 Over the weekend, Ansar Allah, popularly known as the Houthis, attacked two ships. What does this mean for the Israeli war on Gaza? The Maori community in New Zealand took to the streets, against proposals by the new government of the country. What is leading to this anger? This is the daily debrief. These are our stories for the day. And before you go any further, if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit the subscribe button. Yemen's Ansar Allah, popularly known as the Houthis, attacked two ships over the weekend, claiming that these attacks were part of the movement's solidarity with the Palestinian people. The spokesperson for the Yemeni armed forces said the ships had rejected warnings which led them to attack them. The US, on the other hand, claimed that three ships had been attacked and also said that one of its own vessels had shot down three drones. The US has also, of course, blamed Iran for these attacks. To understand the implications for the region, we go to Abdul. Abdul, thank you so much for joining us. So it looks like the Yemeni armed forces under Ansar Allah, popularly known as the Houthis, have sort of escalated their attacks. This has already seen some attacks on this front. So it's a very interesting move at this point of time. But Fuli, could you first maybe take us through what is happening right now with regard to that? Well, on Sunday, there were reports about three ships basically attacked in Red Sea. And though the Houthis claim that they have attacked only two ships, the third ship, there was uncertainty about it whether they have attacked it or not. But the US claimed that all three of them were attacked by the Houthis. And in fact, they blamed that as has been their pattern ever since that the Iranians are behind it. Of course, Iran later denied any role in all those attacks. And the two ships, as I said before, it was basically the Houthis who claimed that they attacked it. Both the ships were Israeli-owned and they were basically crucial for the Israeli supply of food grains and other essential products, which Israel imports from different parts of the world. And therefore, it is a part of the larger war which Houthis have declared against Israelis for what they are doing against Palestinians in Gaza for the last more than almost two months now. And therefore, though it was not clear whether the US has taken any retaliatory attacks or not, though the US claimed it, but the Houthis have denied that the Yemen has been targeted by any attacks from the US. So this has been by a larger situation. Of course, this comes in addition to what had been the cases of attacks prior to Sunday. Of course, one Israeli ship is still under the control of Houthis which they took earlier last month. And therefore, this is the overall situation at the moment when it comes to the Red Sea. Of course, repeated Houthi attacks on the Israeli ships has also led to some of the Israeli companies deciding to basically change their sea route and taking the longer route all across the Atlantic and the southern African coast. Right, Abul Kuri, also sort of elaborate on the strategic importance of that whole area because it's the Babel-Mandab region, the Houthis in fact, although it's a very narrow area, nonetheless quite significant for Israel and for the larger region as well. What we generally call Babel-Mandab is a narrow route which basically links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden which is part of the Arabian Sea. And this ultimately goes to the Swiss Canal which basically is crucial for the international trade, particularly the trade to Europe or from Europe to the rest of the world in Africa or in Asia and in other parts of the world. So a large amount of world trade including energy products are traded through this reason and therefore it is very crucial not only for the US and the European countries but also for Israel because Israel primarily depends on the supplies through the Red Sea, particularly the food grains and other essential products. So that is one. So if there is a block created by the Houthis on Babel-Mandab, that may lead to complete crippling of the trade through the Swiss Canal and ultimately the countries will have to take an alternative route which basically is a very long route. Basically Swiss Canal was created to basically shorten the route which was originally what is called Cape of Good Hope all across the Mediterranean then going through the Atlantic and then coming all the way to south of the Africa and then entering the Arabian Sea going to India or to the East Asia, East Asian region. So this basically increases the overall cost of trade if there is a war going on in the Red Sea. It increases the cost of the trade manifold and most of the countries will not be willing to take that extra cost and therefore this may create a pressure on most of the countries to take some effort to basically kind of pressurize Israel to take... So basically pressurize Israel to agree for humanitarian ceasefire or ceasefire in Gaza. Of course that was the logic with which Houthis have basically started this particular set of attacks and so far it has not resulted in the desired... has not brought the desired results but of course there is an increasing pressure as I said before some of the Israeli companies have been forced to take the longer route and this is not sustainable for them in the long term and they will have to look for some alternative measures which of course includes the political... considering the larger political issues related to the war in Gaza. I will not mention the rising insurance costs also I think for many of these ships but in this context also important to sort of see like you said the US immediately quick to blame Iran for these attacks and US has always claimed that the Houthis are just a proxy for Iran but do you also see Israel and the United States thinking of escalating this war at this point beyond to Yemen for instance there is already Lebanon and Hezbollah which is also a challenge for them? Well it's very unlikely that the US will basically attempt to... US or Israel will try to escalate a physical war against the Houthis in Yemen given the fact that it is of course around 2000 kilometers away from the Israeli coast it is also difficult basically given the larger implication it can have on the overall regional calculations but there are attempts made indirectly to pressurize Houthis as you rightly pointed out the portrayal of Houthis as a kind of allies to Iran and not only allies sorry proxies to Iran is basically an attempt to basically delegitimize the overall agency and the independence of the Houthis when it comes to taking crucial decisions so that may have a political implication which US is trying to create apart from that if you see world food program of course it may be completely unrelated but there is a development which basically hints towards pressure coming from other corners basically world food program suspended its food distribution program in the Houthi controlled area in Yemen and it said that lack of funds is a reason but it is going to continue the food distribution program in the other reasons which are controlled by within Yemen which are controlled by the Saudi backed forces so this kind of given the fact that Yemen is not particularly the northern Yemen where Houthis are stronger Houthis have some influence they are not in a position to take care of millions of Yemenis who are food insecure who have suffered for almost 6-7 years 8 years of war this may create a pressure on them to kind of reconsider their position on the war in Gaza so of course there is no attempt at this moment to take a direct physical war start a direct physical war with Houthis by the US or the Israelis but though it is not confirmed there are pressures created from other corners which can with the idea that this may force Houthis to kind of reconsider so this kind of indirect just like what happened what was attempted with the Hezbollah in Lebanon so similar things are being attempted against Houthis also so a political propaganda portraying Houthis as proxies of Iran and kind of other kind of pressures basically are the tools used by the US and Israel at this moment not direct confrontation because that may prove much more costly than these measures which will have lesser cost Thank you so much for that analysis we will get back to you in the coming days as well Thousands of Maori protesters took to the streets in New Zealand on Tuesday against what leaders say are plans to reverse affirmative action and dial back the use of their language in the country When you're right wing government has taken power in New Zealand some of its constituents have been using the rhetoric of equality to target the rights of the indigenous Maori We go to Anish to understand more Anish thank you so much for joining us very important protest in New Zealand which has had a new government and indigenous Maori protesters I think making some very strong points which of course have a lot to do with the fact that New Zealand is a settler colonial nation ultimately and so what are the arguments what really is the issue of contention Well the central issues are basically the fact that the government wants to review or maybe even do away with the affirmative action policies that exist in New Zealand to phase out the use of Maori language when it comes to naming buildings in government documents or even in government any kind of orders and stuff like that and very most importantly it also wants to phrase out or spell out the foundational treaty of the New Zealand as a nation which is the Treaty of Baitangi which pretty much recognized Maori as being the original inhabitants giving them some level of very basic autonomy and rights as subjects and as citizens of New Zealand and this foundational document has often had its own contentious history obviously but definitely it has always been the platform for Maori especially during the civil rights movement that also happened in New Zealand in the 50s and 60s they used this as a platform for them to gain more rights more recognition and which the governments have responded over the years and they want to actually put out a manner in which it is phrased maybe even alter the basic principles of the document that is what the Maori generally fear so what we are looking at is a very right-wing document which is trying to use a very same set of very right-wing settler and equal but Maori's are asserting their existence not just as the original inhabitants but as also the original inheritors of the land that the settler can only have white population are pretty much ruling over right now and this is not something new we have seen mobilizations even under the Jacinda Arden government during various issues that actually did crop up especially over traditional Maori land and development projects on that but this sort of militancy is coming back that has been absent for quite a while it has to do with how the Maori leadership had made compromises in the past but definitely right now it is coming back in a big manner and that is what this national day was pretty much about right now Anish how has the government responded has it acknowledged in some senses the kind of protest because by New Zealand standards it was quite a substantial protest and in multiple cities that too so what is the government's likely path ahead it is quite likely that the government is going to try to ignore them as much as possible they have actually called the protest as unfair whatever that might mean and they have already spelled out that they will be trying to spell out policies that will treat everybody equally or will give everybody equal rights which is pretty much a very couched language when it comes to taking away some very fundamental recognitions that Maori and indigenous people who are also who may not be Maori have received over the years through very hard struggle and you know and the fact that their land has been colonized their lands were taken away they were put through generations of poverty homelessness and it is right now reached a point where there is some kind of reconciliation however basic that be but that is being threatened at this point in time that possibility of reconciliation or even you know confronting the colonial past and that is being threatened right now by this very I mean all the reports keep trying to emphasize the center to right government but this is pretty much a very outrightly right the most right wing government that New Zealand has seen which has very clearly had you know has members who have had very problematic statements especially against the indigenous people and also migrants and asylum seekers and so on and so this pretty much this entire moment we have to wait and see how far they're going to go in making sure that the government does not get away with whatever it is planning to do because we also do not know what is going to happen is exactly they have just given us some policy pointers but how they're going to implement that is going to be significant and how these protests and we might see more to come in the coming days how is that going to affect the government stand that has to that remains to be seen but definitely we're looking at as I said a new phase of militancy assertion by the Maori and that is something quite significant for New Zealand not just New Zealand but also the region as a whole because we have very recently seen a very similar issue of recognizing indigenous rights in Australia and neighbouring Australia and that itself has had its own sort of politics but definitely Maori politics have always influenced indigenous assertion in this region and so we have to this is something quite significant for the region as well.