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tv   News  Al Jazeera  September 17, 2014 7:00am-9:01am EDT

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giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >> a firsthand look at the ongoing battle against the isil threat. >> bombs are cracking off in the distance... >> this is a booby trap in the islamic state >> ...a sniper around the corner here... >> from the front lines, josh rushing reports, on al jazeera america >> breaking news overnight, the minnesota vikings bench adrian peterson again, days after he was cleared to play. the running back is told not to come back until the child abuse case against him is resolved. >> president obama meets with top military commanders to
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strategies against fighting isil as a new york business owner is indicted for supporting the group. >> the vote in scotland could go down to the wire. >> i was on the roof and watching houses explode one after the other. >> a wildfire wipes out nearly an entire california town in minutes, the flames leaving residents barely time enough to escape with their lives. >> adrian peterson has been benched again, suspended indefinitely. he's the minnesota vikings running back accused of child abuse. the team planned to play him but abruptly changed course overnight. >> there are new threats this morning from isil right here on u.s. soil. this morning, an american facing federal charges that he tried to help others join the fight in syria. new york police say an on line
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message board is encouraging attacks on times square and the las vegas trip. >> the head of the joint chiefs admit u.s. combat forces may be necessary in the fight. >> let's go live to washington. libby, lots going on on capitol hill today and sitcom in florida. what is the goal when the president visits tampa? >> the white house says a visit is part of the president's plan to drum up public support and build relationships with military leaders. >> in a rare visit to the pentagon central command headquarters in tampa, president obama will be briefed by commanders laying out the military plan to combat the islamic state group, that plan approved by the security team who testified in front of congress tuesday.
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>> this plan includes tatsed actions against isil in safe havens in syria, command, and infrastructure. >> it will not be waged like others in the past. >> this won't look like a shock and awe campaign because that is not how isil is organized. >> with that shortage of criticism. >> how can i go home to west virginia and make sense of this at all? >> or interruptions. >> would you please leave the room now? >> tuesday's hearing contained a new option in the strategy to fight isil not yet heard. >> if we reach the point i believe our odd visors should accompany iraq troops on attacks against specific isil targets, i'll recommend that to the president. >> the that is merely hypothetical, said the white house, repeating president obama's promise that american forces currently in iraq will not see dom bat. >> he has told me to come to him on a case by case base.
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>> the white house does acknowledge ground forces are necessary to defeating isil and is seeking $500 million to arm and train moderate syrian rebels currently fighting the militants and bashar al assad. some critics are not convinced that will work. >> you think these people you are training will only go back to fight isil? do you recall believe that? >> we do not have to deal with it now. >> that is a fundamental fallacy in everything you are presenting this committee today. >> those forces could take up to five months to train and despite some resistance, it is likely the house, which is expected to vote today, will approve the plan. >> i think there's a lot more that we need to be doing, but there's no reason for us not to do what the president asked us to do. >> now approval needs to happen on a by partisan basis, because there is dissension coming from both sides of the i'll. once it passes the house, it's
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got to get through the senate. passage is expected there, as well. >> the plan specifically prohibits the u of u.s. ground forces to combat isil. is this something we might look at again after the november mid terms are over? >> frankly, yes, dell, that may we will happen but not until after the elections, with people on both sides bringing up concerns. military would like to have troops to be there to advice the soldiers on the ground or call in airstrikes if they want to make true advances against isil, for example, retaking a city in northern iraq. it could be a vigorous debate, but not until after those elections. libby, thank you very much. >> another part of the u.s. strategy to fight isil involves stopping americans assessing the group right here at home. >> a man from rochester in new
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york is accused of helping isil fighters. what do we know about the man? >> he is a 30-year-old yemen born new yorker indicted on seven counts of attempting to provide material support to isil. these new charges come four months after he was arrested for plotting to kill u.s. military members. isil released a video overnight wrought with threats against america. >> on tuesday, a new yorker was indicted. he used twitter accounts to encourage three people to travel to syria to fight for isil. the indictment comes one day after the deep web journalism site reported members of isil on line forums are encouraging lone wolf bomb attacks in america tourist locations, including times square and the famous las
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vegas strip. nypd responded to the allegation. >> we are concerned with the capabilities of isis, much more so than al-qaeda was able to project. they use social media to spread recruitment efforts. isil's propaganda push released overnight has the look and feel of a hollywood movie trailer. the video entitled flames of war features injured american troops and a defiant president obama. >> troops will not be returning to fight in iraq. >> iraq's ambassador to the vatican warns isil may be targeting pope francis for assassination. the leader of the world's catholics heads to albania this weekend. the threat against the pope is credible. the vatican said there is no cause for alarm. >> thank you very much.
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>> minnesota's twin cities will take part in a new federal program designed to stop groups like isil from recruiting americans. one man from minnesota died fighting for isil. >> aljazeera will bring you live coverage of president obama's statement from florida at 11:50 a.m. eastern time. >> two american service members were among those killed in a suicide bomb attack in afghanistan. it happened tuesday near the u.s. embassy in kabul. a polish service member was also killed and five others wounded. the taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. >> we want to go now to that breaking news that occurred overnight. the minnesota vikings changing course on adrian peterson. >> the team suspended him days after clearing him to play this weekend. we have more. the vikings clearly feeling the pressure. >> indeed they are. the vikings have put their star
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running back on something i've never heard of, called the exempt commissioner's permission list. he cannot play with the team while the legal process plays out. peterson is charged with a felony for using a tree branch to spank his 4-year-old son. the team initially decided he could play while the case continues. it does appear peterson will be paid while he's off the field now. the nfl is hearing loud and clear from sponsors. nike pulled peterson merchandise from shelves. anheuser-busch has told the league it is not yet satisfied with how the scandal and others have been hand and the raddison hotel chain canceled it's sponsor ship of the vikings. >> we will have much more on that story throughout the morning, del. >> scotland 19 hours away from voting on independence from the united kingdom. the latest polls have the race neck and neck.
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british political leaders are making a last minute push for the no side. >> turning now to the ebola crisis in west africa, the region on the verge of a hume catastrophe. the cases could start doubling every three weeks and it could cost a billion dollars to contain it. president obama is sending troops to help provide aid in the region. lisa stark joins us from washington. what what is the goal of the troops heading to africa? >> some of them will staff a command center, an ebola command center the u.s. will set up in liberia. it will help coordinate u.s. and international relief efforts. some engineers will help construct mobile hospitals, enough for 1700 beds for ebola patients. then there are knows that are medics. what they are going to do is be training about 500 health care
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workers every week. that's the goal. of course, those health care workers will be treating those ebola patients. they'll train them to treat them safely. >> we also heard from kent brantley yesterday, the american doctor who survived the ebola virus. what did he say? >> dr. brantley contracted ebola treating patients in liberia. he did survive. he recovered in an atlanta hospital after getting an experimental drug. he told congress that ebola is like a fire, and that there is no time to waste. >> >> to control this outbreak and save the lives of thousands of west africans, and possibly many americans, we need the promised ebola treatment units, the surge in health care workers, the u.s. military regional command control center and we need it immediately. >> before he was on capitol hill, dr. brantley and his wife met with the president in the oval office. in his testimony, brantley said
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it was imperative to the president follow through on his plans to combat this epidemic. he called the u.s. response today sluggish. >> the w.h.o. said it will cost at least a billion dollars to contain ebola. how much of that financial burden is the u.s. shouldering? >> the u.s. has already pledged $175 million. obama will be asking congress for an additional $88 million, about 30 of that would go to fight ebola, the rest to help develop drugs and treatments for the disease. the pentagon has about a $500 million fund it can tap into to put these 3,000 troops in west africa, so the u.s. will be shouldering a good part of the burden. >> lisa stark for us, thank you, in washington for us. >> a doctor's reaction to president obama's plan coming up, plus the critical mistake that could be putting ate workers at risk.
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>> ferguson residents still simmering over the death of michael brown. demonstrators crowding this meeting tuesday want officer darren wilson to be arrested. he's been on leave since shooting brown more than a month aing. they are accusing the county prosecutor of stalling the investigation. they say they want him removed. >> meanwhile, a grand jury in the case has until january before it has to decide on whether to charge officer wilson. he remains on paid leave, pending that investigation. the justice democratic also looking into the conduct of the ferguson police, saying its use of force and the dreams of detainees. >> pennsylvania police identified a suspect in the ambush shooting of two state troopers. an arrest warrant was issued for eric matthew fine. police say he's a survivalist who spoke of committing mass murder. he shot and killed trooper brian dickson last friday and wounded another officer. >> hundreds of people are homeless this morning in a small california town after a wall of
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flames swept through in just a matter of minutes. >> we are talking about weed, california near the or gone border. it's a tight knit community now reduced to ashes. >> our meteorologist dave warren joins us now. it's a miracle nobody was killed. >> it's amazing there are no major injuries or deaths from this. the dodge is done. by tuesday, much of the town was gone. it was the heat plus the wind and drought conditions that spread this fire so quickly. firefighters just didn't stand a chance. >> oh, my god, grandma! >> we've got to get out of here! >> it was like apocalypse now. >> there's nothing left. >> an entire town nearly wiped off the map. more than 100 homes and a catholic church, jen gulfed in a matter of minutes as a speedy wildfire devoured the community of weed, california. >> i was on the roof and watching house just explode one after the other.
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it was just, i mean that fast. >> homes incinerated, leaving nothing but concrete foundations behind. residents say the flames moved so fast, they barely had time to get out. >> i thought for sure we were stopped, because at one point, the only way back was through the mountains and i was told the fires were coming that way. hundreds of firefighters are battling the flames from the ground and above. you can see the pink fire retardant dropped. it helped contain the flames, but not in time to stop the destruction. >> it's -- it's gone. the biggest thing is all the heirloom stuff, the pictures and stuff. >> it's not the largest blaze burning in the bone-dry west. 15 hot spots have erupted from outside san diego, all the way up to southern washington. the largest scorching more than 11,000 acres near yosemite national park, forcing thousands
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to flee their homes. >> it was the wind that caused so much problems yesterday, actually fanned that fire so quickly, just overtook the town quickly. what happens now is that we need rain, not getting this tropical moisture to the south, but a storm approaching will bring rain, but at the same time, that really picks up the wind. another day of wind speeds, close to 40 to 50-mile per hour gusts. >> nicole mitchell has been tracking the situation with odile and the possibility of the rain. >> we are still dealing with odile as a tropical storm. over the next two days, where you see the purple, probably a depression. that's a testament to its strength, that it made it this far north, still keeping that circulation. the winds have lessened blow tropical storm force winds into arizona, possibly by tomorrow, as that entity, whether it is still hanging together with the
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circulation by tomorrow, still is going to funnel in the rain. you see the core of the reds, three to four inches over the next 24 hours, this will linger for us for a couple of days. so arizona, the brunt of it, but anywhere from california through texas could see some of this moisture. >> the question is what does this mean for the drought in the southwest. >> it's not exactly the places we would like it, but some of these regions are in drought conditions. what we are going to watch out there, this is the drought area, extending from texas. the last tropical storm last week, ate away just a little bit at some of these areas in arizona. you can see the core of the central california with the exceptional drought, that's not where we're going to get it. you could have the flash flooding, so we're going to have to worry about that, too. >> nicole mitchell, thank you. >> u.s. boots on the ground, still an option that may need to be considered. >> that's according to joint chiefs of staff chairman chairman general dempsey.
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we'll speak with retired colonel layton whether a ground offensive is the best option to fight isil. >> battered in baja, the strongest hurricane to hit that region in years. >> getting inside the battle over ebola, jacob ward shows us how health care workers gear up to help themselves and the big mistake some make taking the suit off. >> our big number of the day. >> china is giving it's banks a major cash infusion.
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>> today's big number is $81 billion, that's how much money china plans to lend its largest banks to stimulate the economy. >> economic growth has started to slow and there's worry it could get worse. >> the government will give $16.2 billion apiece to the five main banks to keep the economy there humming. >> president obama travels to florida in a few hours for meetings with top military
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commanders. the meeting comes after his top general told the senate panel that u.s. combat forces might go used to fight isil. several commanders have already requested u.s. special forces fight alongside iraqi troops. >> good morning, you have spent time with peshmerga commanders. what are they telling you? >> the latest lines we're getting from the front line near the city of tikrit, we're hearing that just yesterday, there was either an iraqi air strike or u.s. fight fighters hitting an area of tikrit. that seems to be very successful getting the enemy. as many as 23 isil fighters have been killed in that one air strike. coming from witnesses on the ground and people in the
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hospitals, where bodies and the casualties have been taken. it seems some sort of retaliation has happened. the same city, we are now hearing that the citadel in the center of the city has been blown up by isil fighters. we don't know to what extent that damage is, but sounds like they have done extensive damage, and also sounds like they are really reacting to the numbers of fighters that were killed in the previous day's aerial bombardment. >> what is the latest on the ground fighting that's going on? >> we've just come back from the front line. we are right on the syria iraq border with a general there, who commands an enormous part of that northern part of iraq. he's a field commander. his message was quite interesting, actually, he talked about the successes of the air strike and air strike campaign so far, but talked about the limitations of those airstrikes. he said sometimes they try to
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call in a strike when they have a number of fighters stopping progress. it can take two hours before the airstrikes react. by that time, they are either seeing that the isil fighters have moved away or brought civilians in to be close to them. they're being very clever on the other side stopping these airstrikes targeting them. they talked about how the airstrikes are blunt force. they can do so much, clear areas, but they can't really deal with the fact that the isil fighters can just disappear into communities and that has to be boots on the ground. >> sue in erbil, thank you. >> a former member of the join chiefs of staff giants us live from washington, d.c. this morning, colonel layton, thank you for being with us. the general seeing this won't look like a shock and awe campaign. references to the last time the
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united states got involved in iraq, but clearly all of the political clutter, is the white house plan a good plan for a bad plan? >> del, to be honest with you, right now i think it's a bad plan, because it is not including all of the elements of military power. in the report that you just aired from erbil, it was very clear that there are such great limitations not only to air power in general, but also in the response times that currently exist between the iraqi request for air power and the actual employment of that air power, so they're going to have to shorten time wise, they're going to have to do many things in order to make this plan work. i think this plan, because it doesn't include all the basic elements is not going to work as it's currently written. >> as i listen to the defense secretary and also the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, indicate that go there needs to be boots on the ground, the defense secretary seems to
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indicate that those boots on the ground would be the iraqi force fighting and that there would be 50 of those big grades. is that not enough boots on the ground and why should the u.s. put its soldiers at risk if the iraqis aren't putting their soldiers at risk? >> those are all legitimate questions. the real issue is what are we going to do if isil goes ahead and makes in-roads, further in-roads into iraq. if it does retake the dam or keeps ahold of mosul, goes beyond tikrit and threatens baghdad, when you're looking at these different areas, is it worth the effort that the united states would have to put into it in order to secure those areas and really secure the hard gains we made in operation iraqi agree dom. on the other hand, you also have to consider how ready are the iraqi forces to do the job. in this particular case, you
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have a numerous amount -- a great number of troops, but what you don't have necessarily is the requisite training that would make them a truly effective modern fighting force and that's in spite of the efforts that the united states put into this for many, many years and past decades. >> let's talk about the coalition being built. the saudis and kuwait have air forces and other regions condition put boots on the ground. should the u.s. demand they first get involved before there are more airstrikes? >> i think in this case, what you're looking at is the definite possibility of them getting involved. the only problem is, it seems to me that each of the countries that are being approached, especially the g.c.c. nations, such as saudi arabia, coo wait and others, they're more interested in using air power to do the job, so they are in essence augustmenting the american effort that will be primarily an air campaign.
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what nobody is talking about, at least in public, is the idea of putting their own boots on the ground. i think the arab nations are going to wait until the u.s. puts its forces on the ground before they commit their own forces, and that is really the dilemma that the obama administration faces. each side is waiting for the other to move first, and that's just part of the coalition right now. >> sedric layton, retired air force colonel and former member of the joint chiefs of staff, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thousands of tourists are heading home from mexico after being stranded since the hurricane hit the baja peninsula late on sunday. military and commercial airplanes have been airlifting tourists to the u.s. for many, it was a vacation turned into a nightmare. >> oh, man, that sunday night was pretty crazy. i mean the winds -- it tore up the building pretty good outside. blue out the windows, some rooms got messed up, we were all
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huddled in the hall ways, flooding on the first floor, it was a nightmare. it was crazy. >> there are reports of two deaths in mexico from the hurricane. >> sadly, what is left of odile now heading for the southwest united states. let's get a check of the forecast with nicole mitchell. it is a bad storm. >> we've already had reports of easily one or two inches, downpours coming down with this system. one of the concerns as this continues to push into the southwest, already getting the rain before the system is really even here, is mother scenes like we saw yesterday in arizona, where make crow burst just causing deluges. this could be a problem over the next couple of days, because when those come down, those high areas of wind that come out of a storm can have winds 100-150 miles per hour in extreme cases, but also just pour down the rain, so they can cause a lot of damage that almost looks like a tornado in some cases. it's not, but when we get all that moisture in, they say
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visibility at times could really be reduced, so driving is going to be very dangerous in addition to the flooding. >> nicole, thank you very much. >> a disturbing look inside isil and how the group recruits children. >> the promises they give to convince kids as young as 12 to join the fight. >> water worries growing in louisiana amid new allegations officials aren't doing enough to stop a brain-eating mean ba. we have details on what's being done now to fix the problem. >> you might want to call this sending a strong message to a politician, why a group of people threw a member of ukraine's parliament in the crash. >> it may be a case of desperate times, calling for desperate measures. why the canadian royal air force raided a museum. it's one of the stories caught in our global net.
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>> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. ahead in this next half hour, the ebola outbreak is spreading this morning. jacob ward shows us the crucial mistakes that a lot of health care workers in west africa are making that could expose them to the virus. >> scotland gets ready to vote on their independence. in our next hour, act stress rose mcgowen talk about women and film, her theory on why hollywood is still an all base' club. >> the minnesota vikings suspended star running back adrian peterson, indicted for disciplining his son with a tree branch. nike pulled merchandise with his name and the double tree hotel chain cut sponsorship ties with the team. >> strong winds and high heat for firefighters battling several blazes in northern
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california. one fire destroyed the entire town of weed near the oregon border. >> america's top general isn't ruling out top boots on the ground in iraq, saying that could happen in the president's new strategy fails. the president today heads to florida for meetings with top commanders. >> the face of ice isil is becg more diverse. >> in on line videos, duties show off kids barely strong enough to lift, much less fire weapons. another teaches boys to load mortars. the u.n. says isil aggressively uses children, some as young as 12 for its bloody fight. >> i started fighting when i was 13 or 14.
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>> activists have interviews with battle hardened children. >> i was afraid of the first operation, then i got used to it. >> some kids are forced to fight, used as human shields or suicide bombers. others volunteer. either drawn by isil's propaganda or encouraged by their families, boys sometimes fight alongside their fathers. >> children, boys from the age of 14 are recruited and trained to fight in the ranks of isis, along with adults. >> recruiting efforts aren't limited to boys. in this video, a young female fighter showed up. on line chat rooms tell girls how to sneak away from their parents. many are then married off to fighters. >> young girls who are 14 and 15 are told on social media, you can disobey your parents, you can leave. >> isil gives child soldiers weapon, bulletproof vests and
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pays them $100 a month. some of its schools include military training and target practice, trying to ensure generations are prepared for a long fight. >> they're using kids in propaganda to have the children testify that everyone has to come to the caliphate to defend syria against the shia invaders, defend them against the americans. >> jonathan betz, aljazeera, new york. >> the c.i.a. estimates that more than 30,000 people are fighting for isil right now. coming up, we're going to talk to a former iraqi air force general who once served at a top advisor to sadaam hussein. >> >> some ukrainians angry at a
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member of particlement threw him in the trash and threw objects on top of him. people are angry that he wrote a bill that tightened restrictions on anti-government protests. before that, he tried to criminalize liable. >> the world health organization said the ebola outbreak is the worst it has ever seen, saying 5,000 people in five countries have been infected since marsh. patients in nearly half of those cases have died. the hardest hit country is liberia, even though the first cases were in guinea. 1300 people have died. >> president obama unveiled the u.s. response to the ebola outbreak, sending 3,000 troops to west africa, as well as material to build field hospitals, additional health care workers and much-needed medical supplies. an assent that professor of
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epidemiology joins us. professor, thanks for being with us. what do you think of president obama's plan. >> i think this is the right approach. i think not only does it establish boots on the ground and funding for this public health catastrophe, but establishes american leadership. we've seen a number of bodies involved in this ebola outbreak, not wanting to pick up the flag and saying we're going to be leaders on this issue. i think this announcement from the united states in that leadership role, which is important. >> do you agree with the president that ebola is a security issue? >> absolutely. although there is no eminent threat of this virus coming to the united states or other high end countries, the potentiality of that exists. >> we often think about troops in a typical fashion, wearing
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fatigues and policing the streets or involved in combat. it's important to remember that the united states military is a very multi-facetted organization, has experts in logistics, construction, public health, engineering. in a lot of ways, these are what's needed now. i think leveraging that capacity of the military's an important step. >> what is the best outcome we can hope for with all of these additional resources now being poured into west africa. >> the most important hope is that we can contain this relatively quickly. we're talking about hopefully in a matter of months. the other important aspect tomorrow is that this is a poor, underserved area of the world. the effects that a virus like this that create the amount of chaos in the streets really has a negative impact on the way people can go about their lives in a context like this. that's something we need to support. part of the effort is not only to contain the virus, which i think is the most important first step, but also support
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daily life and make sure the economic consequences of something like this are mitigated. >> that consequence is very important. thank you for your expertise this morning. >> as you have just said, president obama calling the ebola outbreak a global security cries and has planned to fight it involves the training of those health care workers every week. part that have training involves teaching them to stay safe. >> when experts talk about putting on and taking off a suit like this one, they talk about ritualizing the process. if you get dehydrated, bad things can happen to you, not the least of which would be fainting on the job, so you're supposed to down water. i'm here in a climate controlled western office building and i'm still going to sweat my brains out while i'm doing this. imagine west africa, dealing with 90's, high humidity and
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having to wear this kind of thing for hours on end. imagine i have gotten blood and body material on to me. the seal around my gloves is a really crucial thing. so, you're instructed to prepare these pull tabs that make it easier to get it off. you have to make sure they are on the outside of your priests and not the inside, where that seal can be broken. i'm going to get out of this suit. i'm going to show you the critical mistake that can get so many aid workers into trouble. they're exhausted, they've seen a lot of blood, they're panicked and they want to get this off. they pull it off. [ deep breath. >> the fresh air hits their
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face, and their first instinct is to wipe their brow because they're so sweaty. this glove is contaminated. that's where you're getting contaminated material into mucous membranes, into the eyes, that's the moment. the thing to consider here is that for every person you want in one of these suits out treating people, you need a second person trained on the use of the sued to get that person out of it. that buddy system is essential in creating the ritualized process to keep they from being infected. >> the suits are airtight. it gets hot and you can only stay in them for 30-40 minutes. you talk about a picture. >> that's right, the first instinct would be to do that. it might be as simple as educating health care workers on that risk. >> president obama has been briefed by the c.d.c. on another outbreak, the enterovirus.
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it's been confirmed in 11 states. the ill necessary affects mostly children, possible cases are under investigation in other states. >> new details about a story we told you about earlier this week. louisiana residents raising questions about how a brain eating mean ba entered their drinking water. jonathan martin is live in new orleans. there are new accusations that officials haven't been properly testing batter. what can you tell us about that? >> state police are investigating, trying to figure out if this particular brain eating mean ba ended in the swear supply as a result of water company not testing the water properly or not adding the right chlorine to the water. there are state man dates about how much chlorine has to be in the water. in this state, three people have died after coming in contact
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with this mean ba, including a 4-year-old boy, who died just last year. >> in st. john parish, just outside new orleans, tainted water has forced schools into a state of emergency. >> what we're doing is we take up all of our water fountains and provide water dispensers in our schools. we also provide wipes and hand sanitizers. >> last month, samples revealed the presence of a potentially brain eating mean ba. while state health officials say the water is safe to drink, they warn the mean ba leads to a deadly infection if it gets into the nasal capacity and brain. >> you look at a classic water fountain, the 4-year-old bends their head and water pressure shoots up that direction. we want to minimize that. >> the water in the community does taste and smell different. officials at the water treatment plant have doubled the level of clear rein in the water hope to go eradicate the mean ba. >> louisiana's health democratic
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demanded the chlorine levels remain that high for 60 days. >> the requirement is to test 70 sites, they have to be tested once a week in one day. >> no illnesses have been report the. still cheryl isn't convinced the water is safe to drink and won't serve it to her customers. like so many in the small town, she's asking how this happened. >> neglect. i run a business. i make sure my employees do what they're supposed to do. i don't understand how the harish, the supervisors are not checking the employees. who's following up on this? >> louisiana state police are now investigating the local water district, because the samples taken in august showed no chlorine in the system. last year, the state started requiring all water utilities to maintain a chlorine level of half a milligram per liter in response to three recent mean ba
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related deaths in louisiana. >> we don't want to, you know, i guess make speculations on how it happened or the reason. we want to make sure we get it right. >> weeks of purchasing water is expected to cost the school district $20,000. the leaders feel it's a small price to pay for precaution. >> again, state police now are investigating and a big part of their investigation centers around those people actually testing the water in the community, trying to figure out if they are following proper procedures, if they didn't put the proper amount of chlorine in the water. they're looking into possibly faulty record keep. there is a discrepancy in the records, the state report showing there was no chlorine in the water but the community records, parish records show there was. >> what about the source? do we know where this mean ba came from? >> we don't know the initial source. that's something that they haven't been able to figure out.
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we do know officials with the c.d.c. and health department say that this particular mean ba thrives in poorly chlorinated water. that's way we keep talking about the chlorine. officials say the right amount of chlorine will eradicate this mean ba. this could have been prevented had the levels been all right from the start. >> the parents of a woman killed in a deadly colorado movie theater shooting are suing four on line retailers, claiming the companies broke the law when they sold ammunition, tear gas, a high capacity magazine and body armor used in the 2012 attacks. it said the companies had no safeguards in place to prevent dangerous people from buying their goods. >> a new york state grand jury will determine whether criminal charges should be filed against tony stewart after striking ward
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and killing him. >> let's look at other stories caught in our global net. u.s. health researches say american waist lines -- >> don't look at me -- >> are still expanding. the average have increased over an inch. this is put ago tape measurer around their waist. they found the number of americans with apedom national obesity has increased 8%. >> women are getting matter than men quicker. >> that's right. >> bottom line is a bigger measure. that's all i have to say. >> a michigan funeral home making goodbyes more convenient with a drive by casket viewing window for mourners. the owner was inspired to install the additional -- take a look at this -- for the guests who just couldn't walk to the home. you get three minutes to see it, let's you mourn from your car and the curtains close again.
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i don't know why the speaker is there, hopefully nobody speaks on the other side and says may i help you. >> i'm not even going to touch that one. the royal canadian air force has in conspicuously turned to an unusual source for airline parts, the museum. technicians needed navigational equipment to keep old search and rescue planes flying, so went to this old hercules, which is 20-40 years old and took the equipment off it and cannibalized it, put it on aircraft that are still in operation. >> may i help you? that's what they would say for that funeral home. >> scottish voters decide whether to break from the u.k. >> the vote accounted go either way. we speak with one expat living in england and what's driving calls for a secession. >> an elusive creature on display, an 800-pound giant squid is today's discovery. vé
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>> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now
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>> it's time now for one of today's discoveries. a colossal squid frozen and unveiled for the first time. >> it was captured last winter. it's been on ice in a museum. it weighs 770 pounds. it's tentacles nearly 11 feet long. >> few quizzed have been captured, let alone studied. >> voters in scotland go to the polls tomorrow to decide if the country should break away from the united kingdom. >> the independence movement there not new but it's the first time they've seen such momentum. we look at what's behind the movement. ♪
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♪ >> scots hiphop artist release their latest track, son, i voted yes, a song that captures the issue at the heart of this week's historic referendum. can an independent scotland create a more equal society than the westminster government in england has delivered? >> scots really do feel that they have an interest in quality, that it's one of their leading principles and westminster has not allowed it to pursue the policies as far as necessary. >> it merged scotland and england years ago guaranteed scots continued sovereignty over many internal affairs. a sense of autonomy that began to erode under prime minister margaret thatcher who's shakeup of the ailing u.k. economy shifted away lower taxes on the
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rich and destroyed thousands of middle skilled income jobs through privatation of industries, such as steel, mining and ship building. in 2010, the coalition government under conservative prime minister david cameron announced the biggest state spending cuts since world war ii, including reductions to social security benefits and the elimination of hundreds of thousands of government jobs. cost savings hit women and the poor disproportionately. >> austerity and the limits on social programs have really revealed just how deep the divide was getting over what policies and what to be and what scotland could accomplish under the union. >> the future of scottish pences and social services, such as the national health service have been hotly debated in the run up to the referendum. the yes and no camps both claim to be superior guardians of scotland's social safety net. whichever way scots vote,
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creating a more equal society, a value embedded in the nation's character is likely to remain a hot button issue. aljazeera. >> only those who live in scotland are allowed to vote, but scots outside the country are watching closely. one is graham clark, a founding member of the band wet wet wet known for the remake of the song love is all around. take a listen. ♪ ♪ >> graham joins us from london. you moved to england 12 years ago, why are you so invested in scotland's independence? >> well really, it comes down to the fact i still have a lot of tie to say scotland. i work there, bank there, my pension's there. i have a family there, my mother
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stays there and i have two brothers there, so i do a lot of work up there, as well. at least half a dozen things a year. >> expats can't vote. how frustrating is that? >> well, i can see why, but the people that i know in scotland, you know, they tend to feel that the corridors in westminster dictate a lot of the policies related to their life and scotland, so, this is an ending vote. this is a political vote, but it's not about politics, it's about whether they want to be a sovereign nation or independent. i can't say, i can see that argument and see why that may be a good idea. >> graham, your wife is english.
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if this vote goes the way some think it might go and others say it might stay the same, but if it goes towards scotland, how are you going to have happiness in your household? [ laughter ] >> well, i love my wife, you know, she's the boss in my house, so, you know, i have to do anything she says, but i think, as well, she stayed in scotland for, you know, 10 years when we first got married and yes, she agree witness me, so we haven't -- it's not as if our household is split. she came out to what i feel is a good project. >> married man well said. the latest polls say it's too close to call. why do you think it's so close? >> i think one of the reasons, there's no big -- the campaign
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is not saying what can we do about the money, you can't have the bank of england bank rolling, you know, the yes vote talks about the oil and the no vote says the oil's running out. nobody knows how long the oil's going to last. nobody knows what's going to happen in the economy. you know, the economy is not a correct science, so in terms of art, that's why it's so close, you know, because i think what some people can see both sides of the argument, you know, why it may be good to stay as part of the union, and why it -- >> exactly. >> -- to leave. i think scotland, the people are disenfranchised and feel a bit forgotten by the leadership and establishment and this is a way for them to have a voice. this is a way, and you don't have to be a politician to meet
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politics here, you know -- >> we hear that -- >> i think the landscape's going to change after friday. >> we hear that loud and clear. thanks for being with us. >> ahead in our next hour, fighting the growing threat of isil may require u.s. boots on the ground. >> we'll talk to a former iraqi air force are general about challenges while fighting on iraqi soil. >> a firsthand look at the ongoing battle against the isil threat. >> bombs are cracking off in the distance... >> this is a booby trap in the islamic state >> ...a sniper around the corner here... >> from the front lines, josh rushing reports, on al jazeera america
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>> on tech know, fire, devastating and out of control >> what's at stake here?
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>> there's approximately 360 homes... >> but now experts say they can predict how a blaze might spread >> this has been in a fire, now we gotta get the data out of it >> playing with fire... >> you guys are working just to save lives... >> i hope so... >> tech know every saturday go where science meets humanity >> sharks like affection >> spot on... >> don't try this at home... >> tech know, only on al jazeera america >> the minnesota vikings calling surprising audible, benching adrian peterson days after clearing him to take the field. what the team says it will take for the star to return to the grid return. >> american busted, trying to recruit isil fighters on american soil as president obama heads south to florida to meet
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with his top military commanders to fight the group. >> ebola is an epidemic of the likes we have not seen before. >> the new steps the u.s. is taking to combat ebola overseas and health officials warn it's spreading to catastrophic levels. >> this fella is extremely dangerous. >> police asking for help finding this man, accused of ambushing two pennsylvania state troopers. he is a survivalist bent on killing police. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. this morning, adrian peterson is told to stay away from his team. the minnesota vikings suspending him again. >> peterson, originally cleared to play sunday is now on indefinite leave as he faces charges of child abuse. we have more details. john, public pressure has been increasing on both the vikings and nfl. >> i think you're spot on on
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that. the league found itself weathering its acting from politics and big business. in the face of the pressure, the minnesota vikings changed their decision on adrian peterson. >> adrian peterson went home tuesday, thinking he would be playing football on sunday. overnight, vikings owner reversed field, announcing the team was placing peterson on indefinite leave. in a statement, he explained the move will require that adrien remain away from all team activities, while allowing him to take care of his personal situation, until the legal proceedings are resolved. about the team's decision earlier in the week to reinstate peterson while he faces child abuse charges for hitting his 4-year-old son with a free branch, he said:
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>> the team faced increasing pressure to keep peterson off the field. earlier tuesday, minnesota's governor make dayton thought the vikings got it wrong when they reinstated the star running back. sponsors also spoke up, dropping peterson and an endorser, nike stopped selling his jerseys. the raddison hotel change severed ties with the vikings. >> rod son is taking a precautionary approach and dropping the vacationings. the first brand to do it with this case, but probably not the last. >> the nfl is feeling the heat from biggest corporate sponsors. while anheuser-busch did not drop the nfl, the beer maker did say in a statement:
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>> one expert thinks the nfl's business will not suffer long-term. >> it's like an aircraft carrier hitting a mine, it blows a hole in the hull but keeps on sailing and in a few months one won't even notice that the hole was there. >> peterson doesn't have a hearing on the child abuse charges he faces until october 8, so that means he could be out of action for quite a while. >> coming up in 15 minute, we're talking with nyu sports business' robert bolland about peterson being benched. >> a man in federal custody accused of helping recruit fighters for isil, islamic state of iraq and the levant. he is a 20-year-old new yorker indicted on seven counts of attempting to provide material support to the group. the charges come four months
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after l.g. was arrested for plotting to kill u.s. military members. >> indictment comes at on line threats targeting new york times square and the las vegas strip. isil is using social media in recruiting efforts far more than al-qaeda. >> president obama said the u.s. is not getting involved in another ground war in iraq, but a top general said it could happen. >> the joint chiefs are making clear ground forces remain an option. >> pentagon officials went to capitol hill on tuesday to convince congress they have a plan for fighting the group that calls itself the islamic state of iraq and the levant or isil. 12 must not military ors inside iraq are assisting and fighting the iraqis fighting the group. there is a chance u.s. ground
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troops could be deployed. >> this coalition is the appropriate way forward. i believe that will prove true, but if it fails to be true and if there are threats to the united states, then i of course would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the us of military ground forces. >> pentagon officials stress their decision is focused on defeating isil, but senators accuse them of misreading the situation. >> the threat is isil to our country and our interests and people of the region. >> what you are allergy us express is an isil first strategy. it's a fundamental misunderstanding of the entire concept and motivation of the free syrian army, that it is bashar al assad that has killed many more of them than isil has. >> i agree. >> for us to say that we are going to go in and help and train and equip these people and only to fight against isil, you're not going to get many
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recruits to do that, general. >> senators also criticized the recently formed international coalition for having no apparent mission. >> i have no idea, based on your testimony, what our coalition parters expected to do or even what we want them to do. >> with domestic mid term elections just two months away, senators told hagel and dempsey the adjustment public isn't persuaded this war is worth it. >> our past performance for 13 years in that region hasn't given us the results. i'm not supporting any way shape or form assad. i think he should be gone. as long as he's able to remain there, he's fighting the same people we're asking the same people to train to fight that we are going to support. i can't sell it. >> the president is in florida today. what will he be doing at u.s. central command headquarters in tampa?
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>> it is one of the unified commands of the u.s. military dealing with the central countries, 20 in all, including iraq and syria. a big part of their effort goes into coalition building and cooperation. that's why it is key to the president's strategy of defeating isil. while there today, he'll meet with its chief, general lloyd austin, get briefed from commanders about efforts and he'll tour the facility. the president will give remarks and that's part of his attempt to get the american public onboard with his strategy. >> after a whirl wind overseas trip, trying to build a coalition, john kerry is on capitol hill. what will he face testifying before a senate committee? >> a whirl wind tour it's been. that he's been in egypt, turkey, saudi arabia and paris where there was a summit about iraq. a lot of it focused on coalition building and getting allies. that's the message he is
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expected to bring to capitol hill, cutting off the funds, trying to cut off interests around the globe and joining the fight with isil and stopping the recruiting process. now even though that will be his focus, the diplomacy efforts, you can expect that he will get questions about general dempsey's comments yesterday, referring to the fact that boots on the ground could still be a reality. watch for that to come up. >> libby casey in washington, thank you. >> a remind their aljazeera will have live coverage of the president's statement from florida at 11:50 a.m. eastern time. we'll talk with a former iraqi general about the challenges the u.s. and iraq still face fighting isil. >> u.s. and pakistan officials not respond to go new al-qaeda claims, the newly formed arm of the terror group said it high stacked a pakistan naval frig gate and fired rockets as a u.s. vessel in the arabian sea.
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the group leader said they were stopped by the pakistan army. the claim cannot be verified. >> two american troops killed in a suicide car bomb attack in afghanistan happened tuesday near the u.s. embassy in kabul. a service member was killed, five others wounded. the taliban claiming responsibility for that attack. >> a new house committee on ben gas debuts today. the panel is using its first hearing to question how the obama administration, what they have done to increase security after the 2012 attack on a diplomatic compound in libya. the attack killed four americans, including ambassador christopher stevens. >> world health organization saying the ebola outbreak is now the deadliest outbreak of the disease ever. president obama said the u.s. will take the lead to stop the spread of the virus, outlining his strategy during a trip to the c.d.c. in atlanta. how broad is this strategy? >> the president hopes to talk this from a number of different
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angles, first to set up desperately needed coordination of relief supplies and international efforts, also critically needed hospital beds and health care workers to help treat the growing number of patients. >> if more isn't done quickly to battle ebola, it could turn into a human catastrophe. >> with 5,000 now infected, over 2500 dead, nearly twice the number of when we met a couple of weeks ago, you start to get a sense of the rapid escalation now we're seeing of the virus. >> the w.h.o. says the number of ebola cases could double every three weeks in west africa. at that rate, in just flee months, the number of cases could jump to 40,000. >> people are literally dying in the streets. here's the hard truth. in west africa, ebola is now an epidemic. >> at the centers for disease control tuesday, president obama
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called wheel a threat to global security. easy asking congress for $88 million to deem with the crisis. also out lined his initiative, building treatment centers, train workers, deploying 3,000 u.s. military personnel, and distributing half a million treatment kits to at-risk homes. >> before his trip to the c.d.c., president obama met privately with dr. kent brantley and his wife. dr. brantley contracted ebola while treating patients in liberia. he recovered in an atlanta hospital after taking an experimental drug. later in the day, dr. brantley testified in front of congress. >> what's so great about seeing you doctor want brantley is one that you're well enough to be here. you were well enough to travel here, and you're well enough that we're not afraid to have
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you here. >> dr. brantley urged congress to take action, telling a senate panel the ebola virus is like a fire. >> it's a fire straight from the pit of hell. we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that the vast mode of the atlantic ocean will protect us from the flames of this fire. >> that thought was echoed by some who heard his testimony. senator from tennessee saying that the u.s. needs to take ebola as seriously as the threat of isil. dr. brantley telling the committee also that the u.s. desperately needs to step up efforts, saying the response so far has been sluggish. >> let's talk dollars and cents. financially this could wind up being very expensive for the u.s. >> for everyone. w.h.o. estimates it could cost a billion dollars. the u.s. has fledged
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$175 million, obama wands more to fund what he can do and the pentagon will dip into a fund it has to fund 3,000 troops and other efforts in west africa. the u.s. will be paying out a lot of money. this is a major epidemic. >> lisa, thank you very much. >> in just about 18 hours, scotland will go to the polls, voting on independence from the united kingdom. experts say the race is too close to call. british political leaders are making a last minute push for the no side, offering scotland a greater role in decisions if it rejects the session. >> police have a suspect now in the murder of that state police trooper and a second who was shot. >> they are scouring the poke co mountains for a survivalist armed and dangerous. we have the story. good morning. >> good morning. the mobilization to find eric frayn is massive.
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the only thing that is stone police at this point is who they are looking for. >> i want to emphasize to everyone that this fella is extremely dangerous. we have no idea where he is in the community. >> investigators say eric frayn ambushed the two state troopers during shift change friday night. he took off into the woods after ditching his jeep in a nearby pond. the vehicle was found monday, shell casings inside matching the scene at the police barracks. those are not the only clues pointing police to the suspect. >> he has made statements about wanting to kill law enforcement officers and also to commit mass acts of murder. >> he is accused of shooting and killing corporal brian dickson, a 38-year-old father of two young boys. 38-year-old trooper alex douglas is in the hospital recovering from the attack. frayn may still be in northeast pennsylvania but he may have always fled, making the search
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area uncertain. >> people should take caution. one of the reasons we want to get this information and photo out as quickly as possible is because we don't want anyone coming in contact with him. >> they say frayn could be on the run for a long time. besides his survivalist training, they found evidence to indicate he is carrying two rifles, an a.q.47 and the one used in the ambush. they found military gear, information about foreign embassies and his social security guard. >> he lived with his parents. his father tells police two rifles are missing from the home. he says his son is a highly skilled sharpshooter who "doesn't miss." >> information about foreign embassies, thanks. >> strong winds and hot temperatures a challenge for firefighters in northern california. the 375-acre fire has burned
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more than 150 buildings and homes in the small mining town. hundreds of residents are still under evacuation there, the fire 20% contained. >> thousands of tourists left stranded in mexico now on their way home. planes are being used to help evacuate some of the 30,000 americans stuck since the hurricane hit. the hurricane being blamed now for two deaths in mexico. >> the remnants are making their way here to the u.s. >> let's turn now to nicole mitchell, our meteorologist. you've tracked the storm for several days. it wound up being a pretty bad storm. >> the strongest on record to hit the baja, california pennsylvania la, still a tropical storm. we're not over with this actually being a storm, but more particularly to the united states, while the center of circulation is still in mexico, the plume of moisture is making it to mostly the four corners region. we have had moisture move in to southern parts of california. that will continue, so even
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places like san diego county, where we've been exceptionally dry through parts of california have been getting the rain from time to time, high winds coming out of these down bursts, associated with the storm. otherwise, as we get to the rest of the state of california, you head farther to the north, we have fire concerns. while we've picked up just a little rain yesterday in somewhere like palm springs, temperatures will be in the hundreds. the rain is needed just south of los angeles. record temperatures 100 degrees is all part of the flow not only with the storm, but another system bringing that warm onshore flow. if you're not getting the moisture, you're really dealing with the heat in this part of the country. >> nicole mitchell, thank you. >> the minnesota vikings bowing to pressure and suspending adrian peterson. >> his case and the ray rice scandal have major sponsors pressuring the nfl. we'll speak a a professor of sports business about the fallout facing the league. >> the dark side of political
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tam pains, attack ads hitting the airwaves and no one knows where the money is coming from to fund them. >> the eviction of hundreds of homeless families sparking clashes between activists and police. that from our citizen journalists around the globe.
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>> time now for a look at the videos captured by our citizen journalists around the globe. activists hurling rocks and wood at the police. >> supporters of scottish independence gathering for a rally in glasgow. citizens head to the polls tomorrow to vote in a historic referendum on whether to secede from the united kingdom. >> lava flowing from the volcano on hawaii's big island. local officials declared a state of emergency earlier this month. >> the nfl will be without one of its biggest stars for the indefinite future. the minnesota vikings benched
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adrian peterson as he faces child abuse charges. the team was heavily criticized for saying he would play this weekend. several sponsors made clear they are not happy with how the league has handled the peterson and ray rice scandals. joining us to discuss the fallout and effect on the nfl is robert bolland. we've been seeing an awful lot of you lately with all these nfl scandals. thanks for being with us. the vikings placed peterson on the exempt commissioner's list. >> that essentially keeps him out of team activity and allows them to retain their rights to them. it's not a cut, it's different but allows him to be paid, too. >> does this make the league look even worse than it did before? because what happened yesterday was big money lined up and said we're concerned about this, anheuser-busch, pepsi and mcdonald's, now it looks like they're buckling under money
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pressure. >> that's a difficult case, because what is the right thing isn't fully clear. peterson is still enjoying a fair amount of support himself, but the fact that his act comes after the rice and mcdonald and hardy issues where the league seems to be almost circling itself, i think it's been pressed that way. i think if he'd been charged with what he's charged with in a vacuum, he wouldn't have been suspended, we wouldn't see this issue, but are seeing it as the fourth case out there and a real challenge for the league to get to common ground in any kind of like position to be proactive, as opposed to reactive. >> here is the latest statement out of the team owners, released this morning: >> to me and others, it appears that the league is just winging it when it comes to these
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issues. why doesn't the rinkest league in the world have clear protocols on these matters? >> that's a great question. it would be easier for everyone if they had a pros, but commissioner goodell responding to the last big cries of arrests and misbehavior put a disciplinary policy that resided only with him as the first tier finder of fact as the appeals process and that's clouded the water now. i would say that putting in place a process that when someone gets arrested, they canning be judged quickly whether they're a taker to the team and should play again and what happens after they're punished. >> ray rice is now appealing his situation. what about aid peter, does he have an appeal here? >> he doesn't, necessarily, because he's on this reserved suspended list, so he's going to get paid. he probably has -- >> so he is going to be paid. >> he's going to be paid. he probably has a grievance with incentives, if he doesn't hit them because of this there
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doesn't seem to be a fast way to solve this. he may go to trial in this. >> thanks for joining us this morning. >> we are seven weeks from the mid term elections. seems like it was only yesterday and there is disturbing and powerful forces that may determine who wins or loses called dark money. >> david shuster give us a primary who is behind the cash and what it's buying. >> it's shaping up to be the darkest election yet, $50 million in dark money has already been spent so far this election cycle, more than seven times the amount of the last mid terms. with total spending projected to reach $1 billion by the time the last election winner is called in november. >> dark money used to not be a thing. up until a couple of years ago, then the supreme court decision came down in 2010 and ever since
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then, dark money that become a bigger and bigger portion of the overall political money spending going on from election cycle to election cycle. >> what exactly is dark money? simply put, it's the political spending by certain non-profits that can't be easily tracked or sourced. these organizations created through the i.r.s. and called 501c4, five or six groups can receive unlimited sources of contributions. they don't to have report to the federal election commission much of the money they spend on political ads and unlike super pacs, they can keep hidden where or from whom they are getting funding. >> he would raise the medicare eligibility age. >> there's no way to tell whether that group is funded by a union, corporation, whether it's a conglomeration of individuals, whether a very narrow special interest. >> in the galaxy of dark money,
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the liberal spend to go ha begun to catch up. six non-profit groups connected to the billionaire brothers charles and david cock have paid for television ads in key senate races, one of out of every 10 aired so far in this election. crossroads g.p.s., company founded by republican karl rove that aired half as many ads and patriot majority u.s.a. crowd by a close ally of senate majority leader harry reid accounts for 11,000t.v. ads cross three battleground states. political spending on campaigning or lobbying under federal law cannot be the primary of a 50c non-profit. watchdog groups say little has been done to enforce that and activists say unless new tougher regulations are put in place, future election cycles will only get darker.
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david shuster, aljazeera. >> a lot of advocates blame recent supreme court decisions for opening the door for more secret money to flow into politics. >> out west one might need an umbrella. let's turn to nicole mitchell. >> it's been wet in this direction and we're going to continue to see all that moisture flow in, not exactly where we need it the most, though. what we're looking at is the storm bringing more of this to the four corners region, another one north of california bringing a warm onshore flow to central california. across the country, we still have that lingering boundary across the gulf coast, maybe occasional flash flooding, as well. behind this, this is that front that really clears things out. as i was talking about, very warm air, record setting in some
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places, in places like california, but behind the front, the really comfortable fall stuff, a lot of 70's, places like the northeast, we're starting to look toward the weekend, officially our last weekend of summer, it's going to feel like a very comfortable weekend. >> a lot of county fairs taking place, too. >> president obama set to meet with his top military commanders on his plan to fight isil. we'll talk with a former iraqi air force commander about why security forces have struggled to cake the group. >> if a police officer takes a life, let's make sure that the department involved in that shooting doesn't investigate itself. >> a father's vow following the death of his son while in police custody, the overhaul he wants to see in policing the police. >> giving women a bigger spotlight in the world of cinema, act stress rose mcgowen talks about how she's trying to change hollywood's mindset. >> a look at our images of the day. in serbia where a state of
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emergency has been declared do to severe flooding, hundreds stranded by raising waters. >> evacuating by boat, delivering fresh food and water to villagers left behind after a mud slide split one town into two.
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>> a firsthand look at the ongoing battle against the isil threat. >> bombs are cracking off in the distance... >> this is a booby trap
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in the islamic state >> ...a sniper around the corner here... >> from the front lines, josh rushing reports, on al jazeera america >> a sad day for atlantic city. we'll tell you why, just ahead. >> ahead in our anytime half hour, nasa handing multi-billion dollar contracts to two private companies to carry the nation's space program into the next generation. >> urban farms are sprouting up across the u.s. not everyone is happy about that. some say the fresh food is a big waste of space. >> top stories we're fog this morning, the minnesota vikings suspending running back adrian peterson again. he has been indicted on child abuse charges for disciplining his son with a tree branch.
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>> the strong winds and high heat providing a challenge for firefighters fighting several wildfires in northern california. one of them destroyed the small town of weed near the oregon border. more than 100 homes burned. >> america's top general is not ruling out boots on the ground testifying yesterday. he said that could happen if president obama's new strategy fails. the president today heading to tampa to meet with top military commanders. >> we are joined live from erbil. sue, how is this latest comment for the potential of u.s. forces on the ground in iraq playing over there with peshmerga commanders? do they welcome that? >> i think it's music to their ears. their biggest concern, although they very much welcome the airstrikes since they've been
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trying to battle against the isil forces, airstrikes allow them to push back in some areas. they really do say that the airstrikes are almost like a blunt force. they're useful when you can be sort of careful as to where you're picking these targets. they say a lot of the time, isil now are moving away from key potions and blending in with the community, moving into arab sunni villages when there's been some sort of attack and it's difficult to pinpoint them. it only goes so far what you can do with an air strike. yesterday, i was told bay main general on the ground is there's an enormous delay from when they call up an air strike. they have a problem battling against snipers or there's a position with heavy artillery, it can be over two hours before aircraft, drone or jet is in the air and in a position to launch a strike. by that time, they've
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disappeared or pulled in civilians. even though it's been helpful so far, they're getting to the stage where they can't hold the line without more assistance on the ground and what is coming from the air isn't sufficient. >> you've been on the syria-iraq border. is there a sense that the peshmerga is making gains pushing back isil there? >> i spent most of yesterday and some of the day before with one of the main general's there. the general is the main commander from the whole region from mosul city all the way to the syrian border. he took us to the front line. the message was we are really just hanging on here. we're managing to hold the area 10 kilometers from the main crossing from syria all the way down to mosul, but only just. he was crying out for help. everything he said we need, the whole package, uniforms tonight
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vision goggles to weapons, so ammunition, absolutely everything they need. they are really on their back foot now, hanging on to that line. his message really was speed of the essence. we are managing to hold the line at the moment, but national forces now how important it is to hold the line. they are hearing it's hundreds more isil fighters on the side of the border getting ready to come across. they need the support and help to come as soon as possible, don't delay. >> sue in erbil, thank you. >> joining us now is a retired general, who was second in command in the iraqi air force and joins us this morning from london. you knew sadaam hussein, the u.s. trained the iraqi security forces, but when isil moved in, a lot of them fled. now we find ourselves fighting u.s. weapons and iraqi deserters. how did that happen?
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>> i am really so sad and sorry for that, that the iraqi army gave up so quickly in mosul. that was on the beginning of june this year. of course, you know, these days, the iraqi army is not that integrated and it's not well-trained, and actually, it's not very much politically supported by the people and the people of iraq. i hope now they had a very good lesson and have started back again and they have changed their tactics. volunteers are with the army and i think by the help of nato and the french in the area, we are going to do better. >> there's an old saying that says fool me once. what do you say to a a skeptical american public that says why should we arm the iraqi army
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again when in the end we might end up losing those weapons and that money and that man power again? >> well, yes, that was the fact what happened in june, but i think the iraqi army really with the new government refolder, i think we will need our friends and allies and nato and especially america and the others like france and england. i think this time it will be much better. >> was isil the real enemy or the government and the fact that a lot of people saw this as a way to get a paycheck? >> it's not the isil that was strong, but how the iraqi army was weak and especially those days in june, because is a
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mentioned, a lack of support of the political parties and the nation. most of the people in those sunni areas, actually, they were the safe haven for the isil. >> as he was being headached, sadaam hussein warned that this was going to be happening, that we were open ago hornet's northwest. was he right? >> i couldn't hear the question. >> hanged, sadaam hussein warned that this was going to be happening, that we were open ago hornet's northwest. was he right? >> when president bush announced
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that the war was over, i mentioned to many americans that the war had just started. >> thank you very much. >> back in this country, anger is still simmering in ferguson, missouri. demonstrators crowded a city meeting tuesday, demanding officer darren wilson be arrested for shooting michael brown. they want the county prosecutor removed from the investigation. >> we demand that you by 12 noon denounce your buddy, bob maccallum and have him step down. >> they plan demonstrations at upcoming professional sports games with the cardinals and rams. >> we may not see a grand jury decision until january. that's how long prosecutors are giving the panel to decide whether to arrest officer
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wilson. wilson remains on paid leave pending the investigation. the justice department is also looking into the conduct of the police in ferguson in its treatment of detainees. >> michael brown's death is one police shooting being investigated now. in a lot of cases, it is the police looking into themselves. >> one grieving father made it his mission to change that. >> are you talking about yourself? >> 21-year-old kid, had some flaw, had some promise. that is the last picture i ever took of him, bandaging his younger brother's knee. they were playing basketball together and the younger brother was crying. i snapped the picture and that was the last photo i ever took of him. >> get back in the car! >> on the night of november 7, 2004, michael bell, jr. was stopped by kenosha police while driving a friend's vehicle. captured on the police dashboard camera, the situation escalated.
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michael bell, sr. showed me what happened next. >> michael is bent over the car this way with his hands behind his back and an officer holding michael in a bear hug. this officer at some point started screaming he's got my gun. >> he's got my gun! >> this reenactment shows their version of events. as retired military pilot familiar with investigative procedure, he expected an in depth subsequent investigation would sort out the facts. >> how did it actually go down? >> it was a sham. within 48 hours, i get a call from the reporter at the local newspaper, and he said the police had held a review panel and they've cleared themselves of any wrongdoing, the shooting is justified. >> he vowed then to fight for a simple change. >> if a police officer takes a life, let's make sure that the department that was involved in that shooting doesn't investigate itself. >> we've got to start firing back message wise. >> he began to gather together a
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team, who had all experienced violence at the hands of wisconsin police. without the support of the police unions, there was little chance the reform would ever become law, so bell reached out. >> i contacted the director of the state's largest police association. his name is james palmer. essentially said if you take down your billboards, i will help you craft a bill that you suggest and let's see if we can run it through the legislation. >> he took the billboards down and we began dialogue that criminal continues to this day. >> with union backing, the bill was signed by the governor april 23 of this year. >> it just felt like i accomplished my mission. >> aljazeera. >> it took 10 years by the way to pass that law requiring independent police investigations in wisconsin.
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it is the first of its kind in the nation. >> china is introducing new economic stimulus measures, the decision following a slow he summer for china's economy. >> we could find out later today if in that rates will rise in this country, the federal reserve wrapping up a policy meeting today, nearing a decision on how to end its stimulus program. if the u.s. economy stays strong, it is expected to stop buying bonds next month. >> nasa moving forward to a deal to take astronaut into space. >> it will cover a dozen missions. the biggest accomplishment may be cutting dependence on russia to get there. >> a new frontier in space travel as nasa embarks on an ambitious process, a made for america spaceship to transport
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astronauts to the space station. >> we are strengthening our economy and creating good jobs for our people. as president obama has said himself and i quote "we will not only extend humety's reach into space, we will strengthen america's leadership here on either." >> the space agency first needs to build rockets. contracts worth more than $6 billion have been awarded, a win for two companies competing in the private space race. >> the partnerships with bowing and space x promise to give more people in america and around the world the opportunity to experience the wonder and exhilaration of space flight. >> nasa axed its shuttle program in 2011 because of budget issues. crews hitch rides with the russians. a seat costs $70 million, but that will soon be a thing of the past. in a few years, astronauts will
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once again be able to lift off from u.s. soil, ending the nation's reliance an russia. looking to the future, nasa sent the rover curious city to mars. the next big step, sending humans to explore the red planet. coming a long way from that first moon landing, one small step for man. >> space x works as a contractor for nasa, also shuttles cargo to the space station since 2012. >> the situation involving ray rice put ago spotlight on domestic violence. how hard is it for an abusive person to break that psych until. >> a group that works to prevent male violence against women. >> planting the seeds of success, urban farms flourish. some feel there is a better use for the real estate. pment...
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>> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live...
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>> the trump plaza hotel and casino shuts little doors, the fourth atlantic city casino closing since january. >> just ahead, actress rose mcgowen on the role of women and movies. >> the nfl ending its relationship with rihanna. cbs, she said you pulled my song last week, now you want to slide it back in this thursday, no, blank you. the network removed her song, choosing to take a more serious tone. rihanna was also a victim of domestic abuse. >> the nfl players' union has appealed ray rice's indefinite suspension, the union calling
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for an impartial arbitrator to decide his punishment. he was cut after video surfaced of him hitting his then fiancee in an elevator. when the allegations surfaced earlier this year, rice said he got help. >> what counseling has done for us, we want the world to see that it definitely did help us out. i am working every day to be a better father, a better husband, you know and just a better role model and my daughter left the room, and, you know, the best thing i have to do is be a role model from her. >> the cow founder of men stopping violence, a grandma works to prevent male violence against women, also an author of a book on the matter, he's in atlanta this morning. thank you for joining us. is it as easy as mr. rice seems to suggest to rehabilitate one self from beating women?
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>> i wouldn't say it's easy. i think it's life long work. he and other men can change, but they have to take some very clear steps, first taking responsibility for the abuse itself, specifically what they did, and how they affected each person that was injured emotionally or physically. then they need to provide some form of restitution, not only to the individuals that were hurt, but to the community itself. that is life long work. it's not like you take the pill and you figure out you're cured. it's like you have to surround yourself with people who are going to support you in that change process. then, when you make a mistake again, you know the steps to take to correct and also to make right what was wrong. >> can i stop you there for just a second. should the people that support you in this treatment process include the woman that you're beating?
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>> well, i think obviously she needs to be a part of it, but unfortunately very often, she is required to take on much more responsibility than she should. this is his work to do, and he can do that in the company of other men who will support the change pros. she can give feedback on how he's affecting her, but she needs to be careful not to do the work for him, because that's very often what women end up doing, is the emotional grunt work for men. >> you've done this work for a long time. have you seen a shift in men and the shift in seeing the need for treatment? >> i do see a shift. there's a growing number of men all over the world who are seeing the injustice being committed against women and also seeing that we can play a significant role in addressing those injustice. yeah, i'm feeling encouraged by that, and it's particularly
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younger men, men, you know, of all ethnicities and aging that really get how serious this problem is, and are willing to do what might be called prevention work, not just reacting after violence is committed, but working to create the climate that will not permit it to happen in the first place. >> there are encouraging statistics, the c.d.c. study found two years after entering a batterer program, 90% of abusers did not reassault their partners. what makes the difference for these men? >> well, our experience would say that if a man goes through the program and completes it, that's great. what really makes the difference is one, if he knows that he's going to have to work on this for the rest of his life and two, if he surrounds himself with men who care as much about his partner as they do about him, because you really need the reinforcement to resist and
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challenge the sexist messages that are incoming for us as men all day long every day. >> we appreciate your time this morning. del. >> the short film "down" is breaking down barriers for women in hollywood. rose mcgowen's goal was to put powerful complex female characters on the scene. she said the lack of those roles have dogged the business for deem cade. >> it's essentially the old guard of people at the helm, not necessarily that they're old, it's more of this in democratic in-bread misogyny, these are cultured people, but bread into the fabric of how their meant to think about women and women in film, they don't question it. i played a role that was written for a man and all they changed about the role is a letter in
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the name. it can be done. >> she hopes her project inspires others to break the store yo types and provide better roles for actresses. >> cities are doing all they can these days to promote urban farming, growing crops in unused land. >> some argue this program goes too far. >> in the middle of san francisco sits a bee farm, with a zeb who i was and up to 1 million bees, run by volunteers who attract and build a bee colony that produces honey for the neighborhood. >> this is basically an old vacant lot. it had never been developed. i don't think it has plans for development. it has a billboard on it. >> this lot's owner and other interested land owners have an extra incentive for setting up community gardens, a new city tax break.
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someone paying $10,000 in taxes before would now pay just about $100, their property assessed at prime land instead of prime real estate. another part of the sweet deal, urban farms must donate or sell produce to the community or act as a teaching site. >> this legislation would help encourage those property owners to think about turning a corner of the city that is blighted and vacant, turning it for at least five years at a time into an urban garden, a literal urban oasis. >> san francisco is not the only city to have passed a law encouraging urban farms. hawaii to new jersey have come up with financial incentives for property owners to turn empty lots into something more productive. >> however, with san francisco's tight real estate market, some wonder whether the city can afford to use space for anything other than housing. >> the median home price hovers around $1 million in san francisco. the median rents are between
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$3,500 and $4,000. this is a crisis. let's use every bit of land as smartly as we can. >> there are few empty lots in san francisco, and advocates have no illusions about how many plots can sprout up. >> we're not necessarily naive to think that we're going to be able to feed our receivers in the city of san francisco, but how much can we do? >> still, the effort can make a different. this urban farm serves those living below the poverty line. >> during the year, it will provide over 1,000 pounds of food given away to people who ever the need for fresh organic produce who have otherwise no means to asquare that type of food. >> farmers hope their success will inspire more city to say join the movement. aljazeera, san francisco. >> at least five other major cities in calendar carl considering adopting similar laws to promote urban farming. >> tomorrow morning on aljazeera
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america, scotland citizens head to the polls. >> that is it for us here in new york. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. we will bring you live coverage of president obama from florida.
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>> announcer: is this al jazeera. ♪ >> from al jazeera's news headquarters in doha, this is the news hour. trying to solve the crisis in