but long-term leader alexander lukashenko prevailed in a vote widely criticized as fraudulent. his government suppressed the ensuing mass protests and arrested thousands. according to human rights group -- a human rights gup, there are morehan 0 politica prisoners in belarus. among them, victor, another challenger of lukashenko. and another person, a prominent government critic. from exile, siarhei tsikhanouski continues to raise her voice. she has urged the west to keep up the pressure on lukashenko by imposing sanctions and not recognizing him as president. she has called the verdict against her husband an act of revenge by the dictator. >> i will try to do something very difficult. maybe impossible. to bring close the moment when we will see each other again in a new belarus. brent: germany's foreign minister has condemned the prison sentence given to tsikhanouski. she said, i have taken note of the scandalous verdicts against siarhei tsikhanouski and others. the verdicts are a disgrace to the rule of law and to the international obligations of belarus. joining me now is our

la union europea acusa al dictador bielorruso "alexander lukashenko" de crear la crisis migratoria ys migrantes, que en su mayoria han llegado desde siria, irak y afganistan. en japon, fue rescatado un hombre de 69 aqos que luchaba por sobrevivir en medio del agitado mar. la guardia costera revelo este video del hombre aferrado a la pequeqa embarcacion que se habia volcado. el sobreviviente estaba realizando trabajos de construccion en un puerto frente a yakushima cuando ocurrio el incidente. una directora de orquesta mexicana crea un nuevo espectaculo con musica clasica y algo mas... las imagenes en breve. y algo mas... las imagenes en breve. ocean spray tiene un sabor único, y es difícil ponernos de acuerdo. a mí, cran-pineapple, me sabe tropical. ¡como unas vacaciones! pero el cran-mango, es como ir a un parque de diversiones. ♪♪ locutor: televisa presenta... [música]

i was returning from belarus, where i�*d confronted alexander lukashenko on the mass repression andlexander lukashenko on the mass repression and torture of peaceful protesters. his loyal supporters rounded on me in a coordinated attack. vladimir putin is presenting this as just another working visit. .. i�*ve reported from russia for two decades, the whole span of vladimir putin�*s presidency. there have been highs, like the world cup. but i�*ve also charted the slow erosion of freedoms here — the crackdown on dissent. a year ago, the government put me on short—term visas. then i became the news as state television announced i had to leave. after tense negotiations, i had been allowed to enter russia, but only to pack. i was then told my visa wouldn�*t be renewed. supposedly what happened to a russian reporter in london — though that was two years ago. it�*s happening as the pressure on russian journalists who don�*t toe the kremlin line is intensifying. dozhd tv has just been added to a growing blacklist of media labelled "foreign agents" for getting funds from abroad. the status

recent migrant crisis on poland's border with belarus — something the eu blames squarely on alexander lukashenkonow, russia has denied any bad intent, so when i sat with the polish prime minister, mateusz morawiecki, i asked him why he was convinced that there was such reason for concern and such urgency for the west to act. we should connect the dots on this picture because we are now confronted with a series of different risks and different crisis around us, and we have to wake up from this geopolitical nap. we should collectively work towards different options, how to de—escalate this, how to deal with those risks and what to do to actually diminish the power of mr lukashenko, president putin, to destabilise this part of the world, europe in particular. do you blame vladimir putin personally for trying to destabilise the european situation? of course, the immediate perpetrator is mr lukashenko and the minsk regime. but he has his sponsor, he has his principal, and his principal is in the kremlin. all those elements, all the pieces of the puzzle put together present not a very good picture, th

murder of saudi journalist and critic jamal kashoggi; and, most recently, belarus president alexander lukashenkong a bomb threat to force down a ryanair flight carrying an opposition journalist. >> no one is safe anymore from the long arm of the authoritarian state. so, even american citizens, if we don't stand up to transnational repression, i think that we are opening the door to authoritarian countries going after everyone living in a democracy. so, i don't think this is just a matter of us and them; it's a matter of all of us. >> reporter: on september 20 of this year, paul rusesabagina was found guilty. >> he founded a terrorist group >> ( translated ): he founded a terrorist group that attacked rwanda. he financially contributed to the terrorist activities. he approved monthly payments for these activities. he invented a code to hide these activities. >> reporter: human rights observers say the trial was flawed and unfair, with numerous violations of due process. sarah ckson is deputy regional director for east africa with amnesty international. >> if the rwandan authorities had wanted to

march next year, according to president vladimir putin, who has met with belarus' president alexander lukashenkoe. russia has demanded that nato do not admit ukraine, which borders both russia and belarus. the us says russia may be preparing an invasion of ukraine, and has announced it will help to strengthen its borders. moscow denies this. british households will be worse off next year because of higher energy bills, stagnant wages and tax increases, according to a think tank. the resolution foundation, which focuses on people on lower incomes, claims millions of families are facing a �*cost of living catastrophe'. the government says it has put £4.2 billion in place to support families. our economics correspondent andy verity has more. at the moment the dominant economic factor�*s omicron, of course, and that may be causing right now a bit of an economic contraction. but it's thought that that will be relatively short lived and what the resolution foundation is saying, they're a think tank that concentrates on living standards, is that in april, we are going to have a really nasty squeeze sud

alexander lukashenko agreed to hold joint military exercises in belarus. to the north russian troops are are already on the ukraine border. they fear moscow is preparing to invade ukraine again and today's phone call is presumably to dissuade putin from taking action. cnn's nic robertson joins us from moscow. what is the intel you are hearing, nic? >> reporter: the kremlin isn't laying out a reason why putin asked for the phone call. what we heard from the white house is they remain concerned about russia's continued troop buildup on the border of ukraine. and the message is that if russia really wants to have a constructive and productive dialogue in these talks that are coming up on january the 10th, then this needs to happen in an atmosphere of de-escalation, and the united states says it's not seeing any de-escalation at the moment in terms of the russian troop buildup. and in the past few days, the united states flew a spy plane over ukraine with the ability to look at what russian troops were doing, how they were deployed. russia, of course, said it

he helped rally major protests against president alexander lukashenko but was arrested and unable to run against him in the 2020 election. his wife svetlana tikhanovsky took on the authoritarian leader instead, becoming the face of the opposition but was forced into exile in lithuania following the widely contested election, in which both she and lukashenko claimed victory. she spoke following the verdict against her husband. >> i will continue to defend thperson i love, who has become a leader of millions. i will try to do something very difficult, perhaps possible, to bring closure to moments when we will see him in the new belarus. amy: in haiti, at least 62 peoe were killed and scores injured after a fuel truck exploded late monday in the city of cap-haitien. dozens of homes were also damaged and city officials said my would need to be demolished. the fuel tanker reportedly flipped over in the street and bystders gathed to collect leaking gas when the blast occurred. haitians have been facing a severe fuel shortage, leading to power outages and protests. in mexico, relatives of p

alexander lukashenko, the last dictator in europe, he's basically set out to destroy civil society ined. it's a pretty grim situation and that's what svetlana basically outside the country is working to try to change. >> joe's got a question for you. >> dexter, obviously today, joe biden is going to be talking to vladimir putin. can you explain how putin hates lukashenko and yet it is that alliance, brittle alliance, that kept him in power through all of this? >> it's true. lukashenko is kind of a miniature putin but they hate each other. it's a very strange -- very strange situation. lukashenko needs putin to survive. he couldn't survive without him. it's the russian guarantee. and putin is sort of stuck with him. when you see these photographs of when they meet each other, they're very uncomfortable with each other. putin is diminutive, very quiet and lukashenko enormous and loud and bombastic and they just loathe each other. >> why do they loathe each other? >> i think it's the clashing personalities. i think they're such radically different people. and lukashenko made a mess of be

at the centre of that row is alexander lukashenko — he's been the belarussian president since 199a.fter the result. but it wasnt a new phenomenon. the sentence was handed down in closed court. it's the latest move against those who disputed the re—election the sentence was handed down in closed court. this footage was broadcast by belarusian state media, showing mr tikhan—ovsky entering court. he's a blogger and a youtuber who was critical of the government one the 6th of may 2020, a colleague on his channel posted this video saying mr tikhan—ovsky had been detained by police in the city of mogil—yoff. a day later — we found out why. translation: i am sergei tikhanovsky, belarus - businessman and blogger and would like to announce that i will take part in the presidential campaign as a candidate. he'd been arrested after he announced he was running for president. so that meant he wasn't able to register in person as a presidential candidate. instead, his wife sviatlana tsikhanouskaya registered in his place. she's now one of the leading opposition figures. he was later released and

alexander la shiancoe. how does this fit in? >> the fact he's meeting with lukashenkoean nations, particularly poland, trying to sort of force migrants across the border there into poland recently, that created a large amount of tension. but the sort of broader meeting that putin is having is independent states, which is really, in essence, the former republics of the soviet union in this commonwealth with russia, where it's a forum for discussion on sort of common foreign policy, policing, economics, these sorts of things. but of course absent from that table and very clearly absent is ukraine. that was one of those states. so i think when you have this meeting and ukraine is such a topic at the moment, its absence from the commonwealth of independent states is a very heavy message for president putin himself. for belarus, the conversations with president lukashenko, president putin is his biggest ally and biggest supporter. what they're planning isn't clear. >> nic robertson, thank you. >>> we're learning more about the time lines from the january 6th committee inves