the bottom line. >> but, what about buying shares in a professional athlete? real perspective, consider this on al jazeera america this is al jazeera america. i am jonathan betz live in new york. a race against time to save those trapped in a deadly mud slide in washington. crews scrambled to contain an oil spill along with gulf coast near a bird sanctuary. easying the crisis in ukraine, president obama heads to europe tonight hoping to calm fears. while competing rallies are held across ukraine, some urging russia to push in even further.

total devastation is how washington's governor is describing a landslide. the death toll is 4. the ground is still unsteadny washington after a mountain moved, swallowing homes and lives. the mud slide hit about 60 miles north of seattle. rescue workers made a grim discovery late tonight. another victim in the rubble. alan shofler has the latest from rural washington? >> it's not unusual to see landslides in this part of the pacific northwest at this time of year. what is unusual is the size of this one and, of course, the human cost. >> nothing like they have ever seen. >> that's what many here in this community north of seattle are saying about the mud slide that

devastated the region. >> it slid a couple of times in my life, but never nothing like this. >> it's been very surreal. the strategy is unthinkable, but the community, as stated before many times, comes together and friend helps friend and family helps family. >> washington state governor jay inceley trying to comfort those who have loved ones missing? >> the devastation, of course, is overwhelming and i have a sen sense that we are going to have some hard news here but i can tell you that there are very vigorous search efforts underway. >> the earth broke loose saturday afternoon, covering one square mile and wiping out some 30 homes. eight people, including a 6 month old baby were referring you'd by emergency crews on saturday. rescue efforts on the ground stalled sunday after the terrain was declared too dangerous. >> the conditions are very, very

muddy in places. it is still like quick-sand. >> crews doing much of their work from the air and the community coming together to help one another at eight distribution centers. here, it's neighbor helping neighbor. >> a lot of people lost homes and everything they had. so we are trying to come together as much as we can and support each other and, you know, everybody help do what thing. >> officials believe the cause of the mud slide is groundwater saturation from heavy rainfall in the area. as long as it's safe for rescue crews, they will continue looking for survivors in that landslide zone. but with every passing hour, the hope for a miracle here on the stilaguamish fades. for the state highway that is buried 20 feet deep in places, the govern says he -- governor has now why when it might be declared safe and open to traffic. alan schofler, arlington,

washington. >> moments ago, we got an update from authorities. the death toll has doubled, 8 people confirmed dead. we will have more on the story throughout the night. meantime, president obama is headed for the hague. he boarded air force one earlier this evening. world leaders are gathering for a two-day nuclear summit. the meeting will likely be dominated by crimea. the dutch prime minister urged the focus remain on securing nuclear weapons. >> it's not nearly enough. in 2013, 146 incidents involving nuclear and radioactive material were reported to the iaea. most of these related to material that had temporarily gone missing. >> many eyes will be on china this sunday. it will be the chinese president's first appearance there. and that summit hopes to convince countries to give up nuclear weapons as simon gregor-wood reports, progress has been made, but many challenges remain.

>> the summit is president obama's big idea. back in 2009, he called the dangerposed by the world's huge stocks of nuclear materials the most immediate and extreme threat to global security. not all of it is well guarded, leaving some to warn the world is closer than ever to nuclear terrorism. >> the biggest problem, i would say, is the shear amount of fisile usable material in the world. there is around 1,400 tons of en richdz uranium and 500 tons of plut onium. >> in the last two years, more current trees have given up stocks but much more needs to be done. today, there is still 25 countries that hold stocks of weapons grade material. >> worst-case scenario, there is enough nuclear material falling into the wrong hands to make a nuclear bomb. it only takes this amount of material to make a bomb the same size at the americans dropped on

hiroshima at the end of world war ii. a small amount of material attached to conventional explosives could spread dirty bombs. >> many countries hold highly enriched material for research. experts say that is not necessary. lower grade is just as good. guarding stocks is a national responsibility. in some parts of the world, security is not good enough. >> the sense of concerns, people mention the former soviet union countries where in the past, material accountancy control was not of the highest standards. people mention south asian countries including pakistan and india. >> a global regime is needed with high standards and regular inspections. not everyone wants to cooperate. it's not clear if new tensions over ukraine will damage what has until now been good cooperation between former cold war enemies. nuclear security, after all, is

something everyone should be worried about. simon macgregor-wood, al jazeera london. >> since the last summit, 7 countries have gotten rid of most or all of their nuclear materials. stay with us. we will have more about the summit and nuclear proliferation in our sunday segment, the week ahead. that is later this hour. tonight, the united states is stepping up the hunt forward lord joseph koney: forces have been deployed t for the first time u.s. air craft will now be deployed. about 150 air force special forces and other airmen will fly and maintain the planes. koney, himself, has not been seen in years but he is thought to be somewhere in the central african republic. in ukraine, thousands marked with the demand becoming all too familiar in parts of the country. a rally in odessa, the country's

south, called for russia to seize that region as it did with crimea. last week, the peninsula voted to break away and join russia. ukraine's capital rallied in support of the united current tree. about 3,000 people were in kiev's independence square. the foreign minister told the crowd, the whole world supports ukraine. >> a top nato commander voiced more concern that russian troops along ukraine's border may be preparing to invade. rosalind jordan has more on that. >> if there was one point which nato's supremed allied commander wanted to support is that the terms of engagement between nato and russia seemingly are changing. that's going to affect how nato and, by extension, the u.s. military, respond to any escalation in the crisis involving ukraine. the situation is this: nato members have a responsibility, a legal responsibility, to defend

each other if one of them is attacked. there is concern that russia might try to claim parts of eastern ukraine or part of moldova which either havethnic russian populations. what would nato do about that? what would the u.s. military do about that? breedlove says when you are dealing with a country that you considered as a partner and is behaving as if it is an adverse satisfactory, it changes the calculation, military, political and economic and general breedlove said that the time is now for nato and for affiliated countries to try to figure out the best way to respond to russia. >> world leaders are struggling with how to respond to russia. one observer says the answer is simply more threats against president putin. >> he feels that he can do it all and so he shows the hard power. all together. i think he is over estimated, as

a -- he is no longer that regular politician the world has been looking at until now. i think he needs to be threatened because what basically he has done is whatever he said he would do, he did. and he is laughing that, oh, sanctions. well, do the sanctions. if you talk about military buildup on nato part, do the buildup because he is a bully. and that's the only thing that can take bully out is to bully him back. >> the professor worries putin may be turning into the leader of a rogue state. russia's control of crimean is making many people question loyalty there t has put ukrainian soldiers still based there in a difficult position. jennifer glasse brings us their story from a naval academy in sevastopol. >> the young cadets of the naval academy show loyalty to ukraine. military drills are held under the ukrainian flag. this isn't their regular parade ground. it's the military high school on academy grounds. they haven't alterred thai thei

daily daily routine which includes the ukrainian national anthem. inside the school, too, nothing has been removed. here, it still says, "glory to ukraine." but these are no ordinary times. amend there is room for compassion in the military men. there are big choices to make and fast. join the russians and stay or remain with the ukrainian force and leave crimea. miraslav has been with the ukrainian navy since he started as a student nearly four years ago. he was 15. >> we are not at any raters. we are not going to the russian side. we are still with the ukraines. not everybody, of course, but the half of us still are going to ukraine and want to serve. >> for cavaruchko, a wrenching choice. most are like crimea like et cetera. he knows if he moves to

ukrainians, the russians might not let him come back? >> i want to come back to my parents, but if they won't let me, then that's my destiny. a big price to pay? >> a big price to pay, but what can i do? i am military person. i should go this way. >> he is worried there won't be a navy for him to serve in. the russians have seized most of it. >> we don't want for them to take our ships because that's all we have. >> that's our fleet. >> the ships of our country. they can't do this. >> but they have. taking the final vessel the command ship saturday night. ukraine's only submarine also captured has been moved between russian subs. the two navies used to work together. at the academy, there is still some optimism. >> we hope we can stay like the russians stayed before and we were together. we would like it to be the same way now. we will see what will happen. the gate here still bears the

ukrainian emblem and this sign says this is the academy of ukrainian fleet. the cadets know soon, all that will change. so they pose for photos by the gate before this becomes russian, too. >> they expect the commander to be replaced, perhaps tomorrow. for now, they are without ships or basis in crimea. not much of a ukrainian navy left to serve here their immediate future uncertain. jennifer glasse, al jazeera, sevastopol, crimea. >> still ahead, the new clue and focus for crews searching for the missing flight 370. the clock is ticking for americans to get health insurance, but for some, the promise of afshingd care may be out of reachfordable care may be out of reach. >> the mud slide is tarting to change the track of the river back to how it was when the lstd landslide went through in 2006. i will show you pictures coming up next.

another satellite photo emerged today showing possible debris from the missing malaysian flight. the crews searching the indian ocean have yet to find anything. still, that photo along with other similar photos are giving families some hope. australia's deputy prime minister told a local radio station the new satellite image from france could yield some clues. >> now, the french siding is, i will, a piece of new material because that's in a completely different location. >> that's about 850 kill meters north of their current search area. so we need to check that out as well. >> that's not in the area that it had been identified as the most likely place where the aircraft may have entered the see, but having said all of that, we have got to check out after the options. we still don't even know for sustain that the aircraft is even in this area. we are just, i guess, clutching

at whatever little piece of information comes along to try and find a place when er we might be able to concentrate the efforts. >> randall pinkston has been following the latest developments of the missing jetliner and has more from washington >> reporter: it is difficult to know how significant the latest citing by the french satellite is until some kind of debris is found, retrieved and matched to mh 370. what is promising is that we now have all three of those satellites finding debris roughly in the same area. as planes return from the several area this morning, it was a malaysian government that announced that a french satellite had spotted what is called potential objects of interest in the vicinity of the southern coach corrido corridor malaysians say those were transferred to australian officials. but it has been three weeks since that plane accident happened with no sign of it yet,

at least one republican official is becaming malaysia. >> the reports i am getting are frustration. we are invited in, only a little bit. so, i think across the board, people are looking for more in the way of openness from the malaysian government in terms of sharing the information they have in a timely manner. >> that's congressman patrick, member of the homeland security committee. there is a different perspective photo bam a administration, tony linkin who is complementary of the cooperation in the search for the plane. >> countries working together in ways that they haven't before. not just the malaisians but the south korea e answers new zealand, the united states,capped all working in the same direction, to get to the bottom of what happened. >> eight planes flew in the search on sunday. there would have been more if weather conditions had been better. oil off of the texas coast has shut down shipping on one of the nation's busiest waterways.

thousands of inform gallons leaked. this video here captured some of the foggy conditions. coast guard officials say up to 168,000 of heavy, tar-like oil spilled from the barge. the slick has been seen as far as 12 miles offshore in the gulf of mexico. officials say they don't know when the shipping channel will reopen but about 70 ships have been held up because of that spill. al jazeera's brandon reports on the massive clean-up underway right now in galveston bay. >> outside of the command center, 400 people between this location and the houston shipping channel. they are all working, trying to clean up this mess. we are told the task is very difficult because this oil is very thick and is very greasy. it's hard to clean. crews have been working around the clock. they will continue to do so until this process could take days if not weeks to complete. they are using some 90,000 feet of people to circle pockets of

this oil. there is also a great deal of concern because the area is a popular bird has been at that time. you have people monitoring the situation doing all that they can to keep those birds out of harm's way. >> this is the latest in several oil spills along the gulf coast. in june of 1990, the norwegian tanker megaborg exploded. fires burned for eight days, more 4 million gallons of crew crude leaked into the ocean. after hurricane katrina, almost 8 million gallons of oil, gas and dietz he will ended up in the sea. there was also the deep water horizon explosion back in 2010 that killed 11 and created the worst oil spill in u.s. history. back then, at least 205 million gallons linked creating a lick 28,000 miles long. well, there are only a few days left before everyone is required by law to have health insurance. for those who can't sign up by

the end of the month, the obama administration may consider an extension. as ben lemoyne reports, the promise of affordable healthcare remains illusive. pouring over bills is worrisome for melinda anderson who earns $600 a week and struggles. >> i think, how am i going to pay them? how many hours i need to work? was going to get paid this month. >> diagnosed with endometriosis, a common and painful health problem for women, her treatment is expensive. she doesn't have health insurance, having missed the deadline to get a group policy through her job. >> i need to get insurance so i can proceed with having the fibroid tumors removed. >> so with the march 31st dead leip looming to soon up for the affordable care act, she went to an enrollment center to action

plore her options. the best quote she got was nearly $300 a month? >> for a single parent like myself with the expensive, it's not affordable. she says she earns too much money to this morningfy. >> for the moment, yes, i am stuck. >> but for others here, new orleans truly uninsured poor, the city health department is urging them to sign up. >> we have had citizens tell us that their insurance may be as low in some cases, 25 to $50 per month. >> for all of the problems that many people have experienced trying to get health insurance, some say after years of being denied, they can actually finally, afford it now. >> under the affordable care act, newson who is unemployed got a policy for about $100 a month. he calls it a saving greats for his daughter. >> i have a 5-year-old. i have to get her in it. me being in the job status i am in now, i have to have it for

her we would like everyone who is eligible to take addvantage and if you don't, there would be a period of time you don't have access. >> after march 31st there won't be

. to see one wipe out a neighborhood, it's not a good story. it's more common that you just see the landslide here and there. now, i have been looking around at various landsat pictures, u.s. geological survey website had great shots of various areas and will inform you, too, about landslides, how they happen. they look at typical slide areas where they are likely to happen. and it does happen sfreblth in the cascade foothills. this is one of the areas where small town of oso was located. you can see it. if you look here on the map, this little curvature off of the shore, that's camino island. if you go directly across, you can see the vicinity of where oso is, a brownish area here in the center. looking closely at this particular satellite, you see

the river system. it's very curvy. it moves quite a bit all the way down going in to the pacific ocean or actually into a bay and then out to the pacific. as we look at the refer systems here, they are coming up from water running down the mountains and it can pile up pretty fast. flooding is a big concern in the northwest. usually in the fall and here we are at springtime, a little bit of snow melt coming in the rivers as we start to warm, but that's not the concern here. it's going to be downright rainfall as we moved in to the middle to end of the week. right now, we are dry. you see a few light showers off of the northern tip of the olympics. we will stay 3 through monday. it has been so wet this spring. after drought in california, dry weather in organizeon and washington, washington sort of making up the rapefall and the snowpack pretty fast this spring. in february alone, you can see the amounts of rain that came down. the dry areas are marked in

green. >> white circle, that shows where that mud slide occurred yesterday, and note that they had significant amount of rain, almost 10 inches. seattle farther south is five inches above normal for the average of the month of march. so this north part of the river is under flood watch. it will be dry in that area, definitely good news. boy, mountains, they just enhance the amount of rainfall when it comes in. >> rebbek a, you spent a lot of time in this area, landslides like this with this many fatalities are rare? right? >> yes. many times, it's by complete surprise. sometimes, you can start to see the landslide begin to happen. a lot of observations are taking maybe little things in the houses offer roads or sidewalks and they start to shift. people notice that quickly in the northwest. they report it and they do a study and they will find if that's the area shifting and may ve very well likely slide in time.

>> by all indications, there was no warning with this one? >> it does not look like there were. no anticipation of withun this size. >> thank you, rebecca. and more on that mud slide, 8 people are now confirmed dead after that mud slide in washington state. officials say 18 more are missing but that number could go up. govern j inceley says rescue will continue throughout the night and into the morning. >> what are we planning through the night, tomorrow, et cetera? >> we are working right now, literally bringing in some lighting so that we can allow some rescue efforts to go on during the evening. it's extremely challenging environment. we want to get lights in there so we can continue efforts during the time we speak. but the rescue effort is extremely difficult because this is a ground that can't support weight. it's too thick to swim in. and too liquefied to walk on. we have good aerial support,

multiple aircraft severaling the areas further heat seeking system available in the upcoming hours. so this is still a very active rescue effort. i met with the families. they deserve the ultimate effort of the state of washington. that's what they are going to have. >> we will have the latest on that search throughout the night here on al jazeera. but still ahead, world leaders including president obama are meeting to discuss inteending t spread of nuclear weapons. with go in depth in our week ahead segment next. it's been 85 days 6 three al jazeera journalists were arrested. we will look tep circumstances they are facing inside an egyptian jail.

we believe back to al jazeera america. here are the top stories this half hour. the mud slide that devastated northern washington yesterday has claimed more lives. authorities are reporting eight have now been killed. rescue workers were allowed to start searching on foot late

today and part of the area after it stabilized. natos top commander in europe issued a stern warning about the troop buildup. he says the force is sizeable and ready. russian soldiers have seized the last remaining military base in crimea. world leaders are gathering in the hague for a 2-day nuclear summit. more than 50 leaders are meeting to discuss securing nuclear weapons. >> now for our sunday night segment, the week ahead. as we have said, the nuclear security summit starts tomorrow in the hague. 53 kuntz trees will passedpass how to prevent weapons from getting into the wrong hands. we begin with courtney keeley. >> thanking all of you participation. since the first summit hosted by president obama in washington, d.c. in 2010, 13 countries have given up all of their nuclear material.

still, 25 countries currently have enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons. >> the problem is that material exists in many places around the world already. it exists in nuclear weapons and existing nuclear weapons base. there are many research react orders around the world that use highly enriched uranium. >> at issue is how to prevent this material from falling into the wrong hands because once it does, a crude nuclear bomb is relatively easy to make. >> you have one sub critical piece of highly enriched uranium at one end of a metal libbed and another at the other end of the cylinder and conventional ex plossiz. you detonate the conventional explosives. that shoots the first people of uranium into the other piece of highly enriched uranium. if something like this went off in downtown washington, d.c. or downtown new york, you would look at hundreds of thousands of

casualties, a lot of economic destruction, radiation poi poisoning. it can make september 11th look like a minor event. >> some countries that are the focus of proliferation worries like iran aren't invited to this week's. today, similar concern is focused on iran. if the iranians have a nuclear weapons program, rival countries like turkey, saudi arabia and egypt will likely want their own. >> nuclear powers, india and pakistan have fought three conventional wars. their status as nuclear powers makes the stakes in any future war higher. the 1999 cargill crisis brought the world closer to a nuclear war according to some diplomats than 1962 cuban missile crisis.

strictions still exist. >> these countries are cheek and jowell, right next to each other. things could escalate quickly there. they don't have the same protocols and history that the u.s. and the soviet union did. >> north korea has conducted three nuclear tests raising tensions with neighboring south korea. i have been saying we are only one dead fisherman away from a small incident that could escalate quite quickly on the korean peninsula in which case you would you could have a war or nuclear weapons. >> nuclear experts say they are either expanding, upgrading or modernizing as naldz and that the global nuclear threat will grow in the coming years. leaders have struggled to con table nuclear weapons since they were invented. it was a concern for john f. kennedy more than 50 years ago. >> every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of

damaclese hanging on a thread, or by madness. the weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us. >> today, at least eight countries have nuclear weapons and there are real fears terrorists could get a bomb. >> will be the focus for this week's talks in the hague. events in ukraine are putting them certais noterstage. some countries ask if ukraine would be better on if it still had that capability. we discussed this earlier with robert rearden and i first asked him about the threat of nuclear terrorism. >> when you are talking about nuclear terrorism is: it's a low probability event with enormously high consequences beyond anything that we have

experienced in decades, if ever. >> when you look at nuclear terrorism, how will realistic is it for the idea that a small group of people could somehow get or employbuild a nuclear bo? >> i think we have a mi misconception because when we look at countries that develop nuclear weapons, we see it took these enormous programs years, billions of dollars, scientists and we think, how could something like al-qaeda or a terrorist organization possibly do something like that. the truth is, if you look at the manhattan project where the united states developed a nuclear bomb, almost all of the work that we did was getting the material, was may making the nuclear material from the bomb. the bomb, itself, was easy relatively speaking. if a terrorist organization were to get the material from a state because that's something that they could do. they couldn't make it. >> right. >> if they got the material, it would bealties year for them to make a weapon than it would be

to actually do a program. >> how easy would it be for a terrorist to get the material? there is a tremendous am the amount of material some is stored until areas that don't have armed guards. there is the atu in lightly guarded places in the united states. there are research reactors here. the vast majority of the material and vast majority of the weapons are in a couple of countries. the united states and russia have the majority of the world's nuclear material. but you have material being used in civilian programs around the world that could be used to make a weapon. and you have it stored in some cases in a single site, enough material to make a weapon. in other words, if you just rated that one -- raided that one site, it would potentially be enough to build a nuclear weapon.

>> let's talk about the countries that do have a nuclear weapon. we have a list of them for viewers at home. there are several, close to, i think it's nine actually. israel probably has a nuclear weapon but it has not admitted. fwlr a lot of countries that have signed a non-proliferation treaty, another issue there. on the countries that have the nuclear weapons, i think it's striking that as you were saying, there were many countries that have the nuclear material to make a bomb but haven't yet made a weapon. is there a kirp in this day and age that more countries might join this list and more countries might try to build a nuclear weapon? >> it's an interesting issue because we are talking about intent. right? so a lot of the things that a country like iran is doing, we're concerned about because we don't trust them. it's responsible from our point of view it makes sense welds worry about certain countries of concern but it's hypocritical. this is a maple point of contention with many countries

around the world? >> the concern is that, listen, germany may have nuclear material and terrorists could just as easily steal it from germany than pakistan? right? >> or from the united states. >> or if the from the united states? >> there was an incident a couple of years ago here in the united states where unarmed protesters made it into one of the main facilities at oak ridge. >> whether we talk about this summit, then, coming up in the hague, when you look at the few number of countries that have nuclear weapons, a lot have given up as we mentioned earlier with ukraine. do you think that the summit is still relevant? >> i think that the summit is very relevant because one of the big things that we need to worry about is improving security culture and security conditions at places all around the world wi where this material is secured, particularly theranium. heyly enriched uranium is mostly likely to be used by a terrorist and it remains in poorly guarded

or places with insufficient security around the world. amend we need to come up with a much better way of coordinating the way that we approach security on something that can be used to such cat strong ends. >> let's talk about iran. at least it's a concerned. there have been talks over the west and iran. there was a letter that 83 members of congress wrote that said we hope nuclear negotiations succeed in preventing iran from ever developing a nuclear weapons capability ability. we believe greps has a continuing place to play. the letter went on to say and this is, i think, most critical, iran has no right to enrich uranium to any level under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. a mouthful there. that's critical because the concern that iran has had is that, listen, we only want

nuclear materials who have nuclear power plants. we want it for peaceful uses. congress is saying, no, you don't december it at all. do you worry politics especially in the politics might kind of throw a wrench into negotiations to get iran to scale back its program? >> absolutely. this is probably my biggest concern. i think this is the most likely source of failure in the negotiations. >> is congress stepping in? >> domestic politics in the united states is so constrain that we are going to be -- and domestic politics in iran, by the way, is constraining for the rhouhani team and their negotiations. it's keeping the sides so far apart in their positions. i honestly can't see a way how we are going to bridge the gap in the time we have available? >> a lot of people are hoping you are wrong. robert rearden with harvard's kennedy school, thank you for your time. here are a few more notable events on our week ahead. tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the ex son valdez oil spill. tuesday, the supreme court

debates whether or not employers can deny contraceptives based upon religious believes. thursday president obama meets with pope francis. three access journalists have been detained for 85 days on charges of aiding terrorism and reporting lies. peter grista, mohammed fami will appear for a third time. an anita mcnaught has more. >> the reporting team were doe tained by egyptian security services on december 29th and taken to cairo's high-security tora prison. he job description television broadcast these images of their arrest some weeks later showing the interior of their hotel room. initially the three men were held separately. now, they share a cell together with others. mohammed fatny already had a shoulder injury when he was detained. until two days ago, he had been denied proper medical attention. according to his family, now can

barely move his arm. >> baha mohammed, father of two is able to see his wife and children only once a week with one extra visit for mother's day. correspondent peter gresta's family members are commuting from australia for the hearings. interim egyptian president made a statement last week delivered to peter gresti's parents saying he will spare no effort to work towards the speedy resolution of the case. on sunday, mohammed fatmy's father also received a letter from the president. in it, he says: i stress and reiterate the independence of the egyptian judiciary. i am saddened their your son will enjoy all of the rights as guaranteed and jcherished by th law. i have directed the interior minister to follow up on your son's health condition and stress that all possible care must be extended to him. >> at the last court appearance, the men spent the entire hearing

in cages. they were able to call out, asking for international engagement to free them. today, it's expected the prosecution will continue making its case. >> a fourth journalist, al-jezeera america's shami has been detained since 2013. he has been on hunger strike since late january. >> turkey shot down a syrian fighter jet it claims violated air space. the plane came down along the country's border. the prime minister congratulated them. the pilot said he was flying well within his country's territory. >> plain was shot down in an area where syria has been fighting for a boarder crossing. more than 100 people have been killed since it began three years ago. 6 and a half million syrians have been displaced. nearly a third of those have left the country. one person has tied in lebanon

during classes in southern beirut. confrontations broker out between supporters and opponents of bashar al assad: 10 other people have been wounded in fighting. a new commission will advice pope francis on the issue of sexual abuse in the catholic church. he named four men and four women as the first members. one woman survived childhood abuse. the commission is seen by some church observers as a step forward he is determined to make the church a model in the handling of the abuse of minors. society needs the example of the church in this area. >> that's what they have a right to expect. the group will advise the vatican on how to protect children and keep abusers out of the clergy. it's not clear how thet they will discipline church sfinlz

who have covered up abuse. the busiest airport in south america, brazilian police say in rebate years, drug traffickers have also increased their activity there gabriel isando has more. >> federal police at so you p sao paulo takes passengers away: searching luggage, police find what they are looking for packed in the lining of the suitcase. an investigator takes samples of the powder. if the drops turn blue, it confirms its cocaine they switch to the luggage of this second person notice this suspect's suitcase were several of these women's puringsz. what the investigators did was cut open each one of themses. what the investigators did was

cut open each one of them. inside, were these white packets. this is pure cocaine. four kilos, just a small portion of the 1.6 tons of cocaine confiscated from 400 passengers ahead last year trying to smuggling it out at the airport. 24 peel were arrested for cocaine cocaine. the cocaine that goes on flights to the middle east does not leave the airport. it only passes through in exit to the consumer markets. >> with a handful working, an

airport past through last year stopping all drugs. behind the drug mules, there is a network of the nigerian mafia who runs the trafficking operation according to this officer who didn't want to be identified. >> the mules arrive here with little money. they are told to go to a holts where they later are contacted by traffickers who deliver the drugs to the mule, hand them a ticket. >> you are under arrest for international drug transportation. >> on this night, two are arrested. no telling how many others got through the typical night in what could be one of the world's busiest airports for drugs. sao space paolo. >> serious activity here jess a can a is here with a look of sports. >> for one american teen aimer, he is using the game as a vehicle for bigger dreams.

>> i have been waiting for this opportunity all my life education, the sky is the limit this man's remarkable story coming up in sports.

this is the 900 page document we call obama care. it could change costs coverage and pretty much all of health care in america. well, my show sorts this all out. in fact, my staff has read the entire thing.

which is probably more then most members of congress can claim. we'll separate politics from policy and just prescribe the facts. jessica, march madness seems like march madness this year i am going mad trying to talk about it. >> this tournament shows anything, it's that games are not won on paper. they are won on the court. some of cleming basketball's top dogs took a fall. we began with stanford who continues to mow down top seeds and number 2 kansas was the latest victim. sweet 16 for the first time since 2008. after that, shock and awe with

kentucky as the wildcats knocked outwich steak handing the shockers their first loss of the season. at the dance, the giant killers that beat duke ran out of gas against the university of tennessee. mean while, across the world, the weight of the sport of basketball plays a different role. it is about using the sport for bigger dreams. he specially on the continuenent of africa where some kids have picked up the game late and hopes to make it pay big did i have dents in the game of life. jeffrey has the story. >> september 25th, 2013, and 16-year-old kobe iyete is preparing to go to the american embassy in ghana. what he is praying for is that basketball will open the door to

a better future? >> i have been waiting for this opportunity all my life. this is his american dream. it's one of the latest nat pipeline of african basketball players who have left their country for placement in american high schools. >> so many opportunities, go to games where coaches come and watch you play a to help you out the only child of a poor single mother, he came here for the education she couldn't afford. film the only one she has. it's me and her. no father, you know, to support. she always made sure everything was right because i told her, i told her that i want to play basketball and firstly, i would

like to be basketball first. >> in current trees like ghana, soccer is the dominant support. the 16 and under national teams have become invaluable to american scouts. >> it's just a passion for me to help the underprivileged kids get out there and make the best of that i their lives, not just going to waste here. >> nearly 30% of the population of ghana lives below the poverty level. two years after starting coaching kobe, he reached out to jack white how the based out of philadelphia. he began helping african basketball players transition into american hospital six years ago, pro space bono. >> i said i have got a kid here you have to get there so, he is tough. he doesn't give me a lot of kids. when he gives me one, you know, he is normally a pretty good

ballplayer, pretty good person. >> in the spring of 20 they were, after considering a number of schools around the country, white head called the head master and coach at capital christian academy, a small private school in landover maryland. >> in kobe's case, we knew merely he was that type of young man. he was humble. he was honest. he was forthright and he had confidence. he had an interesting glow. >> the 6' 7" freshman forward is becoming an integral part of capitol chris's jv squad. >> his job is to earn a living and help his family. the stakes in that sense are very large my mom is a single parent. she has worked hard to bring me up this way. my coach has wasted a lot of time, money, you know, taking care of me and making sure i am

doing everything that's right. if i don't do what is expected of me, i think i wiasted everybody's time and money. >> i think it is safe to say that kobe isn't taking anything for granted. it's amazing how quick they kind of get thrown to the fire and have to grow up so fast. >> i roof that story especially since his answer was he did not want to be an mba basketball player. edit to be a physical therapist first. >> he has his priorities right. you should say his parents are happy year his mother is happy. i don't want to waste anybody's money. >> good point. all right, thanks, jessica. >> that's our show on this sunday night. thanks so much for joining us. i am jonathan betz. i will be back with tonight's headlines right here on al jazeera america. the stream is uniquely interactive television. we depend on you, >> you are one of the voices of this show. >> so join the conversation and make it your own. >> the stream.

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only on al jazeera america you are watching al jazeera america. i am jonathan betz with tonight's top stories. the death toll from the mud slide in washington state is rising. officials now say eight people were killed in that slide saturday. dons of homes northeast of

seattle were buried. at least 18 remain missing. an oil spill off of the coast of texas shut down a shipping lane that leads to refineries. up to 168 gallons of sticky fuel may have leaked when a barge and ship clyded in galveston bay saturday. crews are working around the crock to clean up the mess. >> nato's top commander says russians could moved in to ukraine and russia denies the claims. president obama is on his way to europe to discuss the crisis. the president's first stop will be amsterdam. the summit will focus on keeping nuclear weapons out of terrorists hands. turkey shot down a syrian fighter jet. it said at a time plane violated turkish air space. turkish prime minister congratulated supporters. australian authorities say they are expanding the focus by

2,000 square miles. team expected to cover part of the indian ocean where a french satellite may have spotted floating debris. those are the headlines. next, toughest plates to be a firefighter. >> neil fairhall is leaving his west sussex, england station to fight fires in the amazon. >> you don't get that down my high street, driving to a call. >> he'll be joining a small and dedicated team, battling massive fires that threaten the rainforest... >> it's absolutely brutal. >> and training the local warriors to fight fire. >> i've seen nothing like this before imy