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government confirms the drone strike killed the heard of al-shabab. more deaths in iraq, now new threats are issued to the islamic state. and an american ebola victims arrives home as the death toll tops 2,000. hello there, and a warm welcome to the program. a ceasefire in eastern ukraine is now in its second hour, and so far it appears largely to be holding. but after nato meeting in wales pressure continues to pile son russia. the agreement was signed in minsk and was confirmed by the ukrainian president at the nato summit. >> we are ready to provide significant steps including the [ inaudible ] of power, including the specialalty under

certain districts of the luhansk and donetsk region for their economic freedom, guaranteed their rights to use any languages on these territory, and uphold the culture and tradition, including the am neszty, so everything which is mentioned in my peace plan. >> nato members agreed to create a rapid-reaction force to deal with what they see as a threat from moscow. the u.s. president, barack obama remains cautious about the ceasefire. >> we are hopeful, but based on past experience, also skeptical that in fact the separatists will follow through, and the russians will stop violating ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. so it has to be tested. >> before the agreement was reached there were reports of

heavy fighting in at least two parts of the country. smoke was scene and gunfire heard near the city of mariupol, and even after the ceasefire began, explosions were reported north of the city of donetsk. we will be speaking to our correspondent in moscow and newport in a moment, but first to harry faucet in ukraine. you heard obama say that he was hopeful but skeptical that the ceasefire could hold. >> yes, it does appear to be holding at least around here in mariupol so far. we have heard nothing really in about an hour to the run-up to that's fire to begin, and from then on, peace appears to have been maintained in this region. but that's not to say that this has been a peaceful day, anything but. there has been a great deal of artillery fire on and off through the day. just two hours before the

ceasefire was due to take place, there was an extremely heavy volley thudding into the countryside about 2 kilometers from where we were reporting at the time. and that means there was a great deal of scepticism from both sides about trusting the other side to maintain the ceasefire. one of the ukrainian artillery unit fighters were saying previous agreements had not been observed by the other side. you heard president obama talk about the pressure the sanctions have brought to care on vladimir putin. and the other way to look at it is the pressure that president poroshenko has been under because of the number of territory and men he has been losing in recent days. he doesn't have a very strong hand to play, and so now he has

to sell this ceasefire, which could entail leaving dpr separatists rebels in charge in donetsk and luhansk for a long time into the future, to a pretty skeptical contingent. we spoke to one battalion fighter who said would it be acceptable to them to leave these two key cities in rebel hands going forward? and he said no, completely unacceptable. >> harry thank you. let's go now to peter sharp in moscow. any reaction to the ceasefire or further sanctions. >> not specifically, but the rep sentive of the e.u. says that he hopes this ceasefire that was

agreed on friday will be taken into account when considering any fresh sanctions against russia. vladimir putin said he welcomed the agreement and hopes the agreement will be thoroughly observed by all sides, and the process will continue until the crisis is resolved. the ceasefire is very much work in progress. at the moment there will be a working group that will be meeting again on monday. they have agreed on three issues, the humanitarian convoy aid, and also of course the release of prisoners which should be happening in the next 24 hours. but the most vociferous response to nato's statements today has come from russia's envoy to nato. he says it has proved that nato

sides with a ukrainian regime fighting its own citizens. he said russia will thoroughly analyze the nato summit outcomes, and make decisions in the interests of its own security. he condemned the naval units in the baltic and black sea and basically said this was all cold war rhetoric all over again. >> peter sharp live in moscow. thank you. let's go to james bayes at the nato summit. hi, james. we know obama says he is hopeful, yet very skeptical about the situation in ukraine, but there is a feeling of things coming together. >> reporter: absolutely, julie. they have tried here to seek a balance, to try to do something that will deter further russian aggression, because some of the nato members that border russia are deeply concerned about their own security, but at the same

time they don't want fourther antagonize moscow. yes, you have this new very rapid reaction force able to move at 48-hour's notice. you have fresh exercises and deployments on a regular basis that are going to take place in eastern europe close to russia. but they are saying, for example, some of the forces they are prepositioning there will be at bases that will be referred to as reception areas. reception areas means bases, but there was an act signed at the end of the cold war between russia and nato, which said that nato wouldn't set up any new permanent bases in eastern europe, and they are trying not to breach that treaty. so a difficult line they are trying to draw here. they are deeply concerned with what has happened with the ceasefire. they say if it holds it could be good news, but then you speak a

little deeper to officials, and they say there's a real danger of freezing the conflict that then creates constant instability in eastern ukraine, which moscow may be able to use to destabilize the situation and influence kiev in the future. >> james thank you. well, of course the other big topic at the nato summit is the rise of the islamic state group in iraq and syria. the british prime minister outlined some of the steps that have been agreed on. >> we have agreed for a new training mission for iraq as soon as the iraqi government is in place. the fight by isil must be lead by the iraqis themselves, but we'll continue to encourage countries in the region to further this effort, and work with our partners on the ground to take all necessary steps to squeeze this barbaric organization out of existence.

we will proceed carefully and methodically, drawing together the partners we need to implement a comprehensive plan. >> james has this update now from bagdad. >> reporter: iraq's new government is expected to welcome an offer by nato for more help in the flight against the islamic state. that new government is still taking shape. a few days from now is the deadline for a new cabinet, but officials have indicated that they will welcome any assistance short of boots on the ground. no one is offering to send combat troops and that offer would likely be rejected if it came. but what officials say they do want are transfers of arms. the kurds say they want heavy weapons, and iraqi officials would certainly welcome training and coordination as well as surveillance and intelligence, all of those things to help beat back islamic state fighters.

the iraqi military is waging fierce battle on the outskirts of tikrit at the moment. and as those islamic state fighters withdraw and the iraqi army advances, they are finding more evidence of mass graves. the latest uncovered just dade in between bagdad and kir -- cur cook. recently local people have been finding and today managed to uncover a grave with up to 30 bodies in it. well across iraq, the series of attacks has killed at least 17 people. a car bomb exploded in a commercial street in bagdad killing 12 people. another blast at an outdoor

market killed three people. well the u.s. and somali government have confirmed the leader of al-shabab was killed in a u.s. drone abc, they say mukhtar abu zubeyr was one of six people who died in the attack. he became the leader in 2008 after a predecessor was killed in another strike. we're joined now from nairobi. hi there, has there been any reaction? >> reporter: well, not yet, but this is definitely something the somali government will welcome, while it is going to be seen as a huge setback for al-shabab. he was a uniting figure for the militia, and it's very difficult at this point to imagine how they can continue being cohesive without his leadership.

he is from the north of somalia, however, he has managed to gain a massive following, and support inside of somalia. this is a country where clan loyalties mean a lot of and many people say he was getting support where he doesn't belong, and the confirmation by the united states department of defense that he actually died along with other co come -- commanders of the group is going to be a huge blow to al-shabab's continued existence. >> that was going to be my next question. he replaced another gentlemen who was killed. so does this really effect sal shabab's capability in the longer term? or will they simply be replaced by other people?

>> reporter: well, yes, definitely, there is a feeling within the leadership of al-shabab that there needs to be continuation, that somebody needs to take over. so definitely somebody is going to step in. however, what we don't know at this point is who is actually going to step in. there were before last year's purge carried out on the group, and when he instructed the section of al-shabab who are the assassins wing of al-shabab to kill a number of people who he -- he considered to be his competitors like abraham, the man who introduced him as some say to jihadism while he was studying in pakistan. he killed him and then he killed a number of other heards who

would have stepped in case he -- this eventually happened. but what we are seeing right now is -- we don't even know how many more senior al-shabab leaders died along with him in that attack last monday. so very hazy moment, very -- a period of doubt for alsha bob. >> mohammed thank you. more to come this half hour. including a delay in the trial of the president of kenya. plus -- >> i'm phil lavelle at the venice film festival where there is a syrian wedding taking place. but it's not quite what it seems. find out why shortly. ♪

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the edge of eighteen only on aljazeera america ♪ welcome back a reminder of our top stories. a ceasefire has been agreed between ukraine and pro-russian separatists in the east, but explosions were heard in the region shortly after the trust was supposed to have begun. the deal has been cautiously welcome by nato leaders. they have also agreed to form an international coalition to conquer the islamic state group in iraq. the u.n. nuclear watchdog says an investigation into iran's nuclear program has made little progress. the latest efforts to

investigate allegations that tehran is working on a further nuclear program. joining me in the studio is a nuclear engineer and analyst. john welcome to the program. what is the significance of this particular missed deadline? >> you have to look at the nuclear weapons disarm program, one is to procure materials of enriched uranium, then to move on to research and design, and the final phase is to actually test the system. and it looks as though iran is at the two final stages. the group of six asked those questions, who of which have been unanswered. those that relate to the actual development of testing. so to get an idea how far iran

is along in the final step of procuring, and delivering a nuclear device. >> the reports talk specifically about what they call more activity. but how do we know exactly what is going on? i mean how accurate are these reports? >> when you are doing experimentation trial and development, particularly explosives, these are the weapons that trigger the explosions. you can detect that by seismic activity and drones, and also heat residue coming out. the americans will be putting together all of this evidence and passing it on to make the conclusion. what is missing here is that they have failed to meet these deadlines, it really doesn't have the punch that the americans normally give this sort of report. there's no shouts of more embargoes or sanctions against

iran because of its failure, and because of the development of the islamic state that may well be going rather easy on the iranians because they may want their help. >> since the election of the iranian president, we expected more cooperation, and yet there has been slow progress. >> yeah, uk educated, a soft liberal, we thought, but it looks like they are playing hard ball again at stopping any u.n. inspectors of going into this particular plant and a couple of others. so it looks like we're go to have another year or two, but they are getting perilously close to testing a nuclear weapon. and once they have tested a device, then there's no turning back. >> john, thanks very much for joining us. the number of people who died from the recent outbreak of

ebola in west africa has risen above 2,000. 3,944 people have caught the virus since march. now the death toll has risen to 2,097. that comes as a third american contracted the virus survived in the u.s. for treatment. he has been taken to a medical facility in nebraska. health experts are considering fast tracking two potential vaccines to combat the outbreak. the u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon is asking for $600 million for west africa. >> what this is, is a spreading far faster than the response. people are increasingly frustrated that it is not being controlled. what began as a public health emergency is evolving into a social and economic challenge

for millions. the next two weeks will be crucial. health workers are preparing for a possible outbreak of malaria, amongst the most vulnerable with refugees from somali. >> reporter: it is the rainy season here. the majority of people here live off of the land as farmers, but with the rain comes this. malaria, a mosquito born infection quickly spreads here during the wet season, and signs of an epidemic this year are already seen across the country. >> translator: malaria reaches a peak during august, september, and october. it may start with a simple fever but may lead to coma and death.

>> reporter: every year says this doctor, 24% of malaria infected children die. the rate among pregnant women is 35%. >> translator: malaria is the number one cause of sickness and death in this country. we have had over 4,000 deaths and lots of pregnant women have lost their babies. the government has done its best including the purchase of nets, insecond -- insecticides, and medicines. >> reporter: private organizations are trying to help. >> translator: we're now at the stage of what we call big malaria. at early stages we check the patients and if positive we give them basic medications. but if they start to have s

sef -- seizures we consider it severe and hospitalize them. >> reporter: on top of the potential list of those underprivileged are these refugees from neighboring mali. some of them are already infected. but medical service at this camp is clearly basic. they were able to escape the violence in their country. it's not certain for many, however, that they can survive a malaria epidemic if it breaks out here. the international criminal court prosecutor has asked for the trial of kenyan's president to be postponed indefinitely. she said she doesn't have enough evidence to prosecute him because of kenya's failure to cooperate. >> reporter: this comes as no

surprise. the prosecute -- prosecution says kenya's government has often been reluctant to cooperate. they asked for bank statements. but the chief prosecutor said that those statements had been tampered with. most of the witnesses have also withdrawn their testimony, making the case even more difficult to try. according to them, it was half baked from the start and heavily relied on false witnesses, kenya says. victims of the post election violence are worried that this case seems to be collapsing, and yet they are finding it very hard to get justice at home. >> katherine soy reporting there. on thursday india suffered a major blackout. egypt suffers from regular rolling blackouts throughout the

summer, but thursday's outage was longer and more long-ranging than usual. al jazeera is demanding the release of its journal lists who have been detained in egypt for 251 days. the case has been raised by the undersecretary general in a conversation with the egyptian president. >> you can join the complain to get al jazeera's journalists free. you can find out more by going to the special page on our website, aljazeera.com. it's estimated around 3 million people have been forced out of syria by the war there. a new documentary now showing at the venice film festival shows one group making that journey, but there is a twist.

>> reporter: it's a long way from the war in syria to the venice red carpet, but the two are linked this year. behind these smiles a story of pain and sorrow, determination, and deliverance. and this is that tail. it shows a daring, audacious even, attempt to find a home. they fled to europe on a boat. sweden in their sites, but no way to get there until local filmmakers came up with an idea smuggle them across countries and borders dressed as a newly married couple. >> from one side you can look which laws we disobeyed. on the other side you can look which laws we obeyed too. because we obeyed to our human -- humanity, you know?

so we were sure it was the right thing. every year you go on holiday, 500 meters in front of you there are corpses on the bottom of the sea. 20,000 people died. it's really a tragedy. >> reporter: this was in almost every day a wedding. the pride had her hat on and wore white. experts came along as guests to make it look genuine. safety was in site for five refugees who had made a perilous journey across the sea that has killed so many people. on thursday they held an event on the beach here, as services say that they were rescued. and so many desperate souls lapping just meters away. >> [ inaudible ] change all of the [ inaudible ] immigrant because we cannot let people die

and like -- like nothing, you know? like -- we are still human. and still believe like we are eagles. so i think we have to fight. >> reporter: the directors will spend 15 years in jail if the authorities come after them.