ah al jazeera ah ah, all the news. ready you kind president thinks to calm what he says is panic over the escalating tensions with russia. wild game a fusion is saying, the west has ignored russia secures he can sons. ah, hello, i'm marianne murphy and london. you're watching al jazeera, also coming off on the program. keena faso is suspended by west africa main regional blog. following this week's military could, at least 88 people,

a dead and tens of thousands caught off. off to tropical storm anna hit madagascar, mozambique, and malawi. and a bridge collapses in pittsburgh just hours before a visit by the vice president to highlight his efforts to strengthen the country's infrastructure. ah, welcome to the program. ukraine's president is urged west not to panic, over the likelihood of a russian invasion, which he said is damaging the country's economy. despite huge build up of russian troops, new crane volume is landscape saying he does not consider the situation now. any more tense than before. waste and as if we're grateful to the united states for their ongoing support for our sovereignty. but i'm 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 situation from me, not the intermediaries. we do not see a bigger escalation. yes, the trip 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. earlier, the russian president vladimir putin told his french counterpart he doesn't want situation to escalate any further. but he also accused the us and nato of ignoring moscow's main security concerns, such as the alliance's expansion. meanwhile, nato secretary general young, stolen bug, warned the russian aggression could take many different forms like a cyber attack attempted coup or sabotage. out there is charles stratford begins al coverage now from dawn bass and east in ukraine, which is controlled by pro russia that protest ukraine's president vladimir

zalinski has been speaking to the media, both international and local journalists in kia. it seems very much that the ukrainian prison is trying to stamp his all 40 on this crisis mentioning that sir, ukraine would not accept any kind of agreement made solely between the us and russia. he blamed the media for blowing up the situation for inflaming the situation. seemingly, he said that the crisis was no worse than what had happened in 2014 and obviously a time where he was not president would bear in mind that that was a time when ukraine lost crimea to russian control. indeed lost control of these areas in don barza. ready in easton ukraine, and it seems as if certainly, as i say, the ukranian president very much trying to stamp his authority on this crisis. and bear in mind that the lord, amir zalinski at the moment,

is suffering some of the worst popularity ratings since he became president more than 2 years ago. he is a man that promised in his election campaign to return control of crimea. and this area of don bass to the ukraine, something that he has thus far failed to do or caught in the middle of his cap. and i think stand off ukrainian soldiers are stark waiting on the front lines. mohammed jam, jim reports on that. now, in eastern ukraine, the soldiers are prepared to defend against any russian encroachment and find themselves as tense as the political stand off, but to mater mccue, the ultimatum delivered by russia to nato and the u. s. confirms that they are not ready for compromise or dialog despite repeated assurances from russia, they don't want war. this squadron of soldiers keeps careful watch. and each has

a different theory about what form a russian attack would take. fillable nashville thought that linda's model, yoga, or navy, is not strong enough to withstand the heavy attack. so i think the coastline could be easily captured. that's my opinion. everyone thinks about a possible invasion through harko or don boss. that's wrong. if it's necessary to attack those, do it from the see. the setting may seem tranquil, but some worry if this is just the calm before the storm. domain, the games, like we had hopes for a better future, but if necessary, we will fight back. but we really hope there will be no attack. it's a different story in the pro russian village of spar talk where the toll from years of fighting couldn't be clearer, wash in the game. so should i see him? we just, hey, prussia takes us for good because it has to stop at some point. it's been what is it? 8 years of war, a conflict many had hoped would end. but the many now fear is nowhere close to

being over. mom, a jim jones and jesse it. meanwhile, roches, foreign minister says his country does not want war, but it won't allow its interest to be ignored by the west. said oliver always expected to meet as he last counterpart. again, in the coming weeks to try and calm attentions, dosage of by reports now from moscow. russia's naval strength on full display in the black sea. part of regular drills it carries out throughout the year. and in the country, southwest, more troops and military hardware are taking part in live fire exercises. but russia has dismiss u. s. warnings. it is about to invade ukraine. use vehicles, alicia authorities. 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 interest be rudely traveled on and ignored your thoughts. you're a girl is the cheapest food new. 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 one of moscow strongest allies, and a neighbor to the north has reiterated its support for russia and says that the 2 countries are only interested in self defense. that would have 20000000 yet. so will there be a war? not yes, there will be, but only in 2 cases, if direct aggression is committed against bell root lowest. if a hot war is a least against our bellows, and the 2nd possibility of war to happen, and for bella is to take part in it is for our ally, the russian federation is directly attacked. if the same aggression is committed against the territory of the russian federation, russia and bela roost are due to begin 10 days of joint military exercises next month. the biggest ever health, but on the streets of moscow, people say it's russia that's been provoked. here the middle school, i mean, i believe america wants to provoke russia by any means. we live decently now in

russia. i'm 70 years old and i can see we have never lived better than now. they feel threatened by this and are trying to destabilize us. it all smells or publication silly. will ivy in the my half of the people i know are ukrainian. i can't believe there will be war. i can't believe it. it's the conflicts of politicians rather than ordinary people. ukrainians are our relatives of neu with numer sofa, russian over tuck anyone. and it's never going to the only defense. it's the united states who has late in the whole situation because it's profitable for them. president vladimir putin has spoken to his french counterpart emanuel, my crawl about rushes deep unease with nato's eastward expansion. so the diplomatic window is still open to avert what could be a disastrous conflict for all sides. door such avari al jazeera moscow. now the pentagon is saying that rushes deployment is larger in scale and scope than

anything since the cold war, but still insist that diplomacy is a possibility. conflict is not inevitable. there is still time and space for diplomacy. given the type of forces that are arrayed, the ground maneuver forces, the artillery, the ballistic missiles, the air forces, all of it packaged together. if that was on least on ukraine, it would be significant, very significant. and it would result in a significant amount of casualties. and you can imagine what that might look like in dense urban areas, along roads and so on and so forth. it would be horrified, it would be terrible. and it's not necessary. and we think a diplomatic outcome is the way to go here alopecia joins us live now from washington. so alan, neither side, willing to to back down, but still insisting that diplomacy could walk. what you're looking for. what

that briefing told is it is that the united states and the euclidean president, and on the same page with this, no, president leslie spoke to joe biden, late on thursday. they had a conversation which according to some people, and keith did not go well. and then we had present zalesky speaking to the foreign media in keith today saying look at this isn't any different things we've seen in the past, and there is a difficulty. sure. but what is not inevitable yet? here we have not really who is the chief of staff of the us armed forces? seeing in the pentagon briefing that this time it feels different. yeah, they've seen the scope of russian troops gathering on the ukraine border before. but he said with the material they've got with the air force, they've got with the weapons, they've got that this time. it feels different now through back to just over a week ago. and you joe biden, seeing that he expected some sort of invasion and it could actually happened at

some point in february. we're no just a week away from february. so the u. s. is continuing to bang the drum of yes, there can be a diplomatic response to this. even going as far as saying there's the possibility of a summit between joe biden and vladimir putin. that still very much on the table. but they're also very clear in warning the russians look, we will respond if need to asks to have our forces there. they're not going to go into ukraine. they're not going to be in offensive capacity, but they're ready to move it. those in 500 troops to neighboring countries as well . and they're saying that there will also be an economic diplomatic response which could go as far as possibly even sanctioning vladimir putin. it's clear that the americans are talking don't the prospect of wanting a war, but from what mike milly said, just in the last hour or so, it's clear that they're not ruling that out as a distinct possibility. thank you very much. from washington and fisher.

ah. picking a faso has been suspended by the west african block eco asoft, and monday's coo but it stopped shorts of new sanctions, at least until representatives whole talks with the new military gent, her on saturday to take her has been condemned by regional leaders who feared further destabilization in the country and a speech on thursday in toledo, paul already damn. uber said del, only be a return to constitutional order and the conditions are right. hello, hello dude is the local deal. i liked his speech about the fight against armed groups. we hope that he succeeds in stopping violence, and that every one can return to their villages. because when we see widows and orphans on the street begging it is so sad. given the new leaders words, that's all we want for people to go back to their homes. yeah,

with the fact that he spoke about returning, displaced people to their homes, to please me. if we manage to do that and people have no problem feeding themselves than we can thank god. and if there is no discrimination, we will be delighted. nicholas hock has more now from walker duka. well in principle it excludes ricky and also from the union and they're treated as outcasts . but it leaves the validation perhaps in the future for future sanctions. but in, in matter of fact, it has very little effect. i mean there's been 3 who's in the region. there's been sanctioned, put in place in guinea and in molly and that has done very little to change things, but there were strong words in that meeting, chaired by gone as president, no, not approval. he said this was a set back for democracy in the region, and then there were words from new harris foreign minister. i've heard, he says, we do not understand that military leaders. after having failed in the field of war,

take political power and call on mercenaries to defend the integrity of their territory. now he's referring to, to russian fighters from the wagner group that are active in neighboring molly and the central african republic. they said on thursday that they would be happy to help. and also if they were called upon now the heads of the military and the region will be meeting with the new strong man of the country, 10 colonel. but all he sent me back on saturday to try to apply pressure on him with al jazeera life from london. still ahead on the program, the united nation says almost 40 percent of to grinds is suffering an extreme lack of food off the 15 months of conflicts. and we look at why london least has moved to limit references to lockdown gathering and downing street and the wire port on the policy k scandal. the way ah

hello there. we've got some rather severe winter, whether that's going to affect parts of europe this weekend. in particular, northern areas you can see the area of low pressure that's moved away from iceland pulled across in a wage and see, and that's going to bring a winter storm to scandinavia. if we take a closer look at that, we are going to see those conditions affect northern parts of island and britain with severe gales expected in scotland, snow on the highlands and rain. but for the south of this is looking a lot more settled. we will cease warms, come back into london on saturday, but as i said, it's going to be scandinavia that bears the brunt of at winter storm. we see. heavy snow is what is blizzard like. conditions that when to wave is going to sweep across the baltic states by the time we get into sunday with poland, seeing some heavy snow as well. but it's really going to be finland that sees the heaviest falls, and it's going to knock the temperature right down in helsinki. we have

a look by the time we get to monday, it is going to be rather bitterly cold. but now to the south of this, we are still things more wet and windy weather sweep across the a dramatic towards greece and turkey. so snow here and quite a bit of rain, but to the west of that, it is looking a lot finer and dryer with lots of sunshine for spain and portugal. ah, americans are increasingly say authoritarianism might not be so bad. there were several steps along the way where the chain of command, if you'd like, tried to cover what your take on why they've gotten the so raw. that means political mouth, the bottom line on us politics and policies, and the impact on the world on al jazeera, a diverse range of stories from across the gland. from the perspective of on network journalists on al jazeera

lou. ah, walk back the main stories now ukraine's president is urge the west not to stop panic over russian invasion. despite his build up of troops, it comes as the us defense secretary says any incursion would only unite nato against russia. meanwhile, russia's president to saying that he does not want a situation to escalate any further, but was im impressions accused. the u. s. a. nato of ignoring is concerned about the alliances eastwood expansion and became a faso has been suspended by the west african block eco ice. after monday's coo but it stopped short of new sanctions, at least until talks with the new military gen to take place on saturday. now aid

groups are saying that nearly 40 percent of people in ethiopia, tape by region are suffering and extreme lack of food. the u. s. wild food program surveyed almost a 1000 families in the region and found 3 quarters a using extreme coping strategies like cutting number of meals they eat. it says no aid convoys been able to reach to grice since the middle of december fighting began . 15 months ago, between the ethiopian military and to grind forces conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions across northern ethiopia. crisis affected families in northern ethiopia were getting less than 30 percent of their caloric needs in the past months. pushing people deeper into crisis is expected that the, that constant humanitarian food assistance will be required at least throughout 2022. a number of people killed by a storm that struck 3 southern african countries. this week has risen to at least

88 storm animate landfill and madagascar, and then move through mozambique and malawi, bringing to ranch al rainfall. emergency teams are racing now to repair damage infrastructure and help thousands of displaced people as another storm heads towards the continents east coast. daphne dec reports days of heavy rains of drowned out these villages. the power of mother nature more clear from the air on the ground. tens of thousands of people here in malawi, have been affected. many now homeless that i cannot neither am i wait a moment, we've half lost previously, but they've never reached here. yes, monta river could overflow, but the people living near it were the only once effected but not asked, living in hilly places. it is only this year that waters have displaced us. oh, some aid is getting through, but the flood waters mean it's still hard to reach remote areas. this flood, sa, unprecedented. that's what we're hearing from those that i've been in to wire for

all. ah, no money, flat areas where the no money take place. but this time with anna, oh, most professor, this to the district has, has been here. heavy rains of had southern africa for around a week. now. it's not just malawi, mozambique has been hit hard to caught on camera by one of the rescue workers. this man had climbed up a tree to escape the fast rising waters and did madagascar flooding his course, electricity cuts across wide areas. thousands displaced here too. and on business. so it's only a house is flooded with water. it was flooded twice. we were already flat the other time, but we stayed there. but this time we had to leave because all the mattresses awake and our baby got sick authorities and our rushing to repair broken infrastructure

and help the 10s of thousands of displaced across these 3 countries. with while weather reports predict, there could be more heavy rains to come. stephanie decker al jazeera, the you and his urge. you need to national community to increase pressure on me, and was military genta over the campaign of violence against its other people. it says citizens of described a regime of torture, attacks arbitrary arrest, sham trials, and intimidation. there are also reports of clearance, operations, which target villages and the use of heavy weaponry and populated areas. at least one and a half 1000 people are known to have been killed in the past year. though, the u. anything that the actual number is likely to be much higher than that. china is saying un, human rights chief is to is welcome to visit change young province, but only after the beijing olympics. next month, write scripts accuse china wide scale abuse of weak muslims in the region,

including masked attention, torture and 4th labor. china denies the allegations and says the un, it's been invited to visit region for a long time, but it's requested that michelle ashley is office does not publish your report on its findings. too long while you were in china welcomes the visit of the united nations high commissioner for human rights to china and should chance we'd already sent an invitation and the 2 sides have agreed to maintain communication on this 20 position has always been clear on the purpose of the visit, it's promote exchanges in cooperation between the 2 sides. one, we oppose any one taking advantage of this for political manipulation in the us. president joe biden is in the city of pittsburgh way is due to deliver speech on efforts by his administration to strengthen infrastructure. the scale of this challenge was made clear just hours before he arrived, when several people sustained injuries after a snow covered bridge in this city collapse. president says all their agents,

bridges, and highways across the country need mastered investment. the cause of the collapse is being investigated. well, i want house course when it kimberly how kit joins is live now. i mean, the timing of his bridge collapse is quite remarkable, isn't it? it really is. and so the u. s. president decided to press on with his visit to the city of pittsburgh in the state of pennsylvania, which is just north of washington dc about a 4 hour drive. and it really underscores the challenges of what the u. s. president has been talking about for even before he came, president became president. and what we should point out really from 2 previous presidents have been talking about for some time. and that is, is that america's infrastructure is falling apart. so he got a chance to tour it 1st hand and well, they're still investigated the cause of this particular collapse. what we believe

is there is some impact with regard to the weather that there was light, snow falling, and just the sheer age of the bridge. but the state of pennsylvania is in fact, one of the 2nd worst in the nation when it comes to bridges that need repair some $3300.00 bridges in that state need to be repaired. and so it really underscores the president's point. he spoken to the governor, he spoken to the mayor of pittsburgh. he's promised the resources. unfortunately, nobody was killed in this particular collapse, but who knows about next time. and so this is the sort of the message that the president is trying to conveys that, oh, this is what he said when he toward the side he says, look, we're going to fix this when we're going to fix all of america's bridges. and i suppose that's important because this is something that we see replicating right across the country, this deteriorating infrastructure that's in desperate need of investment. yeah, and it's not just bridges. so we've talked about this many times here in al jazeera,

the presidents build back better agenda really has 2 components. half of it has already been passed on. capitol hill is this infrastructure, the physical infrastructure. and now he's talking about this in sort of showing people and tangible ways how this money is going to be spent. bridges. thank goodness. but it's also going to be airports. it's going to be internet to rural areas. it's going to be highways. but he still making the case to the american public for this other half. that will be kind of a social agenda that will be a re shaping of this. a social infrastructure that he believes is necessary to do a number of things to lift up the american economy, lift up the workforce, create jobs, and lift people out of this slump due to the pandemic. and so the president's quote to use what many people would consider a bad headline, a crumbling bridge, and pittsburgh that really could detract from the president's message as an opportunity to say, look at, i'm a guy that can fix this, i'm from pennsylvania,

this is the state where the president is from, i'm the one that can fix this and the tie was right for me to make this case. and that i'm the guy that can help this and turn this around so well, this could be a bad news headline to present already on the ground, trying to turn this around for americans. now thank you very much. kimberly elk it wanting to us from washington that french far i presidential hopeful marine la pens campaign has suffered to blow off to, oh, nice said her rival is a better candidate. marianna mar, show, told french media that eric emerge, who's been found guilty of hate speech, has a better strategy. he can't, he lies forth and opinion polls behind the pen and 2nd or 3rd in most polls of right and far right candidate. whoever secures the spot is likely to face present to minute micron in april ballot. as he looks for a 2nd time in office. british police are saying they've received details from

a report into a large lockdown party that the prime minister's official hung but detective se they've not delayed its release to the public and only asked for some details to be withheld while they investigate and as near balkan our ports from london, the police themselves could have questions to own so rarely have events at number 10 face this much scrutiny. the countries watching, waiting, speculating on the consequences of alleged rule breaking by those in power. yes and piece have been clamoring for a full publication of the internal inquiry into potential breaches of the rulings compile by senior civil servants to tray that this government can be trusted to deliver the results of which if harmful enough could lead to the collapse of post thompson's leadership, but with anticipation at its peak now london's metropolitan police who stepped him to carry out their own criminal investigation of put the brakes on calling for the report to make minimal reference to the events they are examining to avoid

prejudicing the case. the demand means the much awaited su gray report will be limited, excluding details of the most serious breaches, including possible errors by the police guarding downing street. i think that police have got something to answer for here. this leading lawyer who previously defended wikileaks founded julian a sound. she believes the met police isn't capable of a fair investigation. i think that real question marks around the credibility of the met please investigating their own offices. he didn't prevent crimes and did not report crimes. and i think they have a duty now to bring in an independent place bowls out to look and review what it was that the mat didn't do. so what did happen at number 10? during the pandemic. it's believed that 17 gatherings ranging from cheese and wine events to posey leaving deuce happened between may 2020 and april 2021 across white

hole with 2 gray looking into many of them. meanwhile, london's metropolitan police have launched a separate criminal investigation into 8 of the most serious breaches of cove had lockdown rolls. behind the door of the country's most famous address, boris johnson's planning, his next move. all this means that lie the hands of the newly renovated but not yet working. famous clog, politics in westminster, is at a standstill. forrest thompson, in a perpetual state of high noon. his opponents in a continuous midnight still in the dark about exactly what went on behind the doors of number 10. it also means that any momentum opponents of bars johnson may have gained in recent weeks subsides. giving johnson room to maneuver is unclear when the police will conclude their criminal investigation. the results of that could be serious for johnson, but might be months away. in the meantime, speculation over parties at number 10 continues, but there is of course, want downing street night owl and potential stall witness the,

the su gray nor the police can question the park her out to 0, westminster. and the bite and family as well can to and you, feline addition to the white house 2 year old willow, the cat is making herself comfortable in the halls of the president's hug. her 1st encounter with the biden's was when she jumped on stage while jill bite and was campaigning and pennsylvania during the 2020 presidential elections. ah, so just a quick look at the main stories for you now and ukraine's president is urge the west not to stop panic of the likelihood of a russian invasion, which he said is damaging his country's economy. might huge build up a russian troops near ukraine. vladimir lansky said he does not consider the situation now any more tense than before. earlier russian president vladimir putin said he doesn't.