License, defying a federal judges order. This is Al Jazeera America live from new york city. I im stephanie sy. At least 50 people are dead after a massive explosion in china. It is one of chinas largest ports. Officials say the death toll is likely to rise as the search for survivors is temporarily paused. They are concerned about toxic chemicals leaking onsite. 36 more firefighters are missing, and 700 people are injured, dozens critically. Adrian brown has the it willest. Reporter this is very close to the epicenter of wednesday nights detonation. People we have spoken to say what happened was like an earthquake, and in fact everywhere you look you feel as though you are looking at the aftermath of an earthquake. The shock wave had a radius of several kilometers, and wherever you look, you see trashed cars, their windows smashed out. Some vehicles have been completely crushed. A lot of the damage was caused by shipping containers which were turned into missiles. Hundreds are being treated in local hospitals, many treated for injuries caused by flying glass and of course concrete. Several hundred firemen are still trying to bring the blaze under control. Its taking place over here in the distance, where you can see that jumble of containers and the smoke billowing in the background. The authorities insist what happened here was an industrial accident, but the president is watching things closely indeed. He is urging the authorities to bring the fire under control as soon as possible and to ensure that everyone living nearby is safe and that their loahomes ar protected. The incident is bound to impact beijings any, considering the importance of the port where it happened. Cargo is damaged, ships are unable to dock, and most operations are on hold. As we mentioned it is a Major Chinese port and one of the worlds largest. The area is the sea gate for the city of more than 11 million people, and connects china to asia and the west. And the main company that manages the port has assets of around 16 billion. China is also dealing with financial turmoil this morning for the third day in a row the countrys central bank, lowered its guiding rate for the currency. In a move to smooth the Global Markets the bank said theres no reason for the currency to fall further, but fears of a currency war with the u. S. Remains. Colorado, new mexico, and utah are promising to get compensation for businesses and drenthzs hurt by a toxic mine spill. The states and the Navajo Nation have all declared states of emergency, and the Navajo Nation now says it will sue the epa over the spill. The head of the epa is headed to new mexico today. While its no longer visible, because its being dispersed, were taking the necessary tests and taking a look at wildlife, fish, all of the kind of work that we need to do, and responding to folks for Drinking Water and cattle water and those kinds of things, but i cannot give you exact dates on when things will happen, because again, were going to let the testing and the science drove those decisions. Reporter the epa is considering naming the area a superfund site to make it eligible for more federal funding. It has stopped much of the cleanup work it does at thois of abandoned mines in the region, unless the risk is imnext. At least 3 million gallons have flooded the rivers for more than a week. The spill is still flowing. And experts warn of heavy metal settling into the riverbed. Reporter the blowout is near silverton, colorado, a town built by mining. Hundreds of old abandoned shafts are cut into the hillsides. We pass them as we drive the dirt roads farther into the high country. Theres no Public Access to the site itself. We take a rocky onelane detour around the road closure. A steep switch back climb, colored by the min walls in the ground all around us, where the road ends where all of the trouble started. Finally we get a chance to see ground zero, this is the entrance to the Gold King Mine that blew out last wednesday. It was a mine entrance dammed by a landslide. The ugly answer, at least 300 gallons burst out of the mountain and flooded into the animus and san juan rivers. The epa has built new detention ponds. Agency administrator, gina mccarthy, visited nearby durango wednesday afternoon. I just came from a briefing on the status of the cleanup, and the status of the monitoring of the plume. I am excited that they are fully operational, and they have been fully operational, and we are working this issue very hard. Reporter we came to the accident site with a member of the local incident management team, and several congressional staffers getting their first look. Also an engineer with 40 years in mining, who doesnt think what happened here should signal an end to the industry in these mountains. What are the opportunities for more mines . They are good. You know. We can comply with those rules even todays market and metal prices. It can work. Reporter we could see mining grow here. Yes, some of us are working on trying to start that again. Reporter but any chance of future mining could disappear if this area is designated as a toxic superfund cleanup site, something many downstream would like to see. In that designation could bring additional federal cleanup money. But it is a contentious issue here and has been for decades. This is where the flow initially came down. Reporter our guide represents the city and San Juan County as a spokesman. Those fundings from the National Priority list may come quickly, or may take decades and if the stigma of superfund site is on the Community Without true cleanup, it could be really devastating to the people that live here. Reporter this now infamous hole in the ground isnt gushing anymore, but nearby mines are gushing at hundreds of gallons a minute. And any cleanup here will be just a small win in a much bigger battle stretching into the future. A count think clerk in kentucky is defying a federal judges order to issue marriage licenses to samesex couples. The two were turned away my the Clerks Office this morning. So was another couple. Davis says issuing licenses is against her religious beliefs, despite a Supreme Court ruling in june that bans on gay marriage are unconstitutional. April miller and Karen Roberts join us now. They are plaintiffs in the aclu rowen county lawsuit. Thank you for being with us. Have you tried recently again to apply for a license with the county clerk in rowen county . We spoke with our Legal Counsel this morning, and we are planning to go this morning around 11 30 to 12 00 to attempt another marriage license. And what do you think will happen . She is going to deny it. So why would you go and even bother . Its important to us. We want to get married, and it is important. Its important for all of the citizens of this county. Now, kim davis, as you both know has said that she is a christian. She believes that issuing you and other gay couples marriage licenses violates her own rights to religious freedom. What do you say to her . We respect her religious beliefs, and we also understand that her religious beliefs do not overturn our civil liberties, our civil right to get married, and right now, her religion is impeding on us. How long have you both waited to get married . Of course it was at the end of june that the Supreme Court made that landmark decision that said that states cannot ban they cannot bangay marriage, and yet there are legal battles in many states and it is far from being reality for many couples like you. Right. Yes. We have lived together as a family for 11 years, and we have been waiting. We started talking about getting married in 2008, so and i imagine in june when the scotus decision came down, you were celebrating. Did you think there would be an easy path from there on in for you to be able to get married . Definitely. We thought we would go down to the courthouse and get a marriage license whenever we wanted, and now that has quickly stopped. Why not just go to a neighboring county where neighbor the clerk is issuing samesex marriage licenses and get it from there . Rowen county is where we pay our taxes. Its our home. Its where our daughter went to school. Its where we work. Where we live, most importantly. And we want our marriage license from the county that we live in. Its important to us. If if this clerk denies us, and we go to the next county, and they deny us, and we go to the next clerk, understand the problem . Up to 60 clerks in the state of kentucky have have stated that they have religious beliefs that marriage is only one man and one woman. April miller, and Karen Roberts, joining us via skype from rowen from morehead, kentucky this morning. Thank you both for your time. Thank you, stephanie. Thank you. Former president jimmy carter has revealed he has cancer that has spread from his liver to other parts of his body. Doctors discovered the cancer after carter had liver surgery this month. He is 90, and he says he plans to receive treatment at emery healthcare in atlanta. In a former statement the white wished president carter a fast and full recovery. Three people are hurt after a ceiling collapsed during a concert in minneapolis last night. The canadian rock band were playing when the accident happened. More than 700 were inside the venue, made famous by princes movie purple rain. Its not yet known what caused the collapse. Breaking down the iran nuclear deal. Well look at the major issues and controversies and hear from both sides. Inside story takes you beyond the headlines, beyond the quick cuts, beyond the sound bites. Were giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is. Ray suarez hosts inside story. Only on Al Jazeera America. Welcome to back to Al Jazeera America. Nine more buildings in new york city have tested positive for the bacteria that causes legionnaires disease, six of them are outside the impact zone. Officials say the six new sites are not necessarily connected to the outbreak. Firefighters in Northern California are now fighting two major fires. The jerusalem fire has grown to 20,500 achors, burning up brush just south of the rocky fire. And three more women have come forward with allegations against bill cosby. They all claim the comedian assaulted them. The Los Angeles Police department is currently investigating cosby. He is set to be deposed in a separate lawsuit in october. Isil is claiming responsibility for one of the worst attacks in years in baghdad. A truck packed with explosives designated at a crowded market this morning. The suicide becoming was in a predominantly shia neighborhood in iraq. Mohammed jamjoom has more. Reporter it really underscores how tenuous the security situation remains not just throughout the country, but also in the capitol. One thing i would like to clarify for our viewers. There has been confusion on how exactly this attack happened this morning. We had been sold that it was a suicide bomber who drove into the crowd this morning, and now were told it was a parked crowd, that the bomb went off in the truck as crowds were gathering at a popular and crowded Vegetable Market in a densely populated neighborhood, which is one of the most densely populated shia neighborhoods in the city. This according to all accounts a horrific attack. And it really does go to show just how much of a fight Iraqi Security forces have on their hands when it comes to battling isil. Which more and more seems to be targeting shia dominated areas. Just two days ago there were two shiadominated neighborhoods that were targeted in which dozens were killed and wounded by car bombs. Today were hearing from government officials, min try of defense officials that the second phase of the anbar offensive has launched, a phase in which the Defense Forces here claim that they will stop supply lines that isil fighters used to get weapons into the country. But fact of the matter is, you speak to people here in iraq, most of them dont believe it. They believe that it isnt going well for the iraqi government. One more thing to note, also we got disturbing news out of fallujah. Thats another front in the battle against isil in anbar province. Were told by medics because of Government Air raids that 23 civilians were killed and most of the victims were women and children. So all across this country you see devastation at large. You see a fight that seems to be nonending. Citizens very concerned about their safety and security, at a time when so many are coming out in the streeting protesting against the government. Alqaeda pledged alee gan to the new head of the afghan taliban. Its meant to show support of the disputed taliban head. The alqaeda chief is believed to be hiding in the afghanistanpakistan border. In just over one month, congress will vote on whether to approve or reject the iran nuclear deal. Opponents are pours tens of millions of dollars into attacking the agreement, while supporters have spent substantially less. Reporter groups on both sides are trying to get members of congress into their corner. One is called veterans against the deal. They are spending millions of dollars to run ads like this one. He says a deal will lead to more violence. A vote for this deal means more money for iranian terrorism. What do you think they are going to do when they get more money. Call your senator. Tell them no deal with iran. If you dont call, who will . Reporter a group of former u. S. Admirals and generals are asking congress to vote in favor of the agreement. They wrote an open letter describing the deal as the most effective means of presenting iran from getting Nuclear Weapons. Without it, say they, iran could have a Nuclear Weapon within a year. Congress has until med september to vote on the deal. House republicans say they have enough votes to vote down the deal and override a veto. Senators who support the deal include bernie sanders, angus king, and new york democrat, Christian Gill brand. Oppoening the deal include schumer, and ted cruz, lindsey graham, rand paul, and marco rubio. Many senators and representatives still havent decided how they will vote, but they will certainly face a lot of pressure from supporters and opponents of the deal. Earlier we talked with im on both sides of the deal. Patrick with the Washington Institute where near east policy has concerns about the deal. When you spend years negotiating this deal, and you finally compromise and come to a deal, now its going to fall apart if its not ratified by congress, the sanctions fall apart, and you get a much worse situation than we had beforehand. The deal lifts the embargo on iran importing and exporting weapons and ballistic missiles, was that too great of a concession for the u. S. To make. Absolutely not. There were some side deals on that, but ultimately the aim was to not let iran get a Nuclear Weapon, and thats what this does, at least for 10 to 15 years and i think much further beyond. If the administration were to articulate a good strategy for what to do with the years of that this deal might buy us, then this might be a good deal, but the administration isnt telling us, what is it going to do with this extra time . Right now iran is supporting sending in troops to help assad kill 200,000 civilians in syria. What is the administrations plan for stopping that kind of destabilizing activity by iran. Right. So this deals intent was to make sure that the path to iran obtaining a Nuclear Weapon were cut off at least for the next 10 or 15 years. Do you know enough about this deal to know whether you would support it on those grounds . Is it a good idea to cut them off for only ten or 15 years. What is going to change in the next 10 o 15 years . That makes a big difference. Plus there are a lot of details of how the deal is going to be implemented that we have asked the administration to make clear. In the text its just not that clear whether or not there will be the tough procedures needed to make this work. Off Duty Police Officers asked to photograph the citys homeless. How the Police Unions political tactics may backfire. Were here to fully get into the nuances of everything thats two california teenagers face prison sentences after 28 pounds of heroin made it across the border from mexico by drone. This is the first u. S. Drug seizure along the border involving a drone. The two men pleaded guilty to using the device to smuggle drugs. A new York City Police officer union is urging officers to take photos of Homeless People and post the pictures online. Officers say they hope to shine a spot lighted on a growing problem. But critics say the homeless are just pawns in a political power struggle. Reporter a woman cradles a child on a piece of cardboard a man curls up along a subway platform. A man passed out on the steps of a building. They are among the thousands of homeless in new york city. And their faces and pictures are being posted online by police officers. One of the unions representing the nypd calls this flicker account, peek a boo. The union says city hall has failed the city in tackling the homeless population, and politicians are spending their time attacking police officers. So the union has asked members when they are off duty to photograph the homeless. But who do these pictures shame . The people you see, or the officers who take them . This all comes a week after the mayor introduced a 22 million proposal to deal with homelessness called nyc safe. The money would be used to house and treat those with mental illness, and put more police near homeless shelters. According to the coalition for the homeless, over the last ten years the number of people sleeping in new york city shelters rose steadily, reaching 60,000 earlier this year. The city says the number actually living on the streets is about 3,000. For many these pictures do nothing to solve the problem. A spectacular meteor shower lighting up the sky this morning. Check out these images. If you didnt see it last night, theres still time. The next peak is expected overnight into early tomorrow morning. Thank for watching, im stephanie sy. The news continues next lye from doha. Have a great morning. Announcer this is al jazeera. Hello and welcome to the al jazeera news hour, live from our headquarters in doha. Im martine dennis. Coming up in the program, a car bomb explodes in baghdad. 50 are killed 200 are injured. Massive explosions in the chinese port. Four egyptian policemen are jailed over