for we understand the difference is certain similarities of cultures across the world zone a much easier to bring you the news and current affairs that matter to the cultures. you think in the coming year we will finish this generational war and bring our men and women home. the pentagon confirms thousands more u.s. troops that will be withdrawn from afghanistan and iraq. day is that before joe biden takes office within minutes that announcement rockets are fired into baghdad . secure greens are in killing a child out

of there, i missed on the a tape. this is al jazeera live from doha. also coming up, donald trump fires the cyber security chief who rejected claims of election fraud. international condemnation of the ethiopia's government targets rebels in the north with airstrikes and hurricane ears that bass has central america. tens of thousands of people are forced to flee their homes. now the pentagon has confounded shop productions and the number of u.s. troops in afghanistan and iraq, by mid january that would be just before president on trumped leaves. office had wanted a full withdrawal from america's longest war by christmas. now instead, 2000 will come out of afghanistan, $500.00 from iraq leaving 2 and a half 1000 in each country. let us remind those who question our resolve or may

seek to interfere with this prudent well planned and coordinated transition. the united states armed forces remain committed to protecting the safety and security of the american people and supporting our like minded allies and partners worldwide . military leaders, u.s. allies and senior figures in trumps. republican policy have warned of the dangers of putting too many troops out before conditions are right. i think it's extremely important here in the next couple of months. not to have any earth shaking changes with regard to defense and foreign policy. i think a precipitous drawdown and either afghanistan or iraq would be a mistake while just minutes after the announcement was made, several rockets hit baghdad's green zone. a child was killed and at least 5 people injured. and let's get the view from iraq al jazeera salada fault and it's in the

capital. the reduction of u.s. troops in iraq to $2500.00 is not that significant in light of the drawdown that already took place earlier this year. in january, there were $5000.00 troops present in country that number was reduced to 3000 as of september and of course, the political and security context that precipitated this reduction was rather complex. back in january, we had the u.s. assassination of iranian general custom still in miami, as well as other iraqi officials, which prompted the parliament here to vote to oust foreign troops. and we also saw a rise in rocket attacks against u.s. interests here in iraq. and in that context, the u.s. and iraq began renegotiating the presence of foreign troops that began reducing the numbers. of course, the u.s. arguing that this was not in response to the parliament vote or the rocket attacks

that it was the result of the official defeat. that such a large presence was no longer needed. now it remains to be seen how iraqi officials will react and it remains to be seen how it rainy unbacked groups in country will react. and what is very interesting is that within minutes of the announcement to reduce troops to $2500.00, there was a rocket attack on the u.s. embassy here in baghdad. such attacks have occurred relatively frequently earlier this year. and they were blamed on iranian backed armed groups. now over the recent weeks, we saw a halt in these attacks, and some of these uranium back ups have come out to say, we will wait for whoever is the new president elect that we will wait for the trumpet, ministrations to announce a full withdrawal of u.s. troops from iraq. now that did not happen, the reduction to $2500.00 is not what these groups were demanding. and tonight's rocket attack at the u.s.

embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest mint. fresh from firing his secretary of defense, donald trump has now dismissed his cyber security chief trunk, took issue with chris krebs after he rejected the president claims that there'd been widespread election fraud krebs and his agency are directly responsible for election security. but our correspondent allan pressure is at the white house for us. not a huge surprise here on lodging. no, we had chris chris tweet here last friday that he said the election was the most secure in american history. there was a statement that came from the watchdog as well. he was telling friends at that point he believed because it contradicted the president's unfounded claims of electoral fraud that he expected to be fired. he stayed in the job until tuesday this morning. he also tweeted out that 59 electoral experts had looked at the

evidence and concluded there was no evidence of electoral fraud and claims of electoral floor fraud were technically incoherent. well, that was enough for donald trump. he decided that he was going to fire chris krebs and put it out that he had been terminated just a couple of hours ago. that was the 1st that chris krebs heard of his sacking via twitter. interesting that the president went on to see when chris krebs initially tweeted out, is the most secure election ever president donald trump claim the credit for that? suggesting that it was because of his administration, that there would be no foreign interference. but then, did the democrats have managed to steal the election? so people were confused about what point the president was making. well, there's no doubt, but the point he made the last couple of hours, chris christie? no out of a job. and also in the last hour we asked you about some potential delays and results that were being certified in michigan, but it seems that's now been resolved. that's right. the election supervisors,

there's 2 democrats, 2 republicans in wayne county, which includes detroit and some of the suburbs. they said that they were going to certify the results. there was a meeting there is going on for several hours. a number of electorate of the electorate called up to say they felt they were being disenfranchised. when county is predominantly black, it played a big part in joe biden's, 140000 vote win in michigan. and then the board of supervisors decided to have another vote on the unanimously ratified the results. as long as the state secretary of state looks at the allegations that there were some improprieties in the vote, which we suspect will happen. donald trump, of course, tweeted news of the 1st vote. he said he was delighted that people were standing up here because of course this meant a delay in certifying the results in michigan. although we were told it would only delay them probably for 24 hours. he's made no comment on this latest development,

which has happened just in the last hour or so an official there at the white house for us with all the latest. thanks so much, al and i, if your peers government says its troops have achieved significant victories in the conflict with forces in the interior region as strikes have been launched at the regional capital in the kelly. that's the main base for the tigre, a people's liberation front or to p.l.f. its government. that to grant fighters have refused to comply with government amounts to put down their weapons. i'm going to go, is the ethiopians? capital addis ababa and says the government believes it can end the conflict quickly. the european prime minister ahmed, is promising a crucial and decisive face in the fighting that to grow a regional mall from ethiopia. he says his forces are now ready to take the city of mechanic up with all of the to go region. he made that announcement of to the expiry of a 30 day deadline here, given to degree fighters to surrender themselves to the ethiopian national defense

forces. security sources have told visitor that the next 48 hours will be question as the european forces launch a tux on mccully for multiple fronts. the sources say the fighting is expected to get more intense. if european forces near the mountainous areas surrounding the couple of the to give a region mackellar, the to grow people's liberation front leadership who are engaged in the conflict with the government in every suburb say that they had a very to defend their positions to the last month have been complaining about civilians getting hot in aesthetics. crowded out by government forces in macau is something that has been rejected and refuted by the government in a disability. late last week, the t.p.a. live fight to send up to 3 missiles across the border to us mother the cup with all of it, a tray or something. diplomats say that could bring him into the fighting. but the

tibial of leadership maintains that they are already fighting at a tree and forces on the ground and say that up to 16 divisions of the trim forces are present and helping prime minister its forces. something that is of a body of nice, both sides ignoring calls for mediation and as this conflict goes on, more civilians are flying about $27000.00. people have now crossed the border and don out of there is haven, morgan has been speaking with some of those refugees at a camp and got a reef that's near the sudanese ethiopian border. we're here at limerick ober refugee camp. a camp that is about 85 kilometers away from the nearest sudan is g.o.p. border. now the camp started receiving refugees less than a week ago, but it already hosts nearly 3000 its european refugees. most of them arrived at the border reception areas in the states of casella and a lot of where we are right now. the received by sudanese authorities and the sudanese commission for refugees who registered them with some of them on buses and

brought them here to this camp. now this camp itself is not new. it was 1st established in the year in $1805.00 for its european fleeing famine from their region back home, who came to sudan seeking basic services. it was then shut down in the year 2000. now 20 years later, it's once again open, once again receiving its european refugees, this time refugees who are fleeing conflict in the northern to grow region. most of those we've spoken to say they've witnessed atrocities that forced them to flee their homes. they say they witnessed family members being slaughtered, that they witnessed aerial bombardment that made them fear that their homes would be the next target. therefore, they had to leave their properties behind and come here seeking refuge. but this camp was not prepared to receive refugees. now most of them are still out in the open. they say they still lack proper food, proper water and proper sanitation. and that they're worried. there will be a health crisis. so the news authorities say more than $25000.00 have crossed into its borders over the past 2 weeks. but they expect that number to go up to 250000

in the coming weeks and have been urging international organizations to help them to respond to what they say is a growing refugee crisis. that they alone could not manage and need help from international partners and international organizations. to be able to provide basic necessities to those refugees. the refugees themselves say they're not sure how long they will be here. but until it's safe to go back home, they will continue seeking refuge, even if there is a shortage in basic commodities because they say they'd rather be here rather than plays danger. back home. still ahead here on al-jazeera will be live in hong kong, where 3 former pro-democracy legislators have been arrested and by the us has agreed to drop the drug charges against mexico.

now in the process of pushing across northern parts of nicaragua, weakening quite rapidly. now it's the equivalent of a category 2 hurricane on the surface. simpson scale 165 kilometers per hour. significantly high gusts, those gusts still capable of causing catastrophic damage. and remember, this storm has made landfall just 20 kilometers away from where made landfall just 2 weeks ago. life threatening storm surge, flash flooding that is likely. and mudslides as well through the remainder of shoes day that wetter weather, the windy weather that will drive its way across northern parts of nicaragua, throwing lots of heavy rain into honduras, and eventually a lot of heavy rain to into guatemala. come wednesday, the storm will weaken further, and it will eventually push its way out into the open waters of the eastern pacific, but plenty of showers or longer spells of rain coming in across much of central america as we go through the next 2 or 3 days maybe 500 millimeters all more for some of those spots. wet weather to into the western side of the u.s.

and notice telling rather wintry across the pacific northwest cola, also driving its way down across into california water thought it was welcome. further east is lousy dry, but pretty cold to the east coast but this is the life on the street. from the discovery of the tower is an opportunity to become some a man for the we should have a please. perhaps a little prince, a part of the viewfinder, laughter made which is you don't get the

hello again. let's remind you of our top stories here. the south, the pentagon has confirmed shah productions, and the number of u.s. troops in afghanistan and iraq by mid january. that would be just before president of the trump leaves office 2000 will withdraw from afghanistan, $500.00 from iraq leaving 2 and a half 1000 in each country. and the time has fired the top u.s. election security official who had refused. the president's unsubstantiated claims about selection for chris krebs was the head of the department of homeland security's agency that monitors election security. and ethiopia's government says its troops have achieved significant victories in the conflict with forces in the northern tikrit region. airstrikes have now been launched at the regional capital

mccalla. it's the main base for the 2, great people's liberation front which governs now the palestinian authority says it will restore coordination with israel on the eve of a visit by u.s. secretary of state mike pompei or it suspended all contact 6 months ago. and now in response to israeli plans to annex parts of the occupied west bank, it had significant impacts including organizing the transfer of palestinian patients to israeli hospitals. we will raise your contacts with those writers on financial issues on health issues on political issues on how to think that israel is ready for the most important thing is that now israel is saying that they are ready to commit themselves to the side negatives. what does this is really mean? it means that authorial it means putting the gun. it means head and it means the financial means or other issues. as there is high forces is in leicester

a summons has pressure, has been building for contact to resume the palestinians have had to deal with one of the key effects of this ending of corp, not accepting the money that israel collects on its behalf in terms of tax revenues that is now built up to some, nearly a 1000000000 u.s. dollars since may. it's meant that some 150000 employees of the palestinian authority have had to go with half salaries of these. those who aren't on the lowest pay have had to go with half salaries. it's had a big economic impact of that. combined with the coronavirus pandemic has seen unemployment rise to officially nearly 30 percent. some estimates put it at more than 40 percent. so there's a big economic incentive to restore these ties. there's also a political incentive because of the incoming biden ministration. we know that there have been contacts between the biden campaign as was and presumably now the biden transition team. it is certainly a way of showing that they are open to

a ration of some possibility towards progress under a new administration. it does though, put in some jeopardy efforts towards reconciliation with other palestinian factions, hamas and others have criticized this move, saying that it is going back to cooperating with an occupying power. and so the talk of possible conciliation possible elections on the palestinian side now looks to become less likely. well, meanwhile, the u.n. agency for palestinian refugees has warned that it's facing a financial crisis. and laurie staged a protest outside the agency's headquarters in gaza, city against a reduction of their salaries. the agency has asked for emergency donations to try to help make up a shortfall of $70000000.00 to avoid the suspension of essential health and education services. the u.s. was the agency's biggest donor until president trump cut funding back in 2018.

peru's new interim president has called for calm after he was sworn in from cisco sagacity is the country's 3rd leader in just one week. the former world bank official will serve until national elections are held in april. peru has been in turmoil since the removal of president martin vickery from office last week. over unproven corruption allegations that all led to widespread protests. well 3, former pro-democracy politicians have been arrested in hong kong. police are questioning ted, queen eddie chew, and ray chan. they're suspected of disrupting a legislative meeting held in june to discuss a law which criminalizes any insult to the chinese national anthem. well, our correspondent sara clark is in hong kong for us. sara. i remember that meeting there was something thrown into the chamber it was that these

34, the lawmakers that have been arrested for their role in that particular incident where they're being accused of throwing a liquid at the president. and what that liquid was, we don't know, but certainly said he was distressed at this particular incident. and it was during the 2nd reading of the national anthem bill, which was very controversial at the time that all 3, i should note, have been charged with other offenses prior to wednesday's arrest ted, where he's been arrested previously for writing charges, $82.00. and they've been arrested in the past for a similar charge which is disrupting disrupting the lives of council process. now, i should say it's part of a wider clamp down by beijing and hong kong to try and gag any dissent. on november 1st and 2nd, we saw 8 pro-democracy politicians that were also arrested and charged over heated meeting. you might recall in the china where there were fighting each other battle to get the control over a particular position on the committee meeting. so it's a widespread clampdown by hong kong and beijing to gag dissent after last year's

protests. and it's a campaign by china to install loyal patriotism to the motherland. so we also expect further arrests to come in coming over coming months. sara, given the crackdown that you talked about all that we've seen in recent weeks and months. what is the state of the pro-democracy movement now in hong kong? we saw the extraordinary move last week by the pro-democracy camp in the hong kong legislature resign. and i resigned over these disqualification of 4 pro-democracy politicians by china for apparently not being loyal to the government. now the hong kong government described this particular incident where that was qualified as legal constitution and reasonable. but the pro-democracy movement clearly didn't believe that was the case in china, said it had the right to unseat any lawmaker who didn't. it will deem the idea and have violated their own mess resignation last week, which now sees hong kong effect of parliament have no opposition cap, which means the government can push through the legislation that they want to know . we had elections planned for september this year. the government puts part in

that till next year, due to cope of the covered pandemic, and social distancing of it. certainly, we expect more over coming months and certainly more wrists ahead of next year's election, which we expect towards the end of the year. sarah clarke on the conference and hong kong, thanks so much there. well, the united states has agreed to drop drug charges against mexico's former defense minister salvador was arrested in los angeles last month on suspicion of links to drug trafficking. a joint statement between the 2 countries said to the guests could be investigated in mexico and charged under mexican or if needed. john heilemann is in mexico city. it's been a real bombshell bit of news, general salvatore, sam frey girls who was the ex head of mexico's armed forces under the previous president to this one was arrested by the united states in los angeles airport. and he was accused of basically helping and protecting

a cartel in mexico. the indictment said that prosecutors had actually found messages on a cell phone belonging to him in direct contact with one of the leaders of that cartel. and he was referred to as reno, which translates as the godfather. so they felt that he, they had a very strong case, u.s. authorities against this very, very high ranking mexican general. and they were bringing those charges against him . it was a big for brawl on both sides of the border. it seemed to point to corruption at the highest levels in mexico, under obviously the previous administration. and then suddenly those charges have now been sought to have been dropped by the u.s. attorney general. and in a joint statement with the mexican adjourned attorney general, he said that that process will now be continued to infect. investigation against general, for eagles will be continued in mexico if appropriate, it will be brought brought to trial. now, hurricane has weakened to

a tropical storm, as it pushes across central america. but ahead nicaragua, as a category 4 with howling winds and massive south forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes reports. this is what the of hurricane looked like from the sky, but on the ground it brought more devastation to central america, already battered by a major hurricane 2 weeks ago. where unleashed to rancho flooding and winds of 250 kilometers an hour and nicaragua before reaching honduras on tuesday. it left a trail of destruction as the military struggled to bring people to safety. $40000.00 were evacuated from their homes in the 80000, not, not the number, but on their we have nowhere to go. we can only hope that god will have mercy on us

. there. made landfall just 25 kilometers from where hurricane hedo hit 2 weeks ago, killing more than 120 people. this time the death toll might be considerably lower after high, you know, it was downgraded to a tropical storm. here on the preliminary report, we were given deals with toppled trees, light posts and electrical lines, also roofs of destroyed homes and businesses. high yoder 1st pushed over to colombian islands of san andres, simply monday. it is the strongest storm to hit colombian territory on record. i spoke with the mayor of providencia, he gave me information about the damage, which we were able to see from the flight up to 99 percent of our infrastructure has been damaged. there's been an unprecedented number of storms and hurricanes this season. it is turned out to be even west and we thought it started earlier and

is going to end even late. for example, continued flooding in countries like guatemala honduras in nicaragua, is going to affect the incoming harvest. and we, this will severely strained subsistence farmers and already, whilst it's still early days, it is quite, it is quite clear that this will extend the emergency even into the into need 2021 . but for now, the attention remains on the still heavy rains that could bring more flooding and deadly landslides, in the region's already saturated soil. listen, the saudi arabia has told yemen's her face that it will sign a u.n. proposal for a nationwide cease fire if the group agrees to a buffer zone along the kingdom's borders. now if a deal is actually struck, it would mark the biggest breakthrough in efforts to reach a political settlement since the conflict began back in 2014, u.s.

president elect joe biden pledged in his election campaign to halt arms sales to saudi arabia to pressure riyadh to end the war turkey's parliament has given president fresh uptight about iran's government permission to deploy peacekeepers to azerbaijan. a joint mission with russia will monitor for any violations of the cease fire that ended fighting between azerbaijan and armenia in the disputed region of nick on a car bomb. while the head of the international olympic committee is encouraging athletes to get vaccinated against the 19 when possible, thomas back finished a 2 day visit to tokyo at the national stadium. it's one of the venues for the games which have now been delayed by a year because of the pandemic. 11000 athletes are expected to compete in tokyo and 2021. the french parliament is debating proposed legislation that would ban images of police officers faces from being spread online or broadcast. supporters say it will help protect the police,

but critics see it as an attack on free speech. the taschen battle reports from paris, french documentary, the monopoly of violence, exposes and examines police brutality in france, focusing on recent yellow face protests, but also taking in the suburbs. the hiring watch, it uses footage shot by journalists, all members of the public showing clips like this though, may not be possible in the future. the french government has proposed a new security law, part of which would crack down on the broadcast or sharing of images of police officers. filmmaker, david, you train says the bill destroys basic freedoms. is that of the lawmakers want to stop the free circulation of information and knowledge because in the last few years, france has discovered police violence. it's something that, in reality, has existed for a very long time in the suburbs, but was not documented in this way. video has been used in several high profile

cases of alleged police violence in the country, the death of delivery man, cedric sure, via during a police check in paris in general, was filmed by a passer by footage. the lead to an inquiry in parliament m.p.'s debated the bill if passed a person could be jailed for up to a year and find more than $50000.00 for broadcasting sharing identifiable images of a police officer with the intention of harming them out. so i journalists and opponents, the law gathered to protest. campaigners fear that if journalists and citizens are dissuaded from filming the police, it will make it harder to hold some officers accountable for their actions. and some may act with impunity. but the government says the law is necessary to protect the safety of police officers. you say it's not about stopping journalists from working. the law doesn't impact the right to inform for journalists or citizens. but it prevents police officers from having their identities put on line with cost

of violence or to be subject to reprisals. they can have grave consequences. protect doing the police for violence while on duty is essential, says this police union spokesperson, but he says the new law is not the answer. i love to see them all and to be involved community. if the government would clear on the role of the police, what they can and cannot do in the schools would not be necessary. only wrested demonstrations and recent attacks have prompted the government to take a tougher line on security. but instead of working on building more trust between police officers and the public, some say the new law threatens to erode it. natasha butler al jazeera paris program. the started today because the headlines are out as air. the pentagon has confounded shah productions, and the number of u.s. troops in afghanistan and iraq, by mid january, just before president donald trump leaves office 2100 afghanistan 500 from iraq

leaving 2 and a half 1000 in each country. letters for my.