and they came up with a deal that is symptomatic of the general situation both north syria in the last 34 years but also of u.s. policy and syria and the region iraq and other places in other words they've come up with a very short term. but nice looking agreement that sounds like it's positive it certainly it's always positive when you stop people stop killing each other so a cease fire anywhere anytime is probably a good thing but this isn't fact hiding the deeper reality which is that the united states never had a clear policy it showed this lack of clarity and consistency with trump's changes in his policy and then the sudden pull up recently made it very very problematic for trump and this basically is a damage control mechanism for president trump in the very short term only in a matter of a couple of days and it's not going to work and the history of cease fires and the

confliction zones and a safe areas in syria particularly in the last 34 years as dismal none of them have worked and the reason is the bigger picture which we're seeing right now which is an extraordinary affirmation of the role of imperial powers using local actors in the middle east particularly in syria and iraq and particularly the kurds the russians the americans the british the french now the turks as a regional power this is been going on for 100 years so there's nothing new here this is a all the says is a sad reaffirmation of the continuation of imperial manipulation of weak dependent local actors and betraying them time after time after time for the interests of the bigger power and this is i think the sad situation you're in and do you think any of. those powers that you just mentioned have thought about

the hundreds of thousands of not the millions of civilians that are in this area that tookie has said that it wants to create a safe zone in return millions of syrian refugees who are in turkey but isn't. hasn't this incursion just created more refugees. and the short run it has and there will continue to be moments like this one regional powers or foreign powers act unilaterally militarily to create more death and destruction and refugee flows and the irony is that turkey for instance has used the refugee flows as a tool a bargaining tool with the europeans in the same way that many of the players in the region have used the eisel terrorists as bargaining tools they say well if you don't play our game we're going to let these terrorists loose and they're going to come after you and of course the western media and the american government in particular have fallen for this so they just emphasize the eisel terrorists and the

refugee flows so the answer to your question is no none of the big powers and very few of the regional powers genuinely care about the civilians and the suffering and if you see the last 78 years in syria what's happened with not only for foreign powers and regional powers but the governments of the countries themselves killing their own people in a very very vicious way they don't care about the civilians and their suffering and this is the wider tragedy because this is the powerlessness and helplessness of the citizens of the middle east particularly the arab world who are treated by their own and other governments with total disdain and they have nothing that they can do about it just we see the kurds now as the latest example desperately running from one country to another ending up with the syrian government to protect them you know because they have to live they want to survive above all else and that's a very human reaction necessary thank you as always for your analysis we do

appreciate that as ronny 3 live in boston thank you. we are moving on to other news now and britain's prime minister is facing a brakes that showdown in parliament after clinching a last minute agreement with the european union the deal avoids the need for a hard border in ireland and allows for the whole of the u.k. to leave the e.u. use customs union but there are serious doubts about whether boss johnson will get it approved by parliament on saturday natasha butler reports. having pushed the european union for voice breaks it deal boris johnson finally got what he wanted in brussels he said the new agreement was in everyone's interests i want to stress that this is a great deal for our country for the u.k. i also believe it's a very good deal for our friends in the e.u.

and what it means is that we in the u.k. can come out of the e.u. as one united kingdom england scotland wales you all are and together. the last minute deal was welcomed by e.u. leaders it came after days of intensive negotiations between u.k. and e.u. officials to take a change in comparison with the version of the deal as prime minister just accept those customs checks at the point of entry into the island. this compromise. to avoid the border checks between iran and iran and will end the show the integrity of the single market the irish prime minister welcome the deal but some ante breaks the campaign is in brussels where unconvinced and said they still face uncertainty i wouldn't be able to go back to pay with my husband in case my parents

needed more help because. income threshold you still have to ratify the deal but the sense here in brussels is that their work is done that however is not the case for boris johnson he still has to convince the u.k. parliament to back his agreement but that won't be easy the deal has failed to win the key support of the democratic unionist party or d u p the northern irish party the props up johnson's conservative government it's obviously not a day we can support we've made that assessment on the deal itself we're not there in a compare and contrast but certainly this. gives us our border in the irish sea in terms of in terms of costumes and terms of single market without any consent that is meaningful for the people of northern ireland if the british prime minister fails to win parliamentary backing for his deal he'll be legally obliged to seek an extension from brussels to the october 31st briggs deadline result face says that

is not going to happen breaks it would seem is far from over potential partner al-jazeera brussels well let's go to john howard now he is joining us live from brussels northern ireland will stick to some e.u. rules while still being in the u.k. customs area talk us through what's different in this deal. yeah it's not the 1st deal we've had in this entire process to resume a got one of course it was voted down in the british parliament 3 times the difference here it's boris johnson's deal for one thing it's a much harder bragg's it in terms of the terminology breaks it of much more a brace abrupt rupture from the european union the whole of the u.k. including northern ireland leaves the customs union at the end of the transition period at the end of 2020 the old backstop of course so much trouble that so many m.p.'s couldn't bring themselves to vote for is gone it's replaced by a boarder in the irish sea that again i think

a lot of m.p.'s will struggle to vote for there are positives for both sides in this deal boris johnson's government and the hard brick city years who support him can go off now assuming it becomes law of course and make as many international trade deals as they want to the europeans union's sees the integrity of its single market preserve and peace upheld important on the island of ireland think. leaving aside the question of whether it will pass through the house of commons on saturday and that is a an enormous question there is an abiding sense i think of relief and optimism among the leaders here in brussels that perhaps the worst is over perhaps they can now move on with the 2nd stage of breaks in negotiating the future relationship the future of trade deal without having this deep question of whether brics it will happen or not hanging over everybody's head i wonder how long that sense of optimism of relief were lost china when all eyes now on westminster where i was reading that m.p.'s will have their 1st saturday session since 1982.

yes the 1st in 37 years you're right that optimism could evaporate very very quickly indeed boris johnson was absolutely a bully and full of optimism here in brussels delivering the news to the other leaders that he was certain there was a majority for this deal in the house of commons the numbers don't bear that out a lot of people would question it is by no means certain he's lost the do you see with the d p he may have lost some if not a large number of the heartbreaks that spartans on the right of his party that always supported the do you please position who may or may not now support him the opposition certainly won't support it the question will be how many labor m.p.'s are willing to break ranks more concerned that breaks it actually happen now than what is actually in a deal in the biggest question of all of course what if it doesn't pass what happens then boris johnson is compelled by law to ask for an extension he says he won't do that so the courts could be primed in those final few days before the 31st

to intervene importantly here in brussels the leader the president of the council donald tusk said if a delay is requested the leaders would entertain the idea of it and some of those leaders speaking during the course of the day said yes they would grant a delay from deed a delay was required jonah thank you very much for that finale that is john holl live and brussels thank you. now to lebanon where thousands of people are demonstrating in the capital beirut in some of the biggest protests there and here is i know the crowds are marched on parliament angry over proposed taxes on tobacco and petrol the government's already been forced to scrap plans to charge users of the messaging app whatsapp lebanon has the 3rd highest debt level in the world in the government's declared a state of economic emergency. saudi aramco has delayed the planned launch of its

initial public offering the oil giant had been expected to announce plans next week to float a one to 2 percent stake on the kingdom's owl market of the september drawing attacks on key around oil facilities knocked out half of its crude output sources have told the reuters news agency that the company hopes to bolster investor confidence with its 3rd quarter results now u.s. president donald trump has officially announced the resignation of energy secretary rick perry barry has become a central figure in questions over whether trump pressured ukraine to investigate joe biden as resignation has been anticipated for weeks traum says perry will stay on until the end of the year and he's already he already has a successor in mind and acting chief of staff mick mulvaney was at the center of a firestorm in washington on thursday when he seemingly admitted that military aid to ukraine was withheld partly as

a bargaining chip mulvaney then reverse that statement hours later saying there was absolutely no quid pro quo well the question of whether trump pressured kiev to investigate allegations against his political rival joe biden is at the center of a congressional impeachment inquiry is some of what mulvaney had to say. he also mentioned to me in past that the corruption related to the d.n.c. server absolutely no question about that but that's it that's why we held up the money now there was a reporter's demand for an investigation into the democrats was part of the reason that he was on to withhold funding to upgrade the the look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation and that is absolutely probably the father. which which ultimately then flowed. now this comes as u.s. president donald trump has been accused of directing officials to consult his personal lawyer about washington's policy on ukraine u.s. ambassador to the e.u.

gordon songlines has trump outsourced american foreign policy to a private citizen where he giuliani was solvent told a congressional committee investigating trump that giuliani's agenda included a push for kiev to investigate former vice president joe biden giuliani has so far refused to cooperate with the pitchman inquiry and to donald trump well let's take a closer look now at gordon sandland the wealthy owner of the hotel chain he gave a $1000000.00 towards trump's inauguration or president trump nominated saw him as the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. in may last year he's been questioned about any role he played in encouraging ukraine to investigate joe biden and biden son solomon exchanged a series of text messages with another u.s. diplomat that had become central to allegations that trump without aid from ukraine as a bargaining chip to encourage the biden investigation now robin letts is the former general counsel for the u.s. director of national intelligence and he says that solomon's testimony was just

another part of a mounting pile of evidence against trump. i don't know that i'd characterize sun lens testimony by itself as a smoking gun i think you had an entire fuse a lot of guns going off this week and they're going to continue to do so. the latest being mick mulvaney admission this afternoon that yes in fact there was a quid pro quo you've basically got all of the relevant facts established at this point between the transcript of the conversation that was released the testimony of the witnesses who've who've testified the text messages that we saw it's now completely apparent that president trump wanted ukraine to dig up dirt and conduct investigations for the president's personal benefit that he when career in fishel at the state department refused to go along with that he bypassed them and

outsourced our foreign policy to rudy giuliani and energy secretary perry and others who weren't ordinarily in the chain of command and that they basically told the ukrainians if you want this military aid you have to investigate biden and the the a legit origins of the russia inquiry so i think the facts are all understood in the question is what are the consequences going to be. still ahead on the news hour the threat of icy fighters escaping the iraq and french governments discuss their fate. violence during my exam beats election campaign raises questions about the impartiality of police and boxing more as the force finds her to die from injuries sustained in the ring and as many monstro would have the details in sport.

is a lot going on with the weather across north america at the moment we've had a nor'easter this nasty little area clouds sweeping across new york into new england eastern parts of canada further south some lively downpours rolling through here up to was in the northwest we've also got some arar the heavy showers somewhat a weather some wintry weather spilling out of western parts of canada into the pacific northwest as we go on through friday the main thing to watch out for will be down towards the panhandle we have a developing system here may become a tropical storm if you talk of oppression from very wet and windy weather then coming into northern parts of florida into upped was allowed to through georgia easing up it was a southeastern corner north of that it quietens down so 10 celsius the threat to the 15 degrees in new york centimeters not too bad want to see showers a possibility whether that wintry weather up around the northwest will become a little more widespread as we go on. for the south into the caribbean as

a spattering of show was across the caribbean still some very wet weather of course over towards central america and that system has been bringing that weather up towards you know just a sad look in city to drive its way across the gulf of mexico grassy pushing across a good part of florida. you know without more is very much our culture has been very harmful to the economy

and the minds of many people in the world challenging traditional attitudes how narrowing the gender gap is helping women in the camargue what is the poverty level because we're trying to break these barriers of machismo by giving women access to resources meet the women leading the way. women make change on al-jazeera. it's good to have you with us on the al-jazeera news hour these are our top stories u.s. vice president mike pence says turkey has agreed to a 5 day pause in its offensive in northern syria and says he will give kurdish

fighters time to withdraw from a 32 kilometer zone in the north east of the country the commander of the kurdish forces has told local media that they will abide by the agreement by us president hollande trumpets praising the date as a great day for civilization while turkey's foreign minister welcome the day and bought refused to call that a ceasefire. and the european parliament has agreed to a new brakes a day but versions promised abbas johnson still faces a battle to get it passed why has parliament on saturday. let's get more on our top story now on the turkish offensive in syria european governments a warning that the fighting could allow i suppose innes to escape french foreign minister to the on his travel to baghdad to discuss whether the president should be transferred to may bring iraq for trial and on trial falzon suspected isom fighters are being held by the could some clearing many foreigners but iraq's foreign minister mohammad that king says nations must take responsibility for their own

nationals and non-con has moved from baghdad the press conference began as these things almost always do with diplomatic niceties and talk of warm bilateral relations but i sill and want to do with i saw fighters was high on the agenda now it was iraqi foreign minister who spoke 1st what he said was that any iraqi fighters crossing back into iraq from syria and their families would be tried under iraqi law he then went on to say that there were foreign fighters that came from 72 different countries and that those countries should take them back however he also talked about syria being high on the agenda of their talks and iraq has been pushing for syria to be readmitted to the arab league you know you finished with by saying he agreed to find a mechanism by which foreign fighters would be tried in iraq he territory then it was the turn of the french foreign minister now he began by saying that there was

an international summit that needed to be set up to discuss i so i want to do with eisel fighters there was no talk about who might take part in that summit or even when it might take place he also said all of the 13000 fighters one in 5 is european and about 60 of those of french now he went on to say that they were discussing this idea of this international mechanism to deal with ice or fighters and how to put them on trial and he also talked about trials within iraq itself so this was a very positive press conference. now the united nations says there's been significant progress in peace talks between the yemeni government and southern separatists the separatists seized control of the port city of aden an august we saw the lead negotiations in jeddah are aimed at rebuilding the coalition which has been fighting what the rebels since 2015 and coalition member the u.a.e. has been supporting the separatists the u.n. says ending the war as soon as possible as crucial as i said at the outset many of

us had hoped including myself here in riyadh had hoped the new agreement could have been announced today. i understand we're not quite there yet but it certainly does seem the progress has been made very significant progress during the jeddah talks under the leadership of the kingdom of saudi arabia. points to their strenuous diplomatic efforts the saudis there are encouraging signs as i say that an agreement aimed at resolving the issues between the government of yemen under president heading and the southern transitional council maybe well within reach to pakistan now where a strike by doctors in the northwest shows no sign of ending only emergency patients being treated in public hospitals and them quad province with the striking health workers are angry about a lot of change that they say were privatized hospitals saw hierarchs reports.

doc says nurses outside their hospital they've been on strike for nearly a month protesting against a new health law called m.c.i. the provincial government says it will reform hospitals in the way they're managed protesters accuse the government of using the reforms as disguised to privatized the health care system in hyper. of what the pakistan it's not acceptable to us we know it's the poor patients suffering because of the strike but we don't have an option our future is at stake government run hospitals in the province are at a standstill wards are empty staff are staying at home only emergency services are operating but staff a severely overstretched the striking doctors and nurses fear the changes will mean redundancies and patients will be charged for their treatment yet again prime minister imran khan promised he'll provide more jobs in the new pakistan but we're now worried the new law means no job security. last month protesters and police

fought outside a hospital and they now say they'll stay on strike until their demands are met. the government no insists the law will modernize hospitals hold medical staff accountable and provide affordable public health care i've introduced a law that is ultimately going to. benefit the common man and just because a certain group of people there are only here for their own personal interest for their western interests i'm not going to back off the largest teaching hospital in the province is ready child the reforms one doctor says the new system convinced him to return home to pakistan from the u.k. it has given us institutional autonomy we can do or at recruitment budgeting equipment. we have established new specialties so i think the patient care has

significantly improved while there just speak goes on thousands of patients in the province on able to get the treatment they need. that al-jazeera. now the un says afghan civilians are dying in record numbers in the conflict with the taliban it says more than 4000 civilians were killed or injured between july and september that sought more than 40 percent from the same period last year it is the highest number of casualties since records began the report says the taliban was responsible for 62 percent of deaths and injuries but killings by pro-government forces also increased the leading cause of civilian casualties was suicide in on suicide improvised explosive devices the 2nd was ground engagements followed by area operations and when we come to area operations this was the leading incident type for civilian deaths now observers from the european

union have criticized was a big selection saying it wasn't a level playing field between the government of the opposition ballot stuffing was reported at several polling stations and many observers were attacked welcome web reports from shy shy the capital of 1000 of problems. it was right here that anastasio matter valley was shot by 5 gunmen last week he died shortly afterwards in hospital he was an observer in mozambique's election and the director of rights group. that's where his colleague fernando young tariq told us he'd been within minutes before at a training session for local observers. the capital of gaza province he says anastasio killing sent a clear message from friday made it makes me feel scared i'm living in fear after this the situation is worse we're being followed it doesn't sit well with me . anastasio and his colleagues had raised concerns about 300000 so-called ghost

voters on the electoral register in gaza province before he was shot and his killers sped off in a car just down the road they hit an oncoming car an overturned was right here 2 of the men died at the scene 2 others ran away and one was taken to hospital with bystanders immediately recognize them and identified them as members of a special police unit it's only because of the car crash that in this case the identity of the killers was revealed and that's the international rights group human rights watch has documented 14 cases in the last 5 years where activists and officials from government and political parties have been killed or attacked in similar ways the attackers normally disappear question is no longer aware that there are death squads or more i think was on this then on disappeared was to

provide them now thought on why members of the security forces boy there around the country killing civilians. killing wasn't the only violence during election campaigns opposition parties say their rallies were stopped in some areas by ruling party supporters and police after the murder police suspended 2 senior officers they told us they're still investigating and that there's no evidence of political involvement in the killings the diesel goes on as a song what's being said by some organizations and journalists is entirely their own responsibility the police therefore doesn't agree with these statements that go beyond the police duties. the electoral commission says it's run a free and fair poll since tuesday's voting opposition and some observers have complained of serious irregularities in the vote counting process. the killing of anastasio will certainly affect how safe people feel to speak out

malcolm webb al-jazeera gaza province mozambique. now families in kenya have finally received the remains of those who died in the ethiopian airlines plane crash 7 months ago the bodies of the $28.00 victims need a d.n.a. and an analysis to formally identify them catherine sawyer reports from the. the remains of a current job are carried by her friends into the charge the old used to attend in . the teacher was flying home from canada. in 3 grandchildren when they feel be an airlines jet crashed in march killing all a $157.00 people on board most of the bodies were banged beyond recognition and it has taken months of d.n.a. analysis to identify the remains. first before. even when it comes to compensation. in every.

32 kenyans the boeing 737 max which crashed soon after takeoff from addis ababa boeing admitted a faulty sensor contributed to the disaster the entire 737 max fleet has been grounded since the accident which followed another in indonesia a year ago boeing is paying compensation to the families of all the victims. of the pain in this neighborhood and by every. community neighbors who watched. and on have grandchildren on holiday. family says for now just glad they can finally bury their loved ones. in the budget cuts record when you rant. in the book since i'm

afraid. of feeling. here. so. you just feel the. person whom you have been bringing the drum did before. should be remembered for many things sam says she brought out the best in children she taught she was also a loving mother and grandmother to those who died with katherine sawyer al-jazeera kenya. now venezuela has taken a seat on the u.n. human rights council despite widespread criticism of the country's oil rights record advocacy groups and nations opposed to president nicolas muddles government had lobbied against the move human rights watch said a vote for venezuela is a vote for torture and murder the un human rights council agreed last month to look into abuses in venezuela now the head of catalonia is regional government says another independence which is needed within the next 2 years but thousands of people have been protesting for a fortnight demonstrators are angry about jail sentences given to 9 separatist

leaders for their role in the failed independence bid 2 years ago nearly 100 people have been arrested since protests began on monday. now takes us in chicago have gone on strike outside many of the settings $500.00 public schools as union leaders and officials negotiate new contracts the demonstrations have forced officials to cancel classes for more than 300000 students will take his have framed their demands of the cold for social justice john hendren reports from chicago. in the united states 3rd largest school district teachers put down their pencils and took up the picket signs walking out of schools and into the street. 25000 chicago teachers and 7000 support staffers walked out on thursday leaving the parents of 300000 students canceling work or scrambling to find childcare teachers

say for them as well as for their students conditions in some schools are an embarrassment i didn't have heat for a whole year in my classroom i had buckets collecting water some at some point we had a fire our own toilet paper in a nation where teachers complain they are under-resourced underpaid and undervalued this is the 1st walkout in chicago since 2012 and $1.00 of about a dozen for teachers across the u.s. this year this strike is a major chast for a new mayor laurie lightfoot she comes from a union family and she campaigned in favor of giving schools the resources they need particularly in chicago's impoverished neighborhoods and she's got a budget shortfall of over $800000000.00 and that hits are against unions like this that helped elector. for now every public school including those in dangerous neighborhoods where 530 people were gunned down last year will remain open and

offer students breakfast lunch and to take home dinner until we. all do our part and that the safety and well being of every child is foremost. in everything that we do every day it's a dispute over money and benefits the teachers rejected a pay raise of $16000.00 over 5 years they want $15000.00 over 3 years under the city's offer the average teacher would over $100000.00 a year well over the $60000.00 u.s. average say it is more importantly over a class size and support staff many schools lack librarians counselors nurses and social workers a lot of students who are neglected a lot of students who don't have what they basically you to help them let alone start learning and. are just study if you've got those problems very hard to study while schools remain technically open to warehouse children with nowhere else to go

until the 2 sides come to terms books and classes in the windy city will remain closed john hendren.