. >> and i am rob mcbride in china with the small plant that has a big part to may in the fight againstustrial pollution. ♪ ♪ >>> all right, but we can start now in south korea where the ferry that sanction on wednesday is now fallen on its side on the sea bed. three days after the ferry capsized with more than 470 people on board, hope of finding survivors impossible air pockets is, of course, dwindling. so far 29 bodies have been recovered. 273 people remain missing. now most of hospital are high school students. one of the divers said he saw three bodies inside the submerged vessel but wasn't able to get them out. 40 dives are planned for today, that's saturday, in an effort to get inside the ship where most passengers are still believed to be trapped. let's have a look at the live scene there you can see it. where the rescue operation is assembled and you can see some of the rescued vessels which are out there in this part of the east china sea. well, our correspondent hairy hy faucet is there for us. harry we should start talking about the fact that the ferry has descended to the s

rob mcbride, al jazeera, jojang province, china. >> back to london for more news out of europe and with marian. >> we are folk ulcing on germany, one of the world's leaders in solar power. part of the green dream is to produce 80% of energy from renewable sources by 2050. it's the largest producers of lignite, also known as brown coal. as nick spicer reports, a child old german village near the polish border faces the bulldozer to make way for a mine. >> it's a multip-megaton monste. the biggest mobile industrial machine. wider than the eiffel tower is tall and churning out 50,000 towns of highly polluting brown coal every hour. while it chews through half a millimeter of current treeside near policy and every year. the monster is headed here through a 700-year-old village, one of several who are fighting it plans top expand coal production. >> years spend building al home the way they want it. it is just horrible to imagine. they want to dig a 100-meter deep hole right here where i am. the 900-year-old church will be dug out. the cemetery where my ancestors laid will be reviewed. it's

. >> as rob mcbride reports, it's the latest example of controversial government decisions. >> a dense standoff continues between riot police and opponents of a new chemical plant. during the day the numbers are smaller, but they are no less passionate. >> if they want to g ahead with the project, there's nothing we can do about it, except protest and try. >> this was the violence that begone on the same streets a week earlier, with images spread on the internet, and just as quickly being deleted by the authorities. >> the local government has been using social media to promote the px plant making chemicals for plastics and synthetic fibre. it's not that toxic, this video explains, and will bring economic benefits. it's construction on this site will create 10,000 jobs. >> here as in other cities in china there's a growing awareness about the environmental impact of economic progress, and an increasing willingness among the people to take their opposition to it on to the streets. >> in recent years there has been a number of large-scale protests against industrial marts. in a society w

rob mcbride, al jazerra, china. >>> you can find out a lot more about the pollution situation in china on the al jazerra website aljazerra.com. that's aljazerra.com. . >> back in october the hoped for 7 million enrollments under the affordable care act looked pretty doubtful. 8 million sign ups later , is the president's initiative working well enough to run on in november? that's the inside story. >> hello, i'm ray suarez. in the autumn it looked like the opposition strategy was going to work. a minority of states decided to set up their own affordable care act marketplaces so the federal government was going to have to pick up much more of the load. the air was thick with allegations frightening fine print that wasn't in the law. governors worked hard to make it fail. oh, yeah, and the main purchase point, the healthcare.gov website didn't work. the enrollment period ran until the end of march, and plenty of analysts felt confident the administration's hoped for enrollees simply would not happen. in the department of health and human services started to say quietly maybe 6 million wo

rob mcbride reports. >> reporter: when he turns 60 in a few months from now, this man will say good-byeas a company driver. with retirement set at 60 for men and 55 for women in government service, he still feels he has more to contribute than sitting at home. >> translator: i think most people of my generation think we can work for a few more years, because physically we are still fine, but the government has this regulation that you have to retire at a specific age, so that's the reality. >> reporter: for employees in private enterprise retirement ages are even lower. the retirement ages were set in the middle of last century. then the average life expectancy was below 45. by 2050 china will have 500 million people over 60 who will need to be supported by a shr k shrinking number of people. >> for ten years or 20 years that will be a big trouble. you have a shrinking labor force and then you have an increasing number of pension owners, so that's the reason why we must reform. he currently looks after his mother as he gets older, they will both rely more heavily on his one grown up dau

and rob mcbride reports from beijing. >> reporter: when he turns 60 in a few months from now he wille to his job as a driver but not ready to say good-bye to work entirely. with retirement set at 60 for men and 55 for women in government service, he still feels he has more to contribute than sitting at home. >> translator: i think most people of my generation think we can work for a few more years because physically we are still fine. >> reporter: we will cut out of that to go straight to kiev and ukraine where u.s. vice president biden is holding a conference with the prime minist minister yatsenyuk. >> we celebrated easter and easter is supposed to be a season of peace, of family, at a time when we all come together. but today there are some who are trying to pull ukraine apart. ukraine is in a struggle for its very future. when i left the hotel this morning, the hotel management asked me to sign their book that they have before i left. and as i told you, mr. prime minister, i signed ukraine united, joe biden. i wish it were that easy, just signing my signature. but the truth of th

rob mcbride reports from bay sing on the families stuck in limbo. >> it began with the failure of thelight to arrive at beijing airport early on the morning of march the 8th. hundreds of relatives who had never met suddenly became the center of a media frenzy with the world's biggest aviation mystery. there would be torment and anger at the with holding of information by officials and a protest in front of the malaysian embassy. >> that's why we are waiting for the embassy because we just want to find the news. >> steve wong has become the spokesman for the relatives. >> we are just like sitting on a rollercoaster, you know, up, down, every day and it's mentally exhausting. >> this hotel has become home for many relatives like this woman whose grandparents were on the airplane. >> we can only weight quietly for definite news. >>reporter: several hundred of the relatives are still here having lived through a month of false leads and dashed hopes. in the absence of any confirmation, the awful question must arise just when and how to move on with their own lives. >> with a business to ru

as aljazeera's rob mcbride reports, in china, the government is considering an increase at the retirementge looking at a half billion people over the age of 60. >> when he turns 60 in a few months from now, he will say goodbye to his job as a company driver, but he isn't ready to say goodbye to work entirely. with retirement set at 60 for men and 55 for women in government service, he still feels he has more to contribute than sitting at home. >> i think most people of my generation think we can work for a few more years because physically, we are still fine, but the government has this regulation that you have to retire at a specific age, so that's the reality. >> for employees in private enterprises, retirement ages are lower, 60 for men and just 50 for women. china's retirement ages were set in the middle of the last century in the aftermath of the countries civil war, then the average life expectancy was blow 45 with people in china today living to 75 and beyond, those retirement ages are looking younger all the time. >> by 2050, china will have 500 million people over 60 who will nee

the government is supporting projects to help find solutions and al jazeera's rob mcbride follows oneentist in eastern china who is looking to make the land fertile once again. >> the soil samples they collect at their test site could help clean up vast tracts of land across china. located next to old copper works, this area represents perfectly a lot of the land in china pleaded by industry, especially with heavy metals. >> well, this area, we chose more than 10 years ago because some of the land is heavily polluted and some is lightly polluted. so it is perfect to study? >> what they have been studying is this wild plant that has the ability to soak up levels of pollutants such as lea d & c admium that would be harmful to humans >> reporter: >> the more heavy metals there are, the more damage to human health. in the short-term, you don't notice it. they accumulate and the damage comes later in life. >> these tests have shown a dramatic reduction in those heavy metal levels. known as the hyper accumulator, this plant is able to absorb more than 100 times of heavy metals than ordinary