came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. >> al jazeera, nairobi. >> on the turkey-syria border. >> venezuela. >> beijing. >> kabul. >> hong kong. >> ukraine. >> the artic. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >> hi everyone, this is al jazeera america, i'm john siegenthaler in new york. more boots open the ground. president obama deploys hundreds of troops to search for the are nigerian school girls. cat strofcatastrophic floods thousands homeless. wasn't a u.s. citizen until today.

locked up for being handy. iranian police call this video obscene. but this could have a happy ending. tonight president obama announces the u.s. is sending 80 troops to chad to help find the nearly 300 missing school girls. president obama says these personnel will support the surveillance recons sans and aircraft over northern nigeria and the surrounding area. the force will remain in chad until the force resolving the operation is no longer required. chad is on the northeast border where the radical group broker o

haram has formed. >> it appears that they think that there are good leads to be followed in chad. but the military and the white house have not provided more details yet about what is going on. however, it is worth pointing out for our viewers that while there had been a considerable cry among some particularly here in washington for the obamas to senobamaadministration to send e girls, the obama administration never took that option particularly off the table. there have been people about 30 or so people from the cia, from the state department, from the military, from the fbi working as a team in abuja with nigerian officials to help them as they try to conduct this search. the nigerian government is still in control of the search for nearly 300 girls who were

kidnapped about 34, 35 days ago. but they have brought in intelligence and they say that they are sharing this intelligence or at least the analysis of the intelligence with nigerian officials. so there could have been a decision already reached that perhaps going to chad which is to the north and the east of nigeria would be a useful part in the search for these school girls. >> that's rosalyn jordan reporting. more attacks over northern nigeria. one near chabak where the girls were kidnapped. this morning, another attack where the number of dead isn't known yet. no one has claimed responsibility but boko haram is expected. amed edris has more. >> gunmen suspected of being part of boko haram launched an assault, gunmen suspected top

abducting more than 200 girls from a secondary school are still missing. took items from the community as well as animals, and set the whole village on fire. killing many people there. then they launched an attack on another adjoining community. details have yet to arise about the community. then boko haram attacked another community, there too officials say they don't have the exact number of casualty figures from that community but they are going with a number of 17 dead in the three attacks so far. and throughout these attacks, members of such communities say they haven't received any help from the security forces. the military has deployed largely in that area, countries like united states, united kingdom and china and other countries in the struggle to

find those girls abducted more than a month ago, more than 200 of them. so far the nigerian officials or other nigerian officials say it is gradually winning the war. but details in and outside borno state show otherwise. people are asking the question, where are the military and why is it taking so long to deal with the situation on the ground, john. >> workers in central nigerian city are counting the dead. two bombs explode he in the city of jos yesterday. an official says most of the victims are women and children. more bodies are expected to be found in the rubble. boko haram does not claim responsibility for any of this week's violence in nigeria but it has admitted to several attacks in the past two months. in march 20 people were killed

in a suicide car bomb. in april a double bombing killed more than 70 at a bus station. in early may another car bomb claimed at least 19 lives. then, in may, more people were killed near the nigeria chad border. lieutenant william ward joins us tonight from washington, d.c. general, welcome. >> good evening, thank you very much. >> can you tell me what is your reaction to the u.s., the latest u.s. involvement in this? >> first let me say that my initial reaction is one of absolute disbelief and dismay at what happened initially. the kidnapping of these young girls as they were attempting to get an education. obviously something that was done to frighten to scare and surely something we all ought to be concerned about as this is concerned. as we have looked at what is going osh in this sovereign --

gone on in this sovereign country, the aid from the partners of nigeria is welcome and i'm happy to see that level of support is being enhanced to present a more capable way of addressing the situation and hopefully finding these young girls. >> as a former commander in africa what help account u.s. provide here? what help will these additional soldiers do for nigeria? >> one of the key elements is obviously determining where they are. widely known that they are probably not any large group any longer. they have probably been dispersed in multiple locations. so determining where those location may be, any patterns established why they are going where they are going and predicting where they are going to be in the future is what is needed as the look for these girls goes on. these additional assets, the intelligence reconnaissance assets will be helpful in making those additional determinations and persons associated with this

effort can be assisted in analyzing the information they gather. >> you mentioned surveillance and intelligence. there's been a recent agreement between the united states and nigeria over the last few days. what sort of information are they sharing? >> well they're sharing things that would lead to patterns of movements, patterns of location, potentials of what type of facilities or areas might be most suitable for boko haram to try to hide these girls. villages, your earlier commentator talked about the attacks at random. indiscriminate killing of women, children in a way that served to frighten. so the more that can be determined, and sort of about those patterns, the better chance the nigerian forces will have to take action to find and then rescue these young women. >> you said they may have been split up. the video we saw had many of the girls in a group.

is there a reason why aerial surveillance isn't helpful here? >> well, the area is very, very large. nigeria is a third more than the size of the state of texas. so it's a huge huge area, sparsely populated. has some vegetation, certainly not a great amount, the fan savh territory is deep terrain. if it was easy to find them they would have been found by now. it is tough tough terrain. certainly sparsely populated, the information needed to attain their location isn't there. patterns, activity sets that would be helpful in making a determination. but again finding someone who doesn't want to be found is not an easy task. >> i mean it's been several years but do you think that boko haram was underestimated?

>> boko haram is continually morphing its talents, corrections, the things that it does, its tactics. so as initially when they were first on the radar screen they were operating in one way, one area. you can't look at what they do and how they evolve, clearly for some period of time they have been doing what they do now so underestimating we can look back and say we should have done things differently than in the past. based on what they were coining coining -- doing then, with respect to who they were and what their purpose was was taken in the context of what was going on at that time. >> nigerians put guards around, put security on other schools as well, threats over boy's bordering schools in nigeria. how do you guard against these attacks? >> nothing is safe. they go any and all the

population to scare, to cause terror to be what they react to. and so you have to understand the environment as best you can. the regions, the partners no. region -- in the religion regio, cameroon, niger, being able to determine patterns of activity as well as determining what sites are in fact more critical, more susceptible so the schools and villages are all places where protecting as best as can be done makes a difference. but then doing it in a sustained way so that patterns are interrupted. >> all right, general ward, general thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure, thank you very much. >> now former egyptian president

hosne mubarak was convicted today. mubarak's two sons also convicted. the three men were are find about $3 million, to repay the treasury. if convicted, hosne mubarak could face life in prison. now to the flooding in the babalkans. the water hasn't recreeded yet. richelle carey is here to bring us the story. richelle. >> serbia, bosnia and hercegovina, to a lesser extent the rebuilding process and that's money these countries and many people simply simply do not have. in a shelter in belgrade this

man and his family wait. >> translator: literally everything, our entire lives have been destroyed. it is the same for all of us here. we have been reduced to nothing. the only thing we can cling to is that we saved our families and our children. >> reporter: he says it will cost him thousands of dollars to rebuild his home. the damage to his country could surpass $2 billion. the country is hoping for help from the european union. >> it is important that serbia receives a quick response, so they can use this unique opportunity to continue reforms and become a credible eu member and the european community. >> reporter: the money likely won't come for at least six months. bosnia is not a candidate for eu membership so it won't receive funds.

early estimates forecast nearly $2 billion in damage there. half a million people displaced. and bosnia's government says the infrastructure damage is worse than was caused in the civil war in the 1990s. land mines make for urgent and costly problems. bons nah will depend on the international monetary fund. also in talks with russia. both bosnia and serbia are about to begin talks with th the imf. most costly disach costly disass have ever seen. partly because insurance estimates are more sophisticated. here is some numbers for you. last june' june's flooding in ee topped the list of most

expensive disasters in 2013. one string of hail storms in germany last year led to more than $5 billion in insurance claims and the loss from ty feun hyian is half the impact of the area for the year. more than 6,000 was killed in that storm, the strongest to ever make landfall, john. >> thank you richelle. for the first time since the feuks melfukushima melt down, tr contains the radioactive mr. president tritium which can't be

released. the water released is within radiation legal safety limits. china signed a $400 billion deal to buy russian gas. they will build a pipeline over 30 years. and patricia sabga looks an what that means. >> greatest hope, china, asia and beyond. >> translator: russia and china have established an investment cooperation committee that will continue to push forward our cooperation in investments, as well as push forward investments in the energy sector. >> russia and china signed a $400 billion deal to pipe russian gas to china's centers. russia wants to pump more oil to china too.

forecasters predict chinese demand will raise to 18 million barrels a day over the next two decades. but the impetus to do a deal now is the crisis of ukraine hitting russia against the u.s. threatened to target russia's financial institutions. plus there's talk of weaning europe off russian oil and gas. it won't happen overnight but the russians see the writing in the wall. russia needs to secure new markets in asia, but russia will find itself in competition with opek. after years of war and decay, iraq is redeveloping oil fields and wants to triple its output to 9 million barrels a day within three years. meanwhile, should economic sanctions to russia be lifted,

the official line from pol opecs there's room to grow for all of the world's oil producers. everyone knows that that is true but that doesn't mean there's no demand in the rest of the world. russia has its customers. we have our customers. there is no threat. behind the scenes though, opec members are eyeing russia's move to china. saudi arabia hat promised to step in and cover any oil shortages arising from ukraine's oil crisis. are britt ann's daily mail said the prince made the mark while speaking with a polish holocaust survivor. the polish government said it

does not comment on official statements, the russian media says the remark threatens to complicate relation he. army vet who found out he was not a citizen after almost 50 years in this country. and juvenile injustice. why thousands of children go through the justice system with no legal representation, what's being done about it. it.

>> a victory for environmentalists today. president obama named the organ mountain desert peaks a protected area. that means no new development. no fracking, no construction. paul beban joins us from moab utah. what is the significance of this declaration, paul? >> well, good evening john. john, this is the largest such

declaration president obama has made. close to the border with mexico and various parcels, and the white house as well as environmentalists say it contains a number of important historic and cultural and environmental monuments, including a place called geronimo's cave. billy the kid's lookout as well as beautiful landscapes, high desert grasslands. a volcanic crater where apollo astronauts were trained for the moon landing. this is going to create economic development and jobs in the region, listen to what the president said today when he made the announcement? >> it's impossible to put a price on towering peaks and pristine forests and america's cultural history. but we know our national parks have an economic impact that extends beyond their boundaries. in 2012 hundreds of millions of recreational visits to public

lands and waters generated over $50 billion for local communities and supported nearly 900,000 jobs. >> so local ranchers are calling this an intrusion but the ranchers can graze on the land so what's the issue? >> well, john that's a good question. what is the issue? the issue there is that all these existing rights for grazing water and other sort of grandfathered uses would be protected. so if youe you were grazing your cattle on that land, if you have a valid permit, you will be allowed to do that. there was some inflammatory language coming from elected officials. a sheriff said it is going to complicated the border patrol, the administration says that's not going to hoop, the border patrol can continue to trol the border as -- patrol the border as they have. needing this sense -- needing

the sense that the administration is running roughshod but poll over poll says people were overwhelmingly in support of it. the local green chamber of commerce in support of it, native american groups in support of it. aside from a few vocal opponents in support of this. >> you are in moab, utah, where does utah fall into all of this? >> we have been reporting on the rising tide and questions of public uses, we're here on a massive bureau of land management area called desert sands. there's a famous slick rock mountain biking trail here. a dinosaur foot was chiseled and stolen out of this area, people are upset about that. other parts of nevada and utah

are coming into conflict over the blm saying they wants more increased access to this land. paul. >> ul interest l. paul thank you. a man who served in vietnam voted for decades worked in the federal prison system, found out recently he's not a u.s. citizen. robert ray has the story. >> mario hernandez started his wednesday hoping to become what he thought he's been for the last 50 years, a legal u.s. citizen. >> i probably slept like two hours last night. but i pray to god everything will be fine. >> the cuban immigrant was about to face a hearing in florida that could determine the rest of his life that in fact might make him a criminal. hernandez who had come to this country as a child who served in vietnam and who has worked as a federal prison guard found out quite by accident that he was not a u.s. citizen. he discovered just last year

that he might actually be undocumented. when he wanted to take his wife on a cruise and was suddenly denied a pass por passport. >> he entered as a cuban parolee. not on parole, it is a different concept, he could have had that status indefinitely. >> turns out when his parents defected from cuba they never filled out the proper paperwork. now immigration services will decide his fate. waiting patiently with his wife bonita, and his attorney, hernandez explained the process he's had to go through to sort out the confusion and a system he felt was very hard to deal with. >> the first time i worked in here i was treated like dirt. >> the meeting nightly homelandd

security lasted about an hour. but mario and his attorney elizabeth ricci still are not happy. >> this system is not broken, this system is a wreck. the same thing i did two or three months ago, they told me i have to be waiting again that they don't have any jurisdiction. >> hernandez was told nothing could be done on the spot. >> united states citizenship and immigration services made a mistake in the adjudication of mr. hernandez application for citizenship. we definitely apologize. simply put we decided his case under the wrong section of the law. >> but soon after that apology there was good news. a federal judge with jurisdiction had signed the necessary documents. >> congratulations sir. >> so help me god! >> mario hernandez would fulfill his dream today, as he had

hoped, becoming a u.s. citizen at last. >> how great is it to be an american citizen right now? >> it is the greatest feeling in the world. it's always been but now it makes it even sweeter. >> reporter: the hernandez family will never forget, may 21st, 2014. perhaps a trail has been paved for others confused about integration law in california. >> now i have to make a phone call to my children. >> robert ray, al jazeera, jacksonville, florida. >> coming up disgraceful, if allegations proved true that veterans suffered and died because of delays at the va. and unlocking the past, present and future of christianity of the most holy site, protecting the church of the holy sepulcher.

the performance review. that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance

is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. >> welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm john siegenthaler in new york. coming up this half hour, heads will roll. president obama says anyone who engaged in misconduct will be punished in the medical scandal of military veterans. why tens of thousands of children go through the justice system without any lawyer at all. plus: ♪ ♪

>> the music video iranian police call obscene. what it says about life in that country. we begin with the allegation of misconduct at the veterans affairs hospitals. president obama today saying misconduct, that misconduct will not be tolerated. his administration and those responsible will be held accountable. mike viqueria reports. >> long wait times and cooked books. president obama says he won't stand for it, if alleged happened at the vaiz really did happen. dashes va really did happen. uprooted and heads must roll. with allegations of deposition and misconduct mounting president obama is promising accountability from the department of veterans affairs. >> if these allegations approve

to be true it is dishonorable disgraceful and i will not tolerate it period. >> president obama's comments made after he met with his beleaguered defense secretary, eric shinseki, and jobs perhaps his were on the line. >> i said it to him before, i'll say it again today, i want to see what the results of these reports are and there is going to be accountability. >> reports released last month from the phoenix va, cooking books, veterans receiving timely care but in fact, waiting months for treatment. many died waiting for treatment. several republicans have called for shinseki's head. for them the president's

comments fell short. >> words are not enough when it comes to this issue. we need action. >> it is not only republicans. the american legion was also critical. responding to the president in a statement. the question is this, if the administration has known about these issues for at least four years why is it just now taking action? the administration has called for shinseki to resign and now others as well. >> if first person we should fire is the secretary of veterans affairs. >> president obama bee booste be budget. along with an aging veteran population, president obama promised to are effectively every va. >> i want everyone to know we are going to fix whatever is wrong. a report from rob neighbors and a full report coming next

month. mike viqueria, al jazeera, the white house. injustice to juveniles who end up in court. records show more than half the state's children faced a judge without an attorney by their side. the latest figures available to the national juvenile detention center shows that colorado is one of only 23 states including the district of columbia for providing public defenders for juveniles. other states leave it top local jurisdictions to protect juveniles in court. kim dvorzac joins us from denver. kim, welcome. >> thank you. >> explain how the system worked before the law was passed? >> the system had opportunity to

get representation for the hearing where children appear after they're taken in custody. they are often in jump suits and shackles. almost 2,000 children appeared at detention hearings without counsel. >> who makes that decision? >> the decision has been made in part through our legal system. the statute that governs detention hearings have has never explicitly required that counsel be present before today. that is a significant change in colorado. >> do parents play a role? >> parent play a role at the detention hearing and first appearance stage. we've put parents in the difficult position of having to represent their own children and decide whether or not children should enter a plea bargain when they don't know the consequences of a juvenile adjudication.

>> parents come before the court and say we're going to wave our child's right to get an attorney and then they represent their children in court? >> in essence the child represents themselves with the support and guidance of their parents. both the child and the parent have to sign any plea agreement paperwork but the judge simply conducts an advisement with the child and the parent and there's no defense attorney to consult with the child about a case or to make an argument about an alternate disposition. >> this was going on in colorado, you and others decided to change this and did what? >> we passed a law today the governor signed which requires that every child who is detained will be represented by a public defender at theirs initial dean detention hearing and those children who are given a ticket to appear in court at a later

date, they will be instructed how to apply for an attorney, instead of simply finding out at their first appearance, at the same time they are offered a pleas bargain. >> are there more public defenders? >> there will be more hired. there was a fiscal note attached to the bill and the public defenders will be hiring up to ten and 11 new attorneys in order to staff this appearance for children. >> how big is this across the country? >> the right to counsel and significant attorneys has been a problem across the country. juvenile court has been treated as a kiddy court. so many of the players, defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges may have a juvenile court rotation on their way to training for adult district court. we're trying to change that and make juvenile court a specialty so that our most vulnerable

children have experienced counsel. >> an important question. kim, thank you for appearing. >> thank you very much. >> al jazeera is exploring criminal cases, called the system with joe berlinger. >> the fbi is considering loosening its rules on marijuana. if you have used marijuana in the past you can't work for agency but james comey says, the agency wants to are attract the best computer programmers and hackers. and a lot of them want to get high. hiring 2,000 employees to work on cyber-task force. richelle carey is here with the briefing. >> the country on nigeria's

northeastern border. the group was suspected of mounting several attacks to nigeria since tuesday that have killed hundreds of people. the balkans are starting to recover from their largest floods in more than a century . serbia and bosnia hercegovina were the worst hit. former egyptian president hosne mubarak was sentenced to prison today. out offed in the 2011 uprising around is held in hospital because of his ill health. if convict id john, mubarak could face life in prison. >> all right richelle thank you. israeli police are beefing

up security prior to pope francis's visit to the west bank. he will also meet with palestinian president mahmoud abbas and israel president benjamin netanyahu. his jerusalem trip also includes a visit to the church of the holy sepulcher. one of the religion's most sacred site. john schifrin has the story. >> how old is this document? >> it is 1261. >> a deed to documents don't only unlock his family's past. >> this is the sultan's stamp. >> this is sultan's stamp. this is written also in gold.

>> they unlock the past, present and future of christianity's most sacred spot. >> until now. >> for 1,000 years. >> each sultan gave your family a new document, right? >> yes. >> jerusalem's leaders have bee stowed his family with unending trust. >> element a thousand years ago. >> yes. >> he is muslim but holds a key to the church of the holy sepulcher. a place where jeef jesus was bed to be lain to rest and resurrected. salah hudeen a muslim sultan

protected the church. he handed over the keys to the same family charged with the care of nearby mosques. through the alleys of jerusalem's oldest city, jawad carries the key to the church's front door. >> are you neshz? >> quite -- nervous? >> quite nervous. >> but he did just fine. he handed the key over the christians. this time the franciscans, who hold a portion of the church. that's why a muslim holds the key. the others don't get along. adeep and his family are trusted. on this day like every day, adeep and another muslim family

officially open the church. just because it's not holy ground, doesn't mean it isn't sacred. >> how do you feel? >> not good. wonderful. >> so days before the pope arrives, the keys to christ's tomb are and will continue to be in good hands. >> and nick schifrin joins us from jerusalem. nick, what does pope francis hope to accomplish on this trip? >> john, the pope is focusing on two things. refugees and reconciliation. he's going to visit jordan first and neighboring aman, and going to visit 500 syrian be be christians. every month 100,00 100,000 syrie fleeing their country. his second stop is bullpen mafia, where he will visit

palestinian refugees. what they are going to do is give him a u.n. refugee i.d. with jesus's name on it. they'll claim jesus was the first refugee in the holy land. something his two predecessors began, he plans to take one step further, and visit mt. hertzel. that is really a kinds of nod to sovereignty of israel over this land. lastly but perhaps most importantly, john, he'll visit with the leader of the orthodox, a clan the church shunned for many years. this is a case of blow-back, people who wants access to him. he last wanted to touch people and see as many people as possible. so before he came here he

insisted no bullet proof cars. the israeli officials heard that and said fine, if you want to reduce your own security we're going to increase your security. in requesting that the israelis have increased their ca coocoon around him. our photo of the day plus ♪ ♪ happy in tehran. why the participants in this video ended up behind bars. >> if you feel that happiness is the truth ♪ ♪ because i'm happy ♪. ♪.

>> good evening, i'm meteorologist kevin corriveau. this evening we're watching two different areas of severe weather in the united states. first in colorado, we have seen

nine tornadoes actually in the northeastern part of the state. right now tornado warnings are still in place. tornado watches are still in place. the tornado warnings have stopped. this is going to be a problem probably for the next three to five hours. as well as we have seen quite a bit of hail in parts of denver, as well as colorado springs over the last two to three hours. the other area we are watching is here in the ohio valley. anywhere from indiana, illinois all the way down into parts of kentucky and into later on we are going to be seeing into part of tennessee. we have seen hail across this region, sizes in parts of illinois anywhere from three to four inches. we are looking at less hail as it moves into later part of the evening. that is a look at your weather, news after this. fter this.

>> ♪ >> happy in tehran, a group of iranians made this video to the song "happy ♪, a video and response to it shed some light on some of the social changes in iran. for more on that we go to jonathan betz. jonathan. >> john getting a lot of attention. many thought this video was fun to watch but as its popularity

grew getting 165,000 hits on youtube, iran's police there caught on and the happy times were over. it is the latest example of how the islam ick republic is facing its own culture war. >> it seems innocent enough. young people dancing to a popular american song. ♪ >> but in iran, this video became a national scandal. the distancers were arrested forced to repent on national tv. and the video considered so sensational, television there blurred it. it shows six young iranians dancing to ferrell williams' song happy. the women's heads are not covered, dancing to western music and the website they used,

youtube is illegal there. >> they often complain about cultural invasions from the west. western movies or videos. and eventually it will turn them against the islam ick republic. >> roxana saberi, was arrested and spent 100 days in jail. these things are not uncommon. >> i had a friend who got lashings because she was at a party with men. >> housan rouhani, agreed, we shouldn't be lark out against things that bring us joy. islam ick approximate about what's acceptable.

angry protests broke out recently after a facebook campaign encouraged iranian women to remove their head scarves. >> there is a division in the country between the hard liners who have become very comfortable in power over the past five years through sheer repression. they want to keep that situation. >> reporter: but they now faws resistance, according to iran -- face resistance according to iran's determination to be too happy. a human rights group says those young people were released from jail the next day but they could tell be prosecuted and the director is still being held. iran is a better place than many things. john. >> jonathan betz, thank you.

an iranian american producer for huff post live. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> mixed messages, you hear that these guys are arrested and the next thing you hear from the president is, don't treat them so harshly. >> that's right. it's hard to recognize, but rouhani comes from a different place. >> so why would a video come out like this now? >> basically, beginning of the summer, it's may, people in iran are very cosmopolitan even. like to have fun, are western educated and pay attention to the culture there. before summer people are out in the parks, our enjoying the wormer weather, women wear their head scarves and sometimes not at all. that comes under more scrutiny

by the police. >> we shouldn't come down too hard on behaviors caused by joy. it's hard to understand if the president of the country is saying that, why these young people were arrested in the first place? >> sure. it breaks down to a separation of powers. the tehran municipal police are trying to crack down and make an example of the people, and the president tweeting using wider internet laws, separation for good, and what the president is doing and what hard line police are doing. >> is it possible that this particular video will have a bigger impact than just the arrests and the response that you've seen on twitter so far? >> i think so. even you've seen like the tweet from rouhani he's coming out and tweeting in support of it. it will lead to more discussion than the islamic republic and pushing of something more acceptable here. it can only be a happy --

>> what else are going on and how are young people pushing back now other than videos like this? >> this is a large social media pla platform? one woman there posted something saying she was released on instagram. getting around the censorship tools there show they live normal lives. >> how closely is social media followed in iran? >> it's very closely followed. iran has high internet use, can be more connected on the inside. >> but the government is watching what everyone does on social media? >> i think it's hard to say what everyone is doing, nsa watches what people are doing. >> sure. >> but instagram and facebook are two widely used social networks in iran. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you.

exempted from paying taxes. the demand to end tens of millions of dollars of tax breaks for the owner ever new york's madison square garden. an artist reveals how he turned a city eyesore into a tourist attraction. those stories coming up at 11, 8:00 eastern time. president joked about the team's reputation for being outspoken. >> of course i don't need to tell you how outstanding the seahawks are because they did a pretty good job of describing themselves as outstanding during the year. >> presidents usually get a team jersey as a gift but instead the seahawks gave president obama a 12th man flag representing seattle's famously loud stadium crowds. now, to our picture of the day. the old saying in construction, measure twice and cut once. railroad engineers in france

apparently didn't get the message. this is an express train to paris. engineers ordered two thousand new trains that apparently were too wide for station platforms. they're going to cut back the platforms, not the trains. the headlines are coming up next. richelle will be right back. back.

>> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america >> welcome to al jazeera america, i'm richelle carey. here are tonight's top stories. the u.s. announced today it's sending 80 troops to chad, that's the country o nigeria's

northeast border. former president hosne mubarak was sent to prison. he appealed that verdict. china and russia signed a gas deal worth an estimated $4 billion. it is an arrangement that furnishes china with natural gas for ten years. cleanup of the balkans, historic flooding has just begun. pictures don't begin to show the extent of the damage. at least 49 people have been killed, over a million affected. the floods also moved land mines left over by the war, to unmarked locations. president obama's message on

veterans affairs. for now he is standing by va secretary, eric shinseki. those are the headlines, the system with joe berlinger is up next. keep it here. keep it here. >> can you tell me about the day that the police came to your door, and started talking to you... is that something you can talk about?