>> dry weather and stiff winds are fueling a wildfire in californi san gabriel mountains. firefighters may be getting the upper hand on the blaze that has burnef thousands of acres. a new report that says the nsa collects nearly 200,000 texts a day. the execution of a death row inmate in ohio goes horribly wrong. now the focus is on untested drugs that were used in his lethal injection. one of the lost boys, only

found himself swept up in another violent conflict. >> thanks for joining us on al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. , a botched camp fire morphed into a massive wildfire. san gabriel mountains, causing evacuations in nearby city of glenglendora. police say they have the culprits who may have started that fire. al jazeera's jennifer london is in glendora with more. >> what started as an early morning camp fire quickly spread to a wildfire out of control. within hours the wildfire burned

1700 acres and caused evacuations of 5,000 people. the colby fire as it is called, 600 to 700 firefighters are trying to increase that containment level. firefighters do say as night fell they began to get the upper hand and were able to stop the forward movement of the flames. the hope is that the wind does not come up overnight, to bridge the fire lines that workers worked all day to establish. three people have been charged with recognizelessly starting th it was fired in the early morning hours. while they believe it was started as an accident, they could be charged if it was determined it was started on federal forest land. the severe drought like

conditions which are affecting the entire state of california, 2013 turned out to be the dryest year on record and while it is very clear that california is in the midst of extreme drought like conditions, what's not clear is what's causing it. >> we don't know is really the answer. whether what we're experiencing now is the result of global climate change, it might be but we don't have the data to connect the dots. we tend to look at one weather event and say is this a cause, or the result of this climate change? the scientific models are forecasting huge changes, snow pack would be much smaller if the predictions would come true, we would have a huge impact but this particular year was not caused by climate change we cannot say. >> urging the governor jerry brown to declare a drought emergency. they say the governor is prepared to do that yet they

have not given the state of emergency declaration. preparing the state for what is shaping to be another very dry year. >> and once again you're looking at live images of the wildfire burning in glendora, california. to explain just how bad the situation is, los angeles normally gets 15 inches of rain each year. but only 3.6 inches fell in 2013 and there has not been a single drop this year. we'll be monitoring all night. as president obama is preparing to announce changes in the nsa's program, global sweep,

people who are not suspected of any illegal activity. what can we expect from president obama's speech? patty culhane reports. >> it's become almost a weekly occurrence. details from edward snowden, tracking locations through cell phones, eavesdropping on the private conversation of world leaders around reporting and keeping cell phone data from everyone within the united states. the president tried to justify this spying on a massive scale. >> we know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information. >> his own review panel disputes that. >> it is absolutely true that 215 has not by itself disrupted, prevented terrorist astacks in the united states. >> still, thei their recommendas

keep moss, allow a public defender of sorts in the secret court to fight government requests and reign in the use of national scrurt -- rein in, the president is unlikely to ambassadors all 46 recommendations and the american civil plibts union session even if he did it still wouldn't be enough. >> we believe the fundamental underlying law that permits this data collection has to be changed. displr they plan to push for additional changes in congress and in the courts but there will be intense lobby on the other side. from the spy agency and those that call the programs effective. >> i think the intercepts have a

role in identifying and therefore strupght plots and also, forcing the terrorist to -- impeding their activity so they can't use the kind of e-mail communication or phone calls, they would like for us to take surreptitious,. >> the president is expected to try and find middle ground, all about it ensuring what he has, patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >> in an interview with al jazeera "the stream" greenwold says he is not expecting much from president obama's speech. >> the government is literally,

not just here in the united states but around the world, that is to describe a surveillance state. and ultimately real reform means are we going to dismantling this machine pri that has been misconducted in the dark in the late of 911, to whrows everything that everybody is saying to the extent they can, while the government instead of watching everyone, not trying to, evidence to believe they are engaged in serious wrongdoing such as terrorism. >> you can watch the entire glen greenwald interview coming up in the next half hour. secretary of state jorch kerry, urging option groups to be there as well.

why is rosalyn jordan has more from the state department. >> john kerry focusing on terrorism. he called it an attempt to change history and said it wouldn't work. >> it defies like to imagine that those who cited this monstrosity, 83thed it. how they could move many beyond a certain future is beyond any kind of like and defense. >> the ser prien minister when he accepted the report to go to exrt. letter of invitation simply for reason that they are in conflict with the legal and political position of the state of yirs.

>> users mrs. won on the pr general simply, mean tomorrow, to decide whether to partnerships in the piece conference. the united states for these reasons urges a positive vote. >> it is important for all sides to deal in a common goal. >> if assad regime is rejecting these principles, we need you to say you're coming and nobody's cps. >> seek more humanitarian aid for the hundreds of thousands of displaced yrnz both inside and

outside the country. there is a question about whether the conference can make a difference in the neerlg three year long civility war. no one knows what save, bashar al-assad to step aside, the obama administration's view, let's get to the conference and see what happens. rosalyn jordan, al jazeera, the state department. >> millions more have fled to surrounding countries. state media is reporting that 90% of egyptians have voted yes for a new military suprted constitution. official results are expected saturday. since the 2011 demonstration that owfted mohamed morse. there will be an election for

new president in parliament. >> when looking at a map of where drought is at it's strongest peak for parts of the u.s., it's easy to see where we have dry, warm and in fact even some windy conditions. california under drought and severe drought, all we need is winds gusting 20 to 25 miles per hour. it's staying dry for much of the southwest but the went are creating that warning, telling you or officials that if any kind of fire breaks out in an oirlz facility attachment, $ you have to get out. they're the dryest on record

long with 12 you got to know that we have vein fall anxious gotten rainier shoofgz close to 2006. but by the end to the evening, all you had our went through the southwest and sloitd much of, but this year we are sorely larking and this is going to lead to the concerns of water supply. the snow pack for the pacific northwest was great last year in january. this year much smaller and this is where we get our energy, and our electrical power from is the snow pack in the west. and the washington snow pack well, especially for snoak, only 43% of normal for this time of year. not the greatest sphoirs tout,

but very warm day in the west. >> execution for a man on death row. why new untested drugs may be to blame. >> one of the original lost boys returns home with south sudan. he comes face to face with new horrors. a mom's thank you to the man who was kind to her daughter. another look at the wildlife in california. we are monitoring the situation throughout the morning. stay with us.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. the trillion dollar spending plan approved by the house has now cleared the senate. scales back last year's automatic spending cuts.

trims all government agencies including the pentagon will see increases. new jersey governor chris christie, the new jersey senate voted to are investigate alleged use of of power. high powered attorney randy mastro, a long term associates of former new york are mayor rudolph giuliani. the execution death row inmate in ohio failed miserably. witnesses say he was gasping for air for 15 minutes before he finally died. now as ash-har quaraishi

reports. >> are joy stuart was search months pregnant when mcguire stabbed her to death. moments before the execution, ohio's are superintendent said it would be conducted in a legal manner. in this case, because of a shortage of pentbarbitol, the officials used a different exings. at 10:29 a.m., as the drugs were injected. he was unconscious, agriculturing struggling to breathe. 15 minutes went by before mcguire was declared dead. it was one of the longest executions since ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999.

word was he would suffer air hunger and struggle to breathe. while the constitution bans executions that are cruel and unusual, it doesn't mean that inmates are entitled to a pain free death. ash-h afersr quairishi, al jazeera america. near two years before hisrm. coburn was recently are diagnosed with prostate cancer but the decision to step down was not concerns over his health. he was elected to the senate in 2004. for the third time in recent days there has been a deadly accident involving a u.s. military helicopter. one soldier was killed and two others injured as an army

helicopter made a hard landing during a training operation in savannah, georgia. last week three men died after their navy chopper went down off the coast of virginia. comes one day earlier where another helicopter crashed killing three members in eastern britt ann. south sudan rebels and government forces fight over power. it is a trajics case of déjà vu for one of the lost boys who fled to america 15 years ago. tamera banks has his story. >> she's flown around the world from denver to africa to see that the man she considers a son is safe. >> he hit the bun and the bullet was down there. i told my wife, let's run. >> daniel majok gi is an

american who was trapped in the violence of south sudan. again running for his life. >> when i left the country it was at gun point. >> daniel was once a lost boy of sudan. that's the name the aid workers gave the 20,000 boys who fled or were orphaned in sudan's civil war. daniel came to denver when he was about 19 years old. that's when carey rinehart took him under her wing. in 2011, guy returned to what is now south sudan. to help build schools. but violence is returning. >> i never thought would return again, because we have now gotten our independence from the oppression. >> the violence is threatening to unravel.

>> in bor, daniel led his wife, nine month old son and others to safety. >> i saw dead bodies in the road. >> that was so unreal that i'm on a cell phone with minimum, he is in hiding. talking to me. >> rinehart is the co-founder of project rescue south sudan. helping them settle in denver and reconnect with their families. before christmas guy needed their help again. >> i said what do you need? he said, i really need your prayers, i don't know if we are going to make it. >> she did more than pray for them. she helped get them out of the

country. he has made it to safety in kenya. >> what breaks my heart is i know a lot of these children and i don't know who is left. >> so does guy. he's shane up but refuses to give up on peace. >> to build the hope and the life of the innocence, that never thought they would go back to war again. >> guy told us, he is counting on god to open the door for his return. tamera banks, al jazeera, denver. >> it's been a tough road. south sudan broke away from sudan in 2011 after a 2008 peace deal that ended decades of war. annual game in europe where basketball is gaining plairp. an american woman is opening

eyes on how to deal with a child of autism.

>> dating back to 1990, the nba has held 17 regular season games abroad. all with an idea to expand globally. it marked a third nba game london has hosted in the last four years. the sold-out crowd got its money's worth. joe johnson got credit many threp3-point shots, former nba r dennis rodman's controversial

trip to north korea. >> he didn't invite me to go with him. and had he, i would have declined. i think those things are best done in coordination with government to make sure the right protocols are followed and sports diplomacy is used at its highest and best level. and there's a huge huge spot for sports diplomacy. birthday parties for dictators that torture kill starve, develop missiles and bombs, not so much. and that's my thought. >> well, baseball commissioner bud selig called, instant replay, only used to determine home run calls and initiated by the umpires but starting this season, fan interference, force

and tag plays, foul fair calls, and batters being hit by a pitch and baseball players will be provided with one challenge in the game and a second potential challenge if the first one is upheld. only that if a manager has used up all his challenges umpires would now be authorized to initiate a review on their own. tony russa, estimated that almost 90% of all potential calls are now reviewable. that's a good thing for major league baseball. i'm michael eaves and that's a look at sports. >> actor russell johnson passed away at the age of 89. johnson played villa answer, from films it came from outer

space. dave madden from the partridge family died. danny bonaduce posted on facebook, he taught me to drive a car when i was 10, one of my great memories. an act of compassion is spreading the word about autism. the mother was so touched by the way a stranger treated her daughter, she decided to start a blog point. so began the post, dear aday in seat 16c flight from philly. >> he found a way to communicate. it makes me emotionally. he treated her like a little person. >> the stranger eric h urveghtsnkle has now recorrect

connected after a family member forwarded him the post. thanks for watching al jazeera america. the stream is coming up next.