this is al jazeera america. live from new york city, i'm tony harris with a look at today's stories. new attacks at a hospital and a park in gaza. the united nations says the downing of mh17 may be a war crime. and veterans affairs delayed care and coverups. are. >> israelis were told today to

prepare for a long campaign against hamas in gaza. israeli prime minister bments benjamibenjaminnetanyahu's commr a strike on a hospital and nearby park. each side blames the other for an attack. united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon asked for the end of the confrontations, but there doesn't seem to be the end to the fighting. nick schifrin, are you hearing or seeing an escalation in the israeli offensive? >> i think hearing is the operative word just for the moment. if you can hear that those are three or four israeli doctrines right above my head or right above this entire community i should say and that is an indication of what is happening above all of gaza city. we are hearing a lot of booms and seeing flares also not only

over gaza city where we are but up north above my left shoulder, where israelis concentrate on, a lot of hamas rockets are in the north gaza about two or three miles behind me and so a lot of shelling there that we can hear. also text messages, israeli military is sending texts to people in three different communities which is about 250,000 different people warning and this is a quote, "what is coming will be worse." that's the text that many people are receiving tonight and we heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu earlier today. this is one of the deadliest days for israel in terms of the death count. 9 israeli soldiers were killed and he spoke in hebrew urging more patience for the campaign. >> translator: we knew we would have difficult days, this is a difficult and painful days,

stamina is required in order to continue against the enemy who desires to destroy us. i said and i repeat we prus be e prepared for a protracted campaign. >> reporter: after president obama urged him strongly according to officials not to escalate, clearly prime minister rejecting the advice from president obama. >> absolutely clearly resoundingly. you went to a refugee camp in goos whergaza where a strike kia number of civilians. each side is whraim blaming ther correct? >> we went to the refugee camp 20 or 30 minutes after the strike and when we got had it was the scene of chaos and incredible sadness. children were playing on a swing when that strike came in. residents pointed me to the very

spot where the strike hit. a very shallow come, two or three inches deep, suggesting the bomb was very small, there was shrapnel all over the area. we saw scenes all over the hospital, very difficult to see, so many children wounded hurt and killed by all of that shrapnel. now there are competing claims the israeli military very strongly, very quickly said this was not any israeli mu anything. the spokes -- kne mu mu munitio. it landed in the hospital not very far away. hamas rejecting that of course they have evidence that the shrapnel that killed all of those children is in fact israeli, they haven't produced the proof. the children, the residents whom

i spoke to reject drail israel's claims as well. >> nick there seems to be push back from the white house, over the way the united states is handling the diplomatic efforts. what can you tell us? >> reporter: yes, so a columnist this morning in israel said it this way. he said john kerry the secretary of state is a friend of israel but with friends like these i would rather be talking to my enemies. and that is the tone of criticism that is coming from israel to john kerry. and the white house, spoke to reporters last night and today we heard from jen saki, the secretary of state's spokes woman very strongly rebutting that saying john kerry is trying to come up with a sustainable se ceasefire. >> nick schifrin in gaza. >> confidential draft was leaked to the press. our discussion draft and the

egyptian proposal, the opening of border crossings and mediation by the egyptians on other core issues. it's mrs. important to note that the egyptian proposal did not make any mention of demilitarization. >> nor was it meant for a vote in front of the israeli cabinet. bottom line tony, israel does not seem interested in a peace negotiation or any kind of ceasefire. hamas is not willing to accept the assurances that kerry and the intermediaries have given it, that the next ceasefire will be opening up the border or lifting the siege. neither side seems intreforted n ceasefire. >> nick schifrin thank you. a good deal of support in

his country. kim vanel reports on developments from west jerusalem. >> israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu statement dampening hopes of a ceasefire in the immediate future. he came out and said we are not going to finish this exaifn until the tunnels are destroyed. warning israelis and palestinians as well that this could be a protracted campaign. in terms of israeli public opinion, people for the most part, the vast majority of israelis, support the ongoing bombardment of gaza. the reasons for that, there are the messages received from the israeli media and about the number of tunnels fowfntd and the number of -- found and the number of rockets into gooz, the majorities of which are intercepted by israelis's iern

dome. this is not a new conflict, they want something to be different at this time. and they are also seeing these rockets that are being fired from gaza go further than they have in previous years. on sunday night sirens sounded further north than tel aviv. >> some perspective on the scale of the conflict at the moment so far nearly 1100 palestinians have died. many of them civilians. about 6500 have been wounded. the united nations say the fighting has displaced more than 165,000 in gaza. on the israeli side at least 55 people died most of them soldiers. as the fighting goes on in the middle east so do the protests here in the united states. held dueling rallies downtown, there are no reports of any major problems and in new york city a huge crowd gathered near the united nations to show support for israel. john terret was there and filed

this report. >> reporter: the longer this conflict has gone on there have been protests in cities the world over in favor of the palestinian cause. now fearful that their message is not being heard at the united nations and in the negotiable media israeli supporters have begun hitting back with protests like this one outside the world body in east manhattan which the new york police estimate is 10,000 strong. >> the united nations unfortunately sometimes does not do the right thing. and they say things that make no sense condemning israel for taking military action to protect innocent civilians. >> it is really unfortunate how the media has been misrepresenting the situation. oppression should not be something to endure. palestinian people i view them as hostages held by hamas, helping to get out of a situation that is very dangerous for them as well.

>> the media has been very unkind to israel so we have to be out on the streets to make sure the united states urve else knows that a large core are ready to support israel. >> delegitimize the jewish people especially at the time of the holocaust. now they seek to delegitimize the jewish state as well as the people. it is not going ohappen. we respect freedom of speech but when we have freedom of speech to defend ourselves also, we know we can make a difference especially in front of the united nations. >> reporter: organizers say it's more likely to have rallies like this all around the world, having their say what's happening in the middle east all around the continent. all the while, a peace solution seems to elude world leaders. >> john terret reporting for us. so through the fighting and protest two young men in florida

hope their friendship will show others a path to peace. natasha guinane joins us from broward county, florida. natasha there is a protest going on around you. describe it for us please. >> well, as can you see, it is a pretty big pro-palestinian rally plus these kids here we are standing outside congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz's office. calling on their elected officials to ask israel to stop the violence in gaza. and you said we spoke to two young men who found themselves protesting on opposite sides in the last few weeks yet they seem to have found common ground. when these 20 somethings first met, shalom ni stein began

grilling mohamed on the ongoing conflict. >> i think it's a way to judge each other. >> reporter: that first conference between an american jew and a palestinian was the start of a 66 year friendship. it started on bonding over sports and dating. but the israeli palestinian conflict, they feel a genuine desire to gean one another on what's happening there. >> did either one of you have a viewpoint on the situation? >> absolutely, i didn't look upon mohamed as he wanted to kill me. >> on some issues, i found that our commonalities outweighed or differences. >> emotion are especially

charged, talking about their friendship has stirred hatred among their respective friends but they seem unphased. >> i consider him like my brother. >> very nice words, the same goes for you shalom. i think we've been encountering a lot of judgments among ourselves, we've had push back but a lot of support. and i think what we're doing could hopefully lead to some special. >> the men are passionate about their beliefs and fiercely disagree on several points. >> descrealare israel has foughm its inception. >> i believe palestine has also fought since its inception.

>> despite their long friendship the men have never met one another's families. they hope one day they can bring them together. >> stand by. >> occupation, no war. >> despite of their detractors, the two men say they will continue to spread their message of peace. tony. >> natasha a few weeks ago you reported on a beating of a palestinian american from florida, while visiting his family in east jerusalem. is there an update on his condition? >> actually there is tony. he is headed to capitol hill. on friday he's planning on testifying during a congressional briefing he's going to talk about his arrest and beating. >> all right, natasha. natasha guinane for us in broward county, florida. natasha thank you. the u.n. said today the downing of mh17 may amount to a war crime. since the downing 11 days ago

fighting has increased between russian separatists and ukrainian fighters. >> could amount to a war crime, there is a need for a prompt independent and impartial investigation. i think that's what needs to be done so as to establish the fact and circumstances of what has happened. >> the plane's flight data recorders are revealing more about what caused the crash. the plane suffered massive explosive decompression after it was hit by fragments from a missile. up next, we'll get a take from eastern ukraine and how the world is responding. bipartisan response from the delayed care into what has

plagued the veterans administration. mike viqueria has a report. be. >> don't look now tony but a senator and member of the house may have come to agreement, an overhaul to the are troubled department of veterans affairs. bernie saunders, a socialist, jeff miller a conservative from redder than red florida panhandle. includes $10 billion to allow veterans to go to private care, private doctors if they have to wait more than 14 days to get into a va facility to see a doctor. also if you live more than 40 miles away from a va facility, you can get private care. there is $2 billion tony to build some 27 new facilities or at least new facilities, va facilities from around the country. bernie sanders as i said is the chairman of the senate veterans affairs committee, lauded the agreement this morning in

washington. >> when veterans get into the va system they feel pretty good about the quality of care that they are getting. i hear this all of the time. problem we're having with access we're going to deal with it now short term with emergency care. people going to private doctors and so forth. longer term i hope the va will have the doctors, nurses and the culture to make sure that every eligible veterans in this country gets timely and quality health care when he or she needs it. >> reporter: and tony you heard him talk about the culture. a lot needs to be rooted out about the culture of vaiz, in fact they are -- va, in fact they are producing a process to root out the incompetence in the va. >> what goes into this? >> they only have a week before their summer vacation, they're not going to be back in the september 8th. the question is can they get it

under the wire? $12 billion of that is unpaid, calling it emergency spending, deaf spending. will house republicans go for that? that's an open question when it reaches the floor sometime later this week. >> mike viqueria, thank you. come up, the judge has just come up clearing the way for the sale of the los angeles clippers. and social security will start drawing up in just 16 years. ali velshi from "real money" explains what it means to your retirement. ♪

i voted for culture... ...with a 'k.' how are you? i voted for plausible deniability. i didn't kill her, david. and i voted for decisive military action.

♪ america, you cast your votes. now, go to xfinity on demand and select the people's hotlist to see this summer's top 100 shows and movies. i voted! >> today's power politics there are now 99 days until the mid term elections. are you counting? and in the battle for congress the amount of money being spent on political ads has already set a record. this is going to be pretty obscene. david schuster is here on this. david. >> tony, my gosh we are seeing a lot of ads at this point in the campaign. they are absolutely right. according to multiple independent groups, that track

this information, the number of political ads from outside groups alone not to mention the candidates, has reached six times as much at the same point in the 2010 mid terms. through mid july the number of senate campaign commercials that have run on television is over 150,000. that is more than the total for the entire 2010 campaign season. and keep in mind: we haven't even reached the months of september and october when the ad buys usually go way up. thankfully the ads are a little bit more creative at this time, perhaps a lot more creative in your point of view, natalie tenant has released a commercial supporting her position on the coal situation. different than the national position. >> i'll make sure president obama gets the message. [ explosion ]

>> shutting off the lights at the white house. not a bad way to say you support coal. by the way, kansas primary, the commercial notes the tea party challenger milton wolf is under investigation for his conduct as a doctor. >> new sources show wolf exposed private patient x rays on facebook, where wolf relentlessly poked fun at the dead our wounded. wolf under official investigation. milton wolf, not trusted. >> get your word out to the polls. in that regard, first lady michelle obama is trying to energize democrats. she is starring in a democratic campaign video, watch. >> we need you to be as passionate and hungry as you were in 2008 and 2012. in fact you need to be even more

passionate and more hungry to get democrats elected to congress. because these elections will be even harder and even closer than those presidential elections. >> one democrat told us today the reason michelle obama is making that pitch as opposed to the president is because her popularity is much higher right now. and presidential politics, former republican vice presidential candidate sarah palin who has not ruled in or out a 2016 campaign has just launched an online news and video channel. >> this is a news channel that really is a lot more than news. this is a community. >> and joining that community will cost you $9.95 a month or $99 for one year. you get a bargain if you go for the year. finally to the story we first mentioned last friday. florida cockman kurt clawsen has apologized to the departments of state and commerce who testified at a hearing last week. the congressman thought they

were representatives of the government of india and the mistake became cringe worthy when the congressman began asking them some questions. >> just as your capital is welcome here to produce good paying jobs in the u.s. i'd like our capital to be welcome there and there be freedom of capital so both sides are on the same territory, i ask cooperation from your government in so doing. can i have that? >> i think your question is to the india government and we certainly share your sentiments and we certainly will advocate that on behalf of the u.s. government. >> of course, okay, let's see some progress. >> claussen shot an air ball. >> i love how he's smirking and laughing, he knows exactly what

this guy is stepping into. and he let him go. >> not good for partisan politics. >> i enjoyed that. thanks david. a california judge ruled just a short time ago that the los angeles clippers can be sold to former microsoft ceo steve ballmer. the judge ruled against donald sterling. whose wife shelley sterling negotiated the sale on behalf of the family trust that owns the team. the doctors indicated that the 86-year-old billion air is incapable of handling trust affairs. millions of americans depend on soarkts for their retirement. "real money"'s ali velshi joins us. ali, great to see you. gigantic programs. >> they make up a big portion of

the federal budget. for now, those who are getting this, is fine. social security and medicare are headed for possible extinction unless congress does something. they make up 44% of all federal spending each year. social security and medicare benefits are funded out of payments from pay periods. revenues from those taxes won't be enough to fund 100% of medicare benefits starting in 2030. that doesn't mean it's all going to go away, that means medicare will only be able to pay out an estimated 85% of its benefits after that date. it will steadily decline to 75% by 2050. that's the medicare problem. this is a positive development because only a few years ago, forecasters forecasters said ths

would begin in 2016. after obamacare, it's slowed down medical cost. then the social security side. >> any improvement on social security? >> no that's worse. after 2033 after then it will go to 75% of benefits. once again unless congress enacts changes to the program but congress has got to look at this sooner than later. there is another program, social security disability and it is expected to get into a crunch much earlier within two years. the main problem here is that as the population ages tony the number of retirees you know relative to the number of people working is going up so tax revenues are going to fall short of what's needed. there's one study by pew that says that 14%, only 14% of americans expect to receive full social security benefits when they retire. so you know, clearly, if you think this is going to be you, you should do something about it

now. >> i'm in the majority i don't expect a doggone dime. >> you need to plan for it right? >> need to plan for it. what do you do or could be done? there are options to ensure the long term solvency of social security. >> from the governmental perspective you can trim the benefits you can raise taxes which is not a great environment in which to do that or you raise the age in which americans can start receiving benefits. trick to that is raising the age for folks under 40 so they have a lot of years to prepare for it. but these are hard choices in the best of of times. you can't even get congress to agree whether it was rainy or sunny today. make plans to replace it. that is something we are not good at as americans, properly savings. you can max out your 401(k), and it won't properly cover you, especially for a strapping guy like you tony.

it's boring, it's all actuarial, you got to think about your own future and go and try to make choices. >> we're just going to keep working. a we enjoy it, b we have to. ali, big program at 7:00 p.m. "real money." coming up. russia seems to be doubling down. we'll talk about the motives and why. back in a moment.

>> president obama and furn leadereuropeanleaders have agree further sanctions. there is evidence russia intends to deliver more powerful rocket

launchers tlaunchers to russian separatists. artillery and gun fire in an area where the ukrainian army has been advancing, to the inspection mission, more frustration. >> there is work to be done. it can only be done, if the guns are down, the if we have no risk on our way there. we are sick and tired of being interrupted by gun fights despite the fact that we have agreed that there should be a ceasefire. >> reporter: the u.n. says the shooting down of the malaysian plane may be a war crime but a nasty war has been raging for months in eastern ukraine and the people living in this area

have paid a heavy price. >> there has been a serious deterioration in the areas still controlled by these armed groups. they include abductions detentions, tortures, executions which are used to intimidate the population which are often held as hostage or trapped in this pocket of territories in the donetske and luhansk region. >> reporter: the u.n. says the separatists have detained more than 700 people in the past months. alexi ask one of them in kyiv, still shaken by what happened to him in luhansk. >> translator: they took our phones, cameras. didn't let us call our relatives, anyone. kept threat thing us, wanted to shoot us. my friend's wife was pregnant. he was telling them, my wife is pregnant please let me call her. they did not let him call. they put us on our knees. they did not give us food or

water, there wasn't even a toilet. >> reporter: but the u.n. says they have used heavy weapons in and around ukraine, this could be another violation of international law. we have just tried to go to horlivka, an area that the ukrainians are trying to recapture. we could see hundreds of vehicles full of people who are trying flee but we were detained at a separatist checkpoint for several hours. we were not allowed to film. more weapons are peerin pouringo the east. there is no serious dploasm dipo bring this fighting to an end. barnaby phillips,ing al jazeera, eastern ukraine. >> senior ukrainian military officials, philipp thank you for your time.

perfect man on this story. so why is president putin denying what seems so obvious that he is assisting ukraine with weaponry? he denied the russian soldiers were in crimea only to admit that deception on television. why isn't he owning up to what he's doing here? phillip, ca can you hear me now? oh, my -- our i apologizes we . i want to have this conversation with him. russia has been ordered to pay tens of billions of dollars in the order of arbitration, the permanent court in the netherlands says the government owes $50 million to gml limited, that is the former majority holder of the yukos oil

holdings. took over yukos to silence the ceo who was an opponent of vladimir putin. millions around the globe are commemorating eid, al fitr. to celebrate with their families. in turkey the start of the three day holiday was marked by musicians playing drums and pipes. for many muslims it is a day of celebration but for iraqis it is another are day of hardship. outside of erbil. >> the mood is somber. there are no signs of celebrations. some children managed to put on new clothes but for most of the 5,000 displaced who live here it's a sad day. he has two wives and 14

children. he escaped the government bombardment in sala hadeen province. >> we don't have eid, our conditions are very bad. the government has to be just to all people or quit. >> reporter: this is a transit camp between erbil and mosul. it has 1,000 tents. the u.n. council is building a permanent camp not far from here. they are desperate everyone with a story to tell. he left mosul when the islamic state took control in june. >> the conditions are disastrous, no basic needs, can't go back to mosul, i want to leave this country. >> reporter: there is running water some food and aid but there are not enough toilets. the u.n. figures are quite staggering. violence in iraq has displaced

about 1.2 million people since january. more than half of them came from anprovince. anprovince -an--anbar province. children do what they do best, cooling down in the scorching heat. they are too young to understand the conflict around them. hazard camp south of erbil. let's get back to our discussion. philipp carver. can you hear me this time? >> i can, thank you tony. >> just happy to have you on the program. let me start here. why is president putin deny what is obvious, i can't read this satellite picture but the people who can are pretty convinced of

what russia is doing here. president putin denied that russian soldiers were in crimea, only to admit that deception on television. why isn't he owning up to what he's doing here? >> it's funny i was before congress the other day a congressman asked me the same thing. he said in washington when you find yourself in a hole, you stop digging. why is he digging himself deeper? they are all losing credibility. and i think it's a really interesting question. and i think it's a scary answer. because what -- if he -- if he is in denial, then that means, likely, that there's something big coming. so why admit it? whatever comes in the future will just swamp what the memory of this event. >> i understand. >> i think there's something to

worry about. >> all right. so if the -- if the annexing of crimea followed the play book of russian invasion exercises and that was your analysis, does russia in your estimate wand all of ukraine? what is the end game here? >> well what they said this spring is they wanted southern ukraine all the way from kharkiv to mul doa doe muldova. now it seems that he's narrowed his objectives and originally wanted to have donetske and luhansk as these independent republics that would be incorporated into russia. now since they seem to be losing that option because of the terror that they've inflicted on their own people --

>> right. >> -- it seems like he wants a frozen conflict where you essentially sort of lock things into place and in that sense calls for a ceasefire is probably the worst thing you could do because it would essentially freeze it and leave the conflict to whoever can pour the more -- most troops in and just bleed ukraine. >> yes, let me -- look i'm going to lean on your knowledge here. is europe afraid to do anything positive? we've got anot of expansion of sanctions. to do so would jeopardize a tepid recovery in eu? >> there's really two europes. there's eastern europe, the poles are very upset. turkey is prohibiting any russian ships from being able to enter turkish ports.

it's western europeans who are looking at their pocketbook or have up until now and been lagging at this. there's an attitude and it's important to highlight it, we don't want to be provocative or highlight it, but now thins are 10 times worse. the russians have moved their bombers opposite kyiv not to mention the traj city of shooting down a -- of tragedy of shooting down a civilian plane. now not doing in is provocative. putin says no matter what i do, nobody is going to do anything. >> what about the united states, next big move? sanctions are clearly not doing what the united states would like to. what's the next big move for united states? >> clearly they're hurting but they're not stopping them. one of the issues i think we could do almost immediately would be to send pre predators.

>> really? >> ing th >> ing -- the ukrainians are losing planes every day. the natural response would be to put in unmanned drones which are harder to shoot down and they reduce civilian carts because they are -- casualties because they are much more precise. that would be my first recommendation. >> okay. >> that little effort would have that big a swing. >> phillip, appreciate it. thank you for your time. >> there are some other things -- >> that was terrific. phillip carver, a former defense department strategist, back from ukraine where he spoke to a flux of officials there. phillip thank you. beginning of a trial to uncover unreleased video.

>> video showing a second person involved. he filed a lawsuit after his brother's death 19 years ago. flown to oklahoma after the bombings because he resembled a police sketch for john doe number 2. he thinks his brother died during an interrogation gone wrong. the fbi has no evidence that unreleased videos of the bombing even exist. they say timothy mcvey acted alone. the fib says that drugs were autopsy doctors say the drugs went into the inmate's veins properly. an autopsy is still pending. same sex marriage ban

unconstitutional, a provision against same sex marriage was also struck down earlier this month in oklahoma. and remember bat kid? >> yes yes yes. >> the five-year-old cancer survivor who captured the nation's heart and captured gotham city. now a documentary is made about him. >> it is whimsical and what would wow that child and giving them an experience that gives them a little bit of their childhood back. we decided to turn san francisco into gotham city. >> the documentary has raised $47,000 through crowd funding and hoping to raise another $50,000 to complete that film. >> come on kick-starters we love that kid's story. he saved gotham and the rest of the world. innes thank you. after a freak storm in

california a lightning strike hit venice killing a 20-year-old man. one other person is still in critical condition. kevin corriveau is here. >> let me show you how this thing started to begin with. all of the rain charts across the southwest, we have an area of high pressure that's really digging and driving that weather into parts of california. normally there's only one thunderstorm day per year. in 2011 they had two and in 2012 they had three. last year they had one. the average is very, very low and on the beach it is even lower than that. but i want to take you and show you what actually happened. this is the one we are talking about. just in the wrong place at the wrong time. of course it was sunday morning. a lot of people were at the beach there at venice. we also saw a lightning strike at redondo and at catalina.

the monsoon is kicking in actuallyjulactually july for ca. >> coming up on are al jazeera america, border crossings are closed and entire communities under quarantine. three americans arrested in iran, one a reporter for washington post. roxana saberi is here to talk about her experience on an iranian prison.

>> talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america >> the state department called upon iran to release three iranian americans detained there since last week. one is jason rezayan, and his

iranian wife likely detained on tuesday. in iran. isn't releasing why or where he was arrested. their identities have not been made public. our colleague roxana saberi has an idea of what the journalists were going through. she was living and working in iran when she was arrested and jailed and accused of espionage. she was released after 100 days. tell me why you think they were arrested? >> tony, i think it's hard to tell now, it probably won't be clear until they are freed and can speak freely. by hard liners who control the judiciary and security in iran. those are in a power struggle with the moderates. >> there is this kind of power struggle going on between the hard liners and the moderates. is that real?

>> it is very real, it happened under mohamed fatah hami, maybe trying to sabotage rouhani's negotiation is with the west. if i could add one more thing, it might also be aaimed at trying oget information from these journalists or trying get them to admit to some other crime or die indict some others. >> can you give us a sense of what jason might be going through? based on your own experience your thoughts on what they might be going through. >> well it depends on where they are being held. if they are in evan prison it's likely they are in solitary confinement. that is the most difficult time of custody, we want to have

interpersonal connections, no books, perhaps they will give him the koran, no access to attorneys, hours and hours of interrogations, day after day. >> how difficult are those interrogations, you went through that experience. how tough was it on you and how tough are they generally thinking? >> they are very difficult because the interrogators are good at what they do. they are trained to put a lot of pressure on prisoners and oftentimes prisoners like i was are blind folded, you sit at a desk and you have men behind you jelling out questions -- yelling out questions to you. there is something called vc you are supposed to write something about your relatives, your friends your sources on different pieces of paper. you would love to get out of there without doing that but this is something they want to get from prisoners.

>> roxana truth is, the washington post has been very supportive of al jazeera's joirnltsdz whal jazeera'sjournan egypt right now. we want to support the freedom of press and jason you and the other journalistic colleagues who are in prison today. thanks for being willing to share. >> thanks for having me. three western african countries have been dealing with ebola right now. closing border crossings and putting countries under quarantine. so far 129 people have died from ebola in sierra leone, first surfaced in g guinea where 350 people are now dead. one person who flied into nigeria's largest city, lagos, science and technology expert

jacob ward joins us. tell us about ebola and why it is so prevalent in this part of west africa. >> tony it is a question of how ebola is spread. spread by contact with bodily fluids. it causes hemorrhagic neefer, and that is usually only in places where -- fever, and that's usually only in places where there is substandard medical care. it happens to occur in fruit bats which are very prevalent there. the worst outbreak humanity has ever seen. >> we are hearing about two infected americans. is this disease spreading further? >> well, that really is the concern here and the passenger arriving in nigeria, sort of new

thing, nigeria hasn't seen much in the way of ebola. he was sick on the flight and while there were cramped conditions you would have to come into contact with the bodily fluid and touch your eyes or your nose. that said, there are people that the authorities can't get in touch with, contact trace, everyone who that person has come in contact with, they haven't been able to do that. these two americans wearing protective gear have become infected. >> jake ward, thank you. a sports figure has are stirred up a fire storm, a reaction to steven smith, next.

>> host steven alameda county smith is facing criticism for comments he made over domestic

violence. he apparently starting addressing women insinuating that they need to do everything they can to avoid provoking these types of snents. have a listen. >> let's make sure we don't do anything to provoke wrong actions. because if i come or somebody else comes whether it's law enforcement officials your brother or the fellows that you know, if they come after somebody has put their hands on you doesn't tbloo negate -- doesn't negate them putting their hands on you. make sure that doesn't happen. >> there has been fallout. innes. >> that seems to be making matters worse. folks were fume going his comments. they felt he was somehow trying to blame the victim. michelle says, violence isn't

the victim's, violence is disgusting, walk away. goldy wrote, unfortunately, steven and his supporters are not alone. so many police officers, prosecutors and judges share that opinion. smith issued the following apology saying he made the most egregious error of his career. >> this was not my intent, not what i whereas trying to say. yet the failure to clearly articulate what i was trying to say, lies strictly on my shoulders. >> people will just take his words identity of context. kenny said, sounds sincere to me. espn issued a statement saying hiss comments didn't reflect the station's point of view, tony. >> what did he in fact want to articulate is still kind of an

open question as far as i'm concerned. maria, thank you. ing i'm tony harris, "real money" with ali velshi is next on al jazeera america. met care and social security will rount of money unless lawmakers make some changes. i'll tell you what needs to happen to both programs. also $2 store chains join forces. plus if you have been out there on the pavement looking for a job, i'll tell you about a field that is hungry for help with some 600,000 positions to fill right