>> welcome the al jazeera america and i'm del walters and here are the stories we are following you, when are the school girls going come home. >> there is a week of solid darety on the campuses in california. >> caught in the cross fire, embattle eastern region of ukraine.

we begin with more anger and outrage in nigeria and following the statements from a top military official that says they know where the girls are but not using force to rescue them and that is raising even more questions. ♪ >> in the wake of mass protests and prayers... nigeria's defense chief made an important announcement about the in addition of rescues the missing school girls abducted by boko haram. >> we know where they are, can't tell you. just leave us alone. we are working to get the girls back. >> he spoke in frnt front of

thousands that marched in front of the capital. but he said that the military is not using force to free the girls fearing that could get them all killed. >> on the same day of the announcement, a sit-in protest and saying that the government is failing in one of the basic duties to the people. now this soming as the violence between the citizens and boko haram escalates. since the girls were cap chired they have killed 500 civilians, residents in north eastern areas

turned to the task forces to provide security, which has university students, civiler is vents and businessmen arming themselves with bows and arrows and swords and guns. >> meanwhile the family members of the missing girls are saying that the nigeria government needs to do more and must rescue the girls right away. we have more from the nigerian capital. >> the families are responding to the statement by the chief of defense staff knowing where the girls are and not going to use force to rescue them and the families that we have been speaking to are waiting and watching cautionly in what the military intends to do. in the past they have received conflicting and confusing information from the military about where the girls are and they are a little skeptical with some of the information emerging from the authorities.

on the broader picture of the response to this development, many nigerians welcome the news and if the military knows the location there must be rescue attempts as soon as possible, for the security reasons they are not giving out information about what rescue attempt is underway. it is important about to state that other arms of government, for example, they have not made statements about the new developments however, it is hoped by many that the rescue attempts will be mounted soon and the girls will be returning home. >> thank you. >> a memorial service is being held today in california for the victims of the killing rampage. last friday elliott roger silled six before turning the gun on

himself. melissa, how are the students there copeing with the tragedy? >> i'm standing in front of the one of the stops where elliott stopped and killed a victim. they have a makeshift memorial and the students are bringing capp candles and flowers and message boards and writing the messages here with chalk on the pavement, messages of peace and love and they need time to heal. as the long weekend is wrapping up, we are getting more students returning and remembering the lives lost. the vigils and memorials have spread beyond where three were gunned down, high schools and universities remembered the victims, including the parents of george that added their names to this memorial. according to the police, their

son and two others were stabbed to death before going on the shooting rampage. >> we could die a thousand times, but we don't want our kids to be hurt. this shouldn't happen to any family. >> he had been visiting rogers. >> i just say god why don't you take me instead my son. >> questions are lingering about how he carried out the rampage when the clues were everywhere, including the postings on youtube. >> a beautiful environment is the darkest hell if you are experiencing it all alone. >> that concerned the family and they asked the police to check on him and they did and they found him polite.

>> they didn't find him to be dangerous because of the way he convinced as he was able to convince so many people, obviously, in his life. >> he was never committed to a mental facility he was able to buy handguns and that is adding new fuel to debate been the proponents of stricter gun control and the nra that says improving the mental healthcare system is the best strategy to prevent such incidents. the diagnosis of mental illness is not an exact science. >> truth of the matter is, it is sad, these are rare occurrences, they are catastrophic but no way to study them and predict them. >> part of the difficulty is the fact that it is easy to predict behaviors, but impossible to

predict a specific action unless they voice that and in the case of rogers he did, but he did not issue that manifesto after going on the rampage. >> this reignites the debate over mental health and guns and what are people saying about that? >> that is interesting because you know we are standing here in front of the deli and his father has come out with an impassioned plea and tired of the politicians and tired of the nra and gun rights, what about the rights of his son? that is the point he's making. of what is really interesting, ever since sandy hook in late 2012, the nra included that message of mental health and they want to change the mental health system and the people with mental health issues should

be registered. >> search and rescue workers are still looking for three men after a mud slide in colorado's national forrest, the disaster is at least two miles wide and 250 feet deep. the three men all missing were in a remote area of the forrest. the heavy rain is being blamed for the mud slide. >> pope francis offering an olive branch to the abused. >> pope francis preaches to the faithful. christians hold that jesus christ suffer is little children ti acts of to me and in moder priests tarnished that. inside of the plane going back to rome, the pope addressed the

situation. >> the priest who does this betrays the body of the lord and the priest needs to lead children to sanctity. this is terrible. it is like a satanic mass. >> pope francis said there is no place in the church for those abusing children. next week he's meeting a group of victims at the vatican. >> o there will be a mass with six to eight people that have been abused and they are going to have a meeting with me. on this issue, we must go forward with zero tolerance. >> in recent years, there are avalanche of abuse allegations against the catholic church and the prosecutors handled 3,000 abuse cases in the past decade, 848 priests are unfrocked, meaning they were expelled from their positions. more than two and a half

thousand ordered to live a life of prayer or penance. there is a report accusing the vatican of placing the preservation of the reputation of the church over the protection of the child victims, this pope has spoken about confronting the evil perpetrated by the priests that abuse children and with new cases emerging all the time, that is something he will have the chance to do. >> the victims group or the survivors network of those abused by priest dismissed the meeti meeting and saying it is a ges chur. >> the former leader is expected to win and the low vote numbers are causing concerns that even if he wins, the margin may not

be wild enough to claim a mandate: egypt is encouraging the citizens to go to the polls. >> russia is urging for the violence to end in ukraine. the fighting claimed 40 more lives. >> this video is from ukraine's defense ministry and showing the soldiers firing the machine genetics at the rebels and donetsk is another hot spot and ukraine has regained the control of the airport and stormed the airport in a dramatic show down. we have more from kiev. >> they came from above to retake the airport. the ukraine government is launching the biggest operation yet against the russian fighters and beginning on monday when the

separatists seized control of the airport. the police blocked the entrance to the airport. the crack down came quickly. smoke rose over the airport as jets and helicopters launched attacks to root out the separatists and more arrived to join in on the fight. a prorussian militia. they ran into government fire power and scores of separatists killed and others brought to hospitals. this man said around a hundred fellow fighters were killed around him. >> they were not many injured left. most of us were dead. a lot of us. >> the dead going to the city morgue and piles of bodies with

missing limbs. one al jazeera crew caught up in the cross fire. they were on the road leading to the airport when shooting broke out, and the cruise escaped unharmed. they avoided an explosion just as they were turning back. the government now says it has control of the government but there are reports that fighting elsewhere in donetsk and of the armed men entering ukraine from russia. >> the crew by the way is safe. >> coming up, vacant lots and abandoned homes in detroit and now the community is taking matters into their own hands.

>> chemical weapons inspectors coming around attack in syria, reports say they are safe. information is still coming in and the car was hit by a roadside bomb and 11 people were forced to turn & . >> it seems in chicago you can learn a lot from the taxi driver, that is because they are a poet, that fled syria because of the violence. >> you just never know who is going to pick you up in a cab. 46-year-old is shutting the travellers p days a week. >> i have to work more than 13 hours a day. >> the passengers will never know he was a literary star in syria with four books published. >> it was a beautiful life.

>> and for six years he's lived the life of a humble cab driver. >> for more than a year i couldn't write a word. >> he got bitten by the bug early. >> he told me you run away from education, i thought you were chasing girls. to find somebody to appreciate your work, it is very good feeling, it is a nice feeling. >> by 2008 fear of the regime drove him to chicago with nothing. he writes now in the apartment, spurred on by rave reviews he's getting in the new york times. >> before leaving for war -- >> tongue tie are short stories and parables and they are sly

and rye and taking a dig at the political power. >> we cannot express our opinions freely there and i decided to make it more , to hide the idea in my stories. >> with life there permanently in the rear-view mirror he drives a cab to survive. he hates it. in between the fares he's continue to write, and now it is paying off, as a guest at a conference, he sold signed copies of the first published book in english. >> it is a dream to me. >> he's back in chicago now and eking out a living. >> maybe it takes two or three

years from now but i'm working on it. this is my goal. this is my life. >> al jazeera chicago. >> well, detroit is unveiling an ambitious plan to rid that city of blight. a report is being released by a task force and including recommendations on dealing with the abandoned buildings and the vacant lots but the residents are not waiting and taking matters into their own hands. >> despite what it looks like, this is not your typical farm, the animals are raised in a neighborhood on the east side of detroit. the farm yard belongs to mark, he's liveed in the neighborhood all of his life. abandoned and rotted out homes, vacant lots, illegal dumping, a once thriving community is one filld with decay and in 2008 he decided to take on the blight

himself. >> i said from the beginning i wanted to shine a positive light on the neighborhood. >> first he started mow the grass and bought buildings and built a farm yard and a community garden. what do you have here? >> broccoli, sprouts and lettuce. >> it is a small enclave known as the georgia street community collective. >> ideas for the neighbors to pick when they want to pick and get help if they need it. >> in a bankrupt city with 80,000 abandoned structures he's considered an innovator, but the fight is not his alone. they have proposed spending millions to eliminate the blight. wayne state is saying it is a step in the right direction but

more hurdles ahead. >> the city's biggest challenge is to begin to assemble the land for reuse. >> but the collective is laying down the ground work and hoping to serve as an example of what is possible in a bankrupt city striving for a comeback. al jazeera detroit. >> and something different, gadgets are taking stage at the white house today, the president is hosting a science fair and featuring the winners of those devoted to science and technology and math. and promoting the educate to innovate campaign and enkurnling the students to excel in all of the subjects. we are going to take a break. we'll be right back. right back.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. nigeria is saying they know o the location of the missing girls and they are not going to use force to rescue them and many are accusing the government of not doing enough. >> memorial service held today for the victims of the

california killing rampage. and we are following this hour breaking news out of washington, al jazeera confirmed that the president is planning to leave ten thousand u.s. troops in afghanistan in 2015. we are joined by phone with all of the details, mike, bring us up to date. >> del, we have a number, 32,000 american troops in afghanistan, that of course is way down from the previous peek of a hundred thousand during the surge, but the question all along has been what is the u.s. presence going to look like at the american combat troops are out and that is something that the president campaigned on and promise over and over again and just over this weekend and making a surprise visit to the air base there. now we have the figure, 99800 u.s. service members in different parts of the country during the course of 2015.

also, continue to be nato and partners will be there. by the end of 2015, the official is saying that the united states reduces the presence by half down to almost 5,000, just a little below 5,000 american troops and most of those troops will be scattered throughout the country and could be concentrated in kabul and the administration is saying by the end of 2015 with just an office in kabul. what are the troops going to do in the course of two years, supporting counter terrorism operations against what the official sa salmonellaing the remnants of al qaeda and training the afghan forces. >> mike, we should point out this was the initial campaign office of the candidate obama in

2007? >> right, as a senator, and the president has spoken about it and it is something that he campaigned on in 2012 as well. del, we have to note, this is a long time coming, this greet that the administration is on the verge of making with the afghan government. back in december, they issued an ultimatum and leaving a status of a the forces, like we are seeing in the announcement today that the forces after the combat roll is over. u.s. saying that we need this by the end of the year or we are going to pull the troops and they slid that date. the sits president of afghanistan putting the thumb in the eye of the obama mrs. and never signed the agreement and now to the point of the first round of the elections. both of whom are going to sign

the agreement. and so the president expected to speak later this afternoon we understand to make this announcement, beldel. >> o thank you, mike. >> tornado tearing through parts of north dakota last night about six miles south of rockford city a. 15-year-old girl is in critical concern. it touched down on an oil workers camp. the national weather service is saying they have not assessed the strength of the tornado. >> well, as far as the east coast, the warm already is here and how long is it going to last? >> a few days. the temperatures up to near 90 degrees and a few days of that and the swear weather in north dakota is gone. the national weather service is sending out teams to look at the

damage. we have to go further to the south, this the texas, this line of strong storms that came through central texas and pushing off to coast. that line of swear weather. rain is a problem now and seeing the flood watches and a lot of rain in a short period of time. the rain over the nest three days, you are seeing that continuing to spread to the east as the storm is moving out. flooding will be a problem today and a few days across the southeast, no rain where we need it to the west. the draught is continuing there. we are continuing to monitor that situation. the temperatures where the rain is coming down, still up to 90 degrees. we are continuing to watch that. it is cooling off later in the week. >> thank you, dave. >> thank you for watching al jazeera merge.

"inside story" is next. we continue the track the developments out of ukraine and involving the president and the troop levels in afghanistan, 9800 by the year's end. the chinese leader and the russian leader sharing a toast? the biggest energy user and the big energy producer have a deal and share an appetite for occasionally united states. is their deal a big deal? it's the "inside story." hello. i am ray suarez.