>> a real look at the american dream. only on al jazeera america. >> part of our month long look at working in america. "hard earned". >> this is al jazeera america. i'm erica pitzi in new york with a look at today's top stories. gun fire erupts in a texas bar killing nine people. police say rival biker gangs are behind the shootout. ramadi fawlsd to falls to i.s.i.l. nuclear weapons are the greatest threat to the world.

according to one former cia operative. we'll talk to valerie plame. and voting on same sex marriage in iowa, at the polls. the pentagon is vowing to help iraq reclaim the city of ramadi. the capital of anbar province was captured by i.s.i.l. today. fighters seized control when the iraqi army retreated despite the orders to honored hold hold their ground. the defeat in ramadi was seen as a had emerge set back for the iraqi government. mostly sunni province, i.s.i.l. now controls much of anbar as well as several roads leading to

the west and north. but the had evening a defense spokes woman defends. >> crowing refugee crisis in iraq kimberly halkett reports. >> reporter: smoke still visible high above the ramadi headline. the city of ramadi under attack from i.s.i.l. fighters using car bombs to reach the center of the city where government buildings are located. the battle with iraqi forces is intense. army and police units are seen in an apparent retreat as i.s.i.l. takes control. the fall of ramadi happening just as the u.s. led coalition intensifies its air strikes inside iraq. 18 strikes at six locations including ramadi in an attempt to disable i.s.i.l.'s tactical units and staging areas. >> so we're going to see these

set backs some are serious. but the long term strategy of the united states to support the iraqis by, with and through the iraqis not with the iraqis, but by with and through iraqis, will be a successful strategy. >> an attempt to overwhelm i.s.i.l. forces, a tactic not received well by the sunnies living there. tens of thousands are now displaced and homeless after discerns fighting in anbar province. finding different but still desperate conditions. >> you can see children suffering, no running water no electricity, no shelter this could be another humanitarian disaster if it's not controlled

quickly. >> since the start of last year, there are close to 3 million internally displaced in iraq. residents now from ramadi flee their city from conditions they have been able to many find anywhere in iraq. >> earlier my colleague bisi onile-ere spoke with the general. >> that's really what's happening inside of iraq right now. not here but other cities as well. when you have iraqi forces abandoning their equipment again and i.s.i.s. taking over american equipment as well, humvees as well as tanks, you're going to have a lard battle to go back in there. the united states has not done enough i don't think with regard to the training of those forces because we can train sunni and shia forces but they have to work together. in this particular situation

the naish anbar province is prairm primarily a sunni-led province about we saw some of the following on that. >> forces taking back the ancient city of palmyra nearly 300 were killed according to the syria council of of human rights. 57 civilians were killed. no damage was done to palmyra's historic ruins. egypt is now restricting travel to turkey for women in an

effort to keep them from joining i.s.i.l. required to obtain security clearance before traveling to the country. officials have rm developed concern over women traveling to turkey. saudi led coalition forces were reported in aden. tribal leaders met to discuss a peace plan. exiled president hadi blamed houthi fighters for conflict. >> translator: they shell civilian buildings by heavier artillery, they also seize oil to use it as a tool to humiliate our people. history will remember, we feel sorry to see our people under the siege of these militias. >> houthis were invited to the summit but refused to attend. nine people are dead in waco

texts tonight after gun fire erupted between rival biker gangs. police had been alerted to at least three gangs on the 69 before fighting quickly escalated to a shootout. at least 18 gang members were taken to hospitals with injuries. no officers were hurt. police say they recovered nearly 100 weapons at the shooting including knives and guns. another story developing tonight, the zedly crash of a marine corps aircraft at hawaii, at bellows air force station near honolulu. on board the tilt wing osprey aircraft similar to this one. .black smoke was rising from the scene of the crash. a may 1st humvee crash has taken another officer's life.

brad leek one of five service members, hit by a car trying to pass them. the collision sent the humvee off the road and into a tree. first sergeant john lavonis died as well. according to amtrak, trains will resume from new york to philadelphia. helping to determine if an object that hit the windshield contributed to last week's deadly derailment. be richellerichelle carey has more. >> beginning at 5:fully service will begin on the line. authorities questioned the engineer who said he had no memory of the crash.

but a conductor said she heard the engineer state that he had noticed an impact. was it possible that someone shot at the plane? zumwalt had this to say. >> i'd like to discourage that notion. it was more like the size of a grapefruit. this is another piece of the investigation. >> all but 20 are still in in the hospital. amtrak employee filed the first lawsuit related to the accident asking for more than $150,000 in damages. congress has actually limited the amount that amtrak could pay out lawsuits related to the crashes, at $200 million.

that limit hasn't been faced since amtrak was facing bankruptcy. some attorneys are predicting that this could be the first case in which amtrak reaches that liability cap. erica. >> emergency crews in north texas stairnlgd staged several dramatic rest cues pnl officials say mean dozen rescue were conducted early today for residents who were either trapped in their homes or stranded in vehicles. kevin corriveau joins us with a closer look at these storms. >> things have gotten better since yesterday. we were talking about over 33 tornadoes across the area, but also the flooding with the rest accuse that went on. i want to take to you northern texas right now go about 24 mowrs back and show youhours back.

the flooding line just close to dallas. more flooding in that region, the extensive area of flooding across much of the area and they were talking about over a dozen water rest accuse that had to be completed yesterday as well as this morning. and as of this morning we were talking also about 12,000 people without power, because of those thunderstorms and also the flooding situation across the region. as well as i want to take you up here towards parts of missouri. and take a look at the thunderstorms just to the back into kansas and as we go forward in time. as we went through last night these were what we saw here across parts of missouri, ork county, you can see all of the damage across the region, and we were looking at casualties but quite bit of injuries because of the damage sustained across much of the area and this is one of the areas that we are still recovering from tornado damage last year. now let's look at what's

happening across the country right now. this area that's causing the problems. this area of low pressure is beginning ofade away as it makes its way up north. snow to the back side of it but a lot of rain down here towards the south and that is where the flooding threat is going to be a big problem as we go over the next couple of days. over here towards mississippi we are looking at flash flood warnings in effect now all the way down towards louisiana. the severity of severe weather has been down graded but as you can see where all these greens are located, that is where the flooding is going to continue. and tomorrow we expect to see more rain especially in arkansas, where there's going to be a severe threat of flash flooding. >> still very dangerous. >> that's going to be a big problem, it is saturated and has been raining for weeks down there. >> thank you kevin. the birth flu is facing a

minnesota foorm farm to euthanize 2 million chickens. several state fairs have also cancelled poultry shows. when we come back, undercover cia agent valerie plaim talks to al jazeera about why nuclear weapons is the single most pg dangerousdangerous threat facing the u.s. and same sex marriage in iowa.

>> talks over iran's nuclear program continue this coming week and as the so-called p-5 plus one leaders try to hammer out a deal, saudi arabia continues to protest. its leaders saying it wants the same nuclear consideration.

>> at camp david president obama sought to reassure gulf allies who feel threatened with a potential nuclear agreement with iran. >> we discussed not only the iranian nuclear deal and the potential for us to ensure that iran is not obtaining a nuclear weapon. >> obama also told gulf leaders that the u.s. would consider military force if they needed help. it did not sit well with iran. >> translator: what is america's business here, to comment on persian gulf issues and team up with others? they are seeking their own benefits. >> during president obama's presidency at least 13 countries have given up all their nuclear material since 2010. but 25 countries have currently enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons. >> the problem is, that material exists many places around the world.

in nuclear weapons and weapons states. >> the issue is preventing the material from falling into the wrong hands. when it does, a crude nuclear bomb is easy to make. >> a bomb like that going off in new york, hundreds of thousands of casualties, destruction radiation poisoning make september 11th look like a minor event. >> israel has never officially announced it has a nuclear weapons program partly because of u.s. concern that if it did so it would lead to a middle east arms race. according to several individuals, the 1999 cargo crisis between india and pakistan brought the world closer to a nuclear war than the 1962 cuban missile crisis. but the potential still exists. >> these countries are cheek and

jowl. they don't have the same protocol or hif history than the u.s. and soviet russia did. >> 2013, despite some of the tougherrest international sanctions against pyongyang. some experts say they could increase their nuclear arsenal to as many as 100 such weapons in the next five years. russia and china are also among several other countries that have upgraded their arsenals. meanwhile, president obama is proposing a nuclear arsenal for the u.s. worth $1 trillion over the next ten years. courtneycourtney ceevmentment kealy,

al jazeera. >> joining me from santa fe, new mexico we welcome valerie plame. we appreciate your time. >> hi erica, thank you for having me. >> new york times according to officials saudi arabia has made the quote unquote strategic decision to acquire nuclear weapons from pakistan. what do you make of that? >> honestly i wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in this story. it's sourced to one defense official and it doesn't make sense. it doesn't make sense. it is not in saudi arabia's strategic interest to get a nuclear weapon and not in pakistan's strategic interest. pakistan, if this deal were to go through they would lose

about $1 billion in u.s. add it each year and saudi arabia, it's not uncommon that these rumors escalate everyclcirculate every time they are uncertain about others. one way to interpret this story is that the saudis are saying listen, if iran gets a nuclear weapon then we are going to look around, most likely to the pakistanis, pull in their chips and get a nuclear weapon themselves. thus, of course it is accelerating the whole middle east arms race. but right now it doesn't make sense for either country, saudi arabia or pakistan to proceed with this alleged deal.

>> okay. so we've talked about a few countries here. saudi arabia, pakistan, iran. can you just go ahead and rank the countries that you are most concerned about when it comes to nuclear weapons, who is at the top of of your list and why? >> the top of my list and for anyone else who cares with these issues is usually pakistan. it is a country that's actually pretty fragile its command and control over its nuclear arsenal is sketchy. and highest levels of military as well as intelligence services it is pretty well infiltrated by those that are not friends of the united states or other western nations. so that is the most concerning. and as your setup piece noted pakistan and india rub shoulder to shoulder and they've come very close several times to

launching a nuclear war that of course, you know, tens of thousands of people could be killed at first strike. and this is why as i always say, we've just gotten lucky. this summer marks the 70th anniversary of the very first nuclear explosion. a few hours south of where i am now in the new mexico desert and all of that time we've just gotten lucky. the number of times we've gotten close to nuclear accidents mistakes miscalculation are hair-raising. >> it seems that iran is lower on your list. why is that? >> well, right now we are in a pending agreement that has i think the most -- the highest possibility of success of truly rolling back iran's nuclear program, putting their research and development on ice.

and bringing them -- welcoming them back into the international community which is what i think they really want. i have always been in favor of these negotiations. and i'm deeply disturbed when i hear those that are critics of these negotiations in any sort of deal. because they don't have any other option. their only other option is always war. and everyone, no matter what side of this debate that you're on, agrees that any sort of military intervention in iran would simply delay their nuclear capability maybe two three four years. it just doesn't make sense. we have to make this deal work. everyone wishes it were better but you know, we also wish there were unicorns in the forest. you have to deal with what you have. >> we can't really talk about iran without bringing up israel

here and benjamin netanyahu coming out and saying any deal with iran is wrong and dangerous. >> uh-huh. >> how do we cut a deal without upsetting our allies? >> well, israel has been saying this and ringing the alarm bell since the early 1990s. and we have that conspire picture of netanyahu with the cartoon, nuclear bomb before the united nations just two years ago. look they -- i think netanyahu and his coalition government define themselves only by how they stand vis-a-vis iran. and if rawn were to sunlt vanish, then their reason for being would disappear. it doesn't -- we are obviously the united states government, no matter whether it's democratic or republican is deeply committed to israel's security, israel's right to exist and it

would be really helpful if iran stopped saying things like israel should not exist. however, it seems to me, this is my personal opinion that our foreign policy is somewhat distorted vis-a-vis israel. and i am fully in favor of these negotiations going ahead. it is our absolute best chance of getting a nonnuclear iran. >> okay, so let's switch gears now to i.s.i.l. there are reports that the islamic state has acquired raw materials. how real is a threat that a group like i.s.i.l. could create a nuclear weapon? >> i would say that it is small. but it's not zero. this is probably the most serious threat, since we know osama bin laden in the time before 9/11, talked to pakistani nuclear scientists about acquiring nuclear capability.

i.s.i.s. has demonstrated time and again that they are completely barbaric and nillisticnilnilisistic. in their approach. much too difficult much to costly and it would be spotted by surveillance slights. most likely if they were to inquire 100 pounds of highly enriched urm which is about the size of a small soccer ball, they could proceed in the very good documentary count down to zero. there is a scientist who really talks about how relatively easy it would be once you have the highly enriched uranium to put together some sort of nuclear device. the technology doesn't have to be that sophisticated and it

wouldn't cost that much money. >> very quickly here valerie you pushed back against white house, you say president obama must abandon problems to politic us into a $1 trillion nuclear arsenal. but really when other countries are ramping up is it unreasonable from a security stance to expect the u.s. to do the opposite? >> a trillion dollars over a decade and this is really to maintain our nuclear arsenal. this is money that is much better spent on -- well, all the other things we care about. jobs education infrastructure and so forth.think even experts fort. i think experts that are down on the weeds on this think that 500 nuclear war heads are more than adequate to safeguard our security. and no one is talking about doing this unilaterally. we are not asking the united

states to step back down. i'm very much involved with a group called global zero and their position is that this has to be a multilateral across the board, slow reduction in nuclear arsenals and followed with that as what is happening with the iran deal, very deep verification so that we understand, and monitoring of nuclear capabilities. we have just gotten lucky so far. >> all right valerie plame thank you so much for joining us tonight. we really appreciate your insight on this. >> thank for having me. >> up next in our regulate segments the week ahead. ireland prepares to become the first country ever to decide to legalize same sex marriage at the polls. and at the press controversial

republican leader mitch mcconnell why he doesn't want to end. back after this.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. here's a look at your top stories. one marine has reportedly been killed and 21 injured in a crash in hawaii. a tilt-wing osprey aircraft went down while on a training mission at bellows air force station near honolulu. this video was taken just a few miles away. no word yet on the cause of the accident. waywaco texas shootout, at least 18 injuries were reported and police confiscated more than 100 weapons. and the iraqi city of ramadi has fallen into i.s.i.l. hands. iraqi security forces were seen fleeing the capital of anbar province. launched a series of air strikes against the advancing i.s.i.l. forces but was unable to stop them. and time for our regular look at

the week ahead. ireland will be the first country ever to hold a referendum on same sex amarriage rights. voters will decide whether to change the constitutional definition of marriage allowing same sex couples to wednesday. >> voters in the republic of ireland will decide whether it's time to change their accusation toconstitution to allow same sex marriage broader social acceptance, they have won the support of major political parties and polls suggest the majority of voters. but they are facing opposition. >> you should be able to have reservations about gay marriage without being called a homophone. >> the tradition of marriage. >> as people of faith we believe

that the union of man and woman in marriage open to the pro creation of children is a gift from god who created us male and female. >> ireland de decriminalized homosexuality in 1973. >> you are now husband and husband. >> reporter: same sex marriage became legal in imland, england wales and scotland last year. several states and mexico allow same sex marriage. support for the catholic church has declined drastically in ireland over the years. >> by voting yes we could change foster what it means growing up lgbt in ireland. >> reporter: and a vote for same sex marriage would be another vote for a country that once was inseparable from its

religion. roxana saberi, al jazeera. catholic church is warning if the vote passes it may no longer perform the civil parts of a marriage service. last month the country's health minister became the first person in government to announce he's gay. to be fully honest of the people of ireland to discuss more about the referendum let's bring in quinnton fotrell and winston sakaredes, former senior advisor to bill clinton. quentin, i'll start with you. suppose ireland votes yes for same sex marriage, what would that mean? >> that enshrines same sex marriage, ireland has a civil

partnership, which is a patch work of measures that have been stitched together for same sex couples in terms of tax inheritance, property rights. so this is really about ensuring that the children of same sex couples have the same rights and legal protections and constitutional protections as those of parents of the opposite sex. >> okay. so richard as we've said, ireland is the first country to put this issue to a vote. right? to public referendum as opposed to playing it out in the courts. do you think here in the u.s. we could ever have something like this a public referendum on same sex marriage? >> well, i think a lot of it depends on how these issues develop politically right? and in ireland there's no legal requirement that the issue be put to a public referendum. ireland is an important country but it's roughly the size of louisiana. it has about five million people and a country like ours that has

320 million we don't really have national frums. referendums. the closest thing have is something like amending the u.s. constitutional and some people have talked about amending the constitution to prohibit same sex marriage. it developed in ireland so the political parties got together and thought that it was probably a good idea to put it to a national referendum. it's a different scale here. and also you know we have the equal protection clause in the u.s. constitution very specifically says that everybody's entitled to the same rights and responsibilities and we don't usually like to put people's civil rights up for political referendum although that is not to say we have not ever done that in this country. >> let's look at the lathest poll in ireland the see where the public opinion stands. this is according to the irish

times, 58% say they will vote yes versus 25% who say they will vote no and that leaves another 17% undecided. i do want to add some unofficial polls put the numbers upwards of 75%. quentin do you believe this is supportive of the voters in ireland? >> yes, i think yes campaign is extraordinarily well organized in ireland. it's very close. tens of thousands of irish have emigrated, upwards of 70% of those would be in their 20s who would naturally skew to liberal causes. if you live outside of ireland for more than 18 months can you not vote in this referendum. so although the polls suggest it will be a yes vote it will really depend on the high turnout on the day.

>> okay so richard you have quentin talking about how the yes campaign, has been really successful. there is a big push recently for the no campaign here and they're getting some backing from some folks here in the u.s. talk a little bit about that. >> i think first of all it's important to remember that would this kind of issue which is an emotional issue to loot of people, it tends to get closer aas people focus it would by nature get closer. i think it's going to be closer than people would expect. it does look like the yes vote as quentin said is very well organized. wonderful commercials. people stepping forward to talk about their own sexual orientation. so it's been quite a dramatic campaign. so i think the yes vote is definitely the most likely. >> but then you've got these outside groups, like here in america right and i think the

organize is nam national organization for marriage quj. >> national organization for marriage. >> and you have talked about that before? >> they certainly haven't had much success national organization for marriage here in the u.s. thankfully. some of the u.s. groups, some of the church backed groups have tried to do some work outside the u.s. in africa, not necessarily the national organization for marriage, but some of the hard right wing groups have done some work in he africa that have pushed back theness gay rights movement in africa. i'll is a high her moderrized country, even though we think of it as highly religious and highly catholic, the catholic church has not drawn a line in the sand in ireland. they have come out against it but in the setup piece people have catholic faith have spoken

up against it but have not put everything behind it. i think that's because the catholic church is changing and people everywhere are change and this issue. >> interestings he brings this up. there seems to be bit of a fracture in terms ever catholic ever catholic religion, pushing for ayes vote. >> encouraging what the archbishop of dublin has come out, and a pastoral letter has come out. but ireland is still predominantly a cloict catholic country. even though the membership is high, people want to get their kids into a catholic school. people might go to church once

in a while and might have their kids go to their communion but they are more socially liberal when it comes to some of these issues. >> let's talk about the significant shift in the power of the church in ireland. because there has been a recent change right and there's a reason for that. >> extraordinary change, some people put it into 1992 when i actually lived in galway, when it was found out that a bishop had fathered a child in wedlock. it was a huge scandal he didn't face the people at that time. and the ryan report, we've all seen the movies about that, the institutionalized abuse and torture of young children over the past 50 years in ireland industrial schools magdalene

laundry, people have become disenfranchised with the church in terms of the pulpit and directing people what to do last been eroded over particularly the past 20 years. >> how has that affected the gay rights movement? >> the fact that it went through this celtic tiger they were focused on the shopping mall and their lives and buying homes and being happy. and people really there is a lot of immigration, ireland is a much more diverse country than it used to be. much more outward looking. the ida the company that represents foreign countries based in ireland, more than 104,000 employees they have sent a message to the world that ireland is open for business, it's an inclusive place.

>> let's talk about the other side, there are plenty of people that believe this should be a no vote and this shouldn't happen. there has been a push with evangelical christians, richard to you just because these folks from the church, people who associate you know being against same sex marriage because of their faith does that make these people homophobic? >> i wouldn't say it makes everybody homophobic and people can have different views on that. the problem there the problem in ireland is the same as it has been in the u.s., people haven't been able to put up any good reason why we should deny marriage equality. it's not so much that our views of marriage has changed but it's our view of what it means to be gay have changed and those views have also changed in ireland. i think the openness of the pope, it starts you know at the top.

i think that that certainly has affected both the view globally and ireland now is part of a change that we're seeing everywhere in the world. it's not just in the u.s., it's not just in europe. but we're seeing it throughout latin america and places in africa too. i think it's a welcome sign. i think certainly you can feel -- people can feel differently about this without being homophobic. that's what the advertising suggests. i think as jeb bush running for president sun in this country said we have to respect people on both sides and i think people in ireland do and i think the trend is clear and we're very hopeful for a yes vote here. >> richard talks about looking at the next generation and the message this could potentially send if this passes. how will it affect what children right coming up growing up will learn about what being gay means especially particularly in ireland where you still have so many schools that are you know based on

religion? >> i grew up in ireland in 1980 i know what it's like to grow up in a country homosexuality was only decriminalized in ireland in 1993, it wasn't that long ago. this will send a huge message to children in ireland. civil partnership and marriage have a lot of sim similarities. but same sex marriage, that sends a moafnlg the kids that their relationships are just as important as a straight kid and that their dreams are just as important and that having a relationship or a family in anything but name that isn't marriage sends a really negative message. and i think perpetuates a culture that does suggest that certain people are second-class citizens. and are not entitled to the same exact benefits as everybody else. you know we have this old

generic brand in ireland called yellow pack. people have said this is sort of a yellow pack version of marriage. it doesn't taste same, it's sort of cheaper doesn't have the same respect. so with the argument, it's sort of beggar's belief what argument you could put up for not giving same sex families everything but the name of marriage and being able to call their spouse a husband or a wife. >> i'll say there are heartwarming stories coming out of the campaign, telling stories of their upbringing and what they've had to go through. i think it's opened the eyes of people in the country and all for the good. no matter what the result people will understand themselves better afterwards. >> richard, the issue of being gay at all lgbtq worldwide?

>> because ireland is an important country politically it is an important country in the eu, just you know, france, not too many years ago moved forward, just the united kingdom just last year. so i think it's part of a global trend. i think it sends an important message. and you know, as i say we're very hopeful. and i think it's going to -- i think it's going to be good on friday. >> all right. what do you think real quick quentin, yes or no? >> i think it is going to be yes, it will be much closer and it's going to change the face of lgbtq in ireland forever. if i hope -- i'm going to go back for it, i want to be there for the result and i hope it will be a celebration. >> thank you both so much for that gentlemen. quentin and richard, thank you both so much. before we go let's take a look at some other events coming up inin the week ahead.

on monday the united states and jordan will hold joint military exercises. drills that will last for two weeks. on tuesday members of the seattle educational organization plan a walkout largest educational union and 4,000 plan a walkout. at the time white house for talks, the u.s. is homing to strengthen and expand its strategic partnership with tunisia's new government. all right let's take you live to seoul south korea. john kerry is holding a joint press conference. u.s. officials say kerry plans to reiterate the ironclad commitment to south korea. a week after north korea tested

new ballistic missiles and kim jong-un executed his finance minister. recovery efforts after nepal's devastating earthquake. plus it's a form of treatment that only does harm, some say electrotherapy to help people with depression. and an underwater establishment that gives new meaning to the term guy's bar.

>> tuesday. >> i thought we were doing something good. >> bodies donated for science... >> how much regulation exists? >> very little. >> a shocking look inside the world of body brokers. >> got a call from the fbi saying we have your husband's remains. >> an america tonight exclusive investigation. tuesday, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> in the weeks following nepal's devastating earthquake, youth groups have played a major role in the recovery effort. may even have a political effect in a region that had two decades of instability. andrew simmons reports from kathmandu. >> no one can gauge how long it

will take to recover and beyond that. is there trust in the politicians who were sent running from their chamber by a devastating aftershock? many are unconvinced. >> for the first ten 11 days there are no political leaders no political parties. you could not see them anywhere because they could not face the people. that is where the vacuum is. >> simon is a project worker who volunteered his work to the government. it's made a big impressions to relief operations particularly in remote areas. providing help where it's needed. there are tarpaulins that are desperately needed by the people. aa maoist revolution, ended the

monarchy and gave birth to a secular republic and unstable multiparty system. there haven't been any local elections, there still isn't any agreement on a constitution. the present president is sesil kuibara, politicians and critical voices from the media are skeptical about political change. >> could you have resources but mobilization of resources is always the key in disasters. and i'm giving some benefit of doubt to the political class. >> whatever the political forces may be there's one indisputable fact, the enthusiasm of young people have helped relief efforts. remember the faces of these helpers more than their local politicians.

andrew simmons, al jazeera kathmandu. house law makeers passed legislation this week to end the nsa's bulk collection of phone records. now legislation heads for senate but while the house passed it by a wide margin, senate leader mitch mcconnell is vowing to put up a fight. he says the country is at risk. >> i don't want us to go dark so to speak the house passed bill is basically the end of the program and we'll not yet have another tool that we need to combat this terrorist threat from overseas. >> under the proposed legislation the nsa would only be able to search data on a case-by-case basis. democratic cofngman loretta sanchez running for congress is apologizing for making a stereotypical war cry gesture.

>> i'm going to this office thinking i'm going to meet with la la la right? >> that wasn't a comedy skid. sanchez was joking with a group of of indian americans about confusing an indian american with a native american. in her apology very touted her mexican american heritage, saying she is native american on her mother's side. you probably know regimen from the scene in one flew over the coo cuckoo's nest. hdgesheidi zhou-castro says this saved many people's lives. >> electroshock therapy is no longer a bone breaking effort.

running electricity through the brain has remained largely unchanged. >> electroshock always causes brain damage. it's just a matter of how much. >> john breeding a psychologist banning ect use of the procedure has been increasing. texas, one of the few states that tracks current ect data, reports a 200% rise since 2001. because e crfortt works in 80% of severely depressed patients. >> if you had an option of choosing a treatment that was 80% effective rather than one that was 30 or 40% effective which would you choose? >> reporter: but those opposed to ect show that doctors don't share all the evidence. 55% of patients reported persistent memory lost. this woman says it happened to

you. >> i couldn't tell you my name, where i was. >> some say that ect has damaged their brain. how do you explain that? >> there is no evidence at all that ect causes any kind of brain damage. >> then there's this man who says ect saved his life. he said he considered drowning himself in a river until he tried ec. t. >> i felt very different right after that procedure. >> as soon as you woke up? >> as soon as i woke up. >> reporter: so while some say ect was a miracle treatment a very vocal minority said it destroyed their life. heidi zhou-castro, al jazeera dallas. fans too took selfies at the same time for a new guinness world record. and hotdog eating joey chestnut

ate more hod dogs. the bar at cozumel doesn't serve cocktails buttocks yen but ox yen instead. oxygen instead.

>> on al jazeera america >> technology...it's a vital part of who we are... >>they had some dynamic fire behavior... >> and what we do... don't try this at home! >> tech know where technology meets humanity... only on al jazeera america in tonight's debate billions >> in tonight's debate, billions are believers but we ask does religion do more harm than good. and should washington imoiz war time censorship on the internet around is president obama trading long standing ties in the middle east, with iran, i'm i'm "the guardian", and this is