and russian novelist, leo tolstoy and the french addiction surrealists all the way bread and jewels a thinkers and surrealists on al jazeera. ah, the push for diplomacy to avoid any chance of escalation, as russian and ukrainian forces remain on highlands. and we'll also hear from people and ukraine's eastern border, who want to maintain links with russia despite the frosty relations between the names. ah, hello again, i'm him al santa maria here in doug hospice, is the world news from al jazeera financing. it's miss al program with bitcoin. the u. n says north korea's government and stolen tens of millions and digital currency

to pay for recent launches. also, australia puts the welcoming mat out to tourists after nearly 2 years, but it must be double vaccine. ah. troops and tanks on the border. but right now it's about the diplomacy. when it comes to ukraine. i try to avoid what the west fee as, as a possible russian invasion 3 prongs at the moment 1st. ah, the german chancellor, the new german johnson. vague, all of schultz, he is going to washington to meet you as president joe biden, the french president emanuel micron. he is in moscow for one on one discussions with russia's vladimir putin and is also the e u commission president us devante launch has been hosting the polish president, andre duda, poland. of course, one of several european countries where u. s. troop reinforcements have been sent to faults to nato's eastern flank,

as the russian forces remained massing at the border. okay, dosage, barry, keeping an eye on everything from moscow for as i dosa diplomacy, 1st, civil and emanuel micron, one on one with a vladimir person. yes. and it's a very important meeting, according to minneapolis who's speaking to hear, this is the most high ranking official to come to most though, since this crisis began. this of course, was at the request of the russian president, vladimir putin was been speaking to amount micron on the phone. over the past week, 3 times the 2 men have spoken. the french president even cancelled his trip to mar, say, to make the trip to moscow today, and of course, he'll be going to catch up on tuesday. but before departing for moscow, a menu micron spoke to the u. s. president joe biden saying, don't expect any major breakthroughs and that i don't expect russia to may take any

unilateral measures to deescalate the tensions and that russia, security concerns need to be addressed. and that is really his main objective here is to try and, and have a discussion with latter, we're putting to try and clarify the rules of nato, as well as the e u. where there seems to be some disagreements between the russians and the europeans and washington as well about how they understand the rules to be the french president also, of course, is making the trip with his own personal agenda as well. many said because there of course, presidential elections to be held in france in april. so he really is making a very much a push to be seen as the mediator and all of this crisis to try and do all he can to de escalate tensions. we've also been hearing from the kremlin spokesperson dmitri pascal, who shared a macaroni vision of this meeting coming up saying, we don't expect any breakthroughs on the russian side. either the flip side of all this door, sir,

is the large number of us forces or cape arriving in poland. it's the cremeans reaction to all of that while they have his spaces specifically responded to that today. but in general, the feeling here is that you cannot simultaneously prepare and prevent war and that their kremlin spokesperson also today said that the actions are there. the tone that's coming from washington is only making the situation more tense. there is no indication that washington is really interested in di, escalating the situation. and of course, the troops that are now in fallen the american troops nearly $1700.00 of them that have arrived recently are an indication of that intention. there is, according to nato secretary general, nearly $30000.00 russian troops now in bella roost at bic. that's because, according to the 2 countries, they will hold military drills as a february 10th. and he's one of the biggest military troll drills that the russian

army is taking. pardon? that is a cause also for concern because of course, poland borders bella bruce and we can have a situation where you have u. s. troops on one side of the border. and on the other bell, russian and russian troops carrying up military drills, we've already seen them practicing. we saw the russian defense minister as well as the bell. russian defense minister overseen the preparations for those drills last week. and there is a huge military presence there. and also important to note that the bell russian president, alexandra shinkel, announced last week that the russia will hold 20 military drills in belarus, this coming year alone. so there is a sense that these russian troops that are now in, beller, was, could be there for the foreseeable future. de also jabari with that update from moscow. thank you joe. so, let's build on what else was talking about there. the russian troops in the military equipment on that bella russian border. the 2 countries will be holding more that have already held some joint military exercises. so odd abdul hamid went

to find out how that is affecting the lives of people along ukraine's northern border. at denovia elevate, she border crossing it's business as usual, about a 1000 people transit through here every day. going to and coming from bella bruce on the other side. russian. bella russo holding joint military exercises, but no sign of that here. still the border guards say they are on high alert and prepared. but how? the level of to view the food you keep will do kill brooklyn here to mom. it depends on the forces which will oppose us and on the situation we will face. the only thing i can say, i said there are units ready to react in case of any threat coming from the neighboring country. there's little to show in terms of military build up on the ukrainian side of the crossing. this ditch was dug a while ago. it's now being reinforced with coils of razor wire. this road is more

than 2000 kilometers long. it starts in odessa on. the black sea goes to cave towards the north of the country, crosses bella ruse, and ends up in saint petersburg in russia. so should russia decide to send its troops across the border into ukraine from bella? ruth, this would be a perfect way in from here, it's an easy for, i was drive south to the capital. but at the moment it's ukrainian troops who are under move north you chris, northern border is more than a 1000 kilometer. long rewards are here. but nicolai shanker remembers when there were no demarcations with russia, billers and ukraine were all part of the soviet union. he says his life was better them. graham and his wife nadia is suspicious of us and says that no one here will

tell us what they really think people here closely linked to russia. valerie petrovitch tells us people into mary go shopping across the border. that's where he got his boots and he doesn't see their big neighbor as the enemy ringing in utah, tanya, but no, no, no, no, no, nobody will fight everyone here. we'll laugh about it. we don't care. i watch tv, and it's horrible. our troops are mobilizing, mobilize in russians, don't care why let them come. we will welcome them. they won't do anything to us. we are not afraid, because we are a part of russia. but i'm sure me nearby you. ah, if they were to invade russians could also come through this and keep crossing. it sits at the junction of ukraine, bella roost to the west, and russia to the east. the 3 sisters monument, a symbol of brighter days, between the 3 countries and natalie and his wife are found

a way to visit their daughter and grandchildren in moscow. they don't go as often because of the uncertainty of a looming war. but he, like most people living near the border, don't agree. oh, see why relations between kevin moscow have reached such a low point. what does that mean? edges era along ukraine's northern border? on to other news in a un reports as north korea has stolen tens of millions of dollars of crypto currency to help finance it's nuclear and ballistic missile program. it's a program install more than $50000000.00 through cyber attacks between 2020 and last year. and a separate study indicates as much as $400000000.00 may have been stolen. most korea conducted 9 ballistic missile test last month or more from public bride. and so this does follow a pattern. we do know that north korea has been accused now for years of being involved in all sorts of nefarious international criminal activity as

a way of getting much needed foreign reserves to basically let it survive. it has been involved, for example, has been accused of being involved in international narcotics in illegal on sales. but it does seem to have found a lucrative avenue in cyber crime with another report in 2019, for example, from the un suggesting that north korea had managed to accrue $2000000000.00 worth of digital assets in recent times. with the current economic, dire straits that your career is in, it seems as though it's not going to desist from the cyber crime because of course, it faces international sanctions. the impact of 2 years of basically being cut off from the outside world. by the pandemic, it is very difficult to di, economic straits or talk of food shortages in north korea. and as we get into 2022, still the same question of how to deal with north korea. especially given this

flurry of missile launches on the nissan respect to add caesar, who is a staff writer for the new yorker. he's conducted extensive research on north korea's hacking activities and told us the crypto currency market is an easy target for digital thieves. it is something to worry about. i do think that some increased transparency on behalf of you know, the crypt currency ecosystem would help you know, through their exchanges. printer, current exchanges where people buy and sell or have been, they've been hacked no more than once. there was one south korea, they've been hacked 4 times, you know, the coin stolen from a hot wallet. so that is a tremendous lapse of security and we don't hear about it because there is, there is also, you know, impulse on behalf of exchanges to other sizes you know, slightly more ordered and better regulated sector might lead them some more transparency. fantastic work done by no, by nation states,

but also by some private sector actors on tracing the assets of crypto assets that have been stolen back to the point of which i cashed out into the currency. and you could just see how sophisticated some of these, you know, money don't bring chains on our. so it's really going to take a huge amount of effort on behalf of the private sector and, and nation states. they're policing bodies to get a handle on what's happening there. hundreds of mortars in morocco have attended the funeral of the boy at the center of a rescue operation watched all over the world. 5 year old ron fell into a well last week. he was trapped for 4 days, while rescue teams worked around the clock to try to save him. sadly, his body was recovered on saturday. of these 10 people been injured by sudanese security forces who 5 tear gas to disperse demonstrators who were marching towards

the presidential palace in to thousands of states. weekly rallied to denounced the military rule since the crew. in october, all over the $79.00 people been killed by security forces since then per democracy groups of refuse to negotiate with the army until there is a civilian lead administration. and iraq's parliament failed to elect new president after several factions boycotted. the balance followed the decision by the supreme court to suspend the candidacy of the former foreign minister. she's a battery because of corruption allegations. parliamentary groups negotiated to try to break the deadlock. m p. 's are also yet to choose a new prime minister for month after general elections. well checked the well weather. see you next and then a major test for hong kong, 0 covered strategies. territory faces a record number of infection. and the tennis star missing for weeks after accusing a chinese efficient of sexual assault. now says she was misunderstood. ah,

you're locked into your weather update for asia. hello everyone, great to see you for the northwest of india. temperatures are coming up so that should help improve the air quality. next we're go into southern sections of the bay of bengal. we've got a cluster of cells here. it's just going to swipe the eastern portion of sri lanka on tuesday. next, stop se, asia. we've had thunder. downpours for west java jakarta, scooping up more than 60 millimeters of rain, solid bands of rain over call them poor and singapore. now for indo china, plenty of sun for now. this is a forecast on tuesday, bangkok at 34, but we're gonna shake up that weather pattern next, 3 days, thundering, downpours, high humidity here feeling about 37 and breezy conditions on thursday after central areas of china, mostly cloud cover here. but we've got some snow locked in between the gang, see,

and the pearl river valley likely showers for a boyland with a high of 6 degrees. but talking about that snow, a new record set for support over 60 said heater is picked up within 24 hours. so trains were canceled on monday, we'll see if we can get them go in on tuesday and still more snow showers on tuesday. so paro has a high minus one except sun in cloud, though for tokyo. 11 degrees will be the high for you. that's it. that's all will soon take care. ah, to algebra, i wild alarm until we listen. the zionists are making serious efforts in order to attain t. i'm disrupt attendant because we meet with global use maintenance at about to still be stuck on how to see

bold, and i'm told stories from asia and the pacific on al jazeera. ah ah, what else to say with these all the top stories, this flurry of diplomatic activity to ease the crisis on ukraine's border with russia. the german chance all of schultz is meeting. he was president joe biden in washington. the french president is to you in moscow. you in report says north korea used cyber attacks to finance. it's nuclear and ballistic missile program. says pyongyang stole at least $50000000.00 of printer currency in the house to get the hundreds of motors in morocco of attend to the funeral of the void. the center of a rescue operation watched around the world. 5 year old ryan fell into

a well last week, but died before emergency crews could reach the chinese tennis stop punch. why has denied accusing a former government official of sexual assault. her allegation on social media in november was taken down half an hour after it was posted. she now says her statement was misunderstood. hung disappeared in public view for nearly 3 weeks after making the claim. on monday, she met the head of international olympic committee. katrina hughes in beijing for us and says the story is still heavily censored in china despite punctuates denials that she made that she made those allegations. the iris is as punctual. i had dinner with the head of the organisation on saturday and that she was invited to the headquarters in switzerland and after that attended a number of winter olympics events. now, when pressed about the situation on monday morning at a press conference, the iris he said it was simply not their position as a sporting organization to pass judgment or to push for any government

investigation. let's hear more of what they had to say. i think we need also to listen to her and we need to read what she's saying. as we've also discussed, we've been in contact with them. we remain in contact with her metro in person. we've invited to come to europe and we will meet again. and i think, i think we can say that we are doing everything we can to make sure that the situation is as it should be the tennis star and through time a lengthy and punctual eye. on november, the 2nd last year, posted on way will about her relationship with a former chinese vice premier jungle. the accusing him of sexual misconduct. now that puss was quickly taken down and she was not seen for 2 to 3 weeks. the i o c says that they were in contact with her by phone since november the 21st. now this all comes after the publication of a article by the french newspaper, the keep web pung denied, accusing jungle lee of any misconduct. and she also said that she would be willing,

at the concern around her well being important to note that during that interview, she was accompanied by the chief of staff of the chinese olympic committee. one con, so far as the international community have not said whether this will death in any concerns about her well being. certainly the women's tennis association seems to be left out of the loop. they had suspended any tournaments in china going forward, and china's foreign ministry will not be drawn into any questions about his situation. simply saying that sports and politics should not mix. and any reporting about a case with in china remains heavily censored. hong kong strict 0 cove strategy is facing its biggest challenge is the territory deals with record infections. it's followed china's approach of trying to eliminate outbreaks as soon as they emerge. but as brit clinic reports, the amik on variant has only driven up cases thousands of hong kong residents

queuing up at testing centers across the city. on the day the territory records its highest number code 19 cases. since the pandemic began a record 614 infections were reported on monday, nearly double the number announced the day before many of the cases are untraceable . 30 is called the sharp search, an unprecedented challenge and urged people to stay at home. the people in hong kong who lived for months without any local transmission last year. this is uncharted territory. really worries not only for myself, but mostly for my family and the other people are only basically, yeah, it's been crazy once the years started, you know, and no one expected this go home or you for the government should be more scientific. i'll have a strategy and roadmap to let the public understand the purpose of the epic measures. the government does not have any roadmap of strategy. now. the only random plants, hong kong authorities have given no sign they're willing to via,

from the 0 coded 19 strategy adopted by mainland china. especially when the vaccination rates among hong kong elderly remained sluggish. pandemic controls is still in place including flight bands and quarantine facilities for those who test positive. hong kong is bracing for social distancing restrictions could be extended even further and officials war that cases he could rise in the coming days. as the effects of last week's luna, new year gatherings take hold. request al jazeera hong kong, japan's prime minister figure to shoot us as he wants to double the covert. 19 booster shall program to a 1000000 doses a day. by the end of the month, few than 5 percent of the japanese populations received booster shots and nationwide infections driven by alma kron passed a $100000.00 for the 1st time since fist and on saturday. now it's taken on 2 years back from february 21st straight ya. willfully reopen it's borders. the

government closed the country up to the rest of the world to try to control the spread of crow corona virus and to vaccinate. as many people as possible. more in this report from same disrupting throughout the pandemic, the island continent of australia has earned a reputation for imposing some of the harshest and most sweeping restrictions on travel. strict rules have applied to visitors, permanent residence and citizens alike. almost 2 years after closing the countries borders prime minister scott morrison announced a national security committee cabinet decision to reopen australia's doors. the condition is you must be dabble, vaccinated to come to australia. that's the rule. everyone is expected to abide by it. and it's very important that people understand that requirement if this they can come to australia. but if you double vaccinated, we look forward to welcome you back to a strike. he also made reference to serbian 10 star novak chalk of ich deported and unable to participate in the australian open last month because he was not

vaccinated against corona virus. but we just want to stress that you will need to provide that proof of vaccination. your visa is one thing that your entry into a stride, yes requires you also to be double vaccinated. and i think events earlier in the year should have said a very clear message. i think that every around the world that that is the requirement to enter into a strategy border restrictions were 1st relaxed in november to welcome international students and skilled micros. the latest move is expected to rehabilitate the countries beleaguered tourism sector. we need international bodies to open, i think, you know, because australia is a globalized country, you know, you put the border to global as economy you're done is match in a time. it's exciting. so it's like at the end of the period of the kingdom, this endings i'm certainly excited when opportunities is what we want. so she needs to leave the country and come back is great. almost all the part of the country is open. the board is like not really, but it so it was really difficult and you know,

so many people went to depression because they had caught a lot of plans. and so now i'm really happy that morrison has made that announcement visitors with valid proof of the medical exemption for the vaccines are able to apply for a travel exemption, but will still have to abide by strict cove in 1900 rules that vary from place to place including a to record teen. if traveling to western australia, the country's largest state was in basra, v o 0. cuba is marking 60 years since the u. s. imposed sanctions on the communist government. the world's longest running economic embargo is mostly affected every day. citizens vote for you and estimates the blockades cost the on and more than a $130000000000.00. a latin america edit atlas union has all the disintegrating buildings of tobac, once magnificent capital, a reflection of a crumbling economy in which was once regarded as the jewels of the caribbean. it's

as though the country had been frozen in time back to 1962 to when the united states declared an economic, financial and diplomatic embargo against its tiny communist neighbour. it was at the height of the cold war, 75 year old rolanda ignacio reese was 15 then just 3 years after the triumph of the cuban revolution. 60 years later he lament that the embargo is still in place of the robber. they should have removed it long time ago. if after all this time the united states has an achieved anything, it's said tend to want to know. it only has our people by the govern domains in place. he's not wrong. the world's longest economic embargo has certainly hurt ordinary cubans. limiting access to medicine, cheap us imports technology credit through a u. s. dollar dominated financial system. washington's purpose has always been to

modify or force out cubans one party communist system. but clearly it's failed miserably. your global ago, that you, on the contrary, in cuba, case embargo has become a fundamental component for the survival, the cuban state. as current government a tougher the sanctions. the easier it is to accuse the united states of violating sovereignty destabilizing country and organizing rebellion. yet that is exactly what happened when economic hardships and restrictions on freedom of expression exploded into unprecedented mass demonstrations last year. thank. referring to 60 years of economic embargo president miguel diaz canal alluded to sanctions against cube as allies, venezuela, and nicaragua at w got galena immortal. this criminal and a moral policy imposed systematically against us is a massive violation of the human rights of the cuban people. and is the same one that is now threatening and attacking other nations of our region with unilateral coerce of measures our sanctions against venezuela and milder once against

nicaragua. daniel ortega have, in fact, encouraged alliances with china, russia and to run, making them less dependent on the u. s. no or no, i don't know of any case in latin america, we're sanctions of produce the desired results. even partially the same might be said for unilateral sanctions in other parts of the world. but while they may not be effective, they remain washington's preferred means of persuasion. you see a newman al jazeera, a former costa rica president has taken an early lead and sundays national election as a maria forget us as 27 percent of the voted for eliminate results, trailed by the conservative candidate, fabrizio alvarado. the election is expected to go to a run off in april. costa rica is one of latin america's most stable democracies. but high unemployment and corruption, of course, widespread discontent. police and mexico victim migrants from a makeshift camp in the border city at you wanna. offices forced to round 400

people to leave the camp using heavy machinery to destroy temps. the migrants from central america had been living in a county emilia here waiting to cross the border into the funny to columbia while hundreds of wildfires burning in the amazon drought heat. austin attacked by armed groups. they're all thought to be behind the fires. and now the capital has been put on an air pollution alerts priyanka group to reports, toxic s shoak in columbia, capital dakota, a thick cloud of smoke gloom silver. it's 8000000 people carried by troy, winds hundreds of kilometer away from fires, burning in the amazon that i had. okay, was the ceo, cornerstone, secretary as a law we have decided together with our secretary of health to decree, a yellow alert for the prevention and care of severe respiratory disease in bogota throughout the public and private hospital system. the air quality is so bad. the

government says it's best to stay most the endorse, but for those who can't, it's come at a cost lynette somebody's up or like what i mean, i feel may barely get the yellow alert for pollution haunts me because i work on the street every day and it's harming my lungs more than it should because it has increased more. in columbia's amazon record temperatures and deforestation gleamed on formal fact, rebels are creating a combust if makes. here the defense minister gets a 1st time look at the nation's largest national park, a unesco world heritage site under threat. and he lives on this awful to an army big city because the national park was burnt by criminal hands that seek through this practice of the forest to appropriate the landing. and the responsibility for the support practice lies with the fog dissidence. yes, the ever since the fark rebels disarmed and gave up control of the territories,

they once held destruction of the amazon has been on the rise. groups of rebels who rejected the 2016 p steel. the government are accused of starting fires to creased cattle or grow coca to make cocaine. its effects are now being felt in cities across columbia. plank up there. i'll to, sir. ah, up on the hour and these are the top stories, another diplomatic pushes under way to ease the crisis on ukraine's border with russia. the german chance all of sholtes is meeting you as president joe biden in washington. and the french president is in moscow for talks with president vladimir putin dasa jabari has more now from moscow. before departing for moscow, a menu micron spoke to the u. s. president joe biden saying, don't expect any major breakthroughs and that i don't expect russia.