a tamil journalist in search of a missing colleague stops at nothing to bring his story to the public. and sri lanka press freedoms are under threat. and some stories can only be told by those who will not compromise on the truth. news from just one part of the viewfinder asia series on al-jazeera. in terms of our partnership with saudi arabia as a recalibration it's not a rupture. the biden administration defends its decision not to sanction the saudi crown prince for the killing of the journalist. follow him down in jordan this is down to 0 ally from doha also coming up cutting

aid is a death sentence words of despair at the u.n. as a donor conference on yemen falls far short of funds needed to help millions caught between war and starvation. for the french president nicolas sarkozy faces jail after being convicted for corruption plus. thousands turn out in support of armenians embattled prime minister under pressure to resign for his handling of the conflict against azerbaijan. ministration is defending its actions against saudi arabia over the murder of the journalist. the state department has clarified steps taken on friday after the release of an intelligence report accusing saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salmond of approval an operation to kill or capture. however no direct action has

been taken towards the future saudi king at the white house says it reserves the right to sanction him in the future if necessary instead the biden administration impose sanctions on saudi agents believed to be involved in the killing including the former deputy intelligence chief mohamed el siri for the state department is also urging saudi arabia to disband the rapid intervention force that's the elite unit believed to be behind the murder. we have urged saudi arabia to disband this group and then adopt institutional systemic reforms and controls to ensure that our anti dissident activities and operations cease and cease completely we have made crystal clear and will continue to do so that the brutal killing of jamal khashoggi current 28 months ago remains an acceptable conduct at the same time our relationship with saudi arabia is important it's important to us interests and it requires continued progress and reforms to ensure that this important partnership

rests on strong fundamentals and continues to advance our shared objectives in the middle east well the united nations human rights investigator agnus kalamata expressed concerns of a not taking action against the crown press. it is extremely. in my view problematic if not manager has to acknowledge someone's going to probability and then to tell bad someone what we want to do and i think most see that as if we have said nothing and i am calling only us government to act oh it's probably findings and to sanction mohammed ben-simon for once he has done to sanction he will eyes and beyond the assumed he must see him and he seeks now individuals are sanctioned to sanction him in the diplomacy sense of the word by wishing him well in some of those. circles i'm cool on them fuel i'm pleased to only

internationally to really pull out for more investigation of killings and progress by only asians against john the least culinary funder is mike hanna has more now from washington d.c. . details that were given were in fact given in writing by state department last friday but this is the 1st time that they've actually fleshed out some of these moves on camera with the state department spokesman appearing officially but one new factor has come in and that is the united states calling on saudi arabia to disband what is called rapid intervention force which a cia report and a report made public by the department of national intelligence indicates is nothing more than a hit squad so certainly the details are being fished out $76.00 individuals have been served with sanctions by the u.s. government but significantly and very importantly it does not appear that the name

of the crown prince mohammed bin solomon is on that list of those who have been served with sanctions the state department was asked specifically where the u.s. would consider a waiver this is something that would allow the crown prince to travel to the united states for diplomatic reasons the state department spokesman would not be drawn on that particular subject but the indications are that the crown prince is not on the list now this is going back to president biden's campaign in which he made very clear that everybody involved in the murder of jamal khashoggi must be held accountable but the biden ministration appearing to backtrack on this particular point and there were numerous questions asked by reporters in that news conference about why the biden administration is not taking steps to hold the crown prince individually responsible as the cia and the department of national information report has actually found so let's bring in james warren he's

a political analyst and executive editor of news guardian joins us live now from chicago in the u.s. james so the biden administration is now facing growing criticism that it failed to punish the saudi crown prince so what was the point then releasing this intelligence report saying he was responsible in the 1st place if the u.s. wasn't going to hold him accountable over the murder. well i think ultimately wanted it both ways i mean as a candidate he had boxed himself in and he was unrelenting and a very tough minded at least rhetorically by the saudis and the need to essentially bring them to deal and bring the crown prince to the nose sooner as is often the case with american presidents they get into the oval office having one and life becomes way more complicated so the other day they use the word we calibrate the relationship not rupture the relationship and it reminds one of how candidate donald trump 4 and a half years ago said he was going to get the u.s.

out of all middle east wars it never happened but you know for sure candidate joe biden was very tough said he thought the crown prince was directly responsible for the murder and now it happens they sort of try to have it both ways because they know again saudi arabia's yeah and that's that's an interesting point you make james because the saudis pretty much had free reign under the trump administration and biden was expected as you say the 2nd much firmer line particularly of a human rights abuses but how much firmer is this line because issuing a few visa restrictions doesn't count though does it. well and you know maybe you spend some munitions military sales to the saudis again for a little bit but business will probably went out. folks in the corporate community are clamoring to do business with the prince and there also is the geo political reality that even though you've got a fairly large group of us individuals elected officials and journalists and human

rights organizations on one side of this you do have the russians and the chinese sort of lurking in the background with the api to step in and start making overtures to the saudis just so let me ask you a big picture question here then james what does all of this mean then for us out here nations because biden is being criticized for not punishing the crown prince but the u.s. as you say say saudi arabia as an important strategic ally in the region i don't think ultimately it's going to make a huge amount of difference on the crown prince undoubtedly his is a little chagrined that we've been so at least for a horribly are we call for abandoning that particular. military group a covert group but so lots of the saudis say ok we've done away with it i'll just replace it with something else i think ultimately the real problem is that you've

got a young crown prince is probably going to be the king he's going to outlive anybody that biden ministration and the administration that comes after biden and the administration that probably comes after that that ultimately is his leverage in this long term negotiation of sorts james who are really going to get your thoughts thank you very much and they have a talking to a designer. now the united nations secretary general says he's disappointed by the outcome of the global down a conference for yemen. as the event raised roughly $1700000000.00 that's less than half of the $3850000000.00 the u.n. was asking for our diplomatic editor james bays reports from the u.n. headquarters in new york for weeks the u.n. has been warning that yemen's dar humanitarian situation is on the verge of becoming the worst crime in anywhere on earth in decades today i mean is bearing down on yemen the race is on if we want to prevent hanging and starvation from

thinking millions of lives to avert humanitarian disaster the secretary general convened a pledging conference to raise almost $4000000000.00 but while big donors did give money in most cases they actually reduced their contributions 3 year earlier in the past the country's fighting as part of the coalition in yemen saudi arabia and the united arab emirates gave the most this year their contributions were down to the head of the world food program warned that out of the $385000000000.00 the u.n. wanted there was an absolute bare minimum needed to stop a famine point $9000000000.00 just over. $100000000.00 per month to have. put in the end instead of 1900000000 they got 1670000000 the un's emergency relief coordinator read out

a statement from the secretary general showing his frustration the best that can be said about today is that it represents a down payment. i thank those who did pledge generously and i ask others to consider again what they can do to help stave off the worst famine in the world to seen in decades the message from the u.n. to donor countries is pretty clear thank you for your money but it's not enough and we're going to come back to you to ask for more otherwise there's going to be a massive famine in yemen jamesburg he's out 0 at the united nations but i should john is the founder and president of yemen relief and reconstruction she says a number of down to countries bad direct responsibility for the ongoing tragedy in yemen but we have to remember that yemen is a manmade crisis that the famine in yemen is. a result of

a political conflict that a lot of the countries the donor countries actually bear responsibility for the devastation and the primary that is happening in yemen today the u.n. had already said there are 16200000 yemeni who are experiencing are at risk of famine there isn't any area in yemen that's not experiencing food insecurity every single part of yemen is experiencing food insecurity we know that a lot of these kids who are experiencing my nutrition are going to have cognitive development problems we also know there are a lot of children and families. issues due to the fact that they don't know where their next meal is go going to come from so we've had people who have committed suicide whole families because they didn't have anything to eat. the

former french president nicolas sarkozy has been found guilty of corruption he's been sentenced to 3 years in jail 2 years were suspended if the conviction is upheld on appeal he may surface sentence under house arrest but as natasha reports from paris it's made a political comeback unlike. nicolas sarkozy arrived at caught in paris for the verdict in his trial a judge found the former french president guilty of corruption and influence peddling he was given a 3 year jail sentence with 2 years suspended he left the call to that comment but is now is later said that he would appeal so cozy was convicted of trying to influence a magistrate in 2014 to obtain information about another legal case against him during the trial he denied the accusations but the judge said that sarkozy and his 2 kohak used knew exactly what they would doing the judge told the court he took advantage of his status and the relationships he had made since being voted out of

office and 2012 sarkozy has sought a political comeback even ran for the presidency again in 27 saying but the guilty verdict in this trial is likely to deal a devastating blow to his ambitions some in france's conservative party had hoped that sarkozy would run in next year's election a lot of his face will within his own party remain hopeful that he could stage a comeback today that is over and that is over particularly because even if party faithful will still adore nicolas sarkozy is that the kind of charismatic political leader that commands this kind of control within the country there's no way you can have a president with such a educational case behind him as president sarkozy projected an image of a tough talking conservative with a taste for luxury now he's become the 1st former french president to be handed a jail term. and with at least 2 more corruption trial is expected it's clear that

sarkozy's legal problems are far from over it's actually just sirrah paris. time for a short break here not just iraq when we come back still missing the fate of 317 schoolgirls kidnapped in northern nigeria it remains unknown. in the philippines rolls out its coded 19 vaccination program but many don't trust the jobs on offer more and that stay with us. for the perfect. sponsored plan qatar airways. we got something of a change in the weather across japan over the next couple of days for some warmth around at the moment but it comes this area cloud wet and windy weather will slide through as this cold front makes its way further eastward so really popping out the

same some very heavy rain coming through q shoo in to haunt she southerly winds will lift temperatures up in tokyo to around 90 degrees celsius but as you can see the weather is not looking too brilliant as we go on through the next 24 hours or so snow on the western side of the country all the way up towards the north that will sweep through and here we go not see bad at all it freshens up 13 celsius but it will be dry and bright strong and bright see across the korean peninsula to northern parts of china by this date southern china on the other hand we'll see some showers over the next couple of days some of those showers just making their way down into vietnam to something of a change going on here cambodia seeing a little bit of wet weather as well thailand see a sharrow too as we go on through choose the and where to stay some showers all the shops across northern parts of the philippines elsewhere coast region usual showers coming through for south asia really is fine a dry and it's on the warm side temperatures running around $45.00 celsius about the seasonal average not poor with a top temperature of $38.00 degrees. an

ancient land and one man's dream to transport hubs have billions from europe and fly them over his beloved country. in a nation reeling from decades of violence. about 500 meters away from still restrained can an international team of pilots get this man's dream off the ground put moon's over babylon on al-jazeera. welcome back a quick recap the top stories here this hour the biden administration is defending

its decision not to apply sanctions on saudi crown prince mohammed bin sound man for the killing of journalist and. it reiterated that it is seeking to recalibrate rupture the relationship between washington and riyadh. united nations secretary general says he's disappointed by the outcome of the global donor conference for yemen roughly $1700000000.00 was raised that's less than half of the $3800000000.00 the u.n. was asking for. and for a french president nicolas sarkozy has been found guilty of corruption has been sentenced to 3 years in jail over 2 years was suspended sarkozy has appealed and is facing at least 2 other cases. armenia's prime minister says he is ready to call a snap election to bring to an end the political crisis in the country they call passionately and address thousands of supporters in the capital on monday just hours earlier protesters who want him to resign stormed a government building from yerevan robin fries to walk reports.

that street power is how armenia's prime minister forced a corrupt government to resign 3 years ago street power on monday was his way of answering calls for his own resignation he stands accused of failing all media in its war against azerbaijan mark. i throw this challenge to the parliamentary opposition let's call for snap elections let's call for snap elections and i beg you to support the school. press union has played his card a democratic solution to a political crisis. by contrast the opposition hopes the play a role so far the president has refused to sign passion years order to dismiss. general. thanks to everyone who's read us today armenia is reviving the army's reviving we must stand strong here so that the president and the

constitutional court do not decide to dismiss the chief of the general staff. to trigger elections mr will have to stand down as per the opposition's demand but they want an interim government 1st not an election for the prime minister's supporters that is hypocrisy hard to opposition he's calling us to transfer power to then we doubt the lections bypassing the people so they call us illegitimate but they think we're legitimate enough to hand on the power to them bypassing the people that's not going to happen. repetition have been saying that nicole pressing the on is are unfit for office finally these are answered his detractors say it's up to the armenian people choose who should govern this country at the ballot box. monday's rallies also

marked and important and in verse 313 years ago the former government used force against protesters 10 people died passion yan has told armenians that that chapter in the country's history must not be repeated robin 1st year walker. yet a gun for the u.s. is providing ukraine with 125000000 dollars in military aid to help it fight what the pentagon is calling russian aggression the package will include training and equipment aimed at helping ukraine's forces to secure the border and improve their ability to perform operations to night stands. mexico's president has held virtual talks of those u.s. counterparts stressing the need to cooperate on a range of issues and there is money lopez obrador told joe biden but both nations are safer and stronger together spoke about immigration vaccine supply and trade cooperation among a number of other conserves argentinean president alberto fernandez says he will

not rush into a new deal with the international monetary fund there is concern argentina may miss a may deadline with the i.m.f. to agree on how to repay a loan of more than 40000000000 dollars to raise about reports and medical for members went to congress on monday to present his plan on how to help the country recover from the president make he spoke about plans to reactivate the economy industrialize canaries and investigate the loans granted to argentina by the i.m.f. creditable number 3. $171.00 on the body count out praise to put an end to the adventures of indebting a country it is necessary that doing so isn't free and they cannot walk around and teach about how they carry out these debts and that's why i have asked to initiate an investigation into those who took part in the biggest fraudulent administration

then our memory can recall. the president is hoping to investigate former president . and some of his closest allies in $2800.00 and the former president mauricio muggeridge argentina was granted the largest lending panel given to real well the international monetary fund over $40000000000.00 the argentine and the i.m.f. are currently in the legal medical association of multiple. what internet economic troubles have been exacerbated by the pandemic and that's why i didn't mean it ministration of precedent. is one thing that we did it with the loan that was granted during the previous administration. argentina is struggling with a rise in poverty unemployment and a drop in economic activity the government is also having to do damage control after it emerged that several politicians and their relatives jumped a queue and got vaccinated folk over 1000. this scandal has raised questions about

the government's credibility and angered many people who took to the streets last saturday in protest. but monosyllable data says he voted for freedom and this and hopes he will do what's necessary to help millions of argentinians recover from the ongoing crisis. i voted for him because i believe he can help us the government gave us some money to survive these past months but it's not enough i'm still living on the streets i'm watching for a pinch and that will help me survive. one of the demands by the i.m.f. is to cut down government spending for man the center left peronist administration faces midterm elections you know to over and is unlikely to impose austerity measures that will hurt him politically but economy saying the i.m.f. may prove to be more flexible but in the past when the move very slowly giving him a chance to get your i.m.f. knows that there is no chance i didn't do not be used alone in a timely manner this structuring has to happen the thing is it has to be in good

terms and with an accord the agreement may happen because of the pandemic and it may be the i.m.f. should be more flexible. is the i.m.f. largest sovereign borrower and that's why ideally is crucial to help the country recover they said well and to see what a sight is the u.a.e. is 1st ambassador to israel has met with the country's president reagan rivlin in west jerusalem monitor carter presented his credentials to the president and said israel welcomed him with open arms in august the 2 countries agreed to normalize ties and a u.s. brokered deal the u.a.e. was the 1st of 4 arab countries to renew or establish ties with israel. zimbabwe's vice president kemba hardy has resigned following allegations of sexual misconduct 2 weeks ago local media reported that the hardy had relationships with a number of married women including one of his subordinates adi has denied the

accusations he says stepping down was not cowardice but a sign of great respect for the office of the president. nigerian officials say they're close to rescuing 317 girls kidnapped from a school in the northwestern state of zamfara it's given their family's hope after the raid early on friday and interest has more now from the south. it's difficult says $317.00 goals like taken from a boarding school in joint debate in some part of state now abortions are underway to recover them on the orders of nigeria's president that they will they should be secured and returned home safe and sound right behind me is a tough one but he's on a surveillance mission there are 2 helicopters actually deployed for this mission based on something the force and they started to fly did to fight the location why these goals and they would want to make sure that they have not been moved so that whatever negotiations or whatever action that needed to be taken is taken successfully we only have heard what the commissioner of police in tougher stated

was said they are doing their utmost best to take up on this 2. suspects fully aware engaged in all the parties involved. we. progress got up lists talking put specific temps at the point we know that we can assure you we're going to show the nation that well top of the situation. the head of the world health organization is warning that global coronavirus cases are on the increase again for the 1st time in 7 weeks for the discovery s.l. says it's disappointing but not surprising some of it appears to be due to the laxey loaf measures continue said relational finance and people letting down their gun vaccines will help to save lives but if countries straight lie on vaccines

they are making a mistake basic public measures remain the foundation of their response. the philippines covered 19 vaccination program is underway health care workers in manila were among the 1st to get those is of a sign of that job but as barnaby lo reports the country still faces major hurdles . filipino health care workers had been expecting the arrival of covert $1000.00 vaccines for months the philippines was the only country in southeast asia that hadn't vaccinated a single citizen but the wait is finally over only been asking for a vaccine never seen so before you make their point to be the 1st. to decide become having been dating make. up does be done next bit that they takes on the 9 or a lot. most government hospital staff had shown

a willingness to take the shots in surveys conducted internally but that anticipation waned after it became clear they wouldn't be getting their pfizer or astra zeneca chips it's a huge day for the philippines to be rolling out with $1000.00 vaccines after months of delays but many health care workers here are resisting they say they don't trust the only option that's being offered to them for now. the only vaccine to have arrived in the philippines is corona back from china 6 public hospitals in the capital manila were the 1st recipients but only a small number of their employees have signed up i mean the on the department of health the food and drug administration and the department the pet had said it isn't for health workers who are exposed to the bias every day so these are back with a higher figure city this reluctance by medical workers adds to the public's hesitancy to get back sedated that's largely because of the recent controversy about

a vaccine against dengue fever the government had to suspend its specs a nation campaign using that the job after concerts about its serious side effects . officials have said repeatedly do the best back seen is what's available down below let me near him but they are. protesting health workers say they should not have to face this dilemma born to be a little al-jazeera manila. in the u.s. city of new orleans has welcomed a new arrival an endangered some modern orangutan was born of the audubon nature institute for now a star for observing from a distance say mother and baby appeared to be doing well a few of them 14000 orangutans in the wild the habitat has declined by 80 percent in the last 20 years largely due to pummel plantations.

time for a quick check of the top stories here on the isle.