The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from th hello is outside source. The u. S. Announces further troop withdrawals from afghanistan and iraq. By january 15, 20 21, our forces, their size in afghanistan wille b 2500 troops. Karen americas troop presence will be have by midjanuary, daysor bdonald trump leaves office. We will have the reaction in washington. The you and warns of a humanitarian catastrophe in rlethiopia after ntwo weeks of conflict in the tigray region. 30,000 have led to neighboring sudan. The ceos of facebooktt and t defend the roles of their platforms in the u. S. Election as they face a grilling from senators or the second ts. E in three we the kenyan government response after a bbc africa investigatioe un shocking evidence of child trafficking in nairobi. Within 24 to 48 hours, we should have arrested anybody who was volved in this issue. Karen war welcome to our viewers on pbs in the United States and around the gle. Donald trump will drastically reduce the u. S. Military presence in afghanistan before he leaves office. In the past hour, the pentagon announce the number of u. S. Forces in afghanistan will be halved, fm 4500 to 2500. President trump had previously threatened to carry out awa complete withdbefore christmas. Here is acting secretary of we mourn the loss of more than 6900 american troops who gave their lives in afghanistan and iraq. And we will never fget the more than 52,000 bear the wounds of war and all those who still carry its scars, visible and invisible. In light of these tremendous sacrifices and with great humility and gratitude to those whos, came before am formally announcing that we will implement President Trumpso ordersntinue our repositioning of horses from those two countries. By january 15, 2001 excuse me , i am thinking of where this started in 2001. By january 15, 2021, our forces, their size in afghanistan will be 2500 troops. Our force size in iraq will also be 20 by that same date. Karen White House National has also given moril. Rt obrien those troops will defend our emgessies and the otheries of the u. S. Government doing important work in those countries. They will enable our American Allies in those Important Missions in those countries. They will defend our diplomats and deter our foes. By may, it is President Trumps hope that they will all come entirety. And in their karen Dario Donahoe is in washingtonnd asked why President Trump has acted now. He is still president , that is important to ne, something that joe biden has acknowledged, one president at a time, as he has said, until january 20 at noon, donald trump is still commanderinchief. He has the right to do these things at this point inime. As i said, it is not with what he wanted to do before. Resistance. Essure and part of the reason there was a clear out of the pentagon after secretary of defense, markof his esper, appointing s own person there, as well as others, because of that thsistance. Is not unexpected, but it will still cause concern in military and diplomatic circles. Karen compared to the numbers we saw in afghanistan and iraq at their peak, this is a tiny fracti. A tiny fraction when you think about there were 130,000 troops inan afghani in huge numbers. There has been a sort of peace, deal with the taliban, although they have continued to breach that deal, a lot of civilians killed in afghanistan, in october in particular, for example. There are still big security concerns, concerns about the maturity in a normal sense about the Afghan Security services, the arme forces there and whether they can take on this le without the supervision, training that the American Forces have been giving them. There are lots of question to be asked and answered, but in a sense, this is donald trump fulfilling one of his legacy issues, if you like, foreign entanglements, getting out of foreign wars, the middle east. All of these things wereigh up on his agenda although they are east, increasing numbers ofe troops. Karen in the last few minutes, there have been reports of a capital. Ttack in the iraqi ce say the rockets landed near the heavily fortified green zone in baghdad. Sirens can be heard coming from the u. S. Embassy. One source says at least four rockets were fired, and we are told some of them landed near the embassy. Th u. N. Is warning that a fullscale humanitarian crisis is unfolding in ethiopia where eight twoweek conflict in tigray is threatening to descend into civil war. 30,000 people have fled a government oensive by Ethiopian Forces against tigray s powerful local aders. Hundreds have died in the fighting. Government has rejected calls for remediion and rejected and had this to say earlier. These leaders, they would not hesitate to strikenyone around so that they can create havoc and hysteria in ethiopia, and that would result in civil war. That is why the government had to destroy tir armaments which were discovered. To verify any information from tigray. Virtually all communications are blocked. Thesere ahe latest pictures we have from the region, broadcast on state media, and is set to show celebrations with federal troops arriving. The onslaught goes on. Earlier, the Prime Minister warned a threeday deadline fora forces to surrender has lapsed. He posted on faceboo threatening final enforcement action. In the past few hours, he said his troops are marching on the reonal capital, and he is claiming significant victories. 5 Million People live in tigray. Aid agencies say they cannot reach those in need of help because of the drieriorating se. The assessment of what they are hearing about the situation in tigray. We desperately need access unhindered, unconditional access to theee ref but also the other 600,000 among the population of ethiopiahu who depend onitarian assistance. We have had no responses so far. We also need access to bring in supplies. Very little food in the markets. Cash is nonexistent because the banks have been closed for weeks now. It is really a dire humanitarian situation that we are facing that we ve not seen for over two decades in this part of the country. Across ethiopias border. T u. N. Estimates 4000 refugees are passing into sudan daily. This Border Crossing is now overwhelmed. Arriving are hungry and exhausted from the heat. Conditio are very poor. No electricity, no clean water. And this was a camwhich once housed refugees in the 2000s. Influx. Pe with the because this is an area that has not seen thi displacement in over a decade or two, this is where we had a Reception Center for about 300 people. Now, its trying to keep tck of and help about 15,000 people, with more people coming. We have taken immediate steps, working with the sudanese government, to try and provide assistance. We have identified site about 80 kilometers away from the border that we are trying to set up a settlement or camp, someplac wre people can go so we can give them immediate assistance. Karen we have the latest on what is happening on the ground. Forces have been able to make victories in eastern and western ti and are advancing. Yesterday, they said there were ethiopia denied this in abut statement, and said it is making precision strikes and there have been no civilian casualties. Eewe canhousands of people fleeing the conflict. Those fleeing and arriving into dan are terrifd. Ethiopia seems very keen to control the narrative of the conflict. It has started a twitter feed. It is difficult to cooperate the independence of the information. In tigray, officials have made use of the state tv, not so much with f updates from thnt line, but rhetoric on the potential impact of the crisis, and also to issue threats. It doesnt seemhat there will be anything to focus on the humanitarian aspect of it, or it will just cover it up. St of what we are seeing is a spiralg conflict. Karen whats about tal force, the tplf . How strong are they . Of the most wellequipped. One the tplf had been the governing force for many years, nearly 27 years. Tplfs strategy is one more of concn. It is creating a long drawnout conflict. Tewhen the prime min announced the operation, he said there would be limited aims, but the tplf was able to fire over the weekend, which shows the potential of this brewing into bigger conflict and bringing in more actors. Tplfde l are experienced in warfare, when you think about the border war with eritrea, or the 1970s fightg, being able to coordinate that kind of power. It is a strategic and experienced threat. Karen t lear, the Prime Minister was celebrated worldwide when he won the nobel peace prize. When he accepted the award, he called war the epitome of hell. The declaration of hostilities is likely to further undermine if not destroy his fading reputation as a leader who can unite ethiopia under the banner of liberal democracy. It seems ashough his edentials are seriously eroding. Over the period where he has had tensions with tplf, very strong rhetoric coming frs him, and he rejected many calls. Many thoughtou that he pave the way for talks, he seemed like a reformist coming into wer, but i suppose many of the changes he was implementing including to the political system, postponing the election, raised a lot of political tensions. In some ways, this conflict was was brewing over all of these months. A bit of a letdown for those who felt that he would be a changemaker. Kare the kenyan government sayst will soon be making arrests after an investigation by bbc africa eye uncovered evidence of child trafficking. The yearlong investigation found evidence of babies being stolen to order at a major government run hospital. Usg undercover investigators to infiltrate an undergroundk, networ the team witnessed children sold on the streets and clinics. Sale in illegal kenyas minister of labor and social ptections said the whole government was shocked by what it uncovered. It disturbed all of us, right fromhe top, our president , the whole cabinet, everyone who is a parent or has a child, would feel very disturbed from this expose. Karen Officials Say that they are taking immediate action. The police are investigating the matter and within 24 to 48 hours, we should see arrests of those seen in the clips. We are going deeper. Owe als want to understand what the officers were doing, what the administrors, the medical team of this facility, and any other facity we are testing the security. All other hospitals, not just in nairobi, but across the country. Karen for more on thise tory, go to c website bbc. Com. There are all the details of that yearlong special investigation by the bbc africa eye team into kenyan trafficking rings. Stay with us ooutside source. Still to come, absolutely terrifying scenes in columbia as a powerful colombiawe as a ul hurricane slams into the country. Berlin police have arrestede thn suspected of carrying out an on jewelry heist at one of the wors oldest museums last year. Around a dozen items d from the newseum in dresdens royal pace, their value too great to be calculated. Our berlin correspondent has the background to the heist. Thiis a Big Development in the case which really shocked country when it happened, not ast the worth of what was stolen, these storable treures. It was said that there were at the time was immeasurable, said the museum authorities, but also because of the audacity of the crime. The thieves managed to create a partial electricity blackout at the museum before smashing their way through a barred window and into the green vault of the state museum where we saw them on a cctver ce smashing an axe beforeetting away withith these priceless items. Karen you are with outside source live from the bbc news room. The u. S. Has announced further trp withdrawals from afghanistan before president o trump leavice. 2000 will leave. The bosses of twitter and facebook have defended their misinformation during the u. S. Election campaign. Ck dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg part of the discusashe senate. President trumps postelection tweets, and this standoff st andn the new york twitte in october, a story and unverified claims abou bidens son hunter. Both facebook and twitter intervene to limit its spread. What i want to try and find. Out newspaper at twitter or facebook , then why do you have editorial control over the New York Post . They decided and maybe for a good reason, i dont know that the new yorkosarticles about hunter biden needed to be flged, excluded from distributionor made hard to nd. That to me seems liketh you are ultimate editor. Karen twitters Ceo Jack Dorsey acknowledge that his companys decision to block links to the ardcle about hunter biden been wrong. Here he is speaking to the ynpublican senator john co this was a policy around distribution of hacked materials. Webeidnt want twitter t distribution point for hacked materials. You realize that bywn taking the store you probably give it more prominence and visibility then it would have gotten if you had left it alone. We realize that, recognize it as a mistake that we made, both in terms of the o intentithe policy, and also the enforcement action of not allowing people to share it publicly or privately, which is why we corrected it within 24 hours. Karen he told the committee the company have labeled 300,000 tweets as misinformation during the Campaign David he was also quizzed by senators about the number of labelings put on President Trumps tweets with warnings. Thetemocrats asked if that w far enough. Our policies are focused on unmisleading information a the ection and the civic process to provide greater context, to provide additive information, so people can make decisionsharound what is enwith the election. To the election, election day, an also the phase we are in right now, postelection. Our policies and enforcement are focused on providing information, more context do those people in those phases. Karen facebooks ceo Mark Zuckerberg said that they had conducted the largest review in they also talked about stopping this deal 350,000 members. Here is what he had to say. One of our Top Priorities is making sure that peopldont use our platfm to organize any violence or civil unrest. That was theer basis u which we took that group. There were a number of members who were posting potentially violent or encouraging violent comments that violated our policies. Karen James Clayton have been watcng the hearings. Here he is on the scrutiny that social media companie been getting from both des. Republicans were very much going on those don trump tweets. Twitter is happyo label a lot of those tweets, particularly around voter disinformation. President trump has set a lot of things about mass voter fraud. Its not actually true. Twitter exercised their right to tag those tweets. Republicans said that was censorship. On the oth end of the spectrum, the grass are saying that twitter and facebook are t doing enough to take things down like hate speech, misinformation. Steve bannon was not banned from facebook after setting that dr. Fauci should be beheaded. Thwe said they in an impossible situation censor, and the other side think they are not censoring enough. A difficult situation. Karen tough questions about the actions thete dic and more questions about what they didnt do. Remind us what we have seen in the weeks before the election, week or so since, what facebook and twitter are doing to combat disinformation. They have been labelg a lot of tweets and posts. Twitter have stopped people from retweeting some of Donald Trumps tweets. 300,000 twee that they have ken down. A lot of what was said by republicans is this gray area about what is and what isnt misinformation. For example, if you vote by post, you said that was open to voter fraud. Uyore not accusing anyone of voter fraud. Twitte has bee labeling some of those tweets. The publican said that went too far. Battered by the second severeen storm to hit the region in as many weeks. Tens of thousands of people in hurricane iotas path have been left without drinking water. Aid workers mourn about an impending humanitarian disaster. These aerial images show the eye of iota from above. It made landfall as a category four storm but has been downgraded as it tracks toward honduras. These are the latest ctures in honduras. The army ihelping people acuate their homes. Heavy rain is causing severe flooding in many areas. Tuother ps coming in from nicaragua, where thousands havee been forced te their homes. Lets hear from someone in the capital. She is coordinating for the indigenous womens forum. A lot of trees down on the ground. Most of all, in the middle of the storm, there was huge tivity, helping people to leave their house. Of course, some stayed a home taking they would be safe, as with the previous hurricane. T when the roof went off, they look for help, the firemen came saand helped to move into r place. Karen iota is the strongest atlantic hurricane of the year and the season has broken the record for the number of named storms. Authorities have broken through the alphabet and have reached the ninth letter of the greek alphabet. This is what the storm looked like when it hit the colombian island of san andreas. The island has no power, roads remain blocked by debd fallen trees. The other colombian island is nearly devastated. At least one person has been killed. Lets get more from colombia. Daniel is in the capital bogota. This island that you were ntioning, there was a lo of debate because there was no evacuation. In central america, honduras, nicaragua, tens of thousands of people were taken somewhere else. What is key about this, in this part of central america, two weeks ago, eta, another category 4, 5ook place there and killed hundreds of people. So the situation is bad and peoplekare conflicted. N the pentagon announcing troopls withdra from iraq and afghanistan before donald trump leaves office. We had ts reaction from chuck schumer. What i would say, i just learned about this the trump policy has been so erratic, almost based on whim. What happens when thll president out of bed every morning. The american peopl dont have a strategy. I dont even know if the e. Litary has a strategy in terms of what he has d karen that is after the pentagon announces the halving of troops in afghanistan and iraqy january. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Language specialists teaching spanish, french anmore. Raymond james. The freeman foundation. By kudy and peter bller foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected and by contributions to this pbs station fr viewers like you. Thank you. Nat the height of theonflict. D into vietnam he became a single parent of two young children. We moved a lot. We slept in rest areas. We slept in our car. I didnt realize that we were actually homeless. It makes your world really small. If we happened to stay in a motel that happened to have a tv, it was really special. We loved nova. Especially when it would be about space. Ouwe would talk for hours the universe. Watching nova, i felt big, like, my mind was big, my ideas were big. Lthe trajectory of mye changed. I could see a world outside of our poverty and i felt like things were going to getetter. D pbs opened up a worli didnt know existed. Isrovided by. Dialogue and Speech Recognition Technology to teach a new language. Like spanish, french and russian. Babbel is available in the app store or online at babbel. Com. Bee keeper. 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