more than six months aboard the international space station the russian american and german. all reported to be feeling a mission. in orbit and the. bringing a replacement. all right still ahead when we come back.

that's good old sport i hear santa thank you very much a has them all major league baseball has reached an agreement with the sports cuban federation and laos players that from the island to sign playing contracts without defecting but it's not clear whether the trump administration which tighten sanctions on cuba last year will allow it to work in practice for decades players that have been met paying smugglers to help them reach the united states many ended up owing a large debt to trafficking gangs under the grievance tanzer a fee would be paid to the cuban federation for players services the trans administration no reportedly has concerns though cuban and city would profit from the deal if it will we. this is an agreement a contract between two federations to non-governmental federations major league baseball and the federation of cuban baseball that have obtained permission from

the united states government with a license to seal this agreement this is the legal way to secure a way which we have always dreamed of for our children and their families that our athletes can join. real madrid through to the wall the club book cup final and a hat trick from gareth bale the welsh star struck three times in eleven the play minutes as the spanish giants crews past japanese sides. salmonella castle. winning the club world cup could be the bright spot lift what's been a disappointing season for real madrid so far. rao who are struggling down and full of the leader looked shaky early on and asked semifinal against japan's because she mantillas. gareth bale settled the nerves however after some clever work by marcel it was just the start of what was to be a destructive spell was the welshman back in

a quick fire and eleven minute trip was he was helped on his way by some comical defending was it all seemed a bit too much because she was manager to handle i was there was no luck however about bale's third was marcello again with the assist to end any serious hopes of a comeback was because she did get a goal though with thirteen minutes left. but it was all too little too late rally winning it thirty one. we are all expecting these kind of performances of for him from him. every sunday or every wednesday every time we play of course it's easy to score three goals three goals every game but but i mean not just got the commitment and he has had this commitment in the last games and today everything everything was perfect for him but. he can achieve these because he was committed

before. the spaniards now turned their attention to him rocky side lane with will face in saturday final so while malik al-jazeera. oh same football and tottenham have beaten arch rivals arsenal to book their spot in seven finals of the english league cup spurs one two nil away at the emirates stadium old chelsea have also made it beating born with a one nil both joined thirty a side at burton albion and holders matches the city in the last four. to enter tell where the pittsburgh penguins have ended the washington capitals five game win streak with this game was peppered by several five past the old rivals met for the third time this season it was heated from early on no one would punches thrown in the first minute in the second period the capitals took the lead to but were tied soon after by goal from them to be late in the period to brian ross that broke the deadlock making it to one zero with the penguin where his six goal is in five games

. the city council in the south korean capital seoul has approved initial funding for a plan to co-host in the olympics it with pyongyang the proposal for a joint a north south a bit was agreed to by the leaders of the two countries at their last thought it but it will cost we know half a billion dollars for south korea alone a price tag that's expected to climb stately mcbride reports from some. all decked out for the season of giving the city of seoul is learning just how much she will have to give to co-host the olympic games in twenty thirty two seoul metropolitan council met to help formulate its bid as well as the initial cost billions more will have to be spent on infrastructure in both koreas. in spite of the hefty price tag many here believe it's worth it. if we can co-host

i think it will provide a good opportunity to move towards peace the only captain and then of course cost is a concern but there's around thirteen years to go and north korea could develop its economy to a considerable extent by then given its relative wealth compared to its much poorer northern neighbor south korea would probably have to bear much of the cost at least in the beginning offering an insight into how reunification might work one bit it will pass on in the long term if there is reunification there will be synergy with the north providing natural resources and affordable labor and the south providing cutting edge technology and know how the olympics have played an important role in the korean relations south korea hosted the summer games in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight judged a major success after the two previous games in los angeles and moscow were marred

by cold war boycotts between the east and west. north korea stayed away from competing in seoul thirty years ago leading to acrimonious protests around the event. it was a very different story at the start of this year when improving relations meant the north sent a team to the south korean winter olympic simpy on chang. in little more than a year the two careers have gone from nuclear bomb and ballistic missile tests and threats of war to preparing to present their joint bid to the international olympic committee with the highly volatile nature of into korean relations the question is whether the momentum of cooperation can be maintained a decision on hosting the twenty thirty two games won't be taken until twenty twenty five and who knows what relations between the north and the south will look like seven years from now rob mcbride al-jazeera sold. time and big champion missy

franklin has announced her retirement from swimming at the age of just twenty three the american it's up to twenty twelve london olympics winning four goals as a seventeen year old the following a year she became the first woman to win six events at the single world championships chronic shoulder pain and issues including depression have pushed her out of the will to and she says she's ready to leave the pool behind and that's it for me back to hasn't that's right much sam now that's it for this news a news out richelle carey will be here in a couple minutes more they. are

. called the must move hussein has now been held in pretrial detention for two years what is his crime. why hasn't he been tried yet why hasn't justice been applied in this case is he detained because he's a journalist as journalism become a crime have moles become a tool to silence wars of drugs we will continue our news coverage with professionalism and impartiality our work will remain credible and accurate but journalism is not a crime incarcerating journalists is not acceptable we demand the immediate release of all colleague mahmoud to say and all journalists attained in

a gyptian jails. and all his colleagues we stand for press freedom. beautiful six hundred horsepower feeling happiest. women tearing up the trunk in the west bank. challenging stereotypes. living life in the. banking. systems business. we have. pulling u.s.

troops out of syria to the surprise of his. generals. and michelle kerry this is. also coming up. the presidential election in the democratic republic of congo. first sunday may not happen also. but the celebrated day of peace and mediated cease fire appears to be holding. a special report from to look at the effects of alcoholism and unemployment on families in one of central asia poorest nations.

it's a decision that is surprise foreign allies and their military leaders and politicians on both sides of the aisle stunned and in some cases angry as president order for withdrawal of american troops from syria declaring victory against eisel. our coverage from washington. 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 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 america 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 us and that is more difficult to do if u.s. troops are in his way just a few months ago the president himself has played 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 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 rocker because 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 now we're dramatically listen this isn't a bomb of life move because now that the u.s. has withdrawn or is going to withdraw from syria we have left basically turn the country over to russia into an even greater extent iran the administration and the pentagon both released statements saying the fight against i so isn't over but 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 the site trunks announcement about troop withdrawal france says its troops will stay in syria for now they're going to paris minister said the fight against terrorism is not over france has station fighter jets and jordan artillery along the syrian border and iraq as part of the

u.s. led coalition some u.n. estimates say that there may be as many as thirty thousand fighters in both syria and iraq more now from our diplomatic editor james. 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 would be limited by stories being different being yes but it's not complete and it's not completed because of course i suppose trying to find other ways to do for a few months 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. u.n. 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 respect any decision made by the administration we have our concerns about syria or the presence of a venue and troops in syria and we will do what every necessary to protect our people regardless if you have american troops russian troops or any other nations

so while the u.s. is our 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. of the united nations summit outers the director of the institute for strategic affairs says it'll be interesting to see what iran does now trying. the balance of power has tilted in favor of our moves. russia and iran. however the three of them agreed. yesterday on one that was that all were. america from eastham off your strait now that america this and gauged i think that the visions between that

the partners were because. every one of thirty six partners has a different as i'm not to say a conflict thing. the question is whether this or that that or with the role they have their way for us at the men it's worth wide mentioning the position of russia yesterday saying that that was that all were made open or to see a date that chances of a settlement however the question today and that big question is how iran would react and would his. withdrawal were offered or would it be a gift to your own.