frances caribbean territories. protest is open fire on police and martin and the you says it's working on more sanctions against better roost, accusing as of using desperate people to destabilize its neighbors. i'm devin ash, with sport, saudi arabian football club, our hill, i have just won the asian champions league for a record a full time and an unwanted statistic for and be a legend abroad. james, as he suspended for the 1st time in his 19 year career. ah, well, the u. s. is calling the military escalation and ethiopia alarming, and says it threatens any diplomatic progress between the government and to grind forces. and now germany is urging its citizens to leave the country. following france, the u. s. and turkey, the u. n also says it's temporarily relocating it staff. this all comes after ethiopians. prime minister said he'll travel to the front line to lead the military against rebel forces. victoria, gate and b has more ethiopians. prime minister says it's time to lead by personal example. it's a dramatic new step in the conflict. it's devastated the northern te gray region in a statement released on social media. abby actually had said, this is a time when leading a country with martyrdom is needed. i will go to the front line and lead the military from the ground myself. those of you with your opinions, he want to be remembered by history, for the sake of your country, join me in the fight to day. unless say it's an unusual move by the prime minister . i think it is assigned a hope for that deductible. also mobilize all the with your beans, to join the military forces and though to join the war against that again, defense forces. but certainly it is also a sign of desperation. in response to the prime minister's statement, the spokesman for the tea gray people's liberation front tweeted, obese mimicry of ethiopia. as will time empress has taken on an altar, palpable skits of frantic overtone. i would have dismiss this as yet another sick joke. abby, would it a military offensive against the t p a left last november saying it was in response to attacks on army bases? the t p left says it was unfairly targeted, but in june this year to graham fight is recaptured, the regional capital mckelly. and they're now advancing on the capital at is have a despite a flurry of recent diplomatic activity as cease fire has not been reached. and analysts say the language used by abby and monday statement is worrying. he does have a military background. if you look at his nobel prize beach from some years ago, he used a lot of war imagery to talk about the latitude learned about the hell of war. but here we are in almost full circle the nobel peace prize winner. by using the mult, bellicose language, i'm to try to, you know, ramp up, the stakes ahead of the defense, not only of ethiopia, goodness in life and death, you know, you basically, you are willing to die for the cause. they sides of the conflict continue to maintain hard line positions and upset preconditions ahead of any negotiations. victoria gay to be al jazeera, or meanwhile, rebels and 8th. your of he has take, our region, have put on a public display of government soldiers that they have captured thousands of federal troops. as you can see, there are being held as prisoners of war and the regional capital mcclay as the fighting continues. when it's pete ethiopian? jealous, samuel gets a cheer. he's in addis ababa. samuel is abby. really expected to join troops on the battlefield? or is this more rhetoric and symbolism here? when even done now, smith, he is heading to the battle ground was a shock to many people, but he has been his leadership style is something that too practical for even by easy open standard. but he is expected to go. we've been checking, we've been looking at social media, but we can't seem to get any kind of image or confirmation that he has indeed gone to the battle ground. but what we know so far is still a city that is quiet at night. there are many, many people are flee, id sub, including french and turkish citizens, the latest being living into a better living tomorrow night. we have confirmed all of their, most of their citizens have bought tickets to be able to go away from your bank stating that the fighting that's happening in a far away place. and i'm part of a region is certainly coming to the suburbs. but the local government is saying that your best should take a reach, said their arms, defend their interest, should the t p, which the job and government says is a terrorist organization comes to town and there is a still in the state of emergency. there are many to 10 minutes at night. it's quiet at nights. the clubs, the face, the restaurants are very quiet that night, showing you that the sun was in a place to that's too quiet. it's no longer normal city that it used to be. well, suddenly let me ask you then about the advance because there's talk now to ground forces encircling a town 190 kilometers from out us. that's a lot closer than before. how close are you hearing that they actually are now to the capital? well, this conflict has we, again, not only a wage issue among ethiopians, but information comes to our way and we see it's on social media. we can't access parts of your bed that we really need to go and verify information and speak to victims. but again we've, we've heard different rumors, few weeks ago, there was a colleague from other media international media saying that the pair left was in the suburbs cell above. but that was proven to be false. so again, we're taking this seriously. we've heard rumors that there are 200 kilometers so we have from the capital. but i can't again, we can't verify the new information. and this has been the shortcomings of this conflict. again, that was really impacted 1000000, so feel bents. but again, there's the u. u. s. invoice was in the sub about we haven't confirmed if it's still in the server, but he has indicated that progress has to be made. but again, both sides are willing to fight until the end use military power to really solve the differences that we've seen from far money allegations going back and forth between the 2 sites and the allocations of trustees on both sides. so we'll get to that. and if you can journalist in our sub about thanks samuel. well, it's not bringing vicki huddleston, she's a former us charge. the fez in european is also a former us deputy assistant secretary of defense for africa. she joins us now from santa fe, new mexico, vicky as the front line moved towards us, obviously various countries. and now the united nations clearly getting nervous. i mean, people have been advised to leave for several weeks now. so can you give us your reading of the current threat? yes, i think the threat has increased x potentially. we had our envoy, jeff feldman, we had the secretary blinked in in kenya. we had the a you all boss on joe. we had kenyatta and jan. yeah. all looking for a solution. and what has happened now is the prime minister himself says he's going to the field to lead his forces and that he wants all those who support him to follow and join in the military campaign. that says to me, the possibilities of a know a go shaded piece, who are dwindling or non existent at this point. which means that adis is under great threat. and it also means that there's likely to be considerably more suffering. and people should leave now to avoid the worst possible scenario, which could be rebel forces entering at us, or starvation or deprivation because of food and material can't get through to ada. so yeah, i see it as an increasingly desperate situation. and the prime minister himself appears to be very desperate as well. the hey, we are hearing that us forces are on standby and job to receive it. i say the state department is actually saying that there shouldn't be any expectation of an evacuation like in afghanistan. now, as of all michelle's to say, what sort of preparations are being made right now. okay, well, what they're saying, and what is the reason the united states is calling on all citizens, us citizens. salih been a particularly want ethiopian americans to lee because that's the great majority of, of those who may be at heart was way. so the 1st thing we want, the people could be in hard way to leave. but if they leave, that, that gives the embassy the ability to close down at because your services won't be needed. now the reason the forces in djibouti, where we have the combined joint task force are standing by would be in the chase of an attack on the embassy. and they had to fly and helicopters to take out embassy personnel. so it's, it would be purely focused on the embassy itself. so let's talk then about these a tenant cit, diplomacy for months. now there have been strong words from the un, from felton's visits to the a years obasanjo on the ground that feels like very little is change. so diplomacy is kelly not working. so what's next then, do you foresee potential military intervention? no that i see no, no possibility of western military guy, inter ranch it in and now you know, yeah, i mean, if we had to get away from trying to compare it with afghanistan, where our forces were because of an attack on united states. and because we had obligations to that government, now we would like to see peace in ethiopia. we would like to do what we could for ethiopia, by intervening on one side or the other is not in the cards, but one of the things that's really critical and i think could help the situation is the of the prime minister who is responsible for all the citizens of ethiopia would begin to allow humanitarian aid in to the zones that are in conflict to include t gray. obviously, there are a number of different groups now who are involved in this conflict. not only the to ryan forces, but the aroma forces and, and it's spreading across the entire wall, entire, sways of the country. so where do you see this actually ending? does this potentially, could this potentially lead to a broad scale political change in ethiopia? i believe so. well, what they're fighting? yes, in india, logical battle essentially. ah, do, does ethiopia continue to be a federated state? loosely united or as the prime minister ob d wishes? will it be a unitary state? led by now one person out with con, well, a laws and regulations throughout the country. and many in de gray in romeo and other regions want to return to the federated state. honestly, i think the solution that i know the secretary of state as, as a military solution is not the solution if he's right, but i don't see any other solution right now. and the problem is, i can, can the rebels overtake the government or can ok, do you agree to step down? but the worst thing right now is the intervention rivera tray, because it keeps the war going. and we'll see how this all plays out in the coming days and weeks. vicki huddleston, they're a full, may us charge to fair in ethiopia. thanks so much for joining us on out there. i think he thank you. i'm moving on on the wise, how says it's releasing 50000000 barrels of oil from at strategic reserves. it's a coordinated effort with several nations to try to stop soaring fuel prices. the biden administration has been under increasing pressure to act petro price, as of now, more than doubled compared to a year ago. china, india at south korea, japan and the u. k. are all also releasing well from their reserves. well, let's be to our white house correspondent, kimberly hallett in washington, dc. kimberly we were saying earlier under obama, the price of about of oil sat over $100.00 a barrel for some time. he chose not to do this. so, why is biden deciding to do this now? or perhaps, we'll have a clear understanding about the timing, given the fact that the u. s. president will be talking about this, why he decided to do this in the next hour. so we're watching very carefully here at the white house for that. but there's been all kinds of speculation about why this might be happening now. and it has to do in large part with the american thanksgiving holiday. this week. it's the busiest travel holiday of the year in the united states and millions of americans get into their cars. they fill up their gas tanks and they are too happy with what they're seeing right now in the u. s. in some states, the price of gasoline has risen as much as 50 percent like states like california other parts. it's not quite as severe, but the problem is when you add this to the frustrations americans are already feeling over supply chain issues and the rising price of things like food and groceries. and there is a lot of frustration that's translated to low approval ratings for president biden . so there is some bub speculation that this is of largely political, even as members of the prison. so party have been pushing for him to make this move and tap into the reserves for some time. and kimberly will this. well, kevin, it feels like a bit of a short term solution, really and that's the big gamble that the president is making right now. because the concern is that, because this doesn't address sort of overall supply issues, this could ultimately relieve prices in the short term, but then drive them up higher later on. now the president argues that this is not going to happen because his policies have been designed to get the economy going and will alleviate some of these concerns. and add to that he says that much of what the united states is experiencing right now is due to the pandemic, which is an unusual situation. so the president is projecting optimism, even as others are saying, that this is a risky move. so again, we're watching carefully to hear more about the justification for this the u. s. president, speaking here from the white house in the next hour. we're bringing more on that as we get it. i white house correspondent that kimberly help, thanks so much. kimberly. while there's still plenty more and here this news are including dutch hospitals, overwhelmed by private 19 infections. the netherlands now moving patients to germany for treatments tragedy and bulgaria. as dozens of people there are killed abbas excellence and will also have the story of the football referee, who is now a refugee, hoping to settle in europe and continue the job. he loves. ah, unto the pandemic now and the world health organization is wanting that europe could face another 700000 deaths from coven 19 by early next year. coven! 19 patients in the netherlands are now being transported across the border to germany, to try to ease pressure on hospitals. weekly infections hit a new record on tuesday, prompting the government to make social distancing mandatory again for all adults. well, let's be to andrew simmons. he's and rotterdam, andrew, tensions there have obviously been running fairly high the protests we've been seeing. but are these rising numbers now changing how people view restrictions? to some extent. yes sir. there is an alarming situation here. we're seeing more more infections, the infection rate. well, it was in the past 7 days, a 140000 new cases, but compares with something like a rise of nearly 40 percent or so that is a considerable number. a marker to all of this is the start of transfers of patients with seriously ill and intensive care units to germany. of the 1st patient coming from here in rotterdam, a transfer 240 kilometers across the border to germany. to us bach, whom undergrad is a started not particularly surprising who's to take the pressure off the hospitals . here it was used dozens of patients in earlier waves and pandemic were moved to germany. and also we're seeing now really a lot of concern on the streets are you saw last friday on this street? indeed, there were a riots and up the police actually opened fire with live rounds a for protest as a were injured. that is now com. but that don't forget that there is a, a still concern about restrictions here because the level of restrictions is, is reasonably high. it has to be said that there is a lot of work from home policy. there are restrictions or where ideas have to be used for vaccines to get into public places, bars and restaurants around here will close at 8 o'clock every night. and there are other restrictions to now moves to make. some of those restrictions into law are making people really concerned. so yes, there is really a division in people and that the stunning fact is that 84 percent of people here are vaccinated. so that's a high number. and a high infection rate, it doesn't really fit some claim. it's behavior over the people here, but that this is a situation that is alarming to all concerned and deal with the chance as it feels like us is now becoming a bit of a cross border response. if you talk to say what we're saying across and last and here, ah, well, in germany for example, the further restrictions being considered the acting health minister there was not ruling out of full locked down. he says that if that does take place, it will be region by region. the repose is it, and politicians are also making more moods towards calling for mandatory vaccinations for people in austria, of course has been day 2 of the full locked down there. assurances of the economy won't be too badly affected and hope that this will is the moves there. and also, mandatory vaccinations are starting in february will also have an effect. the czech republic, for example, also going down the road of mandatory vaccinations imposed against people's will if need be over the age of 60 and for public work and health workers and social care as well. so you're, you're seeing really this, this point about mandatory vaccinations, cropping up right across europe. and indeed that, that really sobering warning from the world health organization about a further $700000.00 deaths, a prediction there for march next year. the figure would come about that would make the total of deaths in europe. 2.2000000. wow. pantries, across all of that for us from ross's am in the netherlands. thanks so much angie. while you had angie, talk about violent protests that would take place in the netherlands. authorities in the french territory of martinique, a saying protest as they opened fire during a demonstration against private 19 restrictions. there have been protest there against french vaccination requirements, both in martinique and guadalupe french present. manual micron has sent special forces to those caribbean islands to help diffuse what he calls a very explosive situation. what let's bring in a johnny is barnett. he is the president of contact enterprises. that's a business association. he joins us now from 4 to france in martinique. johnny, let's start with the level of the violence that we've been seeing, including gunfire. how you will holding up isn't. this is a way ring because the level of violence we have seen in waterloo, mainly just started maybe last night in martinique. well, i mean, they are worrying because the b b product says no shooting of the police play to very, very serious situation. on the 20th on murray are being run the life so that we knew that there was a lot of the guns ammunition circulating as a young brother, especially on the waiting to to use them against the people. when i say this began and what it, that's what less than 200 kilometers away. and now we're seeing violence as well. and martinique, i know that there was an issue with gangs and got to leave. do you think that unrest is likely to spread across the region, or is there something different? i really actually we, we did not know what it is. you know, our islands are french, i islands in the middle caribbean as being the have been somehow i've been done just the feeling here. i've, he's on the ceiling, bye, specially the younger generations have been done by midland france by the government. so we, we seem to be a decent guadalupe, a repeat of what happened in 2009 where we had a very long strike. it was a general strike that completely paralyzed the country for $55.00 days straight days though, it's very complex to to find out what's going to happen. obviously the, the, the vaccination and the mandatory vaccination is it's as part of it, but it's not, it's not all about what does that mean. so the only explanation where it has started as that protest against a vaccine man that i understand there is also now a general strike in martinique. how is all of this affecting business? is there ah, the listen for now glenn made many people have not been able to reach out to their workplace. since yesterday this morning. it was a bit worse because there are several are very kids are on the capital are for the friends. so most of the rules are on our blogs are legally good news. the good news is that the politicians, local politicians are this afternoon. i think it's about to start a half tops. we've be leaders of the unions and we do hope that something positive comes out of it. at least to ease up on the pressure and maybe agree on an agenda for further meetings. because there are several, several topics that need to be discussed. so you mentioned this for being abandoned by paris. how is federal authority viewed there now, especially now that nikon has sent troops to the region. yeah, we were very surprised. i know that is, yeah, you need to regain the control of the situation. but i think locally, we are being surprised by the the, the means deploy in what the situation was was like we said serious are, this is not unprecedented. but it's, it's not common to, to see that the level of response and the type of response because special forces that have been sent to do not ordinary or what he saw forces. so i don't know, there are some people think that if it's a bit too much our role in the business community we, we need to, to see some of those and rest, stop at his own that at least be reduced because on the economic i've been under a lot of stress the father because it's situation many, you know, locked down. so furio and it has been very guilty for the, for the business community and knew we were hoping that we could and jody be christmas season coming. and i, it looks like he's going to be here as well as horse johnny bernard. they're the president of contact enterprises. a business association speaking to us from martinique. thanks so much for sharing your experiences with us on out as arizona. thank you. now moving on and the european union says it's working with britain, the us and canada to place more sanctions against better ris, the you is accusing president, alexander lucas shanker. of trying to destabilize the block by encouraging migraines to cross into poland and says it wants to start putting punishing transport. companies were involved in human trafficking. the block has rejected lucas anchors suggestion that had taken more refugees. a particularly cool form of hybrid threat has emerged with a state sponsored instrumental ization of people for political ends. this is not a bilateral issue of poland, lat ventless one year with bella was it is the european union as a whole that is being challenged. this has been initiated and organized by the new crush ankle regime at its supporters. the uring people to the border with a cooperation of migrants, smugglers and criminal networks. we have been launching diplomatic efforts to cut this flow on the last page was held by prejudice. marguerite issue has gone a lot to know that to convince them up to the countries of transit and no reason to stop this flight that stems from work to be done. but by the time being the same that we can see that the flow on the approach you wanted to put pressure on you know that to make the decision to, to cancel the sanctions. i think he has used the game or lucas anchor, as blaming the use of the crisis, which was triggered by a deterioration of relations between the block and belarus. humanitarian groups had been wanting for months that president, alexander lucas shanker, has been actually encouraging refugees to fly mainly from the middle east to minsk, and then enter poland illegally between 2 and 4000 of them and now trapped at the bell a russian polish border. and freezing temperatures without food, water, or humanitarian aid. a one year old syrian boy as believed to be the youngest victim. among 13 people reported to have now died. lucas sanker denies that he's using the crisis to destabilize the you and retaliation against sanctions. he says he sent more than a 100 migrants and refugees back to their home countries. humanitarian groups now also it using poland government, violating international human rights laws by pushing asylum seekers back into belarus. when our correspondent step fasten is on the bell russian side of that border where migrants are trying to take shelter from freezing temperatures. well, conditions in this camp here are getting harsher and harsher by the day. it was reading overnight in the last couple of weeks. but now it's also freezing during the day and it has started to snow. load would be feeling very cold. this close is not warmer, but someone can leave with it. oh no children. ronald lived inside this building is weird halls not for living. this is how they're getting some water. this is how people are washing their clothes in the middle of the month and know where they go to the toilet. there's a center here where they can spend a night, but many are crammed together. many are coughing, many are getting ill, so increasingly people are choosing to be repaired, created, they leave to the back door. louis should official take them through the airport. but there's also quite a significant group to 1st. we are not going anywhere. we keep waiting until germany takes them in, and there's not a group who at night, tries to fill, sneak in to the polish border and try to cross secretly. but conditions of course have very difficult and this winter here, it is really cold temperatures. people have.