>> joining i.s.i.l. new video shows three british school girls preparing to enter syria and the man helping them, turkey says he's an intelligence agent who was working for the coalition. tax scam. the new warning from the irs about phone calls demanding money. the scam has already cost thousands of americans millions of dollars. ferguson flight. >> i don't want to live in the neighborhood in which my child

doesn't feel safe. >> some residents are packing their bags from the town that's become synonymous with racial tension. and dirty water. a visit to the county in alabama where even in 2015, many families flush raw sewage right out into their own yards. >> good evening i'm antonio mora. this is al al jazeera america. we are learning more about three london school girls who fled their homes and may have joined i.s.i.l. today a new video emerged showing the girls trying to cross the border into syria. the man they're with is now in turkish custody. john terret is here, there are lots of questions who this intelligence agent is. >> yes there are we are learning more antonio good evening. there are reports in turkish media that the man is a syrian national who claims he worked for canadian intelligence.

canadian officials deny that. there are concerns about his background but his involvement with these girls from the u.k. three british school girls on turkey's border with syria about to cross. ran away from their families to join islamic state. now turk turkish officials say, this is the moment they crossed the border. they are being aided by a man they call a spy, who is under lock and key in turkey. >> a syrian citizen but he works for the intelligence services of a country that is a member of the coalition. a very complicated situation. >> the foreign minister did say the man is not from the european union or the united states. also includes saudi arabia, qatar, bahrain australia and canada. the three girls flew from

istanbul.from london on february 17th after paying cash for theirs tickets. in the video the girls are seen getting out of a taxi helped by two men one of whom is the alleged spy. another video shows the man being detained. it's unclear how the videos were recorded. british police and the girls' families have issued appeals for their daughters to return home. the police have said if they do they won't go to jail. >> and many think that it is unlikely actually that these girls will be allowed to leave syria now that they are part of i.s.i.l. if indeed they are we think they are and antonio the u.k. is now considering a law to stop this happening again girls buying tickets with cash and leaving their families behind heading to turkey with the intention of joining i.s.i.l. in syria. exactly how they do that i don't know.

>> thank you john. a new u.s. assessment finds iraqi forces are gaining ground against i.s.i.l. more than 25% of i.s.i.l. held territory. kurdish forces are responsible for most of those gains. pentagon officials says i.s.i.l. has lost the ability to freely move through areas it does control. the war in syria enters its fifth year and the humanitarian situation there keeps getting worse. 10.3 million people desperately need aid trapped unable to leave the battle zones. bernard smith says their struggle to stay alive has become more difficult now that i.s.i.l. controls supply lines. >> foreign aid here it means the difference between life and death. but now as i.s.i.l. has emerged to take command of some areas in

syria security concerns make it difficult to get aid through. >> we say it's a shrinking humanitarian corridor. a common phrase. it's just more difficult to get supplies from here to there. and for sure, going deep inside syria. why we were able to get fairly easily get into derazor and the government that's on the east side of the country now that road is treacherous it's very very dangerous. >> reporter: but it's not just fighting that stops aid getting through. many of the governments and larger charities that supply smaller aid groups will not allow help to be sent to i.s.i.l. controlled areas. they fear it will be diverted to i.s.i.l. fighters. hand in hand is one group whose warehouse in syria behind at the mammoth needs of this country. set up at the beginning its

founders thought it would be needed for just four or five months. >> just like really basically help. they needed bandages, they needed cotton or baby milk sometimes, they would ask for it. they were really basic needs. >> reporter: it is gone from providing cotton some bandages baby milk to what? >> to providing complete hospitals now. >> now hand in hand is preparing for next ten years. an alarming prospective not least because of the -- prospect not least of which because of the cost involved. to help 12 million syrians more than half the population, into territory that's become some of the most difficult in the world for aid agencies to operate in. last year the u.n. only got half the money it asked for to help syrians. donor fatigue is a real concern

but without those donors and the aid groups they help, syria's next generation would have no chance. bernard smith, al jazeera on the turkey syrian border. >> drones may have taken out one of al shabaab's top leaders. ad nan garar the man who planned the 2013 westgate mall attack in kenya. 67 people died in the rampage at that mall. are 17-year-old nakian nelan is being held without bond. police say nelan shot ahmad al jamali just moved to america to be with his wife. authorities don't believe it was a hate crime. >> we don't believe he knew mr. al jamali or his ethnicity.

what he did know is he was in search for the individuals responsible for shooting at his girlfriend's apartment. >> police so far have not been able to confirm if any gun fire actually hit that girlfriend's apartment. his family says al jamili was simply photographing the snow, something he had never seen before. the irs is on the lookout for a major tax scam. hundreds of thousands of people are getting calls threatening that they owe money. jonathan betz has the story. >> this first popped up more than a year ago but instead of going away incredibly the fraud has only grown. the irs now calls it the largest scam of its kind. people pretending to be agents, calling and threatening taxpayers if they don't pay up. >> i am officer nicky johnson from international revenue service, do return the call before we take any action against you.

>> melissa dagan a mother from salt lake city lost nearly $16,000, money she was saving to buy a home. >> i'm sick to my stomach embarrassed a lose that all this money -- >> the scammers are often from overseas and manipulate caller i.d. to appear they were the irs. they sometimes know personal information, insist you owe back taxes and demand money with a prepaid cash card or wire transfer. even one of the treasury department's top officers got a call demanding he paid up. >> supposedly $750. >> or they are going to arrest you? >> correct. >> targeted across every state with more than $15 million stolen. each victim has lost on average $5,000. >> the fraudsters have clearly upped their game and we must do the same. >> this week congress held

hearings how to stop it. >> when the money dries up the criminals will go away. >> the irs always sends a letter through mail first and never call. catching these fraudsters will be extremely difficult and may not be able to do it. the only way it will stop is by convincing people to hang up the phone. john. >> adam levin. good to have you with us. >> good to be here antonio. >> gullibility one of the victims very smart victims one was an nfl player had a radio show. these scammers were effective the way they went after taxpayers. >> one of them was a deputy treasury inspector general for tax administration. >> one of the top officers in

the treasury. >> in the treasury. so i mean they know no bounds there is no limit what they are willing to do. threatening you with jail deportation in some cases possible physical harm this is scary stuff. >> it is and federal investigators are calling it the most wide suppression operation of its kind they've ever seen. but it couldn't have happened in your opinion if there hadn't been this recent epidemic of hacking and identity theft? >> well, i think that it permitted a great deal of personal identifying information to get into the wrong hands and the more people that have access to your information through hacks, the more people are empowered to do crazy things like this. >> because these guys did have a lot of details about the people they were targeting. >> enormous amount of details and that's the problem. you say okay a lot of the haks hacks have to do with credit cards

anthem the health care company. >> not even connected to each other, they could be overseas? >> absolutely. a lot of these scams are conducted by people who are overseas out of the jurisdiction of the united states and in some cases protected by foreign governments. >> any chance of catching them or getting any of that money back? >> the real problem is even if you catch them you probably can't get the money back and worse any information they used has probably been used and reused by other parties. >> even though irs doesn't pull stunts like this, that they are going to call you and threaten you with arrest. what can you do to protect you? >> they don't call you they

don't e-mail you they send you snail mail. as soon as you get something contact your state attorney general. >> do you think the federal government has more responsible to do more to protect people? >> everybody should be doing more to protect people. the problem is breaches have become the third certainty in life. as a result of this all this information is out there. the government is not as secure as it should be when it comes to our data. corporations are not doing what they should be. we don't get enough information to understand what the problem is how to defend ourselves. >> what does the government need to do, create better fire walls? how does this have to be regulated? >> there is no question it has to be regulated greater regulation, greater enforcement there has to be a national breach notification law which we are now finally working on because we have 47 jurisdictions with different laws and different requirements as to

when and how an whatever and consumers need to stay on top of their data, they need to monitor so at the earliest possible moment they detect there is a problem they need to have a damage control program. >> see it early. adam levin founder of identity 911. good to have you with us. >> good to be here. >> authorities say the community of ferguson has provided good leads but more help is needed. some ferguson residents reeling from the unrest have moved out. that is not always easy. diane eastabrook has more. >> there is a tremendous uncertainty in ferguson. if you are a homeowner trying to sell you could have a hard time finding a potential bier. >> i don't want to be in a neighborhood in which my child doesn't feel safe because he is

an african american male. >> the widowed mother is considering selling the brick home she has owned inform 18 years but she's worried about losing money on it. >> i'm caught between a rock and a hard place. our property value has gone down you know. who wants to buy a loam in ferguson at this point in time? >> she may have a hard time finding a buyer. violent protests broke out over police shooting of an unarmed black teen that hasn't recovered yet. having an impact on prices. >> come on in. this home used to be owned by ferguson messed methodist church. >> a house like this featuring an updated kitchen fireplaces and wood floors might have fetched up to $40,000 more a

year ago. >> because the value might crop further? >> it could be it could be. >> some residents are standing by their community and this woman is among them. she bought her home in ferguson 13 years ago and also owns two rental properties here. while she's concerned about their values she fears leaving would deal an economic below blow to a community she loves. >> do we really want another dead city? is athat that what we want? do the protesters want that? that makes no sense. >> hee encouraging them to wait because he thinks sales and home values will rebound. that offers some consolation to stagel. >> my plans were to retire, my home would be paid for before my retirement. you know at this point i'm really undecided. >> real estate consultant newton

says there are rumors that some companies are looking to locate offices here, that could increase value but no guarantees of that antonio. >> diane eastabrook in ferguson. wikipedia entries including the death of eric garner. details about the incident were changed to make it more favorable to police. the website capital new york says at least 85 ip addresses within the department were used to make those wikipedia edits. a high profile lawyer is now representing a university of of oklahoma professor. no plans to sue but is explores whether the school had the right to evict sigma alpha epsilon.

>> death threats have been placed, where there have been physical assaults, or alterations on the university of oklahoma campus. and where some of the students who are members have frankly been afraid to go to class. >> jones says he is hoping for dialogue with the school. the national sae fraternity says it is investigating similar allegations of racism in universities in louisiana. it is one of the strongest storms to ever hit the islands of the pacific up next the latest on the cyclone pam bringing 185 mile winds east of australia. and president obama is making promises to american veterans. the significance of the place where he made the announcement.

>> discipline... >> that's what i wanna hear... >> strength... >> give me all you got... >> respect.... >> now... >> bootcamp >> stop your'e whining... >> for bad kids... >> they get a little dirty... so what... >> dangerous... >> we have shackles with spit bag... >> they're still having nightmares >> if you can't straighten out your kids... >> they're mine >> al jazeera america presents camp last resort on al jazeera america >> this is the true definition of tough love >> for the second time in less than a year wildfires are threatening one of chile's

oldest cities, val paraiso. strong winds are making it difficult to fight the fires. the powerful typhoon hit the island of vanuatu. kevin corriveau is here. the storm was evening stronger. >> it was stronger, this is about 24 hours ago from nasa the satellite image you can see the well defined eye and the islands, about 80 islands in the whole country of vanuatu . take a look at the damage on saturday morning about 15 hours ahead of us now. you can see the winds as well. a lot of the unicef as well as red cross is saying about 40 are dead, that estimate is expected to go up. and they are talking about catastrophic damage and destruction across the islands.

now they have not gotten to all of the islands yet of course. we are still dealing with the storm making its way making its way to the southern part of those islands and we'll see quite a bit of damage at least for the next 12 hours. the next 24 to 48 hours the storm system is going to be pushing away from vanuatu. rescue and recovery efforts are going to be taking place we'll see the storm system move into cooler water in new zealand. back to you antonio antonio. >> thank you. >> president obama says he knows the va has to regain the trust to veterans. >> trust is one of those things that you can lose real quick and

then takes some time to build. the good influences is, is that there are outstanding folks here at this va and all the vas across the country who are deserving of trust. but it's important that veterans know that somebody's got their backs. >> before going to the hospital the president vistaed the home of a veteran who was wounded in afghanistan. life in one of the poorest counts in america can be unbearable especially for families who can't afford septic systems, families forced to flush waste into their yards. and pope francis hinting he may only be pontiff for a few more years. what he misses most about having a normal life.

>> an american aid worker who contracted ebola at cyril is in serious condition. arrived at the centers for disease control in maryland. he or she is in a high isolation

unit the same organization treated nina aboutham nina pham. >> water and disease, ash-har quraishi went for a visit. >> here in loundes county, hard work is a way of lot of life. nestled in the black belt region of the deep south known for its dark earth it leads to higher absorption, no real way to deal with raw sewage. it is a probable countless residents have struggled with for years. >> what kind of things are happening? >> sewage back up, this drain is not draining look it should and

it's just a mess. >> at least hardy has a accept septic system. her neighbor has nothing. it flows into her backyard. do you worry about it at all? >> well i do but what can i do? like i say -- i can't afford it. >> reporter: she's not alone. installing a septic system can cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. instead, the effluent pours out wuntwithout containment. >> it makes no sense it's not good at all. you've got kids running around playing around this kind of stuff. and it just -- it's not right. be. >> reporter: as we drove around the county we found numerous instances of rude many

rudimentary solutions. more commonly found in other parts of the world. >> as can you see no septic system just a pvc pipe coming out of the structure and all the waste is flowing right out into the open. >> for years activist katherine flowers has been fighting for elected officials to address what she calls our dirty little problem. >> the officials don't address this problem from west virginia to texas. >> but county and state officials say there's no funding to address the problem. >> who's responsible for maintaining a proper septic system? >> the homeowner is the responsible party. >> what happens if they don't comply? >> we have a tendency to help work with them.

we absolutely know it is a colossal problem throughout the state. >> reporter: what the state does not have a handle on is how severe the potential health effects are. researchers say hookworm and other intestinal parasites are a problem. >> you can't say it's not an outbreak? >> we can't say definitively that there is anything, okay? based on the report we get across the state there does not appear to be any issue. >> still the sewage continues to flow unabated in loundes county with no real solution in sight. ash-har quraishi al jazeera loundes county alabama. >> pope francis in an interview marking the second anniversary to his papacy, the pope expects to be only in the job a couple of years. he doesn't dislike being pope he

misses his freedom. he would like to go out once in a while and not get recognized and get pizza. "inside story" is up next, have a great weekend. night. hello, i'm ray suarez, you would a guessed that a lot of american schoolkids live in poverty, we have known for a long time that poverty has a lot to say about where you go to school and who is at the desk next to yours. this of the last few days a striking number emerged from the nation's classrooms, a survey from the southern education foundation reports that a majority of american public schoolchildren life in poverty.