hi, everyone. this is al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler. free fall, oil prices plunge. the stock market drops more than 350 points. tonight, the collapse and the connection with china. st. louis shooting. protests, arrests, and new questions over the aggressive response from law enforcement. >> right now it appears one officer fired one shot, the other fired three shots. the suspect was struck. >> after police kill a black suspect.

hot zone as soldiers join the battle against the deadly wildfires in washington stated, we show you the front line technology to stop the flames. plus, todd rundgren, singer, songwriter, superstar producer opens up about his extraordinary life of music. we begin with plunging oil prices in new fears of a global market crisis. here the in united states wall street experienced its worst single day in more than a year and a half. stocks are falling, and so is the price of oil. what's driving both is china's economic slowdown. patty is here with that. patty. >> john, this is about fear over the health of global economy and what the federal reserve will do about interest rates.

stocks around the globe were hammered thursday. here in the u.s. the s&p 500, a ga gauge for the health of your 401(k), erased all the gains for a year and the dow jones lost 350 points. it was set overnight in china. the shanghai composite index fell 3.4%. now, the recent turmoil in china's stock market combined with the surprised evaluation of the country's currency last week feed fears that china's economy, which is a major engine of global growth, is running out of steam. as china slows down, it needs less oil. the world is already awash in cheap crude. it's trading near six-year lows with u.s. benchmark crude at $41.14 a barrel. now depressed oil prices combined with the weaker chinese currency triggered a wave of currency devaluations in emerging markets. kazakhstan that relies on oil

exports saul its currency lose a quarter of its value after policymakers there freed it to market force. the turkish, south african malaysian got whacked nurse. that's the best decision on when to hike interest rates for the first time since 2006. they were convinced the fed would pull the trigger next month until wednesday's release of minutes from the fed's july meeting. those minutes revealed some fed policymakers are concerned about the fed prices and the risks for the u.s. economy by china. that could push an interest rate hike out to december or beyond. john. >> let's talk about the practical impact of the drop in oil. fuel for airplanes, home heating oil, gasoline. how long is all that expected to last? >> that's the upside of cheap oil, if you will. as the price of oil goes down, the price of gas goes down, too, which means consumers save money at pump. right now u.s. benchmark oil is

trading around $40 a barrel, but some analysts think it could go as low as $30 a barrel, which means consumers in the united states could be in for a big windfall down the road. >> thank you. more political and economic turmoil in greece. the prime minister alex tsipras resigned today. he faced a rebellion in his party. today greece got a $14 billion bailout, the first installment allows the country to repay a debt to the european central bank and avoid default. elections could be held as soon as next month. here in the united states former president jimmy carter held a remarkable press conference where he talked about his battle against cancer. the 90-year-old has spent his life after the white house working as a diplomat and humanitarian. he had to interrupt that work when he started to have health concerns this spring. in atlanta today, he shared

details of his diagnosis and his treatment. robert ray is here with that. robert. >> reporter: good evening, john. indeed the 39th president of the united states, jimmy carter, came out in his presidential library behind me. this morning he was in a sport coat and jeans, and his wife of 69 years in the front row. he spoke to media about his scenario, his fight against cancer. he said he's ready for anything that comes ahead, and that he's had a wonderful life already. >> thank you all for coming here this morning. >> reporter: a seemingly upbeat jimmy carter sat down for a candid discussion thursday morning about his cancer diagnosis. >> i've been as blessed as human being in the world. >> reporter: he began to feel ill in may during a trip to gone more elections in ghana. a growth on his liver was found to be melanoma, a cancer that

usually begins on the skin and can spread through the body from there. >> they did an mri and found there were four spots of melanoma on my brain. they are very small spots about 2 milli meters, if you can envision that. i get my first radiation treatment in my brain this afternoon. >> reporter: carter has a family history of the pancreatic cancer. he lost his father and three sib siblings to the disease and has been regularly monitored for signs of it. compared to that possibility, this diagnosis may be good news. >> the survival for pancreatic cancer in somebody especially in their 90s would have been about 6 to 12 months. at the best two years. whereas, with a diagnosis of melanoma he may have a few years ahead of him. >> reporter: doctors are trying to determine where the cancer originated and where it may have spread. carter's treatment will include radiation and immuno therapy to help his body fight back.

>> you know, it's really reassuring that he's tolerated that initial hurdle, the liver surgery to have the mass removed. he tolerated that quite well, so that speaks positively to his overall health status. jimmy carter is overall quite healthy and active, still. i think this bodes well for his overall recovery. >> reporter: since leaving the white house in 1981, carter built a legacy as humanitarian and diplomat, traveling the world seemingly nonstop teaching at university and remaining active in his church. last fall he celebrated his 90th birthday. carter had planned a november trip to nepal with habitat for humanity, but he says that he and his wife talked about slowing their busy pace. >> we talked about this when i was 80 years and when i was 85. we thought about it again when i was 90. so this is a time for us to finally carry out our plans.

>> reporter: the president made clear his hopeful outlook has not diminished. >> i'm ready for anything, and i'm looking forward to a new adventure. >> reporter: john, you know, president carter is this weekend going to go down to his hometown of plains, georgia and teach sunday school like he did last weekend. remarkable for someone going through the treatments that he went through today and will go through the next three weeks. also, we should note that the obama family, the clinton family, and the bush family all reached out to him to wish him the best in these coming months going forward. one last note. we remember jason carter that run for the governor of georgia this past november and lost to nathan diehl. he's taking over the role of chairman of the board of trustees here at the carter center. john. >> amazingly open, candid conversation about his own health. robert ray, thank you very much. one of the approaching we just heard, doctors are using to

treat president carter is known as immunotherapy. it's designed to boost the immune system to fight the disease. courtney keely has that story. >> reporter: rusty kline has come along way. he was diagnosed nine years ago with late stage melanoma. >> i've been through three clinical trials, ten surgeries and two brain surgeries. >> the list of grueling treatment goes on. he kept fighting and the cancer kept coming back. >> i start at sloan kettering and the immunotherapy. >> reporter: he's an oncologist at sloan kettering hospital in new york city. they're making strides in the fight against melanoma. >> as a physician i feel jubilant to offer something to my patients which can not just make them better for a few weeks but in some patients can make them better for years or even decades. >> reporter: how important is

this in the advancement of cancer research? >> this has been now recognized as a breakthrough. >> reporter: it's a stark departure for how most cancers are treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to target the tumors. like chemo, immunotherapy is delivered by an iv, but that's where the similarities end. >> so we switched now from thinking only about how to treat the tumor to now also how to treat the patient and let the patient treat the tumor. >> reporter: how does the medicine work to tune the immune system? >> we need to tip the balance in the favor of immune system, and one way to do that is by blocking these molecular breaks which normally maintain a state of equilibrium from keeping the immune system too activated. >> they can go in stealth mode. this new class of drugs unleashes the body's immune system to see the cancer and fight it. last fall the food and drug

administration approved the first in a series of new immunotherapy drugs. merck is selling it under the name of katruda. japan is using this form of treatment, and more fda drug approvals are expected soon. rusty kline says the decision to participate in a trial saved his life. >> the last scan showed 95.4% reduction. the first day after treatment i walked ten blocks to meet a friend for a drink and got in a cab and went to the airport. >> reporter: amazing when you consider the exhaustion, nausea and other side effects most people experience from traditional treatment. patients on immunotherapy can most often live their normal lives. >> what's most exciting to me as an oncologist is that these medicines are showing activity outside of melanoma. >> reporter: is immunotherapy the cure for cancer? >> there is no one cure for cancer. perhaps in the future immunotherapy will become part

of a combination of proechl approaches used for a broad spectrum of cancers. >> reporter: with these new advances, physicians like him are optimistic more and more patients will no longer have to fair the words "you have cancer." courtney keely, al jazeera. here in new york the health commissioner said today the legi legionare's disease outbreak is officially over. they identified a rooftop cooling tower as a source. this air-conditioning unit on the century old opera house hotel contained bacteria that matched the strain. 100 came down with the illness. to st. louis where just a few miles from ferguson, the fatal shooting of a black teenager by white police officers sparked new, violent protests. police say the suspect pointed a gun at them wednesday. that did little to quell the anger or suspicion about the use of deadly force. paul is here with that. paul.

>> as you mentioned, this all unfolded in a north st. louis neighborhood not far from ferguson, but throughout this whole region the death of michael brown over a year ago is still very much on people's minds, and it's the reaction to yesterday's protests that is raising questions yet again about police tactics. confrontation and chaos after st. louis police kill an 18-year-old black suspect. >> keep moving! >> an angry crowd gathers blocking roads, shouting at police, throwing bottles and bricks. the response? lines of police officers in riot gear, and tactical vehicles launching smoke canisters and tear gas. it broke out after shot bell-bay. police say it happened as they raided a home wednesday in a troubled section of st. louis. >> members of our special operations unit along with our tactical team were executing a

search warrant on walter. as they were about to make entry into the house, two young african-american men ran out of the back door. both were armed. both officers fired. right now it appears one officer fired one shot and the other fired three shots. the suspect was struck. he dropped his gun and continued to run through a gangway until he collapsed. >> they say his gun was loaded and stolen, and that their search of the home uncovered more weapons and drugs in a neighborhood beset by rising crime. they're defending their response to the protest saying officers were under attack. >> an area plagued by violence and gun violence, the police officers were there doing a job to keep the community safe. a group of protesters came together and started to do acts of violence directed not only towards law enforcement but the neighborhood. >> reporter: questions about the use of deadly force are still coming. protesters say they will not go

away. the police response was military stick to shut down free speech. more evidence that a year after the death of brown that greater st. louis is still simmering with rage and frustration. the mayor says there will be an independent investigation into the shooting but is standing by the police saying they were there doing their job. both the mayor and the police chief ask religious leaders to prevent a repeat of wednesday's unrest. john. >> vin cents hill is a former officer with the nashville police department. he's in atlanta tonight. donte berry is the executive director of the million hoodies for justice. vince vincent, let me start with you. from a police perspective was law enforcement's reaction and response in st. louis appropriate? >> i think it was, john. here's why. police use what they call the amount of force necessary to affect the risk. you also have to use the tools

and equipment necessary to control the crowd. so anytime you have a crowd that's willing to destroy police cars, throw bricks, throw bottles, whatever against police, you have to use the tactics necessary to control that crowd. bottom line. >> dante, your reaction? >> that's like the context phrase, right? yesterday was the one-year shooting of the mentally ill black person shot and killed by st. louis cops. just a week ago was the one-year anniversary of mike brown's death in ferguson. both situations within want one-year anniversary, we've seen a response by a mel militarized police presence in ferguson and st. louis. when we see the response, we need too look at the causeses of what brought that tension, and if we think about the whole year, right, there is underlying tension that we're still not getting to.

there's a lot of trauma and pain as families are coming to terms with what happened. >> justify rocks and bottles? >> it doesn't justify it, but you have to think about the pain folks are experiencing come out of a one-year anniversary and living in the same conditions that got them there in the first place. >> vincent, let's talk about a militarized police department. when i look at those vehicles in that video, it raises some serious questions about whether or not the police department needs a military vehicle to drive down the street and shoot tear gas. >> well, back to what dante said, john, pain is one thing, but common sense and safety is something totally different. again, when you're dealing with people that are throwing bottles, you know, at police, bricks, things that can potential kill the officers, again, they have to use whatever they need to do to control the crowd. you know, at the end of the day their goal is to go home as well to families.

violence begets violence and sometimes police have to act a certain way. >> i understand that part of it. i want to go back to the military vehicles. i mean, doesn't that escalate a situation that needs de-escalating? >> potentially it can. perception is everything. so if you're being perceived as coming in as the 82nd airborne battalion, it will increase tensions in ferguson as well. i stand behind that police have to control crowds to go home at night, and it's for safety. >> i agree to you when i listen, however, to you talk, dante, it raises a question. are you saying that bricks and bottles are an excuse expected? people are in pain. this is what we're going to get, or are you saying it's wrong? >> i'm saying that there's a monopoly who has the right to feel safety in this country.

the monopoly regulated by cops and corporations and often regulated by power. >> they're throwing rocks and bottles at cops. >> who has the right to feel safe in this country, right? you have a community there in ferguson and in st. louis that didn't feel safe around police. their reaction to police awas that we've seen myers and all the different names in st. louis and in ferguson. like, why would they not trust the police? why would they not feel safe, right? >> and shot violently. >> also experience tear gas and experience targeting. you've seen activists and organizers getting specifically targeted by ferguson or st. louis police. you've seen tanks. we had this question, all right, right, about a year ago where we've had president obama and the pentagon saying we don't need these militarized weapons, but yet, we still see them one year later. the question is, it's not -- it's a question of how much have we really progressed, if we've

progressed at all? >> vincent how do you address this? how does a police department, maybe this police department in particular, try to listen to what dante is having to say and make a connection? >> well, i don't think there's a connection there, john, and here's why. we're not only talking about officer's safety when bricks and bottles and whatever fluid is being thrown. you're also talking about the safety of the citizens, and the number one job of police is to protect and serve. so, you know, when they're getting bottles and bricks thrown at them, they have to mindful of the public as well. there's no debate there wlaefr whatsoever. >> we can continue this debate for hours. good to have you on the program. we'll see you. police in boston say one of two men charged with severely beating a hispanic man said he was inspired by donald trump. officials say brothers scott and steve leader beat the 58-year-old homeless man with a

metal pole, broke his nose, and urn natuurinated on them. they say scott leader told them, trump was right, illegals would be deported. trump said it's a shame if they were inspired by him. i would say people following me are very passionate. they love this country. they want to country to be great again. both men pleaded not guilty to various assault charges. ifrments . up next, south korea's military on the highest alert after an exchange of artillery fire with the north. plus, making history. meet the first women who qualified to be u.s. army rangers. what they're saying after completing the elite combat training program.

tense is escalating between north and south korea. today the two nations exchanged artillery fire. the south sdz said it's on highest level of military alert. a south korean news agency reports that kim jong-un ordered the military to have full readiness for war. harry fossett has the latest from seoul. >> reporter: the 48-hour deadline set by north korea for the south to end the propoganda loudspeaker broadcast across the border and they decided to up

the pressure. kim jong-un says that war commanders will be sent to the front lines to prepare for a military action if that 48-hour deadline expires without any action from the south to dismantle its loudspeakers as well as that farms, factories, local state and party organizations are discussing how to put themselves on a war footing. the supreme command of north korea's military issued a statement last night saying that the exchange of fire that the south said happened on thursday was, in fact, a totally unprovoked action from the southern side. north korea denying that it fired any project tiles into southern territory in the face of what south korea's defense ministry said happened. first, there came two firings it from the northern side. this dates back to august 4th when there was a land mine blast in the southern side of the

demilitarized zone in which two south korean soldiers were seriously injured. south korea stidecide to resume propoganda broadcasts in retaliation of that. the deadline is ticking down. north korea facing front line forces on a war footing. it should be noted in 2013 the entire north korean nation was put on a war footing. obviously, no war resulted. this is the latest escalation at least in the rhetoric from north korea in response to what happened on thursday. >> that's harary fossett reporting. we met two military history makers today. the first two women to pass the ra rangers program. captain kirsten grist and shea haver were the only two women to finish. they talked about their future today. >> i think over the past decade we have females serving in the

combat roelts. iattack aviation, which i plan to continue to serve in my role as a aviator. >> i'm definitely interested to see what new doors do open up for women. i think special forces would be something i'd be interested in if my time line permits for that. currently i'm trying to pursue civil affairs under the special operations umbrella currently open to women. >> the two women cannot apply to join the rangers. they can, however way, the rangers tab on their uniforms. the pentagon will make a final decision about combat rules for women later this year. up next on this broadcast, the iran nuclear deal. the president now has the votes he needs as new questions are raised about iran's nuclear monitoring. fighting the raging wildfires out west, and the scientists trying to keep those firefighters safe. fighters safe.

>> "inside story" takes you beyond the headlines, beyond the quick cuts, beyond the sound bites. we're giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". only on al jazeera america. >> could normalization change cuba forever? >> i'm afraid for cuba. >> we ask cubans about their hopes and fears. >> i would love to see my business grow into a transnational company. this is al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler. sealing the deal. democrats say they have the votes to back the nuclear agreement with iran. why the president is taking nothing for granted. al al sha bab. the attacks continue.

how the u.s. military is taking on a new role in the fight. heat of battle. more firefighters dies in raging western wildfires. the new technology promising to bring a new degree of safe to the battle. >> plus, todd rungren. >> i was the reluctant performer. >> one on one with the masser of rock 'n roll reinvention. [ music ] tonight it's looking more likely that congress will not be able to block the iran nuclear deal. house minority leader nancy pelosi says there's enough vote to uphold a presidential veto if congress votes against the deal next month. libby casey is washington with that. >> headcounts are notoriously difficult, especially at this stage of game. both sides of this battle want to seem like they are ahead. so the white house by no means has this in the bag.

the top democrat in the house, nancy pelosi, renewed her pledge today that there is enough support for this deal to keep congress from shooting it down. house minority leader nancy pelosi says if a vote were held today, enough house democrats would support president obama's iran deal to prevent a veto override. pelosi made her latest commented to the associated press wednesday saying the president's veto would be sustained. it's not the first time the leader pled she has enough votes. last month before congress left for the august break, pelosi threw her support behind the deal. >> i'm very optimistic about our abts to support the president. >> reporter: congress votes next month on whether to approve or disapprove of the nuclear agreement. even if both bodies of congress vote to disapprove, the president can veto. and the fight for the obama administration is to win over enough democrats to prevent two-thirds of the house and senate from overriding that veto. in the house that means 146

supporters or in the senate 34. a growing number of democrats are backing the iran deal, most recently senator claire mccaskill of missouri, notable support from a red state centrist who canned tough questions of administration. as the white house makes its headcounts, republicans are expressing fury at an associated press report that iran can use its own inspectors to look at suspicious sites under what the gop is calling a secret side deal with the iaea. house foreign affairs committee chairman ed royce said international inspections should be done by international inspectors, period. the head of the iaea pushed back saying i am disturbed by statements that the iaea gave responsibility for nuclear inspections to iran. they misrepresent the way in which we undertake this

important verification work. for her part house minority leader nancy pelosi is shrugging off the report saying, i truly believe in this agreement. the back and forth continues for two more weeks of the summer recess, and when congress returns to washington after labor day, the tension will only increase. >> john, concerns over the iaea's involvement is continues to roil congress, but the key thing is that democratic headcount. we saw a high-profile democrat come out against the deal. he's only one of two on the record against it yet. as each day goes by, more democrats support it and the white house gains some momentum. john. >> we'll see. thank you very much. turns to east africa where al shabaab fighters cut a path of destruction across the region. now the u.s. is taking on a larger military role in the

fight against them in an effort to somalia's struggling government. mike viqueira reports. >> reporter: for almost a quarter of a century it's been a country in tatters. the governments are mostly powerless and unable to stop the rise of al shabaab, the affiliate through al qaeda that through violence destabilized somalia and the entire horn of afri africa. president obama came to office vows to decrease the direct involvement in placing like somalia and use a combination of regional forces partnered with u.s. air power and intelligence to fight groups like al shabaab. in neighbors kenya last month, mr. obama touted his approach. >> as we speak kenya is working with ethiopia and the united states and others to further degrade al shabaab's space of operations inside of somalia. >> reporter: the president's trip was a stark reminder that seven years into his presidency,

the fight continues to rage. the day after the president spoke in kenya, a car bomb attack on a mogadishu hoelgs ki hotel killed 13. al shabaab claimed responsibility. experts say what's needed now is political stability. >> it requires legitimacy and ultimately what has a reborn neighbor once again. until that happens we're playing wham a mole with sha bab. >> the u.s. policy is two-pronged. defeat al shabaab on the battlefield and promote a viable government acceptable to the competing fans and factions within somalia. u.s. military personnel have been training and equipping african union forces do youing most of the fighting on the ground. the u.s. also has special forces operating inside somalia, and there have been air strikes. since 2007 the u.s. has can you

beinged an estimated 15 to 19 drone strikes inside se r somalia floe from their massive airbase. that along with eight missiles and cruise strikes. last month the pace picked up intensity. at least six tribings hit somalia as they provide support for an ongoing offensive. this year it has killed top al shabaab commanders including one that played a role in the 2013 attack in nairobi's west gate ma'am. >> we scored some successes that i'm on the retreat. when you think they're gone, you're absolutely wrong. >> reporter: the u.s. sent troops to somalia in 1992 when the country collapsed at the end of the cold war. it was an ill-fated mission. the battle between so mali militias and american troops depicted in the movie "blackhawk down" with bodies traged through the streets of mogadishu.

the u.s. pulled out leaving it to descend further into chaos. now the coalition is making games, and as al shabaab pushed back, there are two key questions. who fills the void and what's the u.s. roll? >> the us is not alone, but there are sdith limits on what the u.s. will too. i have the impression they've been reached. >> a new somali government is in place. the president spoke with al jazeera in march and painted an optimistic picture. >> i think the country is and most of us have decided to pick up their own pieces and do what they can to really do with what's left. >> reporter: long-suffering somalis only hope thr prime minister is right. mike viqueira, al jazeera, washington. wildfires continue to rage across the west including washington state. that state's governor called an

unprecedented cat clichl. they warn that some of the biggest fires are started to merge, and tonight we learn about how three firefighters died on wednesday battling the blazes. >> we know that these fires have burned a big hole in our state's heart. these are three big heroes protecting small towns. >> reporter: the governor the washington state honoring three firefighters who lost their lives battling one of the largest fires in the state's history. all three worked for the u.s. forest service. they were killed when flames engulfed their vehicle after a crash in the town of twist. four other firefighters were also injured. >> it's horrible. i can't imagine. i can't even imagine. to lose your life fighting a fire is horrible for a family. it's a bad deal. >> the men were among nearly 29,000 firefighters working to control blazes in five western

states. the summer heat and ongoing drought have created one of the most active fire seasons in the last 20 years. across the west a million acres have burned. this satellite image from nasa shows smoke over idaho, oregon, montana and washington. >> we have to find a place to live for a couple of years. >> dozens of homes have been destroyed as officials race to get ahead of what a hell storm. >> the past ten hours we're up here, it's hot. i got new boots yesterday. we're breaking them in. i'm getting blisters on the heels. >> 200 active duty soldiers have been mobilized to help washington firefighters. the national guard is already on hand in california to help an already strained firefighting network and high winds aren't helping. >> we anticipate that the fire weather today will be worse than it was yesterday.

>> dry conditions and heat will continue to fuel fires in eastern washington. temperatures expected to be well above the 90s through friday. nearly 30,000 firefighters and other workers are bamths baltsing the wildfires across the west. scientists at the rocky mountain research lab in montana are going inside the flames to make their jobs easier and safer. phil torres reports. >> reporter: in 2013 19 firefighters died battling an arizona wildfire. investigators think when the fire made a quick run towards them, the hotshot team was cut off from an escape route making it impossible to get to the safety zone. so when you're there on the line, how does it all work? is there any actual calculation done or looking at various variables and kind of eyeballing if it? >> they're just gth off gut

instinct. >> they're trying to create a more precise formula for determining safety zones, but the only way to do this is to travel straight into the heart of a wildfire. i was able to join them. each member hauls a package, a series of sensors to collect data coupled with i a camera to record mraifr. all of it housed in a specially designed burn-proof metal box. dan jiminez is the lead researcher on this deployment. >> you actually aim this box at the fire? >> we try to. it doesn't mean if it comes from the flank it won't trip, but most of the time we try to get it hitting fire. >> once the package is laid out, the research team ep hos the conditions cooperate and flames burn through this box. >> what it does, the results are dramatic. >> this has been in a fire. it's been in a fire. we have to get the data out of it. >> yes. >> what's the next step? >> we put these sensors on fires

to measure how much energy is released from the fire and correlate that with burn injury levels. >> brett butler is the lead researcher on the fire safety zone project based at the rocky mountain research center in missoula, montana. this is the hard data you bring in from the field? >> yes. >> what is the end goal with this? >> the end goal of this is to help us to design computer simulations using a fire model, but we didn't know until we had these measurements how do you september the parameter? how hot does the fire need to be. the measures help us to accurately simulate what's happening in actual conditions. >> john, this just a day after the tragedy yesterday in washington, and it's a reminder that work like this is not only necessary but also urgent. >> it's fascinating gin what's going on out west. it's hard to believe that firefighters don't have a better system in place for determining these so-called safe zones. so they really go on their gut

instiblnct instincts? >> yeah. this is a very rudimentary system around for decades and they take the height of the flame and multiply it by four. that's the safety zone. they have to keep that between them and the fire, but there's a lot of variables not accounted for. that's what these scientists want to change. >> talk about the data inside the box. how hot does it get inside an ti actual wildfire? it must be brutal. >> gets incredibly hot. it can get up to 1400 degrees and over 2,000 degrees oftentimes. it's not just in the fire that's hot, but the fire radiates heat away from it. that's why you need the safety zone to stay out of danger. >> when the new formula is created, how is it going to be taught to firefighters? >> you know, that's one of their bigle cha engs right now. multiply them by four, that's easy to do under the conditions

of a wildfire coming at you. if it's complicated in the field it might be near impossible. they're looking at an iphone app or an electronic that takes up-to-date data and a live feed of the safety zone. where is danger and where is safety. >> the research team you were traveling with, they aren't actual firefighters but they travel with real firefighters and put themselves in harm's way. what's their motivation? >> you know, a lot of guys were firefighters. a few were smoke jumpers in the past. when they're out there, they're in the fire's way, but they don't have the firefighting equipment like you said. they're in the face of danger. the motivation is tragedies like yet. they think they're prevent and don't think firefighters should be putting themselves in these dangerous areas. >> it's an interesting story. phil, always good to see you. as our viewers know you can watch tech know on jazic america tuesdays at 3:30 eastern time.

today we celebrated our two-year anniversary. one of the big stories is the huge piles of trash washing up on the coast of alaska. the tsunami hit japan. adam went to alaska to see where the cleanup effort stands. >> stashed in seattle. the most well traveled trash in the world from fishing buoys to basketballs, household items and shoes. another step in the massive pacific coast klineup after the 2011 tsunami. >> a lot of these laundry-looking baskets tended to be used on fishing boats in japan. we found a lot of these. >> reporter: the equivalent of 36 packed rail cars plucked from the shores of alaska and western canada is sent south on i abarge. some debris came from this beach in alaska, which we visited with track pickers two years ago.

chris pallister runs the clean up effort. this island alone has 75 miles of coastline. >> so it's a very slow process, and, of course, more stuff is coming in. the 10 miles we have clean look really, really good compared to the rest of it. it's a very long-term project and it's very costly to get it done. >> half more or of this stuff is tsunami debris with more comes in with every tide adding to the trash, most of the it related to the fishing industry, drifting in for decades. pallister is hoping to fill another barge in two or three years. >> before that tsunami debris hit, 80% of what we saw on the beaches of derelict fishing gear and some western pacific drift from the countries over there. now there's a tremendous amount of household items, and there are a lot of insulation, strie

row foam foam and urethane, stuff like that. >> reporter: in seattle a team of volunteers is organized to sort of trash. friedman estimates 20% to 30% is recyclable, and some of the fishing gear can be cleaned up and put back in service. >> these are fine buoys, and they can be re-used. >> volunteers hope to return some of that equipment to japanese fleets decimated by the tsunami. the garbage will be put on rail cars and taken to an eastern oregon landfill. grants from the japanese government and nonprofits helped to pay for the labor-intensive and time-consuming cleanup. now pallister is looking for permanent support for what he sees as a permanent job. >> we're trying to get this on a sustainable level. we believe that there needing to be at least five other groups like us in the state to go the same thing, and once we get the first cleanup done, there will be this continuous maintenance cleanup that goes on because this stuff keeps piling up. >> two years after we first met

him and washed the beaches, chris pallister figures there's still to have,000 miles of northwest coastline that he had toos cleans. they may have removed just 2% of the trash. al jazeera, seattle. there's been an escalation of fighting in eastern ukraine this month. antonio mora joins us to update us on that. antonio. >> the europe cranian president poroshenko is calls on leaders to hold russia accountable for continuing fighting there. four ukrainian soldiers were killed this week. earlier i had a chance to speak with georgia's defense minister. she said the situation in ukraine is not that different than what her country faced with russia seven years ago. >> their goal in 2008, august, with georgia was to stop georgia's development and advance to it's euro atlantic path. unfortunately, they successfully managed to do it for a short

period of time. and we're kind of back by seven years on that part. that's what they've tried to do in ukraine and still are. >> there are talks in berlin next week to discuss the fragile ceasefire in place since february. you can hear more on the take in eastern ukraine and other russian neighbors in the next hour. job, she has no illusions about putin's intention. coming up next my conversation with singer/songwriter todd rundgren and producing lyrics for some of rock's biggest stars.

>> this was the worst civil

we continue our series of conversations with some music legends. tonight todd rundgren. hits like "hello it's me" put

him on the map. the producing of "bat out of hell" made him a pioneer. i talked with him and asked how many instruments he plays. >> technically i only play the guitar. that's the only instrument i'm comfortable playing in front of other people. most of the other instruments that aye played are anecdotal. i just learn as much as i need to know to get the sound i want out of it. >> you've had so many hits that weathered the test of time. did you know when you wrote them, did you know when you played them they were going to be hits? >> i never sat out to write a hit record, at least not initially. there were points in time where i figured music was formulaic i might deconstruct whatever i hit and write to that. ♪ hello it's me >> "hello it's me" was the first song i ever wrote, the very first song. >> the first song?

>> it's haunted me ever since like an albatross. >> what's it like playing a song today? >> it can be fun if the audience lets me do in a way that's fun for me. ♪ hello it's me >> rt. obviously you were the star, you were a songwriter and played in cool bands, but you were also wanted by many, many talented people to help produce their music. >> when the naz broke out in 18 months and i had left the band, we managed to get two records out. by the time we got to the second record i-i'd had enough hands-on experience in the stewed co-to take on the production. >> did you like performing or producing? >> at the time i didn't think of myself as a performer? >> you didn't? >> no. i was doing a lot of work for the grossmann organization, and then having -- continuing to write songs, you know. i was still into music, and i was still into the idea of making a record. i was not into the idea of

either putting a band together or going out and fronting as myself. i didn't think of myself as that kind of performer. [ music ] ♪ i don't want to work suddenly i was in a position of being like the unlikely performer, the reluctant performer. i had to go out and learn how to perform in front of people after i had a hit record. >> that didn't come naturally to you? >> not at all. >> it was hard? >> actually, you know, i emulated as you can see in the pictures. >> i'm looking at this picture, and i'm thinking, this doesn't look like it was hard for you. >> well, i thought of myself as a guitar player principally. >> right. >> i was comfortable on stage playing guitar and could jam all night long. no problem with that. singing i didn't learn how to be a singer in my teens when most people do. most people, you know, if they decide that they want to be in a band or sing or something like that, they step up front.

they start to develop those skills. i didn't have those when the record came out. i was able to sing in the studio because you can stop the tape and take a breath and get them to start it up again. when i went out live, i couldn't sing for 20 minutes straight without losing my voice. ♪ think of me >> they also call you the rock 'n roll maverick. >> that's what happened, more or less. i decided i wanted to make a record like nobody had made a record before or like i had never made a record before, and i was going to try to imprint anything in my brain directly onto the recording media using the least traditional kind of filtering, you knowment like the first -- it was never allowed to be said, that doesn't sound like a single. we don't care. it's not supposed to be a single. it's supposed to be something nobody has ever heard before. >> you're performing and writing

and putting out albums. what's it look for you so long after your initial success? >> i'm working harder than ever, and a lot is because of changes in the music business. the previous structure where you sort of had some sort of guaranteed cash flow from a record label because you would make a multi-album deal and get an advance on each records, those kinds of deals don't exist for very many artists anymore. so i had to go back to what artists have done since before there was such a thing as a recording medium, and that's performing live. [ music ] and the secret is -- it's amazing how many artists don't understand this. it's that the lifeblood of an artist has always been live performance. [ music ]

>> you made a lot of incredible music and made a lot of people happy with it. we're proud to have you on the program. it's great to meet you. >> my pleasure. >> todd's new album is called "global." that's our broadcast. thanks for watching.

snap election in greece. >> translation: i decided to go to the president and submit the resignation of the government. >> prime minister alexis tsipras resigns, but his call for new voting could be a shrewd move to consolidate power targetting al-shabab. >> the u.s. is a principal ally of the somali government battling the violent group is a challenge in co