I'm Marco Werman reports that President Trump has decided to pull thousands of u.s. Troops from Afghanistan is baffling to Afghans they say so this decision must have been taken based on a progress but he did not see a progress situation is terrible and let's win every province of Afghanistan and that's retired u.s. Army officer thinks a withdrawal would be shameful after so many years of u.s. Commitment to Afghanistan we are on a path abandoning the people of Afghanistan also who's next at the Pentagon after Defense Secretary Jim Matheson leaves in February it feels like it could be anybody's guess those stories and more today here on the world. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Jack Speer the Senate has adjourned without a deal on spending just an hour after the House ended its session appearing to guarantee a partial federal government shutdown will begin in just a couple of hours from now Vice President Mike Pence and other White House leaders were on Capitol Hill trying to broker a compromise as President Trump continues to push for $5000000000.00 in border wall funding Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer earlier this evening outlined what needs to happen for a deal Democrats have offered 3 proposals to keep the government open including a proposal offered by Leader McConnell that passed the Senate unanimously only a few days ago. We are willing to continue discussions on those proposals with the leader the president. The speaker of the House and the leader of the house all 5 are necessary to get something done around 25 percent of Federal Government funding expires at midnight agencies including Homeland security transportation interior agriculture and State and Justice will all be affected the u.s. And South Korea have agreed to provide flu medication to North Korea N.P.R.'s Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul that the agreement comes as talks remain deadlocked on the North Korean nuclear issue special representative for North Korea Stephen began said that the u.s. Has no intention to ease sanctions on North Korea for now but there are other things such as providing flu drugs to the north that the u.s. Is prepared to do to improve ties with Pyongyang now that work begins with denuclearization but it also includes a strong commitment by both of our countries to transform relations and to build a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula begin said Washington in Pyongyang are setting up a 2nd summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim but no time or place have been fixed yet Anthony Kuhn n.p.r. News Seoul a special prosecutors accusing Michigan State University of stonewalling his investigation into the school's handling of the sexual abuse scandal involving disgraced former sports Dr Larry Nasser Bill Forsyth releasing a report today in which he says it appears the biggest concern was the reputation of the university he also said he got little cooperation in his probe from school officials they have said that on having an attorney who represented the interests of the university sit in an interview which makes it really difficult to hear the investigator to try to get the witness out of the forthcoming with you. With the attorney representing New York City sitting there hundreds of women and girls most of them gymnast accused national of molesting them when they sought treatment Nasser received long prison terms after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography and sexual abuse charges it's the worst December on Wall Street in the better part of a decade and today a further rout in tech stocks sent the market even lower the Dow Jones industrial average down 414 points 222440 5 that was another drop of almost 2 percent the Nasdaq closed down 195 points today you're listening to n.p.r. It's 7 o 4 I'm Deborah green with k.c.a.l. You news and after nearly a year of work a key part of Montecito which was ground 0 for January's deadly debris flow has been fully reopened k.c.l. Used Lancer Roscoe has the story this is kind of grand 0 during the monastery mudslide that's Colin Jones with Count friends describing all of Mill Road in the heart of mana Seato there's only been limited access in all of Millwall crews have been used everything from repairing the roadway and sidewalks to guard rails today the community celebrated completion of the project which also included more work on Highway $101.00 but I think accomplishment we've also repays sections of that highway that was damaged during the the major flooding mudslides a power excited to bring some more conic to Vittie to the community I'm honestly the work is still continuing to replace and repair some of the damaged bridges and we win $102.00 through mana sido the disaster killed $23.00 people and destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes that's a Roscoe c.l.u. Says unemployment is mixed across the south and central coasts the State Employment Development Department is reporting that the jobless rate in Ventura County remained unchanged between October and November at 3.7 percent in Santa Barbara County the rate increase slightly of just point one percent to 3.4 percent last month and in San Luis Obispo County the percentage of people unemployed dropped by a percent to $2.00 per. Cent meantime California's unemployment rate held steady at 4 point one percent in November with the big holiday travel rush underway there are some weather questions about Christmas Eve and Christmas day with rain possible for the Central and South coasts meteorologist say it should be partly cloudy Saturday and Sunday with breezy conditions and spots on Christmas Eve We will see increasing clouds and a chance of rain into Christmas as of now forecasters say the computer models are very indecisive but they do say there should be no concerns for burn areas because the system is weak it's 7 o 6 You're listening to k.c.a.l. You Public Radio n.p.r. For the California coast. Support for n.p.r. Comes from Dreamwave maker of luxury massage chairs from Japan with shiatsu point detection and 16 programmed massages including morning night and stretch sessions retailers nationwide more edge rame wave chair dot com and the n.e.a. Casey Foundation. The world is supported by Babel a European made language learning program babble teaches practical conversation in Spanish French German and other languages available in the app store or online at b a b b e l dot com. Marco Werman this is the world one way or another we're going to get a wall those words offered by a defiant President Trump today at the White House as a government shutdown Trump said it's up to the Democrats to decide now either they choose border security on his terms or the government will shut down tonight at midnight more on that in a few minutes 1st though we want to dig into a major foreign policy shift this week the decision by Trump to pull u.s. Troops not just out of Syria but also out of Afghanistan the administration has reportedly ordered the military to start withdrawing 7000 American troops that's about half the number of u.s. Forces in Afghanistan Afghan officials were said to be taken by surprise and don't forget this is all happening as talks with the Taliban are underway show Sharifi is following all of this carefully he's the Kabul bureau chief for partners at the b.b.c. The media and local people I talk to in call both today they are asking well you know how although the number is not significant but they say so this decision must have been taken based on a progress but we do not see a progress situation is terrible and let's win every province of Afghanistan so what does it mean for day to day life in Kabul in Afghanistan if half of these u.s. Troops leave like 7000 troops packing. Up and going what cycling to imply Markel I just came from northern Afghanistan where I visited a frontline and also a place where people experience fighting every day I didn't see that the news would have affected the mood of already troubled people in those areas because we had over $160000.00 forces in Afghanistan and the casualty rate of Afghan security forces were already Harley so the $7000.00 new could not even blanket the province but the political message have worried people rather than the military physical military presence on the ground so I would say overall people haven't been worried on the ground as the numbers but the Afghan security forces are heavily rely on u.s. Airpower that follows great action in airpower who are the Afghan security forces that will be really alarming that will affect the morale of our own security forces is there a sense of betrayal amongst the Afghan national army but not yet it's too early to judge that but among savage officials they didn't like it to learn from the media about this surprise announcement of reaction from their closest ally the Americans if that's only a signal somehow to calm down the Taliban and send a positive signal that he was prepared to meet their demand of a folder drop from Afghanistan and that would mean Taliban reducing fighting that could be interpreted as something positive but they're like the Afghan government didn't like it was surprised and worried that what comes next so you were just up in the north as it. Said You're saying the Taliban even in the winter on their usual kind of holiday time off pause from fighting they are active today than did I visit it's a frontal line that's the commander I talked to one of them look at least that they gave the Taliban every single day he told me he lost 50 soldiers in the last few weeks and he was saying that the Taliban on the beat pays off fighting just like there's some operations That's the B.B.C.'s Shoaib Sharifi in Kabul so the Taliban is on the offensive and Afghans have to continue to fight against the Taliban with or without the help of the United States but wars are not won or lost by soldiers alone they're also the policy makers and rebase of it as a retired u.s. Army officer any teaches international relations at Boston University we called him up today to get his take on President Trump apparently taking a step toward withdrawal from Afghanistan 2 points I think in the 1st one is let us keep in mind that President Trump has a record of making bold statements that he subsequently retreats from so we've got a bold statement of pulling u.s. Troops out of Syria another one of reducing the u.s. Troops strength in Afghanistan I think it very much remains to be seen whether or not he's going to follow through on this especially given the amount. As ition that is developing from the foreign policy establishment the 2nd point has to do with even if he follows through what comes next you know he ran for the presidency proclaiming that u.s. War is in the Middle East are misguided I agree with that sentiment but there is a need for a policy that looks beyond simply getting out we've made a mess we have a responsibility to try to fix the mess that requires it policy and simply withdrawing u.s. Forces is not a policy trouble also has a record of saying things and they actually happened from the Paris climate agreement to the Iran nuclear deal and getting out of both of those to deregulation of a bunch of things on the environment. That's true no I mean I think it is a mixed record and it may well be that he will follow through on us but the fact that the Syria decision led directly to the resignation of Secretary of Defense Mattis I think is indicative of the extent to which the establishment is going to push back against us what do you maybe on this occasion will hold firm frankly I waiting to see how things develop and what do you make of the process a process that is apparently ignore the Pentagon the Afghans and our coalition partners or anything except what the president's gut tells him to do well I think you know this is this is the Trump style in your use of the word process I think is is exactly right in general with previous administrations there is a process that culminates in the president making a decision there are consultations there is meetings there are staff papers there's the assessment of alternatives there's an attempt to to divine consequences this guy doesn't believe in it this guy thinks that he can go with his gut and that that is going to provide the basis for 'd sound outcomes I have my doubts I have real doubts about whether the process is informed by the Ins the prevailing assumptions of the foreign policy establishment adults the daily to sound policy but I'm equally doubtful that they go with your gut president who frankly doesn't know much about foreign policy I am doubtful that that's going to lead to positive outcomes What do you think is America's moral obligation here. Well that's an excellent question and it's a question it's very difficult to provide a sort of a 15 2nd answer to what we have we do have a profound moral obligation to Afghans and to Iraqis and to Syrians and to Kurds and the list goes on we can take the list all the way back to a moral obligation to the people of South Vietnam the truth is that despite all of our talk about values being an essential component of u.s. Policy in practice values really constitute little more than and frosting and when when values get in the way decisions then values are discarded and I think that that regardless of what it is is deciding with regard to u.s. Troop strength yes we are on a path of abandoning the people of Afghanistan after this longest and most and successful war in our history and once we have abandoned them then the people of the United States will forget about Afghanistan in about a millisecond I say that with sadness and regret I think it's shameful but I also think that that describes the American people. In our in our attitude toward these difficult circumstances. And her base of as professor of international relations at Boston University thank you very much thank you. 'd RINGBACK demand for a wall on the u.s. Southern borders making it look like we're heading for a shutdown President Trump says he won't sign off on a budget unless it includes $5000000000.00 for that wall one way or the other we're going to get a war we're going to get. A barrier we're going to get anything you want to name it you can name it anything you want but we cannot. Let what's been going on in this country over the last 10 years we just can't let it happen that was Trump today in the Oval Office Democrats are not backing down though so we are now just hours away from a partial government shutdown The World's Jason Margolis has been following all this where are we at now Jason confusion blame anger uncertainty that whole range of emotions if the federal government shuts down tonight what does that mean exactly so most of the government is still open for business we're talking about 9 federal agencies Department of State agriculture interior the e.p.a. Environmental Protection Agency to name a few so what does that mean so again there's a lot of uncertainty so national parks probably going to be closed maybe the bathrooms will be close we don't know exactly they are asked probably won't be functioning because tax season is a few months away maybe you can get a passport and a visa maybe you can't depend on what building that service is provided in confusion and heading into the holidays Department of Agriculture will meet be inspected that is also some inspectors won't be coming to work again a lot of unknowns probably lots of people also tend generally affected by by some furloughs right in the middle the holidays do people who get furloughed they get paid as a paid vacation so technically do not get paid however when this is happened in the past. Congress has reinstated their pay and they have gotten their paychecks What about the border what happens with Customs and Border Protection that those workers have to report to work so they're considered essential they have to go to work it's like 98 percent of them have to report for work however it really it saps morale I mean you're working but you're not getting a paycheck they will get paid eventually but you know this is the holiday season maybe they'll be delayed by a few weeks a few months however long this goes yeah and we are in this game of brinksmanship precisely because of the demand for a wall by the White House you've been to the border several times Jason I've seen the existing wall just remind us what is there so the border with Mexico is 1933 miles and that crosses California Arizona New Mexico and Texas it goes through deserts mountains rivers we already have about 650 miles of wall and that most of that got approved under President George w. Bush that was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate 80 to 1980 to 1000 that was just a few years now so there was bipartisan support for that under Trump there been some tenders put out for new designs a few prototypes have been developed I've also been to the border and some of those physical barriers are already pretty hard to get over or through right they are very difficult however when I was at the Rio Grande Valley which is. The southeast corner of Texas right I saw a bunch of ladders so people just take these wooden ladders that would hop on over the wall and some people tunnel underneath so it's not a full proof system and just to illustrate that listen this clip from Representative Tim Ryan a Democrat from Ohio border security but on the floor you know what I like cars to want cars I'm not for the model t. You got to live in in the past. And this government is chaos now Ryan who is also a possible presidential contender reminded President Trump of one of his key campaign promises and was kind of mocking him and who's going to pay for the new member Oh your fans would stand up and Mexico's going to pay for that wall. Yeah well Donald Trump said last week in his meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer I am proud to shut down the government for border security I will be the one to shut it down I'm not going to blame you the Democrats so if we're going to sign blame for this who gets it that comment was days ago Mark today he tweeted the president tweeted quote the Democrats now own the shutdown exclamation point and quote the most Jason Margolis thanks very much thanks a lot Mark. You're listening to the world. What could be the effect of President Trump's announcement he'll withdraw u.s. Troops from Syria the Congolese refugees family celebrates their 1st Christmas in America and Jim Lovell on his mission around the moon 50 years ago. I felt this is going to be a mini Lewis and Clark expedition for Saturday and Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News from Wake up until 10 Saturday morning and k.c.a.l. You. Marco Werman You're with the world the Ministry of Silly Walks Monte Python upper class twit of the year Monte Python but Dole men's club not Monte Python it's an actual thing and no it's not just for men the B.B.C.'s Marianna deforest spoke to club members from all over the globe. Respectable semi retired this is the voice of growth a click he's in charge of the Dell men's club he's not the president you've got to remember it's the 2nd mouse that gets the cheese to join the Dell men's club you need to also have a passion for something very ordinary Monday no boring some members collect lawn mower was others enjoy watching paint dry genuinely for growth it's park benches I do what I can go anywhere in the world and enjoy where I am if I just have a park bench to sit on I call Central Park the park bench top of the world they got such a wonderful array of park benches the Del men's club has just reached 30000 members and counting on the Facebook group they have a community online they meet up in past and share their hobbies and even have a calendar that features members from all over the wild I'm Tim Barker and I live in Cumbria and I get my excitement from collecting depreciating toys so my name is rare glass and of Britain Germany I am German which should be done enough but my dull hobby has starting apps your graphical maps and. Even fictional maps like talking to Middle earth. From Colorado and my hobby. And. Washing machine. 3 And there are y.t. Like. Distress and. I am as events. I am at a moment in my saying the south of. Obsession. And love says to me is the most prefabs that the big you know some members are younger than you might imagine my name is Allister I'm 25 and from London and I'm a new Miss Mathilda which means that I collect coins from around the world doesn't mean I'm rich start and I'm a proud member of the old man's club the club was started by Grover over 30 years ago we began in the mid 1980 s. When I was living in New York City I belong to a club called The New York Athletic Club and we'd been to the gym and then we were down in the bar area afterwards and the monthly magazine of the club would come out within the magazine or articles about clubs within the club There's a boxing club a judo club a wrestling club a fencing club and one of the guys at the table there one of my mates there said she we don't do any of that stuff someone else said yeah we're kind of girl so I said well let's start a page for the Goldmans club and just write about dull things we do one of the things that they wrote about was whether watching a favorite past time off the newly formed l men's club or we like to watch weather forecasts we get together early in the morning at the club and watch the weather forecasts then we pick up the phone and call around the country to see if was really happening that way but if you're after something a little more exciting then checking up on the weather member Amanda Hines supposedly Dell hobby doesn't sound actually that dull at all my passion is following Brown to rest signs stay with me Brown signs are truly international basically sawing on boats and motorways that showed people the direction to kind of tourist destination trail and that included got beaches and theme parks and lots of different things even Mt Everest has its own brown sign Amanda thinks following them is one of the. Best Ways to see a country I think there's a lot to be said for just going off on your own and you know putting down any anything that might influence you and just be inspired by the things that make you go what's that class the furthest you fall at a brown sign to publicly to pad to be honest. And how many Brown signs he followed now I honestly don't know it's hundreds I have not thousands because it's everywhere I go I follow a different from terrorists and that includes all over the world and the Dell men's club did you join or did they contact you yeah they contacted me in the reason why they contacted me because it was the 1st year that they had let women in I am triumphant So that was I don't know whether it's last year well the year before but I was missed January and that can into a privilege and day. I asked grow the the man in charge of the club why he's brought all these people together and what it is that he enjoys so much about running the club when I look at these people that are in a book and characters I turn and wonder what makes them tick and there's a common threads run throughout and one of them is they get a thrill with what you're doing every time they do it you might call leaders quirky passions interesting something that is very common in ordinary minding far from the glitz and glam but they get great pleasure from it there can be beheadings or can be political problems in various countries and in all kinds of bad news and they can just retreat to their hobby and be content doing their best something admirable about being so passionate fascinated by something even if it is not possible manhole covers and every member of the club that I spoke with was proud to be called out. As a celebration of finding happiness in the simple things of those who are indebted being in the dell men's club is nothing short of an honor. Curious their story didn't bore me at all the B.B.C.'s Marianna deforest there along with the members of the Dull Men's Club men and women from all over the world. This is about somebody who's definitely not dull did you think Santa was from the North Pole think again it's a local misunderstanding some day some dark cold because office there but the problem with the North Pole is there is nothing that the rain. Is Lankan and runs a few Christmas businesses and Rove in the me that's the official Santa Claus village in Finland think of it as a center museum and park with elves reindeer shops and restaurants as you can imagine it's a busy season well today back should be Yesterday we had a charity charter from Ireland with a bunch of children basically most of my terminally ill they want to see Santa to see the center village draws more than 600000 visitors a year with charities and guests from all over the world especially children and if they can visit finished Father Christmas they send him letters lots of them here in this and the coast post office we spend a lot of time together a brief through the. Thousands of that yes the children around the word to me and that guy he claims he's Santa but wasn't always Santa Claus his village actually started as a quiet trading town in the 1930 s. And in World War 2 It completely burned down. Me needed to be rebuilt from the ground up and it was with the help of a Finnish architect his name was. Here's a Lincoln and again I'll bet I'll go watch the signing many building miscarry also hold the city library and he actually trolled cursed. The rain deal. Yes you can find the ship the structure. That's correct Robin Niemi was rebuilt into a reindeer shaped street grid and I think you can guess who moved in next so remember to be good Merry Christmas Father Christmas in self but. We were speaking with lank you know the founder of. One of the companies and roving the me the Santa Claus village of Finland. Be here with the world. With the south coast weather update on k.c.a.l. You under evergreen partly cloudy tonight with lows in the forty's to lower fifty's tomorrow a mix of sun and clouds would temperatures reaching the sixty's to mid seventy's a high surf advisory continues for the Ventura County coast until 6 am a slight chance of rain on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Monta sido has a forecast low of 48 Simi Valley 49 and Ohio 41 this is k.c.a.l. You. I'm Marco Werman The Ukrainian capital Kiev is known for both relatively cheap tech talent and a cyber crime so here's some expert advice if you're a tech company in your city is there that's a place where it can't be a long and hard about what kind of data you're sending there and who you share it with that story still ahead here on the world. B.b.c. News with Nick Kelly many u.s. Government operations shut down in less than 2 hours after congressional budget talks broke down President Trump blamed Democratic lawmakers for refusing to endorse $5000000000.00 of funding for a wall on the Mexican border he said he hoped the shutdown would not last long the House of Representatives and the Senate adjourned their Friday sessions without approving a deal become b. And security forces are shot dead one of the most wanted dissident Fark rebels in the country. Through security is also known as Cho was wanted for the kidnapping and murder of 2 Ecuadorian journalists and their driver earlier this year he was killed in a jungle area close to the border between the 2 countries protests in Sudan against price hikes have turned deadly again to that least one person killed on Friday the Higher Education Ministry announced the indefinite closure of all universities in Khartoum state following 3 days of student protests 2 people have been arrested in connection with disruptive drone activity as a busy London airport illegal flights disrupted passenger traffic at Gatwick for 3 days British security forces have seized control of an Italian cargo ship where stowaways reportedly threatened the crew 4 men were arrested the u.s. Justice Department says that a Chinese national honkin Tanner has been arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets from a u.s. Based oil company he worked for officials said he had downloaded hundreds of files for the benefit of a Chinese firm and officials from the World Anti-Doping Agency who have returned from a visit to Russia say Moscow has failed to give access to lab data are required as part of the deal to reinstate Russia to the organization this could lead to Russia being suspended again Russia had been suspended from wider 3 years ago over its alleged state sponsored doping program b.b.c. News. Support for the world comes from Babble a European made language learning program babble teaches practical conversation in Italian Russian Swedish and other languages available in the app store or online at b a b b e l dot com. I'm Marco Werman And you're with the world where a coproduction of the b.b.c. World Service p.r.i. N.w. G.b.h. Here in Boston the change over doesn't happen officially until February but the news that gym mat is resigning as secretary of defense is huge he rebuked trumps foreign policy in his resignation letter matters was also respected by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle the cabinet position of u.s. Defense secretary has big implications for how American foreign policy plays out so who's going to replace the retired 3 star Marine Corps general I talked to Dave Brown defense editor of Politico he told me that the list of possible successes for Mattis is short you know in the early going it feels like it could be anybody's guess because a lot of the names that were thrown around or decided to nominate Jim Mattis are people who if you look at the past 2 years have actually come out against a lot of the trunk policies Senator Tom often named as a possible secretary defense Another possibility could be Jim Matheson is deputy editor Shana then you've got retired Army General Jack Keane He's a frequent commentator on Fox News Senator Lindsey Graham as well so let me just go through of some of these names and you tell me if they're a topic you know green light for topic yellow light maybe and red for it's not going to happen so Senator john green yellow or red I would say yellow a war veteran who's been aligned with a lot of the things the Trump administration has said over the past 2 years however he's joined a lot of other Republican senators condemning the decision to troops. Out of Syria and he was green until some of this criticism Lindsay Graham and there's another one all you had to see was his reaction to the trumpet ministrations decision with respect to Saudi Arabia and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi he was one of the absolute most vocal critics of the White House a stance and as soon as the news came out that we would be pulling our troops out of Syria Lindsey Graham said 8 every time truck tweets about Syria I'm going to tweet him back and tell him why he's wrong and so it's almost overnight how he's gone from green to red Wow and then retired Army General Jack Keane another one who is always at the top of the list if you read the Woodward book President offered him the secretary of defense earth and General Keane said no but you got to try this guy mess and General Keane was interviewed about this last night and said he's not interested so he's yet another person that you could take off the list it what about Patrick Shanahan the deputy defense secretary he could be a green he's got a very very different resume than Secretary Mabus they are former Boeing executive but one thing that's really marked his tenure as the number 2 at the Pentagon is he has been the main booster for Trump Space Force he's visited the White House many times he's forged a closer relationship with the president and with Vice President pence though is it possible that Trump could be looking for someone who doesn't have that heavy military experience someone who hails from the corporate world willing to follow through locally with a lot of these policies it could be a green. Do you think Dave that as we kind of understand what Trump is as a president's policies and what he's doing do you think more and more people are just kind of walking away and like I'm not going to work in this White House Yeah I think that's absolutely true and you know you could almost imagine a replay of what happened with John Kelly where Trump has his era parents or he has a short list one by one they say no because they decide that whether you're the chief of staff or whether you're the secretary of defense or one of these other positions you're put in an almost impossible position just about everybody who has the necessary national security credentials is saying that the president is wrong and they have all in their own ways large and small taken himself out of the running and you have to wonder who would want to take this job are there any names you're especially worried about like Could any of the top contenders significantly change u.s. Policy or weaken ties with allies Well I think the thing that would worry people and that's older Americans and allies is someone who would blindly follow what the president wants to do and that's across the board that statement of transgender service members that's throwing a parade pulling troops out of war zones that sending troops to the border you name any of the policy areas where the president has made a pronouncement and Secretary Mabus has done whatever he could to soften or make it palatable for the establishment so I think the thing that would worry people is someone who doesn't do that. Dave Brown of the defense editor for Politico speaking with us from just outside of Washington thanks very much the same here whoever comes next as defense secretary will have to deal with that other decision by President Dr the one we heard about earlier to reduce u.s. Forces in Afghanistan by half so what was your reaction when you heard this news and to be very honest after election there was a lot of speculation around it so it was not it will just reprise that's all wash my Farrukh she's an Afghan women's rights activist and she's been speaking with my colleague the world sure enjoy Fahri I'll let Sharon pick it up from here to wash my fool it was inevitable that one day the u.s. Would pack up and the but she never imagined it would come at a moment like this right now talks with the Taliban are ongoing we didn't expect that the u.s. Administration and the u.s. President will give the Taliban a big leverage in recent months peace talks between America and representatives and the Taliban have been gaining momentum It's an intricate that getting 2 sides that are fought each other tooth and nail for they kids to sit down and talk peace the Taliban have long demanded that foreign troops leave Afghanistan before they actually to any deal now for access the u.s. Has granted them that bish without getting anything in return I talked with a lot of my family members everybody since yesterday who are all upset angry she says president trumps the situation to cut u.s. Forces in Afghanistan by half well goal that the Taliban the u.s. Officially ended its combat operations there 4 years ago so at least in theory there aren't any American troops fighting on the front lines the mission has shifted to training and supporting Afghan forces but says very a journalist in Kabul the Afghan military remains heavily dependent on the Americans the reality is that the Afghan national. Security forces without the American special forces American air support drones would really find it extremely challenging but it's also concerning to Afghans he says is that the Taliban remains powerful and Quantrill considerable amount of territory the Taliban not backed away publicly from saying that they will stop fighting they're saying they will stop fighting until they kick out only for an invading forces including the Americans so he says it feels like the u.s. Is dropping the ball at a crucial moment Meanwhile Afghan president Ashraf Ghani discounted the Taliban's reach in an interview with the b.b.c. This is a figment of somebodies imagination the number of districts that actually fallen is very small that doesn't reassure Rushmore frock the woman's rights activist she says the u.s. Pullout is a propaganda tool not only for the Taliban but also for Afghanistan's neighboring countries like Iran it's so interesting you look at the media from Iranian side telling us that's all we told you from the beginning you shouldn't trust it so that I could buy a quote for his sentiments about the us is withdrawal she woke up to the news and immediately called up her friends and family it makes us shocked it makes us all so I mean as a woman I feel like that the world has turned our back to us once again she says her biggest fear is that the Taliban will call the shots I return to their repressive rule I mean I understand that a lot of lives lost this war has been too long but you don't like this I'm. Getting u.s. Forces could begin leaving Afghanistan as early as next month for the world I'm sure and of Ari. If you're like me this is the sound you hear when someone's at your door. And if you're like me a small dog. Starts barking his fool head off anyway I'm a little behind the times apparently these days doorbells are connected to the Internet they also have microphones and cameras ring makes it convenient to see and speak with whomever say your front door any time from anywhere. A marketing spot for Amazon's rain or maybe you know about rang what you probably didn't know is that footage collected by the smart doorbells has been ending up in Ukraine Matt Drange got the scoop on the story he's with the tech website the information Matt told us that since 2016 people developing rang have been quietly working in Kiev the Ukrainian capital areas known as a location where you can get checked out an engineering talent relatively cheaply and surveying decided Ok you know let's open up an r. And d. Live there right so the r. And d. a Lab ended up in Kiev what else ended up there like customer data yes a very quickly within a few months customer videos from around the world ended up there and the reason is that you know the whole point of having this are in the lab is to train your algorithms so they can tell you know hey that's your dog or that's the u.b.s. Guy and so you need data to teach your doorbell to recognise those things and so runs approach was to just use customer data Were there security concerns about the ring system from the beginning and what were they yes there were security concerns from the beginning I mean you have in particular is really seen as a victim and a perpetrator of cyber crime in the sense that you know they're right on the doorstep obviously Russia what the cyber experts that we spoke to said is that look if him if you're a tech company and you're setting up an office there that's a place where you should think you know long and hard about what kind of data you're sending there and who you're sharing it with what do you think theoretically is the worst that could happen I mean these devices are connected to wife I could could this give hackers access to other connected devices in someone's home essentially Yeah I mean so reining in addition to storing user video for months they also collect various Aneta data associated with the doorbell and so from the experts that we talked to seems at the worst case scenario would be if your video and meditator were to be. Back and to you know essentially end up with a in the wrong hands that would essentially give whoever it is access to knowing when you are home you know the words of virtual time guys when to break into someone's home because they know if you're leaving you know every day to say go to work at 745 they know that that's a good time to come and see what's in your house yes so the risks to privacy are pretty clear are you aware though of cases where customer information and data have been misused because of the company's operations in Ukraine knows at this point there are no instances that we know about where customer data was either act or misused somehow by by employees now Amazon bought ring early this year in February and reportedly paid more than $1000000000.00 for the company have operations in Ukraine continued since the Amazon takeover Yes yes operations in Ukraine are largely the same for ring at this point they actually have more than $500.00 employees so it's a pretty large team and they set up a still basically the same the only difference is that now since the Amazon acquisition there have been some steps to try and limit access to user video but again as I mentioned before you know some of these Ukraine employees I talked to more than 2 dozen current or former Ukrainian ring employees and many of them told me that they're already finding workarounds around that. Matt do you think the average ring owner knows about this no I do not think the average ring owner knows that the video sent to Kiev Ukraine and is nowhere in the company's terms of service or privacy policy do they say that you do when you sign up for a and agree to their terms centrally gibbering ownership of your video data so they can do with it what they will but they don't actually really tell customers Here's what we do it that we sent into Ukraine or image recognition purposes what is Amazon the owner of the new owner of ring what have what are they saying about all this so who's on is not commenting on the story they didn't comment before it either so you know it's unclear if they're actually concerned about this you know some of the stuff could have been prevented or just decisions made differently early on in terms of you know a start up saying hey we need to grow and grow quickly you know you need to figure out Ok how do we do that but also in a way that will ensure that you know customers will trust us on core. Matt Drange with the information he co-wrote ported a story about ring Amazon smart doorbell and the company's secretive operations in Kiev and Ukraine Matt thank you very much thanks for having me a note here that we did reach out to Amazon's ring they told us they take the privacy and security of their customers personal information quote extremely seriously a short anniversary note here 30 years ago today this news broke that evening there's been a major crash tonights near the Scottish border a Pan American jumbo jet carrying more than 250 people has crashed near the town of Lockerbie in dumb Friess Pan Am flight one a 3 took off from London headed for New York it was brought down by a bomb that exploded in the jet tearing it apart scattering records across the town of Lockerbie Scotland everyone on board was killed 259 people the crash killed 11 more people on the ground today Lockerbie held a memorial service. A single bagpipe of dignitaries and locals joined some relatives of the victims also there members of the emergency services who raced to the crash scene to help that night most of the passengers on Flight 103 were Americans Nicole put on Jay was one of them she was a student flying home for Christmas her body was never recovered but some of her clothing was collected and washed by local volunteers who returned them to her family in America Nichols' mother Janine's says she's never forgotten the kindness of the people of Lockerbie Sometimes we get Guardian Angels and my friend it certainly is an example of the love that dedication and the caring of a couple of people in another country who didn't know why children but who knew how much this would say to their families Janine both launched a at a memorial service for the victims of the Lockerbie bombing 30 years ago today here with the world. The world's news room brings you stories pictures and sound from today's news at the World dot org links to original sources space for you to comment on stories and to connect with the world's reporters take a deep dive into global news now at the World dot org Support for the world comes from Babble a European made language learning program Babel teaches practical conversation in Italian Russian Swedish and other languages available in the app store or online at be a b b e l dot com slumped in your chair. Tossed and turned. On the next fresh air songwriter and singer Loudon Wainwright the 3rd he describes his new Netflix special as a posthumous collaboration with his late father a popular columnist for Life magazine with whom he had a complicated relationship we'll hear 2 of our interviews with Wainwright join us. Fresh air between 8 and 9 tonight after the world on k.c.a.l. You. Colonizing Mars might sound like science fiction but some people say it's in our very near future we're talking 15 years from now at the most and that we actually need to do it to survive humans can't live on Earth forever if the human species is to survive it must become an interplanetary species the next frontier that's next time on the Ted Radio Hour from n.p.r. Saturday afternoon between one and 21 case heal you. I'm Marco Werman at the world we hear from a lot of listeners mostly brief comments off and on amiss it can be hard to know if the stories we tell really have an impact once they come out of the radio or your ear buds then we got a note from a listener that talk about impact blew us away. It came from here an elementary school a few miles down the road from us My name's John Rogers I'm a proud teacher here at the guy old school in East Boston beguiled is a public school in a working class neighborhood John teaches 4th grade and every morning we have a meeting began with a greeting we read a quote. We share the news of the world the news of the school and finally if there's time we play a quick game and some of the news John shares with his class it turns out comes from us here at the world one morning back in October I shared a story from Brazil where the story was about the Amazon rain forest sod I would Brazil's National Institute for Amazonian research says a new threat is now looming the forests are responding. And the atmosphere is changing that story came from reporter Sam Eaton how climate change is stressing the Amazon maybe making the forest less able to absorb c o 2 pollution and how that in turn might be making climate change and worse in other words he says when it comes to climate change was by us sometimes going to buy any more so I shared that for the class and then the next day a poem appears on my desk global warming film and I can leave as best. The world is getting hotter day after day but do we ever wonder why this is why cars buses change and the fire station is messing up the air they effect the air and we have to vote ember cheese help was pretty and now the saw. Naturally I felt like really impressed that a student took that initiative herself we're heavy into a poetry unit now but take it upon herself to write a reflection poem that talks about global warming and standing up for the environment there was this beautiful poem about. How we have to act now and that the future is ours and we have to make a difference in our futures in jeopardy but that can change but spirits are protecting our planet today. The Golden Nugget was when the poem appeared on my desk that. That wasn't even the assignment she took it upon herself so I feel like you need to know that you need to know how far your your show reaches that's when John sent us a note with a picture of Ana and a copy of her poem thought this would make you happy he said and sure did and it turns out on his poem was only the beginning of the story it was almost like a wave had begun we all wrote poems a blaze of heat but in the day after day the rolls it gets harder and harder but everybody is getting bad and all that dirtier but it wasn't just global warming there were poems about a whole bunch of stories John and his students have heard on the show dear mother board inspired by tear gas prices you panic them from the gas run for your life run from the gas your freedom is waiting for you on the other side of hope so rags to riches inspired by the France yellow vest protests by chat rags to riches there's no in between rags in riches Yes or murder taxes for me rats in riches Let's take things back. This is a. Land. And they're still investigating. The line by. Suppression I can't go home. I'll get arrested but the free press is important and so I will go home. 50 years from now no home feels like to be in jail for 15 years for doing nothing and waiting in jail to kill you all are serious thinkers and this 4th graders but not too serious being kids a lot of them were also drawn to our story about Sponge Bob Square Pants Hey Will. What did you read what I read out. Was our little one Larry Wilson wrote this after our story about the death of Sponge Bob creator Stephen Helen Berg and how the cartoon has been translated into more than 50 languages and she could turn into anything funny expunge was spying a lot of kids to be happy there are a lot of happy and surprisingly hopeful kids in this class and I was actually a little surprised that their teacher talks with the students about so many heavy stories from our show but John Rogers says the kids can handle it I think that 4th grade is always a great where they come so young and then they leave like little adults and learning about like sad stories or sometimes scary stories I thinks just like helps motivate them assured Yeah and poetry poetry I think is the perfect vehicle to have them reflect on it because it takes away some of the barriers of traditional like essay writing clearly Mr Rogers yet could his name be any more perfect he empowers his students to take on these dark realities which is why Ana wrote that 1st poem that got the whole ball rolling Why do you think that story about the Amazon and climate change and deforestation Why do you think it it affected you so much that you wanted to write a poem. I must see him in being say really care that he and I really like it's. My have we just destroyed our own. Thing but. We can still change that's not too late you know I listen to politicians say that and it just gets harder and harder to believe them but I believe Ana and her classmates and that gives me so much hope thanks to all the kids of Mr Rogers 4th grade class at the gold Elementary School here in Boston for inspiring us for inviting us to their school not. To mention playing Baaba Maal from a complete with disco strobe light you are the best and don't forget our invitation to visit us in the newsroom by the way besides reading us their poems Ana and her classmates greeted me and our environment editor Peter Thomson with a life sized posters they draw on of those posters along with pictures of our visit to the kids at the guy old school and a video of Ana reading her poem are at the world. Ok I wish I had a disco strobe light with me in the studio but I'll leave you with some music from Senegal Baaba Maal all the same this is his classic from the album fire and for the Worlds The music was composed by our Goldberg from The Nana Bill Harris It is a w. G.b.h. Here in Boston I'm Marco Werman Have a great weekend as you head into the holidays will be here for you on Monday. The world is a co-production of the b.b.c. World Service p.r.i. And g.b.h. Supported in part by the group whose charitable resources include f j c a foundation of donor advised funds f j c dot org The p.r.i. Ambassador Council has donors include Margaret steed Hoffman and the Rose family fund p.r.i. 2020 donors including the tag me Jones family fun tim and Melanie Berman Robert and Sharon Ryan John and Caroline Valentine and Betsy Atwater in memory of Paul and I want to coddle by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ford Foundation and by the w t v h fund for environmental reporting his donors include the Grantham foundation. For the protection of the environment supporting a cooperative approach to solving our critical environmental problems while we still can and by the Ives Family Fund. Our Public Radio International. From the police chief studios at California Lutheran University this is k.c.a.l. You. What could be the effect of President Trump's announcement he'll withdraw u.s. Troops from Syria the Congolese refugees family celebrates their 1st Christmas in America and Jim Lovell on his mission around the moon 50 years ago. I felt excited this is going to be a mini Lewis and Clark expedition for Saturday and Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News from Wake up until 10 Saturday morning on k.c.a.l. You. News on k.c.a.l. You made possible in part by the Linda and Dennis Fenton charitable trust. It's 8 o'clock bringing you stories of the California. 1000 Oaks. And everywhere. From w.h.y. Why in Philadelphia this is Fresh Air I'm David Bianculli in for Terry Gross. Today singer songwriter Loudon Wainwright the 3rd he describes his new Netflix special as a posthumous collaboration with his late father a popular columnist for Life magazine with whom he had a complicated relationship we'll listen back to 2 of our interviews with Wainwright and he'll perform some songs about his life and his tangled family he's been married 3 times and has 4 children 3 of his children are singers too he's written songs about them they've written songs about him this is really complicated diagram . Also Justin Chang reviews the new Spider-Man animated film that's all coming up on fresh air. But. First the news. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Shay's Stevens the federal government will be forced to shut down within the hour because congressional lawmakers have failed to agree on another stopgap budget plan the House and Senate are adjourned until tomorrow N.P.R.'s Scott Deathstroke reports the 1st big challenge of the day was to get senators to Capitol Hill the Senate had headed home for the holidays before the House added 5000000000 dollars in border wall funding to a spending bill and send it back so it took nearly 6 hours to complete the 1st procedural vote as lawmakers trickled in now says Republican Bob Corker it's more waiting we're not voting on anything else in this chamber. Relative to this issue until a global agreement has been reached between the president and these 2 leaders and the later in the house it's not clear when that will happen Scott that tro n.p.r. News the Capitol the Justice Department is expressing disappointment over the u.s. Supreme Court's latest ruling on immigration as. Molly reports the high court says the trumpet ministration may not enforce an asylum ban for immigrants who enter the country without permission Chief Justice John Roberts cast the deciding vote joining his more liberal colleagues the decision leaves in place lower court rulings that stop the trumpet ministration from enforcing its new restrictions on asylum that means as the case makes its way through the courts asylum seekers who bypass official ports of entry can still have their applications considered That's lovely Jamali reporting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery today for early stage lung cancer the Supreme Court says the 85 year old is being treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York Her doctors say the Ginsburg's prospects for a full recovery look good barring any complications she hopes to be back at work for the start of the new term in her early January it's been a brutal week on Wall Street with the Dow Jones Industrials falling 1.8 percent today. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 3 percent and the s. And p. $500.00 lost 2 percent of its value on concerns about interest rates the trade war and the looming partial government shutdown as N.P.R.'s Janine Herbst reports economists say next year could pose even more problems from in Washington and around the world is weighing on investors leaving many in a sour mood this market feels very ugly said timid is just terrible Mark Zandi chief economist with Moody's Analytics says the increasing chaos coming out of Washington is taking a toll but he says consumers so far have shrugged it off although my guess is as you get into the new year if this continues on consumers are going to start to feel more dour as well Zandi also says Wall Street could take a hit from international concerns including Bragg's it which he says will be a test for the global economy Janine Herbst n.p.r. News in Washington a market surge in the next 2 weeks is needed to avoid the worst December since the 1930 s. On the market this is n.p.r. News it's 804 I'm Deborah graine with k.c.a.l. You news after nearly a year of work a key part of Montecito which was ground 0 for January's deadly debris flow has been fully reopened k.c.l. Used Lancer Roscoe has the story this is kind of Ground 0 during the monastery mudslide that's Colin Jones with county friends describing all of Mill Road in the heart of mana Seato there's only been limited access in all of Millwall crews have finished everything from repairing the roadway and sidewalks to guard rails today the community celebrated completion of the project which also included more work on Highway $101.00 but I think accomplishment we've also repays sections of that highway that was damaged during the the major flooding mudslides a power excited to bring some more conic to Vittie to the community I'm honestly don't still.