i could you address how we put out the year after these records are made and there has not been significant action. >> the veteran affairs secretary answering questions about a scandal that continues to rock his department. and fast food workers taking to the streets, they are demanding better pay. >> we begin with a powerful and moving day at ground zero. survivors of first responders today, joining victims relatives to dedicate the sent 11th memorial museum. the ceremony taking place earlier this morning in new york city, on the grounds of what was until 2001, the world trade center. the president among those in attendance today's event, invitation only. and the memorial has been 12 1/2 years in the making it honors the

nearly 3,000 people who died on that tragic day. >> many of us joined the rescue and recovery teams at ground zero, to do for others what had been done for us. we had to. this is something we should never forget. and never stop doing. >> we go live now to al jazeera. outside the museum, and john is the museum as emotional as the sore menny was to dedicate it? >> dell, i think it is fair to say that the dedication ceremony we witnessed this morning reflects it's --

grilled, senators now demanding answers about a growing scandal around the country. there are reports that delays at some of those have led to death and have been covered up. this is a rare occasion where there seems to be outrage. >> that's right. congress is very concerned because of these, not just backlogging cases with

the v.a., but another problem that i want to get to in a moment. i want to set the stage for you, the v.a. is the largest provider in the country, it is a sprawling organization, that's had a problem with getting patient's care in a timely manner for a long time. and the sek is tear of the v.a. has pledged to tackle that during the five years that he has headed the organization. there are some veterans groups speaking to congress today as well, and they have said that among their members they are largely satisfied with the care they get, the problem is just being able to see a doctor in a quick and timely way. allegations that a hospital in phoenix is delaying care for so long, that they were actually dying. there shall 40 cases where veterans were not seeing doctors fast enough, and that the facility was cooking the books. they were hiding how long patients were waiting. now, republican of georgia share add memo today, where a doctor wrote that this isn't something new, this memo is from 2010, and the

doctor said that he has seen this cooking of the books since 2008. so something that has been going on for a while. senator patty murray democrat of washington state shared her concerns. >> secretary i continue to believe that you take this seriously, and want to do the right thing. but we have come to the point where we need more than good intentions. what we need now is decisive action, to restore veterans confidence in the v.a. to create a cultural of transparency, and accountability, and to chinese system wide years long problems. this needs to be a wakeup call. >> while democrats are calling for him to dig into what is happening and fix it, a hand full of republicans and some veteran groups are also saying that he should step down. >> and libby, do we have any indication so far, we have heard from both sides of the aisle, do we have any indication as to what the secretary is saying? >> now he has turned --

many times to congress, that he is dedicating his career his work right now. to addressing this backlog, he himself was a veteran. he is is talking about the things they are doing. one, they are doing a face to face audit, although some senators say it wasn't going for enough, there is also an inspector general report at looking what happened in phoenix and other facilities. here is what the secretary had to say. >> any adverse incident like this, makes me as -- makes me mad. but at the same time it saddens me. because i understand that out of those adverse represents, a veteran and a veteran's family is dealing in the aftermath. and i try to put themselves in their shoes. >> talking about getting

to the heart of the problem, and fixing it, but it cannot happen fast enough, for some of the veterans groups as well as some members of congress. >> al jazeera is always live on capitol hi. after the crisis in ukraine, the government is reporting some success, much of that area now controlled by prorussian separatists, today the acting president saying that the two basis used by those groups were destroyed in overnight raid business the army. no one was killed, three people though were taken into custody that news coming ten days before presidential elections. meanwhile, there's also news on the diplomatic front. the next round of talks between ukrainian diplomates. the u.s. ambassador to ukraine talking about the negotiations with al jazeera. the important thing to remember the small number with guns in these eastern areas do not speak for all the people.

they don't speak for all of ukraine. they are not elected. the elengthed authorities the political leaders, including the party of regence leader, all participated actively in the round table today. they are the ones who speak for the ukrainian people. >> the ambassador saying he does believe there can be a diplomatic solution to the crisis in ukraine. more than 20,000 people have been forced to leave their homes and new evacuation orders have been issued today. those fires already burning around 9,000 acres across san diego county, and that a where we find our jennifer london, she is in carlsbad, jennifer, what is the extent of the damage that you are seeing? >> dell, the extent of the taj from the so called poinsettia fire, has been eradek. you have some homes with little to no damage, and then you have some like

this, destroyed by the fire that broke out yesterday. we have seen hot spots smolders all day, earlier today there was a lot of smoke and ash, this as san diego county residents can only watch as their cities burn. >> wow, there it is right there, there it is. >> bone dry conditions and soaring temperatures have sparked at least nine wild fires, spreading a pathed of destruction across san diego county. wild fires are nothing new for those living here, but even those who are used to dealing with them have been caught off guard. >> i have been doing this 35 years and this is the most radical fire fighting have seen. >> fueled by strong winds and temperature nearing 100-degrees the fires have burned through homes and brush. crews are working around the clock, but full containment won't come quickly. >> firefighter is getting the upper hand in the forward progress, however, there's days of work to be done.

these fires fingered in all different locations and fire deep seeded that's going to take them a lot of time. >> here in carlsbad, wednesday, thousands of residents were forced to flee, some coming dangerously close to walls of flames, like this man. >> as firefighters tackled the flames from the air and the ground, most residents were spared. some, were not so fortunate. this man lost his home of almost 50 years, the fires even forced the closure of a major freeway between los angeles and san diego. by dusk, yet another fire erupted in san marcus, where crews battled flames that lit up the sky. city officials there have issued nows of mandatory evacuations for residents and a cal state san marcus where nearly 10,000 students are in finals week. >> the biggest concern is the san marcus fire, it's behavior is still eradek, we are getting spotting

out in front of itself. >> the san marcus fire is the top priority right now that fire is burning to the east, thousands of people remain evacuated, schools are closed. and dell, one question on everyone's mind, what started these nine wild fires, officials don't know at this time, but they are not ruling out arceson. >> jennifer, i was struck by an image being a house with an empty swimming pool being threatened by fire, an indication that it is not only hot, it is also dry. dealing, it is extremely dry. california is in the midst of what could be considered the worst drought on record. we have had year after year of below average rainfall, we have had very little snow in the mountains. and when you put the drought together with the high temperatures we have been seeing this week, the hot dry santa anna winds the low humidity, well, that is -- the perfect recipe for the fires that we have seen starting here in san diego county.

>> jennifer london for us, jennifer, thank you very much. also, a neighboring l.a. an above ground pipe spills 10,000 gallons of oil, that's still covering half a mile north of l.a., firefighters say it was knee high in some parts. authorities now saying the pipe has been shut off but the clean up continues. and coming up on al jazeera america, the pill that could prevent the spread of hiv, and why some critics say it could lead to reckless behavior. still ahead, fast food workers walk off their jobs demanding higher wages.

>> these protestors have decided that today they will be arrested >> these people have chased a president from power, they've torn down a state... >> what's clear is that people don't just need protection, they need assistance. in politics there are a war of words erupting involving a woman who hasn't even said she is running. karl rove the strategist suggesting that hillary clinton may have sufficientserred from a

traumatic brain injury, he says the comments leave him dumbfounded saying at first republicans said she fakes her concussion, now they have her auditioning for the show in his words the walking dead. she fell ill at home and hit her head in december of 2012 suffering a concussion and a blood clot. government officials say they have a new plan to prevent the spread of aids. the centers for disease control recommending americans who are at risk take a daily pill to prevent infection. two drug already being used to treat patients infected with hiv, the cdc saying it could transform aids prevention in the u.s. moving from a reliance on condoms to a more effective anti-retroviral drug. the target is gay men who have sex without condoms. and patient whose have sex with anyone that they know is to be infected. wall street taking a hit at this hour, due to some disappointing economic news. two dow at this point down almost 200 points at

least three factors are being blamed, first, the retail sales in april rising only a 10th of a%, april factory outputter also fell .4 of a%, and consumer prices rose .3 of a percent, mostly due to more expensive food. if you rushed out for a burger you probably saw them, the fast food workers on strike today. all of them demanding higher pay, and an end to what they call wage theft. al jazeera is in chicago where those workers walked off the job under the golden arches, dianne why are they so upset? dell, there's probably 200 workers out in front of the rock & roll. they are not just mcdonalds workers, they are workers from wendy's, arbys, burger king, they want what they call a living wage of $15. here in illinois the minimum wage is $8.25 an

hour, which is $1 over the federal minimum wage, but many of these workers say they can't live on that kind of money, they can't pay rent, they can't pay for clothing. they can't pay for food. when we typically think of fast food workers we think of teenagers, these aren't all teenagers. many of the people out here are people in their 30's and 40's. they are trying to support families and they say they cannot do it on those wangs. dell. >> and jennifer, how are the fast food chains responding today to the protests? >> well, dell, mcdonalds says what they do is they provide entry level employment for a lot of people. it is an entree into the work force. the national restaurant association says keep in mind, a lot of the people that own these restaurants aren't big corporations they are franchisees. and they are just emerging from the recession. so if they have to pay more money to these workers, $15 an hour they might have to lay people

off and they would not be able to add staff. >> dianne joining us live from chicago, my apologies i lost you in that sea of humanity there. in turkey there is mounting anger and grief as families begin to bury their loved ones. large groups of mourners attending services in the western part of that country. andrew simmons has more. >> all over this area, the grief is intensifying. so many young lives lost, doing a job that's poorly paid. having courage her 25-year-old husband to find work elsewhere. they married seven months ago, they have big plans for the future. all over this town, there are gathering like this, summer is a town consumed

by grief. and now the underlying aingeser showing more and more. >> some of the anger is subdued. a feeling of social injustice that high risks should be taken to earn a living. >> we are very worried. they don't have a safe secure job. we send them to work every day, but we don't know if they will make it back. >> it was like my own son, he grew up with me. my inside is on fire, we complain about safety standards but they don't care. elsewhere the aingeser spontaneous but not physical. these are mostly miners some now retires many still working. they have safety standards have suffered. >> before the privatization it was very good, but now they don't value people's lives they just want to get coal out and the money in. >> in summer town, no one here is counting numbers

as the seemingly continuous list of victims is read out over the municipalities public address system. this town is depend on coal mining and the thermal power stations seething with emotion over the safety question. whether this will all have political impact on the government is at this stage unclear. andrew simmons, al jazeera, soma western turkey. >> a been delash ferry has capsized and sank in the river near the capitol at least 12 people are dead. the ferry had 200 to 350 people onboard when it sank. there are reports that some of the passengers were able to swim to shore. rescue workers say the ferry is underwater and they are now trying to salvage it. the captain and three of his members were indicted today. it killed 380 passengers. before the passengers

could be rescued 11 other crew members have already been indicted on negligence charges. 476 people were onboard when it capsized most of them. ticket sales from china dropping 60% that's where the flight was headed before it went down. ticket cancellation and high fool costs are also been blamed. coming under under fire, and on fire in southern california a update of today's top stories is up next an al jazeera america.

jazeera america.to al these are your headlines at this hour. the veterans affair secretary is being grilled on capitol hill over reports that veterans dies waiting for care. eric says he is mad as hell over the situation,

some calling for his resignation. a salt lemn ceremony marking the dedication of the sent 11th memorial and museum. that paying am imagine to the victims survivors and first responders in that tragedy, the museum opens to the public next wednesday. nine wild fires continue to burn in southern california spanning an area now of 14 square miles. 1,000 people have been told to evacuate their homes. and the strong winds playing a major factor in california our meteorologist joins us now with more on that, dave. >> yeah, the winds have continued to gust, and today the temperatures are high, and that relative humidity, that is down into the singling differents. all three of these factors coming together, at least by this weekend, it looks like cooler weather will move in, and the wind could continue to gust. radar plus the cloud shows it is all clear. high pressure over the quarters. and that creates wind

gusts over 30 or 40 miles an hour. close to 90 already in los angeles, 71 in san francisco, inland areas seeing-ts climb to about 100 or higher today. there's another 90-degree day tomorrow. but look at the weekend, saturday, and sunday, down below 80 degrees does get cooler, that's the only good news here is the temperatures are not as hot, there is still no rain in the forecast, maybe the wind not gusting quite as much. there's the heat. across the southwest, combine that with the record temperatures, dry air, relative humidity down below 10%, and the wind gusting not the best situation, maybe a little relief only from the heat here this weekend. you get a little further east, there's some cold air across the northern plains. temperatures can drop into the mid to low 30's. a lot of moisture with it, and two areas of low pressure, here is the front, normally you have one that pushing that front through, but with an area of low pressure developing along that, it

slows everything down. so here is the problem. that rain continues to go over the same area, as this storm takes over, and looks like the rain will be focused on western pennsylvania and the ohio valley, along with some severe weather, that can happen there in west virginia and virginia. rain totals a few inches that have short period of time could lead to flash flooding that is the area where it's focused and this dark green color that's a flash flood watch in effect with a few warnings in place. but with that rain still moving into the area and the heavy rain forecast along with severe weather, you could get a lot of rain in a short period of time. quickly going up, river levels and then quickly dropping so be on the look out. here is this line of severe weather, most likely could see strong thunderstorms with this, but it is the heavy rain over the same area that is the big problem. flash flooding in a few hours severe flooding could be the problem. >> they would love to have that in california. >> too much rain in one, not enough in the other. >> thank you very much, and we want to thank you for watching al jazeera

america, i'll dell walters in new york, talk to al jazeera is next, and ary minder for updates throughout the day, all you have to do is go to our website, the dough right now is down big time, down close to 200 points. emsteinem >> i became beautiful when i became a fenninist. up to then i was a pretty girl. i was not pretty. >> the face of filminism, gloria steinem. believes the women's battle is going on. >> a blue-colour uniform job for a man pays more. >> gloria steinem has expanded her image to address other social injustices.