that days before the president decided to withdrawal, he made a phone call to turkish phone call to recepayyip erdogan. we have more from istanbul. what do we know? >> reporter: before that decision by trump was announced, we know there was a phone call between trump and his turkish counterpart recep tayyip erdogan. in that phone call, trump asked the turkish president can you handle isis. erdogan responded yes, as long as we have support from you. he said okay, we are done. turkey is going to be taking care of the isis presence in syria. this leaves the u.s. allies on the ground in syria in a lurch. turkey views that fighting force an extension of a territory group. the u.s. is leaving the troops on the ground in a tough place. mattis's resignation came after they said they would bury the members of the kurdish fighting force in the trenches and tunnels and holes they are digging now. we are seeing how complicated this is all getting and effectively we are seeing the u.s. pulling out of the very vital mission to fight isis in syria and leaving it up to their turkish allies who clearly ha

its healthy british newspaper the observer based in london and i asked him why the prime minister recep may well go ahead with the brags that vote in parliament is what he said i would guess she would probably go ahead with that to fail to release the huge broad. which in any normal person would be the end of a prime minister or issues bigger than a she could the entire country because every party is not the province of the holder every party within it is up to the split. there is a big question as to who would be done better than. to to sort it out and the answer is nobody knows who would be better the first though i think despite the fact she might indeed she will probably lose it i think she will probably stay on as prime minister the question is then what what we do about threats there are loads of possibilities she could either go try to go back to brussels who negotiated some better deal very unlikely could very well have it all possibly call a second referendum or possibly with no deal to. toby helm there the political editor of the british newspaper the observer in armenia state

working closely with kurdish forces in the north, and kurds are quite the target of turkish president recepayyip erdogan. and erdogan and trump have been having a series of conversations it seems over the past week, including reportedly one phone call this morning just before this announcement was made. brent: so what has been the fallout from this announcement that the troops will be coming home? maya: well, the pentagon has said that they will indeed start withdrawing their troops, but there has been a lot of concern expressed from all corners, including from within the president's own party. we have seen several prominent republican legislators come forward and say, "this is surprising, we do not know this would happen." even one of the president's staunchest defenders said, "i cannot say whether it's is the right call," even though he tends to stand by the president. other legislators saying this sounds like a really bad idea and may further damage relations in the region, especially because with the u.s. withdrawing, that leaves a vacuum for other actors in syria such as iran or russia

controlling a third of syria that tu rkey‘s controlling a third of syria that turkey's president, recepromised to annihilate. an alliance of curves, syrian christians and local arab tribesmen known as the stf, who have been at the frontline of a war against islamic state. the kurdish element of the syrian democratic forces, the ypg, are seen as terrorists by president erdogan. several days ago, he announced the postponement of a turkish attack on them — for the moment. the focus of a fresh phone conversation, according to president trump, with his turkish counterpart has been on how the continued campaign against is is to be co—ordinated. and a tweet made clear american forces are only going to be slowly sent home. but the political and diplomatic fallout of the surprise announcement about the us withdrawal and general mattis's resignation is continuing. speaking on a visit to french troops in chad, france's president said an ally should be trustworthy. he deeply regretted president trump's decision. translation: we must not forget that since the beginning of our involvement in the leva

if you look at turkey, president recep tayyip erdogan, had a conversation with president trump that he pulling out of syria and removing us troops from there and he had another conversation where he said that to keep might be one of the countries to take the lead whenever the us pulls out. it gives you this real sense that while president trump is looking towards iraq and looking towards other countries as being somewhere where he can have some influence, that decision to pull out of syria is something that will cause a lot of worries and certainly, although he visited troops today to raise morale, there will be others worried about the decision. president trump travelled with the first lady to iraq, to spread some christmas cheer and to thank troops for their service and sacrifice. we came to al asad to share our eternal gratitude for everything you do to keep america safe, strong and free. but, standing with us soldiers on foreign soil, it was inevitable he would be asked about what many claim is his increasingly isolationist foreign policy. last week, in a sudden and surprise decisi

then to ankara, where iranian president hassan rouhani will meet his counterpart president recep tayyipw york, disgraced hollywood film producer harvey weinstein will appear in court for a procedural pre—trial hearing in his rape and sexual assault case. some of the other events taking place today. what is on the sports agenda? now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm tulsen tollett. coming up in your thursday sport briefing: the la clippers and dallas mavericks both look to get back to winning ways in the nba. west indies can wrap up a t20 series win over bangladesh later. and gareth bale scores a hat—trick, as real madrid move through to the final of the club world cup. the la clippers will look arrest their form slump in the nba which has seen them lose their last four matches dropping them down the western conference table. they'll get their chance later on thursday when they hosts they'll get their chance later on thursday when they host the dallas mavericks. the mavericks themselves are coming off a run of three successive losses — the latest, thi

close the case turkey and the rest of the world is shocked by the barbarity of the murder president recep tayyip erdogan and turkey's government has leaked details of audio recordings from inside the consulate before joining and after the killing investigators revealed phone calls made to riyadh with one of the hit squad saying tell the boss the deed is done without stating his name the turks have made it obvious the boss is mohammed bin sound man but turkey's options are limited by a lack of saudi cooperation and a lack of will from the international community the saudis are using the vienna convention on diplomatic immunity is as reasons not to hand over the suspects to turkey no nor state you her own citizens are in a state for foreign investigations for the issue here is this really think so definitely investigation will come to an end in turkey. you should make bring this issue to indonesia because the mission in this to get them. will be a date and that is the only way this case can be investigated fairly and openly but turkey's government mindful of its situation regarding human ri

store managers got a heads up and were happy to host this unusual wed reegceptiding recep.ted on their first date. brad took jessica to t targeo buy toys for tots. >> it's such a great organization and great causee this t of year. >> reporter: with only seven days until christmas, a walk down two b aisleh memorable. kerry sanders, nbc news. >> a beautiful wedding and a beautiful gesture. >> just the greatest. >> let's get you one more look at our forecast before we head out this morning. relauryn. >> w looking at temperatures in the 40s for daytime highs toy. ear skies and a little bit of a breeze as well. we're dry today and dry tomorrow. ave rain arriving as we get into your thursday. widespread rain on friday and saturday it's out of here. you can see thursday morning we're dry. this is early morning, 6. a by noon we'll start to see this rain push in here. it goes all b the wayk down to louisiana on thursday afternoon. plentyf flight delays by the time we get into thursday and friday. look at this, ittretches all the way maine to florida, back to memphis a st. louis. we'

so it shows recent research from aarp, with recepers ou researchs showing that they are more isolatedif you're social, you are being active or working on your brain health or eating with them. so all of the other topics that the retirees are interested in tie into the value of being social. which is why we wanted to start there. so that campaign and that message to retirees is slated for next spring. so those are some of the things that we learned. there's a lot of data -- you might want to peek at it. we did ask a lot of questions about what is your health plan currently offering, are you interested in that? are there other things that you're interested in. so we have additional resources as we get into these conversation busy how to change our benefits or expand our benefits straight from our retirees. so hopefully it's a survey that will continue to give you interesting input for future conversations. i'm going to turn it over to carrie to talk about the in-person activities with retirees and before i go a special thank you to claire for her feedback on the survey and her feedback

>> well, turkey came out and turkish president recep erdogan says they welcomed the u.s. pull u.s. troops out of syria. there were only about 2,000 of those troops, but really they had an impact that was outsized for their numbers. they were instrumental in beating back isis and really this announce that time the u.s. is pulling out of syria puts the u.s.'s main ally on the ground in syria, a kurdish fighting force in jeopardy. that kurdish fighting force is seen by turkey to be an extension of a terrorist group that they have here at home. so, really with the u.s.'s departure, what's going to happen to that kurdish fighting force as they become exposed to the possibility of a turkish enkurgs into syria, not to say the least of which what's going to happen to the fight against isis? those remaining remnants of isis are there and they are a security threat not just to iraq and syria but of course to the world. >> gul, live from istanbul with the reporting. thank you. >>> ahead here, a story regarding sports and possible racism. it has to do with a haircut. this high school

tension is rising between the united states and turkey after turkish president recep tayyip erdogan threatened to launch an offensive against u.s.-backed kurdish fighters in syria who have been battling isis. erdogan said he wants to clear kurdish fighters from east of the euphrates. the u.s. military said such anan action is unacceptable. a high-ranking vatican official has been convicted of sexually molesting two boys in australia. most recently, cardinal george pell was the vatican's chief financial officer. some considered him to the third -- some considered him the third most powerful official in the vatican. he previously served as archbishop of sydney and melbourne, australia. the shocking news however is not being reported in australia due to a court gag order. today's edition of the herald sun features a large black box with the word "censored" in white capital letters. earlier this week, pope francis removed pell and chilean cardinal francisco javier errazuriz from his inner circle. errazuriz has been accused by survivors of covering up and discrediting their stories of abuse. it has

the associated press reporting today the decision was made after only one phone call with recep erdoganweek. he essentially abandoned those talking points once his turkish counterpart pressed the question of u.s. troops in syria. nbc news confirming the president took everyone by surprise when he decided suddenly on the phone to withdraw troops. in fact, his decision was so sudden that the ap reports caught off guard erdogan cautioned trump against a hasty withdrawal. here to talk about what the decision means, a former correspondent from the "new york times," nbc contributor and policy analyst. the geopolitics here, let me start with you, in terms of why is erdogan pushing so hard for u.s. withdrawal from syria? >> i think erdogan understands that the kurds are nothing in northern syria without american backing. when i was last embedded with them a couple years ago, they had a large desire to take out isis but they literally could not move an inch without the help of u.s. forces calling in air strikes for them. so they are impotent without the u.s. the turks consider the kurds to be a

turkish president recep tayyipen erdogan thre again today to attack the kurdish fighters that he regardsterrorists. turkey said he also discussed the situation with president trump, by phone. in fnce, a fourth person has died from wounds suffered in tuesday's mass shooting in strasbourg. word came as the city's famed christmas market, which was the scene of the attack, reopened for business, wavy security. the suspected gunm killed by police last night in strasbourg. british prime minister theresa may essed on today in her bi to rework a brexit deal. but, leaders from the european union ga her little hope. french president emmanuel macron said it's time for the british parliament to accept the deal, 's not. the european counc president, donald tusk, underscored that point, at meetings in brussels. >> i have no mandate to organize any further negotiations. we have to exclude any kind of re-opening our negotiations on the withdrawal agreement. but of course, we will stay here in brussels, and i am always at prime minister theresa may's disposal. >> brangham: at one point, may had a heated

close the case turkey and the rest of the world is shocked by the barbarity of the murder president recep tayyip erdogan and turkey's government has leaked details of audio recordings from inside the consulate before joining and after the killing investigators revealed phone calls made to riyadh with one of the hit squad saying tell the boss the deed is done without stating his name the turks have made it obvious. the boss is mohammed bin sound man but turkey's options are limited by a lack of saudi cooperation and a lack of will from the international community the saudis are using the vienna convention on diplomatic immunity is as reasons not to hand over the suspects to turkey no nor state give her the state for for an investigation so the issue here is this really think it's so different. than will come to an end in turkey but you should make this issue to international level because the nation the investigation. will be a day and that is the only way this case can be investigated fairly and openly but turkey's government mindful of its situation regarding human rights and treatment o

turkey's president recep tayyipe erdogan todaomed u.s. plans to leave syria.t came as the associated press reported president trump made the decision after speaking with erdogan last week. in istanbul, the tursh leader said he promised the presidentke that twill finish off islamic state militants. >> ( translated ): we will be working on our operational plans to eliminate islamic state elements, which are said to remain intact in sia, in line with our conversation with president trump. in other words, over the next months, we will adopt anyl operational geared toward this goal. >> woodruff: erdogansaid that turkey is delaying a planned operation against u.s.- yrbacked kurdish forces in. meanwhile, the kurds warned theifighters may have to lea the fight against isis to confront a turkish attack. the u.n. security council voted unanimously today to send cease-fire monitors to yemen. they will watch over the truce in the red sea port of hodeidah, and the withdrawal of rival forces.n' yegovernment, backed by saudi arabia, and shiite rebels aligned with iran, agree

but a turkish build-up also continued, and president recep tayyip erdogan brushed aside the syrian move ( translated ): we know there is a situation where their syrian flag has been hoisted, but there is nothing confirmed, serious yet. our entire aim is to make terror organizations leave the area. if terror organizations leav i then theno work left for us anyway. >> brangham: the syrian and turkish military mov have accelerated since president trump announced last week that s. troops will leave syria. right now, about 2,200 are deployed there.cr s in indonesia struggled again today to reach an erupting volcano and assess the dangersof new tsunami. bad weather and an enormous cloud of volcanic ash spewing a mile high hampered the effort for a second day. the erupons triggered a nster wave last saturday that killed 426 people. mo than 40,000 others rema displace back in this country, flood warnings were out todaa from louisian new jersey as a powerful storm dumped heavy rain. it had already sent up to a foot of rain rushing through the reets of columbia, mississippi today. the downpours m

in turkey, president recep tayyip erdogan warned today that he is ready to assault u.s.ked kurdish forces in eastern syria.it the y.p.g. m has fought the islamic state group, but erdogan says the militia is linked to kurdish rebels inside turkey. in ankara today, he said an offensive is imminent, but is t aimed at american forc helping the kurds. >> ( transl and we are saying again, that we will start the operation toea clear th of the euphrates from separatist terrorists in a couple of days. our target is never u.s. soldiers our target is separatist terrorists who are active in the region. >> woodruff: in washington, the pentagon said that any unilateral military strike into noheastern syria would be unacceptable. there is word that u.s. investigators believe china engineered the cyber-attack on marriott's starwood hotels. the breach exposed the personal dataf some 500 million guest reports in the "new york times" and "washington post" say the marriott hack was part broader effort by china's ministry of state security. the news comes as the trump administration is prepa

. >> yang: the decision wi p also likelylease turkish president recep tayyip erdogan, who is threening to attack the u.s. backed kurdish fighters in syria. ( translated ): until the last terrorist in the region is neutralized, we will comb through syrian territory inch by inch.id >> he hey're tied to a kurdish separatist group in turkey. late today, white house ulofficials said that be up to the pentagon. t no views on president trump's decision to withdraw forces from syria. retired general john allen served as the special presidential eoy for the global coalition to counter isis during the obama administration. he's now the president of the brookings institution. and steve simon also served in the obama administration as the l'sional security coun senior director for middle eastern and north african affairs. he's now a visiting professor at amherst college. gentlemen, thank you to you both, and welcome. mr. allen, i want to start with you. the president, as we heard, has declared isis has been defeated n for u.s.s no rea troops to be in syria. do you agree? >> i think we'd be very ca

pullout reportedly came after trump spoke by phone on december 15 with turkey's authoritarian president, recep tayyip erdogan. the white house later said erdogan had invited trump to a meeting in turkey in 2019, and that trump is open to a potential meeting. meanwhile, president trump said he would fire pentagon chief james mattis two months ahead of schedule after matattis rebukedd trump's foreign policy decisisis in a resignation letter he made public last week. trump reportedly did not read mattis' letter and only learned about his objections from fox news. afteter growing increasingly a y wiwith his defense chief, trump said mattis will leave on january 1. he had p previously been expxped to retirire at the end of february. patrick shanahan will become acting secretary of defense. shanahan is a former executive at the u.s. weapons maker -- manufacturer boeing. meanwhile, president trump's envoy to the coalition fighting isis has resigned over trump's decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria. brett mcgurk was appointed in 2015 by president obama and held the role until his resignation la

close the case turkey and the rest of the world is shocked by the barbarity of the murder president recep tayyip erdogan and turkey's government has leaked details of audio recordings from inside the consulate before joining and after the killing investigators revealed phone calls made to riyadh with one of the hit squad saying tell the boss the deed is done without stating his name the turks have made it obvious. the boss is mohammed bin salmond but turkey's options are limited by a lack of saudi cooperation and a lack of will from the international community the saudis are using the vienna convention on diplomatic immunity is as reasons not to hand over the suspects to turkey no nor state you her own citizen to another state for foreign investigation so the issue here is is this really think so different. mr gibson will come to an end in turkey but you should make this issue to international level because the mission the investigation. will be a date and that is the only way this case can be investigated fairly and openly but turkey's government mindful of its situation regarding human

arrested now for saying that you are talking about your government or you don't like turkish president recep tayyip erdo might be the best of the worst solutions that can make a big difference. >> but we have a tradition in this country of anonymous. >> that's right, we do. and i'm actually a little bit more like, it is that i see how much better people argue when they have to say who they are. and i have had this experience myself. at the same time, but i was in a caveat. if you are in danger of being published -- punished for what you said, then absolutely it's essential. that's why i talk at universities. listen if i that there was a likelihood that this person was going to get in trouble, i would be like come out and say something public. but i have seen enough on certain campuses. >>, ask a question about that? so take this off of the anonymous, will that person likely be punished in some way? >> yes. >> wears a general matter in america doesn't punish, people for expressing opinions. on that one, i think that maybe be public, it made me feel less nervous about it. [ laughter ] but anon

iranian president rouhani met with turkish president recep tayyip erdogan.nch a military operation against the kurdish ypg militia which it regards as a terrorist group. here's mark lowen. turkey very much wanted the us to pull out its troops from syria because it was an impediment really to any turkish military across the border against a wide pg kurdish ——ypg fighters that turkey says are terrorist. now of course the american troops on the ground there were a buffer in a sense to the ypg and turkey. so now that the fact that donald trump has said he will withdraw those troops, that means the ypg extremely exposed and extremely vulnerable and the likelihood of an attack on the cross military incursion all the more likely. let's speak to babara plett usher in washington. donald trump made this decision all alone. but he think is driving him to do that? well as he sat on his twitter account today, nobody should be surprised about getting out of syria because that is something i had said all along. which is true to a certain point, he need a campaign promise a

recep tayyip erdogan said every measure will be taken and we will find all who are responsible for theed about in turkey at the moment, it is a top trending topic in turkey. bear in mind only six months ago this country had seen another train crash. the train derailed in the western town and 2a people were killed in that accident. the relatives of the deceased have demanded questions and resignations as well of those people they deemed responsible for the crash. today one of those, a mother of a deceased child who lost his life in that particular train crash, tweeted to say we do not expect to hear condolences from you, do not offer us your condolences any more, just find those who are responsible and offer as resignations instead. so it is tense here at the moment but the officials are saying every necessary measure will be taken and the investigations are in place. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello. yes, it is indeed feeling quite cold out there. much colder than the last few days. we have a strong south—easterly wind which is bringing in the colder air. but it is also b

reasons we talked about and why we would be taking troops out at this moment, why we would be helping recepnd all these things. the second part is that more mi mystifying, everybody in his circle say it's a bad idea. he goes off and makes a different kegs. i don't believe it was rand paul alone who got him to do this. so people like dunford find out after fact. european defense ministers calling us what are you guys doing. even if you make a bad decision you want a process to roll it out and explain it to the world and defending to it world. he's doing it by tweet and without telling anybody. >> this is in the course of three months. you have a president who has made a snap decision that could impact the world order, that puts lives in danger, that foreign policy experts and members of administration are staggered and horrified by, and yet he has placed troops at our border to get ready for a caravan that never came. this is where we are at this point. i wonder if members of the administration are going to think this is now the time to do things differently. what's happening has not worked.