now waste released from burn pits were toxic. we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. >> ferguson protests rage on across the country as the white house tries to find solutions. also the growing tension between the obama administration and capitol hill brings a growing threat of another government shutdown. and how thousands of veterans and civilian contractors may face serious illness because of their service in iraq and afghanistan. hello i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this." those stories and much more straight ahead. >> congress returns to capitol hill to tackle everything from funding the government to dealing with the immigration crisis.

>> lawmakers are trying to cram two years worth of work into the next two weeks. >> the white house is asking congress for $263 million. >> to help training for police following is unrest in ferguson. >> not to solve every problem but to make things better. >> syrian families made their final steps through a war that nearly killed them. >> as long as we are standing up saying we fight atrocities at some point you've got to make good. >> a new warning from the fbi. >> i.s.i.l. is calling for attacks in the u.s. against members of the military. >> this is the kind of thing we saw happen in canada. >> this is how many military base disposeof waste. >> the soldiers had toxic inhalation. >> this is this generation's agent orange. >> he was the first to find out the great secret of africa.

>> we begin with the fallout of ferguson. a week after the grand jury decided not to indict officer darren wilson for the shooting of michael brown, people in ferguson vented their anger at the commission tasked with ending long time divisions there. >> don't waste our time with the rhetoric. >> this is an abuse of power problem period. >> ferguson was also on the agenda at the white house monday as president obama met with his cabinet and civil rights leaders to announce a new task force on policing. he called for more than $300 million in funding to expand training programs and provide body cameras for police officers. >> there have been commissions before, there have been task forces, there have been conversations but nothing happens. part of the time this time it's going to be different is the president of the united states is deeply invested in making sure that this time is different. >> meanwhile the nfl said it

will not punish the five st. louis rams players who on sunday took the field with their hands up, a pose adopted by protesters across the country. but the st. louis county police association called the display tasteless offensive and inflammatory. >> jason johnson is a al jazeera contributor. jason always good to have you with us. you just got back from ferguson and we just showed those very angry residents yelling at officials who were appointed to that commission in ferguson, trying to fix things there. from what you saw and the days you spent in missouri what needs to be done, so that town and really the country in general, gets on a better course? >> well, there needs to be three simple things that need to happen sort of symbolically and practically up front. one, the local community in ferguson needs to recall the mayor.

the mayor, mr. knowles, is completely incompetent and has been horrible in managing the situation on the ground. and he can be recalled any point he's been in office for six months, which is october 15th. symbolically you could have new leadership moving forward. next, there probably needs to be a investigation of the prosecutor, mccullough. the most charitable description is prosecutorial ineptitude. , the governor needs to stay a much more active approach to not only managing the police on a local level but listening to suggestions that the department of justice has made about communication in general. those things need to happen now for ferguson to begin any process of healing or moving forward. >> the mayor this weekend called

for more black police officers on the ferguson force which is more than 90% white even though the town is more than 70% black. this is something we have known about for months now. why last no action been taken and why are we still talking about it instead of moving forward on it? >> because the mayor's incompetent. he is a well meaning person, this is in no way disparaging him personally, but you're a mayor of 22,000 people, i was speaking to mayors around ferguson and many of them said to me they offered advice after michael brown was shot. they offered their local police forces but because ferguson is the biggest town the biggest city within that sort of larger school district he felt like he didn't have to listen to anybody. i'm not surprised that he's already trying to close the door after the cows have already left because he is five steps behind this entire situation. >> the prosecutor, the case has become the powerful symbol of

the serious and all too frequent situation, involving african americans and other minorities. on the other hand, african americans after seeing testimony presented and that grand jury, people like charles barkley and pharrell, talked about is this the best case to highlight that important issue? >> charles barkley doesn't know what he is talking about. he should stick to basketball. and pharrell is an entertainer not a lawyer. this is the thing antonio that most of us even though are we're not lawyers can basically understand about what happened. if you have got conflicting testimony then there should be an indictment because the only thing that really happens with an indictment is the grand jury says, there's enough ambiguity about what occurred in this situation that a trial is necessary to determine if there is any fault. so the fact that you had conflicting stories, the fact that we don't know what darren

wilson exactly did and when, what we don't know how michael brown might or might not have hit him, that's all the more reason there actually should be an indictment. i think while you are going to have lots of different people having different opinions, the fact that there were different points necessitated the indictment. >> at least i'd rather not second-guess the grand jury but ferguson. outsiders? did you get a sense of that when you were there? on friday there was some violence, 16 people were arrested 16 were from out of town. >> right. i can tell you this i was standing in front of the police department in ferguson on tuesday evening and there was a large crowd of protesters there with signs and megaphones. the police were on one side and many of us who were analysts and watching were in the pack.

two flares or fire crackers were thrown from the crowd at the police, the police did not leave. the protester with a megaphone said do not throw anything at the police. if we catch you we will turn you in ourselves. i saw three young men in the back of the crowd, their response was, then that makes you as bad as the police. i think there are clearly outsiders there -- >> who were instigating this. >> exactly, exactly. >> quubltion, presidenquickly, a asked for more money for body cameras and complete oversight. he is not banning the federal program that exists altogether. he said he didn't want police to build a militarized culture,

isn't he a little late? isn't what we saw in ferguson in august proof that that culture already exists? >> yes, the military surplus that is going to police is not necessarily inherently wrong. the local police don't have to prove that they need that kind of equipment. i think the president missed an opportunity to say look, are if you are in a dangerous situation of course we want you to get military surplus. but you can't get armored tanks and swat machinery if the worst thing you are dealing with is a youngster with weed. the ferguson police were way too armed for the basic initial protests in august. >> always good to have you with us. thanks. >> thanks antonio. as president obama met with cabinet officials and civil rights leaders about the ongoing fallout from events in ferguson, congress returned from its thanksgiving break.the lame duck session has only two weeks left

but faces a jam packed to do list. the main issue, funding the government. we find ourselves ten days away from a potential government shutdown. after president obama's executive action on immigration. we're joined from santa barbara, california by jeff greenfield. most recently he was the host of pbs's need to know and his latest book is if kennedy lived the first and second terms of president john f. kennedy an alternate history which is now out in paper back. and from los angeles, we're joined by al jazeera political correspondent michael shore. jeff i'll start with you and get both of your takes on ferguson. should the president be doing more to defuse tensions? should he go to ferguson? >> you know, this whole story is so in a way depressing because

we bring to it, whoever we are, a few hundred years of often very ugly history. to the point we are what actually happens in ferguson almost takes a back seat to the prism through which you view it however you view it. i'm trying to imagine what the president could do that would genuinely make a difference as opposed to raising the flag of i care, i'm concerned, he might you know this could have been my son, which he said on the trayvon martin case. i just don't know whether or not anything he does breaks through all of the accumulated beliefs, assumptions, convictions, that different people bring to this. >> that's an important point. and michael i also understand he doesn't want to interfere with an ongoing federal investigation. but again it's what we've talked about so many times. he is the first black president.

should he somehow figure out a way to play a more significant role? >> well, you know, here's the thing. the role that he can play is limited by the fact that he is in fact the president. you know barack obama is a lot of things to a lot of people. people that he's let down, people that are impressed with his presidency. but one thing he has not been able to do is take sort of the dialogue from a lot of these events and cause a national conversation about it. and i think that with ferguson he's presented with that unit at any time. going to ferguson doesn't necessarily do that. i think, you know, the attorney general has spoken previously about how ferguson and this federal case they have a very high bar to reach in order to bring federal charges there. does the president going there somehow bring expectations to that community that are not realistic? he can't go there and promise anything. by starting this dialogue, by talking to people, by maybe changing up the people that he's talking to and with he has a

better shot of reaching some of those voters that feel that we have to change the way policing happens in america. ferguson. that happens doing it differently, doing it from the oval office. but as jeff said there's a long history of this. johnson wasn't on the bridge in selma the next day and i think there's a lot that we can learn by the way it was done then. this is different. there is a nebulous thing they're trying to get out of this. >> let's move on, lame duck session, in a category of not again, the house republican leadership had sworn they wouldn't allow the government to be shut down again but they're getting some serious pressure from their conservative wing to react forcefully to the president's executive action on immigration. what do you expect jeff? >> i expect them to stumble almost incoherently at times towards some resolution that does not shuttl shut down the government. but short of that if you are

looking at the lame duck session to do something about whether it's immigration or the tax code that's about to expire or anything else if i can talk in gambling terms antonio these days in washington and congress i always bet the under as opposed to the overon how much they're going to employer speaker boehner has said in so many words, it's not going to happen. i don't see how he cannot avoid that but boy, well we'll get into that in a minute or two. anybody expecting oh this is the time for cooperation, good luck! >> a cnn poll says the americans would blame the gop for shutdown, 53 to 33%. the battle for the past few years for the establishment times and the libertarians, are we also seeing a similar struggle inside the democratic party between those who are on

the left and those who are more moderate michael? >> i think it is more natural, coming out of an election where you get absolutely drubbed, whether you were forceful enough, whether you were progressive enough, awhat's going to happen is the progressives saying we are not forceful enough and the liberals, we look towards liberal and shore that up. you don't have a leadership issue there. so john boehner oops has got a really really hard job keeping this coalition together. his caucus is so varied. mitch mcconnell will have some of the same. it's not important to what happens in washington. >> you mentioned the tax situation, there's a fight over extending tax breaks that would affect millions of businesses and individuals. the senate and how actually agreed to something but now the white house is threatening to

veto it by saying it too heavily threatens corporation over families. you are talking about the over-under, is there any chance of a compromise there? >> not living in washington but preferring the heart land of man manhattan and santa barbara, i can't speak to the mechanics of washington, but as people look and say there has to be cooperation, many republicans who came to washington in 2010, particularly, and again this year, are telling you, they did not come to compromise. they're not pretending. they are -- they are ideologically committed to i'm here to stop what's going on. the only advantage boehner has i guess is there are a few more house republicans who got elected from bluer districts.

there are nine i think republicans from new york state, which is more than there's been in about ten years or so. and they may have an interest in giving him a little more support if he's looking to compromise. but it can't be stressed enough that the intensity of those within the republican party who are sharply opposed to the whole idea of accommodation, and being called obstructionist, they have actually benefited, it will be hard to hold their hand, because in their view obama put a stick in their eye, that's why i'm pessimistic about any compromise idea. >> the republicans a party of no, less than 30 section left, michael are we in a situation that jeff just brought up with that environmental protection agency regulation that was issued on thanksgiving eve that the national manufacturers association says is

the costliest ever, that president obama had not wanted to pass when he was running for election, is the well getting poisoned more than ever before? >> how kit get more poisoned? -- how can it get more poisoned? >> i can't see how it can be any more poisoned but it's certainly not clearing up any time soon. >> jeff greenfield, michael you. >> thank you. >> and now for more stories from around the world. beings we begin in washington, d.c, in a strong warning from the fbi and the department of homeland security, about possible i.s.i.l. attacks against domestic military targets. the bulletin says the fbi recently received reporting indicating individuals overseas are spotting and assessing like-minded individuals who are willing and capable of conducting attacks against current and former u.s. based

members of the united states military. the bulletin urges members of the military to scrub their social media accounts of any information that could attract the attention of violent extremists. officials are concern that i.s.i.l. supporters in the u.s. may have been emboldened by two separate attacks on military personnel in canada last month. next we move to qatar, where an american couple, matthew and grace huong had been accused of starving to death their nine-year-old adopted auditor gloria , officials blocked them from leaving the country today. secretary of state john kerry released a statement saying the huongs should be allowed to leave without delay. the huongs have two adopted children who currently live in california.

we live in your gas tank where oil prices have flowngdz a dipped to a five year low. the russian ruble has fallen to a five year low. now serious budget cuts and the lower oil prices have raised fears of possible deflation in europe. oil prices have dropped more than 34% in the past few months. and that's some of what's happening around the world. coming up: did the defense department risk the health of as many as 100,000 veterans and civilian contractors because of how it disposed of garbage? our stunning investigation is next. also, president obama facing criticism of his foreign policy from a former top staffer. she'll join united states. s. what do you think?

join us @ajconsiderthis and on our facebook page. >> hundreds of days in detention. >> al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. >> thousands calling for their freedom. >> it's a clear violation of their human rights. >> we have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. >> journalism is not a crime.

>> more than 52,000 american soldiers have been wounded in action in iraq and afghanistan

and veterans of those wars have filed close to a million disability claims with the veterans administration. now the supreme court is considering whether a case should proceed involving claims of more than 100,000 veterans and civilian contractors have suffered from burned trash in pits. sheila macvicar has the story. >> it was everyday black smoke came over us. >> this is how many u.s. military paces across iraq and afghanistan disposed of waste. in massive open-air burn pits. which unleashed clouds of thick black and some veterans say, toxic smoke. >> during the daytime, it was solid black. you could smell it. >> reporter: staff sergeant

anthony thornton spent two years as a prison guard at camp buka in iraq. he said he was constantly exposed to poisonous fumes that lingered over his living quarters. >> it came over where we worked. >> the burn pit you would see anything from tires to paints to medical waste, old refrigerators and different stuff. >> there he goes. >> and they would use jp 8 fuel, jet fuel to set it on fire. >> specialist rodney me meese worked as a mill 3 military con. ten acres of smoldering trash. at the height of the wars, more than 250 other bases across iraq and afghanistan also burned their waste.

large bases burnt up to 300 tons of garbage a year. >> there was always a yellow haze over that base. and everybody that you talked to had some type of respiratory issues with it. it was operational 24-7. >> both neese and thornton says the toxics of burning everything from plastic to human waste made them sick. >> all the burning was done wrong and everybody knows that. >> reporter: more than two years after anthony came home from iraq he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. during his last surgery part of his brain was removed, the left temporal lobe and hip ow pocampus. >> i can't tell you my wife's

middle name or my daughter's. name. >> as soon as it happened he said it was the burn pits. >> thornton's wife jamie says her husband feels betrayed by the military. >> i mean here these people go, and they risk so much. and forgo so much. for our country. and then our country doesn't stand , you know -- >> reporter: thornton says he doesn't have a history of cancer in his family and has a letter from his oncologist saying in part it is possible that brain tumor was more than likely caused by exposure to environmental toxins during his time spent in camp buka, iraq. the veterans administration has awarded thornton 70% disability pay but does not acknowledge any link to burn pits and says his cancer may be linked to

radiation from a previous job. >> we know people are sick. we're trying our best to try to determine whether burn pits are responsible. >> department of defense says there's no link between burn pits and long term health damage. >> several thousand service members who were assigned to locations with burn pits versus locations without burn pits. we looked at that data and we were unable to identify a definitive health risk associated with those at burn pits. >> and that leaves veterans like meese fighting for the compensation they believe they are owed. even though he can no longer work he has been granted just 10% disability pay. his plans for a lifetime military career are over. many days he has difficulty walking. at blad where he was

stationed, meese lived a quarter mile from a burn pit. >> while i was there the coughing started. pulling through a stir straw to breathe. >> it took doctors seven years to diagnose him with restrictive bronchitis. he has to scare an oxygen tank with him everywhere he goes. >> we have seen this following iraq and afghanistan. >> a a pulmonologist at vanderbilt. >> is this something would you deployment? >> this is a very uncommon diagnosis in an otherwise health individual. i think that this diagnosis is linked to some inhalational exposure during service in the middle east. then you can go through a list of potential exposures.

dust storms. particulate matter exposure. burn pits. >> reporter: dr. miller began seeing returning soldiers with mysterious brain problems. when he presented his findings, he says he was shut out by the dod. >> shortly after that conference. the department of defense decided not to send any more patients. >> the department told dr. miller they'd deal with the issue internally. >> we sent the soldiers to the middle east, physically fit, they had toxic inhalation, they came back with problems that made them nondeployable and were not willing to compensate them for the injury they had. >> but

dod's craig postlewait says damage due too burn injuries just aren't there. >> it is highly possible, probable that some of those individuals do have health conditions that were acquired due to exposures in theater. being able to identify which exposures and which individuals is very, very difficult because we don't have the individual exposure information that would help us to establish that link. meese has left the military. last july his doctors have told him he wasn't even fit to work as a file clerk. with his fiancee, he has just moved to the mississippi coast. the humidity helped him with his con.

jamie and thornton got married. daughter. >> this is definitely not what i thought our wif life was going o be. at 30, 35, it's affected us tremendously. a lot of people say this is our generation's agent orange. >> they want the military to acknowledge the harm done to its soldiers. >> my plan was to keep working and get a good job working. she doesn't have to do anything. and be a good man. but i have to erase that now. >> you are a good man. >> it's hard to accept that. >> for thousands of returning veterans, this is their reality. a reality they say is shaped by their exposure to the burn pits. and someone, they say, needs to

step up and take responsibility. sheila macvicar al jazeera. >> for more i'm joined from baltimore by susan burke, the lead attorney in a lawsuit targeting kbr, the contractor to git get rid of tons of garbage in iraq. susan good to have you back on the show. after vietnam there was agent orange, exposure to toxic herbicides. after the 1991 gulf war there was the gulf war syndrome, soldiers suffering from exposure to fuel from ammunition dumps. and the defense department's response is the same as it was in those prior cases. >> that's true. sadly we have the commander in chief obama saying this was not going to become the next agent

orange but in truth it has. there's been delay, there's been study. but no real progress. >> so far, your lawsuit has 250 plaintiffs. are they all suffering the sorts of terrible health problems we witnessed in the story we just played? >> yes. and in fact the size of the class is much broader than that. we've filed 250 claims but there are many other hundreds that have signed on as well. and what we're seeing most predominantly are just severe respiratory problems. in addition, we have cancers with sadly up to 12 deaths now. >> how many potential victims do you think are out there? >> well, it's difficult to get a hard number. but we think the number is in the thousands based on the number of people deployed and then the proximity to the burn pits. >> on the other hand, what about the claim from the defense department, that all sorts of air pollution, even dust from

sand storms, could have caused the health problems that the veterans are reporting? >> well, what you're seeing in the developing science is that there's a clear causal link injuries. this is science that is done independent of us. but doctor sesma's reporting up from suny in new york, dr. muller in vanderbilt also discovered a causal factor. the growing consensus appears to be that exposure to the toxic fumes is causing the injury. consensus? how many doctors have been involved in looking into this? >> well what we're seeing just anecdotally from the people that we represent, we're seeing that more and more of their treating physicians are beginning to attribute it. sense. if you think about it in this nation, we have outlawed burning

of trash in your backyard for decades. and it's because it's so clearly a health hazard. and so what we're talking about is not something novel or you know cutting-edge. it's pretty straightforward. if you live near burn trash and you breathe in these black fumes day in and day out it hurtsdz hurts your lungs. i would say the scientific community the academic community and the treating community is finding the causal link . >> people watching the story found the red flag there, dr. miller at vanderbilt, the military stopped sending him people to raise the issue. >> we need to look at this corporation at kbr billions of billions of dollars every year, they were supposed to perform according to contracts. and that contract required them to handle waste disposal in a manner that did not hurt the

troops. it's the defense department itself and the veterans affairs that are hurt by this, they are hemorrhaging money trying to treat injuries caused by this corporation. >> in some cases afghanistan in particular the military spent millions to install incinerators that afghan and in some cases u.s. troops refused to use. the military operated more than half the burn pits in iraq and afghanistan. if there's a culprit how much is it kbr, how much is it the defense department? >> what we are doing is focusing on the pits that kbr operated and that was the major of them. we need to get back to the district court, we have won at the court of appeals for fourth circuit, we are waiting to go back to the trial court level and it is this type fact finding that is done in our system down at the district court level. the information we have

collected today establishes that kbr ran the vast majority of the burn pits in behind the wire. now when they were expeditionary like the very first invasion that tended to be military but those aren't the pits that are at issue because those were short term, small and they weren't institutionalized. >> are you going after kbr because the military itself is immune from lawsuits in cases like these? >> no. we're going after kbr because it was kbr's wrongdoing that caused the problem. and it's particularly important to remember this is a company that got billions of dollars in taxpayer funds. they were paid to provide a service and they just didn't do that. they were supposed to take away the waste in a manner that was safe. >> susan good to have you with us to talk about this important story and we should say that we reached out to kbr and the company declined to do an interview with us. also our deletion at al jazeera's "america tonight" will

have much more on this story on tuesday at 9 :00 eastern. most americans with hiv are not being treated. the surprising numbers on world aids day straight ahead. and later an unsung hero in the fight to end >> a conflict that started 100 year ago, some say, never ended... revealing... untold stories of the valor... >> they opened fire on the english officers... >> sacrifice... >> i order you to die... >> and ultimate betrayal... drawing lines in the sand that would shape the middle east and frame the conflict today >> world war one: through arab eyes only on al jazeera america

>> my name is elenor and for the last 25 years i was bernie madoff's secretary. >> an unimaginable story of betrayal. >> they lived this incredible life. it just never occurred to me that they were living on the dime of the clients. >> greed... >> bernie was stealing every nickel but he wasn't trading anything. >> ... and entitlement. >> you took my grandchildren's future away from them. >> is america losing credibility overseas? from syria to i.s.i.l. and ukraine, our foreign policy has come under increasing scrutiny even from top officials in the obama administration including our next guest. i sat down with ann maria slaughter in an upcoming edition of "talk to al jazeera."

in a wide ranging conversation i asked her about america's strategy to fight i.s.i.l. >> it is simply essentially. i mean you cannot actually allow this organization setting up a rule that is as barbaric as any we have seen redraw the borders of the middle east. i think it is radically incomplete however to attack it as a purely military problem and to attack it as if it were not completely and intimately bound up with the syrian civil war and the politics of iraq and increasingly the politics of turkey. we need the political strategy together with the military strategy. >> good luck. problems with its borders since those borders were established centuries ago. madeleine

albright has put it mess. president obama says his enemies don't fear him, that his allies don't trust him. blaming him for all ills like blaming a caribbean island for a hurricane. you also wrote, tyrants will draw their own conclusions. how do you reconcile those two thoughts? >> the first thing i think president obama is encountering more crises at one time than anyone in recent memory. i mean he's got the middle east in flames. he's got russia with ukraine. he's got china and japan and korea and the south china sea and on top of that he's got a global pandemic that's as terrifying as anything we have seen. so i think to blame him because the world is a mess as i said that's just crazy. i do think that his failure to follow through on the use of

force, where -- when assad used chemical weapons, we'd actually known for some time he was using chemical weapons and obama had drawn that red line, the can really make many people wonder was the u.s. prepared to stand up for things that it says are absolutely critical? i think that had introduced an element of uncertainty, that is not helpful in relations with our allies, and could indeed there in relations with our adversaries, it gives you a like. i don't think, though, that you could say putin would not have stronger. i don't think you could have said, i.s.i.l. would not have arisen. that's not the way the world works. >> so when does the u.s. need to intervene? because even if it's a legitimate action let's say, we can't be the world's policeman. i think you've said that yourself before.

so do our vital interests need to be at play? and when is an interest a vital interest ? >> so there's a clear violate interest where the defense of our home land, the defense of our people, the defense of our allies, all of those things are where yes we are prepared to use force. where i may differ from traditional foreign policy people is i do think that if the gap between what we say we stand for and what we do becomes too wide, we are irrevocably weakened in the world. either we can stop saying we stand for universal human rights, we can stop saying we stand for democracy, we stand with people who fight for their rights, but as long as we are saying it and as long as we are standing up and saying you know we fight atrocities, we signed the genocide treaty, we will defend people against crimes

against humanity, my point is at some point you have got to make good on what you say. and if you don't you've loss your reputation, your capital, your identity as a inflation. so i am willing to say that at some point rwanda is definitely a case, i think syria is a case and kosovo would have been a case where there was an action so horrific and we could agency not alone, but we could act on behalf of the people, on behalf of the values we say we stand for. i think that is a vital interest. it's just that you don't see it being compromised in the same way you see somebody you know invading a border or killing a citizen. you don't see it but it's there. it's insidious and it damages the united states in the eyes of the world. in the eyes of the people. in a way that really is terribly dangerous. >> you were the first woman to head the office of policy planning at the state department. you are the first woman dean of

the woodrow wilson school of public affairs, you've got degrees from harvard from princeton from oxford. uh two years ago you wrote an article that became a media sensation, turned you into a media sensation, entitled, why women still can't have it all. why can't they? >> three things. one is much more flexibility at work. when i'm the boss i say, if family comes first, work will not come second. it will come together. and i let the people who work for me do what they need to do whatever they need to do to take care of their families and i assume the work's going to get done. the second is we need to rethink the arc of careers. young people today have life expectancy well over 80. there's plenty of time to have a family and rise in your career as long as you're not expected to do both at the same time.

but we have this idea that 40-year-olds and 50-year-olds, if you are not promoted you're passed over. that's crazy and we're also missing out on a ton of talent that we need. and the last thing is a public infrastructure of care. we are one of three countries that don't have paid pla alternatmaternityleave, high qu. if you really believe that care is important. >> you can see my full interview with anne maria slaughter on december 14th. first less than half of young american adults with hiv are even being treated. how that could cut their life spans by four decades. in our data dive next. on tech know, >> i landed head first at 120 mph >> a shocking new way to treat brain injuries

>> transcranial direct stimulation... don't try this at home... >> but some people are... >> it's not too much that we'ed fry any important brain parts... >> before you flip the switch, get the facts... >> to say that passing a low level of current is automatically safe, is not true >> every saturday, go where technology meets humanity... >> sharks like affection >> tech know, only on al jazeera america

>> monday marked world aids day

and our data dive found mixed results in the fight against the disease. first the good news. the number of hiv infections among children around the world dropped more than 50% from 2005 to 2013. more than a million children whose mothers have the virus were not infected thanks to treatments for their parents. those treatments can extend an adult's life by four decades. someone who's diagnosed at age 20 and starts taking medications have an average life span of 71 those who don't live on average to age 32. being treated by antiviral medications is also effective by cutting the sexual transmission of hiv by 96%. unfortunately a lot of people are not getting treated. about 1.2 million have hiv, 80% of them know they're infected but fewer than half of them are getting care. adults 18 to 24 of the least likely to have their illness

under control. advocates give various reasons for the lack of treatment. some don't know where to be treated or have trouble accessing care. poverty, homelessness and substance abuse are also big obstacles to getting the needed help. an estimated 35 million people around the globe have hiv today and aiferred aids has killed 40 million people since it became an epidemic in the 1980s. >> up next, a major contributor so many money stories sound complicated. but don't worry. i'm here to take the fear out of finance. every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real.

>> the end of apartheid came as a result of a long and hard fought struggle. many heroes of that struggle remain largely unknown. one man

jean yves oliver, influenced world events, he is a subject of a new documentary, plot for peace. >> he never said one word about his contribution . [ speaking french ] >> the chance of being didn't care about that. >> the results will be that, and that is what he did. >> he viewed to play another role but not a political one. good what he was looking for i'm not sure because he never asked for money. >> jean yves oliver played a role in apartheid, and he joins us from paris, mr. oliver it plays out in this movie like a thriller.

you were a businessman who had dealings in south africa. in your life experience as a frenchman who had to leave algeria as a teenage are. >> exactly why it was a repetition i lived in algeria, 1960, 62 years. >> what you were seeing in south africa was white south africans sleepwalking to the edge of disaster. >> absolutely. it was clear the same way to the dialogues between the two communities was cut in algeria, in the 1960 years, the same thing was happening in south africa. and because of the sanction, there was no communication whatsoever. and the white south africans

were not prepared to give up and we had -- we were having a civil war. i believe strongly that dialogues brings peace. >> but how did you, a businessman, you were not a french diplomat. you were a commodities trader dealing with oil and coal. how do you manage to then get in the position to get people together including heads of state to negotiate? >> the things i was doing was strategic commodities, oils and coal. those strategic commodities are dealt by government. and i had to be in close contact with government around south africa. and so it was very easy for me to have access to the government and to explain to them that they

should look for negotiation and peace. and that was the only way for me to dismantle apartheid. >> and you did it in ways that are almost impossible to understand, and certainly some of the consequences because you were honored in the mid '80s by the apartheid government and ten years later by nelson mandela. >> yes, both parties believe i have done a good job. you know most of the time, peace is, the way to peace is that the two enemies, two communities were opposing one to each other are looking to a common future and not only the past, and this is what i was trying to do. to convince the two communities that there was a common future for them. which at the end happened. and so both communities

recognize that they have done a did job. and they. >> one of your greatest achievements was an unbelievable effort, there was the angolan civil war, the soviets were involved, the south africans were involved, c the cubans were involved. you ended up with a massive prisoner exchange, involving all sorts of parties. what lessons can be learned by what you managed to do there? >> when you have somebody that is trusted by all the parties and is not sided, then everybody wants to achieve peace. so they are encouraged to do something which is proposed by somebody's interest. and you are mentioning the exchange of prisoners. there were six countries involved.

and believe it or not, there was not one signed document. and when i told them the exchange will take place in september 17th, 1987, and they all came with their plane, all came with their prisoner and they exchanged in the tarmac of maputo without one document signed. >> the tarmac of an airport. jean yves oliver, pleasure to have you. >> my pleasure. >> coming up on tuesday, on "consider this," inside the mysterious militia patrolling ferguson, are they keeping the peace or creating more fear. we're on facebook and twitter @ajconsiderthis. and can you tweet me @amoratv.

we'll seize yo see you next tim. well, i bet you are loving these lower oil prices at the gus pump and why not? but get this, low oil prices could hurt us all in the long run. also the new cold war between russia and the west. i'll tell you why we should have seen it coming as far back as six years ago. and a worldwide raise to the stars, i'll show you how private companies are cashing in on space, and how america can stay in the lead. i'm ali velshi. and this is "real money." ♪