considering yemen crucial yemen's leadership on the edge. houthi fighters take over the presidential palace in the capital sanaa. in the past hour their leader has addressed the country. >> at this defining moment in the history of our homeland. we are going through at critical moment. ♪ ♪ hello there, i am barbara you are watching al jazerra live in london. also coming up on the program. nine policemen are killed in iraq as isil fighters attack the compound of an influential

tribal leader. japan's prime minister says he'll try and save two japanese hostages being held by isil, who want $200 million for their release. plus china's economy posts its weakest growth in nearly a quarter of a century. so should the government be worried? ♪ ♪ hello there, thank you for joining us. it's been a turbulent and fast-moving day in yemen. in the past hour, the leaders of the shia rebels has addressed the nation on tv. he explained why the houthis seized the presidential palace in sanaa after renewed fighting in which at least two soldiers were killed. he blamed president hadi for the instability by failing to honor peace deals with the houthis and for corruption in his government. the u.s.-backed leader is currently thought to be trapped inside the palace.

well planned talked to diffuse the tensions have been canceled with the houthi blaming the government for stalling what he calls a critical moment of change in the country. >> translator: there is no doubt that our country is suffering at the domestic level. many of the internal forces in terms of the political parties and blocks are not living up to the degree or the level of the current challenges. they are not addressing them responsibly. transcending above personal gains parties and interests or any side agendas. in terms of sectarian provincial or tribal

affiliations. at this defining moment in the history of our homeland, we are going through a critical moment. exacerbated by the negative perspective and the negative approach by many of the internal forces. especially those holding the reins of power and holding the reins of decision and decision making. i mean the authorities. i mean the authority led by the president. >> that's the leader of the houthis, the shia rebels, omar has more now from aden for us. >> reporter: it's very interesting what the leader of the movement is saying, it's the list of grievances that his group feels towards the state

and in particular against president hadi and what he called also the old forces. and i think he's making direct reference to some of the key political parties in this country, mainly the party which is the political front of the muslim brotherhood. the main points from what he said so far is that the authority and the president failed to implement everything that has been agreed upon by all of the political players including the peace deal, the peace and partnership deal that was signed in september and also before that, the national dialogue he's also reiterating the fact this country is suffering from corruption and that the state is not doing anything to fight the corruption. >> well, al jazerra joining us live from doha. it's been an incredibly fast-moving day. from what you understand who seems to be in charge in yemen right now? >> well, president hadi remains

yemen's legitimate leader as recognized by the international community. as far as who calls the shots it's definitely the houthis. they are the ones that have thousands of fighters on the outskirts of the capital, they are the ones who set up checkpoints inside the capital. they are the ones who pro text the protector of the ministry and the residence of the president. you are talking about a movement that is now in control of a huge territory that stretches from sanaa in the north to the south of the capital. >> and we heard from the leader of the houthis basically accusing the president of not doing enough to install this nation the dialogue. do you think that now there is any chance for in some kind of dialogue and recognize reconciliation between the two? >> i don't think that dialogue

or any settlement in the future will solve some of the major differences and divisions that you have in yemen. houthi was taking aim at the president saying this was someone that that has never been genuine about implementing political reforms accusing immaterial of embezzlement of funds, colluding with the americans in particular to destroy the country. he says, for example that in center agreed with the president to implement a new deal called referred to as peace and partnership deal. but that deal itself says that once the government was formed, the houthis should pull out from the capital. a government was formed in october, i was there but the houthis said we won't be able to pull out from the capital because we are concern the that could create a more instability in the country. i assumed that as we speak

there are attempts at some sort of political settlement in the near future for diffuse tension. but you are talking about huge differences that could not be solve in the near future. >> live from doha for us, thank you. now, let's go to the u.n. security council because it's holding a meet to go discuss the cries let yemen our diplomatic editor james bays joins us from the u.n. headquarters in new york. now, james, as i understand it, that meeting has finished. have we had any sort of official statement from the security council on events in yemen? >> reporter: we are awaiting a statement. they have been talking about the wording of their statement and they have until half past the hour to get a final accord on that wording and then i suspect we'll see the statement in the next hour read out by the current president of the security council, that is the ambassador of chile. i think it's worth making it clear that we are expecting

nothing other than words. there is very little that the security council can do, other than condemn the ongoing violence, we have had a similar statement of condemnation coming from theup secretary general ban ki-moon. there only are a certain number of things that the security council can do with regard to any situation in the world. and with regard to yemen, they have tried a number of the different things that are there in their toolbox. they have tried mediation. jamal who is the special adviser to the united nations has been mediating with all the parties for very many months. he was in new york in the last few days, he's currently in doha qatar on had his way back to sanaa and will be there in a couple of hours time to continue his mediation efforts on the ground. but until now those mediation efforts haven't worked and you heard from the houthi leader that he's been unhappy with the government's commitments to some

of these things that he said it signed up to. for example the national dialogue. the other thing the security council has tried, as well as the current, they are stride the stake, the stake of sanctions and it's done no good. and the other thing is military invention and i can tell you that there is absolutely zero appetite from that coming from any of the members of the u.n. security council. you will hear words of condemnation but i don't think you'll hear any new action. the security council statement coming at a time when we are still very unclear about the facts on the ground. where exactly is president hadi. what freedom of movement does he have? similar questions about his prime minister and other senior ministers. a lot of questions still. >> james we'll check in with you again when we about do get that

statement from the security council. for the moment james bays, thank you. meanwhile in the u.s. two have been charged with providing material support from al al qaeda give us a bit more detail on these charges against these two men, kimberly. >> reporter: well, they are announced by the u.s. justice department which is to be expected. charges laid against two individuals as you point out a 36-year-old as well as a 30-year-old. now, the complaint by the justice department that was released to the media indicates that it is in fact the belief that these two men conspired to murder u.s. citizens abroad carrying out attacks in iraq and afghanistan, further alleging that these pima loud another individual to travel to pakistan for training and participated in trying to carry out attacks against primarily u.s. military personnel. we know these individuals were

picked up in saudi arabia, brought to the united states, they have had court appearances and the united states state of new york, we are also told, in fact that if these individuals do in fact, find that they are convicted of these charges then they could face life in prison. >> and kimberly, just focusing a little bit on the events in yemen, i am wondering if we have had any kind of official statement from the u.s. and how worried do you think the government is going to be watching the events unfold in yemen? >> reporter: well, as these charges that we were just talking about indicate, yemen is very, very important to the united states. its wider counter terrorism effort. the u.s. state department said there is no plans to evacuate the embassy in yemen but i can tell you that they are watching is very carefully. thurman touring the situation and the security situation very carefully. the reason of course is since 2002 the u.s. has been carrying out drone strikes in yemen. they feel that the al qaeda branch that is located there is

particularly lethal. perhaps the most lethal. and as a result, there have been more than 100 drone strikes that have been carried out obviously controversial because of the high number of civilian casualties despite the point that the united states says that these are very precise strikes. so highly controversial but all along, the u.s. has had the support of president hadi. and as a result of that, this has allowed the program to continue, one that these charges will reveal is important to the united states, all of this comes in to jeopardy with the fact now there is concern with the unrest. what the future of the program might be. the houthis do not approve of the program we know, and so the united states is concerned because this is so key and sort of a real peg in the wider u.s. program, there is concern about its future and whether or not it could be in jeopardy. >> kimberly hal death live in washington d.c. thank you.

so who are the main players in generally. the houthis are the top power they are trying to win greater autonomy for their northern heartland as well as greater representation in government. then of course there is president hadi who came to power in 2012 with u.s. backing. he has the support of the uni majority but is widely seen as weak and inefficient. and cannot make decisions without houthi approval. iran is widely thought to be backing the shia rebels. the government says it seized weapon shipments from iran destined for the houthis. on the other side is the sunni power saudi arabia, which has expressed strong support for the president. in to thousand ninth oil-riched kingdom launched air strikes against the shia-led rebels. last year they declared the houthis a terrorist organization. for more on the chaos that's gripping yemen let's speak now to a political analyst specializing in yemen. thank you so much for inning us. >> thank you. >> you were just with us 24

hours ago roughly it's incredible how much has actually changed in those 24 hours. how do you read the situation in sanaa right now? >> it's very unstable, of course. but nothing unusual. i think that the capital is going through a natural crisis development, if you would like. the houthis are trying to push their agenda and president hadi is holding on to what he believes he is entitled to, they are debating over the kidnap of his chief of staff. a very important individual, mr. mubarak, who has been the chief negotiator, if you would like with the houthis. he is responsibilities i believe for the national dialogues and it is his fate, really, that is gripping the country together. it's not a coup in the normal sense of the term, but it is the fate of the political debate that is going on right now. >> i guess it does throw light on just how dysfunctional the situation has been in yemen for

a very long time. pats this crisis right now, do you see it being solved with the players that we have right now? >> actually it's not as bad as it sounds, because the process has been quite positive. they have been able to put their differences aside and sit down together around a table and agree on a new constitution. the debate, right now, and the reason why mr. mubarak was kidnapped was because they disagree on what is inside this document. the houthis are rejecting what they call the decentral decentralization policy, which is what the document calls for they want six federation members the houthis houthis reject it because the gap of rich and poor will increase, did decentralization is one of the best ways to move forward for yemenis. it's a political debate that is very healthy. it's not as bad as it sounds from outside but because yemenis are heavily armed at any moment it could fall in to a violent

situation, that's why people are concerned. >> already we were reading the introduction just give a lay of the lands of who supports who iran is said to be back the houthi rebels. saudi arabia a strong supporter for the president. how dangerous do you think a failed state would be considering the not very stable stability right. >> now yemen is one of the oldest countries. it is not a failed say if in fact it were a failed state it would have come apart a long time. amazing thing that happened since the arab up rising in 2010 and the repeated warnings that of the arab countries would become failed states, in fact they have not. they are still hold often the nation's state system is challenged by isil or isis, but still iraq is there. still syria is there. disfunctionsal true, but not completely failed state yet. yemen is in the same category. it is not a failed state. but it will have to come to terms with the political agenda next. and what kind of an agreement

the yemenis can reach amongst themselves. easier said than done, i acknowledge that. but it is not all that negative. >> political analyst specializing in yemen sir thank you so much for sharing your views with us. >> thank you. of course for more information on the crisis in yemen, you can go to aljazerra.com. where we breakdown the situation there, explaining who the main players are and he also has further details on what exactly is sat stake all that have on aljazerra.com. still to come on the program, ukraine says its army units have come under attack from the russian army amid heavy fighting in the country's east. battling boko haram a regional conference in niner tries to find an answer to fighting the armed group. in clashes between police and

protesters in the democratic congo but police fired live bullets in the crowds and it's a

>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become

this thing where you talk to experts about people and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. another reminder of the headlines on al jazerra. houthi rebels have seized the presidential pal in yemen's capital sanaa after renewed fighting in which at least two soldiers were killed. in the fast hour the leader the shia rebels went on yemeni tv and blamed president hadi for the instability by failing to honor peace dales with the houthis and for corruption in his government. >> translator: his polight forces of yemen and namely the authority were interested only and only in making more gains

and gaining more interest to their own only not to the people people. those limited interests turning a blind eye to the yemeni people and their sufferings. japan's are's prime minister abe has vowed to save two japanese hostages being held by isil. in an online video in which al jazerra is choosing not to show, the armed group demanded $200 million for the release of the two men. the group threatened to kill the hostages within 72 hours if its demands aren't net. abe was speaking during a visit with the palestinian president. >> translator: it is an unacceptable act to threaten us in exchange for human lives and i feel angry about it. i strongly your honor them to are immediately release the hostages without hurting them. fighters from the islamic

state of iraq and the levant have seized a compound belong to go an influential triber leidner iraq. the attack on the shake's home began on sunday night in anbar province, nine policemen were killed as gunmen blew up buildings, it led to the fighting of the military against al qaeda. a regional security conference in niger has been discussing the fight against boko haram ministers from six african states attended along with representatives from the european union the u.s. and china. the u.n. estimates 20,000 have fled in to neighboring country the latest from niger's capital. >> reporter: nine press of 19 countries including the our pine and others. shows the urgency of the situation on the ground the.

the general feeling is much final has been wasteed with these conferences going on and on and no particular force is on the ground to tackle boko haram peoples think people are losing time especially in countries affected by boko haram violence, little coordination between countries affected by boko haram violence country ares like cameroon niger there has been an alliance between nigeria chad and cameroon setting up a border to deal with that region, unfortunately little coordination among all of them. that is on one side. on the side of nigeria and cameroon there has been some form of yard nation, unfortunately individual country is are tackling the problem the way they think best. what came up at this meeting in particular is that there is little coordination between these member countries fighting boko haram in that region as explains by the nigerian

ambassador. >> coalition the military contingent from chad and niner without. [ inaudible ] in the. [ inaudible ] no one would pictures it. before the decision to withdraw. >> reporter: now people will want to see more action, quickly on the ground to solve the problem and to stop the human terrier problem developing in both nigeria and cameron. a mallmali an man has been given french citizenship for helping in an attack in paris. he led several people in to the freezer in the kosher grocery store after a gunman attacked it. he was publicly recognized by france's interior minister at a ceremony that i took place in the last hour. >> translator: he behaved as a

courageous citizen. this will honor him in the name of the nation and express the gratitude we feel from the on the umph our hearts. the ukrainian army says their soldiers have been attacked by russian army forces. fighting at donetsk airport mass spilled in the in to the city. six saville kwraepbs have been killed.civilians have been killed.paul brennan sent us this update. >> we'll try to bring you paul brennan's report in ukraine a little later in the program. now, china's economy has slowed to its weakest in 24 years with growth last year of 7.4%.

weak manufacturing and falling property prices have been blames. the government acknowledged last year that double-digit growth is a thing of the past but it is expected to impose measures to prevent the slow down happening too quickly. adrian brown reports from beijing. >> reporter: economists say that no number matters in the world right now more than china's gdp. gpd, of course, is the best way of measuring a country's economy. and now new data has come out showing that china's economy grew by 7.4% in 2014. now that is not what the government hoped for. they had been hoping for economic growth of perhaps around 7.5% class essentially what it has been for the past two years and this represents really the slowest economic growth in china in almost a quarter of a century. why? well a housing bubble effecting four and -- cities. banks are under estimating the

extent of bad loan on his their books, these are loans that the government encouraged pwaufrpbgs to make to try to stimulate economic growth after the global financial crash in 2008. >> if we have a disruptive slow down and that's what would happen if we ran out of debt capacity limits, if we ran in to our debt capacity limits, that could be quite bad for china and quite bad for the world. i don't think that's going to happen. so far it looks like we are going to have a stable adjustment. >> reporter: while china's gdp is slowing it's still the envy of the world. but this he mains an economy that is tr-pbs transforming for instance retail says were up by 12% from a year early. industrial output also up by seven-point main% both better than the government had forecast. but the danger remains kind's property bubble since the real estate sector account for a third of china's gdp.

that's one of the reasons why the international monetary fund is now forecasting economic growth for china of 6.8% in 2015. economists warn that anything below 6% could spell danger for china. job losses and what the government here fears most, instability. it is a reminders that what happens here, has the potential to affect lives around the world. investigators in indonesia i can't believe the air asia plane that crashed in december climbed too fast before it came down in the java sea. radar data shows the plain ascended at a rate of 6,000 feet per minute, three times the normal rate for a commercial jet. it's possible the steep climb caused the plane to stall. all 162 people on board died in the accident on december 28th. al jazerra continues to demand the release of its three journalists who have now been in prison in egypt for 388 days.

bahar mo halt he had mohamed fahmy and peter greste were wrongly accused of broadcasting false news and helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood. charges that they deny. an appeals court in cairo has ordered a retile that could begin wayne month. lawyers for meter and mohamed have filed questions requests for them to be deported fry jim. president obama is preparing for his annual u.s. state of the union address. he is due to take the stage in the capital washington, d.c. around 6 1/2 hours to deliver his nationally televised speech. last year it was watched by 33 million americans. obama is expected to concentrate a domestic matters ahead of foreign policy with major announcements expect odd tax and inequality. isil the ebola virus and iran's nuclear policy are predicted to figure prominently in the speech. of course we'll be carrying the speech here on al jazerra. and you can find out much more

about that and everything else that we have been covering on our website the address aljazerra.com. you can see our top story there. the houthis taking over yemen's presidential palace. more news in a few minutes. >> as the world's most elderly nation - japan is dancing with a demographic disaster. people are living longer and birthrates are falling fast. no other country has a greater percentage of old people. the government has responded by