their attempt had mad. me and you snipped some of it is just as i did of course we looked into these people are we know who they are we found them already so i hope they will come forward and tell us about themselves it will be better for everyone there's nothing special nothing criminal about it i'm telling you we'll see in the near future. well putin was speaking during the economic forum invited us talk during the talks he met his chinese counterpart xi jinping and they vowed to work together to ensure regional stability there were also a few surprises as rory challenges reports. a lot of our stock has been russia's window on the pacific since ships like these commanded the oceans the city's name means owner of the east that's more ambition the reality there have always been larger powers in the region a lot of your stock is much closer to beijing tokyo and seoul than it is to russia's own capital moscow so it makes sense to reach out to asian countries from here and since russia's isolation from the west escalated in two thousand and

fourteen has become a strategic necessity creating the eastern economic forum was one response to that shift flying in for the fourth year of the annual forum for the prime ministers of japan and south korea as well as the presidents of mongolia and china the main focus of russia's attention. we should strengthen trust for the sake of peace and stability in the region even complex changes underway in the international situation the politics of force unilateral approaches and protectionism are rearing their heads that was clearly a dig at u.s. trade policy but the americans have allies here the japanese prime minister spoke up for the u.s. president's approach to north korea. president donald trump engaged in confidence building with chairman kim jong il you also shared with him the broad future that would emerge through denuclearization and urged him to take action and doing so he dumped a new approach that no one else had tried before with russia and japan have

a seventy year old dispute over the korea that's prevented them formally ending the second world war but saying the idea had just occurred to him putin suggested turning the disagreement on its head that would lead sign a peace treaty not now but before the end of the year. without any preconditions i haven't asked the audience to support me with applause but i'm grateful for the support ok and then based on this peace treaty trying to solve all the remaining issues later as friends putin likes to throw such surprises it also highlights what events like this one can be used for as the name implies this forum is all stand simply about economics but the presence of so many presidents and prime ministers shows that has diplomatic value to this is a chance for them to meet and talk together in a relatively unpressurized environment snopes summit style agendas here and as a useful way to explore reasonal problems and perhaps find solutions that have otherwise eluded them for each allan's al-jazeera but it will stop still ahead on

al-jazeera bracing for hurricane florence millions out order to evacuate the u.s. east coast and expressing through emoji is a new exhibition in london looks at how the symbols could be used in the fight against malaria. or the weather as far usual as la sea fine and dry across the right the empennage that get a good deal all of the middle east further north we have got a fair amount of cloud just rolling between the black sea and the caspian sea but even here in the caucasus it should be the last the dry can't quite say the same for turkey it was a chance of one of two showers there to the western side of the country and then pushing a little further east as we go through friday south of that has a sunshine around that he says out of the twenty nine celsius in beirut but the hot

sunshine continues for baghdad and also for kuwait city warm enough across the reagan potential fine and dry here highs here in doha around forty one celsius over the next couple days fabulous time of year of course in that pleasant weather. we'll continue right into the weekend and beyond meanwhile this present across the good parts of southern africa largely clear skies a little bit of a cloud just drifting over towards the eastern cape but for the most part it does that fine and dry something just see one or two showers a lapping along the coastal shells as we go through friday but these will make their way through the east and much of the region will be dry fine and sunny they want to sunshine the showers across central parts of africa or the way to the west .

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera live from doha a reminder of our top stories the european parliament has voted for the first time to punish hungary for flouting democratic rules four hundred forty eight members

approved the measure which is known as article seven and sets in place a series of sanctions that could end up with hungary losing its voting rights the un says unprecedented numbers of people have been forced from their homes in syria more than a million so far this year most are in the last rebel house province the commission is urging major powers to avoid a massacre there and fighting has resumed in the many poor city of data even as the u.n. envoy martin griffith arrives in the region hoping to restart peace talks meanwhile u.s. secretary of state my comp aoe has told congress that the saudi and iraqi coalition is working to avoid civilian casualties in yemen that certificate is required for us ahmed sales to both countries to continue. now millions of americans are being warned to expect catastrophic flooding from the not just storm in thirty years hurricane florence is building strength in the atlantic and heading for the u.s. east coast forecasters expect two hundred forty kilometers an hour winds and flooding in north and south carolina in the next two days jay gray has more from

north carolina. the storm right now tracking toward this area and it looks like landfall is going to be sometime early friday morning maybe around daybreak and then it appears that the storm is just going to linger and that sets up a scenario for what could be a story flooding not only here on the coast but inland as well so a lot of people boarding up using sandbags to try and prevent that flooding and then packing up and moving to higher ground that's the good news a lot of people trying to get out of the way before force moves in it's really troubling especially for a lot of those first responders and and the officials here on the ground who are just really at this point almost begging people to change their minds while they have time the window of opportunity to get ready or get out is going to start closing pretty rapidly today i think by the end of the day conditions just won't allow for people to move out of it will be too rough and so that's why they're really urging this morning for the people who are remaining and i think most of

gone but those who are still here to get out. lebanon's prime minister designate has flown to the netherlands to hear the closing arguments in his father's assassination trial saad hariri he said he's not seeking revenge for the massive bomb blast eighteen years ago which killed rough economy and twenty one others four men four members of the armed group has been not being tried in their absence as in a harder report on the never ends. the closing arguments are the final step before judges issue their verdict that is not expected until sometime next year this as a nation trial of lebanon's prime minister if you can head he began in early two thousand and fourteen the prosecution is meant taining its argument that the syrian government was at the heart of the plot which was carried out by members of the political armed party has below these men are being tried in their absence from the un backed tribunals. the two thousand and five assassination was a political earthquake that tore lebanese society apart political and sectarian divisions that emerged continue until today how do you do as the leader of the

sunni community and the suspects belong to a shia group his son and political heir three time prime minister saddle had eighty flew to the hague for the culmination of the trial he is in a difficult position has been and its allies gamed political power at his expense had he said the perpetrators will face justice sooner or later but added he needs to put his feelings aside as prime minister designate. it took a long time for justice to be served but maybe time allowed us to be more rational i'll deal with this issue as a responsible official who has the responsibility to protect the country and the lebanese people the prosecution said his father's killing was politically motivated because he wanted to end syria's domination of lebanon the court appointed defense challenge what it described as circumstantial evidence the prosecution says analysis of mobile phone network calls undeniably links the suspects to the attack

and they had been monitoring how do these movements for months prosecuting lawyer say phone lines stopped working moments before the massive bomb blast in beirut the court has again asked lebanese authorities to carry out their obligation and arrest the defendants and transfer them to the hague to face trial but has a law which is the most powerful political party and military force in the country has vowed that the suspects will never. we caught twenty one other people were killed and dozens injured in the assassination for many the suspects are not the only ones who should be tried and. they didn't act alone there are definitely people backing them they should be handed over to justice so that we know the people behind them who played a bigger role the truth is what her family and his supporters have been demanding for years but some of them fear political stability may take precedence over justice at least if the prevailing balance of power doesn't change so according to the hague a rocket attack in libya's capital has forced flights to be diverted from the only

functioning airports leaving airlines is the only operator flying domestic and international services to a few countries from the airport the airlines banned from e.u. airports because of security concerns the attack follows a un brokered cease fire monks rival rebel groups fighting for control of tripoli mahmud alcan reports on tripoli. i'm a tiger airport is the only operational airport in the libyan capital tripoli and authorities there have decided to hold a v.a. ssion in the airport and divert all flights to the airport of misrata a city that is around two hundred kilometers to the east from the libyan capital tripoli that is full and there as for rockets that landed close to the airport and authorities there say that they're worried that the stray rockets might hurt or might affect or my damage the airports over there the planes there now this is the second time a vision in may to get airport has been whole to in two weeks between that's

because of the clashes going on in the southern suburbs of the libyan capital tripoli now and you movement calls itself the tripoli use of the use of the libyan capital tripoli has claimed responsibility for attacking him eighty get airport it also says that it will continue targeting about eighty get airport until the airport is handed over to the government and the special deterrence force that is the force controlling the airport leaves the area now the latest this latest development might affect the cease fire agreement that has been brokered by the united nations between rival groups and also in another development sporadic fighting has been renewed between rival armed groups in the southern suburbs of the libyan capital tripoli and statements and counter statements between rival groups really hurt the seas agreement there is a fear among civilians in the capital tripoli of

a stray rockets that might land in densely populated areas especially with this threat of targeting the airport and the area surrounding the airport. washington is accusing iranian backed rebels of carrying out what they call life threatening attacks against the u.s. embassy in iraq violent protests against the lack of government services and corruption have been taking place on the streets of iraq since the same it was during these protests at a rocket attack damaged the airport in basra where the u.s. consulate is located rob matheson has more from baghdad. now this follows a statement by a white house press secretary sarah saunders in which she said the united states would hold the regime in tehran accountable for any attack the resulted in injury to personnel or damage to united states government facilities in her statement she goes on america will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of american lives

this follows two rocket attacks which happened on saturday here in iraq one of which was aimed at the fortified green zone here in baghdad which contains a lot of government buildings and international embassies and consulates and also another attack on the international airport in basra and that's where the u.s. consulate is based now and there's no indication that any americans were injured in any of those attacks or that any buildings were hit there is not even an indication that the u.s. buildings were actually the targets of these attacks but it's important to remember that the u.s. has not yet produced any tangible evidence at least publicly that teheran ordered these tax to be carried out what they are saying is that the attacks were the responsibility of. popular popular mobilization fronts these are armed groups which operate in

a round iraq and they say that they are very often backed by iran and therefore they are the u.s. is making the link between these groups and the possible that the attacks and also a possible link to iran. asian leaders of the world economic forum in vietnam have made thinly veiled criticism of the united states which involved in is involved rather in a worsening trade war with china territorial tensions in the south china sea are also being discussed along with a growing workforce workforce how a growing worth of course can compete against our automation and artificial intelligence. to zimbabwe now where police are banning public gatherings in the capital to try and control the spread of cholera infectious diseases killed twenty one people in harare in the last week but he's aren't saying how long the ban will last for this coincides with irani by opposition leader nelson chamisa due on saturday. now from dozens of smiley faces to individual examples of sushi him ots

have become part of the way we communicate they were invented in japan where a complex alphabet made texting difficult well now they're being used in art exhibitions and in the fight against malaria and the hayward reports in london. a picture can paint a thousand words happy thoughtful even horrified with one tap there's a short cut to human emotion and emote and now making it into the art world at a new exhibition in london artist and one khattala is exploring their impact on society a video loop of a conversation and silicone emerges plant to show how a few words and symbols can change the way we talk think and react written language is sort of fixed but oral language changes over time is different means of transmission of a nation and we don't know how they will look like in ten years the text will read

the same and so it's kind of interesting to think of it. and how we look in ten years more than five hundred sixty billion texts are reported to be sent. every month we've been sending text messages to one another for more than twenty five years they have totally transformed the way we communicate but they've also been blamed for encouraging bad spelling and reducing emotion down to a simple moji and darts has always been about emotion and expression none more so than at the victoria and albert museum in london among other highly politically charged exhibit sits and emote which will be soon added to your phone or tablet shows a mosquito and it's part of a public health drop which will let scientists track the occurrence of mosquitoes this emerging may be used by you and i after a barbecue one evening having been stung one too many times but it's also about how

you might track the movement of mosquito across place so scientists can use it means to understand where the mosquitoes are art and science are always reaching out with new ways to try to grab people's attention changing lives could. just a click away and he would al-jazeera in london and a much more news as always on our website at al-jazeera dot com the very latest on all the top stories on the al-jazeera dot com. play again i'm fully back to all with the headlines on al-jazeera the european parliament has for the first time voted to punish hungary for flouting democratic rules four hundred forty eight members approved the measure which is known as article seven and sets in place a series of sanctions that could end with hungary losing is hosting rights hungary is accused of failing to respect european law a u.n.

commission of inquiry on syria says they has been an unprecedented level of internal displacement in twenty eighteen mostly in it lead the commission pleaded for all parties to halt hostilities in syria and find a solution that will pollution. these two point nine million almost three million they are not there because they decided to go through. there because of. recall solution. for months this people were they were transported. but this pollution drove straight through the supposed to. be constructed. fighting has resumed in the many city of her data even as u.n. envoy martin griffiths arrived in the region hoping to restart peace talks meanwhile

u.s. secretary of state michael valle has told congress that the saudi iraqi coalition is working to avoid civilian casualties in yemen that certification is required for u.s. arms sales to both countries to continue that i'm a putin says two men charged in britain with attempting to murder a former russian spy are not military intelligence agency says they are civilians and are not criminals russia's president says he hopes the marriage soon to tell the story the kremlin's repeatedly denied links to the attack in salisbury britain's prime minister says russian military intelligence agents carried out the nerve agent a poisoning six months ago. and police banning public gatherings in zimbabwe's capital to try and control the spread of cholera infectious diseases killed twenty one people so far in harare police aren't saying how long the ban will last for it coincides with a rally by opposition leader nelson chamisa due on saturday. those are the headlines here on al-jazeera the news continues right after inside story do stay

with us thanks for watching. joint military drills and huge business deals russia and china a boost think up their relationship but are they building an alliance can they trust each other and what do the u.s. and its allies think this is a sad story. hello and welcome to the program i'm glad of that hamid with a firm handshake the presidents of china and russia have announced stronger ties

that the mirror putin is hosting cheating ping as well as the japanese and south korean leaders at this three day eastern economic forum in vladivostok it aims to boost investment in the far east region of asia but putin is warning trade barriers are a threat to asian economies as the world stopped two economies the u.s. and china imposed trait terrorists on each other as the talks began so did the largest war games by chinese and russian troops since the soviet union three hundred thousand troops thirty six thousand tanks and armored vehicles and a thousand war planes and ships are all on parade in siberia and from the fire into the frying pan as putin introduces chey to russian cooking rory chalons takes a look at how the countries are stretched and the bilateral ties.

with the slight awkwardness of two leaders who probably don't spend much time in the kitchen sheeting paying hands bloody may fruit in conducted some pancake diplomacy and blood of all stock the chinese president is here for the eastern economic forum and his meeting with putin this year despite the presence of other asian leaders it's russia and china strengthening ties that are the bedrock of this event and with caviar and vodka the two presidents were happy to let the world know how close they become we were constantly meeting this year for example in beijing in johannesburg and now here we are involved as a hostile if we keep close contact with you it means we have good relations i am ready to strengthen these relations from now on including the exchange of ideas through close cooperation china has the largest delegation with almost a thousand people it is quite clear we have a really close cooperation we had eighty seven billion dollars of trade last year this year will almost certainly reach one hundred billion dollars the cooperation makes sense the two eurasian giants are next door neighbors and china's hungry

economy needs natural resources which russia has in abundance this growing relationship is about more than just the kind of business and energy deals on offer here at the eastern economic forum it's about the threats that both russia and china feel a share in the modern world. while she jinping and putin were talking the heavy metal of russia's military was moving into place china's two it's been invited to take part in two thousand and eighteen russia's biggest war games since one thousand nine hundred one a sign of friendship and a message to one particular aggressor in the earlier we can see continued. to push more between russia and china because of or very assertive line of the united states. against both countries and in this regard because we can. say the problem is the major patter on all four russian trainees.

close a relationship washington has imposed sanctions on russia trade tariffs on china each country is too independent minded to make a full alliance at all likely but they still want the us to know that if a regional crisis ever exploded into conflict with russia and china could present a united front or a challenge how does it give us talk to you. so let's bring in our panel joining us in moscow pavel felgenhauer russian military analyst from beijing michael coverage he's a senior advisor for northeast asia at the international crisis group and from washington d.c. michael purcell director of operations at the center for global interests gentlemen welcome to the program pavel let me start with you we're seeing strong pictures

coming out of siberia what is the main message here. well day's. exercises or actually war games happening in the russian far east are really a big deal there's a lot of russian troops being mobilized and moved forward it's happening from the arctic in the pacific and in. the far east and partially in siberia but the main ground action is going to happen in the transom by cowher zakk by call yet region which is actually north of the chinese border russian them exercises happened there is a regular basis and always before they had that bit of a kind of over town that this could be oh so posh a way to be prepared for a process of a clash with russia china and so this time for them the be no kind of speculations

on that the russian military invited the chinese contingent that they part also contingent small contingent from mongolia so a chinese brigade size force over three thousand men would about thirty aircraft have being deployed there together with the russian troops at one specific point this is a very big wargame but it's one specifically for instance one training range and so go and there's about twenty five thousand russians and three thousand chinese and there's going to be the climax of the action putin is going to be there at the climax this week to see all the fireworks and most likely there's going to be a chinese delegation to so there's the russians and the chinese as brothers in arms preparing to fight alongside each other against foreign foe which most likely means america and its allies and the political leadership overseeing that happening

so this is all very significant well michael is that is it the same view china i mean to beijing has something at stake here what exactly is the message china's trying to send to the world. thank you so this is obsolete i fully agree with our caller gets a strong message from president xi jinping both to have these large military exercises and have chinese troops participating in them for the first time ever that's really quite significant china and russia have done military exercises before together of course but not within russian soil and not at this scale so that sends a very strong message of increasing military cooperation that has really been growing strongly under president xi and president putin for the past several years and then has accelerated under the trumpet ministrations policies for the united states and secondly you have president xi turning up at the economic forum in vladivostok

again the first time a chinese leader has attended that forum a very strong display of diplomatic support and of respect for president putin's risk rips reciprocating is putin's visit to beijing in june of this year and that's three visits three meetings that the two leaders have had this year again marking an acceleration over the last several years really since she jinping came into power and found a kindred spirit in vladimir putin building on economic complementarities military cooperation prospects but also very much by the challenges that both countries are having with the united states and this week at these two meetings here and military cooperation are a very strong signal to the united states that if it continues to put this kind of pressure on either of them it's going to push them even closer together well michael i'm supposing that while these war games are happening at

generals military experts and looking at watching very closely what's happening this k and what kind of equipment is on display but what are they looking for exactly. i think the probably the most important indicator that military analysts are looking for is the degree to which real capabilities demonstrated in the sense that combine military operations and a capability to conduct combined military operations is something that the russian and chinese would have to demonstrate i think you know a quick liquid would tell you that the signaling is as michael and i want to strive more on a strategic political level to demonstrate resolve if you will and a willingness to cooperate that's a far cry from an alliance which is what the u.s. is. participation in the north atlantic treaty organization nato over so many years and at the moment is is a big contentious but nonetheless still a strong level of cooperation intel and alliance

a significant more than that what we're seeing in the in this exercise vostok twenty eighteen well michael coverage it is i mean china is the first time that it meant to say goes and trains outside of its borders relations with russia have never not not always been so friendly is this more of a marriage of convenience as they sit and watch things unfolding in washington. i think it you could argue that it started out that way several years ago china russia relations certainly on the economic side for a long time were relatively modest certainly much much less than the huge bilateral trade relationship between china and the united states or even china and europe but ever since the russian onyx ation of crimea and worsening relations between russia and europe and russia in the united states and sanctions on russia that's really pushed russians in particular to look further east something they've done

reluctantly gradually over time and the chinese have welcomed that but again there's also been a lot of mutual suspicion from the chinese side as well so what we're really seeing is jus a political circumstances driving these two political leaders to move their countries closer together and a lot of that has started with top level political rhetoric and language lots of leader level meetings but step by step it is being underpinned by initiatives the two have agreed for example after a lot of debate and concern that there to you the eurasian economic union and the silk road economic belt initiatives in central asia they would try to make them cooperate and work together we've seen increasing cooperation and investment in through central asia and particularly building on the energy relationship and then from china's perspective the military cooperation is very important not only in this kind of exercise in training but also in chinese interest at least in the

short term in russian military technology specifically cutting edge a surface to air missile batteries and sukkot a fourth generation fighter jets which china still doesn't have a domestic capacity to build and that starts to affect the strategic balance then between china and the united states and other powers in the pacific ocean as well. apart from to the message that china and russia are getting closer together i think also today now may cause a big change between these two. countries ring in the sense that russia union used to be the big there and now is china the big bear because of the of its economic strength but beyond that i so you quoted as saying that this is about sending a message that soon there will be a large scale conflict. well the russian military the russian general since officially at least thirteen hof not only put forward

but they say has been approved by the kremlin so that assessment that the predicts . next seller rating possibility of a big war happening somewhere in the twenty s. . series or several. large scale regional wars that may actually in the escalate into a global conflict and that russian mendis is that's the official politic goal perspective that's what the russian military and russian state have been preparing and these exercises is a demonstration and the test of the russian capability to mobilize and field a large numbers of heavily armed troops for a regional map massive regional war that could happen in the east in asia or in the west in europe and the keep ability to move these forces long distance to

the store west because russian a present military is much smaller than the subject poacher so it relies on mobility to sustain such forces in the field have a good logistics operation and see where the. weak spots are these exercises should expose them so this is yes this is testing and preparing for a possible big regional war that could happen in the future or may not happen and also to use this as a signal and as a deterrent to demonstrate to the potential opponents which are basically seen as sitting in washington that russia is ready to fight for and defend its. borders on the has a strong ally in china at least that russia is not without allies on the this is

may be viewing with russia is not that good night idea and that united states should think twice before taking on russia well talking about the united states let's go to michael purcell i mean when asked about this the u.s. secretary of defense jim mattie said i think that nations act out of the interest i see little in the long term that aligns with russia and china to gether now do you think that is a good read from the pentagon i mean we have seen a china that has been modernizing and reforming its military with quite intensity over the past few years shouldn't they be a little bit more worried. and i think it is a good read from secretary madison is consistent with what he's portrayed as his world view the u.s. national security documents the national security strategy defense strategies both identify china and russia as strategic competitors and that's not just the military but of course in the political and economic realm as well i would i would say

general secretary mabus is probably careful not to over militarize the entire relationship between russia and china i think we should be careful and i know he would say this is to use the word allies a form alliance implies an obligation for mutual defense in the article five of the nato treaty. attack on one is an attack on all in think it's important we identify be careful that we're that this is not an alliance this is a strategic partnership between russia and china in things secretary mabus also knows that the values gap if you will between the u.s. perspective on the relationship and with russia and china and their relationship is one such that both russia and china at the moment have authoritarian. characteristics of their ruling governments and the u.s. is clear to point that out as being inconsistent with what it sees as sort of the international order and that's that's bound to be conflicts i think he. probably

has in the rep respective context but michael coverage since chairman she came to power certainly that china concentrated on a lot on modernizing its military i think is a special focus on the navy if i'm not wrong that has somehow tilted the balance of power in the pacific area no. that's correct yes president xi has strongly prioritize reforming the people's liberation army and turning it from what was frankly a large economic enterprise and heavily be dominated by a land army and shifted a lot of the investment and the training and the technological improvement to the navy and the air force really wanting to turn it with the it with the objective of turning it by two thousand and thirty five into a modern competent fighting force and by two thousand and fifty into a really world world class military and that's involved an enormous program of

building ships and of course then reclaiming and paving on and militarizing islands in the south china sea establishing an air defense identification zone in the east china sea and essentially what we're seeing from china and its own way from russia are attempts from both of these countries to establish spheres of influence in their peripheries china wants to push the u.s. navy and the u.s. military influence and rule in east asia further away from its shores to establish within the western pacific and certainly within the first island chain that's dumb marketed by japan for example and other islands out there a zone in which china is the dominant power it's not looking for a fight it's nowhere near ready for an actual conflict with the united states it doesn't want that but what it does want to do is enlarge it space for maneuver for example condition other countries in the region to be more deferential to chinese preferences protected sea lines of communication and reestablish itself as

a dominant regional power and in that sense with its relations with russia it's found a willing partner if a reluctant one in some ways but increasingly u.s. policies that have put pressure on both countries have led them to find a kind of axis of convenience and mutual benefits for example now trade tariffs applied by the u.s. on china similarly to sanctions on russia incentivize them to look for stronger economic ties stronger defense ties. and stronger political ties that's not an inevitable process but as long as that pressure is there from the u.s. they're going to keep looking for to each other for support whether political or otherwise i'm just going to bring back michael purcell so just in view of what you just heard and this the chinese military that is giving modernize stronger abroad there was a time when it was considered like a second string kind of minute tree is that still the case in washington and

certainly with having more capabilities with these missiles that the vela ping must challenge do you best supremacy in parts of the pacific. i think the short answer my question is yes it is use the word worry to secretary matters worry about in particular the u.s. rather the russia china relationship i think concern is what you know a military officer like general mattis now secretary would say would use the u.s. concern because the capabilities that china's demonstrated over the proceeding several years are significant in their change the nature of their their ability to project power outside of the borders of china and the u.s. as both militarily and i think richard's equally adjusted itself to a future that must accommodate chinese military power in the first ranks if you will. pavel now this is all happening on the backdrop of the ukraine crisis the

war in syria allegations that russia is interfering in western elections and politics so i'm sure there is a message to president putin is trying to convey here by holding the largest military exercises in its history or is in modern history. of course these processes are happening in the west and in the southwest and the exercises are in the far east there is of course a kind of tense situation still somewhat in the korean peninsula but there has been that downscaling of tensions there just recently but the actual planning of this exercise happened some time before it's a big strategic exercise and it's also a war game actually and there's a difference between exercise and war game and this so this is there's technicalities there involved because in the being part of russia there as the

vienna document of those see that women it's the possibility of scale like that mobilizations and they have in the far east there's only very limited regulations there's an agreement with china on the kind of limited limiting forces in the immediate border area but most of these exercises are happening outside of that so that's a free zone at the same time russia has invited russian motor haven't invited journalists and observers from accredited military attaches here in moscow to go what they're going to go to that sugo that's just one piece of the action where it is going to be a showcase for president putin and other dignitaries so of course they won't see much of the real nitty gritty of how russia is dealing with. such watch numbers of troops in the russian general staff as announced at the right now we have one

hundred twenty six battle ready media but already tactical but talian groups in our military in the army in the marines and the airborne corps where as nato say deployed they get to contain russia for battalion tactical groups in the balt. it's and in poland so the differences of course and russian on the russian side though there is of course that there is no logical still gap between the russian military and the western militaries. though of course the russian backed already in this has increased everyone recognizes that a new you should also take into account that the russian military want to have a good kind if they want to ground their reach attention with you because they're reaching the end but i just want to ask the last question briefly michael purcell in view of what we just heard yes there is still i think the logical gap but i think in washington people will probably keep on watching closely at how quickly

that gap is bridged right i think that's accurate it's not hard to look back in the just a few years ago when russian military capability wasn't taken nearly as seriously at the strategic level and what paul was ascribed the nuts and bolts of this exercise. was very well done and it's see it as an opportunity to examine weaknesses and make fixes but also to demonstrate at that level that they have the capability to to again occupy the first ranks and it's certainly a point well taken in washington i think well so far we haven't tested really the combat capability of the chinese but we have reached the end of this program i'm sure we'll be talking about it in the future thanks to all our guests pavel felgenhauer michael coverage and michael percent and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website al-jazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward

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reached unprecedented levels with more than a million affected in the past six months alone also this hour a lot of fear putin says a two russians accused of attempted murder in the u.k. aren't military intelligence they're civilians and on paul reese with all your sports as liberia's president george why a captain says country one last time against nigeria while his son plays for the usa against mexico. thank you for joining as year voted to punish hungary for flouting democratic rules four hundred forty eight members approved what's called audix seven starting a series of sanctions that could end with hungary losing a voting rights leaders are accused of failing to respect european law in the treatment of migrants and refugees as well as limited freedom of expression and independence of the judiciary at the has

a latest from the european parliament in strasbourg. well the first time any piece of chosen article seven against a member state in this case they took the unprecedented move all voting for this process is procedure against hungry because they say it. has been breaching e.u. values and principles and i was there talking about the rights human rights being eroded in the country civil liberties being curtailed what this means is a step in what will probably be a long drawn out process first a formal warning for budapest and then it's a later date a vote on whether to strip away e.u. voting rights from hungary vat of course would be a major blow for the country on the international stage it would damage its reputation but it won't be much of a surprise to the country's far right prime minister viktor orban he was in strasbourg speaking to every piece on tuesday and he said that the e.u.

is simply trying to blackmail him to fall into line with what they want rather than what hung guerin's want of him on this respect to cloud mariah's he's the chair of the justice and home affairs committee of the european parliament his life from strasburg thank you very much for your time sir so the vote has passed but it's a long way as we have heard there until sanctions are imposed or hungary actually loses its voting rights what message. trying to be sending here. well it's a very powerful messages as your reporter said unprecedented i would say quite historic it takes a lot you know for the european union to vote in this way as a two thirds majority of the european parliament and for your viewers to understand what that means i mean there is a very big political spectrum in the european union in the european parliament from far right to far left and for there to be a two thirds consensus that requires

a lot of people including those people of the political family from hungary majority to vote for this and that's quite a significant thing to do and why did they do it they did it because for the first time they felt that enough was enough. or run this government and hungary was breaching fundamental rights in relation to journalists civil society is judiciary values and really what we would regard as european union values and i think enough was enough and i think the european parliament spoke but as you know sir victor alben and his supporters have called this a witch hunt and will likely use decision to further justify. decisions on issues like migration this might in fact involved in his cause might it not. well he would win in the famous phrase of course he's going to say and he always projects the criticism by saying look you're criticizing hungary you're criticizing

the people we're not we're criticizing him we're criticizing his government not the hungry and people people are more than his government and having a majority doesn't mean that you can exercise any kinds of power you want you know there are limits in order more chrissy's and if you're a member of the european union there are rules otherwise don't be a member of the european union and we are union of values as well as of economics and and it is well known what he is doing in relation to journalists to civil society to the judiciary to the fabric of hungary you know but you're not interested in issues like. this aren't going to have to issues are flying i'm sorry to interrupt you you're talking about but it's not just. has it was with the european union it's not the only country that's at loggerheads with

the european union issues like migration this poland czech republic how is the european union going to be dealing with these countries and their powerful far right movements i mean if the especially if they stick together if they band together to take on the e.u. i didn't mention i didn't mention as you as you could see i didn't mention migration this wasn't about migration indeed it was a migration really isn't central issue right now going to that that's the it is just if you could let me finish i didn't mention migration and the point here was it was clear breach is a fundamental right as observed object of lee in a very long process that's the point what is happening in a junk to this is populism that's what you're talking about migration being used by or by other governments like poland but you can't take this kind of action against . governments just because they're populist that is a different thing and there are limitations to this article seven power so to

conflate populism as it's happening in italy for example with what is happening in hungary is not quite the right way to approach this as such were the breaches in hungary that you had to act and of course this is happening in poland as well and i'm visiting poland next week there may be a similar process there but you have to differentiate this is not about just coalescing all of these issues together you know we have european values we have rules in the european union these countries get european funding we have to play by those rules so conflating everything and just saying well if populism well of course there is populism but there but there are also rules and that's important for journalists to understand that because they are also being attacked in these country it is important that we understand that but as you say these countries don't abide by the rules of the e.u. what would be the consequences are to mentally would could we see them kicked out of the european union. well you're seeing the consequences article seven was

carefully drafted it's being carefully implemented in no goes to the currency of the council must decide by majority if there's been a fundamental rights breach and it should be careful because to lose your voting rights to lose really the essence of membership of the opinion is a fairly big sanction so of course are treading carefully but the very big significance of today is we tried it carefully but by overwhelming majority massive majority the european union decided very and comfortably for many colleagues in the center rights of the european union they decided that the values actually matter in the european union you can't just be a european union without certain values and i would urge people to examine what is happening in our brands hungary what's happening in poland today that's not compatible with a european union of values ok thank you very much for speaking to us code mariah's chair of the justice and home affairs committee of the european parliament joining us from strasburg thank you for your time the un's international commission of

inquiry into the war in syria says unprecedented numbers of people have been forced from their homes more than a million so far this year most are in the last rebel held province the commission fears a humanitarian disaster will get worse when the expected all out government offensive begins at need block a report on geneva the syrian war is harming the syrian people on a massive scale the un's international commission of inquiry on syria says fighting displaced more than a million men women and children in six major battles nationwide between january and july levels not seen before in the seven year conflict if as many diplomats expect as an escalation of the syrian government offensive in italy a province to try and capture the last remaining rebel stronghold it could trigger a massive exodus of civilians you are free to thousand. i meant

people terrorists and the three million population will be the price to fight off plus you don't have any figures fighting against terrorists but something has to be done to protect the rights of the three million people or one million children if we had little goes the same way as we've seen in other places then it's a complete failure of the international system and it's a complete failure of many of us to be able to prevent work we've seen happening time and again the u.n. commission blames all sides of the conflict for violations of the syrian government for again firing the banned chemical weapon for gas using rockets made in iran turkish forces for bombing a medical convoy and an archaeological site in the battle for african and kurdish fighters for attacking a psychiatric hospital is hope that all the analysis carried out by the commission

of inquiry on syria will one day lay the groundwork for legal proceedings against those accused of war crimes and of violating human rights in the hope that when the war is finally over the guilty will be brought to justice but with fears growing of an imminent assault on it live the u.n. is preparing for an even larger humanitarian crisis we've barkha al jazeera geneva the u.s. secretary of state's mike on post says saudi arabia and the united arab emirates are working to avoid civilian casualties in yemen he certification clears the way for the u.s. to continue providing weapons and support to both countries the sound in america to lead a campaign has been widely criticized for causing civilian deaths there was international outrage in august when forty one children were killed in the bombing of a school bus inside a province crossing jordan has more from washington. the saudi like coalition has been criticized for indiscriminately targeting civilians while trying to go after

the rebels who are trying to take control of the country of yemen saudi like coalition has denied these allegations and it's also been facing criticism on behalf of its main military supporter the united states the u.s. has now certified that so far as best as it can determine the saudi like coalition including the government of saudi arabia and the united arab emirates are taking reasonable precautions to ensure that civilians are not targeted injured or killed in the conflict with who the fighters in that country now this certification has been made by the secretary of state pompei o at the insistence by the requirements of congress through the terms of the new defense budget out mr pompei o said that the examination of the facts shows that the precautions are being taken but so far .