welcome to al jazerra america, i am michael eaves, here are the stories we are following at this hour. president obama in europe to talk ukraine, the story of bowe bergdahl follows him. a virus killing off millions of pigs, hurting farmers and pushing a crisis at the supermarket. ♪ ♪ ♪ in a show of support for his

allies, president obama now plans a day to boost military presence in europe. he made at nouns. in poland. not log ago he met with polish president. he also greeted u.s. troops while in warsaw, this is his first stop in europe. earlier today he met with the prime minister. focus of his trip with focus ukraine and russia. free elections in pole around. mike viqueira traveling with the president. what can you tell us about the billion dollars security fund that president obama is requesting? >> reporter: well, michael, this is an extraordinary circumstances really. here we have a group of nations. poland, of course of course is the host who were once under the thumb of moscow and the soviet t union, all anxious about russias moves in ukraine. make for mistake about it, the

polish leader not minuting words in any way whatsoever saying russia is a threat. we want more cooperation from nato, we want he permanent bases here and president obam presideg forward a $1 billion propose toll aid these nations in their defense in training and joint exercises is, things of that nature. as air force one was wheels down, president obama making no any take of his intention walking off air force one and in to an f-16 ranger that have been patrolling the baltic states was part. at this hour here in warsaw, president obama meeting with the leaders of cincinnati trail and european nations, all once under the thumb of moscow, all now part of nato. president obama has vowed to come to their defense under article five of the nato treaty if it ever came to that, michael. >> mike, while the president is trying to focus on the crisis in ukraine, the controversy, though, over bowe bergdahl's

release is not going away. what did the president have to say about that story today? >> reporter: yeah, this was the first time we had ant opportunitan opportunityto heard all the controversy now not only from republicans in congress saying they were not consulted a 30-day notification for prisoners at guantanmo could be transferred but many of berling call's fellow soldiers say at least four sole injured died in the search for him he was a deserted and didn't deserve the hero he got in the rose garden announcement over the weekend. the president says it's a sacred rule we do not leave soldiers on the battlefield. i would true throughout american history. he said we saw the possibility, the administration, to get him out that. truncated the process, that 30-day notification wherein by law he would have have had to take -- have to have told

congress. and there is far little chance that those released could return to the battlefield. >> let me make a very simple point here, and that is regardless of the circumstances, whatever those circumstances may turn out to be, we still get an american soldier back that was held in captivity. period, full stop, we don't condition that. and that's whatever mom and dad who sees a son or daughter sent over in to war theater should expect from not just their commander in chief, but the united states of america. the. >> reporter: now, as the controversy has heightened over the course of the last week, the national security council puts out a statement the spokesperson putting out a statement today saying the 30-day notification law by which the president had to notify congress raises constitutional concerns. the president had a signing statement when he actually signed that law.

raising these kind of objections as commander-in-chief. the nse says the president has the responsibility to protect citizens and soldiers while they are overseas. >> mike, seems to be continues verdicts on both sides of this issue. mike viqueira live in warsaw. well, as mike reported, some soldiers from bergdahl's unit claim that he is a deserter and they are calling for his punishment. but the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff released a statement regarding recent criticisms, here is part of what he had to say, quote: >> for those who knew him before we want to after dan stan the care for bergdahl and his family is a top priority now. residents of his hometown of haley, idaho have been anticipating his release for five years, our jim is there, it's been a long time coming from the people in haley, idaho,

how have they been preparing for that moment. >> reporter: it goes without saying the spirits remain high here in the town. the yellow ribbons, balloons, signs all over the town. but the questions here even now are growing about bergdahl's release. here in sergeant boe bergdahl's hometown of the hailey, idaho it's hard to find a tree without a yellow ribbon. >> the ribbons, bumper sticksers and bracelets, we have never stopped. and we are eighth to breathe once he's home here in idaho, we can breathe again. >> reporter: at jane's artifacts on main street. they are giving the balloons away. >> we want yellow balloons, plastering this town. >> reporter: for all of the excitement over sergeant bergdahl's eventual return hering the controversy surrounding his freedom continues to grow. >> we have our boy back and we are going to let everyone else deal with the politics of it

all. >> reporter: for some those politics whether securing sergeant burling call's release in exchange for five taliban leaders came at too big of a prize. >> gave the dal pan their starting team back. they guys killed thousands of people and responsible for that, back in to home confinement which could lead to them being back on the battlefield. >> reporter: as the debate over the swap comes under scrutiny, so are the event surrounding bergdahl's capture in afghanistan. some of his fellow soldiers are saying he's a traitor who turned his back on them. >> he deserted not only the army, but he also left myself, and my platoon and my company to clean up his mess. >> more important lurk it's a spit in the face to the soldiers who died as a direct result to him leaving. >> reporter: former army sergeant evan, described bergdahl as a good soldier that quickly became disillusioned about the u.s. role in the war. within hours of being in the hands of the taliban a massive search for sergeant bergdahl was

underway, a search that they say resulted in the deaths of american soldiers, after bergdahl deserted them. like second lieutenant darren andrews says his twin brother, jarrett. >> i have frustration that potentially he could still be alive if bergdahl had not left his post. we lost something that we love very much. and we'll never see again. >> reporter: city officials here have released a statement saying that they have been swamped with questions about bergdahl. people asking about how he's do, callings from all around the country. they are asking people not to judge him until all the details, all the details about his capture and captivity are leased. michael. >> jim hooley reporting live from hailey, idaho. the five taliban prisoners released have been moved to a residential compounds in qatar. they are with families and will be allowed to moved freely within the country. u.s. says their activities will be monitors. they will be stayed in qatar for a year before they are allowed to leave the country. the release of bergdahl has raised questions on another

american prisoner, this one being held in cuba. alan gross is serving a 15-year prison sentence in cuba while three cur cuban intelligence ags are in prison in the u.s. for espionage. one of his colleagues are suggesting a swap. obama said it isn't considering ideal to release gross. despite years of civil war, voting is underway in syria. the country's presidential election, ba czar al-assad is widely expected to win a 30 term in offers extending his rule for other seven years, the opposition , western countries and critics of the syrian government is saying the election is a as far as. ballots can only be cast in government-controlled areas, leaving many people in rebel-held areas unable to vote. nick schifrin is in neighboring lebanon. what can you tell us about the voting so far in syria.

>> reporter: michael we have seen an outpouring of support for president assad. people coming out and voting and waving flags, proudly showing their fingers which was dipped in ink that they voted or some of them actually votes in blood for assad. many of them feel fearful if they didn't vote, and so they are going out to vote, fearing that their fate, if they didn't vote would be same as the 160,000 people who have been killed in the last three years of this war. and there is a sense from the opposition that this is called the blood elections, because in their argument, the punishment for not voting or living in an area where there is still fighting, is being bombed by government air strikes. there is extraordinary video being posted this morning from outside of damascus, just a few miles from a polling station that seems to show government airplanes dropping bombs on the opposition, on the rebellion that still continues unabated. michael, you pointed out that the voting is only going on in places where the government controls, well, that's less than half of the country.

so less than half of syria is actually even able to vote in this election. nonetheless, assad and his allies are going say, or predict that they will say this victory enables them to crush the opposition everyone more. and not give in to their political demands. >> nick, not only is assad pecks today win, but expecte expect tn in a landslide. so who are the other candidates that would even challenge him? >> reporter: yeah, there are a couple of government-approved candidates, one of them hassan a former lawmaker who is educated in the united states. the other one is a legislator from aleppo. to give you a sense of what the opposition really is last week hassan gave an interview in which he called assad a very strong leader and he said, quote, you have to respect what assad is doing. and so this is the first time in 40 years, michael, where you have had actual somebody -- people running against assad or his father, that's really only a shift on paper.

now, secretary of state john carey put itkerry put it, it's a theater. >> that's why so many people are calling this election a as far as. nick schifrin reporting live in lebanon. voters in eight states today will pick their candidates for governor, senate and house races. results in mississippi, alabama, wyoming, montana, new jersey, new mexico and san diego. wilsan diego san diego will help determine in republican can gain the majority in the senate jerry brown is in a race for a fourth term. if you like bacon, listen up. farmers are dealing with a piglet virus and it's causing pork prices to surge. ♪ ♪

pig farmers in the u.s. are struggle to go cope with a virus that's killed millions of animals in the past year. its taken a toll on farmers who

are seeing more piglets die each other. for consumers it means paying more as pork prices surge, john hats the story from iowa. >> reporter: here on the rolling landscape of america's pork belt lurks a quiet killer. in december, craig rolls, like most of his neighbors, lost thousands of young piglets to diarrhea virus, economists say the disease has wiped out seven to 10% of the pigs in the united states. adult pigs tends to survive. the death rate among piglets is nearly 100 percent. >> i received a call from the manager while i was driving there that said, hey, something is wrong. it's like being hit a punch in the gut when you first realize what's going on happen. we had already known across the united states how devastating it was going to be. and it was just as devastating for us, even though we knew what was coming. >> reporter: the latest threat to the u.s. pork supply originated in the 1970s in britain. but the current strain is believed to come from china.

this year in the unite u.s. it'd out an estimated seven to 8 million pigs. the hardest hit are not farmers who are earning more on their remaining pigs but consumers. park prices jumped and could hit a record 3.90 this year. >> it is new. we have never experienced it in the united states. so we have to learn about the virus, how to handle it. what it does, and number two is, it's had a significant impact, we think, and it's going to have a bigger impact in the future on supplies. >> reporter: researchers say pork remains safe to eat. the virus has no direct impact on humans. but many farmers are waiting months to insure the virus is gone before they bring in new piglets. for years pig farms have had tight bio security measures, these hasmat like suits, the plastic booties are meant to keep disease out. now those measures are tighter than ever. >> it was economically

devastating, but it was emotionally disturbing as well. we don't want to go to work thinking that we have to euthanize piglets. >> reporter: in recent weeks, farmers in indiana and elsewhere have seen the virus return. less devastating, but still lethal the second time around. suggesting the immunity pigs develop has its limits. that has many in the pork belt wondering when, and if the latest deadly virus will end. john hendry, al jazerra, iowa. seattle is making minimum wage $15 an hour, by far the highest in the nation. the city council voted unanimously for the hike on monday for pay that's twice the national minimum. it will take effect on april 1st of next year, but businesses with more than 500 employees will be allowed three years for phase in the increase, washington state already held the highest minimum wage at 9.32. it's not exactly the t1,000 or a transformer but developers are working a very special type

of robot. jake ward shows us how this technology has been millions of years in the making. >> it has always been one of the great challenges of robotic to his create something that can stably and ably walk around on two legs, it turns out that running on two legs is has solved some of those engineering problems. video huh that has come out from the advanced institute of technology which is a big public research university in korea. seems to have really made some leaps and bounds, so to speak when it comes to a two-legged running robot. their raptor robot topped 28 miles per hour, which is faster than the world's fastest living human, usain bolt. to watch it run is pretty creepy. it's based literally on the have las a raptor dinosaur, using sort of a swinging device, a sidearm that acts as a stabilizing tail in the same way that the dinosaur did, and it's

incredible pace comes from the resilience of its legs. which are built from a light wet flexible material. it's it's extraordinary to watch it navigate obstacles, you can put a block in its way and it will leap sort of right off of it in the way that i steeplechase runner might gopher an object stick think. it's really pretty extraordinary. this is not the fast nest world that, designation belongs to the cheetah built by boston dynamics which is not all subsidiary of too longal that's a four-legged robot that did 29 miles an hour, it's amazing. this indicates how far korea is moving in robotics, korea has identified robotics as one of the industries it wishes to dominate in the future. and they have already done it with hubo a two-legged by pedal humanoid robot that competed in the robotics challenge last year. and now we are seeing them move in to this whole new category when it comes in to inning cred

high-immediate robots. it will be inning cred able to see where it goes. >> very interesting and as you is, jake, creepy. it's been 29 years since the massacre. why a new generation of young people in china are unaware of what happened. last year over a million students in america, homeless, we'll speak to a students who has managed to succeed despite her circumstance. ♪ blas

welcome back to al jazerra america. i am michael eaves. here are today's headlines at this power. presidenpresident obama announcn to boost u.s. presence in europe in an effort to increase security for american allies, president obama is asking congress to approve a $1 billion security fund. the president is on a four-day trip other up. mississippi and iowa are deciding on senate candidates in close low-watched races and in california governor jerry brown is hoping to win an historic fourth term. syrian president bashar al-assad has cast his vote in his country's presidential elect, he's widely pictured to the win his third 7-years terms. many are calling in a as far as. flash floods are drowning southwest china and the rain isn't stopping any time soon. the storm that began yesterday is making it virtually impossible to travels, without

percent rushing through the streets and more than 1,000 cars have been submerged. rain has hundred china especially hard this year. dozens are people died in floods last week. it's been 25 years since pro-democracy protests in china's capital beijing. the student-led demonstrations were sent thirded the capital's tieniman square. an estimated 10,000 protesters were arrested during and after those demonstrations. china has never released the death toll for the crack down but he was mats from human rights groups range from 700 to several thousand. as adrian brown reports the historic acts of defines may be lost on many of today's young people in china. >> reporter: 25 years al studentagostudents in china werg for political change. an unprecedented display of defines against the countries communist rulers. it just survived seven weeks before being suhr pressed by military leaders on june the

fourth. now a quarter of a century on, the events of that time still remain a taboo subject for many of today's students. it's inconvenient for knee talk about this he says, generally i am neutral says this man. a am not on the side of the government or the students, today's young people are in the throws of another revolution. one of rising expectations. she was born a month after the blood shbloodshed. she's come here hoping to find a white color with a salary of at least $700 a month. >> i know very little about this part of history. one reason is tha that i am not interested in politics. the second reason is this events was not mentioned in the history books i read. >> reporter: he was borborn thrs before the pro frosts, today she manage a shop specializing in

skateboarding clothing and accessories. she's aware of the event of 25 years ago but says they have no relevance to her generation. >> translator: 25 years ago what the young people cared about was having enough food and keeping warm. whereas today we want to become stylish and show off our personality. >> reporter: today's students have lived through an era of rapid economic growth. they still have grievances, but know they can't change the political system. >> young students remain away from politics for the sake of protecting their own interests and their own life. and because they know the risks attached to getting involved in politics. >> reporter: china has 10 times as many graduates as it did in 1989. but around a third of them are unemployed. because the economy simply isn't producing enough white collar jobs. and while few of them show any sign of want to go engage in political activism, that could change as that unemployment rate continues to rise. adrian brown, al jazerra,

beijing. back here in the u.s., more than 1 million students are homeless. but one los angeles teen is not letting homelessness hold her back, as jennifer london reports, she's acing her classes and cease education as her ticket to a brighter future. >> reporter: for the past six months, this small room shared by two families, has been the closest thing to a home 17-year-old jamir uh-huhs ever known. before moving to this temporary shell it never south los angeles. she spent a few months at another homeless shelter on skid row. >> sometimes you pass things that you can't stand but you have to keep going. >> reporter: but she has no choice, when she was 12 her family left peru and illegally crossed in the united states on the mexican border she's been homeless ever since. >> i think everything that's happened is my fault.

and sometimes i say if my mom would never have had me, nothing of this would be happening. >> reporter: you are blaming yourself? >> i just want to give me mom everything that she gives me. because -- i don't know. my mom is like -- she's the only thing that i have. if something happens to her then i have nothing. i will be like worse than homeless, i will have nothing. >> reporter: and yet by all appearances, the 17-year-old has everything going for her. she gets straight as, she volunteers after school. she dreams of becoming a doctor. or maybe even a singer. ♪ do you believe you can fly >> reporter: but staying in school hasn't been easy. and jamir a carries her burden alone, none of her friends know she's homeless. >> reporter: why is it so important for you to keep that a secret? >> i don't want them to judge me. >> reporter: you don't want them to judge you. do you think they would?

>> i don't know, i am scared. i am scared of failing and scared of little judges 67 her deeply-held secret is shared by thousands throughout l.a. unified there are roughly 14,000 homeless students. >> our kids come to school not knowing where they are going to slope that night. when they will see their family again. maybe haven't excellent. maybe haven't eaten. >> reporter: anna quintero is one of seven counselors in the school district's homeless education program which focuses on getting students basic necessities. >> we can provide backpacks, school supplies, hygiene items, we are able to provide clothing assistance. >> reporter: those basics are a lifeline for jamira and so is this place, school on wheels, a nonprofit that tutors and mentors more than 56,000 homeless students throughout southern california. >> for the most part you can see the self-esteem go up. you can see their self confidence rise. >> here i feel safe because they protect the kids.

they protect us. they take care of us. and then they treat us like we are family. >> reporter: on this day, a surprise. >> who signs up for college? who got accepted in to college? and do you know who that is? and as a reward for you from school a wheels we have a thousand dollar scholarship for you to go to college. >> reporter: despite what life has put in front offer, despite not knowing where she will sleep at night, she knows an education will be her ticket to getting off the street for good. jennifer london, al jazerra, los angeles. remarkable story of perseverance despite that young lady's circumstances. thank you for watching this edition of al jazerra america. i am michael eaves, our next live newscast will be at 1:00 p.m. eastern, we'll tale you more about president obama's visit to poland, also the controversy surrounding the release of bowe bergdahl.

elections in syria and how that's affecting neighboring country. that's coming up at the 1:00 p.m. edition of al jazerra america. for more updates throughout the day head to our he be website aljazerra.com. inside story with ray suarez is next. >> the environmental protection agency has set new standards for the environment. can they do it? that's the inside story. >> hello, i'm ray suarez. the is