the week's biggest stories from r.t. international rushes refresh to choose comes into effect after getting solid backing from voters in a challenging weeklong vote. to handle history's contentious money events with growing was to take down statues linked to racism as germany found a solution to protecting the past we wondered without tormenting the president. and enough is enough seattle police clear the self-proclaimed autonomous protests on following deadly shootings and repeated driving.

from moscow i'm kevin i live for marty's world these age queue here this sunday it's the weekly the big stories have brought you over the last 7 days starting with this then rushes over hold constitution came into effect on saturday following a weeklong vote which wrapped up on wednesday the majority of voters indorse the changes with some 78 percent in favor from a turnout of our own 68 percent sounds good taylor followed the final days of polling. now this really was a vote of the fos time people were in mosques and gloves the fos time they were using disposable pans wilson threw temperatures sconce focusing on law and facade as for the voting process itself while that was a situation where security footage allegedly caught a woman stuffing the ballots now that counting in that area of moscow has been suspended pending an investigation otherwise the central editorial commission says that it found no irregularities that was so many amendments on the table $147.00 in

total that it's difficult to decide what it was that ultimately secured public backing but undoubtedly it's the pockets of social amendments that house particularly white appeal i'm talking about things like adjusting pensions and laws with inflation and showing that the minimum wage never ever fools below the cost of living as well as giving additional financial support to low income families these prove popular because they have such a tangible impact on people's day to day lives but that is not to say that this was an easy decision for anyone old that it was without control of a c. a few amendments proved to be particularly polarizing and one that taint a lot of media traction was considering the so-called zeroing out of president putin's previous tubs paving the way for him potentially if he wanted to do so run again twice as president on top of the some of the more conservative amendments proved to be divisive such as defining marriage so many as a union between a man and a woman reiterating traditional family values as well as mentioning goal despite

the fact that russia is officially a sect or the nation but that's him the people themselves and what they have to say . why have i come here to vote because i'm a citizen of russia and a green with all of them men minds i am not ok with them and about the presidential term i absolutely do not agree with. i became from it. with all of the amendments in the constitution the amendment that's the most important to me is the prevalence of russian law over international the head of the central election commission of says something about voting being like a meal deals you either take everything or you do not take it at all and i already do not like one dish in this meal deal so i will not take everything else i think it is nonsense according to all legal logical and ethical norms i love my country and you think everything that has been done is right i think that it's needed because the current constitution is out of date it is

a modern time and even the view of life is new the bit of a mixed bag in terms of reaction and people decide to show that disapproval not just at the polls but also protests peaceful ones in the capital and also in that some petersburg but true to 2024 it was safety fast. not. because. ultimately though many who put a tick in the yes box would argue that the russia of $9093.00 when this current constitution was born was full of political and economic instability it was still finding its feet after the collapse of the soviet union and that russia is not the same as the russia of 2020 that almost entirely different countries so i think this is just to the changes was born from a desire for the country's top document to move with the times to set russia on a new course and shape its future as envisaged by russians now today and not as

envisaged by russians almost 30 years ago. course organizing a nation wide vote in the biggest country in the world spending 11 time zones and all during a pandemic posed a few logistical challenges and led to some as usual creative solutions. mudge but. lucky. to. keep illegal. smuggling. illegal. or

live. i am. utterly. are. lucky. there was a long list of amendments to the package on offer but it was just one particular element that got much of the foreign media fired up. russia's parliament basically paving the way for vladimir putin to potentially stay on as russian president he's

the longest serving russian leader since joseph stalin but what if you tim wants to stay in power even longer addressing lawmakers abdu words putin said he backed the amendment allowing him to seek another term in office but there are dozens of interesting lucian's that should also be discussed and the one that caught my eye was on children the role of children and all fronts i explicitly mentioned in one of the constitutional monarch months which i think is worse while reflecting the russian federation of the year 2020 is in many regards i would say in a different situation than was the country in 1903 when we compare the international circumstances but also of course the national economic and political situation the early ninety's were marked by the implosion of the soviet union

marked by the down group of communists and. it was more about being a fax s. of the then the russian federation that we have today i think there is a need for. meeting this new circumstances because a constitution is almost a reflection of a society and also of the circumstances of the countries in seoul and the future of the legislature the parliament in order to respond to these new exigencies. this was big news too in the week the campaign to take the link to racism kept up the pace for the last 7 days and while some of the links refutable one stood out the vandalism of denmark's little mermaid was a little harder to comprehend it was daubed with racist fish but i could demagogues say they can't quite see what could be racially insensitive about the hans christian andersen fairy tale but aside though big questions are of course being asked worldwide about how best to remember our history the good and the bad peter

oliver explains next germany may just have the answer. when it comes to assessing and dealing with difficult periods of history germany has more experience than most but we haven't seen the type of scenes here that have played out in the united states britain belgium i i. i i. i. i i. i i. i. but germany isn't without its own controversial statues otto von bismarck has been

dogged with red paint in hamburg while as an ongoing campaign to block the renovation of another monument to the iron chancellor in the port city bismarck wasn't just crucial in german unification he was also a driving force in colonialism and by today's standards an anti semite here in berlin selland of district anime as hassam and 1920 s. depiction of a needling black woman was decapitated last week castleman remains controversial in germany he was a committed nazi and despite that fact his works continue to be displayed across the german capital this particular monument had been slated for removal by city authorities who'd already deemed it earlier this year on suitable for display in the city of berlin and if it had diverse society cannot exist with this kind of bigotry and prejudice you cannot live together if you do not treat each other equally people shouldn't be discriminated against based on the color of their skin

so what happens to stand cheese in germany that no longer justify. exhibition well here in berlin they've got just the place for them the spandau citadel although the 16th century fortress has its own troubled past it was used as a chemical weapons storage by the nazis but i put it as i suppose it was to bring those that you to a museum to show it was an example of racism these mistakes are not repeated this racial stereotypes should not be demonstrated on the streets but in a museum where we could demonstrate it to people within context as we move through the exhibition we see hundreds of years of prussian military strongman into monuments of naziism the 3rd reich didn't really do sculpture but this castle it was one of few described by hitler is irreplaceable the nazis preferred buildings as their monuments to time and there's plenty of those still visible in modern

belin. one of the most i can change in this collection of discarded start juice is this gigantic granite head of blood to me l.n. it's all that remains of a 19 meter high monument that was built in 1970 to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. in the united states and also in great britain the red discussions at the moment about what to do with dismantle memorials but here we have already found a possible solutions for memorials that are so to speak toxic if you put them in a museum that doesn't mean it's over we put them here so that people can continue to pay attention to them but in a different context germany is often cited as the example to follow when it comes to assessing periods of history troubling to modern sensibilities even if there are 2 named after nazi field marshall when rubble that the german military calls home

to this day they glossed over as they don't fit the particular narrative because history has a tendency not to be as neat as we might like it when it's really examined peter all of r.t. early in. this cause concern in the way part of spain's catalonia region back and a lot of resurgent coronavirus cases there the authorities in so agree a say was a difficult decision to to keep over 200000 people just weeks after the mission began easing restrictions. in the last hours in the day we've seen an exponential growth in the number of infections and that's prompted us to take action it's a difficult decision the government must prioritize lives in the health of people and will take all the necessary measures. catalonia has been one of spain's worst affected regions with more than 12000 dead the area no back and restrictions to see new cases more than double over the past week or 200 police officers have been

deployed to help in force checkpoints locals though say they were braced for the move. coming in from the back i thought this is right because we have too many spikes too many infractions and eventually they would have to close of the region in more will come it seems this is necessary because we're seeing what's of cases this is a good decision well right now spain ranks 4th in europe for the number of coronavirus related deaths at over 28000 the country's logged nearly 300000 cases in total spain have been moving to reopen its borders to attract much needed tourism income of course during the peak of the summer season just about now one spanish doctor we spoke to believes a selective strategy is needed but there's a worry to the tourism boom now could lead to a bigger problem. ensure i believe that given the current circumstances this is the only option going back to a total lockdown that supplies the whole country is not the way to go the other

issues here is that the e.u. countries have acted on their own since the start of the lock down now the $27.00 countries have opened their borders except to americans brazilians and russians but they still allow the british to enter and visit spanish islands with little or no screening it's very important to either debate the need for a biological passport or to at least require a virus test 3 days before any trip within europe. without it from moscow hi there i'm kevin o. and i'm more of the week's top stories coming up including this one chess is it racist because the white pieces move 1st well it was in the news in the wake of national broadcast i thought it would make a good radio talking point instead it's a racial tension we're on it.

join me every 1st week on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics or. i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation community. are you going the right way or are you being. what is true what is. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the.

forum made in the shallows. again this is our international folks watching day who are watching the talks now exactly 70 minutes past the hour now let's talk chess it may be a game of strategy skill and patience but frustration is national broadcaster this week it became another port of the global racism debate the a.b.c. the plan to us radio audience is is chess racist because white pieces move 1st didn't go down well with the former australian chess federation representative it was our state part of the debate john adams refused and instead took to twitter to rebuke the a.b.c. saying the taxpayer funded national broadcaster is raising irrelevant topics during a pandemic his anger was echoed to by world class players like the russian grandmaster anatoly karpov. the period of total insanity has become what does it have in common with the centuries old game. john adams whose tweet propelled the

row into the open on tuesday says the order of who goes 1st has gotten to do with race and called out the a.b.c. for inflaming racial tensions. i was on the phone call the a.b.c. wanted to have a discussion about whether they should change the rule because of the current russian context i think it's a big scandal the fact there was has nothing to do with race. it all comes down to a convention that was in the late eighty's i think in western democracies there is an agenda to push for increased racial tension and the a.b.c. tried to jump on the bandwagon by including check the fact that the a.b.c. decided to pick chess as a topic i think fully exposed what their agenda are is we don't need more tension would only to divide people i think is dangerous if we allow games that have nothing to do with race to the full size. for its part the a.b.c. later said did say madrid misunderstood the radio host show planned to hold the

discussion since they were looking for people to say chess is racist instead james valentine says they were looking to create quote fresh conversation about the world . elsewhere police finally moved in to clear out the self declared autonomy protest zone in seattle on wednesday and although pockets of protests is still ongoing in neighboring districts activists occupied the city's capitol hill which became known as chop but a month ago after police moved out of the precinct building the campaign is said they'd hoped to create a peaceful police free utopia didn't last long in the 3 weeks of protest the zone so 4 shootings 2 of them fatal also been reports of assaults burglaries and rape the protesters some armed who warned that they could face arrest if they didn't leave in the end over 30 were detained seattle police released video of some of the violence to.

go. first the mayor there wanted to leave the activist to the takeover hoping for a summer of love as she put it at 1st but as she was later forced to take action her decision came after protesters marched on her home demanding police funding be slashed and activists at the site watched as police moved to protesters on their. side of the high street entrance. where a bunch of police. the protesters are now beat gather. there. blocking the street trying to cause a little bit more awareness and the officers took that as an opportunity to play in force their version of law. came into a shop and ousted the remaining people who were staying there has been

a brown 32 arrests they've been spraying people pepper spray them in aggressive from your perspective what exactly happened basically i was at the bar and that's when the far end and it all started when that bang bang bang screams and my. back there were a couple individuals who were speaking loudly red megaphones were doing the crowd energized to actually bringing people in off the streets and the cops in a little bike brigade actually charging targeted those people arresting them individually and throwing them into the back of a cop cars far end of chalk. not too long ago there were a bunch of tents in these areas there were people hanging out just living but in 5 hours everyone has been evacuated you know like you had a warning. didn't anybody tell myself that you know. my next

friend and her friend you know i don't think anybody in seattle did not see this coming ever since the string of 4 to 5 shootings that have. recently found out that the last shooting it was a 14 of a 16 year old kid who were killed so i think that it was. the cops decided that it was time to put an end to it there's a lot of the moralization right now especially in the crowd of protesters because i think a lot of people are taking this is a bit of a loss because they see where. 2 i got my show. this entire idea of. seems to have not only failed but come to an end. and this channel made news in the week he was in latvia can no longer watch out on their t.v.'s that's because we were pulled off air on tuesday along with 6 other. multi-lingual channels by the country's media council it says it's

because the network is controlled by a broadcaster currently under e.u. sanctions but of course as ever the devil's in the detail because the person in question the talking about actually heads of a separate russian news agency it's not us more a galaxy of explains the confusion. what you see here may look like news to you but others perhaps those that don't like the color green were made of soft stuff those working in latvian intelligence agencies all government this is horrible the evidence we have obtained is very strong and we call on the regulators of all other e.u. member states to follow our example and ban r.t. in the territory such programs have no place in latvia or elsewhere in the e.u. personally i've looked all over fairbairns watched r t arabic with subtitles tried r.t. spanish i even checked behind attorneys and know nothing just cables the very evidence that latvia has the literally made up then didn't try very hard perhaps it

was just before the end of the working day that everyone iching to go home see there's a number of news agencies and russia hauled but i see a civil order which translates to english as russian today and this organization is led by a thurlow who's on european sanctions list this organization by the way has nothing to do with r t that's been our name for more than a decade we're at sea and there i see a subordinate even our names are in different languages but the latvian special agent or official is other than easily scared apparently a lazy thing given the subject to sanctions throughout the year you the national electronic media council will inform media regulators in other countries of the decision taken and considers that a similar ban on distribution would be acceptable throughout the e.u. blue i'm sorry that was mean we just put last we had intelligence agencies on red

alert agents running around their headquarters waving their arms and complaining loudly about our t. scaring them again but it really is funny even the fellow who in the sanctions list . seems to think so this decision is an indicator of the level of stupidity and ignorance of the latvian austerities blinded virus a phobia we laughed at this announcement the last you know authorities got into a simple mess but seriously speaking the reason for the ban they have stated does not have any legal basis therefore latvia should immediately return the broadcast of r.t. and apologize to our colleagues to be honest it isn't hurting our feelings that they should be worried about you can censor things not in the modern world people will always find a way to find what they're looking for what they should be worried about is undermining the very foundations of the european union no country can join the e.u.

without guaranteed freedom of expression as a basic human right fine if latvia which seems to have a thing for trying to silence media have been able to come up with a good excuse to ban a solid reason to violate a founding principle of the european union but they didn't they came up with a laughable excuse and even then managed to get it wrong then look stupid in front of their own allies the burning of our to channels and violence freedom of the press the wants of citizens to media pluralism and is a clear act of censorship the member council's decision be lifted immediately at the end of the day if latvian special services and authorities are of this incompetent capable of confusing 2 different media organizations and everyone who leads them and in the process undermine the entire european union well there's really nothing to be afraid of little latvia flexing its muscles trying to

lead the european union on our merry dance of censorship and media repression has dropped the store and on. on feet and they may have been counting on the fact that nobody would notice this rather gigantic elephant in the corner of the room but they have named the wrong guy saw i think it will now be a laughingstock the european union claims to be the. norm free speech free expression democracy and all of that and yet just goes to show that's all lipstick when the 'd when the lipsticks rubbed off it's a rather play interface underneath. nicely put we'll let you know what happens well this is not a shot of the stories we brought you in the last 7 days thanks for watching the weekly or not international reporting from moscow kevin owen saying bye for now and

enjoy the rest of the weekend. you cannot be both with yeah you like. some reviewers assumes his search is going to be memphis the film you may.

know. him and those you just can't stand forever up with if you're that of. antarctica is a very international community. meeting yesterday the trick is only to. listen if it's the stuff. you eat. there's a push for them at the instant the business for their nuclear cooperation in antarctica is everything the fewest polluted with the forms of t.v. with all the above the. i have i would have acted all day but i decided not to fake if this life would make it didn't help either. all.

alone while come to worlds apart the u.s. claim exceptionalism supremacy has long been a strong irritant to the russians especially coupled with the suffering and the humiliation brought about by the collapse of the soviet union and fast forward 30 here is how does moskos see the tearing down of statues and the revision of not just history but national identity currently underway across the pond well to discuss that i'm now joined by the ministry of threat in the director of the carnegie moscow center mr training that's always a great pleasure talking to you thank you very much for taking the time.