was forced to leave from her district but even here she is struggling to provide for her children. this area has remained under perpetual siege. >> translator: we were deplaced from our home. and i don't even know what happened to my husband. i have three children. my son was killed while he was working. i don't even know where he was buried. >> reporter: and syria's war drags on there is no end in sight for their suffering. >> human rights watch says there is strong evidence to suggest syrian government forces have used toxic -- chemicals. one attack killed six civilians including three children. for years the syrian regime has been accused of using

chemical weapons. in 2012 the u.s. got involved and barack obama was saying that a red line had been crossed. the following your u.n. chemical inspectors confirmed a nerve agent was used in an attack in damascus. two months later the international chemical weapons watch dog began dismantleing chemical weapons. [ inaudible ] says there is clear evidence of the use of toxic chemicals. >> well all of these attacks that we have investigated. they included -- contained some sort of toxic chemicals. the people on the ground reported that victims exhibited symptoms difficulty breathing, burning, red eyes and sometimes the difficulty breathing was such that -- that people died

from it. we documented at least six civilians died, three children age from one to three years old. so that combined with the find of gas canisters on the ground at the attack sites, and people reporting a strong smell of chlorine is a strong indication strong evidence for us that chemicals were used although we weren't able to dentally verify that it was chlorine that was used. politicians in the u.s. push back on obama's executive power to lift sanctions against iran. and the mass puzzle that has gone viral online after stumping kids in singapore. ♪

iraq's prime minister is sitting down with the president right now in washington asking for more weapons to fight isil. the u.n. security council takes action against yemen's houthi rebels limiting the flow of arms. and it has been one year since boko haram kidnapped more than 200 nigerian girls. and the president elect says he may not be able to get them back. ♪ this is al jazeera america live from new york city i'm stephanie sy. iraq's prime minister is making the case for a stronger u.s. presence in the fight against

isil. he is expected to ask for more u.s.-help fighting isil. still that may not be the only threat against his government. a pair of car bombs went off this morning in baghdad killing at least 11 people. >> reporter: we expect the iraqi prime minister will be here in just a matter of moments, and we're not going to know much about the meeting, because they are not having a press conference, but the media will be allowed in briefly to hear some statements. the prime minister is coming to president barack obama with a long list. he needs money. he is going to ask for humanitarian assistance but his biggest ask is on military equipment. he wants more military equipment such as drones but wants the u.s. to give them to him on credit basically give them to me now, and isle pay you later. what the obama administration wants is guarantees that iraq is not lining up too much with

iran, that they are not going to become mouthpieces basically for the iranian government. so that will be the discussion inside the oval office. we'll get a brief sense of how it went when they talk to the press in a couple of hour's time. >> now to the war in yemen. the u.n. security council has just approved a resolution aimed at stopping the fighting there. it targets houthi rebels restricting travel and their ability to get weapons. samantha power spoke after the vote. >> in response the houthis, working in close chord ration with former president saleh, have intensified their military campaign bombed aden and extended their offensive to yemen's south. the -- united states strongly supports the adoption of today's resolution demands that the

houthi cease military operations and skals on all sides to once again return to the negotiating table. >> james bayes has more from the u.n. >> well it now is international law, this resolution. it has passed the u.n. security council, the only abstention was from russia. jordan technically proposed the resolution but all work was done by the gulf cooperation council, the countries which are all involved in the military operation with regard to yemen. worth mentioning that that saudi-lead operation is not mentioned in this resolution not directly mentioned at all. what is mentioned in this resolution, in the main thrust of it is towards the houthis. it demands they end all violence withdraw from all areas across yemen, including the capitol sana'a and introduces new sanctions and

arms embargoes not just against the three people that had already been sanctioned including saleh, his son, and the main houthi leader. there is an element in the resolution for humanitarian pauses. now this is going to be something that the u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon is supposed to coordinate. although following intention negotiations he has to do it in coordination with the government of yemen. and the government of yemen closely linked to that saudi-lead coalition, so it seems likely any humanitarian pauses will be done in conjunction with the command. the senate today is expected to request more say on a key nuclear deal with iran. mike viqueira reports from washington. >> reporter: good morning, this

should be a crucial day in the talks with iran on capitol hill and in congress where a key committee, the senate foreign relations committee is going to take up legislation that would effectively give congress veto power over a deal if the president is to strike one with iran or its nuclear program. the senator from tennessee will take up this legislation saying congress will have the ability to review the deal before the president can wave sanctions against iran. sanctions one of the bedrock elements here. but they say that if iran were to comply with a deal then the president would waive congressionally imposed sanctions. this bill gaining republican and democratic support, and would allow the congress to have a review period of up to 60 days

before the president could do that. the president has said time and time again that this bill would be vetoed if it passes the senate and congress but the senate is moving forward nonetheless. before heading into a closed door meeting, secretary kerry stopped at the microphones and told reporters what was at stake. >> we hope congress will listen carefully, and ask the questions it wants, but also give us the space and time to be able to complete a very difficult task which has high stakes for our country. it involves major issues of potential conflict versus peaceful resolution. >> reporter: and he'll brief the entire senate on tuesday morning as the white house continues to try to head off what they consider to be an effort to block the deal. iran's foreign minister says he is confident is final nuclear

arms agreement is close, but he reiterated sanctions on tehran must end. >> whatever happens inside the u.s. and whoever they want to spin it all of the sanctions, economic and financial sanctions that have been imposed on iran must go in the first day. >> reporter: speaking in madrid [ inaudible ] said nuclear talks will resume next tuesday. negotiators hope to reach a final deal by the end of the year. it has been exactly one year since boko haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in northern nigeria. and today the president elect admitted the girls may never come home. ivan has more. >> reporter: more than 200 girls have gathered here in the capitol to start protesting the fact that more than 200 girls were kidnapped a year ago today by boko haram and have still not

been found. each of these girls is carrying a small placard with the name and number for each of the girls who disappeared a year ago, and it's a way of identifying each girl reminding nigerians and the world that each of these girls is a special individual that their families are at a great loss that their families are missing them. and the idea is to send a message to the government that these girls must be found. the government's position is they are doing all they can to find the girls, but they have faced extraordinary clal engineers because of the sin security in the northeast. earlier i smoke with the executive director of u.n. women. she expressed grave frustration. >> it's extremely frustrating. it's also sad that we have not

been able as the world, to actually work together to do everything that was possible to -- to find the girls. you know there's an engendered approach to terrorism these days these extremists seem to perpetuate almost with precision which targets girls, the sexual slavery, the rapes, the denial of rights the denial of access to education, and the response has not quite caught up with this targeted approach which almost makes being a woman and a girl in areas of conflict more dangerous than being a soldier. the proportion is what really concerns is that the world is not catching up fast enough and the investment in fighting back on behalf of the girls is not at

the size and level in which it needs to be. at the end of the day, someone has to be there with the appropriate infrastructure and security capabilities to engage with -- with -- with the terrorists. it's encouraging on one end that we have seen a multinational force taking this as a collective responsibility. but we need the scale and intensity to be much stronger than what it is now. on this anniversary the hashtag bringbackourgirls is trending again. nobel prize winner malala yousafzai posted an open letter to the girls. >> we will never forget you. we will always stand with you today and every day. we call on the nigerian authorities and the international accumulate

-- community to do more to bring you home. coming up on al jazeera america . . . cries for help from the cargo hull. how a baggage handler forced a plane to make an emergency landing.

>> criminal gangs risking lives >> it's for this... 3 grams of gold >> killing our planet >> where it's blood red... that's where the mercury is most intense >> now, fighting back with science... >> we fire a laser imaging system out of the bottom of the plane >> revealing the deadly human threat >> because the mercury is dumped into the rivers and lakes, it then gets into the food chain... >> that's hitting home >> it ends up on the dinner plate of people... >> techknow

only on al jazeera america >> part of al jazeera america's >> special month long evironmental focus fragile planet ♪ welcome back to al jazeera america. fighting overnight in ukraine in donetsk, six soldiers and one fighter were killed. just hours earlier russia and ukraine agreed to pull back more weapons from the front line. new pictures of the cleanup of the germanwings crash site in the french alps. the flight crashed last month, killing all 150 people on board. and at least five people were killed when gunmen stormed the education ministry in somalia's capitol. it is unclear how many have been injured. al-shabab says it was responsible. sentencing resumed for ten

former atlanta educators, and they may be spared serious prison time. they were convicted in a test cheating scandal. sentencing was supposed to be month, but the judge gave the defendants more time for last-minute negotiations with prosecutors. andy gallagher is live at the courthouse in atlanta. what is the latest that you are hearing? >> reporter: well some pretty dramatic scenes in the court this morning as the defense lawyers argued with the judge. at one point the judge was threatening to locked one of the lawyers up. we have had had one sentence handed down to sharon williams davis an executive director of the land take public school system and she has been sentenced to 20 years to serve 7 with 13 years of probation. so a fairly harsh sentence to someone who was very high up. she was seen as somebody at the

center of this massive cheating scandal here. what is interesting is the judge yesterday -- the reason he didn't pass down those sentences is because he gave each of these ten people the chance to plea and give an apology to the court for their part in this cheating scandal, and be handed down far lessen tense -- less sentences. sharon williams davis didn't did do that. just before her a teacher basically got probation where he will teach young people in jail english. and he was given a far less harsh sentence. the judge really gave a clear indication of how this was going to play out. he said to the ten defendants if you admit your guilt in this part you will receive far less harsh sentences, if you don't,

be prepared to take a harsher sentence. >> did everybody admit to doing something wrong? and what about the testimony of the family and friends? could that help their cases for lighter sentencing? >> reporter: i mean i think it did help in some ways but it all comes down to the way the judge laid this out yesterday. he said if these defendants admit their roles, they will be handed down far less harsh sentences, if they don't, they will get harsh sentences. sharon has been jailed to seven years and 13 years of probation. in that could carry on if the other defendants don't take the deal. it looks like at least nine of the ten are not doing that. >> andy gallagher, we'll get an update later. the sheriff's department in tulsa, oklahoma is now reviewing its volunteer deputy program.

robert bates is expected to turn himself in this morning on manslaughter charges. he and shot and killed an unarmed african american man during a sting. he said he accidentally grabbed his gun instead of his taser. >> he was not violent. he was peaceful. he was loving. he was caring. and he was my brother that i will never see again. >> there's no way an officer can get this confused for this. >> police say harris was trying to sell a gun to an undercover officer when he ran. the volunteer deputy is heard on the tape saying sorry for shooting him. an illinois man sentenced to life in prison when he was 14 could soon be freed. he served 25 years for a

gang-related double murder. diane eastabrook has more from chicago. >> any objection -- >> reporter: sitting in chicago courtroom, this 38 year old hopes to be a free man after nearly a quarter century behind bars. his sister wants a long family nightmare to end. >> 24 years is enough time for somebody to be incarcerated since they were 1 -- 14 years old. so i am very hopeful and he is too. >> reporter: he was 14 when he was sentenced to life without parole for his role in a double murder in 1990. the judge could release him for time served because of a supreme court ruling calling life sentenced for juveniles unconstitutional. davis said he thought his chances of an early release were good. >> i'm always going to have

hope you know, that my day will come. >> reporter: davis says trouble at home steered him into gang life. he says his mother was a drug addict and his father wasn't around. the prosecutor who helped put davis behind bars two decades ago wants him to stay there. >> the ripe old age of 14 this defendant was a shooter, an executioner. >> reporter: davis denied he pulled the trigger, and his attorney painted a different picture of him. >> he was a child. he was a follower. he was in desperate need for a sense of belonging. >> reporter: and a social worker says he has shown remorse and turned his life around. >> he had this positive good-seeming core despite the horrible background and upbringing. >> i want to be a kid. i want to be a -- get -- i want

to do things that i was not able to do. >> that was diane eastabrook reporting. an investigation is underway today in seattle after an emergency landing involving an alaska airlines jet. the plane had to turn around when passengers and crew heard cries for help from inside the cargo hull. >> reporter: not long after alaska airlines flight took off from seattle, headed for los angeles, the pilot and passengers in first class heard something alarming. >> screams from underneath in the cargo area. >> reporter: screaming and banging from underneath the plane. >> at some point a u.s. marshall emerged out of nowhere and started yelling really loud into the ground. hey, we're turning around we're getting ready to land. hold on to something. >> reporter: the airline say the

commotion caused the plane to turn around. passengers feared the worst. >> we're landing and we saw all of the firetrucks and ambulances and cops and all of us started getting a little antsy. >> the police and fire department officials helped find the crew member that was inside the cargo hold area. >> reporter: the crew member was a [ inaudible ] agent employed by [ inaudible ] aviation. the plane had taken off with him inside. authorities lead him away to a waiting ambulance. but the worker said he had fallen asleep in the cargo area. when he awoke he was horrified to learn of his predicament. the cargo area was pressurized and temperature controls so it

likely wouldn't have killed the stow away. for passengers the unscheduled landing turned into a minor annoyance. the flight arrived in l.a. a little more than an hour late. the worker is expected to be okay. after he was attended too, the unidentified worker's system tested negative for any illegal drugs. the leader of the crusade he called the worker's phone when no one could find him after the flight was loaded. the leader said he assumed the worker had gone home. the worker had been at the end of a nine and a half hour shift that started at 5:00 a.m. it is one of the most popular ways to make a cup a coffee these days but as erika

pitsy telling us the waste leftover has become a problem. >> good morning, stephanie. these are those single-serve coffee pods. they appeal to the average american consumer because they are quick easy and conveneient to make. but these are not recyclable, by means billions of these are piling up in landfills around the world. that has the man who invented this little cup wishing he never had. >> if i could turn back the clock and looked at what happened that this will be a problem 20 years from now, i would not have done it that way.

>> reporter: coming up hear much more from the inventor police the company that owns the coffee machine is promising to make the cups recyclable by 2020 but that means another 50 billion more pods in landfills around the country. new data from the mars curiosity rover says there could be water on the red planet. it is damp with a salt that lowers the freezing point of water and that means that conditions are prime for permafrost below the surface. thanks for watching the new -- continues live next from

doha. >> translator: -- headed by saudi arabia and in particular the king of saudi arabia. we would like to thank them for their authentic support to our country. and i would like to thank the secretary general of the united nations for his efforts as well as the kingdom of jordan. you madam, president of the security council and representatives of all arabs in these dark times. >> if you have just joined us a very warm