This is aljazeera. The whole robin youre watching the aljazeera news our life my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next sixty minutes more than one hundred people feared dead after flooding and mudslides hit the southern philippines. Also russia warns the u. S. That its decision to provide arms to ukraine will worsen the conflict there. And shop limits on oil imports and a smuggling crackdown the u. N. Approves more sanctions against north korea. Also urging spanish and caribbean influences the Cuban Dance Company thats taking the cancellation of its u. S. Tools in its stride and im. New to south american officials. On charge of the racketeering in new york. Welcome to the news hour more than one hundred people are feared dead in the southern philippines following massive landslides and flooding caused by Tropical Storm time but now most of the casualties were on the island of mindanao dozens of people still missing it has more. Flash floods and mudslides brought on by Tropical Storm tendon the towns of two baad n. P. R. On mindanao island the philippines second largest have been devastated dozens of homes are destroyed and rescue workers fear the number of casualties will rise we really want to go straight no and were going to figure out. What you have so many people that are really. At the height of the storm winds of up to eighty kilometers an hour uprooted trees and triggered torrents of mud and rock from a nearby mountain volunteers are digging with whatever they can to try and recover bodies power cuts and the loss of communication lines have hampered rescue efforts. There ive not iraq and the area is pretty wide its not just in one province but in several provinces. We are having a hard time communicating why there are areas that may have been. Last week forty six people were killed in the central philippines in a similar storm the philippines is hit by around two dozen major cyclons each year on average many of them deadly but mindanao island home to twenty Million People is rarely hit the region is still recovering from type which killed more than seven thousand people and affected millions in two thousand and thirteen and while the worst of storm tendon has passed it will take a long time before this area recovers. Which is here. Well the philippines is one of the most per most prone disaster areas in the world located just above the equator the country faces the western pacific now its warm waters make it a perfect breeding ground for storms more than sixty percent of the population live in coastal areas and this exposes their homes to the worst ways caused by storms as they roll over low lying parts of populated islands and the philippines that lies on the ring of fire a vast area on the edges of the Pacific Ocean thats vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis well lets get more on this from meteorologist Richard Anglin and why is this particular storm turn been far worse than the high tech well you would think it would be wouldnt you bear in mind that the previous storm system dropped half a meter of rain you know that much that much rain phenomenal but this system actually drops a lot less and therein lies the problem sailed because the southern part the philippines is more vulnerable than the northern part because they get these storm systems much less frequently because much closer to the equator and usually these things dont get a chance to spin up as frequently of course is what would all assume perhaps that Climate Change or the environment or environmental changes are part of an element within the problem that the philippines faces as well in such a location yeah every single event like this i look for two things Climate Change element and the very very is is are a Human Element and there invariably is Climate Change elements a fact that the waters are warming Ocean Temperatures are rising and as a result theres more Energy Available and these storms tend to be more intense. And the other issue of course is the expanding populations of many countries poor countries such as the philippines and in southern areas a lot of the land is given in logging the trees are gone and steady got things like pineapples and anybodys ever seen a pineapple field knows tends to be very weak sunday so easily washed away and the the water simply takes all the land with it so theres the other element of the problem you mention just a moment ago the geography of the country can matter quite a lot north and south can affect how the weather affects it intents and purposes. In the philippines do anything can terms of the way that its position does that isnt unique area really cant do much about it situation nowhere Getting Better in terms of preparations you know communication social media means that people are made more aware of whats going on and you tend to find that that if you like the warnings about better twenty eleven the last big system like this resulted in more than twelve hundred deaths hopefully this will be much much less and thats point because a better Warning System is the end of terminal quick spit more storms one way well ive got some weather graphics which will show whats happening so we just have a quick look at those and you can see the whole system there and it is moving away towards the west and its going about eighteen kilometers about last time i looked so it will continue to move away the situation get better obviously whats fall is still going to work its way down through the rivers but the general situation across the philippines is for a marked improvement well see later in the brig for the moment richard thank you russia has warned the u. S. Is encouraging new bloodshed in Eastern Ukraine by providing weapons to kiev now the u. S. Says it will give kiev and hand defensive capabilities to defend against pro russian separatists the conflict in Eastern Ukraine has claimed more than ten thousand lives and twenty fourteen charlotte palaces more. Missile strikes hit a small town in Eastern Ukraine damaging homes a school and Medical Clinic just said. Ukraine blamed the attack two nights ago on pro russian separatists civilians caught in the middle of the three year long conflict. The us has strongly opposed it cools russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine blaming russia for violence that has claimed more than ten thousand lives and displaced one point seven Million People now it will provide weapons to help ukraine defend itself the state department announcing the United States has decided to provide ukraine in hunts defensive capabilities as part of a if it to help ukraine build its long term defense capacity to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to deter further aggression. Report suggests the support package if approved by congress would include antitank missiles. U. S. Secretary of state ricks to listen has said russias all keep ation of crimea or say u. S. Wants return to ukraine is a may just stumbling block in relations between moscow and washington the issue that stands in the way is you crying. We can have differences in other arenas in syria we can have differences in other areas but winds of one country invades another that is a difference that is hard to look past. Or to reconcile and weve made this clear to russia from very beginning that we must address ukraine that saying it stands as a single most difficult obstacle to us renormalizing a relationship with russia which we badly would like to do he blamed russia for continuing violence in the dinette screech and today we focus on is ukraine because thats where the level of violence is simply its risen the shares i and its up sixty percent we have to bring that to the end and this u. S. Defense package appears to be their own. But one military analyst suggested it will do little to help ukraine and as a tactic by trump to show hes not in bed with the russians the truth is that this is not a game changer on the ground in ukraine with a promise now really are just sniper rifles this is not going to change things on the ground in moscow knows that this is not striking fear and the heart of anybody in the Defense MinistryMoscow Russia issued a response warning that the u. S. Decision will embolden kiev in the conflict and only increase the use of force shelob ellis aljazeera well correspondent to mock him and his life force all washington d. C. Bureau and get a question we really cant ask in the moment tom is why is the u. S. Decided to ukraine now. Well this had this is based on a decision memo that reportedly defense secretary james mattis together with the secretary of state we just heard had been had been. Delivered to the president and he had been sitting on it for quite some time and finally made the decision now to approve this this is a package that is as the state department had said is entirely defensive in nature in the sense that these are anti tank missiles reportedly two hundred ten antitank missiles and thirty five launchers. But and prior to that there had been approval of sniper equipment which and Light Weapons but this goes far short of what many people had hoped to see because back in two thousand and fourteen congress had approved had authorized the sale of weapons to the. Ukraine government and the Obama Administration had been sitting on it so what they were looking for was something that could actually for example anti aircraft weaponry and that is not part of this package of course really does change in policy in contrast to the obama era and one wonders whether the opportunity for diplomacy has ended as far as the trumpet ministration is concerned that there was a potential conflict all support of a conflict to regain not territorial behalf of the ukrainians in the offing. Its a little premature to say exactly what the policy position of the administration is because rhetoric and actual action are far apart in many instances youll recall that last year the Republican Party had modified the their traditional position on ukraine on support for ukraine and and only advocated appropriate assistance but not specifically weapons that could defend themselves against. Russian or pro russian actions in the area and so this is in conformance with what we now see as a change in the in the trumpet ministrations acceptance of the general nato position that. That ukraine will require more help but again its not clear to what extent this will be a ramping up of the tensions in ukraine in actual on the ground in so far as so far we can see these this weaponry is defensive in nature well see what the russian reaction is late for the moment tameka been there in washington d. C. Thanks for your time now the russian president says moscow is not seeking conflict with anyone but will stand up for its interests not to me putin spoke at a conference of the Ruling United Russia Party which has pledged its support to next years president ial election not putin who is veges as an independent candidate is expected to win that would be his fourth term president. Plenty ahead here on the aljazeera news hour including protests continuing ganser over the u. S. Recognition of jerusalem as israels capital and no room to move by commuters a manilla rallying against the citys overloaded train system. And coming up with tatiana in small disappointment to host kuwait in the opening match of the gulf cup. Now the u. N. Security council has unanimously passed new sanctions and the latest attempt to force north korea to abandon its Nuclear Weapons and Missile Programs the resolution put forward by the u. S. Includes measures to cut most of pyongyangs petrol imports north korea is already under u. S. U. N. And e. U. Sanctions after several nuclear and missile tests occurred this year now the new sanctions will try to cut deliveries of refined petrol products by nearly ninety percent although the koreans working abroad will have to return home within two years they wont be able to send foreign currency back home theyll be a battle the export of north korean goods such as machinery and Electrical Equipment and there will also be a crackdown on ships smuggling banged goods aimed at preventing the transport of coal and oil mike hanna has more from the u. N. Well what has been a sometimes divided year for the Security Council draws to an end with a display of unity the resolution on north korea tightening sanctions passed unanimously and tighten the sanctions it does theres a massive reduction in the amount of refining the fuel that is north korea would be allowed to import also or trouble bairn an asset freeze on a number of individuals and one entity the north korean army will this resolution followed intense talks between the United States russia and china to ensure that all were in agreement with the text today for the tenth time this council stand united against a north korean regime that rejects the pursuit of peace the camera seen continues to defy the resolutions of this council the norms of civilized behavior and the patience of the International Community their arrogance and hostility to anything productive has set their country on a destructive path the resolution also did not rule out dialogue committing members to pursuing the Six Party Talks north korea south korea japan the u. S. Russia and china coming together in some form of dialogue the u. S. Still insisting though that there must be a sustained to say sion of north Korean Missile development before discussions can commence russia and china for their part within the meeting insisting that there should be some kind of quid pro quo shown by south korea and the u. S. Perhaps suspending their ongoing joint military exercises nonetheless the Security Council coming to agreement a unanimous vote at the end of the year the whole slew has more from seoul. South korea says it welcomes this latest round of sanctions calling its an indication the world will not tolerate north Koreas NuclearDevelopment Program relations between the two koreas are at their lowest point in decades previous south korean administrations have taken a more hardline approach when it came to dealing with north korea but president in who came into office in may leans more towards the liberal side so hes stressing dialogue as the way forward now south korea is also due to host the winter of the pits in february and its keen to not do anything to heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula ticket sales for the event have so far been slow with concerns that the the security situation is keeping spectators away so while south korea supports International Pressure on north korea in the form of sanctions it says dialogue has to be the way forward now how is this north korea likely to respond to this latest round of sanctions while in the past north koreas previously third that sanctions will only have the effect of hardening its resolve and accelerating its Nuclear Program in august when the un s. C. When the u. N. Security Council Voted to ban north korean exports of coal i n n seafood among other things it responded with testing a Hydrogen Bomb in september when the u. N. Security Council Passed another round of sanctions in september north korea launched a missile test in november and we havent yet had any official reaction from north korea but we can expect a statement perhaps in a day or two put out through official state media we can also expect to hear from north Korean Leader kim jong un himself whos made it a tradition to deliver a new years day speech. Theres a new leader. Has named the former army chief as one of the two Vice President s constantine urchin wenger led the coup last month which ended Robert Mugabes thirty seven year long grip on power the new president has already appointed several Senior Army Officials to his cabinet since he took office on november the twenty fourth in liberia former football star george ways c. D. C. Party is holding a major rally ahead of the president ial runoff vote next week where faces Vice President joseph in choose days vote which had been delayed for weeks due to a Court Challenge though the first round was held on october the tenth but results were challenged by the third placed candidate to alleged fraud and irregularities the top court they to dismiss those claims and gave the go ahead for the runoff vote lets cross over now to mohammed al in monrovia where people are gathered ahead of that rally of course in the days after that first round of voting mohammed there was that real concern that the runoff could be indefinitely delayed after that candidate took to the high court and how has that changed the mood of the electorate and those attending the rally where you are. Well yes. The some old goals thirty im here in monrovia where supporters overjoyed to we is coalition for democratic change. For his final rally in hunting for votes in the final hours of the company and peter which comes to an end tonight now. Just days ago it was. Whether these election runoff could actually take place. There was a legation so freudian the fuss round