>> dozens are killed after a boat carrying refugees capsized off the libyan coast. welcome to al jazeera live from doha. coming up in the next half hour, human rights watch says civilians are being named by cluster bombs used in yemen's civil war. the campaigners who won't stop until nigeria's missing girls are returned home. we visit the u.s. city of new orleans, ten years after it was

battered by hurricane katrina. a boat filled with refugees sunk off the libyan coast. the boat overturned off-shore with several hundred refugees on board. some of the bodies have now been recovered. an official on the scene said many of the passengers have been trapped in the cargo hold as the boat capsized. it's a major launch pad for smugglers taking refugees to italy. the growin growing number of refugees is the focus of a meeting. the crisis was highlighted by the discovery of up to 50 bodies in a truck not far from the venue. >> reporter: it looks like nothing out of the ordinary, a truck parked on a motor way on a

busy road leading into vienna. but this is the scene of a crime. when police approached this abandoned vehicle, the driver was nowhere to be scene. they saw blood seeping out of the back. they were overwhelmed by a terrible smell. inside they found the decome poeting bodies of people who had been locked in and suffocated. we don't know the country of origin. it's a slow task. >> translator: how many people were in the truck, i can't tell you. we think it will be more than 20 people. it might be 20 to 50 people transport in that truck and all of those people died. it's very likely they are refugees and likely to be people being trafficked from east to west. >> reporter: the summit was to be dominated by the refugee crisis.

but this brought a grim urgency to these talks. >> translator: we are very much shaken by the news that up to 50 people lost their lives in a situation where criminals facilitating illegal border crossings did not care about them, even though they were on their way to places they thought they would be safe. there is a need to solve the issue and to tackle the issue of migration. >> reporter: the austrian and german chanc chancellors want te to a system where they commit to taking in a certain number of refugees. such a system says angela merkel will be fair. but other countries say that they will have nothing to do with european union refugee

quotas. the plan was first suggested by the european commission in may. at this summit eu officials call for governments to have the courage to take difficult political decisions. >> these people come to europe and come to europe for protection. they need europe to protect them and we need to live up to our standards of human rights and respect of international obligations to protect them. we need a european approach and everybody says so. >> reporter: the leaders also discuss ways of helping balkan countries to help with the inflow of refugees and create incentives for people to stay in their countries of origin. but that's a long-term solution and there are no immediate remedies to europe's refugee crisis. >> late on thursday night hundreds ohundreds of refugee we

rescued. it's believed they died breathing in toxic petro fumes on their journey. the head of the antismuggling task force says military needs to step up. it's one of the options to be discussed by e.u. defense next week. the summit will look at increasing the number of warships patrolling the mediterranean sea and they will consider searching and diverting vessels. e.u. military operation is gathering intelligence on smugglers' activities. we havwe explain why libya is ue to resolve the situation. >> there's big changes that have

emerged. libya, the security approach, is disorganized and in chaos. there are two groups of countries, england, france or germany. but you have transit zones. they emerge, like italy. they come from the southern border. libya doesn't feel they want to pick up europe's bill. and pay for our problem, they don't feel the problems of migration breathing down their neck. they don't have the economic or political will to deal with this. ultimately you have hundreds if not thousands of different groups operating on the ground. some taking advantage of a chaotic situation, one of civil war. but under the aupices of trafficking. >> human rights watches are accusing the saudi led coalition

of cluster attacks in yemen. >> reporter: more victims of the war in yemen. according to human rights watch, there were injured by attacks using cluster bombs. they are mostly from a yemeni province on the northern border with saudi arabia. >> translator: we were together and the rocket hit us. it exploded in the air and cluster bombs fell out of it. before we left the house with the sheep, two munitions fell down while others spread all over the village. my cousin and i were wounded. >> reporter: human rights watch teams travel to many areas in northern yemen and met with victims. an explosive cluster bombs litter this area. children especially remain high risk of being maimed or killed.

>> translator: three brothers were killed, two children, one adult. it hit us while we were sleeping and we were all wounded, including my brothers. i can't walk, my hands were burned and my bones were broken. >> reporter: they are inaccurate. they are designed to target a wide area. here many people were said to have been injured as they traveled through the region. >> we have found evidence that ground launched cluster rockets have been use in attacks against seven locations in northern yemen. most likely, these rockets were launched from saudi arabia territory. >> reporter: official its didn't confirm or deny the use of cluster bombs. >> it's a very large weapon. we can talk specifically about what human rights will public.

most of the report talk about that. we don't have evidence. and unfortunately they cannot spare information to the houthis. >> the kingdom of saudi arabia has repeatedly said when they stop the military campaign, it's confident that the rebels pose a threat to its internal security. this is a scud missile fired into saudi arabia. the ballistic missile was destroyed in the air. fighting has intensified along the kingdom's 1,800-kilometer border with yemen. the houthis backed by troops loyal to the former president said they would fight for as long as it takes. it's been 500 days since sie

boko haram abducted girls. >> reporter: her daughter is one of the 219 missing school girls. esther refuses to give up hope taking part in a march to mark. she remains bitter at the nigerian government. >> the government responded very slow. i don't think it would take this long. [indiscernible] we don't want anything from them. >> reporter: she is leading the march. she's been at the forefront of the campaign to put pressure on the government to rescue the girls. >> there are 219 girls out there that are waiting to be brought back home.

we cannot afford not to continue this. every day we are here. when would we stop. we say not until our girls are back. like i always say, [indiscernible]. >> reporter: but the girls have not been seen since this video last year. the new president says his government will not stop looking for them. >> there has been intensified intelligence gathering. in a given location in the northeast. i think that in the past government had contended with intelligence that was very, something clearer and more specific. >> reporter: the president met with some of these relatives in

july to personally reassure them that the government is doing everything possible to bring the girls home. it can't tell them if girls are still alive or where they might be, it could put them in danger. every day the girls remain missing, parents and relatives are losing hope of seeing them again. still to come here on al jazeera. the fight for equal access to education, students in chile are back on the streets and so are the police. plus -- >> coming up, i will take a look at why lack of hygiene and sanitation means thousands of people continue to be exposed to dengue fever.

>> you are watching al jazeera. a recap of our top stories, a boat filled with refugees has sunk killing dozens of people. it overturned offshore with several hundred refugees on board. meanwhile, refugees were found dead in a truck. it overshadowed a meeting to discuss the refugee crisis. at least seven attacks are said to have taken place in a province in the northwest of the

country. isil fighters say they have killed two iraqi field commanders. the prime minister is calling for a decisive battle to retake iraq's largest oil refinery in the morinthe northern city. >> the militias repair for an assault. this is the image that they want you to see, that they are confident and ready to defeat isil. the prime minister says this battle will decide the future of the islamic state fighters in iraq. he met with senior officers on tuesday. >> translator: now we will plan to secure the whole situation as the enemy have tried to find a break from the pressure it has been under. they are going smoothly. that's why their advance trying to open another front to

jeopardize their situation. the ability of the forces, the police and mobilization forces to defeat the plans is a great subsays. >> reporter: but the country has been here before. the old refinery have changed hands several times. but neither the iraqi security forces or islamic state have been in full control. it's a major source of income. but retaking it and holding it will be a big victory for iraq. a vickt victory it needs. the government won't let them cross because they don't have the relevant paperwork. isil have killed senior field commanders in an attack that's seen as a serious blow to iraqi security forces who are losing experienced forces. the g-6 people have been

killed. three people died when kurdish pkk fighters attacked fighters near the syrian border. three others were killed near iraq. fighting has intensified since a cease fire between turkey and pkk fighters ended in july. it's been ten years since hurricane katrina devastate the new orleans and large parts of the u.s. golf coast. u.s. president barack obama visited the city and met with some of the residents that returned. some have not been able to move back to their damaged homes. a decade later and the city still faces challenges. >> reporter: this isn't his first time in new orleans. unlike previous visits, he talked about the city's rising poverty, particularly amongst

the african-american population. >> our work here won't be done when almost 40% of children still live in poverty in this city. that's not a finished job. that's not a full recovery. >> reporter: outside the new $20 million community center, residents waited to catch a glimpse of the president. he remains popular, but many here have complaints about what they see as the city's uneven recovery. >> they should give the people here, the majority of these people was black and poor. >> to rent a home now, one bedroom, is at least $900. so the rental issue for housing, the market just is skyrocketing. >> reporter: to compound that, the lower 9th ward carries the scars that for many changed anything.

to witness the challenges president obama was talking about, you have to walk a couple of streets to see things like this. less than half the population of the 9th ward returned to the city. and to address the challenges of rising rents maybe the biggest channel. it's made significant progress. residents acknowledge that and the efforts hadn't gone unnoticed. >> i'm here to say, i'm here to hold up a mirror and say because of you, the people of new orleans, working together, this city is moving in the right direction. and i have never been more confident that together we will goat where we need to go. you inspire me. >> reporter: the president's focus on poverty and race will be welcomed by many. but tackling those problems may take many more years. there's been scuffles

between police and political candidates in the haitian capital of port-au-prince. they were contesting election results before they were escorted out of the courtroom by police. officials are preparing for a rerun after violence disrupted elections earlier this month. thousands of students have marched through the streets of the chile capital. they are protesting delays of government plans to introduce free education. we have this report from santiago. >> reporter: these marchs have become part of the regular landscape. they say the system is unfair, they should be free to all. the wealthy are able to pay to send their children to exclusive schools and universities, but the less wealthy are having to send their children to public

schools for which they still have to pay. they say they are underfunded with poor facilities. and several people in senior positions appointed during the dictatorship that governed chile from 1973 onwards. these clashes, tear gas and water cannons and some protesters throwing stones. with commodity prices falling it, doesn't have the kind of money to implement the changes that the students are asking for. it does seem that negotiations moving slowly, these marchs are likely to continue for some time to come. >> indigenous activists in australia are claiming victory for affordable housing in sid this. they changed a sit-in pressing the government to step in and finance low cost homes.

>> reporter: the standoff here has been chiefly about timing, the company that wants to develop this site which is just a couple of kilometers from the center of sydney said they would build affordable housing once they finished. but indigenous people lived around here for years said that wasn't commitment enough. housing for them could be a decade or more away. well, cases have gone against the protesters. it looked as though they could be evicted. now the government stepped in. and it's committed $4 million to start the building of affordable housing at the same time as the commercial buildings. the pressure is on them to agree, meaning a peaceful end to this protest is likely. this camp has been manned continuously for 15 months. the organizer told me she was proud of what people here had achieved. >> very proud. i mean, these are the people

that give me hope for the future. black and white, you can see whathey are prepared to share support. >> reporter: before this start dismantling the camp, protesters are awaiting word that they will build the affordable housing first or the same time as the commercial buildings. people are more optimistic than they were. more than a billion people are affected by tropical diseases. that's one in seven people worldwide. the world health organization has named 17 conditions in its new strategy to fight the diseases. elements like intestinal worms, leprosy, rabies and blindness. some can be fatal. it's a major problem with a reasonably straight forward answer. clean water, good sanitation and

hygiene. but these are not easily available in one of the world's poorest regions. we are in new delhi looking at efforts to stamp out dengue fever. >> reporter: house to house, container by container. it's dengue fever season. this is what they are looking for. larvae of the disease-carrying mosquito. one worker says she shouldn't have to do in the first place. >> translator: the main reason we have so many dengue fever is carelessness. they keep water store in containers and they don't clean. some people do these things, that's why we have this problem. >> reporter: counsel workers are meant to inspect the neighborhood. but people say the visits aren't that regular. it's not just time between

inspections that's the problem. >> translator: it's difficult for us to live here when it rains, the drains overflow and our homes fill with water. it's hard for us to live this way and then there are diseases. only last week the boy next week had a fever and was taken to hospital. >> reporter: during the annual monsoon season hospital wards fill with dengue fever patients. a report by indian an american researchers estimated the cost of the disease to india to be more than $1 billion a year. it also said the government may be grossly underreporting its prevalence. the burden it places on the healthcare system is made worse by the fact that there is no vaccine for the disease, even if it's caught early, treatment is only symptomatic. >> reporter: in this dengue fever ward, the doctor treats a number of patients. some arrive with common flu-like symptoms.

others in a far more critical condition requiring emergency medical treatment. >> if people are educated and we prevent the breeding in our premises, in our locality, then there can be much reduction in the number of dengue cases. >> reporter: millionings of indians, particularly the poor, are exposed to dengue fever. keeping the dangerous mosquitoes that spread the disease is a challenge. but the threat of the disease lingers here long after smoke from the fogging machines clears. now, one of the world's most unique bodies of water is shrinking. the water level at the dead sea is dropping by more than one meter a year. >> reporter: it's one of the most popular tourist destinations. but environmentalists say the

dead sea which borders israel and jordan is shrinking rapidly. the ancient salt lake has been losing a meter of its waters every year. an israeli tour guide says the decline of the dead sea and apparent indifference of neighboring governments has been shocking. >> i see the dead sea as an international property. it's really one in a kind in the world. and it should be an international world heritage. instead of we are destroying it and it's being degraded from day to day.

>> reporter: the dead sea is shrinking because 70% of its natural water sources are diverted by israel and jordan and to a lesser degree syria. the remaining 30% is caused by israeli and jordanian potash situations. while the situation is worrying environmentalists, there is concerns about the sink holes that have opened. some are as wide as 14 fields. resulting in the closure of beaches and businesses. >> actually the sink hole development is the drop in the level of the dead sea. and associated with that drop is a drop in the groundwater level. and that causes areas that were previously within salty water to be flushed by fresh water. >> reporter: some projects have been launched to try to save the dead sea. but it could take decades to repair the ecological damage. until neighboring countries stop diverting waters to the lake or put an end to their mining practices, it's all but certain

to dry up. don't forget, you can get the latest news on our website, the address is right there on your screen, www.aljazeera.com. the mentally ill are more likely to land in prison than hospital. saturday is the 10th anniversary of hurricane katrina making land fall in louisiana. while the category 3 storm brought destruction. nowherff