to protect their heritage. the march to progress in the philippines part of the you find asian series on al-jazeera. three outside power brokers meet to discuss syria's future but their talks and with no agreement. though this is their line from doha. also coming out with a government shutdown looming u.s. president donald trump backs away from demands that congress fund his border wall plus efforts to end america's longest fourth war the u.a.e. holds talks between the afghan taliban and the u.s.

and the democratic republic of congo prepares to hold its first election in sixteen years but there are fears technology could get in the way of the folks. the three key power brokers in the syrian conflict have failed to agree on the makeup of a committee that will draft a new constitution and pave the way for elections the foreign ministers of russia iran and turkey met in geneva when a smith was saying and has this report. the best of the foreign ministers of turkey russia and iran could come up with was a commitment to agree to take efforts aimed at convening the first session of the syrian constitutional committee here in geneva early next year but there is still no indication on exactly who the hundred fifty members of that constitutional committee are going to be because of this meeting these three countries overlooked by the u.n. special envoy stephan to restore it when i were unable to agree on the final

fifteen members of the committee there are fifty from the syrian regime fifty from opposition groups but this other fifty there's a been a lot of haggling over who should be on this committee and who shouldn't be on this committee and they clearly haven't been able to agree the final names it was perhaps particularly for straightening for staff and in the store because as he spoke to the press is receiving this was his last statement to the president report to the u.n. secretary general but he's leaving the post and handing over to a norwegian in the new year and there's so much further to go before a credible and inclusive committee is established that's according to the outgoing u.n. special envoy for syria. he steps down on december thirty first after four years leaving his successor to find a un brokered political solution to end the conflict these conflicts never ended with a wonderful peace or death treaty and a conference and everybody embraced each other it is actually

a process that may go on and on until all death and hopefully in the best way for develop people the two constants in this conflict over differ a lot for years one. there has never been a constant moment of anything there being constant shift of what they're being the military events and the facts on the ground and a political book fission just look where we were four years ago and where we are today second calls front. there's always been the syrian people suffering staying with syria the united states envoy jim jeffrey has confirmed us back to kurdish fighters will move from northern iraq into northern syria the move comes after turkey threatened further military action in the city of mond beach near the turkish border unless u.s. backed kurdish fighters leave the areas in a hard every force or may stumble. turkish military reinforcements have already

been sent to the border with syria president treasure to tell you border guard says a cross border operation against what he calls terrorists can begin at any moment the target is the u.s. backed syrian democratic forces the s.d.f. is mainly made up of the y.p. g. or kurdish peoples protection units it won't be the first time the turkish military has confronted the kurdish armed group on syrian soil but if this offensive does happen it will be the first time turkish troops are targeting the group east of the euphrates river where its nato ally the united states stations its troops erdogan announcement followed a visit by u.s. syria envoy jim jeffrey to ankara last week geoffrey said he told the turks their plans offensive is a bad idea u.s. support for the y. peachey has strained relations but jeffrey confirmed arrangements are being made to address turkey's concerns. deployment across the

border was done with our understanding but also would be understanding of. one of the various steps that are being taken. the white peachy and the peshmerga are viable kurdish forces but kurds in northern iraq are allies of the us and turkey they are likely to be deployed along the borders between syria turkey and iraq the y.p. she controls a continuous strip of territory from iraq to the eastern banks of the euphrates river almost thirty percent of syria's territory the first one is enemy to provence p.y.g. is why p.g. is territorial continuity alongside the turkey's border and turkey is planning to infiltrate introduced syrian territory the white peachy already enjoys self rule which turkish leaders reject because they believe the white peachy is an extension of the outlawed kurdistan workers' party the p.k. k. which is fighting for kurdish autonomy in south east turkey. for that we have said

and we are saying that no we will begin our operation to rescue the east of the euphrates from the separatist organization within a few days turkey says any operation would not target u.s. troops but the white b.g. is an important element in washington's syria strategy and the trump administration's only syria ally giving its leverage and influence in any political settlement turkish leaders know that and are treading carefully so as not to rupture a relationship with a strategically important ally. the u.s. envoy for syria is now stressing washington's ties with armed groups in northern syria are tactical temporary and transactional such a description is unlikely to please the white peachey or satisfy turkish leaders but the u.s. says steps are being taken turkey has had to say whether they are enough to prevent military action senator there is stamboul. four explosions have interrupted the

first day of a fragile cease fire in the many port city of her data it's not clear who was behind the blast the country's warring sides agreed to a truce at political talks in sweden last week one hour from june. as the ceasefire officially began on tuesday night sporadic fighting was reported to have continued for a time in and around the besieged port city of data as the hours passed the situation appeared to become calmer but it remains fragile some worry that could block much needed aid from getting this is one of the problem of the. agreement because it has actually. the flow of human he did it with the security situation and. to be honest they should have actually. allow food and medicine first come into into even though. because i.

have said before that if i but isn't over many dead and coming is coming today that . yemen is suffering what the u.n. calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis aide workers say the situation around her they remains desperate. invitation to get access to care to see key. data inside to see key. to safety for example. no access to care. from. which is almost. in sweden last week representatives from the who the movement and the saudi u.a.e. backed government the president. agreed not only to pull back fighters but also to establish humanitarian corridors and to allow for the deployment of you in supervised. neutral forces for now many yemenis hope that this truce will hold no

matter how tenuous the situation on the ground remains. as part of that agreement international monitors will be deployed to oversee if the cease fire is holding our diplomatic editor jane space explains from the united nations my understanding is the man who's coming up with the plans general patrick is going to chair the first meeting of the coordination commission committee of the two sides so he'll have the yemeni government who have the who thiis on video link you'll be in new york that will take place here on wednesday and then going forward he himself will travel we believe by the end of the week to yemen with a small team and they'll be the assessment team trying to come up with a plan for exactly how many monitors they're going to need on the ground all the problems the u.n. is facing here is that the talks in stockholm are actually achieve much more than

they were expecting and so the u.n. is in a real hurry to try and set up this monitoring team and find the monitor monitors from a number of different countries my understanding is these people will be from a military background but we're also hearing that they will go into this hostile area this fragile cease fire in place so dangerous place for the u.n. to deploy and they'll go in unarmed and we understand not wearing military uniforms a yemeni mother unable to travel to the u.s. to meet her dying son because a present on a tramp's travel ban has received a waiver seamus whaley is technically banned from entering the u.s. yet to travel restrictions on multi muslim countries imposed by the trial but ministration has been ted appealed to the state department to sign a waiver so she could see her son the two year old is on a life support machine in california. and u.s. friends and donald trump has backed down on his demand for five million dollars for

a border wall in an effort to avoid a partial government shutdown funding for several federal government agencies expires on friday failure to agree on a budget could see hundreds of thousands of government work ascend tell without paychecks before christmas mike hanna has this update from washington well a week ago president trump said he would be proud to shutdown the government should he not get the five billion dollars for his border wall in the budget however he now appears to be retreating from this rather extreme position in the creation saw that they are other avenues for raising the funds being explored this is what the white house press secretary had to say religion every avenue available to us possible the president's asked every one of his cameras or terisa look for funding that can be used to protect our borders and for that give the president the ability to fulfill his constitutional obligation to protect the american people the having a secure border but a shutdown still not averted democrats of turned down

a compromise republican offer of a one point five billion dollar amount for border security not the wall but democratic leader nancy pelosi says this would amount to giving president trump a one billion dollars slush fund as she put it but neither side of the aisle once a shutdown just before christmas and most observers believe that there will be some kind of short term extension agreed on. u.s. officials then represent afghanistan's taliban are meeting in the united arab emirates for three days of talks in the past year washington has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to end america's longest war alan fischer has more from washington. faced with a resurgent taliban u.s. president donald trump has approved sending more troops into afghanistan but with the military push he's also trying to establish new peace talks the u.s. special peace envoy to the area zalmay khalilzad has won the support of pakistan

which will significant influence over the taliban and he enlisted the help of saudi arabia and the united arab emirates as well all four have been sitting down with taliban representatives in abu dhabi for the time being the pride of t.v. show for the taliban would be a peace deal with the united states and also for the afghan government as long as they're part of the political power rating there would be the thinking on that listen with an even countries including pakistan so the priority things for the taliban will be just how we can they can stop this war and can put an end to this election that's happening within the country. of afghanistan is america's longest war more troops went into the country after the attacks in the u.s. it tempered two thousand and one and forced the taliban from power but the taliban never went away the war has cost more than a trillion dollars in financial terms and more than one hundred forty seven thousand people have died there including more than five thousand americans it's understood the u.s. is pressing for a six month ceasefire while the taliban wants

a clear timeline for the withdrawal of foreign troops in the country war in afghanistan will only end when afghans sit together with mutual respect and except and discuss a political roadmap for the future so our efforts. and those of our partners are focused on the subject right now previous efforts to broker a peace deal in afghanistan have failed but this is the third time that the u.s. and the taliban have met this year and so that's sparking optimism that somehow things might be different this time no one is offering any guarantees but it is possible what me a marriage is a roadmap for future talks now a number of countries have interests in afghanistan and so reaching a final deal will be difficult and in the meantime the fighting continues alan fischer. at the white house still ahead on the program why sentencing has been

delayed for donald transform a national security adviser after he criticised by the judge plus. i'm sure such a fine qatar national base calibration where the country's military went on display for everyone to see. by this guy knowing if an asian harbor or off the coast of the italian riviera. hell are going to welcome back here international weather forecast well the remnants from a storm that way made its way on land here in india is now pushing a lot of moisture across parts of china over the next few days you know some rain right here on wednesday that all originated out here towards india and now the system of the remnants of the system is making its way across western parts of china snow in the higher elevations there but as we go towards thursday

a lot of that rain was very quickly over here towards easter shanghai you'll be seeing some rain in your forecast for joe could be seeing some rain as well but for hong kong it is going to be a partly cloudy day with the time to there about twenty six degrees down here towards the south not looking too bad for parts of the philippines especially to the north over here towards thailand and also drying out compared to what we have seen before down towards the south though plenty of rain in the forecast for qual in the poor as well as singapore temperatures there were many into the thirty's maybe getting up to about thirty four degrees for kuala lumpur but bangkok isn't quite nice for the terms of their of thirty four degrees and then across india well much better conditions as that cycle and did move out you can see those clouds right there dry conditions down here towards the south but we are going to be watching a system out here towards a baseball bring some rain possibly towards sri lanka tempter there of thirty degrees in kolkata a temperature of turn three. the weather sponsored by qatar airways. running is one of the most accessible sports in the. al-jazeera correspondent

andrew richardson takes us on his personal journey of discovery when you find yourself out in the middle of nowhere and run is hosting a washing not just stop exploring the growing popularity in science he pushes the limits from kenya to the antarctic. in search of answers to why we run. which is iraq correspondent. welcome back our top stories on al-jazeera turkey russia and iran have failed to agree on the makeup of a committee that would drop syria's new constitution and pave the way for elections

their foreign ministers were meeting in geneva they say they'll try to ensure the committee convenes early next year u.s. president donald trump has backed down on his demand for five billion dollars for border wall he's trying to end the standoff over federal spending and avoid a partial government shutdown by the end of the week and u.s. officials and representatives of the afghan taliban are meeting in the united arab emirates for three days of talks it's believed discussions are aimed at pushing for a six month cease fire and withdrawal of foreign troops in the future. a u.s. federal judge has delayed sentencing for president trump's former national security advisor michael frayn the case is part of an investigation into possible conclusion between trump's campaign and russia in the run up to the twenty sixteen election from washington patty kahane with force. was the phrase he coined lock her up following michael flynn as he enters federal court. after all is a key campaign buzzer to donald trump this was his longtime bar her that's right.

but now it's not the president's past political opponent but flynn himself facing time behind bars because he got paid by turkey during the campaign and didn't disclose it and he lied to the f.b.i. about his contacts with russians the judge not holding back his disgust or disdain he told flynt he sold out his country and. even asked why he wasn't being charged with treason when it was clear flynn was likely facing much more than the zero to six months recommended by the prosecution the judge gave flynn more time to cooperate mr flynn could have just said i want to be sentence now the reason why he didn't because he expected the judge to throw him into the slammer for a while. and he must of thought in my judgment that there were additional things that he could contribute to the mall or investigation or other companion

investigations otherwise the delay isn't going to do him any good at the white house the president and his spokesman continue to defend their former national security adviser by blaming the people who investigated him what we do know that was inappropriate by our own self admits of james comey is that the f.b.i. broke standard protocol in the way that they came in and ambush general flynn in the way that they flush in him are the term supporters have been arguing that flynn was set up by the f.b.i. but in court flynn himself admitted that wasn't true. and after hearing from the judge it's clear the next time he returns to court a man who once could walk into the oval office could be leaving in handcuffs michael flynn locked up political hay al-jazeera washington. the u.s. president's charity the foundation has agreed to shut down a spot of a legal battle with the state of new york the foundation is

a may have operated as an extension of donald trump's businesses and political campaign if the state when will have to pay thousands in penalties and will be barred from running on the charities the foundation's lawyers say they have been planning to close it for months and any legal violations were minor. a month long workers' strike in chile support of a so has become violent and spread to other ports says threw molotov cocktails from the roof of the union building and research funded with water cannon but a so is a key port for fruit shipments workers are demanding more formal contracts and improved working conditions. the u.k. government is making preparations in the events the country crashes side of the e.u. without a deal next march that just over one hundred days to go before the u.k. is you to leave the block with parliament in deadlock ministers have agreed to step up planning for a no deal breaks it thousands of military personnel are on standby for any civil

destruction ministers are also sending letters to one hundred forty thousand furriners advising them about preparations lawrence lee has more from london. of course of the full position for the u.k. if the parliament here votes down sarees amazed proposed deal to leave the european union is the u.k. crashes out without any deal it's all and in this last cabinet meeting before parliament breaks up for christmas they have been discussing ramping up no deal scenarios even things that were suggested like the government's emergency committee known as cobra which only usually meets when the something like a terrorist attack meeting every day in the new year before the meaningful vote just to make sure that the country's prepared for a no deal and there are some fairly biblical warnings of things like the u.k. running out of food or medicines or all the airports closing in dirty drinking water only source of stuff which of course people who don't mind or no deal say as an inside scare but people who say it could be disastrous then say to them well how

do you know that the country's going to be ok and why would you want to risk it and that's part of the reasons maze argument too because other than staying in the european union and abandoning the inside projects three's a maze argument says look we don't have to have no deal we could have mali deal which keeps the u.k. in the customs union with the european union for some time keeps the traffic moving through the borders and therefore you get around all these problems in the psychological game that's now being played with m.p.'s it's a send them home over christmas and given the bill it's on to think and hope that they change their minds and end up not actually going against about supporting sarees amaze deal when it comes back to a vote in the middle of january belgium's prime minister has resigned after losing a confidence vote xan michel had been leading a minority government for a week after his call asian partners walked out of the alliance a fetish nationalist party quit over michelle's decision to sign a un migration act that critics say will increase migration into europe agreements

so violent protests in belgium over the weekend and valleys attended by far right leaders including fences mind of penn and american steve ban it. italy has reached a deal with the european commission over its one thousand nine hundred budgets the commission rejected the budget when it was first presented in october over concerns it would add a considerable amount to its least public debt last week rome submitted a revised plan which included a smaller deficit and also delayed the concert the introduction of a new social security program. chinese phone manufacturer. has demanded the us australia and other governments justify claims that the company is a security risk the firm's chief financial officer was arrested earlier this month in canada for allegedly violating u.s. sanctions on iran since then other governments have added further accusations they say while ways to acknowledge e s may be useful spying always demanding governments

provide proof to back up their accusations. voters in the democratic republic of congo are about to elect a new president for the first time in sixteen years electronic voting machines will be used for sunday's elections but as katherine sawyer reports from the capital kinshasa many voters don't know how to operate the machines and the opposition is worried they'll be used to rake the result of the conversation in tea shops such as this one on the edge of the river is all about sunday's election and electronic voting machines. to see if they're concerned by the general lack of information and what's expected on them on voting day. we don't know what to expect we might do the wrong thing they should have told us what to do before now we'll just learn on polling day. in another village on the outskirts of kinshasa. who lives next to this polling station has similar concerns about what people in my village know

nothing. explained. just go forts and hope for the best some opposition leaders and civil society groups fear the south korean voting machines being used for the first time here could be manipulated to wreak the election. people across the country have never seen this machine that's why we're all worried they're asking how will we know if we're being cheated in some areas i'm not even seen as money on the case i'm concerned the election is already set up for dispute and violence the electoral commission says the process is fairly simple and takes about a minute one hundred five thousand machines are being installed in eighty thousand polling stations a logistical nightmare for africa second largest country with bad druids limited electricity poor security and any damage in the. on top of a fire in the capital is causing controversy voting materials are still being just

. repeated to different parts of the country at a warehouse in kinshasa with the warning machines were being stored was down last week destroying most of the material the want to be used on forward thinking the building has been filled off police are investigating but politicians from all sides of blaming each other for the fire the various problems i increasingly lection tension nationwide. they just want a fair election as well as a leader who will help make their lives a little more bearable cathy zoi al-jazeera kinshasa. education workers in a number of u.s. states complaining that their work contracts include language preventing them from supporting palestinian rights in texas a federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a speech pathologist named. she says she was forced to leave her job in a public school district

a contract offered required her not to engage in any boycott of israeli products across is required under recently introduced state laws. has been celebrating its national day with a military parade show and fireworks it's a second once in saudi arabia the u.a.e. bahrain and egypt imposed a blockade on the country also. the annual national day festivities took off in the usual grounds. and this year after eighteen months of a land sea and air blockade by former arab states qatari celebrated not only their leader but also their culture. because all. signs of patriotism wrong show everywhere as was a sense of national unity and pride as well as the fire ants. saudi arabia the

u.a.e. reign in egypt cut diplomatic relations and imposed their blockade on qatar in june of last year doha strongly refutes their allegations that it supports terrorism a resolution to the regional crisis looks no closer to a meeting of the gulf cooperation council in riyadh last week made no progress people celebrating on tuesday appeared not to care and credited the amir come in. overcoming the isolation today is the day that we all even citizens potoroos we all serbs. are we all so how much will of qatar we all share what is good or. not we're always happy no matter what everyone is very proud of the camera a few holiday marks the dates in eight hundred seventy eight one safe just something mom it all bonnie's the feet of his father as the new year and lead the

country towards unity and it is that you're a few that is on display here today this was the main event a military parade along the corniche in the capital it was three times. larger than last year. a fireworks display was the finale of the public celebrations both atari's an expatriate coming together in a country that continues to thrive despite facing adversity. dorsetshire bari al-jazeera. hello again i'm fully battle with the headlines on al-jazeera turkey russia and iran have failed to agree on the make up of a committee that will draft syria's new constitution and pave the way for elections their foreign ministers were meeting in geneva they say they'll try to ensure the committee convenes early next year the departing un special envoy for syria says there is so much further to go before a credible and inclusive committee is established these conflicts never ended with

a wonderful peace or to be sure treaty and a conference and everybody embraces each other it is actually a process that may go on and on until all death and that hopefully in the best way for the very people there are two constants in this conflict over a different lot for years one there's never been a constant moment of anything there being constant shift or what they're being the military events and the facts on the ground and a political position just look where we were four years ago and where we are today second constant there is always being the syrian people suffering. u.s. president donald trump has backed down on his demand for five billion dollars for border wall is trying to end a standoff over federal spending and avoid a partial government shutdown by the end of the week many mother unable to travel

to the u.s. to see her dying son because of president trump's travel ban has received a waiver shaima swilley is technically banned from entering the u.s. because of travel restrictions on mostly muslim countries or has been appealed to the state department to sign a waiver so she could see her son u.s. officials and representatives of the afghan taliban are meeting in the united arab emirates for three days of talks is its relieve the discussions are aimed at pushing for a six month cease fire and withdrawal of foreign troops in the future. chinese foreign manufacturer who are way has demanded the u.s. australia and other governments justify claims that the company is a security risk the firm's chief financial officer was arrested earlier this month in canada for allegedly violating u.s. sanctions on iran since then other governments have added further accusations those are the headlines on al-jazeera inside story starts now.

a ceasefire in yemen but whether it's holding millions of yemenis facing famine hope so it wants an end to almost four years of war the chances of a loss in political settlement talk about mean for the saudi led coalition this is inside story. in a welcome to the program. it's hoped to be the saucing point four years of civil war in the yemen.