the air to clean drinking water could be a long-term solution. al jazeera, south africa. >> all the news we've been covering you can find on aljazeera.com. >> tares jihadi john, a u.s. air strike goes after one of the most recognizable faces of isil. taking back sinjar, kurdish fighters claim victory over isil in a key city with u.s. help. >> how stupid are the people of iowa? how stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap. >> trump lashes out, the presidential hopeful takes the elect he let and rival ben

carson to task. >> this is aljazeera america live from new york city, i'm stephanie sy. this morning, pentagon officials are trying to confirm whether one of isil's most know tore cuss figures was killed in a drone strike. his name is jihadi john. it was his covered face that appeared in momentum pell videos showing the killings of american and other western hostages. in august of 2014, he was shown in a video beheading journalist james foley. he was seen killing james sotloff and peter kasig. >> he moved to syria in 2012.

it wasn't until 2014 that he began making headlines. >> otherwise this will become your nightmare. >> his british accent earned him the nickname jihadi john. he blamed governments for the hostage deaths. british and u.s. officials promised to hunt him down. >> those who make the mistake of harming americans will learn that we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served. >> he later apologized to his family for the attention those videos generated, but he showed no remorse for the beheadings or for being part of the world's most brutal and gruesome organization. the pentagon said the airstrikes targeting jihadi john took place in the syrian city of raqqa, believed to be isil's would be capital. >> families of hostages killed at his hand have reacted to the news saying his death would bring them little closure. british prime minister david cameron spoke about the drone strike.

>> he is a barbaric murderer. he was shown in those sickening videos of the beheading of british aid workers. he posed an ongoing and serious threat to innocent civilians not only in syria, but around the world and in the united kingdom, too. he was isil's lead executioner. let us never forget that he killed many, many muslims, too. he was intent on murdering many more people, so this was an act of self defense. it was the right thing to do. >> harris works with the british government to prevent isil recruiting british citizens ached said the group takes advantages of weak insists to get new members. >> there are some types of grievances that are manipulated by charismatic recruiters on line and off fine. these can be genuine, partial or perceived and they're taught to look at the world through a particular world view.

we call it islamism as opposed to the faith. they actually threaten other organization, and say the only way to find solutions is to joining our gang and carry out certain activities. what we've learned that is that world view, that's the soft end of recruitment to violent extremism and that really needs to be tackled by civil society in all sorts of different ways. we need to deconstruct and promote better alternatives the same way we do racism and fascism and communism. >> he said it could be classified as self defense. >> sinjar is on a key supply route to isil strong holds.

the group has held the town since last year. we have more on the strategic significance of taking it. >> without facing any stiff opposition, kurd peshmerga forces came in and say they controlled the town. they came in through the north. the north was controlled by them before the north of the mountain, they took that in september where they allowed yazidis to flee. since december, they mounted some attacks on the town of sinjar, but this last final push, seemingly quite easy for the peshmerga fighters. there's something quite strange happening here that weapon happening here that we haven't seen before, isil social media accounts are an blackout, no information coming out from them. normally they're quite active. i've spoken to a pro isil journalists saying a lot of fighters left november 11, but there's a discrepancy. what we are told by the

peshmerga is they were monitoring radio transmissions where isil commanders were telling fighter that is they needed to stay or they would be executed. seemingly that hasn't happened. they got into the town without much resistance and hold it. it's crucial and strategic, the town of sinjar, because it lies where i am, within one of the major supply routes. you can see behind me a sign there that says mosul. the kurdish president, they are monitoring the events closely. when they took over, isil took over in august, they got as far where i am standing before they were beaten back by kurdish peshmerga forces. right now, they are inside the town of sinjar and say they control it. u.s. and kurdish officials saying the situation in sinjar is dangerous.

>> isil says it was responsible for twin suicide bombings that ripped through southern beirut. 43 were killed after explosions hit a predominant shia area of the city. 200 others were injured. witnesses say the blasts happened a few minutes apart. >> they targeted this place because they don't have any other way to fight us back. they have run out of options. let me be clear, they targeted this area because we are shia, but we won't be afraid. >> the area experienced a string of suicide explosions in 2014. >> aung san suu kyi's party in myanmar will form the first civilian governments in decades. omalley will not be president. >> the magic number for the party was 329 seats combined in both the upper and lower houses

of parliament. that is the total it needed to win, to be able to form the next government to enjoy a so-called super majority, form the next government on its own and counter any combined total that may be won by the development party and army. the army is guaranteed a quarter of all seats in parliament. as far as parliament goes, that doesn't matter now, the party has performed so badly, winning only a happenedful of seats compared with the n.l.d. the n.l.d. will be able to govern on its own and dictate who the next president will be. we do not know who the candidate for the president will be. we know it captain be the leader, aung san suu kyi. she is prevented from being president because of a clauses in the constitution. we don't know who has will be next year. it will come down to a

parliamentary vote. the party will be able to dictate who the president will be. the head of the armed forces issued a statement saying this will be a peaceful transition of power and that they will acknowledge the wishes of the people of myanmar. >> wane hay reporting. the white house is urging myanmar to change its constitution to allow aung san suu kyi to take power, saying it is the will of the people. >> military officials are saying a member of the top military aid to ash carter seen on the left with carter here was removed for allegations of misconduct. the pentagon is not saying what those are. he is a west point graduate who command the troops in afghanistan and iraq. >> a secret service agent is in

court for soliciting a minor for section. he is accused of sending obscene messages and images to an undercover agent. he they didn't them when he was on duty at the without house. >> donald trump went after front runner ben carson over the retired neurosurgery's history. he said this about carson's tales of nearly stabbing a friend and having a bad temper. >> he took a knife and he went after a friend and he lunged! he lunged that knife into the stomach of his friend, but lo and behold, it hit the belt! it hit the belt and the knife broke. give me a break. i have a belt. somebody hits me, it's going in, because the belt moves this way.

the belt moves this way. how stupid are the people of iowa, the people which the country to believe this crap? here's the good news, he's now saying all which that stuff happened, because otherwise, he's a liar. >> trump went on to mock carson's religious awakening and called anyone who wants to vote to carson a fuel. there are reports they could move the detainee to say a super max prison in colorado. we visited the facility.

>> as we approach this prison officially called the official maximum penitentiary or super max, we are 100 miles south of denver in fremont county. it's really isolated here with just a few small towns and cities nearby. in october, pentagon officials came here to tour the facility to see fit would be a suitable home for low level guantanamo depainees. they were drawn by the isolated location, but it also offers some of the tightest security in the country. the 400 or so prisoners spend 23 hours alone in their cells each day. they may go years without ever touching another human being. their cells are extremely small, 87 square feet. that's a bomb about this size. this prison was built to house the worst of the worst, home to boston marathon bomber, dzhokar tsarnaev, the unibomber, and timothy mcview was here before he was executed for the oklahoma city bombing. the obama administration is considering moving some 50 gitmo

detainees to this site. >> the question isn't whether they are reloading. are we going to charge people with crimes if we believe they've done something wrong? if they are convicted, they should to be imprisoned, if not, released. >> opposition to the relocation has been strong, and coming from different sides. more than 40 of the colorado county sheriffs, about 2/3 of them have written an open letter to the president, raising security questions. they've been led by the local sheriff of fremont county. they wrote. >> we believe it will be dangerously naive not to recognize that a civilian prison with untold number of enemy combatant inmates locate in our state would provide a tempting targetor anyone wishing to free them or wishing to make a >> i believe that the sheriff's current response is nothing other than than straight up fear mongering. >> two other sites on american soil are being considered, one

in kansas and one in south carolina, but no matter what site is selected, the obama administration is certain to face a major battle in congress. colorado's entire delegation has said that it will fight possible relocation to super max with everything they have. al jazeera, florence, colorado. >> a judge rules a lesbian couple can't keep a baby in utah. >> getting a college education for free, one school is able to foot the bill for undergrads.

>> the state of utah is stepping into a custody case and speaking out against one of its judges. the judge ordered a lesbian couple to give up their foster child for the child's well being. the state disagrees with the ruling and reasoning. >> for the last three months, april and becky have been state approved foster parents to a now nine-month-old baby girl, until a judge this week said no. >> he said through his research, he had found out that kids in homosexual homes don't do as well as they do in heterosexual homes. when they asked to show his research, he would not.

>> the state of utah is supporting the couple. the state argues the judge went against its recommendations. appeal. >> i'm not going to expect my case workers to violate a court order, on the other hand the law. >> lgbt parents groups say the judge was simply wrong. they say the research is not legitimate. >> he made an uninformed bias decision based on widely debunked research. >> they just want to keep the girl, whom they consider their daughter. >> we've been told to care for this child like a mother, and i am her mother. i mean that's who she knows, and she's just going to be taken

away in seven days, to another good probably loving home, but it's not fair and it's not right and it just hurts me really badly, because i haven't done anything wrong. >> today there is new leadership at the university of missouri after weeks of protest that ousted the president and chancellor. >> this is a learning experience for us all. we must tighten our focus, improve our culture and climate across all of our campuses. >> law professor michael middleton will serve as the interim president. he replaces tim wolf who resigned. he props to say deal with cases of racial harassment swiftly. >> howard university is investigating a death threat against students, the letter

threaten to say kill any black person on campus after 10:00 p.m. taking public transit. security has been increased and students encouraged to report suspicious activity. >> college students are pledging more protests after marching nationwide. thousands took part in the million student march at campuses across the country. protestors want public universities to be tuition free and for all student debt to be canceled. they are calling for a $15 minimum wage on campus. >> south of lexington kentucky, it looks like your typical small liberal arts school. >> i don't pay anything. nobody here pays anything. >> you heard that right, the 1600 students here get free

tuition, valued at nearly $30,000 a year. there's also financial help for room and board and books. the school's mission, to provide a top notch education for bright students from low income households. many, the first in their family to ever attend college. >> if it wasn't for barea, i wouldn't be able to afford college. >> i always thought hey, my parents don't make a lot of money, i won't be able to go. >> it's cool to do something and break that pattern for my family. >> i see more job opportunities, opportunities to get out of our social class. >> to understand how this is possible, let's go back to 1855 when the college was founded by a christian abolitionist. the first college in the south to welcome women and black students, diversity remains a cornerstone today, so does something else. every student must work, at least 10 hours a week at one of

130 different campus jobs, from high tech to low tech to everything in between. >> initially that was just to provide income to students and to lower the costs of running the school, and now we've realized it's a powerful learning opportunity for students, as well. >> students do get paid a bit, but their labor still helps defray costs. they man the school farm, clean rooms, build dorm furniture and turn out handmaid local crafts sold on line and in the student store. much of the bill is paid with earnings from a $1 billion endowment built up from donors over the decades. there is federal grant money, allowing the school to offer what seems impossible in these days of rising tuitions and crushing student loans. >> the model can't easily be duplicated on a large scale, but it is a vivid illustration of how a free college education can transform lives.

>> but how to help more families, especially the middle class have access to college without enormous debt? some suggest more government grants, or even free tuition at public colleges. critics say that's the wrong answer. >> that's bog to drive the price up, both by driving demand and because colleges do what everyone else would do, just say if we can get more money, we are going to take more money. >> even the president says students value the education more for contributing in dollars or labor. he said solving the college financial crisis is in the national interest. >> if you don't give people opportunity through education, then you're not going to develop the kind of human capital that makes a strong country, i think. >> as the administration puts it, it's the best education money can't buy. lisa stark, al jazeera, barea, kentucky. june a first on a native

american education, a tribe opens its first pot shop in washington state. >> what crashed into the atmosphere early this morning.

>> doctors be call it good news. fewer americans are smoking cigarettes. 17% of adult americans smoked in 2014. smoking rights are still high below the poverty line.

>> some consider it a landmark occasion for the marijuana industry. a native american tribe opening a store on its reservation. we were there for the grand opening. >> this is a first for the united states. this is a recreational retail pot store on tribal land, reservation land. recreational marijuana's been legal in this state three years, stores open for more than a year, but there was special legislation passed this year allowing the governor to sign a compact with tribal nations. this is the ribbon cutting ceremony for the nation's elevation store. [ cheers and applause ] >> quite a celebration here, about 75 people, tribal leaders,

customers, workers, lots of folks from the local chamber of commerce and governments around the area were on hand for the celebration. this place has been busy. they had a soft open tuesday. this was the formal opening. we talked to an attorney who specializes in tribal law, and he had some words of warning for any other tribes out there across the country looking to get into this kind of business, especially if they're in states where it hasn't specifically been legalized. >> it is legalized marijuana with an asterisk, be it for commercial or medicinal purposes, so any tribe undertaking marijuana commerce first needs to recognize that they are playing with fire and really the question is how hot of a fire are they playing with, because marijuana is per se federally illegal. >> sales of products at the store will be taxed in the same rate that customers are taxed at pot stores all over washington state, but that money won't go

to the state of washington, it's going to be kept internal by the tribe and put into education, public safety, all kinds of different programs and services that the tribe has going on. this store sits on highway 101, across the street from a major tribal casino. they are expecting a lot of people in here in the weeks and months to come and expect this store to generate a lot of revenue for the tribe. al jazeera, outside shelton, washington. >> auspice have space debris entered the earth said atmosphere at 1:19 eastern time. the object most likely burned up and whatever did not probably ended up in the indian ocean. nasa said there are countless pieces of space junk in low earth orbit. the news continues next live from doha. have a great weekend.

this is the news hour. i'm nick clark. coming up, kurdish forces raise a huge flag in the iraq town of sinjaar to mark their victory over isil. u.n. looks at boosting its forces in brundi. concerns are growing that