crazy monsters and misinformation is rife dismissal and does not hold well documented accusations and evidence is part of genocide the listening post provides a critical counterpoint to trying to bring mainstream media narratives at this time on al-jazeera the nature of music as it breaks the last time synagogue qualified for the world cup was in two thousand and fifteen years on and hope to do even better in russia next year with detailed coverage hard to imagine that only seven years ago people were living right here. now deceased has taken over their land from around the world donald trump is promising a major policy announcement on trade a potential challenge to khorat a missed opportunity abroad.

the tax cuts and jobs act is passed. tax overhaul bill in more than three decades allowing donald trump to. al-jazeera live from doha. divided. many hope spain's political crisis. we will not accept you as a nuclear nation or weapons nation. fourteen countries. the north korean nuclear crisis. makes its way towards vietnam. and the.

u.s. senate just one point five trillion dollars tax reform bill the tax cuts and jobs act is passed the president's present one step closer to. victory the bill is the first major rewrite of the tax code in more than thirty years it will now be sent back to the house of representatives for a final vote later on wednesday after eight straight years of slow growth and under-performance america is ready to take off coupled with a regulatory reforms that have already been implemented by the administration we know comprehensive tax reform major middle class tax relief and making our businesses both large and small more competitive around the world. well donald trump has tweeted about the bill saying the united states senate just passed the biggest in history tax cut and reform bill terrible individual mandate obamacare

repealed goes to the house tomorrow morning for the final vote if approved there'll be a news conference at the white house at approximately one pm that's eighteen g.m.t. give us on the has more for us now from new york. this tax overhaul bill was extremely contentious and you could see that when the senate was finally voting just a little bit before one am there were protests that broke out in the senate gallery protesters saying kill the bill kill the bill in fact vice president mike pence who is presiding over the session had to call a call the gallery into order several times to have the protesters removed but nevertheless the bill will move forward it did pass by fifty one to forty eight a long strong partisan lines and this is a huge victory for president donald trump and also for the republicans it's the

first legislative victory from donald trump since becoming president and also for the republicans they say that this will spurn economic growth in the u.s. for years to come however there were protesters and there are a lot of people in the country that are very much against this bill in fact the latest polls show that fifty five percent of americans were against it primarily because they say it is going to mostly cut taxes on corporate america and benefit the top one percent of earners in america at the expense of the middle class and the working poor because the tax cuts for the middle class and working poor are just temporary and they're eventually going to go away that's not the case for the corporate tax cuts also this bill will add more than one point four trillion dollars to the national debt what's next on wednesday the house of representatives will do one final vote on this bill they actually voted on it tuesday night however

because of a provisional mistake they have to reboot on wednesday but it's expected that once again the house of representatives will also approve this at which point it will then go to donald trump and he will then sign it. scott lucas is professor of american politics at the university of birmingham he says a significant aspect of the tax bill is the same in the unrelated provisions republicans have managed to include the arctic national wildlife reserve which is a protected area one of the most beautiful in the world has now been opened up to oil and gas drilling despite environmental concerns having failed to repeal obamacare the some of the republicans have now stripped the individual mandate from and now that's the provision the since all americans have to have insurance or face financial penalties so these ongoing affects beyond the task force and we will feel them could add to that discontent alternatively the republicans are going to say look we're reducing regulations don't worry about the environment look everything's

rosy in america this will be the shape of the political battle i think all the way up to now it's not going to bring a new round of talks aimed at ending the syrian civil war begins in kazakhstan when say that a day means he will focus on implementing a cease fire deal brokered by russia turkey and iran because that forum is she says the talks will also address issues including the clearance of landmines and the release of hostages in syria the french president says bashar assad is the enemy of millions of his own people after syria lead to accuse paris of supporting terrorism the war of words began as french officials blamed assad's government for a failed peace talks aimed at ending the syrian civil war syrian president spondon saying paris has spearheaded support for terrorists in syria and is therefore unfit to discuss peace settlements the french president then hit back assad describing his statements as unacceptable because it is the international coalition that's been at the forefront of the battle against i so. i mean while inside syria people

to space for myself former stronghold of rocca so they're being pressured into returning to their destroyed homes parents they're worried about their young children stepping on unexploded bombs i'm going to have had reports. so so listen it's not easy salvaging your clothes from the rubble but the family has little choice. their home and rocco was hit by a near strike as i said was driven out they'd been living in displacement camps but life was so tough there back home with some fears the children could step on a mine on an unexploded munition i didn't have time i'm from the el much less neighborhood and constantly worried about the young children it's difficult to live here there's nothing no house outside now after the fall of isis de facto capital the people of complain no one is helping them or his thirteen children and he says the camp management i need told him to go home and i'm going to look at this the house is gone there's nothing left nothing to eat or drink we need something to

survive i was once home to more than a quarter of a million people after nearly five months of fighting eighty percent of the city's destroyed. doctors without borders says during the battle nobody cared about that of billions and the coalition inflicted a deluge of fire on the city. reconstruction is estimated to cost billions of dollars but since isis defeat in october if you have announced the billing this to foot the bill or even provide basic infrastructure health care and education the ancient city was a crown jewel of empires dating back more than two thousand years it's never been leveled like this before beyond the river euphrates was isis capital iraq which was under their control since two thousand and fourteen now the city has been taken over by kurdish led forces but it remains in ruins and ice limits are still being cleared. fighters continue to discover weapons dumps. i said to leave guns and ammunition from the syrian army. generally the area is safe but there are some mice

a weapons left to protect the people we are do mining of the city we are here to protect civilians are going to the displaced population find me it's hard to believe people wouldn't comment on camera but many say they're under their occupying force kurdish might be defined to deny accusations that defense arabs from their towns and villages. but unless there's a serious push to rebuild and rehabilitate raptors gaping wounds bear the risk of fostering some of the group like i saw some of the job a down to zero on the western bank of the euphrates river to spain now where campaigning for catalonia is stop parliamentary election is drawing to a close outlands head to the polls on thursday for a vote that could decide if the province breaks away from spain called that whole joins us now live from boston lend us a call a quiet day there ahead of this election some are in the race is still wide open.

absolutely lauren this is what i wanted to show you this is the cattle parliament this is what's up for grabs one hundred thirty five seats up for grabs in thursday's election but today is being billed as a day of reflection and that essentially is to give voters a chance to consider their options but you've really got to ask yourself that after so many months of polish tickle turmoil my guess is that most voters now know by now whether they're going to vote for a party that favors breaking away from spain or one of the parties that favors staying with spain but let's take a look at about how the campaigning has been going. it's the last brush before campaigning closes a rally for the separatists d r c o cattle and republican left party former speaker of the regional parliament come a fork adele is lucky to be here at all she's free on bail for now but faces criminal charges for a rebellion. i don't think anybody let alone imagine what was going to happen we

could never have imagined that. after the october secession referendum prosecutors arrested key cattle and leaders for their role in organizing that vote and the spanish central government dissolved the capital and parliament a front seat is left empty for party leader or your john kid s. judges refused bail and instead kept him in prison fearing he would use the hustings to grabble grounds thursday's parliamentary election isn't specifically about secession but it is the most polarizing issue voters will choose between parties who want catalonia to remain part of spain or others have clearly not renounce their goal of a breakaway republic veteran catherine politician artur mass hopes madrid look for compromise not confrontation if the central government. had the real positive proposal for the cattle and people what they have to do to

put that proposal on the table and to compare this proposal with the proposal for a real independent country but a necessary mothers riding high in opinion polls has little appetite for negotiating her center right citizens party has backed madrid in its crackdown against the separatists she'll need to build a coalition but believes the only way to resolve the political turmoil is by beating the secessionists in the election will try to win will try to win and i think it is possible we we are seeing the pools and we see that it is it is not a new to appear as the hours tick down activists from the left wing see you people know vital votes a still up for grabs even in barcelona's backstreets their party is small but was kingmaker in the last election they make for an easy political bedfellows they

stand against spain in the monarchy and thermally in favor of a cattle and republic run by the working classes. now this election isn't so much about which individual party can garner the most votes but which coalition could take majority control of this cattle and parliament now if the unionist parties managed to eke out that majority then that could potentially draw a line under the cattle and political crisis if the separatist parties gain a majority then that would be seen as a mandate for them to try and push ahead with their efforts to break away that promises months more of political crisis even the potential for the madrid government to step in once again shut down the bar woman and call new elections if neither side gain a majority that another nightmare scenario according to political analysts that they say would make catalonia ungovernable laura

a crucial. thanking. still ahead on al-jazeera a desperate search in the philippines both of them for messing up to a devastating tropical storm. and the u.n. security council meeting to discuss everyone's nuclear program but the focus and quickly setting to yemen. how the remains of car tax a tropical storm went across the middle of the philippines well they are still visible it's just a mess of what top class but it is a discernible circulating tropical storm strength and still to the north and to the size typically one hundred plus millimeters per day are still coming from these storms to the heart of it is just being slowly through the open waters towards finish symbolizes the fast sides of thailand which means that's where most of the

energy is and the big four you pick up the next significant shows just touching job and sort of way see there's been some heavy rain in some sort of ways recently and a circulation which may well develop once again in the central to southern philippines south of the equator we've seen some very active weather through the australian state of victoria damaging storms brief floods violent winds or because this cold front is moving east and it takes about fourteen fifteen degrees away from the daytime temperatures so melbourne seen that drop already twenty degrees as opposed to thirty eight proud of that on tuesday ahead of it still haunts thirty four in sydney probably more in the western suburbs we've seen that as a pattern the last couple of days as well as a front goes eastwards it'll produce storms of a new south wales region southern queensland but afterwards these attempts to drop by ten also degrees.

demonstrates the good. case is the. u.s. senate has passed

a contentious one point five trillion dollar tax bill is. one step closer to his. bill will now be sent back to the house of representatives for a final. parliamentary election has placed. the extent of public support from spain. hung parliament is likely. unresolved. and a new round of talks aimed at ending the syrian civil war. by russia and. a d.j. has been killed and several people injured after a stage collapse of the music festival in brazil strong winds caused the metal structures to come down hitting. it was in the middle of a. five thousand people attended the. event and gone ahead

despite weather warnings about heavy winds and torrential rain. the u.s. and canada will co-host a summit attended by forty times by foreign ministers from fourteen countries and january to seek progress on the north korean nuclear crisis in the house it was made off to us actually of tape back to the summit canadian foreign minister chrystia freeland the meeting will be held in the city of vancouver boncelles korea tested its most powerful ballistic missile yet when it says it's capable of reaching the entire u.s. mainland we believe the diplomatic solution to the crisis is essential and possible we'll use this gathering is an opportunity to advance our work on diplomatic efforts towards a more peaceful prosperous and nuclear free future on the north korean peninsula and to demonstrate international solidarity in our continent korea's actions. we will not accept you as a nuclear nation a nuclear weapon station and all of the share one policy of the full complete

verifiable denuclearization of the korean. the us is again suggesting iran is supplying weapons to yemen to the rebels after a ballistic missile was intercepted in saudi arabia over the capital riyadh iran denies the allegations the third attack since november but the fighters say they were targeting a meeting of sounding leaders at your mama royal palace and throughout the one thousand days since the beginning of the war in yemen that follows an earlier attack on the fourth of november when a missile was launched from yemen towards riyadh king holiday international airport and another missile talk to the city of hama which shade of it was intercepted on the first of december tenth and more than reports. this is the moment the fire ballistic missile was apparently shot down by saudi forces the yemen based the say they were targeting the all your mama royal palace which is west of the capital riyadh a large group of saudi leaders were meeting there at the time including king solomon

and crown prince mohammed bin sama and i think they were these wanted to make a statement that they're still open. running that they're still fighting this by the fact that you know in recent days and weeks they have been allegation that there were these are we can buy this. that they possibly know would not be able to shoot missiles further into south territory but they proved otherwise the missile attack happened just hours before saudi arabia was due to announce its annual budget as well as members of the world family senior ministers were also expected to attend a social media post from a government agency confirmed a missile had been intercepted but no casualties were reported to. the saudi the coalition which has been conducting air strikes again to the fighters in yemen for nearly three years for tallied with more strikes in the southern part of the capital sanaa speaking on the group's t.v. channel who the leader. said the missile attack marks one thousand days since the war in yemen started openly get here today and to missile was launched the

targeting palace in the heart of free city of saudi arabia this is our answer to them and the whole world the more crimes you perpetrated the more to renig. you will meet nothing but more missiles. this isn't the first missile attack on saudi arabia in november the international airport in riyadh was narrowly missed in the strike the saudi government has accused regional rival iran of smuggling missiles and technology to an allegation tehran denies. the war in yemen has created what the u.n. describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis since the start of the conflict at least ten thousand civilians have been killed and millions are on the brink of famine and as the fighting continues many fear the situation on the ground could get worse. al-jazeera. that military coalition fighting in yemen is being

accused of killing at least one hundred thirty six civilians and noncombatants in just ten days the u.n. says they were killed by saudi astronauts between the sixteenth of december only the incidents the u.n. was able to verify so the number of civilians killed could be higher one attack involved seven astronauts on a prison in san our last week where forty five detainee's were killed and the u.n. has once again warned that yemen is facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis and is calling for the saddler blockade to be completely lifted yemen is the the largest food insecurity crisis in the world's recent humanitarian needs overview a dent to find almost eighteen million people who are in need of support food wise the prognosis is not good. the blockade does not fully completely lift the interference no workers nor reduced or taken away then the results and pushing back

on call by confinement over the last six months from be lost the united nations security council has been discussing whether iran is complying with the two thousand and fifteen nuclear agreement the missile launch from yemen also featured in the debate mike hanna has more from the u.n. headquarters in new york. the secretary general affirmed that iran was in full compliance with its commitment to non-nuclear proliferation under the joint a comprehensive plan of action indorsed by resolution twenty two thirty one but he raised questions about the possibility that iran was moving conventional weapons across his border and concerns expressed by some of the security council members which led to mr and by bronco looking at your future it would like to express its particular concern over the information and evidence connected with iran supply of weapons and missiles to militias with the encouraging them to use those weapons to

target neighboring countries the us ambassador was adamant that the missiles recently fired at saudi targets were of it raining in our region including the most recent well we don't yet have sufficient insight into this particular attack it bears all the hallmarks of previous attacks using a rainy and provided weapons it is only a matter of time before one of these missiles hits the target the secretary general said that the origin of the missiles is under investigation and the security council will be briefed at what he called the appropriate time but the russian ambassador was adamant that the un is not empowered to monitor iran's development or deployment of conventional non-nuclear weapons moving was deliberately to pneumonia we once again need to draw your attention to the practice of the secretariat conducting investigations investigations for which the secretary has neither the authority nor the expertise such actions carried out without the prior

consent of the security council and not legitimate and the information obtained in the course of such actions cannot be considered accurate and cannot be part of the report the russian ambassador rejected the u.s. suggestion that the joint comprehensive plan. action be renegotiated to include conventional weapons something that iran continues to insist it will not do the scene is set for vigorous debate among security council members in the days ahead but as we mentioned it's one thousand days since the saudi the coalition began its military campaign against the who thiis in march two thousand and fifteen we'll explore the political and humanitarian impact of the intervention on yemen in an in-depth discussion on the inside story with hashem at seventeen thirty g.m.t. crash investigators in the u.s. examining the wreckage of a de rail train so they recover the data recorder from the main engine at least

three people were killed in the instant in washington state on monday the train was reportedly traveling at three times the speed limit we have confidence that we will get to the bottom of what causes this horrific tragedy i've talked to n.t.s.b. they have significant tools they are well on their way to gather the evidence they indicated to me that they were pleased that the scene was intact so that the evidence will remain undisturbed for their evaluation we should have confidence that we will find out what happened in this respect event and we will fix anything that went wrong to make sure that in the future real safety is assured for everyone . after causing flooding and mudslides across the philippines tropical storm kai tak is headed for vietnam in the malaysian peninsula this week at least forty three people have been killed in the philippines rescuers are recovering more bodies in

some areas but hope is fading of finding any more survivors the storm hit on saturday forcing eighty eight thousand people to leave their homes to mile island and has more from there on island. according to rescuers there are at least five bodies trapped in the rubble it's going to be difficult especially over the last few days when the incessant rains have hampered operations now president rudy gotos are due was on the ground a few days ago and promised to provide immediate assistance to the families he's seventy is from this area he is from this region and he feels very much connected to the people of samarra and related but there are questions as to not just the emergency response but the preparation for disasters like this one as you know eastern beside this region has always been bogged down by natural disasters one of the most powerful and devastating disciples ever hit the country happened right here typhoon how you aren't using the science more than four years ago and left

more than eight thousand people dead and since then during that time a former president benigno aquino and now under the time of president bush there there have been a lot of discussions that effort when it comes to dealing with that we have elicitation but more importantly experts would like to see how the government is doing when it comes to making communities far more resilient that these should not be much more reactive but much more proactive when it comes to preparing for disasters like this one the u.s. has promised to speed up recovery efforts on federal assistance the press errico off the top officials been to the island on tuesday pleasure again continues to struggle after a devastating hurricane three months ago with over two hundred thousand homes damaged several municipalities assume a dog with no electricity the governor says a lot more financial assistance on top of the five billion dollars pledged by congress. one of the reagan's we'll see how congress responded

to our needs and to our petitions and if there are several steps of this way there is a tax reform and there is the supplemental. and if we see that there is there are senators or congressmen there are acting. you know against the best interests of the people who are but we got we will campaign. we've seen on. video. and. talk to people united states who actually suffer because of what's going on here. we have a complete one hundred percent understanding of the suffering people go through. food compassion is the right to understand your significant. carnal bernard law or the former catholic archbishop of boston who had to resign in disgrace for covering up sex abuse by clergy has died at the age of eighty six law

left his post in two thousand and two after church documents revealed he'd been shielding a moving priests accused of sexually abusing children paskin officials later appointed him to run a major pacifica in rome a move that was widely condemned the boston globe's investigation into the scandal was the basis for the academy award winning film spotlights. fans of korean pop music ok pop and morning so the sudden death of superstar kim jong un lead singer of one of south korea's biggest pop groups shiny the twenty seven year old's body was found in a hotel room in seoul on monday police say committed suicide one of ken's close friends posted on social media that he left a note revealing his struggle with depression and fame. and an endangered baby bongo has been born in new orleans as the first cough conceived of the species survival center in louisiana are a species of african antelope and the highly endangered only found in kenya to

poaching. hundred left in the wild. and washing out of there these are top stories the u.s. senate has passed a contentious one point five trillion dollars tax reform bill the tax cuts and jobs act is passed this brings the present donald trump one step closer to his first significant victory the bill is the first major rewrite of the tax code in more than thirty years it will now be sent back to the house of representatives for a final vote later on wednesday after eight straight years of slow growth and under-performance america is ready to take off coupled with a regulatory reforms that have already been implemented by the administration we know comprehensive tax reform major middle class tax relief and making our

businesses both large and small more competitive around the world the u.s. and canada will co-host a summit attended by foreign ministers from fourteen countries in january to seek progress on the north korean nuclear crisis and he will be held in the city of vancouver last month north korea tested its most powerful ballistic missile yet one it says is capable of reaching the entire u.s. mainland. campaigning for catalonia parliamentary election has closed as a vote is expected to indicate the extent of public support for succession from spain a hung parliament is likely even with this crisis. the white house is again suggesting iran is supplying weapons to yemen who feel rebels after a ballistic missile was intercepted in saudi arabia over the capsule iran denies the allegations it's a third attack since november. one thousand days that coalition launched its military campaign against the who. a new round of talks aimed at ending the syrian

civil war begins in kazakhstan wednesday the two day meeting will focus on implementing a cease fire deal brokered by russia and iran because that foreign ministry says the talks will also address issues including the clearing of land mines and the release of hostages in syria. those are your headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera off to scape stay with us. every july. twenty first century africa a continent undergoing great change and finally seizing control of it. but it's been a long one good years ago.