opponents say they have the votes in congress to keep the deal alive. >> good morning, i'm randall pinkston. wildfires in the west are pushing fire crews to the limit. now washington state is asking for volunteers to pitch in for the first time ever. nearly 29,000 firefighters are battling fires across six states. international assistance is also on the way from australia and new zealand. those countries are sending fire managers and specialists to help battle the flames. thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes as the fires approach. we now know the names of the three firefighters who died in washington. the forest service identifies them. they died after the fire took their vehicle near the state line. >> these were three big heroes protecting small towns. there were 390,000-acres burning. last year was bad with 250,000 acres and we thank everyone who are doing everything they can to make sure the evergreen state does not become an ever fire state. >> let's get to kevin. these fires are impacting a much bigger area than just where the fires are occurring. >> we are looking at the smoke moving. take a quick look at the satellite. you can see clouds moving eastward. smoke causing problems in terms of respiratory issues is making its way towards east. this is where we have orange air quality alerts. that means if you have asthma, emphysema, very, very bad situation. we are talking about washington towards parts of montana then down. we expect that to push more towards the east as we go towards the weekend, but the red flag warnings have expanded since the middle of the week. take a look at this area. this is where critical fire areas are likely, wyoming, parts of utah, as well. we are going to see very low humidity and gusty winds across this particular area. there is one thing that is helping, and that's the temperatures across the north. spokane is 76. earlier this week, we were seeing about 80-85 degrees, so that was a major issue in that particular area, so we are going to be watching this careful live the next four days. >> we have the first hurricane of the season to deal with, danny? >> that's right. this is a small hurricane but will impact the caribbean. if you look here, you can see that little small area, but this is going to bring some very much-needed rain towards the crib even. we expect it to drop down to a tropical storm as it makes its way towards the west. for this location, we are going to see areas st. croix, puerto rico being affected. we have drought relief coming into play across the northern parts of the care bean, with you second be seeing flash flooding. haiti does not take rain of this nature very well. we're going to see big problems there, by the time we get to the middle week. >> landslides, et cetera. thank you. >> it is a down day for stocks in asia after sharp losses on wall street, the dow lost 2% on thursday. theness back plunged. it could be another rough day for u.s. markets. john henry smith with the details. john, there have to be very nervous investors this morning. >> i'm one of them. that's why they say don't read your 401k. statement. just let it go. you may hear there's a pending interest rate hike by the fed. the dow is now at its lowest point all year. the s and p. and nasdaq fell 2%. stock marketsen germee, france and china were down sharply, as well. in this world we live in, it's all connected. so we also know there are big economic problems in china. what's the factor there? >> in recent years, we've come to see china as this unstoppable juggernaut of an economy that keeps going and going, but growth has slowed. that causes concerns that growth throwdown in china and europe could be a drag on the u.s. economy, as well. >> normally, the oil prices are good news, but is it good news? >> it's very connected. investors believe that the slowing economies will require less oil. that's driving prices lower here, too. oil briefly traded under $41 a barrel. that's the first time that happened by 2009. it did rebound to close slightly above. >> there has to be a silver lining here? >> again, it's all about perspective. for motorists, it's transferring to lower energy costs. triple-a says the current national average price for gas is $2.63, down 2 cents, just from yesterday, randall. >> maybe it will drop below $2 here. we can hope. >> president obama is urging democratic to say support that he calls a good deal to curb iran's nuclear program. he laid out the case in a letter to congressional democrats saying iran could be punished for giving aid to destabilizing groups in the middle east. should iran seek to dash to a nuclear weapon, all the options to the u.s., including the military option will remain open through the life of the deal and beyond. a number of prominent democrats are now voicing support for the deal. house minority leader nancy pelosi said democrats have the votes to uphold the agreement. that would take 146 house departments. fewer than 60 so far have publicly declared their support for the deal. >> nancy pelosi gave an interview in which she says that members will be able to sustain what the president needs, that the presidential veto, the president veto would be sustained. this is significant, because nancy pelosi is known at a master head counter, also very influential democratic. there's politics in play here. she needs to give democrats the sense that they have the momentum to support the president and that they are pushing back against really a huge ad campaign against the iran deal, the news this week that a second senate democratic, bob menendez of new jersey is against the deal. this isn't the first time that leader pelosi has thrown her support to it. she supported it before congress recess. she said she was optimistic that house members would have enough vote to support the administration. the reason we are all looking at numbers here is because there are two important ones to remember. the white house has to get those numbers in order to prevent congress from overriding a presidential veto. >> opposition leaders in greece are trying to form their new government one day after prime minister alexis tsipras resigned and called for new elections next month. some members of his syriza party rebelled over the bailout agreement that alexis tsipras negotiated. >> approximately two dozen members of parliament from the syriza party have broken away from the prime minister's line and said that they're going to form a separate far leftwing group. they have said that this is going to be called the consolidated anti austerity front, or the united anti austerity front. this is a play on words, because it is an echo of the communist resistance during world war ii, which after the war fought a civil war against national forces, and that was called the national freedom front. the far left wants the name of its new party to sound like the continuation of the communist fighting formations of old. it wants to suggest to voters that they are the true leftests, the true inheritors of the world war ii communist generation, and they are the ones that will carry the torch forward against austerity, in this case in the upcoming election. >> that's reporting from athens. joining us now director of the think tank bridging europe. tsipras' resignation was viewed at inevitable or has this come as a big surprise? the question is how did things go so wrong so quickly for him after less than a year in office? hello. actually, it was many expected such a decision from prime minister tsipras. why he did so, why he did go for snap elections, the first thing is that he knows opposition is really weak. he can count on that and increase his appeal on the electorate. he tried to get rid of the -- his party dissenters and move on just after the elections. the third thing is that he still counts on the support he has from systemic media in greece. the last reason is that he knows that gradually beginning from this autumn, social disappointment against this bailout will start growing against his government. >> well, he says it's a duty, a moral duty on his part to resign. is he also trying to figure out a way to remain in power, to somehow pull success out of what is an apparent failure after his promise that greek would stand strong against the europeans? >> well, actually, he could form a new coalition within the current parliament, but he decided to go on for elections, and to reinvent himself as a leader of the center left, not only of the left, trying to engulfing all the spectrum coming on wards to syriza. there were many m.p.'s from the government that were against any coalition at the current stage with the new democracy, so i think that his options were quite narrowed. he did the best choice from my perspective. >> we saw protests lining up and we've seen members of his own party splitting away from him. how would you summarize his popularity right now. where is tsipras with respect to the greek electorate? >> well, as of latest poll, july, his -- his appeal, his popularity is aren't 57% to 59%. it tends to weaken, as we go on after the agreement on the bill. he is popular among the greek electorate. he is trying to invest in that, and as i told you, to reemerge as leader of broader acceptance from the electorate. >> thank you for joining us from athens. >> the united states has asked australia to launch airstrikes on isil fighters in syria. australia has so far been against such action, saying it cannot happen without the permission of a legitimate syrian government or unit nations security council resolution. australian prime minister tony abbott said his government has not decided on the u.s. request. >> i want to make it very clear that the consolidation of a terrorist state in northern syria, in eastern syria or northern iraq with the catastrophe for the world, it would be a disaster for australia, because what we have been saying on an almost daily basis is the continued lure that this terrorist group, this insipient terrorist state is providing to misguided and impressionable young australians. >> the u.s. is also asking turkey to do more in the fight against isil. defense secretary ash carter said ankara needs to step up efforts to protect its border. carter talked about the need to shut down the prison camp at guantanamo bay. he said there are those who can be transferred overseas and those the u.s. still needs to hold. >> as long as this facility remains open, it will remain a rallying cry for jihadi group began da. the taxpayers are paying too high a financial price to keep this facility open. additionally, closing the detention facility is not something we should leave to the next penalty. >> he said sites include fort leavenworth in kansas to transfer detainees. south carolina said she will fight any effort to have them brought to her state. >> ushering in big changes in the military. >> defense attorneys grill the alleged victim in a prep school rape trial. they say her story changed. >> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 7:48 eastern time. in china, four new fires have broken out at the site of last week's huge blast. state media said they were within the central blast area, as well as a logistics site, but did not give a cause for the fire. death toll stands at 116, 60 people still missing. >> packers have dropped a second even larger collection of data from the dolt web side ashley madson. it includes emails from the c.e.o. and revealed 15,000 of the email addresses subscribing to the site have.gov or dot mill extensions. >> the legionnaire's disease outbreak that killed 12 is officially over. officials identified one rooftop cooling tower on the opera house hoe sell as the likely source. more than 100 came down to the disease. >> the trial of a prep school student accused of raping a 15-year-old is on break today. the judge sent the jurors home after an emotional day of testimony from the teenage accuser. she says she was raped by thedown-year-old at the prep school. she burst into tears under questions from the defense. >> why were you cloudy? >> i was raped. i was cloudy because i was traumatized. >> he is charged with multiple felonies. the defense maintains the two had consensual sexual contact. >> an investigation in los angeles after an explosion rocked to downtown building overnight and started a fire. authorities say it appears a generator exploded in the 19 story building. two people were injured and hospitalized. the fire quickly extinguished. >> in new york city, three construction workers are being treated for serious burns after an explosion at a high school in the bronx. crews were working on a gas line but it's not clear what caused the blast. neighbors say it felt like an earthquake. >> the only women to make it through ranger school graduate from the program today, speaking out for the first time. they talked about making history. john terrett reports. >> i would say that it's definitely awesome to be part of the history of ranger school. >> the captain spoke on making it through the training. >> it's about trying to get the best training that the army could offer is, to be the best officer for my soldiers. >> ranger training consists of physical endurance and survival skills with extremes. captain and first lt. finished endurance tests ahead of male colleagues. >> our guard's up just in case, the haters, the naysayers, but we didn't come with a chip on our shoulder like we had anything to prove. >> 19 women started the grueling ranger training in april, but just two along with 94 men completed all of it. they will not actually be joining the army rangers nor serve in the infantry or on any special ops, because they're women and not every combat job is open to women. >> we do hope with our performance in ranger school we've been able to form that decision as to what they can expect from women in the military, that we can handle things physically and mentally on the same level with men and deal with the same stresses in training that the men can. >> their timing may be fortutious. the defense secretary is reviewing whether any combat job should remain closed to women. >> october 1, a report will be provided to the chairman requesting any exception to this policy, and i'll review the services recommendation and make a final determination by the end of this year. >> that idea that if you can meet the same standard, you should be able to do the same job is gaining a lot of momentum. >> decades of mistrust on a japanese island. residents of okinawa want the u.s. to move its base, just not to the place where the military wants it. >> could normalization change cuba forever? >> i'm afraid for cuba. >> we ask cubans about their hopes and fears. >> i would love to see my business grow into a transnational company. >> 70 years ago, the u.s. took control of the japanese island of okinawa. even though returned, thousands of u.s. troops remain at a huge base there. now residents are fighting against the construction of a new u.s. base. >> for these residents protesting plans for a new u.s. base has become a way of life. >> these guys have been coming up here almost every day for the past week and they cross the street twice a day to protest the building of the new base. >> the marine base is set to replace an air field farther south, one of 32 u.s. military sites across the island. the u.s. and japan say this presence is needed to maintain regional security, but many protestors say with so many u.s. troops, okinawa has become a potential target to neighbors like north korea. >> they are saying they are protecting us, but actually, i don't think so. it's like yeah, i'm afraid of they're doing war here. >> many protestors also say the sprawling new base will endanger the local environment and disrupt their peaceful lives. >> a lot of the villages around here are very small. they have got one main street with a couple of businesses. many people share a lot of the same concerns about the new base. >> this family has lived in the village all their lives and they've protested every week for the past 11 years. american soldiers bring troubles and accidents. we have enough bases. >> tonight, we'll hear from from the family and more on the debate over military bases in okinawa. >> you can see the full report at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> british street artist is taking a shot at disneyland and families beware, this is not the happiest place on earth. he's opened what he calls disma land, he says the park is meant to be a festival of art, amusements and entry level an arckism. thanks for joining us. stephanie sy back with more al jazeera morning news. for more news through the day, do go to aljazeera.com. the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target weeknights 10:30p et >> north korea says it's now in a state of war and the south puts forces on high alert. the growing tensions in a region where thousands of u.s. troops are stationed. >> markets around the world plunged after wall street's huge selloff and sites point to another down day for the market. >> new evacuations in the northwest as fires spread faster than crews can contain them. international help is on its way. this is aljazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. tensions are high on the korean peninsula this morning where the north now says its troops are ready for war. the south is on alert. both sides exchanged fire across the border yesterday in a dispute over propaganda broadcasts. this is not the first time the north has used alarmist language. two years ago, it announced it had entered a state of war with south korea. south korea isn't taking any chances. >> in a late night meeting of the north korean ruling party central military commission, kim jong-un ordered military into a quasi war state. >> the general's staff of the green people's army sent an ultimatum to the puppet ministry saying the army would launch a strong military action unless south korea stops broadcasting towards the north within 48 hours. >> these laud speaker are the source of that so-called warfare. south korea started broad casts nearly two weeks ago for the first time in 11 years in response to what happened earlier this month on the souther side of the demilitarized zone. south korea said northern forces planted land mines that maimed two of its soldiers. >> lance mine explosion and shelling by north korea are illegal and grave provocations. we urge north korea to stop its acts. >> the closest civilian area to where south korea said the north fired projectiles thursday. hundreds were told to leave their homes near the border and only here is the advisedry in place. >> north korea's provocation is likely to continue. we advice residents to stay in shelters. some went out to conduct daily business. we advice them to come back to the shelter in the evening. >> some stayed behind. >> living in this area, i've seen many drills and heard explosions, but this time, the sound was louder and there was an announcement asking us to evacuate. compared to the past, i'm more concerned. >> seeking refuge in this shatter is starting to feel like a bit of an uncomfortable habit here. last year, a north korean anti aircraft shell fell here. north korea had been fairly propaganda balloons launched by south korean activists. this time, residents have a deadline ticking down towards 5:00 p.m. local time saturday. south korea said if a military strike follows, it will counterattack strongly. al jazeera, south korea. >> chaos in macedonia on the border today. special police forces fired tear gas and stun grenades to stop a wave of refugees from entering the country. those refugees, many fleeing syria have been camped out in a stretch of no man's land along the border approximate greece. ms. zone i can't declared a state of emergency to deal with the influx of migrants. >> wall street is set to open lower again, the dow plunged more than 2%, hitting its lowest levels since october and international markets are fall, too. john henry smith is here with more. a lot of this is driven by china and europe. >> that's right. there have been trouble signs for markets all over the world all year. here in the u.s., three of the four major indexes are now in negative territory for 2015 after thursday's selloff. international fears certainly are weighing on investors. >> the numbers ugly, a 358-point drop in the dow jones villages, its largest fall in almost four years, dragging that index blow 17,000 for the first time since last october. the dow, the nasdaq and s and p. each fell more than 2%. >> investors are getting worried. >> those worry's over oil apartment trouble in china. oil briefly dipped below $41 a barrel for the first time since 2009 before rebounding and investors are responding. >> they are looking at all oil prices declining since almost a area ago that s and p.500 profits are in what you might call a recessionary type environment, because on a year over year base, they're barely in positive territory. we're looking at china, that is having problems with its stock market and investors are questioning whether that is an implication that their economy is in trouble. >> there are concerns over europe said economies and the resignation of greek prime minister alexis tsipras. federal reserve minutes released expressed global growth concerns. >> we have the fed that seems to be having cold feet about raising rates in september, a period when most people expected them to be raising rates. as a result, investors are lightning up on their positions. >> the big question is how bad the market's prospects really are. >> the stock market has volatility. we've experienced a very limited amount in the past several years, and now, i think investors are getting unnerved, because we're getting back to normal. >> the financial news is not all doom and gloom. sales of existing homes, for example, across the u.s. rose in july to a nearly 8.5 year high. that's a sign of an increasingly robust economy in the united states. that rise could spur the feds who raise interest rates, something bad for stock market. >> the markets don't like uncertainty. thank you. >> president obama is urging democratic to say support what he calls a good deal to curb iran's nuclear program. he laid out the case in a letter to congressional democrats. he says the u.s. would enhance security for israel and would be able to punish iran for giving aid to destabilizing groups in the middle east. the president wrote should iran seek to dash toward a nuclear weapon, all the options available to the u.s., including the military option will remain available through the life of the deal and beyond. now a number of prominent democrats have been voicing support for the deal. house minority leader nancy pelosi said her party has the votes to uphold presidential veto of a congressional resolution against the agreement. >> house minority leader nancy pelosi said if a vote were held today, enough house democrats would support the deal to prevent a veto override. she made her latest comments to the associated press wednesday, saying the president's veto would be sustained. it's not the first time the influential democratic leader pledged she has enough votes. last month before congress left for the august break, policy threw her support behind the deal. >> i'm very optimistic about our ability to support the president. >> congress votes next month on whether to approve or disapprove of the nuclear agreement. even if both bodies disapprove, the president can veto. 146 supporters in the house or 34 in the senate must overturn the veto. >> notable support from a red state condition sift has asked tough questions of the administration, and is up for reelection in three years. as the white thousand makes its head count, republicans are expressions fury at an associated press report that says iran will be allowed to use its own inspectors to look at suspicious sites under what the gop o.p. is call a secret side deal with the iaea. house foreign affairs committee chairman ed royce said inspections should be done by international inspectors. the head of the iaea said i am disturned saying that the. kara: a.m. ea has given responsibility for inspections in iran. >> nancy pelosi is shrugging offer the report, saying i truly believe in this agreement. the back and forth continues for two more weeks of the summer recess and when congress returns to washington after labor day, the tensions will only increase. libby casey, al jazeera, washington. >> greece avoided a default by making a crucial debt payment to the european central bank. athens received $14 billion in new bailout aid, making that payment possible. much of the possible will be used to repay existing debt rather than rebuilding the economy. greece's president is asking opposition leaders to form a new government, several were seen arriving at the presidential palace today. prime minister alexis tsipras resigned thursday after a rebellion in his own party over the bailout deal. tsipras called for an early election next month. that would be the fifth national election in six years. john has more from athens. >> it takes the greek prime minister less than a minute to walk to the president's office to resign, but this move has been carefully considered for weeks. just as the first of greece's bailout dollars arrived, the man responsible for negotiating the deal told the greek people that their vote was once again needed. >> the people's mandate exhausted its limits and now again the sovereign people should take the vote. >> while he came to power opposedding strict austerity conditions, he has now accepted them, a u-turn too far for many. he is now the victim of a rebellion in his own party, over the tough new measures, worth more than $15 billion over three years. further, far reaching pension reforms angered many in his party, robbing him of his parliamentary majority. the rebels announced that they will now formally split and form a new anti bailout movement. >> we had to rely on the vote of the opposition to get this bailout through. it cannot go on like that forever and he needs to seek new mandate to go on. he is trying to portray himself alleges the guy who got the best deal possible for greece. he said it's not a great deal, but no one else could have gotten a better deal and he's looking into the future with lots of optimism. >> tsipras decided to go straight to the nation in an attempt to silence his rebels and renew his mandate and it could work. tsipras has played the election rule book devastatingly well, by triggering two previous early elections, he advanced his party's share of the popular vote by 20 points. that helped him take the party that he inherited seven years ago at just 4% of the popular vote to power, with 36% of the vote in january. a familiar political shrewdness is at work now. tsipras is still popular and he'll be asking the greek people to elect him before the effects of the new bailout measures are truly felt. he will be giving his back benches minimal time to otherwise and his message to the nation suggests that he wants a majority to finesse the effects of austerity and stand up to his creditors more effectively than he did this summer. >> turning now to somalia and the explosive insurgency there. al shabab cut a path of destruction, ladies and gentlemenning allegiance to al-qaeda. the u.s. is taking on a larger military role in the fight against them in an effort to help the struggling government. >> for almost a quarter century, it's been a country in tatters. since 1991, somalia has had 16 governments, mostly powerless and unable to stop the rise of al shabab, the affiliate of al-qaeda that has destabilized not only somalia, but the horn of africa. president obama came to office vowing to fight groups like al shabab. in a visit to neighboring kenya, he touted his approach. >> kenya is working with ethiopia and with the united states and others to further degrade al shabab's space of operations inside of somalia. >> the president's trip was a stark reminder that seven years into his presidency, the fight continues to rage. the day after the president spoke in kenya, a car bomb attack on a mogadishu hotel killed 13. al shabab claimed responsible perfect though it lost ground, experts say political stability is needed now. >> that requires legitimacy and ultimately one has a reborn nation once again. until that happens, we're playing whack a mole with shabab. >> the u.s. policy has been two pronged, defeat al shabab on the battlefield and promote a a viable government acceptable to the competing chance and factions within somalia. u.s. military personnel have been training and equipping african union forces, doing most of the fighting on the ground. the u.s. also has special forces operating inside somalia, and there have been airstrikes. since 2007, the u.s. has conducted an estimated 15-19 drone strikes inside somalia, mostly flown from nearby djibouti. that along with 8-11 cruise air missile strikes. the pace picked up last month. at least six strikes hit somalia in an ongoing offensive. the strikes have killed top al shabab commanders, including one said to have played a role in the 2013 attack on nairobi's west gate mall. >> you think they're gone, you're absolutely wrong. >> the u.s. sent troops to somalia in 1992, when the country collapsed at the end of the cold war. it was an ill-fated mission. a battle between somali militias and american troops depicted in the movie blackhawks down ended with the bodies of dead americans dragged through the streets. the u.s. pulled out, leaving somalia to descend further into chaos. now, the coalition is making gains, and as al shabab is pushed back, there are two key questions, who fills the void and what is the future u.s. role. >> the u.s. is not alone, by any means, but there are very distinct limits to what the u.s. is prepared to do and i have the impression, those limits have pretty much been reached. >> a new government is in place. the prime minister spoke with al jazeera in march, and pained an optimistic picture. long suffering satisfactory malis can only hope he is right. >> the first named storm of the atlantic hurricane season is churning toward the caribbean. kevin is here with us this morning. good to see you. >> good morning. >> is this something we should worry about here? >> for the united states, i don't think so. we knew it is going to be a below average year around that's what it's leading up to, but for the caribbean, it's going to cause more of an inconvenience for a lot of people. this is a visible image this morning, as the sunrises, you can see the storm right here with its eye. it's a category one hurricane right now. over the next couple of days, we think it's going to be dropping down to a tropical depression again as it makes its way toward the eastern part of the caribbean. what we are going to be seeing, this is the time line of the storm. by monday morning, that's when it's going to be entering the caribbean as a tropical system. then it's going to be making its way to puerto rico object tuesday morning and over here toward the dominican republic by wednesday morning. we have a couple of good news and bad news part of the story. for the northern car caribbean,t is going to bring rain and that is good because we are in a drought situation. for haiti, that could cause a lot of problems. deforestation and flooding there, a lot of problems. >> they do not need that there for sure. thank you. >> on the agenda today, two wisconsin teenagers accused of the slenderman case will enter pleas today. the 13-year-olds are tried at duties and face decades in prison for last year's attack on a classmate. >> gay couples in states that previously did not recognize their marriages can start claiming social security benefits. the justice democratic said same sex couples who filed claims before the supreme court decision will be able to collect payments. >> the pokemon championships, there are competitions surrounding that video game. >> tracking you through your smart phones without court order. >> a plea for help in washington state from volunteers and the international community. rnational community. >> now, new cutting edge technology that could help prevent future disasters... >> the system has really evolved. >> and what it means for new orleans. >> our big take away is new orleans is on a good track, but the job is not done here. >> techknow investigates 10 years after katrina. >> welcome to al jazeera america. taking a look at today's top stories, the united states asked australia to launch airstrikes on isil fighters in syria. australia has said in the past that can't happen without the permission of a legitimate syrian government or the u.n. prime minister tony abbott said his government has not decided yet on the u.s. request. >> four new fires have broken out in china at the site of last week's blast. no word on a cause. the death toll stands at 116, 60 people are still missing. >> defense secretary ash carter said teams are closing in on a new site to house guantanamo bay prisoners in the united states. two contenders are army and naval detention facilities in kansas and charleston, south carolina. carter said other prisons will be assessed in coming weeks. >> a new report shows police in multiple states are using cell phone tracking devices for investigations. they've been doing it for years, but it's been kept quiet. >> they go by industry names like juggler and wolf hound, cell tracking equipment that's cheap, small and easily used. purchase records reviewed by the wall street journal show law enforcement agencies have been buying these since 2010. each cost as little as $2,400, some $7,500. the devices passively gather radio waves when the phone communicates with a cell tower, a way to collect data that does not necessarily require a court order. they could be used with more invasive devices known as stingrays. that acts like a fake cell phone tower, capturing information such as location. our jake ward reported on string rays, which law enforcement have used to scoop in data at a street corner or at a protest. >> people noticing their phone acting strangely, interfering with the ability to communicate, we've heard these problems arise elsewhere. >> law enforcement has declined to publicly talk about devices. there has been fight against their use, worrying devices could be used to find cell phones inside people's homes. >> many years on the ground, hour founding fathers made the decision to say if police want to enter a house. they've got to get a search warrant. it would be a lot easier for law enforcement to say we're just going to enter everybody's house and look for crime once a week. that would make their job easier, probably a lot safer. there are important liberty interests at stake. >> more than a dozen states passed laws restricting tracking devices requiring warrants beforehand, except in emergency situations. al jazeera. >> we reached out to the agencies mentioned in the wall street journal report. the justice democratic declined comment and florida's department of law enforcement said it followed all state and federal regulations. two appeals court upheld warrantless tracking at least in some form. we're joined by the head of a company that makes these devices, good morning to you. you brought one of these. is that the wolf hound? >> this is the wolf hound pro. it's a cell phone detector, allows you to detect and locate cell phones, and it focuses in on the radio frequency, the actual transmissions from our phones, so when our phones, when we send a text or make a phone call, email, google search, our phones transmit from the mobile to the cell to your. this allows you to hone in on it and it has a directional antenna so you can target whatever the phone is and zoom in on it. it will alert you. it will have a green pulsating laser as you get closer to the target that will allow you to physically get it. >> how close do you have to be to a phone? >> 500 yards away, you can pick up on the signal and it will tell you the actual frequency on the screen. we'll scan all the different cell phone bands. we can scan and hone in on a particular signal with a direction finding antenna. >> how precise is the location data that it gives to the usedder? >> very precise, when your phone isis transmitting, the direction finding antenna has got to very narrow beam that you can hone in on and walk right up to the target. >> the wolf hound is described in the article as passive. it picks up signals as you said via small antenna. cancel phones block the wolf hound? >> no. maybe it's knoll gus to our cars all have a.m.-f.m. radios. we are not deviling in looking at content, private information, your texts, any content data there. that means we don't have to break any laws and it's truly passive and we are not transmitting. >> how many have you sold? >> thousands to different agencies, different groups, everything from guys tracking down drug dealers, maybe that have g.p.s. trackers, in correction facilities. >> can i hold it? >> sure. >> you have sold thousands to law enforcement. why do you think they're keeping relatively quiet about their use of this? >> there is know law against using something like this. if you contrast it to other intercept devices where they are truly tracking a person, they can have access to content there. there's different privacy laws that can be broken, where this is not. there's certainly a fine line there and this is on the side where you don't have any problems. >> when you developed this, who was your target consumer and did you have in the back of your mind, because it sounds like you have given some thought to the privacy concerns and perhaps the efficacy concerns of the devices. >> certainly government facilities. wherever there's a facility with classified top secret information, you are not allowed to have mobile phones or wireless devices, this is extensively used there. another area is correctional if a sits where contraband cell phones are brought in illegally. >> you see how it could be abused? >> abused, sure, absolutely. there's always that fine line, fit gets in the wrong happened, it could be abused. we can sex to the general public, corporations if they want to keep a secure boardroom so nobody can ease drop. a lot of different applications there. >> in desperate need of help, firefighters from the other side of the world head to washington state to help crews fighting growing wildfires. >> california's drought is causing another problem, areas are now sinking. we'll tell you why, next. jewel north korea said its troops are ready for war. the growing tension comes after the two sides exchanged fire across the border thursday in a dispute over propaganda broadcasts. thousands of u.s. troops are stationed in the region. >> wall street futures pointing lower responding to thursday's 2% fall in the dow jones industrial average. >> president obama understands the u.s. is stepping up security for israel and will punish iran for aiding destabilizing groups in the middle east. democrats in the house say they have the votes to up hold the iran nuclear deal. >> washington state is asking for volunteers to help fight raging wildfires. 29,000 firefighters are battling 100 large fires across the west, but in washington, residents are asked to help if they can bring backhoes and bulldozers to dig fire lines. >> there are 3,000 acres burning. >> dry winds are fueling the fires in eastern washington state. >> we know that these fires have burned a big hole in our state's heart. >> the bodies of three firefighters killed wednesday were removed from the scene by a procession of emergency vehicles. they died after getting trapped in the flames. >> it was a hell storm up here and the winds were blowing in every direction. >> the men were identified. their families are in mourning. >> he was the center of our lives. >> we're going to miss him more than anything in the whole world. >> it's horrible. i can't imagine. i can't even imagine. to lose your life fighting fire, it's horrible for a family, and just a bad deal. >> officials overnight called for immediate evacuations near the north central washington community. a similar order went out last night for 1,000 people in a nearby town. officials fear struck winds won't die down anytime soon and give firefighters a break. >> we thank everyone who are doing everything they can to make sure the evergreen state does not become an ever fire state. >> washington state asked for a federal emergency declaration and australia and new zealand are sending help. seventy fire managers and specialists of expected to arrive this weekend. you can see the impact of the fires. this satellite photo shows smoke drifting across the west. that is raising health concerns, as well. let's bring in kevin for this. how badr conditions? >> they are very, very bad. we're in the middle of wildfire season, but this is going to be the worst weekend we have seen in terms of how much area is at risk. this morning, the temperatures are good. they are very cool. this is what the firefighters like, temperatures into the 50's this time of day. of course they're going to go up, but take a look at the amount of red flag warnings across the region. earlier this week, we were only talking about the northwest. they have enough spread out here, going into the plains states, that's how bad things are. gusting winds up to 30 miles an hour, low humidity values and as you saw on that satellite image, the smoke traveling over is causing a big problem for respiratory conditions for people with asthma, emif emphy. they're peeling to stay inside, don't go outside to do your exercise. we don't expect this to get much better. spokane is 76 degrees today. over the next couple days, we expect temperatures to begin to raise and this weekend, it could be back into the 80's. that is something we don't need. no rain is in the forecast, unfortunately, it is going to remain dry for many, many people. >> that is do bad. >> scientists at the rocky mountain research lab in montana are actually going inside the flames to try to make it easier to fight fires. tech know shows us how. >> firefighters died battling an arizona wildfire. investigators think the hot shot team was cut off from an escape route, making it impossible to get to the safety zone. >> when you're on the line, how does it all work? is there any calculation done or is it looking at these various variables and kind of eyeballing it? >> they don't necessarily do a calculation. they're going off gut instinct. >> this research team is trying to create a formula for determining safety zones. the only way to do this is to travel straight into the heart of a wildfire. each member hauls a package, a series of sensors to collect data, coupled with a camera to record fire behavior, all housed in a specially designed burn proof metal box. dan jiminez is the lead researcher. >> you have to actually aim this box at the fire. >> we try to. doesn't mean if it comes from the flank it won't trip, but most of the time we are trying to get heading fire. >> the research team hopes the fires cooperate and flames will actually burn through this box. when it does, the results are dramatic. >> this has been in a fire. now we've got to get the data out of it. that's the next step. >> we put these sensors on fires, try to measure energy released from the fire and correlate that with burn injury levels. >> brent butler is the lead researchers on the fire safety zone project. he's based at the rocky mountain research center in montana. >> this is the hard data that you bring in from the field. >> yes. >> what is the end goal? >> to help us design computer simulations, using a fire model, but we didn't know until we had these measurements, how do you set this parameter, how hot does the fire need to be. these measurements help us accurate simulate what is happening out in similar conditions. >> you can watch this afternoon at 4:00 eastern. >> new research shows drought conditions are making part of central california sink faster than ever before. nasa confirmed the theory using slights. this shows the wa san joaquin valley is sinking. california has wells drawing water from aquifers in the farming heavy central valley. as more ground water disappears, the earth above it falls. let's talk about this with a professor at colombia university. good morning, thank you for coming in. it is not perceptible to the eye, but where might you see the effects of the ground sinking? >> the places where you are going to see the effects of the ground sinking will be principally in the infrastructure, the surface infrastructure. one of the surprising discoveries of all of this is that as the ground sinks, it sinks unevenly, so bridges, large buildings, big state buildings will settle unevenly and the concrete fractures and damages the infrastructure. >> that could have real world consequences. what about other viral impacts. >> the prime environmental impacts of down drawing the ground waters are that you are reducing the communities resilience to climate change, so as you go through droughts, which are natural, they occur naturally regardless of climate change, the bank account is your ground water, your ability to draw from on the ground waters gives you resiliency. by sucking it down now, it's basically depleting that. >> the aquifer doesn't restore itself. >> it can. there are deliberate efforts to pump water down where there is excess water available. that has not been true. >> will it ever hold the capacity that it did? >> no, the aquifer becomes damaged as you draw it down, the sources seal up. the volume you can store gets reduced as it demeets. >> how concerned are you? >> i'm very concerned, mainly for the people of california, because it really is agricultural basket of the united states. there's a massive economy that dependency on this, and it's really a very defining moment for us to watch from the outside as they try to deal with this crisis. >> what is the policy prescription? what is the message out of this? should it be regulated, how ground water is used? >> it's very difficult. water in california is one of the most contentious issues. i came from the ideas festival where there was a whole session only discussion. it is an issue that has profound problems. the reason why is the way the water's parsed out now already is that they're parsing out much more water than they have available. it's inherently unfair, full and not addressing the core issue that people, individuals need water. only 10% of the water in california goes to urban areas. most goes to agriculture. >> which is a key part, obviously of the economy of the central valley and of the state as a whole. thank you so much for your expertise. >> thanks for having me. >> an investigation is getting underway in los angeles after an explosion rocked a downtown building overnight and started a fire. authorities say it appears a generator exploded in the building. two were injured and hospitalized. the fire was quickly extinguished. >> in new york city, three construction workers are being treated for serious burns after an explosion at a high school in the bronx. across were working on a gas line when it happened. it's not clear what caused the blast. neighbors say it felt like an earthquake. >> the trial of a prep school student accused of raping a 15-year-old girl is on break today. the judge sent jurors home after a day of emotional tell from the accuser. she said she was raped by an 18-year-old at st. paul's prep school. she cried under questions from the defense. >> why were up cloudy? >> i was raped. i was cloudy because i was traumatized. >> he is charged with multiple felonies. the defense maintains the two had consensual sexual contact. >> the only women to make it through the army's ranger school graduate from the program today. speaking out for the first time, they talked about making history. >> i would say that it's definitely awesome to be part of the history of ranger school. >> the captain spoke on making it through the training. >> it's about trying to get the best training that the army could offer us, to be the best officer for my soldiers. >> ranger training consists of physical endurance and survival skills with extremes. captain and the first lt. finished endurance tests ahead of male colleagues. >> our guard's up just in case, the haters, the naysayers, but we didn't come with a chip on our shoulder like we had anything to prove. >> 364 soldiers, including 19 women started the grueling ranger training in april, but just two along with 94 men completed all of it. they will not actually be joining the army rangers nor serve in the infantry or on any special ops, because they're women and not every combat job in the military is open to women. >> we do hope with our performance in ranger school we've been able to inform that decision as to what they can expect from women in the military, that we can handle things physically and mentally on the same level with men and deal with the same stresses in training that the men can. >> their timing may be fortuitous. the defense secretary is reviewing whether any combat job should remain closed to women. >> october 1, a report will be provided to the chairman requesting any exception to this policy, and i'll review the services recommendation and make a final determination by the end of this year. >> that idea that if you can meet the same standard, you should be able to do the same job is gaining a lot of momentum. it will no doubt get a boost from their success. >> a new look at how aztec rulers protected their power. a trophy rack of human skulls was unearthed in mexico city. it dates back to the 14t 14th century. archeologists believe it was 112 feet long and 40 feet wide. >> it has been nearly a year since israelis and palestinians signed a ceasefire deal ending an intense conflict in gaza. the rebuilding effort has moved extremely slowly. now a new sports facility is giving some hope. we have this report. >> in the middle of gaza city skyline, a splash of green. this is the middle east's first rooftop football pitch. the unlikely sporting venue opened in june and has quickly become a popular destination. the captain of this community league says having an astro turf pitch to play on has improved his game. >> i feel so happy when i come for training. making such a place in the center of gaza has made it easy for us. we can do more as a player as a result. >> this pitch is the only one of its kind in the middle east, but across the gaza strip, there is still very few open spaces for palestinians to play sport in. one year after israel's 50 day bam bartment ended in a ceasefire, and much of gas remains in ruins. israel maintains tight border restrictions hampering reconstruction and the removal of rubble. so far, not a single home has been rebuilt and most public spaces haven't been cleared, including football stadiums and other sporting centers, which is why so many continue to play sports in the streets or anywhere else they can. these children kick around a football in the lane in front of their home, dodging rubbish and rubble as they try to score goals. muhammed has been playing football since he was four. he says he wishes he had a better place to play with his friends. >> our neighbors shout at you the. they say we make too much noise, but we don't have the money to do anything else. >> the idea to build a rooftop football pitch came from palestinian football officials who found funding from the government of qatar. only those who are part of local leagues or those who can afford the entry fee are allowed to play here. there are plans to create more public spaces for sport, something most here agree is badly needed. al jazeera, gaza. >> understanding breast cancer, a study causing debate over treatment options for women diagnosed with the early stages of the disease. >> welcome back to aljazeera america. it is 8:49 eastern. taking a look at today's top stories. an israeli air raid struck killing five civilians in syria. this follows reports saying israel fired rockets yesterday. >> legionnaire's disease that killed 12 people in new york is declared officially over. officials identified one rooftop cooling tower on the opera house hoe sell as the likely source. more than 100 came down to the disease. >> an inmate who escaped, david sweat is charged with escape. he was serving life without parole for murder. he could have another seven years added to his sentence if convicted of the new charges. >> >> on the healthbeat this morning, a new study has the medical community rethinking its approach to breast cancer treatment. it is leading to questions about whether thousands of women are undergoing unnecessary surgery and radiation treatment. randall pinkston is here with details. a a lot of people are talking about this. what is in this study challenging commonly headlight beliefs about treatment. >> what is the appropriate treatment for women with breast cancer. research eerie viewed 20 years of data of women diagnosed with dcis. it is not a lump. the condition can only be discovered with a mammogram. with caution, most doctors view it as a precursor to cancer and recommend removal part of the breast or entire breast. the study found that the risk of dying from breast cancer was about 3% for either treatment, about the same as women in the general population. raising the question is whether you can get away with doing nothing at all. which is risky. >> but the alternative is risky, as well. >> yeah. >> doctors will say. how common is dcis? >> it has only been discovered since the use of mammograms, so about 60,000 women a year are diagnosed with it. it's known as early stage, zero early stage breast cancer. before mammograms, you couldn't really -- >> detect it. >> yeah. >> there are some in greater risk than others in that group? >>, if you are younger than 40 or if you are african-american and if you have something called a precursor leagues, basically irregular cells with a moleculor marker, you should go for early treatment. doctors don't think that it should be changed, because they want to do more long-range what you call large clinical trials, looking at women with lumpectomies, mass sect mys, no treatment at all to see what happens. this is a retrospective study, looking at what happened over 20 years, not a large clinical trial, which is what they say is needed. >> former president jimmy carter has started radiation treatment for cancer that spread to his brain. the second oldest living president is 90 years old and at a news conference yesterday described the progress of his illness with candor, saying his fate was in the hands of god. he did not discuss a prognosis. carter has been undergoing innovative treatment for cancer in his liver. we have more. >> rusty cline has come a long way, diagnosed nine years ago with late stage melanoma, a form of skin cancer. >> i've been through three clinical trials, 10 surgeries, two brain surgeries. >> the list of grueling treatments goes on. he kept fighting, but the cancer kept coming back. >> that's when i started the immuno therapy. >> the doctor is at sloan kettering hospital in new york city. he and his research team are making strides in the fight against melanoma. >> as a physician, i feel jubilant to be able to offer something to my patients which can not just make them better for a few weeks, but in some patients, can make them better for years or decades. >> how important is this in the advancement of cancer research? >> this has been now recognized as a breakthrough. >> it's a stark departure from how most cancers are treated, with surgery, chemo and radiation to target the tumors. like chemo, the therapy is delivered by an i.v. that's where the similarities end. >> we switched now from thinking only about how to treat the tumor to now also how to treat the patient, and let the patient treat the tumor. >> how does the medicine work to the immune system? >> we need to tip the balance in favor of the immune system. one way to do that is blocking these molecular breaks which maintain a state of equilibrium. >> tumors go into stealth mode, applying breaks on the bodies immune system. this new class of drugs unleashes the bodies immune system to see the cancer and fight it. the f.d.a. approved the first in a series of new immuno therapy drugs. japan is already using this treatment and more f.d.a. drug approvals of expected soon. rusty cline said the decision to participate in a trial saved his life. >> the scan show the 95.4% reduction. the first day after treatment, i walked 1 10 blocks to meet a friend for a drink and got in a cab and went to the airport. >> amazing when you consider side effects most experience from traditional treatment. patients can most often live their normal life. >> what's most exciting to me as an oncologist is that these medicines are showing activity outside of melanoma. >> is immuno therapy the cure for cancer. >> there is no one cure. perhaps in the future, the therapy will become part of a combination of approaches that are used for a broad spectrum of cancers. >> with these new advances, if i as i says like this doctor are optimistic you will no longer have to fear the words you have cancer. >> you may soon see a nazi treasure. a train has been rumored to be filled with gold, art and guns. the train was reportedly dispatched near the end of the war as the soviet approached the german tron fear. two men say they know exactly where it is and will reveal its location for a price. >> no one has ever been able to confirm the existence of the train. there are no documents locating it. >> it could be either nonsense or they got the information directly from germans. maybe one of these men is a descendent of people who took part in this action. >> the men have offered to trade their information for 10% of the value of what's inside. >> on the science beat, another stunning display of the northern lights. this time it is from a different perspective. nasa astronaut capturing this video of the aurora borealis. this releases colorful streams into the sky. here it is mainly seen over the arctic and an arctic regions. >> the latest on the state of the emergency in macedonia where police clashed with refugees this morning. have a great morning. >> what does this river mean to you? >> the river, to me, means homeland. >> in danger of running dry. >> there'll come a time when we fight over every last drop of water in the river. >> where's the water going? >> i worry about the future generations - what are they going to have? >> faultlines investigates the shrinking colorado river. >> no group of people can have their american dream... we have to pay that price. >> this was the worst civil engineering disaster in the history of the united states. >> 10 years after hurricane katrina. >> it was like a nuclear bomb had gone off - everything smelt like dead bodies. >> one constant. >> music has been the essence of this city. >> inspires a community to rebuild its city. >> we gonna bring this city back one note at a time. >> and overcome hard times in the big easy. >> we are bigger, we're better, we're stronger. >> welcome to the al jazeera news hour. i'm martin dennis in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes: >> macedonian police fire stun grenades to stop refugees crossing the border from greece. >> north korea's leader kim jong-un orders troops along the border with the south to be ready for war. >> the terror, the confusion, it was something unbearable. >>

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