i mean this was different not just whether someone was going for some of his favorites but this but it remains true i think it's how you approach an individual and that's what it is a certain way of doing it you can't just inject a story and fly out. to one predictable deja's i've been working on north korea policy for almost thirty years i can't tell you what the u.s. policy is towards north korea providing full time to what they want to deter an attack from the united states as the u.s. struggles to define its foreign policy lines examines the potential flow to we don't see really is a strategy designed to get those talks started and those if they expect to surrender fire and fury trumps north korea crisis on al-jazeera.

hello and barbara this is the news hour live from london thank you for joining us coming up in the next the sixty minutes days after they arrived in syria international inspectors are finally allowed into duma to investigate a suspected chemical attack. tens of thousands protested in armenia after the president switches jobs to stay in power we go deep into the. violence has displaced hundreds of thousands but the government insists the situation is under control and scientists discover a plasticky thing enzyme big could help tackle the planet's pollution problem.

and sport the defending n.b.a. champions are looking good for another title in the golden state warriors. in their playoff series at the san antonio spurs. international chemical weapons inspectors have arrived in the former syrian rebel long sleeve of duma to investigate a suspected chemical attack ten days ago inspectors had been due to enter the russian controlled area twenty four hours ago the u.s. accused russia of tampering with the site while moscow blamed delays on security concerns the team from the organization for the prohibited of chemical weapons will investigate what happened on april the seventh but it will not assign blame western powers accuse the syrian forces of using nerve gas to kill dozens of people but the mask assignats ally russia deny this sinna holder has more now from beirut. the

o.p.c. w chemical weapons inspectors have been given access to do mother. town in which that alleged chemical weapons attack happened on april the seventh now the russian government and the syrian government have been criticised for what they called preventing the team from entering western nations said that the team was not given access how the team arrived in the syrian capital damascus on saturday both the russian and syrian government cited security concerns and that's why there has been a delay now the. mission is to determine whether or not a chemical weapons attack actually happened its mandate is not a portion any blame the united states and other western countries like france for example believe that the proof or the evidence could have been tampered with because when this alleged chemical weapons attack happened the opposition was in control of they then surrendered russian military police entered and they carried

out their own inspection and declared that they did not find any traces of chemical weapons we're. still not clear when they're going to release the findings but we have to make clear that western nations are not waiting for the results because they already carried out retaliation they carried out attacks on saturday targeting syria's chemical weapons facilities so that the findings are not going to trigger another response but definitely if. indeed a chemical weapons attack actually happened it will be damning for the russian and syrian government mineral a false alarm calls the triggering of syrian air defense systems overnight that's according to state media earlier pro-government reports suggested missiles bound for two syrian military bases had been intercepted but the sun the state news agency now says there was quote no external aggression. and the saudi foreign

minister says his country would be willing to send troops into syria as part of a wider coalition. better says saudi arabia has been discussing that the point with the u.s. since the beginning of the syrian crisis he also added that riyadh had previously proposed this idea to former u.s. president barack obama. who will be a major regarding what is going on now there are discussions about the nature of the troops that will exist in eastern syria and where they will come from these discussions are continuing. has more now from washington d.c. . president donald trump really surprised all of his staff and a lot of people the department of defense when he said he wanted all of the u.s. troops out of syria right away now the department of defense was able to convince him that perhaps he should wait he has said fine just a couple of months basically what he said on the campaign trail is what he's doing in office let somebody else deal with that we know he's held back millions of dollars that was designed to be spent on syrian reconstruction so what his message

is is pulling out the fighters somebody else go in you make sure that isis doesn't come back well the department of defense is going to be very wary of this plan from saudi arabia although they won't common comment on it right now a wall street journal is reporting that mr bolton the new national security advisor . the saudis and the united arab emirates to send troops and to also give funding for syria now why would they possibly be against this well there is great concern among leadership inside the military about the ability of saudi forces i mean let's just look at the war in yemen that the u.s. has been helping them fight with intelligence and refueling there's been humanitarian catastrophes numbers of schools and hospitals and funerals that have been hit raising big concern among human rights advocates so there's a concern about the level of the ability of the saudi forces the other big concern is would u.s. forces stay there that's what we reportedly are hearing that they want to have

happen as part of this coalition not at all clear the president is going to be ok with that it's not a huge force about two thousand u.s. special forces in syria but obviously critical to sort of staging and organizing the fight. the un's new special envoy for yemen says he's working on a plan for talks the end of the three year civil war which has led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis martin griffiths will present the plan to the security council within two months and insists that all sides are prepared to negotiate an end to the fighting but he's worried by unconfirmed reports of increasing troop movements inside yemen which he says could ruin any prospects for peace. i'm concerned about the increased number of ballistic missiles launched towards saudi arabia and i note that this council has already pronounced on this in addition i am concerned about intensified military operations in governor military confrontations

and strikes have continued in numerous other areas of yemen including santa tice joe morrow all who data. by and large governorates. the clashes continue with major changes in the front lines but with disturbing reports of civilian casualties. the philippine government is the man doing justice for a filipino maid who says she was abused by her saudi employer agnes when celeste says she was forced to drink bleach because she didn't make tea properly she's in a serious but stable condition after emergency surgery the philippine government has been angered by reports of regular mistreatment of maids by their bosses in the middle east. protesters of taking to the streets across india to demand the death penalty for rapists anger is growing over the rape and murder of an eight year old girl in indeed administered kashmir earlier this year and the separate rape of

a teenager in state two ministers from the ruling b j p party were forced to resign after initially offering support to the suspected rapist singh pashmina while another b j p official has been accused of the second degree nearly forty percent of india's rape victims are children. armenia's parliament has voted to appoint of the country's former president as prime minister the spy pressure from tens of thousands of protesters who accuse the leader of a power grab said saturday appointment has started another day of anti-government rallies in the capital yet of an end several of the city's saddest seann was president for a decade and then stepped down earlier this year because of a toilet but our media is new constitution has made the presidency largely ceremonial and strengthened the office of prime minister allowing such seann to maintain his influence. well maria tiziana is the editor in chief of evie en report

an armenian online magazine and she joins us live now via skype from yet a valid and very it is the end before getting into that sort of political details just give us an idea of what the situation is like in yerevan now how many people are on the streets and what sort of people are they. it's very difficult to say but i will say tens of thousands of people in the last forty eight hours have been on the streets longer actually mostly young people this is a very interesting protest we have a lot of university high school students that are taking part in the protest and they're focusing on the political angle i'm assuming most of them are out protesting for what looks like effectively a power grab from the former president and prime minister who is effectively retaining power. that's correct i mean the constitutional referendum to place in

twenty three fifteen a year before that promise that he would not seek the term of prime minister many in the country thought that this was a ruse excusing that except for power grab and in fact on april ninth when his second and final term as president and his part of the republican party. nominated his candidacy and today in of the parliament he was elected as prime minister fact at least giving him a third term as leader of the country and we're hearing that police have been detaining a protest mean do we know a of that's had an impact and how the protestors are being treated. today the armenian police issued a statement saying that about eighty people have been detained from what we know most of them were young people and students some have been released some are already joined the big rally today in republics where i think it just a few more anger and we had crowds that we haven't seen

probably since two thousand and eight during the presidential election. of. this sort of president now prime minister sarah says e.c.n. has actually won elections i mean do you see this as a sort of remaining popularity with certain parts of armenia or do you suspect foul play. and listen in the twenty seventy parliamentary election as always there were intimidation voter i use of administrative leave first as because the ruling public and party basically has a monopoly on the political and economic landscape of the country most of all servants everybody that works in any government are always somehow coerced to vote for the republican party so it's sometimes we feel it's not a real reflection of the people's will. and because his party won a majority in the twenty seven to parliamentary election they had

a majority in parliament they get to nominate a candidate and today she's very easily was elected by members of parliament but this is obviously still a developing situation with thousands of people out on the streets be interesting to see how it develops further in the next few days for the moment maria t z n editor in chief of evie n. report adam thank you for sharing your views with us thank you. national police chief says he will step down following weeks of public pressure and protests over the murder of a journalist it's the third major resignation of top officials and politicians in after the investigative reporter. and this fiance or shot dead in february here is . another big head rolls in slovakia this time the national chief of police. will step down at the end of may the latest gesture aimed at easing tensions following the february murder of a journalist investigating political corruption weekly protests in the capital

bratislava of pressure on the governing coalition forcing the resignation of prime minister robert last month and on monday the interior minister. if i think that the firing of the police chief is not right it would create polarization of the public instead of soothing the situation in our country i think that under these circumstances the right to be the interior minister. decided to put my resignation in the hands of the president but this is already a country polarized on the weekend slovaks in their tens of thousands turn their anger on police chief for what they say is the failure of his force to investigate the journalists killing. and his fiance died in execution style shootings at their home at the time the twenty seven year old was looking into state corruption and alleged links between the government and the mafia in the theft of european aid

phones one of the companies was investigating is owned by a relative of the police chief despite the offer of a one and a quarter million dollar reward for information on those responsible no one has been prosecuted for the murders as long as that remains the case the protests will likely go on. well coming up on al-jazeera in this news. feeling in nigeria as water levels in a major present for. dangerous levels president european to retreat into selfish nationalism as he warns of an atmosphere of civil war. and then sport find out why the players at this top level germany game had their half time break cut short. the u.n. says more than one hundred thousand people have fled their homes in an eastern

region of the democratic republic of congo since the start of the year attacks on civilians by ethnic militia have driven people to leave to reprove but the government says only about a tenth of that number are displaced and insists it is now in control of the crisis . companied the provincial governor on a visit to the affected areas. homes made of plastic sheet. it's all people have in this camp for displaced people in the town and in the democratic republic of congo they were attacked by militia who cut and killed people with machetes and burned houses the government says the situation is mal under control. we joined the provincial governor on a visit to the conflict area. it's remote it's barely broke. we found small towns full of people who fled the countryside and came to hear what

the governor had to say. the government is saying there must be peace is encouraging people to go home and saying the government will do all it can provide security for the people here a skeptical about his message. each time we visit more displaced people they say it's not safe to go home. because they're all from the lendu ethnic group the victims are ethnic hammers and some lenders to two groups have been rivals in the past could most people here say there is no ethnic conflict right now. with many lendu friends. but they're telling us the government is responsible for what's going on that this is a war of the government they're saying this to us every day. many people here have told us they share the same suspicion of the government's role. the u.n. doesn't it has the world's second largest peacekeeping force here we met the

mission's chief visiting one of the camps people are insisting that it's a. conflict but nobody no. mind i did not heard at all that the government i did not that. the government in kinshasa denies involvement as did the provincial governor. i want to assure everyone that the government has done nothing even the provincial government has done nothing we don't have any interest in destabilizing our own territories or killing our own population whoever is behind the violence convincing the population to return won't be easy and most homes remain deserted. behind them two fresh graves of those killed hacked to death others burned in their homes it'll take a lot to convince people it's safe here malcolm webb al-jazeera province in the democratic republic of congo police in nigeria have fired tear gas at hundreds of shia muslim protesters in

a border it's the second day of rallies in the capital demonstrators are calling for the release of their religious leader. has been jailed without charge since the september two thousand. now the livelihoods of two million people in nigeria are under threat because of a lack of water levels and the garden or your bases have become dangerously low that provides water for farmers fishermen and families but the authorities have been forced to ration the supply as part of our first series acquited risk reports now from. four decades water has run through these channels to irrigate crops not this year the once lush green fields have been baked by the scorching sun most farmers left. but not mariza who's been cultivating the land here since the dam opened thirty years ago.

we've not seen anything like this before it was so sudden some will never recover this year we didn't cultivate ten percent of what we used to because a water shortage is dug a while to get water for its crops but it's not enough. experts say although there's been an increase in rainfall in the region over the past ten years there's also been a rise in temperatures last year and up to dismount meant you did it at which what that is lost is increase and that is how it will be a population so it's not surprising that physically that has been subjected to had it we were professional but that is not the only problem dumb has not been properly manage it that is a big lead bridge not that dumb of course. if you don't discount a problem small islands have sprung up right in the middle of the dam this reserve one holds only ten percent of its one billion cubic metres of water which some two million people depend on for their drinking water fishing and farming. the impact

of the receding waters this felt seventy kilometers away or to treatment plants that purify the dams water to supply households aren't getting much of it streams have dried up we experience a lot of difficulty because the wood their little world was from of only in tech down two hundred alex and from biota not sufficient enough to have the town saw this ted government. had already secured. would have tents for as the trucks distribute water to almost in major towns but many communities are forced to rely on unsafe source grow new dam relies on runoff waters to feel it but sediments from sophos water build up and dredging will cost millions of dollars for now there is no pledge from the government to spend that sort of money are going to grease al-jazeera where a new. scientists believe they've made

a major breakthrough in the fight against plastic pollution it's estimated around ten million tons is dumped in the ocean every year and could take hundreds of years to decompose but an international team say they've engineered an enzyme that eats through the most popular form of plastic and a shell of ballast that reports it's a discovery came about by accident. piles of plastic in every city in the world in remote regions with nowhere to go. since its invention last century the disposal of plastic has plagued the world three quarters of it sits in landfills floods the oceans even the tampa st that's recycled is simply remold it never truly broken down until now we can break it down to its building blocks and then put it back into. as water bottles and things like just such a recovery those urgent type properties bacteria discovered recently in

a japanese recycling plant feeds on the world's most common plastic known as p.t. this is an enzyme aging the plastic magnified three thousand times the scientists wanted to study how it worked but accidentally speeded up we actually thought we were making the enzymes floor by by changing a few amino acids but actually we've made it faster we've made an improved version of the enzyme better than the natural one already that's really exciting because that means that there is potential to optimize this and say even further the science has a long way to go the enzyme can only digest plastic and needs to be scaled up in a commercially viable way basically we can just make gallons of powdered enzyme and then pour into a faucet this is what we're aiming to do so just in the same way that washing powder to terence were developed and made more stable been able to work at high

temperatures low temperatures we're going to do the same with this enzyme and hopefully create something that we can use in an industrial scale every minute one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans if we continue this trained by twenty fifty it's predicted there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish it's an all consuming problem that scientists hope enzymes could help eat up charlotte dallas. well to discuss a similar detail we're joined by julian kirby the lead campaigner on plastic set friends of the earth thanks so much for being with us here on al-jazeera so there's a lot of details and a lot of things that the sens i won't be able to do but on the whole do you think that this is good news that this is a sort of solid step in the fight against plastic this is good news what we've got here is a happily accidental discovery that the scientists have come upon which is the enzyme can help break down plastic and that should help make the plastic that's

being collected for recycling easier to recycle because it breaks it right down to its sort of constituent molecules but it's not going to be able to help us with is with all of the plastic that hasn't been collected for recycling and the best recycling rate for plastic in the world is in europe where two thirds of plastic is not collected for recycling so that ends up being buried in landfill or burn incinerators or polluting the environment i mean it does seem that before anything else we need to change our attitude to the use of plastic and recycling so using less and really recycling what we used to think that there's a risk that people might see this and think oh you know great they found a solution well actually this isn't really a solution where you're absolutely right that we need to focus on prevention prevention is always the best cure and whether it's plastic or any other material resource that we're using we need to work on using as little of it as possible there's always a danger that when an exciting technological discovery like this comes along people thing are you know problem solved but i think most people realise that it's much

more complicated than that actually and partly that's because i think people realise that single use plastics plastic bags and bottles and so on are one form of plastic pollution but there's also the plastic in cosmetics micro be the plastic leeches out of our clothes that we were fleece jackets are made of plastic that's coming out of car tires so there's plastic pollution coming from so many sources and actually most of those are recyclable plastic and so this enzyme wouldn't be able to help with that this is that this thick that i came across world research. this interview which i found astounding a million plastic bottles sold each minute around the globe for only fourteen of those recycled and a lot of them ending up in the ocean there's a sense i'm doing anything for that which seems to be right now the main fight against plastic a plastic that's slowly filling our oceans it can't i mean the enzyme is going to work in a laboratory conditions where you've got the plastic there in a warm very very warm conditions over seventy degrees so the enzyme can work on

breaking that down in the in the oceans or land causes plastic polluting our parks our streets and wild places on land as well it can't be any use there at all and this is why friends of the earth position is that we need if we are going to end plastic pollution which we must do we're in a plastic pollution crisis and actually we need to focus on phasing out all but the safest and most essential plastics yes so i mean just elaborate that briefly if you can what do you think the steps should be taken both in europe and the rest of the world to at least ease that the number of plastic bottles going into the ocean so in the short term we need to rest of the increase the rate at which we're collecting plastic that we're using we need to recycle it we need to reduce how much we're using in the first place and in the longer term we need to look at how we can get rid of that plastic all together so there'll be some forms of plastic that we'll want to hold on to and we should do with it for medicine or uses you know blood bags and implants that kind of thing but pretty much everything else we

should be selling our sights on phasing that plastic out and either using other materials if it's more sustainable to do so or just doing away with that use all together it should be beyond us where an ingenious species we should be able to figure out how to get plastic out of our economy but the certainly seems to have been a lot more awareness some certainly in the past months and and year or two about this issue so hopefully it is going in the right direction julian kirby from friends of the thank you thank you. that's a lot more to come on the news hour including a thousand venezuelans a day crossing to presume seeking a new life but find their struggle for survival continues months after catalonians controversial referendum we investigate the new movement keeping the independence a dream alive plus the discomfort of the markets right here has come nothing's going to bring yeah yeah the line call that resulted in a shouting match at the monte carlo masters.

we've still got one or two showers effect in the middle east but nothing too much to speak of still a little bit of cloud there pulling out of iraq into iran moving across iran i was it was a kind of stance of going to stand that women place it perhaps when flowers as well over the high ground temperature is getting up to around fifteen celsius in kabul maybe one or two showers into the fall north of iran you notice but by larger raw must drive than it has been recently as is the case in to iraq baghdad thirty two degrees twenty six celsius in by rote fine and dry course that eastern side of the mediterranean over the next couple of days but that is really sick i wanted to thursday still those winds for the flurries across the eastern side of the region elsewhere it looks fine and right behind us is a crisis the right in potential a little class still

a possibility just around yemen maybe into the gulf of aden showers and how is it we do have will become fewer and further between santa could still catch the gold rush hour as we go on through the day still want to see showers into central parts of south africa at the moment they are easing over towards the eastern cape for most it's time to be dry and sunny but a bit of cloud welcome right possibly just knocking its way into cape town on wednesday temperatures eighty degrees that makes its way for the east for the weekend. he ruled for nearly half a century a controversial political figure in the cold in the middle east and one who was never far from crisis at home or abroad. and. in a two part series al-jazeera wants tells the story of king hussein of jordan episode

two on a knife edge. on al-jazeera. we headed to jerusalem bureau covered israeli palestinian affairs we covered this story with a lot of intimate knowledge we covered it with that we don't dip in and out of this story we have a presence here all the time apart from being a cameraman it's also very important to be a journalist to know the story very well before going into the fields covering the united nations and all of the policy for al-jazeera english is pretty incredible this is where talks happen and what happens there matters.

a reminder of the top stories here on al-jazeera international chemical weapons inspectors have arrived in the former syrian rebel stronghold of duma to investigate a suspected chemical attack ten days ago the un's new envoy for yemen says he's working on a plan to bring the country's warring parties back to the negotiating table after three years of conflict and tens of thousands of people in armenia protesting at the parliament voted to allow president. to become prime minister the accusing him of trying to hold on to power. the white house economic adviser says the u.s. is only considering additional sanctions on russia the spy that some bassett or to the u.n. nikki haley promising that more measures would take place you promised this over the weekend our white house correspondent kimberly how kit is live in west palm beach florida near the mar-a lago resort or truong the president is currently hosting the japanese prime minister so can really does this mean that the trumpet

ministration is backing down on sanctions. it's certainly an awkward reversal of a policy that was essentially announced by a very top it ministration official you point out that the u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley was very firm in her announcement that sanctions additional russia sanctions for him and it would be rolled out as of monday yesterday but that day came and went and we had the administration dialing back in a statement by the white house press secretary sarah sanders now larry kudlow top economic advisor to u.s. president donald trump has gone even further characterizing it almost as nikki haley's mistake saying that it was her momentary confusion that that was announced that the dish will sanctions are only under consideration may not be implemented what this really is this another example of a botched roll out of a very straightforward policy by this administration seems to have

a string of botched policy rolls out the endurance bells but also this is another example of this president really failing to restrain russia particularly when the u.s. congress has said overwhelmingly even provided the tools to restrain russia in terms of what the united states congress calls russian aggression but the president has failed to do so in kimberley the japanese prime minister shinzo currently at mar-a lago as well for talks the white house says the u.s. is a close ally of japan but the japanese themselves aren't quite feeling it are they . no no not feeling the love you could say going into this very important summit between the two leaders strong u.s. allies historically especially when it comes to trade and security of the president just tweeted a short time ago saying in fact he's looking forward to this meeting calls the japanese prime minister a fine gentleman in fact they have met more than any other foreign leaders met with the u.s. president the sitting u.s.

president six times i think it is including before the president was sworn in but definitely it's a friendship in doubt for a couple of reasons number one. certainly japan had cautioned the united states strongly against any sort of warming in any form or fashion of relations with north korea now we have this upcoming summit between u.s. president trump and north korean leader kim jong un likely in the end of may early june and also those air and there were slapped on foreign imports into the united states of aluminum and steel whole host of countries exempted from that but not japan so you're right not feeling particularly well loved by the united states right now certainly concerned coming to this bilateral looking for some deliverables or assurances which so far the administration has failed to provide so watch for that in this upcoming meeting certainly there is going to be a concern about sort of reinforcing the relationship especially when it comes to security in advance of that summit between the north korean and u.s. leaders but also when it comes to trade certainly the united states says it's

considering perhaps renegotiating or reconsidering an entry into the trans-pacific partnership agreement but again being very vague at this point so there's a lot that could come out of this that people be watching very closely as they sit down to meet at nineteen thirty and then have a dinner twenty three thirty i can't believe how can it live for us in west palm beach in florida thank you. the american coffee giant starbucks will close eight thousand of its stores for one afternoon in may to conduct special education sessions for its staff the sessions will train nearly one hundred seventy five thousand employees on how to comb bad racial discrimination as it real racism scandal footage released last week showed two black men being arrested in a philadelphia store while they prepared for a business meeting led to angry demonstrations from protesters who accused starbucks of racial profiling. let's go to brazil now the country is

struggling to cope with the influx of venezuelan migrants entering the country it's estimated as many as one thousand people cross into brazil each day to escape economic and social unrest at home many of those are children from in brazil governor elizondo has more. a school in brazil where the classrooms are increasingly filled with children from been a swale an elder political needs first comes a language and learning portuguese his school in both of these to brazil in the far north of the country received more than one hundred kids from venice will live this year alone are forced to adapt and they appear happy but most are too young to fully comprehend the difficult reality of why they are here. at the nearby border crossing about one thousand venezuelan migrants a day line up to cross into brazil they're desperate fleeing

a country they say lacks food and medicine most are like now your aguilar who bring their children when better you know if we do talk about i'm here for a better future for my two kids i hope they can grow up here they can study a better future for them but it will be a difficult road ahead especially for the youngest. with little money many of the families end up living like homeless at a local park they're in need of the basics for survival at this encampment everybody is hungry someone finally brought some food so they're lining up including the children for many of whom this will be the only meal baby whole day. across town at a gymnasium turned into a rudimentary shelter kids who are not in school do whatever they can to keep busy monica cut into a former model in venezuela said she fled her country as a last resort it was

a way that i well i hope to start working the good job and have enough money to raise my children a united nations official here estimates half of all the migrants in shelters are children they think this kind of situation when you start having child to as many people living on the street and so on children it's to me it's all five use all for any kind of violence abuse exploitation. it's a growing migration crisis with an entire generation of venezuelan children whose future is across the border in a new land. well hyperinflation medicine shortages and money attrition in venezuela have sparked the worst migration crisis in latin america's recent history the un's refugee agency says five thousand venezuelans are leaving the country every day if that continues more than five percent of venezuela's population will have fled the country by the end of the year colombia has borne the brunt of the exodus more than six hundred

thousand venezuelans of crossed over from their western border and the u.n. says forty thousand venezuelan migrants arrived in peru in just the first two months of this year thousands more of emigrated to panama ecuador in chile where the government has announced a new visa system to make it easier for refugees to arrive and integrate all four of the story let's speak to eric farnsworth who's the vice president of the council of the americas he joins us live now from washington d.c. sir thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera you know just looking at these figures and reading them you know makes you think of countries that have seen a similar exodus but usually because of war or natural disaster or were as this crisis seems to be a pretty much self-inflicted and be wholly predictable. both of those are true it's completely self-inflicted and it's wholly predictable in fact people like me have been predicting this type of humanitarian crisis least for

a year and a half two years even more the tragedy of it is of course a deeply human tragedy but it's even deeper than that venezuela used to be latin america's wealthiest country it was a country where the concorde would fly direct from paris and london to caracas it was a country that was wealthy that many others in latin america aspired to now it's a country that can't even feed its own people where medicine basic medicine for life saving treatments is unavailable increasingly except to people who are connected to the regime it's a country that's in full scale collapse and as you rightly say hundreds of thousands of people are crossing the border in a just a desperate situation this is not something that we're used to seeing in latin america it really is a shift and so because it's not something that we used to seeing in latin america how a prepared are the countries around that is well and what could the u.n. for example do to help do you think. well i think the country's so were not prepared well at all because i think many of them were in denial they didn't

think that this would get to be as bad as it was maybe they thought that the regime in venezuela could actually control the situation but it has deteriorated more rapidly than i think a lot of other countries were prepared for and so what you see is refugee populations across the border in brazil in colombia in the caribbean elsewhere in the region and countries simply don't have the resources to be able to deal with them you do need international assistance to to help basic relief but here's another tragedy of the situation there should be a lot of humanitarian relief that's going into venezuela to assist people before they even have to leave the country and the regime of nicolas maduro has refused to allow that to occur for its own political reasons that the night that there is any sort of crisis it also doesn't want international relief coming into the country at least none that it can't distribute and control and take credit for so this is a regime that is deeply headed in the wrong direction the international community i

think does have to recognize that and i think from my perspective really could do a much better job coordinating not just the humanitarian relief side but also ways to sanction the regime in a coordinated way bring pressure on the regime to at least change course so that its own people don't no longer bear the real brunt of this tragedy and i mean you obviously observe all developments in latin america and we do you see any sign of that kind of pressure being put on government of nicolas maduro and you think that people are actually effectively still ignoring the source of the problem. i think it's changing and in fact we saw the summit of the americas in lima peru just over the past weekend venezuela was clearly a topic of discussion and sixteen of the assembled heads of state and government agreed to do more part of the issue is that latin america traditionally is very much against intervention even humanitarian intervention and they have

a regional solidarity with sister countries and so they're very allergic almost to doing anything that could be perceived as internal intervention in the affairs of another state the problem is that the government of nicolas maduro has used that to its own advantage to keep international pressure or way and to declare that as a sovereign country venezuela can do anything it wants to whoever it wants and meanwhile the situation has deteriorated so we have not dealt with the issue over time that we should have and now we're faced with a true crisis i think that countries in latin america are seeing this i think that other countries switzerland notably just announced sanctions other countries like canada theirs and in europe as well there around the world are beginning to really see that this is a crisis the question is is it too little too late and can we get some sort of collective collective efforts to reverse the course before the situation truly turns into a collapsed state a failed state that is even worse than it is now eric farnsworth vice president of

the council of the americas sir thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us thank you. let me and morris president has granted an amnesty to more than eight thousand prisoners when me and signed the presidential pardon which includes the release of foreigners and dozens of political prisoners drug offenders along with the sick and the elderly will also be freed from prisons nationwide the mass pardon only covers those who've been convicted and the to jail that voice was journalist journalists facing trial for investigating the crisis have not been released. i'm happy for getting this amnesty but i'm sorry for the other prisoners who were left behind i hope they'll be released soon because some of those left behind in prison are innocent when the facing charges. another two catalan politicians have appeared before a judge in madrid to be formally charged with sedition and rebellion the former

interior chief of the catalan regional government for one and the ex foreign minister roh remain seen here on the left are the latest process session leaders to appear in the supreme court trial proceedings have begun against a number of other politicians and police chiefs for their roles in the un sanctioned referendum on suspicion and catalonia last year well spain's government is getting increasingly tough with activists in catalonia the autonomous region has been controlled centrally from madrid ever since the referendum but pro independence protesters are keeping up the pressure on the streets the sun a year ago reports now from barcelona. an act of defiance by catalan pro independence activists disabling a highway toll just outside barcelona allowing motorists to pass free of charge. and welcoming them to the cattle on the public a protest in action but it ended up with one of the leaders being arrested on suspicion of terrorism she was later released others were charged with public

disorder this is the new normal in cattle and grassroots politics. more than half a year has passed since the banned referendum in catalonia and there has been no breakthrough in the crisis the reaction of the spanish state has done little to dampen any feelings but there is a fear that the government will do what ever it takes to prevent secession from that a movement has evolved the committees for the defense of the republic were not afraid any more and the spanish government will do more against us that we will be afraid what they've done to our throw far nothing we appear afraid that censorship is winning and we can't allow done but it has come at a price. paid out of proportion i'm sorry. prosecuting. people which only crime is being complained the american demonstrations in this truth are you accusing of terrorism just because as

a parent i gave integrity of this of the country that says so how. her and for the state the defense committees were set up in some sixty towns across catalonia and initially it was to protect the voting centers where the battle referendum was how old will since then they moved on what they want to do now is to bring about a new catalan republic the spanish government's reaction has been to double down on the pro secessionist movement the former castle and president catalyst the moment is in germany where a court ruled out extraditing him to spain on charges of rebellion but he is still a wanted man. the the the there is an impasse and the committees are keeping the momentum going for now they refused to give in to what they say is intimidation by madrid but the possibility of local elections in july may just bring those matters to a head the desire to have

a catalan republic may be strong but the practicality of creating it is still a dream that is out of reach. sony vaio al-jazeera barcelona. france's president has warned of the european union could the send them to what he calls civil war because of increasing the visions between liberal democracies and euro skeptic nationalists emmanuelle mccrone was setting out his vision for the future of the e.u. in a speech to the european parliament he urged members not to sleepwalk towards nationalism at the expense of european unity. contexts. inform the gift. in a context where a form of european civil war reappears where our differences sometimes our national selfishness seem more important than what unites us with the rest of the world a concept where the fascination with the liberal grows every day.

i do not want to allow this. which is. the illusion of strong nationalism the abandonment of freedoms. surround. the answer is not authoritarian democracy but the author of democracy. will observe a european union ban on logging in the forest after the highest court ruled that it was illegal poland stopped. a forest earlier this year after. the european court of justice the two thousand. the issue of logging has become a political one with the nationalist ruling party unhappy at interference well still ahead in this news hour in sport will explain why this win by the chinese champions has put a big smile on the face of the legend who coaches the. ok

here is far now with all the sport. barbara thank you so much depending on the champions the golden state warriors have taken control of their playoff series with san antonio spurs and the absence of staff curry thirty two points from kevin durant's led the way for the warriors and game two andy richardson reports. with the golden state warriors stall man steph curry missing through injury the sun and sun your spurs might have been hoping to exploit some previously unexplored

flaws the warriors though do still have nine time all star kevin durant's a call on thank god they got the warriors what big win is in game one of the spurs lead at half time fifty three forty seven three loss of excuse me filed on top of that was the key for durant's and clay thompson as a further step up their game thanks to. the warriors night fifty three point shots compared to the spurs that hit just four old knights. this game the second time that thompson and durant each called thirty or more and again for the warriors the other occasion was a game three of the twenty seventeen finals a series which sort of warriors beating the cleveland cavaliers four one to claim their second championship in three years the worry is finishing this game as win as one sixty one i want i can make it a loud thirty two. i really want to i guess but take

a lot of energy out of me. you know not really flat she. has tried. to be simple and easy with my game. i guess florida on the radar a little bit we're not going to roll over we're. the mentality there we had to and i. want to take the fight to you know go home with those i'm entirely and hopefully we'll shoot the ball better from the. look of the warriors two up in the series with the action now moving to san antonio. to gain three of the richardson. in monday's other game dwayne wade scored twenty points to end the seventy six or seventeen game winning streak wade also moved into tampa in the all time playoff scores list the miami heat taking to one hundred thirteen to one hundred three and a lot of the series. fabio kind of arrows gone show ever grant have booked their place in the knockout stage of the asian champions league the italian world cup

winner watched his side to rush a soccer three one ever grand are the chinese champions their china's most successful club in the competition and they're looking to win it for a record equalling third tie. so one blue wings had to be there is to go through exactly what they did the south korean side winning one there was also went through despite the loss. of saudi arabia be al-jazeera of the u.a.e. in group a both sides are heading to the next round katter's all to hell beat the ways but we're already through anyway they progress alongside saw the hun from group b. who drew against locomotor tosh kent and bree in united go through with a. group g. after their. the debate over the use of video assistant referees looks set to intensify ahead of its introduction at this year's world cup the system is already being used in germany's top league but not without problems in this game between

minds and freiburg the players had their half time break cut short due to var while the teams were off the pitch the referee reviewed it but had occurred just before the break and it was decided that a penalty should have been awarded it meant the players had to return to the field some might take the spot kick lights went on to win the game. four time olympic champion mo far as preparing to run his second london marathon on sunday the thirty five year old to last ran it in two thousand and fourteen and finished eighth says he's training harder this time the briton retired from the track last year and is ranked twenty seventh in the world but says that actually might work his favor. you know not having as much pressure. on the track you know when you do it and i'll do the trick. twenty seven there's lot of guys you force than me. who is good for you but you know for me when

i turn up i'm going to give one hundred ten percent. to do the marfin and to learn as much as i can and mixing with the guys. tennis now in a four seed grigor dimitrov is through to the second round of the monte carlo masters but the bulgarian had to come from a set down to beat his unseated opponent pierre hughes there france after losing the first set demitra found his game and won the next you both. think six two six four. this is a lot right and there's no more here this is going to use the results look like yeah no no no no to the. american player jerry donaldson was less than happy with a line called made during his match with albert ramos of analysis video replays later showed donaldson had been correct the twenty one year old lost the match in

straight sets and did later apologize for his behavior. and that's all your sport for now it's now back to barbara and london fire thank you for that now just before we go a leading south korean actress who was once abducted by north korea and forced to make films for the regime has died at the age of ninety one choi human he was kidnapped in one nine hundred seventy eight on the orders of can jong il her film director ex-husband was also captured six months later choice starred in at least one hundred thirty films including more than a dozen made while captive in the norse the pair escaped after eight years north korea has always denied abducting the couple say they had sought sanctuary there. that is it for me barbara sarah stay with us through the macdonald we'll have more news in just a few minutes to watch. the

scene for us where there are online what is american sign in yemen that peace is almost possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there people that there are choosing between buying medication eating they say is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. jeanette morales was just ten years old when a devastating earthquake struck mexico city in one thousand nine hundred five the quake damaged her family's apartment and the government moved them to distant shack

around seventy families who lost their homes in that earthquake still live in this camp say i'm going to be up at a gallop the government raised our hopes and then abandon us politicians have promised that they won't allow a repeat of what happened after the earthquake in one thousand and five but the cost and complexity of housing hundreds of people living in camps is a major task and one that many people here think the government will fail. if you are in beijing looking out the pacific ocean you'd see american warships. those that somehow time is aiming to replace america and go around the world while the chinese are not that stupid these guys want to dominate a huge chunk of the planet this sounds like a preparation for our first president george washington said if you want peace prepare for war the coming war on china talked one on a.