Transcripts For ALJAZ NEWSHOUR 20171218

This is al jazeera. Hello again im peter w. Watching the news hour live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes cheney Sebastian Pinera is set to return to the presidency after a decisive win in sundays vote. From the middle east to indonesia protesters denounce the u. S. Recognition of jerusalem as israels capital with the resolution against them taking shape at the u. N. A power cards of the worlds Busiest Airport in atlanta causes widespread transport disruption. Also this hour in india the Prime Ministers home state gets ready to declare results up to a crucial election. Ok lets get going chiles billionaire former president will return to the top job after easily winning sundays Runoff Election electoral Officials Say sebastian pin yetta got more than fifty four percent of the vote beating his center left rival senator alexander. Payne yet his margin of victory was wider than expected opinion polls that forecast a tight race the president elect called for unity. These are going to see. One thing that brings us together and stronger than Everything Else is the love that surely will to give the best of all cells so that every single especially the most vulnerable of children in the middle class live a happier and fuller life. Latin america is a lucy and human joins us live from the chilean capital sun tiago you see it does this mean a move to the right. Yes absolutely peter theres no doubt stamping it out is not just a billionaire and a conservative businessman but hes also backed by people who are even more conservative it is a return to the right but he has been forced to adjust his program in recent weeks to bring it a little bit more to the center to try to encompass some of the promises that his rival of the year made to the chilean people and that is to continue to strive for Free Education Better Health care better pensions some of the priorities for the chilean people just whether he will keep that promise now that he has won is another matter interestingly enough he does not have a majority in the legislature he knows that so apart from sounding. Calling for National Unity he want to step further he has called on the all of these other president s all of them are from the center left to help them to give him advice in what he calls coming up with solutions for the chilean problems and to bring about a kind of a National Accord or agreement clearly knowing that hes going to have a hard time when he finally goes back to the presidency trying to pass Legislation Health care pensions that sounds pretty expensive to his psalms does the arithmetic for him. Hes not promising to be as generous as the center left handed it had promised to do it hes not calling for a public and total Free Education and pensions and health care but he is calling for a mix he says competition will basically do the trick it also says that he will be able to spur Economic Growth and he knows how to do that and that that will help finance a better standard of living in general for chileans with better jobs and more jobs and he promised to do that last time peter he says now hes learned his lesson so well have to see whether this really will be the case the case the second time round political upheaval in several neighboring countries over the last year several elections around the corner in the coming twelve months so what does this say about the trajectory of politics in latin america. Well it definitely shows that it is swinging more and more to the right or more often to the right i wouldnt cause they were stamping out of the most conservative in this new wave this new conservative wave i just mentioned in the region we for example in argentina and in brazil at this very moment theyre trying to bring about reform to really to make it more difficult to reduce Peoples Pensions while in chile and have a stamping it out whether he likes it or not its having to promise a better deal for most people otherwise they may be back out on the streets as they were when he was the president the last time is there any one big assume your mind lucier for him that might is his honeymoon period that time of maybe even one hundred days thats generally what people go to to see yes hes being a success or perhaps no hes not. If he is not able to show that he really means it when he says that chileans are going to get a better deal in health and education of the source and try to roll back on some of the reforms the president he said by chile has been implementing which are very popular not that necessarily the way that they were and they were done but they are popular and some would say she did too little too late if he tries to roll back on that he will have a lot of trouble understood well see you many thanks. Protests have once again taken place in several countries against the us decision to recognize jerusalem as the israeli capital the move was widely condemned because East Jerusalem is palestinian territory illegally occupied by israel aljazeera as an assessor going to reports now from the protests in the turkish capital ankara. The turks have always been passionate about the palestinian cause despite the chill protesters spent three hours listening to music and speeches they waved turkish and palestinian flags and a fair amount of antiamerican signs using all of this is im going to take is a majority Muslim Country that acts unified and should lead in the muslim world if muslims are united im hopeful that your person in problem will be solved it. Since u. S. President donald trump broke with decades of american policy and recognize to resume as the capital of israel the turkish street has been vocal and president read. And has emerged as a potent advocate for palestinians hes pushing for leaders to take their condemnation and transform it into action. Murder one is taking on this case now behind Security Council where he says he hopes to quote an old transit decision its unlikely hell get much traction given that the United States holds a veto power but he says barring success there hell move on to the u. N. General assembly its clear turkey plans on continuing to persist and highlighted this issue only to go to the old age. I am actually very glad of the trumpets a ruthless decision as it says to unite the muslim world and get them into action. In the most populous Muslim Country an estimated eighty thousand indonesians marched to the American Embassy in jakarta muslim clerics are calling for a boycott of american and israeli products. Until truck reverses his decision saying in a semicircle window i want all muslims to unite and to urge the president of america to reconsider his decision for the good of all of humanity oh god thats unlikely considering that trump says this is a recognition of reality and its in the best interests of the us in the Israeli Palestinian Peace Process but protesters dont see it that way in karachi thousands showed up for what was called the holy city million march almost two weeks after trumps announcement people continue to show their solidarity for palestinians and in doing so have also provide global attention to their plight latasha going to aljazeera. Ask the times you mentioned the un Security Council votes on monday on a new draft resolution submitted by egypt calling for the u. S. Recognition of jerusalem to be withdrawn the egyptian resolution affirms quotes that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character status or demographic composition of the holy city of jerusalem have no legal effect on the loan void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council well for more on that mike hanna now from new york. The draft resolution being circulated in the United Nations has been drawn up by egypt with input from other parties it would appear now the resolution may change in form or shape before its actually voted upon probably in the scumming day however the resolution as it stands at the moment does not mention the us by name i understand that various parties such as the United Kingdom and indeed egypt wanted to try and keep the language as neutral as possible in an attempt possibly vain to keep the u. S. From exercising its veto within the Security Council the resolution as it stands at the moment is actually a restatement of the uns position on jerusalem as outlined through decades of Security Council and general assemblies a resolution the most recent being in november this year in which the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to declare any unilateral acts in jerusalem as null and void that phrase null and void is contained in the current draft resolution the draft resolution calls on all states to refrain from establishing Diplomatic Missions within jerusalem i understand the palestinians somewhat angered they didnt want to single out the u. S. By name however it appears from this draft resolution that egypt and the u. K. Have had their way too in attempt to avoid the u. S. Veto however it would appear that that vetoes likely to happen with israels enthusiastic backing which describes the resolution as a palestinian attempt to reinvent history despite the fact that it is rooted on u. N. Resolutions as they stand at present but palestinians making very clear that should the u. S. Veto this resolution in the Security Council they will attend to have it introduced in the General Assembly where theres nobody to at play. Eleven women have reportedly been killed after airstrikes hit a wedding procession east of the yemeni capital sanaa who the Officials Say the strikes launched by the Saudi Led Coalition killed people as they walked in a village in moree province there are reports the bride was among the victims its a tradition in rural yemen for the brides friends and relatives to a squatter to the wedding ceremony. Egypt has ordered al jazeera journalist Mahmud Hussein to remain in prison for another forty five days he was arrested in egypt almost a year ago while visiting family its now the tenth time his detention has been renewed aljazeera continues to demand his release hes accused of broadcasting false news to spread chaos which he and al jazeera strongly deny mahmud has repeatedly complained of mistreatment in jail thousands of libyans have taken part in rallies across the country in support of the renegade general hundred five top and theyre calling on him to take charge of the country after he claimed a un backed mandate expired on sunday however the u. N. Maintains its mandate for the Libyan Government of National Accord remains in effect until a new one is introduced libya has remained divided between the internationally recognized government in tripoli and rival administration backed by have to in the east. The seventeenth of december has arrived at. The end of what is this socalled shook your agreement therefore all institutions created by this agreement are void. These institutions have not obtained full legitimacy since the first day they started working and as of today libyans feel that they have all lost patience and that the promised period of peace and stability has become a far away dream. Of our cars of the worlds Busiest Airport has left thousands of passengers stranded now the outage hit at length as Hartsfield Jackson airport and theres been severe disruption to flights what caused the power failure is now subject of a big investigation and joining us now is our correspondent following that story diana estabrook how close are they to finding out what actually caused this. I dont know that theyre that close to figuring out what caused it they know that this was a fire that started in an underground facility but they dont know what caused the fire and Georgia Power said it had redundancies in place so this really should not have happened so its really a question of how something this catastrophic could have brought the Worlds Largest Busiest Airport to to a complete standstill for several hours now the Georgia Power says it has restored power to the International Terminal it hopes to have power restored to the rest of the terminal by midnight so in about three hours the f. A. A. The federal Aviation Administration called a ground stop so flights that were on the ground in atlanta had to stay put flights and other destinations around the u. S. That were headed to atlanta had to Stay Grounded as well now that we do know that there were a number of flights that were in route from International Destinations that were rerouted to other airports here in the u. S. Now the f. A. A. Says its going to be keeping a normal staffing in the control tower in atlanta through the night so once power is restored those flights can resume now about six hundred fifty flights were canceled in and out of atlanta today there were about three hundred fifty that were delayed about two thirds of those that were canceled were Delta Airline flights because that is its primary hub United Airlines American Airlines and Southwest Airlines say they have suspended flights for the remainder of the day so once power gets restored it could still take a couple of days to get all these passengers where they need to be whats the advice from the airlines to passengers who might be bunny hoping their way through it lands in the coming what twenty four hours or so. Yeah well there it is there some people are being booked some airlines have been booking people past some of their passengers and hotels call the airport to find out what the status is it could again be a couple of days before everybody gets to the destination then they need to get to. Leave it there many thanks plenty more ahead here on the news hour including a backlash on jerusalem a controversial tax bill and the rusher and best occasion of a busy week even by trump standards a look at the u. S. President s political ups and. Also ahead the spanish Prime Minister makes a Rare Campaign stop in catalonia ahead of thursdays regional polls there. And the new record for round the World Sailing sam is here to tell who did it and how they did it in sports games in thirty minutes. Vote counting is about to begin in the home state of the indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi moodys ruling b. G. P. Has controlled the Western Region of goods that are out for twenty two years but many analysts say that this time around its faced a tough challenge from the Opposition Congress Party Congress has highlighted allegations of corruption against local b. G. P. Leaders it also campaigned on Economic Issues such as the introduction of a new goods and services tax but exit polls conducted just after the election still suggest a win for mr modis party Sagarika Ghose is a journalist and also she joins us now from the capital new delhi on skype why has the decibel level in the campaign been so high and at times vitriolic. Well you know this is a very important christines battle this is a gender setting election its a direction setting election its a dawn setting election in just the state election but its a highly silly and election this is the Prime Minister night and all of these homes it was chief minister here for three times hes a highly popular good rocky leader so for him a possible loss in this would be a terrible loss of prestige and a terrible loss of face particularly as you mentioned the policy initiatives of the g. S. T. Tax the democratization which was the stoppage of gardens you know as these have hit the Business Community very very badly and would you argue is a state of Small Businesses it is a state dont want to pronounce so if he loses in the state it would be if hums dahlan from the Business Community which he cannot afford to do he simply cannot afford to lose and were not because he needs to show that its popularity is still intact and were out of the Business Community is recovering from you know what we call the twin glows of modernization and so a victory is very important for mr know in the movie which is why we have seen the campaign become so shot up so on are eyes that are desperate and you know were really quite toxic because insiders have been hollowed out on both sides very unprecedented accusations have been made against the previous dispensation mr modi has gone so far as to accuse the previous Prime Minister of the party of treason of plotting with the caucus not to actually. Influence the drought the elections the Congress Party put it its thought has for a very energetic campaign it was the rallies on the it was just dumb because it and the rest one point though just. To i do want to go. One point what does this tell us about mr modi as a political survival because there was one point in the campaign where somebody leveled a quite disruptive accusation at him he absorbed that turned it round and used that to his political advantage because he was basically accused of being low cost and he he kind of inverted that and said well thats a plus thats not a minus. Well he wasnt accused of being low cost he was accused of being a little you know it was neat which he calms you meant politician that he is you know full minute of good Relentless Campaign of you dont do the word low into low cost low cost as you know always very very politically ralitsa either and you know if you call someone a low cost youre actually insulting them. And youre actively giving them a big political advantage so in fact that what he was was neat which means low when he twisted it to to actually make it look last so you know miserable he has revealed himself as a. Tireless woman of the young man up you know hes a conduit politician he has his thoughts on the people and hes basically a twenty four by seven three sixty five day is a young politician you know the accusation has been made that hes more of a party walker than he is a Prime Minister but hes thrown himself into this hes shown enormous energy and was a comment that was made by an Opposition Leader out of a misguided unthought out comment was very explosively you used by the Prime Minister to emotionally lie people make kathleen very. Very personally emotionally you know hes going to die but these subliminal message are you going to betray me im here i am this other draw than i you know orders that will drop going to get dreamy are you going to let me go out. Of broccoli to. Make those i think were thinking losing the sky plan to you so it will draw a conversation to a close but thank you so much for joining us here on the news hour. U. S. President donald trump says he has no plans to fire the man looking into alleged russian meddling in last years u. S. Elections despite republican attacks on the credibility of the investigation a lawyer in Trumps White House Transitional Team earlier accuse the special counsel Robert Mullers team of unlawfully obtaining thousands of emails relating to the issue a spokesman for the emails were obtained through the appropriate criminal process now here is what mr trump has been saying. That would be. Quite sad to see that people were very upset about it. I cant imagine theres anything i want to frankly because as we said you know the you know the region whatsoever that. A lot of lawyers thought that. Pretty said. The russian president has thanked donald trump for an intelligence tip off from the cia now its believed to a four year old in iceland spied suicides and copy cats and cathedral in St Petersburg on saturday the kremlin said loving it putin told mr trump on the phone that he would repay the favor i spoke about this earlier to Bill Schneider hes a professor of Public Policy at the George Mason University i started first by asking him about the motivations behind the trump teams attacks on mr miller. Because theyre afraid of what he might come up with that he actually might make charges conceivably criminal charges against the president for obstruction of justice no one knows no one knows where this investigation is going but theyre trying to discredit him in order to preempt whatever he comes up with is not the coffee boy is he he is a legally constituted special counsel if at some point in the future somebody decides trying to deal with just some eyes him is a criminal slash political offense might there then be say another inquiry or serious questions being asked at least absolutely and probably that would come before congress youve got to remember the Robert Mueller is a special counsel hes not an independent counsel as a special counsel he can be fired by the president the president requested that the Justice Department appoint an independent sorry a special counsel and he really does serve at the pleasure of the president but if trump what to do that if he were to dismiss Robert Mueller which he can do legally there would be a political firestorm unbelievable in the United States and despite what mr trumps just been saying people in the states they understandably perhaps put obsessive lee interested in the tax cut story thats going on in the u. S. Just now nobodys talking about the pretty much global protests against what mr trump has said and done with jerusalem thats not a very hot issue in the United States he did it is apparently a political payoff to not to Jewish Voters they did not support him but to evangelical christian voters for whom jerusalem is a very high priority item they make up a much larger proportion of the electorate and they voted solidly for mr trump but whats happening now is the top issue is the tax proposal that seems to to be about to pass the United States congress and will go into effect its a very complicated proposal its not actually very popular its got a lot of people worried about whats going to happen to them and. The test is going to be what happens to the economy as a result of this tax proposal of this tax law being passed when those Republican People who are going to vote for the go home its the holidays the Christmas Season is just around the corner i mean the reality is that not will not for twenty five years has one republican politician ever vote seat against this kind of proposal so its a done deal surely it is a done deal well tax cuts in taxes are what defines a republican today its more or less what civil rights laws are for democrats the civil rights law comes opposite and his proposed democrats cant resist it but the reality of this is ministration is that theyre being a little bit economical with the actuality here because theyre not doing even george w. Said this when he got in and brought in tax cuts he said look we will have tax cuts but we have to i think the expression is sunsetting there will be a sunset and your tax bills will go up again but this white house is not saying that no its not and some of these tax cuts are in fact temporary but theyre counting on something theyre counting on the fact that once people have got any kind of a tax cut it will be politically impossible to raise taxes they know that the bush tax cuts were supposed to last ten years and guess what they were for most people sustain just the very wealthy had them go back up again. To get rid of a tax cut is politically greenly difficult i republicans know it Bill Schneider talking to us earlier u. S. President donald trump will also unveil his National Security strategy later on tuesday he is expected to take aim at americas geopolitical rivals and identify key global challenges tameka now from washington thank you very much but. From the outset donald trump is focused on undoing all redirecting his predecessors priorities on the world stage but his rhetoric hasnt yet been matched by measurable change generally hes followed the same policies he made. Have wanted to radically change our policy toward russia but hes been unable to do that. In his National Security message mandated by Congress Trump is expected to brand both russia and china as quote revisionist powers whom america must recognize as adversaries despite drums unwillingness to say a bad word about Vladimir Putin i feel that having russia in a friendly posture as opposed to always fighting with them is an asset to the world hes grudgingly approved added sanctions against russia which obama launched to retaliate for the reported cyber intrusions into the american electoral process since taking office trump has softened his campaign language about china which he did cues to economically abusing the u. S. We cant continue to allow china to rape our country. The president has escalated his verbal bluster and shows of military muscle in response to north koreas mounting nuclear threats. But a clear course of action has been muddied by friction between the white house and secretary of state Rex Tillerson a few days after he suggested talking to the pyongyang government quote without preconditions tillerson fell back in line with the administrations tougher tone our Communication Channels remain open north korea knows theyre open. They know where the door is they know where to walk through that door when they want to talk. After claiming much of the credit for ousting eisel from its strongholds white house National Security adviser ager mcmaster promised the u. S. Would prevent a fractured iraq from turning into an iranian client state we are committed to want to Work Together with courage leadership iraqi leadership mediate as best we can and to also limit the destabilizing influence of of others in the region but the administration has deferred action on its threat to abandon the Iran Nuclear Deal at the risk of isolation from americas western partners to the agreement yet trump has reversed course on one of obamas prime National Security concerns Climate Change this despite the pentagons judgment that over time Global Warming will destabilize more governments and societies with unforeseen consequences tom ackerman aljazeera washington still ahead here on the news for you the two contenders hoping to succeed jacob zuma as the a and seize the to decide on a new leader plus a dramatic return to the slopes for one of the champion details coming up with santa in about twenty. Three tranquil arabian can you. Can feel intense and if any should go into. Welcome back as we look at the weather across central southern parts of china and taiwan is all looking pretty good here at the moment further towards the south weve got a circulation a low pressure tropical depression it gives some heavy rain across the philippines and i think that circulation is close enough to manila to give the risk of further showers but also across this whole part of the world its looking fine hanoi there nineteen degrees right into twenty one choose day its looking good across los and through into me amar with highs of twenty eight in young gone rising to twenty eight is head on into tuesday and fine conditions across into bangladesh so lets head down into southeastern parts of asia well theres our tropical depression gradually moving away into the South China Sea its looking pretty wet across java and bali at the moment there are some showers up through them and a potential but jerry weather conditions for singapore in kuala lumpur not looking too bad and the fine weather extends across much of thailand through into cambodia and southern parts of vietnam though that may well change in the following couple of days heading across into south asia weve still got the threat of some showers coming back into sure lanka later on monday and into chews day across much of this region the weather conditions are looking fine will be it was some Early Morning mist and fold for lights of delhi there with highs of twenty one degrees as you head on through into tuesday plenty of cloud but it should remain dry. The weather sponsored by cats on race. This is a boon for point people right now and technology there is so much going to help people its phenomenal thanks for calling i read this is there and what are you looking like today we get to set that client with their day to day tasks and give them more and up and then send this feels like a tornado that sure is a tomato exploration process with the labeling in a way we have that Technology Available to us techno at this time on all jazeera besieged by Violent Crime and drugs. Confronted by reeses and integration now are now out just zero traces the history of fast generation lebanese australians exploring the conflicts. And the struggle for acceptance. Once upon a time in punchbowl and this time on al jazeera. Welcome back youre with aljazeera this is the news my names peter double your top stories Sebastian Pinera is set to return to chiles president ial palace all for a decisive win in sundays election runoff with almost all the votes counted the conservative billionaire has about fifty four percent a short time ago his center left opponent the former t. V. Presenter one hundred conceded defeat protests continuing across the world against the u. S. Decision to recognize jerusalem as israels capital was condemned because hes jerusalem is palestinian terror. Under illegal occupation by israel the un Security Council votes on monday on a resolution reaffirming that any decision to alter jerusalem status wont have any legal effect and the power of the worlds Busiest Airport has left thousands of passengers stranded the outage hit atlantas Hartsfield Jackson airport and theres been severe disruption to flights what caused the power failure is now on the inquiry. Ok lets get some more for you now on the election result in chile joining us here on the news are peter hakim is president of the into american dialogue which is a think tank on affairs in the western hemisphere he joins us on skype out of washington peter hakim how does he deliver on his election pledges. Well the question is how much chile will really change and there are setbacks in being in. You know one has to remember that the left has been in power in chile the center left the left for about twenty four out of the twenty eight years since the return of democracy the father for years was his term and frankly he made some changes but not any dramatic changes in the way business was carried out in chile there was some turn toward more free Market Economics but not dramatically so. The best guess is theres going to be a lot of continuity in chile. At a time when people are actually demanding more change so the question is will try to return to a chilly that. Or will he go along with. The kinds of change thats now being demanded there is a new more dramatic more radical left making those demands and. When its a good question but the expectation is that chile is the been the most successful country in latin america and will continue on its trajectory if we get a little bit granular of the opinion polls in the run up to the actual election was there a wakeup calls central message there from the electorate because a lot of people were saying look were not quite sure who were going to go full because thats where the opinion polls are so close point number one point number two they were saying were actually dissatisfied with every politician. Well i think that that is a problem not only in chile but in many countries of latin america and indeed the world and i think that at this point if in year manages to get the economy working better to begin to recover from a period of stagnation and begin to address a few other very Critical Issues like pension reform im not sure that. This is just a. Bad period in chile in politics and economics and but i think that its been you know quite a quite an opportunity and some ways to pull chile out of it there are elections in mexico brazil colombia and paraguayan all four countries going to the polls in twenty eighteen if youre a candidate in any one of those four nations whats the takeaway message for you looking in on this election. I think there are really two messages one is that politics have become more polarized you know almost across the board in latin america where in chile the center left combating the center right increasingly the extreme war extreme right next green left or taking over the center of the most centrist party the christian democrats virtually disappeared in this election garnering only about Seventy Eight percent of the vote. Once the major party of the country and i think youre seeing that in most of the countries that the middle is being pushed aside and were seeing a left right challenge to one another and i think that that makes it very hard to make any real predictions about the direction of the region and of individual countries but in the context of just chile for our next discussion point i mean is this just a pendulum that swinging and will go back the other way or is it a permanent shift do we think. Well i think that there is a hollowing out of the center is what i would call it. She has been yelling. Were both representatives one of the center left the other the center right but the pressures from the far left and the more extreme right were clearly their opinion and it was able to get coop. The support to bring together. The center right in that more extreme right. Apparently well see some of the analysis later on was not able to bring along and mobilize the. The more extreme left so i think the challenge is how does this work out so yes there was the centrist candidates in chile that that contest that it but there is a new. Certainly stronger extreme left and my guess is that will also begin to appear are more extreme right and were going to see a more polarized chilling Interesting Times peter king thank you you thank. South africas governing party the African National congress has started voting for a new leader to replace president jacob zuma the two front runners the Current Deputy president several ram opposer and zoomers exwife. Have been formally nominated as candidates in the vote whoever wins could become the countrys next president after elections in twenty nineteen but the battle for power has exposed deep divisions within a party thats lost public support in recent times the a. N. C. Says four thousand seven hundred seventy six delegates will vote in this secret ballot vote buying and intimidation have swayed leadership contests in the past after years of zuma rule soaring unemployment and corruption have left millions of poor black South Africans for straighted with the a. N. C. Deputy president rama poster who is a wealthy businessman is backed by the Business Community which believes he offers the best hope for the economy and see veteran and. Zuma is expected to live a more of the same shes seen as more likely to protect zuma from the seven hundred eighty three corruption and fraud charges against him tanya page now from johannesburg. All of the nominations for the top six positions in the African National congress have now been confirmed and as expected it is down to a two horse race between courses and id like meaning zuma who is the outgoing president jacob zuma as preferred candidate and would be the first woman president of the a. N. C. If she succeeds pitted against jacob zuma is defeated president so will. They had been expected to be one vote to elect the top six and the other members of the National Executive committee but they have decided to split the vote into there have already been long delays firstly because of legal action and see members who werent happy with the processes at the Grassroots Level taking meds challenges into the countrys courts and secondly here at the a. N. C. Elective conference they need to check all the credentials of all the delegates to decide who is and who isnt allowed to vote and thats led to the expulsion the disqualification of four hundred delegates delegates who are believed to have been in favor of let me zoom in so that may cost or if the race becomes really close in those final numbers are really tight the whole contest for the presidency is being framed as pitting a faction of reformers. Against the faction of patronage led by lebanese whom hes perceived to be a continuation of our current president jacob zuma style of leadership governance and politics who ever wins this hotly contested race for the presidency will have an enormous challenge to try and unite a deeply divided n. C. Top story in europe the spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has campaigned in the region of catalonia in the run up to a crucial vote on thursday which could determine the next stage of the session crisis his party stands little chance of winning the election but hopes a coalition of unionist parties could stop catalonia from breaking away from spain called pena as the story now from selling. With an awkward smile the spanish Prime Minister enters the political battleground Mariano Rajoy he was here to rouse loyalists from his Peoples Party in the fight against the catalan separatist movement going to feel as part of it thank you for defending spain thank you for defending the constitution thank you for defending the law according to opinion polls roys party has no chance of winning thursday snap the general election. The challenge is to form a majority bought with other anti secession parties and stop catalonia breaking away theres also a high possibility separatist parties could score a majority. There wouldnt be any problem if the independent parties fulfill the law and the constitution after the Spanish Government ruled catalonia is october referendum illegal or thora hes arrested keys secessionist leaders on charges of rebellion and dissolve the Catalan Parliament officials were carefully orchestrating the message allowing journalists only to record the arrival and departure at this point now event organizers are asking journalists and their cameras to leave the event from now on the speech will only be broadcast by official government cameras and official r. T. T. Owners. Party supporters like what they heard. We must win to get rid of these radicals from catalonia were fed up with these people we cant live with. Across the road a small group of protesters calling for the release of their jailed separatist leaders they describe as political prisoners. A night before in barcelona other activists rallied for the same demand. In the Festive Season is we have always protesting peacefully but they cheat us right up starts in terror thats why these leaders have been jailed. Was was the issue of Catalan Independence plunge spain into its worst political crisis since the end of the ship fourteen years ago whatever the outcome there seems little chance theres days election will help heal those deep political divisions penned whole salloum spain at least nine people have been killed after two suicide bombers attacked a church in the south west of pakistan gunman wearing explosive vests tried to storm the Christian Methodist Church in the city of quarter the police shot one of them dead while the other exploded his device on missile claimed responsibility for the attack come a high the now from islamabad. And their tag on a method to. Leave the number of people dead many more wounded now according to security forces. And because there was heavy guard president bill gardner the warship was. Now according to up to four hundred women and children and warship while president. However did want that timely action by the guard that killed at least one of the big eight. Close hauled however unable to penetrate. Gays and blew himself up so indeed a deadly attack once again on a dime ran across the country there was because of the Christmas Holiday and also the fact that there have been attack. Again shrines and mosque. Protesters are again venting their anger president. And government marches across the country nearly every week since August Nelson b. Is in nigeria chairing a summit for the beaches of the Economic Community of West African States protesters are angry that going political crisis is not on the summits agenda they want to step down the two term president ial limits to be introduced. There are about a Million People on the streets they want to get the message across to the west african heads of state at the summit in a budget talk i was the only country in the sub region that has no president ial term limit it has never experienced Democratic Free or Fair Elections since its independence in one nine hundred sixty six. The news of the demonstration clearly shows how to tending to take people out. They want to say loudly that back that up with a policy thats been in power for about fifty years serious and will not stop unless the regime steps down all they want to say is the president is no longer able to rule this country strong winds are fueling a wildfire in the u. S. State of california the socalled thomas fire is now the third biggest in the States History its been more than two hundred sixty seven thousand hectares thats the same area as new york city nearly eight thousand firefighters are battling the blaze which destroyed more than one thousand structures and threatened eighteen thousand more the Fire Department says its now forty percent contained. Earlier this week i referred to this fire is a beast and its a monster we all recognize that but we will kill it the team behind me the men and women out in the field i have no doubt they will take care of business and we will put this fire out. Still to come here. Well hear from. This Building International mission thats when we come back. The worlds cheapest from the killer railway has now opened in switzerland it took fourteen years to build its being hailed as a significant achievement for European Technology the futuristic looking train climbs seven hundred forty three meters up the mountain from streets in central switzerland to the Alpine Village of shops the barrel shaped carriages have special tilting floors so the passengers can stay upright even as they speed up gradients of nearly fifty degrees time for sports chances out. Thank you very much a friend sailor has smashed the world record for the fastest solo in navigation of the globe. Completed his round of the world journey and less than forty three days beating the previous set best by more than six days as peter stamets reports. The thirty four year old francois gabble was a man on a mission on november fourth the frenchman six sale as he aimed to navigate around the world faster than anyone had done before. The target was to beat the forty nine days and three hour was record set by spello countryman Thomas Coville last year he had to be back by december twenty third. Gave i would zip around the world in his high tech thirty meter sailboat a maxi tri mare and one of the most technically advanced yachts around from the starting point between wes on france and cold will england he would sail around and on and back. Along the way encountering rough seas and strong winds but he managed to find time along the journey to share updates on his twitter account and on sunday december seventeenth victoriously crossed the virtual finish line between northwest france and southwest england. And of course he tweeted about the two. Becomes the fourth world record holder for sailing around the globe solo do you think i was lucky i was successful maybe if i hadnt left on november for if i had left three hours later i couldnt have had that there was luck and success but once there was a good mission the south atlantic i had to keep it going hes mammoth journey last had forty two days sixteen hours forty minutes and fifty five seconds and because clearly he has little in the way of limitations instead of taking a wrist he is already talking about flying around the world in record time peter aljazeera by just saying i had one again a to close the gap to eleven points on top of the English Premier League and man city this time united it beat a west brom two one. And with the goals a manager says his team will continue fighting for the title every match you go every match we try we try to win because if you do that question it was and then you do the same question to the third and to the fourth to the feeds into the sixth you know probably they disappear probably they want they want to go on holidays we dont want to or not is we want to play until the basement is on those other imagine a liverpool a smashed up on the side of by four goals a nail theyre up to fourth right now and you can see they united trailing city by eleven points. Brazilian football legend kaka has called time on his career the matilda playmaker has been playing at Major League Soccer team at the Orlando Magic during a distinguished career he represented ac milan a real madrid he won the Champions League syria League Titles and with brazil he twice tasted success at the constellations cup he was also a young member of the squad that won the two thousand and two world cup lympics super g. Champion on a visit that has won her first world cup race in more than two years the twenty eight year old austrian who has been struggling with injury since two thousand and fifteen won by almost a half a second and the sale in france as she read out tina did a survey and its only sophia because she also didnt have lindsey vonn to contend with the four time World Champion pulled out of the race because of the soreness in her knee. Fellow austrian. Destroy the competition that to win the giant slalom by one point seven seconds out. Is a fifth year in a row hes won the race at the italian result this is her third cup race with of the season in the forty eighth of his career which puts him on track for a record extending seventh overall cup title in a row. The National Hockey league is officially one hundred years old the league celebrated by holding an outdoor game in the kid a capital auto and the city had hosted the leagues first ever game between the Montreal Canadiens and auto asenath as there were two of Six Foundation teams when the n. H. L. Was established and seventeen theyre now thirty one and they produced a repeat performance in the n. H. L. One hundred classic the senators and their fans survived a minus ten degrees temperatures of four winning three being but just being a whole lot of enthusiasm and when the fact to be this was so organized this is really really enjoyable i had never lived before washing on t. V. A few times but. At the ice level it was special it really was i think the n. H. L. Never buddy you know for a team in there in the city did an unbelievable job making this a real success at all levels. On the game show that canada is the home of hockey and the country plays host to more than one National Team lebanese side is based in montreal and the bidding for International Recognition daniella reports. Getting ready to hit the ice team lebanons players are all from canada where hockey is a National Passion more than a sport. This is a team that plays and practices to win the coaches studied the game closely and teaches them complex plays combining the speed and strength that hockey is known for just being behind a bench of the moment on already its. Its a dream come true. Every day i have to pinch myself and say this is what im doing then these years do you think you should. Tonight they face the philippines flyers another team of canadians with roots in a warmer climate most of the crowd supports lebanon and thats a good thing as play goes on lebanon scores again and again its a proud moment for people who remember a countrys troubled history a political different religious differences. Would put everything at the door and we just focus on playing hockey we just want to carry things out and progress as a unit the team has won all the games its played in canada so far but at an International Tournament in abu dabi last month lebanon lost tough matches to germany and bella reuss among others thats one reason theyre looking to canadian born players on u. S. University teams like carlisle mere who adds muscle and speed to an already fleet footed attack hes delighted to take some time to play for his ancestral land its a pride for me but i think when i see my dad his reaction of me playing for his country thats the best gift i can give my. Lebanons been completely dominant in this match but this is a young team that knows where it needs to improve as it carries the hopes and dreams of a community and the country on a childers daniel lac aljazeera montreal and thats all useful from well have more later on those more news for you on the web site is the twenty four seven aljazeera dot com is the address you need down jordan well keep you company in the coming hours i will see you the usual times tomorrow. My. Heart. And then reported on the. U. S. And British Companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped Natural Resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the youre. Just looking for your good ill talk about shooting people are not able to show them shells and theyre all the countries of managed to solve this problem but you worry that this conflict could erupt into an outright open war in the cities general securities where the people who pay the price clearly their writeup been prejudiced setting the stage for serious debate up front at this time on aljazeera. Aljazeera is Award Winning programs to take you on a journey around the globe and. Expose analyses. Its all about whos in charge who controls the resources and documentaries that will tell the neurons its a Technology Story its a business story its a social story and its a political story all wrapped into one its unpredictable television that truly inspired us only on aljazeera. Chiles Sebastian Pinera set to return to the presidency alfred decisive election