is seen perhaps as someone who has done a good job of cultivating a relationship with the president that he has echoed the president's concerns about how much the defense department spends on equipment and on personnel which might lead to a reason why the president recently said that after approving the largest defense budget in some decades that he's now calling for a cut in the defense budget but let's also not forget mr shanahan came from boeing which has a very robust relationship with the u.s. government in terms of providing military equipment aircraft and materiel and so while he might be perceived as someone who is in sync with the president's thinking he also comes from a culture that is very much dependent on the defense department for much of its income so whether or not he's going to be a check or whether he's actually going to be someone who just goes along to get along that is another area of concern back to both republicans and democrats are

expressing and what can you tell us about the phone call that president trump held with the turkish president arroyo on. well the president did tweet out that he did have a conversation with the president of turkey that they agreed that there needed to be a very methodical and carefully orchestrated pullout of the u.s. forces some two thousand troops that have been in northeastern syria to fight eisel but the turkish government said that it was very appreciative of what the u.s. had done in terms of preserving security in the region and that it was prepared to do what it felt would be necessary in order to prevent a resurgence of eisel inside syria as well as to do whatever is necessary to try to stabilize the region between northern syria and southeastern turkey but we don't

have much more detail than that especially from the white house because there is a partial government shutdown underway and so there's a very little in the way of commentary that u.s. officials are able to provide at this point because it may fall outside the purview of what they're allowed to do right now all right got it rolls on jordan thank you . well trump's move to pull out troops from syria is changing the battleground there the turkish president are to honest threatening to strike at the kurdish armed group the y p g in the north and that task is made easier by the withdrawal of the us forces who have been backing them say in a hundred reports in the turkey syria border. turkish military reinforcements are being sent deep into syria to the front lines north of the city of mumbai the message turkey is sending is that it's ready to use force if not handed over to what it calls its rightful owners the turkish deployment followed reports that the syrian army planned to move in there will be a vacuum once the u.s.

begins with drawing its troops from areas across northeastern syria controlled by the syrian kurdish armed groups the white p.g. . people are afraid after reports of a possible military operation and other reports of the regime was to capture the city were preparing to escape if the regime enters or if there is military action. the u.s. military in what is known as the members military council are the forces on the ground but the turkish government and the syrian opposition say the council is a front for the y.p. g a group they consider terrorists and separatists who have exploited the fight against eisel to carve out a state of their own. is among predominantly arab areas under why peachey control over. damascus has been making its position known state media has been broadcasting images from the white b.g. controlled region of what it says are protests against a possible turkish offensive the government has accused turkey of territorial

ambitions turkey's main objective in syria is to prevent the establishment of a kurdish state along its borders so as not to inflame separatist sentiment among its own kurdish population it's not clear if turkey will accept why petey's rule to be replaced by that of the syrian government but it's. it does it's really demand guarantees that the y.p. g.e. is rendered ineffective. turkey's president has promised to dr eisold and the chief from syria his military has changed its posture strengthening turkey's hand a serious player is likely engage in backdoor negotiations to prevent what could be a new conflict. on the turkey syria border lawrence korb a former assistant secretary of defense and a senior fellow at the center for american progress he believes business is dictating u.s. foreign policy. what residents rumpus is doing whether you agree or disagree these are tactics the real question is what's your strategy ok you're going to get out of

syria i just want to with norad are you get involved in the rebuilding the same way with afghanistan you quote back on the number of jobs what about the negotiations that you know ambassador khalilzad is undertaking right now with the taliban how does that affect that and that i think is the real concern among a lot of people not that the president is doing something like this but is it a quarter of an overall strategy just like with saudi arabia you know one of the reasons that the president has not condemned m.b.'s or his involvement in the killing of the mystical show he is the cause of all of the deals that he's made with the saudi arabia the all the rest or maybe four hundred million but it's still a couple hundred million dollars so the way it was no accident right after. president drunk was cited to leave syria talking to air it was the turks apparently agreed to purchase patriot u.s.

missile rather than s s one of the air defenses he went observers have arrived in yemen sports city of her data to monitor a cease fire deal between the saudi backed government and what the rebels earlier the group met a hosting delegation in the capital sanaa they also help talk to the government representatives in the city of aden the deal between yemen's government and host the rebels was reached the talks in sweden almost two weeks ago. coming up later in this news hour praying for peace and political change how the catholic church has spoken up about the need for elections in the democratic republic of congo the french president calls for calm after an altar cation between protesters and police in paris goes viral. and sport tottenham hit six as they put on a title contending performance in the english premier league details with peter a little later.

but first susan is police have fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters who had blocked the road in the capital hard to him the protesters gathered in the center of the city after a soccer match they chanted freedom songs calling on president all martin bashir to step down several cities are under emergency rule as protesters demand a change of government or the protests are now into their fifth day forcing schools and universities to shut down across the country doctors have gone on indefinite strike a strike keeping more pressure on the government's head but morgan reports from hard to. drive in his minivan is the only way out of the living he says taking passengers around used to bring in enough money but with a fuel crisis in sudan that's no longer the case. we can stay from the day before till the next day waiting for fuel with the fuel shortage sometimes you have to

look for fuel in the black market for a higher price and even then you can't find fuel easily unless you know someone who can direct you to find around two gallons just so you can drop people off. fuel isn't the only thing scars in sudan there's a shortage of money too over the past few months the sudanese have been forced to line up in front of a.t.m. machines for what little cash is made available queues also appeared in front of bakeries as the shortage of hard currency mentalists wheat to make bread the proposal by the government to lift subsidies on wheat and human prompted protests in many parts of the country last week as a result curfews and emergency rule were imposed in at least five cities and schools and universities have been shut across the country to prevent large gatherings of people real and bread shortages may have triggered protests across the country but other factors are helping to keep them going people seem to be frustrated not just by the comic crisis but by the way the country is being run and they want to see change the. demonstrators have been met with life fire and tear

gas by police causing a number of deaths and injuries but the protests continue along with the demand that president omar al bashir who has ruled for almost thirty years to resign some analysts say it's time for others to take the lead in this crisis can't be left for the government to solve alone other political parties need to come in join hands to find a way out of the crisis the crisis is no longer an economy process it's now a political process and people are blaming the government for it. sudan appears to be at a standstill with the people on one side and the government and its policy on the other people morgan onto their own part on. this president of the sudan dr as union in the u.k. sudan is headed for a total shutdown if there is no change in leadership. i don't think people on the street are just protesting because of humor because of brant they are protesting because there is a overall salient of the whole system and for the medical sector there is complete

destruction for the infrastructure for the access to health services for the concept of treatment for the absence of medication for life saving medication so the health sector is similar to the education sector to other sectors to the arm where there is an over ome savior from the current government and therefore they have to step down and hand over to the around you know the b.b.c. the power to the power to a government that can lead and can provide a printer life for the people of so that we have thirty years and that's more than enough for any government to prove whether they can be at all successful or not i think it's the tip of the iceberg just at the cost of the bread the absence of fuel this is just like. part of the whole problem the whole the issue is there is

a complete who are governance and failure and trying for a change in saddam. millions of people across the democratic republic of congo should have been voting this sunday to elect a new leader the pole to replace president joseph kabila has been put off for a week blamed on a fire that destroyed voting machines in ballot papers there have been protests over the latest inlay with the election already two years behind schedule seven soyuz in the capital kinshasa with more on the logistics needed to hold that election those four million ballot papers meant for that are in the country now which is a big relief to many people the voting machine that had been recalled from the different province is told are already here technicians are reprogramming them now out of what the materials that were meant for other parts of the country are in the

different regional headquarters they will be or are being transported to the various then. eventually the polling stations as well but that another problem logistically this is a country that has very poor infrastructure we're talking about places that you cannot get using up all or even a bicycle you have to walk on this is also the rainy season of parts of the country still and they've been a boy outbreak in the east so all these complications making it even more difficult for the electoral commission and it's also important to note that the government has refused all international help the call help financial help from the u.n. and other countries as well a lot of people really just watching to see how exactly this week is going to play out this is going to be a very difficult we could not had any word from the government or not had any what

either from the president joseph kabila and causing a lot of concern here one of the most powerful players calling for change is the catholic church in the country malcolm webb has more from. in the democratic republic of congo the catholic church has clout. nearly half of congo's eighty million people go through its church services like this one in the capital kinshasa when president joseph kabila didn't step down at the end of his second and final constitutional mandate the church stood up. john bell i was one of the key coordinators of the protest for democracy which eventually led to an election being called for sunday two years late three days ago it was postponed again until next week and some until today we are aware of strategies to not organize elections we are not surprised that we don't have elections even though there was

enough time we were informed about the postponement of elections until the thirtieth and we think that for seven days let us not burn the whole country. the priest asks people to pray for the elections to be peaceful. the last two years were not dozens were killed by police in the protests the catholic church brokered a deal for a delayed election to take place when it was finally announced more were killed during the campaigns mostly at opposition rallies the government promises its delivering democracy because. the president of the republic is the one who has brought democracy in this country we've had difficulties organizing elections on time and the president is the one who is conscious of the fact that his two mandates are over that's why the electoral commission has all the means to organize elections. since the commission and noun's the postponement there have been pleas and soldiers on the streets near the university activists tried to organize

a march they were completely out numbered so they gave ard. the catholic church is powerful here they can speak up when others can't it's political works northover people are now waiting to see if next week's election really will happen a lot of people are wondering if the ruling party and the electoral commission intends to hold any election so. most people here say they want change they still don't know if they'll get it malcolm webb al-jazeera kinshasa in the democratic republic of congo. still ahead on the al-jazeera news hour the worldwide calls to free al jazeera journalist which was saying who's now spend two years behind bars in egypt without trial we meet the nicaraguan cartoonists who were challenging the government crackdown with their art and india and australia will

square off in one of cricket's most famous fixtures peter will have all the details a little later in sport. for some of us in north america it's pretty wet at the moment you can see the system is piling in from the pacific giving us some heavy downpours and a fair amount of snow as well as our system works its way eastwards it will break up a little bit so the wintry weather that we see will be quite as heavy but we're looking at some more pulses of heavy rain right around the coast there for monday by choose day that also will be edging eastward so a few more outbreaks of rain at times san francisco will have a role this day we modify the east will see a fair amount of clarity galloping its way across the plains will see some snow and some rain and not the days carries it should be fine and draw i just feel that warm new york getting to a top temperature of around five after the central americas we've got this little

training front here and that's going to stick around over the next few days along that area of town there will be a few outbreaks of rain some of which will be quite heavy into the south it's going to stay warm and humid with a fair few showers but to the northeast where the cooler air is and here it should be a little bit clearer i mean for the south still in for some of us in brazil is looking pretty wet over the next few days the showers generally a stretching from the northeast and then curving old way back around through bolivia and then down through paraguayan and tools a civil parts of brazil more showers here over the next few days it's dry air in buenos aires. after joining the greenpeace steenkamp painting to protect the weddell sea in antarctica we're now in australia for the outcome with the first generation to realize the gravity of this crisis. that we may be the last to be able to do

something about in another thread special find out if the effort to create the largest sentry on earth has succeeded thrice on al-jazeera. and. the arrival of refugees is debated and the european parliament's. but the journey itself is little understood. to syrians document the route that has claimed so many lives searching for sanctuary part one people in power on al-jazeera.

hello again you're with the al-jazeera news hour here is a reminder of the top stories rescue workers are struggling to reach many areas devastated by saturday's tsunami in indonesia at least two hundred twenty two people are dead more than eight hundred injured in the country's second such disaster this year the worst president has announced his new defense secretary patrick shanahan will take over from james mattis on january the first mattis resigned on thursday in protest over donald trump's sudden decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria protests in sudan have entered a fifth day forcing schools and universities to shut down across the country the protests were triggered by bread and fuel price rises doctors have also gone on indefinite strike heaping more pressure on the government. back to our top story and tsunami disaster was triggered by an eruption on krakatau that's

a volcanic island that's been emerging from the sea since the one nine hundred twenty s. most of the damage has been done to properties on the shores of java and sumatra the tsunami wave swept through the strait destroying homes and hotels along the coast an earlier volcano erupted in the same place an eight hundred eighty three that event was described as the explosion heard around the world thirty six thousand people were killed in a series of tsunamis which followed as the volcano collapsed on itself let's speak to kathy mueller she's a spokeswoman for the international federation of the red cross and red crescent societies she's joining us via skype from palo on the indonesian island of thanks for speaking to us on al-jazeera what are your it seems on the ground telling you about the situation what they're seeing. well as you might imagine the damage is quite consistent with the aftermath of the tsunami the indonesian red cross poise teams of volunteers immediately after the disaster and again yesterday morning

there are now about seventy volunteers who are on the ground and they're working alongside governments responders to provide basic immediate needs to people who have survived the disaster as well as they're involved in the search and rescue to make sure that if there is anyone who is still trapped in that rubble and that they're able to get them out and back to the as in a pop so what are the people's most basic and immediate needs right now. a lot of people have lost everything their homes have collapsed a lot of the homes of the shops and the businesses in this area they're made of bamboo and sachse roofs and or a retained roof so they're not able to withstand the force of the waves they're also built right along the shoreline so they've lost in some cases their homes their businesses that means their ability to earn a living so the red cross is going in and the things that are being provided

immediately include water where we're deploying fourteen water trucks. people who desperately need clean water after an event like this because infrastructure has been damaged or providing tarpaulins it's a rainy season right now if people have lost their or their shelter they need somewhere where they can be protected from the elements so we're handing out blankets in the evening and get quite chilly so trying to keep people warm as best protected as possible from the elements and seeing as the infrastructure has been damaged as you are saying and we're also hearing that roads have been cut off and how challenging is it for your teams on the ground to carry out they're worth. yes of course it is challenging when the roads are damaged we are getting in a way have teams who are already living in the communities there from this area so they're able to access these communities of course once they get there there is

debris strong across the land so everywhere you look there there is garbage from the disaster the government is bringing in large machinery to help clear away some of that debris to make access easier. and we're also providing health care for example we know that health services can also be affected a lot of people have been injured so we're deploying twenty two ambulances along with five mobile health clinics one those roads are clear the mobile clinics they can easily move from community to community it's basically the entire western coast of java which is been impacted by this so these mobile health clinics can go from community to community providing basic health care as needed when the latest death toll we have is two hundred twenty two of you expect to go higher it's always challenging to know where the numbers will finally end of course the

search and rescue right now our hopes are that we're still able to find people who have survived we've heard amazing stories in past disasters where people have survived for days even weeks in the rubble people can survive quite a long time without food is that they have access to water that's what really will help keep them going right kathy miller we wish you the best of luck with the work you're cheering us and we thank you for speaking to us and al-jazeera thank you. now the french president has called for calm after a sixth weekend the so-called yellow vest antigovernment protests the interior ministry says nearly forty thousand people took part in saturday's demonstration that's a major decrease on previous protests and is bernard smith reports from paris of forty's are defending what some say were aggressive police actions. with just a few hundred yellow vest protesters on the shores elisei on saturday night a small number sparked a violent confrontation with police. as the policemen scrambled to save their bikes

pulled a gun. the whole incident lasted about three minutes but is an indication of how quickly a quiet protest can turn ugly i. want yellow vest protesters described as act six began peacefully on saturday and became a nonstop march through the streets of paris the aim is always to reach the elisei palace on the front door of president emanuel macro but with police blocking roads leading to his official residence the vests just kept walking and walking. you did you don't it is clear that the response including judicial would be the most severe possible no it is calm and harmony that must prevail many people here that we've spoken to not at all interested in the concessions present manual drawn up 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. for six weeks yellow vest protesters have been

demanding relief from high taxes and more help for france's poorest the numbers of fallen from around three hundred thousand nationwide in the first week to about forty thousand this weekend. but as with al jazeera paris. it's now been two years since al jazeera journalist mahmud hossein was arrested in egypt he hasn't been charged with any crime but his imprisonment has been repeatedly extended despite international calls for his immediate release alex to topple us reports. for two years my hoodoo same has been locked inside an egyptian prison his right to trial denied his legal rights rejected the al jazeera journalist flew to cairo in two thousand and sixteen to visit his family after he landed he was questioned the detained without being formally charged he suffered a broken arm and was refused proper medical treatment egyptian prosecutors accuse the culture based journalist of broadcasting what it describes as false news and

receiving foreign funds to defame state institutions he strongly denies the allegations and so does al-jazeera echoing international outrage the un has been calling for his release rights groups have reported and i'm pro little crackdown on egyptian journalists since the military deposed the first democratically elected president mohammed morsi in two thousand and thirteen the suppression has increased under former general now president sisi the committee to protect journalists say at least twenty media workers are being held in egyptian prisons hussein's detention has breached egypt's own penal code and since he's being held without trial for more than eighteen months the maximum period allowed for anyone being investigated for a crime he should have been released or taken to court neither has happened and two years in his family and others are waiting for justice alex to topless al-jazeera mamata sainz daughter azhar told al-jazeera earlier that her father's imprisonment

has devastated her family. every time i go and see him his face powder them the develop spine turfed me from inside to see my father like this the longer he stays i can see that on his face my grandfather and grandmother all of them the two of them have been sick and even my grandfather has been finalized you know from the shock. it's been like eleven eleven months ago he was with my father visiting him and emotionally he was very distressed and he went back home unable to move at the same until now so it's very different staging is ruining our family i can't describe how hard it is for our for actually you know the situation here in egypt is very hard so you can figure out really what's going to make the change what's the point you know this will all disappear and you know life will go back as it

were before so yes of course all these events and you know and there is he stands with the father you know. it feels great you know to have the board but still we won't we want something to happen i'm scared that my father's going to be forgotten two years is too much and i'm scared that the number is always only going to get higher well actually i don't know i i wish that i speak to someone and ask him why i only want to know why if he had if you had done something why don't you know even what charlie why don't you investigate and you know do you work i don't know i don't understand please please let my father out please bring him back to us a life has been stopping the plug doesn't move and our last two years so it's very hard please please give us our father back most of us who are good the acting director general of the al jazeera media network chief of the hold for signs

imprisonment is a violation of international law. for journalists i mean mahmoud hussein is and is not the only one who is in jail i mean there are so many jaded journalists in egypt there are so many abuses many people many journalists were killed in more me since two thousand and thirteen i mean many of them and directly is not free in egypt now there is no tolerance to any kind of position and that is what has been going on for a long time in addition to that quite often there is no tolerance to neutrality you have to support the government otherwise you are considered the new in me it's the slogan of george bush the old george bush you know when he said this you are you are with us or you are against us and which is not the case would who seen as they said was not working on education issues at all he was working just doing his job here you know if you are from a busy areas you should not be going to egypt till things are better and they hope

that happens soon however i would like to think it is but unity to call on the egyptian authorities to release mahmoud hussein with no conditions mexico's new president is facing a backlash for delivering on a campaign promise some workers have launched a legal challenge after andress manual lopez obrador cut government salaries including his own john holeman reports from mexico city has. it all started with this from exclusive new president. we can't have a rich government and poor people that's why the government stop salaries are going down. he's practicing what he preaches slashing his own salary by more than half and forcing others in the public sector to cut those two by next year's budget lopez obrador is more in a party has majority in congress and is backing his plans deputies and senators have reduced some of their own lucrative perks you're going to get in a society i think it's necessary that we have an equilibrium between what

a public servant and working person earns many have said that it's about training and we don't argue with that but a construction worker night guard works longer and harder. it is no cuts the president's promising raises for the lowest paid public sector workers those who earn less than a thousand dollars a month but not everyone's on board with the changes will them five thousand civil servants have launched legal appeals the supreme court's also waited in temporarily suspending cuts for the judiciary and some other institutions but critics say the judges themselves are part of mexico's gaping wage inequality the end around seventeen times that of the average worker this measure from the president schools a lot of debate from here in congress down to the streets for a lot of people a really happy at the what they see as an entitle political class and public sector a finally going to get their salaries slashed other people say this could open the

door to corruption and a brain drain to the private sector and to corruption experts say cutting the most exorbitant salaries is needed but applying the measure across the board could backfire. the consequences of cutting everyone salary is that even though it's a noble aim to slash the pay of high level bureaucrats the medium and low level ones who are specialists and technicians aren't going to have enough incentives to stay in public office and make the changes we need there are also worries that instead of taking the hit themselves those at the top could fire employees or trim their benefits to fit the shrinking budget it's now up to the new administration to check that good intentions to turn into a powerful change john homan how does it or mexico city. well homelessness in the u.k. has reached a record high with about one hundred seventy thousand families and individuals affected british government figures show nearly six hundred homeless people died over the past year.