this region of iraqi tweeted after the turkish assault started that day a present some please know the people of kurdistan have always pursued their just rights he said the peshmerga have defeated isis and are an effective part of the coalition against terror the blood of the kurds is far more valuable than money and weapons and of course one of the concerns here is one of the is from one of the warnings being given by the s.d. at that in the chaos of the fighting in northeast and syria then there is a risk that i saw prisoners about 2000 of them in and in kurdish to $10000.00 detention centers in northeastern iraq there's a risk they called it break out there's a fear that some of them may be able to cross the border into iraq and that is one of the fears of the s.d.f. has been warning its international. audiences about this risk of fighters escaping so close to the burnet of course we'll follow events with you from northern iraq as well well the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has also

been commenting about the turkish operation in the past few hours that's cross over to step vasant joins me now from moscow we were waiting for russia to speak they did speak of course on wednesday quite late on but what has lavrov been saying today. well the foreign minister has been talking from turkmenistan and he's been urging and also offering to organize a dialogue between turkey and syria and of course russia would be well placed to do this kind of dialogue because of course it has a big a close relationship with the syrian government has been fighting on the syrian side during the war in syria and also has this close economic and military partnership with turkey and this personal relationship within an hour to one has but the question of course is what such a dialogue would mean for the kurds because at the same time the foreign minister

has also said that russia has always from the beginning understood turkey's security concerns at its border and also has urged the kurds basically to reach out to the syrian government pressured of course now by this military offensive and also because the united states has left them it seems that the courts might not have any other option than to go together with the syrian government which would be beneficial for the russians so to say because then their influence in syria would only increase and even if. there is a big if if if this turkish offensive is going to be limited this could mean that of course then for russia this influence would only be bigger because the territory is bigger and they would have a bigger say about the future of syria after this war is finished but there is this big if because of course we don't know how much britain can trust no one to keep this operation limited and of course. it's

a 2 pronged issue for russia because historically they have been allies of the kurds but when the kurds that were aligned themselves with the u.s. russia got very annoyed about it yet russia is now saying has it not now last 24 hours that we'd like the kurds to talk to damascus try and bring the kurds into the sphere of. the syrian regime and that in itself is a difficult task for russia and a difficult acceptance perhaps from the kurds in the midst of what is no initial conflict with turkey. yeah and of course it all happens under the pressure of a military operation and that's why the timing of course for the russians to ask for the kurds to go together with the syrian government is very crucial because maybe the courts don't have any other option and that's exactly what the russians

know for russia it's very important and that's what they always been saying that the territorial integrity of syria remains intact as it was before the war so if the courts and the syrian government would make this this bond which seems to be unlikely but who knows then of course the territory russia is controlling with would increase and they all now a blame it on the united states that the situation got out of hand by by leaving the currents of course so russia is very much making use of disarray to ation and s. as many commentators have saying have been saying that this u.s. pullout is seen as a kind of present to the russians. for that update thanks steph of course we'll continue to listen out for reaction from moscow in the coming hours step in there in the russian capital plenty more ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour including . by obstructing justice usually comply with international inquiry he's already

convicted ships. former vice president joe biden calls for donald trump's impeachment saying the u.s. president has betrayed the nation. also how the n.b.a. is struggling to repair relations with its biggest overseas market and what its problems mean for other western businesses in china. as a typhoon bears down on japan the rugby world cup organizers are forced to cancel 2 matches on safety grounds we'll have those details in sport. ukraine's president says he's willing to cooperate with the u.s. on an investigation into interference in the 2016 presidential election his comments come as joe biden became the latest democratic presidential candidate to call as we just mentioned for donald trump's impeachment speaking at a rally in new hampshire he said trump has abused the powers of his office to help

his own reelection democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry of a claims that trump pressured ukraine's lot amir's olinsky to investigate biden and his son. he's already convicted himself. in full view of the world and the american people. don't trump is violated his oath of office betrayed this nation and committed impeachable acts. you know thank you thank you to preserve our constitution our democracy our basic integrity he should be impeached. well official joins us now from our new center in washington d.c. and alan lots of moving parts way to this story i mean where are we in terms of the impeachment process and really its investigation. well we know that there are more

subpoenas coming in the next week donald thomas former advisor on russian affairs is going to be one of those will be giving evidence in the next few days there's a new pull out and it is surprising because it comes from fox news which tends to be donald trump's channel of choice here in the united states and that poor says that there is a majority of people 51 percent who believe the donald trump should be impeached and removed from office now been digging into some of the detail that you get in these polls what is interesting is that 43 percent said the call with the ukrainian president was inappropriate 66 percent say that his request to investigate the bidens was not appropriate the problem he has got as well is that the calls for impeachment is hitting people who were at his constituency in the last election so white evangelical christians the call for impeachment up by 5 percent for men

without college degrees up by 8 percent and for rural whites white people who live in rural areas up by 10 percent if there is a bright spot for donald trump in all of this it is that there is not yet a critical mass of republicans who are calling for his impeachment and his removal from office so that gives republican senators a bit of electoral coverage but there are 16 republican attorneys including people who served in previous republican administrations who've signed a letter saying that donald trump has essentially broken his orthe of office by his conduct over the calls to the ukrainian president just one of them is don years who served as the deputy attorney general under george h.w. bush and let me just read what he said he said i am disgusted by the conduct of republican senators who pose as reputable people but shamus lee hide under rocks instead of calling out the president's horrendous behavior as the gross misconduct

that they know it to be. now one of those 16 people who signed this is a man by the name of george conway for those of you who don't live in washington and inside the washington bubble that might not mean much to you but george conway is muddied to kellyanne conway who of course is one of donald trump's closest advisors wolf thanks very much alan let's join the he's a professor of law at drexel university joins me now from philadelphia good to have you with us live on al-jazeera so i mean american law in the process of impeachment is a complex matter that many of sort of the international community might find difficult to follow while we sort of hear of subpoenas and refusals to attend hearings what should we be looking out for in terms of a turning point in the story as an international view well thank you for having me at the outset the 1st thing to note is that their congress has pretty broad power both in the ordinary oversight context and

certainly once the impeachment process is triggered to seek documents and testimony from officials the presidency is interpreted in that authority pretty narrowly and has been for a long time going beyond the most immediate circumstances and the letter that was sent from the white house so there's a broader institutional tug of war between the presidency and congress here that is implicated. and you know in terms of what follows from the failure to comply you know it certainly is the case that in the ordinary context of oversight congress has mechanisms that it can use to try and could jol the executive officials to provide documents and testimony those tend to be slow they tend to require for example cooperation of federal prosecutors to prosecute a contempt citation or going to court directly to get an order complaint compelling the production of the documents and witnesses in this instance the. the house is

working up a timetable that they have set for themselves that they don't want this to drag out so long so i think that the most likely scenario is that the failure to comply it might go to court in some fashion but more importantly the house may choose to put these in articles impeachment directly as another basis for the impeachment either observers in or of the secretary of state or the attorney general so you basically say that we should wait for the how to actually come up with. a clear definition that they need to go to call till they need to go somewhere else to trying get the authorities to comply with their requests for documentation all for evidence. well they could go to court that's a process that can take a very long time and at the end of it there's no guarantee that the executive officials will comply at that point i mean they're going they could face the

prospect of contempt of court if they don't comply and there is an order but that's going to take many many months if not longer the more likely scenario is that the house i mean in this situation there is plenty of evidence in the public record to support the articles of impeachment that the house might bring and i think that the letter that the white house counsel sent seems to be an implicit acknowledgement that they think impeachment is inevitable and they're going to fight this out in public opinion in the senate if it if it once the articles of impeachment are sent to the senate for trial which would be the next stage of an impeachment process. in consideration of removal sure i don't think that going to court really gives them much more than they already have and it might well be that what they'll do instead which was a precedent from the nixon impeachment the 1st article of impeachment against richard nixon was impeding in obstructing the impeachment investigation itself in

various ways by not providing testimony or documents by encouraging by making false statements himself by encouraging others to do so so i think that what we will look for is that that's more likely to be the case you know than once that the house is at the point of framing articles of impeachment there will be a question of how much or how little will it include but if this may well be part of what ends up in that set of charges if they do moneys then to frame up this document to such that what do you make of the republicans come in and sort of demanding an impeachment inquiry vote in the house they are they hoping that they can try and costly that at the house level do they have the numbers to do that. well they don't have the numbers i don't think at this point to kwacha that at the house in the house the democrats have a strong majority in the house and i think a majority of house members are already on record in support of the impeachment inquiry and there's nothing that requires as a matter of the constitution for a formal resolution authorizing an impeachment inquiry the house has all of the power it needs under its standing rules to conduct the kind of investigation that

it is conducting in pursuit of its powers now in the past there have been formal impeachment resolutions are you know authorizing investigation by certain communities but usually the judiciary committee. setting forth the parameters for how that investigation and inquiry will take place and if they thought there were some reason why the ordinary standing rules of the house required that they could certainly do that there might be practical reasons why they would choose to do that but the flip side again is time and i imagine that what the republicans are trying to do is number one slow things down and over to just then it would require some amount of debate on the house floor and that would be an opportunity for the president's loyalists in congress to come step forward and music you know statements in a visible setting in support in opposition to impeachment which is they want to soften for the moment thanks for joining us from philadelphia. now apple has removed and used by protesters in hong kong to try to police movements it's no

longer available that apple's online stole following condemnation from china's government says the app was used in ways that endangered people and law enforcement in home colo china's government has also succeeded in getting up and to remove the taiwan flag in moji for use in hong kong and macau 2 major league u.s. basketball teams are playing in shanghai despite a t.v. blackout by chinese broadcasters china is still furious about a tweet by n.b.a. team manager donald moray in which he supported protests no go rob matheson reports from shanghai. this is a river in shanghai is the venue for the l.a. lakers against the brooklyn nets the brooklyn nets are owned by a chinese billionaire this is a big match for china not least because it's an n.b.a. pre-season game but it's not being televised this area that you can see to the right of me here is empty it usually is packed full of stalls selling merchandise

but there's nothing there there have been no press conferences there have been no public meetings with the teams in fact there's been nothing what there is tonight are a lot of chinese basketball fans who are very angry very angry about a 7 word tweet that was put out a few days ago by the general manager of the houston rockets since support of the protests in hong kong. mari is a troublemaker he causes huge trouble and i hope he will apologize for this this is a little overawed if you are here he stupid to make that comment that has hurt the feelings of chinese fans and the reputation of n.b.a. themselves the fallout here in china from that tweet has been significant very large chinese firms have been severing their links with the n.b.a. adam silver who's the commissioner of the n.b.a. is in shanghai tonight to watch this much earlier on in the week he said that he

supported darryl mores right to freedom of speech while he's in shanghai is going to have a problem on his hands he has to try to salvage at least some of those deals with chinese firms that are worth billions of dollars it was a historic day for women in iran for the 1st time they'll be allowed to attend a football game and thousands are at the stadium in town right now let's head straight over to zain the in the capital really that the clock is ticking down to a moment that many will hopefully enjoy. that's exactly right so while we're here at the football stadium into iran it's the 1st time that women in iran have been able to purchase tickets on their own buy them online and enter the stadiums to watch a live game i think we just heard the game the kickoff get underway to my right is the men's entrance men have been coming in on their own to my left is the women's entrance and we've been listening to them for about an hour we've been hearing them

cheering we've heard the food sellers and i have to say even though the number is relatively small in comparison to the 80000 capacity of the stadium was only 35024000 women that have been allowed to attend that side of the stadium is much louder. well for the moment we look forward to that countdown and join you later in the program saying thanks well it's time for the weather and an update on the super typhoon rob looking good never spoke to sports from football to rugby and indeed for the grand prix the things that miles away hundreds thousands of miles away if you like but it's going to stink as far as big as it can get it couldn't a category 5 hurricane if you are in the atlantic so which is called a typhoon because it's in the pacific the winds are a steady $260.00 gusting 315 kilometers. yeah the ways 80 meters now its course takes it over the top for turkey has been a fairly steady forecast for a couple of days now it is going to be weak it's about time it gets to japan it

will not be the critical $35.00 but it could still be a one or 2 which makes it pretty vicious storm of the tougher metropolis like turkey or the rain shows up on friday and people who think we're just a bit wet that it rains more heavily on saturday that this is daytime the chances are that the heart of the storm the odds to one won't go over tokyo itself into something like 9 10 o'clock in the evening but you'll feel the increasing force of wind and rain for happens which is why if things are being closed down much has been canceled by summing it to sunday it's out of the way and whatever damage has been done will be assessed the rain hasn't yet gone that still there nor the harm she was you can see it does it through quite quickly which is a saving grace so. thanks rob well still ahead helmet use off after a year of scandal the $2800.00 nobel prize for literature is finally a water. water is at the center of a 30 year old border dispute in central asia we take

a look at time could be resolved very soon. will find out one diario song just gave up us citizenship. of more school. what are you protesting about how does this include whether on line life basements will see us directly out of translating slavery or if you join us on sat this is an attack on academic freedom and on our ability to do research and teach freely this is a dialogue myanmar's not making it very welcoming for people to come back everyone has a voice climate change is real the discussion is real and i'm here to talk about the solutions on al-jazeera.

al-jazeera. where every. welcome back you're watching the al-jazeera news are with me so the reminder of our top stories the turkish president has been defending his country's military offensive in northeastern syria he says the operation will target strictly what he describes as terrorist groups his remarks come as turkish forces press their

military offensive in northern syria for a 2nd day there have been strikes and artillery fire along a broad front and turkish forces have crossed into syria through at least 3 entry points. meanwhile kurdish forces say they've repelled turkish ground attacks there also warning of a humanitarian crisis as thousands of residents begin to flee the area. the u.s. president has once again defended his decision to withdraw american troops from syria he rejected the idea that washington abandoned its kurdish allies saying the kurds have not always supported america now the courage of fighting for their land just so you understand they're fighting for their land and as somebody wrote in a very very powerful article today they didn't help us in the 2nd world war they didn't help us with no normandy as an example they mention names of different battles they were there but they're there to help us with their land and that's a different thing in addition to that we we have spent tremendous amounts of money

. on helping the kurds in terms of ammunition in terms of weapons in terms of money in terms of pay with all of that being said we like the kurds let's cross over to complete health care to in washington d.c. interesting comments that made by president trump but he's also playing really around with comments made by is own party and there's real talk of division that we've been talking about of the last few days. indeed in fact the reason i was distracted as you introduced me there is donald trump tweeted in just last few moments so i was just digesting what he had to say with regard to turkey and once again the u.s. president is defending his statements with regard to arguing that well the united states recognizes that the kurdish fighters in sirte in syria that fight alongside the united states have been very reliable ally he makes the point that the kurdish fighters have their own interests and that is the land and that's something that

the u.s. president is talking about these 2 tweets that have just passed over but the other thing i want to draw your attention to the tweet here let's read it together turkey has been planning to attack the kurds for a long time they have been fighting forever we have no soldiers or military anywhere near the attack area trying to end the endless wars the president talking about that sort of neo conservative argument that seems to sort of underscore the perpetual military industrial complex talking to both sides some want us to send tens of thousands of soldiers to the area and start a new war all over again turkey is a member of nato others say stay out let the kurds fight their own battles even with our financial help i say hit turkey very hard financially and with sanctions if they don't play by the rules i'm watching very closely i think what we can get there from the u.s. president is he's defending his 2016 campaign promise he's trying to make good on withdrawing the united states from endless wars but notable in the last part of

that 2nd tweet there is the support for sanctions initially the president seemed to be dragging his heels on that that was introduced in the u.s. senate could be taken up next week would punish turkey's leadership target their assets would also restrict u.s. visas for leadership into the united states there was already knowledge that this would be veto proof that means the president could stop it now it appears that the president may be watching very carefully even supportive of that legislation if in his view and. in his words as he spoke late on wednesday evening turkey does anything he believes to be inhumane can be thanks the update of course so we'll follow events with us through the day there from washington d.c. it's a dos certainly let's join fabrice he's the chief strategy officer at the russ misson global center and former director of policy planning at nato joins me now from suntanned in spain good to have you with us on the program sir nato really do have a lot to think about in terms of what turkey have done turkey themselves being as

we've said a nato member their response has been turkey's response must be measured in its actions is that the right tone to use in terms of because some may think that it's a little soft. well the reality is nato cannot do much about what's one of peace key members easily not syria. days in law is crucial only guineas a service from presidency demands i don't feel we need your support for certain issues you saw a lot of us from commenting but then surely continuing the turkish action nato kind of works as an organization the u.s. was the new we've essentially just circle of course and the europeans as well but

need to as an organization. has their hands. back and the reality is the more you need to. do more than 130 hour or more turkey to get girls or 2 to russia so we also have a big market the game of isolating turkey even who are see the turkish actions raising not our concerns and with this is a day that is the difficulty of their sort of telling turkey off but not actually making sure that they you might say walk away from the group so what sort of stresses and strains will be on the leadership of nato behind closed doors as as they watch one of their own allies sort of go it alone and launch an operation of what is legally still a sovereign state to be it a fractured syria. there is not much of unit leaders or critics who are going to do and say that there are grave concerns that there is going to be

a leaders summit hosted by nato in december i'm not and this is not the time to to visit the divide be alliance and bend over backwards i don't think it can be actions saw and look at the union which i can see as much greater leverage financial leverage or her turkey and the reality is turkey is also a black mini europe and. then once it is monic you e.u. is giving us a hard time we're more than happy to send. you know hosting to your op so and i mean this is the calm and west as a whole is basically what's turkey and have been sadly a possible a teeny kurdish militia i don't think we're going to need. nato has always been a force historically that to try and you might say protect and certainly implements

in some cases u.n. resolutions to protect the masses of the public at large and in various conflicts and and tension zones if turkey continues on this path is there a real worry that iva turkey will walk away from nato that nato will kick it out i mean that has put 6 train thought. yeah i mean to get to u.n. resolution year after the 5 permanent security council members so watching it and i don't see russia doing that i mean actually the one we are is flown much as that would be who had to sense to president obama. or fantasy in northeastern syria and i don't see why russia turkey which is now actually critically girls are so sadly you are right it's the u.n. who are who are the responsibility to protect it could need some action but it's

going to be such that they're going to. be interesting to see what does happen for the moment for party thanks so much for joining us from santander thank you very telling. the week long anger in ecuador the doubling of petrol prices shows no sign of easing a nationwide strike has been held and anti-government demonstrators again 4th with riot police present then will reign there has imposed a state of emergency and move the government from the capital quito to the coastal city of quick heal our latin america editor lucien newman is that. on day 7 of nationwide demonstrations against governmental sturdy measures a nationwide strike paralyzed much of the country as mass protests continued especially in the ecuadorian capital was in quite a key but the president has set up a temporary seat of government a smaller but noisy group of demonstrators held peaceful barges of their own rather

riot police and soldiers trying to keep these anti-government demonstrators away from another group that's demonstrating the fruit not here the president many in what it has actually lived to crikey lyn gunter they have been have been the leading women did in this leaders to try to negotiate a settlement for the 1st time since the crisis this country has had and over a decade. preliminary talks with indigenous and trade union leaders are being mediated by the united nations and the catholic church but so far there's no sign of an agreement. the president is talking of dialogue but he stubbornly says i want repeal the measure is what kind of dialogue is that. but the government is under increasing pressure to make concessions. he has to revoke the measures because the ability to govern ecuador is compromise he can't govern under these circumstances

with the people out on the streets he has no more political capital some are asking for his resignation so his options are limited. opponents of the indigenous led strike held a march of their own in saying they wanted peace. joined police on the streets to disperse anti-government protesters and in what is being interpreted as a show of support for the government the armed forces announced that any quote consequences of their actions would be the sole responsibility of those who they say are generating social unrest. human rights monitors from the united nations and the organization of american states have expressed concern over what they call excessive use of force against demonstrators and the media as the actual number of arrests surpasses 700 you see in human al-jazeera. indonesia's security minister is in hospital with stab wounds after what police say

was an attack inspired by i saw doctors say minister around dose of a to deep wounds to his stomach but is in a stable condition the alleged assailant and accomplice were arrested out to attack in the town of pend allowing the police officer and 2 others were also injured a 30 year old dispute over water supplies in central asia looks to be a step closer to being resolved a land swap deals been agreed by his backers down to kurdistan from the 4 ghana valley where her abdul hamid has the story. it's gotten picking season here on the edge of the figure and a valley the crop is good this year but it's not what it used to be and it's not because water is scarce here in kyrgyzstan but because in some parts.