>> it can be very dangerous... >> i hear gunshots... >> the bullet came right there through the widdow... >> it absolutely is a crisis... >> real reporting... >> this...is what we do... >> america tonight, only on al jazeera america. >> leak assessment, exhausted workers continue to search for victims in the washington mud slide. heavy rain hampers the rescuest. >> president obama's one-on-one meeting with the pope. the leader of the free world and the leader of the catholic church finding common ground. >> these are limitations of the human mind. >> air traffic control in america leaving too much room

for human error. the high-tech move for how planes are tracked in the air. >> hello, welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy. hope is fading fast in the search for survivors of the washington mud slide. the death toll rose to 17 after rescuers found the body of the infant. emergen emergency officials revised the missing persons from 179 to 90. they are not optimistic about finding survivors. those found alive were rescued within the first few hours. the aftermath is stirring mixed emotions about the safety of the region. >> this is the river valley introduced to the world this week - a place of death and destruction, lives lost, bodies found and grim numbers.

>> the numbers - 90 last night, missing or unaccounted for. that is still the case. >> this is the valley too, and this. a place of beauty. >> there's steep terrain and water. a lot of this was left behind, loose material. the rain rarely stops, gravity never goes away. landslide listening is built into the landscape. ask steve and his neighbours, and they'll tell you the serente place, balances the rick. >> if you could see beyond the cloud, it's worth it. >> the country allowed building here, despited studies showing the sloping unstable. the last big slope was

eight years ago, damning the river and causing flooding. building continued after that. >> it's a nice area. we have an 88 acre fan. >> firefighters like jeff mclellan spent days dealing with body recovering. they shrug off suggestions they sunday build where they were. >> i thought it wouldn't have happened again after 1996. it took away the pressure. but it did. >> i'm not thinking about the danger are. there's danger everywhere, from when you drive to work and home. emergency management consultant assess some land should be considered too dangerous to build on. >> when you think about what is done to prevent this. it's individuals thinking about are they at risk. >> as allen schauffler reports,

only bodies recovered and seen by coroners are counted as dead. >> christy has been cleared of any dealings in the george washington bridge. he was interviewed, but never under oath. >> this report says that i have no knowledge of it before it happened. nor did i authorise it. or have anything to do with it. that's the truth. >> the report concludes the only person in the governor's office involved in the lane closing was bridget kelly, the deputy chief of staff. the investigator said they did not speak to kelly. the legislators and justice department are investigating. >> president barack obama leads to saudi arabia after wrapping up a tour of europe. thursday he met with the pope in

the vatican. >> it was a day of ceremony, symbolism and substance as president obama met with the new pope. >> "i'm a great admirer", the president said. they sat at a simple wooden deck, the pope's working des. the meeting went long. the two men share a focus. it was emphasised by the white house, the growing gap between rich and poor spent time on the topic. when they parted company, there was an exchange of gifts, and two large medalians were presented, symbolizing the need for peace. he presented the president with a copy of his work, the joy of the gospel, that is served as a roadmap. the two talked about the need for immigration reform in the

united states. evidently there was an area of disagreement, and that is the health care law and its requirement that employees have access to cav septemberive coverage. in a statement after the meeting, the vatican made a reference to the controversy, saying there was a discussion on questions of particular relevance to the church, such as the exercise of rights to religious freedom. the president appeared later with italian prime minister and downplayed the dispute. >> we didn't speak a lot about social schisms. >> the president said it came up briefly after a meeting with the pope. >> and on day four of president obama's european tour. ukraine was at the top of the ganda with the pope and the prime minister. president obama stressing the need to stablilize the ukrainian economy. >> one of the important things we can do is ensure the ukrainian government is stable,

that its finances are stable and that elections go forward as currently scheduled. >> there was a meeting with the italian president and a sight-seeing visit. the president stays one more night in rome. in the morning he leaves for a trip and to mend fences with long-term allease. the saudis have been upset. travelling with the president in rome, mike viqueira. >> travelling with the president secretary of state john kerry, white house spokesman jay carney, and susan rice, national security advisor. >> the air force removed nine officers from their jobs in connection with a cheating scandal at a nuclear arms base. 100 mess il launch crew members at the air force base in montana were named. mid level officers were not involved, but they allowed a

culture of cheating. the base commander resigned because of the scandal. >> congress spoke with one voice, sending a message to the kremlin. they have backed bills to aid ukraine. congressional correspondent libby casey reports. >> after weeks of seeming stuck, aid was offered to ukraine and offering sanctions. >> the aid portion amounts to $1 billion in loan guarantees, and $150 million in assistance. it calls for freezing assets and banning the visas. they were judged corrupt. the chairman at the senate foreign relations committee robert menened es said the vote was a moment of proof. >> president putin is watching, waiting to see what we'll do, if

he has a green light to take the next step. >> senator menened es says it's not just russia watching to see if the u.s. steps up, but other world powers. president obama may be overseas, but the vote is on his mind. at a press conference in italy he called on congress to act. it's not just democrats. house majority leader eric can't are spoke on the phone. >> it is important for the united states, in conjunction with the e.u. allies send a signal that the aggression will not be tolerated. together we must be prepared to commackt a significant cost for russia's behaviour. and that mr putin's actions will be met with the firmest of resolves. legislation had been held up for a couple of weeks because of a

dispute whether to include reforms for the i.m.f. democrats wanted them, republicans disagreed. the democrats backed down, saying they wanted sanctions so they shelved imf changes. some of the sanctions are happening because president obama signed an executive order. congress is codifying the sanctions and they are going further with the degrees of the aid package. >> libby casey for us. >> turkey's attempt to block youtube failed. turkish authorities tried to deafter what they say is a mart of national security. they displayed a post about possible attacks in syria. we have more.

>> the turkish foreign ministry said this is a cyber attack aimed at the turkish republic, saying it's like a declaration of war. prime minister recep tayyip erdogan described it as an attack and vowed to secure those behind. all of this comes as the turkish government has been battling a corruption evaluation. social media websites were used to leak different awedios allegedly for the prime minister and members of his government. the government and prime minister recep tayyip erdogan denied all the accusation, and he said that his enemies were using social media website aimed at top lipping his -- toppling his government. >> anti-government protests spread across turkey when the government began posting

restrections on internet usage. >> the international thought nor the malaysian airliner has shifted the area 680 miles north-east, 1,100 north-west of perth. new imigements from -- images from a thai satellite she them 125 miles where were a french satellite spotted 22 objects on sunday. the missing plane vanished nearly three weeks ago. >> air traffic controllers in america relying on old methods to do the job. high tech changes could allow them to track planes when they are in flight. >> they sit back and act like they are doing the players a favour. >> the national labour relations board rules that college football players are employees of the school. the decision could change college sport. >> and a crocodile boom in australia, leaving people in danger. the debate over a government

program that could rain in the population.

>> duke energy shareholders won an independent investigation into the north carolina coal ash spill that coated the river. confidence has been shake ep. duke energy dealing with a crack if a dam that holds back millions of tops of coal ash was discovered at cape fear river. a federal criminal investigation is underway. >> tornado sirens blared across central and northern missouri. one tornado, and funnel clouds were spawned. four ohms were damaged. no injuries reported. >> california getting a dose of tornado on wednesday. multiple twisters rolled through the northern part of the state, one touching down, causing roof

damage to 12 homes. it was part of a wild weather system. no injuries report there either. >> we are going to be seeing another day as we end the week of severe weather. thursday evening, torn addic activity and hail damage report pushing through the state. we'll see rain pushing through the ohio valley, continuing through the morning time frame. snow appearing towards northern new york. we don't think the accumulations will be that significant. it will be a bit cooler. temperatures on the increase as we go towards the weekend. that is good news. that is where the rain is on friday, the snow will turn to rain as we switch from froozing to above freezing. the rain should be light.

high temperatures, friday we'll see new york at 58 degrees, and rain will be in the forecast - not just friday, but saturday and sunday. rainy conditions across florida, but there is the weather threat as we go towards friday, continuing across mississippi, louisiana and arkansas. the threat of torn addic activity. >> the number of american children with autism is getting higher. the center for disease control shows one out of 68 children have some type of autism spectrum disorder in 2010, 30% higher than 2008. and 60% higher than 2006. the autism symptoms ranged from mild to severe. the growing number could mean

better diagnosis of the disorder, and recommends having children screen d as early as 18 months old. >> there is next generation air transportation system on the way, switching air traffic chro control from the ground to space. jacob ward explains. >> as your plane pushes back and gets ready for takeoff, it's entering a sprawling and complex system. it's safe with only 0.2 accidents per million departures, but the national air suppose is ipp efficient. >> it's a manual process, starting at the gate with a ramp controller. he or she will hand it off to a tower controller for the air force surface. they'll hand it off for another controller in the departure and arrival area. that will be handed off to an en route controller.

>> since no central system coordinates the people, the faa is working on one that will. the new system is the next generation air transportation system. n.a.s.a. is building the new system. ground control will be replaced with gps, a technology capable of tracking every plane. right now the system relies on humans handing over to one nor. >> there's variability, there's limitations of the human mind. >> here in the united states, the most technologically sophisticated society, we use strips of paper. n.a.s.a.'s system will replace it with a software-based system. it can decide when you leave the bait. they have to integrate all of that with what of air traffic

control tower is doing. you have to add in the en route process, and you are looking at an complicated district. >> two of the most important costs is the amount of fuel being burnt, and the time that the crew is being paid to operate the aircraft. >> most planes have self pieces of equipment such as adsb, the gp s system allowing next gen to do away with radar. we don't have the coordinated software. a system like next gen could not have saved malaysia airlines mh370. that was fitted with adsb, which is how we know most about its movements. if next gen comes together, by 2020 it will be virtually impossible to lose track of a commercial flight in the united states. >> that new technology can help to shorten route, save time and fuel and reduce traffic delays.

>> a ruling that says college athletes are employees of a university. the decision opening up a debate on how schools should pay the athletes. >> and crocodile danger down under. the hunting restrebzs in place -- restrictions in place, even though the population is

>> taking a live look here at a hostage situation unfolding in los angeles, where it is about 11:30pm. a man is reportedly holding six former colleagues of his work place hostage in the china town area of los angeles. we'll follow it as news warrants. >> the national labour relations board ruled that college football players from north western university are ability unionize, essentially saying they are employees that should be paid. michael eaves explains how that

affects the earnings of a school. >> the biggest conference, the scc, the big 12, big 10, the a.c.c. and packed 12 have national television deals words $200 million. the top tier college system pays schools $18 million, and the n.c.a. basketball tournament, the 14 year tournament with c.b.c. and turner sports is worth nearly $11 billion. numbers that suggest major college programs are more like fortune 14 companies than schools. >> the only people that don't treat it as a business is the free workers, what are prohibited from getting paid. >> attorney jeffrey kessler who represented the players when they won free agency filed a suit against the n.c.a.a. saying it capped player compensation at

the value of a scholarship. here is an example. an $18,000 bon us was given to a director. but sooeber was not able to receive extra benefit. he can't sign autographs, make speaking engagements or receive a congratulatory dinner. >> they sit back pretending they are doing the athletes a favour. they claim the money they pay themselves is of benefit to the athlete. it's absurd. >> those opposed to paying the college athlete site the value of a college scholarship. some worth more than $100,000. academic scholarships are not restricted from making money in their chosen field. there's the other reality of ath let k scholarships. >> people don't understand that kids don't get 4 year

scholarships. everyone thinks you get a free education. it's a bunch of bs. a coach or administrator, athletic director - you could have been the first tam all american with great grades. if the school decided not to renew your scholarship. they could take it from you. we are not focussing on the rites of individuals, but what it best for the institutions. that bothers me. >> if the n.c.a. allows the schools to pay, it may create other issues. >> will you pay the women's team? the diving team? the swimming team? that's the problem you have. are you paying. what i have suggested, what i did in college - i borrowed money from agents. i think that makes you stay in school. that's the best way to do it. you can't pay players, because you can't pay them all.

>> the n.c.a.a. released a statement saying that it is disappointed with the ruling and strongly disagrees with the notion that student athletes are employees of a university. >> crocodiles are an ever-present threat in australia northern territory. once hunted to extension the deposit is -- extinction the the government is thapinging about -- thinking about how to rein them in. >> in the river systems of northern australia, crocodiles are so abundant. they even jump for food. >> they are an opportunistic killer. they are dapingz and they -- dangerous and they must be treated with respect. this man is in charm of capturing crocodiles that get too close to where people live.

>> one, two, three. >> where once there were a few thousands crocs in northern australia, nicholls says the government's ban on hunting them allowed the population to boom, and there are more than 100,000. >> when we started, it was a situation of bringing them up to an abundant number. today, we have too many. what do we do. >> an 11-year-old girl taken by a crocodile. >> a 12-year-old boy dayed in a crock dale attack. >> they are on the rise in northern australia. victims are often children. this scientist chartered the reptiles return. we join him in a swamp as he tries to collect crocodile eggs. it's dangerous work. female crops are known to fiercely guard their net. getting there has its

difficulties. >> besides the swamp water, charlie and his team have to deal with an sog rat. it will rip your hands open if you grab it. on top of that, they have to look out for the mother crock. >> they remove the eggs from the nest. tour guides had planned to charge $20,000 for a hunt. >> this is australia's biggest carnival. there's nothing bigger. if they are not worth anything, they don't want to conserve it. >> some, especially in the aboriginal community, oppose the idea. they revere crocodiles, and belief humans are infringing on their territory. >> we have to report the animal and the water. >> australia government has so

far rejected the call to cull their numbers, experts worn more human deaths are inevitable leaving the question, how long will the predators remain protected. >> that will do it for this edition of al jazeera, i'm stephanie sy. to explain how helping others makes you more successful. looking for a job? you aren't alone. there are roughly three