welcome to al jazeera america. i am john henry smith. here are the stories we are following for you. >> after nearly five years in captivity, there their son, bowe is coming home. >> army surgent boweberg bergenhagen in u.s. custody and getting care. not every way is happy with how his freedom came about. five taliban prisoners arrive in qatar. the role that country played in the prisoner exchange. and a hometown welcome. people in hailey idaho are

getting ready to greet their hero with open arms. the only american prison nor of war from the afghanistan conflict is free. he is at an army base receiving medical treatment. he was a released on saturday. those prisoners arrive in doha, qatar about an hour ago. these are the latest images that we are just posted to twitter by the taliban. we go to hashem algavar on the role qatar played in the negotiations between the u.s. and the taliban. >> for qatar, this was a purely humanitarian mediation. but as far as they are concerned, they are very excited they were successful. it was a very delicate mission

because only a few weeks ago or a few months ago, this was an impossible mission. we don't know exactly about the arrangements made by the qataris. are they going to place them into some sort of restrictions? are they going to be able to play an active political role in the future? these are issues that the qatari government would like to talk about because it's a very, very sensitive issue. but it is a very significant move forward. the taliban have been saying in the past that they wanted some of their demands to be met to be able to move forward and talk about afghan reconciliation. they were talking about the prisoner swap. they wanted the names of their leaders to be removed from the u.s. and blacklist and they wanted tobac knowledged as a very powerful political and military entity. now, with the prisoner swap, the next step would be definitely trying to engage the taliban to start a genuine talk about the future of afghanistan.

>> we want to mention that al jazeera america's parent company is based in qatar and financed in part by the government in that country. well, bowe bergdahl's release is seen for cause for celebration by many here in the states. but the i can plmplications tha u.s. used is being criticized by some on capitol hill. randall pinkston joins us live from washington, d.c. randall, president obama has said in the past that america does not negotiate with terrorists. did such a negotiation happen here? and what sort of precedent does this seal set? >> first of all, john henry, secretary of defense chuck hagel insists it was not a matter of negotiating with terrorists but attaining a prisoner of war, something that's been done through the deck aids. critics are saying that this does set a dangerous precedent because even though the emir of qatar conducted the

negotiations, they were being done on behalf of the u.s. house intelligence committee chairman mike rogers does not think the obama administration should have agreed to the terms set by the taliban. >> we have set a price. we have a changing footprint in afghanistan which would put our soldiers at risk for this notion that if i can get one, i can get five taliban released. >> republican senator john mccain says, those five detainees who are now in qatar still pose a terrorist threat to the u.s. >> tell us why some republicans are calling this deal illegal. >> well, there was a provision in the defense authorization act of 2013, 2014 that says that if any detainee is transferred from guantanamo, the secretary of defense has to notify con congress 30 days in advance. now, obviously, that provision was not carried out. secretary hagel says that

congress was notified but not 30 days in advance because it was just too del indicate for that kind of notice. >> this was an operation, i think, as everyone recognizes that had to be very closely held. only very, very few people knew about this operation. we did not want to jeopardize any leaks. we couldn't afford any leaks anywhere. >> secretary hagel says that en the afghan government wasn't notified about the operation until after that happened. >> we have heard a little bit from chuck hagel. how is the rest of the obama administration reacting to this criticism. the administration continues to defend its decision on national security advisor susan rice explained the administration's rational. we felt that as the war is wiping down, it was our sacred obligation, given the opportunity, to get him back, that we do so and we did so in a

way that has brought him back safely into american hands. we did so in a way that resulted in the taliban prisoners being monitored and kept in a secure -- >> right. >> way. critics will point out that there is no way for the administration to guarantee that those containees will be kept in a secure way. they will likely also point to a press release that was put out by the taliban last night, in which they called the prison swap a release of the detainees saying that they have been welcomed in qatar by taliban delegation and that they will be living with their families there. john henry. >> randall pinkston life from washington, d.c. thanks so much. people are celebrating this morning in bergdahl's hometown of hailey, idaho where events are being planned for his eventuallirun. in hailey right now, allen, when do we think? >> john henry, balloons and

ribbons all over town here as people get ready to welcome bowe bergdahl home. we don't know exactly when he will be back here in the wood river valley in hailey, idaho. people are getting ready to have a big event planned for later on in the month of june, a welcome home event. they are hoping he will be here for that. meanwhile, yellow is the color in hailey. yellow rib options all over the lamp posts, the trees, the sign posts in downtown, in the main street of this 8,000-person town, signs in the windows that went up in very quick fashion yesterday saying that bowe is free. they have not forgotten here in hailey, idaho, that this young man has been held by the taliban overseas, most likely in pakistan, for the better part of five years. this community, his parents especially, bob and janie have kept up pressure on the obama administration, on the state department, on the american military to keep finding ways to

bring bowe bergdahl home. it looks like they have been successful in keeping his face in the news and making that happen. the folks in this town that i have talked to certainly aware of the controversies surrounding his release. the deal nad through qatar to release five people from guantanamo certainly aware of the controversy surrounding the dealing with terrorists and whether it's an appropriate strategy to use and precedent to set, but they will leave the debating of those controversial points for a later time. right now, they are saying, we are just glad that this native son who has been overseas and in danger for so long is going to be coming home. there is a huge, huge feeling of relief and joy in this part of idaho. john henry? >> you mentioned it, that that sound is about 8,000 people. i imagine there are a lot of people who is may have had a personal connection withberg or his immediate family. what are you hearing about sergeant bergdahl?

>>ments sue who owns the coffee shop had him as an on and off employee. everybody describes him as a very thoughtful kid, a very intelligent kid, well-read, curious about the world, interested in languages, interested in adventure and in the outdoors. everybody saying he is just a good, sensitive kid. they are concerned about how the five years in captivity will have impacted him, concerned about his reentry in the and the kind of pressures that might put on him. but like sue martin here, a lot of folks here, just waiting to give him a big, long hug and say hello once again in person to bowe bergdahl. >> alan shaufller thanks so much. while friends and family are celebrating, some lawmakers are concerned about the circumstances of his release. critics say a prisoner swap could encourage other groups to kidnap americans. earlier today, i spoke with

democratic strat just who dismissed such criticism saying they need to know they won't be left behind. >> we set a dangerous precedent to allow men and women fight wars and we leave them so i think it's important that people know that this country knows if you go and you fight for this country, that this country will fight for you. >> senator john mccain spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war in vietnam. the republicans say he's grateful bo. we e bergdahl is coming home. mccain is concerned about the other principalsers being freed. >> i think there are legitimate questions about these individuals who are being released and the conditions under which they are be released: these are the hardest of the hardcore. these are the highest high-risk people, and others that we have released have gone back into the fight. >> that's been documented.

>> sergeant bergdahl was the last remaining member of the u.s. military being held as a pow overseas. but at least five american civilians are being detained by hostile governments. alan gross has been held in cuba since 2009, kenneth bay has spent the last year and a half in north korea, three other men, sayed, and others have been detained in iran for at least two years. stay with al jazeera america for continuing coverage of army sergeant bowe bergdahl's release. at 3:00 p.m., the bergdahl family will hold a news conference in boise, idaho at 3:00 p.m. right here on al jazeera america. coming up, we will have the rest of today's top stories

>> al jazeera america presents the system with joe burlinger >> the dna testing shows that these are not his hairs >> unreliable forensics >> the problem the bureaus got is they fail, it's a big, big deal... >> convicted of unspeakable crimes did flawed lab work take away their freedom? >> i was 18 when i went in... when i came out i was 50... you don't get it back... >> shocking truths revealed >> the system with joe burlinger only on al jazeera america arch. philadelphia inquiry louis

katz was killed in a plane crash saturday night. the private aircraft he was in r ran off of the run wachlths in bedford, massachusetts. it was heading to atlantic city, new jersey. authorities are investigating what may have caused the accident. residents nearby say they could feel the explosion shake their homes. >> ukraine's government is vowing to keep fighting for russian separatists until order is restored. in the country's eastern states, rebels have taken over administrative and police buildings as david skateer reports, international monitors say conditions in the region are getting more dangerous by the day. >> driving east towards the russian border, you pass through checkpoints manned exclusively by cossacks. most are former miners but they have been reinforced with more than a sprinkling of chechyans. the second team of monitors does

disappeared on thursday. the guards are vigilant. on the road side, we pass two men forced on to the ground with their hands tied behind them. separatists place an armed guard in their van and tracked it. the town takes its name from anthrocite coal. it's a transport hub for weapons, ammunition and volunteers moving across the poorous border with russia. hundreds of fighters have used this route over the last few weeks as these pictures testify. we asked a local cossack commander if we could go forward where apply team had gone forward. he advised us. we asked if we could film. he told us we could end up shot. whoever was in charge of the fighters surrounding his headquarters, it clearly wasn't

him. we were then asked to sample the tradational cossack hospitality. it's not an invitation you can refuse. they talked about the recent fighting. >> we have been sharing a meal and a bit more with the cossacks manning some of the road blocks. we have been told that there were americans there. there were polish there. and there are also women snippers from the ukrainian area. >> see here, it is written in ukrainian, we do not want to separate the country. we are not separatists. it is the government who is dividing the country. at the latest rally in donetsk, the loudest cheers were raised to honor those killed in fierce fighting of the city's airport last week when it was anounced the bodies of 33 fighters have been repat treeiated in russia. >> thank you, russia. big thank you to russia. >> moscow's troops may be withdrawing from ukraine's border but volunteers are now rallying to the cause of

defending the self-declared people's republic. david shader, donetsk. >> intercepted about 3500 mile grants off of the coast of sicily. there were hundreds of children and at least 300 syrian refugees among them. italy is a common point of entry for people trying to reach europe. the italian government has asked the european union to help with the influx of immigrants. around 43,000 people have crossed into italy from africa so far this year. a suspect in last weekend's deadly shooting in brucels has been arrested. the french citizen was detained in the southern city of marsaielle during an inspection at the train station there. he reportedly arrived on a bus from amsterdam that stopped in brucels. three people were killed after a man opened fire at a jewish museum in brucels. police there were tipped off because the suspect was carrying two guns, one of them similar to

the weapon used in the shooting. he's being held by antiterrorist investigators. three of our al jazeera colleagues were back in court in cairo today. the trial of peter gresta, mohammed famy and byar mohammed have been adjourned until june 5th. they have i am priseensed for 1 days. they are accused of conspiring wi with the outlawed miss lim brotherhood. al jazeera rejects those charges and are demanding their immediate release. a report on the egypt's media crackdown. >> this has become an all too familiar scene in egypt. al jazeera journalists in court. they are not the only ones. >> they shut down t.v. station, raided offices of media outlets and detained more than 65 journalists since july and in addition, they prosecuted --

pescuted a lot of the activists. this is the funeral of a reporter shot in the back of the head while covering a protest in march. he script's minister of interior has since agreed to provide 100 bullet proof vests for journalists covering violent demonstrations. jailed media workers include freelance photographer mahmoud abuzayed. he has been intora prison since august last year and hasn't been charged. secular activists have been targeted. one est most well known ones is m macmad, the leader of the april 6th movement. one of the original groups behind the 2011 revolution. el sisi will have a lot of

difficulty with the international community getting aid getting investment and havinga legitimacy to say that he is running unless he releases all of the journalists behind bars and persecute those who are responsible on killing journalists. >> last year, a video came out where he spoke about the media with military generals one officer said. stop at a limline. sisi responded with: >> building a statewide alliance takes a long time and effort. it takes a long time until you get an appropriate share of infrewence over the media. >> now that he is about to become president, sisi will have the power to deal with the media any way he wants.

nicole johnston, al jazeera. this week marks 25 years since one of the bloodiest events in china's history. the chinese easy government still doesn't want anyone talking about it. in 1989, chinese forces attacked unarmed civilians in tiananmen square. estimates of the dead from that incident ranged from 300 to the thousands. since then, china has banned all forms of discussion or remember answers of the event in the run-up to the anniversary, china is sensoring content on the media and social media. officials arrested several academics who attended a seminar on the tiananmen massacre. this week, the 70th anniversary of d day. president obama, german chancellor angela merkel and the queen of england will attend ceremonies in france to mark the allied invasion next friday. around 156,000 allied troops, 13,000 aircrafts and 5,000 ships arrived on the normandy coast

that day in 1944. he is an ambassador to the world cup and acclaimed artist coming up on al jazeera america, the life of romero britto.

welcome back to al jazeera america. i am john henry smith. here are today's headlines. after nearly five years in captivity in afghantan, sergeant bowe bergdahl is in american custody in germany. he is ta. >> taking heat for some vans for not giving 30 days' notice for the prison swap as mandated by law. the five taliban prisoners are in qatar under going medical exam nations. there are still restrictions on their movements and activities. they face a one-year ban on traveling outside of qatar. and bowe bergdahl's hometown is eagerly awaiting his return. the town of 7,000 has held an event in his honor every year

since his capture. it's not clear when bergdahl will return to idaho. he is now at an army hospital in germany. >> a world renowned artist with installations in london and paris and an ambassador for the 2014 world cup, brazil an romero britto says the key is all about love. let's go to miami beach to hear his full story. . >> hi. i am romero britto. i am an artist and i live in miami beach, florida. i think the message of my work a positive message, and it's about love. and i think this is what i put on my work, love, lots of love. well, i was born in brazil. and since i was a kid, i record drawing, and i did a lot of drawings on notebooks and my mother would tell me don't do,

too many drawings on this paper. you need to leave space to do your homework. so, i started drawing, everything you i could put my hands on. one of the biggest things that happened in terms of propelling my career was that i did this series of may it please things for vodka and after that, i painted cars. i did so many things i would never imagine. but i think it's so important to anybody in the world to do something for somebody else. you know, you can do for your family. you can do for your community. you can do for your country the. i love the idea of giving back. i am thankful for the opportunity that i have, that i have been given to have this gift for me to be able to create my art and that people relate to it. >> that's so nice. very out spoken. my goodness. >> this picture here, you see here, it's actually a picture of me working the pyramid. i do want to do very large

installation like i have done in hyde park in london, a few other ones and in miami with the super ball, you know, it's great to know a lot of very special collectors collect my work. they like the idea of my work being enjoyed by the masses of the world. a lot of people see my work and they think, oh, my god, romero must be the happiest guy in the world. what i paint is what i want my life to be, you know, every day and that's how i do it. >> well, the weekend heat wave in japan has left two people dead. temperatures climbing into the 90s and have put more than 300 people in the hospital with heat stroke. people are using anything they can get to block the sun, cool down and cope with the heat. at least one city in southern japan has seen record-high temperatures. good you wered. it's much like summer. it is the first day of meet raj

logical summers. temperatures will continue to climb over the next several months we are talking june, july, and august. we are expecting above average temperatures for the west coast, the gulf coast and also the east coast. across the midwest we had a very chilly winter. it looks like the summer will be cool as well. temperatures for today across the southwest will climb into the triple did i knowits. we are expecting near record highs to stick around for monday as well. with phoenix at 108. we will close in on the century mark around las vegas. heat wauchz are in platches are for monday. we have heat advisoriesn around el paso where we will feel the heat building. it will be a warm, humid day across much of the upper midwest with the warm flow, lots of moisture in place and we are dealing with a slow-moving storm system. >> will trigger more rain and storms in some of the areas that have seen quite a bit of rain and when i say, "quite a bit," three upwards to five inches around minneapolis st. paul.

flooding is a big concern here flash flood warnings in effect around minnesota as we go through the day today a lot of low-lying areas will deal with the possibility of flooding and rivers a concern. just north of stillest, the mississippi river could experience some minor flooding there. we are dealing with storms and rain now. more to come as we go through the day. so, a you are heading out, definitely be on guard for that across the dac owed as, on into nebraska as well as minnesota. no you, as we take you on to the tropics, it's the first day of the hurricane season. in the atlantic, it is quiet. we are watching here. did he have dac owed as. >> thank you, eboni. a programming note coming up at 3:00 p.m., army sergeants bowe bergdahl's family will hold a press conference. i am john henry smith.

the listening post is next. for news updates throughout the day, head to aljazeera.com. >> hello. i am richard gizmor. thailand and where the coup has left journalism in that country. 3 major newspapers in spain all replace their chief editors. politics or economics or both? julian assange and