presents... kids behind bars: a soledad o'brien special report only on al jazeera america relief could be on the way for the people of yemen as the red cross is clear today bring in aid. ♪ ♪ hello, i am in doha. also ahead on the program. some people make it out of yarmouk after an escape route is created from the syrian refugee camp over run by isil. battling a health crisis in brazil. cases of fever are skyrocketing. plus. shedding light on dark matter. the hydrogen collider is back in action after a 2-year break.

hello the international committee of the red cross says it's been given permission by saudi arabia and its allies to deliver aid to yemen. hundreds of people have been killed since the saudi-led coalition began targeting houthi rebel positions in yemen last month. the red cross hopes one of its planes withplanes can land in the capital sanaa later on monday. the battle between houthi rebels and pro-government fighters has continued in the southern city of aden. five people killed and 15 injured in the latest fighting. and yemen's president hadi sacked three top military officers. kim vinnell has more. >> reporter: a huge crowd pours over a sea of mangled steel in sanaa. but this is no long air i search for survivors.

this is body recovery. for the most part the work is all by hand. the saudi-led coalition says they are only targeting areas with houthis but they are now hiding with civilians. it's further south in aden that the heaviest fighting now taking place. houthi rebels, along with fighters loyal to former president saleh are infiltrating districts near the city's port. aden is the last strong hold of fighters loyal to president mansour hadi. and they are putting up a fierce fight. the city has become a battle ground. the locals are being caught in the middle. >> many have now become traped in their homes because of fighting. there is bodies in the streets. we cannot get close because there are houthi snipers on the

roof top. anything that gets near this people they shoot them immediately. >> reporter: fa aden residents even the basics are now hard to come by. clean water is scarce, power is intermittent and people fear things are only going to get worse. >> translator: we have been without water for five days now and the houthis have been attacking us every day. >> reporter: the saudi-led coalition has agreed to give the red sox access to deliver life-saving surprise to sanaa. but amid the ongoing air strikes, the humanitarian agency says it's still waiting for the green light to go south where help is needed most. >> one of the main challenges that we are facing is also the security of the volunteers and the medical staff that are working all around yemen. two days ago we have two yemen restless correct end volunteers were shot dead while collecting

wounded from the streets in aden. >> reporter: near the eastern city tribal fighters are preparing to confront a possible houthi advance. raising fears of yet another front. engulfed by the conflict, it's feared yemen is on the verge of total collapse. and those who call it home will continue to suffer. kim vinnell, al jazerra. >> let's discuss this now more with al jazerra's saleh who has reported extensively from yemen. let's talk first. all about this decision by mansour hadi to sack his top military leaders. what is behind that? >> i think the president is trying to restructure his military officers. the top three officers that were sacked is the chief of staff the army's chief of staff his deputy and the head of the special forces all of them are in a way or another close to or are allies with the houthi movement. i think that's the reason behind

the sacking of those top military commanders. >> and the decision to allow the red cross to do its work and land a plane to assist the people affected there, i mean, how -- obviously a desperate situation there for people on the ground. that's going to be a welcomed decision isn't it? >> absolutely. people there are saying they are suffering. it's been a few days without electricity, water and food is running out very rapidly. you have to remember yemen is the poorest country in the arab world, 60% of its population live under the poverty line. so this is very good news for them. but i need to remind you of one small point that accident on the daily briefing by the saudi military on sunday, the spokesperson said that the permission was given to the icrc however the iccrc

apparently changed their plans to send a flight yesterday on sunday. they were expecting a flight, the coalition was expecting an icrc flight to land in yemen at 9:00 a.m. on sunday. but apparently they want to -- the icrc wanted to change their flight. so that's why i think the delay happened. the approval was given but anyway it's good news for the people suffering there. >> indeed. and we are well in to the second week of these air strikes in generally. what affect are they having at this point on the houthis and their control of the country? >> i think many people are surprised that there are still houthi resistence in different parts of yep earn, despite the 11th or 12th day of the campaign against them. what i think has happened so far is their ability is weakened. we have seen on numerous occasions that their weapons depots and movement is

restrained. however the coalition has failed so far to stop the movement. and i think that's why the spokesman for the air campaign, or the saudi-led coalition said that you have to remember the fighting and militia is not like fighting a conventional army and that's why i think he said people need to be patient and he said that we have achieved all of the goals that we want. however, we will commit to ground troops if we need them. so i think in terms of gaining their goals the coalition says it is gaining those goals. however, i think the houthis are still a powerful force. not only them and their allies are supporters of the former president saleh. >> all right omar saleh thanks very much. now, pakistan's parliament is meeting in islambad to discuss whether to sends troops to join the saudi-led coalition in yemen. with more on that, al jazerra's kamal hyder is in the pakistani capital of a big decision, kamal

for pakistan, what are some of the issues involved as they consider this request from the saudis? >> reporter: well, as far as support for saudi arabia is concerned. the government has already said that the red line will be any intrusion in to saudi sovereign territory. so pakistan has made its position clear. but what is proving to be a bigger controversy here is the fact that some opposition parties don't want pakistan to sends its troops in to yemen because they say it's a quagmire. parliament will be debating a joint session of parliament is right now underway, you can see behind me. and they will now be deliberating on whether the government's decision needs support. we have been told behind the scenes from certain sources that the government has already made a key decision, that saudi arabia is a strategic partner of pakistan and that pakistan cannot say no. so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few days as parliament debates

whether to sends or not to send any ground troops to saudi arabia as help. >> what about pakistani public opinion at this point? how are they viewing this particularly since the country is busy fighting its own regional battles and has been for years. >> reporter: there is overwhelming support for saudi arabia in pakistan. most people would want pakistan to -- would want the country to help the saudis. the saudis have been forging very close strategic military links with pakistan and holding joint military movers. so the public opinion is in favor of helping saudi arabia, but there are political parties who are warning that pakistan is making a mistake if it's going to send troops to saudis help or to involve itself in the yemeni conflict. >> all right kamal hyder live for us there in islambad, thank you. now, a spokesman for the

palestine liberation organization says a rescue operation is continuing in syria's yarmouk refugees camp. isil fighters stormed the camp there on wednesday. two exists have been open to allow civilian to his escape. up to 2,000 people have already heescaped from yarmouk which is on the outskirts of the capital damascus. isil says they have taken almost total control of yarmouk and around 18,000 palestinian refugees are still trapped there. stefanie dekker reports. >> reporter: the yarmouk refugees camp has been besieged for more than two years. people starving, no running water and no electricity. now isil has taken control of most of this camp. some is ville vinnies have samardzija civilians have managed to escape? areas. >> translator: the civilians are afraid of isil controlling the camp. most people have escaped.

some of the villagers have reconciled with the regime and aid is come to this areas. the u.n. was able to get aid to palestinians that made their way there. >> reporter: but thousands remain trapped by the fighting and now the added a fear of government attacks which are also trying to push isil out. the syrian observatory for human rights says that the government is targeting isil positions with barrel bombs this palestinian refugee camp is less than 10-kilometers from the center of damascus. other groups have joined in the fight against isil but have not managed to gain much ground. there are allegations that his al-nusra front and al-qaeda affiliates are helping isil evening throw the group issued a statement saying they are remaining neutral. there huh been a reconciliation in the works between the government and various groups. we spoke to the minister who said a deal was about to be sign booed i the palestinian factionses would lay dune their arms and in return the government would lay call off their

siege, but they a al-nusra does want that. what was an already desperate situation for the estimated 18,000 civilians trapped there has not got much worse. the united nations has called for a humanitarian corridor to allow more civilian to his leave. people in yarmouk are fully dependent on aid and none has been delivered since the fighting began. hospitals and clinics are no longer functioning properly. but with isil in control of most of the camp, negotiating any form of humanitarian relief seems further away than ever. stefanie dekker, al jazerra beirut. in egypt there has been an attack on a police station in the north sinai region. 15 people were reportedly killed a group affiliated with isil says it is responsible. the area is home to a anybody of embassies. it's not clear who is behind the attack. u.s. president barack obama

has defended a framework nuclear agreement with iran he told the new york times it was an opportunity to prevent a nuclear bomb and bring security to the middle east. >> number one, this is our best bet by far for make sure iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon. number two what we will be doing even as we enter in to this deal is sending a very clear message to the iranians and the entire region that if anybody messes with israel, america will be there. media reports in south korea say north korea has set a no-sail zone for its own ships across the coast. they say they have no hart no indications from its northern neighbor about a no-sail zone that leads to speculation thy okay yang is about to launch a miss. but seoul says no one has received any warning. the supreme court of bangladesh

has upheld the death sentence for war crimes convict a leader of the party. the court has rejected hayes peel to overturn the judgment. in may he was found guilty of crimes against humanity during the war of independence in 1971 he denied the charges and alleged his trial was politically motivated. much more adhere on al jazerra, when we come back, families and colleagues start identifying those killed in an attack on a university in kenya. we'll be live with the latest in the capita nairobi. and hoping no mercy. a plea for freedom from the family of a convicted drug smuggler on death row in indonesia that's all ahead.

>> part of al jazeera america's >> special month long evironmental focus fragile pl

♪ ♪ hello again the top stories stories on al jazerra. the international community of the red cross hopes deliver aid to yemen later on monday after it was given permission by saudi arabia and its allies. water shortages in the city of aden where there has been intense fighting between the government forces and houthi rebels. pakistan's parliament is meeting in islambad to discuss whether to send troops to join the saudi-led coalition in yemen. but that follows a formal request from the saudi king. spokesman for the palestinian liberation organization says a rescue operation is continuing in syria's yarmouk refugees camp. ahmed told al jazerra two he exits

have about allowed to open to allow civilian to escape. isil fighters stormed the camp on wednesday. now, kenya's interior ministry has identified one of the four gunmen who attacked the university on thursday. abdullahi the son of a government official, was a law graduate. 148 people were killed in the shooting in garissa. church services have been held to remember the victims. let's get the latest now from nairobi where al jazerra's malcolm webb is there for us, malcolm, how have people been dealing with the aftermath there? >> reporter: well, a lot of the survive, he all of the survivors were bus today nigh robe and i onto their respective homes they are now all back at home and there are from different parts of the country. some of the students came from different plays. many of the worst injured were brought here to the capital because this is where the best medical treatment is available. all the bodies were also brought

here and taken to morgues. we still heard that more than 20 of them haven't been identified. the parents and relatives have been coming to the morgues to try to identify those that were killed and those that were lost. we went to one of the morgues and spoke to some of the people there. let's take a look at that story now. relatives of garissa university students came to this more than wary in nairobi expecting the very worst. following thursday's attack by the somali-armed group al-shabab, their loved ones were not among those rescued and not among the injured in hospitals. so they queue to see if their sons daughters brothers and sisters are among the dozens of body. one family wanted us to tell their story so we went in there to look for 20-year-old veronica, she was study to go become a teacher. it was her mother florence who found her body. the agony of identifying her own child is made infinitely worse by the violence of her death.

>> translator: those children died a very painful death. i can't everyone identify my own child from her face. she has wounds on her skin all over her body. her skin is burned and she has no hair. i justified her with her folded toe and the scar on her thigh. >> reporter: the red cross list of survivors is thoroughly checked and rechecked before relatives are faced with the heartbreaking task of searching among the dead. it may take days for all the bodies here to be identified. the people coming out are extremely distressed. the process of identifying the bodies is very dramatic. what i saw when i was in there is definitely the worst thing i have ever seen. there are dozens of bodies of young people lined up on the floor. the morticians have done their best to try to make them look decent and try it make them identifiable. but in some cases that was clearly very difficult because their injuries were so severe. the smell in there is overpowering as well. you can even smell it out here, the smell of the bodies and the chemicals that have been used to

treat them. prayers and song are among the only comforts. religion is important to many here. the minister of health came to visits. many people are questioning the government for failing to prevent the attack. he said it's doing its best. >> we are always there all government installations whether it's hospitals or universities or other government installations. so it's been, of course, strengthened. but we shall make sure that going forward we don't allow such an incidents to happen again. >> reporter: but for people here it's too late. and their ordeal is just beginning. next they have to wait for postmortems before they can collect bodies and arrange funerals. al-shabab's worst attack in kenya to date have left hundreds of people from dozens of families struggling and in pain. we have heard that there has

been a number of challenges at the morgue. at least one case, multiple families have claimed the same body. because the body was too disfigured for them to be certain. so there is the case of five or six families saying that person is their child. also a number of cases of people who may still be missing. a lot of the students fled the university compound and went and hid in the bushes and so on during the attack. some of those were found even days later. possible that some of them may still actually be out there. so in some cases it's not even clear if people's missing relatives are still dead or alive. none of that making it any easier for people here. >> malcolm webb live for us in nairobi, thank you. an i indonesian court has ejected a last-ditch appeal for two men on death row. they are among 10 prisoners due to be executed by firing squad for drug smuggling. president rejected their pleas

for clemency last months, despite repeated pleas from all a brazil and france. the philippine government is trying to save one of its citizens who is also facing ex-dukes for drug trafficking in iindonesia. her family are hoping for an appeal. jamila we want to meet them. >> reporter: thisthis is not the kind of future they had want today their daughter. mary jane is facing imminent execution in indonesia. she was sentenced to death in 2010 for trying to smuggle more than two-kilograms of haren from malaysia. >> translator: i raised my children to be god-fearing people. i have taught them to live their life in simple ways, than to live the life of a robber. i have told them that i brought them up well and that i have worked my life only for them. and to live like i do. >> reporter: this goes where mary jane was born. a small farming village in the northern philippines she's a

single mother with two children. her family says all she ever wanted was a way out of poverty. >> her recruiter a close family friends paid for his trip to malaysia bought her cloths and promised there was a job waiting for her in inter are indonesia she said she was given the luggage and insisted she had no idea she had just become a drug mule. the philippine government has questioned the accuracy of mary jane's trial. it says she should have been provided with a professional translator and not just a student interpret. last month the i want i i understand near indonesian government agreed to review her case but have refused to lift her death sentence. her family says that mary jane has been treated well in prison. iindonesia paid for the first visit to see her in 2014 and that they have bun more than her own government.

>> our em embassy has already extended all necessary and appropriate consular and legal assistance to her. >> reporter: phone calls with her daughter are often difficult. worry that each conversation with her may be their last. it's really hard for parents to accept their children's fate. if you know that your children haven't done anything bad then, no, i don't feel bad. i know in my heart she didn't do it. >> reporter: her letter in february was an outpouring of love for her family. an apology for not providing a better life for them and then acceptance of what is to come. al jazerra northern philippines. brazil is battling an out bray of dengue fever in the heavily-populated state of sao paulo. there have been nearly a quarter of a million new cases of the mosquito-born disease since january. hundreds of cities have been put on alert.

greece says it will payback half a billion dollars loan to the international monetary fund this week. that's after the greek finance minister held talks with imf head in washington. there have been fears athens would did he fate default but they say they will be able to meet all of their obligation to his its creditors, greece is fast running out of cash and promised reforms in return for much-needed bail-out funds. the italian navy and coast guard say they have rescued around 1500 migrants in 24 hours, five boats got there to trouble. three called for help from a satellite phone off the coast of libya. the migrants were all put onto a own ships and taken to either an island or ports in sicily. the atthe atom-slashing collider has have you started after a two-year upgrade costing

$15 million. >> reporter: back in action and more powerful than ever. [ cheering and applause ] >> reporter: over the last two years they have been busy upgrading the world's biggest particle axle accelerator deep under the swiss border. on sunday scientists fired two particle beams around the. 27-kilometer long circuit known as the large high drop collider the lhc. but these are just baby steps for researchers here at the european organization for nuclear research. >> it will take us about two months, six peeks to two months to actually establish the first stable collisions for the experiments, because we have to commission all the instruments all the systems one by one. >> reporter: in 2012 they announced an unexpected breakthrough. scientists finally discovered an elementary particle that gives mass on to other carls he wering the nickname the good particle.

the following year they got the nobel fries in physics. no at alls, no nuclei, it's the building blocks for matter and therefore also no stars no galaxy no planetary system, no earth and eventually there would be no life on earth. >> reporter: the lhc contains a ring of super can you going magnets with accelerating structures that boost particles as they hurdle down the tunnel. soon traveling at almost the speed of light and analyzing their collisions could reveal new scientific secrets. eventually they will be looking at areas like dark matter. that's the invisible matter which makes up 84% of the known universe but can only be detected by its influence on visible matter like galaxy and planets but there could be many

more discoveries over the lifetime of this underground science city. one person has been killed and three others injured in shelling in mallee. mali. at least three other mortar rounds fired in the north. it's not clear who launched them. in 2013 a french-led operation in northern mali helped to expel separatist groups and fighters link today al quada but didn't drive them out entirely. al jazerra has confirmed two of its journalists held by the nigerian military since the 24th of march have been releaseed from detention, they were allowed to leave their hotel in the northern town on sunday. they are now safely back in the capital abuja. they had been covering the military's campaign against the armed group going uh-huh ram. al jazerra's director of news says we are pleased for them that their ordeal is over. they are looking forward to spending time with their families and loved ones, i know

that both of them want to thank everyone who helped secure their release including ngos, politicians and fellow journalists. reminder there is lots more on our website as always, al jazerra.com. get the latest on the stories we are covering. aljazerra.com. >> new york new york. eight point four million people call this city home. >> twenty-four degrees snowing hard in central park going down to twenty in midtown. snowfall one to two feet. so they're now saying we could have snow falling as rapidly as five inches an hour. >> this has been the coldest winter here in eighty-one years. and it coincides with a grim reality. more people in new york city are homeless today than at any point