the headlines: the kurds of northern syria say they've done a deal with president assad's government in attempt to stop the turkish invasion of their territory. syria's government has confirmed it will send troops to "confront turkish aggression" as turkey continues its military operation against the kurds. china's president, xijinping, has issued a stern warning against dissent as protests continue in hong kong. several rallies, which began peacefully, have descended into clashes between riot police and protesters. some of the demonstrators are now using the new tactic of attacking the territory's pro—beijing businesses. rescuers have been working through the night injapan to try to reach people affected by floods and landslides triggered by typhoon hagibis. japanese emergency services say at least 35 people were killed by the storm, which brought wind speeds of over 200km/h.

now on bbc news, dateline london. hello and welcome to the programme, which brings together some of the uk's leading media commentators with the foreign correspondents who write for the folks back home under the dateline ‘london‘. pope francis appoints new cardinals to shape his legacy — could more than married priests be on his "to do" list? as turkey shows that the powerful abhor a vacuum, in this case, in northern syria, could there be a second arab spring as the power—less resist? with me are the french—algerian journalist nabila ramdani. catherine pepinster, the former editor of the catholic weekly, the tablet. agnes poirier who writes for the french news magazine marianne. the broadcaster michael goldfarb,

whose podcast is the first rough draft of history. but first, before all that, brexit, forjournalists, the story that keeps on giving. it has been a very strange week because we had this rather gloomy report saying a deal was essentially impossible. then leo varadkhar and boris johnson went for a walk in the park and suddenly things were back on and now we're in a tunnel. should be pleased or baffled? it depends if there is light out of the tunnel. we will see. it looks like boris johnson gave a concession or rather had a glimpse of the real world and suddenly thought, ok, this is it. it looks as if we are back to something that the eu actually proposed two years ago, which is a border on the irish sea.

we do not know the details, the eu is interested and one thing, whether it works or not, and whether controls and checks take place, and now, the irony is that as part of what theresa may's proposal was about a year ago. we'll see whether there is a deal, probably, hopefully in a few days‘ during the summit and then the dup has been quite silent, usually they reject it straight away. they did not do that, so there is a little glimmer of hope, so that is saturday the mother of all battles at the house of commons, next saturday. but of course the opposition, labour could say, ok, we will attach it with a vote for a second referendum. on that question of what happens at westminster, is it a sense amongst those who are in favour

of leaving the eu that actually what is changed is not only the personalities, but also the timing and now because the deadline is no—one seems to want to go through beyond october 31 because a practicalities, selling out the conservatives because of the threat from the brexit party who say they are all traitorous and potentially contribute to their defeat in a general election, many people in the conservative party would not abort the deal six month ago might buy it now. what struck me about this is that journalists are often called deadline bandits, we work to the deadline and it seems that now we have deadline bandits among the politicians, the bureaucrats and in some ways, it makes me furious. we have all been enduring this for so long, and now, as you were just saying, we may end up with something that theresa may was talking about quite some time ago. imagine how she feels. it is not so dissimilar

from one she had rejected. absolutely, but the house of commons has become more complicated since then, we have independent conservatives, there are defectors, it will be interesting to see boris johnson can get this through. there has been some suggestion that there are around 23 labour mps have been indicating to brussels they may well go for signing up to the deal. even without a dup, there is a possibility for boris johnson? provided he gets a deal which we still do not know because we haven't even entered the tunnel. the tunnel is the idea of isolating the negotiators from the watching media. when theresa may was resigning. i was on the show and i did predict that boris johnson would essentially move a couple of semicolons on her withdrawal agreement, claim the credit and go to the country and get a big victory in a general election, which i still think is what he plans to do.

there are still a lot to be done and 21 former conservative mps still in the house of commons and you've got the faction in the labour party that feel we have to honour the vote of three years ago. all of that can happen, but we have always in talking about it on this programme forgotten there are 27 other countries on the other side of the english channel and you have to take into account how they will view these changes. i agree with catherine, i think words like positive and constructive are terms coming out of the entire brexit saga, but that was always going to be predictable because we are so close to crucial deadlines and of course whatever they are thinking or doing they have to at least understand they are locked into intensive discussions. but i think despite eleventh—hour hope the realistic prospect is a further delay,

which will allow time for much more dramatic episodes and speculation. before yet another spurious deadline. we have hit our deadline on that subject. a final word if i may, what this really shows is brexit is not a destination, but an ongoing journey and it has become shorthand for britain's ongoing discussions with its trading neighbours. 20 years ago, they said much the same about devolution and we are still on that particular road. this weekend, the uk's anglicans willjoin the celebrations as a former anglican is canonised by the pope. john, later cardinal, newman tried to turn the clock back in the church of england, restoring some of the beliefs and rituals which had existed before the english reformation and the split with rome. eventually, he converted instead. pope francis will preside at a time when the catholic church is considering turning back the clock many centuries to the days before priests were required to be unmarried and celibate.

in terms of what the pope is up to this is the strictly observing catholic tradition, the miracles that have to be recognised and approved before he could be made a saint. why then is pope francis so willing to confront the traditionalists over the question of married priests? one thing i would point out about cardinal newman is that he was somebody who actually said he would drink to conscience first and the pope second. he was a great advocate of conscious being really important. perhaps pope francis is thinking about what his conscious is telling him. we have had this great gathering in rome in recent days of people from the amazon, the synod of the amazon where they are talking about the issues that affect the people of the amazon basin. one of those things is the environment — pope francis is very passionate

about the state of god's creation and the impact of climate change, but the people of the amazon lived great distances from priests. they need priests and there was a consultation before this gathering of bishops from the amazon to ask people what they wanted and they said, we need more priests, therefore, we need married men to be priests. so this has been put on the agenda. it is interesting because pope francis is listening to what they are saying, he's asking the bishops to discuss it and those bishops seem to be indicating that they think it is a good thing as well. the vatican loves bumf, it loves reports and paperwork so there has been a report before this synod coming out of the people of the amazon, the bishops from the amazon will then produce a report, pope francis will read it and then he will produce something and it may well say people of the amazon can

have married priests. could it be a trojan horse, opening up the whole question for the rest of the church? can you isolate it? you can isolate it in different ways, you can have a bishop sau i want this married man to become a priest, you can have a region say we want our region to have them and the pope cancer yes. i don't know if it is a trojan horse. i know there is resistance. that is a strong — and ever since francis ascended to the papacy — a strong contingent of ultra conservatives and they have broken cover. steve bannon, whose name keeps coming up, is a leader and a behind—the—scenes convener of the global first world anti—francis group.

i note with some joy that his attempt to start a right—wing catholic place just south of rome, they have been thrown out. the italian government essentially threw them out this week. so, that is good. on the other hand, as someone who is not party to all this, what i do wonder, going back deep into the history of the church, i have been reading the new book by tom holland, about the history of christianity in the west, the idea of celibacy as an add—on, it seems not directed by the heavens, but one that is deeply mundane, it was a necessary political manoeuvre at the end of the roman period, the beginning of the middle ages and why not,

if the processes of the church have been one of constant reinvention and reformation, why not a reformation that can bring a non—celibate clergy back to the four. and women. married when why not women? i cannot put to be a roman catholic theologian, but i have heard there are references to the first pope peter having been married. that may have been a reasonable precedent and traditionalists are of course furious as you would expect but with a number of priests right down they have to do something and in many ways pope francis as being an innovator and the slick henry newman was in bringing this very controversial issue to the fore. the catholic church is in terrible crisis, probably the worst it's known since the inquisition.

in the world we live in, it is not only about the end of celibacy for priests and nuns, but also the status of divorces. if the catholic church wants to have any future, it needs to live in the time that it lives in, that is to say priests need to be able to marry, like the anglicans. and he is thinking about the future as well, because last weekend, he got to the stage when he appointed enough cardinals that they will ultimately choose his successor. yes, that's right. it is one of the thing popes do, they appoint cardinals to the college of cardinals who enter the conclave to elect the next pope. it is also the current pope tries to shape this college and ensure his legacy continues...

but of course john paul ii and pope benedict xvi tried to shape the college of cardinals and they were very different popes to francis, who elected pope francis does not necessarily work that way. this is a church that is hugely important to so many people who are practising catholics and has huge political influence for those who are not, but also a church with many, you think of the south american and african church, quite different in terms of their outlook. it is interesting mention africa and other parts of the world because at one time the catholic church was very much a european church and something that pope francis has focused on is the fact it is in decline in europe, it is growing in other parts of the world and being from latin america himself, that is clearly something that has been his focus.

in washington, it's been a case of donald duck as the flak flies in the impeachment inquiry. the us president was bombarded by fellow republicans too after he abruptly announced he was bringing home us troops from northern syria. you don't have to be a cynic to think the timing might be connected with president trump's troubles at home, which had been clogging the air waves. it's also a recep tayyip erdogan—pleasing move. turkey's president has long wanted to create what he calls a safe zone — a place to deposit the hundreds of thousands of refugees his country has been hosting — and by the way, to push syria's kurds away from his border. to president erdogan, kurds, almost without exception, are trouble — potential allies for turkey's own restive minority. this weekend president trump are saying he would be more than happy to negotiate a ceasefire between turkey and the syrian kurds, that is a case of trying to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted. the overnight news was, the idea was the kurds and north—eastern syria had been instrumental in pushing isis

back into feeding isis, 10,000 lives lost and many more casualties. embedded with them when 50 to 100 american observers, special forces and what did last week which initiated the whole sequence of chaos as he had a long phone call with erdogan who has been trying to get in there for more than a year and in his wayjust willy—nilly put out a tweet saying i am withdrawing all american troops. and he had not consulted with anyone on his national security team, the defence department, and i doubt he even consulted with the secretary of state to whom he is relatively close. instant chaos because the meaning of this was to give a green light for erdogan to finally do this thing, he has been threatening to do for a long time which is — i have been to the border many times, it is a

beautiful, green, fertile plain that runs between and you could hardly know there is a border between turkey and syria except that every half a kilometre that is a watchtower for the turkish army and they have been there for decades. he does this and within 72 hours just as you would expect the turkish army goes into north—eastern syria, they have always regarded the syrian kurds is an extension of the turkish kurds with him they have been fighting an insurgency for independence for decades. involved in domestic terrorism. there you have the basic sequence but he never spoke to the department of defence and so these american observers we re still there and yesterday they were shelled. luckily... a nato country essentially put another under the bombardment. luckily no one was injured, but in war things happen.

and if something were to happen i think we would be — in at this level, a higher power but of chaos. at the lower level anyone who pays attention to this knows that many isis fighters have been imprisoned, guarded by the very kurds that erdogan is now fighting and within a day — jailbreaks — and so you have the prospect of a renewed isis islamic state insurgency. this is not a stable part of the world anyway but at the moment with what is happening the protest and a rock with concerns about iran, adding another element of potential chaos, presumably has the risk of a much wider reverberation. i think what nobody should be underestimating in all this is the devastating implication that this

could have not just for the middle east but globally. turkey is escalating offensive on syria could lead to a further displacement of 300,000 people for example all at a time when america and european countries are showing absolute reluctance to admit more refugees, the turkish president erdogan is also speaking about creating a safe zone for refugees in the north—east of syria. but there is nowhere the chances of anyone being safe are next to zero especially of the conflict escalates. there i say meanwhile you have the un refugee agency who is quite rightly saying that further conflict would lead to less humanitarian aid being delivered and the possibility of having isis

having a resurgence and remember that this monstrous movement was one of the consequences of conflict such as iraq so if we allow such was to go on indefinitely than violent groups will take advantage of the chaos. this is clearly something of concern to europeans as well, how do they try and influence what is happening given the us decision has been made? if only europe had an army. but that was always fought by britain but anyway i think we all felt so sick this week and i do not know a single kurds, you don't need to have gone to the middle east to know how valiant and brave they have been, fought like lions for us and for the whole world, defeating and waging that war and that is how we thank them and this isjust absolutely disgusting.

we are all hostages of trump who with just the flick of a twitter finger does this and it is so wrong on so many levels because apart from the fact do not abandon and betray them in that way, let's be pragmatic, you have isis fighters who are injail plus the families, 70,000 people who are going to escape any next few days are going to go back to their home countries in europe so it is creating and that saves zone he is talking about a death corner. that old phrase, "blow back" is something we and the americans should worry about. and europe looks again quite powerless and that is of course another element. you said only between 50 and 100 us troops, they cannot really and even then as advisers,

when the really holding back a tide in that sense? their presence because the united states is slowly exceeding its leadership in the world under donald trump. which is quite remarkable, stepping back and i had to step back to far from people i know in that region but it seems that the sequence of this event is about providing russia, iran and turkey leadership and trying to solve the syrian crisis civil war, for another war. they will not use the same standards of conflict resolution that the us would. having up to 100 advisers kept turkey from doing

this, that is why immediately trump tweeted this, everyone in washington who followed this through up their hands who say it is only 50—100 people, only a couple of thousand us troops in syria so that is nothing but it is their presence because it is america, and when you step back and suddenly having american troops there at some point in the future will not be that kind of safeguard for people who need a safeguard. one thing that strikes me that i thought about a moment ago is the way in which the kurdish people always seem to be the victims and the problem as they are stateless and we have had this problem for such a long time. there was that moment in the 905 when something was done to help the kurdish people and we had the safe haven to protect them from saddam

but this shows that we really have got to think again, the un has to think again about the plight of the people of kurdistan and something needs to done to recognise their situation. they are caught in the crossfire. i want to ask you a kind of related point about stability across the region and how much people are prepared to put up with. we have a ready scene the street protests and iraq, i saw a statistic which surprised me which was that poverty in egypt now claims a bigger proportion of the population than before the arab spring in 2011, signs of discontent in other countries. could be reaching a moment where that once again leads to some a popular uprising on is that a naive european hope? i don't think there is much european or western interest in that part of the world that is one of the things that actually trump understood, he knows that by far

the priority on most americans mindset as angry nationalists popular with day populism as in britain. they were not be thinking about this conflict, not high on their mindsjust as the syrian war which is kind of a 300,000 lives and displaced millions more is not high, not a priority on peoples' minds in this part of the world. but there i say as michael was saying we should not forget russia's position in all this, it remains a firm backer of president assad and is by far the most powerful power involved in syria. and american foreign policy hawks should be worried that putin could use the turkish offensive as an excuse to expand russian influence because beyond having strategic military

bases in syria they also have lucrative oil and gas contracts and actually they would love the us to stay completely out of this area, it could be that russia could now be playing the role of a mediator to try and stop the bloodshed between the turks and the kurds and strengthening their position. this is the 19th century all over again in which and i do think in the long run erdogan has overplayed his hand because eventually he has been buying russian military equipment and nato does not like that because they will have to integrate the systems, what you will see over the next five years regardless of whether trump was re—elected and i do not think he will be, russia is now sorted itself and formed a strong partnership with iran and you have this new geopolitics forming when you are coming out of the black sea and the caspian

with russia now becoming a regional hegemonic is america has pulled back and even people who are against wars and iraq will be happy with the results from that. thank you all very much. thank you forjoining us. that's it for dateline london for this week. we're back next week at the same time. goodbye. hello, that we can brought us a mix of weather, many basis or rental on sunday, this is how we ended the day

sunday, this is how we ended the day sunday evening, the son said fairly dramatic colours there. across many parts of the country, through the week ahead we still have some really the forecast, and unsettled sorry for stops some sunshine as well particular tuesday. monday morning mist up it's an initial across northern ireland and showers across artistic and to work their way northwards across england to the davis up some heavier boundary, surface water. northern england and essence of thejudge surface water. northern england and essence of the judge said dry with sunshine temperatures in the mid teens, that area of renal push northwards across northern england through monday night into tuesday morning. a straight tuesday morning but lack the dizzy quite a lot of the cloud, mist and mac are bound to. should brighten up with the down tuesday as wrinkly as to the east, quite a bit of dry weather, sunny spells and temperatures generally between about 12— 15 degrees. goodbye for now.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: syria's government says it will send troops to "confront turkish aggression" as turkey continues its military operation against the kurds. new tactics from hong kong's hardcore, pro—democracy protesters, attacking pro—beijing targets while dodging the police. japan deploys thousands of troops and rescue workers as the true scale of typhoon hugibis becomes apparent. and we talk to one of the most acclaimed directors of all time, martin scorsese, about his latest film, the irishman. it's about power, love and betrayal and, ultimately, the price you pay for the life you lead.