al jazeera poll and i'm told stories from asia and the pacific analogies here. ah. ready we believe that there will target ukraine's capital o'keefe. a city of 2800000 innocent people. the u. s. president elijah's russia plans to attack he crane next week. but says there's still room for diplomacy. ah, a flare up in fighting and reports of a large gas explosion in east in ukraine, separate to say civilians are being evacuated to russia. ah,

well, i'd have him think of it as it are live from doll. ha! also coming up canadian police continue to close in on protest as blockading the capital arresting 70 people anger in minnesota as the police officer who killed a black man. this sentence to 2 years in prison, shorter than prosecutors had asked for at the mercy of the wind, reco breaking gusts from storm eunice, bring parts of the u. k to a standstill. ah, the u. s. president says he believes russia has decided to invade ukraine in the coming days. joe biden says there's still a diplomatic way. alba claims russia is manufacturing a pretext to attack. and the u. s. is ready to respond. make no mistake. if

russia pursues his plans, it will be responsible for catastrophic and needless or of choice. united states and our allies are prepared to defend every inch of nato territory from any threat to our collective security as well. we also will not send troops in to fight in ukraine, or we will continue to support ukrainian. people is thought up 289-0000 russian soldiers remain near the ukraine border. but after a meeting with bell, russia president, alexander lucas shanker rushes that he may, putin said, his forces will now also begin at nuclear drills. he would dish. no, could he go? what of condition? at today's talks, we also discussed strengthening our joint defense space of russia. and belarus, we agreed again to take collect of mrs. the strength and security of our countries in the face of the growing military activity of nato countries near the borders of our status. we also focused on the joint military exercises which will continue in belarus until the 20th of february. i should say that these exercises

a totally defense of a nature and do not threaten anyone. a must go back separatist, say they're evacuating civilians to russia. there's been a flare up in fighting in east in ukraine, they say in recent days, with reports of a large gas explosion in the hands. cha, stratford is in novel sci lapka and begins our coverage, ah. alarm in the streets of russian back sympathies controlled dimansky. the siren sounded after the leader of the self declared republic announced the mess, evacuation of civilians. why at them they wouldn't have no idea what it is of today . february, the 18th, the one, the mass, centralized evacuation of the population to the russian federation has been organized. we ordered it, women, children, and the elderly are to be evacuated. first of all of our children gathered at evacuation points. lines of cars began heading towards the russian border.

sauces. internet told al jazeera bus drivers were ordered to stay and help the evacuation ukraine and its western bacchus, have a days been saying that russia plans are so called false flag incident, which could give moscow all the separatists. it supports a pretext to attack. russia calls that a lie, but hours later, russian media said this was a car. bombings and exc no casualties were reported. the target was said to be a top security official in the breakaway region. this is said to show a center where men can sign up to join the separatist forces. soon after the announcement by shilling, the leader of the other russian back self declared republic, a blue guns who followed suit me, me and said, all those who can carry a weapon should be prepared to fight me as that is the one that i call on civilians . who are not mobilized or involved in the maintenance of infrastructure to leave

for russia as soon as possible. the announcement came off the what the ukrainian government and the organization for security and cooperation in europe. the o. s. e say, with some of the worst shilling by the russian bank separatists. in years. the separatists accused the ukrainian army of the same ukraine's military commanders said ukraine had no intention of attacking the separatist held territory. quarter of through the i reiterate that the military and political leadership of ukraine don't plan and not conducting offensive operations in the, the only options the occupation of the people in territory that is acceptable to us is the political and diplomatic one of these villages close to whether ukrainian government is in control was surprised and scared by the news near the or when you specially. we haven't heard the news about the evacuation on the other side. i only heard about the kindergarten being shelled yesterday, and they say that it was a provocation. there has to be an investigation needed with the fearful to the we.

of course we were worried. we have children and grandchildren. so we just want to have otherwise, we will have to leave this area. it must stop. we have lived through this horror for years. mirroring the announcement by the leadership of both the self declared donnette scandal gunk people's republic of a mass evacuation on the separatist control side of the front line has huge implications, but potentially hundreds of thousands of people living in areas like these in the ukraine in government. control territory, despite russia repeatedly saying it has no intention of an invasion or military escalation against ukraine. those words becoming increasingly hard to believe. charles, dr. al jazeera novice, salva ker eastern graham. how from washington d. c. she had returns, he has more president biden's latest warnings about a russian invasion of ukraine. the coldest line we're getting from the administration. we have the intelligence they will actually say things like this.

the rusher is about to have a full swag operation, but they weren't shows the evidence. they'll say that the fact that we're being told this is enough for us to believe them because the u. s. government is it help because the u. s. media does tend to accept anything bite and says, but any adversary as gospel. the problem is though, especially with the analogy made today was he also said that he had another meeting with the trans atlantic. the transatlantic, i lived with canada and various european nations. and that's exactly a week from, from last friday's meeting with the same allies when biden said, apparently, reportedly that russia was going to invade on january the 16th a couple of days ago. and that didn't happen. and even then various european allies not and you credit felt it was said, well, we don't think that's going to happen. but the u. s. keeps pushing this line of imminent invasion. and when you asked them why, why are you doing this given? isn't there a downside to culture the saying this and, and not being an invasion. they always, they are. but this is the point. what we're doing is getting ahead of the narrative

. putin's narrative. he's so good at getting narratives out where and control of the narrative. and i guess then the suggestion is, we're saying that the russians about to invade, then they don't. and the reason they didn't invade is because we out them, we call them out as biden's at today, not realizing perhaps there's no other explanation that we could come to without any evidence from the, by the ministration. that the reason no invasion took place was it was never going to take place. are police in the canadian capital have arrested at least 70 people was towing trucks that were blocking the streets of downtown, or to 100 of officers trying to take back control of some streets. a few have been turned into an encampment for protesters angry about pandemic restrictions. laura burton manley report a concern. confrontations encounters capitol as police are given new powers to charge truckers who have help farm for nearly 3 weeks or

trucks. and protesters have shut down the streets outside parliament in downtown otwell, as well as disrupting businesses and cross border trade with the u. s. reporting by gun inalienable rights, a citizen. so we have, you know, the right ranking with canadian truckers calling themselves the freedom convoy had gathered to make a stand against rule the requite truckers to be vaccinated to cross the u. f. canadian border. they were later joined by other protesters. many from far right groups on thursday, police moved in to arrest the leaders, chris, bob, phil here and to mar lynch. prime minister justin to jo has in vote. the emergencies act, which gives powers to declare the blockade, illegal arrest drivers, freeze bank accounts, and suspend licenses. on monday, as we entered the 3rd week of illegal blockades and occupations,

the federal government invoke to the emergencies act. we did it to protect families and small businesses to protect jobs and the economy. we did it because the situation could not be dealt with under any other law in canada. police of secure to parameter around the protests in the downtown cool. they've had these orders to truckers leave or face challenges. it's just a fake paper. though it says here you might leave the area now. and the warning that anyone block in streets or assisting god there's in the block in the street, are committing agreement of affairs. and you might be arrested, i'm not afraid to be arrested as much time. it's going to take to get everything straightened out back to work normal. mean if they arrest me and i go back to work

eventually, once it's all sorted out, they don't want to come to the table and talk. i stay here and i'm not working anyways. so see where it goes. the movement has captured the world's attention, but the canadian truck is association says it doesn't represent the majority of drivers who have vaccinated and working hard to ensure trade continues. please now want to end this peacefully, but either with threats many truckers remain defiant. lord that molly, i'll just see what's in it. he is president. case said has extended day state of emergency that was due to end on friday. it was 1st imposed in 2015 after an attack state of emergency allows the government to impose curfews and clamped down on journalists. site has used emergency powers to crack down on the opposition since suspending parliament in july. molly's ruling military genta has

told france to withdraw their forces from the country without the late that comes shortly after the french foreign minister said molly's fight against groups linked to al qaeda and i saw is now their own problem. francis joined crusoe. molly, after a 9 year mission, again, a day off of the mullin army has been strengthened, reorganized. the problem now is to know whether it gets its orders from the printer, and if it's laying off the fight against terrorism, it's a malia problem. it is no longer a french problem. a molly malawi has declared a polio outbreak the 1st in africa and more than 5 years. the case was detected in a 3 year old girl in the capital. the long wait is full to have been introduced from park st on. well, while polio is still endemic, the world's health organization has credited high levels of surveillance for picking it up early. the continent had been declared polio free in 2020 i still ahead on i'll just say that will tell you which 6 african countries have been

chosen to establish their own m r n a vaccine production doing the you african union, something ah, ah, look forward to burritos guys. with sponsored by capital airways. the warnings posted in japan mt off for an increasing avalanche risk is not quite as cold as you might like. it's going to snow. you've got to feed of moisture from the western pacific, which is not cold. you still at the cold air coming across from event earlier from eastern siberia, but again it, it tends to be modified. so you got a vast amount rather wet snow falling on a huge amount already on the grounds. more to come saturday and sunday and the avalanche risk. whereas in china, that cold air showing itself at a max in shanghai, in the sunshine of 5 and in hong kong in the rain of night. now i look back in the

records 3 years, it's never been down to 9 degrees in those 3 years, so you can go back further. this is really very cold for hong kong in a strong, normally when the average by night is 15 degrees. and we down below that this is by day a poor 3 days south that heavy rains likely in some past the philippines and some parts of borneo and still around singapore and columbia with a focus. also in sunset march, heading to was jakarta always prone to flooding. most of india is dry, still quiet and misty with poor quality in the northern plain. of course, that won't change except with occasional increase in the wind in new delhi. ah, the weather sponsored by cats are always raped as a weapon of wars. leaves the very deep disgust scar, so rule that the victims men and women can barely talk about it. ah,

the only witnesses he can help to bring about justice al jazeera on his human rights campaign is in libya, investigating rate. since the 2011 remish lydia unspeakable crime on al jazeera. ah ah. again, you're watching as a reminder of our top story. so this out, the u. s. president says he is convinced russia has made the decision to invade ukraine. joe biden said intelligence suggested it could happen in the coming days. separatist leaders in east in ukraine say civilians are being moved to russia from

don yet scanned the cancer they blamed and increasing shelling in the region or the diplomatic efforts to avoid a conflict are continuing at a security summit in germany. the un secretary general warning russia that it will be bridging international law if it invades ukraine, i guess is diplomatic editor james base reports now from munich. the un secretary general has for weeks said he thinks war can be avoided. but his warnings about the situation are getting more dire. oh, with a concentration of rush and forces on the ukraine. i am deeply concerned about heights intentions and increased speculation about a military conflict in europe. i still sing it will not happen. but if it did, it would be catastrophic. sitting with a german foreign minister and a leader bear book, the u. s. secretary of state antony blinking was again asked about the prospect of

war. the differences have to resolve through dialogue through diplomacy. ah, we are deeply concerned that that is not the path of rushes embarked on the map. here. vitale click go. he was in the audience. we're ready to fight. we're ready to defend our families, our faith, our cities, our citizens. we need support a point clearly aimed at germany, which has not been supplying weapons to ukraine position. the foreign minister that said was based on her country's history, our responsibility after the 2nd world war was that never again from germany, there will be wall and never again, there will be genocide. the discussion was motivated by the incoming chairman of the munich security conference. christophe, he's getting this is country's former ambassador to the un and was charles from the

merkel foreign policy advisor. back and busted of the big question. is there going to be a war? and i think nobody knows. i don't know if putting himself knows he's plain he's playing this game. see, it's one day saying that now we want to we want to go into negotiations. he says they were, it's never any, never had any intentions. and then you are following right now that when you look at the don bus, you'll see that the number of cease fire violations is skyrocketing on saturday. here in munich, the british prime minister flies in the us, vice president and the ukranian president supposed to speak, and there'll be a meeting of the g 7 foreign ministers. on this growing crisis. james base al jazeera munich, a separately in munich, just spoke to dr. seth berkey, the chief executive of gary, the alliance aimed at expanding vaccine access to poor countries. he thinks

effective pandemic preparedness must be established as a top international priority. first of all, when i was here 2 years ago, at the last in person conference, we discussed how to set up a way to get back seems to the world. and that is well underway. but i think what we have to keep in mind is that like defense, we have to think of pandemic preparedness as a requirement for all countries. in some ways, we are lucky that this disease had a relatively low mortality rate. we don't know what the next one we'll bring, and of course, to evolutionarily certain that there will be new pandemic se. so what we need to do is have 2 tracks. one finish this pandemic, and that's going to require more money. we have a call out now for an additional $5200000000.00 and finance. getting the axioms out to the places that needed the most. but at the same time being prepared for the future. and that means next time, another topic jumps on the top of the agenda,

is making sure we continue to work on pandemic preparedness in the background. because what we've seen is that this can devastate the entire world, and nobody is safe unless everyone is safe. the 2021 was a very difficult year for us. there were many barriers in the way. there was actually nationalism. there was the ability to raise money. there were export bands . but despite all. busy of that, we were able to get well over a 1000000000 doses into lower income countries. so today, lower income countries have coverage rate of around 33 percent fully vaccinated. 45 percent single dose, but that's well below the global number of over 60 percent. having receive some doses and in high income countries, the numbers even being significantly higher than that. so we need to continue to work, particularly in the lowest income countries where coverage remains very low. or 6

african countries have been chosen to establish their own m r n. a vaccine production. the world health organization says the move aims to ensure africa can make its own vaccines to fight with 19 and other diseases in the future need blocker has more from brussels, anger over vaccine inequality between europe and africa. cast a long shadow over this landmark summit from the offset less than 12 percent of africans are double vaccinated compared to 71 percent of europeans. but it is hoped, in a new agreement announced on friday to ship technology needed to produce ammo and aid jobs in africa will help redress the balance to day. i'm delighted to announce the 1st 6 african countries that would receive technology from the have to produce their own m r n a vaccines, egypt, kenya, nigeria, senegal, south africa, and tunisia. dublin joe will work with the companies and the government in each

country to develop a roadmap for training and production. the announcements being largely welcomed, but simmering in the background. an ongoing dispute between a, you and e, you leaders over vaccine, intellectual property rights. many african leaders believe that if you are a piece serious about eradicating covey. 19, or indeed, getting rid of other serious illnesses than powerful pharmaceutical companies should share their research, allowing african scientists to make vaccines from scratch in africa for africans. that's the goal, said the french president, without making any firm commitment to bhaskar ski. i think that the objective we should pursue, that intellectual property should never be a barrier to the production and dissemination of vaccines wherever they're needed. that is the objective, the subject, african n e u. leaders have described the summit as a fresh start with the president of senegal. mackey sol urging europe to shed colonial era prejudices and to engage with

a new dynamic continent. the use responded with an economic new deal for africa in the form of a 170000000000 dollar array of massive infrastructure plans to compete with china's belt and road initiative. what this means for africa is a new re commitment and a new injection. all european capital one to be able to drive africa to what it transition, but also look at transformation also looking at energy and green and also looking at environment and also things around our records. so it's a big, big package that energy is going to be a. yeah, a big player in the or of this new relationship. i know being fair, 155 countries and a combined population of 1300000 people. the african unions long being accused of

lacking unity of doing deals with foreign powers separately and often in competition with one another. in many ways, the pandemic focus the african unions demands to be treated as equals reframe in the continent as a place where wealthy western countries are ready to heavily invest. the pol couches era brussels. hong kong has postponed to the election of the new leda. as the city back was a said, she encouraged with 19 infections. chief executive carry lam confirmed the vote sent for march. well, now take place in may. she also said that they're planning to roll out. mandatory testing. reclining reports from hong kong make shift triology tense set off outside this hong kong public hospital for the 3rd day. dozens of patients, many of them elderly wrapped in emergency blankets in the cold and windy weather as they wait for space to free up inside. hong kong hospital system is buckling under

its worst wave, yet driven by the highly contagious army cron variant hotels and al freeing up rooms. and a fleet of taxis have been recruited to help coat with. the surge officials are also relaxing some isolation policies to allow some patients to be discharged sooner. yet there are no signs. the government is willing to abandon its dynamic 0 cove, its strategy, and beijing has made it clear hong kong should follow its no tolerance approach to the virus. on thursday, chief executive carry lamb said the government is considering testing all of hong kong, 7500000 residents. once enough, rapid antigen tests arrived from mainland china. lamb was at a border to great medical experts who are in the city to help bring the outbreak under control. yeah, with only along after we have this testing ability, data complete and comprehensive testing across hong kong is one of the measures we

are considering. there are mixed reactions to the proposed plan. oh good. all. i hope the fires can be stamped out if the government wants us to do the mass testing, i will support it. is that the people are mobile if the mass testing is not done all at the same time, people will infect each other and testing will be useless. the death of a 3 year old girl on tuesday appears to have triggered a vaccination rush for young kids. vaccination rates among hong kong, elderly remains sluggish at less than 30 percent, and with temperature is expected to drop in the next few days. the outlook is bleak . the hong kong, most vulnerable people. for most of the pandemic cases here remain low and hong kong watched as other hospital systems around the world struggle to cope. now cove 19 infections here are exploding. and as prostration, the government wasn't more prepared. brick clearness, al jazeera, hong kong or u. s. judge has sentence the former minnesota police officer to 2 years in prison

for killing 20 year old black man. dante wright. the sentence is less than a 3rd of what the prosecution had asked for. the right family says it feels cheated . john henry reports from minneapolis. i am i have been profoundly moved by the latest case of a white police officer killing a black man, ended his controversially. as it began, officer potter made a mistake that he had to tragically kim potter charged with an accidental killing faced a tearful judge who handed down a sentence well below the state guidelines of 6 to 8 years. it is the sentence and judgement of this court that you shall be committed to the custody of the commissioner of corrections for a period of 24 months. and his life was cut short. the family of a 20 year old man potter shot dante wright wanted no leniency. your ticket. feel

sure what he could have been so many bang. april ivan was the worst day of my wife. a police officer who is supposed to serve and protect so much took so much away from us. she took our baby boy with a single gunshot. there with her, shattered mine. my life in my world will never ever be able to save a tearful potter addressed the family directly. i didn't even. ringback have a right to do the same with you or it by her broken rights family says her tears are not enough. i feel she up to a heart. i'm not very upset. they were so tied up into her feelings in what was

going on with her that they forgot about my son being killed. you know, in our community really quick along the sentence, followed in april 2021 traffic stop that ended dante rights life police camera video shows right apparently trying to escape a traffic stop. potter then a suburban minneapolis police officer fires, which she says she thought was a taser. i the weapon she drew was her gun. kim brought her, has agreed to travel. the state of minnesota talking to police departments about the dangers of weapons confusion. so other officers don't experience the tragedy that she did. though disappointed, rights family says they're grateful for at least one rarity. a white police officer was convicted of killing, an unarmed black man. john henderson, al jazeera minneapolis at least 2 people are trapped on a greek ferry,

which caught on fire on its way to italy. because god says 11 others are missing. 290 people on board, the vessel were on board the vessel when the fire broke out off the coast of the island of cor food investigation is underway to find out what started to place a u. s. federal judge has rejected. donald trump's attempt to have the courts dismiss civil law suits filed against him. judge rule, the former president does not have absolute immunity and is accountable for his role in inciting the capitol hill riot on january 6th, last year, champs lawyers are likely to appealed wound. oh, this is edge is here that these are the top stories now the u. s. president says he's convinced russia has made the decision to.