saudi-backed forces make significant gains against hue huely -- houthi rebels in yemen. ♪ hello there and welcome to al jazeera. i'm laura kyle. also ahead. anger in japan as the first nuclear power station is switched back on since the fukushima meltdown disaster. they have walked for days to escape oppression. and small [ inaudible ] leaving a big carbon footprint

and threatening bangladesh's forrests. ♪ pro-government fighters in yemen are making major gains against houthi rebels, they have pushed them out of the last town in one provines. that means those forces loyal to president hadi are now in control of most of the south. caroline malone reports. >> reporter: watching over the province, now entirely in control of pro-government forces. local resistance groups backed by a coalition of countries lead by saudi arabia are recapturing parts of yemen. they forced houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president saleh out of town, and they are now in full control. >> translator: we managed to clean the city of the militias. we have achieved the victory,

the popular resistance has saved the country from going deep into the unknown. >> reporter: the fighters are looking ahead, they say they are on their way to the capitol. they are fighting on behalf of the exiled president. >> translator: it's necessary and if the leaders think it's appropriate, we need to go further and go beyond shab wa. >> reporter: it's a situation repeated across yemen, and that has lead to the red cross to say it is a catastrophic situation. >> the yemeni people are in dire need of food and water, and not only we can see the direct impact of displacements of the violence going on, taking a toll on the population, but also the indirect impact of this violence going on. health systems crumbling, social

and economic systems crumbling, so more than 20 million yemeni today certainly are in dire need of -- of support -- of humanitarian support. >> reporter: land mines have been left behind by the fighters. some children are back playing in the street but security has not returned. fighting may have ended in some parts of the city, but the suffering continues. parliament -- parliament tearians have voted to cut spunneding. he wants the council's special privileges enjoyed by officials, and set up an anti corruption committee, and make officials more contractible. mohammed jamjoom reports with

more. >> reporter: an extraordinary day in parliament. they met and unanimously approved sweeping reforms to cut wasteful spending in this country. this comes at a time of mounting pressure on thousands for the governments to stop rampant corruption, and have basic services return. now what is interesting about all of this is even though this happened much faster than initially expected after the prime minister announced his plans to reform the government, the fact of the matter is, now is when parliament must deal with the very hard questions that come next. they will take this issue up again and figure out how to implement the reforms and how to dispiss the posts. these are serious constitutional questions. that is the time that analysts fear that arguments could break

out in parliament; that it could get much more contentious, yet here in baghdad many are very supportive of the prime minister's efforts. they hope the prime minister and many more in the leadership go even further. russia says draft ideas are being discussed on how to unite international efforts to fight isil. but saudi arabia says syria's president has no place in the country's future. >> translator: we have discussed the crisis in syria. we have also underlined that the position of the kingdom of saudi arabia on syria has not changed and it is based on the provisions of the first geneva communicate, and the president has no place in the future of syria, but we have underlined the necessity of mine containing

the state. we believe the main source behind the creation of isil because the behavior of bashar al-assad. that's why we do not see a place for him in the future. japan has restarted a nuclear reactor, the first to begin operating under new safety rules since the disaster in 2011, but as harry fawcett reports, the decision has trigger prod tests and criticism. >> reporter: inside the control room at the power station, a crucial moment for japan's nuclear industry. an engineer confirms that the control rods in reactor one have been removed, nuclear fission has begun. nearly two years sinces the last operating reactor became idle, everyone in this room is aware of the focus of national attention. much of it critical, but the gates, protests were lead by the man who was japan's prime

minister at the time of the disaster. >> translator: we cannot predict accidents. that is why accidents happen. and here all of the necessary precautions to prevent an accident have not been taken. >> reporter: fukushima suffered a melt down in three reactors after the power station was hit by the tsunami of 2011. japan's new regulator says tougher standards would be impossible. but one designer says restarting a long idol facility is fraught with difficulty. >> translator: more elements would have been stopped so it's harder. on top of that, if you have tweaked something, that part needs more inspection, and this plant is more than 30 years old, they need to have reviewed safety on that basis too. >> reporter: but the prime minister who overturned the decision to phase out nuclear power, this is important part of his economic recovery program. household electricity costs have

jumped by a quarter since the disaster, and yet the majority of the electorate still opposes the return to nuclear energy. the government says the restart was a decision for the power company, but the protesters fear there's no question this is being driven by the prime minister. the numbers outside his office may be relatively spaul, but polls consistently suggest that around 06% of the jap nice people are against the plan. residents living in the area are divided in their opinion. there are concerns about the local evacuation plan. others say the local economy needs its main industry to get going again. the power station restart is now underway. by friday it's due to start providing electricity to the national power grid. by september it is expected to be running at full capacity. fights have broken out

amongst hundreds of frustrated migrants on a greek island. the police spied the protesters with fire extinguishers as they demanded food, and to be fed quickly. around 25,000 migrants have arrived there this year. eritrea does not have a famine or war, but it does account for the second largest number of asylum seekers arriving in europe after syria. thousands are making the trek across that border as well to find refuge in ethiopia. >> reporter: there is no let-up in this steady stream of eritreans who flee from their country. this was becoming a favorite route for them. we found this person on one of 20 crossings. they say they had to walk for three days to get here.

>> translator: life has become unbearable in eritrea. i never wanted to leave my country. i am a simple shepherd, but the government officials kept harassing me. >> the u.n. lists 300 eritreans arrive in ethiopia every day. they are forced into centers where they are officially registered. most fleeing are young people who say they want to avoid conscript shun, a compulsory exercise for both men and women who leave school, many are forced to suffer decades. thomas is 20 years old. he has been trying to leave since he was 14. >> translator: the conscription has no age limit. even my father who is partially blind is in the army. i don't want to live that kind of life. >> reporter: young children have

also been leaving eritrea, thousands as young as six and seven have come here. this is their section of the camp in ethiopia. this man is chairman of the refugee community. >> translator: children are as affecting by government policies as the rest of society. they are forced to plea when their parents are con scripted or arrested for refusing to join the army. >> other refugees who have been returned or deported after having reached as far as even egypt in a bid to cross over into europe. >> reporter: worried by the number of people who are living, the eritrean government asked the security council to help bring human traffickers to justice. it says it smuggling is human rights abuses that are forcing eritrean to here. many here would disagree.

plenty more still to come here on al jazeera, including . . . the philippines trying to smash the drug trade by find out why police are barely making a dent. and a major milestone looming for sub sa share ran africa, as the region is on the verge of eradicating polio.

>> they believed in what they were doing but they were not scientists. it wasn't science at all. >> there's a lot of lives at stake, a lot of innocent people. >> how many are still locked up? >> the integrity of the criminal justice system is at stake, plain and simple. >> "faultlines". >> what do we want? >> al jazeera america's hard-hitting... >> today the will be arrested. >> ground-breaking... >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> emmy award-winning, investigative series. >> we have to get out of here. ♪ you are watching al jazeera, here is a reminder of the top stories. saudi-backed forces in yemen say

they have retaken a see southern province from houthi rebels. the iraqi parliament has unanimously voted in favor of sweeping reforms. they want to abolish six senior officials, and establish an anti corruption committee. and despite protests in japan, engineers have restarted the nuclear reactor. it is the first reactor to begin operating under new safety rules since the fukushima disaster in 2011. china's central bank reset the point from which it can fluctuate. it said it wants to bring exchange rates closer in line with the markets.

greece and itself international lenders have reached a deal in principal for a third bailout. the bailout deal is worth around 85 billion euros over three years. the agreement means aid can be dispersed in time for athens to make a payment to the european central bank due next week. greek banks could get a crash injection. details still need to be ironed out, including how to deal with bad loans at the banks, and a 50 billion euro sell off of state assets. an independent euro zone analysts spoke with us. >> it is very likely that the greek parliament will pass the relevant bill on thursday. the greek government has majority that can be enforced by opposition parties that will

most likely vote for the new bill. there are countries that are still not convinced that this agreement between the top level and the greek government, and they want to have an interim, a bridge loan for the next week for esm, ecb bill to be paid by greece and have further talks. there are several discussions right now on how the new -- the new reforms will be implemented by greece. right now there has to be some reform on the pension system. there has to be reform on also the tax collection system, the vat, and also reform on opening closed professions. so we're waiting to see the bill in its draft to be submitted

later today to the parliament to see which exact measures the greek parliament has to vote on thursday. in the united states, a state of emergency has been declared in colorado. more than 11 million liters of toxic slug has been released from a gold mine into local streams. dan olson is the executive director of the san juan system's alliance. he hopes the spill will raise the issue of pollution caused by mining. >> we are very saddened as well as what the future implications of this spill will be for communities up and down the river. but it wouldn't be wrong to say that we were surprised. we have been living with pollution from the mines for decades, if not over a century. it's unfortunate that it

happened, but the silver lining will be that it raises this issue that has been plaguing our community for a very long time. we are still waiting on critical data from the epa with exactly what the contaminates are. we know the immediate impacting were less worse than they could have been, insofar as it appears that fish populations and invert brats have survived the initial plume. no one can adequately answer the question of long term health right now. a mexican activist who helps families search for missing relatives has been killed. his body was found near his home. he lead the search for 43 students who disappeared last year. john holman reports. >> reporter: they prayered for

miguel the way they prayed for others. the man who help find murdered relatives was himself finally silenced. >> translator: justice. he was a fighter. he was a man who wanted to defend the people. he wanted peace. he was a good man. he didn't even know how to use weapons. he was not a killer. >> reporter: he helped organize the search for 43 missing students abducted by local authorities in collusion with organized crime in this part of mexico last year. the incident caused an international outcry. but he was also part of a group called the other disappeared who searched for people reported missing by their families, but presumed dead. >> translator: look this is a bone. here is another one. a bigger one. this is another bone. this is a place of kidnappings. this is normal. coming to your house at 6:00 am,

open your door, and take you in front of your family. >> reporter: the murder was just one of 15 over the weekend in guerrero. and speaking to al jazeera last year, he was dismissive of the police whom many believe are linked to some of the disappearances. >> translator: officials say why don't people give us information? to say that is an embarrassment, because i know they have lost the trust of the people. instead of winning the trust, they lose it. >> reporter: on the other side of the country, citizens march for an end to the violence jn an activist and a well-known photographer who worked here, also recently tortured and killed. now at least 13 journalists reporting from this state have been murdered. the people are saying it was you, it was you. they are referring to the state governor of vera cruz.

and that's really the sense here. there's a real distrust of the authorities that people think at best they simply should protect those who challenge them, and at worse actively try to intimidate or get rid of them. >> reporter: more than 2,000 are missing across the whole country, and now there's one less person looking for them and looking out for their families. john holman, al jazeera. the drug trade in the philippines is so lucrative, that even mexican cartels want a piece of it. margo ore tee gas reports. >> reporter: law enforcers have been planning this drug raid for months. in the end only a small quantity was found here. this woman has asked to keep her

identity hidden. for 15 years she has worked as a fixer, putting international drug sellers in touch with local distributors. she is also a police informant. the chinese are the ones who run the biggest syndicates here in the philippines. >> reporter: there are those transported in by sea, we also have our own factories here, and they just bring in the chemicals needed for production. >> reporter: the most popular drug is meth. but there's also a market for cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and other emerging party drugs. aside from the chinese there are also mexican and west african drug operators. much of what comes into the counting try does so in what drug enforcers callow-volume, high frequency. small quantities, carried by many creatively, hidden in the

souls of shoes, even in fabric roles or on their own person. the drugs are consumed locally. with less than 900 age engineer, the government's anti-drug office says it is doing the best it can. >> about 46% of the detainees are violators of the anti-drug law. so i think we're doing enough, but sometimes people are impairment. they want the problem to vanish dramatically. it's not going to happen. >> reporter: this woman says no matter how hard the government age engine-- agents work, they t likely to stop the industry. >> translator: in some instances they own the business. if i am recognized, for sure i

will disappear, but if you have money, and the means to fix things, then you stay free. >> reporter: it all comes down to money, and there are millions of dollars involved. law enforcers say they are aware the task isn't easy, but they are out to prove that despite the challenges, they can at least put a dent in the trade. sub saharan african appears to be on the verge of eradicating polo. the annual number of global polo cases has dropped from half a million in the 1980s to just 34 so far this year. at the moment 80% of the world's population lives in polo-free regions. the americas were declared polio free in 1994. europe eradicated its by 2002,

india and southeast asia followed in 2014. only two countries in the world remain polioen demmic, pakistan and afghanistan. the spokeswoman for the global polio eradication initiative spokeswoman says the world shouldn't become come placeant. >> it's very good news. we're happy and all of the work goes to health workers in africa who have gone over the years to every single home to vaccinate children, so they deserve the credit now, it's a moment for celebration, and a moment where we cannot afford to be complacent. the job is not done. we need to be cautious. we know there are children who are not vaccinated in parts of the african continent, and there are places where we have not found the virus, and our surveillance needs to be very sensitive. so we need to find children and

vaccinate them and find the virus and know where it is, so we can make sure children around it are protected. and those are the two areas where we need to redouble our efforts. bangladesh is amongst the top ten exporters of farmed shrimp. many farms are located near mangrove forrests which are being cut to make room for the farms. and that is threatening the ecosystem. >> reporter: this man and his nashs have been farming fish for years. however, these days the water is starting to become too salty the black tiger shrimp is one of the biggest exports. it was an easy transition. >> translator: the fish wi

will -- fetch us for about $10 a kilo, the shrimp tell for more. >> reporter: it has become a billion dollars industry, but the tiny crustation leaves behind a large carbon footprint. they must be always kept at below freezing, which requires large amounts of energy. the factory has to supply its own electricity, using an old inefficient mini power plant. >> translator: shrimp need to be kept within a very specific temperature range. so it's very costly to maintain these conditions. >> reporter: what is worse is the damage done to local trees. mangrove forrests are along the most carbon-rich habitats in the world, they are quickly being

chopped down to make space for shrimp farms. although shrimp farming is banned inside this park, the n mangroves are still under threat. some local environmentalists are taking it into their own hands to save their famous plants. >> translator: i planted these mangroves here because they are very important in [ inaudible ]. they help fight climate change. >> reporter: as more people switch over to shrimp farming, more carbon is being released into the air. that's bad news for the environment and for costal residents like this. his new business venture may also be contributing to global warming and rises in the sea level, which in low-lying bangladesh threatens to flood him off of his land.

do stay with us for the headlines up next, if you can. otherwise you can always check out the latest news on our website. there it is on your screen. aljazeera.com. a toxic spill in colorado is on the move. >> i cannot shower. i cannot cook. i cannot do anything with the water from my water well. >> the plume is limiting water supplies for some residents as experts assess the risks. another tension night in ferguson, missouri, dozens arrested and police out o