with our utmost intensity we've got correspondents covering this story from madrid and barcelona paul brennan is in the spanish capital for as we begin with you paul we were expecting to hear from the deputy prime minister of spain worse a government response to this letter going to be. yes the deputy prime minister was due to speak about half an hour ago but for some reason that news conference has not happened yet but it may be the reason why is because the prime minister mariano to hoyle has been called away or has called himself a way up to in the northwest of spain where wildfires are running right at the moment three people have died and that's his home region so he's all right there a bit of an unwelcome distraction i think from the masses of the catalonian independence efforts but certainly that's where he's going and that may be the reason why the deputy prime minister's statement has been delayed but what we have had is initial reactions from the government here in madrid to the letter from the . what they're saying is basically the foreign minister said that the. response does not

about first let's go to spain's capital madrid where the deputy prime minister has been speaking paul brennan is in madrid for us what did she have to say paul to the letter from the catalonia need. yeah i think that. it was not an expected. response this morning he complied with the monday morning deadline imposed by the spanish prime minister but he didn't comply in a way that the spanish government demanded a yes no answer and in that sense the reaction from the spanish government was to say that look this is totally inadequate and the deputy prime minister stepping in for mariano rajoy has been called away to the northern regions where those wildfires basically said look how difficult can it be the answer is either yes or it's no. i mean that i know that i get it he will not understand advocating on such an important issue we only asked for clarity to extend uncertainty will only favor those who wish to end peaceful coexistence and to continue with a poor project the government hopes that in the following hours up until the next step line on thursday mr put your mind will give the clarity

people of different ethnicities are treated in areas of health criminal justice and education paul brennan reports on why not everyone is backing the audit. in the eighteen ninety s charles booth's maps of the rich and poor areas of victorian london showed the glaring inequalities of the age more than a century later on her first day as prime minister to race in may chose to make social justice her core priority to. that means fighting against the burning injustice that if you're born poor you will die on average nine years earlier than others if you're black you're treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if your white. inequality is stubbornly endemic in the u.k. in education employment housing health care and the criminal justice system a person's racial and economic background can profoundly affect the opportunities and treatment they receive it's not overt racism in vats people are saying i don't want to black person working for me but it's more of a subtle things around ok wovens person have a right communication skills seventy six percent of white people are in emplo

still trapped under the rubble of the hotel and they fear that the casualty numbers could rise paul brennan reports. when the truck arrived at the busy intersection and locally is k. five it was a traffic jam dozens of motorists stuck in their cars hundreds of bystanders too and so the explosion caused. by cover couldn't have come a lot this was the biggest explosion i have ever heard the car exploded at the center of the busiest junction in mogadishu it caused huge destruction and some more than twenty dead people around the street and there may be more than that in the collapsed buildings. much of it i've never seen a scene like this ever before all the buildings are. around here have collapsed there were close to two hundred people in these buildings i hope everyone is ok ok five is in a bustling commercial district of mogadishu with many shops hotels and businesses the blast happened outside the safari hotel not normally used by government workers and so it's not clear whether the hotel itself was the intended target or possibly the somali foreign ministry nearby it's emerged too that t

african union and somali troops the ongoing threat is a constant worry for many somalis paul brennan al jazeera. kenya's opposition leaders are accusing the police of using excessive force against their supporters that's after police shot two protesters dead in c.i. a in the country's southwest the opposition are demanding voting reforms for a presidential election rerun this month after the supreme court and now the oldest vote. in addition to killing the naming. polls open in less than an hour in austria and a snap election that could see the far right freedom party enter a coalition government the vote is a year early after the government fell apart in may with a conservative people's party lead in the polls austria could elect the world's youngest leader david schaper reports from vienna. called the austrian politics. at thirty one he may be short on years but he's long on ambition and his t.v. broadcast which you people party shows his eyes are set firmly on the chance for shipping. the polls put it well ahead but he's done it by poaching some of the policies of the far right wi

both legally and politically in the run up to thursday's deadline paul brennan with the latest on that from madrid thank you. stay with us here on al-jazeera still lots more to come on the program including more than three hundred people now confirmed dead we're going to have the latest from market issue where anger is growing following the deadliest single attack in somalia as history. welcome back what was typhoon cannon there's no gracia been don't grade and then you see it was dissipating before your eyes on the satellite imagery so a tropical storm but it's lost the strength of the winds and the rain also has dissipated to some extent still some heavy rain around and it may cause a few problems across parts of vietnam certainly some rain is likely and hanoi on choose day and that system will continue to push further towards the west through wednesday so i think we'll see some rain get into parts of laos and some of it has to be pretty heavy that could be some disruption caused because of the rain but gerry not as bad as it was at one stage fear we will find conditions for hong kon

but for me and here in barcelona it's back to you yeah and we're going to take it to paul brennan now in the spanish capital madrid so how is the government going to be reacting to this letter home. well there is little patience from. the spanish prime minister for the letter from the. leader we are going to hear immediately from mr hoyer but his deputy prime minister is giving a statement in around twenty minutes time and we'll have i can give you an indication that the justice minister has already come out and said that the letter from the man is not valid mainly because it doesn't answer the central question of yes or no as to whether a declaration of independence was actually made back on october the first and as far as the request from tuesday to have these sedition charges dropped against those four people i can tell you that the reason why i'm standing where i am which is outside the national high court in madrid is because those charges have gone ahead the head of the catalan police has arrived here along with three other people on the sedition charges the case against them is

life out of al-jazeera paul brennan is there paul the morning after that huge demonstration what's the mood than now. well calm as far as demonstrations goes we've seen no large manifestations of of catalonian outrage this morning sunday morning here but i have to say that the media and the newspapers for example are off full of the reaction let me hold up a couple. headline liberty freedom and then it all the talk in small letters attack on autonomy it says we will never give up a legitimate government another newspaper pity other co has a plan was death allow that now that the flight the couple on your flight gives us a lot i with the star in the middle that just a lot of basically means axed so you can see that there are basically characterizing the removal of the actor or the likely removal of the council on leadership as being axed pace says more a more measured response to the government restores constitutional order in catalonia is pace so you can see that the response of the catalonian centered media is one of outrage and extremely unhappy with the declaration by another hoyt a

indeed i'll bet they do thank you that's new banker in barcelona let's go to madrid now and here is paul brennan paul you wonder how much patience i guess in the end the central government in madrid has because this has been dragged out. well i mean the commitment of the madrid government to this is steadfast because as far as they're concerned the referendum that took place in catalonia was illegal and unconstitutional and therefore to kind of reward it or to give us put him on some kind of forever cation or validation by entering talks based on the result of that referendum would send a quite wrong message according to the madrid government and the location where i'm standing out also gives you an indication of the attitude of the madrid government as well i'm outside the national court the high court in spain where the leader or the that the police chief of the council only a regional police is being investigated by an investigating magistrate for sedition and one of his deputies is also being investigated as well as two of the main pro independence leaders and if found guilty further down th

prime minister theresa may to examine how people of different races and backgrounds are treated paul brennan reports from london. in the eighteen nineties charles booth's maps of the rich and poor areas of victorian london showed the glaring inequalities of the age but more than a century later at a round table in downing street britain's prime minister admits that inequality remains endemic nationally employment rates are higher for white people than ethnic minorities but the gap between the two in the north of thirteen point six percent is significantly wider than that in the south at nine percent black caribbean children are excluded from school at least three times at the rate of white pupils but chinese pupils excel a primary school with seventy one percent reaching the expected standard for reading writing and math well though just thirteen percent of white room travel of children achieve the required great. the newly collated statistics confirm that in almost every aspect of society a person's racial and economic background profoundly affects the opportunities and treatment they recei

should mean accountability and reform but charles booth probably also thought that a century ago paul brennan al-jazeera london. in turn day's time japan goes to the polls to vote for a new government by mr they called the early election hoping to take advantage of good poll ratings and an opposition in disarray but it's not florence merely reports from tokyo the emergence of two new political parties could upset his plans . campaigning is underway for japan's snap elections prime minister shinzo r.b.a. whose liberal democratic party holds a two thirds majority with a coalition partner has kickstarted his bid to stay in office. i would like to create a society where everybody has a chance. when abhi announced an early election weeks ago he said it was to give his government a strong mandate to handle any national crisis the country might face. his words now seem prescient given the latest corporate scandal to hit japan just as he's trying to revive the country's flag economy kobe steel the country's third biggest steelmaker admitted on sunday to fabricating data to show its products met custo

ago by african union and somali troops the own going threat is a constant worry for many somalis paul brennan al jazeera. much more to bring you in this news hour east african foreign ministers travel to south sudan to help revive the two thousand and fifteen peace deal. final rallies ahead of an election which could turn also to the right and give it wells youngest leader. and in barcelona heading into the eye of a political and. yet myanmar government minister responsible for repatriating ranjoor refugees from bangladesh has told al-jazeera they may have planned the exodus to give the appearance of ethnic cleansing and mars facing massive international condemnation for its actions in iraq and state more than half a million ranger a flight a military crackdown which began at the end of august. home has more from young gone it was meant to be an interview about repatriating mohinder refugees but then the minister responsible for their resettlement said this look i got a fling with the groups like you make the accusation that. maybe they systematically for that reason i'm saying it could be th

paul brennan is in barcelona for us pull the two sides still very much on a collision course here. i think yes and. the spanish prime minister has made it clear that he's not giving any quarter as far as the aspirations for independence of the catalans certainly the catalan political leadership anyway it is questionable of course given the state of the percentages in that referendum on october the first whether a majority of catalan people themselves actually want independence some polls that i've seen one in el periodical here suggest that sixty eight percent want to see a new election but whether they would actually then go on to vote for independence is quite another matter indeed nevertheless the people who are leading them are pressing again and again for an independence an independent state of catalonia and they are using the kind of language which doesn't appear to indicate a kind of compromise on the cards harking back continually harking back to franco dictatorship in the one nine hundred seventy s. that's a phraseology which particularly angers the rest of spain there are

has made us stronger united polite and self-confident they can't defeat us if we remain strong paul brennan has more from madrid where the federal government is becoming increasingly confident that the catalan independence movement is fading away. you get the sense here in madrid of the pressure being slowly ramped up on the council on independence movement and its leadership both politically and legally politically for example madrid is giving no quarter at all to colors preached demands for discussions about the referendum issue as far as madrid is concerned the referendum was illegal and the independence movement unconstitutional so they're not actually giving any indication at all that they're prepared to meet for talks as calm as preachment wants and the deadline of thursday for him to step down or step back and totally abandon any hopes of independence that remains in force illegally to we've got the chief of the capitol and police the most asked. to apparel he has been in court over my shoulder today and he face the very real threat of being sent to prison without bail on charges of

should mean accountability and reform but charles booth probably also thought that a century ago paul brennan al-jazeera london violence has broken out between police and public sector workers in france who are striking by the labor of forms members of the nine unions were protesting against president emanuel micron's plans to streamline the civil service the reforms will allow employers to hire and fire workers more easily and enable companies to negotiate directly with employees that were working conditions. now some news from greece where the coalition government has voted to allow people to change their gender identity without medical treatment a bill became law by a narrow majority it allows people to make their choice on gender from the age of fifteen but the move has divided public opinion in greece's johnson office reports from athens. russia has felt trapped in her male body since she was thirteen her family reacted by throwing her out on the street where her life began to unravel. i wanted to study astronomy i never got the chance i was rejected and thrown out of schools because of

at al-jazeera paul brennan paul is there any sign of a compromise in this what happens next. well that doesn't appear to be any sign of a compromise at the moment both sides are taking it to salute brink and although we saw some four hundred thousand plus people out on the streets of boston last night today we've seen no major demonstrations out all but the tensions are really simmering what is expected to happen is that colors push them on the council on president he's going to convene a plenary session of the council on parliament. and debate mariano rajoy the prime minister's actions the invocation of article one five five and acts accordingly with the statement now the speculation is that puts them on the council on cabinet could effectively declare u.t.i. . declaration of independence effectively. creating a council and republican in name at least the timing of that could theoretically happen on friday which is the same day that the senate in madrid will debate and most likely approve the prime minister of a whole invocation of one five five it is it is coming together a

there but first to the spanish capital madrid where the deputy prime minister has been speaking paul brennan is there paul what did the deputy pm have to say. well i have to say that madrid was expecting him on stance this morning i can characterize it in a kind of passive aggressive defiance from. which wasn't unexpected by madrid it put them on of course he met the deadline the monday deadline that was set by. the prime minister but he didn't in the way that roughly demanded an answer yes no answer the justice minister in the foreign. came out and said that frankly it was not valid the response it was inadequate and then because the prime minister himself has had to head up to the northwest of spain because that's his home region and there are wild fires up there which have killed at least three people he's gone off there to the left is his deputy prime minister soraya science santa maria to give the government's response and she frankly said look how hard can it be to say yes or no. i mean back and pretend that i know that i get it he will not understand it or get him in on such an import

moment will be live in catalonia barker is standing by for us for us the spanish capital madrid paul brennan is this a pull that desperately unimpressed with this idea that look you've got two months of wriggle room you've got two months to talk to us as far as they're concerned the status quo stays where it is. yeah i think the sentiment here in madrid is a degree of contented powerful they feel the weight of the law and the constitution is on their side and frankly they're not impressed by. a statement today but it wasn't unexpected that he would refuse to answer in a straight terms of yes or no as to whether he declared independence back on october the first and so from that point of view pushing the deadline now to thursday for him to retract his independence declaration whether or not he did actually do that is perfectly normal for the for the spanish government and they are going to continue to pursue both collaborators of that referendum and indeed instigators in organizers as they are doing in the building over my shoulder right now as we heard in sonia's report the chief of the coun

people are still trapped under the rubble of the hotel and they fear the casualty number could rise paul brennan has the story. when the truck arrived at the busy intersection and locally as k. five it was a traffic jam dozens of motorists stuck in their cars hundreds of bystanders too and so the explosion caused. by michelle one cover couldn't have come a lot this was the biggest explosion i have ever heard the car exploded at the center of the busiest junction in mogadishu it caused huge destruction some more than twenty dead people around the street and there may be more than that in the collapsed buildings. that i've never seen a scene like this ever before over the buildings around here have collapsed they were close to two hundred people in these buildings i hope everyone is ok ok five is in a bustling commercial district of mogadishu with many shops hotels and businesses the blast happened outside the safari had tell not normally used by government. because so it's not clear whether the hotel itself was the intended target or possibly the somali foreign ministry nearby it's emerged too th

should mean accountability and reform but charles booth probably also thought that a century ago paul brennan al-jazeera london transgender people in greece are hoping a new law will improve their lives parliament's voted to allow people to change their gender identity without medical treatment from the age of fifteen transfer reports from athens. russia has felt trapped in her male body since she was thirteen her family reacted by throwing her out on the street where her life began to unravel. i wanted to study astronomy i never got the chance i was rejected and thrown out of schools because of my appearance because of a transgender person i was denied the right to education and to follow a career i would love after that i had no choice but to prostitute myself in order to survive it's the only choice i was given routine things like withdrawing money from the bank all boarding an airplane are all deals for rafaela because her name and appearance differ from the information on her i.d. card other transgender people at this protest outside parliament faced similar problems problems the new law

should mean accountability and reform but charles booth probably also thought that a century ago paul brennan al-jazeera london nuclear armed north korea has marked the seventy second anniversary of the founding of the ruling workers' party there were concerns the regime would use the day for another missile test and it after rear the army put on a show to get people to look at the hardware at its disposal to counteract the north's military threat brian reports from city of year young. it's a timely opportunity for south korea to show off its military hardware given the current standoff with north korea. and. we are doing our best to show the strength and resolve of the army through this festival we believe it gives the public trust of the army the equipment is being boosted with the biggest increase in military spending in decades south korea says it wants dialogue with north korea but it must be accompanied by a strong military the aim is not to rely so heavily on the u.s. for its security but to develop its own answer to north korea's missile and nuclear threat. south korea is bringing for

that paul manafort and rick gates have left the fbi field office and are likely on the way to the courthouse. so far, there has been no white house response to these indictments. margaret brennan is at the white house with more on that, margaret, a lot of people checking twitter this morning, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, yes, and that silence was deffening, intentional. the white house really wants to keep manafort in the headlines and not donald trump. they want to create a good amount of distance here. i have been talking to the president's lawyer and also to his communications team today to try to get a handle on how are you to respond. there will be one but i believe they are waiting for the special counsel to be able to have the first word on this to explain what he decided to do with the 12-count indictment against paul manafort. the white house has been laying the groundwork in anticipation of the movement against manafort. saying look, these financial crimes that are alleged here have been pre-existing before the special counsel got involved, really trying to downplay what's happening here and put it in the broader context of what the president has continue