we know what to do and the out the tools get, act. we must always play, finish the stream on al jazeera ah, things we did not do in 2014. we are prepared to do now. by then warns putin of a strong response. if a russia invades ukraine, as the 2 leaders hold a virtual meeting, ah, hello, i'm emily angry. this is al jazeera alive from dough house are coming up. south korea reports more than 7000 daily corona virus cases and had concerns about the rising member of critically ill patients. at least 38 people dead after

a fire breaks out of the main prison inborn these capital. while many was sleeping and germany's new rule is sign a coalition deal on the last day of anglo mircle, 16 in power. ah amazing between the u. s. president and he is russian count upon has ended with washington warning moscow of consequences if it invades ukraine. it to our virtual call between joe biden and vladimir putin has ended with no break through the talks, follow a massive rush and troop build up at the border. that has western nations worried moscow will invade its name them our white house correspondent, kimberly help it begins our coverage with a massive build up of russian troops near ukraine, shared border, and us intelligence indicating an evasion of ukraine could happen early next year.

us president biden met virtually with russian president. vladimir. good to see you again. the parish spoke for 2 hours. who denies russia and tends to invade ukraine, calling it fear mongering. but the u. s. president made clear today that if russia did tough economic sanctions would follow. i will look in the eye and tell you as president biden looked, president putin in the eye and told him today that things we did not do in 2014. we are prepared to do now. that reference is to the russian annexation of crimea from ukraine, that prompted us sanctions. by then also told putin the u. s. was prepared to fishers militarily, we would provide additional defensive material to the ukrainians above and beyond that, which we are already providing. and we would fortify our nato allies on the eastern flank for its part. russia is seeking assurances from the west that ukraine will

not become a member of the north atlantic treaty organization, something the ukrainians have pursued for years. the us national security advisor reiterated ukraine can associate with whoever it wants. when analysts believes joining nato is unrealistic. it ought to be clearer to them that we're not coming to the rescue. so you're going to have to live with next russia without a us security guarantee. there were also questions about the controversial nord stream to pipeline which runs from germany to russia and whether it could be used as leverage and discussions over ukraine. the white house says it will pressure the german government to stop it. if russia invades the burden administration, will continue to work with it's european partners, promising a coordinated response, should russia ignore their warnings? president biden will also speak with ukraine's president lensky on thursday.

kimberly how can al jazeera the white house for more analysis on this? that's bringing brett brewin, who's the president of the global situation room consultancy, and a former us diplomat. he joins us from washington. they say hello, they, brett, thanks for joining us. you worked at the white house in sanctions against russia, back in 2014. what do you make of the threat of the sanction this time around? will it work? well for me emily, i get a sense of deja vu because a lot of what we heard from james sullivan as well as from the read out. this is all stuff we have tried before and without much success. so i don't see a new recipe, and quite frankly, i'm concerned that we're really playing on putin's terms here. i mean, this question of whether or not he will choose to invade, let's not forget, he's got troops already in eastern ukraine. new hans did that. and crimea, when i'm talking about getting those troops out. so you mentioned that when they

were not negotiating on, say, on on persians terms, how much of a test is this then for the biden administration? i think it's a big one, and quite frankly, biden needs to show that he is not going to give ground to putin on this one. and that he can hold the western alliance together. and obviously, after the or unilateral withdrawal from afghanistan, there's a lot of concern crossed the nato alliance in america's reliability in its strength . and so, by dint really has to perform on this, one will see this 1st discussion with putin on the question of invasions did not result is kimberly indicated in any concrete results and now gets kicked down to the foreign ministers. and we'll see what they can come back with bright emotion that sanctions are slightly denisha, very few. there's also the option of that new pipeline from gemini to russia called

node strain to it isn't operational yet, but how much leverage does that project provide the us and its allies well on the u . s. front. not much because the violet administration earlier this year ahead essentially allowed north stream to, to go forward in jake in his comments in the warehouse of press briefing room this afternoon, suggested well, you know, essentially that can go forward so long is putin doesn't invade ukraine, which again, is a calculation that is a little bit backwards. we ought to be saying, these are the conditions, easily positive changes that we want to see from moscow. not suggesting that we will reward them for not invading ukraine. so again, i think this is a bit problematic for the binded administration, which houses show some strong resolution in the face of its most serious threat to date. what does that strong resolution look like?

fun from your beset perspective. what, what when i said day show who i mean we have tried every type of economic sanction you can imagine and just not had much to show for it. so let's look at some of the other tools in our tool box. one of the things that you're concerned about is his domestic standing. and i think one of the ways in which we historically have been effective is when we can promote transparency, when we can promote good governance initiatives. when we can shine a bright light and some of those dark corridors in moscow and the kremlin, and we've already seen with the efforts of election of only the opposition leader. how effective that can be with the russian people. thank you for breaking it down for us. brett, brett, bro and the president of the global situation room consultancy, and a former us diplomat. thank you for your time. you're welcome. me.

moving on now in south korea as late as says new harvard 19 cases in the country have exceeded 7000 for the 1st time. prime minister kimbo kim is concerned about the increasing number of patients who are critically ill. he won't this rate of the new only come very into becoming a parent. last week the government announced strict social distancing measures to hailey outbreak. for more on this a, bring in doctor alice tan. she specializes in disease prevention at news maybe women's hospital and is a former associate professor at samsung medical center. she joins us live from. so thanks for joining us, said dr. to use on from the pandemic in south korea. had things under control early on. it's now battling thousands of cases. what you put that down to oh, thank you for having me, emily. i would say 1st of all on december 1st. so a little more than 4 weeks ago we saw a full population vaccination rate of 74 percent. and we thought that that would be

good enough to embark on our stepwise return to normal, which was our exit strategy from the pandemic. we lifted many restrictions, including allowing visitations to long term care facilities, such as convalescent hospitals and nursing homes. unfortunately, we did not take into account the amount of waning of munity that had occurred, especially in people older than 60 years old. and so with measures lifted, there was an increase in community transmission which we expected. but unfortunately, there was also a huge spike in break infections, especially in people aged 60 and above. and that's what's caused a huge increase in the number of hospital admissions. and unfortunately, in november, i saw the largest number of public related best in south korea since the onset of

the pandemic. and a buzzword at the moment is all micron, the prime ministers warned of the threat that the new variant poses. do you share his concerns or do you agree with the, you know, us health officials that say it's less dangerous than the delta variance? i think it's too early to say what the true virulence of the con variance is throughout the whole spectrum of disease. although we do suspect that it is much more transmissible than the delta variant. and even in korea, we are seeing cases of breakthrough infection. our 1st 2 cases had been fully vaccinated with the maternal vaccine. and then they had got the infection. i was traveling in africa and so the i'm a chrome variant is, is in the community already in korea. and my biggest concern is that if we see huge increases in cases that inevitably always leads to

increase in hospitalizations. even if the disease is less severe. and right now our hospitals are full. we cannot afford to have a search in cove in 1900 on top of what we're already seen. it's an easy concerning situation we have to move on, but thank you very much for your insights. doctor alice tan from them is many women's hospital life for us in so thank you. thank you. and that you all may con variant has now been found in 15 countries. but as i mentioned, us health officials say they're a science. it's less dangerous than the down to variance. the world health organization says there's no reason to expect existing vaccines will fail against this variant. and it's your pain director has been cautioning against making vaccines mandatory. it follows austria's announcement, it would make inoculations. compulsory from next year mandates on vaccination,

or an absolute last resort, and only applicable when all, all the feasible options to improve fractionation uptake have been exhausted. they have proven effective in some environment to increase vaccine up to but the effectiveness of mandates is very complex. specific mandates must be supported by appropriate policy considerations. a comprehensive implementation plan including provisions for exemptions and a strong communication component for the population. pneumonia, travel restrictions have come into effect in the u. k. as a result of the new variant people traveling there will need to show a negative test result taken within 48 hours before their flight. u. k. government has already been traveled soon from several countries in southern africa. prime minister bars johnson has told his cabinet, the army com variant appears to be more transmissible than the delta one. still

ahead on al jazeera, all of sholtes will be the new later of germany. we visit the hometown of the man who will replace chancellor angler merkel and ancient artifacts smuggled out of a rock in the past 30 years ago when display in baghdad, including one of the world's oldest surviving works of literature. ah, ah, look forward to brutus goes to whimper, sponsored my cattle airways, and away we go. is here a weather update for asia? hello everyone. we're seeing that ne, not soon pick up in intensity, so it's stern up some rain in the bay of been call. that's on wednesday, checkout on thursday, pretty much for that entire east coast of india. we're going to get played with some brain, but we're got darker colors here. that's bursts of rain. so coastal entrepreneurs

show disha into west been gone. next stop. i'll take you to indo china, we're with that ne monsoon. it's chuck in rain into central in southern parts of vietnam and check out what it's to head to the philippines, cutting rate through the center of the country here with just down with rain especially. that's where the eas, so we gotta be on the lookout for some flooding clouds drifting in across some of the river valleys in china. so the pearl river valley, the yang see, and the yellow river valley and where we got those clouds. but if a cat on temperature is so great, lin, just a high of 18 on wednesday, it's lower than where you've been over the past few days. next, stop for japan. a lot of activity for central areas of honshu, some snow, a higher elevation, but big winds in some big waves. so for tokyo itself, i think will be blasted with wind gusts in this city, a potentially up to 75 kilometers per hour and a gloomy shower a day there with a high of 9 degrees on wednesday. okay, i'll catch up with you a bit later on sir lou weather sponsored by katara always.

oh, there's a lot more into al jazeera than t v with our website mobile app, social media, and podcast out there. a digital is a world award winning online content. and each week on portal will bring you the very best of it. then trying to brighten the people to levy to go somewhere else. but the truth is that it got nowhere else to go. so if you missed it online, catch it here with me. thunder got men on al jazeera. ah the me. hello, what's out there? i'm emily angling reminder about stories this hour us his wound rusher of tough

economic measures eating by ukraine. president joe biden let me approved and held out virtual hope that ended with no right through the kremlin, says the 2 ladies would keep engaging on practical and sensitive matters. and south korea says the number of co, 19 cases in the country has exceeded 7000 for the 1st time. last week, the government about strict social distancing measures because the outbreak 3 political parties in germany have signed a coalition agreement paving the way for the formation of the new government. ladies of the social democratic party, great party and free democrats, attended a signing ceremony in berlin. the coalition marks and end of the conservative government, led by chancellor anglo medical center, left his social democrats. oh love, all of sholtes will reply, sir. in the coming hours, we look at who he is and who is the new leader of europe,

the largest economies, vast and reports from the home town. hamburg a special discount for all of shells. hair cut, a little joke from barbara batch of. i'll got to celebrate the new chancello happened to be an old friend. they met when both are working for the s b day, the social democratic party, and hamburg and toys. there was long for me. does all of us with our it's especially day because my good comrade, my very center, the comrades, the been a powerful position as chancellor and i will keep my fingers crossed on the wounded . this is really dissolved. i can't even explain how special to stays for me, but i do need a clear 63 year old charles, who was raised by social democratic parents, joined the s b day at the age of 17. after working as a labor law attorney, he was elected mayor and hamburg in 2011, needing germany. second largest city shows, shows himself as

a pragmatic and as times tough mayor. he came on the fire when rioting broke out during the 2017 g 20 summit in the city. it's him hamburg all, i'm sure was faster. that's the petition and a leader. now we have to show not only can easy germany, but also guide you through a difficult time tackling the cobra, 1900 damage and security threats at its border. charles will lead to 3 parties government with the greens and the liberal, f. b, and novelty in germany. the coalition as a now to them bishop 177 page deal that should modernize germany by speeding up the energy transition and improve welfare provision. but it's the that the 4th wave of the cove has been damaged. that will meet all his attention 1st, we need to be able to make the decisions past. and that also means he has to lead the coalition and not go into endless debates and compromises with half of his

cabinet posts given to women. charles wants to show you serious about change his foreign minister on elaine. a bad bulk of the greens has announced the tough of found on russia and china. but some wonder if shoals has what it takes to lead internationally. i think his lack, of course my is a weakness. now his, his advisors keep telling us that this is going to be a strong chancellor, that can bring people together and that behind the scenes he is the person that can do that. but certainly he hasn't shown that he can convey and can bring people behind him. germany will find out soon enough because the country takes over the g 7 presidency in january. an important moment for shoals to convince those who still have doubts, batch at organ has none. i mention that he listens, takes it in and does not forget. he will think about it before he makes a decision that is all of and he should just stay all and then he can do anything

above all. i'll go and hopes a new chancellor. won't forget his old friends and will still visit him for some good advice. steadfast and al jazeera amber. the newly re elected president of the gambia says his country can overcome differences following saturday's election. there's been public unrest since a dam. bowers reelection is main rival has contested the result. the search for missing people in indonesia, aisd, java continues following saturday volcanic eruption. president, joke widow is promising to increase evacuation efforts at least $34.00 people have died after mount samira erupt. lexia bryan reports. this muddy wasteland of broken homes and ash covered crops lies in the shadow of indonesia mounts the mirror volcanoes. it sounded to life on saturday,

shooting clouds of ash into the sky, swallowing homes and blanketing entire villages and gray survivors say there was no warning and that many people were killed. and when i get though, after the adoption my house of damage to the ceiling destroyed, i opened the door, it was so hot. so i closed the door, went into the house. but then i decided to many and now sheltering and evacuation centers where they given hot meals and a temporary roof over they have but indonesia presidencies. a more long term plan is necessary, junko with dodo visited the disaster zone. on tuesday, his government will now look into moving homes away from the volcano because of the threat of more options. set up the we hope that once everything has subsided, that everything can start fixing infrastructure or even relocating those from places we predict or too dangerous to return to just now i received

a report saying that around 2000 families need to be relocated immediately. mount scenario is the tallest mountain on the island of java, and one of nearly $150.00 active volcanoes in indonesia. people are being told not to travel within 5 kilometers of the crater, because the nearby is highly polluted. evacuees complain about coff brought home by the dust and smoke, while many in hospital is suffering from burns from the searing hot lava. i had a i just when i came down from my truck, i stepped in the loft. i ran and climbed onto the roof of someone's house. the volcanic cache and smoke was choking. i felt like i couldn't breathe for 10 or 15 minutes. i don't know, but thank god i was given a chance to live. others weren't so lackey, the body of a 13 year old boy was retrieved on monday. the rescue as a battling dangerous conditions. rain has turned debris into thick mud and the lava

is hardening. for now once bustling villages remain empty and silent. people say they're too scared to go home. a case of volcano rose to life once more. alex o'brien al jazeera according malaysia will delivered its verdict on an appeal fall by full prime minister nat geo resume of his conviction in a corruption case. nadia has pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges over his involvement in a multi 1000000000 dollar state funds that jim was voted out of office in 2018 following the correction allegations florence louis is following this story for us . hello there, florence. what's the latest from outside the course? well, we haven't got a definitive verdict yet. the court of appeals judge is still reading the judgement as a 3 man panel delivering the vatike today. but what we've heard so far is the appeal

court judge saying that they're satisfied that the hasn't been a misdirection by the trial judge that they're also satisfied. what not just did was not in national interest, but rather than personal interests. and that what he's done has caught a national embarrassment. so even though we don't have a very is yet things are not really looking good for not yet. and it looks as if the court of appeal may be leading to what's up holding. the conviction that was given by a lower court last year florence, can you remind us of the background of these quite extraordinary case with millions of dollars involved in the scandal. so this is just the 1st in a series of 5 other cases, 5 other trials, but not your faces. now he faces more than 40 charges all related to one m d b where millions of dollars were believed in siphoned out of the state development fund. this particular case relates to $10000000.00 that was believed to have been

transferred into his personal bank account. now it was also the corruption and the angle of a corruption allegations that cause not trip and his political party, the united national organization to lose a general election in 2018. so a lot of banking on this case, but whichever way this decision goes, this is, this will not be the end of not just legal problems, because if i said he faces for the trials and those charges range from corruption, abuse of power to tampering with all the documents. okay, well keep us updated as to how the morning progresses. thank you very much. florence louis live for us there. philippine journalist marizza has begun her journey to no way to personally except 10 nobel peace prize. she had to think special permission, though to travel to osler for friday ceremony jude, his several pending court cases against her. that includes an appeal against a 60 prison sentence for libel charges brought by president. rodrigo de today's

administration. raisa was awarded the nobel peace prize for her efforts to safe guy that freedom of expression. there's a part of me that is happy. yes. but also angry. and hoping for better a better place for the plane of a journalist to land. right. look at what's happened in hong kong. i think this is just an indication of how hard it is to be a journalist today. but how important it is via journalists. chilly, has approved a landmark. lor, allowing same sex marriage and gay couples to adopt children. lodge, crown, celebrated after the legislation was approved by parliament. the country has committed civil unions in 2015, but the legalize ation of same sex marriage stolz after former president michelle shallow. first suggested it more than

a day to go astray alia is delighted country to announce its officials will not attend the winter olympics in beijing joining the us. prime minister scott marson says, rights abuses of wages by china is among his concerns. he also cited trade disputes, and what he says is china's refusal to discuss these issues. always stand up for strategies, interest, and what a strains believe is right. and we are living in an uncertain time. and the world in our part of the, in the, in that the civic is, is uncertain. and that requires latest to be strong and stand up for a strategy and stand up for the things that we believe in and not take a step back. and so i won't be taking a step back here. after 30 years, one of the world's oldest surviving works of literature has been returned to iraq. the small clay artifact, known as the gilgamesh dream tablet,

was stolen during the 1st gulf war mohammed found explain. it's known as the good ganesh, dream tablets, an artifact made of play with an engraved fragment of the epic of ganesh. one of the world's oldest, no religious texts. it was stolen from an iraqi museum in 1991 and sent to the united states. now it's back along with the wealth attention. in a ceremony, us embassy officials in bagdad handed the precious reading your note. gilgamesh tablet is a clay tablet dating back more than 3500 years. it has so marian engravings on it. our embassy in washington received it from the holy bible museum. the text on this tablet is 1000 years older than whom as poems and tells the story of a legend 3 year old named gilgamesh who is set to have ruled miss upper tamia from 2000. yes. before the christian era, he was elevated in subsequent sumeria,

mythology as a god. in 1991. during the 1st gulf war, 9 of iraq's regional museums were looted up to 4000 items were stolen or destroyed, including some where thousands of years old, like the good gums, tablet. it was both by us based christian arts and crafts retailer in 2014 for display in this museum of biblical artifacts. it was later seized by the u. s. department of justice. according to the u. s. cultural agency unit score, it entered the u. s. in 2007 got you authority say they're happy to have it back. now, i've been low. this template is laden with deep symbolism and 2 respects its own intrinsic value and then, and what it means to retrieve it. with all the efforts that have been deployed by the government in this regard, it's a message to all those who smuggled our artifacts and auction them. they should know that will end up retrieving what they had stolen. the rockies may appreciate

the u. s. initiative to help return their last artifacts. but they also say america's invasion of iraq in 19912003, led to the biggest disasters for their nations ancient heritage. and estimated, 15000 artifacts were looted from the baghdad museum and smuggled out of the country iraqis save the u. s. bears full responsibility for what happened and needs to do more to help them retrieve what they lost mohammed van r dizzier. ah ha, you're watching out his ear and these are the stories we're following this hour. the u. s. has warned russia of tough economic measures if it invades you cry.