european leaders get ready to meet to try to find a solution to the refugee crisis but there are deep divisions on the issue. a refugee ship with two hundred people on board is allowed to dock in malta after almost a week at sea. this is al jazeera live from coming up china says it won't give up even an inch of its territory in the pacific as the u.s. defense secretary meets president xi jinping in beijing. and in thailand rain continues to hamper the search for a group of teenagers stuck in a flooded cave. the

german chancellor has warned the european union's approach to refugees has the potential to split the u. she's been addressing the german parliament before leaving for a key summit in brussels at home the issue has threatened to break up her governing coalition. all but he'll hold all europe cases many challenges migration could become the make or break one for the e.u. either we manage it so others in africa believe that we are guided by values and believe in multilateralism not unilateral ism or nobody will believe any longer in the system of values that has made us strong that's why it's so important a new group of right wing governments has emerged demanding tighter border controls and new policies to cut the number of refugees coming in made up of leaders from austria hungary italy slovakia the czech republic and poland it wants other

countries to agree to a stricter approach to refugees while other member states mostly from north western europe will hope to avoid the union swinging to the right it's been seen as one of the most difficult and important summits in years and with rescue boats full of refugees trying to cross the mediterranean every day finding a resolution is becoming more urgent by the minute it's cost lives to dominic cain in berlin so real stark warning there by angle americal. yes very much for she's putting very clearly out in the public domain quite what the fears of government such as hers but the point here is that here in this very parliament she was speaking she has allies but also those who believe from her own sides that the things that she's been effectively saying might happen at this summit were not enough she said today a slight change of tone from certainly from the previous positions on immigration

that perhaps now is the time to go back to the the situation the rule system that existed before the summer of twenty fifteen that's when she opened the borders in germany she said today she did so in order to help other countries specifically the austrians and the hungarian is the irony is of course but it's the austrians and parents who don't share her point of view about immigration who don't want to have more migrants more a few trees as part of some european solution to help. the countries where most of the migrants make first landfall that's the square she's trying to set the circle she's trying to square rather here with her comments of the to the bundestag the question will be how that sort of sentiment goes down in brussels when she gets there later on i was going to ask you how acrimonious is today's session likely to be one of the concerns. well how do you in one sense try to resolve this crisis try to to manage the numbers of people putting themselves into the into those desperate journeys across the mediterranean across

the balkans how do you manage that in a way that deals with the numbers but also reassures those countries where the people make landfall that the european union is trying to solve it that's the issue that's the conundrum here the problem she's got as i say is that there doesn't seem to be any any sense of unanimity of purpose here i was in brussels for the mini summit the working session of sixteen countries last weekend and there although the italian government seemed to come away from the sessions thinking well that progress had been made the fact was many e.u. countries weren't part of it the test here is how do they bring everybody together to find a form of words which is more than just the form of words that's what we need to to look out for and if the visa grant group as i see it they are not placated it's unlikely we'll get anything that approaches a real solution it will be interesting to see what they come up with thanks for that doesn't it came. at least fifteen people have died in a fire in kenya's largest open air market in the capital nairobi you can see the

fumes of smoke still rising from the fire which has been put out another seven people been taken to hospital many were serious burns the fire broke out early on thursday morning a key combo market which is famous for selling second hand goods early on wednesday more than two hundred refugees reach land after being stuck at sea for six days now the charity ship lifeline docked in malta but only after eight countries agreed to take a share of the migrants reports from villager. after six days at sea the lifeline finally came to dock at the letter but also to be impounded the multis government says it is not registered as a search and rescue ship has fails to obey the orders of the italian coast guard and often switched off its transponder to disguise its position raising suspicion that the ship could be deliberately helping smugglers the head of mission lifeline

says italian authorities opened the investigation against it and suspects political motives under the new anti migration government in rome because the lifeline operated without problems last year we started in the last year and in september. we were starting here. and we had a fight we had five missions with this board last year and rescued five hundred forty nine people for the two hundred thirty three people from sub-saharan countries on board it was the end of an ordeal seven european union members agreed to help malta with their asylum claims that agreement persuaded the maltese government to allow the lifeline to dock the lifeline six day odyssey ended here at boiler war the refugees and migrants had carried will have their asylum interviews in europe but all thorough to say this is an individual arrangement there's no guarantee of safe harbor for future shiploads italy's refusal to accept search and

rescue ships has opened a new rift in the e.u. its twenty seven leaders are broadly divided between two camps those who believe in collective action and a growing insurgency that says the e.u. needs to push its defense outward creating process in camps in africa and the middle east allowing no one to cross these waters mulder's premier says the hardliners are attempting to politicize a practical issue i think it's it's sure this is. were there were a member states who showed up for the values of. the are not something to be fought just in the treaty but that we still i don't think it's all about. grandstanding and. high flying political. decorations it's about how we act corporation. and how america situation solidarity is certainly what these

multis teenagers have in mind when they think of europe i think they should be divided by a different kind of deal so we don't have too much coming in more thoughtful to disaster more life. but not all european countries feel they're in the same boat jobs are all plus al-jazeera the letter here's defense secretary james mattis has been meeting with his south korean counterpart in seoul the two held talks on washington's decision to suspend joint military exercises which have long angered north korea that happened during the recent summit between donald trump and kim jong un matzoh says this is pension will increase chances for peace at all leaving . you there were. five years of relief and the. reason to do this is going to. go to increase.

early on thursday matters was in china's capital for talks on regional security territorial disputes in the south china sea and the presence of u.s. troops in south korea where the main issues but china made it clear it wouldn't give up an inch of territory in the south china sea adrian brown has more from beijing. well james mattis said he was here to in his words take the measure of china's strategic ambitions during the photo opportunity before their closed door meetings both sides issued brief statements and it was then the president xi jinping said that china would never concede give an inch of its territory he also said to sort of mollify his guest the china didn't want to create global chaos and would pursue a path of peaceful development that's often a phrase the chinese leaders use on occasions like this both sides apparently

discuss the need to maintain military cooperation but the timing of this meeting is unfortunate because the united states is holding a big naval exercise of hawaii at the moment involving the militaries of twenty five other countries china was supposed to have taken part in this exercise but china's invitation was rescinded by the united states in part because of what china's been doing in the south china sea now the united states has referred constantly to the fact that china has been deploying surface to air missiles on the islands it's been building up and it's also accused china in the past of reneging on promises not to militarize this vast basin of water that china's response is simple it claims sovereignty over all of the south china sea and therefore says it is simply protecting its sovereignty it's not thought that the two sides discussed

trade of course trade is the principal point of friction between washington and beijing right now although president xi jinping did say that the relationship between the united states and china was one of the most important relationships in the world right now a specialist u.s. military team has joined the search for twelve young footballers and their coach missing in a flooded cave complex in northern thailand the group of around thirty joins a british cave diving team and thai navy seals who are already involved in the search but rescue efforts are being slowed down by constant rainfall scott hired as more from our tag the cave in chandra. heavy rain overnight between wednesday and thursday brought the water level in the cave system to its highest level yet but now that on thursday morning the rain has lightened so the water level has retreated a bit but the pumping systems are still sitting idle you can see a lot of the hosing over my shoulder now on wednesday morning they're putting hundreds of meters of a hose in there trying to go deeper into this cave system that has stopped that is

halted because of that heavy rain overnight on wednesday and now they're waiting to see how the conditions go here on thursday even though the rain has stopped now part of the problem is yes the water level but also the water is very muddy now this is turned in through the international operation we have a team from the united states and from the united kingdom here as well as from laos they're going to provide their expertise to try to push further into the cave system no right now they're about three kilometers in they believe there's speculation that the team and their coach might have retreated to a chamber that's about five to six kilometers and that's why you see a lot of this hose behind me because they hope to further move in now while that's going on while that's on idol on hold i should say they're also serving the area on the outside trying to find a fourth chimney a fourth tunnel upward tunnel to get into they found three but they were impassable so that's where the focus is right now and as the day goes on we'll see if they can get these pumps back moving and also if they find that fourth chimney still ahead

on al jazeera the u.n. fears the human cost of the fighting and maybe a waste and previous sieges in syria. and the retirement of a longstanding u.s. supreme court justice paves the way for a new era of you know making in washington. and still some fairly heavy rain in the middle of thailand but further south things are quiet and but this want top cloud here beyond sumatran down to west in java that has been quite active really surprisingly so in the same potential exists it's too soon a way back to west papua that is quite a gap the centerpiece looks fairly dry and most of thailand do have to in the last twenty four hours but that rain is still threatening and occasional big shasta a possible finals of singapore possibly kuala lumpur and again western side of java

not lines to exist through the way the other a few showers coming back into the philippines south of all this and into the middle of winter the regular front start to march across the bite so you've got cloud invading adelaide on the satellite picture which means that daylight hours will see the rain just coming through for the size fourteen degrees no sun to see only twelve in melbourne the skies clouding up here as well sixteen in sydney that's in the sunshine to us was it feels rather better about the same in perth also in the sunshine is when we have a little bit in perth start really doing the same at the adelaide oval melbourne as for new zealand it should be a couple of days of bright or even sunny weather is temperatures just struggling above ten. as it takes a tougher line on

a migrant. crime it's making vast profits from the misery. people in power investigates the state funded perception centers where the helpless are reduced to commodities right exploitation. margaret. and the you watching al-jazeera mind of our top stories the german chancellor has warned the european union's approach or if the g.'s as a potential to split the e.u. angela merkel has addressed parliament on the issue later she'll head to brussels

for a key summit with e.u. leaders hoping to agree to an e.u. wide approach on refugees. and more than two hundred g.'s of reach land after being stuck at sea for six days the charity ship lifeline docked in multiple only after eight countries agreed to take a share of the migrants. u.s. defense agree james mattis has been meeting with his south korean counterpart in seoul the two held talks on washington's decision to suspend joint military exercises earlier matches wasn't beijing discussing territorial disputes in the south china sea where he was told that china would not give up an inch of territory . lawyers representing the united arab emirates are appearing before the united nation's highest court at the hague katz has taken the u.a.e. to the international court of justice accusing it of violating human rights as a result of the blockade imposed on doha qatar representatives set out their arguments during the first day of hearings on wednesday the case has been prompted

by the blockade of cattle by the u.a.e. saudi arabia bahrain and egypt. as more from the hague. the second day of hearings at the international court of justice on choose day cats are accuse the usa of discrimination against the country and its people now are about to hear from the united arab emirates lawyers representing cats are focused on the expulsion of qatari national some the u.a.e. the recalling of u.a.e. citizens from castro in the closure of the u.s. a space that all qatari traffic accuses the u.a.e. of preventing access to individuals and companies when it comes to being able to access their assets and their property of denying people the right to education health care and judicial services and also violating its obligation under the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination of which the u.a.e. is a key signatory the u.a.e. hasn't said much ahead of this case although at least one amorality minister has

accused this case of being simply a stunt to keep the blockade on cattle in the public eye always hoping for a swift resolution a swift conclusion to this case both countries will have a chance to speak on friday before the court decides what will happen next yemen's president is demanding the rebels withdraw from her data province rather than months or how days made him comes after he met the united nations special envoy the u.n. fears an all out assault on the port city could trigger a famine as poaching georgian reports. in the southern yemeni port city of port data hundreds of desperate people wait in line for a handout food. the health care. eight million people rely on the food that comes through the port the offensive by saudi and their morality backed government forces is hurting them already shops bakeries and restaurants are closed and grocery shelves remain bare. where failed price of wheat

and vegetable oil have increased by thirty percent while prices of cooking gas increased by fifty two percent in the last week the u.n. says most areas of the city don't have electricity or water it warns that any sanitation problems could trigger another cholera outbreak hundreds of thousands have been infected by cholera and diptheria since the war began four years ago ten thousand people have been killed and three million of yemen's twenty eight million people have been forced to leave their homes. there are thirteen thousand nine hundred seventy four internally displaced families inside the province of how data the humanitarian organizations efforts only meet ten percent of what's necessary at the cmin aid organizations meeting in paris some participants wonder how the west claims to be worried about the plight of yemenis but continues to sell arms to the saudis and amorality six time on hold to do that you know it's extremely complicated to discuss the humanitarian situation and peace process while bombs are

being randomly dropped on civilians heads as fighting continues in yemen the un's envoy remains hopeful that a political solution can be found who will say they're willing to hand over management of a data port to the u.n. but them arrive he's demand out who the fighters leave the city altogether as a precondition for any peace deal. in the meantime the prognosis for the southern port city where data is not good for centuries yemen was known as the arabian peninsula as most fertile land it was often called the arabian felix latin for happy or fortunate. now yemenis find themselves in what the u.n. calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis while chatterjee on al-jazeera the syrian observatory for human rights says government s trikes have killed at least forty six people in rebel held parts of dera province since wednesday for medical

centers were among the targets the government is trying to recapture all of the other rebel held areas close to the border with jordan and the israeli occupied golan heights and the situation there are could be worse than the sieges of aleppo nice and go so that's the dire warning from the u.n. special envoy to syria diplomatic editor james bays as well. it's a pattern of violence that syria has seen a number of times before like darius aleppo in eastern guta it's been a carefully planned military offensive by the assad regime using artillery and other indiscriminate heavy weapons the syrian government's planes assisted by the might of russian air power the u.n. special envoy briefing the security council by video link said he was deeply concerned it could be like limbo and if there could combine to good in terms of the population in the area some forty five thousand people all of fifty

dollars and here have already been displaced you to fighting the u.s. and its allies called out russia saying it and the syrian government would breaching an agreement on deescalation in southwest syria made last year. the united states can confirm that russia itself launched airstrikes in the southwest deescalation zone in recent days to be clear the unilateral military operations underway by the assad regime and russia in southwest syria represent a violation of the cease fire arrangement reaffirmed by president trump and president putin some humanitarian groups are now calling on jordan to take care of patients some of those fleeing the violence in southern syria have nowhere to go and the jordan syria border remains closed james pays out just era of the united nations britain's prince william is visiting holy sites in occupied east jerusalem on the final day of his middle east tour he started the day paying respects at his great grandmother prince alice's grave she helped rescue jews during the holocaust

prince william is also visiting one of the most important holy sites for muslims the accept mosque compound the first official visit by a member of the royal family since the british occupation of palestine ended in one thousand nine hundred forty eight hairy force that has more. so the church of the holy circle is the last official engagement of prince william's visit the third of the holy sites cities was it it here in occupied east jerusalem kensington palace made it very clear tried to choreograph this to the maximum that it could as a nonpolitical event but of course this visit coming seventy years after the end of the british mandate the first official rule visit to israel has been one which has been politically sensitive that is potentially why the palace was so keen and british government is so keen to pay significant attention to the palestinians during the course of this was a defining in the royal artillery this old city of jerusalem as part of the

occupied palestinian territories east jerusalem itself and as well as that in his dealings with the palestinian president mahmoud abbas in ramallah he spoke of both our countries in his initial remarks despite the fact of course the united kingdom does not at least yet to recognize palestine as a state saying would only do so when it became helpful towards peace he also said that the palestinian people had not been forgotten the united kingdom stood with them as they work towards peace that was something that he also said the united kingdom stood with the israeli people during his engagement in tel aviv there has been some criticism both of the definition of east jerusalem as occupied by is the israeli israeli politicians and the israeli culture minister has said that the decision not to meet with israel with jerusalem or others mare here in jerusalem was somewhat impolite so he's had to negotiate peace political faultlines very delicately and paying as much weight as he can to both sides of the divide one of

the nine members of the u.s. supreme court is retiring giving president donald trump the chance to bring in a new justice and then a kennedy was appointed by ronald reagan thirty years ago he was often the key vote on controversial issues but appointing as successor could also lead to a lengthy and bitter battle as an official reports. and for me kennedy spent thirty years as a u.s. supreme court justice he may have been appointed by a conservative president but he was often the crucial swing vote on controversial issues abortion was one in one thousand nine hundred you rejected a law which insisted parents had to be notified if a minor was seeking an abortion and he supported gay rights writing the majority opinion on all four of the court's landmark rulings on the issue including the constitutional right to same sex marriage his retirement had been predicted he informed the president on wednesday and no donald trump gets to nominate a new supreme court justice his second in less than two years and we will begin our

search for a new justice of the united states supreme court that will begin immediately. and hopefully we're going to pick somebody who will be as outstanding the o.j. trial on the supreme court was an important election issue for donald trump many conservative christians through their support behind him hoping he would change the makeup of the one person bench when given the opportunity barack obama had a vacancy to fill in his final months in the white house but republicans blocked him repeatedly now the top republican in the senate which confirms any appointment has asked democrats to play fair it's imperative that the president's nominee become sort of fairly and not subjected to parcel. then three months of taking office still appointed neil gorsuch conservative no he gets a second pick which could cement a conservative majority on the court for years to come civil rights criminal

justice everything is on the line with this new justice being appointed for kennedy was the second oldest justice on the court the oldest is ruth bader ginsburg considered to be a reliable liberal who it's no believes she's less likely to stand on the head of the next presidential election giving donald trump a third supreme court pick. washington. is the executive director of the revolving door project at the center for economic and policy research he thinks justice kennedy's retirement will worry a lot of liberals some issues that people thought were long resolved in this country like abortion rights and some issues that seem to have been resolved more recently like gay rights are going to be called into question i think that justice kennedy did not vote with the liberals the more liberal justices that often but he at least created the chance that the more liberal side could get a fair hearing it gave them hopes and sometimes slow down the movement of the court

to the right i think that if trump succeeds in confirming a replacement for anthony kennedy that movement is going to accelerate and i think you're going to see people begin to appreciate in this country the broad scope of the court's powers that it not only includes issues of civil rights and free speech but also a whole bunch of commercial law labor law antitrust law type issues. a police officer in the u.s. state of pennsylvania has been charged with the most for shooting an unarmed black teenager the incident was captured on mobile phone and led to widespread demonstrations and eats pits for christmas and i mean. it's a scene that's become all too common in the united states demonstrators pour into the streets to vent their outrage over the lease officers killing of an unarmed black man but in this case the calls for justice have resulted in criminal homicide

charges against a thirty year old east pittsburgh police officer it was michael ross feld first day on the job with the east pittsburgh police department when he shot an unarmed seventeen year old it's an intentional act recklessly. and there is no justification for the district attorney said there was no evidence the officers life was threatened cell phone footage from the scene showed and rose was running away when an officer fired on him are assuming they are on a fatal bullet hitting him in the back the officers lawyer says he acted reasonably given rose had been in a car that was used in a drive by shooting earlier that day another passenger in the car has been charged for that crime but rose's family said that was no excuse for officer ross fels actions he was a passenger in a story comes up in the wrong place at the wrong. and in no way justified his murder when everyone. was the charges are exactly what protesters have been

demanding he still has a long way to go to get the conviction they say anton rose deserves christianson only al-jazeera. of them jane that are the headlines on al-jazeera of the german chancellor has warned the european union's approach to refugees has a potential to split the a you anglo-american has addressed parliament on the issue later she'll head to brussels for a key summit with the leaders hoping to agree to an approach on refugees. but. europe faces many challenges but migration could become the make or break one for the e.u. either we manage it so others in africa believe that we are guided by values and believe in multilateralism not unilateral isn't or nobody will believe any longer in the system of values that has made us strong that's why it's so important. more

than two hundred refugees have reached land after being stuck at sea for six days the charity ship lifeline docked in malta but only after eight countries agreed to take a share of the migrants u.s. defense agree james mattis has been meeting with his south korean counterpart in seoul the two held talks on washington's decision to suspend joint military exercises earlier massa's was in beijing discussing territorial disputes in the south china sea where he was told that china would not give up an inch of territory at least fifteen people have died in a fire in kenya's largest open air market in the capital nairobi you can see the devastation then that live picture another seventy people are being taken to hospital many was serious burns the fire broke out early on thursday morning at the good compromise which is famous for selling secondhand clothes the police suspect in the fire was started deliberately especially as u.s. military team has joined the search for twelve young footballers and their coach

missing in the flooded cave complex in northern thailand the group of around thirty joins a british cave diving team and tie navy seals who are already involved in the search but rescue efforts are being slowed down by constant rainfall the syrian observatory for human rights is govern air strikes have killed at least forty six people in rebel held parts of dare our province since wednesday for medical centers were among the targets the government is trying to recapture all of a rebel held areas close to the border with jordan and the israeli occupied golan heights those are the headlines the news continues but right now it is people in power on al-jazeera.

hundreds of thousands of migrants have arrived in italy over the past four years gaining sanctuary from violence and poverty but prompting an increasing of the toughest funds from the state others have been more welcoming those seeking to profit from the migrants misfortune we've been to investigate i would say the system of privately run reception centers as full and wide open to exploitation corruption and organized crime.