tech know where technology meets humanity... only on al jazeera america >> a european sos. >> you can't have a european emergency and an italian answer. >> an urgent call to action. the european community steps up as thousands of north africans are feared dead. an explosion in sanaa shattering homes and killing dozens. a potential showdown with iran. fury and outrage.

>> i just said i think what he was attempting to say. >> james comey talking about poles being explicit in the holocaust. >> and americans and cubans hope to build up new relationships. good evening i'm barbara serra. >> and i'm antonio mora. we begin tonight with the humanitarian crisis unfolding in europe. europeans plan to hold a summit to deal with the situation brought about by north africans traveling across the

mediterranean to europe. u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon urged europeans to take on the issue. >> the mediterranean is becoming a sea of injury for migrants. more than twice as many migrants have died at sea in the past year than on the titanic. >> that included the tragic boat disaster over the weekend. >> italian vessels responded to two more distress calls in the mediterranean today and three people drown after a small boat carrying migrants crashed into the rocks off the greek ga island of rhodes. paul brennan has more in italy. >> being battered by waves clinging to what remains of

their boat. a woman is seen trying to protect a young child. focus is on pieg migrants leaving north africa. this boat broke up on the greek island of rhodes. this child was saved but three people are already confirmed dead including an youngster. it is not known how many are missing. >> the operators ran away and left us alone. >> ran away to another boat to turkey? >> maybe i don't know. this shawl rubber boat, do you know this small rubber boat for rest you cueing he got in and just ran. >> and left you alone? >> yep. >> the bodies from saturday's disaster have been brought to malta, as many as 900 drown.of

the hundreds on board just 28 were saved. those survivors are on their way to the sicilian port of ca cat ann catafia. catania. vividly illustrated at catania's cemetery. a male for those who don't make it. the names of the people in the graves will never be known the words on the graves are frft poetfrom thepoet lawyer yas. laureate. >> over the past week 1,000 have died in the mediterranean.

almost as many as have died in the titanic and more than died in the costa concordia. >> there will be a european summit meeting on thursday. how many more migrants will have died by then? paul brennan, al jazeera catania, sicily. >> .com 9 >> dominic kane reports. >> the eu foreign policy chief said it was now imperative to act. >> i think that today we are developing a truly european sense of urgency and solidarity in fighting human trafficking and saving lives and let me add on a personal note, finally so. >> reporter: the eu's proposed

new measures include strengthening the situation in niger, destroying the boats used by traffickers in the mediterranean which are often un unsea worthy or illegal. to give more support to the tritan efforts and the migrant wave says kit no longer cope says it can no longer cope on its own. >> it's a problem to help europe not a european problem and an italian answer. >> mare knows trum wasmare nostrum was closed down last year. italy receives more asylum seekers than any other country.

and while ministers say the welfare of migrants is important they also say solutions need to be found in the countries the migrants are leaving. >> translator: our very first priority has to be improving sea rescue operations, so fewer people die. that is obvious. secondly, we know that the push back to migration will not let up as long as conditions in north africa remain unstable. >> reporter: if anything long term is to be achieved both of these problems will need to be solved at the eu leaders summit on thursday. dominic kane, al jazeera luxembourg. >> the mare nostrum that was referenced in that report was an italian rescue operation that ended last fall. it is believed to have saved more than 100,000 lives. it involved five war ships supported by helicopters drone and land surveillance.

also cost $9.6 million per month to fund and had no funds from others. this triton only costs $3.6 million, includes seven lesser equipped ships two planes and an helicopter and also limits its area of coverage to within 30 nautical miles off of italy's coast while mare nostrum covered all the way to north africa. >> getting if eu to act as one on this crisis, earlier i spoke with her about it. what would you like to see the northern european countries to do? because again we have seen this division haven't we between the southern european countries that have been bearing the brunt and the northern european countries that have paid lip service but haven't so far helped in the way the south is asking them to. >> we have witnessed this

firsthand because we have firsthand experience of what is happening in the mediterranean and how it is affecting us as member states particularly malta as smallest member state and european union and migrants who are crossing the mediterranean. i as an mmp coming from pal malta and others from other parts of european union responsibility sharing between all the member states. and when i speak about responsibility sharing and when i speak about solidarity, because solidarity is also key we are not speaking only about monetary aid but we're speaking about concrete resettlement program that will actually make a difference, help when it comes to search aand rescue operations that will actually make a difference and when it comes to solidarity that we as countries and citizens of the southern u

member states, still expecting from the european union today. >> but the eu is also considering a civilian and military solution to people smuggling boats how does it deal with people-smugglers themselves? >> should be part of the whole solution and when we speak about the whole solution, i'm not looking at quick fixes. first and foremost we need to have discussions with the countries where mieg migrants are originating. we have been calling i myself have been calling as european parliament for this instability to be addressed for months now and we have seen this unstability going gone, and it is literally a situation of anarchy where these smugglers are flur flourishing.

>> real inkly what do you think a long term -- real inkly what dorealrealistically, what do yousee? >> having stability in libya will definitely take time. in the meantime there need to be other measures. >> is the increase in deaths directly or indirectly the eu's fault? >> we have people crossing the mediterranean just the same. there were people who were thinking that mare nostrum served as a pool factor and what is happening mare nostrum was not a pool factor because people are just trying to cross the immediatemediterranean just the same because they are fleeing warring countries. in the european parliament we

are identifying them, speaking about, and really concerned on how this operation mare nostrum was literally going to be littled so much in scope and also in the area its covered. and that it was going to cause these deaths. one of the things we were asking for was how are we going to make sure that we will not have more deaths in the mediterranean sea. >> that was miriam dali a member of the mediterranean parliament. >> the navy said today that the aircraft carrier the u.s.s. theodore roosevelt is on its way to the gulf of aden. jamie mcintire joins us from the pentagon. this would be to enforce an

embar go of weapons to the houthis. what does the navy say about the mission? >> that it's not planning to interdict any iranian ships. but seven to nine iranian ships are headed towards yemen cargo unknown, may be carrying arms to the houthi rebels. even though they say the mission of the aircraft carrier is to maintain security, pentagon officials say this is not so subtle message to iran that the u.s. has a strong presence there and while they're watching the iranian ships they remain in international waters but if they plan to put into port, the ships

will be boarded not necessarily by u.s. ships because there are also saudi arabian and other ships, taking part in the blockade, the u.s. is not part of. there are now about eight u.s. ships in the area including the aircraft carrier a smaller helicopter carrier a bunch of war ships and if the iranian ships try slip through it could very well be that we have a confrontation on the high seas as the u.s. tries to stop and board those ships. antonio. >> thank you jamie. >> meanwhile at least 25 people are dead, after one of the biggest explosion is in the four week campaign rocked sanaa. charlie angela has more. >> in more than three weeks of bombing this was one of the largest attacks yet. the target was a scud missile base.

but the massive explosion killed dose ofdozens of people, it also damaged a television station owned by the former president ali abdullah saleh. knocking it off air. local residents voiced their displeasure. >> translator: this is what the cowards used to bombard civilians. >> translator: when we arrived here there was a big explosion and we found shells over the whole area. >> reporter: an area beside sadaa district, near the capital sanaa, quick to criticize the attack is the embassy of indonesia. >> translator: i want to strongly object to the

exproation. >> against the houthi fighters and force he loyal to former president ali abdullah saleh. the campaign has repeatedly targeted the base along with other military facilities and airports in sanaa and throughout the country. >> the coalition forces succeeded, relatively, to destroy the military infrastructure of the deposed president saleh and those of the houthis including weaponry depot which are totally destroyed. >> reporter: in the port city of aden fighting is fears. fierce. rebels loyal to abd rabbu mansour hadi, and houthi leader

abdalla al maliki says his force he will never surrender. >> good to see you. let's start with the seeming escalation in the gulf of aden, war ships possibly intercepting iranian ships that may be carrying supplies to the houthis, is this making it worse and if the war escalates? >> if iran gets involved they're going to make this worse. i don't think they're stupid enough to make a decision like that because the situation in yemen is really intense it's nearly impossible to get anything in. this is all about sending messages to each other really. it's impossible to get anything to the houthis whether by air or

ships. this is the way to escalate or make things more intense. >> now, houthi forces keep spreading throughout the country. this weekend the houthi leader gave a speech no willingness to negotiate with the saudis or anyone else. what solution is there? >> there's a lot going on in yemen right now. the strongest of the explosion he are going on in the north of the country where the houthis are not fighting the civilians as much as they are in the south of yemen. in the south of yemen there is less targeting of residential locations but that's where the most killing is happening. while the houthis have decided to unleash their force among the population, in the sense that the people in sanaa when they say that these air strikes or explosions are destroying their homes people assume they are supporting the houthi by saying they refused saudi air strike intervention. things have turned into black and right there.

so psychologically speaking, national identity has become fractured. the houthi leader seems to be pretty much not only immature politically, he seems to be unaware of the suffering he's bringing on to the people or just completely selfish because it doesn't seem he is going to slow down. former president saleh who is his ally seems to want to break this alliance because there are talks that the gpc people, the general political caucus, all parties into four weeks understand that the only way out is through negotiation. >> let's talk about some of the suffering. we just showed the explosion of the scud missile base, and a neighborhood where a lot of embassy are located, it is your neighborhood your family home was there and it was damaged. >> yep. this has happened around sanaa

for several weeks now. the problem is, these attacks are targeting areas which are mountains, which turn into volcanoes exploding out. the problem is these are in residential areas. targeted homes that are six kilometers away from the volcano, meaning that is about 3.5 miles or so from the target. a lot of windows just exploded out, a lot of people were injured, buildings fall on them or rocks fall apart glass shatters in on them. in the sense you give civilians a heads up of the places you are gghtgoing to target especially if there are civilians there. these type of attacks are work against saudi air strikes in the sense they're making people sympathize with the opponent.

it's really risky when you have that. the problem is they have missed some of their targets. they have targeted dairy and bleach factory which allowed for bleach fumes which allowed fumes all over sa that sanaa and bleach fumes suffocated people. >> and we also know that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula had inroads in that country. thank you for your contribution. >> shopping malls or oil refineries last month security concerns prompted u.s. omissions in saudi arabia to target services. >> the president of the zulu is speak out on xenophobic attacks.

and the i state department is smoothing an outrage after fbi director james comey linked poland to the holocaust. olocaust. >> unheard victims. >> 90 percent of the people will get some type of illness from the water. >> where could it happen next? >> i mean, they took away my life. >> "faultlines". al jazeera america's hard-hitting... >> today they will be arrested. >> ground-breaking... >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> emmy award-winning investigative series. water for coal. coming up next. only on al jazeera america.

>> the king of south africa apples zulu nation held a rally to condemn recent immigrant attacks, at least seven being killed. >> saying foreigners were responsible for high crime rate. as charles stratford reports from durbin, the king says his remarks were taken out of context. >> reporter: he's one of the most powerful men in south africa. respected and adored. many feel the zulu king should

have made this speech weeks ago. >> translator: i have come to declare a new war. this war is to protect every foreigner here. every foreigner must be safe. as your king, i call for calm. >> he said the media should be investigated for misinterpreting another speech he paid last month. many say that speech in which he blamed foreigners for the growing crime rate has led to the xenophobic attacks. >> we should hold hands with the police. those who committed crimes must be brought to justice because the law must stop those trying to destroy south africa's image. >> the king's supporters say the media has lied about him. >> it's good the king came here because he set the record straight. >> reporter: the government has lb been blamed for failing to address the high unemployment and poverty among huge sections

of south africa's population. many accuse migrant workers are taking their jobs. there have been flareups against migrant workers time and time again in recent years. the celebration here after the speech bithe zulu king. it's going to take a lot to win back the trust of migrants here. there are more than a thousand people at this camp. they came to durbin to earn money for their families in countries across africa. some have fled from fighting in the democratic republic of congo, she has lived in south africa for eight years. she said her hair salon was attacked as a group of men beat her when she was trying to protect her baby boy. >> why wasn't stopped by 2008

xenophobic in 2008. it's better to die home or die here. >> for salpa and thousands like her, the king's speech has offered little comfort in a place they have come to think of as home. charles stratford, al jazeera durbin. >> this week marks 100 years since the genocide of armenians in the oat toeman ottoman empire. angry because of james comey's remarks. linking the countries to the nazi genocide of european jews. this is part of what he said,

poland and hungary they convinced themselves it was the right thing to do. the thing that they have to do, that's what people do and that's what truly frightens us. poles, hungarians and others in occupied europe. >> poles were certainly -- bore huge prunt of the brunt of the barbarism of nazi germany. director comey didn't want to suggest that the poles were responsible for the holocaust. his remarks were clear on that. >> no more whether the director should apologize. >> christians be slaughtered in libya. >> we'll take olook at why the group targets specific minorities. >> farc military massacred

soldiers. soldiers.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm barbara serra. >> and i'm antonio mora. coming up this half hour of international news an al shabaab attack on united nations workers in somalia. >> and how businesses are getting ready to capitalize on the end of the cuban embargo. >> a strain of bird flu is spreading are across the rural midwest. wisconsin is declaring a state of emergency after the h 1n 2 virus was found. we'll ask an expert about the threat posed by the outbreaks

and what's being done to stop them. that's coming up at 11:00 p.m. eastern, 8:00 pacific. >> people in baltimore rallied in protest of the death of freddy gray. the 21-year-old died of a spinal injury he suffered last week. the reason for the initial stop is unclear. video of the arrest shows officers dragging gray to a police van. >> charges against six men who allegedly tried to join i.s.i.l. traveling to syria to join the group. another gentleman was responsible for recruiting them. the arrests come after a ten month investigation. >> new video shows the mass slaughter of ethiopian christians in libya couldn't verify their nationalities but he condemned the killings of

about 30 men. one group of cam advertises is shown shot to death another group beheaded. >> acting vice president of the center for middle east and africa the united states institute for peace. thank you so much for being with us here on al jazeera. so another video we have seen very slickly produced videos as they tend to be from i.s.i.l of killing christians. what do you think their objectives are? >> there are two objectives i think they are trying aachieve. their brand is very barbaric, they have suffered quite a heavy defeat in tikrit and now push towards mosul. not only are they still in power, this is meant to say they are broad over parts of libya to show they are not limited to one geographic area, two locations in libya it's really

trying to show they have roots across the country and to strike fear not only in terms of the u.s. but in terms of the west, they are getting closer and closer to european borders. >> the killing of coptic christians back in february, obviously i.s.i.l. targets many minorities yazidis for example but why do you think they focus specifically on christians and do you think perhaps the pr exercise of these videos is different when it comes to christians? >> as you are saying a lot of minorities are attacked. the majority of people who are dying under the hands of i.s.i.s. are actually muslim populations but in terms of the christian executions is a very specific move to feed into this fear of an islamic war against christians. there is a strong desire from i.s.i.l. to feed into that type of rhetoric, to make muslims the

target dom look like the attack is on christians which we know is not case. by feeding into this rhetoric, i.s.i.l. is trying to manifest into a reality. it's very, true that they are meeting i.s.i.s. exact lib where they want to be. >> many militant groups have joined forces with i.s.i.l. and how militant are they getting and can we really know. >> particularly if you look in terms of iraq and more specifically syria they do have a stronghold, they have land, they have territory they actually have revenue generation. that's still not case in libya. however if the international community isn't swift in reactingreacting they can take advantage of this stronghold in libya. they were able to do that in yemen where they created a breeding ground of recruitment

and there is fear they can do that in libya. that is not only the gateway to the middle east but you take a look at kenya libya nigeria those areas can be frightening if they don't counter that immediately. >> the foreign minister of the u.n. recognized government that's the one in tobruk, he asked for arms from the international community to fight the likes of i.s.i.l. do you think that more of these videos coming out which obviously has a huge impact on western media that makes the ponltd ofpossibility of military intervention in libya more likely? >> i would hope not. the preeftion previous iteration of i.s.i.l, that being al qaeda

addressing fragile governments that's what they're taking advantage of is fragile governments who aren't able to deliver services and have fragile governments solid cases of this as well as iraq and syria. the international community must have dialogue, pushing for stronger intervention of government, not a military fight that we have here. >> from the united states thank you to get your views. >> thank you. >> al shabaab is claiming responsibility for the bombing of a united nations van. this kind of attack is unusual for northern somalia mogadishu is usually the target, somalia's president has called it an attack against future of our country.

(t) crown prince was in the white house today to discuss security and economic partnerships. the priority, fighting i.s.i.l the uae is a key partner in the gulf. >> swraison rozion's lawyer says he is accused of collaborating with hostile governments and propaganda against establishment. he was arrestin july but the charges were not publicly released until today. >> farc saying peace talks with the government should not be broken under any circumstances. last week 11 colombian soldiers were killed by an ambush, farc says the attack was a legitimate case of self-defense. the government called it a brazen assault on troops carrying out an 18th drug

operation. would this be enough to call the sick up if you want to call it that of the negotiation? >> well, barbara it's as lead a very important step. it's a very important decision and it shows that farc is still committed to continuing the negotiations and working towards a final agreement. at the same time, they've been quite clear that they will maintain their ceasefire as long as they are not subject to what they call the permanent siege by the colombian military. it's true that there has been a great reduction in the level of violence in the country since the beginning of the year but at the same time, the truth is that the situation on the ground has not changed fundamentally. the colombian military has continued ground operations in many regions where the farc operate and what this incident last wednesday seems to suggest

is that it has become increasingly difficult for the farc to control their troops and prevent them from reacting from continuous military activity. now this is very difficult to understand and accept by the colombian public. and that's what we've seen in this past day a lot of outrage here. and we'll have to see if some level of confidence can be rebuilt. >> and so do they need the confidence to be rebuilt before the talks actually resume again? do we know when they're likely to resume? >> well, the next round of talks starts on april 28th. that's next monday and will continue for two weeks until may the 8th. the negotiators have been working even through this very difficult week. they have agreements on three of the five substantial points of the agenda. but they're discussing what's probably the thorniest and most difficult point which is just

how to end this conflict. and especially what to do with the farc, how to demobilize, and if the rebel commanders will accept any prison time. so far they have rejected that, said they will not spend any time in prison. so it will be a very delicate balance they'll have to strike between what the rebels will be willing to accept and what the public will think to be some resolution of this very long conflict. >> thank you. >> john dew served until 2012, joins us from oxford this evening, very good to have with us. you see the attack last week as an attempt to get more concessions from the colombian government or that guerillas

can't get control of their own fighters. >> whichever one you choose, it's bad news for negotiations. but it may not be terminal. it is a serious crisis but peace processes oftentimes do have crises and there have been very few crises in this peace process. i think both sides are determined to find a way through but it's certainly had negative effect on public opinion in colombia. >> i want to get to that in a moment. the gloashtors in havana promised to keep the unilateral ceasefire on their part in place. could this attack have been just an isolated incident? the colombian government is still conducting operation he against drug trafficking illegal mining which is the main source of income for farc.

>> it is difficult to say. the farc have approved proved that they do have control over all of they're units. but it is certainly possible that this is a group that works under extreme pressure from narcotics operation and they decided to fight bark. >> as you said, public opinion is strongly against what is going on, president santos was booed on sunday. bounced back from the days it was terrorized by the drug cartels and the guerillas. could this really blow up the process? >> i don't think so. i think it's going to make life difficult for the president because the peace process has reached a staple where they're going to have some serious talking about what kind of transition april justice the farc would face if there was a peace settlement. the farc insisting not a single

day in jail. now that's almost impossible for the government to deliver because colombia signed up to the international criminal court. and serious war crimes you couldn't just give them amnesties like you did years ago. >> the colombian people seem to have very little confidence that the farc is serious about pursuing the peace. but let's say a peace is reached, what does happen with all these illegal operations that these guerilla groups are conducting will somebody else step in? >> yes i think they certainly will. because only 15% of the violence and killing in colombia is remitted to the farc and the fight against them. 85% of the violence is purely criminal. key thing is only the farc confronts police. >> are you optimistic? >> i'm reasonably optimistic.

i'm a lot less optimistic than i was last week. i think this is a set back, and it's a set back because we just don't know whether the farc is in control of their units whether the farc are trying put pressure on the government. but we do know that the negotiation is reaching a very difficult stage and patience is running out. somehow it's hard to see either side walking away. the government has invested very heavily in this peace process. it's its main flagship policy and the farc have nowhere else to go as an organization. >> our thanks. a wave of american executives and politicians are headed to cuba. be. >> coming up as some barriers come down many hope the trip will open the door to opportunity. >> and china's auto industry becomes the latest victim of an economic downturn.

why top politician he don't want to be caught driving a luxury car. car.

>> former president jimmy carter has been denied meetings with the prime minister and cab thet, due to what they call his antiisrael positions. carter was a vocal opponent of the issue last year. gls new york governor andrew quomo touched down in havana today. >> he is leading business delegations including executives from jetblue and pfizer. as daniel schwindler reports they are hoping that the decades old embargo will soon be lifted. >> reporter: the americans are coming but not in a way the cuban government had for so long anticipated. these visitors are here from a washington organization to talk about mutual understanding and

political cooperation. >> we finally came to the realization look if you do the same thing year after year, for 50 years and it doesn't work, maybe you should try something new. something else. and so we are now trying something else, at long last. >> reporter: many on both sides of the florida straits are anticipating and planning for substantial financial investment. the tourists are already here but this is just the beginning. plenty more visitors will be coming from the united states but they won't all be following tourist trail. many are coming to invest in a way that cuba hasn't seen for 50 years.but the u.s. economic embarembargo, cuba calls it a blockade. but without the intended

toppling the government. the intention in washington and havana is to have it lifted, in the meantime, preparations are being made. >> translator: they come as tourists but when you talk to them you find they are lawyers people working for american companies that ask about opportunities in cuba. >> the cuban authorities have been paving the way with this container port in mariel, west of havana. other business are keenly placed placed, anticipating the changes. >> we're not just happy having foreigners here, we want them to meet and mix we as cubans want to know people from other countries, in a space where we can talk share and exchange ideas. >> reporter: for many cubans however, not much has changed not yet. with change comes uncertainty

about what will be lost as well as what will be gained. the americans are coming while cubans wait with great expectation and some fear about what they will bring. daniel schwindler, al jazeera cuba. >> beijing plans to spend about $46 billion constructing roads railways and pipelines in pakistan analysts say this is a win win on both sides. china will gain direct access to the indian ocean. with this deal china now far exceeds u.s. spending in pakistan. one of the world's biggest and most important car shows is now open but the mood at utd shanghai isautoshanghai is more subdued.

adrian brown is there. >> 20 years ago owning an auto was a dream now the auto is the fastest growing market, documented once more by foreign brands. >> i think it's still growing i think it's still an exciting place in the world i think it's a lot of opportunities. >> but it's not all good news. car sales are declining here. falling from 13 to 7% this year. one of the reasons china's slowing economy. and there is a reason, the government's anticorruption campaign. officials don't want to be seen driving around in what even vaguely could be considered luxury models. sales of luxury cars remain in the slow lane. there are efforts to curb pollution and promote a domestic

car industry, the government wants energy conscious cars on the roads by 2020. manufactures say they are optimistic. >> when you walk around in the show and see what car makers have committed the future here in china is potentially brighter than rest of the world for electric vehicles. >> last month tesla has confirmed it was cutting jobs, amidst reports it has 2,000 unsold cars in china. discouraging success organizers have been polishing a new image as well. models in less clothes than normally a feature at such shows, they have been banned this year making the focus more auto, than show. adrian brown, al jazeera shanghai. they're descending on the

cap of kites in china. >> coming up, the culture of these flying works of art. are restricted. >> a silent killer. >> got a lot of arsenic in it. >> you know your water's bad and you know you're sick. >> unheard victims. >> 90 percent of the people will get some type of illness from the water. >> where could it happen next? >> i mean, they took away my life. >> "faultlines". al jazeera america's hard-hitting... >> today they will be arrested. >> ground-breaking... >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> emmy award-winning investigative series. water for coal. coming up next. only on al jazeera america.

>> weeknights on al jazeera america. >> join me as we bring you an in-depth look at the most important issues of the day. breaking it down. getting you the facts. it's the only place you'll find... the inside story. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". weeknights, 11:30 eastern. on al jazeera america. >> tomorrow night, the man known as the bookkeeper of auschwitz

goes on trial in germany. ofngoscar grunig. expected to be one of the last nazi trials. in our global news segment. we look at how various capitals are reacting to world events. the udithers over immigration. the crietions crisis on the mediterranean italy's mare nostrum was shelved to appease right wing sentiment. operation triton, run by frontex. italy's correa de la serra the editorial says the tragic deaths

of the mediterranean are quote evidence of another sad reality the nonexistence of europe. the article equates the smugglers to slave traders and lack of punishment louse the cycle to continue. deutsche vella says the estimated deaths of he 700 migrants makes it high time for the eu to act. mourning from politicians who deem search and rescue operations too expensive. >> in china thousands of competitors are welcoming the spring season with a colorful festival of kites. the high flying tradition dates back centuries. and as margaga ortiga reports. >> a sign of better days ahead. no one can stop kite enthusiasts

in wee weifung. he comesweifung. he comes from a generation of kite enthusiasts deemed impure in the cultural revolution. >> translator: the difference in chinese kites and foreign kites chinese ones focus a lot on shapes and paintings of kites. >> reporter: it is a traditional art form that he has turned into a business. when completed each kite tells a story. with shapes and colors symbolizing everything from harmony to prosperity to long life. they become flying works of art. tens of thousands of people come to weifung every year for kite

festival. there are competitors from all around the world all vying for the honor of becoming a kite master. anyone can fly a kite but to master it, and live with nature, the dragon symbolizes china itself and there is nothing more exhilarating than to look up in the sky and see a masterpiece. once a year it becomes a giant canvas celebrating their heritage. marta ortigas, al jazeera china. dressed in a kimono and smiling, her job is to interact with customers. like a human she can blink her eyes and move her lips when she talks. at the moment though she cannot

handle customer complaints. >> still very sophisticated. >> that is it for al jazeera's international hour. i'm barbara serra. >> i'm antonio mora, fault lines is up next. i'll see you again in an hour. >> bye-bye. ye. >> the mountains of west virginia have provided generations with jobs in coal. but on january 9th, 2014, the state woke up to an example of the costs of it's industrial economy. a tank containing a chemical used the process of coal production had leaked its