Off to ethiopias government targets rebels in the north with as strikes. When you have companies that have the power of governments, some chance to give the bosses a facebook and twitter grilled by both sides of u. S. Politics about their efforts to combat election. Disinform ation and france debates a controversial new bill to protect police. But critics say it will stifle human rights and free speech. The pentagon has confirmed shop productions in the number of u. S. Troops in afghanistan and iraq by mid january, just before President Donald Trump leaves office. Trump had wanted a full withdrawal from the americas longest war by christmas instead, 2000 will come out of afghanistan and 500. 00 from iraq leaving 2 and a half 1000 and each country. Let us remind those who question our resolve or may seek to interfere with this prudent well planned and coordinated transition. The United States armed forces remain committed to protecting the safety and security of the American People in supporting our like minded allies and partners worldwide. Military leaders, u. S. Allies and senior figures and charms. Republican posse have warned of the dangers of putting too many troops out before conditions are right. And minutes after the announcement was made, several rockets hit baghdads green zone. A child was killed at least 5 people injured. Lets get more from our correspondent allen fishers out the white house. And this is a significant announcement from trauma in his last few days of office. And surprisingly, nothing on his twitter feed in the last few hours about it. But youll remember back in 2016, when he ran for office, he was saying that he wanted to end americas involvement in endless wars, particularly those overseas, which he saw is just a drain on resources and on personnel. If you take afghanistan, its been running for 19 years, more than 2300. 00. People have died there from the u. S. , and it has cost the cording to the pentagon somewhere in the region of 193000000000. 00. Now this had been advertised. Donald trump was keen to reduce troop numbers. Youll remember that back in 2018, he announced that he was withdrawing all american troops out of syria that led in part to the resignation of then defense secretary jim mattis. But the trumpet, ministration is trying to show that this isnt a rush decision. This hasnt been made just in the last few days that this is been under discussion for several months with many, many partners. And they finally took the decision to go ahead, setting the date of january 15th, no, going back to the city in withdrawals. We know that the military slow walked, that they didnt withdraw all the troops as requested by the president. That caused a bit of a fury in the last few days with people saying that the military shouldnt be ignoring the president no matter which party came from or whether or not you agree with his decision. But they did slow walk that donald trump has made it clear that hes expecting the military this time, or pull out the troops that he wants out. And they will do it to the timetable thats been set. And key members of his party, not happy with this decision. Thats right, this hasnt gained universal approval. If donald trump thought that might be the case that simply not going to happen. Weve had a number of republicans saying that this is just a recruiting tool for eisel. You may remember that is barack obama came to the end of his time. In the white house, he pulled all of the u. S. Troops out of iraq. That he was meeting an agreement that had been drawn up by george w. Bush and also a deadline that had been set by the bush administration. But he didnt put up much of a fight about it, and that gave the republicans the chance to attack barack obama and joe biden, in the recent Election Campaign by saying that decision fueled the rise of eisel. No, we have the main man for the republicans in the senate. Mitch mcconnell, the majority leader there saying that this is not a smart decision either to extremely important here in the next couple of months. Not to have any earth shaking changes with regard to defense and foreign policy. I think a perception is drawdown and either afghanistan or iraq would be a mistake. No, there also are democrats who have objected to the decision made by the president , but heres the reality. Hes the commander in chief of americas forces. He gets to make these decisions. So really, the decisions being made at the big question will be when joe biden goes into the white house on the 20th of january, will he consult with allies . Will he divest that decision . Will he do something from what donald trump has Just Announced . Many thanks for that, alan fischer there for us at the white house. Lets get the view from iraq. Aljazeera simona faulting isnt like that. The reduction of u. S. Troops in iraq to 2500. 00 is not that significant in light of the drawdown that already took place earlier this year. In january, there were 5000. 00 troops present in country that number was reduced to 3000 as of september. And of course, the political and security context that precipitated this reduction was rather complex. Back in january, we had the u. S. Assassination of iranian general custom still in miami, as well as other iraqi officials, which prompted the parliament here to vote to oust foreign troops. And we also saw a rise in rocket attacks against u. S. Interests here in iraq. And in that context, the u. S. And iraq began renegotiating the presence of foreign troops that began reducing the numbers. Of course, the u. S. Arguing that this was not in response to the Parliament Vote or the rocket attacks that it was the result of the official defeat. That such a large presence was no longer needed. Now it remains to be seen how iraqi officials will react and it remains to be seen how it rainy unbacked groups in country will react. And what is very interesting is that within minutes of the announcement to reduce troops to 2500. 00, there was a rocket attack on the u. S. Embassy here in baghdad. Such attacks have occurred relatively frequently earlier this year. And they were blamed on iranian backed armed groups. Now over the recent weeks, we saw a halt in these attacks, and some of these iranian backed militias have come out to say, we will wait for whoever is the new president elect. And we will wait for the trumpet ministrations to announce a full withdrawal of u. S. Troops from iraq. That did not happen. The reduction to 2500. 00 is not with these groups, were demanding. And tonights rocket attack at the u. S. Embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest announcement. S. P. S. An associate professor of Political Science at emory university. She joins us live from atlanta, georgia via skype. Many thanks for speaking to us. On aljazeera, there was concern that trump would cause havoc on his way out. Is that what hes doing here with this move . Well, i think that President Trumps unpredictability is something thats predictable and so we expect him to make some really drastic changes. We saw that when he fired marcus for his secretary of defense. And so we can anticipate that hes going to make more changes that could be perceived as jarring. Between now and noon on january 20th, when he leaves office, what else could we expect from him in the next 64 days . I mean, i think the sort of general adage is to expect the unexpected. So, you know, the things that hes done so far in some way shouldnt be surprising. So the idea that not acknowledging his loss and impeding the transition, we could expect that theyre going to be some executive orders. And we could expect him to make changes in lots of sectors that weve seen that with respect to national defense. Weve seen some moves with respect to the environment. I would expect that theyre also going to be some other regulatory changes that hes going to at least try to get started, at least before he leaves office. Do you find it interesting that the man who announced the move today is only been in the job a few days than his predecessor, his predecessor was not in favor of pulling out troops now . No. So add to that International Relations and foreign defense or are not my research specialties. But it was widely reported that mark asked for head, you know, opposed the drastic troop drawdown. And that was one of the reasons why he was probably going to get fired, whether or not President Trump lost the election. So im not surprised that he put a loyalist into position who was actually willing to do the things that President Trump wanted to do. What do you think biden is going to do when he comes into office in, in 64 days . I mean, do you think he could reverse this particular move, or perhaps all the moves that trump might make in the next 2 months . So i mean, i think its hard to say, i think we have to look at sort of the wide range of moves that President Trump makes and then what tools are at his disposal and how easy its going to be to reverse course on many policies. President elect biden has already promised that hes going to reverse course on something that happened a long time ago in the trunk, the administration. So for instance, hes going to reenter the paris climate accords among other things. So we are going to see an about face on certain policies. And then i think the larger question is for some of the sort of more recent changes, the last minute changes. Its a question of what kind of path does that put america on and whether or not those actions are actually quickly reversible or not . Typically, this period of the strands ition period as is known as the lame duck period. How would you compare this particular transition with others from the past . So the concern with the transition period now is the fact that its really not being allowed to officially commence. So we know that the Biden Harris Administration is planning as best that they could. But if this were an officially recognized transition period, the buying Transition Team would have money. They would also have access to current members of the administration who can provide counsel bring in the new incoming people up to speed. They would have access to be able to do the requisite background checks that will allow people to be able to fully do their jobs on january 20th. If President Trump persists in prolonging sort of the acknowledgment that he lost officially, that he lost the election, then that delays the official start of the transition period. Which means that the, by an administration though it may want to sort of hit the ground running on january 20th, might not be able to do all of the things that we want to do. So. d that anybody would want to see happening in an administration, which would be a smooth transition of power. So we have to wait to see how long this is. It could very well be that the General Services administration makes its ascertainment. You know, sometime, you know, when the Electoral College has officially cast ballots on december 14th, we do know from history that thats actually, you know, not the optimal time to be making a transition. Ideally, you would want and ministration to have more. And you know, 5 and a half weeks to be able or 6 weeks to be able to prepare for office. And you know, so you know, a lot of people sort of charge that america was probably left a little flat, but it before the september 11th attacks in part because the transition started late while they were deliberating the results of the 2000 election. Interesting to get your vote, whats going to be associate professor of Political Science emory university. Thank you and the news coming out in President Donald Trumps fight against the u. S. Election results now in the process of pushing across northern parts of nicaragua, weakening quite rapidly. Now its the equivalent of a category 2 hurricane on the surface. Simpson scale 165 kilometers per hour. Significantly high gusts, those gusts still capable of causing catastrophic damage. And remember, this storm has made landfall just 20 kilometers away from where made landfall just 2 weeks ago. Life threatening storm surge, flash flooding that is likely. And mudslides as well through the remainder of shoes day that west the weather, the windy weather that will drive its way across northern parts of nicaragua. Throwing lots of heavy rain into 100 euros and eventually a lot of heavy rain too into quite a model. Come wednesday, the storm will weaken further, and it will eventually push way out into the open waters of the eastern pacific, but plenty of showers or longer spells of rain coming in across much of Central America as we go through the next 2 or 3 days, maybe 500 millimeters all more for some of those spots. Wet weather to into the western side of the u. S. And notice telling rather wintry across the Pacific Northwest cola, also driving its way down across into California Water thought it was welcome further research dry, but pretty cold to the east coast. One of the most wanted man on the planet, the mastermind of a 4500000000. 00 fraud and want to put him in jail, but you cannot help being in christ reveals new never before had recordings implicating some of the worlds most powerful players. Everyone poster would benefit by the piece of power and jolo hunt for a fugitive from a just, you know youre watching out. Is there a mind of our top stories this hour . The pentagon has confirmed Shah Productions in the number of u. S. Troops in afghanistan and iraq. By mid january, just before President Donald Trump leaves office 2000 will withdraw from afghanistan and 500. 00 from iraq leaving 2 and a half 1000 in each country. Military leaders, u. S. Allies and even senior figures in Trumps Republican Party of warned of the dangers of pulling too many troops out before conditions are right. Minutes after the announcement was made, several rockets hit by gods green zone. Some landed near the u. S. Embassy. Others were intercepted by air defense systems. A child was killed and at least 5 people injured. If europeans government says its troops have achieved significant victories in the conflict with forces in the northern tier, a region as strikes have been launched at the regional capital. Its the main base for the tea. Great Peoples Liberation front or t. P. S. Left, which governs that to grant fighters have refused to comply with government demands to put down their weapons. Mohammed out there is in the ethiopian capital and says the government believes it can end the conflict quickly. The european Prime Minister ahmed, is promising a crucial and decisive face in the fighting that the grey region of more from ethiopia, he says, his forces are now ready to take the city of mechanic up with all of the to go region. He made that announcement of to the expiry of a 3 day that he had given to degree fighters to surrender themselves to the Ethiopian National defense forces. Security sources have told him visit of the next 48 hours will be a question as the European Forces launch a tux on mckinley for multiple fronts. The sources say that the fighting is expected to get more intense. If European Forces near the mountainous areas with a couple of the to go to a region, mackellar, the to grow Peoples Liberation front leadership in the conflict with the government and the suburb, say that they had already to defend their positions to the last month. Have been complaining about civilians getting hot in aesthetics. Crowded out by Government Forces in macau is something that has been rejected and refuted by the government in the december late last week. The t. P. A. Live fight to send up to 3 missiles across the border to a smarter a couple of at a trailer. Something diplomats say could bring in better trained into the fighting. But the tibial of later should maintain, is that they are already fighting at a tree and forces on the ground and save up to 16 divisions of the trim forces present and helping Prime Minister its forces. Something that is a body of nice. Well, both sides are largely ignoring calls for mediation from the un and foreign leaders. And as the conflict goes on, more civilians, a flaying about 27000. 00, people have crossed the border into sudan. Refugees who are no arriving at the peace of 4000. 00 per day. Are coming out of if you are really scared of raid or with the stories saying that there have been fleeing the fighting and that is not a sign of the fight. The 2 stroke right now or so. The fear is, as the fighting continues, we could see more refugees arriving the number of 27000 or more than that is what ridges tip it could reach 30000 and beyond. We as Member States of course follow, follow the situation very closely. We have and the secretary general himself is active. He has talked several times to Prime Minister. He has talked to an African Union and we are following this, this very closely. At least 80 refugees have been killed after the engine of a boat exploded in the north atlantic. See it happen . A cape verde, off the western coast of africa around 150. 00, people were thought to be on the boat made from senegal and gambia. It was said to be making its way from cape verde to spain. Prisoner, the interim president has called for calm after he was sworn in francisco sagacity as the countrys 3rd leader in just one week. The former World Bank Official will serve until National Elections are held in april. Her has been in turmoil since the removal of president martin discard from office last week over unproven corruption allegations which led to widespread protests. Donald trumps legal efforts against the u. S. Election outcome have had another setback. Penn