... this is al jazeera america. good afternoon. i am michael lee, leitch in froshing. here are today's top stories. the battle for iraq continues on multiple fronts. i will have a live report from baghdad. more violence against ukraine as rebels refused to put down their arms. >> one can make a -- once you make a gun a symbol of freedom, it's beyond regulation. >> the country culture of guns. applying modern medicine to

save an endangered species. ♪ iraq appears to be closer to an all-out sectarian war. thousands of armed malissue al marched into baghdad against a sunni-led rebel crooning. isil countered this show of force with real force, seizing more grounds in northern iraq including major checkpoints along the syrian border. al jazeera live in baghdad. jane, some say a civil war there is inevitable. others think it may have started. what are you seeing in iraq? >> reporter: . >> that tension we saw before the last civil war here is emerging again. we have seen those i mages.

we have seen here on the ground those fighters from the metti army, followers of shia cleric. amount of people will remember who sent young men into the streets in 2004/2005 to might american soldiers -- fight american soldiers. in 2004, they were fighting a battle bitter battle against the u.s. army and nejea. now, they are back. they have basically reorganized in a show of force that we saw today to send the message that they are here and they will defend iraq. >> that's yearing to a lot of people because it is a very sectarian group but it's not the only sectarian group. the really big development, though, michael, as you mentioned is tells syrian border quite far from baghdad but extremely worrying. it's the main border point with syria. >> crossing, we understand from

security forces has fallen to the islamic state of iraq and the lavant, the isil. when they moved in, that means -- sorry just to back up a tiny bit. >> means there are now fighters from that group, the al-qaeda offshoot on both sides of the border. there is essentially no border n now that they have taken the border post. according to security forces, threes weaponry coming back and forth. it opens up a coredor for the battle fightersridor for the battle fighters. it is extremely worrying, michael. >> jane, we have had some conflicting reports about an oil refinery in the northern territory of baghdad. some say rebels have seized it. others say iraqi soldiers are still there. what have you heard about who is in control of that refinery?

>> there is has been fighting going on there for the last few days iraqi forces and others were trapped inside. the refinery is now under control of the rebel fighters. now, that's the biggest refinery in iraq. what it does is it takes crude oil and it refines into gasoline and other kinds of fuel. so, it's extremely important because it's also connected to the electricity plant. so, if they are taking a boarder post, if they are taking a refinery, a lot of government officials fear that it could be baghdad next. michael? >> jane arraf, live from baghdad. thank you. here in the u.s., protesters took to the streets in a donations cities across the country after a decade of intervention and extremely high costs. they don't want america to go ba back into iraq in terms of the war. john terrett was there in

washingdz. john, what exactly are these people saying at these demonstrations? >> good afternoon, michael. well, they are citing previous infamous wars that the u.s. has been involved in, including the vietnam war, the korean war, the first gulf war back in the '90s and the iraq war of 11 years ago. they say it's always the same story. the u.s. begins in a low-key fashion, but then things ramp up as the country gets sucked deeper and deeper into the conflict. they worry that that's what's going to happen this time. their message is: no new war in iraq and that's what the want the president to hear. >> anti-war protests outside the whi white house, the president sending u.s. forces back to iraq and these people fear boots on the ground or not, the real danger here. >> we are here to say to the people of obama people don't want another war in iraq. they elected president obama to get out of iraq not to go back. >> what you are doing is you are trumping the will of the iraqi people who don't want the u.s.

there. and the troops thud stay in the united states, that they farrant' be deployed to iraq and the best way the u.s. can treat iraqi is to allow the people of iraq and the people of middle east to decide their destiny. >> if the united states uses special operations forces onbam of the al-malaki government, it's the people who feel left out and it's like he has the most powerful country in the world backing him. >> the white house is the focus of any antiwar protest because the commander in chief is based here act now to stop war and end racism has organized protests beyond this city around the country. >> while scenes like this inspire protests as far part as tallahassee and boston, polls suggest most americans don't appear to be paying much attention to what's happening in iraq. >> we were surprised to find out

46% support airstrikes on the country. 46% aren't following closely. 41% think an isil victory would matter to the u.s. a great deal they found 52% think it was a mistake to get involved with iraq in the first place. >> that's the sentiment, keep the number of americans sent back to iraq as low as possible and don't get dragged back in to a full-scale conflict. >> as i said, the white house is always the focus of anti-war protests for obvious reasons because that's where the commander of chief is. he wasn't tuck there today. he is golfing nearby in virginia. but the message will have gone out loud and clear. in the meantime, president obama has been giving an interview to msnbc recorded odd friday, to air on monday. his message is that it's up to the political leaders of iraq to pull the political situation

there together to sort it out, themselves. >> michael? >> john terre testament tt, the new america foundation, douglas, thank you for joining us? >> good afternoon, michael. >> now that president obama has sent military advisors, special operations forces to iraq, of course, secretary of state john kerry is on his way to the middle east very soon. what effect, if any, do you think the special ops forces in iraq and john kerry going to the region will have on the current state of this crisis? >> reporter: those are two different things. let's take them one at a time. the couple of hundred special forces who are going to go in, we are calling them advisors but a better label would be observers. they are essentially going to go forward to the brigade headquarters, a safe location, offices, not a field site, get a sense something of what the tactical situation is with isis or isil and, also, what the

state of the iraqi security forces are. so think of them as uniformed spies essentially, friendly spies to look at what's going on with the enemy of iraq, with this isil force and with the iraqi security force, themselves and pass back more information so we can fill the many intelligence gaps that we have. now, as to what secretary kerry is going to do, he is going to deal with both the international politics and the local politics, both of which are dysfunctional. the local politics in iraq, the government of prime ministerma al-malaki but also the sunni faction, the kurdish factions bear some responsibility for the dysfunctional situation we have. this is, of course, compounded by the larger sunni/shia cold war in the region, each side championed by sawudi arabia and iran. >> president obama says the iraqi government has to take responsibility for this. they have to bring in all people

of the area, sunni, shia, kurds into a centralized government. until that happens, he doesn't necessarily see this crisis coming to an end. how much responsibility does al-malaki have in this as it relates to the u.s. getting involved behind him? >> reporter: that's a good question. it's not clear where we stand. the u.s. may decide it has to take action. there are two distinction but overlapping problems. one is isil. the other is the dysfunctional politics in iraq that are making it vulnerable to isil. even in iraq were perfectly governed we would have concerns with isil in syria and elsewhere. so, it's a real problem that needs to be dealt with, totally exclusive of iraq. now, obviously, the political issues inside iraq are making it particularly vulnerable to this isil offensive. >> so many people, so many countries have interest in this particular crisis. the u.s. but also neighboring iran who is willing, seemingly, to step in and intervene to

protect their interests which could lead to a renewed relationship between the u.s. and iran. how valuable would that be, and how important do you think it would be in this particular crisis? >> detante to countries that have been opposed to each other is a good thing. you don't want to compromise interests to give it. we shouldn't give up anything that's critical to us but, you know, talking to iran can't be a bad thing. they certainly have interest in iraq. they are neighboring countries. they are going to share a border forever and iran does not have an interest in instability on its western border. it doesn't mean a failed state here it wants iraq to stay together and be more or less stable. so our interests do align, at least in the big picture. now, once we start pushing out the particulars, we may find we have some very real dips. >> douglas oll i have a nt at the new america foundation, thank you for the time. >> thank you. >> we will take a deeper look at the ongoing crisis in our deeper

look special report tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern, 5:00 p.m. pacific. al jazeera has learned that the u.n. budget problems could force 16 peacekeeping missions to end by the inland of the month. an argument between diplomats is putting the budget in limbo. james bays has the latest? >> the u.n. has peace keepers in 16 missions around the world. they are their authorized strength is reaching a record high: over 100,000 troops and police in u.n. blue helmets. now, there is a major funding crisis. diplomats can't agree on a new budget, and if there is not a deal by the end of the month when the current budget runs out, peace keepers in all of the missions will have no money and won't be able to operate. most of the u.n. troops come from the developing world. these soldiers are from rwanda, but the main funding is provided by western stations. this is a row that's pitching the world's riches countries against some of the poorest on

earth. >> akabdomoman is from bangladesh, a country with more than 8,000 personnel. >> bangladesh is obligated to help u.n. so, you know, whenever u.n. asks us, we respond very positively. but when our troops cannot get some minimum, you know, what should i say? facilities, then it is demoralizing. we want our guys to be fully equipped and fully energized so that they can perform the job effectively and efficiently. >>. >> the dispute over funding comes at a time when the u.n. must find more troops for its missions in mali and south sudan and set up a new peacekeeping operation in the central african republic. there hasn't been a major increase in the money the u.n. pays to countries that contribute troops for years. currently, the u.n. pays an avenue of about $1,200 per peace keeper per month. some countries want that

increased to as much as $1,700 per peace keeper per month. the total for the current peacekeeping budget, which ends in just over a week, stands at about $73,000,000,000. but next year, it could rise to more than $9,000,000,000. crunch negotiations will continue in the coming days. but in a supreme irony because the talks have gone on past their allotted time. there is no budget left for translators and staff. they will have informal meetings sometimes outside of this building. james bays, al jazeera, at the united nations, headquarters in new york. a solid in the south korea ian army is on the run after he shot five comrades dead and wounded five others. it happened today in an outpost south of a demil tarized zone. he is said to be a sergeant and is believed to have fled into the mountains near the scene of the mountains. pope francis announced the

ex communication of the mob. he was in calabria in the southern part of the country after visiting the family of a child shot in the shootout. he condemned the evil path of organized crime. tim friend has more. >> reporter: under a scorching sun, the pope delivered his strongest attack yet on the mafia in the heart of their own territory. this was a mass. but he also delivered a speech, saying that the mafia clan that thrives here was the add oration of evil. the church had to do more for the common good to prevail. >> the question is: will the pope's words make any difference? some here believe that the mafia are too powerful to be challenged and have, on occasions, infiltrated the churc church, itself. >> earlier, the pope visited criminals at a local jail. in a private meeting, he comforted the prison father of a

3-year-old boy killed after being caught in a local mafia shootout earlier this year. it was that tragedy that prompted the pope's visit. >> he had this message for the prisoners who he urged to radio pet. >> i want to express to you my personal closeness and that of the church to all of the men and women who are in prison in every part of the world. >> they have been preparing for this visit for weeks. many here have suffered firsthand the violence of the mafia and hoped for change. >> the church is the only agency that can win against the mafia. the pope can change people's conscience. if that changes the mafia, it won't be able to enter the new generation. >> that's what we are fighting for. . >> as the pope returned to rome, for now, the mafia remains

undiminished. it's power and influence growing. tim friend, al jazeera, sibiria calabria. in afghanistan hundreds are demonstrating claiming alleged fraud, questioning the run-off vote last week. the front running candidate, abdullah abdullah is calling the legitimacy into question. after our investigations are done, if anyone has questions, we will solve them. we will separate the fraudulent votes from the clear votes. it did definitely affect results because some will be declared invalid. >> votes are being counted and results are expected by july march 2nd. president hamid car zi asking the united nations to help resolve the issue. this comes with a backdrop of violence in the country. a suicide bomber targeted a senior member of the government killing one civilian and injuring several others. the u.s. politicians argue

over new immigration policy. immigrants continue to get caught trying to enter the country. the government is running out of room to house them all. politicians may think there is a truce in ukraine but separatists have a different idea. those stories and more coming up on al jazeera america. vé

dozens of pro-russian fighters pledged loyalty to the donetsk's peop people's republic against those who declared a ceasefire on friday. paul brennan has more from donetsk. >> reporter: the separatist fighters of eastern ukraine were have been given a week to sur reynoldser and accept amnesty. these volunteers swore an oath to fight to the end. >> until my last breath, they chanted. until my last drop of blood. they numbered nearly 100. most of them established fighters but some of them new volunteers. among them, this 19-year-old, a

former ukrainian army trainee now prepared to fight against his former comrades. . >> i don't know what to tell you. maybe it's my upbringing but i can't sit and watch it with my eyes closed. i will do everything to help my land and our people. >> the separatist leaders rejected the president's cease fire even before it began. their options are narrowing. until recently, olec was an elected member of the kiev parliament. now his separatist rhetoric means he is a wanted man, stripped of parliamentary immunity. >> i am appealing to stop the war. what happening now in the southeast, whether they use planes, canons, tanks, it's not right. not once has the government of ukraine sat at the negotiation table despite the fact we keep repeating we are ready for negotiations. >> president poroshenko is taking a tough like. he says those separatists who don't accept his terms before

the ceasefire ends will be in his words eliminated. he said to russia, criticizing the offer is more of an ult matum than a peace plan. the pro-russian militia are not ready to surrender. >> i can't tell you what's going to happen but we are not laying down our wednesday. we are going to continue fighting. the things we are fighting for are inaccurate to us. it's our land, our values. rousing rhetoric, you can see there is no sense of a giving up among the separatist militia here in centralson donetsk. existing recruits and new recruits ready to go to the front line and as they march away action you can see the crowd remains very much with them. paul brennan, al jazeera, dondon. join us with anthony salvia in ukraine. thanks for coming in and talking to us. we just saw this piece. it seems that there is to be a

ceasefire from the ukraine side, but the separatists don't seem to believe in such. why is that? >> i think it has to do with the terms terms in effect.

if you look at who is supporting the current government of kiev, they would have a problem with that. they won't talk turkey with the

russians and get serious about it, is this constant kind of pressure in the east, this constant kind of, you know, unsettled and destabilized situations they have gotten and what is the most economically important part of the country, the industrial strength of ukraine, it is all this. >> give us an ideas of the level of distrust between the people of the donetsk region versus kiev and if that is so deep, that level of distrust, how can it ever be -- how can it ever be fixed? >> it is pretty deep. obviously with the government in kiev conducting, you know, an armed campaign against these people. >> exactly? >> it's a big problem. this is where you get into civil war situations. you get into the a lot of, you know, rancor and unpleasantsness and these wounds can be long-he long-healing if ever. it seems poroshenko has to realize his only real solution is a serious coming together

with russia rather than an agenda which is what russia is brewing, with the u.s. and what europe hastried to do with the overthrow of yanukovych is say, ukraine is ours now. >> putin says ukraine can't be fully russian. he is saying 50% european and 50% russian so guaranteed language rights, things like that, settlement over the pipeline situation across ukraine and where there could be joint, you know, penal, ukrainian financing of the pipeline and the modernization and the through-put that go through are russian. split the difference 50/50. the russian thing is the only way to go forward and it seems to me that that's probably about right unless kiev is willing to live with a situation sort of

endless instability, i don't see how they can get away with at that. >> two sides, one wa 50/50 and t doesn't seem to be what kiev wants in this particular situation. anthony, salvia, thank you so much? >> any time. dozens of women and children from central of america are calling a texas bus stop home in the city of laredo on the north bake of the rio granted. they are undocumented migrants detained by border patrol officers. there is no room for them at the immigration detention center, so they are being allowed to stay in the u.s. just until their cases are heard with no where else to go, they have been staying at the bus stop. >> some residents of albuquerque have had enough and they are calling for an end to a string of daily confrontations involving police officers. >> we are so much worse. >> when it comes to gun ownership, how does the united states differ from the rest of the world? answers coming up. you are watching al jazeera america.

welcome back to al jazeera america. i am michael lee. here is a look at your top stories: iraq's biggest refinery has fallen to isil. thousands of armed shia marched in support of government forces as the first american military advisors arrive on the ground. a man habitue is underway for a soldier who allegedly shot five comrades dead and wounded five others on an out post. the government remains at large. pope francis has a mention for italy's mobsters. you are no longer welcome in the catholic church. he announced the unofficial ex communication today. another protest is taking place against the albuquerque, inco new mexico police department. residents are continuing to call for an end to excessive force.

. >> hundreds have walked past us. the gist of it is they are accusing the civilian leadership, the mayor of allowing the police force to kill people with impunity. marches like this have been going on. some call did the albuquerque spring. it begins with the shooting of a homeless man. he had a history of mental illness. it was caught on video. he was shot repeatedly, posing minimal threats. then many said enough is enough. around that same time, the department of justice came out with its months' long investigation and they found a systematic use of excessive, often deadly and unconstitutional force. they said oversight was broken and police officers were being encouraged to think that a violent outcome was desirable. there was a culture of aggression. police officers would come in and compete with assault

weapons. they would bring them from home. they weren't using standard issue. they would be using them in the line of duty. so, the department of justice is now negotiating with the mayor and police department for report. they have had damming reports behalf of theable police department but the police department del toll continues to rise. the protesters say main problem in albuquerque as across the nation is the militarization of the police, the over weaponization of the police, that culture aggression that the department of justice talked about. this is albuquerque isn't alone with problems with its police force. since 1993 and the beating of rodney king, the federal government has been allowed to step in, in police departments and oversee reform across country. there have been about 20 instances since president obama. there was a little before that. the point is los angeles is thought to be a successful example. others like oakland and elsewhere, the police department fight every step of the way.

the hope is that there will be some sort of reform processes here but it's yet to be seen whether it's going to work because the people in the police department have had to oversee any reform are people who

themselves. >> some are bewildered why we let people die unnecessary. >> 3 /* three quarters of the firearms worldwide are owned by civilians. every country has its own approach top gun ownership. switzerland where guns have been an integral part of life, dana lewis reports from the town of perlen. >> 40mins outside of zurich, guns are zipped in sports bag or slung over soldiers and carried like baseball bats to batting practice. steven sternaman is here three days a week, squeezing the trigger on targets. in switzerland, they say gun plays a national addiction. only america, yemen and serbia have more guns per capita. >> you have to shoot and concentrate and look and have to breathe right. >> over the years, swiss

officials have lost track of how many guns are in private hands here, but it's estimated there are two to 3 million guns in a population of only 8 million people with relatively low levels of street crime, that makes switzerland the model of gun happy countries without the hair-trigger culture many say economists in america. ohio did mandatory service. he was issued and st 550 assault rifle which the army gives away to service members when they are finished. at the foot of his bed, in a flimsy ant egwardrobe it's apar of his collection of a dozen rifles. he spends every sunday morning with his wife and kids and off to the local range to shoot a few rounds. gun ownership is rooted in history here in the swiss alps, herman sudor is a member of the pro-gun lobby.

he led us inside what was once a hidden army 40 res designed to resist a possible german army invasion in world war ii. he tells me the swiss can remain neutral with little fear of invasion precisely because there are so many guns in switzerland. >> father had a gun, grandfather had a gun and young people, they are used that there is a gun in the house and that they know exactly what the danger is. >> it turns out schwitzer land is not the global model for gun safety many believe it is. in 2001, a man used his army-issued rifle to assault a state government meeting. he killed 14 before he killed himself. over the last decade, martin kilius has studied guns and crime here while street crimes are very rare, he says guns are involved in 90% of domestic murders and suicides. >> they are used for killing

relatives, wives, children, and usually, these events are preceding suicide. >> in recent years, the government has tightened restrictions. hand guns are more difficult to acquire. it's virtually impossible to get a permit to carry a handgun but rifles can be bought with an id and a criminal check. what is the key difference between gun use here and gun use in the u.s.? >> steven sterniman's opinion, it's psychological, keeping a gun for national defense versus personal protection in america. in peacetime, train to go shoot targets, not people. dana lewis, al jazeera in perlen, switzerland. inisition, people don't have a say about who can or can't own weapons. nick sheeveren reports from jerusaljer u . >> reporter: at the beginning. work week, commuters are armed. this is sunday morning outside of jerusalem's central bus station. soldiers who are off for the

weekend are headed back to base traveling on public transport with their 40 millimeter grenade launchers, sniper rifles and m-16. until israel, bearing arms is not a right. if you ask israel's gun sellers, business has never been worse. >> it's very, very hard to get a license. many, many people want to buy it, but they can't. >> the oldest shooting range run byism tzik, today, he is lucky to sell 100. the few customers he has are the only people in israel are the only people allowed to own guns, reserve duty officers, security guards and those in the occupied west bank. >> israel's settler who did not want to share his family name is moving to the states. to it this shop because while he is in the u.s., he is not allowed to keep his gun in his house.

he secures it in itzak's shop. if he didn't, he could lose his license? >> anybody could get a gun. there would have been a lot of chaos around here. >> that's one of the country's strict regulations. before you buy a gun, you must have no criminal record and a doctor needs to declare your mental health. while you have a gun, you must pass regular firing tests and if you lose your gun, it's a criminal offense. you might think a country with high security threats would be heavily armed, but in israel, the idea is to limit the number of weapons as much as possible. >> professional people will actually know what to do and how to react in the whole situation out there. >> the man who would benefit from fewer regulations calls the u.s. gun laws a mistake? >> in america, if they do, the way in israel, what israel do, i am sure it would be safe. >> so the solids will stay armed. the civilians will stay unarmed and israel's per capita rate of

gun deaths will stay steady action less than 15th of americas. >> for more on the state of gun control around the world and here in the u.s., let's bring in brian levin for the center of the study of hate and extremim joining us from irvine, california. brian, thank you for the time this afternoon. >> thank you so much for having me. >> we just had two different views on guns from two european countries. the middle east, israel. here in america, it's in our bill of rights that we are allowed to bear arms. however, any time there is some type of mass shooting, there seems to be a big outcry for stri stricte gun laws. they never come into effect. why? >> i think there is there is a couple of reasons. until recently, what the second amendment meant was not vetted through the supreme court. several years ago, about 2008, 2009, the united states supreme

courted in the heller case out of washington, d.c. said that there is an individual right to some kind of private gun ownership in the home, particularly with regard to handguns but it different really expand beyond that other than saying there could be regular laying beyond that. so at least handguns in the home, there is some kind of constitutional guarantee. couple that with a more cultural and historical foments of gun rights and that is this notion of rugged individualism which came from a country that was geographically expansive but populationwise, small. back around colonial tiles, there were more people in the whole country. i'm sorry. more people in the la county now. we went from anning agragarian country that was expanding where gun rights was connected as well to not only individual liberty but also to the notion of state

authority, the state militia. >> has changed over the last couple of hundred years. >> those who advocate for stricter gun laws, they point to israel or the united kingdom or australia and say if you take these guns off of the street, you are going to see a serious drop in gun violence, maybe a complete end to mass shootings. however, if those are implemented, how can you say for certain that those type of shootings and violence will go away completely? because the other side if criminals can get guns, criminals will get guns? >> there are so many guns in circulation in a country of 360 million that it would be hard to legislate the guns that are currently out in existence even if we banned guns today. aum of interesting things. we are about 5 times higher with regard to the homicide rate. and i would also throw in the next, we have about 12,000

deaths related to homicides each year and guns. about half of those -- well, about 6400 are related to firearms. so 72% of deaths that are homicides in the united states are the result of guns. 72 -- about 70% of them are from handguns, which are the most protected. so that is the conundrum. additional, we have 19,000 suicides in the united states. we are talking -- listen to this. in the five months after sandy hook, we have more americans killed, about 4600, from handguns domestically than all of the soldiers that were killed in iraq over a wholly 9 or 10-year period. >> tells you something. we were much more violent than the rest of the industrialized world although russia has doubled the number of handgun

homicides in the united states. >> you bring up a bigger point. you said we are more violent and site the statistics of gun violence. >> yes. >> that leads other americans who wants to protect themselves. i grew up in the south. i had access to guns at a young age. my mother is 86 years old. she lives by herself. she sleeps with her handgun because of the statistics that you just cited. so why don't people, americans, have the right to protect themselves with a handgun or assaultr rifle if you are saying there is so much violence in this country? >> that's a great point. what the data shows is you are at more risk to killing yourself from suicide than protecting yourself from an intruder. as we saw in las vegas the other week, when a good sam airtan tried to intervene, he was in fact killed. one of the things we saw with regard to other countries, though, for instance, switzerland and israel, they are much smaller countries where there is almost universal conscription of some sort. so there is a greater emphasis on training responsibility.

what we did see non-legally, non-statutorily is when we keep firearms locked, ammunition locked and separate and training, that that effects the number of deaths that occur with respect to guns. i would also say look at the suicide numbers. if you look at the states with the highest proportion of suicides, alaska, wyoming, nevada, these tend to be rural states where gun laws are much more lax. one of the things we have here is a public health problem coupled with, i think, an overall violent culture. it's not left or right-wing of the spectrum. in the movies, violence is cory graphed like the mat trix and guns and roses. we have a thing where we almost celebrate violence not only as a means of protection or a means of resolving disputes but a means of communication and

grandiosity. i think we have to approach that. others look at gun ownership more seriously where it's part of more communal national protection than some kind of individualized expression or right. >> guns are definitely part of the american culture and have been for quite some time. there seems to be a ground f ownership? >> absolutely. >> for the city of hate and extremim, california state university, thanks for the time. >> thank you so much for having me. >> at a time northern hemisphere is officially in the season of summer. what better way to celebrate than summer solstice at sunrise in stonehen ge. you see the video as the sun was coming up. so many hundreds of people show up here. it's a kind of a religious ceremony that goes on. again, it is a pagan ceremony in

history past that focus have celebrated the solstices at stonehen stonehenge in the fairbanks alaska, the sun never really goes down. we are talking 24 hours almost of the midnight sun. ah, yes. it goes down below the horizon for about an hour, but what we all know about the midnight sun, baseball game, the alaska gold panners playing lake eerie team here 10:30 in the evening. this is alaska time. there are no artificial lights. you won't need them. it stays bright the whole time. they are going to expect to see few showers spinning up there for alaska freq time to time. we will see if there are some delays. it's never been cancelled. this is the 109th year of that game in skavk. temperatures for the u.s., tripledict heat, phoenix at 104.

93 degrees in memphis but it feels hotter for you with the humidity, it's 101 is what it feels like in memphis. the problem here is we have so much humidity and heat going on in the southeast and as we get into tomorrow, it's going to feel like not the just triple digit heat. we are talking about 110 degrees. >> that's what it's going to feel like for parts of alabama, mississippi, georgia. very uncomfortable. we are watching the rainfall for the carolinas. any solstice plans? >> i would like to go to the baseball game. i wouldn't want to live there. rebecca, thanks a lot. still ahead on al jazeera america, preserving the traditional music of cult tours around the globe. remembering the discovery that changed our understanding of our plymtive ancestors.

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chile is breaking grounds on a new project accounting to build the world's largest telescope, known as the european extremely large telescope. seriously, that is the name or eelt. it will take at least eight years to build. when it's completed, it will be 20 feet wide. excuse me. 200 feet high and 260 feet wide. >> will give it the power to see far beyond our sewn solar system and discover planets in orbit around other stars and provide nor information about them than has been possible in the past from discoveries in past to our own ancient past. one discovery made 150 years ago of a tusk engraved with drawings. >> find revolutionized our understanding of the human species. >> in 1864, this valley in france's area was a scene of a remarkable discovery. this week, scientists gathered

to commemorate it. an actor played the part of edward locke at the heart of the drama. here, he found shards of mammoth defects. put together, they made a hole. today, it is rarely seen. on it, a drawing made by human hand after mammoth. it was it was a stunning revolution because it proved man and mammoth had walked the earth at the same time, destroying contemporary theory. >> it's not a weapon. it's not a tool. an object for make decoration, maybe for religious reason. we don't know. it's not an object for specific function. it's like a painting by a famous painter or something. it's really aver object made by an artist. >> a rare chance when scientists helped unlock so much of our understanding about early human development. it was a triumph of rational thought and inquiry over

centuries of superstition and religiously inspired guesswork. it proved beyond down that homo samei sapiens were older than previously thought. the tusk is 14,000 years old. in the 19th century, most people led by the church thought the whole world was only 6,000 years old. it revolutionized our study of evolution. >> if you have an evolution of those people, et cetera, thousands and thousands of years ago before christ arrived, that changes the outlook and the church eventually adopted it, but it took a long time. >> at the nearby national museum of pre-history, they hold 6 million individual finds building a detailed picture of early human life. the tusk will starna in an exhibit to celebrate the discovery. it showed our distant ancestors were not only much older than we thought but they were capable of

symbolic expression, of art, of interpreting the world around them a that they were in every sense truly human. simon-mcgregor-wood in southwest france. >> modern medicine made it possible for otherwise infertile companies to have children. this species may have survived due to the same medical techniques. >> story is next. this is al jazeera american.

>> on tech know,

>> that is immense... >> there a misunderstood... ...vital part of the ecosystem >> ...is a tiger shark... ...first one of the expodition >> can they be saved? >> sharks don't eat people... >> tech know, every saturday go where science meets humanity. >> this is some of the best driving i've every done, even though i can't see. >> tech know. >> we're here in the vortex. only on al jazeera america. there is a musical celebration taking place, the malaysia festival has attracted many. the people of borneo share their island with a pry mate species, the orangutangs. they are highly intelligent primates closely related to

humans. at one time, they ranged a wide area. scientists estimated a century that there were thousands. now researchers believe there are only about 60,000 amazing creatures left in the wild found only on sumantra and borneo. >> in connecticut, conservationists believe they have found the key to saving them. >> maggie is a proud new mom. an eng dangered orangutang, she is protective and at 22, getting the hang of motherhood. maggie lives here at a private conservation center run by marchello. her baby represents a major break through. he is the first orangutang to be born using artificial inseminati insemination. >> it kept help but bring you back to the way i felt when i was taking care of my children,

how tender and gentle. they are so strong but she will clean every little crecice ear and cradle and snuggle him. you can see the love there. and you can't help but think, i have to save them. >> saving them has never been more urgent. scientists estimate orangutangs could be extent in 15 years if nothing is done to halt their natural habitat. >> there is not enough wild has been to the to release them. if we can perfect this and work with people over there to be able to collect genetic material and save it for the future, we really might be able to safe the species. >> marchella and her team spent two years monitoring maggie's natural cycle and fertility specialist who you believing treats humans stepped in to help. they share 97% of their dna with humans. >> champ panzees and

orangutangs. >> any got the text that the baby was born, i was waiting and waiting. who knows what her due date was. just kind of happy, anxious and a little bit kind of touched that i was able to participate in this. >> the team hopes to help more than just orangutans. >> the center has been open for five years and has more than 47 piece hespecies of animals. the center focus on genetic diversity in the wild. marchello says it's part of the solution. >> preserving our wild places is the most important thing we can do to save our planet. we must keep the balance of nature. what we are doing here only can complement that effort. we are losing that war. we really are. we need to win some battles. and this is one of the battles. >> a battle that's being won here in a very small way. kaelyn forde, greenich, connecticut. >> thank you for watching the live news edition of al jazeera

america. "talk to al jazeera" is next, next live news at 6:00 p.m. for more news updates around the world, head to our website, aljazeera.com. ♪ i managed to really memorize the features of the man that was actually the rapist in the room with us. >> fran drescher not only survived rape. she helped bring her stacker to justice. the lesson she learned helped her cope with another trauma. she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. two years after she began feeling symptoms. >> you have to be able to transfer from being a patient