dlines you can go to our website, aljazeera.com. ♪ ♪ ♪ . >> funerals are held for some of the migrants victims of this week's boat sinkings. officials try to find a solution to the growing problem. i am lauren taylor, this is al jazeera live. also coming up. >> as president and as commander in chief i take full responsibility. >> president obama reveals two hostages have been killed in a u.s. operation against al quaida. as saudi jets launch new air strikes houthis rebels demand a complete halt as a pre-season for talks. from top general to disgraced

criminal, david patraeus awaiting sentencing for leaking secret military information. >> a european leaders are holding an merge summit on the growing refugee crisis in the mediterranean sea. more than 1,000 people have arrived at the italian port in the past 24 hours. under the discussion, doubling the cash and equipment available to two e.u. border patrol missions in the mediterranean. establishing a military and civilian mission to capture and destroy the boats before highn't grays board them, and resettling five to 10,000 refugees from mediterranean countries in ore states. lawrence lee reports. here they were, white europeans and black africans

alike, right outside the european council meeting outraged at people have been left to die in the sea. so close to such rich countries. >> they should give refuge to all of them, families with children including. >> many of these people say a lack of basic rights the crisis has brought all these grievances to a head this process is about anger and injustice but there's something else here as well, and it is this these see and tragedies an opportunity to force europe's leaders to change their policies on impression. >> the british prime minister offer add warship to the mediterranean behind a narrative of humanitarian rescue. the beaus way to stop people drowning said the president of the european council was to stop them getting on the boats in the first place.

>> saving the lives of independent people is, of course the number one priority for us. but, saving lives is not only about rescuing people at sea it's also about fighting smugglers and preventing migration floats. >> all of which was met with absolutely fury, by friends of the refugees. >> really important to change not to the narrative but the actual policies to make more humane to stop criminalizing these communities we see how they are being criminalized through fingerprinting racial profiling chasing and chasing undocumented migrants all of these policies need to be addressed and approach is just wrong all together. while this is doing on, your as leaders with an eye on election have to say they want to stop this, yet also want to keep people they described as

irregular migrants out this most definitely is not. >> and lawrence joins us from that meeting in brussells. positive movement from the rooms the british offer of the warship and patrol boats and the irish government as often as well as lithuaniaens are saying that they want to help as well. the dutch are saying -- but other countries need to do more but bear in mind, it is being made clear that even the total amount of spin on this may be up near the level the former italian operation which is the way it's being put. there won't be another search and rescue information it will be an expanded version of

the front tex border control. fair enough, but if the absolutely immediate obligations to try to stop people from dieing in the the sea, when these ships may be out in the water we don't know quite yet so that's not brilliant, even if it is in the terps of setting themes which is to stop people. from the getting on the boats in the first place if you go on from there what about these five or 10,000 that you may want to resettle the answer is the swedes and germans are very keep on a bigger resettlement program and smaller european countries doing tower own bit as well. but then you get bulgaria, soying there's too many muslims coming in the. so the idea that there's speaking with one voice on this which had after all been the aspiration of the meeting seem as long way from that, and obviously all sort of refugee groups and migrant groups are saying this is becoming a massive missed opportunity by the european

union properly to embrace what has gone wrong and to try to resettle people who are fleeing war. now this news conference happens they will say this is the most we can do at the moment the rest is up for discussion later on, i dare say if you look at this from parts of africa, why it is the union to offer to blow up boats belonged to smugglers it doesn't really look tick the sort of humanitarian response that the european union claims to be potentially offering to all these refugees. >> lawrence lee, thank you indeed. barnabie phillips joins us live now on the italian island of sicily. lawrence just now talking about the idea of bloating up boats how practical would that be and what are people telling you about that whole area of destroying the boats themselves. >> there does have to be a

finite supply of boats and we have seep some implications that smuggling gangs are worried about this. we have seen them defending their boats with weapons against the italian coast guard, so that's an end case that they want to hang on them. so we have also been speaking to groups that say they notice signs for instance that many of the boats that have been crossing over in recent weeks are increasingly rickety really pulled together with string and tape as it were. compares to the boats that may have been use fire department previous yearses. gone, that is a discussion that there are only so many decent boats that they can use in libya. however, on the draft proposal that the european union leaders were looking at, they were talking about destroying these and that's a bold initiative, that means

going essentially to libyan ports and taking them out there, 90% of these boats originate in libya and it remains to be seen that governments can sum up the political will and stomach to do something like that and it also raises ethical issues because there are many tens of thousands perhaps hundreds of thousands of african whose have made their way to libya and have found conditions there to be extremely dangerous, and hostile. and who want to get out. and if boats destroyed how are they going to get out okay barnabie phillips thank you very much indeed for that live update there. >> u.s. president barack obama has offered his condolences for the deaths of an american and italian hostage who were

killed during u.s. drone strikes. warren weinstein died during the operation in the afghan pakistan border, along with an al quaida leader. including hundreds of hours of surveillance we believe this was a compound that no civilians were present and that capturing these terrorists was not possible. and we do believe that the operation did take out dangerous members of al quaida. what we did not know that they were hiding the presence of giovanni in this same come pound. >> joining us live from washington d.c., give office flavor of reaction to the story there. >> well, certainly there's a lot of condolences coming from both republicans and democrats

on capitol hill. somewhere in pakistan, back in january. you are not seeing much in the way of criticism of the barack obama administration. that said, the president announced earlier on thursday, that there is going to be a review of exactly what happened and how it was that the u.s. did not though that weinstein were at this location where there were apparently al quaida members. other person who was killed in that drone strike, happened to be an american, but had -- had joined al quaida so there is some legal questions about whether it was legal to kill him, although he apparently wasn't the target. this is a very very

complicated situation did the u.s. have other options for going after these targets. did it have to rely on drone strikes because apparently the pam administration policy is drone strikes only when there is no other option. and that's going to be one of the questions that this independent review will be addressing. >> in the meantime, drone strikes are very popular aren't they with president obama? he has used them a lot perhaps more than predecessors. >> la said, the number in drone strikes has dropped from nearly 150 in the past year to just about four or five this year. 2015. there's also been it seems a slow down as it were in the number of drop strikes against members of al quaida in the arabian peninsula who are headquartered in yemen and that's because of the on going strike in that country.

but the argument has always been if it means that forces are not going to be put in a precarious situation which is something that u.s. citizens don't like to see then they will use that option. if this trying to go after these targets whether it was possible to do so without using unmanned aerial vehicles that are known as drones. thank you for that clarification there. still ahead on the program lacking expertise the special envoy to syria coming under attack by his former advisor. and a state of emergency as a vol kane know sends ash 20-kilometers into the sky.

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they talked about doubling resources and finding way to destroy the boats before migrants board them. >> funerals for 20 formupants and they parished in the capsizing of the boat which is thought to have claimed more than 800 lives. >> president obama had offered his condolences for the death of an american and italian hostage that were killed

during drone strikes in january. the saudi led coalition has launched more air strikes. as a condition for talks gnarly 2.5000 air missions have been carried out during the campaign. saudis say that 95% of the air defenses in hand oz if houthiss have been destroyed. nicole johnson reports. >> before the war adan was a busy city. now tense rumble through the streets. these men are loyal to the president and exile. they support the odd yeah arabia led campaign to restore him to power. >> we urge you to continue your operation because it is what -- and we in the south we salute you.

>> there have been street battles between pro.com forces and houthis rebels. >> and the air strikes haven't stopped either. >> two days ago they indicated that the aerial bombing was over. but early on thursday morning adan abdaley were hit again. after a month of bombing most people want the war to end. >> we hope for things to calm down and for them to become safe and for the houthis militants to leave aid and go back to their areas. >> the capitol has been badly damaged. this is a city with a world heritage listed her toysic center but outside old senna cars have been hit. >> people search for their things some blame the politician.

the victims are as a result of what politicians have done to yemen. >> where long lines have formed for food, a political solution to the conflict seem as long way off. saudi arabia says it has ended the first phase of operation decisive storm. it's been replaced with operation remember newel of hope. forced out of their homes every day is a struggle, and there's no clear sign that saudi arabia is about to end it's war in yemen. nicole johnston, al jazeera. >> government air strikes have killed 32 people according to activists. the observatory says says the piggest loss of life. these pictures released online appear to show the after math of strikes on the outskirts of the capitol.

the special envoy proofed the u.n. security council about the start of his imminent freeze plan for aleppo. but that plan never got off the ground, in an exclusive interview, the former chief political affairs advisor says the plan failed because of the way they ran the office. al jazeera james bays explained. >> no one doubts that stefan has one of the toughest jobs jobs in global diplomacy. he is the u.n. special envoy charged with trying to bring peace to syria a place that has seen more bloodshed than anywhere else in the western u.s. until recently, he was employed as the principle advisor, he has now decided to speak out expressing dissatisfaction with the way they have been running the mission. >> i think over time, it became increasingly clear that we were enganged in what was even the best of

circumstances amounting to no more than a rather meaningless side show, that is doing nowhere. >> he is particularly critical of the way he announced his plan for a cease fire or freeze in aleppo, he briefed the press after informing the security council in the a close session. >> it should be something that freezes the conflict in that area. it is claimed at this point he hadn't properly floated the idea with the government or the opposition. >> the total absence of preparatory work, and that guaranteed that you wouldn't get a freeze you were going to get frostbite. >> dim ma is the third person to hold the job his predecessors were former secretary general and diplomate. >> in my experience, in trying to deal with these issues, he was very much out of his depth. he simply wasn't up to the

task, and i don't mean so much as a personal criticism, as an observation that he simply doesn't have the right background and expertise. >> and he makes this charge. >> there was a very serious issue of -- to put it bluntly chronisim. and dojo personnel decisions where those with whom he felt a particularly close professional connection, irrespective of the fact that they were also completely out of their depth and simply were not equipped to deal with these issues were given almost unlimited responsibilities. >> when he last briefed the security council two months ago, dima told them about the imminent start of his aleppo freeze plan. now that plan is dead, and he is going to brief them about a

new initiative a series of talks. but given the scathing criticism of him some may be asking whether he is the right person to lead a new process. al jazeera. of the united nations. >> he says the u.n. has great confidence and refutes the came that no preparations were made for the planned cease fire. >> i think he presented this idea of a freeze, to the security council and then to the press but prior to that, he had been in damascus, it had extensive consultations with the government, he and his team had also had discussions with various opposition groups and i think he announced it because he saw a willingness to move forward on the freeze, so i think the fact that soy that there was no prep work, i think is a

mischaracterization of the situation. due to be sentenced in the u.s. for leaking highly -- a scandal red to the resignation in 2012. >> kimberly is in charlotte north carolina where he is set to be sentenced. when do we expect them to be in court? well general david patraeus has already walked into the courtroom. it is astounding to believe that we are standing here, one of the most highly visible generals in the united states, who was sort of a common household name during the wars in iraq, haley decorated and highly respected among some of the most powerful leaders in the united states. but now, he is going to be

striking a plea deal with the department of justice last month. as well as government information, information that we are told in court documents revealed the identities of covert intelligence officers as well as war strategies. this information was passed on to his biographer, as well as his lover at the time, and it was during this investigation by the fbi that this information was revealed that it had been passed on. so this count that he is pleading guilty to. they are likely to remember mend a more lenient sentence just a $40,000 fine, and no jail time at all just two years proface. >> thank you indeed. >> thousands of south africans have rallied against a recent wave of anti-immigrant violence.

six people have been killed and thousands of others have been left homeless. carl stratford reports. >> they marched in solidarity. in p south africans alike. the message is clear, no acing thats against south africans. school children, religious leaders and foreign workers joined the march. >> we have to be united moving forward. it has to stop. >> we all bleed red on the inside it doesn't matter where you come from, at the

end of the day we are all just human and trying to get through it together. >> hundreds of foreigners have left the country. in fears of attacks there was receiptment among some locals that formers are taking their jobs. the attacks have brought shame to this nation, one that struggled against racism for so long. >> the myth is we -- all south african that's why we mobilized our civil society. it is not good for the image of south africa, let us come together and march together. >> the government has launch add pead yeah campaign. it has set up the special committee focused on reaching out to communities it has deployed the army for what it describes as hot spots. >> we meet, we must continue to work together, if and when the violence stops so we never again have a situation like this.

>> in 2008, more than 60 people were killed in another wave of violence, the government said then, as now the policy and unemployment were among the root causes. those problems still exist today. and voices calling for change, are growing louder. al jazeera. >> nigerian soldiers are reported to have retreated from boko haram's last strong hold, a day after they began an offensive to root them out. they have pulled back from the forest, over worrying that the area has been bobby p thats after three pro government vigilantes were killed by a land mind. the forest is around 100-kilometers from the village where more than 200 school girls were kidnap adder yo ago. intelligence officials thought they were being held there but have failed to find them.

the truce was announced to allow them to go back to their homes. the city is a key target of forces loyal to the recognized libyan government chili's most dangerous volcanos has erupted for a second time in a day. some 5,000 people have been moved out from the around the volcano, the concern is growing as ash spreads across the region. alexa reports. >> a reminder of the earth's fury as the volcano roars into life, sending ash and smoke into the sky. this time lapse video capturing the moment it erupted for the first time in 43 years. >> at the beginning it was small, and i got really scared. >> chili has issued a red alert. closing local schools and

airports and orders anywhere nearby to leave quickly. >> we are going to increase the evacuation zone, and asks anyone nearby to evacuate the area and take all precautionary measures for safety. >> that sent letle cas scrambling and as the clouds crew so did the cues for the pumps. it was impressive to see an enormous mushroom cloud with the immensity of the volcano and see the ash at that point there was a lot ofen paic, chaos, traffic jabs people going to super markets everyone looking for water. is considered one of the most dangerous of chili's 90 active volcanos and why there's no lava yet authorities are watching this closely. al jazeera. keep you up to date with our

website, the address for that is aljazeera.com details there of president obama announces the death of two hostages in the u.s. drone strike, in the last few minutes the white house has said that the u.s. government will provide compensation to the kill hostages families. aljazeera.com, our website. on behalf of the united states my offer our deepest apologies to the families. the president offers condolences after two hostages held by al quaida were killed in a counter terrorism operation. general david patraeus is being sentenced today for leaking classified documents and it's been five months in the making today the senate votes on whether loretta lynn should be in the charge of