rock 'nhassan rouhani. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. >> securing the deal. a senate veteran gives the white house the final vote it needed to keep the iran nuclear agreement safe from a congressional challenge. tragedy and chaos. shocking images of the refugee crisis in europe. children drown crossing the mediterranean. while tensions escalate at a train station where hundreds remain stranded. historic journey.

>> if there's one thing that threatens prosperity for everywhere we live it's the threat of a changing climate. >> president obama becomes the first sitting u.s. president to visit the arctic circle and tries to calm fears about oil drilling in the region. and health warning, e-cigarettes often thought of as a safer alternative to the real thing, many feel contain chemicals that could cause cancer. good evening, i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. the iranian nuclear deal may now be a done-deal. maryland's barbara mikulski became the thir 33rd democrat to support the agreement. >> you wouldn't have known by the full throated speech by secretary of state john kerry in

philadelphia. but president obama has apparently won hits battle with congress over the deal. barbara mikulski gives the president enough votes to override a veto. unless any senators reconsider. kerry's argument, it's not just a good deal, it's a done deal, no going back to the bargaining table. >> if we reject this agreement, the multinational sanctions will start to unravel and our agreement will diminish if not disappear. >> many democrats indicated they were holding their nose while picking the lesser of evils. senator mikulski said, no deal is perfect especially one negotiated with the iranian

regime but i feel this is the best agreement to block iran from having a nuclear bomb. >> i support this deal with my eyes wide open aware of its flaws as well as its potential. >> the deal's most implacable opponent remains israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. kerry says he takes a back seat to no one. >> while i respectfully disagree with prime minister netanyahu about the benefits of the agreement, i do not question for a minute the basis of his concern nor that of any israeli. >> that conciliatory message was undercut somewhat from a tweet ran by the white house,. >> where should a red line be drawn? a red resign should be drawn right here.

before before iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb. >> the tweet from the @theirandeal account, shows progress to the bomb at zero percent with the fuse snipped with scissors. >> perhaps 7 more senators could be found many, that would ensure any filibuster, thereby having him not have to use his veto pen. antonio. >> jamie mcintire at the white house.

heartbreakingly evident in images from turkey today. they show a drown syrian toddler washed up on the beach. taken tuesday morning, officials say the child may be one of about a dozen people who died when their boats capsized trying reach greece. thousands died trying to cross the mediterranean, hundreds of them children. in hungary, hundreds of frustrated refugees clashed with riot police. the hungarian government is trying to prevent them from traveling further into europe. andrew simmons is in budapest with the latest. >> the demonstrations have been getting more heated. one ran across the road, riot police moved to the scene forming a line and scuffles broke out. it isn't the police trying to calm this down it's the

straightors themselves. the police are standing by but it's becoming closer and closer to direct conflicts. no police, they chanted as one group tried to calm the situation by trying to form a line between the police and the refugees. eventually the police push forward clearing the road and the demonstrators backed off. it didn't come to all out confrontation. is throughout wednesday, protests had been getting louder. hungarian railway staff had been ordered not to sell tickets to anyone without visas or the right passport for their destination. it's an excruciating situation for these families having to sleep on the pathway, hoping the hungarian government would

change its policies, that's not likely. this transit zone has been in place since the crisis began. but it's never been this full. >> i will stay in this station, i will don't move, i will stay here i will sleep in the streets i just want to go out of here. >> they do not make us to go to by train, we'll see another way. >> reporter: what he means by other ways is being smuggled across the border although he wasn't sure if he could afford that option. there are warnings of the hungarian government's hard line policy on refugees will only encourage more smuggling. >> absolutely clear they don't want to stay in hungary, they want to go to west european countries and it is clear if the authorities here prevent them from leaving the country they will opt for the services of human smugglers. >> this is going to keep order, obviously these people shouldn't be there, unagain following

european protocols after being apprehended at the border as illegal migrants they have designated places where they should stay and wait until that case is being judged. >> for now, everyone has to struggle with the realities of their situation, many say they have been through worst hardship than this. >> david miliband'miliband was the u.k. foreign secretary in 2006. in recent days he has been critical of how the british deposit has reacted to the crisis. he also feels the u.s. should be doing more. >> america needs to step up as well. this is a crisis that of course is existing in europe but the u.s. has taken 1434 syrians in total. and historically america has been the global leader on

refugee reslelment but it has been lacking in leadership over the four years and if the burden is to be properly shared out. >> miliband praised germfully and others for opening their doors to refugees. >> president obama is wrapping up his alaska tour. this evening he became the first sitting president to travel past the arctic circle. negative effects of climate change. >> i'm here to tell you we got to do more. we're not moving fast enough and for the sake of our kids we've got to keep going. when it cops to climate change there is such a thing as being too late. the effects can be irreversible if we don't act and that moment is almost here. >> the plan provides nearly $20 million in funding to help promote alaskan communities. that includes grants oenhance water systems and relocating families that are threatened by environment changes including land erosion and melting sea

ice. libby casey joins us from anchorage. libby you have been with the president this whole trip. >> antonio the funds are welcome news to communities in alaska but of course mitigation and adapting to to climate change doesn't stop it from happening. and before the president came to alaska he made a controversial decision he allowed offshowery diligencoff shoredrilling for o. a way of life for thousands of years. >> we survive off our land and we have values that we use as foundation, as a foundation for who we are. >> the inupiat people of ca casaview alaska. even as their are community

modernizes, pete is afraid an oil spill will ruin that. >> it will be a major shift in our traditional activities. >> schaeffer's native village opposes the, many here see as impossible. >> why do you think it would be harded to clean up an oil spill here? >> i don't think there is any precedent that is around right now that would show the difficulty of what we're talking about. >> reporter: locals remember the exxon valdez spill in 1989. prince william sound is on the other side of the alaska and more than 600 miles away but take that disaster and put it in the act's icy waters. >> if the ocean starts freezing up it's pretty much game over until the next summer. >> reporter: that could mean a spill gushing for months under layers of thick ice with no easy

way to stop it. but in a place only reached by plane or boat where the unemployment rate is nearly three times the national average opportunities are scarce. and if oil drilling is successful it could mean work and visitors. >> shell and conoco and other oil companies pump some money into the community through various types of jobs or now through the bureau science department. >> i'm sure it would be good and help a lot of families because a lot of families could use it but the thing you need to think about is just my kids. >> shell's drilling is stalled because of equipment problems but it only has a month left until another season. the community can fish and contemplate the future. president obama didn't just get owatch native dancing, he got to

join in in the village of dillingham. he joined in with yupik dancers. he will head back to washington, d.c. tomorrow. antonio. >> he does look like he knows what he's doing. three combat vessels near the aleutian islands. officials say they are not behaving in a threatening way and in international waters but they are close enough for u.s. officials to track their movements. a victory day is underway in china, already thursday morning the beijing, 12,000 chinese troops and 5,000 pieces of military hardware are on display celebrating a new national holiday, marking the 70th

anniversary of japanese surrender in world war ii. today's event also commemorates the end of decades of occupation. adrian brown joins us. xi jinping is using this event to send some powerful messages and made a marriage statement about the size of china's army. >> antonio, indeed president xi jinping appeared before the president today, not so much president or general secretary of the communist party but as the commander in chief of the people's liberation army. today at this military parade his first military parade since becoming leader of this country, he announced a 15% reduction in the size of the people's liberation army. this is something that has been speculated on during the past of few weeks but i don't know if many people were expecting a cut of this size.

xi jinping wants to focus more on the affairs and the navy and that of course has implications for the current disputes in the south china and east china seas where china has been busy asserting its sovereignty claims. a cut in his first major military prayed as president. >> china is the largest of any cub in the world. many western leaders decided to shun the event. i believe adrian brown has lost us unfortunately. our thanks ohim. a new warning tonight about e-cigarettes. a watchdog group says the majority of its products tested have cancer producing chemicals. and a kentucky court clerk takes another shot at getting a reprieve.

a. >> moorehead, kentucky last emerged as the unlikely sister of the same sex marriage debate. kim davis is due to appear in federal court tournament to answer contempt charges. her lawyer is seeking an emergency injunction that would relieve her from her duty to issue marriage licenses. a new study shows that e-cigarettes contain cancer causing chemicals. 50 of the 97 products were found to contain formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde. potato chemicals are known to cause cancer and genetic damage. taking action against manufacturers for not warning

users of the dangers. good to have you with us michael. your study and others have townd these toxins produced by e-cigarettes. how dangerous are the levels you found? >> what we found was that some of these products had levels that are so high, that in california it's illegal to sell them without warning people about the risk of cancer and birth defects. some were ten times as high. one was 470 times the legal limit for selling these products without warning the people about the fact they made cause cancer. >> as i mentioned you found problems with the majorities of the products you tested and at least one of the companies had high levels of toxins. what about the companies that didn't and the products that didn't, how safe are these products? >> it is our recommendation that people shouldn't be using this product at all. what we found is the majority of them are containing chemicals

like you mentioned and that the ones that contain nicotine, nicotine is a really strong reproductive toxin. that means it causes birth defects. when i see a pregnant woman and she is vapping, what i'm thinking is that she is possibly duped by the marketing companies that try to mislead people around the science. >> the amount of the toxins delivered by e-cigarettes can depend on the number of voltage that's used? >> the thing is that all of the products, just about all the products we tested, it doesn't have -- you can't control it. it's the way it comes, it's sold that way at a certain level of voltage. forthose the ones you could control it we fold followed the manufacturer's suggestion.

all of those that wouldn't actually play into it. >> now regular cigarettes of course have nicotine, they have been found to have lestles levef formaldehyde ddt and arsenic. aren't they safer than other cigarettes? >> is it safer to be hit by a car than hit by a bus? yes. i don't want to get hit by a car. if you choose to live a health life and be exposed to chemicals that cause cancer or birth defects, the choice is obvious. we are not asking to ban these products, we are saying that adults who are well informed have the right to smoke cigarettes or vapor whatever they want in this category of products. what we are saying is that the companies cannot withhold the information about the health impacts and also what we're saying is they can't market it

towards teens the way they are proactively doing, with the candy flavor and the colorful packaging. >> do you see e-cigarettes as still being useful as a smoking cessation product? >> that's up to a smoker who wants to stop smoking but they only can make that choice when they're fully informed about the health impacts. >> michael green, center for environmental health it's good for you to join us to tell us about your study, thanks. >> thank you so much. >> a rally against race violence got heated in baltimore today. >> no justice. >> no peace. >> police arrested at least one person in a demonstration over freddy gray, protesters gathered outside the courthouse, in a

hearing the judge announce they'd separate trials will be held for each of the officers. the charges range from assault and recognizeness endangerment to more serious crimes including second degree murder. this day, the judge refused to drop the charges or remove marilyn moseby from the progression curiosity's position. raf two women graduated from the elite ranger training school, the army is changing its policy to allow more to follow them.

>> at maximum thrust and liftoff for the 500th time gegarin start, rocket rising into the air. >> three new crew members are on their way to the international space station, a russian, a kazak around for the first time a danish astronaut will raise the space station's population to nine. yuri gegarin began the first spaceflight. the army ranger program will be open for all qualified women. the course standards will stay the same for men and women. for almost 30 years a woman

named ora lee brown has helped inner city kids in oakland, california go to college. it all began with one elementary school class and $10,000. as lisa bernard tells us. >> ora lee brown has been asking the same question for nearly 3 decades. >> how many are going to college? >> in 1987 ms. brown as the kids call her made a promise to a first grade class in oakland. if they beat expectation and graduated from high school she would pay for them to go to college. >> she saved my life. >> jeffrey tony was in that original class. today he's 33, works in construction, owns a clothing line and records music. >> ms. ora lee brown my real life angel. >> he says it was her emotional support even more than her financial support that made the

difference. >> because when you grow up in inner cities you don't see anything positive that you can, you know, model yo yourself aft. she says you can do this you can do that don't let anybody tell you you can't. >> brown herself was born into poverty, picked cotton in mississippi until moving to oakland. a chance encounter of a child begging for food during school hours haunted her. she impulsively adopted a first grade class. >> in life we are going to pay for these kids. we can either pay for them to get an education and we will have control or we can pay for them in prison and we have no control. >> but brown herself could barely pay. she was making just $45,000 as a

realtor but still set aside $10,000 to fulfill his promise. 12 years later, 19 of the 23 kids walked across the stage to claim their high school diplomas. >> are thinking of ds and cs forget it. always strive to be the best. >> the most recent statistic of the oakland unified school district, show that less than 70% of the students graduate from high school. ms. brown said 82% of her students graduated. >> she has paid for 82 students. 20 more are nrmd. she does take financial aid. >> it's been 27 years, i've never missed a payment for college. >> and her kids don't miss a

chance to thank her. lisa bernard, al jazeera, oakland. >> that's the news. head over to aljazeera.com. ray suarez is up next with "inside story." have a good night. [ ♪ music ] the voting rights act was meant to push back on decades of systematic voter exclusion in big chunks of the country, it meant that the justice department would look over many state shoulders when they made laws. now the acts supporters worry that it's weakened or in retreat as america marked the 50th vote. it's "inside story".