>> how much money do you owe people >> around $350,000 >> praying on the vulnerable >> i have nothing to hide, if i was a scam artist, i would have cut and run from here >> surrogacy inc. an american tonight investigative report only on al jazeera america >> a deadly attack on a united nations school in gaza, as efforts to reach a ceasefire go nowhere. hello, i'm antonio mora. welcome to consider this. we'll have that story and much more, straight ahead. >> another together on a u.n. school. >> the residents were using the school as a shelter. >> there were significant casualties. >> palestinians are blaming israel, the israelis say it was a hamas rocket. >> today's attack underscores the imperative for the killing to stop now.

>> iraq taking a step forward forming a new government. >> the parliament elected the president. >> they must pay tax, convert to islam. >> ukraine's recently elected prime minister yatsenyuk. >> the european union is talking about slapping russia with more sanctions. >> the russians intend to deliver more powerful rocket launchers to the pro-russian separatists. >> a convicted killer was seen gas spinning for air for almost two hours before he died. >> should have taken only 10 minutes. >> one judge who heard wood's appeal said a better solution might be the firing squad. >> we begin with fears there are absolutely no safe places left for civilians in gaza. at least 16 people were killed and dozens more wounded thursday after a strike hit a united nations school that was

sheltering civilians from the violence. predictably, both sides pointed fingers at each other. >> the israeli army fired several rockets on the school which led to the direct injury of civilians without warning, despite the fact that the red cross informed people this school is safe and that there was coordination. >> israel's army says in the thick fog of war, it remains unclear what happened. >> there are still some question marks about who is responsible for this action. in any case, it could beer rabbit fire or rockets landing from gaza terrorists. we still don't know, it's a question mark. >> the attack underscored the need for a ceasefire. secretary of state john kerry traveled to cairo to get help from egypt with little success and the u.n., sheltering some 140,000 palestinians in about 83 gaza schools, says a truce is needed immediately.

>> we again say enough civilians, enough women, enough children. they have suffered quite enough. >> for the latest, lets go to gaza and aljazeera correspondent nick schiffron. good to see you, finger pointing from both sides over this horrendous strike on the u.n. school. there was a nearby battle? >> there was. the people who arrived first on the scene actually simply couldn't get close enough. there was small arms fire, as well as some tank fire that they heard. so you have both sides competing or three sides, really, competing for this narrative. israel says it doesn't know whether it fired on that school, said it didn't bulb leally and questions whether a hamas rocket landed short in that area. it also says that for three days, they had been telling the red cross, telling the u.n. to evacuate that whole area,

including that school. now, we haven't heard from hamas. we don't know what they believe. the u.n. says look, we were evacuating from that school at the time. we had specifically asked the israeli military for a humanitarian pause for a couple of hours in order to evacuate. they say they never heard from the israeli military and say they gave the u.s. military days ago formal g.p.s. coordinates. that's something all of us do, giving coordinates for our offices, hotels, that kind of thing, so the u.n. does blame the israelis for at least not taking care around that school, but the u.n. is saying that it's not clear exactly who fired the shells into the court yard. >> does anyplace remain safe? we've seen hospitals, other health facilities hit and now this u.n. school. >> i think that's such an important question, such an important thing to understand. this fighting is going on in the east and north.

we use these words, the facility just a few miles away, eastern gaza that way, northern gaza that way. it is very small, more than 40% of all of gaza according to the israeli military is a no go area, too dangerous for residents to go. the israeli military asked people from those areas to leave. hospitals have been hit, these shelters have been hit. what you do see sometimes are people rushing into private homes, kind of guessing which neighborhood on a given night might be safest. one of our translators who's worked for us has moved his family five times in the last few days, simply trying to find the most safe house. in one of these houses, we saw eight families, 20 kids, 50 people living in a space usually for six or seven, so there's a lot of fear, a lot of debt operation right now among the people of gaza. >> thank you for joining us. >> joining us from washington

d.c. a senior fellow at the american task force on palestine. whose sane, good to have you with us on the show. the strike hit a school that was sheltering civilians, you've been critical of israel and hamas, but days like this are exactly why secretary kerry is pushing for a humanitarian ceasefire. what do you think the likelihood is that we will see a ceasefire soon? >> i think they're inching towards a ceasefire, even though i agree both sides are hedging and sort of positioning themselves. at the same time, i think they are running out of space. the weight of the civilian casualties and incidents like this terrible school incident today and the fact that it was a u.n. facility that was sheltering civilians really, all that is weighing on israel and its international reputation of political fallout for them. similarly, i think hamas has to be

worried that they've also entered into the area of diminishing returns. sure, they have a nationalistic bounce and, you know, they seem to have the initiative and they're waving the palestinian flag and what not, but at the same time, they can see president abass is being brought into the picture as an address, their effort to become the sort of single address for palestinians or even the main address for palestinian in gaza has failed. they run a risk of political backlash, as well. i think that there's space for ceasefire talk in the next few days. >> in reading what you have written, it seems you think both sides are being cynical. let's start with hamas, almost a 10th of the gaza people displaced, people dying by the hundreds, injured by the thousands. >> sure. >> what does hamas want to accomplish. >> it's interesting. they're sort of counter intuitively, their demands are

on egypt, not israel, demands to israel are release the prisoners rearrested in the west bank a few weeks ago. they know they're not going to get that. what they're trying to do politically is break the blockade by challenging egypt's policies, getting egypt to open the crossing on their terms by easing egypt's pressure on them that has been around for about a year since the overthrow of president morsi. if it were really about ending the violence and ending israeli bombing, they would have taken the egyptian ceasefire proposal but can't do that because they are looking to make gain. >> talking about the gains, you are talking about money, that they. >> yes. >> hamas is bankrupt and looking for money from arab allies. >> they've been promised money by qatar, but that has not been able to go through either physically because of the restrictions by egypt or

restrictions or pressure on financial institutions from the united states and possibly saudi arabia, one gathers, as well. there's that notion that they've become so isolated and trapped that when a friend writes them a check, they can't cash it. it does give you a sense of the level of how trapped and desperate they were, getting into this and the extent to which they are going to do their best to secure some kind of victory here. it may be something where they have a hard time taking credit for it, though. it may be a reopening of the rafa crossing and then president abass and hamas leaders would have to jockey who got more credit for that, but that is a way this could get solved. it certainly isn't exactly what hamas had in mind with you say israel is being cynical, taking advantage of the three israel

teenagers to the imprisonment of the hamas leaders. >> i think the israeli cynicism here is in both in allowing political pressure to prompt them into a full scale gaza, and i'm talking about the political leaders like benjamin netanyahu, a full scale adventure in gaza that they know isn't going to bring long term strategic or military benefits. we've been down this road before and hamas comes out to a few years later, more adept than ever. there's a cynicism in the level of civilian casualties here. it's just not possible to maintain as israeli leaders do with a straight face that all of this is a mistake or people used by hamas as human shields. we've got over 800 people

killed, the biggest majority civilians and 150 are children, all kinds of incidents that just cannot be explained, like today's incident. there is a great deal of cynicism in the conduct of the armed forces. >> you think there are political reasons, ironically also involving egypt. >> yeah, absolutely. i think that israeli leaders here, especially prime minister netanyahu were, i think in fact the israeli far right was try to go to him in a major operationen gaza and he didn't have the kind of strength of will to avoid it, and yeah, i think in the end, they have no choice but to fall back on the egyptians, as well, and i think the egyptians have been clever enough to see that in the end, the way this plays out among palestinians depends probably more on how well the p.a. and president abass can be positioned at the end of this, if the p.a. looks irrelevant and

hamas looks bloodied and reckless, but still they would have something. they would have done something. >> in that context, you've said that the biggest loser here could be the palestinian authority, including abass. he was the best chance for the palestinians and for peace. >> i think since i wrote that, which was almost a week ago, things have changed. i think it looked like the p.a. was on course to be a big loser, but i don't think that's true anymore. the way abass himself, the ripping off the european policy and has become the go to, a potential beneficiary and for about is not the big loser at this stage. >> fascinating, tragic times. >> very tragic. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> turning to the continuing crisis in iraq.

while the parliament elected ma assume to the role of president, the islamic state militants consolidated their hold on a large part of the country by in effect expelling christians from the northern city of mosul. hundreds of displaced christians marched on offices thursday, asking the world to pay witness to their suffering. many fled mosul after islamic state fighters imposed a deadline last weekend, demanding christians convert to islam, agree to pay a religious tax or be executed. for more, i'm joined by washington, d.c. from a former director of the c.i.a.'s counter terrorism center and aljazeera contributor. let's start with the politics, the new iraqi president, 76 years old, considered a moderate occurred who gets along well with the

shias and sunnis, his next job is to select a new prime minister, that's where the real power lice. that process easier said than done. >> well, yes, as you say, his role is largely ceremonial and he is restrained by the constitution to invite the individual who commands the largest number of votes coming out of the election with the first opportunity to form a government. right now, that's al-malaki. unless in the very near future, one of the other leading contenders for prime minister is able to pull together a fairly large coalition, and that doesn't seem like a very strong possibility, it's al-malaki who is going to get first crack. >> if he insist on holding power, despite the intense opposition and calls from the u.s. and other places for him to step down, he vows that stay on he is. iraq can go forward but not well

with him as the prime minister. there are two things required now in iraq. one is to pull together the army and to make improvements that will allow them to go on the offensive against the islamic extremists who have taken control of the north and west of the country. the second is political, that is able to reach across ethnic and as h sectarian lines to pull the country back together again. malaki is capable of the first, not exhale of the latter. >> even if they manage to form a government despite divisions, will the baghdad government be in the position, given how poorly their army has fared to take on the islamic state jihadists. >> they won't be equipped to do that in the short term. it's going to require a rebuild of the iraqi army. even before the reverses of the past couple of months, this was not a very effective army. in fact, a recent american ambassador accused it of a check

post army, only good at defending static locations. obviously given where they are now, they need to mount effective offensive combined arms operations and the iraqi military is just not in a position to do that. it's going to require better leadership, training and additional weapons. >> we saw those issues yesterday, the islamic state seems to be consolidating in the north, but also active near baghdad and the group is the prime suspect in attacking these policemen who were transporting prisoners. 52 prisoners killed, nine policemen on a bus. >> we don't have enough american advisors well placed at this point to really make much of a difference in the military equation. the very small u.s. military presence now is essentially a fact finding mission, trying

to determine what if anything can be done within the constraints that president obama has imposed, they are to try to improve the military situation for the iraqi government, again, this is a very long uphill climb for this military to take effective action against the soon any extremists. right now, they are trying to consolidate their political hold in the parts of the country they old andrew stabilize areas they are not in control. >> in taking control of those areas, that has led to persecution of christians. there have been christian communities in iraq for two millennia and despite promise from the government to protect them, they can't do anything where the islamic state has power. so many have fled mosul, gone to areas more protected by the kurds, but even there, the islamic state has a serious reach, cutting off water to those areas. we have another humanitarian crisis growing among the

christians in iraq. >> that is nothing new. at the time of the u.s. invasion, there were about 1 million iraqi christians. that community is less than half what it was at that time, and now, even among that small number, maybe 450,000, a great many of those still are displaced within iraq. several hundred more coming out of mosul. >> the islamic state has been brutal with these people, first muslim employers had to fire all the christians, then threatened with execution. the pope has condemned what is going on, so is the secretary general, but is anyone doing anything? >> absent a desire to reinvade iraq, there is really nobody in a position to do anything at this point. certainly, the islamic extremists in control of mosul now are not amenable to blind directions from the people. they believe they are following the dictates of god as they

understand it, the koran and they're going to do precisely what they think their religion requires them to do. >> another quagmire with a lot of people suffering, thanks for joining us. >> now more starts from around the world. >> we begin in syria where the united states sent its first aid convoy into the country without approval of the government. 90% of aid has gone to areas controlled by the assad government. after more than three years of a brutal civil war, 11 million people are in need of aid. 700 people were killed last week, bringing the death count to more than 150,000. more than 9 million syrians have been displaced. >> in west africa, flight 5017 crashed into the desert in the

northern participate the of the country. the plane disappeared from radar after take off while changing course to avoid bad weather. according to officials, nobody survived. the plane was carrying at least 116 people, 50 of them french. it's the third deadly commercial plane accident in just the last week. >> in virginia, a tornado killed two and injured 36 at a busy camp ground on the eastern shore of the chesapeake bay. the storm uprooted trees, overturned campers and brought heavy rains and baseball sized hail. the tornado passed over the camp ground twice, knocking down dozens of trees and power lines, tearing the roofs off nearby houses. the international weather service issued a warning 20 minutes before the touchdown but campers had only minutes to find shelter. >> that's some of what's happening around the world.

>> fighting continues in ukraine boot on the battlefield and parliament as the countries prime minister stepped down. >> has the ukrainian crisis somehow emboldened vladimir putin. >> we are tracking the top stories on the web. >> self proclaimed feminists and anti feminists battling it out, both claim they are misunderstood. i'll tell you more coming up. >> let us know what you think, join the conversation on twitter at @ajconsiderthis and on hour >> al jazeera america presents >> what did i do? please take this curse off of me. >> 15 stories one incredible journey edge of eighteen coming september only on al jazeera america >> on techknow... >> we're heading towards the glaciers >> a global warning >> is there an environmental urgency?

>> that is closer than you think... >> even a modest rise, have dramatic impacts on humankind. >> how is it changing the way you live today? techknow... every saturday, go where science meets humanity... >> this is some of the best driving i've ever done... even though i can't see. >> techknow... >> we're here in the vortex... only on al jazeera america r

>> the u.s. state department claims russia was increasing aid to the pro-russian separatists, the u.s. holds responsible for shooting down malaysia airlines flight 17. >> we have new evidence that the russians intend to deliver heavier and more powerful rocket launchers to the separatist forces in ukraine and have evidence that russia is firing from within russia attacking ukraine military positions. >> australian investigators joint international monitors examining the crash scene, while another 74 coffins holding victims's bodies were flown to the netherlands. in kiev, yatsenyuk and his cabinet resigned thursday. time magazine correspondent simon shuster wrote the cover story for next week's magazine, entitled cold war two, the west is losing

putin's dangerous game. before we get to your article, the fighting continues in ukraine and inside the government, yatsenyuk resigned at ukraine's prime minister as the ruling coalition in parliament collapsed. weaver seen brawls inside parliament. is the government in disarray or is this actually a good sign? >> i wouldn't say it's a good sign nor a sign of disawry. it seemed the various parties in parliament that came to power, came to prominence after the revolution in february, they want to lock in the patriotism that has come with the war. that's created a great wave

of patriotism. they seem to be breaking up the coalition to spark early elections. that will allow them to capitalize on that patriotism and lock in for the next five years the support and patriotism that has arisen in ukraine. >> we saw planes shot down this week, claims that it came from russian territory. russian artillery has been firing across the border to attack ukrainian military targets, nato said more weaponry is sent into ukraine by russia. this is the opposite that you think would happen after 298 innocent civilians were shot out of the sky last week. >> it seems president putin feels that allowing the international investigators access to the sit, you

know, he in the last few days has told the rebels to allow observers and investigators unfettered access to the site and telling the rebels to send the bodies of the victims home. it seems from russia's perspective, that was enough of a concession, enough of a step back from their earlier position, which is even more hard line. with that, they have immediately resumed and even intensified what they were doing before, which is really escalating the conflict, feeding it with weapons and even apparently trying to provoke cross border conflict by firing missiles across the border. there are now multiple sources confirming that, the ukrainians have been saying it for a while, now u.s. intelligence says it to nato and if we get confirmation of that, that's a serious escalation of the conflict. >> you make a good argument in

your time magazine cover story that vladimir putin has been actually strengthened by all these crises. >> yeah, the argument is that we found ourselves over the last year several times in a position where vladimir putin is the man to seek, over syria, after the crisis in crimea, over on you cranes decision back in december, january of whether to side with europe or not, and now with the crisis in eastern ukraine, consistently, he has fanned the fires of conflict, conflicts that only he can help resolve. the result is western leaders have pretty much no other choice but to constantly demand, plead, ask him to cooperate to stop the various crises and conflict that russia is in fact fueling.

that puts him at the center of the geopolitical arena. he certainly enjoys that role as a go yo political force to be reckoned with and inside russia, that is extremely good for him. >> you are right about his popularity still higher than any western leaders by a long shot. you know, even in the days after the horrific plane crash, outrage was spreading, the question became whether putin had finally gone too far and you write as the days passed and the stench rose, the coldly calculating russian president got his answer, apparently not, while state controlled media at home buried russia's role in the disaster under an avalanche of and thety western prop began at a da, leaders in europe and the u.s. stymied once again by tyutins brazenness. >> is the west's weakness and indiesiveness emboldening him. >> i think it is.

in some ways, these various crises have allowed putin to test a theory he has, that the divisions within europe and between europe and the united states are intensifying, that the nato coalition is sort of drifting, lost its purpose since the cold war, that within the european union, that unity is dissolving and they saw that after the european elections in may and through these crises, he is challenging the west to show unity and time after time they have failed to do that, confirming his wishful thinking about where the west is headed. >> again, simon shuster's new cover story for time magazine is in the august 4 issue. good to see you again, thank you. >> thank you. >> would vladimir putin drawing strength from the ukrainian

crisis, can the west pressure russia to stop the war. i'm joined by former national security advisor to george w. bush. great to have you with us. as we were just discussing, time magazine's cover is calling what's going on cold war two. you published a piece entitled russia should be punished for destabilizing ukraine but not isolated. hasn't putin isolated himself and created a new version of the cold war with his own actions. >> he certainly has. i think that the challenge we have is to use sanctions and other things to try to pressure him to stop supporting the secessionists in ukraine, stop sending arms and material and the to stand down. we have limited leverage, and i think if we are going to prevent putin from reproducing elsewhere what he's doing in ukraine, we

do have to do a whole series of measures, as an integrated strategy that detours him by threatening punishment, reassures our friends and allies in the region that we are behind them and that takes away targets of opportunity. putin is very good as exploiting divisions within and among states. we need to do a series of measures to take these states between russia and west and bring them safely into the west and outside and away from putin's influence as much as we can. >> to your point, it does seem putin's strategy, the west's concern is to divide and conger. it seems to be working, david cameron calling the sale of arms unthinkable and arms sales in britain, britain is selling tens of millions of pounds of arms to russia, including all

sorts of different things. without a united front from the west, is putin going to have his way. >> he has leverage and it is why the sanctions which everyone is focused on is something we should pursue. i think the sanctions will never be powerful enough to get putin to stop what easy doing. it's a problem. the french don't want to cut their military assistance to russia. germany is afraid to lose the source of gas from russia and europe and the u.k. is concerned about jeopardizing financial ties with russia. that's why we should push them on sanctions. sanctions won't be enough. in the piece you mentioned, i list six or seven things that we need to do now, even though they will take time that over the long term will reduce putin's leverage, reduce the strangle hold he has on european energy with the source of european

energy and bring countries stuck between russia and the west into the western family of nations, strengthen them economically in terms of security so they will not be easy pickings for putin in the future. >> he call for more engagement with putin, not isolating him. but then, you know, flight 17, that horrible disaster would have seemed to be the perfect opportunity for putin to back off. instead we hear from the state department that he's doing the opposite, not only continuing to back the separatists, sending more arms into ukraine, that we may be seeing artillery shot from russia into ukraine. it seems he's doubling down. >> i think he is. this is a guy who will not back down unless he's really forced to. he has also made the separatists in ukraine great russian heroes, the embodiment of russian

nationalism, it's going to be very hard for him to step away from it. my piece is we should not isolate putin. we should pressure him and all around him. all i wanted to say was in the series of measures i'm talking about, a trade agreement between europe and the united states, and energy deal, a strategy between the u.s. and europe that reduces dependence on russia. in a number of these things, we need to recognize that ukraine, if it becomes a member of the e.u., will also have some historical economic ties with russia. >> isn't the problem -- >> we should accommodate those and leave the door open for a post putin russia that is more democratic in the future. at this point, it seems like a faint hope, but my only point is to leave the door open for a better russia sometime in the future. >> only have about 30 second left. in that context, how does that work?

you write about how putin wants to restore russian greatness with his so-called ration union. >> he is loathe to give it up. with ukraine, the you'ration union is an empire, without is a shadow of an empire. the struggle for ukraine is so important that we support the ukrainians to have a successful state and if they choose, a successful state that is part of the west and part of the european union. >> thank you very much for joining us, we really appreciate your time, thank you. time to see what's trending on the web with hermela. >> women against feminism hash tag is trending, part of a social media movement that

started last year. >> feminism makes men our enemies. because i can think for myself. because i don't need to grow out my body hair. feminists say their ideas are misunderstood. here is some of their responses:

>> let us know what you think about this campaign, tweet us at @ajconsiderthis. antonio, very impassed people on both sides. >> straight ahead, a botched execution in arizona has even judges wondering if it's time to bring back the firing squad. >> if you're feeling unhappy, where you live might be part of the problem. we'll look at happiest and unhappiest parts of the u.s. in our data dive. >> with movie attendance plummeting, what's happened to >> on al jazeera america presents >> we always have strikes... people should never be allowed... >> what started as a peaceful protest >> police seem to stick to the self-defense story >> became a horrific moment in south african history >> i don't think any organization in this country would ever anticipate this type of violence >> what really happened that tragic day? >> it is the time to point finger at those whose fingers

pulled the trigger >> al jazeera america presents miners shot down only on al jazeera america

>> now available, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. a global perspective wherever you are. the major headlines in context. mashable says... you'll never miss the latest news >> they will continue looking for survivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now >> another botched execution, this time in arizona has revived the debate over the use of lethal injections. it took more than two hours for the inmate to die, allowing his lawyers enough time to file an emergency motion requesting the

execution be halted. what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment? if we can't make lethal injections work quickly and painlessly should we consider returning to firing squads or hangings? joining us from pittsburgh is an attorney and former attorney for pittsburgh. let's begin with this most recent case in arizona. drug companies are refusing to provide the drugs that have been effective in the past. we've seen other cases where these newer combination of drugs don't work, leaving the person lying there essentially dying for long periods. why can't they get it right? >> there's obviously a problem. heat that go injection has been around 32 years yet in the last six months, botched excuses in arizona, oklahoma and ohio in january. there's a problem and it has to

be looked into. >> doctors aren't involved in administering the drugs because it invites the hip contractic oath to do no harm. isn't it likely that we are going to continue to have problems. 70% of executions are botched and some predicted this would go awry in arizona. >> there's been a problem with obtaining the drugs traditionally used in lethal injections. for a number of years, decades, we've used a three drug protocol. as they became more scarce, ohio moved to a single drug protocol, some states moved to a two drug protocol. the problem is that we're not able to get some of the drugs that we've used in the past. europe, where we've imported some of these drugs have stopped the flow of those drugs into the united states for purposes of executions. some united states manufacturers

don't want their drugs used for health care to be used for executions. states have dram we would to obtain drugs used for executions. >> it seems to when you hear about michael jackson dying of an overdose of propofol that just put him to sleep and dogs are euthanized seemingly in painless ways, it's difficult to understand why they can't figure out how to do this properly for people who are convicted to death. now we're seeing the chief judge of the ninth circuit corpse looking at the arizona case among those who suggested we have to look to more primitive but foolproof forms of execution. do you think we should? the judge indicated that a firing squad may be the most humane way to carry out an execution.

academic studies find it may be the best way. it's not at far fetched as you might think. in 2010, there was an execution in utah carried out by firing squad. these alternative forms other than lethal injection are not that farfetched and used in recent years. >> do you think the american people wouldn't stand for it, even if a firing squad is one of the more efficient ways of carrying out executions, that americans would accept it? >> well, here's the problem. lethal injection, the recent they've used the three drug protocol over a number of decades, it's more humane, but it's also more humane for the witnesses. a firing squad is a gruesome process, but lethal injection with three drugs, one being a paralytic was used primarily so the witnesses wouldn't have to

observe, you know, certain movements and gestations by the executed. it was for the purpose of the witnesses we used a three drug protocol. the most humane form of execution would be carried out immediately, no prolonged process. a firing squad provides that. why aren't we looking at the most humane way, immediate death for carrying on executions? that's the question asked. >> motor americans still support the death penalty. what about those who say who cares, these prisoners committed terrible crimes, so what's the big deal. >> executions have to be humane, they can't be cruel and unusual punishment. you to have ask yourself that someone who lace on a table two

hours snorting and grasping for breath, is that the most humane way to carry out execution? 60% of americans still support the death penalty and certainly people who have direct contact with cases, you know, even if it's indirect contact from what they know from television, sadaam hussein, 80% have people supported the death penalty what it came to those particular individuals. there's support for the death penalty and not as much compassion as one might think for people laying on a gurnee who committed some heinous act against a friend or family member. >> what happened in arizona certainly did not seem to be humane given the descriptions of what happened. pleasure to have you with us, thank you. >> thanks for having me. >> summer tickets sales are way down. >> do you live in one of happiest

or unhappiest parts of the country? we have surprising new findings. >> a shocking america tonight investigative report... >> you take someones hopes and dreams of childhood, and then out right steal their money >> wishing to start a family >> we lost over $20,000 trying to do surrogacy in mexico >> but left with broken hearts and empty pockets >> how much money do you owe people >> around $350,000 >> praying on the vulnerable >> i have nothing to hide, if i was a scam artist, i would have cut and run from here >> surrogacy inc. an american tonight investigative report only on al jazeera america

>> it's a chilling and draconian sentence... it simply cannot stand. >> its disgraceful... the only crime they really committed is journalism... >> they are truth seekers... >> all they really wanna do is find out what's happening, so they can tell people...

>> governments around the world all united to condemn this... >> as you can see, it's still a very much volatile situation... >> the government is prepared to carry out mass array... >> if you want free press in the new democracy, let the journalists live. >> today's data dive looks for happiness in the u.s. and sometimes finds the opposite. new york city is the unhappiest city in america. the big apple has low subjective well being. it's the area in general, jersey city, right across the hudson river was among the countries most unhappy places. researchers looked at a huge on going study from the cdc. some results are surprising, st. joseph, missouri and south bend, indiana follow new york.

why are people so unhappy around notre dame? overall the south is pretty happy, the happiest places in the country are the ones you see in blue and green on that map. orange isn't good, red is the worst and you see a lot of that in the northeast, chicago area and parts of michigan, including detroit among others. it's not just an urban problem. not all big cities are unhappy. lafayette, louisiana is the happiest american city. it might help that louisiana is the happiest state in the union. the top five happy cities come from cajun country, but money doesn't buy happiness, the average medium in come is less than $41,000, about $12,000 less than the national average. in general, researchers found women are more cheerful than men, married people are happier than single or diversed people and retirees are slightly less joyful than working people. there is one bright side, the

more unhappy the place, the lower the rent. one exception, of course, new york city. >> coming up, what happened to the summer blockbuster? movie ticket sales are way down, so is it just an off year or has hollywood forgotten how to make >> 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. hosts inside story

weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> for hollywood, summers are crucial and the movie industry depends on you wanting to escape the heat to an air conditioned theater to watch blockbusters. ticket sales ever plunged from last summer in a way we haven't seen in 30 years. while there are possible hits still to come, including guardians of the galaxy, hercules and lucy, box office receipts have been so bad, some are asking if the summer blockbuster is dead. let's bring in bill why man from phoenix, arizona. good to see you. you know as well as i do that there's a tendency for hollywood observers to scream the sky is falling when anything goes wrong, but things have been so bad this summer, including a horrible fourth of july weekend,

the worst since 1987, that it might be fair to ask if the sky is falling. >> it's a really valid question. i think we should say that most of the people in hollywood are pretty smart people and good at their jobs, because they get fired if they're not. i think you can really see that some of these summer blockbusters, the well they keep going back to is running dry. spiderman two, when you really look at the numbers, half as many people went and saw that movie as previous iterations, transformers, half saw that. i think those are the things that will really tank your box office. >> last summer was a record breaking season, it had some massive block busters, iron man three, fast and furious six, star trek into darkness, you know, a few others that all grossed more than this year's

top grossing film so far, the most recent version of the x men franchise. you expect ticket sales would drop compared to last year, but 20%? >> it's really crazy. if there had been one more big blockbuster and if spiderman and transformers had done that you are usual ticket, was he wouldn't be having this discussion. we're beginning to see a little audience fatigue. again, we've got to go back. it's their job to put butts in the seat to see movies and they didn't do it this year. >> is that audience fatigue young men? that's what these block busters target. some of the films that have targeted women have done well. >> right, these block busters are basically movie industry crack. four or five years ago, the

entire 10 box office movies for the year were reboots, franchises and seek we also. this is what has einvolved. they also get 3-d ticket sales and i max ticket seas. that's one of the most important things with the movie industry, movie going, ticket sales have been declining for 10 years. i think it's at least 15% fewer tickets are sold today than 10 years ago, the population has grown 10%. the per captain at a movie going overall, the industry is basically losing the fight of, even though box office disguises it, the fight of keeping kids away from the t.v. screens and video games. >> let's talk about the reasons involved. the movies are still bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars especially overseas. could it be has hollywood is hurting its domestic market

focusing on foreign audiences that love these big budget special effects mover series instead of targeting the u.s. audience intelligently. >> the sheer numbers of screens are growing over seas. transformers which did terrible, very soft business in the united states, doing gang busters in china. the economics are incredibly complicated to these things. paramount is only getting a small percentage of the money out of china, so those big box office figures are doubly disguised in terms of the future of the industry. you're right, overall, the global marketplace is going to be growing and that's where the studios are focusing their attention to the detriment of movie going in america. >> you brought up television. we've talked about the golden age of television before, that we're going through this renaissance and t.v. the hollywood reporter quotes an

unnamed studio executive saying he or she worked they worked at netflix. is that part of the problem? it's just so easy to just watch a whole season of t.v. show at once, on your computer, if you want to. >> exactly. you know, i talked over the last five or six years, there's two movie going audiences, two movie industries. one are big blockbuster swell franchise for kids, they want to go out friday nights and the movie front loads the blockbuster. we don't want kids texting, blaring commercials and we're content to wait a few weeks at watch better movies at home. there are still a lot of good movies coming out. i just saw boyhood the other day. that's a great movie, just thrills you and it's almost a technologically brilliant movie.

i think there's still thrills to be had out there, just not in those darn 16 plexes. >> a lot of kids aren't going to the movies because of access to technology. could it be cyclical? x men producer predicts that next summer is going to be the biggest box office summer in history. >> i hope for their sake it will be. that could be true with actual dollars. what all the box offers press coverage should be about, numbers of tickets sold and it shouldn't be about the grosses, because that's been disguising big problems. again, when you look at population trends and tickets sales trends, you're really seeing an industry losing its grip on the american psyche. >> people just aren't getting into those movie theaters. they're not getting our butts into those seats. good to see you as always. >> the conversation continues on our website, facebook and google

plus pages, you can find us on twitter. we'll see you next as america goes, so goes the world as we look at the global economies chances for growth the rest of the year. also america is number one when it comes to frac-ing for gas and oil, i'll tell you what the rest of the world needs to do to catch up. plus the grocery chain ceo who is so popular, even cashiers and clerks are risking their own jobs to get him back. "real money." ♪