ah, holding the powerful to account as we examine the u. s. his role in the world on al jazeera ah, things we did not do in 2014. we are prepared to do now. bod, and warns pearson off a strong responsive russia invades ukraine, as the 2 leaders hold a virtual meeting. ah, i'm molly inside. this is out there. lie from day or so. coming up australia joins the us in a diplomatic boy course of the winter olympics and beijing. malaysian caught up holes former prime minister notch, a bronze sacks guilty verdict in

a corruption case. and ushering in a new era, all of sholtes is set to become germany's next chance. then bringing the cursing down on an glimmer, 16 year rain. ah, the u. s. has warned russia consequences if it invades ukraine, the, to our virtual call between j bought and vladimir putin ended with no break through the talks follow a massive russian troop build up out of the border. the house western nations worried that moscow will invade its neighbor. i white house correspondent, chimney hawk. it begins our coverage with a massive build up of russian troops, new ukraine, shared border, and u. s. intelligence indicating an invasion of ukraine could happen early next year. u. s. president biden met virtually with russian president. vladimir poo. good to

see you again. the pair spoke for 2 hours. potent denies russia intends 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 biden also told putin the u. s. was prepared to assessors militarily. we would provide additional defensive material to the ukrainians above and beyond that, which we are already provided. 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 whom ever it watts, but one analyst believes joining nato is unrealistic. it ought to be clearer to them, and we're not coming to the rescue. so you get to have to livid nest, rushing out a u. s. 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 biden administration, will continue to work with it's european partners, promising a coordinated response. should russia ignore their warnings? precedent by then, we'll also speak with ukraine's president lensky on thursday. kimberly, how can al jazeera the white house? that burn is president of the global situation room consultancy,

an a former us diplomat. he says, bought and needs to be tougher with putin to get russian troops off ukraine's border. a lot of what we heard from jim 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 could do that. and crimea, we're not talking about getting those troops out. quite frankly. why didn't needs to show that he is not going to give ground to putin on this one, and then he can hold the western alliance together. and obviously, after the unilateral withdrawal from afghanistan, there's a lot of concern cross the nato alliance in america's reliability in its strength.

and so by didn't really has to perform on this. one will see this 1st discussion with prudent on the question of invasions did not resulted in any concrete result. and now it gets kicked down to the foreign minister. then we'll see what they can come back with. 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 alexi enough only the opposition leader. how effective that can be with the russian people. australian is the latest country to announce a diplomatic boy cause at the winter olympics and beijing joining the u. s. athletes will be able to attend the games, but that will be no official representation. prime minister scott morrison says china has not yet made any attempts to respond to several issues raised by australia, including alleged human rights to be says. always stand up for strategies interested

in what australians believe is right. and we are living in an uncertain time. and the world in our part of the, in the, in the pacific is, is uncertain. and that requires latest to be strong and stand up for structure 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. and her woodward is a sports marketing consultant. he was the p. r manager for sidney, australia's 1992, and then pick sped. he says, all the u. s. allies will likely follow washington's lead. that actually just sent a signal through diplomatic circles to the chinese government. i went on happy in australian sport and politics. folklore was a phrase that sport and politics don't mix astrology and hated when sport and politics come together and sport is used for politics. but this will largely be

seen is just something that politicians and bureaucrats do. and as long as they're athletes get together, the public of astrology will be comfortable with that is so look at a going in the same direction as i understand it. and look, this is something that will spread around the rest of the world. there are multinational alliances and yeah, they will come into the 4. but what i don't think anyone wants to see happen is a, a boycott building picks from an athletic point of view. think of how the world came together for the tokyo olympics building this year. and the joy that that bought many, many people, certainly there are major human rights issues in china to address. but on the whole, let's keep the sport politics separate here. and let's not forget that sport has acted before to bring about change in various countries. we did have the protests, the apartheid protests with the commonwealth nations banning south africa from split back in the sixties and seventies most particularly cricket and rugby and that had some effect in bringing about change in south africa. haps is too big for

that, but certainly it is sending a very strong signal to the aging malaysian former prime minister, not to bra. zach has expressed disappointment, often appeal court upheld his guilty. that 8 in a corruption case. he pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges over his involvement in a multi $1000000000.00 state fund. he was voted out of office in 2018, following the corruption allegations. lawrence louis is following the appeal from patricia in malaysia. this decision was made by the court of appeal. there is still another court above it, that's the federal court, and his lawyers will be filing an appeal to the federal court, the highest court in the land, and pending that appeal they will be filing a state on the sentence. if that stay of got granted, then it means now it will not have to go immediately to prison. if that state is not granted, then he will lose his seat as a member of parliament. and then he will have to be, he will, he will have to serve his jail time. he was sentenced to 12 years by high court. he

was also find millions of dollars after being found guilty of 7 challenges of criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering. on the court of appeal in upholding this conviction that they were satisfied that now jim, what he had done, his actions were not out of national interest, but out of personal benefit. and one of the appeals judge even said that what he had done had, he said, caused a national and bowsman to the country. i think the opposition especially will feel that they've been vindicated. 5 as court of appeals position, but not job also has his supporters in the years since 2018, he's managed to rehabilitate his image. his knife to portray himself as a champion of the people as a champion of ordinary malaysians instead of the elite, is privately educated, wealthy individual that he is. so i think there will be 2 camps who will going to view this conviction very differently. but on the whole, i think many will also feel that justice has been done. i remember it was the

corruption allegations surrounding one mtv that caused such a historic defeat for verizon last year. now, in 2018 south korea's leaders says new covent 19 cases. in the country have exceeded 7000 for the 1st time. prime minister came boot qm is concerned about the increasing number of patients who critically oh, it will the threat of the new only colon variance is becoming apparent. i'll sweep the government, announced strict to social distancing measures to contain the outbreak. doctor alice tans specializes in disease prevention at miss metty women's hospital. she's also for associate professor samsung medical center. she says, case is started calming again. up to south korea east measures back in november. you listed 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 unity 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 age 60 and above. and that's what caused a huge increase in the number of hospital admissions. and unfortunately in november, i saw the largest number of topics related death in south korea. since the onset of the panoramic. i think it's too early to say what the true virulent of the on variance is throughout the whole spectrum of disease. although we do suspect that it is much more transmissible than the tell to variant. and even in korea, we are seeing cases of breakthrough infection. our 1st 2 cases had been fully

vaccinated with them during the vaccine. and then they had got the chronic infection while traveling in africa. and so the army, cranberry, and 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 last severe. still ahead on al jazeera, why a large coal fired power plant to northern boise as being linked to towns rise in death. and the punch is an ancient artifacts smuggled out of her aunt in the past that she is go on display in baghdad, including one of the world's oldest surviving with

head away we go with your weather update for the middle east. normally we say it's quiet, but that's not the case now. hello everyone. good to see. we've got this storm system slamming into the labatte. it's going to play a lebanon in palestine. we'll talk more about that coming up. but elsewhere of fine and dry conditions can be found. same goes for pakistan, both for the south and the north. a karachi coming in at a high of 30 degrees, located now to that active weather in turkey, really through the eastern med, as it slams into lebanon. and palestine, lebanon, it's going to be blasted with wind gusts, on wednesday, up to 70 kilometers per hour. we could power up some thunderstorms on thursday, friday. your temperature at 19, which is where it should be. temperature is above average for central africa, pretty close. a record breaking a job, but 39 bungie 35. your december record temperature is 36 degrees. so pretty close. we'll see if we can no job pinned the days to come. got some what?

10, stormy weather, it's worth the northeast of south africa, this se, botswana pretty much the zone stretches from bill a whale rate to a johannesburg. so if we show you the 3 day forecast for bill away the risk of some sundry downpours over the next few days. some breezy conditions as well, but your temperature at 31 degrees that's above average. okay, that's your weather update. i'll catch up with you soon. ah. the listening post cuts through the noise key about teaching not seeing monday, told being used to perpetuate those competes, imperative, separating spin from fuck all 3 versions of the story and some element of the truth . but the full story of the amazing content. i'm talking the stories you're being told, it's not a science story at all. it's a story about politics. the listening post your guide to the media on a just 0 lou

. oh, well, come back. you're watching out as a reminder of our top story, is this our the u. s. has warned russia of tough economic measures if it invades ukraine. president joe biden. vladimir pierson held a 2 hour virtual cool, but ended with no breakthrough. the kremlin says the 2 leaders would keep engaging on practical insensitive matters. australia is the latest country to announce its officials will not attend the winter olympics and beijing joining the us. prime minister got morrison says china has not responded to several issues raised by australia, including alleged human rights. malaysia's appeal co would have upheld former prime

minister logic browse, act guilty, verdict in a corruption case not just pleaded, not guilty to dozens of charges over his involvement in a multi $1000000000.00 state fund. 3 political parties in germany have signed a coalition agreement paving the way the formation of a new government leaders of the social democratic party, the green party, and the free democrats attended assigning ceremony in berlin. the coalition marks an end of the conservative government, led by chancellor angular michael sent to left social democratic off sholtes will replace her in the next few hours. we take a look at who the new leader of europe's largest economy is. step vast and reports from sholtes home town home bag. a special discount for all of shells here caught 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, in hamburg and toys. there was long for me. does all of us attack. it's especially day because my good comrade, my very sensitive comrade, been a powerful position as chancellor and i will keep my fingers crossed on the wounded . this is really dissolved when i can't even explain how special to stays for me. but i didn't get 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 was alexis mayor, and hamburg in 2011, leading germany 2nd largest city shows, shows himself as a pragmatic and at times tough mere. 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 a politician 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 shoals will lead to 3 parties government with the greens and the liberal essay and novelty in germany. the coalition as now to the 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 stance 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 who's,

who's advisors? keep telling us that this is going to be a strong transfer that can bring people together, that behind the scenes. he's the person that can do that. but certainly he hasn't shown that he can convey or 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 sholtes to convince those who still have doubts, batch at alden has none. i trust your mother. it listens, takes it in and does not forget. he will think about it before he makes a decision that is all off and he should just stay all off than he can do anything longer. above all, i'll go in hopes a new chancellor won't forget his old friends and will still visit him for from good advice. stop. fasten al jazeera hamburg saudi arabia has called for the french police to immediately release a saudi national,

arrested in paris. a man was detained after he was suspected of being linked to the killing of jamal cushion g. kasha g, as saudi journalist was murdered in 2018 in the saudi consulate in a stumble. saudi officials say this most recent arrest is a case of mistaken identity. a massive fight as an overcrowded prison in burgundy has killed at least 38 inmates. it happened in tega early on tuesday morning, dozens more winded, their own ports of emergency services. that didn't arrive on the scene until 2 hours after the blaze started. bernice interior ministry says it was caused by an electrical short circuit. malcolm webb has more from nairobi. the run these vice president has visited the scene. he said that dozens of died, and many more were injured bruin. these red cross came to the scene. some of the injured were treated there, others were taken to hospital room. these interior ministry said that the cause of

the fire was an electrical short circuit. the interior ministry is also said that there was a fire 4 months ago at the same prison also caused by an electrical short circuit, but on that occasion there were no casualties. overcrowding is common in burn these prisons despite a presidential pardon 6 months ago that resulted in 5000 prisoners being released. the newly re elected president of the gambia says his country can overcome different states following saturdays election and public arrest since adama. barras reelection has main rival, has contested the result. the process is this is suddenly to report. to me that is megan. we look at the report, or we mix, or we make it public after one month. mix

after one want to this public. so me and you will all know what is in the report, then not more than 6 months. you should come out with their white paper. but when do you want to assure that justice and reconciliation report isn't? it won't happen. i'm and addresses and bundle with more and what president barrow had to say. he said he will reach out to every segment of the society, but also appeals to government to forget that differences and consider the election done and dusted ever when push to talk about the truth and reconciliation commission. it was asked whether he is willing to prosecute for me a long time rule. i a jeremy, he said, i'm certain that in the, in the formative will mean taking your personal. but he assured that he will take the necessary measures to address the concerns of can be and will feel that the

government doesn't have the will political well to see if that'll implement the recommendations of the truth and reconciliation commission. right now you've got to take over the next president of this country's over goal. he's go, this competitor is actually not giving up. we probably, he probably has 7 or 8 days to take this matter to court and have a judge in his favor. otherwise, mr. battle would be sworn in us the president next year, early next year. a new health report by a bosnian university has made a direct link between a coal fired power plant and a high level of cancer. locals in the northwest town of opinion say the town is emptied in the past decade and now concerned about plans going ahead to expand the plant. lower bed among the reports. the town of became near sits in the shadow of both near hurts cadina's largest power plant, considered europe's most producing. it seemed blamed for many debts and mass

migration, and this is a culprit to large stretches of ash and coal deposits. or the deer though, puts us here. it is. as soon as a child is born, he gets from cotton asthma instead of the lungs naturally developing every day we bury some one. never before have more people died than now. this is hell because the kenya has been empty of his residence a decade ago. 5500 people lived here. now that down to a 1000, a recent health studies link tells us smoke and ash to high levels of lung cancer, asthma, and chronic disease walking. so if i tell you if there is no clear border between virginia and the power plants, the impact of the plans, lack and hash deposits account for 70 percent of that. and chronic diseases. compared with 3 percent of the selena district, which we compared to, to the tesla count,

it's one of 5 the provide the nation with 70 percent of its electricity. it's directed denies links to high levels of cancer and then tell milk the other could clean up. there is not a single coal fired plant that has no impact on the environment. we, as owners, are obliged to take a number of measures prescribed by law to reduce that impact. according to these environmental and energy characteristics, these are production units that are equal to those built in the u. and now the ground is being prepared for the plant to be expanded in a chinese back deal. this is despite china's pledge to start building new coal plants abroad and the ease energy watchdog thing it's breeching, you dual, and the aggravate air pollution mobile suits dubois lulu. we have a system that serves to protect operators who do not meet their obligations regarding environmental protection. but here when i talk about environmental protection, i'm talking about human lives. the few remaining residents fear the new plant adds

to the misery, and the dr. for power would drain the town of the last few people, still left laure about among the al jazeera, the hawaiian islands remain on the alert for catastrophic flooding, landslides and strong winds from an intense storm. raids, a flood it and power lines have been brought down in some areas. storm 1st hit on monday is expected to linger for another 2 days. the philippine journalist maria ressa is on her way to no way to personally accept her nobel peace prize. she had to seek special permission to travel to our slow friday ceremony due to several pending court cases again, sir, this includes an appeal against a 6 year prison sentence for live or charges brought by president rodrigo to today's administration. there's a part of me that is happening. yes, but also angry and hoping for better or better

in bellows plays flores, the plane of a journalist to land. right? look, what's happened in hong kong? i think this is just an indication of how hard it is to be a journalist sitting, but how important it is to be a journalist chile has improved a landmark law allowing same sex marriage and gay couples to adopt children. large crowds celebrate and onto the legislation was approved. i parliament, a country house permit and civil union since 2015, but the legalization of same sex marriage stored after former president michelle bachelorette fast suggested at more than a decade ago. i conservative success as sebastian pierre also supported it after 30 years, one of the wells oldest surviving works of ledger has been returned to iraq, the small clay artifact known as the gail g, a mash dreamed tablets was stolen during the 1st world war. ma'am. and vow reports

. it's known as the good guy amish dream tablets. an artifact made of clay with an engraved fragment of the epic of gilgamesh, one of the world's oldest, no religious texts. it was stolen from an iraqi museum and i to night to one and sent to the united states. now it's back along with the world's attention. in a rail ceremony, u. s embassy officials in baghdad handled the precious ready to iraqi authorities. no good. the gilgamesh tablet is a clear tablet, dating back more than 3500 years ago. it has so marian engravings on it for our embassy in washington, received it from the holy bible museum. the text on this tablet is 1000 years older than homer's poems and tells the story of a legend. 3 hero named gilgamesh who is said to have ruled mesopotamia some 2000 years before the christian era. he was elevated in subsequent sir marian mythology

as a god in 1991 during the 1st gulf war, 9 of iraq's regional museums were looted up to 4000 items was stolen or destroyed, including some not were thousands of years old, like the good gamut tablet it was bought by a us based christian arts and crafts retailer in 2014 for display in its museum of biblical artifacts. it was later seized by the u. s. department of justice. according to the u. s. cultural agency, eunice co, it entered the u. s. in 2007. right? you're 40. so 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, $15000.00 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, hammered van r dizzier. ah, beth is al jazeera, these year tops toys. the u. s. has warned russia have tough economic measures of invades ukraine. president joe biden and vladimir pierson held hey to our virtual call that.