is kind of in my opinion an important thing. >> reporter: destroying the stockpile will take at least four years, and cost $4.5 billion. rob reynolds al jazeera, pueblo kra colorado. a reminder you can keep up to date with all of the news on our website. aljazeera.com. >> and protesters take to the streets of baltimore for a third day. now the justice department is investigating the death of a man injured while in police custody.

this is al jazeera america. good morning. live from new york city. i'm randall pinkston. the saudi-led coalition has launched more airstrikes in yes, ma'amyemen despite the commanders on the ground announced a new phase. we have more on the saudi border with yemen.

>> there was an announcement to the end of the war. that's in aden when tanks had position of the houthis were keeping areas expelled a few days ago. that's exactly in the area of the coastal line of aden where the presidential palace is located and some government buildings. also in taiz, airstrikes against houthi positions and houthi fighters when they tried to take the base of the brigade 35, which is loyal to president hadi. that's exactly what the saudis warned of when they announce the first phase of this war. as they called it, they said now we're on stand by. now we're going to take action only when it's necessary and only when the houthis try to take new territory and stage attacks against loyalists

president hadi. >> that's report from saudi arabia. the houthis have put out a statement calling for an immediate halt to further attacks and have the u.n. oversee political talks. the fighting and the airstrikes in yemen have taken a painful toll. the "world health organization" reports 944 deaths. 3500 injured and another 150,000 people displaced. a navy aircraft carrier has joined a group of u.s. ships off yemen's coast. last night they spoke to msnbc about the deployment. >> there is a reason why we keep some of our ships in the persian gulf region, that's to maintain freedom of navigation. what we've said to them is if their weapons are delivered to actions within yemen that could threaten navigation, that's a

problem. my hope is generally we can settle down the situation in yemen. that's always been a frack shoes country. it's very poor. >> we talk about the need to distribute needs in europe. >> today nearly 1,000 migrants rescued off the coast of italy was brought to shore. they have arrested hundreds of people who are planning to make that voyage. we have more now from catania

italy. >> well, the 436 migrants brought ashore to port half hour's drive south of where i'm standing in catania, they will now be looked at medically and taken to a reception center to recuperate. they were rescued from an area of sea and brought here to sicily to rescue centers here. the other thing that is on going at the moment is the court proceedings against the captain and the ship's mate from the boats that went down at the weekend with the loss we believe with as many as 100 lives. that would be the biggest single loss of life. and the stories coming out of the circumstances of that are pretty harrowing. >> that was paul. brennan reporting from britannia

britannia, italy. investigators in france say they may have prevented an imminent attack. the police rescue rescued a college student in paris where they found automatic weapons bullet-proof vests and computer equipment in his car and dorm room. the algerian native admitted to planning attacks in churches in a suburb, and he was linked to the death of a teacher who was shot in the head in the same bush. same suburb. european regulators say that that--rory challands is live in moscow.

>> we her the russian foreign minister who said this is sneaky by the e.u. they're back dating these charges unfairly. it's applying recent legislation to old gas contracts. gazprom itself, the company said that this is unfounded and it obeys the laws in all the countries that it operates in, and hopes that this situation can be sorted out with negotiations in inter governmental level. it has ten weeks to respond to the charges and it can also fight them off in the courts as well. if it doesn't manage to do that successfully then it's looking at fines running into billions and billions of dollars. >> rory, is there any indication that russia might retaliate, and if so, how will that retaliation take place? >> well, there are--there is

history here, and that russia had used gas in ways that have been accused of russia has been accused of in a political manner. that taps have been turned off to ukraine in years gone past, and various other disputes arisen within other countries and the european union. there are different scenarios these days. one is that the price of oil which is which gas is linked to has considerably weakened, also the european union has done a lot to make itself more self-sufficient and less reliant on russian gas. that all gives russia less of a bargainen chip, and less of a leverage point to use. >> i'm wondering rory, the e.u. has already imposed sanctions on russia because of its involvement in ukraine.

could this escalate that stand off? >> well, on paper this has nothing to do with what is going on in ukraine. ukraine is not a nebraska of the european union. this is a dispute between european union and gazprom. but of course ukraine is deeply involved in all of this. russia is involved in ukraine. the e.u. is involved in ukraine. there is a lot of exacerbation. we'll see. >> thank you rory challands in moscow. the u.s. says that missiles will be used to protect europe but russia calls the program a threat to moscow. the move comes just days after russia threatened poland over

its involvement in a larger american missiles program. well the senate could vote as soon as tomorrow whether to approve loretta lynch as the next attorney general. that vote has been delayed. the republicans held up the the vote because of legislation of human trafficking. the repatriate act would authorize controversial provisions for another five years including the nsa's domestic surveillance authority. well there are two new studies out adding fuel to the debate over fracking. researchers say they have linked the drilling method to a series of small earthquakes. residents say they hope this

will lead to changes. >> meredith's land sits on gas gas-rich shale deposits. since drilling began next door, she said her land has not sat still. >> do you see how low it is sitting? there is a sinkhole underneath the house. >> she lives in reno, texas. from november 2013 to january january 2014 reno and it's neighbor azel were hit with 27 earthquakes. researchers studied the activity and conclude oil and gas fracking most likely is to blame. >> i told so you. >> for reno marilyn da stokes the new report is vindication. >> they said forever that we didn't know what we were talking about. >> the report comes the same day that the state of oklahoma said it had accepted scientific evidence that fracking had caused hundreds of earthquakes there. that state was shook by 600

quakes last year. more than any other state in the country. officials launched a website detailing the evidence, plotting earthquakes along side fracking disposal wells. aside from the fuel, waste water is injected back in the wells. in a statement more study was needed. there may an link between earthquakes and disposal wells but we still don't know about how much waste water injection impacts oklahoma's underground faults. back in texas lawmakers are considering a bill that could help oil and gas companies by stripping local officials by their ability to ban fracking. >> the citizens in arlington had to evacuate around a drilling because it was spewing up

fracking fluids, and this would say you cannot regulate anything that is happening below the ground. >> what the state is telling us is we don't have a tort say we don't want earthquakes. that really bothers me. they got what they wanted out of our land and in the process they have destroyed it. >> house bill 40 has been approved in the texas state house p now it a waits a vote in the state senate. al jazeera. >> the u.s. department of justice is now investigating the death of a baltimore man who suffered severe injuries while in police custody. hundreds gathered for a rally in a vigil last night demanding justice. >> ray died sunday a week after he was arrested. he suffered a severe spinal cord injury. the police chief said he cannot explain how ray was hurt.

>> we have no statement or video of any physical use of force. there was no physical bodily injury that we saw nor was it evident in the autopsy of mr. gray. >> they say they plan to rally again tomorrow in front of baltimore city hall. decades after leaving the drenches chemical weapons used in world war i are finally decommission: we'll look at the facility doing the dirty work. and how a prison is learning to build websites out access to the web.

>> proceedings were pushed back until next week. the pair free on bail while

being retried on charges they aided the now banned muslim brotherhood. mohamed fahmy, baher mohammed deny those allegations. a sign of thawing relations between japan and china. the two countries' leaders met for only the second time on the sidelines of a summit in jakarta today. china is demanding an official apology for japan for atrocity ies committed during world war ii. a protest today inside hong kong's legislature as government considered considered an election reform propose. the package deal allows china to screen potential candidates. thousands of people demonstrated last year demanding to choose their own candidates for office. well, it's been a century since lethal chemical weapons were first used during world war i. now almost all countries have signed a treaty to destroy their stock piles. in the u.s. engineers are working to eliminate the last

supply of must arrested gas. it's a process that could take years. >> at a high tech military installation in colorado, a small army of workers in protective gear assisted by precision pro robots destroying chemical weapons. >> it's a high hazard operation. we have explosion hazards and we have agent hazards. we've spend a lot of time on training to make sure that our workforce is ready to complete chemical weapons destruction. chemical gas were not effective on the battlefield but they terrified and demoralized the men in the trenches. mustard gas can cause severe burns

blindness, suffocation and a lingering painful death. the vast majority of remaining poison gas is stored near the colorado plant. full scale weapons destruction will begin in october. they will be taken apart. soaked in chemicals blasted in high pressure water and would strip away every trace of poison. >> these are used for training purposes only. they don't have any chemical weapons inside of them. but there are 780,000 real shells at this facility. >> some shells that are leaking and that have been damaged are already being destroyed.

it's not dramatic, but the charges neatly split the shells, which are then treated with chemicals. >> mustard gas is neutralized. we rotate the vessel in no more than an hour. and then it has been broken down and destroyed all the mustard agent. >> the experts who do this pain taking work say it's a deeply satisfying job. >> chemical weapons are the worst thing going. they're dirty nasty and getting rid of them n my opinion, an important thing. >> destroying the stock pile will take four years and cost $4.5 billion. rob reynolds, pueblo, colorado. >> in the u.s. most prisoners are not allowed to use computers, but that has not stopped some from learning how

to code. they're training inmates for release in an unusual way. >> i'm about to go inside. the prison known as san quenton the first maximum facility built in. california. you don't really think about coming out of this place, but we're about to meet prisoners who are here, not only to come back in the world but prepared for skills that they'll need for the modern economy. the process of getting into san quenton is long and complicated. you have to sign a form that the prison will not negotiate for your release if you're taken hostage. once inside you're on your own. you're searched for contraband. you can't even take in a cell phone. throughout the process you're constantly having to prove your identity again and again. we eventually made it deep inside the facility that cameras rarely see. we're taken past the yard.

past places especially built to house prison gangs and really scary places. and then suddenly we were inside a teching debate. watching harry henfield graduate from a program that teaches prisoners to build websites. when he came to san quenton for a 16 year sentence for assault he has had not had access to the internet. it's forbidden in the prison. so he has had to learn in the abstract. >> until i'm released i won't know what is going on, but i do feel that i have the tooling to forward. >> tonight we'll take you into one of the most for bidding prisons in the country and introduce you to a new industry, web developers hopeing to learn to live in the modern world while learning from behind bars.

>> you can watch the full report tonight at 8:00. starting today an indoor smoking ban took place in new orleans. louisiana state law had already banned smoking in restaurant and some clubs that followed suit voluntarily. >> residents of another louisiana town say they're being ignored after a sinkhole swallowed their homes. two companies are battling out in court to see who is to blame.

>> this morning we learned that pope francis will visit cuba this fall. the pope will stop by the island in september on his way to the u.s. the pope was instrumental in launching negotiations to begin to restore diplomatic ties between the u.s. and cuba. a huge sinkhole began swallowing the town in louisiana almost three years ago. since then 350 people have been

chased from their homes. the few who stayed are now battling the salt mining company that they say was responsible for the disaster. robert ray has their story. >> reporter: it seems like this that prompted many residents to leave. >> it's a very disheartening to me. it's very personal. very sad. very sad. >> dennis calls this his paradise despite the natural gas still bubbling up from the sinkhole. he says he will die here. >> the beautiful houses right across the highway right here, i'm fulling expecting texas brian to level those houses and they said they're going to convert it to green space. i hate to see all those good people leave. >> texas brian has bought 150 homes and paid residents

$48 million in compensation after a class action lawsuit in the wake of the sinkhole collapse. now the company has filed suit against their cooperate neighbor dowell chemical. now the sinkhole is 32 acres over my shoulder about 300 yards away. they say that it's stabilized, and it hasn't had much activity in the past ten moss. but text brine would like to drill down and extract salt, but they cannot do that because of new regulations in the state of louisiana. the reason is dow chemical owns a lot of land here and it's too close to texas brine land. they have to be 200 feet away to conduct business. that's what the complaint is all about. text brine we asked them, why do they want to begin salt

mining again in an area decimated by the underground collapsed caused by their own work. they wrote a short response saying we will not be able to speak with you. our goal is to continue providing sodium chloride to our industrial customers. lawyers for dow chemical refused to speak with us, as well. but as the two battle it out in corn they say the residents say they're the ones being neglected. john beaudro is concerned that texas brine wants to excavate again and adds that the company is taking way too long to remove potentially dangerous natural gas sitting underneath the ground. >> they need to be more aggressive put more wells done and do this more quickly.

>> this is my good friend's house. he decided to leave. >> and they've watched the paradise to disappear and the reality of the situation has taken its toll. >> i wanted to save the community i helped to build. >> do you think you did or do you think its lost? >> i think i--i think i scored about a 40 on the test. i don't think i did too well. i never thought--i never thought for a moment we would be down to a nine residents on sportsman drive. >> landry's friends are gone. his neighborhood will likely be demolished in the next year. yet life here goes on while big business fights and their customers await product. robert ray al jazeera louisiana. >> it's earth day and it's celebrated around the world. an italian astronaut tweeted this image of earth from outer space. i'm randall pinkston.

thank you for joining us on al jazeera america. >> you welcome to the al jazeera news hour. saudi arabia fires against houthi rebels just hours after announcing the end of the air campaign. and 113,000 people have now fled fighting from the iraqi city of ramadi. i was underwater for five minutes thinking, god god god. >> also this hour we hear from one of the survivors of the