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 one of the world's biggest stock offering says flopped on its market debut japanese tech giant softbank corp hoped to raise twenty four

billion dollars by listing its mobile telecoms unit. for the share price fell fourteen percent on its first day of trading on the tokyo stock exchange the company wants to become a major investor in technology startups some analysts blame a recent nationwide service outage and softbank ties to chinese telecom company while away for the disappointing start. is a professor at the school of management and information at the university of shoes zocor he believes investors are questioning soft banks growth strategy. i would be a little sympathetic considering the fact the market is self environment have been very bad as you seen in the united states in japan following that i mean nikkei has reached his nine month low and december alone the market has dropped by six percent

and that sense it was a very very weak environment to start out with i think one real big worry amongst the larger investors are that this musical chair game that you know softbank i'm playing on a growth after growth after growth expansion after expansion they're all worried when the music will stop it hasn't and they've been working out quite eloquently but if you look at the external environment of the telecommunications side in japan for example the mobile carrier i would say contract has dropped the growth is definitely winding down on top of it you've got the conventional competition from entity docomo and good idea and also a new competition come from iraq and so the environment itself where it's maturing and you've got the pressure from the competition and you've got the government basically trying to lower the price so you have quite a lot of pressure surrounding this industry as a whole voting is underway for the presidential runoff election in madagascar former leaders under raja alina crevel amana vying for the top job but it's really

now only one the first round with thirty nine percent of the votes this is the first time the two face off since two thousand and nine unraveling manana was forced from power by protest led by a gradual enough. opposition candidate martin fire you know is expected to hold a rally ahead of sunday's long awaited election in the democratic republic of congo at least six people have been killed in violence ahead of the poll for the first time electronic voting machines will be used but as katherine sawyer reports the opposition is worried they'll be used to rig the result. 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. are 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 his polling station has similar concerns about. people in my village no nothing been explained. and hopefully some opposition leaders and civil society groups fear the south korean voting machines being used for the first time here could be manipulated to rig 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 how will we know if we have been cheated in some areas have not even seen us money on the place 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 droids limited electricity poor security and any damage in the. on top of a fire in the capital is causing controversy both in materials are still being distributed to different parts of the country but a warehouse. where the fetus machines were being stored was gunned down last week destroying most of the material the want to be used on fourteen day the building has been. investigating but politicians. are blaming each other for the fire. the various problems i increasingly lection tension nationwide here at the stone cutters shop they just want a fair election as well as a leader who will help make their lives a little more bearable catherine sorry al-jazeera kinshasa so ahead on al-jazeera a tense calm returns to make i worry about the anger that sparked months of

protests is still hanging in the air. where we meet the musicians in tajikistan determined to keep a thousand years of tradition alive. pinney's pink skies by the taj mahal. or is the sunsets in the city of angels. hello again welcome back to your international weather forecast well here across western europe we are watching one fun about to make its way across parts of central europe right now there is a front in the clouds associated but it's behind that front that we are dealing with the winds very gusty winds and those are going to continue not just today but also into tomorrow and specifically it is going to be on those western coastlines that we do see the strongest winds all the way down here towards france as well rain will be part of the mix in clouds will be part of the mix in london paris we

do expect to see a temperature today of about ten degrees rain going through the area with clouds still and those winds are going to continue being a little bit less than they were by the time we get to thursday but still up towards parts of sweden we may see some winds as well down here towards the southeast we're dealing with very heavy rain across parts of turkey that could lisa some localized flooding and some of those areas where cross the northern part of the med that same area of low pressure is still causing problems in terms of windy conditions along the coast you can see here anywhere from libya over here towards parts of egypt alexandria you may see some rain in your forecast but the heaviest rain is going to be out here towards the east we're talk about lebanon israel as well as into turkey cairo it is going to be a partly cloudy day for you we do think attempt there of about twenty degrees. there with sponsored by cats on race. kidnappings a man is in crimea since russia's full stanek station of the black sea. i

don't understand why he was kidnapped. schools of crimea into towns have been arrested. most believed by russian security forces. crimea russia's secret on al-jazeera. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera time to recap our headlines now the u.s. president has backed down to shut down the government over a funding dispute for a controversial border wall shut down would leave hundreds of thousands of government employees without. russia iran and turkey have failed to agree on the

makeup of the committee to rewrite syria's constitution and help end the war the foreign ministers met the outgoing un special envoy for syria in geneva. one of the world's biggest offerings made its debut on the markets with a disappointing start shares in the most japanese tech giant softbank fourteen percent on the first day of trading on the tokyo stock exchange. u.s. president donald trump is agreed to shut down his personal charity to resolve a legal battle new york's attorney general alleges the foundation operated as an extension of trans businesses in presidential campaign if the state wins trample have to pay thousands in penalties and will be barred from running other charities . on the has more from new york. new york attorney general barbara underwood gave us gave ing rebuke of the way the trump foundation work she said there was

a shocking pattern of illegality involving the trump foundation including unlawful coordination with the trump presidential campaign and in a statement she said that the trump foundation function a little more than a personal checkbook for donald trump to serve for his business and political interests a sensually the trump foundation was used by trump to pay for legal bills related to his business even pay for a piece of artwork for one of his golf clubs and also make an illegal political donation now the trump foundation overall is a very small part of the trump organization portfolio was founded in one thousand nine hundred eight and at its peak it had about three million dollars it was run by donald trump and three of his children evoke a don jr and eric there's about two million dollars remaining in the foundation that will now be distributed to needy organizations but it will be

a court that will oversee that distribution of the final remaining money now trump it should be noted is said that the foundation has done nothing wrong and that this lawsuit from the new york attorney general was nothing more than politically motivated but attorney general barbara underwood said that this is an important victory for the rule of law making it clear there is one set of rules for everybody while the trump foundation will be shut down the lawsuit in two ily illegal illegal activities related to it will continue. now five organizations representing british businesses have criticized the government for focusing on internal disputes and not preparing the country for braggs it the groups say they've been watching in horror as m.p.'s argue over prime minister to resign may's deal to leave the european union say there's not enough time now to manage an exit without an agreement may is due to hold her last question session in parliament for the year on wednesday.

belgium's prime minister has resigned after losing a confidence vote xargs michel had been leading a minority government for a week when his coalition partners walked out of the alliance the flemish nationalist party quit in anger over michelle's decision to sign the un migration pact critics say it will increase the number of migrants coming into europe. u.s. officials and representatives of 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 reports 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 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 in kind put an end to the destruction that's happening every day in the country. afghanistan is america's longest war troops went into the country after the attacks in the u.s. at temple 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 or 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 discuss a political roadmap for the future so our efforts and those of our partners are 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 sparking optimism that some hope 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 the number of revenge killings against journalists has nearly doubled this year the latest annual report from the committee to protect journalists found fifty three reporters have been murdered so far in two thousand and eighteen with thirty four killed in retaliation for their work the report blames the lack of international leadership on journalists rights and safety for contributing to the revenge killings one example is the murder of washington post columnist jean the saudi consulate in istanbul in october for team journalists were killed in afghanistan this year which makes it the most dangerous country in the world to report from however the number of journalists killed in conflict fell to its lowest level since two thousand and eleven. the nicaraguan government is facing sanctions by the united states for human rights violations attacks against government critics in the press and become commonplace since peaceful protests started in april the political crisis has sparked the worst

violence the country has seen since a military dictatorship was overthrown forty years ago. apollo unfolds from the nicaraguan capitol. to the i the streets of money are calm the tension remains the presence of security forces is now the norm ready to quickly put down any acts of anti-government dissent like that that there are no protests because you'll get thrown in prison that's why this country has more than six hundred political prisoners in jail and he is a vocal critic of nicaraguan president daniel ortega. this is her being thrown into the back of a police vehicle the last time a public protest was held in when i was. in a similar manner i actually broke my foot in that moment then they took every one of us away in an act of absurdity and in front of all the members of the press.

in the wake of the crackdown government critics and journalists run the risk of attack by pro-government forces. from the start of troubles which began over proposed reforms to a national pension program prison in order to get has underlined his commitment to human rights he says the violence seen so far is part of the right wing conspiracy against him. former nicaraguan ambassador to the oas who said we still ask is says that's nonsense. so. this is more than a police state this is a state that acts completely arbitrarily the rule of law and no longer exists in the hands of hitmen it's like an orioles novel where they speak in newspeak where war means peace and freedom means slavery that's what happened here large protests . no longer allowed civic and business leaders along with mediators from the catholic church have all pleaded with president or degas to return to the negotiating table despite international condemnation and sanctions imposed by the

united states there's no sign the president is willing to accept early elections a condition demanded by the national opposition human rights observers warn the political crisis will continue to deepen pushing the country further toward a situation similar to that of venezuela for activists like an mit getty to however what matters is continuing the resistance against the government you know i must say i was laid up with any luck they are we're going to continue until daniel ortega is gone if neither our going history has taught me anything it's that when nicaraguan people say enough it means in math. that sentiment means the calm on the streets right now may be no more just a phase that i was political crisis. when i was. a stand has a rich history of music and storytelling dates back a thousand years in the latest report in our series from the central asian country stratford went to a new six school in the capital to shine day to find out how musicians are keeping

their traditions alive. oh the name of this ancient times 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. my. money 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. shelf comedy shows me around the go to means 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 bought a show on 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 goat and horse calling for their mothers. not only plays these instruments but he makes them to. she had made craftsmanship is very hard especially drilling you have to do everything with your hands from the moment i see the wood i magine how that instrument will sound. he is joined by fairly musicians in his group called more meetings. plays a role and plays the day which is a type of drum. group of over the years to europe and america. they play a piece called. composed in the one nine hundred forty s.

means news from the mountains. and let's take you through some of the stories we're following here on al-jazeera now the u.s. president has backed down on his demand for five billion dollars to build the border war he wants to avoid a partial government shutdown funding for several agencies expires on friday failure to agree on a budget could see more than eight hundred thousand government workers sent home without pay just before christmas. yemen's warring sides are accusing each other of breaching a fragile cease fire and her data is not clear who cause for explosions in and around the major port on tuesday who the rebels in the internationally recognized

yemeni government agreed to the cease fire in sweden last week the un plans to deploy cease fire observers. the redeployment for the ports of hold data salif russy send critical parts of the city associated with the humanitarian facilities shall be completed within two weeks after the cease fires entry into force the for mutual redeployment of our forces from the city of her data and the ports of her data salif and russ if so should be completed within a maximum period of twenty one days after the cease fire enters into force it is responsibility of the parties to fulfill the agreement russia iran and turkey have failed to agree on the makeup of a committee to rewrite syria's constitution and help end the war their foreign ministers met the outgoing un special envoy for syria in geneva stefan the mistura is set to brief the secretary general and turn over terrors later on wednesday

one of the world's biggest stock offerings has made a disappointing debut on the markets shares in the mobile unit of japanese tech giant softbank fell fourteen percent on the first day of trading in the tokyo stock exchange some analysts blame a recent nationwide service outage and softbank ties to a chinese telecom company who are way for the slow start voting is underway for the presidential runoff election in madagascar former leaders andrew rodger lena and marc ravalomanana are vying for the top job roger narrowly won the first round with thirty nine percent of the vote this is the first time the two are facing off since two thousand and nine. the stream is negs stay with us here down to zero. young african footballers are travelling to thailand in hopes of becoming professional players but they risk discrimination and exploitation. when used

investigates thailand's football factory on al-jazeera. i have the ok i really could be laughing and here in the stream today was the indian independence icon the house mcgahee a racist we explore his legacy is the statue of him is torn down in ghana this story was on twitter by community member deejays but you too can be part of this conversation tweet us your thoughts or leave in our live chat. and i wrote to. you in this very. famous world wide for his nonviolent resistance to put in colonial rule but last week university of gonna fail.