rob reynolds, al jazeera, riverside, california. >> coming up, paying the price. the nation's largest auto maker slapped with a fine for faulty ignition switches, plus... >> that's go to be expensive. >> a thousand dollars. >> 4,000. >> a catastrophic twister causing one tiny town millio$1 f dollars. why is fema refusing to pick up the tab? >>> general motors is going charged millions of dollars in fines for waiting to recall cars with faulty ignition switches. federal regulators slapped a '$5 million fine, the maximum. critics believe is that doesn't go enough. is. >> what we cannot to wait, what we will never accept is a person or company that knows danger exits and says nothing. asigh. >> sigh rents can kill. >> co battle and other cars, the problem with shut-off engines and disabled airbags, power steering and breaks is listed to 13 deaths and 32 crashes. executives received detailed briefings about this safety-related defect. engineers knew about it. gm investigators knew about it. gm lawyers knew about the defect but gm did not act to product americans from

rob reynolds reports. >> a wall of flame leaps high into the aranda bluz arrested of sparks spins as scientists probe the secrets of what one of humanities oldest toolses and it's immem memorial enemy: fire. this is the u.s. forest services state-of-the high art fire research lab in riverside, california where a university of california scientists and their students are busy gathering fire data. >> marco prinsecash overseas it. >> we are trying to help firefighters to plan. so for that, we have a controlled fire under controls conditioned and we are looking how fires spreads, how fast it spreads and we are hoping that that information will eventually bea of use to fire fighters. >> sensors in the fire record millions of data points for analysis. slower wind speeds make smaller fireses. in this experiment they didn't reach the upper canopy of vegtable. higher wind speeds create mini infernos. by the time the experiments are finished, the laptops researchers used are covered in ash big wildfires are on the increase across the western u.s., scientists say, in part because of dryer condi

farmers fight a devastating coffee disease and coffee rust caused $1 billion of damage and as rob reynoldsffee shops in the u.s. are also feeling the effects. >> reporter: supplies of coffee are threatened and the price of a gourmet cup may be on the rise as a coffee-killing fungus sweeps through the farms of central america. the disease called coffee rust has been spreading for three years. >> it's really quite devastating and looking at over a billion dollars in economic impact and these are small farmer whose are living at the edge of poverty anyway and devastating for the income. >> reporter: there was a $5 million with the university and hope to develop fungus resistant coffee trees and they specialize in roasting small batches of the finest coffees available and much from central america. owner mark wayne says the small scale coffee growers who he gets his beans are worried and so is he. >> i look at us in the coffee industry are stewards that the farmers produce. and when something like this threatens to devastate them it devastates all of us. >> reporter: the coffee shop in trendy

. >> rob reynolds al jazeera, california. >> and that's it for us here on america tonight, good nightwe will have more of america tonight coming up tomorrow. >> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america >>> a new boss takes the wheel from the ceo who made ford. i'll tell you what he needs to do on the road ahead. also i'm going underground in tornado ally with a building who is cranking out twister-proof houses. plus the dirty little secret about college admissions. "real money." ♪

. >> i'm rob reynolds in riverside where scientists are going experiments that could help save the lives of people that fight wild fires. >>> turning office face into artwork - the boom that is taking over hong kong. dirty hands. artwork - the boom that is vé >>> good morning. welcome back to al jazeera america live from new york. i'm morgan radford. tension between china and vietnam sending chinese nationals packing. first a look at temperatures we can expect to see across the country. we will see welcome changes for everyone across the country. >> looking forward to it. >> a warm up in store across the country. we've been dealing with cool air. it's cooler than average. it's been dipping in here in parts of the west. we'll see it shifting further eastward. a ridge building in here. we'll get a southerly flow. we'll have oranges and reds showing up indicating the temperatures will climb into the 70s to 80 degrees. what we are seeing here mimicking what we see on the jet stream with the ridge across the west. waking up to clear skies. right now as you step outside, it's 43 degrees. 45 in

rob reynolds, al jazeera, riverside, california. >> time for sport now.ere is andy. >> reporter: thank you so much. atletico madrid have won the smash league for thspanish leagt time since 1996. they faced barcelona in the last match of the season. richard parr reports. >> once again atletico madrid are champions of spain. the game started on a bad note for atletico. the striker was forced to leave the final and the world cup. barcelona will hope to win the title and dedicate the win to their coach who died of cancer last month. atletico could have won the league last week they responded early, and then they equalized. no team has scored more goals than atletico this season. barcelona pushed for a winner. messi thought he scored it, but it was ruled off side. the celebrations can't last too long as they have to get their minds on next week. >> beating hull in the english fa cup. ramsey winning in extra time. hull looked to be on cores to win their first trophy in history. but arsenal hitting back with goals took the game into extra time and then arsenal h

. >> rob reynolds al jazeera, california. >> and that's it for us here on america tonight, good nighte will have more of america tonight coming up tomorrow. >> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america ... >>> does a man who was burglarized twice have the right to set a trap for thieves and took -- kill someone who took the bait? shocking footage from ukraine as the pro-russian forces boil over. >> mass kidnapping of girls in africa. one of the world's foremost

. >> rob reynolds al jazeera, california. >> and that's it for us here on america tonight, good nightwe will have more of america tonight coming up tomorrow. >> weekday mornings on al jazeera america >> start your day with in depth coverage from across the country and around the world. >> the future looks uncertain... >> real news keeping you up to date. >> an informed look on the night's events, a smarter start to your day. mornings on al jazeera america >>> does a man who was burglarized twice have the right to set a trap for thieves and took -- kill someone who took the bait? shocking footage from ukraine as over. >> mass kidnapping of girls in africa. one of the world's foremost daredev daredevils. >>> welcome to "consider this" here is more on what's ahead. ♪.

aljazeera's rob reynolds has the story from los angeles. >> reporter: supplies of connoisseur grade coffee are threatened, and the price of the gourmet cup may be on the rise as a coffee killing fungus sweeps through the farms of central america. the disease, coffee rust, has been spreading for three years. >> it's really quite devastating. worry looking at $1 billion in economic impact, and these are small farmers living at the edge of poverty. >> researchers at a texas university, the crop scientists hope to develop fungus resistent coffee trees. they roast the small batches of the finest coffees available. much of them from central america. owner, mark wayne, says that the small scale growers from whom he gets his beans are deeply worried and so is he. >> i look at us in the coffee industry are stewards of the product that the farmers produce, and you know, when something like this devastates them, it devastates all of us. >> as lux's coffee shop, prices are edging up. it's not so much here in the u.s. as it is for the spread of social instability and drug trafficking in central america

rob reynolds explains. >> reporter: a wall of flame leaps into the air and sparks twirl and spin.cientists probe the secret of one of humanity's oldest tools and immemorial enemy - fire. this is the u.s. forest services state of the art fire research lad in riverside california. where university of california's scientists and their students are busy gathering fire data. marco oversees the research. >> we are trying to help firefighters to better plan the burn, or to fight wildfires. for that we have a controlled fire under controlled conditions, and we are looking how firespreads, what are the influences the fire spread, how was, and we are hoping that that information will be of use to firefighters. >> sensors in the fire record millions of data points for analysis. slower wind speeds make smaller fire. in this experiment the flames didn't reach the upper canopy of vegetation. higher wind speed creates ipp fernos. by the time it has finished the laptops researchers use are covered in ash. wild fires are on the increase across the western u.s., in part because of drier conditions

rob reynolds spoke to a struggling worker in los angeles. >> reporter: this woman is getting ready forer shift at mcdonald's. she's 27 with two young children, five and seven. she worked at the same restaurant for nine years. in that time her pay has gone from $7 an hour to $9 - a $2 raise over a decade. she brings home about $12,000 a year, $10,000 below the u.s. poverty rate for a family of four. >> it's hard. really hard for us. sometimes you don't have the money. sometimes i try to give them a lot of things, but that's hard. >> this week she will take part in a one day global fast food workers strike, demanding better wages. >> we are going to fight for a better life. we want some change. so they can know that without us, they are nothing. >> in the late 1960s when the cheerful ads appeared on television, fast food workers were paid $1.60 - the peak value of minimum wage in real terms. since then low wage workers lost as the minimum wage erode the. many say employers adjust working hours to prevent them making money from overtime. >> you never make overtime. they fix your hours so

and rob reynolds is in l.a. for details. >> the reported sale of the l.a.ers to the former c.e. o of microsoft for $2 billion brings to add end a month-long story which can only be described as taudry, it involved the 80-year-old owner of the clippers, donald sterling, who was in a conflict with his mistress and having been recorded by that mistress making racist comments. she then released the racist comments on audio tape to the world at large. there was a very swift reaction from the national basketball association banning sterling for life from the game and making strenuous efforts to force him to sell the team. sterling gave conflicting signals saying at one point he would sue to retain ownership of the clippers. another point saying he was trying to sell. but now it appears the clippers will be sold to this record price. by the way, the last, most highest price for a national basketball association team was paid in april when the milwaukee bucks went for $550 million and this is a record at $2 billion. the deal was negotiated by the coowner, donald st

problem and they cannot say if el nino will be a big one or a small weather event this year and rob reynoldshe story. >> reporter: as california continues to bake in a record-breaking drought, the farmers and growers who produce nearly half of the u.s.'s fruits and vegetables are anxiously scanning the skies for any sign of rain. >> everyday, almost every hour, every minute, i continually am always looking up in the sky and i want to see what the clouds are doing. i'm always looking to see what the trees are doing with regards to wind like we have today. >> soon california could get more rain than they bargained for and scientists say there is 70% chance of a major wet weather phenomenon hittel the western u.s. later this year and it's called el nino and he studies dynamics at the south of california. >> it's pointing to an el nino event and it's a matter of how big it's going to be. it could be a moderate one or it could be a very strong one. but of course if it rains too much then floods can be a bad thing and land slides are a bad thing and it can lead to loss of lives and destruction of

as this wildfire crisis begins to wind down, al jazeera's rob reynolds spoke to some researchers whore already preparing for the next one. >> reporter: a wall of flame leaps high into the aranda blizzard of sparks whirl and spin as scientists probe the secrets of one of humanity's oldest tools and it's immemorial enemy: fire. this is the u.s. forest services state-of-the-art fire research lab in riverside, california. where university of california scientists and their students are busy gathering fire data. marko princ i have a ch overseases the research >>> we are trying to help fire fighters to better plan, prescribe and to fight wildfires. so for that, we have a controlled fire under controlled conditions and we are looking how fire spreads. what are the things that influence fire and how fast it spreads and we are hoping that information will eventually be of use to fire fighters glenn sendsors. thrower swindspeed make smaller fire. in this experiment, the flames didn't reach the upper canopy of vegetation. higher wind speed settings create many infernos. by the time the experime