>> the syrian army arrives at a northern town, coming to the aid of kurds. we will be speaking to our correspondent in a minute. democratic of

congo called for a strike over the plan to postpone voting for one million people. the country's leaders say there is no reason to delay the vote. congress chooses to delay budget deliberations until next wednesday. there is no obvious end in sight to the government shutdown. hundreds of thousands of federal workers do not know when they will do next be paid. thank you for tuning in. the syrian army says it has entered a town in the north of the country for the first time in years. militia urge the government to protect the town from turkish attacks. post troops.wed to

we speak to jasper mortimer. havear syrian troops arrived at the outskirts of the city but they have not taken control from the ypg. what is the syrian army's mission there?? eplace amemerican .ontrol thesee are supported by the u.u. military. the syrian government doeses not want to have a battle with the u.s. m military. days, forcesew gather on n one side and the fre

ririan army armrmed and paid by gathering on beenn the other of the town. there is going to be a a race to take the t town. i will not s say who will wiwin. lie with theges syrian government forces. syrian democratic forces are largely kurdish. i expect them to side with the syrian government forces and they hold the central part of the town at the moment. turkey has made it clear what it is going to do with the kurdish militia. airpower intervenes, it could stop in advance by the rebels. heard that turkey is

aiming to teach kurdish militants in syria a lesson. what does he mean by that? what erdodogan wants to d do is for turkish forces to march into theheastern s syria, held by kurdish militia, the northernmomost strip off northeastern syria is aa kurdish majority area. he wants to send turkish troops into the northeastern syria, .lobber the ypg russia is opposed to this. the spokeswoman for the russian foreign ministry told the press

that when america leaves northern syria, the syrian government shows to inherit control. that i is according to international law. the syrianargue government has lost its legitimacy. arepoint is the russians rooting for the syrian government to take control. the turkish defense f foreign ministerer a and chief of intelligence are flying to moscscow to disiscuss with ee russians, to negegiate whether they can go into northern syria or not. mortimer reporting. thank you. ofthe democratic republic congo, opposition leaders are calling for a general strike. they are furious at plans to

postpone voting in the presidential election in three areas. a move would affect over one million people. it would not be safe for some people to vote on sunday, citing security and health concerns. the opposition believes it is an attempt by the government to cling to power. i spoke to our correspondent in city therere.in a than was slslightly calmemer usual. most o of the shops are open. the problem is the oppositioion would plan this general strike. it did not have enough time to get its message across, to tell supporters and the people of the

kinshasa, the majority, it is day to day living. people have to go to work every morning or they cannot make a living. surely t the authorities will be hahappy about this city not responding to the opposition's call on friday. >> a partial government shutdown is likely to drag into the new year. trump failed to reach an agreement with congress on an emergency funding bill. congress returned thursday, but could not find a way out of the impasse. on $5 billionting of funding for his border wall

with mexico. democrats are refusing to give the wall a green light. halt theations to partial government shutdown work over before -- government shutdown were over before they even began. jim mcgovern said he was taken aback by the hostility of the house of representatatives. >> i was trying to reopen the government. toing to get recognition bring a resolution to the floor. i thought it was a reasonable request. i was not given the courtesy of being recognized on the house floor. >> it is the seventh day of the third shutdown of the year. 20% of the government is no longer being funded. this was triggered by trump's billion forhat $5 the border wall would be

included in the spending fell. present was the mile high wall between the president and democrats. >> he has made a number of reasonable proposals and yet, what it has been met with is a wall of nonnegotiable democrats. in theirats are unitedd opposition of the border wall. they have offefered to consideda $1.3 billion border security passage. the democrats take over the house of representatives in 2019 and republicans widen their majority in the senate. controlslican party both chambers. his budget passed in the house last week. come january 3, house democrats will be under pressure to get funds flowing.

to reopensi promised the government. >> there is more news coming up in 15 minutes. >> welcome to the world this year. thank you for joining us. editor inwelcome the which brings you the best of the world's press and a digest.

it has been a busy year. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. doesimes a single event change the course of history. a veteran 201018, journalist, jamal khashoggi, walks into h his consulate in istanbul to obtain a marriage certificate. he is murdered by a hit squad that includes the inner circle of the 33-year-old crown prince. he was not just anyone. his columns appeared in the washington post. many western leaders and business executives had gotten

cold feet. is this a turning point, this event? >> no. jamal khashoggi for sieg -- jamal khashoggi fatigue is setting in. years ago, the west new what i got into with the saudi's. it is a medieval culture. surprised.ld be they have been dealing with dissidents in this matter for centuries. >> there have been resolutions for the u.s. senate. haveressures the saudi's come to peace talks. there is still a blowback. would like to see hard-core

evidence. the bottom line is western leaders would love to get rid of him and see him go. they also know how to deal with him. this young prince is not going anywhere. western leaders will have to deal with him. hinge all you want. >> craig is right to say it will not change a lot. has brought two issues on the floor. everyone started to realize there was a war going on in this saudi prince was the one who did

it. at least that is something. we have been reading about things that were going to change this country. it is not going to change the country. i am happy he gives the woman not aght to drive, it is change of society. rhe jamal khashoggi murde showed that to the world. does buy money at the end of the day. >> we saw these pictures of starving children in yemen. the next day, the chancellor had to call off weapons delivery to

saudi arabia. it would not have any public support. showed how we acted differently. at the same time, macron was bursting out that germany should not care about saudi arabia because france is doing important business with that country. is sad we are not together here in europe. when someone is murdered like that, when children starve, it is a mirror of what we have to get together here, a common position to saudi arabia. >> germany and canada, and on the other hand, other western powers, is something that has come up through this.

>> this took away any shred of a ,otion the liberal democracies france and the u.s., especially the u.s., are anyway morally superior to these dictatorships. does not matter if he killed jamal khashoggi. ofhave $110 billion worth arms sales to saudi arabia. forget it. our son of a bitch can commit murder and we don't care because he is our son of a bitch. arabia, like saudi israel, and the u.s. were spoiling for a fight with iran.

sort of world war iii. it was shaping up a dangerous situation. the murder of jamal khashoggi has left that possibility. the u.s. senate is turning against saudi arabia. that is a war powers act trump would not have authorization to attack iran. i do not think it is excluded, but the possibility has lessened. we should ask -- how did the west get it so wrong? we love reformers. he let women drive. cinemas. he cracked down on the religious police. a reporter for the new york arab springd about in saudi arabia and we fell into this trap until he started doing

and rash, destabilizing, immoral things. basically the west thought he was good news. how did we get it so wrong? >> saying one man would like to offer mohammad bin salman the benefit of the doubt. >> they have not assessed anything yet. it is a premature report. we will see. we will have a report tuesday. it will be very complete. we will be doing things to some people we know who were involved and we are being tough on people. >> what is the calculus of the president? >> i have a new year's resolution which i have started. -- i refuse to discuss anald trump unless there is

american medical association board certified psychiatrist on the panel. since none of my colleagues fit that bill, i will leave this to other people. i will add one thing. i look at trump as a dramatic character. forensicave the autopsy of the russian investigation to you guys. donald trump never wanted to be president of the united states. he did it to build his brand. he did not think he was going to win. was this expectation shared amongst many colleagues that once he reached the white house, he was going to undergo this change. he is monetizing himself. -- he is not going to

stop doing that. --you brought in a copy of during the irish times. .t has this photo this little smirk caught your eye. >> the facial expression is extraordinary. he is looking down on trump. guy. a massively tall, big the way he is looking down at mbs has a huge superiority complex. >> we heard remarks from trump.

we had the press conference in helsinki. a press reporter gets up and says who do you believe when it comes to russia? vladimir putin is standing next to you and your own intelligence services and he doubts his own intelligence services. >> he has done it twice. he did it with mbs and with putin. is russian investigation stunning. there are 37 people who have charged by robert mueller. praising putin, opposing more sanctions against russia, planning a trump tower in moscow, allegations he offered vladimir putin a penthouse apartment in his trump

tower. he should be tried for treason. >> he cannot be. >> i know he cannot be. >> let's tell the viewers why. >> a can only be triggered as a crime by the united states of america if the united states declares war on the country. we are not at war. therefore, treason cannot be triggered. >> he cannot be impeached, either. he cannot be indicted while he is a sitting president. >> he can be indicted if the indictment is sealed. anytime treason -- sorry, i start to boil. >> trump sent a tweet saying there is no collusion.

, collusionn, legally is only a crime in various specific laws relating to financial transactions, which do not apply here. he can be taken out on the emoluments clauses, which says a sitting president should not be profiting from the job and he is certainly- and he is getting that from his hotel across the street. there are ways to get this guy, who i refuse to speak about, but united states congress and lawyers have not gone about it. advisor.is a legal >> your reaction about how, if hashing, the mbs affair rendered more remote the chance iran.ull-blown war with

>> there was a narrative by this coalition of israel and saudi arabia. iran was the biggest threat to -- it is still what is sold as the story. there is the impact of sanctions, which is very harsh. hasprospect of imminent war gone a bit further. administration thinks they might dismantle the regime by sanction and putting the irani -- people to >> subversion. >> since last year, china has interned more than one million minorities in the far west the country. most of them, muslims.

here is a recent piece outlining how the consultants discuss their work at a retreat they held four miles away. has the veneer gone off mbs? be.t could it is one of the most important things that happened last year. we are not able to look at xi jinping as the continuation of who governed china in the last 40 years. yearsill celebrate the 40 and it is a makeup because it is supposed to show china is a continuing 80 government, when reign of xi jinping is more

brutal than donald trump. reeducation camps, a million people, this thing we never wanted to see again on this earth and many people in china, governments have also been fighting to close these camps. it seemed like an accomplishment of china to get away from that tradition. now they are back into it. on thee seems to agree evidence. >> we were wondering if saudi arabia's confidence has overstretched. >> you talk about globalization and a frfree market and d he ish us and it is very hard not to keep believing in him and what he is saying. the person arrest of

from huawei. without anypeople reason. >> technically a hostage taken. >>

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