welcome to al jazerra america, i am del walters, these are the story that his we are following for you. will it be extended? time is running out for that ceasefire in gaza. moredocmore doctors, more heae workers a national bill signed in to law. the man who leaked national security secrets gets another three years of refuge in russia. ♪ ♪

that temporary ceasefire it gas is now going in to its last 24 hours. egypt is hosting talks in cairo hoping to negotiate a 20 truce, hamas is demanding the lifting of the blockade on gaza but israel says fighters there must disarm first. meanwhile the task of repairing lives and especially families of the children there has begun. andrew simons has done more. >> reporter: they are playing now, but this is street therapy in a place where you never have to look far for a reminder of what gaza is going through. the team of psychologist says are trying to calm the stress of the children and others. every child here under seven has lived through three conflicts in gaza. and this one has been the worst. with whole districts decimated, the search for bodies under the rubble was still going on. and the ever-present fear that the ceasefire could end. and the killing could start

again. the intensive bombard. s have been on such a scale that gaza has never seen before. this a school that took a direct hit. and with all the devastation comes a damage that can't be patched up, that can't be rebuilt. this sort of damage, the trauma of children. 13 yield action med's brother was one of four boys killed plying playing on a beach. >> every time i think of my -- >> translator: every time i think of him i think i am choking. i i feel him playing alongside me. my heart says he didn't die. he is at home with us. it all seems unreal. >> translator: their faces will never fade from my mind. they are innocent children, what of this they done? >> reporter: there is no doubt this family needs help. normally a psychologist would be

on hand to give treatment. but not right now. his family omahas been blown up. his mother is dead arc long with three brothers and two other relatives. >> i lost six of my family. whew. now i have to take care of myself and to take care of the rest of my family. >> reporter: now receiving condolences for his losses, the doctor says he has symptoms that will need treatment. this, a man who has worked hard to destigmatize mental health care for the people of gaza. it's hard to find anyone who hasn't been touched by tragedy. we found this man still sick and unsteady with a head injury returning to what was his family home, pointing to what had been the sitting room. >> translator: we were sitting,

all of us, safe and they hit us. we have no rockets, no missiles, nothing. >> reporter: he has little left in life now. and holds on tightly to his little girl. her three teen-aged sisters are all dead. another, nine years old, is in a coma. and she is peppered with shrapnel wounds. another trauma tiesed child. with a father who also needs help. andrew simons, al jazerra, gaza. elsewhere, twin car bombings in iraq today leaving as many asinine people dead there. it happened in the kurdish run city of kirkuk, one of the bombs going off near a mosque, iraqi christians fleeing the violence were inside. islamic state fighters continue to make gains in the north and west last night taking control of one of the largest christian towns in that country. their influence has also led to casualties in syria. mohammed vol has the latest. >> reporter: brigade 93, the

bodies of soldierses in president bashar al-assad's army scattered near the base. dozens of tanks abandoned. activists say it began when three suicide bombers blew open the gates of the brigade on wednesday evening. after which fighters from the islamic state group stormed the base. a night of intense fighting followed. by dawn on thursday,ism s. fighters were in control. activists estimate that there were 600 syrian soldiers in the base. the i.s. says hundreds of those soldiers were either killed or captured, while many h escaped. this could be the syrian army's worst setback of the civil war. some observers say it may allow is islamic state's group to wipeout the army in the province, and their momentum is growing not only in syria. across the board we are iraq which the fighters don't recognize, the i.s. continues to take town off town. the latest 15-kilometers east of mosul. ism s. fighters report they

stormed it by night and are now in control. the town is claimed by arabs and kurds and has about 50,000 people living in it. almost all of them christian. when the city of mosul fell in june, half of the population fled to the kurdish north. now thousands more have reportedly begun to do that same. there washington president obama today sign aid bill giving veterans affairs more resource to his improve the medical care, the v.a. access to care act comes after months of scanned and that investigation that concluded systemic problems a is who the v.a. >> over the last few months, we have discovered some inexcusable misconduct at some v.a. health care facilities. stories of our veterans denied the care that they needed. long wait times being covered up. cooking the books. this is wrong, it's outrageous

and working together we set out to fix it and do right by our veterans across the board, no matter how long it took. >> the president promising town hall meeting, more funding and better wait times. but still much work lies ahead. libby casey in washington, d.c. libby, strong promises from the president. >> reporter: that's right. this is more than $16 billion in funds that go goes right in to the veterans affairs administration. now, $10 billion of it, a big chunk, will allow veterans to seek care outside the v.a. system if they live more than 40 miles way from a center or if they have to wait more than two weeks for an appointment they can get care from a nonv.a. source, it also includes more money for doctors, nurses and new leases. and it gives the v.a. secretary more authority and power to fire employees who are deemed to be corrupt ori or incompetent. >> if you engage in an unethical practice, if you cover up a serious problem, you should be

fired, period. it shouldn't be that difficult. [cheering and applause] >> and if you blow the whistle on an unethical practice or bring a problem to the attention of higher ups, you should be thanked. you should be protected for doing the right thing. [applause] >> reporter: and this comes four months after revelations that veterans not only were waiting months to get care, but that officials were essentially cooking the books, covering up these long wait times, del. >> not lost on the crowd the presentationing a jab at congress today, tell us more about that. >> reporter: more of a let's work together in the future more often, del. he did praise some republicans who were right there for the fill bill signing working with democrats to get the legislation passed. as i was signing the bill itself. he said this feels good, we should do more of this. this was a unique moment, an example of bipartisanship at a

time when washington is incredibly fractured and not much legislature is finding this bipartisan support as the veterans bill do. >> congress confirming a new direct tore of thdirector of th. how will that afternoon him? >> reporter: another display of congress working together to confirm bob mcdonald to be the incoming v.a. secretary. he is hitting the ground running planning to go to phoenix today. the phoenix facility is the one that started this whole scandal. he will also be visit i go las vegas talking to veterans there and instrumental in the town hall process trying to hear from veterans what they want from the v.a. in the weeks and months and frankly years ahead. del. >> libby case foy us live as can washington. thank you, very. john kerry is back in afghan once again trying to resolve the disputed presidential elections, arrived in kabul a few hours ago, and plans to speak with candidates tonight. he will also meet with the

current president hamid karzai before he leaves tomorrow. he's pushing the afghan government for finish its ballot count in time to have a new government seated by september. also the body of the two-star general killed in afghanistan is now back on u.s. soil. the remains of make general harold green arriving at dover air force base this morning in delaware. we are learning more about the attack that killed green and wounded 15 others. the army saying, the gunman hid in a bathroom with an assault rifle and opened fire when the officers passed by. an. army sergeants bow bergdahl meeting again with the army general investigating his capture by the taliban. he met wednesday with major general dentkenneth dawg. he answered all the questions and got invoke his right to remain silent. edward snowden can stay in russia for three more years, his residency permit had been extended it expired last week a

more than a year after he fled the u.s. >> reporter: there is certainly going to be many people in the united states government who will feel that president putin is trying to thumb his nose at the united states by granting edward snowden this three-year residency permit. and it is true that snowden is a useful tool that the russian government can use in its fractured relationship with the united states. it's interesting, though, that russian government let edward snowden's temporary asylum, one-year asylum expire before granting him this residency permit. his asylum expired a week ago, so it seems that the russian government doesn't want edward snowden to feel actually too comfortable here either. now, there is another development also in the relationship between russia and the west. russia announced today that it is going to embargo a long list

of food stuffs that are exported in to russia from the united states, from the european union, from canada, norway and, australia too. i'll go through that list, it includes beef, it includes pork, poultry, fish, cheeses, milk and dairy, fruit and vegetables, a long and extensive ingredients list here of things that are pretty integral to the daily or weekly shops of many russians. so russia is going to have to find alternative sources for many of these things. there have been already numerous instances of russians going on social media, twitter, facebook, things like that, posting pictures of how shops used to look in the soviet days with empty shelfs wondering if maybe there are going to be similar scenes repeated in 2014, 2015. >> russia announced today that it will get around the ban by bringing food in to the country friday belarus and kazakhstan.

a treasury department official saying the russia import ban isn't likely to effect the u.s. economy. david cohen the under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence make nothing comments today. he said that russia could face more sanctions if it doesn't change course on ukraine. cohen says u.s. alibi ohios in europe are all in agreement on the poe 10 sanctions. the search for remains from malaysian flight 17 of the dutch prime minister saying that fighting near the crash site makes it too dangerous for investigators to work. ukraine's government has suspended the ceasefire that was in effect. many while, australia holding a national day of mourning today for the 298 people on board. some of those passengers heading to an aids conference in melbourne when the jet was shot down. west african nations are taking drastic steps trying to slow the spread of ebola. today liberia began deploying soldiers to keep people out of quarantined areas. nigeria scramble to go build isolation tents for the growing number of victims there.

at least 932 people have died in west africa. more than 1700 have been infected, including two u.s. citizens who are now being treated in atlanta. al jazerra's robert ray has more on the out break. >> reporter: the centers for did he control taking the ebola threat very seriously. >> it's the worst out break of ebola that we have ever recorded. >> reporter: maps in the cdcs war room show why they are calling this disease a crisis in west africa. >> you can see for instance, that sierra leone it's almost the entire country that's covered. >> reporter: in nigeria yakker . there are five ebola patients there. the nigerian government says it plans to limit travel to west african countries with the most ebola cases. in another hard-hit country, liberia, the president declared a state of emergency as contaminated bodies are being dumped in the streets. >> it's out of control in the west african countries. >> reporter: this morning a spanish priest who tested positive for ebola, while

working in liberia, flew home for treatment. the father spent more than 50 years caring for the six in liberia. he is the first patient of the out break to be evacuated to europe for treatment. the first americans evacuated are now here in atlanta. aid workers dr. kent brantley and nancy are being treated for the disease at emory university hospital's isolation unit. doctors say everything is going as planned. >> so the whole idea here is frequent monitoring. excellent nursing. so frequent vital signs and treating problems as they arrive. >> reporter: they both have been showing signs of improvement after taking an venterral serum. but president obama says it is not known if the new drug is reliable. >> i don't think all of the information is in on whether this drug is helpful. what we do know is that the ebola virus is controllable.

>> reporter: the world health organization is holding an medical meeting in geneva on ebola. one topic is the experimental medicines that haven't been tested on people should be used in west africa. prem joining the call too release our colleagues, the three al jazerra journal assists sent to prison in egypt. peter they have been jailed 222 days, this being peter greste. they were sentenced to more than seven years on charges of supporting the muslim brotherhood and spreading false news. the president says journalisted should be able to report freely around the world. >> the specific issue of the al jazerra journalists in egypt. we have been clear both publicly and privately, that they should be leased. >> as we have since day one, al jazerra rejects the charges against its journalists and maintains their innocence. well, argentina isn't giving up

the fight over its debt restructuring, turning now to the international court of justice hoping to appeal a decision made a by u.s. federal court last week. court meanwhile says it will take no action at all unless washington accepts its jurisdiction in the case. think doing up, rez lets of hawaii are bracing for two storms heading that i way and, chicago hoping more police can help calm its troubled streets.

in chicago, city leaders are taking a new approach to battle that city's rising gun violence, they have joined forces with the state police to put more boots on thon the grounds in high-crie neighborhoods the violence there has been the worst, diane estebrook has more on the effort in chicago. >> reporter: in a year when gunfire has already claimed more than 200 lives, and injured 1200 others, chicago mayor rahm

emanuel finally said enough. >> when i brought it to the governor, he quickly turned around and said yes, we are in. they are going to give us 40 state troopers. >> reporter: the troopers will work in so-called surge teams with chicago cops helping track down violent criminals wanted by police. they'll focus on four high crime neighborhoods for the next month. the police superintendent calls the strategy the simplest way to reduce. >> they are wanted today. you put handcuff on his them they don't commit a crime tomorrow or later on today. >> reporter: frustrated residents have taken to the streets in recent weeks demanding that police do more to make their neighborhoods safer. their anger reached a boiling point a few weeks ago when an 11-year-old died when a straight bullet hit her while she was inside a hom home a attending a slumber party. mccarthy has said for weeks that extra manpower won't help chicago curb gun violence, but now economy seeds it might. >> we can go out and arrest more

wanted people. which is obviously going to help us. we recover guns and solve other crimes when we do that. so doing more that have is obviously something that's good. >> reporter: the city will decide at the end of the month if it needs to keep the troopers a while longer. diane estebrook, al jazerra, chicago. and in rural michigan, a jury is deliberating murder charges for the owners of two dogs that mauled a jogger to death. two weeks ago the dogs attacked 46-year-old craig as he was jogging past their home. there was no fence or leash to keep them in. it's the third time, by the way, the dogs attacked someone in the last two years, the couple now being held on $500,000 bail. those dogs were put down. also in detroit. a court has decided the fate of a man who shot a 19-year-old teenage ore his front porch killing her. theodore waiver says he was acting in self-defense he took a shotgun and fired at her through a screen door. she had wandered to his property late at night back on november 2nd, wafer facing charges of second degree murder and ms. i man salute never that.

an earthquake jolting hawaii just before the category two hurricane is due to make landfall. the 4.5 magnitude quake wag centered near the northern side of the big island. there is no word of any damage or injuries, the quack struck as hawaiians brace for the arrival of tonight's hurricane arrival. that's one of two with julio right behind it. al jazerra reports on truth in paradise. >> reporter: long lines. >> i don't know what we are going do. >> reporter: and increase will e shelves face shoppers as they prepare to face back to back hurricanes 36 hours apart. >> i don't think either storm will deliver a knockout. but the one-two punch could be serious. >> reporter: overnight, while forecasters upgraded the trailing storm julio to a hurricane, the first storm was already there. it's set to make landfall thursday evening as a category one. with projected winds up to 90 miles per hour. >> it looks like it should retain its strength long enough to be a hurricane by the time it

approaches the big island. >> reporter: the island's last hurricane was in 1992. a category four that killed six and rav i believes over 1,000 homes. besides that, 1930 fine's d 195s the last one to have two hit. both of those took a path over kauai. these new storms have a chance to be the first hurricane to his hit the easternmost big island and that has people stream to go airports looking to escape. >> we thought it would probably be safer to go home so we wouldn't get stuck be. >> reporter: the far eastern city of me lo hilo is sand baggd drugging ditches for quick flow back to the sea. the american red cross is preparing shelters and promising little else. >> there are no amenities there, might not be running water, might not be food. there won't be food. >> reporter: with preparation time running out. many of those preparing to ride

out the storm have faith that all will be well. >> hawaii is a very blessed land. so i believe hawaii will pull through. >> reporter: hurricane issele. is set to make landfall a at around 8:00 p.m. local time. john henry smith, al jazerra. >> meteorologist: i am meteorologist dave warren, we'll continues to look at the situation over the next two to three days, this is quite rare it hasn't happened in two to years normally hawaii is fairly protected from these tropical cyclones a typical area of low pressure creating wind shear normally in the central pacific and then you get this cooler water coming off the western coast of the united states, so it creates a little channel where the track has to be exactly perfect to maintain its intensity. and this is exactly what is happening here. we have iselle. and julio both storms over the

last 24 hours going westward through that area which is favorable to maintain its intensity. and it will continue to weaken as it goes in to the cooler water and in to that air which is not quite favorable for development. but it hold together it's he intensity enough where it's at least a minimal hurricane effecting -- which the effects tonight of iselle and julio two days later most likely a tropical to remember or depression passing just to the north. because of this the tropical storm watch in the western portions of the area has been upgrade today a tropical storm warning and hurricane warning for the big island is in effect now. watching the windward exposed coasts as it passes by to the south you will get a persistent northeast to east wind hammering the eastern face of the islands here. that where you are expect to go see the biggest wind shear or the wind -- the storm surge and the damage. the most damaging winds most likely on that side of the islands. it will weaken even further as it goes over the big island

because of the mountains there, that will affect -- have an effect to weaken the storm a bit. so maybe beneficial for the islands to the west, but still, by this time it is just hammering the entire area with wind and flooding rain, 5 to 8-inches, isolated areas up to a foot of rain predicted gusts of over 80 miles per hour. that will be highest on the exposed coasts of that there as you can see the wind coming directly from the ocean and the storm surge that high surf in the storm surge that could be over 10 to 15 feet. that's about it for the country here. we are just looking at some more rain possibly flash flooding out west. del. >> thank you very much. a hurricane on the way. coming up on al jazerra america, toronto mayor rob ford no stranger to controversy. now he will be no stranger to comedy as well.

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officials are in cairo trying to agree on ideal to extend the temporary ceasefire that is set to expire friday morning. hamas is demanding the lifting of the blockade on gaza, israel saying that will be nearly impossible. president obama signing today a bill in to law giving the department of veterans affairs more resources to improve medical care. he promised town hall meetings, funding and other resources saying that there is much more that still needs to be done to fix the broken system. nsa leaker edward snowden now has permission to stay in russia. his laura nounsing today that snowden's residency permit has been extends today three years, it expired last week more than a year after he fled the u.s. and finally, rob ford's personal drama has been playing out on the global stage, but now the toronto mayor's store will play out on a real stage, a 90-minute musical comedy focusing on his troubled life debuts next month. the lead actor in the show compared ford for a shakespeare vinnie cartoon character, so far no word from mayor ford who, by the way, is seeking reelection.

we want to thank you for watching al jazerra america, i am del walters in new york. "talk to al jazerra" is next. reminder you can check us out 24 hours a day at aljazerra.com. . >> it has become too expensive. the price tag is so scary to look at. >> cornell university's president says higher education is worths the cost though schools need to be run more efficiently. david skorton weighs in as well on skills training versus traditional education. >> the vast majority of people are making a living doing fine in the country without a very advanced degree. >> the veteran administrator has spoken out nationally on campus suicide prevention. >> one year we had what we call a cluster, a suicide contagion. >> he is not just an ivory league president. musician