i plan to take the luck that my boiled egg shape gets me all the way to the bank. that's our show for today. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. ♪ hello, everybody, and welcome to al jazeera america. i'm david shuster in new york. john siegenthaler has the night off. talking truce. there is a new agreement tonight for another try at a three-day ceasefire. we'll have the latest on egypt's proposal. region at risk, the violence across the middle east is getting worse in iraq, syria, and lebanon. safe to drink in ohio officials have now lifted the ban on toledo's water, but the problem could come back again.

ebola treatment. a second american infected with the virus is now being flown home from africa. and there's an experimental serum that may be helping to save lives. and remembering james brady. ♪ we begin tonight with a renewed push for peace in gaza. both israel and hamas have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire. you are looking at a live picture of gaza city where the ceasefire is scheduled to begin in just five hours. the truce is supposed to be followed by talks on a permanent deal. >> well, this is an important moment. we have agreed on a road map for

ending the israeli attack against gaza. we hope that the israelis will be committed and will respect the ceasefire. and if that happens we hope that we can work out the whole agreement about the ceasefire and the lift of the siege on gaza. 8:00 tomorrow morning the israeli forces will cease offensive operations, but we'll be looking very closely to make sure hamas does live up to its commitment and obligations that it has made to the egyptians and others. i hope that we can now leave the conflict and have a situation where the israeli people don't have to worry about in-coming rockets. >> charles stratford has more on tonight's ceasefire announcement. >> reporter: bare in mind it's 2:00 am here in gaza as we speak. all we can really here at the moment are the sounds of drones

above, which we have heard every night. it has been very quiet here in the last couple of hours. this announcement came at a time also when israel said that it had completed its destruction of what it says were hah mass tunnels. it also comes at a time where one israeli official said that they were prepared to withdraw their troops from gaza. in terms of what people are thinking in the run-up this is terrible skepticism. these people have been absolutely pummelled in the last month. whole neighborhoods wiped out. tens of thousands of people stuck in un schools and told by the israelis to return to a neighborhood with a population of around 60,000, with massive areas completely flattened.

now where are these people supposed to go? they don't trust this ceasefire. >> president obama has signed a bill providing an additional $225 million to israeli's anti-missile iron dome system. it will replenish israel's defensive capabilities. five rockets were intercepted by israeli iron dome system in the last 24 hours. the united nations says 25% of the population in gaza has now been displaced. and the public health system in gaza is on the verge of collapse. in west jerusalem a soldier was injured in a shooting, and a man driving a tractor hit a pedestrian and then flipped over

an empty bus. andrew simmons reports. >> reporter: this excavator crashed into the bus over here, flipping it over. now as this was happening, a pedestrian was caught underneath and has since died, and the police were nearby. one policeman, he immediately opened fire at the excavator's driver and killed him. his body is beneath that white plastic there. tension has been running high obviously here in jerusalem with what is going on in gaza. the police say that their are treating this as a terrorist attack, and they say that the dead man is palestinian. they have carried out a search of the area around. >> andrew simmons there in jerusalem. lawrence korb is a senior

fellow and is in washington this evening. what are the chances of this ceasefire holding? >> well, i think the chances are greater here because israel has accomplished a lot of its military objectives with the tunnels. they also concerned about public opinion in the lot of the western countries, given some of the things that have happened in terms of the air strikes they have had. and they are also beginning to see, as you reported some of the problems on the west bank where people there are become very upset, so think they felt a week ago when they had it, they basically did it under pressure from the united states, and i think hamas has recognized, basically that there's nothing more that they can gain militarily, because i think in the -- an agreement that would follow this, they are can get

the borders open. i assume that egypt let them know that, and, you know, in the negotiations that they had in cairo. so i think they are much better than they were, you know, a week or so ago, because of the situation on the ground. >> a few weeks ago a number of israelis describes the operation against hamas every couple of years as being like mowing the lawn. is that the same situation here? >> no, i think it's a little bit different, because hamas does not have the support in the arab world that they did in previous times. the egyptians don't like them. the saudis don't like them. the only meme they have really are qatar, which is giving them money. and the palestinian authority, right before all of this started really set up a unity government that hamas supported. they didn't have people in it, but they did support it.

so i think that basically if that unity government holds and then the palestinian military forces, which we have trained, if they can provide security in gaza, i think that will really move this well beyond just mowing the lawn. >> over the weekend there were a number of press reports that benjamin netenyahu has told the obama administration not to second-guess him again when it comes to dealing with hamas. israel has not denied those reports. but what does it all say about the status of the u.s./israeli relationships at that executive level? >> well, every time there is a conflict there is always tension. while we want to protect israel, and we have just given them more money for the iron dome as you mentioned, we also want to make sure they don't inflame the whole middle east. and when he said don't second guess me was about a week ago

when they had a ceasefire, and israel accepted it, and the next thing you know hamas killed three soldiers, and i think given israeli's concern about human life and prisoners being taken, that this really did upset the prime minister. >> does this also, though, change the dynamics for broader peace talks between the israelis and palestinians, given that egypt that is basically brokering the ceasefire, could we start to see the peace talks start to shift in terms of who is involved now? >> well, it has changed dramatically because of this -- you know, the so-called arab spring. obviously the war in -- in iraq, the rise of isis, and the trouble in the area.

you want countries who want stability against the jihadists, that everybody is concerned about. >> you mentioned some countries that don't like hamas, including saudi arabia, egypt, jordan. is it possible because of their hatred for hamas, that maybe they start to play a greater role in peace talks generally as opposed to the united states? >> oh, i -- i think so. and i think that would be good. because previously it has been the united states and israel against the whole arab world. now if you have the arabs negotiating with israel, the u.s. can take a step back. >> thank you for joining us on the program. great to see you as always. >> nice to see you again. the worst ebola outbreak in history remains out of control

in west africa. one infected american is now being treated in atlanta. and now another man who was in africa is being treated. and in liberia a plane landed to pick up another american who has the virus. an experimental serum given to her appears to be working. dr. kent brantley also received the serum, he was able to walk in to the hospital in atlanta on saturday. he is the first known ebola case to be treated in the united states. the world health organization says 887 people have died from the outbreak. doctors in new york say they should know soon whether there is another case in the united states. paul beban is live. tell us about this one.

>> good evening, david, first of all, doctors are being very tight lipped about the details of this patient. we learned about this late this afternoon. this man apparently presented at the hospital emergency room in the early morning hours of sunday night, monday morning, with system toms consistent with ebola, which is a wide range of flu-like symptoms. we don't know anything more about those symptoms. the hospital emphasizing out of privacy concerns they are not going to elaborate. they did say within seven minutes of him hitting the doors here he was placed in strict isolation. the hospital has been reviewing their emergency protocols with the cdc, city, state, and local health officials, and said they

were prepared for a massive event. emphasizing they were very prepared for this. let's hear what they had to say earlier this afternoon. >> we're very confident in that our work with the federal, state, and local authorities will lead to a prompt evaluation of this patient, and that we'll be able to hopefully find there is a more common pause of fever and other symptoms the patient has. but using an abundance of caution we're going to work carefully with the cdc to make sure this patient does not have the ebola disease. >> reporter: they said they are taking samples and specimens to try to rule out other diseases. and they have sent those to the cdc. again, all they would say was that this patient had travelled somewhere in west africa in one

of these three countries where there has been an ebola outbreak and returned to new york city sometime in the last month. we don't know if that was yesterday, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, but one would assume he has had contact with others. but the hospital said nobody in the er should be concerned. ebola tires intimate contact with bodily fluids such as blood or saliva, again, not a lot of details. hospital officials emphasizing they are proceeding out of an abundance of caution. >> paul beban reporting live from new york. thanks for that update. in china tonight heavy storms and after shocks are slowing the search for possible survivors of a deadly earthquake. chinese officials say the death toll is approaching 400.

chinese troops have been called to the region to try to help dig through the rubble. coming up the growing violence in the middle east and not just between israel and hamas. and an australian couple was accused of leaving thailand with one twin, but leaving one with a disorder behind. ♪

military immigration shelterers have been closed. they were used for unaccompanied mire nor children. they are being shut down because

there are fewer of these children and there is room at other shelters. the major of toledo says now the water is safe to drink. the water was contaminated by algee from lake erie. jake how was algee shut down the water supply of a major city? >> that's a really good question. algee is an important of any healthy body of water, but in overabundance it can be dangerous. and that's what happened here. wind has unfortunately blow it into the in take for the toledo water district. so now it's just down to a question of testing. and given that it's all about sort of testing, and they believe they can deal with this. but it doesn't sound like the

government can guarantee that this won't happen again. >> that's exactly right. that's the real problem here. there is no federal standard for testing for micro systems which is the toxin this algee releases. it's just an ad hoc system. and it's just of the good come mom sense of some workers that we even know this is happening. lake erie is the southern most, most populated of the great lakes, and the people can develop flu like systems, and have no idea it's coming from their water. so this speaks to the need, that many local residents and certainly the mayor has talked about the need for federal oversight. and that seems to be the case here. >> jake thank you. a storm maimed bertha picked up strength in the atlantic

today becoming the season's second official hurricane. kevin corriveau is here with the latest. >> that's right. we have seen a lot of problems already with this storm down in the caribbean, in puerto rico, they picked up about 6 do 10 inches of rain. the flooding was pretty impressive. it's just to the east of the baja mas, we expect to see it stay in the open water, the problem is we're still going to have problem with surf because of the category 1 strength of the storm. and we'll have a riptide danger, so if you are going to the beach that could be a problem. it will continue to move to the northeast, then nova scotia, and new foundland and canada could see some dangerous weather.

both of these storms are headed which think towards hawaii. this is a category 4 system right now. this storm will be tracking into cooler water. and then we have julio, this one is expected to get stronger, but also very similar track towards hawaii. we'll be watching these two storms. >> kevin thank you. there is a report tonight of a secret undercover u.s. operation that dispatched young latin americas to cuba to stir up political unrest. according to an associated press investigation, the project was run by the u.s. agency for international development. young men were sent to cuba to recruit political activists. ro rosiland jordan has more. the usie came under fire.

now usaid and the state department are denying another program was started in cuba to bring up political unrest. they went there to spread the idea of trying to change the government. that's according to allegations in a new story from the u.s. the state department insists the program had a duel function and it was trying to provide an opportunity to increase political awareness among young cubans. however, the cuban government is not looking favorably on this program. and neither are these young people who said they thought they were simply making new friends, but now feel they were

mislead and perhaps being misused. because of past relationships, usaid and affiliated programs might have been used not to promote general health and welfare but used instead to change political governments. something which these other countries obviously do not like. >> rosiland jordan reporting from the state department. russia has held several days of military exercises near the border with ukraine. the war games are happening as ukraine tries to figure out how hundreds of its soldiers in russia might come back. kiev says the trooped were forced to cross the border during fighting. moscow says the soldiers were seeking asylum. >> reporter: there are two dramatically different accounts of what happened.

the rur -- though russians said the soldiers crossed the border seeking asylum. these ukrainians have been saying they are fed up with the conflict, that they felt abandoned by kiev and ran out of support. the russians say 180 have been bussed back into ukraine, but some have asked for asylum. the ukrainian version is this, the brigade split in two. one of the units provided covering fire for the other unit to escape. the covering unit ran out of ammunition and then had no choice but to cross the border into russia. whichever account is true, it is embarrassing for the ukrainians and a bit of a pr coup for

russia. coming up, we will remember james brady and his legacy of gun control. and left behind, an australian couple took one of their biological children home from thailand but left the twin behind with the surrogate.

>> welcome back everybody, to al jazeera america. coming up this half hour, a region at risk. we'll take a closer look at the violence spreading through the middle east. plus african leaders summit. dozens of world leaders are gathering in washington. there are economy and trade opportunities. and 100 laters, britain remembers the day they joined the first world war. ♪

the bloodshed in gaza has been taking place as other battles rage across the middle east. there has been violence from iraq all the way to libya in northern africa. nowhere has the human misery been greater, however, than this syria. the uprising that swept the country during the arab spring unleashed a civil war that has killed more than 170,000 people. the syrian president still controls the capitol damascus, the forces battling the government are fagmented between more moderate and extremist groups. battles are now pushing into lebanon.

jane ferguson brings the report. the lebanese military battle fighters from syria. lebanese security forces have been killed and some kidnapped. >> translator: the gunmen are everywhere. they put a check point near my house, and they are presenting anyone to enter or leave. >> reporter: more than 100,000 people live there, including many syrian refugees. those injured in the fighting are being treated in a makeshift hospital. >> translator: most of the wounded are syrians who live in makeshift camps. most of the wounded are children. there is no place for them to go. >> reporter: heavy shelling and street fighting continued on monday as the lebanese army tried to take control. and the country's political

leaders pushed for a quick end to the attack. lebanon's prime minister says he will continue with the military option. >> translator: there is no solution with sunni extremist fighters who are working to bring the war to lebanon. the army has full support from major blocks, and we will use all security forces to support our attack. >> reporter: jane ferguson, al jazeera. the islamic state is also making inroads in iraq. over the weekend the sunni group attacked kurdish fighters. and now help is being offered for the first time. mohammed has the report. >> reporter: it may look like a regular traffic jam, but it was a mass exodus in the open desert

of iraq. the people have to cross this bridge after fleeing the latest round of fighting. fighters have taken control of two towns, forcing these civilians to flee towards areas that are not in their control. >> thousands have become refugees. 40,000 in all. the town is controlled by the islamic state. they are killing the people and there is a big attack against the locals. >> reporter: fighters from the islamic state were able to push further north. the kurdish militia said they were norse forced to pull back. >> translator: we are now waiting for the president's order to tack them.

we will kill them, wound them, or arrest them. >> reporter: but it remains to be seen if kurdish fighters are strong enough to fight the on slot. they have captured large areas in the past months. in the latest offensive, this time against the kurdish fighters, they took control not only of several towns, but also three oil refineries, and new maps show kurdistan as part of the islamic state, making it unclear where their push to the north will stop. all of this vie -- violence has increased the pressure for a break through somewhere. and tonight there is some hope in gaza and israel. previous truce deals of course have fallen apart. four weeks into the israeli operation in gaza, more than

1800 palestinians including civilians are dead. the conflict has also claimed the lives of 64 israeli soldiers and 2 israeli civilians. in libya the fighting is still underway, and thousands are now trying to flee. rival militias have been battling each other for weeks. >> reporter: they were elected in june, but this is their first official meeting. violence is rife in the capitol of tripoli, and the eastern city was the best place for them to meet in a hotel, under the protection of a heavy security presence. fighting between different libyan militias has thrown the country into turmoil again. to add to the complexity. the head has offered a rival meeting in triply. the new house of representatives

has called for a national unity government as an effort tend to the crisis. the transitional government is offering at the core to put in all pressures. it will produce an balanced situation in libya. >> reporter: the instability caused libya's oil production to drop below 450,000 barrels per day, well below the 1.4 million it produced a year ago. britain is the latest embassy to close its doors and pull out its diplomatic staff. the u.s., france, and other countries had done so days earlier. libyans and foreign nationals crossed the border in to tunisia to escape the fighting. but thousands remain trapped. they are stuck on the border as tunisia has restricted those who

are leaving. the egyptian foreign minister and tunisia prime minister have agreed on a plan to evacuate those who are stranded. >> translator: we don't have a precise estimate of figures considering there are still many more citizens blocked on the libyan side. we can say there are about 5,000 to 10,000 people. there are some difficulties to move them to the tunisian side of the border. >> reporter: the egyptian foreign minister visited the border area, and assured those stranded that the egyptian government is doing its best to end their nightmare. an air lift is underway, but it will take days to get all of those who want to leave out. douglas is a senior national secure if i fellow with the new

american foundation, and joins us now. what do you make of the situation right now in libya. it got worse over the weekend. the airport in tripoli is now essentially closed. where is this headed? >> good to talk to you david. where it is headed is not clear. we have a lot of conflict in the area. we still have the islamist group which was implicated in the benghazi consolelate attacks. it's hard to make sense on what is the chess board on which we're playing. >> is this an opportunity perhaps for prime minister maliki to get involved? >> certainly the egyptians know libya better than we do. but it's not clear to me that even they understand how to deal with their neighboring state. >> we pulled our diplomats out a

couple of days ago, britain is doing the same. is there any role the united states should play at this time? >> not at this time. susan rice has spoken with the libyans. we are encouraging them to try to find a way out of this korea sis, but beyond these diplomatic efforts from washington, not a role for the united states right now. >> tell me about the developments where the islamic state continues to gain ground. your reaction to the government providing help to the kurds to try to shut down the islamic state in the north. >> i can't read this as anything but a good sign. anything that is work between these two groups is a good

thing. >> i want to put up a map of some of the towns that the islamic state has gained control of in iraq. are we heading into a situation where you have three distinct regions in iraq and there's not going to be anything anybody can do to change that? >> i don't think so. we now have the islamic state moving further north, not south towards bagdad, but north towards some of these kurdish areas, which i think might wake up all of iraq to the fact that they have a problem. only together, the sunni, shiite and kurds, can they approach this. this is not touchdown state the very real political problems and the fact that these three groups have not interacted well, but one can hope the enemy of my enemy problem might bring the two sides together.

>> we see a lot of obama administration officials increasingly concerned about the strength of the islamic state. they are medaling in lebanon, and have been in syria. is there anything that the west can or should be doing to try to take on the islamic state beyond providing some help and assistance to the countries, and providing some intelligence, i supposed to iraq. >> i think those are the big steps. arm anyone who is fighting the islamic state, and try to get the region to recognize the threat it that presents to everyone there. the islamic state is very, very clear, it has been not been able to push further south, so now we're seeing it turn north. when it is done turning north, it may well turn towards jordan. this is a group that has designs

on the entire region, and everyone in the region, regardless of their own internal disputes has an interest in putting the islamic state down. >> and it appears that hamas and israel have agreed to a three-day ceasefire. do you think this one can stick? >> i'm hopeful that this one will stick, but anyone who is trying to predict now, i question what they are doing. >> and does it hurt u.s. diplomacy, the fact that this is being brokened by the egyptians and the united states despite all of efforts that secretary of state kerry is taking a step back? >> i don't think so. egypt despite all of the turmoil, remains an ally of the

united states. and i don't see harm in doing that. >> douglas, thanks for being on the program. >> thanks so much, david. >> you are welcome. the white house is hosting its first african leadership conference. more than 50 african leaders are in washington to discuss economic opportunities and trade relati relations. lisa was the ebola outbreak discussed? >> well, it's not on the official agenda, but there were intensive discussions on the side between top u.s. health officials as well as other officials from sierra leone and liberia, and also the president of guinea. that president also dealing with an outbreak. they have tried to talk about

strategy, how to move forward, and the cdc talked about adding resources to help west africa deal with this horrendous outbreak. >> as far as the original goals of the summit, what are the expectations in terms of business and investment? >> well, the big day is going to be tomorrow. it's an all-day business summit. and it's sponsored by the u.s. chamber of commerce, and bloomberg philanthropies. president obama will be there, so will former major bloomberg, and a number of ceos. they'll talk about strengthening trade ties and investment in africa. of course there are a lot of barriers in that. but according to vice president biden who spoke we the african

leaders today, there is also the problem of corruption. >> corruption is not unique to africa, but it's a cancer in f africa as well as around the world. wide-spread corruption is an affront to the dignity of its people, and a direct threat to each of your nation's stability. all nation's stability. >> and he also warned that corruption can stifle economic growth and told the leaders they much recognize basic freedoms such as freedom of expression. and it is important to take care of all of their citizens, including women and girls. africa has have some of the fastest growing economies, and we're expected to hear over a billion dollars proposed to be

invested tomorrow. david? >> thank you. joie chen is standing by to tell us what is coming up on "america tonight." >> good evening, david. an "america tonight" investigation, a disturbing story facing some of the most elite young at loo-- athletes i america. what the u.s. olympic movement is doing to protect the next generation, and why young athletes and their parents are coming forward to say it's not enough. >> you don't tell them don't trust your coach. >> our investigation into sex abuse in youth sports. why even the most protective parents couldn't save their children from it. formal presidential press secretary james brady is being remembered tonight. he was critically injured in an

attempt to kyle ronald reagan. >> james baby had been the secretary for ronald reagan for only nine days when he accompanied the president to a speech in a hotel. afterwards a man opened fire with a handgun he bought at a pawnshop. the bullets hit the president, two other secret service agents and brady. brady was shot in the head and was in critical condition. he was in surgery for hours, and he pulled through. but his brain injury left him with slurred speech and partially paralyzed. still he and his wife began a personal pursuit for gun control. in 1993 a federal bill requiring

a background check on handguns passed bearing his name. >> in 1996 president clinton honored brady with the presidential medal of freedom. james brady group up in illinois. his first political experience came at the age of 12 when he handed out fliers for eisenhower. the graduated with a degree in political science and went on to work for the center of illinois and the texas governor. when connelly dropped out of the presidential race in 1980, brady joined reagan's campaign. even before taking over as white house press secretary, he was a popular figure among washington journalists. in a statement monday, nancy reagan said, quote, jim was the%

personification of courage. in the white house press briefing room named after brady, current press secretary josh earnest. >> he showed his patriotism to the country, by being very outspoken on an issue that was very important. [ technical difficulties ] >> and the pain he endured for so long. he will always be remembered for the wit and charm that makes the world a better place.

>> start with one issue education... gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax policy... the economy... iran... healthcare... ad guests on all sides of the debate. >> this is a right we should all have... >> it's just the way it is... >> there's something seriously wrong... >> there's been acrimony... >> the conservative ideal... >> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america storms have come across california, and they did turn deadly, just to the east of los angeles. just in a two or three-hour period, we saw five to six-inches of rain. now things have cleared up, but the area of low-pressure that caused the rain is making it way up here towards the north. but we're getting showers in an area that we do need it.

we're seeing a few showers in yosemite. right now in terms of flash flooding, as well as flooding across the region, not only in california but parts of nevada and utah as well as down here towards arizona and new mexico. and those two states have really seen the brunt of the rain. the drought unfortunately is kicking back in. no rain in the forecast all the way through the next five days. and for vegas you saw quite a bit of rain, but things will clear up for you as well with temperatures reaching into the mid-90s. let's go towards the south. miami a lot of rain showers for you. that will continue all the way through tuesday and even into wednesday where the showers in florida are expecting to become severe, but up near miami, we

don't expect to see a break in the rain probably until we get to friday. in atlanta, temperatures reaching up to 92 degrees, and then dropping off on friday. and here in the northeast we are looking at a break in the reign. but across the great lakes we're seeing more showers come into play. that's a look at your national weather, your news is next.

the case of a little boy in thailand is getting international attention. the child was reportedly abandoned by his biological parents, because he had a genetic condition. his story is raising questions about surgasy. johnson betz joins us. >> australia's government may now intervene in this case. after a couple apparently rejected one child while keeping another. this woman gave birth to little gammy. she cares for him as if he is

her own, but he's not. she is a surrogate. and he was abandoned when his biological parents realized he had down syndrome. the story has raised deep anger around the world. >> it's a very, very sad story, and i hate to see -- you know, a child could be abandoned like that. >> reporter: an australia couple hired her to carry their child. she gave birth to twins in december, and she says the biological parents kept the healthy girl, but left the boy. >> translator: why does he have to be abandoned while the other baby has its easy? >> the parents said they didn't realize their new daughter had a twin, and denied the boy was even theirs. >> the father did visit both

children in the hospital, so i find it hard to believe. >> much of australia bans commercial sir gasy, so many couples go overseas. some say the laws need to be changed. >> it's a wake-up call if you like, to have another look at the issues involved. >> reporter: hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised online for gammy who is now in the hospital fighting a heart problem. australia is now look going whether he is entitled to citizenship, which would give him free health care. u.s. laws are just as complicated. some states allow surgasy, and other states don't. >> coming up all new tonight, at 11:00 pm eastern, a push for criminal charges against the new york police department because of that choke hold

death. plus taking the challenge. why are so many teens lighting themselves on fire and then posting pictures online? these stories and much more tonight. the first fighting of world war i broke out 100 years ago today. on august 4th, 1914, germany invaded belgium. today former enemies from a century ago came together to remember. david shater reports. >> reporter: 100 years ago they were locked in a war to end all wars. tonight the leader came as allies to pay their respects to the fallen. by the end of this day a century ago, the british empire was drawn into the fray. >> translator: the message is

the same, the blight of war still plagues the world. >> translator: how can bestay neutral when a deadly conflict is happening in gaza for the last month. europe must take on these responsibilities along with the united nations. >> reporter: it was in this city where the first world battle was fought on the front. the germans expected to overcome the defenses within two days and move on paris. but the soldiers held them back long enough for distinguish and french divisions to bar their way. the area, though, was left in ruins. this huge crater was the birthplace of modern war fair's weapons of mass destruction. just one german shell landed here, weighing 800 kilograms. the explosion buried 850 men.

many still lie in this concrete behind me. this was the artillery piece that fired it. known as big bertha. inside the fort they have recrated the moment that the shell scored a direct hit. it was a horrifying fortaste of what was to come. david chater, al jazeera. and tonight's freeze frame is from belgium. wild poppies grow in a military cemetery. world war i, 17 million people died on all sides. joie chen is up next with "america tonight." thanks for watching al jazeera america. ♪

>> we're here in the vortex. only on al jazeera america. primetime news. >> welcome to al jazeera america. >> stories that impact the world, affect the nation and touch your life. >> i'm back. i'm not going anywhere this time. >> only on al jazeera america. >> an american tonight investigative report >> i never would have thought this would happen to us >> athletes going for the gold >> i've had a lot of people ask me... why didn't you scream?... why didn't you yell?...kick... why didn't you go tell your mom? >> betrayed by those they believed in the most >> there's bad people out there in youth sports >> could this happen to your child? >> my sole purpose

in coming forward, is to help change the culture of sports >> an america tonight investigative report only on al jazeera america on "america tonight": our investin into sex abuse and sport. some of the nation's top junior athletes and why even the most protective parents may not be able to save them. >> i was the helicopter parent on the other side of the door. right there. i was working out in the gym. so you can be as helicopter as you want and still miss it. >> young athletes at the top of their game. could the u.s. olympic committee do more to protects them?