last year. sparked a national debate. >> brittany didn't wan't to die the brain tumor was killing her, she simply took control over how that process would go. >> now see what her husband is doing to keep his promise to change "right to die" laws nationwide. america tonight only on al jazeera america. >> lawmakers in hong kong reject an electoral reform plan that would have given china more control over the territory. i'm darren jordon in doha with the world news. also on the programme... police hunt for a gunman after nine are shot dead in an african-american church in the u.s. city of charleston. a series of car bombs kills dozens in yemen's capital as u.n. brokered talks to solve the crisis go nowhere and a rare administration from north korea's government as

they face their worst drought in a century at first to breaking news out of hong kong where lawmakers rejected a beijing-backed reform bill. 22 voted against it after a lengthy debate on thursday. the proposal was to see hong kong elect their leader in 2017, but only choose from candidates approved by beijing. more from china correspondent adrian brown joining us live from hong kong. bring us up to date on the vote and what is happening now? >> well this breaking news just happened in the last few moments. in the end, only 37 of hong kong's 70 legislators voted. the parties that supported the government the

pro-establishment groups basically vetoed - boycotted the vote. in the end we only this 28 voting against the government. and eight in favour of the government, with one abstention. what happens now is we return to the status quo, the system whereby hong kong's leader is basically selected by a committee of local business and political elite. some 1200 of them. this reform package, which the government was so hopeful would pass today would have extended universal suffrage to hong kong's 3 million voters giving them the opportunity in 2017 to vote their chief executive into office. but the conditions attached to this made it unpalatable for the pan democrats. because beijing insisted that no more than two or three candidates be put forward, and they had to be approved basically by a body approved by

beijing. the pan democrats have got their way. hong kong's democracy will not move forward, and the question is whether beijing will leave it on the table to be voted on. for the next two years nothing will happen we'll have a political impasse in hong kong which has been the situation for the past year. i think the possibility of trouble will probably diminish. the prospect of trouble was there if the government got its way. >> in terms of a broader picture, how much of a setback is this for hong kong. is the plan off the table completely? >> well i think it is a set back. the chief secretary kerry lamb said that she was saddened and disappointed by the vote. i think beijing will be disappointed. beijing said it has gone as far

as it can to giving concessions to hong kong in meeting its as firations for -- aspirations for greater democracy. hong kong enjoys freedoms other don't enjoy. china's relationship with hong kong is complicated. the feeling is that china has given hong kong all that it can, and there's nothing more to give. >> thank you authorities say nine people have been killed in a shooting at an historic black church in charleston south carolina. police are hunting for the gunmen walking into the church and opening fire during a church meeting and they are looking for a white male in his early 20s. right now we are working with all of our partners. we have members of charleston police department, the charleston family sheriff's department. sled fbi and other federal

agencies are here. we have a unified command that is working this investigation. we have investigators that are out tracking leads coming in and we'll continue to do it until we are find this individual. >> john terrett, what can you tell us about the shooting and what happened. >> good morning from the nation's capital washington d.c. this is already a major national story here. it has elevated to the lead story on all the major cable channels. you'll have to bear with me we only just finished the news conference from the police chief in charleston, greg mullen. here is what he had to say - five past nine this evening local time five minutes past g.m.t. this morning. police were called to the church, it's fame ours, the episs coe pailian, and there

they found reports of a shooter having carried out his work. they found eight dead, two were taken to hospital. one died at hospital. so now nine people are dead including, we are told the pastor of the church called clementa pinkly a well-known local person and a state senator. he opened his day, wednesday here in the united states, by hosting hillary clinton, who was the democratic front runner in the race for the white house in 2016. he welcomed her to charleston at the beginning of his day. at the end, he is dead. police say they are looking for a white male in his early 20s. for the american audience grey sweatshirt, blue jeans, timber lain boots and clean shaven. they are dealing now, as of this moment with a bomb threat in count charleston at the local hotel, across the road from the church where the shooting took

place. this is a significant story in its early stages of being played out. >> as you said it's a big story there, affecting the early stages of the u.s. elections, hasn't it. >> well it really has, because pastor clementa pinkly was hosting hillary clinton, the democratic front runner in the race for the white house in charleston today, wednesday, and tomorrow, thursday we were due to have a visit by the republican front runner or one of the republican frontrunners the brother of george w. bush, jed bush. he was coming - in the early stages of his campaign to charleston. he counselled that visit and sent his condolences to all families. clearly, already, there has been an affect albeit a relatively small one on another national

story, which is the election early stages for the white house next year 2016. >> a final thought before you go. are you getting details from the police or church leaders about the motivation behind the shooting? >> it's very difficult to say, darren. the police are saying they are looking for a white young man, they have given the description, and i passed it on to you. everybody is at a loss to know why this might have happened. and the governor the republican governor issued a statement at which he said he was at a loss to know why anyone would want to go into a place of worship and shoot so many dead. it's a famous church the emanuel ame church built in the 1800s, and has a history, because it is a place that the slaves revolt was planned in all those years ago.

it's a very very well-known church in the american south. as you were saying there, a big story in the u.s. we get reports that it's a hate crime. we'll be back with you later. thank you very much now, a group affiliated with i.s.i.l. claimed responsibility for a series of car bombings in yemen's capital. dozens have been killed or injured after it hit a mosque in sanaa. the warring factions met in geneva where they are struggling to make progress on a peace deal. >> car bombs hit a strong hold in the yemeni capital. this is one of the houthi headquarters, which is located there. this is not the target

attack targetting the houthis, since they took over. in march, the islamic state claimed responsibility your for a string of attacks targetting a houthi mosque. more than 100 people were killed. the giraffe attacks come at a time when crucial talks to solve the yemen crisis is underway in geneva, but each party has preconditions. there has been little or no progress. the houthis and forces loyal to former president ali abdullah saleh say the saudi-led air strikes must stop first. the government blames the houthis for the ongoing violence, insisting they must stop shelling the cities. the saudi-led coalition say that they'll stop bombing the houthis, and their allies once they pull out from the cities they control.

in the meantime, the united nations envoy is on the offensive. he has only a few days left to salvage a deal. if yemen's rivals fail to make progress, fighting will continue. the humanitarian crisis will get worse with every passing day. the bombings might put pressure on the parties gathering in geneva to solve the crisis or face instability if al qaeda or islamic state may take advantage of the political vacuum and expand. harrowing evidence emerged of chlorine gas attacks in syria. it's coming from doctors that worked there and have been testifying before the u.s. congress. they say bashar al-assad's forces are carrying out the attacks. >> reporter: they came at the

invitation of the republican led house foreign relations committee to share accounts of repeated chlorine gas attacks against syrian civilians. >> since march 16th of this year we have documented 31 attacks using poisonous gas in idlib province. where more than 380 syrian civilians were injured by it. 10 of them died of suffocation. providing additional video evidence, the doctors told lawmakers the attacks intensified 10 days after a u.n. security council resolution condemned weaponization of chlorine and threatened military action if the resolution was breached. >> i'm a doctor and very familiar with death. i have never seen a more obscene way to kill children. i have never watched so many suffer in an obscene manner. >> the doctors say only the

syrian government has access to the helicopters responsible for dropping the chlorine-filled barrels on to civilian areas it believes are supportive of the syrian opposition. >> bashar al-assad has always maintained his government is not behind the chlorine gas attack. last month in a u.s. tv network interview, he argued that chlorine is available, and has been weaponized in the past by other groups. >> including islamic state of iraq and levant or i.s.i.l. u.s. secretary of state john kerry says that the united states believes that bashar al-assad is behind the attacks. and is working to hold him accountable. that is why doctors and activists are pressuring lawmakers to push president barack obama into targeted military action. to pressure political dialogue leading to the creation of a no-fly zone to stop the bombs from dropping. >> these dnd-filled weapons and

other random cheap and harmful short nails, take dozens of innocent lives every day. >> reporter: they say without a u.s.-led international effort, there's little hope for civilian safety lots more to come on al jazeera. thousands rally in support of the greek government as it refuses to bow for creditors' calls for more austerity. more on that. stay with us.

welcome back the top stories on al jazeera. lawmakers in hong kong rejected a beijing-backed reform bill. they wanted hong kong to elect a candidate in 2017 by approved candidates from beijing nine killed when a white gun fallen walked into a charleston church during a meeting. the suspect is on the run a group affiliated to i.s.i.l. says it was behind a series of car bombings in yemen's capital. dozens reported killed or injured this attacks that hit mosques in houthi headquarters. north korea says it's suffering its worse drought in a century, a third of the country's rice paddies are thought to have died up. >> reporter: on north korean state-run television a rare announcement that all is not well. the government official said we

are establishing and carry out drought damage and diversification, despite the pictures of lakes, crops, and hillsides covered with trees, north korea is facing the worst drought in a century. people working on cooperative farms like this where the rice fields are almost bare it's a worrying situation. >> this is the first drought damage in my 20 years of farming experience. as you see, the seed lipping is too small -- seedling is too small to do rice planting. >> reporter: in all, a third of rice has dried up. maize and barley has been expected. threatened by the hot weather. >> translation: at the start of spring the temperature rose quickly. in may, with a strong hot and dry air flow temperatures

reached more than 30 degrees in the east and west coasts. this is 5-7 degrees higher than the average year. >> the level of the river is low. such images bring back members of the 1990s drought which is thought to have killed hundreds of thousands of people. wednesday the south korean government held a conference pointing out that rain falls have been low on both sides of the border. saying north korea's food production after rain. the united nations spoke about a third of children under five, and international aid is falling sharply. partly because of a reluctance. for food distribution to be monitored. a draught could claim lives. ja let's talk to the deputy director of the food bank. this is a rare commission of crisis from pyongyang. what have you been hearing out of north korea about how bad the situation is? >> well what we have seen on the ground is clearly since late last year there has been low rain fall entering the winter. there was low snowfall.

combined, it meant that dry conditions persist in many of the areas of the country. what we are most concerned about at the world food program is that if the dry conditions do continue, and if they are widespread and if at a result agriculture is affected we could look at a spike in malnutrition in the coming months particularly for children. low river levels and low groundwater, and low rainfall have combined to affect the wheat and barley crops, the early crops accounting for 10% of food production. >> okay. >> all eyes are on the main harvest, which is being planted now, and unless rain fall comes in the coming weeks in substantial quantities we could face a serious agricultural problem in the country. >> does the world food program

operate in north korea, and how can your organization help to ease that crisis as it worsens. >> yes, we have been there for 20 years in pyongyang, with the largest international presence in the country. we run a programme focussed on 1.8 million women and children many of which are malnourished. in a sense we are at the sharp end of any response to this type of the crisis. i would say that the nutritional situation in the country is fragile. a third of the children under five are malnourished. an equal proportion are anaemic. 80% of the population is deficient in fats and proteins. if the nutritional situation is fragile, and the levels of vulnerability are high already, we are concerned that drought conditions across the months to come can and will lead to on

increase in malnutrition. as we have seen in previous years when natural disaster occurred. >> many observers are saying john, in is reminiscent of the 1990s drought, when it's thought that hundreds of thousands died. do you think the drought is likely to get worse before it gets better? >> i think there's a short-term impact, lengthening and deepening the lean seven. it's a period between harvests where in the best of years, the north korean population is difficult to feed itself. there's hardship during the month, exacerbated by the short crop. at the moment it's too original i to say whether the main -- too early to say whether the main crop will be affected. there's indications that the drought hit areas designated as

the grain or bread impact. it's the weeks to come. could the low river levels and the low reservoir levels not be sufficient to irrigate the crops. i think the answer is that they won't be unless there is significant rainfall. and the prediction for that rain fall i understand is not particularly good. it is really the next weeks that we need to watch, and how they affect the main harvest is the main determinant of how bad the crisis is. >> now, thousands of greeks have been rallying in front of their parliamentary building about their country's financial future. the central bank warned the country is on a course to default and exiting the euro zone. >> reporter: syriza wants to send europe a

message. >> i say no to those blackmailing us, and for my county sold piecemeal. i want it as it is, cleaning whole, with its history, even if it means leaving the euro. >> i want to tell the prime minister that what we feel is a retreat, we are prepared for a break up. >> reporter: the two sides are entrenched. creditors demand $4 billion in cuts and taxes this year. greece is offering about half that, and says that is final. these people represent the majority view here. after six years of austerity greeks want sovereignty back. to plan their own way out of this . the credibility of the european union is at stake. just as it is politically difficult for the government to deliver cuts, it's impossible for european partners to let it go its own way. >> greece says in the post crisis e.u., some are more equal than others. >> greece is a sovereign estate. it has a government that received a mandate recently.

it is this government that is responsible for deciding how it will distribute taxes, where it will get money. the insistence that the money will come from new cuts in pensions is incomprehensible. and now we must not with the technocrats, but the political leadership in europe come to a political decision. >> the charge that europe is pillaging greece made officials in brussels furious. they offered the greeks a big discount on what proportion to spend on repaying debt. >> it is truly false to prevent the commission trying to impose austerity, it is false. the proposals are reasonable. >> reporter: earlier on wednesday, the greek central bank warned a default would lead to a crisis. leaving the euro and possibly the european union. most greeks do not want that kind of divorce. austerity is a fall word to

--foul word to them. and they will not accept it tensions in may have been mounting when f.a.r.c. ended a ceasefire. lucia newman reports from havana. >> reporter: in the latest round of peace talks in havana. negotiators talk about a protocol to reincorporate rebels under the age of 15 into civil society. f.a.r.c. says it's a gesture of goodwill, at a time when armed clashes are escalating. they'll be talking about or continuing to talk about setting up a truth commission. and there is some concern about the impartiality of a commission, and whether or not it may favour the f.a.r.c. rebels. the real problem is less about establishing truth, than about justice versus forgiveness as a way to achieve national

reconciliation. in this sense pope francis's offer on monday role is significant and will be discussed in havana. catholicism runs deep in columbia so the church's influence can't be underestimated the video gaming industry has been dominated by men for decades. as women step into the world of gaming, some are finding themselves the targets of sexual harassment and threats. rob reynolds reports from the e 3 gaming convention. >> reporter: a quick look around the gaming expo showed how white male dominated the gaming world is. there are few technicians in the well paid industry. >> 50% of players are women. only about 20% of game makers are women. >> reporter: it's an issue debated within the industry for years, with little to show

in the way of diversification. as more games appealing to women are made the content is changing. >> the traditional image of a 15-year-old guy in his basement playing call of duty has been with us so long. we are a young industry we are maturing and evolving. for sections of the audience that is hard to take. >> the game industry's problem was thrown into tur moim when female designers and critics were subjected to online harassment including death threats. >> that was known as gamer gait. blogger and critic anita was harassed after writing about the depiction of women in games as sex objects. and about macho games. >> i have had death threats, rape family and colleagues harassed and threatened.

the vitriol we have seen has been in part due to the fact that the game industry is changing. they are doing everything they can, including drawing violent, aggressive temper tantrums to stop the change stopping the progress of us having conversations about representations of women, having people colouring games. what are the stories telling us what messages are being sent. >> international game developers says the harassment came out of a hate lurking in the internet's dark underbelly. i have gone to countless women in games event, where we talk about the issues but nothing happens this because of gamer gate we are finally going see change happen. it was the thing that broke the camel's back. people said you know what enough of it. critics say that the industry is changing but slowly. >> industry officials say they

are taking steps to encourage more women to work in gaming and that their goal is having those that create the games better reflect those that play them. and a reminder you can keep up to date with all the news on the website. there it is on the screen. the address aljazeera.com. could wipe bias out of your mind while you sleep. but be careful what you wish for. plus greece in times of tragedy. talks are going nowhere, fast. this is your brain