what you might call leaflets on the leaves. it was aimed at german chancellor angela merkel who is visiting brazil this week. more on our website, aljazeera.com. more than 80 wildfires rage across the west, prompting more evacuations today. a chemical company executive pleads guilty in the huge spill in west virginia one year ago. the incident left hundreds of thousands without drinking water for days. and students are back in court testifying about what they allege was a tradition of rape. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm randall pinkston. dusty dry winds are fanning dozens of wildfires across the west today. crews struggling to keep up with the fight. in washington state, 200 active duty soldiers are beginning training before being send to help fight wildfires. entire towns and tourist areas ordered to evacuate. >> reporter: the massive mobilization includes an aerial assault from firefighters, smoke jumpers leaping into this rugged burning terrain in idaho. in california, the fires are punishing, 300 homes are now threatened here. resources are stretched thin nationwide as 30,000 firefighters battle blazes.

but relief is on the way. soldiers from washington state have been called in to help. for some it is simply too late, what once were homes overlooking the lake, are nothing more than ash and rubble. carol joined hundreds of her neighbors who made the difficult decision to leave. >> i didn't take any family pictures or anything like that. i did not think anything was going to happen. >> reporter: and it's not just homes. this is the heart of washington state's $2 billion apple industry. one fruit-pinking company says its losing could exceed $60 million. >> we believe we'll have a plan where our growers fruit that is now hanging on the trees will not be impacted. >> reporter: while fire crews have made some progress against the fire here in washington, they are keeping a close eye on the weather. winds had been calming down, but we understand in the next 24 to

48 hours, they may pick back up. the last executive charge in a huge chemical spill in west virginia pleaded guilty. robert ray is at the courthouse. >> reporter: it has been a year and a half in the making since west virginia residents here in charleston, nine counties were affected by a chemical spill that went into the elk river. five executives pled guilty already, and the main guy gary southern has pled guilty to charges. we caught up with him and his attorney as they walked into the court a little earlier. are you the example of a greedy executive who doesn't care about people? >> sir, excuse us. >> reporter: even those the executives have pled guilty and will face fines and possible jail time, many people still want answers from government agencies.

they wonder why the entire area smelled of licorice, and why some of still having nausea. meanwhile in colorado the epa is opening a recovery center near durango to help residents deal with a toxic spill there. boaters are back out on the waterway now that it is clear again. for two weeks toxic sludge spilled from a former mining site turning the river orange. officials say people should still avoid drinking the water. crews in alaska are still

searching for men who were swept away by a land slide. it was one of several landslides after two inches of rain fell in just 24 mile per hours. germany's parliament today overwhelmingly approved a greek bailout. it includes getting a $95 billion loan package, which it needs to make a debt repayment on thursday. police in thailand are saying the man who carried out a deadly attack in bangkok may have had help. authorities offered this sketch a few hours ago. he is believed to be the same man, seen in a grainy surveillance video released yesterday. it shows him leaving a backpack at a busy shrine minutes before the explosion that killed 20 people. scott heidler has more on the investigation. >> reporter: mourning rush hour

at the boat peer. it's one of bangkoks busiest and still bustling less than 24 hours after a bombing. >> translator: i'm scared because i use this route to commune to work every day. >> reporter: this is the man thai police are hunting for in connection with the shrine attack. his image has been shown on tv and is a constant figure on social media. >> once we get into the bomb makings, then we can make a conclusion who they are, what identity or nationally. but for the moment some of these pieces from the bombs are seemingly coming from our own country. >> reporter: he adds that the physical evidence could reveal signatures that could help them pinpoint where the bomb was made. at this stage, they are not

ruling anything out, especially when it comes to the motivation behind the attacks. these bombings come just as tourism is rebounding here in thailand and the arrival numbers of the all-important chinese market doubled this year compared to the same period last year. they say these are direct attacks on thais and this nation's economy that is so strongly connected to tourism. 10,000 additional security forces have been deployed in bangkok. this has reassured some of the tourists. >> translator: at first i was shocked to hear about the blast. after assessing the situation i think bangkok might be safer after the bomb. >> reporter: as friends and relatives look at the lists of head and injured. thailand's government admits it will have to work harder to prevent more attacks. scott heidler, al jazeera, bangkok. isil fighters killed a

respected archeologist in syria. he had been in charge of the palmyra archaeological site for more than four decades. isil took over the ancient city in may. the presidential trail has been doing this week over the birthright citizenship. that is the long-standing rule that anyone born on u.s. soil automatically becomes a citizen. now some texas border counties are refusing to issue birth certificates to american-born children of undocumented migrants. heidi zhou castro reports. >> reporter: according to the u.s. constitution. this baby, born in a texas hospital in november 2013, is a u.s. citizen, yet any child, now one, has been unable to get a birth certificate. her mother asked us not to use the family's last name or show their faces. she is undocumented, and she

says that's the reason why her daughter has been denied her proof of birth. >> translator: she should have the same rights as a child born to american parents she says. >> reporter: at the heart of the issue, the state of texas is making it impossible for most undocumented parents to get a birth certificate, by requiring id documents they can get. now it is no longer recognizing the government id card issued by a foreign consulate. >> what are these kids going to do? they have no birth certificate. that's outrageous to me. >> reporter: this attorney represents 32 texas children and 28 immigrant parents in a lawsuit filed this summer against the state of texas. the state says it hasn't accepted it since 2008 because it is an unsecure document.

but the policy wasn't strictly enforced until last summer when an unprecedented number of undocumented immigrants crossed into texas and as the state launched a lawsuit against the president obama's executive actions -- >> i'm going to ask you to stop shooting, i haven't consented to an interview. >> earlier said i spoke with a venntive from the dream action coalition, he says the argument that undocumented immigrants create security concerns is an empty argument. >> it just exploits fears, because in reality many immigrants come here to work to provide a better life for their families. it's just donald trump and many who are exploiting fear and what better not to actually enforce laws than to actually get people out of the shadows to know who they are.

that's about national security. >> so far donald trump and scott walker have called for eliminating birth-right citizenship. approval for the little pink pill why some are so critical of the fda decision. and a former student is on trial accused in taking part in what is being called the senior salute. ♪

the food and drug administration has approved the first drug designed to boost sex drive in women. the drug works like an anti depressant, treating portions of the brain that affect sexual desire. some hail the approval as a victory for women's health. others point out the dangerous side effects, earlier we spoke on obgyn stacey, she said the side effects are an important consideration. >> side effects always have to be considered when a new drug comes to market or when a consumer decides to take a new medication. why we're putting particular emphasis on the side effects here is something of a rhetorical question, but they are important and consumers need to know about them before taking the drug. >> it will be on pharmacy shelves beginning next month. several republican

presidential candidates are in new hampshire today where they were take part in a summit on education. jeb bush, carly fiorina and others answered questions. fiorina talked about the need to get rid of the common core standards, bush stressed the need for individual states to set standards for themselves. democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton is speaking out about the investigation into her email. the state department says it has now flagged hundreds of messages for review to see whether they contained classified information. in las vegas yesterday clinton said all questions will be answered and she is cooperating with investigators. she also was asked whether her staff did anything to eliminate evidence. >> reporter: did you wipe the server? >> what with like a cloth or something? we have turned over the server. they can do whatever they want

to figure out what is there or not there. but we turned overeverything that was work related. every single thing. >> clinton said that she used a private server for convenience. the first african american to be elected to congress from ohio has died. lewis stokes served 15 terms in the house of representatives until he retired in 1999. he had several prominent assignments including heading up a congressional committee that looked into the assassinations of president kennedy and martin luther king, jr. . a sex scandal a rocking one of the country's most prestigious prep schools. a former male student is on trial for allegedly raping a younger female student when they attended st. paul school.

her family spoke to reportering this morning. >> my family and i stand behind my niece. >> testimony is now underway for a second day. john henry smith has more. >> did you live on campus? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: he was watching as a 16-year-old former schoolmate accused him of rape. both teenagers agree they met up late one night last year in an empty room on campus, and became intimate, but then she says he forced himself upon her. jurors toured the scene tuesday with labrie looking on. prosecutors argue the alleged rape was part of what is known at st. paul's at the senior salute, senior boys competing to

have sex with freshmen girls. labrie made a list of potential solutes the day after the assault, the accusers name was the only one in all caps. >> the defendant and some of his friends were competing to see who could lay the largest number of girls. lay, was the term that the defendant and his friends coined for the practice of the senior solute. >> reporter: labrie's lawyer says the girl knew all about the senior salute and pointed out emails between the two that he claims shows the accusing was okay with what happened. one email, read, quote: >> it was a source of pride for girls at the school to be asked to participate in the senior

solute. >> reporter: labrie insists he and the girl never had intercourse that night. his attorney also portrayed labrie as a campus leader who tried to discourage senior solutes. >> yes, he was popular. yes, he would be quite a catch for a freshman to get a senior solute vote. but owen is not someone who did this crime. >> reporter: john henry smith, al jazeera. ten years of recovery in new orleans. we hear from the major who says some of the issues may take even longer to resolve. ♪

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♪ new criticism today in ferguson, missouri, where county officials have issued citations against protesters. the st. louis county's council's office says it is reviewing more than 100 arrest cases in ferguson, many were previously rejected for criminal charges. there are new allegations that police in new york may have been spying on civil rights activists. it is alleged that nypd sent

undercover officers to black lives matter protests. two same-sex couples in kentucky have won a battle against a county clerk who did not want to issue them marriage licenses, but the judge has delayed his own ruling, which means they still can't get those licenses. these two were among those who sued after kim davis turned them way. davis says issuing licenses to gay couples is against her religious beliefs despite a u.s. supreme court ruling makes same-sex marriage legal nationwide. the attorney for the rowen county clerk says davis is free to make decisions based on her beliefs. >> there is a clash, but it's unnecessary, because the united states supreme court simply held that states must recognize same-sex marriage on the same terms as different-sex marriage. the court did not say a particular elected official or

particular county must issue a marriage license, here the state of kentucky can easily accommodate those clerks who have sincere religious beliefs against same-sex marriage, while still offering marriage licenses to everyone who wants one. these plaintiffs can get a marriage license just about anywhere else in the state. davis did not want to differentiate between couples in rowen county. so that was done on purpose after a lot of thought and consideration. she has the right to live and act according to her beliefs. the pain being claimed by the plaintiffs in this case is really unnecessary, because in a country like the united states, in a state like kentucky, where every one should be able to live according to their own conscience, there is plenty of marriage licenses available to these plaintiffs. >> it's not clear when the court of appeals will take on the

case. many davis loses she could face jail time. five police officers convicted in the fatal shooting of unarmed pedestrians in new orleans could get a new trial. the shootings took place a new days after hurricane katrina. it was one of many scandals involving police misconduct during and after the hurricane. this month marks exactly ten years since hurricane katrina tore through louisiana, and long after the water subsided, new orleans is still struggling to recover. jonathan martin sat down with the city's mayor, who said a lot of the problems exists before the storm. >> ten years later you often hear people say new orleans has come back, how do you qualify the progress a decade later. >> i think it's a miracle that

not only the city standing, but it's thriving. people think they are going to walk into the land of oz, and somehow in new orleans in ten years was going to solve 40 or 50 years of problems that have been happening in major american cities across the country. so i qualify it as basically saying, we have completely turned ourselves around, and down the hard work of recreating the deep institutional challenges that we had in healthcare and education. now we have got to get about the work of making sure that nobody gets left behind. because you'll see pockets that don't look right. >> reporter: one of those pockets would be the lower 9th ward. many people there we have spoken to will say we feel like we haven't gotten the resources. we feel like we have been forgotten. do you feel like the city has placed enough focus on communities like the lower nine?

>> it is not a surprise that people that were hurting more before the storm are hurting more after the storm. it's not accurate to say that we didn't distribute the money across the entire city. we have invested $500 million in the lower ninth ward. the lower ninth ward has a lot of challenges, but it is a very important part of the city. >> reporter: violent crime is perhaps the biggest issue facing the city -- >> no yes. >> reporter: and in recent years we have seen a drop in some violent crime. but then this summer it started to spike up again. a 30% spike according to some numbers we have seen. you have been creating several initiatives and strategies in your time in office, has anything actually worked? >> i think a lot of things have worked. violence in america is epidemic,

in certain neighborhoods, in all cities. you see -- you see that with the news of baltimore, you see it in chicago. you see it in new york. let me hasten to say this, you cannot police your way out of this problem. you have really got to get on the front end of this. so our entire approach as what we call null of life. which has very early intervenings, very young, working with conflict resolution, making sure you deal with jobs, job training, making sure you are working on enrichment programs and for the young men that are actually in the system, if they are in jail, make sure when they come out, they are trained well, and if they are indean, you have got to look at them in the eye and give them a choice. you say look if you are going to keep making bad choices, you are going to have bad consequences, but if you make a good choice

we'll put you at the front of the line. i think it goes up and down. i think we have made marked progress in reducing the number of shootings, and the number of crimes. for three years a row we reduced the murder rate. then all of a sudden in new orleans, baltimore, chicago, all over the place it spiked back up. i don't think any scientist can tell you why that happened. what i can tell you is that is evidence we haven't solved the whole problem. it's one of the biggest donation ever made to an american art school. they just received an anonymous $25 million gift. the college boasts walt disney among its notable alumni almost all students receive some form

of financial aide. the news continues next live from london. keep up on aljazeera.com. >> one of istanbul's top tourist attractions where soldiers were killed in southeast turkey. >> hi there, i'm felicity barr. this is what we have coming up. young children are killed every day in the war in yemen. archaeologists who spent half his life carrying for syr syria's ancient city of pa