the first step and be out spoken about your medical care. thank you to all of our guests. see you next time. >> good afternoon to you, welcome l jazeera america. i'm morgan radford live in new york city. here's a look at the stories we are following for you right now. >> as the investigation continues, memorials are held today for those killed in the shooting at ford hood. >> in the days, weeks and possibly months ahead, there may be leads such as the one i'm reporting to you this morning on a regular basis. >> possible pings in the south indian ocean driving the latest

search for that missing motion jetliner that disappeared one month ago today. >> one of the fast evident growing countries in south africa remembering a horrific past, the rwandan genocide 20 years later. >> it's amazing and beautiful to come out of nowhere. they're so friendly. >> gray whales battle back through the brink of extinction. >> he cracking news for search across looking for malaysia airlines flight 370. officials have picked up three signals over the weekend and think it could be from the data and voice recorders. all of this is happening in the southern indian ocean just off australia.

australian officials say crews also spotted debris about 55 miles away from those sounds. while this may be a hopeful lead, australian's foreign minister sounds cautiously optimistic. >> while we certainly are trying everything we have at it, and while the best brains and the best technology in the world will be deployed, we need to be very careful about coming to hard and fast conclusions too soon. >> while crews continue to search for the black box, officials held a vigil for the missing passengers today. there were 239 people onboard. >> thousands attended a prayer ritual earlier today where kuala lampur officials said they won't

give up hope of finding the plane. >> officials are searching for a motive in the fort hood shooting. many paused to remember the lives of those killed. memorials are underway. height de, what can he tell us about those soldiers who died? >> they're being remembered as three heroes today. president obama will be here in fort hood on wednesday for a momentum mother yell service. today's service at the boop activity church remember those three, the sergeant active for 11 years, serving in kuwait, iraq and afghanistan, died blocking a doorway to protect our soldiers. there was staff sergeant, 38 years old from puerto rico who served for 20 years and hoped to enjoy his retirement at the end of this year. >> finally, sergeant timothy

owens, 37, from illinois, served in aindicate and iraq and who's uncle remembers him as an honorable individual. here at the top activity church, a community memorial service still underway. today, the community gathered around each other to remember these three individuals lost and the 16 wounded soldiers. of course, this is especially traumatic to them, because in 2009, major nidal hassan killed 13 people on the same base. the pastor is wondering how this could happen again. >> our hearts are broken, hour community is hurting today. we want to honor those that were affected. i don't know if any in here today were directly affected. i know some that were, but we pray that we be able to be an encouragement and comfort and remember those lost on that day. >> now of course, this memorial

service is still happening, the communities here embracing one another, holding each other up, saying although this is happening to each other again, their goal is to support their soldiers and that's always top of their minds. >> heidi, as these investigation continue, have we learned anything else about a possible motive? >> there is an argument he had in the moments before the shooting began. according to the father of one of the wounded soldiers, lopez entered a personnel office that day, asking for a form to request a leave. when he was told to come back the next day, he became upset, got his gun and that's when the shootings began. it is too early to narrow in on a motive, but that is a specific incident that fort command says with a reciprocating factor to the shooting.

we're learning more about lopez from his family in puerto rico, where he's from. his father says that he is -- his son could not have been in the right mind. those are his words. everybody is wondering how can this man who had reported ptsd symptoms to his underexamination and treatment for anxiety and depression, how could he slip through? the department of defense is looking at base security. >> i think we need to review the security procedures. i'm not one as someone who's been on many, many bases and posts, that would argue for arming anybody that's on base. i think that actually of its much more difficult challenges. >> this is a reminder, lopez used his personal weapon for these killings and it was not

registered on base. other soldiers, of course, were unarmed because of that ban on soldiers carrying private weapons on military installations. >> reporting live for us from fort hood, texas, thanks for being with us. >> hundreds of mourners gathered this weekend to remember those killed in the oso, washington mud slide. saturday's commemorations were the first of a series of memorial services for the more than two dozen dead. residents in the town of dooring to know say having a close knit community has helped them cope. >> the death toll has risen to 30 and more than 15 missing. >> summer raffo was driving to work the morn the landslide hit

when it swept her car off the highway. about 250 people attended her funeral on saturday. >> ukraine's interim president canceled a foreign trip to deal with what he calls separatists demonstration ins eastern ukraine, in response to a mass pro russian ally. fifty protestors broke away and pushed part police, charging the city's administration building. the area has seen several rival protests sips the out of thing of president viktor yanukovych. we have more. >> pro russia protestors stormed the administration building, having marched down from the symbolic len anyone square. a small group able to get inside the building and standing on one of the ball con niece, called on the thousands gathered outside to come in. right now, the riot police line is holding firm, not letting people inside, but what people want here is really quite varied. some want to join moscow right

away. others want more autonomy for the region. they're waving a new flag they've created for the region, indicating that they want to be not only separate, but be able to have the chance to choose whether to look westward or eastward, saying that ousted president viktor yanukovych is still the legitimate leader of ukraine and say authorities in kiev are not listening to the demands. this is quite pivotal given that the run up to the presidential election in may, because many here say they're going to boycott that election because they say it's just not legal. if they can't get the east of the country to vote, there's serious implications for the credibility of that election. >> the votes are in and the ballot counting begun in afghanistan's presidential

elections. voter turnout was high. estimates say almost 60% of eligible voters took part in yesterday's election. we have more from kabul. >> in the end, afghanistans presidential election passed off comparatively peacefully for this country, the deployment of 400,000 security personnel helped with that. there have been few allegations of fraud, so the votes are being counted. it's going to be several weeks before there's an official declaration of the winner, but the winner needs to win more than 50% of the vote to be declared winner outright. without that, more than 50% of the vote will be a run off and that that seems to be the conventional wisdom here. that runoff won't be held until the end of may. once those votes are counted, allegations dealt with, it may not be until the end of the summer before afghanistan knows who its new president is going to be. waiting to be signed on the new

president's desk is the bilateral security agreement with the u.s. government. all the candidates standing for president have said they will sign it. the u.s. government wants it signed because it wants to maintain a u.s. troop presence here for training and for keeping the pressure on any al-qaeda remnants in the country. because the agreement hasn't been signed, the u.s. government doesn't know how many troops it's going to be able to leave here and time is running out, both the afghan and u.s. governments. if this agreement is not signed before september, october, it's going to be very difficult for the u.s. military to sort out how and where it's going to leave its troops here and that could be a potential concern for the future stat of afghanistan. >> still ahead on aljazeera america, remembering the genocide of rwanda that still haunts the country 20 years

later. >> rescuing the children of the mideast from the growing threat of polio.

>> monday marks 20 years since the start of the rwandan genocide. 800,000 members of the tsutsis ethnic group were slaughtered by the ruling hutu majority. for the generations too young to remember, their forefathers are determined to teach them the horrors of the past. we report. >> he was only three when militia men killed her parents and three older brothers. neighbors saved her life and that of her brother by hiding them. she doesn't dwell on the past. >> i want to move on with my life. i don't want to know. in this period of 1994, i feel like painting, because i know i

don't have parents because they've been killed, but i don't really want to focus on that. >> that's why hope of a fully united wonder are pegged on its young people. every month they come from different parts of the country to discuss issues that affect them, from the countries laws, employment, being patriotic and moving the country forward. >> the youth of very important, because for them, they look at future in a different perspective. first of all, they are not so much tied to their past like the duties, the older generation. >> in schools, the history of genocide is a mandatory part of the curriculum. nearly every child born after the massacre knows exactly what happened. >> these children know the history of their country, about the genocide and what caused it.

they are taught about the importance of reconciliation and the power of tribal difficulties. many say this generation is crucial in ensuring that what happened in 1994 never happens again. >> these boys say talking about the genocide helps make it feel more real and not just something that happened a long time ago. >> i always talk to my pierce about 1994 and all the bad things that happened. we also know that our past must not determine our future. >> that message is one joseph constantly passes on to his grandchild, clem men teen, having protected his wife from killers by bribing them. he was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing others. >> i keep telling her that we are all the same, that we could not company exist, but look at us now. >> having the worried face he

grew up constantly reminded by his parents and the government that tsutsis are enemies. he wants a different destiny for clementine. >> a mass vaccination campaign starts today in the middle east where polio evacuations are going to children in syria, iraq and egypt. more than 20 million will be vaccinated. joining me now via skype from jordan is julia, unicef's regional spokesperson for the middle east and africa. this campaign is now the second wave of immunizations to reach those children that you weren't able to reach last year. how many children are you aiming to reach this time around? >> we're hoping to reach 20 million children. this is the biggest campaign that we are launching at unicef

here at the partners of the middle east. the reason is that we have found polio cases that have unfortunately come back to syria towards end of last year, so we needed to respond rapidly and quickly and at a very wide range. >> have you been able to pinpoint where this virus came from and how it spread? >> yes, it originated in pakistan and then it came to syria from there, and the reason why polio has reemerged is because of the complex. we're talking about a vicious civil strife that has been going on in syria for more than three years, that resulted in massive disruption of populations and also in neighboring countries. people have fled into neighboring countries. the violence, the displacement, having a refugee cries, lack of

access to humanitarian aid workers to vaccinate children, all these combined were a terrific recipe for the reemergence of polio back into syria. >> given the at-risk children that you mentioned, how you are distributing the vaccine? are you working with local parties on the ground for those children that are displaced from syria. >> we have a plan. we responded a week after we announced the outbreak toward end of october, and according to this plan, we basically send the vaccination to local partners on the ground inside syria who will themselves vaccinate the children, doctors, volunteers and it is available in local clinics. the problem is that we were not able due to the violence and due to access restrictions to reach the children in areas under

siege and in areas where heavy violence is taking place, so there's a big job that remains to be done. that is combined with a massive regional effort to vaccinate 23 million children throughout the region in seven countries, syria included. it's a huge task ahead of us. we've done some work and we've succeeded in reaching millions of children, but we have a still long way ahead. >> it is a huge task. has anything this ambitious and widespread happened previously? >> in the region, never. around the world, yes, we have underseason such big campaigns in other parts of the world, but in this part of the world, the middle east of north africa, this is the biggest vaccination effort against pole i can't that unicef, the world health organization and local partners on the ground have undertaken. this is actually quite alarming.

the response is only an indicator of how huge the humanitarian crisis in syria is, the return of polio is only one aspect, an important and dangerous aspect of how bad, actually, the humanitarian crisis in syria has become as a result of the ongoing fighting. >> thanks so much. >> more than a thousand runners began racing through the sahara, participating in the annual marathon. runners are required to carry everything they need to survive on their backs for six days. andy richardson is at the starting line where the runners back the 156-mile race. >> the main worry they have is trying to keep healthy and keep hear bodies healthy. 90% of dropouts will be because of dehydration or blistering.

everything is rationed, but even water given to the runners, that, too is strictly rationed so they have to be very careful how they manage their water and also how they look at their feet. if you get sand into your running shoes, very quickly, you're running on sandpaper. some runners suffer delamination, where the whole of the sole of your foot is removed. the medics are expected to hand out 6,000 pain killers over the next few days. >> it is a beautiful day in new york and spring is in the air, but can we expect it to stay? >> you can expect it to stay out there today. it's absolutely beautiful. we have a live shot of new york city right now for you, 42n 42nd street downtown in times square. we're looking at beautiful blue skies, just a gorgeous day, hard to find a cloud in the sky.

that's what happens when high pressure's in control. now, if you're walking around, perhaps in areas where the buildings are blocking the sunlight, it feels pretty chilly out there. we had some winds last night into today, and it's just shaping up to be a beautiful day. also nice day across minneapolis with the high at 56. a little warmer than normal in los angeles, a the 80 degrees. the nice weather is not across the southeast, they're looking at strong thunderstorms across texas pushing into louisiana and heavy rain in georgia, tracking allege i-20. traveling there, you need to be careful, i--10 looking cloudy. hail across east texas from college station towards tyler, texas. the severe thunderstorm watch expires at 2:00 central time, so just be mindful of the fact that we have heavy rain coming down, rain the main story.

as a matter of fact, we're recording up to close to 2.44 inches of rain in jackson, mississippi, a flash flood warning in effect there. if you're object the roads, really not a safe place to be. it only takes six inches of rain to lift a vehicle up. it can take up to a foot of rain to make your vehicle float. you need to be careful out there if you're traveling, watch for that flash flooding. we've report the 1.2 inches have rain in shreveport, louisiana in the last 24 hours. as i said, that soaking rain is going to continue to trace right along i-20 into georgia. the severe thunderstorm watch goes until 2:00. we could see a few isolated tornadoes, as well. >> back from the brink, the gray whales that have managed to stave off extinction now getting a boost to a struggling economy. you're watching aljazeera america. [ male announcer ] it's here -- xfinity watchathon week,

your chance to watch full seasons of tv's hottest shows for free with xfinity on demand. there's romance, face slaps, whatever that is, pirates, helicopters, pirate-copters... argh! hmm. it's so huge, it's being broadcast on mars. heroes...bad guys...

asteroids. available only on mars. there's watching. then there's watchathoning. ♪ your chance to watch full seasons of tv's hottest shows for free with xfinity on demand. there's romance, face slaps, whatever that is, pirates, helicopters, pirate-copters... argh! hmm. it's so huge, it's being broadcast on mars. heroes...bad guys... asteroids. available only on mars. there's watching. then there's watchathoning. ♪

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford. here's a look at today's top stories. a texas community pauses to remember the victims of wednesday's shooting in ford hood. ivan lopez killed three and wounded 16 others before turning the gun on himself. investigators are still searching for a motive. >> it's ban month since malaysia airlines flight 370 completely have not i should. crews are hopeful after detecting signals that accounted have come from the plane's black box. >> afghanistan started counting the 7 million votes cast in saturday's election. despite threats from the taliban, turnout was high. results aren't expected until midway. >> the gray what i will was nearly hunted to extinction, but it's back and a thousand more born over the past several months. we have the story. >> power and grace in motion, a

gray whale surfaces in the warm waters off of mexico's baja peninsula. the females traveled up to 10,000 kilometers from the arctic to give birth. this is one of the only places on earth you see the grays swim with their newborn calves. >> scientists have been coming here for decades to study them. >> the lieu goon offers the ideal water temperatures and safety for the gray what i will. this is especially important for the young whales, because predators don't enter the shallow water. >> the isolation and remoteness of places like this is what's kept thousands of whales coming back year after year. the same isolation has kept the communities who lift here for hundredhundreds of years in pov. that is starting to change. >> locals used to fear the whales and refer to them at

devil fish. over the years, more and more tourists of come to see the grace and with that, local attitudes began to change. fishermen have never looked back. >> many people here make their living from the whales. men and women work in kitchens add boat drivers, shutting drivers, cleaners, lots of things. >> it's a relationship which means thousands are now able to glimpse through a unique window where whales up to 15 meters long offer themselves up to be touched by human hands. for many, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. >> it's something amazing and beautiful. they seem to come out of nowhere. they're so friendly. >> there were more gray whales to see this year with a 50% increase over numbers last year, a return from the brink of extinction base said in part on

a new found appreciation of these marine giants. baja, california, mexico. >> thanks so much for watching aljazeera america. "real money -- is up next. >> too many americans have been out of work for aware too long -- for way too long but i'll reveal a silver lining, something we haven't seen in several years. and gm's known fame your to recall dashes failure to recall may be criminal. a shift in health care coverage. that will affect you some day even if you are covered by your employer. i'm ali velshi and this is "real money"