>> they killed evan dead >> faul lines, al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> today they will be arrested... >> ground breaking... >> they're firing canisters of gas at us... >> emmy award winning investigative series... deadly force: arming america's police only on al jazeera america this is al jazeera america, live from new york city. i'm tony harris. flash point in ferguson tensions are high after two police officers are wounded. and secret service scandal. and syria, a broken nation. millions live in what has been called a nightmare of suffering. ♪

so as of this hour the county police in missouri highway patrol are taking over security in ferguson missouri two officers, one from the county, the other from a neighboring force were shot during a mostly peaceful protest last night now a manhunt is underway for whoever opened fire. eric holder has harsh words for the shooter. >> what happened last night was a pure ambush. this was not someone trying to bring healing to ferguson this was a damn punk. punk. trying to sew discord in an area that is trying to get its act together and bring together a community that has been fractured for too long. this disgusting and cowardly attack might have been intended to unravel any sense of

progress, but i hope that does not happen. >> diane eastabrook is live for us in ferguson, any update on the search for those responsible for this? >> reporter: tony what i can tell you is today several people were taken in for questioning, but those people have all been released. no one is in custody. there have been no arrests made at this pour. it has been another eventful day here in ferguson missouri. and it all started this morning when two police officers were shot. [ gunfire ] [ censor bleep ] >> reporter: the shooting happened just outside ferguson's police department during a protest. now this area has been the scene of many protests since last summer when michael brown was shot. a massive manhunt is still going on tonight. a ferguson home was searched early this morning, again, people were taken in for questioning, but no one at this

point has been arrested. earlier today, st. louis police chief described the officers' injuries. >> the webster groves officer was shot right here at the high point of the cheek and the bullet lodges right behind his ear. and that bullet is still with him. he's going to have to have further evaluation to figure out what they are going to do with that wound. the st. louis county officer was struck right here on the shoulder, and the bullet came out the middle of his right back between the scapula and the spine. >> reporter: and again, tonight a community on edge as you mentioned earlier tony the st. louis county police department and highway patrol will be taking over security for ferguson. >> how is the community reacting at this point to what is going on now? >> reporter: there's a lot of frustration as there has been

since last august, people keep thinking their community is returning to normal and then you have these outbreaks of violence, so they keep questioning what is going to be the new normal. earlier today michael brown's family released a statement denouncing what happened. the family said: so again, a lot of frustration here in ferguson and -- and hopes that this will be a peaceful evening. >> yeah. >> reporter: hope for the best. >> all right. diane. thank you. shortly after the officers were shot st. louis county police chief said it has become difficult for officers to do their jobs in ferguson. >> this is a very, very very dangerous environment for the officers to work in regarding the amount of gunfire that we have experienced up there.

these police officers were standing there, and they were shot. just because they were police officers. >> justin is an attorney and law professor at st. louis university, and a friend to the michael brown family. good to see you. so the attorney general of the united states called what happened to police in ferguson last night an ambush carried out by a punk. do you stand by those comment frsz the attorney general? >> well yes. we don't know who committed this terrible act, but we all condemn the shooting of anybody, whether it's the shooting of a police officer trying to do his job, or shooting of a youth in the street trying to get home. so whoever -- we are against violence, and i think i agree with the attorney general's statement there. >> justin the last thing i expected to see this morning in the headlines is officers had

been shot in ferguson missouri. are you surprised, first of all there were protests last night, and then that two officers were shot? >> no, i'm actually not surprised at all, as early as september or october, i anticipated that if indeed the police chief was allowed to resign with a huge severance package and people singing his praises saying he was an honorable man, as he mayor did yesterday, it would add to the frustration. you first have to condemn bad actors acknowledge wrongdoing and move forward and provide change. the remedy isn't the celebration of past actors who have been shown to be engaged in pretty much a racket using the police department for the generation of

revenue, as opposed to the promotion of public safety. >> so you believe the mayor mishandled the news conference and in doing so angered the community? >> so yes, i believe he mishandled the news conference yesterday. remember, the community has been traumatized since last august they were retraumatized last night, as people were shooting from remind up here on this hill. and people were ducking to the ground to avoid being hit by gunfire. people have been going through a great deal of stress and to add insult to injury if you will to praise the police chief who is behind it all, it was a very disrespectful statement that he made. >> okay. let's get -- go ahead. >> oh go ahead. >> well, a couple of things -- >> moving forward we need to see structural change. >> that's where i wanted to go next. the ferguson six have been fired

resigned in different scenarios for different individuals there. are you satisfied or should more people go what is the structural change you are seeking here? >> so we have seen individuals singled out, but we know that this is not about individual bad apples. this is about the whole entire tree and the root and everything causing systematically racial profiling and police brutality. even if we were to fix the ferguson police department it's just one of a dozen in the region, and thousands across the country. we need to see a complete disbanding allow the county to come in and then the county has to implement the structural changes we have been talking about. real financial accountability for racial profiling, the existence of real use of force standards that are going to make sure that situations like mike

brown's don't happen in the future because police officers will be involved in de-escalating situations rather than escalating them. we have a lot of ideas. >> so you want the police department shut down and you want the policing responsibilities to be taken over by the county. does that put you on a slippery slope to essentially disbanding ferguson or rolling all of the management responsibilities of ferguson under the umbrella of the county? >> well the alternative is to go department by department and remember, we have dozens of departments, and we would need 20 30 different reports from the department of justice, one by one to solve all of these problems. the reality is as bad as ferguson was it's not the worst in the region in terms of predator policing racial profiling, and brutality.

if you look at the statistics on racial profiling, there are other police departments who have worse records than ferguson. so it's not as if ferguson is an outlier, it is almost the norm in the region so we need to fix the entire region. we can't just be content with ferguson and the 20,000 residents that live there, when we have millions to worry about. >> justin good to see you. thank you. ♪ outside all of the questions of racism and poisoned relations between local police and the city's mostly black residents there an economic angle that is fuelling tensions in ferguson. ali velshi is here with more on that. >> ever since we have been following this story, it's clear that racism has played some part in what is going on in ferguson

but it has occurred to me there is something at play in missouri as there is in states across this country, and that is little places with budgets that cannot be fulfilled by the people that live there. the city budget depended on $3.1 million from these petty fines from largely stopping african americans, frees, court fees things like that. a quarter of their city's budget for the 2015 fiscal year was coming from these fees and fines. the justice department cited communications between officials, the court, the police, and the city administration to boost fine collections. the city manager as you know has resigned. the police chief, the court clerk, the municipal judge, all heavily criticized. they are all gone now from their postings, and, you know, the city is faced with a real problem. if they are going to stop doing all of this bad stuff that they were doing, what it is going to do to the city's coffers. >> exactly. so with all of the key officials

stepping down, it does beg the question if ferguson actually survives as an entity moving forward. >> a lot of people say it shouldn't survive as a entity. but this highlights a big problem that plagues small cities like ferguson all across america. big cities and counties draw on larger and more diverse tax bases. the fergusons of the world have small tax bases to work with to start with. so that puts pressure on municipalities to look for other ways to look for revenue. st. louis county has 90 municipalities, about half of them are in debt. there are many in the community who say these little towns and municipalities should merge and pool their resources better. they don't all need a library commission. they don't all need a little police department, where you can't even pay the police well enough to demand the best people

you can get. critics say it doesn't make sense to have so many small entities struggling to provide services. we interviewed the prosecutor who handled the michael brown case, he told us if cities like ferguson cannot provide adequate law enforcement maybe they should join with surrounding municipalities, and this is not a bad idea, but nobody ever wins an election saying i'm going to dissolve this town and merge with someone else. >> exactly. >> and we're also taking a deep dive into the tensions of ferguson with three perspectives, the black, the blue, the police and you. this unconscious bias that lives in all of us. we all make the wrong decisions sometimes. >> ali can't wait. thank you. >> all right.

>> you with catch "real money with ali velshi" every work night. another american is being treated for ebola. the american is expected to arrive in maryland on friday. in that hospital successfully treated one other ebola patient. iran's supreme leader said he is worry about the future of a nuclear deal after 47 senators sent a letter telling him it might not last. germans foreign minister says the open letter was, quote, not very helpful to negotiations. the g.o.p. letter is the latest in a series of disputes over president obama's foreign policy. the white house has focused on engagement and coalition building, but not everyone agrees with that approach.

libby what is it about the president's approach that is concerning critics? >> reporter: republicans complain that the president isn't being assertive enough. it is no surprise that the white house and republicans would disagree, but what critics and supporters alike are asking is this: is president obama's foreign policy making the world a safer place, or is it leading from behind and only causing more problems. he would be the president to end america's wars in iraq and afghanistan. >> we must move behind the mind set of perpetual war. >> reporter: he focused to focus on the economy and other problems here at home. but crises around the world have demanded attention. from ukraine to syria. the president has kept american troops off of the ground choosing sanctions, coalition building, and diplomacy instead. >> i think fundamentally,

president obama's goal is not to intervene anymore than he desperately has to. >> reporter: that approach gets no cheers from many republicans. >> i think he's incredibly naive. i think he is dangerously naive. >> our friends no longer trust us. and our enemies no longer fear us. >> reporter: the obama administration is also getting hammered from a disillusioned left for its use of drone strikes for targeted killings and expanded cia power overseas. >> when i came here last time i -- i mentioned that -- >> american people are speaking out, secretary kerry, we're tired of an endless war -- >> committee will be in order. >> reporter: the president says he takes a pragmatic approach to america's international role. >> the goal of any good foreign policy is having a vision and aspirations and ideals but also

recognize the world as it is where it is and figures out how do you attack to the point where things are better than they were before. that doesn't mean perfect. it means it is better. >> reporter: but the president has struggled, especially in iraq, with combat troops out as promised, isil fighters have moved in. michael o'hanlen says this. >> he now has 3,000 troops on the ground helping to coordinate the counter offensive against isil and he may be willing to do a little bit more than that. >> reporter: perhaps the biggest symbol of the president's policies syria. in 2013 he drew a red line at the assad regime using chemical weapons and then backed down. >> not only has it not

constrained the assad regime's use of chemical weapons, but it had an enormous impact on perceptions of u.s. credibility in the region. >> reporter: steven says mr. obama began his presidency trying to course correct the bush administration's unilateralism, but may have eased off of the gas pedal too much. >> it's a disappointment, and something of an opportunity lost. >> reporter: he says international focus is now on the u.s. over negotiations with iran on the nuclear program. the same public opinion polls that showed americans were eager to get out of the wars in iraq and afghanistan now show that they are warming to the idea of fighting isil possibly even with boots on the ground if necessary. the key words being if necessary, showing the american

public may also favor a pragmatic approach. of course it's a up to the white house to decide what that course looks like. >> libby thank you. 200,000 people killed nearly 4 million refugees. who is to blame for four years of conflict in syria? plus misconduct by the secret service, yet another public embarrassment for the agency. ♪

so listen to this we're learning more this evening about the latest embarrassing incident involving the secret service. two agents are under investigation after allegedly crashing into a security barrier another the white house. they may have been drunk. and now there are reporting they crawled through an active bomb investigation. mike what happened here?

>> tony the white house is very sensitive about this and are disputing some of the claims. it's an incident that stems from march 4th that just came to light reported by the "washington post." the story goes something like this two very senior secret service officials including mark connelly who is on the president's body watch, you often see him standing behind the president when the president wades into crowds and things of that nature were coming back from a going away party for one of their colleagues. they happened upon a potential crime scene. a woman who had been driving on the other side of the white house had gotten out of her car, declared she had a bomb dropped a suspicious package on to the pavement whereupon the two officers with their lights flashing on their car drove through the temporary police barricade, and literally,

according to the "washington post" drove on top of the suspicious package. the two were expected of being inebriated uniformed officers wanted to give them a sew -- sobriety test but were overruled by an official on the scene. joe clansy just appointed to be the director of the secret service after a string of embarrasses that go back a couple of years, is close to the president, close to the first family, this is someone the president went outside of the recommendations of a special committee that was appointed to look at the problems another the secret service. so there's an investigation ongoing now. clansy has gone outside of the agency and asked the inspector general to look into it.

the two agents in question have been reassigned but are still on the payroll, tony. >> mike. thank you. at this .2 bodies have been recovered from a military helicopter crash. drives found the wreckage off of the florida panhandle. all 11 on board are presumed dead. the collapse of a factory in bangladesh are left more than 100 people missing. it's the latest of a string of recent construction accidents in bangladesh. >> reporter: from a mangle of metal, rescuers attempt to pull out drivers. dozens of construction workers were trapped.

soldiers and sailors had joined in the operation in the port town. cutting through debris to try to reach the victims. >> translator: there's a possible that 20 to 30 dead bodies are remaining there. >> reporter: those rescued are receiving treatment at a nearby hospital. they say at least 60 people were working on the roof of the five-story building when it gave way. many were on the ground floor. the factory is owned by a military welfare organization. the cause of the accident is under investigation. bangladesh has a poor record of safety standards. the collapse of a complex outside of dhaka killed more than 1,100 people, most employed in the garment industry. that was one of the world's worst industrial accident.

indicating how they use floor materials or add extra floors that foundations can't support. cyclone pam is gaining strength in the south pacific. and islands are bracing for potential major damage. kevin is here with the latest. what is in store with this cyclone. >> it's a category 5 equivalent storm bearing down on these small islands. we're talking about a quarter of a million people here but over the last several decades, we have only had five storms that have reached category 5 strength that have even come in close proximity to this area. it's just to the northeast of the corral sea, here is australia. so it's these islands right there. take a look at the closer satellite. as you can see the eye of the storm coming closer to these islands right here. the storm is about 800 miles in

that diameter. we're seeing strong bands reaching the island. the storm is increasing in intensity. i want to show you what we're looking at right you, currently pam, 167 miles gusting to 196. it is expected to increase in intensity to over 200 miles per hour as it gets closer to these islands. we don't expect to see a direct landfall meaning the eye of the storm going over the islands, but as you can see here, they get very close to the islands here. these islands are very mownous, and with mountainous islands we'll see a lot of rain and mud lands and landslides goes on. along the coast we could see storm surge over 20 feet in this area. we're looking at publish

utilities utilities, schools businesses -- >> 20 feet? >> 20 feet. >> wow. appreciate it. thank you. still to come new allegations of fema fraud. superstorm sandy victims still fighting the government for funds. plus the challenges facing ferguson's next police chief, rebuilding a force and easing racial tensions. we'll talk to one police chief who did just that. ♪

so just a few minutes ago, st. louis county police and the missouri highway patrol assumed control of any protests tonight. a mostly peaceful protest turned dangerous last night when two police officers were shot. die annest tobruk is here. >> reporter: tony the police have questioned several people today, all of those were

released and as yet no arrests have been made. but a massive manhunt is still underway for the person or persons who shot two police officers early this morning. [ gunfire ] [ censor bleep ] [ groaning ] >> reporter: the shooting happened outside of the ferguson police department where protesters had gathered after the announced resignation of ferguson police chief tom jackson. there have been several protests here over the course of the summer and fall protesting the shooting of michael brown. tonight to beef up security the missouri state highway patrol and the st. louis county police department have been brought up. right now it is fairly quiet. i just saw 1 protester down the street here. so hopefully it will be a

peaceful evening. >> all right. diane thank you. ferguson is now going through the process of remaking its police department. kalamazoo, michigan went through a similar process. a study there found that black motorists more than twice as likely to be stopped as white drivers. the kalamazoo police chief is in grand rapids tonight. chief, good to see you. you said you were taken aback by the results of the study. what surprised you? >> well i think that -- you know, initially understanding who my people are, and knowing they come into work every day with good intent. i think it does take you back when you get those type of results that really challenge your own assumptions about who you are as an organization, and who you are as a professional. it does take you back. >> yeah. chief here comes a tough question.

black motorist at 11 locations in kalamazoo were more likely to be stopped than white motorist. black motorists more likely to stopped than white motorists. so chief, why black people? >> i think if you really look at some of the research out there relative to black crime association theory and implicit bias i think if you really step back, a little bit, allow yourself to, you know, receive that type of research and to understand that -- that we have your own biases not intention intentional, but they do exist within us. and understanding that you can really see how these type of results can happen in any urban community, and obviously kalamazoo no different. once you are able to do that i think then you can set about a path to start improving, and getting a trajectory towards

minimizing that impact that may exist within your operations. >> inherent biases within all of us. how do you work on that? how do you fix that? >> well i'm not sure if there's necessarily a complete mix. >> right. >> i think we as human beings have biases but the recognition, the acknowledgment that we do have them that we are human, and that's going to play a part in our decision making. i think it allows you to view your work through a different lens. to view how you take action how you act upon certain situations and once you have that acknowledgment, i think it allows you to pause a little bit and really think about the manner in which you are going about policing a community. >> okay. now we're getting to it. so have you developed guidelines as a result of the findings of the study, regarding citing or

not citing motorists as we kind of get to the nitty gritty here? >> we haven't necessarily put guidelines on when or when not to cite someone. but what we have done is constrained -- another one of the data sets that came out of the study, that -- i wouldn't say ironically but one of the data sets that came out of the ferguson study, which we would ask more african americans for consent search but we would get less contraband off of them. i think the data in ferguson was 26% less was found on african american than caucasians. you have to recognize that data. so we put in a consent to search policy, and let me just talk briefly about consent to search. >> sure. sure. >> nothing in the constitution prohibits an officer from asking

someone, may i search your vehicle. so that's legal. but is it legitimate? and that's what we had to ask ourselves. so we developed some policy with some outside help and put in place a consent to search pollty that really set out specific guidelines for our officers when they were asking for consent to search of a vehicle. >> so -- >> and i think that along with some other things that we have done have really put us on a good path. >> last one. how difficult and challenging of a task is this? what lies ahead in terms of the difficulty for ferguson moving forward after everything that has happened there? what would you say? >> well, i think that it is difficult, and i think that what we have to do is -- is, you know, bring things down to -- to a reasonable level in terms of the emotions that people are

seeing. we have to manage our emotions as law enforcement professionals, and implore upon the community to manage theirs so we can really start a path of progress and reconciliation, and i think we have been able to do that in kalamazoo specifically. i have nothing but praise for your community, when we came out with that study the images that ran through my mind in terms of what i expected the reaction to be, but you know what they did? they said two things, number one, thank you for telling me the truth. you're not telling me anything we don't know or feel or believe. and how can we help? now what a wonderful reaction in the midst of obviously some very -- very significant disparate impacts. >> are your officers wearing body cameras right now? and if not is that a program you are going to think about instituting? >> we're in the middle of a body

camera pilot program. we're certainly tracking that direction. testing the product's policy development and then implementation. there's a huge piece -- there's significant privacy issues that need to be considered. the community needs to be involved in the development of the policy and that's where we are tracking. >> pleasure talking to you. jeff hadly joining us from grand rapids, michigan tonight. thank you. the federal emergency management agency says it is going to review all flood claimed filed in the aftermath of superstorm sandy. many homes suffered damage when the storm hit two and a half years ago. and some of the people are still struggling, and now comes this investigation. >> reporter: that's right, and i asked the fema spokesperson this

afternoon, in a sense, from these people what took so long? and he told me the agency has only recently become aware of some of the serious problems that homeowners have been facing. he is mostly talking about news of fraj lent claims, involving the doctored engineered reports. since the agency realized the public may be losing trust, he told me he decided to take action but the agency has always been under pressure to do something, after several senators and representatives got involved. repressed kathleen rice for answer since she is on the committee that oversees fema. she said she was going to push for a fuel review of all claims and the agency has agreed to do that. she responded today with this statement saying:

now under payment seems to be the biggest problem. most homeowners we have met are like faith here. she lives on the water in new york. she received a payout from fema but said it was about a hundred thousand dollars short, which is why their house had to be rebuilt, it's still unfinished and her family is living in a trailer in the yard. >> we just want to get home and sleep in a real house. >> reporter: so now to hear that fema after two and a half years is now announcing all right. we're going to look at every single sandy flood claim. >> great. >> reporter: does that give you hope? >> yes. i have boxes of files from everything. i can give them anything they want. i can show them anything they want. and i will show them anything they want because it had to end. >> so erika let's talk about the process. how is this review going to

work? >> reporter: well that is the big question and fema doesn't know how to answer that just yet. they are like look we're settling claims and now we're announcing this but they are still figuring it all out. it could be a couple of weeks before they put a plan into action, but it could come down to a 1-800 number. they could be assigned a case manager, again. but the bottom line here is this is giving hope to people who had closed claims that they were essentially saying they were underpaised like this woman here. you cannot rebuild until you have the full payment. people don't have necessarily 50, 60 $100,000 laying around. >> erica thing you. the agency has been demanding they repay some of the government funds they received after the storm.

roxana saberi is here with that story. >> reporter: fema says it is trying to fright fraud and waste, and the states of new york and new jersey are also asking homeowners to return grant money to them. ted refuses to repay new jersey money it says he owes. money it gave him in the form of a grant to rebuild his home after superstorm sandy. >> this is what they are asking back for the 26,005 calendar days. >> reporter: the state says he owes the money because repair estimates changed, and he also received money from other sources. that was eight months ago. and he says he still hasn't paid. fema says it needs to make sure federal dollars are spent correctly. so far the agency has sent

letters to more than 4600 storm victims, telling them to return a total of nearly $24 million. in a statement the agency said: but many homeowners say they shouldn't have to pay the government back for mistakes they didn't make. and others say they can't afford to return any money. >> people are so upset that they are being asked to repay money, with they used for their sandy recovery, and they can't understand why they have to go through this process of trying to fight it and showing that either fema is wrong, or they weren't afford to repay it. it's very very up setting. >> reporter: the new york assistance group is helping home owners challenge fema. but they have won only a handful of cases so far. >> we're finding that fema is

sticking to its original decision in most instances. >> reporter: we reached out to officials to find out how much money they have received back. they said they didn't have a figure on hand for us. people who don't repay fema, could look social security and other government benefits. >> thank you. russia says it is not upholding its end of the deal in the ukrainian ceasefire. but ukrainian leaders say it is the pro-separatists that are violating the trust. >> reporter: as daily bullets and mortars break the silence of a fragile ceasefire, both sides say they are bracing for a major military offensive. >> translator: the ukrainian side has not withdrawn heavy weapons, and now we're balancing on the head of another major

conflict. >> translator: in this conflict it is ukraine that is culpableable. any fire toward residential areas of donetsk would lead the situation to explode in an instant. >> reporter: do you have reason to believe that that might happen? >> translator: yes certainly. it hasn't just happened once or twice over six months. we have had many civilian casualties. >> reporter: so all it would take is for one more mortar to land year and ukrainian troops too tell us they expect an assault, and they are convinced it is pro-russian separatists who will launch it. >> translator: in this village there are spotters from the so-called rebels and now we're preparing to respond to their attack.

>> reporter: each side accuses the other of violating the ceasefire and ban on heavy weapons. but both seem to agree it is rebel forces shown here training this week that would launch a new offensive. while the rebels say they want the ceasefire to hold there might be military reasons for them to launch a new battle. there are three potential scenarios. rebels could take the strategic city of mariupol and create a land road. or they could take ukraine's entire southern coast, connecting russia with the break away republic. in the most ambitious and least likely scenario prorush hand separatists could take all of eastern ukraine to the river. >> there might be a higher likelihood that the rebels break the ceasefire, because they [ inaudible ] winning momentum.

where the government forces in kiev have more to gain now by focusing on rebuilding the economy rather than focusing so much on the eastern parts of ukraine. >> reporter: a renewed conflict would further are rattle the residences, and an international community that has loudly lamented the conflict but has done little more than watch the crisis unfold. in iraq the effort to retake a key city from ildz seems to be at an impasse. wednesday iraqi troops and militia fighters pushed into the city, but according to military commander, sniper fire and shelling have halted the progress. isil fighters hold large parts of the city. turkey says a person suspected of helping three british teens join isil is now under arrest. the suspect is a foreign

intelligence operative, but he did not say from where. the three girls travelled to turkey last month. from there they are believed to have kosz crossed into syria. coming up next four years after the start of syria's civil war, the struggle to survive in the bombed out city of aleppo.

♪ four years ago this weekend civil war broke out in syria. since then hundreds of thousands have been killed and nearly half of the country's population forced from their homes. millions are in the nightmare of suffering. zana hoda reports from one war-torn city, the all but destroyed aleppo. >> reporter: it is one of the oldest cities in the world. it's historic center is now in ruins. aleppo has been an urban battleground since the summer of 2012. syria's largest city has been

divided by many front lines, and on many of them sheets and drapes are used as cover from snipers. the government controls territory in the west and the opposition controls the east. and the only crossing point that allowed people to move between the two areas is now a wasteland. this crossing was closed by the government last year. it was a dangerous journey, dozens were killed because of sniper fire but it was a lifeline for many. >> the crossing was vital for civilians. now when they need to go to the regime areas, it is a 12-hour journey. this crossing used to allow people to visit their relatives. >> reporter: in many areas in the rebel-held east there is little sign of life. last year tens of thousands left when populated areas were continuously hit by barrel

bombs. many others were wounded. those who have lost their livelihoods have been left to help themselves. >> translator: we need money to be able to go to turkey to get treatment. we have been forgotten. we want someone to feel for us. >> reporter: also in the rebel-held east, health facilities were bombed at the start of the conflict. the people of the area managed to set up makeshift hospitals to deal with the many casualties of war, but they are not up to the standards needed. >> translator: we don't have surgeons. most of the doctors were either killed or fled. we don't have medicine for diabetic patients. >> reporter: the health system has all but collapsed. the syria war is entering its fifth year. neither side can claim victory. an initiative by the united states to freeze fighting in the city of aleppo didn't achieve much and the people on both sides of the divide remain trapped in what many describe as

a deadly stalemate. it's a daily struggle. it doesn't just take hours to buy bread. government planes have targeted crowds standing in bakery lines. for the warring sides, the battle for aleppo is strategic, but it has destroyed the lives of those living in what was once syria's commercial capitol. zana hoda, al jazeera, beirut. after four years of conflict much of syria is today to be entering the dark ages. a collection of human right's groups published this satellite photo of syria by night. four years later an estimated 83% of the country has gone dark. we're talking about running water, food and electricity is limited and in some cases completely cut off. critics blame the united nations and other world powers for the civil crisis in syria. 21 agencies said the security council failed to deliver assistance last year. but critics are most upset about

the u.n.'s ability to unite the world to end the world. james bayes had that part of the story. >> reporter: four years ago no one could have imagined the scale of this tragedy. the figures are staggering. there has been no actual body count, but it is estimated as many as 300,000 syrians are dead. many have fled 3.8 are refugees. that figure the main contributor to the fact that there are now more displaced people in the world than at anytime since the second word war when the u.n. was created 70 years ago. there has been little unity on the global stage. there have been rare moments of agreement in the u.n. security council on chemical weapons, and the growing threat from isil. but nothing on the political solution to the dismay of the u.n.'s humanitarian agencies one of those agencies the world food program is lead by this

woman. you must get frustrated when you look at the security council and the lack of agreement on syria? >> i get frustrated not only when i look at the security council, when i go into syria, and you see that there is no solution in sight. and i talk to the government and the opposition and they are firm in their positions, and then i look at the people. and i say don't they see what i see? can't they see the impact that their failure to compromise is creating in this situation? >> reporter: over the past four years, the security council has left the main effort to find a political solution to a series of special envoys former secretary general, veteran diplomat, and now another seasoned u.n. official. four months ago he told the security council he had an ambitious plan for a series of what he called freezes across

syria, the first one was supposed to be in aleppo. he later even revealed he had an agreement from president assad to stop all aerial bombardment in aleppo for a six-week period. since then the plan has stalled. diplomats are now very skeptical of the chances of success, and for now there is no plan b. syrians will zin to suffer and many more are bound to die. james bayes, al jazeera. and for a look at what is copping um john siegenthaler here. >> coming up at 8:00, we'll have more on the shooting of two police officers in ferguson missouri. now state and county authorities are taking over security. and a man hand is underway with last night's shooting suspect. plus using secretive technology to track smartphoneings, turns out some

police have been doing it for at least a decade. so how would you know if it's happening to your phone? >> we have strong suspicions when people report their cell phones acting weirdly. the battery is draining. the interference with the ability to communicate also mysterious kra kra -- craters being found in siberia. more are popping up across the landscape, now scientists think they may have figured out what they are made of. we'll have those stories and a lot more coming up in about three minutes. >> thank you. a major discovery from deep space today. nasa has confirmed there was a huge ocean on jupiters biggest

moon. scientists say that doesn't necessarily mean it is uninhabitable. the space agency is planning to launch a spacecraft to explore the moon in 2022. that's it for us. john siegenthaler is up next.

hi, everyone, this is al jazerra america, i am john seager thoughter. the reaction, st. louis county and missouri state police take over security in ferguson after two officers are shot. tracking technology, police keeping tabs on your cell phone. the lawsuit over privacy in california. floods and fraud. while fema says it could reopen and review every insurance claim from super storm sandy. plus deep mist. aliens, meet ors, why did these