it's not always pretty, but it's real... and we show you like no-one else can. this is our american story. this is america tonight. >> securing the skies. >> we can't rule anything outs including the possibility of terrorist involvement. >> the u.s. boosts security checks, and russia stops all flights to egypt, a theory this a bomb took down the airliner in the sinai. free and fair? >> even if opposition parties would win 100% of the seats elected to them the military has

a constitution in place that is stacked in their favor. >> myanmar, the controversy who can vote and who's allowed to hold office. venezuelan volatility. >> we are going to live some of the most dangerous days in the history of venezuela. >> a warning about instability ahead of parliamentary elections, ahead of accusations of tampering. and recycled bricks how south africa is turning plastic bottles into school buildings. >> googood evening i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america, growing security fears, sound of an explosion was heard on the plane's cockpit voice recorder.

russia has suspended all flights to egypt even though nearly 50,000 russian tourists are in the country. several thousand british tourists are also still there. and egypt continues to maintain that it is still too early to know that a bomb caused the crash. aal jazeera's jaimental jazeerae reports from the pentagon. >> moscow droppeddists criticism of britain cancelling its air service to sharm el sheikh and putin followed suit, oox at the same time french television quoting european investigators reported the plane's cockpit voice recorder captured the sound of an explosion that was not consistent with an extent. in his most recent comment on the crash, president obama told a radio interviewer there was a possibility that there was a bomb on board but the white house is still not saying what u.s. intelligence agencies have learned.

>> at this point the united states has not made our own determination about the cause of the incident. however we captain rule anything out, including the -- can't rule anything out including the possibility of terrorist involvement . are singular the u.s. is joining other countries in taking steps to beef up aviation security, security that would most being likely follow an attack rather than an accident. jeh johnson said it would add an additional layer of security to international air travel. the measures include expanded security screening of items put on commercial jets, airport assessments and offers of security for certain airports. the u.s. is also offered to help with the sophisticated analysis that would be required to confirm the cause of the crash. but so far has been spurn spurny egypt and russia . >> i know we have offered

assistance, i don't know if we have been accepted. >> reporter: russia has rlg norefused the help. more i.s.i.l. targets in the cross hairs not in reaction to the aviation disaster. russian air power is back syrian ground troops as they move against two i.s.i.l. held areas. reysan al abud near aleppo in the north and palmyra more to the south. but pentagon says both operations began before the metro jet crashed. jamie mcintire, al jazeera, pentagon. former fbi special agent and joins us from los angeles. errol very good to have you with us. the egyptians and the russians are still resisting confirming this was terrorism but the

russians have suspended all flights not just to sharm el sheikh but to all of egypt. >> there is certainly some actual intelligence they've got. they understand there's going to be a significant economic impact in terms of terrorism -- i'm sorry in terms of tour ism if they do that. i am convinced there's certainly an improvised be exploifer devicexplosive dwiefhere's . >> why is it taking so long to confirm whether a bomb was on the 42 it or not? >> they're going to have to look at flight recorders, put together components that were discovered at the crash scene, they are vetting all the passengers on board and the crew and everybody who had access to that plane. before they go out and actually say there was a device on that

plane they have to be 100% sure they have got all the forensic evidence they need make that determination. >> the european airliners that have been departing egypt not just sharm el sheikh but egypt, say they won't accept any cargo imoa aat all. >> people who have access to the plane they're just enhancing their security protocols at this time, so they can be sure that they've at least stopped what's happening right now. and of course this gives a passengers the degree of comfort too knowing there's an enhanced level of screening going on so this may happen for some time. >> every indication you have seems that an insider at sharm el sheikh may have planted the device, and would this be a game changer in the fight against the group which until now hadn't

tried an attack of this magnitude? >> well, i think that terrorism is of course the leading theory that we have right now. and for several reasons. number 1, who was targeted in this incident? how and where it happened in terms of the region that it was in and whose claim of responsibility. so it would be a game changer although i'm not surprised that i.s.i.s. claimed responsibility immediately, they are in the marketing business, in the exposure business they want notoriety, they want responsibility whether they actually did it or not. >> flights to the united states how well can those measures protect against an insider who is bent on bringing down a plane when you have so many working behind the scenes at airports? >> that's a very good question. we're going to be looking at last point of departure or lpd airlines that come to the united

states. if you have 100% screening and even with that you're only going to reduce the risk of someone getting a device into a cargo hold into a bag that's going to be checked onto the plane, there's always a concern with the insider threat, that's the biggest threat to aviation security today. >> a big challenge for the tsa, errool sut southers, good to hae you with u us . >> thank you. >> turkey prepares to host a g-20 summit later this month. security tightened in the ancient coastal city today. turkey's incirlik air base to help defend turkey's air space. the aircraft carrier charles de

gaulle is accompanied by an attack submarine and several frigates. france launched air strikes against i.s.i.l. in syria in october after a year of participating in air strikes against i.s.i.l. in iraq. in iraq and lebanon new screening centers are being set up for syrian refugees who may eventually come to the united states. the centers were open in erbil iraq at the end of this year and iraq next year. president obama pledged to admit 10,000 syrian refugees to the u.s. giving those of no evidence of individual persecution a protection that falls shorts of asylum. this subsidiary protection would need to be renewed every year. thursday angela merkel says those with subsidiary protection

should not be allowed to bring relatives to the country for two years. lgt refugeerefugees fleeinge east, moving through the city of storscarg, skirting laws against foot and vehicle traffic between the two cubs. al jazeera's rory challands has the story from plowsk. moscow. >> such an interesting story. these people are cycling from russia to norway. that is because at this border crossing foot traffic is not allowed and the cheapest way of getting across other than by foot is to buy a bicycle and pedal across. then there's the whole remoteness of this crossing. we've all seen the heartbreaking stories of hundreds of thousands of refugees trying get through

europe's front door, these people are going the long way around and trying to get in through back door. so far north that the next stop is the north pole. but actually there's a logical reason for this. it is much cheaper and much safer than risking death or drowning in the mediterranean or paying people-smugglers to go through balkans or other ways to europe. this person is an afghan and explaining why he is leaving. >> there is no other option, we have to go to norway, there isn't any other one. in moscow they don't provide us with document. they say go away from here, they don't give us documents or work. there is nothing left for us good in afghanistan. there is many taliban, they mess with us every day. >> it is interesting that the

norwegians, who up to now have been taking away all of these refugees, and now say they want to send some of them into russia, they say a lot of these refugees have not just come from the war in syria or other war stricken parts of the world but have actually been living in russia for a long period of time, as much as 12 years, and they say russia can perfectly well look after these people themselves, it's not europe's job. they believe the process is being managed by the russian security services and the norwegian government has asked the russian foreign ministry for another explanation. >> rory challands reporting from moscow. a palestinian man killed by the israeli army, scattered frantically after israeli troops tried to subdue them with tear

gas. fired often the protesters after they ignored warning shots while trying to breach the fence along the border. meanwhile in the occupied west bank, israelis shot and killed a 72-year-old palestinian driver they said tried to run them over at a gas station near hebron. separately, three israelis were wounded in other west bank attacks. a miraculous rescue in pakistan, a teen aged boy was pulled from the wreckage of a factory after 50 hours. 26 people were killed in lahor wednesday night whether a building collapsed,. rescue crews are searching through debris for survivors after two dams burst at a iron core da mine dispload.

no warning sound he to warn them of the dam breaks. the dams are owned by the largest company. restrictions that are still in place for some groups and how the military is retaining some control. also 30 years after a deadly attack on columbia's supreme court, the government issues a long awaited apology for how it responded yet officials are still hiding the treuft. treuft. hiding the truth. truth. >> this is our home. >> nobody should have to live like this.

>> we made a promise to these heroes... this is one promise americans need to keep.

>> citizens in myanmar are debting ready to cast their votes this sunday in the first relatively free election in 25 years. after a generation of control by military leaders. al jazeera's scott heidler has more. >> with the election posters down, myanmar is just hours away from heading to the polls. a historic vote the whole world is watching. over the past two months, most of the cities in the country have seen extensive campaigning. something the 50 million have

not witnessed here in a quarter of a century, a general election with all political parties running. especially the being party for aung san suu kyi. the party boycotted the 2010 election a year before the transformation to the current somewhat civilian government. but dau tontanu did participate in the voting five years ago, as a founding member of the party participated in one of these elections. her father was the first democratically elected prime minister, removed by a military coup in 1962. >> for nearly 50 years we were under the military rule, so now not within five years, within five months we wanted to have changes. sort of changes we wanted to see but as for my father, as he was a seasoned politician, he might not have this kind of you know

frustration. >> she feels the nation needs to channel some of her father's patience. as the ruling party wraps up its campaigning, this is their last rally, some people feel that despite predictions of a big win for the opposition and aung san suu kyi this is the first process for democracy and that destination is still far away. and they also think this election is neither free nor fair. >> this is a very important step on the road for democracy for myanmar but only a small first step. even if opposition parties were to win 100% of the seats elected that are available to them, the military has the constitution in place that is stacked in their favor. >> and that includes barring aung san suu kyi from becoming president and dwifg th giving te military the power to appoint 20% of the parliament.

with so many factors and possibilities in play in uncharted territory, exact predictions of myanmar's future is probably as good as the fortune tellers. al jazeera, myanmar. being denied that right simply because they're muslim. al jazeera's florence looi last that story from myanmar. >> quested myanmar's last election in 2010 and was hoping to run again this year. he's been disqualified on the basis his parents weren't citizens when he was born. he rejects those claims and says the real reason is religion. >> translator: my mother has declared they don't want muslims in myanmar and in parliament. >> reporter: he's referring to

a group of buddhist nationalists, the association of protection of race or religion or mabata, known for their antimuslim rhetoric and thrown their support behind the military party. >> we don't say we kill other people so those criticisms aren't really fair. >> what critics describe as hate speeches have gone unpunished. the government has also been accused of giving into pressure to them in other ways. earlier this year it backtracked on a proposal that would have allowed temporary card holders to vote after protests from nationalists. the movers affects hundreds of thousands of rohingya a muslim minority who lives in western raakine state. they aren't recognized as citizens and suffer severe

discrimination. growing concern has led u.n. ambassadors and representatives, u.n. advisors say the use of a political agenda based mainly on the protection of the race or religion is dangerous especially in aa country as diverse as myanmar. but the damage may have been done. neither of the two largest parties the ruling union solidarity and development party nor aung san suu kyi's national league for democracy is fielding any muslim candidate. platain says he is worried about the future and asks who will speak up for his community. florence looi, al jazeera, langon. >> joining us, lynn very good to have you with us. first do you suspect that the election will be mostly fair and free? >> well, i think the international community is very aware of the significant challenges that myanmar faces.

and that is looking out less for a perfect election, as opposed to one that is reasonably free and fair. i think your earlier reports hinted at the remaining issues, in myanmar. it faced a significant structural rob such as constitutional reservations for 25% military block in parliament. and as you also just heard, there have -- the muslim community in myanmar have largely been disenfranchised. so many have been prevented from running for parliament as well as voting in the upcoming election. but of course this is going to be posing a problem, moving forward because if one community is disenfranchised from political and legal process you, you know there might be problems moving ahead. >> to your point -- >> by and large these fail to be

free and fair. >> even if they win will they have full control? because the military names a quarter of the members of parliament, it has significant influence in deciding who will be president and also names some powerful ministers. >> yes so three would not have full control in the sense that the military always have a veto power in -- for any constitutional amendment. and by always i mean that until the constitution is changed which will of course require their support. but within that, within those limits i think the nld and parties that it works with will have a reasonable amount, reasonable ability to be able to influence the situation on the ground. for example we have the situation in the rakine state where it is in urgent need of attention. so far we have seen how there is a humanitarian crisis on the ground. thus far government's response has focused on security. i think aung san suu kyi was

responsible for rakine action plan and this focused on security as well as trying to speed up the citizenship process for the rohingya that the people in myanmar insist on calling beengalis. i think much more needs to be done in terms of nation building, this is something the government the new government can do within the constraints of the constitution. >> of course one of the dangers in which i think people don't think is that significant now, is history won't repeat itself, because aung san suu kyi and her party won the election in 1990, weren't allowed to govern, spent much of that time under house arrest. she said if her party won she would be above the president. was that something already assumed, was it attempt to get

more people to vote for her party or is there the danger for that to back fire and seen as not democratic? >> i think that certainly a danger, i mean i don't think what -- the point you have played are mutually exclusive. it was an attempt to increase support amongst her supporters and i think her comments would have brought reassurance to some of his supporters. however, under the current constitution it's hard to see how being above the president can be constitutionally accommodated. she can of course seek to amend the constitution or be really flexible in terms of its interpretation, though i seriously don't see how this can be then as the constitution stands. >> all right it just be the power behind the scenes. well let's hope that this is an important step towards democracy in myanmar. lynn kwok, thank you for being

with us. >> thank you. >> expected to test venezuela's president nicholas pla maduro's responsibility. >> how the relationship between two sides has vostled over moree than six decades between taiwan and china. and china.

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>> i feel like we're making an impact. >> let's do it. >> techknow - where technology meets humanity. >> welcome back to al jazeera america i'm antonio mora. coming up in this half hour of international news closer ties between cuba and mexico open up or the immigration. but first a look at the stories making headlines across the u.s. in our american minute. after a seven year review, president obama has rejected transcanada's application to build the keystone xp pipeline between alberta and alaska. hard liners including democrats oppose the decision. affordable care act, the

court will hear an appeal brought by christian bruce, to cover creptio contraception at . this is fourth time the high court has heard a challenge to obamacare. county clerks who refuse to issue same sex marriage licenses, republican mayor math bevin has just promised that marriage licenses will no longer have the names of county clerks on them. kim davis was jailed for not obeying a supreme court order to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. first time in 65 years, two sides, taiwan and china will talk. rob mcbride reports from beijing. >> this will be an historic moment along a troubled road.

virtually on hold since the time of their founding predecessors. in 1949, after a bloody civil war, mao tse tung declared the republican of china in beijing, the qouumentang created their on government in taiwan. >> translator: the soviet union supported china and taiwan sided with america so the taiwan strait became a cold war frontier. both remained on war footing nil 1979 when china said it wanted a dialogue. >> as the cold war ended in mainland china, helped by much closer business transport and communication links the political differences remain. china's one party statement and its strong state control versus

taiwan's multiparty politics and its vibrant free speech, the two leaders come together knowing that difference even how they address each other is a problem with neither recognizing the other as the president of china. at this meeting, they will simply be mr.. the fact that the two sides at least acknowledge each other's existence counts as progress. >> translator: as long as the confrontation is over china is effectively unified and this summit is part of this process.this is not how other countries solve the process. thissues. the process is very chinese. >> future regular contact at highest level or it could be a one-off with relations changing back to their fractious ways. but a hand shake between mr. xi and mr. ma is about to make

history. >> rob joins us from beijing, hello rob. this meeting is historic, is it a motivator for upcoming meetings in taiwan? >> that is certainly an issue but ma yuen ja in taiwan, for him it is a legacy building time, he is a second-term president, a few months away from the end of his time in office and he wants this to be left his legacy. the ruling party of taiwan there is a growing realization that taiwan has to be more pragmatic. there has been a growing relationship between taiwan and mainland china in terms of business and communications, millions of chinese go back and forth between the two. this meeting at the highest level is certainly very significant and according to the prag pla 'ti mapragmatist, theyr

afford to have this independent line, they have to be more intraipted acknowledge antonio. >> what does chinese president xi hope to get out of the meeting? >> for him it is also a defining moment. at the back of this everybody is thinking about the possible reunification of china. nobody is going to be talking about that at this meeting. it is purely symbolic. the word reunification will not even be mentioned. but at some point in the future if it leads to that dream or that goal then it will be xi jinping's handshake that began that process. it does allow china having a meddling hand if you like in taiwan politics. we have elections coming up in january. we have the opposition party is tipped to get in, they are leading in the polls but they

take a very much more independent line, far less in favor of this integration. putting the pressure on the next president, any future leader of taiwan to refuse an invitation like this again antonio. >> there are mixed feelings about china's growing influence. rob mcbride. thank you. >> cuban president raul castro complete with his are counterpart in mexico, enrique pena nieto. he thanked mexico for its solidarity with his island. >> translator: the reestablishment of diplomatic ties with the united states and the recent demand almost unanimously, on the united nations glig of the unfair illegal and immoral embargo imposed against our country are

victories of global solidarity especially between latin america and the caribbean of which mexico has played an important role. >> the agreement signed including complea academic and diplomatic being channels. in venezuela parliamentary elections are a month away. opponents of the ruling party are trying to redistrict areas in their favor. the elections are expected to be a big test in against president nicholas maduro and his predecessor hugo chavez. al jazeera's virginia lopez has the story. >> the legacy as a charismatic

leader moves on. two years after his office, cracks in his leadership has been shown. >> means that i end up competing with a government who is basically giving away food. >> reporter: in the streets of downtown caracas, trial voting machines around sample many ballots are evident. flalts believe cracks within the ruling party will become evident. being rule described as a cult of nearnlt loued for no dissent. including disappearance of $20 billion from government accounts. >> all these government structures through which oil revenues could be siphoned off is where the gang sister like

style became entrenched and i say it is gang sister like because they -- gangster like because they robbed the whole nation, in a very menacing way. murder in ten years of story. >> to date no investigation has been conducted. a crippled economy that has led to chronic food shortages and soaring y rg rates. rural centers where the government is strong have a higher proportional reputation than urban centers where the opposition has historically won. for supporters of the government talk of cracks within the ranks is premature. despite all this criticism they feel they will be worse under opposition rule. >> translator: i think we are seeing a process of self-criticism. i don't know if these will lead

to fissures. even if it's circumstantial, but yes, even if the opposition wins and sweeps the majorities of seats you'll probably see serious cracks. >> one month is a long time. in the streets of caracas, the growing sense is that anything can happen between now and the elections. virginia lopez, caracas. also served as governor of caracas and cabinet member in venezuela. he is a high profile leader of the venezuelan opposition. what vensz means to the united e united states. american countries have tremendous investments in venezuela. what happens in venezuela is significant to americans. >> it should. we used to be the most trusted friend of the united states not only commercially from the old

point of view but politically. i think now according to the priorities, venezuela has come to a second priority. i believe for the united states, because i think cuba has become the greatest priority of a foreign policy of the united states. and i think that affects venezuela. >> and venezuela, despite all the oil, has soaring crime, soaring inflation, in fact it's estimated to be at least 100%, some estimates say it's much higher than that. just today, the venezuelans pulled half obillion from the imf, what is happening,. >> it could reach 200 per the highest in the world the economy could collapse more than 10%, medicines, most violent city competes with honduras in violence in latin america.

it is a dictatorship, it is a rogue regime according to many criterias in the world. >> now there's a story in this week that really illustrates the crisis and it involves mcdonald's. mcdonald's hadn't been able to have french fries in its restaurants in venezuela because it couldn't get potatoes in its restaurants. finally french fries are back, one problem, a large order of fries would cost about $126. at the black market rate it would only cost about $1.25 but the problem is at the black market rate a venezuelan is average salary is only $15. how is an ordinary venezuelan surviving? >> that is a miracle of surviv survival. the basket of food would cost

56,000 bolivares acknowledge in official dollars divided by 6 would be about $8,000. if you have the dollars very few people do have, then it is today as the least expensive cub in the world or the most expensive country in the world. >> the incredible economy, if you have those dollars it is almost impossible to live. parliamentary elections are in a month. polls show that the government popularity to put it bluntly is in the toilet, that the opposition is way ahead of the government. but will there be fair elections? >> you know, the best is to use maduro's the president of vengz's words, venezuela's word, otherwise there will be last akerr and blood. he added something, i am alive, i will never surrender the

revolution and more so he said, if they take the election, in other words if we win the election i will gofer with the people in the military civilian alliance. so it is very clear it is telling us and the world that he will not respect the election. >> that is a lot to worry about because the maduro government and the chavez government before him had been jailing opposition for a long time including leopoldo lopez, and the prosecutor in that case, came out and said all the evidence was falsified, that the whole case was a farce and the guy fled the cub. has that had an impact? >> absolutely. to take maduro to the hague, the international criminal court, so far we had not been able to demonstrate that the justice system was on the side of maduro. now when you've got the

prosecution to say they falsified the evidence, that opens the door to the hague. >> what will that mean? despite the fact that you live outside of the united states. >> forced. >> forced to live outside the united states. you were among a half dozen of the top opposition leaders in the country who were accused in a widely debunked conspiracy to assassinate maduro. how do you fight back against that? >> you know antonio one of the toughest things to witness is the -- how the latin american countries in general do not react when they see that one of used to be one of the oldest democracy he in the country is under a military dictatorship they have watched and seen how human rights have violated and olympic record of human rights violation, persecution of distance, not only fighting alone we are fighting before the

indifference of the rest of the world in general. >> we'll have to see what happens in these elections and the aftermath of these elections. >> we are going to live some of the most dangerous days in the history of venezuela i am convinced. >> thank you for coming in. >> thank you antonio. >> colombia's anniversary, pictures of a 1985 raid were hung outside the country's supreme court, more than 100 were killed including supreme court justices when government forces stormed the building to foil an attack. as allesandro de pietro reports. >> it is one of the most indelible evidence, it happened

on november 6th, 1985 when armed m-19 rebels stormed the building. they took judges and workers hostage demanding to put the presidential on trial for allegedly botching a peace process. the government refused to negotiate, and the military retaliated brutally. >> translator: wiets mistake on our part. -- it was a mistake on our part. the president would have taken control of the situation, and negotiate. it didn't happen. >> 28 hours later, 100 people were dead. 12 of them justices, another dozen disappeared, and were tortured. their fate still a mystery. there are many versions about what happened here 30 years ago, but nobody has been able to completely expose the truth. some evidence shows that drug lord pablo escobar could be behind the attacks to to destroy

thousands of records against them, in an interest to get rid of the country's highest court. alexandra rodriguez was five years old when herring father disappeared. >> 30 years later we are sure the military has a lot of power and control over the state. if we don't know the truth yet still searching for truth and justice it's because they tampered with the evidence, make a full justification impossible. >> grave violations in the siege and asked the government to issue a public apology. which has now arrived. >> translator: i want to express to the fathers, mothers, spouses, permanent partners, to the children, the siblings of the victims that we deeply gretd what happenedeeplyregret what hr

relatives. >> unnecessary steps for a country still struggling to reconcile with its violent pass. allesandro dimentieti, al jazeera, colombia. >> turning plastic botle into bo the building blocks of a school. in our next hour, just as ben carson's presidential campaign is picking up momentum, he's facing accusations that he stretched his buying if i. biography. biography. >> tough that the country gave up on me. >> look at the trauma... every day is torture.

>> this is our home. >> nobody should have to live like this. >> we made a promise to these heroes... this is one promise americans need to keep.

now to our global view segment with a look at how news outlets across the world are reacting to various events. >> russia's prabda, taking aim at the downed plane in egypt, the british knew for months that the airport in egypt was insecure and both nations suspected that i.s.i.l. was planning an attack but withheld information as receipt tri boouks foretribution.

moral victory and make canada appear weak and vulnerable. and the jerusalem post is looking ahead to prime minister benjamin netanyahu's trip to washington on monday where heel meet with president obama for the 16th time. the post sees the opportunity to reset their relationship, now they have a chance to put the past behind them, implement the iran deal, the meeting will set the tone for the israeli-u.s. relationship for remainder of the obama presidency. in burundi, thousands of people are fleeing their homes, in order to not give up their weapons. voluntarily give up their guns or risk being an enemy of the inflation. the decree could push the african country closer to a civil war. >> we are fleeing because we've heard about the president's corrective and i'm scared

they're going to call us fighters. >> translator: the fee is caused by what the leadership said. we are very scared and worried because they might come down on us with all the military polite. that is why people are running away. >> the ultimat ultimatum comes e president's seeking a third term. the u.n. will meet to discuss the situation in burundi. one of our journalists has, peter greste arrested in egypt many along with al jazeera journalists baher mohamed and mohamed fahmy, banned for supporting the banned muslim brotherhood.

>> as long as you have a purpose, for what you're suffering you can put up with extraordinary -- extraordinarily difficult times. for me the purpose was press freedom. >> peter says he plans to continue fighting for press freedom and to write a book about it. egypt has still not dropped the charges against him. in south africa poor communities struggle with last of classrooms. recycled plastics to build new schools brick by brick, al jazeera's haru mutasa has more from pretoria in flit's off the radar report. >> soon these children at the primary school won't having their school meals cooked and served outside. it might not look like it but the kitchen being built behind them is being played by recycled plastic bricks. there is a shortage of classrooms and school buildings in some of south africa's poorest communities.

plastic bottles are not biodegradable and end up in landfills but the recycled plastic bottles are molded into rectangular brick-like shapes and sold to the public as water bottles for less than 50 cents. the kitchen is nearly complete. the workers are putting in the steel mesh frames, the wire mesh keeps the plastic in place, workers say it's a way to uplift the community. >> obviously become part of the bottles, we can get throws bottles back because we control the environment as such, once we get them back they become automatically a brick. we then take throws and do structures like those you see behind me. >> another community will have its own interesting structure. the bricks are easy to stack like lego bricks. takes about 15,000 of these to build the structure and this is going to be a kitchen. the builders say it went very fast. it took them roughly three

hours. this 1,000 square meter youth center in suweto town center, depending on the finishings used it's 40% cheaper to build with plastic than with conventional clay or cement bricks. >> there are lots of people benefiting and if you are skeptical by all means contact me and i can show you through. >> concerned about the plastic bricks accidentally catching fire. >> a mistake the whole kitchen win burn. no, it won't. >> more than 20 school buildings and youth facilities have been built using recycled plastic bottles in south africa so far. it's hope its low cost and green way to build will one way be used across the african continent. haru mutasa, al jazeera,

pretoria. >> that's it for this international news hour on al jazeera america. i'll be back with more news in two minutes.

>> good evening, i'm antonio mora. this is al jazeera america. a no-go after years of review president obama has decided to kill the xp pipeline once an for all. credibility concerns as ben carson gains in the polls, new concerns that he play have made up part of his public life story. a new challenge, the three democratic presidential candidates are put to a test in an interview-style forum hoping