consider this. the news of the day plus so much more. answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. >> it shouldn't happen to any family. this should be the last one in the united states. >> families mourn the victims of the santa barbara rampage at new questions are raised about the killer's mental health. >> they know where they are but can't bring them home. nigeria's military tells the military to back off in the crisis of kidnapped school

girls. >> it's an understatement to say it is massive. >> the search for the three missing men swept away by a mud slide. the size of a small city continues. >> how pope francis i says attempting to reconcile with victims of clergy sex abuse, welcome to al jazeera america. >> the parents of elliot roger raced to stop their son as he began his deadly rampage. as they were driving up the freeway, they found they were too late. >> rogers also wanted to kill his brother and stepmother. now students are remembering the 60 victims of last friday's attacks. melissa chan is in california where a campus memorial is september up for today. melissa, good morning. >> good morning, stephanie. i'm standing in front of the deli, one of the many stops he made and where he shot and

killed christopher martinez. a makeshift memorial has been set up with candles and messages that students have written on the ground, messages of peace and love and as the long weekend wraps up, students are starting to remember the lives lost. ♪ >> the vigils and memorials have spread beyond where the three were gunned down. high schools and universities remembered the victims, including the parents of george chen, who added their names to this memorial. according to police, their son and two others were stabbed to death by elliot roger before he went on his shooting rampage. >> we would die a hundred times, a thousand times, but we don't want our kids to get hurt. this shouldn't happen to any family. this should be the last one in the united states. >> chen had been visiting rogers two roommates, whose parents at home on monday could not contain

their grief. >> i say to god, why you don't take me instead of my son. >> questions linger about how he carried out the rampage, when clues appeared to be everywhere, including videos he posted on you tube. >> a beautiful environment is the darkest hell if you have to experience it all alone. >> videos like that concerned his family enough to ask police to check on him a month ago. they did and after finding him poll light and lucid, they left. >> if they felt he was a danger, they would have taken additional steps. they didn't feel that as he was able to convince them as he was able to convince obviously so many people in his life. >> because he was never committed to a mentally facility, he was able to legally buy three handguns, adding fuel to the debate between the n.r.a.

and mental health system. >> the diagnose isn't antexact science and only a handful of those diagnosed might go on a killing spree. >> these are rare occurrences, even though they are catastrophic occurrences. there's no way to study them and predict them with any accuracy. >> that's what complicates the situations. psychiatrists conflict behaviors, but can't predict specific actions and millions of americans suffer with mental health problems, and predicting this kind of behavior again very difficult. >> melissa, thank you. in our next half hour, we will be taking a closer look at elliot roger's history of mental illness and some say there are not enough resources to help people like him before it is too late. >> the a popular tourist area

was packed. eight people have been arrested. >> the beach is rated number one as the place to go, a family destination. it is not something that we are all happy about. i mean. this is something that you don't ever want to have in your back yard. i bring my family here all the time, so to have clearwater beach be safe is our number one priority. >> the shootings began outside the clearwater beach hyatt hotel. the beach was cleared for several hours. >> it has been seven weeks since boko haram abducted hundreds of school girls. the nigerian military has been under a lot of pressure to locate the girls. >> that's true, between daily protests a understand prayers, the citizens have been calling for the government to do whatever it takes to bring back the girls and so has the

international community. on the same day as a massive protest in the capitol city, nigeria's defense chief made an important announcement about the much-criticized military mission. speaking in front of thousands, he broke the good news. >> the good news for the girls, we know where they are, but we cannot tell you. just leave us alone, we are working, we will get the girls back. >> the defense chief insists this announcement should prove the nigerian military knows what it's doing and that it's not corrupt and people should stop criticizing. even though they say they've pinpointed where the hostages are, the military will not use force to rescue them, fearing that could get them killed. last week, troops from britain, france, china and the united states arrived to provide intelligence and support to the nigerian military. >> coming up at 7:50, we'll talk

about the nigerian military's strategy for getting the girls back quickly and negotiating their release. >> ukraine's incoming president is viewing to bring peace to t country as violence breaks out at donetsk. clashes at airport have killed 40 pro-russian separatists. they tried to take over the airport, but the military struck back. russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov says there are no plans to meet with poroshenko. >> china calling for on line spying to cease. u.s. prosecutors charged five military officers with hacking into their companies to steal trade secrets joe biden china said the united states should be

condemned by the international community for spying. >> a tiny shipping vessel sank, the latest incident connected to the oil rich south china sea. >> this is a remind their tensions between vietnam and china are not going away. in this latest incident, there are different versions of what happened. china says that a vietnamese fishing vessel simply bumped into one of its fishing vessels. hanoi accuse beijing of attacking the vietnamese vessel and causing it to sink. this happened in an area where china has been drilling to oil close to islands claimed by both china and vietnam. this drilling operation began at the beginning of the month and china deployed a sizeable armada to protect the operation. vietnamese vessels have been

doing what they can with the operation. 700 protestors will be put on trial or fined, two have already been convicted and jails. the issue for china now is compensation, because up to 16 taiwan niece and chinese factories were set on fire and many others damaged. >> the u.s. has called china's installation of an oil rig in the disputed waters provocative. >> authorities have released raw satellite data from missing malaysian airlines flight 370. the documents collected by a british company detailed the final hours. the flight went missing in early march with 239 people onboard. relatives of the victims have been asking for greater transparency and demanding the

release of data so independent analysts can focus on new leads. >> in colorado, they are racing against time trying to find three men swept away by a massive mud slide. some pictures will make us understand the scope of what they're up against. >> this whole drama is playing out near the grand mesa mountain, southwest of denver. three workers from nearby were in the area sunday when the mountain came tumbling down. >> it's one thing to hear of a mud slide four miles long, two miles wide and 250 feet deep like the one that happened. it's quite another to get a full aerial view as we did for the first time monday. >> it's like a lava flow, just ran up over the ridges. i've never seen that much earth

move in my life. >> it makes it hard to imagine that the three men missing in its wake could have survived. county road worker clancy nickels, his son, danny and friend wes hawkins. >> they may be stranded somewhere or in such a way they avoided it, but right now, they have not been heard from. we haven't seen anything from the air. >> it flowed over to the next canyon, that's how much dirt moved. >> around 40-50 rescuers supported by a helicopter crew and unmanned heat seeking drones are trying to find the missing men. their efforts have been hampered. most of the area around the slide remains unstable and ripe for another slide. >> we have to try to assess how much we can do and how much probing and searching we can do and try to figure out from there. as far as clean up goes, you're looking at the new terrain of

that valley. >> with the population of 700, it is one of those everybody knows everybody communities. not surprisingly, almost everybody seems to be agonizing over the polite of their three missing friends. >> how in the devil could this happen? i just. >> we grew up together, so it is part of our extended family, and it will work out. >> now the sheriff says he's gotten helpful advice on dealing with this situation from his counter parts in oso, washington. they have been dealing with their own mud slide that killed 40 people. >> thank you very much. four miles long, two miles wide, 250 feet deep. >> firefighters in alaska hope rain will help them get control of a wildfire that burned 248 square miles. the funny river fire is 30%

contained, burning poor more than a week in a wildlife ref final south of anchorage. two shelter set up, a local fishing report providing free lodging for displaced residents and their pets. >> nine people were hurt in north dakota when a tornado touched down in a camp for oil field workers. one worker is in critical condition. it destroyed eight trailers. county officials say the damage could have been a lot worse if the tornado hit just a few days earlier when more trailers were parked in the camp. >> that severe weather still a major factor today in a different area. >> let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell. good morning. >> good morning, we were just looking at north dakota and what you see is severe risk shifting a little more to the north as we get later into spring because of the temperature gradient that we

see and that shift shifting north object as well. this is the area we were just talking about, not only that tornado that you just saw, but also areas of high wind, damaging hail. farther south, all the spots along the midwest were spots of the severe weather. we also have this potent area through the south. it has already produced also some areas of severe weather, including some isolated reports of tornadoes in texas and this is now our bigger risk for today, that slight risk area being highlighted in red. you can also see on this forecast for the rest of the day, heavy areas of rain expected, and that's going to be another problem for us. in fact, i think some of that potential for flooding might be more widespread than the severe weather in terms of wind, hail and that chance for tornadoes. here's what we have going through the area, the red or orangey colors here is wind damage. a little bit more as this line has gone through with hail and isolated tornadoes. now you can see this kind of line with heavy rain moving

through the eastern part of texas now. that is going to be our concern as we get through the rest of the day. we've had these slow moving areas of rain. this is going to be dumping a lot. a lot of the east coast is going to have chances for rain, but it's really today into tomorrow sliding across the gulf coast that we have our biggest threat. some places will pick up three, four, even five isolated inches of rain and you can see the core of that into portions of texas, so that is going to be our big concern. >> president obama promising better treatment for american veterans coming back from battle. >> politicians need to shut their mouth and just do it. >> amen. >> that promise comes in the wake of a scandal at the department of veteran affairs and just before the president announces his vision for a post war military. >> after eight months of research, detroit unveiling to plan to deal with blight and the

nearly 80,000 abandoned homes in the city. >> makes noise, scares the birth from the air field. >> it cost airlines billions of dollars every year, and safety risk for passengers. one american airport has a new system in place to stop birth strikes before they happen. >> today's big number, 240 million. >> what it has to do with a big pollution problem.

>> nine in a driving home the importance of better air quality, that is the subject of today's big number, 240 million. >> that is the total number of vehicles currently on the road in china. with rising health concerns and costs associated with pollution, government officials are taking action. >> china announcing an unprecedented emissions plan to reduce smog. they will phase out cars that meet cleaner emission standards. >> china will remove 6 million older polluting vehicles off its roads. >> that includes 5 million cars in beijing and the nearby port

city. >> despite the obvious difference in size, when airplanes hit birds, the results can be disastrous. it's a problem at airports throughout the world. there is a new approach in seattle. >> birds and airplanes just don't mix. midair bird strikes can be dangerous and expensive. >> it's not a big bird. we've had others that size in engines. they do $50,000 worth of damage. >> seattle international airport was the first to employ its first full time wildlife biologist. >> end of olympic road for the next 15 minutes. >> for steve, much of the work involves tracking, trapping, and shoeing. >> this does not fire live

rounds. some birds will get used to this. when the birds show up for the first time, those sounds can be really effective at keeping them away long term. >> bird strikes cost airlines hundreds of miles of dollars every year and killed an estimated 250 people around the world in the last quarter century. in an effort to eliminate those collisions, ctak became the first to use avian radar. >> the field work is helping airport managers realize they can increase safety the same way, by catching and relocating many of the birds in their air space and on their air fields. >> here's the bird, lands on the perch and we put them on the shuttle, and they go up to

burlington, washington and are released up there. we could be shipping one, two, three birds a day. so far, very few birds, 1% to 2% of all the birds that we released come back to the airport. >> while many airports hire contractors to deal with bird problems, four other airports have employed their own full time wildlife biologist. aljazeera, seattle, washington. >> airports use a variety of techniques to he keep birds from planes, among them cutting down plants and cutting down trees. >> the president is promising that the u.s. will do a better job for returning veterans. tomorrow the president will deliver the commencement address at west point. we have a preview.

>> the focus of this speech expected to be what happens to all of our soldiers and other members of the military coming home after no war in iraq, no war in afghanistan after more than a decade now. that's the focus. certainly the president cannot ignore what's going on with the v.a., because it affects a lot of those soldiers who are returning home. >> with embattled v.a. secretary nearby, president obama laid a wreath at the took of the unknown and promised veterans america will do better. >> we must do more to keep faith with our veterans and their families and ensure they get the care and benefits and opportunities that they earned and overas the president prepares to layout his post war strategy at west point tomorrow, 26 v.a. hospitals remain under investigation, accused of falsifying records to cover treatment delays. >> that is a sacred obligation.

we're behind right now. >> it's frustrating for vets waiting on doctors' points, surgery and disability checks. >> i haven't heard from them since. lord knows when, if i ever will. >> politicians need to shut their mouth and just do it. >> amen. >> lawmakers suggest the department of justice convene a grand jury to consider criminal charges against employees who may have cooked the books. >> we should have some heads roll. >> president obama is expecting a preliminary report on the investigation this week. >> that is the internal v.a. report. the secretary's report, the early version of it, the white house is doing its own investigation. that report's due out next week or next month, i should say. then the inspector general for the v.a. is also taking a look at this, a third separate investigation that's likely to be due, that report due later this summer. >> tracy, do we have any idea at

this point in time what the president is going to say wednesday about the pull out from afghanistan? >> not specifically. the thing to watch for, dell, is will the focus of our military after fighting, or is he going to get more specific and talk about the remnant that's going to be left in afghanistan, the big question everyone wants to know, how many of our troops are going to be left after this war is over at the end of the year. >> tracy, thank you very much. >> let's get a look at what temperatures we expect to see across the nation today. >> for the answer, as always, we turn to nicole mitchell. >> back to work, back to reality for folks after the holiday weekend. temperatures have been very mild. even walking out the door, you might be able to totally leaf the jacket behind. cooler into the western half of the country with seattle, billings 56. sixty's and 70's up the east

coast and through the central u.s. we do have changes coming. today, our real hot stuff, phoenix 106 degrees. through the midwest, 80 degrees, close to that for chicago and minneapolis, well into the east coast, seeing those 80's. the next weather system, as i said earlier, a little bit of instability, showery activity possible for the eastern half of the country with the heavier rain to the south. that same system, look at what it does to temperatures, new york, already by tomorrow could be back into the 60's, about a 20-degree temperature drop. not too unrealistic. it is still may. when you've had a taste of the warm stuff, you don't want to give it up. >> the college student who went on a deadly rampage had a history of mental illness. >> some say there is a lack of attempt options for those debt pretty lein need of help.

>> the pope is making promises to victimses of sex abuse. >> this is a live look at the rock of gibraltar. it is a balmy 70 degrees.

>> good morning. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters.

>> i'm stephanie sy. the state of mental health treatment in america and what if anything is being done to help people with serious emotional issues. >> tough time from the pope, programsing zero tolerance when it comes to clergy sex abuse. >> how one country is trying to fix its economic problems putting its fishing industry at risk. >> first, let's get a look at our top stories. nigeria has found hundreds of school girls abducted by boko haram but won't launch a rescue effort fearing it might put their lives in jeopardy. >> vietnam saying chain new sank one of its fishing vessels, china saying the boat instigated the collision. >> a massive mud slide in colorado, three inspecting drainage problems when the four-mile wide slide happened. >> the organization tasked with

removing syria's chemical weapons said its in expertors were attacked but now safe. the team was investigating claims of chlorine gas attacks in a rebel held village at the time of the incident. in addition to the hundreds of thousands killed, the three year civil war has destroyed much of syria's history. we report on efforts to safeguard what's left of the countries heritage. >> this has been fought over for three years by government and rebels. some of syria's most valuable oil reserves lie beneath the ground. above ground are treasures at risk. cultural ones. traditionally, a focal point for commerce, but bombs and bullets have transformed it into an empty shell. >> it is one of the most famous monumental sites, destroyed by the forces in an indescribable

barbaric manner. this was the mosque in aleppo before the civil war. for almost a thousand years, it ttowered over the landscape her. >> certainly we need to do more. we need to put cultural heritage preservation within the humanitarian effort and several give it a much higher roll in the international agenda for syria. >> the violence has taken its toll on religious and cultural sites across syria. last year, this mosque was destroyed. it had been a sacred place for more than a millennium.

these are the ruins of the ancient city of palmira. the war between fellow syrians threatens this and other cultural sites like never before. >> syria has six sites on the world heritage list, each representing 2,000 years of history. all have been damaged in the war. >> thailand military is promising democracy as its latest coup leads to more protests. a former minister who denounced the military's move to overthrow the government has been detained. demonstrators have been calling for the removal of the thai president. >> it is the final day of voting in egypt's presidential

elections. the former army chiefal sisi is running against the leftwing candidate. this is the second presidential election in two years. al sisi widely expected to win. if he does, he'll be the latest in a long line of military leaders ruling the country. >> it is run off tuesday in texas, hundreds of thousands heading to the polls to settle a number of high profile races left undecided from the primary in march. two of the most heated battles are on the republican side for lt. governor and attorney general. >> another texas run off pitting the oldest member of congress against a challenger barely half his age. ralph hall facing 48-year-old

tea party candidate john rat cliff. hall won his seat when jimmy carter was president. he said if he wins, it will be his last term. >> detroit is set to unveil a long awaited plan to rid the city of blight. the results will be this morning, including recommendations on dealing with abandoned buildings and vacant lots across the city. it's part of the efforts by the obama administration to help detroit, undergoing the nation's largest municipal bankruptcy. who's a part of this blight removal task force and what can we expect to hear today? >> this task force was formed in september and consists of the city, state, federal government, as well as private institution. now, just a couple of hours, the task force is expected to reveal just how bad the blight situation here is in the city of

detroit. they're expected to plot a course on just how the city should rid itself of all of this blight. now it's important to note that the city has been knocking down blighted structures for several years, but we have never seen a plan of this magnitude. >> how does this study factor into the city's on going bankruptcy proceedings. >> stephanie, it plays a really huge role in the bankruptcy proceedings in that this is a major part of the city of detroit's major restructuring, just to give you perspective, the city's manager just a few weeks ago made this proposal consisting of setting aside nearly a half billions to tear down these blighted instructures. that's very, very big. because it can change the city's landscape. >> how is this funded? solely by the city or will there be private contributions? >> there will be private

contributions. i mean, funding will come from the city, from the state, from the federal government. again, from these private institutions, so a lot of help coming in different ways. we're still waiting to see if that funding will be approved by the state legislature, coming up later at 8:00, i'll show you just how blight is impacting communities here. i had the opportunity to talk to a man, mark covington. he is taking on the issue of blight on his own. not only is he transforming his neighborhood, easy also touching lives. >> we'll look forward to that. thank you. >> pope francis says he has zero tolerance for anyone in the catholic church abusing children, making those comments after his visit to the holy land. he says there are bishops, three under investigation for abuse, calling such actions horrific. >> the priest who does this

betrays the body of the lord. a priest needs to lead children to sanctity, unsteady abuses them. this is like a say tannic mass. >> he is expected to have his first meetings with victims of sex abuse next week at the vatican. >> elliot roger was able to purchase guns and ammunition used in a deary rampage in santa barbara despite his mental illness. we have more on the missed red flags. >> with the benefit of hindsight, the clues appeared to be everywhere, elliot roger posted disturbing videos on you tube. >> you denied me a happy life. >> concerning enough that his own family asked police to check on him a month ago.

they did, and after finding him poll light and lucid, they left. in his meandering 140 page manifesto, roger reportedly wrote about that visit. >> we now know he had legally purchased handguns. >> if a person has not been taken against their will and put on a hold, that is not entered into a database and is not disqualifying information to purchase a firearm. >> he would have needed to be a threat to himself or another person. under california law, mental illness is not a reason to detain someone or prevent the purchase of a weapon. >> the diagnosis of mental

illness is an inexact science. millions of americans deal with mental problems. a small handful of them might ever go on a shooting spree. >> it is brought to us because we are able to see what happens in connecticut and virginia tech and so many different places. the truth of the matter is as sad as it may sound, these are rare occurrences, even though they are catastrophic occurrences. there's no way to study them and predict them with any accuracy. >> ever since the 2012 sandy hook shooting, the national rifle association maintained the position that improving the country's mental health care system is the best strategy to prevent such incidents from taking place. >> how can we possibly even guess how many, given our nation's refusal to create an active national database of the

mentally ill. >> the father of christopher martinez, a student killed want to keep the focus. >> nobody needs to own three semiautomatic handguns. it doesn't make sense. >> the debate over what could have prevented this tragedy, pure guns or medical options is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. >> joining us to discuss the issue of mental health as it pertains to the actions of elliot roger is executive director of treatment add have a kaz center joining us from washington. ms. fuller, thank you for your time.

>> the sheriff said "there is a lack of resources in community mental health treatment and lack of notification by health care professionals in instances where people are expressing suicidal or in certain cases homicidal thoughts or tendencies." i want to talk about resources in a moment, but first, what might keep a therapist from reporting a case like wrongers to authorities? >> they are often afraid of being sued for some reason. there's a widespread misunderstanding in the therapeutic community, in the law enforcement community and a lot of communities about what actually can be reported and what actually can be grounds for acting on a mental health crisis. >> now in the case of rogers, sheriff's deputies rad reportedly visited him to check in and didn't find cause to check his room, where he had an arsenal. would police have had the

training adequate to diagnose the problem on the spot like that? >> no, stephanie, we train police to do law enforcement. we don't train them to be mental health workers. one of the biggest problems in america today is we really dismantled our mental health system for dealing with especially the most severe mental illnesses and replaced it with police officers and replaced hospitals with jails and prison. we are reaping what we've sewn. >> rogers parents seem concerned, they had given him a therapist. at different points he writes about that. one would argue he did have the resources to address these issues. >> you know, his parents did everything possible, and he was seeing therapists. i don't really know what his diagnosis was. we don't -- there's a lot we

don't know at this point. i have seen some reports that he was prescribed medications for some sigh cottic symptoms and he refused to take those. those are just media reports. that would give us a whole other level of understanding. >> i guess the question is, is committing more seriously mentally ill people the answer here? >> i think that having a system that spots people who are in psychiatric cries and make services available to them would make a difference. california, every state has a law in which dangerousness is the plesh hold at which there is the potential to intervene. california's law is very restricted. in colorado, rogers parents could not have petitioned the court to at least pick him up

for an evaluation. we've got to start somewhere. one of the places to start is to have laws that at least make it possible to. >>er vein where there are signs of dangerousness. we shouldn't be waiting for dangerousness. if we're going to do that, we should at least have the tools possible to examine people when they are showing unmistakable signs of being dangerous to themselves or others. >> when you look at this particular case, is there any point in the process at which somebody could have raised a red flag that would have prevented this massacre from happening? >> well, rogers parents were raising red flags. i understand a social worker also called the police. my understanding is that in santa barbara, the police themselves could not initiate an emergency evaluation. that's sort of the entry door for a psychiatric examination is taking someone to a psychiatric facility to have them examined to see if they are ill enough to

be hospitalized. basically, the ways to open that door were pretty much closed. what would it take? it probably would have taken a better law. >> coming up in the next hour, we'll talk about the killer's diagnosis of as berger's system and the controversy of why his family's attorney brought it up. >> it turns out the more affluent you are, the greater risk for different types of cancer. the report found higher cases of skin, thyroid and test particular cancer for those well off, people poor diagnosed with cervical and throat cancer.

>> all of us have been taught as kids to hold our breath going under tunnels. a teenager held his breath as he drove through a tunnel and he passed out and hit two vehicles. there were no fatalities from that crash. >> we used to do that when kids, but not when we were driving. >> time magazine reporting new mothers being encouraged to breastfeed their babies. the posters have a banner that reads don't currently your back on them, give them your breast. the problem is the poor people in that particular area of mexico city can't afford to breastfeed their children. malnutrition is such a factor that sometimes the economics don't play into the role. >> they say they can't afford it because mexico doesn't allow women to breast feet at work or

pump. they take free formula, which is the cheapest way to feed your baby. >> people say the posters objectify the women as opposed to the issue itself. >> leave us alone, a nigerian military commander telling the international community to back off. >> we'll talk to a retired army major about what nigeria's next move should be after locating the hostages. >> the rare fight in the middle of the congo is our discovery of the day. >> you're looking live at central park in new york city. that's what i should be doing off to the right, jogging, but that would be a decade in the making. 88 degrees today, the blast of summer about to bring serious rain, as well.

>> talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america

>> it's time now for our discovery of the day. a massive pete bog is nearly the size of england and contains billions of tons of pete, it is layers of plant matter that does not fully decompose. the material could be used to study environmental changes. it was originally seen from satellite i am packages. it took researchers more than a month to reach the area. this one in a warm, wet tropical region is especially unusual. >> 55,000 people die every year from rabies. many deaths would be preventable if more dogs were vaccinated. 40% of those bitten by dogs are under the age of 15. it would be cheaper to vaccinate dogs than it is to treat humans with rabies. inman countries, there's not

enough funding for vaccinations. the virus affects the central nervous system and can cause brain swelling. >> scientists are going to test dogs, cats, even rats for the mers virus that has killed 200 people since 2012. the virus has been widely found in camels. reservers are trying to see if other animals carry it. most infections have been seen in the middle east. there have been three cases in the u.s., none fatal. >> nigeria's military saying they found school girls kidnap by boko haram, saying they can't rescue them because they fear using force would kill the girls in the process. the nigerian military is facing pressure for their failure to bring the girls home but are publicly insisting that they know what they are doing. or do they? a retired army major, mike lions

joins us. why can't they rescue them? why let the enemy know what you know? >> makes no sense, those comments over the weekend. they come as a shock. you saw the international community back away from them, as well. they've got to think about if they located them, they must not feel from a military perspective they have enough resources to go in in a manner to save their lives. over 300 girls to rescue, they'd have to bring in trucks, helicopters, all the things i'm not sure the military has. >> let's listen to what the military hander said. >> the good news for the girls, we know where they are, but we cannot tell you. just leave us alone, we are working, we will get the girls back. >> is there this an indication that the nigerian military has things under control or they have absolutely no idea what

they are doing. >> it was kind of a pop off answer, something that came out of his mouth and he probably regretted on some level. at this point, it looks like the nigerian military wants to control this mission. they tell the military back away, this is going to be a military operation. we're going to solve this problem. it closes the loop in terms of it's only negotiation so to feel the problem. it doesn't look like there could be a military solution. >> is it troubling that the military seems to be more worried about the image than getting the girls safely home? >> it does. these are the comments coming out from the military government. if this ends badly especially they'll have a problem from the government's legitimacy perspective. >> is it possible to rescue 276 hostages, in this case, school girls without casualties. if so what is the degree of

casualty factored in if you do a rescue mission? >> you have to look at 10% to 20%. >> that's 54 girls. >> it would be something that the world would be outraged over. you'd have to bring helicopters, ground vehicles, put 500 to 1,000 soldiers, troops in there. there's really no way that the military and other forces can work together in such a short time with language barriers, logistic problems. >> put yourself in the mind of boko haram. if you are listening and we know they are, and you know you have been found, you have been discovered, what do you do next? >> they're going to move these girls around and separate them, make rescue mission more difficult. i also think it increases their 11 to negotiate on some level, the fact that this information is out, the fact that the nigerian government has played its hand at this point.

they're still 36,000 square miles of desert that they can move these people around easily, quickly and go undercover. >> coming up, we're going to be talking about the very latest on the missing girls. we'll go live to nigeria on ground and talk about the latest developments. >> it was hot enough for sun bathers to hit the beach along michigan's lake superior this memorial day weekend, but probably not a lot of people brave enough to take a dip in the water. the water temperature is 37 degrees and there are still chunks of ice floating in the lake. a brutally cold winter is to blame, failing to get above freezing for 75 days this winter. the ice coffer is the largest it has been this late into spring

in nearly 25 years. >> meteorologist nicole mitchell is back with another check of the weather. what did you think of that video? >> i've actually done the polar plunges. you don't stay in for long, that's all i have to say. here's a quick dip. from the ice to the tropical, we have hurricane amanda here, very early. this is a category three, to have a storm in general, but especially this intense. the season is just around the corner fours. that doesn't look like it's making landfall, but we do have activity here including the low pressure area into texas. that's been our biggest rainfall maker for today and biggest chance for strong storms. you can see it's very unstable, that eastern half of the country. that will spread across the gulf coast. we've had some reports of severe hail with this, isolated

tornadoes, so that, too is a risk through the day. i'll have more on those rain total amounts in just a few minutes. >> ok, thank you. a veteran in jacksonville, florida got the ultimate gift for memorial day. neighbors helped the korean war veteran fix up his century old home. the city told him he needed to fix up the house or pay $250 a day in code enforcement fines. he has lived in the house for 41 years. his neighbors raised over $1,000 on facebook to help with the repairs. >> at the end of our first hour, a campus memorial service held today for the victims of the santa barbara killing spree. >> rescue crews racing against time, trying to find those three workers missing in a four-mile wide mud slide. detroit planning to deal with an estimated 75,000 homes across that bankrupt city. also head, an ambitious plan in

myanmar not sitting well with the residents. how the goal of growth may threaten the lively who said of some in that country. >> stuck on the train tracks with a locomotive bearing down, that and other stories captured by our citizen journalists around the world. >> we'll be right back with more aljazeera america.

real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. i think that al jazeera helps connect people in a way they haven't been connected before. it's a new approach to journalism. this is an opportunity for americans to learn something. we need to know what's going on around the world. we need to know what's going on in our back yard and i think al jazeera does just that. >> nigeria's military offering hope to families of hundreds of kidnapped school girls. there is a hurdle to bringing them home safely. >> new questions emerging about the mental health of the gunman iin california. >> cracking down on sex abuse in

the catholic church. what the pope is saying and doing to deal with the crisis. >> i said from the beginning that i wanted to shine the most positive light on my neighborhood as possible. >> bringing new life to the motor city. one man's mission to clean abandoned homes as the city prepares to unveil a plan of its own. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. there may be a break in the case of the missing nigerian school girls held captive by boko haram. >> the military says they know where the girls are. they're not sure they can rescue them. we have the latest developments. >> it's been seven weeks since more than 300 nigerian teenagers were kidnapped. three girls escaped on their own. 276 remain captive. many citizens have been calling the government and its military corruption for failing to find

the missing children. now the head of the nigerian military is now saying they know where the girls are, but they just can't bring them back just yet. >> in the wake of mass protests and prayers, nigeria's defense chief made an important announcement about the much criticized military mission to rescue the missing school girls abducted by boko haram. >> the good news for the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you. just leave us alone, we are working, we will get the girls back. >> the defense chief spoke in front of thousands of demonstrators who marched in the capitol. >> nobody should come and say the nigerian military does not know what it is doing. we know what we are doing. >> he said the military will not use force, fearing that could get the girls killed.

>> on the same day as this announcement, a sit in protest. citizens say the government is failing in one of its basic duties to its people. >> it is the responsibility of the government to protect every citizen and therefore, if a citizen is missing, it is government's responsibility to produce that citizen. government has two major responsibilities, primary responsibilities, the welfare and security of the people. >> this comes as violence between nigerian citizens escalates. since the girls were captured, 500 civilians have been killed. civilian task forces provide security, which has students and business men arming themselves. >> the news of those missing girls sparking both joy and

anger from family members who say the government needs to rescue those girls right away. we are on the ground with more from the nigerian capitol. >> the families of the more than 200 girls kidnapped have started to respond to this statement by the chief of defense staff that they know where the girls are, but they're not going to use force to rescue them. the families we've been speaking to say they are waiting and watching very cautiously rewarding what the military intend to do. they say that in the past, they've received conflicting and confusing information from the military about where the girls are, so they are a little bit skeptical and distrustful of information emerging from the military authorities. on the border picture of the nigerian response to this development, many welcomed the news, but the military know where the girls are, but also asking if the military do know the location, then there must be a rescue attempt as soon as possible.

however, for operational and security reasons, the military authorities say they can't give anymore information about what rescue attempt is underway. it's also important to state that various other arms of government, for example, the president has not made any statement. it is hoped that the rescue attempt will be mounted soon and the girls returned home. >> in the moments before elliot roger opened fire, his parents were apparently racing to santa barbara. they got on the freeway after seeing his emailed manifest toe which shows he wanted to kill his younger brother and stepmother. but then, it was just too late. today, students are remembering the six victims of last friday's attacks. a memorial service will be held on campus this afternoon. as classmates remember their

fellow students, victims' parents are expressing they're grief. i understand one father is blaming lawmakers in washington. what is he saying? >> well, stephanie, i'm standing in front of the deli, one of the stops that elliot roger made. here he shot and killed u.c. student christopher americans. richard martinez, the father had a message, saying he was tired of the n.r.a., tired of politicians. he said there are gun rights, well what about his son's right to live. in addition, elliot rogers stabbed and killed three students in his apartment. here's what george chen's mother had to say. >> we had die a hundred times, a thousand times, but we don't want our kids get hurt. this shouldn't happen to any family. this should be the last one in the united states. >> i understand an interfaith

service will be held today. how are the students there handling the situation? >> well, stephanie, as you can see, for example, i'm standing in front of a makeshift memorial. there are candles here in front of the deli where christopher americans was shot and killed. we've seen students come day and night dropping by candles and messages. they've started writing messages on the ground here, messages of peace and love, asking for time to heal and to never forget. the long weekend, the memorial day weekend wrapped up and we are seeing more students come, stop by and remember the lives lost. >> melissa, thank you. >> coming up in about 25 minutes, we'll take a closer look at the mental state of elliot roger and how his diagnose of as berger's syndrome may have affected his thought process. >> in clearwater beach, florida, packed with visitors, two people

were shot after what police say appeared to be a gang related fight. >> it is a family destination, not something that we are all happy about. this is something that you don't ever want to have in your back yard. i bring my family here all the time. so have clearwater beach be safe is our number one priority. >> the shootings began outside the hyatt hotel. as a precaution, police cleared the popular beach for several hours. >> thailand's military is promises democracy as its latest coup leads to pro tests. a former minister was detained today. he denounced the military last week. thailand has been in a political deadlock for six months. demonstrators called for the removal of the prime minister. a thai court dismissed her from office earlier this month for abuse of power and corruption.

>> it is the final day of voting in egypt's presidential elections. the country's former army chief is running against the leftwing candidate. this is egypt's second presidential election in two years. al sisi is widely expected to win. if he does, he will be the latest in a long line of military leaders who have ruled the country. mohamed morsi's over thrown last year. >> ukraine's new president vows to bring peace to the country, but a new wave of violence broke out in clashes at the donetsk airport, leaving pro-russian separatists dead. it's still unclear who is in control of that airport. >> they came from above, an attempt to regain the airport. the ukrainian government launched what's called its biggest operation yet against

pro russian fighters. it began in the early hours of monday, when the separatists seized control of the building. the airport shut down, no flights in or out to the city of 1 million. police blocked access to the entrance. ukrainian authorities set a deadline for pro separatists to lay down their arms. it came and went with no vander. the crackdown came quickly. jets and helicopters launched attacks to root out the separatists. more arrived to join the fight. fighters belonging to a pro russian militia. this wasn't going to be an easy route for the government in kiev. a leader remained defiant. >> with these latest developments unfolding fast and aggressively, we have to appeal to the president of the russian federation, vladimir putin personally and to the entire russian people.

>> one aljazeera crew little caught up in the crossfire. they were on the road leading to the airport when shooting broke out. the crew escaped unharmed. >> get going! >> they narrowly avoided an explosion as they were turning back. >> go! go! drive! drive! [ gunfire ] >> by tuesday morning, the fighting calmed down. it was unclear if the military had complete control of the airport. residents were urged to stay indoors at home. >> the man expected to be named ukraine's new president in the coming days compares the fighters in the east to somali pirates, outlaws who simply can't be invited to the negotiating table. still, once his victory is confirmed, he'll make his first

trip to the troubled eastern regions. he's going to talk with russia, which many accuse of supporting the fighters there, in early june. >> russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov say there are no plans to meet with poroshenko. >> vietnam had a sinking of a vessel in the south china sea. vietnam's court government saying it was surrounded by 40 chinese vessels before being rapidly. beijing said the boat approached their vessels instigating the incident. >> authorities have released raw satellite data from missing malaysian air light 370. the flight went missing in early march with 239 people onboard. relatives of the victims have been asking for greater transparency and demanding the

release of data so independent analysts can focus on new leads. >> 40 are dead after an express train in northern india smashed into a freight train. it was traveling at a high rate of speed when the collision occurred. six of the cars derailed with the eating car taking the brunt of the impact. that is where most of the people were killed. >> flooding in southern china killed 37 people, forcing half a million from their homes. heavy rains hit the country's manufacturing hub near hong kong especially hard. forecasters predict more thunderstorms there today. officials say the floodwaters have destroyed 25,000 homes. >> a tornado in north dakota touched down at a camp for oil field workers. one victim said to be in critical condition. the twister destroyed eight trailers, county officials say the damage might have been worst if it hit a few days earlier

when more trailers were parked inside that camp. >> what would we do without form chasers? >> parts of the u.s. will once again be dealing with the threat of severe weather today. >> for more, we turn to nicole mitchell. >> we were talking about that tornado in the video, trailers are not well built structures. of course you have more damage with that. that can be especially dangerous if you're inside at the time. always good to have those weather radios to keep you informed if you get to a safer place. >> this was the damage from the midwest yesterday, including north dakota. you can see spotty stuff, wind and hail dodge to flooding concerns. it's been more sporadic, this eastern half of the country, with the exception of the southern tier. green areas, chances for isolated thunderstorms today is where we get into this yellow over texas. that is a slight risk, the better chances for severe weather. that's what we've actually

already seen in some cases, not only a couple of tornado reports, but a lot of orange collars, that's wind damage that's severe criteria, so the smaller, damaging winds that have gone through. heavier areas of rain, you can see the ban moving into east texas, producing significant rainfall. this is going to stay percentent. spotty stuff through the east, but it's this and then eventually moving across the gulf coast that is going to be our biggest concern over the next couple days. this is going to be a heavy rainmaker as it creeps its way along slowly. a lot of place seeing two or three inches. this core goes up to six inches and flooding is going to be a concern with that. back to you. >> firefighters in alaska hope rain in the forecast will help them get control of a wildfire that has burned 248 square miles. the funny river fire is 30% contained, it's been burning for more than a week in the wildlife ref final 60 miles south offing.

rain is expected today and tomorrow. a local finishing resort is also providing free lodging for displaced residents and their pets. >> in colorado, they are racing against time, rescuers trying to find three men swept away by a massive mud slide. >> john henry smith is now here with the latest on the search effort. some of these pictures will help viewers understand the scope of what the rescuers face. >> it is quite a challenge. this is playing out around one of the world's largest flat top mountains, the grand mesa mountain located 240 miles southwest of denver. three workers from nearby colorado were in the area sunday when the mountain gave way. these are our first aerial pictures of what's called the southlake mud slide, giving an indication of what an

irresistible force it can be. forty to 50 rescuers and unmanned heat seeking drones are trying to find three missing men. all three had gone out to inspect drainage problems along salt creek road sunday after a smaller slide. >> everybody on this mountain is operating for a miracle right now. we hope that, you know, that they may be stranded somewhere, or in such a way that, you know, they avoided it. right now, they have not been heard from. we've flown the area and haven't seen anything from the a ir. >> the draw they were in flowed over into the next canyon. that's how much dirt moved, how much mountain came down. >> it's part of our family, so we hurt too, our family, the community will come together and things will work out good. it will be good. >> a very emotional time.

the sheriff has then very helpful advice on a dealing with the situation from his counter parts in oso, washington, dealing with their own mud slide, a tragedy that killed more than 40 people. >> confronting clergy sex abuse head on, the pope going where no pope has gone before, his new attempt at healing wounds left behind by years of scandal. >> parts of detroit look like a ghost town, thousands of empty homes and abandoned buildings. today, the motor city unveils its plan to deem with the blight. >> a semi truck versus a locomotive. that video and others captured by citizen journalists around the world. the world.

>> very warm temperatures once again today, up and down the east coast, 80's out here, 106 for phoenix. we are going to start to see changes he is specialty for the northeast. boston might see that today. as the front comes through the area, things cool down overnight tonight, not really going back up into the day tomorrow. some of these 80's will be replaced with temperatures like 64 as we get into tomorrow's forecast. >> nicole, thank you very much.

>> senator chuck schumer is asking for $100 million in federal funds to help stem the flow of heroin into new york city. the additional funding would provide information that could help federal and state law enforcement work together on the drug problem. >> scientists in the u.s. are going to test dogs, cats and rats for the mers virus. it has killed 200 people around the world. the virus that causes it has been found in camels. researchers are trying to see if other animals carry the virus. most cases have been in the middle east, but there have been three in the u.s. >> 55,000 people around the world die from rabies. many deaths are preventable with the vaccination of dogs.

experts say it would be much cheaper to vaccinate dogs than treat humans with rabies. in many countries, there's not enough funding for vaccinations. the virus affects the central nervous system and can cause brain swelling. >> in the east country of myanmar, economic growth is threatens fisherman. a zone has been created to provide jobs but not everyone is happy about it. >> there's a lot on this man's mind as he sets off for the day's work. he's worried about his family's future. >> we can't predict what will happen. i have no idea of what will become of our life here. we are like a tree growing on the river bank. life is full of uncertainty. >> his family used to plant rice, a land they farmed for generations. the field was confiscated bit by bit over the years, a common

occurrence during the decades under military dictatorship. now, there's another threat. all in the name of progress. the area has been designated as drill land, a project that will include factories and a deep sea port. >> the people in this village haven't been told they have to move, but their houses lie within the zone and they fear it's only a matter of time before they're forced to relocate. >> already, others in neighboring villages have had to leave their homes, although a few are holding out, unhappy with the compensation plan, which they say doesn't include land to farm on. >> the government sees us as squatters. we have nowhere to go, nowhere to survive. that's why we are resisting. >> he is not sure if he will resist when the order comes for him to move out. >> the good news is that we have

the chance of getting jobs in the factories, but we also have to face the possibility of being homeless. >> he says he doesn't want to stand in the way of development. he's just not sure if he'll be a part of it or be left behind because of it. >> myanmar is considering a bill that would require permission for anyone want to go convert to another religion. the goal is to prevent people from being forced to change their religions. >> the california shooter was diagnosed with asperger's. we're going to take a closer look at the order and separate fact from fiction. >> an ominous milestone for climate change. >> some of the most passionate soccer fans, many brazilians are not psyched about hosting their

first world cup. >> armed pro-russian separatists who continue to clash in the eastern part of that country. the violence was just after the country voted for a new president.

>> a live look at central park here in new york city, as you can see, folks enjoying a stroll in the warm weather this morning. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. ahead in this half hour, a special task force is set to present its plan to put a dent in detroit's estimated 78,000 abandoned homes and vacant buildings. how one resident is already taking matters into his own hands. >> there are no questions raised about the many health of the santa barbara rampage shooter. we're going to talk about some of the misconceptions about asperger's. >> the pope is confronting one of the church's darkest issues, saying that he has zero tolerance for anyone who abuses children. we take a closer look at how the pope plans to deal with the problem. >> the pope greets the faithful at a mass in jerusalem.

christians hold that jesus christ said suffer the little children to come unto me. in mod he were times, many believe the abusive acts of a minority of priests have tarnished that. inside the plane taking him back to rome. the pope addressed the situation. >> the priest who does this betrays the body of the lord. a priest needs to lead children to sanctity, instead, he abuses them and this is terrible. it is like a say tannic mass. >> >> next week, he will meet a group of victims. >> there will be a mass with six to eight people who have been abused. after that, they will have a meeting with me. there will be eight of them with the cardinal who is on that commission. on this issue, we must go forward with zero tolerance. >> in recent years, there's been an avalanche of abuse

allegations against the catholic church. it's own prosecutors claim to have handled more than 3,000 abuse cases over the past decade. 848 priests have been untracked, meaning they were he can pelled from their positions. more than two and a half thousand have been ordered to live a life of prayer or penance. the u.n. recently published a report accusing the vatican of systemmisticly placing the reputation of the church over the protection of child victims. this pope has confronted the issue. with new cases emerging, seemingly all the time, that is something he will have the chance to do. aljazeera. >> on his trip back to the vatican, the pope revealed that three bishops are now under investigation, what is not clear is if the bishops are involved

in a cover up or accused of abuse. >> a memorial service today honoring the victims of last friday's deadly rampage. police say six people were killed by college student elliot roger. he left behind you tube videos and a manifesto detailing his plan. the university community is responding to the tragedy. >> the students are back to hanging out at the calf fee shops, skateboarding down the street. as the memorial flowers begin to wilt. this student mecca is left with big things to think about, death at an early age. >> we think about this happening at other schools and you never expect it to happen at your school until it does. some women took to the street to march for violence against women. >> we can't go about our daily lives and act like nothing happened. we need to tell our community that this is not ok.

>> a memorial service helped students grapple with the issue and live with it afterwards. >> most young people never think they're going to die. they never experienced a brush with death and this for many is their first trauma of the sort. the real work will begin in a couple of weeks when it starts to sink in. >> life goes on here. most of the students we talked to don't know anyone who was wounded or killed. there are still several more weeks of school in this session, but for those who were there, they need to tell their story now. they need to tell the story of terror that happened that night. so many kids were present and watched this occur. >> that was brian rooney reporting. more information about exactly who elliot roger was is coming to light, including information that he was diagnosed at a young

age with asperger's syndrome. an autism expert, what the science reveals about the epidemic, how we got here and what parents can do now. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> the reason we are talking about this today is because an attorney for the family of peter roger told the associated press that his son was diagnosed at an earlier age of being a highly functional asperger syndrome child. why would he feel it important for the public to know that. >> i think he's trying to show that there may be a neurological basis, rather than him just being an evil person, wimp is what a lot of people will think, where there may be mental health issues and to let people understand he wasn't evil and his family wasn't bad, but rather that he had niece neurological issues that may have contributed in some way. >> what does scene tell us about

the connection, is there a link between asperger's syndrome and violent behavior? >> what we know is there's no direct link that we know of where we say that people with asperger's are more prone to violent behavior. there is a thin line between asperger's on a spectrum, there are different flavors of the same thing. if an individual with asperger's was pushed or put in a bad situation for threatened or bullied, the possibility that they could slip into a sigh cottic state and when they're in a sigh cottic state do something violent is probably more at risk than someone who didn't have asperger's. >> aren't people that have asperger's potentially more associately isolated and can that isolation lead to other emotional issues? >> absolutely. anything like this is multi-factorial. there's this family, he's from a diversed family.

these kids tend to be more bullied, tend to be abused by other kids. he couldn't meet girls and he was desperate for some sort of human contact, so there's many things that come into play here, but clearly, there's a neurological issue that predisposes and may also reduce their ability to inhibit certain impulsive actions. >> is there an age at which the risks for such behavior is greater and is it different for boys and girls, for example? >> asperger's is more of an immaturity of certain areas of the brain especially on the right side that act to inhibit. even with, you know, adolescent boys, especially up into the age of 19, they're at risk especially when they get testosterone flowing through their body. it may lower the threshold so if they feel threatened or endangered, they maybe more likely to react.

in this adolescent period and it may go on longer into the early 20s with children with as burger's. >> roger said his life was ruined after puberty. that seems to correlate with this release of testosterone that you're talking about, this period in his life. >> that's also the period of time when you want to be more socially accepted. i've worked with a lot of kids with asperger's. they're desperate for social connection but don't know how to do it, because they can't read these nonverbal clues. >> what do parents of to do. >> we're going to see unfortunately a lot more of this stuff, because we're ignoring this in this country. we're facing an epidemic of autism, one in 10,000 to one in 68 in three decades. this is a real issue. if we don't start to recognize it and give people information and start to do something earlier, the key to this is we really should ever screened this kid out earlier and if he had

asperger's, he probably didn't get the right treatment, otherwise we may have been able to prevent this. >> interesting insights. thanks for joining us this morning. >> in the oscar pistorius trial, a psychiatrist testified. pistorius is charged with the premeditated murder of his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. he shot her after he mistook her for an intruder. >> china now calling on the u.s. to stop cyber spying, in a report out of beijing, claiming china is a major target of u.s. on line spying, that accusation coming one week after prosecutors in the u.s. charged five military officials with

hacking into systems to steal trade secrets here. china said the u.s. should be condemned by the international community. >> calling on the european union to reduce its roll where not necessary, following the success of the elections. the french penalty said the e.u. has become remote and incom presence i'm for many of its citizens. >> this vote is an act of defy answer toward europe, towards the parties in government, both the ruling party, but also the opposition. this vote is an act of defiance toward politics, which after so many years of cries still calls for efforts without seeing results. >> british prime minister david cameron wants to scale back the

e.u.'s powers over individual member countries. >> armed men attacking the home of libya's new prime minister this morning. he was in his house with his family at the time, but all escaped unharmed. the growing unrest in libya is the worst in that north african country in recent years. >> this court yard has seen it all. music and drinks before the time of muammar gaddafi, forced closures when he was in power and now a period of uncertainty. everyone has an opinion on the new government and body that elected it, the general african congress. >> the g.n.c.'s mandate expired in february. they are illegitimate. the objectors are not for the good of the country. the people protested to end the g.n.c. but have military before i go grades protecting them and we don't want to get involved in a sea of blood. >> the vote of confidence took place sunday with heavy security protecting the meeting. >> it took around seven hours to

get enough general national congress members into that building, just to be able to legally start the vote. in the end, it did pass, but it's a decision that is proving controversial. >> many g.n.c. members stayed away in protest. >> what happened from the beginning was unconstitutional. the prime minister needed 120 votes. he only got 113. they stopped the session, but continued voting. we should have stayed with the old government, who were prepared for elections in june. i have no issues with the prime minister, but this isn't right. >> the budget is an issue many libbens who oppose this goo government are concerned much of the money will fund the militias. those who voted for him believe he can fix libya's problems. >> i voted for him because we can't go on like this. a new government might help in getting all sides together. each side thinks they are right and that they are the only ones

that have legitimacy. >> most people here want the same thing. the strong government with an army and a police force. they say their country has become lawless and ruled by militias. >> for me, the most important thing is that the p.m. is a patriotout who will serve the country without taking sides and work in a progressive way, because the situation we are in is pitiful. >> there is little optimism that things will improve in the near future. people say the hope they had following the revolution is long gone. >> libya has been struggling to contain an insurgency after the overthrow of the long time dictator muammar gaddafi in 2011. >> it is runoff day in texas. there are a number of high profile races left. two of the most heated statewide battles are on the republican

side. square off for the l. governor's job and attorney general. >> another texas run off pits the oldest member of congress against his challenger, facing stiff competition from a tea party candidate. hall won his first seat when jimmy carter was president. he said if he wins, it's going to be his last term. the republican winner will be unopposed in the following election. >> a blight removal task force includes dealing with abandoned buildings and vacant lots across detroit. >> who is a part of this task force and what can we expect to hear today? >> this task force was formed back in september as part of a

public-private partnership between the city, the state, the federal government and private institutions. now this group is expected to reveal in a couple of hours just how bad the blight situation is. they're going to look at way to say get rid of all of the blight. now blight clearly has been an issue here in detroit for quite some time. i had the opportunity to sit down with a detroiter who is taking the issue head on. >> despite what it looks like, this is not your typical farm. these goats, at your keys and chickens are being raised on detroit's east side. the farm yard belongs to mark. he's lived in the neighborhood all his life. abandoned and rotted out homes, illegal dumping, his once thriving community became one filled with decay. he decided to take on the blight himself in 2008. >> i said i wanted to shine the

most positive light on my neighborhood as possible. >> first he started mowing the grass, then bought this abandoned building and built a farm yard and community garden. >> what do you have here? >> broccoli, kale, brussel sprout and lettuce. >> it's know noun as the georgia street community collective. >> the idea for the neighbors is to come and pick whenever they want to pick and have whatever they want to have, and get help if they need it. >> in a bankrupt city, he is considered an innovator, but the fight isn't his alone. the city's emergency manner proposed spending more than a half billion dollars over the next five years to eliminate blight. wane state university urban development professor john moke said it's a step in the right direction, but there are more hurdles ahead. >> the city's biggest challenge

after eliminating blight is to assemble the land for reuse. >> covington is laying the groundwork, hope to go serve as an example of what is possible in a bankrupt city striving for a comeback. >> this task force could play a very big role in the city's restructuring. it was just a few weeks ago that the emergency manager proposed setting aside nearly half a billion dollars to eliminate blight here in detroit. if approved, it could drastically change the city's landscape. back to you. >> just showed how every little bit helps. reporting from detroit, thank you. >> in two weeks, soccer's world cup kicks off in brazil. many in that country are crazy about the sport but lack position when it come comes to hosting the games. we tried to find out why. >> of course the football

world's cup should be in brazil, five time winners, the birth of the game. who could complain? now i'm terrified, brazil should not host. it's absurd. all of these expenses do not have the population in mind and most is coming from our own pockets. >> protestors in rio de janeiro say the money spent on the tournament is at the expense of health, education and housing. who weis loves his football, but agrees. >> i'm in favor of us hosting the world cup. we're the country of soccer, but in terms of everything we're giving up, it's not worth the sacrifice. >> brazilians across the country have also been protesting, a major concern to the

authorities, as the word prepares to converge on brazil for a tournament that seems to get bigger and costlier every four years. there's obviously some passion for the word cup in the country that's won it five times, this on the beach in rio de janeiro. as we tick off the days until the world cup, we're going to have to see whether these pockets of passion in fest the rest of this normally football-mad country. they'll tell you it was all so different the last time brazil hosted the world cup in 1915. >> this explosion of enthusiasm did not start until brazil won in 1958 and in the 1970's when they started decorating the streets. they lost it that time to uruguay. not this time. the man responsible for those

decorations, brazil is ready to put that ghost to rest. >> the marriage between football and brazil is the perfect one. i started the decorations earlier to motivate the people, hoping they would dive head into the spirit of the world cup. whoever said that football is just a game? in brazil, as the world cup looms, it looks like a lot more than that both on and off the pitch. >> aljazeera, rio de janeiro. >> the soccer word cup begins june 12 and lasts about a month. >> honoring fallen americans with a symbolic show of strength. >> we'll tell you about a memorial day tradition with backpacks and a long walk.

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>> this is a live look at the beach at fort myers, florida, very nice morning, 70 degrees, going up to 91, rain showers though are likely for later in the day. i'm thinking of sunscreen of 70 just in case. >> how some americans put themselves into the shoes of this countries fallen servicemen. >> first a look at the wet weather across the "u.s.a. today." we turn to nicole mitchell. >> you were talking about that chance for showers or storms later in the day when we get the heat of the day in florida. a lot of the east he were half of the country is spotty stuff, more in the afternoon when we heat things up. we are starting off mild this morning. the southern edge we have an area of low pressure. you can pick out a little bit of a spiral and ahead of that, really heavy rain. even this line producing strong storms as it has moved through this morning. watch for that from time to

time. with the heaviest rain, the area highlighted in green, the watches, potential for flooding, so flood warnings up this morning. all that green, protected again under that slight risk for today. >> we had a great memorial day. >> china is trying to improve its air quality getting older cars off the road, phasing out 6 million vehicles as part of an unprecedented emission plan to reduce smog and traffic congestion. 5 million cars will be removed from beijing and the nearby port. the plan calls for gas stations in major cities to sell only cleanest grades of fuel. >> carbon dioxide levels in the northern hemisphere reaching their highest point in history last month. those levels are up 40% since the use of fossil fuels began during the industrial revolution. the group saying that the findings should serve as a wake

up call to cut down trees. greenhouse gases which lead to climate change. almost 200 governments have agreed to work together to keep the levels down. >> thousands taking part in a symbolic walk for loved ones who died in wars. the tradition is called carry the load and involves participants walking for hours to honor fallen soldiers. why family members consider it a duty to make sure their heroes are not forgotten. >> it's a physical grind, and emotionally wrenching. for those who come to the trail, it's also deeply satisfying, walking miles at a time carrying heavy loads, weighted backpacks and vests, american flags, even a 45-pound fire hose. for every participant in this four year dallas tradition, it's personal. >> it's the least we can do is try and feel some of the things that they feel every day.

>> for this family, 2f15's collided off the california coast. this man's brother was killed. he carries a vest with a picture of his brother. >> we think about carrying our burden alone, but if you carry it together, it's a lot easier. >> mandy is carrying the load for matt, and her husband, tim, drews younger brother is in the naval reserve in the last few months of duty in africa. >> it's highly emotional. it's a cathartic experience. you see these guys out there, maybe as missing a limb, carrying heavy packs, walking all night long, just carrying

their load around. it's just something that we have to do. >> carrying the load for nearly 40 miles like the family is doing is just painful. they'll tell you, it's not compared to the sacrifices made by the folks being honored today. >> i can't repay that enough, so just knowing that a little bit of pain for a few moments for one day is the least i can do. you know, i stopped last night about midnight after a laugh, and mandy asked do you want to go again at 2:00 a.m., i'm available at 2:00 a.m. i said i'll see how i feel. i texted her back and said i'm in for 2:00 a.m., we only do this once a year, so we went again in the middle of the night and did another seven-mile loop. >> and then another. the family tradition marking the true meaning of this day, remembering and honors a family member who received our country and didn't make it home and

thinking of another who should be home by thanksgiving. >> the event was held on memorial day first in 2011. they do it sometimes until they drop. >> some of the families carry that load every day. thanks for joining us. >> ahead in just two minutes, the latest on the situation in ukraine and day two of that important election in egypt. >> have a great morning. we'll see you back here tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern. the news of the day plus so much more. answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what.

>> this is al jazeera. >> from al jazeera's headquarters, this is the news hour. coming up in the next 60 minutes... ukraine is saying it regained the control of the airport and at least 40 people are killed. >> egypt declares a national holiday and calling the people out to vote on the fiem day of the elections. >> back at base, there is a close call, a