harrison where the light shines. witness on al jazeera, bold, and i'm told stories from asia and the pacific on al jazeera, ah, ukraine's president urges wild leaders to tone down the rhetoric on russia saying is causing panic and destabilizing the economy. a. hello, i'm marianna, my v in london. you're watching al jazeera also coming up on the program. the key foster is suspended by west africa's main regional blocks. following the military could this week been dumped the stuff on a cron and it appears to be even more transmissible. but should we be worried about

this new strain of coal and bridge collapses in pittsburgh hours before a visit by the us present to highlight into efforts to strengthen the country's infrastructure. ah, ukraine's president has urged west not to panic over the likelihood of a russian invasion, which he said is damaging his country's economy. despite the huge build up of russian troops near ukraine, volume is a landscape said 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 truth 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 and early 2021. there was no such coverage of ukraine at that time. earlier, russian president vladimir putin told his friend counterpart, he doesn't want that situation to escalate, but he also accused the united states and nato, of ignoring moscow's main security concerns like the alliances expansion. meanwhile, nato secretary general young, stolen bug, was the russian aggression, could take many different forms, such as a cyber attack, attempted coup or sabotage. we have actually decided that that's not an attack in cyberspace configured article 5. and therefore, we are ready to respond. but that can be in cyberspace, but it can also be in an older domain algebra child drops and begins al coverage.

now from dawn, boston east and ukraine, which is controlled by pro russia that protests 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 does 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, obviously a time where he was not president. but 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 val autumn is 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 the diplomatic stand of art. the people living on the front lines under abdul hamid reports on that now from east in ukraine. it's in the villages of eastern ukraine that the impact of the conflict is felt the most victoria is worried about the long term effect it could have on her children. well, house is just under line of contact. hearing gunshots and loud banks has become part of daily life, a difficult situation for a parent,

especially when she says this little sign of any help coming new those up. so no hassle done furniture all this time. the government hasn't provided anything and won't do anything right now. either any of nobody has told us anything going on. what will happen? and what should we do for most people here shrugged off the idea of an imminent invasion, saying they have been living with the threat for more than 8 years now. a few 100 kilometer south in multiple life goes on. the port city has seen fierce battles between pro russian separatist and de ukrainian army the mural of little molina, who lost all of her family and her left arm in a rocket that, that a reminder of the suffering dis, city has been through a few days ago parliament passed the bill that allows civilians to carry weapons in case of invasion. but sales aren't going up yet. the

new finding here nothing. there is no panic in 20132014. we were selling a lot of automatic firearms right now. but at the moment, there is no such demand, mama and there hasn't been an increased demand for ammunition. people here are resilient and many say they are ready to face any danger. the village is near the front line and now part of the military zone residents are allowed to return here because it's actually fairly safe at the moment. but we've been driving around and we could barely find anyone. this woman is one of the few people we came across, switching between russian and ukrainian. she tells us life is good. they have water, electricity, and a shop. and she has made her own plans, in case of war, move out of mass. oh, good, don't one. yep. of, of, we built an underground shelter in our own backyard. we'll go there. we don't want

to. this is all hedged, didn't a stu visit involved demo zalinski called on people to remain calm and he's blaming. foreign media was spreading panic. ukrainians have learned to rely on themselves carry on with their lives, while kidding, through the fog of information, whether bill hamid elder, 0 in the eastern new crate or rushes for minister saying his country does not want war, but it won't allow its interest to be ignored by the west either said oliver of it is expected to meet his u as counterpart again in the coming weeks to try and calm escalating tensions. dosage of barry has more on this now from moscow rushes 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. your goal is to ship us with 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 the least against our bellows. and the 2nd possibility of war to happen, and for bella, is to take part in it alone 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 bell roosts 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 ukranian. i can't believe there will be war. i can't believe it. it's the conflict of politicians rather than ordinary people. ukrainians are our relatives of neu with numer sofa, russia, no attack 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 possible 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 a very al jazeera moscow. ah, a group. so saying nearly 40 percent of people and if your peers tegra region is suffering and extreme lack of food, the you as well food program, surveyed almost a 1000 families in the region and found 3 quarters the using extreme coping strategies like cutting the number of meals they eat, it says no aid convoys been able to reach take rises and middle of december fighting began 15 months ago between the ethiopian military and took ryan 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 colored needs. in the past months,

pushing people deeper into crisis is expected, but, but constant, humanitarian food assistance will be required at least throughout 2022. but in all the stories are following the wellness and the allied democratic forces militia has killed more than 1300 people in the eastern part of the democratic republic of congo. last year. that's up 50 percent on the previous year. 2000 people have been displaced. this week, by the latest fighting between the congolese army and 23 rebels, people from 6 villages in the east fled the violence and, and now living and made shift shelters on tuesday and 23 fighters, targeted congolese army position where sure, killing more than 20 soldiers on a more than a 120 armed groups, which operate in the east of the country. the keen, if i so has been suspended by the west african block eco ass following monday's coo . but it stopped short of imposing new sanctions, at least until representatives whole talks with the new military gentle on saturday

. nicholas hark reports now from the capital walk a do go on concerns that more on rest could come abdur rahman, not his real name, is getting ready to fight burkina faso is icily affiliate in the countries north. he's not a soldier, but a civilian is returned to the capital to gather weapons and equipment for the hundreds of volunteer fighters. he commands, he says muslims in the north are being butchered. burkina faso, security forces are too scared to deal with a threat, leaving it to volunteers, to fight and die on the front line. we are very frustrated with botkin this uneasily, that armed groups apathy equipped dennis to even attack us with rockets. but the amine never comes up to help us me while the military is busy by taking over the capitol instead of protecting nozzle along the bodies lamp gentle leader. but all he da amoeba is expanding on his strategy devised by the president. he toppled on monday and that's equipping civilians to fight armed groups after 2 weeks of

training provided by the army, villagers are supplied with basic weapons and ammunitions. that's because al qaeda in iso affiliate groups have shifted their focus from attacks on security forces to villagers. and that's forcing millions to flee their homes, leaving large swath of land in the hands of arm groups on the outskirts of the capital neighborhoods. already crushed by poverty or taking those displaced by the fighting. children have no access to schools or medical facility, they receive no help from the government or agencies. both those, this place and there was hosting them share this only well, but to access this water, they have to pay almost a dollar for a couple of these jerrick ins. there's a sense for many here that the state has abandoned them and hope that perhaps their circumstances will change with this new leadership in charge of the country. in his 1st address to the nation gentle leisure beat,

the drum of war appearing more like a commander in chief than head of state promising security and break from the past . he is also called on the support of the international community. but during an emergency meeting of the west african body echoes heads of state suspended, burkina faso as a member state, the region is marked by military takeovers and facing growing insecurity in this a health reciting my guy, member of parliament for the country. so hell, region piece will come down with more weapons, but through dialogue, we know those that are taking us often. it's her sons or family members. there are local people influenced by outsiders. we have to engage into dialogue and alleviating poverty. is a key factor here. for abdur rahman, the people of this a hell have been forgotten left to fight in the shadow of war. they cannot win alone. nicholas hall, gallenger's iraq. walker do filter calmness, half hour, at least $88.00 people at dad and tens of thousands caught off off to tropical

stone. anna hits madagascar, mozambique, and malawi, y london. police want references to downing street locked down gatherings limited in a report on the posse gates candle. ah hello there. we've seen some very wet weather effect in northern parts of australia . and there's more of that to come this we can, you can see those slow moving thunderstorms rolling across the northern territory and northern parts of queensland where we've already seen flash flooding. we could see more of that. it's going to be a very wet, we can for cans. that rain is going to continue into next week. we're also seeing storms pick up across central areas. edging into a string of storms running across the southeast were expecting some rather wild weather for victoria and new south wales. we could see some flooding here,

but there's still a lot of settled weather to be found in the west is looking rather wet and windy up in northern areas of western australia. but the hot and dry conditions continue for perth was seen the temperature pick up to nettie, 40 degrees. honest, a similar story for adelaide. we're going to see the temperature pick up to the early thirties. by the time we get into sunday with more settled conditions from next week. now it's looking largely fine and dry for much of new zealand. high pressures in charge here. so lots of sunshine to be enjoyed if you showers creeping up from the south, but nothing to worry about. it is looking rather sunny up in the north island for sunday. it will get a little bit wet. however, next week that she weather updates. ah, counting the cost of rough knowledge of the year of the bull run is bare sentiment in stock market here to stay. very price is on assets and yet high,

where the cost of coping become even more affordable and nigerian petroleum minister on reforming the nations oil sector, calcium to cough on al jazeera. ah, both of them told stories from asia and the pacific on al jazeera. ah ah ah welcome back. main stories now. ukraine's president is urged the west not to stop panic over russian invasion. despite is build up of troops near the border. us defense secretary says any incursion would only unite nato against russia. aid

groups, the sang only 40 percent of people in ethiopia as tegra, region of suffering from an extreme lack of food. the you as well food program, found 3 quarters of families it surveyed, were using extreme coping strategies like cutting the number of meals they eat. burkina faso has been suspended by the west african block eco, was off to monday's coo, but it stopped short of new sanctions, at least until talks take place with the new military gentle on saturday. now and other stories are following the number of people killed by a storm that struck 3 southern african countries. this week has risen to at least 88 storm. i'm a made landfall and madagascar and then moved through mozambique and malawi, bringing to renshaw, rain, full, emergency teams, erasing to repair, damaged infrastructure, and help thousands of despised people as another storm heads towards the continents east coast. stephanie deco 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 had floss previously, but they've never reached here. yes, ma wants a river could overflow, but the people living near it were the only ones affected, 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 floods ah, unprecedented. that's what we're hearing from those that have been into wire for all. ah, no money. flawed to areas where the no money took place. but this time with anna, almost, professor this to the district. ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, it's heavy rains of hit 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 to tend on fitness thought on lay a house is flooded with water. it was flooded. twice we were already flooded. 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 in our rushing to repair a broken infrastructure and help the 10s of thousands of displaced across these 3 countries. what was good luck with while weather reports predict, there could be more heavy rains to come. stephanie decker al jazeera, the you and his urging the international community to further fresh mammals, military general campaign of violence against its own people. it says citizens of described regime of torture, attacks, arbitrary arrest, sham trials, and intimidation. there are also reports of clearance,

operations targeting 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. but the u. n says the real number is liked to be much higher. time for an urgent, renewed effort to restore human rights and democracy in mamma. and ensure the perpetrators of systemic human rights violations and abuses are held to account as long as impunity prevails. stability in myanmar will be a fiction. accountability of the military remains crucial to any solution going forward. scientists and health experts have express concern of our and you some very into cove at 19 on the chrome be a point to which is being dumped stealth on the chrome has now been detected in 40 countries. cases of some very into rising in the u. k. sweeten india, and the u. s. expert, se studies are ongoing, but the, the new some very does appear to be even more transmissible than the original on

the constrain. well, dr. richard las sells as an infectious diseases specialist that was zulu natal research. and he says that it's not a major cause of concern for the time being. the fundamentals haven't changed. so we have some good preliminary data from the u. k. this week that the protection from the vaccines is very similar against b, a dot one, and b a g dot 2. and so the fundamentals of what we need to do have not changed. there may be some subtle differences and there may be something about this that, that makes it slightly better at, at infecting people and passing from person to person. but ultimately, we know what we need to do to protect people and to protect populations. b, u. s. president is in a city of pittsburgh to sell his pon, suspended, trillion dollars on infrastructure. the scale of the challenge was made clear just

hours before he arrived, when several people sustained injuries after a snow covered bridge in the city collapsed. joe biden says, other agent bridges and highways across the country need massive investment. gabriel elizondo has the story. a snow covered bridge buckles and collapses on friday morning and pittsburgh. several cars and buses were on the bridge at the time when people suffered minor injuries in an ironic twist. just hours later president joe biden comes to see it 1st hand. he's on his way to deliver a speech nearby. remarkably about america's crumbling infrastructure. i've been saying for years, you have to do something about this. i've talked about it every time i've come to pittsburgh, and we finally got it done. a bipartisan infrastructure law, including the largest investment in our nations bridges sense the. it says steve eisenhower put together the interstate highway system. eye witnesses say the bridge

collapse. could have been a lot worse if this had happened. 15 to 20 minutes later, you would have had lessons with school kids on it, buses with workers. so the timing of this in terms of happening, what if it was very fortuitous. the bridge was built nearly a half century ago, like dozens across the city of pittsburgh. the federal government rated it in poor condition back in 2011. and more than 3 years ago, this twitter user highlighted it's corroded steel beams. it's unclear if it had ever been fixed, but it's not just in pittsburgh all over america. infrastructure is in disrepair and that's why last year congress passed and president joe biden signed into law a $1.00 trillion dollar infrastructure plan to rebuild everything, including railroad lines, airports, tunnels, roads, and yes, bridges. by his using the bridge claps to champion the urgency of his hard thought

infrastructure efforts. according to the american society of civil engineers in the u. s, there are 617000 bridges. 42 percent are over 50 years old. and 46000 bridges in the us are structurally deficient on friday. the problems with bridges abundantly clear for everyone to see gabriel sancho al jazeera new york hours. please say they received details from a report into a large lockdown parties of the prime minister's official home. the detective say they haven't delayed its release to the public and only asked for some details to be withheld while they investigate. as the font reports from london, the police themselves could have questions to answer 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

peace have been clamoring for a full publication of the internal inquiry into potential breaches of the rulings compile by senior civil servant suit 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 would see 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 of this means that lie the hands of the newly renovated but not yet working. famous clogged politics in westminster is at

a standstill. forrest johnson 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, one downing street, ny towel, and potential stall witness the the su gray nor the police can question. the fall cow to 0, westminster, australian prime minister scott marson has promised to find a 703000000 dollars to help protect the great barrier from environmental threats. says investment also secure thousands of jobs. append on the reef. sorry, clock has one now from brisbin. $700000000.00 announcement will fund

a range of conservation projects to protect the great barrier reef and comes a year after the world heritage site was almost listed as endangered by the united nations. the funding will go toward improving monitoring systems, water quality programs, and greater protection for coal communities. with more than half of the co population killed over the last decade, due to mass bleaching triggered by climate change. this is an election year and this funding announcement is the government's attempt to convince its critics that it's doing it bit to address climate change. the united nations world heritage committee will reassess the state of the reef again this year and vote on whether it should be added to the endangered list. scientists say the great barrier reef has already suffered mass cohen mortality due to hate stress and severe bleaching. the next 12 months is expected to deliver record high temperatures and critic, so fridays funding announcement doesn't address the key issue of global warming,

and it's more about protecting tourism job and more and everything we're covering, right? yeah, al jazeera dot com is analysis of it takes you behind the headlines and also blogs my correspondence on the ground. and of course, you can watch us on live streaming as well. ah, so just a quick recap of the headlines this our noun, ukraine's present as urge the west not to panic over the likelihood of a russian invasion, which he said is damaging his country's economy. despite the huge build up of russian troops. now ukraine coordinators landscape that he does not consider the situation now any more tense than before. earlier russia president jim christian said he does not want the situation to escalate, claiming the u. s. and nato for concerns.