all we're asking for is a fair opportunity to fight this case and if she's given bail we know that will happen a 3 week trial is scheduled for july next will faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted of all charges. al-jazeera. more on that story and all the rest of the day's top news that al jazeera dot com. check it out and if you'd like. to take you to the headlines right now though india has reported the world's highest daily tally of covert infections for a 2nd straight day more than 332000 of them hospitals have critical shortages of beds medicine and oxygen with purana has more from new delhi this is one of new delhi's biggest private hospitals where the director said 25 people died in one day

because of no oxygen supply the family of a 39 year old man who passed away says his oxygen was reduced without their knowledge and that his last words were please save me they also say they counted at least $45.00 bodies and that a catastrophe is being covered up the hospitals chairman says they've never had any deaths in one day but he denies there were a result of oxygen shortage u.s. regulators meanwhile are lifting the poor as they put on the johnson and johnson single shot covered 19 vaccine this follows a recommendation from the centers for disease control and prevention it says the vaccines benefits outweigh the serious but small risk in the 8000000 people in the u.s. have received the jab 15 cases of blood clotting have been identified 3 of which were fatal. a headline search for a missing indonesian submarine is taking on added urgency as oxygen supplies on

board are now calculated to run out it went missing on wednesday with $53.00 people on board southeast asian nations are preparing for talks with me and mas military ruler general mingling is attending the asean summit in jakarta his 1st visit abroad since he launched a military coup and crackdown that since killed more than $700.00 people israeli security forces a 4th of protesters in occupied east jerusalem for a 2nd night palestinians rallied against restrictions imposed for the month of ramadan far right israelis have also been gathering more than $100.00 people injured since it began on thursday. and in the us british socialite gillian maxwell has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges involving the late finance you know jeffrey epstein maxwell appeared in a new york court in person for the 1st time since her arrest last june. that's why a lot but today thanks for your company up front is next on al-jazeera. we tell the

untold stories. we speak when office. because of the. no matter where it takes us i believe we'll feel secure. and. impartial we tell your story. to al-jazeera. is the principal of one country 2 systems did it i'll ask one of hong kong staunchest probation politicians. marc lamont hill also on the show the war in yemen it was supposed to last 6 weeks but it's been 6 years since a saudi led coalition launched its bombing campaign on the country leaving untold

suffering in its wake but with reports of direct talks between riyadh into iran could an end to the conflict finally be in sight that's our debate but 1st the jailing of 5 pro-democracy figures in hong kong has triggered international condemnation critics say it's part of china's move to eliminate all political opposition beijing is also overhauled the region's electoral system and imposed a vaguely worded national security law so is there any room left for dissent in hong kong and what about china's promise of universal suffrage this week headliner hong kong legislative council member regina. thank you so much for joining me on upfront. thank you for having me in recent months china has approved a reffed of changes to hong kong's electoral system by the number of people directly elected to hong kong's legislature has been reduced to less than a quarter the election committee which selects the city's leader has expanded by

$300.00 seats which will be picked by pro beijing groups but whatever happened to hong kong's gradual progress toward universal suffrage as inscribed in the mini constitution well our constitution says that universal suffrage is the ultimate aim in the light up actual situation and an orderly and grandchildren know that developments in the past 2 decades have been far from satisfactory nastase elections have returned rep aransas intact the people who are hostile to beijing and we cannot allow that situation to continue in other words the outcomes have not been good so beijing needs to take a close look at rewrites the moves there when you say that's what we're doing but when you say rewrite the rules you're saying the gradual progress toward universal suffrage is no longer an aim we still have

a major mass participation element we still we will have 20 seats elected by universal suffrage but the new system will allow for more meritocracy it has participation participation by people who are competent said knowledge because in in the past 2 years we've been gripped by. extremists who use filibuster who hold up government business and we were unable to solve our city's problems. there seems to be a concern though that some of what you're referring to as competence is actually allegiance to beijing and that it's not actually about competence per se for example if anyone holding public office has a ticket old right now pledging allegiance to china and candidates will be vetted by a committee that can unilaterally bar them because they are called unpatriotic. cover

turns out in allegiance are 2 separate incidents both are important and leeches must be guaranteed with them are our legislature our coast to bits by the people who are opposed to china who are intent want to bring down the ruling party you know that it's not good for hong kong we are part of china we cannot be at loggerheads without much of that and comforters is a different matter you know unfortunately universal suffrage base elections have not been able to return people worth equites competence and knowledge really to run hong kong so the system has been revised has to be revised to allow more merit to participation what is the basis of being patriotic unpatriotic it seems to me that that can become a very nebulous a slippery slope it's very simple under our law or you need to do is to pledge allegiance to the humble i say our and to uphold the basic law

constitution you know into our 16 our legislative council elections actually returned a number of young people 20 something who actually used language which insulted the nation when they took the oath you know on and that won't be allowed in any legislature what they want to do is to groom a loyal opposition you know you have to be you can't be quick to co-opt government but you must abide. constitution because hong kong under one country 2 systems can only it's exists if people in important positions of power abide by the constitution you know would take us and sets electing people who who are opposed to you know basic values host you know constitution you know you were not all that what you were it would depend on what the constitution said probably in

the minds of many but but i think the concern again is what constitutes opposition in february authorities charged dozens of political opponents but under a vaguely worded national security law imposed by china last year they were merely planning on running for parliament and challenging the government there so in the minds of many opposition itself has become the crime opposition itself has become the national security threat. i think that is not entirely accurate only only in street cases of people charged under national security laws so it's not sure that lauch numbers have been arrested or charged under a national security laws so let's look at a few examples the hong kong government charged $47.00 democracy advocates with violating a national security law that prohibits quote conspiracy to commit subversion also in january hong kong police arrested $53.00 former lawmakers and democracy

proponents for allegedly violating the new national security law by participating in the unofficial election primaries for the territories legislature last year those are just 2 examples among many that would seem to me to be prohibitive to producing opposition. that case you are referring to or concerns a group of political activists 47 of them were arrested in connection worth all that nice a plots to. 1 seize power you know basically to grab the majority of the seats in the legislature but run for office. just implementor just for a moment for the sake of clarity for the artist orleans when you say they were tending to seize power you mean by running for office not buying them a cool or or by any kind of military intervention. it's a form a coup because that plan is when they have one. offices they were veto where they

are determined to veto everything even before they have seen the fine print so as to force the rest of the nation out and she thinks that it's hip and intervention by leading to western sanctions and the collapse of hong kong that's the game plan so that's a plan to some birds it government so the plan to veto the plan to the action of resisting all of this seems to be an exercise of a right that is in shrine in basic law 52 article 52 of the basic law says that the chief executive of the hong kong special administrative region must resign if he repeatedly refused to sign a bill passed by the legislative council or if parliament refuses repeatedly to pass a budget or any other important bill according to our only armchair of the pro-democracy civic party in hong kong place exercise voting rights to veto the budget and eventually the chief executive step down is precisely what is in trying in the

basic law that i just read it. seems to be a tension or a contradiction here. depends and the on whether those have criminal intent whether you are exercising their rights in court face to object to legislative publishes that you genuinely disapprove of or part of a plan to overthrow the government who determines whether a man of faith or not there how do we determine what's in good faith. because they have already said they were rico everything even before they've seen any tea house up a budget or any legislation from the government. it's to overthrow the government they have set so publicly i've got to say it seems somewhat striking you're taller on national security given your earlier statements in 2016 you wrote i will defend academic freedom and freedom of speech for example hong kong independence should be discussed in schools this very thing that you said you would defend is now

considered criminal under a national security law not necessarily because i did discuss the issue up society in an international school in a well moderated tent rational debates between 2 groups of systems. students you know there's nothing wrong with that that's all that did ethernet not in french national security law you only introduced national security 'd law if you have a criminal intent and if you are actually organizing plans actions that would support the government or. separate hong kong china promoting independence or self rule s. of take a deep ha so poor independence what a session is constitutionally sensible that's not amount of pence i'm happy to take part in that's all the time so in school right now taking the position bed hong

kong independence is the best option is not a threat or a violation of national security you're saying. and that's it's an economic objective i don't see any problem there so i'll eat only. if you tell students that independence is the only way we enjoy self rule and you organize students into. and also as public roads has waited flat that's not the thing so if i as a student engage in a debate there's an intellectual exercise making the case to give the affirmative position that hong kong should gain independence that's acceptable if at the end of the debate i walk out of the debate hall wearing a t. shirt that says i support hong kong independence i have now violated national security laws at a fair assessment i don't generalize that way you know all over the significant that is perfect example i'm saying that the nets in the same example you gave of

the debate i'm saying if that same person were to at the end of the debate wave a flag or wear a t. shirt advocating the very same position he took in the debate around hong kong independence would that be a violation. that person could checking into quite. dangerous waters but it's not for me to say it's what the lawyer sent the police to investigate for make judgements and i would not encourage any young person to do that and if if someone in the debate were to be so compelling in their academic engagement of this issue that they were persuading students to support hong kong independence with even be a threat under. national security. they could be in our day could infringe the loss of our insights from you know because our hong kong independence is a nonstarter is not alarmed our laws if they don't become so impassion that they want

to encourage others to go down that path that could be guilty of inciting. independence in other words inciting suspicion so then in essence they can use the beginning gives them the intellectual academic exercise of debate but only if they're not too compelling or persuasive in their in their argument built with the doesn't seem like free speech or academic freedom should speech it's not absolutes that free speech is translates into all that nice action to encourage each other or others to go down the independence of woods that it would support them want it would you do it because so much for joining me. thank you. the term of 3rd world countries is outdated and offensive up for do so ryan kohls explains why and what we should use instead in this week's reality check do you see 3rd world when you describe impoverished countries or conditions well i've got good

news today's the day you learn that the term is offensive and outdated for years many historians and commentators have been screaming from the rooftops to erase the 3rd world from our vocabulary the phrase however persists we look like the 3rd world i mean us we look like the 3rd in this stuff that you see in another country it's a 3rd world 3rd world 3rd world country country so what gives why is the term so contested well for starters it has a very specific long expired content the term originated in the 1950 s. to map out cold war alliances the 1st world consists of the the capitalist bloc led by the us the 2nd world was a communist bloc led by the soviet union the 3rd world and capsulated the nonaligned countries which the superpowers competed to influence so 3rd world originated around now defunct political life. today the term is stripped of its new wants and loaded with offensive connotations it's used to invoke images of extreme

poverty civil unrest and crumbling infrastructure producing a false sense of superiority as if those issues are now happening in the so-called 1st world a quick glance at several indicator shows just how unfettered from reality a 1st world person 3rd world dichotomy really is taking coming in according to the world bank the united states is the 51st most unequal in the world sandwiched between djibouti to cote d'ivoire to australia is 93rd right between romania and syria if you peruse the economist democracy index you'll find so-called 3rd world countries like i just in khost the rica. under full democracy and on the flawed democracy list the united states belgium italy or how many responses to the covert 1000 outbreak surely the richer more developed countries handled it much better not quite in 2020 vietnam tell you 1965 cases and 35 deaths the united kingdom

2400000 cases in over 73000 deaths oh in vietnam has 30000000 more people the key takeaway here is that every country has the capacity to fail miserably in certain areas and thrive another 3rd world does that mean what's a suitable alternative some of adopted terminology like develop a low income and middle income country others are to divide the world between the global so and the world and not even better just compare apples with even education systems you want to contrast simply stick to that remember the world does not. stop dumbing down. following a shaking transition in the wake of the 2011 arab spring yemen descended into conflict in 2014 when the who seized control of its capital sanaa eventually forcing president. to flee to saudi arabia since then the country has become

a regional battleground with a saudi led coalition bolstered by the u.s. the u.k. and france intervening on behalf of heads internationally recognized government it's widely believed iran is arming the hutus although to her on continues to deny the accusation 6 years into the conflict yemen is now home to the worst humanitarian crisis in the world millions are on the brink of famine and roughly one yemeni child dies every 75 seconds the u.n. has also warned of a deadly resurgence of call it $1000.00 cases is yemen doing to regional power struggles and foreign intervention and what will it take to bring relief to the millions of people suffering and joining me to debate this are from lansing mi. anti-war advocate an assistant professor of education at michigan state university and from new york peter styles barry senior analyst for yemen at the crisis group thank you both for joining me in the arena peter i want to start with you the war in yemen has often been described as a proxy war with the saudi backed coalition bombing the country in order to curb

iranian influence the u.s. and the u.k. have supplied weapons that many believe that iran continues to arm the hold these with missiles that been fired into saudi arabia 1st what do these foreign powers have the right to be in yemen in the 1st place well that's a good question and there's no one simple straight answer to it's a thing the rights is a pretty loaded question to start with right so is there a legal basis for justification for intervention arguably yes on the basis that the internationally recognized president had the asked them to intervene and later the un security council issued a security council resolution arguably justifying. their intervention and then the who sees. their own agenda a big part of that message is that they stand against foreign interference in

yemeni affairs even though as you say there won't be accused in the very credibly of having close tires with with iran. a partnership of equals rather than a proxy relationship with telling them what to do or operating them on control i was going to ask you can jump in here to what i want you to respond to to what peter just said but also is it overly simplistic to frame this as a proxy war. yeah i think it is simplistic i don't think that this is a proxy war at all yes the saudis are backing the hadley government the u.a.e. is backing the government as well as does separatist rebel group in the south the s.t.c. iranians are supporting the who these in some way are the evidence for that is not as concrete given that countries under blockade but i think the question about whether they have the right to intervene i think absolutely not yes they do have legal justification under the un but i think if

a president went rogue essentially and called in another power to intervene that's a time called on the russians to support him in the us i don't think that the un would have given him cover for that and so i think in the case of yemen it's a sad story of the leadership kind of betraying the population but i don't think anybody really has the right to intervene in a civil conflict but should be in accordance to the u.n. 16000000 people in yemen are going hungry you make an interesting distinction that you say very much starving there being starved can you explain why you make that distinction and why that's politically important for so understand. yes so yemen prior to the war relied on importing up to 90 percent of its needs the fuel of food into horror and so this is the middle east's poorest country prior to the war in 2015 and the war of course has made things much worse but the blockade essentially restricts commercial trade which emmy's relied on and this has led to most of the yemeni population being reliant on aid so 80 percent of the

population right now in yemen and that some 24000000 people out of 20 out of 30000000 people rely on aid for survival and then when that aid is weaponized against yemenis so we've seen for example the trumpet inspiration cut usa ery d. to northern yemen back in the summer of 2020 or the saudis restricting fuel entry into the country shown in the recent c.n.n. investigation these elements of the blockade these are intentional use of food as a weapon of war this is honestly not that different from siege warfare where you trap people and starve them in order for them to surrender and the saudis have been using this tactic and unfortunately the western governments including the u.s. have been supporting them if not directly then indirectly by not exerting the influence and pressure they have to get the saudis to lift the blockade and going as far as denying the existence of the blockade so the special envoy to yemen

currently time under king has denied that there is a blockade despite all of this evidence peter what do you make of it i mean there's clearly a blockade timlin a king has said there is it the port of ho data is clearly the site of of a blockade how does this continue to have a white wire the lack of u.s. intervention why or why a lack of acknowledgment from the syrian government how is that allowed to happen to make sense of this. sure so that's a big component of this war has been economic warfare from from all sides but obviously you're a big powerful party like the saudis who correctly at the correct to say beginning of the conflict just shut down young uns unable waters and then the un intervene so that this this verification mechanism to let goods flow into. anyone trying to ship goods into data has really been subject to the whims of the coalition of the government and serene says since january because of the stopping fuel from entering

the controlled areas we get back to the legal issues and the argument the coalition is well forcing an arms embargo that's part of this 2015 security council resolution and we're responding to requests from the how do you go sovereign authority in the international community's eyes who are saying you can't let fuel go into this part of the country because the who these are stealing in their view customs revenues last week in the financial times reported talks between senior saudi and iranian officials that goal of those talks was to repair relations that include a discussion of what the attacks on saudi arabia of course the saudis have denied the talks happened iran has declined to comment but they've been confirmed by a senior iraqi official what would repair look like what does our fixed relationship look like and what effect could bad have on yemen. yet the really big

question and it's interesting in that we've seen sort of over the years no decades we've seen the iranians and the saudis enter into these talks and the saudis for instance answer is their national security movie cross border attacks into saudi arabia and they really want to happen but this is happening cunts. so the much bigger sense of negotiations between the u.s. and your audience of a j c p oh ok so i'd imagine that quite a lot going to need to happen in terms of those u.s. iran talks for saudi iran talks to the. barony any fruit because the iranians of course will see their role there in yemen as as leverage and the saudis will not be keen to suddenly come out as major supporters of. tritium as you pointed out yemen is

a republic the spirit of democracy lives deep in its history can you ever see the people of yemen accepting a government put in place by an absolute monarchy like saudi absolutely not i mean in their north yemen's where yemen was under you know turkish ottoman rule and then a kingdom came about and there was a revolution or sorry like a cool against the kingdom and they 58 years to ensure that the monarchy was no longer in power and in the south yemen was under british occupation and people are to really really hard to resist colonial power in the south as well where i'm from and so i think that the struggle for democracy is alive and well and it's unfortunate that we think that those gulf monarchies absolute monarchy is have yemen's best interests at heart as the only country in that region that's not an absolute monarchy and you think that if they end up with a system that doesn't work for them it doesn't representative then you know they're back on the streets demanding what's rightfully theirs that i have to be the last

word should be impeded thank you so much for joining me. thanks for having to have . that's our show up front we'll be back next week. a weekly critique of the stories hitting the headlines the news media have been left to sort through mixed messages on a quite complex story from mainstream to street journalism the enemy objective is to get me to meet you send it to the wall to shoot at what's going on exposing real world threats to objective it's often the bombing for times from moscow $11000.00 people who were arrested listening post covers the way the news discovered on the jersey that. we know what's happening i returned we know how to get the plague is that others and all i was just i don't fear god but to put people on purpose and

fire and then i'm going i'm going to give you. my mind. the way that you tell death story isn't one and make a difference. just for scenes outside indian hospitals overrun by record breaking corona virus infections and oxygen shortage use. u.s. health regulators lift the poles on johnson and johnson's vaccine despite small risk of blood clots. f.d.a. in c.d.c. can conclude that the ricin bill or any of these so called from those this group so he is soon through her.