Counting has started in catalonia. The polls closed an hour ago in Regional Elections that are, effectively, a referendum on independence from spain. In fact this election is happening after a referendum in october was declared illegal and the Catalan Government was sacked. Well today is close. This is coming in from the Reuters News Agency as saying after 30 of the votes counted, catalonia the socialist parties are on track for an absolute majority in the regional parliament. Secessionist parties. Turnout has been high. This is spains major newspaper highlighting voters, and many of them coming out and where they went looks crucial to the result. We have seen big keys through the day, these were from early on this morning. Reasonably long waits, completely peaceful throughout. That is worthy of note because what we saw in october, will surely remember, these pictures when the Spanish Police try to stop that referendum on independence going ahead. There were violent clashes became a Major Political issue not just in spain but across europe. We have seen none of that violence today. That referendum in october was instigated by Carlos Puidgemont the then president of catalonia, is accused of a rebellion by the Spanish Government. One of our correspondence tells us. Thats according to his team. Hes been engaged as much as he can be in the campaign to get his party the best possible result. Translation today is not a normal election day. With candidates until one candidate in xl, the institute of our country, the elections are marked by a lack of freedom of expression. But today is an important day, not just expression. But today is an important day, notjust because of the catalonia after labour because of the catalonia of the future. Everything indicates that the response of the citizens will be positive, high turnout and that is what we hopeful for the end of the day. That speak to tim wilcox in barcelona. Lets imagine those parties who want independence won a majority, do they get along . Today wa nt to majority, do they get along . Today want to work with each other . They have in the past, there have been wrangles of the last few weeks between the Deputy President of Carlos Puidgemont who is now in prison in madrid facing rebellion charges, he gave an interview in the fast 48 hours suggesting he stood his ground, stayed in spain to face the consequences which was an oblique criticism of Carlos Puidgemont who fled to brussels rather than be imprisoned here. He almost certainly would be arrested if you try to come back into spain. On the account so far, 40 of the vote so far and whats really interested of the party of ca rles puigdemont, and the pro unity Citizens Party are running neck and neck at the moment. In the past couple of minutes Carles Puigdemont has appeared on camera from brussels, big cheers where i am here for the pro separatist rally in barcelona. And all the indications are, and these are according to exit polls so far, those separatist parties could be on course to gain againfora parties could be on course to gain again for a coalition victory. They need 68 seats out of 135 to get a working majority. If that is the the case, that is terrible news for ca rles the case, that is terrible news for Carles Puigdemont who called for a return to a return to normality hoping that the independence case stays on the table even if they cant articulate that. The separatist cause continues obliquely, perhaps not in any more independent declarations of independence. But what it does mean is that madrid who said the first referendum on october the 1st was a representative of the views of all catalans, they representative of the views of all catala ns, they cannot representative of the views of all catalans, they cannot use that argument the game. It is 5 turnout of these elections, all the catalans who wanted to did vote, we heard about the silent majority who want to stay part of strain. If these predictions are right then it would seem that the majority of the parties together the coalition dont wa nt to parties together the coalition dont want to stay part of spain and the spurs up huge problems, many more competitions for madrid and europe. 2017 has blown up so many extraordinary stories. Another significant twist in the story, parties that support independence from spain may be able to form an absolute majority in the catalan parliament. We will keep you abreast of that as more and more votes are counted. That switch from barcelona to new york. Let for it. The Un General Assembly has passed a resolution calling for americas recognition ofjerusalem as israels capital to be withdrawn. 128 countries voted for it, 35 abstained and nine opposed it. The resolution was brought forward by turkey and egypt. Bear in mind the us vetoed a similar vote in the Un Security Council earlier this week. And needless to say, the american and israeli ambassadors opposed the resolution. 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 sovereign nation. We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the Worlds Largest contribution to the world killing madrid united nations. The the united nations. The united nations. United states stated a fact. Jerusalem has been and always will be the capital of the state of israel. Those who support today revolution two resolution are like resolution are like puppets. You are puppets pulled by the strings of your palestinian puppet masters. Nikki haley said they will look at the funding they give the un because of what happened today. A significant comment. Here is the response from turkey. Before this meeting, our un member state threatened all the other members. We we re threatened all the other members. We were all asked to vote no or face the consequences. Some are even threatened with the Development Aid cut. Such an attitude is unacceptable. This is bullying and this will not do that. We will not be intimidated. You can be strong but this does not make you right. Nikki haley has also turned to twitter to highlight the fact that 65 countries refuse to condemn the us. Shes notjust noting the 120 devoted against the americans. I spoke to someone covering the story. This is symbolic and non binding. This is symbolic and non binding. This was a vote of protest by arab and muslim nations who wanted to make clear the International Community was against president trumps decision so they took this resolution which was similar to the Security Council resolution to the General Assembly to make that point. This was really a strong repudiation of president trumps decision, again highlighting how isolated they were. But if you look at what the United States is trying to say and i can tried to spin it, more states than expected for the folk were 21 countries did not show up including ukraine who had supported the Security Council draft what they recently Security Council draft what they rece ntly ha d Security Council draft what they recently had an arms deal with the us. Certainly, in the practical sense, the United States says that they had made an impact with these threats on the relations with countries and how they will treat israel going forward. When nikki haley said, notjust her but the israeli ambassador as well said all these countries were simply puppet on the screens of the palestinians, is not quite as clear as that . The palestinians cant say drum and 120 countries do so . Sayjump. Palestinians cant say drum and 120 countries do so . Sayjump. That wasnt a convincing argument. Its clear to state and key allies of the us that voted against them, that the status ofjerusalem us that voted against them, that the status of jerusalem is us that voted against them, that the status ofjerusalem is very clear. It is enshrined in International Law through the Security Council resolutions, ten Security Council resolutions, ten Security Council resolutions over decades with race clear to reece lyne is a final jerusalem jerusalem is a final status issue. There must be negotiations between israelis and palestinians. The us has tried to play this as their sovereign right to choose whether it that the embassy, a lot of states here disagree with that and say it is not accurate. This was the reaction of the palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to todays result. We heard from our correspondent for oui we heard from our correspondent for our english language needs. Sally nabil is also in new york. I spoke to her to gauge arab reaction to this result. The arab and muslim states, campaigned heavily to try and promote this resolution. They tried to pass through the Security Council a couple of days ago but it was vetoed by the us although it has been approved by the rest of the members. It failed in the council and they said it was going to be moved to the General Assembly, the palestinians, yemenis and the turks we re palestinians, yemenis and the turks were really keen on passing the resolution today, they criticised the us saying washington is undermining any future chances for peace and that the us is no longer an impartial mediator in the middle east peace process. The Palestinian Foreign minister spoke today at the General Assembly saying there should bea General Assembly saying there should be a new mechanism under un sponsorship to try and find a resolution for the palestinian israeli conflict, accusing the us of changing the conflict from a political one that can be resolved through negotiations toa can be resolved through negotiations to a more competent at a religious one. That can incite violence across the middle east, the turkish were quite critical of the us as well pointing out that this language of threats and intimidation would not work and it seems that the us is living on an island of its own because it is resilient to go ahead with its plans to move the embassy to eastjerusalem with its plans to move the embassy to East Jerusalem despite with its plans to move the embassy to eastjerusalem despite all the disagreements on the International Community. If we let at countries like saudi arabia and egypt, they have Close Relationships of america, how far are they going to be prepared to push this issue . This is true. Egypt in particular is one of the biggest recipients of us aid in the biggest recipients of us aid in the middle east, it receives more than 1 billion per year. It comes many in the form of military assistance. The draft resolutions we re assistance. The draft resolutions were drafted to the Security Council and then the General Assembly, did not specifically mentioned the us or president trump, it said recent decisions that might affect the demographic and legal status of jerusalem, and for this, the egyptians have been criticised severely because they did not refer specifically to trump or to the us that it seems the egyptians have not backed off. They supported the resolution today and the saudis also issued statements criticising froms decision to recognisejerusalem is the capital of israel. But they have not done more than that, it is that a condemnation. You can get your news online at the bbc news website. Soon we will talk about apple who say they have killing down but not to make you buy a new one. The Prime Minister has said she expects the leak of information by former Police Officers , relating to pornography being found on damian greens parliamentary computer , there has been a growing backlash against the police from leaking the information. What cost damian green hisjob was lying information. What cost damian green his job was lying about not knowing that the police found pornography on his computer, the cabinet enquiry found he had been told on two occasions and since made misleading state m e nts occasions and since made misleading statements to the public about it. Green accepts that the statements we re green accepts that the statements were misleading. But many tory mps are angry about Police Behaviour over there. They express regret damian green had to go in this way. The health ministerjeremy hunt said this calls into question the conduct of police in a democracy. Others say damian greens downfall was his own doing. We are live in the bbc newsroom. There has been a high turnout of voters in catalonia in a vital election where supporters and opponents of independence from spain are battling for suprememcy. We will keep you up to date on the town. More stories from the bbc world service. The total number of suspected cholera cases in yemen has reached 1 million. The International Red cross says more than 80 of people there have little access to food, clean water and health care. That is from bbc arabic. Work has officially begun on a High Speed Railway between thailand and china. There have been numerous delays because of disagreements over the cost and the design but its happening and itll become part of a broader Train Network in south east asia. Bbc chinese. The wreck of australias first Naval Submarine has been found. It vanished in 1914 near Papua New Guinea with 35 australian and british crew on board. You may have seen a car drove into pedestrians in melbourne earlier. It wasnt a terror attack. But police say it was a deliberate attack and that the driver is a drug user with Mental Health issues. This is where it happened outside melbournes famous flinders street train station. This is the alleged driver being arrested. 19 people were injured some of them critically and one of them is a young child. This the third incident like this in melbourne this year. In january, six people were killed when a man drove a car into pedestrians. Then in september a 15 year old boy dressed in black combat gear drove dangerously down a busy street. Those incidents prompted authorities to install these concrete blocks on some roads to protect pedestrians. Hywel griffith has more on what happened today. Pinned to the ground, a man arrested by the policejust a few meters from the 4x4 vehicle used to mow down pedestrians. Around them, paramedics rushed to help the injured pedestrians left lying in the street. Minutes earlier, the city centre was packed with commuters and christmas shoppers. The car drove towards them at speed, leaving some in a critical condition. The police say the driver was a 32 year old australian of afghan descent with a history of Mental Health problems. At this time we dont have any evidence or intelligence to indicate a connection with terrorism. Having said that, however, we continue to support this investigation with our Counter Terrorism command to ensure that there isnt that connection and that there is no ongoing threat. Eyewitnesses were left in shock. One Business Owner watched events unfold in front of him. He just ploughed into them without stopping. All i could hear was people hitting the front bumper and windscreen and people screaming and the only reason i think he slowed down was because of the sheer volume of people he hit. Special security measures to prevent vehicle attacks have been introduced in melbourne after a similar incident in january. But nothing was able to stop the 4x4 bringing chaos to the city once again. We have seen a horrific act, an evil act, an act of cowardice perpetrated against innocent bystanders, we are all caught up in this. We are all deeply sad and deeply wounded. Police are still questioning the driver and a second man arrested at the scene. Theyve stressed they believe this was a one off incident, but melbourne remains a city on high alert. Hywel griffiths, bbc news. For the first time apple has admitted to deliberately slowing down iphones as they grow older. The company says its to do with battery life. Iphones use lithium ion batteries which degrade over time. Apple says that slowing the performance of the Iphone Software over time extends the life of the battery. It has put out a statement. Its long been suspected that apple builds obsolescence into their products and certainly its clear that slowing hardware has been noticed by many iphone users. This chart shows google searches for the term slow iphone. The peaks come when apple releases a new phone and a new a operating system that could lead to a noticeable lowering of performance. This poses a lot of questions. Live from new york, yogita, this is perfectly legal and apple can do what it wants with our phones . Perhaps any of us that have used are not have complained about this some point or other. Let us all, now is why it has all come out now is interesting because an iphone user tested the device and felt it was slowing down in a new battery to the same phone, tried to tactics speed and went mylan said when i replaced the battery on my phone, it ended up working faster. Following that other iphone users posted similar tests online. Then apple came out and give the statement. They are saying that their defences we are not doing this so you go and buy more phones or more apple products, what is happening is that the battery ages, we cannot stop that, if the battery ages when you are in cold weather or just because its an old battery, your phone might suddenly switch off and to stop that from happening, they have released features which then slow down the phone to match then slow down the phone to match the batterys capacity so that doesnt happen. But people are upset that why did they not reveal this when they were doing it . Rather than having to issue the statement only when somebody has gone on mind were posted about it . Bottle before what is thinking hold on, ive got my iphone, if i change the battery pack that dont need teeth upgrade after all that dont need teeth upgrade after all lots of people watching this. Its 80 for a battery in the us but it is cheaper than buying a brand new phone. A lot of people who choose my and found their phones are slowing down, that is something they can probably attempt, to change the battery and see if it paces up the device. Yogita live from new york. Staying in the us, these grainy pictures came up from memphis intimacy. Memphis in tennessee. This is the video taken in the dead of night. A few weeks ago, tennessee had ruled that the city council couldnt do this. So the council got creative it sold two parks that housed the statues for 2000 and within hours the statues were gone. This is Nathan Bedford forrest. He was a slave trader and a grand wizard of the ku klux klan. His statue has stood for 113 years. This isjefferson davis. He was president of the confederacy during the american civil war. Even though these statues were being taken down at night a crowd turned out and cheered and sang. Take a look. Goodbye theyre goodbye they re taking goodbye theyre taking it down. Theyre taking it down. That guy is happy that not everyone is. This is a Facebook Page of the sons of confederate veterans. Lots are saying this is a grave desecration and accusing the city council sale asa and accusing the city council sale as a scam. The mayor is having none of that. Heery is. History is being made in memphis tonight. These studies no longer represent who we are as a modern, diverse city. These statues. Our lead story, it looks like parties in favour of independence are doing well, we will go back to barcelona in the next few minutes. Good evening. The weather is looking distinctly un festive at the moment, if you are travelling further afield, you might not go wrong in parts of card and the us, cold air in parts of canada, not much above freezing of the next few with the far north of the us, interacting with mild air in the south and that will fire up quite a significant storm system through parts of texas and the Tennessee Valley as we go into friday. Tambe choosing the back, 15 as the high, seven in new york. Then it winds its way, lots of heavy rain across eastern us, strong winds into new york, boston and washington, told theyre bringing significant snowfall across parts of eastern canada. Into Christmas Eve and christmas day, the snow continues to come and go in montreal, stein told in toronto, temperatures dropping in new york and chilly with a few winter flurries in chicago. Thunder clouds and south america in sao paulo and tillerson degree in rio but monty video and whatnot errors is lots of sunshine around. The cost in eastern asia, problems caused by these areas of cloud, significant Tropical Storms, not particularly strong that will have an impact. Singapore, kuala lumpur, the rain will intensify as the next few days, through friday and into saturday, the philippines has widespread flooding. It pushes to the South China Sea heading to vietnam. Tokyo also killing madrid cape town looks fine on friday. Increased rain on the southern portion of africa. Winds and heavy rain, leaking into a weather system in south east europe. Grease and parts of turkey, some big storm clouds around and torrential rain storms, strong and damaging winds through friday into saturday. The real chill in the air in europe is in the north, scandinavia town in towards the baltic states, parts of poland, and dressed in russia, temperatures freezing by day. We have the grey, gloomy stuff in the uk at the moment which will remain in place. The low pressure down towards the mediterranean pushes through the sea bringing snow fall into the weekend across the likes of georgia, heavy rain as well. With High Pressure close to our stores, run up to christmas and the uk, distinctly un festive, mild with cloud and some rain in the north, more details in the weather for the week ahead in an hour. Halfan hour. Hello, im ros atkins, this is outside source, and these are the main stories here in the bbc newsroom. Todays Regional Election is going to the wire as pro and anti independence parties vie for power. It looked like the parties in favour of leaving spain are in the ascendancy but we will be live in barcelona shortly. At the the Un General Assembly, more than 120 countries defy us warnings and reject president trumps decision to recognise jerusalem as israels capital. And the exchanges have been sharp. We will not be intimidated. You can be strong but that does not make you right. The us will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the act of exercising its right as a sovereign nation. Police say there is no evidence suggest there was a terror link between a man who drove a car into a crowd. The police say it was deliberate. We would not cover every Regional Election in catalonia as we are doing today, but this is of the utmost significance, not just a catalonia, but to spain and to europe as a whole. There was an independence referendum at the end of september, which the Spanish Government said was illegal. The catalonian government said it showed that the majority of people in catalonia wanted to leave spain. They are now having legal local elections. You are with people who would like to stay in spain . This is the view of the unity camp, the Citizens Party, and the polls at the moment. We have had a record turnout, 86 , 5. 3 million eligible voters, 4. 5 Million People have voted and they are 60 through the official count and it is a three horse race between this party behind me. You might have seen this inspiration before, think of Emmanuel Macron. Citizens party and their leader, you would be the youngest president at the age of 36, she has said she was inspired by Emmanuel Macron she would. On the other side of that, the two parties who havent got leaders, one who is in prison, and the former leader carlos pigem want studio jose from the former leader who is in axar in belgium at the moment. It might be down to this party to play the cards first and see if it will get the coalition because that is what it will come down to ultimately. This is not what the spanish Prime Minister would have wanted, the way the exit proles exit polls are suggesting. Yes, at the moment rajoys party i down seven seats. Are down. You need to get 68 seats, not a single party is expected to do it, this is the interesting twist, after the twists and turns we have had since the referendum and the Police Violence and the legal declaration of independence, the self imposed exile in belgium and the people in prison, we could have one party with 68 seats, but potentially they might have the power to make a power share. Thanks forjoining us. There we go. All the details coming in, plenty more background on that online if you want it. And now to a story of the utmost seriousness in the philippines. A ferry carrying 251 people has capsized off the east coast of the philippines. The boat was sailing to the island of polillo. These are some pictures that have come into the newsroom. We know four people have died and at least seven others are missing. But as you can see here many others were rescued. Heres more from Howard Johnson in manila. It is thought that this ferry capsized because it was hit by a large wave, whipped up by a Tropical Storm and a low pressure weather system which is developed off the coast of the philippines and is expected to make landfall tonight or tomorrow. That turbulent weather has hampered the rescue effort, the coast guard and the army sent helicopters and boats to the scene of the accident but found it difficult when i got there. The philippines has a bad track record of Maritime Safety when they got there. There have been many maritime accidents every year, and initially it was said the ferry was overloaded but according to the initial reports coming out, the ferry was carrying around 250 people and it has the capacity to carry 280. Now to a north korean soldier who has defected to south korea. He used the cover of heavy fog to make his escape but when his absence was noticed, north korean guards came searching and south korean soldiers fired warning shots. The soldier crossed here at the demilitarized zone. This is the fourth north korean soldier to defect this year. You may remember this last month when a soldier drove a jeep right up to the border and ran across while his colleagues shot at him. He was hit by his colleagues but he made it across the dividing line. He is still recovering from his injuries in south korea. Four defections this year. Only one soldier defected in 2016. Heres south koreas response to the latest defection. Translation a north korean soldier defected to the south korean outpost and the army has safely secured the deaf actor and the relevant authorities will investigate the reasons for the defection secured the defector forced please understand we cant elaborate on the details of the investigation. We have reports from all over the world, of course. And now to a story on the former yugoslavia and these two men who we re yugoslavia and these two men who were found guilty of war crimes. 100 61 people have been indicted in this tribunal, relating to various crimes to that war in the 19905 161 people. Mi55ion accomplished will be the message in5ide people. Mi55ion accomplished will be the message inside the hall, the yugo5lav tribunal wa5 the message inside the hall, the yugo5lav tribunal was set up at the whole of the balkan conflict to hold tho5e whole of the balkan conflict to hold those responsible for genocide, approximate the 8000 mu5lim those responsible for genocide, approximate the 8000 muslim men and boys were slaughtered. The worst atrocity, the worst case of ethnic cleansing since the nazis. There is no doubt be scared of the task has been fa5t no doubt be scared of the task has been fast and to some extent the body has surpassed expectations in bringing so many fugitives to justice including the former president mo5t justice including the former president most of age who died in detention before his verdict. The former political leader of the Bosnian Serbs bad carole and the bol5hie bullying general who despite his ill health remained combative in court, he was ejected from the court room before the final judgment. It is hoped the5e convictions will send a message to other ruler5 that will resonate, but no one is untouchable. But of course the body is not without its critics and it has been accused mostly by serbs of delivering a selective justice and by many bosnians are failing to meet the victim s expectations. There was the croatian general recently who drank poison in court, a public suicide that was broadcast live around the world on the courts cameras and threatened to overshadow the legacy of the tribunal, but their record shows the limits and potential for international justice. Limits and potential for internationaljustice. It has not made a reconciliation in the region, it has not brought reconciliation but it has provided a vital archive of evidence, not just but it has provided a vital archive of evidence, notjust for the history books, but for future generations, as well. Dont forget you can get much more detail on our top stories on our web site. And now to venezuelan. Their farmers are struggling. Corn is a staple in venezuelan but it has fallen by more than a half in the last occurred. The last decade. It is easy to forget this country is in crisis, but even in nature politics looms large. Venezuelans breadbasket is looking emptier than it was and farmers are worried. Ronald has worked these fields all his life and he says it has never been this tough. He did not get the government issued fertilising time so his corn crop struggled. Any corn he grows, the government makes in cell at subsidised prices. Makes him so. Translation we are doing this on our own and trying to do our best but the Economic Situation is tough and it is not easy to produce in the fields of venezuelan, the last we had Micheline Yuri here was four yea rs had Micheline Yuri here was four years ago. had Micheline Yuri here was four years ago. The last time we had machinery. He had to stop building his house because he couldnt afford the cement and these residents are the cement and these residents are the only residents now although some of the herd was stolen, Hungry Venezuelans in search of a meal. The problems are repeated across the industry, farmers are concerned they dont get their seeds in time to plant their crops and they are concerned about the quality of the imported fertilisers and pesticides, this farmer planted twice with pesticides, but it didnt work, it is complete you rotten. It is not just farmers who are struggling, across venezuelans agricultural heartland basics are becoming luxuries. With meat prices beyond the reach of many venezuelans you would think farmers would have it easy. But the spiralling cost of vaccinations and machinery and supplies have hit this man. He has had to turn to crops to make money but that has also been a struggle, his corn crop was stolen by hungry villagers. Carter righteous and the socialist government has been at odds for many years but he says the solution is easy cattle farmers and the socialist government. Translation all we want to do is produce, those of us in the cattle business need the state and vice versa, and the only way right now is to sit down and understand each other. These crops are reflection of the countrys crisis, surviving but onlyjust, and the countrys crisis, surviving but only just, and produces the countrys crisis, surviving but onlyjust, and produces here are doing everything they can to make sure the sun doesnt set on venezuelans cornfields. This is the last addition of outside source for the year. Edition. The musical hamilton is opening in london am sure you know all about this its been a huge success on broadway. It tells the story of a poor immigrant from the caribbean, who arrives in new york on the eve of the american revolution. He goes on to become the countrys first treasury secretary. Hamilton was created by Lin Manuel Miranda and hes been talking with the bbcs arts editor will gompertz. Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain. Here is hamiltons creator, Lin Manuel Miranda, at the white house poetry slam in 2009, performing what would become the opening number of his musical about americas founding fathers. Six years later it opened in new york and became an instant classic. Whats your name, man . Alexander hamilton his name is Alexander Hamilton and now its in london, as is for a few days the man behind the show, whos been compared to. Well. Are you the 21st century shakespeare . Not even close no, shakespeare wrote a mind altering amount of dramas and comedies and sonnets, worked with other playwrights. Ive written two musicals, so lets everybody chill out. Im past patiently waiting im passionately smashin every expectation i recognised in the story of hamilton the story of so many immigrants who are coming to the United States today. And so i used the music that i love to tell this story. A lot has been made of the multiracial cast. This is a story of america then told by america now. Were going to use every tool at our disposal to eliminate the distance between a modern audience and something that happened 200 somewhat years ago. The casting is part of that, and casting it to look like the way our country looks eliminates distance. When George Washington is a young man of colour and hes running for his life, suddenly youre not filled with images of washington standing like this, crossing the delaware, hes not invincible any more. Its suddenly, these are real people. How nervous were you about bringing this show to the uk . I was not nervous at all