>> this is aljazeera i'm randall pinkston in new in new york, and john seigenthaler is on assignment. case closed. the man who killed trayvon martin will face no federal charges. a fallout amid a new debate about jus, and the spy cables. an aljazeera investigation leaking the documents, and tonight, why the cia reached out to hamas over gaza. street life.

young lgbt and homeless, their daily struggle to survive. autism speaks, we talk with the organization's founders and the surprising new findings about the disorder. and plus, ira glass my conversation with the storyteller. how he's taking this american life on the road. >> this thursday marks three years since george zimmerman shot and killed trayvon martin. the violent death of the unarmed black teenager with questions about profiling. would he face federal charges? should he? well, today wanted justice department announced a decision that for many adds to the anger and anguish. >> we, the jury, find george zimmerman, not guilty.

>> a florida jury jury acquitted george zimmerman of murder. he said that he shot martin, who was unarmed in self defense. the police initially chose to not charge zimmerman, but after months of protests, prosecutors filed murder charges. critics were outraged over what they say was a case of racial profiling and the police indifference to the death of a black teenager. >> if i had a son, he would look like trayvon. >> federal authorities promised an investigation and now a year and a half later the justice department announced that there would be no federal charges against zimmerman. eric holder released this statement. though a comprehensive investigation found that the high standard for hate crime cannot met under these circumstances here, this young man's death suggests that we

continual the dialogue and be unafraid of the issues and want tensions his passing brought to the surface. we as a nation must take concrete steps to ensure that such incidents don't occur in the future. other cases that the justice department is still investigating. >> i'm here to announce that the justice department will proceed with a federal civil rights investigation into mr. garner's death. >> reporter: eric garner died after he was placed in a chokehold while the police officers say that he was resisting arrest. and in ferguson, missouri, officer wilson is being investigated into the shooting death of michael brown. both men were unarmed. and the officers involved will not face charges. >> some think that it reflects poorly on what happened from the justice department in the future.

but each of those cases has to be taken on the facts. >> the million hoodies movement for justice, a group that he normed after the death of trayvon martin. and first, your reaction to the department of justice's position not to bring federal charges against george zimmerman. >> disappointed but not surprised. >> why not surprised? >> it goes back to prove that black bodies, brown bodies, the system wasn't designed for us, and though we're very disappointed and hope that we would see some form of justice this is not something that we're surprised about. >> we have to push back a little bit on this. because it's attorney general eric holder, who took a personal from traditional analysts ininterest in the casefrom the outset. and can you see that they applied the law here, not in terms of color but what is required for charges just as

simple as that, nothing about devaluing bodies? >> it just says that george zimmerman can get away with murder. and i think that this is a question about how we can radically shift the way that the law protects people. right? and when we get to the heart of this, it's that we also needtoral start pressuring congress and the congressional folk to really get an understanding of how racial profiling and the criminalization of communities of color harms our communities in different ways, and just by wearing a hoody is a partly of that right? >> so given the outcome which you disagree, do you think that it's important for the department of justice to play a role in investigating civil rights it allegations? the investigation, in ferguson. >> absolutely.

i think that the doj still plays a role, and it's important because it sets a precedent, right? and the conversation that's happening. we also need accountability and we need folks on the outside to put pressure on elected officials and their local communities to really think about how this impacts us all right? and i think right now, it's just really a testament about how we can put pressure on the racial profiling act and really looking at ways in which criminalization of our communities is affecting our lives, right? >> wax the racial profiling act? >> it's actually a bill that has been promised for years now. and in light of ferguson, missouri, after mike brown was killed on august 9th, there has been a lot of energy around moving this forward.

and it's an effort to really think about how communities of color and folks who have been profiled in different ways, whether through ethnicity or race or even religion, how it provides protections for them. >> so this decision comes at the end of eric holder's tenure as u.s. attorney general. in a nutshell, how would you rate his role in trying to bring justice and racial justice to the country? >> i think that he's done a terrific job in the confines that he has right? i think as the first black attorney general, that has provided a lot of difficulties, as much as being the first black president of the united states has in terms of the structure and the systems. so i think that in every

regard, he has done what he has, and i'm looking forward to the confirmation to see what she can push forward in the movement for black lives what we have talked about. policing and racial bias and profiling in a more expansive way. >> thank you the founder of the one million ahold he's move: thank you for joining us. >> in northern syria, isil fighters have kidnapped dozens of teenagers from their homes after girls have gone to join isil. and the girls have probably made it to syria. >> it seems that the worst fears of the families of these schoolgirls have been realized. these girls have been described as normal, straight a students, and british prime minister, david cameron said that they

were radicalized and duped and now it appears to be too late to keep them from joining isil. >> we miss you, we cannot stop crying. please, come to us. >> a plea from a father, desperate for his teenage daughter to come home. last week, emir, shammeer and soltana left their homes from london and went to turkey, they could have been planning to join isil. the families had no idea that the girls were leaving. >> there was nothing different about her, no changes in her behavior, in anything, she was just our beak. >> tuesday, the british authorities believe that the girls have crossed into syria, the news comes a day after turkey accused britain of failing to track the girls and then taking too long to tell turkey about them.

they have been on high alert as isil has recruited up to 10,000 foreign fighters around the world. >> we all have a role to play in stopping people from having their minds poisoned by them. >> tuesday morning in spain, four men were arrested for their alleged involvement in an online network to recruit women for isil. a neighber said that he's innocent, not connected with isil. >> those people that cut people's heads? that's not islam. islam says that you have to help people, do the right thing and steal. all of that, and on top of that, this guy was born here. >> in just under a year, territory across syria and iraq, the brutal tactics have sent millions of people fleeing into neighboring countries. just this week, the observatory for human rights said that isil kidnapped 90 christians in syria, and meanwhile, the

u.s. campaign against isil is working, but it takes time. monday, u.s. forces carried out a dozen airstrikes against isil in syria and five more from iraq. the u.s. military said that >> how effective the airstrikes are is entirely, due to the lack of troops on the ground, it's impossible to know how many isil fighters might be killed in those strikes, and as for the missing british teenagers, they are reporting that as many as 50 british women have gone to join isil as so-called gee haddie brides. >> paul, any idea of how the 16-year-old girls put together the funds to make that trip? it's not an easy thing to get the documentation alone. >> another question, why wasn't there a lookout? why weren't they caught at the airport in london and in turkey and questioned about where they were going? als the investigation moves forward, and it the family is trying to figure it all out. >> in other news tonight

authorities in nigeria say an american preacher has been abduct. he's a seattle-based missionary for the free health district church. she was kidnapped monday night from the hope academy compound. the u.s. state department officials are aware of the reports, but cannot comment at this time. also, in nigeria twin soup side attacks killed at least 24 today. they happened at a crowded bus station, 200 miles apart. these are from kogi, and the young man forced his way onto the bus before detonating the explosives. there has been no claim of responsibility. now to the spy cables. hundreds of leaked documents obtained by aljazeera's investigative unit. tonight, they're giving new insight into the role of the u.s. in the middle east. and that includes secret

phonecalls at the highest level of government. and a test by the cia to contact what the u.s. cads a terrorist group. we have the exclusive details. >> the spy cables show us just how the u.s., israel and the palestinian authority play political games with each other. >> the general conference for palestine, as member of unesco. >> unesco gave the state of palestine full membership in 2011. and its president, mahmoud abbas has sought wider exceptance every since, but the u.s. fought that at the highest levels. a secret phonecall from the white house to the palestinian authority leader. president obama threatened president abbas if he went ahead with the u.n. bid. and just as the u.s. was pressuring the palestinian authority, it was now seen that

they were seeking to establish content with hamas, a group that it considers a terrorist organization. he asked his south african counterpart to put them in touch. the south african writes that the u.s. seems to be desperate to make inroads into hamas and gaza, and they would establish the collection priorities and the cia. so in other words they would know what the cia is up to. meanwhile in 2009, south africa's spy chief gets a direct phonecall. he's shocked at the breach of protocols and orders the staff to verify the number. later, a meeting. he wants south africa to put down the gold report. prominent south african

journalist, richard goldstone, led it, and said that israel had committed numerous war crimes. the mayor said that the palestinian authority leader mahmoud abbas, supports wht israeli position and wants them to vote it down, and if he were in favor of the goldstone report, it would weaken hamas and his position. in this, it reveals how well the u.s. and the palestinian authority are privately forming clandestine alliances that they would never admit to public. >> this week marked ceasefire in gaza, and tonight we look at the impact on children. according to the staggering numbers, more than 370,000 gaza children have signs of alcohol trauma, and that's equivalent to every child in dallas

suffering from ptsd. nick schifrin reports from gaza. >> these children didn't lose their lives but in shock they lost their words. >> can you tell me today, what do you like to do? huh? >> he was once kind. it would he's violent. his outburst target friends and family. all of them are surrounded by poverty. in neighborhood, little girls climb up walls marked by shrapnel. he has been like this ever since the war's most notorious moments. on july 16th two israeli strikes destroyed a beach hut. a group of boys playing nearby start running but they can't outrun the bombardment.

four die including his brother. he suffers head and arm and back wounds. today, he tried to kill his cousin he tried to kill himself. >> patrick can you tell me what you remember from july? >> for so many kids here, the cost of conflict is trauma. gazan children have lost their childhood. >> do you remember what happened? >> eight-year-old bass am's favorite place is her uncle's garden. she has lived here for six months. ever since she survived the horror. more gazans died here than anywhere else. it would her home is still in ruins, a green high schoolas flag hangs outside. for three days, she was buried alive under the damage.

her mother and father and four brothers and sisters were killed. the war created 15 money 1500 orphans. >> can you tell me about your school? what do you like about your school? >> this is the lifelong kind of imagery and scars that are impacting scores of children across gaza. it's not something that kids can recover from. ever. >> pernille iron side and unicef sponsor children who have lost family and homes. they reassociate the sound of the explosion with something benign. in games they blindfold to increase trust. her group receives additional counseling. and the war still surrounds him. his neighborhood is destroyed.

sewage runs through the street. and his home is a thin, cold caravan. >> children are on the edge of losing hope entirely. their entire future looks bleak. >> but thanks to the exercises ibrahim can at least tell me what happened during the war and even look forward. >> ibrahim can you tell me what you want to be when you grow up? >> a doctor. >> why do you want to be a doctor? >> 370,000 gaza children are mentally injured from the violence shocked and speechless. and will only one out of three is getting any help. nick schifrin, aljazeera, gaza. >> up next, a second rail crossing accident in three weeks. what drivers are doing wrong

and what could help them save lives. and unlocking the mysteries of autism. new reach to change the way that doctors treat the disorder.

he's out there. there's a guy out there whose making a name for himself in a sport where your name and maybe a number are what define you. somewhere in that pack is a driver that can intimidate the intimidator. a guy that can take the king 7 and make it 8. heck. maybe even 9. make no mistake about it. they're out there. i guarantee it. welcome to the nascar xfinity series.

>> north of los angeles today dozens of people were hurt when a commuter train hit an suv on the tracks. four people were critically injured, and several metro link train cars derailed. the driver fled the scene, but he was taken in a short time later. a train crash killed six people in new york. we have more on both crashes and the evidence to improve safety. >> randall the accident happened early this morning, at 5:40 am california time. the investigators will look at the actions of the truck driver and see if the that will was working properly. and the train did have an event or quarter onboard and it will show speed and when the brakes will applied. now, this is the second

train accident just in month and it once again raisings the issue of safety at railroad crossings. the force of the accident forced three of the cars off the track and onto their sides and it slammed into a truck stuck on the rail. >> we have a total of 51 people that were victims of this incident. 28 were transported to various hospitals, and we had four critical. >> authorities say the train was traveling 79 miles per hour when the engineer saw the truck and hit the brakes. after the collision, the truck caught fire and the driver fled the scene. he was spotted by the police about a mile away. the national transportation safety board has launched a team to investigate. >> certainly, we're concerned with rail crossing accidents and there are over 2,000 each

year in this country, of which about 250 are fatal. >> this is the second crossing accident in just three weeks. earlier this month, a train in new york smashed into an suv stopped on the tracks. the driver died and so and five people on the train. in both new york and california, as with about half of all crossing accidents, the crash occurred at locations with warning devices, lights and gates. it's often the fault of the driver, who gets confused, distracted or tries to beat the train. that's what happened in this collision in michigan in 2009. the driver apparently tried to slip around the gate. and an amtrak train plowed into the car, killing all five onboard. >> every three hours, a person or car is hit by a train, and that's an alarming statistic that we want people to know. how large and widespread a

problem is this. >> operation life rail has safety and education campaigns. efforts like this and safety improvements at the crossings have made a difference. >> stay focused, stay alive. >> in 1978, there were more than 13,000 accidents at grade crossings, and in 2013, that dropped to just over 2,000 collisions. an 85% decrease. and the number of deaths has decreased. a 77% decline. but there are more than 200,000 grade crossings in the u.s., locations where vehicles and trains can come together. a huge potential hazard. experts say the best rail crossing is no rail cross. separate the road and rail. the federal government gives states over $200 million every year to improve safety at crossings, but often it comes

down to awareness and education of the driver. california metro link says it uses a system called positive train control. it stops the train if there's another train on the track or something alongside the rail. but it doesn't hold up much in this kind of an accident, and also, the railcars involved in today's crash were of the latest safety design, and they absorb the forces of the crash and that may be the reason that more people were not more seriously injured. >> thank you. up next, young people forced to live on the streets all because of their sexual orientation. the unique dangers they face, and new efforts to help. and my conversation with bob and suzanne wright. the couple's mission to cure autism. and the progress made so far.

>> this is aljazeera america. i'm randall pinkston, john seigenthaler is on assignment. >> seeking refuge. a sudden rise in homelessness among lgbt youth. on the streets and shelter that offers hope. and surprising findings from a massive study on twins with autism. the up expected role of genes, only adding to the mystery. speaking out. >> we're all coming together to encourage a better understanding of children with autism. >> we'll talk to the cofounders of autism speaks. bob and suzanne wright. on a decade of giving a voice to millions. and plus, he's american life. ira glass on his show and his favorite stories. >> we begin this half hour with homelessness and the lgbt community.

the white house gave guidelines not to ask about sexual assault. and how individuals identify their own gender. along with lgbt, homelessness is increasing. 7 million teens find themselves without a place to say. half a million without their families and many of them are lgbt. for many, it brings risks. how a one-of-a-kind shelter here in new york works offering temporary homes and hope. >> randall just to add to those staggering statistics, we know there are supposedly only 4,000 beds available for all homeless youth across the country, and as for lgbt kids, they don't feel welcome in the general shelters, and oftentimes, they're bullied, and then there's a more pressing problem and some say that the success of the gay rights movement, it's causing

the number of lgbt kids to increase. and with a spike that summer in new york. we got an exclusively look into one organization, dedicated to the cause. these young people have no place to call home. every day is a struggle to survive. >> i was in an argument with my mom, and she's like, i know you're a faggette. and i turned to her you know, i am a faggette. i am. >> my name before was liz. and she said, you can be gay but not in my house. >> for now he calls new york city home. the largest organization in the country dedicated to helping kids who identify as lesbian

gay, transsexual or bisexual. >> i feel like homeless youth are the collateral damage of american equality. i'm not saying that to criticize american equality. we as a people have to be treated fairly under the law but what happens you have kids feeling more emboldened to come out. and you have conservative parents who have been riled up by the religious-based opposition to it. and it's a toxic combination. >> and much of the time those kids end up on the streets. he founded the center eight years ago in honor of his friend who was murdered on the streets when he was only 22. the centers now offer short-term housing for weeks for months for dozens of lgbt youth. and they give 16-24-year-olds

job training and medical services. now, they can learn self defense, eat a home-cooked meal and hang out in a safe space where they're not bullied for who they are. but until recently, when day turned to night everyone at the harlem center had to leave. it was designated as a 24-hour center, the first of its kind in the u.s., and open five days a week. >> here's the hardest part of the center, turning kids away. so some of these kids are in really desperate situations, and i just wanted to do everything that we can possibly do to protect them. so having a 24-hour drop-in center just that many young people are not out on the streets prostituting themselves and doing drugs. >> we dropped in on sunday,

when four kids are lucky enough to secure a spot. only 14 are allowed for overnight. and >> the moment you were out on the street, you feel lost, and you don't know what's going on. >> when they can not get a spot for the night they kick into survival moat. for lewisina, ever since she began her transition two years ago, surviving is sitting in starbucks and riding a train. >> sitting there the whole time until they close and then i take the one train, back and forth between the bronx and lower manhattan. i go sit in starbucks when they reopen at 5:30. >> he has had the chance to shower and brush his teeth. for him doing things that he never imagined he would have to do just for a warm bed. he sometimes turns to craig's list looking for generous men

offering meals and shelter and money in exchange for sex. >> the guys invite you to the hotel room. >> but it's lights out at 11:00, no exceptions, and it's a relief to them. these are a relief for kids who would normally be out on the street in the northeast winter with temperatures in the single digits. >> just to be able to come here and shower and sleep and not have to worry about somebody touching on me all night or wanting something from me. >> as great as it is, to have a place to stay for a few days, the reality is, come wednesday they all must leave. there's not enough money to keep the drop-in center open all week. it's tough to take, even for a kid like him, who has been homeless for a year now. >> you never know what life will throw at you. all of us are young and

imagine if it was one of your children, you know? if you were to take away sexual sexuality. and we're at a young age where this kind of situation can really make a person or break a person. >> the young people spending the week at the harlem center must be out by 6:00 tomorrow. and we'll be there to connect with them, randall and see what their options are at that point and where they go next. >> let's emphasis this, it's five days a week, but what do they do for the other two? >> it's a daily service so they have a place to stay during the day and then the kid has to find somewhere else to go. >> more beds take money. and what's the funding? >> funding is a big problem here, and the center is one of the largest organizations dedicated to this particular cause, and they say that in the past year, they have lost $1 million in state and federal funding, so that is certainly

something that they really need in order to create more beds and help more kids. >> what about the white house speaking about the need in the past week, for shelters to pay particular attention to lgbts? is that going in that direction? >> that's great. and it certainly raises awareness, but if it's not raising money yeah, the kids are still homeless. >> thank you erica and fascinating report and congratulations for persuading them to allow you to do this story. we'll now move to washington, and marilyn, who is joining us, the executive director for transgender equality. and you saw that report. what were you thinking as you watched the plight of these young people and their search for shelter? >> absolutely heartbreaking. we hear the stories every day. and it's such an epidemic problem. as the reporter noted we think of 40% of homeless yacht are

lgbt. and 19% of transgender people have been homeless at one point in time in their life. so it's a real epidemic. >> what's it like for a homeless person who identifies as transgender to find a shelter that will accept them? >> that's really tough. we saw in the same survey that 29% of the folks who had been homeless and tried to access the shelter were just turned away. and we were told we won't serve you because you're transgender and when people can't get into shelters, they're often forced to live in the gender that's opposite of who they are so they will be allowed in the shelter. we saw that 55% of our homeless transpeople had been harassed while in the shelter, 25 had been physically assaulted and just a shocking 22% almost a quarter had been sexually assaulted while they were in the shelter.

it's just horrifying. >> now as we saw, there are shelters out there that cater to the members of the religion religionlgbtcommunity. >> they're so few and far between, and if you just look at new york and that story the center is a phenomenal place and even when they're fully funded, they can barely make a dent in the problem. there need to be so many more than beds available and shelters available in new york city and washington d.c. but also in small towns. towns. >> they may have been opened up to lgbt across the country. >> as you mentioned.

the urban department of development issuing rules on homeless shelters, and saying in part quoting here, there's generally no legitimate reason for them to request the documentation of a person's sex in order to determine the appropriate placement. now, the question, is that a rule enough for shelters to open their doors to lgbt and especially transgender? >> i think that the rule is enough for transgender people to understand their rights to all facility. if it's also guidance for the well meaning shelters to not discriminate against the transgender homeless folks. we need them to actually maimed the equal access rule on

discrimination against transpeople, to specifically lay out some of the same things that were in the guidance, so that it's absolutely in every shelter in the country that discrimination won't be tolerated. >> the national center for transgender equality. thank you for coming to aljazeera. >> thank you for having me. >> it affects one in 68 children. no medical detection for a cure for the disorder, but there's hope. bob and suzanne wright on the founders of autism speaks. they have raised half a billion-dollar for research. and we'll talk to them in a moment. but first the surprising finds of the children of autism. >> kevin can't speak but he sure can communicate. like asking for his favorite drink. >> i like chocolate milk. chocolate milk is awesome.

>> like one in 58 american kids kevin is autistic, and like many of those children, he shares autism with his sister, 18-year-old melissa. but melissa can speak. >> what are you making? >> i'm making a swaddler for my baby cousin. >> because autism often runs in families experts thought that siblings with the disorder inherited the same autism genes, but a new study shows this may not be true. each may have their own form. >> siblings with autism don't necessarily have the same genetic makeup that could be causing their autism. >> dr. numeyer treats melissa in massachusetts where 6,000 patients come through the doors every single year, and like many of those families, melissa's parents admit that having kids with different ability levels creates a common

worry about the future. >> my biggest fear is that they won't be loved the way i can love them. that they won't be taken care of the way i take care of them. >> even karen and melissa's older sister, emily said that it keeps her awake at night. >> will they live with me? with my family. >> she fell in love with julie an autism specialist. and they got married in 2008. >> i was married and that didn't work out. she said, i don't get t after all of these years i don't get t it's not about being with a woman. it's about being with julie. >> she saved my life. and i really believe that we came together for a reason >> so as they prepare for kids for the future, they make the most of what they can teach them now. >> kevin meets with a local speech therapist once a week to

learn skills, and meanwhile melissa wants more than just skills, she wants companionship. >> what do you hope to do when you get a little bit old? >> i hope to raise a family someday >> so you want to get married and have kids? >> i do. >> melissa expressions all the time that she would like a friend but it's so hard for her. >> but it doesn't keep her from trying. >> what do you do again at lexington high school. what do you do there? >> basically, food prep. preparing burgers and smoothies and serving lunches to the students there. >> and with each interaction she wants you to know just one thing. don't count her out. >> for those struggling with autism. don't think about your capabilities, but think about your abilities, and what you can do. >> those came from the missing project, recently launched by the organization, autism

speaks, which is looking for answers about the cause of the disorder. bob and susan wright founded the organization after their grandson was diagnosed with it. and as you watched that story mrs. wright, i couldn't help but notice that you were emotionally engaged. >> it brings back all of the memories of having a child that doesn't speak. and our child did speak but it was very emotional for me to watch that. especially having the mother have two. it was so difficult to have one child, christian in the family. and it affects the entire family. it's not something that can be compartmentalized. it's in front of you every day. >> how did the family discover that your grandson was autistic? >> he was doing great. he was our first grandchild. and meeting every milestone and he talked and he ran down our driveway and doing so beautiful. and then he started having

temper tantrums, and slapping his hands and walking on his toes and screaming, and i knew something was wrong so we brought him to many doctors and they all said that because she had another child that moved, boys regress. and that's an old wives tale. we don't deal with that anymore. if you have a suspicion that something is wrong with your child, you must get help. because early interrex is so important. >> you think of a disease like an iceberg. the top of it. the piece above the water is what people see the presentation of the disease but when you're tackling the disease, you keep going deeper and deeper and deeper, and the missing project that you showed is an example. the deepest you can go is to examine the whole genome, which has been until recently, too expensive and too complex to do. but it is now less expensive

and with a lot of help, in our case with going to 8 breaking that down, we're going to have ten thousand samples of family members and individuals with autism. and that's going to be a scientific portal built by google where scientists all over the world can go n. and think of it as the new york public library 100 years ago they brought the big books in, and you can't take them out you have to go in. because the people researching would be there for a long time. this is the same situation we open up that portal, and now all of a sudden, you'll be able to see the bottom of the iceberg. >> what would you see as the most important accomplishments because of autism speaks? >> i think for me, world day we were able to get every country in the world to agree that we would have a u.n. sanctioned world awareness day which is april second.

and after that, i asked every country in the world to help me and now we have lighted up blue around the world. so doha and qatar, they were the first onboard lighting up many buildings and today we just got the freedom tower. >> in the blue. >> and this is a blue puzzle piece, and this is an iconic mark around the world. and i think those two are huge winners. >> and what about insurance? >> we got 38 states to pass assurance. and it's not possible to get any economic relief for parents. this is not in the works. >> they didn't cover it. >> no. >> and we still need a lot more on that. and this project that i just eluded to, missing would have never happened year ago and it took much longer to do it. we have had all kinds of services issues that we have developed in the united states, and we're taking these around the world now. we have 60 arrangements armed

the world. and i have to give varying credit to shaka mos a because in the early stages we were doing this, and she invited suzanne over there. >> for three years, we were over there in qatar. >> and the qatar mission was extremely helping in getting account world awareness day and also helpful in getting the world health organization to join in. that's one of the most significant things that we d the world health organization only deals with u.n. approved priorities. no matter what they want to do, and it took us three years and we got those. and now we have the world health organization working all around the world and they especially like developing countries, like bangladesh where they can deal with people. and that's very gratifying. >> bob wright and suzanne wright. >> thank you so much for letting us be here. >> congressional republicans say that they will not give up

the fight to build the controversial keystone xl pipeline. today, president obama convenient owed a bill authorizing the sidestepping of military approval. and the republicans say they will override the veto and it's not clear if they have the support in both how's it's to do so. stepping aside with us now to tell us about the stories in the next hour. >> two weeks ago syrian president, bashar, denied that his forces used barrel bombs which are crude weapons that kill indiscriminately. but in a report, photographic evidence of nearly 1500 sites where the syrian military has used barrel bombs and according to human rights groups on the ground, they have killed more than 6,000 civilians. a year ago the united nations council called for a ban on barrel bombs but that has not

changed the facts on the ground. >> we have seen the syrian government, as well as other parts of the conflict, have completely failed to abide by the terms of the resolution, and despite that, the security council has failed to take the issue back up. >> coming up, the evidence that they have had on the syrian population. >> thank you stephanie. up next, public radio's ira glass onstage. i spoke to him about his show, three acts, two dancers, one radio host.

>> i spoke to ira glass about his surprising turn as show man. >> there's this dance company called the monica and bill barns dance company. and i saw them perform a couple of years ago, and there was something that i had never experienced at a dance show, where there's something about it which felt exactly like what we're trying to do on the radio. whether it's a documentary quality, capturing the moments

in everyday life, and it's fun and not entertainment. and it wasn't hard to get. and their faces were super expressive, and there's something about it. because they work in a medium that's so different than mine, but they work in a medium with no words and they were trying to do what we do on the radio in american life, using only words, and i felt like we should collaborate. ♪ >> so you could have selected any other medium or any other concept for telling your story. >> yeah. why did i do the very hardest one? >> you could have done video and obviously you're using sound. but you could have used music. why dancers? you could have had actors do

little vignettes. >> i don't defend it as a smart choice everything you're saying would have made sense but it seemed like an interesting thing to try. and when we started we don't know how we would do it. we had the same sense be able tosensibility.but it sounds cornier than it is. >> how many stories did you select for your stage play? >> about a dozen and there's a range. like it's, you know, we started with some really funny ones, and we started the first ones that we chose, we had done stories about the job of being a dancer, a funny one years ago that we remade their this, so they stand in for the dancers in the story and then we realized, what else can you dance to and also make a story to? so we found stories dancing about love, and then the other

thing, that's a whole section of the show, just stories about loss. you know, like when you have enough grief to make you dance. >> does somebody talk about radio for a -- how did you select radio as your means as a professional? >> it was dumb luck. as a young person growing up, i had no special feeling about radio, and i had no allegiance, but i was 19 years old in college, and i wanted to do something in media and i went to baltimore and i went to all of these radio and tv stations and none of them could give me an internship. and one just opened up, national public radio. and i worked my way in, and it was all young people. >> people are going to podcasts and they are -- radio, how relevant today? >> i mean, i'm no expert on this, and i can tell you that

our audience is still strong, and whether people will continue to get it over actual radios, over towers and things like that, i don't know. people keep predicting the death of radio but my feeling is as long as people are lazy, when they get into their cars, they don't want to have to program every single thing that they want to listen to. you don't want to have to download the thing and plug it in. >> you turn it on and there it is. >> as long as we're lazy. >> and los angeles people are lazy, they will listen to ira glass. >> yeah. >> that's true. that's true. >> ira glass, thank you very much. three acts, two dancers one radio host. and when does it come to new york? >> hopefully soon. >> and thank you for coming to aljazeera. >> thank you so much for having me. >> thank you. the show, three acts, two

dancers, is on broadway and in select u.s. cities. now, the picture of the day, before neil armstrong's small step, there was a historic feat. the first space walk by an american, ed white, in general nigh 4. taken by fellow astronaut, and the print is up for auction on thursday. i'm randall pinkston. the news continues.