rescue off the coast of greece where thousands of refugees are stranded after borders are closed. this is what many are running from, violence continues on the ground in syria despite a truce. this is al jazeera live from doha. also on the program, prosecutors in brazil call for the arrest of former president after he is charged with money laundering. >> reporter: i'm in afghanistan. we will tell you why the city's

most famous glass maker is thrilled sanctions have been lifted refugees continue to pour into greece where thousands are stock after borders were closed, stopping them from heading further north. at least 28 migrants including 8 children were rescued off the island of zam os. many have died trying to reach the islands. the country has been a starting point for refugees making their way to greece and many other countries. our correspondent has more from idomd earrings ni. >> reporter: the conditions are getting worse by the day. yesterday we were calling it appalling. today there is no word to describe it. behind me it might look that there are less tents. actually what happened the tents

were sinking in the mud. they were relocated on the grafl between the rail tracks, that being the best option they have here many people are coming to terms with the fact that the borders are closed. they're trying to figure out what are their options, but after weight for so long under these conditions, they find themselves in a very vulnerable situation. many people told us that they run completely out of money and they have no other option at the moment then to wait to speak to the u.n. agency for refugees here who would then relocate them somewhere else in the country. those who have money, a tiny minority did take buses that would go back to athens. once they arrive there they're on their own. i was walking around. i was saying hello to people i knew already. they couldn't hold their tears. they said they reached a level of humiliation that they never expected, specifically because they thought that once they were

in europe things would get much easier for them the european union hopes to begin relocating thousands of refugees from greece in the coming month. they want at least 6,000 a month housed by member states. so far only 900 have been moved. a separate deal that would see refugees sent back to turkey. this may violate e.u. and international law. in germany not everyone agrees with chancellor angela merkel open door policy on refugees but she made the case that many hoped to go back to their homes. >> translation: at the moment 3000 are returning to iraq every month. it is an upward trend. they say they can live with their families in peace. some go back to their families who did not arrive here. it is not the case that they will all stay. we must prepare them for a life

back in their home countries nato says it will send five warships into the aegean cities >> >> we have increased the area of operation. we have now moved into greek and turkish territorial waters and we have started to focus on the area around the greek island of lesbos. we are planning to move further south in the coming days and weeks even as the u.n. says the partial ceasefire in syria will continue, heavy fighting has erupted between the armed opposition and government forces the fighting took place on the outskirts of ballah and

dou douma. suspected russian air strikes targeted areas under opposition control in the idlib countryside. many people, including a child, were killed in the air strikes on palmyra city. government forces have been trying to take back part of the homs countryside which is under i.s.i.l. control germany's police say they have files containing personal information about i.s.i.l. fighters. they have the names, telephone numbers and even the names of those who recruited them. >> reporter: the developments regarding these documents that refer to one officials of islamic state in iraq and the levant on monday. since then we have had information that they are working on the assumption that these documents are genuine and relate to individuals who were required by islamic state in iraq and the levant, if these documents are genuine, were required to give detailed

information about themselves, personal identification data but also their apparent skill set. clearly the officials in the intelligence services and police services in germany are keen to make whatever use they can of this information because it is understood that new sources say that, perhaps, individuals from 50 countries are implicated in these documents. clearly from the policing perspective, if officers are able to crackdown individuals from germany and from other european nationss and travel to iraq to work and fight with islamic state in iraq and the levant and are looking to return to this country and the e.u., then it will be very using for policing services and intelligence services to access whatever information they can before they can do anything in the european union. that is the perspective of the german intelligence and police services have regarding this

matter and they hope they will be able to use this data to their utmost potential the pentagon says it has captioned i.s.i.l.'s chemical weapons chief who was arrested in iraq last month >> we will learn drills about i.s.i.l.'s production and the people involved. the information has has resulted in multiple coalition air strikes that have disrupted and degraded theirability to produce chemical weapons and will continue to inform our operations into the future prosecutors in brazil has called for the present of the former president. charges include money laundering and identity fraud. our correspondent has more. >> reporter: he was known as the politician with the teflon

shield, a shield that from years prevented scores of corruption charges from sticking. that is, until on now. >> translation: money, laundering, identity fraud and money laundering, participation in money laundering >> reporter: with that the state prosecutor charged brazil's powerful former presidential and his wife and son, and called for him to be put into prevent ative custody while the case moves forward. until very recently the former leftist president was one of latin america's most respected politicians, credit with take 30 mail i don't know people out of poverty in his country and turning his country in a power

house. that was before his successor over saw the collapse of the economy and the rise of a skrant stream of corruption scandals. he is accused having received a large apartment for a construction company in exchange for favours >> translation: whilst millions of families were left without their arments, whilst many families were prevented of reaching their dreams of owning their own houses, one investigated had a luxury apartment. this has been presented in our report. >> reporter: he denies the charges which may be just the tip of the iceberg. >> he is under indictment for corruption, money laundering in the state of san paolo. he has not been indicted but remains under investigation on

the much larger federal case that has already cost sentences to about 80 people. >> reporter: and whether a judge issues an arrest warrant or not, his teflon shield has been seriously damaged as he fights for his political future friday marks five years since japan devastating earthquake at tsunami. it was off the north-east coast of japan. it lasted six minutes and set-off a 14 metres tsunami. three nuclear meltdowns at the fukushima power plant produced 166,000 tons of debris and also radio active water. 3400 tons of newly kon tom

natured water is added every single day. overall the disaster produced 20 million tons of debris kraekting a clean up headache. the president says construction efforts are bringing results. we are moving faster to improve the environment so that in march last year we hope to list the orders in all regions. our correspondent joins us. five years seems like a long time ago. how much change in this area since the disaster? >> reporter: it was a long time ago, but it is still an unforgettable moment when the t sushgs unami came ashore here. it is an area of flalt lavenltd we will remember live broadcast $those images shot from a helicopter of a massive wave sweeping before it. including here, i'm on top of an

old six-meter mound that was built long before the tsunami that people used to look at. 950 people died here and 41 of them are still missing. there is a good deal of reduction going on around here. the sea walls are being rebuilt and, indeed, elevated in some areas. a lot of the land around here will be used for industrial purposes. that is being elevated by about four metres. residential areas a little bit higher than that again just looking forward, how would japan be marking this day? >> reporter: at 2.46 local time, in just over half an hour, they will be remembering stopping in silence at the same time as the earthquake struck five years ago. sirens will be sounding up and

down this coast, including here as well as that they will be releasing balloons here. there are some community-led activities like this. on the national scale the prime minister and emperor will be holding an event in tokyo - emperor. there will be search teams looking for those two and a half thousand missing people. they're still searching for the bodies. it's important for those who have lost their loved once and haven't found the remains but the effort continues five years ago thank you. time for a short break here on al jazeera. when we come back, fighting drug addiction. the u.s. senate passes a bell to help local governments fight a heroin epidemic. the demand for african art is going through the roof, but many artists in the continent say they're struggle. they're struggle.

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welcome back. a quick recap of the stories here. the italian coast guard has rescued at least 28 refugees off the greek island of samos. e.u. leaders discussed a plan to relocate at least 6,000 refugees a month from greece. german police say they have authentic files containing personal information about i.s.i.l. fighters. they contain real names, origins, telephone numbers and details of who recruited them. prosecutors in brazil has called for the arrest of the former

president. charges include money laundering and identity fraud, for concealing ownership of a beach front apartment. former republican hopeful ben carson says he endorsed current front runner donald trump. that's according to the washington post. donald trump and the three remaining republican hopefuls have debated with each other in florida. this is last head to head before tuesday's crucial primary. what was the tone of the debate like? >> reporter: tuesday is very important. it's important for marco rubio and john kasich. they have to win their home states or essentially their campaigns are over. we've seen some raw can you say debate-- raucus debate and people think it has damaged the look of the republicans. there was no personal attacks,

people calling ted cruz a liar and small hands and little marco rubio. they managed to cover a lot of ground. issues that are important to american viewers and voters echl this time whereas in the past we have learned personalities about the people who are running, this time i think people were watching and got more of an idea about the policies that these people would employ if they were in the white house. it generated more light than heat. i'm sure the republican party who had their appeal for party unity before it started will be great for that what about wider international issues? what did they have to say on that? >> reporter: well, they talked a lot about international issues, about the battle against i.s.i.l., they talked about international trade. it was important for ted cruz to raise against donald trump that he didn't understand the idea of imposing import tariffs and what that would do to the orred american home. that would increase costs for

them. a couple of times they made the point he didn't know what he was going on about. there was an exchange between marco rubio who needed a good perform talking about america changing its approach to cuba and the fact that it is opening up its relationship there. marco rubio, of course, is the son of cuban immigrants, his power base is in florida, full of cuban immigrants, and said things on have to change drastically. he took donald trump to school really on his approach to what was happening in cuba. it was an interesting moment, the best moment of the evening and gave him a good boost, i suspect, into the polls as we run up to florida. he is still behind donald trump. john kasich has throughout the previous debates sounded like the voice of sanity. he has been the calm reasoned one. when people are being calm and reasoned about you, you don't tend to shine as much. he needed a goodnight to do well

in ohio on tuesday. he didn't have a bad night, but not a great night either. if you're asking me who did well, ted cruz and marco rubio did well. donald trump had a fairly average night. the voters don't really care about how he reacts but like what he says and how he says it. for john kasich it wasn't a goodnight for him which only makes tuesday all the more interesting eye rap ask rejecting claims that missile tests conducted this week violate the nuclear agreement it reaches with the u.s. and other nations. they tested two ballistic missiles on tuesday. >> the secretary general urges all concerned to act with restraint. in the current political atmosphere in the political east region, and than soon after the lifting of sanctions against iran, the government calls on

the officials in iran to not increase tensions through hasty actions iranian state tv placed footage of those arms. joe biden says washington will act if they do not cover the sanction. >> we believe it is an unacceptable threat to the region of the u.s. i want to reiterate, if, in fact, they break the deal, we will act since 2014 more people have died of drug overdoses in the u.s. than in car accidents. addiction to hirn and pain-killers is the number one cause of accidental death. on thursday the u.s. senate passed legislation that aims to tackle will problem.

>> the vote is 94 as, one neys. >> reporter: if there's one thing that they can agree on, it's the need to address the country's addressing of opioid and drug abuse >> there should be programs which can make important strides in combatting the addiction and overdose problems that we see in every one of our state >> reporter: the senate passed what is known as the comprehensive addiction recovery act to deal with a problem that now affects more than two million americans of all ages, races and socio-economic levels. there's no shortage of statistics underlying the scale of the problem, but up until now there hasn't been a federal response to a national problem >> this is a horror, and evil that knows no geographical boundaries or class brown drees. it's happening in business

cities, in small towns, suburban communities, in high-income communities, low and middle-xhk communities. it's happening to everyone. there's no escaping it >> reporter: experts say it stems in part from doctors over prescribing opioids, pain-killers. as they have tightened they turn to heroin. there are grants for states to achieve efforts to overcome drugs >> in some areas where there is no treatment of these medications available at all, people have to go long distances. sometimes there's waiting lifts. this kind of access to treatment is one of the things that they're hoping that these funds will be able to address. >> reporter: the senate may have reached a compromise on how to

delicatessen reach this issue. medical clinics like this will struggle until that happens 14 new cases of the zika virus have been confirmed in bolivia. the health ministry says the patients contracted the disease through mosquito bites. at least 13 cities are being targeted for fumigation in order to reduce the chances of a further outbreak. merchants in parts of afghanistan are welcoming the recent lifting of economic sanctions against neighboring iran. it could reestablish one afghan city as a leading trade hub and expand influence in the region. >> reporter: an molten blob of

glass and some air and masterful strokes of sculpting. a finished product. this is an expert glass makers of afghanistan crafts the famous blue glass. he has done it for 50 years, but rarely has he been more optimistic about his business thanks to the recent lifting of economic sanctions against neighboring iran. >> translation: we were very happy. we are always happy when things improve in iran. >> reporter: he is amongst traders here who say sanctions damaged the economy here. afghanistan's western trade hub that has long held cultural links to its neighbor and heavily dependent on products, either imported through or made in iran. it is amazing when you walk

around here how many products you find that are made in iran. look at this. laundry detergent, a dish washing liquid, hand soap, glass keener, card candy and chocolate all made in iran. even iranian music fills the street. >> translation: it was hard. my items were smuggled and now they won't need to be. >> translation: when we were under sanctions, if affected the economy in a dramatic way >> reporter: he says the lifting of sanctions means more imported products bought legally. >> translation: when merchants can use the banks, the price for the product goes down and it means consumers pay less for the products with higher quality. >> reporter: traders here are also eager to use iran as a

transit point to export this area's products. it is famous marble, dried fruit, spices, and the blue glass. potentially a badly needed boost for this area and afghanistan's strugg struggling economy interest in buying african art is growing in the u.s. and europe. actioneers say there has been 200% rise in african art in the last four years. not everyone in the continent, though, is raking it in. >> reporter: they have sold more than 60 million dollars of african art in london over the last nine years. most contemporary art is told for between 7 and 70,000 dollars, one of the best painting sold to 1.5 million

dollars and this was sold for $400,000. >> the contemporary art market is physical el in the-- fickle sense has meant that buyers have moved on to find the next big and new area. africa is very much the area they're focusing on. >> reporter: the value of african art continues to rise as more pieces from south africa, senegal and guarna are seen on the market. only 5% of artists produce work that is commercially viable. african art has dominated international sales providing an opportunity for the larger african markets. this man has been taking documentary photos for 20 years. some are exhibited here in the johannesburg art gallery. he was-- he struggles to get

photography which documents communities to recognise photos as art making it difficult to make enough to survive from his photographs >> they there are spaces as well and i think in the other african countries, it does not have a level, but most of the african countries, there's more that needs to be done to improve. >> reporter: a fund-raising group, friends of the johannesburg art gallery say it's up to people to promote themselves >> it's people that expect to be given a hands up, people that expect where things come too easily, i think that's where we have a problem because there are many artists in the world that never get to the top >> reporter: while new buyers and growing interest means africa's art market is likely to

continue expanding, for artists such as andrew it remains an exclusive club a quick reminder, you can keep up-to-date with all the news on our website. there it is on our screen, the address aljazeera.com [ ♪ ] thank you for joining us on "america tonight", i'm joie chen. this is a time of year we are supposed to commemorate the achievements of women. international women's day, over 100 years old, and black history month. and while the achievements of