a big responsibility that awaits china's youngest generation will come of age in an ever changing society. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. as ukraine prepares to go to the polls, russia's president, vladimir putin says he will respect the outcome of the election. house arrest for a former thai prime minister as the country's new military leaders lay down the law. and new details out on the l.a. clipper's owner debacle and a

possible change in ownership snment ♪ ♪ and thailand the former prime minister is now under house arrest. she and other top politicians were summoned by the acting prime minister today after thursday's military coup d'etat. more than 100 politicians now barred from leaving the country. >> reporter: once the stage of the anti-government movement in bangkok, taken down and removed the morning after the military cue. the protesters left thursday night, most felt their effort of more than six months paid off, because their goal of removing the current movement has been reached. this woman went do work as normal. she is relieved the military is this control. >> translator: if the army didn't do it. the country would turn in to a

real mess. >> reporter: this is the army assembly hall where more than 100 people from both sides have been summoned to discuss the situation, and it's one of few spots in bangkok too it looks like a coup has taken place. the former prime and another 154 people have been banned by the army from travelling outside of thailand. [ inaudible ] supports the government and feels betrayed by the army. she was outside the come pound showing her support for the prime minister. >> translator: because she is the only woman elected by the people we want her to be the prime minister again. and we want to support her to fight for the people. >> reporter: the streets appear to be normal, but with detentions, travel bans, control over the media, and the

constitution suspended there is no question the army is in control. yet military leaders have given no answer as to when the country will once again will ruled by civilians or return to be a democracy. president obama set to nominate julian castro to be the next housing secretary. but there are late-breaking details involving secretary kerry in benghazi. mike viqueira is at the white house. mike, bring us up to date on what is happening right now. >> reporter: in the last 48 hours we have seen an about face and a change of heart from the democrats on benghazi that republicans had been clamoring for. speaker boehner appointing a committee about three weeks ago. but up until yesterday nancy pelosi said democrats were not going to be participating. she had held back any direct

answer. seven republicans, five democrats were her objection. she want to give republicans the stage alone, they would be attacking, centering their fire on hillary clinton and no one has to be reminded that she is the front runner to run for president in 2016. and that's what though advocating stays off in the beginning had anticipated. and now john kerry subpoenaed to testify about benghazi. this coming to us villa reuters. he will be testifying before this benghazi committee at a date yet undetermined if the committee according to reuters withdrawals its subpoenas. so some developments that rep sent a change in tactics from democrats in their approach in

what they have seen and still do see as a bipartisan effort. >> john conyers -- >> john conyers has been there for years as you know. i remember him as a child on the watergate committee. a long-standing member of the jude ashary committee. ran into trouble, did not have the necessary valid signatures to run in the fall. this is pretty much perfunctory procedure. he has gone to court and in this particular case, this ruling, the results of something of a hail mary on the part of john conyers. he is not going to be on the ballot as it stands right now. however, that doesening preclude him from encouraging people to write in his name in november

and as we have seen in recent history that can be effective. lisa ran in alaska and ended upbeating the republican nominee who defeated her in the primary and still sits in the u.s. senate. >> and cabinet moves at the white house but should we refer to them as a cabinet shakeup? >> probably not. as we hear the president's marine one flying over head, the president just arriving from a fund raising trip overnight in chicago where he slept incidentally in his kenwood home. the president upon arriving will be appearing in the white house to announce julian castro who just got el elected to a third term, mayor. the rising star applies to julian castro. the president will name him as his nominee to be the secretary

of housing and urban dwovment. not normally considered a high profile or well-known in terms of note righty in the main stream american media, but he brings a lot in terms of his own notoriety. he gave the keynote address at the 2012 democratic convention in charlotte. and shean donovan comes over as the director of the [ inaudible ] who will replace cilia matthews burrow. i think they are talking about him as a possible vice president candidate. but this is almost as much about 2014 and the midterm elections, president obama continuing to try to fire up his base, this is something his latino

constituency will stand up and applaud. ukraine is now set to hold its national elections this weekend. sunday's vote decides who replaces the regime of viktor yanukovych. russia's president, vladimir putin saying he will respect the will of the people. >> reporter: there was a fight between two militias today. there was a proukrainian militia that was newly formed, was traveling along a road about 20 kilometers outside of donetsk when it says it was ambushed by another militia, this one being pro-russian. there was a fierce battle between the two. each side said the other side had the highest toll of casualties. certainly when we arrived at the

scene several hours later, we did see at least one body still laying on the ground. it was the body of one of the pro-ukrainians and the pro-russians were accusing him of being from the ultra right groups, the, quote unquote, fascists that are ruling kiev. but this underlines one of the biggest threats that you have a lot of weapons in the hands of a lot of militias, and they are more willing to fight each other than perhaps the government forces are willing to tackle on these pro-russian separatists. >> hoda abdel hamid joining us live from ukraine. thank you very much. >> again, three more people dying gen today. the united states is imposing sanctions against boko haram. they are declaring that group a

terrorist group. they can seize the assets of members and close off any avenues of funding. boko haram is accused of killing hundreds of people in he correct months. there are also new developments in the case of l.a. clippers owner donald sterling. sterling has been banned for life from the nba, but his wife could end up being a different story. ross this has a lot of people in the nba scratching their heads. >> a surprising development no doubt. donald sterling has agreed to allow his wife, shelley sterling to negotiate the for-sale of the l.a. clippers. and it's surprising because he hired a lawyer in hopes of keeping the clipper team in the family, and so did shelley. the league formally filed charges against donald on monday to terminate his ownership of the clippers.

and they have a vote where the other owners could vote him out. donald sterling has until next tuesday to respond to charges. >> the potential sale of the clippers could bring an end to the scandal. the nba has got to formalize a binding agreement with telesterlings in terms of selling the team. because the sterlings could back out of the sale if they feel they are not getting the fair market value for their team. they bought the clippers back in 1981 and forbes recently evaluated the team at $500 million. >> and mrs. sterling said this is sexist, saying if there had been a female that made the comments they wouldn't be forcing her to sell the team.

>> you are exactly right. this new development could quicken this end. a win for both parties, because donald sterling is looking at the legal costs. he is 81 years old, and whether that battle would be worth it. >> thank you. coming up on al jazeera america, make history in the holy land, the pope preparing for his trip to the middle east. >> great man. very brave. did a wonderful job and ultimately sacrificed everything for his country and the mission he was pursuing. >> reporter: and hon forking american's men and women who died defending this country.

well tomorrow the pope will be going to the holy land. he pope saying his trip will be strictly religious, but he says he will also be praying to peace in the middle east. claudia has more from rome.

>> reporter: waving the vatican good-bye before his trip to the holy land. he departs on the 15th anniversary of the meeting of the first between the heads of the catholic and orthodox churches in nine centuries. >> translator: on saturday i will go to the holy land. the land of jesus. it will be a strictly religious visit. firstly to meet with my brother to mark the 50th anniversary of the peting between paul and andrea. paul and andrea will meet another time and this is really beautiful. the second reason is to pray for peace in that land that suffers greatly. i ask you to pray for my visit. >> reporter: in a land filled by

religious and political divisions every step will be watched closely by israelis and palestinians alike. one will be joseph salomon. he is one of millions who are not allowed to return home. >> translator: the pope doesn't have an army but an exceptional moral and political influence, so every word he says will count and will be listened to by the world's leaders. we have a lot of hope for this visit. >> translator: the trip has sparked controversy before it even started. the official schedule says the pope will visit the state of pal stin, a recognition of 2012,n resolution that granted palestine a [ inaudible ]. the head of the jewish community in roam said the pope also made concessions to israel. >> translator: for the first

time the pope will lay a reed on the founder of zionism. i hope this is a real step forward in the diplomatic relations between israel and the vatican. >> reporter: in the weeks leading up to the pope's trip, crimes in have increased in israel and the occupied territories, but the pope has again refused to travel in a bullet proof car. we have a religion and cultural professor. we joins us to talk about the significance of the visit. let's start with the fact that he won't be traveling in the pope mobile. is that a concern? >> well, it might be a concern, of course, everywhere. as you know, there are tensions

in the region, so that might be a concern, but i think the hope has decided he wants to come as a pilgrim and on a personal note, and that is reason why he will not use the pope mobile. >> israel has played host to four popes. and then tomorrow's visit, how will this particular pope be received? >> i think that people are quite enthusiastic about his new approach, his simple approach, as you know, he chooses to be a simple man, and that is more or less what he also shows in his visit here. so he will bring as you know,

rabbi scoreca, and his personal friends in argentina. and we will have sort of an interreligious delegation going. so i think that will be received well. even though there are larger implications of his i haves. >> this pope has never been shy about tackling the tougher topics. do you expect him to delve into the thornny subjects of the middle east. >> i think he made quite clear that for him in the first place it was as a pilgrimage, and i think the first goal of his visit is to open up new possibilities for community with the eastern orthodox, so he visits as you said for the fourth time, 50 years after the

historic visit in jerusalem. so he will come again. so this relationship with the eastern orthodox, and to give a common declaration of what they want for the future of their relationships is the most important thing. but he wants to establish better relationships with both jews and muslims as he has shown in the past year. >> we talk so much about the symbolism of these visits, but how important is it for the leader of the roman catholic church to go to the holy hand for spiritual regions to make that reconnection with the origins of christianity? >> yeah, i think it is almost as important as the gesture that pope john paul ii made when he had his interreligious prayer

for peace in a city. he didn't go to roam but went to asisi. and his name francis shows he has this relationship with the franc franciscan order, with the idea of simpleness and peace and that you see again with the approach of going back to visit in the following of jesus in the country where he lived. he wants to go back to the simple begins, pray for peace and make clear that this idea of going back to a more simple style a very important to him. and i guess he will show this in the holy land as well. >> religion and cultural professor, thank you for being with us today. the memorial day weekend is upon us. dave warren has the forecast.

and the surprising reason why you will be paying more at the pump if you decide to hit the road.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. these are your headlines at this hour. ukrainians preparing to vote in their federal elections this sunday. vladimir putin says he will respect the vote. but three people were killed in the east in more clashes in your next question. yingluck shinawatra is now under house arrest. the new military leader has suspended the constitution and more than 150 politicians are barred from leaving the country. in just a few hours the president is expected to nominate julian castro as the next housing secretary. the current housing chief is moving over to head the office of management and budget. well it is memorial day and

a lot of you set to hit the road, and according to triple, a you won't be alone. more road trips mean more phillips and that is why gas prices tend to spike this time of year, but this summer your pain at the pump could be worse, because the economy is improving and more are working. >> we're seeing a lot of disposable income increasing too. so there's definitely a correlation between more people working and more people driving. another factor driving gas prices up, u.s. refineries are sending more gas overseas. the average price for a gallon of gas is $3.64 a gallon. a lot of you wondering exactly what your forecast looks like. we go to the man with all of the

answers. >> yeah, we're looking at some rain coming down. a lot of places consider this the unofficial start of summer, but the south is drying out after severe storms yesterday. we're looking at a lot of rain right where it is needed. a little too much rain in the texas panhandle. flooding problems there. not much rain in the southwest. here is the warmer air. it's trying to push up from the south, but the front came through. that was the foe for severe weather yesterday. and the potential is there for severe weather later this afternoon and this evening. now we're getting rain right over this area which is under this drought, exceptional drought. the rain coming down pretty quickly. flash flooding will be a problem

not only today but over the next two or three days. the moisture comes in from the gulf, and the low-pressure is stalled out over the southwest. focusing all of this rain over the same region. here it is, a bullseye right over that drought area. flash flooding will be a problem. there's a watch in effect and some flood advisories already in effect, but this will stay with us over the next three to four days as that storm sits over that one area. severe weather cleared out. calm day today. here is where we could see severe weather later today. north and south carolina, looking at that potential for strong to severe storms. later this afternoon right on this boundary of the cooler air to the north and warmer air to the south. high-pressure is building in overnight tonight, skies are clear. we have a meteor shower shaping

up tonight. after midnight tonight, skies are clear, but cloudily up in the northeast and of course in the southern plains and mississippi valley it is cloud why there, but not until after midnight. memorial day honors the men and women in uniform who died serving the country. every year the old guard places a flags at the cemetery. >> it's a personal symbol to all of the soldiers that i have deployed with throughout the last 25 years. i remember their service. i'll generally do the row and do the row that has one of soldiers that was in afghanistan. he was a great man. did a great job, and ultimately

sacrificed his life for his country. we miss him. anyone who is going to be longer have the most to do with this. you get to spending some time with the person that you knew at their grave. and that's very important to i think, anybody. it's a great thing to be trusted with. it means a lot to the american people, the families of the service members, and the family members that are buried here over 430,000. i'm just thankful for all of the solders out here. we have 1700 people assigned to the regimen, and we have the bulk of them doing this mission. really it's to get ready for memorial day when the nation pauses for a moment to remember their service and sacrifice. >> and on that note, we want to thank you for.

wa -- watching al jazeera america. "techknow" is next. you can check us out on the website, websialjazeera.com. a show about innovations that can change lives. we're going to explore the intersection of hardware and humanity, and we're doing it in a unique way. this is a show about science by scientists. let's check out our team of hard core nerds. i'm phil torres, i'm an entomologist. tonight the frozen zoo. in a deep freeze, cells from the most endangered specious on the planet, like the whi r