an archaeology graduate from iraq he's also a part time going to billings pergamon museum which includes a reconstruction of the famous ishtar gate in most of the people he's showing around came to germany as refugees this is just one of several billion museums taking part in the project called meeting point and as well as bringing people together one of its aims is to emphasise the contribution of migrants right up to the present day to western culture. because i've been here for some time i can help them with lots of things that mrs ford to me the great thing is it's not just about museums about forming a new life is part of life it's culture. turkey launches a ground offensive against kurdish forces in syria the u.s. calls for restraint.

on them jim with all of this is sound as they were live from london also coming up to tell about attack on a hotel in kabul ends after sixteen hour gun battle eighteen people are killed. the tear gas and gunfire in kinshasa security forces killed six people taking part in an anti government protest. with the u.s. government shutdown for a second day republicans and democrats in the senate trade blame for the deadlock. the u.s. is calling for restraint from turkey in its operation against kurdish fighters in the northern syria its soldiers have entered the enclave of plane parts of an assault to drive out kurdish peoples protection units a y p g turkey's prime minister says the aim is to create a thirty kilometer safe zone stuff decca records from the turkey syria order. the

border echoes with the sounds of war turkey's offensive on africa is now well under way the ground operation started on sunday turkish soldiers supporting free syrian army fighters inside syria. turkish president brigitte type edging defiant as he addressed a large crowd in the city of course. this is a national struggle and then this national struggle will crush anyone who stands against us let this be known. it's been a week of rhetoric politicians promising that turkey was going to attack a free to rid of the y.p. g. kurdish fighters that i'm pro considers terrorists but they're also the u.s. is best ally on the ground in fighting i still regardless of international complications turkey is fully committed to this offensive we're on turkey's border with africa and throughout the day we've heard the sound of jets in the sky also intense artillery and machine gun fire outgoing from

a turkish base behind that mountain although why p.g. are extremely well trained they know the terrain in offering but turkey has superiority when it comes to the skies and that gives it a huge advantage. belligerence here heard the airstrikes late on saturday as turkey started its offensive and they are a little uneasy. or. although we are right next to the action with planes flying over our heads on the lot of shelling of course we are confident that at the end of the day anything can happen shells have already fallen in turkey so we are worried this could happen here. turkey says it will continue its operation until it's pushed the y. p.g. away from its borders no one knows how long that will take what the implications may be. stephanie decker al-jazeera on the turkey syria border. or fear as mark said is the a junks professor of a professor at george washington university he had lined the american position on

turkey's covered actions there's certainly a domestic component to all the rhetoric coming out of turkey and even here in washington there's an understanding of why president early one needs to conduct this military operation in fact i would go as far as saying and there there might be even a tacit acceptance that as long as turkish troops remain on the west bank of the euphrates river but washington might decide to look the other way and not come to the assistance of its kurdish allies on the ground now if turkey decides to cross the river to the east side that's a whole different story because that's where u.s. national interests are at stake i think washington after quite some time of president trump coming into office articulated a syria policy one that aims to preserve u.s. gains in syria the u.s. had been involved in trying to push isis out and now that they have they want to hold on to the territory that they and their allies have and also to try to put

some pressure on iran and syria financial pressure because the iranians spent up to fifty billion dollars a year in supporting the assad regime and that territory that the u.s. is holding on to is very rich in natural resources including oil there's the euphrates dam and there's also a very culturally rich land in that area so this is part of a broader geo political calculus for washington why they want to remain in that part of syria the taliban says it was behind an overnight attack on a luxury hotel in the afghan capital which killed at least eighteen people gunman still on the intercontinental hotel in kabul on saturday night targeting foreign as government officials jennifer glass reports now from kabul. explosions and gunfire lasted for hours as afghan special forces moved through the hotel guests trapped in their room who sheets and curtains to try to escape the attackers intent on bloodshed and murder were told to have known way out for the weekend there were

people and children inside the hotel rooms the attackers were knocking on the door ate room to reach their targets they killed ordinary people and officials they were taught that in foreigners especially hard. as the fighting intensified and grenades and gunshots echoed around the hotel some meal a high call could only wait for it to end his brother corey hussein was trapped inside and had stopped answering his phone to put up with when. he told me he locked himself in a room it's very difficult with a family member trapped inside it's tragic and painful profit some fortunate that these things happen it's not just set up many other people are trapped and i hope to see him and i hope this fighting in a country ends. on the roof of the hotel afghan soldiers signaled the end of the fighting by waving an afghan flag almost immediately i call her from his brother missy. but marjon was not as lucky a visiting cousin had jumped from

a hotel balcony she thought he was alive but couldn't find him in any hospital she says she looked all night before discovering who was doing. all i know it's difficult to be around afghanistan my cousin lived in holland for eight years and he came here for just a week and this tragic incident happened. as afghan forces and international advisers left the area officials headed into the hotel to assess the damage and look for casualties and survivors this is an attack that unfolded in the public eye live on t.v. and watched by hundreds on the streets the afghan president commended afghan security forces saying they'd done all they could to minimize the number of casual . please he wants an investigation into how the attackers got into the hotel the question also is how they did so with enough weapons for a sixteen hour siege jennifer glass al-jazeera. and the six people have been killed and several injured following clashes between police and protesters democratic

republic of congo the protests were organized by leaders of the catholic church who are angry at the delay of a presidential election president joseph kabila has final term expired in twenty sixteen catherine sawyer reports from the capital kinshasa. after a morning mass at the main catholic church in kinshasa washee players begin their latest protest march current twigs their rosaries and bibles they are angry that a charge broke a political deal between the ruling and opposition parties that could have seen a presidential election held last december has not been one that they did not go far police had blocked the road refusing to allow them to move forward and when the marches stood their ground this happened. police and presidential guard against stone throwing parties has several people were killed others injured some with gunshot wounds to the obviously we have the right to much we were following the

instructions. it was a piece of protest but the police would not let us. in the east of the country police gas inside this charge the service had just ended and the faithful are about to start their party list several people here also injured i know not all of that oh my god i don't respect people's rights. is even throwing tear gas into the church will not accept he must go his mandate is over. on new year's eve there was similar violent confrontations during demonstration a little bit. this isn't the beginning of the. remember the killed six people in december logically people should have been afraid but it's the country that is happening now this pressure is going to increase all of that stuff the government says the protests are equal charge he does and opposition politicians and ceased it

will not give up their demand for change. this road in the city has now been cleared by police by is still very very tense people here are very frustrated about the political situation and saying that they have lost confidence in the politicians in the political system and that's why they're looking more to the catholic church to provide guidance and leadership in this difficult political time . for the membership of close to half of the eighty million congolese population the catholic chart is hugely significant and many people hope it may be the catalyst that will finally see a free fair and credible election without president joseph kabila in the running catching saudi al-jazeera. with the u.s. government shutdown for a second day republicans and democrats in the senate have been trading blame for the deadlock publican majority leader mitch mcconnell said the democrats have been wrong to block a temporary funding bill but he said he didn't agree with president truong that the

senate will should be changed so a budget could pass with just a simple majority trump says the publican should use the so-called nuclear option if the stalemate continues and we all know in the front of the minority. the power available for our support right from after a traditional point of view but the question is when you use it. on friday the democratic leader made a huge schrödinger and destructive choice to filibuster our bipartisan bill and guarantee the american people a shutdown of their federal government americans know why the dysfunction is coming dysfunctional president hence we are in a trump shutdown and party leaders who won't act without him it is created the chaos and the gridlock we find ourselves in today it will really stems

from the president well my comment has been following developments that while there are of them pushing said so mike are there any developments as congress closer to finding a solution. well what you can hear there is a blame game continuing the senate leader blaming the democrats the minority leader chuck schumer blaming what he sees as a dysfunctional president now there was one bit of movement in the course of the day mcconnell and schumer was seen to be engaged in an animated conversation on the senate floor this is the first time they've publicly spoken since for last friday so certainly some were hoping that that showed some sign of a softening on one side or the other but there doesn't appear to have been much of that in subsequent passages within the senate another important factor though is a group of moderate senators bipartisan have been meeting in the course of the afternoon some twenty to twenty two senators they are attempting to hash out

a compromise among themselves one of them the republican senator lindsey graham says they are close to some kind of compromise agreement the problem now will be take it to the senate leader to get him to agree to introduce it on the floor then to get the minority leader to pitch the democrats behind it so basically this is the only movement the is there are attempts to get some kind of compromise deal together but given that amount of vitriol still flying around the senate floor it's going to be very difficult to get all both sides of the senate involved in passing it and so like the longer the blame game continues just how damaging does this become for the president himself. well there's been great criticism of the president from various quarters one must remember that the major block to the compromise bill being passed came back on january the eleventh when the president

was meeting lawmakers on an immigration bill that all could agree to that meeting dissolved in complete chaos with the president allegedly using pejorative language to describe is the countries of origin of many of the of the countries immigrants he subsequently denied using the exact terms that were tried to him but certainly that put any talk about immigration or agreement about immigration completely off the rails he then had a meeting this last friday with the democrat minority leader in the senate where the democratic leader said that he had offered compromise on president trump's wall president trump had then agreed to have a interim agreement on immigration included in the compromise bill but none of that happened subsequently told by the chief of staff the president trump no longer back that particular compromise so whichever way you look at it president trump has played a central role in this and his critics to contend that while he has been in constant

contact in the course of the past forty eight hours with republican leaders in senate and in the congress he has not reached out at all to the democratic leadership in the house this is a point of controversy among many democrats in particular feeling the president is simply not doing enough to try and play some role in ending this ongoing impasse. there live from washington d.c. mike thank you. so to come on the program the pope prepares to wrap up his controversial visit to south america with a mass in front of millions in ema. we're at the sundance film festival where cinema is being used to cast a critical eye over global issues. hello

there it certainly is very hot for some of us in australia at the moment these pictures are from new south wales showing the hot weather that we're seeing at the moment it's already been affecting us in parts of south australia and through victoria but here it's cool down thanks to this weather system that's gradually edging its way eastwards sydney though is still ahead of that fifteen and so here it's still very hot the temperatures well thirty two perhaps in the city but if you head to penrith or richmond in the west and there the temperatures are more likely to be around forty three degrees so incredibly hot here and eventually it will cool down but only as we head through into choose day and then the temperatures are still going to stay rather high just not as hot as they've been if we had a bit further towards the east you can see this weather system that's edging its way across new zealand at the moment it's in the western parts of the north island where we're seeing the wettest of the weather and it's likely to stay very wet as we head through the next day or so even further south there's a fair amount of cloud with us but that does clear as we head through into tuesday

christchurch looks bright and warm we'll get to around twenty four degrees which is seventy five in fahrenheit before this was the north of we've got a developing system here that's running its. over benefit. for our cars. witness documentaries about open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera.

the mind of our top stories here on al-jazeera the u.s. is urging turkey to use restraint in its operation against kurdish fighters in northern syria turkish soldiers have enter the own cave of a free part of the assault to drive out kurdish peoples protection units over. the taliban says it was behind them overnight attack on the luxury hotel in the afghan capital in which at least eighteen people were killed. the u.s. government shut down for a second day republicans and democrats in the senate have been trading blame for the deadlock republican majority leader mitch mcconnell says he won't change senate rules to pass a stopgap deal. while brown says is leaving a final mass in lima as his tour sized america comes to an end up to a million people are at the service at the last palm us air base in peru's capital ahead of the mass the pope met local bishops but his visits been overshadowed after

he accused victims of a sex abuse scandal in chile of slandering a bishop who they say tried to cover up the crime. mariana sanchez has been following the pope's visit and she joins us from lima hi there maryanna so it's been a controversial visit in some ways what's the bard take on how it went. well julie a lot of people are talking about how the pope did not talk about many things although he's had very strong speeches about many things in chile and they do in chile he asked victims of the sex abuse by clergy men ask for forgiveness but here in video he has been very diverse in terms of things if he's talked about in the amazon he asked. urged if you will natives or indigenous people to to. protect their culture which in the end

means that they will be protecting the environment as the pope is as a champion of the environment he's also talking about the importance of stopping femicide in peru and also he has talked very strongly about corruption among politicians even during the meeting with the president of peru at the presidential palace in the speech the pope talked about how politicians are being affected or infected if you will by corruption the precedent of peru's being investigated for receiving money if from all of it the brazilian construction giant in the car washing investigation so a lot of strong statements by the pope however what the pope didn't talk about here in paducah was the sex abuse scandal by.

apologies thanks manorama sanchez they are from the mess and apologies to you we've had some problems with that south lake connection jordan's king abdullah is appealing to the us bike vice president mike pence to rebuild trust and confidence after the trumpet ministrations decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital howry fossett has more now from occupied east jerusalem. on the second leg of his regional visit the u.s. vice president was keen to offer assurances to a major middle east an ally and by extension to the palestinians who refused to meet him on the issue of jerusalem we are committed to continue to respect jordan's role as the custodian of holy sites that we take no position on boundaries in final status those are subject to negotiation and and as i think clearly you are the president make clear the world united states of america remains committed if the parties agree to a two state solution through the arab world's public outrage with

a recognition by u.s. president donald trump ob jerusalem as israel's capital the jordanian king offered a conciliatory tone your visits here i'm sure is to rebuild the trust confidence if not only how we will for the two state solution on us drew forth next sixty seven lice and he's jewish but as a capital opening up and a palestinian state but living side by side with a secure recognisance ready course for internationals he said that's far from the line being taken by the palestinian leadership its president mahmoud abbas declaring that the u.s. had given it the slap of the century reiterating his position that the u.s. could no longer be involved in the peace process the u.s. vice president isn't meeting the palestinians but he does have a message publicly apparently tailored towards them reiterating u.s. support for a two state solution if that's what both sides agreed to of course for the palestinians that message is entirely overshadowed by what donald trump said over

a month ago declaring that the u.s. view jerusalem as israel's capital. but many of the messenger himself is part of the problem the shift in u.s. policy with which pence was closely associated was welcomed by his evangelical christian base many of whom believe the return of the jews to the holy land is a precursor to jesus' second coming there ben says and gender that is extremist fundamentalist looked. list. just an absolutist idiology which goes against all that leaves and commitments of the arab and palestinian christians and particular and they feel that they have been betrayed by somebody who is kneeling them to mend this injustice using village an as a justification for israelis it's a different picture pence represents a u.s. administration that recognized what they see as an uncontroversial reality jerusalem status is the capital of your view. a great friend of the state of israel

arrives here this evening a true friend united states vice president mike pence we welcome him here and i'm looking forward to our discussions we will discuss the trumpet ministrations efforts to hold iran's aggression the iranian nuclear program and ways to advance peace and security in the region. thank you for the warm welcome before leaving jordan for israel pence visited u.s. troops didn't undisclosed location on the syrian border telling the president had the back and that isis would be driven from the earth very soon his next speech will be to the israeli parliament the knesset on monday israeli palestinian representatives avowed to boycott the event all mass are a force that how does era occupied east jerusalem. business leaders in gaza say the economy there is on the verge of collapse with unemployment soaring and sales falling it's called a strike to highlight their plight among can report. on monday this busy shopping district will all silent as workers and businesses join the

strike and it's not just here shops factories restaurants and hotels are all expected to take part across the gaza strip. doors will close machines will be turned off and work will stop from eight in the morning to six hours the strips of main commercial organization called the strike yeah. we wish through this stright send the message to all his arab leaders international leaders and to the united nations the gaza strip will collapse and and we need immediate help if the economy collapses it will have impacts everywhere health education and all services. businessmen a listening and they want to take part they say things are getting desperate and there's no money in the economy. all god's eye will be closed we will be on strike and we want the world to listen to know our suffering and help us to find a solution gaza is reaching breaking point. but any impact of the strike outside of

gaza is likely to be small without the international community and the world are going to listen or not but i think this is a direct message to israel who is besieging and blockading the gaza strip to pay attention to what is happening in terms of the humanitarian crisis that is happening here in gaza for more than ten years the gaza strip has been under siege by israel it controls what gets in and out and restricts everything from consumer goods to construction materials. israel says it won't lift the siege on gaza until a mass disarmed that hamas used to redistrict up until recently but now it's under the control of the palestinian authority and i says it won't disarm until the end of the occupation now the strike is likely to have an impact and will have an impact on israel it's unlikely because of the hard line position they take a man called al-jazeera gaza city at least one person has died in fighting between protesters and police in honduras as demonstrations continue against the reelection

of president one orlando a man this defeated opposition candidate salvador mess malla when demonstrators in the streets of the capital you can see they accuse the authorities of manipulating results movember election dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more jailed since hernandez was declared the winner last month. and i live volcano and papa new guinea has erupted again triggering tsunami warnings from nearby coastal communities plumes of steam and ash are being shot into the air from cut of our island nearby flights of also been cancelled the volcano first erupted earlier this month causing thousands of people to flee from surrounding islands of the new guinea sits on the pacific when a fire and era area of intense seismic activity. someone's film festival is the world's leading showcase for independent films that's on the way in the u.s. filmmakers who ran the wild and the festival as a platform to tackle difficult subjects ranging from political leadership the

environment and the human condition slipped and some of this year's films. at a time of rising nationalism and rising oceans. almost unchecked capitalism and individual isolation the films at sundance reflect the arrow we live in this group in a small number that was the. new president is a film about the election of donald trump as u.s. president told entirely through excerpts from russian television reports and clips from russian social media. timeshare is a mexican movie about luxury resort workers and wealthy guests both caught up in a corporate conspiracy i guess you'd call it the horrific comedy stephanie speaks also about like globalization and just like savage capitalism it's you know

a critique on what we think you know we need to be happy filmmaker sebastian hoffman reflects on how mexican media views trump who called immigrants from his country rapists and criminals i think through humor i mean i think you know we think of donald trump as this you know crazy but the biggest clown in the world and everything that's happening everything it's like a big circus the trump administration's rejection of climate change science is in the background of a notation are about the people of the pacific island nation of here about facing destruction from rising waters the climate change for me i saw has been about people whose lives are being affected by what is happening former cura boss president noted tone. with the policy of america first but what about the rest sometimes wondered in my mind. if i was to extend that policy is that america first and the rest be damned but the question isn't the challenge that i continue to pose for the international community's this i you're going to allow this to

happen to us. just devastated amid multiple crises looming disasters and personal tragedies how can an individual respond when answer is sadness the theme of pity a film from greece about a man who is happy only when he is unhappy independent films are casting a critical law on the world as we know it and asking where we're going. to utah where you can find it much more about the stories we're following head to our web site the address is. al-jazeera dot com. i don't mind of the top stories here on al-jazeera the u.s. is urging turkey to use restraint in its operation against kurdish fighters in northern syria turkish soldiers have entered the only way of actually part of an assault to drive out kurdish people's protection units or y.p. g.

forces foreign minister sergei lavrov says you need actual actions by the us made turkey in great turkey's president reagan tayyip erdogan says he wants to prevent a kurdish corridor being opened on the border with syria. there has been nobody protesting on the streets so far. congress has not attended either anybody that heed those calls and makes the mistake of taking to the streets holding a high price i need to stress this this is a national struggle we will crush anyone he opposes our national struggle. afghanistan's interior minister says for afghans and fourteen foreign as were killed in the siege on a luxury hotel in kabul. the taliban's taking responsibility for assassin a sixteen hour attack on the heavily guarded into continental hotel they say they were targeting government workers security forces and foreigners. and they six

people have died in anti-government demonstrations organized by the catholic church me dissin the democratic republic of congo where i'm sixty nine have been arrested the protest to say president joseph kabila is violating the constitution by staying in office beyond his term. but the u.s. government shutdown for a second day republicans and democrats in the senate have been trading blame for the deadlock republican majority leader mitch mcconnell said the democrats had been wrong to block a temporary funding bill but he said he didn't agree with president trump that the senate will should be changed to a budget could pass with just a simple majority trump says republicans should use a so-called nuclear option if the stalemate continues jordan's king abdullah has appealed to the u.s. vice president to rebuild trust and confidence after the administration's decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital mike pence says the u.s. still believes in a two state solution to the israeli palestinian conflict those are your current

headlines stay with out his ear witnesses coming up next thanks for your company but by. this time the differences. and the similarities of cultures are. al-jazeera.