fair, $93, finding someone to spend your life with, priceless. that's our show tonight. i'm ali velshi. thank for joining us. ♪ hi, everyone, i'm john siegenthaler. welcome to al jazeera america. marshall law, breaking news out of thailand, the army declares a state of emergency. hack attacks. china's military accused of cyber spying. tonight's beijing's angry denial. on the brink in libya a rogue army general threatening war against religious militias. african nations pledging to crush boko haram. can they stop the violence and

find the missing girls? and bon voyage, a two-year mission at sea inspired by hawaii culture to help save the earth. ♪ >> but we begin with breaking news, in thailand, six months of protest have brought the government and the economy to the edge of disaster. today, though army declared marshall law. local television reported that the military was not taking over, but it's not clear yet whether this is the beginning of a cue -- cue data. >> from what we have been hearing the general has said the military here in thailand is not

staging a coup. this is something they have done at political impasses in the past, but he said the reason they are imposing marshall law now is to prevent a civil war and prevent further unrest on the streets of this country. now to cyber spying. it is one of the biggest threats to american business and cost the u.s. more than $100 billion every year. for the first time the government is publicly accusing government officials of cyber crimes against u.s. companies. lisa? >> john those officials are members of the chinese military, five of them. accused of essentially cyber espionage, economic espionage. the justice department says this sends a clear message that enough is enough. their faces now adorn fbi wanted

posters. accused of stealing sensitive information from american businesses and a major labor union. >> the range of trade secrets and other sensitive business information stolen in this case is significant, and demands an aggressive response. >> reporter: >> the u.s. companies include alcoa, u.s. steel, the united steal workers union and others. >> this 21st century burglary has to stop. we would not stand idolly buy if someone pulled a tractor trailer up to a company headquarters, cracked the lock and loaded up information. >> they say they stole information from solar world

just as the company was losing business to solar products from china. the justice department said they traced the hackers to one unit of the people's liberation army and that the men worked out of one office, in one building, in one city, shanghai. president obama has raised the touchy issue with the chinese president in the past. but the president says they are the ones who are the victims of spying from the us. but the white house today said there is a difference. the chinese government has officially protested today's indictments, saying the u.s. move is based on, quote, fabricated facts. that the accusation is, quote,

clearly ungrounded and absurd. but the attorney formerly with the justice department, says the six groups allegedly spied on are just the tip of the iceberg. >> i think it shows that the u.s. is taking this more seriously, and communicates to the government that we are able to track their conduct and attribute specific hacks to specific actors. >> reporter: the white house says it wants to continue to work with the chinese on cyber security. but the chinese today said they are pulling out of joint talks. economic espionage hurts not just american companies, but american workers. they could lose their jobs if american companies lose business because of unfair chinese competition. and john no one expects these five officials to end up in court to truly face charges, but the justice department clearly

felt that diplomacy had not worked and it needed to take a stro stronger stand. >> lisa, thank you. the chinese have been suspected of industrial espionage for decades. jonathan betz is here with that story. >> reporter: some estimate it costs the u.s. up to $120 billion a year. china is considered the one who spies the most on america, followed by russia, and even some u.s. allies like israel and france. some argue back in 1986, it launched project 863. it was a big push to catch up with the west. more phones and computers got connected to the internet made this possible. operations like night dragon, ghost net, and shady rat hacked

activists and companies, including all these big companies, all reportedly targeted by chinese hackers. but china says it too has been a victim. they were spying on the telecom giant. in 2009 china says an australian mining company stole state secrets. it allegedly cost chinese steal companies billions of dollars. and china's actually been blamed when it did nothing wrong, like in 2011, when they were accused of bribing renault heads, and that turned out to be just wrong. all right. jonathan, thank you. joining us now is a retired special age went the fbi in

sacramento tonight. james, welcome. >> good evening, john. >> how do you track down a cyber crime? >> look, john, they are not going to tell us exactly what they did. but we have the technologies and sets in place to identify hackers overseas. and let there be no doubt that the justice department released the photos across the united states, and there's no doubt that we have the technology and capability to identify these individuals. >> you could maybe identify the computer. how could you know you have the right person behind that come suitor? >> exactly. and they are saying not only do they have the technology, but they have the assets in place. and that can be considered human

intelligence to identify who is behind those key strokes. >> why did the u.s. government go public here? >> they wanted to make a statement. you know, companies for the last five years have been complaining about these instances, it has been costing billions of dollars. it has gone on unchecked so the government had to do something, had to say to companies like westinghouse, u.s. steel, alcoa, that yes, we have heard your complaints and we're going to do something. >> why it is u.s. steel and alcoa? >> well, those particular companies had ongoing litigation interests, secrets that they were obviously interested in. so the list is long. i'm sure there are many more out there. and as one justice department if i recall said, this is just the tip of the iceberg. >> many of these companies are based neared pittsburgh. does that matter or is it just

they happened to be there? >> no, i don't think that really matters. i think that was just a coincidence. they obviously had those cases ready to prosecute and elected to make a decision to return charges, using those companies. >> we heard the denial from jay carney, suggesting that the u.s. does not spy for the benefit of u.s. businesses, however, is it possible that the nsa vacuum cleaner that picks up a lot of information could be picking up information on chinese businesses? >> it is possible. but regardless of what you think about snowden, what the united states does not do, has never done, is shared that data with private industry. and i don't believe it ever will. so that's what the chinese are doing, so what the issue here

is, it's not just collecting intelligence, but it's sharing that intelligence with its companies in china for the purpose of economic gain. >> james thank you so much. it's good to see you. russian president vladimir putin has just begun a two-day trip, he is hoping to sign a million dollars gas deal. before he left for china, he said he has ordered troops to pull back from the border of ukraine, but the white house and nato say they have seen no sign of withdrawal. rory challands reports from moscow. >> reporter: for months now, they have been a threatening presence on ukraine's russian border, an estimated 40,000 troops officially on exercise, though battle trained and battle

ready, but on monday, vladimir putin ordered soldiers back to their bases. >> this is a postponement of a real big war, which is rather very good. it's not a decision to not have it at all, it's more of a tactical decision that gives us -- everyone, some breathing space maybe two months to seek a political solution that will be permanent. >> reporter: nato is skeptical. it has heard this before from russia in recent weeks. >> so far we haven't seen any withdraw, at all. i strongly regard that. because a withdraw of russian troops would be a first important contribution to de-escalating the crisis. >> ukraine's border service has noticed a reduction in russian military activity in the last week, though it stopped short of

l kaing it a withdraw. but if the soldiers do head back to their barracks, why might have putin given the order? russia's army operates on largely conscript-based system. and last year's well-drilled soldiers are about to be replaced by a new inexperienced draft. also mr. putin may be looking at the costs and thinking that the sanctions that russia is incurring is not worth it. ukraine has brought east-west relations to its lowest point in decades. >> translator: these relations require a substantial rethink. we are trying to conduct analysis in order to better understand where we are, where we disagree, and what to do to

bring those relations back. >> reporter: there may be the whiff of deescalation in the air, but this challenge is far from over. after almost a week of flooding in the bakkens, there are hears that a new flood surge will reach serbia's power plant. soldiers have tried to protect the plant, but it's not certain they will be able to top the upcoming surge. the floods have also triggered land mines. a federal jury found this man guilty on 11 counts. he was charged with trying to set up a terrorist training camp in 1999, and supporting al-qaeda. kristin has the story. >> reporter: he is known for his

fiery sermons given at london's park, mosque, often in support of osama bin laden, and al-qaeda, and the group's ideals, he had nothing to say when the jury handed down the verdict of guilty on all 11 counts. counts that include host taij taking, conspiring to take hostages, and attempting to set up a her ris -- terrorist training camp in oregon. the prosecution showed that he had provided a satellite phone to the hostage takers in yemen. they showed he had sent two followers to the united states to explore the possibility of this training camp, and at the end of the day got this guilty verdict on all accounts. now when he comes back here to

the new york court for sentencing. in oregon a victory for advocates of same-sex marriage today. a judge struck down a voter approved ban on gay marriage, saying it was unconstitutional. in utah another federal judge ordered state officials to recognize more than 1,000 same-sex couples. the state attorney general put their marriages in limbo while legal wrangling continued. up next, a top libyan military commander turning against his own government today. we're looking at whether libya can prevent civil war. pakistanis forced out of a dying silk trade are turn to the taliban to make a living.

libya may be nearing civil war. fighting as escalated between heavily-armed militias, now a top military general has defected. >> reporter: the commander of the libyan special forces declared that he and his forces are joining the battle against what he called extremists and terrorists. he said we are joining the battle of dignity. this battle was declared by forces loyal to retired general.

it's a very significant development. it comes only hours after another air force commanders in the east of libya announced that he is joining the hafta forces. the caretaker government which is struggling to impose law and order has declared a proposed initiative to end the political crisis. now that initiative is made of ten points. the most important of that initiative, most important in those points are first to freeze the general national congress and ask that parliament to hold a new session to choose a new prime minister. if it fails to do so, this current government will continue until new elections are held. now the initiative sets a new date for elections. that is no later than mid-of august. it also calls on the current

general congress to take a parliamentary holiday. all of this tells you the kei chaotic situation that is unfolding in libya. libyans will tell you they are extremely worried that this is the beginning to either libya becoming an officially failed state or the beginning of a civil war. the associate vice president at the u.s. institute of pieces center joins us tonight. welcome. >> thank you. >> what do you see as the key issue in this conflict. >> i think the key issue is libya hasn't been able to form a go, particularly the gnc that has a very clear mandate. without that, it's very hard to deal with all of these parallel structures, particularly in the security sector.

>> is this about the structure of government or are there particular political issues that are really driving this? >> i think it's a combination. i think the problem is that there hasn't been any way to solve the issues in clear way, because there isn't a clear government and clear mandate. so what keeps happening is a return to arms and violence as a way of resolving the issues. >> who packs the biggest punch when it comes to military capability, though? >> i think it's hard to pinpoint, because it is consistently shifting. nobody has that kind of political bunch or weight. it really is the different alliances that take place. but it's clear that the government doesn't have control over the parallel structures. >> three prime ministers since

march. why? >> it goes back to a lock of trust. they were not looking at the dialogue and a lot of it goes back to the political isolation. so in many ways the national dialogue is one of the ways to bring people together. >> if there is civil war, could this country be put in many parts? >> i think that we're still far from civil war. what we're seeing with the violence really overshadows a very strong willingness from people on the ground in libya. they are very eager to keep libya together and find a political solution. i think the challenge is what are the right outlets. you definitely have violence, but we're far from the country

falling apart. >> i was going to say what is the food in the country now? >> there is a lot of disappointment, particularly in the central government. there is a lot of frustration. there is still no response in terms of basic services. but all three prime ministers were done through political solutions. and i think it's very important to highlight that that remains the commitment. now like i said the parallel security structures are a real threat and until you address that head on, that situation could -- >> is it safe to travel to tripoli? >> i think it's safe with precautions. when i was in libya, i was in tripoli. i didn't security and was able to move around. but in the past i could move around all over libya.

but i stayed in triply. >> thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you for having me. in parts of pakistan the battle against the taliban has had an unintended work. companies have closed, and that has some turning to the taliban for jobs. andrew simmons reports. >> reporter: it's natural spinoff, tourism was destroyed by the two-year rule of the taliban. by the time the army drove the taliban out in 2009, another traditional industry lay in ruins. the silk trade. there have been efforts to revive it, but talk of government subsidies haven't materialized. this is one of the few factories left. most of its workers have been laid off. those left are each having to operate 12 of the machines.

the owner has been holding on to stock because he can't sell at a profit. >> translator: i'm only carrying on now for the sake of these poor laborers. if the situation goes on like this, i'll also have to close this factory. >> reporter: with labor costs low, business grew, but the cross border supply stopped. with high overheads and costly raw materials, this is what is in store now. what was a thriving industry providing 70,000 jobs handed down through generations, now reduced to scrap. this one of 500 factories closed down and about to be sold. with no jobs available, there are warnings that those falling into poverty can be attracted to the taliban, for money.

a worker who is about to lose his job say it may be unthinkable, but some feel there's no all terntive. >> translator: thousands of people used to work in the silk industry, now it's so bad some have joined the taliban, resorting to wear suicide vests to bring in so feed their familiar list. >> translator: what option do i have? i can either take a bullet in my head or join for the money. >> reporter: it's an enemy pakistan's government is underestimates, some say. up next, more on our breaking news story. thailand's army declares marshall law. we have a reporter on the ground with the latest details. and waging war on boko haram.

african leaders vow to fight the radical group. a look at whether they have the capability to actually do it.

♪ welcome back to al jazeera

america, i'm john siegenthaler in new york. a lot more to cover this half hour. tearful apology, south korea's president, addresses the anger over how her government responded to the deadly fairy disaster. fighting extinction inside a so-called bio bank. an epic voyage circling the world from hawaii, 47,000 miles to honor the earth. but first the top stories in tonight's briefing. a federal grand jury has charged five chinese military officials with cyber espionage. prosecutors say the hackers working out of shanghai and targeted companies and labor unions in western pennsylvania. china called the charges unrounded and absurd. >> one of this fallout is what we see now as mutual untrust and

accusations will be tchinese of probably enhancing its own equipment systems on their own, so that the fallout will be actually counterproductive. in this case that americans are doing this the chinese alerted and it will be using more of their own equipment. >> it is the first time u.s. officials have filed charges against other government officials. a federal judge has thrown out a ruling outlooking same-sex marriages. russia says it has pulled back forces on the border. the u.s. and nato have expressed

scepticism, saying they have seen no sign of a withdraw. after six months of protest of the thailand government, the army has announced marshall law. >> as you mentioned the government here, although it's an acting government and it has been a government that has gone through many different situations over the last six months was not consulted by this. the military has in the past, though, and steadily over these past six months have said their main concern was the security of the people of thailand and always called on both sides to back down any violence, particularly when there was a fair up, and at this sage the military saw that this political impasse there is no indication it would be broken. so they felt for the better amount of all type of people that it was important for them to impose marshall law. we know that there was a meeting

yesterday between the acting prime minister, and the only governing body here in thailand and that's the senate and that that meeting came out with no result. there was no -- there was no decision where to move forward with this political impasse. so that possibly could be the reason that the read of the military said enough is enough. we need to get out there on the streets. we did see another flairup in violence. not clashes with military and security officials like we had seen in the past with hundreds of protesters, but attacks on protester camps. three people were killed at the end of last week. and that hadn't happened in several weeks, that also could have contributed to the decision. we know they have said they are putting troops on the streets, but so far they say they are just there to maintain order and

peace. we know they have also gone to television stations to secure those, because that's how the military is getting their message out to the people of thailand. but now it sounds like there have been no incidents on the streets. it is still fairly early, only 7:00 am and this news has been rolling out over the last couple of hours. obviously people in thailand are going to be waking up with this news that marshall law has been implemented. the military has always said to both sides of this political impasse, and their supporters, the yellow shirts and the red shirts, that they need to stay where they are. there cannot be any further movement between those two groups. so, but, again, the people of thailand waking up this tuesday

morning to marshall law being imposed. >> at least four people are dead after a suicide bombing in northern nigeria. it's the same group holding hundreds of schoolgirls host age. nigeria's neighbors have agreed to share intelligence and monster the borders. terrorism researcher, explained how boko haram has come to power in the region, and if the plan to stop it can actually work in tonight's first person report. >> the idea that integrated counter terrorism strategy coordinated by the economic community of the west african states is really a good idea. terrorism in the region is continuously becoming more transnational in nature. however, a wider approach will have to be followed.

they need to address the social economic disparities. the government's ability to deliver services needs to get way better. and maintaining law and order and especially border control here. success relies on the dissatisfaction of the people on the government to deliver the simplest of services. the view by the locals, is not so much a yes for the terrorist organization, but a vote of no confidence for the government. we have a government being accused of neglect. the safe havens abound in the north. boko haram has networks of informants that enable them to know when and where security forces will deploy and enables them to avoid all action.

boko haram have cyber scams, including online dating scams. it lammic charity, oil looting, smuggling and piracy, among other things. they have gotten in bed with a lot of really good already established lines of concealments and arm smuggling roots. in that they can do a lot of things. boko haram's ability to move from one area to another and cross borders as to the complexity to capture the leaders. one of the only two female presidents in africa is up for reelection tomorrow. she has mounted a huge campaign to return to office. but is facing a corruption scandal that involves millions

of state dollars being stolen under her watch. if she loses she'll be the first female head of state in africa to lose an luck shun. the prime minister is ahead in the polls. last month's election was the first. what comes next will be a test of iraq's stability. imran khan has more. >> reporter: maliki has seen the best results in this election. and also the sunni parties have shown quite strong results. the kurdistan reports will not be announced until thursday. but no one party has the ability to form a government. what happens next is parliament will meet if one party has a two-thirds majority they could automatically fall to the government.

what happens next is deal trading, lots of deals being done to try to get something akin to a majority block. now it's a simple majority required. that's half of the votes plus one. in the current system, 328 seats available, so to form a government you need at least 165. that will all take place within the coming weeks and months. some observe ears say iraq will be without a government for three weeks. and some say they will be without an government until at least december. primary elections will help shape the battle for u.s. senate. mitch mcconnell is leading the tea party candidate. georgia and oregon have closely watch sod primaries. now let's head to washington.

>> good evening, john, tonight on our program, we consider parents and choices and what that means to the community outside of our own homes. childhood vaccines are increasingly a matter of choice. but the risks are abounding. still a small though growing number of parents are saying no to more shots and doctors are being challenged to respond. >> do you say, look, if a whole bunch of other parents made that same decision, these are the consequences we might face. >> actually i do say that quite often in my discussions. i found most parents don't consider the public health benefit when they are making decisions for their own individual child. should they consider those issues? yes. do i fault them for not considering those issue s?

not so much. >> all right. joe which thank you. south korea's president says she will dismantle her country's coast guard because of its response to last month's ferry accident. she made the announcement during a tearful apology. harry fawcett reports. >> reporter: south korea's president cried openly. for the first time she assumed direct responsibility for the loss of more than 300 lives, so many of them school children. >> translator: i apologize to the nation for the pain and suffering that everyone felt. as the president i should be responsible for the safety of the people. >> reporter: this was also a

speech promised to set out her plans to reform her nation. the first target, the coast guard, criticized for helping the captain and crew to safety, but not doing enough to help the victims. the entire service will be disbanded. the president also vowed to end what she called the bureaucratic mafia, where officials get cr h crushy requirement jobs. in seoul people still add their own personal tributes to the victims and consider the response. >> translator: i think her apology is too late. and it's not the right time to break up the coast guard. >> reporter: she also has a political fight on her hands to recover her presidency, her approval rating has fallen to

the mid-40s. >> because of the significance of the issue, and then shocked that ordinary people face and there is political momentum, that she can take advantage of, though it's a crisis, but i think this is opportunity for her to take actions. >> reporter: the president now begins a trip to the united stated arab emirates. the nuclear industry too still reeling from a safety accident. more than half of the world's animal species are in danger of disappearing from the wild. at canada's largest zoo frozen genetic material is being used to help repopulate some animals that otherwise wouldn't have had a fight chance. >> reporter: preventing extinction with a genetic deep freeze. this is a frozen repository of

sperm, eggs, dna and cells from dozens of endangered animal species. it is used in breeding programs here in toronto, but has other goals as well. >> understanding reproductive health, make babies. reproducing the again ittic material for the future, and also the long-term vision. that's where the biobank plays a big role. >> reporter: there is genetic material from around the world here, but there's also a strong emphasis on endangered wildlife here in canada. some of this captive herd came from the biobank. but the wildlife population is infected by ta bushing low sis. >> we have a lot of land, but we're creating isolated

populations. as soon as a highway or mine goes in, you have cut them off from each other. >> reporter: the vancouver island marmot might have already been extinct if animals like this one wasn't bred as part of the project. >> zoos have some of the last populations of these animals and are breeding them to save these species so when people want to get upset with zoos for keeping animals captive, and say let them go, and i say, well, where? the last animals left are in these zoos. this panda has been just been given frozen sperm.

and now they anxiously await to see if she gets pregnant. the biobanks and others like it are fighting to keep these animals alive. the voyage to honor planet earth. plus -- >> reporter: i'm in paris where the recent tradition of lovers attaching these padlocks to this bridge has some locals up in arms.

is good evening, i'm meteorologist kevin corriveau. i'm going to start down here in s saw polo. where some very interesting weather happened. we saw about 8 inches of hail in some locations across the region. it is one of the rare events.

it does happen sometimes. some better weather is expected over the next couple of days. now here in the states, do you remember the heat we had last week? well, it has shifted a little bit more towards the east. we're talking about parts of arizona, new mexico, and texas. we're looking another red flag warnings in place. that means the fire danger is going to be up. so most of arizona, all of new mexico, texas, as well as parts of oklahoma are going to be seeing that threat. you notice in lubbock we are expecting 102 degrees for their high. lubbock you come down from there.

there have been replica ships made of the trips

christopher columbus made to the new world. but there was also a voyage from hawaii. >> hello, i'm billy richards. i have been here since the summer of 1975. we're going on almost 40 years now. this is what is called a perform-true replica of a canoe that was used six, seven centuries ago, to travel from islands to islands. hokalaa is the name for a star. we call it the star of gladness. mostly it's -- there's actually two purposes. one is to bring attention to the environmental conditions of our oceans. and two it's to teach the next generation of voyagers, and by

the end of the voyage we should be able to hand it off. in 1970, it was about rediscovering ourselves as hawaiians, as polynesians, looking back at our past and brings it to the floor. so and then as we went along over the years. it was first rediscovering our past, and understanding our present. and right now this voyage is for the future. basically they use the stars, a combination of stars, wind direction, swells, birds, and to find our way from island to island. the second leg is an island hopping. then the third leg will take it to new zealand. and then it will spend some time

in new zealand, and circumnavigate the whole of the island. from australia across the indian ocean. from madagascar to durbin. and then around the cape of good hope. and then shoot across the atlantic and start climbing up the eastern seaboard and visiting new york. come back again, and then both canoes will travel along the eastern seaboard down through the panama canal. through the panama canal to the ga longus islands. and it is there we're hoping the younger crews will be able to take command and full responsibility for the canoe and bring it home to hawaii.

for us it's utilizing ancestral knowledge that is important to us. it is part of who we are. it's our understanding of our past. they -- my ancestors got here to this island without use of instruments and things. and we need to understand what they went through, and -- and how they got here, so we relearned that -- traditional knowledge. and also to understand that you are a survivor of your ancestors. >> [ inaudible ] richards is currently onboard the hokalaa. coming up, exposing the truth, the condition construction crews are working to build the campus in abu dhabi. what one student saw when she visited the site.

plus jumping in to the middle of a town squabble. the state enticing sir raw cha to move its factory. a bridge in paris has become the focus of a bitter argument. for years lovers have placed padlocks there as a sign of their devotion to each other. simon mcgregor woods reports. ♪ >> reporter: a sunny spring day in the city of love. the [ inaudible ] straining under the weight of loving couples and padlocks. up close the names of those happy to be locked in love. and the idea has traveled far and wide. they come from all four corners to express their love in metal. even those no longer in the springtime of youth like brian and ah dri.

>> it really is lovely. great idea. >> i think it's a very romantic idea, really. and i thought paris was the place for romance. >> reporter: on such a day, it's hard not to get drawn in by all of this love. unlicensed padlock sellers are on hand in case you feel the urge. but a campaign has been started called no love locks. so reclaim the city as part of the city's heritage. >> if it is okay to vandalize heritage, we can't get up in arms if somebody is pillaging this bridge. >> reporter: this row puts the city's authorities in something of a spot. you have the cultural

sensitivities to think about. on the other hand, you have awful all of this wonderful love. so there's no end in site. chains are added to allow more padlocks. every now and then panels collapse under the weight of it all, but they are quickly replaced. the price of all of this love and all of those dollars. one more image caught our attention today. an audience of beach goers watch as a 500 pound bomb is dedz nated. the bomb was discovered in a nearby town prompting the evacuation of homes and businesses and then it was detonated. r

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>> on "america tonight": shot in the arm. the case for childhood vaccinations gets a booster from a report outbreak of measles and the worries of the return much other childhood deceases. why a growing number of parents say no to shots. >> what would happen if we didn't get vaccination egg? >> i think we would be a lot healthier. >> you do? >> i do.