welcome to al jazerra america, am michael eaves, here are the stories we are following at this hour. new described yo. bowe bergdahl's happened over raises mo questions about the prisoner swap to free the american soldier. president obama focused on foreign policy. he's in brussels for a g7 meeting where ukraine security is on the top of the agenda. >> he said well, we train you and drop you behind the lines for about 20 miles and if you survive you getting to home after the war. >> world war ii veterans return to nomady as the greatest

generation marks the seventh anniversary of d-day. ♪ ♪ criticism is mounting over the deal between the u.s. government and the taliban trading five try-ranking taliban leaders. this morning bergdahl's former cap tours released a video of his hand over to u.s. special forces, randall pinkston is joining us now. what do we know about this video? >> reporter: we can say that the video appears to be authentic. saying it is consistent with what happened. it was released on a taliban website showing sergeant bergdahl in the minutes before his rescue say morning near the spark stan border. he was brought in a truck. it's our fork look and him and appeared to support reports that

he had been in ill health. now compared to earlier picture that his the taliban had released bergdahl had obviously lost weight. you can see him here conversing with his captors in the minutes before special operations forces arrived in a blackhawk helicopter. a taliban fighting held an american flag as three american forces came forward to get bergdahl. we can see another fire holding a shoulder fired rpg. one of their normal weapons. the exchange was brief. two of the americans shook hands with the taliban and immediately escorted him to the helicopter. which we can see it is coming in for a landing here. once the helicopter landed, the soldiers did hsoldiers deplanede special operations soldiers stood at the helicopter while three came forward to he is court bergdahl back. there was a third soldier who was seen in the picture backing away, never turning his back on

bergdahl's cap tours. the video also shows in the far distance another american helicopter circling. military operations saying there were a few dozen special forces involved in the mission. also aerial surveillance and intelligence keeping watch on the rescue. there was no confirmation, no shots were fired. as the americans approached. one of the taliban fighters told sergeant bergdahl don't come back to afghanistan, if you do, you won't make it out alive next time. michael. >> some amazing pictures there, randall. it amazes me how fast it was ones the helicopter landed. the exchange and then, of course, they took off. and as i know, there is a lot of controversy, though, surrounding sergeant bergdahl. one of the biggest issues is whether he's an actual deserter. what's the word for the military on that allegations? >> reporter: defense secretary chuck hagel who is in brussels attending a nato meeting was

asked that hav very question. and hagel says this is not the time to deal with it. >> let's get the facts. but let's first focus on getting sergeant bergdahl well, getting his health back. getting him reunified with his family. let's not forget, sergeant bergdahl is a member of the united states armed forces. he is a sergeant in the united states army. the united states of america has and always will have, responsibility for getting its soldiers back. other questions and facts regarding sergeant bergdahl will be dealt with at a later time. >> reporter: now one of the other controversies, of course, a very serious controversy, is whether there were soldiers who were involved in the search who were injured or killed. at this point, secretary hagel says he has no confirmation about that. michael. >> well, speaking of his fellow

soldiers, what's been the response of some of them back here in the states randle to bergdahl's release? >> reporter: even before news of bergdahl's release had been made public, the blogosphere had been filled with accusations for months, for years, especially from members of bergdahl's unit who said that he had deserted his post. that he was a deserter. that he should be brought up on charges. one of the people who made those charges was a medic in bergdahl's unit. we spoke to joshua and asked him if he thought that bergdahl -- if bergdahl should have been rescued. >> he is a united states citizen, so he deserves to be back in the safety of the united states. what i don't agree with, though, is certain people calling him a war hero or calling him any kind of hero. because i served with people that gave their lies in afghanistan and those are the true heros, not someone that deserted their unit. >> reporter: and, of course, we know there will be

investigations. one member of congress has set one up for the senate armed services committee which begins next week. michael. >> certainly a story we will follow sometime. michael speeching stop reporting live in new york. the g7 summit begins this it's the first time in seven years they are meeting without russia. prior to his arrival in belgium this morning, president obama was in poland to speak about the united states commitment to central and eastern europe. mike viqueira was in warsaw this morning. >> reporter: president obama can't say it enough in his trip here to warsaw poland. 2pols and east turn europeans the united states, nato are there for poland and the rest of eastern european including the baltics. there is a long and bloody history as was pointed out by the polish pred him self standing next to president obama himself. he came here early wednesday morning and delivered the message in person to the polish

public. >> i have come to warsaw today on paragraph of the united states. on behalf of the nato alliance to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to poland's security. article 5 is clear an attack on one is an attack a on all. as allies we had a solemn duty a binding treaty to defend your territorial area. and we will. we stand now and forever for your freedom is ours. poland will never stand-alone. >> reporter: before his speech here in castle square, president obama met with the ukrainian president elect, he promised to cooperate on economic aid, on energy aid that's something vital ukraine and most countries in this part of the world. he also had $5 million, a nominal amount for nonlethal aid things like night vision goggles, body armor, communications equipment. president obama leaves warsaw

and goes to the g7. is the g8 minus russia. pressing allies as he has done for two months to keep the sanctions pressure on russia, european allies, of course, have been relick to want their economies integrated with russia's a lot of people and economies in this part of the world would suffer if the stricter sanctions went in to place. later in the week he goes to d-day for the commend commemoraf nomady in world war ii. 17 world leaders will be gathered including vladimir putin. president obama says he has no plans to meet with him. though undoubted will he they will be rubbing elbows and he can changing informal greetings. >> reporter: putina has three bilaterals why in france with the heads of franz, th france, . and germany. an egyptian american man who was arrested last year in egypt has appealed to president obama for help. mohamed sultan has detained 10 months ago after attending a protest, he's accused of using

his cell phone to document egypt security forces assaulting protesters. this video was released. it was recorded shortly after he began a huger strike to protest his detention. a surprise visit from secretary of state john kerry to lebanon, he's there showing u.s. support as the country faces a crisis with an influx of syrian refugees and the country only political stalemate. he announced another $290 million of aid for the u.n. agency working on the crisis. nick shove remember is in beirut with month. >> reporter: this is john kerry's first visit to lebanon as secretary of state. he will meet with the prime minister and speaker of parliament and your honor them to fill a political vacuum. the reason he does that is because until they feel that vacuum he will tell them they will not receive the humanitarian aid they need. there is a humanitarian crisis here caused by the war in syria. every day 2500 syrian refugees are pouring in to lebanon. the number by the end of the

year will be 1.5 million. this country only has 4 million residents. and 40% of all of those refugees are living in substandard conditions. lebanon has kept its borders open and is really paying the price. the world banks says that lebanon is at a, quote, breaking point. and the former president of this country says all the the ref veerefugees are a threat to the country's unity. they have talked about helping them in three ways, providing money to help the refugees, number two providing loans to the world bank to stabilize the lebanese economy. number three, helping the lebanese military with arms and support that is tack taillighting terrorism and also to try to stabilize this country in terms of its security. lebanon needs the help and it needs it quickly. of all the billions pledged to help lebanon and all the refugees here, only 17% has been delivered. >> nick schifrin reporting live in beirut.

gun bat unless ukraine. pro-russian separatist took over two government believes in luhansk. following a two-day long siege. six pro-russian fighters were killed and two ukrainians injured. ukraine's military has launched its heaviest attack yet. residents say they are being caught in the cross fire and leading for it to stop. we want to warn you some of these images may be disturbing. >> reporter: this is the aftermath of a military attack on the outskirts of the town. the body of one pro-russian fighter is still slumped in the front seat. outside are the bodies of three more men. locals say the attack happened on monday. and as they showed us the van a day later. mortar round and heavy artillery fire too are could still be heard. locals say this vehicle was carrying a group of pro-russia

separatists who had weapons. it tha looks like it's been hita missile the inside is completely burned out. he says his entire street has been caught in the cross fire. he says last night he went out for supplies and came back to find bullets had straight his front door. >> translator: they just keep shooting and that is very serious, it is so shameful of this country. >> reporter: he took his wife and heavily pregnant daughter to escape the fighting. those left are now in the middle of the most intense attack ukrainian authorities have launched so far. after a morning of heavy shelling in the hills, a lull drew people out from their homes. mother of one, says she she needed to get out. >> translator: there is constant shooting and constant explosions. everyone is hiding in their houses because they didn't can't to see and hear all of it.

but you can't sit at home all the time. >> reporter: kiev has sworn to rid ukraine's east of what it labels terrorists. but that label is disputed by many here who feel they are the ones under fire. and the wind of public opinion is unlikely to change while blood is still spilling on ukrainian soil. kim very nell, al jazerra. authorities say massive floods in central and south china have caused at least five deaths and thousands have had to evacuate. emergency workers did he knowledge i should a damaged building today to keep it from falling in to a nearby river. the flooding has caused an effort mated $80 million in damage. rain is still falling in the region. back here in the u.s., the midwest is getting pummeled by some terrible storms, hardest hit area, nebraska, where emergency crews rescued people from their flooded homes in omaha. and hail the size of your fist

sending residents indoors, the balls of ice battered homes and punched through car windows. as many as 11 tornadoes ripped through several states and it's not over yet. this morning the storm is on the move. meet rolls dave warren is tracking the storm. how bad is it right now. >> meteorologist: not as bad as yesterday but still the potential for more severe weather today with this cluster moving in to western kentucky and western tennessee. not really severe lines or echos of the strong windstorms the signature that you see on the radar like we had yesterday. not there today. but the potential is more severe weather developing in western kentucky and tennessee. nothing really falling where that severe weather was yesterday. you can see it's just flooding. that's the big problems now that pink area is a severe thunderstorm watch. and that may be extended to the east later this afternoon and this evening. now the temperatures are climbing in to the upper 70s there just south of the rain,

should be another hot day here especially across the panhandle of texas and the southwest. the this is what it looked like, this was that long, one storm and then you had other lines developing it held together over many miles about, 500 miles of damage here reported with all of these reports coming in from the storm prediction center. there it is. 500-mile area where we had 12 tornado reports, 175 wind damage reports over 200 reports of hail. some as large as baseball size hail, so that was the big damage from yesterday. now we could see severe thunderstorms popping up later today here across the mid-atlantic states, nothing yet, but the potential is there for more severe weather, that's about it with the area of rain, it was severe now moving through parts of the midwest, southwest heating up again, the temperatures climbing up to the triple digits across texas and oklahoma still dry where the rainfall is needed in the southwest. too much rain will be coming here from what's left of boris there, tropical storm most likely down grainedded to the

remnants of this trop gal low falling over southern mexico, many inches of rain could lead to flooding and line rights there. michael. thank you. it's been 25 years since the tieniman square massacre, the changes and restrictions that are now in place.

the fda has approved a new weapon in the battle against the drug-resistance super bug her m. the drug has been fast tracked. it's delivered inning vain justicely and can combat skin and tissue infections, according to cdc1 in 25 hospital patients get antibiotics infections. more than two hound people die from those infections every day. the spread of opium is prompting iran to increase

border security, it is being smuggled in from afghan dan. iran is a major drug route to europe as well as persian gulf states. the government said it spent more than $28 million on border security last year. >> it's been 25 years since the identity entieniman protested is many as 10,000 protesters were arrested during the two-day crack down and hundreds, thosebly even thousandhundreds,t their lives. police detained many activists in the days ahead of the ceremony, adrian brown has more on how china has changed since the historic demonstration. >> reporter: tieniman square today, just another day in china. but the heavy security is a reflection over the official nervousness. 25 years after the army turned

its guns on the people. just as it was then, the square is now off limits journalists. 25 years ago this is as close as you could get from the square. that's as far as we got today. a quarter century ago, this same street was a battle ground. by early this morning parts of the city were sill echoing with gunfire an indication that the fighting is far from over. >> reporter: meanwhile the men who control the army and perhaps now the government have issued another ominous warning, stay off the streets or face the consequences. for a time, it was hard to tell who was in control. there was also bloodshed in other cities. what woul we also didn't know t, and still don't today, is how many were killed. and whether they included the man who defied a line of tanks. she last saw her 19-year-old student son on the night of june

the third. she is a member of the tieniman mothers group which boldly tries to keep the memory of the bloodshed alive. despite warnings not to talk to foreign journalists. >> translator: before i used to cry and cry, now i have no more tears. but i have become stronger, my determination to fight has become stronger. >> reporter: dozens of other dissidents who had attempted to commemorate the anniversary have also been arrested. among them, the prominent human rights lawyer who took part in the 1989 protests. hong kong an autonomous region of china is the only part of the country where the event can now be openly discusses. >> so you can see how nervous they are: when you talk about the significance have people forgotten, i am sure the communist party has not forgotten. >> reporter: in the past 25 years, few countries have changed as much as china. who would have guessed it would

go onto become the world's second largest economy and stage a successful olympic games. but, warn analysts, some of the tension that his culminated in the bloodshed of 1989 still remain. 25 years ago the survival of the communist party had seemed in doubt. today the party has never been stronger. despite a relentless campaign to erase all public memory of what happened on june the fourth, 1989. adrian brown, al jazerra, beijing. in brazil, hundreds of teachers march in a rally protesting the world cup. they are demanding better pay and want the government to invest more in education. the government has spent more than $11 billion to host the tournament. and it's been criticized for failing to deliver promised improvements to roads, rails and airports. the world cup opens in sao paulo next thursday. scientists say they just made one of the best fossil find to date. after melting glaciers in chile revealed almost 50 fossils that

are up to 245 million years old. well-preserved rocks of are of a prehistoric reptile. scientists don't know much about the species and will shed light on how it lived and died. coming up the seventh anniversary of d-day. we'll have world war ii veteran to his recall that historical moment.

welcome back to al jazerra america. i am michael eaves. here are today's headlines at this hour. criticism is mounding ove mounte deal between the u.s. government and the taliban trading five high-ranking leaders for pow bowe bergdahl. this morning his captors released a video of his hand over to u.s. special forces. president obama arrived in belgium for a two-day g7 summit. he traveled from poland where earlier he spoke about the united states commitment to defending eastern and central europe security and held a meeting with ukrainian president elect. secretary of state john kersey in lebanon on an unannounced visit, he promised another $290 million of aid for agency works on the refugees crisis. he's also urging leaders there to end the country's political

stalemate. it appears the va's problems with delayed care and secret waiting lists were not confined to one hospital in phoenix. similar situations existed at facilities in kansas, missouri, illinois and indiana, but in much smaller numbers. at least 96 veterans had to wait more than 90 days for treatment at seven hospitals in those states. new reports claim president obama is considering dr. toby cosgrove the head of the cleveland clinic to replace as va secretary. he resigned as a result the waiting list scandal. hundreds of thousands of people are flocking to nomady ahead of d-day's 70 anniversary. remembering the men who died in world war ii. cemeteries thereon or the sole years with rows of unmarked crosses as many bodies remember never recovered. more than 425,000 allied and german troops were killed in nomady. a battle that eventually led to the end of the war. of course 16 million americans

served in the armed forces in would world war ii. and they have been called the greatest generation. some veterans are heading to france to take part in what could be their last reunion. paul has more from denver. >> hey, good morning, bill. >> reporter: bill caldwell is 86, butt united states army thinks he's 88 or maybe even 89. so this is you when you enlisted. that's because on august 7th, 1943 when he was just 15 years old, caldwell lied about his age to an army recruiter. he was hoping to be a pilot. >> he said we need para troopers. and i says what's a para trooper, i had never heard of them, or the word and he says well, we train you and drop you behind the lines for about 20 miles if you survive you getting to home after the war. that was his answer. i said well, i'll take it. >> reporter: at about 2:00 a.m. on june 6th, 1944, at the tender age of 16, caldwell leaped in to

the darkness over nomady. >> this was our drop so far. >> reporter: the first waves of 160,000 droops with land in frantz on d-day. 73,000 of the problems were american, hasn't wouldn't live to see the end of the day much less the war and time has further thinned the ranks of survivors, estimated that more than a thousand american world war ii vets die every day. combat engineer alfonso is 92. he was one. >> reporter: first americans to hit omaha beach, he was wounded and returned to combat and made it all the way to the outskirts of berlin. >> they would sit back and shoot rockets at us. >> reporter: elmer now 90 has been known as lucky since the days he flew 29 bad missions over europe as a b17 left side gunner. by the time d-day rolled around

he was on the ground in england training the men who would fly that fate. day. a few days ago, elmer, alfonso and bill met up at denver international airport heading back to where they made history. at the ticket counter desert storm vet gina ross ungot choked up as she checked them in. >> it was a huge honor to meet them. it's part of history. >> reporter: and as this small band of brothers made their way to the gate, their grateful fellow travelers honored bravery and sacrifice of the greatest generation. they are calling this d-day the last reunion, and while what they accomplished 70 years ago will endure forever in the history books, it will soon fade from living memory. as those who survived the longest day say their last good. >> thank you for your service, have a good trip. >> reporter: paul, al jazerra, denver. some remarkable men. thank you for joining us for this edition of al jazerra america, i am michael eaves,

inside story with ray suarez is next. for news updates throughout the day just go to our website al jazerra.com. >> in europe, the president has been explaining and defending the decision to release five taliban prisoners from guantanamo bay in return. that's the "inside story." hello, i'm ray suarez.