$9.1 million in ad spending. it's a lot of money in a lot of places, an average of $20 million a day. that's the show for today. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. >> an isil massacre in anbar province, hundreds of members of a sunni tribe are killed. now iraq is planning a major spring offensive with u.s. help. >> the fierce campaigning before polls open. >> israel following clashes over settlements in the closing of gaza crossings. secretary of state john kerry trying to restart negotiations

between the israeli's and palestinians. >> the calendar says fall, but mother nature had other ideas. the east coast slammed with whipping winds and snow. the wintery weather won't last long. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. as peshmerga ground troops join the battle for kobane in syria, iraq forces plan a major spring offensive against isil. it's being devised with the help of u.s. military advisers and will require thousands more iraq troops. the goal is to force isil out of northern and western iraq. >> iraq confirming more than 100 members of a sunni tribe were killed, tribal leaders blaming the iraq government for not giving them supplies and weapons to fight back. >> we are live in baghdad this morning. there were multiple attacks, mostly on shia pilgrims over the weekend. how are iraq forces preparing for more violence today, given that it is an important holy day

for shias? >> that's absolutely right, the occasion is upon us and lasts until mid-day local time in iraq on tuesday. what we are seeing is a number of attacks and people are very worried here, because it's proven to be very difficult for the iraq security services to try to stop the attacks taking place, these are car bombs and suicide bombers. these are very difficult to attack, particularly when you've got thousands of people out on the street visiting the hospital at tents and going to hear the stories of times gone by, which is a tradition here. what the rack government is doing is trying to get the shia worshipers and faithful into certain areas and try to keep them secure in those areas, but they have failed. despite all of that, the shia are saying it won't stop us, we are going out, we are going to

commemorate assure are a. we have seen three attacks killing 45 people in the last four hours. >> why aren't the iraq troops being properly trained to battle isil? >> this is one thing that the sunni tribes have said long and time and time again. it doesn't matter if you're anti-government tribe, which there are several, or pro government sunni tribe, again of which there are several, the cry is the same. we need weapons. we need training, we need help and the iraq government, the americans seem to be unable or unwilling to give that you say help. the massacre of the tribe is just one of the massacres we've

seen across iraq in the last 12 months and cry is always the same. if you want to stop things like this happening, we need the weapons and training and simply aren't getting it. >> there are peshmerga forces on the turkey-syria border. are they equipped to tackle isil? >> well, they're in a different -- slightly different category to the sunni tribes in that they are an active fighting force with close relations with the americans. again, the kurdish peshmerga forces of long said that they need to be upgraded, their equipment upgraded. they have moved heavy weaponry into the border of turkey going into kobane, some is being used. turkey is proving to be a problem, putting some conditions in place about the weaponry they can take inside kobane, so although yes, the kurds are being armed and they do have the kind of weaponry needed to fight isil, getting it into the places it is needed, again is being

hindered. >> let's go to washington. lisa, what are we learning about this new spring offensive? >> this spring offensive according to "the new york times" would involve the u.s. training some 20,000 iraq troops and those troops along with u.s. airstrikes would try to isolate isil fighters in just certain parts of the country, cut them off from their supply lines so that they would be perhaps more easy to defeat. this is a very ambitious and complicate operation to pull off this spring. in the meantime, as the planning goes on for that, there were more airstrikes over the weekend in iraqi and in syria. >> the loud explosions and thick smoke filled the sky sunday as u.s. fighter planes launched new airstrikes on the syrian town of

kobane. people at a refugee camp on turkey's border watched and cheered at war planes flew over the border town. central command said five airstrikes were conducted, hitting isil united states and killing its vehicles over the weekend. on the ground, iraq peshmerga fighters fired mortar shells in heavy fighting against isil. the heavily armed peshmerga began crossing the barredder from turkey friday in pickup trucks and armored vehicles, marking the first time turkey has allowed ground troops outside syria to reinforce syrian kurds. in iraq, canada conducted its first combat airstrikes in the fight against isil sunday. two canada jets dropped laser guided bombs west of the iraqi capital. this air strike comes after last week's deadly attack in the capitol. the isil threat could an underlying factor in tuesday's

mid term elections. >> this is the last chance for america to pass judgment on the obama administration and on its policies. the president said he's not on the ballot, but his policies are. >> voters will be asking themselves who has my back and they will consistently across the board say democrats have their back. >> now of course the mid term elections will be decided on a host of issues, not just what's going on internationally but domestically with the economy, health care and other issues like that, all part of a bundle that voters will be considering tuesday. >> back to the spring offensive, how much can we expect in terms of any u.s. boots on the ground leading up to the offensive in iraq? >> the white house has consistently said there will be no u.s. combat troops on the ground. they are there in an advisory, training and security role. there are 1600 u.s. troops in rack right now. the spring offensive if launched

could mean an additional 3500 u.s. troops will be head to go that country. >> lisa, thank you very much. >> it is the eve before mid term elections and looks more and more likely that the republicans will gain control of the senate. democrats have been in charge of the upper house since 2006 and right now have a 53-45 edge over republicans. two independents also caucus with the democrats. nine races are considered close. republicans just need six seats to take over the senate major. >> i in the house, all seats are up for grabs there. republicans have a 234-201 seat majority. thirty seats are open. republicans hope the pick up 10-15. democrats would need to gain 17 seats in order to take control of the house. coming up, we'll talk about why

the gop aren't happy with their outreach to young voters. tune in tomorrow night for our complete coverage of america votes, 2014. >> elections elsewhere, pro-russian separatists in eastern you a crane elected their own leadership. exit polls claim rebel leader took 81% of the presidential vote. he's a former mining electrician. the u.s. and e.u. say the election is not legitimate. russia will recognize the results. the ukrainian president poroshenko is calling it a farce. >> secretary of state john kerry says he is going to restart the stalled peace process between israel and the palestinians today, he is meeting with a high ranking palestinian official in washington. tensions have been rising since a far right rabbi was shot last week, prompting israel to close a mosque sparking international outrage. we are live in west jerusalem.

that mosque recently partially reopened with restrictions on who could go in and who couldn't. are there still limits on who's allowed in? >> good morning, there are still restrictions in place, men, palestinian men under the age of 40 are not allowed to enter the mosque compound, however, it is open to worshipers and is open to non-muslims, tourists. the situation remains extremely tense. just yesterday, sunday, a politician, a leading politician from the far right israeli party did go into the mosque compound. he was there for sometime and left without incident, but again, it really just underscores the layers of security that are now there preventing people, particularly

palestinians from going in, palestinian youth in particular, who might object to visits like that. >> over the weekend, israel's cabinet approved a 20 year prison sentence for stone pelters. how is is that decision affecting the already tense situation on the ground? >> not well. in fact, if you speak to palestinians in east jerusalem, they'll say this move by the israeli government is an extension of what they describe here as collective punishment. collective punishment to palestinians is whenever crimes are committed by the few, the israeli security forces punish the many. now that manifests itself in many different ways, but the reason palestinians are described being harsh sentences for stone throwers is they say this is a deliberate strategy by the israeli government to criminalize young people, young people who they say are fighting against what they describe as a very aggressive israeli security

presence in their neighborhoods. >> israeli and egypt both closing their border crossings into gaza. we are in west jerusalem this morning, thank you very much. >> this morning, military forces are trying to clear streets in burkina faso. protests ramped up after the military took power. the president stepped down friday after days of tkepl mob stations. the state department is calling on troops to transfer fewer civilian authorities. the u.n. is threatening economic sanctions. >> a young terminally ill woman at the center of that controversy about the right to die has now taken her own life. >> she chose to die in her portland, oregon home. she had pushed back the date, saying she wasn't ready. >> that was on wednesday, she posted a video saying she first still feeling joy in her life and was not sure she would die on saturday as intended, but she had a change of heart and ended

her life just weeks before her 30th birthday. >> on november 1, britney maynard died just as she said she would. >> i will die upstairs in my bedroom that i share with my husband, with my mother and my husband by my side. >> she took the lethal pills prescribed by an oregon doctor, ending her life before a brain tumor could. doctors gave her six months to live. faced with a path of extreme pain, maynard and her husband, dan, moved from san francisco to oregon, the first of five states to enact the death with dignity law. in early october, she announced her decision to die to the rest of the world. >> i know it's there when i need it. >> her video has received nearly 10 million views. at 29 years old, she has changed the face of the right to die movement, but not immune to criticism, even from other terminally ill patients, like a mother of four who urged maynard

not to do it, writing will you hear my heart ask you, beg you not to take that pill. >> some say the idea is nothing more than suicide, but maynard made it clear she did not want to die. >> if all my dreams came true, i would somehow describe this, but i -- >> she said every week brought more pain, suffering seizures and stroke like symptom. her physical appearance that had already changed so much was a constant reminder. >> you really kind of stop recognizing yourself in a way. >> she ultimately took her life two days after her husband's birthday. >> having been an only child, for my mother, i want her to recover from this. i want him to be happy and

there's no part of me that wants him to live out the rest of his life just missing his wife. >> maynard worked with a group called compassionate choices to put out those votes. the group is campaigning in five states for death with dignity laws. only five states allow a terminally ill patient to seek aid in dying. >> a former navy seal this morning speaking out about the criminal investigation into his book. he wrote under an alias about the raised that killed osama bin laden. he tells 60 minutes why he may have broken the law but says he didn't let the military review the book. >> from the beginning, i've always tried to do the right thing. had we purposefully tried to go around what my obligations were, absolutely i should be held accountable. the fact is i didn't. i hired a lawyer with my own money off to the side, because i wanted to do the right thing. i got horrible advice and i've dealt with that for the past two

years. >> he just wanted to write about his experiences. he says the military has launch add campaign against him including leaking his real name. >> it is an emotional morning at the site of the september 11 attacks in new york city. the new world trade center tower officially opening its doors today more than 13 years after the original towers came down. john tar rot is live in lower manhattan this morning. one world trade center opening for business this morning. it is a gorgeous building. what are people saying on the ground there? >> gorgeous building, gorgeous day in lower manhattan and very important day for the city and this part of the island in particular. it's 104 stories, stands 17765 high. today, moving in and going to work for the very first time, the staff of the publishing

behemoth conde nash. they will occupy over the course of the next couple of months 1.2 million square feet of office space. the believe is still going to be about 60% empty. that speaks to people's fears about being in a building that high this close to the world trade center site where the disaster happened 13 years ago. this morning, we met some new yorkers coming to work here, getting off the number 12 bus and not surprisingly, opinions were mixed. >> oh, yeah, this will always be in the back of their minds, you know, but you can't let that affect your lives. you got to live your lives and carry on, you know? >> would you consider taking a job in the tower there? >> no. >> can you tell me why? >> i don't know. maybe fear. i can't work in any of those buildings. i don't mind working around it, but not in it.

>> for many people, that is a prevailing opinion, and is a fair one, as well. >> it doesn't seem like 13 years ago to a lot of new workers. that there building is not built like other sky scrapers. tell us more about the construction. >> it really isn't. i mean this building, if you look over my shoulder, i think you can see it. you might say i can do a better job of designing a building like that. it's very boring. the first 20 floors are literary a fortress, concrete and steel. concrete is tougher than concrete used anywhere else, the steel thicker and tougher than used in any other building. the reason is were there to be, please god there isn't, were there to be a vehicle bomb here, the blast would have to go somewhere and it would go up the building. the windows and offices there, people would be hurt. the hope is by putting this fortress of steel and concrete

up 20 floors, staff will be protected should that happen, which everybody hopes it won't happen. >> it is i believe now the tall evident building in america, as well. >> built to last. >> i hope so. >> parts of the country dealing with drought, other parts getting heavy rain today. >> for more on the national forecast, let's bring in nicole mitchell. >> over the course of the weekend, california was getting areas of heavy rain. our friends in california haven't seen rain in so long, they were saying it was the apocalypse. texas getting rain from the next system moving in. you can see texas and oklahoma both dealing with that today and more so into the day tomorrow. we'll see heavy rain. here's a look at the drought. you can see the deepest red colors. that's exceptional, the highest category of drought. we've had this in this region of the country. this is going to be some really beneficial rain. this is the next 48 hours. you can see almost the core of

where we have the exceptional drought, you can see two, three, four inches of rain, isolated spots even higher could lead to quick temporary flooding concerns. this is beneficial. this is part of this going to be on election day, that tends to impact how many people get out the door, but the rain really needed here. >> ok, nicole mitchell, thank you. >> you know it's monday when i can't get the words out. >> test results expected for that north carolina patient doctors fear may have ebola. >> this while in west africa, a setback for containing the virus. another doctor in sierra leone tested positive. we are in monrovia with a live report on how the fight is going in liberia. >> could adrian peterson be back on the field soon? the deal he is working on to deal with child abuse charges that got him suspended from the game. >> investigators reveal part of

the craft changed positions seconds before it disintegrated. >> our big number of the day. >> one hospital chain to ha to pay up for over billing the government.

>> today's big number is $37 million. that's how much one hospital chain willify settle charges that it overbuild the government. >> it has 39 centers across the west. 13 are involved in the settlement. the government saying the hospitals overcharged medicare and the military health program. >> one former employee will get more than $6 million for blowing the whistle. the company called it a billing dispute, saying doctors misunderstood federal billing rules. >> nfl star adrian peterson working on a plea deal that could be done by tomorrow. he was suspended indefinitely for spanking his child. >> there are questions about whether he will be back on the football field this season. we have the latest. >> minnesota vikings star running back has missed all but

first of the team's nine games this season. the nfl effectively suspended him with pay while charges stemming from disciplining his son played out in court. his legal team is negotiating a plea deal. his defense lawyers hope to present the agreement to a judge tomorrow afternoon. it would reportedly reduce the felony child abuse charges peterson faces to a misdemeanor. the nfl hasn't made statement about allowing peterson to return to football if his plea is successful, however the league did only suspend robert irsay six games for his misdemeanor, driving while intoxicated. peterson has been suspended eight games already. neither peterson's defense team nor prosecutors have confirmed the report. if the plea agreement does not happen, trial is september for december 1 in houston. >> we expect test results for a possible ebola patient in the u.s.

the unidentified man is being examined in the duke medical center. meanwhile, kaci hickox wants to assure the people in her hometown in maine. >> i will not go into town, into crowded public places. i have had a few friends visit me in my home and that's absolutely fantastic. >> she also says she stands by her criticism of new jersey's governor chris christie saying an abundance of politics led to her quarantine. ebola now spreading nine times faster in sierra leone than two months ago, seeing an average of 12 cases every day. word in just moments ago, a doctor who contracted the virus there has died. joining us now by phone is a missionary in the capitol city of monrovia. lincoln, thanks for being with us. as the situation worsens in sierra leone, there are in liberia where you are beds in

ebola treatment hospitals that are empty. have you noticed fewer patients? >> yes. thanks for having us again. yes, here in mon rove i don't, liberia, west africa, there are signs that you are having a serious drop, a decline in patients being infected by the ebola virus. >> i want to make sure this is a decline, we're also receiving reports saying that some infected people or have family members who are sick might be going into hiding rather than facing the stigma and possible quarantine. do you think that's why the numbers are low officer. >> no, those are isolated cases. on friday, the president dedicated 200 bed unit, ebola treatment unit built by the american troops here, and we have four major ebola treatment centers in the capitol.

we have seen the depth go from 500 plus a couple weeks down to about 117. although signs are very clear here, people are more aware. you've seen less and less people come in and less and less people are dying. thanks again to the american public for helping. >> what about the military, speaking of u.s. help. are you seeing signs of what they managed to accomplish or are still doing there? >> yes, if the last few weeks, the u.s. military have taken beds up to 1,000 here. they have built four major units here in liberia northwest of the capitol. then you've seen them build another major one in the capitol, as well.

lincoln burnell, thank you very much for being with us this morning. >> if that is true that they are getting an edge over ebola, that is good news. >> the east coast slammed with high winds and in some places snow over the weekend. >> she said snow. nicole mitchell is here. >> in a lot of case, we made it to november, places like massachusetts all the way down to south carolina snow reported. nantucket for example, 70-mile per hour wind gusts, that's almost hurricane force. what show you saw might have been going sideways. the remnants is cold air. a lot of temperatures around freezing this morning and an interesting juxtaposition because of all that. all of these are freeze areas, but the reds that pop up for later in the day, that is red flags. we go from freezing conditions to warming up enough later today with all the dry air that came in that we actually have a fire

danger in some parts of the southeast. >> i still heard snow. >> that's all he heard he. >> a rock is reportedly making plans to launch a major offensive against isil. >> it comes after hundreds were slaughtered in anbar province. we have more on what the u.s. can do to stop the advance of isil. >> a suicide attack along pakistan's border to india. dozens are dead and now the taliban claims responsibility. >> taking a walk on the wild side to say the very least, daredevil nick with a len da walking the tightrope high positive chicago. we are live with the excitement, controversy and science behind this feat. >> a totally cool penguin cam that provides an up-close look at life on the ice. it's one of the stories caught in our global net.

>> you are looking live near

kobane where kurdish forces continue to fight isil. >> the president of the syrian coalition tells us why he thinks the u.s. strategy is backwards. >> a record breaking tightrope walk between two sky scrapers blindfolded. >> thousands are native americans protest outside the vikings-redskins game, calling the mascot racist. >> lets look at stories. the final push today for can dates to win the mid term elections. the big prize is the senate. the republicans need six seats to take the majority. at least nine races are considered to be close. >> a holy city on edge at secretary of state john kerry attempts to restart the peace talks in washington. strehl security forces and palestinian clashing over jewish settlements this weekend. israel has closed the border crossings with gaza over concerns. >> the iraq key government

saying a mass ask her was carried out by isil. more than 320 people were killed. the tribal leader asked the iraq government for military assistance but just didn't get any. >> major mike lyons joins us to dive deeper into this tribe and exactly what happened over the weekend. thank you for being with us. this tribe hadn't just asked the iraqis for help, they asked the u.s. for help. why didn't they get the help they needed? >> the united states won't go around the iraq key government, they'll take priority with regard to what they want to do. at this point, we only have troops inside baghdad. it would have taken humanitarian airstrikes let's say and other munitions, as well. the iraq government really rules the day. >> you and other military experts have said over and over that ground troops are needed to defeat isil. here you have ground troops, soon any tribes willing to fight

isil and they are not equipped. what does that say about the u.s. strategy? >> it says that the iraq government is not willing to fight for its own people and the united states strategy is not able to exert leverage on iraq to do the right thing. it would not have taken a large ground force in order to defeat isis on the ground there in order to prevent this from happening. maybe airstrikes and the like. right now, it's like we've got our hands in our pockets, waiting for something to happen when this is happening right in front of our ice. >> you say iraq is calling all the strikes? the leader of this tribe tried to get in touch with the u.s. general coordinating efforts, couldn't get in touch with him. you are saying the u.s. is totally hamstrung? >> we're at the division level. that's the highest level of where we're providing advice and guidance. this is all happening at the tactical level, very slow small arms and small unit coordination

take place. we don't have anybody there and because we don't have the information on the ground, we find out after it happens. until we get further down into these iraq units, these kind of situations are going to continue. >> it wasn't the first slaughter and probably won't be the last. major, thank you very much. >> there are also concerns this morning over the u.s. strategy in syria. nick schiffron sitting down with the president of the syrian coalition. it represents groups looking to out of the the assad regime. he said without a clear goal from the u.s., it will be an up hill battle to save the people of syria. >> is president obama's strategy for syria working? >> i think if we work in good faith and partnership, for sure it will work, we will make sure it will work. i hope that our american friends, they can listen more to us. >> so far, has that strategy worked? >> right now, there is no, to be honest, there is no firm strategy which you can see it.

there is only the airstrikes. since there is only airstrikes, really, it's not strategy. >> has there been any coordination between the u.s. air force, the u.s. military airstrikes on the ground in syria and free syrian army commanders who are actually on the front. >> there is no coordination at all between the free syrian army and the command and control center, which is doing the airstrikes, but we are insisting that this should be developed soup. >> you've asked for training, you've asked for weapons. president obama has promised $500 million worth of training and weapons. have you received anymore training and anymore weapons in the last two months. >> the way it's being hand right now, the program, it would be too late to achieve anything if they leave it as it is. we don't provide the correct amount which assistance and help to these forces, then we are carrying the risk of losing these forces, which are very

good fighters on the ground against isil and against the regime. we are not asking for any boots on the ground. we are not asking for anybody to come and fight our own wars. all we are asking for, just the supply of weapons and munitions and we will do the fighting. >> he also says almost half the countries population has fled their homes. he also says that more people could be in danger if the threats from the assad regime and isil continue. >> several taliban groups are taking responsibility for a suicide bombing near a main crossing between pakistan and india. at least 55 people have been killed and more than 150 wounded. sunday's attack targeted crowds gathered to watch a military ceremony. >> a convicted war criminal in bangladesh has lost an people against his death sentence. he was a senior member of the party and found guilty of

genocide and tortured. two other leaders in the party have also been sentenced to death. >> you may say finally, but less than 24 hours from now, americans will vote in the mid term elections, control of the senate and washington's agenda is at stake. republicans seem poised to take the majority. what role that president obama played in this year's campaign? >> it's been minimal. the president's approval ratings are at an all-time low, 44% of the americans approve of his job performance. that's according to a newark to know post abc news poll. congressional candidates ever not wanted the president by their side. he did do stumping this weekend for gubernatorial candidates. he made one stop in reaching out on sunday to working class voters. that was in bridgeport, connecticut, when he was stumping for the governor there, dan malloy. >> if you want something better, you've got to vote for it.

if you believe working families need more tax breaks, not millionaires, you got to vote for it. if you think we should be investing in our kids schools and making college more affordable, you got to vote for it. >> the president there trying to energize the crowd. with the president virtually sidelined on the campaign trail, there have been a lot of surrogates stumping for the democrats, including bill clinton and hillary clinton and mitch shmichelle obama. >> there are nine close raises across the country, what states should we be watching? >> there are nine close raises, some of razor thin. one of the key states we will be looking at is iowa. their conservative joani earnst

and another key state is north carolina. there there's a democratic incumbent, kay hagan. she was expect to be in big trouble, but she's running neck and neck with her republican opponent and that is tom tillis. we should mention that this may not be decided when the polls close tomorrow. it could involve a couple of runoff elections, so it may not be until january until we find out who really will control the senate. as you've said, the momentum is on the side of the republicans. >> we may be hearing hanging and dimpled chads again. what about the house? it would take 17 seats if the democrats want to gain control. >> no one expects the democrats to gain control of the house. it would take them 17 seats to gain control of that chamber.

republicans are hoping to increase their majority, but either way, they will end up controlling the house. as you know, during mid term elections, the party in the white house often suffers losses, so no one is expecting the democrats will end up in control of the house and they may lose the senate. >> lisa stark for us in washington, d.c., thank you very much. >> we're going to be talking to our political contributor about the mid terms. >> we're learning more about why police impose flight restrictions during this summer's unrest in ferguson, missouri. audio recordings reveal one reason was to keep away news helicopters during the violent street protests. the report contradicts police claims that it was put in place for safety. >> there are new details this morning into the investigation of that deadly space crash on friday. investigators say a key safety feature deployed too soon. virgin galactic spacecraft two,

the ntsb not saying if that is what caused the crash to come down. they still have hours of video to go through. >> six cameras on the vehicle itself, six non-volatile sources of information on the vehicle itself. >> the co pilot died in that crash. the other pilot was severely injured. >> the windy city is still buzzing this morning after a death defying stunt broadcast live on television, daredevil nick with a len da walking a tightrope blindfolded 60 stories above the chicago river and surrounding streets. describe what took place last night. >> chicagoans are pretty jaded. we see a lot of crazy things, occasionally people try to scale willis tower, but what we saw last night was really pretty incredible. 35-year-old nick wallenda, a

seventh generation of the flying circus act walked between the towers and building at a 19-degree angel. he was supposed to be walking at a 15-degree angel but at the last minute they had to make an adjustment. he started his walk at 588 feet and ended at 671 feet. his second walk was shorter. he did that blindfolded. he did both walks without a safety net. there were concerns about winds last night. they were at about 20 miles per hour. he did say when he was doing those walks when he did the first, he could feel movement on the line and he was planning to do a selfie, take a selfie of himself walking but because of the wind and movement on the line, he decided to forego that. >> just decided to walk the tightrope up there. this wasn't just a stunt. he broke records in the process. >> >> he broke two records last night.

one was the steepest climb, the other the highest walk between two sky scrapers blind folded. with those two walks, he's now broken 10 world records, so pretty amazing. >> diane live in chicago, thank you. >> there is a lot of conversation over the weekend about whether ratings pressure has made stunt artists go too far. >> houdini did it and we watched evel knievel. there are television networks doing this for ratings. you wonder sometimes how many people watch to see the stunt and how many watch to see it fail. >> possibly go wrong, yes. >> it's going to be easier to surf the web at old faithful. the miami herald saying a $34 million fiber optic line is being installed to improve connectivity and some say they just don't want to see that much electronic access when you're supposed to be paying attention to mother nature.

>> you hope to get away is the other part. >> i can't comment because i don't drink scotch, but it has been put on the rocks to make way. the daily express said no scottish distillers made it into the top five. it was the japanese whiskey put on the top of the list. >> johnny walker red is seeing red this morning. that is not good. >> what's black and white and fluffy all over? of course it is a robotic rover that allows biologists to study penguins. the australians say it's described as a chick to get up close. it reminds me so much of happy feet. this little spy was so convincing that the penguins talk and sing to it, but got disappointed when it didn't sing back. next time, they're going to have to figure out a way to make it sing. >> we don't often show animal

videos, but i could watch that all day. >> i like the penguins. >> we'll talk about voter apathy and how it could affect tomorrow's elections. >> some parties say their party needs to do more. >> huge fangs on a dear is were you ever today's discovery. >> if running the new york city marathon wasn't enough, this woman decided to snap selfies along the way. >> an election day midterms marathon. >> it's gonna be close. >> several swing state elections are up for grabs. >> are you kidding me? >> don't miss filmmaker a.j. schnack's unprecedented... >> if i can drink this, i don't see why you should't be able to smoke that. >> behind the scenes look... >> are you gonna do this? >> at what it takes to win. >> it's certainly something that doesn't exist elsewhere in politics on television. >> midterms election day marathon. tomorrow, 1:00 eastern.

only on al jazeera america.

>> let's look at what affect on the mid term collections with turnout. over 206 million people are eligible to vote, but 75 million of them didn't vote in 2012. more than one third of eligible voters did not vote. in fact on the list of world

democracies, the u.s. is in the bottom third. in 2012, 129 million eligible voters showed up. that's like france and the united kingdom combined deciding our elections together. that's pretty much that what's happening every election. it really is like another country, a white are, richer, older group is deciding the fate of a more divers poorer group who don't vote. our country would be very different if everyone who could cast a ballot did so. studies find the democratic party would enjoy much more support, more than half of all non-voters identified lean

toward democrats. just 27% support republicans. if all eligible voters voted, the make for break mythical issues could be vastly different in our country. hispanic voters make up 17% of adults but are only 7% of likely voters. let's assume hispanic non-voters have the same feelings. if half went to the polls, nearly 8 million people, immigration would be a very different political issue here in the united states. let's consider income. 32% of americans make less than $30,000 a year and that group makes up more than half of people who don't vote. that's more than 35 million people hovering just above the poverty line. imagine the impact if they did

vote. as it is, issues that most directly affect the poor, minimum wage, equal pay, social security, health care, are being decided by those who are far less affected by these issues. >> the gop are poised to take the senate. rand paul is not happy with the way his party reaches out to voters. >> i think what's interesting is when i say the brand sucks and we need to recognize it, certain segments which our population. if i came up to you and you were an african-american young woman in the college, what are the chances you are going to say republican, i want to join immediately. >> how risky are those comments? >> that said, rand paul is part of a younger generation of gop leaders who really see the changing demographics of the

country and say we should be out trying to appeal to voters, not just older, whiter conservative voters, but younger minorities and women. if the gop can't attract african-americans, can't traik latinos, young people and women, they will never be a national party. on that, he is absolutely right. >> could 2014, the mid terms be the last hurrah of the gop if it doesn't change its strategy with reward to say minorities and women. >> it absolutely can. i think so many of us looking at the numbers feel if they don't start attracting these voters who are the voters of the future, they will be a congressional party, certainly, but they will not be able to take the white house in 2016 or beyond. that's the simple math, the gop after 2012 when it tried to figure out what had gone wrong made that case. we have to start expanding our base. >> a new hampshire rand paul

doing well there, does he have a chance of becoming the nominee? >> i think it's a long shot. he is described by time magazine, politico, washington post and others as one of the most interesting figures in oh politics today. >> when you talk about time magazine, politico and the washington post, those are the publications that tea party say that is the traditional establishment wants to see rand paul anyway. >> they don't like them. the gop, as much as he may be attractive at this point, i think he's probably still a little risky for them. he doesn't like the term isolationist, but comments on foreign policy, for instance, that's not something that the majority of the gop is probably going to find appealing. i think they'll probably go with standard bearer, jeb bush, mitt romney, somebody along those lines. going forward, we have to remember, he's only a first term senator, it's amazing what he has accomplished in a short

period of time. >> we'll talk about the future of the senate. aljazeera will have complete mid term election coverage tonight. >> a record 50,000 people took part in the new york city marathon. besides the 26-mile decides stance, the biggest object technical, 30-mile an hour winds. a kenyan pulled away to win his third major marathon title in a year. he finished in just over 2:10. on the women's side the winner was a canian, making it a sweep. >> snapping selfies of herself with random strangers, she called it extra motivation to make it to the finish line. she said it became a lifeline

helping her deal with the death of her brother. >> a week long transatlantic race, 3500-mile nautical competition started in a french city and will end in the caribbean island guadalupe. >> one crashed into a cargo ship hours into the race and couldn't continue. >> let's check our forecast with nicole mitchell. >> i was on a water break. not a marathoner. that takes a lot. we are looking at rain out there, so you're having a water break of your own. this is really needed rain. the next system we have in will be accompanied by hi winds into the northwest, already ahead of that system start to go get rain today. we do have a little reprieve.

that last front that went through and brought the wind and rain and drop in temperatures, finally nice rebounding today. sixty degrees, getting all up and down the east coast back into the 60's, a few 50's well northward, but that is much more comfortable and not the wind chill like in so many place yesterday. watch out for that front tomorrow, could cause a few places, people to stay home, because not wanting to go out during the rain. >> nicole, thank you very much. >> it may look like halloween, but sunday, millions around the world marked the day of the dead. in brazil, thousands dressed like zombies, flooding rio streets. the day of the dead is a national holiday in mexico. it is celebrate in many hispanic cultures. family and friends pray for those who died, often visiting cemeteries. >> we'll have a live report from how african american voters could affect several hotly contested races in the south. >> it could determine the

balance of power in the senate. >> we'll have the latest on the virgin galactic crash. investigators are focusing on the pilot. >> we are back in two minutes with more. stay with us. >> on the next "talk to al jazeera", legendary tv host dick cavett. >> steve jobs said, "how does it feel to be dick cavett"? about the only question that's ever floored me, you know? >> "talk to al jazeera". saturday. 5:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america.

>> bying homes by the landlords. monitory value. >> they're being taken advantage the crisis continues.

>> ground breaking... >> they're firing canisters >> ... emmy award winning investigative series. landlords. >> ramping up the fight, iraq prepares a major offensive against isil as the group massacres hundreds of members of a sunni tribe. >> the candidates are making their final mid term pushes before the voting begins. would republican control of the senate cause more gridlock or open the door to negotiation? >> new details emerging over the crash of an experimental spacecraft.

>> taking their anger to the road, protestors following the washington redskins to minnesota. these people say the team needs to have a new name. >> good morning. welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. >> the fight against isil in iraq could heat up son. the u.s. helping baghdad plan a major spring offensive. the u.s. military will advise iraq troops. >> the iraq government confirms 300 members of a sunni tribe were killed by isil in anbar province. tribal leaders asked the iraq government for help but didn't get any. >> lisa stark is in washington. good morning. could this new spring offensive in iraq mean more u.s. boots on the ground? >> according to "the new york times," the spring offensive would involve 20,000 additional iraq troops being trained by the u.s., so yes, it could mean more u.s. advisors on the ground.

the white house has made it clear they don't plan on putting combat boots on the ground, but it could mean a substantial increase in the number of advices. right now, there are about 1600 advisors, that's the cap right now that the white house has set on the number it will send to iraq. this could increase by another 3500 u.s. troops if this spring offensive truly gets underway. >> the boots that are fighting on the ground, iraq kurdish forces now, the peshmerga, they're in that syrian city of kobane. what are we hearing about the fighting there? >> this is the first time that the turkish government has allowed foreign troops to go across their border into syria and help the fight in co babe. now these as you say are troops from iraq, peshmerga troops and they have brought heavier weapons with them which was desperately needed, mortar weapons, for example. there have been heavy clashes around kobane, that town right on the border between syria and

iraq and casualties on both sides. while the ground fighting goes on, what also continues is the u.s. air strike, central command launching five more airstrikes around the town of kobane this weekend. still a very contested area right there on the border. >> another development for the first time, canada is taking part in the u.s. led airstrikes. >> canada this weekend, two of the canadian jets fired bombs on the town near fallujah just west of the iraq capitol. this was the first time canada took part in the coalition airstrikes. it comes after last month's attack in ottawa, the deadly attack in the canadian capitol. obviously the canadian government said it would not be deterred, the defense minister saying this shows that they have the resolve to take on terrorism and stand with their allies.

>> thank you. >> baghdad not surprisingly on high alert praising for attacks, because it's a holy day for shia muslims. hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are converging there causing a major security challenge for iraq forces. >> iraq key's are hoping this isn't a sign of things to come. on sunday, a parked minivan exploded in baghdad. sent had been set up to greet shia muslims who will alive monday night for assura. >> two men came into the tent. they drank tea and ate busy cuts, saying they were going to do some shopping. the van exploded moments after. >> assura commemorates the death of the prophet muhammed's glands son. in 2013, visitors to the holy city, the focus for the commemoration reached record levels with 7 million visiting

over the period. across baghdad, preparations are underway for the thousands who will be on the streets and despite the danger from attack, many are ready to brave whatever may come. >> those isil rats are trying to in fest us with fear and hatred, just like al-qaeda did. i'm not scared to be here at all. >> his words are common here, that nothing will stop the people from coming and showing their love. >> assura is commemorated from monday night into tuesday morning, and this street will be packed full of the faithful. the government says there is an unprecedented security operation and they're hoping that the assura will pass peacefully. >> the religious spiritual

nature of this day is highlighted. food and drink are an important part and given away for free. >> politics also plays a role and slogans are displayed with pride, but this year, it's not just the old enemies, it's new ones like isil, whose fighters are on three he sides of the capitol, only increasing fears of attack. >> iraq authorities say they have no choice but to go ahead with the celebrations today. >> an apology from a former navy seal now under criminal investigation for writing about osama bin laden's death. telling 60 minutes he got bad legal advice when he penned his book under the alias mark owen. >> he said you are a civilian

now, you are under no legal obligation to get it reviewed. >> what do you know now? >> you're supposed to get any type of manuscript or book reviewed. >> he insists he he had no intention of doing anything to hurt his fellow seals. >> there is a bid to save the mideast peace talks in washington. secretary of state john kerry will sit down with a high ranking palestinian delegation. protests came days after israel shut down the temple mount. we are live in west jerusalem, let's talk about what's happening in gas. israel and egypt closing barredders to the region. what prompted that decision? >> good morning, del. it's a very complicated situation. i'll start with israel's closure at its crossings. of course the border that gaza shares with israel is the

longest. the reasons is a few days ago, the israeli military say what they describe as a projectile was fired into gaza territory. they don't discuss whether it was a mortar or missile, but the response was to close the border crossing, in their words, until further notice. we don't know when it will reopen again. on the egyptian side, the situation there is for more complex and more wide ranging. of course, we've been covering over the past several days the fact that egypt is building what they describe as a trench effectively separating gaza and egyptian territory. this follows the killing of 30 egyptian soldiers along that border area. not fingering any group in particular, but really just underscores the tension between the egyptian leadership and the leadership in gaza, which at the moment is coalition or unity

government, if you will, led by technocrats, but of course hamas is part that have. one would imagine that's in direct response to the very testy relationship between hamas and the leader ship in cairo. >> israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu urging law milwaukeeers to stay calm in light of the tensions at temple mount, but coming down hard on what he is calling terrorists. what steps have been taken to that end? >> we have tomorrow that who are in israel, the government is made up of coalition partners, and mr. netanyahu's partners in that coalition are described as far right parties. these far right parties have been calling on the prime minister to do more to crack down on what they see as palestinians who are being very aggressive towards jewish people, and indeed, towards israel security forces. what the prime minister has done

is dramatically increase police presence across east jerusalem. there have been in the past 10 days alone, well over 100 arrests and as we've been reporting, a number of skirmishes and closures at the mosque compound, as it is a very tense situation. >> thank you very much. >> increasing international pressure this morning on burkina faso, the state department is calling on the military there to happened power back to civilian authorities, that after the military seized control when the president resigned. the u.n. is threatening economic sanctions. >> president obama campaigning for democrats ahead of tomorrow's mid term elections spent time with the democratic

canned gate in pennsylvania. he is trying to unseat the present governor. he also appeared in connecticut. the president is calling on young people, women and minority to say vote. >> the latest polling indicates that republicans likely to take control of the senate. they could increase their majority in the house. kentucky senator rand paul says if republicans do take control of congress, democrats will have only one man to blame. >> the president is on the ballot in a way this is a referendum on the president, so no question, this is a big message to the president. also it's a message that people are tired of nothing getting done. the gridlock in washington has largely been from the democrats who haven't allowed legislation to come forward in the senate. >> paul says there is a big opportunity for republican to say gain votes in the african-american community. he says gop policies will help make that happen. >> in our next half hour, we'll

look closer at the mid terms including what will change if the gop takes over the senate. >> a controversial election in eastern you a crane, russia says it will recognize the results. the u.s. and e.u. saying they won't. they called the vote i will legitimate. >> the death toll continues to rise after a suicide bombing near a main border crossing between pakistan and india. at least 55 people have been killed. more than 150 are wounded. several taliban groups are taking responsibility for the attack. they targeted crowds gathered to watch a military ceremony. we have more. this attack took place next to a military checkpoint at the border. how are the two countries stepping up security? >> we should mention that this

is a very heavily manned area across the border both on the indian and pakistani side, security is always very tight. from the indian side as a result of the attack, the forces lifted its level of alertness across the entire india-pakistan border, so certainly these key check points will be watched very closely in the days and weeks to come as a result of this attack. >> why is this crossing so important and could this attack affect relations between india and pakistan? >> certainly it's an important border crossing, a land crossing between india and pakistan, going from the state of punjab, the state across the border. it's got important historical context. where this attack happened on the pakistani side is a place where the indian border forces and pakistan rangers come

together every day to lower their flags. it's called the retreat ceremony and this is really important. the fact that it's been suspend ford at least three days may have implicate it is, but we're yet to see what the reactions will be. >> reporting from new delhi, thank you. >> the young woman at the center of the right to die debate has now taken her own life. >> britney maynard chose to die on saturday. >> she chose november 1 for a reason. >> she wanted to be there for her husband's birthday and was. she took the pills prescribed by an oregon doctor ending her life before the deadly brain tumor could. she has changed the face of the right to die movement. the video she posted announcing her decision to die has received 10 million views. she faced criticism. some say the idea of death with dignity is nothing more than suicide, but she made it clear

she did not want to die. >> if all my dreams came true, i would somehow prehe scribe this. but i most likely won't. >> ultimately, she ended her life just as she intended, which happened to be a few weeks before her 30th birthday but not before she fulfilled a final wish to see the grand canyon with her family. her husband and she moved to oregon. she worked with a group to push for this public policy. this group is currently campaigning in five other states to get death with dignity laws put in place there. >> there was not going to be a happy ending. >> unfortunately not. >> thank you very much. >> a moment of joy for a college

basketball star suffering from cancer. 10,000 fans flooded the stands to see mount st. joseph freshman lauryn hill perform. she was presented with the most courageous award. this could also be her last season. doctors say she only has months to live. >> i don't want it to be my last game, and i don't plan on it being my last game and even if i can't play, if i'm in a wheelchair by them, or anything that happens, i'm still going to try to be there with my team. >> she scored four points during the game. she did have to sit out most of it. her team did beat xavier 66-55. >> reminds you of the gayle sayers story. >> switching gears, parts of the south getting badly needed rain today. >> nicole mitchell has more. >> california's gotten attention because of the drought, but the

southern plains has had similar conditions. that's where we see the core of the heavy rain today and into tomorrow, as well, as this next system moves along. a closer look at all of that, already seeing this push into oklahoma, the northern part of texas, and then behind that, a little snow for higher elevations, parts of colorado. here's the drought. especially oklahoma into texas right along the border area, some areas of exceptional drought, that's the highest category that we have out there. similar to what we see in california, although california, it's an even more widespread area. this is going to fall almost in that exact core of where we have the heaviest drought. over the next two days, some places could get two to four-inches of rain, isolated spots even higher than that. this is going to be a soaker. still in place tomorrow, that impacts who decides who and not to go to the polls. >> ewe, we're definitely going

to need your weather forecast to really, mid term elections. >> a major milestone at the site of the september 11 attacks. outside the new one word trade center opening for business today. >> a megachurch announces its splitting up following the exit of its controversial leader. what it tells followers to do now. >> a day at the beach with an airliner buzzing overhead. that and other videos captured by citizen journalists around the world.

>> time now for the video captured by our citizen journalists. hundreds had to be evacuated from a cruise ship after it hit an object. this shows passengers wearing their life jackets. the ship was returning from the bahamas and forced to turn back. >> a scary moment for beachgoers as a plane passes overhead. coming in for a landing. sometimes close is just a little too close. >> imagine if he was just a foot taller. >> our audio guy said he'd like

to jump up and touch it. >> a new video, time magazine setting up a camera over looking the marathon course, capturing 50,000 plus runners. we'll have more coming up. >> if you go back a few frames, you'll see me. it's moving day in new york city. for the first time, the 10ants of one word trade center are showing up for work at their new addition. it's going to be an emotional day in manhattan. 13 years, this has been a long day coming. >> you're so right. it seems as if that day 13 years ago was only yesterday, but despite the death and the destruction and the heartache, the building behind me has not only been built, at times, that seems almost impossible on hallowed ground here at the

world trade center site, but it is now open for business as of this morning. >> open for business, the tallest and most expensive office building in the western hemisphere welcoming its first occupants, taking over 24 floors, becoming the anchor tenant of one world trade center. it stretches 104 stories above the new york city skyline. the top three floors deseated to an interactive observation deck. a sleek new commercial space on some of the most coveted real estate on the face of the earth, also a gleaming reminder of the day that forever changed new york and the world. it comes after more than a decade of debate and legal battles over reconstruction of the site and the 9/11 memorial that sits in the shadows. new yorkers we spoke to had mixed feelings. >> oh, yeah, it will always be in the back of their minds, you know, but, you know, you can't

let that affect your lives. you got to live your life and carry on, you know. >> would you consider taking a job in the tower there? >> no. >> can you tell me why? >> i don't know, maybe fear. i can't work in any of those buildings. i don't mind working around it, but not in it. >> security will be tight as the workday begins in what's essentially a modern day fortress for the first 20 stories. solid poured concrete throughout, six times stronger than side walks and metal rebar double the size of normal buildings. >> eventually there will be 3,000 workers here, but despite the company being the lead opener, the building is still 40% unoccupied, unleased. >> we noticed the snappy red, white and blue american tie, but tell us about the observation deck.

>> well, it's, you know, doing my part. the observation deck is many, many floors up. i have statistics for. you it's on the 100th -- to the 102nd floor, so over a couple of floors. they expect 3.8 million visitors every year. it's 1200 feet in the air. when visitors get up there, they will see a state of the art interactive and digital technological display. the best bit is it's free to first responders and anybody who worked here 13 years ago. the rest of us will ever to pay $32. but the project manager has said he thinks the view will be a google earth view. >> that is more expensive than that tie. john, thank you very much. >> flight restrictions over ferguson, missouri this summer, they were closed. it may have been to keep news helicopters away.

they closed the flights positive ferguson. so says the associated press, which reviewed audio recordings, contradicting police claims that it was put in place for safety. >> a former pastor is now breaking up a megachurch, planning four travelings to become its own entity. the lead pastor resigned can be church members accusing him of bullying and misusing church funds. >> the nhl is dealing with the washington redskins name controversy. many native americans consider the name offensive. >> the team so far says it is not going to change, resisting all calls to do so, but the protests follow the team to the road to minnesota. >> they came intra additional clothes, bearing insense.

that name has represented the team since 1932. >> i don't think changing the name changes it. >> if they change it, i'll buy new gear. >> you want to keep it. >> i do. >> how about you? >> i agree. i don't think this is right. >> there's a lot of other names out there that are within i mean, they come from hurtful terms and derogatory, but it's a football name. it's not a big deal. >> this is native american country, the name minnesota means land of clear blue water and the arena is the university of minnesotas stadium. supporters came by the thousands to tell the redskins to come up with a new name or go home. >> the name itself is offensive, but the fact that it's played here is the offensive part. the university of minnesota sets on historic dakota land. >> they are not welcome here in

our home, because it is demeaning, dehumanizing and it has a terrible history to this land. >> there are other professional sports teams that invoke native american names, the cleveland indians, atlanta braves, the kansas city chiefs and chicago blackhawks, but native americans say none of them invokes a derogatory term for the color of their skin. >> i like you my brothers and sisters, representing tribes from across the country, over .500 70 federal recognized tribes, i am not, you are not a mascot. >> with massive protests going, the redskins might come to dread the return to the land of their mascot. >> consider this the team bus crashed yesterday, the team lost, the redskins play tampa

bay sunday. protestors say they will be outside that game, as well. >> parts of the country dealing with cold temperatures. they're also facing fire risks. nicole mitch is here to explain that. >> in the same day in the same place. it seems odd that you'd be dealing with both. headed to the southern tier, temperatures around 40, atlanta at 42, but because of this cold air, we had a widespread area, a few of these have receded now that it's warming up. they were under frost and freeze conditions. now as we warm up through the day, that goes away. coming in this afternoon, though, the reds, those are red flags, fire dangers. the last system not only brought in the cold air, but dry air, as we finally heat up today, those low humidity's bring in fire danger, all in the same day. temperatures get more mild, more 60s up the coastline. sixties as far north at minnesota. we have another system coming. enjoy those mild days while you

ever them. >> sweater weather. >> candidates across the country are making their final push ahead of mid term elections tomorrow. we have a preview of what's at stake and randall pinkston is in new orleans with the role african-american voters may play in two closely watched contests. >> a deadly accident involving an experimental spacecraft, a rocket engineer said there is a completely lack of safety at virgin galactic. >> going to great heights with a hair-raising stunt. live in chicago with more on nick wallenda's stroll between two skyscrapers.

>> ahead in this next half hour, united nations warn climate change dangers are higher than ever. we break down the findings. >> do you happen to have some old lotto tickets laying around? you might want to double check

to see if you're a winner. >> first a look at our latest headlines. the iraq government said isil forces massacre add sunni tribe. more than 320 people were killed. a tribal leader asked for military assistance but did not get any. iraq is planning a major spring offensive to go after isil. >> jerusalem on edge as john kerry attempts to restart peace talks. israeli security forces and palestinians clashing over jewish settlements. israel that closed the border crossings with gaza amid security worries. >> voters in the u.s. will get their say in the mid term elections. the president hitting the stump, trying to win over undecided voters. the most intense battle is for the senate. republicans need six seats to take over the majority. nine races are considered close. >> we are live from washington with a preview of what we might

expect tomorrow. 36 seats up for grabs in the senate. which are the ones that we should be watching closest? >> the momentum is clearly on the republican side, but in many of these races, it's a razor thin margin. the director of national commit key will specifically be watching two races very early on. one is in new hampshire. the incumbent senator kay hagan is challenged by representative tymoshenkois. the other race that will be watched early on is in new hampshire, we have another democratic incumbent senator jean sheheene. if the incumbents lose to the republican challengers, the republicans anticipate that they will have a very good night and they will be popping the champagne bottles.

>> i have checked my scorecard. new hampshire and north carolina. what roam is the president playing in this year's democratic effort? >> a minimal role. he's been sidelined. a lot of congressional candidates do not want him out on the stump because his approval ratings are so low. the latest washington post news poll has him at 44% approval, the lowest he has ever been. he has been out stumping this weekend for gubernatorial candidates. sunday, he was with governor dan malloy. they were heckled by supporters of the dream act. here is what the president had to say about that. >> i just want to say because we've now had like three folks, i am sympathetic to those who are concerned about immigration, because the truth of the matter is is that we're a count representative immigrants.

that's why -- that's why we fought for immigration reforms. it's the other party that's blocked it. >> the democrats have been counting on hispanic voter to say help them in the mid term election. the president, though, put off some executive action on immigration reform until after tomorrow's election, and that has angered a lot of groups, so it's unclear whether the hispanic voters will turn out in force as the democratic's hoped. we'll have to see what election night brings. it's going to be a very interesting night, possibly a nail-biter. >> new details this morning about why an experimental spacecraft may have crashed. one pilot died, another seriously hurt. >> the ntsb saying a fail flapped moved seconds before the crash. are we looking a the pilot error? >> i want to emphasize that pilot error is not at this time the official position of the

ntsb, however the organization examined the debris field and offered preliminary thoughts. the investigation into the spacecraft crash that killed the test pilot and injured his fellow pilot is far from over. even so, one space safety advocate said virgin put the craft in the air too soon. >> it's a p.r. driven haste to accomplish something that should have been done in a far more measured, timely and engineering-led fashion. >> virgin's billionaire founder richard branson calls that kind of criticism troubling. >> i finds it irresponsible that people who know nothing about what they're saying can be saying things about the ntsb makes their comments. >> now the ntsb made comment, both on what they don't believe happened. >> among other things, they found the fuel tanks, the objection dieder tanks and the engine, and all were intact, showed no signs of burn-through,

no signs of being breached. >> what they he do believe could have happened. >> the feathers moved into the deploy position and two seconds later, we saw disintegration. >> the feltering function is meant to help the craft descend, but that function deployed early, possibly due to pilot error. >> the unlock 11 was not to be moved until the acceleration to 1.4 and it occurred around 1.0. >> as for those pilots, a memorial fund has been set up for the pilot who died in the crash. his co pilot is hospitalized after escaping by parachute. he reportedly is alert and talking. >> thank you very much. >> caroline campbell knight is a rocket engineer and member of the international association of space safety. she joins us now via skype from the united kingdom. thank you for your time.

you heard that report, a safety feature that was supposed to help the spacecraft land was deployed too early. what do you make of the initial findings by the ntsb? >> yeah, that apparently is what the ntsb is saying, and i certainly wouldn't doubt the ntsb. >> what's the equivalent of that? would it be the equivalent of an air bag deploying before a crash happened? in other words, a safety feature that unexpectedly deployed or was deployed, an error by the pilot, could that have caused this? >> we're going to have to understand something here. lots of people and i never claimed that the rocket engine was the cause of the accident. the idea is we he don't make guesses or assumptions. a lot of people were assuming the rocket caused the accident and that's why as a rocket engineer, i was contacted. i do not consider myself

competent to comment on an aerodynamic issue related to an aircraft. that's for somebody else. >> yet you have made comments in the media since the accident about what you have called a lack of safety culture at virgin galactic. what do you base that criticism on? >> complete lack of transparency. the private commercial space industry generally is extremely open, sharing technical details in public, sharing their progress, telling people in a very open manner what they're doing, and opening themselves up to scrutiny of others. virgin galactic are the complete exception to that rule. the only thing you ever hear is what they want you to hear. they have a bad safety record. there are four people who have

died on this project. for a project this size, that's a lot of deaths, and we've never heard properly how the other three people died. unfortunately, we do know how this last person died. i'm very, very sorry for that. it was an awful day, an awful day for the people at scale. an awful day for v.g. i know they say that safety is their north star. fair enough, they would say that, wouldn't they? >> they're certainly not going to say anything different, but i, the iass and others in the community don't agree with that. >> thank you for sharing your opinions with us this morning. >> we are following breaking news this morning out of nigeria. a suicide bomber blew himself up during a major shia ceremony in the northeast. 11 people are dead, no one has

claimed responsibility for that attack so far. >> ebola spreading nine times faster in sierra leone than two months ago, health organizations saying they're seeing and average of 12 cases every day. meanwhile here in the u.s., kaci hickox is trying to assure her hometown that she's not going anywhere to make anyone sick. >> i will not go into town, into crowded public places. i have had a few friends come visit me in my home and that's absolutely fantastic. >> hickox stands by her criticism of chris christie, saying an abundance of politics led to her quarantine. >> a new report from the united nations finds climate change is making natural disasters more frequent and more violent. >> jacob ward has more on what that means and also what the panel might have missed. >> if you've followed climate change at all, you probably know about the intergovernmental panel on climate change.

it's an intergovernmental scientific body formed under the united nations. the panel has 195 member countries and reviews all available literature on climate change and publishes updates as a guideline for governments around the world. it is pretty much humanity's defining body on the subject. its latest report is a greatest hits of 2013, but the cutoff for the research that it includes is the year 2013, wimp means many of the most recent developments and publications will not be included. the report itself is already stark and sorer. let's look at even more recent events and publications, things too recent to be included. here's what has happened since that cutoff. the west and arctic ice sheet reached a point of irreversible collapse. this is a huge deal own on its

own. scientists believe this will raise global sea levels by more than three feet. scientists found the northeast portion of the greenland ice sheet covering 16% of the whole thing has been melting as an alarming rate. each year, ice loss has been the equivalent weight of 500 great pyramids over the last decade. this year, the national and you had ban society shows much range will be loft if global warning continues. >> the daily atmosphere icon centration of carbon dioxide

past a mark that is the first time it's happened that since measurements have begun. the report is bad news all around. it's really a bummer, but taken with the quickening drum beat of bad news weaver seen since last year, it's that much more important a report and there's that much more reason to study it closer. >> that report is now in the hands of politicians, whether they'll implement changes, has yet to be seen. >> it doesn't always rank on the highest priority for voters. >> 30-mile an hour winds couldn't stop 50,000 people from running the streets of new york on sunday. a record number took part in the new york city marathon. a kenyan took the men's title. it was his third title in a year, but it also was the slowest winning time in two decades, 2:10. a kenyan won on the women's side. >> a lot of people looking up in the windy city last night,

watching live television as a death defying stunt played out. nick wallenda walked a tightrope blindfolded 60 stories above the chicago river and surrounding streets. we are joined live from chicago. this was a record breaking stunt. >> he actually broke two world records last night. one was for the steepest walk, the second for the highest walk between two skyscrapers blindfolded. he is a seventh generation of the flying wallenda circus act. he did his first walk, the steep walk between the marina tours and leo burnett building at a 19-degree angel. he was supposed to do it as a 15-degree angel. there had to be an adjustment made at the last minute. he did another walk between the marina tours blindfolded. on both walks, he had no safety

net, making many in the crowd gasp. >> i said when he did niagara falls i wish he was there. i said when he did the grand canyon i wish he was there. he's here in my hometown. >> he's walking so fast. i'm like slow down, hold on with your toes or something. it was great. >> one word, just simply amazing. amazing. >> he actually at one point when he first doing the first walk, the steep walk said he wanted to take a selfie, but there was some problems with the wind and some movement in the line and he decided that he would forego that. >> i was a kid when the flying wallendas, which was his family actually did crash and many died. tens of thousands of people on the streets to watch, it had some controversy, as well. >> right. there were about 50,000 people out last night. they cordoned off many streets and part of the controversy was

the fact that there's a state law that says if you're a street performer and you're performing above 20 feet, you have to use a harness. the city of chicago waived that. that was part of the controversy. >> diane, thanks. as you watch that video, you couldn't help but wonder how bad things could have gone. >> when things go well, the crowd cheers. when he did the niagara falls walk, he was wearing a harness. >> the countdown is on, 24 hours until voting begins in the mid term election. >> it's here! >> mike sell sure will break down what's at stake on capitol hill and beyond. >> there's a lot at stake. >> giving nature a high-tech upgrade, the plan for yellow stone national park that's not sitting well with some. >> it's time for our big quote today. >> one great fills officer had this in sight: one of the

penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your in at her years. >> the man behind the words, when we come right back.

>> who said one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your infer years. >> plato warned of the dangers of not voting. >> the candidates making their final push for voters today. we are less than 24 hours away from the mid term elections. it looks like more and more republicans are poised to take control of the senate. they need six net seats to win the majority. nine races are considered toss

ups. louisiana definitely in play. in recent months, mobilization efforts ever gotten thousands into the pool, many african-american. the question is will they turn out tomorrow. >> certainly the ground game is in progress, and a lot of preparation has been underway on urban radio, you've heard interviews on some of the talk shows from president obama, urging people to get out and vote. in churches, people are urged to vote, not endorsing candidates, because churches are supposed to be non-partisan. then there is social media. mary landrieu an incumbent with a lot of experience, even her opponents have given her credited for things she accomplished is running against republican candidate. here in louisiana, in new

orleans especially, african-americans support president obama. if she has hopes of winning, she's going to have to get the same people out who voted in 2008 when she was reelected to come out again to really. we'll see if it happens. >> randall, even if there were a third of african-american voters like we see in presidential years, will that be enough for the senator to keep her seat? >> that's a big question, and really, all of the polls are indicating that it won't be. one polester referred to a political tractic red on in the past, but a lot of those voters have gone away. she will likely face a runoff, even if she has a majority of

the vote. she needs 50% plus one and nobody thinks she can get that. >> there's a close race in georgia, as well. >> mike sell sure is an aljazeera political contributor with us in studio this morning. how can they be so confident in the polls, almost down to the percentage point and yet when you talk about both members of congress, both sides have congress, they seem to be so out of touch with the american public. >> it's a great question, but the sport of campaigns and elections is very different from governing and from policy and legislating. if you look at baseball, it's like being a great fielder or hitter, very rare is the player who is both. >> is it all about getting he elected and after that, the voter be damned? >> not necessarily. in some cases, yes, it is. when you talk about these congressional elections, you're

playing to your constituents, not nationally. what works in kansas may not work in new hampshire or alaska, but you have to play to them. when you governor, you legislate, you are essentially thinking about your constituents. >> tomorrow, a lot of politicos writing off the senate, saying the democrats are going to lose control of it. is there any hope at this point? >> you have to say that's why they vote. that's why tomorrow happens. if you go by the polling, it looks bleak for tempts. frankly, it looked bleak from the get-go. the deck was stacked against them. you look at some of these southern states, there is not a lot of the, you know, democratic momentum, democratic passion in those states especially in an off year election. >> kansas, a lot of attention paid to it. is that the last hope for democrats. >> in a way it is. it will be interesting.

the independent candidate, the democratic dropped out of that race, was perhaps even forced out, running against pat roberts. greg other man has said he's going to caucus with the majority party. what we don't know is what if greg orman is it is one to determine the majority. >> the state of arkansas could turn republican. are the clintons making a big dent out there on the campaign trail? >> it's one clinton who is. it remains to be seen if hillary is. bill clinton is the best at this sort of retail politician that we do, the democrats and his wife are very lucky to have him. where his effectiveness will lie in this race remains to be seen. you're going to see him in runoffs if that's what happens. >> in the gore race, he ran away from bill clinton and now look what history has done. thank you very much.

>> tomorrow our coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. we'll have a complete wrap up of the results on wednesday morning on aljazeera morning news. >> if you have old lottery tickets, an estimated $2 billion of prizes went unclaimed in 2013. most of the winning tickets are only worth $50 or $100 each, but there are several worth thousands or even more than a million. lottery tickets of course have expiration dates. >> visitors to yellow stone could get a new perk, wireless internet. officials are set to install lines inside the park. environmentalists say it accounted take away from the exact reason people visit yellow stone, to escape digital attractions and get outdoors. >> let's get another check of our forecast. >> i don't think i need to go camping and hear the tents next door watching breaking bad or something. >> if you got lost in the park,

you'd have your g.p.s. device. >> i'm concerned about the other side of all that. we've got other storm systems, one in the midsection of the country, another to the northwest. that can impact elections. if the weather is favorable, it tends to help democrats getting out the door. unfavorable in oak on the ground, texas with areas of rain, and we're going to see the northwest with more of those areas of rain, as well. it could be some heavy rain. oklahoma, texas, they're in the drought, they need it, might keep a couple of voters home, though. >> nicole mitchell he will, thank you. >> tomorrow morning on aljazeera america, it is election day. it is here. voters going to the polls and we're going to take a look at the big issues and what may change in washington and around the country. >> have a great morning. we'll see you right back here again tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. >> i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. duke medical center say a

patient there has tested negative for ebola. >> stay with us for more on that story and coming up in two minutes, the latest on burkina faso. have a great morning. ning. >> consider this: the news of the day plus so much more. >> we begin with the growing controversy. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> real perspective, consider this on al jazeera america

>> an election day midterms marathon. >> it's gonna be close. >> several swing state elections are up for grabs. >> are you kidding me? >> don't miss filmmaker a.j. schnack's unprecedented... >> if i can drink this, i don't see why you should't be able to smoke that. >> behind the scenes look... >> are you gonna do this? >> at what it takes to win. >> it's certainly something that doesn't exist elsewhere in politics on television. >> midterms election day

marathon. tomorrow, 1:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> a boat carrying migrants sinks off the coast of turkey, killing 20. >> intense negotiations as they try to transition into a government. plus in louisiana the sights of one of the closest