Favor of secession spains Prime Minister calls an emergency Cabinet Meeting to start this hour. Some of the im dealing with all of this is a lie and the from then also coming up the voter turnout raises questions about the legitimate legitimacy of kenyas repeat president ial election four areas still need to vote the opposition says boycott or indeed becomes the first country to leave the International Criminal court calling the move a great achievement. And its the end of an era for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange why traders at this once bustling home are packing up a good. Warm welcome to the program the Spanish Government is holding a special Cabinet Meeting right now in madrid so enforced a way true over catalonia Prime Minister mariano called the meeting at the capitol and politicians voted overwhelmingly to secede from spain. Well this was the scene in catalonia. Regional Parliament Just a few hours ago now i when the motion was passed with seventy votes in favor ten were against it and two ballot papers blank. Building Pro Independence supporters erupted jubilation and healing and. Well this is the scene right now in barcelona of independence of course as a rallying capital Catalonia Regional Parliament were here. Me address the crime. Joins us in the meantime though from madrid that crisis Cabinet Meeting is going on right now. This meeting is really to ratify the bill that was here in the senate a few hours ago and basically paved the way to triggering article one. At least officially. Would be would have extended the rule of madrid over. View of what happened earlier in the day in barcelona and the liberation of independence we might also hear some other measures that have been preannounced. Put in place earlier in the day before the declaration of independence. Once the article is triggered at the time it included the. Regional government removing its leadership. But the parliament was supposed to. Vote to happen. You might have a Different Parliament very well to dissolving the. Atmosphere like where you are. Im just wondering. I mean many people were. When it happened. As much as many people had been. Going on in catalonia. Month. By and large people are backing the stand of the government and all of. The rule of law against the territorial integrity of. Of apprehension because of that article one five five its an article that many people with had never heard before. And. People. Actually without. Speaking to the chamber earlier today there was a bit of an opera going on on social media people were wondering why the lawmakers who are listening to the Prime Minister were. Many people were saying that this was a moment that the country was entering uncharted territory simply because this article has never been before so nobody knows really. Even though it. Is going to be. People here in madrid. In the rest of the country they look at whats happening. Very close. To really over the last few days. People. Also afraid of the Ripple Effect on the rest of the country not only because there might be other parts of the current you might have sort of also kind of autonomous ideas for example the basque even though they havent said anything but people do wonder what could happen there and also they could not make if all of the. Growth of this country and of catalonia before this crisis started was a. Minus one people wonder how long this prices will go on how deep it will get what kind of measures will the government use what would be the response from the catalonia. A lot of question marks does create this sort of sense of anxiety and uncertainty. There joining me live from madrid. When i joined by popular called home martinez a lecturer in spanish studies at the university very warm welcome to the program it was interesting there that my colleague kota finished what she was saying with about a million questions and it feels to me that that sums up doesnt exactly where we are so weve got a decision but not a direction that is probably true as we have more questions than answers i think today took everybody by surprise and it took me by surprise yesterday we were hearing they were going to call new Regional Elections and everything seemed to be resolving itself were not we seem to be going through further sense of crisis this is a vote this is an independence vote that is you know its controversial in many ways the reaction from madrid is controversial article one five five is controversial its vague the spanish is vacant contradictory so theres definitely more questions than answers are we past the point of compromise right now a political compromise i mean or is it has all of this been about a prelude to political compromise even though it may have looked like escalation yeah i think in a way. There is the has to be in there is no real alternative for the has to be some sort of compromise i think both parties here a little bit to blame for something that is going to be a constitutional crisis a political crisis unfortunately we as we just heard in may become an economic crisis as well which is the last thing people in spain want and people in europe want is going to be a real problem but the only solution release is dialogue is some sort of compromise and the only way were going to solve this problem is by having a proper referendum you know on the proper rules proper electoral rules of engagements and of Service International observers campaigning a good debate about the issues and then theres the only way we can solve this this problem im afraid to i think there needs to be perhaps in the short term an external party if you like i dont know if its the you know donald tusk today was saying his only plea was not to escalate things. Could an external party be useful like im not sure think maybe but if they did the question is who the European Union is really not going to be able to to do it because the European Union pretty much has to support spain spain is a member of the European Union cuts alone is not and thats a reality so they have to support a member of the European Union europe has its own secessionist movements around its borders so it doesnt really want to encourage them any further i dont see who else can come in and at the same mediator. So yeah maybe but there is no real option here article one five five that appears to be incredibly huge so today when the vote in parliament in madrid was to give roy the authority to invoke one five i what does that actually mean i mean that is the Million Dollar question i think the problem is nobody knows i dont the im not even sure the government knows exactly what to do now. We have to understand this. But of contexts in which the spanish constitution was written and it was this idea of consensus between two very different political sides you know that convince franco is the one of the unity of spain at any cost and more liberal factions are won and some sort of federalist spain and a lot of these things were articles that were sort of left vague intentionally thinking well well solve it when it comes time to solve it and obviously the issues never group solved and now were in the situation where we are that it was left bay because they couldnt reach an agreement on what it meant and they still cant reach an agreement on what it means and basically what happens is but i hope he has an incredible amount of power to interpret the constitution and the way he wants to at the end of the day the only people that matter is a constitutional tribunal how they interpret the constitution and im pretty sure theyre going to side on that on the side of the government of the Central Government so. It is a real mess problem well leave it there for now but thank you well lets take you to barcelona now Andrew Symonds is there for us for some people the stay where you are it must be like a dream but then for others in other parts of spain and in catalonia itself its a nightmare was. It was so can you repeat that question the breaker of course and you the noise behind you i could hear as rorik im saying for some people whats happened today is a dream in catalonia but for other people it with presents the opposite is a nightmare whats not. Thats right thats right there these images youre seeing right across the loonier particularly barcelona i still represent the full picture thats absolutely true thats been the case for the past months but what they do show is the support that the extraordinary support for whats happened. In the eighteenth century part of a building only a few hours ago a folk seventy and pains against ten with two blank papers in a secret tunnel this basic declaration all taking secession now whats playing out right now is really the release of all not just excitement and on and on basic celebration but also a level of relief on the pressures upon everyone here to try to get this through it has to be said this is being alone more than five years of intense come feigning for a referendum and that is what they say an argument a democratic argument a with democratic consequence elected in things who would care about their agenda and they went about. Public duties by going through all of them with a referendum on the band at this juncture no decree from the president talks of folks in parliament now maybe the opposition did actually walk out of that whole debate the whole debate on the resolution on the folks they were they actually boycotted it but they would never have won anyway and so you have no situation whereby Something Like off its a rough guess off the population seven Million People here in buffalo know off the population and have said yes to secession and theyre going ahead with it for better or for watts and some of the arguments are along these lines that. The madrid government not being so pressurised and there was bones i think gone for dialogue then you wouldnt of had the rollout of all to go one five five on the end result being a series of measures the results of which no one could predict im not know. Include the Security Forces being deployed and a political take up of the government what will happen to kill us which of all colors pushed him on its unclear he only roundabouts well less than a hour and five minutes ago i was in the Parliament Building in a fake crush notice because the crush behind me put a picture up within the phone of the building when he addressed the focus on the exam faints on again insisted that the how to be on the how to be peace the how to be dignity now that is the test now whether or not we will see peaceful assemblies like this one whether the numbers are intense or whether well see the members of the public. Confronting the Spanish Police the National Police the body else to fill the body the National Guard or the police as well that is the key question but has to be said the support for this move is intense when you look around this conflict the old people everywhere celebrating going out waving fucked up like waving flags you see. On the side streets in places such as cafes and balls selling faces faces that suggest Something Else failed on that failed isnt just exclusive to those who dont support whats up with that its a fan of. To use the term well if anybody can win in a situation like this. Anderson is there in mind for us in a very celebrate. And your thank you. To people whove been killed in western kenya position supporters took to the streets to protest ago. As the repeat president ial election seven people have now died since thursdays full well the countrys Election Commission has appealed for calm as ballot papers is still being counted turnout has been low around six and a half million kenyans cast their ballots on thursday thirty four and a half percent of registered voters by contrast turned out in the august election was eighty percent or nearly fifteen Million People now kenyas Election Commission said more than one of ten polling stations failed to open due to what it described as security challenges and plans to restage the vote in for all physicians strongholds on saturday have now been canceled because of the latest violence more on that in a second but first heres mohammed atos report from nairobi. Kenyas second president ial elections in three months what designed to bring along a coup money as political season. There now doubts they may provide any closure after all what we witnessed was a very low voter turnout into our climate of fear and intimidation and in that political environment is difficult for an election to be considered a credible with nearly all followers of Opposition Leader raila odinga heeding his call for a boycott. Victory is not in question but some are already questioning whether the low tunneled will give president kenyatta a reasonable monday to. Lead to a total voter turnout is a little over thirty percent kenyatta may have won there is no way he can be the leader of a few and form a government for old people voting on thursday was marred by skirmishes between police and stone throwing Opposition Supporters Police used tear gas and fired live ammunition and blanks into the air to disperse them but the protest this big grouping quickly high about the situation was calm elsewhere for voting in kimbo outside nairobi and other strongholds of president kenyatta. The election comes after weeks of political twists and tongues in the Central Business district of my rule be this through almost empty the kenyan economy slowed sharply they see as businesses have held back on investments until after the elections many kenyans say they want these crises. Some even say the continued uncertainty is threatening their livelihoods down when is the does the weve been stuck at home since wednesday the children want to they want to eight and who else will provide for them yes we want a president if you wins if he is sworn in and its fine as long as we can continue to work and our children kind of food and an education. A florida election numerous cold resulting in a controversial raid on which many stayed away from south is the story of this president ial race there is hope it will have a happy ending but the confidence is not high muhammad at all jessica i dont become what katherine saw is line for us in the opposition stronghold of kisumu hi catherine so the elections are council tomorrow what what does this mean. Let me just first say this really just a few minutes ago we heard gunshots tear gas sounds just this side and people shouting just to show you how volatile the situation is a here in kisumu now back to your question this announcement will definitely come as a relief for many people here who have been calling on the Electoral Commission to call off the election saying that this is just not the right time their environment is not conducive to Electoral Commission cited security reasons and for good reason it has been very difficult for employees of the Electoral Commission to get materials to the various polling stations here there are about three thousand a little more over three thousand polling stations in this four counties collectively one point eight million voters so its been very difficult to get materials to those places young men have set up roadblocks this afternoon we went around how and it was so many people who had set up several round roadblocks in those areas and they were telling us that we will not allow any voting materials to go or to be transported to the various polling stations another problem the election the Electoral Commission has been facing here actually is a fact that employees have been unable to come to work these are the clocks in the presiding officers people who are crucial in carrying out this exercise so they have been reluctant to come to work because of security concerns because most of them i am ploy from this region and people know them so they are those fears so a lot of. This like i said comes as a relief Electoral Commission has not set a new date but its unlikely that the election is going to happen between now and wednesday when the final resolve the final declaration of the winner is supposed to be. And obviously its very clear that this we know is going to be who are really and catherine with the voter turnout being so low which is quite different isnt it to the original vote how do you think this will affect the legitimacy of whatever eventual result that we get. You know weve been seeing this resolved coming in through the. Port all very extremely low of with a hand out i think its at thirty four percent now and like you mentioned such a stark difference from what we sow in august in the last election i think it was seventy something percent a lot over who are looking at the supporters are higher saying that well the reason perhaps why these low voter turnout is not just because a right call for a boycott but these other there were security concerns people felt intimidated and just the apathy and fatigue because you know this country has been on an election mode for close them in almost the whole of this year so there was so the talk about the people were afraid those a lot of intimidation just the fact that you know with all this uncertainty and the political ongoings perhaps that kept people away but we have raul odinga who was interviewed today and he said this really is a show that a majority of kenyans do not and those do it and those who are looking at her as president he says that the only thing that can absolve is for him to resign and for a fresh election to be called in one thousand days a lot of people however are tired like mohammed was saying in that package there kaname is struggling people want to move on with their lives but supporters of royal loading and the millions of them in the last election is to get anything to go by over six Million People voted for and they feel disenfranchised and they say they also need a fair shot Catherine Story there live from consumer catherine thank you. The indies become the first country to withdraw from the International Criminal court the pullout takes effect on friday a year after it notified the United Nations of its intention to leave it follows accusations that the court focuses too much on africa the i. C. C. Says the withdrawal doesnt affect Ongoing Court proceedings will harm the town so whats the latest from brindisi second largest city to take a. The bahraini government is deliberating withdrawing. They say. That the court has been siding with activists and opposition parties and on the side on the government and the courts. To. The country says it is now pulling out. When you talk to some of the. Not because they want to. Be held accountable they say that theyve been rights and they feel that the system is within the country may not be adequate not to mention the people who need justice actually get it in the government they have in the country that. They can deal with human rights abuses that may have been brought into the public. About the possible intimidation happening in the country. More than four hundred thousand people have fled. The country because it is not a stable and peaceful were not seeing the protests. And the government is saying they are more than capable of running their own country and they dont interference from the International Community on how to try those accused of a nation and how to make decisions another country. Me in my eyes government will alive food aid into Rakhine State after denying access to aid agencies for two months Uns World Food Program says malnutrition rates in the states are already above emergency level before access was. One hundred ten thousand of those claims in the region while u. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson has urged. To help end the violence in iraq in a phone call with senior general. To listen said Government Forces should allow the safe return of. The. Forest really has more now from young girl. The u. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson in his telephone conversation with me on my military chief men on playing also touched on other issues in northern were kind state he talked about the distribution of aid which has been affected not only because of the ongoing violence but because of the hostility displayed by local rakhine population towards aid workers he also urged to myanmar authorities to grant unrestricted access to journalists to the area to report on whats going on there and the media the u. S. State department is said to be considering formally declaring whats happening to whats the will hinge or in the current state as ethnic cleansing the u. S. And the u. K. Have already suspended defense cooperation with myanmar because of the ongoing violence now the telephone conversation between tellus and men on playing comes just birds the u. N. Human rights and void to myanmar young healys spoke to the Un General Assembly in new york and said it was time for the u. N. Security council to issue a strongly worded resolution because what was happening the violence happening in Rakhine State could fuel extremism and create a bigger problem for the region now the myanmar government has denied the allegations leveled against it and says the crisis is being distorted by a campaign of mis information the government spokesman told our jazeera on friday that there is no such thing as ethnic cleansing taking place in myanmar but written your refugees continue to stream into bangladesh or bringing with them consistent accounts of persecution and abuse stay with us here on out as they are still to come. The son of africas longest serving leader is sentenced for embezzling millions of public funds. To yemeni prison. Run by the United Arab Emirates plus. Im going to make sure that i dont cram a bead on them to get back to work. By minister. The government its one. How the northeast monsoon has tucked into china now but we still got not far away from the small japanese islands a Tropical Storm thats feeding a good deal of motion down to the coast of maine and china is covering taiwan it will be more cloud and increased humidity than radio there is a possibility of some rain from it or at least drizzle pretty steady twenty shanghai twenty seven hong kong is a good range the further west with near thirty in and hanoi but the high grammys you got low temperatures in for example cordoning do but this is consistent with a time of year its cold at night particularly up in this high ground in western china now the monsoon has been drifting so resize it stopped for a while and is developing a few showers on the the still extant line thats just north of chennai and back through keralites where the regs likely to be its been dry for a day or two over bangladesh the northeast of india myanmar but there could be a resurgence of a few shows not quite heavy but still there all the same of the next day or so but particularly sunday. Humidities been up and down a little bit recently around the gulf because theres no prevailing breeze nor is there much coming out of the Empty Quarter so throughout the Arabian Peninsula its largely blue skies slightly dusty temperatures in the middle thirtys. Across the globe breathtaking efforts to clean up the planet sat around the way in Milan Companies are turning to a radical solution the biodynamic cement toxic pollution its so this really is a living building thats constantly interacting with its environment earthrise trees its the from to you know some of the battle for the environment trying to say here in iceland a pioneering a new technique to reduce emissions earthrise look for new ways of preventing air pollution i first started on aljazeera the nature of news as it breaks because you can see there in the distance of shia militia vehicles you can see on the horizon there the peshmerga telling us are actually tanks with detailed coverage when the my clothes in one thousand nine hundred for many people lost their jobs davening is also making money from around the world this is supposed to last for a month but people tell us that it only lasts for eight days if you look around this is the only food available in this household. My dinner of our top stories here now jazeera the Spanish Government is holding a special Cabinet Meeting in madrid to enforce direct rule over catalonia Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy called the missing out to kaplan politicians voted to secede from spain. In kenya voting in four Opposition Strongholds to saturdays despond amid violence. Or in days become the first country to withdraw from the International Criminal court i c c says the withdrawal doesnt affect Ongoing Court proceedings. The son of equitorial guineas president has been found guilty of embezzling money to buy property luxury cars Teodoro Obiang who is also the countrys second Vice President was found guilty in ups and shipped by a french court David Chaytor has more from paris. The Vice President of equitorial guinea embezzled more than one hundred seventy five Million Dollars from his countrys public funds to finance his playboy lifestyle in france the verdict on dont usually introduced legislation to deal with socalled ill gotten gains was hailed by his opponents and described by prosecuting lawyers as an historic decision. Is an unprecedented and global message to court is sending to kleptocrats it is de beginning of the end for this rule of impunity and immunity is kleptocrats imagine it was a turn all in universal unity or bangs father has been president of equitorial guinea for nearly four decades a country made rich by its oil reserves but when nearly two thirds of the population live in squalor and poverty his sons multiMillion Dollar mansion in an exclusive suburb of paris has now being confiscated as well as many of the luxuries artworks and antiques inside the former butler of the Vice President alleges that live behind his mansion the walls with one full of whores alcohol and cocaine those days are definitely now over but at the paris courthouse a reminder of what life can be like for opponents who challenge the familys grip on their country or to live meanies through our stacia may the minister or the minister himself was giving orders saying do it is do that it happened at the Ministry Building in Equatorial Guinea the minister touches me that means did an entity or the activists who launched the Campaign Want to return the embezzling money back to the people it was stolen from but no mechanism is yet in place to do that. Investigations have also been launched against the presence of god and the republic of congo but it could be months before they reach the court David Chaytor al jazeera paris in january two point six Million People across the u. S. Took part in the womens march the Biggest National protest in the countrys history