but they remain suspicious of moscow, especially since russia's take-over of crimea. and they also worry that the west may be prepared to use crimea as a bargaining chip in a compromise with russia in the ongoing ukraine conflict. the local hospital has power only for the most essential facilities. the laboratory and a few pieces of equipment. that's thanks to the resourceful director, who obtained two generators somewhere when the blackout started two weeks before. >> unfortunately, it's not enough. our x-ray machine could only be operated for two days in two weeks. the authorities switch on emergency power for a little while, but don't say when -- just for a few hours at night, when we don't really need it. >> ukraine has promised to restore electricity to crimea as soon as possible. and the power has been coming back on bit by bit. the hospital director couldn't wait and went looking for more generators so his patients wouldn't have to travel the 35 kilometers to the capital simferopol for relatively minor injuries. there are more generators available there. but ev

turned to them and said we're going to have to bring crimea back to russia. there's a list of names band died about. later, there were further decisions about implementation and some of his close deputies played a role in crimea, but the claim is that the initial decision was made without the defense ministers participation. many were opposed to this decision and foreseeing the potential consequences, but putin has the one and only important vote. in terms of the military action in eastern ukraine, by that point, the defense ministry is involved in those decisions, although it's hard to see exactly how the russian side has

ton side, some people think -- the bridge to crimea and therefore, raised his influence. i don't know whether we can project that out. i think historically, he was clearly much more powerful than -- so, it would be a shift of important progressions if that is flipped now. it seems on the part of putin, there is ukraine fatigue because things didn't work out the way they hoped and projected they would, but he doesn't know how to get out of it. he can't get out of it by simply walking away. he really feels like he needs to maintain some kind of lever on the key of government to keep it from drifting closer to the west. the forces can be a lever that he can use at any point he's hoping to recognize those forces as legitimate actors empowered to negotiate on behalf of decentral aigs or solution. but the key of government is not going to give him that, but he isn't sort of willing to just walk away from it, so he's kind of stuck and i think he wants to keep it as low a boil as possible. if there's a walk back to some of the anxiouses on the part of europe within the next year,

if you go to crimea, if you come to crimea and met people on the streets i'm sure they will tell , youhey never wanted to be part of ukraine. they are -- after the collapse of the soviet union they were protesting. what ukraine did, they actually provide a lot of economy to crimea. the crimean leader was called the president even. it was an autonomous republic. then they removed all the rights later. frankie speaking, crimea with a 60% of the population being russian never wanted to be part of ukraine. they voted absolutely voluntarily to become part of russia. charlie rose: do you think that part of what drives president putin is demanding a kind of respect for russia? that he clearly believes that after the collapse of the soviet union at all the russian problems they went through that the world of us respected he is determined to make sure that the world respects russia and that is part of what his political activities are about? andrey: he think there should be some rules of the game in international politics. before the collapse, when it was the soviet union there was a standoff b

a pretty long story about crimea which was inhabited most of all by ethnic russians were crimea ter., scott has been played andin which used to be in a pretty bad economic shape during the last 25 years. now it creates very serious problems in the fact that russia has directly confronted turkey is very negative in terms of what we will go on in crimea and will go on with crimean tartar. very different estimates how many live now in turkey, and it is impossible to count them precisely. but starting from two to 5 million. this is very important thing. >> i actually have a couple questions i would like to raise. the terms are as, a couple of times. to what extent do you think that this is a useful analogy or term? is it just something that might note that the leader has a certain prominence relative to others, or is there something that absent to some notion of zahra's him? do the elites see him in these terms? my 2nd question is more specific to brian. the concept of ms. ms. interesting. is this something that could transcend himself and leave a legacy? and then structuring politics in

crimea. a true black sea paradise with picturesque mountain ranges, lush forestry and miles of sun-drenched beaches, crimea, its' kind of russia. >> no, no >> stephen: the russians think it's russia, can i go to crimea. looks like a beautiful place. >> it is a beautiful place but it is part of ukraine. the united nations-- >> stephen: says who? says who? >> a hundred countries and the united nations general assembly >> stephen: you have seen the way putin walks. >> i saw you walking like putin. crimea is part of ukraine. unfortunately since the russian occupation, again, the human rights conditions, deplorable, people disa peemplet you don't want to go there if you don't want to get disappeared. we don't want to you get disappeared. >> stephen: i want to drop off the map for two weeks but would like to. where it will, that is when you should go back >> stephen: it will go back to >> it has to >> stephen: i can quote you. >> it is part of the territory integrity of the ukraine, absolutely >> s

we are outraged by the overtake of crimea crimea. i look forward to seeing all my colleagues upstairs in a few minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you. >> now we recognize mr. keating. >> thank you for conducting this timely hearing. i would also like to thank our witnesses for being here today to discuss intermediate range nuclear forces treaty, both in this hearing and later on in the classified things that follow. i understand there are limits to what you can say in this setting, but i appreciate the opportunity to diss discussed publicly the treaty violations. i think it's important for the public to know but not necessarily something that needs to benefit the russians. >> this was one of the most important treaties of the u.s. has ever signed with russia. observers have stated that rushes has developed and produced and tested missiles in violation of the inf treaty. russian violation of the inf treaty, or the violation of any treaty would be a serious matter. i look forward to further details regarding the particular ru

annexing of crimea. putin claims crimea belonged to russia. today's donald trump defense that america killed people too isn't sitting with. donald trump did condemn the killing of journalists. but his supporters stand by him, seemingly no matter what he says or who he praises. katy tur, new york. nbc news. >>> president obama today gave what is likely his final news conference of the year and for the third time in a week he sought to reassure americans that the strategy to battle isis is working. he also announced he is commuting the sentences of 95 nonviolent drug offenders. the most he's ever commuted at once. the president also thanked congress for passing a $1.1 trillion spending package. it will prevent a government shutdown through next fall. >>> the fbi has joined in the search for a texas teen who killed four people while driving drunk, then made national headlines when he stayed out of jail with an infamous aplu enza defense, his lawyers arguing he didn't learn consequences after growing up wealthy. and now after failing to check in w

. >> the fact that we're not talking as much every single day about crimea does not mean in any way we have forgotten that the illegal invasion, that is an invasion, of russia into crimea will not be accepted by us or the international community. this attempted annexation is contrary to international law, it is wrong, and we will not accept it under any circumstance. and moscow eventually has to end its occupation of ukraine's sovereign territory. >> biden went on to say that it is criminal for ukraine's government to root out corruption. he also announced $190 million in u.s. aid to help advance reforms there. when we come back, attempts to bring down the affordable care act. the president vowing to veto it, but it may already be on the chopping block. >> congress is moving closer to repealing the affordable care act. a bill already approved by the senate would dismantle major parts of obamacare including the mandate you've heard so much about. the president has pledged it veto the bill when if and when it reaches his desk. the only way to insure the health care act is to elect an rep

. >> the fact that we are not talking as much every single day about crimea does not mean in any waye've forgotten that the illegal invasion, that is an invasion by russia into crimea will not be accepted by us or the international community. this attempted annexation is contrary to international law, it is wrong, and we won't accept it under any circumstance. and moscow eventually has to end its occupation of ukraine's sovereign territory. >> biden also saying that it is critical for ukraine's government to root out corruption in its government. >> russia says it was conducting air raids and bomb raids the syrian government saying three soldiers died when that strike hit a base in the eastern part of the country. if true this is the first time that russian airstrikes have hit a syrian army position. up next, finding solidarity in sorrow. >> my wife had just frozen in that moment when i learned that he was dead. >> a young woman who lost her brother at virginia tech shooting reaches out to families in san bernardino, california. >> as president obama continues to point out mass shoot

. >> they can go to crimea. >> crimea. they are being asked to sacrifice in a way and give up the turkish tomatoes for now. >> about the polish, on this sunday, they talked about the for the first time i was in poland i went to an economy forum and i never remember eating so many apples as once. at the beginning, you know, it was unknown but later a journalist explained to me about the apples there. a couple things i think is we have to -- i remember in dnc and in 2007, they were making the speech about the foreign policy platform of president obama and blaming romney for breeding russia from the forces. and russia changed so fast. i think part of the problem was, i guess, romney visited poland to make that statement but i think if someone was reading the report, and i think the united states missed that point. what we see is sometimes unpredictable leaders. the unpredictability becomes from so many unpredictable things. and then we see, you know, because of the structure is difficult to understand foreign policy to unders

that come out, and i'm going to pick on a little pelt project of mine -- pet project of mine, in crimea. i spent a lot time with crimean tartars who people who are ethnically related to turks and in the past couple of weeks you started to sea a lot of talk of the crimean tartars as the kind of philadelphia column of turkey, and there's a lot of concerns about the human rights situation for the crimean tartars. a matter of point that is very much talked about and perhaps a little tangential to this discussion but i wanted to bring it out anyway just to pinpoint the way that the russians are using this as a very important internal mechanism of control. so i think i'll stop there and get to the internal turkey. >> thank you. >> thank you,. let me a little bit about background of this, and turkish-russian relations. patrol five months ago i was in moscow in a meeting, a meeting organized by a think tank in turkey and carnegie institute in moscow, talking bet the relations and if there was any way to improve the relations between the two countries. and there was this really high optimism muc

last year putin told the world russian troops were not in crimea while the world watched russian tanks and little green men come into that area. russia is conducting strikes in syria to prop up a dictator that has murdered thousands of syrians. putin seems to want to expand his empire out of the cage and it's time we recognize them for what they are doing. they are being aggressive. no surprise russia is once again breaking its word when it comes to assigned arms control treaty. the intermediate@range nuclear arms forces treaty is a treaty between the united states which places limits on ground launch and blus i can missile which range up between 500 and 5500 kilometers. the united states has held up or bargain, the russians have not. according to press reports, it appears russians have tested a ground-launched cruise missile. they have responded that this is a sea-based missile which does not fall under the treaty. that's nonsense. according to press releases also the administration seems to have known about the violations back in 2008 it took three years for the administration to rep

in crimea there is enormous economic unhappiness, and the 68% or 70% of the people there who are russian are being increasingly unhappy about the state of economic affairs and political affairs. in ukraine itself it is a total, unmitigated mess. there is no logical way right now for the russians to leave except to be humiliated once again, and certainly he won't do that. >> what is it that western leaders don't understand about vladimir putin? >> most of all, that putin is in a long line of russian leaders one at another placing the interests of russia as they see them ahead of the interests of everything else around the world. so for putin, who is a politician first and foremost, wants to retain power, for him it is central that he be seen by the russian people as a very powerful leader capable of taking on anyone including the president of the united states. what the west does not recognize is that putin is prepared to play just about any card, including the military card, to retain his political power. >> marvin's book is called "imperial gamble: putin, ukraine and the new cold war."

we have to make an important choice in 2014 for example, when we had with crimea, russia declared to the whole world that we are strong nation with history of thousands of years stands united on common goals and, values. today again we are strong, we are engaged in where open for, rotation within terrorism we make decisions. we know that it is up to us to deal with the issues we face today. but we can always do this together. let me give you another quote this is quite unexpected even for me. these are words that were said by person who is very far, and he said 100 years ago. here's what he said. >> if we are this disunited we will be destroyed immediately, our strength is in unity, we, we should be like a army, like a family. we are peace loving nation it is a loving word that describes our situation. [applause]. at the same time, russia's part of the changing global world, we are aware of the difficulty and the scale of the current issues. development always faces the difficulties and obstacles. but we will rise up to the challenge, will will be created and accepted, we will work h

we're outraged by their takeover of crimea, the invasion of ukraine and the bombing of anti-assad forces in syria but it's important that the meat of this hearing be held in the classified session that will be upcoming so i look forward to seeing all of my colleagues upstairs in a few minutes. thank you, mr. chairman. >> i thank the gentleman. the chair recognizes the generally from massachusetts, mr. keating, for any opening statement he may have. >> thank you for conducting this timely hearing. i would also like to thank our two witnesses for being here today to discuss intermediate range nuclear forces treaty, both in this hearing and later on in the classified briefing to follow. i understand that there are limited to what you can say and disclose in this setting, but i appreciate the opportunity to discuss publicly the issue of russia's compliance with the inf treaty, something i think that's important for the public to know but not necessarily details that will advantage the russians. 28 years after the inf treaty was signed it remains one of the most important nuclear treaties tha

i am just talking those from crimea. and i will stop there. so i do think russia is a concern as a potential from the blow back but i do think the analysis is different. talk about the modern rebels it generally has ben such a thing as a modern rubble. with the formation of this rebel alliance and to the russians will be willing to engage. and as they said the targeting inside syria is from non inside forces. and as far as the caucus goes gather it's up problem and then to the middle east and london of the things that you hear it is better that they go to syria we can blow them up over there. though to some extent not all of them were prevent all of them from coming over. and that much was generated and then to have the movement from news pakistan from the beginning of the 2000's with barely substantial numbers. not because of anything that is going on in syria and is a way to follow those ambitions. it is not only a question of what is going on in the crowd. but in neck eastern mediterranean i have a lot to say except from the power projectio

key event will be his address to the parliament, where he's expected to condemn the annexation of crimea. rory challands has more from moscow. >> there has been almost no so farrage of joe biden's upcoming visit to ukraine. that's because at the moment russian intentions are focused solely on syria. >> now, the united states is not involved in the norm andy format negotiations. that's the meeting of ukranian russian, french and german leaders coming up with the minsk agreement. the roadmap that it hopes will solve the ukraine crisis once and for all. >> but, the russian government demos >>> moscow accused the united states, washington of meddling in ukraine, form enting the maidan revolution leading to the ouster of president viktor yanukovych. and moscow health the west responsible for what happened in the east. joe biden's visit to ukraine is not going to change moscow's opinions on that. >> al jazeera's rory challands in moscow. joining us from washington d.c. is bill courtney, senior fellow at the rand corporation, a former u.s. ambassador to kazakhstan. thank you for joining us. >>

. >> the fact that wees are not talking as much every single day about crimea, doesn't mean in any way we have forgotten that the illegal invasion, that is an invasion by russia of crimea will not be accepted by us or the international community. this attempted annexation is contrary to international law is wrong and we will not accept it under any circumstance. and moscow eventually has to end its occupation of ukraine's sovereign territory. >> the vice president also said ukraine must step up efforts to root out corruption. he announced $190 million in u.s. aid to help in that effort. >>> still ahead on al jazeera america. a first round victory for marine la pen, taking an antiimmigration and antimuslim stance. >>> and orphaned chimpanzees operating in sierra leone. and a new hot spot for piracy. >> beijing has issued a red smog alert for the first time ever. these are live pictures showing what could be the worst possible pollution, it is the worst possible pollution threat level. schools are shut down. factory production is restricted as is driving and everyone is being told to sta

we are outraged by their taking over of crimea. meat ofportant that the this hearing be held in the classified section. i look forward to seeing all my colleagues upstairs in a few minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you for conducting this hearing. i would also like to thank our two witnesses for being here to discuss inter--- intermediate range nuclear forces treaty, but in this hearing and later run in the classified briefings follow -- briefing to follow. i know there is a limit to what you can say in disclosed -- disclosed in this -- disclose in this session, but i think it's important for the public to know, but not necessarily details that will advantage the russians. 28 years after the inf treaty was signed, it remains one of the most important nuclear treaties that the u.s. has ever signed with russia. state department and numerous observers have stated that russia's developed, produced and flight tested a ground launched cruise missile in violation of the inf treaty. a russian violation of the treaty, with the viola

to vladimer putin and cronies and russia's military industrial base as russia continues to occupy crimea, destabilize ukraine, and their neighbors in the region. what kind of message does that send to ukrainians who have been fighting and dying to protect their country? how can we do this? how can we do this when russia continues to send weapons to iran? how can we do this when putin continues to violate the 1987 intermediate nuclear range treaty. how can we do this when putin is sending weapons to iran supporting the assad regime? i understand senator shelby and durbin would benefit from this provision but when sanctions are necessary the countries that impose them must be willing to pay a cost, too. after leaning on france to stop the sale of two ships to russia because of the invasion in the ukraine the united states cannot keep buying hardware from mr. putin's cronies. mr. president, i ask to put the editoral from "the new york times" be included in the record. >> without objection. >> on the record, i make this promise: if this language undermining the national defense authorization

will never accept the russian takeover of crimea.e warned lawmakers to keep their own house in order. --ir president less president left last year during reports of corruption. oscar pistorius will remain on house arrest while appealing his murder conviction for killing his girlfriend. supreme court of south africa overturned the lesser sentence of manslaughter and convicted him of murder. that is a look at the first word news right now. you can get more on these and other stories 24 hours a day at the new bloomberg.com. i am courtney donohoe. betty: courtney donohoe at the news desk. -- economic report of china this time it was the trade data that had global markets selling off worldwide, including here. exports dropped and a slump in imports. worrys data sparked this here about a global slowdown. we did get some less bad news out of japan and europe? mark: japan is in recession after all, the economy did growth last quarter after the initial estimate of gdp showed a detraction. thanks to private consumption and spending. does the m

i'm talking only about the crimea partners. their only reaction was to be concerned to come back on them. and i'll stop there. >> thank you. >> okay, on the islamic state. i do think russia has a bill concern about potential for blowback both in central asia and the caucasus and within russia itself, but i also think that their analysis of the problem is different. we talk about the islamic state as the problem and, we talk a lot about modern rebels in syria. the russian position generally has been there is no such thing as a moderate rebel. again after the john kerry meeting that may be beginning to change because it has been the formation of this rebel alliance with saudi help answer some questions about who the russians are going to be willing to engage. but you know, in general as kilic said, the targeting inside syrihas focused primer on non-isil forces which oppose the most direct threat to the assad government. so for the russians this hasn't been about places per se. and as far as the caucasus in central asia goes, yes,

you may remember that russia took over the the crimea peninsula. >> when i went this week they didn'td any cancer at all, so i have good news. >> that's right. former president jimmy carter delighted his church congra ghags she cancer free. the 91-year-old revealed this after four months of being treated. over the summer they removed a mass from his liver and found melanoma on his brain. >> new jersey governor chris christie talking about terrorism concerns is alerting iowa voters about donald trump. this weekend the republican presidential hopeful warned a cam crowd about what he calls shiny new candidates with little experience. we're monitoring trump's campaign. the iowa caucuses are set to begin early february. >> the anniversary of the ratification of the amendment which ended slavery. >> the governor marked the occasion with apology. governor markell, apologizing for slavery in his state. he told the crowd that it is essential that we publicly recognize the everlasting damage of past wrongs. >> damage that reverberates widely to this day in a country where more than 150 years af

following the annexation of crimea last year, russia said it would take legal action over ukraine's failure to pay its 3 billion euro debt. as of friday, moscow will also reestablish customs taxes up to 7% on ukrainian imports. markus: the final trading day of 2015 in the united states. indices are set to close out the year in negative territory. the dow jones industrial average going lower by about 7/10 of 1%. all sectors are down as investors seem to be adjusting their portfolios before 2016. there is one sector bucking the trend, and that is energy. oil prices have stabilized somewhat on this final trading day of the year. the ftse and the cac 40 finished 2015 on a negative note as well. the dax in front for was shot on thursday and had its final trading day on wednesday -- in fankfurt wasshut -- in rankfurt was shut on thursday and had its final trading day on wednesday. markets got a boost after the european central bank's stimulus program. by ftse was undermined falling oil and mining shares in 2015. that came on the back of falling oil prices. seeing a pretty dramatic move lower when

on the program today -- the lights are going out for the tartars of crimea austrians quite literallyin arms about migration. and spanish singles head to the countryside, and it's more than fresh air they're after. when i lived in the former soviet state of georgia, electricity cuts were really common. you'd be sitting in a bar or a restaurant and suddenly the lights would go out. but georgians are an irrepressible bunch. so people would just whip out a few torches and candles and

relations there suspended after the annexation of crimea by russia last year. >>> more syrian refugees on its way to canada. canada's minister meeting in jordan's capital before their flight took off last night. they'll be resettled in different locations across the country. canada plans to take in 25,000 syrians by the end of january. there are incredible images coming out of syria today. while the war focuses on solving the crisis. the red cross is warning that winter is approaching. more than 12 million lives are at risk. >> her name is oom ahmed. this young mother of six begins each day scouring the alleys of aleppo when there are no jets dropping bombs she looks for things to burn. she gathers twigs, leaves. >> even garbage. anything to burn to make a fire so i can heat water to feed my children, clean them with at least warm water, even with what we can find, everything is expensive. >> her husband abandoned her and her kids without an income without any means she struggles to find milk for her infant. every day she worries about how to put food on the table. these are desperate

leading the annual crimea christmas parade. israeli government began construction on the wall more than 10 years ago. they say it is meant to stop violence. the palestinians say it is nothing more than a land grab that has strangled bethlehem's tourism. thousands of palestinians have all came to the square to celebrate the birth of jesus christ alongside christian pilgrims around the world >> it is very important festivity because it is the birth of christ, the birth of hope, the birth of resilience, the birth of love. so this is what people are celebrating. >> reporter: palestinian leaders scaled back christmas celebrations across the occupied west bank after months of violence that has left around 20 israelis and more than 130 palestinians dead. bethlehem has seen some intense protests. after nearly 50 years of israeli occupation, what the people want is peace. >> translation: today bethlehem lives in a state of sadness. people have been under siege and people have been killed. it has turned from a city that carries a message

what's changed now is the russian annexation of crimea. aims to prevent similar moves in neighboring countries. >> this particular training exercise is part of this overall effort to send a strong signal of preparedness, readiness and resolve in the face of the challenges that we face on the eastern flank but also in the south. reporter: the maneuver scenario today reflects that aim. the units are training how to repel an attempted invasion. it's this kind of saber-rattling that dismays stefka. >> i like the russians. they're christians like us. we lived under the turkish yoke for 500 years. the russians liberated us and that's reason enough to like them. reporter: many bulgarians would agree with her. russia and bulgaria share many linguistic and cultural similarities. it's no accident that all the dishes stefka is preparing are also part of russian cuisine. reporter: the historical ties to russia are also apparent in bulgaria's military. almost all the equipment joey donado's bulgarian partners use, like these armored personnel carriers,

at the same time, when i last saw you in august of '14, we had the russians in ukraine in crimea, but the idea that the russians were going to go into syria, i think if you'd asked most of us in august of 2014, is that going to happen, we'd probably say nah, wide' pe'd pu as unlikely. how's that played out for us? cyber in the last 14 months has been sony, isil, it's a problem set that has been difficult and it just keeps getting more difficult. and that is not going to change in the near term, because the very technical foundations that we are building as a society, the internet of things, the way we are increasingly becoming dependent in our personal lives, our professional lives in the execution of whatever mission it is that you're fulfilling in life, private sector, military, whatever, cyber is so foundational to our ability to execute what all of us do personally and privately. this is only going to get tougher before it gets better. we've committed to extend the presence in afghanistan at current levels for another additional year. so as the director of nsa i think to myself, w

for this issue to have veefed this proportion of attention seemed to indicate that ukraine, syria, crimea, other issues such as russian military doctrine talking about escalatory dominance, the preemptive use of nuclear weapons, that would be a topic nuclear related that we should perhaps give as much attention to as this. >> sir there are many troubling issues with the russian federation right now. and this is among a number of very troubling issues, i'll only say that. le. >> i thank you mr. chairman. i yield back the balance of my time, look forred to the classified session. >> thank you, gentleman. i would agree this issue has received a lot of talk. unfortunately it's received no action. chair now recognizes mr. keating. >> thank you, mr. chairman. curious how much you could comment on the fact that in my view russia has an enormous stockpile of strategic and other nuclear weapons already. and i'm just trying to think of a real good reason why this is so strategically important to them. i'm just curious what your thinking might be. what are russia's real gains doing this, given their

you may remember russia took over ukraine's crimea peninsula. we'll have a live update from point breeze neighborhood where a row home fire sent two people including a firefighter to the hospital. plus, imagine walking into a restaurant, sitting down and paying whatever you want for your meal. that's what one restaurant is doing. but it comes with a catch. what's that saying no free lunch? ♪ >>> the sounds of the season echoed through the chapel of st. martin in wynnewood where interest was the 28th ap you'll christmas concert. visitors enjoyed a tour through the landmark. ♪ o come let us adore him >> in delaware county the holy family regional school children's choir performed holiday carols. students, faculty and staff played the roles of mary and joseph, the three wise men and angels and of course some live animals too. santa and his helpers are busy this time of year but not too business tee visit with special kids. this is caring santa. children with special needs and families came out to visit the big guy in a special environment. there we