that's worth the court ruling does leave room for exceptions in the name of overriding national interests. ah, holding the powerful to account. as we examined the u. s. his role in the world on al jazeera, ah, russian president vladimir putin threatens to cut off gas supplies to western nations if they don't start paying and roubles. and the u. s. president says he'll release millions of barrels of oil from reserves to try and lower soaring crisis. ah, you're wanting to 0 life in my headquarters in ohio, getting obligated also a heads. kenya's top court blocks presidential her or canal has been to change the constitution ahead of key elections in august. storms and tornadoes work through

the u. s. date of alabama, causing widespread damage. hello, we begin with the economic fallout from the war in ukraine. russian president vladimir putin as issued an ultimatum to the so called unfriendly states. he wants payment for russian gas and rubles as of friday, or have their contracts canceled. hooton's as foreign buyers will be required to open accounts with russian banks. the decree could pose a serious issue for europe, which gets around 40 percent, if it's gas from there. germany says they're being blackmailed by the kremlin. meanwhile, the u. s. is set to release millions of barrels of oil from reserves to try and lower it soaring crude prices to study bentley. i find an order that establishes the rule of trade with natural gas with the so called hostile states. we are

offering a clear system that they have to open accounts and roubles, and payments have to be me through these accounts from the 1st of april. if they don't, we will consider it a non fulfillment of contract. nobody sells us anything for free and we will not do charity should their existing contracts will be suspended when they use them as what and so. so lots to get through with our correspondence in the u. s. germany and russia in a moment. we'll get the latest from washington with my cana will also have reaction from europe with dominic came, but for us to hashem, i had better in moscow to tell us what is behind this move by president putin hash him during this is a president of the dina putting warning, the west against the repercussions of what he has been describing as an economic war, waged by the west, the americans and the e. u on russia with the aim of further isolating and side lining a russia this, this was, this is according to president vladimir putting and his saying now you have to

brace for repercussions that could take some time. now his basically been saying that the, the with been supplying the at the, the west with the natural gas. and then they took the gas from us, the impose sanctions on us. and they froze. those that many wish was supposed to be channeled back into our own budget and a couch. and this explains why he has instructed. he had instructed the center back to work out the mechanism where they would have to start the new policy with with the unfriendly countries. alyssa includes the u. s. europe, and many other countries would. now they would have to open an account in russian banks, and they would have to pay in rubble. the local currency for all there are the purchases of the russian natural gas. well, put in does understand the problem the e of faces in particular because a week when he,

when he announced that he was going to put that into place, we saw the energy spike to something like 3 or 30 percent in europe. and he does understand that this is something that he can use to put more pressure on the e o. we don't know at this particular stage whether this is just a tactical move by president latino putting to tell the european if you don't stop providing weapons and imposing those, sent to the ukrainians and imposing sanctions of the russians. this is why you have to deal with, or this is something that will really continue for quite some time by this. his achieving another crucial goal, which is building confidence in the local currency, the robot which has been gaining or over the last few days eg compared to the, the, to the dollar. a plunged at the beginning of the military campaign in the ukraine. the so called a special operation in the ukraine, and now it is, he has been gaining over the last few days. thank you so much has on hand by reporting from moscow. so there has already been reaction from europe. let's bring in dominic cane. he's joining us from berlin, tell us more. well,

the reaction from both the german government and the french government to say they're not going to be blackmailed in a situation such as this. and they're not prepared to regard previous contracts, the ones which in their opinion still are valid in dollars, euros to be invalidated in the way that they believe me putin is proposing should happen. the point to make here is that from the german perspective, since germany is one of the countries that's most exposed to the russian energy sector, the german government has been preparing for a possible disturbance in the amount of gas supplied by russia. we know that the deputy chancellor and minister responsible in this area, robert harvey could the green party had already put germany in one fence on the alert level in so far as energy supply is concerned that happened earlier this week . the other thing to remember here is that there are 2 sides to the story. remember,

the brush receives a great deal of cash from the western economies. every day is receiving hundreds of millions of dollars by dint of these contracts. so if those contracts in terms of going to be invalidated, then it will have an effect in moscow as it will here in berlin. the other thing to remember is that from the you perspective, we know that the commission has already in the course of the last few weeks, put forward proposals which would drastically reduce the exposure of the e. u to russian energy. the declared plan for you is to pare back the amounts of russian energy being received in the form of gas and oil by 2 thirds in this calendar year. anyway, and that was before this latest develop, this later announcement from vladimir, put the president in the kremlin. so clearly response from both harrison

berlin, which is to say, we will not be blackmail. this and in brussels too, there will be very clearly a reaction when they see what's being proposed from the kremlin. thank you so much dominate for that reporting from berlin. we are also expecting an announcement by president biden over in the u. s. to try and lower the soaring crude prices there my kind of joining us from the white house to tell us what we expect there. well, the white house is confirmed, the reports that have been swirling for the past few hours or about what president biden is going to announce in some 2 hours time. he is going to release a 1000000 barrels of oil a day from the national petroleum strategic fun for up to a period of 6 months. now this amount is actually unprecedented in u. s. history. it could serve not only to relieve the prices at the fuel pumps in the united states, but would also add some one percent to the global supplies of petroleum. so this

will be a massive step, but the other steps he's taking as well in what is an exceedingly bold move on paper. this would include using the defense procurement friend to free up supply chains, which have been an ongoing issue for oil companies in particular. but also, and very significantly and possibly very controversially, he's going to charge fees to companies that are sitting on land lease from the federal government that they are not utilizing for oil production. this is going to become under heavy criticism from republicans in particular, but president biden says there some 12000000 acres of land within the united states for which companies hold leases, but on which they are not producing. charging them fees is going to force them. he hopes to produce to increase their production. he is talking about looking over the next year an increase of some $1000000.00 barrels a day within the united states alone. so it's a multi pronged approach that the president will be taking,

carrying layers in terms of country, increasing the oil supplies, but at the same time as well, increasing oil production domestically within the united states. all right, thank you so much, mike. hannah reporting from the white house now to the situation on the ground in ukraine, and there's hope, a temporary cease fire will give thousands of civilians the chance to leave ukraine's proceed. city of mario pole. so convoy. your buses is on route to remove residence out. a 160000 people have been trapped in the southern port city with little food, water, or shelter. mario poles, mayor earlier warns all residents have to be evacuated to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. the international red cross says it's ready with 8 supplies. meanwhile, fighting continues in other regions over the east. the governor of the new pro says russian rocket strikes have hit a military unit, and the fuel depot, killing 2 people, while ukrainian forces say they've recaptured the charm of trust to the arts. and

they made games around the capital. russian forces have bombarded the city of trinity have and suburbs of keys despite promises to scale down operations in those areas. iran con will give us an update. he's joining us from the capital to tell us what you've been seeing and hearing in and around keith and run well around about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. and that's about 3 hours ago. we had a very loud explosion. no, very far away from where i'm standing right now. probably about 2 or 3 kilometers away. and in the a multiple air raid sirens, we so smoke rising, it was a strike against ah, what is being described as a sensitive target by the ukrainians? we think he may be in touch is building we con, confirm that. busy best needs the 1st time and he says, i've been reporting from a keep that i, that we've seen as some sort of artillery don't know where there is a rocket missile or to artillery shell land in the center of a keep. this has

a lot of people, very concerned obviously. now week as journalist tried to go down to the site, we were stopped. we because it is a sensitive site. that whole area where the rocket landed is where the presidential palace is. it's where a hotel is the us housing, a number of international journalists and the main police station in keep a. so there's a number of very sensitive. ready buildings within that area. ready as well now it's interesting because on tuesday night, the russians announced his withdrawal of their forces from the outskirts of cave. and there she said, we understand that the decision makers are in keith. and we understand that it's a sensitive location with a sensitive location. they've just bombed it, so it's causing a lot of consternation amongst a ukrainians as to what message least a might have been sent using that tactic. so it's very concerning to the,

to the ukrainians, but also the nato secretary general has been speaking. he had some very strong words to say about the russian withdrawal. he said that it doesn't seem to be the withdrawal that the russians promised. in fact, what he thinks is that they're repositioning regrouping and re supplying. and that they may well come back to their positions that they've abandoned it. oh, they may well go to other positions. once they all resupplied, he also said that the russians are keeping up. they are immense pressure on the capitol itself. and that's what we're saying. we're saying not just the attack that happened today, beau, all throughout the day since the announcer withdrawal. several attacks take place on civilian targets and on warehouses. so yes, the russians have withdrawn my troops. but what that withdrawal actually means is now up for a matter of debate, how civilians managed to leave their besieged city if my a pole with the implementation of humanitarian corridors and, and the temporary cease fire. well, we won't know that until much,

much later on in the evening when they add up the numbers of people that managed to get out. what we do know is a number of buses went down to the buddha. that's where they will pick up their people and bring them out also, and humanitarian cardoza's of said, work both ways. you've got to get food aid, you've got to get some supplies empty. good medical supplies into the city. they may of mary. apple has said that if that doesn't happen, it's a humanitarian catastrophe. mary helpful is actually own, almost totally destroyed is very few standing structures that left so it's becoming even more acute as a still a lot of civilians left in that city. they need to get out and they also need to get aid and for the people that will remain behind doing essential services and doing the fighting. thank you so much. m r khan recording from keith saw had on al jazeera, soon as his president is all parliament, 8 months after he suspended his places by years accuses politicians of mounting

acount. the older star ever seen. we have the details of the life that took nearly 13000000000 years to reach earth. ah, he has begun the full world copies on its way to the castle. rutil travel package to the hello there. it's all about the relentless heat across south asia at the moment. now we are used to these pre monsoon conditions, but temperatures are well above average in places like india up in the north and down in southern areas of pakistan. now karachi is going to see the temperature pick up by the time we get to saturday, but there will be some relief coming in by sunday. but for places like new delhi, well, it's only going to get hotter. we've got a severe heat wave here. hot winds on friday and will remain that way through to

sunday, the temperature touching 40 degrees celsius as we go into the new month. further south of this, it's hot and dry temperatures touching 40 degrees even in the south, but a few showers coming in to carol up providing some relief and thunderstorms for sri lanka nowadays looking wet in that northeast corner, we could see some of that rain trickle into bangladesh on friday, but will be nepal. am baton that sees the wet weather over the weekend and as we move to east asia, it starts to dry up for japan as that wet and windy weather pulses away from much t y a for shanghai as well. a lot of the wet weather moving down to the south of china, but a lot of clear conditions up in the north with sunshine in beijing on saturday. official airlines of the journey. amid the ongoing youth, rain rush, a russian attack on that soil. do you take that as a serious possibility of, of russia?

i think there is serious possibility, an absolute certainty would like to do it out in the deputy foreign minister jones . and he talks, challenges, era, mainstream coverage of big stories can sometimes deliver more heat than lights in a water scenario. there's always a push to simplify narratives. the listening pe covering the way the news is cut back on al jazeera. ah ah, hell, help stories on al jazeera, this, our president vladimir, whose it is ordering foreign buyers to pay for gas and russian roubles or have their contracts. it cancels it propose a serious issue for europe, which gets around 40 percent, if it's gas from there. as president,

you're right in has decided to release a 1000000 barrels of oil per day from strategic reserves. it's aimed at decreasing energy prices, which a spike because of sanctions imposed on russia. russian ceasefire to allow civilians out to maria who has come into effect. ukraine's deputy prime minister says a convoy of buses. it's trying to reach people trapped in the port city around 860000 residents in my pull have gone weeks with little food, water, or shelter. bernard smith reports from the russian controlled area and the north, the city there's not much left to fight for in marielle pull. but the sound of shelling is constant. no one flinches. after 4 weeks of this, they used to it. this part of this port city is now russian controlled, and some people are relieved about that. florida might be confused with the russians. they would say started to why would you be happy that the right like dumb

bother much that'll says that they didn't. don bass is russian speaking, ukraine was oppressing us with their language. we launched at 1st no problem, but then there was too much pressure on then in 2013, the as of brigades came and it was chaos. the russians say this city has been destroyed because there are solves a group with neo nazi sympathies, won't surrender. the battalion is integrated into ukraine's national guard with the house at some autonomy. the presence here was one of vladimir putin is justifications for launching what he calls a special military operation. ukraine says russia, which is looking for an excuse to invade. marapoo city council says there are around a 170000 people still in the city. most have been without power or running water or much food for a month. he got an indication of

a scale of the need. there is here for humanitarian aid. this place has been on the russian control now for about a week, this part of our awful. and since then, this has been turned into an a distribution center with food and freshly cooked meals and some medical assistance. but all of these people from here, they go back to what's left of their homes. these people are caught in the middle of one of the most strategically important battles in ukraine. maria post capture would help russia create a corridor to join crimea. we've done yet, can le ganske and narrow ukraine's access to the black sea? that's why neither side is giving up. for foreclosures them so much cruelty and abundant shall flying. why was there a need to destroy home? it's a military crime. no one should do it either. both sides are guilty to bump at night to shoot kill message boards, a used to spread news about who is safe, who's missing? who was died?

mobile phone coverage is erratic, even if there is power. with russian control comes russian administration. the zed is everywhere. the hashtag reads, we don't abandon our own. what began as an identification on military vehicles in don bass has evolved into russia's logo for this war. was, did you lease the money was old? she can come and share the food with her. i shared with every one who lives on my street. there's so many people who are old, which is current company. her son is here to help with if russia takes full control of mary apple, it will be the 1st major ukrainian city to fall. a morale boost to one side, a psychological blow to the other. too much is at stake for there to be any let up in the shelling. bernard smith al jazeera mario paul is really forces have shot

dead 3 palestinians in the occupied west bank. 2 men aged $17.23 were killed during an israeli army. read in the city of jeanine separately, a palestinian man was killed after carrying out a knife attack near bethlehem. violence comes amid height intentions. 11 israelis have been killed in 3 separate attacks inside israel in the past 2 weeks. neither abraham has more from jeannine. that's where a funeral was held for the one of the young palestinian men killed by israel. people are shooting into the air in respect to all the young man last year. he's a 70 and you're according to witnesses. we spoke to here at that. they said that the israeli forces has rated the cab at 7 am in the morning local time when firing shots. now according to the israeli army, they say that they have arrested palestinians for being wanted,

or they believe that some of them are involved in the attack. that's happened to me, but our kid is ready to tell you 2 days ago where a gun man has shot 5 is rain so and killed them. so they're the palestinians. believe that this is come in retaliation of this attack. let's not forget this. as we said before, jeanine has arm. so people usually if you're fi, fi, israeli forces raised with arm to young man alive as 3 others. i would it in person just a turkish prosecutor has asked through the german hash of g murder trial to be transferred to saudi arabia. 26 audis are being tried in their absence. in istanbul, the well known saudi journalist was killed and dismembered into saudi consulate. there in 2018 police and to don have fire, it's your gas,

it's 1st protest or is marching in the capitol hard toom, demonstrators were making their way towards the presidential palace. there have been regular protest and the military's takeover in october, kenya is talk court has ruled a president who can answer the bid to change the constitution is illegal. the move seen as a blow to kenyatta ahead of ki elections in august. welcome web, has more from thy robi. this ruling were widely read widely seen as a move showing relative independent of issuing from those in power. president re kenyata. and these are these allies with seeking to expand the executive branch of government. now his 2nd term ends in august when the next elections are due. he can run again for president. the changes might have enabled him to take a newly created more powerful role such as prime minister and to give powerful roles to several of his allies. but to do this, every rule against it. now this is all seen as widely seed as part of

a kind of ongoing effort among the historical political establishment. and kenya, the kind trying to keep control of the government in the face of new electoral threats. in particular, the deputy president william root who is a relative newcomer to the political scene and he will himself be vying for the position in those poles do in 5 months time. it makes it hard for president who kenyatta to make deals with his allies and give out those powerful positions to the key players that might play into the hands of deputy president william brewed to be who be vying for that top post. on the other hand, can you elections ways mod by allegations of widespread irregularities and rigging, and those things might have a great bearing on the actual outcome of the polls, rather than the confrontational court ruling, tennessee, as president, has dissolved the parliament he suspended last year, accusing politicians if attempting a qu,

they defied crisis hired by voting to repeal measures. they say, would give him nearer total power. sarah. hi, rach reports are really the as the law, another decision likely to divide a nation based on chapter 72 of the constitution. i announced to day at this historical moment the dissolution of the rep multitude council to protect the state much case. i had acted after a 124 of parliaments, 217 members, held an online meeting on wednesday, their 1st since he suspended the legislature 8 months ago. a few hours later, the president responded. nice would a lesson. unfortunately, we are witnessing a coup attempt, but it is a failed one. the national duty requires to day the protection of all the people and the homeland, based on the articles of the constitution. classic who is exactly what opponents has spent months accusing side of staging since last july when he sank the prime

minister for his parliament and granted himself new sweeping powers, he felt threatened and tried to get them arrested. the prosecutor general said, i want to rest um i have no evidence and now he's saying ok parliament finished. but this is, these are the acts of someone who is lashing out at any one. he considers a political opposition. he doesn't want to dialogue with those that don't agree with him. the 64 year old was a constitutional law professor before taking up politics. in december he nancy to points a committee to rewrite the constitution and put it to a referendum in june. meanwhile, the country is experiencing its worst recession since the 1950s. unemployment is high when ukraine has driven up food prices and months of political tension have done little to lessen the internal political wrangling and corruption. that side

claims force him to suspend parliament in the 1st place. ah, but what does seem clear is that the latest stand off is another blow to tennessee is shaky democracy, sar hider, al jazeera, journalist, litzy of oakland, has more on the political fallout from tunis. what politicians say calling full a fresh elections, but this is the thing that ty site is yet to speak about. the constitution says that he has 30 days to hold legislative elections. but what we've, what's been in the press is that the minister of justice has sent a list of m p 's to the public prosecutor yesterday because they are accusing the m . p. 's. he met yesterday of homing. so a criminal band. and so that they, they sort of plotting some kinds of county schools. but what we've, we've seen is that the public prosecutor is actually kind of tracking heels to

receive warrants because no arrests have been made yet, say sort of parliaments in a ways has been the last gate keeper for a, for a while democracy. so yeah, this meeting yesterday, which is the 1st time that parliament is out. she sat since july 25th with a key event. they were due to me on saturday. and the moment parliamentarians deciding whether that gain to go a hint of what the next movies ordinarily when to sum it, parliament dissolved, they can still operate until a new parliament is elected. but at the moment, effectively, the countries in a sort of political limbo again and parliament is once again in no man's land. sure lincolns are being warren to expect more electricity cuts at least until may millions are suffering blackouts for up to 13 hours a day. the government is struggling to afford fuel imports for power stations because of the worst economic crisis for decades. tornadoes and 200 kilometers per

hour winds have left a trail of destruction in the southern united states. one of the twisters injure people in arkansas, another and alabama overturned a mobile home it uprooted trees and downs. power lines john 100 has more from chelsea, alabama. this was a broad swath of storms. it stretched from texas over to the florida panhandle in the east, and then as far north as missouri, thousands of square kilometers of territory. and a series of storms brought in with heavy, heavy winds. and you can see some of the damage here, the roof being taken off, partially that house over there. on this hill. you can see that trees have just been down one after the other. and as i look over here, i spoke to the owner of this house and she says, now this is a job for the insurance, but she says the good lord did her, his work. he's still here. i spoke to the mayor of this town, tony pika time, or who said that no one seems to have been in here despite extensive damage

throughout the town of chelsea. and we were told that this happened with no warning whatsoever. it happened in the dead of night about 7 seconds is what it took for this storm to sweep through this particular town. there's a lot of damage and a huge debris field. the mayor says, thank goodness no one here was injured. the hubble space telescope has spotted the oldest and most distant star that's ever seen. it's called arundel and lights from . it took nearly 13000000000 years to reach here. now, so researchers estimate the star is, or possibly was at least a 1000000 times brighter than the sun and 50 times larger. ah, hello. the headlines on al jazeera, russian president vladimir putin.