our logo represents courage. fiercely independent quality reporting. >> to take as much aid as possible... >> and standing up for the voiceless. when you see this symbol respected around the world it means you too can now count on all the things we stand for. aljazeera america. stop destroying the country. the man who may become yemen's next president calls a houthi rebel to his lay down their weapons. ♪ ♪ hello, welcome to al jazerra i am martin dennis in doha. also coming up on the program the graphic final of a suspected chlorine attack in syria that left u.n. security council ambassadors in tears. reports of more violence as

south africa's president calls for an end to attacks on migrant workers. why some of the world's best coffee beans are leaving a bitter taste for traders in kenya. ♪ ♪ yemen's new vice president is urging houthi rebel to to his to end their offensive on aden. saying the goodwill gesture to open the door to peace and also appealing to renegade army units to support the legitimate government in exile instead of the houthis. now we have more. >> reporter: this is the man likely to be yemen's next president. khaled bahah is currently vice president and prime minister. his task is to pull together a

nation on the brink of civil war war. bahah says he's willing to work with his huge a components and forces loyal to the former president saleh. but only if they disarm. >> translator: we must give the law the chance, we shall be united behind our project and to achieve the militias lawyers to houthis and saleh should immediately. [ inaudible ] on yemen and stop destroying the country. >> reporter: yemen's biggest challenge is the deteriorating humanitarian situation. hundreds of yemenis have been killed since the start of the conflict three weeks ago. the city of aden is bearing the brunt of heavy fighting. >> translator: yemen faces a tough human humanitarian station shortage in food medicine and electricity and fuel. this requires an immediate

international intervention to prevent ca to have truss any generally were the priority of the government is attacking the urgent needs of the people and for this we have decided to form a relief and coordination committee. >> reporter: for now the president and vice president won't be able to return home. parts of the country remain under houthi control. the man bahah wants to form the army is detained. he was captured by houthi fighters on the outskirts of aden. bahah became prime minister in october. his appointment was backed by the houthis who later put him under house arrest. now, expected to unite yemenis and create stability for the country. al jazerra. diplomat sortses have told al jazerra that they have lined

up a new ambassador. he worked with the u.n. in the middle east and is expected to succeed benomar who resigned on wednesday following criticism of his failure to broken an end to the fighting. >> a yemeni ambassador to the u.n. told also what he thought of jamal benomar'sests . >> we think that he did a lot of positive things in the past. i mean, his participation in the formation of all the implementation of the gcc initiative and after that the follow-up of the election process in yemen in 2012. then the follow-up of the outcome of the national dialogue in 2015. we think that in the beginning jamal benomar was doing a great job of the but the problem was when he thought he might promote the presence of the houthis as the militia group with using their force as the powerful

element in the political spectrum that nobody was accepting. and from that point we started to have a lot of disagreements with benomar he started to negotiate without consulting with the president of the republic and then we started to have serious problems. we welcome the new adviser and we will work very well with him. and we will couldn't and support his efforts. the conflict on the ground in yemen continues. it a appears to be no end in sight to the fighting. in the ford poured city of aden fighters loyal to man or hadi are continuing their push against the houthis. clashes taking place against the so auld popular resistence forces and the houthi rebels there. the u.n.'s refugees agency says

1,600 yemenis trying to escape the fighting at home have arrived in gentleman beauty and somalia. sailed across the gulf of aden in crowded boats and ships. they expect 100,000 more refugees to arrive in somalia and up to 30,000 more to arrive in djibouti over the coming months the u.n. says 600 people have so far been killed in the conflict. the hugh humanitarian situation is getting worse the world food program is saying it will need to distribute food for over 100,000 displaced people in the city aden over the next few days. before the fighting began in yemen, the w.f.p. estimated that over 10 million people were already short of food. but it now says that the escalating violence has left more than 12 million yemenis in need of assistance, and we are

just getting news of a new fund that has been launched by the united nations, an appeal for $273.7 million to help the people of yemen. so a new fund has now been launched by the united nations for yemen. let's go to the situation now in syria because security council ambassadors have been shown graphic pictures of the suspected chlorine gas attack in that country. they also heard first hand accounts from syrian doctor that his treated the victims. many of them were children. the u.n. says it will try to identify and prosecute the attackers. a warning this report by our diplomatic editor james bays contains disturbing images. >> reporter: this shocking video was filmed in the immediate aftermath of a chemical attack in syria last year. the pictures of doctors trying to revive young children were shown to security council ambassadors, they were shocked.

many moved to tears. >> the video in particular of the attempts to resus indicate resuscitate the children if there was a dry eye in the room. i didn't see it. it was -- it's just devastating to see the facts of what this regime is doing. so people were visibly moved. >> some of the worst stuff i have ever had to watch, i have to say. there were moments when all i wanted to do is was to look way and then i realized that the people we were seeing actually had to live through this and regrettably they had to die through it. >> reporter: as well as watching the video security councilmembers heard evidence from two syrian doctors and from a survivor of a chemical attack. they later briefed reporters. >> translator: in the video you can see that the patients were one on top of the other and that's because we received many sick people in a short amount of time. as far as my feelings, of course it was very disturbing. every time i rewatch the video i remember the events that

occurred which are very upsetting. >> reporter: he says he was one of the victims of a sarin attack in 2013. at one point doctors thought they had lost him. >> they gave up on me and i was placed with the dead bodies for nearly 45 minutes. until a friends of mine noticed that i was still alive. i called the doctors again gave me more atropine and i don't know for some reason i came back to life. >> reporter: the video was filmed just 10 days after this security council vote, a rare moment of unity on syria when this resolution condemning the use of chlorine was passed. the u.s. is amongst security councilmembers condemning what they say is a clear act of defiance by the assad government but any action seems extremely unlikely russia would block any condemnation of the syrian government in the council and the obama administration remains reluctant to take any military

action james bays al jazerra at the united nations. syrian government forces that stepped up their attack in aleppo and i idlib. killing 40 civilians 20 of whom were children. according to human rights groups there have been more than 100 strikes over the last 24 hours alone. and the president bashar al-assad has appeared in a television interview as all part of the national day celebrations in this interview he blamed europe for isil's advance across the middle east. >> i wouldn't look at the terrorism as domestic. or as regional. it's as i said it's global. so when -- i look at sweden as part of europe or part of the scanned may havescandinavian group. you have to take in to consideration the most dangerous

leaders of isis are scandinavian. >> as i said it's national day for syrians, i have been speaking to our correspondent in beirut. >> reporter: we haven't yet seen the entirety of this interview that bashar al-assad gave with a swedish newspaper. but what we are hearing so far really isn't much of a surprise now. in that sound bite that you just aired a couple of minutes ago al-assad is essentially laying a lot of blame on the terrorism going on in syria at the doorstep of scandinavian countries. as we know there are a large number of fighters that have joined the ranks of isis, these past several months have that have come from nordic countries and so he's saying that. but actually, a little bit later in the interview he goes onto praise sweden because sweden has accepted more syrian refugees than any other european country. in fact, just at this time, there is at least 40,000 syrians that are now residing in sweden. that's just the number of

registered syrian refugees. it's expected that number is a lot higher and will only grow exponentially in 2015. let's take a listen to more of what he assed that particular front. >> it's a good thing to do to give people refuge, but if you ask the syrian people who have fled from syria what do you want? they don't want to flee syria because of the war, they want to end that war. that's their aim. that's our aim. so i think if we have people in -- if you give people the best is to help them going back to their country. >> reporter: it certainly looks very unlikely. the situation in syria is growing more dire by the day. as you mentioned a few moments ago and in james' report, you have the allegations from human rights watch and other u.n. bodies saying the syrian regime has possibly used chlorine gas and chemical attacks in the past several weeks. you have the fighting which is really escalated in idlib

province. the refugees situation is really spiraling out of control. you have so many refugees that are trying to cross the mediterranean on boats that are capsizing and you have so many refugees with so few opportunities in countries like lebanon where we are where over a quarter of the population is now comprised of syrian refugees so it's only getting worse. and one of the counter points to what president assad said in that sound bite is the fact that when you speak to syrian refugees here in lebanon who were suffering so mightily these past few years they say that they are afraid to go back. evening if they get assurances from the regime, they are afraid to go back in to syria they don't believe they will be protected and believe it will only get worse for them. we have a lot more to come here at al jazerra. including italy who is calling for international help as it struggles to cope with another influx of migrants. plus. >> reporter: i am alan fisher in northeastern brazil. three years ago this was a rez

reservoir that stretched almost as far as the eye could see this is the sign of drought. people here are running out of options and patience. the the

♪ hello again let's have a look at the top stories here at al jazerra. the reuters news salt is a is reporting than the u.n. is launching an appeal for nearly $300 million to meet humanitarian needs in yemen. on thursday, yemen's new vice president called on houthi rebels to end their offensive on the poured city of port city of aden. the u.n. security

councilmembers have heard first person accounts from to be tours treating victims of chlorine attacks, many children. the u.n. says it will try to identify and prosecute the attackers. syrian president bashar al-assad has appeared in a television interview as part of national day celebrations. in the interview he blamed europe for isil's advance across the middle east. more than 220,000 people have been killed in the syrian conflict since it began in 2011. south african police have fired rubber bullets and a stun grenade to disburse a group of migrants were the young men had armed themselves with machetes in a run downed district of east johannesburg. south africa has been hit by a wavy violence against immigrants in the past for weeks the foreigners have complained about a lack of protection and some have start today arm themselves. president jacob zuma has called

for an end to these attacks. okay, we can speak now to alex who is a senior reporter at eyewitness news in johannesburg, he joins us via skype from there. first of all alex, thanks for talking to us, tell us about the latest incident that has taken place in the eastern part of johannesburg. >> martin what we are seeing in the city of johannesburg is a fresh flare up of tension and violence, we have seen it going throughout the night. we have had teams out and about all the way through the night. there have been a lot of clashes, flats were burned down, five cars set on fire. running battles throughout the night. rubber bullets being used by the police to try to push back those out in the streets and certainly within the last hour, we have seen those tensions rise up again, stone fights with at least one person being taken away by ambulance. this is, of course, still that tension between the locals in downtown jo hannes berg and some of the foreigners living there. police are still out and about

as we speak right now trying to calm the tensions, we have also got a big police briefing in the province coming i'm the bit later on today. >> alex, tell us more specifically about where this is taking place. you said do you want johannesburg, tell us about the kind of area that it is and the kind of people that live there. >> of course, this all began about two weeks ago in one of our other provinces and spread for johannesburg this happened in 2008, we saw it creeping across the provinces, at the moment what we are seeing is this is the owed economic heart of johannesburg and all the smaller areas armed that. these are all suburbs around that center. over the years. in johannesburg the finance district moved for another area. this is do you want johannesburg where the heart of the city used to be and that's the place where

we are seeing the flare up. >> who are the attacks against. we know they are migrants, people that have come from different countrys? what more do we know about them? are th*eu they business owners or it is it foreigners in general? >> it's difficult to say at the moment. there are a lot of rumors and misinformation going around. we have posts and letters circulating of the the reality is there is a lot of confusion we know when the violence started in another one of our suburbs in january, that was particularly targeted at shop owners. small shop owners running businesses in that area. now it appears that the violence is aimed at anybody who is a foreigner, we are seeing attacks against people simply because they are from opening open i can't. somalia. pakistan and all of the other neighbors countrys, mozambique, et cetera, so that sly lens isn't targeted only at business owners it seems like their anger is being aimed at foreigners in general. >> thank you very much.

alex of eye witness news in johannesburg, thank you very much indeed for bringing us up-to-date with developments there. hundreds more migrants have arrived the after a dangerous journal a cross the med train year it's thought 40 have died as they made the voyage, italy is appealing for help to cope with the unprecedented flood of new arrivals. >> reporter: at the civilian portsicilianport after gust duh the coast guard delivers their the people. these men women and children have risked death in a hope of a better life. such are the numbers involved teams of volunteer doctors now work alongside the ship's medical staff. what they have seen pulled from the water in recent weeks is

harrowing. >> sometimes we see people in the sea. they swallow water and gasoline. and it's awful. it's awful. >> reporter: some arrive with a little money for their new life. others arrive without even shoes to wear. they come from syria eritrea somalia and there is no sign of a slow down in the unprecedented numbers seen in recent days. these migrants are now safe but not everybody makes it this far reports emerge on the ground thursday suggest there has been another sinking in the mediterranean, this time with the loss of more than 40 lives. the european commission admits solutions are needed. it's just that they don't have any at the moment. >> the european can commission cannot alone did it all. we are putting all of our energy in to developing a new comprehensive approach on

imagining migration which as we said many times we will be coming forward with in may moved up from july. but, no, we do not have a silver bullet or any kind of pan panacea that will make the situation go away like that. and no amount of finger pointing will change that. >> reporter: in the next few days this coast guard ship will put to sea again. many more migrants' lives will be saved as a result the question of how to stop them risking their lives in the first place, goes un unheard. paulunanswered. the chinese court has sentenced a veteran journalist to prison, the 71 year olds became fame news china for her hard-hitting reports on political elites. her lawyers saying she will appeal against the conviction for leaking state secrets to foreign news organizations. pakistan's parliament is to decide on whether to approve a continues very shall cyber crime law to curb internet freedom.

it's already been approved by a parliamentary pam to criminalize online political criticism and social media messages deemed obscene or immortal. critics say if the law is passed it can be misused to deny mack stanpakistanis freedom of speech. the head of the approximated imf has ruled out action extension to greece. they have to payback $1.1 billion over the next month. >> my advice is to get on with the work and the work needs to address both, you know, the short-term and the medium term of the economy and the objective that we all pursue is to actually restore the stability of the greek economy. the have battagliaville silfverberg vinnie government it says will present a plan to help its far northeast cope with a crippling drought. people are having watered delivered to town asks villages by tanker. it's the rainy season now but

rainfalls forecast well below what is needed. alan fisher reports. >> reporter: today is a good day. the water truck came. it means she can fill her buckets, do her washing and feel for a few hours that things are getting better. >> we are saving water and using it to wash our clothes. to water the plants. and to clean the floor. >> reporter: 56 towns and cities in this region in northeastern brazil are suffering severe drought. another 49 are critical. this is the rainy season there has been enough to keep things green, but not much more and not for sometime. three years ago this restless voir would haverestless voir wouldreservoirwould have been full. this is what was left of what was once a very large lake.

fields lie abandoned. they were growing grapes here but there is not enough bought tore produce a crop so the farmers, walked away. for an area that relies on agriculture the continued water shortage is killing crops jobs, and hope. >> translator: there is only hope only in god helps us or the government. without watering we have nothing. >> reporter: when the water truck appears it pumps 20,000 liters that should do 90 families for three days. but locals know this isn't a long-term solution. >> translator: if the course of the riff could be changed it would help farmers not only here but other towns where creeks are completely dry. >> reporter: the government will present an emergency plan in the next two weeks detailing how it will tackle the drought. but for towns and villages across the region, there is no quick fix no immediate solution to a problem years in the making. and years in the suffering. alan fish he should al jazerra northeastern brazil. now, discovery drinkers know

that kenya produces exceptional coffee that is enjoyed all over the world. it's a big earner bringing in millions of dollars every year and provides many jobs, but production is on the did he decline and that's worrying many kenyans as malcolm webb reports from the nairobi coffee exchange. >> reporter: he begins his weekly tack of toewsing dozens of cups of coffee of he grades them so his employers can decide what to bid for in the upcoming auction. coffee exports everyones kenya about $200 million a year and provides an income for about 150,000 small-scale farmers and most of it is tasted then traded here at the nairobi coffee exchange. downstairs traders collect the samples for tasting. many are worried about the business because coffee production has been going down since the 1980s. this coffee is some of best in the world. and we are surrounded by hundreds of samples of kenyan

coffee awaiting auction. a lot of the world's leading coffee brands include kenyan coffee in their blends to bring up the quality of coffee brought pwa*ut from other countries. the traders say it's because of this reason kenyan coffee fetches about as high a price as it can on the international mark but they say they are a number of factors between here and the exchange and the farmers that grow it that mean a lot of those farmers don't want to grow it anymore. nairobi's construction is boom is part of it. the loss of coffee plan around the city and pulled up and the land sold to developers. the new propertys don't provide jobs in the long-term. nearby one of the farmers is still growing it, she's 81. >> reporter: she says she gets a fair price and it provided her a steady income throughout most of her life. but she says many of her neighbors gave up. >> sometimes the cooperative mills were not well organized. there were a few people that could help and advice, advise and

so people opted out. >> reporter: back at the exchange daniel knows the business better than most. he's the ceo. >> price is not the problem production is the problem. when you look at a -- the production capacity of a bush it can go up to even about 40-kilos per push. currently, we are producing about on average two-kilos. and that's our problem. >> reporter: here on the trading floor, kenyan coffee may make good money but for farmers to earn enough and keep their plants they need advice and investment. the government says it's trying to help. everyone in the business, including robert, hopes for a turn around in the coming years. millions of kenyan jobs depend on it. malcolm webb, al jazerra nairobi. now how is this for a near miss. the video 70 running backwards. this is the falcon nine rocket

returning after delivering surprise to the international space station. and it almost pulled off a historic precision lands on the ground a shim. now it's the second time touchdown has ended in fiery failure, spacex engineers now hope to headache it third time lucky to pioneer reusable rockets which would cut costs dramatically. you are with al jazerra. >> we're going to explore the inner section of hardware and humanity, and we're doing it in an unique way. this is a show about science by scientists.