Including signals from london and brussels that a brecks a deal is imminent but sticking points over the irish border remain. Also ahead hold off the political stage hong kong is embattled leader is forced to abandon her annual policy speech. Im going to get you off go with the sports olympic officials move next years marathon from tokyo to escape the city state. Hello the u. S. Is dispatching Vice President mike pence and secretary of state mike on pay 0 to turkey hoping to convince its a hole to its military offensive in Northern Syria for President Donald Trump appears to be talking down americas role in the crisis saying syria and turkey will hopefully work it out by themselves turkey launched the operation a week ago after trumper broccoli withdrew support from kurdish allies for kurdish allies which turkey regards as terrorists. Tiriel doesnt want turkey to take its land i can understand that but what does that have to do with the United States of america if theyre fighting over syrias land are we supposed to fight a nato member in order that syria who is not our friend keeps their land i dont think so but syria does have a relationship with the career its the thing thats common is that everybody hates isis now the p. K. K. Which is a part of the kurds as you know is probably worse a terrorist more of a terrorist threat in many ways than isis so its a very semi complicated not too complicated if youre smart but its a semi complicated problem and i think its a problem that we have very nicely under control then whether it is monitoring developments on the turkish Syrian Border while our diplomatic editor james bays is at the United Nations where the Security Council has been meeting live to both after we bring in particle a and joining us from washington to break down what President Trump had to say this is the tone that he was using patty considering that his high level delegation including his Vice President are heading to turkey in a couple of hours. Really mixed messages here i mean think about this the Vice President of the United States the secretary of state about to get on the plane in about 4 hours time head over to turkey and try and convince president her to want to basically go it with a cease fire something hes very publicly said is not going to happen so as they get ready to leave the president comes out and says we dont really care it really has nothing to do with us this is between turkey and syria and he went on to say that if russia gets involved better for them basically good for them pretty much every single thing the president has said from the white house during his meeting with the italian president has been shocking to his conservative Party Faithful were hearing from senators that the president is using turkish talking points when he says the p. K. K. Is actually worse than the Islamic State of iraq and the levant he went on to say that he didnt greenlight turkeys mission and he took offense at the question but i think its important to point out that the 26 to 28 troops that the president says it had to come home had been there for years turkey had not taken this step because under president barack obama and under President Trump of the deal this point the gamble for turkey was you can go ahead and come in but you better hope that no u. S. Forces are injured in the assault so those 26 to 28 forces soldiers were enough to keep turkey from taking this step so the president here is defending himself saying turkey was going to go in so i had to get the soldiers out theyre safe now he went on to say the move to keep u. S. Soldiers safe was strategically brilliant he also talked about the kurds saying theyre not angels and then he went on to say basically the kurds are safer now which obviously is completely not true ok particle hand thing too over to our diplomatic editor james bays at the United Nations because as patty was saying there are contradictory messages coming out from the white house and from trump himself is there a more unified message thats come out of these Security Council james. There is a more unified message but i think potentially it is on the cot by the somewhat incoherent and rambling message coming out of the oval office and i think potentially that undermines that important visit to ankara via the vice by the Vice President and the secretary of state the National Security advisor because President Trump seems to say things are strategically brilliant right now at a time when finally the u. N. Security council has found some unity and issued its concern finally some words the Security Council president was able to read out expressing concern and so that message undermined as was a subsequent statement by President Trumps own ambassador. To the United States calls on turkey to halt its offensive and declare a cease fire immediately to this and at the president s direction Vice President pants is now leading a delegation including secretary of state mike pompei o United StatesNational Security adviser Robert Obryant and ambassador James Jeffrey to press for an immediate cease fire and discuss the conditions for a negotiated settlement turkeys military offensive into northeast syria is undermining the campaign to defeat isis endangering innocent civilians and threatening Peace Security and stability in the region. I threw a question to the u. S. Ambassador kelly craft about that strategically brilliant quote from President Trump she walked off the 3rd time shes spoken to reporters here at the u. N. And not taken any questions from us the Russian Ambassador vastly benzion said he found that comment most confusing i can tell you 2 european diplomats said perhaps president truck was talking about russias position because if you look at the last 10 days or so the only country that things have been strategically brilliant for is president putin and his diplomats all right james bays thank you now despite the intensifying diplomatic pressure for a halt to the offensive turkeys president remains determined rather tell you are one says nothing will stop until all these countries goals are met heres some of us who are from istanbul. Its been more than a week since turkey has launched its military operation in north assyria. A campaign against the Syrian Kurdish group and the y. P. G. Turkey stays the y. P. G. Is the Syrian Branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party or p. K. K. That turkey the e. U. And the us have listed as a terrorist organization and the soap ration is to stop what turkey calls a terror corridor or near its border the us and the arab league have called on turkey to halt their operation of request has rejected present pleasure taper don has laid out his own conditions on how to end the separation wouldnt age in that pic give you miss. Our proposal is that right now tonight all the terrorists lay down their arms their equipment and everything destroy all the traps and get out of a safe zone that we have designated the i. P. G. Is an important element of the Syrian Democratic forces the s. D. F. Which help the u. S. Push eisel out of florida parts of syria but uncle as offensive against them has prompted the Syrian Government to move back into some parts of the northeast under an agreement with a. S. D. F. The syrian army has not been here in years and the american delegation including Vice President mike pence and the secretary of state mike compare are expected in turkey by thursday President Trump has decided to send the highest level delegation he could possibly send for diplomatic purposes other than himself right i mean the Vice President and the secretary of state and im sure they are convinced of their own persuasiveness with a full force of the u. S. Government behind them but i i think that president carter one theres no chance hes going to implement a cease fire or allow any mediation until he feels turkey has achieved the goals that he defined want to washington has put sanctions on track and is threatening to impose more if the syrian operation doesnt end when it comes to syria alliances shift quickly on the ground and on the negotiating table the many kurdish s. T. s feels abandoned by the u. S. And has now turned to the Syrian Government that once called it a traitor but one thing is clear for turkey kurdish fighters grew up in Northern Syria poses a serious threat to its existence seen them to solo aljazeera stumble. Not as in a hood whose song the turkey syria border in a chunk of days so we heard from 3 turkish officials today including the president himself with a very determined message saying now that the operation will continue. How is the military operation actually playing out on the ground and what kind of resistance are they facing. Well its continuing the turkish led forces are continuing their push to one eliminate the National Security threat thats how they call it they want the Syrian Kurdish fighters to be away from the border at least 30 kilometers thats according to the turkish president. To go on fighting is continuing the kurdish led Syrian Democratic forces there putting up a fight fierce resistance theyre mounting a defense relying on tunnels the trenches so the turkish led forces have not been able to capture ross a line that is a border town they need that town in order to create a safe zone because this is not just a antiterrorism operation they want to push the Syrian Kurdish fighters from the border and turkey wants to create a safe zone to allow millions of refugees to return but they have been able to secure approximately 100 kilometers of territory a stretch of territory along the border but turkey is facing another a poet opponent really and that is russia the Syrian Government is now back in the northeastern corner of syria of course the russian backed Syrian Government the Russian Police being deployed along frontlines in a really intimate and clear message to turkey that you cannot advance any further for example they deployed military police in the on the northern outskirts of memphis city and turkish led forces were on their way to capture the city and russia really unprecedented criticism of turkey these 2 countries who should be working together in turkey and said russian officials are saying that we do not we do not accept this military operation turkey needs to respect the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of syria russia telling the turks we we dont want to see any military presence in syria all together so unprecedented criticism the turkish president calling his russian counterpart late yesterday his russian counterpart putin inviting the the turkish president to visit moscow but theres. Still no date for that meeting but definitely hard bargaining ahead and in a listening to President Trump speak in the past hour from the white house he did say that the Kurdish Group the p. K. K. Is worse than the Islamic States i wonder if theres been any reaction from turkey to that or what we expect the reaction to be its about statements so far no reaction but definitely it will be welcomed by turkish officials because turkish officials have been frustrated by the lack of support that they have received from the International Community in particular the west and the United States they have repeatedly said our western friends our western powers if they have decided to partner or ally with the p k k which is considered a terrorist organization instead of a fellow nato member this was something that was reiterated by the turkish president ial spokesman Ibrahim Cullen not too long ago so turkey even questioning for example why this global outrage why didnt we see this global outrage when the u. S. Led coalition which was fighting eisold killed civilians in mosul in the iraqi city of mosul in the syrian city of rekha the turkish president also asking today dozens of rockets landed in Turkish Border towns and more than 20 turkish civilians were killed in the ongoing operation why didnt we see world condemnation then so they feel that the west really didnt side by turkey in its operation in syria they didnt even get the support from the International Community for their plan to return refugees the European Union saying that no we dont accept this we want refugees to return safely to syria but the question turkey has been telling them youre leaving with us to handle this problem alone why dont you start admitting refugees if youre not going to help us implement some plan to deal with this crisis ok is enough without thank you. The rest of the days news is still ahead on the aljazeera news hour and ivory dealers in the u. K. Pushed back against the ban on all ivory products even antiques made long ago. On poor recent lapland sweden where the indigenous sami people say by way of life is under threat not just from Climate Change but from the Government Solutions to stop. Growing up and support avoiding to protest why barcelonas matchwood real madrid could be moved joe has the details on that later. The 1st officials in london in brussels have signaled a new brick said agreement is in its final stages and could be agreed by e. U. Leaders assume this thursday for more we can cross to Barbara Starr their european broadcast answer hi barbara. Theyre in high last minute breaks a negotiations are continuing with leaders hoping an agreement can be approved at an e. U. Leaders summit the french president the minimum across says he wants to believe an agreement has been finalized colburn and reports now from westminster. The summit is shrouded in cloud but we are almost there the words of Prime MinisterBoris Johnson at a closed door meeting of his party m. P. s on what is the aftermath quoting to those in the room it was a short bouncy speech shorted your ration but also short on detail and thats because even at this 11th hour tense if negotiations are ongoing i said last week that i thought there was a pathway to possible agreements that still might be or the question is whether the negotiators will be able to bridge the remaining gaps in advance of mars canst but support you know is that all focus is kept on achieving a deal that at every step. Europes chief negotiator Michel Barnier gave a morning briefing to e. U. Commissioners but that stage significant issues remained unresolved. The lunch break offered a brief glimpse of the u. K. s chief negotiator david frost but still no news of a deal that he think agreed would still need to be approved by britains house of commons with International Diplomatic efforts happening simultaneously to the political wrangling in westminster the palmistry alignment has not yet been achieved in order to allow a deal to take place but into that fever on mix donald tusk has introduced the idea that a deal could just be hours away that the group of the. Basic foundations of an agreement are ready said the european Council President of the on islands Democratic Unionist Party is not yet on board the british Prime Minister now leading a minority conservative government has to somehow secure the support and the votes of m. P. s from across the political divide were in a room with 2 doors either this deal with it which is a compromise or potentially no deal at hate for us with all the damage the reputation impact of the consequences of no deal lets go through the right deal agreement at this late stage would mean the use leaders can give only their political endorsement rather than full formal agreement when they meet on thursday and friday but that would itself be seen as a major breakthrough and would pave the way for a momentous vote in the u. K. Parliament on saturday paul brennan just syria westminster well we have 2 correspondents covering this story for a challenge well have the latest from westminster 1st though we can speak in the passion butler in brussels so that what is the latest on those negotiations ongoing there in in brussels. Chief exec negotiator Michel Barnier is briefing ambassadors he is telling them what the situation is after whats been an intense few days of talks between e. U. And u. K. Officials as the