from berlin. the syrian government deploys its army to a key kurdish held town to deter a kurdish attack, as syrian and kurdish back forces move in. damascus says kurdish forces requested it support. but where does that leave the kurds, whose main ally, the u.s., prepares to leave the region. tensions rise in the democratic republic of the congo ahead of sunday's delayed presidential election. opposition candidates call for a general strike.

indonesians struggle to get back to daily life after last weekend's devastating t tsunami we meeeet one man w who made a living from the sea, but now the tourists who bought his fish are gone. ♪ helena: i am helena humphrey. another twist in the syrian civil war, as government forces offer support to the kurds at their request. the deployment of the syrian army comes ahead of a threatened turkish assault. while russia welcomes the move and russia -- turkey decries it, ankara is sending its defense and foreign ministers to moscow for talks. following the u.s. withdrawal of troops from the region. reporter: the syrian army is on its march to secure a town

against the turkish attack. syrian television has broadcast triumphal news. after we received a cacall from help for the kurdish people, our troops have moved into the center of town. but so far that does not actually seem to b be the case. this video shows an empty city with syrian troops nowhere in sight.t. they were reported to still be 25 kilometers from town. to the north, turks and allied rebel forces are on the march. turkey has never said it will accept a contiguous kurdish homeland on its borders. erdogan has held fast to his plans to invade northernrn syri. >> we have e a cleararly statedd goal, t to teach the kurdish terror groups a lelesson and dre themut of thth region.n. reporter: that goal may have

just gotten easier with washington's unexpected anannouncement t that it is withdrawing troops from the area. >> the kurds have stood by the u.s. as allies in the fight against islamic statete. president trump's announcement of a withdrawal has left them in the lurch. they have opted for the syrian regime and a side rather than face a overwhelming turkish onslaught. helena: to discuss these latest developments, i am joined by international security analyst. a lot to talk about. now this apparent marriage of convenience with the syrian army ? markus: we haveve seen at least one major implication n of the u.s. withdrawal. the kurds have lost their most important element with the announced withdrawal of the u.s.

forces. therefore they have to reorients their political preference. that explains this unusual and alex acted step. as he called it, the marriage of convenience between two opposing forces. the kurdish northern militia and the syrian government. helena: that seems to be the move that has changed everything at the moment. we have heard from everyone saying that he just wants to remove terrorist organizations. can we expect turkey to stay out of syria if the syrian army takes over from the kurdish troops? markus: turkey has not stayed out of syria. it has major military operations that have led to some occupied syrian territory. i do not expect any major advance by the turkish side.

turkey has accomplished their major strategic goal, to avoid a kurdish independent state in the middle east. they accomplish this goal without intervening another time , without occupying another part of syria. i do not sue -- see a major reason for military advancement. helena: turkish and russian ministers are meeting in moscow on saturday to discuss the u.s. pullout. can we expect a truce or a common goal to come out of this discussions? markus: i am not sure what we can see. the powers emerging who are shaping the postwar syrian order. the major one in the country is a side -- assad.

and the three major outside powers are turkey, iran, and russia. the old west, to put it this way, does not play any major role in shaping the postwar syrian order. or even the postwar middle eastern order. no role for the united states and no role for the european union. helena: what we could could potentially be seeing now is a power struggle. with that in mind, might u.s. troops then decide to stay longer in the country? no date has actually been set for the pullout. markus: difficult to say. trump is rather unpredictable. it might be the case that he is revising his decision.

as far as i can see, the overarching goal has been to fight isis in the middle east. and the preference is obviously to leave u.s. forces in iraq and withdrdraw forces frfrom syria. that does mamake sense from m a strategigic point of view. because the seconond goal is to put political pressusure on ira. therefore, a military residence in syria is not desperately needed for the u.s.. helena: the president has always made that very clear. he said it is not about nationbuilding. he has always said that the u.s. are no longer the suckers. that is a direct quote. others need to continue fighting the war. will that work? markus: what we will see is a dominant president assad.

there will be a political map and a military map. the political map shows growing areas of the rule of a side -- assad. and there are certain parts that have not been reconquered by the syrian forces. he is in the drivers seat. every time we talk about the political future of syria, there is no way out of accepting that he is the dominant person. helena: good to have your analysis. thank you. let's take a look at someme of e other stories making news. a roadside bomb blast has killed two vietnamese tourist near giza. at least 12 2 more people were injured. there has been no claim of responsibibility. each of said authorities have

been fighting islamist militants since the 2011 ouster of former president mubarak. demonstrators have taken to the streets of khartoum calling on the president of sudan to step down. protests are over rising prices and the loss of security. israeli author amos oz has died at the age of 79. his doctors said on twitter that he died of cancer. he was an acclaimed novelist and essayist who wrote extensively about the israeli-palestinian conflict. here in germany, they armed forces say they are having a tough time filling the ranks. now the government in berlin is drawing up plans to recruit nationals from other eu countries.

the defense minister is especially looking to recruit poles, italians, and romanians who live in germany and speak the language. pressure on berlin has increased since president trump wants nato allies that washington could withdraw support if europe did not boost military spending. our political correspondent kate brady is covering this. kate, how significant with this movie -- move be? kate: this would be a big change for the german military. in the past, only german citizens have been able to serve germany in the military. this would be a significant move. this is not the first time that we havave heard thisis idea hern germany. it was proposed in the defense

ministry almost two years ago. there are already several other smalalleeu countrieses that recrcruit some troops from aroud the eu. this is not completely in the idea. but it would certainly be a significant move. helena: what kind of people is the army looking for? what conditions do they have to fulfill? kate: what we have been hearing from the defense ministry is that it is specialists they are targeting. i.t. specialists, doctors, medics. the conditions they would have to fulfill in order to serve are not yet so clear. of course, a good grounding in the german language would of course be a prerequisite. helena: the fact that germany needs to look outside for troops, surely that must raise

concerns? kate: it is absolutely no secret at all that germans military is not in a good shape at the moment and has not been for several years. barely a month goes by when there are stories about lack of personnel and equipment. this has become an increasing problem. now the german defense ministry is trying to get back to where they were some years ago. when the german government decided to end compulsory german military service back in 2011, that has had huge repercussions for the military in terms of personnel. they have been trying ever since to come up with creative ways to entice people to join the military. this idea that we are hearing about opening german military to other eu countries would certainly be a possible solution

to try to ease the pressure on personnel and increased numbers in the german military. helena: our political correspondent kate brady. good to talk to you. elections are taking place in the democratic republic of the congo on sunday. the country's president, joseph kabila, said that the election will go ahead. he has blamed the outbreak of the deadly ebola virus. but opposition groups say the move is politically motivated. reporter: makeshift barriricades burn and protest.. a bad omen for sunday's already contentious presidential election in a country that has not held a peaceful one since independence from belgium in 1960. residence -- residents may not

cast their vote until march. the electoral commission says that is due to the ebola outbreak and rebel fighting. more than one million of 40 million voters could be affected by the delay. >> they need to get us another president who will govern this country, and that that does not happen, we should create chaos starting from today until a solution is found. if it calls for us to die, then so be it. reporter: the president he is so angry at his joseph h kabila, ad power since 2 2001 and ww stepng asiside. the region getting its vote postponed as a stronghold for opposition to kabila and its candidates, [no audio] shadary. >> we want an election.

reporter: kabila's electoral favorite is also the target of euroropean sanctions. he a and a dozen other congolele officials stand accusused of the eu off impeding the electoral process and other human rights violations. sunday's election, already two years behind schedule, is largely without international observers, mostly because they have been denied accreditation. helena: indonesia's disaster agency has lowered the death toll from last week's tsunami. the official toll now stands at 426 dead with 23 people still missing. residents have been warned to still stay inland in case the eruption of the ana krakatau

triggers another tsunami. ana: sometimes the sea is a friend, , sometis s a foe, jamak says. he i is a fisherman who has lood to the sea for his livelihood anand his food. > i could make as much as 50 euros a week frorom fishingng. we sell food to tourists for our income. this used to be my store. the tsunami i swept the followi. ana: jamak still has his home and his family is safe. but without his store, his livelihood is uncertain. >> they used to be people on the beach every day. they came from nearby cities, even jakarta. now there is no one.

ana: it is the waves rolling into the beaches of west java that bring in many local tourists, indonesians who want to escape the frenetic pace of nearby jakarta. they come here for a quick break, especially during the holiday season. if you days ago, these waves turned into a giant tsunami. fears of a second one are keeping vacationers away, turning this once tourists spot into a ghost town. >> the government gave us some food and water. but no money to rebuild our store. that will not be enough. unless we receive regular assistance. >> the obvious things that the tsunami took away were lives and homes. but the winners have also left people in limbo, uncertain about what tomorrow will bring. helena: the new tennis season is getting underway.

one lucky couple in australia had roger federer crash part of their wedding. he was touring the famous limestone pinnacles and western all when he stumbled upon the newlyweds. they all wished each other good luck, with federer l lking to dedefend his title in january. if you are a regular viewer of europe's top football leagues, you will be well aware that the sports generates billions of dollars. that's reality does not represent the rest of the footballing world. in the african nation of govan, trying to make -- gabon, trying to make ends meet is a struggle, even for professional footballers. reporter: at first glance, it is

hard to see anything at a place. just a bunch of footballers training. but imagine playing on an empty stomach. >> these players are fighting, what can i say? they fight to come to train without having eaten. they tell me yes, coach, we are hungry. reporter: living all football is increasingly difficult and upon -- in gabon. players can go months without paymenent. >> i have been playing football for three years. it is really hard. we could no longer live without a salary. as you can see, we don't even have a jersey. reporter: the country's economic problems have had a trickle-down effect. the lack of funding and poor organization have created a chaoaotic situation. >> t the real prproblem is thate statee is not putting money into

the sport in the right places. it is not right -- exactly go to the right people. reporter: for most of these players, football is there only since of income. they only continued to play, even if their next paycheck is hanging by a thread. helena: meanwhile, here in germany, the bundesliga is on its winter break. but for one squad the break has been cut short. hanover is back on the training pitch. in their last match, this goalkeeping mistake saw them lose to duesseldorf. hanover's coach has told his players that anything but the wind in that match would cancel their holiday. he make good on that promise. the other bundesliga squads will resume training in the near -- new year. helena: financial markets are

doing their best impression of a ride at enemies apart. ben: global equities opens exacting tour than the year with dizzying volatility. u.s. stocks open higher and are only just clinging onto those gains as worries mount of slowing economic growth. the last two sessions have recovered some of the losses from a bruising december. germany's main index, the dax, but in a good showing today. but the year as a whole saw an 18% decline. markets in asia mostly rose but there's not much enthusiasm after such a rough year. i do not know if our business reporters have had a rough year, but it has been a busy year. a lot of corporate scandals. a lot of german corporate scandals. and they left corporate stories that were not scandals but really got people angry or frustrated or excited.

janel, what was yours favorite? janelle: the buyer-one santa deal was a huge deal -- bayer -monsanto. it's cornet a big chunk of the market on farm data. that has a big impact on who farms where and what. a big impact on food supply. that is something we should all take seriously. at the end of the day, we all need to eat. ben: it is one of the biggest german takeovers of all time. steven, is there something we have not reported on as widely as we should have? steven: the eurozone financial

reforms that were taken up by the eu council. what was on the table there were things like a common budget for these 19 nations that share a common currency but not the common fiscal policy. a common finance minister. deposit insurance. these were all seen as important policy that could such strengthen the eurozone. there was this great window that was seen with the election of macron and this franco-german engine to drive this policy. they strengthens the bailout fund. but all of this other stuff got tabled. there was a huge debate between northern and southern european nations about what they want the eurozone to look like. ben: that is what happens to boring stories. janelle: so much for a closer europe. i think that is big g as well.

ben: in the u.s., the partial government shutdown is set to continue into next year. over 300,000 workers face unpaid leave, which is why it the owner of a burger joint in washington is trying to do his bit to ease the pain. reporter: hot juicy burgers of melted cheese. could they be the answer to the current government shutdown? the earner of this -- owner of this are joint in washington d c thinkhe is handing out free burs to furloughed workers. >> we hope we can get the politicians into z burgers and they could hash things out o ovr a nice burger. reporter: this is not the first time z burger has done this. during the lash shutdown, they gave out 15,000 burgers every two weeks. that almost put the owner of the business.

this time he says he will take it day by day. ben: time to look into our crystal ball. it is more of a disco ball. [laughter] janelle: are we feeling festive and 2019? is that it? ben: no dancing but some serious analysis. what will we see happen in 2019? janelle: the phrase boom and bust cycle gets thrown around a lot. but it does not have to be an immutable law. if you think that the crashes really eminent. some think that the recession is upcoming. but few really agree on where on the spectrum economic performance is going to find itself. what people seem clear on is that it is not likely to get better. the imf has said that global growth is set to plateau in 2019. ben: so talk of a recession in 2020. could 2019 be the year of the

crash? steven: i think that is a very dramatic term. what we have seen as an overheated u.s. economy that has driven so much global growth, maybe to its limits. and now we are going to see those waters receding. the problem we need to look at is what does that mean for those who have not fully recovered from the recession of 2008-2009? now that will be exposed again potentially. i do think we will see lower growth but still growth throughout most of the year. ben: at the time when the european central bank and other central banks don't really have the tools to fight a recession or a more rapid slowdown. steven: they have strengthen certain mechanisms. the european stability mechanism. they check on the capitalization of banks a little bit more.

but there are a lot of bad loans about that that is being held by banks. that is a huge concern, you are right. ben: thank you very much for gazing into our disco ball. [laughter] nice doing business with you. ♪

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