More than a 100 countries defy us warnings and vote against americas decision to recognisejerusalem as israels capital. Were gonna rise up time to take a shot from penniless immigrant to founding father. The hip hop musical hamilton makes its debut in london, the First Showing outside of new york. Get in touch with us using the hashtag beyond one hundred days. Hello and welcome, im katty kay in washington and Christian Fraser is in london. The people of catalonia have been voting again today two months after a failed attempt to break away from the rest of spain. The polls closed just a few minutes ago. Todays election was called after the Spanish Government sacked the former Regional Government and imposed direct rule. Today the anti independence newspaper el pais called on voters to end the chaos and staunch the wounds, but will it put an end to the divisions in spains most prosperous region . From there, our correspondent James Reynolds reports. After months of crisis, the people of catalonia, all of them, got to vote. No one, it seems, wanted to miss out. In octobers disputed independence referendum this polling station was a scene of chaos, the Spanish Police used force to confiscate ballot boxes. By contrast, this election is organised and orderly, everyone is getting the chance to vote. For some, this is a chance to get even. Spanish Police Violence in october has turned marta into a Pro Independence voter. Translation i want them to listen to us out there in the world. For them to listen to us in spain, in europe. For them to know that the catalan people and catalan sentiment exists and that weve been forgotten. Weve been treated like nobodies. In barcelonas old city, families queued to vote. These Three Sisters split two to one in favour of Pro Independence parties. We havent tried to convince one another, amena admitted. Retired maintenance manjordi wants catalonia to become a republic. Raquel said that she was voting forfreedom from spain. Marta says she wants deposed Pro Independence leader Carles Puigdemont to return. But in working class districts, many voters take the opposite view. Translation if they want independence, they should look for an island and go there, there is spain. For an island and go there, this is spain. Catalonia is spain. Translation i want to see a government that is anti independence because i believe that if the others win our economy will get worse. This election may reveal catalonias divisions, but it wont bring them to an end. James reynolds, bbc news, barcelona. Lets speak to the bbcs tim willcox who will bring us the results this evening from barcelona. 90 went for independence, but less than the electorate came out to vote. So i imagine the gain game todayis vote. So i imagine the gain game today is turnout . Maybe 75968096. That first referendum those people who wanted to stay united with spain said we are not making part its an illegal referendum going along with the line that madrid took of course which led to that process of direct rule and the elections today. Bearin direct rule and the elections today. Bear in mind also this is the most extraordinary election. I mean, unprecedented modern european history. The two leaders of the opposition, the former president ca rles opposition, the former president Carles Puigdemont is in self of imposed ex compile he has been campaigning bya of imposed ex compile he has been campaigning by a hologram. Of imposed ex compile he has been campaigning bya hologram. And another is in prison in madrid. He has been trying to mastermind from events from his prison cell. The key question in the next four few hours will be which side, which block, can form a working coalition to get a majority in the 135 seats catalan parliament. They need 68 to do that. If the independence groups get that, that can only be seen as a defeat for the Prime Minister who tried to get the pro spanish voter on the streets. If the independents win they say its a referendum on the fist referendum on october ist. This isjust agrees what fist referendum on october ist. This is just agrees what was in that first referendum. Campaigning by hologram, its the future. We will be speaking to two catalans with very different views, who voted today, later in the programme. Stay with us for that. You cant see say politics isnt wild around the world at the moment. President trump flies to mar a lago tomorrow, leaving washington in an upbeat mood after passing a tax reform bill that republicans have wanted for years and an economy that is humming. And yet theres a paradox to this unorthodox presidency. After almost a year in office, mr trump is the most unpopular president in history and democrats are picking up electoral victories around the country. In the case of mr trump, political fortunes arent tracking economic successes as they usually do. Maybe that explains the peculiar scene yesterday, after the tax bill was passed, when senior members of the Republican Party lined up to heap praise on the boss. Something this big, something this generational, something this profound could not have been done without exquisite president ial leadership. Mr president , thank you forgetting us over the finish line. Well, let me just say mr president , you made the case for the tax bill, but this has been a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the Trump Administration. Thank you for your boundless faith in the American People and thank you for keeping your promise to see this Congress Deliver the largest tax cut in American History before christmas of this year. Lets get the thoughts of ron christie, our political analyst, who served as an advisor to george w bush. Hejoins us now from san francisco. Ron, we want to get to the tax cuts ina ron, we want to get to the tax cuts in a second and what the impact will be around the country. That scene we saw at the white house, you served in the bush administration. Im trying to imagine president bushs face it lawmakers had lined up and given that praise on camera . Merry christmas to you. George w bush would never have done what we saw yesterday in the south lawn of the white house. President bush was a low key guy. He white house. President bush was a low key guy. He liked white house. President bush was a low key guy. He liked to white house. President bush was a low key guy. He liked to sign legislation once it was presented to him from the house and the senate and get on with. It he was not that sort of person. Donald trump obviously is the art of the deal, the showman, if you will. I think thats more of what we have seen from mrtrump and, thats more of what we have seen from mr trump and, frankly, what i would have expected. Its something that lawmakers have realised that actually in a way, if you want to do business with this president , perhaps its not just lawmakers, other leaders around the world are figuring how to get their best interests from President Trump . No question about that. I think that members of congress, business leaders, world leaders, recognise if you want to stay in the president s good favour its all about the showmanship. Its all about, frankly, what we put on the screen and they recognise if i want to be good with this president , i had better be good on television. Christmas in san francisco. Ron, you are killing me. A lot has been said about this tax cut its only for the rich. I can homework. I think you will like this. Here is a list of Big American Companies who are paying it forward to their workers. At t will give 1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 employees and invest 1 billion in capital expenditure. Wells fargo is increasing its minimum wage to 15 an hour. On top of another 400 million for non profit organisations. Boeing will commit 300 million to charity and invest in workplaces of the future. Comcast are giving 1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 employees as well as 50 billion over the next five years to improve broadband capacity. That is the Christmas Present the president is talking about. Merry christmas it will be 65 degrees here in san francisco. I will think about you later on. The the United States had the highest Corporation Tax rate in the world. With this piece of legislation the Corporate Tax rate is reduced to 21 . These ceos of the companies you mentioned, nice home homework, by the way, the companies you mentioned they recognise it really incent vices us to give a little bit to our employees at the end of the year to get them to work harder next year. Perhaps to get more profits, to do more productivity and get better results for the company. Its a smart move. Frankly, this tax bill, while it will benefit 80 of the american taxpayers, there will be losers in this as well. If you live in california, if you live in pennsylvania, new york, high tax states you will lose in this bill. The ceos you identified in that lovely homework assignment recognised lets give Holiday Cheer 110w. Recognised lets give Holiday Cheer now. The democrats say its a win, win. We will use it and ride it all the way to the mid terms. Win. We will use it and ride it all the way to the midterms. A mistake on their part, i believe. Gdp growth here in the United States of 3 . It never happened in the eight years of the obama administration. If the economy goes well in the next year and the stock market continues, citizens will say the tax bill isnt a bad thing. My retirement is doing well and i have more money in my pocket. If the democrats want to play this and use it as a weapon against the republicans you better be care of you wish for. Ok. Ron, its nearly the end of the year. Its been an incredible year in terms of news. I was just wondering, as you look back over the last 11 months. Its been a pleasure having you on the programme, what sticks out to you the most . Well, its been a great year for us. What really sticks out to me, 1789 the United States had a peaceful transfer of power from one president to another. Given the uproarand power from one president to another. Given the uproar and the disappointment of so many in the United States with the elevation of donald trump to be president we did it in donald trump to be president we did itina donald trump to be president we did it in a peaceful and respectful way. You can disagree with his politics, but i think thats what really makes the United States so unique in how we hand off the baton from one leader to another every four years or every eight years. That has been the story for me. The second one, christian i know you will be with on this one, the second is the president ial use of the twitter and how that impacted so many people help has 44. 4 million followers around the world. How many people are look at his every tweet and reacting to it . Not only here in the United States, but around the world . Where would i be without his tweets. They wake me up every morning have a great break. Merry christmas. And to you. We will see you guys 2nd january. Thank you for being with us this year. I looked at the polls since you mentioned them in the introduction. When you compare them at the end of the first year with other president s, for all the success other president s, for all the success of the last few weeks hes right at the bottom of the list. 38. 596 right at the bottom of the list. 38. 5 there. This is one of the tables thatis 5 there. This is one of the tables that is doing the rounds on social media. You compare him to the other president s over the first year. Those are disastrous figures . Yes. He is ten points behind reagan and truman the two next least popular president s at this point in their presidency. That is a big gap. Its almost like you have america, christian, running on two different tracks. The economic track, which we talked about with ron its going along well. The tax cuts, the stock market booming you have wages picking up in the country, unemployment is low. Yet, you have the political track where he is in trouble, clearly according to the opinion polls. Democrats feel they have the wind in their sails going into the mid term elections. How long can the tracks carry on going on different speeds . There will be a collision or will the president defy history as he has done up until now . We will find that out next year. Fascinating year. An interpreter, who visited ten downing street injuly, has been arrested in ukraine on suspicion of spying for russia. The man in the middle here with the glasses is stanislav yezhov. He was arrested yesterday on charges of treason. Here he is again during a meeting in 2016 with the former Vice President joe biden and ukraines newly elected Prime Minister. Earlier today, during her visit to poland, theresa may was asked whether she was aware. Im aware of the reports in relation to the ukrainian individual who attended downing street earlier in the summer. The action thats been taken is a matter for the ukrainian authorities. Lets speak to our ukraine correspondent, jonah fisher. Highly embarrassing for the ukrainians. He is feeding them directly what is being discussed . Hes been sitting in on all the key meetings with which the ukrainian Prime Minister has been holding for the last several years when he has travelled internationally. We have been able to look through some of the past photos. In the official photos you can see in the corner of the screen or in the background somewhere the additional staff who are taking around. He keeps popping up are taking around. He keeps popping up in different photographs. You mentioned joe biden when he was with the ukrainian Prime Minister when he we nt the ukrainian Prime Minister when he went to london this july. Several other pictures of lesser known world leaders. He would have sat in on sensitive discussions. If we take at face value what the ukrainians are saying he was feeding the information he gained back to russia. The russians were being kept briefed on those interesting and sensitive conversations. Thank you very much. I love this story. Imagine what happens to keep the spies out. Checking the lightbulbs, make sure there is no listening devices. There he is in plain sight. Likejohnny english, devices. There he is in plain sight. Like johnny english, he devices. There he is in plain sight. Likejohnny english, he went to russia on a holiday in 2016 and came back with loads of expensive kit and no one noticed and feeding back ever since. He had a russian wife. You would think there would be red flags. We like it because its like Old Fashioned espionage. Who knows what serious secrets he was passing on. I bet they are going through all the records to see what was discussed. Anyway. During the election campaign, donald trump said he wanted to stop sending aid to countries that hate us. Now he seems close to putting that idea into practice. Today, the Un General Assembly voted in favour of a resolution calling on america to abandon its plan to recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel. 128 countries voted against mr trumps new policy, only Nine Countries voted with america. 35 abstained. Heres the un ambassador, nikki haley, just before the vote. 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. We will remember it when were called upon to once again make the Worlds Largest contribution to the United Nations, and we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. Before the vote, the Palestinian Foreign minister riyad al maliki, urged Member States to reject blackmail and intimidation. Translation we meet today, not because of any animosity towards the United States of america, but because of its decision which constitutes an aggression on the genuine and natural right of the Palestinian People to the city of Al Quds Al Sharif and the arab nation and all the muslims and christians of the world. Lets get more from our correspondent, nada tawfik, who is at the United Nations in new york. We had the turkish president erdogan saying that he hopes america rescinds the decision in the light of this vote to recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel. Thats not going to happen, is it . No, absolutely not. What is interesting, when you speak to us officials, they are actually trying to push it was a success are actually trying to push it was a success for the United States. They said the threat has worked. They said the threat has worked. They point to the 35 countries who abstained, far more than anticipated and the 21 countries who didnt even show up. Among them ukraine. Who re ce ntly show up. Among them ukraine. Who recently signed an arms deal with the United States. So they are looking at it saying look at past resolutions critical of