anymore because there's always a small. really good business. in essence we in the united states have privatized the ultimate public function your shadow on al-jazeera. three outside power brokers meet to discuss syria's future but their talks and with no agreement. this is our live from doha also coming up with a government shutdown looming u.s. president donald trump backs away from demands of congress fund his border war. efforts to end america's longest war the u.a.e. host 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 that. the three keep brokers in the syrian conflict to fail to agree on the makeup of a committee that would draft a new constitution and pave the way for elections the foreign ministers a russia iran and turkey met in geneva but it smith was there and has this report. the best that 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 at 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 on 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 this story because as he spoke to the press here this evening this was his last statement to the press you report to the u.n. secretary general but he's leaving the post and handing over to a norwegian in the new year and the so much further to go before a credible and inclusive committees established that's according to the outgoing u.n. special envoy for syria staffan de mistura 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 embrace of each other it is actually a process that may go on and on until all death and hopefully in the best

way for devalued people the two constants in this conflict over differ a lot for year one. there has never been a constant moment of anything there being constant shifts of what they're being the military events and the facts on the ground and the political bullshit just look where we were four years ago and where we are today second constant. there with always being the syrian people suffering while staying with syria the united states envoy jim jeffrey has confirmed that u.s. but kurdish fighters will move from northern iraq into northern syria the move comes after turkey threatened further military action in the city of man being near the turkish border unless u.s. but kurdish fighters leave the area so now to reports from istanbul. turkish military reinforcements have already been sent to the border with syria president i should 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 it's nato ally the united states stations its troops. are two guns 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 why 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 with the

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 aiming to prevent p.y.g. as y.p. g.'s territorial continuity alongside the turkey's border and for kids planning to infiltrate into this 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 trumpet ministrations only syria 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 al jazeera has stumbled. u.s. president donald trump has brought down his demand for five billion dollars for a border wall in the effort to avoid

a partial government shutdown funding for several federal government agencies expires on friday failed to agree on a budget could see hundreds of thousands of government workers sent home without pay just before christmas my coming has update from washington d.c. 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 implications are that they are other avenues for raising the funds being explored this is what the white house press secretary had to say really in every avenue available to us possible the president's asked every one of his cabinet secretaries to look for funding that can be used and to protect our borders and for that to 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 a verb 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. four explosions of interrupted the first day of a fragile cease fire and the yemeni port city of the data is not clear who is behind the last say the country's warring sides agreed to a truce political talks in sweden last week. 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 in this is one of the problem of the. agreement

because it has. the flow of human he did it with the security. and. to be honest they should have actually. allow food and medicine. into a video oh the. united nation has said before that it defied but isn't over. it's 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 that she key. data in focus a key to. the city for example.

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. forces for now many yemenis hope that this truce will hold no matter how tenuous the situation on the ground remains. u.s. officials and representatives 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 fisher has more from washington d.c. . 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 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 priority issue for the taliban will 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 will be the thinking on their mission with an even countries into including pakistan so the priority things for the taliban will be just how we can they can stop this war and put an end to the destruction that's happening every day in the country. afghanistan is america's longest war and 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 well 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 to accept and discuss a political roadmap for their future so our efforts and those of our partners are our focus 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 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 and stakes in afghanistan and so reaching

a final deal will be difficult and in the meantime the fighting continues alan fischer al jazeera at the white house our time for a short break here not just here when we come back sentencing is delayed for donald trump's former national security adviser. criticized by the judge plus. a musician's into not trying to keep a thousand years of tradition alive stay with us. hello again a welcome back well on the western coast united states as well as western coast of canada we've been seeing some very windy stormy conditions all so she with these systems coming and off the pacific now over the next few days we're going to see back to back storms so a storm a break another storm for much of that area and that means it is going to be very

stormy along the coast winds are going to be a problem as well as snow in the higher elevations well as can be seen some rain coming into play as we go towards thursday down towards the south los angeles going to be twenty four but there across the southeast we're going to see another storm that is going to start to develop so by the end of the week a lot of heavy winds and rain making their way up towards the eastern seaboard across much of the caribbean we are looking quite fine right now down towards the south a few showers but we do have this one follow boundary that's passing through parts of cuba that has brought some showers of the last couple of days we do think the rain is going to continue across much of the yucatan peninsula as we go through wednesday and into thursday windy conditions do develop down here towards central america we are looking quite nice from a not wet and with them to there about thirty one degrees and then very quickly across parts of what is it is things have been improving for you as a system makes its way towards the north but scattered showers and rain across your does you know we do expect to see a temperature there of about thirty degrees. when

the shots came from the holiday and we heard cracks we heard some noise. this was no no sniper alley was on in the most dangerous intersections and. he didn't come in through the front entrance that was what happened to the people who were shot they came into the wrong and the nightly protective of the furniture to the cameraman shifts get the hell out of sarajevo holiday and hotels on al-jazeera.

welcome back a quick reminder the top stories here on al-jazeera turkey russia and iran have failed to agree on the makeup of a committee that would draft syria's new constitution pave the way for elections their foreign ministers are meeting in geneva they say they'll try to ensure the committee convenes early next year. the us president donald trump is but down on his demand for five billion dollars for a border wall is trying to end the standoff at a 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 u.a.e. for three days of talks it's believed the discussions are aimed at pushing for a six month cease fire and withdrawal of foreign troops in the future. now yemeni mother unable to travel to the u.s. to see her dying son because of president trump's travel ban has received a waiver shamus soon a is technically banned from entering the u.s. due to travel restrictions on her mostly muslim countries has been had appealed to the state department to sign a waiver so she could see her son the two year old is on life support at

a california hospital john hendren has this update from oakland in california where he spoke to the little boy's father. inside the hospital behind me is one of the youngest to suffer from the trump travel ban haasan is just two years old he has a degenerative brain disease and like his father he is an american citizen but his mother is not his mother is a year many and the father has been trying to get her here to the united states for two years an issue he was told that she would be able to come in just to wait for that visa but then the trumpet ministrations travel ban went into effect and since then he's had largely silence well he gave up on monday of this week held a news conference and in that news conference appealed to the united states to let the mother come to the united states to issue a waiver so that she could see her dying sign one last time well on

tuesday he received the news that that would indeed happen this is a little of what he had to say to me today in an exclusive interview. with. her. so little two year old mother will be arriving on wednesday reunited again with her husband and if she arrives in time with her son who doctors say has only days left to live. a u.s. federal judge has delayed sentencing for president trump's former national security advisor michael flynn the case is part of an investigation of possible collusion between trump's campaign in russia and the run up to the twenty sixteen election from washington is particle and. the phrase he coined locker up following michael flynn as he enters federal court. after all is

a key campaign advisor to donald trump this was his line by her that's right. here. 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 the russians the judge not holding back his disgust or disdain he told flynn 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 sens now the reason why he didn't because he expected the judge to throw him into the slammer for a while. and he must've thought in my judgment that there were additional things that he could contribute to the mall or investigation or other companion

investigations otherwise the additional 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 own self admit it's of james comey is that the f.b.i. broke standard protocol in a way that they came in and ambushed and rolph land in the way that they flush in him or 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. washington. the u.s. president's charity the trump foundation has agreed to shut down as part of a legal battle with the state of new york the foundation is alleged to have

operated as an extension of donald trump's business is a political campaign if the state wins trumbull have to pay thousands and penalties will be barred from running other charities foundations lawyers say they've been planning to close it for months and any legal violations. a month long workers' strike in chile is port of a so has become violent and spread to other ports threw molotov cocktails on the roof of a union building and police responded with water cannon. it was a key port for food shipments workers are demanding more formal contracts and improve working conditions. the british government is making preparations in the event the country crashes out of the e.u. without a deal next march there are just over one hundred days to go before the u.k. is due to leave the bloke with a parliament and deadlock ministers have agreed to step up planning for a no deal bragg's it thousands of military personnel are on standby if any civil disruption ministers are also sending letters to one hundred forty thousand firms

advising them about preparations lawrence lee has more from london. of course the default position for the u.k. if the parliament here votes down sarees amaze proposed deal to leave the european union is of 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 and dirty drinking water on all the sorts of stuff which of course people who don't mind a 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 sarees 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 bit of time 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 shell's michel had been leading a minority government for a week after his coalition partners walked out of the alliance the flemish nationalist party quit over michelle's decision to sign a un migration path to the critics say an increase migration into europe well the agreement violent protests in belgium over the weekend and rallies attended by far

right leaders including one in the pen and. italy has recent deal with the european commission over its twenty nine thousand budgets the commission rejected the budget when it was first presented in october over concerns that would add a considerable amount to italy's public debt but last week rome submitted a revised plan which included smaller deficit rules to delay the introduction of a new social security program. 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 catherine sawyer reports in the capital kinshasa many voters don't know how to use the machines and the opposition are worried about used to rig the vote. 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 tolling day. in another village on the outskirts of kinshasa. who lives next to his polling station has similar concerns about. people in my village know nothing. expression 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 and that's why we are all worried they are asking what shall we do much how will we know if we have been cheated so some in their areas have not even seen us 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 demick in the us on top of a fire in the capital is causing controversy both in material are still being distributed to different parts of the country but a warehouse here in kinshasa where the fetus machines were being stored was burned down last week destroying most of the material the want to be used on fourteen day the building has been sold off police are investigating but politicians. are blaming each other for the fire. the various problems eye increasing election tension in white. they just want a fair election as well as a leader who will help make their lives a little more bearable kathy soliah al-jazeera kinshasa. has

a rich history of music and storytelling dating back a thousand years in the latest in a series of reports on the central asian country stratford went to music school in the capital to see how to musicians are keeping their traditions alive. the name of this ancient folk song is. legend has it that it was first song by a mother whose daughter married a man in a village on the other side of a river but there was no bridge to cross. the mother would stand on the bank and sing it in the hope her daughter would reply. means i miss you. know my mom but. this is a gift from god to me and i'm thankful to god for this and so through my fingers i

share this with everyone this is not just for me. shove comedy shows me around the go to mange museum and music school in. the capital city of tajikistan the school was opened by go to mange zulkey because of a movie star and musician who became famous in the one nine hundred forty s. during the soviet era this is a rhubarb believed to be one hundred years old from bottle a region that stretches from southern tajikistan into northern afghanistan. these type of instruments is believed to have first been played almost a thousand years ago as you can imagine there are stories to be told about these instruments this for example is a traditional tactic tongue boar it's believed to be around four hundred fifty years old traditionally the leather supposed to be taken from a killed pregnant horse the strings from a killed

a pregnant goat and the main body here the wood taken from an apricot tree that is just about to go into full bloom and the belief is that when the instrument is played you can hear the voices of the infant go to unhorse calling for their mothers. not only plays these instruments but he makes them to. yell it says she had made craftsmanship is very hard especially drilling and you have to do everything with your hands from the moment i see the wood i magine how that instrument will sound. he's joined by fairly musicians in his group called sambal meaning sky. plays a revolver and cena plays the darth which is a type of drum. group have over the years to europe and america.

they play a piece called border corps star composed in the one nine hundred forty s. means news from the mountains. al-jazeera. tajikistan. all right up a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera turkey russia and iran have failed to agree on the makeup of a committee that would draft syria's new constitution and pave the way for elections there foreign ministers are meeting in geneva they say they'll try to ensure the committee convenes early next year well the departing u.n. special envoy for syria says there's still much further to go before a credible and inclusive committee is established for these conflicts never ended

with a wonderful peace or to be sure treaty and a conference and everybody embrace the future of the it is actually a process that may go on and on until all death and hopefully in the best way for did very people there are two constants in this conflict over the last four years one there's never been a constant moment of anything there being constant shifts of what they're being the military events and the effect on the ground and the political bullshit just look where we were four years ago and where we are today second constant. there have always been the syrian people suffering here as president donald trump has backed down on his demand for five billion dollars for a border wall is trying to end a standoff of a federal spending and avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the week. a yemeni mother unable to travel to the u.s. to see her dying son because of president trump's travel ban has received

a waiver shamus will is technically banned from entering the u.s. because of travel restrictions on mostly muslim countries has been appealed to the state department to sign a waiver so she could see her son the two year old is on life support at a california hospital. u.s. officials on representatives of the afghan taliban are not meeting in the united arab emirates for three days of talks it's believed the discussions are aimed at pushing for a six month cease fire withdrawal of foreign troops in the future britain's government is making preparations in case it crashes out of the e.u. without a deal or just over one hundred days to go before the youguys due to leave the bloc for the parliament and deadlock ministers have agreed to step up planning for a no breaks it feels all right well those were the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after war hotel stage and that's a lot of. young african footballers are traveling to thailand in hopes of becoming

professional players but they risk discrimination and exploitation. when he's the best to gates thailand's football factory on al-jazeera. the huddle holiday devorah hotel was our host. people were shot dead on the entrance of the hotel. i do remember a time when hotel was a shelter and started running. resume your fellow. below the rest of us to. try. and return to the can remember assured with the good they allowed a few. hours of this place continued to function during thirteen a half years of siege. holidaying was the best chance to tell the people

of the world what was happening in syria.