Backed forces a city left in ruins and riddled with mines and booby traps but how damaged is isis after this long its also coming up they fought together against isis and now they may be fighting against each other iraqi forces are pushing ahead with an offensive to retake areas controlled by the kurds the u. N. And the United States tonight are appealing for calm on both sides and it fresh protests erupt in the catalog capital barcelona the Regional Government there says it will define madrid and it is refusing to drop its bid for independence. Plus calls for justice growing louder in malta following the murder of anticorruption journalist daphne demonstrators take to the streets to pressure the maltese government. And it from great hope to great misery south sudan is one of the worlds newest states but today millions of the. People there are reliant on food aid we have a special report tonight on one womans struggle to survive and feed her family. Im bring coffee its good to have you with us tonight residents in the syrian city of raka are bringing to a close their first day free from the rule of socalled Islamic State the syrian city was the capital of the Islamist Groups oppose it caliphate the u. S. Backed forces took control of almost all of the city today troops fighting i. D. s say they have captured one of the militants last holdouts the citys hospital which you see right there but there are still pockets of resistance in the city one of them is reported to be a stadium complex in rocka which was used by ins as a prison and an arms dump and dozens of fighters have made their west stand there and once the seat of his law makes states power the long fight for rocca has left all of this city in ruins. A five month battle is over for the Syrian Kurdish and arab fighters backed by the United States they killed dozens of i asked militants in their final push rocka is now a shell of a city. Theres nothing left where near the end we havent seen any i asked militants we havent seen any of them near the stadium either i think the city will be fully clear of them in the next two days which once all of the i asked militants are gone from syria ill go home. I asked took control of rocca in early twenty fourteen and made it the capital of its selfstyled caliph that. The militants imposed a strict interpretation of islamic law and used extreme means such as beheadings and torture to quash those who oppose the rule it became home to thousands of jihadists from across the globe after a call by us leader of a blackout baghdadi to migrate to the syrian city however in recent months the socalled Islamic State has steadily lost territory in syria and iraq. The fall of rocca is a major blow to the militant group but the extremists still controlled territory in neighboring regions on the iraqi side of the border. A long road lies ahead to heal wounds and rebuild the ruined city of raca the spite these fighters celebrations. And how long will those celebrations last for more now we want to cross over to journalist of weather here for the Building Block he joins us from kabbani in Northern Syria good evening to you so weve got the liberation of iraq today does that mean that the back of Islamic State has finally been broken. Because of course because rock out of the covers off isis in syria i thought the isis wives that are now satisfied advice in this that its got lots of isis they would have given them victory but now isis is sort of defeated aka of course there are still some isis pockets left in there or the fight is largely over and more in syria so the fight is over but the people remain particularly the residents in iraq and around the city how much support from area residents is still there for isis do we know well i dont think there are many people that supported isis in iraq are there were people bought that for their salaries because there are not many jobs that join isis i dont know the support but its very low and now that isis is defeated especially nobody will support it like at least not many people because it was the foreign fighters actually in isis that were fighting the lawless the now the syrian isis fighters and now that the city is fall in the military campaign is over what has to be done politically now to re store some semblance of civility to the wall of the u. S. The u. S. Coalition u. S. Aid the rockets again in council theyre working on a plan for the construction of rocca that divided an eight acres direct for reconstruction but the problem is the money mine so first that to be the mining clearing all the rubble and then theyre going to start on working repairing the telecommunications thats where the water electricity. But i dont think the whole set of be easily reconstructed because the damage is too large but at least a lot their activity will be back soon and what are you hearing let amir in terms of where the fight against isis goes from here whats the next objective the next city for example that antis. Forces will be targeting. Well theres a very strategic city of. Iraqi border so the Syrian Regime wants to go there and that by america wants to go there as a sort of a race or a competition between both sides or to study so theyre still fighting and that theres more problems against isis by the regime than by. All right journalist vladimir borg joining us tonight from Northern Syria talking about the fall of the isis capital rocco let me thank you very much or now to syrias neighbor iraq and a nother military flashpoint thats where Government Forces say they have taken control of all Major Oil Fields in the disputed north of the country now this follows fast on the heels of their capture of the kurdish held city of kirkuk. Celebrations in cant push as iraqi forces ruling. Supporters of the iraqi Central Government could contain their joy oh as thousands of kurdish residents fled the city ahead of the advance. Im sure you were heading to where bill because the situation is getting worse the iraqi troops are ventured and theres no way we could stay one up on. Our children are terrified we would afraid that there would be clashes and mortar rounds would have us thats what im worried about. Cant cook an oil rich province claimed by both kurds and the Iraqi Government had been under kurdish control since iraqi forces fled when the slimy militants swept through the region in twenty fourteen now its back into the control of the Iraqi Government the advance comes three weeks after residents in the kurdistan region and also here in kirkuk voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence in a controversial referendum. Kiddish leaders see the seizure of cant cook amounts to a declaration of war. Now heres some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world tonight philippine president do tear tests has declared while we city liberated from terrorists he visited the Southern City one day after the last two islamist leaders there were killed and military leaders say that the battle is still ongoing as they search the ruins for remaining pockets of militants the taliban militants in afghanistan have carried out a suicide car bombing attack on a provincial Police Headquarters its an attack that killed at least thirty three people it was part of a series of attacks against Police Across the country that have left at least Seventy Eight people dead hundreds wounded u. S. President donald trump says third attempt to ban travel from several countries has been blocked by a federal judge in hawaii hours before it was set to go into effect the judge said trans ordered discriminated based on nationality and failed to show that people coming from the listed countries would be quote detrimental to u. S. Interests. Portugal has declared three days of National Mourning after at least forty one people died in forest fires in the countrys north and Center Firefighters have now brought most of the five hundred blaze is under control the government says the fire is the worst in more than a decade were caused by higher than average temperatures and dropped. Catalonia Regional Government has said that madrid is quote choosing repression over dialogue that after spanish authorities jailed leaders of the quetta long separatist movement in any sedition investigation around two hundred thousand protesters took to the streets of barcelona calling for their release the Spanish Government warned catalonia that it must revoke its declaration of independence or face direct rule from madrid but they kept a long government Spokesman Says that the autonomous region will stand by its decision. Or for now we want to go to los rambus in barcelona thats where our correspondent Barbara Faisal is following developments for us tonight good evening to you barbara so the arrest of these two separatist leaders it has really inflamed the situation there hasnt. Really because its been relatively quiet throughout the house and it was like a standoff situation every side was looking at the other and waiting what they would be doing however after the high court in madrid decided those two independents leaders. Really boiled out and of course the Independence Movements the spokesperson people are trying everything to release the fire they announced that there will be more demonstrations in the days to come this is the first one it was entirely peaceful some tense wasnt behind. It cannot stand being at liberty and free and free they call these two thats the two leaders that are now in jail however and we will see the showdown on thursday when the decision will fall whether madrid will impose direct rule over cuts alone you are not yet and that is the big question and if you consider what were seeing tonight knowing that this new deadline is basically what forty eight hours away i mean it looks like this crunch time the next two days its already been decided to be would you agree with that is the kettle on president is he going to back down. Absolutely not what we see here is like two trains racing towards each other and it is going to end in a big political crash because the both the Regional Government and of course. In madrid has done have ducked themselves in they cannot bunch and they would definitely totally lose face if they dont turn around and say ok we didnt really mean anything bad you know lets sit down on talks the time for that is past i think this is not going to happen and well see the final showdown on thursday and this is the biggest political crisis that spain has seen in decades i think you have to go back to the early one nine hundred eighty s. To find something this severe youve been talking to a lot of people gauging public sentiment do you think this crisis has the potential of spilling over into civil unrest. If we dont know this so far as the Independence Movement all the stresses that we are completely peaceful we want negotiations we want independence and if on thursday after ten oclock after the deadline runs out if madrid then sends in the state police if they maybe even send in troops and troops already in the harbor you also known then things could really get nasty very quickly because emotions are running high here and people feel that really something bad has been done to them they say you know spain is losing its Democratic Values since those two independence leaders are in jail and so nothing can be said at the moment that this will really stay quiet for those who are funded barbara vanes all joining us tonight in barcelona reporting on renewed volatility there between catalonia and the Spanish Government barbara thank you very much. And there crisis over catalonia weighing on the spanish economy doing the right brand its a tired old phrase that businesses dont like uncertainty but it is absolutely true of course catalonia has bid for independence will have an impact on Economic Growth across the whole country next year thats according to the Spanish Government and in catalonia itself tourism activity is already down fifteen percent consumers and businesses alike are looking for a quick resolution but both sides of the political divide are holding firm. This was the scene outside the headquarters of the Catalan Government on monday nice protesters expressing their outrage over the arrest of two pro separatist leaders its only the latest twist in a battle of wills between madrid and barcelona and the political turmoil is swiftly translating into Economic Uncertainty the crisis over catalonia his quest for independence has prompted the Spanish Government to lower its growth forecast for next year from two point six percent to two point three percent the move comes after economists raise concern over the potential fallout of the crisis last week. That were seeing agencies have warned of the uncertain political and Economic Situation could affect the castle and Economy Companies continue to leave the result could be a recession that would undoubtedly affect the growth of g. D. P. In an effort for the article that a good thing into the built into the root of growth separatists have long maintained that catalonia would prosper without financial obligation to spain but since the crisis broke companies have been leaving the region in their droves the two biggest banks have already moved their headquarters elsewhere and hundreds of Smaller Companies have packed their bags to accounting for over a fifth of the national g. D. P. What happens to catalonia as economy happens to spain as a whole. Now after talks are set to continue with the twenty eight thing the negotiators on the trade deal between the us canada and mexico say there are so still significant gaps left to fill the talks were supposed to conclude this year and of course its not just the three countries that are affected many foreign firms are hoping a deal is reached as soon as possible. Its business as usual here while these workers are carrying on as normal the uncertainty is high no one here knows whether the u. S. Will impose import tariffs on german cars that are produced in mexico the u. S. Canada and mexico are still renegotiating the north American Free trade agreement nuff them in the latest round of talks the u. S. Has demanded that nothing is renegotiated every five years. In prison some for the most efficient isnt acceptable for mexicans isnt providing a perspectival investment security for Foreign Companies that naturally make plans for a longer period of time than a five year cycles when he came from. But other latin american economies arent as dependent on the usa as mexico and america south america stronger trade relations with china and the e. U. Than the us and were speaking of investments for instance most of the Foreign Investments and the result from the e. U. You know up with the opportunities for European Companies in other countries also immense the colombian economy is once again growing at more than two percent and tally new dollars for investment opening up following the Peace Agreement between the government and the fark rebels butin tourism and infrastructure or in the Renewable Energy sector. Why then many opportunities in latin america they also several risks the Peace Process in court on media is far from over the situation in venezuela is extremely unstable and corruption continues to be a widespread problem especially in brazil that anyone looking to invest in the region needs to close and examine where the money is going. To head over to wall street now not long after trading got underway today the Dow Jones Industrial average briefly broke through the twenty three thousand point mark the first time in its one hundred thirty two year history and i feel like dow records are coming faster than ever thats because they all in the past year the dow jones says rocketed almost thirty percent smashing several thousand point milestones along the way. Thank you and yes quarter is at the New York Stock Exchange forced against what exactly has lit that fire under the dow recently well an epic rally that sold Morgan Stanley called the dead it is already the fifty thousand point mark that the Dow Jones Industrial average crossed for the First Time Ever since the president ial election one of the reasons why the market is trading upwards is there to right now we are experiencing the fifth consecutive quarter of the u. S. Companies actually see an increase in profits overall the economy is doing rather well and then there are still those promises that there might be a rest less regulation for Financial Institutions that we might see tax cuts at some points or so there are some fundamental reasons and there is also a little bit of hope what the administration might bring why we saw this or why w