>> as the death toll keeps rising on both sides in the gaza conflict, world leaders step up efforts to end the fighting. >> all of these dead civilians should weigh heavily on our consciousness. >> the un says israel may have committed war crimes. hello there, i'm felicity barr, you are watching the al jazeera news hour life from doha.

the government of ukraine says separatists have shot down two of their fighter jets. plus, final voyage, the kostka concordia leaves the island where it was wrecked more than two years ago. ♪ hello, the u.s. secretary of state john kerry says international efforts to broker a ceasefire in gaza have made some progress. israeli soldiers are battling with hamas fighterings near the southern strip. dozens of families have been forced to leave the area due to fighting. the palestinian death toll now

stands at well over 600. israel says its aim is to stop rocket fire from gaza. john kerry met with benjamin netenyahu, they are trying to broker a new truce between israel and hamas, which controls gaza. in this hour we'll have the latest from the region, with nicole johnston. she is at a hospital in gaza itself. and james bayes in west jerusalem. to nicole first, though. how is central gaza being affected at the moment by the fighting? >> well, it really does appear as though the fighting has moved from the northern part of gaza down to the central and southern area. a lot of focus is on an area

called kaza. it's very different to the previous area, which was a densely populated urban area, but there are 10s of thousands who live there, and most of the people who live there can't get out. we talked to a couple of people who managed to get out earlier, but they said their families are still there, they are terrified, and it's simply too dangerous? the area. they are not going deep into the area, because they said it is still too unsafe. >> reports too, nicole of another hospital in the city being hit. what do we know about that? >> this is a hospital in the far north of the gaza strip. it has come under a lot of tense shelling over the last week or so, so they had evacuated quite

sometime ago, but the report we're getting is that two tank shells hit the third floor, and it's another example of quite a number of hospitals in the gaza strip that have been hit. there was a lot of tense shelling around one hospital, and at the last minute they were able to get the last of the patients out. but it has been a huge concern for the emergency crews and medical staff working here under these conditions. >> nicole thanks very much indeed. let's take you to west jerusalem and speak to james bayes. bring us up to date what are the pushes ongoing at the moment in the region? >> felicity there is a lot of meetings going on. abbas, the palestinian authority president has been meeting with

the u.s. secretary of state john kerry. after that meeting, they have come out and spoken to reporters, our team in romalia tell me -- in fact it was john kerry along with the palestinian negotiate who spoke. he says we must find a balance between the ceasefire and the removal of the blockage on gaza. they are trying to put together a diplomatic jigsaw with lots and lots of players involved in the region. but the main proposal to try to get hamas to deal with a ceasefire was to try to deal with the underlying issues as well as trying to get the ceasefire in place as quickly as possible. hamas says it wants a ceasefire only when the underlying issues were addressed. the compromise was the idea that you can have a ceasefire and

then straight away, you would have negotiations between the two sides. i have spoken to one source, and i'm not going to tell you which delegation this is from, but this is someone who i am confident knows what was going on, and i'm told that whole idea of a ceasefire and then intense negotiations on the underlying issues has had a bit of a hiccup, because the israeli side are not keen on that, they want to decouple the two. the israeli side want an unconditional ceasefire and down the line maybe negotiations. >> how much of these negotiations are about how both sides can agree to a ceasefire deal without appearing for want of a better expression to lose face? >> absolutely.

i think both sides want to show their respected publics that they have actually got something out of this. for -- from the palestinian side and particularly from hamas in gaza, they want to show that they are not just back where they were before, and they keep stressing that some of these restrictions on normal life have to be eased, the siege has to be lifted. on the other side, you have got to remember that with the israeli government, israeli public opinion is very strongly behind what is going on. the ongoing military operation. there was a funeral for one of the israeli soldiers who died in the last few hours. that funeral in jerusalem, 30,000 people turned up. >> a sign of just how much support there is in israel for its military service. the soldiers themselves of course are seen by many israelis as heros, particularly in a country where there is c

conscripti conscription. >> absolutely. the military is part of israeli life. but we have seen in the past, and i was in this same seat in this 2008, 2009, during that gaza war, and also covered the events in lebanon in 2006 when israel was at war with lebanon, you do certainly see after a time when these israeli death toll rises, you start to see israeli public opinion quite quickly shift, for now though that is not a factor that benjamin netenyahu needs to worry about. we know he doesn't worry that much about international pressure unless it's u.s. pressure. so we need to know behind the scenes what is john kerry telling the israelis. is he telling them they must stop now? >> james thanks very much indeed for joining us from west

jerusalem. since the conflict began 17 days ago now, 655 palestinians have been killed most civilians, more than 4,000 have been injured. in israel three civilians have died along with 29 soldiers. the number of displaced palestinians seeking shelter in gaza now exceeds 100,000. demonstrations overnight killed one person in beth laham. troops trying to to disperse the crowd used tear gas, and rubber flights. on tuesday a rocket from gaza landed less than two kilometers from the international airport where the passengers were being evacuated to a bomb shelter.

the u.s. and other international airlines are strongly recommending stopping flights to israel. there will be investigations into whether international hu n humanitarian laws have been violated. >> it's important that all sides strictly abide to international humanitarian law. this entails applying the principles of distinction between civilians and military personal. respect for the right to life of civilians including children, should be aforemost consideration, not abiding by these principles may amount to

war crimes. >> and lauren taylor joins us now. what is the aim of this emergency session? >> the aim of this meeting is called by the palestinians, and they want to establish an independent inquiry into the events going on in gaza. they want to dispatch an international commission of inquiry to investigate all violations of international law in the occupied territory. we heard from the palestinians during this meeting accusing israel of perpetuating heinous crimes in gaza and killing whole families, and urged the international community to intervene in the conflict. israel generally didn't want this meeting to go on, because of their international efforts to achieve a ceasefire. but earlier i spoke to the israeli ambassador to the un and

asked him why israel objects to the inquiry. >> first it's this whole idea of a special session, it's a sham. we are [ inaudible ] the aggressor, hamas. and we're acting in self-defense. and my second objection is that israel and the israeli army comply fully with international humanitarian law. they are very, very strict in their beleif your. and in case where international damage is made to civilian, we have a respectable system of investigating ourselves, and this is already in place. >> lauren what is due to happen next? >> well, there has just been a two-hour break for lunch. they are just coming back now, and they just started up the

meeting. and we have heard more speeches. anyone can speak this afternoon. but it will go to a vote later on on the resolution proposed by the palestinians. a resolution that the israelis see as one-sided. after that even if an inquiry is established, we might expect israel to try to delay or limit the scope of the inquiry, and on that we understand they would have the support of the u.s., who also said they think this is unhelpful at this stage, because when there are big negotiations on a ceasefire. >> lauren thanks so much. now in the studio is ward [ inaudible ]. thanks for coming into the studio. give us a sense of whether there is any debate at all happening within uk politics about the situation in gaza.

>> i certainly think there is a debate going on. there was a statement in the commons of the lords on monday, and i participated in a debate on that statement, about -- which included partly gaza, partly russia, but what we're not seeing is a united approach to really bring home to israel the disproportion at it -- dispropersian nate reaction they have made. nobody denies israel east right to defend themselves. what i think is at discussion at the moment is the disproportionate nature of their response. >> why is it so difficult to get european ministers to come up with some agreement? we know for example, the european union says hamas is a terrorist organization, but you are saying that the actual

response and maybe criticizing the israelis just isn't there, is that simply because there are too many different european nations with different relations with israel? >> i think too many countries are accused of being anti-semitic by the israeli propaganda machine. i think sometimes the british media seems slightly clouded by that mraachine. no one equally supports the idea you can blockage 2 million people in gaza, keep them under siege without expecting some reaction. and david cameron described gaza as a prison. it feels like a prison, and it looks like a prison. >> i believe you were involved in the health ministry, under the tony blair government. give us a sense of the

infrastructure that is in there in the gazan health ministry. >> last time i went to gaza was in 2012, and even then at any point in time the lights would go out. there were problems of drug supplies. children were malnourished. the water was impure. you haven't been able to drink water out of a top in gaza for many, many years. the infrastructure that we take for granted as a european country has simply been allowed to break down in gaza. and people can't get out. the doctors can't keep up to date, because they can't get out to international conferences and get back to their patients. the hospitals are very out of

date, very dekreped. >> thank you so much for your thoughts. all right. still to come, religious persecution in iraq, christians are ordered [ inaudible ] by rebels. why the u.s. justice department is looking at releasing plenty of p pri -- prisoners. we'll have details coming up. ♪ now the ukrainian military says two of its fight jets have been shot but by pro-russian separatists. the pilots managed to eject, but the plains crashed close to a

village. it came as the first bodies from flight mh 17 left ukraine bound for the netherlands, the country which lost 193 of its citizens in the crash is holding a national day of mourning. more now on those fighter jets. what more is being said about the downing of these two jets? >> well the ukrainian army says they were fu25 fighter jets and there were four of them on a mission when two of them were hit, damaged. the pilots managed to eject themselves close to the russian border, and close to -- not far from the crash site of the malaysian mh17. now we have spoken to the minister of defense of the self

declared donetsk people's republic, and he has confirmed that at least one of those fighter jets were brought down by separatists. there is discussion over what exactly brought them down. the ukrainians believe it was a man pad anti-aircraft missile. that's a less sophisticated version. that's one that can be fired from the shoulder. of course there are a lot of reports that the -- the surface to air missile which brought down the plane was a far more sophisticated piece of equipment taken from the ukrainians or even possibly across the border. >> it's a stark reminder, really, isn't it of what you have been saying over the past couple of days, that where you are is technically a war sewn, isn't it?

you can see we're having a bit of a problem with a break up in the signal. i don't think it is going to come back to us. we'll leave here there in donetsk for the moment. the ongoing conflict in ukraine is also leading to tensions in the parliament. scuffles broke out on wednesday after nationalistsing lawmakers tried to remove the leader of the pro-russian communist party. a dutch air force transport plane carrying the first 16 coffins of the victims of the downed malaysian airliner took off on tuesday. scott heidler sent this report. >> reporter: four coffins held by the ukrainian honor guard. just four of the 298 people

killed on mh17. before being loaded on to the plane, a ceremony for those killed when the plane was shot down last week. across town at a factory complex, there are still dozens of bodies and fragments that need to be claimed. >> we were near for the many nations touched by the tragedy of flight mh17, and to pay our respects to them as they begin their journey home. >> reporter: this is carrying the first 16 victims out of ukraine. there will be more flown later in the day, but these are the first victims that will leave ukraine going to the nert netherlands. two hours later another 24 bodies were loaded on to a military plane. finally getting the dignity and

respect that their families and most of the world have been calling for. we have just heard news here in al jazeera that there has been a plane crash on the island. the first report suggesting that 51 people have been killed. that's a reportment coming in from the taiwanese news agency, saying there has been a plane crash on the island. more on that as we get it. right now it's time to get an update on the weather with everton fox. >> well, felicity we do have this massive cloud here, which is a typhoon. it's just making its way across the taiwan straight. 324 millimeters of rain in only 24 hours. so that really is a big problem

maker. the winds are still very strong and gusty. 120 kilometers per hour with gusts around 150 kilometers per hour. it is the equivalent of a category 1 storm. we are looking at it weakening quite smartly, but still damaging winds that will cause problems. and you can see how the storm will make its way up to the west of shanghai. i think over the next 12 hourser or so, we shouldn't have any problems with the winds, but the rain will be consistent for quite sometime. pushing up across taiwan, further heavy down pours, and really it is a similar pitch as we go on through friday. more big downpours, and it could well cause further problems

there. and up towards shanghai where the heaviest of the rain will be. further south, we still see showers making their way into hong kong. brighter skies coming back into the previous area, but wet weather will persist as we go through the next couple of days. >> everton thanks very much indeed for that. a suicide bombing in the iraqi capitol of bagdad has killed at least 26 people. it was a mainly shiite area north of the capitol. nine people killed were police officers, 52 people were injured. northern rebels belonging to the islamic state has ordered christians out of the area. >> reporter: this shrine is meant to be a place of worship and spirituality, but it has

turned into a sanctuary for many shiite familiar list especially iraq's second biggest city under seize. when fighters from the islamic state took control in june, these people were not welcome. she is one of them. she is a shiite who fled her village with relatives. >> translator: they threatened us and asked us to leave. we didn't sleep in the day or night because of fear. we don't have anywhere to go. >> reporter: it might be safer here, but conditions are tough, living in scorching heat, lack of food and medicine. around 120 families are living in this shrine. most came from surrounding areas when fighters from the islamic state overtook the city. they left all of their properties and belongings behind, simply because they were scared they will be killed.

this is a sheetite [ inaudible ] he escaped with his family. >> translator: the army fled. what can civilians do apart from escape from their lives. the go should act quickly. it should protect the people, but it didn't. >> reporter: iraq has multi-religions, sects, and ethnicities that have existed for decades, but since 2003 that existence was shattered. seven ethnic [ inaudible ] were killed, and 134 kidnapped since june. >> translator: islamic state group started to spread the sectarian thoughts. everyone is targeted. all minorities, including christians and others. they emptied musel of contents.

>> reporter: iraq is facing one of its toughest times, and it's people who are suffering the most. iraq's parliament has met again to discuss forming a new power-sharing government. the parliament is split over two maliki should remain as prime minister. and a vote to elect a new president was postponed by a day. these divisions has widened. a double suicidement bombing has killed at least four soldiers in an army base in libya. the second designated explosives at the base in benghazi and killed the troops. an egyptiancourt has accused al jazeera journalists of being guided, by quote the devil.

so far three of our correspondent have served 207 days in prison. al jazeera says the accusations are ridiculous and their trial was politically motivated. all right still to come this hour, claims of fraud and voting irregularities, indonesia's president elect faces a challenge. and we'll hear from real madrid's now $108 million signing. all of the details. ♪ when you run a business, you can't settle for slow. that's why i always choose the fastest intern. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi?

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hello again, i'm felicity barr. israeli soldiers are fighting with hamas fighters in central gaza strip. 29 israelis soldiers and 3 civilians have been killed. u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in the region to help broker a ceasefire in gaza. he says progress is being made and is hopeful a ceasefire can be achieved in the near future. and the first bodies of the malaysian airlines crashed plane have left for the netherlands. to nigeria now with an explosion on a busy road in the north is believed to have killed several people. it is now 100 days since

boko haram abducted 270 schoolgirls in northeastern nigeria. the president has been heavily criticized for his failure to bring the girls home. >> reporter: the last time these two saw their 16-year-old daughter, they were making plans for her to take up sewing over the school holiday, but their whole life has been turned upside down. for 100 days, she has been missing, one of the more than 270 schoolgirls kidnapped by boko haram in april. >> [ inaudible ]. >> we have been prayering over and over, everywhere people are praying, so sometimes it gives us comfort [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: the mass abduction of the girls has not only

shocked nigerians, it reverberate around the world. this video released by boko haram, the group threatened to sell them into slavery. the president finally met with the families face-to-face. >> a lot [ inaudible ] quality of intelligence that is available, and that has led also to the security forces succeeding in arresting some of the commanders of the boko haram operation. >> there are so many issues that -- >> reporter: but the trauma has overwhelmed the people. health workers have been doubling as grief counselors. he tells me at least four parents have died of health complications he links to their or deal. others were killed in further violence by the group targeting

their community. this man says his wife died shortly after the kidnapping of their twin daughters on that faithful day. >> translator: it has been a terrible time. i can't sleep. i am left alone with four other children and all i have now is feigned hope. >> reporter: and many are left wondering if the girls will ever be back. the stricken cruise ship costa concordia, has begin its final journey from the island. the ship was rotated 90 degrees before being towed out to sea. it sunk in 2012, killing 22 people. the captain, is on trial for

manslaughter. emma hayward has more. >> reporter: day by day, and deck by deck, more of the costa concordia has been emerging from the sea. this is the biggest maritime salvage operation ever, costing more than $2 billion. >> she's a big ship. it's pretty sad to see her internally like that. where the winter weather has come, it completely flushed out deck 6. deck 7 was semidestroyed. so we know that time is against us, and her time has come to go home. >> the luxury liner was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew, killing 32 people on board. there were fears the ship weighing more than 100,000 tons would break up there the waters. last september the most complicated part of the

operation to remove it in one piece took place. engineers had already created a fake seabed. metal boxes attached to the liner's exposed side were filled with water. and using levers the ship was pulled up right, more boxes were attached to both sides of the ship. when the water outside is pumped out, only air is left, creating a rubber ring effect. for more than two years, hundreds of people have been working on the costa concordia, day and night to prepare her for her final voyage. the concern here still is the environment. engineers say the water quality inside the vessel is now almost the same as that outside. the long-term damage to the collision site, though, isn't known. >> we have to control moment per moment what -- what is the

condition and to plan what the future will be. we cannot say now what will be in the future, in the next one, two years, because there is no experience in this sense. >> reporter: relief will only come to this small island and those who have secured its waters, when the costa concordia is finally out of view, and safely toed to its final resting place where it will be scrapped. the rival to indonesia's ele elect -- election for the president elect says he will challenge the outcome. >> reporter: although the president has already

congratulated the newly elected president of indonesia, this election is still not over. today they will go to the constitutional court to challenge the result. they say that have found cases of fraud at around 50 polling stations. until so far, we have not been able to see any of the evidence. but constitutional law experts say that the chance this will change the outcome of the election are very, very slim. because the iing regularities have probably benefited both candidates. there is a difference of 8 million votes between the two candidates. they will have to come to a verdict at the end of august, until then, they are the leaders

to now congratulate. chinese authorities have sailed off of parts of a northern city after a man died by bubonic plague. 30,000 residents have not been allowed to leave since the man died last week. 151 people who came in direct contact with the victim have also been quarantined. this will be the 10th cyclone to hit china this year, and is moving at a speed of 20 to 25 kilometers per hour. the united states represents about 5% of the world's population, but houses around 25% of the world's prisoners, many of whom are non-violent drug offenders, so that's why the u.s. justice department is working to release these prisoners who may have received

overly harsh sentences. >> reporter: the freedom to simply walk into her home and spend time with her family is something stephanie george doesn't take for granted. at age 26 she was told she would tend the rest of her life in jail. she served 17 years until her lawyer called and changed everything. >> he said you are going home. merry christmas. he said it was signed today. and i couldn't even speak. >> reporter: out of 13,000 app contacts, gorge was among a handful of prisoners to receive clemency. granting commutations is a remedy to harsh sentencing available to u.s. presidents, but rarely used. that's not the only reason u.s. prisons are overcrowded in response to an explosion of drug addiction in the 1980s,

president reagan and his wife helped usher in a new era of tough on crime sentencing. in just three decades the u.s. prison population increased 800%. that's why the u.s. justice department is now pushing new measures to make non-violent drug offenders eligible for lighter sentences. that could mean thousands of inmates could see their jail tile significantly reduced. this lawyer welcomes the changes but says it is not enough. >> congress is way behind the times on this issue. we have had 30 years of experience with locking people up for very long periods of time for non-violent drug crimes, and what we really need is systemic change. >> reporter: that's why she and stephanie george are lobbying congress to transform sentencing in the united states. they say they want to see the time matching the crime when it

comes to drug offenders. george says she tor meanted by those she left behind. >> i enjoy because i have my family, my kids, but mentally, it's a struggle. >> reporter: that's why she says she won't rest until she sees sweeping reform for the thousands of prisoners still locked up, serving what she calls unjust sentences for their crimes. former u.s. president bill clinton says it is possible to rid the world of aids completely. speaking at an international aids conference, he said eh sfoerts to end the disease should be stepped up. >> we should no longer have any doubts nor should anyone else that we have the ability to see this effort through to the end. we're here because we know how

far we still have to go. every year, more than 2 million people are newly ineffected, about four people a minute. there are an estimated 2 million street children in bangladesh's capitol that are at i risk of contracting the disease. >> reporter: these boys don't know where their parents are. they ran ahome from home and ended up on the streets. now they are in a shelter. we'll call this boy rocket to protect his identity. rocket and his friends used to sniff glue and then cut themselves. >> translator: i used to be an an digit -- an addict, and when i was on the streets everyone was cutting themselves. >> reporter: people who work

with street children are raising the alarm. saying these youngsters are engaging in activities that put them at risk of a aids. >> if they cut their arm, and share the blade, if he had aids, then he will get aids. >> reporter: of they cut themselves they would rub their arms together. they thought it made them blood brothers. here at the train station where many street children spending their night. there are used condoms and surridges laying around everywhere. many of the children, especially the girls are sexually abused. >> translator: what i'm seeing is that none of the medicine i'm taking seem to be working. if a person has a disease,

usually if they take medicine, they get cured, but that's not happening for me. >> reporter: the shelter is working with unicef to begin testing street children for hiv. researchers salak of screening makes it impossible to come up with numbers on how many street children have live. but such high-risk activity could put these children at the center of a new epidemic. we're bringing more information on the report that a plane has crashed in taiwan reported by killing 47 people. as far as we know 11 people have survived the crash. the flight was being operated by a taiwanese airline, trans-asia. 54 passengers and four flight crew were on board. more on that crash as we get it.

still ahead, we'll have all of the sport, including, embarrassment for britain's queen as one of her top race horses is involved in a drug scandal. and how the children of china's opera are keeping a unique cultural tradition alive. ♪

>> if you want free press in the new democracy, let the journalists live. ♪ hello, again. welcome back. before we go to the sport, i want to show you these live pictures coming in to us from the netherlands. this is a military plane about touch down.

it's one of the first planes carrying the victims of malaysian airlines flight mh17, which left ukraine not too long ago. earlier today, 40 coffins were loaded on to two military planes at the airport, and given a military guard of honor. so this is the first of those two military planes coming in to arrive in the dutch town. of course experts there will then hopefully begin to identify the dead, most of whom, as we know were dutch. we're just seeing this plane finally land, some relief, i guess for the families of the victims. more than 200 people killed in that crash last week. some comfort, i guess, if any for the families. all right. as promised a change of tone

now, let's go to sport. >> thank you very much. on the day the commonwealth games get underway in scotland, the world's fastest man, has slammed anti-doping investigators as being to soft. he has criticized the world governing body, and the world anti-doping agency over their one-year ban to fellow sprinter. athlete found to be doping receive two years, but gay had his suspension cut to one year. bolts said i'm not really happy with the situation and [ inaudible ] i think someone like powell to get a ban of 18 months, and tyson gay get just

one year because of cooperating, i think it's sending a bad message into the sport. as i mentioned the commonwealth games are about to get underway. organizers have declared the event politic free. lawrence lee reports. >> reporter: in many ways the glasgow games are a metaphor how they see their future. and coming less than two months before the historic referendum on leaving the uk, you would expect the games to be forgive the expression, a political football. this former manchester united and scotland footballer said it's entirely reasonable for them to express a view. >> it has been a platform for

each and every one of us in scotland to say what we think and feel. and athletes are no different. >> reporter: of course if a scott wins a medal and raises the flag, it could cause problems. the glasgow games are scotland's biggest ever games, and a source of national pride here. just as the london olympics was. then, of course, the politicians never missed an opportunity to be part of the picture, but here they are taking a different approach. perhaps they remember the chancellor being booed when he tried to speak at london 2012 or the bad press alex sammons and david cameron got as they tried to out do each other in support

of the tennis player andy murray. so perhaps to the relief of the people, glasgow 2014 has been declared politics free. finally they have something to agree on. >> do you think the public often sees politicians as looking a bit stupid when they try to insert themselves into politics? this >> i think they do have a particular issue when you consider the effort the energy that sports people put in to trying to deliver and trying to win gold for their country, then i think people think we get in the way. >> reporter: no doubt many visitors would simply rather watch the games. the nationalists will argue a well-run event will tell its own starry about their am beneficiaries. it has been announced that germany's world cup winning coach will stay on.

and rodriguez said he isn't concerned about his price tag. he helped columbia win a place at the world cup. he is the fourth most expensive player ever. >> translator: there are no words. it was something unique and beautiful. something i always dreamt about. it will not end with this. i dream of winning things and being here always for many years, because it's a winning club and i'm also a winner. [ inaudible ] said they will play all of their home matches over a thousand kilometers away from their home city. a they haven't put any date on

their return. the team played [ inaudible ] on tuesday, 2-0 to win the ukrainian super cup as well as the domestic competition, the club will play all of its champions league matches outside of the city. patrick has withdrawn his team following alleged racist events with one of its players. it involved their french midfielder. speaking in kansas where the first team are currently on tour, pellegrini said he supported the decision. >> i don't know too much what happened, but if patrick determined it was the correct determination, i think patrick must right whatever happened, and it must be the best thing he could do. it is impossible to continue to allow those types of things

during a football game. now to the continents's top [ inaudible ] step towards reaching the final for the first time in their history -- >> all right. i think we're having a few technical problems with our sport department there. let's bring you a feature piece, how to keep the children entertained during the summer. in china, efforts to promote beijing opera provide an alternative to sitting in front of the the vision. but they are also seeking to keep alive a tradition. >> reporter: their friends may be off at summer camp at home with their video games. these children are beating the

summer blues with a summer rouge of peking opera. the first requirement is patience. >> translator: they have stretch your eyes like this. the first time they did makeup was a real shock. >> translator: it makes more than an hour just for the makeup. >> reporter: now 12 years old, lynn has been going through the same elaborate ritual for the past six years. she was first introduced to it by her mother. >> translator: my daughter was a bit shy, so i thought it would be good to learn something that helped extend herself. >> reporter: makeup and costumes in this room. high kicks in the studio. while the boys are in the next room, hitting the high notes. whether pushed by their parents, or self-motivated peking opera

requires dedication, up to a year of practice to get the right standard ready to perform. the children are rehearsing for an upcoming performance on tv. in an internet age of endless distractions this 200-year-old tradition has been struggling to engage a younger generation. it has prompted recent government moves to reverse that, and this school is seeing a resurgence. >> translator: when we started a year ago, they had five children. now we have 60 enrolled and have several performance in production. ♪ >> reporter: lynn and her friends are spending this summer in a distinctly cultural light. rob mcbride, al jazeera, beijing. >> all right. let's just take you back to the scenes at the airport in the netherlands, because you are seeing here the arrival of the first two planes, care rig the bodies of the victims of

malaysian airlines flight mh17 arriving in the netherlands. we know earlier today, around 40 bodies were loaded on to two military planes, which then took off from the airport in ukraine. they were given a military guard of honor as they left. and i suspect much the same is going to arrive -- or going to happen as these planes touch down in the netherlands. a reminder, of course, that we know more than 200 people died in the crash when rocket was fired at malaysia flight mh17 over eastern ukrainian territory, and most of the victims are, indeed, from the netherlands. there has been much mourning in the netherlands at the loss of more than 150 dutch people who were on board that flight. ♪ >> stay with me for more news in a couple of minutes.

bye-bye. ♪ >> israel's invasion of gaza continues tonight. >> we have been hearing a lot of tank shelling coming from where we are, here. >> every single one of these buildings shook violently. >> for continuing coverage of the israeli / palestinian conflict, stay with al jazeera america, your global news leader. >> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america

. >> a new intelligence report on a shoot down of a malaysia airlines plane in ukraine. israel is a no-fly zone. i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this", those stories and more ahead. >> up. >> the area has been tampered with. russia says it will influence. >> a scuffle broke out turning into a brawl. >> u.s. carriers arehi