actually consulting health care biotechnology automotive oil and gas exploration and mining the government says the hackers were able to get into the computers of nasa the energy department and the navy stealing the personal information of one hundred thousand sailors they wouldn't name the companies that were targeted but did say many of the attacks were aimed at managed service providers you've all heard about situations where you see somebody essentially the cyber equivalent of breaking into a house this is more like breaking into and getting the keys from the maintenance supervisor who has keys to hundreds and hundreds of apartments and all the residents in those apartments according to the indictment that you worked for the chinese government and are believed to still be in china meaning they are unlikely to actually be arrested but this comes at a time of increased tensions between the u.s. and china after the arrest of a chinese tech executive at the request of the u.s. on charges of violating sanctions and the clock ticking on

a ninety day window hoped it ending the trade war leading to another bad day on the stock market as the u.s. injects even more tension to the over the front u.s. china relationship. or washington tensions are once again running high in spain between bosler and i and the central government a year off to snap elections proconsul an independence activist holding protests in wasilla they coincide with prime minister petra sanchez holding his cabinet meeting in the city sunday ago and joins us live from boston area so you tell us why this protest is happening why is this meeting being seen as quite so provoke a sieve. and the stars here for the spanish prime minister and the spanish central government themselves they are putting the spin on it that in fact this is what they would call a process of engagement with catalan society has been described as such by the prime minister himself or missed

a bit of sunshine but catalan pro independent this is being seen as nothing short of a provocation if you look first of all at the date which is being held it's a year on from the anniversary of when the elections were called after spanish government had imposed direct rule from madrid also they see it as a way of trying to provoke in the last days before the holidays break up was trying to sort of impose quite a lot of sort of chaos within the city center itself this whole stretch of barcelona the downtown area really has been blocked off it's caused quite a bit of commotion there it's affected all the local businesses here as well schools anyone trying to go about their jobs their businesses many people not having turned up to work today they don't understand why this had to be held here at this point where it was in full view so basically as a form of trying to get some kind of symbol across it's quite a significant statement for them and also no less the fact that you've got nine

thousand police officers from the national police corps as well as local police forces that has given off the impression of course that there is some kind of security lockdown here in which there is of course they are trying to stop people from getting anywhere near that cabinet meeting is going to be held this morning and therefore that triggers off really quite a lot of fears a lot of anger resulting from that independence vote that took place fourteen months ago which still hasn't been resolved and is still a source of simmering tension here that bubbles over every now and again the sunnier what's the status of catalonia now and is it likely that the spanish prime minister will be able to resolve any of that. that's a very difficult question here you've got the prime minister essentially between a rock and a hard place his point of view within his own party he has people who have been

against the overtures that he has been making towards the catalan government he's being seen well there are fears that he's being seen as being too soft in trying to dialogue with the capital and government however also on the other side you've got also the right wing parties which have been gathering support and who are incredibly opposed to the way that mr sanchez is trying to resolve this issue as well however what the government some of the country can get away from is that this issue in catalonia is not going away there is still a tremendous amount of anger about this about the way the situation was dealt with very chaotic flea on on either side but also the issues of from the pro independent is parties here in catalonia they say that they're members of of parliament who are in prison charges of satish and they are calling them political prisoners as well so the spanish government has to tread a fine line and seven mr sanchez has to tread a fine line between trying to placate those who are against that and trying to find

some kind of path to which the cats like government can be seen to agree with the spanish government without losing face over the whole issue of independence. speaking to us live there from the sidelines of protest in barcelona thanks very much sonia where the next but still ahead on al-jazeera. allegations that russia is still racial tensions as a chance to influence u.s. politics. and to bridging the wealth gap we'll look at the challenge and one of asia's most unequal countries. hello there we've got lots of rain over the southeast in parts of asia the moment the satellite picture is showing plenty of cloud everybody parts of the philippines down through borneo and down across java as well further west it's actually looking a bit better with particular large amount of sunshine there over parts of thailand

for the philippines though here we've seen lots of wet weather over the past few days now in fact just in two days we've seen one hundred fifty millimeters of rain and that weather is set to continue its we head through the next few days as well we're also watching this is a feature that is galloping its way towards vietnam and so for the southern parts of vietnam does look like it's going to be pretty ways for some of us as we head through the day on sunday for australia we've also seen some wet weather here and lots of thunder reactivity as well most of the thunderstorms have beat in the east thanks to the hot weather that we've been seeing there things will ease off temperature wise as we head through the next few days i think still going to be pretty warm embrace been there on saturday about thirty four degrees for the temperatures will continue to ease as we head into sunday this time just topping at around twenty eight further towards the west twenty six will be our maximum in perth no major problems for us from new zealand it's the fall north of the north on in we've got the west this weather at the moment saturday is looking like a so he won here.

young african footballers are traveling to thailand in hopes of becoming professional players but they risk discrimination and exploitation. when used the best of your time and football factory on al-jazeera. and for you.

welcome back i'm just. a reminder of our top stories this hour u.s. defense secretary james mattis is quitting this is the latest high profile resignation in the trumpet ministration it comes a day off for the president announce that all u.s. troops will be leaving syria and there are reports that trump is also ordered the withdrawal of up to seven thousand u.s. troops from afghanistan that would haul of the number of american soldiers in the country. than independents activists are protesting in wasilla as spain's prime minister holds a cabinet meeting in the city tensions are running high a year off to spain's government ruled the castle learning a six secession referendum was illegal. some flights resume to the u.k. second biggest airport off to drones brought it to a standstill on thursday british troops have been sent to gatwick airport south of london as police continue to hunt for the operation of true drones the device has reappeared nearby every time the airport tried to reopen its runway. is that it got

to work airport. well after thirty six hours of chaos the misery for passengers here at gatwick airport is now tentatively reopening a very limited number of flights are being allowed to arrive and takeoff i've just been inside the terminal building the arrivals area is a ghost town hardly anybody there at all but if you go into the departure area where people are trying to check in there are vast queues as the airport tries to clear the massive backlog of passengers overnight restrictions on aspace and parts of the k. were lifted to allow diverting planes to reach their final destination some people were diverted as far away as paris and the netherlands but police now say that there is all of the security equipment in place largely through the help of the military to mitigate the possible effects of these drones the last recorded sighting was on thursday evening still no indication who the perpetrators are still

no indication whether or not possibly one of the drones is in the hands of the or thirty's the police say they have several lines of inquiry one suggestion is that perhaps environmental protesters may have been involved in organizing this but as the authorities say it is early days their main priority is to get this airport up and running as quickly as possible. protesters in hungary are expected to rally again on friday after the president signed off legislation that opponents are calling a slave law it allows employers to force people to work overtime and delay payments for up to three years robin forester walker has more from budapest a new life has been breathed into the hug area and opposition to controversial laws passed by big governments in the hungarian parliament behind me the first law would create a parallel court system where the justice ministry would appoint judges and human rights groups say there is an erosion of hungary's independent judiciary the second

piece of legislation is a label which is really fired up a number of different organizations groups and political parties from both the left and the right because what it would mean would be that companies tend to monde's more working hours from their employees by up to four hundred hours that's an additional day for every week of the year there have been two permanent tents established here outside the parliament by the hard core of civil society activists who say they're going to stick it out throughout the christmas period and into the new year. sabrina hi how you doing. i gather that you've been here for the last week right the first of this time and you've had a couple of very chilly nights it's pretty cold and you know you need to. go down yesterday i do want everyone to have the support you need. to stand just to have

rushed to stand up for it this is not a democracy now it's victorious and the government says that these laws are necessary and that this legislation is in line with the sorts of laws that you see in other european union countries. well schools and universities have been suspended in sudan's capital after eight people died in protests against rising food and fuel prices demonstrations spread to khartoum on thursday and there's a state of emergency in place in the cities of outs and get a riff protesters are angry about inflation now at nearly seventy percent one of the wilds highest the sudanese economy has struggled since the independence of south sudan in twenty eleven when it lost the majority of its oil output. african-americans were the prime targets of russia's efforts to help donald trump win the twenty sixteen presidential election that's the finding of a report from the u.s. senate intelligence committee that americans make up nearly thirteen percent of the population and tend to vote democrat al jazeera is high desert hastert has the

story. september twenty sixth seen was a vulnerable time in charlotte north carolina the city was an upheaval over the police killing of a black man in the us presidential election was just over a month away andrew feed was among the local activists using social media to organize protesters there was somebody to reached out and say can we share this on our or on our criminal justice reform page or something like that and i looked at the page and i had about three to four hundred thousand followers you know likes or something like that so you know i'm thinking of but black matters us was actually made by hackers working for russia's internet research agency or the i r a a senate intelligence committee report found the most prolific ira efforts on facebook and instagram specifically targeted black american communities and

appeared to have been focused on developing black audiences and recruiting black americans as assets if these people were able to church facebook twitter you sue google cia the f.b.i. the obama administration of course they're going to trick the activists that are on the ground there. but tricked them to do what u.s. intelligence has concluded russia wanted donald trump to win the presidency knowing that african-americans by and large were supporting hillary clinton they need to find some kind of way to intercept that leaders in the black church say russian hackers preyed on african-americans historic disenchantment with the u.s. political system by tying that system to clinton and encouraging a paralyzing anger against her they polarize they highlighted the issues of. blacks in america and.

again it was divide and conquer the protests that filled the charlot streets garnered national attention and inflamed racial tensions just weeks before the presidential election when it came time to cast a ballot the voter turnout among black americans was down seven percent from the previous presidential election now the question is how much of that was due to russia's influence and was it enough to determine the winner do you think donald trump would be president if the russians had interfered directly targeting african-american voters in the u.s. no i don't think it would be president the u.s. government says there's no way to know for sure but to the people who were targeted by russia's influence campaign the answer is already clear heidi castro al-jazeera charlotte north carolina. the widening global wealth gap has sparked social unrest in many parts of the wilds it's raising particular concern in thailand after one

survey name to the country is having the biggest disparity one percent of the population controls more than two thirds of the country's wealth reports from bangkok. even though the physical distance between thailand's rich and poor can be small for to put love it's just a matter of metres the wealth gap between them has been steadily widening and according to one report it's now the world's largest tos lived in a bangkok slum for forty five years and now in the shadow of the capital's latest ultra luxury model she picks while vegetables for her dinner who's worried should be kicked off the land her situation is not unique. a recent international report put thailand at the top of the wealth gap list in a country of nearly seventy million the richest one percent controls sixty six point nine percent of the country's wealth economist a bank executive and it raised concern on social media about the growing wealth

inequality as it leads to social unrest like with the rival thai political groups known as the red shirts and yellow shirts that some things have been in new qualities you know for me the. red turk. problem is quite clear to me that inequality at the grassroots suntanned capitalist thailand's military government quickly responded to pump on it and the wealth reports when you look at the data. the real data come from many countries table six have only forty countries dessie make that country and one in doubt but if you look at all country around it will be a number one so for those ties at the lower end of the wealth chart it's not just about having few or no assets or even a low income it's about the lack of opportunities and resources so their chances and hope of changing their environment working their way up are extremely low a great deal of industries in retail in thailand are controlled by

a select few firms or families they're well connected to the government ensuring their position top. top up lim chip doggone runs a craft beer company but he says he had to shift his brewing out of thailand because of regulations that favor the too large beer companies huge production minimums and strict advertising laws he was even arrested emanuel. you cannot do it because someone already told superior to fire. in this country that you know a woman not going to. really hold up at the it's possible for them to many people is that the woman saw their money evolve according to economists pump and if those unfair advantage is given to people who are already at the top of the wealth chart are the most damaging to the economy and the country. it not only makes the rich richer but it takes money and opportunity away from others scot hardly

al-jazeera thank god. i'm just on the attainder high and these are the top stories u.s. defense secretary james mattis is quitting this is the latest high profile resignation in the trump administration it comes one day off to the president announce that all u.s. troops will be leaving syria and there are reports that trump is also ordered the withdrawal of up to seven thousand u.s. troops from afghanistan that would haul of the number of american soldiers in the country. proconsul on independence activists are protesting in boss alona as spain's prime minister holds a cabinet meeting in the city tensions are running high a year off to spain's government ruled the catalonia secession referendum was illegal sunday gago has more from. security in the capital of the region is high with nine thousand national and regional

police deployed to try and prevent the testers from getting close to the location of where the cabinet meeting is taking place but in a sense the government has tried to use this meeting will certainly spawn it as a way as the prime minister the spanish prime minister better such as put it as a kind of a gesture of warm society as he called it schools and universities have been suspended in sudan's capital after eight people died in protests against rising food and fuel prices demonstrations spread to khartoum on thursday and there's a state of emergency in place in the city is about to bar and get our if protesters are angry as inflation now at nearly seventy percent that's one of the wilds highest. some flights have resumed to the u.k. second biggest airport after drawings brought it to a standstill on thursday british troops were sent to gatwick airport south of london as police continue to hunt for the operation of true drones the devices

reappeared nearby everytime the airport tried to reopen its runway there's a big headlines they'll be more news here after what i want to east. getting to the heart of the matter how can you be a refugee after you while eight borders between five safe countries facing realities. from the very beginning go by the scrutiny of providing context housing is not just about four walls and a roof hear their story and talk to al-jazeera. young west african football there is are leaving their homes and loved ones behind and heading to thailand. they arrive with nothing but their talent and a dream to make it as a professional player. for the competition to get on the field is intense and

discrimination and exploitation is all too common. i'm steve on this up a sort of one he used we meet aspiring african footballers as we try to make it in time lines big league. limiting times or in the short field or continents. that they have a battle with they. often are at the battle. of thing all. over the. place you you make. it was sort of. a it is a muffin love. and i got yes i think it's all or not oh gosh there is

a set us off there isn't the day on. the job because that's you nobody. in this job uncle read to from one of. the initial up and. get him out of the alley easy the way to motion a company to humanity is you know they've got to get on the club. was using me. as a good part due to the technical news of the vehicle new to their ways and the fed me to me bias in. touch through first arrived in bangkok one month ago here he shares a room with fellow army to football is. very good if you do.

it in office now then why are you for. such a nice because i'm a preference of welsh lapham and i did it in a much as your employer does offer you a jumper and they're going to use and you know i said it did if they push. gaza city they're going to new will give it i'm decision because you're under thirty. it's someone have russian it's sad that after my sons are through to them that there's a process in. chess or it took out a fifteen hundred euro for this trip and then to the country on a tourist visa. he has two months left to get signed by a club. tesser rue is one of several hundred foreign armatures trying their luck in thailand the

country is on the cusp of becoming a major footballing nation in ten years it has created a homegrown footballing enterprise comprised of four professional divisions supported by around one hundred clubs. the salaries can be as high as ten thousand euros among. the youth has turned from boxing to embrace the beautiful game. for every inspiring success story there are plenty left behind. just north of the capital one team is fighting for survival. the lucky sam. the lucky son easton's children is named as a tribute to the country's poorest region. after being relegated to the fourth division between is now trained by

a foreign coach. bozeman shareef good idea. has spoken thai is perfect albeit with a give me an accent. jerry is next professional himself now turned asian football pioneer. it will get long. island are doing you no. good. i mean you're booking your place and. it probably means the left is the. one you gain with the last. earning six hundred fifty euros a month push shareef a long way behind manchester united's manager. but he does lay claim to

the title of tomlin's first professional coach of african descent along like they don't sit there but if. your boss could the title under my good even to the goofy mooney's ome known that. go memoirs and speaking. with us you know man i say the least i don't think you know as it is actually i'm going to go. see me long and then let them know. i lo. lo the long. legged heroes i see happening lookee son have the smallest budgets in the fourth division around one hundred fifty thousand euros this pace is sonorous of twenty five players a mix of thai and international talent as well as a coach and his stuff i'm only along in up i told you.

i know. him i found full enough and he. does go out in front of them on this ng if. it's only. they keep a new one for him. currently holding fifth place in the championship the team could still win promotion to the next division i may have p.t. the team could propose a meal for the end of each training session. and. it's a welcome recreational break for the team of. the . i don't know if you are one. and i mean did you know that why would. anybody in your group of people know.

even if you know. that. we're. there for more and more there would be no matter. how. thailand has a southeast asia's second biggest economic power and its business class have ploughed investment into football. the national league is already listed at sixty million euros on the stock exchange. forty four year old. is a successful market speculators and has amassed considerable personal wealth. and

you get a. retreat for them that you. feel you people have put. sits on the boards of several companies is also from the time to invest in a football club as the owner of the lucky sign they. are. well you have a model army back in the. hole did. it be done tom de lay believed other than paul getting there were clearly of the public good it would. get arrogant. since it's relegation to the fourth division the lookee sound has lost all of its sponsors leaving conan to finance the club alone. god knows when kong will come on the phantom team the.

team. hole up in team lead which i you will mind being able man had a line well. if a tie if a nickel but one thing that bought into a down in that's online been a lot longer than. that on high seed on the up in some of the big of the behind the now. despite these financial issues still managed to find the money to buy some form of stars of the first division a guinea and striker under defender from sierra leone. he also sends coach sharif to scout for fresh talent in the stadiums of bangkok. to keep. trying to make.

more. later that night in ram command and the tournament is underway shareef m.p.t. are on the lookout for a diamond in the rough. some just. on display is a mixture of both toy and foreign players. just. as. players from the ivory coast cameroon and guinea are in abundance. to avoid oh no no no. i'm going from training to. coach sharif is known to most of the african players here to. say. big logged in it's. on loan yes i think when you.

needed it would. be there. was. competition amongst the african players as tough. those in the terraces weren't able to earn a place in the tournament like peter the ten year in a dire situation. having arrived in thailand on a tourist visa he was exploited by his club manages one gorge conducted we in the us you for having drug industry buy the whole world with you if you need to move will and will not and so we're going to do our much work that brilliantly were devoted to for the moment there's no money and just no doesn't help us right to not going to be out to play because normally most of border. has run out of

money and his visa has expired leaving him at the mercy of the coaches and immigration services. bilingualism and then finally yes i live. out on an innocent man walked in and he doesn't. seem that but it was that he got the ball. on please only for don't want it to happen to you as easy then you go. to get him to mail. me to. get that same gun deaths from does this incident. i don't think about it as you discuss the good stuff i mean what allows on the campaign to be able to as you know that is still out. there risks do not to top players who are looking to live that dream shareef receives phone calls from african hopefuls on a daily basis the end of the england. school.

and they have to. sit down next to the baby tunes. as soon as the doors of the thai eldorado are closing faced with a surge of candidates the thai federation has cut down the co-chair of foreign players allowed into the league's. very few nonetheless allowed to touch through to and to tie them he wrote a letter allowing him to pass through customs but stopped short of offering him a contract. your allies on his faith to see him through the day. your property because of the. sas and all. it is to know. about the plot and his if. you think of it on a plane generalization opens and it's amazing they run from. oh.

it's you know i'm thinking you know we're not going to fight. with you. from. colleagues if he does he'll survive the deal decide dylan is a canadian it's a good athlete season it is a deal and. i think that after a. while you. say it was a process and it will end on the local they see. it as they say why this is the end the week that the guy needs the answer but he got enough on the skin in. time to say this if you continue.

from his call. as a fool for his club supporters. to write. but it is up to. but come now. somebody called what do you lisa. something and not having it might. be cheaper one thing than why you need it. later when you do it without the aid of how did you become an only son in a moment of time hey we got months i. got bored and my job is on. married and father to a son he lives in a luxury house in the bangkok suburb. to me that's how. it. he is a rags to riches story. the only boy in a family

a family his father a rice farmer passed away making him the man of the house as a young age. couple now it's a million and now it's all man of indian a made me meaning and in the end. and. one thing i will. from wait to toll booth operator to gas station manager could limit show work to number of jobs before making his fortune. for eight years he's been investing is a loss in his football team to the point where he had to sell a number of his colleagues as well as his second home.

to. me so i was. going. but the long. i mean you have that the body. you people have a bank. of like you both him good day i don't promise of my. own home. dad. and. my. son. just.

paid to. hold. much day the lookee son have no room for error they must win to get promoted. see it on my fiancee. got my palm down upon my bunk. gains on the am i down. in. that low so you know it was in those are not i don't know about think they go up a new middle you both in. their opposition to the dragons of b.t.u. you not to and then a tory is brazilian striker. p.t.

says how last few prayers before kickoff. the opposition supporters mount up the pressure from the terrorists. the dragons push forwards twice hitting the crossbar. sharif looks on anxious. to. come help time the lucky son has failed to create a new chance. just steps into the changes. i.

really want you gotta. get a long way to get. out of. the hollow funny or die so allow me to play and i flub all this so shareef looks to inspire his play. not. yet. tempers start to flat. look you son go for broke. but to no avail. the opposition's brazilian striker break some on the counter attack.

the lookee son concede in the closing minutes of the game. oh. but. they're going to come up with the last minute defeat leaves a basic taste for the platitudes. what's their. no one interest. to go. for. the future of the lookee son is on sussex without sponsors the club's infrastructure cannot be improved. and may have to solve his beloved team.

living. in the north of the capital surulere least for his shed today in. aberdeen you share more of a alley thing and not fun at the pub i laugh on some up of the local missiles and then. i'll run away. and your writing writing. we're now on what you don't deny. don't put it back in son to go in the family take it in turns to speak over the phone all sharing concern over time through situation. where you're ready to hear well again people read. but you're not going to let me. go to them but you know they're my number. tonight however he has some good news to share. come up come up when it's a little i want to know so well i want him down a little while you know one of them i will pull confident woman one minute and i you know now know my surprise when i enter the new name i mean i don't know what

i'm glad you know that. i'm like getting oh oh oh oh. oh. oh oh. the team from the fourth division has invited us to root for a tryout shareef had to do as a broker. rangsit is a university team with a small budget amongst the team of students with no plans to go professional. once a coach arrives he shares a brief exchange with chasseur oops i got. yeah. he's unsure if he'll eventually get on the pitch. during the warm up a few other african players join the group. when picking his team the coach gives them priority. tasks or will have to wait. why are you

going through withdrawal from wa wa if you pop up with one man united ok i am and i am honestly my family and i do want him along with the mayor and i want him one to get with him. and the friendly is going nowhere. tosser it gets on for the last twenty minutes. an instant playmaker he gives us his old. tosser room makes a decisive pass. the coach is impressed. as i die there are the stuff i read out there will you get it. or is

that me going to go there for. all of the work on that big american that. the wrong guy. a few days later the coach reaches out to touch the room. he's set to join the team in the next transfer window. business updates.

business updates. in the next sixty minutes another.

plus. and rest in barcelona protesters on the march as the spanish national cabinet meets in the catalog of regional capital to be excellent i have been skiing for one year i want to ski in other countries i want to be the best at this sport and downhill dreaming we hit the slopes and to take a stand with a new generation of skiers hoping for sporting glory.

we begin this hour with reports that president all trump has ordered the drawdown of up to seven thousand u.s. troops from afghanistan and two thousand and one president george w. bush launched a military campaign to topple the taliban government following the september eleventh attacks the drawdown in afghanistan comes on the heels of trump's announcement of a full military withdrawal from syria that through criticism from america's allies and u.s. defense secretary james mattis has quit this post over a difference of opinion with trump matta said trump deserves defense chief whose views align more closely with his own kurdish syrian democratic forces are meeting in paris for talks in the wake of trump's abrupt decision france has said that it will stay in syria saying to her joins us now from the turkish down a turkish town pardon me a colony or the border with syria so zain how is this playing out on the ground.

well the border you can see the border behind me it's quiet the turkish military is still on high alert last week president ordered gone threatened a cross border operation to rid the area east of the euphrates from what he calls terrorists in reference to the kurdish armed group the y p g on the other side of the wall territory under the control of the y. p.g. they have been digging trenches preparing for battle but since the u.s. decision to pull its troops out of northeast syria a major concession really to turkey it seems that this battle is put on hold at least for the short term while the stakeholders in the syrian conflict decide what to do with thirty five percent of syria's territory presence the military presence of u.s. troops was really insignificant but their presence was

a deterrent for a for the white p.g. now the y.p. g. of course being the backbone of the syrian democratic forces they have issued a statement saying that this u.s. decision is wrong it's premature it comes at a very decisive stage in the fight against isis but this is not just about i so this is about the why p.g. the as these these groups protecting and men tainting the territorial gains that they have made in recent years protecting this autonomous enclave in northeast syria they are now exposed they are now in a very vulnerable position they could face military action and the other option that they have is to reach out to the syrian government in damascus to cut some sort of a deal so is that why russian president vladimir putin who has been in syria on the side of bashar assad is that why he sees this as a good as a good move by the u.s. because it could possibly for some sort of negotiation.

well it is a good move for the pro syrian government camp which wants to regain control of the whole of the country this is what the syrian government wants a syrian government hasn't reacted to the u.s. decision to leave north east syria even though they have repeatedly said over the years that they consider these troops are occupying forces earlier this year the syrian president himself bashar assad told the syrian democratic forces that they need to talk they need to negotiate and they need to give up this territory either by force or through negotiations and after that statement yes they have actually engaged in the gauche oceans with damascus then they call those negotiations off it seems the united states convince them that they plan to stay here for the long term and allow them really to have this autonomy enclave in northeast syria but now their bargaining position is very weak they had a stronger bargaining position a few weeks ago and if indeed there are reports that the s.d.f. has sent some officials to damascus what kind of

a deal is going to be struck as the syrian government or to return to the border will this be acceptable for the turkish government or will they want the white p.g. to be dismantled would they would they want the y.p. to give up the weapons that they acquired over the years from the u.s. administration because we have to remember turkey considers the white b.g. a terrorist organization so a lot of issues that need to be discussed behind the scenes between these stakeholders while the border remains tense as in a hotel live for us on the on the border there in turkey thank you so much. there is a lot at stake in the middle east following donald trump's decision to pull u.s. troops from syria and drawdown in afghanistan where the american soldiers no longer acting as a buffer iran can complete its corridor or to the say able to reach the borders of both israel and lebanon and without u.s. support israel is left to face up to iran on its own turkey can now carry out military operations against kurdish forces in northern syria nor in their allies

the u.s. will not be on the ground and support and moscow's influence will grow russia left left as by far the most powerful actor in the region michael semple is a research professor at the institute for global pay security and justice at queen generosity he joins us via skype from belfast we appreciate your time let's talk about. the drawdown potential drawdown in afghanistan does the withdrawal concern you or is this how it's being handled the concern you or both what i think the most of us would like to see an end to the more muslims done creating conditions where u.s. troops come go home the worry is that the announcement coming out in this request the amount that syriza. of some common. uncertainty instability and the worry is that we might match here see fewer troops but more fronts in the more people to a little song and what that you're right there is not really an official

announcement just leaks just reports but it's coming in within the same time that that the syria drawdown has been announced what do you make of all of this happening within a span of a few days. well this was not unanticipated i think we should. also put it in the of the context of what else is happening which is that the us president of appointed a special envoy for peace my husband sobs workin on working to pursue peace and a homicide over the past couple of months this is the biggest push from the u.s. side for peace since two thousand and two and what do you know what kind of progress was being made there where i mean ready for sudan sid's talks between the us on the taleban have been going on with what i've read a conversation in doha last month followed by

a round of talks at the last week and there's no agreement absolutely clear the taliban have not yet committed themselves to the kind of things which the us has been pushing for and nor has anybody it leads to the taleban the moms but the agenda has moved on. now consider our fields our research of a few months ago somebody inside followed by on their heads to talk about peace i mean they hear on it would be in denial by their comrades not everybody on each side enough on the stand is talking about whether there will be peace how to get them so this initiative has certainly shifted the agenda the trouble is that a precipitous announcement like this could undermine the peace efforts which they have the u.s. administration itself launched a seventeen air presence in afghanistan which is say the u.s. has accomplished. well you know there's no easy answer

to that so they hear how they you know we know why why they went there in the wake of nine eleven perhaps they're doing the kind of job which is never completely finished they are trying to stabilize afghanistan with very with a country for the government which are being responsible international player and help control the risks to international security that. the taliban and the al qaeda and other groups for them to their post two thousand and one but of course the country is not not yet fully stabilized so. in love with afghanistan as well as long better than it was before nobody can really say is it better than it would be if it were just left in a civil war yes. michael semple thank you so much for joining us from belfast we appreciate it from here there's had another major shake up in the trump

administration with us defense secretary quitting james mattis says he is stepping down to the president and have a defense chief with views closer to his own mike hanna reports from washington they say. like it is here is the real deal is the real deal think of president trump initially surrounded himself with generals james mattis the secretary of defense michael flynn as national security adviser followed by another general h.r. mcmaster and of course john kelly who was moved from homeland security to take over as chief of staff all are now gone or going back to some particular seen as a central figure in keeping a largely dysfunctional white house party functional secretary mabus was one of the few symbols the few items of strength and stability in this administration everything that indicates debility everything that indicates strength everything that indicates knowledge. is leaving this administration when president trump

criticize nato and threaten to leave it matters was the one reassuring allies behind the scenes he helped push the president to moderate his position on the g.c.c. crisis. and he was able to get the president to make an open ended commitment in afghanistan while loosening restrictions on u.s. troops fighting there. and when trump tweeted out that he was banning transgender service members matters slow rolled the order until courts put it on hold the president's disenchantment was inevitably made public i think is sort of a democrat if you want to know the truth it would appear the final straw for james mattis was what many believe was a unilateral executive decision to withdraw u.s. forces from syria.