or 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 the justice department.

this is al jazeera america live from new york city, i'm tony harris, right now debating loretta lynch's nomination. a final vote is expected this afternoon she was nominated five months ago to replace eric holder that is a longer wait time than for anyone of the seven previous attorney generals. republican leaders had delayed the vote. libby casey live for us in the washington good to see you debate has begun i understand with some domic senators criticizing how long this whole process has taken. that's right tony, we do expect to see a time vote this afternoon so this is the last chance to complain, and talk about just how long this had

taken. the president put her name forward back in november. and we just taw chuck shoulder talk on the floor he has called it disgraysful he blames republicans for obstruction, and delay. now republicans are also using these last couple of hours to get in their 2 cents as well as the justice department overall. we have heard from the likes of senator chuck graphly now he is a top -- republican on the judiciary committee. very influential that's the one he had to testify before back in january. and senator graph says he is not going to support lynch in this final vote. it is less about her and more about the policies of the justice department, that she has been nominated to leave. so this is a last round to go on the record and get their opinion in here. we see a time vote. tony. >> so senator grass' vote no

with standing are the votes there to confirm loretta lynch? >> it does look likely because it takes five domes to push her over the threshold needed and we have seen five republicans say they plan to support her so it is a likely confirmation. sickty sick senators voted to move forward on her nomination not that many senators will likely vote for her as a final candidate but that was a bit of a bipartisan push to at least bring her name to the floor for this final official vote and a lot of the delay hasn't been about limp herself, controversial though it is with republicans it's been about unrelated issues like a human trafficking bill, and republicans say we are not going to bring her name forward until we get other business done. >> libby casey for ugh, thank you. president obama is apologizing to the american

and italian families of two hostages accidentally killed in a counter terrorism operation in january. the if the says he decided to declassify the operation because the families in his words deserve to know the truth. al jazeera senior white house correspondent with more. >> if you were to choose the president's mood outside of system bei would say it was rueful. he seems to get emotional at 1 point during that statement he has spoken many times about how heavily these sort of things weigh on him, and now tragically, the death of two american citizens long held hostage. dr. winestein has been taken from pakistan where he had been using with the u.s. government on small businesses helping pakistani small businesses get up off the ground. taken from his place of resident said to be the

country that he loved some three years ago, there was concern from the winestein family sat with them after the release of the controversial release of beau berghdal you recall that prisoner swap for five individual whose had been held lisa sat down with the family they expressed home at the time that something similar could be worked out unfortunately we find today that a counter terrorism operation, which we assumed to be a drone strike, has resulted in his death along with the italian citizen now to another developing story david patraeus the retired general and former head of the c.i.a. was convicted of sharing top secret information, with his biographer and misstress. robert gray is outside the courthouse in charlotte north carolina. >> this was filed here is the

plea deal filed here on march 3rd, what this means is that the lawyers for the united states government are not recommending any prison time what they are recommending is that the judge decide a $40,000 fine, that they have to pay within one week of sentencing. they think this plea deal with occur this afternoon, at about 2:00 o'clock when the sentencing begins. now, if we look at the charges that the general is pleading guilty too many of them are pretty interesting the highly confidential material,

reportedly includes identities of covert intelligence officers and war strategy. even notes from high level security meetings, and so these are things that clearly the government does not want anyone to see now his misstress did not include those information. >> he shays it when he shouldn't have. >> european leaders say they are committing new resources to the crisis. and steadily the wreck. more on what is being discussed. >> the purpose of the meeting from the points of view of the european leadership was to try to make it look as if they were in control of events. but in terps of getting on top of fit their point of view, wayis clear is they are not prepared to do is turn this crisis into an opportunity for much bigger eare settlement

perhaps even the idea for united nations that rich countries could resettle hundreds of thousands of people is absolutely out of bounds and indeed, the former belgium prime minister and journalists earlier on saying the only two countries in the peteing today that have been at all interesting in much bigger immigration has been germany and sweden and so any sort of motional ideas of redrawing immigration policies are for another day. but the immediate concern for them is to try to argue that saving lives is the priority, and to do that stops people getting on the boats in the first place. now, in their terms they would say that's the immediate priority but you just ask yourself supposing you are asking these things un -- from africa and you think well, really is -- is blowing boats up the best response that europe can do? it doesn't look like a very warm welcome. >> another 200 highn't grays

arrived this morning to the port. our barn biphillips was there. >> shortly after dawn, at italian cues. toes ship arrived and it was packed with african migrants that had been picked up, at sea, off the libyan coast. in two different incidents. thankfully we are not hearing of any fatalities. i watched both migrants disembark in the port here, the vast majority of them were young men that were a hand full of women among themselves including some pregnant women so there is no indication in other words that this flow of humanity, is going to stop. in fact, quite the opposite. if what happens in 2015 is consistent with the trends of previous years we would in fact expect that flow to increase as summer approaches as the weather gets warmer and as the seas get calmer. >> saudi arabia says an end to the violence is now in the hands of the houthis. coalition air strikes continue

today, the campaign would end the saudi embassador to the united states as diplomacy is the only solution to the conflict. mohamed has more. >> they are supported by soldiers from the thirty-fifth break dade. but they are still unable to push the houthis rebels and the soldiers loyal to former president from the city. >> a similar scene is here, in the south of adan these are members of the popular resistant communities they say fighting continued here on tuesday night and since the early hours of wednesday. in washington the saudi ambassador said the situation required continued military action. >> we are seeing movement that

is very disturbing in the city of adan. where we see scrimmage imagines and we see movement of houthis troops introduce adan from three different directions. from clashes also result in the areas of the province, and in the province. on what is the saudi led coalition, fighters and adan. but the houthis seem far from being broken they have marred in the city that they still control. renews leaders to the houthis leader. yemen army soldiers and officers loyal to the lootties and to the former president join the march. >> we took to the street to condemn shelling of civilians

bombarding of residential areas we are telling them shame on you why don't you face us on the ground, we will always face you. >> the houthis say they won this war and any peace deal should be based on their early agreement with yemen political parties q was signed last september the day after they took control of the capitol. >> meanwhile the human toll is continues to rise. >> the houthis target any woman, child or any man they simply were randomly thatting all of us. >> we are not longer able to receive more cases we are putting patients now in the corridors and reception at least nine patients in each room we don't have enough medical equipment and medicine. the international community has declared the humanitarian situation as catastrophic.

the coalition says it has launched a new operation with the aim of resoaring peace but so far there are no signs of a peaceful resolution coming up on al jazeera america, a billion dollars deal to pay retired nfl players for pain damage suffered in the game.

the family of michael brown has file add wrongful death lawsuit. brown was fatally shot by a white police officer last summer. in the lawsuit his family is accusing darren wilson of destroying evidence, and interfering in the investigation. the family is seeking $75,000 in damages the justice department and the franked jury did not charge wilson over the shooting. some parts of mexico are so riddled with drug related violence, the government teams up with vigilante groups to

fight cartels. until recently, was one of those places but as adam reports a massacre there has left residents fearful of the police. >> killed in the cross fire, and massacred by mights, it is unclear what this cell phone video really showed. but according to an investigation, the police opened fire on members of vigilante groups. this contradicts the government story that nine people died in friendly fire. we have come to this safe house to say they were attacked that day. >> the police were hooded and aimed their rifles at us, we raised our hands and said don't shoot and they started shooting. >> one of the leaders of this group, known as the viagras they call themselves self defense forces or vigilantes, authorities say they are part of a drug gang.

it is hard to tell where one's allegiances lie. most of the men were allegedly in town that day. all i could see was people dieing and getting shot. they were kneeing them in the knees and shooting them. >> the last time we met this group was gnarly a year ago when they were working with state police to bring down mexico's most wanted men. now he feels he can't even do to town. this woman says she witnessed the shooting that arrived on her doorstep that day she asked to remain anonymous. >> they only have sticks and rocks to defend themselves. police and federal authorities refused to talk to us about the report. now in a new post, he maintains that killings were as a result of cross fire.

>> it is still a very violent place, and in the past they used to coordinate their efforts but the vigilantes we have been speaking to say they will never trust the federal police again he says his men are running and that they never fired some of what happened was caught on cameras but the truth from that day may never fully come to light al jazeera mexico. >> chili's volcano has erupted twice many the last 24 hours after been dormant for more than 40 years. a huge ash cloud has prompted evacuation orders. a alexia has more. >> a reminder of the earth's fury. as the volcano rolls 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 but later it grew, and there was a huge cloud over me, and i got scared. >> chili has issued a red alert, closing local schools and airports and ordered anyone nearby to leave quickly. we are going to increase the evacuation zone from ten-kilometers to 20, and we are asking anyone nearby to evacuate the area, and take all precaution measures for safety. that sent locals scrambling and as the clouds grew so did the cues for the petrol pumps. >> it was impressive to see an enormous mushroom cloud with the immense volcano and to see the ash at that point there was a lot of panic chaos traffic jams.

people going to super markets everyone looking for water. and while there has been no lava yet authorities are watching this eruption closely alexius brian, al jazeera. >> a federal judge has approve add major settlement over head trauma in the nfl. the agreement called for payments up to $5 million per player $1 billion over an estimated 65 years that's how much and how long it the cake for the nfl to pay thousands who will sufferer the long term effects. most corporations after 30 years they finally take care of that guy not just award him a gold rolex in a class action

lawsuit on average, each player will get about $190,000. but that number could reach as high as $5 million for players diagnosed with parkinsons or lou garrick's disease. the players that die as a result of chronic brain trauma will also be eligible for higher pay outs. the agreement sets aside $10 million for education about concussions. not just those famed in the suit but 200 players have opted out of the class action suit, so they can continue pursuing damages on their own if they wish. among them the family of nfl legend junior say you after he committed suicide in 2012, rearmingers found his brain was wracked by concussion related disease. am i going to commit the prime of my life to something that can be detrimental to my

health? as part of the settlement, they will not have to admit any prior knowledge of a link between football and chronic brain injuries. the nfl lawyers welcomed the judge decision in a statement the lead council said we look forward to implements the terms of the settlement and continues to work with our players coaches and medical staff to enhance the safety and benefits of football. current lead plaintiff guyed this statement. this settlement represents peace of mind to me, and to the thousands of other retired player whose do not have serious symptoms but worry about what the future may hold. payments won't be made until all appeals are heard so it may be months or years until the nfl pays on this settlement. al jazeera, new york and happens right now the senate has voted on the nomination of loretta lynch. a live report is coming up next.

>> and before we bring libby in let me just give you a little bit of a taste of the vote that's going on right now. mr. schumer, mr. schumer, aye. mr. bennett, mr. mccain, no.

okay so there you go. a couple of jay votes followed by a no from senator john mccain. libby casey is following this for us i guess that's to be expected that senator mccain would vote no, but i guess the question i asked you is about to be answered, libby are the votes there for this? >> it does look like they are. we have seen five republicans vote in the affirmative so far, you can see this is on going, roll call right now but the key number was five republicans who join with democrats and independents. she needs 50 votes technically, if it is a tie joe biden would break that by voting for her but the white house would like to see her get more than that, of course. so as long as all the democrats are present and accounted for and cast a vote yes, this is looking good for her, i have to tell you we

are hearing reports that members of the congressional black caucus, on the house side are watching this vote, also members of loretta lynch's family. a lot view this -- but important for the african-american community because she would be the first female african american general. >> so remember by, remind us again of why this has taken so long. >> it has taken so long for a couple of reasons one republicans did have concerns about the justice department, the direction that it's headed in the they do not like eric holder we thought this might go faster because as soon as she is sworn in as the next attorney general that's when we seer rick holder go away.

they would not move forward on lynch, until they got that other business done. some were even using language they are sending her to the back of the bus. so there were some real concerns about why this was taking so long, now we are seeing that she does have 51 yes votes now so that means that she has the votes locked up. 20 the designee, and then we will see her take that position. but it looks like think does have the vote to become the next attorney general. >> thank you for the language, so libby when was she nominated? >> back in november. five months ago and she has been waiting longer than the last seven attorneys general

combined. and so that's one reason why there's been a outcry over this and in the past where there have been delays it's often been because of the individuals themselves. their positions their substance, not so in this case. so this has. about the obama administration. >> there you go, some have views it as a way to punish the administration, buzz clearly, there was no linkage between this nomination, and an immigration bill. libby, i can't wait to see your reporting later today. for us, and thank you for joining us, news continues next live from london.

as president and commander in chief, i take full responsibility. >> president obama reveals to hostages have been killed in a u.s. operation a state of emergency is declared as a volcano sends ash 20-kilometers into th