they are working elephants, and it gives them a chance to get medical attention, and a well-earned break afterwards. more than $125,000 was raised forrel font conservation projects in this thailand. aljazeera.com for all of the news. aljazeera.com. from critic to comrade, ben carson endorses donald trump. and dishonorable discharge, two top executives lose their jobs amid a spending scandal at the wounded warrior project. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm richelle carey. a big boost today for donald trump's presidential bid. dr. ben carson has announced he is endorsing the man who repeatedly mocked him earlier in the campaign. >> it's not about me or mr. trump. it's about america. i have found that in talking with him, that, you know, there's a lot more alignment, philosophically and spiritually than i ever thought that there was. >> carson's announcement comes a week after he suspended his campaign. michael shure has more from florida. and donald trump gets the big endorsement from dr. ben carson, the most important part of which was when carson gave him the seal of approval because of his spirituality, saying he

is spiritually okay. that's what trump wants evangelical voters to here. the debate, here showed a different side of donald trump. unlike previous debates, thursday's debate in miami featured an intense discussion of the economy, education, and foreign policy. the first question of the night went to governor john kasich on whether his support of trade deals was undermining the middle class. >> my position has always been we want to have free trade, but fair trade, when countries cheat, we need to blow the whistle. >> reporter: the candidates differed on the issue of social security solvency. >> my children will retire at 70. i will retire at 68. >> i want to make america great men, and leave social security

as with. >> reporter: but marco rubio challenged donald trump on the numbers. >> let's get rid of fraud and abuse, and be more careful about how you spend foreign trade. >> reporter: cruz suggesting that trump has a history of giving money to both sides? . >> if you have a candidate who has been funding liberal democrats and funding the washington establishment, it's very hard to imagine how suddenly this candidate is going to take on washington. >> we're all in this together. we're going to come up with solutions, and so far i cannot believe how civil it has been up here. >> reporter: naturally being in miami, the conversation drifted to diplomatic relations with cuba. miami is home to the largest cuban american population in the country. both cruz and rubio are of cuban

decent. the candidate spoke up about renewed ties. >> cuba remains an anti american communist dictatorship, it is harboring fugitives of american justice, all in exchange for nothing. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: trump was also questioned by cnn moderator about recent incidents of violence at his rallies. trump said he did not condone the behavior. >> people come with tremendous passion and love for the country, and you are mentioning one case, which i haven't seen, i heard about it, which i don't like, by they have anger that is unbelievable. >> reporter: with the possibility of a brokered convention looming, trump painted a primary process, that he says boiled down to two candidates, ted cruz 4i7himself.

>> i'm going to have the delega delegates. >> if you are one of the 65, 70% of republicans who recognizes if we nominate donald trump, hillary clinton wins. if you recognize that, i want to invite you, if you have supported other candidates, come and join us. >> reporter: the next big contests are tuesday, where ohio and florida, home states of kasick and rubio will be up for gaps. michael shure, al jazeera, miami, florida. hillary clinton is taking a break from campaigning to attend nancy reagan's funeral. bernie sanders held rallies in tampa and gainesville. telling the crowd he is getting the same feeling he had in michigan where he defeated clinton. michelle obama will also attend nancy reagan's funeral this

afternoon. thousands of people have been filing past her casket for the last two days. there could be another day before the rain that has drenched the south for much of the week lets up. at least five people are dead across the region, and a state of emergency is in effect for parts of louisiana. jonathan martin reports from new orleans. >> reporter: from louisiana to texas to tennessee. much of the south is under several feet of water, after days of heavy rain, and the rain may not let up until this weekend. northeastern louisiana was one of the hardest-hit places. drone video shows water inundating neighborhoods. thousands of people were told to leave their homes. those who stayed had to use boats to get around. >> roadways are completely flooded. you can't see any of the signage, basically feeling your

way through high water. >> reporter: water swept cars and trucks off highways. the governor called up the national guard to help residences and motorists. firefighters rescued a family in a mobile home. dozens of people and animals had to be rescued. >> this is an event that kind of sneaks up on you, as fast and as much rain came down at a time, you kind of become reactive to it. >> reporter: in louisiana fish were seen swimming in the streets. with roads in many parts of the south flooded, in some places schools closed, communities are trying to keep the water at bay, and people are doing their best to cope. because it could be several days before the region dries out.

jonathan martin, al jazeera, new orleans. the flooding is expected to continue into the weekend. nicole mitchell has more. >> reporter: all of the rain we have already had has lead to the flood warnings. the areas in green is where we have the potential. and what has happened is that there was a frontal boundary through the region. the northern end cleared out, but the southern boundary remained a little bit more stagnant. the flow has kept things very moist across the gulf coast, arkansas, mississippi, louisiana, widespread areas seeing a half foot of rain, and another half foot definitely possible over the next couple of days. this is the situation as we have it now. you can see there is occasional

brief breaks by tomorrow. but later on sunday this starts to clear a little bit more. to really, two more days of all of this. in the meantime it has kept temperatures warm ahead of it. new york is at 63 after the region set records yesterday, but still well above average, midwest, these temperatures above average. it's a little cooler on the west coast. snow to the higher elevations, maybe over a foot in some cases, and areas of high wind. back to you. new developments in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. a south african man says his son may have found a piece of the missing jet on a breach. the family found this debris back in december, but says they didn't think to contact authorities at the time.

flight 370 vanished while flying from kuala lumpur to beijing two years ago. crowds gathered in tokyo today as bells marked the exact moment a earthquake struck five years ago. it caused one of the world's worst nuclear accidents. harry fawcett has more. >> reporter: this mound was built nearly a hundred years ago, a way for the people of this flat coastal area to come up here and be able to look out to sea. this neighborhood was densely packed with houses that were simply swept away when the wave came through here.

in the five years since there has been an immense amount of work here, as there has been up and down this coast. you can see those huge great piles of earth over there, it's where they are trying to raise the level of ground to build an industrial zone here. and there are also large sea walls being put in place. this is an enormous task, the prime minister saying another five years of revisallized reconstruction still await. 100,000 in fukushima were effected, and that is still undergoing all sorts of trouble. here on this mound is a shrine where people have been coming to pay their respects to the dead. the tsunami sirens sounded

around this area, echoing out as people remember what happened five years ago. 41 people are still missing here. there has been an effort to try to find missing bodies even now, five years on. it's a very important thing for those still grieving, still in the mourning process all of these years later. >> harry fawcett reporting. the government has spent billions of dollars reconstructing the country's nuclear plant. earlier this year two other plants were forced to sdhount because of safety fears. we have more information about a recorded leak of isil members. a defector gave the information. there are reports that the u.s. is planning to publicly

blame iran for a cyber attack three years ago. the justice department has prepared an indictment against the suspects. the breach wasn't sophisticated and hackers only managed to get very limited access to information. up next, a supreme court showdown, the battle taking shape on capitol hill over president obama selecting a new justice. and the report of lavish living that has cost two executives their jobs.

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president obama is headed to texas where he'll stop by the south by southwest festival. this afternoon we'll be taking part in what is being called an interacttive keynote address. michelle obama will stop by on march 16th. this is the first time in the festival's 30-year history that a sitting president and first lady has participated. this comes one day after he hosted canada's prime minister at the white house. they discussed a climate change plan that includes cutting methane emissions in the oil and gas industry. this is the first state visit by a sitting canadian prime minister in 19 years. obama toasted the alliance during a state dinner last night. >> the friendship between americans and canadians, and the spirit that binds us together, a genuine, deep, and abiding

respect for each and every human being. cheers. >> reporter: in response, trudeau referred to the 25,000 syrian refugees who arrived in canada in the last few months, saying diversity can be a sign of strength. the president's short list of a supreme court judge has come out. >> reporter: republicans say no supreme court court nominee until there is a new president. >> we're not going to drop any nominee into an election year cauldron, and i'm certainly not going to let it happen to the good people of iowa. >> reporter: democrats say it's only fair to consider president obama's choice. >> i am appealing to the better angels of your nature, when there is a nominee, do as we

have done in the past, give them careful consideration, meet with the nominee, ask the nominee questions. >> reporter: it turned into a forum to go on the record, but no changes in the division between republicans and democrats. the committee has the power to screen or block, or simply ignore the president's nominee. >> i will say the work of this committee in this congress will be shamefully incomplete if this committee refuses to do that most important job of weighing a supreme court nomination. we were given a job to do by the constitution of the united states, a job the american people want us to do. and the chairman of this committee is saying for the next year, the judiciary committee will not do its job. >> reporter: president obama used his appearance with the canadian prime minister to urge republicans to consider his choice. >> i'm confident that whomever i

select among fair minded people will be used as an eminently qualified person. and it will be up to senate republicans to decide whether they want to follow the constitution. >> reporter: the white house says the president is making progress as we considers the candidates, and washington news outlets are reporting that interviews have begun. among those getting attention this man. and this woman, a d.c.-based judge, who if nominated and confirmed would be the first african american twom sit on the nation's highest court. and jane kelly, an iowa judge the home state of the chairman. >> what they think will exert the most political pressure on me. >> reporter: republican lindsey graham admitted frustration with the partisanship in congress,

but said that won't stop him from siding with his g.o.p. colleagues. >> we're setting a precedent here today, the republicans are, that in the last year, at least of a lame duck, eight-year term, i would say it's going to be a four-year term, that you are not going to fill the vacancy of the supreme court based on what we're doing here today. >> reporter: the president could announce the nominee any day now, but there are no signs of a bipartisan law anymore soon. >> reporter: the justice department with his response to apple over its refusal to unlock an iphone of the san bernardino shooter. apple has said helping the fbi could jeopardize privacy for millions of iphone users.

the fcc is producing new rules on how companies share internet data. it would make service providers report any data breaches. the proposal will be voted on at the end of the month. a big shakeup at the wounded warrior charity. the two top executives are outed a mists allegations that they spent too much on themselves. >> reporter: there is a good chance you have seen one of their ads, often starring celebtives. >> i want to tell you about these true american heros, and how you can show your thanks by helping them through wounded warrior project. >> reporter: they have taken millions of dollars since forming in 2003, but in the face of allegations surrounding

possible misuse of those funds, the board has fired its leaders. the group has been plagued for years by low-ratings from monitor groups like charity watch, and cher think navigator. charity navigator says the project spends 60% or less on veterans, the rest goes to overhead. but scrutiny for the wounded warrior project intensified earlier this year, when the new york times and cbs shared stories of former employs. >> donors don't want a $2,500 bar tab. >> reporter: the board has tabbed retired army captain and

wounded iraq veteran, anthony to serve as temporary ceo. he is the son of a general, the former top commander in iraq, and army chief of staff. john henry smith, al jazeera. the fate of a controversial education bill is now up to virginia governor. it would allow virginia parents to prevent their kids from reading sexually explicit content. the governor has not said whether he will sign of veto the bill. taking aim at donald trump, using art to go after the republican presidential front runner.

we have a spectacular site to show you from southern argentina. the glacier known as the white giant collapsed there. the cheering you hear is because there were thousands watching. it is not linked to climate change. once every four to five years enough pressure builds up to cause the ice dam to collapse. it last happened in 2012 in the middle of the night. donald trump has dominated the political scene for the last few months, and now some artists

are using him for satire. >> reporter: i'm using ak crick lick -- for me his facial express sums trump up, so i have taken his sphinx ter like express he does, and pairing it with pop art. >> are you batman? >> i at batman. >> i created this illustration of him as batman, and from there, the ideas kept coming to me, and the basic concept behind the whole thing is if people are laughing at him, then they are not taking him serious as a presidential candidate. >> reporter: the selection has grown. images depicting trump as richie

rich, former chairman mao, and even hitler. >> the stuff that is coming out of his mouth is scaring me. and it feels like this is how it started with hitler. my inspiration behind this is that he lies about everything he is saying, and essentially he is full of [ censor bleep ]. >> reporter: he is not the only artist with a visceral reaction to trump. >> donald j trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> people were upset and shocked, but they weren't that sangry, they were like no, no, he's just funny. no one is taking him seriously, and i'm like actually he just said the most vicious hate speech that he could, making us feel as though we might be the

japaneses, or like the jews were treated in nazi germany? >> reporter: is this actor created a film about a character. >> i thought okay, if trump supporters are white evangelical, muslim haters, then the one thing donald trump cannot say he moves is muslims. he can't say, oh, it's so great that a muslim woman is satirically playing my muslim daughter. i love it. he can't say that. >> reporter: both understand that their work will likely draw more attention to the man they fear could be president. but both say it would be worse not to speak out at all. thank you for joining us. i'm richelle carey. the news continues next live from london.

keep it here on al jazeera. a damming u.n. report describes children burned alive and soldiers allowed to rape in south sudan. ♪ hello once again from me, david foster, you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up in this program, a powerful shiite cleric and his followers keep up the pressure on iraq's prime minister to tackle corruption. and aid agencies accuse