welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york, here are the top stories at this hour. >> almost a week after the typhoon typhoon haiyan - the situation is still critical in many parts of the philippines, international aid is still trickling in, officials are struggling to count the dead. the official death toll is more than 1800, 2600 were injured, and the storm left 800,000 homeless. the israeli government put plans for a settlement in the west bank under review. prime minister benyamin netanyahu says that the destruction of 20,000 homes would create friction as world

powers negotiate with iran after its nuclear program. caroline kennedy sworn in as a u.s. ambassador to japan, the first woman to hold the post. she expected to gravel there friday and will meet with the prime minister after that. >> those are the headlines at this hour. "america tonight" is up next. i'll see you tomorrow night. you can get the latest news on line at al jazeera. have a great night.

>> robert, you said that you're planning on heading there yourself. >> probably within the next few weeks, yeah. we have our real experts on the ground that are there right now, and as managers, we try to stay out of their way and let them do what they need to do to save kids. >> best of luck on the ground. they need all the help they can get. vice president with the department of humanitarian response for save the chirp. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> coming up, we're going to continue our coverage of typhoon haiyan. a disturbing report on why girls are less likely than boys to be saved when a disaster strikes. that's coming up after the break. >> budget cuts at the pentagon and now brand new military aircraft are being sent straight to the boneyard. is this your tax dollars fast at work?

i'm phill torez. coming up this week on techknow. san francisco's bay bridge, an engineering marvel but this is earthquake country. >> how close are we to one of those faultlines? >> now inovation, that might change everything.

>> how safe is this building? >> earthquake inovations, >> where would you wanna be if a big quake hits? >> techknow sunday 7:30 eastern on al jazeera america >> brand new military airplanes coming straight off the assembly line, then moth balled. the department of defense spent more than half a billion of your tax dollars on the c27j spartan. why aren't those plains being used? is the spartan a prime example of government mismanagement and waste? i traveled to the biggest military storage facility in the u.s. in tucson, arizona to get answers. >> collecting dust in the arizona desert, the u.s. military's new fleet of c27j spartans. at about $30 million apiece, the cargo planes sit idle, without a mission that, a casualty of sequester cuts.

>> the air force had to find a way to reduce their budget and they chose to divert them. >> the colonel is in charge of the air force base commonly called the boneyard. it's the u.s. military's largest aircraft storage facility, located in tucson, arizona. a dozen c27j's are already here. >> it is the only place you can go and see 1,000 military airplanes in one location. >> he took us on a tour of the sprawling 2600-acre air base. from the cold war to the iraq war, thousands of planes have a unique history, the dry arizona weather is a perfect place for long term storage. >> what am i looking at? >> this c27 has started the preservation process. in the process, what we do is try and make sure we can maintain the aircraft in the best possible condition.

in this aircraft has already gone through the flush farm. we wash it, make sure it's clean. then we will flush all of the fuel out of the aircraft. >> i can imagine with a plane like this, you didn't have to do a lot to clean it. >> this aircraft is in good condition. >> most planes sit here indefinitely, some scrapped for parts, others chopped up and recycled. the c27j faces a different future. >> in the particular case here, they're going to be used by somebody else. >> they're not going to sit here long. >> not for too long. >> why? >> their value is tremendous and they're paid for. somebody in the federal government or we could sell them to an ally, will take these and put them back into service. they're too good of a deal not to be used. >> this one from the mississippi national guard have seen action. >> one of the crew members wrote

on here, not for long. >> what they're telling you is they don't want it to stay here in the boneyard. >> other planes ordered just before the sequester went into effect will come straight here from the factory. this was commissioned five years ago to enhance the cargo fleet. it can take off and land on shorter runways than other cargo planes. the u.s. military ordered a toll of 21 of them, value would at $567 million. days ago, the pentagon announced special operations would get seven of the planes. that still leaves 13 parked person who as we speak, there's another still in production. when it rolls off the assembly line in texas, it will be decommissioned immediately. >> there's no doubt that it is government waste at some level. >> michael is a taxpayer watchdog with the no one partisan brookings institution.

he says the c27j was an extravagant military purchase, approved before the 2010 elections, when the rise of the tea party led to massive budget cuts in the pent gun. >> this is the kind of partially redundant program that's easier to justify when before you gots are flush. these had a niche purpose. we can figure out another way to accomplish the mission. >> in arizona, local leaders say they have seen this kind of thing before. jeffery rogers is the former head of tucson's national party and he closely monitors news out of the boneyard. >> we do see a lot of waste. there is a sense in which a government contractor will say let's build the engine in washington state, let's build the super structure for it in texas, let's build, you know, the and i the avionics in massachusetts and spread the jobs around so

there's a whole lot people lobbying for aircraft to be ordered by the military. >> that's exactly what happened to the c27j. despite the plan to scrap the plane, ohio senators, and democratic sherrod brown both fought to keep production going, claiming hundreds of ohio jobs were on the line at national guard facilities there. >> there's an awful lot of politics and senators and cock man congressman looking to keep jobs in their districts. that's an efficient way to equip a military. >> with half a billion dollars already spent, the defense department is making plans to unload the remaining 14 aircraft. >> these will be regenerated for somebody in the federal government and i would expect fairly soon. >> what are the possible uses for this c27j? >> right now, the three most common, entities out there are special operations command, the

forest service and coast guard. >> these handovers could end up costing taxpayers even more money. for example, america tonight reviewed the u.s. forest service proposal. it wants to either use the aircraft as transport for parachute teams of firefighters or convert the planes into air tangors that can deliver fire retardant. the expensive reconfigure reaction calls for removing the plane's body armor and cargo loading systems, plus the cost of that new firefighting equipment. the pentagon needs to be cautious. >> if you can retrofit for 10% to 20% of the original price tag, it makes sense. above that, it probably doesn't. >> that's something that needs to be carefully looked at before they decide what to do with these planes. >> you don't the do it to make your conscious feel better or recover some decision makers flank. you do it only if it makes economic sense going forward.

>> whatever happens to these planes, the commander of the boneyard says he'll keep the c27js good at new until they eventually find a use. >> the airplane will be as good in shape when we pull it back out as it is today, so it's going to have its full service life. >> the taxpayers have nothing to war, in your opinion. >> everything we do is for the war fighter. i will be excited when they find a purpose to go out and support the war fighter in the united states. >> they are beautiful, brand new planes. we reached out to senators brown and portman, but got no response. another option here, they could sell the planes to an ally. based on what's happened in the past, it could be another bad deal for taxpayers. it will be unlikely that the pentagon will sell them for anything close to the original price. >> coming up after the break, young victims of the storm, why

children are less likely to make it in the aftermath and why girls have a worse chance than boys. we'll discuss the desperate decisions, coming up next.

>> knew snapshot of stories making headlines. unif i believe bleak returns for obamacare. after six weeks of business, a new report in the washington post says only about 40,000 people in 36 different exchanges have actually signed up on healthcare.gov. the administration's goal was 500,000 enrolled customers, falling quite short of that goal. >> the big apple beats the windy city in the blueprint battle, one world trade center surpassing chicago's willis tower. it is now the nation's tallest building. officials decided that the spire is actually fixed, it's not an antenna that sits atop the

building, set to open up next year. >> the fits lady is motivating students to finish college. at a d.c. high school on tuesday, mrs. obama shared the united states' goal to have the highest number of college great we said by the year 2020. the college graduation rate is at the lowest sips the united states started keeping track, now sitting at 50%. >> the elderly, pregnant woman and children in the typhoon are off the off oh 10 at greatest risks, girls more at risk during natural disasters. females are 14 times more likely to die in a disaster than males. this report entitled double jeopardy, adolescent girls and disasters found that not only are girls less likely to be rescued than their brothers, but

are fed less food, less likely to return to school and girls are more likely to be victimized. >> dr. murza, vice president of planned programs for canada, the organization that published that study is with us tonight. i started reading this report. it's a page turner, you simply cannot put it down. can you summarize why you guys decided to look into this issue and what were the big findings? >> we have been working in humanitarian assistance for many years now, and during programming, we have seen that girls, especially young girls and children, are more high risk during and after the emergency, so as we are part of this bigger campaign called because i'm a girl, we publish topics every year, this year, we decided to publish young girls.

this is not only based on experience, but researchers are showing us very clearly that girls, especially younger girls are at high risk to drop out of schools. they are forced into early marriage because of the economy crisis, because of food shortage, so -- and the gender violence really increases during and after emergencies with, so the report is mainly here to highlight the polite of the girls during and after emergency. >> the report highlights increased frequency and human trafficking, abuse, physical and sexual abuse in the wake of natural disasters. is the root cause of this the fact that there's so much gender inquality in third worlds and developing nations? >> exactly. in many of these countries, there is early gender violence, early marriage is there, dropping the girls out of school, especially there the

post primary and secondary times, so all of these factors that are occurring there, just get worse or aggravated during and after emergency. >> you also in that report profiled one father. he had a daughter and a son and he decided to save his son and not his daughter. how common is that? >> it is much more common than we would think. there is a rationale. girls are not valued in many societies. they're an economy burden. they have to be married off, so for a father, it is not unnatural to think you know what, if i new he had to rescue one, it would be the son, because the son has a better economic return and value. oftentimes, the girls are a victim of these kind of decisions. this is double jeopardy, they are young, it's a big discriminatory factor. as girls, they are hugely

discriminated in so he site anyways. emergencies bring the worst in these settings, because there is lack of food, water sanitation is a huge issue. girls need access to sanitation, privacy, et cetera, which would not be available. food is a short only. all of these factors which traditionally may be happening in these societies get worse during the emergencies. the research, let me give you some examples, for example, after the 2010 pakistan floods, we saw that one quarter of the girls engrade six were pulled out, they dropped out of, but compared to that, only 6% of the boys were dropped out. you can see another example from where we have worked for many years, but in this recent food crisis, we interviewed adolescent girls. what was interesting is almost 65% of these girls were already

married and over 30% had already become parents, had become mothers. the average age of marriage in this group of girls was 14 years. >> i want to bring into the conversation here the deputy director of emergencies for unicef. you heard of this report, some very alarming statistics in there, basically that girls are more likely to die than boys after natural disasters. what is unicef doing to protect the girls in the aftermath of these storms? >> this report that highlighted key issues that we face in humanitarian action. in response to it, there is some very simple things that can be done, for example, just making sure that we have the data desegregated in any response, whether we're talking about children going back to school or we're looking at children who are availing health services after disaster. we need to look at the

breakdown of boys and girls. i can give an example where i worked for three years in south sudan. we found there were less girls attending school than there were boys. we went and talked to communities. we saw that over the month, there was a change in it, and parents, when we went back to the parents, they really believed that having the children, especially the girls in school kept them safe. finding a safe space for girls, especially young girls, adolescent girls is very important. >> let me interject really quick, if i may. i know one of the big concerns of your organization has raised as what to do to provide adequate health care for pregnant women during these natural disasters. that is a big concern with, isn't it? >> it always is, and like the double jeopardy, it's young women, pregnant women who find it difficult to get basic

services, as it is in countries which are struck by such disasters. when it comes to a disaster, the health services are disrupted, the family dynamic is disrupted. the cash at hand to avail services is also thread bare at the time. we find that we have to make special efforts to encourage women, encourage young girls to access the services. another example would be it's not in places like democratic democratic republic of congo, we have seen gender based violence especially to girls placed in populations. among children who have faced multiple displacements due to the crisis in syria, we see just providing a safe space where the girls can meet, where they can talk about what they face, where they can seek services, where they can have access to simple

things like dignity kits, these are important things that seem so simple, but can be done and provided for girls. >> i want to bring this back real quick. i want the doctor to chime in on this, if you with will. one of the big oh concerns that you have raised, in the philippines, there's a big sanitation issue now. concern about getting running water. you have raised concerns about toilet facilities and how women can be victimized if not set up properly. what do you think they should do? >> it's a very important point, because without safe place for girls to go for toilets and sanitation, they are at risk of violence, they are at risk of -- abused on the way and oftentimes they are shy, can't use in the day time, they have to go at nighttime. we really urge the donors, the government to emphasize the issue of girls in the emergency,

creating places where they can go to the toilet savey. these are simple measures, but so important for girls. >> what do we really need to focus on right now to make sure girls are protected in the philippines as that country tries to move forward from the disaster? >> it's extremely important we make sure in the programs that we're putting in place, we pay special attention to the young girls, making sure that especially the girls who have been separated from their families or lost their families, that adequate was as and protective mechanisms are in place for them, and that we take all measures to prevent them from any sort of sexual abuse, at the same time that they have services to get back into schooling, to get back into family care. it's extremely important. >> thank you so much, just a horrible side if he can of this

tragedy unfolding right now in the philippines. thank you so much for joining us tonight. >> still ahead here, it's a big setback for ceasefire. >> like for me, to apply for a job, once they look at my background, it's automatically xed out. >> daric shotgun brown and his team return, that's coming up next.

determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesn't contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. they may consider it offensive. and in that case they just recommend that you block that person. >> i don't want to minimise this, because i mean, there's some really horrible things that are on line, and it's not - it's not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hate-filled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. there has been a huge number of

those that exist as well. >> every morning from 5 to 9am al jazeera america brings you more us and global news than any other american news channel. find out what happened and what to expect. >> start every morning, every day, 5am to 9 eastern with al jazeera america. >> they were a welcome presence in one of chicago's most violent neighborhoods, the so-called

violence interrupters from the anti crime group ceasefire. now, the city has canceled their funding, leaving the group's members, many former gangsters themselves without a cause and without jobs. one of ceasefire's best known members is derrick shotgun brown, featured in our series, the fight for chicago. a new series tonight is called crime and punishment, he'll have a look at how shotgun and his colleagues have adjusted to after their cause ceased fire. >> somebody broke in my truck! they stole my grills, man. >> most afternoons, derek shotgun brown can be found working on a food truck in chicago. being the victim is a change from where he was just a few months ago. >> glad it's somebody that's

stand up and care about us, man. >> a respected leader of a team of street warriors hired to fight gun violence in his west side community. >> you know, 16th street, constant wars going on. down here, wars. you know, so we're in the middle of a battlefield right now. >> he was himself once a young gang member with a gun. at 20 years old, he was feared, nicknamed shotgun after his weapon of choice. after a few years in prison, he turned things around to help people keep from joining a gang. >> they're young and they're trying to earn the spot in this negative world. >> what are you learning on the streets? >> drug dealing, fighting, shooting. >> you see what you're teaching him? this is a kid and this is our future.

you're showing our future how to gang bang with, putting him in harm's way approximate you know they're right. >> until the program was shut down in north lawndale this summer, shotgun was a supervisor for an organization called ceasefire that employs former gang members like himself as interrupters. >> you all three are going to have to work together, whatever it takes with, because it's going a take a lot of talking. >> the violence interruptors doing what they say is impossible for the police, convincing gang members to put down their guns. reverend hood, brought together for the first time dacarey, sitting on the left. >> you understand that doesn't make you no punk, because you wanted peace.

>> deep down inside, it ain't over with. >> we fight and kill each other over senseless stuff. if you die and could look at yourself and say could i do something different, this is the chance right here, man. >> after these mediation sessions again, there was no more shooting between the gang members. carol is one of group's biggest supporters. >> i have to thank derek. it's tremendous, the calm in our school. we used to have so many suspensions, kids handcuffed and taken out by the police. there would be just violence all around us, after we got the report of ceasefire, our suspensions dropped. we went from 86 to 46, as you can see, this school year, only five. [ applause ] >> we don't have a lot of positive role models in this

community, and especially men, but yet, we have a lot of young men that are growing up in the community, and that are losing their lives to gunfire every day over senseless things. >> around what age do you start to see kids start to drift, start to foul into it. >> fourth grade. >> fourth grade. >> the children need protecting in this community. >> despite community support and testimony from the principal, ceasefire struggled to win the confidence of the chicago police department. >> we're trying to make sure nothing happens out here. >> how about we just move? >> but i'm saying, if you make these guys move, you'll be part of a problem that we're trying to solve. >> how do you quantify their achievements? are they going to see we present haved 12 murders this month. you can't prove that. >> before the closing of the ceasefire office, we spoke to

the president of the chicago police officers unit. he has been the most vocal opponent of the ceasefire especially with moneys going to them. >> i don't want our taxpayer money going to convicted felons. it's just bad public policy. >> they never tried to gloss over their felony convictions. in fact, they say it's what gives them the credibility in the community that the police officers lack. >> we got martin served 17 years in prison. little mack went to prison for 17 years, him coming home from the murder, it's easy for him to get in. >> he's respected, because he murdered somebody? >> murder is a trophy. the community never forgets those type of guys. >> the contract which funded the north lawndale ceasefire office where shotgun was a supervisor

expired and was not renewed by the city. the. >> we're in front of the ceasefire offices in north lawndale. >> what used to be the offices. >> what used to be the offices. >> when the funds stopped within we could no longer pay rent. september 1, we had to lay everybody off. >> how many burgers? >> the former ceasefire interruptors have had to scramble to find work, not away easy task for exfelons. >> i got to eat, so got to do something different. opening a food truck was the option. >> i got laid off like three or four times when they found out my background. >> derek isn't the only one struggling to get by. many evenings after he closed the food truck, he and reverendhood meet with the old crew, none of whom have been able to find work. >> ceasefire lost

funding. the thing is what you're going to do and deal with it. >> is it challenging getting jobs because you have records and are convicted felons? >> very. they ask you have you ever been to jail or do you have a background, and it's like yeah. >> no hope at all. going like for me, to apply for a job, once they look at my background within it's automatically xed out. >> does it get tempting to go back to life on the streets? >> yes. a couple of years ago, i was making $1,200 a day. >> doing what? >> selling. it's hard. it's tempting. if i say it wasn't, i'd be lying. it is tempting. >> one thing about society, we believe in punishment, but we also believe in repunishing, so in other words, when they go to jail, we punish them when they

got out of jail, we don't want them to get housing, we don't want them to get jobs, we don't want them to go to school approximate all these things stop them from reintegrating back into society. >> some of these guys when younger did things they are not proud of, but it was part of their past, and they're still being made to pay the price, and i look at coach derek brown. he made some mistakes in his life, and he's been trying to correct those mistakes by giving back to his community. a lot of people won't give him a chance, because of his past, and it's sad. >> you been staying out of trouble? huh? what's been happening?

>> they go to the gas station, we walked up with the beebee gun and it was like all right, they were like pow. >> he wouldn't give you what you wand and you shot him. wow. how old are you? >> 11. >> what he's showing you is he's somebody needs help real bad. he needs people like us out here. when i was a kid with a beebee gun, my beebee gun actually turned into a real gun and when i was sticking up for fun, eventually when i got to be an adult, i was sticking up for real. >> even though he's no longer paid for the job, shotgun has turned his food truck into a safe haven for neighborhood kids to hang out and seek advice. >> what's the consequences behind it? >> what? behind you playing with guns? >> i can get killed. >> it scarce you, but you keep putting your hands on it. >> i stopped. >> it's good you stopped,

though. >> how at-risk are kids like this? >> nothing but the streets. that's all they got to teach them. that's all they have to look up to, that's all they have to look forward to. they are going to get guide oops one way or the other, either it's going to be from me or it's going to be the streets. >> some very compelling individual stories on how ceasefire affected people. there's statistical evidence to show this group made a bigger difference in the overall crime fight in chicago. >> statistics are hard to come by, but what i can tellle you is that what we witnessed was incredibly impressive. we were there where they were literally stopping kids from shooting something in the street. that's something you just don't see every day. they were loved by the community, very much supported. they believe they were doing

something the police simply couldn't do. >> the testimonial from that principal means a lot. >> certainly, but the police really see it another way. they don't like the fact that the city has been giving money to these exfelons. in fact, ceasefire just had another embarrassing blow. two weeks ago, a worker was caught selling heroin to an undercover officer. that's going to make it very hard for the city to give them further money. >> did it happen before or after the funding? >> after the funding. >> they made the decision and found out somebody was accused of selling drugs. >> yes. >> was that common, any others in that group faced charges before? >> these are exfollow les who were in jail for a reason, but the reason they started ceasefire was to right their wrongs, make a difference in the community.

what we saw is that they really were. you're going to have a few bad apples in the bunch. they ruined it for everybody else. >> he obviously loves working with the children. we hope he has continued success on that. we've had a number of continuing reports we have. you have another coming up tomorrow night. >> it's a piece called locked up for life, about a junk gangster cycle, and it's about a 14-year-old sentenced to life in prison. >> a 14-year-old life in prison. >> he was accused of being an accomplice to murder. we're going to explore the issue about whether or not juveniles should be locked up for life. >> that's tomorrow on new york night. we look forward to that. still to come, transgender children in school. how are teachers and parents coping with their needs?

>> audiences are intelligent and they know that their

>> we define what it means to be a transgender student. a growing number of children are identifying with the opposite sex.

we look at the challenges that poses for school systems. with a look at how some schools in seattle are navigating, here's tanya moseley. >> zoey loves reading, playing games and jamming on the drum. >> zoey is a pretty strong kid, so she -- you might think about her that you might get off your guard a little bit. she presents as i can take care of myself. >> five years ago, she revealed something she could no longer keep to herself. she was born a boy, but felt like a girl. she changed her name from ian to zoey. >> nobody was really, surprisingly, even better than you surprised as me making it is switch. >> the positive reaction is part

of the changing tide. >> this is a new step for our society. >> aidan trains teachers how to meet the needs of transgender students. twenty years ago, he transitioned from female to male. aside prom the basics like which bathroom a child uses, he wants to change the way we think about gender roles. >> how do we reframe gender, create a gender inclusive environment that works for all kids when none of us drew up experiencing that? >> two years ago, the school district approved guidelines on meeting the needs of transgender students. around the same time, garfield high school experienced an in flux of teens identifying at such, five in one year. they now have the largest group in the state for students who identify as lesbian,

gay, by sexual, transgender and those questions their sexuality with more than 40 members. >> they're not going to be ready to learn if they aren't accepted for who they are. >> while seattle schools have implemented guidelines. experts tell us transgender students still feel marginalized. 28% of transgender students report being harassed in school. >> i think that it's incredible that more families are asking for support and more schools are asking for support, but that doesn't negate the issue that youths are still struggling. >> megan kennedy is pushing for schools to identify gender issues into the curriculum. zoey's mom feels good about the way things are now but worries about the future. >> when he hits puberty, hormones and zoey feeling like she's not quite in step with her peers.

>> not just feeling, but really -- >> not being, right, not being quite in step with them. i think that's probably going to be the biggest challenge. >> they haven't decide the how they will deal with it all. instead, they focus on the now. caroline is incredibly proud. >> you have allowed yourself to fully be who you are, and that takes a lot of courage. >> a growth in adolescence for zoey and schools across the nation as they figure out how to meet the needs of transgender students. >> that's it for us here on america tonight. remember, you can log on to on you website, aljazeera.com/americatonight. check check

welcome to al jazeera america. here are the top stories at this hour. >> the uss "george washington "aircraft carrier is expected to arrive in the philippines, filled with food and water. two more warships have been ordered to the region, the ship's helicopter will help with food and supplies. >> the face of flying is about to change. a merger has been signed off between american airlines and u.s. airways. it will make it the world's biggest. >> organizations rme