how would this money be spent when would it be dispersed and most importantly perhaps who would get the money as we just saw from zina holders analysis. there the country is divided into many different spheres of influence and whether this saudi money would go to the reconstructing areas that were under the auspices of the government of bashar al assad with his russian allies whether they would go to turkish areas where they go to iranian influenced areas or formerly united states influenced areas all open questions but very important questions obviously for the future of syria and the whole balance of power in the region and what does this tell us about trump's attitudes toward saudi arabia. it seems clear that the trump considers saudi arabia to be a valuable strategic partner of the united states

a counterweight to iranian influence and also a place that is just a great big pile of money i mean he is repeatedly talked about wonderful arms deals that the saudi arabian government is going to engage in with the united states which have not really materialized and he as we know sort of shrugged off the conclusion of his own intelligence agencies that the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi in istanbul in october was the work of the highest levels of the saudi government including the crown prince of mama bin psalm on president said maybe did maybe didn't but we've got a lot of money at stake here so that outweighs international concerns over that killing all right rob reynolds thank you for that update from washington d.c. let's bring in ellen wald who's a senior fellow at the atlantic council and is also the author of saudi inc their

arabian kingdom's pursuit of profit and power is joining us via skype from jacksonville that's in florida thanks very much for speaking to us on so if we just look at the tweet for a moment perhaps we can put it up on the screen saudi arabia has now agreed to spend the necessary money needed to help rebuild syria this is what the president of the united states is saying ellen wald is it clear to you though if trump is referring to the hundred million dollars that saudi had sent to the u.s. in october for syria or is this a new commitment from the kingdom because we haven't even heard from the kingdom. well i don't think that that's clear at all i think that it could very well be referring to the one hundred million dollars that they have pledged although it does seem to indicate that more money is expected at least from the trumpet ministration for syria and in this matter i you know it's not clear and i don't expect it to become clear for some time but it does appear that that he is talking

about an additional commitment because if this is not referring to the money that was sent to the u.s. in october then you have no doubt that of trump tells the saudis to pay they will pay well here's here's here's what i think the trumpet ministration thinks about this they see saudi arabia as a strategic partner in the region and trump a certainly gone out maybe on the fence to defend that strategic partners their ship and now he's saying look we are still committed to you know you've got to step up and do what needs to be done and it it's definitely been clear from trump's policy that they would like saudi arabia to really serve as an effective counterpoint in the region to iran and this is his way of saying look if we are going to be strategic partners then you have to play that role of partner and here's a place where you can step up and do that in the region but hypothetically speaking if this money were indeed to go through who wouldn't even go to the saudi pledge at

the time that was made back in august or was blasted by the syrian government to what's called a disgraceful. well that's the big question is where exactly will this money go and i think that that obviously depends a lot on where saudi arabia wants it to go we could probably assume it's not going to go to the russians it's not going to go to the turks for where they're spending a lot on humanitarian aid for refugees it's going to go somewhere else and it may not go to the assad regime either and that is of course a question not that syria i mean there are plenty of places that money can go in syria to you know serve rebuilding efforts that aren't necessarily connected to iran or russia or the assad regime or turkey it's there's not a dearth of there's plenty to be done in syria right now and for trump why do you think that he is sort of tweeted this now because there is some people are of the opinion rather that's he's just trying to deflect the growing domestic as well as

international criticism over his decision to pull u.s. troops troops out of syria which resulted in the jamaat as a resigning do you buy that do you see it that way i would say this is necessarily a deflection but it's certainly part of the ongoing conversation about that decision to pull u.s. troops out of syria it does seem like a lot of people were surprised that trump wanted to do this but he's been saying this for a while so i really don't think it should have come as a surprise that trump wanted to pull these troops out of syria and i do think that this statement was made in part to kind of change the way that conversation had been going on while we thank you very much for speaking to us from jacksonville. thank you. now turkey says it's working with several countries to take an investigation into the killing of saudi journalist to the united nations the foreign minister ahmed let's come. has demanded riyadh shares its findings on the

case with the international community was killed inside the saudi consulates in istanbul nearly three months ago plenty more ahead on the al jazeera news hour including israel's government calls early elections as the prime minister faces both political and legal troubles we meet the people trying to get kids off the streets and out of poverty. and peter will be here to look back at some of the year's biggest sports stories that's coming up a little later in the program. but first the police thirty people have been killed in a car bomb attack in afghanistan's capital that attack began when a suicide bomber blew himself blew up his car rather outside the public works ministry in kabul gunmen stormed the government compound at least twenty people were wounded in the eight hour see that ended when the three gunmen were killed no

one has claimed responsibility yet. is a security analyst based in kabul he explains why the attackers may have targeted that building. the timing of the attack is very crucial in light of the peace process that we have had the moment it is one of those complex attacks and it is just outside what we called the green zone where the embassies the ministries of the african government and perhaps the presidential palaces located within a two kilometer radius the u.s. embassy is located perhaps less than a kilometer away this is just outside the green zone we have had these kinds of attacks in the past as well. and has been very. sort of effective in carrying out these kinds of attacks and kabul over the past two years now having a car explode and then you have your gunman go inside these locations be

a international n.g.o.s be it a government ministry we have had similar attack on one of the military hospitals that is just located four hundred meters away prone where we had this complex attack today my assumption is this could be arranged but haps supporters off the jailed former pakistani prime minister say his conviction is a black stain on the justice system no i sharif has been sentenced to seven years behind bars and a twenty five million dollars fine for corruption he plans to appeal for such a bari has more. three time prime minister nawaz sharif known as the title of pakistan is back in prison the anti-corruption court in islamabad imposed a seven year jail term for having investments beyond just the cleric assets.

he was unable to prove the source of income for the ownership of a steel mill in saudi arabia. i dug them out of a supreme and the courts are supreme for us we will abide by their judgments our leader no washer resubmitted himself to the legal process but all these proceedings are one sided sharif who denied on doing had been sentenced to ten years in prison in july by the same court on different charges they were related to the purchase of property in london he'd been freed on bail pending an appeal sharif's party last general elections in july of while he was in jail the history of august on has been that no ruler in pakistan has had ever been actually sentenced you know prior to him the pakistani politicians have always been going scot free they have always believed they will not be sentenced in any case it is not possible they can exert influence but this time i think we are living in

a different dime's people of pakistan they are going for you know it gone debility people are tired of corruption. the security around the court was tight for monday's verdict which shines on uncomfortable light on corruption at the highest levels of government in pakistan dorsetshire party al jazeera israel's government has called elections for april seven months earlier than expected the announcement follows a deadlock over a controversial military conscription bill if prime minister benjamin netanyahu is returned to office he'd be on course to become israel's longest serving leader and that's anyone who says his coalition unanimously agreed to disband the government. i think it's perfectly sensible to go to. a complete agreement. great tournament and a great partnership. well the election's been called as netanyahu faces a series of corruption allegations with the attorney general deciding whether to

file charges against him bill hoffman is chief political correspondent with the jerusalem post he says and that's on yahoo wants to get a renewed mandate from the public. minutes in the hour is going through a successful time when it comes to diplomacy security economy but a problematic time when it comes to his legal court cases and so he wants to get mandate from the voters to continue for another term continue what he's been doing successfully on those key issues while trying to make sure that he'll still be in office despite the criminal investigations against him which are intensifying minutes in the hour and donald trump are very close and any kind of peace plan that they'll be coming from donald trump is going to wait until after the election in israel oh there's been talk that would happen by the end of twenty eighteen well that's obviously not going to happen any more and now that we have an election coming up in israel now it's looking like it will happen only in the summer. and

then it will be coordinated very closely between it's and donald trump over waiting for the verdict of the attorney general he's the one of decides whether to indict the prime minister so for the police on the street prosecutions of made recommendations to the attorney general to indict the prime minister and even after there's an indictment will still be the case in court that can go on for many years so a long legal process that we have over here and meanwhile it's in now is going to continue running the country if you once the selection of the head of the united nations team sent to yemen to monitor a cease fire and hold day that has visited the key ports patrick cameron called on the saudi backed government forces and the rebels to respect the peace deal which began last tuesday there's been sporadic fighting in the area in recent days with both sides blaming the other for violating the cease fire but it's hoped more aid will be able to pass through what they the sports to help the desperate humanitarian situation. we cannot solve your problem alone

a study and. you have to do that yourselves and to listen to the all of them. and that means that we will see it we will discuss we will big obstacles but we have to move forward. now for four months there wasn't any armed appearances here in haiti the city and the workers at the united nations need that after the coalition attacked the city. how francis has urged more sharing and giving as he led late night mass at the vatican to usher in christmas. the service in st peter's basilica is one of the grandest ceremonies on the catholic church's calendar at the same time the pope's secretary of state was in iraq to celebrate christmas with the community there who are among the most religious who are among the religious minorities in the country devastated by ice.

in bethlehem and the occupied west bank pogroms are marking christmas eve earlier a procession of visitors made their way through an israeli gates in west jerusalem and into bethlehem the gate is open once a year and otherwise cut the ancient religious route stephanie decker has been among the crowds and bethlehem. where you from. where i am canada taxes hong kong. fuck off for coffee canada again god all came together. how did you find out. by a book. that i was on the bus i don't know how to find my bus i'm all right it was you can see a lot of foreigners here of course is millions of christians is celebrating christmas we are are in the ancient town of bethlehem where it'll began and people are now listening to midnight mass it is attended by the palestinian president and

many people here a lot of palestinian christians as well that have come from across the occupied west bank also parts of israel to celebrate the birth of jesus christ and basically even though it's been a very festive atmosphere i miss you here are a lot of families there is no underlying in theme here when you speak to people about these of course the message of christmas is one of peace one of joy but that is an issue that they say here has not been addressed particularly obviously because of these really patient and people will tell you that that seems to be further and further away than ever things like people taking time to get here because of checkpoints you need permissions if you live in the west bank to go to druce that all gazans christian communities also celebrating christmas a service was held for christians living there many say they have been denied travel permits by israel to visit bethlehem during the festive period. migrant children on board a rescue boat in the mediterranean sea have been celebrating christmas the spanish

charity open arms released video of children opening gifts around the traditional christmas log the vessel carrying three hundred eleven refugees and migrants rescued off the coast of libya is making its way to the spanish port of. it was refused entry by several european countries including malta and italy. still has it's on the news hour worse diet it's why the german food industry has agreed to start making healthier options plus. christmas on the moon we look at a space mission that made history in more ways than one. and in sports the n.b.a. takes over on christmas day and it's le bron james versus the golden state warriors once again.

i know that the weather has been streaming in from the pacific everyone else of north america we're seeing a lot of cloud it's all gradually working its way eastwards as it's working its way across the rockies it is breaking up a little bit but still some snow to be seen here and then the next pulse of heavy downpours is making its way a bit further south what's that will tell increasingly wintery as it makes its way over the mountains and then the whole system will sweep its way eastwards and this is going to be a real feature for all weather as we head through the next few days it's really going to intensify will see a lot of snow in the north as it sweeps its way eastward and a lot of heavy rain for the southern states as well the north we've had a string of weather front with us over the past few days has been here working its way across cuba and down towards honduras and that still really with us as we head through the next few days to the south of that is generally quite mild really quite warm and to the north it's fairly cool but if i have

a south end is going to stay very unsettled for many of us in brazil a shower is just gravy into french guyana and into syria now and then you can see that area sharri weather stretches all the way down towards rio and it stays more or less where it is even as we head through the day on wednesday to the south of all of that they should be fine and one is always a warm day with all maximum temperature getting to twenty nine. in the first episode of science in a golden age i'll be exploring the contributions made by scholars during the medieval islam and the period in the field of. professor jim. brings a blue circle passed along. this point credible almost all new real all we've done is block out the mud from a room and then allow it to come through the small old. one of science and not go into marriage. too often on the street to be

really are victims but a new force is that plain. female police officers are combative sexual assault and domestic abuse. but changing society is a challenge and so is life behind the badge for india's. on disease. hello again the top stories on the al-jazeera news hour survivors of indonesia's tsunami fear more waves of destruction could hit and with little warning as

saturday's disaster the volcano blamed for triggering the tsunami krakatoa is still erupting at least three hundred seventy three people have been killed. in the wave slammed into the coastline a u.s. delegation will be in turkey next week to discuss washington's decision to withdraw its troops from syria president donald trump has said saudi arabia will help to rebuild cities destroyed and the country at least thirty people have been killed in a car bomb and gun attack on a government building in afghanistan's capital kabul the eight hour siege ended when afghan police killed three gunmen. a partial united states government shutdown the trade war with china are having a crushing effect on u.s. stocks the market has tumbled to at historic christmas eve low but despite the crash president donald trump isn't taking any of the blame gabriel is on the reports from new york. the closing bell couldn't ring fast enough on monday market

selloff continued with the dow losing more than six hundred points and nearly three percent the worst christmas eve drop ever by far it continues to decline that's been going on for more than a month. until monday the worst drop on the day before christmas was one thousand nine hundred eighty five when it dropped half a percentage point markets hate uncertainty but now when wall street looks to washington there getting that plus unpredictability here is what has the markets worried a partial government shutdown that some are predicting could last into two thousand one thousand frets of increased terrorist back and forth between china and the u.s. trump has been looking to put the blame on the falling markets on the federal reserve and its chairman jerome powell who trump has threatened to replace even though he himself up pointed him and doesn't have the authority to fire him to unilaterally look at threats leaving wall street on edge i'm

a little worried quite honestly i am behind a year because of the valuation i think we're getting pretty t.v. although i feel no bottom in the market and i do think that the fed has made them contentious and serious. blunders and i feel like mr powell is going to get fired amidst the downturn monday trump showed no signs of backing down tweeting in part the only problem our economy has is the fed they don't have a feel for the market they don't understand unnecessary trade wars or strong dollars or even democrat shutdowns over borders just recently powell tried to put a good face on the market volatility this is the best year since the financial crisis you have growth well above trend monday's sell off was also a fallout from treasury secretary steve minutia phone calls over the weekend to executives of america's top banks which was meant to assure them that the federal

government was on solid footing but the unusual call only spooked the markets even more leaving many to wonder if there was something fundamentally wrong with the economy they weren't sharing the only good news on wall street perhaps. is that the market slide will stop at least on tuesday because that's when the stock exchange is closed for the christmas holiday but when it reopens again on wednesday all bets are off likely more worries of what's to come next gabriel is on doe al jazeera new york let's bring in robert scott who's a senior international economist at the economic policy institute he's joining us on skype from north dakota mike that's in maryland that's a hobby with us on al-jazeera thanks very much for your time so you heard and i'm sure you know that this is being described as the worst christmas eve trading drop ever what do you think is going on with the dow at least i think the dow was actually responding to some very strong negative economic fundamentals in the

economy and i think it reflects that in part the jail here is a trumpet ministration economic policy not just trade policies for save but his broader budget and taxation policies which have caused the budget deficit to skyrocket and are pushing up long term interest rates which have a much bigger effect on the markets than that just the short term rates that are being pushed up by the fed but you hear trump and in fact in his tweets his blasting the said he's describing it as the only problem for the u.s. economy so what do you make of his attacks on the fed and reports that trump has actually been discussing firing the chairman himself. well first i think there's a kernel of truth to what the what trump is saying that certainly the fed has contributed to the problem they're stepping on the brakes to hearten too fast and that is slowing the economy prematurely there are millions of people out there who could still go to work who needed jobs so we could continue this long run of growth

that we've had for the last ten years or so so that's true but first of all i don't think that's all that's going on as i said the tax and budget problems are a big problem i think the trump is looking looking at first somebody other than himself that he can blame for the problems in the economy are you surprised that that call that was held between some of the biggest banks and regulators and the treasury secretary stevenson didn't do much in fact that rattled the markets even more. i think because it was incredibly amateurish and it will advised i think it was an attempt to artificially reassure the markets and to somehow. call a plan to put an end to the downfall markets are somewhat irrational once these kinds of downturns start they often snowball sometimes they are forecasting a real downturn in the economy and i think that may well be going on now i expect a recession in the next one to two years as

a result of the failed economic policies of trump ministration sometimes other markets over react in and collapse and it doesn't mean anything they recover in the next six months or years so it's hard to say what the downturn in markets means i think you really have to look at the fundamentals and appointments do look bad at this point robert scott we'll leave it there we thank you very much for joining us on al-jazeera. thank you and now north korea has been ordered to pay five hundred one million dollars for the torture and death and american students also on being a died last year after finally being released or a prison in north korea he was arrested in twenty sixteen before eventually being returned to the united states but died a few days later a u.s. court ruled pyongyang is liable for his death and should pay damages to one day's family so don's president has promised economic reforms to provide a better standard of living in his first public comments since protests began six

days ago ahmed and bashir also warned the public not to respond to attempts to sow discord in the country at least twelve people have been killed during the protests which were triggered by rising prices a few food and fuel the crowds want presidents fresh air to end his twenty nine year rule have a morgan has more from khartoum. process in sudan may have started because of a qana me and the rising prices of commodities in the markets but we've also heard people chanting different slogans like new government down with the government they basically have been saying that they want the government to step down and they're asking for a new government partly because they feel like they've been neglected and that the way the country has been run is not the way they wanted to go want to so we can see that is the health sector where people have been saying that it's very hard for them to get access to decent healthcare and medicines how they get the need them getting a diagnosis is expensive medicines are expensive and citizens are suffering living is expensive food is expensive so when you get sick you are at your weakest your

worst you have to go to private hospitals because government hospitals have nothing to offer. ways. people are suffering while the government officials and people from the ruling party are benefiting they get treatment in india in europe in the best hospitals. they don't go to the government hospitals like the rest of the people. some of them are saying because of the inflation and because of the way the health industry is being run they can't afford decent health care they can't afford the medicines they want and especially because prices in the market has been high prices of medicines have been going up high it's been nearly a week of protests more than a dozen people have been killed even more have been injured and even more have been imprisoned people are still going out to the streets people saying are saying that they are not going to stop to do the doctors had issued a statement saying that they wanted to go out on strike that hasn't happened but what they also said that is that they want people to join them profession thermal servants to join them in a march tomorrow so that they can tell the government that they are already

frustrated with the way things are being run and that they want to see change and they want to see it sooner rather than later after years of instability kenya's economic prospects are looking up but more than forty percent of the people still live below the poverty line and many of them including children have to survive on the streets. charities and nairobi who are stepping in to help when the government falls short. for kenyans living on the streets celebrating the holidays is probably the last thing on their minds. nearly half the country's population lives below the poverty line. and young people trying to survive are often the most vulnerable to abuse crime drug addiction and police harassment. in nairobi skyscrapers are set against slums that are home to millions of people. david's life on the capital streets began eighteen years ago when he was twelve he says it's a fight for survival and. i ran away from school because of the horrible teachers

who beat us all the time i gave up and came to the streets that's where i have been ever since. after years of political unrest kenya's economic outlook is said to be brighter the latest government figures suggest poverty is down but they might not tell the whole story volunteers working with underprivileged communities say that from their vantage point. the reality on the ground looks very different and that the number of kenyans who are homeless kids and adults might actually be going up. economic migration from rural areas a rising cost of living and overall lack of opportunities aid groups say these kinds of things mean entire families are ending up on the streets and a new generation of kenyans is being born into poverty. some attempts are being made to improve literacy among children. the idea is with their heads in books their minds may not stray to drugs and crime it's the kind of learning space that can make a difference. just used to beg on the streets now he's

a model student with hidden talents and an ambition to be a doctor in school. they pushed me. when he started his day job as a school principal clifford all watch runs a rescue shelter. getting kids off streets putting food in their stomachs and a roof over their heads trying to get them back to school. can do is to make them believe in themselves. even in the streets where twenty is you know so the only. way you can sleep. you know wanted to come here is a place where you can feel. accepted and feel you know dignified human being. the government is trying to improve the situation but charities and volunteers say

the scale of kenya's homeless problem is overwhelming for now it's time to leave those troubles at the door and come together a lot says to have fun and celebrate the festivities as a family. nairobi. a funeral has been held for a seventy year old guatemalan girl who died in u.s. custody after crossing the mexican border. traveled with her father a spart of a so-called caravan of asylum seekers the two handed themselves into u.s. border patrol agents but he says she soon fell ill and was denied adequate medical attention she's been buried in her hometown the u.n. has called for washington to investigate her death there's been an unusually high level of seismic activity at the italian volcano mount etna lava and ash have been spewing from a new fracture in observers have recorded more than one hundred tremors hikers were ordered down from the mountain for their safety is one of the world's most active

volcanoes but it's been more unstable since july and germany's food industry has agreed to become less the licious at least that's what some germans believe will happen to the cuisine after drastic cuts and sugar salt and fat and processed foods but public health advocates welcome the move dominic kane reports from berlin christmas in germany means markets with mold wine and many different things to eat is a good. thing perhaps a part forced is the order of the day or maybe something sweeter in any event for these people the emphasis is on enjoying the rich flavor of german food. german food is great you can't eat it every day but it's christmas so why not just sent it selfishly on you know there's a lot of variety in german cuisine you can eat healthily or unhealthily but you have a lot to choose from you have much more standards for your food than that we do in

america so i'd say i mean you're more focused on healthy healthier things out there and yet clearly the.