>> welcome back to the "france 24" newsroom. a-10s column in after one month of fighting. -- a tense calm in gaza after one month of fighting. the world bank urges more than $200 million in emergency aid to help contain the deadly ebola virus that left close to 900 dead. controlling the ebola viruses on the table as the first ever u.s. africa summit is now in washington. trade and investment between the two side is top priority.

let's start in the middle east where israel says all its troops have now left gaza at the start of the new three-day truce. israel and hamas agreed to the cease-fire to try to end nearly a month of fighting in the middle east. it went into effect early this morning and will hopefully hold as the two sides come together in egypt for talks on a longer-lasting agreement. >> israeli soldiers begin to leave gaza, but they will not be going home just yet. the israeli defense force announced tuesday morning it was leaving the gaza strip at the head of a start of a 72 hour cease-fire. a relative calm settled on the region. the egyptian proposal for all

parties to hold fire beaches aware of the others true intentions. >> all the while hoping israeli forces will withdraw from gaza for good. >> we will be watching hamas very closely. hamas has a pattern of deliberately violating cease-fires over the last three weeks. if hamas violates the cease-fire, israel is prepared to respond. >> last week after a diplomatic break israelis and palestinians accused each other of violating the truce just two hours after it started. many fear once again that the cease-fire could be short-lived. israel and palestinian organizations will hold direct talks in the past -- in the next few days to broker a peace deal for gaza. >> for now, let's go to gaza city with "france 24's"

gallagher fenwick. we are having a problem with gallagher at the moment. let's go to nigeria where amnesty international is accusing the army of extensive violations of human rights in the army's quest to stop the militant boko haram. gruesome footage of nigerian soldiers slitting the throats of suspected boko haram detainees before dumping the bodies into a mass grave. those killings reportedly happened after boko haram militants attacked a detention center in the northeast. in nigeria, officials say a doctor in lagos has contracted ebola, the second case in that country's largest city. but the african nations worst hit by the disease have been ginny, liberia, that have been guinea liberia, and sierra leone. $200 million of emergency aid

has been pledged to help contain the virus. let's bring in the information minister from liberia, lewis brown. thank you for joining us, sir. >> thank you for having me. >> mr. brown, what is liberia doing exactly now to try to control the spread of ebola? >> we have put in place, working closely with experts, the center for disease control, put in place a number of measures, including cremation of bodies to contain the spread of the deadly virus. which is in our capital city. >> there were some reports from the capital mama monrovia, that

health care professionals were so -- the capital, monrovia, that health care professionals were so overwhelmed that some bodies were not buried for days. >> what has happened, and it has now been reversed -- that is the will -- that is one of the reasons why we have had to adopt -- it is not resonating well with our culture. we have had to adopt a measure of cremation. what had happened was as people were dying in communities -- please do not forget that it is host to more than one third of the population. as people were dying communities, leaders communities, individuals were refusing or resisting health authorities from burying their loved ones and community

members, even in public graves. then it developed a backlog, so we have had to move to cremation immediately. now more bodies are being picked up. as we reported earlier, there is now an improved level of cooperation and coordination. the government has contributed $500 million to beef up our capabilities. >> mr. brown, what is the most important thing people in liberia should be doing to keep the virus from spreading? >> the first thing is to follow scrupulously what health

authorities and experts are advising. we have to deal with resistance, with doubts, skepticism about whether or not the virus is here. the evidence is overwhelming in many communities it is here and it is spreading. our strategy is to continue -- to contain the public transmission. we are not -- we are asking people not to touch dead bodies. there will be -- that will mean that certain measures will be taken, including quarantine. we are asking people, do not touch the bodies, the health capabilities have not been improved. the response will be much faster. we will be able to reach you even before people can die. we want people to follow

scrupulously what health authorities are saying -- washing their hands and taking protective measures. difficult activity right now. >> that was lewis brown, the minister of information in liberia. of course, ebola is top of the agenda at the very first u.s.-africa summit that is on in washington. the summit comes as the u.s. has also been losing the trade war with africa to both china and the ee you. but the white house now says $14 billion in investments in africa are on the way. philip crowther has more. >> it is in this hotel in washington, d.c., where the deals will be signed between businessmen from the united states and those who have come here from africa, but also the big ceo's on the biggest american companies from coca-cola to general electric coming here to meet with 50 heads of the african state.

the obama administration has insisted this is not a summit where it is about catching up with china or competing with china for a slice of the pie in terms of investment in africa. but there is quite a bit of catching up to do for the united states because the first of such summits between china and africa has already happened in 2008. this is the first one between the united states and africa. this is a summit that has been slightly or largely overshadowed, depending on your point of view, by the outbreak of ebola in western africa. for that reason, there are two heads of state who have not come to the summit. the president of sierra leone and liberia decided to take -- to stay in their respective countries to take care of the outbreak. there is one high-level meeting between the obama administration and the president of guinea and

the officials from the sierra leone and liberia to discuss what can be done to contain the outbreak. this is a big subject of discussion at the u.s.-africa summit and it has meant there are fewer heads of state than expected. that includes also those not invited in the first place like zimbabwe sudan, eritrea and the central african republic. >> philip crowther in washington. let's go back now to our top story in the middle east, where the cease-fire has now been underway for some five hours. gallagher fenwick joins us from gaza city. gallagher, what is the feeling on the streets there right now? are people confident that this cease-fire might succeed where the others have failed? >> yes, as a matter of fact, a few hours back we were describing the mood on the streets of gaza as one of cautious optimism or cautious

enthusiasm. that has slowly turned into confidence and trust as news of the army withdrawing is circulating through the streets. it is encouraging tens of thousands of residents of gaza to make it out of the shelters in which they have been hunkered down for nearly one month. this is day 29 of operation which is definitely winding down. so many people are kind -- are coming out and putting the cease-fire to the test. the previous ones have broken down, quickly unraveled, but this right now is the longest period of relative calm that the palestinians have been able to enjoy in gaza in nearly a month. >> gallagher, you are in the north of the gaza strip today. what was the feeling there?

was it the same? >> we were in one of the northernmost neighborhoods of the palestinian enclaves, and it is one of the hardest hit areas. the scenes of desolation and instruction that we saw are difficult to describe. entire neighborhoods literally -- people coming back to what they once called homes, but have been completely obliterated and are nothing but piles of rubble and twisted metal through which they rummage. in an attempt to find, salvage whatever they can -- sometimes a teddy bear for the children, a book, or pictures. reconstruction efforts have begun right this instant. people are sifting through the damage because they know that it is going to be a long time before they are able to rebuild what they once had out there. the other gruesome task that is being undertaken is also to go

through these massive amounts of destruction in order to pull perhaps more bodies out of the rubble. the death toll at this point is that more than 1800. there is a fear that it might reach the 2000 mark because of the amount of corpses which will probably be pulled out from under the rubble. people are cautiously making their way back to their homes to assess damage, perhaps pull bodies out to give them a problem burial and salvage whatever they can. today for the first time, there is a little more trust and hope within gaza's population that the cease-fire which they know very well, by the way, is temporary, will hold and perhaps lead to something longer. i will finish with this. one neighbor in the destroyed neighborhood telling me that those in gaza do not want peace they need peace and they needed

badly. >> gallagher fenwick reporting from gaza city. now there has been another twist in the case of that thai surrogate mother. according to australian media the biological father of her twin babies is a convicted sex offender. he and his wife had previously been accused of abandoning the son because he had down syndrome. the australians only took the healthy girl home to australia. her fate could lie in the hands of justice. >> a 21-year-old surrogate mother with a down syndrome baby whose biological father is reportedly a convicted datafile. for her, it is an unbearable situation -- a consented -- a convicted pedophile. for her, it is unbearable situation.

six months ago she gave birth to twins -- a healthy baby girl who was taken to australia to live with her biological parents, and a boy who has a genetic disorder, a heart condition, and a lung infection. she accuses the australian couple of abandoning him after they asked her to have an abortion, something she refused as it was against her buddhist beliefs. so now the parents have not spoken out, but local media say they deny any wrongdoing, saying they did not know their daughter had a sick brother. she has decided to raise her as her own child. she says -- according to a police source, their father was allegedly jailed for molesting three girls in the late 1990's. >> that is truly an incredible story. you are watching "france 24." let's take a look at headlines. there is a tense calm in gaza.

a truce has gone into it -- a cease-fire has gone into effect. the world bank has pledged $200 million in emergency aid to help contain the deadly virus in ebola. that has left close to 900 people dead. controlling ebola is on the table at the first ever u.s.-africa summit in washington. trade and investment between the two sides is also top priority. it is time to take a look at what is grabbing headlines around the world, and we have our press reviewer with us. >> a lot of the british papers are looking back at the 100th anniversary of world war i. i have put some articles from page. it is all black, and you can see on the front page it says, "in memory of the darkest day here go yesterday people were invited to turn off their lights for an hour at 11:00 p.m. you can see the black front page

with one photo, the grave of the unknown warrior at westminster abbey, where a candlelight vigil was held. all over the country people joined in this strange but necessary act of commemoration a memorial for something we cannot remember but we must not forget. as part of a cartoon from the guardian, have we actually learned the lessons from history? you can see the poppy, the symbol of world war i and veterans in general. the poppy says "never again." but you can see it is being stamped on by a boot, some soldier, we don't know where it is. this comes in the context of the fighting in ukraine, the middle east, etc.. china daily focuses on this as well. and also the ebola crisis that we have been seeing spreading in africa. a pretty bleak situation there. you can see the angel of death

launching a rocket toward the world on the edge of a cliff. a pretty depressing cartoon. >> you mentioned the ebola crisis, and that is at the top of the agenda of the first ever u.s.-africa summit in washington. >> that summit was aimed to encourage investment u.s. investment in africa. but it has been overshadowed by the ebola crisis, according to "the independent." the u.s. media is really focusing on the ebola crisis, especially after two usaid workers were infected last week. there is almost a sense of panic, or according to papers, including "the daily beast." why have we been seen this panic attack over the ebola crisis as well? it is because all of this has reignited the fear, the plague. "the daily beast" says the angel of death has a really good agent, and it takes a look back

over history and says that the panic over the plague and the cultural citation of it goes back centuries. a very interesting read if you are interested. >> here in france, reporting on drug trafficking. >> that's right, in northwestern france, it is the gateway of cocaine in france. that is on the front page. cocaine use to make its way through france via amsterdam and spain. things have changed. business is very good for cocaine, according to the paper. the door is wide open onto the french market, and that door is the port. pollution -- police and border officials have seen an influx of cocaine coming from south america, the caribbean. you can see a map that explains just how this traffic happened.

it is smuggled into france in containers on cargo ships, and police say this is ineffective way of smuggling cocaine in because on a global level, only 1% of containers on cargo ships are actually controlled. as happens on a massive almost industrial scale. in february, police intercepted 1.4 tons of cocaine hidden in a car, in a container headed for -- this was the biggest cocaine bust ever carried out in france. >> you have pulled out two articles about the debate of can control in the united states. >> gun laws are largely stayed based in the united states. most states allow the carrying of weapons, whether concealed or in open fashion. but what happens with private businesses? they have a wide latitude as to whether or not they want to allow customers to bring guns to their establishment.

in the wake of the sandy hook elementary school shooting in 2012 -- starbucks has asked customers not to bring guns to its establishment. in reaction to this, a large number of small restaurants and businesses are rolling out the red carpet for gun owners. you can read about it in "the wall street journal." they have gone so far as to offer discounts to customers who are armed. the waitress here at a restaurant in colorado, she is carrying a weapon. an article in "the guardian" focuses on parents who carry guns and maybe have a hard time explaining to their children why they carry guns openly. you can read that there is a solution now, a children's book called "my parents open carry." the authors were motivated to write to gun big -- to write the book because they were wanting

-- it sparked outrage among gun-control activists, but it is an interesting tidbit in "the guardian." white feather press is giving away another free copy of another book. this is called "raising boys feminists will hate." run and get a copy. >> very interesting. thank you for that look at the newspapers. thank you for watching "france 24." let's look at sports starting right now. >> semyon nasreen is said to be retiring from football at the age of 27. the midfielder was left out for the brazil word cup -- the brazil world cup, saying he did not perform as well for his country as he does for his club. her now has spoken for the first time since taking over -- the frenchman, who led france to the

cup, filled to get them through the group stages and the cup in brazil. the 45-year-old has signed a five-year deal and admits he will need time to assess the squad's needs. >> my success has always been down to building a collective. part of the success of this team will also be through a collective effort. there are sometimes players are unable to get along with each other, and we have to understand what those weaknesses are. give me some time to get a handle on the current situation and do a thorough analysis so that we can head in the best possible direction.

they're hoping he can deliver a first major title since 1992. the former greece manager has been banned by fifa. he led the greeks to the knockout stages for the first time in their history, but when his contract expired at the end of the tournament -- hold the vetch tuber has been unlucky when it comes to injuries. he ruptured his cruciate ligaments in 2012. when he was ready to come back he ruptured ligament again in april 2013. but after almost 18 months out, the german international is finally back in action, having planned to return to football in july. >> i am just happy to be able to play football again. i am getting better every day

adding better every section, but practicing with the team. when the world champions come back, the level is going to be even higher and for me even better. it would be awful if my injury had not gotten better. now i am simply happy to be able to play football again. and not to be in pain and to be with the team. to be honest, ball rings you back down to her. >> -- back down to earth. >> hoping that he can re-create the success of the past two seasons. all eyes were on rio on sunday for the first official test event for the 2016 olympics. with it being a familiar venue to world sailors, decades of human waste poured into the bay

has led to criticism. it is felt the problem has been exaggerated. >> there is obviously a lot of talk about the water quality and possibly about how unsafe it was, but for us, the water quality is not amazing but it is not as bad as what people talked about. it is fine to

e pure pleasure of it, sometimes has a transcendent power. what is called sacred music seems universally to be a form of prayer a vehicle for spiritual practice because music and sound are so clearly connected to our higher selves. so now we're in for a special treat, because the reverend alan jones and native singer joanne shenandoah are going to give us the opportunity to experience something of this. so settle back take a long, deep breath as we join our host, phil cousineau on this musical, soul-rendering episode of global spirit, the first internal travel series.