be very proud of all was when we covered the nepal earthquake of 2050 a terrible natural disaster and the story that needed to be told from the heart of the affected area to be that to tell the people story was very important at the time. the fuel shortage in venezuela threatens new tension with the us 5 iranian oil tankers are just days away from arriving in the latin american nation. closer raman you're watching al-jazeera live my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 30 minutes. millions without power and shelters are running out of room as a powerful psych loan smashes into bangladesh and eastern india. also brazil

recalled the tires number of daily coronavirus cases and sanctions the use of an anti malaria drug despite warnings about the risks. and israel's just scrap it's an exaggeration plans the u.s. envoy to the middle east towards the project will threaten the 2 state solution and regional peace. welcome to the program a new standoff could be brewing between the united states iran and venezuela over a shipment of millions of dollars worth of fuel 5 iranian oil tankers could be just days away from arriving in venezuela in a bid to ease fuel shortages there both countries are sanctioned by the u.s. and the white house says it's considering a response to the shipment venezuela says its military will escort the tankers assoon as they enter its territory now ship tracking shows the 1st of the 5 tankers

left the iranian port city of banda bass in march analysts say they're between 89 and 99 percent full judging by how they're sitting in the water the 1st tanker fortune is expected to arrive in venezuela in the next $4.00 to $5.00 days or venezuela's ambassador to the u.n. has warned that any attempts to stop the tankers will be illegal. the threat of use of military force against by you any and tank just with fuel that are on route to venice when in violation i'm orders of the freedom of freedom of trade and navigation in case the threat is about the allies it would constitute an actual aggression as even union vessel and against events when an equal as a whole in this context i shot a child you stretched that i neighborhood blockade is an act of war during that

national law particularly if not authorized by the un security council or correspondent john holdren hers more from mexico city. right now they're sort of strung out across the atlantic the 1st one colleagues in venezuela that are sort of plotting their their routes across the ocean so the 1st one could arrive by saturday or sunday and then the one that's at the back of this sort of line of tankers could take a couple of weeks even to arrive now going back further where did this all star basically started because the u.s. has said to other countries listen if you're doing business with them as well or you can't do business with us it's basically called secondary sanctions and that means that other countries including companies from russia stopped or of drop the amount of business that they do with venezuela now venezuela despite being the country with the biggest or reserves in the world has struggled to convert that

into gas into gasoline and that's because of years of mismanagement so it's now costing around to see where it can get that gasoline from and since the u.s. has been cracking down on other countries that have wanted to do deals with it it's got to iran which has been an ally that is way to for quite some time now iran is also in a position that it's got sanctions against it from the united states or it hasn't really got a lot to lose neither country they're both sort of pariahs in the in the eyes of the united states coming together to do this deal now what's been reported is that in april a lot of gold bars went out from venezuela towards iran and now we seem to be seeing what may be coming back the other way gasoline to help out the country now since these countries are already under sanctions from the united states the question now is what can the u.s. actually do short of intervening physically in stopping these tankers from get them getting to venezuela. eric farnsworth is vice president of the council of the

americans joins me now from washington d.c. via skype good to have you with us again on the program mr farnsworth and let's just pick up from what john actually said america can keep an eye on the situation because they do anything physically to the tankers as they are all route to venezuela well that's right they can keep an eye on the situation and i believe they will keep an eye on the situation but to this point that's probably the extent of it of course the u.s. navy could. quarantine going to sway a lot could turn the good intercept and turn the ship back but i don't see that happening no working in washington want it war her or any sort of conflict with iran over the swale up in the current circumstances so although the u.s. commander in chief of the southern command has expressed concern over the earth and washington is clearly watching it closely i think in current circumstances that probably going to be. the extent of it there's

a very interesting sort of business saw or sanctions dynamic happening here because when the u.s. threatened sanctions on nations that do business with iran or venezuela it making those nations perhaps think twice. obvious threats from that from d.c. but it has very little effect on the 2 countries when they're trading bilaterally doesn't have to mean venezuela and iran and america can't do anything. well you know and both of these countries have mutual interest too i mean venezuela clearly does need to get saline and iran does need the gold that as well paid for it or not and iran is also trying to draw down stocks energy that they can't sell elsewhere so this is mutual interest and both countries as you mentioned are sanctioned by the united states and others in the international community so this is a mutual interest there is certainly a commercial activity going on but it's also highly political as well because both countries gain benefit by trading with each other both countries gain benefit by if

you will a poke in the united states in the eye and showing that that into need to move forward with trade and commerce and that unless the united states wants to militant intervene with force it's going to continue to do so so yeah there is mutual benefit there in your opinion since the trumpet ministration came into being how successful has the american strategy been of isolating the 2 countries on an international level. yeah it's a really important question and i think different people have different answers from my perspective the steps of the been taken against venezuela clearly have isolated the regime you have now almost 60 countries worldwide recognizing the interim government of longwood oh and that i think is directly resulting from actions that the u.s. and others have taken but having said that the nicolas maduro remains in power in europe or of power in fact a president whose regime remains in power so you could also say that despite the sanctions despite the maximum pressure campaign they have not yet led to

a change in the power structure in venezuela and i think both of those statements would be true so i have to see the pentagon if the venezuelan can a commie continues to be strangled by the united states and others whether indeed that will lead to their or g.m. falling or something else happening i think that that's what a lot of people are looking to see might happen in the future just wanted to pick up on something you said about military operations in the south atlantic because venezuela is taking no chances by offering a military escort to these tankers as they arrive near into the territorial waters but the u.s. does have a presence in that region and they would say that's to sort of combat the drugs trade. that's very true and and i think that's a legitimate interest of the united states clearly has been present in the region for a long time to combat the illegal or how to cure it look if it comes to a shooting war between the venezuelan navy and the u.s. navy i don't think there's any doubt who's going to come out on top of that when

the u.s. navy those that would crush them as well and the navy in that circumstance but nonetheless nobody wants that nobody is looking for that type of confrontation certainly not to burn this whale and but what they're doing right now is showmanship it's dairy in the united states and it's true it's creating a bit a bit of gamesmanship really daring the states to take action and that. is trying to conduct well certainly an interesting couple of hours maybe a couple of days ahead for all sides to be focused on the for the moment eric farnsworth thanks for joining us from washington d.c. thank you but thanks for joining me now to our other top story and millions of people in bangladesh and eastern india have fled coastal areas after site and battered the region is the strongest storm in decades with winds of up to 170 kilometers an hour the cyclon has destroyed homes and downed power lines the leader

of india's a west bengal state that says that the situation is worse than the coronavirus pandemic over but now there are more than a 1000000 rangar refugees in the overcrowded camps of cox's bazar have been asked to stay indoors for this is a moving situation and so cross over to our correspondent. joins me from the bangladeshi capital dhaka just bring us up to speed on what we know about the latest in what we can describe as the red zone. well so far what we know is still trickling down i mean. the local media is reporting at least 7 people have died due to this cycle and now we cannot independently confirm that but most of the media is reporting this because there is power cut at least 5000000 people are out of power in those region particularly in southwestern bangladesh and the district called shop which was badly hit them back when their got washed away in the sugar bun the largest mangrove forests is usually

on the path of the cycle and it actually saves bangladesh in many cases that was took the biggest table now we also know from oxfam report that thousands of. you know housing out on that delta low lying areas got washed away our contacts in those region last night told me that it is quite devastating they haven't seen anything like that low lying areas are flooded there was a high title such wind speed were supposed to have been around 160 kilometer per hour when it landed in bangladesh so things are not looking really good we will get more report as the day breaks because at the night time we weren't getting as much report and because there is no electricity people are going to have a real tough time as well as there's no connection for internet mobile telephone is the only source of communication right now of course that bangladesh is used to these sorts of storms maybe not on the scale for quite some time but the authorities know how to evacuate the public. yet they have

a huge refugee issue in coaxes bazaar what's the situation like because it was real concern. yes and just a week ago there's a case of 1st 6 cases of corbett virus in the camp as you know those camps are very densely congested nearly a 1000000 people living there and that's a major concern of the disease spreading there are shelter and isolation wards it's grossly inadequate the u.n. and other aid in cities are trying their best as for the cycle on goes luckily it wasn't in the path of. cox's bazar refugee camp which is barely 5 kilometers from the coastline and we also know about a 100 plus refugees were sheltered in the russian russian char island off the coast of mainland bang with that there were evacuated in the south and so far there is no major damage there has been heavy rain there's a danger off landslide and flooding and the rain continues to the child real

correspondent in bangladesh capital dhaka thank you. said the americas now brazil's government is sanctioning the use of an anti malaria drug to treat corona virus despite a lack of evidence that it works present joy both soros support for the drug has caused ructions within the health ministry where military personnel have now been appointed to keep posts brazil is the 3rd largest number of infections worldwide and its health system is struggling to cope or latin america editor to see a new man reports. to brazil is now latin america's ground 0 with covert 1000 infections spreading faster than anywhere else and president j. boss or not all has responded by getting his new health minister to approve the use of hydroxy chloroquine controversial anti-malaria drug is untested pre-treating coronavirus and can have serious even fatal side effects was. the president will so

narrow sense is 93 year old mother has a box by her bed you know that if i prescribe it to all my supporters and give those left wingers to by no. he's referring to a soft drink popular among the poor are also not his last health minister resigned because he refused to greenlight the use of hydroxy clora plane but his interim replacement a retired general who's not a doctor has had no problem following orders i go back to use just named 14 more members of the military to key health ministry positions brazilian epidemiology just dr julie valley badal says he's extremely concerned he's now in. the indiscriminate use of couric is dangerous what is happening here is more political than scientific do you think that the president is militarizing the public health system though he said it's sad to see that the government is throwing science aside and that it is indeed militarizing one of the most important ministries in any

country especially during a pandemic. with more than 800000 deaths and raw. izing a group of opposition deputies have submitted in impeachment against bill so noddle accusing him of crimes against public health a man yet committed they said that the way he's managed the pandemic is putting brazilian lives at risk promoting crowds in close contact that increases infections and deaths on tuesday more than 1100 people died in 24 hours and the president insists on using a drug that has no scientific evidence the president himself doesn't know the difference between a republic and an absolute monarchy. right now only bolster national supporters who are out on the streets demonstrating what should critics decide to come out of their self-imposed quarantine to call for the president ouster as brazilians have successfully done before also now those days in office could well be numbered you see in human al-jazeera well still ahead here on al-jazeera 2 down fairly has

forced thousands to flee the us state of michigan and residents are being warned the worst isn't over yet and maltese military is accused of breaking international law by refusing to rescue migrants stranded in the sea stay with us here on al-jazeera. hello this rain developing in china significant rain but it's not heading towards japan japan is just sitting with the circulation in the sea of japan itself which takes some back or breeze across the sea to the korean peninsula where it's bright and breezy sunny 17 in tokyo and it could well be cloudy of a good part of honshu bit disappointing really a bit of rain running through beijing as it disappears attempts will start to rise again and this rain this heavy will drift off shore through hong kong during

friday's to line takes it through taiwan which does mean of course who hands are rather warm $32.00. hong kong is a real sticky $29.00 that you had sat the active weather for thunderstorms is going to be in the southern philippines around solar ways and maybe job though beyond that the circulation i have in the it will mortar rests of sumatra south of the quite as the circulation is the other direction for an area of low pressure and it will stay over the water but these are pretty big thunderstorms in the southern philippines that could be a flash flood thing on his own home having made landfall as a big area of cloud still to drop a lot of rain through northern bangladesh and eventually northern india and bhutan and the winds the south still blowing will lessen. the firsthand glimpse of the challenges faced by journalists in the age of donald

trump we are fighting the fake this is a fake phony the enemy of the people through the eyes of a veteran white house correspondent what do you base your legs on the shares are down the press is not after trump is after that we're not the enemy of the people we are the people usa the current battleground whose truth is it anyway on al jazeera. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera with me so robin a reminder of our top stories but as well it says its military will escort 5 iranian tankers bringing oil to have shortages both countries are sanctioned by the

u.s. and the white house says it's considering a response to the shipment millions of people in bangladesh and extent india fled coastal areas after the strongest cycling in decades made landfall site born has battered the region destroying homes and downing power lines. result highest number of krona virus cases in the world with more than 291000 the government is sanctioning use of an anti malaria drug to treat covert 19 despite a lack of evidence that it even works. better to africa now a vote counting is underway in burundi where people have cast ballots to choose a new president leader. is stepping down after 15 years but there are concerns about the lack of transparency after international observers were barred welcome work has more. no sign of social distancing people lined up to vote in the relief capital put in poor health experts have criticized the government's

response to the coronavirus pandemic governments told people not to worry that the election should go ahead. of the results burundians should welcome and accept whoever the winner will be but rights groups say people aren't free to express critical views reports of political violence have been widespread since the last elections 5 years ago they're taking place in the context of. crackdowns on civil society on the independent media we seen reports of killings arrests even disappearances of opposition members in the last few weeks in the run up the election so we're very concerned about the context that are taking place in the. international observers were actively excluded after being told they'd be quarantined for 14 days on arrival. the government says the process is free and fair. outgoing president pm currencies are his route for 15 years.

of cracking down on critics ever since he ran for a controversial 3rd term 5 years ago opposition said it was against the constitution. ever eastern diet the ruling party's candidate chosen successor. running against him is veteran opposition politician. he says hundreds of his supporters have been arrested. the vice president cast. voting in bujumbura said there were no problems we are so happy to see. how the election may be down today because we have peace in the country and. everybody go towards without a problem. social media services were blocked as people voted many journalists and activists have fled into exile it strains the credibility of the process really in

the now waiting for visual results to be announced next week malcolm webb al-jazeera and staying in the region the new prime minister has been sworn in the day after his predecessor quit over allegations that he conspired to murder his former wife. who previously served as finance minister will remain in office until shuttle actions in 2 years' time former prime minister thomas them bonnie attended the ceremony he denies any involvement in his ex-wife's death now the u.n. special middle east envoy has called on israel to abandon threats to an expanse of the occupied west bank prime minister benjamin netanyahu has received all chance blessing to press on but the security council was told it could breach international law our diplomatic editor james space has more. many observers have predicted that prime minister netanyahu threat to annex parts of the west bank was

simply an election ploy or some in fact in office he now says he'll actually do it and that's got many of the united nations worried u.n. special coordinator nicholai mad not briefing the security council restated the un's long held position that annexation would be a serious breach of international law by israel derailing a 2 state solution but his response to palestinian president mahmoud abbas his decision to withdraw from all previous agreements and stop cooperation with israel was perhaps more surprising if i missed the only and very frankly. whatever it will assessments i listed you know reaction to this really threat that exists maybe it is certainly one thing it is a desperate cry for help it is a call for immediate action it is a cry for help from a generation of leaders that invest it their lives in building institutions and

preparing the state for over a quarter of a century in the virtual session on one point there was near a green any i think see shona of any parts of the west bank including of settlements all only would represent a violation of international law one by one security council members urged israel not to pursue a policy of annexation except for one the emission of such a statement by the us ambassador kelly craft was telling she though left it to her boss in washington d.c. the secretary of state to criticize the palestinian president but i regret that he has decided to abrogate these agreements we laid out a very clear vision for how peace could be brought we asked simply for this we asked the israelis and the palestinians to agree that that would be the basis for negotiations between the israelis have accepted that the palestinians have continued to refuse to just simply sit down and enter into goshen based on

president terms a vision for peace there so where the peace efforts go now the so-called core tat has almost been forgotten for the last couple of years it consists of the european union the u.n. russia and the united states the united nations believe it now has the best chance of reviving diplomacy james plays al-jazeera at the united nations now the failure of 2 downs is adding to a flood emergency in the u.s. state of michigan thousands had to evacuate their homes after days of heavy rain and rising waters show. 100 has the latest. across the midwest days of pounding rain water swelled to historic floods that swallowed entire towns. under. the worst of the water borne havoc swept over central michigan where surging waters overwhelmed to nearly century old dams submerging

whole towns beneath the deluge and driving those quarantining from the pandemic out of their homes and into the streets we quickly got our to do. a couple changes of clothes and ourselves we had to do what we had to do is far as finding a place to stay otherwise we would be sleeping in our vehicles in oppression warning one of the breached dams the town of midlands 96 year old eatonville dam was raided and satisfactory in 2018 it's now the latest failure in a nationwide infrastructure crisis floodwaters blew electrical boxes. and collapsed bridges like dominoes bridge after bridge after bridge it's hard to believe that we're in the midst of 100 year crisis a global pandemic. and that we're also dealing with

a flooding event that looks to be the worst and 500 years as michigan struggled to cope president trump threatened to cut funding for the state over the way it is preparing for the november election president trump opposes an expansion of mail in voting saying fewer republicans would be elected that way and the state of michigan has sent applications for all of its 7700000 voters to vote by mail but the threat to withhold funding at a time when michigan is a hot spot both for corona virus and flooding could hardly come at a worse time. whitmer a democrat urged the president not to inject politics into the crisis one another is not the enemy the enemy is a virus and in this case the enemy is also a plot of the water surged across michigan and the midwest in illinois a river swept over its banks and into the town of le sound in ohio 1st responders rescued stranded residents in boat say after streets turned to streams. back in

michigan local officials say they fear the worst is yet to come as floodwaters continue to swell john hendren al-jazeera chicago. hundreds of migrant children have been deported from the u.s. because of a law that's been allowed to join the coronavirus pandemic figures from the new york times revealed all the 900 young mind grants were deported between march and april previously unaccompanied minors were provided with shelter and opportunity to go through the asylum process. well maltese authorities have been accused of breaking international law for turning away more than 100 miles britons who were stranded at sea activists say the maltese armed forces tried to force the migrants back to libya last month for people to die so new reports. 101 people in distress. caught at the mercy of the maltese or storage fees on april the 11th the vessel they were on had come from the libyan port of

zlitan and had been drifting in malta search and rescue zone. alarm phone the ngo that locked the case said several people had been left to die at sea under the watch of the maltese armed forces using dangerous maneuvers they attempted to force the migrants back to libya and eventually made them land in italy giving them fuel and an engine for the journey according to those on board there has been a surge in migrants arriving in malta this year and the government says its reception centers are full prime minister robert abella vowed he would prevent war from landing unless the e.u. completes a deal to share the burden when the pandemic hit to europe or employed private boats to intercept migrant vessels coming from libya before they could reach the island where people who are trying to escape from libya are not changing their plans because of a coronavirus and of course the solution has to be found at

a european level but in the meanwhile. refused to rescue people in distress. while italy a multi continue to be the main landing zones for refugees and migrants coming from libya both countries complain that not enough is being done to help them deal with the ongoing crisis and in the middle of a pandemic and a deteriorating security situation in libya many vulnerable people. there are seeing their struggles become tougher than ever with little or no possibilities of a way out sonny diagonal al-jazeera. georgiades thereof means the whole rama reminder of our top stories venezuela says its military will escort 5 iranian tankers bringing oil to ease years of shortages both countries are under u.s.

sanctions and the white house says it's considering a response to the shipment holeman small from mexico city it's been reported since april that tons of venezuelan gold was leaving the country by plane and going towards iran so now the other way round that oil that venezuela desperately needs despite having the biggest oil reserves in the in the world quite a lot of mismanagement of that oil industry over the years and then sanctions after that from the u.s. has brought them to the point where they don't actually have any gasoline or they don't have as much gasoline as they need at the moment hence the need to bring it in from iran so that's where the 2 countries of sort of coincided in their mutual sort of needs at the moment millions of people in bangladesh and eastern india have fled coastal areas after the stronger side clothing decades made landfall cycling has battered the region destroying homes and downing power lines brazil's now has

the 3rd highest number of krona virus cases in the world with more than 291000 the government is sanctioning the use of an anti malaria drug to treat covert 19 despite a lack of evidence that it works. the u.n. special middle east envoy has called on israel to abandon threats to an expanse of the occupied west bank under a deal with the us israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu could begin and it's in palestinian land as soon as july but the security council is told this could breach international law the new prime minister has been sworn in the day after his predecessor quit over allegations he conspired to murder his former wife look at sema previously served as finance minister and will remain in office until shuttled elections in 2 years time those are the headlines right matheson will be here with news in half an hour but next on al-jazeera its football rebels do stay with us. with no guaranteed paid sick leave millions of americans are forced to choose

between work and health i don't use my leave get my mammograms and use my leave to care for my mother as the coronavirus brings employment laws into stark focus told lines examines the human cost of losing business before he. now faces falling behind people get sick the impossible choice america's paid leave crisis on al-jazeera. has been going to. the computer. a month on and off for the community she's. not your own. business. man is also seen through. much of the body. to body to find the. media.