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this this this. >> our our correspondent joins us. she knows how dangerous trahis area can be for journalists at the height of violence in october, 2012, the fdi said he disappeared. we know qatari officials were able to get his released to. now, it seems that he is a freelancer. it might sound crazy, but that's not out of the question. it's the way i have started my

career. i taught english. he was going in. >> you sound it doesn't crazy. syria is ranked as the most dangerous place for any journalist according to the committee to protect journalists. when you are in a situation like that, what kind of conditions do these reporters face? >> the problem is the ground shifts very quickly underneath you. it was just starting to become most dangerous place then. i covered iraq when it was the most dangerous place. these freelance journalists out of libya had this intoxication with covering the arab spring and they were desperate to go into syria and give voice to the people of syria. and as the ground changed and some veteran journalists were killed, you change your calculus. for some like james foley, that was too fast too late. >> this notion of him teaching egenglish there, why is teaching english compatible with this? is that common in the middle

east and places like syria? >> yes. normally like morocco, you go to teach english. there was a time when syria was placid, you beautiful. i used to travel all by myself everywhere alone as a woman in syria. >> and you felt safe? >> i felt safe. it was beautiful. there is no way i would walk in without a full set of security and probably not right now. >> exactly. i hope your luck doesn't run out or you are a freelancer. you try to attach yourself to the veteran journalists and find that information on the ground. syria was an open border at that time. a lot of young westerners went in, freelancers went in. we have americans being held hostage now. >> a lot of things have changed. cou courtney keely joining us live. the california bay area has been rattled by a 6.0 earthquake. the epi center is between napa

and american an yon pictured there buildings buckled and thousands of people have their power knocked out. scientists say this is the largest quake to hit the bay area 6 the since.9 quake back in 1989. al jazeera's jake ward joins us from napa. good afternoon to you. this hit just before 4:00 a.m. your time. i spoke with you earlier this morning. how did you know that something was wrong? >> reporter: well, morgan when you live in the bay area you get used to the jolt. it's like a thump as if someone jumped on the ceiling. this was different. this was an ongoing, side to side shaking. my wife and i were immediately awoken. i know somebody, a friend of mine, had his shoulder dislocated as he leapt out of bed. we knew this was stronger than

usual. >> you mentioned your friend's shoulder. we have been seeing images of fires and damages to buildings but are there reports of any more serious injuries so far? yeah, in addition to over eighty minor injuries, there is reports of two adults and a child injured critically by a falling chimney. >> can do terrible damage. you can see it's brick buildings here that really are the most dangerous part of the architecture around here, and that's really the thing that you want to avoid and so really, damage from here happens to come not from the shaking, itself, but whoovnlt that will shaking dislocates. >> given the damage to the buildings like the one we see behind you, what are the city managers lists as their main

concern? >> inc. from a structure. we reported a few moments with the city public manager earlier and here is what he had to say about the situation. >> now, to provide water flow and volume, we have opened up our other water plant up at hennessey. so we have two feeds, one from the south, one from the north. our water plants are fine. they were not damaged. >> that's the good news, the upside tank levels started going down after the earthquake. those have been stabilized and starting to come back up. >> water is the life as it is almost nowhere else here in california. there are reports of as many as 30 water breaks. so people are striuggling withot water. >> that's the number 1 concern

for city managers. >> among the water breaks, we hear seismologists are warning about aftershocks. how strong are those expected to be? >> that is really a major concern after any major earthqua earthquake. the safety cal probability is that we have an over 50% chance of seeing a 5.0 after shock or higher again. this was a 6.0. we could see very significant shakes and so city officials are warning people to stay away from buildings like this, letting only press anywhere near them. >> that's the primary concern at the moment is what could come next. >> jake ward joining us live. thank you for being with us. let's turn back to the latest developments out of iraq where the country's out going prime minister met with iran's foreign minter in baghdad today. nouri al-malaki greeted the delegation and they will address instability within iraq. kurdish leaders are asking for

more international help in their fight against the islamic state. they say is fighters are equipped with weapons that are more modern those of the peshmerga forces. al jazeera's jane araf. >> kurdish forces are on higher alert than normal following a rare explosion. officials say a sticky bomb attached to the under carriage of a car detonated on the main road in the city. this is the peshmerga. kurdish forces fight on several fronts to try to retake territory from the islamic state group. one is the town of jallulah, 20s kilometers from the border in northeast iraq. iranian forces are said to have backed the kurdish fighters. the iranian foreign minister has arrived in back dad for talks with his counterpart as well as to congratulate the new prime minister. the prime minister has a tough job on his hands. he is trying to contain the

fallout of what is being termed ama massacre at a sunni mosque. >> one being blamed on shia militia members. it's not entirely clear who exactly is responsible but the government has vowed to bring whoever is to justice. all of that is jeopardies efforts to form a government within the deadline that they need to form a new iraqi government that includes sunnis, kurds and all of the other faxes to try to tackle security issues. >> earlier, i spoke with retired army major mike lions. he said that whatever systems the united states takes to stop the islamic state, they won't be easy? >> first thing we will have to do is take out any syrian air defense missile systems. we will have to go to war with syria, likely kill syrian soldiers that are manning those stems, not just fly aircraft into syria unless we are confident that they can return back to their basis. i think the president will take a go-slow approach, concern himself and the united states with containing isis first in

iraq and then, as we watch, as we see video come in and we see the intelligence come back, if they have now retreated into syria, that's going to start a whole new campaign. >> gaza, sicilan casualties are nowing. goed's attacks killed a one and a half-year-old girl playing in her own yard when a nearby building was bombed. the al jazeera's tyab reports. >> after more than six weeks of fighting, this is perhaps the largest act of property destruction by israeli forces in a single strike. distraught residents fled with little more than the clothes on their back. several people were injured including many children. >> we were informed about half an hour before the shelling this tower has 11 floors and 32 tams are living there. the minute we evacuated the

place was hit by warning rocket. after the f 16s fired two rockets. the building collapsed completely and families up and down the streets, god help us all. >> israel's military said the building was tathed because it was being used by hamas but residents deny this. the destruction of the tower was a further sign of escalation betweenis and hamas following the collapse of a temporary truce earlier this week. on saturday, palestinian leader mac mood abbas met with fatta al-sisi. this puts an end to the blood shed and any act that costs us more sacrifice. once that happens, the heurmanitarian relief aid and e rebuilding efforts must have start. >> after weeks of blood shed and mass destruction, many residents wants to see an evenldz to the violence but only if they agree to lift their blockade which has strangled the economy. in the background of the renewed

violence and calls for a cease-fire, palestinian officials may apply to join the international criminal court. >> would enable them to call for an investigation into whether israel may have committed war crimes, but joining the icc would also mean they, too, could face the same scrutiny. al jazeera, gaza. . >> meanwhile, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is making no apologies on the attack on that apartment building. he said bombs could fall anywhere the militarity believes hamas may be hiding. jane ferguson has more. >> people are aware now that these airstrikes are continuing across the gaza strip just to update that i, eight people were killed overnight and up until now, we know of at least eight deaths, two of those believed to have been children. remarkably, none of those deaths were recurring from the airstrike that hit the building just behind me. i am going to step out of the frame here so you can really see

the level of destruction. this was a 14-story building in the heart of gaza city in quite a middle class neighborhood here the israelis contacted people in this building and told them to evacaround half an hour before it was destroyed which was about 7:30 p.m. local time last night on a saturday night there would have been up to a thousand people living in such a massive residential building, the israelis said that hamas were operating a command center out of the building. local people hearsay that's absolutely not the case. remarkably, no one died but of course, many, many more families joining the homeless here in gaza today. >> after two weeks of protest, ferguson, missouri is preparing for a day of mourning. michael brown, the region-year-old who was shot and killed by police officers police officer darren wilson will be buried tomorrow. robert ray is live in st. louis right now. robert, what's happening there today? are things still relatively

calm? >> good afternoon. thinks are peaceful. we are at peace fest here at forest park in st. louis. you can hear some loud music behind me and people starting to gather out here. they want to make this an example of things that are good in the city of st. louis and a good example for kids that come out. talked to one of the organizers and guys underneath the tents earlier. here is what he had to say. >> i think it's going to take some more protesting in a silent manner, non-violent, non-threatening as well as it will take the leaders in the community to step up and reach out to the mayor and kind of working with the police departme department. i think each part has to do its half and meet each other halfway. >> so this is going to go on all day. most people are just starting to now arrive, will go into the evening and folks will be ready for school again to start this week, morgan. >> so robert, people are getting ready for school, but what's the

community doing to prepare for brown's funeral tomorrow? >> reporter: for brown's funeral tomorrow, yeah, people are getting set with peaceful provi protests today. tomorrow, the reverend al sharpton will give the eulogy. there will be people from washington who will come in and all other local officials and the police department will be out just in case there are some anti-protesters or some people who are against some of the support more michael brown who will be memorialized and buried tomorrow. >> you are mentioned support from michael brown. from what i understand, there is support for the officer, darren wilson, who shot him. can you tell us about what's happening on the other side of the aisle? >> sure. there is yesterday, there was an event, a couple of hundred folks that were out at -- actually outside of an irish public in

sprls flu support of darren wilson saying that the media is rush to go judgment. others are rushing to judgment because the facts are not out there. so those people are starting to make their voice known. they have trickled in, in the past five or six days. yesterday, clearly, the largest event. we are not sure whether those people will be out at the memorial service tomorrow for michael brown but we will be on the fringes as will a lot of other forms. we will keep a close eye. >> despite that tension in what's happening on both sides of the aisle, be it peaceful, what happened after the funeral monday morning? i mean is the funeral expected to mark the ends of all of these protests? >> unclear yet. i would say, you know, as the one gentleman we talked to earlier said that there will be more silent protests, people trying to work with police officials and the mayor and other elected lawmakers here, i don't think it's the end at all. now, whether or not there are marches and demonstrations every

day, i would say that that's probably going to caulk down. but we will probably see it in the weeks leading ahead because remember, the grand jury joint a decision until we are told at the latest in october. so we still have some time here to see exactly what the outcome will be of the shooting death of michael brown. morgan? >> keep our eye on that. robert ray joining us live from st. louis. robert, always a pleasure to speak with you. coming up onaj, somalia taking steps to get illegal guns off of the streets but are the residents really ready to hand them over? plus ukrainians celebrating in the streets of kiev. all of that and more coming up just after the break. don't go anywhere.

. >> today is independence day in ukraine, the 23rd anverts refrom their formal separation from the from the soviet union. these are the first such praised

in five years to mark the 1991 break from soviet russia. former president victor yanukovych banned them but this is happening in the eastern city of donetsk. the pope mentioned ukraine today during sunday prayers. he said, my thoughts go in a special way to the beloved land of ukraine where today is a national holiday to all of the sons and daughters. right now, somalia's government is doing everything it can to take illegal guns off of the streets. but as mohammed adow reports, people aren't necessarily willing to cooperate. here, african union peacekeepers and government troops raid the houses of people they call whether or notteds and suspected militia leaders. officials call this operation a success and say it will continue until they bring back a measure

of stability to the country. >> we will not stop until we reach a point where we will need only a warrant of arrest and not guns to arrest criminals. the current chaos cannot continue forever. but not every militia leader has been disarmed. this man is one of those keen on keeping their private armies. he says his men fight for the government and that has earned him enemies. >> the government should provide adequate security for people who might be targeted or let them keep their weapons. i believe people like me won't be disarmed. we are waiting to see the government's response. >> somal i can't has known little peace for the last 24 years. clan war lords or profit easier have battled for control. a massive free for all in trade in arms has been fueling the conflict between them. >> a few days ago, this was one of somalia's biggest arms

market. the traders have abandoned it they must trade guns underground. >> in one of the city's suburbs, we met young men trying to sell an ak-47 rifle. they are officially part of mogadishu's illegal trade in arms. >> we will continue to sell arms to anyone who needs them until the government provides us with alternative employment. this is our job, the only one-we know and that you will we care about. >> disarming the whole of somalia will be no easy task. many believe it can be done just by force. months and it may be years of negotiating with militiamen and klan elders, the government will have to reassure those hubert arms that it has the capacity to fully protect them now mohammed

adow, month moing, somal i can't. coming up on al jazeera, fire fighters in hawaii are dealing with a wildfire but wait until you hear who started t stay tuned.

♪ good afternoon to you. wedge back to al jazeera. live from new york, i am morgan radford. these are today's headlines. breaking news out of syria where american journalist theo curtis has been released by his captors. he was captured back in october of 2012. he was last seen in southern turkey where he had plans to enter syria to teach english. also, a massive rememberance held in honor of james foley, the american journalist beheaded in syria. british intelligence officials are now reportedly close to identifying the man who killed him, and california governor jerry brown declaring a state of emergency in napa where an early morning earth quake injured more than eighty people.

a 6.0 magnitude quake and the epicenter was between napand canyon. overseas iceland has lowered the warning to airlines from red to orange. fears of a major volcanic eruption have calmed down. scientists detected thousands of smaller plates in the area over the past week. iceland says the volcanic eruptioin is still possible but the threat isn't so great that they need to ground any planes any time soon. speaking of fire, two 7-year-old kids were playing with a lighter and they started a massive wildfire in hawaii. it swept through about 800 acres and so far, 40 people have been evacuated from their homes. thankfully, only one home has been damaged now, more than 100 fire fighters are working to get it under control. so for more on that wild weather, we turn now to our meet

robert kevin corveaux. >> there is a lot going on. this could have been worse because last week, we are dealing with a drought in hawaii. because of the storms p there was rain and the drought situation is better. >> could have been worse. we have, i want to take you back to hawaii right there. we have a few showers pushing through. >> that's good news but the showers aren't going to bring too much in terms of precipitation. it is not dry. >> that's the good news there. i want to take you over here towards the atlantic. this is our new trop charactercal storm, cristobal. we watched many days went over port reek on. we had video to show you of the rain of what just a tropical disturbance can do. they saw anywhere from six to eight inches across the island. flooding was a major problem here as well as not only in puerto rico but in hispanola

could back. i want to show you where this system is going to go over the next couple of days am. there have been a lot of discrepancy in the computer models over the last couple of days. you can sue hoe they go from east to west here this is what the national hurricane said is going to happen to cop cal storm cristobal. it will stay away from the u.s. coastline there. we could see problems here for bermuda. it is expected to increase to category 1 hurricane. we will see rip tides to the west, heavy rain showers over here towards bermuda, messy. we will need to watch this very carefully because the uncertainty is wide across the area. the other big problem is the heat across the south. looking at 90 degrees. when you factor in the heat index, we are looking at most of the south over 100 degrees, 101 in birmingham, 107 in new orleans. >> a hot, hot day down south.

thank you, kevin. thank you for watching "al jazeera america." i am morgan radford. "earth arise" is coming up next. catch us online at aljazeera.com for the latest news.