al jazeera. where every. we don't regard that as the behavior of a responsible international player the animation of a nuclear attack on america that's triggering a new war of words with russia. on the your child is their life more headquarters here in doha also coming up the number of wounded and dead keeps rising in syria's eastern future where there's

meant to be a partial ceasefire nicolas maduro struggle for hold on power why delay the vote could help the president's chances of reelection in venezuela plus. are all over it's been the talk of love but now there's something to celebrate the restoration of one of russia's many run down the states. welcome to the program two of the world's super powers are flexing their military muscle russia's president to showcased its nuclear and weapons arsenal vladimir putin says it will make russia invincible the u.s. has reacted to the threat by approving plans to sell more than two hundred and ten missiles to ukraine and is accusing russia of violating global arms treaties. certainly did not enjoy watching we don't regard that as the behavior of

a responsible international player president putin has confirmed what the united states government has known for a long time that russia has denied prior to this that russia has developed been developing destabilizing weapon systems for more than a decade in direct violation of its treaty obligations president trump understands the threats facing america and our allies in this in this century and is determined to protect our homeland and preserve peace through strength u.s. defense capabilities are and were main second to nine. putin unveiled of us all during his annual state of the nations speech raising concerns of a new arms race with the west joan hope reports now from moscow. is in and the speech that it seemed relentlessly domestic suddenly took an explosive turn . no one expected blood to me at putin's annual address to parliament to involve advanced missile systems and strategic weapons and maybe talk of job creation and

better roads in the years ahead it was a response he said to years of unchecked advances by the united states in missile defense. russia has always been a big nuclear states you know want to dispute constructively with us in the past and no one said to listen well listen to us now one missile in development putin explained could travel the globe with unlimited range and entirely undetected by radar defense systems because three weeks before the presidential election it was all greeted with extatic applause by russia's political elite president putin made a strong message to. the russian audience which can be spelled out as the fall of any of the situation in the world this prevents reus surrounded by a dressers but. you'll have to be rest assured that deal the country is run

by a person whose name is of like you're a poet and. you will have nothing to worry about as well as showcasing these extraordinary new defense capabilities let me a putin speech was full of inspiring promises of investment lifting people out of poverty improving their lives in what was expected to be his last major speech before the election this was putin presented to the russian people as a pillar of political stability economic stability and perhaps above all security its full impact may have been intended for a domestic audience but there was more than a hint of menace in putin's warning that any outside threat would be met with annihilation russia's current defense spending is only about one tenth of that of the united states obviously combined defense spending. is even much larger than that of the u.s. the trumpet mistress announced plans to increase defense spending. and russia with

its economic conditions is unlikely to be able to spend much more than it currently does. i don't think there will be a real arms race after eighteen years in power this was a mere putin reminding russians that their country is a world power once again the strength of its conventional military on full display in syria he said its nuclear capabilities now soon to be more than a match for us might join a home al jazeera moscow well dr stephen dank is a distinguished fellow at the asia pacific foundation of canada he says putin's announcement is a demonstration of strength. i think what putin has been very much interested in is demonstrating that russia does have the capability to push back against what is perceived as united states aggression both in eastern europe but also growing belligerence in northeast asia in particular on the korean peninsula. from russia's

standpoint and president putin standpoint is that the united states and liberal western institutions have gradually put more and more pressure in the post cold war period on russia decreasing its influence and russia would like to send the message that again russia is a powerful country it's still a great power and it can push back against american influence not only in the region but globally these systems that can. perhaps when we don't have any proof that can perhaps get through missile defense systems and get through american defense systems maybe one of the. strategies to deal with that. russia's expansion of its nuclear arsenal flies in the face not only of nonproliferation but also of a prohibition resolution passed at the un last year one of the countries most supportive of banning nuclear weapons completely is new zealand but its neighbor australia is opposed. to good sydney the two countries reaffirm their conflicting

positions under thomas was the. in wellington on tuesday december i don't have her first big speech on foreign policy and central to that speech was committed in her government to the ratification of the probation on nuclear weapons treaty my government will be looking at the early ratification of the tree she on the preservation ethnically weakens which new zealand signed last year so that we could contribute to its really in tree and to force the treaty has got the support of well over one hundred countries but none of the nuclear armed countries nor australia that sees protection by us missiles as very important to this country's defense of the press conference here i asked both leaders about their conflicting positions can you promise to persuade malcolm turnbull to take that treaty more seriously and from mr turnbull can you ever see a time when you could support a prohibition treaty on their weapons we will continue to be advocates around.

nuclear. program. we are seeking to expedite the ratification of their it agreement but that's obviously a domestic matter for us and one that we advocate internationally not in any one particular territory with one particular leader the treaty that you referred to the probably treaty. the weakness of it from our perspective is that the nuclear powers are not a party to we clearly all of us everyone would like to aspire to i world which is free of nuclear weapons but we have to focus in the here and now is our perspective in a very clear and pragmatic way on preventing proliferation whether it's in the korean peninsula or elsewhere and in doing so we obviously have to work very closely with the existing nuclear powers including outright ally the united states those like malcolm turnbull oppose the prohibition treaty say that it's

a distraction from more pressing issues like north korea but those who are in favor of the prohibition treaty say their game is a long term one. there's been more bloodshed in syria's eastern ghouta despite a russian inforced a partial ceasefire at least nineteen civilians were killed in the rebel held on in russian and syrian government strikes on. aid groups more than six hundred people have died in the early three weeks and i heard a report from neighboring beirut in lebanon easter who does the last major rebel stronghold around the capital damascus un satellite assessment of sixty two point five square kilometers of the enclave shows major damage in most areas the offensive is the latest in a series of attempts by the government to recapture eastern huta but it has been described as the deadliest the opposition controlled area has been under siege since two thousand and thirteen. this is a checkpoint through which civilians have been told to leave eastern it's day three

of the five hours humanitarian pause no aid has entered no medical cases evacuated and no civilians have left the besieged enclave apart from an elderly pakistani couple and the residents say they don't trust the truce. we will never leave our homes i hope god will take revenge against them we will die on . the open the crossings but you cannot trust them they open them and then they bomb them they want to displace us now russia is calling its daily humanitarian pause a failure president vladimir putin is blaming the rebels for preventing civilians from leaving and the russian officer is warning the truce may not last if there are no results the russian government could be sending a message that the relentless bombardment on eastern during the first week of the military campaign could resume civilians are dying even with the pause in the

fighting but before the temporary truce took effect dozens were killed on a daily basis. doctors say the medical situation is desperate even before the latest bombing campaign began the un repeatedly requested permission from the government to evacuate hundreds of patients who needed medical care now the list includes one thousand names people who were wounded in the assault. on loved it in the past ten days there was a lot of pressure on medical care and we have large numbers of where today now seem to is there are thousands of wounded and more than five hundred matters there is a shortage of medical supplies eastern hooter's three main rebel factions are proposing taking out fighters linked to the former al qaida affiliate afront as a way to stop the government assault the pro-government alliance wants. to leave but. we will be ready to discuss our repeat any options which will neutralize the terrorists stop their activity. if they can be taken out somewhere we will not bad

but this all must be discussed we will be ready to discuss any options which first of all help to save people's lives. there has been limited advances in ground fighting but the front lines are not just on the edges of the enclave residential neighborhoods are also under fire the syrian government and its allies don't seem willing to compromise for them this is the final battle for eastern. senator there as his leader. has more on the situation in syria. turkey's southern border. more details of deaths despair and misery out of eastern huta as this united nations security council resolution passed on saturday continues to go ignored by warring sides we've been hearing from the ground more reports of more attacks artillery shells an air strikes happening in residential areas people saying that everywhere is the front line in eastern guta activists on the ground saying that the net now the death toll that has been climbing in the last few days

has gone over the grim mark of six hundred people more than six hundred people have been killed in eastern router people have been besieged since two thousand and thirteen food aid and medical supplies have been very limited and they've been waiting on these promises that have been reiterated by the syrian government today as well that aid will be allowed in but so far no aid has come in and none of the evacuations have happened in for the north of syria in the are free region we've been hearing that the international committee of the red cross has been able to take aid inside africa and this is an area which has been under attack by turkish military as well as turkish backed rebels who will be trying to take this area from kurdish right from the fighters who they would call terrorists this aid that has been provided by the i.c.r.c. makes the first convoy this air that has gone into help about fifty thousand people in the rough area and it's surrounding people who've been displaced in the not just

the last few months since turkey began its operation in january but also earlier where they have been displaced by the because of the fighting with isis and in other areas across the turkey syria border this aid will be provided to people predominantly to try and give them much needed help against the very bitter winter but they have been saying that they need more and they need this aid to continue the north koreans denied that sense applies to syria to produce chemical weapons state television quoted a foreign ministry spokesman dismissing the accusations which were made in a confidential u.n. report. you going to the u.s. and cited the un security council sanctions committee to fabricate the theory of cooperation between us and syria this is only a mean trick to create an atmosphere of sanctions against our republic and enforce a full scale sea blockade by railing at us as a state of possession of chemical weapons and to justify its military invasion into

syria well still ahead here on al-jazeera warnings of potential trade war with china as the u.s. shopping as it stands on steel imports plus. all. taking able treacherous turn awarding more people will be killed in the beast of the east storm that's sweeping across europe. hello there were two weather systems over parts of north america at the moment take a look at the satellite picture we can see the first one here making its way through parts of canada and then all the way down into california giving us some very heavy rain and some snow here there of the system is this one over the eastern parts that's also giving us a lot of wet weather and it's stretching up towards the east there as we head into

friday it's booking background and it's giving a fair amount of snow on its back heads there plenty of wintery weather there it's saturday when it eventually clears out of the way and then many of us will see some drier weather still going to be a good deal of cloud following it though towards the west the still going to be a good deal of cloud over the northern part of california as well on saturday that's also giving us a fair amount of snow and then stretching up towards calgary there where we're expecting some wintery weather to the central america's generally quite quiet weather wise at the moment looking at around twenty nine there in santa domingo towards the west there's just one or two showers about here most of them around parts of nicaragua could be a few in costa rica as well on saturday and a few perhaps around the northern parts of mexico i mean further towards the south and for many of us here there's a plenty of wet weather stretching from syrian army all the way down towards paraguayan plenty of heavy rain for friday and also for saturday to.

but it also did in less than one generation of developing countries and one of the most need well of countries in the world we have to be critical for just a need for new bridge and fear to prevent profit and often men singapore's founding father created a nation of political dynasty but a family disputes undermining that legacy what's happened to the family and what's happened in singapore's institutions i just don't know what would have caused them all grief people in power investigates the house that leave at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera i'm still running

a reminder of our top stories president putin has revealed that russia has developed nuclear weapons that he says can't be intercepted the u.s. is accusing russia of violating global arms treaties and responding by approving plans to sell antitank missiles to ukraine. also australian prime minister malcolm turnbull has rejected a new zealand support of the nuclear prohibition treaty to talks with his counterpart just adored her in sydney now the pair say they have conflicting views on the nuclear ban. and syrian government air strikes have killed at least nineteen people in the rebel held on claim of eastern europe for teachers some of the damage caused. to america's now venezuela's a presidential election has been. to many another decision follows an agreement between the government and opposition parties present it was madeira plans to run for a second six year term against

a background of severe economic problems trees. venezuela is expected to elect a new president this year but the date of when the elections are expected to take place has been changed to once again. this year the government announced they would happen on april twenty second but now they're expected to happen in may. it is establishing the agreement for the election to be in the second half of the next month may of two thousand and eighteen there is no other alternative the only option is an election critics accuse the authorities of shifting the vote forward to wrong foot the opposition in a bid to improve precedent equal. chances the leading opposition coalition is boycotting the poll describing it as a farce to legitimize a dictatorship however one presidential hopeful and gone has already launched his candidacy. that's the government that we want for venice who are

a government of national unity that includes and doesn't exclude a government that can save us from this misery from this tragedy this debacle that the government has turned us into i repeat this incapable inept government that's what we want for venezuela and that's why we're here at the national council and we demand all these conditions. on a fifty six year old former state governor believes he can win by taking advantage of widespread dissatisfaction with the ruling socialist over venice way less dire economic crisis that have millions struggling for food and medicines by the two strongest opposition rivals among them former presidential candidate and. i barred from standing in the united states a sole so considering imposing sanctions against modest government due to what it says are unfair conditions for the presidential vote. for venezuela it is and now there are attempts from the u.s. to interfere in the country and it's evolving to hold the presidential vote in

spite of the criticism from abroad. for this way this poor economy is forcing thousands of people to leave for a better life in neighboring countries now the u.n. is calling it a humanitarian crisis gabriel and it's not a temporary camp in brazil where hundreds of venezuelans a living. here at this makeshift encampments and people are hungry and food has finally arrived for many of these venezuelans this will be the only new york all day they're trying to keep it organized like the women are lining up on one side the men on the other side you can really get a sense of the true desperation that these venezuelans have united nations who say that this is really a humanitarian crisis and they're calling these people refugees and that's essentially what there are economic and social refugees people better left venezuela because they say they don't have enough food to eat there's not medicine

and that their money there is not worth anything because of the high inflation and in this part alone here in the city a boy to brazil there over a thousand people it's mostly families it's men young hardworking people their wives here you see in this part of the line mostly the young men these are all people that simply say they can no longer live in venezuela so they have to be here this is their only hope they say to have a better life. while staying in the americas u.s. present donald trump has announced plans to impose steep tariffs on imported steel and the mini and the decision makes good all the major campaign promise but now members of the president's own party a word about a possible trade war as kristen salumi reports us president donald trump announced steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports after this white house meeting much to the delight of visiting industry representatives who say they've been hurt by a flood of cheap imports they've been very unfairly treated by bad policy by bad

trade deals by other countries they've been horribly treated by other countries and they have not. been properly represented more importantly because of that our workers in our country have not been properly represented the president promised to impose a twenty five percent tariff on steel and ten percent on aluminum to bring steel back he was making good on a campaign promise to revive u.s. manufacturing and address a trade imbalance with china a position that saw him win big in so-called rust belt states like pennsylvania where he promised to bring back jobs but it's unclear if the tariffs will apply to other trade partners like canada from whom the u.s. imports the most steel some of trump's cabinet are said to have fought against the tariffs the announcement catching his staff off guard but we're not going to get into any more details until those final those details are finalized and it angered canada's foreign minister who said any increase would be unacceptable any

restrictions would harm workers the industry and manufacturers on both sides of the border she said the steel and aluminum industry is highly integrated and supports critical north american manufacturing supply chains and while steel and aluminum makers saw their stocks soar on the announcement the market overall sunk on fears of a trade war and harm to companies who will be hit by higher prices the president promised a formal announcement of his plans and presumably more details next week christine salumi al-jazeera let's go to europe now with france's far right leader about the le pen has been charged for posting online images of atrocities carried out by eisel a judge has ordered a criminal investigation into three images the national front president posted on her twitter account it comes after the national assembly voted to strip the pen of her parliamentary immunity if found guilty she could face a heavy fine or even possible imprisonment. or blizzards are causing widespread

destruction across europe for a third day to separate storms except to collide storm rolling in from the atlantic and the so-called beast from the east from siberia the u.k. is issued its most severe weather alerts at least forty people have died so far across europe and southern reports. if the first day of march is supposed to hint at the spring to come there's little evidence of it here after a visit from the beast from the east the worst storm to hit britain in seventeen years and chaos in its wake many train services ground to a halt in scotland more than three hundred people were stranded on this highway some for up to twenty hours in their cars off the top of. the old model market. conditions so bad that the first minister nicholas sturgeon even urge people not to travel. schools in the worst affected areas have to close some make the most of it

. others gave up fighting against the conditions i found in the works. for britain's meteorological office has issued red warnings throughout the country meaning a risk to life as the siberian storm front is set to collide with storm heading north from the atlantic snowstorms of this a very are highly unusual in europe at this time of the year and it affected countries all the way from the far north down to the mediterranean it may look pretty but these storms have been highly disruptive and dangerous all over the continent flights were cancelled and airports closed from switzerland to island where thousands of homes were left without electricity and people were advised to stay at home dozens of people mainly rough sleepers have been reported dead across

europe even venice the city of canals didn't escape the big freeze its historic buildings and monuments blanketed and white the waterways still flowing just about and in parts of croatia a road maintenance team even used explosives. to remove the piles of snow. with more gales a blizzard is expected over the next couple of days the worst may not be over yet. al-jazeera london. rushes to a critical state for disintegrating many were nationalized during soviet times are still in state hands now private investors are put off by the high costs and bureaucracy that comes with restoration challenge reports on whether anything can be done to save them. silence and snowflakes inhabit a grave and over now but before its current desolation this grand estates thirty kilometers northeast of moscow was home to royalty and rich merchants tuberculosis

patients and finally soviet science students such a history should make this place special but across russia eight to ten thousand estates a quietly crumbling to dust says this conservationist. most of these things are in the horrible condition where someone could put money in for many years with an unclear idea how they take it back and you'd have to work hard on it at the movies i felt like great never most estates are formally owned by the state the communist seeds them off to the one nine hundred seventeen revolution and in the years following the u.s.s.r. as collapse very few have passed back into private hands. one of the handful of success stories is so redneck over when we visited it was hosting boisterous maslin it's a festivities the slavic celebration of winter's imminent demise.

and her i'm going to do her. homework from like a state where the life me koreans are one in the right circumstances. like my tug of war efforts restoring set of nick over wasn't easy but his new custody in this did at least when now they host weddings film crews charge admission to the grounds and the profits help restore other bits of the estates mccollum and solve the namesake and relative of one of russia's most famous nineteenth century poets calls himself a romantic but he believes this and wealth on necessary attributes for taking on such a project. and a state is how a russian person understands what heaven on earth should look like and it represents the philosophy and the soul of a russian man today is his biggest. reuter that's why it's important to restore not just one or two states but the entire culture of all the greatest poets writers and philosophers were raised the monks disputing or threw in the puzzle quantum.

mechanical is now working with other owners and the governments to nurture and estate tourist industry and simplify many tax and regulate free complexities that person vest is off for grabs me of or perhaps it's already too late it's been more than a hundred winters since this place was lost her family home perhaps thirty or so since it was last used to tall and if someone can't be found to show the love and warmth that it deserves then who knows how many more winters it has before it finally vary by the snow. al-jazeera moscow region. you want your knowledge is there i'm so whole raman these are on top news stories president vladimir putin says russia has developed nuclear weapons that can't be intercepted the announcement has raised concerns of a new arms race with the west the us is accusing russia of violating global arms

treaties and its responded by approving plans to sell antitank missiles to ukraine . president putin has confirmed with the united states government has known for a long time that russia has denied prior to this that russia has developed then developing destabilizing weapon systems for more than a decade in direct violation of its treaty obligations australian prime minister malcolm turnbull has rejected new zealand support of a nuclear prohibition treaty and he's hosted talks with his counterpart just adore her in sydney the pair say they have conflicting views of the nuclear ban. russian and syrian government strikes have killed at least nineteen people in the rebel held on plenty of eastern ghouta now this un for to chose some of the damage caused since december the deaths are happening despite a daily five hour ceasefire to let civilians leave the area further north in a freely truck convoy carrying aid for fifty thousand people has been allowed into

the area it's the first since a turkish offensive against kurdish y p g fighters began in january and fell as well as president presidential election in fact has been perceived by a month to may the decision follows an agreement between the government and opposition parties to give candidates more time to campaign president because of the duro is running for a second. u.s. president donald trump says he'll impose steep new towers on steel and imports he announced a twenty five percent levy for steel imports and a ten percent tariff on imported oil and many of the trump is promising to rebuild the american steel and dollar billion industries saying other countries have treated them unfairly for decades. blizzard causing disruption across europe for a third day at least forty people have died across the continent heavy snow falls calls road closures the u.k. and ireland have issued severe weather alerts those were the headlines here on al

jazeera back with more news in thirty minutes next to its people and power. generating violence in central african republic has forced more than a million people to meet after. all does their rights on the ground to bring a report on how people are struggling to carry on with our lives amuse and ongoing cost. by the time of his death in twenty fifteen singapore's founding fathers you had one widespread prospectus to take to city states prosperity but he'd also been accused of restricting freedom of speech and repressing critical position complex legacies of scrutiny and made a better.