hello i'm barbara starr in london these are the top. stories on al-jazeera a gunman in less vegas has killed at least fifty eight people and injured more than five hundred others in the deadliest mass shooting in modern u.s. history most of the victims were attending a country music concert when the gunman steven paddock opened fire from the thirty second floor of a nearby hotel u.s. president donald trump says he will visit las vegas on wednesday and he's called the attack an act of pure evil officers say the gunman killed himself after security forces started firing back. we do know that he brought the weapons in on his own original briefing we believe that he was in partnership or companionship of a female and we have determined the female was out of the country so he brought these weapons in on his own and as far as method i don't have the ability to give you an accurate picture this is an individual who is described as a lone wolf i don't know how it could have been prevented if we didn't have any prior knowledge to this individual

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today, several officials tell barbara starr that's not the case. they were allowed. because they didn't want to risk injurying friendly troops. this is a crucial detail. how could there be confusion as to whether someone is allowed to drop bombs in a foreign country where american troops are? >> there are several things at play here. it's all incredibly important to lay out. we need to peel this back. i tell you, it goes back to the nature of the operation. these soldiers were armed for a permissive environment. they had done this 29 times in advance. every time you go out on a patrol, there is a reset of intelligence and what the purpose and objective is and on this 30th patrol, i can garren f guarantee you, they did that and they had 29 in advance. so i'm sure there was an understanding this was not going to be something, this was not going to turn into a gunfight. it never had before, but you've got to every time. i'm suggesting it probably happened, but because of the experience, they did not start to peel away probably as much as they should have the intelligenc

hello i'm barbara starr in london these are the top stories on al-jazeera police in russia have the tane more than two hundred activists across the country for taking part in opposition rallies sixty were detained in st petersburg when police moved in to break up the demonstration there it was one of at least twenty seven held to coincide with president putin's sixty fifth birthday but chalons reports from moscow. saturday was a test for alexei navalny and a test for russia's security forces on the day president putin turned sixty five the opposition leader wanted supporters to demand his release from twenty days administrative detention and for him to be allowed to run in next year's presidential elections he's going in the band of independent candidate they want the person who are being. talked about would talk about the real russian problems i love my country very much this is why i am here the method of ruling. i wrote that they are soviet and. new generation is growing the botswana unsanctioned rallies earlier in the year drew many thousands of people not nearly so many came this ti

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program. pro independence catalans shut down roads and stations in a region wide protest that police violence during sunday's referendum. kurdish leader and former iraqi president jalal talabani dies just the week after his people vote for independence president trump flies to puerto rico to survey the damage done by hurricane maria and their role in just skeptical they'll ever be able to return home despite assurances from yemen. hello thank you for joining us the f.b.i. is investigating the history of the sixty four year old former accountant who carried out the worst mass shooting in modern u.s. history detectives are trying to work out why even paddock opened fire from a hotel room onto a country music festival in las vegas at least fifty nine people were killed and more than five hundred others injured had a killed himself in his hotel room before police arrived he had twenty three weapons with them and they found many more guns in his home as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition for

officials are clarifying key points , barbara starr reports. >> reporter: they all cautioned this ishe early picture in - and the investigation continues. the pentagon is looking at exact circumstances. the entire team led by has been interviewed officials say when they last saw johnson. the u.s. team stopped on the nigeria, mali border so they could pick up supplies and food and water and they met with village elders. investigators believe that ambush may have begun when u.s. soldiers were back in their vehicle, possibly even driving. those killed are laid to rest, defense secretary james mattis on capitol hill briefed senator john mccain one day after mccain threatened subpoenas if the pentagon does not start telling congress what it knows. >> i felt that we are not getting sufficient amount of information and we are clearing a lot of that up now. >> mattis refusing to publicly comment why the fbi is involved in gathering intelligence on this suspected isis militants that ambushed the u.s. forces. >> the fbi would have joour jurisdicti jurisdiction. >> the pressure is mounting for

cnn's barbara starr at the pentagon. barbara, you have been pushing this forward for more than a week now. what do we know and what don't we know? >> it's a mixed picture at this point and it still remains these are the initial reports coming in according to multiple sources we are talking to. secretary mattis, i think, dismayed would be the accurate word from what people are telling us. not rushing things, but would like to see answers. the u.s. now assesses it was isis that attacked this team in niger, and they basically walked into an ambush of about 50 isis fighters armed with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns, and the u.s. team had only rifles. the intelligence they had at the time was clearly inaccurate. the intelligence said it was unlikely that they would run into any opposition on this mission and certainly they did. this was a location they had gone to many times before, and they were going to visit village elders and they were basically on a training and advice mission for the local forces accompanying

let's get to barbara starr who joins us from the pentagon. what are we learning from the family, barbara? >> this news breaking overnight. the pakistany army actually putting the first public word out they were able to rescue this family of five. an american woman, caitlan coleman, 31 years old, and her husband, joshua boyle, he's a canadian. those children there born in captivity. they were taken hostage by a terror group in the region known as the haqqanis. they were affiliated with the taliban, indeed. they were being held in pakistan. what happened is over the last several days the u.s. came in touch with intelligence that helped to pinpoint their location with accuracy because pakistani security officials were able to locate them. the case has been well known but not publicized, and the family was held since 2012 when they were taken hospital. this is a family that u.s. intelligence had been tracking and had been looking for along with the canadians, obviously, trying to see if they could get any information on their location. our underst

our cnn correspondent, barbara starr, is at the pentagon. >> details still coming in and these are first reports. the military is confirming three green berets were killed and two wounded when they were operating along with nigerian forces with the west african nation. the two wounded have and the remains of the killed have been evacuated out of the site. the two wounded americans are now back at the u.s. military hospital in germany and said to be in stable condition getting treatment there. the green berets were in this part of west africa conducting what they call an advice and assist mission. they try to help local forces go after al qaeda and other elements to try and improve their abilities in the counterterrorism type of capability to go after terrorists elements in these areas, and it's not a mission discussed very much. these are very remote areas and typically small teams of americans going in. what we are being told at this hour is that u.s. and nigerian west african troops are continuing their operations in this area, trying to find the attackers who launched the ambush again

cnn's barbara starr is at the pentagon. >> good morning to both of you. you would expect the pentagon and the military to launch a review of a situation like this and that's what they are doing. they are starting with actually trying to formulate a precise timeline that we are told by defense officials hour-by-hour what happened, how did it unfold. it starts with the intelligence the team had when they went to this village. this is an area where there had been insurgent activity but not the area they were going to, and they had been there many times before, the military had, and not encountered problems and did not anticipate this ambush. did they go in with faulty intelligence or proper intelligence? who gave them the intelligence that led to this mission? they were supposed to go to the village and they were training and advising local nigerian forces. how did they not know 50 isis fighters were there? so they will look at that. they will look at the air support from the french military that came in 30 minutes after the firefight. niger does not allow o

right to correspondent barbara starr. barbara, what's the case that bergdahl makes there? you know, this as you say, this case has been going on for years now. he was captured when he walked away from the base in afghanistan in 2009. held by the taliban for five years, tortured, has suffered health problems. charged with dessertion. now he is saying that he cannot receive a fair trial because of things that donald trump said when he was running for office before he became the president. one of the things that donald trump tweeted at this time and i want to read it to everyone is that -- and trump said, may as well go -- pardon me. that's wrong. i was going to read the wrong thing. let me just move ahead and you can read it right there on the screen. the president before taking office being very critical of the bergdahl case and then this interview last year. listen to bo bergdahl in his own words. >> may as well go back to kangaroo courts and lynch mobs. they got what they wanted. the people to the point of saying, yeah, just shoot him, you can never convince those people

let's bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara, what are your sources telling you? >> wolf, we are getting some very interesting details about some of the early reports of what happened. our sources are cautioning us things could change, they could get more information, but there are still so many questions to be answered. sergeant la david johnson was found nearly a mile away from the central scene of the ambush, according to four administration officials familiar with the early assessment. they all caution this is the early picture and the investigation continues. the pentagon is still looking at the exact circumstances of how he became separated from his unit. the entire team led by green berets has been interviewed, officials say, about when they last saw johnson. the u.s. team had stopped in a town on the niger/mali border so the nigerians they were working with could pick up supplies, including food and water and then they met with village elders. investigators believe the ambush may have begun when the u.s. soldiers

i want to bring in barbara starr. rbara, you have new reporting about the evacuations that came after the ambush? >> reporter: we do, indeed, briana. let's as you said recall that two weeks later we are still learning new information from the u.s. military which is trying to investigate all of this, put together a time line of what happened hour by hour, but now we are told by the u.s. africa command that, in fact, a private contractor aircraft, private aviation under contract to the u.s. military in west africa went in after the firefight and evacuated the dead and the wounded. until now we had only been told that french helicopters, french military helicopters went in and of course they would have been armed. we still believe it is the case that they went in and also evacuated some, but what we're trying to find out, and this is a very key point, did both the contractor plane, which is not armed, and the french military helicopter evacuate dead and wounded americans? did both of those aircraft have good communication

let's get to barbara starr who joins us from the pentagon. are we learning from the family, barbara? >> this news breaking overnight. the pakistany army actually putting the first public word out they were able to rescue this family of five. an american woman, caitlan coleman, 31 years old, and her husband, joshua boyle, he's a canadian. those children there born in captivity. they were

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. barbara, thank you. >>> if in spain's catalonia region, rain can't dampen the spirits of protesters who want independence there. but we'll find out what the government is trying to do to crush that movement. stay with us. ohn's disease. you're more than just a bathroom disease. you're a life of unpredictable symptoms. crohn's, you've tried to own us. but now it's our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before or during treatment, always tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop any new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently

barbara starr, lieutenant general mart hurtling., the storm, what does that mean to the pentagon? this was supposed to be a cordial meeting. >> reporter: well, the answer is we don't know. the question is did any of the commanders in the room know? donald trump is speaking to the tv cameras. but those commanders, it is is very important i think to understand who they are. these are guys who are the storm. but you're never going to hear them talk about it. these are some of the most calm, understated, u.s. military commanders you are ever going to find. general votel, overseas the wars in iraq, afghanistan, and syria. that's a guy who made two parachute jumps into combat under fire. you'll never hear him talk about it. general tony thomas, overseeing delta force, s.e.a.l. team 6. never going to hear him talk about it. general milly, is skap relly, two general who have been commanding troops in combat in afghanistan. i've been with him in afghanistan. my eyeballs were rotating. these are the two of the calmest guys you will ever find.

barbara starr is "outfront" live at the pentagon tonight. is a huge story and a huge mystery. what do we know about how u this family was rescued? >> well, this is the american woman, kaitlyn, her husband, joshua boyle, canadian and three children born in captivity. what apparently happened is u.s. intelligence began to notice movement yesterday of some vehicles in the border area of pakistan and afghanistan inside pakistan. they had reason to believe it was this family inside those vehicles being moved to a different location. they calleded the pakistanis. the pakistanis surprised the u.s. a little bit. went after them and got them back. called the u.s. back and said, we have them. mr. boyle has spoken to his family, we're told, and has told them that they were in a vehicle when gunfire broke out. when they were finally let out of the vehicle by their rescuers, their five captors were dead. he had a slight shrapnel wound. and the u.s., the trump administration is thanking the pakistanis for getting these people back. this is a good developme

hello i'm barbara starr in london these are the top stories on al-jazeera u.s. backed forces have driven eisel out of itself the cleared capital of rocker in syria after a four month battle the kurdish led syrian democratic forces have raised their flag inside the city stadium which i saw had turned into a huge prison for anyone who oppose their rule. reports. kurdish fighters triumphantly into right there celebrating the capture of the city which was a main stronghold in syria but taking. wasn't easy for. the syrian democratic forces a coalition of kurds and arabs backed by the u.s. began the offensive in june i said fighters held ground for five months but the armed groups defense lines were eventually broken by a continual wave of strikes and shelling but. we control rock up but as you know there are mines that we need to clear and we have to make sure there are laws to fighters hiding in tunnels we are now clearing all the areas we captured civilians continue to flee to safe areas this is a family that has just a refugee camp controlled by the. tens of thous

joining me now, barbara starr, molly balls, cnn political analyst.arbara starr you are better sourced at the pentagon than anybody i know, and are your sources aware of any imminent storm that might face those military leaders gathered around the president last night? >> well, yes, there are a number of things the u.s. could face at any minute. think about north korea, right? that could blow up, and i am speaking figuratively. you have the situation in west africa where green berets have just been killed. you have thousands of troops in harms way around the world, in iraq, syria and afghanistan. but that is the business that these commanders around the table you are showing are very calm about and capable of dealing with. these are commanders, men and women who are not particularly inclined to drama, to high-drama statements like the one the president made in front of tv cameras. they are very calm and methodical. many of them have been in combat before and under fire and commanded troops in combat, and work on military options around the clock every

cnn's barbara starr joins me live now from the pentagon here. barbara, what's the deal here?hn, the people of his hometown very publicly, very openly turning out to pay their respects to this army sergeant, one of four killed in nyjer in an incident under full investigation of the military and trying to determine how it was that this advise and assist team led by green berets went to the place in niger in west africa and did not know that they were walking in to an ambush of some 50 isis fighters. the town turning out to pay their respects to this sergeant and i just want to take a moment and tell everybody what an extraordinary military family sergeant wright came from. apparently 200 years of military service in this family. they believe their family records show he was the first to be killed in combat. listen to his brother. >> through our records we had not lost a single member until dustin. that's 205 years, that's a good run. so, it's been -- it's been great to hear that history and share that history and, you know, if once every 205 years this is a price we pay then th

cnn's barbara starr joins me now. is happened and who might have been behind the ambush? >> we are, jake. indeed, for a president who likes to tweet about winning, he may not have any good news to report about this attack, where americans apparently died at the hands of isis. >> reporter: four u.s. soldiers killed in an isis ambush in the 1-877-nation of niger, coming home to their families. the 12-man team led by green berets killed or wounded in a surprise ambush attack. >> we assess risk before every operation. the military has a rigorous risk assessment process in place, but it's only an assessment. >> reporter: intelligence showed it was unlikely they would run into enemy forces, officially tell cnn. they were meeting with locals in advising nigerian forces, but suddenly they were ambushed by more than 50 isis-affiliated fighters. the american troops' pickup trucks were shattered by gunfire. they had only rifles to fight back. the isis attackers had rocket propelled grenades and machine guns. but sergeant johnson,

barbara starr is live at the pentagon with more. what did you learn, barbara? >> reporter: good morning, alis alisyn. well, what we know right now is this is going to be a tough issue for the pentagon and the president to explain. three things. this was an isis attack. isis. this was an intelligence failure. the intelligence said it was unlikely they would run into trouble. those troops walked into an ambush of 50 isis fighters. when firefight broke out, french airplanes flew overhead to try and help. but u.s. officials are telling us in niger, that government did not give permission for offensive air operations. in other words, there was no authority for the aircraft to even drop bombs. so those u.s. troops were on the ground with essentially no kinetic help. no bombs were able to drop to help them. where does it all go from here? we're still learning new details. a private aircraft flew into the battle field after the fighting stopped and helped evacuate the dead and the wounded. this raising the essential question, what happened when they lifted off? why did

hello there i'm barbara starr in london these are the top stories on al-jazeera and we start with some breaking news a number of people were injured and some are feared dead after a pickup truck plowed into a psychopath in new york city police say one person has been taken into custody after the incident that happened about an hour ago close to the westside highway in lower manhattan witnesses say shots were also fired we'll bring you more on that story in the news hour as we get it and we are understanding that several people are dead and it is now be. treated as a terrorist attack will get you more news on that more developments as we get them here on al-jazeera in other news a spain's national court has called catalonia as the post president catalyst pushed the mont to testify on thursday as a process is rebellion insufficient charges against him for declaring independence from spain he says he's not in belgium to seek political asylum but to act in freedom and safety with britain pose that wrecked rule in catalonia on friday dissolving the regional government and ordered new electi

cnn's barbara starr has this record for us. >> reporter: sergeant florida david johnson was found nearlye of the ambush, according to four administration officials familiar with the early assessment. they all cautioned, this is the early picture. and the investigation continues. the pentagon is still looking at the exact circumstances of how he became separated from his unit. the entire team led by green berets has been interviewed officials say, about when they last saw johnson. the u.s. team had stopped in a town on the niger/mali border so the nigerians they were working with could pick up supplies including food and water. then they met with village elders. investigators believe the ambush may have begun when the u.s. soldiers were back in their vehicles, possibly even driving. as those killed are laid to rest, defense secretary james mattis on capitol hill briefed senator john mccain one day after mccain, chairman. armed services committee, threatened subpoenas if the pentagon doesn't startling congress what it knows. >> i felt that we were not given sufficient amount of information

let's go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. very, very blunt talk coming from secretary mattis. >> but i think it's exactly, wolf, what one would expect from a defense secretary or top commander. emphasizing diplomacy very strongly, and yet caveating that the military must be ready. have a listen to exactly what he had to say today. >> right now, a diplomatically-led economic sanction effort to try to turn north korea off this path. now, what does the future hold? neither you or i can say, so there is one thing the u.s. army can do, and that is, you have got to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our president can employ if needed. >> but commanders will also tell you all of though options have very dire cops consequences nse of casualties and destruction and impact on south korea. the president continuing to tweet about all of this. let's just review the latest from the president on that. the president tweeting, presidents and their administrations have been talking to north korea for 25 years. agreements mad

barbara starr at the pentagon. thanks very much. deeper now on the timeline of this ambush. joining us, john kirby. a former spokesman for the pentagon and the state department. this ambush was on october 4th. take us through the timeline. >> that's right, wolf. wednesday, october 4th. it was on that day officials tell us the 12-man green barea led just completed a meeting with local leaders and were walking back to their unarmored pick up trucks when the ambush resulted in a fire fight that lasted about 30 minutes until french fighter jets arrived to fly low passes in b attempt to dispurse theerse the attackers. sergeant johnson became separated then from his team. we do not know how or why at this point. search and rescue operation involving u.s. french and nigerian troops was launched after they realized one service member was unaccounted for. the u.s. military says it does not believe sergeant johnson fell over into enemy hand, but they did have reason to believe he might be alive. one indication is that the military picked up e

our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, is working the story for us. barbara, tough talk, new talk on all sides. >> reporter: indeed, wolf, good evening. well, the president is certainly sending messages to north korea. the question, of course, is what are the north koreans hearing. b-1 bombers flying in a show of force over the pacific, sending the message just one more time to kim jong-un that the u.s. is ready to move against him if it comes to that. president trump met again with national security officials to review what the white house calls a range of options to respond to any form of north korean aggression or if necessary, to prevent from north korea from threatening the united states and its allies with nuclear weapons. the north korean foreign minister telling the russian state-run news agency, president trump lit the wick of war when he spoke to the u.n.. >> rocketman is on a suicide mission for himself. and for his regime. >> reporter: the foreign minister, who called for a hydrogen bomb detonation over the pacific, called trump's u.n. rema

. >> joining us now, cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr and military analyst lieutenant colonelything we know about this comes from your reporting. thank you for that. remind us what we know about this ambush and as importantly right now what questions remain. >> let's leave as much as we can the pictures of those four army soldiers up because these are men with names and families and hometowns across this country. so important to know who they are. what we have now is the u.s. africa command has begun an in depth review of exactly what happened. one of the key questions, look at the picture of that young soldier on your far right. sergeant la david johnson. he is the one. the other three were killed, their bodies recovered fairly quickly if you will. but la david johnson's body was out there for 48 hours. they did not find him right away. he was not recovered. they even thought there was a possibility he might be alive out there. one of the key questions of this military review will be, how did la david johnson get left behind? that is an answer his family certainly is owed. th

. >> to barbara starr who joins us at the pentagon with more. free finally the three little kids and their parents. >> indeed, this news breaking overnight and good news to report. let's emphasize that for a change. very good news to report. this american woman caitlan coleman, her canadian husband joshua boyle, and three small children, all three of their children, born in captivity, finally rescued overnight by pakistani security officials. they were being moved apparently, according to our national security analyst, peter bergpen, from one location to another, when the pakistanis acting in part on intelligence they got from the united states, were able to move in and rescue them. the family currently to this morning is still in pakistan, arrangements still being made for their return either to the u.s. or to canada. the husband's country of citizenship. the president actually hinted last night when he was speaking, in fact, that something very interesting was in the works and was about to come to light. have a listen to what he had to say. >>

barbara starr, thanks so much. again, congress very much wants some answers into this and so do the families of those fallen. overnight we learned how the white house first planned to address this ambush. >> right. it was going to be pretty immediately with a written statement. that didn't happen. instead it was almost two weeks before the president talked about these deaths at all and that's after a reporter asked him about it in the rose garden on monday. joe johns is in the white house with more. anything else from the president this morning? >> you know, we haven't gotten a lot of detail, poppy, on why the president did not issue a public statement on the deaths of those u.s. soldiers in niger for so long. we do know that the national security council put together a statement, that's what we're told, but they decided not to put it out according to an official who spoke with cnn. instead, they opted to allow the press secretary, sarah sanders, to make remarks about it from the podium here, thinking that would be

>> barbara starr at the pentagon, keep us posted. thank you for that. >>> meantime the republican chair of the senate intelligence committee says there is still a lot more work to do to try to figure out whether or not there was any collusion with the russians during the 2016 election. >> the committee is expanding its probe with plans to conduct more than two dozen new interviews after they reached a conclusion that intelligence community did months ago that russia did, in fact, meddle in the 2016 election. shimon joins us from washington. >> the two leaders of the intelligence committee offered no big reveal yesterday in their press conference as they say they are unable to answer the key question of collusion. the committee as you say has interviewed over 100 people and say they plan to continue interviews and now the new issue for them is how facebook and twitter were used to discourse, divide and target key voters in states largely undecided. the question about the effect of these facebook ads, now the big focus before the commi

cnn's barbara starr reports. >> reporter: it's as if defense secretary james mattis seemed to almost be speaking directly to donald trump. >> it is right now a diplomatically led economic sanction effort to try to turn north korea off this path. now, what does the future hold? neither you or i can say. >> reporter: more north korean missile launches, poibl an icbm next are expected. mattis' call for diplomacy may not satisfy the president, who tweeted agreements violated before the ink was dry, making fools of u.s. negotiators. sorry, but open one thing will work. >> what's the one thing that will work with north korea? >> well, you'll figure that out pretty soon. >> reporter: the drama didn't stop. republican senator bob corker already at odds with president trump publicly suggesting what some already believe, that there is a team of trump whisperers, including defense secretary mattis. >> those people that help separate our country from chaos. >> reporter: but that kind of high profile puts mattis and the pentagon potentially in trump's crosshairs. the president already is making m

let's go to our correspondent barbara starr working the story for us. what are you learning? >>. >> reporter: good afternoon, wolf. we are now hearing from the pentagon that they have confirmed to their satisfaction it was isis behind the ambush several days ago that killed four american soldiers and wounded two in the west african nation of niger. you will recall this was the deadliest attack against u.s. forces since president trump took office and he has yet to publicly comment on this entire episode. the pentagon now saying it was a group of about 50 isis fighters that ambushed these four american soldiers. killing these four, wounding two others whether he they were on what they thought would be a routine visit to villagers in the southwest area of niger. they were there on a so-called advise and assist mission when isis attacked, they had machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. the american troops only had their rifles with them. no explanation yet on how the intelligence could have been so poor that the american troops did not note that there were 50 isis fighters

let's get to cnn's barbara starr at the pentagon with much more. what are you learning? good morning, so many questions for the families of the fallen. the u.s. military has opened a full review, two weeks later, still looking at this, trying to figure out exactly what did happen. this review will look at the timeline hour by hour, how it unfolded, what everybody did, what everybody knew. what was the intelligence that these military members led by green berets, the 12-man team, had going into a village in niger where they were only supposed to meet with locals, and then depart. there was no indication of combat. why didn't they have the intelligence that they were walking into an ambush of 50 isis fighters. when the ambush broke out, there was confusion on the ground. they had to wait 30 minutes for overhead support from french aircraft. and one of the major issues is what happened to sergeant la david johnson. 25 years old. he was one of the soldiers killed there. we have his picture. i know we put it up a minute ago. let's show it again, his body was not recovered for

barbara starr at the pentagon for us. thank you.iscuss this is democratic congresswoman tulsi gabbard of hawaii. she is a major in the army national guard and did two tours of duty in the middle east. congresswoman, always good to see you. do you have a better sense of what she's soldiers were doing in niger and why they didn't have the proper military support when they needed it? >> yeah, thanks, jake. it's good to talk to you always. first of all, my heart goes out to the family members of our brothers who paid the ultimate price. there's an investigation that's going on. we should wait to get the details of that investigation rather than to speculate, but i can tell you that the question that i know that the american people are asking and that should be asked of this administration is, what are they doing in niger? what is the objective that they are there to try to accomplish? what is the overall strategy in this so-called war on terror? on the one hand, we've got our young men and women who are putting their lives on the line f

>> barbara starr, thank you so much. this all comes as we're learning new details about a tense meeting over the summer between president trump and his national security team, after which sources say secretary of state rex tillerson called the president a, quote, moron. cnn's jeff zeleny has that story from the white house. >> reporter: president trump welcoming canadian prime minister justin trudeau to the white house today. >> thank you all very much. i very much appreciate it. we are here with a man who has become a friend of mine. >> reporter: the president and the prime minister were all smiles, unlike mr. trump has been with some of his own top advisers, like secretary of state rex tillerson. it's been one week since reports first surfaced that tillerson referred to the president as a moron after a national security meeting this summer. cnn has learned the president was infuriated when he learned about the remark and has been fuming behind closed doors ever since. today, the president had this to say about his top

let's go to barbara starr at the pentagon. what is the significance of that? >> well, poppy, john, it's not unprecedented, not routine, but not unprecedented for the fbi to get involved in these investigations overseas. what we are told is they are not investigating the action per se of the u.s. troops or the fire fight per se. what they are looking at is the intelligence about who was operating in that area, what insurgent groups. the belief is the u.s. troops were attacked by 50 sigh isis fighters in this part of west africa. they will look at intelligence they have on this group. what do they know about them, how are they really tied to isis, what are their capabilities, who's their leadership, where are they operating, how did it possibly get missed these guys were out there, that they were in this area. so it's going to be all about the intelligence, all about the counter terrorism effort that needs to help now. >> and colonel francona, you are with us now and we talked about the open questions, one of them that the family has of sergeant la david johnson

barbara starr is there. barbara, what's the pentagon view of this? >> well, the pentagon, obviously, not speaking publicly about it. but i've talked to a source who has, you know, over the weeks and months, been in the room when there have been private conversations between the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, and the white house national security adviser, h.r. mcmaster, for example. they have often talked about when some of them are on the road, there have been teleconferences, that sort of thing. this person describes to me that, yes, tillerson uses salty language. he would not be the first cabinet member. he won't be the last. nothing really more than that. but describes it as salty language. there was an interaction between mattis, tillerson, and h.r. mcmaster where tillerson became extremely irritated, we are told by this person with direct knowledge, irritate ed with h.r mcmaster and the white house because they were pressuring him, in his view, to move faster on an afghan strategy. this person describes tillerson's response to mcm

barbara starr, thanks so much. we have another piece of news in. dana, i want to bring you in about this, the epa inspector general is expanding an investigation that it had going on of scott pruitt heading up the epa. this has to do with his travel on jets. can you tell us about this? what does this mean? >> first of all, this is a memo that our colleague s obtained about the inspector general's work. the internal watchdog of any agency and epa what this moem mow says is the ig is now expanding this scope of its investigation into the epa administrator scott pruitt's travel. specifically going back through september 30th to see effectively whether or not or not the expenses and frequency and extent and cost was appropriate. so you know, just the beginning of that widening probe, he's already had some issues and we'll see what he finds, what they find. we know what happened when that widening probe happened at the hh -- department of hhs with tom price. it didn't turn out too well for him but we'll wait and see what happens. everything could be sta

hello i'm barbara starr in london these are the top stories on al-jazeera police in russia have the taint more than two hundred activists across the country for taking part in opposition.

hello i'm barbara starr in london these are the top stories on al-jazeera police in kenya have fired tear gas at protesters unhappy at a new election law they fear it could lead to a walkover victory for the current president uhuru kenyatta in the real rerun of the election shed for just over two weeks time opposition leader rollo dingo pulled out of the planned vote on tuesday some of the military ports from nairobi. raila odinga supporters bailey needed any prompting to return to the streets. they're demonstrating against kenya's electoral commission which they believe won't conduct a free and fair rerun of august election. but holding a supporters are divided on him dropping out of the race i think a claim which he lost was great the supreme court laid to rule they'd been irregularities and how the vote was counted and incumbent and should stand in new elections you cannot go to an election has credibility. i think of what i think are the best option but we are not but. because of the pressure so we are out there was just that we are not happy to police earlier flights here agains

hello i'm barbara starr in london these are the top stories on al-jazeera u.s. backed forces have driven i saw out of itself the cleric capital of rock in syria after a former.

hello i'm barbara starr in london these are the top stories on police in kenya have fired tear gas at protesters unhappy at.

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program let's talk the message from catalogues who fear the region's fight for independence will end badly and their call was echoed across spain where thousands more turned out appealing for you to turkey and the free syrian army launched an offensive to drive a former al qaeda group from one of syria's four deescalation zones and hurrican native races towards the u.s. gulf coast after killing at least twenty five people across central america. hello thank you for joining us russian police have detained more than two hundred people at anti-government protests around the country. uh. in st petersburg sixty people were taken into custody when police moved in to break up a demonstration it was one of at least a twenty seven held to coincide with president vladimir putin's sixty fifth birthday the demonstrators are supporters of opposition leader alexina valmy who is currently serving a twenty day jail term or a challenge reports from moscow where thousands more protesters rallied against the governme

hello i'm barbara starr and this is al jazeera live from london and also coming up . more than two hundred russian opposition supporters arrested is they mark putin's sixty fifth birthday with protests around the country the u.n. chief surveys relief efforts in and and for a beauty he tells about hurricane irma has turned the islands from a paradise into hell and new orleans braces for harakah nato as it heads for the u.s. gulf coast after killing twenty five people in central america. spain's prime minister has ruled out mediation with catalan officials to resolve the crisis over last weekend's secession vote that's this fight tens of thousands of people gathering in barcelona and madrid to call for talks to end the standoff catalonians leaders say they have a mandate to push for independence even the madrid insists sunday's referendum was illegal join a whole reports from barcelona. it's all in the hands apparently at a demonstration in barcelona the fluttering gestures of openness and peace. let's talk they say in spanish and in catalonia the language of this regio

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up kurdish forces lose more territory in northern iraq leaving their dream of independence in tatters also ahead the president of the philippines the clear is victory in the southern city of are we after a five month battle against eyesore linked fighters where in mogadishu a city still in shock after saturday's my massive truck bombing the president is blaming al-shabaab and is calling for more international help. we begin the program in syria where u.s. backed forces have driven out i saw from itself the cleared capital rocka after a tough four month battle the kurdish led syrian democratic forces have or. raise their flag inside the city stadium which i saw had turned into a huge prison for anyone who opposes their role hashem how reports now from the turkey syria border. kurdish fighters triumphantly into right there celebrating the capture of the city which was a main stronghold in syria but. wasn't easy. the syrian democratic forces a coalition of kurds and arabs backed by the u.s. began the offensive

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program evading the question catalans leader fails to answer yes or no on whether the region has the cleared independence from spain portugal's prime minister declares a state of emergency is raging wildfires leave at least thirty two dead and angering more that mogadishu following the deadliest single attack in somalia's history. we begin the program with major developments out of iraq where government forces have taken control of the city of kirkuk according to security forces troops moved inside the provincial government building with no one position from kurdish forces deployed in the city iraqi lead forces arrived at the building and took position in the vicinity well thousands of civilians have fled the kurdish district of the city heading in buses and cars towards kurdish controlled areas in northern iraq stratford is an air village in northern iraq but charles you were in kirkuk up until a few hours ago you saw a lot of this actually unfolding just talk us through exactly what you saw what yo

hello i'm barbara starr in london these are the top stories on al-jazeera a gunman has killed at least fifty eight people and injured more than five hundred others at a country music festival in las vegas it's the worst mass shooting in modern u.s. history police say that sixty four year old stephen paddick opened fire from the thirty second floor of the mandalay bay hotel before killing himself kimberly halkett has more.

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program turkey flexes its military might along the border with syria as part of an operation to rid the province of al qaeda linked fighters safety standards under the spotlight in ghana after a massive gas explosion killed seven people and injure is that dozens more blasts campaigning over it's time for the voters to decide who will be the leader of africa's old the street public. they're calling themselves the silent majority and they've been out in force in barcelona their message they want catalonia to stay part of spain hundreds of thousands of people traveled from all over the country to make their call for unity exactly one week after catalonia as a session vote the referendum has plunged spain into a political crisis and as john a whole reports both sides are only hardening their positions. has seen plenty of huge demonstrations but not like this one will see red light yellow the cleveland city and flying alongside the spanish national flag region gripped by calls for independence this is a