iraqi lawmakers a resolution calling for the removal of foreign troops from the country including the. coalition. to follow is america's assassination of a powerful general and an. international airport on friday. as the body of general. is. also in the stories that shape the week wiki leaks founder julian. assange in a u.k. prison saying he's being. subjected to 23 hours a day of solitary confinement maybe allegations to a friend in a christmas. because he spent christmas with

me and my family in 2010. he said to me but i'm slowly dying. with the biggest stories of the past 7 days and right up to the moment of elements as well welcome to the weekly or to the international i mean. our breaking news this hour the iraqi parliament has passed a resolution calling on the government to expel all foreign forces to formally terminate its request for assistance from the u.s. led coalition the vote follows the united states assassination of iran's most powerful general and an raid on baghdad international airport on friday iraqi officials described the strike as a violation of their country's sovereignty. well the new resolution urges the iraqi

government to in the presence of foreign troops in the country withdraw the request for support from the anti isel coalition to limit the use of arms to national security forces are. told me believe the story or. it is a huge geopolitical victory for iran this is the bottom line but this vote hasn't been this move sailing this vote has been a very close call because the barely scrape together enough members of the parliament for the vote to be seen as legitimate there's a minimum threshold of about half of the m.p.'s they have to be president about half of them peace have to be present for the vote to have a go and there was just about that there was just about half of all the rocky m.p.'s present to vote on the matter and the reason for that is that washington has been putting various political groups in iraq under tremendous pressure to the boy

court. the whole vote for instance the kurds they just officially had said that they were not taking part in today's ballot and interestingly enough the rocky prime minister he put forward 2 options as to what the government could do 1st. one generally just review the conditions under which foreign militaries operate on the rocky soil that was option one option 2 was the option to just expel all 4 and powers and so on and this is what the parliament who's opted for and it is an interesting choice because now the resolution looks like essentially a iraq will be filing a complaint to the united nations to they will be withdrawing a request for assistance from the international coalition that is that means the anti eisel coalition and 3 expelling all foreign forces from its soil and banning them from using iraq's both land and space so this is big and as the vote was going

on as the as the m.p.'s. we're debating the this resolution people swarmed the streets they took to the streets to let the m.p.'s know that they are sick and tired of finding themselves between the rock and the hard place i want to start the conflict taking place between america and iran inside iraq is unacceptable we will not be the fuel for your wars your problems must be solved away from iraq. we are opposed to recent events we reject them and there is fear in iraqi society because of this conflict we are against any regional conflicts that harm our country's interests. because the conflict between america and iran should be solved outside iraq and if they also have a military conflict it must be resolved outside iraq this is what we hope for from the struggling government what does this mean for iraq where if you can look a little bit into the future and to the wider region the middle east well the iraqi prime minister was one angry man during today's session and in fact he spilled the

beans about something very interesting as to why general because general because seems only money was in baghdad in the 1st place here's what he said 1 was about to me it's only 30 on friday in the morning and he was carrying. me from the iranians. that we have 2 of the iranians in the old during sort of agreement regarding. the reserves so the general had an appointment with the iraqi prime minister and he was delivering a message apparently according to the iraqi prime minister outgoing but still a prime minister and he was delivering a message a diplomatic message to him from the saudis and from the rain ians so effectively this puts general cassim silly money into position he was acting in the capacity of

a diplomat. envoy and so the fact that the united states decided to bomb him at that particular moment could mean that essentially the bomb the diplomatic animal which is a big big no no on the internet under the international law so this could be staying the united states won't be wiping off that easily off its reputation or perhaps an answer as to why he was targeted then he may have had less security if it was a diplomatic missions traveling he was traveling through a regular civilian airliner so we didn't he was feeling pretty safe just new cars as well being used what about washington then have they reacted what's what's coming out of the u.n. old so far nothing on the party on this particular decision by the iraqi parliament but well you could say that donald trump has been very vocal about how he wants to bring back american boys and girls home from overseas operations we want to bring our troops back home and i got elected on that if you go back and look at other speeches i would say we want to bring our troops back home from these endless wars

and i will say look i said i want to get out of these endless wars i campaigned on that i want to get out i haven't left the white house except to go to iraq for a version of time where i had a great experience or actually met some great people some great generals we have great ideas having to do with syria let's work it out very well get the hell out of isis. bring it to our folks back home well i guess you could say this vote is the perfect opportunity for trump to bring back some 5000 amount of american boys and girls home from iraq from the 12 bases where they are stationed there in that country but that's of course that's done in cheek but still again it is a huge victory for iran because if again this vote is a non-binding one but the fact that it has to be signed by the government into action it is viewed as a formality mostly i mean iraq is very weak right now politically because the prime

minister is out going it has like a take. government so far but still it is viewed as a formality but comes with a lot of if it's and buts and hows of for instance how you rock is going to facilitate and enforce the departure of u.s. of u.s. forces from its soil not just american forces but international forces as a whole so a lot of a lot of questions are still out there in the end will really iraq stay true to its word or let's talk about what's happening in iran lawmakers have been fiercely condemning the assassination of general solomonic chanting death to america the odd some solmonese body has now been repatriated to iran where he'll be buried there on tuesday there's been a huge outpouring of grief in the country with hundreds of thousands of mourners paying tribute to the slain commander pride's also throng the streets of the iraqi

capital on saturday for a funeral procession around has responded with fury to friday's deadly u.s. airstrike to avenge solmonese dead how it. was the protests have been taking place across the globe too well donald trump in a tweet threatened to target dozens of locations in or around including some quote important to really and culture now if those were actual cultural heritage sites legal experts say it would amount to a war crime. where they serve as a warning that if iran strikes any americans or american assets we have targeted 52 iranian sides some as a very high level and important to iran and the iranian culture and those targets and iran itself will be hit very fast and very hard the you say once no more threats. to round responded to that warning again liebling donald trump a terrorist in

a suit while back in iraq where the general was assassinated several rocket attacks hit on saturday evening close to both the american embassy in baghdad and in europe based north of the capital there senior correspondent broadcast the it takes a closer look at the killings consequences you can imagine how trump agreed to it then he was playing golf and up comes an agent smith holding a folder he says mr president you remember when we killed baghdad yes the eyes the sky yes the media did love it how how would you like to do it again oh yeah. the rocky television has just confirmed that has seen so little mommy former general in iran's revolutionary guard the commander of the could force has been killed in a rocket attack apparently decided by the united states. to settle for the u.s.

at our allies on alert at the magic attack iran's top military commander. salim 80 has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the middle east for the last 20 years one gets the impression that the agent that came up to trump didn't exactly brief the president and potential consequences of killing the 2nd most powerful man in iran general. command of iran's quds force we took action last night just stop a war we did not. take action to start a war then you probably shouldn't have killed him general sulaimani was considered an icon in iran and iraq a man who helped prevent isis takeover of iraq and syria who inspired and

mobilized tens of thousands of people multiple countries to fight the blight that is isis while qaida you know enough and the americans are not aware what a great mistake they've committed they will face the consequences of this criminal act not only today but also in coming years there is no doubt that u.s. is now more hated among iranians in iraqis hundreds of thousands have joined the funeral processions and protests condemning his murder rage is in the air iran has promised revenge american civilians are being evacuated from the entire region u.s. embassies and bases in this slew of countries are in lockdown troops have been put in combat readiness and now now middle east in the red lert they claim that they only want peace that was the time to take this action so that we could disrupt the spot deter further aggression from qassam salami in the iranian regime as well as

to attempt to deescalate the situation trump asked no one europe woke up to a world that was a heck of a lot more dangerous than when they went to sleep germany claimed tensions that only god up stating the obvious the british called for everyone to come down from doesn't last for permission frankly the europeans haven't been as helpful as i wish that they could be the brits the french the germans all need to understand that what we did what the americans did saved lives in europe as well at best he's right chances are he's wrong and at worst what america did is going to kill a heck of a lot more. people than would have died otherwise which they may have thought of if they had asked anyone but they didn't trump told no one not even his own federal government not the house of representatives and not the senate this action may well have brought our nation closer to another endless war exactly the kind of endless

war the president promised he would not drag us into or rather he did tell someone apparently what trump kept from his own nation from his own people he told the israelis our assessment is that the united states informed israel about this operation in iraq apparently a few days ago the murder of a mani was an act of war by any measure by any book on law and social media world war 3 was the top trend people are genuinely afraid the us football team has cancel plans to train and count the head of the world cup out of security concerns and judging by means being spread appropriate or otherwise no one in particular is enthusiastic to go to war all black humor aside any escalation would be disastrous for all of us human lives 1st and economy 2nd

a 5th of the world's oil passes by iran every day in the event of war that would stop. we don't yet know how much of a blunder sulaimani is murder was what we do know is that the world now is a more dangerous place millions will hate america for this and that hate will last for generations just remarkable isn't it how many people more and more keep having to die so trump and the pentagon can feel safe. to delve further into this rapidly developing story i'm very happy to go to baghdad where senior foreign policy adviser to the iraqi parliament akhmed rushdie joins us you're very welcome how does this vote that happened today being received in the country the wider country at large.

well actually devoted happened to a decision not to or knoll and the agreement that happened between iraq and the us actually is mentioned in the parliament or done in the parliament as a lol so that's why this decision by the parliament it's not should it can't be it's now removed to the to the government and the problem is that the government is a caretaker government i resigned government so the government cannot make any decision real decision about those sorts of sorts of treaties that iraq engage with the us now the 2nd thing is that the presence of the m.p.'s inside the parliament the kurds and the sunnis most of the kurds and the sunnis will not we're not there to chill you with the image of the parliament it's more than one if you like. parts inside the parliament and which is also many my the

the spirit of the decision the 3rd thing which is also a very important issue is that the coalition forces stop their operation. and soon c s 30 so it's also. a dangerous thing because we all know that iraqi forces and iraqi security forces they are not can call really the threat of death if there will be some sort the for real attack from inside iraq so that's circumstances should be now managed into iraqi government then to go to the president to take the final decision that's that's actually just what i wanted to ask you is iraq able to maintain stability without the security backing of u.s. coalition forces and possibly as an aside to that without the financial aid provided by washington we. yeah you're right you're right that it's a very important question because i doubt it is that iraq kid ringback bable of.

let's see how all of the iraqi force of the iraqi security forces of your i community forces can hold any attack from especially with the financial crisis that iraq in now we have debts about more than 100 $34000000000.00 which means that we have shortages in the financial subject and also we have a problem with the international community now because it's if there will be withdrawal it's not the american forces only it will be the whole coalition that means france germany and the others so we have a real problem in the security sector and we also we have got a problem in the financial sector so i that's why i'm thinking is that the iraqi government the. iraqi government the caretaker iraqi government needs to maintain the relationship with the international community in

a way that iraq cannot fall down iraq cannot cope to fall down again with the hands of the irish or any terrorist groups can i just get your thoughts on on a run for a moment one of the many aspects to this story to run say so it will roll back on its nuclear commitments agreed in the 2015 nuclear deal do you think iran is ready to walk away or is it a way of looking for leverage in this situation. well it's it looks like that iran has the capability to maintain in the most important thing the spirit the spirit of resistance against the americans aggression or any american attack now disparate it's something different from the capabilities and also the most important thing is that i hope that iran will not take a hard decision that they will lose the europeans because we all know that the

reprints something different from the americans so it's a balanced it's supposed to be a balanced political process that iran should do. not iranian to say things that it's supposed to be known everything in iran but at least outside the box and seeing is that iran also just like the united states both of them are on the edge both of them have capabilities and both of them can hurt each other but what are the consequences or what's going to happen after that this is the most important issue that should every part of this conflict should understand well and should the studied well i think president trump he actually willingly want to go to war because it will help him with the impeachment it will help him with dick with the with the next elections and so on and to stoop to show himself as the strongest man in the earth which is something that the americans are always

seeing their president they want to see the president like that but the other side how much casualties should the americans pay to get tom's image which is also a very important issue to be 1 known to the iranian to the same side of the of the other side for the iranian it's are also. also a very harsh policy if they actually went to war or actually when to do some sort of a real conflict against them against the americans because we all know that there is a financial problem in iran then there is a blockage and so on and so at the end the iranian p. well we'll just like their medical thank you very much for your time and thoughts on speaking to us today from baghdad senior foreign policy adviser to the iraqi parliament. may be escalating tensions to run says it won't abide by any of the limits set by the 2015 year deal but it's still ready to reverse that if washington lift

sanctions you can find for the losses on the story in our take. 2 more world news a review of the week wiki leaks founder julian assange claims he's slowly dying in the british jail he's incarcerated in the ages he's trying to lies and kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day he made that the stabbing claims in a phone call to his friend on christmas eve phone spoke to us. he sounded all full and it was very upsetting to head and the idea of him being sedated has come from several people who visited him who clearly being told and the british government have been asked about it and they refuse to address that matter and what they say is they're not mistreating him but clearly he's being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day he sounded awful and he said to me that i'm slowly dying you know please remember he's served that time all the bail charge and he served his time too and

he's now on remand it's highly unusual to put a remand prisoner in belmarsh when they're not a threat of physical violence threat to society i think we need some armfuls from from the british government why are they treating him like this why can't we have some independent assessment 100 international got to those and asked to arrange a visit at least to send some representatives to check on him but that hasn't been allowed in those melt so the un roughly on torture has been very clear about asylum just mistreatment and describes it in the most of holy terms and yet it's claims very recently in november that the british government of completely ignored his request to see julian properly his health properly assess. was arrested in april and since then medics and un observers have warned that his physical and mental health are in decline i hearing in february well the side on his extradition

to the united states he's accused in the us of publishing classified military documents and could face a 175 year jail sentence. just on this story there has been a response from london the british home office refutes songes claims of torture calling them unfounded unfolds. that is where we leave our news stories for now butt. next the council on foreign minister is today's guest on worlds apart oksana asked the question after the acting government in madrid edges closer to a 4th election in 4 years where does that leave the succession this calls for a custom only but isn't it.

time after time called her ration to repeat the same mantra sustainability it's very important to accelerate the transition to sustainable transport sustainability spain over man at a more equitable and sustainable well. they claim their production is completely hamas. has no models and it does not the companies want us to feel good about buying their products while the damage is being done far away and this is something else this must be going to mean and i mean look. this is the move i mean listen we didn't do any minute einstein seemed to underscore that with superman and. you know world of big partisan movies a lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that

midstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the path and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely watching the hawks. long. on the welcome to worlds apart today we're coming to you from barcelona where thousands of people to go to the streets to celebrate international day without

having and nation state do you hear stuff to wash the independence referendum on your remains both the horn and bargaining chip in spanish politics and that's the thing government imagery that just average loan said to the north elections in 4 years what is it to leave the session in coffee i'll be putting this question to alfred bosch minister for foreign action institutional relations and transparency tell on am. all for bush it's good to talk to thank you very much for your time thanks for inviting me. i introduced you as a minister but the spanish authorities you're more like a counselor with an outsized mandate because the spanish authorities don't believe that colony is supposed to have any foreign the action of foreign policy and then date over independence day why this could tell on a need to have for an action that you are responsible for or we're not going to argue about words we simply translated like that in english so that you understand

that i'm part of a government the catalan government is not an independent government belonging to recognise state but still we do have them in a survey like lenders and germany or other governments also have and yes we've been seeing how the spanish government especially the ministry of foreign affairs is a brady has been trying to stop us from making any foreign action we think we're in tight. to that because. nowadays in 21st century you go to be competitive and have a place in the world otherwise you will prosper i'm sure would agree that the lonnie's not like any other city in spain this dispute has been plaguing this country for 3 centuries and if you look at the recent polls it's not evident that the majority of cut the line support independence i wonder how do you frame this issue is it still about full if independence or do you stop way out

self-determination and the right to vote the regardless of which way the vote goes from a pro independence party and our ideas that we can have a better country and better welfare for all people with a cow to learn republic so that's what we're pursuing and regarding how many people support that you have all kinds of polls some of them were majority and some of those perhaps not but that's exactly why we want to vote we want to know the real numbers we want to know who's supporting in the pens and who would smoke and there's no way the kingdom of spain agreed on such a referendum like the u.k. did it for scotland or the so we don't think we're better than any other nation but we're not less than any other nation but the know that the problem with referenda and i think the bracks station shows that the independents moment it's called support is that as well is that people may change their mind the circumstances may

change. are you sure that if you have internationally recognised referendum and if the majority of catalan say no to independence is that going to put the issue to rest once and for all. not for me or people like me but we will have a result and we will accept it obviously. the same thing if there is a yes we expect the spanish authorities and the international community especially the spanish government to do what they didn't do on october the 1st 2017 when such a vote was held and they did exactly the opposite was it which is put people in jail my predecessors in the catalan government we saw clampdown and police troops being sent to hit people in their heads and we seen almost 2 years of preventive chill for people who organize a vote and can.