was very challenging place to work from as a journalist, we're always pushing boundaries and part of the month. so we've under locked down. we are the ones traveling the extra mile where other media goes. we go there and we give them a time to tell their story. lebanon is facing a range of crises, political, economic, and humanitarian. children are hungry, and many people are jobless, while others die at sea. in the midst of the despair, one group is often overlooked. they don't have enough money to buy something to eat . al jazeera goes to the heart of palestinian refugee camps in lebanon, the full report stories of a forgotten people on al jazeera. ah,

russia buns, oil sales to countries a comply with a price curve agreed by western nations. ah ha ha ha rahman, you're watching ultra 0 like we're headquarters here in doha also coming up south, chris president calls fall strong the air defenses after north korean drones entered its as space. taiwan extends its military service saying its to protect against the attack from china. and serbia's president puts the army on its highest alert level as tensions grow with kosovo over recent shootings and blockades. ah, we begin with breaking news coming out of russia, where russia is not banning oil exports to countries that set price caps on its petroleum products. the decree will come into effect from february. this month,

the european union, g 7 and australia agreed on a $60.00 per barrel cap on russian crude oil. it's one of a series of measures aimed at cutting the kremlin revenue streams as the war in ukraine continues. will bring you more on that as we get it. ah. the ukraine's prism about him is zalinski says 9000000 people are still without electricity despite his government's efforts to install power. the electricity grid has been damaged by drone and missile attacks as russia targets energy facilities. charles traffic has more than keys, more heavy fighting at various locations along the eastern front line, perhaps most interestingly around that city of buck moot. which is seen some of the most intense battles in recent weeks and months, some very interesting video. this appeared on telegram channels that we cannot independently verify purporting to show ukrainian soldiers among dozens of dead

russian soldiers as those videos of a paid some. also some very interesting lines coming from pro russian channels. these channels advocating that they should be a russian withdraw from those positions around buck, mood because the situation has become so difficult for the russians. now of course, we in no way can independently verify these lines, but still those videos are shocking. also. interestingly, the ukranian head of the regional military administration, blue gun schematic will sort of a guide is saying that ukrainian forces continue to make progress around the town close to the town of crimean crimean, which is russian occupied a lonely look, guns donates borders. now this was a front line that was established i supposed to and a half months or so ago after that very successful counter offensive by the

ukrainians grainy military now saying for the 1st time since then in the last couple of days, they are beginning to make progress, but as i say, we cannot independently verify these claims. meanwhile, the electricity crisis across the country continues. president vladimir zalinski last night saying that at least 9000000 people were still without reliable electricity and heating as these winter temperatures are expected to plummet. in the next couple of weeks also we spoke yesterday to the head of the country's national electricity operator. he predicted that these full repairs to the grid system could take years. and that, of course would be if there was to be more barrage, is more a tax in this what seems to be a russian campaign. it's targeting energy infrastructure. so yeah, a lot of people still very cold, living in very dark conditions. as these energy crises across ukraine continues.

russia's foreign minister has again warned that ukraine must be millet tries or faced other military action. second ruffles, who accused the west of feeding the war in ukraine to weaken russia. he said the length of the conflict will depend on keith and washington south to his president wants to fast track plans to strengthen the country's air defenses. insecurity was to create a special military unit with stealth drones following an incursion by north korean drones. on monday ports near the capitol, sol, work close temporarily when the aircraft were detected near civilian areas. so chris military's apologize to failing to shoot them down, present units. as the incident has highlighted, the military and lack of preparedness, eunice came more from the capital, present you insomnia, and his 1st comments on this did not mince his word, saying that south korea's military readiness was simply not there that the years of training left much to be desired and he did pose that possibility of bringing

up the creation of a new military drone unit that he said would have stealth capabilities and also feature cutting edge technologies and would monitoring north korea's military facilities. but it remains to be seen whether he will have the budget to do so. as there has been a, a pretty sizable $20000000.00 budget cut in anti drone expenditures. meanwhile, south korea also working on a drone jamming technologies, but that also is several years away from hitting the market. robert kelly is a professor of international relations at tucson national university. he says his behavior is typical of roles career. i don't think it's too much of a surprise that the north koreans have done these kinds of things. i don't actually think that this is the 1st step towards any kind of an escalation or something like that. the north koreans have been known as for pick and prod, if you will,

along the shared border. right, which is very contentious. as you might imagine, north koreans minutes are known to cross over and provoke in this manner before they do this. often a see to the really sure, i think it's about south korean response or rather the correspond apparently there was a helicopter fire in the drones and missed several of the air and one of the aircraft scrambled in response, crashed on the pilot, apparently managed to escape and so this raises the issues of a readiness, and i thought a bit concerned because south korea spent a pretty big chunk of its g p on, on defense closing and on 3 percent, which is pretty high for us. ally. and the goal is ultimately that south crew be able to defend itself without too much american assistance. this is called the transfer of operational control to south korea. we're trying to, with the americans, are trying to do that. and if that's how koreans look like, they can handle a drone incursion, and that's going to sort of push that whole agenda back. so it's kind of a surprising failure. taiwanese to extend compulsory military service room full month to one year to come to threats from china. on monday, dozens of chinese planes crossed in taiwan defense. so the biggest incursion in

years that aging is protesting against what it says is collusion and provocation by the island of the united states. if you, taiwan is a breakaway province present sign. when says taiwan wants peace but needs to be able to defend itself. we can only avoid war by preparing for war, and we can only stop war by being capable of fighting a war to want to increase its ability to defend itself so that we can strengthen our national security and gotten more international support for st. louis has more from home hall. the latest measures announced by taiwanese president trying when is aimed at increasing the islands defense capabilities and one think tank estimates that the extra 8 months that cones conscripts will now be required to serve, could potentially add 60 to 70000 personnel annually to the current serving force by the year 2027, and that's not the only change announced on tuesday. conscripts will now undergo

more intense training. they'll be more ly fire drills to learn how to handle more sophisticated weapons. the president also said the government plans to increase the overall salaries for conscripts and professional soldiers the number of years a conscript serves will also be taken into account and the governments labor retirement plan. all this is to make, serving in its defense forces more attractive. now increasing the number of months that a conscript has to serve really is not new. previously conscripts had to serve for 2 years, but that was slowly, little down to 4 months by previous governments. because to make the well really to appease to younger voters and also because at that time tension between taiwan and beijing had eased. now taiwan has been feeling the pressure from china over the years, not just militarily, but also financially and diplomatically. as china has grown from strength to strength on the global stage, as well as in the world economy, and the taiwanese government under president trying when, well it's position is that ty, one's future is something for taiwan. people to decide where as the chinese

government views the island as a breakaway province and sees were unification as inevitable. so these are 2 very opposing and contrasting views and preston, ch hi. she said on tuesday afternoon that taiwan wants peace, but to avert a war it has to be prepared for war. will it take you back to our top story? a lot news coming out of russia vote it's about to bon those countries that set price comes against its petroleum products. thomas donnell is an energy analyst, and electra her to school of governance chosen is tight from berlin. mr. thomas could have you with us on the program. thanks for your time. as i short notice, it seems we got my tit for tat issue going on here. and this is a response really by what the e u and other groups have already done against russia's petroleum products. yes, it certainly is. um, i have to say to me, this seems like a bit of bravado and mr. putin's bar. and this is quite

a jo, experts can argue about how effective the price cap will be. and we can discuss that. but the fact is you here on standing unity of the entire u, g 7. and so for very broadly, an agreement, so very harshly, sanction russian oil that you is taking no more oil by sea since the 5th of this month. and by the 5th of february, they won't take any more refined products by sea, from russia. there's a stunning hit to russia in valley will enforce this price care worldwide. anybody who wants to use any ships insured from the european union will have to re, you know, respect us. and already i know i was watching below looking, emerged latest data a day or 2 ago. and the shipments from russia on the european side, the baltic area had dropped high 50 percent in the early part of december when this

camp was imposed. so is this in fact bravado from bruton. oh, we're going to cut supplies when they're already being forced to have a significant hit to their supplies. oh, where do you stand on? the fact that the price cup itself is slightly above what a barrel of oil normally call sake does allow russia to have that little bit of profit, even though it's market has been dra drastically reduced by those countries that will banish. but he does give a glimmer of hope to countries like india that really need oil and have to import it from all sources. what just to be clear? what do you agree with the tactic or not? the you made a very, as we, as i discussed a big huh. but and by stretched a little bit worried, this is so much of the world oil that they want. they thought, look, it's important that the oil keeps flowing to countries like india and china, and turkey is another one that's been taking quite a lot. but let's try to keep the price limited. so that's where this idea of the

price care, instead of right away putting some kind of secondary sanctions on other people who bought the oil, that europe now in the united states refused to take time as janet jaelyn said when she visited india or some weeks ago, by all you want to stay below the price care. now, you can argue about, were it separate now because the price of oil that is being sold, that russian oil is actually below that. but it's a mechanism. and that mechanism will be reviewed periodically by the european union, united states and g 7 and will be, couldn't be squeezed, squeezed, squeeze. and this is very daunting, i think, from africa overtime. and indeed, i mean, they can squeeze as much as they want. but at the end of the day, europe, the g 70, you said the united states no study, they still need oil, they have to get the sources. you know, we sold the u. s. trying to push opec to pop more early the showed it didn't really have any impact on the and it's ok to the u. s. a great deal at relationships, oil producing countries and then okay. personally,

i think the by the administration made to, to public. uh huh. uh huh. uh huh. when we say stomach, but in between 2 sides and this with opec, i think they should have got a little lighter. really, there is a recession coming in. most banks and most financial institutions will say, it looks like there's going to be a significant recession this year in europe, and perhaps united states not as strongly and other places. and meanwhile, china is having great difficulties coming out of cold eventually the world that should be the demand. so, you know, just from a market point of view, opec might have a point, they're actually afraid that the market be over supply. and i think it's a conflict situation. the by the administration is thinking more long term. we want to keep enough oil on the market, not to cause a spike and slowly squeezed the russians. there's no question that in the long run, the west, when the signals are there, i mean the saudis,

the u. e and the united states can produce so much more oil in the long run. they can take this market away from russia already. the saudis are moving to take the last market in europe. so it's, yeah i that's how i that, that's how i look it up to wait and see what happens. i won't the, the, the feedback is from the yes it is, it is a very interesting chance. came at the moment, but i'm filled up. my would have to leave it at thomas. i don't like joining us from bell. and thanks very much for your time, sir. thank you, sir. still had here on al jazeera warnings of people trapped in smoke of vehicles in the us where there's no letter from the cycled blizzard of the century. and we look back at china via dominated by kobe 19. it's controversial, 0 tolerance policy that led to red protests. they stories after the break here are just, there are a it's

that time in the day for your weather report across the middle east and africa. nice to have you along. so the rain is leaving the golf, moving into iran in pakistan. we'll pick up that story in one second. i think still some showers that though for to buy and mosque out, but for us here in the rain, no longer story, it now turns to the winds on wednesday, much fresher air in place here. and by the way, we could see wind gusts on wednesday of about 50 kilometers per hour. so again, that wet weather moving into iran and pakistan, this is now in baluchistan province. meantime, for punjab providence in the north. the buckets on 95 percent of it is covered in fog. up to turkey, we go some showers through the black sea coast, especially intense through the northeast black seacoast pushing into the caucasus. and after central africa we go. it's our usual problem. spots from southern gab on

pushing through to molly and northern moves and be we're also going to see the rain start to fill in as we look toward the northwest. and limpopo province is in south africa on wednesday. also still a few showers to go in vint hook, coming in at $32.00, but for the western cape province. ok, sure. a little breezy, but keep town. not bad with the high of 22 degrees on wednesday. that's a soon a bit. ah. but as 2022 draws to a close, we reflect on the major stories that shatelle well join al jazeera, 1st series of in depth reports. looking back at this year and a head to 2023. boni tests of is more benefits that don't come up. you savings like a 247 maternity, 9 joining test folks at the number one medical aid,

both south africa. lou the a book about kill watching over there with me to hill rob. reminder of all top stories, russia has been the oil exports to countries that set price count on its petroleum products. several countries agreed on a $60.00 per barrel cap early this month to cut the criminal revenue streams. while the war in ukraine continues. south korea, the president has enough plans to develop strong the air defenses. insecurity wants to create a special military unit with self drones. it follows the incursion by north korean drains on monday. and so i wanted to extend compulsory military service to one year

to come to threats from china. on monday, dozens of chinese plains constant, the islands defense, so the biggest daily and caution in years. so b as president has raised the military's combat readiness to its highest level. nightfall is weeks of escalating tension with neighboring ca. survey defense minister milan vacovich met with the army chief and troops near the border. he says, president and president, alexander village, has ordered 30 in special forces to be tripled in size to $5000.00 personnel and served the northern vote. excuse me. while blocking roads in north metro pizza, the largest majority sub town around $50000.00 people, living in the region, refused to recognize the government in pristina cost. those leaders are refusing to engage in dialogue until the barricades are removed. as will trigger nick with the cookies. why does anyone so hysterically and just removing the barricades because they want all serbs to be expelled from the north?

of course, because that's the only way for them to bring the solution to this problem that i'm talking about all being in, in pristina and parts of the international community. out there as elaine and researchers in your area on the serbian side of the border. when we talk about the atmosphere between serbia and a causal, usually these, these are we say it's peaceful. but with lot of dentures, india, i'll try to explain. and these days is in a nearly impossible to talk with people who live in north causal because people are afraid to publicly express their opinion about anything. even those questions about everyday life can somehow be connected to politics and nobody wants to express at that kind of opinion out loud in front of the camera. the fact is, these kind of situation is the 6th or in previous 5 years, or we had the same situation just the a month ago in november when draws allegedly,

and entered the serbian aerospace from costs of or before they're there in september or last year. there was a situation related to serbian car plates here in cost of or and before that in may 2019 or we had this same situation. our when cost of or are police are arrested $19.00 police officers suspected or for corruption. and 11 of them are, were serbia nationalities. so we'd not had much detail details about this situation now. ah, by a minister of defense said i, this is not address, but it is a warning. benjamin netanyahu has moved a step closer to for we was expected to be the most right wing government and israel's history. that's after parliament passed controversial legislation allowing politicians previously convicted of offences without serving jail time to join the cabinet. some of the prime minister designates hard line coalition partners will

now be eligible for ministerial posts. well, 5 palestinians have been injured during fighting with jo, satler's and israeli forces and occupied east jerusalem. 6 others were detained when settlers tried to seize land in the hills. area to one side of cairo has more from occupied east jerusalem. well, the fighting was all about a plot of land that's just behind me. if you can see the israelis, settlers have been putting up a fence, it's a new spence and this pulse of land extends all the way from this call park over here. and it will go all the way down there. you can see as the camera can just sound there, there's some trees that have been cultivated by a palestinian family that has lived for 70 years. now, the palestinian family has always maintained that they signed a lease with the greek orthodox church because this plan is actually owned by the

greek orthodox church, but it's very much contested plots of land. and so one because the jewish settlers, a jewish organization, has bought the lands, apparently from the church a few years ago they, they had actually bought, sorry, rather at least 2 hotels in the old city, which is further just up the road from where i am. and this plot of land comes in a way with the these 2 host. how's this has been through the course for many years . it went through to the supreme court of israel as well. and the court has ruled in favor of the the jewish settlers. 7 so this just gives you an idea over the pension, and i'm curious, but let's say that they have access and should have access to this land. and every so often friday, why things take place. at least 64 people have been killed in weather related incidents in north america. the severe winter storms continue to batter the region,

the, the half of those in the new york state, one of the worst affected areas in the us. now some neighborhoods are buried under a meter of snow with residence, stranded in their cars for up to 2 days. but to go haine is following developments from washington d. c. nationwide. if you're traveling, it's just utter chaos. but if you think about it, this storm came at the worst possible time. the busiest travel time of the year, people traveling through the christmas holiday. it hit right before that it was so significant was just how broad of a storm it was. it reached about 80 percent of the population at one point, including as far down south as texas and florida states that are prepared for temperatures that low about $3000.00 flights have been canceled. the vast majority of those are from southwest airlines. that's mostly a domestic carrier. or they have been struggling mightily, canceling up to 70 percent of their flights in certain days. now the company says, look, are 2 main hubs were colorado in chicago,

and those were hit the hardest. but still, although all of the airlines canceled some flights, nothing like southwest. so the department of transportation says they will be launching in investigation. but the airline said this is going to be happening for at least a couple more days as they scrambling cruise in the right place. buffalo that was particularly hard hit, just to give you an example of how bad of a winter it's been for them. the last 2 winter storms they've got about as much snow as they usually get in an entire winter and we've just started winter. now the freezing temperatures are starting to slowly rise across the country. for example, in buffalo, most of the fire trucks got stuck because they had white out conditions, so they couldn't actually go out and check cars and go go door to door. and that's where they're fighting a lot of the fatalities. people in white out conditions got stuck in the snow, ran out of gas, and the temperatures are so cold that it was. so across the country, we do expect the death told, arise even as things start to get better on

a daily basis. vendor is conducting mach drills and hospitals to prepare for an expected spike in current of our cases. several countries of reported an increase in infections. china has seen a surgeon case instance ending its cave in 1900 restrictions. a 2nd wave of the virus hit india, particularly hot in 2021. devastating the health care system. india and japan will require travelers arriving from china to provide negative cave at 1900 tests. japanese prime minister few meshida says passengers who has positive will have to quarantine the 7 days. let the beginning of 2022 chinese peasant shooting paint that he was committed to eradicating crone virus infections through his 0 cove it policy. and that meant entire cities and millions of people and the locked down, massed ab testing and lengthy quarantines. but many of these measures could be a thing of the past after protest has made their voice is heard. adrian brown has more on the year. the walls in china

lou, this was the year china's leader, she doing double down on his efforts to eliminate a virus that most of the world that learned to the fact that the communist party congress in october, he promised not to waver in the battle to eliminate colbert 90 ah, a month later that policy was breaking people that had enough do they do. c some even pulled the she to stand down. oh, but it was the diversity of the protest is that may of alarm the president move the depth and breadth that dissatisfaction with the government at which ran across many sectors. so students, young people on the streets household is,

are workers in factories all seem to be saying the same thing that they were absolutely fed up. but this policy that it was counterproductive and that they blanked the government. the government though appeared to listen. 7 just days later, 0 cobit began to be dismantled with chinese scientists. now saying the virus wasn't that serious. after all, there is definitely a back down from president. she, if you look at it that way, but he's done a very carefully in that he's given all the power to local governments. so something goes wrong to local governments. folk, not his as something goes right then the credit is, is 6 weeks earlier, president cheese leadership had been unquestioned as he secured a 3rd historic term as party change. you thompson, with no obvious successor. it's the position that in theory he could hold for life . and while his leadership seemed secure, the protests along with his relentless anti corruption purge,

have made him many enemies. i think what it has done is revealed a degree to which people are not buying and the idea that changing in his wise and, and deeply loved by the people. congratulations like mainland china. people in hong kong don't get to choose their leader. john lee was selected by committee to be the territories next, chief executive in a contest in which he was the only candidate. ah, lee was a former security chief authorizing the use of tear gas rubber, bullets, and occasional live rounds to disperse, protested during the 2019 unrest. in contrast, there were local elections once more in the nearby democratic island of taiwan. but they didn't go the president's way, foreseeing zion went to resign as chair woman of the governing party. the victors,

the k m t traditionally favour stronger economic ties with china. the mainland economy, though, is no longer the global engine for growth. it once was mainly because of presidency 0. cobit strategy of particular concern. rising youth unemployment. we have, for example, in china cities, a use unemployment bait estimated rank, 18 to 20 percent. we have people coming out of the university who are finding it difficult to get jobs so that other class is content. at the other end of the spectrum, you have migrant workers whose factories were false declared. it was a year when president, she's frail, predecessor who gin towel was mysteriously removed from the party congress. speculation as to why continues a month later another former president.