justice stephen breyer will retire, setting up a political showdown over who will replace him. the united states and nato have delivered written responses to moscow's security demands of -- over ukraine. they rejected russia's call to permanently ban ukraine from joining the nato alliance. concern in the west grows over a possible russian invasion of ukraine. >> on wednesday night, the u.s. ambassador to russia, john sullivan, hand delivered the

american response to russia's demands for increased security guarantees amid its standoff with the west over the ukraine. the letter, several pages long, repeats the biden administration's position -- u.s. troops go where they are wanted. individual countries decide if they want to join nato, and russia must abandon any plans to invade ukraine. moscow says it has no such plans. >> the document is with them, and the ball is in their court. we will see what we do, as i said repeatedly, if they choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue, if they decide to renew aggression against ukraine, we are prepared either way. >> but the u.s. also offered some proposals it thinks could reassure russian president vladimir putin and his government. renewed arms control deals, improved transparency, and changes to u.s.-nato exercises in eastern europe.

russians received a similar note from nato leadership in a bid to head off possible conflict in ukraine. >> we call on our shaw once again to immediately de-escalate the situation. nato believes tensions and disagreements must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. >> nato is offering to host negotiations between the u.s. and russia to resolve the crisis, but stoltenberg told reporters 5000 nato rapid response troops can be called up in just a days if needed, but washington and its european allies have stepped up deliveries of military aid to kia -- kiev. unity among western nations, though, has not been complete. germany notably has not provided any military aid to kia -- kiev, ostensibly because of its oil

and gas reliance on russia. >> i'm confident in the solidarity of partners and allies in confronting russian hostility. >> meantime, 26 russian diplomat and their families left russia wednesday because of what the russian ambassador calls ongoing harassment by american authorities. u.s. officials say it is now up to moscow to respond to what americans consider reasonable proposals to end the crisis, but they say they are still ready to impose the harshest sanctions possible if moscow orders troops to invade ukraine. >> there's been no immediate response from moscow to the u.s. and nato, but earlier, russia's foreign minister warned of swift retaliation unless concessions are made. >> if a constructive response

does not arrive and the west continues its aggressive course, moscow will, as president putin has said on more than one occasion, take a necessary retaliatory measures. >security of russia and its citizens is an unconditional priority. >> tens of thousands of crimean's have fled since russia annexed it eight years ago, and many fear the conflict between russia and ukraine could force them to flee again. >> volunteers load coal for those struggling to stay warm in ukraine's brutal winter cold. the man are tartarus, a turkish ethnic group who have lived in crimea for centuries. tens of thousands left when russian troops illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014, worried about increasing tension between the ukraine and russia.

>> we are especially worried about our women and children if there is a war because we have nowhere to take them. we try to provide for them and reassure them as much as we can. >> they have delivered cold to this 81-year-old. she, her family, and an estimated 90,000 tartarus -- tartars were deported from crimea in 1994. >> i want to ask president putin -- why do you need to occupy this foreign land? how can you take over our land like this? there is no open animosity between us, but you can sense it. >> crimea is just a few kilometers across the water behind me. since russia illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014, it is estimated that as many as 140,000 ukrainians have left. many of them, ethnic crimean

tartars who say they led persecution in their ancestral land. in the market, no one will talk to us on camera about their support for pressure, but this lady said she felt great affiliation with the country, its language, and its culture. if people chose crimea to be part of russia, she said, then let them be. inside, men gather for prayers. hussein says he will never accept russian rule in crimea. >> when russia annexed crimea, between 10,000 to 40,000 tartars fled because of political pressure and the lack of freedom of speech. not only tartars but all ukrainians live in perpetual uncertainty. everyone is talking about potential war. >> she says she is not strong

enough to visit family who still live in crimea, and she years for both ukrainians and russians if a solution to the crisis between the two countries is not found. >> the united nations secretary general is warning life in afghanistan is becoming a frozen hell. antonio guterres says an ongoing humanitarian crisis has left the country hanging by a thread with education, food availability, and other social services on the brink of collapse. our diplomatic editor reports. >> with more than half of the afghan population suffering from what the united nations calls extreme levels of hunger, the secretary-general, antonio guterres, again sounded the alarm. >> six months after the takeover by the taliban, afghanistan is hanging by a thread. for afghans, daily life has

become a frozen hell. >> one of afghanistan's best-known women's rights campaigners came to new york to address the security council. >> after 20 years of tasting freedom, working, studying, playing sports, performing music, it has taken less than six months to completely dismantle the rights of women and girls across the country. >> her account was backed by the united nations special representative inside afghanistan. she said a number of women activists had recently been abducted and then had disappeared. she said this was part of a wider, deeply worrying pattern. >> here underground, there is compelling evidence of an emerging environment of intimidation and a deterioration in respect for human rights. this suggests that the consolidation of government authority may be leading toward control of the population by fear rather than by

understanding and responding to its needs. >> the meeting was presided over by norway's prime minister. his government flew a taliban delegation for talks in oslo with international diplomats in recent days. in an interview, he told me this was not meant to give the group legitimacy or recognition. >> to me, it looks like this -- if we don't sit down with them, present the expectation, the demands, and what they have to deliver, afghanistan is going to sink down in a tremendous humanitarian disaster. >> most of afghanistan's reserves remain frozen, but the united nations wants to change that. there is a risk the dire humanitarian situation becomes a country-wide famine. on the other hand, some nations still worry about rewarding the taliban when the human rights situation, in particular treatment of women, seems to be

getting worse, not at her. -- not better. >> kurdish forces say they have regained control of a prison from isil fighters. the battle worst 45,000 people from their homes. some of those being detained in the prison were being used as human shields. the united nations special envoy for syria says he is worried about the resurgence of isil. >> if we continue to see that the political crisis in syria is not sorted out, if we continue to see a division of territory like see now with different authorities, with the economy collapsing -- we have more than 14 million people in need of

humanitarian assistance -- and with no hope for the future. this is a recipe for continued disaster. >> syrian refugees in the country's northwest are leading for urgent help as the region is hit by cold weather. >> a city of tents. this is life for around 250,000 syrians force from -- forced from their homes. now after 10 years of continued conflict, snow and rain is their latest enemy. >> the very cold weather, the massive volume of snow, and the bad condition of the camp have led to damages everywhere. we urge those -- we ask allah and we urge those who are willing to help do their best

for us. we do not have firewood. we burn shoes and clothes just to offer heat to the children. >> traveling in the area was already difficult. snow has made it near impossible. eight agencies are struggling to get access. tents have collapsed under the weight of the snow. the few who do have shovels do what they can. the rest are left to move snow with their hands in freezing temperatures. >> the whole camp does not have bread. we call upon the humanitarian organization and all the authorities concerned to urgently help the camp and its residents. >> the united nations says more needs to be done, but for the people here, they need help now. >> the whole camp is in real danger, and we don't know what to do. we have spent the last seven to eight years in tents and displaced camps. i cannot find us a flat? >> the snow is only adding to the misery these people face.

>> still had, and assassination attempt and a military takeover. west african leaders called an emergency meeting over brick and a faso's latest coup -- burkina faso's latest coup. ♪ >> look forward to brighter skies. the weather -- sponsored by qatar airways. >> wins are strong, but there are still snow showers around, generated by the cold air and relatively warm sea. temperature-wise, we are about where we should be. this rain spreading through china will bring more snow. we could see something like half a meter form in this general area. it is a little bit later in the

season. it is likely to snow continuously through friday. that would be a bit of a shock, i suspect, and caused problems. in the philippines, both north and south face the risk of showers, and the orange face the potential of this drifting forward. further west, just a scattering of showers. temperatures below where they should be with morning fog sometimes persistent. new delhi's forecast has it for the next three days. the cold wave eventually warms out by the time we get to sunday, but the air quality still remains pretty poor. >> the weather sponsored by qatar airways. >> a coming of age story in a community fighting to preserve

its heritage in an ever-changing world, passing on an ancient ritual to future generations. in an award-winning documentary, al jazeera world follows a group of young men on their right of passage challenge in the remote forests of ivory coast. "the sacred woods" on al jazeera . >> hello again. a reminder of our top stories this hour -- the united states and nato have delivered written responses to moscow's security demands about ukraine. in it, they reject russia's call

to berman -- permanently banned ukraine from joining the security alliance. antonio guterres warn the humanitarian crisis in afghanistan has left the country hanging by a thread. kurdish forces in northern syria say they have regained control of the prison following a weeklong assault by isil fighters. the military coup in burkina faso is due to be discussed at a meeting friday. the military organization has already condemned munday's military takeover. the united nations and u.s. are demanding immediate release of the leader. the group said they seized power because of the government's failure to stop attacks linked to armed groups.

>> it is in this upscale neighborhood that the president is being held under house arrest. this nearby presidential palace just behind me, it is now in the hands of special was his. we cannot go any further. they have set up checkpoints. it is no longer the center of decision-making in this country. earlier, the head of the military junta met with the former government, essentially trying to create some sort of government of national unity to gain some sort of legitimacy. the fear is sanctions from the west african body, the heads of states of west africa who are going to meet on friday, but also sanctions from the united nations or the eu, something this country cannot afford. there are still attacks happening in the north and east from armed groups linked to al qaeda and i sold -- isil.

earlier in the week, thousands to the streets, less of a celebration for the end of a regime but more a hope that new leadership may be able to bring purity to this country. we met with one of the organizers of the march. this is what he had to say. >> the new regime needs to save burkina faso. we need stability. we have more than 2 million people displaced. the need to be able to go home, 2000 have been killed. we need to regain control of our country and borders. >> 2000 people stormed this road behind me, and that mark the return of democracy six years ago. people now hope that with this new regime, those democratic achievements will not be quashed. for the military, though, many soldiers on the front line hope that they will be better equipped to deal with a threat

of armed groups linked to al qaeda and isil, that they will have rations and weapons so they can protect the country from attacks. >> the u.s. federal reserve says it will raise interest rates for the first time in three years. they were smashed to near zero at the beginning of the pandemic. interest rates were widely expected to start moving up in march in an attempt to fight rising inflation. jerome powell says fighting inflation is vital to getting a strong job market. >> there are multiple forces which should be working over the course of the year for inflation to come down. we do realize that the timing and pace are highly uncertain and that inflation has persisted longer than we thought, and of course, we are prepared to use our tools to ensure that higher inflation does not become entrenched. >> let's speak now to william

blanca, a former figural -- federal regulator and professor of law at the university of missouri, kansas city. tell us about why it is important to raise rates in march. >> first, rates have an exceptionally low for decades from the great financial crisis and then some disruptions in the money markets that caused them to throw money at the problem. there's no reason for that to continue because u.s. unemployment is now lower than before the pandemic began. they, there's no need to keep them low. b, inflation, because of the supply chain disruption, has gone up in the united states to around 7%, so it is a good time to try to make sure there is no extra heat on the monetary side. >> to put it simply, increasing

interest rates puts a check on that. higher borrowing costs helps keep prices from rising. how far do you think they can go? >> it is unlikely that it needs to go particularly high, and it is unlikely that it needs to persist particularly long. this is still a relatively short-term problem. we expect much lower inflation next year, even if they did not take these actions, so they will probably have at least two near-term upticks in the interest rate, and then they will see if they need a third. >> are there any risks inherent in this? could you end up holding back economic activity more than intended? >> yes, but the big risks are actually in the last three or four stories that you have handled because all of those are

supply chain disruptions. we just don't think of them in those terms, and if russia invades the ukraine and shuts off natural gas in the winter too much of europe, you can know that nations are not going to let them -- you know, people die in their homes. they will divert natural gas completely away from factories, and that will cause major recession, but it will also reverberate throughout the world by causing much more severe supply chain disruptions, and as you explained, it does not just because inflation. it means that people in syria during the snow do not even have shovels to be able to deal with the terrible snow. >> yup, there's a lot of

variables here. reports say u.s. supreme court justice is set to -- set to retire at the end of the term. the 83-year-old's retirement will give u.s. president joe biden his first chance to nominate a judge to the country's highest judicial authority. >> supreme court justice stephen breyer had long rejected viewing the court through a political lens. >> if the public sees judges as politicians in robes, it's confidence in courts and the rule of law can only be diminished. diminishing the court's power, including its power to act as a check. >> pryor grew up in a middle-class jewish family. he said his upbringing helped

develop the pragmatism that later shaped his legal views. >> i stephen broderick do solemnly square -- swear -- i, stephen breyer, do solemnly swear. every judge's particular obligation is to deal fairly and thoroughly with the legal problems of the individual parties before the court, if they are poor or rich or helpless or powerful, minority or majority. >> he joined the court's liberal wing, consistently ruling in favor of abortion rights and voting rights. he opposed a strict interpretation of the constitution endorsed by conservative justices but was famously an optimist. >> justice breyer was a true technocrat in the most famous sense of the word. he believes in good ideas,

thoughtful compromises, and intelligence and expertise running the world, and he has really tried to do that quite consistently in his time on the court. >> in his later years on the court, breyer questioned the legality of the death penalty and drafted one of the rulings upholding obamacare. his retirement sets up a political battle to name a replacement. quits britain's prince andrew is seeking a jury trial to clear his name in the sexual assault complaint he is fighting in new york. he is facing a civil case brought by a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by prince andrew when she was 17. he denies the allegations. the spanish coast guard has rescued more than 300 people off canary islands. migrants and refugees were picked up by seven votes. one had capsized and passengers

were found clinging to it. authorities say about 120 people had crammed into a single dinghy. the migrants were trying to reach europe. they have been taken to nearby health facilities. a tropical storm has killed at least 12 people and called widespread flooding in malawi. power is out across large parts of both countries and crops have been decimated. an inauguration ceremony for hunters' first female president will be held in the coming hours. the milestone, though, has been marred by rebellion within her own party, making it almost impossible for her to govern. >> honduras is about to swear in the country's first woman president. the historic victory in the

november elections ended a highly polarized election season marred by violence and fears of social unrest. >> we are going to form a government of reconciliation in our country, a government of peace and a government of justice. >> are presidency marks an end to the 12-year war by the conservative national party, but a power struggle in the hundred national congress threatens to derail the national agenda, and analysts say the discord could plunge the country into a full-blown national crisis. exley have to find a balance in order to avoid this spreading. right now, it is manageable, but if we can seek out -- unless we can seek out a solution, we are going to get earned. >> the wife of the former

honduran president who was ousted in a coup in 2009, as a presidential candidate, promised to restore democratic institutions and weed out corrupt government officials. even before the start of the latest political crisis in honduras, addressing the many problems facing the country like violence, poverty, systemic corruption, and an economic crisis exacerbated by the pandemic was a tall order for the new president. now with a growing rift in the hunter and legislature, the international community is calling for a dialogue, but average citizens say what they want is for the government to do its job. >> as a young person, i want there to be jobs for all young people, all adults, and the elderly, that there are laws in favor of women and for men, too, for children, for animals. >> the incoming administration is seen by many as an opportunity to turn the page on more than a decade of scandal

and political turmoil, but if the current conflict is not resolved, it is an opportunity that could be squandered before the presidency even begins.

announcer: on this episode of "earth focus"... we visit oil-rich communities in california's san joaquin valley and along alaska's arctic slope, where residents are asking tough questions about the consequences of fossil fuel extraction. it's been the bedrock of their economic livelihoods for decades but is now fracturing communities and threatening the planet. [camera's shutter advancing]