do. until then, play ball. i'm ray suarez and that's the "inside story." ♪ ♪ >> this is al jazeera america. live from new york city. i'm richelle carey in for tony harris. far from over, the new danger in the carolinas from the flooding rain, and where the storms a are -- headed next. bp agrees to pay millions in the gulf oil spill. pointing fingers, the u.s. says call for that air strike killing doctors and civilians in

afghanistan. going home, a jailed nyu student is free from north korea. his health condition and why he was in prison. ♪ flooding in south carolina has killed nine people. tens of thousands of homes are without power or running water tonight, and rising water has closed hundreds of roads. also a breached dam in columbia has triggered new evacuation orders. some places have seen more than two feet of rain. 1300 national guard members are helping with the rescue efforts. schools and government offices that are closed. the governor is asking residents to simply say home. robert ray is in columbia, south carolina where more than 20 inches of rain has fallen since

friday. robert? >> reporter: unbelievable amount of rain. sunday was the most recorded rain in the history of columbia, south carolina, since they have been taking those records. richelle last night at this time when we spoke here on air, it was completely downpouring. since then the water is reseeding. you can over my shoulder, that was a compromised dam that was shut off about four hours ago when the national guard and coast guard came in, police shut it down, vak -- evacuated the media, but those walks up and down the street. president obama has signed a state of disaster for south carolina. that is certainly something they will need. on the ground vehicles crushed by raging water. people trying to escape flash flooding.

cemeteries submerged and daring rescue crews saving residents and carrying them to safety like this mother and baby girl plucked from a dire situation. >> probably the most terrifying moment of my life. holding on to your 15-month-old daughter that far up was very frightening, but we made it. >> reporter: millions of south carolinians remained inside their homes monday, as emergency officials dealt with the relentless flooding. >> over 150 water rescues as of now. we have 25 shelters open housing 932 citizens currently. we're now up to 1300 national guards members across the state. they have done 25 aerial rescues. >> the rain has stopped here, but you can see there's so much damage. this is a road that literally has collapsed.

the running river swollen. the governor says it could make months perhaps to assess all of this damage. in the meantime, people are trying to get their lives back together. but that will take time. about 40,000 homes have no water. and another 26,000 residences in the state have no power. >> the parking lot over there is gone. >> reporter: much of the east coast has beens a rated by rains that have lingered since last thursday. coastal areas in north carolina and washington saw flooding, but the slow-moving storm saved its crush for south carolina. >> i received a phone call from president obama. he was extremely gracious and kind. we will be covered with public assistance for debris remove,

hazard mittation, damage to infrastructure. so we did that verbally. >> reporter: fema, state, and local officials along with the national guard are now assessing the damage which could add up in the billions. richelle there are about 30,000 miles of streams and rivers running through the state of south carolina. they have come down from the appalachian mountains here, and they are still very swollen and running fast and deep. the river behind us that was compromised earlier, that is very deep and running very quickly through this capitol city. there are cars submerged, and even sometimes you see one just rolling by. so this is a situation that is still minute to minute. the clean up, and assessment is just beginning. there are people who still cannot drink water here in the capitol, and not all is well

even though the rain has stopped richelle. >> robert thank you. and confirmation tonight of a missing cargo ship sinking off of bahamas. the u.s. coast guard said it went down riding out hurricane joaquin. 28 crew members on board are from the united states and 5 from poland. jonathan betz reports. >> we are still looking for survivors or any signs of life, any signs of that vessel. >> reporter: the coast guard says it is continuing its search for the crew, despite grim news so far. including the recovery of a heavily damaged lifeboat. >> there were two lifeboats that could each hold about 43 people. the one we found had no signs of anyone being in it. >> reporter: rescue team also recovered a survival suit.

>> we're just hoping -- because these men are trained to survive so hopefully they did what was needed to survive. >> reporter: but the last communication was thursday morning when the crew reported they lost power and were taking on water. >> you are walking up to 140 mile an hour winds, seas upwards of 50 feet, visibility, basically at zero. those are challenging conditions to survive in. >> reporter: the search itself was slowed by near hurricane-force winds. >> we were facing 100-mile an hour winds, 40-foot seas. >> reporter: but it has now found two debris sites. the boat had departed from jacksonville last tuesday headed to puerto rico.

at that time joaquin was still a tropical storm. the question that remains open is whether the crew received any warnings about the possibility that joaquin could become a category 4 hurricane. keith griffin is a sailor on the vessel, he and his wife are expecting twins. griffin an engineer on the ship was expected home october 13th. and the rain is not over yet, there are flood warnings still in effect across the region. meteorologist kevin corriveau will all of that in just a little bit. california today became the fifth state to allow physician-assists suicide. the governor signed the bill into law. it allows doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill

patients who request them. umpqua community college is open today for the first time since last week's deadly shooting. and president obama will visit the school friday. students have been aloud on to campus today to recover their belongings, but classes don't resume until next week. sabrina the community has a long road to back to heal, a long road back to normalcy, if that will ever actually happen. how is the town coping this week? >> reporter: well, richelle, students are really so distraught, and nervous about stepping foot on campus, especially those who were present on campus during the mass shooting. but you talk to people in this community, including those here at the local hospital, and they

say they will get past the shooting and become a stronger roseburg. just up the road, a community resolves to move forward. college staff arrive for work, and students pick up personal belongings they were forced to believe behind last thursday. grief counselors are on hand. and we are hearing from one of the students who were shot. >> he said he had been waiting for do that for a really long time, and he laughed after -- after he shot the teacher. >> reporter: since the shooting last week, the sheriff has repeatedly refused to identify the shooter by name even after the name had been widely reported by local and national media. >> you will not hear anyone from this law enforcement operation use his name. i continue to believe that those media and community members who publicize his name will only

glorify his horrific actions. and eventually this will only serve to inspire future shooters. >> reporter: his focus has spread tloit -- throughout the community. >> that candle vigil shot i'm thinking of putting on the main page. >> reporter: david jakes the publicer for the weekly newspaper. >> the sheriff had a lot of wisdom in saying we don't want to glorify this. it's just not appropriate, so we're going to follow that lead with our edition this week. >> reporter: at the local ymca where two victims were members, and where a survivor works, the sentiments was the same. >> we're glad that evil has been removed from our community.

however, we don't want to move forward. >> reporter: moving forward for her includes getting updates on minsk as he is treated for gunshot wounds. students call him a hero for trying to stop the shooter even after he had been wounded. >> for someone to put himself out there, knowing he fully well that he was going to get hurt himself, we're so -- so blessed and proud of him. >> reporter: as she and others wait for mines's injuries to heal, they know they have their own emotions to deal with, but say the horrific event they have been through won't define them as a community. we have been told that chris could be released from the hospital as early as today, but we checked just a short time ago, and that has not happened yet. i also want to give you an update on the youngest survivor,

the 16 year old who's condition was upgraded from critical to fair yesterday. >> all right. sabrina thank you. as sabrina mentioned, chris hails him as one of the heros of last week's shooting. and now they are trying to raise money for his medical bills. in three days the page has raised nearly $800,000. and there's a new petition on whitehouse.gov asking the president to award minse with the presidential medal of freedom. hillary clinton vows to make gun control a key issue in her presidency. >> we need to demand that we have universal background

checks. [ cheers and applause ] >> and we have to also -- [ cheers and applause ] >> we have to close the loopholes. you know, we have got what is called the gun show loophole, and we have got what is now being called the charleston loophole. >> clinton also called for an end to laws to protect gun manufacturers and sellers from liability lawsuits. the fbi urged colleges and universities to be cautious today. a vague threat of violence was made against what was an unspecified university. these universities issued alerts to their students. the threat was made online on an anonymous message board. in northern california, authorities say they stopped an

attack at summerville high school. four students are now in custody at a juvenile detention center accused of planning mass shooting. classmates said they noticed the students acting suspiciously last week. police say the four suspects have all confessed to the plot and will be arranged as juveniles before a county judge. >> they were going to come on campus and shoot and kill as many people as possible at the campus. i believe with all of my heart, the reason why we were able to stop this was because we have a level of trust within our community. there is still no word from the district attorney as to possible charges for those four students. at least seven people were hospitalized after an amtrak train derailed in vermont today. it reportedly hit debris from a rock slide, sending three cars down an embankment.

this accident happened in northfield, vermont has the train was traveling south to washington, d.c. supporters say that it promotes global economic growth. critics say it will ship american jobs overseas. an historic day for the largest free trade agreement since nafta. plus day one of the new term for the supreme court. we'll look at the biggest cases on the agenda, including one case that could impact voting laws nationwide. the only way to get better is to challenge yourself,

and that's what we're doing at xfinity. we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around.

i am pleased to announce we have secured an historic resolution of our pending claims against bp, totaling more than $20 billion, making it the large settlement with a single entity in american history. the resolution including civil claims under the clean water act to which bp has agreed to pay a $5.5 billion penalty, the largest civil penalty in the history of environmental law. >> loretta lynch today on the settlement with bp. the oil spill back in april of 2010, followed the explosion of an off-shore rig that killed 11 workers in the gulf of mexico. bp had already settled with

businesses that suffered from the spill. today the u.s. and 11 pacific nations reached a deal on the trans-pacific partnership. it's one of the largest trade deals in u.s. history. here is ali velshi with more. >> richelle today the u.s., japan and ten over pacific nations reached a deal. it will tie together countries that make up 40% of the world's economy. it gets rid of a whole bunch of tariffs and opens up trade. president obama sees the deal as a keystone of his foreign policy pivot towards asia. he think the alliance is going to economically challenge china. it has taken nearly eight years to negotiate, and been highly controversial on both sides of the aisle. union backed democrats are

concerned it will lower the number of manufacturing jobs, and experts say they are probably right. environmentalists worry that conditions will not be enforced by the participating countries. meanwhile republicans reject big pharma, which lost its fight for 12-year patent protection, while tobacco countries also took a hit. all of this makes tpp a hot-button issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. donald trump has called tpp, a bad deal before seeing the final deal. while bernie sanders say it is disastrous. hillary clinton supported tpp while he was secretary of state, but her official position now

remains undecided. >> all right. ali there. the former federal reserves chairman says more executives should have gone to jail because of the financial collapse. >> there are a few people who have gone to jail for various reasons, but it would have been my preference to have more investigation of individual actions as obviously everything that went wrong or was illegal was done by some individual, not by, you know, an abstract firm, so in that respect, i think there should have been more accountability at the individual level. >> bernanke said he also did not do a good enough job explaining to the public the reasons for bailing out wall street. today marks the next supreme court session. there is montgomery versus

louisiana one of several death penalty cases. this deals with an african american juvenile sentenced to death at the age of 17. the sentence was later changed to life without parole. and his case debates whether or not the law can be applied retroactivity. in fredericks versus california teacher's association. california teachers are not required to join the union. the court will debate whether they are still required to pay fees to cover the cost of collective bargaining. fisher versus the university of texas at austin is an affirmative action case. essentially if whites face reverse discrimination. and whole women's health versus cole healthcare providers in texas are asking the supreme court to overturn a federal appeals court decision that would cut down 75% of the

state's abortion clinics. and then even well versus abbott, which pushes a one-person, one-vote challenge to redistricting plans in texas. so what does one-person, one-vote actually mean? our correspondent reports. >> reporter: just who does texas state senator sylvia garcia represent? clearly the senior citizens gathered for this health fair. the pride at how far the community has come in the united states is evident. >> the first full-time hispanic every elected here. >> reporter: some 70% of the constituents are hispanic. part of an emerging block. now the supreme court has agreed to hear a case that could dilute that minority vote just as it was emerging as a powerful

force. >> you would see a shift of pow power back to rural areas. >> reporter: in the u.s. each political district has roughly the same population. in some latino political districts a large percentage of that population is not eligible to vote. they are too young or aren't citizens. that's not the case in majority white areas. so the plaintiffs argue this contravenes the principal of one person, one vote. the plaintiffs the texas republican party and the million dollars right-wing sponsor of the case declined to be interviewed. but sylvia garcia says she knows what is going on. >> this is from the folks that scared of the latino vote, and

rather than continue to be fair, foe loling the rules, they want to change the rules. >> reporter: if they win, districts like garcias would have to be redrawn to include 200,000 more eligible voters. that would diminish the latino voice. >> if you change the geography, it doesn't change the need. it will multiply it. you kind of wonder what is next? are they going to decide we're going to go back to the old days and only be able to vote on your own property. and then only white men who own property? this is like reversing the clock further back and back. how far will that they go? >> reporter: at steak, the fundamental meaning of democracy in america. a war of words, why washington says it did not call

for a deadly u.s. air strike on a hospital in afghanistan. and the scathing response from the international aid group that suffered the direct hit. plus the incident that sparked a stern warning from nato to moscow after the break.

>> al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrap-up of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global perspective. weeknights, on al jazeera america.

♪ a u.s. army general says afghan forces requested an air strike that hit a doctors without borders facility in kunduz province. that strike killed 22 people on saturday. doctors without borders says any attempts to justify the strike would amount to a war crime. mike viqueira is here with the latest. mike, the story keeps changing and shifting, the story for why this air strike happened. can you walk us through this. >> that's absolutely right. the wee hours in the morning in kunduz. the fight raging there between taliban and afghan forces backed by u.s. air support. no one disputes the fact it was

struck by bombs, and 22 individuals were killed including 3 children. initially the u.s. said it was collateral damage, seeming to diminish the damage and loss of life. then officials said it was strikes against insurgents who were firing on u.s. personnel who were there to advise and assist the afghan forces. by this morning at the pentagon briefing room, the commander of all nato forces in afghanistan john campbell had this explanation. >> forces advised they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from u.s. forces. an air strike was then called and several civilians were accidentally struck. >> the rules of engagement are they have to prevent afghan forces from being overrun. president obama has a time line

to remove american forces by the end of next year. in that incidentally, now, richelle is under consideration by the administration, making it clear today, the president is rethinking his time line for withdrawal. richel richelle. >> the response from doctors without borders what has that been? >> as you point out they do call it a war crime. the administration says they are not going to go along with that characterization. obviously they are expressing their condolences. saying there is an investigation underway. doctors without borders are calling for an independent investigation, and in the wake of general campbells appearance today at the pentagon, this is part of their description:

so says doctors without borders and general campbell will before congress tomorrow morning, previously scheduled appearance, but he will be on the hot seat answering questions about how this bombs took place and the withdrawal of forces from afghanistan. >> thank you, mike. the humanitarian coordinator for emergency, an organization that provides free medical care to victims of war. and joins me from sudan. we appreciate it very much. doctors without borders says that nine of its staff were killed. more than 30 people injured. just a horrific situation. can you tell me what it is like on a daily basis to be an aid worker in a war zone? >> war is a place where you have

suicide attacks, bombings, shootings every single day, despite the fact it's not on the news every day, so -- and of course, episodes like the one in kunduz, they make you feel very -- even more unsafe if this is possible in those contexts. sometimes we have to cope with the large number of patients coming at the same time, because there are much casualties, even though very often when there is big fighting going on, the usual procedure is to lockdown the area of the fighting, so that wounded people cannot leave the area and reach a health facility, therefore, we receive patients also many hours after the fighting has been completed -- i mean finished.

>> many aid groups are saying that what happened in kunduz is a war crime. the united states is saying that what happened is an accident. what is the position of your organization? >> any breach of the geneva convention is a war crime. i don't find it very easy to call it an accident or mistake or collateral damage. [ inaudible ] told that they provided the exact location of the hospital to the parties involved, and we are sure that they are doing, because this is something that we normally do. everybody in this contexts knows where the hospitals are, so it's quite unbelievable to think that -- that such sophisticated war machine could have been going on, bombing for half an hour, 30 minutes, just by mistake. >> it was a couple of months ago

that the world health organization said that more needed to be done to protect health workers in conflict zones, and you have been around government officials before. what from your point of view can be done to make aid workers, healthcare workers that are doing really the work that nobody else will do in these dangerous situations, what more can be done to make aid workers as safe as possible? to make sure something like this doesn't happen again? >> we have seen the situation really worsening in the last few years. no rule is respected, no humanitarian rule is respected. therefore, we really believe that serious investigations, independent investigations are to be carried on, and those who are responsible for war crimes or for attacking humanitarian operators must be punished,

prosecuted, there has to be the rule of law back in this situation as well. >> thank you very much for what you do, and thank you for taking the time to talk to us. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. syrian president, bashar al-assad, has said that a russian air campaign in his country must succeed to avoid destruction of the entire region. russia launched his campaign against multiple groups. >> reporter: the russian military has been targeting the northern countryside of homs since the first day of its intervention in syria. the syrian army says this is part of a military campaign to recapture the region. syrian military sources say the air strikes are weakening offenses before a ground assault begins. isil is not present here. that is why the opposition believes russia's objective is

to help the government change the balance of power on the ground. >> translator: we are the free syrian army, the closest isil base is 60 kilometers from here. we are not linked to isil or others. >> reporter: many of the rebels there still fight under the banner of the free syrian army. they announced a joint military operations room to confront what they are calling the russian aggression. among their partners al-nusra front. the opposition says al-nusra's allegiance to al-qaeda is being used by the syrian and russian governments to justify attacks. >> reporter: it is fighting the regime. they are using nusra's presence as an excuse to kill civilians and fight the opposition. >> reporter: the northern countryside of homs is the only

rebel-controlled area in the province. while russia strikes have targeted some isil positions, the majority have hit anti-government rebels who were advancing. syrian military sources are calling that corner of syria an al-qaeda-controlled territory, and russian officials have also made it clear that russia is not their only target. president putin himself said nusra is on the list. the u.s. considers nusra a terrorist organization. >> translator: honestly speaking i haven't heard about the plans to counter our work in syria on the part of u.s. or anybody else. >> reporter: the u.s. may have protested against the air strikes, but some are concerned that the two powers may have more in common than thought. zana hoda, al jazeera, beirut.

syria is welcoming russian involvement in its war, nato is advocating against it. turkish leaders can threating to respond to the incursions. nato has always told russia to stop attacking opposition groups in syria, with the exception of isil. the united states is warning moscow that its actions risk escalating the situation in syria. >> reporter: this is the latest russian defense ministry footage of its planes returning from air strikes. the grainy blooms of light are bombs successfully hitting targets near holmes, near idlib, and elsewhere, we're told.

what we haven't seen footage of yet is the violation of turkish air space, by russian war planes. an incident moscow put down to bad weather. >> translator: what we have received from russia this morning is that this was a mistake and that they respect turkey's borders and this will not happen again. turkeys rules of engagement apply to all planes. >> reporter: diplomatic language from the prime minister, but the implication was clear, russian planes could be shot down if they repeat their mistake. the language from nato was blunter. turkey is a member of the alliance, and the ambassadors from 28 countries were assembled. this is a part of their written statement:

nato also said russia planes should stop attacking syrian opposition fighters and civilians and focus on fighting isil. a criticism on russia's general role in syria, not just the turkish air space incident. but moscow doesn't make the same distinctions as the west. russia's leadership just sees the whole lot as terrorists, and moscow says it is prepared to protect its ally, bashar al-assad against all of his enemies. the skies above syria are increasingly crowded, the u.s., turkey, saudi arabia, canada, qatar, the united arab emirates, jordan and bahrain have all flown there. russia's foreign minister has suggested cooperation with the united states on their bombing

missions. >> translator: we spoke about the need in the near future for additional direct contact between the militaries. our american colleagues promised to give quick answers to these offers. i think that soon we should receive this. >> reporter: without cooperation the risk of a serious confrontation only increases, but unless one side or the other come promices, it's difficult to see how they can stay out each other's way. at least nine weather-related deaths are now reported in south carolina where heavy rain has caused massive floods. the flooding has shut down 500 roads, and moments ago, president obama signed a disaster declaration, while the governor has activated 1300 national guard members to

assist. about 40,000 homes are out in without running water. >> the main thing we have seen is everybody is requesting water, especially in the midland area. they are without water. so we will be setting up -- i know a lot of people have tried to go to stores and buy it, and the stores are closed. you will see four water distribution sites in richmond county today. we will add six more tomorrow for a total of ten. >> all right. kevin what is the next day or so like for them? >> tonight we'll see a few more showers. it depends on how big those thunderstorms are when they push through. but in the next couple of days, we'll finally start to see a break in the rain, and that's when a lot of the damage will be revealed because a lot of these roads are underwater. i want to give you the big

picture right now, because there were two mechanisms in causing this flooding, one was joaquin, which provided a lot of moisture for the carolinas, and then you see this area of low-pressure moving off of florida. that was the instability and lift to take it across the carolinas. i want to show you exactly where the showers are going to be, but these are nothing like what we had seen over the last few days. you can see the light showers pushing up through south carolina. also there are a few offshore that we will be watching, because we still have flood warnings in effect. this is a four day stretch of totals with mount pleasant seeing just over 26 inches of rain, and flood warnings that will stay in effect until we get

that water down. and now the big threat is these rivers and the dams -- the pressure behind the dams are beginning to be felt. one to two inches is really going to be pushing it, but i think up here towards north carolina, willington, they have the better chance of seeing the rain. as we go through the next couple of days, we are looking at much better conditions. no more rain in the forecast wednesday and thursday, and we're going to be watching those rivers as they crest and come downstream. >> all right. kevin thank you very much. >> the death toll now standings at 19 after flash flooding struck the french -- rif area. looting has been reported with

nine people arrested. today a new york university student is headed home after beings detained in north korea. what he was doing there. and how he won his freedom. that's after the break. plus three doctors, one nobel prize. we'll talk to our doctor about the medical break through that saves millions of lives.

♪ in china, three people were killed after a tornado tore through the southern province. this tornado was triggered by a typhoon that hit the region. look at that. the storm also knocked out power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity. a new york university student is going home after being held for months in north korea. he was released to south korea today. he had been detained by the north since april. the communist government said he entered the country illegally. >> reporter: more than five months after he crossed into north korea over its border with china, he stepped across the southern frontier. the 21-year-old new york university student had spent the intervening period as a prisoner.

first comes questioning by the intelligence agency. it's against south korean law to enter the north without informing the government. his release comes five days before a huge military parade is to be held in north korea. there has been speculation that north korea might also mark the moment by firing a long-range rocket. such an act would jeopardize a recent agreement between north and south. his release could be read as a gesture of goodwill. however, in june north korea sentenced two other south korean nationalities to life of hard labor. south korea continues to insist on the release of all three men. it has, though, welcomed the decision to hand over moon, albeit after months of demand from seoul.

an official which deals with interkorean affairs called it a relief. for a look at what is copping up at the top of the hour, let's check in with john siegenthaler. >> coming up tonight at 8:00 the trans-pacific partnership. and what the candidates for president are saying about the deal. the first monday in october means the start of a new term for the supreme court, what we expect, some important rulings on affirmative action, voting rights and the death penalty. and prisoners pursuing college degrees behind bars. >> it has shown me that i do have the ability to learn; that i do have the ability to succeed; that i do have the ability to be a better human being. >> we'll look at the program and the results. all of those stories and a lot more coming up in eight minutes, richelle. >> that's an interesting story. all right. john, thank you very much.

the nobel prize in medicine has been rewarded to three researchers. they found ways to fight round worm and malaria. the winners will share the $960,000 prize. joining us from san francisco to talk about this achievement is an infection disease doctor. so give us the picture of how these two drugs have saved lives and their impact. >> the first drug is a drug that is being used to treat malaria. the discoverer of this relatively new medication really drew upon old research, ancient chinese texts about herbal medications, treatments for malaria and other infections, and using those old texts,

developed and refines the way to synthesize the medicine. and then you have two other researchers who helped develop a medication that we used to treat river blindness andel fan titus worldwide. and their approach also draws upon nature. one doctor looked at bacteria in soil and natural compounds secreted by the bacteria that kill parasites, and they went on to develop this into the drugs we use today. >> all right. the artamisinin is derived from

ancient chinese herbs. and i find that fascinating. there has been a divide between eastern and western medicine. is that changing at all? >> i think what we need to think about is combining the two. using western sources to study, and then draw upon eastern medicines. >> melinda gates said we are at a tipping point with malaria. is that so? >> we are at a point where we have great tools. we have this treatment. we also have tremendous rollout of bednuts, and we have a vaccine that is about 30% protective against infections, but using a combination of those with the required political will and financial resources, we

really could bring about an end to malaria, what we're calling elimination of malaria worldwide, and folks like bill gates and others are advocating that we make the most of this right now. >> how many people are still affected by river blindness, and el fan titus? >> those are two diseases we're very close to eradicating. there has been big news about drug companies trying to make money off of the poor, and this is a reverse to this. merck has been donating this drug and having consumers here in the u.s. and elsewhere, pay for heart worm medication. so we're really close to eliminating those diseases as diseases of the poor in many developing countries. >> these are wonderful developments and thank you for

explaining it to us. >> my pleasure, richelle. the volcano in mexico resulted this morning, spewing ash and smoke. look at that, thousands of feet in the air. the volcano has been experiencing activity since july. nearby villages have been evacuated after being covered by thick coats of ash. an artist in france has baked an animated cake. it shows a layered chocolate cake coming to life. alexander duebows calls his latest work, melting pot. i'm just hungry. and very impressed as well. pakman. i'm richelle carey. thank you for watching. john siegenthaler will be back in just a few minutes and then after that, an international hour with antonio mora. and you can always check out the

latest news if you just go to our website. it just takes a minute. it's aljazeera.com. thank you so much for your time. have a great evening. ♪

hi, everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. swept away, historic flooding in south carolina. >> dnr has performed over 150 water rescues. >> as the search for the missing grows. war crime -- >> the fact that some of those individuals lost their lives over the weekend is a profound tragedy. >> the deadly u.s. str