>> there is an urgent need to respond in an immediate and joint way. >> the eu seeks international support for its plan to find and destroy people smugglers both in the mediterranean sea. while in asia hundreds of migrants have been rescued off malaysia and indonesia but hundreds more are feared trapped. hello there i'm julie mcdonald, this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up. the saudi led coalition steps up strikes on yemen's houthis ahead of a ceasefire.

amid continued unrest, europe cuts millions of dollars of aid to burundi. and a picasso masterpiece that's expected to become the world's most expensive painting. >> hello there welcome to the program. we begin with the growing problem of people smuggling and trafficking, which is becoming increasingly urgent for governments in europe and in asia. in the past two days about 2,000 migrants from myanmar and bangladesh have arrived in indonesia and malaysia, rescued swimming ashore, we'll have more on that situation in a moment. first, the european union has asked the u.n. for help, in migrant smuggling across the mediterranean sea almost 1,000

migrants have reached italy and malta since 2015, a huge increase on last year. >> not only a humanitarian emergency but also a security crisis since smuggling networks are linked to in some case finance terrorist activities which contributes to instability in a region that is already unstable enough. addressing this situation is first of all a moral duty for us. but it is also a shared interest of all countries involved. the ones around the mediterranean as well as countries of origin and transit. we are here to act immediately and to act together. we need an exceptional response. let me say that the european union is finally ready to take its own responsibilities. saving lives welcoming

refugees addressing the root causes of the phenomenon, dismantling criminal organization he. organizations. >> let's get more from kristin saloomey. hi there kristin. is the european union likely to get what it wants from the security council? >> well, i think there's rising agreement that these things need to be done but what's the devil is in the details. the authorizing the use of force to take some of these ships that are smuggling humans across the mediterranean. and that is a tricky issue. we heard her laying out all of the other things that the eu wants to do in order to address this problem addressing some of the root causes, increasing legal immigration into europe and so on.

but from the u.n. what they need is this chapter 7 resolution. and that would involve authorizing the use of force not only on international waters but on libyan territory on libyan soil and in libyan waters. and that is trickier. i just spoke to the libyan ambassador a short time ago to fet his reaction and he told me they are not on board with that concept. so some members of the security council may have a problem going along with this if libya is not also willing to go along with this. >> and chris kristin how important is timing in all this? >> well, the eu wants to move forward very quickly. we know there is a meeting a week from today during which foreign ministers are supposed to vote on this proposal that the eu has put forward to deal with this issue and they would like to have the u.n.'s backing as soon as possible. a lot of negotiations are going

on behind the scenes here and we were told by the british delegation that they hope to put this into circulation in the next few days and move forward quickly. >> sandy hook kristin >> kristin saloomey, thank you. >> , mostly immigrant from bangladesh and myanmar rescued off the coast of ache in indonesia but 6,000 more are estimated to be stranded at sea with little food or water. in the past they use this to escape by passing overland through thailand but since thailand began a crack down migrant advocates say the rahinga has been trafficked to malaysia and indonesia.

>> mahina paid more than 2,000 dollars to save her children's lives. after her ethnic relatives were killed by soldiers. she never imagined the traffickers would starve and beat her family. holding them for ransom until her mother paid for their release. her eight-year-old son died before they could escape. >> my son was fine in the boat but fell sick when we were in the jungle due to starvation, he vomited and had diarrhea. we drank sea water as there was no drinking water in the boat. >> amina and her ser fifing children rieivelgd'arrived in can indonesia two weeks ago this week about 2,000 more were rescued off the indonesian and malasian coast hungry exhausted and frightened after their ordeal. urging national governments to take action. >> let us now come together.

the country has to be open. has to be transparent. you must start having good governance. and most of all i think this can only be solved if we cut corruption once and for all. >> thailand which is a transit point for many traffickers is tightening security to try and stop the trade. the malasian government says it's strengthening its borders but also cracking down on migrants themselves. governments are under pressure to respond to this rising influx much desperate migrants but without the end to migrants human rights advocates say more of them are going to risk their liefnslives in search of a better life.

>> thai crack down on migrants, scott heidler has the story. >> thai government cracked down on these traffickers in the southern part of the country. a mass grave was found at one of these hidden jungle camps containing what they thought was rahinga migrants, 26 in all. the government was clamping down on that, we were down there in these jungles and saw firsthand what the government was trying to do. they have military in these jungles, put bashed wire across what is known as a trafficking route, 400 meters of barbed wire. they have arrested a few local officials, they have over 50 arrest warrants out they have

reassigned police. all of this going on has backed up what normally would have been channels going over the last several years. that no doubt has impact on ships waiting out at sea to bring their human cargo to shore. what is believed to have happened is because they knew they couldn't make landfall in thailand those ships went to malaysia and indonesia. >> florence louie is in myanmar and reports on the plight of the rahinga there. >> preferring to view them as crossing over into bangladesh. they have been given no citizenship status. they aren't allowed to move across the country freely and three years ago things got worse for rahinga, more than 140,000 people mainly the rahinga were

displaced, had to move into camps. still living in those camps more than three years later. the children are not allowed to go to school, entirely dependent on aid. unless government policies change many are trying to get onto boats to flee the country. is it possible that the government policies are going to change? not really. the end of this month the temporary registration that many of the rahinga hold expire. whether or not they will get there when the government has had a policy of not recognizing them is another matter. >> morocco has lost a fighter jet taking part in the saudi led campaign against the houthi rebels in yemen. a picture of the downed f-16 it is not clear if plane crashed or

was shot down. it is not known if the pilot crashed or ejected. morocco joined at the beginning with six fighter jets. saudi city of najram along their shared border, two people were killed in the violence, eight people were killed by shells in the same area. and a new round of saudi led air strikes has struck a mountainous area near yemen's capital sanaa. raised doubts as to whether a five day humanitarian truce will be implemented. mohamed val gave us this update from the seut capital saudi capital riyadh. >> all efforts point to escalation not deescalation.

doubt that it will happen because on both sides efforts are being increased to show that if any truce happens it will not be out of weakness on our side so it must be because we are defeated but because we want to have a truce but still as i said there are doubts. the houthis have managed once again to strike inside saudi arabia. overnight they have been shelling the city of najran, killed one person and injured four. also struck at the province of jizan to the southwest of the border between yemen and saudi arabia killing one saudi citizen and injuring four others. for saudi arabia this is a dangerous escalation, red line they have always called it. and we have seen that whenever there is such a strike by the houthis inside saudi arabia you saudis intensify their attacks towards the province of saada destroying many government buildings there places they can

see the army deep owes, targeting houthi commanders there. >> the king of saudi arabia and several other gulf leaders have declined a invitation from barack obama to attend a summit in camp david to allay gulf fears over iran nuclear program. saudi crown prince will attend instead. coincide with the humanitarian ceasefire in yemen. the king of bahrain has also declined. iraq's largest province is at risk to falling to fighters. why greece is made to wait for more fundings from its international lenders.

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we're giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". only on al jazeera america. >> welcome back. a requirement now of the top stories here on al jazeera. eu's foreign policy chief has asked the u.n. security council to help dismantle groups smuggling people from north africa to europe. frederica mogherini made the report. past 24 hours. morocco says it's lost a fighter jet taking part in a saudi led campaign against houthi fighters in yemen. pictures of the f-16 unclear

whether it crashed or was shot down. at least 72 fighters have been killed in syria as the army battles to rescue 250 trapped troops and civilians. loyal to the syrian government has holed up for two weeks. president bashar al-assad personally pledged to save the group which includes several high ranking officials. rebels assaulting the exemplary include fighters from al qaeda backed affiliate el nusra front. the capital of iraq's largest province is at risk to falling to fighters from islamic state of iraq and the levant. that is word from the local militia fighting i.s.i.l some are down playing this to sierl's strategy but zeina khodr reports, a strategic area for all warring parties. >> reporter: the suffering is only worsening in ramadi, the

capital city of anbar province is torn apart by war. tens of thousands of families forced from their homes because of fighting between islamic state of iraq and the levant and government forces. the only sherl they have the on the side of this -- the only shelter they have is on the side of this road. >> translator: we don't have anyplace to go. my children are on the streets. what kind of a future do we have? >> reporter: it is a divided city and i.s.i.l. is on the offensive. the local forces say they may not be able to defend the government buildings in the center of ramadi for long. >> our force is out on the defensive they have been asked for help fromhe federal government. we don't have weapons and we want the u.s. federal government to step up air strikes. >> reporter: much of iraq's largest province is under i.s.i.l. bombardment.

now the government wants to recapture the province before it takes the fight against i.s.i.l. to the northern city of mosul many say it will be a hard battle to win. >> translator: the fight in ramadi will be much harder than expected battle in mosul. i.s.i.l. has the support of the people. for i.s.i.l. this territory they did not lose. anbar, for the fight they need to control anbar. >> tribal support is needed. while some tribes are backing the government and fighting i.s.i.l. many others are not. the tribes did play an important role in fighting al qaeda years ago but say government leaders never recognized their help and left them without any political power. there are real fears that the city of ramadi might soon fall to i.s.i.l. officials downofficials down play the importance but other disagree.

the capital of the sunni heart land will be able to proclaim victory in a strategic reply importantallyimportant province. sending in iranian backed shia militias will do little to bring about political reconciliation and that is what iraq needs to defeat i.s.i.l. zeina khodr, al jazeera baghdad. a turkish ship has been attacked over the coast of libya, turkish foreign ministry says the ship came you under artillery fire a military spokesman from the tobruk government which was backed by the u.n. after the ship was bombed after it ignored warnings not to approach the libyan coastline. ship was in international water. rival groups in the central african republic have signed a peace deal, thousands of people.

ten rival groups say they are committed to disposing of their guns and renouncing violence. fighters found guilty of the worst crimes will be refused amnesty. inisi imolu reports. >> the psychological scars on children is a lasting legacy of the conflict. they are half the population. fighting made orphans of these children and turned thousands more into soldiers. some of the rebels as well as politicians and religious leaders have agreed to draw a line under the violence. on paper. in reality, it will be impossible for some to forget the brutality of the last two years. on the face of it the crisis in the central african republic pits muslims against christians.

but the united nations say the root causes were poverty and government mismanagement and that religion was a convenient excuse used by some sides in the fighting. selecca rebels who forced francois buzzizi from power aren't all muslim. antiballica rebels aren't all christians. community leaders are busy organizing interfaith prayers football matches and other events. yet animosity remains rife. sporadic claims and reprisal attacks continue. international peace keepers are trying to keep rival militias apart. the u.n. is pushing for elections this summer. it's a tall order for a country

barrel holding itself together. im-oku molu al jazeera. >> burundi president pierre nkurunziza plans to rerun for president, formally registering his candidacy on friday. but the eu and the u.s. are urging for vote to be delayed. euro zone ministers say progress is being made, but more time is meaded before it can release funds. greece's promise the repay $840 million on tuesday but the finance ministers want a rigorous assignment from finance ministers before they will release a loan of $8 billion to greece. sthaipsalexis tsipras president

refused to resolve requests for austerity. some important issues have been discussed in depth but more time is needed to bridge the remaining gaps and to remove a comprehensive agreement. we welcome in particular the intention of the greek shorts to accelerate the work with the institutions, with a view to achieve a successful and timely conclusion of review. >> the difference iss have been narrowing considerably. so when it comes to the fiscal plans for 2015 and beyond there has been some convergence that

we can now speak of differences that fall within the realm of fiscal error which is a good thing. on privatization on npls nonperforming loans on form, there has been significant convergence. >> the french president has renewed its call on the u.s. to withdraw its trade embargo on cuba. president hollande is in cuba, the first european president to visit cuba since 1956. let's go live to havana and our latin american editor lucia newman. we are also hearing that president hollande will also meet fidel castro.

>> reporter: hello julie that's exactly what we're hearing too although it hasn't been made public in cuba. it's very customary for fidel to meet dignitaries who come here. not only is it the first french president to come here since cuban independence but also the first western european union leader to come here since the crack down on 77 dissidents on this country back in 2002. so it is all sort of let's let buybygones be bygones. >> and so lucia did this visit signify an end on religious and

political differences do you think? >> well when president hollande was addressing the university, he said he didn't just represent france but the eu. there will be talks with other leaders later on in the week. it does open the door to economic ties particularly as the freeze between the united states and cuba seems to be crumbling. diplomatic ties seem to be re reestablished. >> lucia newman, live in havana, thank you. in a few hours time a masterpiece by pablo picasso is expected to become the world's most expensive painting. being sold at auction in new york and likely to smash the current record of $142 million.

al jazeera's john terret has been to see it. >> impressionist modern postwar contemporary, remember those terms, they are very important. combining these genres, art collectors are keen to broaden their horizons. this peter doig could go for $20 million, next to me very famous andy war shol warhol painting of elizabeth taylor. this is a picasso, he painted it in 1955. if it goes for the full estimated sale price of around $140 million it will become the single most expensive painting ever sold at auction. >> most of these young collectors who have become billionaires are not collectors in the traditional sense. collectors in the traditional sense would spend a lot of their

living hours working studying, looking at art. these collectors tend to be more impulse-shopping. >> reporter: christie's tell me that if all these arts sell for their full value it will be around $150 million. join us this evening to find the answer. >> wikileaks founder julian asange has lost his appeal. the court rejected his appeal, against sexual assault allegations. since june 2012 the wikileaks founder has taken refuge in the ecuadoran embassy in london.

you can find out much moreen our website the address for that is www.aljazeera.com. we have plenty of other news coming up a little later on this evening. children once sacrificed their childhoods, even their lives working in american mills, mines and factories. the us rooted out child labor practices 75 years ago. but today, us agriculture remains a stronghold for child labor. >> i know most kids come out here to help their parents out get the money to pay the bills. >> it's just another day on the fields of america. >> hi, can you tell me your name? >> gabriella.