♪ austrian police say the owner of drivers of the truck in which 71 people were found dead have been arrested. ♪ jane is live in doha and ahead on the program 82 dead and 100 still missing after a boat carrying refugees cap sizes off the coast of libya. the standoff eased but tensions on the korean peninsula continues as seoul shows off its fire power. one of the last survivors of the

great escape dies at the age of 101. ♪ austrian police including the owner and drivers of the truck in which 71 people died have been arrested speaking at a press conference in the last hour and said they were trying to identify the body so that their families could be informed there and include four children. let's go now to barney phillips who is here with the latest. >> the austrian officials and interior minister who gave us details around this incident were visibly shaken and 71 people who presumably sophisticated to death in what must have been a slow and agonizing way trapped in the back of the truck including women and children and even included a baby girl. so it's very upsetting for people here in austria to hear

what has happened. the question is what can be done about it? well, the austrian counselor came in speaking yesterday saying there has to be a coordinated european response and he like the counterpart angela merkel is in favor of quotas that eu counties step up their legal obligations and agree to take in thousands of refugees that would be distributed around the eu according to each country's economic capacity and ability to absorb and so on. but we know that idea has also encountered stiff resistance in the eu and particularly in eastern europe and wealthy countries like den mark and uk who said they don't want to have anything to do with such a system. a boat carrying refugees capsized off the coast of libya and at least 82 people died and over 100 missing according to the royce agency and many of those who died were trapped in the hold when it went down. and claudia has the details.

>> reporter: the sea has become a dark reminder of people's desperation to escape violence, persecution and poverty. thousands of people have been killed crossing from north africa to europe so far this year in the latest tragedy an over crowded boat sunk shortly after leaving libya. >> translator: we are migrating and our boat sank, it was in bad condition, people died. the libyans saved us, may god bless and we have been forced in the route called the route of death, the route of the sea. >> reporter: fleeing conflict and poverty to make it to europe and international smugglers take advantage of the lawlessness and libya is struggling to cope, putting those that are rescued into over crowded detention facilities and forced to live in poor conditions and lack basic medical care. in another tragic incident a

swedish vessel docked in the port after rescuing hundreds of people from their boat drifting at sea, but dozens of others were not so lucky. their bodies found in the hold of the boat. >> this is one of the tragedies we have seen in the mediterranean and one of many in total. >> reporter: the u.n. estimates more than 2400 people have died trying to cross the mediterranean sea so far this year, hundreds of thousands have made the crossing into europe so far this year in a desperate attempt to improve their lives, many are families struggling with system. the eu is still trying desperately to find, to establish a coordinated strategy to resolve this latest crisis. in the meantime the people keep coming. al jazeera, rome. we are trying to speak to

somebody on board one of the rescue boats in the mediterranean from the frontier and as soon as we get him up we will bring him to you and the prime minister is forming an interim cabinet for elections and the vote will be held in november and two opposition parties rejected invitations to be a part of the interim government but it may include two representatives from the pro-kurdish hd. at least six people have died in fighting between the turkish military and kurdish forces and kurdish pkk fighters attacked a military base near the syrian border and clashes in yook in iraq. police in australia called off random checks of visas following a public outcry. [chanting] hundreds of people in melbourne protested against the operation which had been planned for saturday and sunday. australia's border patrol agency

said the ap operations announcement had been clumsy. >> i find the idea of going around on the streets and checking this is not happening in germany and need to fight against it. >> we fought a war against this in 1945. >> reporter: south korea's red cross asked north korea to consider talks on family reunions in september, the reunification ministry wants them to take place at the border village and the issue was discussed last week with efforts to deescalate tensions between seoul and p ishingyong and haven separated since 1953, the last reunion happened in north korea last year. meanwhile south korea and u.s. racked up their biggest joint military drill and 2000 soldiers rehearsed a live fire exercise and we have more where the drill took place.

>> the combined is the largest exercise carried out by the south korean military and in the same week that north and south korea concluded a deal at least for now which was a serious set of tensions on the peninsula in years and included an exchange of artillery across the border and with the size this is interesting in terms of the types of scenarios that with being rehearsed here with a war time scenario and a peace time one which involves south korea responding to enemy provocation and going against the source of provocation and supporting forces and the command post responsible for it. that is a physical playing off and the president of south korea's response to policy to any kind of north korea provocation and she is here watching on as this exercise is carried out fresh from what people here see as a vindication of her government's hard line stance of a negotiated settlement and maintaining the

twin track approach and against the nuclear testing and cultural exchanges and plans for family reunions with families divided by the fighting of the north and south and ended in 1953 and plans for more regular meetings between northern and southern negotiators, however in october there is the 70th anniversary of north korean party, an event that analysts say could be with a rocket launch and warmer relations between the north and south in days and find themselves tested pretty soon. >> let's go back to one of our top stories and refugees are making the periless journeys to escape war and let's talk to will turner, the doctors without borders emergency coordinate on board the phoenix. the ship is currently in the mediterranean on the way to italy and good to have you with us. explain your situation and who is on board the ship. >> thanks for having us on.

right now we have 415 people who we rescued two days ago from about 30 nautical miles. we have people on board from many nationalitys and many corners of the world, mainly people from conflict-affected countries like syria and sudan and many others as well from libya and many other countries of people fleeing persecution from around the world in the search of the safety and protection of europe. >> tell us more about the conditions i believe you rescued some people from a ship in which 52 people had died, what happened there? >> well, sadly this is reality of the situation and we have on a daily basis, when the weather

is good and boats crossing from the shores of libya and full of people packed in like sardines and the most terrible and inhumane conditions and what happened a few days ago we had a boat in distress and that boat was being assisted by another vessel and we sent our doctors and nurses to respond as well and tragically it was too late and 52 people had already perished, dying of asphyxiation being trapped in the holds on the deck of the boat with very little air and no room to escape. fortunately we were able to resuscitate one man who was m medivac by helicopter to italy and this is another tragic incident following the policies

of europe of pushing people into taking these dangerous crossings because for the majority there are other safe and legal alternatives to reach europe and try to have the protection of asylum in one of the richest and safest continents in the world. >> what do you think would make your job easier and to make it safer for these people fleeing desperate circumstances? >> well, first of all, you have to look at the global situation and where people are coming from in the mediterranean the majority of people arriving on europe's shores from this route and the eastern route are from countries such as the syria, afghanistan, iraq and these are countries suffering from years of terrible conflict. so it's only natural that it's

human nature to only flee these types of situations. and the tragedy, the crisis is there is no alternative for people who need to flee for their lives once but they have no alternative to try and reach the safety of europe in some instance and they have to risk their lives making crossings across the sahara and across the continent and risk it all to try and reach europe. >> it must be very emotional for all of you, excuse me jumping in, for all of you working with the refugees because you really have a first-hand, a close-up view of what the human tragedy looks like. >> yeah, it's very powerful, very dramatic scenes. the image of a wooden boat bobbing around in a large ocean which is cram packed full of people, you can't even see, you can barely see the deck and

knowing how vulnerable people are. from one moment to the next it could be the difference between 500 people being on a boat and the next minute 500 people drowning unnecessarily in the sea. people go through a huge range of emotions and mental trauma from leaving their home countries, traveling to get to libya, suffering in many instances some terrible abuse and persecution in libya and then when they finally have the opportunity to flee their only option is to go in these boats through people who profit from the desperation and then hopefully they will get rescued and picked up so it's a roller coaster of emotions and when people come on board the safety of our ship, people are initially relieved but there is trauma and distress and of course we are seeing on a

continuous basis terrible tragedies happening. many people died, 52 people died two days ago. yesterday, and yet more people are dying and we ask when is it going to be european policy makers actually wake up and address this situation in a responsible and humane way? >> will turner let's leave it there, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. >> thank you very much. still ahead on al jazeera, calls for guatemala as thousands take to the streets plus. >> that is not a finished job, that is not a full recovery. >> reporter: president barack obama returns to new orleans to mark strides and setbacks ten years after hurricane katrina. ♪

again you are watching al jazeera and the top stories australia police say they recovered 71 bodies from the back of a truck and four were children and one was arrested of the owner of the vehicle and the other two are thought to be the drivers. italian police have trafficics of murder and hundreds are still missing and many who died were

thought to be trapped in the hold when the boat went down. iraq's powerful shia is voicing support for protests due later and prime minister abadi reform is for greater access for civilians in baghdad. dana has more on all of this from the iraqi capitol. >> reporter: these measures are part of the prime minister's promise on reforms and instructed military commanders in baghdad and other provinces to open roads that were closed by politicians and security factions to protect their homes or protect their headquarters. he is also calling on these commanders to give civilians access to the green zone, a heavily fortified area in baghdad where parliament and government buildings were based and foreign embassys located like the u.s. embassy and we spoke to the security committee and he said this is going to take time. this city is still not safe. we spoke to prime minister

abadi's office and they are saying of course we understand this is not going to happen overnight but they are pushing for this to be implemented very soon. later today there are going to be protests the baghdad and every friday people have been taking to the streets to support the prime minister to push ahead but this time around an influential political party and a movement called on supporters to attend and we are expecting a much larger turnout and accused of hijacking the unit since members are in government and some have been accused of corruption. really, this is a very dangerous crisis and dangerous times in iraq. you have the ruling establishment involved in a power struggle and if abadi pushes ahead he is going against people who will not want to give up power and privileges without a fight. mass protests in guatemala calling on the president to

resign and he has become recently isolated in resent days and most of the cabinet have already stepped down, from guatemala city david mercer reports. >> reporter: tens of thousands of people packed into guatemala city central park and want an end to government corruption and harsh punishment for those involved. there is widespread anger and frustration and a political system that people say has failed them with calls louder than ever for the president molina to step down. >> translator: we are tired but we though that now is the time to rise up. guatemala has never been poor. the government has stolen from us. we need to rise up because we want to show the world that the people united can achieve change. >> reporter: the president's televised denial on sunday of any involvement in a multi million dollar scandal only serves to bring more people to the streets. many schools and businesses were shocked to allow students and

staff to take part. they were joined from parts of rural guatemala who have been blocking roads around the country for days. guatemala might be a country of sharp divisions with rich and poor and urban and rural seldom coming together which makes this so unique, people from across the country and different social backgrounds uniting for a common goal. watched demonstrations from the security cameras from the safety of a government office. just days ago a judge indicted the former vice president for fraud, bribery and elicit association. and congress has taken the first step in a process that could impeach the president for involvement in the same scam. analysts says the president has few choices available to him. >> translator: guatemala might be a country with sharp divisions, with rich and poor, rural and urban seldom coming

together but this is unique with people uniting forces for a common goal. >> reporter: guatemala people will have the chance to vote for a new president in just over a week. but with the leading candidates all dogged by controversy people here say their fight is far from over. david mercer, al jazeera guatemala city. recalled ambassador over a border dispute and escalating since last week when venezuela closed a major crossing and declared a state of emergency and 1,000 columbia migrants living in the area have since been deported. columbia is calling for an emergency meeting of south american nations. thousands of students marched in the streets of the chile capitol santiago and protesting against government and plans to introduce free education and daniel reports from santiago.

>> reporter: student marches are a regular part of the chile political landscape demanding fundamental change to an education system they say the system is unfair and should be free to all. the wealthy are able to pay and send their children to exclusive schools and universities and the less wealthy are having to send their children to public schools for which they still have to pay. they say they are under funded with poor facilities and that several people are in senior position whose are appointed during military dictatorship from 1973 on ward. these marches often result in clashes between the police and protesters and this one was no exception, tear gas and water canons being used and some protesters throwing stones. the government is saying with commodity prices falling it doesn't have the kind of money to implement the kind of fundamental changes that these students are asking for. it does seem that with the negotiations moving very slowly

these marches are likely to continue for sometime to come. u.s. president barack obama has been meeting with residents of new orleans and it has been ten years since the city was devastated by hurricane katrina and the process of rebuilding has been a struggle and andy gallagher reports. >> reporter: this is not president obama's first time in new orleans and marked anniversary of hurricane katrina's devastation before but unlike previous visits he talked about the rising poverty particularly with the african/american population and addressing a crowd in the lower ninth ward he tackled the issue head on. >> 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 neighborhood's new $20 million community center residents waited to catch a glimpse of the president. he remains popular in this community but many here have

complaints about what they see as the city's uneven recovery. >> they should have gave it to the people here but they didn't because the majority of these people were black and they was poor. >> to rent a home now, one bedroom is at least $900. so the rental issue for housing, the market is sky rocketing. >> reporter: to compound all that the lower ninth ward still carries a highly visible scars of a storm that for many changed everything. to witness firsthand the kind of challenges that president obama was talking about you only have to walk a couple of streets from where he made his speech to see things like this, less than half of the population of the lower ninth ward officer returned to this city and address wealth disparity and jobs and rising rents may be the biggest challenge for post katrina new orleans. it has made significant progress and their efforts had not 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 get to where we need to go. [applause] you inspire me. >> reporter: the president's focus on poverty and race will be welcomed by many here but tackling those problems may take many more news andy gallagher, al jazeera, new orleans, louisiana. 1944 the height of the second world war more than 70 prisoners of war escaped southeast of berlin and all but three of them were captured or killed and inspired the hollywood film the great escape and one of the last survivors has died in australia and a former pilot paul royal was 101 and has one survivor of the legendary escape alive today and earlier i spoke to an associate

professor of history and he explained the part that royal played. >> he was one of the men who prepared the escape with many others as well. their task was to build a tunnel. in fact, they built three. and he prepared the building of the tunnel and he was one of the men who was lucky enough to be chosen to exit the tunnel on that fateful evening. the film features americans and the airmen who escaped were british airmen and doesn't mean they all came from uk and came from places like canada and new zealand and south africa so that is the biggest distortion perhaps and something that bothered paul royal a little and in other ways too. there is of course no steve mcqueen and no such attempt to cross on a motor bike. >> you don't want to undermine something so important, why did they feel the need to leave? >> many of them would have given

themselves some kind of chance of making what they called a home run, that is getting back to the u.k. and continuing the war as airmen. others would have been realistic and thought even if they didn't make it back to the u.k. escaping by itself had some kind of nuisances value because they knew the germans then would have to recapture then, they would have to commit resources to recapturing them. in a way it was a form of continuing the war effort. what happened to them was that hitler discovered, was told of the escape. his initial inclination was to direct that all of those men who were recaptured by executed. they settled in on a figure of 50 men so 50 men who were among those who had escaped and were recaptured were murdered in cold blood and, yes, very clearly a breach of international law. >> when the film was being made i believe that a lot of the

prisoners of war asked for the details not to be revealed about what sort of assistance they got from their home countries. can you tell us more about that? >> that's right. that is where much of the ingenuity of the preparation of the escape came from. i know one of the australians who was involved and was responsible for making compasses for example and all was kept secret at the time. within the camp it was important that the planning for the escape was kept initially among a relatively small group of men and it was absolutely crucial over those months of preparation that would not get out because otherwise the germans would have immediately of course nipped it in the bud. a thick stream of lava erupted on hawaii's big island and it has crept into surrounding forests. scientists say it's not expected to threaten populated areas.

this is one of the most active volcanos in the world. all those dramatic natural events including what is going on on the ground as far as refugees is concerned and so many other stories making the news, you can find out about that by logging on to our website. ♪