facebook page. we'll have more of "america tonight" right here tomorrow. houthi tv airs pictures showing the aftermath of saudi-led air strikes targeting houthi positions in yellen. ♪ ♪ hello from al jazerra's headquarters if doha i am jane dutton. the houthis are calling for i a march against the saudi strikes we'll speak to houthi representative for their reaction. also ahead. >> i am in the oil rich namer delta. nigeria ens are voting in lex says soon, how has the fall on ale prices affected ordinary people. is it time to end the

centuries old tradition we report for the ferry islands where whale meat is still on the menu. ♪ ♪ we begin with a developing story out of yemen where saudi-led co linc has launched air strikes against the houthi rebels. the saudi operation is backed by coalition of 10 countries including five gulf monarchies and the g.c.c. egypt, pakistan, sudan jordan and morocco. the military action is to support what the coalition calls the legitimate government of yemen led by president hadi. the u.s. says it is coordinating with saudi arabia providing intelligence and logistic the support. saudi arabia says it is completely destroyed houthi air defenses and the houthi-controlled air base near the capital is nock it's in sauna

and hit other targets. these are the latest pictures coming from houthi tv in em vinnie. they appear to show the aftermath of one of the strikes overnight. this is said to be a rez ham area in the capital sanaa. a civil defense rescuer says at least 17 people have been killed. we will get reaction from the houthis in yemen in a moment. but first this report on how events unfolds. >> reporter: the saudi embassy in washington, d.c. was the venue chosen to announce the military offensive. the saudi ambassador refuse today reveal what specifically his country was trying to achieve. >> the choice is very simple they abide by this process and become legitimate players in yemeni politics or they will not be allowed -- but they certainly will not be allowed to take over the country. >> reporter: so i will bomb it until they agree to take part in the process. >> we will do whatever it takes in order to protect the legitimate government of yemen from falling. >> reporter: several hours in

the bombing the u.s. revealed its role in the attack. what the white house calls a joint planning cell had been set up with the sawed i didn'ts to yard it's military and intelligence support. on sunday they called from member states on refrain from taking any actions that undermined the sovereignty of yemen. in addition the saudi action occurred just as u.s. secretary of state john kev kerry was getting ready for his talks with arraign request swims let's. talks represented as going well. another rain vinnie represent the houthi who are being bombed by the saudis. official line is upbeat. fakely other yemen. >> i have explained that it's a success and had has been a success for many years because of our efforts to push back and counter al qaeda in yemen. that's something that we have been doing for sometime now. >> reporter: a restless den of the yemeni capital wondered whether this policy led to the

latest military intervention. >> the one right thing u.n. can do is stop dealing with generally as an agenda and listen to local experts instead of listening to expats who only look at yemen as a war zone and as a model fighting al qaeda. >> reporter: it's clear that the administration spokes people will need to be asked some searching questions on thursday when they face the press. shia, al jazerra washington. mohamed is a spokesman from the houthis in yemen he joins us live from sauna is speaking through a translator. good to have you on the show why this is happening all around you. can you update us from your perspective what's happening in the houthis and what is going on right now. >> translator: there is a foreign aggression against yemen which by saudi arabia assisted by some g.c.c. countries.

this aggression is unlawful and unjustified. simply for the reason that pretext driven by saudi arabia are illogical. they claim to be supporting the legitimate presidency of hadi while the call for foreign intervention by hadi per se will lead his legitimacy to fall as yemen has -- is a state of sovereignty and sense the president has violated this particular article of the contusion his legitimacy has fallen, in addition he has been assisted and cooperated with al qaeda. sanaa has witnessed the fall of 160 martyrs who have fallen as martyrs in attacks in the mosques or slaughtered in the southern provinces. on the same day those martyrs have been buried by -- who were

killed at the hands of al qaeda and isil, saudi arabia, towing with other countries, are now launching an aggression against yemen. >> okay, can i just ask you here, i mean, what options did you leave them? because houthis have been on the move for several months now you over took the capital in a coup in february. you have been moving down south. clearly not willing to talk either. >> translator: this is untrue. this is false. there is no coup. a coup means a group is toppling the government and the president kills them and brings about a new government. this has not taken place president hadi has resigned. and also the government resigned

for two weeks we tried to convince them to withdraw their resignation. and we have been calling on the government to continue our tear cakiercaretaker agreement. do you believe that any coup would request the government or president to stay in power. >> okay, sorry can i draw you back to what's happening at the moment. i am really interested to find out what's happening as far as your forces are concerned. how far can you push this? what is your response going to be to these attacks? and what sort of conversation are you having with your backer iran? >> translator: as a matter of fact, the aim of this aggression is to dent the resolve of the yemeni people and push them from their demands. however, these attacks cannot

dent our resolve. we will continue until the goals of the revolution have been materialized. we are capable of standing up to this aggression. we will not call for outside intervention, we are not seeking the support of iran or any other force. we are con if i gets in our forces and our capabilities and the will of our people. >> we have heard that most of your air defenses have been totally wiped out. i am also hearing that there are reports that the head of the revolutionary council has been injured. if that's indeed true, how can you continue to fight? >> translator: first of all with respect to the injury of certain leaders, these are false reports. and with respect to the air defenses i have no accurate information or reports about the targets. however, the air defense and the

air base is the property of the yemeni people not. [ inaudible ] and the civilians falling are yemeni people are from all walks of life and all political affiliations, this aggression is wage ed by saudi a rape rah i can't and g.c.c. against a particular party is unrealistic, illogical. simply for the reason that we have a division, political division not sectarian in the same one household in yemen you can find those supporting. [ inaudible ] others of the congress others supporting al al qaeda, that's why this aggression is unjustifiable it's not targeting a particular party it's target the whole of yep glen thank you very much for giving your perspective. spokesman for the houthis in yemen.

jordan is reportedly one of the 10 nations supporting the military intervention in yemen. let's talk to nisreen who is joining us from the jordanian capital. nisreen, has jordan confirmed its participation now? >> reporter: yes, jane indeed a jordanian official source has confirmed to al jazerra that certainly and indeed jordan did participate in this military operation led by saudi arabia in yemen on every night. now, the reason for in this, this source is saying in order to support the legitimate government in yemen as well as yemen's stability and security and as well in a show of appreciation and support for the historic relationship, the source said between jordan, saudi arabia, and the rest of the gulf arab countries. so the reason jordan says is it wants to support legitimacy in yemen as well as the political process there that includes all

parties. the source also described the stability of saudi arabia and gulf arab countries as a high national jordanian interest. the source also refused to talk about the media reports suggest that go jordan may possibly have a ground role in yemen by sending troops, ground troops to yemen saying that these were merely projections by the media at this time. >> all right, thank you for that nisreen. let's to get you up-to-date on some of the other stories we are following on al jazerra. u.s. second state john kersey? switzerland to meet with his iran year counterpart. they are trying to reach a ideal on how to limit iran's nuclear program by the deadline. it's set to reduce their nuclear capability to return for easing

sanctions the morning have his been going on for weeks now. there are reports that one of the pilots of the crashed germanwings jet was locks out of the wok pit before the plane went down. the plane was on route for düsseldorf to barcelona when it within down over the french alps. no distress signal was sent from the i've bus a320 and the crew failed to respond to ground controls attempts to make contact. investigators are combing the french mountain side for the remakes of the 150 passengers and crew who died. final preparations are underway in nigeria for the general election on saturday. ballot papers and result sheets have been sent under police guard to an electoral commission depot in abuja. electoral officials checks the papers before sending them onto polling booths. saturday's suppress shall vote is expected to be a close race between incumbent president good luck jonathan and former military general.

oil is one. major issues in the election, the niger delta is where almost all of nigeria's a oil comes from and provides more than three-quarters of government revenue. but the renal sun also one the country's pour poorest. >> reporter: they know what they are doing sill legal. but they don't care. young, unemployed men school crude oil from pipelines then refine it in the creek of the niger delta. they say this lucrative resource belongs to the community. not the nigerian government or oil company. >> they are eating our money so when you have something and somebody is eating it, you will be. [ inaudible ] you owns it, this is what is happening, we look for how to get part of it. >> reporter: the men claim to produce around 60,000-liters a day from their improvised refineries. look at what this business is doing to the environment. this place used to be lush and green. locals say more than 200

refineries in the area but they say need money to look after their families. falling global oil prices means less foreign currency is earned. for poor nigerians their problems keep piling up. prices of basic commodities are rising. >> there is no money. but when you go to the market to buy you cannot. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: a well armed joint task force made up of forces from all security sectors patrol the creek. oil accounts for about 15% of nigeria's gross domestic product but makes up 75 to 80% of government revenues. government finances have been hammered by the slide in world oil prices. >> it's been very tough. almost 40% of the revenues we get wipe off and i mean, with the am of developmental work, this particular administration has gone in to, we have had to

look at so many cost-cutting strategies. to help us continue to keep afloat and to also pay salaries . >> for those struggling to get by this cheap often low-quality fuel is affordable. one use for it powering up generators. despite being one of the largest producers of oil in the world nigeria is at this time balance still battle to go pete its energy needs. lots more to come on the program. racked by violence and caught in the power struggle. we spike to libyan about his their hopes for peace we'll be back nay moment.

china the biggest single investment the project has been

suspended pending a review by the current government and this has led to a lot of concerns. someone soared by the chinese government has spend over a week in beijing and some of the key messages coming out have been sort of overall concerned that china hopes that even with the shift of government that there won't be a shift in investment and economic policy that they hope the stability of investments will will be held and the confidence of investors won't be broken, i spoke to one of the journalist on his this visit and he said that was very much the overriding message which they herd during all of their meeting with representatives of chinese government as well as chinese companies, sri lanka debaltseve and china's relationship go back many centuries even the conventions that you see behind me as a gift to sri lanka during the '60s '60s it's not a new relationship but china elevated it to a extra team i can project

with the president here last year and this visit is very much expected to try to alay concerns as well as make sure that the future of this relationship stays firm. it's been a tradition in the pharaoh islands for centuries but now the hunting of pilot wales is coming under crowing criticism. animal rights active activists saying the killing is cruel and unnecessary. >> reporter: this is the sort of hand carved hunting knife used to a traditional pharaoh whale hunt known as the grind. >> you then cut up the spinal court. and the whale will die in like seconds. >> reporter: for centuries the people of the islands have killed pilot wales for food. drawing passing pods in to challe so waters.

each year it's estimated the hunt takes 1.1% of the population. >> i like the blubber to go with the dried fish. and then you have the dried wales meat. as long as the thing is -- you hunt them in a sustainable way and it's a food source, you have -- i think you have to use it. we live in a world that where people starve. why shouldn't we use our resources. >> reporter: animal rights activists call it barbaric, their attempts to disrupt the hunts have grown increasingly successful. >> this traditional that has been in place for over 500 years it's time for this tradition to do disappear because the world has changed and therefore i think this should also change. the intervention isn't welcomed of course the islanders compare their whale hunt to the slaughter of foreman malls behind closed doors. >> it looks very much worse than

it is in reality. and blood is something that you always see when you kill an animal. this is an open compared to all the other things where you don't see any pictures around all around the world. >> reporter: here on this islands in the north atlantic, the people that take part in the whale killing say they should be allowed to live off the resources of the sea as they have done for centuries. but the activists reply that it's a gruesome slaughter. you can't hide cruelty they say, behind that tradition. the two sides will never agree. but the tradition is balky roded being eroded by regulation and pressure on a tiny nails that values tourism as a source of revenue. some people that the whale hunt may die out in the more than a decade. jonah hull, al jazerra in the pharaoh islands.

>> barrack indeed if enough any comments that you would look i can to make about any of the stories that you have seen, then log onto our website aljazerra.com. we have the headlines coming up on top of the hour we'll have more about what's going down in yemen after saudi arabia strikes there. one of the toughest jobs in america right now. ferguson missouri's new acting police chief. speaks for the first time on national television to this show about fixing what's broken and of the fear his cops face on the street. >> they are afraid. and as you are sitting there in the office looking in crowd it's as #in your minds what's got the gun and there is no way to prevents it. >> also the major american city that actually asked the department of justice to scrutinize its