up to date. the big stories of the day, from around the world... >> these people need help, this is were the worst of the attack took place... >> and throughout the morning, get a global perspective on the news... >> the life of doha... >> this is the international news hour... >> an informed look on the night's events, a smarter start to your day. mornings on al jazeera america >> this is al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton in new york. top stories at this hour. >> i don't think we're going to solve this problems in weeks, if that's what you mean. i think this is going to take some time. >> us commits to the long haul to counter islamic state in iraq. targeting iraq's vulnerability minorities and the impacts open the region. palestinian officials say they are ready to walk away from

ceasefire talks. and a big sigh of relief in hawaii, as hurricanes fail to deliver their 1-2 punch. >> the u.s. launched four more air strok strikes against the ic state in iraq. meanwhile the target the islamic state released this video today, it shows celebrating after the group took over a string of iraqi towns. president obama says the u.s. military operation in iraq is just getting started and he says it could be a long term project. the president also reiterated that there are no plans to put u.s. troops on the ground and he said the u.s. military will ensure the safety of americans in iraq and do what it can to

help displaced iraqi civilians. >> our initial goal is to not only make sure americans are protected, but also, to deal with this humanitarian situation in sinjar. >> al jazeera aps lisa stark has the latest from washington, d.c. >> president obama made it clear there's no quick solution to the crisis in iraq. he said woe not set a time tame -- he would not set a timetable for the project there and the problem would not be solved in weeks. it will take some time. as long as necessary said the president to protect u.s. personnel and equipment in iraq as well as the yazidi, the ethnic and religious minority trapped on a mountain top in iraq. but president obama said the iraqi crisis will not be solved by the u.s. military that what it will take is a unified iraqi government. >> we continue to call on iraqis to come together and form the

inclusive government that iraq needs now. vice president biden last been talking to leaders and we are in close touch with iraqis. all iraqi communities need to unite to defend their country. >> the president underscored a point he made repeatedly over the last few days. he has no intention to put u.s. combat boots on the ground in iraq. president obama reached out to the prime minister of britney and the president of france. the thousands of civilians trapped on the mountain side need humanitarian aid. the president went on his vacation, managed to get a round of golf in, he has his national security advisor and deputy

national security advisor and will be kept updated on the incidents in iraq. >> there is no quick fix to the situation in iraq we have been assured. douglas oliphant joined us earlier from washington, d.c. >> injecting the islamic state in iraq, the you islamic state is bigger than iraq and we may have an interest in pursuing them elsewhere. are but only the iraqis can fix this. the bombings are interesting and they're necessary and they're the right policy but the real action still is in baghdad. in the government formation. >> oliphant said that the iraqis have taken steps towards a more stable government now we have to wait and see. we invite you to join us later and we take a deeper look at how

the islamic state is changing the situation in iraq and other areas. coming up in about 15 minutes. now to the clash to israel and hamas. palestinian negotiators say, that israel has just a short time to return to the negotiating table or they will too leave cairo. palestinian authorities say a senior hamas official was killed in an attack. in all seven people died during israeli air strikes pushing the palestinian death toll close to 2,000. in israel, the beaches are crowded and life appears close to normal. despite the fact that israeli

fightersing shot rockets into gaza. we gate more from jane ferguson in expwrurm. expwrurm -- jerusalem. >> the palestinians say they will walk away from the talks if the israelis do not come back on board. they walked away friday at 8:00 local time, shortly before the ceasefire ended. roctsz were hit and returned by israelis into gaza. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said that israel will not negotiate while it's under attack. that is a sticking point. their official position is they are not taking part in the negotiations. on sunday morning there will be a cabinet meeting in israel and shortly after that it will become more clear as to whether or not the israelis will attend any more negotiations in cairo. if they don't it will seem possible and most likely in fact that we will see a continuation

of the situation in gaza as it stands, which is rocket fire from gaza into israel continuing and air strikes continuing in gaza. it is at a lower intensity than we've seen over the last month, ah incredible amount of casualties in gaza. however there are still casualties happening, seven dead in the gaza strip on saturday. that violence continuing but lower intensity and that could continue for weeks if these negotiations collapse. >> jane ferkz i ferguson in jer. early kyiv said they had tossed a military convoy crossing the border into donetske. moscow denied the allegation. also today a leader of the proition separatists said they would accept a ceasefire to avoid a humanitarian disaster. emma hayward has more.

>> the separatist movement in the east of ukraine seems to be feeling pressure from the ukrainian authorities. the newly appointed leader of the donetske peoples republic has come out to offer a ceasefire to the ukrainian territories to avoid a humanitarian disaster. forces seem to be gaining ground in the east here. they have been trying to cut off any kind of supply root to the separatists in luhansk and also in donetske. the trouble along the border also seems to be continuing. ukraine accusing russia of a builtup of military vehicles and personnel coming here on the pretext of carrying out a humanitarian mission. russia has dismissed this as a fairy tale and on friday night the u.s. president and the german president angela merkel

issued a joint statement saying any kind of intervention in ukraine under the pretext of a humanitarian mission without the agreement of ukraine would violate international law. but the russian foreign minister in a separate phone call to john kerry the u.s. secretary of state did warn of a pending humanitarian disaster in ukraine. >> investigators on the site of mh17 have been pulled out of the area. the organization for security and cooperation says it's not safe there right now. >> on wednesday it got suspended because of shelling in the area. twice in the past few days we've had a big group of experts out there, basically they were collecting human remains as well as personal belongings of the passengers and we were here to help facilitate that to give them access. and yeah, there was shelling. earlier in the week. and then just more recently

there was shooting that ended up very close to where the experts were working. >> the spokesperson says they had no choice but to leave the crash site because the ceasefire in the rebel controlled region was violated. meanwhile russia and the u.s. based exxon mobil have begun and oil drilling project in the arctic. vladimir putin gave permission for the operation, in a video linkup from his summer home in sochi. six children were killed in syria's second largest city of aleppo. carolyn malone has that story. >> one children killed at home by a barrel bomb. an internationally condemned rk

weapon because it kills indiscriminately. many of the casualties are from the same family. >> translator: the boys were asleep. the grandfather was the only one who came out alive. at lease he did, thank god. he has six children, no sign of their mothers. >> people blame the government led by syrian president bashar al-assad. >> there is not a single fighter here. it seems the country is safer than the city. it seems assad wants to kill the children and the elderly. >> killed on all sides. killing another group of children on saturday. in february a united nations security council resolution

demanded government forces stop using barrel bombs in populated areas. but human rights groups say many more of the explosives have been used in the last five months. barrel bombs are cheap to make by filling large tanks or barrels with explosives. >> we don't have a death toll yet because this is a large vegetable market that housing a large number of people. we're still looking for the victims under the rubble. >> caroline malone, a al jazeer. >> in less than two hours an historic election gets underway in turkey. the first election where the president will be decided by popular vote. there are candidates running, the first candidate, re

drrvetionep tayip aldogan. 3,000 people have died from ebola in four countries. guinea shut off borders with sierra leone today. one of the reasons for outbreak is traditional food. mohamed ado reports. >> vivian has been selling game meat for the past 30 years. she runs this makeshift restaurant outside lagos, on the menu today is monkey. she prepares the fare for customers who might not come. >> only one person, two come and by, but before, everybody come and buy. >> bush meat as it's called here, is suspected to be the bridge from animal world to

human world. all it takes is single transmission from animal to humans, handling fresh carcasses. what african people say is game meat is the food of their ancestors. even now when authorities are discouraging its consumption due to the ebola outbreak it can still be found on almost every street corner. national association of hunters is livid. >> it is a pr lie. if they don't want bush meat, we, they cannot say we should not eat it. and they should not say the public not also be eating it. >> reporter: for now though it is only the most brave and adamant of game meat schoolers.

>> bush meat i continue to eat it i will continue because i like it. because it's my favorite and i've been enjoying it and i will still do so. >> especially in rural communities, poor health care has contributed to the spread of ebola in west africa. the refusal that bush meat is the cause, mohamed ado al jazeera, lagos nigeria. hundreds took to the street after 18-year-old michael brown was shot by police today. he was scheduled to start college on monday. the shooting occurred near an apartment complex which prompted hundreds of residents to confront the officers. they were reportedly yelling obscenityities and things like, "kill the police."

witnesses say the teenager was unarmed. >> he put his hands in the air and he started to get down but the officer still approached with his weapons drawn and he fired several more shots. and my friend died. >> about 60 officers arrived on the scene just after 2:00 p.m. residents are still demonstrating at this time. helicopters overhead. we spoke with brian shellman, he says the police department is interviewing and gathering evidence. unsure what happened. all 186 passengers of an airplane used emergency slides the evacuate there were no reported major injuries. passengers are still waiting for another plane so they can continue their trip to new york.

no word yet on the cause of the engine fire. still ahead on al jazeera america. the group known as the islamic state state continues to advance in iraq. goals: eliminating minority groups. plus the conflict on gaza causing an american teacher to lose his job. the tweet that lost him his job. when you run a business, you can't settle for slow.

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>> welcome back. more now on our top story as we take a deeper look at iraq and the challenges it faces from the group known as islamic state. the department of defense has confirmed it conducted four more air strikes against the group. and president obama has proposed a long term strategy to confront is fighters in iraq. more from jane arath in erbil. >> the fighter fought for years from the mountains to get rid

of, it hasn't been enough. u.s. air strikes launched after the overwhelmed peshmerga withdrew were meant to stop the advance of the islamic state group just 40 kilometers from erbil. they're also meant to help kurdish forces stand up against a better armed enemy. still known by some as i.s.i.s. >> they have acquired a huge amount of modern weapons of munitions of tags of armored humvees of long range artillery pieces, you name it. in fact there was no comparison between the fire power of i.s.i.s. and the peshmerga forces. yes, there have been some reverses by the peshmerga on this organization, some withdrawal of certain parts. but this is not a classical war.

>> reporter: this conflict, a spillover from the war in syria is one that no army has fought here. the combination of islamic state fighters with suicide bombers and american weapons seized from iraqi forces has made them difficult to stop. >> we need this to buy time. to regroup. to reorganize. and to go on the offensive. >> reporter: one of the priorities will be to retake the mosul dam, the biggest in the country. now fallen to islamic state fighters. at risk are also oil fields which have been protected by iraqi security forces and then the peshmerga now within territory held by the radical group. mosul a center of power for islamic state fighters is just 60 kilometers from here. the city of erbil is the kurdish capital and a major economic hub and a main target of the group. the united states believes its air strikes will help defend the

city but propping up kurdish security forces will be a much longer mission. jane arath, al jazeera, erbil. huge population movements in iraq have been brought about by these activities. an estimated 1.2 million people have been displaced since the beginning of the year, mostly in areas northwest of baghdad. over the last two months, the group's fires have consolidated their gains in iraq's north and pushed into kurdish territory sending christians and other minorities fleeing. close to 200,000 people have been displaced in areas around mosul, erbil and kirkuk. joining me to discuss is ali de pelnaimi. editor of the new york times.

good to see you. >> good to see you. >> how would you describe the state of the situation in iraq qux. >> the state is expanding moving fast and gaining ground and threatening the two capitols of one the kurdish province up north and possibly in the future also baghdad. >> do you think we underestimated the islamic state? >> i think so, yes. i think analysts or political experts said that or thought that you know maybe they would take towns or maybe they will be able to take a city but not expand that much and that fast. i think we underestimated i.s.i.s. >> you u.s. now is using minimal action. some are questioning whether it's too late. >> i personally think it is too -- it is late not too late. it is late. i mean they should have moved in right from the beginning but i

understand the political issues regarding nouri maliki -- >> why should they have stopped? >> to prevent them from being so close to bombing to be able to bomb erbil or to displace thousands of minorities or to slaughter and kill and enslave others. i mean, particularly speaking yes i understand that but from a humanitarian point of view i think the reaction should have been earlier. >> and as the president mentioned this is a unified effort, the responsibility also falls on the iraqi government. >> definitely, definitely. >> and they fall short. >> no question about that. the parliament, the political parties they are all to be blamed for this. they take the biggest part of the blame for being unable to form a government, an inclusive government so far. and i think with the -- with the

expansion of i.s.i.s, in the north, that would be an additional factor of pressure on the politicians in baghdad, to form a government. an inclusive government not just a government. the thing is, i think the u.s. can also use the drones or fa-18 in a different way. it's not just to drop bombs on i.s.i.s. but also to pressure politicians in baghdad to get their act together, push out nouri maliki, find a prime minister who can form an inclusive government and we cannot just have a military solution for what's happening now. >> do you think we'll have the formation and do you think maliki will leave? >> i think so yes. forgot about maliki and whether he's good or bad or my personal opinion. we basically needs someone who

can reach out to the sunnies and the kurds, someone strong enough to face this challenge and push i.s.i.s. back. is maliki capable of doing that? no. the sunnis don't trust him and the kurds don't either. >> how do we force this, this is not a rag tag group of militants. how do we stop what's considered a full blown army? >> first of all we need the political path should go in tandem with military action. we need a new government. we need to bring sunni tribes into this government. we need the get them to fight i.s.i.s. because once they lose, actually they already lost that, but they lost the haven or the support of people, in sunni provinces. some of them at least who were supportive of them in the beginning. so once you get those tribes, once they feel that there is a government they can trust in baghdad, they can work with, there is a genuine partnership

in this government they will hold on, they will fight i.s.i.s. along with the iraqi army and the peshmerga. we need all efforts. but this will not happen without a military -- a political solution. >> looking at the islamic state, looking at the division in the country who's really in charge? >> who's really in charge in iraq? right now i think the i.s.i.s. unfortunately is the one who's making the moves. everyone is sort of reacting to what i.s.i.s. is doing. no one is acting. no one is taking the pre-active action. everyone is reacting, the kurds are reacting to i.s.i.s, the government in baghdad is doing so no one is taking the initiative except for them they are advance being they are attacking and they are sort of taking the initiative now. >> i want to go even deeper. please stay on hand for a

moment. one of them are the yazidis who are taking shelter in the mountains. roxana saberi has more on who these are. >> as islamic state chase yazidi, many are traps without food or water. others are moving to the holy city of lalesh. all yazidis are expected to make the pig grim an once in their life. they believe the man tracing back to adam was part of the faith here. baba chavessh tells me they believe in one guardian, the good and evil that exist in each one of us. i asked him if the yazidi faith

has similarity to religions such as islam. >> our religion is a very old religion and we believe that other religions have come from ours, we haven't taken anything from them. >> these kids who introduced themselves to me are some of the estimated 600,000 yasdzs in iraq. their numbers have dwindled. some have left the country to marry outside the faith. they have also been the victims of massacres, they say 72 times in history. yazidis have kept their culture and faith alive. despite persecution by saddam hussein and the violence after his fall. but sunni muslims believe they are infidels, that deserve death. roxana saberi, al jazeera. >> between them shia arabs, and

ethnic kurds. the remaining 10% are other minorities. turk men, and yazidis, they have lived in northwestern iraq for about 4,000 years.

they have been targeted by the islamic state of devil worshipers, about 40,000 yazidis were driven out of their town of sinjar. they are stranded as we mentioned on a nearby mountain top without food or water encircled by the islamic state. i want to bring in joseph to ca assault and battery to talk about the iraqi minorities, he's the founder of the advocacy and empowerment group. good to have you with us. >> thank you for having me. >> we mentioned the i can't seed he ii can't seedease is one of d most ancient religions in the world. why is this group so persecuted? >> this is a very small group the islam state look at them as being the infidels and therefore they want you sort of -- sort of arremove them, kill them or have them convert to islam. this particular group itself

also doesn't have people to protect them. or they don't have the militia to protect them either and, therefore they were left prey for the -- this islamist militants. >> and yazidis were persecuted under sadam hussein, why didn't life improve once he was deposed? >> as you know after the 2003 war, things changed drastically in iraq. if anything, things got worse, never got better to be honest with you. and as we see that there is so many militias roaming in the country, armed militias and running loose in the country, and you know, no -- there is a lot of lawlessness in iraq at this time. there is no government able to protect them as a matter of fact this government that we have now is not able to protect itself. so it's not easy for them to protect others. the other drastic change that

took place in iraq after the war is that the iraqis, the majority of them became more sectarian and secular unlike before 2003. and not only that, we have seen a number of militants coming through porous borders that we have in iraq from everywhere, from all the surroundings countries and even from the very far libya and yemen and other places to, you know, to fight the minorities to irradicate the minorities and to put them to death. this is something that is unacceptable and the government of iraq is unable to protect the minorities at this time. >> when you look at how we got to this points, the further division among the minority groups, where was the misstep along the way? >> well, there are a lot of things that happen as you know that iraq, politically is very

unstable at this time. even since the start of the war. and there is a lot of mishaps taking place, a lot of corruption, people, we have too many ruling parties in iraq, too many people calling the -- the parliament of iraq their home for their own benefits and the benefit of their clans and that is really affecting everybody, but more importantly, it's affecting the minorities, because they are the weakest of the weak. so we start to see that the persecution is on the rise, and is affecting the community all at large. >> how big of a humanitarian crisis is this? >> this is really a huge -- i cannot describe it. but i want to say it's a huge, huge humanitarian crisis. we never seen anything like that in the middle east before. people are on the verge of extension, especially the minorities. and we spoke about the yazidis,

but we can also speak about the christians of iraq whom they have been, as you already heard from the report, that they have been asked either to convert by the sword to islam or pay the tribute tax or protection tax or leave. the majority of our people lived in the plain, the plain is part of the mosul province, it's the size of lebanon and it's full of iraqi christian towns. and maybe more than 3,350,000 of them there -- 300 or 350,000 of them there. at this time they are ghost towns and only roaming free in these towns are the isis militants. >> and the christians have an option to pay a tax the yazidis do not? >> not really. the yazidis are considered

differently. as i said earlier, i mean, they are considered by the militants that they are people whom they worship the devil and therefore they should be eliminated. that's why the majority of them were mutilated and then killed. i mean, i cannot describe the atrocities committed against tell and also against the christians. the yazidis, kind of were able to flee to nearby mountain, but unfortunately, this mountain is so treacherous and so dangerous, that all the reptiles and carnivores they are attacking them. so obviously there are people pe attacking them on the ground and animals attacking them on the mountain. so there is no difference between both. anyway, the christians managed, many of them, to escape. the problem is they escaped only with their clothes on their backs. and this is something that is

really, really creating a very chaotic situation where they sought shelter at this time. that is -- that's what the case is, we have seen pictures of people, i hear -- we are in a very much dire contact with our people on the ground. we have people sleeping in the parks, sleeping on the ground, on the grass, on the sand, and on rocky areas, not even with -- not even -- they don't even have blankets with them. >> very difficult situation as they fight for survival. >> it's very, very sad and difficult situation. >> i want to -- >> i am sorry. >> no problem. i want to bring in our other guest, reel briefl real briefly. when the dust settles what will life be like for these minority groups? >> it's going to be difficult for them. i think it's an issue of do you actually -- do i belong here? when you are faced with all this violence, can you actually go back and say that you are safe? can you think of this as your

home? now it, depends -- it all depends on how all of this unravels in the end. are we going to be able to push isis back? will we have a new government in iraq and baghdad that is inning clues and i have able to protect its people? regardless of religion or sect. it all remains to be seen. but i think it will be a tough situation for the minorities in the country. >> hoping for a united iraq. we'll to leave it there. joseph founder and president of the iraqi christian advocacy group. and ali who is a lecture at the new york university. thanks for joining us on a deeper look. still ahead on al jazerra america. fired for a tweet. an american college professor is out of a job. the freedom of speech debate it has sparked straight ahead. in federal law states all children regardless of immigration status are entitled to an education in the u.s.

now the race is onto enroll 10s of thousands of undocumented children in american schools.

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when kits start heading back to school this month, districts around the country are anticipating a surge of undocumented children. preparing for the new students has become a waiting game. courtney key lee explains. >> reporter: nearly 60,000 children have been smuggled in to the u.s. in 2014 and more arrive each day. >> the violence over there doesn't allow us to go to school that's why we are coming over here. >> whether they are allowed to stay remains to be scene, but one thing is certain, according to federal law, all children in the u.s. are en tight go ahead to aentitled to aneducation, evd children. that's creating many challenges, many are here alone so finding them house saying top concern. texas, for example, about 100 miles south of austin a

detention center is being transformed in to a residents that will include a school. there are also 30,000 children release today family and sponsor as cross the country. states that have received the most children are texas, new york, florida, california, virginia and maryland. those children will be required to enroll in one lick schools. classes are starting within the next three weeks. it's you unclear if schools will be red. >> i we have received little information from the u.s. government. >> one of the biggest questions, how many undocumented students will enroll in each school? >> i am not sure whether any soup stesoup 10 tanned could teu the number of. >> knowing that number is key because that determines how much funding the school gets from the state. also determines faculty and staff levels. school may be able to get reimbursed for the extra cost but that's complicated because federal law makes it difficult

to track the students' immigration status. >> until we get a game plan from the government as to how this will all happen. with to have prepare for every scenario. >> it's a lot of new adjustments for the districts and new students who still face deportation. palestinian officials say israel has only a few hours to return to the negotiating table in egypt. if they don't return by sunday morning, the palestinians say they too will leave cairo. the fighting between the two sides resumed today. israeli air strikes causing most of the damage. including at a mosque in a refugees camp in gaza. in america's heartland the conflict in gaza is creating a free speech debate. university of illinois is accused of rescinding a job offer to an associate professor for his political tweet. here is the story. >> reporter: as the body count in gaza rose over the past few weeks the emotion in steven's

tweets grew even more charged. like this one sent out on july 19th. at this point in netanyahu appeared on tv with a necklace made from the teeth of palestinian children, would anyone be surprised? he was set to begin a tenured professorship at the university of i was, butt chancellor blocked the appointment. the university says it's a personnel matter and won't comment publicly. but many believe his tweets cost him the job. he's an active twitter presence has been silents since august 2nd, he also did not respond to our e-mail and phone requests for an interview. his views on the mideast conflict, his criticism of the say of israel and sigh zionism can hardly be called a seek relate, he's won six books nug one in 2011 called israel's dead soul. carry nelson has written extensively in the support of the chancellor's decision. >> i think his tweeting has become aggressive. there are times that there is an invocation of violence there.

he seems at times to step over the line in to what some people feel is anti-seven tim. >> there has also been support for him. a petition saying the school she had reverse its scanned plus firing. the university said in a statement last week: >> this is a growing trend on college campuses. of attempts to silence, debate particularly about israel and palestine and i think it's absolutely essential in this particular case to recognize that steven is not alone. >> reporter: but nelson says there is a difference between protecting the academic freedom of a tenured colleague and what's acceptable from a job candidate. >> even though much of this

would be protected by academic freedom. you are still not required to give someone a job if you don't think they are going to work well in the community. >> reporter: for now, stephen appears to be a professor without a classroom. still ahead on al jazerra, it's the list they don't want to make. the worst airlines in america. that's straight ahead. plus rebecca is joining us with the forecast. >> meteorologist: we are looking at flash flooding in parts of the mid-atlantic. around south carolina and north carolina area, plus big storms in the pacific ocean. i'll show you the difference -- or where a hurricane turns in to a typhoon. details on that coming up. hardships that forced mira, omar and claudette into the desert. >> running away is not the answer... >> is a chance at a better life worth leaving loved ones behind? >> did omar get a chance to tell you goodbye before he left?

>> which side of the fence are you on? >> sometimes immigration is the only alternative people have. borderland only on al jazeera america

>> it's a chilling and draconian sentence... it simply cannot stand. >> this trial was a sham... >> they are truth seekers... >> all they really wanna do is find out what's happening, so they can tell people... >> governments around the world all united to condemn this... >> as you can see, it's still a very much volatile situation... >> the government is prepared to carry out mass array... >> if you want free press in the new democracy, let the journalists live. welcome back.

officials in portland, oregon say firefighters have made headway controlling the wild fires which had burned since tuesday. the fires tore across five square miles in the columbia gorge area east of portland. -y vac situation order for 770 residents was lifted earlier today. the blaze has been roughly 55% contained. the cause of the fires is still under investigation. the fear of back to bark hurricanes had thousands worried on the hawaiian islands this week, but things turned out to be far less men asking than expects. iselle became a tropical storm by landfall and hurricane julio is expected to track further north and miss the islands altogether. iselle did, however, leave more than 30,000 people without power. ithere was also flash flooding, uprooted trees and some property damage. iselle was the first tropical storm to hit hawaii in 22 years. rebecca stephenson is joining us with a look at the forecast. some encouraging news. >> meteorologist: it is encouraging especially when you

see hurricanes weaken, fall apart and miss where they are initially tracking. that's very good news definitely for the hawaiian chain. you can see what's leftover of the what was a hurricane at one time, iselle is currently bringing some how nurse to kauai, but rainfall totals here up to seven-inches of rain. now, we are still getting some showers out of that, but then the next thing on the docket is hurricane julio. this will be weakening down to a category 1 in the next 24 to 36 hours as it goes to the north. we do have high surf advisories along the coastline of the islands, but as we all know, many people take advantage of this for incredible surfing. now, as we look at what's going on in the pacific ocean, let's go from surfing in to just down right soggy, wet, flooding, potential mudslides. very dangerous situation setting up with storms in the pacific. what happens when we have hurricanes that are setting up in parts of the eastern pacific near mexico that track up in to

the north, we see these stay as hurricanes until they cross the international date line. if they cross the date line, they will transition to what's called a typhoon. now, a typhoon and hurricane basically same intensity of winds and the same energy driver, heat from the ocean, but as we go towards china and taiwan and western japan, in fact, dealing with a tropical storm, we've lost flood concerns here as it moves up through the north of the sea of japan eventually going to the china coastline over the course of the next three days. now, in the united states, our main concern is rain in the form of thunderstorms, they have been severe in the midwest for nebraska and kansas, but where we are getting some problems with thunderstorms is in california. we just heard tomas talking about the wilds fires going on in oregon, right along the columbia gorge, that's directly in the line, state line of washington and oregon state. but if we go in to northern california on the east side of the mountains, we have had

significant lightning strikes there today and tonight and we very likely could see new fire starts. otherwise the attention is focusing towards the amount of rainfall come do you think in the southeast. flooding, flash flood warnings going out with this amount of rain. >> if it's not one thing, it's another. conditions out west still so dry. >> meteorologist: yes. rebecca stevens son, thank you. there is a new initiative in new york city designed to reduce accidents involving pedestrians. that means lower speeds on some of the busiest streets. christian has a look at the vision zero plan. >> right here this is where seth was hit. >> this is where he died? >> yeah, he died right here. >> yeah. >> reporter: the corner of ninth avenue and 53rd street brings a flood of emotion. their son seth was run over by a city buzz going too fast in thousand nine. they helped form the group families for safe streets. >> seth was my only child and he

was my whole life. we decided that we wanted to help other people and create a city where this wouldn't happen to other people and we could do something about it. >> reporter: their group is behind the efforts of new york city mayor bill de blasio who recently signed legislation aiming to eliminate all pedestrian deaths. last year, 286 people were killed in traffic accidents in the city. >> the city is big and complicated as this it's not easy, but we did not come here, any of us, to do easy things, we came here to do things that would actually help people. >> reporter: among the package of new laws is a crack down on bad taxi drivers and reducing the city's default speed limit to 40-kilometers an hour. speed limits are a big part of improving road safety. it makes sense, the faster a car goes, the more damage it's likely to cause. one study found that reducing speed limits in the city by about 15-kilometers an hour, would substantially reduce the number of deaths.

the new laws also have the support of city cyclists who know the hazards of interacting with traffic all too well. cyclist and blogger doug gordon says raising public awareness of the new laws will be a big part of improving safety. >> i have seen actually real improvement since 2007, 2008 in the number of cyclists getting injured, partially that's because of the better bike lanes that we have all over the place, separated infrastructure and partially because there is more people out. people are used to seeing lots of cyclists and are more careful. >> sometimes a pedestrian will wave me on, it's their right to cross first. >> reporter: and soon motorists will be seeing more police officers giving traffic tickets to enforce the new laws, but they say it's a smile price to pay for safer streets. al jazerra, new york. hopefully it will make a difference, still ahead the airlines that landed on the bad customer service list. vé

ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america this week an airline watchdog group released its annual best and worst list for

overall performance. delta airlines took the top spot this year according to airfarewatchdog.com. virgin and alaska were two and three respectively. so that's the best. now for the worst. the site says united airlines finished dead last thanks to a bad habit of over booking flights and locust her satisfaction. american and southwest were also in the bottom three. president obama kicked off his august vacation today by hitting the links. the president teed off about an hour after marine one touched down on martha's vineyard and when you are the president you can get whoever you want in your four something the president was joins by nba all-star ray allen, sports caster and former nba all pro ahmad rashad. over in china, the sport of golf was once condemned by the government. but now china's golf industry is booming. the country could see hundreds of new courses and millions of new golfers in the coming years. rob mcbride has that story. >> reporter: it could already boast about the world's biggest

golf resort. and there are hundreds more courses to come. if currents growth forecasts are accurate. china likes its golf. >> translator: there are more young people playing and it's becoming more popular since becoming an olympic sport. >> translator: weekend are always busy on the course, but even weekdays there are more people playing. >> reporter: growing at an impressive 10% a year, it's estimated china is now a country of 1 million golf, he given the size of the country, there is still huge potential for gross, especially when it's easy. making it look even easier and without even cheating are ever younger players. with parents able to afford summer coaching camps like this one. >> we probably see around 1,000 juniors throughout the next two months and, i have worked in 10 different countries and i have never seen in grow like this before.

>> reporter: once condemn booed i the communist leaders, golf club membership is now highly prized by china's upper class. a 10-year-old ban on new course construction to protect the environment has been largely ignored, and the industry has boomed. but development has been patchy with a number of failed projects as evidence. parts of china are facing an over supply. resort developers, though, believe in the long-term vision of china as a golfing super power. >> the opportunities for golf development in this country is limitless. with 1.4 billion, all it would take is 3% of the population to play the game and you have 40 million plus golfers. which is the world's biggest, biggest golfing country. >> reporter: and with so many players, courses like this one are probably already hosting future chinese champions. rob mcbride, al jazerra, southern china. that will do it for this

hour, thanks so much for joining us think i am thomas dre drayton in new york, "consider this" is coming up next. have a safe night. what he considers to be the hindrance to peace. much more straight ahead. >> the worst outbreak of ebola that we've ever recorded. >> the virus never -- now nigeria. >> i don't know if the information is in whether this drug is helpful. >> we have been chasing it for over a decade. >> autism is up. we don't know what it is. >> 5% of the children have had