ask yourself this question, why can't the bottom line for the green movement be about, well, green. that's our show for today. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. ♪ hi, everyone. this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. escaping isil, 130,000 refugees flee to turkey. the united nations world leaders meet in new york, but will they be united in the fight against isil? white house threat, disturbing new threat about the man who jumps the fence and walked right into the front door. climate change protests, demonstrators stop traffic on wall street. and new moon, the nasa

satellite that could answer an old mystery about mars. ♪ and we begin tonight in turkey where 130,000 syrian refugees have flooded across the boarder just since friday. they are running away from isil as they close in on a key kurder town in syria's north. the growing crisis comes as the u.s. pressures turkey for more support against the troop. stephanie decker has more. >> reporter: frustration is met by force. turkish forces try to control the few hundred kurds who want to return to defend their hometown. >> translator: we the syrian kurds and the turkish kurds want to go to fight isil. these clashes here started because the police are not

allowing us to cross. we want to go back and help our fighters there and at least to protect our homes. >> reporter: it has been tense here as the men brought their wives and children into turkey. but they say they do not want to stay in turkey. syrian kurder fighters have managed to keep isil at bay for now, but no one is sure if that will last. this has caused over a hundred thousand refugees to flee here, and seems to have ignited decades long conflict between turkey and kurds. there has been a peace deal here between the kurdistan worker's party or the pkk, and the turkish government since last year, but some kurds say they feel increasingly under attack. >> translator: the turkish government says there is peace

with the kurds, but we haven't noticed any real steps. they are trying to empty the land of kurds on both sides of the border. >> reporter: over 130,000 syrian kurds have come here to escape isil's advances. it's the biggest short term influx of people since this conflict began. >> translator: we feel that we lost everything. we have been humiliated, tortured. isil kidnapped our women and cut off people's heads. we barely escaped. >> reporter: many -- speak of the fear that isil has managed to create. while these people say they are determined they can beat them, returning home could be a long while yet. stephanie decker. now the situation in syria and iraq will top the agenda during this week's general assembly here in new york, and the u.s. is trying to build a

bigger coalition to take on the fighters. nick schifrin joins us from our middle east bureau. nick? >> reporter: john, good evening, for years the syrian neighbors have dragged their turkish neighbors into the fighting. and now they are asking them to fight back. for turkey the moment of truth came on a tarmac. 49 turkish diplomats, soldiers and their families arrived back home. they had been kidnapped by islamic state. their freedom forced the turkish government to join the coalition against isil. >> with hostages being held, that probably constrained their behavior. so we'll see if there is a change now. >> reporter: the u.s. needs turkey and the region to fight isil, because isil still controls a third of syria and

iraq. so the u.s. is trying to create a regional diverse coalition to avoid being seen as taking sides in the sectarian struggle. >> you don't want to be intervening in a way in iraq or syria that's starts looking like a war against sunnis or a war against shia. you just don't want to be seen in that sectarian opt tick. >> reporter: the coalition includes sunni countries like turkey. it can close the border. saudi arabia can fight isil's radical religious message and most the $500 million training program for training rebels that fight isil. >> saudi arabia has agreed to do that training in saudi arabia. that's a remarkable step forward. countries in the region, multiple have made commitments to be part of the action. >> reporter: and several

countries can stop their citizens from donating to isil. >> they have picked a fight with everyone in the region. they are fighting the syrians, the syrian rebels, the u.s., and iran, and iraq. hitler had more allies than isil does right now. >> reporter: today and throughout the week, secretary of state john kerry is meeting with european and arab allies to push for specificity. but fighting and coalition building aren't enough. until iraq and syria's deep political divides exist, it will provide a safe haven for isil. >> you have to do the difficult state-building process that president obama as well as every other prior president of the united states has wanted to avoid and can't avoid. >> reporter: today for the first

time isil spokesmen delivered a worldwide rallying cry calling for attacks on citizens of members of the coalition. that is not something that he has done before. the u.s. is looking especially for help from the muslim majority members of the coalition to really argue this is a struggle against fanaticism. but that message is just going to be another challenge for the more than 40 countries the u.s. is trying to cobble together. >> why are we seeing in this syria and not on the iraqi border? >> reporter: i think that's a good question. and it really goes to what is happening in both countries, especially in the last six weeks in iraq, since isil took over mosul, the u.s. has really moved in there. u.s. air strikes. kurdish forces, iraqi forces, even irane forces are now

battling isil inside iraq. in syria you have none of those variabilities. there's no real leading opposition force that can attack isil, so that's why you see isil moving through northern syria at its will, it took over 60 villages in just 48 hours, and they have pillaged that area and no one is stopping them. >> all right. nick schifrin thank you. the u.s. faces many obstacles in the battle against isil in syria. france says it will not launch air strikes against fighters there. the u.s. says the strikes in iraq were justified under international law, but air strikes in syria may be another matter. lisa stark joins us with more on that. >> reporter: there are a lot of questions about whether the u.s. has the authority to launch air

strikes in syria. the white house might argue that domestically it has that authority, because of a law that does authorize military action to take on those responsible for attacks or their associates. they might argue that isil is a success or to al-qaeda, so they can take on those attacks. the white house has not indicated it is going to seek congressional authority. what about the international front? the cleanest way to do this would be to get a u.n. security council resolution, that is highly unlikely because russia will veto such a resolution. so the white house is putting together its military strategy to launch strikes in syria, and at the same time they have are having to draw up a legal strategy as well. they may argue that this is just a matter of self-defense and the

u.s. has the right to defend itself against potential terrorist attacks. france elaborated today on why it won't carry out strikes in syria today. talk about that. >> france is the one and only u.s. ally to launch strikes in iraq against isil, but the french did say today they will not do a similar action in syria. the foreign minister seemed to indicate that he didn't think it was a legal question, but he said france can't do everything, and we are willing to support the moderate opposition in syria. that's the way we will help there, but no air strikes in syria for the french. >> thank you lisa. . in yemen rebels forced the president to resign this weekend. the government signed the deal to end almost a week of violence that killed more than 200

people. now they control every government building and have taken over policing functions in the capitol. tonight afghanistan finally has a new leader. after months of bitter political wrangling, they have agreed to share power. jennifer glasse reports from kaboul. >> reporter: when afghans went to the polls to elect a new president, there were high expectations, a big turnout, and eight candidates. but the runoff election in june it was down to two hopefuls. when the election commission finally announced results on sunday, it did so without any specific numbers, naming only a winner and new president. he and his rival abdullah abdullah has signed an agreement to form a unity form just a few hours earlier. but the head of the election

forum says the deal is flawed. >> part of it is not within the constitutional framework, and therefore it will be two kings in one territory, and then how they manage that will be -- will be judged in the days to come. >> reporter: but after months of dead lock, the announcement was also welcome. many afghans call the appointment of a new president and the end of the political crisis a relief. now they wonder whether the new unity government will be workable. one concern was the ability of them to agree of much of anything during the disagreement. >> there are future gaps. there are scars that need to heal, and i think people demands action soon, because people are frustrated with the situation. >> reporter: the problems include a poor economy and difficult security situation. on top of that, the taliban

calls the new unity government a sham, and says it will continue to fight. in his first speech as president elect, he promised that the unity government will serve the country. and he urged afghans to leave the past behind and focus on the future. jennifer glasse, al jazeera, kaboul. omar served as the afghan minister, ambassador, welcome. >> thank you. >> let's just start -- these two presidential hopefuls, spent months accusing each other of electoral fraud. any chance they can work their differences out and get along? >> i think they have worked most differences out as of yesterday when they signed the national unity document. they had been negotiating for

several weeks. it had been a very difficult process. the process was flawed from the onset when it started about a year ago. and the afghans obviously became very tired of it. the economy suffered. the taliban took advantage of the insecurity and the political discussions and wranglings, but finally i think the afghans came together and realized it's better to have these two men join hands then let the country face uncertainty. >> what are the biggest issues between these two? >> the biggest issue, in relations to the election process was they are very credible and real allegations of massive fraud. as a result abdullah took a

stand and said he is not going to accept any type of fraud that is going to invalidate the election all together, and the international community, including the united nations which is somewhat supervising this process, and the united states got involved when they saw that this was heading nowhere, and secretary of state kerry visited kaboul twice. there have been dozens of discussions and phone talks tween president obama and the raf -- afghan leaders, as well as the secretary of state, and eventually they all came together on a plan that means that afghanny is now the elected president, and abdullah will serve sort of as a prime minister but under the name of chief executive. >> do they have different views with the relationship with the united states?

>> no. their agenda, whether on the domestic front or foreign policy front are not that different. they are two different individuals. but in terms of their vision with relation with the united states or nato, once this mission that -- that the west is going to complete by the end of this year, they both have indicated that they will sign the bilateral security agreement that president karzai did not sign for his own reasons, and they want to continue a new phase of relationships with the west. >> six months ago there had been hope that afghanistan could carry out free and fair elections. what does this say about freedom of democracy in afghanistan? >> let's not forget in april of this year, we had more than 6 million afghan men and women

under very difficult conditions when the taliban were firing at them and threatening them, went and voted. and then in the runoff, we had apparently more people who went and voted, but this is when there were some very real claims and allegations of massive fraud that took place. some very high-ranking individuals resigned from the election commission. the whole system seems to be flawed, and they both realized that there is a problem, and one of the items on the accord that they signed yesterday calls for a total review of the electoral system. but afghanistan is a democratic country to the extent that one can define it democratic. and the afghan people have embrac embraced democracy.

i think it has taken root and will not go away any time soon. >> we'll see how this agreement works. thank you very much. three afghan soldiers have been found. the men were taken into custody at the canadian border. they told customs agents they were refugees. last week two policemen disappeared from a dea training program in virginia and were later found in buffalo, new york. up next, what we're hearing about the white house intruder and his weapons. and people in ferguson, missouri got their first chance to go face-to-face and demand answers from their elected officials.

we're learning new details tonight about one of the worst

security breaches at the white house. a soldier armed with a knife, scaled the fence and made it all the way inside the white house. and prosecutors say he has hundreds of rounds of ammunition. randall pinkston joins us with more. >> john it was shocking enough that someone managed to get inside the white house, now authorities were revealing that he was arrested in july with a small arsenal in his car. there are questions and criticism of the secret services failure to stop him. but president obama applauded the agency. >> secret service does a great job. i'm grateful for the sacrifices they make on my behalf and my family's behalf. >> reporter: the leap occurred just after the president left on the south lawn. this shows his daring dash to

the door and inside the white house where he was finally apprehended and placed under arrest. and yes, the door was open. this was his third encounter with law enforcement since july. in july authorities arrested gonzalez with 11 guns. he also had a map of washington with a line to the white house. he is also trained in the use of weapons. he's -- served in the army from 1997 until 2012, 15 years in the army. he had a lot of declarations, served three tours in iraq, and had a damage for expert marksmanship. why didn't the secret service release dogs trained to bring down intruders who are not stopped by agents? already changes are being made. >> the secret service has beefed

up foot patrols along the fence line of the white house complex. they have employed additional surveillance services. the secret service has changed the procedures for ensuring that the entrance to the white house is secure. and there is already stepped up training for officers who are essentially standing on the front lines of the white house. >> the third encounter occurred on the south lawn in late august when uniformed officers noticed that gonzalez was standing at the fence with a hatchet in his belt band. they questioned him, searched his car, and let him go. we have been hearing that one of the reasons sharp shooters did not fire on him, is because he did not appear to be armed and dangerous, but a former secret service agent questioned that judgment. >> they cannot allow an intruder

to make it that far. then you have to kill the individual, then you kill the individual. >> randall there are a lot of questions as you mentioned. let's go back to the july arrest. he had a map of washington, a circle around the white house. did anybody notify the secret service. >> virginia state police did notify the secret service. you would think someone found with a small arsenal plus a map to the white house would be facing special scrutiny. but we found out that stopped him and then let him go. we don't know if he was on a watch house. >> all right. thank you, randall. more than a thousand activists gathered in

manhattan's financial district today to protess what they call america's role in climate change. the demonstration calls flood wall street comes in advance of tuesday's united nations summit on that issue. organizers accuse top financial institutions of exploiting communities, workers, natural resources, all in the name of profit. this followed an even bigger protest yesterday. hundreds of thousands took part in what was called the people's climate march. tomorrow's u.n. climate summit is today to be the world's largest gathering ever on climate change. hundreds of people and dozens of charities took action. they agreed to start pulling their money out of oil and gas companies. >> nobody should profit from the rising temperatures, seas, and

human suffering caused by the burning of fossil fuels. >> reporter: desmund tutu sums up the feeling of this gathering. one of the groups is the rockefeller brothers fund set up by the heirs of oil barron. >> we embrace the irony that was wealth was made through oil, but we believe that puts us through an even greater are pressure. >> reporter: they say they will cut investments in oil and tar sands. >> this is really showing that this movement is gaining momentum. >> reporter: the divest invest government began three years ago on college campuses. harvard and the university of

california say they won't divest despite pressure from students. even though who support the movement agree their actions won't have much immediate impact on the industry, but they hope it will push politicians to do more. nicklas told me she hopes the amount of divestments pledged will triple by the end of next year. that's when world leaders will meet again in paris. coming up next, world leaders gather for the united nations general assembly, what they hope to accomplish. and lessons from mars. after nearly a year of space travel, the space shuttle orbiting the red planet. what nasa hopes to lerp.

this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. andment doing up, the minnesota

community targeted by isil recruiters. plus people in ferguson, missouri get a chance to question their elected fibls tonight. and texas is cleared for takeoff, how one airport could soon be spending passengers into space. ♪ more than 100 world leaders are in new york for the united nations general assembly, and tomorrow president obama will be among them. the leaders have a busy agenda, and it includes the threat of isil and climate changes. >> reporter: for the united states the focus is going to remain on building an international coalition to fight the islamic state in iraq and the levant. no doubt that has been the major

topic of discussion for all of the meetings that secretary of state john kerry has been holding on the sidelines earlier today he met with his counterparts from saudi arabia, and the united kingdom. and president obama will play out the plan when he addressed the international community on wednesday. there are many ore issues percolating here as well. climate summit taking place on tuesday is another big issue. not a lot expected to come out of this meeting, but ban ki moon, the secretary general called this meeting knowing all of the world leaders would be in town, hoping to jump start negotiations for a binding agreement in 2015 that will limit global temperature rise by 2 degrees. and then the outbreak of ebola

in west africa will be a topic. i have spoken to a lot of leaders of u.n. humanitarian sees who say their demands are high for their services; that they have never had so many crises to deal with all at the same time. so for them this issue is about raising mron money, whether it's fighting ebola, helping victims of ebola, rebuilding the gaza strip and on and on. that's kristin reporting. a flood of syrian refugees fled to turkey in just four days. and turkey's leaders fear more will try. >> so far, john, 130,000 syrian refugees from come into turkey. isil hasn't yet captured the city, but its fighters have taken dozens of villages nearby.

on friday turkey opened this stretch of its border to allow the syrian kurds inside turkey. camps along the border, however, are already filled. they have the second largest population of syrian refugees. many wanted to return to syria and fight. already there is a large kurdish population inside turkey in the southeastern part. turkey is worried syria's kurds will further inspire turkey's kurds to break away. john. law enforcement officials are investigating isil recruiting here in the us. kimberley reports from minnesota. >> reporter: growing up in this minnesota community, 1

-- 100,000 somalians have not been easy. lack of jobs make them easy targets for groups like isil. >> you hear an individual has gone, comes back, and unfortunately has joined such organizations. >> reporter: u.s. officials estimate more than 100 americans, including roughly a dozen from this northern u.s. state have left to join isil. the fbi says efforts to recruit young muslims is sophisticated. >> we have been privy to some videos which have directly targeted youths here in minneapolis. >> reporter: in recent weeks two men have died. many in the muslim community say this man was shot while fighting

alongside another american, douglas mccain. the u.s. state department says he was killed in syria while fighting with isil. it's not the first time young people here have been recruited. the problem started back in 2007 when nationalist ties were used to push vulnerable young people to fight for al-shabab. they worry the well-funded recruitment efforts, and promising status and opportunity are no match for limited resources. >> we have lost a lot of kids to both al-shabab and isil, and their propaganda machine seems to be very effective. thousands of young kids are addressed. >> reporter: a major mosque in indianapolis, is under investigation for allegedly recruiting as many as 40 people to join isil. the mosque denies the occasion.

he says more law enforcement isn't the answer. community backing is. >> the lack of support for this community, these other terrorist organizations see that. they can target, if we don't get more support in this neighborhood, i feel like there is more potential of kids being recruited. the state department special representative from muslim communities when hillary clinton was secretary of state, she is now an advisor for the non-profit counter extremism organization is here. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> would we compare this to a cult? >> when you think about isil or

al-qaeda or boko haram or any kind of extremist group, you have to look at the ideology that they are pushing forward, and how it appeals to young people who are finding it very attractive. your piece talked about the propaganda machine. but it's more than propaganda. what i did as special representtive was travel around the world talking to muslim mellenals, and the single data point that was consistent, was that these young muslims are going through an identity crisis, so when they are asking questions about how to be a modern muslim, the loudest voices are the voices of the extremists that are pulling them in. >> what are they giving them. >> they are telling them they are belong to something that is bigger than themselves. they can be part of an

organization that is doing something in their view that is noble, and this ideology can only be dealt with, with counter effort. >> but is it about religion or about them finding identity. >> they are using religion as a tool to lure them in. >> talk about how sophisticated this is. they are using off line and online attempts to real these people in. it's mostly men, right? >> no, it's men and women. >> but it is mostly muslim men, right? >> it's mostly must him men, but now you are seeing all female armies. you are seeing a new incarnation of this fight. so you have to look at both how

muslim mellenals are being lured in both on and off line. >> how does the u.s. fight it? >> the u.s. -- government can fight it in a lot of different ways, but more importantly what we have to do is lift up other efforts around the world both in the public and private sector that can think about what is happening at the local level, and that's what the counter extremism project is all about. >> we talked about a group that said that isil provided a vision, and they need another vision to counter that. what should that be? >> there should be many different options for these young kids to find alternatives to the alternative of extremists. and the innovation has to be outside of government. it has to be tools such as sanctions and looking where the money comes from, counter

narratives on and off line that are brings the kids at the local level away from those that are praying on them. the counter extreme project is one important effort that is seeking to expose the architecture of support for extremist groups and extremist ideology. >> but these are young people that want to leave the united states, right? >> these are young people both in the united states and all over the world -- let's not forget this is a global pull. this is not just fighters coming from the u.s. as important and urgent as that is for our country, and it should be, but the fighters that are coming from all over the world, what is appealing to them? how can you have people as diverse as somebody in australia and somebody in morocco, finding something in common? >> but they are not worried about getting into trouble, are they? >> in terms of what?

>> being arrested and thrown in jail? >> that's not what they are looking at. they are looking at a sense of ownership over something that they can do in their lives that will give them purpose. it's a corrupted thought process, and the bad guys are being very savvy about how they are bringing these people in to be in their armies. you can't have armies if you don't have recruits, and to look at how we deal with any of these extremist groups, you have to go to the sources of where -- >> i understand that, but you could be describing african american men in -- in new york city today, but what is different about them, is they are not muslim. >> what is different is there's not a powerhouse funded at the level of isil and others that all day every day have a message to them on line and off line that is pulling them in.

and any nefarious group that does that has to have the money to be able to fund it. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you. progress is being recorded in the fight against ebola in west africa. more than 5,000 cases have been reported there. today the world health organization said the virus is mostly contained in senegal and nigeria. rob reynolds reports. >> reporter: students at this secondary school spent the morning sweeping and cleaning their classrooms. a first day of school tradition in nigeria. children in most parts of the country returns to classrooms over much debate on how to keep

them safe. this nurse showed the school's government-provided antiseptic gel and rubber gloves, but with 1300 students, she says she will need a lot more. >> this is not enough. >> reporter: government education officials say teachers have been given ebola prevention training and all schools are being supplied with items needed to keep the virus at bay. >> government now provided materials such as the temperature measuring machine, the cleaning materials like sanitizers, liquid soaps. >> reporter: but none of those were to be found at a primary school outside of the capitol. the dilapidated classrooms remain empty. the nigerian teacher's union says it teachers won't work at schools that don't have sanitizing items.

>> what we want is protective gadget. to detect if someone temperature is above normal. and then the rest. >> reporter: yet they haven't got any, so school is out. the government insists that all schools will be supplied and reopened as soon as possible. until then, students like this 18-year-old remain anxious. are you worried about your examinations? >> i am worried about examinations. and i'm worried about so many things. >> reporter: u.n. statistics show the education system here has a long way to go. even before ebola nigeria has struggled to educate its children. for young women and girls the

illiteracy rate is 42%. thousands of college students in hong kong skipped classes today to demand democracy. they are angry over beijing decision to nominate candidates by committee. the strike involves 13,000 young people from more than 20 universities and colleges. hong kong's elections are expected to take place in 2017. tonight in ferguson, missouri, elected officials are hearing from angry residents who are angry about the shooting of an unarmed teenager. diane has more. diane? >> reporter: we wish we could tell you what happened in the meeting tonight, john, but we were not allowed to go inside. this was billed as a public

hearing and organized by the ferguson, city council, the major, and the department of justice, but when we got here tonight, they were only allowing residents who had id to go inside the building. we were told we would be able to attend possibly without cameras, but when we arrived here this evening, we were turned away. there were other frustrated residents as welt who turned out who didn't have a driver's license or id. they weren't told that they needed to bring independent indication and they were frustrated because they couldn't get into the meeting. john? >> yeah, open meeting except when you don't have an idea or you are not the media. so what are the city and residents hoping to accomplish with all of this? >> reporter: well, as you know there's been a lot of protesting here over the past month. a couple of weeks ago there was

a city council meeting. there was a lot of yelling. the city council members and mayor did not respond to questions. so they said tonight they were beginning a series of meetings that would allow the public to ask them question to open up dialogue. >> my concerns are mostly the violence, and the anger. >> i would like to know when they are going to put a stop to the protesting, blocking of traffic and that type of thing. these people have given their side of the story, and we all know it. and enough is enough. >> reporter: so a lot of frustration still in ferguson. there are going to be a series of these meetings over the next month. they are going to be going on at least for the next month, month

and a half in two locations. >> diane thank you very much. coming up, how texas is winning the new space race. plus -- >> all i can say at this point is we're in orbit at mars, guys. [ laughter ] >> after 400 million miles a nasa satellite is orbiting mars to figure out where the water went.

good evening, i'm meteorologist kevin corriveau. last week was a very rainy week for most of the southwest. and now we're still dealing with very heavy rain in new mexico and texas. we saw over 5 inches of rain in texas on the border between texas and new mexico. we saw a lot of rain last week when the dem innocence of odile came into this area.

we do think, though, the heaviest rain is going to start to edge its way a little bit towards the north. flash flood warnings are still in effect, all along the southern part of new mexico and across parts of texas, and we will be dealing with that tomorrow as well. up towards california we are dealing with the wildfires, and the king fire is the one we're watching the most that is to the west of lake tahoe. you can see right here, the wildfires continue to burn. they had a little bit of relief in terms of rain. when you look at it that way, this is the water vapor shot, and it's showing the very dry air towards the south. we are seeing a little bit of relief towards the north. that's very good for the northern fires, but for the king fire it is still a problem.

texas is becoming a hot spot for commercial space travel. spac space-ex broke ground today. heidi zhou castro has more. >> reporter: from the sky, midland's airport appears no more remarkable than its ranking, but on the ground it's number one in a new era of air travel. i have now set foot in what has been renamed the midland international airport and space port. it's incredible to think that just in the last century, aviation has gone from that to private rockets propelling people into space. midland is the first primary commercial airport to receive federal aviation administration

approval to offer space flights to the public. why here? the land surrounding the airport is sparsely populated. the air space mostly clear. and midway's existing runways are long tough to handle a vehicle that could take a passenger 62 miles up. the ticket would cost you $100,000, and you would be fieing it from xcoro aerospace. >> we're standing at the future home of the test center and corporate headquarters. >> reporter: the company is building a hangar steps from the midland terminal. it will house the rocket plane still in development soon. the two-seater will be no bigger than a private jet. it will take off horizontally, but with one key difference. >> this one goes a lot faster.

>> reporter: how fast? >> this will fly up to mock 3.5, which is a thousand meters per second. it's about 3,400 miles per hour. >> reporter: enough forces to get passengers past the edge of space to experience six minutes of weightlessness before coming back to earth. the whole flight will last 30 minutes. more than 300 people have already signed up. >> there are folks who have dreamed about this their whole life and used their life savings >> gosh, to me it would be unbelievable to see the earth like astronauts see the earth and see how insignificant and small we are. >> reporter: back in the midland terminal, we found plenty of interest in the idea. >> oh, i want to be like the

jettisons. i'm 48 years old. i'm ready to do something exciting. >> reporter: something exciting and something new in west texas. now the new frontier between earth and space. heidi zhou castro, al jazeera, midland, texas. and tonight a nasa satellite is orbiting mars. it take the spacecraft ten months to reach the red planet, but its work has just begun as jake ward reports. >> mars is a scary and desolate place, strips of life by the sun, which has slowly burnt away the conditioned needed for life on its surface. how desolate is mars? that's what we have sent the satellite to find out. what is so difficult about this particular mission is how close the spacecraft needs to come to the planet. it's like shooting an apple off

of somebody's head but from 7 million kill only terse away. a bullet would take over 700 days to get there, and it has to be in the perfect position when it arrives. that is quite a shot. the whole thing is going to be a very delicate and dangerous dance around the red planet. the entry point here is close, but the satellite is eventually going to get a lot closer to the surface. at the lowest orbit it is going to kip down to 177 miles above the planet. if you were standing on the surface you would see it go by with your own eyes. being that low, is really cool, though, because it lets maven take this big deep sniff of the gases and ions. and when it's at its furthest point of the planet it can take big images of the whole ball.

if it all goes well, we'll know exactly what happened to the surface of mars and hopefully what happened to the water that scientists believe once covered a huge portion of the planet's surface. this is a lonely ghostly mission to a lonely goesly place, and it will give us a sense of what it would be like to live on mars, and what the universe could do to our own planet some day. coming up reaction from the producer who was singled out, and one comedian's take on the role of black women in television. plus kidnapped from prison, an air of doctors and a midwife accused of stealing newborns. tonight's photo, frightened

refugee children who crossed the border into turkey today where thousands are fleeing isil this weekend. that's our news for this hour. "america tonight" isment doing up next. i'm john siegenthaler. i'll see you back here at 11:00 eastern, 8:00 pacific.

>> on "america tonight." on the run. fleeing the vicious i.s.i.l. fighters, tens of thousands in just days. >> we rescued them brought them here and now we're going back. i don't care if they behead us. >> with thousands of u.s. forces already on the ground facing the risks every day. >> the fact is as long as they are in environment, as long as they are taking risks of being