who are i boss? suspension say he just wants to keep their heads low. continue training, wait out their band and hope they can compete again. on counting, the cost to europe's population is aging, should pension excuse be reformed. egypt and pakistan's economic crises. the deeper they will, i, m f, loans, fix their problems, and we explore the implications of the tumbling value of india, a donnie empire. counting the cost on al jazeera ah, the battle for back move, reports of face. fi hang is mercenaries from russian back room trying to take control of the ukrainian city. ah,

hello, emily angland. this is al jazeera alive from joe ha. also coming up. china accuses the us of violating international practice after it's shut down. a suspected bible or the head of the roman catholic church, wraps up his visit to south sudan renewing his coal for peace. and pakistan's, former president, prevail, sheriff, has died in divine. after a long pause into the program, we begin in ukraine where the battle for control of the city of bank notes is intensifying. the head of the russian wagner most in re group says there's fees fighting. the city has been the focus of moscow is offensive for weeks. ukraine president vladimir lensky warns the situation is getting tougher as russia pause, more troops towards the front line. for more in the story,

let's bring in jane beth robbie, who joins us live now from cave. they want more. can you tell us about the fighting in back? no. well certainly, we've been hearing about buck moved for many weeks now. that city has been under siege for and contested for well over 6 months at this stage. but we're hearing now is a ratcheting up of the fighting. no doubt, that the chief of wagner. if guinea pig machine is under pressure to deliver a decisive victory there for the kremlin ahead of the one year anniversary of the russian invasion of ukraine. and he has said that the fighting there is fear something that really. ringback lines up squarely with what the ukranian government and keith has been saying, president of a lot of years zalinski consistently saying that the fighting there is getting more difficult. that is getting tougher. that move is a fortress for ukraine. they will not give up without a fight. they will fight as long as it can. but his latest comments seem to suggest

that the situation there may be a little bit glib for the ukranian, seemingly preparing his country for what might be a setback. that might be set back, that is a turnaround from the counter offensive ukrainian counter offenses that have been very successful on the eastern front. so far zelinski saying that the situation is getting tougher and that is something that they'll hold onto as long as they can. but what we're seeing on the ground we're hearing on the ground is that the russian forces continue quite successfully in this pin sort of movement to try to circle the city from the north and south to take the high ground over buckman. a city that sits in a valley and what we've heard. unconfirmed reports from the field seemed to suggest that now a small unit from the wagner group has taken over a village, a small village, known as to poach ski. and this sits on a highway that is the main supply line of ukrainian forces currently under siege

and trying to hold russian forces back from coming further into boston. if they manage to cut off that highway from that village than that could be a decisive moment in this fight for buck move, it is something certainly that the ukrainian forces are trying to prevent russia from having. now this is a fight for narratives as much as it is a fight for terrain. even though the wagner group continues to come out with strong statements about being able to move forward. they have large numbers that keep moving forward. ukraine's forces have said that in the last day or so, they have killed 140 to 200. what they called zombies. soldiers that simply continue to come wave after wave onto their positions. they said that their machine guns were baking from how consistently they have to keep firing over a 10 hour period. so the fighting for buckman continues. this is close quarters combat. this is defending one building at a time. these are running street battles and even though there continues to be

missile strikes and fighting all throughout the country on the eastern front, there's little debate that the fight for buck moved is the main conflict. it is the main flashpoint currently in the war on ukraine. and then khaki has also same showing of residential buildings. what are you hearing about the fighting then? that's exactly right. soldiers face off with other soldiers in bad mood, but civilians continue to pay a price for the warfare coming from russian missile strikes for the missiles dropping from the sky over civilian targets. we've seen 2 missiles had cartoon since the city center today, one hitting a residential building, another hitting a university. se of car keys. there is fighting and crimean a ukrainian state is carried out a counter offensive there and further south in to least ukrainian forces. say that they've destroyed a russian base, there was housing troops headed for the front. or the russians also hit a school facility,

a primary and secondary school in her son. and those missile straits fortunately, produce no casualties. but these missiles continued to his civilian targets all throughout the country, specifically focusing on areas on the eastern front. all right, thanks so much for bringing up the spade saying that best robbie live for us in keith. meanwhile, new european restrictions on russian oil are coming to effect on sunday is includes a ban on seaborne oil products and a global priced cap, $100.00 a barrel on premium russian oil products. emissions are aimed at reducing rushes ability to fund its war in ukraine as the sum of in japan reports from last. before the war, russia used to sell your product approximately $3000000000.00 a month. and here it continues to tell a product about $14000000000.00. european union used to be the largest export market. wanted by china and korea. not now being overtaken by india, china, and

a gray area of unknown market. russia, you this do main methods transport worse. why a network of a pipeline delivery country, and interestingly, it continues to be ukraine. what is the for using the pipeline. secondly, in network of tankers, which very richly loyal before it's all over the world. and they have no come sanction from the europe union that you had said caps and russian beavers, and few oil and don't ship, which are found not in compliance. would either have insurance financing and they won't even get everything for the rest of the world news. now in china has accused the united states of over reacting after washington shut down its balloon nearly one week after entered american aspects. the balloon was 1st spotted in fairbanks, alaska. on monday and on wednesday it was saying that name, missoula, in montana, the chinese balloon. then floated over kansas city, missouri on friday by saturday morning. it was cited in the skies of memphis,

tennessee, before being shut down by us fighter jet off the coast of south carolina. later that evening. china insist that was a weather balloon. that's right. of course, petty calhoun has moved a clear shot as it happened, a missile hit to hi altitude balloon and it begins its descent. in end 2 days of long debate about what to do about this massive air balloon suddenly saw something take off again. i knew it was a missile and you can see the explosion. you should have shot it that winning the insane. instead of letting it travel all the way across. that would just think that i think it's terrible that they let it get this far start with. and what i've heard is more and more of china claimed it was a weather balloon that was blown off course. president biden says he gave the order to shoot it down last wednesday,

decided without doing damage to anyone on the ground and decided that the best time to do that was we got over water within our, within 12 mile limit as successively took it down. the pentagon says in f $22.00 fighter jet launched a single missile to bring the balloon down into us territorial waters. pentagon officials say now they're turning their attention to recovering the balloon. they think it's going to be a fairly simple operation. there already, several us navy and u. s. coast guard ships on the scene. they plan to use us navy divers at unmet submersible to bring it to the surface in the next few days. and then the us will decide if they want to publicly end the debate offering proof of what this was. it's still an open debate was huge. balloon was in fact, following the air streams of the area and that it has a tractor. it is not loitering over montana,

it was shot off the eastern seaboard. so at this juncture, this idea that this is somehow a spy ship that was deliberately said by china seems a little bit far fetched. but us analysts say the fact that they believe a similar balloon as travel in latin america makes this theory more likely. i do not believe that it was just a well, a balloon blown off. course it would be quite a coincidence if we have this loon going in to us your space, while apparently there's another one frost's in latin america, us simultaneously infringing upon other countries here space another strain in an already frayed relationship, which was supposed to take steps toward improvement on saturday, instead taking a step back particle hing al jazeera washington. let's get the latest now from my cana, who joins us live from that washington day. say, mike sent me a lot of speculation about this balloon, but spying is not unusual. is it?

no, it's not, it's an ongoing situation where countries spy on each other. in this particular case, for example, some defense sources are saying that similar balloons had been spotted in the u. s . before some 3 times under the trump administration, and one previous time under the biden administration. the officials say that china is known to have deployed balloons over 5 continents using them for intelligence gathering. also, of course, as the chinese claim for gather, gathering weather data. however, this situation was different according to the pentagon, because it was 1st noted on monday when across the us border. it didn't move back over canada before re entering of us on tuesday at which point. alarm bells went in the pentagon, it seems they before had notice balloons, matching the edge of the united states and then moving away. but in this particular case, it stayed over idaho initially,

and then moved across the eastern seaboard before being shut down over the atlantic ocean. so this was a great concern to the military, and once again, it was evident, se, believe, of ongoing spying operations, something that would be confirmed possibly when the wreckage from the balloon is gathered and salvaged. mike, what went into that decision to shoot down the balloons? well, it was in one way a lengthy process. the military gates whitley convened on tuesday when president biden was alerted to the fact that the balloon was early us territory. on wednesday, off to consulting his military, president biden ordered that the balloon be shut down as soon as it was safe to do so. now the military's opinion was that it would not be safe to shoot the balloon down over land, given the fact that it could impact civilians on the ground. now the fact that it's left about 9 square miles of debris is indicative that the military could be

correct in terms of the potential for harm to civilian should have been shut down on land. so president biden's instruction was to the military. you decide, once it is safe, you shoot down the military, then acted on its own. having received the instructions from the president and once the balloon moved out over the eastern seaboard and was over water, then the decision was taken to shide to, to, to, to doubt with an f 22 fighter. all right, thanks so much for breaking down for us mike hannah in washington dc that of the roman catholic church has wrapped up his historic visit in south sudan with a mass pope. francis called for people for pace rather urging people to put down their weapons and work towards reconciliation. after years of conflict, a room tasa reports from juba. ah, pope francis told the people of south saddam, the church has not forgotten. ah,

thousands of people attended an open en masse in the capital, juba to see the head of the catholic church one last time before he left for the vatican. the pope once again called for peace forgiveness and reconciliation in the country we many had been killed or displaced by conflict numbers with them. i let me answer. never lose hope. oh, and lose no opportunity to build peace, my hope and peace. dwell among you. my hope and peace dwell in south sudan, according to the united nations. they are more than 2000000 internally displaced people insults are done. and another 2300000 have left the country as refugees. those who attended the mass hope to visit by the catholic pope, along with leaders of the anglican and scottish presbyterian churches who make a difference in this predominantly christian country with

the message that the pope is delivering is quite important is coming to remind christy and a south to dance president self care promised to resume talks with the armed groups who did not sign the 2018 piece deal not to dive runway from don in 11. there was a civil war in training training on each other, despite a peace deal sign in 2018. they still violated the country. people yeah. before coming to south sudan pope francis was in the democratic republic of congo. a country also struggling with conflict and corruption. his trip to africa was maint in courage, politicians, to resolve differences and work towards peace. all people can

do here is hope and pray. that happens how to matessa al jazeera, juba still ahead on al jazeera, called the, just as in iraq, after a young youtube blogger is killed by her father. plus i said, i'm kid, you keep the ecuador where on sunday people will vote on a number of possible constitutional reform. the many here. c as a referendum and the government, the viet molasses. ah . tis rainy season now in southeast asia that always aires to focus on where it will be particularly wet. bornea has been one place recently and peninsula malaysia, and i think the 2 will be the case on monday as well with heavy rain. also edging into central java, all this has got the risk of flooding written all over it. probably true west papua

and up towards the southern philippines. and in southern china, it's raining that rain as it goes across the open waters for begin to propagate tropical low, which will bring significant rain to southern japan as quite wal mad is going of all its been a very snowy area recently. so i suspect the avalanche risk is up, we might see some flooding potential here in southern japan. but north of the anc see the sunny's out temperatures are above normal by a little bit south, the yangtze, the rain is easing. that's the case. certainly on tuesday this is looking more like early spring to say than late winter. but that's how it stands about. okay, down to south asia, this looks more as it should do this more snow significance. they've been falling in the hills, northern india, northern pakistan, afghanistan. it's dying down little bit on monday air cold therefore is coming down in new delhi and the whole in sri lanka, rainy's like to be there and increasing its intensity during tuesday. i think you'll catch the edge of time another every now and again.

ah, county controlled information. moscow is one of the most to bail that he's been the world a the has an incredible facial recognition technology. how does the narrative improve public opinion? no walker, how is citizens done this? and we're bringing the story. the video spread like wildfire, they denied do prayer. we're in grade the listening post dissects the media. we don't cover the news. we cover the way the news is cover. ah ah. ah.

hello, are you watching al jazeera? i'm emily, i gwen, he's a reminder about top stories this hour. the battle for control of the ukrainian city of buck moot is intensifying. the city has been the focus of moscow's offensive wakes the crimes president folemi, zalinski warns the situation on the front line is getting tough up. china accused the us of overreacting after it shot down its balloon off the coast of south carolina. the penguin accused badging of using this surveillance croft just by the china had said it was a weather balloon. and the head of the roman catholic church has held a mass to ange. he's 3 day visit to south sudan pope francis met, internally displaced paypal and has called for an end to the year long violence. former pakistani president pervade mas sheriff, has died of the age of 79. he had been receiving treatment in dubai for a long illness. lexia bryan takes a look back in his life and the controversy surrounding his political career.

prevail, mashhad was living an exile for years. fighting to clear his name. the former pakistani president was charged in connection with the 2007 assassination of former prime minister in his ear bhutto. he was also sentenced to death after being found guilty of treason before a court and pakistan overturned it and 2020. the head of the military had seized power and bloodless coo and 1999 and served as president from 2001 until 2008. after the $911.00 attacks were sheriff aligned himself with the so called war on terror. jennifer of is another american position here. this is not a war against terrorism. this is a war against islam. he also supported the war in afghanistan, trying to balance relations with the us. and tribal leaders shot af, late. it said the united states threatened to bomb pakistan if he didn't commit to fighting al qaeda. blue sheriff was criticized for failing to improve the economy

at home and made ties with india. despite a high profile visit to agra, which many had hoped would lead to better relations firing, pakistan's, chief justice and 2007 proved to be his fatal political move. it led to street protests. napoleon was that bill go gone. i raised my future in the hands of the nation and the people let them be the judges. ultimately, the man who survived multiple assassination attempts was forced to resign a year later, shot lived in exile for a while, but the lower of power was too attractive. he tried to stage a political come back and 2013. i was thinking the government would call me back and say, say pakistan. but that did not happen. today. my nation ordered me to come back. i

came back, put my life in danger to safe pakistan. instead, he was arrested and charged with murdering been, as he, a booter, the 1st woman to be democratically elected animals, le majority country. the government allowed shadow to leave in 2016 to seek medical treatment for serious illness. he'd always denied wrong doing, and maintained the cases against him were politically motivated. protests to being held in iran after a young you to blogger, was killed by her father. he admitted to strangling to but ali on wednesday in the so called on a killing. the father was reportedly upset about his daughter's decision to live in take here. the 22 year old fled from her family after accusing her brother sexually assaulting her. my food. why had, has more from his teaching in bagdad, as you can see right behind, need those rights advocate activists and human rights. members, there are message today, is it clear to the iraqi judiciary, the want,

the judiciary to a change or amend article number 4 or and 9 of iraq's penal code, which as they say, gives a green light. some kind of a green light for bothers and brothers to kill their sister or daughter at that pre tickets of own or killing. they have been chanting a little while ago. that's not a killer. there is no own our own killing. they say that they are addressing the government, the parliament just re counted today in order to set rules to protect women from domestic violence. as you can see, light behind me, they have been raising bad notice. have been raising bad notice to demand justice for the death of up there have been there have been many unreported cases of

like a case. but as you know, that because of the fact that there is no certain article in the penal code to protect women or female jewelry syrian refugees in garza have been protesting in front of the united nations palestinian, the agency. they want us to resume and that it costs in 2017 phase refugee slaves, syria when the revolution started in 2011 and found refuge in gaza as sarah, hi, run reports. now these are just some of the syrian refugees that fled the serial war and ended up here in garza now that protesting against the lack of a that they're receiving from the un refugee agency for palestinians. they say that it was caught a few years ago, and now the situation for them is absolutely dire. this isn't a place which is garza where there are 2000000 people under israeli blockade. life is tough as it is,

but it was hard for palestinians living here is even harder for some of those refugees that have come from syria. some of them have been displaced, 3 times palestinians that were forced to leave because of the israelis ended up in syria. and have returned again here. now they are asking for the most basic funding funding for accommodation for food and for basics, where unemployment is about 70 percent. the situation they say is really difficult . natalie novice decides our demand for the $170.00 families. the flight, syria, or that owner must carry out its responsibilities towards us. refugees who lost everything. we left, all our belongings in our homes were destroyed. we were forced to leave. we need the refugee agency to either provide us with a place to live or pay the high rental costs or help us find a job. now, some of the people protesting here, all women say that their children are missing out on

a good education. there are people that are reliant that needs health care and they're not able to receive it and not they need that assistance. they heavily rely on not that assistance has appealed for $1600000000.00, which it relies on from international donations. it's saying that it desperately needs it as it started the already was $70000000.00 in or is it's very much accepting the fact that they need that help. and they say they. 7 can't really do much until the donors put the money forward. police and take you have arrested 15 people with alleged links to i. so the suspects were detained on saturday. i accused of planning attacks on the swedish and dutch conceal it's, as well as churches and synagogues. it follows days of security warnings by western conceal it through temporarily closed a stumble offices. a presidential election is underway in cyprus. the country is

facing a cost of living crisis, corruption, scandal, and migration crisis. opinion polls suggest the vote will go to run off on february 12, none of the leading contenders are expected to secure a majority. people in ecuador, arrow sorry, heading to the polls to elect local officials and vote on constitutional reforms. many observers see the referendum as a test for president square mo laughter whose approval rating sits less than 20 percent. more than 30000000 people are registered to participate in the pulse as alexandra rap pierre, 3 or 4 apathy and frustration are on the rise among voters in quito ahead of sundays, wide ranging referendum, promoted by embattled press. you didn't get more lasso to address the countries deteriorating, social, and economic conditions. so like, we have no faith in politicians for all the scandals that happened recently. people has lost trust and politics. if that goes on with an approval rating below 20

percent, a hostile congress, mounting government corruption allegations, and dramatic rise and gang related crime, conservative president lasso has been left with little face to maneuver, thought that the 8 referendum questions, which cover security issues, reducing the number of lawmakers in congress environmental protection and the possible extradition of ecuadorian could help him regain initiative when we call upon us with those popular popular consultations usually become a referendum on the current administration. but in this case, despite the president's major loss in political capital, the referendum has strong support because it addresses funded mental issues for the people's game. that critics argue that last was hoping to use the referendum for a personal political when a way to try to boost to port for his failing presidency, to the detriment of the countries democracy was bullied. the former president of

ecuador, the constitutional assembly, says the reduction of assembly members will reduce representation of remote areas and strength in the hands of the most powerful parties. the estimate for it i want to consult up or not to get the, you know, not that far from solving problems, this referendum could exacerbate some of them. it's like a poisonous apple that shines on the surface. but if you read the questions and antics as carefully you see, it won't solve the security issues with democratic instability even less the environment. it's a tricky and deceitful referendum, unfortunately, all of into last, so barely survived than impeachment, vote after 2 weeks of cost of living, indigenous lead protests that brought the country to a halt. the indigenous leader lay only thus isa is leaving. been no campaign. he says the government should instead comply with the agreements that ended the demonstrations. it will be reported that the government strategically was simply mounting the agreement and comes out of district random to confound all it really

wants is to get some oxygen to continue trying. implementing policies that have not worked until now. both polls showed the referendum results could be very close. and on sunday, ecuadorian will also elect more than $5000.00 local officials. with the opposition expected to gain seats across the country. even the passing of the referendum might end up being a short lived victory for the last. so i listened that impurity and just the key to it's aimed venice carnival is back in its full form for the 1st time in for you. thousands of people gathered in the italian city to witness that canal parade, which kicks off to celebration for 2 weeks. the venice will be filled with serious from around the will. the carnival was scale down in the last few years. juicer corona virus restriction. ah.