jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour life from doha and these are our main stories this hour. yemen's leader flies from the presidential palace with renewed fighting in the capitol sanaa. funerals for fighters in the air strike in golan heights. boko haram kidnaps people in northern cameroon. i'll have all the latest

sport news including nadal no lack of confidence as he races through the first round of the first grand slam of the year in the australian open. ♪ but we start with a situation in yemen which appears to have intensified, the country has seen frequent battles between houthis and forces loyal to hadi and we heard reports he has flown from the presidential palace we think by helicopter and the prime minister's convow has been attacked and gun battles on going between yemen army soldiers and houthi fighters who took control of sanaa and there was a short lived lived hiasis with gun battle an

hour later and we will go to the editor and chief of the yemen post and can you bring us up with the situation? you have been telling us over the last couple of hours how the situation has deteriorated. >> i personally went and drove by to see the situation by myself and the roads were empty with gunman on the streets and my vehicle was almost shot at and it's very tense right now. you cannot see troops they are only militants. the government is only focusing on strategic areas to be located keeping the rest of the capitol unscathed for now and they are not targeting civilians or citizens and only targeting those troops who are against them. so the scene and ceasefire that was called will not take place and at this time expected to happen hours to come and houthis

are surrounding from all the entrances with hundreds of gunmen entering with the government seeing a down fall right now where many of the troops with the government are not willing to fight the houthis and trying to stay neutral. these troops are mostly loyal to the previous ruler of yemen and do not want to take sides. not with the houthis, not against the houthis. >> reporter: we are getting reports that the national news agency has been taken over by the houthis and indeed there is some question as to who is in control of state television. >> state television is right now controlled by the houthis. and the news agency is controlled by the houthis and the newspaper is controlled by the houthis, no government right now is controlled by the government. >> reporter: who would you say is in control of the yemen

capitol sanaa right now? >> the houthis are in control and have been in control for the last couple of weeks. had they not attempt to weaken them in the last couple of months and today he is facing the result of his negative way of ruling yemen and right now nothing is controlled and i can say the only thing he controls is probably his own. it's very tense right now. nothing from the media and the government the streets are chaotic and everything is in the hand of the houthis, if not almost in their hands. >> do we know anything more as to the whereabouts of president hadi? we understand he has been air-lifted out of sanaa and certainly out of the presidential palace. >> we were aware three hours ago he was lifted from his residence out of the capitol and no information on where he left. but for sure he left the capitol three hours ago by his own

helicopter which took him from his residence at the palace and then from the palace to an unknown destination. >> what about the prime minister? there were reports of his convow coming under attack. >> his convow was under attack but not by the houthis. the houthis have links with prime minister baha and doubtful the houthis conducted the attack i contacted the officials and said no to the attack of prime minister and said it was a third-party involved in the attack and not them in any way. >> reporter: who might this third-party be? >> again, this is still unknown. we are trying to investigate this case on the ground but the streets are very tense and officials are trying to get information and it's chaotic to get facts and i have to see for

myself how the streets work. >> reporter: we have become pretty used to seeing violent scenes in sanaa and used to reports of their being confrontations between houthis and armed houthis in yemen, how would you assess the situation in the yemen capitol? >> nothing like this seen before and this case is the first of the kind and attack on sanaa months ago was nothing close to this and attacks months ago on sanaa by houthis focused on 13 areas of the capitol and no attacks on the prime minister or officials and this is a different case today and houthis trying to control sanaa the way iran controlled them in the 1970 revolution and it's give or take everything and houthis know this and want to make sure this is the first time they go to government to secure power in all ways. >> reporter: thank you very much indeed for bringing us up

to date and we will be following of course all the developments in the yemen capitol as they happen here at al jazeera so stay with us for that. but we are for now just getting a look at one of our other main stories and that is of course the funerals due to take place in lebanon and six killed by an israeli helicopter attack and dead include 20-year-old jihad and he is the son of a former hezbollah commander killed in israeli attack and victoria now reports. >> reporter: jihad was a hezbollah field commander and one of several fighters killed in attack and son of the commander here and he was killed in a suspected israeli attack in the syrian capitol damascus in 2008. latest attack took place in the syrian providence not far from the border with lebanon near the israeli occur pried golan

heights and it's understood they used helicopters to target the fighters. >> it was a significant blow in terms of hitting up and coming leaders within their military establishment and possibly hitting another link meaning islamic guard core link to hezbollah and in terms of where this took place in the golan heights this is new and developing for them and want to develop it in an active front against the israelis. >> reporter: hezbollah is a share organization opposed to israel and fought a war against it. and thousands of its men are in syria fighting in support of president bashar al-assad and not the first time they attacks targets in syria since the civil war started. a few days ago hezbollah chef threatened to retaliate against air strikes and attacks on syria an and said they have been

stockpiling weapons with long-range missiles to hit every part of israel. >> now this huge attack against hezbollah will force his hand and his back to the wall and credibility online and he would like to maintain israel and i don't think hezbollah would be passive. it's a matter not if but when. >> reporter: attack is a serious blow to hez ba -- hezbollah. >> the latest from the lebanon capitol beirut and we are with nicole johnston. >> the funeral three hours from now and expecting thousands of supporters from hezbollah to be out only the streets in a real show of support and strength and

solidarity for the group and angry and upset about this attack and it's the first attack that is targeted hezbollah fighters senior commanders inside syria, previous attacks have also focused on weapons convows or weapon stores so it's a serious blow for the group. speaking to people here in beirut and lebanon there is sort of a sense of uneasy people are on edge waiting to find out what sort of response what kind of retaliatory action we will see from hezbollah, as you heard in the report we had the leader only a few days ago say the group has the ability to strike israel any where any time. the group is now under pressure to respond but it will be interesting to see what the response is. we would imagine at this stage hezbollah won't want an action that could lead to a war, a new

front with israel. at the moment they are bogged down in syria and in the war and conflict there and we would expect their response will be more measured. we had a statement just released from the united nations peace keeping force in southern lebanon. they said that the situation down south near the border is calm and under control and the schools are still open and it's business as usual but we would expect that the atmosphere having said all of that would be tense down there as well. >> nicole johnston live from beirut. thank you. syrian government forces and kurdish fighters have been battling for control of areas in the northeast of the country, curfew imposed in the city of the fighting where it broke on saturday. pictures released by the kurdish forces showing fighters apparently taking control of a police station and seizing army

ammunition, both sides are reporting casualties. and kurdish forces in kabini targeted i.s.i.l. position in the town on syria border with turkey and i.s.i.l. besieged the town in september but within the last month kurdish fighters made advances against the group. libya self declared government in tripoli says it will not attend u.n. back talks in geneva next week but willing to negotiate if the talks are moved to libya. the elected government in tabrook declared ceasefire on sunday and tripoli based government declared one two days earlier. a bomb blast in egypt in the peninsula injured four egyptian soldiers and say a device is placed inside a military vehicle, very close to the city

here and soldiers transferred to a military hospital. egyptian officials say two leaders of the group were killed in military raids in sinai and accused of dozens attacks on security forces in the region and posted a video friday showing the operation which three people were arrested. and city mohamed morsi criticized successor and presenting defense at his trial and he is facing charges accused cici of removing him in a coup and killing protesters during 2011 uprising that toppleled mubarak and the trial is adjourned until wednesday. al jazeera demands release of colleagues now in prison in egypt for 38 seven days fahmy and greste and mohamed were

falsely accused of helping the muslim brotherhood and they deny and appealed court in cairo ordered a retrial. we have a lot more to come on the al jazeera news hour including how raw sewage dumped eventually becomes a welcoming oasis for flamingos. no new infection mali declares itself free from e bow. >> andy in guinea and find out why a spannish football pitch has a vital role to play in the africa cup of nations. ♪ turkey president sharing his first cabinet meeting which critics say is another sign of the increasing authority rule and says the president has the right to chair cabinet meetings but the predecessors didn't do

it at all. all right, let's talk now to vice president of the international global political coalition of social democratic socialists and labor parties and obviously you are a member of the main opposition party in turkey. what is your response then not just to the chairing of the cabinet meeting which is historic by the sounds of it but to the broader aims and intentions of president erdiwan? >> i can tell this is not normal situation. it is unusual, extraordinary situation. because regarding to the constitution and the president can participate for this kind of

ministers cabinet for government in the case of some extraordinary conditions it can be suspect of global cries. >> reporter: i understand that so when there is extraordinary situation the constitution allows for the president to chair the cabinet but what about mr. erdwan to give more power to the office of the president and make it to an executive presidency? >> it looks that he wants to make the floor or the test of presidential system because he wants to bring presidential system much more dictator or authoritarian government so it is little bit the test of presidential system or he wants to show that he is a prime

minister and not enough to govern the government cabinet. on that case they actually i have two questions, one of them to president erdiwan and why he didn't make these kind of chair or the counselor of minister because he didn't have any of these type of meetings before on the 11th, 10th or 9th of persons. the second question is i think he is to show that he is a prime minister or is he a public prime minister? >> reporter: i have to interrupt

you there, we have run out of time and thank you and interesting questions to put to the prime minister. perhaps you can let us know what he says. thank you very much indeed. now let's go to nigeria because boko haram fighters have kidnapped at least 80 people in neighboring cameroon many of them were women and children taken from villages right on the border with nigeria where boko haram is based and the cameroon information minister told al jazeera the fighters ransacked and burned houses. >> boko haram attacked a village and they destroyed it and residences and killed people and many people including children teenagers and taken hostages. at the end of the day we have to get rid of them by fighting them

to the end. >> reporter: boko haram also suspected of being behind two attacks in yobo and bachi northeast nigeria and 11 killed including 5 soldiers in one attack and bomber drove his car into a bus station making it the third attack in the town within the past month alone and in bouchi state another attack happened at a military check point. and mali declared free of e bow with 42 days and no cases and 8 1/2 thousand died in west africa what is the worst outbreak of the virus and the number of new infections across infected countries is falling. >> reporter: a year after the e ebola out break took hold in africa there are people dying everyday and doctors risking their lives to help them but tou

some good news has come out of mali an indication perhaps that all their hard work is starting to pay off. >> translator: after 42 days of monitoring with no confirmed ebola virus cases and in accordance with the sanitary directive i declare january 18 2015 to be the end of the ebola epidemic in mali from now on travelers and goods no longer subject to special treatment abroad. >> reporter: last week guinea library yeah and sierra leone has the lowest total of confirmed cases for at least five months but work must continue for falling infection rates. >> translator: we are here to ending the guinea doctors how to protect themselves from getting ebola and also how to take care of patients and other sector of the government is very weak and also trying to help the doctors

to drive ebola out of the country. >> reporter: how to keep driving it out of infected country also be the topic of a special session at a meeting of the world health organization at an executive board in geneva on sunday erica woods. >> reporter: time to look at the weather and rob is looking particularly at the gulf or starting to look at the gulf aren't you. >> rain for the gulf that is the important thing in the desert region. average rainfall in doha looks like that impressive you might think unless you look at figures on the right hand side and january this is a maximum and not a great deal. it did rain last night and 8 millimeters recorded and more than half. so what 8 millimeters this is outside of the studios and that was more than a puddle but a lot

of rain and that system that brought rain wasn't just here it was saudi arabia and down the gulf to abidabi and just finished and this is the tail end of it and in the morning and got 26 millimeters recorded. and this is giving more averages and not just briefly because the figure is slightly different and the average january is 4 millimeters because they don't mean much all rain out of this, big thunderstorms are passing frontal boundaries and all happens in less than two days a month so what will happen for the rest of at least this week rain has gone off shore and not much more of that to come the resultant strong is quite notable and the sand because of the rain but it will do. >> thank you very much indeed and a little later on in the program we will be looking at a little bit closely at water and

this particular region but in the meantime let's go and have a look at the price of crude oil because it's the lowest in six years and it's good for importing like thailand and paying less for fuel but rather bad news for neighboring malaysia which is an oil exporter and we explain. >> reporter: the plunging oil price is good news for most countries in southeast asia as majority rely on imported oil for cars light homes and keep factories running particularly in thailand the country has some oil but buys much more than it produces so the lower price means big savings for the thai government and it will trickle down to people living in a stagnant economy. with less dollars paying for oil imports more will be staying in thailand. >> a big boost to consumer confidence and people can go shopping and spend money on items produced here and spend

more money on food on cloths and so forth rather than spending money on filling their tank. >> reporter: others say this is short-lived health for the economy and the focus during this period of cheap oil should be on saving the untapped oil thailand still has. >> if you don't, being there and get results then it will prolong its use. >> reporter: with extra cash in their pockets they will spend more helping the economy but it's a different story for the neighbor to the south and it will prompt malaysia to spend less and bad news for their economy and the currency weakened to a five-year low against the u.s. dollars. this has forced the government to relook at its budget for this year. >> heavily dependent on oil revenue new and 30% of the government revenues derived from oil sources and difficult for

malaysia because if oil prices go down obviously oil government spending will also reduce and the economy is heavily dependent on government spending. >> reporter: delays to reduce the dollars will cost malaysia and some feel the impact of low prices could have malaysia look to other sources of income and drawing down on the reliance of oil revenue and means if it goes down in the future it will have less impact on the economy. and back in thailand some feel the nation could use the current good news to bring change too and a future less reliant on imported energy and using a price break on oil as a time to build the renewal industry. bangkok. ptsd is a major concern for soldiers having been through combat because in afghanistan with conflict for 40 years there

is additional problem and that is cultural stigma that is attached to the condition as jennifer glasse explains. >> reporter: in the military ptsd or post traumatic stress disorder unit this soldier wants to go back to the battlefield. you're are in a hospital not a prison the doctor tells him. . >> translator: tell the commander to come get me out of here or i will kill myself he threatens. >> reporter: the doctor tells a nurse to give him an injection and tells the patient it will make him feel better and also tells him suicide is forbidden in islam. medicine is the standard treatment here not psychiatry. >> translator: there are lots of ptsd cases in the west because of the statistics but we don't have any way to measure it here. we are at war. these cases are present here as

well. >> reporter: only a small fraction end up here and stigma to admitting a mental problem especially in the military. this 47 bed ward built for soldiers with ptsd but used more for addicts and those with depression. doctors say there are so many empty betz here not because there are not cases of ptsd but in the field soldiers and commanders don't know how or are reluctant to report them. that is the case here on the front line with a taliban and al-qaeda. there are no guidelines or doctors to diagnose troubled soldiers. >> translator: the commander and i and other officers on the look out for problems and if we see a problem we do our best to solve it. >> reporter: for a young afghan soldier it's too late. no one hearsay signs of trouble the day he put on his combat gear walked out of his quarters and shot himself in the head he

was like at the other soldiers here under preliminary pressure and facing danger on base and threatened by enemy fighters when traveling home. >> translator: they have to work here. they can't leave the job and they can't leave the family anyone of them could develop mental problems. >> reporter: back at the hospital the patient has grown restless again, the doctors let him take a walk to calm down and won't be going back to the battlefield any time soon jennifer glasse al jazeera kabul. more to come at al jazeera including this clearing the haze and meet the man trying to save lives in china by stubbing out one cigarette at a time. the war in ukraine hitting shoppers hard and so is soaring inflation. and in sport the seattle seahawks clinch an improbable victory that is sending them for their second straight superbowl

even. ♪

♪ hello again and looking at top stories in al jazeera, yemen gun battle fighting with the houthi and across the capitol sanaa and they say houthi seized state t.v. in what they describe as an attempted coup. funerals being arranged in lebanon for six hezbollah

fighters and includes 20-year-old jihad son of a former hezbollah commander also killed in israeli attack. okay now we can talk about our top story, our top story over the last couple of hours is the situation this is a than which is incredibly fluid and talking to the minister of information and thank you for talking to us on al jazeera, what is the situation in sanaa, where is the president and who is in control? >> reporter: the president is in the south. it's very tense. we can still hear fire exchanged and ran random explosion and gunshots. there was a meeting around an hour ago at the president's house that included the prime minister and high level representatives of the houthis and they agreed from this meeting that the seize fire will happen and there will be a field

committee which is supposed to go around the streets and making sure the ceasefire does happen. once the members of the meeting including the prime minister left the meeting at the president's house they were shot at and hopefully they with take it to their residence but we know that the prime minister is fine. we know leaders are fine. >> where is the president? sorry where is the president? >> reporter: the president is in his house. >> he is where? sorry. >> reporter: he is still in his residence in sanaa. >> the president is in sanaa. >> reporter: yes, this meeting did not include any diplomates. there was news that this happened but it did not. the meeting was in charge of the

defense and was supposed to meet with the houthis to start combing the streets regarding the ceasefire and it did not happen and it's dangerous now in the streets. >> the t.v. has been taken over by the houthis and you said this is an attempted coup. >> reporter: attempted coup is not with the t.v. it's actually this morning when there were attempts to enter the or takeover the presidential palace, the takeover of the t.v. actually happened gradually and it was through the popular committee that is starting from november were spread in all public and state-run organizations or establishments including the media establishment. what happened is that they were there as monitors and saying it

was because of corruption by this time they refused to acknowledge state authority in the state t.v. and radio and that news agency. i have no authority over those organizations. i've tried to pass instructions i've tried to tell them to publish this and broadcast that they have refused the authority. >> so you are saying there was an attempted coup when the houthis tried to enter the presidential palace what is the situation now? were the houthis successfully repelled? >> reporter: no. there was just i think one casualty and three injured so there was a lot of fire exchange but not many people were actually killed and eventually the mediators they managed to meet at the president's house and the meeting resulted in an

agreement to ceasefire. the ceasefire has not been able to -- they couldn't get it to t.v. because the committee is supposed to come but they could not start the operations. >> sorry, who is in control over sanaa now? >> reporter: to be honest i don't think any single party is in control of sanaa. there are places where the state security is in control and places where houthis are in control and there is a third-party who is also in control of several places. >> who is this third-party? >> well i think there were some people who came from the area surrounding sanaa and they were armed men. last time they came in we have news also of people affiliated with the republican government because they are wearing the military uniform of the republican which is affiliated

somewhat with the former regime and there are people who are abandon, i mean like people who is in their best interest to create chaos. this is a very vulnerable situation. i'm very worried that al-qaeda and other terrorist organizations will use lack of order to target anybody. this is why we have been instructed to lay low and also to the foreign hamas and everybody is taking guard. >> have you yourself a government minister been instructed to leave sanaa, to leave yemen? >> reporter: we have been told to stay put in our homes and see how this develops. but we are all staying in the same place where we were before nobody has left the country and the president himself is still in sanaa. >> what is the president's plan to try to regain control?

>> reporter: well that was the plan yesterday because it was he instructed his commanders and military from defense and interior to spread in the city to ensure there is control, there is state control after his office manager was abducted a few days ago. now i think his most important security is to have the city safe. >> and how is he hoping to achieve that? >> is the yemen army still responding to his command? >> reporter: not at -- not all of it some are responding to his command and why both ministers of defense and interior were on the committee but there are people who wear the uniform and they do not obey the orders of the superior.

>> it sounds as though sanaa is in a state of utter chaos. >> reporter: at this point. >> yes. >> reporter: this story is happening so quickly i think by the time i finish this conversation something new is going to happen. and they probably have a new yemen by the end of the day in terms of maybe a new system altogether. i still don't know what is happening. what i know now is there are attempts for a ceasefire and there are people who are trying not to allow this to happen. >> okay thank you very much indeed, we have been speaking to minister of information of yemen who has painted a very very distressing picture of the situation in sanaa right now. she talked about nobody being in

control and in sanaa and talking of the army only parts of the army responding to the control of the orders of the president and says the president is safe and that he is in sanaa and indeed that the prime minister is safe and that he is in sanaa. he said that government ministers have been told to stay put but she said that foreign diplomates were seeking a retreat and leaving. she confirmed also the state media, the television channel and the news agency is under other control shall we say, certainly not under government control. she tried to get them to publish certain articles certain information and they point bank refused. that is the situation from sanaa, not too far away in the port city of aden is watching this is our correspondent and we heard from the minister of

information that earlier in the day what was witnessed in sanaa was an attempted coup. >> she was referring to the events that started around 7:30 when witnesses this the capitol is a than heard explosions and heavy gunfire around the presidential compound and she has described it as an attempted coup and people there stayed this was a clash between the presidential guard as well as the houthis, the two sides were trading blame as to what exactly happened and triggered the fight, the presidential guard had the day before based on orders from the president and were deploying their forces around there and an area controlled by the houthis, the entire area the houthis say the presidential guard provoked houthis and this is where it all started. let me tell you where this attempted coup is coming from.

from the last weeks or so we have been hearing a lot of rumors that there is something behind the scene that has been cooked if you will and who is behind it people here accusing houthis on one hand and former members of the former regime and that is the former president and has influence over the military and that is why now we heard from the minister saying that not all of the yemen's armies responding to the president because they are still loyal to the former president. the houthis and the other are to stage a military coup. so this is where the attempted coup is coming from. >> the minister also suggested that by the end of today there could be a new yemen, certainly, a new authority in charge of yemen. >> absolutely. new yemen started since september when the houthis took

control of the capitol. what we saw today is going to make or break the president. and then after that it will have a new yemen because over the last 48 hours the chief of staff of the president was kidnapped in broad daylight by the houthis. so i think the president, he held top-level meetings with his security advisors military commanders to try and bring some sort of order and restore the prestige of the state because everyone in this country is criticizing the president for being too weak and they know he doesn't have the influence over the military who is loyal to the former president but i think the president has taken the decision to try and restore some credibility and some prestige to the state and this is where he took the decision to deploy some of the forces loyal to him around the presidential palace and move on to take some houthi checkpoints around sanaa. >> we have been hearing

periodically throughout the day of there being a third force in the yemen situation so just to clarify who is that third force or what is that force and what do they represent? >> when we were speaking to the minister of information we asked for exactly that question and she said the third force are members of the former regime and she means loyalist to former president. remember the president, the former president has a lot of supporters, his party is the biggest in the country. he has the biggest in parliament and enjoys support and tribal support even and he has people with guns on the streets of sanaa and heard it on different occasions from politicians as well as government forces they fear alliance between the houthis and supporters that

manage the houthis and allow them to take over sanaa and part of the country and the third-party they mean it's the former loyalist to the former president. >> and as always in region omar there were always suggestions that outside is driving the conflict and carrying out this conflict by proxy. >> yes, absolutely. the houthis are yazidi and accused of being supported and financed by iran why would iran do that? they will tell you because houthis traditional areas is the north of yemen and north of yemen borders saudi arabia and they have an interest of making problems for them. what the houthis did when they took control of sanaa and much part of the country is to secure a port to the western part of

the country which gives iran influence on the waterway. you also have accusations from the houthis that saudi arabia has backed them in their traditional strongholds to stop the spread of shia and you have that mixed and you need to remember houthis and former president assad when he was in power they fought wars but things changed because of common enemyies and include the muslim brotherhood and we have that complicated picture and western powers involved for sure. >> talking about situations happening, the situation rapidly changing today in is a than -- in sanaa and tell us about the rest of the country and talking from the south, from the port city of

aden. >> yes, that's right. since the houthis took over the capitol last year especially the sentiments is only rising here in the south. there was unity for 24 years, there still is but people here see the north as an occupation. they tell you explicitly they had enough occupation from the north and they want to have their own south independent like they used to do before in 1967 and before that. when you speak to them people are fed up with that occupation and they want to break away and i think the events that have taken place not only now but before is giving those sentiments here a momentum and the southern movement is trying to capitalize on the chaos that is happening in the rest of the country and have their own independent state. >> okay i think it's a good time torus to just revisit that interview we conducted at al jazeera with the information

minister who spoke to us literally within the last couple of minutes. let's just hear what she had to say about the developing situation in sanaa. >> the president is in the south. it's very tense. we can still hear fire exchanged and random not as much as the morning, random explosions or gunshots. there is -- there was a meeting around an hour ago at the president's house that included the prime minister and high-level representatives of the houthis and they agreed from this meeting that the ceasefire will happen and there will be a field committee which is supposed to go around the streets to see that the ceasefire does happen. however, once the members of the meeting including the prime minister left the meeting at the president's house they were shot at and hopefully they can make

it to their residence but we know that the prime minister is still fine. we know the leaders are fine. >> where is the president? sorry, where is the president? >> the president is in his house. >> he is where? sorry. >> his house he is still in his residence in sanaa. >> the president is in sanaa. >> yes, this meeting did not include any diplomate. there was news that this happened but it did not. the meeting was many and in charge of the defense interior was supposed to meet with the houthis to start pounding the streets and having a ceasefire but they could not meet and ceasefire has not started and it's dangerous in the street. >> t.v. and state agency has been taken over by the houthis

and you have said this is an attempted coup. >> that attempted coup is not with the t.v. it's actually this morning when there were attempts to enter the or takeover the presidential palace that the takeover of the t.v. actually happened gradually and it was through the popular communities that is starting from november were spread in all public and state-run organizations or establishments including the media establishment. what happened is they were there as monitors and saying they are there to fight corruption but by this time they refused to acknowledge the state authority in the state t.v. and the state radio so with that news agency. i have no authority over those organizations. i've tried to pass the instructions. i've tried to tell them to

publish this and broadcast that they have refused to acknowledge authority. >> so you are saying there was an attempted coup when the houthis tried to enter the presidential palace what is the situation now? were the houthis successfully repelled? >> no there was just i think one casualty and three injured so there was a lot of fire exchanged but not many people were killed and eventually mediators managed to meet at the president's house and the meeting resulted in an agreement to ceasefire. the ceasefire has not been able -- they couldn't get it to be going through because the committee is supposed to come but the siege has not started operations and the third-party. >> sorry, who is in control of

sanaa now? >> to be honest i don't think any single party is in control of sanaa. there are places where the state security is in control. there are places where houthis are in control. and there is a third-party who is also if control of several states. >> who is this third-party? >> well i think there were some people who came from the tribal areas, and this was the last they came in. we have news of people affiliated with the republican government because they are wearing the military uniform of republican which is affiliated somewhat with the former regime and there are people who are bandits, i mean like people who in their best interest to create chaos. this is a very vulnerable situation. i'm very worried that al-qaeda or other terrorist organizations

are going to use the lack of order and target anybody. this is why we have been instructed to lay low and all of the foreign diplomates and everybody is taking guard. >> have you yourself a government minister been instructed to leave sanaa, to leave yemen? >> we have been told to stay put in our homes and see how this develops but we are all staying in the same place where we were before. nobody has left the country and the president himself is still in sanaa. >> what is the president's plan to try to regain control? >> well that was the plan yesterday because it was he instructed his commanders and military from ministry of defense and ministry of interior to spread in the city to ensure there is control, there is state control after his office manager

was abducted a few days ago. now i think his most important security is to have the city safe. >> and how is he hoping to achieve that? is the yemen army still responding to his command? >> not all of it. some of the many army are responding to his command and this is why the both ministers of defense and interior were on the committee but there are people who wear the uniform and they do not obey the orders of the superior. >> it sounds as though sanaa is in a state of utter chaos. >> at this point. >> yes. >> it's a very -- this story is moving so quickly, by the time i finish this conversation something new is going to

happen. we may probably have a new yemen by the end of the day in terms of maybe a new system altogether. i still don't know what is happening. what i know now is there are attempts to besiege fire and trying for it not to happen. >> remarkable interview with information minister and our correspondent who has been covering events in yemen for a good long while now. how would you assess this moment? the information minister there saying probably by the end of the day she thought there would be a new yemen. >> absolutely. the situation is very dangerous. probably she is right. and i think the president took a decision to try and change the reality regardless of what may happen and that decision came

from yesterday when he met with his military commanders to try and deploy some army troops army that is still loyal to him and try to stop the houthis because what the houthis did in the last 48 hours is quite brazen and abducted in broad light the chief of staff for the president and i think probably the president decision was triggered by that the houthis perhaps took a step too far. remember the president is under tremendous pressure and seen as a weak figure that cannot do anything. the state is totally absent and i have to point out that before the events unfolded this morning the houthis were pretty much in control of the capitol and at least nine provinces and i do remember one incident in particular with the information minister she told us on the phone over the last week or so that the houthis stormed her office for copies of the documents and told her she will

not be allowed to appoint anyone in any institution that belongs to the state, the media institutions if that person is not a member of the houthi movement. so it's very clear who is causing the spots and i think the president has taken a decision to try and stop that. >> so she has pointed out her expectation there could be a new yemen by the end of the day, what might that look like? >> given the factors we have and the powers we know that the houthis have alliances which are key in this and i think probably that means, could mean the houthis taking the presidency forcing the president to resign and then perhaps, perhaps here calling for a new and early elections. why i'm saying early elections because this is exactly what the former president wants the

president wants and the country in chaos and the only way to get out of that chaos is to have the early parliamentary and presidential elections. >> if that were to be the case who would win? >> that is everybody's guess. i'm not quite sure. now, if the houthis will probably have a say in who is going to win. i don't think they will win. but whoever wins under the circumstances which are for the place for the houthis favor probably someone who is close to the houthi movement. >> we are casting ourselves forward aren't we but right now just to summarize the situation in the yemen capitol right now it appears as though we have got a variety of armed groups roaming the capitol, the information minister herself telling us that nobody actually was in total control.

>> yes, that's right. the houthis are almost everywhere in sanaa. you have the presidential guards protecting and are deployed around that presidential guard. there are a number of bases surrounding the capitol, some of those military bases are under houthi control, some are not. those who are not under the houthi control remain loyal to the former president. now if you believe the roomer there is alliance between houthi and former president and seems the houthi and the former president have the upper hand but the current president has tried and asked to have a new government. he chose a very strong defense minister. that defense minister appears to be still loyal to the government. >> i have to jump in now can i ask you just to pause because

jordan is going to be taking over and taking you through the rest of these remarkable developments in yemen. ♪

live in doha with coverage in yemen and sanaa and intense fighting between houthi fighters and the army we also have other news funerals expected for six hezbollah fighters in the golan heights, tightening grip on power and turkey cabinet meeting. after six weeks of no new infections mali is free from the ebola virus. ♪