himself how complex the situation remains. >> harry fawcett in seoul. thank you. that is the show for today. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. calling for change. >> we must deal with the world as it is not as we wish is to be. >> the president of the boy scouts robert gates urges the group to end its ban on gay scout leaders. >> toxic spill. pristine california coastline saturated with crude oil from a ruptured pipeline. the race against time to save the shore.

under fire. the white house taking heat for its strategy to fight i.s.i.l. critics are calling for u.s. troops to be sent back to iraq. and facing prison. he created a security scare when he landed a home made helicopter near the capital. the mailman joins us to talk about the protest that may cost him his freedom good evening, i'm antonio mora this is al jazeera america. we begin with a powerful plea from the head of the boy scouts. the request could alter the long-standing policy on gay scout leaders. john terrett joins us now. >> robert gates was hired to raise the profile of the scouts. good evening. the buoy scout former defense secretary calling for an end to the ban on gay leaders, and he has experienced to back up his appeal. as defense secretary it was gates ending the don't ask,

don't tell policy, he's hoping to bring a change to the boy scouts. >> on my honour i'll do my best... >> reporter: when we spoke to them twin brothers liam and august achieved a goal of become eagle scouts. bestowed to only one in 10 boy scouts. because liam is 18 and gay, his career in the scouts is over first done in my a no gay's allowed and a reversal by the scout only to bar gay leaders 18 and over. >> it's been rough growing up. in such a cool organization, and at one point hearing that "no, we don't really want you" that's not cool. >> reporter: another change may be coming. we cannot ignore growing challenges to the counter membership policy. >> speaking at an annual meeting. boy scout president said the status quo can no longer besustained.

i fear any other alternative will be the end of us as a movement. >> reporter: the former movement leader said it's time for the leadership to rethink it's permission. calls for change spoke out against the policy that bans gay leaders. i would like to know what they would like. i pose no harm for anyone to pass background checks. >> reporter: recent acts made it difficult to ignore the issue. in april the new york chapters defied the organization by hiring a gay eagle scout. to serve as a leader. >> we have a strong anti-discrimination policy we had it for many years, this is not knew. >> gates has no plan to formally change the policy. cited state passage of laws and court rules in favour of gay marriage as event too big to ignore. the one thing we cannot do is

put our heads to the sand and pretend the challenges goes away or debate. the opposite it happening robert gates appeared to cailent itself saying he supports the rights of religious sponsors to determine the standard. he was likely referring to the mormon church which is the largest sponsor of scouting here in the united states tomorrow ireland will be the first country to hold the referendum. according to polls it's expected to be tate. campaigner -- tight campaigners were on the streets, and major parties backed the yes campaign. we spoke to the openly gay irish senator who spearheaded the movement of same text marriage. >> we feel quietly confident that it will pass. even though the polls started to narrow. never once has it gone below

61%, and the irish people who are freedom fighters and justice makers and compassionate and fair and generous will say yes, and we'll be the first country in the world to do it that way. the vote will decide whether to change the constitution. ireland recognises still unions. >> crews are working around the clock to clean up damage from an oil spill near santa barbara. the spill happened on tuesday when a burst pipeline sent 100,000 gallons of oil on to a beach. this drone footage controls the effort to contain the spill on 9 miles of shore line. jacob ward is there. >> reporter: the statement beech is the kind of place you see in oil paintings in the local restaurants. it's covered in oil. federal and state officials are beginning to come to grips with how much is out of a pipeline and into the water.

>> with any oil fill response there are things to complicate the response. for example, we had to stop our operations this evening because of weather. the high wind, and the waves got a little too choppy. >> the film comes during the season for humpbacked whales which travel the waters to the feeding grounds. they are swimming through nature's most toxic creations. long term studies from the deep water horizon spill shows that exposure to petroleum probably killed large numbers of animals three years after the spill. with each high tide more hits the shore line. resources here are limited. >> why not have bombs along the shore to keep the high tide from keeping the oil in. >> a lot of it comes down to the amounts of booms available. it's impossible to get all the oil. crews are trying to gets much as it can. as you see, we have to have

crews address it. as the clean up efforts continue. it is certain that moem juniorial -- memorial day will not happen. there are armed guards to keep people off the beech. officials say it could be weeks or months before anyone can use the beach. >> a grand jury indicted six police officers in baltimore on charges connected to the death of freddie gray. he died in april after suffering a spinal injury while in custody. the baltimore officers faced charms charms, ranging from assault to murder. as investigations continue additional information has been discovered and as is often the case during an ongoing investigation charges can and should be revived based upon the evidence he did not elaborate on new

evidence but said some was presented to the granted jury. a change to the indictment is that none of the officers face false imprisonment charms. >> the obama strategy against i.s.i.l. is under attack after the group seized cities. as mike viqueira reports, some are changing course sending in ground troops. >> reporter: in an interview with the atlantic magazine president barack obama insists the u.s.-led coalition is not losing the fight against i.s.i.l. and many insist the opposite is happening, that progress is being made in the fight as they warn it will take years to achieve victory. >> yes, the loss of ramadi is a setback. the white house admits but says the u.s.-led coalition made gapes against i.s.i.l. >> over all we are in a phase of this effort, and we are making

progress in degrading the capability of i.s.i.l. >> at the state department rejection of calls for an iraq policy overhaul. if every time there was a set back, we redid the strategy, what did we look luke. it's not commonsense. >> there's a bright spot the retreat of forces in ramadi was not chaotic, as seep in mosul last year. plans are under way to rally the army shia militias and tribal forces to push back. still the official says it will be delusional not to take a look at what happened. it was a 4-day assault by seasoned and mote faith fighters including 30 suicide blasts from heavily armoured vehicles, 10 of which each had the explosive power of the bomb that destroyed the building in oklahoma to stop them. >> the u.s. is pledging 1,084 antitank systems due to arrive

within two weeks. some republicans say that is not enough. the white house says the policies have been a success. there are 3,000 americans in iraq. none in a combat role we need more american trainers, advisors to make sure that the iraqi army can win an engagement against i.s.i.l. >> the white house says it's considering changes, and despite the loss of ramadi the area controlled by i.s.i.l. is reduced by 25% since the start of coalition air strikes in august. there'll be no radical change in policy and no american come bad boots on the ground. >> this is what a military conflict looks like and what a

tenacious adverse air your looks like -- adversary looks like that is why the president and his team takes seriously his challenge. in the interview, president obama was critical with the readiness of forces. essential saying they'll have to up the game if they carry the fight against i.s.i.l. >> mike viqueira in washington, thanks. in london a british taxi cifr has been convicted of -- driver has been convicted of killing an american driver. he was found guilty of murder for bombing u.s. troops on patrol outside baghdad in gex. sergeant rappedy johnson -- randy johnson died others were injured. finger prints were found on the bomb and he was arrested in london. he'll be sentenced tomorrow. a u.s. navy spy plane has become part of a dispute in the south china sea. the navy released video from onboorn the pa 8 poseidon it

flew over man made islands in created by china, the chinese military was aware of it issuing eight warnings to the crew. the islands in were claimed by china and neighbours. it has the right to gipd the air space -- defend the air space around the islands in. the senate is facing a decision on the patriot act the controversial part of law involving spying will epirate the end of the -- expire at the end of the month. libby casey has more on the debate over the law, and whether it has made america safer 14 years after the patriot act and the attacks of 9/11, lawmakers and americas are grappling with how far the government can goch. >> i think the patriot act made it safer. >> civil rights attorney argued that it has not made the country

safer, and says the cost goes beyond money to civil liberties. when the patriot act was put together, a lot of democrats and republicans joined because they were told it's okay. in five years we'll revisit. here we are 15 years, 14 years later, we are talking about it. >> still talking about and weighing whether the key components should be continued. it has first-hand experience with government surveillance. he was awarded 20,000 with the courts, because of government taps with clients. >> fear and complacency allowed power to communicate and liberty and privacy to suffer. now congress debated letting the government collect phone data not what you say, but the details about who you call and when. opponents want congress to let the patriot act expire, and the extent of government failure was

revealed by visle blowers. >> the enables a global controversy, in the face of a policy confrontation that targeted. they agree on one things. snowden was a game changer. edward snowden bless his little heart, did a fave for our enemies by pore delaying our collection programs as more sinister than they are. >> the patriot act made the county fair. >> it's dangerous to roll back the governments abilities to roll back restrictively. the civil rights attorney says the government has a hard time proving that the surveillance techniques stop attacks. >> did we catch - did we have

cases that actually were brought by these programs that edward snowden exposed, and the conversation now is why are we spending money on the programs. >> while he has no fan of the patriot act. there are efforts to curb phone data collections, he hopes that it's part of a national conversation about civil rights and national security the senate moved forward with a bill that gives president obama fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals. in a defeat for democratic leaders, the senate agreed to move the legislation to debate. senators will consider amendments and a final vote is expected tomorrow. if the bill is passed there, it moves on to the house. it would clear the way for a scoping pacific trade agreement that is a top priority of the president next we talk to the gyrocopter pilot who is in hot water. what douglas hughes says about

his court appearance and the possibility of spending years in prison. a man suspected of killing four in a d.c. neighbourhood is on the run. why police think he may be hundreds of miles away.

washington d.c. police identified a suspect in the quadruple murder in a multi-million home. darren is the subject of a manhunt stretching from the capital to new york. detectives say the 34-year-old worked at a business owned by stavopoulous. he was found dead with wife son and housekeeper. it was believed went headed north. >> information gaped, we have information that believed mr went is in the brooklyn new york area detectives identified went

as a suspect after recovering his d.n.a. from a pizza crust at the crime scene. >> a florida coastline who flew a gyrocopter into the lawn. he appeared in federal court and pleaded not guilty to six counts of violating aircraft operation laws and said he wanted to draw attention to the big issues. mr hughes joins us via skype. it's good to have you with us. in app interview before the flight you described yourself as a combination of circus show men and paul revere. the focus has been on the security of a nation's capital than the issue of money and politics. >> i didn't expect that congress was going to enter into a discussion about campaign finance reform and they went to security as a way of keeping the

topic off of the prop. if there was an issue with security, it was procedural. the f.a.a. said they tracked my plane from gettysburg. if there was a hole in national security, that's been taken care of. i'd like to go to a topic that is more important, and that's campaign finance is congress reacting that way because people don't care. officials spend more time fundraising than focussing on their constituents. when average americans hear the words campaign finance, i suspect their eyes glaze over. >> that's what i'm trying to talk about solutions, there are groups that have been working on this for years. there is a constitutional amendment, several drafts and

if passed... >> it's breaking up a little bit. mr hughes it's breaking up a bit on us. let me try to ask you. what would you say to an average american as to why this is so important. >> because it doesn't matter what you are passionate about. whether it's climate change or senior care veterans all of these will not be addressed as long as money and politics dominates. as much as you would like it get done you have to get this done first, a wall of separation between big money. >> you talked about a flying into d.c. secret service was aware. are you shocked that with all the warnings that you weren't stopped? >> the warnings went out at the

time that i took off. the secret service interviewed me a year before october 2013 and determined nothing immediate was going to happen and they said they would pass the information to the d.c. police. >> were you concerned that you would be shot at? >> no because i sent word out ahead by email. and i had known to the story was going to break when i took off. i really expected that the authorities knew i was coming and who i was, were you concerned that the actions may have caused more harm than good by making people aware of the important aspect of hollywood is. >> if the issue - if the testimony before the house subcommittee is correct. the f.a.a. tracked me all the

way in it's a procedural thing that has been prepared weeks ago. i don't think anyone could do what i did now. >> certainly it's a fascinating story, and it's good to you to join us. >> thank you for having me on hundreds of former players are suing the n.f.l. saying they were forced to use pain-killers. the new suits claim all 32 nfl teams conspired to push pain-killers. the head coaches, including dolphin's coach don schuler threatened to cut players unless they popped pills. a similar suit was dismissed in court. a judge dismissed the domestic violence case again ray rice. he was facing charges for

knocking his fiancee unconscience. d avoid trial rice underwent a year-long programme. the ravens ended his contract in fall. he remains a free agent diplomacy on a wrestling mat in the middle of new york city how top athletes are doing their part to law relations. a technological breakthrough that could change the lives of people that are paralyzed.

the u.s. and cuba held a new round of talks aimed at re-establishing diplomatic ties. the first order of business involves bringing back full-fledged embassies, part of that include hashing out the legal rites of diplomats. the u.s. wants embassy personal around cuba the two sides were grappling in washington here in new york city american and new york hopefuls scared off in friendly xom petition. morgan radford has more on what is called wrestling diplomacy.

laying it on the mat. times square is the stage for historic wrestling match between team u.s.a. and cuba. >> it's the first time u.s. and cuban athletes competed in a sport since a change in relations. it's the first time that the cuban wrestling team has come here to new york. >> wrestling brings the countries that don't come along on the big stage. >> tony is a top-ranged wrestler, ready to swallow his nerve and show off his moves. as a proud member of the stars and stripes. >> reporter: what is the winning move for tonight? >> i'm good at the single leg. >> reporter: there is a lot more to it especially for the cuban team, which feels this opportunity is about national recognition. >> what does it mean for you to be in the u.s. right new? >> for us after so much time this is a good moment because it's been years since we had an opportunity like this. now that we have it we have to take advantage of it.

>> this is an american gold medallist who has competed in cuba several times, and said that wrestling is the equalizer. >> the diplomacy, like i had had the opportunity to do many times, shows that we are all the same, and it's all about getting along. maybe not the leaders are the same but the sport of wrestling is the same. this is not the first time wrestling has been used for diplomacy. the teams competed at grand central terminal in an effort to reinstate wrestling as an olympics event this time around both teams are showcasing olympic styles. men's, women's. >> wrestling is wrestling. it's something that people can reality to. >> while the diplomats wrestle in d.c. fighters are on the mat. proving that diplomacy in sport can go hand in hand for those of you keeping

score, the u.s. beat cuba 9-4. >> scientists are toasting a big leap forward in helping people who are paralyzed regain use of their limbs. this is eric drinking a glass of beer without any hope. more than 12 years after he was paralyzed from the neck down. elect roads in his head allow him to operate the arm and hand. his thoughts control his movements. researchers at caltech published his story in the journal. >> pacman gets old. the arcade classic turns 35. it is believed to be the highest earning coin-operated game of all time. life-time income is estimated at 2.5 billion, it's a lot of quarters, happy birthday pacman. >> i'm antonio mora thank you for joining us. luis suarez luis suarez luis suarez -- ray suarez is next with "inside story".

we live you with rolling stones they begin a tour next month in san diego. [ ♪♪ ] for the moment hillary clinton stands head and shoulders above a tiny democratic field in name recognition and campaign funding. when she supports same-sex marriage, going after corporate tax cheats giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, is she demonstrating a shift in her own