go. >> that's right, that's right. >> ok, well, this is a pretty good start. ♪ ♪ welcome to al jazerra america, i am stephanie sy. here are the stories we are following for you. >> stop and think of these men. whenever you lose hope, stop and think of these men. president obama honors the americans who landed in nomady 70 years ago. in an unexpected behind-the scenes meeting between ow obamad vladimir paout en.

and. putin. >> reporter: during the war allied code breakers played an essential role for the d-day invasion of normally. ♪ ♪ western powers today are tackling dozens of con flicks around the world from ukraine to syria to nigeria. but today they paws to honor the battle that brought them together. it was 70 years ago the d-day landing in franz, this morning a huge ceremony took place on the beach marking the againing of the allied triumph over germany in word what that. the dignitary newed francois ho land, vladimir putin. earlier pre president obama spo. >> they sacrificed so we might be free.

fought so we way mont may no lor fight. we are grateful to them. gentlemen i want to you know your legacy in in good hands. >> on the sidelines an unplanned meeting between president obama and russia's vladimir putin. they discussed the crisis in ukraine. obama saying the deescalation depends on putin recognizing the newly elected ukrainian leadership. mike viqueira has more on the president's day. >> reporter: president obama began his day alongside french president francois hu huh land. on the side of the d-day i think indication 70 years ago. the main thrust of the americana tack, behind me just under 10,000 americans inning terred. then the president went to the larger ceremony, with the larger group of leaders, including vladimir putin and there was so much speculations leading up to this after the white house had insisted that even though it became aware that they were

going to the to be in the same venue even the same room on a couple of occasions that there would be no formal meeting. it turns out that there was a formal meeting. they exchanged a pull-aside which basically means a bilateral with everything but the photo opportunity. yesterday in brussels with the g7. the president said that if he had an opportunity to talk to vladimir putin and he freely admitted that he would be seeing him, that he would say the same thing in private as he's been saying in public. trying to encourage vladimir paout town step away from what he is doing in eastern ukraine in particular, and recognize the elections in ukraine, that took place on may 25th, that will result, incidentally, in the i nothing vague of petro pair shiancoe as the new ukrainian president on saturday. vice president biden will be attending. some progress in the form of communication, first time they had seen each other face-to-face since the outset of the crisis some months ago, we'll see if it

bears any fruit. mike viqueira, al jazerra, omaha beach, france. the battle began july 6th as paratroopers jumped in order to protect the soldiers due to come ashore. as dawn broke the germans discover the amaze presence. the american army hand at omaha and utah beaches about the i can gold, juneau and sword beaches, dana lewis has been reporting from sword beach all day where the international ceremony was held, dana. >> reporter: high stephanie, on sword beach is where the british soldiers landed and the resystems was quite lied compared to some of the other beaches as they went up the road they ran in to a division and heavy fighting. the americans to the west at home ma beach and at one point in the early initial hours of assault there were so many soldiers getting cut down by

jeff man gunfire that general bradley start today think that the battle plan was failing and starting to come apart and american commanders not necessarily panicking, but extremely concerned that point. president obama speaking of the soldiers and calling them heros and mentioned one veteran wilson bill caldwell who said he couldn't pilot a plane because he didn't have a high school did diploma so in the end he decided to jump out of a plane. interestingly enough we met up with bill caldwell two days ago, we didn't know he would be the president's speech at the time. we spent the day with him. he lied his way in to the military trying to sign up when he was 15. he got in when he was 16 and that's the age he was here when he jumped out of a c47 transport plane with 101st airborne screaming eagles and he told me how within a few hours he came around a hedge row and that's where he met his first armed german soldier.

>> i was always taught to hold your gun, with your finger on the trigger, ready to pull the trigg early. if you pull the trigger first, you survive, if you don't being well, you are gone. and i hit him in the chest and he went down he look ahea at med tried to say something. and that freaked me out. >> reporter: coldwell told me the jump master turned to him and said look left, look right, one of you point won't see daylight. they were extremely scared as they went in. here on the beaches the fifth ranger ba till i don't know will tell you the hail of begun fire they met. we spoke to one ranger named john and this is how he described the battle when he handed here. >> now, there were an awful lot of bullets flying by but we weren't juan can shuts of that because there was so much artillery hitting at the water's edge that you couldn't hear the

small arms until you got a little bit away from the water then you could hear the bullets going crack, cracks, crack and see them hitting the sand and the break waters and the men. >> reporter: stephanie, john told me how he saw soldiers lying one on top of another when i he came on the beach first he thought they were dead but they were moving and he realized they were panicked and actually lying one on top of another trying to get shelter and stay out of the german cross fire at the time it was cutting down his comrades. these guys, sadly, say this is about your last tour, the they e all in their 90s, their last reunion they probably will not come back to these beaches for another d-day celebrations, stef arstephanie. >> remarkable how fresh the sights and sounds still are for the veterans, thank you. many of us grew up learn big d-day from our fathers and grandfathers, teachers as well as movies like the longest day and saving private ryan. many memories and momentos for the war can be found at the national world war ii museum.

al jazerra's robert ray is? in new orleans at the museum. robert how is the museum marking this day? >> reporter: a lot of events here today, stephanie. started at 6:30 this morning. another vent that's just getting on right now, perhaps you can see the people coming out. there is memorials and about 5,000 people expected today come through the world war ii museum in new orleans, i ann am joined by one of the lead historians keith. what is the reason why this museum is in new orleans? >> it's an interesting story. the late historian steven ambrose taught at the university of new orleans in the mid '60s he did an interview with general eisenhower when he noticed that he was from new orleans asked him did you ever meet andrew higgins, he said no. and eisenhower said, well, that's a shame because he's the man that won the war for us ambrose about fell out of his chair, but eisenhower went onto explain that he built the famous

higgins boats. the boats that had a flatter bottom that you could run up onto a beach and unload men, supplies, tanks, you have it. >> reporter: and those are the fame you want boats in the photographs and movies. if you look at the show band of brothers or saving private ryan the boats that came up? >> exactly right. >> reporter: they were made here in new orleans. >> they were made here in new orleans. higgins made better than 20,000 landing craft and ships. higgins boats here. and basically,iz eisenhower's point was if you think about world war ii, the united states strategy for victory was am have i been justice landings around the world. we had to project our power to europe where we landed on the beaches in north africa, in sicily, italy twice, france was the big one. but also think about the pacific, where we did it hundreds of times, had we not had those higgins boats, our entire strategy for fighting the war would have had to have been changed. >> reporter: so the good men and

women of new orleans making those boats, perhaps were pivotal in the winning of the war and especially on d-day? >> absolutely right. andrew higgins also was something of a forerunner in that he integrated his plant at the time and hired a lot of well, minorities, it was something of a shadow or a foreshadowing i should say, of what was going to happen to america after the war. >> reporter: incredible history. and on a more emotional note, what is it like for you as one of the lead historians here to see all of these veterans coming in to this museum that has expanded and by the way, stephanie, this museum opened up 14 years ago on d-day. but what's this like for you? >> it's very emotional, because unfortunately, the greatest generation, as tom brokaw has put it is passing away. if you just do the math, basically your youngest veteran, world war ii veteran today is

about 85 years old. and so this is an opportunity where we have still a fairly large amount of veterans that we can participate with these ceremonies with today. i don't think it will be quite as impact. 10 years from now, unfortunately. >> reporter: thank you, i appreciate your time very much. men and women that we should perhaps all look up to, perhaps they changed the world, many people would say that. there are about 5,000 people here today. stephanie. >> yeah, such a reminder of some of the unsung heros in the great war, robert ray for us in new orleans at the national world war ii museum. robert, thank you. one of the most important contribution to his the victory at d-day took place far from the beaches in nomady in utter secrecy. phil ittner talked to a woman who was part of a project that gave the allies the edge over the germans. >> reporter: tucked way in the english country side, the park may not look like one of the most important sites from world

war ii, but it's here that british intelligence broke german codes and helped draw up plans for the allied invasion of nomady. sectioned off in independent groups for security, few knew the big picture but naval inning testimony generals offer jean knew, she worked on the highest level communiques. monitored german ships and helped coordinate the massive effort. just 25 on d-day, she held the fate of 10s of thousands of allied soldiers in her hands. >> we waited so long for this front that it was very exciting, that it was going happen at last. but we did realize that it would be a lot of casualties. >> reporter: to minimize those casualties, they faced an enormous task, breaking coded german radio messages. germany's encoding devices enigma machines were clarking away, thousands in nomady alone. each sending several messages a day turned in to random code that germany thought was unbreak

unbreakable. each transmission possibly containing crucial information, german preparations, plans, and troop positions. what adolf hitler didn't know was the british had a secret weapon. a revolutionary machine to crack codes. just one example of how it saved allied lives, involves the u.s. army's 80 secondary born. >> they are about to lands, drop in to this area, which is clear of german troops and then enigma shows the germans actually moving troops in there. you have stopped the 80 secondary born dropping in to a hornet's nest. you have saved probably 15,000 men. >> reporter: and then just six days before nomady, she goes onlinthe parkgoes online with ay more sophisticated machine. speeding up the process by 400 percent. colossus the world's first modern community. 70 years later those who were there can hardly believe what they are accomplished. >> i think it's one of things that you look back and think,

did i do that? you did it because you had to do it. >> reporter: it was considered so important it remained a secret decades after the war. it was only recently that the code breakers gained recognition for the work they did. some say they cut the length of the war by a full two years. it may look unassuming, although that is sort of the point hiding out in plain sight. still the men and women who worked here during world war ii played a vital role in securing annal eyed victory and changing the course of history. phil ittner, al jazerra. coming up on al jazerra america, on the eve of the inauguration of its new president, ukraine remains a dangerous battle ground. and next, encouraging news on the recovery from the recession. you are watching al jazerra america.

the labor department released its may jobs report this morning and the numbers are significant. it shows the national unemployment rate holding steady at 6.3%. employers added 217,000 jobs during the month. the u.s. workforce now includes 138 1/2 million people an all-time high. that means the u.s. has finally regained all of the jobs lost in the recession. well, shocking charges of racism against a supervisor at a tennessee warehouse. former employees say they were openly discriminated against. they even claim that there were separate drinking fountains for black and white workers. jonathan betz has more. >> reporter: words that sound like they came right out of the jim crow era. >> reporter: but according to two black men who worked the a warehouse in memphis, tennessee it was routine treatment by a supervisor. >> we was going through this like every day at work. we got tired of it.

>> reporter: eventually one of the men started recording the interaction on his his cell phone. >> it was suppressing me out so much. i have to do something about this because this man going to keep doing this to me. >> reporter: and antonio harris and mario say the racism did not stop there. >> he told everybody in the warehouse look at him. don't he look like a monkey. >> we all know what monkey means. >> we know. >> it's very offensive. >> reporter: it's illegal to companies to discriminate based on race. now the equal employment opportunity commission is investigating discrimination claims after the two workers filed a federal complaint. and the contractor that hired the supervisor says it's now fired him. jonathan betz, al jazerra. the supervisor at the center of the complaint was dismissed from his job yesterday. a shooting on the campus of seattle pacific university has left one student dead and three

other people injured. police say a gunman opened fire inside a building at the small christian college. they say the suspect was wrestled to the ground by students and held there until officers arrived. the shooter was not a student at the school. ara canadian man accused of going on a rambo style shooting spree is now under arrest. authorities believe 24-year-old justin, but killed three members of the royal canadian mounted police and shot two on officers in new brunswick. when arrested he was wearing military fatigues and caring a number of high-powered weapons. the front runner in afghanistan's presidential elections narrowly escaped an assayanassassination plot. six people were killed include three of his body guards. he went on to speak at a campaign rally letting his supporters knows that he was okay. the vote is in eight days. while the taliban has vowed to

disrupt the campaign, no group claimed responsibility for the attack. in ukraine tomorrow is the inauguration of president elect petro poroshenko. he has a big job ahead of him. heavy fighting between the separatists and government continues. one residents says fighting is so intense they can't leave their homes, kim vinnell has the story. >> reporter: on the russian board a town on lock down. most people here are in hiding from both ukrainian military surrounding the town and the separatists trying to gain control. for the past two days, few have ventured outside. >> translator: i feel fear. fear for myself and for my children. >> reporter: these women told us they never imagined that conflict would end up on their doorstep. even as we spoke, a reminder of their new reality as heavy machine gun rounds range out. the military moved in quickly on thursday afternoon when a border guard headquarters came under attack.

kiev says 15 separatists it were killed. we went to a hospital where some of the wounded pro-russians are being treated. we were told the fight is far from over before armed men forced us out. this is where those fleeing the fighting are coming. the town feels far from the frontline, but people are still anxious. many of the people we spoke too to didn't want to speak on camera fearing if they did they may become a target. those we did speak to are divided over who they support in this conflict. >> translator: i think our people's republic is doing everything right. it wilit will all be fine i hopt how it plays out we'll see. >> when people are shooting each other it's war, what will happen i don't know. >> translator: stared to talk, if i say something wrong they will take me. who knows why they are here and what for. i just can't understand. i want peace and a united ukraine.

>> reporter: a united ukraine is exactly what kiev is battling fox, but that doesn't make the sight of tanks or armor anymore welcome here as separatists and their supporters so this could well be a long and messy fight. kim ver vinnell, al jazerra. silvey is expected to be sworn in monday as the new health and human services secretary. she will be in control of the affordable care al. shact. the big task ahead for her will be to smooth out this law as elections approach. the senate confirmed burwell thursday. still ahead, will california chrome make history and win a triple crown? a lot of people are bet on the ground it for all different reasons. we'll explain coming up next on al jazerra america.

♪ ♪ welcome back to al jazerra america, i am stephanie sy. here are today's headlines at this hour. it is the 70th anniversary of the d-day landsing in france.

d-day was the beginning of the allied powers triumph over germany in world war ii. some 18 heads of state gathered in nomady to commemorate the allied attack. on the sidelines of today's ceremonies an unanticipated meeting between president obama and russia's vladimir putin. they discussed the crisis in ukraine. obama told putin the deescalation depends on him recognizing the newly elected ukrainian president and ceasing support to separatists. now for tomorrow's big events, the belmont stakes. california chrome has a lot of people counting on him to renew enthusiasm for betting on the ponies. tom ackerman on the industry's hopes and dreams beyond the big race day. >> california chrome shines bright in the kentucky derby! >> reporter: since he eased across the finish line at the kentucky derby and followed through at the preakness stakes, this three-year-old colt has captured the attention and won the hearts of horse race lovers, if he wins again at new york's belmont park on saturday, california chrome would be the

first triple crown champion in 36 years. >> i am learn to go bet, but i am not a better. i am not actually going to bet. i don't know if i will everybody bet on him. but i am hoping he wins. >> reporter: california chrome's co-owner steve coburn has gambled his own money on the horse. back before the derby when he defied odds of 200-1. now his colt is the heavy favorite to repeat at belmont. >> he loves people. and we've got all of america on our side, i do believe. other than the people that have these horses running against us. [laughter] >> reporter: coburn and his business partner are rare breeds in the expensive thoroughbred game known as the sport of kings. without much personal wealth, they bought california chrome's mother and paired her with a pedigreed stallion for less than $11,000. as the triple crown champion, california chrome could be worth $10 million or more. to these enthusiasts the thrill of a good race is still attractive but as a betting

proposition, the horses are suffering from some serious competition. as americans find more legal ways to gamble at casinos and even online, betting at the tracks has fallen by more than one-third in the past 10 years. attendance is down just as much and without enough revenue from wagering, the racing industry is seeing more tracks shutting do down. this race, and the story behind california chrome is tempting more people to take a chance and lay a bet. >> you have this big facility and it's pretty sad to see some days you come here and there is six, 700 people, so it's -- next saturday there won't be, at least it will be packed to the rafters. >> reporter: cal chrome's long-term racing future may be hard to predict, but if he wins on saturday, he'll join just 11 other triple crown champions in the history books. tom ackerman, al jazerra new york. more than 100,000 fans are expected to jam belmont park for

saturday's race. heboni deon joins us now for the for forecast for the race i understand it's looking good. >> meteorologist: it is, across much of the northeast lots of sunshine, a few fair-weather clouds mixed in but all in all a mainly dry day and even warmer than what we are dealing with today thanks to high pressure. we have linking showers hang ago cross maine as the system exits, but aside from that high pressure more dominant feature of the weather giving way to the dry describes low humidity values meaning it will feel pretty comfortable with way lies breeze and the temperatures will continue to heat up for saturday we will be in to the lower to mid 80s, so even warmer than today, today tops out in the upper 70s in new york city. by sunday 80s and monday temperatures fall back to near average. today we are also watching out for some wet and stormy conditions little further south here across the central plains where we have been dealing with a cluster of storms moving across oklahoma. now starting to enter in to

arkansas and push eastward around the lower mississippi valley so we are dealing with a lot of heavy rainfall, strong winds and that small chance of an isolated tornado right now the rain is moving in and it's just off to the east of fort smith and with that we have a number of areas that are now included under severe thunderstorm watch and the watch that extends across alabama and in no georgia and mississippi, that will be in effect until 7:00 p.m. tonight, so right on through the evening hours we'll be watching out for a lot of active conditions, you can see the areas dealing with the heaviest rainfall and this rain is moving very slowly, only 20 miles per hour. so flash flooding will be an issue as well. now as we head in to the weekend, it looks like the southwest stays dry, the north east also dry, but it's right in to the middle of the country. same areas getting hit hard today will see more of the same oklahoma city in to tulsa. little rock expected to see some of that rough weather as well and then also going to be watching out for the heat it's going to continue to build in the southwest, stef. >> i. >> all right, that will bear

watching. thank you & thank you for watching al jazerra america. i am stephanie sigh, techknow is next. up update throughout the day head to our website al.com. have a great day. molecular neuro scientist. tonight on the trail of synthetic drugs. chemist versus chemist as cops need scientists to track down illegal drugs hitting the streets. kost a. s grammain, tonight, cell phone secrets, how one tech company can tracked moves and what they intend to do with it. marita davison is specializes in ecology and evolution. tonight, it looks like chicken, but it's not.