rn welcome to al jazeera america, i'm john siegenthaler, here are the top stories. members of the house left the government shutdown and debt ceiling in a political limbo. gop house leaders tries twice and failed to reach an agreement on the ending of the crisis before thursday. that's when the treasury department says it will run out of money to pay the country's debts. senate leaders are trying to find a solution. congress's failure to raise the debt ceiling brings a fallout on wall street. one of the big three ratings agencies says the u.s. financial system is on a negative credit watch. congress has failed to raise its debt ceiling.

former san diego mayor bob filner pleaded guilty to sexual harassment charges. they include a phoney count of false imprisonment. the 71-year-old resigned in august after 17 women brought allegations against him. rescuers struggling to reach patients in a collapsed hospitals after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in the southern philippines. two aftershocks followed. more than 100 are dead. america tonight is next. you can get your latest news on aljazeera.com. >> on america tonight - an explosive story from heartland america - high school athletes and the sexual assault of two young teens.

was there a cover up. >> i felt like i needed the story to come out. >> and tonight - the second part of the report on the fracking boom. a town awash in wealth. >> we are a town that greed destroyed. >> is left without a drop. >> we turned the water on. that's when i went, "oh, my god the town is out of water". >> the next steps in haiti's recover vi. report by soledad o'brien on healing hands helping the nation to find its way. >> good evening and thank you

for being with us, i'm joie chen. the story is disturb ipingly familiar. high school athletes, alcohol, the sexual assault of teen girls and outcry spreading through social media the case involves two teenagers in a missouri farming community who say they were doubly victimised as they and their families were ostracised and run out of town because they sought justice. >> one of the girls was spoken to and this is how this case from heartland america became a national incident. >> maryvale missouri is under the microscope because of a rape case dating back two years, and is only now get gs national attention. >> i felt like i need the the story to come out and i needed to voice my opinion and my mother. it's just - we didn't have this

kind of support when everything happened. now that we do have a lot of support and people are listening, it's a miracle. it feels good that finally it is getting spoken about. we waited for this day for a lopping time. >> for the -- long time. >> for the first time page parker is speaking out about the ordeal. she claims she was one of two victims assaulted after drinking alcohol and sneaking to a friend to a high school football player's home in january 2012. >> they had separated us as soon as we got there. another boy that was there with me had taken me into another room and had sexually assaulted me after me telling him no. it was scary. i was really confused then. i didn't understand really what was fully going on. i was in shock really. i was very worried about my

friends and, i mean, it was freezing out. so i don't know - there was just a lot of things going through my mind. >> it was january 8th of 2012 and it was 22 degrees that night. daisy was left out in the front yard. >> daisy coleman claims she was a victim of rape. left outside drunk on her mother's doorstep after the assault. three boys were arrested, a juvenile and two older high school students charged in an adult court. matt barnett faced a sexual assault charge and misdemeanour for endangering the wellbeing of a child. >> the prosecuting attorney dropped charges, citing

insufficient evidence. one boy admitted to recording the video. the sheriff says video was not found and the victims refused to cooperate. that's why the case fell apart. >> i disagree with what they are saying. he never gave us a reason at the time. the prosecutor did not give us a reason at the time as to why he dropped the charges. as a matter of fact he didn't tell us he dropped the felony charges. i just - to me it's unreasonable. >> page parker says she's home schooled, claiming she endured days of harassment after the incident. >> it was heart breaking. it made you want to hide and not say any more, made you want to backdown. i knew that i couldn't back down and that something had to be done. it is one of the worst feelings in the world to be called all of these things, and to not understand why people wouldn't listen to your side of the

story, and why they were being so rude. >> daisy coleman's family said they had to move out of town to albany to escape. it wasn't until a kansas city star reporter brought the case to light that people around the country took notice, trying to get the case open. >> greet iption, world. we are operation mary victim, two young girls were raped in the town of mayorieville, missouri. the people of maryville turned their backs on these victims, one victim forced... >> this youtube video launched by activists calling themselves anonymous is 2 minutes and 30 scans. its impact may be known for years. it has more than 100,000 views. the group is rallying people on sw twitter, fuelling a campaign. pushing community members to take action, making sure that

justice is properly served. >> anonymous got so heavily involved and spread op online campaign to encourage people to put pressure on the attorney-general in missouri, and are organising a protest. the attorney-general put out a statement saying the attorney-general has no authority over the case and can-do anything about it. late today the lieutenant governor released a statement saying in part: >> he is calling on the attorney-general to ask the prosecutor to convene a grand jury so they can decide whether or not charges should come forward. >> seems like the tapes is making a difference -- attention is making a difference. i had an opportunity to hear from the sheriff darren white earlier. his investigators led the way. i asked if he felt they had done the right thing. >> yes. one young man was charged with

sexual assault. another young man was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. >> there was a question of why the statutory rape charge was not made. did you feel that the evidence was presented that would have led to a statutory rape charge. >> not close. the crime that occurred didn't come anywhere near meeting the elements of a crime of statutory rape. the appropriate charge of sexual assault was filed. >> by that you mean because of the age of the young woman and man involved? >> whether you are a juvenile or an adult. if you are in what is considered to be an incap acetated condition, in this case being intoxicated, you are not considered to be able to make the rational decision. it wouldn't matter if the victim was 14 or 40, they would be considered to be incap acetated

and the charge could have been filed. >> but it could have been a felony charge instead of statutory rape. >> yes, the sexual assault in missouri is class c. in support of that, if you look at the past history of these young men, they have previously been prosecute in ota way by the attorney for other crimes. our prosecutor is not afraid to file charges or pursue criminal prosecution when that is the appropriate thing to do. >> why were the original charges dropped? >> the victims refused to assist in pressing the case. they refused to as at all, leaving the prosecuting attorney with little alternative. >> you understand the victim's mother says that is not the case, that she wanted to move forward with the charges.

>> well, i understand that is what the mother said. i have seen her on tv and herd her say that. i can tell you that when the victim comes to the prosecutors office for the purpose of giving a deposition, and the victim invokes her 5th amendment right to not self incriminate, it leaves the prosecuting attorney with nowhere to go in the case. >> one final thought from you here - there has been a lot of attention in the national media and social media about the case. can you respond to what you see happening here. >> as far as social media goes, the social media has been nothing but a hindrance to not only this case, but a lot of things that go on in the community or society. there has been any number of threats made towards citizens,

myself, my family, people that work at the sheriff's office. i would say to those people - you know, it's easy to hide behind an anonymous user name on a computer and make threats and assume a lot of things you don't know, but if you want to say the things, have the courage to stand up and be identified and say what you have to say >> obviously we had some difficulties with the audio. we do want the audience to hear what he said. what happens for the girls? >> the sheriff says his hands are tied, he can't go out and rearrest anyone. if the girls want action taken, especially daisy, if she wanted something to happen, she should go into the prosecuting attorney and say, "yes, i want to prosecute. here is what i'm willing to do and bring you", then the prosecutor can make a decision. at this point it's out of the

sheriff's hands. >> let's talk to the social media impact - he said he's been threatened, his family from social media attacks. >> anonymous has a big impact. they get involved. people follow on twitter and facebook. i was speaking to the sheriff. he said, "everything shut down", he said, "i shut down the website and email" we were threatened with people hacking in. he said he needed to protect the integrity of other cases. that is why he closed down his electronic system to prevent anonymous or anyone from hack k into his system. >> a lot of people would like to know about anonymous. >> coming up tomorrow night i'll have information on anonymous. i'll take us inside, online to ohio, where there's outrage over another high profile rape case. >> we got 2,000 people on the street peacefully, standing there with signs, and rape

victims coming forward. it was very powerful. that is coming up wednesday. >> we'll have that report on hackivists. still to come - we are going to be talking about texas wealth running dry. is fracking to blame. america's fracking boom continues after a break.

now we continue the series, the fracking boom in baan heart texas, where the trucks arrived and the wells went dry. for the people in town turning on a tap can no longer be taken for granted. while some people are getting rich, the town will never again be the same. >> keith has been fixing water wells in this part of west texas

for 30 years. these days business is almost too good, and not in a good way. >> we are as busy as we want to be, i can say that. we could run all day and night if we wanted to. water wells all over the county are drying up. >> i have seen some of the real shallow water - like 40 to 80 feet. i have seen it go. but never any like some of these, 600 feet and they are going dry. some of it is to do with the drought - but not all of it. >> today he's working for a rancher, shutting a dead well that was once used to water cattle. >> all the shallow water is pretty well gone, thanks to the drilling going on. >> the fracking boom arrived in west texas and is changing everything about small-town life in a huge swath of land.

stretching across parts of 38 counties, the permium is one of the largest oil and gas deposits with 82,000 active wells. most of the riches are only accessible through frackingism. >> fracking uses more water. >> ron green is a scientist at the south-west research institute. >> conventional drawing they'd have a vertical hole using 100,000 gallons. in fracking they drill down, put in a well and inject water to hydraulically frack the rock. you are talking 3-6 million gallons per well that's fracked. >> areas like west texas have been long stressed for water. in the midst of a drought the fracking boom is pushing some towns over the edge. once a sleepy intersection with a population of 92, baan heart

texas is teaming with trucks and new people, all to service the oil field. at last count 300 trucks, most of them 18 wheelers run through baan heart every hour. >> i take them around up here, show them the progress. >> beverley maguire and her husband settled here 30 years ago. >> everything you see, my husband built. i want to show you the well - or what used to be the well. that's - you can tell we haven't been in here. all of this money is down the tube. >> you don't think it will come back. >> i don't think it will ever come back. >> after her own well went dry, beverley borrowed $1500, bought a town water meter and paid to be hooked up to the baanville well. >> the month i got it paid off,

i got up, turned the water on and that's when i went, "oh, my god, the town is out of water." >> the town well had run dry. for three days last june residents had to truck in water for drinking and basic needs. >> our friends on the ranch out here - their wells are all gone. our friends out here on the ranch, their wells are gone. >> in texas groundwater is governed by the rule of capture. if you own the land, you own everything beneath it. residents say that even as their own domestic wells go dry, some neighbours are cashing in and selling fresh water. vendors are pumping from deeper wells, dotting the country with newly dug pits like this, all for fracking. >> what do you say to your neighbours for selling water? >> you can't blame them. it's legal. >> beverley and alan say without water they may be forced to sell

up. >> it's heartbreaking. you have done the best you knew how. it wasn't enough. >> this man came here for the work. 10 times a day he fills his truck with 5,000 gallons of fresh water and hauls it to the fracking wells. >> we do the best we can, especially with the water being low. i mean the lakes, arizona, el-derado, they run out of water. we have to chase up and down. >> we are on the western edge of baan hart and came here to people selling fresh water for fracking. the subject of selling water for fracking is so sensitive no one will agree to speak to us. there's another catch. water used in tracking is so contaminated in chemicals and other min malls, it can never be used again for any purpose out

an expensive clean up. the townspeople showed us a water storage facility. >> what happens when the trucks come in? >> there'll be lights and a small city. it will be constant trucks 24/7. all day, all night. moving in, moving out. waiting. they'll be all up this road, all over there, all waiting to dump. . >> we are a town that greed destroyed. greed ain't a part of the oil companies, but the people that lived here that embraced that greed. >> john nanny is a local rancher and president of the baan heart water board. >> the infrastructure is overtaxed and burdened. we can't meet the demand that people have put on all of this.

water, housing, electrical to a lesser degree. >> the whole infrastructure... >> everything. >> everything. >> every aspect of it. >> you have a situation in town where you have the salt water is the storage facility. >> it's an injection facility. the tanks that are there are to hold it until such time as it's pumped to whatever depth it is going to. >> that means trucks. >> lots and lots of trucks. they are projecting anywhere between 200, 400 daily. >> a day. >> yes >> what about the people who live there? >> they are a nonentity. oil companies don't care. we have fought each of these salt water injection wheels, have gone austin, to know satisfaction. oil companies have deeper pockets than residents of baan hart. >> oil companies successfully fought off attempts to make them

obtain water permits before they drill. >> hydraulic fracking is the reason that texas and the rest of the nation is doing so well. >> back in austin, i sat with deborah haistings of the texas oil and gas association. >> the oil and gas association in texas paid over $12 million in taxes. just in 2012 alone. >> there was a bill before the last legislative session, 873, that would have wide epd the requirement for -- widened the requirement for permits for drilling. why is that not a good idea? >> the process we have now is working. we believe it's not broken. >> why would other large industries have to get permits, why should oil and gas be exempt? >> timing is the most important part of the process. they want to ensure that when we have a rig available, that we

can use it. >> fracking companies don't need to use fresh water. they can frark with blackish or recycled water. sips it has to be treated -- since it has to be treated, it costs more. the oil and gas maintains that it uses 1% of the water in texas, and is not placing an undue burden on the state given the benefit. not long ago john nanny ran hundreds of head of cattle on his ranch. then the water ran out. he's down to a couple of dozen. >> the texas oil and gas association says the industry uses 1% of the water. >> this is probably true. but there's 254 counties in this state. my question to the oil industry is what is that percentage in the 25 counties it's impacting mostly by that. no one will answer that for me. >> do you think they know? >> i'm satisfied they do. those people are not dumb.

they want to average it out. if you sit there with one barefoot on an ash and the other on a fire, you feel pretty good. water is the factor. when oil is tapped the oil boom will dry up. this country without water will be worthless. >> scientists say that of all the fresh water used, 25 to 30% goes into fracking. in another, it's up to 54%. in all, 30 towns across texas are in danger of running out of the water before the end of the year, according to the texas commission on environmental quality. >> this last weekend we talking about flooding in texas, heavy rains. will it help, will it make a difference? >> people in that part of the texas may be the only people wishing for a hurricane. they talk about the need for biblical rain.

40 days and 40 nights, to begin to replace what has been lost from the aquifer. every day the oil companies are in there, pulling up tens of thousands of gallons, dropping the aquifer further. >> yesterday we did the other part of the report on the fracking boom. we are in south-western pennsylvania, and up there - look at the challenge. it's so lush and green. >> beautiful. >> the cow, the pastoral life. again, communities making choices between the wealth underground and the wealth of their lifestyle. >> in texas many feel as a communicate r -- community, they don't have a choice. they went to them and said, "do you have to put the storage into the town", there's open land, but that's where it was decided they would go. in some cases, yes, there's a

lot of money. there's a lot of people feeling that their lives are ruined. they cannot control the situation. coming up here on america tonight - fresh classified documents from edward snowden. did you know you could be sharing your online roler develop with the nsa. disclosure on data collection and what it means for all of us - coming up next.

earthquake. . suspected libyan terror. >> abu anas al liby pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges. he was captured in libya during a military raid in october. accused of planning the deadly bombings of u.s. embassies in africa. charged with felony, false imprisonment and battery, bob

phil ner pleads guilty. he resigned after a dozen women claimed sexual harassment. as edward snowden remains a fugitive halfway across the world revelations are growing out of that. the latest, according to the "the washington post" involves run dreads of millions of -- hun dreads of millions of email contacts. yours could be among them. the latest disclosures hit the reach of the agency. the data drawn from address books at collection points across the globe could allow the nsa to map out a person's life. it is prohibited from targetting americans, whether in the u.s. or abroad. the agency has not been authorised by congress or the special court that oversees foreign surveillance to collect

contact lists of americans in bull. the leaked document shows that some are gathered up. the nsa claims this is no in violation of the foreign intelligence surveillance act because the collection occurs in foreign countries, when data crosses international borders. nsa chief keith alexander dismissed charges of massive infringement on privacy. >> the press claimed evidence of thousands of privacy violation, it is false and misleading. >> the agency claims it is not required to restrict contact lists belonging to speaks fitted foreign investment targets. >> is there a reason for all of us to be concerned. joining us is the co-author of the article. thank you for coming in here. we hear a lot of these dribs and

drabs of information coming out of the snowden releases. how significant is this? >> that's a good question. there's one key point to observe. many people were introduced to this issue with the prison revelations. this was like when the government was going to companies like google and facebook and apple and asking for information. this is through a 702 precedent where they can request information on a foreign intelligence suspect. >> now they have collected a lot. >> on their own. it's interesting that they got the data without the company's involvement. through the company's negligence, possibliry, but the truth of the matter is rather than knock on a door with a legal requirement, they can collect it themselves. and they are overcollecting. >> how much? >> on any given day somewhere around 440,000 addresses from

yahoo... >> what, 440,000 a day. >> address books. somewhere in the 700,000 a day address books from various big four webb mail providers. >> 700,000. >> we are day. >> per day? >> that's right. >> who is a target. politics is lobing -- lobing am. i have contacts in the middle east, at asia - would i by at risk of being set out. >> what is not clear is what the target guidance is. we know from other leaked documents that minimisation a guidance or targetting guidance on the 702 precedent is that you can effectively - it's not a precedent, the 702 guidelines allow you to collect information on anyone who is corresponding or has in their address book a foreign intelligence suspect. what happens here, it's not clear what information they are cleging, but -- collecting

>> or why they might be. >> or why they are accessing it. something to realise is the distributive nature of web mail providers is not restricted to geography. it's not necessarily the case that the servers you are talking to will be located in the u.s. oftentimes communications are distributed, they are in the cloud. >> to the claim it is too complicated, there's no way to weed this out, it's splitting hairs. >> is it that difficult, would it be that difficult for them to isolate the information that they need. >> not the way they are collecting it. they are connecting it from the backbone of the internet. they collect it as the data goes buy. as data goes by through the pipes, through what is known as sig-ads, the lings between the -- links between internets of various country. they record it and access it. >> thank you so much for being

with us, helping us to figure out what is going on in the information. >> back here in washington, it's looking more and more like ground hog day, two days ahead of the debt ceiling deadline the discord on capitol hill is as deep as ever. even with word that a watch advisory was put out. negotiations fell apart. g o p leaders were angle for a deal. the talk came to a halt when it was clear there was not enough votes in the chamber, much less the senate. >> our team met with our members trying to find a way forward in a bipartisan way that would provide fairness to the american people under obamacare. >> i think it's time the president go into obamacare - and i mean really into obamacare. >> extremist republicans and the house of representatives is attempting to torr peedo a

bipartisan progress with a bill that can't pass the senate and won't. >> now, senior editor david hawkings rejoins us to talk about this. i mentioned grouped hog day -- ground hog day, we go two steps forward one back, there's going to be a deal, there's not. why did it fall apart? >> you said it in your intro. the deal mitch mckogel and harry reid were -- mcconnell and harry reid were close to reaching - when they told john boehner about it, to test market it, there were not the votes to pass it. they had essentially - the house republicans - a couple of dozen - the tea party caucus - will not vote for anything that raises the debt limit. >> and turns things back. the proposal had more obamacare elements. >> that's right. they took what reid and

mcconnell were doing, pushing it to the right. it wasn't enough to the right to cap tour the tea party republicans, but enough to lose the democrats. nancy pelosi said not a single house democrat was going to vote. they tried to move it to capture, make it an all-republican vote. it didn't work. it ended up with zero democratic votes and not enough for republican. >> we are back to square one. there's a discussion on the senate side that at least they are back to talking. >> they are back to talking. they are near a deal. mcconnell and reid are close, very close. they are starting to leak out what they are proposing. it sounds like what they were proposing a day ago. we could have missed this episode, slept through the day and missed nothing in a strange sense. they are essentially back to marketing to their own side what they think can get democratic and republican votes and hope that john boehner will conclude as he was been pressed to do

for months, that the only way to get this off his back is pass a bill with a combination of democratic and republican votes, mostly democratics. >> bear in mind what the senator is talking about is a delay. we are not talking about a resolution to all this. it would have to be budget conference after that. we have forgotten about that. >> we are talking about something to keep the government open, early into the new year. 15 january we are talking about, to keep the debt limit at bay. and to inquire in a way i haven't read the language so i can't say it's iron clad, to require some level of budget negotiations between now and christmas that would be compelled to be put to a vote before the deadlines are made. >> do they not get it. despite people's individual feelings and sufferings. the complications for american families, and you have a situation where this enormous credit ratingas si says, "look, we are watching you united

states", we are talking about downgrading. should that be an impetus for movement. >> it is for some. there's a group of republicans that don't believe. they fundamentally don't believe that the debt limit is a big deal. >> even with a warning like that. >> even with a warning like that. they believe there's a conspiratorial view that a few have that this is a game to put pressure on them to buckle. some of them don't believe that we can't prioritise our debts. >> so they are not buying. >> they are not buying it. >> thank you david hawkins, from roll cole. >> adam maize's full report with corey booker is coming up wednesday on america tonight. coming up - one step at a time here - an amputee's reality in haiti, social correspondent soledad o'brien has more about the program giving mar hatians new hope.

soledad o'brien has more about

left behind in the rub the of the 2010 earthquake in haiti are victims whose wounds will never heel. the community stands as a reminder of a day they lost nearly everything - homes, jobs, loved ones and now some of haiti's young ones are justing to life without limbs. america tonight's special correspondent soledad o'brien find out what works with young amputees who are slowly taking their steps to a now life. >> at seven years old moise metellus is no different to haitian boys his age.

>> our cameraman captures his undivided attention. moise metellus lives with his parents and brother in a poor suburb of port-au-prince. they lost everything when their house collapsed during the de dest -- devastating earthquake. >> moise metellus's father works as a father. he teaches his boys religious songs and hopes jesus will answer their prayers. his mother, wechline, worries. this is why. >> he was injured in the earthquake, what happened? >> translation: the foot was badly damaged. the house collapsed on he and his brother. >> moise metellus was buried

alive. one doctor said there was no need to amputate. a second director delivered the terrible news. >> translation: the white doctor's if we don't cut the foot off the child will die. they did on 18 january. >> it must have been terrible to see your son. there are some words that need to translation. >> translation: it was horrible. i looked at him for a moment. just a moment. it was so painful. i didn't want to foot cut off. >> she feared the physical pain her son was facing and the life-time of hardship. in haiti, when you miss a lime you are considered an out cast, called a kokobe or cripple in creole. children cannot go to school, adults can't find a job. >> how come i don't see people on crutches, people who are

missing a leg or an arm. >> they are hiding it. >> why? >> they feel they are rejected from the society. >> ashamed. >> exactly. by showing that. >> joseph is the education director at healing hands for haiti, a nonprofit offering prosthetic winds that need them, providing 1200 since the earthquake. doctor rudolph lalanne is on the board. >> there is a peripheral matter. only the strong survive. if you have any kind of handicap, you are done. they throw you away. >> the earthquake destroyed healing hands for haiti facilities. that's when ngo, handicap international came in with a partnership saving their program. and created a successful model for how international aid can help hatians solve a haitian problem.

>> patrick is the program director. >> translation: when we arrived at haiti after the earthquake there were no professional rehabilitation services. there was an urgent need to bring in specialists from overseas. >> the partnership built the new center in port-au-prince, training local staff to replace the foreign specialists. moise metellus has an appointment to be fitted with a new prosthetic. the boy sizes up what will be his now left foot, before the doctor comes in. >> translation: we give him the best possible in 2010. every day he grow. >> which is good, except your prosthetic is not growing. >> no, every time we change three or six months. >> he needs a new prosthetic. >> yes, bus the stump is growing all the time.

>> moise metellus is growing quickly. when they try the new prosthetic it needs a few adjustments. it takes time. when they come back, a second test is a better fit. moise metellus walks up and down, up and down as therapists check his balance. he likes what he sees. >> for his mother, every visit and fitting is a reminder that a hard life in haiti will be harder for her son. >> this man is optimistic in the overseas workshop. >> what is the prognosis, how will his life be when he's 30, 40 or 50. >> he's not sick. he just miss a part of the leg. he continue to evolve like a normal boy. >> a challenge facing host countries like haiti is the dispart tur of the -- departure

of the ngos that support him. in this case handicap international making sure healing hands for haiti is self-funded and sufficient. setting them up with funding mostly from the u.s. and canada. >> translation: at the same time we started a draining program to ensure at some point there would be a transfer so hatians would be capable of providing the care themselves. >> this is the workshop where the prosthetics are made - each one from scratch. beginning as a casting molled and placed into an oven. straps are sown that will hold it to the patient. there are 10 technicians making about 30 every month. the facility hosts the training center. >>

>> it's a good job. >> yes. >> lead therapist says the tragic earthquake could have a silver lining. >> a lot of people in the beginning, before the earthquake, they used to reject people, and i don't know why, buts this opened their eyes, and they are seeing them in another way, and accepting them. >> this is moise metellus's new reality. every few months he'll travel too and from the cities downtown to get a prosthetic leg. for him, it's the answer to his prayers. ones he sippings about with his father. especially in a place like haiti, where the next steps are anything but certain. . what has been absolutely crucial and critical for success if you ask the folks that work at the rehabilitation facility, they say what is key is putting

the efforts into the hands of hatians, the experts are there to train the hatians, they are there to learn to take over the facility. they'll leave it all in haitian hands - that part is key to the success. >> so reassuring to see money making a difference in haiti. with what your previous reports have said, i have a friend that watches and says, "how can we hep?", what can people do best who want to contribute to haiti? >> it's a $64,000 question. there are more ngos, nongovernmental organizations in haiti than any other country. they are overrun with ngos. there's a lot that needs to be done in post-earthquake haiti. i'd say there's a number of ngos doing work. the key thing is transparency. if someone wants to give money, investigate whether the ngo is

transperpt about where the mun -- transparent about where the money is going to. big issues are when people are murky about how much money they are getting and where it is going to. world vision is a great one, they are, international rescue committee is another as well. they are good and there are more that are very good. i would say if you are looking, make sure you have information about transparency, where the money is going. that's key. if you talk about governmental funds, the key there is going to be land rights. that's been a big problem. it's hard to solve the issue of approximately 300,000 people who live in tent cities, before you can figure out who owns the land in order to make big decisions on how to move them. there has been problems with transparency. the piece we did involving usa,

tracking the money was a problem. >> was there an indication that they are more transparent? >> i'd is a no, no indication. what is happening is the issue is on the back burner since the government shutdown is the front page news. there were members of congress talking about doing an investigation, holding hearings and trying to figure out where the money was going, how much was getting into haitian hands. a lot of that with the government shutdown taking the attention of congress. it's moved to the backburner. >> talking about going forward, you reported previously in your series about your meeting with baby dr. a legendary figure. if there's a trial for him, how does that help haiti's future. >> many say if, in fact, he's able to face trial, if they don't say, "there's a statute of limitations and it's run out",

it would be a symbolic victory. salt. it shows a lot of people inside and outside haiti that there's a rule of law. there are limitations to that, not just for hatians, but investors, people who are international funders. they want to see the rule of law that the country has a legal system that is effective and that is working. i think it could be - i think a lot of people consider it important and symbolic move if, in fact, he faces trial for human rights abuses. >> america tonight's special correspondent soledad o'brien. still ahead - preconditions for marriage - the new rules for tying the knot for multicultural soul mates in south korea.

south korea is introducing new rules for citizens looking

to marry foreigners in an attempt to tackle problems associated with multicultural marriages. >> harry faus et gives us this report if seoul. >> nita came from south korea from the philippines with a korean husband she met twice. there's is one of 200,000 multicultural marriages. these memories run into trouble over language, money, gaps in age and culture. >> it's hard, difficult because of the tradition. korean tradition and philippines is different. korean - man is heaven and woman is land. nita says her marriage flourished. she's an interpreter at a center in seoul. >> much of the adjustment

courses made to meet expectations of husbands and in-laws. the deposit is bringing in rules, the foreign spouse will have to speak a minimum level of korean, and the korean spouse a minimum level of income before the couple is granted a marriage visa. >> that won't address the issue of marriage brokers who don't care about the future of couples they set up. >> translation: the government things strict regulations will prevent brokers arranging marriages. as well as officially registered brokers, individuals do it. they'll condition their business. it's difficult for the government to control them. >> the wider challenge is tackling discrimination against multicultural couples and their children. something found in the probasketball league. mixed race corians like tony aitkins have to move times to prevent one team getting an unfair advantage.

>> when they first told me i was bothered and upset. being half black, half korean, i have been through a lot of prejudice on both ends. i fear for my son - not best, but hope the best where it's a culture that doesn't know much about other nationalities and stuff. >> it's a hope that a growing number of families share that in a country whose racial make-up is changing, substitutes will keep pace. >> that report from al jazeera's harry faus et. >> that's it for us. if you would like to comment on story, log on to the website. aljazeera.com/americatonight >> tell us what you want to see. talk to us on twitter and facebook. more of america tonight tomorrow.

rn welcome to al jazeera. here are the top stories at this hour - members of the house have left the government shutdown and debt ceiling in political limbo. gop house leaders tried and failed to reach an agreement to end the crisis before the thursday deadline. the treasury department will then run out of money to pay the country's debts. senate leaders have recommenced talks to find a bipartisan solution. one of the credit rating agencies says the official rating is under review. fitch says because the debt ceiling has not been raised in a