Turkeys military begins firing into syrias african region that target kurdish fighters. Is the gulf crisis a pretext to seize castros wealth thats the claim of a country royal who was seen as a saudi ally. The egyptian president sisi announces he will run for a second term in office. Time is running out in the u. S. As the government hospitals towards a shutdown over a key funding. In Australian Open organizers defend the decision not to just. Why is our phones to the limits of the use first grand slam tournament. A low welcome to the news our top story turkey has fired artillery into a kodesh controlled northwest syria across border bombardment of freedom comes after days of threats by president. Against the Syrian Kurdish fighters known as the white peachy and griffey is the establishment of a kurdish corridor along its border and has been deploying troops and tanks there in preparation for a ground assault Stephanie Deca has more from antakya. The situation around the fifteen is heating up there is been an increase in shelling from turkey into africa and also hearing reports that around fifteen thousand Free Syrian Army fighters these are the rebels inside syria supported by turkey are mobilizing towards the east of africa and then this is all in line with the political rhetoric thats been coming out of anger over the last week or so the last voice added to that the Defense Ministry on friday saying that the operation would happen that there should be no delay and that turkey had no choice but to rid of what they call terrorists along this border all of this very significant player is russia and this is why weve seen the chief of staff and also the target head of intelligence in moscow on thursday also told continuing on friday to try and see whether russia gives the green light why is that will russia control the airspace over a free and also has troops on the ground in that area its all about politics its incredibly complicated and youre seeing different players now carving up trying to carve up different areas of syria expanding their spheres of influence it is a very very complicated situation we have talks coming up in vienna and in sochi and certainly it doesnt look like anyone can seem to agree on anything at the moment. The spokesman for u. N. Secretary general antonio terra says there must be no increase in military activity in the region weve seen the reports of shelling in africa and we reiterate our call on all concerned parties to avoid further escalation in any acts that could deepen the suffering of the Syrian People all parties must ensure protection of civilians at all times under any circumstances. The Lebanese Army says it has found the bodies of nine Syrian Refugees who froze to death trying to cross the border into lebanon they were found by Army Officers after a snowstorm near the mountainous area of the us not Border Crossing six others was saved but one related died in hospital patrols are still looking for other refugees caught in the snow storm and arrested want to syrians on smuggling charges. Nearly a million Syrian Refugees who managed to make it into lebanon vo are suffering through a base a winter in flimsy tents that flood easily and with no protection from the freezing temperatures the u. N. H. C. R. Says its received less than sixty percent of the funding it needs to help the refugees through winter and is desperate for donations saying holder has more from the bekaa valley in lebanon. Heavy winds snow lower temperatures lebanon is being hit by a storm making the lives of the nearly one million Syrian Refugees even more miserable they face many challenges during the winter months among them the lack of proper shelter they live in tents that are made for plastic sheeting which does little to protect from the cold and the rain on monday martin and we couldnt sleep all night the tent was flooded we stayed up and moved all our belongings outside the conditions of our tents a bad. Its the shepley familys sevens winter in displacement since fleeing the conflict in neighboring syria in winter the refugees require more help they need fuel for heating thermal blankets and warm clothes. With nothing in the hygiene and we are dead we are living in misery we have nothing but pain sickness and suffering we are deprived of everything a good. Families like the abdullah habits cant survive without assistance the father is half blind the youngest child sabrine is mentally challenged the eldest has a Heart Disease and their mother suffers from asthma and eczema one low as it was even though here i need medicine and i need help we all cannot work we dont have water and field to keep warm we are living only by gods mercy i may be kicked out of ten soon because they didnt pay the rent for a long time the United Nations does provide some assistance but a shortfall in funding means not everyone is reached. The United Nations doesnt just help the more than five million Syrian Refugees in neighboring countries it says that thirteen Million People need help in syria six million of them are internally displaced and that this placement continues in recent weeks more than two hundred thousand people were forced to leave their homes the war is not over. It may be a while before these refugees can go home the lebanese government doesnt want them to stay that is why it has prevented the United Nations from building permanent camps it also doesnt allow any concrete construction but this may not be their last harsh winter in exile. Because valley living on. A country royal it was formerly a close ally of saudi arabia says the gulf diplomatic crisis has been manufactured and explosive audiobook ording obtained by aljazeera chef ben ali a funny can be heard accusing both saudi arabia and the u. A. E. Of fabricating the rift with cattle as a way to seize their neighbors wealth he also says he was under pressure so so much so that he wanted to end his life as more. The man saudi arabia and the u. A. E. Were presenting as an alternative to leadership stepped up his attacks on the blockade in countries in a new audiotape shake of the lebanon early earth any a member of. Your family says the gulfs biggest diplomatic where it was triggered by saudi and princes whom he accuses of plotting to take qatars wealth by force. As. Well. In the old youre recording the she says he was under so much pressure from saudi arabia and the u. A. E. That he considered taking his own life he also appeared in a video posted online on sunday where he says he was detained against his will in the u. A. E. A claim which the night but two days later. He left the u. A. E. This is the only picture taken of him when he arrived in kuwait his family said his health deteriorated during his alleged detention in the u. A. E. He was told that he can leave to saudi arabia but not to. The end of the day he was allowed. To leave. And he has two daughters with him and it was about twelve oclock at night that. They told him that they have to go to the airport and then the information changed that they are not allowed to go to the u. K. The u. K. Refuses and that is false. And that your daughters can live and you must. Stay in the. The little known she became a central figure during the Gulf Cooperation Council or g. C. C. Crisis when he was first received by king solomon bit of that as ease of saudi arabia media affiliated with saudi arabia and the u. A. E. Portrayed him as the head of the opposition to the qatari government but soon the shade was nowhere to be seen except for tweets attributed to him the recent statements of the shape shed more light on the g. C. C. Crisis that started in june when saadi arabia the u. A. E. And egypt cut off diplomatic ties and imposed a sea land and embargo on qatar the post from shekau the lebanon early support qatar stands for the west is public ated and politically motivated has zero. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Sisi has in the last hour announced he will run for a second term in the much election he came to power in two thousand and fourteen after leading the military announcing former president morsi after mass protests against his rule mama jump jim reports. The announcement was widely expected now egyptian president has sisi has made it official. Analysts are hardly surprised or hes staying in power this way or that way i think of the elections as one source of energy to mysie or a facade of this committee that would say that he won the elections fair and square and he has significant popular support. C. C. Who swept to power in two thousand and thirteen after a military coup against former president Mohammed Morsi obtained ninety seven percent of the vote in the two thousand and fourteen Election International observers question the credibility of the results saying the election fell short of international standards. Campaign promises included rebuilding egypt reviving the countrys economy and raising living conditions. But almost four years into his presidency many egyptians are disillusioned with his rule concern has grown that it has brought with it a return to the authoritarian Security State that prevailed under former president Hosni Mubarak rendering the hero square revolution only a brief experiment in democracy. Real opposition to sisi in the march election is likely to be thin on the ground potential candidates have either already withdrawn or seen their candidacy blocked some have blamed an atmosphere of fear observers say ccs tactic is a recognizable one in the region of the mubarak and his message and saddams of the agent has used it for they would tell the International Individual community that they won with ninety percent or ninety nine percent whatever the percentage of the same time there are no consequences for that so on one end it to bolster that eames that intimacy of the genes on one and and the other and you know there are no consequences for that actions. Ccs rule has been marked by a brutal crackdown on freedom of expression and Civil Liberties economic turbulence and increasing attacks by armed groups human Rights Groups have been placed under severe restrictions and many critics in the media have been silenced. His allies however dismissed accusations of abuses saying his tactics are needed for security in the face of an insurgency in the north sinai region that has expanded to include civilian targets mohammed does either. Joining me now via skype from each as is dahlia fanny shes an associate professor of Political Science at Long Island University thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us so as youre hearing and mohammeds report that there has been a wave of repression in egypt to clamp down on freedom of expression and freedom of speech what does all this mean for the credibility of the much election so march election of this and so none of this is to rise. President sisi has been systematic saudi power around him we see a Parliament Today thats been returning to be nothing more than a stamp it was just eleven days ago where the Election Commission announced in the fall the marched right off and able then what we know is that thats just eight weeks away and with kennedys having to announce by january twenty ninth it needs just a couple of weeks to announce can the sleeve submit paperwork assemble a Campaign Team campaign for president and actually get election monitors in place and so in many ways this is just the kind of window he trappings of the kind of somali moments of democracy which are lections will they be free and fair or no because theres no real contest season weve seen viable candidates and what were viable candidates jar wow you have to right now theyre very meek in the chair but really have him dumbo legwork in terms of what it is to campaign whiten one might be disqualified and so were looking at is exactly almost seventy years after the initial arab spring in two thousand and eleven that when youre returning to a time where early actions are nothing more than window things of the best years of democracy but not really institutions of me to me voice of the people to be heard an election to rubber stamp the existing reality ccs rule how people likely to respond the egyptian people how they feel about this. But we knew that we do know that in other places when this happens at. States where people were galvanized when it seems that there is a return to authoritarianism or oppression people will not necessarily his ists the election but will we very low turnout and the turnout will be resulting in. Reporting of no ninety percent are in favor of the presidency and i think this leads to a deeper concern is that people are no longer convinced of the democratic apparatus or c. V. It we didnt see in this process now and if we didnt see comes in democracy from the population when you do not have viable opposition you start to mistrust the process and what it seems is happening in this case of the case of this election is that theyre putting the wheels in place and have a rubber stamp election rather than having a contested election with independent election monitors so were going to see in march and april that we are not discussing whether the elections are monitored and what they found because we already know them as well. Thank you very much for sharing your analysis with us thank you. Your ching the news hour live from london still to come for you a change of headgear for pope francis on his arrival in the city seen as the gateway to the peruvian amazon. The u. S. Says its withholding more aid earmarked for palestinians this time a forty five Million Dollars payment for food. And iraq final exit from the olympic skiing champion speeding off into retirement. Politicians in the u. S. Are trying to prevent a possible Government Shutdown on the anniversary of Donald Trumps first year in office if a funding or isnt passed key agencies begin shutting down at midnight local time on friday democrats say they will not support a funding bill unless there are guarantees that children of myrons who enter the u. S. Illegally will be protected. Reports from washington d. C. A planned trip to florida to mark Donald TrumpsFirst Anniversary in office has been canceled at least for now instead americas republican president is reaching out to his democratic rival in the senate with an invitation to the white house to try and avert a Government Shutdown we made some progress but we still have good numbers to support the discussions will continue Republicans Control Congress but its a crisis the white house blames on democrats it appears unfortunately that Senate Democrats are entrenched in forcing a shutdown unlike five years ago when the government shut down for sixteen days this time all u. S. National parks and post offices will remain open but employees will not get paid and just like five years ago the military Border Patrol and federal firefighters among others will remain on the job but theyll also not be paid right away is it a thirty nine one hundred seven the most is going on thursday lawmakers in the u. S. House of representatives passed a short term funding bill to keep the government open but it must also pass in the senate and Democratic Senators are refusing to approve any funding legislation without protections from deportation for thousands of Illegal Immigrants brought to the United States as children with the president come up here democrats believe they have few options given trump announced obama era protections for the Illegal Immigrants known as dr recipients runs out in march based on what we have seen in terms of how the republicans have responded in the past i believe democrats simply do not trust that the republicans will actually to address the issue. Despite claims to the contrary given twenty eighteen is a Congressional Election year it appears trump sees political advantage in a Government Shutdown if the Public Places blame on democrats. On friday morning he tweeted shutdown coming we need more republican victories in twenty eight team as donald trump prepares to mark his first year in office unless a deal is reached the anniversary of trumps inauguration is set to be celebrated much like the year started amid controversy kimberly health at aljazeera Washington Well for more on this lets speak to ryan graham he is a political journalist and washington d. C. Bureau chief at the intercept joins us live from washington of course thanks very much for speaking to us so as we have the clock is very much ticking as president met with Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer at the white house for last minute talks do you think that an agreement can be reached at this point or is a shutdown looking inevitable. Id never say inevitable there is theres still a possibility that schumer could sit down with mcconnell and they could come up with some type of a three or four day extension to buy themselves a few days to work out the details of a longer extensi