>> all right. ? >> tweet to tweet. >> that's it for today. thanks to all of our guests. waj and i will see you online. ♪

the people, i pilots, the children, it's awful to see something like this happening in our country. >> after lying uncovered in these fields since the plane fell from the sky, emergency workers put the bodies in bags and lay them on the roadside. >> these armed separatist fighters came down the hill to our location where we have been broadcasting for the last couple of hours. for the first time in 48 hours since this crash happened, we have been told to get out of the area because investigators are coming in.

>> soon after we were moved back, the european monitoring group arrived. the monitors were let into the area of the crash but more neck on the osce they knew allowed into more areas: an early exit. >> the ins dents site is rather large, we understand it goes beyond what we have seen. it will continues. the oversight. >> the dutch foreign minister arrived in kiev with a group of investigators, is. >> collect and thereforansfer t audience. rescue groups are working under the threat of armed rebels. a small step forward for these european monitors but with fighting nearby and access restricted, any international investigation is still in

question. >> al jazeera in ukraine. we are learning more about the passengers of flight 17, 298 people died in the crash en route to kuala lumpur. jonathan betz has a few of the stories. 300: nearly 200 passengers. families going on vacation. >> the flight. >> the final moments before flight 17 took off, he was nervous. across the globe, the candles flickerred. the 198 people suddenly lost. among the stories, doctors roger and jill garr: walking a

25-year-old student and rower at indiana university. >> she was also so positive and willing and hard working. >> the only american was quin lucas shansman, 19 years old, he was a citizen of both the u.s. and the netherlands traveling to meet his family on vay case. the president spoke about him. >> quin lucas schotsman was killed. our lots and prayers are with his family for this terrible loss. >> at the world health organization, a moment of silence for their lost spokesman, ling thomas among many on that flight heading to a major aids conference. totally recognized activists who worked.

>> really, we don't know. there are some very prominent researchers that have been doing this for a very long time. >> there is also the families on vacation. people like minik yrani about to visit her 86-year-old mother mr. and his grandfather taking his dpranld children homegrant chil they said good buy to the parents and were heading home to australia to begin school. for one australian family, double heartache. they lost family on two different malaysian airline flights. kalin man's brother and sister-in-law were on flight 370 that disappeared this year. yesterday, she lost her step-daughter and stepson on flight 17. they were the ones who narrowly avoided death, people who changed their flight at the last minute. >> we were supposed to leave on that flight. obviously, you know, something watching over us and, say no,

don't get on that flight. >> they didn't board. but 298 others did. across the globe, families are torn apart, now facing a senseless sorrow. 80 were also among the dead, researchers died on flight 17 coming up later in this newscast. now to day 3 of the israeli ground offensive in gaza t benjamin natali says he is ready for a serious derb benjamin netanyahu says he is ready for a serious expansion. two were killed in gaza today. four others injured. 340 palestinians have been killed in 2500 injured. isitioni soldiers use bulldozers to unearth tunnels used by hamas. about 95 rocket launchers were found in the sweep. the latest out of israel, our john hendren is joining us on

the ground in jerusalem. >> israel has lost its first soldiers in a direct conflict. before if gang. two men were killed as pal finishian fighters after they came. the border encountering israel soldiers. their greenberg. those are the first two fighters to be killed until a direct confrontation with palestinian fighters. there was a friendly fire death one day earlier when an israeli tank went off and killed one israeli soldier we told one palestinian was killed. the rest escaped presumably from whenings they came. more than 100 coming out of gaza. >> that's significant because the number 1 goal of theisitioni operation is to stop the rockets coming out of gaza so far that has been unsuccessful.

we are told 18 of those rockets. four landed the prime minister benjamin netanyahu and came out saying that so far, all cease-fire efforts have been unsuccessful. the united nations secretary general would be coming on tuesday. there is much diplomatic effort going oning but so far, that is a result that the cease-fire is entirely unsuccessful to date. is said it found more than a dozen tunnels running from gaza into israel. what more do we know about the tunnels? >> theitsisi military said there are nearly 3 dozen tunnels and they are going to exploit those. they believe they have found according to one military spokesman we talked on local media here in israel. stwhirt to 40% a speculative

number does not operate. they may have intelligence. they are not their 359 trolling the streets so that is an educated guess at best. hamas rockets continue to fire out of gaza. more than 100 of them over the past 24 hours. so those tunnels will be the target but it could take days for them to go into the tunnels, find out what's in there, get it out and then exploit the tunnels that they know about. >> our john hendren joining us from jerusalem. john, thank you. in the town in gaza, residents are fleeing their homes in fear. al jazeera's stefanie dekker is there with this report. >> death comes from the air here this is one of the border tongues. no one fields safe. >> every house has hundreds of -- every town has people who have fled. no food, no water. there is no arab state that takes care of us. i hope that's what is happening

to us happens to all of the arab countries so they feel what we are made to suffer. >> the strikes have terrified everyone. we met with people running away. >> there is panic. we are being told there is a few dead people up this road, but they are also telling us that there is israeli tank and they are saying to run back from here. >> what is happening is that people are dying. a young girl. part of the mother's head is missing. war has no mercy. for those left living, there is no peace. this man was pulled from the rubble from a destroyed home. he is not well. forced to join many others seeking shelter with families further away from the border. >> i left my house. i don't know if my house will

even be there when i go back. my house is 200 meters away. i can't go there now. i came running with no clothes for me or my kids. i am my father's house. if they come home, where will i go? >> the sound of artillery fire comes through the air. this is having a huge psychological impact on everyone, the old and the very young. the palpable fear of a people trapped and with no way out. stefanie dekker, al jazeera, gaza. >> as the violence continues in gaza and israel, there are protests planned across the u.s. this weekend. tonight, in fort lauderdale, flori florida, protesters are rallying in support of the palestinians. natasha, set the scene for us. >> thomas, protesters are actually just getting started. you can hear free palestine, the occupation has got to go. i am told the last time there was a protest here in fort

lauderdale, several hundred people showed up in support of the palestinians. now, last night, we went to a mosque to talk to people, as they were breaking ramadan or breaking their fast from ramadan to find out what they think about what's been going on gaza. >> the. >> the final moment as the last site of sun disappears are moments of supreme gratitude but the muslims here at the islamic foundation of south florida are mindful. the palestinians in gaza are scared, hungry and may be mourning the loss of loved ones. >> do you feel a sense of helplessness? >> yes. yes. i do. they are basically facing a force in which they can't do anything.

>> people here spoke about solidarity and injustice. >> this is really not war. >> why isn't it? >> because war? they are fighting those women and children that you see mostly dying. >> several people said they see a bal as against the palestinians in the mainstream media coverage? >> there certainly is, i think, a slant that i think detaches some of the sympathy or empathy that could be offered palestinians suffering in gaza. like i said, i think the tragedies are on both sides. >> there is empathy for the israelis who are living through a bombardment of rocket attacks. >> the vouvenlding countries have wand them an aisliated. >> that's, you know, it's hard to stay rational when you are 24/7 you have to be on guard. >> the ongoing concern we heard was that this will never be a fair fight. >> it is a humanitarian crisis. we have to pay attention to it because no matter where injustice is, it will find room

in our heart of the land if we do not speak up against it. >> people here know even short-term political solutions eventually disintgreat grate. so they will do the only thing they can do from 6500 miles away. they will keep praying for pe e peace. >> protesters are chaventing: shame on you, obama. kids are dyeing because of you. now, there was expected to be a cou counter protest. as i said, this protest is still getting underway. so far, there hasn't been one. just before the protests got underway, one of the organizers reminded people that it's counter protesters do arrive to please keep it clean and don't be negative. >> natasha, i want to talk more about the make-up of the organizers there. we understand palestinian student organizations are present. what other groups are there? >> well, i was told that there

are a number of other organizations that are standing in solidarity with the protesters here among them, the green party of broward county national lawyers' guild of broward county and occupy miami. there are a lot of young people right here behind me and children in the crowd. >> how optimistic are they that the conflict will end any time soon? >> thomas, i am so sorry. say that one more time. >> no problem. i will repeat it again. how optimistic is this group that the conflict will end any time soon? >> i would say that there is a deep level of pessimism based upon history. >> all right. natasha gname joining us from fort lauderdale, florida. >> there were protests in several european cities, in london, paris, thousands came out to denious israel's offensive in gaza. a report now from london.

>> reporter: a call to end israel's military action in gaza on the streets of london as the march gathered many here were angered at the british government's lack of action against israel and the ongoing attacks on palestinian civilians. >> the agressors are those that are dropping bombs from f-16 aircraft, that are killing children on the beach, i am prisoning children through the settlement policy and any kind of protest. what's happening now with the killing of children and in an extraordinary way in gaza, it's not humane. it's not acceptable. this is no way to try and bring peace. >> the british government has expressed dismay at the high toll of civilian casualties, it has stopped short of condemning israel over itstions. thousands have arrived here from all over the country outside downing street, the resident of the british prime minister and protesting against the u.k.

government's right to the defend itself. in paris, this was the scene in one largely my grant neighborhood: authorities had banned the protest citing reasons of a danger to public order. but they couldn't stop the hundreds who turned out clashing with police officers who used tear gas to disperse the crowd. >> the situation continues to worsen in gaza. it may become more difficult for israel i's al iraqis to continues to justify action there. al jazeera, london. >> coming up on al jazeera america, the largest engineer award ever for a wrongful death cigarette smoking case: $23,000,000,000. we will look at what it could actually mean. also, the crisis on the border, thousands of my grant children entering the country. america's law officers head south to see the problem for themselves. plus. >> i guess you are about the only person around who doesn't have t.v. coverage. >> verify events that could keep

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dozens of american migrants who enter the u.s. without documents were deported. most flown to their home countries in honduras and guatemala and el salvador, a week before president obama is scheduled to meet with central american leaders about the recent flood of unaccompanied minors. many cities say they, too, are feeling pressure from the influx of immigrants. in fact >> this week, a group of sheriffs traveled south to call attention to their need for help. the report now from mission, texas. >> they all call themselves border sheriffs though their jurisdictions are thousands of miles away. sheriffs from massachusetts, illinois, north carolina, maryland arizona and oregon are here at the texas boarder seeing the heart of the immigration

crisis spreading across the country and into their communities. >> can't get closer? can you? sam page of rockingham are looking into mexico which here is across a placid river. >> you are standing, you know, just meters, yards from mexico. does this look like a secure border to you? >> not at all. it's not a secure border at all. >> border patrol agents here are overwhelmed. >> that's what the sheriffs heard from agency leaders and are now seeing for themselves. this apprehension happened the moment we arrived on the border. >> this is the first view of exactly what the bigger problem is. the fact that they could just come roos across and walk through this brush and jump across the river. >> hodgkins says his county in massachusetts has received 500 migrant adults and an unknown number of children since may. he said the federal government provides no warning and no information about the migrants'

backgrounds. >> they come into our communities. not all, but a number of them, some gang members and so forth that are going to committee acts against innocent americans or legal residents who are here we just can't allow that to continue to go on. >> page says in north carolina, he has arrested 15 members of mexican drug cartels in the last three years. he blames the federal government for allowing criminals to cross. >> first responsibility of the federal government is to protect its citizens. i took an oath many years ago to protect and defend the citizens in my community against all threats, foreign and domestic. also, i have an obligation to uphold the constitution, the laws of this land. >> that's the same oath that they took in washington. >> are they upholding it? >> well, we don't feel like they are. >> other communities share the feeling. two cities in texas have banned the detained i am grasped from entering and protesters in california have turned back buses carrying my grant children. >> we can't sustain it anymore. we don't have the resources. you are having communities that

are saying they are not coming here. >> that's it. we have had it. we are done. and we can't continue to have people just flooding into our communities without knowing what the problems are, the health issues, the potential public safety risks and think we are going to be safe. >> the sheriffs say their next trip will be to washington to confront congress. they say they hope this visit to the border will bring more attention to their need for help. heidi zhou castro, mission, texas. >> no fix for general motor. reuters reports the car maker has ordered] dealers to stop selling models because it doesn't are a fix for a faulty ignition key. another recall in late june. this year, general motor recalled nearly 15 million vehicles. during a hearing on it this week on capital hill, senators and gm executives clashed over the road ahead. randall pinkston has the story. >> i now live a life of chronic pain and limitedabilities. >> before the latest senate hearing, the trail of tears from

gm's faulty ignicians took center stage. survivors and families of victims describing injuries and deaths when cobalts and other gm cards lost hours and airbags failed to deploy. >> he has to live the rest of his life bound to a wheelchair. after nine months of his childhood were stolen due to him being hospitalized, i often ask myself: why? >> robert buzzard blamed gm for not revealing to customers or federal regulators fatal problems with ignition switches. >> opinion echoed by the senate commerce subcommittee holding gm executivess' feet to the fire. >> it is very clear that the culture of lawyering up and whack-a-mole to minimize liability in individual lawsuits killed innocent customers of general motor. >> subcommittee chair claire

mccaskill focused on gm's chief legal officer, michael millikin. >> i don't know how you and lucy clark dougherty e have your jobs. she slammed millikin claiming he didn't know about the problem until last year even though company lawyers were warning about it more than four years ago. >> what about the legal obligation to inform the board of directors? were they aware that your lawyers were telling you: this car was going to cause u pun i have been damages? >> they were not. >> gm ceo mary barra defended him? >> we are well on our way. we have made significant change. to do that, i need the right team. mike millikin is a man of high integrity. >> they charged the maximum fine but senators are proposing tougher laws. impose up to five years prison time for corporate executives

who 450id defects but the proposal would protect whistle blowers from criminal prosecution if they notify regulator regulators. >> the man in charge of paying damages to haven'tim attorney ken eth feinberg said there is no cap on compensation but there are restrictions imposed by gm on who qualifies for reimbursement. randall pinkston, al jazeera, washington. >> coming up on al jazeera america, a profile of the russian commander who many think gave the order to shoot down the malaysian jetliner. >> in some sense, he is this kind of very romantic nationalistic figure. >> who is igor gerkin? >> $23 billion ruling for a wrongful death cigarette smoking indicates. a look at how it could affect the tobacco industry.

break breakt

. remembering some of the victims of flight 17. welcome back to al-jezeera america. a quick look now at the top stories we are following at this hour. there is disagreement over control of the malaysian flight's site where it was shot down. international monitors are trying to carve out a safe corridor in order to gain proper access to the site. ukrainian emergency workers were allowed into the area to recover bodies but no one knows where the remains are being kept or under what conditions. two israeli soldiers were killed today and four occurs injured it happened as near the israel/gaza

border. the u.n. says about 50,000 people have fled their homes in gaza. back here in the u.s., general motor has ordered alaska dealers to stop selling some models because it doesn't have a fix for a faulty ignition key. the safety issue led to yet another recall in june. in all, this year, gm has recalled nearly 15 million vehicles. we are following a developing story coming out of florida. a local jury has told rj reynolds tobacco company to pay more than $23,000,000,000 in punitive damages and almost $17 million in compensatory damages to the widow of a chain smoker who died from lung cancer. cynthia robinson filed the lawsuit after the florida supreme court tossed out a $145 billion verdict in a class action suit. it is the largest award for a wrongful death related to cigarette smoking.

the company has promised to appeal. here to discuss the florida jury's decision is dr. john penzap the founder of action on smoking in health. it's joining us from washington, d.c. good to have you with us. >> thank you very much. i think this verdict is going to be a real wake-up call. >> you think so? 10.36 billion? >> that's a lot of incentive for these families which have been devastated by a smoker death to go out and find their own lawyer and for my brother lawyers to bring these cases at no cost to the families, taking instead a percentage because 30% of 16 million is a lot of incentive and 30% of 160 million is even bigger incentive and in florida it's easy. as you mentioned, there is what is called the ingle case in which i participated. it says you no longer have to prove over and over, again and again, that these companies lied, deceived people, engage in wrongful conduct.

all a smoker has to do in florida is come in and say: i was addicted. smoking killed me. and you get your verdict. >> aren't we talking about companies with very deep pockets? will this actually make a dent? >> unfortunately, this huge -- people call it huge -- $23 billion verdict probably will be reduced, but even if by some chance it stood, it's is about .2% of their annual income like if i made $100,000 and i ran over a bunch of children and you fined me $200. you have to do more than that, but if enough people bring the suits and enough lawyers go to court and particularly if it spreads beyond clark, because there is nothing unique about florida in terms the dangers of cigarettes. we can start having an impact and one thing we can do is start forcing the tobacco companies to bear more of the costs, the cost which is now borne largely by people like you and me who are non-smokers. we pay far more in taxes, far

more for health insurance because smoking costs us all about $300,000,000,000 a year here in the u.s. >> do you think this will make it easier for families moving forward in wrongful death lawsuits? >> it will make it much easier because again, this ingle precedent said you no longer have to go and prove how wrongful the tobacco companies were. all you have to do in florida is to show that you are addicted and that you died as a result of smoking. but since this case only applies in florida, some of the attorneys and all of these other states may look at these huge numbers and say, maybe you ought to start doing the same thing in new york or california or mississippi and i certainly hope my brother lawyers will. >> not so fast. this will be appealed. what's the next step? how long will the process take? >> the next step is they will appeal it. the process ultimately will take three or four years to get to the supreme court almost certainly the amount of the punitive damages will be reduced because the supreme court has

yet to recognize that when you want to deter conduct by a huge company, whether it's rj reynolds or general motor with regard to their ignition switches, you can't find the equivalent of pocket change. you have to hit them with hundreds of bill you don't know of dollars to wake them up. >> john bentoft at george washington university, thank you for joining us. appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> turning back to downed malaysia flight 17. international investigators have been pushing for better access to the crash site. monitoring teams were allowed to recover bodies today after allegations that separatists were tampering with evidence. meanwhile, moscow continues to deny involvement in the fatal crash. instead, pointing the finger kiev's military. so many countries have certainly been touched by this tragedy. phil itner is in london with more on the global reaction. >> reporter: european lead versus been calling one another

and the russian foreign ministry throughout the day today and we do know that several conversations revolved around trying to convince vladimir putin to put pressure on the separatits in ukraine to allow a safe corridor so proper aviation and criminal experts can get in there and figure out what may have really brought down this plane. not least of which to recover the bodies. that's a major issue, especially for the dutch. speaking of the dutch, we also know that there was a fortunately today between the dutch foreign minister and the british foreign min sister in which they came to the c concensuggestion may mean that the eu has to reconsider its relationship with russia, some pretty strong language. angela merkel has been on the phone with vladimir peutin.

they are concerned about trying to get real investigators with the proper skill set out to the crash site and try to figure out just what caused this tragedy. >> phil it ner in london. memorials have been popping up across ukraine. here is one tribute we want to share with you placed at the site of the crash, a candle and a single rose in rememberance of the 298 people who perished. commercial planes are avoiding flying over eastern ukraine. this is what radar monitoring of flights over europe has looked like since the tragedy. see the empty space in the middle? >> ukraine. the f.a.a. restricted movement over the region before flight 17 was shot down. now, most international airlines are instructing their pilots to stay out of the area. british airways, korean airlines and quantityas are among them. the next question will be: who gave the order? information about these separatelyists groups is tough to come by: who they are, where they are come from, the details

remain murky. paul beban has more about the separatists and what is known about their commander. >> he is mysterious and fearsom usually seen in cam flooj fatigues and a pencil mustache. igor, "the shooter" is believed to be a former russian intelligence agent with an extensionive resume of working and fighting in the shadows. a veteran of conflicts in serbia and chechnya can then in crimea and now commanding the pro-russian rebels in ukraine. >> he has a very prolific and very long career as someone who has participated in a lot of these wars and campaigns for pan sloughic or pan russian causes. >> he once lived in moscow where his neighbors knew him as igor girkin, a polite, mild-mannered man who wore a tie and walked to work. analysts say that buttoned-down persona was a front for a much

more complicated character. >> he is sort of a colorful figure. he is a historical reenactor, whoet wrote a series of battlefield diaries from chechnya and bosnia. so in some sense, he is just kind of very romantic, you know, nationalistic figure. >> a little more than a half an hour after the 3458 asian airline 777 plunged into a wheatfield on thursday, links to footage of a plane burning in the distance appeared on the russian social media site vk. there was also a negligence which read in part: we warned them not to fly in our skies. the site belonged to igo igor strakof. the post was deleted and there are questions about its authenticity. nevertheless, it has intensified the focus on the man many say is the experienced and ruthless undercover operative orchestrating the insurgency in ukraine and the person responsible for bringing down flight 17. paul beban, al jazeera.

>> there appears to be no sign of a cease-fire in the israeli-palestinian conflict. israel is continuing the ground offensive in gaza as prime minister benjamin netanyahu says it is likely to expand. two israeli soldiers were killed today, four others injured more than 340 palestinians have been killed if the 12-day conflict. joining me now for more is the managing editor of the world policy journal. good to have you with us again. we spoke a week ago. violence continues. the death toll increases. who is winching in this battle? >> a difficult question. if you measured it in the sense of human life lost, the israelis are winning. they have had their first two military casualties in armed conflict with hamas whereas the pa stingian death toll is over 30. the number of injured is in the thousands. on the other hand, daily rocket attacks are continuing into israel in the last day there have been more than with 100. the israeli offensive hasn't

been success. >> sisrael says it is making great advances. how do we know what the end goal is? how do we know it's over? >> it is far from over. the reility, israel increasing the offensive on the ground from the air and by water is upping the ante and is willing to expand the offensive if necessary. everything is am coming from spokes people but they have identified 13 tunnels. >> that's a huge arsenal of hamas weapons that they may have stopped. >> israel has no plans on reoccupying gaza? >> as of yet, no. i think it's only theisitsi extremists or the far right that has mentioned anything of that kind. i think the real interest is it issing the daily rocket attacks. >> is having the iron dome, if you will, provide israel the security to continue the attack? >> it provides the physical securityt. i providoubt it provides psychological. iron dome can intercept up to 90% of rocket attacks. that's huge but for the israeli

who hears the siren go off, he doesn't know if he is the 90s or 10%. when you have over 100 rockets on a daily basis coming in, that's a lot of opportunities to have to duck. the psychological effect is far from worn off. >> ham as has had several opportunities to agree to a cease-fire. why hasn't it? >> the egyptian cease-fire, that was probably the one that was proposed this week proposed by egypt. he script 2014 is not e gent 2012. he script 2012 is morsi, the muttslim brotherhood. hamas had an allegiance and sisi closed off many of the tunnels and is seen more as an enemy. so the idea that hamas would accept the deal... >> do you think it was a -- >> i think sisi jumped on to the scene first in a lot of ways. at the end of last week, you had lots of people ordering israel to use restraint but no one pushing out a cease-fire plan.

he script was the first to bring cease-fire plans to the table. >> what is hamas hoping to game? they started weak in this conflict. what are they are hoping to gain? >> i think what they are hoping to gain and this is probably key of what would get them to stop is seeingthems as successful recystors as being able to instill a certain amount of fear within the israeli policies. at the end of the day, if israel or the u.s. defines them as a terrorist organization, their goal is to instill terror in israelis and to also seem as actual worryiers of the palestinian -- warriors of the palestinian cause where fatah has seen in some ways complacent and unable to bring about peace. hamas is willing to step up and fight for its people quite literally. >> we spoke a week ago. you said the u.s. has the most influence when it comes to israel not so much with hamas but with israel. >> i still hold to that. i mean i think you have seen egypt was actually successfully get israel to agree to a cease-fire. hamas did not. at the end of the day, israel

hasn't signed any permanent cease-fire yet. notably the united states hasn't offered a cease-fire agreement yet. i think once the u.s. probably in conjunction with some of the european powers offers a more agreement you will see israel moving a little faster on it. >> in a word, do you see this ending any time soon? >> not in the next -- >> sadly? managing editor of the world policy journal, good to see you again. new development in the international effort to prevent rarn from developingly nuclear weapons. the u.s. has agreed to extend negotiations another four months. the taublingdz were scheduled to end on saturday. john kerry said enough progress has been made to continue talks until november. in exchange, iran is getting another $2.8 billion in economic sanctions relief. we are going to have more on the iran nuclear talks coming up tonight at 8 eastern. we will take a deeper look at where iran stands in dismantling its new orleans program "a deeper look" at 8:00 eastern,

5:00 pacific. >> another deadly day in iraq. five car bombs in baghdad. three of the blasts went off within 10 minutes of each other. the deadliest attack, a suicide bomber drove explosives into a police checkpoint. staying in iraq, the islamic state group has issued an ultimatum to christians and muslim mine or at this: convert, pay a tax, or face the sword. many are simply fleeing. omar sachlt l-sala reports. >> george is not his real name. we concealed his identity because he hopes to return to his hometown of mosul. he is a christian who fled with his wife when the ult matum was issuedimatum was issu issued. >> they stopped us on our way out. they took my id and found out i was a christian. they took all of my money. i lived and worked all my life in mosul. >> his wife says all of her gold

is also again gone. >> i begged them that the money and gold i had was for my son's wedding. they told us to leave or they would take our car. >> since fighters from the islamic state took control of mosul in june, bombs belonging to christians and anyone who opposes group have been marked in red and confiskiated. >> this is the closest we can get to mosul and it's only 20 kilometers away from here. on thursday, the islamic state group issued a religious ruling and basically gave christians three options. either to convert to islam, pay tax known as gizia or be killed. >> that ruling has terrified many. this church is now hope for tennessee of families? >> we had been targeted before. never to this extents this group is hugh milating christians.

>> some muslims in mosul and other areas under control of the islamic state have also became targets of discrimination. shia, turkman and shias are being forced today leave. sunnis who expose the group's philosophy are being persecuted. many people are trying to cope and hiding their fears but there are others who say they preferred strict teachings over marginalizations this presents an uncertain future for a country on the verge of dissent tiggration. alpha on the out skirz of mosul. >> next on al jazeera america, the finish line of the race to the moon. it all happened 45 years ago this weekend.

welcome back. many of you knew exactly what you were doing 45 years ago tomorrow because, like most of the world, you were watching as man first stepped on the moon. >> you are about the only person around who doesn't have t.v. coverage of the scene. >> astronauts neil armstrong and buz aldrin would conduct experiments. john siegenthaler spoke to aldrin about his life after the apollo 11 mission? >> i wouldn't know how to compare it with something else but it has been a very eventually 45 years. i have planned space missions and i have been doing that the best i can and recently since i sort of switched from unique or benefits, earth and moon, to the unique or benefitsorbits, earth

unique orbits and evolved a system that i think is the transportation system. now we have to build on up to that. >> and you see the future of the space program or space programs as mars, as landing on mars? >> absolutely. yeah. we have got smart people in human space flight. we have smart people in science, robotic asteroids, but they don't think about joining together. i have been a very proud person in one country being able to do thin things. all nations should participate in that. people have to realize if they want to maintain greatness t what we did in the '60s, they just had have to recognize that it's going to take more than the half a percent of our budget as much as we are in debt. and if we want to lose our

greatness, we established, people supporting neil, mike, and i, to help point out this greatness, we want to do that, we have to pay the price. >> well, we will watch and see whether the united states is willing to do that. dr. aldrin, it's always good to see you. thank you very much for being here? >> thank you. >> buzz aldrin. neil armstrong who spent two and a half hours walking on the moon with aldrin died two and a half years ago. >> armstrong and adrin said he s worried for his colleague's safety. clind went on to work for the state department then was an executive at the national air and space museum and smithsonian as well as ltv aerospace. let's take you to washington state now, the largest wildfire in the state's history continues to burn. in north central washington, high winds are forcing residents

in some towns to evacuate. look at that scene. fire officials say the hot weather and high winds have pushed the fire to towns northeast of seattle. already dozens of homes have been destroyed. fire officials warn that the conditions are fluid and more evacuations could be ordered. as we mentioned, the weather certainly plays a factor. our rebecca stevenson joining us with a look at the forecast? >> it makes you heart sick to see the destruction these fires have caused right on the other side of the cascade mountains, those east winds are howling and we are getting central washington, a large portion of this north central washington just sunk in thick smoke. air quality is now not only unhealthy for sensitive groups but even lower. it's just flat-out unhealthy across the northern posht of washington and into northern idaho. we have been getting a weather system moving through. it's been bringing very, very light sprinkles to the very peaks of the north case kades but not impacting the fires at all except from the way of the

winds enhancing the fire activity, which is very e radic. we are seeing torching and crowning of these fires. 92 degrees in winachi, the closest reporting station to the wildfire activity. wind gusts currently up to 40 miles an hour at recording stations on one side of the west side of the cascades but on the east side, in fact, eastern washington, spokane at 37 miles an hour. we get stronger gusts than that funneling through the cascade passes appear the gaps. temperatures while seattle is seven degrees warmer for you right now. note the area of grew blue. we do have cooler temperatures in the area. the wildfires, that is good news. but when we talk about these fires and the massive size of them, we had the eng largement of the carlton complex there in north central washington over 215,000 acres. this is .4% of washington state that is in wildfire. >> that's .4% of the acreage. now, as we look at oregon, we

have incredibly large fire activity here as well. in fact, .6% of oregon state is there their acreage dealing with wildfire, buzzard complex being the largest. we just saw the ochiko mountains in sorting central oregon go into an effect of evacuation and road closures as well. a lot of issues here because it is timber that is burning and it was lightning-caused last weekend. >> so much to deal with. thank you. next on al jazeera america, a tragic loss for the medical community. several prominent aids researchers were on flight 17. why other scientists say it's a devastating blow to their search for a cure.

so many lives. one of the world's leading hiv researchers was killed in the flight 17 crash. she and others were on their way to annual aids conference in australia. courtney keeley reports. >> i would like to call for a moment of silence. >> the world health organization confirmed the death of their spokesman, glen thomas killed aboard the malaysia plane shot out of the sky over ukraine. >> it is with deep sadness that we have to inform you that who lost one our colleagues. >> thomas is one of the several people confirmed killed while on route to the 20th annual aids conference. >> veteran aids researcher yoab longa was aboard the 777.

possibly as many $100 were reported to have been on the flight. the twittersphere lit-up. 1 encompassed the enormity: how do we measure how much a person has done for humanity? people like this changed the courts of epdemmics. president obama paid condolences. >> in this world today, we shouldn't forget, then, in the midst of conflict and killing, there are people like these, people who are focused on what can be built rather than what can be destroyed. >> with the community devastated, author heather bor in. ier said: i fear that the researcher or research team that would have discovered the cure for hiv was on that flight. all unlikely victims of a conflict that rages on the ukraine. >> courtney keely, al jazeera. >> we will take an in-depth laid

at the conference in melbourne australia at 8:30 p.m. eastern right here on al jazeera america. >> will do it for this hour. thanks for watching. i am thomas drayton in new york. we leave you from images for a vigil of the victims of flight 17. ♪ >> nogales, arizona. a bus has arrived filled with people being deported from the united states. >> right now we're headed to san juan bosco, a shelter here in nogales where the mexican immigration authorities have picked the people who were just deported, they take them there so they have a place to stay on their first night back in mexico.