california is in the billions. ♪ ♪ and we begin tonight in st. louis where activists and mourningers are gather to go look for a way forward after the police shooting that killed michael brown, a town hall meeting is going on right now. the event at the missouri history museum billed as a chance for young people to speak out and for adult to listen, earlier today thousands attended brown's funeral to honor the teenager's memory. but there were calls for justice, diana estebrook is outside the town meeting hall. diane. >> reporter: it is a packed house inside there. there is probably 300 people, black, white, young, old, talking about healing the community, but also talking about change and that is something that we heard over and over again to the at michael brown's tune funeral. paying the brown was laid to rest with prayers. >> got have place aid special calling on you are lives. >> reporter: songs. ♪ ♪ and cries for justice. >> no community in america would tolerate an 18 year olds boy laying in the street 4 1/2 hours and we are mott going to tolerate it either. the value of this boy's life mist be answered by somebody. >> reporter: inside friendly temple missionary baptist church the family of michael brown sat among celebrities, politicians and the public remembering the 18-year-old shot by a white ferguson missouri police officer a little over two weeks ago. >> michael was a big guy. but he was a kind, gentle soul. >> reporter: relatives recalled a young man who had a strong faith in god and dreamed of becoming a rap artist. >> one day the world would know his name. [applause] >> he did not know that he was offering up a divine prophecy at that time. >> reporter: brown's death triggered days of frost. riots and looting on the streets of ferguson. civil rights activist al sharpton said brown shouldn't being remember today that. but as a catalyst for change. >> he wants to be remembered as the one that made america deal with how we are going to police in the united states. >> reporter: during the funeral a small group gathered at the site where brown was slain praying the teen's did death will mark a tuning point in the community. >> my grandson is growing up too in a community we are not doing enough to prepare him to life better and the children already in this growth process, there is so much that needs to be done. >> reporter: and that could be brown's legacy. and it has been a peacal day all day here in ferguson and around st. louis and that is something that michael brown's father asked for yesterday. john. >> diane estebrook in st. louis, thank you. along with the referent al sharpton and several other prominent civil rights leaders attended the funeral today. martin luther king, iii sat next to tj jakes, reverends jesse jackson and representatives from the white house were also in attendance. patricia bynes is a democratic committee woman in ferguson township. she was at today's funeral for michael brown. patricia, welcome. >> hi, thank you for having me. >> more than a week ago you and i talked to the phone at the first sign of violence what hats changed since then? >> yes, we have certainly had some changes here in the streets and that comes to what is going on in the legal process and what the family has asked for. i know that having the department of justice come in and knowing that they are running an investigate, saying that they are going to look at police practices here in ferguson and in st. louis county, that has maids the public feel a lot better. knowing that we are start this is grand jury process is making people feel a lot better. and then certainly the family has called for a day of silence no, frosting. and i know as a community we are honoring that. so things are certainly quiet. >> patricia, you were at the funeral today, can you tell us from your eyes what it sounded and heard like? >> it was a beautiful home going service for mike brown, we were celebrating his life. and what it should have been, but also the beauty of what is going to come from this tragedy of what is. we are a community and a -- they are a family that we are going to grow and heal from this and be better because we love where we are. so i think it was a great celebration, and we spoke about not just being a moment, but all movement to get involved not just in ferguson or in st. louis county, but armed the entire country to get involved and sort asking questions about police practices. >> the brown family pleaded for peace today and it's been a peaceful day. is there still a lot of anger in ferguson? >> absolutely. the circumstances surrounding his death have not changed. this still is a young man shot twice in the head four times in the body. and his body laid out in the streets for 4 1/2 hours. there is a lot of anger around that. and even at the funeral today his family members that spoke, i believe two of them said that they are still very angry and that's not going to go away. so while we have been quiet tonight, i suspect that tomorrow night the streets will still be filled with protesters exercising our first amendment right and also the ferguson city council meeting is tomorrow. that's going to be a packed hauling. and so look for a lot of more political activity coming your way regarding this matter. >> what is it going to take for your community it heal? >> well, one we have a certain segment of the community that does not think that there is a problem. acknowledgment that there is a practice be and what ma that problem is is going to be the first step. after that, we are strategizing on voter education, because we want people to feel empowered. we don't want people to think that looting and rioting is a way to feel like they have a sense of power. but the real power that they have is actually at the ballot box and knowing that they have decisions that they can make. and people that who need to hold accountable in the community to do certain thing for them. that's the next step. vote i remember indication, we have an election come up in november and this is where i know i will be focusing my effort. >> are you going to try to recall some of the elect the officials in ferguson? >> i believe there is a -- there are things underway. i am not involved in them. but i believe that community members feel that there are elected officials in ferguson that need to be recalled. >> patricia combine bynes the dc council woman. thank for being with us. >> thank you. the father of freed american journalist peter theo curtis has been told his son is in good health but doesn't know when he will be coming home. he was preleased yesterday by the al-nusra front that's al qaeda's branch in syria, they abducted curtis near the turkish-syria border. al jazerra obtained this video of him in june it shows him reading a prepared script that identifies his identity. qatar is corrected ted with gaining his release and are also part of the funding for this station. >> reporter: the state department confirmed the role that qatar played in this release, it came a week after the grizzly murder of james foley, a different group from al-nusra, but many are questioning the timing and if it was an impetus to move quickly to get one more american captive leased. u.s. officials say that they have worked for dozens of countries to try to free curtis. they would no comments on whether or not they had reached out to qatar. and then there is the question of what is the motivation. the government of qatar said they were motivated by the law hao*u man terrien need. u.s. has a no-pay policy when it comes to ransom some prisoners and they said the same. >> we don't make concessions to terrorist organizations including paying ransom. we also don't support any third party paying random. did not do so in this case. we are unequivocal in our opposition to paying ransom to terrorist. i don't know if i could be more clear than that. >> reporter: and the curtis family says this they were told by a qatar officials that there was no ransom paid but they admit they were not privy to the points leading up to this negotiation. now, party theo curtis' mother nancy was interviewed by abc news, she has been able to talk to her son, and she talked about just how much she's looking forward to seeing him. >> do you know what you'll say to him? >> ale give him a big hug and probably cry. and he'll probably cry. yeah. >> reporter: the curtis family has been in touch with the foley family, john. they are part i've network of families feeling dealing with this incredibly difficult issue of having loved ones captive overseas particularly in this case in syria. nancy curtis talks about how one of her first moves was to reach out to the foley family to let them know that her son was safe but she was still thinking from them. >> other than what we have heard from his month, what sells in store from curtis? >> reporter: he was last in tel aviv. u.s. officials won't say when he's head back to the united states. his family has been in touch with them. his father who lives in france as well as his family in the u.s. and they say he needs time to decompress after nearly two years in captivity. >> all right, libby casey, thank you very much. the family of murdered journalist james foley as we just mentioned says he managed to get a message to them during his captivity. a fellow captive who was later released memorized it then dictated it back to the family. it includes personal messages and describes his daily life in captivity it said: david was working for the new york times when kidnap by the taliban in 2008. he joyce us in studio. david, welcome. >> thank you. >> when you hear the stories of foley and curtis both. what goes through your head? does that sends you back to someplace where you were -- when you were kidnapped? >> well, i am very lucky i was able to escape with the help of an afghan journalist. >> you make it sound pretty easy, but i know it wasn't. >> well, i -- i feel like the key actually factoring in all these kidnapping cases is who grabs you,ist grab by an african taliban commander who wanted for make money off me and get prisoners release today make a name for himself. jim toll i ended up with the islamic state and a british militant it seems who wanted to make his name for killing people. so it's a terrible situation and a lot of it is luck. >> what about the focus on journal assists right now? >> well, there has been a problem and no one knows thousand respond it's a growing tactic to grab gi journalists yu might get a ransom storm but it's immediate publicity. one response was blackhawks, and that hasn't worked well it was well intentioned there was a blackout in my case but it doesn't change the very high demands and unrealistic demands. >> and so this is now about money and about making money off journalists? >> absolutely. he was held with numerous journalists the governments deny it but there were ransoms paid for the european journalists and they were all freed. american and british captors have stayed because the american government will not pay. when a european government pays millions of dollars in ransom in excuse the market. the american policy is that families can privately payer news organizations or any organization, but, again, these organizations and these families can't come up with that kind of, you know, very, very high ransom. >> they didn't pay for you? >> no, i escaped. and here is the problem. i was first taken captive, this is five years ago. them. ed $25 million in cash and 15 prisoners from guantanamo bay cuba from me-we escap. when we he is saint the demands dropped to $7,000,000.07 prisoners. no family can come one that much the initial demands for jim foley was $125 million. so the problem is getting worse ask my frustration looking at all this five years later is there is no coordination between the u.s. and european governments. no united strategy for how to deal with these kidnappings. >> secretary kerry said all tools were used to facilitate curtiss release, what do you think that means? >> i believe that the u.s. government that there wasn't any direct payment of american money. qatar made this happen, you know, there are many questions -- >> this funds this network. >> correct. they funds this network and there are questions about qatar's relationship with the al-nusra fund that they back certainly. factions the government denies it but clearly qatar had a lot of influence to get can you are advertise freed. it's great they got him freed. my concern more broadly is governments in the past, including the american government back the jihad i group to his fight the soviet. i hope qatar and audia rape i can't and pakistan have realized you can't control these gee raddjihadigroups. >> does it hurt united states' chance of securing leases of american hostages if we don't pay ran some and other countries do? >> it does. and i think that there needs to be a unified approach. the french denied paying ransom there is lots of evidence that they do. spain again in the foley case. it needs to come out and be debated. maybe the french public would support it. reuters ran a pole 62% of americans oppose the u.s. government paying ransom and only about 20% support it. the american public is not going to change this policy. >> and yet this question goes back at least to ronald reagan's ministration when the discussion of arms for hostages came up. >> is it a poll circumstance they were saying that weren't paying rap storm ransoms but tho get hostages in lebanon free. >> you take abou talk about thiy clear way and i am not suggest anything by this question, except i'll start with the question that i began with, when you hear these stories about fellow journalists, and you were kidnapped, can you explain what it's like to -- when you go back through that period of time for yourself? >> it's a terrible situation. there is an amazing letter that was posted on -- it's a free james foley facebook page by his family and it was a letter that jim foley asked a danish captive to them orize and what he wrote, you know, reminds me of exactly what i went through. but the basic thing here with he get mad at these governments, there is no coordinated strategy. i hate might captors, i was an unarmed journalist. they invited me to able inter interview. jim, theo curtis, they are all younarmed the problem is the kidnappers there need to be a better strategy about how to deny them these safe havens in syria and pakistan where i was held. and so they can't do this so easily. and i am just being honest we fight each and blame each other but we were be focusing on the kidnappingspings . >> good to see you, to you being here. >> thank you. egypt and united emirates have launch air strikeses against rebels in libya fighting has been strongest near the capital of tripoli and benghazi. this weekend rebel fighters seized the airport in tripoli effectively taking control of the capital. they announced their own government. the group is the coalition of militias from several different factions, their victory indicates that the fighters are organizing and pose a larger regional threat than previously thought. former assistant secretary of state told al jazerra why egypt and uae are getting involved. >> i think like the united states, they want to be fighting terrorism from a far, not within their own borders. there is a natural alliance between egypt and the united arab emirates particularly with the new president inside of egypt. and i would suspect that they recognize it's in their interest to be fighting the terrorists from a distance rather than inside of dubai. >> the fighters true retaliate against egypt and uae for the air spikes. think cog up next the work quake to hit the san francisco area in a quarter century, while people there could be he feeling the financial effects for a long time. plus. predicting quakes, how the new technology worked this time. and why more people aren't getting the alert. damage from yesterday's earthquake in northern california now estimated in the billions of dollars. the quake's epicenter just south of napa was felt in american canyon and around san francisco. so far no deaths have been reported. our science and technology correspondent jake ward is here to join us from napa tonight with more on the story. jake. >> reporter: john, preliminary estimates here have the damage the economic losses at about a billion, everyone is very relieved at the fact that there was no loss of life. over 200 people treated for injuries, but roadways are open, water is coming back online slowly but surely and the electrical system is all but entirely restored thanks on the overall and overnight efforts of many, many people. so california really dodged a bullet here. >> so what lessons, if anything, can be learned from this quake, jake? >> reporter: well, there are a couple of really sort of immediate things that you can learn, john. i mean, one thing is that we are -- where old and new meet that's where everything comes apart. you can see the destruction of the old buildings, that's because that's where there are two different materials came together. they are essentially made of -- because they are made of different materials they vibrate at different frequency asks shake shake right off one another. the largest lesson is the potential for getting warned about this in the future, there is technology at u.c. berkeley that can in fact predict things, yesterday morning there were, in account far, there wafact there. i spoke about the potential about making in this a statewide system and here is what he. >> 80 to $100 million may sound like a lot money, california is the eighth largest economy on the planet. close to $2 trillion a year. this is the price of living in this state and i think the obligation as an elected official and government is to provide support of its citizens nothing more critical. on something we can't predict but we can warn them about and give them the opportunity to make good choices. >> reporter: if you can imagine how use that. could have been, if you look down the street here you can see this kind of destruction would have taken on -- place on the heads of people in they had not, you know, been asleep in their beds at that time. and so the kind of system that we are talking about here could have been incredibly useful if we were to be less lucky with an everything quake in the future and i think make no mistake california got very lick we this one, we would really need that kind of system. >> we are going to talk about that system in a moment. but i have one more question to ask you. over the weekend the officials mentioned still many places open for business. i can understand that some of the worst damage is behind you. can you give us a sense of, you know, how widespread the damage is, if at all? >> reporter: well, again, you know, loss of life was very minimal. but we are looking at a serious blow to an area in napa and sonoma county that contribute $13 billion to california's economy mirk the vintners, restaurants that have to remain closed for repairs or lost for all time wine that they made. these are sort of high-quality problems i think they are called but it's still a very serious business in this part of the town. on the theme of getting lucky, if this had taken place 40 miles south in the center of san francisco, or 80 miles south in silicon veil being you are talking about much greater loss of life and parts of the he beyond my that california cannot do without. so really california dodged a bullet in this case. >> jake ward out in california for us, jake, thank you very much. now, connectionknows phil torres has more on that warning system and how it works. >> earthquake, earthquake. >> light shaking expected in three seconds. >> so this is quite the test for you. >> by and large everything worked. >> it's a scene played out in homes in the san francisco area. families suddenly shaken way by a large earthquake. most were caught totally by surprise. but what if they had an early warning. >> most of the san francisco area would have gotten some sort of alert that the shaking was coming. >> techknow d got a sneak peek f the early warning system back in may. >> it's the sheer wave that has most of the heavy shaking. the closer it gets to us, the stronger the shaking. >> the system first senses the quake's p*pgquake "p" or primart tells scientist a quake is coming but don't cause shaking the red "s" follow they are the damaging causing shakes. the "p" waves hit 30 seconds before the "s" waves and the shaking starts, that that's how it successfully predicted the most recent quakes in los angeles. ironically the public didn't get any warning because it's only a prototype. >> we are having an everything quake. [speaking foreign language] >> this is how mexican tv covered the 7.2 quake that struck off the coast of acapulco april 18th. mexico's early warning system has been around since the devastating 1985 quake that killed more than 9,000. japan was moved to action as well. creating their early warning system after the 19956.9 kobe quake that killed 5,000. the science works being, but california's early warning system is years away before being fully operational think with an estimated price tag of more than $50 million, it's less than appealing politically. the napa quake could register $1 billion in damages. but even that may not be enough to get the system online. phil torres, al jazerra, in pasadena, california. >> and you can see more of techknow saturday night, 7:30 eastern on al jazerra america. a wildfire gaining ground tonight in northern california, hundreds of people have fled the town of weaverville where about 700 homes were at risk, schools in the air shutdown temporarily. the fire has already burned 650 acres. coming up, growing tension in ukraine. government leaders say russian tanks crossed the border in to their territory. how moscow is responding. and the group known as the islamic state gaining territory and support, how the movement is growing in parts of iraq and syria. hi, evening, this is al jazerra america i am john seeing en thought never new york? coming up on this broadcast the so-called islamic state is graining ground. why the u.s. is considering strikes in syria. and what the syrian government has to say about it. plus ukraine says the column of russian tanks has crossed over the border just one day before the talks between the nation's leaders. and it's one of the only ways out of the ga as strip and now it's under attack, we'll take you inside the rafah crossing. ukrainian officials say a convoy of russian tanks and armored vehicles crossed the board never to the country's southeast today. ukrainian border guards fought with the convoy manage to go brock part of it from crossing in to ukraine, the government is accusing russia of trying to aid separatists in the region. our peter sharp reports. >> reporter: well, ukraine's military spokesmen in kiev was pretty specific about what he described as an armored column moving in to southeastern ukraine from russia. he said it consisted of 10 tanks and two armored personnel carriers carrying infantry. and he says, and claims that this is an effort by russia to open up a second front better to help the rebel separatists who are trying to defend the besieged city of donetsk. this area is now closer to russia. at the same time, sergei lavrov, russia's foreign minister really muddied the waters ahead of these vital talks between putin and ukraine's president poroshenko on tuesday. he announced that there would be another convoy, so-called humanitarian relief convoy that would be leaving russia over the next few days to go in to ukraine. now, that caused a gross provocation to ukraine, who described it as a direct invasion of their country. and coming just before the talks, to say that this would be unhelpful timing would be a gross under statement. >> that's peter sharp reporting. nina is an associate professor of i want nag al fairs at the news school and she's also a great granddaughter of former soviet premier nikita crew she have, welcome it's great to have you on the program. >> thank you. >> why the tanks and why now? >> we don't know exactly whether the tanks went n the ukrainian government says they went in. there has been tanks going back and forth at various crossings controlled by the pro russian separatists. that is part of the process that putin has been instilling or part of the process that his military people has been following that is the message we can come in at any moment, at any place. it's not an envision but continuing incursion. >> many elected officials in the united states have suggested that putin is behind a lot of the separatists' activity that's he's funding it, putting weaponry behind it. and this is just another move as parts that have. what do you say about that? >> i say the russian government is funning it. whether putin is funding it or not. i don't know. i think a lot of the processes after six months of fighting, the crisis a lot of it is out of his control. >> at the same time he's getting ready to meet with poroshenko. >> absolutely, that's what the message is and that lavrov progress uss we are seting another aid conroy voir is to say this is all leveraging pushing their p.r. forward to see how much putin will have to give it or don't give in. >> so is the russian government putting pressure, military pressure on the ukrainian government before the talks? >> i am not sure about the military pressure, but they are putting fresh you were which includes military pressure as well. i think what putin likes to have is to have this result through this and not cleaning up places he wants to have it as a protracted conflict, a frozen conflict that's what undermines the ukrainian government. >> i hate to belabor the tanks, but is that the way you do it, by sending it tanks? >> that's how russia does it, that's on you kgb does it and as we know putin was the man of kgb. russia does do thanks, we remember instances 1956 hungary, 1968 czechoslovakia, russians send tanks and putin is a very, very traditional soviet man in this regard, he knows that's how he fights. >> your family understands the history of the cold war better than most. >> is this the new cold war? >> i don't know if we called call it the new cold war but it's a serious confrontation post undoesn't have a camp yet during the cold war there was a western and eastern camp. that's what made it so prolonged and some some way very cold but not a war exactly. but here in this particular case, putina doesn't have a camp but his message is he's not going to allow the united states to rule the world or lead the world the way the united states wants to. it's going to be a mess. >> if it stays cold doesn't it cool off the russian economy? >> of course. but, you know, since when russian cared about the outcome of their own life as long as they -- >> don't they? >> as long as they remain great. as long as they out -- as long a is she can show to the world that they have the power. i mean, okay, since mentioned that i do know the cold war, i know soviet history. >> yes, do you. >> i know soviet history rather well. in soviet history we are willing to kill millions of our own pimas long as we are perceived as great. >> and you still think that attitude exists today? >> not -- absolutely not to the degree it ever was in the ussr, but putin as you know, there was western sanctions but putin imposed his own sanctions on the western products because in this sanctions are going to hurt his own people. his own people are not going to get vegetables and bread and whatever else, would you wouldn't you think about your population? as long as you stay great and as long as you show to the united states that they are not the ruler of us anymore, putin is fine with that. >> what happens next? what's the next move in this chess match? >> i think we really need to -- russians really need to figure out how to get rid of this kind of this kinds of leadership. >> you mean vladimir putin? >> yes. so far they have been supporting him. 80% of the russians support him. >> how can you get rid of vladimir putin? >> you out of the him. you go to the streets, you start protesting. >> it seems like the opposite is happening in russia today, his popularity is as big as it's been. is that true? >> that is a problem. and you know, i just published a book which called the goo log of the russian minds and that book exactly explains why russians don't need barb wire to keep us in check, we just built our own, as long as our state is great we are willing to sacrifice. >> it's the nation that keeps the country going and keeps the voters for voting for him or the people coming out and showing their support. >> vote is a slight of a statement. >> has russia slid back? i think in the united states there was a view that russia made big strides? >> russia did make big strides and one of the problem is his they stopped making big strides is that also the united states attitude because after the end of the cold war after 1991, the soviet union chanced and the united states was very, very eager to show to the russians that, in being fa, they are the victors and the russians are the losers and when you have this kind of statehood that is very big on your national pride, that really brought vladimir paout anyone to power. >> we talk to experts on this program that said nato, the reason this is happening, the reason vladimir putin is making these moves is directly related to the increase and expansion of nato, what do you say to. >> that's what he says now, but when he actually came in to the kremlin in 2000 he was optimist take about nato and there were various interviews he gave and said i don't think nato is a threat to russia. he changed by 2008. he changed his perception because as far as he was concerned he was not recognized as an equal in the western -- [speaking at the same time] >> does russia feel -- do the people of russia feel like nato is encroaching. >> they were told that nato is encroaching and it's a threat. but if you think about this how threatening the nato is. the nato once against was part of the cold war formula when you have one military block and another military block. when you don't have one, what nato is. >> nina, it's a pleasure to have you on the program. and we'll continue this conversation another time. it thanks very much. >> thank you. the pentagon says it's preparing strategy to his ahead the islamic state group in both iraq and syria. the wall street journal reports that the u.s. is preparing to send surveillance aircraft over syria to collect intelligence about that group. already iraqi and kurdish soldiers are working together to fight the i want s. i.s. but the new partnership is creating a challenge think zeina reports. >> reporter: kurdish forces and iraqi police stand together at the entrance to kerr cushion an unlikely alliance in one of iraq's most important urban front lines. further south is territory under control of the islamic state group and other sunni armed forces the two authorities on the ground here have long compete today control of this strategic city. now they are facing a common enemy. on the surface they seem to be coordinating but this iraqi policeman who asked us not to identify him, says no one is in charge. >> translator: the iraqi army abandoned positions. now the iraqi police and kurdish forces took chrome. but we don't really have control of the city and we don't coordinate because there isn't one commander. >> reporter: kurds have long believe believed kirkuk to be their historical capital but it had always been under baghdad's control until june when iraqi soldiers left. the kurds stepped in and laid claim to the city. months later the central government is trying to reassert itself. the federal police are more visible in the streets. but there is still a power vacuum. and kurdish neighborhoods are often targeted. dozens of people were killed when a bomb went on off here on saturday. bombings, kidnappings common in this city. it's a dangerous place, it has been for many years, it's territory contested by arabs, kurds and the turk men and now there is a new threat. officials say the i.s. group has exploited kirkuk's divisions quietly establishing a presence in the city. particularly in sunni arab neighborhoods where there is deep resentment of the cured and shia let government. >> the islamic state what they call themselves islamic state. they have some people working for them inside kirkuk, until now we still looking for him. >> reporter: all of iraq's fault lines are on display in kirkuk. everyone has a presence here. but no one is in control. zeina, al jazerra, kirkuk. now, the group that calls itself the islamic state is carving out its territory from both iraq and syria, air strikes in iraq are trying to stop the fighters. syria's government says it's ready to accept u.s. help too. as long as air strikes are coordinated closely with them. this comes after the islamic state group captured a strategic air base in syria's rack a province it was one of the bloodiest single battle says so far, here is that story. >> reporter: on the ground the islamic state group is getting stronger. after a week of intense battles, its fighters took over the air base on sunday. it was the last strong hold for the syrian government in the northern raqqa province. more than 500 men were killed from the islamic state and government forces during this battle. a major win for i.s. as it solidifieds its grip on major areas in syria stretching to iraq. but the syrian government is hoping, soon, it will have new support to fight the islamic state group. officials in damascus believe the growing threat of the armed group will shift the priorities of the west led by the united states, from fighting president assad to fighting his enemies, the islamic state group now seen by some as the worst of two evils. the message from the syrian capital is clear. without critical support from syria, the battle to defeat the islamic state group in iraq will be lost. the foreign minister warned, any military strike on i.s. targets inside syria, without coordination with du damascus wd be seen as an aggression. >> translator: the syrian government is the one who represents sovereignty in any effort to fight and combat terrorism. >> reporter: so far, neither the united states nor its western allies have approached duh pass cuss officially asking for its collaboration for fight the islamic state group. but behind closed doors, many believe syria is already coordinating some of its old foes, al jazerra, lebanon. in july alone, the it lamb i can state group reportedly gained thousands of new recruits from syria just another reason why the obama administration considers the fast-growing group a very serious threat. our jonathan betz is here with more on its movements, jonathan. >> only a few months the is lat i believe state group has gained a lot of ground, only last year it captured the city of raqqa in northern syria. that was the group's first major win. but in less than a year it went onto control massive parts of syria before moving in to western iraq and seizing fallujah back in january. now, in the past couple of months it's only been growing. iraq's second largest city, mosul, that fell in june. it now controls an area larger than great britain. now, that syrian air base here not far from raqqa, was actually the last hold out in that area, the islamic fighters largely controlled nearly everything else around it until they moved in every on the weekend. now the group is pushing north towards the border with turkey. picking up weapons and fighters along the way. just last month the islamic group got more than 6,000 new recruits, a thousand from out side syria. some think it has a force of 15,000 strong, they are lured not only by the cause but also by money. the islamic state group is thought to pay them $400 a month, plus gas for their cars and heating fuel for their homes. the group is starting to function more like a government. so it's one of many reasons why it's been growing and has been so hard to stop. john. >> all right. jonathan betz, thank you. one of gaza city's tallest buildings has been hit by israeli air strikes. at least three air strikes took about half of a 13-story building. it had two floors of commercial space, including some hamas political offices. at least 20 people were injured. in all, more than 2100 palestinians have died so far in the fighting between israel and hamas. israel's prime minister says he has warn gazans to avoid hamas bases and offices but as the past seven weeks have shown no place in gas is safe from air strikes. many people are now trying to escape in to each i didn't want threw the rafah crossing, but earlier today that area was also hit by an israeli air strike. here is a report. >> reporter: this is one of the only ways in and out of the gaza strip. for the first time in more than six weeks of conflict. israel i jets targeted the rafah border crossing with egypt. the impact of the three missile strikes which hit just outside the passengers' terminal was so powerful it cause address a partial roof collapse, despite the attack, the crossing was kept open. allowing those with egyptian passports to leave. >> translator: we know the israelis are spend sending us a message they want us to close this crossing but we will keep it open, even under fire. >> reporter: she is travel frog rafah to vie ky row to steve medical treatment. she is angry that after so many weeks the fighting hasn't stopped. >> translator: we are muslims and we are taught to be patient, but we will be victorious over our enemies. >> reporter: since the collapse of last week's ceasefire talks, more than 100 people have been killed in the latest rounds of fighting. in recent days egyptian mediators have imposed a ceasefire seeing all gaza's crossings opened to allow in aid and construction materials, hamas says any long-term truce must see an end to the eight-year blockade to the coastal strip and the reopening of its air and seaport. >> it seems to me that we are back to maneuvering between both the palestinians recommended by hamas and the israelis. everyone is trying to deprive the other side from any tangible results or any political victory which can be achieved by either party at the end of this war. >> reporter: the damage caused here by israeli shelling can be repaired. but what's less certain is if a lasting ceasefire agreement between israel, hamas, and the various armed palestinian factions can be pieced together any time soon. al jazerra, at the rafah border crossing, gaza. still ahead, it was a crazy idea, play a concert on a 14,000-foot summit. but things got even more difficult when the musicians ran in to rain, winds being and snow. and our crew was along for the ride. >> meteorologist: good evening. tonight we are watching trop car storm christ balance with kerr heavy showers across the ticks and cacaos island, it's expected to become a hurricane as it makes its way north to enter moved arm not a threat to our coast but we will see problems here in term of riptides anywhere from massachusetts all the way down to cape hatteras, for bermuda the cruise ships are already diverting the area as the to remember makes its way north. continuing up towards the north east, could even be a possibility for a problem up towards u.k., as we get later on towards the week. a lot of the commuter models of in pretty good agreement on where this will be travel over the next couple of days, we are also watching what's happening here across parts of colorado. severe weather is breaking out right now. we are seeing thunderstorms building up not only in colorado as well as for parts of kansas as well. the temperatures right now are extremely warm, wichita currently seeing a temperature of 96 de 96 degrees, oklahoma 9s well. towards st. louis it is a problem as well. the temperatures will be very warm tomorrow morning. that's a look at your national weather. your news -- of ♪ ♪ performing a concert more than 14,000 feet up. that's what a group of musicians from colorado was hoping to do on saturday. they brought their instruments, set out to give a concert from the top of mount elbert in the rockies but bad weather even a police hard threatened to ruin their plans, our crew was there. >> reporter: it's 4:30 in the morning, pitch black and the air is chilled. >> are you guys ready for this. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: music professor and his fellow performers have it all plans a saturday of challenging per climbing and a live scan certificate atop a mountain summit more than 14,400 feet up in the colorado rockies. >> while we have the light on you here, tell us what is your setup there? [ laughter ] >> look where we managed to just come up with. >> counterbalance. >> reporter: above the clouds with the sun just beginning to peek over the mountains their journey was shaping up to be picture perfect. >> it seems look a really cool thing to play music on the top of the highest mountain in colorado. >> it's connecting the music to the outdoors, to the nature, and it's hard to get a reporter to attempt to report. but then, you climb a mountain and it becomes attractive from a different angle. >> reporter: for the most part that angle is straight up, steep, with little oxygen. this is where reality set in. just above the tree line with three more hours of hiking ahead, my legs turned to cement. this is as far as i could make it. my producer carried on without me. even though it's still august, at this altitude, mother nature is unpredictable. when they finally reached the summit after five hours of hard climbing, they are confronted by high winds, blowing snow, and temperatures hovering at freezing killing any hope for a mountain top view. >> we made it. >> reporter: the audience shows proof they are a far cry from carnegie hall and the acoustics are anything about perfect. >> it's hard ice, can actually do damage to the cello. >> yeah, i don't -- yeah. this will worry me. >> reporter: a decision must be made to per form or not. >> yeah, yeah, let's just do it. >> what? >> yeah, just in and out. boom, boom, let just do it. >> reporter: in the end, despite the brutal conditions, two of the musicians disregard frozen fingers and possible damage to their instruments, the sound of cello and violin transform mount elbert summit in to a mountain top recital hall. ♪ ♪ >> and correspondent jim and producer phil are joining us now. so, jim, were they just unprepared for the possibility that they had bad weather? >> reporter: well, you never know what the weather will be like, john, when you get up that high, and i gotta tell you i thought it would be easier than it turned out to be. but for me, we got above that tree line at about 12,000 feet and you know, you ar you are lag oxygens your head gets wobbly, your legs get wobbly like i say i felt very guilty turning around and going back down but i had no choice in the matter. it was a tough go. >> phil, you made it all the way to the top. some great pictures. describe what you saw and what you felt? >> well, john, i don't think a lot of people who live in flat areas just understand what elevation can do to you. it just sucks the energy out of your system. my legs after probably the first hour, jim described them as cement, mine were rubber. and what kept me going was that i knew these musicians were not going to stop until they made it to the top. at one point i was considering giving up, a few more yards down the road, also considering giving up. but somehow i made it. and i am glad i did. it was really a tremendous experience to experience what they saw. >> i mean, you hear the star-spangled banner the land of the free and the home of the brave there at the end of that video. how did the guys feel after it was done? >> well, these people were in great shape, i have to tell you that. they are in fantastic shape, our fearless leader, he was in great shape. he has done this before, a couple of other 14ers along with his tell cello and jenny with the violin, she is a try athlete, had been a triathlete at the university of colorado, one guy was a marathoner, another guy lived in boulder, colorado where if i hadness is kind of in the d.n.a. right there and this guy here schlepped a camera and tripod up the hill he di he, he deserves d medal he has a passion not only for the music but for the mountains. >> you did is he everybody i don't you are own rounds of applause. phil and jim, glad you are back safe, great story and thanks very much. tonight's freeze frame from napa, california, yesterday's 6.0 earthquake hit the heart of california wine country and you can see what it did to this wine cellar. that's our news for this hour. we'll see you back here at 11:00 eastern 8:00 pacific time. a"america tonight" is next. kirk. >> on "america tonight": unarmed and gunned down by an officer. a community torn apart says good-bye to 18-year-old michael brown. >> michael this is stated to the family that one day, the world would know his name. >> he said i'm going to shake the world, and i promise you. >> thousands from near and far honor a life cut short. but while many remember, others are asking, are the children of ferguson even getting a fighting chance? >> it's