right now... >> from oscar winning director alex gibney, a ground breaking look at the real issues facing american teens on, the edge of eighteen only on aljazeera america >> this is ajsz mishg, live from new york city. here is a look at the of the stories, an a video is claiming to show a u.s. journalist being beheaded. and cdc is saying that the ebola outbrake is out of control and the window the handle it is closing quickly.

>> we begin with breaking news from syria, the islamic state group is saying they have killed another american journalist and the video claiming to show the beheading of sotloff and the beheading is coming weeks after killing the american journalist james foley. josh, nice to see you and what can you tell us about this developing story? >> good to see you, tony. it appears the video is showing the beheading of steven sotloff and the islamic state is showing a strategy with the beheadings and the reason for that is that the american air strikes are making a difference on the

ground in iraq. in the past two weeks i travelled six hundred mile front and since i have been on the ground here, there has been a significant shift in the moment momentum. the islamic state stretched the borders. that momentum has been turned around in the past couple of wieks and the iraqi forces and the kurdish forces have taken back the villages and the mosul dam and they have broke the siege in ameril yesterday. this is important, but they are on the road that connects the towns and to baghdad. so in doing that, they have actually opened a corridor right down the middle of the islamic

state and isolated the eastern flank of the islamic state and you have felt a felt and with the forces. and surprising forces, when you talk about the islamic state, look at the coalition they have brought together. wif witnessed iranian fighters fighting against them. going into the fight. the ministry of iraq, the iraqi fighters and the u.s. all on the same side. including the kurdish rebels from turkey and fighting against the islamic state. so there's a significant shift on the ground and it is looking like the islamic state is looking for new strategies. >> this is very interesting

josh, and is it possible to say and could it be that the beheadings are an act of desperation from the islamic state group? >> i don't know if desperation, i can't speak for them. but they are looking for new strategies and it is not lost on the fighters on the ground here. thir benefitting from the beheading tapes. they want more u.s. air strikes. everyone we speak to want them to keep bombing. they know that these videos will give the political will to the american poll tickses to continue bombing. they need heavier weapons to fight the islamic state.

they have the armored humvees and the fighting them with small arms, they don't have the heavy arms because baghdad didn't want them to have the heavy arms. baghdad is asking for heavy arms along with the training to use the arms and continue to fight against the islamic state. >> thank you, josh from northern iraq. thank you. >> the u.s. government is saying it is trying to confirm the authenticity of the video posted by the islamic state groups. there are reports that steven sotloff has been killed. what is the reaction from washington? >> the white house officials saying they have not 'thent kated the video yet. on the heels of the james foley

murder on the video by the islamic state group and appears to what happened to steven sotloff is something. the spokesman unable to confirm it. just a few minutes later, the count ir part at the state department had a reaction. take a listen. >> we have seen reports of a video that purr pots to be a murder of u.s. citizen steven sotloff by isil and the intelligence community is working to determine the awe thin tisty. if the video is genuine, we are sickened by this brutal act taking the life of a u.s. citizen and we are providing more information as it becomes available.

>> there are sketchy reports about when the act could have been carried out. they played some of president obama's angry and statements in the wake of the james foley killing. it took a day for the white house to verify that video and after which president obama came out and maid a strong statement and now president obama is air born. we have not heard from him. we can probably expect that the president will have a comment once he lands in europe. >> mike, what about the sotloff family? we saw a stirring plea for his release by his mother. >> this is doubly tragic. shirley sotloff putting out the video and spiking to the head of

the islamic state group and self-described head of the group. she made a direct plea. evidently it fell on deaf ears but take a listen to what she had to say. >> steven had no control over the actions of the u.s. government. he's an innocent journalist. i always learned that you can grant amnesty. i ask you please release my child. as a mother, i ask your justice to be merciful and not punish him for the matters he has no control over. >> in spite of and despite the pleas, the islamic group may have carried through with the threat. we know that the family is grieving privately. they are not going to make a

public comment. >> we are bringing in retired colonel and the head of the joint chiefs and colonel nice to see you. let me ask you what is a substantiative question, the islamic group is becoming more aggressive since the air strikes in iraq began, it is clear that the air strikes are not going to stop, if anything, the beheadings of the journalists will stiffen the resolve here, do we know if the air strikes are degrading the islamic state group? >> tony, i think that the air strikes are starting to degrade the islamic state group and doing so in a tactical fashion and sometimes what happens in a case like this is you have a tactical success, but you are going to end up with some kind of strategic difficulties later on if you are not careful. what i mean by that, the tactical success like for the

mosul dam is very good and very important and also the forces the, kurdish forces are being helped by the air strikes, by the question then is what kind of tactics will the islamic state use and if they are able to work through the difficulties they have there could be some other things to do to respond to that. the air strikes are having a degree of suicide. >> what is next, suicide bombs, what is next? >> oh, you know, tony, those things could happen easily and there is a very clear path that many terrorist groups have especially in iraq and in syria, there is a lot of car bombs going off already in iraq, same thing in syria and the question

are these attacks going to happen in other places, in western europe and in the u.s., and those are things that are possible, all those at the moment the islamic state doesn't have the capabilities that can carry out those attacks but that can change quickly. >> is the strategy to strengthen in the north in bolstering the iraqi securities forces in the south and bombing isil along the border y syria, is that the strategy going forward in your mind? >> it is a possible strategy. i would advocate for something more thur row than that.

however, the other thing that you have to do, is look at the command and control. and in the classic military sense, in this particular case, that means going after the islamic state insa lagss of iraqi proper. that is an area they would have to go after. >> another thought on the strategy here, will the u.s. combat forces, the combat forces on the ground lead a coalition combat forces from other friendly nations be necessary in your calculation to eliminate the isil isis threat? >> i think it depends on how quickly we want to eliminate the threat. it is the best interest to do quickly as possible and more likely to have the u.s. forces on the ground there.

i realize that is a very unpopular situation. if you want to get to the heart of the matter and that happens to be doing those things with the boots on the ground. there are other things, but a certain degree of training and operaability that happens only with the u.s. forces and it is clear that we need to make sure wi keep the option open and right now wi don't have that option according to the policies of the administration. >> exactly. so if you don't want to commit ground forces and combat forces in the way you suggest the best way to approach this, how about a mix of the special forces and advisers and support teams to aid the security forces of the

iraqi's and with that type of aid, are they good enough to beat back isil? >> that is questionable at this point in time. what you are seeing is they have clear abilities, the iraqi forces are clear capabilities in certain environments and they need very good leadership and how capable is the leadership to affect the kinds of missions that, you know, bring a positive outcome from our point of view at the country time. if we just use the operation forces you have to depend on the kwom demand structure of the local armies and in this particular case, that command and control structure is lacking at this point. >> that is very good. colonel, we appreciate it. i enjoyed that conversation very

much. >> the united states has taken actions against the group in somalia and the u.s. carried out a strike near a town just a hundred miles south of the capitol and the strike targeted the leader. the pentagon is saying it is part of a much larger mission. >> the operation that we conducted is an example of the commitment to the people and government to those threatening in the region and threatening to conduct terror attacks against the innocent people around the world. >> the u.s. air strikes happened in a dense forrest area. this is the operation headquarterses. they have targeted the leaders who just finished taking over the town in the middle region. the sources close to us have

confirmed that this air strikes happened and some of the leaders were affected however not confirming whether the leader was among those targeted. now across somalia the government forces and peace keepers are on the move and trying to get as much territory as possible back from the militias that up until now have been controlling huge parts of south somalia. >> the strike is part of a wider u.s. strategy to limit the armed group and the u.s. group is hunting out the leader for years now. this would be a victory on the war on terror in that part of africa. >> he's on the most wanted list of terrorists. there is a bounty for the leader. he rules with an iron fist and

transforming the group from the domestic fighting force to a global threat. he's been under threat for a year and fending off the strikes and operations by the kenya army and the african forces. they have focussed on kenya, when the mall was attacked by the gunmen, 6 people were killed. they sent navy seals in and they came up empty. this strike pushed the group on terrorist. >> they are clearly done what used the anniversary to care out attacks and feed into the frenzy of the media coverage what is the oxygen for these organizations. >> one of the founding members,

the 37-year-old was born in somalia and went to college in pakistan. he and three others formed what is known assal shabad in 2003. he took over the leadership and joining al qaeda and expanding the ambitions. late last year he consolidated the power and killing some of the main components and without him the group won't be the same. most likely is that the organization as wi know it will go down to the grave with him. it might emerge in different form but i think his departure would be significant to the group. >> reports say that the group has begun interrogating the villagers suspected of helping the americans. the regional partners are committed to defeating him inside and outside of the board

borders. >> they have expanded and pushed the group out of the town in two days. >> the cdc and prevention said that the ebola outbreak in africa is spreading out of control and the window to contain it is closing quickly. robert ray, tell us about what we heard today. >> yeah, tony, the doctor just got back from wis africa and was yoifr seeing the facilities there and he spoke to the people treating the folks with the infection there and he's very concerned as the health officials around the world, he made comments to the media inside of the building here at the centers for disease.

>> there is a window of opportunity to tamp this down, but that window is closing. we need agriculturals now. to scale up the response. we now how to stop ebola. the challenge is to scale it up to the challenges needed to stop the outbreak. >> the real problem here, tony, not enough people on the ground in west africa. there are workers being infected. another doctor, an american doctor now infected and he's in isolation. but the issue how do you change this, how do you stop the infection, not enough people there and the people caring for the people infected are getting it, a lot of family members, not keeping the people hydrated, not enough water and food and some

of theburying practices are unsanitary. >> we are hearing that a vaccine trial started out of washington, d.c. on human beings and what are you hearing about that? >> yeah, basically, the company and the national institutes of health right outside of d. c. have tlie -- three volunteers taking strains of the virus and seeing whether that will create the vaccine and the body's immune system will take them in. the most important thing about this, he said, you know, we just don't have time to wait for the trials, we have to stop the infection from spreading across the borders and to other countries, not just in africa. it is hopeful for the vaccine, but the time is taking, tony.

>> thank you, robert. >> coming up on aljazeera america, spending for the midterm elections passing the billion dollar mark and where is the money going and why a casino that cost $2 million to finish two years ago the closing in atlantic city.

>> in today's poier politics, the midterm elections are nine weeks away and the spending surpassed a billion dollars. david is here with more on this. >> tony, the midterm elections just about reached the amount of level spent in all of 2012, which was a presidential election year, and the figure in

two months may reach $3 billion and the min is pouring in. most of the min is going to political ads and today there are a number of new ones. in arkansas they are trying to flip the senate seat. it is getting a boost from a group that launched a two minute long attack ad. >> did not protest when the obama administration put politics ahead of national security. >> in iowa, they are targeting the republican senate channeler and in a tight race with a democratic race and he's supporting medicare, and he wants to change it and so the

democrats are running this. >> he wants to kit cut medicare. the seniors will pay thousands more. there is a lack of compassion and that bothers me. >> in 2016, presidential politics, joe biden is puting the pieces together for a possible campaign. by most accounts the stump speech is ready. he spoke yesterday in detroit. >> just give them a chance. once you give americans a chance, they have never, never, never, never ever let their country down. never. so folks, it is time to take back america as we have said. it is time to change the tax code. it is time to make sure you git equal share.

>> biden owns retail politics and firy speeches in a way that hillary clinton does not and she's got the money and organization. al franken is up for re-election. he's mostly shied away from the national media in office and the political style is dead serious and occasionally the timing at the dead span sense of high mor emerges. >> now the election is 68 days away, and i know many of you have jobs and many of you have families, ignore them. >> clever. that is the power politics. >> thank you, david. >> coming up, a warning about ebola, it is spreading fast and the window to contain it is closing rapidly. if the vaccine testing will

impact. >> and costing $2 billion and the revel casino is closing their doors in atlantic city.

real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >> consider this: the news of

the day plus so much more. >> we begin with the growing controversy. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> real perspective, consider this on al jazeera america >> return oging to the breaking news, a video is showing and claiming to killing steven sotloff. the reported death is coming weeks after killing fellow journalist james foley. sigh, there is little doubt that sotloff was killed. keeping in mind that james foley was killed just weeks ago and now it is filing like open season on the journalists trying

to do their jobs in iraq. >> yes, that is how it feels. if you go back to 2013, that open season opened that summer, when david sotloff was abducted. i was actually in the same town in november 2013 as james foley in northern syria. i happened to be travelling in and he was coming out when he was taken, i suppose that was a lucky day for me, we managed to get through the town. that is when we saw the numbers of the kidnappings climb. a lot of the kidnaps are never reported. sotloff's mother asked for a media blackout after he was taken and making them recognize they were not going to get the

publicity. and he wasn't freed. now we are looking as you say as those have been taken are in a dreadful situation. now we believe steven sotloff has been killed. the next video is threatening a british hostage. >> you know what, it is a dubious strategy. i don't know what the islamic group is thinking. i wouldn't want to be in their mindset. be u the idea of kidnapping the western journalist, that only strengthens the u.s.'s resolve to take more action against this

group. >> their tactics are clever. we are also seeing their message they are using and car bombs, and as soon as they exployed they are putting the fear of god into the people. the idea of using the videos is influencing the mirn public opinion and swaying them the other way, and from you are sitting it is not succeeding. but that is the only real tactic they seem to be using here. maybe if the americans see the direct idea in the video and it is your policies that are causing this, and that would stick in the gut of americans, but it could be pushing them the other way. >> thank you. so the ebola outbreak killed 1500 people since march and

warning that the food shortages and other facilities are making the situations worse. action is needed now if there is any hope of containing the outbreak. >> despite tremendous efforts from the u.s. government, cdc and within the countries, the number of cases is increasing and now increasing rapidly. and i'm afraid over the next few weeks those numbers are likely to increase further and significantly. >> and joining me now with more on this is doctor to talk more about illness. nice to see you. >> thank you. >> the directer is saying a window of opportunity to tamp this down, what happens if the window closes? >> from our point of view, the danger it is going to spread and out of control and affect other countries, like the u.s. from

the point of view from the west africans they are barricaded. it is dangerous to the healthy people there becoming infected and sealed off and have to fend for themselves. >> if you are leading, i am putting you in charge here today, you can handle it, if you are leading the efforts from where we are right now, right now, what do you need, money, materials, doctors, personell. m what do you nighed. >> we have to win the hearts and minds of the people. there are skeptical people. a center was raided.

they freed the patients, but released the people where ebola. the thing it is spread out into the communities and now spriding faster. they took the medical supplies, sheets and now causing a problem with the healthcare workers that are there at the moment and protecting themselves. >> things like that really are hurting the effort to contain this right now? >> yes, it is spreading faster and the healthcare workers will be afraid to go to the area. vaccines and treatment, but a lot of people are dying from other things, like starvation. >> thoughts about human trials starting? >> well, we need to have people who trust american healthcare

workers and trust the efficient rt toes of volunteering and u vuzing the treatment. >> why is this moving so fast? we are talking about the world health organization. yet, it is moving so quickly and seemingly out of control with a limited window to contain it. why is it moving so quickly. >> it is happening in a poor area and because it is poor, they are not able to get access to other types of treatment. they can actually, you know, in other places contain it with isolation and other treatments and treating the complications. >> so does it take something like this, this virus making its way to the west, whether it is europe, whether it is the united

states, for there to be the kind of mobilization that the necessary to bring this under control? >> i hope not. i hope that doesn't happen. people with welcoming more aware of it. we have to organize and getting the vaccines going and figure out the treatment and something to get it out there faster and again, you know, getting to these people, whether people who are able to stop their ships or planes to get them the supplies. >> thank you for seeing us. return soon. >> a leading human rights leader says that the alleged presence of the troops in ukraine is a violation of the integrity. >> it is said that they are obliged to find peaceful settlements on any conflicts.

>> the government is saying that the russian troops are seen in many of the locations in eastern ukraine. >> in libya, a military jet crashes a half mile away from the parliamentary offices. three people were killed when the jet went down. the lawmakers relocated there. the plane going down. uber is keeping to operate despite a pan. frankfurt ruled they don't have the permits. uber is looking that over. guatemala is looking for help with the draught crisis and they have declared a state of emergency and they are quickly running out of food.

we are in western guatemala. >> crouched in a corn field, surveys the damage. his corn should be more than two meters high and 40 days without rain in the middle of the wet season ruined the crop. for a video and millions of those growing their own food, it is a disaster. >> farmers here don't need to have a job. if we have corn, we can survive. with the draught it is very difficult. >> central america is suffering from one of the worst draughts. a heat wave killed thousands of cattle and dried up the crops. in guatemala they have declared a state of emergency. more than a quarter of a million families have affected by the draught and millions of children as risk for mal nutrition.

he only has enough corn reserves to last just a few months. with failed crops and no jobs he's worried how to feed his family. the only option may be to go north. >> i'm thinking of mie integrate -- migrating to the united states in january. i have to leave here to feed my family. >> already, officials are seeing an increase in illegal migration. >> we tell the people who most likely to migrate about the risks of going north but they don't want to hear it. they prefer to go to the u.s. and find work rather than see their families dying from hunger. they are waiting to see how the government responds to the draught. food shortages and rising prices

can only be endured so long. >> haliburton is agreeing to a deal over the oil spill. >> tony, they have agreed to pay 1 #$.1 billion stemming from the oil spill. they were the contractor on the oil rig and sparked the largest offshore spill in history. in arizona newly released police reports of the shooting at a shooting rage that killed the instructor.

the family didn't realize that the instructor was shot and killed. prosecutors are not filing charges in the case. police are looking for 8 teenagers part of a large group that broke out of the national youth detention center. 32 teens broke out. they escaped to the yard and crawled outside under the fence and the police caught up with some walking along the roads and others turned themselves in or handed over by the families. yet another dispute over a reclining seat on an airplane. the woman demanded to land the plane after the traveller reclined the seat in front of her. she told the police she was emotional because her two dogs had just died.

a michigan man back on dry land today after a trip across lake michigan nearly killed him. he was in his kayak and started to become sick. he was rescued by a cost guard hell continue ter. >> the waves were breaking and i got seasick very bad. i couldn't keep anything down. >> he says he planned to make the 80 mile trek solo and after 34 hours he called for help on a tracking device and just 30 miles from the destination. next time he's using a steam boat. >> okay. right. who pays for the rescue, just a thought. >> an end of an era in atlantic city, the revel casino closed

their doors. the showboat closed on sunday and thousands are losing their jobs. we are live on the board walk in atlantic city, revel opened just two years ago, what's going on here in atlantic city on the board walk there? >> well, i tell you, it is the end of an era, but a short era, revel opened just two years ago. it is absolutely enormous and in the past 24 hours they have closed. it is all over. next door, we have pictures you are able to see, of the showboat, that closed their doors with tears and heart ache on sunday. further down the trump plaza is closing the middle of september and add in the atlantic club,

that closed previously, that is 8,000 job losses in this city in a work force of 30,000 people. that is a huge percentage to absorb. we bumped into a woman that worked at revel. she didn't have a lot to say. she was a little tearful. it is her body language and what she disn't say sums up about the feelings about what is happening here with the four casinos closing. how do you feel? >> so sad. i might cry. >> don't cry. did you enjoy working there? >> yes, really. i enjoyed it. >> what are you going to do now,

ma'am? >> i don't know. hoping that we will be working soon. so i don't know. >> hoping, hoping. they are hoping someone will buy the complexes. i will stand by, zooming in now to the empty entrance of this huge casino and opened just two years ago. the silver sign saying that the revel is gone. now just a yellow chain. it is all rather sad. they are optimistic to pull it around. fingers crossed tony. >> thank you, john. we appreciate it. >> apple confirmed that its account was hacked. apple is saying that the individual icloud accounts of

celebrities like jennifer lawrence targeted and this is not a breach of the entire system. the fbi is investigating and who is behind it. detroit's bankruptcy trial is beginning and will it help the city slash billions of debt. prosecutors in a case of denying mortgages simply because they are black.

>> bankrupt trial for the city of detroit is starting today. more than 30,000 city employees and retired public workers have signed off on a restructuring plan, but as we report it is a tough sell for a lot of people. >> with the start of this trial, the city's restructuring plan is under scrutiny a and much worked

out in mediation and deals, a deal that included pension cuts in the spinoff of the detroit institute of arts in exchange for state and private funds and not everyone is thinking that ta deal is so grand. outside the federal courthouse, the protests from the retires. some could be losing from their pension checks. >> the michigan constitution guarantees our pensions. >> there is a number of things i could have recommended or others could have recommended to help with the cash flow problem. >> the plan would slash what the city will pay the creditors, a bond insures stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. >> maybe taking the approach we

have nothing to luis and we are fighting until the end add not agreeing to anything short of what we want. >> the judge going to hear from 80 witnesses and a stream of evidence. his job is making sure that the plan is legal and fair and if not approved going back to the drawing board for all of the parties. >> a former house majority leader canter has a new job, the director of the wall street company. he resigned from congress after the stunning defeat in the primary in virginia. a new york bank is facing charges that it discriminated against african-americans and not giving them mortgages and red lining. old practice. i hope it is not back. we have more on this.

>> tony, the attorney general is saying that the bank denied serving an area of buffalo in new york and that place is home to 75% of the city's african-americans. he says that the lawsuit is one part of a wider investigation into red lining or blocking mortgages to minority communities. as more americans buy homes, some people in the city of buffalo are not getting a fair shot. >> i honestly never thought i would bring a red lining case, this is a problem we put behind us a couple of decades ago. it is really unfortunate that a bank resorts to this sort of practice. >> he's accusing evans bank to denying mortgages to the city's west side. >> we are will not tolerate racial discrimination in the state of new york. >> this is showing the trade

area or the zone to make loans. the blue area outside of it is african-american. this map shows that same area with no branches or atm's. >> they have choosen to discriminate. the only difference being race. >> the result is that over a three year period less than 1% of the loan applications came from african-americans. evans bank is challenging the lawsuit and saying these allegations are without merit. we remain confident that the lending practices meet all of the laws and regulations. the attorney general is saying it is deepening the divide. and housing rights evacuates are saying that the the minorities are suffering. >> a large sector of the city is being excluded from owning a house again. >> the attorney general's office is investigating other new york

banks too. but it is not ready to announce which banks or how many. >> this was bad in the 70s and 80s and a shame to see that happening again. thank you. we appreciate it. >> new research is showing you should cut the carbs not fat. if you want to lose weight. they have put a diverse group of obese men and women on diets and avoiding the carbs. they had fewer heart problems then people that followed a low fat diet. the affect is similar in black and white participants. coming up, calls for a media blackout after the claims of the new video released by islamic state group shows an american journalist being killed. >> tonight the legal fight over legal abortion. some states enacted laws

regulating doctors and clinics performing the abortions and texas and louisiana going too far in the restrictions. join us for "inside story."

>> so we told you about the new video released today by the islamic state group and claims to be the beheading of the american journalist steven sotloff and now there is a call for a media blackout. >> yes, when the news broke, the users and twitter is calling for messages like this one and saying remember this image of the american journalist and doing what he did best. and you have this one with saying you want to share something, share this instead.

would you. don't share isis's videos. and a lot of twitter users are asking that the video not be shared. john hopes this time as last video of beheading is removed and ignored from the net. please do not watch neither nor share the video. >> that is interesting, so easy now just to get the videos uploaded online. i wonder how far you can take this. you do the reporting of it and it is news. >> people are reporting also accounts of isis militants putting up pictures and everything. so they are reporting those to twitter as well because people are twitter is doing a self-sen shor ship. > continue to follow that for us. i don't know what that means in the news rooms across the country and around the world.

we appreciate. that is all the time this hour. head over to aljazeera.com. "inside story" story is next on aljazeera america. "inside story."