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the two presidential candidates agree to a unity government. even before the official vote. >> i'm apt the festival where we're a long way from russia where whistle blower, edward snowden, currently is. and why is he having such an impact here in we'll find out shortly. >> the united states has started airstrikes against the islamic state in erbil in iraq. shooting at artillery targets. the group wants to start an islamic state in the middle east. and they have already taken over large parts of iraq and syria. u.s. secretary of state, john kerry, said that they are showing all of the warning signs of genocide. >> now with a gut-wrenching humanitarian crisis unfolding

before our eyes and the roles of the starving and the sick growing daily. and the potential for further executions, cold-blooded executions taking place, because people are in the minority, suffering for safety, because of that, the united states, with president obama's decision, has made its decision that it must save these lives, and the world needs to join us in the condemnation o of isil's action. >> we have a conversation in washington d.c., and speaking to her in a moment. but first, let's go to northern iraq and speak with jane. can you give us an update of what's happening in erbil? >> reporter: well, we're told by kurdish officials that those airstrikes, confirmed by the u.s. on islamic state artillery battery have actually hit in an

area that they had evacuated just a short time ago. and now east of irbil, the kurdish chapter -- i'm sorry, close to 100,000 people, who fled towns overrun by the islamic state, have moved to irbil. and some have chosen to go back to mosul. just a short time ago, we saw some who had been here over the past 24 hours, said that they have been fleeing for the past two months, ever since mosul fell. there are reports that the embassies are evacuating, and reports that oil companies are also pulling their workers out of the oil fields, and all in all, a growing sense of panic here. >> jane, how do people there feel about these airstrikes? do they feel it is necessary to fight the islamic state group? >> one of the problems now, in

this deep thing crisis in iraq is that there really is not any one opinion. this has become a very divided country with people holding strongly opposed views. if you talk to the displaced people, whether the shia, or the sunni minority or the christians, a lot of them welcome the u.s. military help and the airstrikes. and the kurds certainly welcome t the kurds have been pleading for weapons for years from the american government. and they have been pleading for military help. but certainly, it will deepen that divide that already exists in a large part of this country. particularly the sunni community that feels that the united states should not be here, and this is basically a problem caused by the u.s. having said that, we have to look at baghdad where a constitutional government is picking a prime minister and they have no prime minister and that's how divided the country

is. >> that's jane in northern iraq, and we can go to our correspondent in washington, jordan, and that's where the recordorders for the airstrikese from. how long are these strikes going to go on for? >> well, apparently, this was just one round of airstrikes. two f/a-18 u.s. navy fighter jets dropped 500-pound laser guided bombs on what they say was a mobile artillery unit. and that mobile artillery unit was being used by the islamic state group to fire on kurdish fighters, and they're trying to protect the city of irbil from the islamic state's advance onto that city. and the because the u.s. has a consulate there, as well as a joint operations center working with the iraqi army, the u.s. made the decision that firing on this target was an appropriate

one, given president barack obama's order late on thursday. the general who gave the command at the set com headquarters in florida, but obviously his decision was made at the pentagon. we don't know how many were killed in the attack, but me are prepared to carry out more attacks if they believe that the u.s.' persons and properties could be targeted. this is going to trigger a notification to congress under the war powers act, whenever this is done, whenever the u.s. carries out any offensive military action, and certainly members of congress will want more guidance on whether this is a foretelling of more military engagement inside of iraq. >> from washington d.c., thank you. months of political

instability across iraq for the current crisis facing the government. now looking at the fragile political situation in baghdad. >> reporter: fighters from the so-called islamic state, parade through a recently occupied iraqi town. their instruct is such that now the u.s. is launching airstrikes against them. for noz, the influence of is has spread across the country as the national army wilted before them. and the governor of prime minister, maliki. they have been unable to agree on a new prime minister. is and yet in the election, maliki's party won more than any other, and he won more votes personally than any other candidate. but he fell short of the majority. in the months since, the

combination of the rise of the islamic state group, kurdish opposition, and the weakening state of iran has eroded maliki's support base. they will support any candidate from maliki's party except maliki himself. the sheik said that he thinks maliki should not cling on to power. and it's less clear who could succeed him. >> it is not given, it depends on the person and the situation, but the main delta, in terms of how that would come out, those possibilities is strong american support, including military support in return for an iraqi political class that pulls together in one direction. >> reporter: some believe that maliki's predecessor could return, but he's painted by some for his failure to deal with

rising sectarian violence ten years ago, and another, once a favorite of the bush white house, is close to iran, and he has become prominent again in government circles in recent years. one thing is clear. whoever does come in as prime minister will face the defeat of the islamic state, and then to patch up a country that was began to divide on tribal and sectarian lines. dominic caine, aljazeera. >> and our political analyst, three years later, and here we are again, and the u.s. involvement be limited as they said it's going to be? >> reporter: well, it seems not as clearly as then secretary of state powell said when you break it, you own it. they ended up going, but similarly the shame of that

invasion occupation remains clear to the american and the obama administration, even though it was obama himself, when he was a senator, he called it the -- war. but when you look at iraq today, after 11 years since it was invaded and when you look at the region, this combination of dictatorships, some of the worst in history. and plus, foreign invasions and occupations in the region, have created some of the strangest phenomenon and some of the bravest people, but also some of the most desperate situations. in iraq, a combination of all of these terrible, terrible circumstances, divided country, sectarian violence, and brave resistance, but some of the most fundamental and immediate evil resistance to isis there. and all in all, this requires of course intervention, and if the

united states is able to do it for the timing, claiming that it's trying to prevent jean side and protect it's own people in erbil. >> thank you so much. now, the three-day ceasefire between israel and hamas has ended and fighting starts again. trying to secure a long lasting deal in cairo, they have not been able to agree on some of the key sticking points. they were able to compromise on most issues, but not all of them. and for now, israel has pulled out of the negotiations and said it won't continue while hamas is in its territory. israel resumed it's attacks on the gaza strip with airstrikes in the north and the east. and there of been several

explosions in gaza city. two people have been killed, including a ten-year-old boy and at least eight others. rockets fired into israel. many landed in israeli communities near gaza. one hit a picnic area, and another was fired at a nearby community. two israelis were injured. let's now look at the human toll. while 64 israeli soldiers, and three civilians including a thai national have been killed in the fighting since a month ago, and gassed palestinians killed, 3/4 of them civilians, according to the u.n.. 9,000 have been injured. and 200,000 are still living in the u.n. shelters. we have correspondents covering both sides of the conflict, and standing by in gaza, and nicole johnson is in west jerusalem. we will be speaking to them in

just a moment, but first, this report from andrew simmons in gaza. >> reporter: gaza's skyline, once again, blighted by warfare, after attempts to extend a 72-hour ceasefire failed in cairo, and then the grim routine of the emergency response and tending to the injured. among the early casualties was a 12-year-old child, who died after an israeli airstrike. rockets have been fired at israel within seconds of the ceasefire expiring, some intercepted by the iron dome missile system. and then after they pulled out of kairo, ordered to launch attacks. the stricken people of the gaza strip, many heading to u.n. she woulders and schools is the only answer. 4,700 people are how had in this

shelter. it has been full to capacity. but during the 72-hour ceasefire, 1,500 left to return to their homes, and now they're all back, looking for water and looking for food. among who's who have returned, the asha family. their house was badly damaged but they have been back to receive condolences for one of their adult sons who has been killed. >> i remember him in every part of the house. i think of how good he was to his father. and how kind he used to be to his kids. i miss him so much. >> reporter: palestinians in gaza have only a brief break, and now they're back in desperation. aljazeera, gaza city. >> and live in gaza for us, what are you hearing from the hamas point of view about the ceasefire talks that are taking

place? or having been stalled in cairo? >> reporter: well, the last ten minutes, they said that israel hasn't moved on perhaps the most important point of hamas' demands, which is to lift the siege, and the blockade which has been in place since 2007. crippled the economy, and greatly restricted the move. the people of gaza, and he said that there has been no movement on another demand, which is to allow palestinian fishermen to go the nautical miles. they want to go up to 10 miles, but he said something very significant, which is that the door, in his words, is not closed to ceasefire.

they are still interested in talking, and still interested in negotiating, and still interested in trying to come up with some sort of deal, but at this stage, no idea what the deal will look like. >> thank you very much. and let's now go to nicole johnson, in west jerusalem. nicole, have you heard hamas saying that the door is not closed to negotiations, but how is israel reacting to the rocket fire? >> first of all, the israeli government hasn't had a lot to say about t we had a brief statement from one of the israeli spokesmen, and he said that they wanted the ceasefire to succeed. and they had taken defensive positions by moving the troops and tanks outside of gaza, and as usual, he blamed any tragedy that happened in gaza on hamas. so that's the only official thing that we have had out of the government.

but we have had reports of an unnamed senior official in the government saying that the government told them they were free to retaliate from any rockets fired from israel. and that certainly seems to be the case we have seen today. with the airstrikes and the shelling continuing, but at least for now, the troops and the tanks are staying outside of gaza, and the other thing we have had from the israelis, leaving the gaza envelope, a 3-kilometer wide area of southern israeli communities, very close to the israeli-gaza border. most of them evacuated from their homes, and they have been told by the israeli government that the mission was over, and it was completed and calm had been restored. they had moved back, and that seems to be not the case with the rockets continuing to be fired from gaza again. so many of those people, very angry, and they are telling the government that they want to go

back to finishing the job and restoring the calm, but it doesn't seem to have been the case. >> nicole johnston in west jerusalem for us. thank you. well, you can always get plenty more on our website. you'll find that at aljazeera.com. much more ahead in this news hour. including, malaysia airlines is taken ownership after losing two planes in 5 months. and discovering nine babies in a bangkok flat. and a footballer after biting an opponent. >> in afghanistan, they are

trying to document vowing to work together, even before an official review has been completed. now, the u.s. secretary of state, john kerry, he flew to kabul to try to end the political deadlock. jennifer glasse sends us this update. >> reporter: the two candidates say that they are going to work together to move the process forward. they signed a communique on two agreements, one saying this they will form a unity government. but they will also agree to have a check executive officer, and whoever does not become president will have a voice on some of the posts in the new government. and they have also agreed to abide by this election auditing process. the biggest auditing process in the united nations history. 8 million votes are being looked at again. a witness by representatives of both parties. and that process, which has been going on for several weeks, has

been bogged down by differences over specifics about how a vote is disqualified and things like that. and that has very much slowed this process down, and timing is very critical here. the international community as well as the afghan candidates say that they want to have a new president inaugurated by the end of august, so the new afghan leader can go to the nato summit in wales, in early september, september 4th and 5th, of course nato pulling it's troops out this year, and it would like to be able to figure out what it's follow-on mission might look like here. so secretary of state john kerry here, facilitating what he called an afghan agreement, the two candidates agreeing to work together. and a lot of work to be done if a new afghan president is declared by the end of august. >> lebanon's former prime minister is back in the country

for the first time in three years. he left in 2011, and his return is being determined as a reassertion of the modern community. it comes after the incursion on the border with syria. two people swept away after torrential rainfall. flooding for the second time this year. at least one person has already been killed. a state of emergency was declared in some screens hundreds of homes evacuated. >> . >> in south african, delivering the verdict forotion os on september 11th. pistorius was accused of deliberately shooting his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, last year. the prosecution says that it's a

snowball of lies. malaysia's government is planning to take over the country's national airlines. financial woahs escalated after one of its planes disappeared in march. >> malaysia's national carrier has been in poor financial health for the last several years, and it's in massive need of a capital injection, putting the company into state hands is one way of saving it. the other option would be to allow it to go into bankruptcy. the malaysian government has clearly ruled that out. and now the state investor has put forward a proposal to take over the rest of the share that it doesn't already own. it already owes close to 70% of the share, and it plans to buy

the other 30% on the stock exchange. it's offering a small premium, 12.5%, and it emphasizes that going cost about $470 million. it plans to completely overhaul the airline, and this is just the first step in restructuring the company. how and what the restructuring will entail, those details have not been reviewed yet. but there are things that the state investor could look at, perhaps tripping the bloat, and perhaps replacing the entire management team. taking the company off of the stock exchange and delisting it, it won't have to answer to minority shareholders, but to gain the trust and confidence of consumers so soon after the disaster struck the airline. a british investigator and

his american wife have been sentenced to two years in china. they have been found guilty of illegally obtaining information on chinese citizens. he will be deported and the couple can appeal against their sentences. they were arrested last year after doing work for the british pharmaceutical giant, glaxosmithkline. in the health emergency, the ebola requires an extraordinary response to keep it from spreading. it has killed 1,000 people in guinea, sierra leone and liberia. >> it has affected more people than all of the previous outbreaks combined. >> this morning, i am declaring the current outbreak of the

ebola disease a current emergency of international concern. the committee's position was unanimous. it acknowledges the serious and unusual nature of the outbreak. and the potential for further international spread. >> the current outbreak started last december in guinea and transferred to liberia, sierra leone and nigeria. the declaration that the ebola outbreak is an international emergency, until now, they have been fighting the virus on their own, and hope that the declaration will come with more financial and technical assistance. >> our collective health security depends on support for containment operations in these countries. i urge the international community to provide this support on the most urgent need

basis as soon as possible. >> sierra leone and liberia, two of the last affected countries of the outbreak, surviving civil wars that have lasted more than a decade. on the capital of monrovia, liberian troops have stopped public access to some of the hardest-hit towns. it's part of the emergency that the government declared to contain the outbreak. as destructive as they are, the measures will continue for 90 days. [ unintelligible ]. >> in sierra leone, a number of international airlines have temporarily suspended their flights. ebola has no treatment. of all of the people who fought

the disease in the outbreak, half of them have died. legos, nigeria. >> there's plenty more still ahead on this program. we'll tell you about the lost boys and girls, we hear from the victims of violence in the central african republic, trying to find their parents dead or alive. plus -- >> when it comes to the subject, big brother -- >> edward snowden is inspiring a performance at one the world's biggest art festivals. and golf's final major of the season. >> the number one cause of hostility in the world is

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>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. to begin, versus four years at a residential programme when the diploma, the credential looks the same to the world. value versus perception. it's real. it's forcing tough choices on families that would otherwise be happy to reward their hard-working high schooler. >> high school senior karen gonzalez of centerville virginia will head to radford university, college. >> i got the red folder. it was crazy, i cried.