>> welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. the prime minister, one of them under house arrest. >> in the morning he went to university and in the afternoon, he worked as a taxi driver. >> the emotional aftermath of airstrikes. aljazeera sitting down with families of civilians caught in the middle of those u.s. drone strikes overseas. americans set to hit the

road for the weekend. and when you do, you should expect to pay more at the pump. we begin in thailand, acting prime minister, that country remains under curfew, the constitution suspended and more than 100 politicians are barred from leaving the country. >> once the stakes for the anti-government movement in bangkok, taken down and removed, the protesters felt that their effort of more than six months. went to work as normal on friday.

and she's relieved that the army is in control. >> personally, i support coup de ta. if the army didn't do it, it would turn into a mess. nobody is mig it better. >> both sides from the political divide have been summoned by the military to discuss the situation, and it's one of the few spots in bangkok where it looks like a coup has taken place. the prime minute, shinawa. she and 450 people have been banned by the army from traveling outside of thailand. supports the government and feels betrayed by the army. she's showing her support. >> we want her to be the prime minister again, and fight for

the people. >> the streets appear to be normal. but with the immediate constitution suspended, there's no question that the army is in control. yet military leaders have given no answers as to when the country will again be ruled. >> ukraine is set to hold national elections, to decide who replaces the regime. they were shelling a town today. and 13 ukrainian soldiers were killed yesterday. and more than 200 were killed since it began. despite from the west, vladimir putin said that he will respect the outcome of the election. speaking in st. petersburg, he

blames the u.s. for the crisis. he said that the model of the world has failed. and everyone can see it today, even those who try to act in the usual manner to keep their monopoly: he hopes that the european u.n. and the u.s. will reopen their partnership with russia. >> the united nations with sanctions against boko haram, declaring it a terrorist organization that is linked to al qaeda. they can freeze the assets of boko haram members and close off any avenues of funding. boko haram is accused of killing hundreds of people in recent months and abducting nearly 300 schoolgirls. and meanwhile, egyptian parliament has conducted in the northeast, we there so see how it affects the lives of those who live there.

>> it used to be one of the leading businessmen from the northeast. and after five years of violence, nearly ended his business. half of his workers have now left. a state of emergency declared last year brought some stability. >> our business partners across the borders stopped coming. coming to the security checkpoint. but the presence of soldiers has restored confidence. >> that confidence is not shared by all. a state of emergency is seen as a hindrance. >> at checkpoints and in homes, the state of emergency has not stopped anything. the attacks have intensified. >> they were ordered to end the wave of violence by boko haram

in the region. >> the attacks are deadlier, and that means that many nigerians are insecure. some of them want the state of emergency scrapped. >> others say that would be a mistake. >> the nature of the present state of emergency will not allow the military to win the war. we need a more comprehensive state of emergency. as i can put it roughly, the kind that was in place during the nigerian civil war, because what we're fighting now is a civil war. >> the parliament has approved a six month extensof emergency rule. and nigerians in the northeast wait to see conditions. aljazeera, nigeria. >> the military now getting involved in the debate over the u.s. drone strikes.

top officials are calling for more transparency. it has been a contentious one, especially in yemen. in the past years, yemen has been one of the main tarts of drone strikes. >> hussein and his wife lost their son, salemme, in a u.s. drone attack last year. this is their lawyer. salemme was traveling with his cousin when it hit the car. four other passengers were also killed. this is the funeral for salemme and his cousin. [ crying ] >> salemme was innocent. he had no links to al qaeda. as the oldest child, he was the family's breadwinner. in the morning he went to university and in the afternoon he worked as a taxi driver.

u.s. is killing our sons. >> an investigation by the ministry of the interior vindicated salemme and his cousin. but when they went to court, the prosecutor refused to take on their case. they accused government of failing to act. demands for an end to aerial strikes by unmanned drones are growing across the country. activitieses accused u.s. government of only making the al qaeda in the arabian peninsula stronger. >> al qaeda, they make it stronger and they kill civilians, and so far they have proved themselves to be doing more harm than good in taking down -- . >> this is another funeral, this time for the victims of a drone attack. dozens of people were killed last december.

their relatives insist they were all civilians. despite the growing anger among the people, the government defends drones as a crucial tool in the fight against al qaeda. >> the drone attacks are taken under the guidance -- and therefore, it's an intrusion in the country. these attacks are a necessity in the remote area. there's always collateral damage even without the drones. >> his brother ali was killed in the same drone strike that killed salemme. dismissed by the prosecutor, he holds the u.s. and yemenis responsible. like millions of yemenis, he wants the skies to be free of drones. >> the u.s. continue stop the attracts as long as al qaeda remains active, but there's a

general sentiment here, with the government's support against al qaeda, he won't be able to call for an end to the u.s. drone campaign. aljazeera. >> president obama making some cabinet moves. housing chief, shawn donley is moving over to the office of budget. he will be replacing sylvia burrell. and she's replaced kathleen sebelius. if confirmed, castro would be the highest ranking hispanic serving in the obama administration. in the case against colleagues, in egypt, adjourned again, the three have now been held inside of an egyptian prison for 147 days.

they are falsely accused of conspiring with the muslim brotherhood. in the ninth appearance yesterday, the prosecution got to see evidence, a clearly doctored image, showing mohammed with you former egyptian chief. a teenager who came to a u.s. science fair said that he now's lans to go back. he these threatened inside of his own country. when he was in cairo, he was arrested for violating that country's laws against protest. >> i want an education in the states. i can have human rights. >> abdallah's parents say they support his decision to stay in the u.s. turmoil has been plaguing egypt since forcing many children out of school. tennessee is said to be bringing back the electric

chair. bill haslam signed the law on thursday. it allows them to use the chair if illega drugs are not availab. the state law said that the state can just require the chair if legal drugs can not be obtained. they have been in short supply since 2011, since there was an embargo on them. a devastating drought. and the future could bring too much rain. >> you can say that this is the beginning. >> on the eve of his historic trip to the holy land. the birthplace of jesus christ and of christianity.

>> it's well-known that california's farmers could be dealing with a difficult doubt

for years, but they could be looking at rain they need. return of el nina, and it could be the case of be careful what you wish for. of. >> as california continues to bake in a record-breaking drought, the farmers and growers who produce nearly half of the u.s.' fruits and vegetables are anxiously scanning the skies for any sign of rain. >> every day, almost every hour, every minute, i'm continually looking up in the sky, and i want to see what the clouds are doing. i'm always looking to see what the trees are doing rewards to wind like we have today. >> soon, californians could get more rain than they bargained for. there's a 75% chance of a wet weather phenomenon hitting the u.s. this year. it's called el nino. studying climate dynamics at the university of california.

>> right now, all of the signs are pointing towards an el nino event. and it's a matter of how big it's going to be. it could be a moderate one or it could be a very strong one. but of course if it means too much, flooding can be a bad thing, and landslides are a bad thing, and it could lead to loss of lives and destruction of property. >> el nino is formed when a vast blob of water heads across the waters. this shows the last el nino in 1997. the red color indicates the plume of water, and when it reaches the landmass, it cows downpours. >> it's a very large volume of water, millions of square feet with dozens of meters out in height. it's an amount of heat that's

unfathomable to human civilization. >> the last one caused two thousand 100 deaths and $33 billion in damage in north and south america. at this point, for most californians, any rain at all would be a blessing. >> mother nature is our ultimate boss. i don't care what we do mechanically as human beings. mother nature is always there, and she's always in control. so we have to figure out whatever we can do to counteract what she throws at us. >> scientists should know in a matter of weeks whether this year's el nino will be mild or monster. aljazeera, los angeles. >> dave warren, exactly how bad bad can get. >> this is months out, but it looks like the chances are higher and higher that it will be developing here later this summer and throughout the fall and winter.

now, the drought is the situation now u. but as it develops, it dumps a lot of rain and flooding, and that could be an issue. this is another area of extreme drought across the texas panhandle. we have too much rain coming down, right where it's needed. but this could lead to flash flooding. the forecast shows that over the next three days, the rain continues to come down, just a steady stream of moisture coming in from the gulf of mexico. bulls eye, 3-4 inches of rain over texas and kansas and nebraska. so the flood warnings and watches will continue to come in likely with all of the rain still in the forecast. a flash-flood watch for south texas. the radar, the clouds across the southeast, severe weather yesterday with the number of wind and hail reports coming in,

wind damaged cars there in parts of pennsylvania. it's clear now, and the area of severe weather will be pushed a little farther south, along north and south carolina today, where the best threat of severe weather is. the warm and cool air boundary over north carolina, goes down from 79 to 71 in richmond, virginia. the rain across the southern means, but cooler air is moving in to where the storms were yesterday. and that trend will continue this weekend. it will be dry, just a little cooler. memphis, 68 right now, and high pressure will dominate the weather here over the next fuse days. high pressure in control, and the skies will be clear. clouds across the south and the northeast. but there's a meteor shower tonight. it could be an impressive meteor shower. after tonight, skies area clear. >> the problem is we get a lot of rain on the parched dry land.

>> dave warren, thank you very much. it is the memorial day weekend, and that means that it's time to hit the road. according to aaa, 56 million of you will drive to your destination, and this summer, the pain at the pump could be worse, the economy is improving and more and more of you are working. >> we're seeing a lot of disposable income increases too. we're out on the weekends doing more shopping and traveling, so there's definitely a correlation between more people working and driving. >> after driving up gas prices, refineries are sending more of that gas overseas. average price for a gallon, $3.64, and that's less than half of what drivers are paying in france and germany. over the weekend, the pope is going to visit the holy land. and during his time in israel, he will visit a reasonably

discovered site near the sea of galilee, and it has a lot to say about unity. >> if you visit the holy place, you might find jesus' footsteps bank account the surfaces. they planned to unearth the site of a hotel, but instead, it could be the first church. >> it's a part of history. >> volunteers have come from all over the world to work here. bible country, where jesus is said to have inspired his first followers, where he is said to have healed the sick, where he may have even walked on the water. on the shores of the sea of galilee, it might be the site where jesus first preached. >> this community is one community. and they're not divided into different communities, and actually, it's not divided from the jewish people. what does it tell us 20

centuries later? we have so much in common. >> for years, father kelly didn't know the significance. at first, they were pleased to simple discover the first century marketplace for the local fisheries. then they were shocked to discover jewish ritual baths. >> there are six categories for water purification, and you can see the steps here. it's really beautiful. >> but then a few feet away, just a few inches below the soil, they found this design. >> it's a path that has the significance of eternal life. the fact of having a mosaic in the first century synagogue was unheard of until this discovery. >> then these benches for the faithful. >> you can imagine him sitting here in the center of this, by this pillar. >> and then this. >> wow, that's amazing. >> this was here for 2,000

years, and nobody knew about it, and i think this wasn't first time it was found in the country here. and this is contemporary to pompey. >> this was one of the oldest synagogues. the oldest menorah discovered in a religious structure, and the other had grooves for a torah. >> the teacher, the rabbi is opening up and the spools here. >> the rabbi that father kelly is talking about? >> there's a group of people following rabbi jesus, and obviously you could say this is the beginning. >> it's dedicated to the women described in jesus' life. because archaeologists say that this is mary magdalene's hometown. >> she was the first apostle. >> she was not the only woman supporting jesus. father kelly admits it's a rare

church tribute to women. >> here are the women of the new testament. and here in this column, we represent suzanna and joanna, the mother of the son of zebedee, and this one column doesn't have any name. and this is for all of the women in history who have been pillars in the transition of the faith. >> and next door, with the sea of galilee in the background, the yet to be used chapel. as used for the first christians, the faithful will pray on the seashore, and as it was for the disciples, the mast will be their cross. >> coming up, something completely different. an explosive lesson in economics. we'll tell you how they're blowing up the old hollywood production model. you're watching aljazeera america.

>> welcome back to aljazeera

america, i'm del walters, these are the headlines at this hour. shinawatra has been placed under house arrest. she and dozens of other politicians were ordered to attend meetings today. 150 politicians have been barred from leaving that country. ukrainians hav are holding elections. and vladimir putin said he will respect the outcome of the vote. tensions between ukraine's military and separatists. huge tax breaks for television and film production, now bringing hollywood to the bayou. we take you to new orleans. >> reporter: the garden district is already a famous neighborhood. and now it's getting even more attention. film crews are becoming an increasingly common sight in new

orleans. they were produced in california, and moved south. production companies give big tax breaks, and it has worked. >> i was a free man! >> reporter: louisiana is now the top location for blockbuster movies, and that represents a major change in the movie business. last year, louisiana made more than $1 billion from the film industry, but it's more than just cold hard cash. as the industry has matured, they want to establish businesses, many run by local people. >> it's estimated that the film industry here has created 14,000 permanent jobs, a number equal to the state's seafood industry. when it was launched 12 years ago, few had any idea that they would be so successful. >> there are businesses it started here to service the louisiana film industry, and now servicing georgia, canada and new york and even china. >> one of those businesses

belongs to local, andre champagne. he started with a few vehicles, and now he has a fleet of more than 300. his success is due to hiring locals. >> because it affects so many job titles and positions, and it's one of the greatest economic stimulus packages that i've ever seen. >> louisiana's new found fame has seen skilled workers moving to the state from the industry's more tradition at locations. for many, it's a change that they don't regret. >> the work will come get you, you don't have to find the work. here you can be a big fish in a small pond. and los angeles, i don't care who you are, you're a very small fish in a big pond. >> for a blockbuster, chances are it was made here in the hollywood of the south. >> 3, 2, 1. >> aljazeera, new orleans,

louisiana. >> and we want to thank you for watching aljazeera america. i'm del walters in new york city. "inside story" is next, and you can check us out by going to aljazeera.com. happy memorial day. as we get closer to national elections in ukraine, the struggle for the eastern part of the country continues armed men are killing each other, and it's unclear how much the leaders in kiev or moscow control the action. it's inside story, next. hello, i am ray swarez. when the former left his