The new traditional classroom . It doesnt replace the campus. We really believe that ultimately the right model for learning is a blended model. Where you blend the best of online and the best of in person. Ifill those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill prorussian rebel forces opened a new front in ukraine today, fighting their way into a key southeastern town. Novoazovsk lies in a strategic location astride the road that links russia to crimea. Up to now, fighting had not reached that far south. Ukraine also reported more russian soldiers and Armored Vehicles have crossed the border. The state Department Said it appears a russiandirected counteroffensive is underway, in support of ukrainian rebels. United nations investigators are once again accusing the Syrian Government of poison gas attacks against its own people. An independent Commission Said today theres evidence the Syrian Military used chlorine gas at least eight times in april. The targets were villages in the north, where Islamic State fighters now have control. Israels Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared victory today in the latest war in gaza. More than 2,100 palestinians and 70 israelis died before a cease fire took effect last night. Netanyahu spoke today at a News Conference in jerusalem. translated with the establishment of the cease fire, i can say that there has been a huge military achievement here, and also a political achievement. Hamas was hit hard and did not get any of the demands they made as a condition for the cease fire, not even one. Ifill meanwhile, gazans streamed back to communities reduced to rubble by seven weeks of fighting. Thousands of homes were destroyed or severely damaged, leaving many people weary after the third round of fighting since 2007. The centers for Disease Control and prevention warned today the Ebola Outbreak in west africa will get worse. Dr. Tom frieden spoke during a visit to liberia. Meanwhile, Security Forces there fired live rounds at a crowd trying to break a quarantine on their neighborhood. At least four people were hurt. The Ebola Outbreak has killed more than 1,400 people so far. President obama will push for an International Climate accord that doesnt require senate approval. A white house spokesman confirmed the new strategy today. He said the accord would name and shame countries that fail to reduce fossil fuel emissions, but it would not be legally binding. Republicans and democrats have said theres no way a formal treaty will get through the senate. The head of the International Monetary fund, christine lagarde, faces preliminary charges of negligence in a french corruption scandal. The announcement involves her former role as frances finance minister in awarding 500 million to a businessman who sued a stateowned bank. Lagarde says the accusations are without basis. In economic news, the Congressional Budget Office projected Economic Growth at just 1. 5 this year. And wall street had a lackluster day. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 15 points to close at 17,122. The nasdaq slipped a point to close at 4,569 and the s p 500 added a fraction, to stay above 2,000. Still to come on the newshour, the rise of american jihadists fighting for terror groups abroad, after u. S. Journalist Peter Theo Curtis is released. What it takes to free captured americans Margaret Warner reports on the humanitarian crisis in iraq. In florida, the former governor who switched parties to get his job back. Do Free Online College Courses give students a lower quality education . And, a profile of African American dancer Misty Copeland and her improbable rise in the world of ballet. Ifill there was continued shock today over the discovery that a 33yearold american man was killed fighting for sunni militants in syria. The californian is not the First American who has given his life for jihad causes in the wartorn country, and the f. B. I warns that there are dozens more like him out there. We of course use every tool we have to disrupt and dissuade individuals from traveling abroad for violent jihad and to track and engage those who return. Ifill the death of Douglas Mcauthur mccain has once again highlighted the issue of americans joining jihadist groups. He reportedly died in aleppo, fighting with Islamic State forces against the western backed free syrian army. State Department Spokeswoman jen psaki. We previously were aware of his presence in syria and his affiliation with isil. Ifill the 33yearold mccain grew up in minnesota, and later lived in Southern California attending san diego city college. Its unclear exactly when he traveled to syria, but online postings show hed been drawn to the militants also known as isil or isis. On twitter, mccain went by the name duale khalid. In late june, he retweeted a post that read it takes a warrior to understand a warrior. Pray for isis. Mccain was not the only radicalized american to travel to the battlefront. Floridaborn Moner Mohammad abu salha, was killed in a suicide bomb attack in syria, last may. Hed joined the alnusra front, a branch of al qaeda. And last year, a michigan woman was killed by progovernment forces in syria. F. B. I director james comey says about 100 americans have joined the fight in syria. They follow the likes of american john walker lindh, captured in afghanistan, while fighting for the taliban in 2001. Hes now serving 20 years in a federal prison. The state Department Said today it is looking into reports that a second american died in the same syrian battle that took mccains life last weekend. For more on why americans and other westerners join islamic extremist groups, we turn to Jessica Stern, a lecturer on terrorism at Harvard University, and the author of terror in the name of god. She served on the National SecurityCouncil Staff in the clinton administration. And, humera khan, the executive director of muflehun a think tank that focuses on countering violent extremism. So how typical hummera khan is this . In terms of going off and trying to fight, join isis, trying to fight in syria and iraq there is no nationality, which is exempt. We have seen people from many, many countries going. And so being american does not mean there is any less likelihood. We see a lot of muslim from europe. The last numbers have just come out from the government, either there has been about 140 known americans who have actually gone to syria to fight. Ifill Jessica Stern, how does that compare to werners coming from other countries . We saw in the execution video of james foley, at least we heard that his executionary appeared to have a british accent. Yes. There are about 50 countries from which jihadies have volunteered to go and fight in syria. And what studies show is that theyre not necessarily religious zealots. Indeed they may be rather ignorant about islam. Quite a few of them actually are converts, they are often quite marginalized. They often have bad encounters, or unhappy encounters with the police. They may have had an identity crisis they feet more connected with a group abroad than with nair neighbors. Ifill what does it mean humera khan as Jessica Stern says they are converts, they are almost like people who quit cigarettes and that they are more passionate about it than people who are born to it or people who never who never stopped. Who is it about the conversion which might make some of these people more radical . I think its conversion but its not just conversion am because we also see people who are culturally and they actually havent had much exposure exposure to the traditional or classical teachings, so this is a group, they have limited information about classical teaching of religion itself. They might have been committed criminal acts or been involved in all sorts of other problems in the past. So for them its a matter of proving that oh, we can actually become good. Theyre trying to make amends in a particular way. And theyre trying to find a sort of like shortcut to heaven. Now most people when they do something bad in the past, right, a regular believer will say, okay, i need to repent, i need to do good deed, i need to go to haj and pray. Those are the regular things to do. But they have such a superficial understanding of religion that they actually go down the path of well, maybe if i do this, this will be my shortcut and it will save me. Ifill Jessica Stern, shortcut to heaven. If this is what is drawing some people to these casss, does isis, isil, does that provide an easier path . Well, i think we also need to remember that these are people who actually want to kill. A lot of people want to right injustices around the world and they become physicians and heal people, for example, of ebola or they work for humanrights groups. These are people who think that by killing civilians they have a quicker pathway to heaven and it is really sad as humera says that it is people without really dont know too much about traditional teachings of ice lamb. Ifill but what about isiss role, weve been dealing with it on nousra front, with al qaeda. Over the years we have seen this happen, even in afghanistan with John Walker Lynn all those years ago. Is there something about isis that micks it more accessible to these people . Theres two parts to it, right, one is that isis is a lot more open or encouraging or welcoming to foreign fighters. And so they are they are one of few groups that is open openly calling out to them much more so than other groups. I was actually i my organization looked at people or try to keep people from joining terrorist groupsing step away from violent terrorism so we ask why isis, why specifically did you want to join isis than anyone else. And the response was because of its international flavor. And because they have this this they have now got a reputation of having an international flavor, so you find a lot of other nationalities, its actually more attractive to people going from the west because in some of the other groups fighting on the ground right now, theyre not looking for foreign fighters, as you talk to some of the people from sfa, they expect the students to step up. Nousra has fewer foreign firlts and a lot more veting that goes on because they are part of al qaeda an al qaeda has its own, they are about who they let in. Ifill Jessica Stern, and syria has become ground zero for this, is it because of antiwestern activity, antiassad activity, what is it about syria that is so attractive . Well, i think that part of the answer has to be the sophisticated recruiting Online Presence its really quite extraordinary, the care with which these recruitment videos are made. If you compare what those recruitment videos look like with the state departments response online, you can see how much more sophisticated we really need to get to be in order to counter this really a kind of fad, a horrible fad so this is not just people searching out and finding a group like isis, isis and groups like it are actively reaching out. Yes, because when people show that there is a willness, that they have sympathies towards the cause, are sympathetic towards what is happening on the ground, then it is actually much easier for recruiters to fine them and then they groom them. So this is not an overnight process. They actually groom them, try to get them to trust in the relationships and the then they start doing emails, they skype, the personal relationship is built and also thats how they are helping them or teaching them what they should do next. They indoctrine ating them in their ideology by completely changing teaching them things, they cant distinguish from right from wrong and they are trying to help them get into on the ground fighting. And Jessica Stern, just logistically and physically, turkey is the way in, that border for people to get where they want to be. Why is that, how is that . Because the border apparently is quite open, its very hard to police that border and isis is quite active in that area so yes, that is one of the problems. Its unusually easy to get there for europeans. Ifill and Jessica Stern s the u. S. Government on top of this, is there any way knowing whether were watching this carefully enough . I am concerned that the u. S. Government may be wasnt really paying all that much attention until fairly recently. This has been going on since 2003. And i think we left iraq quite precipitously, we werent paying attention to what was going on. And of course isis the Islamic State comes directly out of a group, al qaeda and iraq that was formed as a result of our invasion. Its not new. Its just a new name. This is what happens with al qaedarelated groups. Theyre constantly changing their names. Merging, splitting and so on about this is not a new phenomenon it didnt start when an american was beheaded. Ifill Jessica Stern, Harvard University and humera khan, thank you both very much. Ifill now, we take a closer look at some of the victims of muslim extremists americans who have been taken hostage. Jeffrey brown take a look tonight at the long, complicated and often unsuccessful process of bringing them home. Brown american journalist Peter Theo Curtis spoke publicly for the First Time Since he was released in syria on sunday. I have learned bit by bit that there have been literally hundreds of people, brave, determined and bighearted people all over the world working for my release. Theyve been working for two years on this. I had no idea when i was in prison. I had no idea that so much effort was being expended on my behalf. Now, having found out, i am overwhelmed with emotion. Brown the 45year old curtis spent 22 months in captivity, held by the alnusra front, an al qaeda affiliate. His freedom came days after a video was released showing james foley, another american beheaded by Islamic State militants. They also threatened to kill 31 yearold journalist steven sotloff, unless the u. S. Halted air strikes against their forces in iraq. Today, in her own video, sotloffs mother appealed directly to the Islamic States leader. As a mother, i ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over. I ask you to use your authority to spare his life and to follow the example set by the prophet mohammad, who protected people of the book. I want what every mother wants to live to see her childrens children. I plead with you to grant me this. Brown all this has renewed focus on the u. S. Refusal to pay ransoms for the return of hostages, a policy that differs from many European Countries. Its also been reported the Islamic State is holding yet another american a 26yearold female aid worker. Joining me now is david rohde, an Investigative Reporter for reuters. Hes a twotime Pulitzer Prize winner and former reporter for the New York Times where he was working when he was kidnapped by the taliban in 2008. He escaped after seven months in captivity. And brian jenkins, a terrorism and security expert who has advised in hostage negotiations. Hes Senior Advisor at the rand corporation. Brian let me start with you. Explain first for us the thinking behind the u. S. Policy to not pay ransoms and to what degree does that govern third parties from stepping in and negotiating . Well, the u. S. Policy is that the u. S. Government itself will not pay ransom, will not release prisoner, will not make other concessions to Terrorists Holding hostages. It does so in part on the belief that by holding to a noconcessions position, it will deter future kidnappings of americans or at the very least, were it to abandon that position, that is to express a willingness to negotiate in these cases, that that would only really paint a target on the back of american citizens abroad. U. S. Policy does not prohibit negotiate by others from attempting to ransom people. Nor does it preclude creative diplomacy as we may have seen a demonstration of in the in the kurdish case. The other part of not paying ransom though is also based on the fact that the ransoms are used to finance further terrorist operations. The report is that isis demanded 130 million for the return of james foley. Now thats the equivalent of several hundred thousand ak47s on the black market or the equivalent of more than 200 9 11 operations financed by al qaeda. Let me ask david rohde, because as we said in the case of david theo curtis, there was speculation tha