the parliamentary assembly of the c.i.s. who also has had twenty six so observers from the shanghai cooperation organization are also had twenty six observers from the parliamentary assembly of the russia union states this somebody collective security treaty organization observers. the world association of election commissions are all with similar circulation from europe the arab over the action commissions for observers there were also. observers five of them. but how much did it she did not the two thousand and twelve she. asked on the debt we had. six hundred and eighty five observers from fifty eight countries so as you can see six years later in two thousand and eight we doubled the number of representatives and the number of countries that did not have someone who we believe the election was. as open as possible anyone who. wanted to track the election had all the various opportunities to monitor the election at least for me and my staff tried to provide the best conditions. and you dispose in the regions. of service g

to echo joe wilson's comments having been with you in munich and your presentation at the parliamentary assembly. i think in both of those, we were very proud of both of your representation of the united states and also to our allies. you have continued to make clear the threat that russia poses in all of your presentations including their meddling in elections, meddling in democracies, a threat that is pose dollars to you and your ability to execute your job and task and even the forward deployed troops, what they're experiencing. on the mobility issue, i would like to expand on the questions that have been asked. you have done a great job in informing congress. we did not undertake plans for how would we defend the space and make sure the infrastructure was there. people would be surprised when we approved the initiative, there were u.s. funds that were necessary in order to be able to get our troops from point a top point b that went to infrastructure. you mentioned that briefly we were working with our partners. could you give us an example of the types of things you had to fund that you sho

you in munich at the munich security conference and then your presentation also to the nato parliamentary assembly i think in all -- both of those, we were very proud of both your representation of the united states but also to our allies. you have continued to make clear the threat that russia poses in all of our presentations, including their meddling in elections, meddling in democracies, the threat that's opposed to you and your ability to execute your job and task and even the ford deployed troops, what they're experiencing. on the mobility issue, i'd like to expand a little bit on the questions that have been asked. you've done a great job in informing congress that there are mobility issues as we've expanded nato, we did not undertake plans for how would we defend the space and make sort of the infrastructure was there. but i think people would also be surprised at when we approved the european reassurance initiative that there were funds, there were u.s. funds that were necessary in order to be able to get our troops point a to point b that went to infrastructure. you mentioned that briefl

the council of europe the president of the parliamentary assembly and the assembly itself to join the honourable lady on that particular point and i have made that point in the chamber in the past —— you will never walk away. in terms of the end date of implementation period i spoke about it being two years and in negotiations european union wa nted in negotiations european union wanted it to be december 2020 and i thought it was appropriate we had the firm date so everybody is clear about when been to meditation period will end. for understandable reasons, defence has more than halved as a proportion of gdp since the end of the cold war. now that the end of the cold war. now that the threat from russia is re—emerging, can we reassess the need to fill the holes in the defence budget identified by the neo, the defence select committee and most recently by the joint committee on the national security strategy? can i say to my honourable friend it is obviously an issue on which he has campaigned and continues to campaign with great passion and dedication. as he will know coming out of th

charges could be formally brought against marine le pen after years stripped of her parliamentary immunity by the national assembly last november the charges will be of disseminating violent images and she could face three years in prison or a large fine seventy five thousand euros if she's found guilty she has self has reacted to the whole affair as saying this amounts to a political persecution of her and the actual event was that in twenty fifteen she tweets she tweeted three pictures from i still the so-called islamic state one of them showed the headless to capitated body of an american freelance journalist another showed. a captured jordanian pilot being burnt alive in a cage and the third one showed a tank driving over a victim a prisoner so these were very powerful very awful images and of course it was removed from her account when the reactions started building but now she says that this doesn't mount to persecution by her political enemies and those pictures were removed and she doesn't intend to put them back but they had a huge impact of course in the run up to the election which of course she lost su

charges could be formally brought against marine le pen after years stripped of her parliamentary immunity by the national assemblylast november the charges will be of disseminating violent images and she could face three years in prison or a large fine seventy five thousand euros if she's found guilty she has self has reacted to the whole affair as saying this amounts to a political persecution of her and the actual event was that in twenty fifteen she tweets she tweeted three pictures from i still the so-called islamic state one of them showed the headless to capitated body of an american freelance journalist another showed a captured jordanian pilot being burnt alive in a cage and the third one showed a tank driving over a victim a prisoner so these were very powerful very awful images and of course it was removed from her account when the reactions started building but now she says that this doesn't mount to persecution by her political enemies and those pictures were removed and she doesn't intend to put them back but they had a huge impact of course in the run up to the election which of course she lost subs

national front president posted on her twitter account it comes after the national assembly voted to strip ben of her parliamentary immunity if found guilty she could face a heavy fine or possible imprisonment. rushes that iris to kratos states are disintegrating many were nationalized during soviet times that are still in state hands private investors are put off by the high costs of bureaucracy that comes with restoration row challenged reports now or whether anything can be done to save them. silence and snowflakes inhabit a grave and over now but before its current desolation this grand estates thirty kilometers northeast of moscow was home to royalty and rich merchants tuberculosis patients and finally soviet science students such a history should make this place special but across russia eight to ten thousand estates a quietly crumbling to dust says this conservationist. most of these things are in the horrible condition where someone could put money in for many years with an unclear idea how they take it back and you'd have to work hard on it at the movies i felt like great never most estates are formally o

front president posted on her twitter account it comes after the national assembly voted to strip the pen of her parliamentary immunity if found guilty she could face a heavy fine or even possible imprisonment. or blizzards are causing widespread destruction across europe for a third day to separate storms except to collide storm rolling in from the atlantic and the so-called beast from the east from siberia the u.k. is issued its most severe weather alerts at least forty people have died so far across europe and southern reports. if the first day of march is supposed to hint at the spring to come there's little evidence of it here after a visit from the beast from the east the worst storm to hit britain in seventeen years and chaos in its wake many train services ground to a halt in scotland more than three hundred people were stranded on this highway some for up to twenty hours in their cars off the top of. the old model market. conditions so bad that the first minister nicholas sturgeon even urge people not to travel. schools in the worst affected areas have to close some make the most of it . others gave

assembly. i'm sharanjit leyl in london. also in the programme: a test of colombia's historic peace deal — former guerrillas face a tough contest in national parliamentaryns. raising their game — meet the robots that get better at football every time they play. good morning. it is 9:00am in singapore, 1am in london, and 9:00am in beijing, where in an historic move, the national people's congress of china has abolished presidential term limits. the vote allows the current president, xijinping, to stay in office beyond the end of his second term in 2023. as expected, the amendment was passed overwhelmingly. so what does this all mean? critics argue the move gives one person too much power. we will be getting reaction to the news, and analysis, later on newsday. but first, let's start with this report from john sudworth, our correspondent in beijing. china's parliament was preparing to hand unlimited power to its president, and there could be no doubting the outcome. should xijinping be president for life? "yes," they answer. and then she adds. please don't say that it is president for life. it is just that there is not a limit for the number of terms. but

assembly. i'm sharanjit leyl in london. also in the programme: a test of colombia's historic peace deal — former guerrillas face a tough contest in national parliamentary