that god has given me >> deciding their own future... >> i'm petty burnt out... if i said that i was perfectly fine, i would be lying >> oscar winner alex gibney's edge of eighteen the powerful conclusion... only on al jazeera america this is al jazerra america live from new york city. the might fo cobane. there are growing concerns that the crucial borden town between syria and turkey will fall to isil. taking extra precautions. u.s. hospitals prepare for bola as the cdc says it will introduce new measures at u.s. airports. and the government spying on twitter users. now twitter is suing to make that information public.

♪ ♪ good afternoon. the islamic state iraq and the levants or isil is on the verge of a major victory in syria. turkey's president says isil fighters could soon capture the key town of kobane. as that video shows, there has been fierce fighting between isil fighters and kurdish forces defending the down and the u.s. and its coalition partners carried out more air strikes today. kobane is on the border with turkey and currently surrounded by syria and territory won by ice ill. turkey's military has yet to intervene. bernard smith has more from southern turkey.

>> reporter: from across the border it's clear the battle for kobane is more intense than it's ever been. fighters breach defense t defenh the town. since then kurdish fighters have been taking on isil street by street, building by building. the kurds are motivated and determined. isil is more a customed to swing through areas defended by soldiers with little appetite to fight. kobane is different. u.s. air strikes have hit isil positions, but the kurds say the strikes aren't enough on their own. they want turkey to provide more weapons. turkeys president visiting a refugees camp for syrians says he thinks kobane will fall to isil. erdogan says a ground operation is needed to defend the town, but turkey won't go it alone. >> translator: the problem of isil cannot be solved with air strikes alone. we had warned the west we wanted

three things, no fly zone, cure zone parallel to that. and the training of moderate syria rebels. >> reporter: there are some free syrian army groups fight ago long side the kurds this, video was posted on line by an fsa group. erdogan wants the kurds to join with the fsa to fight against syrian president bashar al-assad and isil. kurds frustrated with events in kobane protest ahead long the border again on tuesday. there have been similar protests where else in turkey. turkey's president believes assad's regime and syria is part of the problem. but the united states, with its focus isil, have shown little enthusiasm to join erdogan's campaign. for now it looks like all the syrian kurdish fighters in kobane can expect are some u.s. air strikes to help in their fight to keep isil from advance on the ground their town. bernard smith, al jazerra, turkey.

iraq and i kurdish forces recently drove isil out of one town in northern iraq but residents cannot return to their homes because of what fighters did before they fled. al jazerra's immaterial ron kahn has more from baghdad. >> reporter: battle damaged and brittle. this is the town just south of kirkuk city. until 10 days ago, it was in the hands of isil fighters. but a week ago the iraqi army and kurdish peshmerge forces swept n clashes lasted for days, but isil was defeated. leaving lightly-armed residents to protect the little that's left. so it's now a ghost town. uninhabitable due to isil's tactic of booby trapping buildings before fleeing. and that's posing a challenge. >> translator: the main problem that we are facing right now is at only the main roads and streets in the city are clear and safe. while almost all of the houses, schools and government directorates have been wired by

tnt and explosives, and could blow up any time. >> reporter: the iraqi army and the peshmerga had to leave to fight other battles with isil as they still pose a threat to other parts of the area. the situation is an indication of the challenges that iraq faces. it doesn't have the kind of troop numbers that leave behind once it defeats isil fighters and that's got residents worried, because those troops have left. they fear that isil fighters will simply return. >> translator: now we only have a handful of families remain to go defend it. we are hearing that there are huge congregations by isil in the village of bashier and we are afraid that they will reattack us. >> reporter: for now, residents try to secure things as best as possible. and wonder if anyone will come back to this town. and if they do, whether they'll be protected from any potential isil threat. imran kahn, al jazerra, baghdad. british police arrested four suspected terrorists during

raids across london today. police say the suspects are all men 20 to 21 years old, they were detained on suspicion of preparing orin any gating acts of terrorism. authorities say officers used a stun gun on one suspect and searched several homes and vehicles as part of the investigation. the fbi is it asking help to track down people that left the u.s. or may leave the u.s. to join isil. what can you tell us, lisa, about this out reach? >> michael, the fbi and administration very concerned about the so-called foreign fighters. american fighters that went to syria or iraq to join up with isil groups fighting there. there is a new effort by the fbi. as you said it was launched online they have a tip sheet they have put online. they want people to provide any tips about anyone they suspect may be wanting to go over to

syria or iraq to join the fight. or anyone who may already be over there and might want to come back perhaps to the united states with that u.s. passport, come back in to the country and cause some harm here. so they are reaching out to the public. now, they are reaching out to the public on something else as well. they want help identifying someone who was on an isil tape. this was a man who spoke english and arabic, switching between the two fluently, he was someone who was on a tape and talked about being there with prisoners who were digging their own grave. and then overseeing their execution. the fbi has put some of this video on their website in the hopes that someone might recognize something about this man, have a listen. >> we are here in the 17th division military base just outside the city, and we are here with the soldiers of ba chad. you can see them now digging their own graves in the very place they were stationed.

>> reporter: the fbi says any little bit of information about this person would helpful if you recognize anything about it, they want to know about it. on earlier tapes there was someone with a british accent there on the tapes with the american and british journalists later beheaded by the group and the brits are working furious to nail down his identity. now the fbi trying to figure out who this person might be and asking for the public's help. michael. >> lisa stark reporting from washington, thank you. new reports that the cdc may soon announce tighter ebola screens at airports and for passengers coming in via ship from countries infected with the virus, it comes as president obama dubs he bow dubs he bola p national security. to remember at done cass has received an experimental medication right no. heighheight joe castro is outsie

hospital in dallas where duncan continues to be treat trao*eted heidi what can you tell us about his condition as of late today. >> reporter: doctors say duncan is stable at this moment but breathing with the help of a ventilator. heshe's kidding kid any die dias but that has improved doctors caution it may vary in the come downs, he has received an venter drug, until it being used on duncan it was only tested in a test tube to show any promise fighting ebola. duncan's family, his mother, nephew and several other family members traveled here from north carolina to be with duncan yet. they were not allowed, of course, in to his hospital room. but did see him over closed circuit tv saying he did not look well. this morning they were joined by the civil rights leader reverends jesse jackson who came to dallas this morning at the behest of the family he says he arrived to offer comfort and to bring humanitarian support and

to dampen any fears there are in the community. michael. >> obviously the c did. cdc and text health officials are still monitoring those that came in to contact with mr. duncan. how is that investigation going? >> reporter: local investigators say they have full control of the situation and they say that their contract tracing has been successful. >> in dallas, there are 10 definite and 38 possible contacts, monitored. each and every one of them is having their temperature monitored, as of today, none of them are sick. none of them has a fever. we'll continue to watch that very closely in the coming days. >> reporter: now, as you heard earlier, the cdc said it's developing other protocols for screenings at u.s. ports of entry which it says it will be ready to announce in the think cog days, they also reminded us that screening conduct the by

the cdc has been ongoing in west africa since the ebola out break began more than 36,000 air passengers have been screened. of those 36,000, only 77 were flagged. and of them, we are told no one has been found to have bola. michael. >> and that has to be comfortable news for those in that area. heidi jo castro reporting live from dallas. the pentagon says u.s. troops setting up portable labs in africa to test for ebola will come in contact with the vie are yovirusbut are take extra precas as a result. there are three labs set up and plans four more. >> we have three labs deployed right now. probably will deploy several others. it will add -- one lab adds three to four additional people. again, those people are trains to the very highest level to operate in a nuclear, biological chemical arena and they are tested continually and they test all the people. they will be the primary ones coming in a contact with anybody. the pentagon says these are

highly-trained troops who will wear protective suits and be monitor the constantly. earlier i spoke with brigadier general peter cory deposit it the commander of u.s. africa and joined us on the phone from nigh roar yeah, i first asked him if any of the troops that were participating are actually treating ebola affected patients? >> there is no plan for u.s. medical personnel to treat any persons infected with ebola. the closest contact that we currently have is we have some very highly specialized medical personnel who are doing diagnostics, who are testing blood samples to determine whether or not the individual has ebola or not. to rule it out. we do not see our role growing to a point where u.s. medical personnel would be involved in the treatment of ebola-infected individuals. >> what precautions are being taken, either while they are there in liberia or before they left the states to insure that armed forces do not contract

this virus? >> well, force protection is critical to us and a high priority. we have put in place train to go persons coming in to the theater. training in education before they arrive to insure that they understand the dangers of ebola. and how to avoid it. wwe are providing information fr them when they arrive on the ground. we are insuring that they can conduct proper hygiene. we are not having any contact with persons -- we are limiting the amount of contact i should say, with the local host personnel obviously in the conduct of our normal day-to-day business we have to have some, you know, face-to-face contact, but there is no physical contact, no one here is shaking hands anymore. so monitoring folks before they leave the area to make thursday that they are not ill when they leave and we are putting in place the program where persons,

permanent defense persons that leave this operating area will have some level of monitoring for 21 days after they depart. >> will the army help enforce any quarantines or provide security? obviously there is a lot of fear in the area, oftentimes fear leads to panic. and are you concerned that's presence of any military personnel could increase tensions in those areas? >> there are no plans for the u.s. military to be involved in any form of quarantine of the population, i will tell you that this is a very permissive environment, people here are very grateful that the united states has stepped up to help. >> what difficulties, have you and members under your command experienced so far on the ground there? >> most importantly is the weather. we are in the west african rainy season. it is a tremendous amount of

rain every day. it literally changes the landscape upon which you have to operate. to instruct these ebola units, the ground is entirely saturated. >> reporter: we are having to after we grade or clear the ground we have to bring in a lot of gravel to get our structures above the saturated ground. so weather, weather, weather i guess would be the major limiting or major difficult that we are having. the other thing i would say is that the lack of available resources and services here in the country are presenting a challenge. >> so far, 350 military personnel and 130 other u.s. workers are on the ground in west africa. meanwhile, in spain a nurse and three others are now in quarantine. it's believed the nurse is the first person to contract ebola outside of west africa. she apparently caught it while treating a patient and the world health organization says this

will likely not be the last case of ebola in europe. paul brennan has more from madrid. >> reporter: well, it's open to interpretation as to whether the assessment of the world leg organization's european boss is overly bleak or perhaps grimly pragmatic, but the idea that further europeans catching it are a unavoidable are sending fear through madrid. what we are hearing from hospital staff, for example, who worked that isolation ward where the two christian missionaries were treated is that the level of protection among the suits that the nurses was given to wear is not level four as perhaps it would have been in other equipped hospitals, it was only level two. and some of the claims by the hospital authorities that they have done all that they can to contain the out break to protection their staff really some of the protesters that we have seen in central madrid, they do not agree with those assertions by the hospital

staff. that said, there has been one ray of good news from tuesday, and that is that the additional member of hospital staff that was hospitalized, one of the three extra suspected infected nurses, she has tested negative for ebola. and that means that it is highly likely that within the next few hours, maps the next day, that person will be released from hospital and will be able to go about their normal lives. but make no mistake, there is a very stringent monitoring operation taking place here. more than 20 direct contacts of the infected nurse have been reach. they are being observed very closely should they turn symptomatic and another 30 members of staff from the hospital behind me are also being observed closely. paul brennan reporting from madrid. prosecutors at the international criminal court say the kenyan government is not cooperating in its investigation against its president. the hague is look in to allegations that kenyatta paid gangs to butcher hundreds of people from rival political

groups after the 2007 election. kenyatta denies the charges. san csimon mcgregor wood has mo. >> reporter: tuesday's hearing, the status hearing concluded here at the i.c.c. was a largely technical procedure, but beneath the surface between the leg niceties and the diplomatic language there was a crackle of tension and animosity mainly between the prosecution and kenya's attorney general, the country's senior officer. it is the prosecution's assertion, and it has been for some months now, that the kenyan government has not done enough to cooperate with the court, to cooperate in particular with the prosecution. the prosecution wants a lot of stuff to help build evidence in its case against mr. kenyatta. it needs his telephone mobile phone records, it needs his. [ inaudible ] it needs his bank statements, and the prosecution says that the kenyan government is not doing enough to provide those records. far from it, according to the

attorney general, he was very robust in the defense of his actions and in the defense of the kenyan government. at times you could feel the animosity between the two parties in court. essentially the kenyan government's position is that it is doing everything it can considering the legal constraints upon it. now, tuesday, being, despite occasional dramas in the court that i have described, is really the warm-up contact. wednesday is the big day. that's the day that kenyatta, he claims in his capacity only as a private citizen, appears before this court. we understand dozens of kenyan m.p.s, his supporters are also attending that session. and we expect a very noisy reception for mr. kenyatta, when he arrives tomorrow to be questioned by the prosecution for the first time. the prosecution will admit it lacks evidence at the moment, and unless it gets the stuff that it needs to build a case, there is an outside possibility

that this week it may have to drop the case. we will find that out during what promises to be a very dramatic day in court on wednesday. >> simon mcgregor-wood reporting from the hague. meanwhile, in hong kong pro-democracy protesters agreed today to begin formal talks with the government on possible political reforms. this comes as the number of protesters filling the streets have declined dramatically. only hundreds stand where there were ones 10s of thousands of protesters. and they insist there is not a sign of defeat. talks begin on friday. twitter is suing the federal government for the right to tell users about government surveillance. like most internet giants, twitter gives the government information about its users, upon request. however, companies cannot reveal those requests to the public. in a lawsuit filed today against the fbi and the justice department, twitter says, it has a first amendment right to tell its users about the scope of the government surveillance. a mass grave may lead authorities to dozens of missing students. amid fears the prime suspects in

their disappearance may be police officers. and nasa's plan to sends people to mars may include putting them in to a deep sleep for 180 days. you are watching al jazerra america. ings you

the world. >> this is a pretty dangerous trip. >> security in beirut is tight. >> more reporters. >> they don't have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. >> more bureaus, more stories. >> this is where the typhoon came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. >> al jazeera, nairobi. >> on the turkey-syria border. >> venezuela. >> beijing. >> kabul. >> hong kong. >> ukraine. >> the artic. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. if could be the saddened for the search for 40 missing students, the discovery of a mass grave. so far 24 bodies have been removed from the grave and workers are work to go determine if any are the missing students, rachel, what is the latest news

on this discovery? >> reporter: well, we know that there are experts, forensic experts from argentina that are conducting their own independent investigation. they have told us that they probably won't have results for at least another two weeks. but many while, there is more information coming out about that mayor, that allegedly has links to organized crime. a local politician said that he had taken affidavits of people from the town that had accused the mayor of actually conducting killings himself about a year and a half ago. and they had -- and this politician had taken those affidavits to the federal government. and begged the attorney general to investigate that mayor and, according to the politician, that did not happen. now, we are going to wait to talk to the attorney general ourselves, in a few hours tox get his side of the story. but this case is now having very much political foul out here in

mexico. >> you mentioned the next can government. i winter what the reaction is from mexican officials? especially the president, has he said something about this discovery? >> reporter: he did speak publicly. he said the case needed to be investigated. the federal government has now dispatched their own police to that town to essentially take over security. but a lot of people are complaining that president enrique is really showing a lack of leadership here. it took him over a week to comment on this case. i was with the families when they had to pay their own money to travel all wait up to mexico city, again, to beg the federal government to intervene in this case. so this is really a crucial moment for the president and to show that he actually has leadership abilities. and. [ inaudible ] they agree that they are still waiting for him to show those signs because they are very frustrated with his

reaction sure fuss. >> we will hear back from you after the officials speak about this. now to business news. big losses on his wall street. investors wore i about the global economy. dow down 274, s & p fell 30 and nasdaq lost about 70 points. four senior executives at the veterans affairs department fired amid the scrappeddal overe treatment of military vests, ranging from neglect the duty to unethical behavior. they worked at different v.a. facilities across the country. veteran reported long wait lines for care officials are accused of falsifying records to cover up the delays. kurdish fighters out gunned for the battle of a keyboarder town. some say it will sewn fall to isil. we'll look at what advantage that will give the armed group. next on al jazerra america.

>> kentucky, a state that's hurting economically. >> when the mines shut down it affects other businesses too you know, it hurts everything. >> some say it's time for a change. >> mitch has been in there so long. >> while others want to stay the course. >> all the way mitch! you know exactly what these people needs in kentucky. >> communities trying to cope. what does the future hold? >> the economy, the struggling coal industry and healthcare are all impacting their vote. >> "america votes 2014 / fed up in kentucky". all this week. only on al jazeera america.

welcome back to al jazerra america, i am michael let's. the new united nations envoy to syria is calling for an urgent international response to isis assault on a key town in syria. turkey's presidents the group could soon overtake owe ban i, kurdish forces are trying to push back but they are out gunned by well-armed isil fighters. hundreds of thousands of people have fled kobane. joining me now from washington dc is a representative of the kurdish regional government in iraq. we appreciate your time today. we just mentioned that the during dish fighters in kobane are out manned and out gunned. can you give us an idea of just how bod their situation is in terms of fighting a heavily-armed isil group?

>> thanks, michael it's good to be back on the program. the situation is dire. isis has penetrated through some of the kurdish fighters ranks, they have now control of the eastern side of kobane, they have raised as you have seen in manpickeds and video airing they raised their black flags on top of the buildings. it's unfortunate it's come down this points. the international community has not necessarily stepped up its effort in preventing these massacres, 10s of thousands of people have fled their hometowns and now they have is sought refuge inside of turkey. then the international community to step up and intensify air strikes on the targets of isis militants and, two, provide some of the equipment. as you mentioned they are outgunned it's critical we pro sthaoeupld with the equipment they need to repel and stop this momentum of this onslaught. >> turkey's president says he

believes the town will soon fall to isil. what happens if that, indeed, is the case? >> that will be catastrophic. it will accomplish a couple of things for the isis militants, one, this will be quite a victory. two, it willam bowden them and to go after more towns and cities on the outskirts of kobane and other areas three, it will continue to create this humanitarian crisis, for its -- this is another sinjar unfolding in front of our eyes and so this is -- this -- all these reasons justs why the international community, as well as turkey, turkey is geographically strategic and they can stop this massacre on the town of kobane and other areas. >> you know fox, a lot of americans watching from home, and they see the military from turkey, mobilize right there on the border, basically watching what's going on, just a few miles away in kobane, yet they

have not intervened. turkey's president talking to some syrian refugees says that turkey will not go it alone. in terms of intervention in to this particular fight. give the american public an understanding of why turkey is so hesitant to get involved when it's right across their border? >> i would encourage you to ask that question of the u.s. -- of the turkish government and the turkish mil military but one thg is clear and everything has to be clear here. ice it's is a militant, isis is nobody's friend, it's a cancer. what goes around will come around. isis did not attack the peshmerga forces in northern iraq then after a while they turned it on them as well. turkey right now may be spared of the violence, but rest assured, isis is nobody's friends, isis doesn't care about any of these values, if isis cares about anything, if they

are truly talking on behalf of islam, the people that they are massacring in kobane today are for the most part muslim and for the most part sunni. so what justifies these causes and massacre beats me. so this is a clear indication for both the international community, including turkey and many other regional actors that isis is not going to stop at any point, and if anybody stands in their way, they will do exactly what they have done in sinjar and what they are doing in kobane, and it's going to be quite a victory for isis and they will be quite emboldened if kobane falls in to the hands of isis. >> there are political ramifications for turkey as it relates to the kurds, not, not t on the kurds in syria, but the kurds right there in turkey. i would assume that that is having a direct affect on turkey's inaction in that particular situation, am i correct? >> well, absolutely. turkey has to realize that this is a common enemy.

this enemy has brought the united states and iran to common sense that this is a common enemy. this is a threat to everyone's national security. and it truly and, really is a threat to the turkish national interests. look, turkey has hesitant in getting involved in the kurdistan regional governments or the krg helping herringer tata time we had they had the people captured by ice ice. today i am not sure what is stopping them. it's critical that turkey join the international community either providing humanitarian in addition to air strikes, we have seen the turkish tanks on the borderline overlooking the unfolding in front of their eyes and everybody's eye on his these tv screens it will not be goods for anybody really if ice ice takes over the town.

they are not going to stop at kobane, they will go after more towns, it will continues to cause this humanitarian crisis more people will be displays playss than already are, 6 million people insides syria have been displaced. we don't need anymore people to be displaced and leaving the country. >> back to the u.s. involvement in this particular fight. al jazerra has been reporting that a lot of these air strikes quite frankly have been ineffective because there is not in the coordination with anyone on the ground to increase the potency and effectiveness of these air strikes. from what you know, has there been any attempts to better coordinate between the kurdish fighters in kobane and the u.s. air strikes from the coalition? time we had they had the peopl >> syria in general is more difficult. in iraq you have the kurdish

forces, peshmerga and special forces who advises the american advicers on the ground that are able to pinpoint the targets on for the air strikes. in syria it's more difficult you don't have intelligence sharing no, special forces or american advisers to tin point the targets, but what has to target is the international community, the u.s. and the coalition has too work closely with the kurdish fighters fighting not just for the safety of their homeland, they are fighting on behalf of the free world. what has to happen is we have to be providing them with military equipment so that they can stop this momentum and, two, continue this intelligence sharing or open a way to do some intelligence sharing with the fighters on the ground. >> krg representative joining us from washington, d.c., thanks so much for the inside today. >> good to be with you, michael.

in today's power politics, exactly four weeks until the midterm elections and republican groups are now pulling their resources out of the senate battle that democrats were count on the ground. david shuster has more, david. >> michael, this is the time when both parties are make tough decisions about the money that they have for the home stretch and where it will go the part he felt. throughout the summer republican groups spent millions to try to boost the michigan senate campaign of terry lindland, and there she is with mitt romney but she is having trouble catching gary peters. so the national campaign senate pack has pulled out the television spending it had reserveed in michigan believing that even the gop believes the michigan senate seat will go to the democratic peters. the republican moan i for michigan will go to other senate races like colorado. republican candidate cory gardner is within striking distance there of incumbents democratic colorado center mark udall and republican groups are now trying to peel off udall's latino support with a spanish language ahead featuring former

governor jeb bush. [speaking foreign language] >> he said it's vital elect a lead are by corey gardner. interesting on many levels that jeb bush is cutting that add. demonstrators are driving voters who are a particular concern of woke. jean shaheen is focused on reproductive rights using it to hammer republican senator candidate scott brown. >> scott ground pushed for a law to force women consider abortion, force them to look at color photographs of developing fetuses, scott brown wants the government to tell women how to make this decision. >> democrats are also trying to grab the attention of women voters in north carolina, where incumbent democratic senator kay hagen is trying to fiend off a challenge from the man on the left, republican state house speaker tom tilis, here is the spot from planned parents hood. >> tom tilis wants to outlaw legal abortions he will cut

north carolinians off from preventive services, tom tilis says the state has the right to ban birth control. >> now to the 2014 house races. democrats are howling over republican house speaker john boehner. this summer boehner brought a lawsuit against president obama over his executive authority and action and yet here is an except from boehner's latest campaign video. >> we have onto reform our legal system. we let anybody in america sue anybody any day for any damn reason they want. and we all pay for it. >> oops. this is the time. year when the most famous names in politics make appearances in ads and various campaigns, first lady michelle obama got her first television ad for that man there illinois democratic incumbents governor pat quinn. >> he's work to go recipients create jobs at home instead of shipping jobs overseas. and he'll never cut funding for military families on veterans to give a tax break to the wealthy. so for this election, barack and

i are casting our votes for our friend pat quinn. >> and in arkansas, former president bill clinton just made an appearance in his home state for incumbent democratic senator mark prior who is also something of a social media aficionado. >> can i get a selfie? [ laughter ] >> right. let's do it. let's do it! >> hold on. >> let's do it. we are going do it. [cheering and applause] >> right there. hey, there we go, we got it. thank you. thank you. >> by the way, if you care, here is what the photo looked like for all of you tracking pryor's selfie skills. finally former first lady and secretary of state hillary clinton has just announced a heavy schedule the next few weeks through several senate battle ground states, one of the most interesting efforts will can come in louisiana where larry lan drew is face something tough political head winds in trying to keep that seat in democratic hands. if hillary clinton is able to

help lan drew pull off lew, it woullou itwould be a heck of sty statement for don ors looking to 2016, michael they are not sure about hillary clinton's appeal. >> everything is a bit of a test for hillary clinton. david shoe sticks thanks a lot. the united mine workers rallied outside of the epa over emission rules for colborneing power plants. minors union says 65,000 people could lose their jobs if the plan goes through. libby casey visit towed harlan county, kentucky to see how closely they are already feeling the effects. >> reporter: in eastern kentucky, generation after generation of coal miners have done the hard, sturdy, dangerous work of extracting what they call black gold. >> every young boy wants to be like his dad, i seen my dad come home from the minds every day and just fell right in to it myself. >> reporter: pride, like coal, runs deep here.

clyde better bennett, iii, jonas cb owns four goal mines in harlan count. >> i we have the best miners in the world, we don't look at mountains as obstacles just line mining we go under it, around it, under it, through it. >> reporter: cb's family has been in coal for over a century. when you look around here will your business be here in five years, 10 years. >> it will be lucky if it's still here in five years. >> reporter: most local mines have shutdown been idled or gone bankrupt in the past decade. c.b., like most around here, blames president obama and the administration environmental regulation, they call a war on coal. >> it seems like everybody wants to get on the bandwagon on the environmental issues, your clean water act, clean air act. people the production is down, income is is down, we are down about 70% there where we were before obama came in.

means we have had basically a 70% reseduction in the workforce. >> reporter: how hard is it to get jobs in this industry? >> very hard. especially in this county right now. >> reporter: why? >> just the impact that i guess the war on coal has had on this part of county. >> reporter: a free fall three years ago cost 7,000 coal jobs in eastern kentucky. now there are fewer than 12,000 miners throughout the whole state. >> i have worked at five different mines, you know, that shutdown and laid off, and stuff like that. >> reporter: coal generates 93% of kentucky's electricity and more than of a third of the electricity across the country but the obama administration say those coal-filed planned are the nation's worst carbon polluters. in june it proposed rules to cut power plant he minutes nearly a third by 23rd. and utilities -- 23rd, utilitie. >> reporter: you are in coal country and you are moving from

coal? >> yes, we are. >> reporter: agreeing is the president of kentucky power the largest provider of elect advertise tri telectricity.it'st and con vert another for natural gas to save money. he says bottom line he has to keep rates reasonable for customers. for me to continue to do that with coal was going to be greatly more expensive than it would be for gas. >> reporter: it's not just regulation, eastern kentucky's coal is the most expensive in the country. seventy dollars a ton, compared to $10 a ton in wyoming. the fact is, coal here was in trouble long before president obama took office. declining 63% since the year 2000. these are hard realities to accept. >> it's very painful, it hurts. >> reporter: there is so much pain in coal country. yet eastern kentucky, ever proud and increasingly defiant, still celebrates colas a way of life. libby casey, al jazerra, there n

county, kentucky. >> coal is still king when if comes do generating elect theres at this here in united states. but it's reign is coming to an end, dethroned by natural gas. take a look at that trend by the numbers. back in 2000, coal generated 52% of the nation's power, natural gas only responsible for 16 percent with other sources making up the%. fast forward to 2012 and coal was down to just 37%, while natural gas rose to 30%, by 2040, natural gas is expected to overtake coal in a electricity generation. with these issues key in the elections we are delving in to them with american votes 2014, our coverage begins tonight at 8:30 and 11:30 eastern here on al jazerra. let's look at other stories making news around america. marina joins us with those story. >> another clue in the manhunt for a suspected penn cop killer. police say they found a note written by eric fin in the woods

where they think he is hiding earlier they found supplies, and pipe guns he has been on the run since allegedly killing one officer and wounding another last month. new jeez about whether 9/11 could have been avoided some of the highjackers were spotted at the airport months before the attack. several american airlines employees say they saw ring leader mohammed and other men casing out security checkpoints at logan airport in boston in may of 2001. they say they reported it but their bosses ignored them. wal-mart plans to eliminate health insurance coverage for some 30,000 part-time employees. the retail giant says employees working fewer than 30 hours a week will no longer qualify for health benefits. wal-mart employ ploys about 1 million full and part-time workers. uplifting story out of salt lake city where the nba's utah jazz let a five-year-old boy with leukemia play in a scrimmage. the jazz signed j.p. gibson to a

one-day contract and got him in to last night's wor workout. j.p. showed some impressive ball handling skills, even scoring a basket with a little help. >> he goes by him, he's there, he slides by him. he rises to the rim and hammers! j.p. gibson with a two-hands flush. >> and j.p.'s mom says the boy loved all sports, but basketball is really his favorite one. >> that is so awesome. even more so how the announcer actually did it as if it was being called a real game. awesome moment for that young man, his family and the utah jazz. >> certainly. >> thanks. >> yes. coming up on al jazerra america, plan to send people for mars may include 180 days of deep sleep. >> choosing a path... >> if i'm not sharing the gospel, then i feel empty inside

because that's the gift that god has given me >> deciding their own future... >> i'm petty burnt out... if i said that i was perfectly fine, i would be lying >> oscar winner alex gibney's edge of eighteen the powerful conclusion... only on al jazeera america

a few weeks ago nasa's maven space craft reached mars to study the atmosphere there. now nasa is looking at option to his put astronauts on mars. and they think they may have found a way. by putting crews in to a deep sleep for months. al jazerra's jacob now, let's talk about the trip. why not stay awake for the trip? whwhy is sleep so necessary? >> it's just a question of how incredibly far away mars is, michael. it will take over 180 days to get there. that's really at the low end. and already nasa and other space agencies around the world have done experiments to see whether people can everybody get along when they are cooped found that amount of tile. the idea of 400-day round trip would be enough to strain almost any collegial atmosphere. plus you have to bring food and all kind of other things with you to keep the crew from starve to go death and going crazy and all the other things that you have to worry about when you are talking about the care and feeding of humans. so this idea here is that you would somehow knockout all of that by putting crews in to

what's called therapeutic hype term i can't. reducing their body temperature and bringing them down. >> that gives the idea to the average person at home just how far mars is. we think about going to the moon but mars is definitely long trip for anyone trying to go there for any type of scientific experiments. you mentioned therapeutic hypothermia how likely is it to put somebody lou that sort of hibernation for a long period of time. >> the amaze thing here is that actually has in real phone shall i had the opportunity interview the doctor who saved gabby give orders, he runs trauma at the university of arizona hospital and has devised a new system in which he can put people in to a therapeutic hypothermic state bringing them down from 98.6 and keep them there neither alive or dead for two hours before bringing them back. i asked him about the phone shall immaterial play kissings of this for the future and here is what he said.

>> my brain has wondered about going to mars and taking people with cancer and suspending them until we get their cancer cures going on. i have thought about cyanide, hydrogen suggest described all of these things that can put you in a state of hibernation and so on like that. this ability for us to turn the machinery of life off for a period of time. all of those comes in to my minds and i have thought of every one of them and every one of them and every one of them is feasible. it's just a matter of time and money according to him. it could be a way to put people under for one, three, six months at a sometime. >> with all that being said, technology advancing time and the money hopefully will be there. do you think, jake, we'll see a person lands on mars in our hive time? >> for me it's a very sort of fill sol calf question.

should you risk the lives of human beings to sends them out there? president obama thinks so. he said in 2010 that he believes that people should be able to orbit mars by 203030. several astronauts have personally volunteered buzz aldrin did. to go on a one-way mission he says he's willing to die on the way. for me, i think robots can do a lot of this stuff, why do we have to go. but nasa is interested in that. >> thanks. two astronauts spent six hours walking in space today the first space walks in more than a ear year the. the american and german astronauts performing work. they suspended them after an italian astronaut nearly drowned last year because of a flood helmet. vladimir putin's birthday is today and all across his country celebrations are happening. and a lot of them are, strange? we'll take a look neck.

a new social media challenge hopes to ride the coat tails of the ice bucket challenge, aimed at helping syrian refugees children. >> michael, it's a fun challenge, but for an important cause. syria's estimated 6.5 million children who need humanitarian aid. and u.k. celebrities are helping the wake-up call challenge go viral. they taking shelfies of themselves right after waking up in the morning. and with each picture, they are asking people to donate to the uncief funds that helps syrian refugee children. they are also nominating other celebrity is and friends and if you are interested in wondering what some of these people look like in the morning up close, comedian stephen frye writes, i warn you, look away. and this is tom huddlestone from the avengers, some people post their true morning selfs like amanda palmer who writes without eyebrows lots of sits and model

naomi campbell who makes mornings look effortless and hugh grant posted this picture saying this is what he looks like in the morning, but not really. all of these pictures linked to uncief's website. if mount info follow me on twitter you'll find all the information right there.g struge

with the usa. >> putin's birthday comes as tensions rise between him and western countries over ukraine, at home independent polls show his approval rating sores above 80%. >> vladimir putin is a very food president, we are people are very happy with him. >> his most loyal supporters can

celebrate with a new mother land clothing line, featuring, yes, the president. on horseback, in shades, hugging a tiger. >> translator: if you want it everyone can put if on and see what and happening in our country. in general, it's cool, why not. >> amnesty international is campaign to go show so solidariy with russians calling for press freedom, game rights and freedom of speech. the group's supporters are also carrying mannequins frosting moscow's ban on unapproved demonstrations by more than one person, they are calling on people not to be dummies. putin spent his day far from all of this. a kremlin spokesman said he is taking his birthday off for the first time in 15 years. michael -- >> good for him. >> good for him. he's vacationing somewhere in

sigh beer ya. siberia. i haven't been there but i don't know -- >> i haven't either but i am sure it's lovely this time of year. i am michael eaves thanks for watching this edition of al jazerra america, i will be back at 6:00 eastern, "inside story" is next. >> the kurdish fighters inside the city, and the president of turkey next door, are both glumly conceding that isil will soon take kobane. why is turkey letting that happen? it's inside story. >> hello, i'm ray suarez. the he's almc