front lines... >> sometimes that means risking death >> getting the story, no matter what it takes >> that's what the forth estate is all about... that's why i'm risking my life... >> killing the messenger on al jazeera america this is al jazerra america. live from new york city, ill am tony harris with a look at today's top stories. michael brown does not want to be remembers for riots. >> the teenager at the center of the protests in ferguson, missouri his family calling for a break in the protests and an ease in tensions. an american journalist freed in syria after two years in captivity, why did the group link today al qaeda led him go? syria says it will accept help to defeat the islamic state group but with conditions.

napa california trying to recover from what could be billions in damage. ♪ ♪ ♪ thousands of people packed a st. louis church today to say goodbye to michael brown. ♪ ♪ >> brown's funeral took place more than two weeks after he was shot and killed by a police officer in nearby ferguson. the shooting triggered days of unrest. during the service, brown's stepmother recalled a conversation of which she said brown predicted his own death. >> he said because i have been dreaming of death. i have been seeing pictures of death. he said i see bloody sheets hanging on the clothes line. and it just -- it truly touched my heart. and when i went out there and i saw mike mike, that's exactly what he was laying up under.

so he pretty much prophesied his own death and didn't even realize it. >> diane estebrook joins us she's on the phone from ferguson, diane, tell us more about today's service. >> reporter: tony, it was a very emotional service. there was also a very lively service. there was a lot of music, a lot of clapping. it was a capacity crowd at the church, including his parents were in the audience, civil rights activists the referent al sharpton with celebrities, including spike lee, a number of politicians. he was eulogized by some of his relative who his remembered him as a spiritual young man and also an aspiring rap artist. >> he was a big guy, but he was a kind, gentle soul. and before he left this earth, the day that he was killed, he was out spreading the word of jesus christ. [applause] >> this moment michael also

stated to the family that one day the world would know his name. >> reporter: and others eulogized brown as a martyr. >> there is a cry being made from the ground, not just for michael brown, but for the treyvon martins, for those children at sandy hook elementary school, for the columbine massacre, for the black on black crime, there is a cry being made from the ground! >> reporter: the referent al sharpton also asked for justice. he called for justice for but he also asked the community to stop the looting and the rioting, he said that was not what michael brown should be remembered for. tony. >> diane, i am wondering, michael brown's family as you mentioned call for a day of silence. let it be michael brown's day. have there been any protests?

has that call been heeded? >> reporter: it has been heeded, tone i we have been driving around town and have not seen many people out. there was a prayer vigil this morning at the makeshift memorial which marks the spot where he was shot a couple of weeks ago. a small group of people remembering him. but around town today it's been very, very quiet. we have seen flick that at all. >> diane, one last question for you. what's the latest on the investigation in to brown's shooting death? >> reporter: as you know, the grand jury, the 12-member grand jury was convened last wednesday, they will meet again this week. st. louis county prosecutor bob mccullough says he's continuing to investigate and presents evidence to the grand jury, but it could be weeks if not a couple of months before we know if there will or will not be an indictment. >> all right, diane evening estn the phone with us from ferguson. joining us now is mr. clark a news reporter and writer who does analysis for website politics in color. it is good to talk to you again, jonathan, look, you were on with

my colleague michael eaves earlier today and said this is michael brown's day. how has it played out so far? >> well, you know, tony, i think what we are starting to see right now, we are seeing it in real time, is this large metamorphoses of michael brown from victim to cause. now really the movement. i mean, when you start hearing michael brown being linked with columbine and sunday sandy hoos such broader than any of us might have imagine third degree time or last week or a couple of weeks before. >> the reverend al sharp tonight said today this is about fairness. i wonder what your thoughts are on the issue of fairness as it's played out over last two weeks? where is the police report from ferguson? why don't we have officer wilson's version of what happened on august 9th? what are your thoughts on fairness? >> you know, tony, if you talk about fairness, the question is fairness according to whom? if it's fairness accords to this people who are packed in that church today, all those civil rights leaders and politicians

and celebrities, then it means some sort of indictment for the officer. for officer wilson. but if you are from officer wilson's camp, the people who are supporting him, fairness looks like he would get off. that the shooting would be justified. so right now we are still in the process of sorting out what, you know, what is fairness. and whose side is the official keeper of fairness. >> sure, the grants jury process will play out over the next few weeks, i can't imagine it will take months. what do you think happens in the community if there is no indictment? what happens in this community if there is an indictment and no conviction? >> yeah, so, you know, the one thing i think we really need to be careful about is to entertain this narrative that would if black people don't get what they want that they are going to go out and start rioting and tearing up their communities. i don't think we want to fall in to that trap, and i think there is this under tone, because of what we have already seen, in the community here, that there

will be that sort of civil unrest again. but this is sort of a lab right now. it's bait of opening up a chemistry set and trying to figure out what goes here and what goes there and we have never done this in this community before. and we are all, as eager to figure out and find out what's going to happen as the events unfold. >> short of tearing up one's own community, you would pictures if there is no indictment and if there is an indictment and no conviction there will be a strong reaction from that community and you expect the movement that alluded to earlier, as taking shape here would agree in size and magnitude, wouldn't you think? >> yeah. and i think that was really the craftiest thing that particularly referent al sharpton did in his eulogy was that he set the table for something greater and bigger, even if things don't necessarily go -- follow the legal path that many of michael brown supporters would hope for going forward. so i think the table is set and

if you were on a certain trajectory now to see something, something big come of this and sort of social mobilization that we may not see for quite sometime. >> thank you, jonathan, jonathan clarke is a former award-winning it. tv news reporter and writer. >> good to see you. >> thank you. classes were supposed to begin on august if yo 14th but unrest in the wake of michael brown's death prompted official to his twice delay the start of school. counselors were on hand to help students troubled by the unrest. an american journalist is freed today after being taken pipe opposition fighter two years ago, peter theo curtis was released by the al qaeda linked group he took curtis from the turkey-syria board never the fall of 2012. al jazerra obtained this video of him in june where he is reading a confirmed script confirming his identity. his family credits the qatar i government to helping to

negotiate his release. libby washingto is in washingto, what are u.s. officials saying about this? >> reporter: we are getting a better picture of what happened, stone i. wtony she confirmed that he was handed over in u.n. peacekeepers local time. he was examined melly and then turned over to u.s. personnel. he's in tel aviv. no word on when he might leave. the state department is staying mum on which he might return home to the u.s. and the exchange was facilitated by the qatar qatar-y governmen. there were a lot of questions for both the white house spokesman as well as jen about why now? why was he turned over now this less than one week after american journalist james foley was executed, was murdered by islamic state fighters. trying to make a political points.

jen says -- we are not talking about the details right now, emphasizing the details about the fact that they do not pay for prisoners. this is the key question, should the u.s. pay ransom for prisoners, they have a no-pay policy, she said that is still the case, that's what we emphasized publicly and privately over the past week. she would not confirm if u.s. officials had direct lay peeled to the ca qatar i government. she said she can't answer these questions. >> libby case foy us, following developments in the story for us. from washington, d.c. libby, thank you. the rise of the islamic state could blur the lines between foes and allies, the assad government says it's willing to

cooperate but its olive branch comes with a caveat. any air strikes must be made with them. here is more. >> reporter: on the ground in syria, the is lament i can state group is getting -- islamic state group is getting stronger. after a week of intense battles, its fighters took over the air base on sunday. it was the last strong hold for the syrian government in the northern rack a paragraph ins. more than 500 men were killed from the islamic state and government forces during this battle. a major win for i.s. as it solidifies its grip on major areas in syria stretch to go iraq. but the syrian government is hoping soon it will have new support to fight the islamic state group. officials in damascus believe the growing threat of the armed group will shift the priorities of the west led by the united states from fighting president

assad to fighting his enemies, the islamic state group. now seen by some as the worst of two evils. >> translator: the resolution reaffirms that it's quite impossible to deter without an approach where all countries and all international and regional organizations are cooperating in preventing these terrorist threats and put an end to the movement of terrorism. >> reporter: the message from the syrian capital is clear. without critical support from sear yakker the battle to defeat the islamic state group in iraq will be lost. the foreign minister warned, any military strike onism s. targets insides syria without coordination with damascus will be seen as an aggression. >> translator: the syrian

government who represents sovereignty and any effort to fight and bat terrorism and any effort has to be done with coordination with the syrian government and the international community now has to be up to the responsibility of implementing the resolution of the security council. >> reporter: so far neither the united states nor its western allies have approached syria for cooperate. but behind closed doors many believe that syria is already coordinating with some of its old foes, al jazerra, lebanon. thein''s humans rights chief says the is laboratories i can state's group has committed crimes against humanity. the u.n. accuses them of killing 670 prisoners since capturing the city in june. iraq's next prime minister says he will unify the nation and win back lost territories. jayna rav has more from you are bell in northern iraq.

>> reporter: prime minister designate has promised to crack down on militias, reach out to kurds and come up with the government program in the next two days, a government program doesn't mean there will be a new government. he still has almost two weeks to put it together. along with almost 30 cabinet posts that go along with it. but the program is an important step on that road. he's also said that he will find and bring to justice those behind a massacre in a sunni mosque that has threatened rupture even further relations between the political factions. fighting on the ground, kurdish peshmerga forces say that they have made major gains west of the mosul damn. that's an area that the u.s. has been concentrating on as well with its air strikes. kurdish troops have gone west of the damn to approach the town of, an important point on the supply line to mosul. a main bays of the islamic stat

group. benjamin netanyahu is warning people to avoid hamas bases, back and forth after ceasefire talks collapsed last week. more than 2100 palestinians have died so far in the fighting. many people are trying to escape in to egypt vie at rafah crossing but that area was hit by an israeli air strike earlier today. now here is this report. >> reporter: this is one of the old ways in and out of the gaza strip. for the first time in more than six weeks of conflict. israeli jets targeted the rafah boarder crossing with egypt. the impact of the three missile strikes, which hit just outside the passengers' certainly until was so powerful it cause aid partial roof collapse, despite the attack, the crossing was kept open, allowing those with egyptian passports to leave. >> translator: we know the israelis are sending us a message, they want to us close

this crossing, but we will keep it open even under fire. >> reporter: traveling from rafah to cairo to receive medical treatment, she says she is angry that after so many weeks, the fighting still hasn't stopped. >> translator: we are muslims and we are taught to be patient, but we will be victorious over our enemies. >> reporter: since the collapse of last week's ceasefire talks, more than 100 people have been killed in the latest round of fighting. in recent daisy description mediators have proposed a ceasefire that would see all of gaza's crossings open to allow in aid and construction materials, but hamas says any long-term truce must see an end to israel's eight-year blockade of the coastal strip and the reopening of its air and seaport. >> it seems to me that we are back to maneuvering between both the palestinians represented by hamas and the israelis. everyone is trying to di deprive

the other side from any tangible results or any political victory, which can be achieved by either party at the end of this war. >> reporter: the damage caused here by israeli shelling can be repaired. but what is less certain is if a lasting ceasefire agreement between israel, hamas and the various armed palestinian factions can be pieced together any time soon. al jazerra, at the rafah boarder crossing, gaza. the liberian government says a doctor given an experimental drug to fight the ebola virus has died. this comes as officials in the democratic republic of congo say two people from that country have now died from the virus, more than 1400 people in four west african nation have his died in the worst ebola out break on record. the world health organization says it will need more than $430 million to bring the out break under control. clean-up effort are underway in california right now after the worst earthquake in 25 years, the epicenter of the quake was just south of napa

city. it was felt in american canyon, california, as well as san francisco, the damage could cause as much as $4 billion. al jazerra is in napa with more. >> it's an earthquake. it's an earthquake. >> reporter: the biggest earthquake the bay area has felt since 1989. there have been a few serious injuries, but mostly things falling apart. the warrants of it, a fire at a mobile home park, but by more than the flames were out. the residents all accounted for. barbara hornsby tells us despite her damaged home she feels blessed, not devastated. >> happy to be alive. because if that bookcase had come over just a tiny bit differently, i could have had a broken neck. and instead i just had a little blood. either one, the interior doorway or the outer door, i just wanted to be in a protected area. >> reporter: they has a place to

sleep tonight with neighbors, but no clue what her long-term options are. she and her husband are trying to take the unexpected disaster in stride. what you are looking at is the worst-hit area at least cosmetically speaking. we are in downtown napa and the good news is the quake took place in the middle of the night so all these restaurants and businesses were at least closed. >> my bed just started shaking and all the lamps fell off my nightstand, the tv flipped off the wall and my microwave fell over. none of the emergency lights came on so i was scrambling in the dark to find the latch on his the door to get out. >> reporter: by midday, local business owners had started making some progress cleaning up the earthquake's mess. some businesses have already reopened. but others will need more time. city workers, firefighters, those working to fix power lines, have all been work to go get things back to normal as quick haquickly as pass believe. the governor has declared a state of emergency to help with recovery efforts. >> we have right about probably

100 plus gas leaks, power lines down. in the neighborhood of about 80 plus at this time. >> reporter: most tourists despite the nighttime scare tried it their best to carry on with their daytime plans, despite a marred city certainty the damage appears limited in wine country. coming up on al jazerra america, it may be more than two years out, but we may be getting our first taste of a possible battle between two potential presidential candidates. that's next with david shuster. plus squatters have been take over many abandoned homes in detroit. but soon the law may not be on their side.

okay, let's take a look at wall street today it began the new week on a positive note. get your head out of the way so i can take a look at what's going on there. okay, all right, we have some corporate merges to talk about, the dow rose almost 76 points. lamb. [ laughter ][ laughter ] >> the nasdaq and higher on the day. it closed just below that.

now, the news that sent stocks higher includes burger king trying to pull off, shall i say a whopper of a merger. the fast food change is in talks to buy the canadian coffee chain tim hortons. burger king would actually movies a headquarters from miami to canada. ut-oh, that would lower the taxes here in the u.s. the two companies combined would be worth more than $18 billion. 76 days until the congressional elects and 805 days until the president's election of 2016, and, yes, we count that number today because we have just seen the first high profile attacks between candidates from opposite parties who both have a good chance of being their party's nominee. david shuster is here to explain. david. >> republican kentucky senator ran paul is ramping up his media appearances as he continues to build a 2016 presidential campaign. spoil self proclaimed

libertarian with firm isolationist views on foreign policy. this week on nba's meet the president he hammered democrat hillary clinton over her vote for the iraqi war and democrats should be nervous about the general election matchup. >> in a general election, were i to run, there ther will be a lof independence and some democrats that say we are tired of war, we are worried that hillary clinton will get us involved in another middle eastern war because she's so young row, let the democratic put forward a war hawk like hillary clinton and you'll he into a transformation like you'll never see. >> clinton has not responded to senator paul, her surrogates are calling paul's policies dangerous. the anticipation is building again that clinton is plan accu presidential run, her and chill announced that they will be in iowa.

it's the top funds raise third state. this will be hillary clinton's first run since 2008 which she finished third behind barack obama and john edwards. iowa will host the democratic nomination again in 2016, house budget committee chairman paul ryan who was mitt romney's running mate in 2012 has confirmed that he is now considering a 2016 presidential can pain but does not think mitt romney will try again. >> he keeps saying he's not going to run. as far as myself and my family, this is a decision that we will take very seriously and weigh in 2015. and 2014 midterm election is the latest finance figures indicate that americans for pros prosperity billionaires charles and david koch is now on track to spent 290 ms.. most funding attack ads one of the latest targets louisiana democratic senator mary lan

drew. >> washington, d.c. the land of politicians, lawyers and lobbyist. and mary's $2 million home. easy to forget your roots in a place like that, especially after almost 20 years. >> that's right, the billionaire koch brothers are funding an ad that criticizes landry for living in a $2 million home. amazing. well, creme contracts are hit back with ads hammering the koch brothers, here is the latest from michigan. ♪ >> it still looks like our michigan, but the out-of-state billionaire koch brothers use as it i a dumping ground, their planned producing toxic chemicals release today cancer, their pilings of waste contaminated homes and threatened great lakes, and trying to buy a senate see to terry lindland. >> land is the former secretary of state. this november she will face up against democratic congressman

gary peters. the price tag is expected to break that state's record. finally, texas governor rick perry who is considering a 2016 president hal campaign has decided to turn his recent criminal indictment in for a t-shirt fundraiser, for 25 bucks he will show you this t-shirt with a mug shot on front saying wanted on the back is the photo of the state district attorney, saying guilty. she was convicted of drunk diving and she is the woman perry was battling over money, t-shirt politics, can't be it. that's today's power politics. appreciate it david. coming up on al jazerra america, a look at the group that released american journalist peter curtis and its ties to the is let's i can state group that murdered james foley plus foley's final message to his family. in ukraine ukraine claims a new rounds of russian convoy trucks has entered the country without permission.

♪ ♪ that decision to release an american journalist yesterday highlights its differing priorities from the is let's i can state group. last week the islamic state group killed james foley and posted the video online, they have been fighting off the assad government and moderate opposition as the is lame being state group has been growing, 6,300 recruits reported joined last month. only 800 of them are actual fight, he the rest are syrians looking for money for their families. joining me now is davide, a senior fellow with the foundation for the defense of democracies good to talk to you, theo curtis' release was announced six days after the video of james foley's execution, what do you make of the timing of this release? >> it's interesting timing. it's not clear that there is an exact causal line to be drawn

between them, but in this case, it's clear that there was a qataqatari intermediary. certainly he wasn't leases for free, some money was dolled out and it could have add urgency for him to be leased and it could have given them the opportunity to show the difference between them and the us lat i can state. al qaeda and its affiliates are using the islamic state's extremism to rebrands themselves as a more moderate jihadist alternative. and it may be working. >> is it clear to you that the qatari's actually paid them and if so, what's the evidence of that? >> we can't say that with 100 percent certainty because the details are still opaque, but the evidence i would points to is past practices, the qataris have been involved in getting hostages released in a number of different countries cs and regions, when it's happened, basically every time that evidence has come to light,

despite the fact that it's an opaque deal something money has exchanged hands. i think it's safe to a same that probably happened here. >> are we suggesting that it would be members of the government, that it would be a government sanctioned ransom paid or other car qataris that may have these contracts. >> it's a private citizen with strong ties to the government who has been at the front of undertaking these negotiations. where he gets the money from isn't clear, when you are dealing with a lot of gulf states there is a mixture of private and public financing there is owe pass at this about who is paying the bill at the end of the day. >> i think that's fair. this brings in a question of difference in policy taken by the united states and europe. does the u.s. policy of not paying ransoms does it work in your minds? and if europe stopped paying

ransoms would we see kidnappings slow or come a halt? >> there is a significant debate about this right now the. tom ricks, a well-known correspondent had a piece in politico this morning where he argues it does work. he said when he was over covering the war in iraq, for example, he thought that the u.s.' no paying ransom policy was one of the best defenses that he had as a journalist. i tends to fall on that side. because if you end up paying groups like this, a couple of things happen, one is you are putting millions of dollars in the hands of group that his we are trying to fight. at the same time that we are trying to fight them. and that's a lot of money for these organizations. and secondly, you create a market for the kidnapping of americans. so it's a tough situation when someone is actually kidnapped, with a lot of competing concerns. on the one hand you want to free them on the other hand there are the concerns that i just outlined. on bali think it's better for the united states to have a policy of not paying ransom to his terrorists. >> final question for you, countries, we were talking about this a moment ago, like qatar,

saudi arabia, have been accused of funding these al qaeda-linked groups. why? can you give me your thinking on this? and i am sure you have been thinking about this over the years. and tell me why that would be the case to the extent that we know and believe that is the case. >> there is a number of different phases in which these accusations of funding have been made. some of them are fairly indisputable. for example, we know about saudi arabian charities and their linkses to al qaeda prior to and also after the 9/11 terror attacks, it was much more for ideological territories they were stood up to continue the gee half during the afghan war. more recently it involves the syrian conflict not that there is no ideological affinity. but a lot of states in the gulf have been really trying to pour money in on the anti--assad side which comes down in part to the competition between sunni and shia states within the region where assad, of course, is in

the shia camp due to his allegiance to iran and the fact that iran writte iranian clerice providing his regime. that is the major driver with other things below the service such as ideological affinity. >> appreciate it. he is a senior fellow with the foundation for defense of democracies, joining us from washington did. c. james foley's family shared what turned out to be the journalist's final message to the loved ones, his family posted the letter on their facebook page last night because islamic state fighters confiscated written messages foley asked a fellow prison tore memorize a letter and in it he says, quoting now, i remember so many great family times that take me away from this prison. dreams of family and friends, take me away and happiness fills my heart. i know you are thinking of me and praying for me. and i am so thankful. i feel you all especially when i

pray, foley end the letter by saying, stay strong because i am going to need your help to reclaim my life. ukraine's president has dissolved parliament and called for early elections in october, press petro poroshenko says the current government has too many rebel sympathizeers in it. the government is putting more pressure on separatists but there are report of new weapons letinweaponsheading in to the c, rory challands reports on the cross-border tensions. >> reporter: it's been a steep learning curve do alexander, six years ago he moved to the country side and bought some animals so he and his friends could eat organic foot. now he has three farms, and sales his produce in nearby moscow. for alexander, the embargo on western food is an opportunity, but one he needs government help to exploit. >> translator: they should give

long accessible credit. discounts on fuel, discount on buying machinery and electricity and building, there should be long-term cheap money. >> reporter: this is undeniably a golden opportunity for russian farmers like alexander, but it's one that comes with challenges. they have to massively increase production, they are also going to have to compete with other exporting countries around the world. and if the political situation changes, then western produce is going to be let back in. if russia is to become more self sufficient as the government is urging, it will have to address significant issues. after the soviet union imploded there was a corresponding collapse in russian farming. state subsidies dried up and output declined. now only 7.4% of russian territory is farmland, up to 40% of the food russians consume is imported and poor distribution

networks mean getting domestic produce from one part of this huge country to another is often uneconomical. recent years have seen productivity pick up, but there are some who think food self sufficiency is both unachievable and undesirable. like dimitri who owns numerous restaurant chains and shops. >> translator: the russian producer is a traditional image but we are planting dutch potato sees cultivating it with polish pesticides using american tractors. so the russian food we are talking about is a myth. >> reporter: alexander may feel he's more real than that, but it's probably true that his expensive organic produce will never feed the nation. he'll do his best to capitalize on this perhaps fleeting opportunity, but unless agriculture here can "consider this" produce lots more cheap food fast, the farmers likely to

benefit the most will be in koren countries. not one, rory challands, al jazerra, moscow region. in france the president france sw swa ohlund as dissolvd his government. the economy minister openly criticized cost-cutting measures, he introduced harsh austerity laws when he was elected but since said he would roll them back. unemployment is nearly 10%. hard line fighters in labia have ceased control of the airport in typically o coming after a week long bat for the extra time i can pup. reports suggest it could be leads to go war. reports they secretly teamed up to launch air strikes against the fighters but egypt denies that. the fighting is forcing thousands of citizens to flee the war zone. italy says it has rescued as

many as 4,000 migrants found off the waters of sicily, north of the libyan coast. al jazerra's sonya gallego with more now. >> reporter: the latest arrival of migrants making the pai peris journey. there were just a small number of the 4,000 people who had been rescued by the italian navy over the weekend. some did not make the journey alive. the bodies of 43 people were found by rescuers, some were victims of a ship wreck that sanction off the libyan coast on friday. at least 500 people have died trying to cross the mediterranean sea since january and this year has already seen 100,000 migrants arriving in italy under the radar. the setting off point almost always from libya where a breakdown the law and order has been exploiting by human traffickers. and so many of the people who make the journey have fled war, a beus and destitution in africa, the middle east, and

evening as far way as asia. but what they face during the journeys can often be just as dangerous. >> the carnage which we have seen over the past weekend is is shocking. but it's shocking in scale not in type. because these sort of dangerous migrations have been happening for months and months in to the years know and the number of people dieing on them have also been mounting through that time. we are seeing a mounting humanitarian catastrophe. >> reporter: it doesn't end there. italy announced its e.u. search and rescue rah operation would end this autumn. unable to continue the burden of rescuing thousands from the seize, he the president said the onus was on the european union to do its duty. but europe says while it aids and coordinates rescue operations it cannot deal with the ever-increasing number of migrants, the cost of desperate human lives amounting to so little this these seize.

a new hearing in the shooting death of a florida teenage ore over loud music, roxana has that and more. >> michael dunn is due back in a courtroom in floor in two weeks. a judge today set a pretrial hearing, he's facing a new trial on charges that he killed jordan davis two years ago, witnesses say dunn thought music coming from the car davis was riding in was too loud. which sparked an argument. but dunn said he shot in to the vehicle because he thought davis had a weapon. in if he can a jury convicted dunn on some count but deadlocked on first degree murder charges. also in florida, authorities are trying to find out how nearly 20 migrants came ashore with no sign of a boat. one woman was found dead. 18 people made it to shore, they are now in custody. authorities are calling the incidents a smuggling attempt. the migrants appear to be from haiti. the aclu and two newspapers are suing in federal court asking for more media access to executions in oklahoma.

the lawsuit is in response to the botched execution of clayton lockett in april. lockett writhed and moaned after drugs were administered and officials lowered a shade 16 minutes in the execution, it took him 43 minutes to die. the suit asks that all witnesses few execution from beginning to end. more rain is creating a sinking problem for a couple in indiana. this sink hole in a backyard has grown from four feet wide and six feet deep to 40 feet wide and 30 feet deep. yeah. pretty large, tony. >> yeah. >> but it's not just the size that's the problem, it's who is going to fix it. the couple live on the border of three indiana towns, so no one wants to take responsibility. >> i called the city, they came out, they filled it with rocks. and then they covered it with grass. >> we have been complaining to different people for all this time, and everybody just keeps kind of ignoring it. it could have been a little

problem that's turned in to a a monster at this point. >> all three to understand are sending engineers out today to check out the situation. one of the problems is that there are super pipes and gas lines under that sinkhole, so that's why nobody wants to take responsibility. >> you gotta be careful with it. but someone needs to do something about it: >> right. >> roxanne appreciate it you are back later in he the program? >> i am. >> see you later, thank you. there are more than 80,000 abandoned homes and other structures in detroit. while? see eyesore, squatters see opportunities, squatting is allowed in michigan but new laws will make it harder for people to claim property they don't actually own, more now from detroit. >> reporter: a sign of life in an east side detroit neighborhood that has reached a dead end. empty lots, burned out structures, and vacant properties speak to the decline. >> nobody really else everybody wants to be here. you know. >> reporter: 27-year-old john calls this abandoned four

bedroom house his home. >> reporter: this is how you cook? >> yeah. >> reporter: he has no running water. no electricity. and he doesn't pay mortgage or rent. he is squatting. >> living in a city where you see, you know, abandoned housess and blight everywhere and stuff people aren't doing with, you get the idea in your head if you have any common sense, well, there is a house right there and it's perfectly good and i have no place to go. so i mean, you know, it was almost a common sense move for me. >> reporter: he is part of a small group of people who have claimed abandoned city-owned properties as their own. and a bankrupt city short on resources there could be hundreds, maybe thousands more squatters out here. >> it's frustrating to me. it really is. >> reporter: brian ferguson says a squatter moved in to his neighborhood five years ago and hasn't left. >> reporter: so this is the out right here? >> uh-huh. see. could you tell that was a squatting nows. >> reporter: not at all. look at the windows. >> reporter: more than $17,000 in taxes are owe odd this

foreclosure the woman living here las managed to aid volunteer-y visions, even one involving police. i am with al jazerra america. do you have a minute? >> they don't care they got what any call squatters rights and you gotta take them to court. and they are not showing up, so you are wasting your tie time and money trying to get them out of a house that they don't even own. >> reporter: minutes later she emerges. and denies doing anything wrong. why do people keep saying that you are a quarter. >> that's hearsay. >> so i am waiting to see what the lands bankers are going to do, how they deal with the people. we are at our wits end. >> reporter: craig is with the detroit land bake a public authority dedicated to returning the city's vacant, abandoned and foreclosed property to productive use. he says the city is electing squatters before they stay long enough to legally claim the properties, but the goal to find ways to keep people in homes they may have lost through foree

closure, people reduced to squatting in homes they once owned. >> if somebody has clearly broke then to a property, they have no claim on, no prior regular ship. we will tick steps to evict these people no, question about it. it will be a different situation for somebody that fell behind in their taxes especially if they have been there a long time. that's something we will treat different 4reu6789 the small community odifferently. >> reporter: the small commune i squatters will be taken differently. do you think your days are flubbed? >> i feel it's something that need to be fought for. >> reporter: new state laws will take effect making squatting a criminal defense, it's a property battle they may stand to lose. al jazerra, detroit. so by now you have seen the ice bucket challenge, try, to raise money for als. now people in gaza are joining in with what's being called, yeah, the rubble bucket challenge. roxana has that story next.

clean-up effort are underway in california right now after the worst earthquake in 25 years. the damage from the quack will cost california as much as $4 billion. jake joins us live now from napa. how bad is the damage there? >> reporter: well, tony, estimates are still range, no one has really put a total price tag on it. but right now the figure that everyone is talking about is

$4 billion. that seems to be the total in economic losses in a part of california that contributes about $13 billion to the economy here. at the moment. the sort of bad news seems to be tapering off, however, we have seen a steady estimate of 208 people admitted to the hospital, mostly with minor orthopedic injuries. only one person in critical condition and that's the very, very lucky part of this. this could have been vastly worse. in the meantime inning extra structure is coming baca line, 90 caughback online,there are ad power is back online. >> i am wondering how will the damage of that quake affect the area financially? >> reporter: well, that is really the question sort of ongoing, at the moment the highway administration has released $2 million to make sure that the roads get repaired as quickly as possible, they were the life blood of the recovery effort. emergency vehicles needed to flood in from other counties to

help napa which could not help itself there is the h expectatin that we have about a 50% chance of aftershocks in the next couple of weeks and we could see all kind of damage all over again. in the end, authorities here are not messing around, they ever decided to apply for federal relief, and hopefully in their view, hopefully the federal relief will come through and shore up what is a pretty vital part of california's economy. all right, jake ward for us in napa. good to see you, jake. thank you. okay, by now you have seen all of the videos, right, people across the world have been dumping icy water on their heads some with actualize cubes in the bucket or donating $100 to battle lou gehrig's disease. now there are other causes, roxana saberi is back with that. >> the ice bucket challenge has been so successful that some gazans are leading the rubble bucket challenge. they are pouring buckets of sand

and rocks over their heads, they say they want to raise awareness oabout the war in gaza. at people around the world dump ice water on their heads to help the fight against lou gehrig's disease. some gazans are launching a similar challenge to bring attention to the war against israel. what gaza does have is rubble, plenty of it. thousands of home have his been destroyed by israeli air strikes on gaza over the last 50 days, the conflict has killed more than 2,000 palestinians and more than 60 israelis.

other gazans are doing the same. like this university student and her brother. ♪ ♪ >> we don't have any water and we can't mike it izzy, the only thing we have in abundance is rubble. >> reporter: she lawn offed th s facebook page for people across the world to take challenge and they are responding. >> i will use something all of us human humans share, air. >> reporter: they are posting videos from scotland, germany, month rack owe and turkey. >> i do this for you. >> the ice bucket challenge has soaked famous figures like president george went bush and performer justin timberlake, supporters of this challenge home it gains as much attention for their cause, this journalist says if five famous people like actors or presidents do the rubble bucket challenge, will have succeeded in sending the

message about gaza to the world. there are other imitations of the ice bucket challenge, actor orlando jones dumped a bucket of bullets on his head. he said he wanted to highlight the issue you of gun violence in light of the events in ferguson, missouri. and a journalist in india started the rice bucket challenge, she wants people to donate rice to the poor. >> okay. great idea. a thousand imitations, right? >> there will be more i am sure. >> absolutely, see you back here at 6:00. thanks. the american heart association says electronic cigarettes may be helping smokers quit. the health organization says it may be a reasonable option for people who could not quit after trying approved methods, like nicotine patches. the group still has concerned over the effects of vapor products. it is calling for more regulation. and still ahead on al jazerra america. >> grounder to second base, flips to short, it's over. >> so a look at a little league team from the united states, from chicago that fought until the bitter end in the little league world series.

prem has called the islamic state a cancer that must be irradicated. the u.s. military is using air strikes against.i.s. insurgents in iraq, but they have been limited. what are the next moves? containment inside iraq? we'll take the night to syria f. that happens, are you really fighting on the side of assad and a regime you want to remove? it's complicated. we'll unravel the dilemmas and options at the top of the our.

the little team too that could met an obstacle it could not overcome, but the defeat could not diminish the accomplishments of 13 young boys from chicago, john henry smith has the story. >> reporter: they charmed a nation. >> i don't like losing. it's like a girl dumping you. >> reporter: they energized a city. [cheering and applause]

>> reporter: and they inspired millions by doing what few thought they could. making it all the way to the little league worm series championship game. >> they are already on top. chicago is going crazy for them. >> reporter: the jackie robinson west all stars took the field in williamsport sunday as the only all-can-american team to ever advance to the world finals. no surprise the team that had to win four straight win-or-go-home games just to get to 70's game didn't quit when they were found 8-one, rallying for three runs in the sixth but this time the run fell short and south korea won 8-4. whicwhen in the end did nothingo dampen the admiration of the their coach. >> they were a little teary eyed at the end but they handled it well. very proud. >> reporter: nor did it dampen the enthusiasm of their fans at home in chicago. >> it's a blessing, and it's an honor and we support these kids 100 percent. >> reporter: those 13 12-year-old boys lifted the spirt of a chicago that's been

we set by gang violence, they also raised hopes insides of professional baseball that african americans might return to the sport current african american players like carl crawford, and latroy hawkins were so moved, that they and five other players paid over $20,000 for the little leaguers' families to go to williamsport and root their kids on. as important as all of the what may comes could be, the coach of the jackie robinson all stars prefers to focus on something precious that has already come. >> it's something that they can share -- they will share for the rest of their lives, those 13 guys can talk about these moments at the little league series. >> reporter: the city has a parade plan today their heros this sunday. good story. a rare treat in th in space. thanks to the crew at the end international space station, this the the crew of the i.s.s. flying through at roar a it was

taken on board the space sayings an aurora is a natural electrical phenomenon which creates streams of red and green light in the sky. that's all of our time, "inside story" is next. >> the united states spent a decade, thousands of lives and trillions of dollars to overthrow saddam hussein and create a new iraq and now the islamic state is threatening to unravel iraq and syria. if you are president obama, what is your next move? that's the "inside story."