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tv   News  Al Jazeera  August 24, 2013 6:00pm-7:01pm EDT

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>> hello a chilling assessment of weapons used in syria from doctors without borders. >> the white house says president obama has gotten a range of potential options from his national security team on how to respond to the use of chemical weapons in syria. >> a fast-moving wildfire threatens yosemite park and has the city of san francisco under a state of emergency. thousands march for civil rights and racial equality, where we stand 50 years after martin luther king, jr.'s iva dream spee
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>> good to have you with us. there may be more evidence of what appears to be a chemical weapons attack last week in damaskas. three hospitals supported by the international humanitarian group say victims started pouring in wednesday exhibiting neuro toxic symptoms. medical staff say they treated 3600 patients in a time span of just three hours of those patients, medics say 355 people died. wednesday night's attack has prompted president obama to discuss potential military options in syria. the new president of the syrian national coalition has called for an international military intervention in syria. the syrian government denies it launched the attack and has released this footage right here. state tv says at this evidence after chemical attack.
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earlier today we spoke with sophie delaney in new york. she described what medical staff in syria have been seeing. >> the symptom with -- been reported about are symptoms including some blurred vision, some headaches, and in the most severe cases, some convulsions and also respiratory distress and it's the epdem logic event and course of event that converge to these suspicions that those patients in large numbers are -- our colleagues have reported 3600 people exposed to this or presenting those kind of symptoms. are consistent with exposure to neuro toxic agent. cent of the medical staff in those facilities have also --
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are also presenting symptoms. they are in a state of shock. so we've been -- we have focused on trying to provide them some more drugs that they are -- they are needing to support those patients. >> president obama today convened a meeting of his national security council to discuss syria's reported use of chemical weapons. al jazeera white house correspondent mike vakara is joining us. mike, what took place at that meeting? reporter: well, we do have a release from the white house and the president did convene his national security counsel. it's the second time in three days that the security council has met. they say they were trying to gather the facts and as certain exactly what happened but they say they are mindful of many of the symptoms that you heard just described. it is a red line that has evidently been crossed yet by bashar al assad. a year ago that president obama laid down that red line and implied there would be serious
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sequences if they were to deploy chemical weapons. he said he already did so once this year. in response, the president sent forward a plan to send small mu in additi munitions to the rebels. this time, with the images flashing across t.v. screens, these gastly images, clearly now the president and the government's credibility on the line. the president taking these steps. they have reviewed potential options, many of which have been on the table, have been enumerated publicly. there is a whole menu of options we know of. they are being updated constantly, thomas, given the situation on the ground and the intelligence gathered about assad's forces. we do know that the president's chairman of the joint chief's of staff, martin dempsey said essentially that there would be no troops on the ground. the president's spokesman said that yesterday. dempsey said he is against a no-fly zone and many say it's simply not practical or would be effective in this situation. so what is left?
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the option of cruise missiles to degrade much of assad's military capability should the united states government and its international allies choose to go the military route and by no means do we have any indication that has been decided. one more thing, the president, the white house twice today in a brief statement mentioned the international community. no way the administration is going to go forward alone on this. they are going to try to build some sort of international consensus. it remains to be seen what exactly that would look like. >> it does remain to be seen. i would imagine there is some frustration with the international community with this ongoing situation and gauging the u.s. response. >> certainly there have been other countries have come out with much more forthright statements. certainly the u.k. and france have as well. i should mention that the president also spoke with the u.k. prime minister david cameron today, talked about a coordinated response. john kerry, the secretary of state, has been on the phone call continuously over the last
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several days speaking to no fewer than 14 -- 14 that we know of, of his counterparts including the u.n. secretary general sergei lavrov and foreign ministers throughout the gulf region. it's clear there is a lot of international consultation going here. it's also clear that after three years now, the civil war, after 200,000 deaths, after 2 million refugees after that red line has been crossed that the president laid down. it's clear now that the game-changer in all of this, thomas, appears to be these ghastly, horrific images that are really hard to stomach. doesn't matter if you are a parent or not. when you see children suffering this way and parents grieving over their children after a chemical attack by all accounts is a chemical attack, it really does force the hand. the president, who said after all, that that was a red line that cannot be crossed. it's simply a matter of credibility if nothing else at this point, thomas. >> those are difficult images. mike, thank you. 50 years ago, martin luther
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king, jr. brought the civil rights movement foront and center. lawmakers and others gathered to celebrate king's legacy. they marched to the lincoln memorial to the i have a dream speech calling for 23r50e78d and equality for all. >> i have a dreamfreedom and equality for all. >> i have a dream, my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. i have a dream today. [applause.] >> libby casey has been covering today's events and joins us live from washington, an active and emotional day as well. libby? reporter: the speeches and march for today are over, but there are still a lot of people here in the mall and a feeling of community spirit. many people i have talked to have at some point today gone down to the monument on the mall that commemorates martin luther
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king, jr. they wanted a moment to thing about -- think about his legacy. earlier, i talked to his son, martin luther king, iii, and asked him what his father would think about today. >> you know, i think, again, dad would first be very proud that americans came together to elect an african-american president. but that was not the full filament of his dream. that was certainly an important milestone. in fact, he even predicted that we would have a ang-african-american president probably 10 years before it happened, he and robert kennedy predicted it in their life. so they were able to see it because they were visionaries. but he would be proud of the fact that there are some individuals who are doing very well in corporate america, xerox has an african-american ceo. american express has an african-american ceo. and there are others. but he would be very concerned about the plight of the masses of people, and particularly, i talk about young people. he would be concerned about that.
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we are not creating opportunities for generations currently and yet generations yet unborn. and so he would challenge us because we have the ability. we have the ingenuity. we have everything that is needed. but we just have not identified the will. when ability meeting will, it yields results. >> martin luther king iii, the son of the reverend martin luther king, jr. he says it's up to the youth to make a big difference right now. he wants them to get out and vote. he wants them to get involved and be inspired by the events taking plays. >> 50 years, the dream continues. libby, thank you. >> joining us to talk about where the nation is now, 50 years after the march on washington is urya ellis, the great great nephew of martin luther king, jr. >> grad to be -- glad to be on. >> as you watch footage of your great, great ankle, what are your thoughts on this 50th anniversary? >> when you see the actual
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footage, it's really hard not to just be kind of in awe of the legacy that dr. king laid out, you know. back in the '60s when all of -- when he was, you know, most active and everything, there was a lot of turmoil going on. you know, people weren't working together even within the separate communities, you know, for instance, black people would kind of be divided on the issues that they wanted to be most prominent but the fact that he was able to really kind of mobilizedize everyone together and get the entire nation to get on to the same front and fight for equality for all is really awe-inspiring. >> your great, great uncle active, your father active, you are active. the march on washington has been a rallying point. are they more engaged, young people, in social be injustices? >> i think that right now, young people get really engaged when they see a cause to stand up for, you know. in general, i think that right now, people of my generation have gotten relaxed and comfortable with the way that the world is, but if there is something that comes up where
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they feel it needs to be spoken up about, i think we really start to show our true colors at that point. >> how do you feel the younger generation views the issue of race? >> you know, i think that the generation judges race relations as something that shouldn't be complicated. i have been able to cultivate friendships with a wide array of people. i think young people view race as a unique characteristic about yourself as opposed to something that should be a determining factor in your life. >> how do we move forward and keep your great, great uncle's dream alive? >> you know, i think that everybody can really play their part in their own unique ways. you know, i think that everybody is going to have a specialty that they can really work there their best efforts in. for instance, some people are going to be good at giving back to the community, going out into the streets, helping those less fortunate, in that regard. some people will be able to kind of go in to the business aspects
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and kind of create new opportunities for more and more people to be involved in, reach success did that way. >> do you think there is a disconnect at all when it comes to racial politics and the younger generation? >> you know, i wouldn't say there is a disconnect. i think there is a difference from how things were in the past. during my great, great uncle's lifetime, there were a lot of very highly charged political young people. they would do the sit-ins. they would go on the freedom rides and stuff like that. where nowadays, i think the young people kind of utilize social media as their biggest weapon in their racial politics fights. >> uriah ellis, the great, great nephew of dr. martin luther king, jr. >> thanks so much for having me on. >> no problem. stay with al jazeera more coverage of the dream: 50 years later. it is 3:00 in the afternoon right now in california and many of the wildfires that have been raging across the west are showing no signs of slowing
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down. one of the biggest is the rapidly growing rim fire, as its being called. flames are now moving just inside yosemite national park. the fire has doubled in size, already destroying more than 125,000 acres. those flames were also threatening san francisco's water supplies promption governor jar brown to declare a state of emergency for that city. melissa chin joins us from west of yosemite park. good evening. >> hi. i want to qualify the information about the water supply and the electricity to san francisco. it is definitely bad news of the three hydro electric power plants out here that supply 16% of the electricity to san fran 7ing oh, two are down but what officials are saying is that they would be able to buy electricity from elsewhere. it's a little bit more complicated with the water situation. the reservoir here serves the
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water needs of the bay area. they are worried that the fire is going to bring ash into the water and the reservoir is not filtered. but again, they will be able to draw on other water sources. but of course, you know, this is still a very serious situation which is precisely why the california governor called a state of emergency for the city of san francisco. >> what can you tell us about the approach fire fighters are taking, melissa, in fighting this fire? >> this is a very steep and remote part of the country it's been touch. containment has been five % todd but it's pretty much been that low in the past few days. zero %, two % containments. so, it is very tough. thefire is moving north and east. everyone is concerned about yosemite national park. what we were told this morning
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is that about 11,000 acres of the park has been destroyed. to give you some context, the park is approximately 800,000 acres large. the about 1% of the park affectioned but their top priority with protecting billions, making sure people's homes are not destroyed. it's moving north and east but they are getting more resources as a result of the declaration of the state of emergency. >> it will be a busy couple of weeks and hours ahead for fire fighters. melissa chan, thank you. as we know the weather playing a major factor. rebecca stevensen joining us with that. >> we use weather satellites most of the time to look at what's going on weather wise as we look from space down at the clouds below, typically we track a lot of clouds but this time, we are looking at smoke. satellites can tell us where the smoke is traveling. it tells us how thick it is, and it also can tell us how this fire is developing, specifically
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the rim fire zeroed in here, you can see it closely, the smoke plume billowing up very high as this fire is running fast and hot. as we look at air quality, the problem is the smoke is settling down into the valleys. it's very deposition and we have some unhealthy air quality for sacramento towards reno. we are going to expect that to continue through tomorrow, and we will also have a picture here because places around truckee, i-90 and u.s. 395 is getting some visibility problems from time to time from the amount of smoke coming out of this rim fire. we have 45 uncontained large fires right now. now, these listed are all being maintained under suppression. they are attempting to manage these fires and keep them expressed. however, it is exactly what's keeping our fire fighters so busy right now across the west with fire weather watches in place across much of the northwest and oregon and idaho and nevada. we've got another round of lightning strikes moving through right now, coming up from the
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south. i am going to show you those storms. they are bringing some rain. the good news, beaver creek got a lot of rain yesterday in idaho but we have those creeping, smoldering fires in parts of southwest oregon and still, fires threatening structures even around winachi, national forg est and the okinagawa in the national state. again, we will look at the amount of rainfall on the way. >> still ahead on al jazeera, contamination from the failed nukoshimo plant in japan is leading to health concerns. where we have been and where we are going 50 years after the dream. a closer look at race relations in the united states today. ... s
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[[voiceover]] no doubt about it, innovation changes our lives. opening doors ... opening possibilities. taking the impossible from lab ... to life. on techknow, our scientists bring you a sneak-peak of the future, and take you behind the scenes at our evolving world. techknow - ideas, invention, life. mission. >> there's more to america, more stories, more voices, more points of view. now there's are news channel with more of what americans want to know. >> i'm ali velshi and this is "real money." this is "america tonight." sglovrjs our
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-- >> our news coverage reveal more of america's stories. >> i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed. we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all mean are created equal. [applause.] >> that speech given 50 years ago, electrified the civil rights united states in the united states. joining me jonathan ryder who has written extensively: good to see you gentlemen. >> 50 years ago, it was about policy agenda.
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50 years later, still about policy agenda. what's the rallying cry, if you will, on this anniversary? >> i think the rallying cry is a proliferation of the dream. right? and so, we see the occupy movement. we see the lgbt rights, civil rights movement. we see young people like the dream defenders who are fighting against stand your ground laws in florida. i think that's a beautiful proliferation of dr. king's dream. i think in its historical context, you know, thomas, i think you know this, that i interviewed dr. bernice king a couple of days ago and she said one of the things she thinks is important to tell the next generation of civil rights leader is that the struggle never ends. her mother used to say freedom is won and lost in every generation. you have to keep winning it over and over again. i think that's a wonderful way of looking at it. it might be a slightly pessimistic but i think she is talking about the reality of the human existence. so the fight for full civil rights and equality will
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continue. >> you think we have fallen short in carrying that message to the next generation? >> well, the historical memory is a complicated thing. we look at how this nation remembers king in that speech, i have a dream. it's king, the dreamer. so it's very easy to look at that glorious celebration of american life and look at where we've come and say, the dream has been fulfilled. we live in a post-racial society and, therefore, commemorating the dream becomes a way of marking off the time of unfreedom of old to the lush freedoms of today and that kind of smugness and self congratulations would have horrified king. it was against the spirit he understood to infuse the dream, and i think it explains in part that why his legacy in many ways has been sanitized and, therefore, can't make the transition that exactly was just being discussed. >> one of the biggiest barriers facing minorities in the u.n.
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today? >> here again, that question sort of underscores the difficult comparisons we have when we try to think we are with going to go back and recast and sort of revive the old movement because it was adapted to its time. we are not facing the moral clarities of fights against beau connor and segregation. today, they are more morally ambiguous, poverty, inequality, the right did of immigrants, the right did of gay people. but if you look at king's evolution, he never thought that his life was anything but the notion, i'"i've been anointed t save and deliver the captives. what that meant in every society, every historical season, there are always wounded people on jericho's road. >> i greene request john. i think as a minister, obviously, martin luther king
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was very, very much seeing the world through a christian lens. and like christ said, the poor you will have with you always. i think the fact that the march was for jobs and freedom shows that the issue of income and equality -- income inequality we have been talking about since the great recession of 2007 and 2008 is really the crisis of our time. that is something that affects us regardless of race. and so when we talk about, well, what are the biggiest barriers? clearly, there are systematic or systemic discrimination in america that affects black and brown people dispropportion atly but things like poverty affect all of us, white and brown. >> when you look at a crowd in washington today, we are more diverse but are we just as equal? >> well, i will get you go, john. >> equal in what sense? you know, we tend to make these things simple, as if there is, like, one metric. we have realized the dream on certain criteria, dimensions and on others, we haven't.
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so in membership, i think king would look around and say, the notion of giving dignity of black people, that has been extended to latino people and gay people. if you look how quickly the support for gay marriage and civil unions is increasing. so i think in membership, america has done very well. you go back to -- >> but you have to admit it wasn't as easily embraced in the minority community when it came to same-sex marriage. >> we are comparing that. >> those are cultural issues. i happen to be both black and gay. so i don't necessarily have to choose which fight i am going to fight over the other. i think i can embrace it all. and i think that we, like john said, we often look at these things too simplistically. i think where john was going with this is that from an optics point of view, i think king would have been extremely proud. we literally live in a multi-racial society. and that, the crowd today, wasn't all black. it was black, white, brown, and
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a hew of different colors. the way we have civil rights in the 21st century must become more nuanced. it's a rainbo of issues. >> we can agree we came a long way. we certainly appreciate your time today. >> thank you. >> t >>. doctors without borders says signs point to chemical weapon use in syria. the united nations chief disarmament investigator pushes for an investigation into the alleged chemical attack. we will look at a possible u.s. response coming up next.
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>> welcome back to al jazeera. i am thomas drayton. tens of thousands gathered on the national mall to mark the 50th anniversary on the march of washington and martin luther king, jr.'s iconic "i have a dream" speech. king told marchers his father's dream is not yet a reality. california's wildfire is moving into yosemite national park. flames are threatening san francisco's power and water systems prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency in that city. in syria, the international humanitarian group doctors without borders says it's medics have treated more than 3600 patients for neuro toxic symptoms consistent with those from exposure to chemical
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weapons. president obama has been meeting with his national security team today at the whitehouse. the white house says he's received a detailed review of a range of potential options on how to respond to the reported use of chemical weapons in syria. as washington considers its next move, families of the victims are grieving the loss of their loved ones. charles stratford reports, and a warning, you may find some of the images disturbing. >> the two tink bodies hang limp in his arms. "what will i do now?" cries the father, a man destroyed by grief. pictures like these of the many men, women, children indiscriminately killed by what
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all evidence suggests was a chemical weaponstang continue to shock the world. the syrian government still refuses access to u.n. inspectors based in a hotel down the road. restricted in their movement by a man date they agreed to with the assag government, an agreement to only inspect the sites twlooer previous agreed chemical attacks took plates. there may be signs after shift in u.s. policy. chuck hagel says president obama has told the pentagon to prepare for military options in syria. the u.s. navy has sent a battleship into the mediterrean. is this a hint toward some sort of action? >> well, it certainly indicates a willingness from the part of the national security council to be looking at a number of options in potential response to what happened in syria over the weekend, over the last few days. >> the united states says it needs prproof chemical weapons
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killed these people. the assad government has denied it was behind any chemical weapons attack. some experts say not only assad has access to the chemical agents. >> they may be the only ones that have access to the missile technology that may be being discovered at this time. but these types of chemical weapons are not very, very difficult to manufacture. >> syrian state t.v. is reporting the military have found chemical weapons in rebel-kroebld tunnels in the damaskas neighborhood of job a. d. syria's biggest ally russia says assad must allow the u.n. inspectors to visit last weak's apparent attack. but there seems really little movement in moscow's staff. >> this is really small and there is no indication that should western countries or the. >> u.s. or a group or a coalition or the willing once again intervene in the military fashion, even in a limited way,
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there is no indication that russia might be even slightly cooperative this time. >> barack obama's security advisors are meeting over the weekend. the united nations disarmament chief has arrived in syria and is trying to negotiate access for the chemical weapons inspectors to visit the site. charles stratford, al jazeera. >> when it comes to syria, the world is certainly watching to see what the obama administration will do next. i want to bring in colonel lawrence wilkerson, chief of staff to one time secretary of state colin powell. good to have you with us, colonel wilkerson >> good to be here. >> british reports said david cameron and president obama have been talking about the situation about the concerns over the latest actions. do you think this is an indication that they are trying to increase entinternational momentum to do something? >> i think it probably is, but i am also very cautious as some have indicated.
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i would want a real positive assessment of the chemical weapon used and even more important than that, i would want to know who used them. i just find it utterly absurd president assad holding his own and perhaps even winning would use chemical weapons when he is already in possession of the t artillery, the tanks, the armored personnel carriers, the disciplined troops, co high schoolive leadership and so forth. why on earth would he use chemical weapons and invite, by doing so, the international community's response much harsher than it's been so far? it just doesn't make any sense. >> as i mentioned, the white house said the president received a list of options, a detailed view of potential options. what do you think those options are? what has he been told? >> there are always options that span the gamut from a know-fly zone, for example, to introduction of ground forces and elimination of the assad
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regime and the assad military. i am sure the military has all of those contingency plans on the shelf. it will be up to the president to determine with the military's advice which of those plans, if any, he orders executed. >> what do you make of the u.s. moving naval ships closer to syria? >> i think that's probably a warning, and it's a good warning: reposition those ships for action if necessary, but waiting for a careful analysis of what's happened, either by the u.n. or whoever does it, and a careful analysis of who might have done it. some of your interlock tours have pointed out much of the effects that have happened so far could have been produced by intensive doses of riot gas, the kind of gas we use in the military to suppress people when they are rioting or whatever. this has to be looked at. you are talking to the man who was told with absolute certainty there were weapons of mass destruction in iraq in 2003.
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so i would really want to know that the intelligence is solid before i picked any one of those contingency plans. >> certainly the international community is watching. if the u.s. does become involved, will russia and china follow? >> that's a real possibility. russia has a real interest in assad and in his stability, china has an interest, turkey has an interest, iran has a huge interest. indeed, iran probably has advisors and military on the ground. certainly irgc people on the ground in syria, on assadts side, malaki in iraq has people in syria. saudi arabia is funding massive flow of arms to the opposition in syria. this could go regional really fast and even if it were to get out of hand completely t could go global. this is not a good situation. >> colonel lawrence wilkins former chief of staff to secretary of state colin powell, appreciate your time. >> thousands of people travel to thenatal's capitol to help mark
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the 50th anniversary of dr. martin luther king, jr.'s "i have a dream" speech. al jazeera's del walters is there. >> blain here when dr. king made history a half century a year ago. >> i have a dream that one day, this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed. >> we have accomplished some things but we still got a long way to go. >> the reverend jessie jackson, a long time civil rights leader and friend ofd king was here for the first march. he spoke about moving forward on current civil rights issues. >> keep dreaming of the constitutional right to vote. stop the madness in north carolina and texas. keep dreaming. keep dreaming. revive the war on poverty. keep dreaming. go from stop and frisk to stop and employ, stop and educate, stop and house. >> as we gather today, 50 years
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later, their march is now our march and it must go on. >> merley he evers williams also focused on the future singing out the controversy surrounding the stand your ground laws and calling on supporters to flip the meaning of those laws. >> stand your ground in terms of fighting for justice and equality. >> king's son, martin luther king, iii also addressed the crowd >> this is not time for a nostalgic commemoration or the time for self congratlattory celebration. the task is not done. the journey is not complete. we can and we must do more. >> the reverend al sharpton was the keynote speaker and talked about the political issues facing minorities today including the recent supreme court ruling that eliminated key
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provisions of the land right voting rights act of 1965. >> we earned the right to vote with protest, and we will regain what we lost in the supreme court. we'll protest with focus and it's on its way. >> the march of doctor king's speech comes to an end, the dream to continue continues. >> firefighters in california are tackling what is the 16th biggest wildfire ever in that state. it's the fast-moving rim wildfire threatening california's yosemite national park. over the past day, the fire has doubled in size, already destroying more than 200 square miles. those flames were also threatening san francisco's water and power supplies prompting california jerry brown to declare a state of emergency for that city. as fire fighters struggle to contain the flames, it may be hard to imagine that fires can actually be an essential part of the eco system.
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tamara banks has more on that part of the story. >> there are more than 40 uncontained wildfires across the west. we have seen the relentless blazes claim lives and hundreds of homes this year. about in nature's most punishing blows, there can be healthy benefits. >> most of these plants we are looking at on this hillside here are naturally regenerated after the fire. >> we took a walk with colorado state fire behavior specialist, boyd labito in the high park burn scar. >> all of this has jugrown in or a year >> correct. >> 87,000 burned in the hyde park forest last year. they say the land starts healing almost immediately. >> there is life after fire >> certainly. yeah. it's part of the eke lodthe ecological cycle of theseforms forests. >> 25 years ago, fire destroyed
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750,000 acres. forest managers were criticized for letting it burn. but today, yellowstone is healthier and more diverse. >> most fires have a positive outcome. >> james white with the u.s. fire service says fires rejuvenate the land, improve has been tight for wildlife and maintain healthy watersheds. >> as far as the environment is concerned, it's a key element. these are all fire-adapted ecosystems and as a result, they require that fire to regenerate. >> despite this, politicians an the public pressure forest managers to put fires out rather than letting nature take its course even though the cost of fighting fires is well over a billion dollars a year. with buckets stretched, suppression wins out over prevention. >> it would be nice to see the appropriations that go into the fuel treatments increase.
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>> do you go wrightout is working with the government to map benefits of fuel treatments. >> in some cases, more extensive fuel treatments can help reduce the likelihood of these he knew treme events. >> although epic blazes make up less than two % of all wildfires, they gobble up 94% of suppression costs. >> i think one of the big challenges that we have is un r understanding and being able to figure out the balance between the suppression forces and the fuels treatment and preparedness activities that we do. it takes those working in concert to get the right kind of outcome. >> to be pro-active, experts say we must be smarter about understanding the benefits of fire. tamara banks, al jazeera, colorado. >> there is concern that japan's
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fukushima is leaking. al jazeera al jazeera anita mcnote. there was a story going around fukushima priapitis that sunflowers could absorb radiation. nashira has more faith in his geiger counter. he patrols his neighborhood checking for hot spots where radiation levels are over the safe limit. unfortunately, there are plenty of them. after three of the six diachi react went into meltdown two and a half years ago. >> every day, there is radiation. we can't see it 13reding into the air and into the ocean. one day, the world will sue japan for this. >> he has records for every household. he believes the area should not be lived in, that the government's not being serious about the clean-up. but the local did are crisis fatigued. >> it's been nearly three years.
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and nothing really bad has happened to people here so they have started to think there isn't a problem. but radiation takes 20 years to become a problem. >> nearby beach, despite news that highly radioactive waters leaching into the sea, locals are cooling off. they told us they were fi philosophic philosophical. everywhere now was radio active. they can't escape it. >> the stricken diachi nooufshling plant is 35 kill meters up the coast that way. and this beach, only open to the public in july, back then authorities said that radiation in the sea water had funeral acceptably low levels but wantanabe took samples for analysis, he found levels there were far higher. >> no one knows what a safe background level is anymore. the japanese are now part of a massive non-consent annual experiment on the radio radiation ex posed you're.
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this man worked at diachi and its sister plant, diani for more than 20 years. he says no one ramey knows how bad the situation is in the reactors because it's now deadly to go inside them. >> i personally believe that nuclear power, humans, cannot co-exist. >> the workers have been forbidden from talking to the media. >> the government is playing down the accident so it can keep exporting the technology to other countries. >> the shinto shrine here is seen as the protector of this community. the government these days is not. anita mcnaught, al jazeera, fukushima province. >> 50 years after the march on washington, a senior member of the nation's leading civil rights organization talks about the challenges remaining.
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>> frio county at last. frio county at last. thank god all might, we are frio county at last. >> those are perhaps martin luther king's words spoken 50 years agoe at last. >> those are perhaps martin luther king's words spoken 50 years ago marking the march on washington, mr. shelton is joining us this evening. good to see you. >> as we reflect 50 years on, to what extent have we achieved the goal set forth by martin luther king, jr.? >> we are a much more integrated society than we were in 1963. we are seeing that mean communities are much more integrated. people are living together. if you look at aries like education, employment, if you look at many other areas you see that we have much more diversity in those who attend, those who work for, and those who are actually serving in our u.s. congress. of course, we now have our first african-american president of the country. there has been a lot of move forward for the united states of
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america in the areas of integration. >> you were on the ground today in washington. give me a chance of the atmosphere. do you feel this is a celebration of what we have achieved or more of a catalyst for greater equality? >> it was both. it was both a recognition of what has been done of the last 50 years that our nation has moved forward in many ways but it was also recognition of what is still left to be done. i note we have a number of setbacks in voting rights, areas like our criminal justice system is still proven in some cases to be quite racist in how it's being implemented. we are seeing both things are happening. much likely the first march, people are leaving this march with a commitment to do more to could not that vision dr. king created so eloquently 50 years ago in this august, a hot day in 1963. >> i want to talk about the criminal justice situation issue of racial profiling. i know you have been vocal on the matter, expressed the importance of passing the international racism act.
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what did the tray von martin case tell you? >> it tells you we look at issues of racial profiling, that someone is guilty after crime or a threat because of race is very much with us. not only is this a practice done by some law enforcement -- don't get me wrong, all law enforcement doesn't do it but some police officers do it. it has been used by community watch groups. what happened to trayvon martin was an issue of profiling. this guy believed he was a watch officer, someone working with police and that he should see this man, trayvon martin, a 17-year-old kid unarmed, not wanted for any crime as being a threat in this community to the point that he would confront him and actually end up killing him. >> in dealing with the criminal justice system, dealing with poverty, assuring that the legacy is maintained, are we doing enough to maintain that younger generations are reminded of the achievements of the civil rights movement? >> i think so much still needs to be done. at the naacp, the young people are centered in the issues of
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civil rights and what's going on. of course, what they need to do to carry on this struggle, as dr. king laid out, this is clearly a movement, something that began with him and his legacy and all of those other civil rights workers that had joined him here in washington, d.c., but, also, something that needs to be done from one generation to the next. so even if we are able to achieve many of the goals and we have, we still have to work to be able to maintain those and continue to move forward to fulfill dr. king's vision for all of my. >> hillaried shelton of the naacp washington bureau. appreciate your time. >> it's great being with you. >> it's championship at the little league world series. i knew i was going do this shimabuku has more. we went over this 100 times. good to see you. >> good to see you, too. thomas, we started off with 16 teams from around the world. now, we are down to the final
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two. make no mistake, the two most dominant teams will be playing in tomorrow's championship game. today, we are california dreaming because the kids from tulivista had it going on against the kids in connecticut in the u.s. title game. nick morrow had a 3-run homerun to right field and he has been unbelievable. he was the king of swing and also the king of the hill because morro with struck out 10 batters, five plus innings work. i know a lot of focus has been on grant holman who drove in those other ones but this is extreme run shot. any harder? harder? down to some kind of special. this kid has been all of that and a bag of chips as the kids from california would go on to connecticut, 12 to 1. california is it. who will they play tomorrow? mexico taking against their acts against japan. this was a rematch with japan winning, mexico looking for
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redemption. ramon mendoza with that mazda shot to center field. it would stay that way until the 6th. who will be my friend? tukumi yomi, the defending champions are moving on into tomorrow's title game. japan versus california for the 67th little league series title mark morgan is live. you were there. what was the differencen between california and connect? >> ross, i tell you what you could say the westport connecticut team may have run out of gas. they had that come-from-behind extra inning walk-off win over waft yesterday but they did shoot themselves in the foot today with five errors. make no mistake. that ran into a juggernaut as you showed everybody, a 12-1 win by california, nick morrow, the man of the match, if you will, the starting pitcher goes 5 and two-thirds innings, two hit ball over those five and two-thifrdz.
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he reached the limit of 85 pitches, struck out 10 batters, struck out 4 rbi and a 3-run homer. i mentioned juggernaut, not an aberration, 14 times during the regular season, california scored 10 runs or more. so they are pretty much used to lighten it up. >> tomorrow is the championship game, california versus japan. japan is the defending champs. how do you see this match-up playing out? >> well, one name that you are going to hear a lot about tomorrow while the game is being played and it may be afterwards as well is the name of grant holman, a pitcher for california, 13 years old, 6' 4", 166 pounds, earlier in this world series, he toss add no-hitter. he will take the hill tomorrow for california against japan. but remember, japan has a history of excellence here at the college world -- excuse me -- at the little league world series here in williamsport, 14 world championship game appearances and 8 titles for japan. so, it should be a very
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interesting world championship game here tomorrow. >> thank you very much. our mark morgan reporting live from williamsport, pennsylvania, tulivista won in 2009. they are hoping to bring home another tomorrow. tiger soots dealing with a bad back but that hasn't stopped him at the barclays, three birdies on the last six holes, 8 under par, big cat within striking distance four shots back of gary woodland and matt kucher both at 12 under par. thomas, tiger making a run. >> still better than i ever will play. rebecca stevensen has our story that a pacific storm could bring some sort of relief to fire fighters in the west.
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>> welcome back. i am meteorologist rebecca stenson. most our areas of rainfall across the united states are localized with heavy rain. the mid atlantic and northeast, gorgeous day. it's clear and comfortable in these areas we are getting some pouring down rain into the southwest. we are watching that because of fire weather concerns. as we look at our concerns especially as we get into the southeast, it's different because this flooding that we are looking at for florida and georgia, this is river flooding. the rivers, when they start to rise because of all of the heavy rain you've had, you can watch them rise to a certain point, a certain flood stage whereas flash flood watches are quite different and happen so rapidly, you just have to be prepared. we have dry conditions set up
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for more lightning strikes to start wildfires in the northwest. >> that's what's happening is we are getting storms sweeping up from the southwest from a storm system actually offshore and pushing shores and thunderstorms into california, the south. see the reds and oranges on that doppler radar and that's indicating where we have the most powerful storms. they are moving up into eastern idaho and some of these are producing much needed rainfall over current fires in place. but there is our flash flood watch. you can see it stretches up in those areas given the heavy showers. the satellite pictures will show us a storm, tripe cal storm ivo. he is not going to stay together. he is actually going to fall apart but moisture is the main concern here because the moisture streaming in from the pacific will ride up into the midwest and bring excessive humidity into the mid east, bringing excessive heat warnings as temperatures frommapmap get near 90 's 's 0's
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>> welcome to al jazeera. i am thomas dradon. here are tonight's top stories. in syria, the international humanitarian group, doctors without borders say medics have treated more than 3600 patients for neuro toxic stems consistent with those to exposure of chemical weapons. >> tens of thousands gathered to mark the 50th anniversary on the march on washington. martin luther king, jr.'s iconic i have a dream speech. >> the rim wild pfeiffer is moving into yosemite park after destroying more than 200 square miles. flames are threatening san francisco's power and water systems prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency in that city. people in egypt are still under a nightly

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