Independence. Council raman this is out of there alive my headquarters here in doha are also coming up the u. S. Grand jury reportedly approved first charges into alleged russian meddling in the twenty sixteen president ial election. First delayed now suspended indefinitely kenyas Election Commission calls on voting in four Opposition Strongholds amid fears of more violence. And a change of policy the u. S. Says to bypass even agencies and provide direct assistance to persecuted christians in the middle east. Could have a Company Welcome to aljazeera its a night that will be long remembered in spain the countrys Prime Minister is calling for calm after all the direct rule over catalonia an hour after the Regional Parliament declared independence thousands gathered in barcelona chanting liberty and singing traditional catalan songs where regional politicians voted to split from spain its a Major Development in the countrys worst political crisis in decades on october the third catalan leaders defied a Spanish Supreme Court ruling by holding a referendum on secession madrid sent thousands of police to prevent the vote from happening sparking confrontation with catalans attempting to cast their ballot since their madrid has rejected calls for talks and has now withdrawn regional autonomy and snap election to choose a new Regional Government will be held on the twenty first of december and resentments has more from barcelona. The moment declare catalonia. Its a session from spain a wave of euphoria across barcelona a mix of intense emotion elation and danger because of the uncertainty of what comes next they cheered they hugged one another they cried and they toasted what they see as a new nation it all started unfolding hours earlier at the Catalan Parliament passionate sometimes angry debates a sense of anticipation on one side or dread on the other dozens of mares had been invited ceremonial sticks by their sides turns to. The story since. It wasnt long before his wish came true a secret ballot slowly but surely moving as parliament into the history books most opposition members walked out in disgust leaving the Spanish National flag and the catalan flag draped over their benches then came the count again slow with reaction to every yes. Seventy votes for ten against into abstention. And the Catalan National anthem this time striking a different group. Before long another vote in madrid this time the Senate Making a decision on article one five five direct rule moving to the Spanish Government a large majority. Two hundred fourteen for forty seven against approval for Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy to sack the Regional Government and impose sweeping powers back in barcelona these politicians and supporters hardly look like people about to go into the background the president colors push them all the call for calm. Citizens of catalonia in the coming hours we will have to maintain our countrys poles a most of all to montane that peace public spirit and our dignity thats we have always done with no doubt it will continue to be that way this is an extraordinary moment its historic to find the right way across this eighteenth Century Building there are mixed moods it was she was on the brakes in the sticks to say a from the more the right across the head to express the. You. Know. The work of what oclock it was of course was the. Independence. Independence is heartbreaking sad distressing that is how all the catalans who are not Pro Independence feel including very democratic and Pro Independence supporters that cannot shed this destructive operation based on lies fraud and impositions it is causing on the social fiber of catalonia looking to madrid for the next move catalans who are angered or saddened or also fearful of what will happen again Mariano Rajoy is already using his new powers not dissolving parliament calling elections in december and listing those hes sacking. Friday night in the center of barcelona a city known more for its football its beaches and sunshine than any resistance to state power and its a policy time for a large number of people packed. Into a square in front of the seat of government how long will the smiles last night so many questions along with another sobering historic moment. Between those who want to be inspiring and those who dont here. Never be big. Andrew symonds algis of bustling. Us media is reporting that a federal grand jury in washington d. C. Has approved the first charges in the investigation over russian meddling in the twenty sixteen u. S. President ial election the charges are led by special Counsel Robert Mueller are said to be still sealed and orders from a federal judge it isnt yet known what the accusations are but any one charged could reportedly be taken into custody as soon as monday bruce fein is a former u. S. Associate Deputy Attorney general and constitutional lawyer in washington d. C. He says even though little is known right now he believes that the focus and maybe on trumps former Campaign Manager paul manifold. We know that the charges are very serious they must be a felony if its an indictment the alternate way of charging an individual the crime isnt information but that is for punishment for wrongdoing punishable by one year or less its also very likely given the Public Knowledge that search warrants were directed and executed against paul man a fourth that he is probably the subject of the indictment ordinarily if something is placed under seal if theres a risk that disclosure would alert the accused to the possibility of destroying evidence or flight mr man ford is known to have close contacts with ukraine in his former business given his wealth the ability to travel i would suggest and again this is speculation but informed speculation that the subject of the indictment is paul mann afford now that raises a couple of questions as well the the the writ of mr mohler is to focus on you know russian collusion with the trunk campaign to influence the outcome of the two thousand and sixteen election plus any crimes that grow out of that investigation well we know that the main knowledge we have now about mr mann a ford who came in somewhat laced to be the Campaign Manager mr trump has in this connection was the meeting with the russian lawyer with three or four others involving Donald Trump Jr in which the possibility was apparently discussed according to emails of russian government providing some kind of dirt or adverse information on Hillary Clinton to the Trump Campaign can use a little commission has called off the president ial repeat election in full Opposition Strongholds violent confrontations between police and protesters have made it impossible for those who materials to get to the number of polling stations muhammadan reports from the comfort of my rupie. Kenyas second president ial elections in three months what designed to bring along a coup money as political season two and. Then now doubts they may provide any closure off total 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 credible with nearly all photos of Opposition Leader raila odinga heeding his call for a boycott. Victory is not in question but some are already questioning whether the lol tunnel to give president kenyatta a reasonable monday to govern i dont know if he had a bed to process the total voter turnout is a little over thirty percent who can yet i may have won but theres no way you can see a leader of you and form a government for all the. Voting on thursday was mobbed by skirmishes between police and stone throwing the position of supporters Police Used Tear Gas and fired live ammunition and blanks into the air to disperse them the protesters were driving through this big grouping quickly how 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 on tongues in the Central Business district of neither will be this through almost empty the kenyan economy slowed sharply b. C. As businesses have held back on investments until after the elections many kenyans say they want this crisis. Some even say the continued uncertainty is threatening their livelihoods when is the weve been stuck at home since wednesday when the children went milk they want to eat and who else will provide for them yes we want a president if he wins and if youre sworn in its fine as long as we can continue to work and our children can have food and an education. A fraud election numerous resulting in a controversial route which many stayed away from thought is the story of this president ial race these hope it will have a happy ending but confidence is not high mohammed at all just i dont because. Well Katherine Sawyer has more from the opposition stronghold of kissimmee. At an informal he set up roadblock in kisumu this men are using an electricity pole to make sure no vehicle carrying ballot boxes passes through. All the while theyre saying no election no who and calling themselves the National Resistance movement the new wing of the Opposition Coalition led by right we are not supposed to work because of our father. So we dont know why these people are bringing the. Last box in. Voting has been called off in four counties here in western kenya threats and violence have made it difficult for electrical mission officials to get stuff ballot boxes and voting slips to polling stations about one point eight million registered voters are affected when it comes to stuff. When their lives. The political and religious leaders say the saturday election should not have been called in the first place we the people. Be respected. Be contented with what. To get. On with election are called off many people are hoping tensions might say dozens of people who are injured in a confrontation between police and processes and were brought to this hospital several of them want to ted and discharged us to let me ted with gunshot wounds that man there was shot at an area not too far away from here. To millicent blames the police but she and many other supporters of. Hope that while he may not have participated in the poll he may yet help to change the way elections are held in the future Catherine Sawyer aljazeera western kenya still ahead here on aljazeera Israeli Settlers are accused of violence by palestinian only farmers in the west bank. And the japanese devils burning up take you streets but failing to attract young fans. From the waves. To the contours of the east. We should say a lot of dry weather once again across much of the middle east but there is some right in the forecast thats spilling out of turkey weve had some very lavish i was recently just coming across the balkans boca area has seen some flooding this increasing cloud willing continue just make its way across the black sea heading towards the caspian sea system some pieces of wetter weather coming down towards syria easing across cyprus basis out of the mediterranean as we go through the course of sunday elsewhere its generally settled generous sunny temperatures getting up into the low thirtys over the next day or two low to mid thirtys across iraq and potentially barely a clue. Out of the sky maybe just around the gulf of aden you could see what it says shallows lifestyle is just coming in here but here in doha will present sunshine temp just as around thirty five degrees for about a dry weather in say west impulse of Southern Africa but around the eastern cape pushing a little further north was have seen some very heavy rains to mozambique saying some more wet weather right pushing into zimbabwe we do have some of that were also seeing some rather wet weather further north into tanzania recently going to see that easing as we go on through the next few days democratic republic of congo saying live along the spells of right wall right across a good part of Central Africa for the next few days there with sponsored by cats. As native amazon creasing the struggle to survive in todays wild. Travels to brazil to meet leaders of endangered tribes. And those trying to protect them at this time. With. Your challenge is there are times ill run a reminder of our top stories in a historic move the spanish Prime Minister has stripped catalonia of its autonomy orders snap Regional Elections came within an hour of the Catalan Parliament issuing a declaration of independence. First delayed now suspended indefinitely kenyas Election Commission calls off voting in four Opposition Strongholds amid fears of more violence violent confrontations between the police and protesters have made it impossible for voting materials to get to a number of polling stations and u. S. Media are reporting that a federal grand jury in washington d. C. Has approved the first charges in the investigation over russian meddling in the twenty sixteen u. S. President ial election the charges led by special Counsel Robert Mueller are said to be still sealed and orders from a federal judge. The u. S. Vice president says the country will no longer fund what he says are ineffective u. N. Relief efforts for persecuted and religious minorities in the middle east mike pence says funds will instead be distributed directly through the u. S. Agency for International Development roslyn jordan has more from washington d. C. Christian groups in the United States have long wanted their government to do something about what they see as the ongoing persecution of christians in the middle east especially in iraq our fellow christians and all who are persecuted in the middle east should not have to rely on multinational institutions when america can help them directly into night it is my privilege to announce that President Trump has ordered the state department to stop funding ineffective relief efforts at the United Nations pences announcement was cheered by the evan jellicoe community which wields considerable political influence. But officials at both the state department and the un dont yet have a lot of details on the policy and funding changes this does not apply to all u. N. Programs it applies to programs that address the first cuban displaced religious minority communities usa id will be involved in the Us State Department well as well we continue to make sure that our aid efforts on the ground including in iraq which was part of this discussion are on the basis of need and we try to serve all communities based on need this isnt the first time the trumpet ministration has told you and funding in order to advance its policy agenda earlier this year it cut funding from the Family Planning program because of concerns over forced abortion in china something which the government in beijing denies however this plan to help a specific religious group is raising some concerns because it would use tax dollars to help a specific religious group not help an entire country in crisis u. S. Law has long been clear no public money can be used to pay for religious Services Education or proselytizing and even though president s george w. Bush and barack obama allowed religious groups to apply for federal grants to help the needy around the world these groups had to follow strict rules to make sure their programs served everyone regardless of faith one expert in the Faith Based InitiativeCommunity Says the trumpet ministration could face lawsuits if it goes ahead with its plan the separation of church and state found in our constitution and the establishment clause in case law would really impede something of that sort think of Vice President pence announcement what kind of degrade that aspect and have a lot of smaller agonise ations buying for these fines that might not meet the requirement of fundamental conflict at work trying to protect those being targeted because of their faith without breaching the us is wall between church and state rosalynn jordan aljazeera at the state department. U. S. Defense secretary james mattis is in seoul to meet his south korean counterpart its his second visit this year and comes amid increasing tensions on the peninsula mattis told reporters the military alliance between seoul and washington is. The United States did not accept a Nuclear North Korea make no mistake any attack on the United S