there's no evidence of kremlin meddling in catalonia that's the message from spain's prime minister in response to claims of russian involvement in the region's independence referendum also to come this hour the u.k.'s prime minister hits out at russia and in a speech critics say is designed to deflect attention from the struggling brics negotiations and facing immense pressure from the u.s. justice department this channel is forced to register as a foreign agent in america we take a look at what that means for r.t. . and welcome to r.t. international this change the evening where it's just turned nine o'clock here in

moscow our top story spain's prime minister has said there is no evidence the russian government interfered in catalonia independence referendum this comes in response to claims in the media that moscow was attempting to meddle and situation are reports. as if we haven't seen enough attempts recently to try to drag russia in certain events unraveling in the west lately we've seen attempts to try to implicate russian activity even in the capsule and crisis despite this year's long standoff between barcelona and madrid really newspaper headlines from around the world have seen galore excitement about potential russian meddling yet again for instance a big spanish newspaper el pais certainly seem to have dedicated lots of attention to russia despite this being obviously a national crisis we've seen also this week in brussels some have seen high ranking officials such as the high representative of the you for foreign affairs federico

marini as well as nato secretary general even not comment on these issues following those meetings and of course the spanish prime minister himself marianna roh hoary said that there is no proof i have no data which can be used as evidence on the involvement of the russian government nothing well we've heard similar message come from the spanish foreign minister as well so now with these high profile comments being made by spanish politicians hopefully this topic will have exhausted itself and spain will be able to move forward in actually solving the biggest crisis to touch this nation in a generation meanwhile britain's prime minister has joined. russia's illegal onix ation of crimea so i have a very simple message as. well the british p.m.'s message there does come on the back of a tough week domestically for her to reason may continue to be handed by. negotiations

which is seemingly yet to yield any real positive positives for the u.k. so much so that the that number is just short of the total needed to force a new leadership election within her conservative party but we discussed the p.m.'s predicament with party veteran and former government minister peter little and he believes his speech wasn't just directed. it was as much a message to europe as it was to russia saying we are the major security in the european continent we have the best armed forces and the greatest ability to deploy them we want to continue to be allied with the europeans to be helpful and firm and positions of europe and for hundreds of years we'll be natural allies even when we don't like each other's race. now after facing months of pressure from washington r.t. america has been forced to register now what that means for the chap. just think about it r.t. america is now officially

a foreign agent in the us eighty years after far came into being our us branch registered under the foreign agents registration act which dates back to the times before the second world war back then the purpose was to make sure that no minds of u.s. citizens are influenced by organizations funded by nazi germany whatever was the purpose of the u.s. department of justice in the twenty first century they said at deadline for r.t. america r.t. america chose to meet that deadline because nobody wants to be in trouble with u.s. law enforcement so let's just take a look at some of the things that our us branch could now be obliged to do all the time for example that is attaching a public disclaimer to every piece of information that gets sent out or filing a copy or a version of it to the u.s. department of justice within forty eight hours of transmission and i'll tell you

that it will take a long time to adjust to the still reality and even to figure out whether it is possible in the first place does that mean that every tweet that gets posted by america requires a disclaimer does our channel in the u.s. now have to send all its tweets to the u.s. department of justice many experts have argued that in the twenty first century with the current social media output which is normal for all news organizations it is simply impossible although this cracked out on r.t. america has been ignored largely by those who you would expect to speak on the issues with freedom of speech and didn't go completely unnoticed take the committee to protect journalists that's a new york based ngo they were very critical of the ultimatum said by the u.s. department of justice and here's bits of their statement compelling to register under far as a bad idea we're on comfortable. with governments deciding what constitutes

journalism or propaganda and you may well argue that the us authorities are applying double standards here take china as. america that is operating in the us without any issues then the us version of al-jazeera was there for a few years all perfectly fine and i won't be lying if i say that here at r.t. we are waiting for more critical reaction both from individuals and geos when it comes to russia's retaliation it is still work in progress the lawmakers are working on it but we just heard sir the russian foreign minister once again say that steps and response will be taken. measures mean adequate measures you may come up with difference and president already sent our reaction will be swift and strong so let's be patient the question now is which media outlets will be affected by this retaliation previously russian official said that it could be american based

media or media organizations that are directly funded by the us government think voice of america or the likes of c.n.n. the video channel that is operating in russia called current time and also radio free europe slash radio liberty dow here's something important in order for these news outlets to be called foreign agents in this country russia's all legislation requires amendments and currently the m.p.'s are sorting this out we also heard from the vice speaker for the duma he says that according to the drafted amendment news agencies will not be touched but if social media then began blocking iran on. twitter and they did that ahead of testimony in congress despite having no problem with prior to that george galloway and virginia state senator. or it absolutely makes a mockery of. well it's a big. where as a kind of birch maybe i should go about our foreign idjit might become droned it

might well backfire on d. which underlies the the people who are doing their best to destroy the very freedom of speech and expression they claim to stand for. in other news this evening the u.s. defense secretary james mattis is said that america will not withdraw from syria even after the total defeat of islamic state the announcement comes ahead of u.n. backed peace talks in the future of the war torn country and while syria continues to insist that washington's intervention is illegal mattis claims it is justified the u.n. so the isis basically we can go after isis and we have to take them out but that doesn't mean we just walk away and learn to put back to rome or the united nations charter recognizes only justifications for the use of military force in

a foreign country the first is having the permission of the security council and the second is self-defense in response to masses comments the syrian government has again said it sees america's presence as hostile the presence of american forces in syria without syrian government consent is aggression and a violation of syrian sovereignty and the u.n. charter. ok we cannot cross to me night and political analyst. dad he's in beirut and we can talk him out good evening thanks for coming on this evening what's your reaction to what james mattis said effectively saying look even if isis is defeated we're going to stay in syria just in case they pop back up again. thank goodness i have mentioned on many appearances with you about illegal immoral and just the presence of the coalition including the americans. in syria. they have no u.n.

security council approval nor united nations charter approval nor. an engagement or an agreement with the syrian government. is a statement mr masters has as many parents bluffed his way into politics into our countries. actually it's enough funds to talk common sense not only to international laws it's an offense to common sense. their american presence and see as an occupation. at least economize ation for blackmail to get political. return out of it. you cannot destroy a city like iraq and then say i am here to establish order democracy or what other good things they talk about the last time he talked about iraq mr

mattis invited us to ask the people of iraq who they consider the good guys in playing that he was and his people were the good guys when we asked people but they didn't answer because they were dead. and they were. so. i believe it goes in the same context claim to get. or always in syria do you think there are other motives for them to be there other than to try and defeat eisel or perhaps remains you know you're going back again and plans have created of the world under the pretext of fighting isis or fighting terrorism regardless of the sovereignty of that nation do you think you'll have much much support internationally for what he said.

i hope not i hope not. because of this and direct threat to he's driven. a fact that many countries including european countries if he's benefiting himself to fight isis whatever but hasn't the isis fighters now are going back to many places in europe does it does this allow him to be present. in a secular to a man or in a military man doesn't allow him to. interfere directly now in what's happening in myanmar and bangladesh doesn't allow him to interfere if something happens. instigated by that we've gotten to stand me fundamentalists in north eastern china as china ready to accept those interference that. it's breaking international laws and breaking. breaking any ethics we believe in the world to save

himself from such ideas now and demand for top of the legal actions and solutions in any conflict or in any area of the world ok we're going to have to wrap it up there but we really appreciate your thoughts on this that syrian writer thank you. sorting out international we're going to take a quick break back into. the capital streets in protest against the saudi led blockade of the country last week riyadh introduced a full blockade on yemen closing all access by and see the sag led coalition and

the civil war back in two thousand and fifteen supporting the acid government against who the rebels it's blockades of left millions they starving and has led to what's been called the deadliest outbreak of cholera in recent history however after pressure from the united nations and human rights groups the saudis claimed on monday that they would roll back the blockade to a passion or what partial one again however human rights watch does say that that claim is a form of cruel fiction because explaining they went on to explain the ports that riyadh will reopen aren't enough to provide essential supplies of food and also medicine saudi arabia says it will continue with the partial blockade until its convinced there is no flow of weapons from iran going to who the rebels were the civil war in yemen is seen by middle east analysts as a proxy war between saudi arabia and iran. looks now whether the current cold war between the region's most powerful countries could actually lead to a full scale conflict. the rivalry between middle east powerhouses saudi arabia and

iran is nothing new yet it's becoming ever more tense with fears growing of a full blown war a missile launched by yemeni rebels directed at riyadh earlier this month has already got the saudis talking about direct aggression and war the coalition's command considers this a blatant active military aggression by the iranian regime and could rise to be considered as an act of war against the kingdom of saudi arabia. you know the mite's imposition of the islamic republic people more powerful than you have been able to do anything against the iranian people you're not strong enough to do that wherever we look in the region conflicts can often be boiled down to saudi arabia and iran countering each other by proxy the saudi military campaign against the who's the rebels in yemen backed by iran saudi backing of sunni rebel groups in syria while iran's supports the assad government both of those conflicts are exactly panning out well for saudi arabia so how would they fare in a direct conflict with iran let's break it down. looking at

a global military strength rating the two countries aren't far apart on the list with iran at twenty first and saudi arabia taking the twenty fourth position. and all riyadh's aviation outstrips terence iran wins out when it comes to tanks and naval assets by a long. it's probably no surprise that the saudi kingdom has a massive defense budget coming in at over fifty. or chance of winning i think it would go away with a war but i think saudi arabia believes it doesn't have a chance of winning a war against iran the rhetoric might be at a boiling point at the moment but there's still no sign either side is ready for open conflict. now a british school teacher has been suspended after praising his students it sounds a bit odd but joshua cliff congratulated his math class by saying well done but

that did upset one people who identifies as male teacher insists he apologized immediately and says it was an accident. the student in question. came in did very well and then i said well then girls started really well and i was met with a fierce rebuttal. and i sincerely apologize. i then found out six weeks later that i was going to be under investigation for a missed gendering within the community and also told us that he believes he's being singled out by the school over his own religious beliefs i think i've been bullied really for you know for who i am within the school setting up a bible club and then it being shut down with an iron fist really having so many people coming along to the bible club and being interested in the bible i feel like

i've been discriminated against within the community and i think that's a trend. mission while if that christians aren't able to. live out their faith in a professional setting well the incident is a big talking point in britain right now which to whether the school is highlighting a sensitive issue that needs careful handling or is actually overreacting. this particular teacher accidentally missed gender by calling a trans boy pupil a girl it was not intentional he hadn't meant to cause offense so i think that his suspension is disproportionate i think that the school should obvious to the point out to him that he made a mistake which of course he doesn't recognize and then get his assurance that it won't happen again i think that is the end of the matter is absolutely stupid he

called the girls girls because he thought it was a class of girls made an honest mistake and apologized that should have been the end of the matter this whole transgender agenda he's getting much much too much influence in the british media and embrace society their very small minority i feel sorry for anyone who thinks they are trapped in the wrong body they should be treated with respect and tolerance but where is the tolerance for this man he's a christian but of course you're not allowed to be a christian anymore are you in modern britain i don't see that he's done anything wrong actual and the majority of people in the u.k. i'm sure will agree with me. this evening we get we've got plenty of stories for you today on our social media pages and also.

financial survival. housing bubble. oh you mean there's a downside to artificially low mortgage rates don't get carried away that's cause report. dropping bombs brings peace to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battles are going . to do socks for the tell you that the beach gossip the public by a little bit. off the bat doesn't tell you on the cool enough to buy their products. all the hawks along the border. just.

learned more about what. happened. on wednesday francis is big bus ride casting around the world from washington d.c. coming up it's an entire show dedicated to china chinese president xi jinping cemented his hold on power the communist party's nineteenth congress we take a look at his economic philosophy which is now enshrined in the constitution and his one belt one road trade initiative and who is involved in the belgian road system we show you the latest countries to join the network of roads bridges ports

and rail line snaking through more than seventy nations and what does this mean to the rest of the world my guest former u.s. trade commissioner barg health and joins me to discuss the worldwide impact of such a grandiose enterprise that by two bucks start right. if they twenty first century silk road and if china can pull it off it will prove even more lucrative the belton road initiative will create arterials of trade snaking around the world ports. roads rail lines bridges and logistics so it's put in place by china and its forward leaning political alliances some say it's

a pompous projection of power and it won't work others say not so fast this is a signature feature of president xi jinping is china first policies at the communist party's nineteenth congress in china the constitution was amended the party enshrined his philosophy with the title xi jinping thoughts on socialism with chinese characteristics for a new era well some say the initiative is an indication of chinese expansionism supporters at home and abroad say the move will not only help china but many other nations as well arty's out joins us from toronto with more on this alex president she's belgian road policy as we said it was in shrine in this constitution surprise for a lot of people tell us about that but what's interesting is that you have something in trying to the constitution that not necessarily is within the borders of china this expensive way beyond the borders of china as you mentioned we're talking about sixty countries to be affected by this if you just bring up

a map you will see right now exactly what this looks like so it's the old silk road is i mean it's one of the highlights of the maneuvering here all the way to london we already have a train route that goes from china to there so we're talking about transportation we're talking about trains we're talking about roads.