words. downwards we want our. elections draw to a close encounter loney with the preliminary results expected in the next few minutes the spanish government ordered the vote following the region's independence referendum in october it will show whether catalan still support the move live pictures here from the region. in other news the us suffers another blow for its recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel as the un general assembly overwhelmingly condemns them in. the use of the deed to obstruct the security council shameful that the meeting even taking play blatant violation of the rights of palestinian people america will play a part and the injuries run this is bullying and will not walk good out.

in the vote over one hundred countries ignored their heavy pressure from washington as the us president lambastes the both threatened un members voting against america . for war welcome to you my name is neil harvey you're watching our international. now the polls a close encounter alone even a vote that could have major implications for its independence pushchair live pictures from the region exit polls there suggesting that separatist parties will secure an absolute majority in the regional election but the votes are still being counted at this point this is the scene at the headquarters of the pro independence party led by the spanish region's deposed president. is the latest on the vote from local journalist martin roberts. of votes cast by

record turnout this is all the more remarkable when you consider that elections were held on a working day like today rather than the usual sunday although this year holding them on a sunday would have meant conflicting with christmas eve so central authorities decided to bring the elections forward a few days the uncertainty seems likely to continue for several weeks now because while the three or four it pro independence parties do have a majority between them no single policy has anything like a majority of the folks and indeed they didn't even campaign together now cutlass puts them on the outgoing first minister of qatar the new who at the moment is in self-imposed exile in belgium because in spain he faces charges of rebellion and a possible jail sentence of up to thirty years tweeted to say that he hoped that voters would demonstrate the same pro independent spirit as they did when they turned out to vote in a referendum on independence held on the first of october now that was in defiance

of a constitutional court ban as you can see it might with very violent resistance indeed from the authorities and the police. but. i. think. i. also agree that people living in fear and this is not the first three people did this or that the earth taken from here by ambulance service being from the early hours of the morning in this incident is that i think now the central government called the snap elections when it decided to dissolve the council on parliament in late october hours after it unilaterally declared him to pen. dence

meanwhile also psyching the regional government now the international community is going to be paying very close intention indeed to this because of the kind of tension that we've seen in recent weeks and the violence that we've just seen. it to see whether the push for independence has increased whether it's remained stable or subsided because this is the biggest threat to spain's constitutional order since the country returned to democratic government in one nine hundred seventy eight so the best heading for several weeks of protecting negotiations if they don't reach a deal then their actions will just have to be repeated so again. it looks like we're going to have several interesting weeks ahead of us. the turnout is expected to be as high as eighty percent nevertheless many people are frustrated that they've had to turn out to vote yet again. the all that got us are more i feel bad because in the first year we were very excited about the referendum but now we see the spanish government has imposed elections on us that are not the

elections that we want to vote in and yet somehow we have been forced to vote because they have ousted a regional government and we want our form of government to be restored and not to be changed in a versity of barcelona economics professor alyson the palace here told us voting has been painful for cattle and remembering all the violence of referendum. it's been a subtle action in a sense because it's been done under very very sad circumstances and. there are there are. not. very quiet conditions between the two blocks in this elections have been organized and there are very strange circumstances with two leaders of the independent this party is one in jail the other in exile in brussels and also after a strong campaign of fear by the spanish state after a lot of repression and economic threat with this high turnout things

in the final results my might be a little bit different it seems that. things are very tight between the two blocks and then there's a small small little party that is immediately in the middle of the two blocks. the united nations general assembly hearing has wrapped up in new york after voting on whether to condemn america's recognition of jerusalem is the capital of israel and tensions flared at u.n. headquarters who got the use of the beat up struck to the security council and made him a bill to perform his duties and do decades of work of the international community but it is considered a blatant violation of the rights of palestinian people if you shameful that this meeting is even taking place must be resolved through negotiation between the two parties are un members. threatened or the other members this is bullying and this jumble will not bow to the. on your correspondent has been following the general

assembly hearing. well the results are in one hundred twenty eight countries voted for the resolution with nine countries are voting with the united states to oppose it thirty five abstentions and another number of countries that did not attend the vote and did not formally vote now at this point we've heard some strong words from nikki haley in the lead up to the vote nikki haley took the floor in the general assembly hall and made some of these following comments this is nikki haley the united states will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the general assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation america will put our embassy in jerusalem we're seeing even some a long time allies of the united states voting against it and voting for this resolution we saw members of nato european union countries that generally support the united states and agree with it in international bodies and decision making entities they seem to have voted against it now in the lead up to the vote nikki

haley was very vocal saying that the united states would be taking names and we heard donald trump the u.s. president talking about how countries that voted in favor of the resolution may be losing foreign aid and assistance from the united states now a letter was circulated to one hundred eighty different countries by the united states that indicated that donald trump would quote take it personally the way countries voted at this upcoming vote. when we make a decision about where to locate our embassy we don't expect those we've helped to talk it tends to be a vote criticizing our choice the u.s. will be taking names. in favor of the draft resolution piece read. those against. foods in favor well votes.

against. as you consider the vote i want you to know the president and the u.s. take this vote personally he will be watching this vote carefully and has requested i report back on those who voted against us thank you for your consideration. it's the right thing to do it is absolutely the right thing to do so it appears that this is a repudiation of the united states largely by the international community one hundred twenty eight countries around the world voted against the united states and against its decision to move the sea to jerusalem this is a condemnation of the united states by the international community in big numbers. joining me on the line now is richard a for he's a former un special rapporteur on human rights in the palestinian territory for a nice to have you on richard the vote against washington went through despite all

the threats coming from the united states is that what you expected to happen. well i thought that once the vote was put to the general assembly it would be favorable to the criticism of the drug initiative. i think it was aggravated by that effort to threaten. and bully them into opposing the resolution in that tactic failed except with respect to a few very small and vulnerable countries but every important country in the world including her closest allies the united states the u.k. france and germany all voted. in favor of the resolution and that was terrific victory not only for the palestinian people but for the

islam and an arab world in their efforts to save our troops from them from. really claims of suffering. you know that state seems have invested a lot in this nikki haley said previously that you know the u.s. will move its embassy to jerusalem whatever happens although in fact they may find that a little more difficult now they have heaped the pressure on in the build up to these votes this on the one in the security council why are they putting so much stock in this. i think that. as a leader is very able to deal responsibly with criticism and opposition and i think it became a symbolic issue miscalculating the balance of political forces in the world in the debt ceiling about the future of jerusalem and i think

the european. governments in particular were reason for other trump diplomacy such as that with draw from the parish climate change agreement the refusal to be dissipated in the global migration effort to. corporative. and these kinds of. nationalist withdraws from international cooperation are very disturbing at a time when international corporation is needed to solve global problems in a responsible way. now the significance of the decision will be open to debate for example it calls of all all countries to adhere to previous

decisions by the un with regards to palestine for example that would mean that the u.s. shouldn't put its embassy in jerusalem but this isn't legally binding is it you know do you think this is an important decision or is it laws that just symbolic to the . well i think first for having symbols are important in international life and the u.n. unless it has the backing of the geo political forces in the world is largely an organization who significance is related to the manipulation of these symbols of legitimacy and illegitimacy and he said that i think it does the united states in an awkward position of either with. its own strongly professed decision and its claim of right or. egg willfully defying

a very strong international consensus and this will through the diminish its reputation as a global leader it will have a bearing on other issues in the region and beyond and is one of the most self destructive kinds of diplomatic initiatives that i can ever recall of the u.s. government taking. this an absolute pleasure to get your thoughts really i'm grateful for you coming on latte which i felt my guest former un special rapporteur on human rights in palestine thank you. in other news ten times more iraqi civilians may have been killed than previously thought steering the u.s. led operation to liberate mosul from islamic state now this is all according to new research conducted by the associated press the news agency attained data from iraqi

logs as well as from nongovernmental organizations and they say as many as eleven thousand civilians may have been killed during that nine months operation almost a third of those allegedly died during u.s. led coalition bombing raids but just a fraction of that number has been acknowledged so far by the coalition human rights group amnesty international joining calls to investigate the liberation campaign and to reveal the true cost in sterns of civilian deaths it added that the numbers cited in the report don't come as a surprise to them artes my guess the episode visited the city of mosul both during and also after the fighting. to see the presses bodycount surprise anyone who's actually been to mosul and who has seen what has happened to the city you can also argue that the death count that they've given become outdated already hours after they released their report we got a cool from mosul from rescuers there saying that three more children had been

killed when an explosive device buried in the wreckage of a house that they were playing on dead today to ease explosions happen almost every day rescuers tell us and this is a direct consequence of the battle of mosul itself nevertheless the body count is a semi official milestone in the in and of itself because the numbers we previously had from official sources from the u.s. led coalition that you rocky's even the u.n. was a tenth of that barely a thousand civilians and unrealistic numbers the associated press found that three to four thousand of those civilians killed in mosul died to ash strikes carried out by the u.s. led coalition and the iraqi air force the u.s. led coalition and previously claimed responsibility for no more than three hundred or so civilian deaths saying that it didn't have the resources to send investigators to look at every reported incident susi the press didn't always

numbers out of a hat they cited various human rights agencies as well as an official body count counts that monitored events in mosul as well as with tip offs from iraq he moves but as i say this number is unsurprising if you've been to mosul if you see a city of two million has been tending to injuries and corpses. this is the reality of war what you likely haven't heard of is the smell it's new. repulsive and it's everywhere the sort of smell that makes us in stink these sick smell of rotting bodies this is what rescuers have collected just this morning three suspected isis fighters two women and two

children. that's an iraqi. launching missiles. at isis targets in and you can hear isis small arms fire targeting the helicopter and over there six seven hundred meters away is the aftermath of strikes that hit minutes ago just before we got here this was a city of two million that had been. annihilated during the nine months of the battle of mosul the rescuers we talked to tell us that this city the city the old city of mosul that bore the brunt of the fighting in the devastation it still reeks of decaying bodies thousands and thousands of corpses still buried under rubble mixed with them or explosive devices that continue to claim people's lives in iraqi

kurdistan and suffered a fourth day of violence as mass anti-government protests have continued in the northeast of the country five demonstrators have been killed just since monday. i'm joined from more analysis now by middle east expert joins me sack good to have you all it's a fourth day of horrific violence because if you don't about the number of deaths

in just the last few days what would it take to and. sure well that's quite an unfortunate turn of events we know how it started it's kind of years of pressure from the baghdad central government against the kurdistan region cutting their budget completely since twenty fourteen and the kurdistan regional government has not been able to pay the public salaries so now the people you know they're very tired of not being paid the kurdistan regional government has done its best to pay as much as they can but it's three months in a rears and take i think it'll take some real. you know brinkmanship from the carriage from baghdad to bridge the divide it sounds like it's a difficult situation if they are not paying because they haven't got the money i mean is there anything the government can do in this situation. right so they were exporting oil from. you know in other areas in the kurdistan regional government which were covering about maybe i don't know seventy percent two thirds of what

they needed but after the events of october sixteenth where the baghdad forces you know together with the iranian backed forces had invaded and seize some of these key oil fields now the situation financially for the carriage is particularly precarious so we know that islamic state is been forced out to the country is that leaving a somewhat a void here is being filled by a lot of tension and emotions are people now turning back to old rivalries. sure well those all mixtape was somewhat i don't know if you could say attractive but it was a. an outlet a you know a relief for some of the sunni population who were looking for an answer to baghdad and baghdad's shiran government backed by iran with the hostile xabi the forces are now in the sunni areas that isis wants controlled and so if it was bad before it's especially you know volatile unstable and bad now. the prime minister of iraqi

kurdistan is called on the protesters to remain peaceful he said he understands their first ration but we've seen the security forces using lethal action what's going bust breaking down here the forces all int and acting the wills of the prime minister. sure you know prime minister has been working very hard he's been touring europe trying to get the international community on board with seeing a peaceful and productive resolution you know an outcome to this situation as far as the deaths that are you know immensely tragic and very sad. you know if you look at what's really happening some of these protesters and these people actually rioting they're vandalizing government buildings courthouses museums. so you know some of it's possibly defense of public property private property and i think

people should protest peacefully or they should stay home right now because not a good time you know to be trying to make a point so that much appreciate your views good to have you on our middle east and is that my guess. in other news police in the united kingdom of detained for man in a series of raids aimed at foiling a suspected christmas attack thirty said that the arrests came from intelligence received during an ongoing investigation one suspect owns a fish and chip shop which was raided by police and an army bomb squad security officers evacuated residents from nearby homes police have until december twenty fifth to decide whether to charge the four suspects their age between twenty two and forty one no connection has been established with islamic state however the terror group has been threatening european cities including london with the christmas attacks most of the terrorist atrocities that have hit the u.k. this year have also been claimed by ice.

we asked former london metropolitan police officer roger gray about safety tips for the holiday season and whether british authorities have adjusted to the new reality of the terror threat. doing it i think. more is in your the public stream we will. help to so you've probably quite a few laws on this there's not too much more going on out there but i do have a massive task before christmas but we have to be all of the tory we have to be no choice you from going to

a police office or telephone with every scrap of information that we would normally have thought of the real thing we've got to be facing restrictions on its operations in the us but despite all the america being forced to register as a foreign agent back in november and congress then stripping our journalists of their accreditation on capitol hill. continues to operate here continues to broadcast here without interruption as far as i'm aware of this channel didn't have to stop broadcasting but the journalists losing that accreditation on capitol hill has heard their work but u.s. officials have stuck to the same message ever since we were first registered. in art he was forced to register as a foreign agent and you said that it would inhibit our ability to report when the united states tells someone to register under a foreign agent requirement we don't see impacts or a fact the ability of them to report news and information

we just have the register it's as simple as that however just a couple weeks ago our press credentials were revoked so doesn't this contradict your earlier statement i think i think press credentials may have been revoked by congress and not necessarily the members of congress but rather the association of reporters that handles who gets to come in and cover congress. we spoke to done kovalchuk a human and labor rights lawyer he thinks artie's reporting is the law u.s. authorities. this whole thing was designed to interfere with artie's bill of the to do its work in the united states i think that there are people in the us establishment who are uncomfortable with a different view of the world that r.t. is presenting particularly on issues such as ukraine syria. i think the us empire is under great strain and i think it is in decline and i

think those who are ministering the empire don't want people to see that the emperor has no clothes and i think news outlets like r.t. do just that. the pentagon has admitted it is conducting full scale military operations in yemen the revelations came in a statement from u.s. central command u.s. forces have conducted multiple groomed operations in more than one hundred twenty strikes in twenty seventeen to remove key leaders and disrupt the ability of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and ices in yemen to use on in yemen as a hub for terrorist rick when yemen has a hub for terrorist recruiting training and base of operations to export terror worldwide don't you hawkins brings us the broader picture of what's happening in yemen. a tripling of air strike numbers from twenty six the official confirmation of boots on the ground something many politicians

have been keen to avoid mentioning to avoid bad publicity with the yemeni conflict raging for nearly three years now and spawning two u.s. administrations american policy has some more devolved since the first days of the war what we need to do is bring all the parties together and find a political arrangement it is not solved by having another proxy war fought inside of yemen now aside from massive arms sales to saudi arabia what began as logistical support and intelligence sharing as part of the saudi led coalition moved to supporting operations in an advise and assist role drone of planes strikes now multiple ground operations the military involvement may have good intent on the surface comments in the sport of hardest groups stabilizing a war torn country but as involvement has escalated the presence of terror groups has actually expanded now aside from the irony targeting militants allegedly allied

to the saudi backed militias there's the question of a vicious circle air strikes and other military involvement in the region has led to terror groups capitalizing on precisely those sentiments among the populace which lead to heightened recruitment and support for jihadism just remember libya and syria and this actually comes from none other than members of the u.s. congress the civil war inside yemen has aided the enemies for which we actually have declared war against al-qaeda is getting stronger inside yemen because as more and more of the country becomes becomes ungovernable because of this war al qaeda is moving into that territory isis against which we have not declared war but we are engaged in active military activity in the region against is getting stronger inside yemen two of these problems don't even touch upon the catastrophic humanitarian situation described by. n.g.o.s are the worst in the world with massive million casualties famine and cholera spreading in the country.

ok let's return to our breaking news story this hour preliminary results of the catalan election are showing now that the anti independent citizenship party is set to win the most votes with twenty five percent of the vote this is the scene live now from the headquarters of the pro independence party led by the spanish region's deposed president carter's put him on despite the.