we are. coming up on our team category five hurricane arma is making its way toward florida after wreaking havoc on the caribbean we'll have the latest from miami. plus as residents of texas try and salvage what's left after hurricane harvey landlords are demanding their rent. then it could your favorite coffee shop be breaking the law a new lawsuit in california says so we'll bring you the details. it's thursday september seventh find him in washington d.c.

a matushka sweets and you're watching r.t. america we begin today with the devastation in the caribbean as a category five hurricane continues its course to the united states mainland its deadly hurricane has blasted the northern caribbean unleashing destructive sustained winds of one hundred eighty miles per hour flooding rain loss of life and infrastructure as many as thirteen people have reportedly lost their lives and at least nine have been confirmed dead including four in the french territory of st marteen one person and and three people in puerto rico the hurricane moved westward to the dominican republic and haiti it's currently over the british territory of turks and caicos after passing near this the bahamas r.t. spanish correspondent nicholas sanchez o'donovan has the latest from miami so nick let's what can you tell us. hi there well yes it is obviously a very volatile situation it's changed in by the minute and by the looks of it it's not a nice picture of miami in fact the mayor of miami dade has already instructed for

more than six hundred fifty thousand residents to flee their homes in advance of hurricane arrival here in the city and south florida carlos he minute has already expanded the county's evacuation order to include include not only zone a but also zone b. in parts of zone c. this includes all of miami beach important for the cheeriest as well to know this and flood prone areas and also beach communities but it also includes the downtown area of miami and the brickell area of miami this is a this is actually where the art of the state studio is here in miami it's a very centric area with high buildings and it's now included in that zone b. there is a mandatory evacuation the mayor says that he expanded the orders off to study in storm surge maps provided on thursday morning by the national here again center the

storm surge are called into experts could be unlike anything we have seen down here in florida with water even cover in homes so this is a very dramatic picture the experts about and out there officials say that miami dade county has already opened eight shelters and an additional four of them will open later today by the time all county shelters are operational they will be able to accommodate up to one hundred thousand people who have nowhere else to go that's they haven't evacuated on time or they simply don't want to go out of the city so they have these shelters to go to it in the meantime mandatory evacuation orders have also been issued for the florida keys obviously that's one of the most . vulnerable parts of the state and in other parts of florida residents of been stocking up on groceries obviously water and other essentials but water being one

of the supplies that is most in need down here in some supermarkets that we've seen that customers are only allowed to buy about four gallons of water we've all already seen as well how people resell it in this water. prices that are three and four times the value of the actual water so it is a tense situation down here certainly i bet it isn't nicklas many residents in this state have decided just to drive north and that's created another problem when it comes to the fuel is that right. well yes absolutely there's been shortages reported all over florida and rick scott the governor says the authorities scold him fuel tank has through traffic so that they can get to the gas stations as soon as possible but there's already police cars at gas stations away as well and tessa payton any problems that we could have shortages known people get in over excited or violent at gas stations because people are really in need of gas and scott also

urged residents to take only as match as much gas as they actually need so they not allowed to take extra gallons with them only to fail they tank and then they have to move. to somebody else so. you know what the bottom line is that we all sure that everyone who needs gas can actually get it the governor has also urged gas stations to remain open as long as it's possible for them to do so and to accommodate those trying to get out let's take a listen. to the governor rick scott said for gas stations an evacuation zone we need you to stay open as long as possible please stay open as long as possible so people get out we will range police escorts for your employees so they can get out safely. we need your gas stations to stay open as long as possible we know feels very important and we are absolutely every state resource to address you missed.

so that's a very clear message message by a governor rick scott who also said seven thousand national guard soldiers will be activated by friday to help you know basically with rescue and any other problems that we can encounter down here in florida he also urged floridians not to be complacent with and sorry to not to be complacent and to be prepared to move any moment let's take a listen regardless of what coast you live on be prepared to evacuate. floridians on the west coke's cannot be complacent this storm can still move west. we heard governor scott talking about it could still hit west it could still actually hit the sense of florida all the east coast we still don't know we have to wait at least of forty eight hours to know exactly where it's going to hit florida but unfortunately it is going to hit the state nicholas sanchez o'donovan reporting

from our miami studio thank you so much and please be safe. our t. photojournalist lauren why and boynton beach and nicholas abrams in orlando are bringing us the sights and sounds as those in florida prepare for hurricane arma some of them are boarding up and sheltering in place while others are fighting the traffic and feel shortages to get far away as they can. dangerous hurricane. winds are sitting at category take up anybody through matter how much. we don't know what to expect if we get a direct hit it's still the biggest storm i've ever seen. worried

about all of my property left. for our trip turned into nine ten. now are. you still going. to go out in the cars and started driving slept on the side of the road for a couple o.

hours and then made it this far right now. everybody saying category. just to be on the safe side i live next to a body of water and i live two miles away from the beach. i felt like it was safe safe and. well for more on the preparations underway in florida i spoke earlier to trap our own winds a presidents of hollywood florida i started by asking him about to where he was when it came to evacuating and if he made any special arrangements for his cats. i am making arrangements actually i am about a mile or so from the ocean and i have the mandatory evacuation so all along the coast we have to leave i don't want to but i am making preparations i haven't had the option of going to stay with friends in cooper city which is about eight to ten miles west of here orlando however we are considering possibly driving as far as

the panhandle as that will be out of the cone and what do you think about your state's reaction in regards to preparing for this storm do you think the devastation from hurricane harvey in texas is confident people that take things more seriously including governor rick scott. i think so i might as well say that i think the state has done a good job this time around the biggest problem i think is that people panic and know that even happened this time and they got on t.v. on the radio and told people relax do not panic there will be water there will be more gas and i went got water this morning i filled up last night there are tankers coming in lots of gasoline available when you don't panic things are there and you will get outta here. they've lifted as you mentioned earlier they lifted the tolls so the roads are wide open it's still congested but i think overall they've done a good job plus the thing is we are actually used to hurricanes things will be different in houston i don't think they are built for hurricanes the way we are

most of our homes you're either post. andrew code or we have the proper shutters impact glass we're just better prepared than most parts of the country on this kind of thing it's nice to hear that you have a good state of mind at the moment and on stuff certainly on social media i've seen video people lining up outside of the target to get the prize and i hear that gas is hard to come by so but it sounds like you're really prepared for the worst yeah yeah you know because there are apps that they're available to tell you who has gas in the desert i actually made phone calls yesterday i sat at home called a couple places one place had gasoline i drove there i was in line maybe ten fifteen minutes not a big deal so i just pick up the phone call ahead of time and you'll know what you know if what you need is available but there's really no need to panic at all and at hurricane arma is expected to hit the bahamas next and then florida as you know this weekend so how do you ever felt threatened like this by the weather there if

you think this is the worst that you've seen yet. the way you appears on television yes i moved down here in zero four so i was secure for katrina rita and wilma three in succession all within two and a half months and they were pretty heavy hitters this one looks to be very strong and we have not had a hurricane hit us since we've had some scares even last year was a scare with that we was matthew but it rode along the coast and never hit us this time of looks like a big one so you know better be prepared absolutely and what about the price gouging and we heard of it happening during hurricane harvey and now with have you witnessed the price gouging firsthand. and i have not i have heard of a few reports on the radio but i think they're taking you seriously as well there's a number to call if there is price gouging but everywhere i've gone prices have been the same maybe you pay a sliver more i get and you know that i don't consider that but the actual gouging

not much not right now where i am anyway people have been very respectful of each other and they understand it's an emergency situation in the been very good about that well it's wonderful to hear that you're very calm i'm sure you're giving a lot of hope to many people thank you so much chaperone transmit images of hollywood for a place they say thank you. earlier we spoke to accu weather hurricane expert. and this is what he had to say about the path of irma and how it compares to hurricane andrew and we also talked about the path of another hurricane jose currently forming and the atlantic this is actually a somewhat comparable to hurricane andrew and in fact that sets a large hurricane but in this case this one has been a category five hurricane for over almost over two days now and so as a result it's got a lot of wind and rain with that more so than even andrew had so it's a much longer lasting hurricanes or one or the other this way it takes much longer

for them to weaken so no doubt that even if this were to weaken a little bit it's still going to be a very powerful hurricane and so it'll still be a very powerful major hurricane what it does come into southern florida on sunday. jose right now has a has winds right now just under category two status right now and here's a satellite image of jose right through here and it is actually going to take a path very close unfortunately to the leeward islands fact the latest computer models have it almost coming almost right on top or very close to antigua and barbuda which got hit very severely with with irma so this is going to impact the leeward islands on saturday and that's going to turn north word and then it may stall to the north of puerto rico and maybe north of hispan yola during early next week when of when a hurricane stalls that we saw this with harvey when

a hurricane stalls predicted or it's going to go sometimes it's very very difficult so we'll have to keep an eye on this. and despite hurricane irma's gradual approach space x. has again successfully launched a falcon nine rocket with the us air force's x. thirty seven b. space plane in tow well this is the thirteenth mission of the year for the aerospace manufacturer and the fifth for the air force's x. thirty seven b. space plane the mission is to measure on orbits and long duration thermal performance for the ration and flight plan of the payload remains a secret the military is hoping that this is one step closer for a new space technologies and in the wake of hurricane harvey some landlords are forcing tenets to pay rants on foot of property or face possible eviction last according to a report by the guardian one pasadena texas resident says we are paying rent for somewhere we can't live in what are we supposed to do we don't have any money we don't have anything while another tenant says her landlord took her to court to

effect her shortly after the hurricane struck however under texas property code both the tenant or landlord can legally term it a lease if the property is deemed habitable due to a natural disaster houston ordinances also allow owners to charge rent or late fees if the living area is partially usable and on tuesday the syrian army reached the still controlled city of deer as zoar were they broke a three year long siege r.t. spoke exclusively with the governor of the city. all of our people whether they're heroes or the syrian. defending their zone or all societies elders and young people all of them have been waiting for this moment when the troops on september fifth they speak of victory was achieved on the way to there is a very fierce clashes between us but despite all the clashes and the explosive

response of the syrian troops it's not blitz right these enemy forces and it was a moment of triumph let me tell you about see. the factories and the students that's on the understanding it's believed to be the longest siege in history the city was suffering from darkness there was no electricity no diesel no gas there was a shortage of health casto very three surgeons and a couple. sick people out of the resort for treatment israeli airplanes struck a military facility in western syria earlier today two soldiers were killed and buildings were damaged the air raid targeted a facility of scientific studies and research center united states claims the center has chemical weapons the airstrike came a day after year when investigators found the syrian government responsible for a chemical attack in april that killed more than eighty three people. and russia's

foreign ministry has slammed the searches of its diplomatic presence presence in the u.s. as only. a train go has the story you read through the russian foreign ministry spokeswoman says latest extensive comments on the issue and you realize that the russian officials are more than disappointed in fact i guess disappointed is not the white word here they are purely outraged by what they call attempts to. raid the russian diplomatic premises in the u.s. just to remind you last week the u.s. state department ordered shutdown of the russian called so in san francisco also to mission addicks is in washington and new york here's more from marie is a harvest latest statement that. what the u.s. state department calls inspections are in fact the legal seizure of russian diplomatic premises including searches from basement attics would like to emphasize

the buildings that are the property of all government were not just sealed but seized plainclothes american officials are in the building and armed policemen are guarding the primitivists this raises the question does washington consider us to have the same right to inspect the buildings of the u.s. diplomatic and consular missions in russia in the meantime at the eastern economic forum end of lot of austar the russian president said there are serious issues with this diplomatic war that he thinks russia and the u.s. can still keep up the trade and economic ties and as an example he gave excellent mobile the all giant which is rex tillerson his previous job but you smarter. despite all our current diplomatic differences we continue to have contacts with american firms including vast energy companies such as exxon mobil's america which rex tillerson used to head up just gave to listen to metal ones when you go but he

seems to have ended up in a bad company and is headed in the wrong direction but i hope that the cooperation and friendship will lead him back on the right path. so according to a lot of our approach there are still many areas where the two countries have worked together and will work together no matter what space exploration and he hopes that some people in washington who are watching president couldn't call particularly wise won't spoil things next time when you don't want to do it you we're ready to cooperate with us majority and you know it was from american agencies intervening back to the diplomatic scandal you was state department official household washington journalists that american officials did not break down doors or conduct searches diplomatic premises of russia and the u.s. but will remember that the president vladimir putin has promised to sue washington over this so we are bound to hear more on this story very soon. and the situation

in north korea has reminded many of the forgotten times of nuclear drills and followed shelters meanwhile thousands of them remain scattered throughout new york city even today trying to chavez has more there are thousands of fallout shelters scattered throughout new york city as you can tell by this map behind me there are even multiple shelters on some streets now with tensions rising between north korea and the u.s. many are questioning if they are still active so we took to the streets to find out for ourselves originally created in the mid one thousand nine hundred ten the wake of the cold war these underground bases were created to protect people from a nuclear fallout thousands of them were built in new york city after governor nelson rockefeller called for a massive shelter program in the one nine hundred sixty s. a quick with survival kits that had food and medicine in them the fallout shelters were built in schools churches office and apartment buildings some were even built in high profile places like the waldorf astoria and grand central terminal there

was even a shelter discovered in the brooklyn bridge in two thousand and six at one time new york city had over. seventeen thousand active shelters but we've found the shelters that were once constructed to protect blast survivors from nuclear fallout are now inactive they've been turned into storage or laundry rooms eliot calhoun from the new york city emergency management offices the agency that sponsored the fallout shelter program so the shelters haven't been active in decades so most folks when they think about a nuclear explosion or something like that think about where they need to go shelter in the person that pops in their mind or the fallout shelter signs there you see sprinkled across many buildings around new york city that program has some some cited and i was really focused more on the cold war threat while some building owners and landlords have removed a block in yellow fallout shelter signs thousands still linger throughout the city meanwhile in the case of a nuclear attack experts say that it's safer to do a shelter in place instead of evacuate the best thing you can do is to go to go to

the center of the building you're already in or the basement putting as many walls between you and the outside which is where the dangerous material redraft of material or fallout may settle. and by doing so you can protect yourself to the greatest extent if you go outside you may unknowingly enter an area that is very hazardous so the best thing you can do is go to the basement the protective factor of your basement would be no different than a protective factor of many of the shelters that are predestinated shelters back in the sold office civil defense office program the fallout shelter signs are all that remain of the government's widespread effort to protect millions from the nuclear fallout but whether the underground basements what actually saved lives remains a historical debate reporting in new york trinity chavez art. well coffee labels may soon carry cancer warnings a california lawsuit alleges major retailers including starbucks and whole foods are in violation of proposition sixty five the state law requires local businesses

to warn customers when they have been exposed to certain toxins through clear labeling one of these chemicals is a byproduct. roasting coffee beans if you people are aware of it's the facts are too pretty to santoso has more from los angeles carcinogens are everywhere but in california businesses are legally required to warn patrons when they have been exposed to cancer causing chemicals a comprehensive list has been published under the safe drinking water and toxic enforcement act of one thousand nine hundred eighty six better known as proposition sixty five the list includes acrylic a byproduct of roasting poppy being at high heat which has been known to cause developmental and reproductive toxicity state coffee retailers are supposed to clearly label any products containing acrylic however a lawsuit filed by the council for education and research on toxics alleges that at least seventy companies including starbucks whole foods trader joe's and costco

have failed to do so that when the lawsuit was first filed in two thousand and ten starbucks lost its defense claiming that levels of the toxin were low enough not to cause negative health effects now these companies are appealing in a new round of hearings arguing that there's an acceptable alternative risk level but even a lifetime of coffee consumption will not add up to recently the world health organization reversed its previous warnings stating that coffee poses a cancer risk instead the world health organization now says drinking very hot drinks are probably a personal journey still many people say they have a right to know what they are ingesting but the result of proposition sixty five warning labels are now everywhere from parking garages to laundry rooms and soon they could also be on coffee in los angeles proceed to santos. and before we go be sure to tune in starting tomorrow to get a different perspective on the world former governor

a film star progress or navy seal and now best selling author jesse ventura host the world according to jess you friday nights at seven thirty eastern time. i'm right here on our team america and that is it for now for more on the stories we've covered head to youtube dot com slash r.t. america and check out our website ark about this last america and a quick reminder our teeth can now be found on direct t.v. channels three twenty one also three two one an easier way to remember and you can follow me on twitter at natasha's sweets question more. the future we don't. know the world to your ear. so you can get it on the old the old. the old according.

for the raw. chicken. the southern poverty law center as p.l.c. is a supposedly charitable organization that fights hate and bigotry using litigation education and other forms of advocate the according to their website but according to a new investigation by the washington free beacon it also pays its top directors six figure salaries and funnels millions of dollars into shady offshore accounts in their investigation the free beacon looked at a bunch of the s.p.l. these financial forms and found that they had accumulated three hundred twenty eight million dollars in net assets in two thousand and fifteen which was the most

recent tax form they found for the nonprofit and those same financial forms showed that the s.p.l. see had business interests in the cayman islands the british virgin islands and bermuda in other words the nonprofit was funneling money offshore where it can't be subjected to all the same laws it would be here the free beacon studied a few years of the s.p.l. season financial forms and found many instances of the nonprofit transferring millions of dollars offshore for instance on march first of twenty fifteen they sent a whopping two point two million dollars to an entity that is incorporated in the cayman islands and run by a firm based in greenwich connecticut on that exact same day they transferred to another two point two million dollars in cash to another business entity with the exact same address as the first in other words they transferred four point four million dollars in cash in one day to the cayman islands they also give their top

executives huge salaries according to free beacon's investigation they've found the best deals the paid there's the. almost three hundred fifty thousand dollars and twenty fifteen and their chief trial counsel got just about the same the minimum base salary for a key employee that year was one hundred forty thousand dollars and that doesn't include a bunch of other ways they were compensated financially altogether the s.p.l. z. spent twenty million dollars on salaries alone in that same year they transferred that four point four million are short of the cayman islands this is how the profit is fighting a hate list that i am all for fighting hate and i love helping people out but these big nonprofits are a joke they're just another way for people to make money off the hate circuit if you really want to fight hate starting in your own neighborhood by being nice to the people you meet face to face that's it just start the.