in the two thousand or so u.s. troops back from syria and that's really the key question here is the fate of those u.s. boots on the ground in syria donald trump has made it fairly clear that he wants to bring them back but that has had consequences he's gone against advice from his own generals in fact his secretary of defense at the time jim artist resigned over that and other global policy issues his own generals are still saying it's not a good idea let's not take any rash action here and then within the last couple of weeks his own party the republican party served him up a pretty harsh rebuke when they disagreed with his wish to bring those two thousand troops back from syria so what we've had since december since i made that surprise announcement that he was going to withdraw those troops is the president swinging backwards and forwards saying he may bring them back immediately he may bring the back in the next few months we can get back there if we need to or we're just going to keep them there for now so it's a very confusing situation the overall sense is that as commander in chief he does

want to withdraw those forces one big newspaper here on friday reported that that will happen sometime in march perhaps into april but of course the u.s. administration the terms of ministration will not give a timetable for any potential withdrawal for security reasons but it does seem that the push from donald trump to withdraw those troops is something that will happen and there's a worry from his generals that will create a power vacuum that there is no plan on the ground to back up u.s. allies in syria and as yet that timetable hasn't been released and we don't know for sure whether dawn from will do it or not so a lot of things are in the air at the moment but the overwhelming sense is that donald trump wants to bring those troops back as soon as possible out of there is and to get together in washington d.c. thank you. joshua landis is director of the university of oklahoma center for middle east studies he says there are still plenty of ice for foreign fighters throughout syria and iraq. president trump has been very clear to say that this is

to kill off it that is being destroyed not isis the terrorist group which will continue to survive and as we know isis members have fled to yemen to libya nigeria they're there they're scattered about the middle east but of course this is the we believe there are several thousand left scattered around iraq in syria and many of them are foreign fighters because the arab in iraq e fighters have been able to sort of slip away into the night and blend into the general population the foreign fighters have not their money as is has been whittled down their heavy weapons have been destroyed but there are there are likely caches around that we've seen in iraq. that there are you know usually over five six bombs suicide bombings and other i.e.d. s. that are that are go off every week so this you know this is going to be an ongoing

battle and it's going to be very important that a local military and police can continue to to try to fight against them that there's not chaos following the american withdrawal well and makeshift camps near the tac a sport that many internally displaced syrians a burning plastic trying to stay warm in freezing temperatures as the u.n. says at least fifteen children have died due to a lack of medical care in camps across the country and it's warning more deaths likely while the political crisis rocking venezuela has turned into a standoff over a consignment of u.s. aid which is sitting on the colombian side of the border the opposition is trying to work out how to get it into the country after it with built by the venezuelan military to raise it by reports from caracas. yankees go home is the message of this gathering in. these are supporters of president.

who want to reassure the world that there are precedents won't be leaving office any time soon. and our revolution is here to stay twenty years of unique process in latin america we are going to be again the latest of a movement that will take freedom to other countries in the world the rally is happening as the united states and canada are getting wedded to sending humanitarian aid in cooperation with a self declared president one. aide is perceived here as a form of intervention people here say that the confrontation is not with the opposition but with a united states who is trying to take control of this country's natural resources and that's why they have come here to this club to sign a document that request the united states to respect venezuela sovereignty but one of the largest barriers in latin america but totally said says people need almost everything all her family has already left the country she says hyperinflation

makes it difficult for her to eat every day the resoled saw no water gas or health clinic where she lives an example of the enormous deterioration that has taken over venezuela's capital. of them we're here since died the situation got worse and worse now it's horrible i cannot say i'm going to buy chicken because i can't afford it i live on pension of six dollars a month and that's why people like the border i waiting for any assistance they may get not caring where it comes from the u.s. is already sending food and medicines to the border but how it makes it into the country remains to be seen international organizations fear the consequences of using humanitarian aid politically funking should wish when on the humanitarian aid . and this is the reason why i have decided to come as soon as possible just two days ago i arrived here in trying to fix and to ask to both sides to clean the table from these useless discussion. because there isn't

a grease gun in politicizing the humanitarian aid we want to use our humanitarian china without any involvement in the got to be done because there's we should call a political not a humanitarian humanitarian because the new drive by definition. in a country as polarized as venezuela neutrality is difficult to find. and that's why assistance from abroad is being used by both sides for the government it's the evidence it's under attack for the opposition the possibility of showing it can bring some type of relief to people's lives. i just got i guess it appears that donald trump will not take any action against saudi officials for the murder of jamal khashoggi but one of his kid visors has suggested there will be consequences the deadlines passed for the u.s. president to tell congress whether he'll impose sanctions on saudi government

officials michael mccall the top republican in the house foreign affairs committee has joined democrats in criticizing trump saying he's deeply troubled over the failure to send a report on his killing under legislation called the make it ski act trump had one hundred twenty days to outline any action. thousands of anti-government protesters are calling for haitian president to resign the capital port au prince has seen days of violent rallies leaving at least two people dead demonstrators accuse government leaders of being involved in a corruption scandal they want noise to step down from investigating the allegations one of the. president and all of his cabinet must resign and he's not thinking or acting in the interest of the people who got it one way or another we want him gone that's what it is the weather is next and then. we kept the history behind of racism scandal that the need is at the u.s. state. a year on the house some of the gloss has gone from the home of south

korea's winter olympics. hello we've still got some more disturbed weather into central parts of china into the south of the country is the set of brought weather and some decent spells of sunshine so hong kong gets up to twenty three celsius on sunday but some places the snows showing there have for sunday sinking further southwards we'll see temperatures in shanghai around seven celsius that's an improvement but we are going to see that wet weather and that wintry weather just coming in across a good part of central china the southeast on the other hand staying settled and sunny twenty four celsius the hong kong settle in saudi today across much of the philippines much as to southern parts want to choose to into

a good part of malaysia indonesia seeing some larger shells from time to time. singapore coquette she got the to the day thirty two celsius in singapore not looking too bad cops chance of with a wet weather just nothing further north as we go through monday will be settled at essentially sunny thirty two. celsius here in bangkok want to try weather to across south asia so the chance of wanted to shout into the south of india and to do went to carol and maybe the into thing to be few and far between a little more cloud up towards a far north of the country but to recover in new delhi. the weather sponsored by catalona is. desperate for more we've heard news about hilton's babies person you want to take a week or two off he said i need to work i need the money part of it i think it's humiliating because i thought i'd be somewhere else in my life in a matt risking it all down. how to log arrangements.

for a better future are we saying yes to the house do you want to sleep on things. on al-jazeera. welcome back. a reminder of our top stories this hour the u.s. backed syrian democratic forces say they've begun their final battle to push the last pockets of territory more than twenty thousand people have been moved to nearby camps. the political crisis in venezuela has turned into a deadlock over a consignment of u.s.

aid sitting on the colombian side of the border the opposition is trying to work out how to get it into the country. thousands of anti-government protesters are calling for haitian president to resign accusing him of being involved in corruption at least two people have died in the capital port au prince where rallies became violent. turkey has condemned china's treatment of its muslim minority saying it's a great cause of shame for humanity about a million we believed to be held in camps against their will the turkish foreign ministry wants to respect their human rights and shut down what it calls concentration camps beijing says the camps are voluntary designed to stamp out extremist tendencies. ethnic muslims and their languages related to takesh. egyptian president. is set to chair the african union at its annual summit which begins in ethiopia on sunday and amnesty international fears this could undermine

the organization its commitment to human rights the organization has expressed concern over the potential impact chairmanship could have on the independence of regional human rights mechanisms and their future engagement with civil society and a state goes on to list violations it says were carried out by egyptian authorities including enforced disappearances and mass killings during a wave of demonstrations in twenty thirteen that year the african union also suspended egypt's membership when sisi led the military coup against the democratically elected president mohamed morsi toughing hawk-eye is a social and political commentator he says president faces a leadership will prove to be damaging ultimately the choice of having sisi as the leader of the e.u. is a clear indication that although things have changed. although things are supposedly changing the fact is we are. being very rich aggressive we are actually very bad

to be the eighty's ninety's type of situation with. their leaders are very reluctant to allow more human rights to be available to to the people and i think importantly in the fact that sisi virtually rigged an election won it by ninety seven ninety eight percent. tells you a lot about how the a you will most likely respond to any electoral issues when you political issues are all and elections are on the continent and i think this is going to be a very bad year for africa in terms of moving forward. well this year's african union summit is expected to focus largely on refugees and internally displaced persons malcolm webb reports from alice about that in ethiopia. i share a sunni was thirteen years old when she says government forces attacked her village

in sudan seven years on things have picked up she plays volleyball every week at this center for refugees in ethiopia's capital addis ababa that's where she fled with her family we have almost three months since separating was only just working on makes. to live in the people die. it one more to two months. and i'm going to. move refugees here from nearly twenty countries the center also provides them with child care and language classes. the people here are among more than twenty million in africa who fled oppression and conflicts but they are luckier than most they've made it to the city they can benefit from the facilities here at this center many more a stock in camps. conditions are usually poor the south sudanese refugees in uganda

say humanitarian aid is not enough africa has more refugees and internally displaced people than any other continent african leaders say they're going to do something about it as they meet for the african union's annual summit in addis ababa refugees and displaced people is the theme for the year ahead. there used political affairs commissioner says it'll work to prevent the causes of displacement. do you violet you mind the right of your people and we will talk to you say to you what do you are doing is not good you should visit your leaders are also expected to talk about efforts to reform the african union but observers are wondering if other pressing issues will be addressed such as the recent protests and government crackdowns in sudan and zimbabwe i believe this can not be talking about best cheese without discussing why people love being forced to

flee from death to choose their responsible for the oppression and the conflict. back at the center for refugees these men from eritrea sing songs from home. people here are getting by many more who were displaced across the continent on not. will take more than a new theme the african union to change that. malcolm webb al-jazeera. ethiopia. the us democratic party senator elizabeth warren has officially begun had twenty twenty white house bid she made the announcement at the home state of massachusetts her campaign is centered on workers' rights fair wages and why the access to health care warren who first emerged as a consumer activist during the financial crisis as one of her party's most recognizable figures. the democrats meanwhile are in crisis in the state of

virginia where the governor is defying calls to resign over a racism scandal ralph more than initially apologized after an old photograph emerged showing a picture of two men one in black face another dressed in a coup klux klan costume has since denied he was in the picture but admits to wearing blackface at another college party nor the most potential successor a fellow democrat has been accused of sexual assault castro reports from the from virginia state capital and. the turmoil engulfing virginia's president has roots in the state's racist past a century and a half ago as virginia led fellow slave owning states into the american civil war white actors painted their faces black to walk and humiliate enslaved blacks the war ended slavery but not blackface but john was most popular character jim crow became the symbol of racial segregation that continued into the one nine hundred

fifty s. and now these photos tied to virginia's current political leaders connect that racism to the present there's always necessarily been a belief that black people were inferior to justify slavery and segregation and sue and sue i don't want to say excuse but explain why they are lower in society in terms of income and education and so when you put on black face you're essentially making a caricature of someone that you think is lesser than you governor ralph northam continues to resist calls to resign he's wavered on whether it's him in the photo from his college yearbook but says he did wear black face on another occasion i look back now and regret that i did not understand the harmful legacy of an action like that virginia's attorney general admitted this week he also wore black face in the eighty's in the. senate majority leader edited a college yearbook with these photos of fellow virginia military institute students

to nightmare a nightmare of virginia right now we needed to and two of the three leaders in the black face scandal are democrats having campaigned on racial equality to win votes in a state that was recently a republican stronghold now the democrats' rise in virginia is in jeopardy and the party's national efforts to draw a contrast with the race politics of donald trump is damage. that but the fight and protect the party but the democrats troubles in virginia go beyond race just as lieutenant governor just in fairfax seemed poised to replace the embattled governor two women including this college professor came forward to accuse fairfax of sexual assault there facts denies the allegations does anybody think it's any coincidence that on the eve of potentially being elevated that's

when this uncorroborated smear comes out does anybody believe that's a coincidence coincidence or not the cascading scandals have thrown virginia into political chaos it's unclear who will lead the state once this is all over or if the social troubles one thought to be confined to history will.