rainbow lays ahead for him? what is wrong with mathew martoma? i don't think. that's our show for today. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. ♪ hi, everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. on the offensive, president obama set to outline his strategy for defeating the so-called islamic state. act of violence, what happened after an nfl star went into the elevator with his fiance, and why it has taken so long for his team to respond. rare illness, more than a thousand american children hospitalized. what is causing it? and why it is spreading so fast. we'll take you inside the urban

shield expo where police forces go shopping for heavy arms. new suspect, now dna evidence may have finally unmasked jack the ripper. ♪ we begin with the growing international effort to defeat the self declared islamic state. the white house set to clarify its strategy for con fronting the group. president obama meets with congressional leaders tomorrow and on wednesday will address the nation. today the arab league said it always plans to take immediate steps to combat the group. lisa stark has the story. >> reporter: just one month into the of fenszive against the islamic state group in iraq, the u.s. has launched more than 145 air strikes. the president this week is expected to explain his

strategy. one the administration now says could take years. >> the principle goal here is to make sure that people understand what the clear stake is for the american people and our nation. he also wants to describe what sort of tools are at the disposal of the american government. >> reporter: the president talked tough about his ultimate goal. >> we are going to systematically degrade their capabilities, shrink the territory that they control, and ultimately we are going to defeat them. >> reporter: president obama continues to insist no u.s. boots on the ground. but in syria, where the group is fighting the assad regime and also holds large stretches of land, the administration has yet to outline a plan. >> this will become particularly urgent because the more success there is against isis in iraq, the more fighters will poor

across the border into syria and create a bigger problem. >> reporter: the administration repeatedly dodged questions about whether it will ask for congressional approval for any expanded action against the islamic state. >> we welcome congress as a partner as we confront some of these very difficult, and high stakes national security issues. >> reporter: there have been increasing calls on capitol hill for a vote. >> no one wants to see an extended engagement in iraq, but at the same time, i don't believe the american people are one bit reluctant to defend our national security, to defend the lives of fellow americans. >> reporter: whatever actions the u.s. takes, it will not go it alone. secretary of state john kerry met with nine allies at last week's nato meeting to form a coalition to confront the group. and tuesday kerry will travel to

jordan and saudi arabia to discussion the situation in iraq. >> as we build this coalition, i want to underscore almost every nation in the world has a need to join this fight. here is our report from bagdad. >> reporter: iraq has a new government, and it's a day before a deadline expires, but it's not entirely complete. it doesn't have an interior minister, defense minister or even water minister. and the kurds, one of the major partners have come to the table, come to parliament, in fact,

late, saying they would join but only for three months. they say they still have a list of demands including sharing oil revenue and settling boundary disputes. all of this leaves the new government in a precarious position, but he says that he is reaching out to the entire country. he has promised to provide services to cut down on the bureaucracy, as well as to continue the fight against the islamic state group and settle almost 2 million displaced iraqis who have been forced to leave their homes because of the fighting. in the coming days the kurds, sunnis, and the rest of the government will be sitting down to try to hammer out and resolve those issues, but that's while the main fight continues against the islamic state group in the north and the west with those u.s. air strikes, iraqi troops, kurdish forces, and increasingly sunni tribes, all of them hoping the combination of battles on the ground and a new government

can bring this country back together. >> former "new york times" editor, warren hoag comes back to join us again. welcome. it's good to see you. >> thank you. >> first of all how important is leadership to iraq at this point? >> i think it's terribly important, because the problem that iraq has had is that the former leader, malky, was a shiite leader who did not allow the inclusion of anybody else in that society, and there's no way you are going to confront isis effectively without an iraqi government that represents all parts of the population. >> and how significant is the arab league's decision to get involved? >> i think it's very significant. there are bigger problems that you can talk abu bakr al-baghdadi how to get this coalition working, but at least for the moment they are all signing on. >> what are the bigger problems?

>> the bigger problem is when they do sign on, will they perform? and going back to the nato meeting last weekend in whales, where you had 28 nations trying to decide to take concerted action, now that was about ukraine, but obama used that occasion to on the sidelines talk about this coalition and isis, and these are countries complaining about the lack of american leadership, and yet they have not stepped up, i'm talking about europeans, to do much about their defense budgets and taking action on their own, and the members of the arab league have not proven that individually they are willing to contribute much. >> money? >> i think that it will be a tough thing for obama to get them all together? >> are you talking about money? >> not money so much, but commitment of troops. as you know this war cannot be won just from the air. obama on wednesday will

obviously be talking about the coalition's need to put boots on the ground. that's not the united states or probably even european countries. it's arab countries, and whether the people willing to invest money are willing to make that commitment to refight this thing. >> in the past some of these count industries waited for the united states lead and waited for the united states to put boots on the ground and then in some cases it paid some money, right? >> yes. >> so how could this be different? >> that's the challenge that obama has on wednesday night. is to convince a divided congress, a divided american public and all of these allies that it requires this kind of commitment. >> can he do that? given his ratings, his popularity, and the press he has gotten about his so-called lack

of strategy, how -- what sort of rabbit can he pull out of the hat? >> it's about pulling rabbits out of hats, what i was going to say is do this at a time where his leadership being doubted; where he is being criticized by all three of those groups. i was just in five different countries in europe, and talking to citizens and friends, and all of them kept saying what has happened to america? it's not here anymore. they were faulting obama for the kind of language he was using. it does sound like presidential language. >> do you think that europeans agree with -- like republicans like ted cruz who say the united states needs to fight? >> i think to a certain extent they do. but europeans themselveses have been drawing down their defense budgets. nato has a requirement that you

have to have 2% of your gross domestic product devoted to defense. only 4 of the 28 countries -- one is the u.k., one is the u.s., have actually made that commitment. so when i was talking to europeans, i say, yes, but what have you been doing? and then they backed off. >> can you tell me what the turkish view is of the islamic state? >> it is very, very critical of the islamic state. right now turkey is very, very rapped up into this election. the president so far -- chuck hagel i think was there with him. he is make noises about really supporting this movement, and the turks are members of nato, and they can be depended upon, i think, to join the coalition. >> thank you very much. join us wednesday night on a

half hour special on the islamic state and the united states roll to stop it. the human rights group, said militias that helped overthrow gadhafi are guilty of war crimes. james bayes has our report. >> reporter: as the u.n.'s new enjoy makes his first visit to the country since he took the job, ban ki-moon has produced a report to the security council about the situation in libya. that report will be discussed next week, but al jazeera has obtained a copy, and it really makes very depressive reading, it says this first six months of the year witnessed the most serious outbreak since 2011. it is almost three years since the death of gadhafi, but those who were fighting him have

turned on one another. a desperate situation, the worst this country has seen in those three years. you have two -- parliaments, and two governments. but there is also wide-spread violence, and the civilians are getting caught up in all of this. a lack of food, water, electricity. a lot of people being displaced. a hundred thousand people displaced from tripoli, 20,000 from the east. and there are other grim statistics in this report about those fleeing libya. it has long been a root for migrants coming from africa. so far this year, 77,000 people alived in italy from libya, that's double the number in 2013. and it also says that fleeing libya, there were some 1,000 refugees who didn't make it, they drowned at sea.

violence in the libyan capitol is so intense, the elected parliament has had to flee to the east of that country. now we switch gears to the nfl. race rice was cut from the baltimore ravens today and suspended indefinitely by the league. it is in response to a dramatic video that shows rice punching his then fiance in the elevator. >> a fire storm erupted nearly seven months ago of the domestic violence video. criticism aimed not only at rice but also the nfl and the ravens after he received initially a two-game suspension. the release of the new video has lead to new punishment for the raven's starting running back. shortly after rice and his then fiance were arrested in february

following a domestic violence incident, the nfl announced it would launch its own investigation, and issue its own punishment, regardless of what was handed down by the da's office. who received a not guilty plea on the condition that he was attend counseling sessions. in addition to examining the initial video, the commissioner also met with rice and his wife who both apologized for their role in the incident, and told gaedel they were working through their issues. >> i deeply regret the role that i played in the incident that night. but i can say i am happy we continue to work through it together. >> gaedel suspended rice for the first two games on the season. and there new appears to be new evidence for the league to

examine. the nfl had requested any and all information from the incident, including video from inside the elevator, but it was not made available by local law enforcement. this was the first time anyone in the league office had seen video from inside the elevator. in the wake of the public outkra cry, gaedeled announced snu penalties to anyone involved in domestic violence: in a letter to team owners at the time, gaedel apologized for his initial ruling saying quote:

and by suspending ricin definitely, it gives the commissioner time to reexamine the event from the altercation, and decide a new punishment. the team was set to pay rice at least $10 million over the next three seasons, but will now not have to pay him a dime. and the ravens coach addressed the media and said this was the first time officials viewed the video from inside the elevator, and it changed things for the organization, but fell short of saying why. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> i don't want to get into all of that. i don't think of it that way. >> reporter: john you said it changed for you. why? >> i think it's pretty obvious. >> obviously awkward for the team, awkward for the nfl. is ray rice ever going to play in the nfl again?

>> i believe he has had a chance to. we have seen second chances in sports for decades, including michael vick who went to prison and he was able to come back into the league. so there is a chance that ray rice will have a future in the league. however, while he is indefinitely suspended, no other team is allowed to sign him. and he also can't go to canada and play in the canadian football league, because that league has always had an agreement with the nfl not to sign any players that are suspend interested in the nfl. >> we will all be waiting. michael eaves thank you. domestic violence is a big problem in the us. jonathan betz has that story. >> reporter: one out of every four women in the united states will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.

it affects more than a million women every year. and each minute, 20 people are beaten by their partners, most of them are women, but men are victims as well. and domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness among families. also it kills more than 2,000 americans every single year. that's about 14% of all homicides. and young black women are more likely to die at the hands of their partners than from anything else. >> we have a domestic abuse survivor, and director of the non-profit truth and reality. she joins us tonight. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> those statistics are terrifying, why does it take an incident regarding ray rice for the country to sort of sit up and take notice? >> every so often there is an incident. think about to chris brown and rihanna. in this particular incidence with nfl being our favorite

sport, it has brought this into the fold of the american public. what is interesting is the nfl took a very strong interest, and i think that's why there is so much buzz going on. >> right. but if the video hadn't been released would the nfl have taken this action? >> absolutely not. >> why? >> the nfl had access to that video prior. and seeing ray rice dragging his unconscious fiance out of the elevator was enough. >> the nfl saw it with their own eyes on videotape. >> yes. >> and the team had to know. >> all of america saw that video, and they took this weak approach, caught a lot of criticism, rethought their position, came out strong, and

then tnz magically was able to get ahold of a video that they supposedly weren't able to get their hands on. >> what has changed? >> nothing has changed. it's just the nfl now is in the uncomfortable position to essentially defending themselves as to why they didn't take this action in the first place. >> so are pro athletes held to a different standard? >> i think pro athletes, are actually given a greater pass than the average person because they are insulated by fame, they are insulated by privilege and wealth, and you have -- well, let's face it -- the ravens have a huge investment in maintaining their commodity which is ray rice. >> she ended up staying with ray rice. how does that impact this? >> it's not uncommon at all. it deflects from the greater

issue of why does he beat her? on average it takes a victim of domestic violence seven times to leave an abuser. one of the reasons why, i can speak for myself, i stayed because of social pressure. i didn't want to be another statistic. was always a statistic as a survivor, and now i didn't want the double stigma of having two children by two different men and having another failed relationship. >> what changed? >> when my then partner touched my son. i always thought what happened when he and i was one thing. if he ever physically hurt my children that would be it, and that's when i walked out the door. >> do you think people just don't understand?

that -- that's a very difficult thing for people to understand, why -- why women or men stay in relationships that are abusive. >> uh-huh. >> and we see this woman come on television with ray rice. >> uh-huh. >> so what has to happen to change that point of view? >> well, one, there has to be greater education around what the cycle of abuse is. when you think about it. before an abuser ever puts his hands on his victim, he has already beaten her down psychologically, emotionally, very often she is economically dependent on him, isolated from her friends. very often the people that she needs the most have already left because they don't understand why she stays. so her abuser, in fact, becomes her savior, and he will tell her that, so there is an element of brainwashing that occurs. in order for change to occur in

our culture, for greater accountability to happen, what we need are non-abusive men, non-abusive women to stand up and hold perpetrators accountable. people get very uncomfortable taking any kind of stand on an uncomfortable situation. and it's hard for someone to think that is a part of their golf foursome on saturday could be the same man who just beat the hell out of his wife the night before. people don't like taking a position. >> we thank you for helping us to understand this, and we hope to have you back and talk more about it. thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up next, the virus sending over a thousand children to the hospital and how parents can protect their children from it. and how dna may have solved the mystery of jack the ripper. ♪

a respiratory virus has sent more a thousand children in the united states to the hospital. doctors say the virus starts off like a cold that can become much more serious very quickly. >> reporter: i'm at the children's hospital in chicago. it is treating a number of suspected cases of intro virus 68. one of those patients is a 20-month-old girl. she came in about a week ago. she was experiencing symptoms very common to a cold, but it quickly morphed into acute respiratory stress. >> they tried to stabilize her, but they couldn't, so they sent us here. and ever since then they have been working on her. she has been on oxygen, and giving her treatments to help her out.

>> reporter: now she has been here about a week around, her mother thinks she'll probably be here another week. the cdc is recommending that parents keep a close eye on their kids, don't panic, and to prevent your child from possibly getting the virus, make sure they exercise goods hygiene, wash their hands. parents should wipe down surfaces can disinfectant. and if your child has asthma or are very young, keep a close eye on your kids. another american infected with ebola is taking to an atlanta hospital. the person is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. two other patients were taken to the facility where they recovered fully. it is warned that there will be thousands of new ebola cases

in the next few weeks. the african union held a meeting today to talk about the outbreak. >> reporter: this emergency meeting brings eventtives from all au countries, discussing what needs to be done in terms of mobilizing resources, and how african countries can contribute to the $600 million required to deal with the epidemic. many people who have been following the african union activities will tell you it has not really taken leadership in this crisis. it is only months later this meeting has been called. officials say they are doing as much as the union's caps a if -- capacity allows. other countries have also made contributions. but officials agree that more needs to be done. people hope that this meeting is

going to come up with a solid, common response, and that beyond the rhetoric, africa's presidents will [ inaudible ] in those affects countries. up next, president obama gets set to announce his plans for the fight against the islamic state group. a look at what could go wrong. plus where local police departments go shopping for military-style weapons. ♪

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this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york, and coming up, president obama plans to outline his strategy for confronting the islamic state group. plus police forces gather for an annual shopping spree to buy heavy arms. and jack the ripper, how an armchair detective says he solved a century's-old mystery. ♪ president obama preparing a strategy to stop the islamic state group. he is set to announce his plan to the nation on wednesday. mike viqueira reports. >> reporter: after a month of mixed messages on the fight against the islamic state group coming from the president, the vice president, and top officials, the president will get everybody on the same page. he announced in an interview

yesterday he'll be giving a speech on wednesday to talk about the strategy to take the fight to the islamic state group, perhaps into syria itself. in the meantime, the president is making very clear, there are a couple of things that will and won't happen. first he is trying to prepare the country for a long fight. this could took a while perhaps into the next presidency. it require a coalition, not only of the traditional american allies like in nato and european nations, but also regional nations, with the gulf states and other middle eastern states, joining as yet unnamed and unformed coalition still under negotiation. secretary of state kerry is heading for the region as we speak. and the president and his aids have said time and time again no american troops on the ground. so if the president's goal is to destroy and destrgrade the isla

state group within syria, who is going to do that? he said syrians themselves and specifically, when pushed, the free syria army. this is a group that the united states has been arming for perhaps as long as a year. but any arms that go to this group, there is certain, end up in the hands of rebels. and that equipment has been used against kurdish and iraqi forces as they try to push back the islamic state group after their rapid gains within iraq. on monday the white house press briefer gave a briefing. >> the united states has been engaged in an effort to support the free syrian army, for more than a year at least. separately, the concern e pressed by the administration at the time, and has been -- it is something that has been often

repeated is a concern that we didn't want to provide assistance to every individual who said that they were fighting bashar al-assad. >> and there has been an ongoing concern that arming the so-called moderate vetted rebels within syria is not a good idea, simply because many of those arms end up in the hands of the bad guys. the administration has blocked arms transfers from third-party countries like saudi arabia. also this question of will the president consult congress before he expands operations into syria? it's becoming very clear at this point that the president thinks he has the authorization that he needs, while he will be consulting congress on tuesday, it appears now there will be no further votes in congress to authorize an expansion of military action within iraq and syria itself. mike viqueira thank you. the islamic state group has been brutal to the children of

syria and iraq. today the united nations gave chilling details. they told the security council 700 children may have been killed or maimed in iraq. some were used as suicide bombers. others as young as 13 have been forced to carry weapons and fight with the group. and there is also evidence of mass executions of the children. president obama accused of playing politics with the issue of immigration after saying he would put off any executive actions. >> reporter: the white house is trying to down ploy the deplay on immigration. but josh earnest admits now isn't an ideal time to move forward. >> by injecting it into the high-ly charged debate is to subject this issue to gross

distortion and partisan ship that could alter that balance and we don't want to do that. >> reporter: the move means more waiting for immigration advocates. >> this tell uses that both democrats and the president are playing politics, and they are putting their political interests first over immigrant families that have been waiting for the president to act. >> reporter: republicans piling on criticism too. >> the president now is braisingly reaffirming an even clearer language that he will carry out his amnesty plan but only after the election in november. this is an attempt to protect his democratic senate candidates. >> reporter: the delay on immigration reform details is, however, welcome news from some senate democrats facing dif kault reelection bids in november. just what to do about the millions of undocumented migrants in the country, and the

children who fled to the u.s. from central america has stirred passions on all sides of the fight. the president pledged back in june to act by the end of summer, charging his cabinet to look into possible executive action. >> if congress will not do their job, at least we can do ours. i expect the recommendations before the end of the summer, and i intend to adopt those recommendations without further delay. >> reporter: white house officials say they believe the delay will ultimately pay off, and give immigration reform a better chance of weathering long-term political storms. now john, some democrats are concerned that this could cost them votes on election day because the base may be so angered that they just stay home. in order to do damage control, democrats and the white house are pointing the finger at republicans, reminding it was

the republicans who shut down the talk a few months ago. and saying the president is still your best hope of seeing real immigration reform happen over the next couple of years. john? libby thank you. president obama's decision to delay action on immigration may be aimed to help democrats in tight senate races. but this man says the president's decision won't have much of an impact politically. >> it is true that those on the far right who are opposed to immigration reform, and the incorporation of immigrants are unrelenting. but they will be voting against the democrats regardless. it's not as though this delay will open up some new tea party votes. this is more a question of what this does to folks in the middle. and on both fronts this was an issue that was popular, and now we're just going to have to wait

and see if something does come. several activists said they are outraged by the delay, but this man told ray suarez that latino voters are not likely to punish democrats by voting for republicans. last month's protests in ferguson, missouri sparked a national debate over the militarization of police in america. some of the heavy armor comes from the pentagon. it can also come from a trade show known as urban shield. melissa chan checked it out. >> reporter: it attracts law enforcement agencies across the country and also attracts the military, army, navy, and marine corps are here. you can, of course, try out the hardware. oh. it's like a very expensive paintball toy you have. >> it's a replica of an actual

weapon. >> reporter: here it is clear the line has blurred between the police and the military, but officers tell us for good reasons. >> the crux of the matter is in the world and the united states, we keep having what i call nut cases with the sole intent of killing people. >> you look at the gear we have and the gear the military has. the reality is, we have two of these vehicles, and the only time we'll bring them out is for barricaded suspects. >> reporter: in the post-ferguson period, a lot of people are talking about the militarization of police. is there a real concern there? >> no, what people perceive as the militarization of the police is having to meet an evolving mission. >> reporter: at this expo, we could not find anyone who would say what went wrong in ferguson,

or even acknowledge it was a problem. urban shield started eight years ago, and has also seen lots of interest from teams from overseas. the expo is just one part of urban shield. the other half is training. in this scenario, we're going to see a assassination attempt on a dignitary. over 48 hours, scores of s.w.a.t. teams will go through this training. it's this type of training that has been crucial, for example, in helping police respond to an event such as last year's bombing at the boston marathon. they tell us it has done more good than harm. but on the streets protesters don't echo that incentment.

among the protesters, the mothers of young men shot and killed by police. >> take your military tactics and get out of here! >> but son was cut up with a military weapon that when they go through a body it rips your skin up. my son was ripped up. >> reporter: on this day, the activists win. over the weekend, the mayor announced that urban shield will not be held in the city next year. it's time to go to washington, d.c. where joie chen is standing by to tell us what is coming up on "america tonight" at the top of the hour. >> good evening, john. on ameri-- "america tonight" we begin a new series overcoming disability. one burden can be helped with

just the stroke of a pen. we'll look at an exception young woman who has taken the fight right to the halls of congress. >> what did you want those senators to know, the people listening to you? what was the message you wanted to tell them? >> that people with disabilities and different kinds of disabilities, and [ inaudible ] have the right to live on their own. >> the first segment in our new series over coming disability begins with the story of that remarkable young woman. that's coming up at the top of the hour. we hope you join us then. ukraine's president made a surprise trip to the country's east. he says ukraine will never give up the disputed territory to pro-russian separatists. he visited the port city of mariupol. >> reporter: the fate of the

city of mariupol as depended on the loyalty of the tens of thousands of steelworkers who early in the conflict sided with kiev. so it was the steel works which the president chose the venue to express his things, and deliv deliverage of defiance. >> translator: let everyone know we will protect our city, region, state, and not give it away to anyone. we will not give it to anybody. any bit of ukrainian land, its territorial integrity and independence. now we're fighting for our independence. >> reporter: but the fight now moves to the negotiating table, and the president knows dealing with people he previously condemned as terrorists is going to be painful and difficult. the huge mom monument is dedicated to liberators. this rally on monday was

intended to mark the defeat of nazsy fascists. >> translator: we shareholder all of the world we are not terrorists. we are ready to talk. but if they are not ready to listen, nobody can bury the acts of war. >> translator: what compromise are you talking about? they came here with war. nobody invited them. people are against them. what compromise. let them take their troops from here, and peace will return. that's all. >> reporter: but this man fought for the soviet army in the 1950s, and he is saddened by the conflict in the east. >> translator: we old people, we're disturb to the bottom of our hearts, because ukraine and

russia, we are one nation. >> reporter: the terminology of this conflict is rooted in the language of extremism, and events such as this in a way only serve to perpetuate the gap between the two sides. paul brennan, al-donets al -- , donetsk. how modern works of art can be tools for diplomacy around the world.

good evening, we have six states tonight that are looking at very, very heavy and flooding rains, and this is all coming from the tropics. i'm going to take you just off of the coast here. notice the clouds there, that is the remanents of the tropical storm and depression, norbert,

and have has been going on for days. this has been a very well forecasted event. but we did not expect to see record-breaking rains today. in phoenix, while that produced 41% of the total amount of rain that phoenix would see in a whole year, now that has moved up towards the northeast, but look what is happening in vegas as well as california. we're looking at very heavy rain showers right now, and flash flood warnings are in effect where you see the red, so very dangerous conditions are expected through the rest of the evening. tomorrow we expect to see more rain as that system sits off of the coast, that is going to start to push away on wednesday. in phoenix we expect to see your rain start to ease as we go towards thursday, and those temperatures coming into the 100s by the time we get towards the weekend.

so very rainy and dangerous situation there. your news is next.

jack the ripper was one of the most notorious killers in history. he is blamed for the death of at least five prostitutes in 1888. russell edwards says a trace of dna from one victim's shall has finally revealed the identity. he says it is from a 23-year-old polish immigrant and an original suspect. >> from the material on there from both the killer and the victim has been phenomenal, and to have it match is amazing. i'm 100% certain. >> reporter: edward bought the blood-stained shawl at an action in 2007 and asked a forensic scientist to analyze it. he had a book coming out tomorrow called "naming jack the

ripper." we have a dna expert joining us tonight. welcome. >> good to be with you on the program. >> god to be with you. how surprising and likely is it that dna survived on this cloth so long? >> well, it's not necessarily surprising that some level of dna survived on the cloth. the real question is the results obtained are they actually from dna deposited back in 1888. >> so what can more than a century of wear and tear do to a piece of evidence and to this investigation? >> there are really two variables. number one time is the enemy of dna. with time the dna will degrade and break down, and there will be less of it to analyze, but maybe the bigger problem in this case is the authenticity of this

piece of evidence. certainly in 1888 it wasn't preserved for dna testing. and we don't have good records of where this shall has been over the last 126 years. so if somebody handled that shall with their hand or stood over it and perspired on it, you could pick up that dna as well. so to me the real question is -- the dna detected recently is that from 1888 or more recent? and dna technology cannot put a time stamp on profiles analyzed in the laboratory. >> what do you think? >> well, i think as a scientist reading all of the news articles, there are more questions than answers, and there are a number of things that would have to be vetted before i would offer an opinion on this. it could be legit. >> can you reliable narrow this sort of forensic technique and

how reliable is it at identifying one suspect? >> well, this is one of the problems is that we don't know the exact technique, and not all dna analysis is the same. some is very powerful, and we hear the crime scene evidence match a suspect, and that evidence would be expected to be found in 1 in 38 quadrillion people, but we don't know that that was the technology that was used. from what i read a specified sign of technology was used, and we know for a fact that that is not as discriminating as the classic dna test. >> how do they trace it back then so far? >> well, yeah, so the good news is about this type of testing is that all maternal relatives will have the same dna profile. so this is why it's useful for historical investigations. so by looking at descendants of

the victim in the case as well as komiski, you can compare their dna with any found on the shall and see if they agree. >> why do you think there is such intrigue with this murder? >> well, i think there has been so much folklore passed down. the fact it is unsolved is very sexy to people. and the dna i think will be met with a lot of doubt simply because it came back to one of the likely suspects, that kind of takes away from the romance of the story. >> thank you very much. >> my pleasure. coming up another 11:00 eastern time. a second nba owner selling his team over racially charged marks. what the atlanta hawks owner says now, and reaction from the nba commissioner. plus on the eve of the apple -- of apples big product announcement, what technology in

a new iphone could mean for your privacy. those stories and more coming up at 11:00 east, 8:00 pacific time. a non-profit is working with the state department to promote cross-cultural understanding of works of arts. >> reporter: this painting evokes the art of diplomacy, a debate over nuance and detail. but this is also diplomacy. the swirls, lines, and pigments of the imagination. this painting is permanently on view at the u.s. embassy in berlin, thanks to the efforts of a none profit. scottly greenwood sits on the board. >> art has no language barrier. it's a way to have a conversation with somebody even when you can't speak their

language. >> reporter: for nearly 30 years they have asked artists to create original works for u.s. embassies and console lates. the roster of participants is large. all of the work is paid through for private donations, key in a time of fiscal restraint. this artist designed a sculpture garden in athens. he said he was challenged to focus on more than beauty. >> once you enter the public realm you take on a different responsibility. >> reporter: they asked painter to create a work honoring colin powell. >> it is nighttime sky on the night that he was born in the bronx, but it's the nighttime

over jamaica on april the 5th, 1937. >> these artists give their works to us. so we're not buying the work. they are giving of their time and inspiration and talent. >> reporter: nearly 30 years of promoting cross-cultural understanding between countries lay the goodwill between people and artists who love art. now to our picture of the day, tonight's freeze frame is from an edge of an active volcano. well when normal selfies aren't enough, it's one taken next to a 1,000 degree lava pit. it's a volcano on an island in the pacific. more people have visited the moon than the inside of this volcano. i

i'm john siegenthaler. we'll see you back here at 11 eastern time. in the islamic state >> ...a sniper around the corner here... >> from the front lines, josh rushing reports, on al jazeera america

>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. >> on "america tonight": a growing threat and tough decisions. the president weighs how far to send u.s. fire power in the fight against islamic state. as he campaigns for support at home and abroad for that fight, and keeps the pressure on other forces. bent on strike beining out agait americans. also, the new political lightning rod and the battlefield is your child's classroom. is the common core,