Who do you trust . A month after the chemical spill, making sure that the water in West Virginia is safe. We begin with a major victory for gay rights. Moments ago the attorneygeneral announced that federal privileges would be extended to gay couples. Straight couples have taken them for granted, but they have been recognised to give full recognition. Here is what is being proposed. Gay couples will not have to testify against their spouse, theyll be allowed to file for joint bankruptcy, and gay inmates will be treated the same as heterosexuals. The couples must be legally married, but it applies to states that do not recognise gay unions. Eric holder made the announcement. Or correspondent is standing by with more on this. Well, he just had a second standing ovation. He stepped off the podium. Lisp to some of the listen to some of the remarks he just made. I am proud to announce that the Justice Department is taking additional stepped to advance the fundamental truth and give new meaning to the wind sore decision. On monday ill issue a policy memorandum that will instruct all Justice Department employees to give lawful samesex marriages full and equal recognition to the greatest extent possible under the law. They are making sure and they are solidifying under the department of Justice Policy that samesex couples will no longer be discriminated against. This is significant. Its on the hills of the u. S. Supreme court in june saying that denying benefits was unconstitutional. Clearly this is a receptive crowd. Everyone was happy to hear the attorneygenerals words, they were on their feet and are continuing with the program. Considering the past year has been a big year for gay rights activists, does the shift in policy come as a surprise for many in the law room . It wasnt a surprise, but it was a joyous reception. Ifs news that the department of it is new that is the department of justice is announcing that they are further solidifying policy, and the Obama Administration is clear that they are taking a staps to make sure that stance to make sure that same sex couples are no longer discriminated against. This is a wave coming down from june. Br the attorneygeneral spoke, they had a mon targe of words of president obama, attributed to the Obama Administration, with a lot of music. Its a celebration, theres news and they are gaping momentum. The torping talked attorney talked about utah, and game down on the side that they are in favour of overturning discrimination, regardless of what some states are doing. How will the changes impact gay people across the country . Sax sex couples, they can have better benefits. They are able to share medicare. That was in place. Today, under the criminal system, you kapt be forced to testify against your spouse if you are a samesex couple, enjoys the same rights, and visitation rights. It comes do to concrete day to day issues, civil and criminal court rooms and samesex couples recognised by the government, like heterosexual governments. A big announce for human rights. Activists in syria say more than a dozen were killed by Government Air strikes in aleppo, at least five bombs fell. Violence and gun fire and shelling broke a ceasefire. The truth was to allow aid workers in the city. A convoy was attacked. It took most of the days for the convoys to get into the old city of homs, only to come under fire as soon as they arrive. Tens of civilians were injured. So were the members of the syrian red crescent team. A more tar Shell Landing near one of its vehicles. We had two trucks of aid, and one car and some other cars for the u. N. Team and more tar shells started to fall near the place supposedly where we were to deliver the aid material. The Syrian Government says terrorists inside the city were responsible. Opposition activists say it was the work are Syrian Regime loyalists. Its hard to confirm who was responsible, but the fragile cease fire was broken. The truce will be in place from 6am to 6 00 pm for three days. Throughout saturday it did not hold. Parties should refrain from hindering humanitarian facts and should not put in jeopardy the humanitarian workers whose only aim is to protect the people inside. The longawaited humanitarian mission is facing a challenge. It was opened it would be manageable after an agreement was brokered by nations after pressure on the government. 83 civilians were evacuated from homs, to receive humanitarian relief. Over 200 civilians were inside. The pictures coming out of the city show how difficult ks. Meanwhile turkeys Prime Minister says the geneva ii peace talks on syria are unlikely to be successful and spoke to al jazeera in an exclusive interview. The steps that were taking in geneva 1 talks were not anticipated by the geneva ii conference. That did not have a good start. It is ongoing, but it does not look like well get a good outcome. We see that it has taken a negative cores. Perform Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing a Corruption Scandal. In Istanbul Police used tear gas and water canons against people protesting the laws. Once again, istanbul is the scene of riot clashes. What is at the center of this contenning here is the latest internet legislation, a law passed by turkeys parliament. Essentially the protesters say the legislation curves freedom of expression and the parliament is trying to control the public through legislation. The government says it will not curve freedom of expression, and is done in order to ensure that the internet is not misused to expoets peoples private lives or used as a form of a platform for libellous accusations. The size was not large in numbers. Riot Police Disperse the groups, and small battles took place adjacent to the square. A sign that some parts of Turkish Society is not in favour the way the government is doing business. The Prime Minister seemed unfaced by the challenges. He enjoys large popularity across the political spectrum. Moving to iran. A Defence Department official downplayed moves telling al jazeera theres not much to it. The ayatollah cam eachy said iran would overthrow washingtons government ifhey good. The americans say we are friend of the iranian nation, they are lying. You can see it through the actions. They threaten iran and expect the government to reduing capabilities. If its not funny or ridiculous, and they say you must we dues your defense capabilities. No, with the help of god iran will increase strength every day. The sprooum leader spoke at an event. In West Virginia many are afraid to drink the water a month after the chemical spill. Hundred showed their anger. Health Officials Say despite the odd smell of lik rigs in the drinking water, it does not rise to the level of being unsafe. Demonstrators are shipping anger away from the company that caused the spill and to the cap that managed it. Hundreds marched from a church to the Water Company. Last month they were furious at freedom industries, which caused the spill, shutting off access to water for 300,000 residents. Today they are protesting the Water Company, accusing d of not providing enough compensation. After 14 schools were closed a couple of days ago because of smelly water, theres no confidence that the problem has been fixed. What you trust is the question. We have contradictory say understandings. I was told took a shower when it was safe to take a shower. They think the tide is turning for local politicians who supported businesses like freedom industries. Marches like this will hopefully show them that industry maybe will be trained. Other Industries Want to be here and want to do a good job for our state. Folks say the protests will continue. Those demonstrators are mailing a list of demands to the Water Company in these envelopes including a piece of black liquorice. A not so subtle signal. Still ahead a royal trial, spains princess christina in court. Following the drug trail. How does heroin make its way into the u. S. We talk to two experts next. Death from heroin have doubled over the past decades in some parts of the United States. Lets look at where it comes from and where it ends up. Most of the worlds heroin comes from afghanistan. Only a small amount of that makes it to the u. S. Most of the ours comes from latin america. The u. S. Drug Enforcement Administration says much of the heroin in the eastern part of the u. S. Comes from columbia. Mexico supplied much of the american west. The American City is baltimore, its the heroin capital of the country, with an estimated 12,000 heroin addicts. They are trucked across the border, people use luggage with false bottoms or hire drug mules. Mexico is a large supplier, but how did it become a huge business . Poppy cultivation goes back to the 1900s when the chinese brought the drug with them. That was the beginning. For decades this was small scale compared to opium and heroin production. Cartels are operating here in mexico and be can to recruit experts from asia. They ramped up the smug lipping operations because they saw what a lucrative product they had in their hands. By 201250 of hoirp 2012, 50 of heroin produced was mexican produced. It wasnt just made here, it was snuggled to mexico. Some police in the United States, some experts are mainly blaming large cartels from mexico, but theres evidence of small scale operators, family based organizations, turning into black tar, taking it through family networks, over the border into the u. S. And taking to to places where it doesnt have a history of bean consumed. We speak about a representative from the drug policy alliance. And an author writing a book. Thank you for joining us. Sam, we heard what happened to Philip Seymour hoffman. When you look at heroin, compared with the other drugs in the United States, how big of a problem is heroin . I would say its a small problem, but a growing one. In relation to other drugs right now, or marijuana, but it has been effect on peoples lives that is enslaving. It is difficult to kick and i think the numbers we have of opiate addicts include prescription pill addicts is outstripping the treatment capacity and infrastructure. Together the two thats hard to talk about just one. In my view its an opiate epidemic. The numbers may be small in some relative sense, but the damage done is quite substantial, i think. The numbers are small but growing. The number of heroin users have almost doubled. What do you think is behind this . Its a hot of things. The crackdown mentality has been probably playing a role in encouraging people to transition to heroin. Its cheaper. Widely available. Sam made a fantastic point a second ago about the lack of Treatment Access and what we are doing that is compounding the problem. The problem is real, but by not taking the right action the problem is worse. What sort of actions need to be taken . Drug prevention doesnt start with the u. S. Government, it starts with parents. They have to have factbased conversations. We have to make some other drugs available. You hear about the overdose reversal drug. Its not widely available. Some states are taking action, but the minor simply steps could go a long way to helping us out of this, nout just the urgent nod to increase treatment capacity. Other states need to do certain things. Whether families take heroin, others have the view that its an inner city drug. The reality is different. I think what is most characterised the latest drug surge is that its quiet. People dont talk about it at all. I was a Crime Reporter in the crack days. We wrote about the drive by shooting, the bloods on the cribs, the feuds that you have, the crack dealers that you have along the streets. This drug surge or epidemic has no public violence. Why is that by the way. Why does it not have public violence. I think in large part it originates with doctors who were describing these pills for a lot of things they dont need to. Theres not a lot of other options when it comes to treating pain. And families when they had someone die. They grew up in the 70s. A drug overdose, an opiate overdose is a shameful thing. This is changing. Its interesting to watch families and parents form groups saying we are the only ones that can do anything about this. Lets do what we can. Other than that theres not the public urgency because public violence is not there. What do you make of the fact that we have seen states like ver moment and main tacking the issue and declare an epidemic. Vermont and maine are examples of what states can be doing. Shamlen is using federal fund and investing in better treatment, passing the 911 good samar tan laws, talking about Mental Health and doing a great job showing ippo vaghts and leadership. Conversely you have states like maine where the Health Community and others are trying hard to get better access to save the lives of people that might overdoze on opiates, and an obstructionist governor struck in the nixon era approach. That doesnt work. We have 40 years of evidence of that. Doesnt a crackdown work. You have to go after people that are breaking the law. Breaking the law by what purchasing drugs. The thing we have to remember is we are talking about two different groups drug users. One is the majority who use drugs do in the overdose. They are nonviolence. Largely they should be left alone. Then theres another group that needed to offer treatment and help. We have a one size fits all. The problems are coming from incarceration when they shouldnt be in that position. You have written extensively about that. Do you agree with that . We do. We have not tried a variety of options when it comes to the drug war. Im not sure where i stand on drug legalizations because that is what we are heading towards. I do thing we have a limited infrastructure for drug treatment in this country. Made so because its not been viewed as an essential core approach to this problem, and what we have now with opiates, them being enormously difficult to kick and requiring relapse after relapse. We have outstripped our treatment of potential for folks that are low income, if you are on opiates long enough everywhere is low income ucks because you sacrifice and use all your resources to by dope. This is part of the issue. Thank you both for your time tonight. Other news. Princess cristina of spain has testified in court. She denied allegations of corruption and money laundering. Its the first time a member of the Spanish Royal family appeared in court. No royal fan fair for the duchess as she approach the court on saturday. Princess cristina appeared calm, almost cheerful as she entered the courthouse, greeting the press. On the other side of the building, there was little sim pathy for her plight. This is a scandal that fuelled antimonarchy feeling. Spaniards are living a comedy. We need food and jobs. We, as citizens, need to take responsibility because corruption is a simply tom of societys failure to deal with this. The apprenticeship is suspected of princess cristina is suspected of tax fraud. Personal expenses billed for the company have been discovered. Her lawyer said she had been looking forward to this day to improve her innocence. The involvement of princess cristina in a highprofile Corruption Scandal has been an enormous blow for the monarchy. The Royal Household tried to maintain a difference between their active and the rest of the royal family, theres no doubt the damage has been done. It will take an enormous amount of effort to reverse that. Translation the public doesnt like stealing funds, tax fraud. This is why this case left the public disenchanted with the royal family. This has left many angered in light of how the financial crisis affected the lives of other people. That members of the royal family were involved in such cases increases disillusionment with the royal family. Theres more ahead enclueding getting an edge there technology. We look at how american athletes are keeping up with the competition. Welcome back to al jazeera america. Here is the top stories a big step forward in marriage equality. Attorneygeneral eric holder announced gay married couples will be treated like straight couples in the court system. This includes filing for joint bankruptcy, visiting inmates. The truce in syria was meant o allow aid workers but the convoy was attacked. The Syrian Government and the opposition blamed each other. Snow in West Virginia , protests against a Water Company after a leak contaminating hundreds of thousands of people. Some say the water still has a chemical spell. Many are afraid to drink it. Violence eased in bosnia. Protesters demanded action. It is the worse seep sense the war began 18 years ago. The anger is growing, aimed at politicians blamed for the economic crisis. For the past 20, 25 years, we are suffering we are not doing anything. Just oh, my god, nobody is doing anything. U. Is at a record high. The worst figures in the balkans. Neighbouring countries made economic process, bosnia stagg nated. Violence erupted, the targets were government buildings and factories that laid off thousands of workers. Government archives in central sarajevo were destroyed. Protesters were out on the streets. On saturday this time demonstrating peacefully. Sarajevo has not seen such violence since the end of the war. Some have stood since the aust roehungarian empire. Some pol it weres admit the politicians admit they have been let down. This is an outcry to basically bring the judgment over the politics that has produced the problems over the last 20 years. This is basically this has a revolutionary konno kags in terms of really swaing that they a