one, a one discovers how they're 14 happy turned around a year. alden from russia's evasion of ukraine. jazeera looks at the impact asks where events might lead from here? rigorous debate, unflinching question. up front, mclamore hill cuts through the headlines to challenge conventional wisdom. nigerians vote in what's likely to be the most closely contested election in the country's history from those that wielded to those who confronted people. in paula investigate the youth and abusive power around the world. february on al jazeera ah leopards from germany, abrams from america, ukraine's battlefield pro space get a military boost as it prepares for a new russian offensive. ah,

hello there. i'm dealing with donald. this is al 0 alive from london. also coming up the politically charged trial into the beirut poured glass lebanon's top prosecutor orders. all suspects released 9 years after the dining, a flight mh 17. the european court of human rights and ions as it will hear a case against russia and tired of being left in the dark protest is demand action . apt, a use of rolling blackouts in south africa. ah, ukraine has received a massive military boost from its western allies as it prepares for renewed offensive by russian forces 11 months since the invasion began with the u. s. is declared at sending $31.00 battle tanks from the m one abrams class to ukraine. and i just hours after germany finally relented to pressure from its allies and

announced a historic decision to send 14 leopard to tanks. berlin will also allow partner countries to deliver german made tanks from their own arsenals, spain vinland and the netherlands of suggest that they are open to sending their tanks to ukraine. and the u. k is also sending 14 of its challenger to tanks. russia government is furious, it's accused germany of abandoning its historical responsibility to russia, citing nazi crimes in the 2nd world war. it's also dismissed. the tanks from the u . s. as waste of money. but analysts say ukraine will need 300 tanks to push back a potential russian offensive in the east, and in the southeast ukraine insists it needs western fire power to break russian lines and re capture territory. will use president joe biden said, sending the tanks will ensure ukrainians are in the strongest possible position to defend their nation. our white house correspondent, kimberly how could as the story after days of deliberation us president joe

biden made the announcement ukraine has long hoped for. today i'm announcing that the united states will be sending $31.00 abram tanks to ukraine. the equivalent of one ukrainian battalion, according to the pentagon, it'll take months, not weeks to get the tanks to the battlefield wide and says he made the decision after securing similar commitments from the leaders of france, the u. k. ad following germany decision wednesday to send leopard 2 tanks to ukraine. russian officials have already denounced this latest move as an escalation . something biden was quick to counter today's announcement. bills on hard work and commitment from countries around the world. lead by the united states of america help ukraine defended sovereign news, territorial integrity. that's what this is about. helping ukraine to fan, to protect your cranny, land. it is not an offensive threat to russia. the move marks

a major policy reversal for bided overriding the advice of u. s. generals who resisted sending the maintenance heavy machines. the abrams have been in use for a half century at russia's aware of the tanks vulnerabilities. since february, the u. s. provided ukraine with more than 27000000000 and security assistance. the white house insists issues of training and logistics, including getting the jet fuel needed to operate the abrams tanks to the battlefield could be overcome through training. it means to be seen how well the ukrainians will able to absorb this hardware and use it. it may take at least a quite a while before they they can do it in before it has an impact on the battlefield. still, president biden insist the addition of the abrams tanks will make a strategic difference as ukrainian forces ramp up to defend territory in expected

spring counter offensive. kimberly help hit al jazeera, the white house, berlin, his face weeks of mounting pressure from neighboring countries to allow leopard 2 tanks to be sent to ukraine. dominic came reports from berlin. the letter too, is one of the most widely used tanks in europe, manufactured in germany, but exported around the continent. it is the weapon system. the ukrainian government believes it needs to fight russia and for weeks ministers and key if have called on ministers in berlin to allow them to use the leopards in their country. now vac call has been answered. 14 german tax will be sent to crane and other european countries will also be allowed to send this year. our goal is to quickly make 2 tank battalion available together with our allies for but there are a lot of countries which would also like to contribute in the deliveries. and we will coordinate and ensure that it becomes possible step by step the. the

chancellor says he understands many germans are deeply concerned by his decision, but at least 4 other european countries have already said they are prepared to use their latitudes to help you crane you ready to participate in one or another way. those. there are many ways to do it because we know that this low body issue also need training for the drivers for the maintenance and so forth. it and spare parts . it needs the whole ecosystem of the year, but tanks and b, b, b. consider what is the best part for us? here at the russian embassy in berlin. the reaction has been quick and condemning the ambassadors says that germany has abandoned its historical responsibility to russia. 45 by not see crimes during world war 2. cooling the decision, extremely dangerous. he says he takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation. and yet some analysts believe that with russia reportedly building up its forces for a spring offensive,

germany felt there was no alternative to allowing leper to be sent in ukraine. everyone, all the military experts are expecting that russia is preparing for spring. and the europeans now want to back ukraine in the ukraine and government and ukrainian army to be ready to defend the country in sending his country's tanks to ukraine. all our shots has done something, no other democratic chancellor here has done allow another country to use german tanks to fight russians in a war in europe. and so while shalt stated goal is to prevent an escalation between russia and nato. it may not be too long before the heavy weapons of both sides are in use against each other in ukraine. donna cain al jazeera berlin, ukrainian president vladimir zelinski, says he's grateful for the tanks and says more weapons will be needed. with

the key now speed and volume, the speed of training, all military, the speed of supplying tanks to ukraine, the amount of tank support how to form of fists of tanks, the pissed of freedom which will not allow to needs rise again. you might be going to post a china that we have to open the supply of long range missiles to ukraine. and this is important that we expand our corporation in artillery and we have to start applying across to ukraine. this is our dream with our task ethan. well, the kremlin has dismissed the plan as quote absurd spokesman dmitri pet scope said cubes. allies that were overestimating the benefits to ukraine's armed forces. you should know the blue again. just touch no blue book. you can't get good to hear me . good granular dora. be sure to go with the pledges committee. conscription let me know, please what you can. brush ukraine says its forces withdrawn from the

heavily contested tan of solar dine. the eastern dynette screech in a military spokesperson says it was done to preserve the lines of person. now the salt mining time has been the epicenter figures fighting for months with russia prioritizing its capture. greens announcement comes almost 2 weeks after russian trip said they had seized the town. european course if human rights is announced, it will hear a case against russia over the dining hall flight mh 17. all 298 people on board. the malaysia airlines flight were killed when it was shot time by russian made book . miss sile in 2014, and michelle was launched by ukrainian separatists backed by moscow. but russia has always denied any involvement. will marry him to whom is an assistant professor of international criminal law at the university of amsterdam. and she says, the court will now decide of russia violated the human rights of the victims and their families. because now the court has said, not only that russia, i had

a had jurisdiction in an area extra territorial jurisdictions, overs responsible in that area. but also that indeed, the victims offerings as i make 17, couldn't have expected to go to russian court to get their justice. but because the system wasn't accessible, effective or adequate for them. and that there was patterns of violations. now this case can move to the merits phase. and so in the next bill probably take another year or couple of years, the court were really assess, what are russia actually violated all those rights that are guaranteed on the european convention of human rights. ah, lebanon's top prosecutor has ordered the release of all suspects detained in connection with the bay report blast in 2020. within 200 people were killed when chemicals stopped in a warehouse caught fire closing the explosion. the prosecutors also filed charges

against the judge, overseeing the case. he resumed his investigation into the explosion. on monday high level political interference and legal complaints had paralyzed the pool for more than a year. while i am much super is the deputy director for them. at least at amnesty international, she explains why the investigation into the blast is significant for lebanon. we see this as really a battle or 11 on the future. are we going to have a kind of country where those individuals who are responsible for blowing up the country are held accountable or one where they're allowed to escape accountability . as you know, the invest the domestic investigation into the last has been suspended now for almost 13 months. on monday, the lead investigator issued an opinion and legal opinion that he said would allow him to move forward with the investigation. and on that basis he charged 8 individuals, including the top public prosecutor of a son, always act in relation to the last. and he also ordered the release of 5 of the 17

detainees who currently remain in detention since august or september of 2020. obviously the political establishment and all rally around him, they said that he did not have the power to move the investigation forward. that the investigation was still stalled and just culminated with the public prosecutor who him health is charged in the case and who had refused himself from being involved in the last case due to his familiar relations to some of the defendants. previously, he issued a decision to remove, to reduce all of the detainees and the case effectively bypassing judge site. at the time you, the investigator, in the case a very complicated legal situation. but we, you know, all this to say is that the political establishment, the ruling establishment, are doing everything that they can to prevent judge from moving forward with the investigation. they are doing everything that they can to prevent the truth from

coming out. and for those high level officials responsible for the last to be held to account a staffing attack at a church in southern spain is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism. interior ministry says the suspects been arrested after several people were stopped with a bladed weapon in the church and al jazeera. now at least one person has died. things national court says the judge has opened an investigation. still to come this half hour, i've gone to sounds deadly cold. snap officials say most it killed were in lieu village is cut off from aid by cell anger and ascii zation in bangladesh. we're frustrations and building over an energy crisis. ah, with your world's weather update begins right here,

right now. and australia. good to see you. so 2 things i wanted to point out, temperature wise, pers, at 32 in adelaide at 29. keep your eye on that. let's go forward to friday. big changes per se, down to $26.00, but the temperature in adelaide shoots up to $37.00 degrees. i'll swear a lot of what weather to come for the kimberly region and showers in storms never too far away from both brisbin and sydney. that's a forecast on friday. let's go back to thursday. i think for the 1st time this season, christ church could hit 30 degrees on the nose and then we've got some weather alerts and play for the rain coming in to the northland region that will be worth more. so later on, thursday into friday, still the rains quite intense. a monsoon rains around the philippines around sabu city. there are some severe flood advisories in play here. and there has been land sides on smarter of the worst of it really around the dang. but we see the rain fill in for both the top and bottom end of sumatra, and then rain red across indonesia as main island of javin. ok, let's go off to china right now, and there is some warmth to be found to be turned chung ching at 11 degrees. it's

or you should be this of the year and we've had a little bit of everything everywhere. all at once in japan with this vigorous storm system, but the bulk of the energy holes out to the pacific on thursday. ah, our diets define who we are. but who are we? if we don't know what we're eating in a disturbing investigation into globalized food fraud, people and power reveals long hidden scandalous practices. the def, infiltrated international wholesale markets and supermarket chains and asks, what's really on our plates. food in glorious food on out j 0 lou

the remainder of our current top stories here and algebra. ukraine has received a massive military boost from its western allies. both germany and the u. s. have agreed to send tanks. berlin has also partner countries. it is in german made tanks from there, austin, over to ukraine. russia's dismissed the plan as quote observed, saying keeps allies with overestimating the benefits. do you cranes, i'm a criminal person tool journalist these times for and the other. so the africans have been protesting against some of the worst power cuts in living memory, which are expected to continue for 2 more years. many households don't have power for 6 to 10 hours each day. now people say food is rotting in their fridges, and it's called massive disruptions to business as well. they re, pharmacy,

they have to regularly dump a day's production of milk because they can't keep their fridges on the vast food outlet. kfc says around 70 of its stores are close. this chicken supplies struggle with outages from laundromats to grocery stores and even funeral services. many small businesses say they've had to cease trading because they can't afford generators. well, the state and she company escal and was pleated with consumers to save power by keeping most appliances off after 4 pm, switching off the air conditioners and only bonding as much water as needed without filling up the kettle. well, for me to miller reports, not from johannesburg. the power cuts began 16 years ago, aging and poorly maintained power. plant state own power utilities, short of funding and corruption have made them was. outages can last anywhere between 6 and 12 hours a day. some areas are often without electricity for days. economists say the blackout, so costing the country thousands of jobs and damaging its economy. the government

and state utility company call that load shooting, and it's angering much of the country. yes, i'm there, be angry and content and great. i'm very angry because i know how to act with up what to cook. i have to eat breaks. it is a sand at the people of this country. again, this correct government that we had in funds. what we had right in this country, time for us to send together some businesses assuming the government for their losses. the poultry industries had to call. tillman and chicks, as shortages of electricity have delayed production, and agricultural producers have asked for exemptions from the blackouts. with many concerns, food supplies will be reduced. the national energy regulator says the cost of electricity will go up by almost 20 percent late to this. yeah. get the could argue protests like this one, both again, the rolling blackouts. the power utility is from says they will continue for at least another 2 years. despite that people you are hoping their frustration is

heard before it's to late and the economy and country. and we demo out there under how to plug people in bangladesh are facing their own energy crisis there with fuel costs and power cuts increasing the main opposition party call for nationwide rallies to demand action. on the so in cost of living, tanveer chandry has this report now from dhaka. i did have other, like many others, eunice counties, angry at the government. demonstrators have rallied across bung with there's 4 months lemming it for failing to stop soaring energy and food prices. echoes above the prices are very high in the market now, and is becoming hard for us to get by with lottery and we want the government to bring down the prices. so ordinary people can manage it. and many off what he calls, ordinary people, are not members of the political parties. because i came to see for myself how large these opposition rallies are. and i'm surprised to see how large they are. the opposition elaine says it will continue to press it's 10 point demand,

which includes the government's resignation. it also wants power transferred to a non partisan caretaker administration before the next general election. tens of thousands of leaders and active as of several opposition parties on taking pardon rallies across the country. and here i am po, gun in the capital, knock off public anger is also going over what many sees as excessive spending on ambitious development project. and there are acquisitions of corruption and cronyism looking well, i guess you will not get up. the government is always talking about development. people can very well understand these are lies were suffering prices of food are so high that we can't even talk freely and openly against this without being silenced, the government remains defiant. rights group accused of stifling free speech and increasing attacks arrest, an intimidation of opposition. members and the prime minister had this warning for the protesters. oh, army, jonah, jonah godfrey,

a whammy league works for the people and for the welfare of the people. so it is not that easily to push the away me league out of power. that the one, the league is very capable of overthrowing any one from power who has rigged or stolen votes. we've proven nash analyst fear, rising inflation, high fuel costs and a protracted ukraine war will continue to affect the economy in bangladesh. and the country will likely see more protests and unrest in the coming weeks and months. turn chaudhry al jazeera, darker was in a 100 people have died and freezing temperatures in afghanistan. officials say most of those killed were those living in remote rural villages that have been cut off from aid because of heavy snowfall is thought to be the coldest winter afghanistan has experienced in a decade with temperatures as low as minus $34.00 degrees celsius. 8 efforts could be hampered by ruling by the taliban banning women from working in angels,

which has halted operations. in recent weeks. several people have died as a result of severe winter weather injured power. the cold snap has canceled flights and disrupted traffic after causing havoc and other east asian countries. earlier this week, i'll just here is whether present a car. a leg has the story. it may look like a winter wonderland, but the once in a decade cold snap, the blasted japan was far from pretty, sparking extreme weather warnings across east asia and bringing record low temperatures, icy conditions and snow storms to the region, causing travel chaos in south korea and japan, during the busiest lunar new york period or, or horde. it was quite a white house or it felt like it suddenly turned twice. so i guess the driver couldn't see and crushed the strong winds, i believe, to have caused a cargo ship to think between japan and south korea's judge. you island rescue

workers. search for crew members in goths. that broke records in northern japan, new snowfall and temperature records were also set across the country. and just days earlier, china reported its lowest exit temperature of minus 53 degrees celsius in its northernmost city. but that didn't stop the clean up operations on the street. so i swift about 6700 meters of snow. yes, starting from noon. my face may be frozen, but my body is worn. with another cold blast on the horizon, north korea has issued an extreme cold alert. that's heightened concern for the people in the poorest areas. as temper is tumble, car leg al jazeera lease in india's capital, new daily have detain. students had gathered to watch a b, b. c documentary by prime minister there. and dr. modi, there have been disruptions and several other universities where students have tried to watch the 2 part series. it looks at moody's tenure as chief minister of good do off state in 2002, and a suspected miss them all going to train carrying hindu pilgrims more than 1000

muslims, women killed in reprisal attacks who had been accused of lessing. authorities allow and encourage the anti muslim violence. the indian government has brought the documentary, citing emergency powers, and has been people from sharing clips and social media. with everybody know with the dentist with problem solving these and they might be good let this happen again . i don't want to put 9 minutes of doing that. i need to feed them everything will lead regarding that does happen again. ongoing strikes for better pay and staffing levels in the u. k. national health service are highlighting precious that have been growing for years. the resident of the royal college of emergency medicine has warned as many as 500 people a week, a dying because of delays in emergency care. 35 percent of patients needing urgent

care. we're not seen within 4 hours. that's the services worse performance on record. patients are also struggling to access a local g p. a recent survey found that more than one and 4 adults had been unable to get an in person appointment in the last year on the waiting list to start routine. any jazz treatment in england alone stands at 7200000 people. the dean bubba has more from london with strike spreading and talk of a system on its knees is britain's reverence for its national health service looking much needed reform study javits certainly think so. the conservative former health secretary and finance minister wrote recently the 75 year old model of the n h. s. is unsustainable. javits suggested people could pay for consulting a family doctor and praised island system where patients must pay around 81 dollars to access the equivalence of the you case accident and emergency departments

a and e, unless referred by their doctor. now that's the sort of idea most british politicians run away from because it means scrapping the doctrine that healthcare should be free at the point of need. the prime minister has distance himself from the comments for which you see like did before taking office, talk about issuing fines to an as patients who missed appointment. he then backtracked, the opposition labor parties also stepped into the debate shadow. hell secretary west street and has suggested the growing waiting lists could be tackled by the nature sending more patience to private hospitals. louise irv in a retired family doctor, an anti privatization campaigner thinks that's a bad idea. there isn't an infinite pool of doctors, nurses, and a lot of doctors, nurses go to that into private sector because they get paid more. and furthermore, when something goes wrong in the private sector, the patient is then, you know, red light, it straight into air, and then it has andy. now, if we, what we need is we need to build up our n h f. again,

louise says she did see real improvements in patient experience in the 2 thousands on the labor when annual increases in nature's funding were higher than they are now. since it was created, spending on the n h. s is increased by an average 3.7 percent per year in real terms, but from 2010 to 2018. when the conservatives governed in coalition and then on their own annual n h s funding growth slow to 1.4 percent. it's rising more quickly now, but an aging population and increasing the bond for expensive treatments means nobody's noticing. if we look at the antitrust compared to other o e c d countries, we have fewer doctors and nurses per, had a population. we have few hospital beds for had a population. we have low levels of investment in things like diagnostic equipment . and all those things are not about the way in which the system they, they are not just is organized and funded. that's about the, the fundamental decisions we made about the level of that we want to spend on health in this country. so the challenge to the politicians is this dealing with

the crises hitting the health services right now. planning for the long term and avoiding a 2 tier system. the d barbara al jazeera london been in, is keeping inflation lower. the most west african countries do a combination of subsidies, tax relief, and price controls. but the government's measures are being criticized. people say hi fred prices are forcing families to skip meals. and businesses are going under augment address reports now from could tell no business because the industry is close to collapse. copied 19 and the war in ukraine have pushed up costs and shrunk . profits and they blame government price control. so making business harder, the price already to is fish. ok. we cannot turn this on the big prize off off it. that's him in boots we are using is our growing every day. so his way are difficult for us to continue to survive. but businesses of received relieve the grammar.

ed bill is under of industries received a lot of support from government to back them up after the economic fall out of cove. $19.00. in fact, the rising cost of living since in 2021 came down last year, especially towards the end of 2022. for others, government subsidies are helping to keep the price of goods down. the government is largely able to control prices of many items, especially important food that has helped to keep hold price inflation via lower than the most west africa countries. but officials aren't able to cut prices of locally grown food, but the high cost of local produce and transportation remain a source of worry for many i went by the i can look where your money is running out and you feel like it's been stolen from you the thinks an expensive in the market, we wonder how to survive. traders like solving your form,

say to bring down inflation. the government needs to help small businesses say like price control measures only benefit the wholesalers. sometimes we don't make profit at all. for now, benign has been able to avoid the social and economic unrest seen in some african countries due to rising cost of living. but many say keeping it that way will depend on how long and how far the government is willing to go on subsidizing inputs and local produce a decrease al jazeera cottle. well, you can keep up with the stories we're following on our website. the address for that is w w. w dot al jazeera dot com aah. quick reminder of our top stories. ukraine has received a massive military boost.