>> results of analyses were skewed in favor of the prosecution >> the fbi can't force the states to look at those cases >> the truth will set you free yeah...don't kid yourself >> the system has failed me two helicopters shot down in the city of slovyansk and several ukrainian soldiers are dead. it happened when kiev launched a new operation trying to take back eastern cities from pro-russian separatists. >> angela merkel and president obama meeting face to face at the whitehouse. it's her first trip to washington since it was revealed the n sachlt was spying on her cell phone. the major issues?

>> got to do something. >> the long road to recovery. millions returning home, surveying the damage left behind by those devastating tornados. >> backlash being felt after brunai en acts sharia code, it has some boycotting a hotel chain. i am stephanie sy. >> this morning, ukrainian forces trying to take back several eastern cities controlled by the pro-russian separatists. >> kiev launched military operations in the city of slovyansk. >> officials saying separatists shot down two army helicopters, killing one pilot and injure others. >> in donetsk where pro-russian separatists have taken control of the city's main train system. >> it began at about 4:30 a.m. outside slovyansk when units of the ukrainian army and to have launched the next phase in what kiev has described as an antiterrorist operation which has been in play in one form or

another for several weeks now with units of the army camped outside of slovyansk. some way outside, about 30 kilometers. according to reports, we have been getting from inside the city and, also, official reports from the interior ministry, the defense ministry and the sbu, the security services, what has happened is quote a large scale operation to blockate slovyansk, not, it appears, to overrun slovyansk, to directly enter the city and try to wrest control from those who have made it their de facto capitol what appears to be according to the interior minister, nine barricades that had been set up on roadways have been taken over by the ukrainian army. we can't independently verify that. and that the ukrainian army is now holding a position at a perimeter around slovyansk

around 10 kilometers, an effort to blockade the city. there has been violence, at least two deaths on the ukrainian army side as two helicopters were shot down, allegedly using surface to air missiles which the ukrainians points to as evidence these are not domestic rebels but they have been infiltrated by trained and professional russian soldiers. on the other side, the separatists claim at least two deaths and a number of injuries in an operation they said tried to and succeeded in seizing back the mainly television tower outside of the city. >> that's the situation as we understand it now. reports from inside suggest that it is tension but calm. >> okay, johnna hull -- engineers. >> russia and ukraine had both promised to deescalate tensions in ukraine as part of a deal. >> angela merkel set to meet with president obama. the crisis in ukraine and the

stepped up sanctions against russia expected to top the agenda as libby casey reports, this is her first visit to washington since it was revealed that the inform sa was listening in on her conversations >> reporter: president obama and chancellor merkel will meet for four hours at the whitehouse as both leaders wrestle with how far to push russia. >> they will say we have to go together and when it comes to ukraine, we have to work together to put more pressure on putin. but the interests are different. >> the latest round of sanctions by the u.s. and european union stop short of hitting russia's oil and gas industry, an industry german is tied to. trade between the two countries amounted to $100,000,000,000 last year. >> we work closely with russia. we are to some extent even dependent on russian gas. for that reason, we are less hesitant. we are hesitant to put more

pressure on russia. >> since the start of the ukraine crisis, chancellor merkel has spoken more than any other world leader with russian leader putin. foreign policy analyst mark fisher says the white house sees merkel as a possible bridge. >> she right now the basically the link of communication with putin. no respect, being here in washington the day after she just talked to putin, it's very important, i think, for symbolic and political reasons. >> she is phonep known for taking small steps. >> we are not so hot-blooded. chancellor merkel is someone on the german political seen and on the european scene who likes to lead toward consensus. >> that cool demeanor may keep her from hitting president obama with a scathing public crittik of nsa surveillance. this is her first visit to swarnts news broke that the nsa monitored her private calls. weeks after the u.s. government refused to grant merkel access

to her nsa file. >> she will say very clearly that she is disappointed, but she will do that behind closed doors. she will talk very openly, i think, to president obama about this issue, but she will not talk about that on the press n conference or if she does, she will be polite. >> it is a chance for president obama to rekindle the friendship with one of america's strongest allies. libby casey, al jazeera, washington. >> both president obama and angela merkel are publically ruling out military action trying to stop russia from seizing more of ukraine. we will discuss the importance of that meeting at the whitehouse today with "wall street journal" reporter harriet tory. >> secretary of state john kerry is in south sudan today urging both sides in the deadly civil war to stop fighting. kerry says without an immediate solution, the country is at risk of genocide. >> there are very disturbing

leading indicators of the kind of ethnic, tribal, targeted, nationalistic killings taking place that raise serious questions, and were they to continue in the way that they have been going could really present a very serious challenge to the international community with respect to the question of genocide. >> kerry was speaking in ethiopia where he met with african union officials to discuss south sudan's conflict. >> meanwhile, a dar bomb has rocked nigeria leaving 12 people there on the outs skirts of abuja, not far from the attack that killed 70 people weeks ago. this latest blast coming days before it is set to hold the world economic forum on africa >> reporter: the car bomb exploded very close to a checkpoint manned by soldiers and police. just a few kilometers from the

city center. there were fatalities and injuries. survivors were rushed to h hospital. >> i fell down. my brother was standing with me. >> the security agents here were on duty to stop something like this happening. so there may be questions about how such an attack could happen right under their noses. just over two weeks ago, a bomb exploded at a bus station in almost the exact sameplace, killing 75 people. >> the leader of boko haram claimed responsibility. he challenges the government to go after his group. >> look at us. we are right within your city, abjua, and you don't know how to find us. >> hours before this latest blast, the government told al jazeera it had the situation under control. thousands of soldiers are fighting and there was a decrease in attacks until this rebate upsurge.

>> that's yvonne endega reporting. the nigerian government xloiing 6,000 police officers trying to protect people attending the world economic forum next week. hundreds of high-profile government officials from around the world are expected. emotions are running high following the kidnapping of at least 190 nigerian school girls. >> family members saying the government has done very little to rescue those girls who were abducted two weeks ago. financials say they are not sure how many girls were kidnapped but they are doing all they can to find them. >> the government is actually being concerned more about getting these girls out of their place where they have been hidden by this sect members rather than indulge in the game of trying to cut numbers that is appearing to be coming from very many sources sglrling. >> there are rebate reports that allege some of those girls are

being forced to marry their abductors. the armed group is believed to be behind the kidnappings. >> a teenager's plan to kill his family, being charged as a juvenile attempted murder and possession of explosives. the boy allegedly told police he planned to shoot hez his mother, father, sister and start a fire to did you say tract first responders and set off pressure cooker bombs at his school. >> once there, he intended to set off nums russ bombs during the lunch hour, kill the school resource officer as he responded to help, set fires. >> investigators say ladieu's ultimate goal was to be killed by a swat team. they say he is obsessed with the attack on columbine hospital. he is being held at a juvenile detention center. >> three years since officials

killed osama bin laden ending the deck aid-long hunt for the man who orchestrated the 9-11 attacks. his body was sent to afghanistan for individualfication and buried at sea within 24 hours of his death. al-qaeda's central leadership has been under constant attack. the sta the state department says the organization is growing more and more dangerous. several affiliates, the most active in yemen. >> dozens of people injured in a serious subway accident in south korea. one train was stopped when a second train slammed into it from behind. the impact causing some of the cars to jump off of the tracks. more than 100 people were hurt but none are life-threatening. more than a million commuters use that subway system every day. >> the body of a missing 8-year-old boy has been found, tyler tucker's body was found about a third of a mile from his home. both of his parents were killed in the twister which destroyed their house. tyler's grabbed mother says she is holding on to her memories.

>> i just had a really good -- we had a real good life together. they were happy. >> this week, killing 18 people. this week severe weather touching 75 million lives across the south. thousands of homes were destroyed in more than 12 states and 37 lives were lost. as robert dra found out, some of the nation's poorest people say they are not sure they will be able to start over. >> in the poorest state in america, life just got even tougher. >> some kind of work. i saint got no money or house or way to live. i have got to do something. >> more than a third of lewisville, mississippi,'s residents already lived in poverty paralyzed on one side, dennis deere relies on a disability check to pay his rent, just $300 a month. >> it's time for me to go.

i don't know where else to go. find me somewhere else to rest my head until i leave the world, you know. >> in the last 10 years, two other tornados have touched down here. each time, dennis stayed, thinking it could never happen again. >> well, and it hit the apartments and then they fix them and build them back, but this time, ain't no fixing it back. >> so much of lewisville, mississippi looks like this. most of the people here in this apartment complex are now scattered around town in shelters. they have no other place to go. two people lost their lives here one man was crushed to death by debris. another was thrown 100 yards into a field and passed away. >> at a red cross shelter w met yolanda tripli who lived in the apartment complex. now, she is sleep okay a cot and grieving the loss of her

neighbors. >> some of them didn't make it. complc yolanda is unsure how they will start again. >> fate and federal aid is on the way with plans to set up a multi-aid urgency center. >> we are trying to work with them to help make a plan. >> a recovery dennis deere 12k3r589 needs. with no savings, no renter's insurance and no pprospect. >> i don't know what i am going to do. i wish i knowed. >> robert ray, al jazeera, lewisville, mississippi. >> robert's reporting has been

incredible. and you forget sometimes that these storms affect people for the rest of their lives. it's hard to imagine how you begin to rebuild there. thankfully, this weekend, there will be much calmer weather across the country. >> let's turn to meetrologist nicole mitchell with the national forecast. good morning, nicole? >> good morning. after the crazy we week we saw earlier, i think a quiet weekend is needed. some of those toranados rated as high as es 4s on the fujita scale. one ina, for example, winds to 180 miles per hour carried a truck almost 30 miles. >> gives you a sense of how powerful those are in addition to the images we just saw. much quieter radar as we head out there today. just a few areas seeing showers. a closer look at that system on the east coast has moved out. lingering, though, behind that is the frontal boundary. we will monitor that because florida especially the panhandle places like pensacola, panama city, under the core of that heavy rain someplaces picking up

a couple of feet. more today. this is shifting more into central florida as we get into the day tomorrow. so we are still going to be concerned about that. so you can see the dry air for most of the east coast and then where we are going to have this boundary into tomorrow still producing some of that rain. what we can expect with that, isolated, heavier stuff, thunderstorms positionable with that forecast as well. the core of this two to four inches with a few isolated spots as i said a little bit heavier. otherwise, look at the rest of the precipitation forecast as we get through this friday. another system starting to push into the ernesto. but really staying very quiet and even as we get into the day tomorrow, it looks a little more impressive than it really is in places like the northeast, scattered showers especially into sunday but not those risks for severe weather like we had. so, it's nice to see that quiet down. >> we will take it? >> sunshine, we will take that, too. >> in ire lands, shen fein leader is being questioned by the police over the 1972 ira

murder of jean mcconville, a widowed mother of 10 as lawrence lee reports, this case is bringing back some bitter memories across northern ireland. >> at the police station, a for boding sort of place where the questioning of jerry adams shows just how far this place is from being at peace with its self. it was 41 years ago that jean m conville was abducted. >> it was claimed she had helped a wounded british soldier and she was an informer. she simply disappeared. her body discovered years later. the ira said it is fighting against imperialism and implicated a man as the ira commander who organized the abduc's. her son told journalists he was pleased history had not forgotten jerry adams.

>> they came and took my mother away and left us orphans. there was no way to look after us. these people didn't care what they had done. a stolen car. >> the u.k.'s leading unionists said it was entirely reasonable of the police to do this and did not demonstrate political bias. >> we have an independent judicial system in england and we have one in northern ireland. there has been absolutely no political interference in this issue. we have independent policing authorities. mr. adams' party said it was a disgrace. >> he offered to come forward a month ago and yet that offer was not taken up at that time. our argument is that it is clearly very suspicious that the police have to say that to

arrest them in an election. >> which goes to prove just how close to the surface all of the olden mitties remain. >> for some years, northern ireland has had conflicting demands. on the one hand people say the proof ince has to move on, you have to let by gobygones be byg. arresting jerry adams might make it look like no one is above the law but it runs the risk of person petting an endless cycle of recrimination. mr. evans continues to maintain his innocence. what it says about the peace process in the end is that time here is no healer. lawrence lee, al jazeera, in northern ireland. in our next area, going live to northern ireland for the latest on the areas of jerry adams. the racist recordings of la clippers' owner donald sterling.

>> the 80-year-old is fighting a deadly disease. >> comes as nba openers make a move to force him to sell the team. >> plus a piece of history we are proud to say saved by girl power, former rosie the riv eter's rolling up their sleeves. >> they don't still work there. their big number of the day is $106,000,000,000. >> why did you close the deal on that recordbreaking merger we have been reporting about?

if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again that is the motto of pfizer and the subject of today's big number, $106,000,000,000. >> it is the pharmaceutical's offer for astrazeneca. you are looking now, live at pfizer headquarters here in new york city. astrazeneca rejected an earlier bid of $100,000,000,000. if success, the merger colorado crate the world's biggest drug company. >> pfizer's revised offer is 7%

more. it values after the tra zen k r kerr, with the first offer coming in over $78 a share. >> seattle is going to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, the highest in the country. the city's mayor announcing a plan on thursday which will increase wages over the next three to seven years based upon how big a business is. the mayor first indicated he wanted to establish the $15 base pay in september. earlier this week, senate republicans blocked president obama's bid to raise the need recall minimum wage to $10 and $0.10 an hour. it is currently $7 and $0.25. san francisco is being sued for living private shuttles to use public bus stops. they are all part of the bus program but local activist say it's violates california's traffic code and environmental law and that the bus gram pushes up housing prices by allowing

highly paid tech employees to live in the city. the full bus program is said to begin july 1st. when you thought the story couldn't get any stranger, the saga of la clippers owner donald sterling taking another plot twist. >> here with the details. good morning, john henry >> reporter: always something in this story. isn't it ? the new york post and espn are reporting 80-year-old donald sterl something battling pros-tate cancer. the news he has not cogfirmed comes to light days after the unt nba banned him for life after he was caught making a racist rant secretly reported by a former girlfriend. some of his former players reacted to the revelation. >> i honestly didn't know that. gu, you know, if that is true, my thoughts and prayers are with him. i mean nobody deserves to go through something like that. >> yeah. that's the first time i ever heard of that. and that's truly unfortunate.

>> meanwhile, the nba took another stead towards forcing sterling to sell the team he has owned for 33 years. the 10 nba owners who make up the league's advisory finance committee unanimously proceed as quickly as possible to remove him from the league. >> committee will talk again next week. >> then there is this, the man behind the la chapter of the naacp with his decision to bestow a lifetime achievement award has resigned. he has come under fine for authorizing sterling's second such award in five years. the first in 2009, the same year that sterling paid a record settlement in a housing discrimination lawsuit. in response to lorraine miller, in order to separate the los angeles naacp and the naacp from the negative exposure, i have caused the nacccp. i resign my position as

president of the los angeles naacp. now, the naacp says it's developing guidelines for branches and coming up at 8:00, i will tell you why sterling -- the sterling family, do not and richelle may have an ace in the hole legally when it comes to dragging out litigation. >> in the middle of this, they managed to play a game. >> you are right. what a game it was. certainly, the clippers had a chance to eliminate the golden state warriors but the warriors staved off elimination with a 100 to 99 win. the la clippers for the first time in team history will the host a winner take all game seven. >> what an emotional rollercoaster for those guys to contend with. john henry, thank you. let's look at what temperatures we can expect to see across the nation today. >> we turn to our meteorologist nicole mitchell for that. good morning, nicole. >> that cold front that brought all of the storms cooled things down especially in the mid

sections of the country. east coast still in the 50s. some of these temperatures in the central plains for example, 37 in wichita. we have frost advisories. we might be doing a little scraping which morning, probably not much. if you sigh anything at all. but, because of that dry air and the surf shine, high temperatures rebound nicely from the day going from the 30s to the 70s in a lot of cases. denver is at 78 degrees and the hot spot in the southwest with those 90s. back to you guys. okay, nicole mitchell, thank you. >> president obama set to meet with german chancellor angela merkel. >> her first visit to washington since revelations the nsa tapped her phone. >> stand your ground laws being questioned once again after three teens are killed by two separate homeowners who say they were defending their property. >> a plea for help found inside a shopping back.

>> one of the stories making headlines around the world.

>> al jazeera america presents borderland's dramatic conclusion >> no one's prepared for this journey. >> our teams experience the heart breaking desperation >> we're all following stories of people that have died in the desert. >> and the importance... >> experiencing it, has changed me completely... >> of the lives that were lost in the desert >> this is the most dangerous part of your trip... >> an emotional finale you can't miss...

>> we got be here to tell the story. >> the final journey borderland continues... only on al jazeera america good morning. welcome back to al jazeera america. ahead in this half hour, exploring germany's roll, with angela merkel getting ready to meet at the whitehouse. >> why the controversy in brunai. >> we will focus on a medicalmist affecting a lot of kids. a physical illness causing what you see here, children exhibiting psychologistic behavior almost overnight. but first, let's check our top stories. violence e rurupting as ukraini forces crack down.

the country's defense minister saying soldiers were killed when their helicopters were shot down. vladimir putin said it keeills y hope of keeping hope alive. >> police say 17-year-old john david ladieu was planning to kill his parents and sister and attack the heights. they were tipped off when someone saw him entering a storage unit. they found a journal detailing plans as well as weapons. >> john kerry set to meet with south sudan's president in an effort to end the civil war. he is urging both sides to stop the violence and is threatening sanctions on south sudan easy leaders. thousands have been killed because of the fighting and those supporting former vice presidents. >> kerry says without an immediate solution, the country is at risk of genocide. he was speaking in ethiopia where he met with african union officials to discuss south

sudan's conflict. we want to cross to anna kavell, mentioning thousands have been killed since fighting began six months ago. a million others have fled their homes. can you just remind us, anna, why this conflict started? >> reporter: why /* yes, i can. back in december, there was a political rift between the president and his former vice president. >> political rift quickly spread across the country and what we have now is very clearly ethnic divisions and that's what is fueling this conflict in the country. it began as a political difference, but now, it spread out and it has become more than that. when secretary of state john kerry arrived today, he said this was unspeakable acts of violence, that absolutely

couldn't be permitted to continue. he said that the united states secure counsel needs to sign a new mandate which will allow thousands more peace keepers to come to this country to prevent further blood shed. to this end, he said he had a very frank discussion with the president who agreed to discuss the idea of a transitional governme government. so he has agreed to travel to ethiopia and to meet with the leader of the rebel movement to discuss this idea. now, we don't yet know what dr. machar thinks of this concept. the secretary of state said he was hoping to speak to him later today. he said it was absolutely critical that these two people would meet to discuss their differences and to agree to implement the cessation of hostilities agreement they signed back in january. >> okay, al jazeera's anna kavel reporting from south sudan's capitol of juba. thank you. rescue workers in columbia looking for 15 people after an illegal gold mine collapsed. it happened in the southwestern part of that country.

three miners were killed in wednesday's collapse just one week ago, four other miners were killed and 85 others -- 65, actually, injured by poisonous gasses in another illegal mine. there are more than 10,000 of those mines in colombia, but authorities say most of them do comply with safety regulations. >> two cases in montana and minnesota are reigniting the heated debate over stand your ground laws n both situations, the homeowner said they were defending their homes when they fired their guns killing three teenagers. erika, prosecutors say they planned these attacks. >> that's right. in both of these cases, they say the homeowners lured the teenagers into the deadly encounters. this week, the min soda man owner was convicted of premeditated murder. the montana homeowner is facing the very same charge. >> it was like a bad dream. >> the community of missoula a, montana reeling after the

shooting of a 17-year-old german foreign exchange student. a couple concerned about recent robberies left the home open and set up a camera. the hormone she said left behind a purse so they would take it when dieren dedy came in, he was unarmed and they shot a firearm and killed the teen. markas kamrma said it was self defense. montana's version of a stand your ground law. >> you look at the fact that it's late at night, at their home. they have been robbed two different times. we know there is somebody in the home. it's certainly leads to a lot of facts that would allow somebody to defend themselves. they didn't have a lot of choices. >> recent robberies are part of the hormone did not buy.

they convicted by ron smith of premeditated murder. prosecutors say on thanksgiving he moved his truck to make it look like no one was home. then he waited in the basement with food, water, a handheld recording device and two guns. when an unarmed teenage couple broke into his home, smith shot them nine times. his taunts caught on tape as they died on the floor. >> we lost an amazing young lady, and she was a beautiful girl, and it was so simple, what happened. >> back in missoula a, montan a some are trying to make sense of the shooting that took the life of a well-liked young student? >> he was one of the nicest people i have ever met in my life. >> more than 30 states have laws expanding the self defense principle known as "the cast he will doctorine" which e volks the addage my home is my castle. now, florida took that even further with stand your ground, applying the law to outside the home. since trayvon martin's death in florida, lawmakers in seven

statements have introduclegisla repeal or weaken these self defense laws. none have passed yet. >> 55 colleges across the u.s. are facing federal investigations for how they handle sexual assaults on campcus. they include ivory leagues, small colleges. the u.s. education department released a list of institutions it's investigating for the way they handle sexual abuse allegations by their students. the government says they are looking into complaints, not judgments, on assault cases. schools on the list are for the most part unwilling to talk about specific incidents. they say they are working with federal authorities to be more responsive to student complaints. >> florida's state senate has voted to make students who came to the u.s. illegally -- illegally as children eligible for in-state college tuition lates t rick scott endorsing the bill calling thursday's vote an exciting day for every student who dreams of a college

education. >> bill heading to the house. it's not often stories from a student newspaper spark a national debate on collegea affordability but that's what happened to george washington university last fall. as patricia sagba reports, the campus newspaper found the school wasn't telling students how much of their ability to pay is a factor. >> requests for financial aid do not affect admissions decisions. that was the claim on george washington university's website until its student newspaper, the hatchet, did some digging. >> we realized the that the messaging wasn't clear. there wasn't a clear picture of what type of financial aid policies the university had. >> on managing editor sarah faris's watch, the hatchet revealed that their school like most private universities does factor in an applicant's ability to pay when making final admission decisions. >> the website was corrected. only a handful of private u.s.

universities are need blind, admitting students, including foreign ones solely on merit. most private institutions are need-aware, meaning at some point in the ad missions process, applicants who need help paying for college are indeed at a disadvantage. >> many need-aware colleges offer financial aid and sometimes generous alternates of it, especially to the most desirable students. as they move down their preference list and the aid well starts to dry up, that's when wealthier students often gain an advantage over poorer ones. >> at gw where truition, room and board exceeds $60,000 a year, all access are first reviewed on merit. the university told ashingsdz, quote, financial need is one of the many factors that may be considered at the very end of the applicant review process, noting, quote, we must balance the financial needs of our new class with the university's aide budget ". last year, more than 75% of

students apply to go college were accepted at their first choice institution. but more than a quarter of those chose to enroll elsewhere because their first choice schools did not offer them financial aid. author kyle cheney says students who need aid are better off targeting schools that match their talents? >> if you are one of the marginal tap can't where the school is a reach and you need a boat load of aid that's when are it could become a problem. >> as for sarah ferris, she is graduating, but she assure us when it comes to admissions and college affordability, the hatchet will the remain vigilant? >> i will not be any longer. we have a crop of reporters interested in covering this. >> patricia sabga, al jazeera washington. >> most are need blind when considering applications from in-state students but for out of state students, financial aid does become a factor at some

point. >> microsoft has not completely turned its back on windows xp users. the company was forced to issue a security update after a security flaw allowed hackers. microsoft said it would no longer support the operating system. the company says they did it because the issue happened so close to the ends of its support for xp. >> today, german chancellor is set to visit with president obama at the whitehouse. the crisis in john boehner and sanctions against russia topping the agenda. this is her first visit to warrant since it was revealed the nsa had been listening in on her phone conversations. harriet tory is a reporter for the "wall street journal." she joins us from berlin this morning. ms. tory, what needs to hatch during this meeting between these two heads of state? >> reporter: the nsa is certainly an item on the agenda, as you mentioned but what's foremost on the agenda is the

crisis in ukraine and trying to establish a joint line between washington and berlin on how we are doing to deal with the crisis in ukraine. it seems like there is a bit of conflict. although the nsa will play a role in the negotiations. the german government has been playing it down recently. they want add no- spy deal. that was when the revelations came out last summer, a lot of politicians, the run-up, saying we want a no-spy deal with america. we deserve this. we are partners on an eye to eye basis. >> seems to have -- the hope for that seems to have reduced a little bit in recent months. merkel told parliament earlier this year that the -- she is sort of downplaying the expectations that. n nsa will be on the agenda. it seems the german it expectation for immediate action are pretty low. >> let's talk about the situation in ukraine. the "new york times" is reporting some believe angela merkel is, in their words, being

played by sl ade mirror putin indicating vladimir putin is telling her one thing and doing another. your thoughts on that. >> that's definitely something that has been an issue recently. angela merkel is the leader who has probably spoken the most to vladimir putin during this crisis. she speaks russian. she has, you know, the russian -- the soviet occupation of east germany was longstanding so she has kind of a -- she sort of sees herself as someone who can understand him. there has definitely been criticism from the u.s. over is merkel being a little too softly softly on poobtd. she would vehemently deny that. the german media was ablaze with criticism from german politicians kraktireacting to cs by john mccain. he allegedly told reporters there is al for sale of

leadership coming out of germany. she is listening to the busy lobby far too strongly. the germans reapject that. they say merkel is working for the interests of europe as a whole. >> it is safe to say that washington is getting mixed signals when it comes to naerm's position with regard to vladimir putin. there is a photo that surfaced of gerhard schroeder celebrating his 70th birthday with vladimir putin. how close really is the u.s.-german alliance when you see images like these come out and how divided is germany on the issue of what should be done in ukraine? >> reporter: that photo was indeed a big news item here in germany as well as else somewhere around the world. i think there are a couple of points need to be made. ger heart schroeder is merkel's predesesor and from a different party. merkel tried to make that clear.

it was embarrassing. there are a few other politicians who were at the event, current politicians. and they have spoken out in the media. they said it's better for us to go there and talk to putin than told to isolate him. they say keeping these channels of communication open is really important in a crisis like this. they say they were lobbying for the release of the observers detained in eastern ukraine at the moment. so, it's kind of a mixed bag on that. you know, the photo caused outrage. it was hugely embarrassing but these politicians defend themselves by saying if we don't talk to putin, we are never going to find a solution. >> harriet tory joins us from berlin. >> the original world with a 2 factory where rosie the riveter has been saved. we told you how dozen ofs of women were rolling up their

sleeves. the plant was supposed to be demolished. activists and rosees managed to go win $8 million to convert it into a myselfem. >> it was a plant which was racially integrated, unionized and where men and women got equal pay for equal work in the 1940s when none of these were the norm. it was one of the birth places of modern america. >> at its peak, the plant employed more than 40,000 workers, most women. >> taking a look at today's headlines, the first, a desperate plea from help in an unlikely place, dna info saying a woman searching for a receipt discovered a grim letter from a chinese prisoner. it reads, we are i will-treated and work like slaves for 13 hours a day producing these bags in bulk in the prison factory. they then went on to do some research. it took them years to find this person and found out that the man was indeed actually being

subjected to slave labor inside the plates where he worked. >> it's been difficult to confirm for sax 5th average because they produce these bags in china. it's not confirmed this was the actual gitwho left the note. it's an interesting story. it is truly one of man's most amazing achievements. we may now know how this beuilt them. live science says reports show how egyptians built these amazing structures and the report basically says that there was a contraption that they were able to move these massive stone blocks across the desert by wetting the sand in front of the sled. >> if you've ever been to the pyramids, they are huge. just look at the people compared to the bottom of the pyramid there, and you see that these stones are actually taller than a human being. when you go there, that's the first thing that comes to your mind. how did they manage to do it? >> there was a drawing from bc

times and a person can be seen standing in front of the sledge pouring water on the sand in front. >> yeah. it was a tweet. >> it wasn't a tweet. >> >>. the albany democrat telling a heart-warming story. twin sisters going for the record, they say, in guinness, not a record that they wanted but it is one that they have managed to achieve. they have been separated at birth now for more than 75 years. >> all right. outrage from human rights group the world over. >> brunai, a decision to punish people with everything from flog to go amputation and death, why these implications stretched beyond the tiny country. >> it could be one of the earliest images of jesus christ. details in our discovery of the day.

[ music ] today's discovery of the day, a team of archeologistses find what could be one of the oldest dpuksz of jesus made by some of the earliest coptic kringsz in egychristians in egy they were painted in the 6th and 7th centuries. >> one shows the figure of a young man with curly hair. his hands are raised as if giving a blessing. those paintings were found after 45 tongs of rock were removed. archeologists have been working there for the last 20 years. what a skoshing. >> skin scan discovery cally. >> a new criminal code in one country causing outrage. >> might be putting it mildly. also, boycotts in the u.s. and around the world. >> before we get to that, let's look at the wet weather today across the u.s. nicole mitchell is back. >> good morning. it is seriously toned down from what we were seeing the last couple of days. we look across the country, a couple of areas we are

monitoring. the south seeing rain and a little distissuance in the northern tier of the country, more moisture in the northwest. honing in on this. it is chill thy morning, in the 30s, a little bit of rain in places like minnesota will be cold as we head toward the south where the frontal boundary is stationary or becoming stationary and really bringing a lot of rain. this will shift into centra florida over the next couple of days. the rain isn't here into the northwest yet, but these are actually rav large warnings because we got the heavy snow last week. some will be in the 70s today. >> that's going to make that snow out there a little unstable for today, kind of interesting to be seeing that this time of year. >> lions and tigers and bears, avalanches now. thanks. the leader of brunai has introduced sharia law. the sultan of the southeast asian country made the announcement on thursday sparking condemnation from international human rights

groups. it's also led to several celebrities boycotting the beverly hills hotel which the sultan owns, an lbgt conference was scheduled to take place there. it was cancelled oafter the announcement. joining us to discuss these laws as well as reaction is ti tig kumar. he joins us from washington this morning. mr. kumar, thanks for being with us. good morning. there are many parts of the world, as you know, that employ sections of sharia criminal law including oche province in neighboring indonesia. why is so much attention being paid to this decision by brunai's ruler? >> i will say first and for most, amnesty international is concerned that instead of correcting and changing the current practices, more countries are moving into that direction. >> that's one of the reasons. we don't want new countries to

use a certain form of punishment to punish their citizens. >> the sultan has apparently called islam a firewall against globalization. you talk about this trend. is this trend a re-emergence that we are seeing of sharia criminal law, a backlash to western globalization? >> i wanted say that. i don't think so. it's a new form of looking at things differently by muslim majority countries. so in this case, he is the king. so, he suddenly decided to keep the country in theritis lammic method this is the way to go. by the way, amnesty international wanted to make it very clear that we are not proposing because this is coming from islamic background. it could come from any background. we only focus on the nature of the punishment. it could come from any form. but unfortunately, this is

coming from the islamic background. by the way, in indonesia, we don't have criminal sharia. there may be a slight -- there is criminal sharia in oche province? >> but it's for caning and things. we oppose that. >> right. >> here is a country as a whole, this new trend is coming. it's going to hurt the region because other countries may copy the whole improvement of human rights. >> so phase i of three phases took effect yesterday, and it carries penalties of fines or jail terms for, for example, indecent behavior, failure to attend friday prayer and out of wedlock pregnancies facphases 2d 3 include far more severe punishment including amputations and death. do we know how many citizens of

brunai support this change? >> it's very difficult to see how many citizens support because brunai is not a democracy. it's still a kingdom. there is a king. he rules. it's difficult to the see how many people support or how many people independent it. either way, we don't know. >> do you recognize -- --? >> that's why the international community and human rights organizations have an obligation to raise this issue. and to try to find the solution. >> brunai's ruler is one of the richest people in the world. the council is planning to review brunai's human rights record. how much leverage does the international community have in a place like brunai? >> first, the regional perspective. in region, there is a system called 10 southeast asian countries. they have a human rights mechanism. first, the human rights mechanism in the region can take

that. by the way, every country in the world is being monitored by the human rights country. >> t tive. kumar, director for amnesty international joining us from washington, thank you, sir. >> stephanie, at the end of the first hour, here are the stories we are following: two ukrainian soldiers were killed when their helicopter did were shot down in slovyansk, struck by aircraft missiles during a crackdown. secretary of state john kerry is in south sudan calling for an end of civil war there. he met with the country's president committed to ending the violence. nba owners agree to force sterling crew. >> doctors in california trying to find the source of a mystery illness that is causing healthy children to show e radic behavior.

we are going to be talking to one of the leading physicians who is now working to find a treatment. >> del and i are back with you in two minutes with more al jazeera america.

crisis in ukraine. pro-russian separatists shoot down a ukrainian helicopter as forces from kiev struggle to stand up to the rebels. >> angel merkel goes to america. declaration of index, israeli's prime minister benjamin netanyahu seeks to declare. how that will square. >> i have taken care of hundreds

of kids and this case is different. something else is going on here. >> the medical mystery plaguing some young kids and the symptoms that are leaving doctors scratching their heads looking for answers. welcome to al jazeera america. i am del walters? >> i am stiff knee sy. a new waive of violence in eastern ukraine in slovyansk where ukrainian forces launched a major military operation against probe russian separatists. >> keefe says troops met fierce reassistance. it comes as separatists shot down two army helicopters killing one pilot and injuring several others. there are reports pro-russian separatists have taken control of donetsk's train system. >> from donetsk, hoda, things boiling over again in eastern ukraine. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, we actually have just spoken to the office of the self-proclaimed mayor of

slovyansk and the person we spokane to did admit that the ukrainian forces actually had made some advance into that city from the north. they have actually destroyed a good numbers of checkpoints according to the self-proclaimed mayor. certainly, the most aggressive operation carried out by the ukrainian so far. we have been hearing over the past few weeks about these antiterror prapingsz and it was relaunched and a second phase but it seems today at least can can things were more aggressive. we heard from the defense ministry that confirmed that two helicopters had been downed and that one ukrainian pilot has been taken by the separatists in slovyansk. he was badly wounded in that accident. >> so, the pro-russian supporters were able to down two ukrainian helicopter did. hoda, moscow this morning respond to go kiev's military operation. what did they say?

>> reporter: i'm sorry. could you repeat that? >> what was moscow's response to kiev's military operation this morning? >> moscow has been all along against that and calling for kiev to withdraw all of the ukrainian troops from that area and from other areas here in eastern ukraine. now, they see that as a provocation that could only lead to the -- to dashing all of the possibilities of any kind of peaceful outcome of the stand-off between the separatists and the government in kiev. >> hoda abdel, thank you. >> stephanie, u.s. relations with germany being questioned once again following the nsa's monitoring of german chancellor angela merkel's phone calls. according to the "new york times," when she meets with president obama today at the whitehouse, there won't be a new intelligence agreement.

libby casey is in washington with more on today's visit. the chancellor wasn't happy to hear the nsa was listening to her phone calls. berlin says it's not getting enough information. so what do we expect to come out of today's meeting. >> this is a very important story in german. merkel's government requested her nsa file, her records. the obama administration has not turned it over. there was a question of whether or not the two countries could enter into an intelligence sharing or no-spy agreement, but that does not look likely. now, just why is in debate because both sides are spinning it their own way. some on the u.s. side saying frankly they wouldn't get enough intelligence. if would not be a balanced and equal relationship. germany is heated and concerned about what happened with the tapping of chancellor merkel's phone calls as well as how edward snowden accessed so much information and how he has been treated by the american government.

this hits a sensitive note in germany. chancellor was born in east german where the communist dictator state had the stasi police who were keeping records on people, who were very invasive. there is still a strong memory of those early days. so even though it's faded somewhat from the american conscience, it is a big deal in germany. expect chance lor merkel to be polite about it, to be somewhat direct but perhaps a bit cold as she is asked questions in the press conference, but this will certainly be a heated issue behind closed doors when the two leaders meet today. >> in this country, everybody is talking about the crisis in ukraine. >> will also be on today's agenda. will they be discussing those sanctions about russia that the president wants to step up? >> absolutely. now, germany has a lot more on the line. they have a lot of trade with russia to the tune of $100,000,000,000 at last year alone. the oil and gas industry is very engaged, very co-dependent. germany has a lot more to lose if there are stepped-up sanct n

sanctions. there are some businesses that have graft concerns about how far sanctions could go. chancellor merkel has talked with president putin more than any other western leader. 13 times, as recently as just yesterday. so you can bet that president obama and chance lor merkel will be talking a lot about what sanction steps could come next. >> libby casey live in washington. thank you very much. the white house is asking congress to pass new privacy laws to broaden data protection. the request is one of six made by president obama's chief counselor john podesta. it would add more safeguards for personal information as well as e-mails sought in law enforcement investigations. the move is part of president obama's request to examine how the government and the private sector use large sets of data. white house officials say while data collecting protects american lives, it can also be used to discriminate in areas such assing and employment. eighteen people have been killed in two bombings in central certain syria. 11 were children. they were killed by bombers

targeting the allowite communities. it is days after 33 people were killed when the government dropped bombs on aleppo. they hit a market and two residential buildings in the rebel-held city. on wednesday, they bombed a school on the south side of aleppo killing 18 people, 10 of them children. 55 colleges across the u.s. are facing federal sex assault, ivory leaves and small colleges. the education department released a list for the way they handle sexual abuse allegations by their students. the government says this list is about probing into complaints, not judgments on assault cases. schools on the list are for the most part unwilling to talk about specific incidents. they say they are working with federal authorities to be more responsive to stu event complaints. >> arresting more than 600 gang members in and their associates, u.s. customs and immigration officials announcing the results of operation southbound on

thursday. arrests made in 179 cities with more than 150 law enforcement agencies taking place, ice says almost 75% of the suspects arrested were affiliated with an international street gauge called serenos. >> we are learning more about the botched execution of an oklahoma prison inmate. the prisons director said they tasered him after he fought with them tuesday morning. he was taken to the prison infirm rethat day and refused a final meal. medical personell struggled for nearly an hour to find a suitable vein. they administered the injection into his groin. the line become dislodged. the execution was halted. 10 minutes later, he suffered a fatal heart attack. >> police in minnesota say they stopped a teenager's plan to kill his family and bomb his high school. >> teen being charged as a journal with attempted murder and possession of explosives. and the boy allegedly told

police he planned to shoot his mother, his father and his sister. >> as 17-year-old john ladieu sits in a juvenile center, police unravel the deadly plot. >> this plan was to kill his family members s start a diversionary fire to distract first responders and travel to the junior/senior high school. >> there, police say they plannhe the teen planned to kill a me source officer as he responded to the chaos and shoot students and unharmed by the attack. >> plan began to fall apart when melting snow in march revealed a pair of devices at a local elementary school playground. police say one of the devices had detonated while the second had failed to ignite. four days later, a third device was found inside of a stuffed toy. investigators say they finally, caught up with ladieu tuesday and the rest at this storage

facility where an alert 911 caller notified police after seeing a suspicious male wearing a backpack open a storage unit, go inside and close the door. >> officers observed materials in the storage locker which were consistent with bomb making including a pressure cooker pyro technic chemicals and gunpowder. >> here at his home is where police found a 180-page notebook outlining his plan, a plan he didn't intend to survive. >> the information has been revealed in the case that we have escaped what could have been a horrific experience. >> according to ladieu, he also planned to coincide the spree with the columbine because that was on a sunday. >> investigators believe those attacks were set to take place over the next week or two. >> the u.s. is threatening sanctions against south sudan's leader if there is no end in fighting there. secretary of state kerry says without an immediate solution,

the country is at risk of genocide. south sudan's president has been caught in a power struggle with his former vice president, a dispute that has expanded into a civil war. al jazeera anna kavell has been reporting from south sudan for the past few weeks. anna is in juba thousands have been killed since fighting began in december. a million others have fled their homes. just remind us of why this conflict started. >> this conflict began back in mid december. it was a power struggle really that over spilled into conflict when the president and the former vice president split. now, what started as a political conflict and then quickly spread out across the country and is taking on an ethnic complex, people are being killed along ethnic lines, reprisal attacks. the whole situation is escalating rather dramatically. >> that's what has brought secretary of state john kerry to juba today. he said he has some frank

discussions with the president and he send, he told the media, that the president has agreed to discuss the idea of a transitional government. now, to that end, the president says he will travel to ethiopia and that et cetera willing to meet dr. machar, the leader of the rebels to discuss this transitional government. >> what we didn't know earlier was whether or not dr. machar would agree to this meeting or the concept of the transitional government but john kerry was hoping to talk to him later on today. >> there has been hope for a cease fire before, and it seems like the cease fire hope right now lies largely in the hands of african union officials. they are responsible for deploying peacekeeping forces to the region. why is there a debate about what that peacekeeping force will actually look like? >> at the moment, there is a united nations peacekeeping force which has been in country for several years. what they are looking at now is increasing that peacekeeping force by several thousand

soldiers. but what secretary of state john kerry told us today was that there needs to be a new u.n. council mandate before these force come into the country and he said he hoped it could happen quickly in the next few weeks even and that the forces could be used in the ground to prevent what he calls a modern-day catastrophe. >> anna kavell reporting from south sudan's capitol of juba. anna, thank you. jerry adams being questioned about a murder that happened more than 40 years ago, the shen fain leader, the ira admits they killed nine people. adams is denying those allegations. prosecutors say they found evidence that points to him in an oral history archive in boston college. report from northern ireland on this arrest. >> the significance of jay adams' arrest should not be underestimated.

it could impact both here in northern ireland and in the republic as well where, of course, he is a member of parliament. there are great divisions still about how these old issues should be resolved in northern ireland even amongst the family of the victims. one daughter says she is ready to name names. one of her sons says he doesn't want to name names to anybody because he is still concerned about the repercussions of that. some people have suggested perhaps northern ireland should pursue a kind of truth and justice commission route rather as south africa did after the end of apartheid, perhaps a tribunal where people admitted their guilt. but would that be interpreted as some sort of amnesty for guilty parties? it's still very, very

controversial. of course, jerry adams being questioned in a police station here in antrim has precushions. he is an mp. there are local or at least european elections due there. it may well, as martin mcginnis, one of mr. adams' allies, may impact on people's likelihood or not to vote for shen fain. >> that was tim friend reporting from antrim in northern ireland. peace have until this evening to charge or let him go free. >> race to go contain wildfires before the winds pick up again. >> blaze storaging more than a thousand acres in the larges area. fire fighters say they have been able to surround about half of it. there were manned attorney evacuations that have been lifted. officials say the fire no longer headed toward any communities. the fire erupted wednesday and about 900 fire fighters were

called in to try to put it out. >> at least a pleasant weekend looks to be on tap for much of the country after a week filled with devastating storms. >> >>. >> for more, as alternates, we tun to nicole. >> it has been a really traumatic week if you look at it from everything from the deadly toranados earlier in the week, including one that went over 40 miles in arkansas and moved a car almost 30 miles and, also, the severe flooding we have had the last few days. quieter pattern. you can see the mid section is usuallied sunshine and dry weather. a couple of spots. one front into the east coast, that has predominantly moved out. the lingering trailing edge of that becoming stationary over the state of florida. >> will lead to mother areas of rain, not the prolific stuff like we saw a couple of days ago where pensacola was one of the heaviest hit. a couple of places got close to two feet of rain if you added up a couple.

banding but as the front moves a little bit, isn't tral florida is getting under that type of you can see a lot of the east coast stays dry but as we roll this into tomorrow, that forecast, precipitation, that's what we are looking at. really what we will watch for is a couple of inches a chance for a couple of thunderstorms out of all of this. if you look at this in contrast to the big picture, a dry day across the country today. tomorrow, a little bit more into the northwest. in the northeast it is hit and miss. it starts off as a quiet weekend. >> nicole mitchell. thank you. >> say it ain't so but the saga of donald sterling taking another plot twist. >> john henry is here with the details. hey, john. >> this has turned into something of a roller coaster, this story, the new york post and espn have been reporting that 80-year-old donald sterl something battling prosate

cancer, news which he has not confirmed comes to light just days after the nba banned him for life after he was caught making a racist rant on a tape secretly recorded by a former girlfriend. some of his former players reacted to the revelation. >> i honestly didn't know that, but, you know if that is true, you know, thoughts and prayers are with him. >> that's the first time i heard of that. >> that's unfortunately unfortunate. >> the nba took a step toward forcing sterl to go sell the team. the 10 leaders who make up the advisory finance committee voted to proceed as quickly as possible to remove sterling from the league. >> committee will talk again next week. so far, mrs. sterling has mostly stood by her husband but legal experts have detailed how

a divorce filing by either spouse could put the clippers under the jurisdiction of the california family court. >> that's a move that could extend sterling's ownership and stall the nba's efforts to force a sale as the court works to divide the sterles too community property. the man behind the la chapter of the naacp to bestoi a the last time award has resigned, he has come under fire for what would have been sterling's second such award in five years. the first in 2009, the same year sterling paid a record settlement in a housing discrimination lawsuit. the naacp says its developing guidelines for branches to hem them with future award winner selections. >> you know, you can't make this st stuff up. >> you wouldn't belief. >> john henry smith. thank you very much israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu, what his push to formally

declare israel as a jewish state, as. >> how high is too high so to speak? lawmakers plan to keep people coming back for more edible marijuana products using safety as a measuring stick. >> police in chile clashing with people in the may day rally that and other individual yes, sir captured by citizens journalists.

videos captured, a rally in santiago chile as part of the may day elebration come ahead. opal capturing this scene with riot police chasing and in some cases using force. the violence began after a group of people threw stones and malatovco cocktails at a club. >> video of the rescue operation of the two u.s. navy pilots in the waters off of the gulf of mexico. >> the two were flying a turbo

propellor plane when it crashed yesterday morning. both pilots were not hurt. >> he is a champ for a region. former jet ski, he caps up with him. burgess was at kuningzbury lake at the u.k.ingsbury lake at the u.k. this 14 flip. we will keep it going. >> that's some core strength. i am telling you. >> that or that's some good tequila. >> up next, we will talk about the new challenges facing legal marijuana in colorado and when consuming too much is too much. >> but first, let's get a look at temperatures that we can expect to see. nicole mitchell is back. >> dizzy watching that video. >> still going by the way. >> we are taking a look it morning toward the weekend. we have definitely had warm-ups out here. maybe you are going to get out on the lake for this first full

weekend of may. nument the warm stuff, this helps some of the heat plus the dry weather fuel the fire we have been talking about around the los angeles area, but these temperatures into the 90s today wouldn't be out of the question we could set a couple of records. as we start off the weekend, sentence up the east coast. it is pleasant. if you do, for example, want to get out and practice those moves on the lake. i do. >> nicole, thank you very much. >> yeah. the u.k.'s second biggest drug maker rejected another pfizer takeover bed. astrazeneca a short while ago said no to pfizer's $106.5 billion offer. executives say the new proposal is inadequate and under value did the company. this is a live look at the pfizer headquarters you are looking at here in new york city. now, the revised offer comes after astrazeneca shot down an earlier bid shover 100 billion. if the deal were to go through, which it isn't at this point, it

would have been one of the largest ever foreign takeovers of a british firm and one of the biggest acquisitions in the drug industry. >> there are concerns in colorado over the edible marijuana products. two recent deaths involving people who ate candy or backed goods have lawmakers thinking about rewriting the rules as paul beban reports, they are worried about children mistaking the products. >> in colorado, you can buy legal we'd the old fashion way by the bud. >> i would look to look at a caviar stick. >> or in bottles action candy or cookies. these are he willibles, goodies infused with marijuana. tell milligrams of thc, the chemical that gets people high is the state limit per serving, but one drink or piece of candy can contain as many as 10 servings and people just don't know how much to eat. >> you kind of have to figure it out, your natural tolerance the first one or two times you try it. >> haley andrews warns people

not to chow down. >> once you eat the cookie, you can't uneat the cookie. >> absolutely. exactly. what's it's in your system, you are along for the ride. and you don't want to feel uncomfortable or too stoned because the only thing to do is wait it out at that point. >> over doing it can make you want to do more than curl up. it can cause panic, paranoipara psychos psychosis. in march, a college student jumped to his death from a den ver hotel balcony after eating six times the recommended dosage of a marijuana cookie. earlier this month, a don ver man accused of shooting his wife had reportedly consumed pot-in fused candy. other drugs may have been involved. a another concern is children getting into he hadibles. denver hospitals have reported a surge in kids coming into the er? >> a child sees a brownie and assumes they can eat the whole

thing. that will be a large amount of drug in a small individual. those kids, we have seen children requiring life support from that. >> dixie elixers in doesn't ver makes everything from drifshingz to hard candy and he says thenk hard candy and he says the they are wanting to emphasize safety? >> make sure it's in a child resistant package, out of reach and out of sight so that it is never in a kid's hands. >> a state task force is looking into revising rules and putting warning labels on packages or limiting each item to a single serving size, a single dose. this cookie right now is 10 doses, 10 servings. they are talking about breaking it up with little cut points so you can eat it like a regular candy bar. >> right now, makers of edible marijuana products have to submit samples to colorado

officials to test just how po potent they are? >> it looks so innocent. doctors in california trying to solve a big medicalmist. how healthy kids have become sick and then exhibit e radic behavior. >> the school of hard knocks are proving to be a tough lesson. >> the masculine role is ridiculous like the feminine role is ridiculous. >> famed feminist glory stein a.m. giving her take on where women stand in the workplace and organized religion. >> a look at the images of the day, preparations for the 140th running of the kentucky derry. california chrome favored to win tomorrow's race 5 to 2 odds in the run for the roses.

>> every saturday join us for exclusive, revealing, and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time. >> i became beautiful when i became a feminist >> gloria steinem >> sexuality is about cooperation, not domination... >> and inspiration... >> i want for women whatever they want for themselves... >> and the unconventional future of the movement >> they're many faces for feminism, including beyonce' >> talk to al jazeera

only on al jazeera america good morning. welcome back. >> one of the leading physicians at the forefront of a mysterious disease that leads to psychotic outbreaks in children. he will talk about the symptoms and how they are now fighting this disease. >> also, a look at the latest reading on the strength of the u.s. jobs market and an important report out today. >> first, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says he want to define jewish state for the jewish people. the state never officially making the definition before although legislators have introduced bills to that effect over the past few years, his announcement comes avisis suspended the peace talks with palestinian mac mood abbas, seeking he is a seeking a unity government with long hymn right-hand. with the european council on foreign relations, in london this morning, mr. towado, the

jewish state law comes a week after m aftermudmud -- mahmaoud abbas. what do the talks hope to achieve? >> this was part of the israel coalition agreement. it's not a surprise the time of the i wa theimplimentation is a surprise. ♪net's coalition, which is of his own making is a coalition between far right parties, one of which the jewish home party wanted explicitly a law stating jewish identity. what does this change in the israeli system? crucial because once you have the jewish identity, did this override the democratic principle? are israeli jews more important than arab juice? this is why it raises concerns, why the palestinian negotiating team refused to recognize it.

everyone recognizes israel is a state of the jews. >> what exactly does it mean when you create a jewish state? >> that's a good question. i am not sure even netanyahu knows what he is going to right in this basic law. as i was saying, the danger is that one us define the identity of the state, ethnically or religiously, what happens to those who do not belong to that ethnic definition, it's a weird constitutional amendment because this is what an israel basic law is about because it products the rights of the majority rather than protecting the rights of the minority. it raises two problems. what happens to the palestinians with israeli citizenship 15th of theisition population. they are not jewish. there is a component of christians also palestinians. they are second class citizens and then, also, in negotiations, part of the negotiations is the

right of return for palestinians into israel. once you define this jewish identity of the state of israel, then there cannot even be a limited right of return for some palestinians in israel. >> when you at that talk about the minority, it is size alan. look at the numbers, most of the 8.1 are jewish, but there are others and in 2013, jews represented 75% of the population but close to 21% are arabs which includes muslims, arab christians and 4.2% are classified as others. at that means one in four israelis might have cause for concern: we still don't know because another basic law approved in 1992 states that human dignity is a founding principle of israel and netanyahu has said that he would respect that. but, if c of course, once defind ethnically or religiously the identity of the state, many

things may change. one of the problems as in many other western countries is the protection of minorities. they are increasingly events of arab phobia, with attacks in the occupied west bank and now israel proper. will this law protect them or make the situation worse? >> what is the difference between what is being proposed in israel and the situation in the united states where people who speak spanish speak only spanish and yet they want the restaurants to label thins differently? are we looking at a system that is ultimately going to lead to more division rather thannun than unity? >> this could be an outcome. the situation today in israel is different. arabic is an official language as much as hebrew and you have arabic notes, street signs and everything else.

you have the two languages. this is a crucial issue as we saw in ukraine. lang can be very divisive. it can stir up conflicts. i wouldn't say it leads to more peace. >> the bottom line is action and i think you hit the nail on the head. the situation in israel appears to be more devices as opposed to unifying? >> that's one problem. ♪net has two options. stick with his coalition and this coalition doesn't want this. we have seen this in these nine months. the jewish home party, mentioning before doesn't believe in the two state solution. they state it publically. they say the same. as long as you have this coalition, it's very unlikely you are going to have a two-state solution. ♪net has an alternative. he can form a coalition without calling for new elections. he didn't. he won't. he would have had probably a

great rise in popularity had he signed a peace deal, but he didn't because in a way, he's a true believer in his identifies. this has been in netanyahu's thinking for the past 20 years. >> matio, the policy fellow. he joins us this morning from london. matia thank you very much. >> the west bank city of hebron has one of the largest populations of palestinians after gaza. the israel military controls 15th of the city and put up multiple security checkpoints there. as nick sheeveren reports, that's made clashes an almost daily routine. >> ahmed aza starts with the same worries as any 15-year-old. he's got to fix his hair just right. he's got to deal with a pesky little sister. >> he's got to remember all of his books. >> science, english. >> and perhaps most importantly, he has to say good by to his

mother before he starts his walk. but that is where the similarities end. ahmed lives on the outskirts of the west bank's largest city. hebron 99% palestinian but israelis control security. every morning, he passes israeli soldiers who are allowed to question and even detain him. and then he walks into a second checkpoint and inside, a metal detector manned by another israel soldier. the israeli army say they protect israeli settlers whose numbers are increasing. >> what do you think? >> i wish they wouldn't stop me somehow, or maybe they arrest me. >> it's happened before. last month at the same checkpoint he just went through. ahmed, the tension betwehere is always high. >> soldiers make them feel like they are nothing, he says.

they see them like animals. >> for 20 years, this city has been tense and for 20 years, this city has been divided. >> this checkpoint was created in 1994 after an american israeli settler walked into a mosque just a few blocks from here and massacred 29 palestinians. the israeli military divided the israelis from the palestinians. restricting the settlers but by restricting the palestinians and creating this giant ghost town in a buffer zone where all of the palestinian shops had to close. >> on this street, israeli soldiers patrol. local palestinians are only allowed to wake up to a certain point. >> have you been arrested three times. >> yeah, three times. >> the divide has existed longer than ahmed has been alive. >> have you ever talked to them? >> no. >> through the palestinian part of town, ahmed walks freedom. when he grows up, he wants to be a professional soccer player. his back-up plan is to become a veterinarian. >> what do you hope for the

future? >> to be free and to go out to see the world and come to go also to jerusalem. now, i can't. but i hope i can. >> after all of the check points and the tension, ahmed arrives at his destination, his daily walk to school. nick schifrin, al jazeera, hebron. >> hebron is home to some 250,000 palestinians and about 700 jewish settlers. >> we are following breaking news on the jobs front. the april jobs numbers have just been released. as always, patricia sabga joins us. good morning? >> good morning. the numbers came in, and the number of jobs created beat expectations. so let's take aer look at the numbers. la last, the economy added 288,000 jobs. >> was much higher than the consensus estimates.

the unemployment rate dipped to 6.3% but we have to temper that little as because the labor force participation rate, that's the number of people who are in work or who are actively looking for it work, that fell. let's dig a little deeper into the report because that headline number, 288,000 jobs, great news. a lot of economists were expecting this. it's a bit of a snap back. they were expecting it in the jobs creation after a brutal winter. let's look at average hourly earnings, unchanged a $24 and $0.31 an hour. we were hoping to see a little bit of a kick up in that because if we were going to see a kick up in that, then that would indicate that there is less slack in the labor market. on another positive sign, though, we added 32 ,000 construction jobs and 12,000 manufacturing jobs especially on the construction front. these are key jobs. this speaks to quality. we like construction and manufacturing jobs not only because they are well paid,

because they have a multiplier effect. they create other jobs around them. so, a lot of positive indicators in this report but, you know, the jury is still out. are we really accelerating or was it a snap back. >> have to see how sustainable it is. patricia, sabga, thank you very much. >> in china, boys have traditionally been favored over girls when it comes to getting an education. three years ago, the government introduced a new law trying to buck the trend. as marga reports, girls are struggling to leave traditional roles behind. >> for these children in rural village, an education is the first step toward getting out of poverty. they are among the poorest people in china. despite a law making education compulsory for all, only a few of the students here are girls. like all of the other women of her family, 14-year-old yun swoo chan works the feels with this water buffalo for 15 hours a

day. >> i wish i could go to school and then make some money so i could send my little brother and sisters to go to school, too. but yung's grandmother says that's not really an option for her and life is just too difficult for women here traditionally, boys have always been preferred. so they get the education and when the time comes, the boys can migrate to the cities to find better paying jobs leaving the women behind to tend to the families and to the farms. >> according to the government, 99.7 ebb 9% of all children who are meant to be in school are. but that figure doesn't seem to reflect the reality particularly until rural china where mixed classrooms like this one are a rarity. there, boys and girls are still locked in traditional roles. >> the law making it compulsory for girls to get an education was supposed to address deep-seated prejudice against them and break stairstereotypes >> the biggest consequence of

the girls not going to school is is that the practice will pass on to the next generations. the lack of ahead indication and poverty will continue to exist in the family. however, if a girl goes through proper education, there will be positive positive influence in the hole family. >> yung dream is part of a greater aspiration but there is no breaking the cycle for many here as widespread poverty continues to make it difficult to leave traditional roles behind. al jazeera, beijing. >> once they make it through high school, the playing field is still not level in college exactly for girls in china. citing safety concerns, china's from study a lot of, you know, including tunnel engineering and naval after gaths. >> gloria steinum has been the face of feminism. i got to talk to her about if feminists are needed when women

are increasingly becoming bread winners? >> yes. there are more women on campus than there are men by a little bit right now. why is that? it's because women are trying to get out of the pink color ghetto into the white color ghetto. a blue color union job still pays more than any either one. >> a pink collar ghetto? >> servicing, waitressing, healthcare, all of the jobs that we can't outsource because they involve personal service. and those are very, very, very disproportionately female. now her situation is worse than in my day as an individual because she is more likely to graduate in big debt, and she will make one or $2 million less over her lifetime to pay back the debt. i am not trying to be discouraging. i am saying this is real life. we don't even have equal pay. >> have enough men adjusted to

the realities of the women's movement, or has it led to men feeling displaced and confused about their role in society today? >> well, you know, i don't want to speak about men as a lump, just as i don't want to speak about women as a lump. some men have completely understood that it's their liberation, too, that the masculine role is ridiculous just like the feminine role is ridiculous and dehumanizing and keeps you from expressing all of your human qualities. they are feminists for their own sake as well as for women's sake and they say wait a minute. i want to see my kids. i want policies of -- in the workplace that let everybody be parents, men as well as women. i want to have an equal relationship and partnership. >> there are over 1 billion catholics in the world. do you have any hope that women will be less marginalized in the church and beyond under pope

francis? >> women can't become priests. women are denied reproductive freedom, which happens to be the single most important determinant of whether we are healthy or not, in the work force or not and how long we live and he is still denying that. >> needless to say, del, gloria steinum has opinions on everything from sexual violence on women and whether hillary clinton will run and odds on her becoming president. the full interview airs tomorrow on talk to al jazeera, only on al jazeera america. >> when she talks, everybody listens. everybody in the studio watching the interview because she still carries that voice. you just want to know what she has to say. >> doctors in california are trying to find the source of an illness causing children to slip into psychotic episodes. >> one of the leading physicians in the treatment discusses what's behind this condition.

welcome back to al jazeera america. straight ahead, we are going to be talking about a mystery illness that is causing children to suffer from horrible cyanotic episodes. >> first, a look at the wet weather today across the u.s., meteorologist nicole mitchell is here. it's not really true it's across the u.s. it's in pockets. >> parts. you can say in it terms of a little here and there. quiet pattern compared to what we had earlier in the week. so the northwest, we are going to start to see the system push in later today. we will get wet here and temperatures will drop a little bit. a little of moisture across the northern tier and florida, that's where the frontal boundary is stuck in place. this is going to be our soggy spot for the next couple of days. this is our precip for the day, that model. as you can see, that is a very quiet one out there? >> i feel bad for those folks in florida, man, a wet go. >> thanks. a california hospital is leading the wait in treating a medical history in which healthy

children suddenly turn psyche on theic seemingly overnight. it is controversial but for many, the benefits out wait the risks. some of what you are about to see may be disturbing. >> at first glance, anyone, even a trained psychiatrist might assume these children are suffering from extreme mental illness. >> my brain feels like it's being fried. >> even aggressive psychiatric drug treatment hasn't worked. >> i felt like there was something wrong with my brain but i didn't know what. >> she was a star track athlete. >> tesa was a confident 13-year-old when overnight her mother says she became psyche on theic. >> she kept on repeating the same sentences over and over and other again. >> tesa spent the next two years in and out of psychiatric institutions being treated for a bi-partisan disorder. she was put on a long list of psychotropic drugs. >> none of these worked. >> doctors fillgured out she ha

an auto immune disease, a physical illness, not a mental one. it attacked part of her brain that triggers frightening symptoms, anxiety, hallucinizations and more. she had one of the most extreme cases of a new lee defined condition called pans. stands for pediatric acute onset neuropsychatric syndrome. lucy packer hospital opened first pans clinic 18 months ago. a pediatric room tomth. >> she had more of the symptoms we think of as pans. >> working together to diagnose and treat pans. psychiatrists consult them about puzzling cases. >> tell say i have taken care of hundreds of kids, and this case is different. something else is going on here. >> some researchers believe there are variations of pans

triggered by strep infections and can be treated with simple antibiotics. tesa's case was so extreme, she needed medical procedures and powerful drugs. dr. donald gill ber bert at cincinnati children's hospital is dragged. a gyp recall clinic with an aggressive expensive designer drug with a black box washing is a dangerous warning is a dangerous practice. >> the treatment worked for tesa gallo. >> when we finally, decided to do the aggressive immune suppression route, all of those kids get better. >> pans is so now, the american academy of pediatrics does not provide guidelines for doctors to treat it. there are only three academic medical centers in the country that treat pans patients and there is a 5-month wait to get an appointment with dr. francovich. >> teresa gallo says it's worth the wait. >> we are all in one home and we

are trying to enjoy each day as it comes. >> and for now, there their biggest concern is getting to school on time. lisa barnard, sane josecal. >> elizabeth lad mer is a pediatric neurologist and one of the leading physicians in the treatment of pans. she joins us to delve into this issue. thank you for being with us. i think any parent that thinks about this is terrified that their child can get strep throat and wake up the next morning and have psychotic symptoms. how can a parent tell if symptoms they are seeing in their child are rooted in a medical condition? >> well, there are many -- there is many different symptoms of a psychotic episode versus an episode related to an infection triggered illness that causes psychiatric symptoms. in many ways, they are not truly psychologistic. when you are a psychologistic, you have a break from reality.

these children are actually aware something is wrong with their brains and frequently will come in and say, there is something wrong were my blaine. please fix it which children are psychologistic action they have a break from reality. >> is it easy for you being an expert in this to tell what's happening? >> yes. having seen many, many children, but sometimes, it's very straightforward, for example, if it's a typical child who presents at 7 years old who has very well developed developmental skills is going to school, everything is fine, has sudden onset of severe separation anxiety, severe ocd, irritability and the other some aptic signs which we consider really objective signs where they have frequent urination and sleep issues. these children cannot fall asleep. they have abnormal rim sleep. >> i have a 3-year-old, doctor, and none of those things would be out of the ordinary in some

cases for a toddler just going through regression. but clearly that's why expert like you are so important in the dyeagnosis. common strep has been known to ca cause these types of psyc psychological effects. are there other sicknesses that may lead to pans? >> yes. toddlers shouldn't go through reimpressions really. we have to look and see when a child is going through a regression or even a developmental plateau, that's a bit of a regression. but, strep can be one cause. it's often the first cause. we saw many children who had what we considered pans from the actual strep when they had h1n1 or the swine flu during the fall of 2010. >> let's look at these drawings that they were drawn by a child with pans. you can see the drawing on the left is before the infection. during the episode, the drawing

in the middle just looks like chicken scratch and then after treatment, let me ask you, doctor, are all children equally susceptible to pans? >> no. there is probably -- we don't know yes. everything is on the table as to asking why this is increasing, why we are seeing so many children. there is definitely probably a genetic component. virtually almost no african-american children or just a knew about have been diagnosed with this. i don't believe it's because of availability of care. i think everyone agrees on that. there is certainly some sort of a genetic predisposition to this. so, it's what tips them over that makes the difference, but the drawings are very, very fascinating. >> one thing i do in my office is we tell the patients and the parents, bring in the school can journals, the handwriting samples and you can almost tell by looking at a child's writing journal. >> okay. >> if they are going along,

going along. >> right. >> suddenly the handwriting changes. >> elizabeth vladimir. we will have to leave it there. pediatric neurologist and one of the leading physicians in the treatment of pans. >> that will do it for this edition of al jazeera america. >> have a great morning and a great weekend.

>> this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour. these are the world's top stories. pro-russian gunmen shoot down a helicopter. anger and confusion in nigeria, police admit the number of kidnapped schoolgirls is 276, much higher than originally claimed. dozens killed by air strike at a market in