>> all that tension is about what's happening right now. >> unlivable wages... >> you can work very hard and you will remain poor. >> what's the cost of harvesting america's food? >> do you see how it will be hard to get by on their salary? >> yeah >> fault lines al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> today they will be arrested... >> ground breaking... they're firing canisters of gas at us... emmy award winning investigative series... fault lines invisible hands only on al jazeera america >> this is aljazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris. chemical warfare syria facing new accusations on capital for attacking civilians with chlorine. and an uber driver is not a contractor. what decision could it mean for the multibillion-dollar demand industry. and running dry. nasa is seeing where huge underground supplies of fresh water are drying up.

and we begin with new accusations in the five-year long civil war in syria. today an international watchdog group reported that remnants of syria's stockpile had been destroyed, but on capitol hill. syrian and american doctors described how chlorine is now being used in barrel bomb attacks on civilians. kimberly has the story. >> reporter: they came at the invitation of the republican-led house foreign relations committee to show eyewitness accounts of chlorine gas attacks on syrian civilians. >> since this year, we have domed 31 attacks using poisonous gas in the province. where more than 380 syrian civilians why injured by it. ten of them died of

suffocation. >> reporter: providing additional video evidence, the doctor told law make, that the attacks intensified ten days after a u.n. security council resolution condemned the use of chlorine and the military action if it was breached. >> i'm a doctor and very familiar with death. but i've never seen a more obscene way to kill children. i've never watched so many suffer in such an obscene manner. >> the doctors say that only the syrian government has access to the helicopters responsible for dropping the chlorine-filled barrels onto the areas supportive of the syrian opposition. he has always maintained that his government is not behind the chlorine gas attacks. he argued that chlorine is widely available and it has been weaponized in the past by other groups, including the

iraq state of lavant and isil, but u.s. secretary of state john kerry the united states believes that assad is behind the attacks, and they're working to hold him accountable. and that's why doctors and activists are pressuring lawmakers into pressuring president obama into started military action to dialogue to lead to a creation of a no-fly zone to stop the bombs from dropping. >> they have random and cheap and harmful -- they take dozens of lives every day. >> reporter: they say without an immediate u.s.-led internationalist, there's lit hope for civilian safety. kimberly hallcut, aljazeera america. >> yemen's capital has been rocked by a series of car bombs.

[ explosions ] >> dozens of people have been reported to be killed and hundreds injured. the explosions hit shia mosques, and the headquarters for the houthi rebel movement, the peace talks in geneva appear to be stalled. >> . >> the pentagon officials warned today that efforts to train troops against isil are falling short. the general martin dempsey blamed the recent setbacks on the ineffectiveness of iraqi troops. jamie mcintyre joins us, and training these troops is a big part of the u.s. strategy against isil >> reporter: well, secretary carter today told the house that the u.s. had hoped to train 24,000 iraqi troops now but they have only trained 7,000 troops and 2,000 counter terrorism forces.

tony, you can do the math and see that's less than half of what the u.s. was hoping to get together. but it's a double barreled message from the secretary. secretary carter only were there not enough iraqi troops, but they were not good enough. and the joint chiefs insisting that sending more american troops in was not the answer. >> the combination of disunity, deserters, and so-called ghost soldiers who are paid on the books, but don't show up or don't exist gretly diminished their capacity. >> i would not recommend that we put u.s. forces in harm's way simply to stiffen the spine of local forces. if their spine is not stiffened by the threat of isil on their way of life, nothing we do is going to stiffen their spine. >> secretary carter did point to one battlefield success.

anti-isil forces along the syrian border captured a key city that blocks a supply line that goes to the isil stronghold in syria, but members of the committee were quick to point out that that victory was accomplished by kurdish peshmerga forces, which have shown in the past that they have much more will to fight and the ability to fight than the regular iraqi forces. jamie? >> so how did the lawmakers react to these comments? >> i think there was a definite split on the committee from those who were not satisfied with the u.s. strategy. and those who were not satisfied that the u.s. actually has a strategy. here's a little bit of a flavor of the exchange from the hearing earlier today. >> are we winning? are we losing? is it a stalemate? is it a quagmire. >> are you asking whether the united states is winning? >> that's what i'm asking. >> we're on the path to limit

the capability of isil inside of their sovereign territory. this is a far different approach than if we were to decide ourselves that it was our responsibility to defeat isil inside of iraq >> so that was chairman dempsey's big main argument, that the u.s. can not win this fight for the iraqis, and he pushed back very hard on the idea that the u.s. needed to send spotters on the front lines to make it more effective. he said that's not affecting the coalition airstrikes, and if they put 15 spotters on the ground they would need 150 troops on the ground to back them up, and that would be putting the u.s. in combat. >> jamie, thank you. fume services were held today for the first american believed to have been killed fighting isil. hundreds of friends and family gathered to pay tribute to keith groomfield.

american kurds were among those attending the service. the 36-year-old died this month fighting alongside of kurds in syria. what if didn't talks been greece fails. they would are to leave the euro zone. thousands gathered to show their support for the government. and john is here from annapolis. >> both sides are entrenched. the greek side has put the best offer it can on the table. and creditors are offering $4 billion in austerity cuts, which would have to take place immediately in the next six months in order to affect this year's budget and fiscal gap. that's the shortfall that the creditors say that greece is in for. greece says that it can't do $4 billion this year along with

what we agreed it up hold. but what we can do is a certain amount of that through consumer tax, at least a billion and a half and then we would like more from creditors on the debt repaid this year. creditors have made such a concession, and they have dropped the gdp that greece wrote have to spend paying debt this year, 3 and a half to 1% and greece wants a slightly better offer but nonetheless even if that's granted there still seems to be a gap between the two sides not just for this year, but also the next three or four years and the creditors are not convinced that the greeks really want to undertake what they say are painful but beneficial reforms that would ensure growth in the long-term. >> after days of meetings, a committee of federal individuals issued a much anticipated statement today forecasting economic growth,

future interest rate hikes. ali velshi is here with more on it. >> reporter: this sounds boring to most people, but markets and investors closely monitored the fopsment, and here's what we heard sorta kinda. interest rates are staying where they are. since 2008 the fed has kept them in a range from 0 to one quarter of a percent and what that means the prime rate that the banks charge their absolutely best customers is 3 and 1/4%. and what the feds say they anticipate that if things keep going the way they are in the economy, generally better, there will be rate hikes coming before 2016. earlier this month, a lot of people thought that the fed might increase rates today. and that didn't happen. most people didn't think that it was going to happen. the meeting in september might happen then, and then the meeting in december, between

september and december. so we're looking at a quarter% higher in interest rates by the end of the year. >> why not move? is the fed still worried about wage stagnation? >> yep wages jobs, things like that. >> they don't want to crush the economy. they say there's still room to grow. they called the labor market in balance, it's not particularly strong, and not weak, and they want to see it raise more. when you raise the rates you slow the economy down a little bit, and they're not sure that we're entirely there but there seems to be some consensus that it's going to happen before the end of the year. mortgage rates have predetermined this, and it's going up, and it immediately affects your loans. and those loans might be affected already. >> what else do you have coming up on the show, ali? >> great show on unconscious biases that we don't know we have.

northwestern is doing research on how you can unbias people while they sleep and you can imagine lots of ethical concerns about that. what else can you do? and the good news for me, i'm not much of a sleeper so i'm not in danger of having little waves come into my head. but a great discussion. >> thank you and you can watch ali velshi on target at 10 p.m. eastern and 7:30 pacific right here on aljazeera america. president obama is struggling to save part of his failed trade agreement. the talks come less than a week after his own party voted to block part of the agreement. and today the white house said that the president will only support a trade agreement that includes the tpt. one of the fastest online services in the world is said to be worth $4 billion, but a ruling today from the

california labor commission could bring about big changes. melissa is in san francisco and what did the commission decide here? >> reporter: what's really interesting. this is going to impact all of just one uber driver. one person filed this case, asking to be an employee of uber, and they won the decision, but there's a press dense that has been set here to allow other uber drivers to follow their cases and say we want to be employees as well. we got in uber vehicles and asked them what they thought. and here's what one guy has to say. would you want to be an employee of uber? >> yes, i would rather be an employee rather than an independent contractor. >> why? >> because employees have benefits and it's more reliable. because independent contractors, you do whatever you want and uber gives you the platform, and sometimes you make a lot. and sometimes you make nothing. >> and tony, what's really

interesting about this, the concept of the economy, it's huge here in the silicon valley. you have air b and b where you have providers and users. and the company says we're just providing the software, but you have a case where the california labor says not so fast. are you just a software or can you be considered an employer? tony? >> this sharing in the economy is huge, so melissa, what happens next? >> in this particular case, like i said, it's just one driver, and also, the drivers can file their own case, but what is really interesting there's indeed a class action lawsuit, and if that lawsuit goes forward and there's a decision against uber, we could have a day where the drivers wake up and it turns out they're employees of uber. >> melissa, thank you, and the

search for two escaped murderers in upstate new york is expanding. the police have released pictures of matt and sweat they are on the run and they're looking independent the 16-mile area of the woods. >> the areas of egress from the prison filth and we're not ruling anything out and not taking anything for granted. >> the authorities discussed the murder plot with prison employee, joyce mitchell. the target, her husband. 80% of the cocaine that winds up in the united states travels through honduras, and it's considered the front line for the war on drugs but a year ago three agents were involved in a deadly incident that is now under investigation. paul has the back-story. >> reporter: there are so

many unanswered questions, and we're talking about a very rural and remote area of northern honduras. it's one of the pressed routes for south american drug smugglers, they go on river boats and shipped overland to the united states. and the dea works with honduran agents to intercept them before they go into the u.s. back in 2012, the officials say that half a ton of cocaine was loaded onto a small boat under the cover of night. and as the helicopters swoop in a second boat comes in, and fires on them. and they fired back and killed four people. the human rights activists said that no one on the boat had known links to drug smuggling. they had good reason to be on the river.

one was a 14-year-old boy and his mother and they were headed back to town after he finished school, and other family members on the boat heard similar stories. they heard the gunfire and there were heavily armed agents already there. >> we had three agents pointing guns at my head. they questioned me and said if i didn't answer, they would throw me into the river handcuffed or shoot me and get rid of my body. they asked where are the drugs? who is the leader? where do they live? i told them i was innocent and i was looking for my aunt. >> the honduran government said that four smugglers were killed. but as we explained, people there, and the relatives had a much different take on this. >> as i understand, there were two investigations conducted by the hon durians has there been a u.s. investigation. >> there hasn't, and both of the honduran investigations

were considered human rights and were incomplete. and thatet well with congress. back in july of 2013, one of the congressmen of georgia demanded answers from the dea and he had a letter by the relatives, and time, the state department and honduras are running a joint investigation and this is a sign that they're taking it seriously and they're going to get to the bottom of it. but dea has fought it every step of the way. >> you have much more coming up on this. >> we talked to a lot of people about the investigation, and we have learned a lot more about where it's going and well have more on that. >> 8 p.m. here on aljazeera america. coming up, drying out. nasa satellites find compelling evidence that the world is running out of water and plus, there's growing outrage over the allegation that's australia

has been paying off human traffickers.

>> authorities announced that they will resume deporting non-citizens, and the military will help to patrol the areas with large migrant populations. there's more reaction this evening though minimal that's we showed you earlier cash paid to smugglers to prevent them from coming to australian shores. >> australia's prime minister still isn't answering questions. these are those pictures. the money shots that have given fresh impetus to the allegations that australia paid

people smugglers to turn the boats around at sea. broadcast by aljazeera on wednesday, the footage was shown on australia television networks too. an interview with the captain showed that despite the australian government's refusal to comment it did take place. >> i said that we needed money so we could return to our wives and children, and he said okay, we'll help you. >> this footage is of all six at the center of the controversy. what officials may have done at sea is dominating news in australia. >> i'll get back to the question is he paying money to people smugglers? >> what i'm saying, you're asking a question based on an always, and i need to respond to someone else's always. >> but if it happened, was it legal? the captain said that he guided

the vessel into australian waters, and that's where the payment took place. >> this is about whether australia's secret tense surface has broken australian law by paying people smugglers in what appears to be with the evidence that the police are given to the reporters in indonesia, in australian territory. >> whatever happened, paying smugglers is not popular. the people we talked to on the streets of sydney were appalled. >> you can't keep it a secret. it doesn't work that way. >> the government's rhetoric was turned back on them. >> can the foreign minister stand by her statement last month, that smugglers are starting to use the money they received to fund terrorism? a week ago the australian government flatly denied the

payments, and since then, two things have happened, the government has shifted from not true to nothing happened. and still, the pressure is on australia's government to come clean. >> approaching undocumented migrants in the united states, the justice department and lawyers representing families held in detention centers have until friday to reach an agreement. and that leaves thousands of people in legal limbo. >> i thought that they would give me asylum quickly and i could soon leave with my family. >> gladys wanted to save her daughter from the violence of her native honduras. criminal gangs had abducted her as a toddler forcing her to come up with a $5,000 ransom. but the dream of going to the united states stalled as soon as they crossed the u.s.

border. they were placed in a detention center where three-year-old katherine started vomiting up blood all over her close. >> when i brought her to the medical staff they did nothing more than to clean her up and told me to give her sufficient water and make sure that she gets enough rest. >> how long to see a doctor? >> four days, she started to look bad pail, and without eating and they sent her to a doctor at a hospital. >> the incident took place here at the berks county family center in pennsylvania. one of the three facilities where undocumented families wait for a judge to rule on their cases. some have been detained for more than a year. immigration advocates say that undocumented children and their parents used to be released on bond after a short time, but following last summer's wave of

unaccompanied miners, the u.s. government changed their policy and started to detain them for undetermined periods. >> we have to increase housing to detain parents and adults who come to this country with their children, expedited removals. if an adult is at the border and they brought their children with them, they are priority for removal. and we're building additional space to hold them so they can be returned quickly. >> it was the most disturbing experience in my whole life. >> this man who we're calling muhammad spent five months at berks with his teenage daughter before he was granted asylum. >> 90% of them are women with little kids, like two years old, one years old. anyone who goes to that space and looks in the eyes of those kids, he would like them to go out.

the next day the same day because a kid should not live in a prison for a single hour. it's unjust, cruel and unreasonable. >> christoph putsle, aljazeera. >> u.s. immigration authorities denied our request for an on camera interview for this report. you can see more at 10:00 eastern, and 7:00 pacific. allegations that the assad government is now using chlorine gas on its people. and big trouble for one of the nation's largest cellphone carriers. why at&t's internet speeds could end up costing the country tens of millions of dollars.

>> the chemical weapons watchdog is calling it a milestone, ridding syria of has chemical weapons stockpile.

according to the organization, the waste created during the destruction of the toxic chemicals taken from syria has been successfully disposed. it was done this month in facilities in germany and finland. but today, on capitol hill, syrian medical doctors testified that they are using chlorine gas in barrel bombs on civilians. >> i live in syria and i never see these helicopters or airplanes used against extremists. all we see is he's planes and helicopters being used against hospitals, against schools, and general civilian populations. >> . >> patel the codirector of the center for justice and she's an aljazeera contributor. so are you convinced that the syrian regime is using barrel

bombs, stuffed with chlorine, against civilian populations? >> i think that there's a fair amount of circumstantial evidence at this point and they have been contaminated and you have witnesses coming forward. and this has been domed by several different organizes so i think that circumstancely, there's a pretty strong case that chemical weapons have been used. and then there's the question of who used them. and then you come to the issue about the barrel bombs. the allegation that they have been dropped from helicopters and that the rebels don't really have that ability to do that, so it has to be the syrian government. >> what what do you make of the push back on this, in an interview with charlie rose not that long ago, and look, this is a

preposterous essentially chlorine is available to anyone and there's the ability for anyone to weaponnize this. what do you think of that claim? >> well, it's true. chlorine is a dual use chemical, and we use it in our bathrooms and all of that, so it's a common chemical, but what's not common is sticking it in a barrel and dropping it from a helicopter >> so circumstantial evidence, does that get us to where we were in 2013? clearly, there was a campaign by the president, president obama, to take military action against the regime. and does the circumstantial evidence get us back to that moment? >> yes it does. because we didn't verify what

we had. but we just had circumstantial evidence. one of the things that we were worried about is that the stockpiles of seran and mustard gas was going to get into the hands of all of these so-called rebels in syria some of whom we like and some we don't like. so there was additional security for the united states at that time. and with chlorine, not so much. >> at this point, is it fair to say that the united states is more concerned about the threat posed by isil than it is about this murkiness about who was using chlorine barrel bombs right now in syria? >> well, i don't think that the united states is unclear about who is using them and the barrel bombs. they have been very clear. they have said over and over, he is using the barrel bombs

and as you mention there's this fight going on with isis, and it's a very difficult and volatile situation, so what can the united states do in that situation? >> . >> you're not going to get any kind of agreement. moving forward, that calls for the use of force and that's not likely to happen, correct? >> i don't think that anyone expects that. what would that resolution look like? would it authorize a no-fly zone? that would be surfs put into the resolution about who was using the chemical weapons, and as we know, the russian federation has not permitted that to move forward. >> react to your thoughts on this from robert gates the former press secretary, back in 2013 when congress was set to

take a rote and didn't because of the agreement right? between russia and the united states where syria turned over its weapons. the story that we just told you about. it's not a strategy to drop bombs, airstrikes, that's not a strategy, but you look at the bigger picture five years after this, no one would have an answer about what to do about syria. are we correct in saying that? >> that's absolutely right. nobody had an answer two years ago either. but the situation has gotten worse and worse and more complicated and more volatile. so what the united states can do and what it has at this point is very very littled. >> the question is, what are the core interests in what are america's core interests in syria? and that has to be answered. thank you the codirector of the liberty and national security center at the brennan center for justice good to see

you, it has been a while. thousands of troops from the u.s. and other countries are taking part in what is said to be nato's largest exercises landings in the battle tick sea and air lifts. the exercise is intended and demonstration of its capability and a warning to russia to any throats. one of the nation's cellphone operators is in big trouble. the government has imposed a fine against at&t of $100 million for improperly slowing down date for customers with unlimited data plans. john is in washington and clear this up for me. tell us more about what at&t is accused of doing here. >> first off, it's worth making the point that you can't buy the unlimited data plans anymore even if you wanted to. if you went to the store and said i want an unlimited data

plan they phased them out in 2011, but for people who have been with at&t, they werer grandfathered into a newgata plan if you will, and the fcc says that the problem with that, if you use more than five gigabytes of memory, your account starts to slow down. it's very very annoying, and what happens you can't stream things anymore. so you phone up at&t. and you say i can't stream the best of the tony harris show anymore, and they say, you have unlimited data. you say i can't get on line and nothing works and they say to you, you have unlimited data. and millions complained to the fcc. and it's the biggest fine in history for the company lacking transparency and at&t is not

the only one. they are all doing it, they worked out if they can get you to go over any limit 5 6 7 whatever they said, if you buck through that, they can charge more money and it improves their bottom line. >> what are both sides of this saying about the accusation. >> fcc has a catchy title in their headline. mainline in their complaint is that unlimited means up limited. and i think that most consumers can really identify with it. but at&t is hitting back. we have a graphic to explain it. they say we will exert and we will provide notice in multiple ways in going beyond the fcc's requirement. so what they mean by that is text messages and emails. we have one to show you. it's a real text message by one of our producers here at ajam. she's on the so-called

unlimited plan, the modern version of it, and here's at&t telling her that she has to pay more, and that's what they have been doing to inform their customers. the fcc saying that it's not enough. this is not the first time that they have gone after at&t. last year, they sued them, because millions of americans the internet went to dial-up speed for 12 days a month. and at&t is currently trying to convince the regulators to allow them to buy the nation's largest television provider, direct tv, for a cool $49 billion. so at&t won't like the publicity. but as you see they're hitting back. >> john terry, thank you. the government says there's dramatic new evidence that planet earth could be running out of water. nasa says data from its gray satellite shows that 21 of the world's biggest aquaphors have

passed the tipping point for sustainability. jacob ward joins us from san francisco, and jacob how can nasa see water problems on earth from space? >> it's a very cool project. and the gray satellite measures the gravitational pull of the earth down to a granular extent. and as it's going over the earth, it can detect where gravity is heavier. there's more gravitational pull when the thickness is heavier and it's because of the gravitational pull of that water. it's a very cool system, and unfortunately, the news that it's delivering after a ten-year prompt is very bad >> so how bad is this, jake some and what's the timeline of running out of water according to these findings? >> basically, until now, we have not had a good way of understanding how much water is being pulled out of the ground

versus how much is being put back in. ground water is used by 35% of the world for farming, for drinking and survival in general. and here in california, we actually use 60% of our water usage comes from ground water because our surface water is drying up in the drought and that's becoming more and more true across the globe. what the gray satellite has determined it 1 of the 37 largest aquaphors in the world have reached a point of tipping over. essentially, we're pulling more water out of them than giving back to them because of the rainfall. the arabian basin and the second worse off generating water for india and pakistan, and these are hard places to find alternative forms of energy. when this water runs out, it's done with it, and there's no way to find sources of water. the gray satellite can't tell

us how much is left. we know at this point that more water is going out of the ground than back in, but we don't know what the total amount is. so we know that eventually these places will run out and do so without warning. so we need to get ground water usage under control. and that's hard in a planet that expects 3 billion more people over the next decade. but we have reached the tipping point with the aquaphors and they're going to run out. >> thank you. and the governor of texas says that the weather system that was tropical storm bill is still potentially dangerous. it has already left behind flooding and the threat of tornadoes. roads are washed out and hundreds of flights have been canceled or delayed. and the authorities warn that with water levels still high after last month floods, the rising rivers have the

potential to cause flooding in different parts of the country. >> believe it or not we saw landfall yesterday morning and the pressure ras 1,000 millibars, and now it's 10,002 and it has not weakened that much, though it has come down to a tropical depression. yesterday morning we saw landfall down here in the southern coastal areas n. the late morning timeframe. and what we're seeing now the center of the storm just to the north of dallas, but still down to the south we're still dealing with the thunderstorm activity all along this boundary right here, from houston to corpus criste. the problem is, since we saw landfall here and the rain began yesterday morning we're still seeing rain down in the southern location, which means flooding is a major problem. am the flooding situation is worse than when tony and i were talking about it last night. i want to show you what that

looks like right now. first of all look at all of the red areas. those are flash flood warnings, and those are the most dangerous flooding conditions that you can see. and we're talking widespread from oklahoma to the west of dallas, down to san antonio over here to the east of houston as well. this is going to stay with us for a couple of days because we have so much water across the region. in terms of tornadoes, we had tornado warnings earlier and they have been dropped at the moment and we'll continue to monitor that. but here we go in dallas, things in it dallas-fort worth with getting a little bit better, and going up to the north. we're still watching the bands here. and one just pushed through waco. those bands have a lot of severe weather and rain involved with them as well. and now the focus is going over here to oklahoma. we think we'll see 5-8isms of rain coming into this particular area as that storm system makes its way to the north. so tomorrow, oklahoma and then as we go towards friday, we'll

start to go over here towards missouri, possibly to illinois by the time we get to the weekend. and flooding -- >> another nasty system there. kevin, appreciate it, and thanks for the update. the vatican's decision to enter into the debate over climate change is generating controversy on the campaign trial. tomorrow, president obama is going to give a speech on climate change. >> as pope francis is prepared to ask governments around the world to cut the use of fossil fuels, this week in new hampshire, republican candidate, jeb bush, a catholic, declared his independence. >> i don't get advice from my cardinals or pope, and i would like to see what he says about climate change and how it connects to these broader issues before i pass judgment. >> in a draft of the coming

declaration, pope francis says that burning fossil fuels are harming the planet and global warming poses a grave threat to the world's poor. the teachings could put some catholics in an awkward position, particularly these five preparing to seek the republican nomination, it may be difficult for mr. bush, a former governor, and marco rubio, a senator. last year, miami was identified as one of the u.s. metro areas most vulnerable to damage caused by humor global warming. rubio hasn't commented on the pope's apparent position. in the past, he said that he doesn't believe that human activity is causing climate change. and the senator said that capping emissions is a mistake.

>> i can tell you that it would have a devastating impact on our economy. >> and the announcement, former pennsylvania senator rick santorum underrer scored fossil fuels, and he said this. >> the church has gotten it wrong a few times on science and i think that we're probably better off leaving science to the scientists and focusing on what we're really good at, which is theology and morality. >> before joining the seminary, pope francis did study seeps and he got a master's degree in chemistry. and given the pope's immense popularity now political strategists say that the capped dates are wise to pay homage as jeb bush just did. >> he's throwing people back into the faith. and as a converted catholic of 25 years i think it's really

cool. >> with that thought the candidate gave a clear indication that the chime at debate is becoming higher octane. >> i think that religion out to be about making us better as people. and not things in the political realm, so i'm a little bit sceptical about that. >> that extends throughout the gop. so opposing the pope on climate change is likely to matter. but the general nomination could be another story. giving that most americans before the pope weighs n. consider climate change a threat. a mass tonight for the irish students killed in a balcony crash at berkeley during a birthday party. berkeley's mayor said that preliminary investigation shows that the wooden beams supporting it had water damage.

six were killed and seven others were injured. it has been a month since the mers outbreak in south korea, just ahead the busy tourist season, and it has been called russia's dimmed, the theme park filled with tanks and missiles for kids to play with.

>> the third reported case of mers was identified in south korea, and while they have been battling the outbreak, they have been battling adverse publicity. up until now, 160 people have been reported with the

syndrome. over a dozen have died. and many thousands are still in quarantine. this graph shows when the first cases were reported and how they peaked at the beginning of june, and now the cases seem to be on the decline. whether they get more cases depends on the incubation period of the virus. and those monitoring the situation say that the next ten days are important. >> the next ten days are crucial, because we're cautiously optimistic that there will be a plateau and then a dropoff. because there has been such aggressive isolation of those in contact with the virus. >> thousands of schools and colleges that shut their doors as a precaution are now open and only a few remain closed. the authorities have been disinfecting and fumigating public venues and public links. >> it's just a few days from the peak tourist season

starting and as many as 6 million visitors are expected in 2015, according to tourism. they have had as many as 100,000 holiday cancellations and the government has offered a rescue package of $64 million for those businesses that could be affected to help them with cash flow problems. it's now known that as many as 150 foreigners are in isolation, expect suspected of having mers, and if that's true, it may not be enough for people to come to south korea. a federal judge has ruled that minnesota's sex offender program is unconstitutional. it vitals the fundamental rights of more than 700 people who have been locked up indefinitely after completing their prison sentences and he has call for changes including

the creation of facilities. for a look at what's coming up at the top of the hour, john seigenthaler is here. >> the u.s. military in iraq. the pentagon warns to officials that it's attempts to train iraqis to fight isil are falling short and what needs to change? that's what congress wants to know. and the legacy of president george h.w. bush. his chief of staff john san unu, i asked him about before the gulf war. >> talking to each of those leaders individually, and bringing them into the coalition, and then when he said this aggression shall not stand, he used all of resources that that coalition had put together to make sure that it did not stand. those are the stories we have at call00. >> the russian dimmed, it's the

department in moscow where the defense department hopes to show off new military technologies. >> reporter: examining looking for bargains, it's just like any other market, just with more uniforms. military men have brought their shopping lift to the technical forum from all across the world. and given part patriot dubbed russia's military dimmed, a test run for the venue. president put inkicked it off showing them what it will do next year. here you'll be able to see the famous legendary battles and get to know the history of military aviation, the navy and army, and take part in military competitions and in extreme sports. i'm certain that the new park will become a major component in the system of military

patiotic education for the youngyounger generation. >> in russia, the fight for the motherland doesn't come cheap. $263 but with military risk on the rise in russia, and the tensions in the west getting more tense day-by-day, it's something that they are happy to spend. rugs trying to make a fun family day out with such raw destructive power. thanks missile systems and this the type of weapons system that the west said pro russian separatists destroyed last year. the crisis in ukraine has given added urgency to russia's massive and expensive military program. upgrades of 77% of equipment by 2020 and new intercontinental

ballistic missiles for its arsenal. it's small fry but it's the brain child of the defense minister putin is a man more conscience of pr than politicians. >> he's thinking about continuing his career as defense minister of russia is not the end of it. and maybe he has am bigs of running for president someday. so he wants to be seen as the person who led russia to military victories to promote the russian military into something great and wonderful. >> russians are spartanning to speak of a new arms race, but history contains warnings. the ussr's collapse was hastened by a ruin us arms race with the west that moscow couldn't afford. >> that's all of the time for this news hour. i'm tony harris in new york

city. and john seigenthaler is up in a couple of minutes.

>> hi everyone. this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. playing defense. >> if you are scug is asking is the united states winning that's the wrong question. >> why the fight against i.s.i.l. is falling behind. are u.s. ground troops an option option? tipping point. economic issues for greece. and roadblock