and should be supported. >> richard branson the founder of virgin group always a pleasure for talking to you. thank you for joining us. that is our show for today, i'm ali velshi, thank you for joining us. >> battle over benghazi. presidential candidate hillary clinton facing one of the biggest challenges of her career as she prepares to testify before a congressional committee. bowing out. >> i believe we're out of time. time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination. >> vice president joe biden ends all speculation about a run for white house, ending a

potentially grueling fight. and troi trip to moscow. military campaign intensifies. and speaking out. >> i wish he would have said we're going to enforce the law so insurance companies no longer discriminate against people with these illnesses. >> former congressman and recovering addict patrick kennedy on the nation's failure to deal with drug addiction, as the nation launches a new effort to fight substance abuse. good evening and thanks for watching al jazeera america. i'm jonathan betz. antonio mora has the night off. hillary clinton no longer has to worry about joe biden but what about benghazi? the former secretary of state's testimony will be scrutinized but so will the questions asked by republicans and here's why.a

poll out today shows most americans see the probe is politically motivated. half the goal is to embarrass clinton and othird is to learn what happened in benghazi. kimberly halkett has more on what we can expect tomorrow. >> the attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi, libya, killed the u.s. ambassador and three other americans. but three years later why it happened is still in dispute. u.s. state department later revealed there was no protest outside its mission prior to the attack. >> what difference at this point does it make? it is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again senator. >> reporter: the select congressional committee on benghazi says for subpoena months it spent more than $4.5 million to do just that. calling back to capitol hill

former secretary of state hillary clinton who was in charge at the time. since 2012 there have been multiple hearings and reports but few new details about the attack. instead what the republican led committee did uncover is during her time as secretary of state, clinton had been using a private server for government e-mail for potentially classified information. >> there is an fbi criminal into her e-mails. whether she's ever brought to justice remains to be seen. but the fact is she brought this on herself not the republicans and not the congress. >> reporter: after a televised interview with the number 1 leader in the house of representatives, kevin mccarthy, smear campaign to destroy hillary clinton's presidential aspirations.

>> we put together a benghazi special committee. what are her numbers today? >> this is all about a taxpayer funded political effort to derail the campaign of hillary clinton. ladies and gentlemen that is a problem. >> reporter: especially for the victims' families who simply want an explanation for the poor security in benghazi, libya the night their relatives died. kimberly halkett, al jazeera, washington. >> the cia called the personal posting of john brennan's private e-mails a crime. foreign policy seem to have hacked into brennan's e-mail. there is no indication that any of the posted documents are classified. vice president joe biden ended months of speculation today, he will not run for president in 2016.

reasons both personal and political. >> in the white house rose garden with his wife and president obama by his side, vice president joe biden ended the uncertainty. >> i believe we're out of time. time to mount a winning presidential nomination run. >> his family have made progress in grieving, several family members encouraged his to run but the window of time needed to produce a competitive campaign. >> i've concluded it has closed. >> biden's conclusion also closes the door on one of the biggest potential challenges to hillary clinton. she ander campaign fear that his campaign would take support for her. the potential for a messy

biden -- clinton fight. this week, biden who prides himself on his ability to reach bipartisan deals said repeatedly: >> i don't believe like some do that it's naive to talk to republicans. i don't think we should look at republicans as our enemies. >> reporter: even in his announcement biden seemed to take a jab at clinton for distancing herself from the administration for trade, arctic oil drilling and u.s. involvement in syria. >> democrats should not only defend this record and protect this record, they should run on the record. >> reporter: in a statement wednesday and on twitter, clinton made no mention of biden's criticism, quote, @vp is a friend. vermont senator bernie sanders told reporters, joe biden a good friend has made a decision he

feels is best for himself. biden says in the last 15 months in office he will fight for policy goals, getting money out of politics and the fight to cure cancer. >> i will not be silent. i intend to speak out clearly and forcefully, to influence as much as i can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation. >> reporter: but that influence will diminish now that biden has set the stage for a relatively quiet finish for a lengthy and high profile political career. in the end, biden seemed to agree with his advisors. that the odds were against him. ended some of the democratic divisions that he hisms had himd stoked. >> thank you all very much. >> david schuster, al jazeera.

>> it's looking more and more likely that paul ryan will be the next speaker of the house. group stopped short of giving representative ryan an official endorsement. republicans will vote in a secret ballot a week from today. meeting between sergey lavrov and john kerry was announced after bashar al-assad made a surprise visit to moscow. bombs continue to fall in syria. today volunteers in a humanitarian mission in idlib were hit. jamie mcintire last more on washington's reaction. >> russiarussia and the united s are not only in conflict in the skies over syria, each are offering a vastly different

narrative of what's happening on the ground. drone video from a russian state tv cameraman went viral this week, the video with an added sound track shows a russian offensive last week, and an aerial view of the extent of the devastation after four years of war. misery which the pentagon now accuses russian air power of adding to. >> the russians have been indiscriminate, reckless in syria, they drop cluster bombs where civilians are. they do not appear to be interested in defeating i.s.i.l, they appear interested in preserving the assad regime. >> bashar al-assad's red carpet

welcome in moscow ends the fiction that russian intervention is about anything other than keeping assad in power. the pentagon continues to insist that russia is lying, also exaggerated the numbers and effectiveness of strikes. russia says it's conducted hundreds of air strikes since he begaitbegan three weeks ago. u.s. says it's more likely 140. air lifting 50 tons of ammunition oa loose alliance of fighters nearby, what the pentagon calls the syrian arab coalition is a group between ten and 12 with 5,000 fighters total. which the pentagon pulled 50 out to get quick fraing had ho traie

the ammo. gates testified the u.s. should find motivated tribes or ethnic groups and arm them. >> they may not fight in iraq. or outside of their own turf. against i.s.i.s. but they play well fight to the death to protect their own home land, their own villages. >> reporter: as u.s. and russian airplanes now operate under agreed safety protocols in the syrian air space, a video released by the russian defense ministry shows a recent close encounter between a russian jet and an american reefer drone. understanding between russians and americans immoral, giving clear skies to bomb u.s.

partners. the pentagon says it understands why some frustrated iraqi lawmakers may be calling for strikes in iraq, but the coalition air strikes are coordinated on the ground and designed to prevent civilian casualties to the greatest extent possible. so far the iraqi prime minister has not asked for russia's help, something the pentagon says would be highly problematic. jamie mcintire, al jazeera, pentagon. palestinian man shot and killed after he tried to stab a soldier. this happened as ban ki-moon met with mahmoud abbas on the west bank. tomorrow, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu will discuss the rising violence with secretary of state john kerry in berlin. he is also planning to meet with

bawfs iabbas in coming days. netanyahu made comments during a speech this jerusalem yesterday. this is how he recounted a 1941 meeting between adolph hitler and the grand mufti hussein you of palestine he says what circulate i do with them, he said burn them. >> accused the prime minister of giving wrong impression of hitler and the holocaust. he said he wasn't absolving hitler of the holocaust, but he said that palestinians were talking about the violence

against jews even before the jewish state was formed. (f) investigators don't know what led to this incident but credit tips from the public for the break in the case. >> we have at least two search warrants we need to serve, to take from person of interest to suspect. we are still going to ask any disheancitizens that may have additional information to please keep them coming. >> a go fund me page to pay for lily's funeral has already raised $50,000. police say tyrone howard wanted for another shooting fired on an officer last night during a robbery investigation. randolph holder was shot in the forehead. later died at the hospital. the fallen officer's body was

taken to a funeral loam and he will be buried in his native gieguyanna. guyana. >> why top law enforcement officials from across the country are trying to put fewer people into jail.

>> tournamentomorrow a group ofe chiefs will meet with president obama to talk about reducing incarceration rates. the price to taxpayers is thought to be about $40 billion a year. social cost of mass incarceration. >> we have got to rethink the equation when we are making young people, especially young men of color in their mid 20s unemployable. >> what we have to do in this country and this is probably a little bit radical is start concentrating on what constitutes a crime. >> leaders in law enforcement are calling for reduction of tough mandatory sentences, reworking classifications and

terms to incarceration. the united states is facing an epidemic of heroin and prescription painkiller abuse. president obama was in west virginia today to announce new efforts to fight that problem. the state has the highest overdose rate in the country. on the list of, making it easier for some to get treated for diction and launching a pr campaign to raise abuse awareness. nearly two nac and a half million americans are addicted to heroin and painkillers. outpacing both homicide and motor vehicle accidents. worldwide more than 16 million people use opiates. but the rate among american adults is nearly three times higher. and a jump in the cultivation of opium is fueling this trend. 80% of the world's supply comes from afghanistan and poppy cultivation there grew by 36% in one year.

and joining me now is someone who knows about substance abuse. patrick kennedy, has written a memoir about his and his family's struggles, called a common struggle. he joins us today. thanks for being here. >> thank you for having me jonathan. >> tackling addiction especially when it goes to heroin do you think it goes far enough? >> well, if this had been cancer or diabetes or hiv-aids i don't think it would have taken him this long to have a speech. i frankly think this is part of the problem. and that is that we don't really want to talk about these issues. we've known for a long time that there's been an epidemic of overdoses in this country. we know that addiction rates are

surpassing car accidents as the leading cause of death. now with all of this if it were any other issue we would have had bold action. and frankly, while i applaud the fact that the president's getting the conversation started, you know, i wish that he had said, we're going to enforce the law so that insurance companies no longer discriminate against people with these illnesses. >> so when he talks about addiction funding being put into this issue and the other initiatives he outlined, this is not bold action in your mind? >> no, these are -- what's not in the speech is what i have a problem with. i mean all the things that he outlined are great. you know do we need more training of medical -- sure. do we need to have more people licensed to know how to prescribe, yes. but the heart of the issue, the elephant in the room, is that this is a disease of the brain. addiction. and we should have our medical

insurance companies already required by law to cover these illnesses, actually cover these illnesses. >> so i want to talk about your own struggle as well. you write in your book you swuferresuffered from addictiono alcohol and prescription drugs. >> my experience is i am a product of this dysfunctional system. >> why do you call it dysfunction at system? did you go to your doctors and see help and they didn't provide any? >> the doctor doesn't put any check from the head up. the doctor will readily write me a prescription for ox oxycontin. even though i told him i had an

addiction problem. i told him i'm in recovery for addiction and then i asked him at the conclusion, you know my back really hurts, do you mind if you could prescribe me some oxycontin? he was about to write it on the prescription pad and he said, didn't you tell me you were in recovery? i said yes. that's where we are in our medical system today. you have cancer in your family? you have stroke? you better be on lipitor, you've got high cholesterol. or cancer you better be on screening but a history of mental illness or alcohol or drug abuse, they don't ask, to be sure you don't get caught in the cycle. >> we appreciate you sharing with us patrick kennedy. >> thank you so much jonathan, i appreciate it. >> still ahead, researchers have been using drones to check

endangered killer whales and what they've found is encouraging. the news and some pretty cool pictures, next. also why legos of all things mites be hard to find this holiday season. dirty work? >> everything that's happening here is illegal. 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. >> drones have been keeping an eye on endangered whiels along g the wes west coast.

and as allen schauffler reports. they're pretty interesting. >> a drone lifts off oarc over e u.s. canada border. >> he just did a deep dive. >> known as the southern residence, only 81 are still alive. a drone took pictures of all of them, allowing for identification of individuals. known for white shapes and distinctive fins. similar studies have been done. >> full adult size, we'll be able to compare him to the measurement last year and five years ago. that's great. >> 23 hours of drone flights show these orcas in fairly good health over the summer. a rare population boom for

animals whose numbers have been dropping in recent years. several more appear pregnant. good signs but orca watchers say this is no time for avictory dance. >> we've had a very good year for chinook salmon. when you have a good fish year you have a good black fish year. they're fairly well fed, they're no way out of the woods. >> this information will provide baseline data for future assessments and they show details of orca behavior not seen this close this clear ever before. >> what we've been able to find is two of the members of the family group actually came over towards the mother and brought the salmon to her. they dropped it and she picked it up. i think it's a great example of how the whole family are involved in rearing this calf. >> better ways to study a speciouspecies on the brink.

we're heading into an el nino water pattern, more warmer water in the pacific, and less salmon, that's what the orcas eat, setting them apart as a species. telling us more about climate, about fish and how they interconnect. john. >> thank you allen. they are giant or the or th. for a long time scientists thought the tortoises in the galapagos were divided into 13 species but now they believe there are 14 species. the makers of lego toys may not be able to keep up with demand. officials in the danish company

say they are investing millions in mexico hungary and denmark. popularity has governor in recent years because of movies. ray suarez tarts now with "inside story." >>representativee fishing for the sally field moment and giving the republican house colleagues until friday to demonstrate that they like him, they really like him and then he'll agree to do what they have been begging him to do, become the speaker of the house. it is a power position in politic and how come nobody wants the job. it's the "inside story."