then it leads to the great big goal in life, to run for the office of the president of the united states of america >> catch more stories from edge of eighteen on al jazeera america > a ceasefire in ukraine. after thousands of deaths and millions displaced, did vladimir putin get hits way. president obama changes his tune, saying islamic state group must be dismantled and destroyed. hello, i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this", those stories and more ahead. >> the ceasefire between pro-russian rebels and government forces in eastern ukraine. >> the next step is to implement

it. >> it is skeptical. >> u.s. air strikes weakened islamic state forces in northern iraq. >> it's critical we have arab states prepared to joins us actively in the fight. >> to squeeze the barbaric organisation out of existence. >> in the absence of conimpressional action i intend to take access. >>..to mitigate the problems caused by the prone immigration system. >> it is said that al-shabab's shadowy leader... >>..was killed in an attack. >> the biggest challenge for the kids is how to find a way forward. >> i'm ask god what to do before they ask people. >> please take the curse off of me. >> i don't know what i'm doing. >> we begin with a ceasefire between ukraine and pro-russian separatists after months of fighting killing 2600 and

displacing a million more. heavy fighting in mariupol proceeded the deadline. some are unconvinced, and the e.u. and u.s. ready to implement new sanctions if it doesn't. >> we are hopeful, but based on past experience and skeptical, that, in fact, the separatists will follow through, and the russians will stop violating ukraine's sovereignty and igteg rity. it has to be -- integrity. it has to be tested. >> one analyst warned they have not stopped their ambitions. >> this does not mean we have stop, it's to stop the bloodshed. >> ukranian president petro porashenko speaking in wales at the summit was hopeful. >> no it is important that the

ceasefire will last, and during the ceasefire we'll continue the political dialogue. >> fears are that the deal would ectively freeze the con -- effectively freeze the conflict where it is, with vladimir putin having control over parts of eastern ukraine. >> joining us from washington d.c. is william courtney, serving as u.s. ambassador for khazakhstan, and georgia, he is an adjunct senior fell at the rann corporation. good to see you. hours after the ceasefire bass reached, president obama threatened sanctions on russia and expressed skepticism that this will come to anything. are you hopeful? >> he was skeptical, and properly show. ceasefires earlier have been tried and filed. >> there are two main factors at work. one is the sanctions have an

impact on the russian economy, even though they have not been great. they undermined investors confidence. that is likely to increase if n.a.t.o. and the european union impose more sanctions. casualties among russian soldiers have gone up. 2,000 russian soldiers have been killed in ukraine. if that is the case, the russians are sensitive about that. you see in some news reports russians are hiding the fact that russian soldiers are being buried in various places in russia. public opinion polls show that people are against the idea of fighting a war in ukraine. >> that brings back bad memories of what happened with the russians in afghanistan, how many died and how much silence there was about that. of course, there are reports that the numbers are not as high as the 2,000 that have died, and certainly because of the increased russian intervention, the ukrainian government lost

territory. they are losing fighters in the east, and the ceasefire seems to mostly follow putin's terms. is the ukranian government losing the eastern part of the country. >> a ceasefire in place is a victory for russia. yes, ukraine would be losing control. it looks like petro porashenko will be appoint governors of luhansk and donetsk, with consultations with russia and rebel forces there. for all practical purposes, russians will be able to continue to fortify their russian troops, maybe, and rebels in those areas, and pose greater participation military threat in the future. >> there's nothing clear about a russian withdrawal or whatever that it has inside ukraine. the eastern part of the country is the post economically productive for ukraine, and the

ukranian economy was a basket case. what happens now? >> a number of indicis were productive because they were subsidised in energy costs. the i.m.f. programme for ukraine required that the subsidies have been reduced. a number of those industries have been negative-value-added industries. ukraine will need a stimulus. hopefully the last international community can be helpful. the most important thing in ukraine is for the country to carry out economic reforms, that it failed to do for 22 years. it's not something that can be blamed on the russians, this is the ukrainians failing to do that, leading to high corruption. >> the deal is a work in progress, as you said. the ceasefires have mostly failed. but if it does settle in and succeed, it includes amnesty for

people that didn't commit crimes, release of hostages, disbanding of militias and a buffer zone along the border. is there a danger that if there is progress, and if petro porashenko, the ukrainian government can have involvement in appointing governors, that the autonomy of the region becomes such that it has frozen instability in what we have seen, and other parts of the soviet union. >> that's correct. and there are three models for what are caused frozen conflicts. one is in moldova. they are ethnic slavs, pretty much independent of moldova with russian military support. that is one model. the second is what happened in georgia in 2008. when russia invaded georgia, controlling two places and

declared them independent countries. very few places recollection their indepentens. the third is -- independents. the third is what happened in crimea, annexation. russia could feel that they could go further and annexations with crimea. >> with the fanfare at wales, and the the summit, and defending baltic takes and allies, n.a.t.o. made it clear that they are not going to do more than offer moral support to ukraine, and funny for cyber defense and logistics and helping injured soldiers. russians are angry about n.a.t.o.'s move for a rapid response force, does it impact what is happening in ukraine? >> the contrast between what was said in wales about i.s.i.s., and syria and iraq. president obama said the goal is to degrade and destroy i.s.i.s.

but with regard to what was going on in ukraine, it was more like containing the activities there, not repelling them in the sense of pushing russians fully out of ukraine. it's quite a difference. the rapid reaction force agreed by n.a.t.o. members in wales - there was a similar force agreed to a decade ago, but nothing much happened. this will be a smaller, more active force that will rotate deployment to the eastern parts of the n.a.t.o. alliance. baltic. poland, romania. all areas are far from the battlefield. if the rapid reaction force existed, it would not have been applied to help ukrainian protect their areas. >> let's hope the ceasefire leads to something. a lot of people are suffering in eastern ukraine. ambassador william courtney, good to see you. also, president obama put aside prior ambivalence about

the islamic state terrorists saying that they must be degraded and destroyed. in iraq, another day of deadly violence left 17 people dead. two car bombs and a roadside bomb targeted shi'ites and baghdad killed civilians, a mass grave was uncovered 100 miles north of baghdad. this containing the remains of shi'ite truck drivers abducted in june. joining us from erbil in irish is "fault line" correspondent josh. what is going on there - good to have you on the show? >> that's right. we filed a story for al jazeera two days ago. they are digging up mass graves. we here 35 bodies. they are the bodies of truck drivers from the south.

so one presumes that they were shia, and killed by sunni in the village. also a few car bombs around baghdad, and notably a tribal chief near mosul was executed by the islamic state today. that is interesting because a lot of islamic state success comes from the tribes, if not supporting, allowing what they do. it makes you think back to the anbar province when al qaeda was large there, and they killed tribal members, and the trains turned against al qaeda. it's a small item, but could have huge consequences as the day goes on. >> it is hope that the tribes will end up fighting back against the islamic state terrorists. >> now, president obama spoke in wales, let's listen to some of what he said about dismantling the i.s.i.s. group. >> you can't contain an organization that is running

rough shod through that much territory. the goal has to be to dismantle them. and you systematically degrade their capabilities. you narrow their scope of action. you slowly shrink the space, the territory that they may control. you take out their leadership. and over time they are not able to conduct the same kinds of terrorist attacks as they once could. >> this is certainly a change from a week ago, when they said there was no strategy to deal with is, and a couple of days ago when he was talking about containing them. what's the rehabilitation in iraq? >> you can tell meself giving detailed information, and it seems to be a response to a week ago when they said they didn't have a strategy. in iraq we are hearing from u.s. officials saying there is a

strategy coming into place on how to degrade the islamic state without a significant number of u.s. troops on the ground. it relies heavily on the use of air power, and coordinating with the forces on the ground here. some of the interesting things about the n.a.t.o. meeting today is there are no arab states in the group of 10 countries that they listed. if you look at the financing of islamic state, you need to have the arab state, the gulf states involved in the conversation, and supporting it. the one neighbouring country that was there is turkey. a lot of people criticize turkey as being complicit in the rise of the islamic state, for leaving the border open, the foreign fighters crossing into turkey, over turkey into syria. this was the common way to get there. everywhere knew it and knew that turkey was allowing it to happen. turkey needs to change the policies and shut the back door on the islamic state, if you are

looking at reducing the numbers.. >> one of the key concerns in kurdistan, is if they are sending more weapons, it is important that they send them to erbil, rather than to baghdad. baghdad has a policy of not sending heavier weapons to kurdistan, because they want to make sure the peshmerga doesn't get too strong. they leave them there to fight with ak-47s. >> that's a concern, the kurds unarmed in the face of a much more well-armed is. talking about what you referred to as the coalition, including countries from the region, let's listen to what the president said? >> there was yunan imenty over the -- unanimity over the last few days that i.s.i.s. poses a threat to n.a.t.o. members. there was a recognition that we have to take action. i think it is critical that we

have arab states, and specifically sunni majority states that are rejecting the kind of extremist niallism that we see out of i.s.i.l., saying that is not what islam is about, and are prepared to join us actively in the fight. >> the yooupted arab -- united arab emirates issued a strong statement. do you think other arab states is the feeling, that other states will fall in line and help? >> i think you will see a qatar that funds this station. they'll follow and negotiated recently for the release of an american hostage, they want to be seen as being involved. before the n.a.t.o. meeting they made a commitment to send weapons to fight the islamic state. what i'll be curious to watch is saudi arabia would be a big player here, and the other thing is i think it's a little too simple to look at what the states are saying.

you have individuals in those countries that have significant funds, and are funding the islamic state. they'll have to think about how to approach that issue as well. >> that is an important point. good to have you with us, josh, from erbil. now for more stories from around the world. we begin in washington d.c. where the pentagon confirmed that u.s. air strikes in somalia killed their leader, the terrorist who claimed responsibility for the attack in the kenyan maul, killing 67, injuring 200 more. it's believed to be a significant role, that may impair its ability to conduct terrorist attacks. next to iran - a plane carries 100 u.s. citizens was forced to land. it was headed to dubai from bagram. it was ordered to turn back from

iranian airspace, but did not have enough fuel. it was ordered to land instead. it had taken off three hours late, and planned to update its flight plan. once the confusion was ironed out, it was allowed to resume. >> we end in washington d.c., and a disappointing jobs report. nearly 142,000 jobs were added, 84,000 less than economists predicted. despite that unemployment dropped a tenth of a point to 6.1% because 64,000 people gave up on trying to find a job. the increase in jobs is the year's smallest, but job growth over the past year is near its highest level in more than eight years. that's some of what is happening around the world. coming up, is immigration becoming a growing source of conflict for democrats? the domestic political problem following president obama to the

n.a.t.o. summit. and a history of political streamists on both sides of the -- extremists on both sides of the aisle. and harmeli aregawi is tracking the top stories on the web. what's tracking? >> it's friday. we'll end on a fun note. i'll show you a couple of videos going viral, making millions smile. if you miss a segment on the show, you may find a clip on our social media pages. only on al jazeera america

congress doesn't return from the summe break until next week. the debate over immigration is heating up again. white house press secretary josh ernst danced around questions around president obama's promise of executive action by the end

of the summer. the president talked about immigration at, of all place, the n.a.t.o. summit. >> in the absence of congressional action i intend to take action to make sure we are putting more resources on the border, we upgrade how we process these cases, and that we find a way to encourage legal immigration. >> meanwhile, powerful democrats are now pushing for the president to delay taking executive action until after november's midterm elections. how did immigration suddenly become a problem for the democratic party? >> joining us from washington d.c. is congress woman linda san chez representing the 38th district of california. representative sanchez i the second-vice chair for the congressional hispanic caucus. great to have you with us. the president intends to take

action, but avoided sing when he would act. there's a lot of reports that he's getting increasing pressure from democrats to delay moving on immigration until after the election. wh do you think he should do? >> clearly the president will make his own calculus and act accordingly. if it re me, it would be done today. it's an issue we have been waiting on for too long. congress has not acted. speaker boehner made promises about bringing a bill to the floor for a vote. more than a year ago the senate had a bipartisan bill. it was tough, had strict requirements but allowed a path for citizenship for those living in the country that want to get right with the law. the majority of americans support comprehensive support, and in the absence of a vote on that, i think the president should act. >> what do you say to people

like al franklin, a liberal senators, who has questions about whether president obama should move through executive action. when you have people like frankin raising questions, do you have a political issue within the democratic party itself? >> you know, the democratic party is a big tent party. there are opinions that range. they run the gamut. uniformly, comprehensive immigration reform is supported. it was voted on by the senate. folks have been waiting for the house to act. in the absence of action something has to be done. the vast majority of people in the country support comprehensive immigration reform, and with broken promise after broken promise by the speaker and a lot of precedent by the way, the president has the power to act. i think he should. >> is there a political risk if

he doesn't act because there are latino groups who say if the president doesn't move, it would be harder for them to get people out to vote for the democrats in november. >> there's no doubt action on the part of the president could fire up the base. i think, you know, there is a big group of independent voters in the country, it's a growing group, and the vast majority support immigration reform. i don't think there's a huge risk of - if he acts. i think it could be positive for the democratic party. >> was it a mistake for the president to set an end of summer deadline. josh ernst is backing off saying they don't know when he'll move on it. >> conditions change. we see things happening around

the world that we don't expect and can't anticipate. despite best actions other things come to the forefront, taking precedence. i don't think it's a mistake. i think they are trying to figure out when would be the best time. you know, i trust that they'll figure out when is the best time and will act accordingly. a new pugh research poll comes out on wednesday, suggesting that americans are focussed on border security and strengthening enforcement of immigration forms, finding 33% believe border security is a main priority, up from 25% last year. another poll found 31% of americans approve of how the president is handling immigration as opposed to 6 is%. do democrats, palings with what happened at the border, with the ipp -- especially with what is happening at the border, with the influx of immigrant children. does there need to be a greater

focus on what is happening at the border and securing it? >> trust me, i've been in a lot of discussions, and the fact is a lot of resources have been put at the border. i've been working on xrepsive immigration -- comprehensive immigration reform. we have been doing that for the past decade. the republicans are adept at dodging blame for what is a problem of their own creation largely. i have no doubt some of the unaccompanied migrants, children, coming to the country, if the parents had comprehensive ability to come, that would not happen. that's a significant percentage. they are coming to reunite with their family. the republicans that don't want to act on comprehensive immigration reform and use the excuse of border security point to the minors saying we are over run. the fact of the matter is we are a country of 22 million, we are

talking a population of maybe 40-50,000 people. that is hardly being overrun. they are adept at using scare tactics to make people think there's a fundamental security problem at the border. these children are not running from the border patrol, they are crossing saying "please help me." the whole argument... >> republicans argue that the fact that they can do that is an issue in itself. i know you are passionate about this, and there is some good news in the efforts that have decreased the numbers of kids coming to the border, it's little more than 3,000 a month compared to before. still a large number of unaccompanied minors. is enough done to help them? all the aattempts at figuring out how to finance and how to help the kids deal with the problem have gone nowhere. >> right, because, again, the republicans want to commit funding and they pass the bill prior to august.

they want to commit funding to border security. they don't want to fund broken immigration system, that needs judges to hear the cases in order to process these cases more quickly, they stand there and point the finger at the president and blame him because the children are not sent back immediately. there is a legal process that they are entitled to. where the choek hold is -- choke hold it, that's where they want to clamp down. they don't want the children to be processed in the way the law requires them to be processed. they are adept at blaming others for their own inaction or bad action, which is not committing funding to allow the judicial process to take place. >> congress woman linda sanchez, a pleasure to have you with us to bring perspective of what is going on on the immigration front. >> thank you for your interest. >> for more, we are joined from

"the daily beast" from john avalon, editor-in-chief, and author of "wing not extremism in the era of president obama." we'll get to your book in a moment. just talking about immigration, immigration is something that fires up the wing nuts on both extremes. with the midterm elections nearing, the president was asked about immigration. he was noncommittal. do you think he'll move, as he promised, with executive action. if he does, how far will he go? >> my guess is he'll wait until after the election. any executive action really could imperil democrats running in red states, doing a reasonable state of holding on, which is otherwise a rough hand that democrats have been dealt with. i'm reluctant to get in the prediction business, it's a

quick way to look like a fool. i think you'll see crety jay johnson and -- secretary jeh johnson and attorney general eric holder, but from a political standpoint probably makes sense to wait until after the midterms. the real tragedy, and the lost opportunity is if members of congress are honest, as they are, or speaking off the record, they'll recognise that immigration reform is the right thing to do for the country economically, prac tickly and politically. when lindsay graham tried to get enough support to pass the bill in the senate. it's been stone walled in the house. the recognitions are there, nothing can get down, is a symptom in the congress, a polarization that stops us solving problems when there is vast agreement. >> on the foreign policy side

the president is the opposite of a wing nut, with accusations that he's too cautious on terrorist threats, ukraine, and other crisis, and has tied the all-time lowest rating on the gallop poll. economy, obamacare - could his performance on the world stage make foreign policy a bigger deal than usual? >> foreign policy is a bigger deal than usual. there's a fascination, that we see at "the daily beast", with world affairs. you have crisis with israel, ukraine, and the threat by i.s.i.s. it's a time of hot spots in the world community. at a time when, you know, the president and the american people have a degree of worry possess, because of the last decade's adventures in iraq and else where. when there's a vacuum, bad folks

can step in and fill the vacuum. it's a testing time for n.a.t.o., the west and president obama. whether it translates to midterm elections, that would be unusual for foreign policy to draw up decisions in a midterm election. politics is local. you see a lot of different dynamics. the narrative about it being a republican wave is overstated. the president may have a hidden hand strategy. he needs to be clearer about articulating the obama doctrine. you see the president getting tougher with i.s.i.s. such as the op-ed with prime minister david cameron of britain, calling i.s.i.s. barbarians, but that rhetoric has to be matched with action. there's no question there's a fascination with foreign affairs. a time of testing on fronts. >> talk about your book. why did it need updating?

is it because hyperpartisanship is worse? >> well, the first edition of wing nuts come out in 2010. the hyperpartisanship of the bush era, the deep divisions - it was thought it could be yielded. the nomination of john mccain was playing to that. president obama introduced himself to the american people by saying there's no red or blue states, it's the united states. the people that invested in polarization hyperpartisanship stepped into the breach, trying to pump it up through partisan media, the internet, and being a major part, but not entirely of what fuelled the tea party way. then that is the beginning of

the story. so much has happened. we see the rise and fall of figures like michelle backman who ran for president and decided not to run again. through to figures on the cover of the first edition of the book, who were influential. sarah palin and others have been knocked off their respective purchase. we added a chapter on what is happening. congress took over, talking about the shutdown, in the sense that the inmates may be running the asylum, and the establishment realising they had empowered a problem. it allowed us to fill the ark on a lot of figures. a guy interviewed after the '08 election, took out a url for sarah palin in 2012. we were able to update it, he has no longer a supporter. so many of the supporters need the the ark completed. then i added a chapter called "extremism in american history",

we looked at the forces confronted before. >> i want to ask you something. the book has all sorts of examples of crazy extremism on both sides, current day extremism that makes your blood boil. the theme of the book is this has been the case going back to washington, adams and jefferson. is there anything as extreme today though as what we saw? we think that it's worse now. something as extreme as what you saw during the mack earthy days. >> -- mack earthy days. >> no, that's part of the book. it's well to remember that demy gods do well in the downfall, it was true in the 1930s. wing nuts were at the start of the obama administration during the start of the depths of the

recession. a lot of folks on right wing talk - they recycle the old scripts from the john bourke society. when you realise there are telltale signs and repeels, us against them, repeels to ethnic subdivision, racial division, saying that the president of the united states is committed to undermining the constitution. when you recognise the recurring themes, you can call it out quicker, and you recognise what you are dealing with when people trot out the same old scripts, and that's an important point. richard wrote a book called the paranoid style of american politics over 50 years ago. you need to update and connect the dot, to give perspective. take the heat down, and play offense from the centers. >> it brings an important perspective, bringing up the

themes. it's "wing nuts, extremism in the age of obama." pleasure to have you with us, jonathan avalon. >> thank you very much. >> time to see what is trending on the web. let's check in with harmeli aregawi. >> we want to end the week on a light note. i'll show you two fun videos that have gone viral. first a prank involving a mutant tarantula dog. it was dressed in a costume. the people didn't know that, didn't know what they were looking at and run for their lives. the prank group is behind the viral video. it was uploaded thursday and friday it had more than 13 million views. the real-life horror film stars a mixed-breed pup. it required a lot of takes, chica had to jump at the right moment and ran this the right direction. >> most viral videos involve a dog and baby.

we have both covered. a video by an australian family features a 7-week-old baby boy. lachlan was diagnosed with hearing loss. he has hearing aids put in and hears his parents. he freaks out and gives mum and dad a precious smile. >> any story you'd like to see, tweet us. a little pick me up at the ends of the week. >> those are great. ahead - a reporter held hostage by the taliban, brings us his unique perspective on the growing debate on whether countries should pay ransom to kidnappers. and pound for pound - which county in america has the greatest weight. and documenting the american youth. cameras given to kids. their very adult challenges.

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at the n.a.t.o. summit in wales, the u.s. and nine allies formed a coalition against the islamic state terrorists, agreeing they pose a threat to n.a.t.o. countries. cutting off funding for his is a crucial part of the coalition's plan. a major source of money for terrorist groups, including is, al qaeda and the taliban is hostage taking. >> there's no doubt in my mind that tens of millions that i.s.i.l. raised from ransom payments is going into promoting terrorism, including terrorism affecting our own country. >> joining us here in new york is a film-maker and journalist who reported for al jazeera's "fault line"s programme. he was kidnapped by the taliban in 2008, narrowly escaped.

why did they take you captive, what did they tell you they wanted? >> they took me as a hostage because they wanted money. i was not sure about that in the beginning, because they talked about political demands. i was lucky, because very fast in the process they started talking about the ransom. >> very quickly they started talking about money. >> a few years later you equipment back, did the "fault lines" programme, got in with the taliban, the group, as they prepared and attacked an afghan army post. the attack was mostly unsuccessful. why would you go back and deal with the taliban, put yourself in danger when they kidnapped you years before? >> i did it because it's an important story, a story about the enemy that the western countries have been fighting for more than a decade, and it's important to understand the

society and the life in the areas. i think it's - it's a story that was very important, not only for history, but also for understanding how the war can be resolved. >> it is an important story, and talking about their life and what they want and what they do, one of the shocking things about what you showed was the fact that they are operating freely in areas that are close to kabul. there has been a lot of debate and different experts will tell you how strong the taliban is in afghanistan these days, what is your impression? >> my impression is it depends on the different areas. you have areas close to kabul, where they are strong. they don't have the offensive capacity to go in and make a ground assault in kabul. they can make ground assaults not so far from kabul, and can hold ground also. it depends on how much effort they can use in the area.

>> if the afghan government gets its act together, do you think they pose a serious threat to the government? >> they could end up posing a serious threat. you could say that in some areas, you see it now, they are in control in rural areas in afghanistan. >> let's talk about kidnapping. as you know, the issue of paying ransom to terrorists is very important in the news, much talked about, especially in light of horrible beheadings of american journalists in syria. united states, n.a.t.o. policy is not to pay ransoms to terrorists. let's listen to the u.k. prime minister david cameron. he was talking about creating a unified international policy. >> i launched an initiative to try to get other countries to sign up to a very clear doctrine that in the case of terrorist kidnap no ransom should be paid. britain continues with that policy, america continues with

the policy. we need to redouble the evidence to make sure other countries are good to their word. >> he said paying ransoms is self-defeating a risk to everyone at home. having been kidnapped yourself, what do you think? >> it depends on the perspective. if you are relative to a hostage or good friends or workplace, it's a different situation. i understand the stance they have, and other countries too, like the united states of america. but, yes, if you pay, and, you know, it poses other groups, or the same group to take more hostages, of course, that's the philosophy behind the decision. >> former top official at the u.s. treasury department said that the main source of terrorist financing is ransom. the money coming from that. the numbers are huge. some european countries paid tens of millions to terrorists. how concerned are you that that is something that will lead if

the countries do not get together and have a unified policy that will make things worse. >> it's a problem for the hostages, that the countries signal different opinions about what they are going to do when some of the citizens are held back. i think that they should agree, at least the western countries, should agree whether to pay or not. at the same time, the government can't stop the families, or, you know, the places where they work, the journalists, from paying the ransoms. i think that, you know, they should take a stance, they should cooperate. at the same time they should do a big effort to support in other ways the people that want to get beloved onces out. >> the suffering for the families must be tremendous. so many that are kidnapped are aid workers, journalists. it's a special tragedy. pleasure to have you with us. thanks. coming up, a look at

america's youth, with stories told by them. the oscar winning film maker behind the project joins us. first, where you live could predict how heavy you are. the most obese states and regions of america are next in our data dive.

>> audiences are intelligent and they know that their needs are not being met by american tv news today. >> entire media culture is driven by something that's very very fast... >> there has been a lack of fact based, in depth, serious journalism, and we fill that void... >> there is a huge opportunity for al jazeera america to change the way people look at news. >> we just don't parachute in on a story...quickly talk to a couple of experts and leave... >> one producer may spend 3 or 4 months, digging into a single story... >> at al jazeera, there are resources to alow us as

journalists to go in depth and produce the kind of films... the people that you don't see anywhere else on television. >> we intend to reach out to the people who aren't being heard. >>we wanna see the people who are actually effected by the news of the day... >> it's digging deeper it's asking that second, that third question, finding that person no one spoken to yet... >> you can't tell the stories of the people if you don't get their voices out there, and al jazeera america is doing just that. today's data dive tackles the growing obesity epidemic. a study shows an expanding number of americans have an expanding waistline. in 20 states, 20% of all adults are obese. mississippi, and west virginia have a rate of 32.5%. the darker the colour on the

map, the biggest issue. colorado is the healthiest state with 21% obesity. followed by hawaii. every state has seen obesity soar. mississippi was the heaviest state, 15% obese. today it makes it the healthiest state. weight issues vary by ethnicity. african-americans and latinos have a higher rate of obesity. the older, the heavier we get, leading to health costs. an added problem - we may not realise when we are obese. the journal paediatrics reported parents were 24% less likely to spot a problem in their own children, than a group interviewed two decades earlier. we take a different look at youth coming up with an up-close view with issues facing our

teenagers, as they documented their personnel struggles, using their own cameras.

>> today's teenagers deal with more adult issues at increasingly younger ages. we debut a 6-part series called "edge of 18" showing multiple and wide-ranging problems that kids face. a documentary film-maker gave cameras to a group of teenagers to tell their stories. i sat with gibney on "talk to al jazeera". . >> i came out to show you guys who i am. >> the future is in my hand. >> lord, i beg you to lead me through this. >> reporter: 15 high school seniors from across america came to new york city for a crash

course in documentary film making. led by oscar-winning director alex gibney. they returned home to document their senior year in high school - all the frustrations and fears, the triumphs and trials of life. "on the edge of 18." >> it tells a lot of important american stories, you have tremendous diversity. it's ethnically, geographically and religiously. all the things they face is incredible. running down a few of the characters, you have an asian american girl that struggles. a fire brand white evangelical struggling with his parents about whether to be a preacher or go to architecture school. you have a couple of latinos, one is undocumented, one is gay. a pregnant girl from the south, an african american boy struggling. how did you find the kids?

>> the search went out. we send messages to schools and groups over the country. we look at hundreds of kids and ultimately boiled it down to 15 that we found to be compelling, and that represented the diversity that is the country. what was interesting is the stories they chose to tell were powerful and important stories about immigration, about gay and lesbian rights, about education, about ambitious and religion. as we talk about them, in these abstract phrases, to see the kids go through them was pointed and emotional. it came from them. >> you point out how 40% of kids can't afford to get into the main college, illegal immigration, sexuality, body image, kids raised by their grand parents, urban crime, drugs, the last goes on and on.

bullying, military service. >> we are asking a lot of our kids. we are putting them in situations where they are having to by adults quickly, at a young age. it's poinient and emotional -- poinient and emotional. >> they became documentary film makers, how did you train them? >> there were 15 kids, guided by amy cohen. we put them into a class for a weekend. we had some of the best documentary film-makers talking about camera, editing, and i think that the big thing that they came away with was that these cameras that we gave them are not recording devices, they are story telling devices. it's like saying if you want to be a great writer, pay attention to the number two pencil you have, and understand what it feels like to write some of the

greatest writers, some of the greatest writers type over the move else they love. we said think of the cameras as story telling tools. think about that, think about what you shoot, the kinds of things you shoot, where you are with the camera, and what that means, so that you use the tools to convey the emotional experience that you feel. >> they do then tell the stories in the first person. there's not a narrator. >> people ask what is the one thing that it says about the new generation. the exciting thing is it doesn't say one think. the idea is -- one thing. the idea is there are unexpected stories much brandon - you don't expect to see that, or i'm not as familiar with it. >> i wasn't either. >> there weren't a lot of preachers in my senior class. >> i offer you an opportunity to experience joy, to experience love like never before, through

jesus christ. >> and you see someone like maurice, recognising with his tough neighbourhood outside of chicago. >> you need to get your life together. you are 18. >> you can see the pull of the neighbourhood. don't go to college, we can get a good job as a jan tore, get cash, have fun, don't go to college. and the anxiety of him wanting to be with the group, but knowing there was a better life out there. and the undocumented girl vashdi was another example. her parents want to keep her tight. not surprising. she's undocumented. another in a kind of hostile environment. they want to be here to pursue the american dream. >> she's looking at going out of state, which they are resisting. ironically she gets to a point where she can get into arizona

state university. because she's undocumented, even though she's in arizona, she is not considered local and has to pay full freight. these odds twists all in the context of these kids moving forward. "'em of 18", on sunday. catch the rest of my interview on "talk to al jazeera", starting saturday at 5:00 pm eastern. that is all for now. this weekend on "consider this", a 4-star general on how the u.s. can win or lose off the battlefield before the first shots are fired. and dick kav ot remembering his friend, show business trail blazer joan rivers. and the conversation continues on our website, google+ or twitter. see you next time.

this is al jazeera america. our special "five days along the border starts in a minute. i'm jonathan betz in new york with the headlines. a promise of peace in eastern ukraine as a new ceasefire appears to be holding. pro-russian separatists and the ukranian government agrees with the deal as the countries consider new sanctions. the rebels are not done, trying to breakaway from ukraine. president obama says he's building a core coalition to cattle the islamic s g