ion. >> 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. >> a state of the union full of swagger but was its real ink? two key members ever congress join us. and the deadly fight to keep mountain gorillas from extinction. i'mi'm antonio mora. those stories and more straight ahead. >> the shadow of crises has passed. >> president obama provided democrats with a road map.

>> state of the union address -- >> these are the wrong policies the wrong priorities. >> i have no more campaigns to run. i know because i won both of them. >> yemen's capital sanaa is still on edge. >> trying to end that violent standoff. >> it could further destabilize the war ors on terror. >> the u.s. is holding its highest level talks with cuba in 35 years. >> united states vowing to continue allowing cubansto who reach the u.s. shore to remain in the country. >> the only hope this region has. >> the only area in the world. >> the mountain gorilla has. >> what is safe on our planet that can be protected? >> 13 people have been injured after a man started stabbing people on a bus in tel aviv. >> we begin with president obama

taking his economic proposals to the conservative heart land a day after delivering a defiant state of the union speech. >> we accept an economy where only a few of us do splarl well. spectacularly well. or will we for everyone who makes the effort? >> but the president's trip to the red stayed of you idaho and kansas. taxes for the wealthy are a nonstarter. >> he owes it to the representatives he elected. there is not a lot the law makesser can do with talking points designed specifically not opass. >> there is no sign the endless squabbling will end any time soon. house speaker john boehner

announced wednesday he inviteed israeli prime ministering benjamin netanyahu to speak before the congress. >> i did knot consult with the white house. the congress can make this decision on its own. i don't believe i'm poking anyone in the eye. there is a serious threat that exists in the world. and the president last night kind of papered over it. >> as the speaker said, critics argued this president glossed over the rising threat of terrorism and presented in general an overly rosy picture of his domestic agenda. >> this is good news people. [ laughter ] >> for more we're joined from capitol hill with democratic congresswoman jan shak offeringswsk iferg also joined bying being democratic

congressman luis gutierrez. educating the broader community about the president's executive actions. good to have you on the show. want to start with the state of the union. if you had just arrived on earth would you never know from the president's speech there was a big republican win in november. the president said in 2012 that elections have consequences. congresswoman is there a bit of a denial there a laundry list that he laid out that republicans don't like? >> actually one of the consequences is that the president is unleashed to offer the kinds of proposals that i think the middle class really wants to hear, to push back, to talk about. being building an economy from the middle out and i think it's very -- it is resonating with the american people. we saw some overnight polling and some focus groups. his numbers have gone up and there is a lot of support for

the kinds of things he was talking about yesterday to help the middle class survive and thrive. >> you know -- >> i'll get to you right now congressman. much has been made with the tone the president took. l.a. times described him as boast full confident even cocky. the guardian remarked on his swagger. we discussed on the show the gop actions did not bode well for bipartisanship because they focused on things they know the president will veto. wasn't the president the flip side of the coin last night sabotaging bipartisan ship? >> it seems the republicans are fighting the last war they continue to fight on immigration, that battle is over, most americans support that. we should move forward. they continue to want to undo

the affordable care act obamacare, they are continuing a war on women as we speak today so i think the republicans are off base. >> congressman i wanted to get your reaction to that question. >> i thought the president was confident, looking towards the future. i didn't see a president with recrimrecrimination. he went up to the woman and the family that was sitting next to the first lady and he said it was hardworking americans like them and used them as an example of kind of all of americans picking themselves up by their boot straps. here is what i heard i heard a president saying let's not point fingers at each other. saying no before we finish a statement. a president that was confident turning the page not looking to the past -- >> how was it received by your colleagues across the awfully? >> oh really well. i got to tell you i took out my

calculator during the speech and i took $170,000, that's what a member of congress earns the congress of the united states will not raise the minimum wage but we earn in one month what we expect a person who earns the minimum wage will earn in a year. it won resoundingly even in republican states like arkansas. >> i want to talk about -- >> let me -- >> go ahead. >> okay. i was just going to say it was like they were super-glued though to their seats and that their hands were tied. did you not see the republicans get up and clap or show any kind of approval, even when the president was talking about the good news of our economy. it was like they were not able to move.

>> again, worries a lot of people about the lack of exromgz on a lotcompromise about a lot of things. the president talked about taxing the rich. congresswoman you say we tax people who make $400,000 the same as we tax someone who makes $40 million. expected to raise 800 billion over the next decade by adding higher tax brackets for those biggest earners. but do you hope to get 74th from across the aisle and even if you do would that 800 million be a drop in the bucket when it comes to the deficit and the national debt? >> first of all $800 billion is a significant amount of money. i have support from many millionaires and multi-multimill airs who think they ought to pay their fair share but up to

400,000 there are seven tax brackets. why should they stop there especially since so much money that is gone to the serie rich in the country the top 1%, the tax bract i have are going up to 49% at a million dollars there are people who own a billion dollars in the united states,. >> there are some. >> there are and that's still lower than tax rate through most of the reagan administration, the top tax rate. so i think we ought to ask them to -- we ought to update our tax code. >> but what the other side would argue is treasury records are at record high, so is it it spending? >> let me say this antonio you signal out maybe it's a pessimistic note for the rest of the country. i've heard paul ryan, he is chair of the ways and means

committee, he is looking forward to work with the president. i was against north american free trade agreement in 1993, a democratic proposal under bill clinton. i thought it was a bad proposal. but the president it this right cord. if there is an agreement it has to be a fair trade agreements. i want to make sure american workers are protected. there was applause. paul ryan, chairman of the ways and means committee helping people raise their kids and giving them tax credit, i they there are avenues in which we can reach agreement. look antonio i think many of the things the president spoke to are american values, that the american people support. i mean, if you -- if everything we do is kind of say well what would the republicans agree othen let's not have a two parties system. i think this is about challenging one another so let's challenge. >> let's look at the issue that

you oar big leader on. immigration. the president didn't say much about that on the state of the union. cutting funding on homeland security that would stop some of the president's actions on immigration. the department of homeland security isn't ready to process the millions of immigrants, because the system is overburdened. are you concerned? >> well look absolutely we're always concerned about every application that is made before the federal government. but i have complete confidence in the secretary of homeland security. in mr. johnson's ability to get this done. let's remember, he ran he was second in command just about and did the oh don't ask don't tell review and change and implementation over at the department of justice. so he knows what it is to make systemic changes and he'll make that systemic change now over at

homeland security. and let me just say there. you know what? i heard that antonio from other people. the president didn't speak. but he spoke so loudly on november 20th, i mean, it's still being echoing throughout our community. we had a wonderful event full house providence rhode island, we had a full house in new jersey on friday. i'm going to charlotte and i'm going to charleston and jan and i are going to have an activity in this wonderful catholic church on -- >> valentine's day! >> illinois folks hanging together. >> saturday it's going to be valentine's and we're going to be sharing the love of this congress and this president. so he doesn't really have to -- we have to sign up 5 million people. >> want to get a couple other questions in here. one terrorism something the president didn't speak much

about. dana millbank in the washington post contrasted the domestic issues and the way he spoke about terrorism. is there a disconnect the way people have on terrorism and the way the president addressed it last night? congresswoman. >> i really resent the fact that the republicans may be critical of the president on foreign policy and on terrorism and they are the ones that are holding up adequate fudged for the department of homeland security, even after paris. we had a vote, and they had the nerve to attach these poison pills of anti-immigrant amendments on to department of homeland security. i think president talked about a wise and measured and thoughtful foreign policy. and he did ask the congress to come together, and to fund this effort against i.s.i.s. he didn't go into great elaboration.

but i they the president has conducted a thoughtful foreign policy and right now the republicans won't even let us have an adequate homeland security bill. >> i think antonio unless we're going to send 100,000 young men and women in harm's way into the theater of the battlefield they're sometimes just not happy. look mr. president i remember when george bush, antonio remember when the president said oh not that important to get osama bin laden? barack obama got osama bin laden. ever time i think about da hussein hesadamn hussein. you have a wrench stronger than ever this president gets -- >> you get the argument that i.s.i.l. is the result of civil war in syria and pulling our

troops out of iraq. let's not get into that debate. speaker john boehner inviteing prime minister benjamin netanyahu to speak before congress and not following protocol. what is your reaction? >> of course israel is our great ally in the middle east. i think it is awkward just a short time before the presidential election in israel which is going to be happening in march and while we have before the house some important discussions about how we address the negotiations with iran, to prevent iran from having a nuclear weapon. so i think there is a certain amount of politics in this invitation. although you know we certainly do want to have a -- don't have a bipartisan close relationship with the state of israel. >> i don't know that it is going to serve the best purposes of achieving peace and

reconciliation in the israeli-palestinian conflict. i have always been for a two-state solution. i want israelis and everybody to live in israel to be able to live in peace and security but i also want a free democratic prosperous free palestinian state where they can have a nation too. i think that is road to how would i say democracy and freedom and justice. i don't know just before an election an election right, in which this could play an important card, we want to invite somebody just before the election really? i don't know. look just because you might not think netanyahu shouldn't come and speak and this might not be an appropriate time doesn't have any indication about your fidelity to the cause of peace between israel and the palestinians and reaching a peaceful solution. >> congresswoman congressman

pleasure to have you with us. thank you. >> thank you antonio. >> turning to the conflict in yemen, where houthi rebels reached an agreement to end a violence stanoff in the capital city. the insurgents tightened their controlled holding abd rabu mansur hadi as prisoner in his own home. they said they would release the presidential palace and release the chief of staff held over the weekend. the question who was in charge of the country a critical u.s. ally against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula the group who claimed responsibility for the recent tack in paris. for more we're joined by christopher swift an adjunct professor, author of a book, the

fighting vanguard. very good to have you back on the show. washington the white house there must be breathing a sigh of relief since president hadi is an important ally in our fight against the al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. how does the power ever these houthi rebels effect affect our ability to fight aqap? >> it makes it more complicated and here is the reason why. yemen is a very decentralized society but has a very stralingsed state always. -- centralized state. other tribal and political factions exercise their option and try to get a larger piece of a shrinking pie in yemen the harder that is to hold institutions together. that's the kind of vacuum that

aqap and its allies locally have stepped into in the past and something they'll likely spep into in the future. >> you talk about decentralization it used to be two different countries. is this again all about the sunni-shia divide? we've got iran supporting the shia hughts who houthis and then we have got sunni saudi arabia and the united states supporting the current government led by hadi who's sunni. deny claims that they are being supported by iran. what do you think? >> well, the situation is a whole lot more complicated. one of the difficulties we have in washington is we tend to look at what's hang in places like yemen in great terms of regional power politics. we ig 94 what's going on sort of from the ground up. there are lots of different tribal and political factions in yemen. the sunni-shia split is not necessarily what's dispositive

here. what is dispositive is a society going through a period of economic collapse. you have a population that's growing very quickly and you have a political system that is not able to come to terms with those realities in the ground. we've had houthi ribles in the north we have had successionists in the south and aqap and all these other dynamics. iran versus saudi arabia really simplifies the whole thing. looking at the question of whether the houthi are supported by iran, yes they are. they get some money they get some weapons but if the united states marine corps were to show up and support the houthi with arms and weapons they might be their proxy for a day too. >> let's see how this would play out in your opinion. a influence deal worked out with the houthi and president hadi, it appears hadi had little to do but agree to their demands. a u.s. ally will be eventually pushed out of office do you

feel? >> well if the whole gulf coordination council process sort that they are in the middle of now anticipated that hadi would be the new interim president and after a new constitution is written, it is hard to teld tell whether hadi will tholdwillhold to an agreement with a gun held to his head. but at the end of the day couple the new yemeni constitution will hold on to autonomy for a number of different regions. in order to keep that country together given how diverse and dynamic and factional it is. >> if it is a power vacuum you referred to earlier some say the houthis are not ready to govern so there could be another failed state. could yemen become another afghanistan with aqap doing

whatever it wants? some report says that i.s.i.l. is trying to expand into yemen too. >> look the situation in yemen and the situation in afghanistan or syria or iraq or any of the other conflict zones in the a middle east that we've been looking at are very different. some of dynamics are the same. to the extent that the central government and the yemeni security services can't enforce their where writ outside of the capital, it's been that way for several years. the difficulty is not that yemen books failed state. the difficulty is that people take advantage ever the short term chaos between the lack of political equilibrium they have now and whatever the preliminary equilibrium will be. it is an opportunity ink situation. >> the yes yes yemenis are not able,

what are we going to do? >> the number one thing helping president hadi and his government helping people back to the negotiation tables and the muscle off the street. it is pretty clear the tribal faction will use their muscle to force people to thearms couldn't be won around the negotiating table, to the extent that the united states and our allies in the gulf can get people back to the negotiating table that should be our first priority. in terms of dealing with aqap, security services continue to be loyal to the yemeni state and not particular individuals or factions within it, that's going to be very important. and then look at a certain point with organizations like aqap and i.s.i.l, you have to sort of look at what they're doing out of the area or what they're doing against your interest and take that into mind when

planning your counterterrorism strategy. >> you talked about the internal politics. there was also entry today, al jazeera obtained otape showing that former president saleh had been doing with the uthis from their same sect, ousted after the arab spring. who knows what will happen. christopher swift happy to have you with us. now for more stories around the world. we begin in tel aviv where a palestinian man stands and wounded 13 israelis on a crowded bus injuring at least three seriously. while fleeing the scene video shows the 23-year-old assail ants stabbing another woman before security forces shot him in the foot and arrested him. he told authorities that he was motivated by clashes over holy sites. benjamin netanyahu blamed

palestinian leaders for attack, the direct result of the poisonous incitement being disemanated against the palestinians against the juice and their state. policewoman and hold multiple hostages at a jewish supermarket earlier this month. three are charged with supplying weapons and equipment to shooter amedy coulibaly. this comes as french prime minister manuel valls announced new counters terrorism measures, nearly 2700 new security related jobs will be created including 1100 in police intelligence. the prime minister also pledged another 425 million euros into this. >> washington, d.c the justice department has decided not to charge officer you darren wilson. the investigation found no

evidence to support charges against wilson. the decision would close the politically charged case that set off protests across the country last fall. a broader civil rights investigation into allegation he of discriminatory traffic stops 50 ferguson police department as a whole remains open. and that's some of what's happening around the world. coming up: the u.s. meets with its cold war cuba but the that you in relations could take a while. we'll go inside the first day of the historic diplomacy. also has the enthusiasm that swept through egypt during the arab spring disappeared? we'll have a look at egypt four years after the tahrir square uprising pnsrising. our social media producer, hermela aregawi. what's happening? >> while you're watching let us know what you think. join the conversation @ajconsiderthis and on our facebook page.

facebook page. security council. >> about issues that impact your world. >> infectious diseases are a major threat to health. >> "the week ahead". sunday 8:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

>> historic talks between u.s. and cuban officials had barrel barely begun, the first session exposed wide differences on immigration issues. the u.s. agreed to grant freedom to cube answer who reached theist. cuba complained the policy is dangerous for its citizens and encourages doctors defect, creating a reprehensible brain drain process. no rafters you countries would move to normalized ties. >> despite the clear differences that remain between our countries, the united states and cuba can find opportunities to advance our mutually shared

interests as well as engage in a respectful and thoughtful dialogue. >> but diplomats say the cubans will likely move forward slowly even those president obama wants to move quickly. >> congress should work to end the embargo. >> as his holiness pope francis has said, diplomacy is the work of small steps. >> joining via skype is vicky lud lston. during the clinton administration she held the position of director of cuban affairs at the department of state. resulted in a book called learning to salg is salsa. ambassador good to have you back. i know you have been very optimistic about this deal. what is your take away from the first day of talks that did show

disagreement on the so-called wet feet-dries feet policy that the u.s. says it will not change? >> antonio, good to be with you. it's no surprise at all. cubans since we began these talks a decade ago have said, we need to end our -- the kind of migration policy we have. which allow cubans to remain in the united states, if they touch the united states soil. and in fact it is dangerous. cube anscubans take to the sea in the hope they get to the keys to florida to dry land in the united states and any number of them over the years have lost their lives. in addition, it brings about a lot of smuggling. mainly now through mexico, and this contributes to the mafia tol to theto the cartel, to the drug cartels in mexico who are

explicit in the smuggle of cubans to the mexico to the united states . >> we are the highest ranken officials in 30 years are going to meet. on the american side we have got roberta jacobsen and then for cubans josefina vidal. vidal has spent a lot of time in the united states but has a history of being a bit of a hard liner. >> the thing is we have two professional diplomats and it happens that they're both women which is nice. they both know the issues backwards and forwards. roberta jacobson is a true professional. she's worked in the bureau ever western hemisphere affairs almost all of her career . yostjosephina vidal has worked in

this area almost her whole career. i have every dhafs what they are going to move ahead is the reestablishment of normal diplomatic relationships. that means the intersection in havana which is our old embassy will become an embassy once again. around theand the same thing on 16th street in washington d.c. the former cuban embassy now cuban intersection will once again become the embassy of cuba. >> you have said recently that cubans are going to move slowly that they're afraid of risk. cuban foreign ministry said that it should down play further break throughs this week. should that say the cubans are getting everything out of this and the united states should stifle thoughts about democratic reform about north korea and

venezuela. >> first of all i think one of the reasons that president obama has not given the policy, because it really is a detrimental policy is perhaps because he feels that at there point he doesn't want to given give his critics any more fuel. so he is going to proceed a little bit slowly. and the cubans of course they have a different agenda. that's why we have talks. the cubans want to hold onto power they wants to get the most out of these talks that they can possibly get. so they are hard negotiators. they are not -- >> talking about negotiations, the cubans took almost a month to release the political prisoners they promised to release then they ended up arresting more dissidents just days after the deal was announced. you wrote that that might be what the castro gof wants.

there is a history of the castro governmentgovernment sabotaging. are you concerned about that here? >> you have to be concerned because if the cuban government worries that things are getting too fast, moving forward at a rate that they can't control then one way to gain control of it again is to have some kind of split, some kind of serious argument with the united states. at which point then the united states might feel that they would have to back off a little bit. but that would be so unfortunate because what really -- what really will change things is this communications between the cuban people and the u.s. people. >> right and of course trust is going to be abig thing after all these years of enemyity. i want to ask you one last thing. spy thriller in havana's port, a russian spy ship, the cubans are

not concerned about it, why would the cubans allow the now? >> well, it is unfortunate it doesn't look too good, i.t. gives critics some fuel but in fact it is pretty meaningful. it is yes a spy ship but it's -- its radars are apparently not on now. the soviet union does not have intentions vee vee cuba. we all know cuba should not be on the terrorist list. so it is a sort of cuban saying we are not going to give up our friends. we are going to continue as usual. we are going to take it step by step and by the way they really are hard negotiators. >> we will see where these negotiations are. ambassador vicky huddleston, it's always nice to have you with us. what is trending hermella.

>> pegida co-founder is being investigated for insighting raicialginsightingracial hatred. after this photograph of him posing as hitler. punishable in germany as five years in prison. reasonable people do not follow idiots and decent people don't follow nazis. bachman says it was a joke. he said i took the picture at the hair dressers. you need to be able to make a joke about things now and then. the news comes hours before 15,000 or so supporters of an offshoot group of pegida and counterdemonstrators rallied in the town of leipzig.

in 2012 he post ed aed a photograph, with a caption saying, three ks a day keep away. >> why smoking can burn a hole in your bank account that reaches into the millions of dollars. and later keeping mountain gorillas alive is a life and death issue for conservationists.

>> almost four years ago, the people of egypt rose up against the decades-old regime of hosne

mubarak, in the arab spring. calling for mubarak to step down which he finally did after days of protests that often turned violent. after four years and a few regimes later life is not like what it was before the democratic revolution. joining us, author of once upon a revolution an egyptian story which chronicles the arab spring and what's happened in egypt ever since. glad to have you back ton show. the book chronicles everything that happened in tahrir square mostly through the eyes of two egyptians, one basal kamal a secularist and another an activist, muslim brotherhood guy. two very different people, both of whom were smieshed by inspired

by the arab spring in tahrir square. but both represent an important way of looking at life in egypt could they ever come together the secularists and the islamists. >> the sad thing is how they almost did and broke apart by bitterness and recrimination. followed the issue from the beginning of tahrir and the defeat of the revolution. i focused on these two once it ended up, they did represent the bridge of political divide and the political failure to do so. >> and that's a conflict that exists daily within egyptian society. >> it happens on two levels, the government the bug bear to be afraid of, and pie us jchts and pious

egyptians and secular egyptians. >> mubarak gets deposed the muslim brotherhood gets elected. one of the things you point out the brotherhood ended up relying in similar ways to the military. they took same patronizing view towards military, people needed guidance, would needed to be controlled or they wouldn't be able to, and that has led to one authoritarian regime to the other. >> the idea was people are sheep, can you do with them what you want. once they had their hands on the levers once they were sitting in the claire in the sort of preferred metaphor of egyptians they acted like another mubarak. they wanted to take as much power for themselves. that's why revolution ris can't trust people from the muslim brotherhood background anymore.

>> that leads taking its government into its own hands you wrote the old regime back in power with a new and more ruthless leader, to take revenge on the revolution ris who challenged it. that said, it dogs seem to be a working state now and they're talking about a new constitution, it seems the talk of democratic at least is part of the dialogue in egypt. have things gotten better? >> things have gotten worse. we can't forget that mubarak and the talent like him ruled with constitution they ignored. so we have to look at where the record is and the 40,000 people in prison for demonstrating and the actual lack of free speech if it's critical against the regime the see how bad things have gotten. >> right because that's led to all sorts fs people being prison including al jazeera journalists

who have been in prison for more than a year. there's all sorts of repression worse than what it was under mubarak. >> that's right, sadly including the character mr. my book who put his life on the line and really risked himself to fight for freedom and democracy. today he will say no matter how much i dislike sisi's crack down on thedown it's better than the muslim brotherhood. until it gets worked out and resolved, we will see egypt with authoritarian regime after authoritarian regime. >> the people who would prefer to have stability and security, despite the freedoms they're giving up. >> right and we can't view these people contemptuously. he is someone who fought risked

his family's livelihood, and the fact that he's begin up on his revolutionary ideals and opted for incremental reform within the system, suggests that egypt needs someone to really address these structural, profound structural problems before they go for the sort of luxuries as they're viewed of freedom. >> and you say in the boom that naysayers should -- book that 98 sayers, do you think the country will become more democratic ? >> people have deposed three regimes in three years. it's going to take ogeneration to see where that leads. it might not leads somewhere good but it will absolutely change the relationship between the ruler and the ruled in egypt and would i wager across the arab world. >> it is a fascinating book that brings up all sorts ever questions that need to be asked.

good to have you with us again thanks for coming in good luck with the book. >> thanks for having me here. >> coming up mountain gorillas facing extinction. may be taking a devastating toll on their abilities to survive. the financial result of being a smoker. breakthrough television event. borderland. six strangers. >> let's just send them back to mexico. >> experience illegal immigration up close and personal. >> it's overwhelming to see this many people that have perished. >> lost lives are relived. >> all of these people shouldn't be dead. >> will there differences bring them together or tear them apart? >> the only way to find out is to see it yourselves. >> which side of the fence are you on? borderland, sunday at 9 eastern, only on al jazeera america.

>> today's data dive goes up in smoke. about one in five americans is looked on gretle according to cigarettes according to the american lung association. lifetime pack a day smokers could spend as much as $2 million on their addiction. wallet hub has calculated the average lifetime costs in every state for people who smoke from age 18 to 69, average age of death for smokers. they factor had the cost of cigarettes, what you could have earned, health care cost, income losses due smoking and higher insurance rates. the average very significantly a pack that goes $5.85 in missouri will run you $12.85 in new york. life time, $1.1 million.

west virginia is second acknowledge kentucky, mississippi and georgia. the most expensive condition are alaska, more than $2 million. the northeast fills out the top five with connecticut, new york, massachusetts and rhode island. it will cost quarter of a million dollars to raise a baby born last year to the age of 18. cost of ook smoker being a smoker in alaska eight times more. they actually make an average of 17.5% less than nonsmokers. coming up the desperate and often deadly efforts to save mountain gorillas from extinction. we'll take you inside the conflict in congo. congo.

judges e- >> the fight to keep mountain grill lastguerillasgorillas from being

extinct. the oscar nominated documentary verunda. i'll and gas campaign called soko. -- oil and gas company called soko. >> we think we have a problem. . >> companies are playing with fire. fear has driven people out of these villages. >> weswe would lose everything. >> the national part the only hope this region has. >> directed the film, verunga is

now streaming on net flimple. good to have you with us. really a very, very powerful film. verunda is this spectacular national park in congo one of the most biodiverse places in the world. and it's been threatened in the past few years busy the past two years rebels, oil and this war against gorillas. >> this park is really people focused and it is really driven by creating projects and with that comes stability and long term peace. >> again stability is what this park has not seen. a tremendous violence, there are park rangers dedicated to protecting that park, 140 of them have died. two of the people you profile in

the movie you know, the most high profile people in the movie were attacked after you finished filming. >> yeah, it's incredibly dangerous. and i suppose that just goes to show how very brave the rangers are, every day they get up knowing it could be their last. that is very humbling. there are these people who will risk their lives for something bigger than us. something very important for this planet, africa's oldest national park, if this place falls, what is save on the planet that can be protected? what is safe from human greed? >> at least that's got an little better but the issue with the oil and gas company despite their denials they say they are not moving forward with any be efforts there. >> they have an american board. they have been explore there for

num of years. in june they made an announcement that they would hawltd for a number of years. the results of their exploration, they left the door to come back in if the results are positive. >> this is a world heritage site. why would they be allowed to drill if it got to that point? >> why would any responsible company explore in a world heritage site? that is something you have to ask them. i personally think it's disgraceful. >> mountain gorillas. they are extremely endangered. they live in small habitats in that area, congo uganda couple yourwanda. they're human like, the affection they show. >> you say they're endangered. there are only 880 left in the world.

the populations have been improved because of the ranges in the national park and the surrounding parks where they live. >> what kind of threat do these ranges face now most? the head guy was shot in the stomach just a few months ago. >> they face a number of threats, but the one threat to the entire integrity to the park is the legal exploration that the company has been doing. that threatens everything that the guys have risked their lives for. >> you see extreme behavior for people reportedly representing soko. >> these are people who are soko supporters contractors for soko direct employees and the things they say you couldn't script it

allow they couldn't care less about this park just incede bring greedy and disgraceful. >> bribes and threats. >> yes our investigation over the last couple of years throw up sears questions about brieshary corruption human rights abuse and links to rebel groups. and weeds are very concerned about this company doesn't have jurisdiction over these grounds. >> the great animals that live in this place and need to be helped is there a solution? how are things moving forward to protect this park and those animals? >> well our film we believe that's a really useful tool to protect this park. it is shedding light the a global audience what's happening in this very important part of our world. i'd love your audience to watch our film pj go to our website verungamovie.com. >> there are attempts to find worldwide investment to make this park successful and sustainable. >> absolutely. the management of the park are

pushing forward this very ambitious movement, called verunga alliance, and the country brings in about $500 million just from gorilla tourism. the potential to bring in an all ofawstles lot ofawful lot of money. >> good luck at the oscars. >> thank you very much. >> good to have you with us, oscar nominated film ve verunga. >> come coming up, flexg rose will join us as he still face assassination attempts decades later. and scores of women and children are being slaughtered in mexico, why is it so hard to find them

justice. the conversation continues. you can tweet me @amoratv. we'll see you next time. time. this is al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler. ferguson report - darren wilson is not likely to face federal charges in the killing of michael brown. the invitation for israel's leader hour john boehner did an end run around the white house. holiday havana - americans look to cuba as the u.s. eases travel restrictions and texas