is. >> hello, and welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. and these are the stories we're following for you of. >> it was very hard for me to come here today. but i wanted to do so, so i could say thank you. >> as you watch a somber remembrance at ground zero as the 9/11 memorial opens officially in new york. thousands forced to evacuate california. with strong winds and dry conditions only add fuel to the fires burning. sec carry of veterans affairs now on the hot seat with an alleged waiting list.

>> we begin with what can only be described as a powerful and moving day at ground zero. survivors and first responders joining rims and relatives to dedicate th the september 11th museum. the president was among those at the invitation only event. the memorial has been 12 years in the making, and honors the 3,000 people who died on that tragic day. >> i'm morris crouther's mother, allison crouther. my husband, jefferson and i could not be more proud of our son. for us, he lives on in the people he helped and in the memory of what he chose to do that tuesday in september.

aljazeera's john terry joins us now outside of the museum, a very powerful story, and you've been inside of the museum, and tell us about it and the reflections that you just saw. >> del, there are no words, really. that was an extremely, professionally produced program to get this museum up and running. and they couldn't have had a better start. that was really good. and let me just explain where it took place. because it's difficult for people to understand if they are lucky enough to go there. it's a huge facility built into this museum where events like this can be held in the future. it seats hundreds of people, and alongside isort slurry wall where the towers stood. the slurry role, back in the

1950s and 60s when they were designing them, held back the hudson river, and this huge exhibit takes up one wall, and it was moved there, and the audience saw this in the shadow of that wall. the show was incredibly emotional and we heard from the president, bloomberg, the former mayor, and the former mayor, rudy guiliani and it was ordinary people, ordinary americans who went to work on that day, 13 years, and people who went in to rescue when the towers came down. the music was exhilarating as well. the young people's choir, music from west side story lost on nobody, and it was very heart-wrenching as well. let's hear from the speakers.

obviously the president came today, and he and mrs. obama toured the museum before the event was on the way, and from what the president said, he was clearly moved as everybody has been. the president in his remarks widened this out to take in the rest. >> here at this memorial, this museum, we come together. we stand in the footprints of two mighty towers, graced by the rush of eternal waters. we look in the faces of nearly 3,000 innocent souls, men and women and children of every race, every creed, from every corner of the world. >> well, the other big speakers of the day included the governor of new york, andrew cuomo and former governor petaki, and mike

bloomberg who headed this up. just stepped down as the mayor of new york city. but i guess the other key speaker, the one that everybody wanted to hear from, apart from the president, was rudy guiliani. he's known as america's mayor, and he was the mayor here when the towers came down on september 11th, 2001. and what would he say? just how random all of this was. some lived and some died. and it makes us all feel very small. >> we will never understand why one person escaped and another didn't. how random it all seems, and how powerless it makes us all feel. but what this museum does and allows us to see is how we can absolutely affect one another's lives by what we can do in time of crisis.

>> so the museum is open, and a long period of dedication begins. and the families will have private time here, and then it will open up to the public the 21st of may. >> john, thank you very much. dean is a columnist. and i was struck by the incredibly symbolism of it. barack h. obama, growing up in hawaii, and now dedicating the memorial at 9/11, president barack h. obama. >> the motion that i felt watching this. on 9/11, i was half a mile from where the second one collapsed. and it affected my life and emotions. but watching this, it was hard

not to get feary eyed and be moved by, and i didn't even lose anyone in this. i can only imagine for the families, to keep their memories alive. >> as a muslim american, did you feel that they managed to capture the feeling of conclusiveness? and that night, we watched saying what happened here is a terrible wrong that must never happen again. >> it was beautifully done, and the focus was clearly on the families, the celebration of humanity, the firemen who were trapped themselves and got out and we want in to help others. i'm glad we didn't get into the issues -- >> it's not a day for controversy. >> it's a day for healing for the families and other americans. it's still raw for many of us, and i was surprised by how raw it was for me. watching the video, and other

people, the same reaction in the home. the story of the young man, he wasn't a first responder at all, but he gave his life-saving people. young man with the red bandanna. and the first responders who ran into the building, knowing that they may never come out of t for americans today. and so i can't wait to go to the museum myself, and i'm sure that i'll have to fight the tears as i walk through the walls of that museum. >> thank you for being with us today. and for those of you watching, it was an emotional and very powerful day. for those of you who remember the sun was shining, not like today. the sun could be in the forecast. the wildfires burning in southern california as more than 20,000 people have now been forced to leave their homes. >> oh, my god! oh, my god! >> officials now saying that new evacuation orders have been

issued in the city of san marcos. burning 9,000 acres across san diego county. joined by jennifer london and jennifer, tell us the extent of the damage where you are in san diego county. >> del, i am in carlos bad, california, and that is in northern san diego county. and the crews working the fire overnight to try to get control of the fire. it's 60% contained. and the officials have spread the forward spread of the fire. eight homes so far have been damaged or destroyed. and i'm standing in front of two homes destroyed. these homes continue to burn, and you see flames behind me, and you see smoke and ash, and we were here yesterday, del, when the homeowners returned. and discovered that their dream home, as they described it, had

been destroyed. and when you see this, you not only understand the destructive nature of the fire, but the erratic behavior of the fire. this home and that home was destroyed. but the homes across the street and the other homes in the neighborhood have remained. that number, we expect to increase as the crews get into the areas and really survey the damage. >> jennifer, as we see the drought and dry conditions where residents are told, don't even light a match, do the officials know what started the fires. >> they don't know the cause of any of the wildfires burning throughout san diego county. but they say we're not ruling any of the fires out. every one of the fires will be treated as a crime scene until they can prove that they were started accidentally. >> jennifer, in carlsbad. and also, in neighboring

l.a., pipes were break, spilling 50,000 gallons of oil, that covers half a mile in l.a. and they say it was knee high in some parts. it happened at a pumping station, and some say that the pump has been shut off. john kerry is asking for more allies in the gulf to give him support in the syrian opposition. all aid coming from the u.s. and uk will be escalated. and in turkey, grief as families begin to bury their loved ones after tuesday's mine explosion. large numbers of mourners attending the services. at least 280 people died in the blast. and meanwhile, at least 100 miners are trapped under ground with their loved ones waiting for news about their loved ones. in the ukraine, much of the area controlled by pro russian separatists. and a paper of bases used by

troops why destroyed. three people were taken into custody, and the news coming ten days before the presidential elections there. >> . >> coming up on aljazeera america, demanding better wages, protests by fast food workers across the country today. and also, generating controversy. the pill that prevents hiv infections. vé

>> you're looking right now live on capitol hill. secretary of veteran's affairs, and that's him, and he's testifying the state of healthcare across the va centers across the country, and he has been under pressure for a string of agency troubles, including reports of death due to delayed care. and we go now to libby casey on capitol hill. and walk us back. what prompted so much outrage over the care that the veterans

have been receiving some. >> there are so many trying to face a backlog, everything from mental health issues to basic exams, and this is something that the secretary has been trying to work on all five years since he has been at the va and what's happening now, one in phoenix, arizona, are cooking the books to make it looking like they're getting the care to veterans, and they have been allegedly keeping two sets of books and lying about how fast the veterans are getting into appointments, to see doctors. and they were dying. this is not the only place this is alleged to have happened. so the senators are outraged and i want to give you a sense of what's happening. here's senator mattie murray, democrat, washington state. >> secretary shinseki, i tick that you sincerely want to do the right thing, but we need

more than good intentions, we need decisive actions to restore the culture in the va and accountability and to change the system wide years 'long problems. >> now, democrats are encouraging digging into the problem. but some republicans calling for change at the very top, saying that shinseki has to go, and democrats are calling for the same thing, del. >> and libby, we can see that it is bipartisan outrage on capitol hill, something that's very rare these days, and he's facing tough questions on both sides of the aisle. >> he has made it his personal mission to try to get better care for veterans across the board, especially when dealing with this healthcare backlog situation, and he says he's mad as hell, del and he has pledged to the get to the bottom of it.

you have to realize that the vra. is the largest healthcare provider in america, and the secretary is talking about the challenges they face. trying to improve and the key is going to be an inspector general report, delving into what's happening at the senior center and others, and shinseki said that the secretary of the veterans affairs says get this report. and so it's going to be contention, the senators want to talk about what's happening in their home states and they want answers today. >> libby, thank you very much. >> . >> also, fast food workers going on strike in 150 cities around the world. and all of them demanding higher pay into what they call wage theft. in miami, workers walking off of the breakfast shift this morning. that's where we night natasha, and thethey are upset and you're

thick of things. >> we have actually moved on to miami, del, where i'm outside of a medical complex. and this is the first time that workers in miami have walked off the job. they're upset, and they want an increase in the minimum wage [ unintelligible ] they want pages -- earlier this year. class action lawsuits against mcdonald's. and people say they're working themselves to the bone and struggling to get by. >> it isnoring, because i would [ unintelligible ] and i think i would like to buy a car, but i can't. >> now, del, since 2011,

florida's minimum wage has been higher than the federal minimum wage, $4.93. but as you heard from oscar, it's not enough. >> this is the irony, they're demanding what they call a fair wage, and keat the ceos at these fast food chains are making enormous salaries, and what are the ceos saying? >> well, for one, they're saying that increasing the minimum wage, jobs will be lost. and there's a discussion going on at the federal level to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, and the congressional budget office released a report saying that if it did glow up to that rate, half a million jobs would be lost. burger king is headquartered in miami. and they have told us that burger king have provided an entry point into the workforce

millions of americans, and employees and families are eligible for college scholarships in north america to encourage further growth and education. i did a little math this morning, del, and it wasn't difficult, but for a full-time worker in fast food, making $7.93 an hour, that means they would earn about 15,200 a year. >> natasha, thank you very much. former president, bill clinton, responding to comments about his wife, hillary, coming in carl rove, suggesting that the former secretary of state suffered a traumatic brain injury, and at first, he said said she faked her concussion, and now the walking dead. and the former secretary of state fell and hit her head in

2012, suffering a concussion and blood clots. >> a drug improving hiv transmission by 90%. few people know of the drug, and john henry smith has the story. >> he's a gay man who has been taking the drug every day for two years. in 2012, the pt. food and drug administration approved it for pre-exposure. in the clinical trials, it has been proven 90% effective in preventing hiv. >> even if there's a violation of trust, the hiv, you don't have to pay for that. >> he's one of the few who uses the drug. >> even now, they have very littleet idea that prep exists. >> there hasn't been much demand for prep. >> i've been prescribed prep

once in the last two years. >> they have not done a marketing campaign about this. >> it certainly would help if there were marketing. >> jacobs has tried to do his part by starting up a facebook page dedicated to true batta. they are worried that it would make at risk groups be careless. >> it's like saying that airbags prevent speeding. >> people probably won't use condoms because they're not using them now. they just use the pill. >> there are many issues with daily prep therapy. >> it depends on how much it costs. >> without entrance, true vada could be $13,000 a year. >> i don't know if i would take a drug like that, knowing that with not preventive behavior, i could handle that myself. >> a bangladesh ferry with hundreds of passengers onboard

has sank in a river, and at least six are reported dead, the local officials saying that 2 to 300 people were onboard the ferry when it sunk in the river. there were reports that some of the passengers were able to swim to shore. it has underwater, and they're trying to salvage it. the captain and three crew members in south korea are indicted today. the men abandoned the sinking vessel before the passengers could be rescued. and 11 other crew members have been insighted on charges of negligence. 476 people were onboard when it capsized. most of them students and teachers on the way to a school trip. >> and the aftermath of flight 370, the malaysian airlines suffering a huge loss. the ticket sales dropped 67% in

march, and other ticket cancellations and high fuel costs are also blamed for those losses city. >> ahead on aljazeera america, how the weather could be playing a factor and hurting the firefighters on the ground in california.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters in new york, and these are the headlines at this hour. a solemn ceremony in new york city this morning, marking the

dedication of the september 11th museum, honoring the survivors of those who died. and cesecci on capitol hill. there are allegations that the veterans didn't receive the care they needed and some of them died. >> in california, at least nine active fires in san diego county alone. 20,000 people have now been ordered to evacuate the area, and dave warren joins us now. and dave, the phrase we keep hearing now, the santa ana winds came early. >> yes, they're bringing the dry air, and the heat is here as well. so not the best combination. with the wind gusting over 25 miles per hour, the wind is gusting 25-30 miles per hour. and even higher than that in the mountains.

the temperatures above 100°, and record heat. relative humidity, the moisture in the air, in the single digits, so very very dry air out there. no rain in the forecast. the temperatures, hitting 100° today. in los angeles and san francisco, and the current temperatures, climbing to 193 tomorrow. it gets a little cooler. no rain in the forecast. but the temperatures dropping below 80°, and that could be good news. if you're looking for good news, that could be it. the temperatures are a little cooler. there's the heat out west. we want to focus on the record heat and the dry wind. santa ana winds out of the northeast, bringing in drier air. temperatures in north dakota, the storms we're watching on the east coast. from too little rain to too much rain.

flooding will be a problem across the ohio valley as two areas of low pressure work their way together. this one moves north and this one takes over and intensifies, so it slows that front down. what you're seeing now is rain falling over the same area throughout the day today and tomorrow. and this will be followed by the cooler air, but not before dumping inches of rain down. this is the forecast showing where the heaviest rain will be. pennsylvania, and west virginia and virginia, gradually taping off to the east. but flood watches are in effect, meaning the potential is this for very quick flooding, not all at once, but it comes up quick and goes away quick. flood watches in effectas the rain comes down to the northeast. that's what we're watching. too much rain and too little rain. >> depends on the coast. thank you very much. and thank you for watching aljazeera america, i'm del walters in new york, and "inside story" is next.

for reminders of the day, go to the website, aljazeera.com where the news continues 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, nonstop. >> history is just one sad story after another. is there a statute of limitation of crimes of evil on one another. reparations is the "inside story." >> hello, i'm ray suarez. spin a globe and drop your finger on a random spot. where you stopped somewhere in