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 youre 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 regions 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 didnt Even Campaign together now cutlass puts them on the outgoing first minister of qatar the new who at the moment is in selfimposed 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 weve seen in recent weeks and the violence that weve just seen. It to see whether the push for independence has increased whether its remained stable or subsided because this is the biggest threat to spains 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 dont reach a deal then their actions will just have to be repeated so again. It looks like were 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 theyve 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. Its been a subtle action in a sense because its 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 theres a small small little party that is immediately in the middle of the two blocks. The United NationsGeneral Assembly hearing has wrapped up in new york after voting on whether to condemn americas 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 weve 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 were 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 dont expect those weve 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. Its 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 hes 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. Shouldnt put its embassy in jerusalem but this isnt 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 im 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 dont 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 whos actually been to mosul and who has seen what has happened to the city you can also argue that the death count that theyve 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 rockys 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 didnt have the resources to send investigators to look at every reported incident susi the press didnt 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 youve 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 havent heard of is the smell its new. Repulsive and its 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. Thats 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 peoples lives in Iraqi Kurdistan and suffered a fourth day of violence as mass antigovernment protests have continued in the northeast of the country five demonstrators have been killed just since monday. Im joined from more analysis now by middle east expert joins me sack good to have you all its a fourth day of horrific violence because if you dont about the number of deaths in just the last few days what would it take to and. Sure well thats quite an unfortunate turn of events we know how it started its 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 theyre very tired of not being paid the kurdistan Regional Government has done its best to pay as much as they can but its three months in a rears and take i think itll take some real. You know brinkmanship from the carriage from baghdad to bridge the divide it sounds like its a difficult situation if they are not paying because they havent 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 dont know seventy percent two thirds of what they needed but after t