od-inspired designs in the middle east and efforts to promote the film industry are paying off and i'm al jazeera. if you want to read up about that and all the other news and news bulletins go to our website, the address is al jazeera.com >> a hack attack on the federal government. personal data stolen, and up to 4 million people in the u.s., pointing the finger at china. >> edward snowden claiming the n.s.a. is collecting information on americans expanding it's collection in secret. >> fears of a serial shooter in colorado authorities trying to figure out whether three cases are linked.

>> this is aljazeera america. good morning. live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston. the government is beefing up security today after one of the largest data breaches in history, hackers made their way into the files at the office of personnel management, taking personal information from at least 4 million current and former federal workers. investigators are saying evidence points to china being responsible, but this morning china is saying that accusation is irresponsible. mike viqueira has the latest. >> this information started to break late thursday when the office of personnel management, the human resources department for the entire federal government reports that they had discovered a breach. in april they updated their cyber security protocols and discovered the breach but it had begun in september affecting

some 4 million federal employees, both past and present. they say in a statement in part as a result of the incident, o.p.m. will send notifications to 4 million individuals whose personal identifiable information may have been compromised. since the investigation is on going, decision p.i.i. exposures may come to late. we will send additional notification at necessary. the department of interior reporting a breach of its employees, of its data systems. they say they're working with the department of homeland security, as well as the f.b.i. to determine exactly however it went. they are very tight lipped on details. the f.b.i. also working with p.m. of the latest in a long series of data breaches becoming increasingly frequent, the i.r.s. the victim of a breach revealed earlier this week, even as the government spends billions to upgrade cyber

security. back to you. >> thanks, mike viqueira in washington. >> there i also new information about a secret national security program tracking internet activity including american citizens. "the new york times" quoting documents leaked by edward snowden said the justice department gave the n.s.a. permission for the program designed to trace malicious computer activity coming into the u.s. from abroad but the agency may have swept up americans' data too, it was in the publicly disclosed. the f.b.i. asked the n.s.a.'s help to intercept information. the surveillance program was seen as more cost effective. kathleen mcclellin is the deputy director of national security and human ritz at the government accountability project and joins us from washington d.c. this morning. your organization primarily focuses on protecting whistle blowers. before we talk about that, tell

me whether you were surprised or did you know about this n.s.a. warrantless internet spying. >> well, i didn't know about it, but i'm not surprised. the n.s.a.'s mission since 9/11 has been to collect it all to collect any information that it can get its hands on. what's particularly important about this revelation is it reveals a level of cooperation between the n.s.a. and federal law enforcement that was undisclosed to the public and conducted in secret. the n.s.a. is not supposed to operate domestically. that used to be the law in n.s.a. land and now it almost seems laughable given how much domestic surveillance the n.s.a. is conducting. they are doing law enforcement and idea that they are doing law enforcement is very disturbing. the law enforcement is held to different standards than foreign intelligence collection. >> explain that, please.

apparently there are more protections if the f.b.i. is conducting investigations on american citizens versus the n.s.a. doing its investigations on people abroad. >> absolutely. the foreign intelligence surveillance court is the sole means for electronic surveillance in the united states and the f.b.i. needs warrants to wiretap united states citizens usually. this reveals that the n.s.a. and f.b.i. are cooperating to warrantlessly gather information on and communications, including americans' communications. >> edward snowden the whistle blower the number one whistle blower in america i guess you would have to say put out an op ed saying after an investigation found that the 2015 program under the patriot act had not stopped a single terrorist attack even the president who criticized the disclosure has now ended it terminated.

this is the power of an informed public says edward snowden who we point out can't come back to this country without going to prison. what does it say to you as someone who defends whistle blowers that it took edward snowden to make americans aware of what's going on? >> i think we all owe a debt of gratitude to edward snowden because the public cannot debate when the public does not know. what this latest revelation shows is that yet another major policy shift and major surveillance program was undertaken in secret based on secret memos from the justice department without any public debate whatsoever. that's why whistle blowers like edward snowden need protection and should be praised for their courage, because the public is able to debate whether or not they want the n.s.a. and f.b.i. cooperating on cyber security by spying on any number of american people. >> this is a nation of laws, but you say it's really a nation of secret laws.

explain. >> well, the justice department issued secret memos that it gave to the n.s.a. authorizing this surveillance. this is the same type of secret law that they used to justify the 215 surveillance and the text of the act said one thing. the secret memo said something essentially completely different. courts have agreed with that. the surveillance actually exceeds the patriot act. until edward snowden made the actions public, courts, congress, and the public were all in the dark about what the law actually meant and how the n.s.a. was actually using the law and that's exactly what seems to have happened here is the justice department issued secret memos outlining the parameters of the law and public and courts don't have access to that information so we can't know how the justice department is interpreting the law. >> we learned of another massive

hacking attack on 4 million federal workers current and former. now the n.s.a., the government will say they need to tap into internet cables and other traffic to figure out who's doing this and how to stop it. isn't there an argument to be made that there needs to be some surveillance by the n.s.a. and whatever other government agency is necessary to stop these kind of hacking attacks? >> i'm sure that the government with him make that argument, but there are two points. the first should web trusting the government with vast troves of data given their in the to collect it. the n.s.a. was collects vast troves of data on americans but the government has seemed to be very vulnerable to these attacks. the second is that even with all of these surveillance powers, i mean we just found yesterday that this is happening so the n.s.a. had this broad authority to cooperate with the f.b.i. and

collect information. even if all these powers, that did not stop the breach. i think that public debate and hopefully debate in congress needs to be focused on whether or not these powers are actually effective, because the news stories keep coming out about cyber security attacks and the government uses that as an excuse for more power but it could very well simply be that the current vast powers that the n.s.a. has are not effective at stopping cyber attacks. >> kathleen mcclellin of the government accountability project, thank you for joining us this morning on al jazeera. >> the family of a man killed by police in boston is calling for a transparent investigation into what happened. rahim was under surveillance by federal counter intelligence agencies when he was killed. police say he was shod after he threatened a police officer and an f.b.i. agent with a knife. in an interview with cnn the suspect's brother said he is taking back his own comment that

rahid was shot of in the back for no reason. >> that was the initial commentary based on facts given to me initially. with the development of the facts, we do understand that those wounds were not through the back, so we have acknowledged that fact, but the facts continue to come in. >> the f.b.i. says he had talked about his plans to kill a police officer and a prominent conservative activist. he was just one of several suspects the f.b.i. said it is monitoring. officials say there is an increase in cases involving people who are radicalized. it's prompted several dozen f.b.i. teams to conduct round the clock surveillance. f.b.i. director james comey said investigations involving suspected extremists are underway in each of the 56 field divisions. >> a possible serial shooter has people on edge in colorado. a man was shot dead wednesday in loveland under suspicious circumstances. investigators are trying to figure out if that is connected to two other shootings in the

area. john henry smith is here. the mystery is fraying a lot of nerves in colorado. >> understandably so, randall. three shootings in six weeks all within a 15-mile radius in a usually quiet northern colorado town. law enforcement is now working around the clock searching for what they believe is a single gunman. >> mail on the sidewalk, he's bleeding uncontrollably. >> the 65-year-old died on that sidewalk just blocks from his love land, colorado home. police say a gunshot killed him and they fear it was fired by someone who's done this before. >> we don't know if this is related to the other shootings and we don't know if there is somebody or somebodies that is inflicting these crimes in the community. there is a tendency for fear. >> the fear is that a serial shooter may be at large. investigators say they have already found links between two other unsolved shootings around

loveland located 50 miles north of denver. on april 22, 20-year-old cory survived being shot in the neck. >> you don't really think that something like that would happen to you just driving home from work. >> on may 18, six miles from where romero was shot, jacoby was shot twice and killed while riding his bike. police have reached out to county sheriffs and to the f.b.i. or help in finding out if the latest shooting is also related. >> there are enough likenesses to this case that we as an agency immediately reached out to the task force. >> investigators are going to look at ballistics, look at the sale of weapons they're going to look at surveillance cameras in and around these shootings and look to see if there's any sort of association in the background of the three victims. >> the possibility that a killer is on the loose has people in the loveland area on edge.

>> i'm actually really worried and scared to go around even in day time. >> i've got two children and a wife, and i don't want to be outside playing with my kids, you know, or riding bikes or something down the sidewalk and somebody come by and shoot me or them. >> love land's police chief is asking that the community channel their fear into vigilance. the f.b.i. is offering a $10,000 reward. >> a fourth person died in south korea from mers. five new cases were reported today and officials warn an in infected doctor came into contact with hundreds of people. >> a south korean airman assigned to a u.s. base tested positive for mers. he is at a hospital off the base. he is not showing symptoms. officials say 100 of his

coworkers have been asked to stay home to prevent possibility of virus spreading. >> chinese authorities this morning say there are likely no survivors on a tourist boat that sank in the yangtze river monday. families are not happy with the pace of the investigation. there is a demand for an investigation into human error. 97 bodies have been found. crewels are searching for more than 340 people still missing. >> a new federal off the shows fracking i guess not impacting our water supply, but environmental activists say the findings are tainted.

only on al jazeera america. >> welcome to al jazeera america. the time now eastern he is 7:46. taking a look at today's top stories, the air force is easing its policy banning transgender service members. military officials must review all medical cases before transgender troops can be discharged. the army made a similar decision earlier this year. >> the red cross is helping people displaced by a storm in

colorado. two storms near denver destroyed dozens of homes. no one was hurt. >> officials in california are considering charges after more than 100,000 gallons of oil spilled from a pipeline near santa barbara. state attorney general says they are investigating how it happened and who might be to blame. >> a preliminary report said a pipeline was badly core roded. >> the e.p.a. says there is no evidence that fracking is having a widespread impact on the country's water supply, but a study released by the agency warns it could make water supplies vulnerable to pollution. john terrett has more. >> fracking pumps water sand and chemicals deep into the earth to break up rock and extract oil and natural gas. now the viral protection agency in a preliminary report that took five years and cost $29 million says we did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread systemic

impacts on drinking water resources in the united states. the agency did say it found a small number of cases where poorly constructed drilling wells and waste water management affected drinking water. clean water campaigners say that alone busts the myth that fracking doesn't harm drinking water. >> for a long time, the industry has been pushing back. they say fracking does not impact drinking water resources. this report shows that it does in numerous areas and shows that the whole process from where you get the water from how you use the drilling process to how you dispose of it, really there are problems within each of that. >> the report is unlikely to ease concerns in california. this man believes fracking is making his 13-year-old daughter sick. >> my daughter was laughing and jumping and running again. i love my daughter.

the government don't hear any poor people. >> wells show three wells have been fracked near his daughter's school within the past three years. in it's preliminary report, the e.p.a. notes its findings could be limited meaning oil and gas companies failed to operate with them making it impossible to draw conclusions about fracking's effect in certain areas of the country. >> there was a lack of cooperation for all five years. the e.p.a. did the best that they could given the enormous data gaps and lack of cooperation within the industry. >> al jazeera washington. >> we'll talk more about fracking and our water supply, along with a new report that says fracking may have an impact on unborn beaks in our next hour. >> texas is facing migrants crossing the border on foot. the journey can be deadly. police found 26 sets of human remains in just the past few

months. heidi zhou castro has the story. >> this highway is the only artery north out of the border region. to get further north you have to have papers to get past the checkpoint. human smugglers will drop off the i am grants just south of this point and force them to walk into this brush here, through this kind of terrain where it's all sand. they walk through this for two to three days to make a wide circle around this checkpoint ending up on the other side. the brooks county sheriff's department finds human remains migrant who have gotten lost in the brush. 27 bodies this year have been recovered, up from 25 this time last year. it's in fight of border patrol's report of a 30% drop in apprehensions. migrants may now be taking greater risks to avoid the stepped up enforcement risks that expose them to more danger.

earlier in the day we saw three young men walking along the highway with their empty water bottles, looking severely dehydrated. they begged us for water. >> coming up later tonight hear more of their story what brought them to this point, what was the desperation pushing them to make this dangerous risk. hideheidi zhou castro, from brooks, texas. >> a plan to drive off sea lions in oregon. the state is calling in reinforcements to clear its waters. waters.

>> a mechanical killer what i will capsized trying to rid sea lions. >> not exactly your normal day at the boat launch. a 32-foot plywood and fiberglass

orca killer what i will as a marine licensed kill tool. the reason for all of this, the california sea lion population here has boomed in recent years. it varies with seasonal migration, but this spring tops 2,000 at the mouth of the river. they've made a mess of the docks, costing the port $150,000 a year. >> this cannot be a safe place for the sea lions to reside. they were not meant or designed to lounge on docks. >> there's more than just dock damage. state and federal biologist expect the bigger sea lion population to eat more salmon, putting pressure on endangered and threatened fish stocks. >> these were shot yesterday. >> in billing ham washington, whale watching tour operator saw the pictures from astoria and had an idea based on years of

observing orcas and see lions in the wild. >> how do they get along? >> they don't. doesn't take the orca pretty long to put a sea lion out of his misery. >> he happened to have his very own orca. >> we have no idea whether it will work or not work. >> earlier his friend and partner rick montague gave us a tour. >> the eyes will be running lights. >> this crew refurbished the faux killer whale inside and out. it's now motorized and can blast a killer whale chatter sending a message to the sea lions we're here, fellas, and we're hungry. that's the theory, anyway. terry buzzard picked up the phone and called the post of as tore. >> >> i told them that i had this whale. he said get it down here immediately, let's try it. >> so the freshly painted and

customized orca made the 270-mile interstate trip to astoria for its maiden voyage, but it is not universally welcomed here. the sea lions have their supporters. >> the orca, good idea or bad idea? >> it's a better idea than the electric maps. >> you're still not a big fan. >> i am not a big fan no, i'm not, because i love these animals. >> after a day's worth of tinkering and sea testing the orca finally swims launched in astoria's boat basin in front of a crowd of hundreds. outside the break water catastrophe, it films. the pilot has to be rescued and with the sea lions barking and unmoved, the orca is taken in tow. al jazeera astoria oregon. >> today is world environment day. this year's theme is consumed with care and sheds light on how food is being wasted all over

the world. how serious is this problem? >> this is a big deal. world environmental day is put on by the united nations with different themes every year. son assumption, how we use our air, water and food is what we focused on. i wanted to focus on the food. one third of the food that we use around the world is lost, or wasted which means it's not going to people in need. that amounts to about 1.3 billion tons. now just looking at the united states about 30% of our food is thrown away. one third of all around the world is actually lost, and that means in third world countries places where it doesn't even get into the chain because there's not proper refrigeration or chance portation it's also lost in that way. then we've got about 2 million people or billion in the world that are hungry or under nourished. that includes even in the united

states about one in seven use food banks and about 1.5 billion that are overweight or obese so there's a real disparity about the have and have nots about food around the world. also 30% of hour energy consumption comes from the food sector harvesting, storing a lot of the food we eat is imported so conserving our resources would really help with that, as well. what about way to say prevent that. >> plan ahead before you shop, serve less, store your food well so it doesn't go bad and nope the expiration dates. there's a different between sell by use by, doesn't mean it's about to go bad. >> things like second half vest might go useful to make the food available for those who need it. thank you nicole. >> on the tech beat, six iconic video games are now hall-of-famers. a panel of judges chose pong,

pac-man, treaties, super mario brothers, world of warcraft and doom for induction to the world video game hall of fame. they are the inaugural class at the hall. that's it for us. thanks for joining us. steph asstephanie sy is next.

>> the largest government data breach ever, hackers steal the personal information of millions of federal employees the u.s. blames cline in a. fears of a serial shooter on the loose in colorado after a third person is killed in a small town. >> an al jazeera exclusive inside look at yemen's alleged role in protecting the man u.s. officials call the most dangerous terrorist.

>> this is aljazeera america live from new york city, i'm stephanie sy. the federal government is scrambling to boost security on its computer systems today after another data preach. federal officials say china bailed hackers broke into the computer networks of the office of personnel management and the interior department. they accessed the personal data of 4 million federal workers. china's foreign ministry today called the allegation that it was behind the attack irresponsible. mike viqueira has the latest. >> good morning this information started to break late on thursday when the office of personnel management, essentially the human resources department for the entire federal government reports that they had discovered a breach. in april they upgraded cyber security protocols and discovered the breach but it had begun in september affecting

some 4 million federal employees, both past and present. they say in a statement in part as a result of the incident, o.p.m. will send notifications to approximately 4 million individuals, whose p.i.i., personal identifiable information, may have been compromised. since the investigation is ongoing, additional exposures may come to light. in that case, additional notifies will be conducted as necessary. the department of interior reporting a breach of its data systems for its employees, they are working with the department of homeland security, as well as the f.b.i. to determine exactly how far it went. they are very tight lipped on details, the f.b.i. working with o.p.m. the latest in a long series of data breaches now becoming more frequent, the i.r.s. the victim of a breach revealed earlier this week even as the government spends billions to upgrade cyber security. >> mike, thank you.

>> we are joined now by the co director of the liberty and national security program at n.y.u.'s center for justice. the u.s. immediately pointed the finger at china. how credible of an accusation is that? >> well, the thing with these kind of hacking attacks is it's difficult to identify who the perpetrate is and where they're located. people who do this are sophisticated and tend to height their tracks, which makes it very difficult to at attribute the thing. even if the hackers were based in china there's a second level question as to whether or not this is the chinese government itself that was behind the attacks. >> i guess the other question i also who would want all of this data? what could they possibly do with it? >> i think there's, you know, when you have a theft of what you call personally identifiable information, one of the things that can be done is to construct false identities. if you have a social security

number address and date of birth, you can get a credit card in their name or line of credit or any of those kinds of things. there's certainly that aspect to it. >> which is quite mundane. almost makes you wonder if somebody just wants to prove that they are do this, that they can steam the data of 4 million federal workers. >> yeah, i think there might be that aspect to it, as well. the thing is we just don't know, because we don't know who did it. >> "the new york times" reported that the n.s.a., which you have and i have discussed at length in recent weeks has expanded it's warrantless surveillance of americans' international internet traffic. due date at a breaches like this really bolster the n.s.a.'s argument that they do need these authorities for national security reasons? >> if you talk to computer security experts to tell you that it's important for a system not to have any back doors in it not to have vulnerability that hackers can use to exploit. one of the things from the snowden documents that came out

is that the f.b.i. was deliberately putting vulnerabilities into systems into systems that protect us on line. you increase the chance that hackers can exploit them when you put them in. >> you are saying the n.s.a. may be undermining its own tactics which are ostensibly to protect americans from hacking. >> that's right. i think this is the sort of tension between what they call cyber defense which is to make sure that our systems are not vulnerable in any way and cyber offense, which is to kind of make sure that the n.s.a. can get into the same system and find out what it wants to find out. the problem is that the system is ones and zero's. it doesn't know the difference between a hacker and an n.s.a. employee. >> you and i have discussed mass surveillance as it pertains to the n.s.a. this is theoretical because we don't know who took the information and why but is it possible that other countries are engage would in the mass

surveillance of americans in the same way that the n.s.a. has been accused of mass surveillance of citizens of other countries? >> i think technologically we are so much further ahead than any other country i don't think anyone comes close to matching us in terms of capability. all the big tech companies are based in the -- many of the big tech companies are based here. a lot of internet traffic is routed through the united states regardless of where it's coming from or where it's going so we have a huge advantage in terms of what information we can collect. that doesn't mean other countries aren't trying to collect information but i just don't think anybody comes close to the capabilities that we have in this country. >> co director of the liberty program at nyu, thank you. great to see you. >> the n.s.a. has been targeting hackers around the world through a secret program intended to expand surveillance abroad, but also gathered data on americans.

john siegenthaler reports. >> it's about democracy. >> newly published top secret documents leaked by edward snowden revealed a secret surveillance program in which the n.s.a. club rated with the f.b.i. to target foreign-based hackers in its counter terrorism program. the documents according to "the new york times," show that in 2012 the justice department gave the n.a.a. permission to begin tracking what they suspected was malicious computer activity coming into the u.s. from abroad the revelations come just days after congress approved the freedom act a bill intended to curb the n.s.a. spy powers and increase transparency. among the documents leaked, an n.s.a. memo describing a request for help from the fibbing in its investigation of foreign bailed hackers. the memo goes on to describe how using the n.s.a.'s warrantless

search system would avoid duplication efforts. the communications would be forwarded to the f.b.i. the plan supposedly executed in 2012 was not publicly disclosed. the revelation comes while concern gross over high profile cyber attacks against american companies and individuals. >> kim jong-un wants to do an interview? >> north korea has been linked to a hack attack against sony which shut down communications and cost the company $15 million. the agency has been seeking less restrictions in its surveillance efforts, but opponents argue this could hurt americans. >> being the victim of a cyber attack having some sort of malicious code, some sort of attachment in your email might now be enough justification for the n.s.a. to grab your email without a warrant without due process and that's pretty scary.

>> al jazeera. >> edward snowden is speaking out today in an op ed in the new york times. he talks about what he and three journalists went through as they were about to reveal the extent of the n.s.a.'s secret prom. he said there were moments when i worried that we might have put our privileged lives at risk for nothing. never have i been so grateful to be so wrong. the n.s.a.'s tracking program was declared unlawful by that the court and disowned by congress after a white house oversight board found this program had not stopped a single terrorist attack. even the penalty who once defended its propriety and criticized disclosure has ordered it terminated. this is the power of an informed public. >> the f.b.i. says there's an increase in cases involving people who are radicalized in the u.s., prompting several dozen f.b.i. be teams to conduct round the clock surveillance of individuals around the country. the f.b.i. director said

investigations are underway in each which the field divisions. rahim was fatally shot by boston police earlier this week. officials say he was profiting an attack. his family says that i also not the man they know. >> 48 hours after boston please shot and killed rahim his family broke their silence speaking through an attorney. >> he was very loved by his family. they are devastated. it is overwhelming experience for the immediate family. they have lost a loved one. this loved one is being accused of terrible things. >> among those accusations that rahim had been plotting to behead boston police officers and that he had been radicalized to follow isil. >> no, it is not with isis. >> some members of his family who plan to bury him friday are speaking out against those charges. >> if it wasn't for him being muslim then we would not be hearing terrorism.

we would not be hearing isis. >> police say they were attempting to question him in connection with an ongoing terrorist investigation and forced to fire after he lunged at officers with a military style knife in a c.v.s. parking lot. boston police say he targeted gellar. she sponsored a muhammed drawing contest last month in texas fears for her life. >> i'm under 24 hour guard now. anybody that speaks critically of islam will find themselves in this position. >> according to the wire tabs from the f.b.i., he set his sights instead on the boys in blue calling boston police the easiest target. >> he had a plot that he was seriously going to take out someone in blue. if he got on that bus and we lost sight of him who knows what he could have done.

>> a serial shooter may be on the loose in colorado. a man was shot dead in love land under suspicious circumstances and investigators are trying to figure out if that was connected to two other shootings in the area. john henry smith is here with the latest. >> loveland, colorado is a really quiet northern colorado town and as such, three shootings in six weeks all within 15 miles of each other are very unusual. law enforcement is working around the clock searching for what they believe is a single gunman. >> a male is on the sidewalk, not breathing bleeding uncontrollably. >> the 65-year-old died on that sidewalk just blocks from his home. police say a gunshot killed him and they fear it was fired by someone who's done this before. >> we don't know if this is related to the other shootings and we don't know if there is somebody or somebodies that is inflicting these crimes in the

community. there is a tendency for fear. >> the fear is that a serial shooter may be at large. investigators say they have already found links between two other unsolved shootings around loveland, located 50 miles north of denver. on april 22, 20-year-old cory romero survived being shot in the neck. >> you don't really think that something like that would happen to you just driving home from work. >> on may 18, six miles from where romero was shot, john jacoby was shot twice and killed while riding his bike. police have reached out to county sheriffs and to the f.b.i. for help in finding out if the latest shooting is also related. >> there are enough likenesses to this case that we as an agency immediately reached out to the task force. >> investigators are going to look at ballistics for matches look at the sale of weapons,

they're going to look at surveillance cameras in and around these shootings and look to see if there's any sort of association in the background of the three victims. >> the possibility that a killer is on the loose has people in the loveland area on edge. >> i'm actually really worried and scared to go around even in the day time. >> i've got two children and a wife, and i don't want to be outside playing with my kids you know, or riding bikes or something down the sidewalk and somebody come by and shoot me or them. >> loveland's police chief is asking that the community channel their fear into vigilance. the f.b.i. is offering a $10,000 reward for more information. job an american accused of training with al-qaeda and conspiring to kill americans abroad will appear in a new york federal court. he is expected to plead not guilty to extremism charges. >> a coalition of religious

human rights leaders are urging funding of abortions for girls and women raped by radical groups oversees. >> boston pride week kicks off celebrating 45 years of the event. it started after the stonewall riots in new york in 1970. >> did the government of yemen know where al-qaeda's chief bomb maker was hiding? new allegations made to al jazeera suggest it did. the exclusive report, next. >> more cases of mers in south korea. the diagnosis happened on a u.s. air base this time.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 8:17 eastern. ical calendar is taking steps to control its medical marijuana industry. the state legislature passed a bill to set up a marijuana legislation under the governor. california legalized medical pot in 1996. since then, local governments have regulated cab bass. >> the i.m.s. urges holding back on raising interest rates saying it could affect economic

growth. the federal reserve may raise rates this fall. >> crews in malaysia are trying to rescue hikers stuck on a peak after an earthquake hit this morning. there are no reports of major damage or casualties from the quake. >> yemen's houthis agreed to peace talks as saudi-led bombings pound rebel targets. 58 were killed wednesday and thursday in airstrikes. another 48 people were killed in the houthi hard land in the country's north. the u.n. backed peace talks are set to take place in geneva june 14. >> lawyers for some yemeni americans demand a federal judge order an evacuation from yemen. they say their loved ones are in danger and the government isn't doing enough to protect them. the obama administration wants the careless dismissed saying the court does not have authority to order evacuation. >> a report about possible collusion between al-qaeda and

former government of yemen. a former al-qaeda operative came forward claiming alaleh's new where al-qaeda's chief bomber was hiding and didn't reveal information. he is still on the loose. >> one of the world's most wanted men thought to be al-qaeda said top bomb maker he reported by built the devices in some of the group's most daring attacks. omarunder wear bomb on delta's flight christmas day 2009, and explosives hidden in a printer on a cargo plane a year later were built by him. this al-qaeda informant told the yemen government where the bomb

maker was hiding. he says he informed on al-qaeda from 2006 until 2009. he'd been a member of the group since the late 1990's. he claims he first met asiri in yemen in 2008. he says asiri was training fighters. he informed many in security services including president ali abdullah saleh's nephew, deputy director of the national security bureau.

>> the colonel could not be reached for comment. he says he was fooled and so was the united states and many western governments. today ibrahim asiri has not been caught and the threat of a bomb on a plane remains. will jordan, al jazeera. >> former c.i.a. counter terrorism analyst is in d.c. this morning a senior fellow at george washington's university center for homeland security and joins us. how much of what this informant is saying is true? how credible do you think he is?

>> it's a very, very interesting story, and kudos to your team for finding him. these are explosive allegations that require extraordinary evidence. what he's basically alleging is that the yemeni government, the yemen's government sat on information that could have stopped major attacks both against the united states diplomatic facilities and also stopping an attack on numerous spanish spaniards to killed eight of them, also that ibrahim al asiri is still out there. the fact that he says he has the knowledge that everything the united states really wanted, he had knowledge and the yemen government actually squelched it is very very troubling. >> you are a c.i.a. counter terrorism analyst and this informant tells us he thinks the u.s. was fooled. how much do you think the u.s. knew this if it was true and if it didn't know, why didn't it?

why didn't it have the in tell? >> well, that's one of the difficult parts about reporting on intelligence, is that this individual is a single source. now, if you can take corroborating evidence, whether in the classified or unclassified realms and fuse it to his reporting then it has a lot of credibility. in your previous report, he said he tried to talk to the americans, it didn't work out. one of the most useful parts of the intelligence apparatus is coming from walk-ins, people who literally walk into the u.s. embassy and say i'd like to help the united states. he didn't do this, even though it seems that he had all these opportunities in 2008, 2009, et cetera so i'm personally skeptical of his story but that doesn't mean that it's not true, because like i said, the stories and the narratives that he is giving is completely contradictory to what has been happening in emanyone in the last several years. >> we don't have reaction from

the c.i.a., i wouldn't expect them to react but what would you expect them with this information from this alleged informant who is giving us all these allegations? >> chances are the c.i.a. and other agencies are going to go back and look through their databases to see whether there's any condition rating intelligence on whether what he is saying is true and then acting upon it. for example, we have our unilateral assets in yemen, as well so do our partner countries, whether in the middle east or europe and they're going to see whether this is actually a credible story and if it's a credible story they're going to act upon it. now, we should probably see -- we may not see anything happening in the public, but if the allegations hold water for the intelligence community not only in the united states, but also in britain and elsewhere then we'll see some sort of action. >> former c.i.a. counter terrorism analyst in d.c. this morning, thank you.

>> the outbreak of middle east respiratory syndrome mers in south korea reached a u.s. air base now. a south korea air man has tested positive. he is now at a hospital off the base. so far the airman is not showing symptoms. 100 of his coworkers have been asked to stay home to prevent possibility of the illness spreading. >> south korean health officials say a fourth person has died from the. >> you the break and there is concern about it spreading after an infected doctor came in contact with hundred was people. we have more from seoul. >> after days of rumors and calls for transparency, south korea revealed a hospital involved in the outbreak. it said 30 cases confirmed were at saint mary's hospital in a city south of seoul. the virus spread unprecedentedly quickly here by staff or poor

ventilation. what's not known yet i also whether the virus has mutated into a more infectious version. >> this hospital has recorded a particularly large number of people infected as compared to other hospitals. therefore, we've decided to release the name in order to trace all the people who have been in the hospital. >> until now such information has been the subject of crowd sourcing an on line mers map pinpointing locations where infected patients were believed to have been treated. pressure has seen more than 1,000 schools close classes closing a further 166 schools in two southern districts of seoul for monday. >> this weekend will be critical. the incubation period for primary and secondary patients ends this weekend. if there are more cases, we will have to prepare for tertiary and

fourth generation infections and the spread into the local community. >> late on thursday night such concerns were heightened when seoul's mayor announced a doctor exposed to a mers patient who contracted the virus had been in contact with hundred was people. after developing mild symptoms but before he knew he'd been exposed, he went to two medical symposiums and a meeting with 1500 fellow owners of this apartment complex. >> the kind of contact at the event is unlikely to have promoted transmission, but city government said all of these people need quarantine. >> all this hit the tourism industry with more than 7,000 would be foreign visitors canceling their trips. >> there's been a big drop in the number of tourists coming in. given this strain, this would hit more than 50% of our

business. i might have to consider shutting down if this goes on. >> south korea is far from panic, but this deadly, little understood disease is playing on the mind. mask sales have been up seven fold in a week. south careens are hoping that after a self admittedly slow start, the government has caught up enough to slow and stop the spread of mers. al jazeera seoul. >> the health concerns of fracking a federal report says there is no impact on our drinking water but activists say those findings are tainted. new information that the practice may impact babies.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 8:30 eastern, taking a look at today's top stories. the federal government is beefing up computer security. hackers stole the personal information of at least 4 million current and former federal workers. investigators point the finger at china.

chinese officials that accusation is irresponsible. >> newly leaked documents from edward snowden claim the n.s.a. expanded its spying in secret. it was designed to trace malicious computer activity coming into the u.s. from abroad but may have swept up americans' data, as well. it began in 2012. >> police in colorado are investigating whether a serial shooter is on the loose looking into links between the killing of a sitting 5-year-old man in loveland and two other shootings nearby over the last six weeks. >> any report from the federal government that says there is no evidence that fracking impacts our nation's water supply is the result of a five year study by the e.p.a. john terrett reports that water supplies are still vulnerable thanks in part to the industry's own practices. >> fracking pumps water, sand and chemicals deep into the earth to break up rock and

extract oil and natural gas. now the viral protection agency in a preliminary report that took five years and cost $29 million says we did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the united states. the agency did say it found a small number of cases where poorly constructed drilling wells and waste water management affected drinking water. clean water campaigners say that alone busts the myth that fracking doesn't harm drinking water. >> for a long time, the industry has been pushing back. they say fracking does not impact drinking water resources. this report shows that it does in numerous areas and shows that the whole process from where you get the water, from how you use the drilling process to how you dispose of it, really there are problems within each of that. >> the report is unlikely to ease concerns like rodrigo in california. this man believes fracking is making his 13-year-old daughter

sick. >> i want to see my daughter laughing and jumping and running again. i love my daughter. the government don't hear any poor people. >> records show three wells have been fracked near his daughter's school within the past three years. in it's preliminary report, the e.p.a. notes its findings could have been limited, meaning oil and gas companies failed to operate with them, making it impossible to draw conclusions about fracking's effect in certain areas of the country. >> there was a lack of cooperation throughout for all five years. the e.p.a. did the best that they could given the enormous data gaps and lack of cooperation within the industry. >> al jazeera, washington. >> a board member with physicians for social responsibility joins us from philadelphia to get into this topic of fracking, the environment and health a little bit more employee thank you so much for being with us. what do you make of this e.p.a.

report that says fracking doesn't affect drinking water? >> thank you. i've been following this closely for a while now and this the e.p.a. study environmental protection agency released the draft yesterday. typically, the tone is very cautious and that leads people to think that it's saying that there is no evidence, but in fact it says there's no widespread evidence and that difference is huge, because it makes it very alarming. originally, when this discussion of shale gas development and infrastructure came about folks went on national t.v. saying that there's absolutely no evidence that the process of hydraulic fracturing impacts water and yet here for the first time the government is coming out saying, acknowledging that it does impact water and that -- >> they're saying it does impact

water if regulations are not followed right? >> correct. they're saying that there is vulnerabilities. in areas affecting drinking water, many people in pennsylvania who live in counties where there is hydraulic fracturing going on, they use well water. those areas are vulnerable. it says where well integrity and waste water management is related, it impacts it. there is industry quoted data that says there's 6% failure of wells and the well casings meaning those wells would make the drinking water supplies around them vulnerable. i actually find this very important, a very important finding. >> at the same time, you have studies like the recent one this week published in the medical

journal plus one which links lowe birth rates in babies with fracking in pennsylvania. this particular study found that women who live close to fracking sites were 34% more likely to have low birth weight babies. how much can we read into a study like that? >> typically with he deemological studies, if you have one study that says one thing, you acknowledge that, review it. if you find more, it increases the weight of evidence. if you have another study like the one that came out in colorado that says that it's linked to congenital heart defects, that's further evidence of study.

they also reference several studies on their paper where the low birth weight has been linked to air pollution like particulate matter of 2.5 mike rones, which is air emissions as the result of hydraulic fracturing. there is biological applausability, which means there is a biological mechanism by this this can potentially happen. >> but yet i guess the bottom line this morning is just we don't have enough evidence, there is not enough research, it's a relatively new practice. we'll have to leave it there this morning. thank you so much for your insights. >> officials in california are considering charges after an oil spill near santa barbara. state attorney general harris said they are investigating how it happened and who might be to blame. 100,000 gallons of crude leaked, made its way into the pacific. a preliminary report said the pipeline operated by plains all

american was badly core roded and the impact of the spill could last for decades. newly released documents raise questions about whether it could have been prevented entirely. >> the cleanup from last month's oil spill along the southern california coast is time consuming and tedious onshore and at sea. we have been given special access to be on the beach so that we could see the cleanup operations first handled and we are required to wear this safety equipment, because this remains an active haz-mat zone. walking along the beach, you see signs of spills everywhere as workers chip away oil from each and every one of these rocks. >> it's also a race to save marine life. more than 90 animals have been rescued. nearly 200 have been found dead. >> those are low numbers. >> kristin is with the non-profit center for biological diversity. >> scientists tell us that many

of the animals that will be killed by coming into contact with this oil will actually sink into the sea never to be recovered. >> as excavation work at the spill site continues newly released documents from federal regulators investigating the spill reveal pipeline operator plains all american inspected the pipe two weeks before it failed. the subsequent findings showed extensive external corrosion and there's this, an environmental impact report conducted in the mid 1980's before the pipeline was built. >> if you look at this document, it actually predicts the probability of an oil spill. >> what are the predictions? >> there's a probability of an oil spill greater than 9.5 par relies which is roughly 400-gallons of oil, .22 spills per year, equating to a 28%

probability of an oil spill each year and that only increases as the age of the pipeline increases. >> plains all american denied our request for an interview. although it's not uncommon for studies to contain spill predictions, this one is especially troubling because of where the pipeline was ultimately built. >> it's known as the something lap goes of the west, home to numerous endangered species blue whales, the santa barbara channel hosts the largest congregation of blue whales in the entire world. >> this is your back yard. i think a lot of us took it very personally and we were incredibly saddened and frankly angry. >> sand bash county supervisor janet wolfe questions whether enough was done immediately after the spill was discovered. >> we had our firefighters who wanted to help, and there was kind of this, it felt like a

pushback. i understand. i understand that there were health and safety issues, but the response, it felt like the oil was coming and no one was doing anything. that's how it felt. >> there's also the question of whether the spill could have been prevented if the pipeline had an automatic shut off valve. >> basically it's a risk analysis to determine whether they need valves, if they need them where to put them. in additional if they put them, what valves to do. >> an independent consultant said depending on the pipeline including the length and volume of oil automatic shut off valves can sometimes do more harm than good. >> they are another point of weakness along the pipeline. everywhere that a pipeline is discontinuous, a valve flange or something there that is another point where you can have a leak. the occupant shut down valve on liquid lines can cause a problem, because liquid is not compressible. if a valve shuts quickly you

create a water hammer effect and that can create an issue in breaking other things that would not have previously broken. >> what we do know is that oil spills happen all over california and all over the country every year, and the only way to truly prevent an oil spill from happening is to stop drilling for oil. >> the two california state beaches, most sullied by the spill remain closed for at least another two weeks. as the scraping, scooping and shoveling continue. jennifer london, al jazeera santa barbara county, california. >> on that today's healthbeat, an f.d.a. advisory panel recommends the agency approve a drug called the viagra for women, treating a chemical deficiency in the brain. the f.d.a. has rejected it because of its side effects saying the.the advisory board said

it should be made available. >> more jobs created than expected with the jobs report. you're smiling. >> this was definitely a very encouraging, highly encouraging report even. let's get straight to the in connection. last month the economy added 280,000 jobs, well above expectations. it was well above the previous average for the year, which was below 200,000. i should also put it in perspective that in the second half of last year, the economy was adding 281,000 jobs, very encouraging to see it getting back into that average this month. the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.5%, a slight edge up but don't get too worried about that. the labor force participation rate which measures the number of people either in work or actively looking for job was

62.9%. as for the mix of jobs, construction continued to add jobs at a healthy pace, up 17,000. mining still a weak sector. mining includes oil patch jobs and as the price of oil dropped we've seen shale frackers either suspend operations or hold off investment for new operations. we had a very encouraging sign, 50,000 jobs cited in leisure and hospital at. finally, average hourly wages we go on about this a lot because we want americans to have more money in their paychecks. look at that, up 8 cents to $24.90 sticks an hour. that's up 2.3% year over year, not at the 3% or 3.5%, but still higher. all in all very encouraging. >> when you look at this jobs report and last week we were talking about those bad g.d.p.

numbers in the first quarter still looking at consumer spending not really robust, where do we put this in the scheme of the recovery. >> what we're hoping again, one report does not a trend make but we hope that we put the weakness behind us of the winter, that this signals more jobs being created. what we're looking for is pressure to build up behind wages. that's what we really, really want to see. we are seeing average hourly wages creep up, 3.3% is better than 2.2 so hopefully we're on our way. >> going the right direction. thank you. >> the red cross is in colorado helping people displaced by at least two tornadoes that swept through an area 40 miles north of denver last night. they destroyed or damaged dozens of homes. thunderstorm and hail slammed the state. no one was hurt. crews won't know the extent of the damage until later this morning. >> today is world environment day. this year's theme is consume

with care. sheds light on how food is being wasted all around the world. let's bring in nicole mitchell for today's environmental impact. how bad of a problem is food wasting? >> of all the food produced around the world, one third is lost or wasted, 1.3 billion tons every year. when you look at how many people are in food critical positions that is a lot of waste. there can definitely be better resourcing. it falls every june 5 and consume with care means water air, but i wanted to focus on food because sometimes it's lost in all the different things that we have that are problems around the world. the numbers 30% of all food in the united states is thrown away. that one third i mentioned for the world that's lost or wasted, that's a little different number from the u.s. number, because that includes third world countries that don't have proper

refrigeration or transportation, so it's lost before it even gets to the food chain. another number, 2 billion people around the world hungry or under nourished. and look at the disparity with this. 1.5 billion people are overweight or obese so there's a really big additional part between who gets the foot and who does not. about 30% of our energy consumption goes into the food sector, the making it, transporting it. some of the things that you possibly could do at home to kind of cut these in connection, all that waste in the united states makes a big impact. just a few things. things like planning ahead and getting at the grocery store things that you know that you actually need, smaller portions, safely storing your food so it doesn't go bad and know what the expiration dates use by for example is much different than the best by date.

your pocketbook-wise, $2,200 a family waste as year, so you can make a big difference if you use some have those tips. >> the justice democratic was behind a huge take down at fifa. will that impact soccer in the united states? we take a look. >> the curse of cleveland. fans fear the city will never win another championship again. the last one was in 1964.

juror welcome to al jazeera america. it is 8:50 eastern. taking a look at today's top stories. two al-qaeda off shoots are expanding in the middle east. intelligence officials say the nusra and al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula are growing. there are growing fears they could attack u.s. and european targets. >> the senate passed a bill to expand benefits to same sex couples that are veterans. it would have provided the benefits even if the couple is living in a state that doesn't recognize their marriage. >> terminally ill patients have

a bill if approved california would become the fifth state to legalize the right to die. >> the f.b.i.'s investigation into corruption in soccer's governing body is expanding this morning. u.s. authorities speaking anonymously to reuters say the probe includes the world cup host bids of russia and qatar. both countries denied wrongdoing in their bids. soccer is the most popular sport in the world but hasn't really caught on in the u.s. there are signs it is growing. >> blatter is not going down quietly. >> it's not often radio shows are taken up with soccer. perhaps it's a sign of growing importance that so much attention i guess being paid to the u.s. investigation into

fifa. >> sepp blatter isn't the only person at fault here. >> the scandal won't stop fans from watch ago short that's steadily growing in popularity. >> people expected it. they kind of knew that it was going on. there's that side and then you have the actual sports side. i think they do separate the two and care about the sport. the corruption is kind of on the other side itself. >> in many big u.s. cities, signs like this are not uncommon. youth football leagues have witnessed huge growth. during the last world cup more north americans than ever tuned in to watch a sport that many perceive as struggling to gain a hold here. >> the world view of football in the united states is that it is something that could never rifle baseball or american football. the demographics here are changing quickly. by 2050, it's expected a third

of the population will be hispanic and many believe all this attention could actually help the sport grow. >> sepp blatter resigning and new blood in leadership positions may allow some of my non-soccer friends or friends who are not a big fan of soccer be more open. >> maybe the change is going to help the soccer world and that may help the sport grow in the united states. >> football is far from challenging mainstream u.s. sports but few doubt that could soon change. a generation that was introduced to the game by so-called soccer moms are growing up fast and football is no longer met with indifference. the current scandal engulfing the maybe is unlikely to stop football steady progress in the u.s. al jazeera miami florida. >> the university of north carolina has been charged with five level one violationles by the ncaa in a grade inflation scandal that spanned decades. in october an internal investigation at chapel hill

found 3,000 students, mostly athletes had their grades inflated through sham courses over a period of 20 years. level one violations are considered breaches of contract. the school chancellor said they take the allegation seriously and will respond. >> what fans call the cleveland cavaliers curse appears to continue. they made it into overtime last night only to lose 10--100 despite lebron james scoring 44 points. the last time cleveland won a major sports title was in 1964 when the browns won the superbowl. as tom ackermann reports some worry the city will never win another championship. >> the city of cleveland takes pride in its world renowned medical center, it's classical symphony orchestra and rock and roll hall of fame, but its sports teams not so much. in 1964, the cleveland browns did win the presuperbowl nfl championship but ever since the

pro franchises have come up dry more than any other north american stiff. is cleveland under a curse? >> i don't believe in a curse. was there a curse for the red sox for many years they go without a championship? >> nos we just haven't had the rice piece to say get the job done. >> the most important piece by far, the nba's single most dominant player, power forward lebron james an ohio native who defected to miami for several seasons and helped bring them two nba titles has come back, hoping to repeat the feat for his team. >> he went away and came back and now knows how to lead. >> the fans give credit to david blatt. after taking israeli's macabi tel aviv to the championship, but some of the calf fateful

give themselves credit, too. >> if you israel real loud, you win. they get motivate. >> for a city that's borne a big share of america's economic woes in recent years a championship may boost what many here hope will be a renaissance. >> as soon as they get him cleveland is going to go crazy. everybody is going to love cleveland once again. every is going to be coming back here. >> judging by the season statistics the cavaliers go in as slight underdogs yet driven by their town's half century long thirst for glory. al jazeera cleveland. >> new york's museum abandoned plans to expand at the cost of a much loved garden. the museum said it was now working on a new plan that spare the russell page designed garden. opponents including the new york city government pushed back against the expansion proposal. >> two rare art works that vanished from boston's public library eight weeks ago have been found inside the library.

the rembrandt etching and engraving were misfiled, found mixed in with books. they are worth more than $600,000. >> six iconic video games are hall-of-famers. a panel of judges chose pong, pac-man, tetris, super mario brothers world craft and doom for the hall of fame. they are the inaugural class at the hall, chosen based on interest longevity and popularity around the world. >> american pharoah has a crown for the triple crown tomorrow at the belmont stakes, it is nicknamed the gave yard of champions. 1977 was the last to win the triple crown. >> coming up, more from the opec meeting in vienna.

that's it for us here in new york. thanks for watching. g. >> on hard earned, inspiring new beginnings... >> these workers got the fight in them, they just don't know it. >> facing up to old demons... >> i am really really nervous... >> lives hanging in the balance... >> it's make or break... i got past the class... >> hard earned pride... hard earned respect... hard earned future... a real look at the american dream hard earned only on al jazeera america

>> we were drugged water boarded, dogs they throw at you the whole book. >> one of the youngest ever held at guantanamo bay >> a guy would go for a few days you'd hear screaming he would come back a destroyed person you can only imagine what happened to him... >> accused of killing an american soldier at 15... >> i start hearing americans and their screaming and i thought, umm i'm just gonna throw this grenade... >> after 13 years,

he's now out on bail an exclusive interview guantanamo's child - omar khadr only on al jazeera america he had snowed >> welcome to the news hour in doha. our top stories keep the oil flowing, opec maintains production despite calls from the city to push prices higher. a food fight in india regulators say maggie noodles of unsafe for human consumption. the company says they're fine. >> the biggest theft of u.s. data ever, china says it's not to blame. >> now