>> hello everybody, this is al jazeera america. i'm david schuster in new york. coming up. >> find him and get him home. >> family me. the system of an american missing in syria for two years are putting pressure on the obama administration. they're hoping it will bring their son home. bully pulpit, he has praised i.s.i.l. and the islamic state and says he has no regrets.

will accept iranian students into science and engineering classes. umass explains. >> climbing niagra. the falls are frozen and are conquered in reverse. you will meet the pioneer. we begin tonight with a remarkable story out of texas where the family of an manner who disappeared in the middle east is making a dramatic plea. austin tice is one of two americans believed to be missing in syria. his family is imploring president obama to help their son.

roxana saberi last the story. >> they believe the american and syrian governments can help but they need to work together. >> waking up and realizing it's not a nightmare. it's the first the hardest part of every day. >> reporter: debra and mark tice last spoke to their son austin. two and a half years ago. he was reporting on the war in syria when suddenly he disappeared. >> how prepared were you that austin wouldn't come back? >> to reason to prepare for that. we are preparing for him to come home. >> austin grew up in houston the oldest of seven children. his parents say he learned survival skills as an eagle scout. after leaving the service he

went to georgetown law school but he took a break in 2012 to tell stories that most media were ignoring. fighting reports about both the government and the freerms he met. free syrian army he met. then on august 11th, 2012, his birthday, austin posted what turned out to be his last tweet. spent the day at an free syrian army party they even brought my whiskey. hands down, best birthday ever. and soon after this picture of him is posted with a blindfold. this is the last picture of austin that his parents have

seen. >> what makes you believe he is alive? >> we get credible sources we can nfer never trace back to their origin that austin is live, safe. >> no reason to lie to us as far as we can tell. >> can they give you proof of that? >> no. >> we haven't seen any. >> we haven't seen any. >> in 2013 the state department said they believe the syrian army was holding austin. >> we've had direct communication from the syrian government saying he is not in any of their official detention fasts. >> do you believe that? >> i have no reason not to believe them. >> reporter: frustrated, the tices are launching the free austin tice campaign. they offer to post pictures of

themselves blindfolded. >> what does this mean? >> when journalists are captured we are all blindfolded. we want him to engage diplomatically in dialogue with the syrian government because our government has said they will do all they can to find austin and bring him safely home. the syrian government has told us the same thing. so what do we need? we need the line of communication between the two of them. >> reporter: the obama administration says it is doing what it can. >> without going into details we certainly have means of raising concerns about his case and we have done that in the past. >> reporter: why should the u.s. deposit be responsible for somebody who knowingly puts themselves at risk? >> it is an established function of government to protect its citizens. regardless of circumstances.

>> as the tices wait for word of their son they hear of others, all held by i.s.i.l. >> think about the kids, you know the suffering that they endured for such a long time. and then to have such a tragic end. >> yes i mean, yeah. i feel a little bit helpless. >> reporter: theices say they don't believe i.s.i.l. has their son. if they did they would have made threats so far. >> if you could say something to the group holding austin, what would you say to them? >> please take care of him. >> don't give up. we know how strong you are.

you should never forget how strong you are and we'll see you soon we hope. >> in reviewing u.s. hostage policy the obama administration announced last year that they have done just that. >> does the obama administration have any suggestions for the tices? >> to free the hostages overseas this isn't happening right now just spread across many agencies. >> what with about the other american? >> kevin patrick dawes. went missing in september 2012. joins us from fort lauderdale florida what do you think of the tices doing what they can?

>> is there down side? >> no, i don't think there's a down side. the likelihood that l it will it will have any impact is not very high. >> why do you think it will not have any impact? >> first they say austin is a hostage. he is more a prisoner of war. a hostage is taken by a person or a group to extract concessions. in the last two and a half years there haven't been any demands. we don't really know who has austin. the only good thing about this is hopefully he is at least psychologically bonding with this group and that's the thing that would keep him alive. >> do you agree with the assessment of the tices, who is not holding austin, i.s.i.l simply given the quality of the video that we did see? >> i.s.i.l. was not strong enough or active enough two and a half years ago to do something like this and their pattern

appears to be to want us to know who they're holding as prisoner of war and publicize that. that's certainly not what they've been doing. >> is there any danger in the obama administration of people who are representing the representing the journalists, to start negotiations with intermediaries? >> typically there will be back channel negotiations. there will be things that the government can do but other things that cut out intermediaries that will get the job done. >> and some of those things by making it clear to the intermediaries that there will be some negotiation presumably that will be passed around to the criminal gangs or whoever does have austin tice? >> the issue is we do not negotiate on the other hand, the

government doesn't say any other entity can't do that and often encourages other entities to do that. >> austin's background, a marine went to law school, at georgetown be certainly an adventuresome spirit. could he have the traits to survive this type of ordeal for the last two years? >> being a marine he knew you 0 to keep his compose your. he's obviously a smart guy and will use that to form a bond called the stockholm syndrome, to help the captors see him more as a human being. the more he does that, the more he will be able to survive. >> harley stock we appreciate you being with us. >> my pleasure. in the fourth year, recent battles near the city of aleppo

have killed nearly 100 people. in an effort to stem the flow of supplies to the rebels, the assad government is willing to stop aerial bombard manyment of aleppo if the rebels are willing to stop their bombardment. >> ukraine's president petro poroshenko debaltseve provides a key link between the rebel strongholds of donetsk and luhansk. >> relentless bombardment and ground assault. all this happened four days after a ceasefire supposedly began.

the ukrainian wunted wound he were taken to arteminsk. >> there are no words to describe it. along the entire way we were blanketed with shots. they fired at us with machine guns and grenade launches. >> the bombardment which broke ukrainian resistance was broken by convoys like this one. no shortage of tanks and armor. many fighters feel the ukrainians should be forced to withdraw from the entire donetsk region. >> my thought is to push the enemy back to the donetsk and luhansk region as they are drawn on the map. after that we will see. >> there was a thinly veiled threat at any ukrainian stragglers. >> the near future what happened

in ilivisk will happen here. time will tell. >> the loss of the town of debaltseve for the ukrainians is a bitter blow. they lost most capital human and military to defend it. bun it's a cleaning up operation for the pro-russian forces. the ukrainians it appears have withdrawn. the separatists are adamant that debaltseve was encircumstanced encircled well before the minsk peace agreement. but with debaltseve lost to the ukrainians, the fate of one of the last main disputed towns has now been settled. and that gives some small hope that the two sides can now begin to disengage across the whole length of the front line. paul brennan, al jazeera near

debaltseve. in argentina tonight thousands of people have taken to the streets in buenos aires. they are demanding answers regarding the death of a prosecutor. alberto nisman many suspect was murdered. trying to determine if chris nah cristina president was implicated in the bombing of a jewish center in 1994. frchghts. erica pitzi is here with more. erica. >> part of a criminal

investigation that the new york attorney general began last year to find out if many denls related to the storm -- denials were falsified. >> 650 homes when it hit the coast of new jersey. homeowners were still fighting with their insurance companies over claims. in 2013 we met with dina sass. >> this is basic where the foundation cracked all the way down through footings, from the flooding and the force of the water on the house which also buckled the inside of the house and the floors. >> reporter: many homeowners across new jersey and new york suffered this kind of damage to

their foundations and had the same fight with their insurance companies. some had their claims denied outright, others grossly underpaid, in new york, debra ramey and her husband happened to snap a picture of their home, under prepares recommended the insurance inspector said the building should be rebuilt in its entirety. but when ramey read her report, it showed that the building was not hydrodynamically damaged. all of their reports conducted by every building damaged by sandy.

now the crux of a a class action lawsuit,. >> the civil case was filed under recognize it racketeering laws. the company in question in this case invoked his fifth amendment right to testify to anything that would incriminate himself. the deputy administrator said he is here to settle any and all claims involving fema and sandy. >> fema matters because it is in charge of the national flood insurance program right? >> right. even though private companies issue flood damage, the buck stops with fema. this could be good news for 1500 or so sandy victims who have got

litigation pending. but then the question remains what about the countless others who didn't know enough to get an attorney onor felt like it wasn't worth pushing because after a year they were fighting already but somehow gave up. we'll keep investigating. >> erica pitzi, thank you. one top university ban iranian students from taking certain graduate courses and then changed its mind. we'll explain. plus a call for a 9/11 style attack in europe. you'll hear from a hate creature whose rhetoric is making a lot of people nervous. nervous.

>> after outrage and much criticism, the university of massachusetts has decided to allow iranian students to take engineering classes.

it was just a few weeks ago that the university of massachusetts add amherst said, its school would be off limits to iranian graduate students. on wednesday on the school website, administrators announced a change of heart. "secluding students from admission conflicts with our institutional values and principles." in recent days a growing student campaign had ridiculed the university's principles with activists protesting the concludes processseclusion process calling the -- exclusion process, the system absurd. the university said it was only following federal rules citing a 2012 law that restricts

iranians from energy sectors the law was the iranian nuclear ram. "there are significant panels both civil and criminal that could potentially impact faculty and students for violation of this act and the related regulations and restrictions. but student activists were aghast. >> i've really got a hard time understanding why this policy was entirely unnecessary to be put in place. from the beginning. >> and indeed, after consulting with the state department, the university lifted its ban. the university said it will develop a more focused approach, making sure their work complies with federal law. >> if the law was not going to get reversed, i would probably stop donating money to them. here they want to come here to

learn and most of the time they want to stay here and contribute to u.s. economy and build their lives here. >> jamal abde joins us from. jamal first of all what is your reaction to the developments at umass? >> i think this is actually good news that they have reversed this policy and will no longer ban iranian students, we welcome the news. >> was it reverse of policy how umass decided to reverse its policy on their own that they need to take some steps? >> yes i think it's pretty clear this was a mistake. sanctions they impose burdens on everyone who fall under them but they are no excuse for discrimination. that's what we see. the solution is not necessarily

perfect but until sanctions are lifted there are going to be burdens on universities, on students, on a whole host of people that were not intended to be punished by these somehow draconian measures. >> hundreds of graduate students from iran the great fear they may have if any one of them five years from now ten years from now turns out to be a top iranian scientist who helps that country get an atomic weapon you can imagine the shame the university would have. >> i can imagine the umass amherst being put through the ringer, that brought a lot of shame. frankly, these students were all who came here with aspirations to pursue their dreams and many of them have positive views of the united states. i think that would be probably far fetched. i would note that most of the

current iranian administration, they have more university graduates from the united states than any other administration and even more ph.d.s in the u.s. than the obama administration. i think this is an opportunity for shared communications between the administrations. >> just to keep that one iranian student who may be seeking knowledge from the united states in order to do something nefarious with iran's nuclear program, what should the united states do to keep that from happening? >> universities have to abide by the rules that are in place. and the rules as they stand put the onus on the state department to screen out these applicants who may be preparing for studying here and going back and contributing to iran's nuclear program. so for the time being universities do have to toe a fine line, where they are not taking the onus and policing the laws on their own.

but they are taking a nuanced approach that they are abiding by what they are told. umass went far beyond that. the state department, working with the authorities and to craft a policy that they are not discriminating, and hopefully we get a nuclear deal that begins to unwind these sanctions so we don't have to continue to put up with these difficulties and see universities burdened by these tough laws that they have to adhere for. jamal, thanks for joining us we appreciate it. still ahead the conference to stop what the white house calls violence extremism. we will show you what the president said. plus we'll look at recent antimuslim situations in the u.s. the white house fears could make matters worse. matters worse.

>> hello everybody, this is al jazeera america. i'm david schuster in new york.

coming up this half hour. call to violence, our interview with the london based muslim cleric calling to violence, doesn't regret a single word. some american muslims say it could spark hate crimes. heartbreaking and brutally honest focuses on a child's rare and potentially deadly disorder. we'll talk to the director who filmed his own family. plus. frozen. you will hear from the first man to climb up niagra falls. in washington today, president obama issued a challenge of sorts to muslim leaders in the united states and around the world. it is their shared responsibility to fight i.s.i.l

mr. obama made the speech on a second day of a white house summit to combat what the white house says to combat violent extremism. mike viqueria is at the white house with more. mike. >> at the grass roots or community level. at a speech to the group president obama discussed fight fighting islamism worldwide. president obama came out forcefully against their leaders. >> they are not religious leaders, they're terrorists. [applause] >> and we are not at war with islam. [applause] >> we are at war with people who have perverted islam. >> reporter: in the days leading up to the meetings the president has been walking a fine line between the critics and the desire not to unfairly

single out muslims both in the u.s. and abroad. he spent much of thursday's speech praising and defending muslims and their faith. >> no religion is responsible for terrorism. people are responsible for violence and terrorism. >> before the president spoke republican jeb bush gearing up for his own presidential run picked up the conservative line of attack. >> i think it's a mistake to think that i.s.i.s. is not what it is. it is violent extreme islamic terrorism. and the more we try to ignore that reality the less likely it is that we're going to develop the appropriate strategy to garner the support in the muslim world to do what i say which is tighten the noose and then take them out. >> reporter: but the point the president says is more than the bieltbattle of i.s.i.l. and al qaeda.

>> the ideology, the infrastructure of the funders who radicalize or recruit or insight people to violence. >> the three day summit is meant to stop extremism where it starts in local communities around the country and around the globe. the approach aims to build awareness of factors leading to radicalization counterextremist narrative with an ims on social emphasis on social media. the president kept coming back to one theme i plays into the hands of the enemy. >> we need to do what extremists

and terrorists hope we will not do, stay true to what we believe is free and diverse societies. if extremists are pedaling the notion that western countries are hostile to muslims then we need to though that we welcome people of all faiths. >> reporter: david as you pointed out this was the second of a three day conference. mr. obama speaks tomorrow to a different group these of international leaders of countries at the ministerial level. since now we have been talking about what's happening in the united states. mr. obama will address world terrorism tomorrow. david. thank you mike. isnoror ra rachman spoke with

our dana lewis in london. >> you stood outside the danish embassy and said we should have a 9/11 in europe and you named different cities and different countries in europe. we shoulder have other 9/11s in europe and you're saying that's not a call to violence? >> i called upon god to punish those oppressive occupiers and invaders from europe the way that noah called upon god to flood the world punish the disbelievers. >> 9/11 was flying airplanes into being office buildings and kill all those inside. like noah's noah's call to god? >> i had a longer speech, it wasn't a three minute speech, it was much longer. i said we are having 9/11s every

single day in iraq and afghanistan. how many buildings were broken in muslim countries? how many highways were being destroyed by drones in kobani today? by coalition forces by jordanian pilots 9/11, yes in this context give them back to what they are giving to us. allah, punish them the way they are punishing us. quite frankly i don't regret a single moment of that protest. >> it seems to me you are always speaking in defense of these groups that are considered by many to be quite extreme whether it's the islamic state or boko haram, you don't seem to be preaching in defense of innocent people caught in the cross fire of iraq for instance who are being killed by the islamic state, you don't pick up that torch. you always seem to associate

yourself with the groups that are considered extreme by western states. >> that's unfair. the vast majority of people that have been killed, civilians men women and children are by the american government by their drone strikes by the british government by the israeli government and their coalition forces. they have killed more people than any other organization or group or government in the world. >> they believe you are calling however careful you are in your language ballet, you are worried about being prosecuted, calling people to violence in europe. that's what they're saying. >> that's ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. is what you are saying to me everything that i say is within the law but still terrorism what kind of legal system is that that if you obey the law you are still breaking the law? if you abide by the law you still should be harmed prosecuted harassed, you should be looked upon, and belittled.

that's what the police and mps should be happy about that i don't break the law. they would rather break the law so they could put me in prison. there is nothing like free and open debate in this country at all. the openly with the jews and the christians and allah encouraged us to debate with the christians and the jews in the best manner. that's something happened under islam. in the west, you have a one sided debate. either you have it our way or we arrest you and prosecute. that's a dangerous ideology we are living undertoday. >> glen curtain is the legal he joins us from washington. glen first of all what did you make of that interview? >> i mean, it looked -- it looked interesting. that's the first i've seen that

cleric speak. >> is this the sort of rhetoric, the sort of incitement, if you will we need to find some way to counter? >> i don't have really an opinion on whether the white house needs to counter that rhetoric of that cleric. my concern in my position is to protect the civil liberties of american muslims and the broader protections of the free exercise of religion. >> so here is the question then. how do you have that balancing act, where is the balance between protecting the civil liberties of innocent americans muslims in the united states but also at the same time trying to figure out a way for the administration to protect against the kind of incitement that rakman rachman might be createing

outside the u.s? >> if you want to try to stop school shootings or gurd gurdwara shootings or if this cleric is trying to incite violence in the united states, all people want to stop those heinous sorts of acts. i think what you don't do in response to that is conduct surveillance of all muslims. what you don't do in response to that is go to almost exclusively muslim communities and talk about countering violent extremism. >> but did you hear the white house talk about doing that in their summit today or talk about doing surveillance of all muslims? >> i know that that's what they do. i mean the fbi will say as much. certainly the nypd was doing that. so that has been a law

enforcement practice that is pretty well documented. it was -- i was really surprised, in some of president obama's remarks towards the end, he did say that conducting surveillance on people based on faith is not going to get us anywhere. that's the first time i've heard the administration make a blanket statement like that and i was really pleased to hear that. >> glen clayton thanks for joining us we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> muslims around the world have been watching with some trepidation, what the white house calls a summit on extremism, because while the white house clearly doesn't intend to offend an entire religion some american muslim groups fear the summit could cause more harm than good. in the suburbs of detroit, bisi onile-ere is there and filed this report. >> to have to go through something like that in front of your family, that must have been

difficult. >> it was. and, you know, because -- i'm sorry -- i think about my kids and i think about their future. >> reporter: after a vacation in florida darlene hider her husband and four small children boarded a delta airlines flight headed home to dearborn, michigan. shortly before takeoff a female passenger turned to her and said, this is america. >> i thought that the comment this is america was targeted towards my hijab. because i couldn't think of any other reason someone would tell me, this is america. >> hider an aish american said the situation escalated from there. a cell phone video captures the confrontation.

hider has since filed a complaint with the airline claiming discrimination. >> towards the end of the altercation, i'm sorry my son who's seven told me, like, he's like mom you should give her the mlk speech. i'm like what are you talking about. like he has a dream i have a dream. >> hider's shared through around the country. three north carolina students were killed, all shot in the head. a few days later in rhode island an islamic school was disfigured with antiislamic graffiti. in terms of the heightened level of bigotry directed against their community we stand today far worse off than we really did even on september 12th 2001. >> it's getting worse? >> it certainly is getting

worse. >> the michigan director of the american-arab antidiscrimination community. complaints pour in by the day. >> we are urging to be vigilant, we are asking law enforcement and anybody else that we can work with to help institute mechanisms. >> as this as the white house holds its conference on antiextremism. some american muslim leaders feel that muslims are being singled out. >> we feel that this type of framework isn't actually helping americans be safer. and particularly, american muslims. >> dawood walid is concerned that the conference could insight hate. >> there have been a number of attacks here on american soil. do you think this could add fuel to the fire? >> i strongly believe that any

framework that is bolstering the current perception that american muslims are somehow a threat to the american way of life is putting american muslims in potential risk or potential harm. >> am i more aware? yes. but i refuse to fear going out to where i need to go. >> delta airlines is investigating hider's accusations. she says she's not looking for money but wants the company to make changes to ensure that would happen to her and her family doesn't happen to anyone else. bisi onile-ere, al jazeera detroit. >> political history was made in oregon today. kate brown was sworn in as that state's governor. she takes over from john kitzhaber. she says restoring public trust she will also enact reforms.

she also identifies herself as bisexual making her the only bisexual in u.s. history. (f) nicole mitchell joins us with the weather. >> almost eastern third eastern half of the country that's under this arctic blast. after last front came through we already had cold air in place. this is funneling more of the cold air. more wind chills overnight. 20 to 40° below average. we could have record setting low temperatures tall way south as key west. alabama, georgia, with the wind in place the wind chills, so many advisoryies up. more of the cold air shifts to the mid atlantic and the northeast. so friday morning is the brutal day for that region. not a lot of snow with the current system yet. that's the other thing we're watching.

but as it hits into the northeast, places like maine could get six to ten inches. it is the next system i'm concerned about. more freezing prescription in an area that already had it and is still dealing with icy roads because a lot of that hasn't melted off. as this moves northward this will be saturday for weekend into the northeast. so friday, the south. and then saturday, into the northeast could be icy conditions, that's so much more treacherous even than snow. >> great another miserable weekend, nicole, appreciate it. last february a cincinnati man suffered a stroke so severe it severed the brain stem from the body. his insurance company has repeatedly denied covering his rehab. united healthcare says victims simply do not get better. "america tonight's" adam may has

the story. >> a rare and cruel condition robbed gail walls of the man her husband once was. brett walls suffered an uncommon form of stroke where the brain stem is actually severed. it created a condition called locked in syndrome. although brett was fully aware physically all he could do was blink. >> i was very honest with brett. i told him there was no guarantees but stories of recovery. >> brett chose to fight. after several weeks in icu he was stabilized and got an assessment from his acute care doctors. >> i wanted to get him into rehabilitation as soon as possible. that's when we went to united health care to transfer him to a rehabilitation hospital. that's when the denials began. >> after the clock ticking for five months, gail requested

intensive rehab therapy. they were turned down, they appealed four times and they were denied five times. "america tonight" reached out to united health care after more than a dozen exchanged e-mails and telephone calls united health care would only speak to us off the record. but they did issue a statement. from the start we have reached out to the family to explain and help them understand all of the benefits available under mr. walls health plan. we continue to be available to help the family locate alternative programs. >> why should you have to fight? why should you have to get the media involved? why do you have to get all over their twitter and facebook page? they just rubber stamp rubber stamp, rubber stamp rubber stamp hoping you'll give up. >> now another challenge. brett's former employer is cutting off benefits for their

employees. now the walls need to find health insurance. in a final irony they have decided to go with you united health care? >> is it the devil you know? >> right exactly. you look at brett and he has a long way to go but he's on the road. >> locked in and heading into an unknown future. adam may, al jazeera cincinnati. >> you can see more of adam's report at 10:00 eastern. after their son is born with a potentially deadly condition. our preview of the oscar-nominateed documentaries and one person shares his incredible story of climbing up niagra falls.

>> all this week we've been bringing you film makers from oscar-nominated documentaries.

we talk about "our curse." a couple with a young son who is diagnosed with a potentially rare and deadly disease. we talk with the boy's father. >> the film our curse my son was born, diagnosed with a rare disease ccis. commonly known as ondine's curse. they have to be monitored constantly. i abasically film our first few months of living together. when leon was born, the situation completely devastated us emotionally. especially like all the doctors

said you have no chance of normal life at all. and so obviously nerves were really bad we basically thought our life completely ended. so it was really hard time for us. and hopefully like i think the whole process of film-making helped us to go through this. like, you know, our energy could go into something constructive. so it really helped us a lot during that time. in the beginning we knew that we can't blame ourselves. we cannot look for the cause why it happened. we just have to know how to go through this. the most important message after watching this film is that even the worst moment of your life can turn into something good and positive. ♪ come on boy ♪

>> just an update the boy is four years old today and continuing to live his life to the fullest. our curse is available in the new york times website in the op docs section. stephanie sy is here with a story you'll see in our next hour. stephanie. >> malawi has banned, hard won victory at least five years in in the making. >> to have a win of this magnitude is truly phenomenal. it sets a landmark and a precedent so that other countries have that will and inclination to follow. >> it is just one step in documenting a problem. >> 700 million women living today were married as children. experts say women who are

married as children, are less likely to get a job a good education, in the next hour we're going to take a deeper look at this problem worldwide what it's being done and how it affects world economies. >> all right stephanie. parts of niagra falls are frozen solid. it is a stunningly beautiful site and some believe it as an opportunity. will the first person to climb up the falls. he tells us in the first person story. >> the big thing i did is climb niagra falls. i was the first person to start at the bottom of the niagra falls and go to the top. most people start from the top and go to the bottom in a barrel which is not what you want to do. niagra falls is the largeest

waterfall in the world. falling off the lip of that thing, niagra falls will never freeze completely. there is just too much water going off the edge of that waterfall for it to freeze completely. but in good solid cold snaps parts of it freeze up just enough to climb. i wear a harness and upa rope. that's one thing if i fall off i in any sport you want to make sure you don't die. i have a person at the bottom who holds the rope. if i fall off that protection is good and the rope catches me before i hit the ground. well niagra falls has a lot of risk. it is all the standard things that gravity comes with. you fall off you could get very much hurt but it's nieg rah niagra

falls and it has special things coming off. if you fall you probably will fall into soft snow and it's going to be good. niagra falls if you fall off the bottom, you go into the bottom of niagra falls and that is not aplace you want to be, you know? the ice isn't very good either because it's mainly formed of spray, from the falls. it has onion skins that can stack up and break off unpredictably. i had to organize when i climbed the ice so it wouldn't take me off. pulling off the top i know everyone will be safe and i and the whole team has done something that's pretty cool. >> he told us he's not sure what his next expedition is going to be but it's going to be fun. freeze frames, moment of triumph, world war ii, iwo jima.

next week marks the 70th anniversary of that incredible moment and the iconic photograph that captured it. the news continues with antonio mora and stephanie sy. sy. >> as the amount of drugs grew guns came in. >> murder rate was sky-high. >> this guy was the biggest in l.a. >> i was goin' through a million dollars worth of drugs every day. i liked it. it's hard to believe that a friend would set you up. people don't get federal life sentences and beat them. >> they had been trafficking on behalf of the united states government. >> the cia admitted it. >> "freeway - crack in the system". premieres sunday march 1st, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

a major set back for ukraine. separatists have routed the ukrainian army and secured the strategic railway junction at debaltseve. in the streets of carmingt argentina thousands of protesters are demanding to know. and the practice affecting millions of girls around the wo