you can see -- i can show you that beirut is in lebanon. it's around here, along the mediterranean coast. iran, pretty far away, actually. lot of countries in between, a lot of sand in between. nonetheless, there were many people who thought that the iranian government, the revolutionary government in iran, the islamic republic, had influence with shia groups in beirut, as elsewhere in the middle east. iran is the major shia muslim power in the region, really in the world, and in this fractious and bloody civil war in lebanon, there were shia factions, as well as sunni muslim and nonmuslim christian factions. the most important of the militant shia factions in lebanon was hezbollah. and there were a lot of people that thought iran specifically had influence with hezbollah. i'm not going to go into detail about all of the terrible strife that occurred in beirut and lebanon in the early and mid-1980's, as well as all of the other intrigue, the violence, the terrorism, the counterterrorism, that played out across the middle east in this time.

one of those spokes was in beirut, lebanon. al ghazi had a long history of arms trafficking in poland with monzer al-kassar. samir needed to penetrate his inner circle by establishing a relationship with tarek al ghazi and eventually set up a meeting with monzer al-kassar. >> at this point i'd been working with samir for a lot of years. i said do you understand if you decide to do this, that your life will change forever? you'll never be the same again. he said i'll do it. no. i made him sleep on it. go, come back tomorrow. let's talk tomorrow. kassar wouldn't take it lightly, and we're not in the business of getting anybody hurt. >> so in beirut, lebanon our confidential source samir was able to meet tarek al ghazi, develop a relationship over the course of approximately one year. he was able to gain al ghazi's trust and eventually samir asked the million-dollar question which is can you get a weapons deal with monzer al kassar for me? criminals are always cautious because the dea has built a large human intelligence network.

cross talking the shifting sands in the middle east i'm joined by my guest so i mean nate are in beirut he's a middle east analyst and in erbil we have joe lauria he is an independent journalist right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i always appreciated let me go to you first joe my introduction was very very broad. from your standpoint and you're in iraq right now what what are the most important trends affecting the middle east because there's so much going on right now unfortunately particularly the united states it's overshadowed by what i call fake news i want to do real news on this program here joe your thoughts well how is the middle east changing go ahead it's very easy to get lost in all the details like this so friendly complex particularly in syria i think the overall if you're looking for a really big picture you have to look at us. relations and in that in the subtext of the saudi iranian relations and below that the standoff between saudi arabia bahrain egypt against qatar which i think could be a prelude to conflict with ir

you could feel it shake across beirut. it was so massive.ating. >> aruck filled with explosives was driven into a compou, the midst of a marine battalion headquarters and the explosives were detonated. the four-story building collapsed on about 150 or 200 sleeping marines. >> wearing green fatigues and driving a yellow truck. the guy was smiling. >> israel had gone into lebanon to try to create a buffer zone against the palestinians, the plo. >> a battalion of american marines came out to separate the israelis from the palestinians and oversee the withdrawal of the plo from lebanon, but it got sucked in to the lebanese civil war. >> the civil war is between christians and muslims, and to the muslims it looked like we were supporting the christians. >> a big debate broke out afterwards. should we have ever put our marines in that kind of vulnerable position when they didn't have a clear politician. they were just kind of sitting there. >> the united states in the middle east was faced with an array of small forces, little cells, underground,

let me put to you what husam beides, a world bank official based in beirut, told reuters. having an average supply of 16 to 18 hours a day, it probably will have gone down to 12 hours. the technical solutions are all proven and tested, you can build the plant with the money, but he says what is needed is political will to make a decision. and that is what we are doing in this government. you know, the electricity file pops up on the government agenda every couple of weeks. so it is that frequent. we meet every week, and we are pushing this agenda very, very quickly. so when will the lights stay on, any time of day or night? well, today it is 20 hours. we are actually pushing for this to happen. there are definitely solutions which will bring electricity quickly. but we need to make sure that these temporary solutions are not past a corrupt system, they are past through the official systems, with transparency, and all contracts are signed properly. and this is what we are pushing for, as well as making sure that the longer—term solutions are unlocked very quickly, without a

ok let me go back to sammy and beirut one of the most important changes it's been going on is the change in leadership in saudi arabia in the news release or giddy about it it looks like washington is given a green light. is this really smart to embolden this young crown prince i mean you know the recent foreign policy of saudi arabia has been nothing but an utter disaster in that you know we can look at syria and we can look to yemen but it looks like the saudis are being prodded along early and given a green light from their allies does this worry you for the region and for saudi arabia itself go ahead sami. definitely that is in a new era in saudi arabia i mean some. of. appeasement that is definitely in change and. it's more. it's better for the young prince given what's going on was in yemen

his father was the president of american university in beirut. he was assassinated when it happened -- >> i was there when it happened. mr. newberger: there you go. steve, his mom, his brother, and his sisters have been clients of our firm for many years. there was the notorious terrorist attack killing probably the second most important american in lebanon after the ambassador -- in fact, "the new york times" magazine did a big story. we were able to get payments. steve is donating his share to charity, just to point out. it's just an example of how people from all walks of life in depth in this predicament. sometimes we can help them. sometimes we can't. funds.e are frozen iran has money frozen inside the united states. can you tap into that for the pavement? mr. newberger: the real question is, do they have frozen assets or blocked assets? the answer is not much. mentioned that they found in an account, actually in cities court -- in citicorp, but ,eld in an overseas account that was probably the single biggest pot of iranian assets paid -- ev

let's bring in our correspondent in beirut. he joins us live. can you give us more detail on the cease-fire announcement? >> the cease-fire announced between the formerly al qaeda linked fighters and hezbollah came into effect 6:00 this morning. after days of fighting, a battle taking place high in the mountains around the lebanese syrian border where has below been trying to eject these fighters from their only foothold on lebanese territory. speaking last night, the head of hezbollah declared a military victory. he said this has happened quicker than they expected after only a week of fighting. we are in something of a pause at the moment. negotiations are taking place for the withdrawal of the fighters in northern syria which is a opposition stronghold. way out of they situation is either through negotiations or a return to combat. put anysition to conditions on the talks s and if ththey don't succeed they will return to the military o option. have an incentive for these talks to work because although they have killed 150 or so fighters they

>> anthony: beirut. >> mario: yes like beirut. you know arak, would you like arak?d be perfect. >> mario: perfect, my drink of choice is grey goose with coconut water. >> anthony: the family story is not an uncommon one. the first members came here during the collapse of the ottoman empire arriving penniless. they worked their way up as textile merchants and branched out to run businesses that sell everything from medical equipment to real estate. >> anthony: and how large is the community now, in trinidad? >> man wearing black shirt: it's a little under 5,000. >> anthony: that's still a fairly small percentage of the --. >> man wearing black shirt: extremely small, actually we're the smallest ethnic group in trinidad. >> mario: but the most powerful, almost the most powerful. >> anthony: it's not bragging. syrian-lebanese merchant class are generally seen as the elite. >> mario: actually i'm very big in the food business, i have 120 restaurants, they call me the starbucks of the caribbean. >> anthony: i can't tell you how happy i am about this meal. i love the food

us ok jamal wakim professor of history and international relations at the lebanese university in beirut always good to have your company thank you. for following the g. twenty talks about amir putin gave his personal impression of his american counterpart. it's a trump and die of established a relationship it may sound strange but trump in real life is completely different to when he's on t.v. he's very businesslike and easy to talk with i think if we continue to work together in the way we did yesterday we'll be able to restore relations between the u.s. and russia and bring cooperation between our countries to a new level two different donald trump's you heard it right that's how the russian president puts it but mr putin met only one donald trump in that blue room on friday and as we found out from right still or should there was some positive chemistry between these two men there was so much to talk about all these issues. just about everything got touched on to one degree or another and i think there was just such a level of engagement and exchange neither one of them wanted to sto

we have a professor from the american university of beirut. he joins me from beirut.b demands are making demands of qatar including they shut down a turkish military base in the nation. and that they close al jazeera which is the only state run media in the region that allows any voice of opposition and dissew dense and israelis. what do you make of this? >> they're outrageous demands and virtually nobody in the world has fully accepted then. so the egyptians, the bahrainians are isolated in putting these very hard demands which essentially negate the sovereignty of qatar and they're willing to discuss the legitimate grievances if there are relations with islamist groups like hamas and others, relations with iran. there's a lot of issues that are legitimate issues that what qatar is willing to discuss but the way that has been done and the crude, almost infantile way that they have put the 13 demands and said you either comply or you'll have a hell of a time is really not sophisticated. it's not working and qatar is resisting. >> the saudis often do big things without

beirut in their operating different supermarket chains called supermarkets. of gambia in sierra leone. and so in the water filter when a wire comes in if it says tajik oh it will get stopped but what do you see with these geniuses figured out which is the add little dots or dashes to the actual name the payment when it match and the payment will go through and that's what i call what they were doing so i was like wow are all these payments going through when they're supposed to be stopped and then that's. i realize this was the absolute criminal operation and later on actually what the ended up doing was firing all these debt collectors in the other side of the building and hundreds of them and then they rehired them as and the money laundering compliance officers would know in my experience nothing and they just had them clearing transactions all day long. but again going back to your question i i saw the there is an emergent national security issue that needed to be a trust. and i couldn't go to the f.b.i. because they hired a former counterintelligence f.b

know something about in two thousand and thirteen september twenty third i went to lebanon i went to beirut lebanon because i thought call me crazy that the syria thing would turn into something big turns out to turn into something big right so i went over there and i've been watching you know what i think that they don't want people to know and i found this out when i went to syria in two thousand and thirteen from talking to people on the ground the united let's be very clear the united states was funding the rebels who were killing christians and by the way in true muslims and other people but if the american people really knew if they really understood hey your tax dollars and not just hillary clinton barack obama but people like john mccain were supporting this policy they'd freak out now what i've noticed is so there's there's about three things that this whole russian narrative accomplishes ok one of it is obviously to attack the president one of its own i'm a trump supporter i'm steve bannon saver reporter for some a trump supporter but that's not the only thing so part of it is to

martin jay based in beirut thank you. well the first face to face meetings here between president trump and putin had been highly anticipated in the first images to surface from the meeting did get a lot of attention this photo in particular was picked upon many compared it to a scene from the popular political drama series house of cards as putin has almost the exact same facial expression as the fictional kremlin boss victor pet throw off well there we can talk about all this to a bit further daryn stanton is where they seize their body language expert hello to you darrin. let's start with that first thing what did you make of that president trump extending an open palm and putin considering whether to take him up on the offer. was for a much. life imitating art almost because yeah i mean the thing about president trump is is a classic way of shaking hands is very much into into a dominant some power thing called a bone crusher because we've seen in recent summits of meetings of various politicians the thing about this

he grew up in beirut. his parents found an american university in beirut, which would be an important institution for missions, but training engineers and so forth in the business of oil. for a time he was president of hobart college, and in the 1940's, just as luce is articulating this vision of an american century, is giving these talks. in which he says things like this. "you and i who believe in christendom are not doomed to weakness. we serve the only totalitarian king. we who follow christ needed to cover ourselves in tolerance, charity, and wherever we walk we shall find ourselves standing on holy ground." again, a very clear indication of his faith in a broadly inclusive internationalist christian democracy. eddy will also be important, and as we will continue to discuss on wednesday, he is going to be influential in generating interest and facilitating american interest in saudi arabia. as we will look at on wednesday, saudi arabia in the 1930's becomes a field of american interest. in 1932, stand

now they are here in beirut. children were born along the way.he older boys pride themselves on being fighters already. the girls still go to one of the childrenor palestinian maintained since 1950. >> you can watch this and other american history programs on our website where all our video is archived. that's www.c-span.org/history. was an 18thheatley century boston slave and the first african-american to have her poetry published. next on american history tv, english professor barbara lewis, university of massachusetts boston, explores the time in which phillis wheatley lived. she talks about boston's treatment of slaves, and phillis wheatley's standing in her master's household. the boston public library and boston literary district cohosted this event. it is about 50 minutes. >> good evening. welcome to the boston public library's commonwealth salon where the presentation -- for the presentation remembering phillis wheatley by barbara lewis.

when we come back we go to beirut, lebanon.y with us. ♪ [music break] amy: a love song by a honduran singer. the daughter of the murdered honduran indigenous and environmental leader berta caceres, has survived an attempted attacky a group men wielding machetes. this is democracy now, i am amy goodman. officials are meeting today amidst a diplomatic standoff with the gulf nation of qatar. they imposed sanctions on the small gulf country, claiming it destabilized the area by backing terrorist groups. the saudi-led coalition has issued 13 demands on qatar including the closing of the al jazeera tv channel. other demands on qatar include ending its support for the muslim brotherhood, downgrading diplomatic ties with iran and closing a turkish military base in qatar. on monday qatar responded to the demands but their response has not been made public. their defense minister spoke in germany. >> we have seen that it is unrealistic and we cannot see action. not talking about terrorism, it is mainly talking about shutting the freedom

and everybody was going to beirut because that's where people, i went to cairo because nasir was there. it was a time of a non-alliance, anti-vietnam war so all these events affected me.so i look at my life and i say it's interesting, every phase of my life is reflected with for certain things happening socially or politically in that part of the world. i bring all these stories together and get a picture about what life might look like for a young woman growing up between damascus and jerusalem. how does life look like? it's something very different from what you see on television and i hope the reason we come to understand that part of the war is from a different perspective. >> be there is a question here. >> as you look back and reflect on growing up, it was not traditional compared to what i grew up with. how do you see, what are you thankful for, what did you get out, are you grateful? do you wish they would have done things differently? >> i don't think anything in my life and if i die to be born again i would do everything and to be honest with you, i don't. it's different. the

in 1866, of american missionaries founded the american university of beirut.ow more than 150 years later, and with ongoing american support, this university continues to educate generations of leaders in the region. today, our two countries seek to strengthen our relationship in many ways, including the pursuit of stability, mutual prosperity and peace. what the lebanese armed forces have accomplished in rect years is very impressive. in 2014, when isis tried to invade northern lebanon, the lebanese army beat them back since that time, the lebanese army has been fighting continually to guide lebanon's border and prevent isis and other terrorists, of which there e many, from gaining a foothold inside their country. the united states military has been proud to help in that fight and will continue to do so. america's assistance can help ensure thathe jet -- the lebanese army is the only defender lebanon needs. it is a very effective fighting force. threats to the lebanese people come from inside as well. hezblah is a menace to the lebanese state. the lebanese peo

when we come back, we go to beirut to look at a new amnesty report as th. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: the journalistic monitoring group airwars is reporting that the u.s.-led war against isis has killed at least a dozen civilians every single day since president trump took office. their investigation found that u.s.-led coalition airstrikes and shelling in iraq and syria killed more than 2200 civilians during trump's six months in office far higher rate of , a reported civilian casualties than under the obama administration. amy: this comes as amnesty international reports the u.s.-led coalition and the u.s.-backed iraqi forces violated international law and may have committed war crimes during the battle to seize control of mosul from isis. lieutenant general stephen townsend, who oversees the campaign against isis in iraq and syria, has denied the u.s.-led coalition broke international law, claiming instead international law, -- the campaig

listen to beyonce and then a band in beirutand ifi club and listen to beyonce and then a band in beirutf i still sounded like mozart after all of that, it would be kind of weird. how far it you take this fusion approach? i think as far as it has a lwa ys approach? i think as far as it has always been taken. i think people have been exchanging ideas creatively for centuries, millennia and every renaissance has been refined by the breaking down of boundaries and walls, sharing ideas, discovering what people have in common and amplifying each other‘s strengths. to give an idea of how you do this, let's play a clip. this isa you do this, let's play a clip. this is a fascinating performance by an indian dancer using your music. (music playing). it is beautiful to look at. i wonder how much collaboration there is, when you work with the beautiful dancer, you have worked with famous poets, how deep is the collaboration. i have to admit, this was found well before we imagined donald trump would ever be our president but it was proposed to be ina president but it was proposed to be in a reality

then go to a club and i'm going to hear beyonce or lady gaga, and then i might listen to a band in beirutounded like mozart after all of that, it would be kind of weird." so how far can you take this fusion approach? i think as far as it has always been taken. i really think that the never—the—twain—shall—meet approach is quite new. i think people have been exchanging ideas creatively for centuries, millennia, and every renaissance has been defined by the creative sharing of ideas, by the breaking down of boundaries and walls, and people coming together and discovering what they have in common and actually mitigating one another‘s weakness and amplifying each other‘s strengths. to give everybody a sense on how you do this and what the end result looks like and sounds like, let's play a clip. this is a fascinating performance by an indian dancer, shakti mohan, using your music. so let's have a look at it. (music playing). it's beautiful to look at. ijust wonder how much collaboration there is, when you work with a beautiful dancer like that, or indeed you have worked with famous poets as w

president said, i don't think we should send one more screw until we have our americans back from beirut. because when the american people find out that this has happened, they will impeach you, referring to the president. >> objection. >> counsel is reading from a transcript of a tape recording which colonel north may have caused to be made. we have not been provided with a copy of that material. i think it is inappropriate for questions to be asked to the kernel when counsel has a copy of the tape and we do not have it. mr. nields: colonel north does have a copy of it. it was sent to him over the weekend and it is in a notebook in front of counsel. >> well fine, thank you mr. nields. as i walked in the door i was handed all of these notes that i'm looking at for the first time. do you want to direct my attention to where it is sir? mr. nields: the notebook titled second transcripts. i believe it is the top notebook that you put your papers on top of. >> tab five, sir? >> tab five. >> and what page, sir? >> it is right on tab five, on that page. >> would you give us a moment to read it

, i don't think we should send one more screw talking parts until we have our americans back from beirut, because when the american people find out that this has happened they will impeach you, referring to the president. >> objection, apparently the council is reading from a transcript from a tape recording, mr. chairman, which colonel north may have cause to be made. providedve not been with a copy of that material and i think it is appropriate requesting when counsel has a copy of the tape but we do not have it. >> colonel north does have a copy of it. it was sent to him over the weekend and it is in a notebook in front of counsel >> thank you, mr. niels. >> titled second channel. >> as i walked in the door five minutes after i was handed all these notebooks, which i'm looking at for the first time. do you want to direct my attention to where it is? is title second channel transcripts at tab five. i believe it is the top notebook you put your neighbors on top of. >> tabs five? tabs five. >> what page? >> it is right at tab five on that page. >> would you give us a moment to read it? >

from beirut, sophie long reports. blown out vehicles in the centre of the syrian capital.uicide bomber detonated their device just before eight o'clock this morning. the streets near tahrir square in central damascus had been busy, as people here return for their first full day of work after celebrating the end of the holy month of ramadan. the car had been surrounded by the syrian authorities when it exploded, killing at least 19 people, injuring several others. the blast shattered windows and damaged buildings in the area, which has now been cordoned off. syrian authorities say they blew up two other would—be bombers before they entered the city. these state television pictures showed what they say is the damage caused on the main road heading into the city centre. residents are now clearing up the debris left from this, the bloodiest attack in the syrian capitalfor months. it is another day when people here can do little but try to carry on, as they come to terms with further loss of life. syria is still in the throes of a devastating civil war that has lasted more than

in march, the young tigers arrived in a tiny crate at beirut airport. to transport them to a zoo outside damascus, but the conditions they were travelling in violated international rules. after three months, the lebanese government decided that the tigers should be resettled in france. the big cat trade is a lucrative business in lebanon. some animals are forced to perform in circuses or used as status symbols. it's something these tigers have escaped. drugged and loaded into boxes with their names on, they'll be taken from lebanon to london as a special cargo before starting a new life in lyon. caroline davies, bbc news. it is nice to have a good story to close on. that's it for now. you can get in touch with me and the team on twitter. thank you for watching bbc news. good morning. yesterday was one of those days for the southern half of the uk. yes, the covers were on the court at wimbledon. the rain was heavy at times and the umbrellas were out. it wasn't just across the south—east of england where we saw rain. further west in the south of wales it

force along a line agreed by syrian government forces and rebels. 0ur correspondent sophie long is in beirutarly days in the ceasefire and the records of previous ceasefires is not a positive one. how much faith is being put in this latest deal? positive one. how much faith is being put in this latest deanm positive one. how much faith is being put in this latest deal? it is indeed early days. the truce came into effect as midday bash at midday here, four hours ago. we have not heard any reports of air are clashes. a uk based monitoring service says that on the three main fronts in this area there have been no clashes between the regime forces and opposition factions. but there have been several ceasefires before, as you say, none of them have failed. there were positive thoughts, note of the us state department on friday. they say that the opposition factions they have been talking to are looking for an opportunity for a ceasefire. 0n the other hand, for the regime forces, they are hoping that russia, who had been part of months of talks, they will be exerting their influence on regime forc

several ceasefires in the six—year conflict quickly crumbling. 0ur correspondent sophie long is in beirutthe truce does appear to be holding. there have been no reports of any airstrikes or clashes in the area concerned since the deal took effect, at midday local time. but there are plenty of reasons to be sceptical. there have been several ceasefires announced in the past, none of which have held. now, this deal was brokered by now, this deal was brokered by the of state says and announced on friday. the us secretary of and russia this was the first indication that the united states and russia can. it comes on the eve of in syria. now, the timing of the deal is also significant. it comes on the eve of freshpeace talks now, expectations for what will be the seventh round of un—sponsored talks are low, but it's hoped that if the ceasefire holds it will create a conducive atmosphere as talks get under way. more than 100,000 thousand people have taken part in an anti—government demonstration in turkey's biggest city, istanbul. crowds waved red and white turkish flags as the opposition leader

in the south of syria. 0ur correspondent sophie long has been monitoring events from neighbouring beirutd sent this report. so far the truce appears to be holding. there have been no reports of any airstrikes clashes in the area concerned since the deal took effect at midday local time. but there are plenty of reasons to be sceptical. they have been several ceasefi res sceptical. they have been several ceasefires announced in the past, none of which have held. the timing of the also significant. it comes on the eve of fresh peace talks due to start in geneva. expectations for what will be the seventh round of un sponsored talks are low but it is hoped that if the ceasefire holds it will create a conducive atmosphere as talks got under way. a huge anti government protest, said to be the biggest in years, has been taking place in the turkish city of istanbul. demonstrators voiced their anger at president erdogan, after a year which has seen thousands of arrests and mass sackings of civil servants, judges and journalists in the wake of a failed coup attempt. ajapanese island that bans women

we should send one more screw, talking about the hawk parts, until we have our americans back from beirutbecause when the american people find out that this has happened, they'll impeach you, referring to the president. mr. sullivan: objection. apparently, counsel is reading from a transcript of a tape recording, mr. chairman, which col. north may have caused to be made. we have not been provided with a copy of that material, and i think it's inappropriate for questions to be asked of the colonel when counsel has a copy of the tape, but we do not have it. thank you, sir. mr. nields: col. north does has a copy of it. it was sent to him. chairman inouye: the objection is overruled. mr. nields: it was sent to him over the weekend, and it's in a notebook in front of counsel. mr. sullivan: well, fine. thank you, mr. nields. mr. nields: entitled second channel. mr. sullivan: as i walked in the door at 5:00 minutes after, i was handed all these notebooks which i'm now looking at for the first time. do you want to direct my attention to where it is, sir, which book and what page? mr. nields: the

cross talking the shifting sands in the middle east i'm joined by my guest so i mean nate are in beirut he's a middle east analyst and in erbil we have joe lauria he is an independent journalist right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i always appreciated let me go to you first joe my introduction was very very broad. from your standpoint and you're in iraq right now what what are the most important trends affecting the middle east because there's so much going on right now unfortunately particularly the united states it's overshadowed by what i call fake news i want to do real news on this program here joe your thoughts were how is the middle east changing go ahead it's very easy to get lost in all the details like this so friendly complex to. in syria i think the overall if you're looking for a really big picture you have to look at u.s. iranian relations and in that in the subtext of that saudi raining relations and below that the standoff between saudi arabia baccarin egypt and against qatar which i think could be a prelude to conflict w

in march, the young tigers arrived in a tiny crate at beirut airport.uld travelling in violated international rules. —— faeces. after three months, the lebanese government decided there should be resettled in france. the big cat trade is eight big industry in lemon on. it is something these tigers have escaped. —— a big. drugged and loaded into boxes with their names on, they will be taken to london before starting a new life in lyons. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. thank you for watching. good morning. yesterday was one of those days for the southern half of the uk. yes, the covers were on the court at wimbledon. the rain was heavy at times and the umbrellas were out. it wasn't just across the south—east of england where we saw rain. further west in the south of wales it was hammering it down for a time. extensive rain in the southern half of the uk, as you can see from yesterday's radar. the brighter colours indicate heavier downpours. that rain is on the move overnight, moving southwards and eastwards. so it is the

our correspondent sophie long is in beirut. well, so far, this truce does appear to be holding.ikes or clashes in the areas concerned since the deal took effect at midday local time. but there are plenty of reasons to be sceptical. there have been several ceasefires announced in the past, none of which upheld. the deal was brokered by the united states, russia and jordan, and announced at the end of the g20 summit on friday. the us secretary of state, rex tillerson, said this was the first indication the united states and russia can work together in syria. the timing of the deal is also significant. it comes on the even of fresh peace talks that are due to start in geneva. expectations for what will be the seventh round of un sponsored talks are low, but it is hoped that if the ceasefire holds, it will at least create a conducive atmosphere as those talks get underway. the us secretary of state has made a brief visit to ukraine. rex tillerson is the first senior member of the trump administration to visit ukraine, which feels vulnerable to any improvement in relations between th

in the south of syria. 0ur correspondent sophie long has been monitoring events from neighbouring beirut far, the truce does appear to be holding. there have been no reports of any airstrikes or clashes in the area concerned since the deal took effect at midday local time. but there are plenty of reasons to be sceptical. there have been several ceasefires announced in the past, none of which have held. now, the timing of the deal is also significant. it comes on the eve of fresh peace talks due to start in geneva. now, expectations for what will be the seventh round of un sponsored talks are low but it is hoped that if the ceasefire holds it will create a conducive atmosphere as talks got under way. senior members of the european parliament say a british offer to give eu citizens settled status in the united kingdom after brexit falls far short of what europeans are entitled to and what the eu is prepared to give uk citizens. the uk government has described the comments as an unhelpful distortion of britain's position. ajapanese island that bans women has been declared a world heritage s