>> close to a ceasefire in ukraine, russia's president has a plan, and says a deal with separatists could be reached within days. ♪ you are watching al jazeera live from doha, hello, i'm laura kyle. also ahead this half hour, iraq's army gets ready to battle islamic state fighters for control of two major cities. the white house confirms that same group has murdered a second u.s. journalist. president obama says the killers

will face justice. >> and a cry for help from el salvador farmers. russian president, vladimir putin, is offering a plan to end the conflict in eastern ukraine. he says his proposal could be approved on friday where the two sides hold talks about possible ceasefire. vladimir putin spoke on the phone with ukrainian president poroshenko. he said he and poroshenko hold very similar views on how to end the war, which has killed at least 3,000 people. >> translator: aiming to end the bloodshed and stabilize the situation in ukraine southeast, i believe the warring parties could be immediately agree upon and implement the following, firstly, end the active offensive operations by the armed forces in ukraine southeast in the areas of

donetsk and luhansk. >> the ukrainian president says he hopes the peace process will be launched on friday. >> translator: how can anyone be against peace? how can anyone reject the fact that people must stop dying? how can we stop these awful events today? it is just barbarianism. i very much hope that we finally will be able to launch the peace process in minsk on friday. >> more now from peter sharpe from moscow. >> reporter: it is difficult to see where president putin is getting this optimism for success in the talks on friday. this will be a meeting of a contact group. it's really the only show in town, and the only place where russians, the ukrainians and the rebels can sit down and actually

talk to each other, and participate -- president putin says he is pretty confident. he is calling for an end of offensive operations by both the ukrainian and the rebel forces in donetsk and luhansk. he wants ukrainian personnel to pull back. and he is asking for a international monetary group to oversee the process. and opening up for humanitarian efforts. and this area encompasses 2.2 million people who are seriously effected by the conflict. the u.s. president is on a visit to estonia for talks on the situation in ukraine. he says russia is paying a high price. >> the russian economy has

slipped into recession. its energy production is expected to drop. its credit rating is near junk status. the rubble just fell to an all-time low. in short russia's actions in ukraine are weakening russia. russia's actions are hurting the russian people. there's little doubt that the separatists have gained the upper hand in the battle for east ukraine. they now control a brood area of territory, including around the coastal town, the city of luhansk, and the region's biggest city, donetsk. harry fawcett has more. >> reporter: some confusion on the ukrainian side of things when this news of possible ceasefire emerged. it came first from the office of the president saying he had agreed a ceasefire in a conversation with vladimir putin

over the phone. the kremlin came back to say that the russians could not agree on a ceasefire, because they maintain they are not party to the conflict. now ukraine says it has agreed to a ceasefire regime. so the process towards a ceasefire would be in the offering. but any ceasefire can't be seen as much else in the pretty significant defeat for ukrainian forces who was so much in superiority a week or so ago. those gains have been utterly reversed since the up surge in russian support. so it will be difficult for the president here to really sell this to some of the fighters on his own side, some of them we have been speaking to here, in the area of mariupol, saying it really can't be trusted, any ceasefire, because the other side wants nothing but their own defeat. so there are still reports of fighting going on in and around

donetsk, so any ceasefire will take some days to achieve. iraq says it is getting ready to launch an offense if on islamic state group fighters. the movement controls large areas of land in iraq and syria. the first objective is to retake tikrit, and then north to mosul. both have been held by i.s. since june. jane is in bagdad. >> reporter: the iraqi military says its special forces have actually reached the city of tikrit, and attacking from three fronts. no one is expecting this battle to be quick or easy. tikrit is one of the strong holds of the islamic state group. it was the hometown of saadam husse hussein, and also where thousands of young men were

slaughtered by islamic state fighters when they took over the city three months ago. in parliament today relatives of some of those men -- gained access to demand defense ministry officials and generals what had happened to their relatives, and why they couldn't get any information. they were told there could be a full investigation, that it was still unclear, but clearly something had gone wrong, and those responsible would be held accountable. human rights watch says looking at satellite imagery, shows more mass graves near tikrit, and says up to 800 men may have been killed, but defense ministries here say that number could be up to the thousands. in mosul, americans dropping leaflets, telling residents to stay away from islamic state fighters in preparation for an assault on that city.

but still american officials are saying this could make many months to resolve. the u.s. has confirmed that a video released by the islamic state group, where it's beheading a second u.s. journalist is authentic. steven sotloff was kidnapped in syria in august of last year, and was seen again last month when he appeared in a video released by the i.s. group. this latest video follows the beheading of another u.s. journalist, james sfofoley in august. president obama, says the u.s. will not be intimidated. >> it's going to take time for us to be able to roll them back, and it is going to take time for us to be able to form the regional coalition that is going to be required so we can reach out to sunni tribes in some of the areas that isis has occupied. and make sure we have allies on

the ground in combination with the air strikes that we have already conducted. so the bottom line is this, our objective is clear, and that is to degrade and destroy isil so it is no long ear threat, not just to iraq, but also the region, and to the united states. police in bosnia have arrested 16 people suspected of recruiting and fighting for armed groups in syria and iraq. it's the first such security sweep since bosnia introduced severe jail terms for those crimes. the situations in iraq and the ukraine mean there will be a lot to discussion when nato leaders meet in the u.k. on thursday. james bayes is in newport where that summit will be taking place. >> originally this summit was

supposed to be about afghanistan, with most of the nato forces due to leave this year, and new arrangements with the new afghan government, but because of problems with the afghan election there is no afghan president coming to this summit, but there is still an extremely busy agenda with all of the conflicts taking place around the world. officials are telling me that they believe that there are now thousands of russian troops fighting inside ukraine. they say the situation has got worst, drastically in the last couple of weeks, and this summit, i think will be calling for a new rapid reaction force from nato, some 4,000 spear head troops who could be deployed in just a couple of days with just very short notice. but they will also be discussing the situation in iraq and syria, the role of i.s. now, which now controls a large swathe of those

two countries, as well as other confli conflicts. still ahead here on the program: [ applause ] china celebrates japan's second world war surrender, and its modern territory dispute continues to fuel tensions. plus: i'm tom akerman in detroit where farming isn't just a hobby but a mission. providing most of the food its res -- residents eat.

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hello again the top stories this hour here on al jazeera. russia president vladimir putin was offered a plan to end the war in eastern ukraine. ukrainian leader says he hopes the peace process will be launched during the talks in minsk on friday. iraqi military says it is getting ready for an assault to recapture two key cities from the islamic state group. the army is set to move on tikrit and mosul, iraq's second largest city. and u.s. president, barack obama has con determined the killing of american journalist, steven sotloff by the islamic state group. it threatens to kill a british soldier next. >> british military involvement

makes very little difference, we have very little power compared to the americans. but politically it matters a great deal to the americans, although people in this country are asking why in earth are the british, americans and australians are about to get involved, when what is wrong with arab states. why is the west having to do all of the heavy lifting. and brittian and america are now unofficially aligning with iran and president assad. so it's a strange mixture of alliances, and it could become very disastrous if some of the events become very bloody if british or american forces suffer a reversal if there is a capture of british or american pilots. israel has fired warning

shots at palestinian fishermen off of the coast of gaza. they say they violated the 10 kilometers fishing zone boundary. the palestinians say the boat was within its limit. israeli offensive left an estimated 370,000 children suffering from trauma. andrew simmons reports from gaza city's only orphanage. >> reporter: this is a place where it might seem bright and cheerful, but the underlying mood can be dark. each of these children is bereaved, having lost at least one parent. not all of the deaths have been in the war, but they are now coping with some of the most distressing cases they have ever seen. like this 7-year-old. her father died in a car crash two years ago, and in the war

she witnessed the death of her bro -- mother, two sisters and a brother. i want to hug my mother she says. >> translator: our children feel safe here. we give them psychological and social support which takes their minds away from the war and the damage it has done. >> reporter: next door her brother visits his psychologist. he talks of seeing the deaths at the school which was supposed to be a shelter. when i remember it, i cry he says. don't worry about crying he is told. his psychologist says he has severe posttraumatic stress disorder. he moves on to other patients, trying to keep his patients active. >> translator: we as adults are struggling to cope with what we have seen, so imagine what it is like for the children. they have many social and psychological issues, ade

indication problems. >> reporter: this center accommodates 90 children, but is preparing to take on more. unicef is increasing support. there is a massive demand for psychological help across gaza. it's because with close extended families and the commitment to look after children sometimes in the most difficult conditions psychological support can be overlooked. the people here want to do more to offer child support for those who can't cope. andrew simmons, al jazeera, gaza. al jazeera is demanding the release of three of its journalists who have been detained in egypt for 249 days. they received long sentences after a trial seen by many political observer -- many observers as politically

motivated. their convictions are being appealed. their case has been raised by the u.n. secretary general in a conversation with the egyptian president. it's still unclear whether the heard of alsho bob has been killed in a u.s. air strike. the pentagon says the attack was named at mukhtar abu zubeyr, also known as ahmed abdi godane. he is one of the top officials. a british nurse who contracted ebola has left for london hospital. health experts are warning that the outbreak could get out of control. >> reporter: if there was any doubt that west africa was struggling to cope with the ebola outbreak, just look at this. the man in red has escaped from a cling. he fled because he was hungry, and won't listen to pleas from a

doctor to return. this man complains he told the government we didn't want a clinic here. in the end health workers forced the infected man into a vehicle. such scenes hint at how hard it is for them to do their job. and now health experts say a much tougher global response is needed. >> it's out of control. we cannot contain it. we have five treatment centers in the different countries, and there's continuous active transmission of the disease. that means new people are infected, people are dying, and we're calling for more hope. >> reporter: so far ebola has killed more 1500 people since the outbreak started. on wednesday a british worker was released from hospital in london, fully recovered following treatment. >> i was very lucky in several

ways. firstly in the center of care i received, which is a world apart from what people are receiving in west africa at the moment, despite the organizations best efforts. so i had amazing care which is one difference. the other difference to a lot of ebola cases, that my symptoms never progressed to the worst stages of the disease. >> reporter: he was treated with the experimental drug, zzmap. the world health organization has urged scientists around the world to speed up development of a vaccine. while regular things like hand washing can help the spread of the virus, but it is getting out of hand. protest leaders in pakistan

say they are preparing to resume talks with the government. they are looking for a settlement with a three-week old dead lock. clashes with the police over the weekend left three people dead and nearly 400 injured. china is marking the anniversary of japan's surrender in the second world war. >> >> reporter: amid the skyscrapers of hong kong, a commemoration. marking 69 years since japanese forces surrendered at the end of world war ii. [ applause ] victory day over japanese aggression as it is called by the government, there was also a large ceremony in beijing, and the president was also on hand. after the ceremony in hong kong,

a small group of protesters marched to the japanese console late. >> translator: i wish japan would recognize this part of their history. the history of the war on china should be included in japanese education. >> reporter: a history china is making sure its people and the world don't forget. this is the first commemoration of the september 3rd, victory day. later in the month they will commemorate martyrs day, also new this year. the conflict history with japan has always been a very tense issue here. are these commemorations being used as tools for recent tension of a disputed area. some people the commemoration is a message designed to maintain the power of china's government. >> when you talk about the chinese japanese relations there

is chinese capitolly. that's the major story for china to combat external threat. and that's the only means to unify the general public. >> reporter: and with that many feel the tension is amplified for the public. so as the youth of china are taught about the old wars, the current tensions will likely remain a war of words. government officers from argentina's dirty war have been protesting in buenas aires. protesters aledge more than 250 people have died because of poor medical care. water experts are gathering in stockholm this week to

discuss how to solve water shortages. and here is an example. el salvador withering from draught and putting thousands of farmers and familiar list at risk. >> reporter: the worst drought in a decade, crops across el salvador are drying up. the heat as destroyed one-tenth of the corn, a crucial staple for poor salvadorians. this man says not one crop could be saved. >> translator: the corn is completely damaged. we have no hope. >> reporter: all suspect that the el niño phenomenon weather pattern is to blame. farmers say they have lost everything, and the government has abandoned them. >> translator: we have asked for help, but there is no answer. >> reporter: farmer leaders are telling everyone here they must demand the government extend aid

to this region. 63,000 packages have been distributed along what has known is the dry corridor in western el salvador, but not here. in the next community it's the same story, women are desperately worried about their children. >> translator: the problem is feeding our children, and the tortillas are the most important, but we don't have the means to buy it. >> reporter: everyone here lives off of their land. if they don't have a harvest, they don't eat. one good crop can feed this family of six for a year. >> reporter: mario and his family tell us this bag of corn is the only thing they have left. it's the harvest from last year. it will last about two more weeks. this is the situation for most of the families here. when the bag runs out, they don't know what they will do. >> reporter: leaders say the government is playing down the crisis. >> translator: there's no clear farming policy. each new minister tries to

change what the previous one did, and that takes us nowhere. >> reporter: the ministers responsible deny that they have failed to act. >> translator: we have supported more than 90,000 farmers accounted for, and most likely the other families will also get aid. >> reporter: but this man doesn't have time to wait. he is sewing the seeds of other grains more resist important to heat. >> translator: if there is rain, we hope these new crops will grow. >> reporter: he like so many in this community is desperate. they all know if these new crops fail too, and the government doesn't intervene soon, they may begin to starve. the u.s. says the number of americans who don't have enough food to lead healthy drives has dropped in recent years, but millions still struggle to put food on the table, and in some places that struggle to grow

healthy nood -- food is helping thousands of residents find a job. tom akerman reports from detroit. >> reporter: surrounded by the concrete and steel of downtown detroit, a two-block square of dirt is sprouting stow may toes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, leaks, and more. and hundreds of thousands of seedlings to be shipped to plots around the city. >> this is a kale transplant. >> reporter: urban farming in this city goes back more than a century, but in the past ten years the number of crop-produci crop-producing farms has grown from 80 to over 100. the mgm hotel donated the land across the street. >> we have hundreds of acres

available. and i think this is a stepping-stone for the rest of the community to get involved. >> reporter: ashley helps run keep growing detroit, which mission is to make their town achieve what it calls food sovereignty. >> one study found that only on a couple of thousand acres detroiters could be producing as much as 76% of the vegetables that reconsume. and 41% of the crops that we consume. >> reporter: but it's a project that needs many partners like jack van dyk. at detroit's farmer's markets he sells the produce. >> we get maybe about 8,000, like 8100 square feet. it has grown from a hobby to a part-time gig. >> reporter: in an industry fighting to regain the stability

it once drew from the down-sized auto industry, the urban farm movement here offers another common cause by rallying together to grow more food from its abundant soil. you can always keep up with all of these stories on our website, aljazeera.com. hi. i'm elisa fletcher. you're watching "the stream." minimum wage protests are