well brian we're standing here at the german parliament not far away from the members of parliament meeting and that is indeed a question that many people here have asked what can we expect when it comes to to this group the a.f.d. in parliament and how the other parties also will react to their presence here the traditional parties if you will are facing a very big dilemma and that is well on the one hand they can't ignore the a f t after all they got twelve point six percent of the vote in the german election there's a third biggest force here in the german parliament on the other hand they also can't react to every single provocation by the way if these are trying to for to find that middle point will be the big challenge for the parties here there's obviously there's been a lot of comment here about the possibility that debates will be shifted to the right of the political spectrum and that's obviously something that some of the traditional parties here want to avoid ok there's also going to be many more voices in this debate this is the largest parliament in german history seven hundre

tonight, germany's new parliament convenes.he first item of business -- keeping the political order and political peace. parliament today elected former finance minister to preside over what will likely be some stormy debates. the right-wing populist afd party was elected to parliament on a promise to disrupt the establishment. also coming up, calls for an international investigation into the murder of the maltese journalist. she won praise and criticism for exposing government corruption. today, the european parliament held a minute of silence to remember her life and her work. and the last russians are -- c zar's for bid love. -- forbidden love. a new film is sparking a violent reaction. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. it is good to have you with us. germany's newly elected parliament has convened for the first time since last month's election and it promises to be anything but business as usual with the right wing afd party now represented for the first time. one of the bundestag's first tasks today was to elect a new parliamentar

sorry, the vote of our parliament, the uk parliament, could be after march 2019? could be, could be. and it was that statement which dominated the debate for the next two days. in march 2019, the prime minister told this house that parliament would be given a meaningful vote on the terms of the article 50 withdrawal bill. this morning, in the brexit select committee, the secretary of state told us that that vote may not take place until after march 2019. can the prime minister please explain how it is possible to have a meaningful vote on something that has already taken place? as the honourable gentleman knows, we are in negotiations with the european union, but i am confident — the timetable under the lisbon treaty does give time until march 2019 for the negotiations to take place, but i am confident, because it is in the interests of both sides, and it is notjust this parliament that wants to have a vote on this deal, but actually there will be ratification by other parliaments that we will be able to achieve that agreement and negotiation in time for this parl

s in our parliament now. it is very rare that a german parliament has been so different from the one before seven parties six parliamentary groups we haven't had that many for sixty years. and it's a new constellation we have in our parliament but it reflects the changes that we're seeing in society as a whole box uncertainty is on the rise in faces you're one of the last place change to globalization and digitizing. context of dismantling new affinity is one of the things we were sure of your question new identities are emerging. new supposed certainties being confronted this meant as a response to fear. people have a need to feel familiar to feel at home and to me increasingly conflict this need is being confronted with a world full of crisis full of war and full of conflict full of real horror that we are bombarded with in the media and this is intensifying the dispute that we are hearing in society and not just here in germany but across europe. and the incredibly incredible fast pace of change that we ar

then the parliament observed a minute of silence for the murder journalist. for most parliamentarians though this is not enough. if you have to state that many people in malta no longer trust their government to investigate this murder and x.y. we're calling for an international investigation in malta cannot do this alone too much trust has been lost so we need to know who committed this murder and what that was you can't we hadn't been a stick to him time there is a lot to investigate behind the picture postcard setting of malta. that's exactly what daphne kerry wanted to did. her research into corruption letter straight to the top of the government. among others she linked maltese prime minister joseph who scott and his wife to offshore companies and payments from the government of azerbaijan putting was scott front and center in a huge corruption scandal. some european parliamentarians are now not only calling for an investigation they see the rule of law threatened by mafia style practices and one far reaching consequences. personally i'm. and their reque

which was arguably the star party of this new parliament today. the first. time. germany's politicians are adopting a new vocabulary words such as fatherland love identity country and pride the author carolyn asks if these politicians are copying germany's nationalist party was. the decisive factor is how strongly the f.t. can continue to influence public discussions and determine how certain topics are discussed in my opinion the f.a. have been surprisingly successful in doing this. for the card. and if the politicians take their place in germany's bundestag for the first time today their influence seems to be bigger than the number of votes the party won in germany's recent elections. we will take back our country and our people. a sign of the times says callahan's finest man one of the international fathers of germany's new right. the success of the day isn't simply because it managed to unite nearly thirteen percent of voters behind it their success is linked to the trend a bigger movement the end of which we can see. and this trend is already changing the cli

and do you think that his presence in parliament today was. reassuring to most members i mean do they have faith that he can make all the parliamentarian's behave. could make a difference but of course the other n.p.c. of the parties also have a role in dealing with it in how they deal with the after. of course one of their concerns is that they don't want to touch want parliament to turn into the f.d.a. against the other five. and at the same time they'll be dealing with how much of the city the f.t. has a certain amount of time to voice their opinions in parliament but they'll be wanting to make sure that they're not using that to kind of push any far right ideas which of course ongoing to be aimed. at the public especially online and actually i mean there are a lot of new challenges in this new parliament that is for sure keep radio political correspondent thank you very much a u.s. senator has accused the president trumbull of the debasing the country it is the latest round in a feud between the president and republican senator bob corker

or sending to the parliament. estimates are that around. thirty of the parliamentary deputies that's roughly a third have extreme far right views and that i don't think most people in the mainstream of germany think has any place whatsoever in the buddhist right in they had been of course huge amount of protests also on sunday there was a big protest was there that's vandenberg gate and you saw what was the atmosphere there like what were people saying to you what are they worried about. well as you can well imagine the atmosphere was was very was very partisan i mean it was a very cheerful atmosphere what impressed me the most were two things one i think that was just a symbolic gesture normally when you turn out marching marching for something specific there's nothing really specific that they could demand other than the fact that the other parties in parliament should be very vigilant. on the other hand i was struck with just how with how diverse the crowd was i spoke with a korean woman who was i thought was in a better mid fifty's who

the parliament must resume its role as the main stage of political exchange and not t.v. talk shows or one on one interviews from reporters madam chancellor. i think that means that the parties especially the opposition parties can suggest topics here that the chancellor might find very unpleasant. but merkel's conservatives and her potential coalition partners rejected that suggestion that the right to question must remain an instrument of parliamentary control and not a weapon for the opposition. you want to make a show of us with a history lesson today and we won't allow it. parliament is still voting on its six vice presidents although each party has a right to the post the far right a.f.d. candidate has already been rejected after stating islam is a political ideology and not a religion. with me now in the studio as our political correspondent kate brady kate it's good to have you on the show here let's pick up with short but he really was the the the star of the hour today in this first session. how was his speech received i mean why was it so important for him to g

parliament on the other hand there are those who say that the previous parliament where we only had the four parliamentary groups the two big groups that formed the grand coalition under two parties in opposition well the debates there were rather dull because the grand coalition had a clear majority so there there are some people here who are. actually saying well now we will have real debates in parliament real debates that will represent the different views in society so you have the two sides of the coin there and we will just have to wait and see how things develop because there are a lot of new elements in this german parliament ok and there's also an agenda out for today for the first day what can we expect to see in parliament as as it gets underway this will be the framework today if you will of the new parliament the new president of the parliament will be elected most probably will be involved on choice for the current finance minister they will also elect his vice presidents an interesting enough it will be to see today whether the conduct proposed by the f.t. will be el

now on bbc news, the week in parliament. hello and welcome to the week in parliament.s been a week in which one argument has dominated, when exactly will parliament be able to vote on the deal to leave the european union. after much 2019? it could be. i will talk to a professor about how wrecks it is affecting this parliament. also on the programme, there is no universal credit for universal credit. our local food bank is looking to collect 15 tons of extra food to deal with the demand. and there is no shortage of advice that the chancellor on the possibility of a no deal outcome to the brexit talks. you can't agree a price until you know what you are paying for, and the only a full would write out a blank cheque of taxpayers money. but first, it was in debris that ministers pledged to give parliament a meaningful vote on the deal to leave the european union. before was finalised. the concession was made to thwart an opposition attempt to add conditions to the bill triggering brexit. but little did theresa may realise that it would be that a vote that would dominate th

and wishes to veto the powers of those parliament. the people in that parliament. where elected on to ten but twenty seven the members of the covenant parliament have the right to defend their viewers these are one hundred times thirty five members of parliament this polish government is aiming at depriving those men and peace of exercising those white representatives of catalan pitfalls. and prime ministers not aware of the fact that by attacking the institutions and members of parliament he's attacking people as well in got along the on. the main victim of this unprecedented action is catalan society. right and fundamental freedoms are being violated prime minister rudd. expressed a message for all catalan society. in the message is. not concerned about what they think or feel and it doesn't matter to him what people voted for seven years. we've heard of started of autonomy that the wanted catalan people voted for now. they wish to take the parliament of was voted vice. president and they want to do this. outside the law article one five five does not allow them

parliament. what kind of a model going to talk to women about i mean honorable president of parliament that is president members of parliament councilors ladies and gentlemen. i am addressing this chamber today at my own request that he will report to cover and critical crisis from. the results of the better than i am on the. east and to explain the political consequences from me in terms of what i mean to me more i am aware as many of you are but today. i'm also standing here before the people of catalonia and many other people who are focusing on what's happening today here in this chamber. except you know we are going through our historic moment in time when she yes. the consequences and the fact that go beyond the country you. need to see beyond being domestic issue as we'll have often heard from those who have neglected respond to religion is whenever they don't want to or not of what was happening catalonia is a european issue. you. don't expect from this address any threat or i mean mading

parliament. is voting for this independence vote change the position here in mind also called for dissolving the parliament so far we do not have a confirmation of that ok hoda abdel-hamid standing by for us and madrid thank you let's let's cross back over now to andrew symonds who is live in barcelona where that voting is taking place and cattle on parliament so andrew when you hear things like we're bell again unconstitutional catastrophe those are the types of words that we have been hearing for quite some time in the language seems to be elevating when you have a vote a vote on whether or not you you want to secede is is there any sense that the people that are procession anticipated that it would go this far and in fact were prepared for what their plan would be at this moment came. well to some people this is a living nightmare especially those who fear economic effects and fear social dissent but to a very large number of people millions in fact this is a dream what we're seeing here is hi

parliaments as well. it's precisely because of this of this dilemma because it is an absolutely new phenomenon here in the german parliament in many many decades the first time that such a party enters the german parliament on the traditional parties are obviously confronted with the need to respond to them if they ignore what the a.f.d. says they're ignoring twelve point six percent of the electorate if on the other hand they respond to every single provocation of the f.t. they could also boost the profile of this party so these are obviously debates that we will see in the next few months and years here in the german parliament thomas founder of the understand thank you very much for that. less of a look at look at some other stories making news around the world austria's newly elected conservative leaders about kurtz has announced he'll try on government with the country's right wing freedom party a decision that was widely expected go it said the freedom party had shown a real to bring about change in

honorable president of parliament hundred of our deputy president members of parliament mayors people who today we are here supporting us and those who are following us here far from any corner of the world through the media. like to say a few words. that come from the bottom of my heart filled with emotion. and also with common tenting legitimacy this words wish to contribute to the important of this moment in time today the parliament of our country a legitimate parliament that has risen the elections of september twenty seventh and has taken a step that was very much awaited. the political representatives that were legitimately elected have adopted the mandate that was validated through the polls catalan citizens. in the next hours. we will have two people come. we have to remain acting peacefully in a civil manner and democratic manner as it has been the case in the past and will continue happening. the institutions and people are those who jointly build a people build a society a people cannot be built if we separate these two elements today mayors and members of parliament you h

it comes after catalonia's parliament voted for independence from spain.joy said he would seek to have that vote declared illegal and he said there would be elections held in december for a new catalan parliament. tonight there have been crowds amassed in the centre of barcelona in a defiant show of support for independence, but the situation has caused alarm elsewhere in europe. our first report is from our europe editor katya adler who is in barcelona. all: si, si, si. one by one the yes votes were counted, celebrated, relished by this delirious pro independence crowd. as they watched the catalan parliament finally after weeks, some here say years of waiting, vote on separation from spain. do you believe it will happen today? yes. it has to be today. and today it was. all around here catala ns are singing their national anthem, the national anthem they now believe belongs to their independent republic, separate from the spanish state. there are so many questions. what will the spanish government do? but for now, this crowd just wants to celebrate. it's a

parliament. what i hope that we will have a very determined cause for action in the parliament but i also hope that we will bring this from the european parliament to the parliaments and to other parts of society to fight against any form of sexual harassment and we believe that not only the full accession to the symbol convention is important for this but also a directive on the european level that goes against sexual harassment by the against any form of science against women because in hollywood but also in so many of the parts of our societies this is still so common and so except that obviously we would also need legislative steps in order to fight against it that was terry ryan a member of the greens in the european parliament we're turning now to madagascar where the plague has killed dozens of people over the past two months this disease is not new to the island which sees hundreds of cases each and every year but this outbreak has been especially severe infecting more than one thousand p

the parliament must resume its role as the main stage of political exchange and not t.v. talk shows or one on one interviews from reporters madam chancellor. i think that means that the parties especially the opposition parties can suggest topics here that the chancellor might find very unpleasant. but merkel's conservatives and her potential coalition partners rejected that suggestion that the right to question must remain an instrument of parliamentary control and not a weapon for the opposition. you want to make a show of us with a history lesson today and we won't allow it each parliamentary faction has the right to nominate a vice president in the assembly but the candidate was rejected by the other m.p.'s for stating islam is a political ideology and not a religion. and with that you see we've already got the first points of conflict in this new parliament to talk about that here in the studio with me is our political correspondent kate brady's good to have you here at the big table kate let's let's talk about the referee for all of this what's going short with toda

the bundestag has called on the new parliament figure. that's it today. it's reformation day on w. we'll have programs around the clock marking its five hundredth anniversary we're going live to the commemoration ceremony that barack will be ducking.

the european parliament. and demands of its member states to do you you member states to prevent this kind of thing and bring to justice those beyond the matter i mentioned italy bulgaria's also certainly a country where we have similar concerns frets against journalists and the other thing is that we have a international campaign for a u.n. special representative representative against impunity and for the protection of journalists and i think it's clear commitment to that would also be very helpful ok that officers are exist right now you'd like to see creators and that would be an office. that would bring the necessary political weight to to bring countries that are hesitant. prosecuting this kind of crimes to act because of dryer from reporters without borders thanks so much for being with us. well after much anticipation and protests the controversy all film about the last russian tsar is set for release this week the movie tells the story of star nicholas the second and his affair with a polish ballerin

parliament.e're doing. but she says you're an anarchic party, that you can't offer a credible alternative government, that moderate members are discredited. do you recognise what she is saying there? well, we recognise that we gained almost 6 million votes. 1 million from the former christian democratic union, so from angela merkel‘s party, 500,000 from the social democrats, 500,000 from the left, and lots of voters who've been not voting for the last election. so this is what we see. we know what the people want. they want a shift in the policy, and it's now upon us to put this shift into reality. but you have been in the strange situation of losing a leader before, because he, like frauke petry, suggested the party had changed. two years ago, bernd lucke said that the party was pro—russian, anti—western, openly xenophobic, and used xenophobic rhetoric. you know, we can talk about our programme. i know that's very difficult for you, and all the others, to talk about our programme. we are not pho

the vote, sorry, the vote of our parliament, the uk parliament, could be after march 2019?ers had promised mps a vote ahead of brexit. when you said that it is possible that parliament might not vote on the deal until after the end of march 2019, i'm summarising correctly what you said? yes, that's correct. in the event we don't do the deal until then, yeah. so theresa may's government could strike a deal without getting parliament's backing first. sounded clear, but then came the time to explain that to mps. can the prime minister please explain how it's possible to have a meaningful vote on something that's already ta ken place? i'm confident because it is in the interest of both sides and it's not just this parliament that wants to have a vote on that deal, but actually, there will be ratification by other parliaments that we will be able to achieve that agreement in that negotiation in time for this parliament to have the vote if we can admit it. that wasn't a guarantee mps would get a vote before britain leaves, just an intention, and expectation, and david davis was e

now on bbc news, thursday in parliament. hello and welcome to our look back at thursday in parliament. coming up: labour calls on the brexit secretary to promise parliament a vote on the final eu deal. and passions run high. stop fighting and be honest with the british people! and the commons hears of the horrors of modern slavery. it is a blight on the conscience of this nation and whilst we have done a lot there is much more to do. the row about whether parliament will get to vote on a deal to leave the eu before the uk's departure has entered a second day. you may remember that on wednesday the brexit secretary suggested mps may not get a vote until after the uk has left. but later there was a clarification saying ministers "expected and intended" that there would be a vote before. labour put down an urgent question asking david davis to explain what exactly the position was. his opposite number, sir keir starmer, gave his version of events. what a mess. one thing one day another thing the next. yesterday the secretary of

which was arguably the star party of this new parliament today. for. your. view. germany's politicians are adopting a new vocabulary words such as fatherland love identity country and pride the author carolyn and asks if these politicians are copying germany's nationalist party was in china was the decisive factor is how strongly the f.t. can continue to influence public discussions and determine how certain topics are discussed in my opinion the f.t. have been surprisingly successful in doing this. for the car. politicians take their place in germany's bundestag for the first time today but their influence seems to be bigger than the number of votes the party won in germany's recent elections. we will take back our country and our people. a sign of the times says callahan's finest man one of the internet's will fathers of germany's new right. the success of the f.t. isn't simply because it managed to unite nearly thirteen percent of voters behind it their success is linked to a greater trend a bigger movement the end of which we can't see. and this trend is alrea

which is a part of the new german parliament and to talk about the new german parliament i have with me in the in our studios our political correspondent a jefferson chase welcome to jefferson and also at the bundestag i have thomas another of our political correspondents and let me start with you thomas. voluntariness then the first session have voted for a new president the vote counting is still going on tell us about the procedure what happens how's how is the voting procedure worked out there. i'm retired just to i want to give you an impression of what it's like here because i've been many many times right here covering different procedures at the german bundestag and i must say that the interest today from the people right here is much much larger than on previous occasions you probably saw it a few minutes ago when we also connected and that has to do with the fact. that we have a very different parliament when you compare this one to the one that we had the last four years the last four years you heart for parliamentary group in this case you have six and obviously you have

this is e w news live from berlin germany's new parliament opens with a new president both gun shy is likely to have a say some stormy debates in the new assembly the right wing nationalist party joining proceedings for the first time in decades also on the program. chinese president xi jinping increases his influence over his country and his party as delegates of the communist party congress back his vision for china's future. i'm phil gayle welcome to the program. germany's newly elected parliament has convened for the first time since last month's elections and with more parliamentary factions on the right wing i have tea party in the assembly for the first time it will not be business as usual one of the bundestag first tasks was to elect a new parliamentary president. it now falls to parliament's longest serving member to keep things under control with elected president of the understudy the politician from chancellor merkel's party called for calm proceedings amid debate and to play by the rules the obvious way we speak to one another can set an example for discourse throughout

it has been voted by the npd in the parliament. a cdu member is going to the original parliament.lear line on that. beatrix von storch, thanks very much. hello. further strong winds at times this week, even the risk of gales as we maintain a very autumnal flavour to our weather. this low pressure system was the wind—maker on monday. it's still producing some strong winds in the far north of scotland and the northern isles as tuesday begins. elsewhere, high pressure building in, winds easing a bit with high pressure building in. with high pressure, most places are going to be dry starting the day, with plenty of sunshine. here's a look at things, eight o'clock in the morning. a few showers dotted about northern and western scotland, driven along quickly on this quite strong wind. far north of scotland, more epseically into the western isles, there could be some gusts early on of about 50—60 mph. one or two showers in the north—west of england, but very few and far between. for most of us, it'll be a dry start to the day. a good deal of sunshine. a breezy start, though, with tempera

these live pictures from the catalonia parliament. but there are still many questions here to be answered quite what this means for catalonia and how it will be able to implement independence is a big big question because it is against the spanish constitution it says it is. against the law and madrid is now currently voting as i said earlier on whether to direct control over catalonia. but anyway for the moment is inside the land parliament but we can see they're very happy with how things have turned. this after many days of indecision people were expecting the cattle and prime minister president sorry to make it clear yes or no whether he was declaring independence in fact he decided today to push that see what the cattle and parliament to make the decision and they have. so many cattle and flags as you'd expect out on the streets of barcelona in among them we hope to go to a city charlotte somewhere correspondent bastogne hopefully she will be giving us an update but it was interesting to hear what she was reporting just last hour

not only goes against the law but it's criminal today in parliament the parliament of our country a legitimate parliament took a largely expected step and largely for four step. citizens of cathal 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 . but that was the leader of the council on parliament expressing his happiness that was the leader of the catalan parliament expressing his happiness that very took place it was of course a vote for declaration of independence however not everyone was happy as i mentioned some of the makers in the catalan parliament left and decided not to take part and not vote and that she some have declared that declaration of independence is something that should not have happened and they've been tearing it down take a listen to what some of the opposition will make us happy and say. if you can see more and i guarantee ninety eight this will. you that i know should know about it. you sometimes think you know obama happe

but rather include people with the obvious way in which we talk with one another here and parliament can be a role model for society obviously we shouldn't try to help one another here although we have seen that this has occasionally occurred in other parliaments in jersey because of me and we don't want to get verbal abuse of either this month which far more we want to show that one can dispute issues with out losing basic decency for that six for you and we have to show that in our parliamentary group xuecun you're doing what they're supposed to do but i mean the parliament is completely opposed to that of the members and. they mustn't we. the scene as you know those are separate from our citizens no we were elected by the voters but nobody represents the people alone. if the will of the people is only something that can really be created within our parliamentary decisions. thank. you and this is why it is a duty to ensure that i have a parliament be able a similar i will discuss things dispute things that in fact based manner with emotion is not so well and representing issues tha

sorry, the vote of our parliament, the uk parliament, could be after march 2019? yes, it could be.an that? ministers had promised mps a vote ahead of brexit. when you said that it is possible that parliament might not vote on the deal until after the end of march 2019, i'm summarising correctly what you said? that's correct. in the event we don't do the deal until then, yeah. so, theresa may's government could strike a deal without getting parliament's backing first. sounded clear, but then came the time to explain that to mps. can the prime minister please explain how it's possible to have a meaningful vote on something that's already ta ken place? i'm confident because it is in the interest of both sides, and it's notjust this parliament that wants to have a vote on that deal, but actually there will be ratification by other parliaments that we will be able to achieve that agreement and that negotiation in time for this parliament to have the vote that we committed to. that wasn't a promised parliament would get a vote before brexit, just a hope the deal would be done in time to

and other parliaments that we will be able to achieve that negotiation in time for this parliament toed. 0ne mp shouted shambles. the government is confident but there is clearly uncertainty about the course brexit will take. ben wright, westminster. 0ur chief political correspondent vicki young is in westminster for us now. david davis raised the few eyebrows thereby suggesting the vote might be after the event, but the brexit department have now clarified what he said. that is right. we are certainly any period here where uncertainty is the watch word. whatever side of the debates people we re whatever side of the debates people were on minikin to the referendum, when it comes to brexit, no one here can predict what is going to happen, partly because this is a negotiation with another team and you cannot control the outcome of all of those possibilities. i think that is how david davis got into all of this today. he was asked a hypothetical question, you decided to answer it, pointing out how the eu sometimes operates when these deals are done at the very last minute and therefore y

i've just come out of this parliament this eighteenth century parliament this salute the pact with supporters and with schools of civic from all over the region most of them. secessionist and really the atmosphere in there is quite extraordinary it's a mix of emotions some absolute celebration of the faces you see in the sort of gosh this is how it's almost shock but then. came in and he was obviously applauded by everybody like some sort of super hero he stood for a wall while a number. people gave speeches and then he started off i couldn't hear the first part of his speech because of all the cheering he did say though that this was an extraordinary situation the country was in it had to happen and he said the coming hours we will have to keep the country civil and dignified he didn't go much more than that he didn't elaborate it was a fairly brief speech but it was just mood music really and one that resonates right across this region not just with those who supports them all there in their thousands on the streets declaring victory so to speak you can see them certainly after the layers o

parliament. what i hope that we will have a very determined cause for action in the parliament but i also hope that we will bring this from the european parliament to the parliaments and to other parts of society to fight against any form of sexual harassment and we believe that not only the full accession to the stumble convention is important for this but also a directive on the european level that goes against sexual harassment by against any form of finance against women because in hollywood but also in so many other parts of our societies this is still so common and so except that obviously we would also need legislative steps in order to fight against it ok terry ryan thanks so much for that member of the german parliament for the greens in strong's bridge hall that debate today thanks very much. thank you ok new supreme court is set to hear a last minute petition to delay thursday's presidential election now if the vote goes ahead it would be the second time kenyans voted last three months

an hour or so ago they we re parliament.n hour or so ago they were watching as suddenly all those mps left the chamber is there was a delay announced. now we expect that statement any moment now. let's go back to tim in barcelona, is it any clearer why we had that delay? there area clearer why we had that delay? there are a lot of rumours flying around as you can imagine. the chamber is still not even half full, it takes 135 members, but as you can see there are people coming in now. one of the rumours is that there is talk of the rumours is that there is talk ofan of the rumours is that there is talk of an international mediating commission which carles puigdemont is prepared to engage with and one other rumour is that has upset the ha rd left other rumour is that has upset the hard left communist group which she relies on to keep his coalition in power. two of whom left the meeting about an hour ago when they were discussing what was going to happen here in the catalan parliament with the catalan president. as you can see,

now we regularly call parliament the heart of british democracy. but how democratic is parliament?s attracted more than 100,000 signatures says the current westminster electoral system makes parliament "unrepresentative". the petition demands the replacement of first—past—the—post voting with proportional representation, or pr, where numbers of mps would exactly match the amount of public support across the country for each political party. in westminster hall, mps debated changing the voting system. possibly the biggest argument for first past the post and against pr is that more often than not, it will produce a clear, decisive result and a stable government. just one moment. whereas, pr often results in no clear majority and days or weeks of backroom dealing in order to form a government. ijust wonder whether he could perhaps explain what his definition of democracy is? because i would have thought democracy is about ensuring that the governing party or parties actually command a majority of support in the country. and the truth is, that hasn't happened, has it, for some time? i

now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament.me to our look back at the day here at westminster. coming up in the next half hour: opposition mps have another go coming up in the next half hour: the brexit secretary says a vote in parliament on any brexit deal might come after the uk leaves the eu. mps are confused. can the prime minister explain how it is possible to have a meaningful vote on something that has already ta ken place? and the prime minister gives her reaction to the suspension of a labour mp. all of us in this house should have care and attention to the way which we refer to other people. but first, the brexit secretary, david davis, says a vote in parliament on any brexit deal might not come before the uk leaves the eu. he was appearing in front of a committee of mps where he predicted the talks could go right up to the wire. the uk is due to leave the eu in march 2019, but ministers hope that in the next few months they'll be able to secure a transitional arrangement that would apply temporarily after brexit. dav

parliament has its own employees, and what this story is about, parliament's and what this story is aboutpa rliament‘s standards boss, and what this story is about, parliament's standards boss, the parliamentary authorities, asked that the same rights should be given to all the people who work in the houses of parliament, so mps personal office staff have the same implement rights as everyone else in the houses of parliament, and uses mps pushed back against that and they refused. —— and it says. that is not what any of us would expect ina is not what any of us would expect in a place where we work, and it means that if you have a problem with your boss come there are only three orfour with your boss come there are only three or four people in your boss and the boss has done it's you, —— and the boss has done it's you, —— and the boss has done it's you, —— and the boss has done it to you, thenit and the boss has done it to you, then it is hard to know who to go to, and that is the problem. there isa to, and that is the problem. there is a help line. number ten has said the right things, b

this hour let's just recap what we know the couple in parliament. in favor of declaring independence from spain on the top of the first ninety percent of capital to turn died for an independence referendum voted to leave spain we can see people with a lot of capital flags out there the old bottle of calm as well alcoholic drink of course which is produced. so you're going to be seeing scenes like this i imagine for a couple of hours yet as people celebrate what they see as independence from madrid we'll be keeping an eye on those live pictures all throughout the hours in the meantime to the chris had this to say about the mood. manuel raul has created in spain a. nationalist movements which is not below him to the sense in his riot police to try and stop the independence referendum it created a backlash in cats who were you with many people who had the independence the lead deciding that actually that was the only option if the spanish state was good behavior towards its own citizens so it's very difficult. what to do she said you know right who say

this is due to the news live from berlin catalonia is parliament the clear isn't the pendants from spain thousands of separatists supporters are gathered outside the government palace in barcelona to celebrate the vote emotion as this fight the opposition walking out the spanish senate has meanwhile voted to rescind catalonia as autonomy and take control of the rest of regions where barcelona and madrid. thanks very much for your company we begin with those developments in spain where the country's senate has approved government proposals to take control of catalonia it comes just after catalonia regional parliament voted in favor of declaring independence from spain all the vote for independence followed a fiery debate in the calland parliament with opposition lawmakers walking out in protest. separatist members of the catalan parliament singing their unofficial national anthem in the way. for a peaceful defense of their land the the opposition politicians had long since left the chamber refusing to take part in the. leaving the parliament's president to announce a clear majority in fav

random to parliament and to our citizens. the mandate of the catalan people is for catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic but when. the catalan president issues a declaration of independence but immediately suspends its implementation in order to appease madrid and buy time for negotiation. nonetheless the president and seventy two pro independence m.p.'s signed a declaration of independence although it's not clear whether the document is legal . it we saw in the declaration of independence ok if we made history if that was me i'd like you to know you're in their sights. the spanish government responds promptly the deputy prime minister refuses to acknowledge catalan independence or to allow mediation yeah. yeah yeah i think. it's the reaction of the spanish government that we would expect that because. they are always saying there was no referendum the referendum is illegal. you cannot talk about that you cannot come to the parliament of course. it's always the same. after years of fighting for ca

while the outcome of a birth parliament session. is historic plunges madrid and barcelona further into uncertainty we have team coverage of these breaking developments in barcelona and barcelona charlotte the chelsea is covering events there and imagery and martin roberts thank you both for joining us charlotta earlier we saw jubilation in sight the parliament when the vote passed what's the mood outside where you are. that's quite a rights of ecstatic scenes inside the parliament that among those who've been pushing for independence for years we saw then this is hugging one another we saw spontaneous chance of freedom freedom and we saw outbreak of singing as well it really was an ecstatic scene inside the parliament here because pushing on the kotla needed just left about half an hour ago more chairs as he got in his car and drove away now we're a few hundred meters at the moment from the scene where thousands of pro independence support is on the streets that been nervously waiting to see what decision the catalan paan meant woul

then, to reduce the powers parliament, of local parliament. how far they are able to do that, remains to be seen. and how far they will be allowed by the international community, to do it, remains also to be seen. you are of a certain age, you remember the times of franco, i remember the times of franco, i remember the times of franco as well. in what way do you think madrid can impose direct rule but defuse this situation, because there are many millions of people here who want to leave spain, there are many millions who do not. nobly knows until now, because madrid refused all the time to hold a referring, in order for people to know how many people were on one side or the other. now, we know, probably by now, the quantity of people favourable to the separation from spain, it is a majority. are you fearful about events over the next few weeks and months? faithful? no, fearful. oh, no, no, not at all. people have showed a political will to reach theiraims. showed a political will to reach their aims. come as it made as far asi their aims. com

and then actually getting down to business in parliament train issue brief word about parliament new president both ganga showing blood what does he bring to this post which is essentially a speaker. well one of the main things of course his experience he's one of but he has decades of experience in german politics and he's currently the longest serving german m.p. and if we think back to the euro crisis i mean he was the now former german finance minister and he did make many enemies back then and took a very strong stance but at the same time he's also managed to always retain respect and so that's something and i think you'll continue to push through with now that he is the bundestag president. the born to start thank you. china's ruling communist party has confirmed president disease and pain i say its most powerful leader for decades by adding his name and ideology to the constitution at the end of the party's five year the congress delegates voted unanimously to include thought as a guiding principle this case presently the same level of prominence as party found a dog and coul

's parliament votes for independence. the spanish government strikes back, sacking the catalan leader and his cabinet. 'scould one of these prototypes become the wall between the u.s. and mexico? >> for the next one to two months from what they will do is try to smash their way through them, climbed over them, and tunnel underneath. and stranded at sea for five months, two american women and the dogs are rescued after an adventure went off course. rajini: welcome to our viewers on public television in america and around the globe tonight, spain is a country in political chaos after a constitutional crisis came to a head. after weeks of buildup, catalonia's regional parliament voted for independence, then the government in madrid called for direct authority to be imposed, and spanish prime minister mario 40 dissolved the dutch mariano rajoy dissolved the catalan parliament and sacked their leader and called for a referendum in december. >> si. si. si. katya: one by one, the yes votes were counted, celebrated, relished by t