>> 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 six hours into the temporary truce, israel and gaza have forced military action to allow humanitarian aid into the besieged territory. inside the rubble and the ruin, 19 days of israeli bombardment have left buildings destroyed and 900 lives lost. and diplomatic activity has now moved to paris in an effort to secure a more lasting cease-fire. welcome to al jazeera live from doha. also coming up on the program, pushing into donetsk, ukrainian

troops continue their offensive against the city currently held by pro-russian separatists. anger and frustration, desperation as well. we look the at plight of the central african republic as food supplies become increasingly scarce. let's begin in gaza where a temporary truce between hamas and israel came into effect just over six hours ago. the short humanitarian pause comes after 19 days of violence in which at least 900 palestinians have died. now, this is currently the scene in the palestinian territory. there is, however, still some smoke rising above the rooftops, but people are walking out there in the open, and the streets are full of traffic now. that cease-fire is due to last until 8:00 p.m. local time tonight giving people the chance to grab belongings from their

homes or stock up on food and supplies. it does look like some semblance of normalcy has returned to gaza, but let's compare that now with what happened in the -- in the minutes leading up to the cease-fire. now, there was increased activity from both sides. a number of large explosions were reported within gaza. there were reported of increased rocket fire from the territory towards israel. both sides are continuing to carry out attacks right up to the moment of the cease-fire beginning. let's speak now to nicole johnson who joins us live in gaza. nicole, just describe to us where you are right now and what's happening. how are the residents making use of this 12-in our cease-fire? >> reporter: we're in the

central part of a neighborhood that was heavily attacked by israeli tank shelling over the weekend. in that attack more than 60 people were killed in one night, and here as you can see behind me, there is no sign, no semblance of any nor normalcy at all. it's utter devastation. we've been to a few different areas of the neighborhood today, and this is the worth part of it we've seen. there's people coming to have a look. residents, people who live in the area, and really they're lost for words. as you can see, there's nothing left. a few shells of houses, but homes have been completely destroyed. some people are going in and trying to pick a few bits and pieces out of it, but i really don't know what they could get. as our cameraman pans around, you might be able to see a few people in one of the hilltops of rubble there. i'm not sure what they're

looking for. some people have been going out with the occasionally dirty, filthy mattress or gas canisters. i mean, horrific scenes here just to see this huge neighborhood of tens of thousands of people absolutely devastated. >> nicole, it certainly is a reflection of the helplessness that the residents no doubt feeling at the moment. what are they saying to you about this cease-fire as we mark nearly halfway through of this humanitarian pause? what are they saying to you about the cease-fire and, indeed, about the conflict? >> reporter: at the moment they're really at a loss. most people are just concentrating on what they can out of neighborhoods like this, those who have gotten into other neighborhoods, they're grabbing, clothes, mattresses, animals. some of their livestock, for example, they're not looking far

ahead, bought they don't have that luxury. they know they have a 12-hour respite. they know their homes are no longer safe. they don't know where to go. some are in united nations schools and some 140,000 of them, but people don't know what will happen after this 12 hours. they're desperate for a longer cease-fire, but at the same time they don't want to a cease-fire agreement, a long-term one that returns them to the status quo. so the situation before this conflict whereby gaza was completely closed off not only these israeli borders were shut but the egyptian border crossing as well. people in gaza haven't been able to export -- >> we've just lost nicole there who was reporting for us from gaza. we do hope to return to her a little later on as she does give us an update of what's happening there. we move on now just to tell you that two more israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza overnight. this brings a total of military

deaths since the start of the offensive to 37 on the israeli side. well, this was tel aviv on friday where people ran for cover as sirens sounded over the city. now, since the start of the conflict, three civilians in israel have been killed by rocket fire from gaza. and the international airport was briefly evacuated after hamas said it fired three rockets. now, they were reportedly intercepted by israel's iron dome defense system. well, the temporary truce came after israel earlier rejected plans for a longer cease-fire. diplomatic efforts are continuing in paris where foreign ministers from a number of nations including turkey and qatar are meeting at the moment. emma hayward joins us live from paris. apart from turkey and qatar, who else is attending these talks?

>> reporter: the persians are here and the italians and germans. of course, hamas and israel are not here. the u.s. is leading these talks taking place in france, which is a kind of neutral territory. before the german foreign minister went into the talks, he said it wasn't to decide who was responsible for the violence in gaza but to find a practical solution to end the troubles there. he also said, you shouldn't overestimate the role of europe in doing that, suggesting perhaps that the u.s., hamas and israel have the main part to play in trying to bring the violence to an end there. of course, we know that they want to try to build on this 12-hour truce that is taking place in gaza right now. we know that they want a longer cease-fire lasting we think around seven days but also want

negotiations to try to build on that, to try to bring a longer peace to gaza itself. what we should hear from the ministers shortly, and we're expecting a press conference in the next half hour, hour or so where we should learn how the negotiations are going. >> emma, we will get back to you on that as soon as the statement comes out. that's from paris. let's get more now from the professor inn qatar that specializes on hamas. now, in your book you see hamas as a natural outcome of, as you say, ununtil conditions. occupational conditions. surely, hamas should bear some sort of blame for the plight of the palestinians. after all, it has a violent rhetoric and uses civilians as human shields. >> well, to put things into

perspective we have to remember that this is a case of typical colonial occupation, and when i say hamas is a natural condions, when you have a colonial occupation by a military force against the people, you would expect naturally resistance. this resistance is not completely pure and innocent of any mistakes, of course. this is the stotory in the liberation wars in africa. what about your vote? of course hamas has made many mistakes and we will make them, and if we just focus on these mistakes on the palestinian side, we will lose focus from the picture, which is, again, colonial occupational power. >> with so much destruction and so much disruption and death in gaza at the moment, just how much support does hamas actually command within the palestinian

community? >> well, we have to this object of it. israel is in the war with hamas. the main objective was -- this is -- this objective comes up every two or three years, so this is a repeated kind of objective. so if you accept this logic, this means that palestinians should trace face these issues every two or three months. with a complete failure on the side of peace talks in the west bank between the palestinian authority and israel, the palestinians i would say maybe even internally came up to the point where there is no other solution. there is no -- the frustration among the palestinian people in

the west bank and gaza strip and just amazing. the impasse tells them that there is no way, but the only option is to accept surrender and the status quo. the status quo means slow dying in gaza without the outside world noticing anything, the expansion of the settlements in the west bank, and the security on the country. >> you're talking basically about a desperation that the palestinians are facing, which is definitely well-known. but to clarify this for us, what is hamas' real aim here, given the destruction and the desperation that you're talking about? is there the total expulsion of israel from gaza or the total destruction of israel? >> i think what's in hamas' mind and this is my mind on this

estimate is that they want to break away from them the current equation, the status quo. they don't want to go back to another war in two or three years to come, and they want to stop any israeli offensive in the future. if they accepted the israeli terms nowadays, this means another war is coming. so i think they are capitalizing on the situation. they're capitalizing and harming the israeli army maybe for the first time in the past seven or ten years. to say we want to change the status quo, we want to lift the siege in gaza and we want new conditions for the palestinians, and we want the palestinians as a whole not only hamas as a movement to feel that we have achieved something. i think without realizing this objective on the part of hamas, they wouldn't accept any cease-fire. otherwise, they will go back to square one. they will go back to what it has

been for the past few years, which means another war is coming very soon. >> thank you so much for your insight. the professor of middle eastern studies of studies based in qatar. people around the world have taken to the streets to show solidarity with the palestinians. laurence lee joins us live now from a protest in london. lots of people around you. can you give us the idea of the sort of numbers that are there? >> reporter: let me give you a sense of how many people are here and exactly where we are. look over there behind that plaque podium is the very well-guarded israeli embassy in what is one of the most expensive parts of london. the police here shut the traffic a few minutes ago. there's literally a sea of people here now coming out in support of palestinian for the second consecutive saturday that

have done this, and there are several protests like this in other english cities. certainly tens of thousands of people extremely angry. let's bring in john reese from scotland law who organized this. i want to talk about the points israelis make about their actions. primarily and they keep saying this there is no -- encourage all parties to try and come to a complete ceasefire. we cannot accept what the

innocent civilians are facing and the bloodshed, especially the incident which occurred yesterday. we must -- we do not want to allow this operation to repeat, and the complete egyptian initiative is to give the opportunity to the parties. our hope is more than that. is -- that's all the parties to reach the solution and -- for the [ inaudible ] state and not turn to a very serious situation.

>> secretary kerry i imagine you are aware there are multiple reports that the israeli cabinet -- [ inaudible ] do you regard that as just a negotiating ploy or do you regard it as likely to be a more definitive rejection? and secondly, have you made any direct progress on getting the egyptians to commit to opening [ inaudible ] on getting the israelis to commit to increasing traffic at the area's crossing, and on getting hamas to agree to let israeli troops stay in the gaza strip during the truce. if you haven't made any headway on those issues, how is it possible after five days of diplomacy, how is it possible to describe these days as having produced serious progress?

>> let me -- let me deal with the first issue, which is the fiction of -- the fiction of diplomacy and politics at the same time. >> cornell university president david skorton >> is a college education worth the price? >> discusses the purpose of college >> students allow yourself to dream... it's very, very, important >> and his post university plans >> the intersection of the sciences and the arts was very attractive to me... >> every saturday join us for exclusive, revealing, and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time. >> talk to al jazeera 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...

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now as the number of civilian deaths continues to rise, human rights activists call on both sides to stop using rockets in populated areas. we have the report now from donetsk on continuing fighting between ukraine's army and separatist rebels. >> reporter: in donetsk the shelling continues. the smoke is rising close to apartment blocks built in the soviet era. many of them are empty, emergency workers here estimate more than half of the city's population has gone. that's almost 600,000 people.

this is why they're leaving. a shell landed next to this school. it was empty because of the holidays. like many here, its caretaker says she can't understand why ukraine is at war. >> translator: we really are in shock. ukrainians and russians lived and worked together peacefully. we didn't even think about our nationalities and now we just think about how to survive. >> reporter: hundreds have been killed and thousands injured. now human rights watch is accusing ukrainian forces of firing grad rockets on people's homes. the elderly couple were watching television when the rocket hit their apartment. i can show you how lucky they were to survive. you can see the gaping hole in the rooftop. both sides are denying using grad rockets on pop lapted areas. they're renowned for being

inaccurate. that's because the rocketing are unguided and they're from barrels covering a wide area. ukraine insists it's not using grad systems around donetsk. >> translator: the grads haven't arrived there yet and aren't there the ones in the report. we're blocking the exits from the donetsk, but the terrorists are shelling donetsk to try to show the ukrainian forces in a bat lied. >> reporter: earlier in july al jazeera filmed ukrainian grad rocket launchers on the road to donetsk. >> instead of denying this, i think it would be wise for the ukrainian government to commit to immediately stop using these rockets in populated areas. they are indiscriminate, and the moment you use them in the areas

they kill and injure civilians. >> reporter: ukrainian forces push further into donetsk, and separatist pro-russian fighters are preparing to defend this city, whatever the costs. al jazeera, donetsk, eastern ukraine. the islamic state group is guying influence in the iraqi city mosul. there's known to have killed minorities and destroyed shrines and churches in cities. despite that, some residents are supporting the movement. we report on life in iraq's second largest city. >> reporter: since june fighters to the islamic state group have ruled mosul. black banners are raced over their faces across the city. in this gathering in the city center, there is some support. this video is said to show government employees waiting to get their salaries. some of the fighters talk to

people here. >> translator: no, it's not like that. you will here the declarations this fighter says. >> reporter: but the group has imposed its own rules, and it has issued a set of teachings that call on women to cover up and men to pray while smoking has been banned. fighters destroyed a number of statues. they've also ordered shop owners what to sell. >> translator: member of the group told us to stop selling indecent women's clothes that violate the teachings of islam. >> reporter: in this marketplace, life seems normal, but many people are concerned, too scared perhaps to talk. there are others who praise the new reality. >> translator: the conditions now are 100 times better than before. it's very good, and there is security. >> reporter: for minorities, conditions are tough. kristichristians were ordered te

their homes marked in red and confiscated. most shia muslims have left the city and sunnis that oppose the group's ideology are also being prosecuted. mosul is only a 30-hin -- 30-minute drive from here. many say they prefer to live in dignity instead of being ruled by sectarian government. he remains the govern of the prof ins that included mosul. he blames the government in baghdad for what's happened. >> translator: the policies and bad practices of the army led people to desire salvation, even if they felt for the devil. these new conditions will go away when the mistakes and bad practices by the islamic state start to appear. >> reporter: mosul is iraq's second largest city. islamic state fighters launch

the assault against government forces to capture it. now they are preparing for a tough fight to keep it. al jazeera on the outskirts of mosul. aid agencies are warning of a severe famine in south sudan. they say that food stocks are running low across northern regions of the country. over 1 million people remain internally displaced since the country's civil war. thousands of people have demonstrated in the chilean capital in support of abortion rights. there is a complete ban on abortions in the socially conservative country. the pressure is mounting on the government to amend laws to make it legal. a judge in the dutch caribbean island of aruba has refused to release a former head of venezuelan military intelligenc intelligence. he was arrested on a warrant issued by the united states.

venezuela's government says his detention is illegal, calling it a kidnapping. the u.s. wants to extradite him to face drug trafficking charges. roman catholism is by far the religion in mexico. but the count of st. death is the fastest-growing belief in the country. millions ask for her protection and favor. the church calls the movement a sat satanic cult. >> reporter: death has attracted this mass of followers in mexico city. st. death, that is. they come to pray at the altar of the saint, in one of the most violent neighborhoods to ask for her protection and favors. believers are drawn to the saint because she doesn't judge them. rich or poor, good or bad, all are equal in death's eyes. in recent years authorities and the catholic church have linked followers of the white girl as

she's known to the violence raging across mexico. we went to the market where anything is for sale, even a hired gun. we met a believer. like many followers, he has her likeness etched on his skin. do you pray to the saint before you go out and kill someone? >> translator: yes, of course. if i go out to do a job, i pray to her before i leave. i light a candle so that she illuminates a path for me. that way i feel protects and she's taking care of me. >> reporter: the catholic church has begun it's own work in the school and they brought in people to bring in the old practice of exorcism. we came here to meet a priest performing many more exorcisms than in the past because he says with the rise in the number of followers of the saint, there's also an increase in the number of people possessed by the devil. in 2012 the father performed an

exorcism on an imprisoned cartel hitman. he killed dozens of people and cut up their bodies to dispose of them. >> translator: he was totally possessed by the devil. it's a sophisticated form of satanism. >> from repeated exorcisms the drug dealer and thief said he left the st. behind. >> translator: when the father finished, i was crying and felt tired. i didn't understand why i was crying because i hardly had cried before. >> reporter: some exorcisms lead to people vomiting or screaming out in pain. mental health experts say it points to people's psychological and not spiritual problems. on the edge of mexico city stands the largest monument to the saint. it's here where he preaches every sunday. >> we don't pray to the devil but the angel of death and ask for a better world, a tomorrow

devoid of darkness and an illuminated light. >> reporter: she's now become an mexican icon that inspires faith and fear. you can always get all the latest news on our website at aljazeera.com. looich pictures ouft of the middle east during a tremendous truce between israel and hamas. and just minutes before that cease-fire, israel strikes the city of shasia. plus an unwanted eye in the sky. a drone gets too close. an outpouring of kindness from strangers. a boy's birthday wish results in

quite the card collection. welcome to al jazeera america live from new york city. a wave of activity bubbling on the streets of gaza right now. you're looking at live pictures where thousands of palestinians have returned during the brief 12-hour cease-fire. right now many gazans who were displaced during the fighting are trying to grab what they can while this temporary pause is in effect. nearly 1,000 palestinians and 40 israelis have died since the fighting began. all this happening while secretary of state john kerry is hoping to rekindle peace talks in paris today after an attempt to broker a week-long pause failed. there's also concern whether the cease-fire will actually hold. nick shifrin is live in gaza right now. nick, give us a sense what things are like on the ground. >> reporter: morgan, as you can see from the live photos, people are coming out for the first time in more than a week when we

had the last brief humanitarian cease-fire. people are stocking up on things they haven't been able to buy. food, groceries, basic necessities, and in some cases buying gifts for the holiday that ends the holy month of ramadan in the next couple of days. go just a couple of blocks from there and go to the areas that israeli shelling has really targeted, and you see these scenes of destruction and chaos and in some cases apocalyptic. you walk through neighborhoods, and you can smell it. it really smells of blood has stained the streets. you walk through them and come across utter destruction. many, many families walking to their homes for the first time realized their homes were destroyed. we were at one this morning in which the father was picking through the rubble trying to find cash, trying to find jewelry. simply a little money so he could survive in the place that he is now. down the road families arriving to try and pick through the

rubble knowing that some of their loved ones are underneath the rubble. morgan, a great sense of despair and fear still in these neighborhoods. many people we saw this morning coming into these neighborhoods for the first time, packing up their things and getting out. they do not think the cease-fire will hold. >> nick, these very vivid images of this acrid smell of blood and destruction. while all this personal despair is happening, kerry is hoping to achieeief achieve something in paris. what does he hope to achieve in paris he didn't in cairo this week? >> reporter: that's a good question. he's trying to get a two-step solution. one is a temporary cease-fire for four or five days. the reason is u.s. officials say there's simply too complicated issues and certainly way too complicated to get to a permanent cease-fire during the

12-hour pause. that's why they wanted a four or five-day pause. he failed to get that. in paris he meets with france and germany and with italian officials and on the other side the intermediaries for hamas will be italy -- sorry. will be turkey as well as qatar, and the israelis will be there as well. they will have conversations all day. as you point out, he's simply not been able to convince either side, either hamas, which wants a lifting of the blockade. israel is not willing to do that. or israel. the cease-fire calls for israel to withdraw entirely from the gaza strip. israel is not willing to do that. both sides are unwilling to sign the cease-fire right now. >> we'll watch to see where the diplomacy goes from here. nick shifrin is live for us in gaza this morning. thanks so much. many residents in gaza attended ramadan prayers under the barrel of a gun on friday. israeli troops could be seen standing directly in front of several hundred palestinians praying outdoors.

friday was a final holy day of ramadan. meanwhile, a demonstration is taking place in london this morning in support of gaza. laurence lee is there and joins us now live. good morning to you. how big is this protest? we see tons of people standing behind you right now. >> reporter: good morning. yes, it's big. in fact, it's the second consecutive saturday that they have held these sorts of demonstrations here in london. a sea of people, certainly thousands of people on either side of the camera going the other way. let me show you where we are very quickly. if you look over there behind that black podium where the speeches are taking place, is the israeli embassy in london. that's why it started here. very well-guarded. this is as close as they can gets to it. they're going to take this demonstration to parliament this afternoon. there are similar protests happening in other major english cities as well. last saturday they said across

the country they have perhaps 100,000 people that might be a little on the high side. the police said it was about 10,000, but all the same it is a major show of support for the palestinian support for london and it's being repeated in other european capitals today as well. >> it's interesting, though. some of the signs say end israeli apar tide and others say gaza under siege. you said this is now the second consecutive saturday. so on some level this has to be expected. has there been a response from the israeli side there? >> reporter: i think they have three main targets of their anger here. the first, clearly, is the israeli government. and there's much talk about dismantling of settlements here and the importance of a cease-fire and the end of aggression. crucially with israel what they're trying to do is turn on its head the argument the

israeli government makes they defend themselves against rockets from hamas. here they say the opposite is true, that the palestinians try to defend themselves against israeli aggression and that this started in wars gone by when a palestinian is pushed into the case they're in. the second cause of anger is western governments. >> i want to interrupt you for just one quick second. i see a woman standing behind you holding a sign. can you jump in there and ask her why she's there protesting today? >> reporter: sure, i can ask if she wants. hello, you're live on al jazeera television. why are you here? >> why am i here? we need to make the whole world aware of what's happening illegally in palestinian for 66 years. it has to stop. we have to free palestinians and israel has to be held to account for all its war crimes and all

its illegal occupations. >> reporter: i'm going to ask a question. the israelis say they're defending themselves. do you not agree with that? >> i don't agree with that at all, because they've always been the aggressor. there's no way they're defending themselves. they've already got their dome that protects them from the rockets, and you only have to look at the numbers of the deaths and the numbers of casualties and see who the aggressor is. it's quite clear. >> reporter: do you go on demonstrations a lot? >> only for this, only for palestine. i lived in palestine for ten years, and irn what is going on there. so i feel i have to come back to this country and make sure everybody knows the truth. >> reporter: all right. thank you very much. that's the mood, actually. >> there's a lot of passion there. thank you so much. laurence lee joins us live from the protests in london. russia is moving more troops to its border with ukraine according to "the new york times." the pentagon believes moscow is preparing to send more weapons to the rebels. meanwhile, dutch and australian

authorities have troops on standby right there near the crash of flight mh17 ready to secure that site. al jazeera is live in donetsk right now. good morning to you. what can you tell us so far about these reports that russia does, in fact, have a force building up right now? >> reporter: well, u.s. authorities and the ukrainians say they have clear evidence that the -- there is mounting russian troops amassing on the border with ukraine as well as the movement of more sophisticated missile systems into ukraine as well as satellite images which appear to show that the two fighter jets, which were brought down on wednesday, the two ukrainian fighter jets, were actually brought down by missiles that were fired from russia. this is also just speculative at the moment.

the russians are, of course, completely denying this calling it a smear campaign on the part of the u.s. and ukrainians. clearly, russia has a big interest in eastern ukraine, economic and strategic. the separatists here that we've spoken to, who are pro-russian fighters and have been controlling territory here since march, have asked for russian assistance. this is really the key. if russia does decide to help these separatist fighters, this could really swing the entire future of the conflict here. >> we're talking about the economic and the political interests. certainly some strong words there calling it a smear campaign. what about the human toll? the u.n. said 230,000 people have left that area, so what is the humanitarian situation right now? >> reporter: we think that figure could be even higher. we've spoken to officials here in donetsk, which is a big city,

the fourth largest in ukraine. usually there are around 1 million people that live here. half of the population has left the city alone, so we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people. they either left to go to russia or to the west towards kiev or crimea. the big issue to these people is they can't return for the foreseeable future as the fighting here escalating. >> joins us live from donetsk. thank you for being with us. french officials say poor weather most likely caused the crash of a flight last week. these are some of the very first images of the crash site in a remote area of mali. all 118 people on board died. several french investigators are at the site today, and hundreds of troops are already on the ground. on friday soldiers recovered one of the two black boxes that are on that plane.

now speaking of planes, imagine watching a heavily armed s.w.a.t. team storm onto the flight you're sitting on. that's what happened on passengers on a canadian airliner on friday. flight 772 was supposed to fly from toronto to panama. a passenger reportedly talked about a bomb prompting the flight to make a pretty big u-turn. he was escorted back to toronto's airport by f-16 fighter jets and passengers said the entire experience was frightening. >> it was just awful. the kids were scared and i was scared. >> all i said was guns and hands up and everything. it was quite scary. >> the passenger that prompted the incident is a 25-year-old canadian man. he reportedly started to curse at flight attendants complaining of taxes and threatened to blow up the plane. the man is charged and currently in custody. the faa is investigating after a drone is flown around

seattle's space needle. the man who flew it works for amazon, and police got a call from security on tuesday after tourists spotted it flying on by. the man admitted to police he flew it from his hotel room and promised not to fly the aircraft in public again. amazon has been lobbying the faa to lift its ban on allowing commercial drone use to deliver packages. president obama is looking for a way to deal with the flood of migrant children who are crossing into the united states. he met with the leaders of three central american countries on friday, and he promised to help them shore up their economies. we have the report that that could be held up by congress. >> reporter: a small protest outside of the white house in support of immigration reform as u.s. president barack obama met inside with the leaders of el salvador, honduras and guatem a guatemala. the majority of these 60,000 children who will cross the border without their parents this year are from there.

they're children like cindy from guatemala who made the dangerous journey when she was just 11 years old only to be caught at the border. >> i was really scared to be deported. as a kid, you don't know what that is like or how it works. i was scared that i would be there forever. i was scared that, you know, i wouldn't reach my goal to be with my parents. >> reporter: she now qualifying to stay in the country, but the obama administration is insistent that most of the recent arrivals will be deported. in reality studies show likely more than half will be granted asylum. to try to stop that, the president is asking congress to spend almost $4 billion, most of it on enforcement. 300 million would go to the central american countries. >> we all recognize we have to do more to address the root causes of the problem, and that includes poverty and violence in central america. >> reporter: just this year his

administration dramatically cut back u.s. aid to the three countries, in two cases by almost a third. the one idea the obama administration is floating is building immigration centers inside of these three couldn'ts to that children can apply for refugee status with asylum without making the journey. that's very controversial on both sides. they're pointedly not saying how many children would be allowed into the united states. they know whatever the number, there will be loud and passionate protests demanding the kids are kicked out. it's already happening. along with protests, nanding that they get to stay. it is a growing problem without an easy answer, and for now the president and congress are no closer to finding one. patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. stay tuned. i'll introduce you to the young man who made the journey to america all alone. a strong tornado barrelled

through central florida on late friday with wind speeds reaching between 65 and 85 miles per hour in edgewater. the twister caused small planes to be flipped over and roofs to be flipped off at the airport. the national weather service this was a weaker tornado and has still caused extensive damage. there were no injuries. it's time for a check on the national forecast and for that we turn to the meteorologist. >> we're watching out for the threat of more severe weather and unfortunately the threat of fires across parts of northwest where it will remain dry and we will keep it warm. we have red flag warnings in montana and into parts of ohio as well where we don't expect much in the way of rain. we're watching it across parts of the midwest where we have a stoorm system that's going to continue to roll through. this morning not a lot of action and a few thunderstorm warnings but later today, this afternoon and evening through the ohio valley we will watch conditions going downhill with the threat of tornadoes and lots of heavy rainfall, morgan. >> thanks so much.

profiting from disaster. how some homeowners have managed to make money in the wake of washington's landslide. plus, a manhunt on for two carjackers opt run after they slammed into a full crowd killing three siblings over in philadelphia. plus, exonerated. dna proves that a texas man jailed for more than a decade is innocent. this despite the fact that he never asked for a dna test.

live from new york city. up next freed from prison years after being convicted of a crime he didn't commit. first, it was the deadliest

landslide in u.s. history. 30 people died when the town ofs on osso was buried in mud. some outsiders made a profit from the disaster. >> it was the rudest thing you can think of. >> reporter: marla speaks for a lot of people here. when the deadly landslide covered critically important highway 530 some locals ecommute times went from 20 minutes two two hours. the state department of transportation scrambled to improve this nearby utility maintenance roads, seeking easements and permission from property owners to use their land to bypass the slide. documents obtained show co-owners of one parcel refusing and while others accepted a few hundred to a couple of thousand. >> people dying and people not being found.

just to say no to a simple thing like a road so that your neighbors and friends can get to work. >> reporter: they aren't exactly neighbors. state records show roger and grant walsh co-own but don't live on the tract of unimproved land. we called and knocked on the doors of homes owned by the men but couldn't get comments from either one. i just talked to someone through the closed door of the walsh family home. they said they had nothing to do about this story, but they had plenty to say when the washington state department of transportation negotiator came to talk to them about that easement. records show mr. walsh saying the state's initial offer insults our intelligence. he threatens to barricade the route if their demands aren't met. the men finally septembaccept $ and 17,000 more per month if the road is used past september. negotiations delayed the opening of the road by a week, a different route could have cost nearly a million dollars. exercising eminent domain and

forcing compliance would you have taken months. the state paid grudgingly. >> when it comes down to helping an economy in a town that lost so much, we did what we had to do. >> reporter: a few slide zone residents living with constant construction snoiz and devalued property received $600 for the use of their land for the road. >> the easement road runs along here. >> reporter: the attorney says those people now wonder if they're the ones being gouged by the state. >> my clients don't want $85,000, but $600? you know, i this there are two examples of entities taking advantage of other people in an emergency. >> reporter: highway construction should be complete in two months, but the bitterness over that money grab while bodies were still being pulled from the mud indoors. >> they nailed the state for that much money. >> reporter: even with the highway open, occasional

construction closures will force traffic onto that access road through september. al jazeera, oso, washington. four months later one family is finally getting some closure. search and rescue workers believe they have found the last remaining victim of that deadly mudslide. officials in philadelphia offering a reward of more than $100,000 for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of two carjacking suspects. the men carjacked an suv on friday and then plowed it into a church fund-raiser. three siblings were killed, a 15-year-old girl and her 10 and 7-year-old brothers. they are mother is now in critical condition. a dallas man has cleared his name after dna tests proved his innocence. michael phillips is the first person ever to be proven innocents through dna testing without asking for the test. phillips was originally convicted of rape and served 12 years in prison. under texas law he's entitled to

$80,000 for each year of imprisonment and he gets an additional 80,000 a year for the rest of his life. stay tuned. palestinians go home during the cease-fire to see what they can salvage. >> plus, clearing the air. why people in india are searching for inventive ways to purify their surroundings. a sick massachusetts boy gets his birthday wish thousands of times over. check out this mountain of mail. don't go anywhere.

the battle for the arctic only on al jazeera america

a 12-hour cease-fire in the conflict. we want to show you what it was like when residents in gaza returned home just save what they should after the bombing stopped. >> reporter: of course the people of gaza prefer the cease-fire was much longer. it started at 8:00 a.m. local time, and ever since it started thousands have streamed into the area that we're in now. it's in the eastern part of the gaza strip. it was heavily bombed over the weekend, heavily attacked by tank shells from israel on the far eastern border of gaza. more than 60 people were killed in one night alone. arizona is now recovering

from a powerful dust storm that blew into the state on friday. power is almost fully restored and flights into and out of phoenix are now also back to normal. according to the world health organization, new delhi has the world's dirtiest air. there's a push to purify the atmosphere. >> reporter: growing fresh air is what this business in new delhi is trying to do. these plants purify the air that's pumped through the complex. it's an innovative solution the owner swears by. >> for the user is the direct health benefits and for the people running the building you're reducing the amount of money on the energy bills. it's a win-win. >> reporter: the world health organization says new delhi's air is full of highly toxic particles. the agency warns that millions perform people are at risk of developing cancer, heart disease, or suffering a stroke.

>> the w.h.o. is periodically releasing data and over the years when we see no improvement we see an increased number of deaths contributed towards the pollution. >> reporter: to monitor how polluted the air in new delhi is, the government has set up stations like this one across the city. realtime data generated by these machines 24 hours a day is used to predict trends and forecasts air quality. he's been analyzing this information for years. he says the world health organization has got it wrong. >> obviously something inside is missing with this. for that, i feel that reaching to the fact that the air quality is good or bad. it is poor, and it should be not as it has been done.

>> reporter: the government-run system of air quality forecasting and research center says the world health organization has massively overestimated how dirty the air in new delhi is. despite this over the figures, the dwovt has tried various things to tackle the problem. over the years it's sort of public buses and thousands of rickshaws to run on national gas and set up air filtration systems. international agencies say it takes much more than that to make it clean. to clear the air, several measures are needed, from the regulation of fuel consumption to better city planning. but until results are visible, it's green buildings like this that provide a much needed reprieve for the fortunate few. al jazeera, new delhi. >> check this out. a 6-year-old with an inoperable brain tumor had his birthday wish granted about

100,000 times over. he asked for and received letters from all over the world. his mother says the gifts are a welcome distraction. thanks so much for watching. come upping, we have live team coverage on the cease-fire in the middle east. don't go anywhere. stay tuned. >> 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

a massive explosion in gaza just moments before a temporary truce took effect. we're live in the palestinian territory as residents return to the rubble of their shattered lives. >> translator: members of the group told us to stop selling indecent women's clothes that violates the teachings of islam. >> plus a double-edged sword,

trading freedom for security in an iraqi city controlled by a group of heavily armed rebel fighters. look at this. yet another nypd under investigation after disturbing cell phone video surfaces online. the bone-crushing blow that has one of new york's finest on desk duty and facing discipline. plus, messing around with pick bead ya. the bogus information that just got congress blocked from making changes to the online encyclopedia. and hamas and israeli soldiers exchanges gunfire and rockets in gaza just hours before a cease-fire. good morning to you.

welcome to al jazeera live from new york city. i'm morgan bradford. thank you for joining us. we're seven hours into the cease-fire. you're looking at live pictures of gaza where thousands of palestinians are returning to a scene of destruction and ruin. most of them were displaced during the two-week fighting and nearly 1,000 palestinians and 40 israelis have been killed. meanwhile, secretary of state john kerry is in paris today trying to rekindle cease-fire talks. all this happening after his week-long proposal failed. from around the world rallies are taking place to protest israel's attacks in gaza and the conflict in general. nick shifrin is in gaza with more. nick, people are scrambling everywhere right now. can you tell us what's happening there? >> reporter: morgan, nearly 1 in 10 people that live in gaza have been displaced and left their homes because of the violence. for many of them, this is the

first time in more than a week where they can actually go back to their homes after they fled that israeli shelling, and they are seeing scenes of devastation. smt scenes we're seeing are almost apocalyptic. entire neighborhoods are destroyed, and many residents are coming back for a few things. one, they're coming back to actually find relatives who have been buried under the rubble. we've seen scenes searching underneath the rocks for dead loved ones. some of them we've talked to have come back for money. they came back for kafsh, jewelry, anything they can find to actually live a little bit given that they haven't had any kind of normal life or normal job for the last few weeks because of this war. many of them are coming back into a neighborhood that simply is a battleground. you walk through these streets, morgan, and you smell the war. it's an acrid smell that smells like blood that stained the

streets. it's difficult to walk through there for everyone. what they are doing is they're getting in, and most of them are getting out as quickly they can. very few people trust that this cease-fire that ends in a couple of hours will be extended. >> nick, you said you can smell the war. certainly very graphic images there. what happens at 8:00 p.m. local time when this temporary pause ends? >> reporter: it's a good question. i think most people who i asked today in these neighborhoods, especially that have been attacked to strongly, and they've been the focus of rocket fire coming from gaza and israel and the focus of tunnels that led from the neighborhoods into israel. that's why israel has bombarded the particular neighborhoods. you asked the residents, and they say we don't know what's going to happen. we don't believe it will be safe in these neighborhoods again, and you talk to israeli officials. there is very little appetite for the diplomacy that secretary kerry is trying to lead here.

the israeli cabinet last night unanimously rejected his proposal for a seven-day cease-fire. he's now trying to figure out how to fix that and get a cease-fire where israel and hamas will agree. >> nick, what john kerry is there heading to paris right now. we saw live pictures earlier of that conference room. what exactly is kerry hoping to achieve in paris that he didn't in cairo and in israel just this week? >> reporter: it's a good question. u.s. officials who i speak to definitely are frustrated and kerry, of course, the most frustrated of all of them they failed to get even a two-day cease-fire or a three-day cease-fire. they need something more than 12 hours in order to have the space to negotiate a permanent cease-fire. it's just too complicated. the issues are all too much complex in order to get through them in 12 hours. you really need four or five days where nobody is fighting to get to a permanent cease-fire. what he's trying to do is

getting people that are intermediaries to hamas and turkey and qatar and countries like germany, italy and france all on the same to try -- >> nick shifrin. we lost him. he was live in gaza. thanks so much for being with us this morning. a new round of protests are expected today all across the united states, but on friday jews and muslims rallied for peace all side by side in several american cities. >> stop the killing! stop the hate! >> this particular demonstration happened in los angeles, and it included a pair service that drew several hundred people. then there was this one. this happened in new york on friday where more than 1,000 people marched straight past city hall and others gathered in times square. they wanted to call attention to u.s. political involvement in the conflict as well as america's financial support of israel's military. organizers read out loud the names of the nearly 200 children who have been killed since that fighting began.

you're looking live at london right now where there are massive protests underway in europe. we'll have a live report just ahead. plus, refusing to be enem s enemies. some very touching images are part of a new twitter campaign designed to unite israelis and palestinians from all around the world. look at those two cuticuticutie. we'll speak with the people who started the online call for pea peace. the rebel fighters seared mosul last month killing miernlts and destroying churching and shrines. despite this, some residents are supporting the movement. we report on life in iraq's second largest city. >> reporter: since june fighters belonging to the islamic state group have ruled mosul. the black banners are raised across the city. at this gathering in the city

center, there is some support. this video is set to show government employees waiting to get their salaries. some of the fighters talk to people here. no, it's not like that you will hear the declaration he says. but the group has imposed its own rules, and it has issued a set of teachings that call on women to cover up and men to pray while smoking has been banned. fighters destroyed a number of statu statues, and they've also ordered shop owners what to sell. >> translator: members was group told us to stop selling indecent woman's clothes that violate the teachings of islam. >> reporter: in this marketplace, life seems normal, but many people are concerned, too scared perhaps to talk. there are others who praise the new reality.

>> translator: the conditions now are 100 times better than before. it's very good, and there's security. >> reporter: but for minorities, conditions are tough. christians were ordered to leave their homes marked in red and confiscated. most of the muslims have rest left the city and sunnis that oppose the ideology are being persecuted. it's very dangerous for us to go into mosul. there are people in mosul who say they prefer to live in dignity under strict teachings over marginalization and being ruled by a sectarian government. he says he remains the governor of the province that includes mosul. he blames the government in baghdad for what's happened. >> reporter: the policies and bad practices of the army led people to desire salvation, even if they dealt with the devil. these new conditions will go

away when the mistakes and bad practices by the islamic state start to appear. >> reporter: mosul is iraq's second largest city, islamic state fighters launch the assault against government forces to capture it. now they are preparing for a tough fight to keep it. al jazeera on the outskirts of mosul. a tanker carrying crude oil from iraqi kurdistan is expected to arrive today in texas. that's all happening despite concerns in washington over independent oil sales from that region. breaking news this morning ouft of libya. the state department says the u.s. embassy there is now closed. all staff have been evacuated. this amid growing concerns of violence in tripoli. we will have more details and continue to share them with you as they become available. there are reports that russia is building up the military force along the border with ukraine. according to the "new york times," u.s. officials call it a very dangerous escalation. the pg pentagon believes moscow

is preparing to send more weapons to the rebels. meanwhile dutch and australian authorities have troops on stand-by near the crash of malaysian flight mh17. they're ready to deploy soldiers to help to secure the site. we're live in donetsk this morning. good morning to you. do they have any proof of this build-up? >> reporter: well, this is just speculation at the moment. u.s. officials and ukrainian defense officials seem very convinced with what they say is definite evidence that this truce -- this amassing on the border with ukraine as well as sophisticated missile systems across the border, they have evidence that two fighter jets were brought down in this region close to the crash site mh17 just on wednesday. the missiles that brought those planes down were fired from the russian side, not the ukrainian

separatist side. the russians have dismissed all of this as a smear campaign that clearly the russians have a big, big interest in eastern ukraine not only economic but also strategic. there are people in this region who see themselves as closer to russia than to kiev in the west and are angry at what's happened in kiev with the change in government there. of course, support of what happened in crimea as well. >> with all this anger and these strong words flying around by calling it a smear campaign, the investigation into this crash is still ongoing. what exactly is the holdup in getting those questions answe d answered? >> reporter: nine days on those fields are still empty and not secure. they're debris there and body parts which still has not been removed. the european observers have made it to the site on a daily basis

but they're observers. the key investigators from the netherlands and malaysian and interpol are still unable to carry out their crucial, vital work to try to work out what happened to that plane. those dutch military police we understand try to make it to the site earlier, and they were not able to do it. they were pushed back. so all of this is making it very, very difficult for the relatives of the victims to get answers right now. >> we will still continue to look for answers and report them as they become available. thanks so much for being with us this morning. french investigators are en route to the crash sight of flight 5017. more than 200 french troops are currently guarding the site, and the death toll was revised from 116 to 118 passengers on friday. the french officials say they're still searching for bodies and say the crash happened in a part of mali where armed separatists have been fighting for territory. they say that protecting the

crash site is crucial to that investigation. all right. this video shows some very scary moments for passengers on a canadian airliner on friday. a heavily armed s.w.a.t. team stormed onto the flight after it made an emergency landing. flight 772 was supposed to fly from toronto to panama. then a passenger reportedly talked about a bomb prompting that flight to make a big u-turn. it was escorted back to f-- toronto's airport. they said it was frightening. >> it was just awful. the kids were scared and i was scared. >> all i saw was guns and everything. it was quite scary. >> reporter: the passenger that prompted the incident is a 25-year-old canadian man. he reportedly started to curse at flight attendants complaining of taxes and alleged to throw up the entire plane. that man has been charged and is

currently in custody. meanwhile, philadelphia police are searching for two men who carjacked an suv and then plowed into a church fund-raiser. witnesses say the suspects were speeding when a tire blew out and swerved off the road. three siblings were killed and a 15-year-old girl and her 10 and 7-year-old brothers. their mother is in critical condition. chicago officials are worried they have another deadly weekend on their hands. at least 12 people have been shot in the past day, and in one instance a 3-year-old was left critical after being hit by a bullet. this while on the other side of town a shooter opened fire in a convenience store killing a 13-year-old boy and injuring several other people. that teen's family is devastated by the needless death. >> senseless act of violence that occurred today that he did not deserve to die at a young age of 13. he was going to celebrate his 14th birthday next month. >> chicago is struggling with an

ongoing gang violence. last weekend 47 people were shot. right here in new york, a new york police officer was put on modified duty after he allegedly stomped on a suspect's head. this is the latest viral video of an arrest by the nypd sparking concerns of how exactly the officers treat the suspects. witnesses say the officer kicked the suspect as he lay there on the ground. look at him. activists say the officer was just too aggressive and call for the entire department to strip this officer of his badge. >> it creates an atmosphere and what have you that will produce something like this so do not resist. at the end of the day police officers need to target the right way and ask questions the right way and we have a lot of good cops that do that. this is not an example here. >> this is the third nypd case under investigation in just weeks. the two others involved controversial chokeholds by police. one case resulted in the death of a man.

and you're looking live in gaza right now where residents are returning during a temporary cease-fire. the bloodshed sparking protests all around the world, and just after the break, we're live in london where thaws have gathered in support of gaza. do you do that before you go out and kill someone? >> translator: yes, of course. if i go out, i pray to her before i leave. >> praying to the saint of death. why the fastest-growing religious movement in noth america may fuel deadly drug violence and the immigration crisis. plus, the seattle space needle like you've never seen it, but the faa not so impressed. wait until you hear who was behind that camera. stay tuned. ♪

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yyyup. with xfinity internet soyour family can use all their devices at once. works anywhere in the house. even in the garage. max what's going on? we're doing a tech startup. we're streamlining an algorithm. what's grandpa doing? hi... sssh, grandpa you don't want to be an intern forever. sorry dad, we have to get back to work, we have a deadline. we're going public! [cheering] the fastest in-home wifi for your entire family. the x-1 entertainment operating system. only from xfinity. you're looking at protests in london where they show a sea of support for gaza. these are the scenes of protest in turkey, the latest in a series of demonstrations there to show solidarity with

palestinians. that's a live look in gaza where residents are returning to their homes or whatever left of them as a temporary 12-hour truce takes effect. laurence lee is at the demonstrations in london this morning. good morning to you. there have been concerns that this protest happening right now behind me. we see the people march. it could turn violent. have there been any such incidents so far? >> reporter: let me give you a sense. i can't hear well because it's very loud. i can give you a sense of exactly how many people there are here since they've started to march from the israeli embassy over here towards parliament. there have been going in these numbers down this road, main road in the center of london for a good 20 minutes now. they're not back for the demonstration yet, so there's certainly many thousands of people here. come into the crowd and we'll see if we can find it. you're live on al jazeera television. do you mind spare a second?

>> okay. >> reporter: tell us why you came here today? >> because i'm concerned for the palestinian people. i visited earlier this year and visited palestinian women. >> reporter: and what do you say -- what do you say to the thing the israeli government claims, that they're defending themselves against terrorist aggression from gaza? it's an absolutely critical point. >> i'm not a political person. it's extreme to me, the way they're acts. >> reporter: how about you? can i ask you as well? >> it's terrible to see the all the children killed on the beach. seeing all the children and they're only five years old and lived through three conflicts. it's heart-breaking. >> reporter: do you think hamas should fire rockets at israel? doesn't it make it worse.

>> it's very complicated, but it's very unequal. >> reporter: it is from the humanitarian side? yes. >> reporter: you don't look like radicals. do you demonstrate on a lot of issues or this? >> this is the first demonstration i've been to. i felt so strong about it, i wanted to come here today. >> reporter: thank you very much. it's interesting that there are three main points they make here. one is clearly against the israeli government and by the media. they don't like how the british media is framing this and the israeli defense. thirdly, they tonight like the western government's attitude towards this. they say they express sympathy with the palestinians but ultimately backing israel. what you see there is an expression with the demonstration. there's lots and lots of ordinary white people, middle class liberals that wouldn't normally demonstrate at all. >> very interesting.

certainly a lot of passion on the ground. laurence lee joining us live from london this mortgage. thanks so much to you. joining us live in studio is jim walsh, research associate with m.i.t.'s securities studies program. it's a pleasure to have you here. >> good to see you in new york. secretary kerry is now in paris trying to broker the cease-fire and he had this to say while he was in cairo. let's take a listen to that. >> we still have some terminology in the context of the framework to work through. we believe that seven days will give all the parties the opportunities to step back from the violence and focus on the underlying causes, perhaps take some steps that can build confidence and begin to change the choices for all. >> so he talks about terminology. so what type of terminology do you think would be acceptable to israel? >> i hope he's right, number one. it's great we have a pause now.

you hope a pause leads to another pause. i'm skeptical because i don't believe the fundamentals are there. a lot of folks don't realize that the israeli military's structured differently than the u.s. military. in the u.s. we have a full-time professional military. israel relies on scitizen reserves, so when me mobilize the reserves because they can't bring them back up. whether they use them, there's a strong incentive to use them until the job is done because they can't remobilizing the civilian population. israel is surprised at the number of tunnels. it's hard to imagine they're going to stop for a week, and all those soldiers sit around for a week and then go in and try to find more tunnels. if i were a berth -- betting man, i would bet this will go on. there were differences over the blockade. hamas wants this blockade loosened, and israel is reluctant to do that. >> you mentioned you were

skeptical. do you think in some way israel rejected the cease-fire because they didn't want to give hamas enough time to rearm itself? >> absolutely. that's another reason. there's going to be disagreements over issues but there are structural issues. one is the type of army israel has which is based on levelizing reserves. when there's a pause, it's true that it's humanitarian, but it also gives the sides time to go back and prepare, hide, set booby traps and get ready for the next round. that's true for both sides. >> i read in an op-ed where you described the israeli strategy as mowing the grass. what do you mean by that? >> it's not my term. it's a term israeli strategic analysts have used for a long time. unfortunately, i think it's a terrible metaphor. it's israelis saying there's nothing we can do about this. this is intractable, so we're going to launch a military operation every three or four years just like you go in and mow the grass every week for

your lawn. the point i had is that's -- that's really biased how you look at it. people are not grass. cutting down civilians is not the same as cutting down grass. when you cut the grass, it doesn't come back with greater capability. it sdenlt doesn't learn from the previous time, put in in conflict people learn that hamas rockets get better over time. it's a deeply misleading metaph metaphor. truly only negotiation not mowing the lawn gives israel a chance to achieve some security here. >> focusing on that negotiation, do you think by saying on friday -- israel said on friday they will significantly expand the ground forces, was that just a date by israel to get better materials under the cease-fire deal with hamas. >> it serves a couple of different objectives to sort of raise the ante in a negotiation. i fear it may also reflect reality, because irng the target

now is increasingly less the rockets. imagine if they fight the war and pull back and there's more rockets? it seems like they lost, and the population loses confidence in them. the rockets are important. but the surprise of this has been the tunnels. the idf has been surprised at the number of tunnels, and now that has shifted the center of gravity. i think that will take a while, and that's going to require an expansive force, if that's their objective, to try and find them. >> all those tunnels? >> right. thaep that's a pretty large objective. that speaks to more not less. >> jim, always a pleasure to have with us. thank you so much. president obama promising to bolster some latin america economies. >> the gangs want me to join them and do bad things to other people and sell their drugs. >> after the break we bring you daniel's story. he's a 17-year-old that made the grueling and dangerous journey all by himself.

plus, the bloodshed in gaza dividing israelis and palestinians all across the globe, but there's a new twitter campaign aimed at uniting jews and arab. after the break we speak with a young israeli woman and her friend refusing to left the situation turn friends into enemies. stay tuned. it's our weekend conversation.

good morning to you. welcome back to al jazeera america. live in new york i'm morgan radford, and these are the top stories. breaking news out of libya where the state department says the u.s. embassy there is now closed. all staff are evacuated amid growing concerns of violence in tripoli. they're warning all u.s. citizens against travelling to libya, and we will continue to

monitor this story and bring you the details as they become available. also, a temporary cease-fire is in effect in gaza where thousands of displaced palestinians are now returning before the truce ends at 8:00 p.m. local time. meanwhile secretary of state john kerry is in paris today trying to rekindle cease-fire talks after his week-long proposal failed. russia's next move could change the conflict in ukraine. there are reports russia is playing a direct role in the war, and it has sent more troops to that border. u.s. officials say moscow is firing artillery across the border, and officials are concerned that they will send more advanced weapons to those rebels. president obama urges central american leaders to help to stem the flow of migrant children coming into the united states. the presidents of guatemala, honduras and el salvador met with the president at the white house on friday. he wants leaders to exercise a shared responsibility in the crisis. from january to july 7th, over

30,000 children have all been released to family members right here in the united states. now, a majority of them he were released in texas. this followed by new york, florida and then over to california. meanwhile, i visited with a young man who was originally from el salvador to get a sense of what it's like to make the journey to the united states alone. >> reporter: we met up with daniel to hear his story, but we have changed his name to protect his identity. >> translator: it was a long journey. through all of mexico and guatemala. >> reporter: he traveled approximately 1500 miles, all with a group of strangers just to get close to the united states border. >> translator: we arrived the a really big river, and there they told us to take off our clothes, that we were all going to cross. >> reporter: he's talking about the rio grande, the border between mexico and texas. they made it across.

>> translator: they ordered everyone to go to the ground. someone ran, and the police said nobody moouve. >> i asked him why he left el salvador. >> translator: i didn't get along well with my dad. the gangs forced me to join them and sell their drugs. i was scared. >> daniel entered the u.s. in early 2013. he lived in a youth hostel in texas before he was sent to live with ms. mother's brother in new york city. >> this is what the judge looks at. >> this immigration attorney agreed to help him for free. >> these children are really fleeing from terrible conditions. >> in daniel's case the gangs were terrible but his father might have been worse. >> he had lots of details about when he would be abused by his father, how he would be abused.

the things that his father abused and actually beat him. everyone could tell that he was -- he was being truthful in the pain that he suffered. >> domestic violence is a fairly new reason for granting a child asyl asylum. 14 months oof he was caught at the border, the teen learned he could stay in the united states legally. daniel could apply for permanent resident status after one full year in the u.s., a green card. i asked him if he wanted citizenship? >> translator: yes, if they can give it to me. i would be able to work better, get around easier. i'd be able to visit my family, my mom. everything would be different. >> daniel will have some catching up to do in school. you'll be a junior in high school this fall and has a part-time job at at restaurant

in manhattan. a new beginning at the end of a long road to a normal life in the united states. the vast majority of unaccompanied children trying to cross into the united states are actually teenagers, but the government has seen a dramatic increase in the number of unaccompanied preteens as well. for example, arrests of children 12 and under has more than doubled in the past year alone, and that's according to government statistics obtained by the pew research center. the president of guatemala told al jazeera he agrees with president obama's call for all nations to work together, but he said that the u.s. should also share the blame. >> translator: we have our responsibility, but the united states has a responsibility, too. we must work together and president obama is clear on this. we have to come up with a program to combat the situation. >> honduras, guatemala and el salvador are most responsible for the influx of child migrants into the united states. the cult of the saint of

death is the fastest-growing religious movement in mexico. many followers identify themselves as catholic, despite the church rejecting the saint. as adam reports, the movement is linked to the vie len drug trade in mexico. >> reporter: death has attracted this mass of followers in mexico city, the saint of death, that is. they have come to pray at her altar in one of the most violent neighborhoods to ask for her protection and favors. believers say they're drawn to want saint because she doesn't judge them, rich or poor, good or bad, all are equal in death's eyes. in recent years authorities and the catholic church have linked followers of the white girl as she's known for the violence raging across mexico. we went into the market where anything is for sale, even a hired gun. we met a believer. like many followers, he has her

likeness etched on his skin. do you pray before you go out and kill someone? >> translator: yes, of course. if i go out to do a job, i pray to her before i leave. i like a candle to that she illuminates the path for me. that way i feel protected, and i feel that she's taking care of me. >> reporter: the catholic church has gone its own war against it. they called in experts from the vatican to teach the old practice of exorcism. we came to this church in the north of mexico to meet a priest that's performing more exorcisms because of the rise in the nol of followers he says there's an increase in the number of people possessed by the devil. in 2012 the father performed an exorcism on an imprisoned cartel hitman. he had killed dozens of people and cut up their bodies to dispose of them. >> translator: he was totally possessed by the devil.

>> reporter: back in mexico city we met guzman. he used to pray to the saint. through repeated exorcisms the drug dealer and thief says he left her behind. >> translator: when the father finished, i was crying and felt tired. i didn't understand why i was cryi crying, because i had hardly ever cried before. >> reporter: some exorcisms lead to people vomiting or screaming out in pain. mental health experts say it points to psychological and not spiritual problems. on the edge of mexico city stands the largest monument. it's here where they preach every sunday. >> reporter: we don't pray to the devil, we pray to the angel of death and we ask her for a better world, a tomorrow devoid of darkness and illuminated night. >> reporter: devil or saint she is a mexican icon who inspired faith and fear. al jazeera, mexico city.

the saint of death helped to get drug convictions overturned. there's a case of ebollea where a man died at lagos airport. it's highly contagious and deadly. it killed 660 people so far in west aftrica and nigeria is struggling to contain the virus with an oil rich economy and has one of the weakest health care infrastructures. in sierra leone they're looking for a woman infected with ebola on the run. she left the hospital after testing positive. then just last week a doctor leading efforts to combat ebola in sierra leone contracted the virus himself. there's no cure or vaccine available yet, and nearly 90% die. another violent night in the west bank where israeli security

forces are clashing with protesters who are anningary about the situation in gaza. a palestinian teenager was killed. we're now eight hours into a temporary cease-fire there. the pause has allowed palestinians to return to their homes, but many are finding those homes completely gone or ravaged. they're gathering as many of their belongs as they can. nicole johnston has been in gaza all morning and now she joins us live. nicole, good morning to you. the images we see are pretty dramatic, but does it even begin to show the scope of the damage on the ground there? >> reporter: well, i think the picture behind us is a pretty good indicator of the worst of the damage that i've seen. i'll just hop out of the shot so our cameraman can show you really desperate scenes. people there have bundled up whatever possessions they can get, and they're carrying them as you can see on their back

over that sort of mountain of rubble through an area that once was a street and a neighborhood and people's homes. they're trying to get it out of the area before the cease-fire is over. this is the central part of the neighborhood. it has been completely destroyed. the smell of death here is very strong. the red cross has been pulling bodies out of the neighborhood all day, around 40 bodies, and across the gaza strip from the north to the south around about 70 bodies have been taken out. so it has been really desperate scenes today. it's the first time people have been able to get this far into their neighborhoods. to describe to people what happened here, over the weekend there was a very heavy bombardment of israeli tank shelling into the neighborhood. no house has escaped damage, and in this area where you can see

all of this rubble and concrete, f-16s would have carried out air strikes. so heavy bombing here. it's difficult to imagine how people can come back here and try and clean it up and rebuild. >> i'm so sad about this total destruction against houses, against people, everything. even animals, the chickens and sheep were killed. this is really against the international law. they targeted, you know, all the children and women. israel has always claimed that they fight hamas fighters. no militants here. all the dead were children and women. >> reporter: so there are a few hours left of this cease-fire, and people in gaza say they desperately wanted to continue. they wanted to be longer than 12 hours. they say that's not enough, but

at the same time they don't want a long-term cease-fire that returns them to the status quo. they don't want to be living in a besieged blockaded gaza strip with no access to the west bank, egypt or the rest of the world. at the moment aum of the israeli borders into gaza are closed and have been closed for years now. for the last 12 months the egyptian border crossing has largely been closed as well. people want a meaningful cease-fire and none of the talks come near to giving them that which is why it's a 12-hour truce. >> we will be watching to see what happens at 8:00 p.m. local time. nicole johnson joining us live. thank you for being with us. this conflict drives a wedge between israelis and palestinians, but some arabs and jews are unites and vows not to let their fundamental differences turn friends into enemies. two friends have taken their mission to social media. joins us live in the studio for

the weekend conversation is 21-year-old darwin who is syrian and her friend who is israeli. they create a twitter campaign, jews and arabs refuse to be enemies. thank you for joining us this morning. first of all, i have to get your thoughts. what do you think about this 12-hour cease-fire? do you think this is a glimmer of hope? >> it's good where people can be safe is important in my opinion. at the same time i'm not a politician or diplomat. if you get a 12-hour, why not 24-hour or week-long and why not to end the bombing of each other? i personally don't understand why this is possible and others are not. >> what do you think? >> i think that 12 hours is not nearly long enough for people to bury their dead and find their mrongings and for people to try to find somewhat of a recoveries because of this conflict. i'd like to see a permanent

cease-fire. i'd like to see the occupation end. i'd like to see a better world. >> let's talk about speaking of a better world yushgs friendship is very unique. how did you two meet? sfwl . >> we go to college together, and the nature of the class you talk a lots about politics and current events. i didn't even feel like a conversation was rude or spiteful or any politics. for the last month and a half there's been a tragic chain of events in the middle east and palestine. that's the latest crowned offensive in gaza. our social media feeds became more and more hateful. they hide behind a keyboard or a screen at home. you try to say something that people will see, a tweet that will be retweeted. so you use very, very strong words. we wanted to share with each other of having a debate and agreeing on everything.

if you come to a conversation knowing we're not enemies sh maybe we'll listen. when you listen, you'll learn and agree more than you think. >> there are still differences, so while you're friends what are the differences you guys still face when it comes to looking at the conflict? >> definitely what actions both governments can take to make it a more peaceful situation for a civilians in both palestine and israel. fundamentally the one-state solution, two-state solution, we get into the nitty-gritty of the politi politics. the good thing about me and abraham we see the end goal we want a peaceful place for all people to life. i think the focus is what unites us. the main goal, and i honest have to say one of the most productive friendships where identify learned so much is with abraham. >> this is very cool. what is also very cool is these twitter images. i was scrolling through this morning. let's pull up the images. look at these photos.

these are people coming together. look at the cute little boys. how adorable. what are some of the photos that perhaps surprised you the most, and are you surprised by the response? >> at the beginning it was hard to get people to post photos. we didn't expect this reaction. this is amazing and humbling, honestly. many people retweeted the hashtag and people don't want their face on the conflict. it's so hard. every word you say some person thinks it's insensitive. when more people shared, it opened the door. in the photo of the kiss, it's so powerful. >> very. >> i think that when we write something on facebook, we don't know the relationship of the thousands of friendses we have and we don't know each personal situation and we forget there are people around the world that's lives are affected by this conflict. so it was nice to see people

exposing it. i think it's so brave. >> i think what's great about these photos is we see that palestine and israeli citizens are not enemies. many of them are families and have kids together and many have lives together. most of the time they paint this picture that there's absolute hostility and animosity between us, but the fact of the matter is that many people can get along and many people do choose to get along. so we'd like to see that happen in the realm of international politics. >> speaking of your families, i understand you have special guests in the studio today. i hear your sister and wife is here. can you bring them up? come on in, guys. >> ladies, thank you for coming on. >> thank you. >> i want you to ask how have you seen your spouse and sister grow through this friendship, and what tooung about the response of all this? >> i'm honestly very, very proud of abraham. he's become one of her really good friends, and they're doing

something so important and so necessary at this time to show the world that, you know, there can be peace with civilians so why not with like politics? so my whole family is very proud of her. her and abraham are doing an amazing thing, so we're very proud. >> have any of your family members been made uncomfortable by it, or how has abram changed? >> it's been wonderful. he's been a big activist in his homeland and in new york. it's great they can too this together. it's something that's wonderful to watch. >> together is certainly what we'd like to see more of. thank you so much for joining us. changing the world one tweet at a time. ifrments if you've been on wikipedia, you know it's not exactly the most reliable source for factual information. in fact, anyone can write anything about anyone else with absolutely nothing to back it up. so the only thing wikipedia can

do is block your computer. now, the latest ip address to be blocked is congress. @

real understanding... >> where you scared when you hear the bombs? >> al jazeera america real... news... dancing in the streets, thousands of bolivians perform the dance of the black slave in a record-breaking attempt. the dance depicts slave owners who brought african slaves to bolivia twoshg to work in the silver mines. live from new york, i'm morgan radford. congress blocked from making changes to wikipediwikipedia. first let's look at the forecast with eboni deon. >> we head out across parts of the southwest. rain and storms just continue to roll you will through arizona and over much of the four

corners. it was widely scattered but this batch of rain that moved through the phoenix area that caused the massive dust storm. you can see that dust just kind of rolling through the city, and brought visibilities down to half a mile and even down to zero at times so we could, unfortunately, see more scenes like this today as the rain will certainly kick up the winds and that dust could certainly be a possibility once again today. keep that in mind as you make your way out on the roadways. just pull over and wait it out until visibility clears. north we stay dry and temperatures climb. that's not good news for the wildfires in place, and we continue to see the fire threat in place in across parts of montana and wyoming. still very dry. we're expecting to see gusty winds through the day. also, another area watching out forked winds across the ohio valley where strong to severe storms erupt into the late part

of the afternoon and evening. storms continue to progress eastward through the day. this morning a few strong storms just outside of indianapolis. more fwan, back to you. >> we hope they say dry. the faa is investigating after a drone is flown around seattle's space needle. the man who flew it works for amazon. police got a call from security on thursday after tourists spotted the drone just flying by and the man admitted he flew it from his hotel room just nearby. he promised not to fly the aircraft in public again. amazon is lobbying the faa to lift the ban on commercial drone use to deliver packages. speaking of amazon, it entered a new market this week, and it's launched a smartphone. the amazon fire is the latest step by the company to become what it calls the everything store. it already sells tablets and music and books and in symptom

cities groceries. while the new fire tries to make a dent in the smartphone industry, amazon is under fire financially. it posted a larger than expected loss in the second quarter last week. the u.s. government has the change laws but this week they don't have the power to change wikipedia. why there's a ten-day ban on making edits to the site. >> reporter: wikipedia is a sight where anybody can write and edit. >> it was written by people to talk about what they care about. >> some people abuse the freedom. the original entry says rumsfeld is an american politic and business man. someone edited calling him an alien lizard. they said he refuses to answer directly who is an alien lizard that eats mexican babies. the page for john f. kennedy's assassination has been changed. it originally said he was

assassinated by lehar vee oswald acting alone. then they said he was acting on behalf of the regime of fidel castro. the administrator decided to block the ip traes on disruptive edits. that address led to the house of representatives. >> positions like this in a government ip address is infrequent. the community takes them very seriously, and that's one of the reasons why they do things like issue notifications. >> an ip address can be used by many people, so it's not clear how many people are in congress are affected. >> an ip address or when any user on wikipedia does what they call vandalism, if that happens repeatedly, a user will get a warning and get banned. so it's not unusual, but it's kind of funny that it's happened to congress. >> reporter: not everyone is laughing. this user wrote after 9,000 staffers in the house, should we

ban this whole ip base based on the actions of two or three. some are making grammatical edits. >> only anonymous edits from the house are banned, but staffers can make wikipedia accounts to keep on editing. coming up tomorrow morning, a christian school that was supposed to be a refuge for troubled teens. instead many say it was a place where physical and psychological abuse were the curriculum. it's portrayed in the documentary kidnapped for christ. we sit down with the filmmaker tomorrow morning. join us. thanks so much for watching al jazeera america. i'll be back with you at 1:00 p.m. eastern. first a-live look at gaza as residents return to the rubble of what used to be their homes. a temporary 12-hour cease-fire now in effect. stay with al jazeera for the latest on that fragile truce and the news continues live from doha in just two minutes.

see you right back here again tomorrow morning. . >> 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

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available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now welcome to the news hour live from al jazeera's headquarters in doha. coming up in the program, total destruction in gaza. the devastation becomes clear with the 12-hour cease-fire in effect. more than 900 palestinians have been killed. foreign ministers meeting in paris are calling for the cease-fire to be extended as they search for a lasting end to the fighting. also ahead, as ukraine's army pushes tow