an access point to the world beyond ah, a wood winning documentary from around the world on al jazeera, ukraine's president plays down the threat of a russian invasion that the u. s. says may happen as soon as next month. ah, hello, i am, sam is a dan. this is al, just they're alive from dell hall. so coming up, leaders of west african nations, way, their options on how to respond to military. coups in bacchanal fasa inflations out of control in sierra leone, leaving many families struggling to put food on the table. bridge collapses in

pittsburgh hours before the u. s. presence arrives to talk about his efforts to rebuild america's infrastructure. ah, now ukraine's presidency is urging western nations including the u. s. not disturb panic about the possible russian invasion. flood are made with that, and ski bo didn't rule out further escalation as russia a massive tens of thousands of soldiers near the front line. first day president joe biden told ukraine's leader there's a distinct possibility. moscow may invade next month, which is not the replacement, as we're grateful to the united states for their ongoing support for our sovereignty. but i am the president of ukraine, and i'm based here and i think i know the details more than any other. we do understand what the risks are. it's important that the president should know the situ from me, not the intermediaries. we do not see a bigger escalation. yes,

the troop numbers have gone up, but i was talking about the same thing in 2021. when there were drills in the russian federation, there was a big build up. we were supported by the us. europeans called on russia to pull back. i don't think the situation is more intense than that time in early 2021. there was no such coverage of ukraine at that time. i go live now to natasha butler in paris. a busy day. full french diplomacy tell us about my crowns. contacts with the russian leader as well as i think coming up the landscape himself . yes, the french president, emmanuel mcgraw is scheduled to speak to the ukrainian president to manage lensky on the telephone a bit later around 7 o'clock parents time. we don't know much more about that conversation,

but no doubt it might have micro will want to make sure that the lensky is well aware. that western allies western powers, all support ukraine's right to 70. in fact, micro is likely to brief landscape on some of the discussions that he had a bit earlier when the french president spoke to russian. nita vladimir putin by phone. that conversation lasted about an hour. we understand it was a very frank, very direct. both leaders did agree to continue diplomacy. they said that was very important, but there were no major breakthroughs. both sides, we understand firmly stated that positions of fusion said that he was disappointed that the us and nato seemed to be ignoring russia, security concerns, most notably, a russian concerns over nato's escalation, nato's expansion. i should say. eastwood, some of the other side micro said that he made it very clear to president who said

that in order to have further discussions with russell, one of the really important things was that moscow agreed and gave assurances that it would require requests respect a sovereignty of other states including ukraine. thanks so much. tasha about the now the russian foreign minister is repeatedly said these country will not invade. so gay laboratories once again expected to meet his us counterpart, anthony blinking in the coming weeks used to be at the you should receive. if you go, there won't be a war as far as it depends on the russian federation. we don't want to war, but we won't let our interests be rudely trampled on and ignored you that your goal is to change. possibly. the u. s. has rejected all the russian security proposals for the last 2 or 3 years. now they're putting the same things on the table. in other words, they're borrowing from recent russian initiatives. this is something, at least in the battle, russia and russia amenities will conduct joint drills. next month. russia has been

deploying extra soldiers and find the jets to its neighbor and ally, you know, national address, but a russian president, alexander lucas shank has said, hundreds of thousands of russian troops who are ready to defend the country, which is not a linear di and so will there be war or not? yes, there will be. but only in 2 cases, if direct aggression is committed against feller is if a hot war is on least against al valerie. and the 2nd possibility for to happen and for beller, is to take part in is if our ally, the russian federation is directly attacked. if the same aggression is committed against the territory of the russian federation national. now the west african blog echo us has suspended became of afo. the leaders have been holding an emergency meeting following mondays, military coup. but the gentleman says they'll only be returned to what he calls constitutional order. when conditions are right,

fall on read the me by address the nation. so the 1st time on thursday, the begin a fast, his military leader said the country will under return to some kind of order when he feels that the country is res. receive it all. andre, to me, the address the nation has been enjoy some of the things you had to say haunted by those that didn't survive husband's fathers, but also brothers as young as 12 and 70 year old grandfather's all killed by fighters affiliated to isolate in the northern region of law, whom i had mouse gunman encircled their village and shot them all says you've got my 2 women and children were spared, but carry with them an unshakable fear of their return. and when i cannot go back, their bodies is still lying there rotting in the ground. following monday school lieutenant colonel barlow, he demi bow made his 1st address to the nation. he put the country on war footing,

calling on all to unite and take up arms against arm groups. large quantity on sir ordered me. when the conditions arise, i commit to return to a normal constitutional order fellow citizens, people of the king of foss. so while there are many priorities is clear that the main priority remain security, we must significantly reduce the area under terrorist influence and the impact of violence extremism. by giving security forces the will to fight, and we must go me at the beginning of the army suffering many losses despite the support of french forces. this isn't okay that propaganda video recorded by fighters attacking security forces in in natal last november. dozens were killed in the rate that provoked a public outcry for what was seen as a humiliating defeat, demi by deposed president, february on monday, accusing him of being unable to defend the country. it's in the military camp in

downtown. why do that? lieutenant colonel? follow? he demi, by his meeting with civil society actors leaders from the trade unions and members of temporary governments administered that he was once accountable to are now under his orders. his objective is to rebuild the military so that they can go from defeat to victory and regain control of law. territory. demi had suggested recruiting russian mercenaries help. but president hawk gabrielle. i dismissed the idea. but since the que russian missionaries from the wagner's group operating in central african republic, and molly say they are ready to help rookie foster to 2000000 people have been forced from their homes in a country scarred by what feels like an endless spiral of violence. with no peace in sight. nicholas hawk al jazeera. why did you give? china's foreign ministry says the un human rights chief is welcome to visit jang,

but not to officially investigate rights groups have accused china of widespread abuses against week muslims, including torture and forced labor. the foreign ministry spokesperson says the commissioner can visit after the beijing olympics, the invitation being extended a long time ago. katrina, you has more from aging. according to bay, james, you and human rights chief is welcome to come to china. she's welcome to visit the north western shin young region, but only with one very important pre condition. and that is that this trip is a friendly visit and it's not framed as an investigation. or as china's form miss, re spokesperson, put it as political manipulation. now according to reports, beijing has said that she can come to she's young following the end of the winter olympics, which closes on february the 20th. but we have not heard any confirmation as to whether this will go ahead from michelle bachelor's office. we do know 2 things though. first is that she has been seeking what she has described as meaningful

access to she young to observe in person the treatment of the week and wisdom minority there since 2018. and secondly, her office is currently working on a report and much awaited report into the conditions, inch and young that they have not yet released now dislikes confirmation. human rights groups are already criticizing the invitation, saying that that she should not accept because this is bound to be as heavily controlled, heavily supervised trip. and that there's no way that michelle bashfully would be able to really authentically or accurately observe what's going on in the region. if she takes up this invitation. north korea has confirmed it, test 5, a series of ballistic missiles on 1st day. john gang has carried out 6 launches this month in defiance of the un security council leader kim john was seen at the factory. state media says helps manufacture myself. rallies have been held across

iran in support of the people of yemen, at least a 100000. the avenues have been killed in the civil war there since 2014 for 1000000 others have been forced from their homes as the country is hit by air strikes by coalition, lead by savvy arabia russell side of that has more from a demonstration intern from them pneumonia, martha le most the largest mosque in terra. now a thousands of people are now starting to protest again. yeah. man, just before did. did the different idea pre or we can assume that what's happening in yemen is a human tragedy. how's baby as rarely saudi arabian coalition and he's called body lenient than nonunion, was them to being sorted out

a deal with him. and we can see that thousands of people know are counting against israel against older. this said that these dominican tragedy that's in your man. it's caused by dis, forces, so yeah, man rises in his 7th year and so far you've caused town thousands of the lives did . could i? the senior man has been one of the major issue between the run and saudi arabia. in last september, these 2 companies initiated a process to normalize relations bus softball. no break through yet. and dashboard here says that, you know, a solution to the war in yemen. it's going to be quite difficult to see the normalization of relations between iran and saudi arabia that the, the protest are not going to happen in, in toronto, but in pans of cities across the run. still,

i had an al jazeera publication of a report into a legit reaches of lockdown rules by the british prime minister, boris johnson, faces delays. police launch their own investigation. ah look forward to brighter skies the winter sponsored by cattle airways. now the wet weather in se asia is reorienting itself, get an idea of this current at the top here because this particular co coming out of china and they're thus taken most the impetus out of the shower for the south. actually there are that many of them, but more sunshine than showered throughout india. emily's, even as a concentration may be on the inside of borneo sill weighs in from bali eastwards the code isn't extreme, it's as you might expect. now it's still going sto shout to han ship. hawkeye do is

be giving a spell. snow to central china along the yankee valley, but saturdays focus is us pushing science against this warm ts. so you've got lot of heavy rain probably over the water, not really over even over taiwan, but the cold eventually winds out hong kong dropped to about 16 degrees. having had a couple of days of rugged gray weather in india. settled once again, but of a concentration the showers running through the finals of sir anchor and tell noddy this during saturday. the northern plane is still covered in fog and small good quality is poor, but the temperatures are slowly rising. no significant changes in the next couple of days in the gulf, a strong wind is blowing dye. once again, there are a few showers around, but temporarily at least on saturday, is looking quite nice. the weather, sponsored by katara weighs a journey of tv, a journey, and one of necessity, ah,

3 different nations that all facing the challenge of driving on nicaragua was unpaid, was at the mercy of its own predictable tropical weather. ah, risking it home with liquor? vacuum on, i'll just say around. ah, ah, ah, the me, i'll come back here watching out. is there a time to recap those headlines now? ukraine's president is urging the wise not to panic of attentions with russia, saying the possibility of conflict is crippling the economy. earlier moscow said he

does not want a war with ukraine, but added it will not allow the interest be ignored. the u. s. had warned, the russian invasion was a distinct possibility. the west african block co us has suspended became a fact. so this follows mondays, military coup jones to lead to says the only be a return to what he calls constitutional order conditions of rights. let's return to our top story now and look at the military capabilities of both russia and ukraine. nearly all of russian commanders and pilots have recent comeback experience in syria rushing. their stripes could easily overwhelm ukraine's air defenses before russian troops even cross the border. president putin as built up army units that could be used in the ground invasion, such as the 8 gods which oversee the pro, ration separatists in eastern ukraine. and then there's the 1st guards tank army, which has also been modernized in recent years. ukraine believes 127000 russian

troops, maybe a mass along the border. russia also has sent fighter jets and ed defense systems to western bell ruse for combat readiness checks and military drills. the cranes military has doubled in size since 2014 its troops also have recent combat experience against pro russian separatists, unless believe a russian occupying force without the contend with an armed insurgency, backed by the us, madras craig is an associate professor and the defense studies department at kings college of london, he says it's unlikely moscow's looking for a major combat scenario. the problem with the rush is they don't have, they haven't really created an off ramp for themselves for them to step away from, from this escalation into a diplomatic realm. and so it really depends if a proper invasion and i mean a multi or like a, a combined arms operation deeply into ukrainian territory will be very, very difficult. if it's about toppling the regime and key f or toppling the

political status for creating chaos, that can be achieved through a variety of different means, which doesn't necessarily need an invasion of a 100000 troops. it can be done through surrogates, it can be done in the information space for cyber operations. and it can be done by a very small, very focused operation and in, in, in eastern ukraine. but all of that will come with huge economic costs for russia. and it will come with reputational cost for russia as well. and the question is, is that something that russia is willing to bet that a burden that russia is willing to burn bear? and i think negotiations already going in the right direction. i think much russia wanted to have, ultimately, is having a common ground with a finding common ground with the west to negotiate. and i think they've gotten this . they are now sitting at the table. they are talking. and i think that is probably what the russians are trying to achieve. i cannot imagine that they are interested in a major combat operation in the u. k. london's metropolitan police have way then on

a report being prepared by a civil servant into a legit social gatherings at the prime minister's official residence of the gatherings allegedly occurred during a corona virus locked down. and finally, he rolls off to say they want minimal references to be made about events. they're still investigating. it all took place at the height of pandemic restrictions over live now to re challenge joins us live from outside number 10, downing street in london. so how unusual is it for the police to make this kind of announcement? first of all, laurie sammy, this is a very surprising intervention from the police, considering that the police and su gray have been talking to each other for some time throughout her investigation. much msr and certainly enough time for them to have made any concerns they had known to her, they had left it very, very late. indeed, it also mark sir,

remarkable turnaround. and their physician met polices from initially saying, well, we don't investigate these sorts of things retroactively, and there's not enough evidence to say, well, we'll wait to see what see grades report has to has to present to then saying, well, she's uncovered some evidence. we're going to investigate to, to now saying, we don't want her report published in full because it might prejudice our own investigation. is peculiar as well because of that use of the word prejudice. you would expect that to be used if they were investigating something that might result in a jury trial. but as far as we know, the met police's investigation is looking into things that most ready contain a misdemeanor. offend something that would result in a fine and little more. there is one possible justification for it, which is maybe that they have uncovered things which are more serious and that's

some kind of obstruction of justice or burying, or destruction of emails, etc. but as far as we know, at the moment, no such thing exists. it will leave su gray and her report and, and very difficult position. she has 3 options. basically, she could either ignore what the police are requested and publish her report in full anyway, she's very unlikely to do that. she could publish as the place of requested as a redacted gutted version of that report. or she could wait until the met police's investigation has concluded, none of it is a particularly good options for her. why does it matter? well, it's because, yeah, the entire country really has been waiting for c gray to say what happened to publish the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. and because of what the back police have said, it looks like either we're going to get a sort of watered down version of that. or we're going to have to wait a lot longer to get the full thing. and many of those people waiting for the full

thing are tory m p 's angry korean pace. who's been saying that they want to see what's the grey has to say before they have decide they decide whether or not they are going to get rid of their leader for johnson kelly lawrence, thank from. thanks so much, rory challenge. they're a bridge in the u. s. city of pittsburgh has collapsed, causing 10 mine the injuries and happen just hours ahead of president joe biden's visit. the city will be there to discuss improving the countries infrastructure. the cause of the community bridges collapse is being investigated. white house correspondent, kimberly how kit is live for us in washington dc. so this is of quite a coincidence how that impacting the president's visit. well, initially there was the feeling that this could really detract from the president's message and hamper his efforts to communicate to the american people,

his agenda, and the message that he's trying to convey that this is something that american needs that this will create jobs that this will help to improve supply chain issues that have been plaguing the united states. and the reason the president wants to communicate this is because his poll numbers are sagging. but it actually underscore is the president's point. and there is a real argument to be made that this is exactly the place that the president needs to make this case a pennsylvania is the state about 4 hours drive north of washington dc. it, it also happens to be a state which is number 2 in the nation in terms of crumbling infrastructure when it comes to bridges. and this is where we have this bridge that has collapsed. we understand that heavy snow is a factor and well they're still investigating. so not only is the white house going to be able to use this as an opportunity to make the case for the president's

infrastructure package. but also there is still part of his agenda that has not passed congress. and he wants to make the case still to the american people. that this is something that still needs to be done. not just to repair roads and bridges of airports, but also to help the american people lift themself out of the coven pandemic. and bring about the economic recovery that still is resulting in bear shelves, high inflation and really limiting the opportunities for so many americans disproportionately in communities of color. so this is something that the president will be talking about in the coming hours. and he'll be able to use this bridge collapse as an argument and a real life example of why i, thanks so much kimberly how to back in sierra leone inflation is forcing many families to cut down what they eat. the situation is made worse by the devastation calls to food production by both the civil war and the abolla epidemic. al jazeera

is an address reports from the capital free town on the struggle for one family, foot food on the table. ah, mary, cuba is on a daily commute to the local market to buy food for her families, dinner she handles, but the vendors refused to budge. so the mother of 6 has to settle for what she can afford. a few onions, pepper, some rising oil. let me family, i know almost hopeless while i can't afford to feed my family like i used to previously. i cooked 8 to 10 cups of rice for the family to eat. well, not any more. no one eats properly these days, we eat just a little, she says, prizes have tripled and there is no sign of any reduction. several years economy suffers from financially stability and mismanagement, exchange rate fluctuations and corruption. all that in addition to disruptions caused by 3 major disasters. when coming 19 began,

suddenly economy was already struggling with the fact of a civil war. and they bought a virus. those disasters devastated production as personally agriculture. and with rising property levels, many homeless usa, they can hardly afford to use today. despite huge natural resources, one of the country's biggest challenges is how to grow its own food. their lives at 40 ports is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, fairly or impacts everything. you know so days at high demand for foreign exchange . i, wendy, demand for somebody for buy these higher than yours. then the price goes up. you know, there's a simple sin whenever they buy eyes mon shows on the seller the prize will never come down. the manufacturing sector heat hot by the civil war, it bowler and covered 19 is slowly coming back to life. but growth is stunted,

just as the local corrosive. de leon continues to wiccan, i guess, major choruses. it is very difficult situation at the moment, especially when the normative prices have increased. so much. costs for manufacturers have also risen so sharply that production has decreased as prizes rise. customers like by re cuba are suffering the fact. i'm a decrease al jazeera, freetown, sierra leone. now salvatore is that the way in adopting bitcoin. being the 1st country to take it on as legal tend to last year. the generating the digital coin requires huge amounts of energy. now the countries president has an ambitious plan to crate a bit coin, city using the power of volcano. it's a big gamble, and people are skeptical as john holman reports from the capital. it was the 1st country in the world, t bitcoin is a national currency. now,

salvador is poised to take its gamble further. the president in firewood fuel party announced that he's planning a whole city based on the crypto currency. what is mekaux? city gun include and his gun includes everything, residential areas, commercial area services, but will have 0 income tax 0. capital gains, tax you know, invest. yeah. make all the money you want to. we're fine because this is a fully, fully ecological city that's work that works. and it's energized buyable, keno, bitcoin city, shaped like a symbol of the crypto currency itself. it will rum with your firm will electricity from the nearby volcano, which will also be used to generate more bit coins. it's an invest his fantasy, but there are worries. it's little more than that. what, why is that? why their doubts about another thing? because there is now 30 at this point,

but i can tell ok now which is ample mellow canada. and the government has claim will be the one they'll be using for mining. actually it allows for that kind in jail taylor exploitation. her associations been critical of president bush kelly, but many big coin is also skeptical. nobody seen any detail plans, but the government still plowing ahead. planning to so $1000000000.00 worth a so called big coin bonds, half of which would be used for the city's infrastructure. the other half will be used to buy up more bit coins. the hope is that thereby you goes up and helps pay off some of those. so with those large national debt. oh, some of those finances aren't looking to rosie. it's been running up a big budget deficit has payments looming. it's been trying to negotiate alone with the international monetary fund. but so far that hasn't come through yet. hoping the big coin volatile currency,

which the i m f doesn't approve of the country using who help solve the debt problems represents an obvious gamble. meanwhile, l, so those 1st bitcoin experiment using the crypto currencies, legal tender along with the dollar continues. government allies say it's doing great. but in 4 months, a big point over 4000000 people have become digitalized and grab the vast majority of them in their bank accounts. and that's over 2 thirds of the population. the question is, how many of those $4000000.00 people just use the government's bitcoin up once to get out the $30.00 worth of the crypto currency given away for free? who knows? no public stotts are available. what is known is that people struggle to use the app and the big coin cash points from the star singleton my. my, i've been trying to get him to my account for 2 weeks, and i can't do it. it's active and registered and i've been calling support but they haven't been able to search it for me. the governments came to remind me that it's earth.