and isis will now have the ability to continue to plan attacks attacks external the syria against not only europe but they hope the plan to attack the united states is up what would you say to those critics of donald trump when they say this they say if you lose your top military man if you lose your top general and one of your top diplomats in the same week that means show foreign policy territory is a mess no i think i would say to those critics of the president's wrong for wanting to get out of syria getting rid of mcgurk the madness is not a bad decision at all i know that both resigning but they were on their way out in yuma i work for madison that is was a guy that worked on you ron you said i have three concerns iran iran iraq you had a secretary of defense did nothing to conquer iraq he was against leaving the j.c. if your way he was against carrier one in iraq and syria and he's been very weak on your watch the president now has not returned or to get

a secretary of defense there will be aligned with the national security council aligned with you with the secretary of state and aligned with the cia now this was the lone holdout and it's something that a lot of people don't know is that madison mcmaster did not get a lot now this would not take any of mcmasters phone calls he would not be part of the n.s.c. interagency process madis was the lone holdout on an effective policy or iran on iran in iraq and syria madison mcgirr with voices it's a new one is not a problem let's not let's not be worried about the warmth let's just simply focus on the focus on the defeat of weiss and that's just not a sound policy when it comes to iraq and syria where one is able to do whatever they want ok we have to leave our conversation there michael pietsch and thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera. now just two days after the announcement of a u.s. troop pullout by donald trump there are reports the turkish army is sending soldiers to the border with syria president the one who threatened to strike y.p.

g. targets inside northern syria many fear the u.s. pullout from syria could lead to a power vacuum on the ground zero order reports now from the turkish syrian border . these syrian refugees have been living in this turkish border town for three years they say they can't return home as long as their towns and villages are controlled by the syrian armed group the why peachey while fighting eisel the why p.g. backed by the u.s. had taken control of predominantly arab and mixed areas across northern syria their residents say those territorial gains are about creating a kurdish state an accusation denied by the white peachy to feel. in two thousand and fifteen the white b.g. entered tel aviv under the pretext of fighting eisel but they forcibly displaced the autopen looted their homes they started to impose the kurdish language and what they call democracy close like preventing us from practicing religion. the y.p.

she could lose the autonomous enclave it governs in northeastern syria a plan to pull out of american troops will leave it vulnerable the group controls an area rich in oil and agricultural land valuable economic assets for the government and to mask this which is struggling under sanctions president bashar assad has repeatedly said he wants to retake this corner of syria either by negotiation or force the y.p. gee maybe trying to cut a deal. the u.s. is no longer planning a rapid pullout turkey has reportedly convince president donald trump to coordinate the withdrawal also that there will be no vacuum u.s. and turkish officials will meet in washington on january the eighth it seems ankara wants the enclave to be handed over to representatives of arab majority towns that have been under the control of the y.p. . turkey believes the y p g is linked to the outlawed kurdistan workers' party the p.k. k. which has been fighting for self rule in south east turkey. turkey doesn't have the

editorial ambitions in syria and they want to end the subsurface project there and it wants to end the threat along its southern border it will cooperate with the syrian opposition but who will convince the white b.g. to give up its agenda and couplings with. a military option is still on the table president to tell you border guard says a new operational strategy to eliminate both the y.p. g. and i still is being worked on turkey and the u.s. may be in agreement on what happens next but there are other players in syria including russia that will also want its interests secured. a check on the turkey syria border. kurdish group that was being backed by u.s. forces on the ground in syria the syrian defense force says it's still fending off i saw tax. group posted this video on friday

showing their fighters taking on the eastern city of hygiene the area last military stronghold inside syria. still to cover for you here on the news hour including a state of emergency and more school closures in sudan where anger is growing one is in food prices. and dramatic scenes in the french capital as the police are targeted by government protesters. also ahead do their best to keep the pressure on italian leaders eventis action coming up in the sports news in about thirty. banks the states donald trump dealing with the impact of another government shutdown it's the third one this year and it's likely to last until after christmas now is the result of a political stalemate in congress over funding for mr trump's planned mexico border wall the president is demanding

a five billion dollars for the project but democrats are refusing to give in the deadlock leaves parts of the federal government without funding over the holiday period eight hundred thousand workers will work without pay or they will be on unpaid leave the shutdown was one of the factors that led to a sell off on markets around the world wall street closed on friday with some of the worst weekly falls in ten years the u.s. china trade dispute and last week's interest rate hike by the federal reserve are also being blamed here's what top senators from both the main parties have been saying about this current standoff republicans in the house and in the set up believe the house's provision for five billion dollars in border funding plus additional disaster funding was completely original. i was glad to vote that legislation yesterday my colleagues in opera are proud to stand with the american people on this subject for the safety of american families and the health and

security of our communities but this. democrats have rejected that reasonable requests. they've refused to meet president drop have way and provide even one fifth one fifth of the resources for the border they were willing to provide just a few months ago but make no mistake the trump shutdown is not about border security all of the proposals we've made contain over a billion dollars in new border security money the same amount allocated last year by both parties and even the president agreed to and the trumpet ministration has barely even spent any of the border security money from last year so the trump shutdown isn't over border security it's because president trump is demanding billions of dollars for an expensive ineffective wall that the majority of americans don't support john hendren following events the out of washington.

the two sides seem far apart in the government shutdown president trump met with republican leaders in the white house if he is negotiating with democrats he is not doing it at that meeting and the senate came into session and a bit of senate theater the republican leader mitch mcconnell came out in a red christmas sweater saying he hoped that they could wrap up business and everybody could go on to their christmas holiday but that does not seem likely to happen terribly soon and that is because democrats know the president does not have the votes in the u.s. senate in order to pass his five billion dollars in border wall funding that he wants for the southern border you need a supermajority in the senate in order to pass legislation like that and he simply does not yet have the votes so the two sides remain at an impasse and chuck schumer the democratic leader told the president speaking on the floor of the senate if you

want to open the government you must abandon the wall and he went on to say the wall will come not today not next week not next year so it does seem like the two sides are far apart that monday and tuesday are holidays the full impact of the government shutdown probably will not be felt until wednesday and of course democrats may simply wait until january third that is when democrats take over control of the u.s. house of representatives and at that time they believe that they can definitively stop funding for the president's wall so the democrats believe time is on their side. the un team has landed in yemen to observe the departure of iraqi government forces and who the fight says from data the two sides agreed to a cease fire in the city during that talks in sweden the area is the entry point for most food aid into a country that's jordy is of conflicts and wall is need baka. arriving in aden the

head of a united nations monitoring mission patrick is a retired dutch jenner. all with experience of some of the world's worst conflicts the t.-r. c. sri lanka and cambodia other members of the un team touched down in yemen's capital sanaa the group will be heading to the strategic port city of the day where they're tasked with monitoring a franchise cease fire and overseeing the vital reopening of the port a gateway for food and aid supplies into a country where millions of people are in desperate need of both. the general for sure has an expertise in this domain and we know that he will meet with the other side very soon after that god willing the mission of the observers and head data will start. in her day her life is returning to the city streets the ceasefire between saudi u.a.e. backed government forces and hutu rebels is seen as the first significant breakthrough in peace efforts since the war started in twenty fourteen and. we look

forward to the cease fire we hope it's going to be observed not only here but nationwide. and. we hope the saudi led coalition will learn a lesson after four years of war we haven't halted all retreated even if forty years pass we will never budge or abandon our basic principles of dignity freedom and independence. the monitoring mission comes a day after the un security council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the deployment of observers to data following negotiations in sweden the warring sides also agree to a prisoner swap of some sixteen thousand detainees. the u.n. calls yemen the world's worst humanitarian disaster the war has killed an estimated sixty thousand people as many as eighty five thousand children may have starved to death because. it's hoped that by bringing stability to her day to.

the rest of this ravaged country by eventually follow. iran's revolutionary guards have conducted military drills in the strategic strait of hormuz the passageway for nearly one third of all oil traded by sea. you know neal exercises showcased combat helicopters and drones on friday the iranian army trained a u.s. aircraft carrier that entered the gulf iran's under increasing pressure from the u.s. after the trumpet ministration renewed sanctions on iran over its nuclear program. at least fifteen people were killed in two car bomb attacks in the somali capital mogadishu a london based somali journalist was among the dead the first explosion targeted a military checkpoint near the presidential palace the country's intelligence agency says the perpetrators of the attacks have been arrested. the first car bomb exploded at a military checkpoint soldiers and civilians among the dead. moments later

a second explosion also a car bomb bodies were scattered on the street just a few hundred meters from the somali presidential residence in mogadishu the go out look at me i was at the scene of the attack at first i saw a vehicle driving back and forth and we tried to stop people walking here and there and then with in the blink of an eye the vehicle exploded causing havoc but. i was walking to my workplace and suddenly there was a huge explosion there was smoke everywhere and people were screaming there were bodies all over the place the next time i was conscious i was at the hospital my leg was broken and i also lost my hand i was working to feed my five children and their only breadwinner what was my crime to deserve this who is going to feed my children now the. police say government officials have been travelling in the area earlier in the day now the road is covered with charred cars and debris but we know

explosion today up in mogadishu somalia and that was your suicide bomber and a security checkpoint. in the national. somali but eventually. the station in the area and it is really getting ablaze. mogadishu is often targeted by the al qaeda linked group al-shabaab its members want to dislodge the government and impose islamic law the group maintains a foothold in some regions of somalia but was forced mogadishu in two thousand and eleven to get thousands of somalis have died in this divisive decade long battle many of them civilians katia llopis of the young al jazeera. thousands of people in serbia have taken part in antigovernment protests for a third consecutive weekend demanding policy changes and accuse the president alexander which are becoming increasingly authoritarian last week opposition

politicians will close to find out it was attacked with his supporters accusing the government of intimidation to see those marcos super to chose more now from belgrade. this was the largest protest in belgrade in the last month more than twenty thousand of people gathered in the streets of belgrade but then stayed against the government against the president alexander will teach and he's the serbian progressive party which is ruling party in serbia in the last six years the reason why they gathered in the last stop the three thought that they in belgrade but also in other cities in serbia is the attack on the opposition leader board the phantom is that's why this protest is called a protest against the bloody shirt because his shirt was bloody after the attack also this protest at one more jobs act and it's called one in five millions referring to the statement of their being president alexander boteach which said

last week a dead even five million people a day come to street and demand something that he didn't want to fulfill those the mines and the elections the only way the demands of the opposition parties can be fulfilled and he called them on the election if they want alexander who just said that they also want to be a prick and that they are responsible people for the killing of all the very violent overage he's a leader of god so most of the northern gulf and he was killed in january. this process will continue as an organization said next saturday the people will gather here they say more people to come to belgrade and we have to say that these brothels are not organized by opposition parties but by some student organization and some public figures in libya and backed by opposition here in serbia. a group of protesters have attacked the police officers during demonstrations in the french

capital paris scuffles began when blunt objects were thrown at them one of them then took out a gun to scare the demonstrators but that had the opposite effect the policeman was soon surrounded and they were forced to flee the so-called yellow best protest began over five weeks ago against plans to increase fuel tanks which were later scrapped bernard smith was with the protesters in paris. this is been an all day protest march nonstop through the streets. from owning right now out. in the far away. from all the way as police try to block there is through. peaceful happen a couple of small home stations but they all of us protestors have wanted it to be peaceful and they try to make sure that everybody has stayed on the right side of the law there are about a thousand people left at this time of the day number similar to last week and many

people here that we've spoken to not at all interested in the concessions present manual from how to make they say they don't go far enough they're too little too late and they will keep protesting right into the new year. the government of nicaragua has raided and shut down a t.v. news station it comes a week after similar operations at nongovernmental organizations and a newspaper the director of the one hundred percent news channel new girl laura appeared in court accused of terrorism the president daniel ortega has been accused of silencing his critics to control antigovernment protests that killed more than three hundred people since april. still to come here on al-jazeera on the streets of ramallah where people are growing tired of the ineptitude of their political leaders. on the hunt for a former rebel commander colombia they refused to accept a landmark peace deal comes to a dramatic him. the spoils and he'll explain why this haircut was anger among

sports fans around the world. hello again we're here cross north america we are watching one weather system finally make its way out here towards the canadian maritimes now this system brought a lot of flooding as well as snow to the higher elevations we are going to sing web better weather conditions here along the eastern seaboard as we go towards sunday clear conditions for new york a little bit cooler those six degrees there down towards atlanta maybe a few us body clouds in your forecast but it is still the west that skin to see back to back storms over the next few days from sunday as well as into monday and that means more snow across parts of the cascades down towards los angeles twenty two degrees is your forecast high well we did see that funnel system on the east coast really cause problems there across parts of cuba bring some very heavy rain

and flooding now that front is going to continue to lay out become stationary we can see some rain out of that front over the next few days but to the north have enough finally going to be clearing out and partly cloudy conditions you temps are there about twenty four maybe getting a few more clouds by the time we get towards monday and then very quickly as we go towards south america we are seeing some very heavy rains across parts of southern brazil and that's going to continue over the next few days so rio de janeiro thirty two degrees with thunderstorms in your forecast but looking much better down here towards one is out as it is going to be partly cloudy and temperatures dry at about twenty eight degrees. in the darkest of times brave men and women stood up. when oppressed they rose. together they forward for greater justice respect and

compassion. they had a dream for a better future. cidade we are at a turning point. the stakes are high climate change inequality. hate speech you may feel overwhelmed but there is hope for. 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.

these are your headlines so far the top u.s. official in the fight against has quit president decision to pull troops out of syria brett mcgurk departure follows the resignation of the us defense secretary james mattis. the american government remains partially shut down after politicians failed to break an impasse on budget spending the senate with adjourned until thursday. fifteen people have been killed in two car bomb attacks in the somali capital mogadishu a london based somali journalist was among those killed the country's intelligence agency says those behind the attacks have been arrested. thousands of people have been demonstrating in hungary over the past week in protest of changes to employment rights and pay the new legislation which the opposition is calling the slave law allows companies to demand more overtime from their employees robin

walker reports now on what's driven the change and why it's provoked such anger hungry at christmas time with more than two percent average growth. it's an attractive place to come and spend your money. how greece economic model depends a lot on german car manufacturing twenty seventeen it made up twenty nine percent of industrial output soon a billion dollar b.m.w. plants will provide thousands of jobs in the east but there's a problem a shortage of skilled workers. the government hopes its new labor law will fix that allowing over time of more than four hundred hours a year but that has angered the working hunger ariens more than eighty percent according to recent polls opposed the legislation that will make them have to work more opposition groups have united in protest from the left and the rights calling it a slave law agrees government says that's not the case the hungary and regulation is

fully in line with the european regulations and has nothing to do slavery that's political cold which is being used by extremist political opinion and political activists on the ground the real problem is that as a matter of fact these political protests are nothing to do with the labor code a lot of them are very educated some believe the law will only worsen the problem and variance have been working much longer hours in recent years than anyone in western europe so if you just check european union statistics eastern europeans work more than western europeans in hungary and work more than people in western europe so there's already a lot of overtime in the system and secondly wages are very low so if you make people work longer hours for the same wages as just an incentive for people to move away the way the ontario government sees it the garion economy is a victim of its own success with near full employment but it might have more to do with the fact that hungary has

a strict immigration policy and skilled ariens seeking better opportunities abroad . young hunger ariens like peter are increasingly interested in leaving hungry and starting their careers elsewhere i might add are hungry and serious and exactly the same and that they just wanted something better than hunger we can offer and at the same time they just so that. that trains are not looking promising and hungry hungry is not alone countries including poland slovakia and the czech republic are struggling with their own labor shortages. the showing of low cost labor powering europe from its east is beginning to wear off. robyn first the walker al-jazeera budapest. hundreds of people have taken part in the funerals of four palestinians killed on friday by the israeli army mourners gathered in gaza for the burial of

the men who were killed during weekly protests against the israeli and egyptian blockade of the territory of the victims was a sixteen year old mohammed judge who palestinians have demonstrated at the border every friday since march. palestinians living in the occupied west bank said the increasingly frustrated and helpless feeling made worse by a greater israeli military presence and the ineptitude of their own political leaders stephanie from ramallah. it's been especially tense few weeks in the occupied west bank palestinian shootings in israeli incursions have killed people on both sides palestinians tell us they had not seen this amount of israeli soldiers on the streets of ramallah in years is the seat of power for the ruling palestinian authority and supposedly under full palestinian security control its outage an already pessimistic atmosphere. needed is that the palestinian authority stop security coordination with the israelis stop working together we don't benefit

anything where a lost people. the situation has become very bad every time i come to ramallah it's so hard to reach checkpoints all over the road so the traffic is a nightmare we hope that the world will do something to change this political situation a recent poll across the occupied west bank and gaza indicate that almost two thirds of palestinians want the resignation of president mahmoud abbas and overflows it increase in support for half particularly off of the escalation here in the west bank and also in gaza and the poll also suggests that the idea of an armed intifada as opposition to the occupation is gaining support that's moving away from diplomatic negotiations. carried out the survey he says the palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas are facing increasing questions about their credibility and the lack of palestinian unity between the rival political groups fatah and hamas is a major issue significant. for the lack of progress on the

reunification efforts most of the public today blames the two to one the blame is being placed on the boss on the rob a ban on hamas this is a significant change from the past in the past most of the blame was being put on hamas most people here say that if palestinians were united they would be stronger to deal with israel everybody hoping for the beast but you know everybody knows the other side is very strong very strong every time we come a closer to make it because then they stop it they have some six accusers all the time they have excuses our viewers they are ready for peace but the other side are not ready you see the smile is seventy six years old and has lived in the ramallah all his life. in the palestinian authority to is controlled by israel just like us they should be a sovereign palestinian state every time the israeli want to raid the towns they go in they go out they do what they want. as another year draws to an end palestinians

say they seem to be moving further and further away from their hopes of one day achieving their own sovereign state stephanie decker al-jazeera in the occupied west bank iran has executed a businessman sentenced to death by a fast track court system aimed at fighting economic crimes the new islamic revolutionary course convicted how many carried damani of iran's most serious capital offense for bribery and fraud especially iranian anti corruption courts were established to go after business executives accused of taking advantage of worsening economic conditions caused by the u.s. sanctions against iran after months of hunting him in the jungles of colombia the security forces there have shot and killed the former guerrilla leader known as god show the one time far commander refused to surrender in the twenty sixteen peace deal he was accused of drug trafficking extortion and murder his charlotte palace.

by senior ministers colombia's president rallied reporters for his big news boy. i can't confirm that troia was killed in an operation he was killed by the heroes of colombia. this is quote your full name walter patricio arizona he was one of the most elusive and powerful rebels in colombia wanted for drug trafficking extortion and murder. while cho commanded the all of us in a state of front a group of up to eighty former fuck rebels who have refused to twenty sixth in peace deal with the colombian government they continue to traffic cocaine and fight security forces this colombian police and military search the jungles for him for months this is really a pretty strange year this is an effort of persistence we may not find out of today but it could be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow in a week or two we're not going to rest or stop this offensive the manhunt escalated

after his group kidnapped and murdered to ecuador in journalists and their driver in march colombia and ecuador put on their most wanted list and offered hundreds of thousands of dollars for information leading to his capture. more than three thousand army police and special forces were deployed to find him then on friday from the former front frontline and cocaine capital the colombian president took the podium and made a you your you know how to get out of today i want to make clear that for our party is over colombe are many many communities in colombia will now sleep in peace because one of the most horrendous criminals that our country has known has fallen . well cho was shot and killed in a military operation near the ecuadorian border shallop ballasts al jazeera. sudan's government says at least ten people have been killed in. dozens more were

injured string four days of protests against the rising cost of fuel a state of emergency has been declared in some cities and some schools and universities have been suspended. reports. this is one of the main markets in the north of the sudanese capital khartoum shoppers here see all the produce for sale have one thing in common. prices are high tomatoes used to cost seven pounds and now it costs forty pounds or less everything is expensive the prices have been going up and there are so many things you can buy and then there is the bread crisis. their bread prices sparked protests around the country when the government announced its plan to raise the price of a loaf from wanted a nice pound to three there were demonstrations the government reacted by announcing a state of emergency in some cities curfews in others and it tried to block social media platforms including facebook twitter and what's happened dozens of people have been arrested the protesters are just frustrated at the rising cost of bread

in the past year inflation has risen to almost seventy percent in january the dollar was worth thirty. now it's almost worth sixty pounds which means higher market prices and people have to queue at banks to get their cash which with inflation barely cover their knee. the government has been using live ammunition and tear gas to disperse the crowds this is they're trying to solve the economic crisis but won't tolerate protesters damaging public property but. the government did acknowledge there is a crisis we did not tonight and we are working on resolving these issues when it comes to economic crises these things are not magically resolved overnight it takes time there are more than one party involved more than just one fixed.