have in a way, you cannot see with the naked eye, you can feel the hairs on the back of your neck standing up when you reach the top of that building and get a great view. metropolis analysis era, the ukranian and us leaders speak as tensions run high on the border with russia and moscow blames its neighbor for the military build. ah, hello, i'm marianne no mozy in london. you're watching al jazeera also coming up on the program. global health experts recommended 3rd jobs for the most vulnerable people . at the same time, many a struggling to get our 1st co that vaccine. there is risk that the global supply

is again, going to revert to high income countries. forwarding vaccine, also had on the program, the iranian delegation say there are some new round of nuclear talks to get results, but all sides remain divided on the detail and new zealand plan to bought out. smoking for good with a lifetime ban for the teenagers of tamara. ah . hello, welcome to the program. our top story, you as president joe biden has held a phone call with his ukrainian counterpart in a show of supports over the build up of russian military along its border. tens of thousands of troops have been moved to an area near the frontier but rusher is denying his preparing to invade its neighbor wide and held a similar call with the russian president vladimir putin earlier this week. and warned of severe economic sanctions. if an attack were to take place,

but russia says its ukraine, which is failing to engage in the peace process, accusing it of moving heavy artillery towards the front line where government forces of fighting with pro russian separatists in the east. but he, by dish, give that arm now with the support of nato countries. ukraine is being pumped full of weapons and kia is building up its contingent on the line of contact in don bess . the number of cease fire violations which have happened since it was signed and july 2020 is coming close 290000. this shall monitoring mission to ukraine has registered the re deployment of heavy weapons, including high caliber artillery and armored vehicles to the east of the country was you will on tuesday, vladimir putin told joe joe biden, he wants assurances that ukraine will not join nato military alliance is one that any aggression will come at a high price, including serious political and economic consequences. on her 1st,

full day in the job, germany's new foreign minister offered her support. we are living in challenging time, sir, as we see those days. the russian troop development near ukraine must concern off, was of you to ukraine itself, but also was a view to our security in europe. last week and reagan, nato said, and sent a very clear message, and i want to underline very firmly. the new government fully maintains this commitment in a moment will be live to ukraine. charles stratford is standing by 1st 1st, so kimberly health is, is following developments in washington where we understand that has been a conversation between the u. s. president and his ukranian counterpart vladimir zalinski. any information about that? well, what we're hearing is that the call took place about an hour later than originally scheduled, getting started really in about the last 40 minutes or so. so we're watching very

carefully to see a read out of that call and. and what it's clear is if it's still ongoing, or if it has, in fact wrapped up, the white house hasn't said, but what it has said is what the u. s. president intends to convey in that conversation. it is a message that he will also be delivering to the what's known as the bucharest 9. that is the sort of the countries that make up the eastern flag of the nato alliance. the us president, we have a call with those officials as well. and the message that the u. s. president was to send the united states is committed to transatlantic security. even as we know, the latimer potent is still deliberating over whether not an invasion of ukraine is something that russia might do. there is, of course, the us intelligence that reports under massing of troops along the shared border with ukraine. and we know from the national security advisor jake sullivan,

that the message the united states has tried to send is essentially one that the u . s. believe that this can be resolved through the minx process. it also believes that there really needs to be an urgent effort and pathway towards a ceasefire. well, at the same time, also working towards what the united states sees and refers to have confidence building measures. so these are the sort of rough outline of what the u. s. president is expected to convey in those calls. and i suppose it's getting more and more complicated because ukraine is saying that it fears an invasion. meanwhile, that the russians, as you would expect, rejecting in that narrative and say that. and he moves a purely defensive and it's ukraine that's not engaging in any process. so, is there a plan to defuse this crisis? well, what has been made clear from the united states side is that particularly when the conversation occurred with latimer fruit and the russian leader that the u. s.

president did not offer any sort of concessions. he also did not provide any assurances and, and so there may be some similar conversation that will take place in the call with president to, let's give ukraine, given the fact we know that it is eager to be a member of data. that's not something that the united states has sort of offered as an assurance. what we also know is that the united states is really underscoring the pathway forward. as far as it sees, it is only diplomatic and not military. in fact, underscore that point the us president made clear in the last 24 hours that in terms of even offering military support by in the form of us soldiers that, that is not on the table. as he said, there will be an effort to equip allies but beyond that, the united states and the united states public really has little appetite for that . so kind of giving reassurance as well at the same time, be realistic is what the united states is offering, right? now, and what i can also tell you is that on the heels of military conflict in afghanistan

and that withdrawal of the united states that went so badly for the u. s. there really is very little public support for the united states to send it soldiers to assist in resolving this. conflicts to the united states is very keen on seeing this moving forward, diplomatically, and that's the message that it is sending to its allies and ukraine in specifics. all right, thank you very much. white house correspondent, kimberly how kit following the story from washington, dc and charles stratford. joining us live not from harrison and southern ukraine. so is kimberly was saying that the u. s. has made it abundantly clear that they will not be deploying foreign troops to the region, but what kind of support does ukraine want to see from its west and military allies? well, that's right. yes. that the statements made by the u. s. president, yesterday. no u. s. boots on the ground, no plan for that,

but the u. s. has also said and this will be some comfort, at least to the ukranian president, that there will be a continuation of the surprise of what is described as defensive capabilities. we understand that so far this year, the usda support around $450000000.00 worth of defensive capabilities in the next few days. we understand that the final tranche of a $60000000.00 amount of small arms and ammunition will be arriving. so we're, we are, we, we understand that that sort of discussion will be, will be, had we also think that so there may well be more details given by the u. s. president to president zalinski about this sanction package that is being put together by the us and nato allies, ukrainian nato partners. but i think also certainly according to analysts,

there is disks of great concern that possibly bite and may have to basically try and get some sort of concession from the ukranian leader because the situation has gotten so bad as we heard. kimberly they mentioned the importance of the minx to agreement that agreement that was signed in 2015 that both sides, both the russians and the ukrainians accused each other of not implementing an agreement that the ukrainian say they had no choice in signing because their backs were so much up against the wall in 2015 basically losing the wall. we also understand, possibly that biden may ask zalinski to start speaking to the separatists in the east in the dorm bass region. that of course, is something that ukrainians have refused to do thus far because they see that as potentially giving the separative legitimacy and they describe the separatists as a terrorists, a terrorist organization. so i think the real goal of this conversation for

president biden is to potentially get some minor concession out of zelinski, at least to start initiating some sort of real progress on on piece dialogue. also, at the same time, not looking as if they are too many concessions being given to the russians because of course, the russians are described by both native 40 and the ukrainians as the aggressors in this crisis. and ukraine has said that it is an invasion from the 10s of thousands of russian troops that have gathered near the bordeaux. what do we know about true movements in the region will, according to the a, see the organization for security and cooperation in europe, the monitors cease fire violations. i mean, they saying that there are violations committee by both sides every day to give you an example, a situation report,

they put out december the 7th couple of days ago. they said they were $200.00 cease fire violations just in that day, including 60 explosions. now we have been moving up and down the contact line, which is around about 400 or just over 400 kilometers long. i'm certainly we haven't seen any obvious signs of ukrainian troop movements, but the russians are saying that the ukrainians are moving heavy weapons into position. and the situation remains calm, but tends to certainly in the areas outside the contact zone and by exposes as a mark of just how serious this crisis is, was a comment made by the ukrainian defense minister dimitra co labor to day talking to reporters in london. he said that said, on the back of that news from biden, that the u. s. would not be sending troops to ukraine. he said, well, we am, we will fight this battle on our and we will fight this war on our own. and we will, when we do not need foreign troops,

but we would appreciate any kind of help you can give us with respect to ammunition and weapons. so as i say, a mark of just how critical these talks in these ongoing efforts to try and galvanized some sort of peaceful solution to this crisis. ok. thank you very much. charles traffic reporting case, frank. it says he has her son in southern ukraine. now in other stories are following the have been these reports of violence between armenian and azeri forces . i mean is defense ministry says as a by john has started intensively shelling military positions in get car clinic province according to russia's tasks. use agency earlier on thursday as a by john accused armenia provocations along the border and said one of its soldiers had been killed. a war between them last year ended with a russian broker ceasefire. ah,

the world's most vulnerable people should get a 3rd dose of a corona virus vaccine. but as concerned about how this is going to impact those who have yet to have one, world health organizations. vaccine advisory panel says that people with underlying health issues or compromised immune systems should be targeted for boosters. many countries are expanding their roll out of 3rd shots due to concerns over the new only convent. emerging data is suggested that fact vaccine efficacy declines after some time, especially among older people. for the time being, we continued to support one, the need for equity in the distribution, our location of vaccines and to the use of 3rd doses, only are those that we have previously recommended. those that have received inactivate vaccines and those that are immunocompromised, which are the 2 groups that we feel should be protected further by a 3rd goes of the primary process is also a warning from

a w h o that concern over the army kron variant could lead to more hoarding of vaccines, more than half of all people in the world of now received at least one dose that falls to just over 6 in every 100 people in low income countries. as february, the vaccine sharing lights, kovacs has shipped 610000000 doses, 244 nations or territories. the goal was to 1000000000 the programs sped up in the past few months, thanks to donations from wealthier countries and an ease on exports from india. but if rich a nation's prioritize their own 3rd doses, while there could be fears that the program would slow down and there's no supply issue there, w h o is saying that one and a half 1000000 doses are produced every month. the, the problem is going to be with the allocation of that supply. the global health chief is saying 6 times as many boosters are given out in rich nations every day than at 1st shots in low income countries. as we head into whatever the on the

current situation is going to be, there is risk that the global supply is, again, going to revert to high income countries hoarding vaccine. to protect, you know, to protect a, in, in, in a sense, in excess of their opportunity. for for vaccination then, and a sort of no regrets kind of approach to watching how the variant has been playing out in south africa, which has reported more than 22000 new cases of on the chrome. this is a rise of about 2000 compared to the previous day. early hospital data shows less than a 3rd of patients infected with on the kron a suffering severe illness. south african scientists that 1st sounded the alarm on the, on the crone variance of the virus late last month. now we to go to developments around the iran talks because the countries talk, negotiation is saying the country is serious about reaching

a nuclear agreement with well powers. but it's not backing down from its demands. another round of talks aimed at salvaging the historic 2015 deal has resumed in vienna. officials are trying to bring both iran in the united states back into the agreement which limits nuclear activity and exchange for sanctions relief. last week, iran was accused of not taking the talk seriously, but european union stopped negotiate and now says, there is a renewed sense of purpose by all participants. what both this morning was for the whole delegation of only the ring in one hole, delegations renew, sense of purpose, come they need to work to reach an agreement from being in the just to be back to life. this is, this is my, my information from, from this morning. it's difficult, it's a very difficult and devil is that are still different positions that we have to marie, this is the gist of the nation. we will see how we can,

how we can present. that's how we kind of funds. dosage bar is following a story in vienna. they sent him and several shared by the reigning deputy foreign minister ali baba connie who was leading the arabian delegation was the same as that of the e u. r. foreign policy chief. that we just heard from connie said that at the rainy's are very serious and they're here for results. and that is exactly what they hope to achieve in the coming days. the joint commission met earlier on thursday and then they ran off to smaller working groups to discuss the details of what iran has proposed to the world powers. the rain has put forth 2 proposals last week where they said one deals with how the united states will lift those sanctions that they impose, since they left a nuclear deal in 2018. and the 2nd proposal deals with the arena nuclear program and how iran will go back into compliance. the when use of said that will only happen when they can verify that all the sanctions that the u. s. is imposed or lifted in terms of what the international atomic energy agency has to do with all

of this. they are the watchdog that polices the j. c. p. away the nuclear deal of 2015. and the head of that organization has said that there has been serious issues with iran's compliance over the past few months. and that they are very concerned that they no longer have the access that they want to have when it comes to policing iran's nuclear program. but for now, the groups here that are discussing how to move forward are hopeful they can come to some kind of an agreement in the next few days and on how to move forward with these negotiations. with al jazeera life from london, much more still ad on the program. 15 minutes it is rally and hong kong democracy advocate anti cunning. jimmy lie, a fresh conviction. china denounces a foss as more countries plant diplomatic boycotts on the winterland. ah

hey, there. good to see, here's your weather forecasts. europe, africa, on friday. we do have a feed of rain coming down the nor see slamming rate in to belgium. this is a tricky forecast for brussels, though. i do think it will be brain your temperature at 6 degrees, but a swath of snow can't be rolled out the potential though for some dangerous precipitation and latvia freezing rain. bris. this includes riga, your temperature rate around that 0 mark. so the rain will fall and potentially see some prism rain as well. it has been nonstop rain toward the top end of iberia and there is still more common natur on friday. now there are 80 millimeters over 12 hours and those winds would been up to 90 kilometers per hour. got snow through the alpine region, northern italy picking up about 10 centimeters really top to bottom and across italy. it is unsettled and we've got some windy conditions for the eastern shores of the adrian exceed. could see those got up to 90 kilometers per hour. storms have pivot it from one end of the a g

n to the other. so this is plug in western turkey really from it sample rate to antalya out of rain to be expected. boy, in this weather report in africa. right now. whites and windy conditions to be expected in tunis at 17 degrees, but wall to wall sunshine for cairo. with a high of 23 on friday, cea. ah, ah, co cater culture of knowledge, openness, pluralism, world wanted us to reward better to excellence and encourage creativity. the shape ahmad award for translation and international understanding was formed to promote translation and owner translators, and acknowledged that road and strengthening the bones of friendship and co operation between arab islamic and world coaches. ah, ah

ah ah welcome back. made stories. now u. s. president joe biden has been holding a telephone call with his ukrainian counterpart brought him is the landscape and a show of support over the build up of russian military along its border. a world health organization advisory panel is saying that people with underlying health issues should get a boost of vaccine was also consigned. it could reduce the dose is available to lower income countries. and iran stock negotiate your same country as serious about reaching the nuclear agreement with well powers, but they are not backing down from that demands. now investigators have recovered the flight dates recorded from the wreckage of a helicopter, carrying india's highest rank in general. chief of defense, staff, beeping ra,

at his wife and 11 others died when the across came down in the southern state of tom ahl. now do induce defense minister saying the helicopter did not send a distressed cold before the crash. elizabeth problem reports from new delhi a reef laying ceremony by government leaders in the southern status thumb and not for ben roberts, his wife and 11 others killed on wednesday, they remained with them sent to new delhi for funeral services. also in the capitol, members of parliament, observed 2 minutes of silence. defense minister raj not sing revealed more about the crash control in a air traffic controller. last contact with the helicopter around 12 a p. m. soon after a few local people spotted a fire in the forest near good news and rushed to find wreckage of the military helicopter, engulfed in flames. of flying from an indian air force base and salute to

a defense college. less than half an hour away. when the helicopter came down, rescue as manage to save some occupants from the burning wreckage and take them to a nearby hospital. but only one person survived. the defense minister said the crash investigation has already begun with the helicopter's flight data and cockpit voice recorders recovered on thursday. 63 year old violet had served in the military for for decades and was the army chief before being appointed india 1st chief of defense staff 2 years ago. the position was created to integrate and modernize india's army, navy, and air force. it's a huge task. and this has been set back in terms of the individual who was chosen by prime minister, moby. and that he died in this very, very tragic manner. jarlet also lead major military operations on india's troubles . borders with pakistan and china. mourners will be allowed to pay their final respects to bip, enroll with and his wife at their residence here in new delhi on friday before the

funeral. roberts, death not only raises questions over the military reform he was leading, but comes at a time of heightened tension with china, with both countries increasing the military presence along the disputed border. elizabeth moran, m l g era, new delhi. now at least 40 members of a government by militia have been killed by government and became fast so it had to place just outside of the town of to tao. no one is claim responsibility bought. the attack takes place a day after the president of the keenest sacked his prime minister and an escalating security crisis in the country. now to hong kong, the pro democracy movement has been dealt. another blow is media taken, jimmy line to other prominent activists have been convicted for their roles, illegal vigil, commemorating the piano. mon squire, master cup florence louis has the story i. jimmy ly was at last year's tenement square rally in hong kong for just 15 minutes

and not addressed the crowd. the judge said prosecutors had been able to prove his incited others to attend the vigil. lie used to own apple daily, a vocal pro democracy paper. the tablet was shut down after police raided his officers and arrested staff under a national security law. some journalists in hong kong say they are not surprised by wednesdays. verdict. this has been a trend over the last year on the judge and under woodcock. rules are tar jimmy lie, didn't have to say anything to even in fight. others very tight, but he timed out just outside the park was close a deliberate act to rally support for and publicly spotlight the unauthorized assembly. the judge also found barrister chow hung tongue and former reported gwyneth how guilty of either taking part or inciting others to join the event. all 3 pleaded not guilty. 16 other activists are already serving jail sentences for

also taking part in the commemoration. hong kong has traditionally held large events on the anniversary of the tenement crackdown in beijing for the 1st time in 30 years. police in hong kong band last year's rally, citing corona virus restrictions. commemorations will also band this year, with case itself is part i would say perhaps a wider crackdown on the memory of the 1989 massacre. textbooks has been censored, museum exhibits confiscated. the visuals organizers have been put behind balls. and as you can see, this commemoration has been banned. oh, last year's band was imposed just as china passed, a sweeping national security law in hong kong activists say the latest convictions . i. another example of hong kong leaders bowing to pressure from beijing to censure pro democracy expression. florence lee al jazeera, china as

a going to politic boycott, have next year's winter olympics is a foss, canada b u. k. u. s. in australia, not sending government delegates to february's games and paging in protest of china's human rights record. athletes from all 4 countries will still be able to compete that herman to player life order bullet door. it's the same whether they're officials come or not. they will see the success of the beijing winter olympics. sports has nothing to do with politics. all you will and picks as a grand event for athletes and sports fans, not a stage for politicians to perform. the united states, australia, britain, refused to sign the beijing winter olympics. you in general assembly olympic truce resolution. and they wrote, directed and performed the fos of not sending officials to attend. they are standing on the opposite side of the olympic family. why you izzy lens on vale? one of the wells tough is crackdowns on smoking banding. young people from ever buying cigarettes. legal smoking age will rise year by year so that by 2027,

anyone aged 14 or younger will never be legally able to buy cigarettes. critics, a the band could boost the black market though. smoking is the leading cause of death and new zealand killing more than $4000.00 people every year. until now. the government's focused on increasing taxes on cigarettes to make them on affordable. 10 years ago, a pack of $25.00 cost about 11 dollars last year. it was $28.00. smoking rates have fallen in recent years, but about 13 percent of the adult population still smokes. the rates much higher. indigenous murray at about 28 percent. under the government plan, a task force would be created to help reduce smoking among the merry with the local young with. ready more softer, one stop that i have also one that might well they can just go to the right,

which they are. i think maybe it's a good idea because of you know, they smoke, it was very clear and it's really hard to quit. so being a smoker, you're going for all this i, i know that, so maybe it's a good doctor. i chevrolets musicians associate health minister and says vapor is not included in the new law because it's considered a safer alternative to cigarettes. there is very strong evidence that tobacco is an extremely handful and addictive substance, and yet the evidence will have on pipes is fairly bad. definitely a cipher old finished. so we're taking a reduction approach by banding to best price will future generation, but making sure for current market to quit, there is an alternative $4000.00 new zealand just died each year from tobacco and we must take action on it. we made a lot of progress, the cause of that regulation,

reseating with allowing right to quit. so we made the biggest decrease we had in history in watching right the last year on. so we think that might freak out is within reach a european population, as is seek to make it as i reach that goal, as we need to take bold action to make sure all parts of the community get there. and because we're not prepared to pass the community behind, ah, update you on the headlines. you as president joe biden has had a telephone call with his ukranian counterpart and a show of support over the build up of russian military along its border. moscow as a mass, tens of thousands of troops near ukraine, but denies that it is preparing an invasion l bite and held a similar phone call with the russian president vladimir putin. this was the one in the week and more of severe.