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>> and bracing th building. >> hello, russia's president said he hopes the peace deal can be reached between ukraine and pro russian separatests on friday. the two sides are to meet to discuss the crisis in eastern ukraine. vladimir putin said that he and his ukrainian counterpart have very similar views on how to end the conflict. here's what the two leaders had to say earlier on wednesday. >> aiming too end the bloodshed, i believe the warring parties should be immediately agreed in the coordinated way.

firstly they should end the active offensive operations by the armed forces in the militia in ukraine southeast in the areas of donetsk and huhansk. >> how can anyone be against peace? how can anyone reject the fact that people must stop dieing. how do we stop the awful events today? it's when hostages are shot dead. i very much hope that we'll launch the peace process in minsk on friday. >> we go to mariaple under ukraine government control. listening to the ukrainian president there. what he was saying was somewhat toned down of what he said earlier in the day. >> you're hearing that the peace process could be launched friday. earlier he was talking about a

cease-fire having been achieved in conversation with vladimir putin. that was strapped down by the kremlin who said that as we are not russia, a party to this conflict, something of course that many here disbelieve, we cannot agree to a cease-fire rather vladimir putin putting out a seven-step plan how he saw a potential end to the fight could go be achieved. petro poroshenko is in a difficult situation. there had been large gains made, those have been utterly reversed with erain forcements coming from russia in recent days. the current situation, if a cease-fire is built on the situation as it stands that represents a massive seating of territory by ukraine and the many people, the many different bands of fighters who have been fighting to keep eastern ukraine in kiev's hands. you heard them saying who could be against peace?

well, his own prime minister came out with a statement saying that the putin plan was a rescue plan for russian terrorists. the only way this could be resolved is for all russian mercenaries to leave ukrainian territory. poroshenko has a tough sell on his hands even as he negotiates for cease-fire. >> thanks, harry. let's catch up with what is being said on the russian side of this diplomatic process. we have this update from moscow. >> the total inability of the ukraine government and the rebel separatist to hold any sort of meaningful talks. it's difficult to see where putin gets his optimism for success in talks on friday. this will be a meeting of the contact group. it's really the only show in town. and it's the only place where russians and the ukrainians and the rebels with the osce can sit

down and talk with each other. president putin said he's confident that ukraine will come to some sort of agreement with the rebels. and he's punched out a few points. he's saying--he's calling for an end to offensive operations about by both ukrainian and rebel forces in donetsk and luhansk. he's asking for monitoring force to oversee the conditions of any cease-fire plan, and the opening up of humanitarian corridors for the movement of refugees and relief supplies into the area. this is an area now encompassing 2.2 million people who are now seriously affected by this conflict. >> and u.s. president barack obama has been in estonia for talks about the situation in ukraine. he said russia is paying a high price for its actions. >> the russian economy has slipped into recession.

it's energy production which is the anything of the russian economy is expected to drop. it's credit rating is near junk status. approval has just fallen to an all-time low. russian actions in ukraine are weakening russia. russia's actions are hurting the russian people. >> ukraine crisis will be high on the agenda of the n.a.t.o. summit starting on thursday. we'll get a live update from wales. now the u.s. national security council has confirmed that an online video showing the killings of a second american journalistly the islamic state group is authentic. 31-year-old stephen sotloff was kidnapped in augusts lar year. he appeared in a video released online showing the murder of journalist james foley.

>> we saw yesterday when the world bore witness to the infathommible brutality o of eyist murderers. stephen sotloff had lef left to syria to tell the story of those in the middle east. >> they're plan to go retake two key citizen cities from the islamic state group. the first objective is tikrit. 560 islamic state soldiers were killed in june. on top of the recent gains it's already made in recapturing the towns and nearby amerli where there were celebrations after pro government forces took over

there on sunday. we have the latest from baghdad. >> the iraqi military said it's special forces have reached the city of tikrit nearing the government building and attacking from three fronts. and no one is expecting this battle to be quick or to be easy. tikrit is one of the strongholds of the islamic state group. it was the hometown of saddam hussein, and it's where thousands young men, most of them soldiers, most of them young recruits were slaughtered by islamic state fighters when they took over the city three months ago. in parliament relatives of some of those men were gained access to demand of defense ministry officials and generals what had happened to their relatives? why they couldn't get any information. they were told that there would be a full investigation, that it was still unclear, but that clearly something had gone wrong. and those who were responsible would be held accountable.

huhansk rights watches says that looking at satellite imagery shows more mass graves on those sites near tikrit and up to 800 men might have been killed. but defense ministry officials here in baghdad say that number could be up in the thousands. in my soul american planes drover dropping leaflets telling residents they should stay away from areas frequented by islamic state fighters expected to be in preparation for assault on that city. but still american officials are saying this could take many months to resolve to even take back cities from islamic state groups control. >> al jazeera is demanding the release of three journalist who is have been detained in egypt for 249 days. mohamed fahmy, bader mohammed, and peter greste received long sentences following a trial seen by many observers as politically motivated. repealing against their conviction. the case has been raised by the

u.s. secretary journal in conversation with the egyptian president. the "world health organization" said that more than 1900 people have now died in the world's worst outbreak of ebola. that is a dramatic rise from just over 1500 last week. and $600 million are needed to fight the west africa outbreak. >> if there was answer doubt that west africa is struggling with the ebola outbreak, just look at this. he fled because he was hungry and won't listen to pleas from the doctor to return to the clinic. this man complains we told the government we didn't want an ebola sensor here. claiming that patients have vomited in public places. they have forced one man into a vehicle. such scenes show how hard it is for them to do their jobs. and a tougher global response is needed including sending person medical.

>> it's out of control. we cannot contain it. we have five treatment centers in different countries. and there is continuous active transmission of the disease. new people are infected. new people are dying, and we're calling for more help. >> so far it has killed more than 1500 people since the outbreak started in guinea. on wednesday a british medical worker who caught ebola in liberia was released from hospital in london fully recovered from an isolation unit. >> i was very lucky in several ways. firstly in the standard of care that i received, which is a world apart from what people are receiving in west africa despite a lot of 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. >> he was treated with the experimental drug zmapp, something that has been given to six other patients. doctors are not sure if it cured him but levels of the virus did fall significantly in his blood system following treatment. while simple things like regular hand washing can stop the spread of ebola, the fear of getting treatment means its still savaging poor communities. >> we talk to robert ray, he's in atlanta in the united states. they are treating victim there is in atlanta. how are they treating them? >> reporter: yes, good evening to you, felicity, and good afternoon from atlanta. we heard dr. thomas yesterday for the first time use the word

epidemic in talking about the ebola outbreak in west africa. now here behind me is emory university hospital where two american aid workers a month ago were treated, they both were given that experimental zmapp serum that we heard about previously. they came out just fine. as a matter of fact, nancy made statements today she looked healthy. she said that she thanked god and she was thinking of all the people over in liberia and in west africa. but the issue is with the care here in the u.s. and britain so good meaning the isolation you wants and the medicines and the vitals being monitored people have a fighting chance if they're in the environments like in the u.k. and in the u.s. but in west africa it doesn't exist like that. there is limited water. there is limited supplies very few medical professionals on the ground, and vitals are not taken care of because there are simply

not enough resources. we heard the doctor say there was a small window of opportunity to help stop this outbreak and it's an all-hands-on-deck operation. what we haven't heard is a legitimate plan from many of these organizations. a lot of rhetoric, but what is the plan? how do we get these people, the medical professionals over to west africa? how do we get the communities to understand that the hygiene needs to get better and the barriers need to improve. what is the plan before it's too late? that's the question on the ground in west africa and the question that doctors here are trying to figure out well as well. >> in atlanta, thanks for that. still to come on the program. somali government forces gain ground over al spa babb.

>> a reminder of the headlines here on al jazeera. russia's president hopes a peace deal with be reached between ukraine and russian separatists on friday. the iraqi military said its getting ready for an assault to recapture two key cities from the islamic state group. and the world health organization is warning that $600 million will be needed to tackle the ebola outbreak. more than 1900 people have died in west africa.

we have president barack obama has vowed to baltic allies that what happened to ukraine could happen to their countries. following a meeting with his counterparts in estonia and latvia. he is now on his way to a summit. we're in newport for the summit. take a wild guess, i'm expecting ukraine to top the subjects there. >> reporter: because of the dispute o dispute of the election there, there will be a lot to discuss. the situation in iraq, syria, so many conflicts.

the one that overshadows everything in regards to this summit is the conflict in ukraine. n.a.t.o. officials say that everything changed in terms of this summit and n.a.t.o.'s role last march when the russians went into crimea and took control of crimea. the efforts at the summit will be trying to stop further what they say is putin's aggression. >> reporter: on his way to the may toe summit president obama on a visit to estonia, an assess tin nation deliberately chosen to send a message. there are deep concerns about security. >> as n.a.t.o. allies we will meet our solemn duty, our article five obligation to our collective defense. today i want every estonian and latvian, an 2008 never stand alone.

>> reporter: the situation has changed radically in the last two weeks. government forces have been losing ground, and that's because thousands of russian soldiers are now fighting on the ukrainian side of the border. in this summit it is expected the announcement of the creation of a force ready to deploy today. although the situation in ukraine will dominate the former discusses there will be urgent talks about the brow tall tactics of the islamic state group controlling large sways in iraq and syria. >> after iraq and afghanistan, over a decade of being at war, n.a.t.o. allies and particularly n.a.t.o. are a little war weary. of course they're reluctant to be involved in a conflict where they can't see where the strategy would play out and whether or not using military force would address the challenge. >> in a speech the defense

secretary of the host come to the u.k. likely there will be discussions on many other issues ranging from afghanistan and originally supposed to be the focus of this summit to ongoing conflicts in africa. >> along side rise of islamic terrorists we're dealing with other geopolitical threats, too. when margaret thatcher spoke at the last summit hosted here in the 1990 the internet was in its infancy. now we see cyber warfare while contending with the fall out from rogue and failed states. >> reporter: because of the range of challenges facing western leaders there are calls for n.a.t.o. nations to increase their defense spending. currently just four out of the 28 members reaches the n.a.t.o. benchmark, which is some 2% of their gross domestic product allocated to military spending. there will be wide-ranging discussions, one senior official

told me that the situation in ukraine alone makes this the most important n.a.t.o. you summit since the end of the cold war. and the plan with regard to that situation in ukraine as i said is to send a message to president putin, well, a message has been sent on the eve of this summit news coming in in the last hour. that france is canceling what was a controversial plan to supply helicopter assault chips, very big ships that can transport helicopters, troops and tanks. stubbornly the french has said, which was upsetting other members of n.a.t.o. well, they've now said no, they're suspending this contract. so that in itself is sending a message to the russians. >> in newport, thanks. >> now the opening of new pipelines and political chaos in iraq has presented the iraqi kurds authorities to export

their own oil. the kurds are discovering finding willing buyers is not as straightforward as barnaby phillips explains. >> we know oil from iraqi kurdistan has been loaded on tankers in recent weeks. perhaps some 10 to 12 ships in all since june. we believe that three are currently at sea. one of the tangors, the united leadership has been anchored off the coast of morocco for some three months. and another tanker, the u.k. collaborator is thought to be off the coast of texas in the gulf mexico. the third tanker was in the south china sea where it unloaded much of its cargo on to another mystery ship analysts say tracking these movements is no easy task. >> so we have this ways with a number of vessels that is holding consider amounts of oil that are floating around in

different parts of the world. we have other vessels who have done ship to ship transfers they have moved vessels from one vessel to another. that can be hard to track the identity of the vessel that oil has gone to which makes it much easier to sell because then there is relatively little providence and it's difficult to trace. >> the tanker you can here is the collaborator off the coast of texas. last week an u.s. court refused a request from the iraqi government to seize the 1 million barrels of oil on board. this is a power struggle between baghdad and erbil over iraq's most precious resource. who it belongs to and who profits from it? >> when you hear about this dispute between the central government and regional government, you hear that they both speak about the constitution and their right in the constitution to do this and that. i think because of the constitution is so ambiguous

they're both right. >> there are reports that the iraqi kurds have succeeded in selling oil to croatia and israel. but with the government threatening legal action many countries are not keen to receive it. a lasting solution to this dispute like so much else in iraq depends on the formation of a stable and truly inclusive government. >> government troops along with africa union forces have been pushing al-shabaab fighters out of more towns. they're now at the task of winning the trust of the local people. >> it's the day of this small town of fidow taken over by somali forces. it sees abundant of troops. as the morning wears on few people thoughts are of returning.

she came back alone. her children are still hiding. >> we told the people they will never sea see al-shabaab again. we advised them not to fear at all. >> but there is still little confidence here. this man tells me they are not sure how long the government troops will remain in town, and are afraid of repercussions from al-shabaab fighters. lack of trust from forces made up of clan militiamen is a concern that the government has to deal with. whatever happens there i. government officials say this is

the final onslaught, and they're vowing not to live in the town. but that will be the task. the local governor say they have a plan. >> it's the people who will decide about the leadership. >> al-shabaab controlled areas is finally crumbling. good news for the thousands affected. >> now it's dangerous work but some miners in algeria are willing to take the risk to put food on the family table. there are deep concerns about the nigeria environment. business is boomic as people try

to meet the demands of the building trade. >> emerging from a four meter dive, scraped from the lagoon. he has been doing this since i was 16. he said it's the only way he can feed his two children. >> it's not easy. we get really cold. >> sand mining has been around for decades. but a recent boom in construction has made it particularly profitable. the miners come out in the water all year long irrespective of the weather. they use equipment that is not powered by engines. they spend ours out here filling up these boats with sand. a boat load could fetch up to $100. but activists say the damage to the environment is immeasurable.

>> you're upsetting natural balances of nature. whenever man intervenes and upsets a natural balance of nature you're going to have an reaction. >> an eroding shoreline and compromising riverbed, trees, wildlife and fish spawning. the government of legos has been trying to regulate the process. only two companies are licensed to mine sand but others do it illegally. there have been occasional arrests but enforcement is minutial. the sand is purchased by construction contractors in this factory the owner said there is high demand for this sand because it's good for building in swampy areas. >> we can't say what we're doing is illegal or not.

but let the government settle this issue so we can produce and enjoy our own yield. >> concerns grow that systemic sand mining could compromise main bridges leading in and out of the island. al jazeera, legos. >> she's known as baby veronica, and she was at the center of a high-profile custody battle. her adoptive parents are white; her father is native american and has been fighting for her alongside his tribe. the case was tried in the united states supreme court. at the heart of the case is the indian child welfare act, or icwa, which mandates that every effort be made to keep native children with their relatives or tribe. congress passed icwa in 1978 in response to an alagl