the people who wrote the world people predicted the world you know does it is very good news to the world from here. the u.s. and the taliban prepare to sign off on a historic deal that could bring peace to afghanistan. on xenon than watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program. turkey hits back after dozens of its soldiers were killed in a nato calls on syria and russia to hope that our offensive. this is a reality check for every government on the planet wake up get ready. the world health organization wants the global risk of coronavirus is very high with about 50

countries now affected. and the worst shelling in weeks threatens to derail the libya peace talks taking place in geneva. after more than 18 years of fighting the us secretary of state might pombo is expected on saturday to witness the signing of the peace agreement with the taliban its hopes the deal will bring about the end of the war in afghanistan the longest war in american history and see international troops leave the country in a moment we'll have an exclusive interview with a taliban spokesman 1st though let's speak to rosalynn jordan who is in washington for us tell us more about what this agreement will call for and what it means for the u.s. presence in afghanistan. well daryn this signing of this agreement is coming one week after the u.s. and the taliban and afghan forces agreed to essentially lay down their weapons they

didn't call it a cease fire but they did say that this was a real show of trust in both sides to reduce the violence in order to get to this agreement which in short would mean the release of perhaps upwards of 5000 taliban members who are being held by afghan forces and by the eventually departure of u.s. forces from afghanistan there are between 12 and 13000 u.s. troops in country the pentagon says it could bring that number down to about 8500 or so in order to help the afghan military deal with its ongoing security training and with its own maintaining of its security issues around the country the talabani obviously would like to see all u.s. forces pull out of the country but that's something that would be actively resisted here in washington despite the reduction of violence that's paved the way to this agreement expectations have to be tempered because it peace is still

far from sesson. expectations have to be tempered because this is not an agreement between the talabani and the leaders of the afghan civil government this is a tween the taliban and the u.s. government and so what's supposed to happen after the signing of this agreement on saturday is that within 10 to 15 days the taliban and members of the afghan government and if not expressly from the government at least members of the afghan population are supposed to sit down and start the work of negotiating some sort of peace accord something that would lead to an end to internal hostilities and perhaps establish a new power sharing agreement then it's anyone's guess mario whether we're actually going to see the start of those discussions because the taliban has long considered the civilian government in kabul to be basically a stooge of washington not

a legitimate independent government reflecting the will of the afghan people but that is what's supposed to be the next step and we'll have to see whether in the next 10 to 15 days a new round of negotiations in order to establish afghan peace can actually get underway all right thanks very much rosen and jordan in washington for a sense and so to look at what this peace deal could mean for afghanistan for the people of afghanistan al jazeera some of inch of aid has exclusively interviewed taliban spokesman shane. it is significant for a our people for our country in the whole region. because for 4 of one people they will have their independence they will. see their creation ending and also for the original that when stability and peace return to

afghanistan there will be a phase of. commercial activities and development and we have the attention of our premised on so that's really really important and significant for us it has and of reduction of violence the plan is to expand it further but there the attacks have not stopped taliban have attacked convoys of the afghan government there have been skirmishes as well what makes you think that peace in the valley sun is going to come about by this agreement and of course it was a reduction in war lintz as we call it to provide a secure in one in water went before the signing after agreement and that we did and and the other thing is that there was some kind warrior we have not attacked any convoy in the a few trees in the territories held by the coverlid ministration. the some of those

convoys were attacked when they came out from their places and into to our trees so that was a kind of a while a shot and our. people on ground they stopped it you don't accept cobbles government as the legitimate government you call it a line at ministration how are you going to be talking to them because that is the biggest sticking point that the taliban would not agree to talk to the afghan government how have you come to terms with that as a god meant we did not regret equalise it. because we think it. protractor of 4 and that is a lot of the occupation which has been installed in impose on the people above parties come back to as a party to the complex it is that he and we accept that they are a party to the conflict and in that sense we will have during our in

trouble on your we will talk to them besides our that i want cites so this is the 1st phase where the taliban and the americans of agreed to some terms about the gradual withdrawal of u.s. forces as well as reaction violence what are the terms of that agreement and what happens next yeah after the. after of the signing of the agreement of course we will. have had their confidence building measure and during that 5000 prisoners of war they slam cumulative up when you stand in 1000 prisoners of the kabul administration will be released and when we finished our complected complete this phase then we enter another phase which is negotiation during that phase we will discussion among all of our sides and they will discuss the future islamic good mentor the ford same abilities in other. words that they may

bring to the table. and i'll just there will of course have comprehensive coverage and analysis of the doha signing on saturday. the united nations in nato of both held emergency meetings over the escalating violence in the last rebel stronghold in syria nato called on russia and syria to halt the offensive in it live and has condemned the continued indiscriminate strikes this follows the death of $33.00 turkish soldiers on thursday member states expressed solidarity with that ally turkey but offer no additional nato support meanwhile on the ground turkey has started retaliatory strikes it says it's hit more than 200 syrian government positions after denying any involvement to moscow made amends with turkey as president vladimir putin spoke with russia type on the phone the 2 countries have decided to stick to the 2800 deescalation zone plan but

that so-called safety zone is where most of the violence is taking place now ashleigh bar reports to us from the techie syrian border. turkish soldiers being evacuated from syria after being attacked by syrian government forces images like these have created shock and turkey and growing calls for revenge turkish military hit syrian army oppose this is in retaliation for the death of dozens of its soldiers in southern. turkey blames the syrian government for the strike that targeted post. officials here also accuse rochelle failing to deter syrian government forces who have recently stepped up their attacks against the soldiers. these are tech happened despite the location of troops being coordinated you know at once with russian officials on the ground unfortunately the

attack continued after we won't following the 1st strike. feeling abandoned by its e.u. our allies turkey warned it won't prevent refugees from crossing into europe european countries are alarmed this might turn into a mass exodus of refugees fleeing the conflict in syria turkey has been calling on the e.u. to share the burden of the refugee crisis and or nato to deploy pair to it besides on the border with syria but nato doesn't seem to be willing to provide military support offering for the time being the sympathy by call on them to stop their offensive to respect international law and to back you an effort for a peaceful solution to this dangerous situation must be deescalated urge

an immediate return to the 2018 cease fire. then simone's turkish and russian officials held talks in uncut to defuse tension turkey wants the syrian army to pull out behind the demilitarized zone stop its offensive and the loss of billions to return home. russia is a key ally of president bashar assad who jacked turkey's expanded presence in syria and insists the often served by his troops is legitimate and will continue and if russia and turkey fail to overcome their differences the might and. you know wider and prolonged original confrontation in syria possible but al-jazeera delivered as a want to its border with syria or gebran as under is in new york where the united nations has called an emergency meeting after that attack on 33 turkish soldiers

there were calls for the escalation and for turkey and syria to build on previous negotiations to strike a new immediate ceasefire what have you been hearing at this meeting game. yeah that's right this was an emergency meeting that was called by the you know european union members of the united nations united security council excuse me as well as the united states and the u.k. this was a meeting that is still going on we are actually right now hearing from the syrian ambassador to the security council or the united nations i should say this meeting clearly indicates the urgency that the united nations is taking this we've heard twice today from secretary general on to new guzzi it is what once a couple hours ago when he spoke to journalists where his message was clear he said that in the 9 year conflict that they have vents the killing of the killings of the more than 30 turkish troops was one of the most. severe incidents in the

last 9 years of this conflict and as the secretary general cold on and for an immediate cease fire then we just heard him speak a few minutes ago briefly at the security council meeting as well where he reiterated the same thing there we heard from also from the u.s. ambassador kelly craft where she said the u.s. stands firmly behind turkey and turkey is right to respond as it deems necessary and just a couple minutes ago heard from the russian ambassador who shot back and basically said that they that the russia and syria are only going after what they say are terrorists in syria and nothing else and blaming the west for for bringing all of this up and sort of in their words join the other side of the coin so to speak we did also hear from rosemary de carlo the top u.n. political affairs representative she addressed the security council giving them an

overview of the current situation on the ground right now in northwest syria this is what she had to say. for months now bombing and shelling by the government of syria supported by its allies has continued in the so-called deescalation zone of it lip strikes have been launched on populated areas from both air and ground seemingly without regard for civilians nearly a 1000000 people have been displaced and surly december many multiple times including more than 560000 children they are fleeing north away from the intensifying aerial and ground bombardment into ever shrinking areas where they still hope to find relative safety. to give you an idea on how urgent the situation is in syria especially northwest syria here at the

un this is the 3rd time in the last 10 days that the security council has been briefed on the situation there it was on thursday they were briefed on the humanitarian situation and how it is going down bad a very fast and the situation is deteriorating so fast for thousands of civilians that are caught in the middle of this but clearly a good tear is the secretary general very much is pushing for an immediate cease fire however when he was asked by journalists today on friday how he's making progress on that he simply said we are not there yet so clearly there's an indication that they are nowhere close to a cease fire that least that we know of as a situation continues to be very difficult northwest syria and the security council continues to address this all right thanks very much for. following that story for us much more still to bring you on a trip like break including a story

a major railway station is not created in french capital paris is off to protest as it began lighting fires we'll tell you what starts at. the weather slushy fada dry across a good part of australia now it is still have some very wet very windy weather op around the northwest the cold air around the kimberley now that sees what remains of tropical slides lone estat which will make its way further south which is still holding together and usually organized this system and it will pull more wet weather across the north western australia slightly south which as we go on through the next couple days also as you can see last if you shall as rochelle was there on the eastern side all. queensland down into the southeast 23 celsius from melbourne a cool one handedness something like his coolest summer in about 15 years warms up

more as we go on into sunday is a bit more like it 31 degrees now just by then we will see this in places that brian just moving through the by still very wet across that northwestern corner from the fire and dry and across the parts of japan it's lucky fine dry at the moment we have this area a cloud which has been piling out to the east china sea pushing it through the korean peninsula as we go on through saturday will tonight increase across the queue. of honshu for that right all the way back across central areas of china down towards the southwest slides further south which as we go through sunday making its way to hong kong. on counting the cost coronavirus could the economic impact be on a par with the 2008 financial crisis as the factory the world is crippled by the virus cambodia faces up to the prospect of job losses plus constantino begins its

talks to avoid a debt default. counting the cost on al-jazeera. holding the powerful to account as we examine the u.s. sees world in the war on al-jazeera. or. welcome back look at the headlines now after more than 18 years of fighting u.s. secretary of state might is expected on saturday to witness the signing of a peace agreement with the taliban it's hoped the deal will bring about an end to the war in afghanistan the longest war in american history and see international

troops leave the country. united nations has strongly urge russia and turkey to build upon previous agreements on safety zones in syria to secure a fresh cease fire nato has expressed solidarity with its ally turkey after 33 soldiers were killed on thursday but offered no additional nato support. and our other top story this hour the world health organization has raised the risk assessment of the krona virus to its highest level but officials of stop short of labeling the outbreak a pandemic saying they believe containment efforts could still work there are more than 4000 confirmed cases in about 50 countries 3 quarters of new infections are outside of china where the outbreak began in december the w.h.o. also warn the outbreak is getting bigger after nigeria confirm the 1st case in sub-saharan africa new zealand and mexico also reported their 1st cases a day after its biggest ever day point struck the dow jones in new york is close 1.3 percent down on friday markets in asia and europe of reported losses of more

than 3 percent alexia prime as our courts. in the biggest city of africa's most populous country the 1st case of coronavirus is warrior news and italian man flew into lagos nigeria from the mom earlier this week we have started working to identify all the contacts of the future. and even those who were with him on the aircraft. nigeria's large population and high rates of poverty make it vulnerable to outbreaks like this when the world health organization declared the virus a global health emergency last month it was because of concern it could hit countries with weak health systems on friday the upgraded the risk of the virus is global for it to very high and i think this is a reality check for every government on the planet wake up get ready this virus may

be on its way and you need to be ready you know with judy to your citizens you have a duty to the world to be ready. he pointed to the increase in cases and affected countries some struggling to contain the virus the 1st cases have been announced in dane markets tonia little way any of the netherlands and mexico all linked to the outbreak in italy it's reported hundreds of cases and is the a.p. center of the virus outside asia its famous squares are 5 empty of the new show and trains are being disinfected in a bid to slow the viruses spread. and got out of the city still seems to be a little asleep in a negative way i don't see many people around and i'm sorry to see that people have been so large. in switzerland geneva international moshe shows being cancelled after the government banned all events involving more than a 1000 people and in iran and state of crowds of worshippers they will workers in

hazmat suits in this holy shrine in mashad friday prayers but canceled across much of iran where the virus has killed dozens of people and infected hundreds more china the way the virus began recorded the lowest number of new cases in more than a month more than 36000 people have already been discharged from hospital after recovering from the disease bangs very. large the recent success in controlling the epidemic is hard earned the situation is still grim and complex and with an increase of people going back to work in school we are facing the risk of the epidemic rebounding we cannot afford to take chances are that warning is now being echoed worldwide alexia brian al jazeera christian salumi is in new york for us and says that concerns have really spread right across all sectors of the economy. today's losses weren't as bad as yesterday's losses but they

weren't good it was not a good day for investors stocks showing their 7th day of the clients the worst week as you said since the financial crisis of 2008 the worst month on record since 2009 the dow jones industrial average closed down some 13 percent from its high point loss just over a week ago the standard and poor's 500 down 12 percent investors continue to worry about the spread of the coronavirus and the impact that's going to have on corporate profits on trade and the economy writ large companies like amazon have announced that the putting non-essential travel on hold so the concerns are really widespread across all sectors of the economy the wall street journal reporting that 95 percent of s. and p. stocks are down more than 10 percent so this is

a really bad week for the markets people in the libyan capital tripoli are reporting the shelling of the city has intensified in the past 24 hours united nations is now set the attacks on tripoli by forces loyal to the have to might amount to war crimes as charles traffic reports to us from tripoli a civilians a suffering the most is some a little safe his back was peppered with shrapnel when a rocket fired by forces loyal to walt hurley for half the exploded by his home. for a shot off and i was standing on the street thank god my neighbor called me over to us i moved forward 5 steps and the rocket landed just a few meters away is a pregnant wife suffered minor injuries and has some serious hit wounds in the attack we go to his neighborhood and find evidence of what people who live here say happens day and night. another barrel of rockets that hit. residents

say that at least 7 rockets hit this neighborhood smalling they're saying that nobody was injured in those attacks but behind this house is mighty good poll which has been consistently charted but i have to say forces over recent months now people here in tripoli are increasingly angry they're blaming the u.n. for not doing enough to halt huffed as offensive on the capital almost a week of u.n. sponsored talks in geneva during which neither of libya's warring sides met face to face failed to reach agreement on a ceasefire. the u.n. backed government which is receiving military support from turkey says general hafta must withdraw his forces from areas they control on the outskirts of tripoli after who is being supported by countries including the u.a.e. egypt and russia says turkish military personnel and pro turkey syrian fighters supporting the un backed government must leave libya 1st meanwhile anger and

distrust towards the u.n. is growing protesters at this demonstration hold pictures of u.n. special representative to libya the son salami how much did they pay you to be silent and supporter of terrorism they read both sides accused of being biased against them play out of the play and. they hit us with egyptian and m.r. r.t.s. strikes salamis sees what's happening and the violations i live near the airport there are rockets landing on civilian areas all the time the situation is terrible with so many countries involved in this conflict the un seems powerless to stop the fighting that has escalated since the geneva ceasefire talks failed both sides have boycotted u.n. sponsored talks aimed at finding a political solution back in the hospital has pictures of his injured 4 year old son on his mobile phone. he says doctors are afraid to remove the shrapnel lodged

inside up door. because if they do he may never walk again. tripoli a major paris train station had to be evacuated on friday afternoon after protesters started lighting fires demonstrators had set fire to scooters and cars now in protest at a concert by congolese singer. it has previously had to cancel concerts because of demonstrations opposed to the government of the democratic republic of congo. or it was outside the garden or earlier and said that plumes of smoke could be seen right across central paris. where the girl daily or train station is one of the main stations in central paris and of the ground level you can really get a sense of the damage you can see these motorbikes have been overturned and if you come over here a whole row of motorbikes completely burnt out just caucuses on the floor we've seen a smashed possibly see bus stops also in bits completely burnt out and what happened

was it was about a 6 o'clock in the evening local time here in paris when protesters say all these vehicles around the train station and the plumes of smoke there rosen's the air were very impressive you could see them all over paris we were some 2 kilometers away and even we could see them we could smell the smoke in the end it reminds me very much of the night the notre dame cathedral it was a moment where people were looking up to the sky and really wondering what had happened in central paris well before if i do as you can see over there they're just some of the many that came to the scene they managed to put out those blazes pretty quickly but it must mean very frightening for the many people using the train station on a friday evening a very busy time of the evening the train station was evacuated but it has now been reopened. well also all the stories in paris that i protests have been held outside the french film awards of

a director roman polanski's nominations in several categories he's wanted in the united states for the statutory rape of a 13 year old in 1977 blonsky said he would not attend these bizarre film awards because of protest the 87 year old's latest film an officer and a spy is up for 12 awards it has just won the award for best costume design the event's entire board stepped down this month partly because of the backlash over polanski's nominations a christian woman once sentenced to death of blasphemy in pakistan says she has been offered asylum by french president emmanuel macron aasia bibi says has invited her to live in france following her acquittal of blasphemy last year bibi spent 8 years on death row off to neighbors objected to drinking their water because she was muslim she was convicted of making derogatory remarks about islam that verdict was overturned and she was released in 2018 the case divided pakistani muslims

sparking widespread protests and calls for her death from religious hotlines so as much more to everything we're covering right here including comment analysis and video on demand al-jazeera dot com. a look at the headlines this hour after more than 18 years of fighting the u.s. secretary of state might impose expected on saturday to witness the signing of a peace agreement with the taliban it's hoped the deal will bring about an end to the war in afghanistan the longest war in american history and see international troops leave the country. the united nations has strongly urged russia and turkey to build upon previous agreements on safety zones in syria to strike a new immediate ceasefire in the country nato has expressed solidarity with its ally turkey after $33.00 turkish soldiers were killed on thursday but often no

additional nato supports the world health organization has warned the global risk of the corona virus is very high with about 50 countries affected but officials stopped short of calling the outbreak a pandemic saying they believe containment efforts could still work the 1st case in sub-saharan africa has been confirmed in nigeria what we see i do mormon are linked epidemics of corby 19 in several countries but most cases can still be traced to gnome contacts or glasses or cases we do not see evidence as yet that the virus is spreading freely in communities as long as dots decays we still have a chance of going to ending this bias all those coronavirus fears continue to impact global financial markets stocks have suffered their worst week since the

global financial crisis of 2008 a day after its biggest ever day point drop the dow jones industrial average in new york is close 1.3 percent down on friday people in the libyan capital tripoli are reporting the shelling of the city has intensified in the past 24 hours the united nations has now said the attacks on tripoli by forces loyal to warlord fully faster might amount to war crimes and a major paris train station has been evacuated after protesters started lighting fires demonstrators in paris set fire to scooters and cars near the galileo station in protest at a concert held by the congolese singer. counting the cost is coming up next stay with out there. it's the day that will define the democratic race for the white house. 14 states get to make a choice should challenge. in the presidential election join us for america's super

tuesday. national coverage live on al-jazeera. hello i'm come all santa maria this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week coronavirus trade war 2 fears the pandemic we examine the impact on china its neighbors and the world including the possibility of it being as bad as the financial crisis a decade ago and our regional focus is on cambodia an economy like many that is connected through trade with the world's 2nd biggest economy now faces the very real prospect of jobs loss. can't pay one pay and tina's new.