we have reports now to aiden in southern yemen. >> the political en pass in yemen continues after the southern movement. those representing the cities in the south announced their suspension in the political talks that the u.n. special envoys attempted to broker others parties followed suit. the main opposition party said that they were boycotting and other leftest parties which really left only the houthies andallies. now aside from the political en pass there have been demonstrations. they continue to take place on saturday with demonstrations taking place in the capitol of sanaa. also protests taking place in other places across the south. meanwhile, there is also instability from a security perspective with several attacks, clashes between the houthies around armies. and it shows how volatile the situation is, and until some sort of solution can be found people fear that the difficulty or the unstable nature will increase even though the special envoy had reasons to be optimistic. they're having difficulty finding with that opposition originates from. >> three people have been kil

government and calling it absurd dialog and a waste of time and we will go live in aid en in southern yemen why this waste of time apparent waste of time? >> reporter: when this began on thursday evening there was an apparent breakthrough and the breakthrough is parties sitting around the table said they would set up a council and coalition of people that would have talks of running the country through an interim period and that is of course after hadi was forced to resign after the houthis took control of the capitol and say it is a waste of time because after they agreed on the principle of setting up a presidential council another demand is any of the malitia or the non-government factions who have weapons, who have taken over large parts of the country and capitol indeed as well as the airport relinquish that power and return those positions, those sensitive areas to the government and to the army, the houthis refused and so far they say there is no points talking to people who have taken control of the country by force and you do not want to relinquish and want to give it to give some

movement which demanding independence in southern yemen says they have been marginalized politically and economy. let's go live to aiden and jamal is there and why does the southern movement feel these talks are a waste of time? >> well as you pointed out they believe that since the houthis took over sanaa by force then there is no point discussing or having dialog because the houthis were in control were interested in dialog they would have sat around the table than marched on the capitol with their weapons and their guns. the southerners believe there are two options between which they can choose. one is to continue boycotting these talks until some sort of political consensus is reached and that can only be done once the southerners relinquish power and things go to prior to september 21st when they took over the capitol. the other is total cessation and total independence from the country and would be more confusing really here because yemen depends so much on the southern parts of the city and 70% of the trade and economy is based her

southern pakistan has killed at least 49 people. it all happened during friday prayers at a shia mosque in sind province. >>> in yemen, talks to fill vacuum left after the president resigned hit another setback. southern representatives have pulled out of the process. and there has been more calls for southern yemen to form its own state. demonstrators reject the presidential council that parties are trying to form in the capitol of sana'a. jamal has the latest. >> reporter: despite the apparent break through that was reached late on thursday evening when the different political parties had announced that they had agrees in principal on the formation of a presidential council to rule the country in an interim period that optimism was short lived because on friday the politicians from the south of the country, many of whom who have been calling for cessation from yemen, said they were suspending their participation in these negotiation because they believe these negotiations can lead nowhere, because they accuse them of taking place under ransom at gunpoint. they say the houthi rubble government has put resigned president under house

back to you a little bit later in the program and let's go south to the port city of aden in southern yemenomar extraordinary and dramatic scenes in the capitol this morning. you were there in the south. we spoke to the yemen information minister earlier and said some extraordinary things and one of the things she said omar is we will probably see a new yemen by the end of the day. that is a very powerful and dramatic statement to make. what do you make of it omar? >> it is very powerful dramatic and very very significant because every one here was feeling this particular moment where the houthis will storm the palace and try to force the president to resign and have their own day in ruling the country. now, it's a bit late to a lot of people that we have been speaking to some in the south and others when we were up north in the capitol sanaa because this is what they expected from the houthis to do and they were even criticizing the president for not doing enough and know the president is weak and doesn't have power over his military but they did say to save the prestige of the state you c

back to you a little bit later in the program and let's go south to the port city of aden in southern yemenomar extraordinary and dramatic scenes in the capitol this morning. you were there in the south. we spoke to the yemen information minister earlier and said some extraordinary things and one of the things she said omar is we will probably see a new yemen by the end of the day. that is a very powerful and dramatic statement to make. what do you make of it omar? >> it is very powerful, dramatic and very, very significant because every one here was feeling this particular moment where the houthis will storm the palace and try to force the president to resign and have their own day in ruling the country. now, it's a bit late to a lot of people that we have been speaking to some in the south and others when we were up north in the capitol sanaa because this is what they expected from the houthis to do and they were even criticizing the president for not doing enough and know the president is weak and doesn't have power over his military but they did say to save the prestige of the state you

. >> shores in southern yemen are an escape from a for those from the horn of africa. those who make it still face extortion and abuse from smugglers. as part of our special series on escape routes, we have this report from the port of aidan. >> through an interpreter they tell us of their misery. they are somali who escaped poverty and more. they reached aidan towards the end of the last year. they came in search of a better life but ended up victims afraid. she is 32 years old divorced with three children. she says she only wanted to work as a cleaner to support her family. >> i left somalia with $150. i paid for the boat ride with it. when we arrived smugglers demanded more money. i had nothing left. they sent me to a house. every night, three and four men came to rape me. i stayed like that for 15 days. >> she is 18. she came west of aidan planning to go to saudi arabia. she says she was raped got pregnant and had to have an abortion. >> i went with those on the boat to radah. they kept me as a made and forced me to work. i stayed for over a month. when i complaine

terror attacks in paris were organized by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula which is based in southern yemen. spain today announced the arrest of four terror suspects. authorities described them as" highly radicalized and highly trained." the two pairs of brothers, were taken into custody in the spanish territory of sayota, which borders morocco. a police official said they were of moroccan origin but held spanish citizenship. he said there were many parallels with the brothers who attacked the offices of the french satiric newspaper "charlie hebdo." a 19-year-old from a denver suburb has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that she tried to help isis. shannon conley was arrested in april while trying to board a plane for turkey. she had planned to continue on to syria to marry a fighter there whom she had met online. the judge, who imposed the sentence, said it was meant to deter others from trying to aid the terror group. the president and first lady left today on an official visit to india. even before they departed, the white house announced that the t

movement demanding independence in southern yemen. the group says southerners have been marginalized politically and economically. >> three deporters of the southern movement have been killed after protesters fired. the former yemeni ambassador and advisor says the southern movement is not considered as partners in the formation of a federal state. >> this was in the north, forces of corruption and former guards don't want to proceed towards a new state demography. and the summary of your report obviously showed it has proven to us that it's only violence and violence pays back for them. so now the only way for us in the south is to take our - you know our way towards reforming our state and letting these people who are trying to force themselves by violence understand that they cannot force their will on us in the south, nor in the most of the region of the north. >> at least 10 people have been killed in a series of bombings in baghdad. 24 people have been wounded. explosions targeted a market repair shops and an army patrol. when ir

officials say the brothers killed on friday trained in a camp in southern yemen, and was supported in 2011. there's a heightened state of security on the streets this weekend. police and soldiers are on alert for any and all. solidarity took place in a unity rally, and there is another scheduled for tomorrow. leaders planning to attend is british prime minister david cameron. angela merkel russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov and israel's prime minister binyamin netanyahu. a million are expected to participate. we begin with a hunt for a woman connected with the hostage crisis yesterday. we have more on that. >> reporter: hayat boumeddiene - she is the most wanted woman in europe right now. the french media reports suggest that she may be in syria. she is the 26-year-old girlfriend of amedy coulibaly, who took shoppers hostage at a kosher supermarket. it ended when police stormed the building killing amedy coulibaly, but four hostages died. he is connected with the kouachi brothers, the suspects in the killings at satirical magazine "charlie hebdo". more than a decade ago cherif ko

i was in both northern and southern yemen at the time conducting research on how al qaeda interfaces with indigenous yemeni tribes. i got a sense of how tribes were accommodating al qaeda in some substances and fighting it in others. depending on how their rich with the organization worked. how al qaeda works, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula works is when they're winning on the ground in yemen they're not so focused on the war against the west. but when they've had setbacks in the war in yemen or when they feel like they need to show that they're still in the game from a global perspective they will reach out of to global targets first in yemen then saudi arabia then elsewhere to the extent they can. that doesn't necessarily mean they were directly involved in this instance but they have been training people from the west and then sending them back to western countries at least in the last few years. >> right. and that leads us to our next question, what do you make of this video the significance of it is this claim credible and what message might that really be sending? >> yeah, s

they say he camped in southern yemen and was supported in 2011. on the streets of france there was a heightened state of security. police and armed soldiers are on alert for all threats. tens of thousands took to the streets, to express support for the victims of the attacks. a national unity rally is scheduled for tomorrow. among world leaders planning to attend is david cameron, angela merkel italy, sergey lavrov from russia and israel's prime minister binyamin netanyahu. we begin with a hunt for a woman connected to the crisis. here is rory challands with more on the suspects. >> hayat boumeddiene - in a photo french police released. she's the most wanted woman. she may be in syria. she is wanted in connection with a police officer on thursday. and is the girlfriend of amedy coulibaly, who took shoppers hostage in amedy coulibaly. it ended when amedy coulibaly was killed by police four hostages died. the couple have been connected with the kouachi brothers killed in another police action on friday the prime suspects in the shooting at satirical

other separatists want to create an autonomous state in southern yemen.n kosovo adding insult to injury 80 were hurt led by an albanian political group. a party is demanding the resignation of a member of parliament who called them savages for blocking pilgrims from a monastery. there was an apology but a refusal to step down >>> sudan - 300 child soldiers laid down their arms the beginning of what the u.n. calls a large demobilization of child soldiers. roxana saberi has more. [ singing ] >> reporter: these children are the same age as middle schoolchildren, some not teenagers, many have been fighting for up to four years. >> the childhood has stopped. they are now at the forefront, some of them likely to face the risk of severe disability or death. >> a rebel force called the cobra faction recruited them in a campaign against south sudan's government. they do not have to fight any more. on tuesday in eastern south sudan, the group handed 300 child soldiers offer to u.n.i.c.e.f. the first of what will be 3,000 kids freed by a peace deal with the governme

and later on in 2008 they established aqap in southern yemen which has try the to carry out attacks intern europe. and then we have al qaeda kind of stations in southern algeria, although it does commit a few terrorists acts in neighboring countries like mali and -- >> and sometimes we heard of al shabab which is an al qaeda affiliate in somalia. >> yes. in somalia. and they have pledge add leithance and has walked in the footsteps of al qaeda, dominating certain areas in somalia and traying to -- trying to carry out national attacks in uganda and other places. >> let's talk about syria because it has to do with the syrian civil war. >> al nostra was established in iraq which today is isis it. was an extension that spread through syria. basically in about april of 2013, the islamic state in iraq isi, automatically decided to expand into syria and once they expanded they broke the -- they went out of obedience. they disobeyed the al qaeda top leader and in april -- in february of 2014 they were officially ex communicated and disowned by al qaeda. >> and they have their own separate bran

there is also an act of successionist movement in southern yemen demanding to break away from the north-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, the most dangerous branch of the al-qaeda franchise is based in yemen. it has claimed responsibility for this month's charlie hebdo attack in france and the attempted effort to blow up a u.s. airliner over detroit. yemen is a microcosm of what ails the middle east today. the u.s. air force regularly strikes at al-qaeda targets in yemen just as it strikes at isil targets in syria and iraq. countries like these have suffered instability since 2011. but iraq's power vacuum was unleashed years earlier. ali velshi stat down with one of the invasion tony blair who together with george w. bush bares as much for the state of play we see today in the middle east. they met today at the world economic forum. >> i recently spoke a retired colonel who -- he helped train the folks who trained the iraqi security forces to manage a counter insurgency and we have seen that collapse in the last year and i asked him -- he felt that the mistake was pulling those troops out

educated in former soviet republic backed to southern yemen who was a senior officer, and then served as a defense minister, when the civil war of 1919 than he became vice president, he was quite aware that his public support is starting to deplete, because people saw him as someone who is inefficient, unable to stand in the face of the houthies and tell them they have to back away, so he took the opportune moment to say i am leaving myself and my government. >> let me quickly interrupt we have had these talks with the envoy so interesting timing how much is that showing up the u.s. the particular and those trying to broker some sort of peace talks in. >> well, the problem is that the international community has not been hans on. they were interested because they had a huge problem. which is considered the most dangerous al quaida. the europeans are willing to step in and help. the problem is not beyond that the problem is that you have a country that stopped functioning prop everly about now, six months ago. and there needs to be a new alternative, the united nations approach has com

roughly 70% of yemen's economy is based on trade and other things in the south of the country. if the southerners as you say they are,ful looking to break away from yemen and pursue that role as well then it could cause a huge issue and further fur deepen the crisis and make things significantly more critical. these demonstrations are taking place, and while we haven't seen huge demonstrations there is building momentum taking place and there are more and more people finding the courage so to speak to come out and the reason we say kidnapped still very turbulent times here adrian. >> the u.n. envoy who brokered these talks says a power-sharing deal is still possible. is there any optimism? >> so long as some people are sitting around the table then possibly the more optimistic observeers will consider that, but considering that as the southerners point out the houthis already have all the power. they control the airports. they control the capital, they have the former president under house arrest. but that could provide a gateway in that it could give some power to the southerners and those oppos

it made gains in southern yemen around the 2011 up rising. it's been beaten back since then but what it will do next is an ongoing concern now that yemen is entering another bout of uncertainty. al jazeera. >> yemen's houthi rebels are calling on their supporters to gather in the streets of sanaa. the president's decision to resign cast doubt over the international community and how it will deal going forward. the u.n. has stood firmly behind president hadi's government throughout the crisis. kristen saloomey is live with more on this. >> reporter: that's right tony, the security council just two days ago had an emergency meeting on this situation in yemen, but the response from the united nations since the president's resignation has been surprisingly quiet. we're hold by security council diplomats they're watching the situation closely, but no meetings have been called. the secretary general is also monitoring the situation closely, we're told. no statement yet. that's very unusual for the united nations but a sign, i think, that this resign

rejected of the plan to divide yemen in six federal regions and the minority calling for rights and southern yemenor independence are louder and protests in the cities and police used tear gas to try and disburse the crowd. egypt to policemen shot and killed south of the capitol of cairo and happened as they stood guard at a christian church and cops marking christmas eve on tuesday by the julian calendar. al jazeera demands release of journalist in prison in egypt for more than a year and wrongly accused of broadcasting false news and helping the out lawed muslim brotherhood and an appeals court in cairo ordered a retrial that can begin in a month and lives and have filed request to be deported from egypt. thousands of people in germany have held anti-islam rallies calling for rejection of muslim immigrants and has condemnation from angela merkel and counter protests across the country and we have more now. >> reporter: denouncing a movement they say is neo nazi and thousands gathered to show their disgust at the new anti-islam movement that has been staging rallies every monday. >> especially he

and it's southern yemen where we're seeing bombmakers at work and a lot of plots against the united states have been hatched there in the past. can the u.s. keep up the intelligence collection and keep up the pressure on aqap. >> let's ask mowhammed about that. what can you tell us about the current status of counterterrorism operations with the u.s.? has any changed because of the unsflest. >> first and foremost i would like to highlight it is an enemy of the state of yemen and people of yemen that killed and wounded thousands of yemenis through the years. this is a common threat between us and the u.s. and regional partners. my sense is that the relationship will continue to fight this common threat. but the situation was also fluid. things could change. there's a sense of fear from the unknown but i'm confident that all of the political farkss and upcoming days will get together and find a common ground to co-exist and consensus building will be a key to move forward. what complicates the situation at this point, the death of king abdullah in the saudi monarch yesterday, key vital, cruc

. >> thousands in the streets in southern yemen demonstrating against the rebels who have taken over.ome are calling for the country to split in two as it was in the past before the western world deed it up. chances are there will be a civil war or a splitting or al qaeda will take over or the rebels will. that is iran's rebels. yemen's parliament has set -- is set to hold an emergency meeting this weekend. the state department reports it's pulling more staffers out of the embassy there. officials are in touch with a quote, range of officials. so who is in charge? john hudy with this live bottom of the hour from jerusalem tonight. >> shepard, to answer your question no one in charge at this point of yemen's government. adding to the already critically dangerous situation. certainly doesn't bode well for the united states. now, rebel forces however, have control of the country's capitol. now amid the turmoil yemen's par him is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on hsu. under the yemeni law the parliament speaker would assume the presidency but that hasn't happened. if it does he is

thanks kimberly. >>> well, meanwhile there has been reaction to events in sanaa in southern yemen. known as the southern separatist movement is calling for a million man march city of aden to show stall dare at this president hadi. there has already been a night demonstration following the speech by the rebel leader. protesters denounce what had they described as a coup and burned picture of al houthi. and video has also been post odd line which is said to show the moment houthi rebels stormed the he presidential palace in sanaa. gun fired and explosions are heard as rebels clash with republican guards near the restlessresidence of hadi. they were filmed taking control of a presidential guard vehicle. for much more information on the cries let generally, you can, of course go to aljazerra.com where we breakdown the situation there explaining who the main players are and also has further details on what is at stake. >>> still to come on the program, ukraine says its army units have come under attack from the russian army amid they have fighting in the country's east. >>> program pre

it has expanded in eastern libya and in southern yemen, it is expanding in places like afghanistan whichal province in its caliphate. it has affiliated itself with boko haram in nigeria. it is creating territories around places where terror activity is taking place and they're part of a bigger caliphate. they're looking for territorial expansion. they're looking at humiliating the west breaking their security. isis for now is focused more on territorial expansion, taxing people, selling oil and what not, bringing these fighters from around the world. there's going to be a time when some of those fighters are going to come back some of them may come back and notice. we don't know what plots are in place for fighters when they come back. hopefully they won't come back and notice but if they do they might have something in mind. >> talk about news that the juror dan government is willing to trade for a pilot that's held hostage. >> sure. the jordanian pilot, his aircraft was downed a few weeks ago, and isis threatened to behead him. he comes from one of the most prominent families in jordan

yemen. what is the southern part of north yemen and the whole of south yemen, which is nearly two-thirds of the area, of the country, is still out of his control. so we're heading towards you know, a sort of fragmentation of the country. this is what we've been warning against. today we noticed that the people in the south have closed the border areas previously, and we've called for that. we're now asking the international community and our regional players to be quite assured that this is not going to happen. no way would ali abdullah saleh and the houthies be the only soul controllers of a part of yemen. we've agreed on a federal solution. these people are against the federal resolution. we have agreed on a new state of law and order and a modern state. these are people who are against the modern state. we've agreed to fight corruption, and they've been fighting against the president not to allow 400,000 of-- >> we have to leave it there. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> still to come here on the news hour, the united states and cuba hold their highest-ever talks in deca

if you look at what's going on to the southern border in yemen, this is something very alarming for saudi arabia with you know the sunni saudi arabia seeing the shia movement consolidating power in the capital, sana'a and in the government there. there are concerns also about this chaos, this political chaos and the vacuum in yemen, giving more power to al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, aqap there. and of course there's also the concern from isis to the north, gaining, you know its power there in iraq and syria. just last month, there was a cross-border attack on saudi arabia that came from isis in iraq. so there's a lot of concern about this. and of course the relationship with iran here. these tensions between iran and saudi arabia the rival iran the shia power in the region we've seen them engaging in somewhat of a proxy war in the region trying to gain dominance in this region. and many feel that this proxy war has really translated into violence with the rise in sectarian tension in the region. so a lot of hope that there could be change in this relationship but so far, if these cha

yemen and u.s.-backed government and the questions that have arisen for saudi arabia about its southern border which its south. some very serious business going on. before he left here in india, the president gave a speech to a largely young audience. a half or more of one and a quarter billion people that live in india are under 35. he talked about what we've heard much of in the last days growing cooperation with india. some deals were struck on nuclear power agreement. the question is really moving forward will some of these things including trade deals actually come to fruition. if there is a disappointment is that in going to saudi arabia today the president and first lady were not able to go to the taj mahal but boston sides, india and united states believe the groundwork has been laid for important movement between these two countries in the future. milissa. >> chris jansing, thank you. some other stories making news this morning. in new york it's like a classic cold war novel. after an investigation, people have been charged with being russian spies here in the u.s. they allegedly used coded

yemen aqap. this is coming from the official that tells cnn isis now has significant presence in three provinces in southern and central yemen. i've been talking to analysts that call it competition. i don't know what word you would use. what word would you use michael? would you see this as a turf war of sorts? >> there's a competition between the groups. they clearly have different agendas and different view of use of violence especially like beheadings that time of thing. they're going in the same direction. they're attacking the governments in the middle east. they're eventually aiming at israel. they'll attack us when the opportunity arises. i think it kind of gives you a false sense of confidence if you think they're fighting each other more than us. i don't think that's the truth. >> that's interesting. i want to come back to that point in a moment. i'm hearing two ways you can look at this. david, let me bring you in. now we have a development of the prime minister president, and entire yemen cabinet gone. your reaction to that and then we'll talk about isis and the competition with aqap. >> this is

. >>> in yemen protesters have rallied in the southern city of aden. omes just a week after yemen's president and cabinet resigned after they failed to cobble together a deal with houthi leaders. our correspondent has more. >> reporter: there is some movement on the political front here in yemen albeit very little with no real results in sight in that the different political parties have been meeting in the capitol sana'a the houthis as well as the other political parties to try to set up a presidential council. however, the reason why it doesn't seem that there is a result in sight is that the political parties are demanding from the houthi movement that they relinquish all of the power they have taken by force since coming into the capitol on september 21st. that demand they say must be met before a presidential council could be formed because without it any presidential council would be truthless. it would not be able to run the capitol of the country, because the capitol is still under the hands of houthi fighters. the houthi movement are very unlik

we'll be in yemen's southern province where al al qaeda is active. zambia's president is sworn in. his rival is not happy >>> in sport, can rafael nadal keep himself in contention for the australian open title. that is also to come. joo voting is upped way in grease in an election that could change the direction of the country. the far left group is expected to win the polls. he promised to renegotiate greece's debt and end austerity. >> this is his lively. samar a the current prime minister. he has been pushing through austerity plans to secure the bail out. there's the river party, formed last year by a journalist. center left leaning and wants to keep greece in europe. and golden dawn condemned as neo-nazi. it gained support during the economic crisis. >> sue turton joins us live. a make or break vote for the future, the heart of greece. do we know how the voting is going so far? >> well we were out at polling before dawn in downtown. i'm trying to test the temperature of who was voting which way, and that way. there was a few supporting all four of the top parties. by far the m

are correspondented counter terrorism operations it's important understand we have presence in southern yemen controlled. they control the capitol which is the main part of where the government is. by why it's important is most of al qaeda are in the region which are closer to -- we can launch things out of the south for sure. we're going to be hindered in the counter terrorism operation and intelligence operations from the capital. >> right. >> so -- >> the drones are still taking off but the intelligence gathering on the ground has been hampered. you have them overthrowing a pro american government. so you have al qaeda on one side, the iranian backed group on the other. which are we more against? >> well, there are -- there is some overlap. we talked about it's complicated over there. in general our foreign policy, of course in the middle east of once of balancing of power. iran, of course in their aspirations to be the regional hedge monothey're in a lot of countries and they have gained influence in yemen because of the either knowingly or unknowingly backed by iran. but they are a domes

when you look at saudi arabia and look at the southern border with yemen. if you look in the north with isis and look at its relationship with iran as the oil price fluctuates you see that the king played a real prominent role in stability in the region. so the dynamic of this new king will be crucial. but i would say that the thoughts today are really with king abdullah because he was a really popular leader who all these people flying in now knew incredibly well and you heard that tribute from tony blair. think how much the leaders in this region will be missing him now. and they'll want to be paying their respects in a few hours at his funeral. >> mark lobel in dubai, as the preparations are taking place, and the arrivals there ahead of the funeral of king abdullah which we understand could be starting in as little as an hour from now. we'll keep a close eye on that for you here on "bbc world news." >>> let's pick on other news stories now. thailand military-appointed particle amount has voted to impeach the former prime minister, yingluck shinawatra for

principal set up that regional council was reached the southerners those representing the southern area here in yemenled out, and the reason they pulled out because the talks are taking place under gunpoint. essentially the fact that the resigned president and other prominent political figures are essentially under the guns of the houthi fighters who have taken the capitol hostage, really since september. there's no point in these talks because they are not being carried out under people's free will. now also a significant development in the past couple of hours is the fact that the party belonging to ousted president saleh, the people's congress party, they said they were going to leave these discussions in order to give more freedom to the opposition parties, to try to find some sort of solution. it's important to know that even though saleh once upon a time was a swarn enemy of the houthis, he has been their main ally ally. so a very message situation indeed. people aren't too optimistic particularly with this suspension of the southern parties in participating in these negotiations. >> thank you

bump pretty early on and that is the southern movement essentially they are a group of politicians, political figures and activists who rep sent the south of yemenave suspended their participation in these talks. the talks have essentially agreed as you say set up a presidential council. however, the reason why the southerners have withdrawn is because they say there's no point in these talks because they are taking place under essentially the -- at gunpoint. they say the houthi movement which is essentially run riot through sana'a through most of northern yemen, -- taking control of the capitol has put the president and his advisors under house arrest essentially, they are the ones in power, so as long as there is that imbalance in power, there is no reason to take part in the talks. a large part of the yemeni economy is reliant on the southern part of the country. so this will add more fuel to the fire in what is a very unstable situation here indeed in yemen. >>> egypt has intensified its military operation in the sigh any peninsula. it comes after renewed violence believed to be the work of a work that has pledged allegiance to isil. at leas

yemen. so far the terrorist group has gotten its claws into parts of iraq and syria. now several southernsident obama has said that we're stopping the advance of isis. he said that in the state of the union the other night. republicans say that the president is not doing enough. >> i think he has decided that for the next two years he's going to manage the isil threat. he's going to hope that they don't, you know, fall -- make the iraqi government fall apart he's going to hope they don't expand into other countries. he's going to manage this problem and punt the issue to the next president of united states. martha: so will that work if that's the plan? very glad today to be joined by north carolina senator richard burr chairman of the senate intelligence committee a very important post in the world that we're living in. senator, good to have you with us today, welcome. >> thank you, martha. good to be with you. martha: so we did hear the president say that the other night, he said we're stopping the advance of isil. he did not spend a lot of time talking about this issue and now we are le

just to the south, down to yemen, if you go to the southern tip of saudi arabia you get to yemen.hy is yemen such a big deal right now? bcause of this turmoil there. the idea that basically, we don't even know who's in charge right now. we know that rebels have moved in they have exerted tremendous influence and we can't say exactly who will be in charge there in the future and what difference that will make. but yemen for years has been a base for terrorism that has been a real threat to many other countries including al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. so that's a concern. now let's look further up north and talk about syria and iraq. we are putting them together not because they are anything but geographic neighbors but because beyond that they have a common problem and that is isis which has tried to set up its caliphate, its islamic state, along their border spanning it on both sides. of course in syria we have the continued problem of a civil war that's been going on for four years there. that's just three examples of places that are in real flux right now, all of which could

so there's very much instability in yemen and the saudis will tell you they're actually more concerned with the southern they are the northern border and the impact of isis coming south. >> mr. ambassador, thank you so much for all of your expertise and then again we were just watching the live pictures again of king abdullah's funeral there. you can see mourners gathering in riyadh and the funeral is under way. mr. ambassador, thanks for being on "new day." let's get over to michaela. >>> the republican-led house has passed a bill prohibiting the use of taxpayer money for abortions. gop leaders were forced to back away from an earlier bill outlawing most abortions after 20 weeks. too many female republicans objected. the vote was held as, held as a abortion protesters marched on washington, marking 42 years since the supreme court legalized abortion. >>> we have an update on airasia flight 8501, six more bodies have been recovered from the wreckage. still, only 59 of the 162 souls on board have been located. a majority of the victims are believed to be trapped inside the plane's main body. and that is

that ally had helped us mightily in our fight against al qaeda in yemen, so you can bet this is a big step forward for al qaeda. the southernen has always wanted to break away from control, basically they wanted a caliphate there, al qaeda did, and this is -- these are some of the concerns. >> some of your colleagues angus king of maine, for example, on the senate side has raised fears, get these americans out before they're taken hostage by some of these terror groups. >> yes, we have the ability to do that evacuation on very short, a very short time frame. i was briefed recently on this. we can get our personnel out. we are watching this very carefully. >> because we know the u.s. has at least two ships off the coast of yemen. there are other ships not too far away. i assume that would be the evacuation plan? >> that is true but at this time we are still trying to bring order out of chaos, still trying to keep the former autocrat the head of the country, from grabbing the reins. who knows at this point who might end up influencing the outcome. >> does the u.s. even talk to these houthi rebels? >> at this point, they are v

seems to be happening around the city, which used to be the capitol of the southern government that used to neighbor the northern yemenyou just heard, are we looking at returning to the old days before the 1990's when there were two yemen. >> i think it is very very hard to say anything to speak in concrete terms. in my opinion, this is facing the most uncertain period in the recent history, you have to look back to the overthrow in the 60's to look for something comparable. i think there's no question that there are plenty of actors across the country that are tries to capitalize, and that include the southern succession fist, they include the former he jet stream. they include the houthies as well, obviously, but i think it's very uncertain, it is very hard to speak in concrete terms. >> do they run more of the country that the government did. >> i think it is important to remember that the houthies everything the areas outside of the country, where the houthies really run, they are running it in i guess cooperation with local tribal leaders. and then but at the same time it is very hard to speak of areas are the go

minister of information says the capitol is in chaos and could be a new yemen by the end of the day and more today joining live from the southernty of aden and omar the information minister telling us we possibly could see a new yemen by the end of the day and bring us up to date with sequence of events happening in the capitol as it unfolded. >> darren around 7:30 this morning there were reports of heavy gun battles around the presidential palace. we were told that the guards were engaged in clashes with some shia houthi fighters then we didn't know exactly what triggered those clashes and we had two versions one coming from the presidential guard saying they were provoked by the shia houthis and therefore opened fire and houthis on the other hand were saying that because a day before the some of the army in that area were deployed on orders by the president and they thought this was aimed at them and that triggered the clash then the events quickly developed and it was chaos, there was at some point a ceasefire, that didn't last for more than 45 minutes before heavy clashes resumed again, people who are living in that area we

by the fact that the houthi leader wants to maintain the control over north of yemen as well as to influence the southern region. >> omar so where does this leave the national dialogue initiative? because as you said this was supposed to stabilize yemen politically. but looks like the houthis are emboldened to impose their will. >> absolutely, darren. the houthis when they took over the capital in september the u.n. as well as other diplomats and other western countries including the political players in this country sat together and signed a new agreement. that agreement is called the peace and partnership agreement in which the houthis will gain more political representation. in turn they have to withdraw, and this, well, that never happened. now the houthis including leader senior leaders within the movement, say while the new peace and partnership agreement is a new reality and what we signed before something different, and that's why based on that, i think the houthi leader abdel minik al houthi, stated this is a new reality and the new houthi revolution will only continue. i think the u.n. at some

salman faces the immediate challenge of yemen, on his southern border, where the government has fallente rebels. the world's top oil exporting state must also deal with the loss of revenues from plunging oil prices. >> woodruff: we'll talk to former top officials under two presidents about the saudi situation and its broader implications, after the news summary. that ongoing chaos in yemen brought thousands of people into the streets today. huge crowds turned out in the capital, sanaa, to support shiite houthi rebels against the pro-american president who resigned yesterday. to the south, thousands more demanded the president's return, along with his cabinet. parliament has called an emergency session for sunday on whether to accept the resignations. >> woodruff: the deadline has come and gone for two japanese hostages held by "islamic state" forces in syria. on tuesday the militants had threatened to kill kenji goto and haruna yukawa unless japan paid $200 million within 72 hours. as the deadline passed today, the group announced the "countdown has begun." japanese officials said they

any political negotiation in yemen,-- >> no solution can be forged, can it, without the participation of the southerners, but they've with drown from the process saying that they feel that they're negotiating almost at gunpoint. >> everyone, this is more complicated--many do not trust houthies will reach their political end. another problem in yemen at the moment making the negotiation difficult at the moment. the yemeni president has been forced to resign by the houthies. >> we still have the remnants of some negotiation process still on the table. obviously, the yemenis are facing the prospect of becoming a failed state. how far away is that at this moment. >> if it goes that far, it will be a failed state. but at this point it is not. >> for now, thank you very much, indeed for your thoughts on the current situation in yemen. thank you. >> now fighting between ukraine's army and pro-russian separatists have killed 15 ukrainian soldiers in the last day alone. three civilians also died in this fighting that took place in the east of the country. ukraine is sent to shore up border defense in the south o

the storm already slamming parts of the southwest and southern plains causing whiteout conditions. >> chaos in yement falls to iranian backed rebels but leading to fierce the country could become a breeding ground for al qaeda. >>> nascar champion jeff gordon down shifting on his career. the four time sprint cup champ announcing this season will be his last as a full time racer. he has been a star for more than 20 years. >> time for the good, the bad, and the ugly. the good, three life guards in california come to the rescue not of a swimmer but of a dolphin tangled up in a rope near san diego. two guards calm down the dolphin while a third cut away the twine. the animal was able to swim away unharmed. next the bad. hit him where it hits. a indianapolis radio station is sending half-inflated pool toys to the patriots headquarters in massachusetts. this because of the deflated ball scandal. finally the ugly a ball boy getting a point for resilience after he is hit in a very sensitive area with a 121 miles-per-hour serve. he makes a quick recovery and stands in position like it never happened. >> tie

yemen today. protesters in the southern city are demanding a return of the government that resigned in the face ofebel uprising. demonstrators say they won't accept any orders from hoout wree rebels who now control yemen's capital city. it's still unclear who is in charge of the country. >>> the white house says u.s. president president obama will visit saudi arabia on tuesday to pay his respects of the family of the late king abdullah. the long time saudi ruler was buried on friday in true yad. the new king is pledging to keep the country on the same track as his late half-brother. the transition of power has been by all appearances a smooth one but the new king face as number of important challenges. international correspondent nick robertson reports. >> reporter: condolences and respect for the new king. the sawed wree hess analogy for all, continuity but never in the desert kingdom's history has a new mon flashing inherited so much regional turmoil. to the south, yemen, the government collapsing rebels running the capitol. to the north, iraq not just attacks on the border by radical islamists