this country. >> i worked in nashville for six years, i know the stories that are important to people there. overcrowding is such a big issue at this school. >> people in the outer islands of alaska picking up tsunami trash, really committed to what they are doing, and they have a lot more work to do. if you really want to tell peoples' stories, you've got to go talk to the people. >> real reporting. >> real news. >> this. >> this. >> this, is what we do. >> al jazeera america. >> welcome to aljazeera america, here are the stories we're following for you. >> ultimately, it's up to people to make their own decisions. >> president obama emerges from the g-7 with tough talk for president putin. and many senators are not buying t the interim va secretary is due to visit the phoenix facility today where a nationwide scandal broke.

and. >> look to your left and right. and you will not see daylight. >> the soldiers under fire after the massive invasion on d-day in france. as the world's top economic powers finish up g-7 meetings, they're sending a warning to russia, which was recently ousted from the group. pull out of ukraine or there will be more sanks. the group stopped short of imposing new penalties. >> given it's influence over the militants in ukraine, russia continues to have a responsibility to convince them to lay down their weapons and enter into a dialogue with the ukrainian government. on the other hand, if russia's provocations continue, it's clear from our discussions here that the g-7 nations are ready to impose additional costs on

russia. >> president obama is headed to paris to meet with francoise hollande. and president obama has no formal plans to meet with russia's president, and what does it say that other western leaders are ready to meet with putin? >> it's interesting, you is a on the press conference, the american president stood alongside of the leader of the country, dave cameron of the united kingdom, and of course david cameron goes to paris, and he will be meeting one-on-one with vladimir putin. president obama was asked if he has plans for a formal meeting, but no doubt, he'll be rubbing elbows with him, and if he sees vladimir putin, he'll say the same thing that he said publicly, russia has to reverse

course. the president was frank. he said that he came here to brussels to this g7 meeting to keep everybody in line, and you cannot be swayed by russia's seeming conciliatory mood. and it's not allowed to drift. because he's using surrogates to destabilize ukraine, and because he has taken other steps that seem to be back from the edge of confrontation, they have to keep the pressure o four weeks from the outside, if russia does not reverse course, then the tougher sanctions must go forward. >> and they keep insisting their solidarity there, and meantime, releasing bergdahl in exchange for five taliban prisoners, and here's what he says. >> i'm never surprised by the controversies that are whipped up in washington. that's par for the course, and i

make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents, and that the american people understand that this is somebody's child. we don't condition whether or not we make the effort to try to get them back. >> so mike, is there a sense among the sources that you spoke to that the white house was prepared for the fallout on this? >> reporter: well, i think it's fascinating. i just saw president obama double down there. even more defiant than he was when he was asked virtually the same question just two days ago in warsaw, and yes, you're absolutely right, the white house aids were surprised. they expected the blowback from republicans, and even from democrats on capitol hill because the 30-day law was seemingly violated whereby congress had to be notified before a release of prisoners at

guantanamo. the president said yes, we saw the window of opportunity, and he added a new line of reasoning today. he said prisoner exchanges, and this is what we have seen in the last few days. they're nothing new. and particularly at the end of the war, they go back to the history of the republic. and he said again, somewhat controversially, that they had consulted in some respects with congress, though it's hard tomorrow find any congressman that said that consultation had taken place in any time in the last two years. >> mike viqueira reporting, and back in the u.s., the attempt to free sergeant bergdahl is growing. they said that they were concerned about bergdahl's health. >> over the criticism to change bergdahl for five taliban leaders, the administration

officials briefed all senators, saying that those prisoners from guantanemo are no threat to the united states, but some were unconvinced. >> the hardest of the hardcore al qaeda/taliban, will pose a threat to the united states of america. >> 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 similar exchanges in the future. >> reporter: the senators were slowing bergdahl in deteriorating health, why the administration moved so quickly and bypassed congress. but that didn't get much support either. >> that didn't sell me at all. don't tell me that he was impaired. >> there was no intelligence that indicated from a medical standpoint that his life was in danger. >> on a day where the taliban

released the video that showed bergdahl was handed over to american forces, those who served with him stressed again that he was a deserter. >> he's a sergeant north united states army. and the united states of america has had and always will have a responsibility for getting its soldiers back. >> back in haley, idaho, the backlash related to his release is hard to escape. plans for a big celebration this month have been canceled. >> we want to do it when things are right. some of the reasons, the security. >> the small town of 8,000 said that it has been swamped with hate mail and angry calls, putting into question sergeant bergdahl's military service. taking advantage of the publicist around the case, a family of another couple is pleading for help as they release new videos, showing american, caitlin coleman, with

her canadian husband. in the video, they ask president obama to free them and their child from the taliban, they went missing two years ago. their family released the videos last week, and they received them last year! >> senators across the aisle are negotiating over two veterans affairs bills. for serious problems with the department, including wait times, and meat, the acting chief travels to arizona today for one of the most troubled hospitals. libby joins us from washington d.c., and where do we stand regarding a compromise on the bills? >> reporter: good morning, stephanie, there's certainly the opportunity to compromise, but starting from different places. republicans the veterans to have more choices when it comes to medical care, see private doctors from uds of the va system and have the va pay for t. and they want to give more

authority to the va to fire those who aren't working up to par. democrats say sure, they should be able to seek care else western, but they're worried that republicans are trying to strip power away from the central va. as far as the fires go, democrats say that we want to hold people accountable but we don't want them to get fired because they're whistle blowers, or gay, and they want to make sure that protections are in place. we have seen a couple of bills emerge, and folks have gone behind closed doors, john mccain, and bernie sanders of new york, the caucus democrat and chairman of the va committee, they're trying to find ground for compromise, and they even brought in the chairman of the mouse committee. so the question is, can they put their ideas together and accomplish something over the next week? >> what are the va officials

looking for going forward? >> they want to see action, stephanie. the issues of wait times and clinics are nothing new, and they feel frustrated that politicians talk about this. and they have not seen a concerted effort to bring real change, as they have told us. we talked to a disabled american veteran, and he shared what most troubles him. >> they never believed that the root problem was with the leadership of the va. our concern is over the past decade, congress and the administration have not properly funded the needs of va. >> he also says that it's not just about money, but holding people accountable and really changing a system that's huge, and quite bureaucratic from his perspective, and hasn't kept up with "the times." everything from making a record and electronics to modernizing the systems. >> a lot of veterans that i've spoken to say the same, libby,

and is the va doing with the problems right now? >> he traveled to phoenix today. and this is ground zero for the veterans waiting to see doctors, and essentially doctors cooking the books for people waiting. he had his first meeting with the veterans groups yesterday and he told me that they have reached out and contacted those in the phoenix area, waiting to get doctors appointments. and they have been able to contact 1500 vets, get their appointments scheduled and get that process going. >> libby casey reporting from washington, thank you. a marine jet crashed into a residential neighborhood for southern california. and no one was hurt. the harrier jet went down wednesday afternoon in imperial, california. pilot was able to safely eject into the aircraft, which slammed into a house. two homes caught fire. a boy in the neighborhood

reported hearing an explosion that felt like an earthquake. and the cause of the crash is under investigation. royal canadian mounted police are searching for a gunman who brazenly killed two of their own and killed two other officers. they have locked down new brunswick as they try to catch the suspect. he's heavily armed and dangerous. residents are being told to stay inside of their homes and lock their doors. general motors ceo, mary bharara, said there no evidence that gm tried to cover up their ignition problem. the report was released a short awhile ago, and it shows a history of failures. >> this report is extremely thorough, brutally tough and deeply troubling. for those of us who have dedicated our lives to this company, it's enormously painful

to see our shortcomings laid out so vividly. >> the faulty switch problem that has been linked to at least 13 deaths caused the company to recall 13 had the 6 million vehicles. bc, bharara spoke to employees not long ago, and the tone of the report, it's brutally tough. and what are some of the findings of the report? >> as you mentioned, stephanie, mary bharara revealed today that this report shows a pattern of neglect and incompetence that put lives at risk. 15 people have been fired from the company and five disciplined. this defect, this ignition switch defect, is linked to more than a dozen deaths, and multiple crashes, and they're going to establish a

compensation program for those victims. mary barra spoke to over 100 employees and talked to them for 15 minutes. she said that the company is going to work hard to do right by the people harmed. and they were going to make sure that it doesn't happen again. >> in addition, the investigators found no evidence that any employee made a tradeoff between safety and cost. the pattern in this case is much more complex and nuanced. what he found was a pattern of management deficiency and misjudgement, often based on incomplete data that were passed off at the time and business as usual. >> so gm ceo, mary bar a.

disclosing the report. and it could go into effect sometime later this summer. back to you. >> bisi, does this report clear gm and answer all of the questions, or is there more to come? >> well, just to give you some insight, last month, general moats, they're investigating, looking into the recall, the ignition switch, and congress is looking into this. so good. m's troubles are not over yet. >> thanks, bisi. it was ambitious and audicious. d-day in france ended with a massive parachute drop. >> it was going to be a piece of

cake, and it wasn't. >> you're watching aljazeera america.

>> tomorrow marks the 70th anniversary of d-day. one of the pivit al battles of world war ii. they had been reaching for five years when an enormous wave of ships and planes delivered the troops to the normandy coast. prince charles and his wife, camilla, visited. and they prevented german reinforcements from getting together beaches. today more than 300 soldiers parachuted into ram victim, recreating the air drop that included soldiers from the united states, britain, canada and france. 70 years ago, more than 21,000 soldiers, 13,000 of them american, parachuted into normandy to help secure the landing beaches.

all of them part of what was called operation overlord. as the american soldiers were fighting inland, the huge invasion fleet pushed ashore. it has been a somber destination for survivors of the war. we spoke with two americans who have gone back for this anniversary. >> on what many called their last reunion, groups of american war veterans have come back to normandy. most over 90 years old. >> how old are you? >> 91. >> i'm 92. >> as liberators, they said they are blessed to have survived their first visit 70 years ago. 89-year-old joe ceda, said that he came to relive his memories, but on his 8th time back, it has only gotten more difficult. [ unintelligible ]. >> june 6th, 1944, kcida was

part of the largest amphibious landing in american history, to free europe from nazi rule. he had a seat as he piloted a landing craft as he brought soldiers to omaha beach. >> the beach, tornado warnings, shot up. yeah, wait a minute, something is wrong. it's 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 of d-day, there were so many casualties here on omaha beach that they believe that the operation overlord was a terrible catastrophe, but slowly, u.s. soldiers, one-by-one, broke away from frightened comrades and scaled the cliffs it take out german gunners, and that cleared the way for thousands more to come ashore. >> on this 70th anniversary

commemoration, paratrooper, bill caldwell, led veterans down memory lane. they were celebrated by locals dressed as gis. coldwell pair shooted into normandy early on d-day. >> the last word i heard when i went out the door. look to your left, look to your right, one of you will not see daylight. >> colwell was only 16 when he came face-to-face with the enemy, and he landed in a hedge row. >> 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, colwell, and scida

received the medal of honor. >> the d-day invasion depended on good weather. and one very important forecast. dave has important details on that. >> it's the most important forecast in my mind. and we talked about it a lot here. they had to draw the weather maps by hand. and a lot of the information that came in, it wasn't satellites, it wasn't computer charts, but it was raw data that they looked at. and not many planes flaking around at that time. but thanks to the forecast, we can look at the forecast. the problem was that the front was moving through, and they postponed the invasion for a day. front was forecast to clear. which it good, and it gave them a brief opportunity with all things coming in on the 6th. one of the most important forecasts of all time though.

and today's forecast, we're talking about the rain in kansas and oklahoma. this is strong severe storms that had been moving through the area. damaging winds with the storms as it moves through. the radar actually bows out and that's an indication of powerful wind. and the yellow area is a watch. and that continues to extend east through parts of arkansas and into parts of western tennessee and western kentucky. so the watch in effect. the severe weather is happening today. and we'll continue it see that rain coming down. just in that area, and the forecast is not going to move north or south, but directly east. and flooding could be a big problem with this. that's the rain across the northeast. and there's rain across northern tennessee, the severe weather in oklahoma and to the north, and up in minnesota, more severe weather. high pressure here, the storms going around it, you can see the cool air in place, but heating up again in the southeast. and texas is hot again, the southwest hot as well as

excessive heat warnings remainer in effect. the rain tries to clear out and the temperatures will try to climb up to 90 to 100°. not much rain in the southwest. the drought continues there, and the latest up diet shows the extreme drought will continue here for at least the next month. >> those military meteorologists deserved a lot of credit. >> they do. >> according to multiple reports, sprint and t-mobile have agreed to a $32 million merge, it would bring in the largest provider. print is possibilitied to purchase t-mobile for $40 a share. coming up on aljazeera america, the delicate effort to save a piece of art history.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america, i'm stephanie sy, and here are today's headlines at

this hour. after a two-day meeting with the g7 powers, president obama is headed to france to meet with francoise hollande. the acting secretary of the department of veterans affairs is on his way to phoenix, arizona today, to visit the facility where the scandal broke. he pledges to cut wait times for thousands of veterans. mary barra said that there's no evidence that gm tried to cut down it's ignition problem. barra said that gm failed its customers and pledges to learn from its many mistakes. a vanishing portrait of leonardo da vince. the drawing on red chalk on paper has been fading slowly for 500 years. and they have a way of

pinpointing how long the artwork may survive. >> this is one of the san francisco great museum and it has a conservation for paper. it's one of the great ways that we have of understanding the process of making art. beginning in the 14th century, artists used paper as a way planning out and thinking about their work, their sculptures, before executing them in stone or canvas, and leonardo da vinci is one of the greatest users of this, he used paper and chalk. more recently, paper is made of wood pulp. and back then, it was made of linen rags, and it lasted a long time. but as you know, paper eventually yellows, and that process is caused by atoms in paper called chromo fores, and it turns yellow.

the work in question is a great self portrait by da vince, and i'm going to draw you a self portrait of myself. i can't, i'm a terrible artist. but the idea is that when you put chalk on to paper, the contrast is what makes it so beautiful and as it yellows, the chalk is losing it's craft. it's -- contrast. and what they have done, detecting the number from the paper. the paper's ability to grow more and more yellow. they have precisely named that down using a certain kind of infrared light. but they're no closer to actually preserving the work or reversing the affects of the chromofours turning yellow. bleaching the works, that sort of works when you have black and

white. but if you put chlorine glass through, it will turn it white. but it will turn the red chalk white x you'll lose the pigment. so while the new technology is good at nailing down precisely over how bad the degradation has been. . >> maybe you've seen it in the movies. small windless cells. prisoners allowed out only an hour a day. isolation from other inmates. solitary is still a widely used pinment but now prisoners are fighting back against its use. in courts, even through hunger strike. it's the "inside story."