Transcripts For ALJAZ News 20240712

To the uns highest human rights body. And amid warnings of more weather disasters every year but talk to a scientist whos just returned from the arctic with a wealth of data that will help predict Climate Change in the decades ahead. I will begin in cyprus where the government has scrapped its lucrative passports for Investment Scheme following an aljazeera expose the president of the parliament is also stepping down our Investigative Unit found senior politicians willing to help a foreign criminal by a cypriot passport and access to e. U. Citizenship are Investigative Reporter David Harrison reports from nicosia. An emergency meeting of the cypriot cabinet was held at the president ial palace following the release of the aljazeera investigation. Of the some. Bar on bush program. But if you go to the ball room. As a flurry of developments followed the cyprus attorney general said he was launching a full investigation into the evidence gathered by aljazeera. What has been published in the last few hours by the Aljazeera News Network is causing outrage anger and concern among the people i have given player instructions to the Police Leadership from the outset to conduct a full fora and indepth investigation into the possibility of anyone committing criminal offenses the undercover reporters from aljazeera as Investigative Unit posed as representatives of a fictional client a wealthy businessman who was sentenced in absentia to 7 years in jail for bribery and Money Laundering and he is seeking a cypriot passport our reporters were led through a network of enablers ended with a meeting with demetrius salukis president of a Cypriot Parliament would you tell it. Without. Fear for suck or. A very low quality girly torture. When confronted with the evidence so the rest tonight wrongdoing and claim that he was suspicious of our undercover reporters from the start. Who is in their various who he is or the. Other 1st to guess this could be i guess or heres the other to me teresa lewis has since announced that hell be stepping down from his duties until the investigation is complete opposition member of parliament Christakis Giovanni was also implicated in the documentary. Is. What shocked looks today in a statement he announced he is resigning from his post as member of parliament and from all his positions in the opposition party. For years there have been suspicions in the European Union that the Cyprus Investment Program was allowing criminals to enter europe with the proceeds of their crimes the revelations of our investigation have shaken the Political Leadership of this country after years of failed attempts to tighten the rules the scheme will now be abolished and it seems the attorney generals investigation will examine the full extent of the wrongdoing David Harrison aljazeera cyprus have been protests outside the Cypriot Parliament following a report of people campaigning against corruption shouted cypresses not yours to sell and brandished placards demanding and more just state the more this investigation you can visit our web site out to 0 dot com forward slash investigations and you can also see the full program the cyprus papers under cover which will next aerate 0100 hours g. M. T. Wednesday 6 hours from now. Abortion obamacare guns and gay marriage some of the topics featuring on day 2 of the confirmation hearing president trumps u. S. Supreme Court Nominee Amy Kone Barrett republican and Democratic Senators each have 30 minutes to ask her about subjects but a touch points to Many Americans the full senate could vote by the end of the month on whether to appoint her just ahead of the u. S. Poll on november 3rd but barack declined to say whether she would recuse herself from any cases related to next months president ial election the u. S. Is a contentious issue which is a no one reason why it would be comforting to you to have an answer but i cant express views on cases or precommit to approaching a case any particular way. Well that makes it difficult for me and i think for other women also on this committee because this is a very important case and it affects a lot of people millions and millions of women and you could be a very important vote. Of course alan fischer on capitol hill so do we have any clearer picture of who the said nominee is. Well i think shes introduced herself to the United States i think theres been a number of questions from republican senators who have talked about her background talked about her family the fact that she has 2 adopted children that she is a family of 7 and also i think theyve tried to drill down on what she thinks about key issues democrats have tried that particularly on issues that are really cultural touchstones here in the United States that could well come before the court in the next few months youre talking about next few months next few years youre talking about possibility of abortion raising its head again there is same sex marriage theres also the possibility of money in politics all of that going to the court and of course the Affordable Care act which is known here in the United States as obamacare but the republicans and the democrats have been unable to pin or dont own any position because she essentially says these are all hypotheticals and quoting the woman that she would replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she went through her confirmation hearing she said the reality is that there can be no hints forecasts or previews that she will essentially judge the law on its merits each case as it comes she says that she is an originalist which means that she looks at the constitution and applies that to the law that some democrats say is concerning because it doesnt take into account whats happened since but she said look thats what the constitution is therefore its lasted for a very long time and she will look at it and apply it and it wont be her own passionate opinion or how she thinks they might have interpreted it it will be a strict interpretation of the constitution this hearing is going on its been going on for 6 hours no and probably has somewhere in the region of another 5 to go so its a long day for. They do tend to drill down on past positions. Will you commit to recuse yourself. But the rises are quite clearly president ial election. Senator leahy i want to begin by making 2 very important points and they have to do with the c. A. A. And with any election dispute that may or may not arise i have had no conversation with the president or any of his staff on how i might rule in that case it would be a gross violation of Judicial Independence for me to make any such commitment or for me to be asked about that case and how i would rule and i also think it would be a complete violation of the end of the judiciary for anyone to put a justice on the court as a means of obtaining a particular result and alan this confirmation a foregone conclusion or there any likelihood of upset. Its almost certainly a foregone conclusion it will go through the committee theyll be more hearings on witness the this time the senators will get 20 minutes to pursue their questioning so thats another what 67 hours this shell be in front of the Senate Senators on the committee and then there will be a vote on thursday. The committee is 1210 republicans republicans very much in favor of it so that they will put it to the the main senate itself the whole senate they will vote on confirmation that the democrats are hoping that they can convince a couple of senators not to vote that theyll believe because 2 others have already said they would because theres an election nearby theyre hoping that by highlighting the Affordable Care act and constituents to be impacted by the Affordable Care act being essentially overturned by the Supreme Court might just get public behind Public Opinion behind the idea of flipping a couple of weaving republican senators but it seems unlikely the republicans have put their battle plans in place the think they have the votes in the committee which they certainly do. And they think theyll be able to push this through in the senate which would lead to a recall you brought it up her seat in the Supreme Court are only 22nd of october so well before the 2020 president ial election alan fischer thank you very much indeed. Saudi arabia has failed to win reelection to the Un Human Rights Council 15 countries were elected to the 47. 00 member body for 3 year terms they include china russia and cuba james bays is live from the United Nations for so james how much of a surprise was it that saudi arabia was not reelected. Well it was one of the few countries that was facing an actual election although they call this an election the u. N. Human Rights Council sits in geneva but each year new members of that organization and some come on every year are decided by the Un General Assembly the Un General Assembly does vote but it votes in regional blocks and there were actually many of those blocks that were unopposed it was only in the Asia Pacific Region that there were 5 countries running for 4 seats now just look at what happened in the voting for those blocks because you had pakistan and becketts stand that came 1st then nepal then china squeezed in with the 4th out of the 4th place that was there and coming 5th and not getting a seat was saudi arabia and i think that shows the way that saudi arabias reputation with regard to human rights has been seriously dented in recent years since my have been someone has been infected effectively in charge of the country the detention of fellow members the royal family in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in riyadh the long running war in yemen and 2 years ago the murder in a saudi consulate of Jamal Khashoggi clearly have affected how other members of the United Nations view saudi arabia and theyve decided it shouldnt be on the Human Rights Council and magenta other countries which did get on to their council are also controversial. Absolutely and human Rights Groups say the whole process needs looking at you shouldnt have these uncontested set slates there should be plenty of countries running in each of the regional groups so that all of the countries of the United Nations have a proper choice they focus in particular on russia and china which are both going to be on the Human Rights Council they talk about the situation in hong kong they talk about the plight of the week is with regard to china with regard to russia you have the war in syria the bombing of hospitals thats taken place in syria you have the ongoing situation in ukraine and you have the recent poisoning of the russian Opposition Leader alexina valmy all black marks with regard to human rights regarding russia but they will serve on the Human Rights Council james bass thank you very much indeed. Still to come this half hour while many iranians arent respecting new coronavirus rose despite another 254. 00 people dying with a malicious Opposition Leader meets the king to try to unseat the Prime Minister at the palace disputes his claim of parliamentary support. For. How you can feel the change of seasons throughout europe now has been snow falling the outages in the big surprise and this thing here this waving frontal system although not particularly cold in itself is enduring inducing a cold wind after it and thats quite a strong winter look at the temperatures from vienna to berlin nines and tens now were well below where we should be to not talk about november or december so berlins forecasts of 1011 degrees whereas it should be 40 and a windows and youve got something or winter wind chill it will be unpleasant and not cold has stretched further south zurich 77. 00 much of western europe is a few degrees were below where it should be all the actions been in the mediterranean and yet again youve got potentially heavy rain running from italy towards greece and the balkans for wednesday and thursday then his dry this dries for most of north africa weve had some pretty big showers recently just catching west africa has funnels as the gambia but when say looks quiet and thursday its relatively quiet too theres still a few showers to come but most are focusing further south in places like carrot or d. R. See this is the time the year when you tend to get most of the rain in this part of the world and occasionally go down through zimbabwe and malawi but only if youre lucky. Lullabies of defiance into really touched my heart deeply when she started to see you all the lot. Aljazeera world remembers a palestinian singer who reached audiences beyond the middle east born into a creative family and as read she sang out a powerful and Emotional Message the personal story of ring banda the voice of palestine on aljazeera. Was. Her horse. From one of the top stories here on to 0 cypresses scrapping of citizenship in for Investment Program following an undercover investigation by al jazeera that exposed high ranking officials who expressed a willingness to help convicted criminals obtain the uses and ship of. Donald trumps nominee for the u. S. Supreme court has faced questions on healthcare and abortion from a panel of senators Amy Kearney Barrett is appearing for the 2nd of 4 days of confirmation hearings in washington d. C. And saudi arabia has failed to win reelection to the Un Human Rights Council faced criticism due to its actions including allegations of state involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Armenia and azerbaijan are again accusing each other of violating a cease fire that came into force in the disputed new goal of karabakh region on saturday is a reman history of defense says the soldiers have come under fire armenia says azerbaijan launched a massive attack along the entire length of the front line both sides accuse each other of killing civilians in a flare up of fighting that began last month they go to karabakh is officially part of azerbaijan but controlled by a media Kyrgyzstans Parliament will be asked to vote for a 2nd time on whether to approve her off as the new Prime Minister residents who are biogen because of made the decision after politicians and activists challenge the legitimacy of saturdays 1st vote in parliament jumper off was freed from prison by his supporters last week ive been mass protests since an election 9 days ago which handed almost all of seats in parliament to progovernment parties and has since been declared invalid. Irans total of daily crate of our steph says again reached one of its highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic on tuesday at least 254. 00 people were reported to have died in the last 24 hours your thirtys have imposed strict new measures to control the outbreak but not everyone is complying those are bar is in tehran where hospitals are overstretched. This is batman hospital its one of the 118 hospitals here in the capital which has been turned exclusively into a facility which deals with covert 1000 patients there are over 500000 people in iran who have been infected so far and over 29000 people have died 4500 people are currently in Critical Condition across 31 provinces which have all been declared red zones by the Health Ministry now in the capital tehran which is one of the hardest hit provinces the Health Officials have said that as of last friday the hospitals will no longer be receiving any nonemergency patients and that they will set up field hospitals if the cases of patients continue to increase as they have for the past few weeks meanwhile ordinary iranians who are living under crippling economic sanctions imposed by the United States are desperately trying to make ends meet in very difficult circumstances its becoming increasingly difficult to expect people to say home when they receive no Financial Assistance from the governments e. U. Countries are coordinating Coronavirus Travel restrictions theyve agreed not to restrict people from traveling between socalled green states countries will be assigned traffic light colors based on their latest infection rates until now each country has been making its own rules creating a complicated patchwork of regulations. The netherlands is imposing new restrictions of record daily increase of nearly 7400 coronavirus cases from wednesday bars and restaurants will be closed and the limits put on social gatherings step fasteners in amsterdam where hospital intensive care units will soon be at capacity. Numbers here and then add a length nearly 50000 in a weeks time thats double the number of the previous week more than the 7000 just today and that means that this reality is only very slowly taking in the same thing in here in the netherlands so people have been reluctant to follow the rules and also the government has been accused of being far too lenient inconsistent unclear the measures were all very voluntarily the government called it an intelligent lockdown basically urging the people just to take responsibility themselves for keeping did this things and following the rules and that obviously didnt happen and also didnt work sold out in the last couple of weeks its especially hospitals doctors who are ringing alarm bell so yeah theyre running out of capacity theyre struggling than adams has a very limited number of i. C. U. Bats around 1400 and with this rapid increase of patients that number is going to be reach very quickly the vast areas of malaysia including its biggest city kuala lumpur and now back under tight restrictions after a spike in cases all schools are shot with religious and sporting events halted for the next 2 weeks it comes 4 months after a 3 month Long National lockdown was lifted 660 more people were infected in the past 24 hours with 4 people dying. Well asias Opposition Leader has gone out on a limb in his bid to unseat the Prime Minister and why abraham met the countrys king saying hed handed over evidence that he has enough support at the palace disputed his account and this florence reports from kuala lumpur the Prime Minister may have little to worry about. 3 weeks after he 1st said he had the support of the majority in Parliament Malaysian Opposition Leader i know i brought him finally got to meet the king who was carrying what he says is proof he has a convincing majority to form a new government i would appeal to. Listens to exercise. Patience wisdom. The king to digest and decide based. The. Question is i miss the response from the palace came quickly shortly after our noise News Conference the palace issued a statement that seemed to contradict on was assertion that he provided evidence of majority support in parliament the statement said and i want to hold the king how many members of Parliament Support him but did not provide the names it went on to say the king also known as the agong has advised on want to abide by and respect the constitutional process for the risk is that his credibility is under threat in order for it to reach the numbers that hes claiming over 120 this is the perceptions are that this involves some members of m no we used to lead malaysia before 2018 for decades but particularly from the party are the individuals who have charges against the Prime Minister appears at least for now to have held on to his job i mean. I know is following lead ins own strategy in february he led a group of m. P. s out of the governing coalition to join forces with politicians he had defeated in a general election in 2018 they include former Prime Minister najib razak whos been convicted of corruption and one has fought for years to unseat a governing alliance that been in power for more than 60 years he was still in prison for sort of majoring the 2018 election on what he says were politically motivated charges but there was an understanding between him and that then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad that anwar would be made Prime Minister after 2 years that never happened it honors attempt on tuesday to convince the king of his right to govern fails he could still propose a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister when Parliament Reconvenes next month florence italy aljazeera kuala lumpur. Air quality in indias capital has deteriorated sharply raising fears that the pollution could make it harder for corona virus patients to breathe the air quality index has been measured at more than 300 on a scale of 500 in new delhi indicating that conditions pose a risk of risperidone problems the burning of crop waste as behind the latest bout of pollution winds have also died down allowing deadly pollutants to hang in the air a un report is warning that the number of people needing humanitarian aid could rise by 50 percent in the next decade because of Climate Change it found there been more than 11000 natural disasters in the past half century the un is calling on governments to increase investment urgently in Early Warning systems it comes as scientists returning from a year long trip to the arctic say they have a wealth of data which should help them better predict Climate Change in the decades ahead. Dr matthew ship was a coordinator for that expedition to the high arctic is a Senior Scientist at the cooperative institute for research and Environmental Sciences at Colorado University boulder thanks very much indeed for joining us so a whole year of being one of the harshest environments in the world and collecting information what was it like to work then what kind of fur measurements were you taking when we took all kinds of measurements measurements in the atmosphere the sea ice in the ocean and look at how theyre all related to each other and a process level thats really the big game of music and its quite a collaboration is that to how do you deal with that many nationalities trying to analyze the same information what happens next. Well we had about 20 nations involved so it was really an Extraordinary International collaboration and we really worked together so well the collect a ton of data and now that data is valuable for the whole world is valuable for scientists everywhere that will look at that data in different ways analyze it. Create models and what have you and so i think really together collectively were going to make a lot of progress and thats going to take some time though what were your initial conclusion was that anything that you could tell from just being bad that you could draw any conclusions from yes we were embedded in the Arctic Sea Ice and the sea ice was very thin and it was very breakable and this is kind of the emerging sea ice now as we see that the arctic is warming very fast the ice is thinning and its melting and we were there imbedded in that and we were experiencing that change firsthand and its really going to teach us a lot about this kind of evolving arctic system and how thats going to affect the rest of the globe how important is the sea ice i mean what in terms of what if the region was hit affect people directly web in the arctic but also more broadly across the world what would tell us how important it is well these are things that were trying to understand it is very important though its highly reflective it reflects a lot of sunlight back to space but as that ice melts and shrinks well relatively more sunlight is absorbed by the surface by the ocean and that heat is actually amplifying this disk lima change if you will its warming the arctic even faster than the rest of the globe and melting ice even faster so the effect that has on the global large scale circulation is something that were really trying to understand were just having a few pictures of you with the team on the ground tell us about the practical challenges of working that a mormon. Well we were there for the whole year and so we experienced for example the polar night when its dark for 24 hours a day course its very cold windy the ice is breaking up there are polar bears so you can imagine a different challenge almost every day and so the arctic is a challenge but you know we really persevered through those challenges to capture some of this these fantastic observations that are really going to help us make progress what happened with with the cove at 19 did that affect. The experiment or how you how you operate it out there again an example of perseverance it was a big challenge of course the code 19 made it very difficult for us of course to bring all these International Participants into the same location we had to delay some of our operations and some of our crew rotations but in the end we were able to piece together a way to make this happen and we did for the whole year we somehow made this work the whole year to complete our cycle to matt cooper thank you very much indeed for talking to us really appreciate very good thank you. Polish military divers have successfully destroyed a massive world war 2 bomb discovered at the bottom of the channel near the baltic sea british told boy boma more than 6 meters nomen packed with 2 to have tons of explosives but in a spectacular final performance in a controlled detonation it was discovered last year during a dredging operation the bomb was dropped by the British Royal air force on german was in the closing months of the 2nd world war perus open the ancient ruins of much of picchu for one japanese tourist who waited almost 7 months while trapped in the country by the pandemic the site was open specially for jesse tech aiyana it bought a ticket to the ruins in march but before he could visit he was stranded in a nearby town by virus restrictions and border closures on saturday the per even government gave him exclusive access to the World Heritage site its usually reopened to press the public next month. 3 are moving thank you we need. All the hunger on the roof rotting meat called of. The day by the city san antonio at the head of the park so that he could be set before returning home because the plan is for him to return to his country plenty more for you any time on our website the rest of that aljazeera dot com. Are one of the top stories on our jazeera cypresses abolishing a citizenship for Investment Program following an undercover investigation by al jazeera it exposed high ranking officials expressing a willingness to help convicted criminals obtain e. U. Citizenship the countrys attorney general has also announced a probe into possible criminal offenses after the revelations Donald Trumps nominee for the u. S. Supreme court has faced questions on health care and abortion from a panel of senators amy