ah, hello, i'm sammy. say, dan, this is al jazeera, alive from dell, also coming up. florida. braces itself for the storm of the century is hearken. in fact, sit side on the southern united states. several european countries warned the mystery lakes and gas pipelines from russia. probably an act of sabotage. silva screened struggles in nigeria. why not? they would ranks as the world's 2nd largest film industry. has a hard time securing funding, ah, russian, back to authorities and for occupied regions of ukraine, say the results of a 5 day referendum show, a vast majority of people have voted to join russia. cave and its western allies say the referendums are a sham. the votes were held in have songs of parisha, don yeske and la hants together they make up 15 percent of ukrainian territory occupying administrations reported a huge margins of victory saying in the hands. 98 percent of voters favored annexation. aahama vall reports it's the final day of voting, but order dash his presence is overwhelming. here for any one doubting the outcome of the referendum that i think is on the wall. and on the lips of the organizes off many video de la garza, we invite you to the referendum on joining the russian federation. please come in for volunteering, happy holiday to you. the mood was up beat up this pulling station for the pro ration leaders here in easton, ukraine. this day was meant to be a historic event. oh, i'm voting in favor of joining the russian federation. i'm giving my vote for a happy bright future for us as part of the russian federation for a happy and bright future for our children, our grandchildren, our descendants, i'll show you to do that. if under miss a large chunk of ukraine would become russia, at least in the captain's ice gun, usually she would near her of course, to day, amid the special military operation and referendums in the dumbass saving people in all territories where the referendum is held is at top of the mind and in the center of the attention for our entire society in our country. this is natural because it's connected with dramatic events in preparation for those dramatic events. russia is sending an additional $300000.00 reservists. here from klein guys holding field. wonderful, do you believe in the victory? of course it can be any other way. everything will be fine, everything is okay. how's the mood we are in the mood for fighting with whatnot. everyone is happy. this matter argues with russian official enough, took a city near the border with georgia. i will speak out, i am right, we are the occupiers. ukraine has not been part of the ussr for a long time, but the russian government remains determined this. his defense minister surgeon shall go visiting a training camp for recently mobilized troops. and it's these men that president putin is now relying on to win his war. hm. at fight. under seal moscow, al jazeera hood abdul hamid traveled to southern towns in ukrainian control territory to hear what residents there have to say about the vote. it's all the same desolate scenes. go sounds. this. troy's soul less. this is the cause. ukraine is paying to regain control of land that was occupied by russia. we are invested got pedia in the north of histone region. the look on the faces of those who state. tell the story. here there is no sign of referendum, but the russians are just 5 kilometers away. and people their vote to decide if the son should join the russian federation. the referendum is a sham, according to the kind of son administration. now an exiled auto moving from us. we are getting information from local people there. you should understand. it's not a referendum, it's a movie. everything is done for the cameras. there was no preparation, according to the law. they are coming to people's houses with weapons and forcing them up. if they catch them on the street. gina voted with her feet by escaping into the ukrainian side. she won't show her face because some of her relatives are still in the russian, held by them. as soon she's worried about what could happen in the days to come. it's very difficult for us to speak to people who are living in areas under russian occupation. and from here, it is impossible to reach those areas. so we as andree, if he could call his mother who is still in his son and tell us what is happening there. about 200000 people have been displaced by the war since his started 7 months ago. and re is one of them. my father died 3 years ago, but when soldiers came to visit my mom, they were lucky for her. my dad to vote. there was some people who voted for russia, but not in big numbers. many others have fled regions where the reverend them has taken place over the past 5 days money and that they didn't rush and control part of the body just for 7 month. she says being forced to vote was the last row. but for her sister, selena, this is a bittersweet moment. and i bought it angers me all your life. you grow up with people, you work with them, you live next to them. and then all of a sudden they embraced the colors of russia and they are happy and smiling that they are part of russia. and while the international community has declared the referendum, illegal, ukrainian fear that the vote will mean even more and more devastation before they regain control of their country. and that mean, lizzie, we're in southern ukraine. now, one of president vladimir putin biggest allies, his issued rushes blunt, this nuclear threat since the war began. dmitri madrid if says he believes nathan will not intervene. if russia decides to attack ukraine with nuclear weapons. med video is a former russian president. and now the deputy head of the national security council, the crane's president, has addressed the un security council, laudermill zalinski called on the international community to take action against moscow. diplomatic as a james base is more unheard of. as the security council was convened, russia was already signaling it was about to declare victory in the fall referenda in easton, ukraine. but the u. n's political chief made it clear those votes had no legitimacy in international law. they cannot be called a genuine expression of the popular will. speaking to the security council for the 4th time since the russian invasion in february, ukraine's president vladimir zalinski, called for russia to be kicked out of all international organizations, including the u. n. a implementation of the so called cry means scenario and another attempt to and nass ukrainian territory will me that there is nothing to talk about with these prep, president of russian annexation is the kind of move that suits him alone against the whole of humanity. rushes ambassador vaseline the benzine warm these referenda may not be the last or didn't all sicilian in your book. now give is being rejected, not only by the people of crimea and on bus, but care on and separation yet region. this process is going to continue if give does not recognize its mistake and its strategic errors that this process could continue after the meeting. i got reaction to that from the us ambassador. they did it in 2014 and now they're doing it again. so they, i have no doubt in my mind that they will attempt to do it. and that's why it's so important that we stand against this immediately. ambassador thomas greenfield says she plans to bring a draft resolution condemning russia to a vote in the security council as early as the end of this week. russia then would clearly use its v, but the u. s. and his allies are then planning to bring things to all 193 members of the un of the general assembly james bayes al jazeera of the united nations. a commission chief sullivan. the lion says leaks to. busy major pipelines between russia and europe will caused by sabotaged nor stream one normally ships gas from russia directly to germany. but deliveries was suspended by russia earlier this month because of a stand off over sanctions. denmark and sweden 1st reported the leagues near the island of one home. shipping near the lines has now been restricted. that vessel is in the german town of luke men, the point where an old stream made slant gas bubbling up over an area of more than one square kilometer in the baltic sea. near the danish island of bourne home. 3 huge leaks detected at both, not $31.00 and $2.00 is too much of a coincidence, according to your opinion, leaders and energy experts. jewish matters and we see clearly that this has an active sabotage, an act which likely means a further step of escalation of the situation in crane. sweetie. seismologists say de, recorded to explosions before the leaks were detected. one on sunday night and one on monday evening. they're not an earthquake, that's very clear. and we also have quite a lot of data on last in the water, in the area, slightly closer to the swedish coast. when the swedish navy have training exercises and they last off mines for example. and they often let us know about the particulars of that. so and the data from yesterday's last are very similar. there's no doubt that these are explosions occurring in the water. germany has not been receiving any gas from these pipelines for the last few weeks when russia stopped supplies through nor 31, nor to him to never started operations. germany decided to pull the pluck just before russia invaded ukraine. in february, the north stream pipelines had been at the height of an ongoing dispute on how dependent europe, and specifically germany had become an russian guess called through germany to stop by in russian gas in the invasion of ukraine. but it was russia not germany, had decided to completely pause the supply of northridge, one just a few weeks ago. but now as seriously damaged, it's clear that no russian gas will flow to these pipelines anytime soon. the leaks show once more, how vulnerable europe's energy suppliers and how fall noble the gas pipes are 2 attacks. technically speaking, this is not difficult. i mean, it just requires a boat requires some divers, that bill how to handle explosive devices. and then depending on the water depth, may be some special diving equipment. or you could do it with some some of those modern underwater submarines which ukraine, blaming russia for sabotaging the pipelines artists have been more careful in pointing the finger before more investigations steadfast. and al jazeera and loop men on the bounty coast. joining us live now from washington, d. c is lawrence cold. he's a senior fellow at the center for american progress. and former assistant secretary of defense could to have you with us. so how much of a challenge all the protests on the flight to the border to president vladimir putin? well, they are challenged to whom they could be the beginning of the end for him. but right now we're not that serious because he has so much total control over the country. but the fact that people are demonstrating against the fact that he was mobilizing these reservists shows that the people are beginning to get upset and be willing to do things, as well as the fact that they've had tens of thousands of young men leave the country going to places like catholic sand, mongolia, as well as to the european union. so this may not undermine his ability to control the country while it's going to be underlined his ability to conduct this war. aside of the possibility maybe over st. rebellion once the likelihood of a challenge, it's posed in emerging from within the ranks of the ruling circle. well, it's pretty hard because, you know, you've met yet who had been president, he rotated with trump about a decade ago. you know, basically he came out and support today by talking about the fact that, you know, if people, any concrete attack, these parts of ukraine, which the russians are going to add ex, illegally with a sham vote that we could, you know, use nuclear weapons. so i don't see anything the volley is in prison, so it's hard to see anybody they are right now. but the fact that the battery issue could have the military decide, given the fact they've lost $80000.00, killed or wounded already and keeps changing the strategy. they could get together and decide to do something, but it's not going to happen any time soon over all. bo, if the setbacks on the battlefield, if politically you're dealing with falling popular iron by at least some kind of st protest movement, maybe it's too much to read, falling popularity into it. and you're dealing with economic challenges overall. does that over time road your ability to govern? oh, very, very definitely. because the longer the sanction stay in effect, the worst things are going to get. the russian gdp gross domestic product actually declined to decline this year. so at some point, the people could, as they did, you know, under khrushchev, when they brought in a change in change in government. and, you know, they had to have yells from, take over from, you know, what, you know, one time when things got pretty bad. so it could happen, but i don't see it right on the horizon. all right, thanks so much noise. cool. thank you for how good. i'll set a head on al jazeera. why 2 giant panda from china will soon find themselves in the death of the after making landfall in western cuba were tracking out hurricane in. hi everyone, a major hurricane. so it's moving ne, up to the gulf of mexico. they'll go for a closer look. if this makes landfall in tampa as a category 3 hurricane, that will be the strongest storm to hit the area and a 100 years. biggest threat here is storm surge, waves of about 3 meters high. crashing in to this low line, heavily populated areas. so it's something we'll continue to keep tabs on in time that ron northwind looked with hits to into temperatures in the great lakes toronto, 13 degrees, shoving some showers along the eastern seaboard of the u. s. from the northeast to the mid atlantic, some rounds of showers and rains to go once again for western canada in the pacific northwest. but has, we dipped toward the south high temperatures here? los angeles heat advisory in play up to 36 sensors will come down a bit in the days to come. south america looks like this. some showers in storms around the bolivian andes, stretching into paraguay in the southeast of brazil going for closer look here. these are going to be some rocking storms in this area. winds have shifted around so that's pops up. the temperature and commodore reba dabby to 42 degrees while above average. but it's going to be a soggy date in sao paulo with a high of 18. that's the witness inspiring films from around the world. so not the fire level and killed the power in witness intimate, poor traits and epic struggle because the leadership is almost as much as the people witnessed the human spirit and bitter reality. there are still men, believe women are a property witness. award winning voice is telling groundbreaking stories. witness on al jazeera lou. ah, the me come back. you're watching now. time to we can headlines. moscow back. officials in the occupied parts of ukraine, say people that are overwhelmingly to join russia. they say the results of the 5 day referendum show up to 98 percent of people are in favor of amex ation. the un security council has discussed the referendums in ukraine. the un public school affairs chief says the votes have no legitimacy. international law claims president told the council the world must take action against moscow. danish energy minister suspects bloss, we're the cause of gas leaks that 2 major pipelines between russia and europe. denmark and sweden 1st reported the lakes in an old stream one and 2 pipelines, navy island on earlier on wednesday, florida is braced for its most powerful storm in more than a century. hurricane in is intensifying as it moves towards the u. s. in tampa. 2.5000000 people are under evacuation orders. the category for storm is expected to make landfill. later on wednesday, it's already battered parts of the caribbean, including cuba, where a 1000000 people have been left without power. when you look at storm surge of this nature, that is a very life threatening hazard. when you're talking about 10 feet, 12 feet of storm surge, which you could see in certain parts of this when it makes landfall. it's also going to produce a massive amount of rain. it is going to produce major major flooding. and b, c. news correspondent chris cologne has the latest from tampa areas along the florida gulf coast have been getting ready and as matter of fact, the governor, the local leaders, have told the lowest lying areas, the people directly on a body of water be at the gulf or a river to start evacuating, and those evacuation orders started yesterday. and so as yesterday, as progress is it today, we've started to see more and more evacuation orders as that forecast track is kind of become more clear. so yes, those areas that are most vulnerable have been under mandatory evacuation orders for a while. governor of florida rhonda santa said a short time ago that there's still time to leave before this storm hits, but that time is quickly running out with hours of onshore winds and heavy rain. it doesn't take a lot to push the water of the gulf of mexico and tampa bay inland. and they were predicting as late as yesterday up to 10 feet of storm surge. and so if that had happened, it really would have been catastrophic. now does that mean that tampa won't get a significant storm surge, of course not, but that real significant. the heavy a storm surge now is expected to be south of here. those low lying areas, those coastal towns, those beaches will be expecting high water. and officials here say when many structures in florida can handle winds of a category 3 or 4 storm. it is really the storm surge. it is really flooding that local officials say cause the most depth and that's what they want people to get away from over in the pacific. more than a 100000 people in vietnam are evacuating as time through noted approaches. there. it's anticipated to be one of the most powerful storms to hit the country into decades. thousands of flights and trains of postponed schools are closed in 2 provinces of impose curfews to keep people safe, noted, was responsible for the deaths of at least 8 people in the philippines. joining us live from rockville, maryland is brenda equis. all she is a director of climate change science at the union of concerned scientists could have you with us. you know, when you look at the headlines in the, talking about the strongest storm in 2 decades in vietnam and florida, the strongest storm in a century. you got to ask the question, are storms getting more powerful or is this just a bad week? it's exactly one of the signatures that the intergovernmental panel on climate change talks about extreme weather events now and going forward in the decades. is this combination of its various combination of larger magnitude, increased frequency, an happening at different times than you expect or new locations. so for example, that storm surge combined with extreme precipitation from this very powerful hurricane. and the water cannot run off when the flooding from the ocean is coming in creates flooding conditions that can be life threatening. and that's the case of what a florida is looking at, potentially people getting out or getting out of way of that type of flood water. these type of situations are one of the signatures of climate change. we're seeing more of these a different parts of the world happening at the same time and throughout the year, depending on the type of extreme events such as flooding in pakistan and taking a long time those waters to receive. i also say a change in the storm patterns in the sense of the speed that now storms are moving slower, they're lingering longer. yes, it's a, it's a, it's a very dangerous combination that with the warmer ocean water and other conditions, the warmer atmosphere allows more intense precipitation. so if the storms are stalling, as they tend to do, that means you're dumping precipitation the same location for a longer period which could lead to very catastrophic flooding. the other thing is getting people out of the way is challenging for forecasters because of the rapid intensification of tropical psych loans ah, hurricanes that we've seen. for example, noro in less than 24 hours, went from a tropical storm to a category 5 typhoon ah, before making them fall on as it was heading towards the philippines. dan is very hard to prepare people if they're expecting a tropical storm is just what they woke up to the morning before. all right, it is scary. thanks for sharing that insights. saudi arabia's crown prince bahamas, been so man has been named as the kingdom's prime minister, the sandy king ordered the cabinet re shuffle. hamilton, some man is widely considered to be the kingdom's de facto ruler. king solomon's other son has been some man is the new defense minister. nigeria is the 2nd largest film producer in the world, nigerian films getting more popular in spite of that normally what is struggling. it lacks the resources of hollywood. all bollywood edris is in legal sways, been speaking to filmmakers about what they need to compete on the world stage. this flew by your firm is expected to be released on streaming platforms in less than a month. and with good reviews, it may make it into the cinemas world white. it was producing a budget of $10000.00, but the director says it took a lot of convincing to raise even that relatively small amount for resources. and there is a refund. the fund is right, don't countries in columbus unless i normally would use a 2nd biggest film industry in the world? it chance out an estimated $800.00 to $1000.00 movies a year from make a say, a lack of funding is holding back the industry despite the number of productions fuel banks and businesses are willing to invest in the sector. and that means paul, inferior comment, and law pay for crews. in 4 years, sandra conseula has appeared in 50 forms, many of them in the lead role. despite her success, she doesn't earn enough. when the pay is not in off your leg or clue. how is this going to be enough to take care of me, my well being, and all of that for the most important thing to have is the passion to break even wasn't easy. none would movie struggle to make a name for themselves in international market, dominated by hollywood blockbusters and lavish followed productions. so distributors like chick is, is ok, provide platforms, t naval low budget firms to reach as many viewers as possible. it's promise and it's some sin. that's awesome. that's good. more when you're starting is not really really that big boats. those are been there for a long time. the actually caution industry leaders say improving quality and origin ality will help nigeria compete with the best in the world. as long as we do things that are indigenous. you brody technology bringing the equipments? yes, fine. but let the stories continue to be home. groom there is little government support for the sector, even though it contributes 3 percent to niger as an old gross domestic product. until more money is invested in upgrading equipment. knowledge fans will have to make do with original story lines and promising talent, but inferior production. ah, how a decrease al jazeera legos. china is gifting 2 giant panders to catheter mark, the football world cup being held in the golf state. patrick far has more from the city of anon. well, if you remember back to february the time of the winter olympics in beijing cats as a mere shake to mim, been hammered, al tiny was really one of a few. well leaders said that attended what was considered by many countries to be a controversial event. president, she said at the time he was ready to launch panda cooperation with the middle east . and also said that he saw new opportunities for bilateral ties between china and cats are so in a way, china is literally following up on that. so hale and sariah will arrive in october ahead of the world cup and remember china failed and it's been to reach the final something which is certainly seen as a missed opportunity for demonstrating its soft power at a time when china really needs it. it is increasingly isolated, particularly from a western powers over issues like its support for rushes invasion of ukraine. so in a sense, it is still trying to capitalize on the world cup. and how better to do that than with a bit of panel diplomacy. china's ambassadors, doha said that this was a gift from china's one.