and crime and in reference to mitch mcconnell the senate majority leader has expressed concern about why james back to the masses resigned he said mitch use the nuclear option and get it done our country is counting on you well an official is live for us in washington so allan the president clearly not not giving up on on pushing for this border war and taking to his favorite media platform once again one of those tweets there mitch use the nuclear option what's he trying to do there . well this is all about changing the procedures in the senate at the moment if you want to get something through the senate you've got to get sixty votes hundred seat senate sixty votes at the moment the republicans don't have sixty seats so they need support from the democrats democrats i mean absolutely clear that they're not going to fund any part of this border wall therefore any spending bill that goes to the senate which has the border wall inside it will not pass don't trump has been that mitch mcconnell on several occasions over the course of the last two years

saying please change the rules of the senate but he doesn't want to do that and he doesn't want to do it one because it changes the way that the senate the senate has operated for years and years and years and two because he realizes that if the republicans lose control of the senate and the democrats just have to pass legislation with fifty one votes a lot of things that the republicans don't want to see war simply sweep through the senate so it's really a checks and balances thing it's really about making sure that there is more bipartisan support the not for anything that goes through the senate will mitch mcconnell agree to really don't think so he's been against it for a very long time and this really isn't a hill that he wants to die on when it comes to just pushing this spending bill through interestingly enough donald trump is going to sit down with republicans from the senate probably in the next fifteen minutes at the white house he's obviously going to see to them look we've got to try and push this through is

obviously going to see to them we want to make sure that the nuclear option is possible i don't think he's going to get his spending bill and i don't think he's going to get his nuclear option either and is part of the reason for this because it will get even harder next year when the new democrat controlled house comes in. absolutely and that's exactly what the problem is that this congress is in its final days and the one of the last things they did was a very partisan vote in the house of representatives to give donald trump the bill that he wanted after people told them that he didn't have the votes and so now we're moving from a position where a shutdown of the government looked unlikely to getting close to being an ever tipple because donald trump says that he won't sign any bill that doesn't have his five point one billion dollars for his border wall and the senate won't pass

anything that has five point one billion dollars for the senate for the border war so this is going to become a big political impasse and just before christmas that means that a lot of workers around one hundred thousand of them are probably going to be sent home and told you're not going to get paid over the next few days how long can this go on while this isn't a bad time to do a shutdown if you're going to do it because the federal government is actually closed on monday it is christmas eve in the u.s. that's been designated a holiday it will be closed on tuesday which is christmas day things between christmas and new year tend to be quiet so you might not notice too much of it but you're still impacting hundreds of thousands of families in washington and much farther beyond because you're essentially stopping their salary when you stop a number of government departments the funding for that in a few hours time so this is a battle that is going to go all the way to the wire it is going to be

a very late night interestingly enough as well a number of republican senators are know on the way back to washington d.c. they've left for the holidays they thought they were done does not sorted time for christmas and off they went no they have to come back at the busiest travel time of the year to possibly have a vote in the senate in the coming hours. tense here is ahead there in the u.s. capital alan fischer thanks very much so lots to discuss now on the u.s. political turmoil with every can he is a former national security adviser and all of the g.o.p. civil war he joins us now from washington thanks for being with us so let's start then with this shutdown possibility stick to the word possibility for now try to stay positive the. president trump is really stuck with a rock and a hard place on this isn't a not wanting to elite an alien a his base on the war but this would because this was a key promise that he campaigned on wasn't it was and

the problem that he has now is he simply doesn't have the votes the votes in the senate to actually get this passed and as your reporter mentioned in order to get anything through in the senate you need sixty votes and so i would imagine that this meeting that he will be having with senate republicans in a matter of minutes now will be focused on president trump really pushing mitch mcconnell to actually find a way to go nuclear to actually get this bill through to get this spending bill with the five billion for his border war now here's where he won't run into an additional problem. sen mitch mcconnell already passed a resolution and he is not happy with the fact that the president already had given him assurances that the resolution passed by the senate actually be the vehicle that the president would sign on top of that you have general mattis unexpected

resignation which now has thrown mitch mcconnell and other republicans into a tailspin as to where this president is now headed and where he's taking the country both nationally and politically and of course your book is called g.o.p. civil war is this essentially what we're talking about here what you just said. well we're not quite there yet but i think if in fact this shutdown does take place if in fact we continue to see this president operate in such a mercurial manner we could see the beginnings of a a battle an internal battle within the republican party and you're already beginning to see fissures of that right now with senator lindsey graham being very vocal about his condemnation of the president's abrupt decision to withdraw all troops from both afghanistan and syria yeah let's talk a little bit more about that because that was a big reason why the u.s. defense secretary james mattis decided to hand in his his resignation we we kind of

in uncharted territory now in the in the trumpet ministration on this given that he was seen as. quote unquote adult in the room. we're not only in unchartered territory in the trumpet ministration remember it has been nearly forty years before since we've seen a resignation like this and let's be clear this was not a resignation if you read general mattis this letter this was general mattis actually quitting quitting on this president rebuking this president for the decisions that not only he's made but the decisions that are to come and we haven't seen anything like this since jimmy carter's secretary of state of cyrus vance actually quit back in one thousand nine hundred eighty and so now this abrupt resignation from what many consider to be the adult in the room has even members of

the president's own party concerned about what direction the not only the direction that the president is moving in but the vulnerabilities that now are at play with these abrupt red drawls both in afghanistan and syria not to mention what it means for our for our allies and for that seventy member coalition that the united states has been a part of in the middle east thus far so are we seeing then a kind of realignment of the whole world order right now with what president trump is is doing here with withdrawing troops from afghanistan and syria and saying you know we're not the policemen of the world and so on what do you think's going to happen there. why i think that's the central tension that we're seeing at play right now because i do believe that president trump was elected on and campaigned on being a change agent being a chaos agent and reshaping the you know not only the geo political landscape but

the united states' role in that and we see this president say pushing the united states to retreat from the world stage and you saw in general mattis his resignation that he simply did not align with those views and there are many even as senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has said it is that world order that the united states has been a a major author of that framework that the united states needs to operate in and so i think you're going to see these tensions really began to play out and i think we're going to now see if the first branch of government congress actually steps up and seeks to put more limits on the president's authority going forward get to get your perspective eric hamp thanks for being with us so you can get in touch with us we want to hear from you on these stories you can send your comments to any of our online platforms were on twitter just use the hash tag a.j. news grid iron goes a.j.

english and we're also on facebook facebook dot com slash al jazeera or you can send us a message on whatsapp or telegram at plus nine seven four five zero one trip or one forty nine there's a number on your screen now protests are spreading across sudan over rising food and fuel prices at least eight people were killed on thursday as thousands rallied across three cities including the capital hard to inflation is a nearly seventy percent there one of the world's highest and it's cause the price of bread in some areas to triple. well so what do you see on a lot about that well actually saddam doesn't grow up online much bought the youth that are very very active online and surprisingly despite the fact that the government there seems to have brought so also include not just the government but the. networks of blogs quite a lot of social media sites you know the usual twitter facebook but as always with

these incidences people do seem to find ways to evade it by using a v.p.n. and people all still using it to spread the message of protest that people in and outside of sudan have been using the main harsh sides to down revolts and sudan's civil disobedience in both are big and english now there are plenty of videos of people who have been protesting being uploaded rather of the protest minute by minute this one had the caption south sudan stands with you there the neighbors and we've been speaking to some of those supporting the protests from outside of stand and that includes about five who lives in the united states currently in sudan there are several protests going on. and i think there are absolutely necessary i think this just goes to show that this is the last straw for its people not only in sudan but they are supporting and standing in solidarity and doing our part and doing what we can to make sure that change comes to make sure that people have

basic access to. education this is why it's important this is why people are marching and standing and peacefully protesting. this is the start of something big i think. it just goes to show the strength the sudanese people. and i really do get an idea of the frustration that people are feeling online and the reaction because of that has been massive with people saying that it's not long been. if you take a look at some of the tweets that we've been looking at this person is calling on others to keep the hashtags going and those are sudan's civil disobedience and on revolts in both languages he says to anyone who has into internet access to its don't let him die they're trying to silence our voices and his an illustration of why those people are protesting it says no money at banks hybrid prices and long lines for gas and this account is sharing protest footage from all over the country

with many pictures being shared this one is showing people are advising others what you can do if you're taking part in the protests make sure you write your blood type and a safe number and emergency number in case anyone needs to get in touch if he just gives you an idea of the feelings that are occurring across sudan and will keep a close eye on those protests for you thanks are to some more protests now tensions in spain between the government their central government and catalans the session ists a year after catalan independence elections were held by the regional parliament without the approval of madrid prime minister pedro sanchez is holding a cabinet meeting in barcelona the idea has sparked protests from independence activists sonia gago has more from barcelona. friday before the christmas holidays we usually have people out on the streets doing last minute

arians of the shopping before the country closes down for the festivities but in wasilla into this particular friday they're out on the streets for a very different reason is and being is that spanish government is holding a cabinet meeting it's almost unprecedented move people here are saying that is an act of provocation spanish cabinet and the head of the government itself by the sonship and saying that it's a gesture of good well that's not an opinion that's being shared by people on the ground their concerns have been always different they don't like difference in spain they want to say the unity and unity may be diverse somehow but they don't want that they just want the same way of feeling the same language everything should be the same for them and he's their option which is the ballot one not the other ones i just one two. three clear and i

don't care about what. do i will stay here i will. share my opinion. and i will follow this movement to achieve our independent it's been fourteen months since the outlawed referendum took place and there's still no sign that either side is willing to compromise on any of its red lines a tool that may have been gestures of dialogue of goodwill small ones between spain's prime minister better sanchez the catalan president can talk about but there's also been an awful lot of white tough rhetoric on both sides as well not forgetting of course that the prime minister is really surrounded by opponents not just reso party but from opposition politicians who say that he's being far too soft on the issue and in the meantime you've got a president who's a high. holds full. knowledge

. so really. down there is still. underway. being resolved. barcelona. got a bonus story for you about. a brain. in the central african republic coming up after the break. hello there the weather is going to come down for most of us in the middle east as we head through the next couple of days but this rather lively area of cloud ted

it's given us a few outbreaks of rain but it's spiraling its way eastwards and it's drawing out as it does say fizzy had three saturday then we'll see some clouds maybe a few breaks of snow there and then that will gradually retreat its way further east to its we head into sunday towards the west it's largely quiet for most of it's here to just in the far northern parts of with more in the way of wet weather that's just getting its way over the phone north coast of turkey and it will make things hit rather wait and windy a bit further towards the south and here in doha the winds will be picking up as we had three set today so a breezy day for us and a bit cooler than it has been so twenty three degrees the maximum during the day but dropping down to sixteen at night and with that wind it will feel a little bit cool thirty five will be the maximum abu dabi but it will see that cooler weather work its way towards us as well for sunday so our temperatures will be dropping as well if we had down to was a southern parts of africa there's quite a bit of what weather here at the moment look at all the cloud over our satellite picture stretching across many of us also affecting us across parts of mozambique

and while that distinctive swell that is a tropical cyclone is going to work its way quite close to the rishis but then work away towards the south the sunday. they wanted forty three million homes with. that one of those six billion. there's no any more because there's always a small. bit. in essence we in the united states have privatized the old german public function more shadow on al-jazeera. it's a stone's most famous cookie to arrive. on a blaze of national celebration. now one hundred days into his leadership.

whether delivering on promises will be easy in practice as it is in. the nation is mark feeling confident people are disappointed with the. one hundred days on al-jazeera.

take a look at the top five stories trending on our web site number one pentagon chief quits the story that we told you about earlier still a lot of fallout from that so obviously number two. forty five trillion dollars from india this is a story that's been on our web site for a couple of days now but still proving very popular with from an economist. two centuries of detailed data on tax and trade it's all there for you on our website al jazeera dot com. so position supporters in the democratic republic of congo are waiting to hear their leader's

response to a government announcement that elections have been delayed and voting was supposed to happen sunday but this was postponed to december the thirtieth the electric commission saying the violence and logistical issues are to blame get more on this now from catherine soy in the capital kinshasa so catherine what's happening there now. has them. have already addressed the death of course of this gathering is now going to just about two hours ago those places will of the supporters of village to see katie who is the leader of the largest opposition party in the country and also the presidential candidate of one of the opposition coalition people of very very disappointed by this decision by the electoral commission to postpone the election

to the day that hiatt they say that they were so ready to go to the polls on sunday remember this is an election that has already been previously delayed by two yes' but then their leaders spoke to them and they stay calm we're going to go to the election on the thirtieth as the electoral commission has requests that we're going to continue campaigning but they also told their supporters that should there be another delay. in the they should the electoral commission come back and ask for more time and they shouldn't wait the supporters shouldn't wait for a meeting such as this one that was held today if you just go straight to the streets and process and get their voices heard. and there's also a tense sammis fear there isn't there around all of the campaigning in the in the d r c and clearly a deep level of distrust between opposition groups and the government there.

yes and that is a big concern and been a lot of violence particularly in the campaign season we've seen some opposition leaders blocked from accepting some areas in the country one particular one martin for you who had had his rally supporters balun he dispersed by police using tear gas using live ammunition as well the governor of kinshasa on wednesday. they banned all political rallies in the capital city fighting security reasons but marching for you was meant to address his supporters on that day that was supposed to be huge final rally but he was blocks from even getting to where he supported here so that is causing a lot of anxiety i did speak to one of the leaders here of this particular quote lieschen who say that they will continue with their campaign here in the capital city this is

a stronghold of the opposition and they say that the government has no mandate to stop or to ban any pain but then like i said it's causing a lot of concern people are feeling that this violence that we've been seeing could escalate especially has them if the election is disputed all right catherine sawyer live for us there in kinshasa thanks catherine. now take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world some flights have resumed to the u.k. second biggest airport after drones brought it to a standstill on thursday the british military has joined the hunt for the operator of two drones which forced the closure of gatwick airport for more than thirty hours more than one hundred thousand passengers were stranded for the day and about seven hundred fifty flights disrupted the devices reappeared near every airport

near nearby everytime the airport tried to reopen its runway need barca has the latest from gatwick airport. well after thirty six hours of chaos the misery for passengers here a get wake airport is now tentatively reopening a very limited number of flights are being allowed to arrive and takeoff of 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 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 or running as quickly as possible. police in japan have reportedly raided the home of mis sends ousted chairman after prosecutors filed a new charge against him carlos cohen is accused of a breach of trust it is alleged he understated his salary over a five year period he's been in detention since november on thursday a court rejected a request to keep him behind bars as the investigation continues but this new charge could reduce his chances of being given bail. our tribal elders in the kenyan town of more ya'll a say there is relative calm after a week of ethnic violence that left at least twenty one people dead and dozens

injured the town straddles the border with ethiopia where fighting between ethnic or romo and somali communities this year forced thousands of people to flee to the kenyan side the same bus rami reports from nairobi. a refugee crisis is playing out on the ethiopia kenya border. last week a decade's old dispute over tribal lands on the ethiopian side of the town of moore turned violent again forcing the most vulnerable to flee into kenya. if you want to go back home but our house is. the population of a split by an international border that runs through the center of the town a legacy of colonial rule that adds to the tensions in a place divided along ethnic lines for generations continuing fighting this year has forced thousands of refugees into kenya many are still there too afraid to go back the population that is here is too. scared to see. it is

being. worked on and if this people stay here most likely the host communities will have a lot of pressure on their food stalks. the tribal elders on the kenyan side say they want an end to the bloodshed and are worried about communities on both sides of the border. what's happened of the ethiopian side treated us members of the community government as security officials we are making sure what happened on the eighth european site doesn't spill over into kenya peace committee meetings in kenya during the past week involving both somali tribal elders are seen as a key part of maintaining peace on the ethiopian side he's going to leave on both sides of the border individually. so if one of the. immediate impact on families from. those who escape fighting are safer now living

with friends and family on the kenyan side of a divided town but the situation remains fragile for a lasting solution experts say the ethiopian government must resolve the land dispute in more yalit but it is difficult to divorce the fighting. a small border town from the bigger tribal dispute between ethnic or roman somali communities something that's been going on for years and cuts across international boundaries for now aid groups and local leaders here in kenya are trying to make sure that score settling doesn't bring the violence over the border the same basra the old is here and nairobi new cuban president miguel diaz kind of is overseeing what's being dubbed the modernization of socialism cubans away in on a draft constitution which will be rubber stamped by the national assembly before a referendum in february that's in america tennessee newman has more. after six decades the signs of decay in the western hemisphere's only communist

country are evident and in recognition that nothing is in more need of modernization cuba's political system ordinary citizens like roberto ramos are being allowed to weigh in on the draft a new constitution of the novels and there's. something interesting is happening in cuba people have the ability to meet to debate publicly not in a physical space but in a virtual space. drill bit of the who runs a tattoo parlor is an activist who's pushing for the new constitution to recognize same sex marriage expanding those still expensive access to internet is allowing him and many others to make demands publicly at. one of the most pressing is for economic reform but it's being resisted by some who are clinging to the old economic model of total state control it's a tug of war i think there is a part of the call to do. which are people more mordor more open minded

looking at the world looking at the tide these bottle of the vietnamese bottle i don't know that that conflict exists because i have see that i have heard that musician this like many others is making perhaps the most difficult demand of all. the fight and that is for the constitution to give legal recognition for the right of anyone to have different political opinions whatever your political opinion may be and that you won't be considered a traitor or someone who's trying to destabilize the nation the draft constitution will no longer allow officials including the president to perpetuate themselves in power and it also recognizes limited private property but when it comes to the political system the only change so far is to make it explicit that cuba's communist party will remain as the only. as the supreme and guiding force of society and the state even above the constitution cubans will be asked to approve

the final draft in a referendum in february whether it will resemble the kind of constitution that they're asking for is still a mystery to see in human al-jazeera how that. of the widening global wealth gap has sparked social unrest in many parts of the well it's raising concern as well in thailand off the one survey named the country as having the world's widest disparity scott has more from bangkok even though the physical distance between thailand's rich and poor can be small for it to pull up its just a matter of meters 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 wild vegetables for her dinner those words 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 and bank executive bank plan 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 target. problem is quite clear to me that inequality at the grassroots some town 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 that country when in doubt but even 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 at the 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 two 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 the country that you know oh man i'm not going to. really hold up i think it's possible for them

too many people live at the moment it's all their money. according to economists pump and it 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 scotland al-jazeera banker. for fifteen years the european space agency's mars express satellite has always had the red planet gathering images and vital data and just in time for christmas the agency has released these stunning photographs of a mars crater filled with bright white ice the call of crater measures eighty two kilometers across the ice is an incredible one point eight kilometers thick at its deepest impressive stuff and there are many ways to protest and for. wenzhou in china shaving her head was one of

them his sorrow tells more about her stuff away a different way to protest the more people are joining her lee ones or three other women are all married to human rights lawyers in china but wednesday's husband is the only one who hasn't been released since his arrest back in twenty fifteen so the wives decided to stand outside the supreme court in beijing in protest one concern was one of three hundred activists and human rights lawyers detained for allegedly undermining the government now they were arrested under the so-called seven zero nine crackdown that nearly four years later and still hasn't had a trial now why did they shave their heads well let's since it's actually symbolic because in mandarin the word no has been called will far and that's the same word that's used for lawlessness and children what the government is doing is illegal this is why we're getting rid of our here to protest we can't have no here but you

can't have no law. of the government has made a special point of promoting the constitution and the rule of law in recent years but they keep on breaking it they fit buz ordinary people's rights and it's terrifying. now the wenzi has been to the supreme court thirty one times before in an attempt to get new information on her husband's case but so far no luck now she draw quite the crowd there including the police as well they tried to stop her from speaking to the media and when she did we actually ended up filming her as well they see so along with other protesters they were made to leave for the city of the supreme court but she says she won't give up the this was hot thirty second visit to the court. mentioning your child. now others have also since decided to join her and her part says these are some of the videos posted on social media of people having their had heads shaved as well

both men and women have been calling for the release of one sign. now frank says it is co-founder of humanitarian china he's also taking part in those protests and he explained to news grid why nobody knows he's worried about his company said he innocent he should be freed immediately he was defined by the legal rights of chinese people i admire. for her persistence and the courage despite the change of government harassment and i hope more people would join your fight for freedom for her husband. say as you can see from this picture here that lots of other people have also been joining you've got vickery you have someone in a wheelchair mixture of men and women and they have been joining the protests by

shaving their heads and posting these pictures and videos to social media and the hashtag they've been using is seven zero nine wives and you can see just that the number seven zero eight nine and some have also been writing that they we can go hairless but you can't go no list again that was a play of words on the mandarin word and also this person here has tweeted a picture of him as well where his head is shaved with the support the family of seven and nine and they've all been calling for. release as well so if you have any of the stories that you think we should be covering do get in touch with us as aging bridge. and i once again for the crew on facebook live you're about to see the. scene may be facing criminal video.

out of spite all people talk about a sport that i hear santa's thank you very much to has a moment to say knighted have dominated the sporting headlines out for the last few days and it's no different today while the new caretaker manager on the gun held his first press conference area the following night a striker who was put in charge of the club until the end of the season following shows a moreno sacking earlier this week and who better to advise him on how to turn the club's fortunes around and his former boss at united alex ferguson

he's been my mentor but i didn't understand early on that he'd be my mentor but because i was just sitting and towards the last maybe ever since my injury in two thousand and three at least i was making all the notes how he what he did difference certain situations and of course of them have already been in touch with him because there's no one no one better to get some advice from one of the savers syrup a social aspect of an it manager at the end of the season is tottenham boss that morning. and at his press conference on thursday the london club refused to let him answer any questions about the top. you know who are. weak amish so we've got a plan to see nice in the manager before that anything to mention she's not to be fed forty eight hours ago the same conversations i'm not paid the managers are to

think i'm not paid to have another press conference don't want to but it's not. you your man was here on tuesday night same questions so i'm not paid and again so i'd ask you to move on with respect. and with respect i'd say move on because we invite you to preview football match and you're coming in you ask you know manager and i'm just going to. say i'm sorry that. was not true now bill place wrong not. everything is mine. i will never say not. so that you know the. stuff. that's on top. of all australian cricket captain steve smith has also faced the media today and his is still serving a twelve month

a ban for ball tampering in march and earlier he spoke to the press that for the first time since his tearful apology for his involvement in that scandal but it's an advert that he's being featuring in that's got people talking online have a look at this. to fans of cricket absolutely devastated. i'll do everything i can to make up for my mistake. and i hope i can be a force for change. i was in a pretty dark space. it made me realise what other people go through and. what i need to get through those difficult times. it was just about paying up front and honest and taking responsibility it's nice to be back at the club i just love being in a contest this is huge this is the ball up. of

seventy two difficult tastes. to be vulnerable. everyone makes mistakes it's about the way you respond to it extreme cold and. i want to come back for them and i was. well vodafone australia say the aim of the advert is to help spread awareness of mental health for young australians and australian media are reporting that smith is donating his fee for it to a man's mental health charity but this still being a very mixed reaction richard here is one of the many who isn't a fan he describes the ad as a polling and says smith shouldn't use mental health as an excuse all to get sympathy for his actions were lots of criticism for vodafone using the ball tampering scandal for publicity too and this cricket fan suggests some other disgraced sports stars that they could use in future adverts but it's not all

negative remark here one of many who says that smith deserve support and not criticism well leah will be back with more at eight hundred g.m.t. but for now i hand you back to hasn't thanks very much some of these all the way so you can get in touch with us here on the newsgroup we'll see you back here same time tomorrow. stop stop stop stop. stop stop. stop stop. stop stop stop. ok ok. we are everywhere all together right now cats aren't going places together.

because we're not defended as we should. rights being violated. and freedom being stripped away. on the seventieth anniversary of the movement that wishes the whites that stand that will just stand up for human rights. medieval western society it was a feudal society that took haleigh to keep the wind out of the ball and assume most of pulp ended his speech some people stood up and said god will sit down and the

entrance to the city was horrific they killed people in the streets in their houses and in. the crusades and arab perspective it was sold one shot at this time on a zero. al-jazeera where every. block. a major shift in u.s. military policy as president trump pulls out troops from syria and afghanistan. i. counted out one for the city bar and this is so i'll just hear a live from london also coming up i.

protesters clashed with police as the spanish national cabinet meets in the castle on regional capital. opposition supporters demonstrating democratic republic of congo after the presidential election is the start. to be excellent school monday i have been skiing for one year i want to ski in other countries i want to be the best at this sport. downhill dreaming we hit the slopes into g. christan with a new generation of skiers hoping for school team glory. when l. for u.s. foreign policy is the question being asked of the president trump decided to pull troops from syria and home of the numbers in afghanistan this major shift in u.s. military strategy has come of the expense of his defense secretary james mattis who

resigned hinting at major policy differences but. has welcomed the decision on syria and promised to get rid of isolette sena holder has more details. the turkish military will stay on alert along the border with syria but the planned to cross border offensive against what turkey considers terrorists east of the euphrates is now on hold the target was the syrian kurdish armed group the white peachey which controls four hundred kilometer stretch of territory along the border . president's measure of tayyip erdogan cited a common understanding with washington as the reason for the press punishment sort of the criticism in washington since the beginning of the syrian crisis our diplomatic contacts with the u.s. left us disappointed in terms of the results the trumpet ministration inherited problems that we experienced particularly cheering the obama presidency in face to

face meetings and phone calls president trump and i have seen that we shared views on a range of issues related to syria yet the translation of the agreement to the ground was over to untypical and finally in recent days we have been able to see the clearest and most encouraging statements to date from the administration trump announced american troops would pull out from north east syria this week the us president chose turkey over washington's alliance with the white p.g. a main source of tension between the two allies the decision was welcomed in ankara but the foreign minister met little childish provided more details on what turkey expects to happen next we need to. have already. started. he said two

things one is called the nation the other one is that turkey will never let out any country any power to feel the work is very important because she is from two days there are lots of explanations from the minister of foreign affairs of france that they will feel that he will never lead out. a delegation from the white peachy dominated syrian democratic forces is trying to reach out to paris to seek support following the u.s. decision to leave it seems the message was not to france but to other powers as well the s.d.f. is believed to be reengaging with the syrian government to cut a deal that will allow it to stay in its autonomous enclave in the north east turkey has repeatedly said that it has no territorial ambitions in syria and its fight against new y p g is about its national security interests it believes the y p g is the syrian offshoot of the outlawed kurdistan workers' party or the p.k. k. which is fighting for autonomy in south east turkey. turkey also backs what it

calls the rightful owners of y p g controlled areas some arab tribes and others have accused the kurdish force of capturing predominantly arab lands and its military campaign against eisel those tribes who say they are being prevented from returning home or throwing their weight behind turkey which seems to be coordinating an arrangement on the future of that corner of syria with the united states senate. a check on the turkey syria border where she overtones he joins us now from washington d.c. so she had but troops think well from syria and from afghanistan we believe as well where does this leave america's foreign policy going forward. tara in the foreign policy establishment right now the thinking was the drug was safely in the same sort of box with president obama as you come into office you promise withdrawal from the middle east we actually do it you listen to your generals you

listen to the establishment in fact you expound you expound your proxy battles around the world as part of strategic influence and so on i think what's so interesting as we look at whether it trump doctrine is now emerging is the reasoning that we understand went on which led to the decision to withdraw from syria and that was firstly turkey is a more strategic partner than the kurds and if turkey wants that to be its sphere of influence let them do it let them fight with russia let them fight with everyone else as far as donald trump is concerned the us has been fighting for seventeen years in the middle east billions of dollars been spent with very little in return he said this on the campaign trail let's get out he does seem to be no following through with that but secondly there was also a fear of mission creep that john bolton compared the national security adviser to secretary of state i've been saying for months now several months now where we're not just in northeastern syria just because of the islamic state we're also that account to iran this is part of the ground game that we have trump made explicit in

his tweet announcing the withdrawal that as far as he was concerned the only reason the u.s. was in northeast syria was the islamic state or rejection then of his national security advisor and secretary of state's entire philosophy of how foreign policy should be working now which is to be confronting the u.s. is strategic opponents anywhere that's necessary using the military using by any means necessary if it means being in northeast syria to confront iran we're going to do that don't trump is saying no and it's breathtaking because we keep having these confident presentations from bolton and compare say this is now the u.s. posture and all trump is completely thrown all of that away so there is real confusion as to as to where the u.s. adults stand and what what what becomes of the neocons and the hawks in the administration it doesn't appear that this president is worried about confusion but what difficulties ninety three as he tries to you know force through this change in direction. now i think what's going to be interesting though is we are seeing that

break with his republican party supporters up to this point they thought look trump says what he says but in the end he does pretty much what we want he cuts taxes on the ridge deregulates the economy grows out of environmental regulations he dismantles a social safety net that's what any republican president will do and he has a walker's foreign policy this foreign policy thing though is now worrying a lot of people he's out of the box congress will still have to approve his next defense secretary if james madison just did he gets a defense secretary that more aligns with donald trump's world view we can probably see some real problems that congress can actually begin having some oversight over donald trump in foreign policy and it's not just the republicans but also the democratic hawks who will also who have always supported interventionism and some of these new column policies so it'll be interesting to see a unity between the establishment of democratic party on the republican party but meanwhile though we have trump's base in congress and the incoming a lot of progressive democrats the younger generation who wrong ones of the u.s.

to get out of these battlefields so they'll be some interesting alliances i would imagine forming in the next few months in congress when congress resumes in january but congress can still put some obstacles in the way if the president decides to change u.s. foreign policy all right she has a chance to be the latest washington d.c. thank you for it so what could the u.s. currency military forces mean for afghanistan remember up to seven thousand troops are expected to pull out about us. but. as much as gridlock is a part of living in kabul so is the presence of u.s. troops for seventeen years thousands of american soldiers have been stationed in afghanistan and now there are reports that may be coming to an end for a magnet and we consider this good luck if they get lost and disappear from here would be very happy with. their own fourteen thousand u.s. military personnel in support an advisory role for more than two hundred thousand

afghan troops but the u.s. numbers may be hogged. we would be happy that u.s. troops are leaving if the if ghana forces were strong enough to defend us but unfortunately we do not have enough power to defend our country similar concerns were voiced three weeks ago by the general nominated to command all u.s. forces in the middle east if we are precipitously right now i do not believe they would be able to successfully defend their country prison ashraf ghani and his government remained largely silent in response with organics chief advisor did tweet most analysts believe that afghanistan would collapse with the departure of more than one hundred thousand troops but our brave defense and security forces prove these analysts wrong and defended the nation with great valor president donald trump has flip flopped on afghanistan coming into office he was for a troop withdrawal then last year increase the number of troops and said this there's no talking to the taliban we don't want to talk to the taliban we're going

to finish what we have to finish what nobody else has been able to finish we're going to be able to do it but now the u.s. is talking to the taliban in peace talks again in momentum earlier this week u.s. taliban saudi pakistan and afghan representatives mit and the united arab emirates talks covered a possible cease fire and a complete u.s. troop withdrawal something the taliban says is non-negotiable maybe we could look at it as a confidence building measures. requesting. ambassador. for the schedule to withdraw their forces this could well be one of those signs where they're committed to withdraw from on the phone if they're good. busy than on the phone. or afghans anxiously wait for clarity on what president trump will do what it will mean for the charlotte dallas al-jazeera.

protesters have clashed with police in both alone as the prime minister petro sanchez held his cabinet meeting in the city the demonstrators i agree about his decision to hold his weekly meeting in catalonia where separatists failed in their bid to session last year for catalan independence activists have blocks within twenty roads across castlevania police have been deployed say knowledge numbers on her paper has the latest from boss like. the spanish prime minister better sanchez said that the idea of having a cabinet meeting in barcelona was almost like a show waltz reaching out a symbolic show to try and open a way for dialogue but however this is not being.