for suvivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now [ screaming ] >> oh, my goodness! oh, my god! >> on the hunt for a shooter who killed three mounted police officers in canada. >> a collision at the heart of an international dispute, what new video shows really happened between a chinese coast guard ship and a vietnamese fishing boat. >> i've had my freedom stripped because i was living by the same values and principles that are

founding fathers built this great nation on. >> an american jailed in egypt makes a plea to the president for his freedom. >> the last word i heard when i went out the door just before, look to your left, look to your right, one of you will not see daylight. >> american veterans remembered d-day, returned to normandy to mark the 70th anniversary of the invasion. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> same john henry smith. a search is underway in canada for a suspect who killed three mounted policeman. >> we have more on the hunt for the killer. >> one resident sent me this picture of a swat truck and you said of her home which clearly showed how active the search is right now. police believe the heavily armed suspect is still on the loose in one of the neighborhoods, putting hundreds of residents at

risk. >> do you see him? oh, my goodness! >> he shot him. >> oh, my god! >> call 911. >> oh, my gosh, call 911! >> shots fired in the canadian city rattled residents as they ducked for cover inside their own homes. outside, police did the same after the gunman shot and killed three officers with the royal canadian mounted police and seriously injured two others. >> they're behind cars, vans, the shed, they're behind the house with their guns down, waiting approximately. >> new brunswick was on lockdown. >> there was a lockdown on the street, they were turning vehicles around. there was staff supervisor vehicle taking an injured officer away. the lady looked really hurt. >> police set their sights on

this 24-year-old justin borg. police tweeted this photo of the suspect taken at the scene along with a strong warning for residents to stay inside and lock their doors. the sudden violent loss of the three officers made for on emotional embrace between the city's mayor and police constable. >> three officers were shot and killed. two other officers were also injured, but they're alive at this time. >> killings are rare in canada. 2012, 543 homicides were reported in the entire nation of 35 million residents, just six took place in new brunswick where this attack took place. los angeles county, which has about a third, 10 million residents had 660 homicides in

the same year. >> the g7 summit is taking place. vladimir putin is being punished for his involvement in crimea in the ukraine. the penalty says he wants to create a unified front with western allies against russia. how easy will that be for him? >> it's going to be a very tough sell, because he's essentially been saying the same thing since the last time he was in northern europe in march when he gathered that emergency meeting of the g7. up until that moment, it had been the g8. russia was banned and it was moved from sochi, russia. many europeans are reluctant to go further with tear three or more stringent sanctions because

their economies are so closely tied with russia. >> the swedish minister said russia was playing the allies against one another. will these aside meetings affect the summit at all? >> the swedish foreign minister might not be the only one to have that thought. we mentioned those conciliatory gestures putin was making and triggers if he were to invade ukraine with troops amassed along the border or if he had interfered with may 25 elections would have triggered more sanctions. there are meetings, though president obama will be rubbing elbows with vladimir putin, he will not be meeting with him, however three of america's close have allies will be on the next stop of this trip, in france. >> you really do think obama and putin are likely to rub elbows and talk at some point.

>> well, that's absolutely right. the white house acknowledges that. the president was asked about it on the first stop on this trip in warsaw. sure, they might be talking, but there is no plan for a formal meeting, consistent of the chill in the bilateral relationship. there were frequent phone calls between vladimir putin and barack obama. those are now ceased. no plan for president obama to meet with putin. >> as world leaders try to figure out how to deal with the ukraine cries, fighting between pro-russian separatists and ukrainian forces rages in the eastern cities. the fighting forced many residents to flee the area. the government in kiev claims more than 300 separatists have been killed in a "anti terrorist operation." pro-russian separatists have taken control of three government bases in the city.

we report from the battle zone. >> the fact that the accept are activity fighters overran this border guard base after a fierce firefight is not just a humiliating defeat for kiev anttheir anti terrorism operation, as they call it, it's got serious strategic consequences, this is the base, the headquarters where they control and coordinate the russian border crossings. this is where they communicate with all the border posts. they are now emptying and they've got no way of communicating with the border guards anymore. that means a large blind spot is opening up on the russian border. it means the people in kiev, the government in kiev, security services no longer have eyes on parts of the russian border. separatist fighters say for them, they're trying to create a humanitarian corridor to control safe passage for the women and children, something moscow has been demanding and the kiev government has spurned, a safe

way through the front lines, so they're closing in at the moment. women and children are bugsed through the border and taken through crimea. separatist fighters have control of a corridor out of the city and into the russian border and kiev has no eyes on what's happening. of course traffic is always two ways. >> ukraine's president elect poroshenko told president obama he planned to unveil a plan for a peaceful resolution to the crisis after he was sworn in this weekend. >> new video of a boat collision, vietnamese released video, showing the chinese coast guard ship speeding after the vietnamese vessel and firing a water cannon at it. after the chase, the two ships collided. both claimed the other was the aggressor in the incident. >> lawmakers are criticizing the

obama administration for the exchange of five taliban prisoners for u.s. prisoner of war bowe bergdahl. this say the law was broken by not notifying congress. white house said it was necessary because bergdahl's life was at risk. the exchange is stirring up a fight. >> sergeant bowe bergdahl appears fairly healthy and alert in this video, but in another video shown to congress behind closed doors, lawmakers say he looked tired, impaired, sick and barely responsive, perhaps drugged. some lawmakers agreed it was enough to justify president obama's quick order to get bergdahl out without consulting congress first. not everyone's convinced. >> that did not sell me at all. the proof of life five months ago, december, at that time he was impaired. >> there is no intelligence that indicated that from a medical standpoint, his life was in danger. >> senators briefed by the

administration tuesday are also concerned about the five taliban leaders reds in exchange for sergeant bergdahl. >> what this really did is return five very dangerous people to the fight against america. >> citing security concerns, his hometown canceled a big celebration. >> it's too soon in this process. there's a lot of emotions involved here. >> some of them strongly against a hero's welcome for a p.o.w. ma may have initially deserted his post. >> his side of the story will get told and we'll be behind him whether it's a silently return or something else, we're behind him. >> defense secretary chuck hagel said it is unfair to jump to conclusions about sergeant bergdahl. the army will review why he left his unit and how he was captured by the taliban, when he was better. >> a former c.i.a. operative

will help us break down this video of his release, providing insight into the special forces operation. at 8:30 eastern, alberto gonzalez joins us to discuss the legal aspects of the swap and whether the president was within his authority to do it. >> hoping to take advantage of the publicity, the family of another couple held by the taliban is pleading for help. they released new video showing american kaitlyn coleman with her canadian husband. the couple asks president obama to help free them and their child from the taliban. the couple went missing nearly two years ago when traveling near kabul. the family released the videos this week but received them last year. >> a marine jet crashed into a residential neighborhood in southern california and no one was hurt. the jet went down wednesday afternoon in imperial, california, a desert area 90 miles east of san diego. the pilot managed to safely eject, then slammed into a house

causing two homes to catch fire. a boy in the neighborhood reported hearing an explosion that felt like an earthquake. the cause is under investigation. >> the country has seen severe weather over the last three days. >> meteorologist nicole mitchell is here with details. you say it's not over yet. >> not quite. we've even been dealing with some in the overnight period, early this morning, starting off with some of this, leaving behind a lot of damage. this is out of ohio and you can see with wind reports, really knocking things down, south of this into kentucky was kind of our core of some of those severe storm reports. i'll get that to have that in a second. still dealing with that this morning. cans where we see under the yellow, that's the watch, the potential for severe storms. the orange right here in central kansas is where we have severe storms this morning. these are warning areas for winders gusting up to 70 miles an hour, possibly even more and possible ping pong sized hail. with those storms, really some significant downpours, as well,

which means flash flooding. you can see the core of this. i'll zoom in, but there's a boundary through the east coast. these are different reports from yesterday, about 200 of them. the ohio river valley south of here kind of the core that have and then another area later into the day, what has now moved into kansas that i was mentioning with the original front on all of this, east coast this morning, very wet, dealing with showers. a lot of this will move out by the afternoon hour. you can pick out the frontal boundary and more pressure into the central plains where we see the thunderstorms this morning. that remains our core of severe weather threat for the day. green is possible thunderstorms, but the yellows is our best chance for severe weather, wind and hail the primary threat and i would say a little bit more hail, isolated chance for tornadoes with any of this, but also a core of heavy rain in this region, as well, so it is going to be a very wet go as we get out of here. >> nicole, mitchell, thank you.

>> a victory for same-sex couples in oregon, the supreme court says it will not prevent gay marriages in the state. the national organization for marriage had asked the high court to amount unions during the appeals process. hundreds of same-sex couples have tied the knot since mid may when oregon's ban was ruled unconstitutional. >> lawyers for a terror suspect in chicago were kicked out of the courtroom for a secret hearing. the judge had them leave while prosecutors argued by the defense team should not be allowed to view confidential surveillance documents. prosecutors argue it could hurt national security. charges are denied that he plotted to blow up two bars in the city, the defense believes the records may indicate that expanded surveillance methods led investigators to target the defendant. >> a raging amount fire in new york spread to four nearby buildings. residents rushed to escape the flames, one man even threw a child out a window to a good is

samaritan below. 18 firefighters were among the injured. the fire's cause is under investigation. >> north carolina has the lowest unemployment rate in the entire country. >> it has the higher rate of worker deaths. >> another two inches, i wouldn't have known what happened. i would be dead. >> why the booming oil industry is so dangerous to workers and what some companies are doing to try to improve safety records. >> my life not worth anything to you? has the life of american citizens become worthless or is it because my name is muhammed? >> a man jailed in egypt for nearly 10 months reaches out to president obama for help. >> all those people laying on the beach, and tanks shot up, yeah, wait, wait a minute, something's wrong. this is going to be a piece of cake. it wasn't. >> american world war ii veterans remember living through

d-day as they returned to normandy 70 years after landing on the beach. >> our big number today may seem a tad small. it's 50. >> why it's such a big deal for an event millions of americans take part in every year. >> looking live at pegasus beach inna mandy. prince charles and camilla bowls are laying a wreath at a bridge that was seized by troops on d-day 70 years ago.

>> let's get a look at temperatures across the nation today. meteorologist nicole mitchell is here. >> good morning. a lot of these are very comfortable, with a few changes as that front has gone through causing the severe weather. south of that boundary, more 70's, north of that, 60's, 50's north of chicago. as we get westward, phoenix cooled down to 78 overnight, so your air conditioning got a little bit of a break. this is still our core of the warmth across the country with a lot of hundreds from parts of arizona into texas. that's why we have different excessive heat warnings and advisories through this region. doing outside work, you need the water, but sometimes just indoors especially if you don't have the air conditioning functioning properly or don't have one at all, that's a huge problem. el paso 105 today.

we've cooled into the northeast, but rebound into tomorrow with a little more sunshine. >> according to multiple reports, sprint and t mobile agreed on a $32 billion deal that's expected to be announced this summer. the agreement would bring together the nation's third and fourth largest wireless phone providers. terms of the deal still being worked out. it appears that sprint would purchase t mobile for $40 a share. >> thanks in large part to the rapidly growing oil industry, the economy in north dakota is booming, the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. the workplace fatality rate is five times the national rate. >> jobs in the oil field can pay up to six figures a year, but some workers say the risk isn't worth the reward. ty james is one. he severely injured his spine five years ago when drilling

equipment he was loading on to a truck fell on him. >> the emergency response people told me that had the trailer went down another two inches, i wouldn't have known what had happened, i'd just be dead. >> james was lucky. work related deaths are on the rise in north dakota, up 45% in 2012, while they decline nationally. >> anytime we see a number of fatalities above zero, it's a cause for concern to osha. >> osha covering north and south dakota, with over 1,000 active wells and hundreds of oil service companies, brooks and his eight inspectors have their work cut out for them. he thinks inspections that helped osha identify and correct hazards at some drilling sites, but he says inexperienced worker and even employers still the biggest problem. >> if we have someone that has limited experience in the industry and started their own company, they may not be as aware of the hazards that employees are exposed to as well

as it is means to protect them. >> when it comes to worker safety, it all customs down to training. here in north dakota's oil patch. the kind of training rig workers get really depends on the company they work for. company training runs the gamut, one of the largest companies has one of the most rigorous training programs. >> where's the hazard here? >> new recruit starts without first getting nine days of experience with a test rig, classroom training and finally passing a written test. >> we have somebody that's not progressing the way they should throughout the nine days, we don't hire them. >> but despite that, osha has investigated two accidents at neighbor sites in north carolina dakota that resulted in two worker deaths. meanwhile, other companies offer far less training, so unions are stepping in to offer training

program for members who don't feel adequately prepared. >> we have to look out for one another. that's the main thing right now, looking out for one another, making sure that person goes home safe. >> ty james said he watched only a training video before starting his job. as he struggles with pain every day, the 24-year-old wishes he knew then what he knows now. >> i'd heard stories, but nothing can prepare you for what you see. i couldn't believe it until i saw it. >> other states with high rates of worker fatalities include wyoming, alaska, montana and west virginia. >> 25% of people who got health care under the affordable care act could be at risk of losing coverage. a document obtained by the associated press found more than 2 million people have data discrepancies, meaning the information they provided when they signed up doesn't match what the government has on file. they could be forced to pay

higher subsidies or have coverage dropped altogether. 8 million people have signed up so far for health care under the affordable care act. the government hopes to solve the problem by the end of summer. lawmakers are working to craft a bill to help veterans lacking care at v.a. hospitals. a bipartisan group of senators are continuing talks on the bill today, the proposal would allow vets to visit doctors outside the hospital system. senators hope to pass the bill before friday when up to a dozen lawmakers are flying to france for the anniversary of d-day. sloan gibson is set to tour the phoenix hospital with 40 vets died waiting for care. >> a lot of people want to know the story behind the prisoner exchange. >> a former c.i.a. operative analyzes this release video and tells us what went into the plan having that recovery. >> i was documenting crimes against justice, against humanity, against democracy in

egypt. >> an american man jailed in egypt for nearly a year appeals to the american public for help. >> plus the court case challenging police investigating a possible d.u.i., if they can take your blood without consent. >> an ancient book bound in human skin is making headlines around the world. >> taking a live look now at the east coast memorial in the cities battery park honoring servicemen who lost their lives in the atlantic ocean during world war ii. tomorrow marks the 70t 70th anniversary of d-day at normandy. normandy.

>> good morning. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy.

>> i'm john henry smith. analyzing the video that showed the release of bowe bergdahl. >> hillary clinton talks about breaking through the ultimate glass ceiling, having a woman in the white house. >> we are on the brink of mass extinction, the roles humans are playing in the disappearance of species. >> a manhunt underway in canada for a man suspected of killing three police officers. witnesses say a man was wearing military camouflage and had two high powered rifles. >> president obama meeting with leaders at the g7 summit. russia has been excluded from the meeting because of the annexation of crimea. >> a collision between a chinese coast guard ship and vietnamese fishing vessel. both countries blaming each

other for the latest crash. >> south korean officials lost a nationwide search for the owner of the ferry that sank last month. police believe he may be in the southern part of the country. they've announced a $500 reward for tips leading to his arrest. the reclusive businessman has been hard to find. >> the southern town is officially the focal point of a massive manhunt, but you wouldn't necessarily know it. nearly 50,000 police nationwide are said to be involved in the search, but here we saw just a handful at this check point, the checks cursory at best. south korea's most wanted man has found it remarkably easy to stay on the run, leading to an apology this week from the lead prosecutor. they've focused efforts on the mountains around the area. farms like this one were subject to repeated searches. >> although the mountain is rugged, it's difficult for someone to hide and leave here

as there would be no one to help them. >> he has been getting plenty of help. a nation of followers of his religious group has been called to action from its headquarters south of seoul. no one appears to be tempted by the county to turn him in to face questioning over alleged financial misdeeds and what prosecutors say is ownership through his sons of the ferry that sank last month, killing 300 people. the closest investigators came was 10 days ago, when they raided this church-linked restaurant in the mountains, arresting a couple suspected of sheltering him. >> while that went on, prosecutors believe he was hiding out in this log cabin just a few hundred meters away. it took the manhunt several hours to make its way here, plenty of time for him to make his escape. >> he remains the patriarch a

wealthy family, with links between his finances and the church is hard to unravel. he spent property around the area. subway cars mark this out as another one. theories abound. he's in these mountains, stowed away on an international ship. the pressure is on to find him fast. >> today, an additional victim from the ferry was found in the waters of south korea. the death toll now stands at 289. >> syrian president bashar al assad has won a third term in office. assad got almost 90% of the vote, but polls were open only in areas of government control. millions who fled during the civil war did not vote in the election that the u.s. calls a far as. his closest challenger received just 4% of the vote.

secretary of state john kerry speaking out against the election, calling it a great big zero. he made the statement during a surprise visit to neighboring lebanon, where many syrian refugees are living. he promised an additional $290 million in humanitarian aid for the refugees and the countries that of taken them in. the u.s. has already contributed $2 billion to help with the crisis. >> an american currently retained in egypt is begging for help, arrested there last year. now a new video of sultan has been leaked out of egypt, asking president obama to help set him free. he has been on a hunger strike for months. >> is my life not worth anything to you? has the life of american citizens become worthless, or is it because my name is muhammed. >> his blunt message muggled out of cairo's prison has gone viral. the 26-year-old graduate of ohio

state university has been held since august for allegedly using his cell phone and twitter feed to record egyptian security forces clearing protestors angry at the army for out of thing president mohamed morsi. >> i was documenting crimes against justice, against humidity, against democracy in egypt, trying to share my american principle with young egyptians, holding to build bridges between the generations. >> he was shot during the arm during the protest that cost hundreds their lives is on hunger strike and said to be frail. shortly after picked up, he tweeted president obama, the egyptian army put a bullet that fractured my arm, that i paid for with my tax dollars #riddlemethat. >> i've had my freedom stripped because i was living by the same values and principles that our founding fathers built this

great nation on. >> he accuses president obama of double standards, his brother omar would the family wants what other americans received retained by the same regime in 2012. >> hillary clinton applied the necessary pressure to free them and the charges were dropped and they were put on a plane and sent back to america. >> omar said his brother's been on hunger strike for more than 130 days. the family fears for his life. >> with your continued silence, you are saying that there are in fact different variations of american, and my time in this period and this time just happens to be the one that matters less or not at all. >> his family say he's an outspoken critic of the muslim brotherhood. his fair, a cairo university professor and member of the brotherhood was also briefly obtained after he criticized the brotherhood for the way they ran egypt when they were in power.

aljazeera. >> here's what the state department told aljazeera about the situation last month: >> the trial of three aljazeera journalists detained in egypt is set to resume today, the 11t 11th appearance for the three. the men have been in jail now for 159 days. the prosecutor expected to sum up his case against our colleagues, who are accused of aiding the muslim brotherhood. aljazeera rejects those charges and continues to demand their immediate release. >> the taliban released a new pop began at a video showing sergeant bowe bergdahl's

release. titled "don't come back to afghanistan" shows the moment he was handed over to u.s. forces. the pentagon said they have no reason to doubt the you authenticity. he spent five years in captivity. five taliban detainees were released for his release. we have former c.i.a. operative lindsay moran and contributor for the aljazeera program tech know. i can't wait to hear your take on this. there were a couple of moments in the video that stood out to you. let's start with the images of his face. he's blinking a lot. >> to me, that suggests that maybe he had been hooded on the ride over, his eyes are adjusting to the light. he seems stunned and nervous. we don't know at this point if he was kept in darkness for a

long time or perhaps just the ride over there, but that's what that suggests to me, that he was kept in the darkness for some period of time. >> let's get into the exchange itself. this is the really fascinating part. walk us through what we're seeing. if we could show that exchange, of the slow motion, you can actually see members of the taliban. you also see special forces there, right, but they're not in uniform. >> they're not in uniform. they're wearing civilian clothing, and this suggests one of two things to me. either that was agreed upon in advance, via intermediate-years with the taliban. it's obviously much less intimidating to have our special forces guys there in civilian clothing. the other thing, it builds rapport. what i find extraordinary about this footage is how congenial the exchange is. you see one of the special forces guys, you know, put his hand to his heart, a gesture

meaning this comes from the heart. you know, the shaking of the hands, this does not appear to be an exchange between two adversaries, although obviously it is. i think everybody, the taliban, and our special forces guys were doing as much as possible to keep their cool, you know to keep -- to get on the ground, get our guy and get out. the whole thing takes place in a matter have seconds. >> there are some other things we noticed from the video, right there is this recognition symbol that we see. would that have been agreed upon before the white flag you see there? >> absolutely. i actually heard that there was some kind of confusion initially, the special forces wanted the taliban guys to be holding something green and there was either a miscommunication or bizarrely they didn't have green so settled on white. certainly that would be a recognition or safety symbol,

something agreed upon in advance, you know, this is to say we're going through with the plan, everything's ok. there you see the special forces guy putting his hand on his heart. the other special forces who has bergdahl giving the communication back to the helicopter, you know, we've got him and it's bergdahl and we're bringing him over. what also was really interesting to me was how quickly, it almost seems cursory. look at this pat down, almost cursory for explosives. >> the pat down would have been to see if he had any bombs on his person. is there any significance that the taliban is now releasing this as a propaganda video? does this video benefit the taliban as a propaganda tool? >> well, i think in their mind, certainly it does. this whole exchange, the taliban views as a major coup for them. you know, five high level taliban guys in exchange for one

american soldier. i think they view this as a major p.r. victory. you know, it's unusual that they would release this kind of p.r. message to the world, but we have to bear in mind that there are varying levels of taliban extremism and there are mod receipts to taliban members. what we're seeing is a willingness to engage on both sides. there was an opportunity for this to happen. definitely a high risk mission, and i'm sure our special forces were ready to engage, but at the same time, i'm really impressed and amazed by how quickly and congenially this went down. when we see bergdahl, there's a little bit of a hint of a smile. of course, you're happy you're being rescued, but that to me suggested there might be some small measure of rapport between bergdahl and his captors, which

i don't think is exspecked or unusual. yes, he's been in captivity, but in five years, you would have developed some small measure of rapport with the people who ever taken you into captivity. >> absolutely fascinating analysis. >> coming up, former u.s. attorney generalla alberto gonzalez discusses the exchange with us at 8:30 easementern. >> 17 heads of state including president obama on friday will travel to france to mark the 70th anniversary of d-day. ahead of the event, hundreds of british veterans attended a replaying at the pegasus bridge today, a strategic crossing which british troops captured in the early hours of d-day. 160,000 allied troops crossed the english channel in the initial assault in june of 1944. many of them were american

soldiers, and as dana lewis shows, some are back in normandy for one last tour. >> on what many call their last reunion, groups of american war veterans have come back to normandy, most over 90 years old. >> how old are you? >> 94. >> i got you beat, i'm 92. [ laughter ] >> they survived their first lift 70 years ago. 89-year-old joe ceda said he came to relive his memories. it's only gotten more difficult. >> i can't talk. that's bad stuff. >> june 6, 1944, he was part of the largest amphibious landing in military history. americans, canadians and british to free from nazi rule. he had a front row seat piloting

a landing craft with soldiers to the beach and took back people wounded. >> all those people laying on the beach and tanks shot up, yeah, wait a minute, something's wrong, this was not what we were told. it was going to be a piece of cake. it wasn't. >> it's believed 2500 americans were killed on d-day. >> in the first few hours, there were so many casualty the on omaha beach that american commanders believe operation overlord was a terrible catastrophe, but slowly u.s. soldiers break away from frightened comrades and scaled the cliffs to take out german gunners, clearing the way for thousands more to come to shore. >> while the germans were retreating. >> on this anniversary, paratrooper bill cold well helped lead veterans down memory lane. they were celebrated by locals,

dressed at g.i.'s, eager for a moment with a liberator. >> the last word i heard when i went out the door just before, look to your left, look to your right, one of you will not see daylight. >> he had lied his way into the military. he was only 16 when he came face-to-face with the enemy. it happened in a hedge row hours after he landed. >> if you pull the trigger first, you survived, if you don't, well you're gone. i hit him in the chest, and as he went down on the ground, he looked at me and tried to say something, and that freaked me out. >> this week, the veterans received the french legion of honor, what could well be the last chance france has to thank them for help to go free europe. aljazeera, normandy.

>> the invasion was the largest military assault ever launch, including u.s., britain, canada, new zealand, as well as our countries. >> hillary clinton calls the presidency the ultimate glass ceiling in american politics but won't say if she hopes to break it. she spoke to people magazine about her potential bid for the white house in 2016. she said she's got a lot to consider. the former secretary of state saying: >> lets take a quick look now at other stories making headlines around the world. there's a cold war between penalties and their fitness face. president obama and vladimir putin both did for exclusive use of a game at the g8 summit.

neither backed down and did not want to work out together, according to the sun. president obama came out on top in the battle. >> he may have come out on top of the game battle, but the means of this, where you see president putin swimming in a lake are pretty hard core. >> i like president obama doing the bird there, that was a good look. >> he liked the squats, too. >> a special project is underway to restore happiness. the military put on a concert. the background of this is that thailand is under martial law since last month. they're trying to raise morale in that country. >> something that might make your skin crawl.

a book cover made of human skin, the copy of the book is without a doubt bound in human skin. >> the book is called the destiny of the soul and the encryption said the human soul deserved to have a human covering. scientists confirmed it is human skin. >> getting stopped for a d.u.i. in tennessee, you may end up giving a blood test, as well. >> police can actually force you to do it. a closer look at the law some say violates civil rights. >> these are no ordinary pair of pants. what makes them unique is the subject of today's discovery of the day. the day.

>> talk to aljazeera only on al jazeera america

>> it is time for our discovery of the day, an ancient piece of fashion 3,000 years in the making. >> archeologists believe they found the world's oldest pants in a grave yard unchina. they believe the pants were worn by horse riding nomads. >> these pants have straight fitting legs with extra reinforcement around the center, making straddling a horse a little easier. not bad looking, i'd say. >> drivers stopped on suspicion of driving under the influence in tennessee are sometimes forced to submit to a blood test. the state allows officers to demand a driver give blood if they refuse a breathalyzer test. tennessee is not the only place this is being done. wyoming and atlanta have similar laws. georgia is considering allows it statewide. it's a controversial practice critics say is a violation of a

person's right to privacy. >> joining us to discuss the legal implications is a criminal defense attorney and executive committee member with the national college for d.u.i. defense in washington, d.c. this morning. how can law enforcement pull people offer and demand a blood test? >> last year, the supreme court decided the case of missouri versus mcneily and held that before police can take blood, unless there's some kind of emergency that impedes their ability to get a warrant, they have to call a judge and get a warrant before they can stick a needle and pierce somebody's skin to get a blood sample. >> in tennessee, if a driver refuses a breathalyzer, officers can get a judge to issue the warrant and force the person to

comply. can a suspect be physically restrained and forced to give blood? >> yes, they can, but it has to be done in a beheadically appropriate mapper. if the police officer is holding somebody down on the side of a road and poking them with a needle or as documented in other new floors on the floor of the jail or put in a chair and have a hood put over their head, i don't think the court will approve those kind of procedures. if it's done in a medically appropriate manner, the constitution requires, the fourth amendment requires that before police do it, they just can't poke somebody without getting a judge to approve it first. if a judge approves it, the first question is is there probable cause to -- for the search. if the judge approves it, there's going to be a requirement that they perform the test in a medically appropriate manner. >> the only way this can be challenged in court is if a

judge doesn't approve it first? >> well, that's certainly one way to challenge it. there are lots of ways to challenge a blood test, certainly once they get the sample, if it's over the legal limit, there are lots of different arguments that can be made to challenge the reliability and accuracy of the test result itself, whether it's a reliable number. >> what's the difference between a blood test and breathalyzer? are there advantage to one over the other? >> certainly from the police point of view, the breathalyzer is easier to administer. it doesn't require them to take somebody to a hospital and they can do it in the police station and all they have to do is blow into a tube. but they also have to be properly observed for 20 minutes before they submit to the breath test. if they bell she or regurgitate, there can be contamination of the result. it has to be interpreted,

converted into a blood level, and what some states are doing is that because of the problems with the relight of breath testing, they're going to blood testing, but blood testing has its own set of unique problems that, you know, there's no panacea here for the state. >> criminal defense attorney and executive committee member with the national college for d.u.i. defense joining us from washington, d.c., thank you so much this morning. >> thank you. >> temperatures are rising across the u.s., but it's hitting the northeast and the southwest the hardest. the associated press analyzed federal temperature records over the past 30 years. during that time, maine and vermont rose two and a half degrees, double the national average and the hot southwest summers have become even hotter. new mexico is up 3.5 degrees and texas 2.8. north dakota cooled slightly. scientists say greenhouse gases are to blame for worldwide

heating. >> it makes me think it's time for another check of the weather. nicole mitchell is here. tell us what's going on. >> of course that meet adding to drought conditions in places like the southwest where we're also issuing excessive heat warnings in arizona. we're closely watching this boundary from the mid central section all the way up the east coast, causing areas of rain and severe weather. now we've kind of focused on the severe, but still heavy rain in places like new york and down intoners this morning, dealing with that. more of this will be in the mornings and tapering off, but a stronger cluster of thunderstorms, wind and hail the primary threat with all of this. with that, we still have areas even of severe. i want to mention we're just monitoring this, but an area in the gulf of mexico, they might check out later today to see if anything's developing. back to you. >> nicole mitchell, thanks so much. officials in delaware think they know what may be causing serious structural problem on a bridge. the span was shut down monday

after the support pillars were tilting. they believe it may have been caused by a giant pile of dirt dumped near the bridge by a contractor. the pile, about two stories high and 100 yards long may have caused the ground to move. the bring is a major east coast thoroughfare, 90,000 cars cross it every day. >> here are stories we're following at this hour. a manhunt under way in canada after three officers of shot to death. police are searching for a 24-year-old suspect said to be heavily armed. >> president obama attending the g7 summit in brussels. russian president vladimir putin was uninvited, moscow kicked out of the group following the annexation of crimea, ukraine. >> los angeles clippers owner donald sterling said he will not block the sale of the team, also dropping his lawsuit against the nba, which banned him when race i have the recordings were made public. >> ahead in our next hour, former nsa employees looking to

put a stop to the u.s. government saying practices, taking matters into their own hands with a website for whistle blowers. >> we're back in just two minutes. minutes. >> these protestors have decided that today they will be arrested >> these people have chased a president from power, they've torn down a state... >> what's clear is that people don't just need protection, they need assistance.

>> there's no question that the president vital the law by not notifying congress. >> the white house defending the decision to free army sergeant bowe bergdahl. many senators not buying it. >> oh, my goodness! just like that? go down. >> he shot him. >> oh, my god. >> cops. >> police in canada on the hunt for a man who allegedly killed three fellow officers in a shot theout, sending residents into

lockdown. >> g.m. investigation, general motors preparing the result of its recall probe and several heads are expected to roll. >> going for the world record to spread awareness. more than 2,000 people coming together to hug trees for the good of the planet. >> good morning and welcome to aljazeera america. the white house is trying to calm anger on capitol hill over the prisoner swap. >> this comes after the release of the taliban video documenting the handover of sergeant bowe bergdahl. the pentagon says they have no reason to doubt the videos authenticity. the army sergeant is currently in germany, receiving medical treatment approximate in his hometown, plans for a homecoming celebration are canceled. the town said it doesn't have the infrastructure to handle big crowds of celebration and protest when the sergeant returns. the deal has been subject to praise and outrage on capitol hill, lawmakers criticizing the president saying he broke the law by failing to inform

congress before the swap. officials argued they were concerned about his health. >> hope to go quiet criticism over the deal that released sergeant bowe bergdahl in exchange for five taliban leaders, the white house took to capitol hill wednesday night. behind closed doors, administration officials briefed all senators insisting the taliban prisoners released from guantanamo bay are no threat to the united states. some were left unconvinced. >> the exchange of five hard core hardest of the hard core al-qaeda/taliban will pose a threat to the united states of america and the men and women who are serving. >> the president has now set a precedent that will encourage enemies of the united states to target men and women in uniform, to capture them in order to carry out a similar exchange in the future. >> the senators were shown videos of bergdahl in deteriorating health, cited as why the administration moved so quickly and by passed congress.

that didn't get much support there, either. >> that did not sell me at all. the proof of life based five months ago, december, at that time he was impaired. >> there is no intelligence that indicated that from a medical standpoint, his life was in danger. >> on a day where the taliban released the video showing when sergeant bergdahl was handed over to american special forces, those who served with him insisted he is a deserter. the secretary of defense chuck hagel said that issue will be dealt with later. >> he is a sergeant of the united states army. the united states of america has and always will have responsibility for getting its soldiers back. >> back in bergdahled hometown of hailee idaho, the backlash related to his release is hard to escape. plans for a big celebration in hailee have been canceled. >> we want to do it when they're rate, some of the things they're

saying is security. >> the town has been swamped with hate mail and angry calls, putting into question the sergeant's service. >> the white house is spinning off criticism in washington and the controversy has followed president obama on his trip to europe. mike viqueira is traveling with the president and joins us now from brussels. members of congress clearly not happy with what they heard yesterday during meetings with obama officials. will the president be forced to give a white house briefing on the subject when he returns to washington? >> i think that's entirely likely. we won't have to wait that long, because in just two hours's' time the president is schedule would to have a press conference. much like in warsaw when the president offered a stout defense of his decision to make that prisoner swap in exchange for the release of bergdahl, i think you can expect a white house correspondent and american correspondent to ask the president about it this time. traveling aids, it's clear that they are trying to deal with

this. they're not surprised so much by the republican attacks on the prisoner swap. even democratic attacks on the process that led to that. they of course cut short the 30 day notification period. they are surprised, however by the backlash against bergdahl himself, particularly among his brothers in armles who consider him to be a traitor, stephanie. >> let's turn to the g7 summit. yesterday, the swedish foreign minister said he was playing the allies against one another. there are these impending bilateral meetings between vladimir putin and merkel and cameron. will those affect the summit? >> it just draws attention away from the fact that the president says that the g7 leaders have to speak with one voice and president obama is not meeting with vladimir putin. you're of course referring to the d-day commemoration that starts later this afternoon when the president begins his third stop on this trip. that is in paris, then to

normandy the day after that for the commemoration. there will be 17 world leaders there, as well as vladimir putin. the president is not going to meet with him. white house aides insist some of americas closest allies are going to be doing that. ukraine overshadows this entire gathering of the g7 in brussels. >> coming up at 8:30, we'll talk about the legal aspects of the bergdahl decision between the white house and congress with former u.s. attorney general alberto gonzalez. >> hope to go take advantage of the publicity surrounding the bergdahl case, the family of a couple held by the taliban is plead forego help. they released video showing american kaitlyn coleman with her canadian husband, asking president obama to help free them and their child from the taliban. the couple went missing two years ago when traveling near kabul. her family released the videos this week, but received them last year. >> royal canadian mountain

police are search forego a gunman, who shot and killed three of their own. >> police have locked down part of mountain new brunswick as they try to capture him. we have the latest on the search. >> hundreds of residents in several neighborhoods have been on lockdown for more than 12 hours now. one person who lives inside the frozen zone sent me this picture of a swat truck outside her home, clearly showing how active the search is now. this is the man they're looking for, 24-year-old resident. police say he's heavily armed and dangerous. that's why they have a strong warning out for resident to say stay inside, lock their doors and windows. last night, one family was record ago video of officers in their yard when gunfire broke out in the streets. >> do you see him? [ gunfire ] >> oh, my goodness. go down! >> he shot him! >> oh, my god! >> call 911.

>> oh, my god, call 911! >> the violent loss of the three officers made for an emotional embrace 17 the city's mayor and police constable. the worst loss in the history of the force happened back in 2005 when four officers were ambushes and killed at a farm in northern alberta. >> john boehner is demanding president obama do more to fix the troubled veterans facing getting health care, delivering a letter to the white house wednesday, in it calling it a failure. a bill would change how vets are treated at hospitals. boehner asked are you willing to do whatever it takes to ensure our veterans get the care we owe them, even if it means shaking up the current bureaucracy and rethinking the entire system. a tour of the phoenix hospital

will take place later today with up to 40 vets died waiting for care. >> getting veterans off the streets, a challenge to state and local lawmakers for all vets to have a home by the end of next year. 12% have all homeless people have served in the military. 77 mayors and four governors from around the country have pledged to help. >> tens of thousands of veterans who risk their lives for our country are sleeping in their cars or in a shelter or next to a subway vent. we should be horrified, because that's not who we are as americans. >> homelessness among veterans has been reduced by almost 25% since 2010, but nearly 60,000 vets are still on the streets. >> a marine jet crashed into a residential neighborhood in southern california and no one was hurt. the jet went down wednesday afternoon in imperial, california, a desert area about 90 miles east of san diego. the pilot managed to safely

eject from the air kraft, which slammed into a house, causing two other homes to catch fire. a boy reported hearing an explosion that felt like an earthquake. the crash is under investigation. >> fighting in eastern ukraine is forcing residents to flee the area. the kiev government claims more than 300 are you sure accept have been killed in an anti terrorist operation in slovyansk. it's a different story where ukrainian border guards have been abandoning their post in eastern ukraine. >> what can you tell us about the situation around the border with russia? >> this is an incredibly embarrassing situation for the authorities in kiev. three border posts have now been taken over by accept are a activities. one of them was a national guard base. the guards there were forced to flee after running out of

ammunition. an awkward situation for those in kiev. they are blaming the under resourced military on the former yanukovych regime, who fled the country in february. that doesn't help the situation on the ground right now. in slovyansk, fierce fighting, into day three of the ukrainian military's most intense attacks, but it's launched in the conflict so far. the city is now surrounded by ukrainian military and the people on the ground there obviously very, very nervous. lots of people are staying indoors. we heard some are building bunkers underground, a very nervous situation for all the residents. >> the increased fighting in the east is happening days before the new president elect of ukraine takes power. what is poroshenko saying now?

>> after his victory was announced. he said he was going to increase the efficiency of this anti terrorism operation, as kiev is calling it, saying that the battles raging would last for just a matter of hours rather than days. clearly in the past week, we've seen that hasn't been the case. then after his meeting with u.s. president barack obama, he then came out and said that after his inauguration saturday, he will present his plans of peace, his way out of this conflict, suggesting that it will include a really wide ranging amnesty for the separatists involved. it will be interesting to see what he says on saturday in that inauguration speech. >> it is looking like another stormy day on tap, including the risk for severe weather like the tornado that touched down in ohio yesterday. >> lets bring in our weather

oracle, nicole mitchell. >> this is damage after a tornado passing through ohio, a lot of what we saw with that storm system was farther south into kentucky. recovery going on today, wind and hail reports over the last couple of days have been very significant. let's get to where some of this is now. that part of the system that moved through ohio, kentucky continued to move. this is rain this morning into the northeast, so not as much severe weather. back along this boundary, we have another area of low pressure. anywhere along there could be the firing line today. it's really what we have in the midwest that is more significant. this is all that severe weather, just within the last 12-24 hours, yesterday was another very significant day for us with almost 200 reports. the day before was closer to 300 or almost 400 reports, and so this is what we've had, just over the last two days, the core of some of the worst of that, that wind damage that we saw the day before last, clipping through the central plains. this morning, that's where we

also have the severe weather, places like kansas, this cell right here has been producing high winds and areas of hail. that's our primary threat. winds could gust 70 miles per hour. hail could be ping upon sized, that's enough to cause damage. the core of this will stay into the central plains, where we're having it this morning. significant downpours with this, too, so also watch for the flash flooding. >> laugh clippers owner donald sterling has agreed to sell the team and at the same time he's also dropping his $1 billion lawsuit against the nba. former microsoft chief executive steve ballmer is purchasing the team for $2 billion. sterling was banned for life from the nba after a leaked recording of him making racist remarks appeared on celebrity gossip website tmz.

>> sprint and mobile agreed on a $32 billion deal expected to be announced this summer. the agreement would bring together the nation's third and fourth largest wireless phone providers. the terms are still being worked out. sprint would pressure t mobile for about $40 per share. >> this morning, we will learn the results of g.m.'s internal investigation into the company's slow response to a faulty ignition switched linked to 13 deaths. the switch problems caused the company to recall 6 million vehicles. last month, a national highway traffic safety adding fined g.m. $35 million. former u.s. attorney headed up this g.m. probe, aljazeera is in detroit this morning. what can we expect when he briefs reporters this morning? >> c.e.o. of g.m. is expected to release the findings in less

than an hour, expected to reveal who new what and when and why nothing was done to fix the problem. what can we expect? we can expect dismissals, including the engineer who designed the switch and members of the company's legal department. top executives, including c.e.o. mary barra were unaware of safety concerns before december, 2013. it's expected to address interdepartmental communications at general motors with democrats failing to pass on safety concerns to other democrats or other top executives. barra is expected to address employees in less than an hour. after that is done, she will then face the media. >> it looks like from your sources, mary barra herself was not aware of the problem. this internal report isn't by any means the final word on the manner. what other investigations is g.m. currently facing?

>> no, not at all. $35 million is what general motors is find by the national traffic safety administration. that's not it. right now, the u.s. justice department is investigating, as well as congress. their troubles are far from over. >> putting a stop to the u.s. government's spying practices, how some former nsa employees are taking matters into their own hands and the steps the government is taking to stop them. >> the high cost of caring for kids, hitting the wallets of parents. it's becoming more and more expensive to raise a child. >> the weather creating problems for travelers inside one brazilian airport. that video and the others captured by citizen journalists around the world. nd the world.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. let's get a check of the videos captured by citizen journalists around the globe. >> twin car bombs rocking kirkuk i have iraq, killing 10, wounding 13.

this is the aftermath of the blast. the bombings came during a series of attacks around baghdad. >> a passenger jet catching fire at russia's international airport in moscow. the thick black smoke is coming from around the hangar. the plane was no longer in use, parked at the airport, waiting to be sold. >> mother nature creating issues for passengers at brazil's international airport. the mess didn't last too long. employees cleaned the water shortly after. >> the soaring cost of child care, something stephanie and i can both relate to and all americans are facing this at all levels. >> first, british drug maker glaxosmithkline is settling a claim it marketed its drug for unapproved uses, paying $5 million to 44 states. the suit accuses the company of

a practice called off labeling, meaning they misrepresented the uses and qualities of their drugs and marketed them for purposes unapproved by the f.d.a. the company has not acknowledged wrongdoing under the settlement. it settled a similar claim with the federal government in 2012 for a record $3 billion. >> 25% of the people who got health care under the affordable care act could be at risk of losing their coverage. a document obtained by the associated press found that more than 2 million people have data discrepancies coming from mismatching information by people when they signed up versus what the government has on file. that means they could be forced to pay higher subsidies or have coverage dropped. 8 million people signed up so far for health care. the government hopes to sox the problem by the end of the summer. >> already struggling to pay

rent, mortgage or taxes many face the cost of child care. it can cost more than a year at an in-state public college. it's an issue for more than just working class families. >> for working parents, karla and todd taking care of their nine-month-old baby and getting their 4-year-old up every morning can be nothing short of a miracle. >> no! no! not yet! >> juggling the cost of child care for their two daughters has become the real daily struggle for this new york family. >> what book do you want to brick to school today? >> when i go to the grocery store and buying the grocery, i'm thinking i'm going to go home and make sure i haven't overdrawn. >> karla works as a tenured professor. todd runs a music non-profit and teaches part time at columbia

university. despite an annual income that $110,000 a year, they can barely pay preschool fees and one day of babysitting a week. >> child care is the highest household expense and most regions, competed only on the west coast by housing. >> fees vary state to state. massachusetts ranks as most expensive at $29,000 for two young children in day care. in mississippi, the lowest. nationwide, child care costs have been growing at a rate five times that of family incomes. >> we're seeing in the united states of america where people are having babies off an economic cliff. >> cost increases can be explained by rising expenses added child care centers. kristin says the larger issue is a matter of supply. day cares in 19 states had

waiting lists or turned away families, unable to keep up with the rapidly rising demand. >> 50% of our entire labor force are women for the first time in history and flee quarters of moms are in the labor force. at the same time, nearly 50% of families are relying on mom wages as the primary breadwinner. >> she recently landed a coveted teaching fellowship for the fall but worries they won't be able to afford the extra days of babysitting they'd need for the position. their only hope rests on getting salary raises in the coming months. >> what's the plan b.? there is no plan b. >> marry snow, aljazeera. >> the expense of child care does impact the overall economy. a recent study by the nonprofit business investment group, america's edge found employees absent from work due to child care issues cost companies $3 billion annually.

>> looks like they're going to be baking again in the southwest. let's look at temperatures around the nation. nicole mitchell is here with that. >> here advisories up for that area again, excessive heat warnings. that would be the southwest into texas. i'll hone in on that in a second. where we have the front, you can see 70's south and 50's and 60's on the north of all of that. i mentioned the southwest. you brought it up. all the way into texas we have temperatures in the hundreds, which i think sounds miserable. our floor director thinks that sounds wonderful. i guess to each their own. i think this sounds better, the 70's in the north even with the rain in new york, 72. i would take that over the hundreds. to each their own. it has cooled 10 degrees from yesterday. tomorrow, temperatures rebound. back to you guys. >> the white thousand is defending its decision to swap taliban prisoners for the release of army sergeant bowe bergdahl. former u.s. attorney general

gonzalez weighs in on whether the administration overstepped its bounds making the deal without congress. >> everything in syria, houses, land, property, business. >> children being left with nothing as a result of the syrian war. some are working to get them off the streets and give them a brighter future. >> planet earth on the verge of a mass extinction. some plants and animals are dying off at a rapid rate and humans to blame. >> a look now at hour images of the day and some of the world's best surfers catching waves at the fiji pro competition. the current world champion bowing out due to a knee injury.

>> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john henry smith.

>> i'm stephanie sy. ahead in our next half hour. one year after revelations by edward snowden, other employees are taking action to expose government spying. >> breaking a world record for hugging trees. the messages more than 2,000 people were trying to send. >> first, german prosecutors expected to start a formal investigation into investigations angela merkel's cell phone was bugged by the n.s.a. document released by edward snowden showed the u.s. speed on her conversations. german lawmakers are looking into claims britain may have speed, as well. white house officials say direct confidences are the best way to investigate spying. >> whistle blowers are encouraged to come forward and expose illegal activity. a site follows snowden's

revelations about the n.s.a.'s mass surveillance programs. >> they're former national security agency employees who wanted to expose concerns about how the agency was working. when they did, the government wasn't happy. >> when we started addressing all of the unconstitutional activity they were involved in, they eventually sent the f.b.i. at us to shut us up. >> they took our computers, anything, written notes, records that we had in hopes of finding something they could use against us. >> the two resigned from the n.s.a., but say the retaliation continued. high level security contractors, each time hired by a government agency said their contracts were term plated. it was years before edward snowden provided proof through these documents the u.s. government was conducting mass surveillance on ordinary americans. >> we are at a severe crisis point. >> the pair is now part of a group launching a website,

exposedfact.org to shed light on hidden government activity. >> what's at stake, and that is our civil liberties, the first amendment, the fourth amendment, the fifth amendment, and really, what makes democratic functioning possible. >> they know getting employees to come forward won't be easy, given u.s. government threats against those like edward snowden, who do expose alleged wrongdoing. >> edward snowden is a coward. he is a traitor, and he has betrayed his country. >> the u.s. justice democratic won't reveal just how much money it spent investigating or even prosecuting government whistle blowers, but it's estimated to be more than a billion dollars in just the past decade. still, this group hopes others will come forward to preserve u.s. democracy. >> depressing to have to go through this kind of process of exposing what our government is

doing in terms of corrupting our entire process. >> the website is backed by 40 former officials from the n.s.a., state and u.s. justice departments. the group purchased its first bus shelter ad in front of the u.s. state democratic. they hope their own experience will encourage more whistle blowers to speak out. >> the new site has the support of daniel ellsberg, the man who leaked the pentagon papers. whistle blowers are invited to submit complaints use ago secure server. >> the white house is defending the decision to release army sergeant bowe bergdahl. this meeting comes in the accusation that the release was done illegally without a 30 days notice to congress.

marco rubio said it's clear the president bloke the law. >> there's no question the president violated the law by not notifying congress. to me, the most pressing challenge we face is the president has now released five of the most dangerous individuals in guantanamo, if not the five most dangerous. they will soon return to the fight against america and our interests around the world. >> joining us now to discuss the legal aspects of the exchange is alberto gonzalez, former u.s. attorney general under george w. bush, a former judge and dean of belmont law school. i'm not sure before you like to be called dean gonzalez or judge gonzalez. either way, thank you for joining us this morning. let me start with senator rubio's comments. do you agree there is a violation of law. >> the president did not comply with the provisions of the law. we get into an academic debate as to whether or not the law is

constitutional in terms of limiting the commander-in-chief's authority dealing with captured american seal injuries. clearly the president did not comply with the law. the more interesting question is is the law constitutional then we have the decision question about is this a good deal or not. is this the right decision that the president made in connection with this transfer. >> you brought up this issue of constitutionality, that is one of the obama administration's argument that this compliance, 30 day notification of congress might have in traininged on separation of powers, so there's that issue here, as well. in that way, isn't this a legal gray area? >> i think i could make the arguments on both sides. here you've got the requirement of providing notice was in the defense authorization bill, it's a spending bill and congress of course has a constitutional duty and authority with respect to spending under the constitution. the president also has a

constitutional right which of course as commander-in-chief to deal with soldiers captured on the battlefield. it is a gray area. whether or not the court will want to get involved in this kind of dispute, i think is a very difficult question. >> as someone who served as a top law enforcement official in the white house, would you have advised the president to execute this differently? >> of course there's information that the white house has that i don't have access to, which might make a difference in the opinion i might give of the president of the united states. my role at attorney general would go to provide advice as to whether or not the president has the authority. even if he has the authority, you still have the question whether or not is this a good deal. >> right. >> for example, what do we know about how dangerous these five terrorists that were transferred back to cutter were, how eminent was the declining health of bergdahl, so this is information, quite frankly that

i don't have access to that would make a difference. what i would clearly tell the president is is that what we know is that the courts historically have been very much willing to interject themselves in disputes involving the war on terrorism and the courts have been very clear, the supreme court very clear in saying that they prefer that the president act in conjunction with the approval of congress in making decisions on the war on terrorism. >> we do know some things about these five prisoners released from guantanamo bay, some were military commanders in the taliban. do you believe this is a security risk americans should worry about and would you have advised the president to make this deal with the taliban. >> there are always security risks involved. i saw something where the director of national intelligence briefed congress that up to 30% of detainees at guantanamo released come back to fight against the united states. >> i understand that number is more likely to be at around 16%

based on studies done at seton hall university, the recidivism rate. >> whatever it is, i think it's fair to say that given these rates, at least one of these five is going to come back and fight against the united states. that is always a very difficult calculation in terms of ascertaining whether or not someone that i also reds from guantanamo bay is going to come back and fight against the united states. obviously no commander-in-chief wants to confront the grieving mother or father and have to explain why their son or daughter was killed by someone we once held at guantanamo bay. it remains to be seen whether or not this is a good deal. we have to see what's going to happen with these five. obviously, i think the public perception about whether or not this is a good deal is going to depend in part as to whether or not was bergdahl a deserter. that's the question that remains to be answered. >> should that matter, whether he was a deserter? >> in connection with the transfer, probably not. the other thing we have to understand is that we really

don't know that until we actually take covered of him and subject him to some kind of adjudication, probably a court martial in our military system. we need custody of him before we can answer that question as to whether or not he was a deserter. >> a lot of people have framed this as a political debate, even though there are also democratic lawmakers criticizing president obama for the decision to strike this deal with the taliban. it's remarkable, judge gonzalez, how non-partisan you seem in this whole debate? >> well, i try to be fair about these kind of things, unlike the critics of president bush, including candidate obamaingen very unpleasant about making these decisions. i've given counsel to the president and the attorney general. i understand how difficult these decisions can be. i long ago learned that i'm not very good at predicting how the court is going to come out an

issues relating to the war on terrorism. >> in your roam at attorney general, you had disagreements sometimes with members on the hill. is this a case of the executive and the legislative branches interpreting their roles differently? >> no question about it. there's always an institutional dance that occurs between the branches of government with respect to the exercise of power, and each branch is going to want to protect their prerogatives, and we're seeing a little bit of that in connection with this debate ongoing right now. >> thank you very much, sir, alberto gonzalez, former attorney general of the united states and dean of belmont law school joining us. we appreciate it, sir. >> thank you. >> g7 leaders are denouncing elections in syria as a sham. wednesday, officials announced that bashar al assad had won a third seven year term in office. he got almost 90% have the vote, but polls were only open in areas under government control. millions who fled during the

civil war did not vote in the election. asses closest challenger received only 4% of the vote. >> more than 2500 syrian refugees fled into lebanon each day. officials estimate by the end of this year, there could be 1.5 million syrian refugees. half of those forced from their homes are children. >> as the war ripped their country apart, one group was most vulnerable, syrian children are members of a loft generation. this 11-year-old sits on his bed, doesn't play with the other kids. he can't count or read. he is traumatized and doesn't speak much. when we asked what he thinks about syria, fear, he whispers. they've seen things no one, no child should ever see. most are children out of school. >> they lost everything in syria, the house us, the land,

the property, business. >> home of hope is run for children. >> we try to rehabilitate them, give them education. >> syrian children have flooded and overwhelm lebanon, living in makeshift settlements across the country or in beirut, just a few blocks away from the rollerbladers and the sunsets. at least 75,000 on the streets instead of in school. >> the 15-year-old works 12 hours a day to make $7. he and his friends fear the police will arrest them because minors aren't allowed to work on the streets. this girl wants to be a drawing teacher when she gross up. she feels ashamed being on the street, so looks away and longs for home. >> i hope things calm down and

god willing, i can go back. >> the families often send them to sell or beg to help pay bills and they can make a lot more money at night especially here in beirut's main shopping street, but it's much more dangerous. >> these kids don't want to be on the streets. two out of three kids are sexually harassed. >> why did you leave sydney? >> he has been helping these children's after leaving what he calls a life of luxury in australia. >> it's not easy to leave your comfort zone if you live the good life. >> he is proud he's helped these kids but admits he is losing the battle. >> more people will be coming, legally or illegally. it's going to be a disaster. >> when we asked what he missed most about syria he whispers his family. he didn't want to admit or couldn't that last summer in his hometown, he watched his family

killed by a government air strike. they're in beirut now, safer here, but they've lost their childhood. >> secretary of state john kerry made a surprise visit to beirut, where many syrian refugees are living. that he promised an additional $290 million in humanitarian aid for the refugees and countries that have taken them in. the u.s. has already contributed $2 billion. >> an american detained in egypt is begging for help from president obama. 26-year-old muhammed sultan was arrested last august, accused of recording security forces dragging away muslim brotherhood supporters. now a new video has been leaked out of cairo and gone viral. the video was shot in january after sultan, a graduate of ohio state university went on a hunger strike. >> the trial of three aljazeera journalists detained in egypt is set to resume today. it will be the 11th appearance

for producers and correspondent. they have been held 159 days. the prosecutor he can expected to sum up his case against our colleagues, accused of aiding the muslim brother hood. aljazeera rejects the charges and demands their immediate release. >> in montana, the supreme court is suspending a judge for making insensitive comments about a 14-year-old rape victim. the judge said the girl was older than her chronological age. he is suspended without pay for a month. the girl was assaulted by her teacher and later committed suicide. he sentenced the teacher to 30 days in jail. the high court is reassessing the sentence. >> hillary clinton calls the presidency the ultimate glass ceiling in american politics but still won't say if she hopes to break it. she spoke to people magazine about her potential bid for the white house in 2016. she said she's got a lot to

consider, considering that she's about to become a grandmother. she said i'm certainly in the camp that says we need to break down that hardest highest glass ceiling in american politics. she goes on to say having a woman president is something i'd love to see happen but i'll have to make my own decision about what i think is right for me. >> plants and animals going extinct at a rate not seen in years. >> it's blamed on you and me. >> what can be done to give creatures a shot at survival. survival.

>> the stream, saturday 5:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> los angeles kings have taken an early lead a one-game -- game one victory in the stanley cup finals. williams scored the game winner

in overtime for the kings. it was williams' eighth goal of the postseason. >> getting ready to put your sports hat back on. >> never came off. >> a new study founding the alarm on the extinction of plants and animals but first a republican push to put an end to president obama's proposed environmental rules falls flute on the senate floor. harry reid blocking the measure wednesday. the new rules will limit carbon emissions from coal plants, but gop lawmakers say the cost will be handed down to the poor and elderly. >> temperatures rising hitting the northeast and southwest hard effort. the associated press analyzing temperature records of the past 30 years. during that time, the northwest has gone up 2.5 degrees. maine and vermont are leading the pack and the hot southwest summers are becoming hotter. new mexico is up 3.5 degrees, in texas 2.8.

north dakota cooled slightly. scientists say greenhouse gases are to blame. >> a new study published this week says plant and animal extinction are happening at a rate 1,000 times greater than before humans walked the earth. while scientists have been aware mass extinction are occurring, this research calculates the rate of extinctions as to opposed to just the number disappearing. joining us now is professor of conservation at duke university and president of saving species. mr. tim, your study looks at the rate of plant and animal exstickses. what did you discover. >> finding out about the rate is rather like looking penalty obituary notices in the newspaper and working out how many people are dying per year. we were able to calculate that rate for birds, mammals and amphibians and able to compare

that with the rate from fossils and other evidence that tells us how was species were going extinct before we did the damage we're dog today. >> how did the rate compare with the extinction of the dinosaurs? >> if the current rates continue, and i must stress this, i'm very optimistic about our future if we do the right thing, if these rates continue for another 50 or 100 years, it will be equivalent to what happened 60 million years ago when an asteroid plowed into yucatan in mexico and eliminate a third of all the variety of life on earth. >> what animals and plants are under the greatest threat as we speak right now. >> two classes of animals and plants, those that are big and scarce meaning lions and tigers and bears, oh my as dorothy says in the wizard of oz and species

that have tiny geographical ranges, found in very special places around the world, in the northern andes or mountains east of africa, madagascar, places like that are high levels of risk. >> you mentioned that we might stop this if we do the right thing. what can be done? >> the most important thing is we need to know where those species are and people can help with that. i have in my pocket a wonderful new technology for surveying by diversity, it's my smart phone. i can take pictures, upload them to websites, get experts to identify them. literally millions of people around the world do that, so we have a much better idea of where special vulnerable species are now than the past. that crowd sourcing is becoming a new important technology in understanding where the

priorities for conservation should be. >> can we talk about some of the specific animals that are going extinct right now, this top of the line awareness for you. >> as i said, we're aware of big things like tigers, which are on the verge of extinction, lion numbers are massively depleted, but there is a wealth of other beautiful species, humming birds in the northern anodes. my group has been particularly engaged with an animal called the golden lion tamrarn, from the coastal areas of brazil. it's a place where good knowledge of where the species is led to very effective conservation action on the part of my organization, saving species and brazilian counter parts, the golden lion tamaran association. >> is it safe to say the human race is to blame for all of this.

>> we are the cause, but also the solution. if we are going to hand to our children and grandchildren the beautiful and diverse planet that we have now, we can stop this. we can stop this by being smart, by making sustainable choices instead of unsustainable ones. >> there's something called the baby alaquinto. >> it took me a lock time to get the pronunciation right, too. this is a newly discovered mammal, gorgeous, lives in the mountains of colombia and ecuador. it was discovered by a colleague of mine in north carolina and what we can do for that is to make sure we protect its home, make sure we protect the forest where it lives and my group is very actively involved in doing that. genuine stress, there's a lot of things we can do if we're smart and act promptly. >> you particularly have

membered one type of shark. could you talk about that? >> one of the things that's happening around our world is we are massively destroying our coral reefs. i've just driven up from the florida keys. reefs there are not in good shape because we've been careless with them. protecting our coral reefs is not only a matter of protecting by diversity, it's a matter of protecting the economic value of a biological feature that attracts millions of tourists from the united states and europe who come to visit the florida keys every year. >> if you wanted to leave every single person watching this show right now with a message, what can every single person do to aid conservation efforts? >> we can become better informed or we can care and we can make the choices in our lifestyle that lead us to be more

sustainable. we can tread more lightly upon the landscape. >> thank you so much. >> what a great spokesperson for the cause. >> indeed, passionate, too. >> let's look at the wet weather across the u.s. today. nicole mitchell is here. you are a cute creature. >> that little thing, i wanted to pinch its cheek, take it home. you don't want to take exotic animals home, because they have a better place to live, but thank you, receive knee. >> we have the low pressure that's moved to the east coast. the high river value yesterday was causing the fear weather. the boundary and more low pressure into the central plains. we have a wide area where we could see some of these storms today. for the east coast, more is heavy rain. could see an isolated thunderstorm. it's moving pretty quickly. into the afternoon hours, we'll see improvements with this. it is what is moving through

kansas, now into oklahoma. watch for wind and hail, damaging areas and even severe thunderstorm areas right now. that is kind of our core through the course of the day. not only the risk for severe, but also watch for heavy run. >> you should be flattered, stephanie never called me a cute creature. >> beatle mania was in full effect, fans and collectors spending $3 million for john lennon's original poetry and sketches, included in two books published in the 1960's at the height of the beatles' fame. a short atory len known wrote went for $200,000. he attended art school in liverpool and continued to write

stories.