and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm david shuster here are the stories we are following for you this hour. >> cannot stand by and openness to be confused with the tolerance of extremism. >> david cameron raises the terror threat level voicing concerns over the islamic state. and the number of people who have now fled the fighting in syria totals more than 3 million. and exactly nine years after hurricane katrina made landfall

on the gulf coast, memories and reminders of the storm's wrath. ♪ the conflict in syria and iraq has prompted the united kingdom to ratchet up its terror threat level. the move was directly connected to the rise of the islamic state group, the i.s. controls much of the territory between aleppo and mosul. the british mere british citizens fighting with the islamic state group are a threat. >> this is not some foreign

conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore. the ambition to create an extremely caliphate in the heart of iraq and syria is a threat to our own securery here in the uk. the root cause is quite clear. it is a poisonous ideology of islamist extremism that is condemned by all faiths and all faith leaders. >> cameron said as has 500 britains are fighting for the islamic state group, including one british citizen who executed james foley. 72 soldiers from the philippines were guarding a check point near the israeli border. on thursday syrian fighters stormed the area. the filipinos have escaped but have been unable to move from their position.

the lebanese army is getting help from the united states to defending its border with syria. the united states is supplying weapons and ammunition. and a new united nations report says more than 3 million syrians have now fled that country, and another 6.5 million are described as internally displaced. the high commissioner for rej gees is calling it the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era. the united states, european union, united nations, and nato are all saying russia is violating ukraine's sovereignty. russia has been arming rebels in the east, and the actions defy all diplomatic efforts for a peaceful solution to the crisis that so far has claimed more

than 2,000 lives. >> despite moscow's hollow denials, it is now clear that russian troops and equipment have illegally crossed the border into eastern and southeastern ukraine. this is not an isolated action, but part of a dangerous pattern. >> separatists rebels in eastern ukraine have agreed to open a humanitarian pathway so that people have a chance to escape the fighting. that was at the request of russian president vladimir putin, as the kremlin continued to deny that russia is involved in the fighting. >> translator: for some reason in any conflict whether it is middle east or africa, our western colleagues always call for the ceasefire. for the national reconciliation,

for the search of compromise and harmony, and there are two exceptions that come to my mind at this moment. syria, where the west doesn't recognize any dialogue and demands to finish off the regime with force, and ukraine where the west also doesn't recognize any national dialogue and demands the regime to finish off the opposition with force. >> reporter: mike viqueira joins us live from washington. let's start with iraq and syria, the president's comments yesterday. provided today. give us the latest. >> that's right. we are fresh from a daily briefing from the white house spokesmen josh earnest. president obama is on his way to a fund-raising trip. he has decided incidentally, david, he originally planned to stay in the new york city tomorrow before attending the

wedding of his personal chef, he will be returning to the white house tonight. bementioned david cameron, raising the threat level there. josh earnst reporting that he does not an advertise nate the homeland security department will be raising the threat level here, although they are monitoring those expatriot americans who have gone on to join those groups. after the president's appearance in the briefing room, the controversy ensued right away. the president said we don't want to put the cart before the horse in terms of whether or not we will extend the air bombing campaign from iraq into syria. he said we have not made a policy decision at this point. josh earnst principally laid

that at the feet of the pentagon, saying they have not yet presented the president with a full range of options. >> the pentagon is developing plans or military options for the president to consider if he decides it is necessary to do so, but at this point the president hasn't made any decisions, but if he does take that step, it will be one that is carefully considered, one that is deliberately arrived at, and one that will be made in close consultation with the united states congress. >> in conclusion, he says we don't want to just drop bombs in syria and see what happens. later he did say the president has been discussing a rage of options in syria with his top advisors, david. >> a lot of concerns from nato, the united nations, and others

regarding what is happening in ukraine. what is the latest on that? >> the latest is what the president said yesterday. there is going to be no military action on the part of the united states against what is clearly now -- what many people are clearly calling an invasion. the president chooses to use the term incursion. that was part of the president's point in coming out and appearing before the press yesterday, that maintains the line. while at the same time, david, the president insists that the economic sanctions which have been slowly ratcheted up, against vulnerable portions of the russian economy are really taking their toll. devaluation in the ruble. capital flight from russia itself. and that has not deterred putin from this latest provocative

step. in wales this again will be after a series of top level summit, again, dominated by the situation in ukraine. the president will be pushing for further sanctions. that is going to be a stretch. >> al jazeera's mike viqueira at the white house, mike thank you. on monday david cameron will ask british parliament to restrict travel between the uk and syria. an upcoming summit they have prompted the threats. >> in terms of the preventative measures, and whether that be the confiscation of pass ports or even the denial of nationally, these are two measures he alluded into in his statement. but we have always had critical risk level against the threat, and although the threat hasn't been raised for the last three

years, this could coincide with the fact that there is the large summit being carried out next week in whales. now this in itself presents a very considerable potential terrorist risk, and from sources that i have spoken with, there has been chatter around this event, which evidently lead the government to raise the level as well. patricia sabga with "real money" tracks the islamic state group money trail. >> tens of thousands of fighters, an estimated $2 billion war chest, plundered us-made military hardware. but beneath the war machine lies the key to the staying bower, a simple by highly effective

top-down bureaucracy. >> there is a corset of functions that the islamic state seeks to put in place as soon as it overruns a village or district or province that ends up looking very hierarchal. >> reporter: capitalizing on power vacuums, the islamic state group draws heavily from pools of experienced public service workers in the areas it captures. they typically appoint a local amir, then installs sharia courts, law enforcement and financial administrators to collect and redistribute money. it also works to maintain and restore essential services like electricity. this institutional infrastructure not only enables the islamic state group to govern and administer its considerable amount of territory, it presents a

daunting task to the territories, by -- and while air strikes may contain their advance, it is estimated $1 million a day in locally generated funds leave it poised to fight another day. >> if they are able to continue to raise the amount of money that it is right now, it will be able to lie low if air strikes are effective against it, and probabliment come back later like it has in the past three months. >> patricia sabga, al jazeera. pakistan's prime minister is struggling to calm the protests against his government. opposition leaders with thousands of protesters have been demanding his resignation for weeks. he claims he did not ask the military to help diffuse the situation. the wife of an al jazeera

journalist gailed in egypt has given birth to their third child. baher mohamed wrote a better from prison saying: hah theyn't have been in prison for 243 days faultsly accused of helping the outlawed mrub. the al jazeera continues to demand their release. some protesters who took to the streets following the shooting death of michael brown have now filed a lawsuit. the suit accuses service law enforcement agencies of treating

them like war combatants. it has been two weeks since illinois state troopers have started working with chicago police to try to stop gun violence in that city. but the effort is getting mixed reviews as the bloodshed continues. >> reporter: 20 people have died and another 120 wounded in gunfire since illinois state troopers have started helping police get violent criminals off of the streets. but the head of one community outreach program says manpower isn't the answer, education and opportunity are. >> there are not enough policemen in china to stop one shooting in chicago. so that is not the right approach. >> reporter: roughly 1500 people have been shot and wounded in chicago so far this year, that's slightly more than last.

the bloodshed prompted the federal government to bring in additional agents last month. sill just a week before the city asked the state for help. the police superintendent said he didn't want it. >> we have more police officers than any large city in the country per capita. so let's not do that. >> reporter: austin is one of chicago's more violent neighborhoods. this marks the shot where a 14-year-old was gunned down on sunday, shot in the back by two unknown assailants. austin is one of the neighborhoods the state troopers are covering. it also is in this man's district. he is convinced the state police are making a difference. >> the world is out that you cannot commit crime in chicago because if you do, you are going to get caught. the laws are there to deter.

>> reporter: still ford admits it may take time before the people doing the shooting, get that message. concerns are growing in the united states and around the world over ebola, senegal has now confirmed its first case of ob oboe -- ebola. the world health organization is warning that the number of cases could rise to 20,000 in a matter of months. that's six times the amount right now. which is why the time line of vaccine trials is now being pushed up to as soon as next week. >> the day about labor day next week, we'll be putting this vaccine in humans for early safety studies. >> reporter: ebola vaccine trials in people have been sped up. more than 40% of all 3,000 cases

reported since ebola broke out in december have occurred in the past three weeks. the national coordinator of liberia's ebola task force recently raised a red flog for help. the international aid community is redoubling its efforts. the w.h.o. released an ebola response road map that will cost $489 million over the next nine months. >> it is a big operation. we're talking well over 12,000 people operating over multiple geographies in very, very difficult and high-risk circumstances. >> reporter: another endeavor to stop the virus is tests in people. they are testing 220 healthy adults in the u.s., uk, and african.

>> all of the other monkeys -- the control monkeys that were given a looethal dosef ebola died, all of the animals that were vaccinated survived. inspector of ebola will confront some students returning to american colleges and universities this fall. ebola screen willing be in place for west african students including in illinois and georgia. coming up, america moving on from hurricane katrina. the constant reminders of the storm's devastating impact.

nine years ago this morning hurricane katrina slammed louisiana and mississippi. it was a catastrophe in new orleans, 80% of the city was

underwater after the levies failed. more than 1800 were killed and thousands displaced. today the big easy and the gulf coast region continues to recover from the once in a generation storm. and jennifer martin reports most have moved on from katrina but will never forget. >> this was where we took that talk and this was all sand. >> reporter: these people feel 20 years of friendship, but the four frightening hours they spent clinging to a tree to survive put them in to a bond that is hard to put into words. >> it's just -- it's life changing. >> reporter: nine years ago they were working here in bay st. louis, a tiny town along the gulf of mexico in mississippi. they had weathered hurricanes

before, but katrina's 40-foot storm surge was a different beast. >> the surge pushed the first floor out, gone. and then we on the second floor were like a boat. >> very bad boat. >> we came down like that. it was like a settlement, and the next thing we know we were rocking. >> reporter: they figured the best way to survive was to find the strongest thing standing. they found their way to a oak tree holding on for their lives. >> he would say look out, here comes a wave. >> yeah, i thought i was going to die. >> there was a good possibility of that, yes. >> >> reporter: they walked away unharmed but the tree later died. but owing their lives to it, they hired an artist to carve

the branches into wings. >> they represent angels. >> reporter: for these friends each anniversary is a reminder of the hundreds who weren't so fortunate and a time to celebrate how they rebuilt their lives. >> the town has really come back. >> the town is great. the shops are good. we have got as least at many restaurants. >> reporter: what is now known as the angel tree is for many visitors just a photo op, but for these three it will be their symbol of survival. smoke and ash are spewing from a volcano in papua new guinea. some people have been evacuated. flights have also been disrupted. the volcano most recently erupted last year.

back in 1994 it destroyed a town when it erupted simultaneously with a nearby volcano. a minimal amount of ash was seen coming from this volcano, but it is believed it could just be a precursor. coming up with high demand and limited space there is a trend towards tiny apartments in come big cities, but a lot of folks say the plan may not be the best one. you are watching, al jazeera america. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news.

>> hundreds of days in detention. >> al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. >> thousands calling for their freedom. >> it's a clear violation of their human rights. >> we have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. >> journalism is not a crime. welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm david shuster in new york. here are today's headlines. the conflict in syria and iraq have prompted the united kick.com to ratchet up its terror threat level, authorities

believe a terrorist attack is highly likely. separatists rebels have agreed to open a humanitarian pathway. nato reaffirmed that russia has been arming the rebels. microapartments are so small that many fit little more than a bed. while the race to tiny is designed to save money it could come at a cost to neighborhoods. evan pool takes pride in his 295 square foot apartment that he represents for $1,800 a month. >> nobody else had seen the apartment, and i had to get it before anyone else put their papers in. >> reporter: as of july, the median rent is just under $2,500 a month. one bedrooms are going for around $3,300.

evan lives in a building constructed before the 1980s when zoning regulations went into effect prohibiting developers from creating app arts smaller than 400 square feet. new york has lifted zoning restrictions on one project in the city. and allows the develop to create an entire building composed of 55 micro units. at between 260 and 350 square feet, these apartments are so small they are being built miles away in a factory. when they are complete they will be driven in and stacked on top of each other. >> we're standing in what is going to be the hallway right now. >> reporter: 22 will be set aside for middle and low-income people. they will pay between 949 to $1,490 month.

when the units are connected they leave about a half of inch of space in between each to reduce noise transference. while in new york this is an experiment. in seattle dozens of units have been around for years. >> it forces an upward escalation in land prices. and in urban areas one of the biggest challenges in producing affordable housing is the cost of the land. >> reporter: this woman disagrees. she is watching the new york city experiment and says because of a lack of small apartments single people are forced to become roommates. >> so it may be cheaper for them as a single person, but that three-bedroom apartment, if it is taking three or four single people and renting it, the land lord can get more money than if a family was renting. in san francisco, developers

are building tiny apartments for whole families. this unit has two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and is less than 630 square feet. thanks for watching. i'm david shuster. "techknow" starts now. ♪ >> hello and welcome i'm phil torres here to talk about invocations that can change lives. the intersection of hardware and humanity and we're doing it in a unique way. marita davidson is a biologist specializing inning innings innd evolution. kosta grammatis is an engineer who designed a buy ontic eye.