katara always going places together. the corona virus has been indiscriminate in selecting its victims. it's devastating effects of plague, every corner of the globe, transcending class creed and color. but in britain, a disproportionately high percentage of the fallen have been black or brown skins. the big picture traces the economic disparities and institutional racism that is seen united kingdom fail, it citizens britain's true colors. part one on al jazeera. ah ah. you're watching the news are alive from a headquarters in ohio, eddie navigator coming up in the next 60 minutes. the battle for about smooth reports, a fierce fighting as mercenaries from the russian wagner group try to take control

of the ukrainian city. china chooses the us of violating international practice after it's shut down a suspected by balloon pocket on a former president for investment sheriff has died into by after a long illness. and scientists and the u. k. have created a new type of ice by shaking water in a jar of metal balls and frost condition. i'm devin ash, with 4000 manchester city. let's close the gap on premier league. lead is awful. while in spain, around madrid lose ground in the legal title right off, so they are beaten by new yorker the welcome to the news hour. it's just past 1500 hours gmc and we begin, and ukraine. that's where the battle for control of the eastern city is intensifying. the head of the russian wagner mercenary group, says there is fierce fighting. the city has been the focus of moscow is offensive

for weeks. ukraine's president vladimir lensky warns the situation is getting tougher as russia poor as more troops towards the front line. same bas robbie is joining us from key will come more. can you tell us about the ongoing fighting in and around the woods in well, it's been a very active day all up and down the eastern front in this conflict in ukraine. but there is very little debate about where the major flashpoint is currently in the war and ukraine, and that is in the mood. the comments from the wagner chief in guinea, a prego gene, really lining up very squarely with what the government here in chief has been saying. the wagner chief saying that ukrainian troops aren't retreating, and the president vladimir zelinski saying that they will continue to fight for the place that he calls ukrainian fortress. he says that his forces will hold on as

long as they can, but he has also said, seemingly preparing his country for bad news that may come from the front that things on the eastern front are getting more difficult and will continue to get more difficult in the days ahead, ukrainian forces say that they have killed a 140 to 200 wagner. a fighters in 10 hours of fighting in recent days, saying that so called zombie soldiers, mercenaries working for wagner. simply walking wave after wave into machine gun fire. but they say that they are out numbered ukrainian forces are out numbered by the sheer mass of fighters that russian forces are able to bring to bear to but more the city that remains under siege. now what's happening on the front is, is difficult to ascertain from moment to moment, but one of the reports from the front lines seemed to suggest that a small unit wagner fighters have taken over the village of stupid sky on the

outskirts of buck moves. now this is a small village, generally speaking it would be an insignificant spot, but what is important about this village is it could potentially cut off the main highway. the main supply line for ukrainian force is currently in buck moved. and if that does happen, then that could be a decisive moment in the battle for the city. a city continues to be in circles from the north and the south by russian fighters, ukrainians still trying to hold on dearly. not wanting to give the russians a decisive victory in that city, a head of the anniversary of one year into this war and ukraine. right. and what's been the impact off residential shelling is shelling rather our residential buildings in car. keith. that's right. well, you train in russian forces face off in buckman civilians continue to pay the price for the missiles that are flying in russian missiles. if continue to fly over the country over the skies in ukraine. and cartoon 2 missiles hit the center of car

keys, one hit, a residential building, another the university and car keys that were in injuries but so far, no debts were reported from the shelling south of southeast of cartoon, there continues to be fighting in an area called criminal ukrainian say that they've cherry to the counter offensive against russian forces. they're further south into the fca ukrainian forces stated they've hit the russian base. that was housing troops that were bound for the front line. and a school in care son was also hit by russian missile strikes. so that continues to be the case. there's, there, as russians in ukrainian face off on battle lines in by civilians continue to be targeted by russian missile strikes. all right, thank you so much. and beth's ravi reporting from keys while the war in ukraine has led european nations to impose new restrictions on russian oral that had come into effect on sunday. premium products like diesel and jet fuel will be kept at $100.00

a barrel, while products that trade below the price of crude, including industrial lubricants, will be kept at $45.00. so western insurance and shipping companies will be banned from handling the refined product that unless they were purchased at or below those limits. there are concerns, the caps could lead to a rise in global diesel prices. and that's because the tankers used for refined oil are smaller than those used for crude. and their journey to europe will take longer from the u. s. and the middle east stuff austin has more from amsterdam. well, it is predicted that the impact of the embargo which is implemented today on oil products like diesel and the price cap will be higher than what happened after the embargo and crude oil, which was implemented last december. many countries here in europe, we're fairly much depending on russian diesel. for example, for example, the german government has bought more than 600000 tons of diesel just in january to

stock up for this possible embargo to be implemented. other european countries have done the same. this shows that they were very much still depending on this, russian oil product. germany, for example, around 13 percent. and it also means that they don't expect a huge price hike immediately because there is enough stock. they say here in europe, but what they are predicting is that in the next few months there could be higher prices. so the truck drivers, people who work with diesel, we have a real need for diesel, which is quite an important part of the economy here in europe, of course that there will be higher prices as well. and is also this fear because a lot of refineries here in europe have closed down over the last couple of years because of climate reasons that they will need to go elsewhere to refine these oil products. and it could be going to asia to the middle east, maybe to china. so that means that there will be more higher prices because of all

this. and also there's a serious fear that the could be shortages in the next few months. something that the energy minister of saudi has pointed out that these embargoes will eventually lead to shortages. but that's something that here a lead us in a european union sale say won't be the case. they say we need to set a very sand, the very strong message to russia to make clear that it can profit from this war. and that's why this embargo, after long the bait within the european members, because some of them wanted the price kept that was going to be much low. and now it's decided on $100.00 for these oil products is high quality or products. so they decided they needed this embargo to send this message to russia. let's discuss this with neil atkinson who's in london. he's the former head of the oil industry and markets division at the international energy agency. welcome to the al jazeera news hour. there's been some reaction to this news. the saudi energy minister has warned

that the sanctions on russia combined with the under investment and the sector could lead to a shortage and energy supplies. do you agree with that assessment? we should always just kind of use of the saudi arabian oil minister because he's very close to the industry and what's going on in the market. i think initially, at least were unlikely to see a significant spike in product prices. because as your introduction re clear, starts in europe and elsewhere have been built up in anticipation of the russian boycott. however, when the saudi ministries absolutely spots all, isn't because of the very tight situation with regard to a oil refining capacity globally, not just in europe. there is a possibility that if demand growth is very strong in the asian economies, europe continues to need diesel. we could find that the lack of investment in parts of the oil industry infrastructure could mean to could lead to short. it is a cycle prices he's quite right, focused on that. right. and as

a reporter was mentioning a moment ago, the countries behind this price cap are trying to send a strong message to russia. but besides the message, what impact do you think that this cap on products like these on jet fuel will actually have on the russian economy? well, it's going to take some time, i think, for the russian economy to really hit the rocks. we found that with the crude price that kept we've been in operation already. and quite frankly, i think that's not true tunes. mindset is such, he is so obsessed with the war to ukraine. now he's going to take a considerable period of time before the russian economy deteriorates so far that he has to call it quits and leave the cray. i don't think the economic pressures of european union is attempting to impose on russia will have an early impact. right. and on that crude price, cause you mentioned just a moment ago, we saw that take effect back in december last year. but then we also saw that

countries like china and india were really buying up russian oil. so did that move actually have the desired effects? well, you can argue that because, and in taking 2022 as a whole, russia actually export it slightly more crude oil products than it did in 2020 was because of where they were cut backs and suffice to market such as europe in the united states. china and india hugely increase their imports of crude oil from russia, particularly india in ports of russian, or went from next to nothing to over a 1000000 pounds a day at one point. so, you know, it takes a long, long time for these and bothers to take place if they ought to have an impact. and of course, these, these factions, these buggers, are not universally respected. yes. so how key then, will the russian reaction be to this? and what do you expect it to be?

i think the russians were playing a long game. i think the russians will continue to tend to sell as much oil products as they possibly can. they've been buying up the smaller tankers to build up a shuttle fleet, which is the same thing as they did with the crew tank because they are in the air . and they will continue to sell as much product just they can, even if it's a significant discount. and even if it involves much longer voyages to markets and so after cur, or latin america and other parts of asia, they will do everything they can to ship product. all right, thank you so much, neil atkinson for joining us from london. thank you. plenty more had on the al jazeera news hour, including the head of the roman catholic church, wraps up his visit to south dawn, renewing his call for venice. carnival is back in full force. after years of fail down, celebrations coming up in sport,

cut our hosts round one of the freestyle type world tough action coming up with german. ah. but 1st, china has accused the united states of overreacting after washington shot down its balloon. nearly a week after i entered american aerospace, the balloon was 1st spotted and fairbanks alaska. on monday, by wednesday it was seen near missoula, montana. the chinese balloon then floated over kansas city, missouri on friday by saturday morning. it was seen in the skies over memphis, tennessee, before being shot down by us fighter jets off the coast of south carolina. later that evening. china insist that was a weather balloon that strayed off course. particle haine has more. a clear shot as it happened, a missile hit the high 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 that winning carts insane. instead of letting it travel all the way across, you thought that was just that. i think it's terrible that they let it get this far start with. and what i've heard are 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 down last wednesday, decided without doing damage to anyone on the ground. and decided that the best time to do that would be we got over water within our, within 12 mile limit, successively took 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 u. s. will decide if they want to publicly and the debate offering proof of what this was . it's still an open debate because huge balloon was in fact, following the air streams of the area and that it has attracted 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 liberally said by china seems a little bit far fetched. but us analysts say the fact that they believe a similar balloon is travel in latin america makes this theory more likely. i do not believe that it was just a weather balloon blown off. course it would be quite the coincidence if we have

this loon going into us airspace while apparently there's another one processing latin america simultaneously infringing upon other countries airspace. another strain and an already frayed relationship, which was supposed to take steps toward improvement on saturday. instead, taking a step back, patty call hain al jazeera washington. let's bring in my canada who's joining us on washington d. c. mike. so just tell us a little bit more about what went into the decision to shoot that balloon down because just about 24 hours ago, there were questions being raised as to why the biden administration was letting that balloon linger. indeed yes, that was became a domestic political issue with intense criticism from republicans in particular. but what appears to be the process is that president biden was informed about the existence of the balloon on tuesday. he then held meetings with military advisers

and on wednesday, instructed the military to take down the balloon when they thought it was suitable . in other words, president biden pushed onto the military, the decision out to win and where to take down that balloon. remembering of course, the threat to civilians should the balloon be brought on overland. so the military then decided when it was going to do, it, decided that it would wait until the balloon was over water, hence the balloon once it hit the eastern seaboard and was moving over the atlantic ocean, then the decision was taken to shoot down at, at with the intention of minimizing any threat to civilians on the ground. right. and if indeed it was a spy balloon spying is not really unusual between countries. as it, mike well, military sources say that this is a fairly regular current said china has some number of these balloons over 5 continents. it's also not the 1st time

a balloon has infringed on us territory as it was 3 times, according to defense officials in the trumpet ministration. one previous time under the bided administration. but the difference in this particular occasion was the fact that 1st the balloon entered the u. s. and then moved out again. but then it came in on previous occasions. military analysts believe that the balloon did stray, of course, remembering that it's remotely guided bull, but at the same time is largely dependent on wins. but on this particular occasion, it came back in over the u. s. in what appeared to be a military officials, a plan fly to cross the eastern seaboard going over some highly sensitive areas as well. so this was very different from what has happened in the past, and this was the cause for the great concern, and also the cause for what the biden administration sees as a provocative act by the chinese, in terms of sending this balloon in. all right,

thank you so much. my kind of reporting from washington d. c. hawkstern's, former president rivers, missouri has died at the age of 79. he had been receiving treatment in dubai for a long illness. alexey o'brien takes a look back at my sheriff's life and the controversy surrounding his political career. prevail, mashhad was living in exile for years, fighting to clear his name. the form of pakistani president was charged in connection with the 2007 assassination of former prime minister been as he abuto. 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 shut off, aligned himself with the so called war on terror. general michelle of is under american impression 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 u. s. and tribal leaders shot af late. it said the united states threatened to bomb pakistan if he didn't commit to fighting al qaeda flu shot was criticized for failing to improve the economy at home. and maint ties with india, despite a high profile visit to agra, which many had hoped would lead to better relations firing. pakistan's chief justice in 2007 proved to be his fatal political move. it led to street, protests, melbourne, was the 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 have 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 governor would call me back. i would say save pakistan. but that did not happen today. my nation ordered me to come back. i came back, put in my life in danger to safe pakistan. instead, he was arrested and charged with murdering been as he a bhutto, the 1st woman to be democratically elected and a muslim majority country. the government allowed rachada to leave in 2016 to seek medical treatment for serious illness. he had always denied wrongdoing and maintained the cases against him were politically motivated. police and the pakistani city of his shower are stepping up efforts to prevent more attacks that after monday, suicide attack on a mos killed more than a 100 people al jazeera. as i said, bay got exclusive access to a police units. searching for armed criminals. they arrive at the outskirts of town

at a small village. police are acting on information provided to them by locals. they want to move quickly. plaza, open up. he says that women to one side of the and in they go. that all is accompanied by a female officer, police are looking for anything on toward in some cases, people don't have id cards and no registration papers i was not given was in a directory home. considering the circumstances, we are carrying out orders of our superiors by conducting search and strike operations for the sake of peace and safety. in hakim abad. we've carried out house to health searches and arrested 8 to 10 suspects. people who are not registered, we investigate. i'm at the police station. people here are poor and is a transient population. while some african search homes, others stand. god site authorities here tell us, since there's been an increase of attacks against police, they're not taking any chances. these offices, every time they leave their base,

have to be armed, move in a convoy, and be ready for any potential attack against them. the police come across a group of brothers without papers or ideas. they're taken away for further questioning the police or should we go to regularly quality lucky. we appreciate the efforts made by policemen in conducting such operations to find out if any militants or criminals are hiding in our area. keeping in view the new surge or violence in the country back at their base, police show us their equipment. many of it is old. some of us by our own bulletproof vests as officer walk us. this is my personal vest. the focused on the thought, yvonne say they've carried out over 40 attack the can security personnel in january alone. these been say it's only a matter of time inter bear attack. i said vague. i guess era, missouri pockets on 9 people are still missing. after a fishing boat capsized off the south, west coast of south korea,

the boat overturn. just before midnight on saturday, 3 crew members are rescued. coast guard vessels are searching for other survivors. in late january, at least 8 people were reported dead after a cargo ship sank between south korea and japan. the head of the roman catholic churches wrapped up as historic, visited south to dawn, with a large open air mass. pope francis called for peace urging people to put down their weapons and work towards reconciliation after years of conflict. harm latasha . how's this update from the capital jubal? ah, pope frances told the people of south sit on the church has not forgotten. ah, thousands of people attended and open a mass 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 a country we many had been killed or displaced by conflict. number good, there,

my lesbian answer. never lose hope and lose no opportunity to build peace, my hope, and peace. dwell among you, my hope and peace, dwell in south sedan. according to the united nations, they are more than 2000000 internally displaced people. insults are done. and another 2300000 hefley the country as refugees. those who attended the mass hope the 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 public delivering is quite important is coming to remind christiane to love themselves. based on the south to dance.

president silva kia promised to resume talks with the armed groups who did not sign the 2018 piece deal, not to diver away from it on the 11th. then there was a civil war in training on each other, despite a peace deal sign in 2018. they still violated on the country. people. yeah, i'm praying for me 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 maintained courage, politicians, to resolve a differences and work towards peace. all people can do here is hope and pray that happens harder. matessa, altura juba, and the fame venice carnival is back in its full far form for the 1st time in 4 years. thousands of people gathered in italian city to witness the canal parade which kicks off the celebrations. for 2 weeks,

venice will be filled with tourists from around the world. the carnival was scale down in the last few years due to corona virus restrictions on taiwan nights. sky lit up with hundreds of floating paper lanterns as the country mark the end of the lunar and we're celebrations. 1000 people flock, the northern pink district near ty pay to attend its annual sky lantern festival. they wrote wishes for the coming year on lanterns and released them into the sky. the events is one of taiwan most popular festivals. still ahead on the algebra news, our voters and cyprus are making their mark to elect a new president for run off is predicted. and ecuadorian also has to the polls to vote on constitutional reforms will be live in the capital, kito drama, on the truck as the athlete miscalculate her race distance. thoroughly costing her the wind up story much more coming up with jemma in sports.

ah, the fight in central chile partly was out of the warmth and not going to be helped a toll by the by the see the clarity to the service. we're bringing some range patagonia and shout up in uruguayan the se, brazil. but in the middle, we're talking about sasa santiago, the breeze is still coming up and he's a dry breeze. and there's no rain in sight, so those fires on lock gotta be helped at all by a change in the weather. the line a shower that usually she's see stretching from rear bucket. it's the west of brazil is there is largely on the dry side. i think the shelves may well be heavy in bolivia, less so i think in color you still got a steady, steady trade winds. so frequent light shall seem likely heavy rain, or at least for a time sundry rain in the north bahamas is coming up through florida as well. or why? yes, they really said look at the arctic blast. look at the temperatures now. barely sub

0 in new england. they certainly start the day, but they won't end up that way. ottawa will see some snow toronto may well do, but actually it's the californian side. once again, the pacific coast, where you see rain at low levels, readily goes to snow in land in the mountains particular the rockies were at last couple of days, but the sun's back out in san francisco on monday. though not necessarily in seattle, she's like to see yet more incoming wintery weather. ah, every year in china and estimated 80000 children are abducted by one of their parents, one or one east follow some mothers desperately trying to re unite with their children on al jazeera, february 1 i'll just either rhinos in tigers, in the whole host to the brink of extinction, one or one,

he discovers how they're 14 and around a year on from brushes, a vision of ukraine al jazeera looks at impact, an us where events might need from here. rigorous debate, unflinching question. up front muslim on tail cut through the headline 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 will dictate those who confronted people. and paula investigate the youth and abusive power around the world. february on i'll just either lou. oh, i

hello again. the top stories on the i'll just renew our the battle for control of the ukrainian city about which is intensifying. the city has been the focus of moscow's offensive for weeks, ukraine's president of all of them as a landscape warns the situation on the front line is getting tougher. china is accusing the us of overreact thing after it's shot down as balloon off the coast of south carolina. the pentagon accuse beijing of using the surveillance cross to spy . but china had said it was a weather balloon pocket on former president, professor sharp has died after prolong illness at a hospital in dubai. for sheriff was charged in connection with the assassination of former prime minister ben as their boots, so, and sentenced to death in 2020 a court and passed on over to a presidential election is underway in cyprus. though countries facing a cost of living crisis, corruption scandals and migration crisis opinion polls suggest a vote will go to a run off on february 12th, harry faucet reports the front runner in

a presidential race that's unlikely to be over for another week. cyprus is foreign minister nickos christ deliveries is ahead in the polls, but to win outright, he'd need more than half of the total vote. something the same polls suggest he's a long way shorter symbol, new york d. c met in a matter today is a celebration. today's day for democracy every year and with their votes determine the future of our country. the melons, early turn out, was substantially up on the previous presidential election in 2018 voters have much on their minds. soaring inflation, irregular migration, deadlocked re unification. books with a turkish north of the island and long running corruption scandals. of the main issue that concerns me as corruption, which i want to change with my vote. and i called everyone to get off the couch and come to see the important thing for me. selection is

the day in the country is going to follow to the hallways. then i'm not trying to have crystal duties who's largely been untainted in the public eye by corruption as soon as something of the continuity candidate following the outgoing to turn president. because anastasio bodies of the 13 other candidates in the race to a scene as realistic rivals right wing party lead to either of near to and the diplomat . andrea, my real yanine, who's being backed by the main leftist opposition party equipped to tennessee in griffey do, lo must have confidence in the judgment of the people. i have confidence that with their vote and participation, they will lead our country towards better layers. that judgment is expected to be split in some days around a voting. the final one likely to come in a to candidate run off in 7 days time. harris will sit al jazeera. let's bring an ottoman so then he's

a professor of political science and international relations at the eastern mediterranean university. his 20th, i'm nick a c and cypress. welcome to the algebra news hour. so the opinion polls just seem to suggest that none of the candidates will get more than half the votes, which will then result in a run off. how close do you expect the selection to be? well, most of the opinion polls show that the number one contender. ready ready won't get around 30 percent and then the next one will get around 20 percent. and the 3rd one again around 20 percent. so there will be around off next week. exactly. the same may yeah, most popular will show that because it's a former foreign minister. the 4 runner who is expected to get 30 percent. we're also we're the 2nd route. that is not a big surprise. right. and what is the pre it's expect from their new president?

what are the most burning issues? well, for the majority of the citizens, the number one issue is about you call me and things that are related to corruption, politicians. and unfortunately this, this issue is not drugged. do stress the kyler economic situation and the food that they are going to be today or table. and in terms of the geo political significance of this election with potential natural gas developments off the coast, the cypress and also frozen talks with turkey. of course, over re unification. how, how significant is what happens in this election on the region. in general, i have been saying that unfortunately,

since 2020, early on the peace negotiations can come on 627, cyprus became like a small oxide. so to speak on a be here, joe, probably a so i'm afraid that unfortunately cyprus became lessing park. but the region at least 7 mediterranean became more important. and the what, what i called giants like turkey and other lead to it all states in the region became very important. so we have already entered into this a ceilings of the election season number. what is the presidential. ready election but more important than that. busy is being turkish elections for the

presidency as well. busy general elections, which are supposed to be taking place on the 14th. so how do we do to the election? caesar all the candidates are using mostly nationally, less because of the language. but after the election sees that are the summer this year, i'm expecting and other initiative by united nations and other important hours to try to restart the piece negotiations and also in general trying to solve the problems in the mediterranean and more urgent. thank you so much, we'll have to leave it there so that we appreciate your time with us. joining us from nika, see, i thank you. people in ecuador are heading to the polls on sunday to elect local

officials on the vote, on constitutional reforms. so among the issues being that decided or enabling the country's military to join the police and fighting drug trafficking and also reducing the size of the country's national assembly. indigenous people say the results of the referendum may threaten their rights. let's join now from quito by the sandra p. c. so ecuador, you seem to have lost faith in the political process and in the president. how important are these elections then? well there in there is no doubt that the collections come out at crucial time for the government to get them a last thing which is that trying to find that break through to regain some political capital and is very unpopular the government he's, he's the and has less than 20 percent of the support of audience right now, we have to deal with the number of crises, essentially since coming into office back in 2021. he barely survive that

impeachment both back in june after weeks of protest to any also has had to deal is still dealing with a major rise in crime, especially in the coastal areas of ecuador. as the drug trafficking, again, are fighting each other in an open war, often with the government there and this violence as also pressed into this campaign to may. may your candidates have been killed one last night just hours before the pulls open, something that to get a dress the when he now you're a voting day earlier on sundays and promising that to the killing of this candidate that will be punished but also other candidates have been attacked in coastal regions and the past few days, just to give you an idea how they control the government seems to have right now in

whether this has turned in anger app and even frustration on part of the vote. those here in frustration or on the rise among voters in kito ahead of sundays, wides ranging referendum, promoted by embattled president, get more lasso to address the countries deteriorating, social, and economic conditions. we have no faith in politicians for all the scandals that happened recently. people has lost trust in politics, if that goes on with an approval rating below 20 percent, a hostile congress, mounting governments, corruption allegations, and dramatic rising gang related crime. conservative president lasso has been left with little bass 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. and we call a balance with this popular popular consultations usually become a referendum on the current administration. but in this case, despite the president's major last in political capital, the referendum has strong support because it addresses fundamental issues for the people. 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. lottie, what's your politic? well, the former president of ecuador is constitutional assembly says the reduction of assembly members will reduce representation of remote areas and strength in the hands of the most powerful parties. some of the don't want to confront up a lot of, 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, and x 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, on the very last so barely survive 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 leading been no campaign. he says the government should instead comply with the agreements that ended the demonstration. it will be when the government strategically avoided simply mounting the agreement and comes up to disrupt random to confound tanks. all it really wants is to get some oxygen to continue trying. implementing policies that have not worked until now is both holes show 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 fetes across the country. even the passing of the referendum might end up being

a short lived victory for the last voting is compulsory. here there is a $45.00 us dollars. fine. if you don't vote so a 13000000 a quarter in for are expected to vote this sunday. the post will close a rough roughly 6 hours, 6 and a half hours from now, and then the results will start to come in, given the fact that this is a very complex votes. there's not only the constitutional referendum but also all the set at different local officials that might take a little time to get official results. but this could also go into monday, even late on monday, but we will get actually post later on sunday. so far the situation has been call me across the country, but we have seen candidates, especially on the coast, having to go to the vote to round that by farm god, by the, for the or,

or the army. this is all new terry, 34. whether that which used to be one of the safest countries in latin america quite orient, even if they're not excited about their vote. they are curious to see the changes, the constitutional changes have been the that go through a might help to solve that many urgent problems in ecuador. okay, thank you so much. we'll check in with you later on, a sunroof reporting from kito researchers in the u. k. have discovered a new type of ice that may help us better understand water and it's anomalies that's called medium density, amorphous ice or m d a. and it's believe to be found in space. or scientists that you c l in cambridge university, say this ice initially looks like a fine white powder when it's shaken at extremely low temperatures with steel balls, then it transforms into something like ordinary ice. but its density is the same as water. and that means that the substance moves like water,

but it's molecules are arranged in an untidy pattern. unlike water, let's not bring in andrea cell from london. he's a professor and the chemistry department at university college london and was on the team that created this ice. welcome to the al jazeera news hours. so just to put it very briefly, tell us what m d a actually is. was other catchy. his name is ed, medium density, amorphous ice. um, but we don if retaken ordinary household ice, the stuff we take for granted we dropping our drinks that those of us soon a northern hemisphere, i guess us key on and so on. and what we did was we cool it down so far that actually the, the, the, the atoms and molecules within it are essentially completely locked down. and then what we did was we ground it using a bowl. now, in other words, we, we smashed it to smithereens. now one of the things about ordinary i says that it's actually crystalline and by crystalline, i mean that the water molecules are arranged in beautiful rows,

bit like soldiers on parade. and what we did was we essentially smashed and smashed and smashed again. and the idea was to see whether we could kind of loose the, the, the, the crystalline order and end up with something that much more interesting. and tour considerable surprised is rather childish experiment. but, you know, the idea kind of came to us, i guess on friday afternoon, i actually seem to work and the more you grind it, the more you use that nice ordered structure. and at the same time, you know, we know that i floats on water. so it's density is, is less than that of water as you grind it as you smash it. what happens is that the density gradually increases until eventually it really matches exactly the of water itself. so what we hope we have is kind of equivalent of

a snapshot of water. in other words, a solid material where nothing can move, but where just is in water, all molecules are arranged randomly, right? is insistent though the 1st new type of ice that's known to science as says that tell us more. no, absolutely not. i mean ice is just the gift that keeps on giving. yeah, it's kind of interesting. we think of ice as being this, this sort of single material. but it turns out that from the beginning of the 20th century, people have taken ice. and one of the things they've done is they've cooled it down and they've, they've squeezed it. and each time they've dumbness to different conditions of pressure and temperature, they've been able to get different structural forms with these oxygen and hydrogen with enough arranged in different ways. and so there are now 20 different crystalline forms of ice where everything is regular. but on top of that,

there are also what are called amorphous forms. and we found one bit long before us people identified a low density, amorphous ice. and this is the kind of ice that, that occurs throughout the universe is low density form. so the recent comments that i think you covered on al jazeera, recently, you know, people talk of them as dirty snowballs. well, actually, they're made of this rather lower density, amorphous, right? which ran into my next question, apologies, but it was, this type of i was, i was, was made in a lab, but it could be found in nature. well, this is the interesting question. i mean, we know that the, the outer planets of the solar system, particularly ah, jupiter, saturn, and, and, and uranus actually hot moons around them. these moons are often covered with, with ice. and because those moons are so close to the massive planets, the vast glaciers on the surface are actually subject to tidal forces. and so they

get pulled back and forth and rotated. and basically they grind against at their edges. they grind on the rocks below, they grinding the cracks and, and we think it's possible that there might be some of this m d, a ice lurking within these plants. and so one of things is we really want to understand more about his properties and its mechanical behavior because this might shed light on the behavior these exotic glaciers are. i thank you so much, very interesting to speak with you. thanks for speaking to us from london. re pleasure. stella had on the al jazeera news, our some pretty unusual events at the indian rural ill and fixture on a lot more on that and support ah, bitcoin block chain and crypto guarantees. disruptive technology joined with me and

introducing a bill to outlaw crypto currency all the way to a fair, a financial system. it declines open source software. we can credo, or money without banks or governments award winning filmmaker. thorsten hoffman looks at all sides of the complex crypto crypto p. it going look, change in the internet on out to sara lou. ah ah, for the sportsman serves drama. thank you. during the around madrid have lost ground in the last he gets heights or a soft or a shock defeats to rail majorca nachos and go off to 13 minutes. proved to be the difference as around would be in one mill by the scene who attends in the table. it

means barcelona can go 8 points clear of color. i'm to lossy side if they win against the viet later. a growl will now turn their attention to the club. well cup in morocco they faced egyptian t my luckily in the semi finals on wednesday. i'm actually booked that place in the last 4 by be seeing the seattle sound us with a late goal in the 88 minutes mohammed after shot taking a heavy deflection to win it in time to see as to why the 1st u. s. team to compete in the tournament that they are now out. i likely haven't lost a game in any competition since august 27th, though favorites without casablanca were knocked out by the african champions base . it in a penalty shootouts by allies of saudi arabia and the richardson was that the match for us in the moroccan capital were that this was a game no,

without casablanca found at once it's amiss. wonderful bulls, best supported teams playing on home soil in the club world cup the moroccan and african champions hoping to replicate the success of the national team. at last year's world cup in castle is the best feeling ever. if you are a big tunnel we does because we had a good moment with the team. as you know, we did the best team in africa and on about defense, we're going to win win to jump in with defense without been going to anything. so i hope we'll do a great job today with 60 fennel's and support this behind them. what does the 1st hurdle in this tournament? was a knockout game against asian champions, al hillel, of saudi arabia,

noise levels, when even a fire in repents, when we down gullible in the nets, midway through the 1st half, only for the effort to be ruled out of side. a breakthrough from within the really early in the 2nd half. you've moved with the go from team on their way for 1st ever when in this competition, but in the final seconds of normal, telling me that all unravels. so how, how i want a penalty for some boys without thompson with sin. so and how else? mohamed, how to convert the whole kit to take the time into extra time and increasingly, but simple game. so bill score cannot read, coded, a penalty shooting would be side, the winner. a single mist point with doubt proved to be decisive. now, the semi finals and a match with south american champion swimming will be nettles. when we know when we're done,

but we'll keep working on it because we don't want to come up with on to the last which we keep going. keep going on, go to go on now with wishing that you were looking at home, but one of the real bad whites we really felt that we could, we get into the game. we had a pop, so tough we played against a very, very good team. i retired in the 2nd off the read called the penalty and the last minute it's to resolve my players. this is our house photo parents of the club. well cup on each occasion. they've reached the semifinals last summer house. they would be to buy chelsea and in 2019, when the toner was held in capital, they lost 2 flamenco. they now have a chance to avenge that loss against the brazilians. in tangier, on tuesday and richardson out, you sarah robot garris bow. they have hung up his football base. pretty shiny, pretty handy with a set of golf clubs to. this is him playing out of

a bunker at the pavlovitch prom in california. the form was kept in brownwood, stars, ties to the sick, thinks in the amateur event. as for the prize american pizza, my lassie was top of the leaderboard when strong wind stops play midway through that round. now just a few miles up the road, cut all plate host around, one of the freestyle quite well cup. it took place in the north of the country, who at quite beach resort. there was some very impressive move out of the water as brazil's, as 3 tom. well champion, bring. the cashier came out from the women's category at italy's reigning, well jumpy and jam. maria cocoa. so took the when the mens events now to something that you might not know much about that the indian rural olympics, the 3 day competitions, these hundreds of athletes complete, compete in traditional but also bizarre sporting events. you don't want to miss this, peter step reports. oh, it's a saturday morning in india's northern punjab. oh and with sports like hockey and

athletics on the itinerary, it looks like any other local sporting get together. oh, with one or 2 rather unique events like this tie rolling contest. well, you ain't seen nothing yet. the indian rural olympics features events that are part of the traditional olympic movement, but also traditional punjabi martial arts and games. this bay devil strong man, successfully break some iron chain with his body. oh, all right. what triggered my passion was the thought that what's the point of living if one does not do anything remarkable in life, one should do something for which he remembered even after death. i wanted to make a name for myself so that even after my death, people remember that there lived such a person falling. and how about this man? oh yes, he is actually pulling 3 men sitting on a motorbike with

a rope tied to ease tea. and this fellow is about to lift 92 kilograms of weights with he's yeah. oh good. quitting his middle observer level, you to get the 1st and foremost dangerous to the spinal cord and also to the bone at the back of the neck on even that can get damaged. and as far as the air is concerned, you can see that it's bleeding. the games last 3 days and organizers say any one who can turn any kind of skill into a sport is welcome to come and demonstrate. peter stammered al jazeera and finally back to more regular sport and a mistake that almost cost this ethiopian run a victory, an indoor race in france, $3.00 bay, while teddy was leading the 3000 meters when she seemed to miscalculate her race distance incredibly see where this woman to go truly and waving said she sat down on the track thinking she'd finished, but was actually one lap or 200 meters short. a feller run has told her to get

going again and she sprinted to the finish to win it in 8 minutes. 33.44 seconds despite that mistake. that's the world's leading time so far this year. that is always for now i'll have more later during thanks termer. we'll be back in just the moment with morning sun auto 0. ah, ah, along with a talk to al jazeera, we of the school, but should they not be more of a science, perhaps a foundations like yours? we listen when it comes to diversification. we don't do it in order to be gets rid

of the rational energy sources we meet with global news makers. i'm talk about the store restock matter on al jazeera. as soon as the sun goes down, russia is a very challenging place to work from. i think you're on the list, even though the authority here say you can't do it, it's not allowed to be a feel pushing. they're always pushing a boundary part of the sense of always on good loved people. i being the say for be fully marked here for the business that we are the while reveling the extra mile where auto media don't go. we go there and we give them a time to tell their story. debating the issues of the day, the 5 largest polluters of the world are in india. jump into the street, they made their money on coal. they made their money on field, convincing those folks. no, we need to go. green is very, very difficult, giving all of voice. we chose to think because we wanted to escape war and violence . when you humanize this narrative, you allow people to really understand the reality and break down misconceptions.

the st. on al jazeera ah al jazeera i with the national chapel. ah, the battle for a buck mullets report so fierce fighting as mercenaries from the russian rock. our group tried to take control of the ukrainian city. ah.