and then like in tunisia, the regime cracked down. the square became a battleground, civilians against their own country's military grade force. pro democracy protesters being beaten and killed. that went on for weeks. and ultimately, the protests worked. they toppled a 30-year dictatorship. >> they have been saying the slogan that has come to symbolize the demands of people. which means he must leave or he shall leave. >> the arab spring is one of those indelible times in history that just completely reoriented the world. regimes are ultimately toppled in tunisia and in egypt and libya and yemen, eventually in sudan. also, did you recognize that guy? recognize that guy there? in 2011 before he became our beloved friend and colleague at msnbc, ayman mohyeldin was a reporter for al jazeera english. throughout the spring he reported daily from egypt. at one point he was detained by the egyptian police. he was blindfolded and handcuffed, left on the floor for hours. he was an essential voice for the whole world during the ara spring. he

like in tunisia, protests in egypt started out peacefully. protesters camping out in cairo in tahrir square. they said they were going to refuse to leave until their president stepped down. then like in tunisia, the regime cracked down. tahrir square became a battleground. civilians against their own country's military-grade force, pro-democracy protesters being beaten and killed. it went on for weeks. and ultimately the protests worked. they toppled a 30-year dictatorship. >> been saying the slogan that has come to symbolize the demands of the people in arabic, it is -- [ speaking in a global language ] which means he must leave or he shall leave. >> the arab spring is one of those indelible times in history that just completely reoriented the world. regimes are ultimately toppled in tunisia and egypt and libya, sudan. did you recognize that guy? recognize that guy there? in 2011 before he became our beloved friend and colleague here at msnbc, amman was a reporter for al jazeera english. throughout the arab spring he reported daly from -- da

regimes were ultimately toppled in tunisia, egypt, yemen, sudan. did you recognize that guy?e? in 2011 before he became our beloved friend and colleague here at msnbc, ayman mohyeldin was a reporter for al jazeera english. throughout the arab spring he reported daily from tahrir square in egypt. at one point he was detained by egyptian police, blindfolded and handcuffed left on the floor for hours. ayman was an essential voice for the whole world during the arab spring. he became our eyes and ears for what was happening halfway around the world. during the protests we had him here on this show several times reporting live from cairo and nbc recruited him to come here and now today as another dictatorship falls, yet another where the protests against him started in 2011, but in syria it took this long for him to fall, what a privilege it is to be able to talk with ayman this time as a colleague about what this means and about how it has all happened. joining us now is ayman mohyeldin. i first met him while he was reporting leave from syria and egypt in 2011 and now is a belove

in uae and assad himself, we heard lots of reports earlier in in see, as we saw what happened in tunisiaaq and other countries in the last years. as lyse doucet said in an earlier bulletin, she knew that the assad family are now in uae and assad family are now in uae and assad himself, we heard lots of reports earlier in the last day that he might be in russia or he might be in other countries. but we didn't have any confirmation about that. we had reports coming from damascus saying that he is still in damascus, leaving the army there, but as the opposition now enters the capital, we will know for sure within the coming hours if this opposition will go to his residence or the aleppo, then very easy entering into hama, then into homs, aleppo, then very easy entering into hama, then into horns, and now into damascus from the north and from the south at the same time. we do not have any confirmation at the moment, as we speak, whereabouts assad is, but in the coming few hours it is a very serious, developing situation in the middle east. it's a very historical moment as well. i it's a very

them very controversial, it has to be said, the approach is taken to stop boats leaving libya and tunisiaing migrants processed, paperwork processed in places like albania. the uk is looking at new approaches also. there is a kind of meeting mind there and ultimately, really, the countries alljoin in that this is a big priority. she she damian grammatica there. a growing number of councils in england are stepping in to replace the winter fuel payment for financially vulnerable pensioners who no longer qualify for government support. research by radio 4's money box programme has found that around one in five councils are using their own hardship funds as well as the government's household support fund to offer a direct replacement. 0ur reporter dan whitworth has more. despite not qualifying for the new means—tested winter fuel payment, money is still very tight for 80—year—old rita, so getting several hundred pounds from her local council to put towards her gas and electric bills has been a lifesaver. it was extremely important. a, because i do have quite a serious heart condition and my b

strong had already fallen in egypt and tunisia.now they would be the ones to predict, albeit much later, assad's overthrow. >> we did not think it would lead to this. we were watching the protests in tony -- in tunisia. reporter: the graffiti was quickly erased i authorities. the pupils were arrested and tortured. >> i was imprisoned for 45 days. there were a lot of different kinds of torture. we were tortured a lot. reporter: it was the government's group -- cruel treatment that fueled the anger across syria. after his release, he went on to join the armed opposition. >> we want security and safety to return to syria and that we rebuild that with our hands. we defended our country and honor for 14 years and thank god we remained steadfast and prevailed. reporter: now, students flood the streets without fear of arrest and torture. the city is where the syrian uprising began and today, people are once again protesting but not against the new government. they are imploring -- they are exploring their newly found freedom of expression

then you have tunisia, where the spots of democracy took root and then when ben ali was overthrown, nown exception? i think thatis syria be an exception? i think that is the question. i think there is some reason to believe clearly hts is saying and doing all of the right things but it is a deeply islamic conservative authoritarian movement. and whether or not it will be able to control a country of 23 million people, control idlib province, it is a very conservative part of syria and multi— confessional ethnically diverse country, damascus 2.5 million people. secular, in many respects. so that's one test. and the second is external intervention by powers large and small. the turks now seem to have most of the influence. they have their own agenda. the americans have stepped back and the remaining days of the biden administration, i think the administration, i think the administration is trying to get involved but it's making way for an administration led by a president—elect who seems to want to remain on the sidelines. i want to remain on the sidelines. ,, ,, �* i susect sidelines. cr

you got tunisia, libya, egypt and lebanon. the president of tunisia bled and died in exile. president of egypt stayed in egypt and ultimately arrested, put on trial and acquitted without meaningful consequence for his years of corruption and authoritarianism. in libya, a very different story. a dictator brought to and killed at the hands of the rebels that were fighting. in this case, he managed to escape. there will be undoubtedly, at some point in the process, as this country goes through reconciliation, and a desire to hold him accountable for what him and his family have done. i know means was bashar al assad and the assad dynasty who ruled syria for 50 years, a benevolent dictatorship. they were oppressive. there were years of brutal crackdowns, chemical weapons as you mentioned, tens of thousands of syrians disappeared. so there will be undoubtedly be a strong desire, from what emerges in syria to hold bashar al assad and his family accountable. whether or not that translates to materialistic accountability on the ground inside syria. it remains to be seen, because we

regimes are ultimately toppled in tunisia and in egypt and in libya, in yemen, eventually in sudan.ou recognize that guy? recognize that guy there? in 2011, before he became our beloved friend and colleague here at msnbc, ayman mohyeldin was a reporter . throughout the arab spring, he reported daily from the square in egypt. at one point, he was detained by the egyptian police, he was blindfolded and handcuffed, left on the floor for hours. ayman was an essential voice for the whole world during the arab spring. for many of us, he became our eyes and ears for what was happening halfway around the world, not only seeing it and reporting it, but explaining it. during the protests, we had him here on this show several times reporting live from cairo. and nbc, because they are no dummies, soon they recruited him to come work here instead for us. and now today, as another dictatorship falls, yet another where the protest against and started in 2011, but in syria, it took this long for him to fall, what a privilege it is to be able to talk with ayman at this time as a colleague about what

perhaps the most successful at one point was the country that started it all, which was tunisia. but then we have seen, in some cases, countries as bad as libya that descended into full civil war along the lines of syria, as well. i think a lot of questions tonight about what comes next for syria. >> the speed, and you put into context so well for us, the arab spring now as we reach the 14th year that we are into this, now watching what is happening in this area with bashar al assad and the lack of success of new regimes, can you reflect for a moment on the speed at which from north to south the rebels were able to reach damascus, according to what they are claiming now taking over damascus? >> yeah, i mean, the first couple of days of this offensive by the rebels that broke out of the northwest part of the country, moved to areas like aleppo and ultimately kash patel earlier this evening, really caught a lot of military experts and watched closely for some time. there have been brewing tensions over the last five or six months in various pockets of syria. the various governments

strongmen had already fallen in egypt and tunisia.d they know that they'd be the ones to predict, albeit much later, assad's overthrow. >> we didn't think it would lead to this. we were watching the protests in tunisia, the freedom that the regime had fallen. so we wrote, "it's your turn, doctor," on our school walls. but we didn't expect it to erupt this way. simona: the graffiti was quickly erased by authorities, the pupils arrested and tortured. >> i was in prison for 45 days. there were a lot of different types of torture, beating, electrocution, any kind of abuse you can think of. we were tortured a lot. simona: it was the government's cruel treatment that fueled the anger across syria, exploding into calls for systemic change. after his release, mouawiya went on to join the armed opposition. >> we want security and safety to return to syria and that we rebuild it with our hands. we defended our land, our country, our honor for 14 years, and thank god we remain steadfast and prevailed. simona: now, students in daraa can flood the

i am from tunisia. as you have noticed, there are a lot of journalists from the middle east. >> right. >> now i will move you back to the situation in the middle east mentioned the participation of . you king of jordan in your meetings. are there any concrete measures to what's going on in gaza where thousands are killed, or regarding the ceasefire in lebanon? regarding the advancing of the militia in aleppo, syria? was there any position of nato regarding yesterday's un declaration that 157 nation s recognize the palestinian state? thank you. >> thank you for this very relevant question. let me first make clear of course, we know that nato is the transatlantic defense organization, which means that it doesn't extend to the middle east. however, we are very much following what is happening there. of course, nato is active in some countries on their request to help them in building up their defense forces take for , for example, example, the nato mission in iraq, but also in other countries in the southe

then of course came the demonstrations in tunisia that were successful, and then they began about three weeks ago, i think yesterday, in egypt. not organized by any particular group, not the muslim brotherhood or anyone else, because all the political parties had been kept out of existence. but they grew and eventually he was forced to leave. i do not know what is going to happen now. the carter center has been deeply involved in internal affairs in israel and the west bank and gaza and also see her he as well as egypt. for a number of years. we have full-time offices inis. i have been negotiating primarily with a man who was chosen to weeks ago to be his vice president which he had never had before. he was head of the intelligence services for egypt. when i went to the middle east, which i do several times a year, i always try to have lunch with him because he knows more about the middle east than anyone else. he did because he has intelligence capabilities in every country there, including spies and others. so what is going to happen now, i don't know. but i hope you all realize the e

and they think that perhaps once donald trump is ensconced behind that desk in the white house, as tunisiaat vladimir putin is in no mood whatsoever to do a deal or enter any meaningful negotiations, perhaps donald trump might swing his support behind kyiv. —— as soon as he realises. across the front line and many of the hotspots, ukraine is on the defensive, russian forces are advancing, in the last three days they have seized a number of villages, closing in on the strategic city elsewhere, and these situation for ukrainian forces is incredibly difficult. it is interesting that city, zelensky mentioned it in his christmas message last night because there was a famous ukrainian composer from their composed a christmas song that many of us know very well, carol 0f many of us know very well, carol of the bills. celesia said when people heard it they should remember ukraine. thank you. —— carol 0f should remember ukraine. thank you. —— carol of the bells. let's turn now to a developing story in kazakhstan where authorities say a passenger plane has crashed with 67 people on board. dozens of

you remember it started in tunisia. was the uprising in libya and what happened there with the downfall of the qaddafi regime and syria, too, assad facing the same kind of peaceful protest on the street, wanting change , push to democracy than what followed the was increasingly violent crackdowns by the assad regime against these protesters and then the spread of different rebel factions that emerged in this security backing. as you will remember those different groups linked to al qaeda, linked to islamic state which was this new group that grew up in the security vacuum across iraq and syria wanting to create a [ inaudible ] and you will remember the horrific brutality on that side that was perpetrated against people, and now the lead group in this uprising now that has successfully seen to the end of the assad regime , hayat tahrir al-sham, they have their roots historically with al qaeda and then islamic state, but since about 2015, 2016, they have cut ties with that terrorist group and have sought to present themse

maintained that family tradition, and when the uprising started, after the uprisings in egypt and tunisian people, in rebel held towns, so the track record is terrible and i feel there will be a lot of evidence of atrocious human rights abuses and it is very important that the international community are in their documenting that as soon as possible, and that where possible, and that where possible people can be held to account for the war crimes which i fear will come to light as people get inside these prisons and detention centres that the regime have had. there is a bleak picture there and it is a bleak picture there and it is a bleak picture there and it is a moment to get beyond that but in accounting for it, i think that would be a useful deterrent to other arab dictatorial regimes who might think of using the same practices. i think of using the same practices— think of using the same practices. think of using the same ractices. ., ., , ., practices. i want to focus on the us's _ practices. i want to focus on the us's relationship - practices. i want to focus on the us's relations

and both tunisia and egypt, us funded and g o is played a leading role in helping revolutionaries achieve their goals along with social media giants like facebook and twitter that served as organizing platform. well, it's been little more than a decade since the opposition over through host name over ok in egypt and the country seeing the muslim brotherhood take power a military to take place and crackdowns back and forth between political forces for its parts. and you see has been without former president been a lead for around the same amount of time. and it's a similar story there as well. serious economic problems and a terrorist presence across much of the country. here we are with yet another regime change carried out by us backed forces on our hands except syria is an exceptionally complicated case with a huge diversity of factions and ethnic groups. they're christians, drew's, is an hour away. so it's all been terrorized by islamic. there are occurred so as long sought to form their own independence state counselors. political factions have their own vision for the future, from li

many years, of course, since the arab spring and the uprising, which started in the middle east, in tunisiaions also have democracy protests as well. we have reaction from around the world on that webpage. we will be speaking to quitaiba idlibi shortly in the programme, but now we will take a look at the situation in south korea. south korean president yoon suk—yeol will not be involved in foreign or state affairs prior to his early departure. this was confirmed by the leader of yoon�*s ruling party. south korean prosecutors have arrested former defence minister kim yong—hyun over his alleged role in president yoon suk yeol�*s declaration of martial law. this comes as opposition mps vow they will continue efforts to impeach yoon. on saturday he narrowly survived an attempt to oust him by just a handful of votes. tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the country's parliament, calling on president yoon to resign. he declared martial law earlier this week, only to reverse just a few hours later amid widspread public and political outrage. our correspondent, laura bicker reports. k-p

look, i covered the arab spring of 2011 from tunisia and onward. one of the mistakes in those countries as those dictatorships were toppled was widespread looting. we're seeing that could play out very differently right now in syria. we're still less than 24 hours in, so i don't want to get ahead of myself, but i will say the tone that has come out from both the leadership of the rebels as well as the outgoing government, if you will, including the prime minister, who made an announcement, they're calling on the rebels and the protesters and syrians to preserve state institutions, to not ransack them, to not participate in any kind of destruction of public property. that message is extremely important. as i was saying, in the short term and in the immediate aftermath, security and safety is going to be paramount for syrians to have confidence in what comes next. in the midterm i think it's going to be important for the rebels to make very clear what their transition council is going to look like. what kind of governing structure do they plan on put

in the middle east, the uae will see the most visitors this winter, but georgia and tunisia are experiencinghe biggest upswings with twice the bookings from 2023. hotel occupancy rates and data showing it is set to be the highest in lihue, hawaii and followed by montego bay, jamaica. hotel occupancy rates are up 4% this holiday season compared to 2023. that's where people are going, but where would they go money and time notwithstanding? a report showing the most searched destination for travel is london. for cnbc, i'm monica petrelli. >> that's good to hear. i'm the only one in london. i assure you. london is the most searched destination. the head of tv news is here today. i can't remember. abby is in. roger is in. we have a few. trying to name a few names and give them a shoutout. >>> coming up on the show, just testing if i know them all. coming up on the show, president biden is set to make the final call on nippon steel. more on that story in the final segment before christmas. i can barely wait. >>> nippon steel's $15 billion bid for u.s. steel has been referred to u.s. president bide

even back then, it was part of the wider arab spring that started in tunisia. you saw it moving into egypt. and it exploded across libya and also in syria and yet in response to the uprising in syria, the assad regime cracked down with absolute brutality. you'll remember that they even resorted to using chemical weapons against its people, they used barrel bombs, there was absolute carnage across places such as aleppo, huge sways of that city were reduced to rubble under the force of the assad regime, backed by iran and backed by russia. russia has two strategic military bases inside syria, a naval facility which is key for projecting russian influence across the region and also for sending forces further afield, they use an air base too, both along the mediterranean coast, sending forces to africa. it is a really important hub for russia. and russia has been a key ally to assad, but russia and iran have both been massively distracted by even bigger challenges. for russia, it launched its full scale invasion of ukraine, which sucked up huge amounts of manpower

but we've also seen in cases where there was tremendous elation in yemen, in libya, in iraq, in tunisia, where the elation was turned to dysfunction and where at autocrats or no governance at all managed to rule the day. so we'll see, frankly, if hts can manage a country of 23 million people. it's going to take an extraordinary amount of international support. and you have a situation where jelani has been designated by the treasury department and by the department of state hts as a foreign terrorist organization. it's complicated. great powers, powers large and small are going to congeal to play a role. the israelis are worried on one hand, but also see an opportunity with the rollback of iranian influence. i think we have to wait and watch, and, frankly, hope, i suspect with the trump administration we'll be doing a lot of hoping from the sidelines and not involved, that, in fact, this transition can be worked out in a way that benefits the syrian people. >> let's talk about that. some early indicators, you have jelani reassuring minorities they'll not interfere with them. he's tellin

now, during 1944 and 40 sorry, 43 and 44, hitler would major manpower losses in tunisia, russia and france. now to meet these good heinrich the ss reich's fÜhrer hitler's number two if you like during the autumn and winter of 1944, he created these things called volts divisions of volkskrant and division. so people's going to did visions. and he did this by scraping up the loss. germany's male manpower, by conscripting it and also rounding up and jetsam from the luftwaffe and the navy rounded up all grandpa from those services and he creates kids around about 20 volkskrant divisions, 12 of which would be available for the audience offensive. crucially, they were about half the strength of a regular army division. but what they did was they tried to boost firepower, to give them more clout. so that partially solved the infantry problem would be infantry division, too, with volkskrant de divisions to support the panzers. but hitler was also going to break quality over quantity solution. well. there with he was going for a quality over quantity solution. now i'm sure. familiar with this thing

>> marseille was once the hub, the rough and tumble principal port for france's colonies such as tunisia morocco and algeria. as a result, the sights and smells of africa permeate the city. there has been attempts to dissuade me from oh, marseilles, you don't want to go there. and yet i come here. correct me if i'm wrong. it is a beautiful city. it smells good. you smell the different pastries, the tajine, bouillabaisse and bread. and it's an extraordinary looking city. and the people are really interesting looking. >> i must say, you are in the center of the world because the world is in marseille. we are connected to the mediterranean sea. so it's very different from the north of france. i feel closer to a guy from morocco than a guy from maybe germany or et cetera. it's different. >> cedric fabre is a marseille crime writer who spent decades deciphering the dense layers of crime and corruption, pastis and sunshine. it's a perfect town for writers of noir. plenty of atmospherics and lurid history. why do you think it's such a fertile ground to set a crime novel now? >> for me, it's mor

massive protests broke out in tunisia, egypt, libya, and yemen, and of course, syria. the millions that took part in this revolution believed in the very same ideals, freedom, and dignity. syrians also one of the many political prisoners throughout the country later released. syrians felt very similarly to this moment right now, they were hopeful and at the brink of toppling a decades long regime. the revolutionary forces leading the charge against the regime were made up of different factions. activists, former soldiers who turned against the assad regime, minorities oppressed under him like the kurds and the syrians, and many more. at one of the biggest differences then versus now is that assad didn't leave. in fact, iran stepped him to back him. he crushed aspirations and made life unbearable, especially for his dissenters, and that brought syria into a full- fledged civil war. this forces shot and killed thousands of anti-regime protesters in just the first few months, and he sent war takes them to the same cities that we sought rebel forces take over over the past

egypt and tunisia stable in they didn't have the bloodshed we saw.n disaster. if they can bring in a coalition of the minorities and other factions within syrian society, it has a chance of success. in the first 24 hours, they seem to have signaled that they want to give all of these participants in syrian society a seat at the table. whether or not when it comes to actual power sharing that materializes, remains to be seen. right now they're signaling the right words and the right changes, but it's not something i would bet anon completely. >> all right. ayman, thanks so much as always for being with us. we greatly appreciate it. the atlantic's david frum thoughts. >> home to fbe two former russn bases. the united states can't be just a spectator here.a whatever happens in syria maybe the united states can't control it, but with offers and incentives and disincentives the united states can be a partner with the europeans, partner with the gulf east. this is no time for america alone. america alone is america the loser. america is powerful because it

north africa he made a couple of really bad mistakes and one of which was to try to try to seize tunisia by kutama you know let's go right now even though we're not ready and he learned from that he he was the kind of officer that everyone should aspire to be that you learn and each job you and that means you have to be willing to think about your performance from a critical perspective you mentioned fred the great soul fred a book or wrote several books and one of those things that he pointed out was that the military profession is an honorable profession, but a lot of people that serve in it aren't particularly critical. their thinking about what they did. so they become like a mule who carried the bags for prince logan on campaigns at the end of those 13 campaigns, prince mule remains a mule or i prefer to say, a --. so if if you learn nothing from what you've done you aren't willing to consider mistakes. you don't improve. dwight eisenhower did all of those things and the only officer i think was even better at that than he was might have been matthew. ridgway and you could argue tha

there is no precedent when they are overthrown, egypt, tunisia, or some person on one hand, or chaoticq. it's going to be a very heavy list -- lift. this movement is highly decentralized with authoritarian tendencies. govern a country that is multi conventional, multiethnic that has high expectations for a transparent participatory form of government that benefits the syrian people who have suffered so extraordinarily after five decades of rule of the asad family. at this stage, no past, no a, b, c, i think we have to wait to see if -- who wants to be a team maker, an individual can shared those authoritarian and islamist strict practices, and just adapt for the community. remember, he is still designated as a foreign terrorist organization. and syria is probably the most heavily sanctioned country in the world after russia and north korea. so, he has got to deliver. and he has to at least walk the walk and talk the talk. we will see if it lasts. >> i did think it was interesting after meeting with us officials, they did take down the rewards for justice. you mentioned this is a design

they've looked at the example of libya at tunisia. i think they've learned lessons. i think we should support them and ask region am countries not to bring their -- regional countries not to bring their power games and rivalries what if your mobile network wasn't just built to work out here... ...but was designed differently to also give you blazing fast wifi where you are most of the time? reliable 5g, plus wifi speeds up to a gig where you need it most. xfinity mobile. now xfinity internet customers can buy one line of unlimited and get one free for a year. interests. the other thing we ought to take into account to some extent this goes right back to shia versus sunni, where turkey, a sunni nation, has been essentially an enemy of assad. 15% of the country's shiite offshoot. so we're seeing the struggle continue between the persians and the sunni arabs. and then finally, i think the u.s. is actually -- has actually played a skillful role in this. there is no room on the ground for u.s. military intervention, clearly. the idf deserves our support, and i think we ou

matt: i am going to tunisia. -- indonesia. there is a small ego resort -- eco resort.a and take a five hour boat so it is -- it takes two days to get there but it is the best diving in the world. >> jakarta is interesting. they have a good restaurant there called august and it was on the world's 50 best list and got so much attention that now people are extending their trips. it used to be a place where you just want to do business. there is a restaurant that has changed the economy of the city a little bit. people are booking an extra night to go to the restaurant. >> that is a good tip. i will take it. talking to us about travel in 2025. paul is looking forward to it. you are going to be here at work. sonali: i will be all over the place. we will talk about it another time. paul: she is not giving us hers. matt: because then people will be there waiting for her. does that wrap it up for us? it has been fantastic. should we do it again tomorrow? we will do it again tomorrow. bloomberg intelligence and open interest joining forces. this is bloomberg. ♪ i can't believe

the worst performing airline this year is tunisia air which ranks on travel times.de it to the bottom 50, jetblue and air canada. jonathan: exclusive around the table, someone who has flown tunisair. annmarie: into tunis, and i do not think it was the worst. it was a while ago and maybe things have changed. jonathan: it is a win-win. jetblue is not doing so well. i can speak to that another time. lisa: really. jonathan: in a little bit later during a commercial break. setting you up for the day ahead, you are watching bloomberg tv. ♪ ere ya headed? susan: where am i headed? am i just gonna take what the markets gives me? no. i can do some research. ya know, that's backed by j.p. morgan's leading strategists like us. when you want to invest with more confidence... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management ♪♪ ♪♪ the black friday sale is now on. visit sandals.com or call 1-800-sandals jonathan: let us give you a snapshot of the price action going on at the opening bell. equities are higher by point 3%. a small downside to price on atp. bond yields up by five basis po