democratic really and it's a bit warty and now commercial organizations of deciding to take distance alone owns it is in unprecedented move against the global news platform and it's also came out of the blue ray really though there was no kind of hint that this was going to happen why do you think it has happened because there is a i'll get onto it later there is a something happening in congress next week as a correspondent alluded to do you think it's related. it's entirely possible the problem we have i mean you know. it's problems with the new york times i mean i read the new york times but you know i actually read a i'm on the stand where they're coming from and i can discount some of the stove or

unfortunately what's what's happening now it's an onslaught they using as a method of trying to incriminate president truman i believe that's what they're doing. you know when i was a kid when i was young i used to go into a local news agency and you could read part of the you know you could read a it didn't mean you were you were taken in by anything you have to allow people to have the ability to take their media from wherever they see all that was you swiftly descendants will well in politics when twitter addresses congress next week in a hearing about suppose that russian election interference do you expect it to come clean about its offer to us of a special election marketing package as it was known an offer we refused incidentally. well they have to now or there was they wouldn't have said anything

obviously the fact is you know the dollar is or the rouble. some would say that twitter it's a private enterprise it can take any measures it wants do you agree that social media giants take such decisions independently. no no all media is subject to its own political viewpoint the viewpoint of the people who actually own it and the connections they have with political organizations and political actors so you know even if you go back in british history. used to be for books newspapers were closely connected sue to the british governments and that's the way it's always been that's the way it always will will happen frankly twitter needs to understand that what did do it now is revealing political bias was also good we got an exclusive

that you read there are you did in your youth anywhere european parliament m.p. ray french from the u.k. independence party thanks very much this hour. now in a new report the un chemical weapons watchdog ses it is confident that syria was to blame for a deadly attack in the rebel held town of come in in syria in april parts of the document were leaked to the media here's how one i've reported on it more than eighty people were killed in the attack p.c. w confirmed the use of serving at the time the government was widely blamed although it was based on this evidence the u.n. chemical weapons watchdog assigned a special panel to investigate the incident saw the u.s. launch a missile strike on a syrian military which it claimed was where the chemicals had been a story. of syria has rejected all i can say sions made in the report of using

chemical weapons while russia's permanent mission to the u.n. is concerned by the leak it's already question the documents credibility and is studying its contents. even a cursory read shows that there are many inconsistences and discrepancies down to witness accounts and then verified evidence is still in the report it also uses the same testimonies which sparked our deep concerns in the past and in june after the first un o.p.c. w. report was released russia asked why experts hadn't visited the scene of the attack it was also concerned that the investigative team accepted samples received from third parties earlier today russia said the investigative commission didn't take into account all the remarks it sent virat based journalist martin j. spoke to us on the story. i don't think the time that's passed gives any credibility to the report sort of thing it does the opposite you know there's a general belief with big organizations that if you spend an awful lot of time

making an investigation then the more months the pass the more credibility that you will final conclusion have you know i think this report doesn't have credibility the fact that it was leaked to journalists i think is row suspicious because large organizations only do that when they need journalists to support their claims so there you have this transition between assertions which suddenly become facts when journalists have to reward the people who gave the report in the first place by complimenting the theory so the time lapse which has gone past i think goes against them i don't think that there is new credence at all i mean you've got to rip bear in mind that when months go pass lots of evidence gets washed away by natural resources by weather patterns by people. with donald trump giving the go ahead to the release of thousands of documents related to the assassination of president kennedy there have already been some interesting discoveries. and talk us through them though. as we heard from donald trump earlier today in

a tweet he says he wants to get all two thousand eight hundred files available to the u.s. public this is related to the assassination of john f. kennedy the thirty fifth president of united states in november of one nine hundred sixty three now those who are unfamiliar what happened was november nine hundred sixty three john f. kennedy and the first lady were traveling in an open car through dallas texas when the president was shot by sniper fire the police then arrested lee harvey oswald and said he was the prime suspect now two days later after lee harvey oswald the alleged shooter had been had been arrested he was a he was being transported by the police and he was then shot while in police custody killed by jack ruby so this is led historians and all kinds of people throughout the united states to ask questions why would lee harvey oswald shoot the president why would the shooter then be killed two days later these new files that

have just come out are containing some rather interesting facts for example one of the files shows that a local newspaper in the united kingdom in cambridge was tipped off twenty five minutes before the assassination someone called a local newspaper and told them that they should get in contact with the u.s. embassy because there was going to be some quote big news and this took place twenty five minutes before the u.s. president was shot one of the other interesting things that comes out of this report is when speaking before the warren commission cia director richard helms was being was being interviewed before the commission and he's directly asked quote is there any information involved with the assassination of president kennedy which in any way shows that lee harvey oswald was in some way a cia agent or agent the document then cuts off there's still hundreds hundreds of files to go through quite a.