>> good afternoon, welcome to al jazeera america live from new york i'm morgan radford. here are the stories we are following right now. it is the end of 8 days of captivity in ukraine. >> plus a landslide wipes out a village in afghanistan. >> plus a teen found live in a wheel well of a plane flying to

hawaii. >> european mediators held captive in yukdz for the last week are freed. this while the ukraine military regains some of the government buildings in theest>> and loses area and the ukraine officials are blamed for the violence in odessa and left 30 people dead. >> day two of the military offensive by the ukraine governments and focussed on ten miles south and we have seen is clearing away the roadblocks and headed to the center of town. a couple of us bes and taxis are burned out. it said it was controlled and localized.

by aside for the combat here, we have also seen some good news from a humane tarn point of view. a group of observes have been released today. we met them on the road at the point where we saw them fall into the relieved arms of theiral colleagues. on a roadside they embraced freedom with a sense of relief. a handover bringing the end to the 8 days of captivity of the observers. >> you can can't imagine the happiness. deep relief. the situation was really tough. the last two nights as we saw the situation developing, every minute gets longer. and finally, with the cooperation of all of the key

players went perfectly. thank you so much. >> the men looked calm and tired and the tension and the nerves as the freedom came closeer is obvious to see. they had been detained by a group, the released men saying he kept the promise to protect them fro harm and the diplomats negotiating the relief said that the other outcomes was unthinkable. >> this is unacceptable. it is important to get through this mission. >> the mission was made intricate by the military offenses in ukraine. there is fierce fighting. the ukraine military personnel attacking a check point at dawn and a tv camera is captured. the handover in this environment

is far from straightforward. taking days of negotiations to reach this point, including the final say from the mayor. but the men and the oesc are freed and returning home. those observers are back here where i am in the city of donetsk and the released the possibility floating by the russian side that the osce can return to this region in an expanded role. what is being floated by the russian ministry that the observers might help to calm down the situation in the east aby putting them at strategic points and observing the situation it could reduce the conflict here. that offer is not yet taken up, they are just happy to be welcomed back but an intriguing

offer and one that this kiev will consider. >> advisor to the human rights with columbia university is here. welcome. >> thank you. >> russian has the protroops al the border and what we saw leads to believe that this leads to a full scale invasion? >> more to the story than that. putin supported the forces that created a violent environment there and now to step in, that is is disenjen wows on the part of the leader. now he's sending airplanes there and that is a threat to eastern ukraine. russia is not a calming force in ukraine. >> how different is this from the other a countrys that we have seen this happening like

georgia? >> it is different than georgia in a key way, that is often overlooked. in 2008, the regions had not be under a meaningful sovereignty for over a decade. that is not true in eastern decade. >> this is meaningful? >> this is more meanful and more aggressive efforts. this forces went into russia in 2008. this is a more and lasted much longer in ukraine, this is a more serious and dangerous situation. >> coming back to this, how did kiev lose control of the strong holds and what can they do to regain the control? >> kiev, i'm not sure used that language, you have had a very divided population in ukraine, and you have had weak

institutions that can't bring a divided country today. we have division in the united states too. but our institutions reasonably well to keep it together. that is not happening in ukraine. following the ousting or the democratic revolution in february of this year, in which their president fled the country and following that a real effort by russia to destabilize the eastern ukraine. there were importantly dissatisfaction in eastern ukraine with those events and deep suspicion of the new government in kiev from eastern ukraine, but that is different than saying separatists. that is a movement supported from a broad and the broad in this case is russia. >> given what you consider to be a concerted effort, is another

round of sanctions the right move? >> my fear is that sanctions move slowly. so and what we are encountering here that every week that goes by there is a new set of facts. four months ago if i came on and said crimea is not part of ukraine. i think that the means through which took it back are not okay. so sanctions move slowly and the facts can change on the ground that is not good for ukraine and the united states and theal lies. but remains true there are few other options. if you are a right winged senator you can bang your chest and use this as the opportunity to blame president obama, but if you are actually in the obama administration you have a small

set of options and they are doing the best with what they can, i think and taking a much tougher position on russia than president bush ever did. >> so given that then, what is the end game here for kiev, more moscow and the west? >> the end game for moscow institutionalize the instability. bear with me. >> institutional instability. >> so can't move to the west, right. that is the easy one. the end game for the united states and for oural lies is determining how much we are going to invest in, and how much are we going for example do we have a stomach for a gorilla war and providing arms and other supports for those insurgents that would be fighting a growing russian presence there. all right. that is a question we have to work on. if the answer is no, we have to find a way to ratchet down the

rhetoric here. those are the options. for kiev it is very, very difficult, they need a long time strategy. >> they have to cohesiveness restore the government. >> we have a story, that we are one ukraine and not west versus the east and we are not half wants to be with moscow and half with washington and we have our own identity and since the independence from the soviet union no ukrainian leader has convincingly done that and in the next leader has to or the country will have a very, very hard time moving forward. >> thank you, dr. mitchell, joining us live from columbia university. >> thank you for having me. >> in afghanistan, the u.n. is

trying to assist four thousand people displaced by a landslide and over 2,000 people are now dead and poor equipment is making it less likely they are going to find more survivors. we have the latest. >> they spent the night in the open and in the freezing temperatures looking over what used to be their homes and praying for any sign of life. >> seven members of my family when the landslide happened and five of them killed here. >> i urge the government to help take the bodies out. we managed to take ten to 15 and the rest of the vim villagers are trapped here. >> the rain caused the side of the mountain the collapse and the rock and mud sliding down and buried the homes along the way and many with people inside.

>> we have managed to find one woman's body and we took that away, with the aid we have refused all of the resources and sent them to the area. >> volunteers from villages are coming to this area with tools and shovels to help the rescuers but the focus is shifting from finding the survivors to keeping those that did alive. o what we are doing now is helping to facilitate the needs of around 700 fallies, more than 4,000 people are displaced directly or indirectly by what happened. their needs range from food and water, of course, to medical help, as well as shelter needs. >> it is hard for the teams to reach the site. the roads are damaged by the rain and can't take the heavy machinery needed and the hill

shied is still unstable and the fear more could cave in. >> remember when we told you about the boy that flew all the way to hawaii tucked away in a wheel well of a plane. officials say he left hawaii after traling from california and not saying where to. he travelled from california to hawaii on april 20th tucked inside of the landing gear department. can you believe that? that is a five and a half hour flight. he's since recovered and his father believes he was trying to get to his mother. >> the former secretary of state was supposed to give a commencements address and announced the decision today following protests that object her visiting the campus because of involved in the 2003 invasion of iraq. rutgers is standing behind the

invitation. >> people around the globe are honoring journalists to the freedom of expression. on this day al jazeera is urging the egyptian government a to release our colleagues and in prison for 126 days. we have more. >> their 7th appearance in court and just like all the others, bail denied. mohammad is released from the cage to address the judge and saying that the journalists need to explore all sides of the story. >> for me, the communication to all the parties, this is something completely routine for me. i work hard to reach my resources. that is what journalists do. >> today is world press freedom day. they were led back to the jail

cells. >> it is ironic we are here in court and this is world press freedom day. this is another adjournment. it is difficult for us and the family and the guys inside to endur this process. >> the 4th journalist will remain in detention for another 45 days. he's been held without charge since last august and has been a hunger strike and lost 35 kilos. >> this is unprecedented case. we have never seen this globally any government go after international news network for nothing more than doing good work an and using terrorist related charges to keep them in custody without the evidence. >> it is becoming more difficult to work in egypt. >> as a reporter it is harder to

go cover the acts of dissent is a greater risk and at a risk of being swept up in the arrests and lost in the prison system. >> many were being held with charged in egyptian jails. the defense has a chance to have a say resuming the trial on 15th of may. the network is denying all of the charges against the staff and demands their unconditional release. >> o tonight at 8:00, deeper look, features international press freedom day. >> and coming up, clergy cutting prime real estate deals in new york city, why churches see it as blessing.

>> new york city is noun for the

crazy real estate market and the recent players may surprise you. churches are taking advantage of the soaring prices and using the money to give back. >> father is a man of prayer with an eye on property. >> yes, this was renovated. >> he's a rector in brooklyn. a big part of the job is develop real estate deals for the 150 churches in the diocese. >> i have learned a lot about real estate, a lot. >> this is market a blessing? >> it is a blessing. >> because the real estate market is soaring in the neighborhoods where the churches are located. he says about a dozen deals being considered in the diocese. one of them at his church, which put the parking lot and the rectory on the market for $8.6 million and the church

itself will stay intact and the money made will go to maintaining the decaying churches and expanding the charity work. >> we have to focus on helping other people and these buildings allow us once we leverage them, finding the building partners and joint ventures we can do more and better things. >> they are becoming familiar with the brokers like dan marks, seeking a developer for a 120-year-old church valued at $20 million. >> over a the last couple of years because of the land prices doubling, a lot of churches want to know their options and some are selling and others looking nor partnerships and we are speaking with a lot of churches that are looking at the options. >> some charities that work with them are deciding it is time to sell their property.

the church mission's house is one of them on park avenue, it is home to the federation of property test ant welfare agencies. >> sometimes you have to strike while the iron is hot and we are seeing that the iron is really hot now. >> the executive directer is saying that the organization baukt the building 50 years ago for $900,000 and now seeking $50 million. >> it is not about where we sit, but about the work we do. >> from the pews, if the churches are not making real estate part of the mission, they are missing the boat. >> this is a real opportunity not coming this aagain. >> and coming up on al jazeera america, helping new orleans find its voice a decade after hurricane katrina.

the nonprofit record company that is helping to revive the big easy's music scene.

true business-grade internet comes with secure wifi for your business. it also comes with public wifi for your customers. not so with internet from the phone company. i would email the phone company to inquire as to why they have shortchanged these customers. but that would require wifi. switch to comcast business internet and get two wifi networks included. comcast business built for business. >> good afternoon, welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford. in ukraine, the separatists freed the mediators held in the past week. the government in kiev is taking back some of the strong holds.

in afghanistan, a landslide buried an entire town. the officials say over 2,000 people are dead and the recovery is shifting to assisting the 4,000 people displaced. >> this is world press freedom day. al jazeera journalists are held being accused of falsifying the news. the men appeared in court for the 7th time today and once again denied bail. >> when you think of new orleans you think of food, fun and music. that is what they have been doing. the jazz festival is wrapping up tomorrow and the music scene in the city survived. all thanks to the efforts of the folkses at thread head records. we caught up with the founder and the people benefitting from

it. ♪ >> after katrina, new orleans was scattered around the country and we lost everything we had. >> i didn't know what i was going to do. there was no place to play here in the city. ♪ >> it was seven years ago in 2007 i was at a backyard party, a fundraiser, and they were playing a set. i was backing john up and trading on the songs and someone came up and said you are wonderful together and make a record and i said we can't even make rent right now let alone make a record and he said how

much do you need. paul said $10,000.02 weeks later he called and said where do i send the check. he didn't say i want to own the music. promise me when the record comes out you will pay the money back. they really want to help new orleans and this is how they wanted to help. they paid the money within a year and the idea from that, let's see if we can raise money more others and loan it to them and that was the start of thread head records back in '07. we loaned the money to the musicians and they make the cd, they keep the masters and keep everything, and they are required to pay back within a year or so. there are a few or so that struggled to pay back and

eventually they'll pay back. >> support through conventional record companies and stuff like that is very, very difficult, especially in this day and age. so you have to do it yourself or be fortunate to come across a group like this. >> for the eight years doing this, they have raised over $700,000 and released 53 cd's. that is changing new orleans for generations to come. >> hope you are enjoying the day, much of the nation has great weather conditions but tracking the soggy weather in

florida today thanks to a frontal boundary moving slowly headed to the south. a lot of moisture already in place. we had record rainfall yesterday in the tampa area and more rain is ekts expected today. the high pressure is in full control in texas. there is a lake outside of dallas, and the lake levels are running well below where they should be. this is four feet of mud and the boats are beached and the weather is fantastic and great looking to get on the lake but you can't do that in some of the spots. we have the brought monitor and severe drought over much of the state of texas and headed for a rain free week ahead and unfortunately with the hot and dry and windy conditions, especially headed out on sunday z we are watching out for high fire danger in these areas and by the end of the weekend that expanded across the area as well

as the temperatures are climbing into the 90s. in fact through the middle of the week expecting to see 90s and approaching a hundred next week. >> thank you. if you walk around the garden oaks neighborhood of houston there are chairs everywhere. residents are calling them chairs for charlie in honor of a neighbor that has cancer. they loved seeing charlie strolling down the street and got together to make it ease for them. >> it is real for me, people care about me and looking out for me. >> so why the chairs? he gets tired throughout the walks and so giving him the option to sit and rest. the love of the neighbors is making him stronger and intending to walk until the very end. >> thank you for watching. people and power is up next.

for more go to al jazeera.com.