on the turn of december the democratic republic of congo is finally heading to the polls to vote yes it will be announced the winner of the already controversial presidential election join us for special coverage of these elections on al-jazeera. we have one against isis u.s. president donald trump declares victory of i still but says that some senators within his own party condemning his decision to pull troops out of syria. but i'm down jordan this is. also coming up. uncertainty in the democratic republic

of congo with fears that somebody is elections may be postponed. but catholic church in the u.s. faces fresh accusations of a cover up with five hundred more clergy accused of sex abuse of a seventeen years. and one hundred days to go the u.k. and each announce plans for a no deal breakers it ramping up the political pressure. president donald trump has all but a full withdrawal of american troops from syria and declared victory against isis in the country a decision as surprised as foreign allies and angered some members of his own republican party to go lame reports. it's a massive move that will dramatically change the landscape of the war in syria and one not many saw coming the u.s. president tweeting out that isis has been defeated and that was the only reason u.s. troops were in syria and we have won against isis we've beaten them and we've beaten

a badly we've taken back the land and now it's time for our troops to come back home. but according to the u.s. government the islamic state of iraq and the levant is not actually defeated a point stressed by the president's own state department just last week i think it's fair to say americans will remain on the ground after the physical to feed a caliphate until we have the pieces in place to ensure that that defeatism during the move comes after a phone call between president trump and president urged one of turkey he's made clear he wants to target the kurds who have fought beside the u.s. and that is more difficult to do if u.s. troops are in his way just a few months ago the president himself is fully heralded as a sacrifice the kurds have made and we're trying to get along very well we do get along great with the kurds we're trying to help them a lot so they fought with us they died with us they died we lost. tens of thousands of kurds died fighting isis now many worry what will happen to the kurds what this

message sense is we don't stick with people our friends without the kurds in the syrian democratic forces we couldn't have beaten isis we couldn't have taken back and rock of course we were not willing to commit all of those troops that were necessary others say that should be a concern for the u.s. first time in my lifetime we have a prayer a president with the courage to declare victory and bring the troops home this came as a surprise for many on capitol hill some senators calling this a big mistake it's hard to imagine that any president would wake up and make this kind of decision with this little communication with this little preparation if this decision is a withdrawal of all of our forces in syria and they were dramatically listen this isn't a bomb or white move it's now that the u.s. has withdrawn or is going to withdraw from syria we have left basically turn the country over to russia and to an even greater extent iran the administration and the pentagon both released statements saying the fight against iso isn't over that

the u.s. is simply transitioning to the next phase of the campaign they didn't say what that phase might look like. al-jazeera washington. decision took u.s. allies in the fight against deisel by surprise many of them believe there's still the threat of i still read gaining ground one of my diplomatic james bays. here at the u.n. in new york and in the capitals of the u.s. is closest allies this news was not expected and not welcomed a u.k. minister making it clear in a tweet we're live in his view eisel has not been defeated a view shared by the ambassador who chairs the security council committee that tracks the group his latest reports reveal eisel still has about twenty to thirty thousand fighters in iraq and syria we believe the price always being the fear of being yes but it's not completed it's not completely because of course i suppose

trying to find other ways to do for a lot of the world president trump says the troops were only in syria to fight eisel but people here say they also performed a number of other roles including diplomatic leverage on the assad regime un special envoy stefan de mistura is back in new york and will brief the security council on thursday one of the lever's being used to get the assad regime back to the negotiating table was the fact the u.s. military controls a large swathe of the country rich in agriculture and energy it's now a job that will be even harder one of the main aims of president trumps foreign policy will also be affected the president back strongly by prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel has been trying to constrain the regional activities of iran and their u.s. decision and would respect any decision made by the administration we have our concerns about syria or the presence of

a venue and troops there in syria and we will do whatever we necessary to protect our people regardless if you have american troops russian troops or any other nations so while the u.s. is allies are dismayed by the trunk decision those with very different views about the future of syria the so-called a stana group turkey russia and iran will benefit with more freedom to act inside the country james bays al-jazeera of the united nations. more explosions have been reported on the second day of a un brokered cease fire in yemen's port city of her data saudi and the u.a.e. backed government forces and who think fight has blamed each other for violations on the first day of the truce on tuesday the warring parties agree that a ceasefire during talks in sweden last week data is critical to the supply of food and humanitarian aid to millions of yemenis on the brink of starvation or now from . pictures emerging from her data on tuesday show

a relative calm at who the checkpoints documents were requested before people were allowed to pass in some areas streets were largely empty in others the traffic slowed in the meantime and we are optimistic about the ceasefire decision but who is implementing the resolution brokered by the united nations who is implementing the decisions taken during this week in negotiations the saudi aggression did not implement any of the decisions made in sweden yemenis are suffering what the u.n. calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis where millions are facing starvation. aid workers say the situation remains desperate around her data the main gate way for eighty percent of much needed food and humanitarian aid in sweden last week representatives from the who the movement and the saudi u.a.e. backed government the president will months or had agreed not only to withdraw

fighters but also to establish humanitarian corridors and to allow for the deployment of un supervised neutral forces the redeployment from the ports of ho 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 full mutual redeployment of all forces from the city of her data and the ports of her data salif and russ is so shall be completed within a maximum period of twenty one days after the cease fire enters into force it is a responsibility of the parties to fulfill the agreement local leaders in her day to say they are determined to ensure the truce no matter how fragile it is holds. in the the land and sending the agreement that was discussed thank god we in the province of the data and the local authorities are committed to the ceasefire but there are somebody nations aircraft that are still flying over the city despite the

reports of explosions and sporadic fighting yemenis in and around the besieged port city are for now at least feeling some small semblance of hope. or well yemeni woman has just arrived in the u.s. city of san francisco to visit her dying son for a year long legal battle to get a visa the showing us may have been prevented from seeing him by a travel ban on people from yemen and four other mainly muslim countries as well as north korea and venezuela the two year old boy is an american citizen with a rare brain disorder that the u.s. granted ever a visa to a civil rights group took the case to court. activists and well wishers gathered at the airport to welcome. the u.s. senators passed a funding bill to keep the government running at least until the eighth of february the temper legislation was approved to avoid a complete federal shutdown after a deadlock about donald trump's plans for a border war with mexico from has previously refused to sign the bill if it doesn't

include five billion dollars for the wall. the roman catholic church in the u.s. state of illinois has been accused of failing to report the full scale of alleged child sex abuse by its clergy a report by the attorney general says the church with held the names of at least five hundred priests and other clergy accused of abusing minors over seventy years chicago's archbishop cardinal blaze soup it responded by apologizing for the church's failure report deals another blow to the church after revelations this year of abuse and then cover ups by catholic officials in pennsylvania alan fisher has more. or the catholic church in illinois had said that they had one hundred eighty five cases of priests that had been credibly accused of child sex abuse well the illinois attorney general's office decided to investigate and they phone that figure was actually much higher that there were five hundred more cases that needed to be investigated in the say that the catholic church not only didn't fully investigate those allegations that came forward over the last forty fifty years in

some cases they were investigated at all know the survivors network of those abused by priests see the shocking and also see that other states should follow what illinois has been doing what other states have been following that in fact there are thirteen states thirteen other states that are carrying out their own investigation and just in the last few weeks we've heard pennsylvania say more than one thousand children were abused by our own three hundred predatory priests and in the last two days the catholic order of the jesuits came out and issued a list of priests that had been involved in credible allegations of child sex abuse going back to the one nine hundred fifty s. now the catholic bishops in the united states had gathered and they were about to issue a statement or more is in issuing wide scandal but at the last minute they stopped not was because the vatican intervened no we're expecting to see some sort of

statement from those catholic bishops at some point early in the new year. time for short break here not just iraq when we come back why a chechen atavist living in hiding in poland my daughter turned home despite facing threats to his life. i'm comparing to vote in the shadow of violence we'll have the latest on the election and tell them more on the stay with us. from the waves of the south. to the contours of the east. have i once again rain has developed in a storm system somewhere around turkey but yes it's a pretty big downpours in cyprus in southern turkey where there is still flooding on the drive of this one thing will stay further north so that all that has brought rain through the open in syria bottom we get to middle assess day is really spread right across it's going through syria almost except for the far north and he's

lying in a northern iraq with snow on the high ground across the border in iran trying to push up towards wiser as well south of all this is a much quieter picture we're drawing a bit of a war that to give kuwait twenty three degrees the sun's out through most of iran is quite possible see the rain return possibly snow as well by the time we get to friday when the sun cusp in and beyond the arabian peninsula apart from a shower to possible in the red sea in that massive cloud there is a lousy dry picture the breeze is no longer blowing harshly down the gulf there it might pick up for the weekend and temperatures are but where they should be his time of year the showers that we saw only three days ago was quite heavy ones as a culture in the horn of africa have gone there just cloud the heaviest rain he's of course where it should be a life from angola across to tanzania or madagascar but some pretty potent showers are still there daily in the eastern side of south africa. the weather sponsored by qatar and peace. when the news breaks and the story began it's the fight against

isis still continuing in the desert when people need to be helped. and the story needs to be told by families and status and wealth has benefited from their choice translated people use iraq as teams on the ground to bring you more reward winning documentaries and lightnings on and on line. welcome back or come out of the top stories here on al-jazeera u.s. president donald trump has ordered a full withdrawal of american troops from syria and declared victory against isis

in the country but this isn't a surprise just foreign allies and angered some members of his own republican party . there are ports of more explosions on the second day of a un brokered cease fire and yemen's port city of the data saudi and u.a.e. backed government forces two thousand fighters blamed each other violations on the first day of the truce on tuesday. and chicago's archbishop has apologized for the catholic church's failure to address accusations of child sex abuse by its clergy the latest revelations of a cover up involved five hundred clergy in the u.s. state of illinois over seventeen years. now an official from the actual commission in the democratic republic of congo says sunday's elections might be delayed due to technical difficulties earlier police fired tear gas at supporters of the opposition presidential candidate martin for unity in the capital kinshasa the violence came after a ban by the city's government on all political gather. and it's. a stage all. charged opposition supporters dancing singing and exuding

confidence that this will be. fully packed by the time they leave. the presidential candidate could not get. closer to the police blocked the road his convoy and support his who had accompanied him while using. family fires in protest but those no getting through the police. all the while there are people remained hopeful. like maybe i'm told not. to. go and vote. but. if. we're going to.

be held responsible. there what. comes this all happened after. suspended political rallies in the city because of security reasons right up to that a senior official of the electoral commission say that there's a possibility of postponing the fundy election for a week. the main reason last week nearly seven thousand voting machines why destroyed when a warehouse where they were stored was burned down twenty five thousand replacement devices from other regions have arrived in the capital and they still have to be reconfigured. it's been a chaotic and violent complaint season and many people here are concerned that this

could escalate. catchy song al-jazeera kinshasa. the e.u. has revealed its contingency plans if the u.k. crashes out of the block without a deal the u.k. is olds are ramping up preparations for a no deal as nothing barbara explains. with the government's plans for a new deal breaks it featured heavily in prime minister's questions here in parliament's home wednesday what we know is that they're stepping up those preparations with the least two billion u.s. dollars of extra funding to try to get the country ready for that scenario and if the u.k. doesn't have a deal and leaves the e.u. next march they are for example putting three and a half thousand troops on standby there providing for extra special flights to make sure all medicines carry on arriving in the country now those prospects are worrying people like him and five of the biggest business organizations in the u.k.

you visited a joint statement saying they're looking on with horror of what they call functional infighting here in westminster and are saying it's up to politicians to really find a way forward and avoid that no deal scenario the labor party official opposition opposes said that that should be taken off the table the prime minister is recklessly running down the clock all in any shameful attempt to make your own bad deal look like the lesser of two evils. thing to the right honorable gentleman . while until the deal has a day and has been ratified it is the responsible position of government and it is it would be the responsible position of any government to put in place contingency arrangements for no deal of service lots of worry both in terms of immigration policy and in terms of the damage and no deal breaks it could bring. the british government has set out its biggest reform of immigration policy for more than forty

years as it prepares for a post brags that relationship with the rest of the world has the details. the issue of immigration has been at the high. part of the whole breakfast debate with the european union's freedom of movement rules limiting the u.k. government's ability to pick and choose who can enter the u.k. the government's dilemma post bracks it is how to visibly reduce immigration without damaging the economy the future system is about making sure immigration works in the best interests of the u.k. we are absolutely not closing our doors we're simply making sure that we have control over who comes through them. the new law will scrap the current limit on the number of skilled immigrant workers such as doctors or engineers it will allow low skilled immigrants to work for up to twelve months before they would be forced to leave again a suggested minimum salary threshold equivalent to around thirty eight thousand dollars for skilled e.u. migrants is being deferred for further consultation and the whole system would be

phased in from twenty twenty one a new twelve month visa would be used for individual unskilled workers from specific low risk countries they would not be allowed to settle or bring their relatives with them and it seems destined still little for better integration but it is an explicit recognition from the government that despite anti immigrant sentiments some sectors of the u.k. economy have become dependent on cheap unskilled migrant labor using a salary threshold to define skilled and unskilled workers is worrying to hospitals and health care providers the starting salaries of nurses paramedics and midwives will likely put them below the threshold that's a problem in a service where twenty one percent of nurses and health visitors are non british and thirty percent of doctors come from overseas axel and tony is a german born accountant who built his business up in the u.k. his frustration at the treatment of e.u. workers here let him to co-found the campaign group the three million e.u.

citizens are generating about two thousand three hundred pounds more in tax than the average adult in the u.k. seventy eight thousand pounds in its contribution after all costing it take into account over the lifetime. prime minister theresa may emphasised her commitment to immigration control with a visit to london's heathrow airport on wednesday to see border guards at work but reaction to the government's proposals has been mixed some predict an imminent skill shortage in key sectors western as one opposition m.p. pointed out society javid the example of cabinet ministers shows that being highly paid and highly skilled do not always go together paul brennan al-jazeera london. hungary's opposition has warned there won't be any letup in anti-government protests trade unions have also pledged to hold nationwide strikes if a controversial label only signed into things it allows employers to force stuff to work overtime with payment delayed for up to three years stripped of more than

a week of demonstrations in the capital but at best i've been forced to work as more. we haven't seen anything like the large scale protests of the weekend when thousands of hunger areas converged on the capital outside parliament and also. went to the state broadcaster the hungary state broadcaster where we saw angry scenes and violent scenes where opposition m.p.'s who had entered the building two of whom were forcibly ejected and injured we actually met with two of those m.p.'s earlier today independent n.p.c. in the hunger in parliaments and they explained to us that the protest movement which has become known as the solidarity movement is spontaneous sporadic it's not centralized we have different groups involved everything from students youth movements to the neighbor unions also now to these political parties on both the

left and the rights of the spectrum and they are saying that there is now likely to be another large scale protest towards the weekend when this since so-called slavery law is expected to be signed into effect by the president. a parliamentary elections in togo are going ahead despite riots and a boycott by the opposition the west african country has been gulf and i political crisis now for over a year but just as what the president to resign reports. in the days leading up to legislative elections in togo the number of people killed by security forces is on the increase. the military has been blocking streets to stop the deadly protests and one of those just killed was a thirty two year old father an electrician named cebu saw the suit. we were on our way to buy food when military men started shooting guns with real bullets saudis

who were shot two times on his chest and cheek in much to mr t. he went down this morning to buy food and he was cute but was flowing from his body by the time they brought him home he was already that. president for nursing babies family has been in power since a coup in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven the president's father general nothing but ruled with an iron fist for nearly forty years. his son took the presidency in two thousand and five and more than one thousand people were killed during those elections total ease have been calling for him and his government to resign for years now fourteen opposition groups have created a coalition there asking their supporters to boycott the elections they say the ruling party will pass legislation to let the president run again in two thousand and twenty and then again in two thousand and twenty five fifty next year on

a perv always on the reason lections cannot help but trigger violence mourning and a lot of suffering if you've had enough here in togo this is why we keep on saying that the government was not told these elections we stand prepared to unilaterally and whose results it ready you know we have absolutely no doubt. a regional group of mediators from god. guinea have led talks to resolve the crisis the opposition had agreed to participate but wanted an overhaul of the electoral commission and to set term limits but they didn't get what they were promised we'll do aunt deel sue deja in togo people are being shot and parliament members a hear and remain silent some others just keep on campaigning not a single judge has taken hold of this case that is if we're living in a lawless state where an ordinary citizen can be broken and even killed and no one says a thing this is the lord the jungle. the rising tensions have prompted all religious groups in togo to call for the polls to be postponed but the ruling party will not

budge. the legislative elections will take place with nursing babies union for the republic party you're looking set to win what remains to be seen is how many citizens will be killed as the country's long time ruling family holds on to power paltrow dirge on al-jazeera now the most popular video blogger in chechnya faces deportation from poland inflate his hometown years ago after receiving death threats and legibly from chechen government leaders but now he may be forced to go back home. reports. to me so of to iraq i know there's an online sensation but offline he fears for his life the popular blogger from chechnya has been living in exile in poland for the last three years he's terrified of what will happen if he's forced to return home you're not searches you want to be back in chechnya just the very thought of being deported to russia it's something i try to not even think about. in august one of his youtube videos got two million views in it he's

allegedly threatened by one of the most feared men in chechnya the speaker of parliament my goal mitt. romney on kind of as a chechen leader he is reverb by supporters and feared by opponents they say he's notorious for running a brutal regime was ruled through corruption torture and murder of drug money all fled to poland after he says he was threatened by the leaders concent he told me let us meet up next time and i will take you to rahm's on and he tells me to kill you i will kill you if he tells me to put you in jail i will put you in jail and if he tells me to let you go i will let you go he's been hoping to receive asylum in poland ever since without success kadyrov and his security forces have warned asylum seekers and they will pay for their criticism if they return and this is that in chechnya fav rules people fear the authorities they fear each other people start to fit everything the state of affairs is practically the same as maybe in

germany during hitler's time or in russia during stalin's time. the chechen government accused up iraq must know of an involvement with iceland syria stamps on his passport to prove otherwise he says and now security concerns in europe are complicating the status of chechens who fled the polish government says thirty one hundred people filed for asylum in the first nine months of the here about two thousand of them were russians mainly from the chechen republic only sixty three were granted asylum for many champions it's a matter of life and death. through the option i've been getting messages about this there have already been deportations and brenda berg germany many are worried they're calling in to see if it's true they're really scared right now. i've dropped my knowledge has managed to hide from chechen security forces but he doesn't know for how much longer katia lopez saw the young al-jazeera. so let's go back now to one of our earlier stories on britain's plans to leave the european

union well as briggs it looms a pro e.u. boy band is attempting to bring some harmony to the debate and. the five member ban named the union boys known as the video for their first single britain comeback and amsterdam although they haven't booked to get to the bottom hopes to top british pubs to get their message out the group's founder says she was inspired by the original british boy band take that. time for a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera u.s. president donald trump has ordered a full withdrawal of american troops from syria and declared victory against i still in the country the decision has surprised his foreign allies and angered some members of his own republican party we have won against isis we've beaten them

and we've beaten him badly so our boys our young women our men they're all coming back and they're coming back now we want and that's the way we want it and that's the way they want it there are reports of more explosions on the second day of the un brokered cease fire and yemen's port city of her data saudi and the u.a.e. bat's government forces and who the fighters other violations on the first day of the truce on tuesday. yemeni woman has just arrived in the u.s. city of san francisco to visit her dying son after a year long legal battle to get a visa shamus we've been prevented from seeing him by a travel ban on people from yemen and four other mainly muslim countries as well as north korea and venezuela the two year old boy is an american citizen with a rare brain disorder. the u.s. granted her a visa after a civil rights group took the case to court. chicago's archbishop has apologized

for the catholic church's failure to address accusations of child sex abuse by its clergy the latest revelations of a cover up involved five hundred priests and clerics in the u.s. state of illinois over seventy years. an election official in the democratic republic of congo says some days polls might be delayed due to technical difficulties hours earlier police fired tear gas on opposition supporters in the capital kinshasa of the political rallies have been over security concerns. opposition's warned there won't be any let up in anti-government protests the hunger an alliance of trade unionists also pledged to hold the nationwide strikes of a controversial label over signed into effect protesters are condemning what they call a slave law which allows employees to force staff to work overtime and delay payment for up to three years triggered more than a week of demonstrations in the capital budapest all right well those are the

headlines the news continues here in algeria after the street station thanks a lot. when the shots came from the holiday we heard critics we heard some noise. this was known as sniper alley one of the most dangerous intersections in saudi but . it didn't come in through the front entrance was what happened to the people who were shot they came into the wrong and the nightly politics of the furniture to. show the. sarajevo holiday hotels on al-jazeera. hi anthony ok enjoying the stream today as we wrap up twenty eighteen with take a reflective look back at the year that was highs the lows the chaos and the hope as we head into a new year and i'm really could be will be joined by a special group of faith leaders to have this conversation about the global news of

twenty eighteen i want you to be a part of it too as always share your thoughts in our youtube chat or on twitter.