with the shutdown and it looks as if we're going to end the twenty team with a shutdown of a yugo thanks very much allan fisher brain is up to speed with those developments there in washington thank you. the u.n. security council has voted to send observers to yemen to monitor a fragile truce between the saudi led coalition and hoofy rebels a vote concerns the implementation of a cease fire and yemen's key port city of data on the withdrawal of rival forces from the area it comes after a u.n. brokered peace negotiations or yemen's warring parties agreed to a cease fire in sweden last week or to find out more let's speak to our diplomatic editor james bays at u.n. headquarters in new york what does this mean for yemen and the progress that was made in sweden the other week. well i think what the security council is trying to

do here first is to endorse what happened last week in sweden and to make it legally binding so that very fragile shaky cease fire are now is backed by a u.n. security council resolution the u.n. wants to send monitors the secretary general could have done that on his own sending monitors to the region there are some already in the region and i think in the next twenty four hours or so an advance team will actually make its way to her data but what this resolution does is actually allow them to put some of the bits and pieces in place that they really need for that monitoring team which would be difficult otherwise legally for example just trying to get life insurance for those monitors is difficult without a security council resolution i understand too that they're trying to get a medical evacuation system in place i'm told that one member state might provide a naval ship with a hospital on board that could then go just off the coast of yemen in case any of the monitors were injured so there are important steps here i think that the

security council allows the u.n. to put in place and of course the idea is to create momentum going forward for the next phase of talks which i believe will not take place in sweden i believe then most likely to take place in the region some saying possibly kuwait so the u.n. security council deciding to deploy u.n. monitors to observe this cease fire being put into practice in her data but tell us more about the bits of the resolution that will water down. yeah there was some stuff that was in the resolution for example specific mention of iran as backing the who thiis condemning iran that was something that russia said had to come out of the resolution otherwise they were going to veto it the americans at one point put a rival version of the resolution a much slimmed down version of the resolution rather on seemingly diplomatic dispute for a bit between two close allies the u.k. and the u.s.

and i'm told that that actually had to have intervention right at the very top from the british foreign secretary in touch with the office of the secretary of state in the united states as a result one key component of the original resolution to be lost and that's the call for accountability for crimes under international humanitarian law that potentially is something that would have targeted the saudi led coalition it seems the u.s. in the negotiations was doing the bidding of the coalition and that base of the text has been removed in the resolution that was passed just over an hour ago by the security council thank you very much from the united nations james base at diplomatic editor still ahead for you on the program anti-government protesters are gathering once more in the whole gary capital voicing their anger on how many have dubbed the slave will. just time for christmas the airplane space agency reveals a winter wonderland on the red planet.

hello again or welcome back to your international weather forecast we're seeing plenty of wet weather here across central portions of europe all these clouds you to see right here a lot of rain in those clouds and we're going to see that really standing to saturday as well was very windy conditions here for berlin it's going be a wet day at nine degrees down towards vienna at about twelve degrees paris it is going to be cloudy but out here towards the west well unfortunately we're going to see another atlantic storm coming into play and that is going to be bring some windy and wet conditions across much of the u.k. paris is going to be wet as well attention there of thirteen degrees but across southern europe things are not looking too bad we could be seeing clear skies down towards the south of rome is going to be a sunny day with a temperature there of about sixteen degrees very quickly i want to you over here

to the no the part of africa the excel isn't quite nice across much of the area we're going to be seeing benghazi where some clouds in your forecast about ninety degrees over towards cairo clouds as well but we don't expect those clouds to linger too much over the next few days maybe some windy conditions along here across the gulf for parts of morocco though we are going to be seen some fair skies the u. and that is going to extend all the way up here towards algiers with a temperature of eighteen degrees down towards the south we're looking at quite nice conditions over towards us one it could be a cloudy day for you and we do expect to see attempts there about twenty four degrees. they wanted forty three million homes with a weapon that was six billion in commission. there's no ending more because there's always a small kabul's to call for really really good business. in the absence

of united states have privatized the old public function more shadow on al jazeera. welcome back just quickly minder of the top stories the u.s. blocks of major shift in foreign policy after president trump announced he will withdraw its troops out of syria and haul the military presence in afghanistan. the us government meanwhile is to be heading towards a shutdown as the senate debates a finance bill which includes more than five billion dollars for a wall along the border with mexico and the u.n. security council has unanimously voted to send observers to yemen to monitor

a fragile truce between the saudi that coalition and hoofy rebels. on all the stories we're following secessionists in the spanish region of catalonia once again at odds with the central government a year after the regional parliament held a breakaway referendum without madrid's approval the prime minister is holding a cabinet meeting in barcelona well that sparked protests from catalan separatists sana gago reports. blocked roads. confrontations with police a far cry from the message spain's prime minister hoped to bring to the city headache for the politicians aiming to turn the page on the catalan crisis. if there had been doubts about resolving it and friday's events certainly proved them right i don't care about what is being durai will stay here i will. share my opinion. and i will follow this movement to achieve our

independent they just came here to show ours to show everybody that it is these their homeland and that we don't have anything to do with the spanish government's decision to call i probably let me think that was according to them supposed to be a symbolic so i'm reaching out to the region but for the independence protestors here it's being seen nothing as more than a from pockets of show of force and it's just an example of how the bitter divide between the two sides remains the shows little sign of resolving the. one thousand police officers secured the streets just down the road in the red bull palace surrounded by a sizable security cordon prime minister federal sancia held a meeting with his cabinet an area of relative calm away from the outpouring of outside but the spanish government has insisted it's doing this to advance talks

with the council and leadership because. this is the only possible proposal the situation cannot be so. by continuing to hide one another it will only be solved through dialogue negotiations in a bill that would be there is time to seize offering. both sides can't agree how to solve this spain's government continues to maintain the crisis can only be resolved within the law but the catalan government doesn't agree and sees it as a political maneuver to do night further independence from madrid at this moment we do not agree and what is the origin what is the nature of the conflict and how to file bit so we either start talking but i would seriously and with the best. with the birth aim to keep moving forward here not work it has been fourteen months since the outlawed referendum which triggered the current crisis emotions are running high on both sides but no path has yet been carved out to resolve the

current standoff sony vaio al-jazeera barcelona protesters are starting to gather for a mass rally in budapest against a new amendment to the country's labor legislation critics are calling it a slave law as it allows employers to force people to work more overtime and even delay payments for up to three years robin forrester walker joins us live now from the hungarian capital tell us more about why people are so incensed about these laws robin. well certainly the people who are beginning to gather behind me here outside the parliament in the center of the capital are incensed particularly because in the last forty eight hours the president of hungary has signed off on those and i think i think that the opposition was rather hoping that the government would get the message and at least with regards to the

labor law that they call this slave law the government might it be willing to compromise back down a little bit because it's clear that white a lot of hunger ariens are concerned about this and not just from the left but from let's say both sides of the political spectrum there is a couple of surveys that indicate that at least sixty percent if not more of hungary and concerns about this particular labor law and at the same time it seems though that the government on the victim viktor orban is not really taking them that seriously we do see and have seen excuse me a lot of police out this evening in riot gear which is intimidating but the government is saying that the opposition there was violence in the past and tear gas was used to quell the protests a couple of weeks ago it's not really been that clear though that the opposition movements have been using that much. violence at all and they have actually

exercised quite a lot of restraint. so at the moment what we're seeing is a protest annoy the government hoping i think that it's christmas and that people are going to back down but different movements different political parties and employees of i've been speaking to say they're in this for the long. straight forward largely through. the streets it's about being strategic working together and coming up with ways to challenge the system here which is kind of like the death of democracy by a thousand cuts in hungry in lots of different areas in the justice system in the media and the and the the opposition is really determines to to to really stick it to the government and he pushed keep the pressure up thank you very much robin forrester walked away the latest on those protests and budapest. well now another

drone sighting temporarily grounded flights at britain's gatwick airport but flights are now back on schedule services had resumed earlier after drones posted on wednesday shut down the airport for six hours that is option affecting more than one hundred twenty thousand people forces believe more than one unmanned aircraft is responsible military technology is being used to monitor the area when opposition candidate felix to she katie has called for calm as large protests and grip cities in the democratic republic of congo the central african countries much anticipated presidential election was once again delayed demonstrations rallied outside the headquarters of one of the opposition parties to vent their anger at the decision the is now scheduled to take place on december thirtieth the electoral commission says violence and logistical issues force them to pass by on the vote catherine sawyer brings us the latest now from can. these are all supporters of

d.p.s. the largest opposition party in the country. has just addressed them and told them to be calm he said that said there's a lot of disappointment over this to live the election but then they're going to wait they're going to have this election they've got going to have this election on the thirtieth they're going to continue campaigning but then you've also told the supporters that should there be another he should there be another shoot their commission come back and say they're still not prepared and need more time with a student wait the supporters shouldn't wait for an announcement such as this they should just pull out to the streets and make their voices heard there's a lot of disappointment here people are saying that this is all a government a gimmick to do maybe the election as much as possible they're saying that they're tired remember this is an election that has been delayed already for so the people here are saying that in the thirty to go they're going to vote and nothing is going to stop them from doing that they also feel that the election might be symbolic

even the state of preparedness of the electoral commission but that semi that's electoral commission. even be patient and. we're going to give you a credible election. and when you think of. places like the sun or it's and wesley usually come to mind less well known is suffolk daraa it's the only resort in tajikistan where a new generation of local ski has is dreaming of sporting glory chel strafford reports at least fifty percent to. three thousand metres above sea level. it's one of the most mountainous countries in the world mountain ranges that define national borders include the premier's which stretch into northern afghanistan the allée and the t.n. which reach into kazakstan was becky stone killer get started in china but as you

can stand has only one ski resort soffit is about seventy kilometers north of the taxi capital ducharme bay it was built during the soviet era but has been renovated and expanded in recent years after the first big snow fall of two thousand and eighteen olympic slalom skia aleesha caused a lot of as a lesson to give he represented tajikistan in the two thousand and fourteen olympics held in sochi russia while. whenever i'm teaching the kids i feel great because this is my sport i teach them from the bottom of my heart because these kids will become flag bearers of the deacon's then. aleesha teaches these children for free the kids come from poor families who can't afford the latest warm clothing but that doesn't in any way dampen the children's enthusiasm. i have been skiing for one year i want to ski in other countries i want to be the best at this poll.

there may be only a couple of runs on these mountain slopes but they are enough to challenge these young learners and some who are considerably older now i haven't skied for twenty five years but i cannot tell you how much of a pleasure it is to be skiing again for the first time and especially here in tajikistan. back at the ski school children are preparing for another lesson eighteen year old american born helps them chalk in their boots and ski findings. from early childhood i had a dream to ski and so now my dreams come true because for six years i've been practicing i've always wanted to represent my country and of course got the first prize. despite the uphill struggle of living in one of the poorest countries in asia these children have the infusion asm and potential charland for being downhill

champions one and all. that al-jazeera suffer darryl because you could still now a year payne space agency has posted a christmas card of a winter wonderland on the red planet it's laws express satellite sent back these spectacular images of the coral of crater filled with ice it's eighty two you can almost as white a mission launched in two thousand and three and went into orbit around mars all christmas day of that same year making this month the fifteen year anniversary of the beginning of its science program quite extraordinary pitches that well there is more on everything we're covering right here the address al-jazeera dot com.

just a quick recap of the top stories for you now u.s. foreign policy is very much under the spotlight after a major shift in military policy president says he'll withdraw his troops from syria is present russia type one has been a critic of american policy in syria as welcome the announcement and in return has vowed to get rid of i silver. sort of the criticism in washington loved it since the beginning of the syrian cross with our diplomatic contacts with the us lift off disappointed in terms of the results the trumpet reconstruction inherited problems that we experienced particularly during the obama presidency in folks to post meetings and phone calls president trumpet 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 overdue and difficult finally in recent days we have been able to see the clearest and most encouraging statements to date probably administration or president trump has reportedly ordered the withdrawal of up to seven thousand u.s.

troops from afghanistan move would harm us presence of service personnel in the country where they train and mental afghan security forces a separate u.s. force also conduct strikes on i still on the taliban paul this is the u.s. government could be heading towards a shutdown as the senate currently debates a finance bill this includes more than five billion dollars for a wall along the border with mexico president trump says his administration is prepared for a very long shutdown unless he gets his way the u.n. security council has unanimously voted to send observers to yemen to monitor a fragile truce between the saudi led coalition and who see rebels a vote concerns the implementation of a cease fire in yemen's key port city of data and the withdrawal of rival forces from the area it comes after a u.n. brokered peace negotiations or yemen's warring parties agreed to a cease fire in sweden last week there's been violence between police and pro-capital an independence activist during protests in barcelona against the

spanish prime minister's visit to the city for a cabinet meeting the spanish and catalan governments have been at old since last year and madrid will catalans independence referendum for essentially illegal coming up next we have a program on yemen on the bus bombing there will be more news after that in twenty five minutes time. national she won't get out of the said affy only ocean he only.

has to like the year old has the little bits of gum to write the show yet. but i've been years away how much i would rather you know what was all what i love not about her battle machine. the saudis are not the first country to make this mistake. yemen. after nearly four years of relentless conflict the world has grown used to images of killing and destruction. there's a danger the trolling news coverage can make viewers desensitized to prolonged conflict especially to the human suffering. but sometimes a single event can make the world sit up and take notice. a bombing on thursday the

ninth of august twenty eighth teen in the northern yemeni city of sadat knew the border with saudi arabia was one such events the argument about the when the economy appears on the rather than the how and why the lead really got out about halabja while the here's where the dollar. and you can get he didn't even know if i'm seeing that and i have lived the size of a leg just wow thanks a lot and i want the last lesson in the early bite. of that on supply dog the somehow that. what that i had. this who looks at what's happened that day and how planes deployed by the saudi u.a.e. coalition managed to bomb a bus full of yemeni schoolchildren in sadaf killing nearly everyone on boards.

yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world. in twenty eleven a revolution parts of the so-called arab spring ousted president ali abdullah saleh . the armed sheogue group in the north of yemen who thiis took advantage of the instability they moved south and ultimately captured the capital sanaa seizing power from the government of new president up the rebel and fluid had to. decide who to take over prompted

a group of arab states led by saudi arabia and including the united arab emirates to launch an all out to talk on who the positions in march twenty fifteen the thing that the who things were supported by iran and. the united nations estimates that since then around six thousand six hundred yemenis to billions have been killed ten thousand five hundred injured and the largest humanitarian crisis in the world including famine and widespread disease has been allowed to develop. it's in this context that the bombing in saw a known who the stronghold took place. an international news story circulated saying that coalition forces had hit a bus carrying children on

a summer school excursion. this little boy covered in soot and surrounded by the dead just minutes after the strike was asked if you was ok. my legs he said. the western saudi led coalition responsible offering no apology dozens of children killed in a saudi led coalition air strike that hit a school bus the instant caused outrage was condemned around the world. so to forces beyond school. managed to shock a lot of people this is a school bus this is not a military target of course what happened was dozens of children were. fifty one people including forty children were killed and seventy seven others injured in the thought that attack. the international red cross said their medical

team at the hospital received the bodies of twenty nine children each under fifteen . the hospital also treated forty eight injured patients of whom thirty were children. hell it was a few sort of film that you had to go to for him or gives us more tell us your home yes i was. how that will show her. being. thoughtful who will tell that. you are. a lot better. yes big. bad than most. well you know. also. have that i. have a lot. of at the fact that i want to do what i did.

that. and i still say that if you get a step have an alley i. when i did any were a little tough because. all has been allowing a little. but the basic explanation about why these tragedies have happened is because often in war your intelligence is not very good and if you have someone who is trying to win a war fast who has a sense of impatience and recklessness they will take shots even when they should not and i believe that sometimes what the saudis have been doing. the initial saudi reaction was to deny responsibility for the bomb hitting the school bus. coalition

spokesman maliki told c.n.n. that the attack had been on what he called and it just a myth targets and that this was not a school bus and maliki went on to see that the targets had been a few rockets some stunts that had been used the day before to attack the southern style to city of just killing one civilian and injuring eleven other is. just fundamental west a doubt be the i don't i scream assured you know yes and i said why yes but if we are not only did you waste time. when the bombing and didn't what we do every time the carrier it's a terrible bombardment same thing as we said from the bomb to weddings same thing as i said we found a few same thing as we said from people in the market place they always say that. and ashley because i've always saved it really quite unlike what.

can a bug out bag that they got and i got i was a lot of guidance that was so out of a bad had bag of oil meant that other what other high. profile that it had a bad ha ha about it was a skeleton of. at help at that i want to tell them i get what happened in. this mobile phone survived the attack but it's only took notes. there were video clips on the phone of the children on the bus before the bombing. once these were made public it became difficult for the coalition to stick to its original story. the next day they announced that the bus bombing was natural damage resulting from another strike against a so-called legitimate targets and now the deal judy is an iraqi academic who

sympathizes with the coalition in this conflict only one of those two was in a jar if you bothered are more length of knowledge to have. i don't see it i don't know oh my god a society here by them to have thought about what they are and who feel how he started. with the middle bit and home of them in the rubbish area but the color nautical mile and i walk into the nearest. doris you know head of. your own a day. one hundred thelema oh democrats over to him if you have had us over so on and what was going on there or not the how to lobby you have to made in . the united states has provided to coolish and with military support since twenty fifteen yes. the blowing up of a bus with civilians and children it is a horrible incident but first we have to find out the facts. then the united states

has to make some choices if in fact our saudi allies were not involved in this we will continue this type of support for some time. we have made it clear at the u.n. from the secretary general's perspective and the perspective of the high commissioner for human rights our outrage at the targeting of minibuses and we've called for there to be. authority best occasioned this attack obviously these various attacks obviously all international humanitarian law must be respected and we need to make sure that there is a proper test a geisha and we'll have to see whether that happens or not. the thought the bus bombing triggered international condemnation. the commander of u.s. air force his central command lieutenant general geoffrey harrigan severely

criticised both the coalition and the saudi authorities. the u.s. army central commander in the middle east michael x. garrets went to riyadh's to urge the saudis to conduct a thorough investigation. donald trump told fox news that the saudi led coalition in yemen didn't know how to use an american made bomb in the attack. and the un security council called for a credible and transparent investigation into the incident. we call on the saudi led coalition to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident what we want to see is a stop to the fighting where we want to see is stuck to the humanitarian suffering what we want to see is a halt to civilian casualties members of the security council. met and heard that briefing from the assistant secretary general on the recent attacks inside which

resulted in numbers of civilian casualties including children they expressed a grave concern at these and all that the recent attacks in yemen. can be. manage a decade in a lot of. them are near. and know at the heart of. the media to. learn can then again i. guess of us that i. have allowed.

them or. the families of the victims were not alone in the u.s. connection c.n.n. said the bomb that killed forty children in yemen with applied by the u.s. . they said it was a two hundred and twenty seven kilo laser guided mark. made by lockheed martin. in a leading u.s. defense contractor. former u.s.

president barack obama blocked arm sales to saudi arabia in twenty six. after u.s. weapons were used in an attack on a funeral in sanaa killing one hundred forty people however u.s. president donald trump overturned that's banned in twenty seventeen. the u.s. has been utterly complicit in the destruction the u.s. government is the biggest arms dealer anywhere in the world involves our catastrophic because we're seeing in yemen right now whoever has been a terrible humanitarian catastrophe and yet u.s. companies have profited every step of the way when that bomb was dropped it was a lucky thing martin bomb made in the usa. the politicians are concerned that the united states has no direct involvement in causing that humanitarian conflict and that humanitarian outcome so our elected representatives want to be certain in

their mind that our actions or our in actions are not contributing to the deaths of civilians and children. as international pressure increased the coalition started to shift its position further denying responsibility was no longer an option and. its public statements began to suggest it might be seeking to other ways out of the crisis i was considering opening an investigation. if in fact there was an allegation of a school bus incident as has been suggested then it's important for the commander to to advise his coalition our allies to go through the process of doing an after action review there may have been problems with the weapons system which

is very rare there may have been problems with the operational control there may be some questions about the rules of engagement these are what these types of post incident allegations are intended to prove. the coalition formed what it called the joint incident assessment team the g eight. it's admitted that the coalition had ordered its jets to avoid hitting the bus as it was carrying civilians but that it had been too late. the coolish and apologized for the loss of life and wished those injured to a speedy recovery. however human rights watch said in a reports in august twenty eighth seen that the g.i. eighty work was not credible adding that it was covering up more crimes so that i'm going to be a list dawson of what i need to watch him and they need money on the dinny if he

didn't get a month or. more. in the hotel just father he. got what sort of could it. really. have been how did. it get. to be credible and any accountability mechanism needs to be unbiased and needs to be seen by the world. is impartial with regards to the various parties and that that will be the real test of whether. i think how debility mechanism works or not. the reason that. so you feel as alliance eventually apologize from part of the school buses because because because we're always being told that so to resume is

monitoring itself for war trains we're always being told that we're taking every precaution possible to avoid killing civilians and yet some who is being trusted to evaluate itself for war crimes when we've seen reporting which has come from the. from the say the late coalition's own investigations they've almost always been a total whitewash they've always. find ways to absolve themselves of responsibility . to have that would limit or larger well limit to how the other one i guess by then that offer them a little. bit of a higher with a short. shift are largely just half of them a. bad

i'll only get in the bits i had a good image. and then they get mad about obama and then and then and the real third day or the bonehead that one that so many that would you are that one of the admin i would lead the game and then i'm a bit of a money grubber been. her on that about. the saw the bus bombing to draw why do global attention not just to the war in yemen but to the saudi you equalisation strategy and methods. it's also beg the question as to when the international community would finally cry enough is enough. it's a war that they have invested a lot of money and time and effort and it's in a period when the saudis are trying to redefine their image on the world stage and

to accept defeat in a conflict in a small country like yemen. to a force that's largely backed by iran this would simply be a blow to saudi prestige that is so great that it doesn't allow them to think rationally we've seen three years worth of saudi airstrikes so i think we have to declare the strategy unsuccessful and look for something else why they just refuse to accept the possibility that they're losing when to most of the rest of us it appears that yes they are those. that the status quo in yemen is clearly unacceptable the war is gone on for too long our hope is that the parties in the region and and in the wider world will come to accept that the war in yemen has gone on too long that no one is winning it this kind of crisis doesn't benefit any party.

most of the world agreed. as that the war has gone on far too long and caused untold unnecessary suffering to millions of yemeni people. since the start of the bus bombing there have been two significant developments with a direct impact on the war and those involved. the first affected how the world now views saudi arabia. on the second of october twenty eighth teen the saudi journalist jim. who was living in the united states was murdered in the consulate of saudi arabia in istanbul. most other countries reacted with disapproval if

not horror at the extrajudicial killing of an innocent man on foreign soil all eyes turn to saudi crown prince mohammed bin said man who denied any responsibility . the truman administration took him at his word despite advice to the contrary from its own intelligence agency but american politicians have been forthright in their condemnation sadly president trump continues for crying his love and affection for the saudi regime the brutality and lawlessness of the saudi regime as everybody in this country now knows was made clear to the entire world with the burt of dissidents saudi journalist jamal khashoggi and maybe if the saudis were willing to lie to us about what happened to jamal khashoggi they haven't been straight with us as to what's happening inside yemen

because if the united states is being used to intentionally hit civilians. then we are complicit in war crimes i just believe that the relationship while valuable in the past has become too much of a burden and as long as india says around. think you'll ever be normal again meanwhile the un finally managed to bring all the warring factions in yemen together at formal peace talks in the swedish capital stockholm. the un special envoy for yemen martin griffiths managed to broker a peace deal and declared a cease fire between pro-government forces and who the rebels in the port city of who they dared to start on the eighteenth of december twenty eighth teen after the start the bus bombing a group of u.n. experts that that saudi and immorality forces may have committed war crimes in yemen. so everyone went into the peace talks knowing the seriousness of the saudi

that action but peace could only be attained with the full participation and cooperation of mohamed bin sandman. sometimes the diplomacy needed to achieve peace has to involve suspending condemnation of the brutality is and illegality is of war. medieval western society it was

a feudal society so detailed that you keep the wind out of the bow and assume most of pope 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 an arab perspective at the sold one shop at this time on a. colleague much much the same as now being held in pretrial detention for two years what is his crime. why hasn't he been tried yet why hasn't justice been applied in this case is he detained because he said journalists as journalism become a crime have moles become a tool to silence weiss's of truth we will continue i news coverage with professionalism and impartiality our work will remain credible and accurate but journalism is not a crime incarcerating journalists is not acceptable we demand the immediate release

of all colleague mahmoud to say and all journalists attained in a gyptian jails free mahmoud's and all his colleagues we stand for press freedom. getting to the heart of the matter how can you be a refugee after you while eight borders between five safe countries facing new realities the pain starts from the very beginning of the ballet school providing context housing is not just about four walls and a roof hear their story and talk to al-jazeera. i know i'm maryam namazie and on than just a quick look at the top stories for you now u.s. foreign policy is under the spotlight after

a major shift in military strategy president trump says he'll withdraw his troops from syria psyche's president. who has been a critic of american policy in syria has welcomed the announcement and in return has vowed to get rid of i still that. jordan has more on this now from washington. a lot of people like to talk about the fact that bipartisanship is rather rare here in washington but on this matter of gen matters deciding that he could no longer serve as the defense secretary there is bipartisan agreement that the future of u.s. foreign policy is very much in jeopardy and that indeed u.s. national security may be at risk mario we have just received a statement from senator dianne feinstein a longtime expert on foreign affairs who calls mattresses departure alarming and she once again deplored the president's decision to not just pull u.s. forces out of syria but also to cut by more than half the number of u.s.

troops in afghanistan who are there in a support role to help the afghan military. test the country from attacks from the taliban and other groups and also to provide a sort of mental a support effort to the central government as it tries to negotiate a lasting peace treaty with the taliban so there is a real sense that the united states is basically walking away from its traditional role of being engaged in foreign policy but also maybe heading into an area where its own security may be at risk if we have seen in recent weeks that congress is saying wait a second we have something to say about the u.s. is our role in foreign affairs the u.s. is role in starting or ending wars the u.s. his role in trying to promote human rights good. and other issues to protect human rights and so you're going to see much more pushback i would predict from both

republicans and democrats and there's going to be probably a lot of very tough questioning about whoever the president decides to nominate to replace jim that it's over at the pentagon when you consider that it's not an easy thing one to just pull forces out of a zone you're going to want someone to be able to explain to congress how this can be done while still protecting the u.s. as national security concerns but challenges on the domestic front as well the u.s. government could be hurtling towards a shutdown the senate is currently debating a finance bill that includes more than five billion dollars for a wall along the border with mexico but it has very little chance of passing a shutdown would mean all but essential government services would cease to function president onil trump says his administration is prepared for a quote very long shutdown unless it gets its way. so ok now it's up to the democrats as to whether or not we have a shutdown tonight i hope we don't. get very very very long. and.

this is our only chance whatever your opinion is of the world we reach out. to you yet great order which you. are moving to our other top stories the u.n. security council has voted to send observers to yemen to monitor a fragile truce between the saudi led coalition and who the rebels are low concerns the implementation of a cease fire in yemen's key port city of data and the withdrawal of rival forces from the area it comes off the u.n. brokered peace negotiations or yemen's warring parties agreed to a cease fire in sweden last week. oh protesters are starting to gather for a mass rally in hungary against a new amendment to the label all critics are calling it the slave law as it allows employers to force people to work more overtime even delay payments for up to three years nation my protests have been held since last week. has been violence between police and pro-capital an independence activist during protests in barcelona

against the spanish prime minister's visit to the city for a cabinet meeting spanish and catalan governments have been at old since last year when the castro news referent of independence illegal. more news coming up later on now on al-jazeera it's time for shadow world that's next see a bit later on. in the darkest of times brave men and women stood up. when oppressed they rose. together they fought for greater justice respect and compassion. they had a dream for a better future. today we are at a turning point. the stakes are high climate change inequality. hate speech you may feel overwhelmed but there is hope. you.

we together can create the change we want. by speaking out by standing up by taking action. be the leader you are looking for stand up for human rights.

still. we are at war. i'm responsible for the deployment of thousands of young americans to battle in a distant land. some will kill. and some will be killed. and so i can deal with the cute sense of the costs a lot and conflict. children difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace and our effort to replace one with the other. we've got me. like oh.

you know him if you go he said. to thomas the term had almost. you know i need to make it all. the time and sit through things. yes.

there were five months in a world war one both sides were in trenches they were just mass slaughter across the landscape men were standing up sleeping they were in their own feces and their dead comrades were sitting there no man's land they couldn't even get them and bring them back for burial. it was christmas eve and a german high command sent little christmas trees it was like a stage set all of a sudden across the german front you saw these little christmas trees lighting up and then the allies are silent night being sung by the germans and started applauding. and then all of a son

a couple of guys on both sides get out of the trenches and start walking toward each other. and expected any moment to pull back with the machine guns. and nothing . and within two hours we were walking about and often talking and it was nothing to. hundreds get out of the trenches thousands get out of the trenches and they embraced each other a hundred thousand men. no man stands phosphoric see as graeme attack that he west memphis talk shaking hands exchanging names addresses after the war wrecked one another. about it back in your trenches you know jumped the generals be i must've seen it

and got a bit suspicious so what they did they gave all of those for about three of guns behind us to file an offer just sat there revolvers but the japanese you know was not stopping their water again. we were question. this was a war to end all wars. this was a war to make the world safe for democracy. at least twenty one thousand new millionaires were made in the us billions and billions of dollars would be piled up a few. in mission makers shipbuilders meatpackers. and let us not forget the bankers who financed the great war. to turn blood into gold. and their profits were secret as they were immense. all of them are looking ahead to war.

i stand before you tonight in my red star chiffon evening gosh. based soft lemaitre often my fair haired gent. with. this extraordinary deal between the united kingdom and saudi arabia in which ronald reagan wanted to sell the saudis billions and billions dollars worth of equipment but these reading stopped it and congress wouldn't approve it because they feared the saudi would strengthen israel. handed the deal

of the effectively to his political soulmate margaret sacha un seen nothing yet. very effective. when we stumbled on the saudi arms. deal we really started to stumble on a central feature of british politics over the last thirty years. has been at the heart of many of the great quote events of the past. i was always pleased to see him when i was prime minister because he brought me extraordinary insight. was. informed she considers strong friends and would be willing to support taking them

with whatever the kingdom needs and of discussion from there on everything else was . he explained to mrs thatcher this was a deal with saudi arabia and therefore things were done differently. they wanted forty three billion pounds worth of weaponry that was six billion in commission. the false majority what most people understand as bribes. we'll continue to work together against the terrorists who threaten the way of life pacifists. one day i thought right and it was a mad cool edit coming i'm actually he said i've been working for a travel company and we had a kind of slush fund we used to distribute to saudis and other arabs when they came to britain for be all to help the path of arms deal so.

i did tell the sex workers stories that when the saudi military officers would come along he would present them with canteens of cut three that was something that they liked another thing they liked was girls so he would take about the town and get them girls. to be honest it seemed like quite small being payments made some of them from rather on as nomic activities in chips to the talks about cooldowns that sort of thing there's only two things that count in business my friend money and sex the rest you can write as much as you like is absolute garbage you can measure weapon beautiful the president secretary. because they're more distracted looking at their secretaries the what the hell you are talking about and that is sometimes all that is you need.

i have to use an escort agency called launches because of the specialties of the chief of staff of the army lifelong silicon. you.