we'll continue to benefit and evolve down here. thank you for joining us in our space. ♪ >> millions of americans heading out to shop on this black friday, but the deals this year seem to be happening without the usual pushing and shoving. >> protestors in ferguson, missouri trying to disrupt black friday. >> hope franz making an historic trip to turkey to bridge the gap between islam and christianity. >> rescuers in new york digging through the snow to find two

little boys buried by a plow. good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. >> the black friday shopping frenzy is underway this morning, unlike previous years, there were no customer stampedes overnight and no major reports of -- >> that was not the case however in london where the americans experience was taking on a new meaning. shoppers there did knock each other over in the rush to get to items. police were called to stores at things got out of hand. normally we'd be seeing that in the u.s. but that was not the case yesterday. >> they're calling it a gray thursday, and it is gaining in popularity as more retailers than ever are opening on thanksgiving day, including

macy's, just hours after the parade ended yesterday, it opened its doors at 6:00 p.m. it has never closed its doors. retailers are jukeying for shoppers cash. >> it's the post thanksgiving holiday tradition that keeps coming earlier and earlier. >> they have cheaper stuff and it's better to shop on thanksgiving day. >> black friday creeping into thursday with major retailers opening their doors hours before midnight, hope to go cash in on last year's success when retailers doubled their sales receipts. this thanksgiving, they're expected to rake in $2.6 billion. >> we have got something for everybody here at wal-mart with over 400 offers, savings from 30% to 50%. >> it's those kinds of deep discounts that had millions rushing to finish turkey dinners hitting stores looking for major markdowns. >> it's a good deal and can't pass that up.

>> with today actually being black friday, millions of early risers will be joining thursday's crowds, some having already camped out at stores like k-mart and best buy since tuesday, the freezing cold not bother this shopper. >> it's a t.v. i just don't want to pay full price. >> with many taking steps to avoid these scenes, police officers already this morning broke up a scuffle between black friday shoppers over flat screen t.v.'s at this wal-mart in hawn. toys and other must-have gadgets explain why millions of americans will be in a shopping frenzy today. >> the httvs are the best of the best. we have never seen these prices like we are currently. >> last year, sales dropped 13%. sure to be packed malls, stores and shopping outlets from new york to california are

optimistic. >> we'll expect hundreds of thousands until tomorrow night at 11:00 p.m. >> seems like the next 28 hours. >> absolutely, the next 28 hours, hundreds of thousands of people. >> overall, sales are supposed to be better or expected to be better than last year. the national retail federation expecting sales to be around 4.1% for the old holiday season. one of the reasons that retailers optimistic this year is that americans have more cash, they're saving money at the gas pumps and hoping that money is going to come their way. >> should we credit the calm to the fact that black friday this year actually began an thursday? >> yeah, i mean it's making up a bigger chunk of these sales. just walking through macy's here, just ran into the c.e.o. he said yesterday at the opening, he said he was a record

for macy's. they had 15,000 people last year at the door waiting for the opening. there was more yesterday. this seems to be gaining in popularity and blurring the lines of those black friday sales. >> mary, thank you very much. >> in ferguson, missouri, protestors are moving from the streets to the stores on this black friday. the new tactic to vent frustrations here inside a local mall, protestors chanted hands up, don't shoot in honor of michael brown. protests will continue through the day. dozens of people interrupted holiday shopping at major retailers such as wal-mart and target. we are live in ferguson this morning. what's the latest this morning on these protests? >> the good news is the people of ferguson have had their first decent night's sleep in four. there were no organized protests overnight and there were also no

arrests. however, we did see the beginning of the process of disrupting holiday shopping at the wal-mart in ferguson. the stated aim of the protestors was to close the business down and they kind of did that, because when they got there, the national guard was on duty and the building shuttered and nobody could get in. in maplewood, they did go in there and charge inside the complex, and they ultimately left when they were asked to. erika. >> the weather has improved there now. are people worried about more protests today? >> yeah, they are. the weather's improved dramatically. it was very snowy on the eve of thanksgiving, but now warmer and sunny for the rest of the weekend. we're going to see the disruption of holiday shopping going on through the weekend. also, the naacp is organizing an event that begins tomorrow and

lasts several days, a marsh on jefferson city on the governor's mansion and that is expect to be quite big. it begins tomorrow. we're going to have full coverage on ajam of it. the vast majority of the protestors are peaceful. they are lawsuit, but peaceful. >> some ferguson residents trying to make the town look better, clean it up a bit. what are they doing? >> it's an extraordinary scene, actually, the 24 businesses everyone torched monday night and there were many, many mom and pop style businesses in this town. of course they are now boarded up, because the insurance companies are telling them to do this. the boards really do not look very nice, in fact they're very ugly and don't attract customers at all. what's happening is that artists from in and out of town are

painting those boards with all sorts of peace signs and trees, of cartoon characters and things like that and it is really quite a sight. many businesses have this done now. what they ultimately need to do is get the boards down and get the customers back inside. this boycott of shopping going on, though people are being urged to boycott corporate america, should that business be black owned, people are encouraged to shop there. >> live in ferguson, thank you, john. >> people in ferguson took a moment to pause and reflect on thanksgiving. >> we have more. >> this was about thanksgiving tradition, but this was also about the police killing of unarmed teenager michael brown. catherine mcdaniels was feeding those who gathered from st.

louis and gathered from all over the world. >> i have a responsibility to my community, my family. we didn't know each other 111 days ago. today, we are one extended family, so it's my responsibility to offer what i can. my role in the movement is care, confident and nutrition. >> catherine is about to graduate from culinary school. as the protests grew, she asked a local pass tore how she could help. cook was the answer. >> we were dealt a blow. we all know that. i just want my family to know that they're loved. this is a time for us to come together, to debrief, to love on each other, to share food, break bread together. that's what tonight is all about, giving thanks, because although we have this going on in our life, we've got much to be grateful for. >> for catherine what's happening on the streets in ferguson, st. louis and around

the country is a battle somewhat neglected by her own generation. >> this ain't your grandmother's civil rights movement. this is 2014 and we're still confronting the problems that our mothers and fathers confronted back in the civil rights era. we have to do better now, see, so my generation came along and we fed off of what they did. we didn't fight and keep the fight going, so now because we didn't keep the fight, our children have to fight. >> as we talk after our interview, 14-year-old avery gayle takes a seat. they were strangers three months ago. they got to know each other because avery would be playing the drums at every demonstration. michael brown's death hit him hard. >> they had no reason to shoot him. he could be out there playing the drums with me. he could be doing something he want to do. they say he died before his graduation. i just don't want to be like

that, having the police shoot me before my graduation. that's how i feel. >> this year, thanksgiving in st. louis was just not like the others. >> coming up, people in ferguson using the thanksgiving holiday to look toward the future. we'll speak with one city leader about just what it will take to heal the broken community. >> the mexican president proposing reforms to combat widespread crime and corruption. this comes as police found 11 decapitated and partially burned bodies in guerrero state and dumped on the road. officials aren't saying if there is a connection between those bodies and the missing students. >> the european union is slapping on more sanctions on those involved in the ukraine crisis, adding 15 release and five organizations to the black list. the e.u. will freeze their assets.

120 people and 20 organizations face sanctions. >> life in the u.k. about to get tougher, all migrants forced to work four years before claiming benefits. the move is aimed at reducing the growing immigrant population in the u.k. we have more on today's speech. >> this speech by the british foreign minister was aimed scarily at english working class disillusioned voters in places like birmingham here, which used to at one time be a world leader in engineering. that's gone now. there are a lot nor immigrants. the government and the british prime minister have put forth radical proposals saying they will implement to get reelected in national elections next may. eastern europeans if they can't

find a job within 60 months will be deported and nobody will get benefits, child benefits, tax breaks for a full four years, even if they got a job. they hope that will stem the tide of people coming over here in the tense of thousands. rights groups say if there were to be jen acted would push many into poverty. many will say the countries being swamped and england is losing its englishness. that's the debate that's winning at the moment. >> u.s. crude oil futures plunged $6 a barrel overnight, a four year low. thursday, opec decided against cutting back on output led by saudi arabia, opec decided to

leave production where it is at 30 million-barrels a day. that's good news for drivers who will likely see cheaper prices at the pump but the u.s. shale oil industry may lose money. >> a nine and 11-year-old cousins were buried by a plow when it went by in new york. the boys survived because their heads were enclosed in packets of air. both are expected to be ok. >> for more on the forecast across the nation, let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell. >> kids like to build those snow tunnels and caves and you have to be very careful, because they're not always structurally sound. as we're looking out, this is an image out of new hampshire. the east coast, about 350,000 people without power, 200,000 of that in new hampshire, so we're

still getting all the power back on. it's been very cold from this system, heating and keeping things warm in the house have been a problem. here's the broad picture, a couple of disturbances coming through the great lakes. it's little shots. places today behind that or with all of that, we've got a wind flow across the lake, so could see areas of snow, as well. high pressure in place, and around that, it's a clockwise flow. that funnels in on this portion of it into the northeast the cooler air. this will start to shift over the course of the weekend. the flow will shift out of the south. temperatures will be on the rise. in the meantime, it's going to be a chippy friday with most of the temperatures from atlanta to new york, atlanta only 49 degrees today, those are running 10-15 degrees below average right now. in the meantime, where we do have the southerly flow, denver up at 70 degrees, so that wind

pattern really makes a difference. as i said, that will come in place for the east coast. in just a couple of days, you just have to hang on. >> the ski slopes are open, too, that's good news. >> life after the grand jury decision seeming to calm down in ferguson, many using the thanksgiving halladay to talk healing and moving forward. we'll talk about what it will take for that talk to become reality. >> finding safety in a three. a little boy escaping the rising floodwaters in his hometown. >> caught in the middle of the battle between isil and allied forces, many iraqi's face the construction of their towns and now way of rebuilding. >> hailing a ride with your smart phone.

>> $40 billion is how much the car service uber is at.

it would be on par are to delta airlines and kraft foods. analysts believe by the time uber goes public, it could be worth $80 billion to $100 billion. >> a judge issuing a temporary restraining order barring the company from the state. uber said it puts 1,000 drivers out of work. the multi-billion dollars company is said to have deliberately broken the law in the industry. >> after five days of intense fighting, iraqi forces alongside kurdish peshmerga have pushed isil fighters back. many were killed and thousands left homeless. we have the story of a man who survived the battle. >> ahmed nasr doesn't know where to start.

everybody where he looks, it's devastation. when isil took the town, nearly all the people fled. he stayed until isil came and used his house as a base to launch attacks. >> my house was destroyed by isil, so i managed to escape to the nearby farms and hid there. there were heavy clashes between isil and armed forces and many houses destroyed and people were killed in the crossfire. we have nothing left for us to salvage, only terrible memories and shattered hopes. we are afraid to rebuild, because isil threat in iraq is not over yet. >> his father used a wheelchair and was caught in the crossfire where iraq troops took on isil last week. he's buried near here. as forces pushed them back, isil destroyed the houses to stop the iraqi army from using them as can you have. >> you will see almost all these houses were destroyed by isil

before they left. they destroyed that fart sake of destruction and killed many people, including my father. you'll see only destruction and burned down houses. >> the iraqi army hasn't offered the man or anyone else in this town compensation and he has no idea if he'll get any help to rebuild. >> ahmed has nowhere to go. with winter coming, survival is going to be tough. iraqi government sees the operation as success, but for ahmed, that success is bittersweet. >> the damage caused by that the fighting is immense, but no one in authority is looking to rebuild yet, leaving many across iraq with no choice but to live like this. aljazeera, baghdad. >> the iraqi army and kurdish peshmerga forces have also completely retaken two towns north of baghdad. >> turning now back to the situation in ferguson, missouri, the start of the holiday season overshad dote by violence that

rocked substitute. the annual parade was postponed until next month. they are searching for ways to heal. we explain. >> trading his hammer for a spoon, this carpenter dished up thanksgiving dinner with other volunteers at a st. louis homeless shelter. >> for casperson, it was a small step in healing his community. >> there's too much negative in the world. the need to be positive comes out of everything. >> you're here for a nice dinner. >> at the new life he ver evangl center, 500 blacks and whites dined together. >> everybody is really nice and friendly. >> and work together to make the homeless people at home. >> happy thanksgiving, folks, we're going to walk right this

way. >> 200 volunteers seated guests, bussed tables, and pulled kitchen duty. jacqueline volunteered with 50 members of her church. it was her first time here. she admits michael brown's shooting has ripped the community apart but also says issues like homelessness can bring it together. >> it is good to see that it's not a black issue, it's not a white issue, it's an issue. it's a very real, human issue of being homeless or not having what you need. the general activities of daily living, food, water, shelter. >> are you getting enough to eat? >> the center director, larry rice was stunned by the number of volunteers. he's hosted these dinners for four decades and never has seen so many eager helpers. he says he only hopes this good will will last longer than a day. >> we've had a cancer that i've seen for years in st. louis. what's happened is that the surgeon has opened up the

cancer. i want to see healing, violence stopped, but i want to see healing taking place. >> mostly peaceful protests, do you expect that to last? >> last night, they took to -- the protest moved toward retail. there were protests outside of several wall matters and targets and at the mall. they were very peaceful. there wasn't any rioting that took place. the weather is expected to warm up. i don't know if that will bring more people out for bad actors on the scene. i don't know. the hope is that we're done with this. >> what has been the reaction to the streets to the governor saying he will not entertain the idea of presenting the case to another grand jury? >> jay nixon is just a -- it's like a four letter word in

everybody's mouths right now. whether you were just living in the community before and now you feel completely betrayed about his lack of activity to secure the national guard and put them in place on monday, and now with everyone taking a look at what a farce this grand jury process has been, and questioning it, and refusing to do anything, i mean, he's just a four letter word in a lot of people's mouths down here. >> i'm curious, is the mood right now in ferguson, in other words, the relationship between law enforcement, the prosecutor's office, the governor and the people of ferguson worse now than it was back in august? >> absolutely. this thing is only getting worse, and we need some time to heal. i'm not sure when that is going to come. everybody needs a take a breath. on the onset of this holiday with so many out of work, there doesn't seem to be anything getting better. >> the streets of west

florissant where you are, the streets are closed. shop owners need the business. do you think they'll survive? >> i don't know, i'm hoping so, but yes, the streets are still blocked especially that large portion, they call it a hot spot for west florissant, so i don't know, because these are small businesses and every dollar and every day counts for them. >> as you look back on the crisis and months that followed, what has been the biggest tragedy aside the fact that 18-year-old michael brown is dead? >> well, besides michael brown's loss of life, the biggest tragedy has been what happened on monday to the betrayal to this community, the way that the national guard was here for state of emergency and the resources, whether they were the nothing guard and the police officers, they were not in place to stop some of this, because now there are a lot of --

there's a lot of people involved in this now who are hurting. >> one of the people of ferguson described the situation there as a cancer that is now ready to heal. is this a cancer that can heal, in your opinion? >> far theology take place, you have to be able to address the problem and i'm still not sure that we have actually started to address the problem. nothing has actually changed here so far. the mayor's still the mayor, the city manager's still the manager. the chief is still the chief, darren wilson is still on payroll. there hasn't been anything that's particularly changed here yet, and i know the protesting is not going to stop until there is some real change. >> i want to ask you one question before we go and that is are you concerned that if there is not those massive protests that capture all of the nations attention that ferguson will go back to being just the way it was before michael brown was shot and killed?

>> ferguson can't even go back to being what it was before michael brown was shot and killed. this is a completely different area and everyone here is different now, so to see people protest throughout the country, the same thing that we're protesting, is very encouraging. there's going to have to be change in order for the protesting to stop, but i pray that none of this rioting takes place anywhere else. >> patricia bynes, thanks for being with us. >> pope francis reaches out. >> in turkey, bridging the gap between muslims and christians. he said the battle of isil is a particular concern. >> that whole valley is riddled with the bones of my ancestors and those grapes are further rides by my ancestor's bones. >> a battle in napa valley, a plan to recognize a native america tribe could change the

landscape. >> in paris, farmer's showed up with their herds, one of the stories caught in our global net.

>> these are live images out of turkey where pope france is visiting. we're going to have a live report from there. but this is the pomp and circumstance proceeding for the pope. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. ahead in this half hour, another university is can selling fraternity and sorority activities due to concerns about sexual assaults on campus. >> drones cutting it close with airplanes. we'll look at the real dang their devices pose to pilots. >> in our next hour, a second chance for four iraqi refugees living in america. it is a wonderful and emotional story of hope and humidity. >> first, a check of our latest headlines this morning. today is officially black friday, but the holiday shopping frenzy got off to an early start. millions of shoppers hit the

stores and logged on to grab good deals. 30 million americans did their shopping on thanksgiving day. >> protestors marching through the stores black friday, calling for a boycott. some are trying to shut down major retailers to draw attention to the dote of michael brown. >> a new plan forcing all migrants in the u.k. to work four years before claiming benefits. >> pope francis in turkey this morning, scheduled to meet with the turkish president later today. >> aljazeeras in istanbul. the christian community in turkey is tiny, fewer than 100,000 people versus 75 million muslims. why is this trip significant? >> there are no streets lined with hundreds of thousands of

catholic faith, waiting to greet the pope here in turkey, but this is important, perhaps one of the most delicate missions really of francis' papacy so far. he's under pressure himself to speak out in defense of persecuted minorities, particularly christian minorities in this region and under pressure to help build bridges with islam. he comes into turkey at a very difficult time for islamists under pressure from rising extremism. the pope will be expected to try and build bridges with marie lidgeen, speaking with turkish president later this afternoon here. he's expected in a speech after that to try and give support to those percent cute minorities here, particularly the syrian and iraq key christians who have had to flee the advance of isil. >> we know he's there to address concerns about the rise of isil,

like you said. what can we expect him to say about that? >> we've had a trail from the vatican spokesman about that. we understand that really, the pope is expected to denounce the violence that has been committed in god's name. he's talking there about the isil forces. he's expected to use a strongly worded screech from the vatican to attack the attacks on minorities, not not christians, but others. the pope has to be careful what he did, because he has to of course respect the great religion of islam and he has to be careful not to attack the religion itself, but rather to attack those who are abusion the religion's name. >> thank you so much. >> syria hitting back after the latest round of airstrikes in raqqa province, denying they targeted civilians. they said washington should

criticize militant activity instead. earlier this week, the state department said it was horrified by the syrian government and bombings in raqqa it claimed killed 90 civilians. the former assistant secretary of defense joins us. bashar al assad seems to be as strong as ever. does he now have the upper hand? >> basically, he's holding his own, and while he can certainly use his air power, he's having trouble recruiting new recruits into his military and a lot of the people are saying well, you know, when does this end, and so remember, he's been fighting for three years, even if he gets a temporary advantage, in the long term, it's not going to do him any good.

trying to control the area, they are a threat to them. even though the united states and its allies are weakening isil, they're still able to take action against assad. >> another interesting development, russia, it's been a supporter of the assad regime and military. why did russia choose tonish talks now? >> because they recognize that eventually, assad can't win. right now, he's in a position where he can't lose, but eventually, there's going to have to be a negotiated solution that allows assad's people to control a certain part of the country, and that assad eventually is going to have to step down, and of course the russians have other things that they're concerned about, the nuclear negotiations with iran, the whole question of the

sanctions that the united states and the europeans are putting on them, which is really hurting their economy. >> right, that economy in free-fall according to some. i want at a talk about iraq. the washington post reports we could see a larger, more permanent mission in iraq. should we say loosely translated, boots on the ground, but not laced up? >> i think when people use boots on the ground, that's a wave expressing sending combat formations, brigades, divisions like when we invaded iraq and afghanistan. what you're seeing is an awful lot of american advisors working with the iraq forces to train them and also furnish intelligence so we can have more effective airstrikes. >> is it your opinion then that we should abandon the vernacular boots on the ground because the bottom line is there are already boots on the ground in iraq? >> there is no doubt about it. what we should say is we are not

going to take a direct combat role, nor do the iraqis want us to come in like we did in 2003. >> chuck hagel stepping down, was sharply critical of the president's approach in iraq. can we see a difference with the approach with a new sector of defense? >> i don't think so. so much of the policy was being controlled by the white house is hagel's feeling. the man or woman who replaces hagel is not going to have to much time to influence policy. we're almost into the presidential election season here. >> larry, happy holidays. the beginning of them. are you going to the malls by the way, going to do all that block friday shopping? >> it's tax-free down here, too. >> thanks a lot, larry. >> we are looking live at turkey where pope francis is visiting the country this morning.

he will meet today with the president there. we are seeing those live pictures now. >> a little boy climbs to safety in the philippines. his mother was killed when thor home flooded. he stayed by her side as long as he could before he climbed a coconut tree. he was later rescued. some parts of the philippines are being battered by a tropical storm now. >> good morning, nicole. >> these are other images from this area, taken from a cell phone. that's why it's got the particular view. as the tropical storms moved over the philippines, flooding was the biggest concern, not the high winds. that system still has winds at about 45 miles per hour. let's take a quick look at that before we get back to the united

states. here it was, then developing over the philippines, not into a typhoon, but definitely a rainmaker. it has continued to move back over water. tomorrow, it will make another landfall and rain the concern with all of this, versus wind. >> as we get back to the united states, definitely have a -- and it is still tropical season here but doesn't feel tropical, definitely cold, minneapolis 12, a warm up from zero at this time. the midsection of the country is warmerrer, still colder air in place for the east coast. by the end of the weekend, you can see warms filter in, while the northwest gets cooler. someone's always under it. it is november. >> all right, nicole, mitchell, thank you. >> say it ain't so. a symbolic vote to break up google, passing a non-binding resolution calls for search engines to separate businesses.

there is a concern some tech markets of trying to monopolies the market. >> all sore routes and fraternities at san diego state university of suspended, putting social events on hold until after students undergo training. some fraternity members protest waiving sex toys. >> native american groups are protesting the new battles of napa. >> her mother bought land on the slopes looking down to the napa valley floor. she dreamed of creating a great wine. >> that's our second he crop. we pick all the games that are down here. >> the family vineyard is one of

500 operating in the valley. >> i'm second generation, and essentially what we call our community and what we embrace is everything use that behind me, it's pretty much looked the same since i was a little girl. >> it's an enclave that lives by strict rules. >> in 1968, leaders established the first agricultural preserve in the united states. it has very rigid land use laws. you couldn't p a small four room bed and breakfast without the voters' approval in the county. >> when winery's learned a casino like this one might be built, napa valley panicked. >> a las vegas style casino in the middle of napa valley is not good for our community. >> so far, no one has even announced plans to build a casino here, but this is the man who might.

>> i'm sick of hearing these things about casinos. our tribe was wrongfully terminated and deserves the right to restore. >> he said the main goals for his community of 340 are access to special education and housing benefits. >> i don't want to waste any time on what if you build a casino, where are you going to build a casino. we haven't crossed that bridge yet. >> the bureau of indian affairs is considering changing federal guidelines to make it easier for native american tribes to gain official status. new rules could impact what's happening in napa. >> in the 1950's, the tribe lost its status during a time the federal government was trying to dissolve crimes and simulate native americans. restoring recognition would mean tribal sovereignty, any land acquired would be exempt from local and state laws. >> they have to remember, that

whole valley is riddled with the bones of my ancestors and those grimes are being fertilized by my ancestor's bones, and they think they came to that valley and made it this precious valley. before that, it was unique in its own way. >> the battle between wineries and the tribe has gone on for years, but with the possibility of changes at the federal level, some resolution may be just over the horizon. aljazeera, napa valley, california. >> officials from napa county board of supervisors want to take their fight to washington, urging congress to hold hearingings. lawmakers in washington have yet to respond. >> the owner of a california burger king got quite a surprise on his birthday. workers found a backpack that someone left in the booth during the busy lunch hour. the owner said when he looked inside, he found $100,000 in

that backpack. they were in bundles like this wrapped with rubber bands. the owner would not keep the money. he said you have to sweat for what you earn and the indian immigrant worked three jobs when he first moved to the u.s. to save up money to buy the burger king. >> what i take away from that is eat at burger king. >> a wooly situation at the eiffel tower, french shepherds protesting. they hoped to shed light on the growing number of attacks by wolves on sheep. government protections boost the numbers of wolves which had been near extinction. there has been an increase in the attacks, including 4800 this year, some saying it is a bad idea. >> a canine cop is fired before he can even get on the job. cash was supposed to be the ninth officer at the cannon beach police department, but the 2-year-old was dismissed for not being a good fit for the force.

he's so cute. he's been returned to his original owner for being skittish, being afraid of heights and having barking issues. noise scared him and he wasn't very good at sniffing out drugs. apparently being a canine not so good if you can't do those things. >> there are rules for people who fly drones near an airport. >> the f.a.a. said rules are often broken. there have been many close calls. we'll speak with an aviation expert about the risk drones really pose to pilots. >> the intersection between church and state in textbooks. the role that moses and the 10 commandments is playing in governing the country. >> the key to controlling your stress really does lie within your brain. what research shows about that is were you ever today's discoveries. >> a conflict that started 100 year ago, some say, never ended... revealing... untold stories of the valor...

>> they opened fire on the english officers... >> sacrifice... >> i order you to die... >> and ultimate betrayal... drawing lines in the sand that would shape the middle east and frame the conflict today >> world war one: through arab eyes only on al jazeera america

>> it is time for one of today's discoveries. scientists have pinpointed a factor in what causes stress. >> a protein in the brain plays a role in the release of the stress hormone crh, enabling stress to travel into the rest of the body. >> a person who is able to suppress that protein have lower stress levels. findings could lead to treatment in mental illness and depression. >> a deeper look at a story we brought you yesterday. a new f.a.a. report reveals a number of crashes involving airplanes and june, 25 close calls since june. the f.a.a. is preparing to release its first set of rules on drones by the end of the year. aljazeera travel contributor todd curtis joins us from massachusetts. good morning to you. thank you for joining us. the f.a.a. just made public the

number of near misses with drones and aircrafts. any of this coming as a surprise to you? >> not at all. drone technology has really progressed greatly in the last few years, where it's very easy for almost anyone to buy and operate a very, very capable drone. >> you're talking about how easy it is. one of the top tech buys this year are drones, only zone toledo with the idea of using them for delivery purposes. can the system handle that many drones in the air. >> as long as they stay out of the normal air space system. now fortunately, most of the people who do buy drones do so responsibility, but they are very capable, and it's possible pour someone to fly a drone relatively high in the same area that airliners use, and when that happens, you'll have those potential phon applicant and safety issues. >> do you think people who are flying those drones need a

license to do that? >> i don't think so. for a bunch of reasons, the biggest is technology has progressed so fast and far that you can operate a drone basically programming it to fly autonomously. you don't ever to understand the basics of air natics or flight cool system. that's already done for you by the drone manufacturers. >> congress told the f.a.a. to come up with a plan for safe integration, which will be happening by september 2015. the f.a.a. said it will be incremental. is that enough, do you think? >> that is enough, because basically their talking about incorporating drones into the national air space systems. that is address be the higher profile drones, the drones that are very, very capable, that can literally fly in the same airways. the vast majority of drones today are not designed for that

at all. they are designed for recreational purposes, to be flown a long way from airports. there's an apples and oranges situation here. they have to regulate drones flying high and fast but regulating those flying low and slow, that's another different situation and i don't think the f.a.a. has addressed that one clearly yet. >> what do you think of people who are flying these drones. doesn't common sense say not to fly them near airports. >> not only common sense, the f.a.a. dictates that they should be flown in such a manager as to not interfere with air traffic, including near airports. now realistically, there are going to be some people not very bright when it comes to following the rules or will deliberately break the rules. the vast majority of people do have common sense and are not going to be operating in a reckless manager. >> when it comes to drone versus

airplane, birds can nearly take down a plane. what do you think would happen with one of those drones coming into contact with a plane in the air? >> most of the drones that are sold at department stores on amazon and such are so small that the likelihood of serious damage to an airliner are low. for the very large drones, the kind to operate in the national air space system, those are typically larger, some of them like the predator and reaper used by the military, there are some that are similar in size to those. those are like small aircraft. those can certainly do severe damage to an airliner and the potential for risk is very, very high, which is high those higher level drones are going to be under much closer regulation than the common commercial drones that you and i can buy off the shelf. >> tom curtis, thank you so much. >> controversial new history in social studies textbooks are an

their way to texas classrooms. they are said to misrepresent american history. children outside of texas be going to be affected, as well. >> a biography of moses is what many texas high school students will find in their american government textbooks next year. critics say it brings religion into the classroom, contrary to the constitutional principle of separating church and state. one passage reads moses helped establish a legal system, including the 10 commandments to govern his people. similarly, the founders of the united states wrote the constitution and established a system of laws to governor americans. >> a third of texans are evangelical christians and the left leaning christian network said the books recently approved reflect a conservative bias. >> i don't believe that students go to school with a donkey or an elephant pinned on their lapels.

i don't believe education should be partisan and we still have a partisan state board of education making these decisions instead of leaving it up to teachers and scholars. >> the vote was down party lines with the 10 republican party members voting yes and five democrats voting no. the chair woman said she was sht pleased, saying: >> the vice chairman said: >> meanwhile, liberal critics charged the board with putting politics before education. >> if you have a political agenda dictating and indoctrinating 5 million students in your political beliefs is a really smart way to implement your agenda. >> it's not just the 5 million public school children in texas

who may read the books. students across the country may find the text in their own classrooms by virtue of texas's great purchasing power with publishers. books written for texas may be marketed elsewhere, having some teachers concerned. >> the connections that these textbooks draw between moses and the united states and democracy and the bible, what's problematic about that for you? >> when you start mixing religion with the government, there's some very thin lines that they want the population to know. >> we apologize for the difficulties there, texas students will start using textbooks beginning in the fall. >> let's get a check of the forecast here at momentum with meteorologist nicole mitchell. >> we've got persistent wet weather into the northwest, particularly washington state, as we take a closer look, the pattern is start to go shift farther to the south, so it's

going to stay persistent, but oregon, there could be isolated places seeing three or four inches of rain, widespread one or two inches. it's tremendously beneficial for places like california, only making it halfway down the state with the moisture, but the entire state needs it, so just to the northern half is getting it would be great. it's part of a pattern that will funnel areas of occasional snow through parts of the midwest into the great lakes. the core of the wet weather definitely into the northwest, as i said, the next couple days, there are problems with that, already have flood watches and warnings near power outage gent sound. del mentioned the ski resorts earlier, northern parts of the sierra watching this, because it means snow, wimp is good for skiing. >> thank you, nicole. >> ahead in this next half hour, a potential break through in the fight against ebola. we're going to go to the front lines for an update on the progress made.

>> why going in on gambling is not paying off. >> today. al jazeera america presents. >> this is it. >> oscar winner alex gibney's "edge of eighteen", thanksgiving marathon. >> oh my god! >> intense pressure. >> if i said that i'm perfectly fine, i would be lying. >> tough realities. >> i feel so utterly alone. >> life changing moments. >> in this envelope is my life. >> if you don't go to college you gonna be stuck here... i don't wanna be stuck here. >> catch the whole ground-breaking series. "edge of eighteen". thanksgiving marathon. today. 9:00 am eastern. only on al jazeera america.

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>> tech know, every saturday go where science meets humanity. >> this is some of the best driving i've every done, even though i can't see. >> tech know. >> we're here in the vortex. only on al jazeera america. >> heal in ferguson, residents gather for thanksgiving looking to rare following a turbulent week at protestors take demonstrations to the malls. >> ditching the turkey dinner in favor of deep discounts, americans across the country fighting their way into stores for black friday sales as the holiday shopping season i could can off. >> battling corruption, mexico's president tries to calm growing anger and outrage over the handling of those 43 students

that disappeared. >> probe francis and his first trip to turkey working to bridge the divide between muslims and christians. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm dell warm. >> i'm erica pitzi. >> rebuilding has begun in ferguson, missouri, some calm brought to the troubled town. >> residents cleaning the city after violent nights of protests. some protestors did try to shut down major retailers. we are joined live from ferguson. local retailers are concerned there will be more violence now that things are warming up. how are they coping? >> good morning to you and good morning to erika, as well. the people of ferguson getting a decent night's sleep for the first time in four. no organized street level protests and no arrests, as you were saying. however, with 24 businesses torched last monday, many of them mom and pop businesses around here are taking no

chances. they are boarding up their windows, the better to protect them for whatever might come next week. of course that looks very ugly, so some interprizing local people and some from out of town are getting together to do something about it. take a look. >> rodney is a jack of all trades, sawing plywood for this store. >> the way it's going now, i don't see it stopping. this is going on all ove over te country. people riding in from every, chicago, atlanta. >> before and he especially after monday and tuesday's rightouting, other stores have done the same. antonios the jack of trades, his sign says as much. his auto repair business is outside ferguson. he hasn't boarded up. boards keep customers away. >> that's like taking food out

of their kids' mouths, just smacking it out of their hands. i feel for them. i feel for them and i also feel for the people who's out here going through it. >> some insurance companies have told businesses their policies may not be honored if they don't board up. at max's chicken store, they're listening. >> besides wanting safety, you can't see what's coming. >> she said the plan to keep the wood work in place until next week at least. >> if everyone along the boardwalk that theirs boarded and you don't, it's possible you're the target. >> since monday's destruction, the weather's been grim in ferguson. it's snowed hard. they can't see through their windows. >> a local artist is cheering the store fronts up, the tree

the symbol of hope and family. >> i wanted to do something with the skillset i did have. >> it's beautiful. >> it's a very, very small thing, but at least hopefully it's a little bit uplifting to people to see artwork instead of boards. >> darcy is not the only one trying to brighten up ferguson. peace art is springing up all over the town, a sign of hope in a holiday season blighted by violence. >> it's a funny thing, del and erika. there were so many artists in town. they are admiring each other's work instead of painting. del and erika. >> explain this change of strategy shifting from demonstrations in the eats to the malls. >> it's not really a changing strategy, actually, del. they've said all along that they want to disrupt and be a nuisance and irritant and not go away in my they get the change that they want. the strategy now is to disrupt

holiday shopping. we saw that last night. we have pictures in the local wal-mart and ferguson, the idea to close it down. when the protestors came down, they couldn't get to anyone else. in the wal-mart, they did chant slogans but were respectful and left when asked to at the end of the evening. that's going to go on throughout this holiday weekend. the problem is most are peaceful protestors, the worry how many will try to agitate and have things turn violent. >> john, than thank you very mu. >> it was a rather peaceful start to black friday shopping this year. there were no major reports of scuffles overnight as retailers

nationwide hoped their doors even earlier than last year. millions of shoppers hit the stores and logged on to grab good deals. it's estimated 30 million americans did their shopping on thanksgiving day. mary snow is live inside macy's here in new york. good morning, are we looking at a new trend, black friday now moving to thursday? >> good morning, erika. we're certainly seeing more retailers opening on thanksgiving itself. look aren't me here. it looks like it's the middle of the afternoon. there is a steady crowd. it's been this way all morning. macy's for one has joined the retailers opening on thanksgiving. it opened its doors last night at 6:00 p.m. and never closed them. it will be open 29 hours straight. this is a trend, people are calling it gray thursday, and this happens as retailers are really getting so competitive, jockeying for shopper's cash.

>> are consumers really spending more on this gray thursday? >> you know, traditionally, when you look at the numbers last year for 2013, we did see more people shopping on thanksgiving itself. black friday, however is still a bigger day. erika, really these deals, retailers are putting out there really stretched into the whole week. this has turned into a very big week for retailers. this year, they're hoping to do better. the forecast right now is for a sales increase of 4.1%, which is better than last year, because last year wasn't a great year for retail sales. they're hope that go some of these deals are going to bring people in throughout this entire week. >> we've seen black friday get pretty ugly, people pushing,

shoving, ships having knock-down, drag-out fights in lines. how much of the lack of this can be attributed to the early start? >> one other thing, too, is that just seeing retailers across the country, some saying that they've really tried to stagger some of these deals and not have them all at one time to avoid those crushes and rushes into the stores have been staggering the deals out. yes, because stores are open like this one around the clock, you're not going to see those crowds at one time rushing in. >> all right, mary snow live for us this morning, thank you. >> we're following a developing story out of texas. police in austin shoot and kill a gunman after he opened fire on definitely downtown buildings, the man reportedly shot at police headquarters, the federal courthouse and mexican

consulate, as well. a major highway is shut down. >> in mexico, the president is proposing new reforms to combat widespread crime and corruption. it comes as police find 11 decapitated and partly burned bodies in southern mexico. the new proposals come as officials continue to search for 43 students missing since september. >> months of protests ever finally forced his hand. the mexican president in a televised speech announcing we will now take control of local police forces. >> we are clear, only through the state of law can we defeat together the challenges of insecurity, corruption and impunity. at the wake of the tragedy of iguana, mexico is being newly tested, faced with this, mexicans cannot fall into pessimism nor abandon our hope

for a better future. >> this is the epicenter of the crisis in mexico, iguala, a small city where thought three students disappeared and were allegedly handed to cartel members by the local police. it's feared they were then executed. >> this is what's left of what they're telling me was a really luxurious office of the iguala mayor. protestors burned it down. he's in prison now, because he was supposed to be part of a drug cartel with his wife. this is supposedly happening in many place around mexico. this is the situation that the president is going to have to deal with. >> the president said he will send congress a plan to reform the justice system and establish an emergency hot line for citizens to report crime and corruption. it's too late for many residents of violent towns like iguala where cartels are fighting for drug routes.

>> we don't believe anything the president says. he goes on foreign trips while the country mourns. >> the president promised change when he took office two years ago. economic reforms earned him praise abroad, but at home, he had been criticized and accused of corruption. >> we want him to do things instead of announcing changes that will take place in the future. >> the announcement was an attempt to calm a wave of anger sweeping the nation. the people say they are tired of promises. it's change they want. >> aljazeera, iguala, mexico. >> the president also proposed setting up a nationwide emergency number like 911. he wants to boost development by creating three special economic zones in the country's impoverished south. >> the ukraine parliament

electing prime yatsenyuk, saying they need to stop russian aggression. >> the european union is slapping on more sanctions against those involved in the ukraine crisis, adding 13 rebels and five organizations to the black list. the e.u. said it will freeze their assets. more than 120 people and 20 organizations face sanctions over the crisis. >> japan taking the cue from the west this morning, forcing automakers to recall all vehicles with faulty airbags. they are singling out those made by takata, the company at the center of the massive air bag recall here in the united states and linked to several deaths. takata has until tuesday next week to expand recalls nationwide or face further legal action and penalties. >> the united nations declaring a state of emergency in gaza on the strip after heavy flooding there. hundreds of people had to be evacuated. would floods come as an especially difficult time,

nearly 400,000 palestinians have been displaced since this summer's war with israeli. >> mother nature spoiling thanksgiving for new england, a wintery storm system leaving 200,000 people in the region without power. crews are working to turn the lights back on but say there's no estimate on what that will happen. >> the major storm system may be gone, but the cold weather isn't going anywhere anytime soon. >> let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell. what do you think? >> we've got a couple of days and then there will be a warmup. we have a place in the west shooting occasional snow through the northern midwest through the great lakes. the area isn't entirely out of the clear from the snow. more of this will be places like ontario, syracuse could see that most of the region just light amounts if you see anything at all. what is more significant is behind the front, we had high pressure in place, a clockwise flow, you get on the western side of that, and it's a flow from the south.

as you get on the opposite side, you've got the flow from the north. it's if you know themed in cold air from the northeast the last couple days, temperatures running 10-20 degrees below average now because of that, and here's what that looks like. a real warmup, denver, 70 degrees today. when you look at new york on the converse side, 37. the 30 as we get toward the weekend and by the time we get into sunday, the pattern reverses and a warmup for the east coast. we're going to see more of these temperatures back in the 50's and 60s. the pattern shift impacts the northwest, seattle, those testimonies will be going down while the east coast -- >> more people just now getting to their destination. >> the taliban carrying out a string of attacks in afghanistan amid the recent uptick in violence there. retired army sergeant mike lyons

is here. >> prank officers storm the field at one soccer game. that video and others captured by our citizen journalists.

>> time for votes captured by our citizen journalists. heavy flooding in france, waters racing down and collecting in a store parking lot. one person has been killed. >> the black friday frenzy in the u.k. scrambling for bargains. there were reports of fights breaking out at some stores. >> a group of prank officers bringing the soccer game in london to a complete stop. three men stormed the field taking selfies with the players after ditching security. they were eventually caught. >> there are growing security concerns in afghanistan after

yet another attack on a diplomatic compound there, a district in kabul house as lot of embassies in that reege be and the attack coming hours after a british embassy was targeted, killing six. mike lyons is a retired army major. thanks for being with us. we are now seeing that uptick in violence in afghanistan. how is this going to affect adjustment he was to draw down the troops? >> in the short term, puts them on alert. you're going to see the beginning of an uptick of u.s. military support there. a lot has to do with the president of afghanistan, general campbell as well working together. they'll already stay in. the approximate the has come up with a new strategy. i think you'll see more forces stay for a greater period of time. >> now that we know secretary of

defense chuck hagel is stepping down, how will that affect afghanistan on the ground? >> general campbell has formed a better relationship with penalty of afghanistan. it's almost like secretary hagel's out of that picture. he's got a better relationship with the commander on the ground with the afghan president. it's already changed. they are doing strikes at night now. there's a much better relationship between the afghan security forces and united states forces that are there. >> the u.s. is now getting ready to increase the troop levels in afghanistan in 2015 beyond what they said because they have to fill in the gap left by other nato countries. are we really pulling out of america's longest running war? >> i don't think so. i think you're going to see at least another 1,000 troops above the 9800 which we were committed to.

i find it unusual that nato countries with six weeks to go couldn't deploy those force there is. you'll see the americans take the bulk of this number going forward. the number could change by the end of 2015 with regard to more troops even going, as well. >> the taliban claimed responsibility for this latest attack. before the attack, a pentagon spokesman said pentagon forces will not seek taliban targets. >> the afghan government's going to tarts the taliban and use u.s. assets to do that. we might be an indirect party to those attacks. other terrorists organizations inside pakistan as well will become a target. while we might not necessarily strike then, you'll see us be part of those operations should the afghan government want them. >> a larger military presence could be on the ground in iraq.

is the world becoming too dangerous for talk of withdraws anywhere in these hot spots? >> yes, i think we want to get troops out of there, but can't put to it a time table, which is what the president did, saying by the end of 2016 the troops will be out of there. the military wants it mission focused, not time focused. you'll see that most of the senators want the time frame to be gone. they want to let the military decide. the military will extend this out for as long as possible on some cases, we've seen them do that before. >> all right, thanks so much for joining us. >> pope francis arriving in turkey this morning with a message of tolerance. dialogue, he says between christians and muslims and fighting extremists tops his

agenda when he meets the turkish president. we are live in istanbul. what is the pope hoping to accomplish on this trip? >> could you repeat that question again? >> yes. what does the pope hope to accomplish on this trip? >> there's two centers to this, really, first trying to build bridges with islam and with the eastern orthodox christian church, but today, friday, the emphasis is on relations with islam, the pope is expected to speak out about the violence that the is state is meting out on minorities in this part of the world, turkey bordering syria and iraq where islamic state of iraq and the levant is making advances. the pope is expected to use a

speech to denounce people who use god's name to commit these atrocities. the vatican expect a strongly worded speech. we know before the pope's visit to turkey, this muslim majority country, the holy see has been calling on muslim leaders themselves to speak out for forcefully against violence committed against muslims in this part of the world. the pope has to be very careful how he does that, because he has to balance the need to speak out against this violence while respecting islam. he's already made clear that he respects this great religion. he's spoken about how people who read the koran properly will know that this is not a violent religion. he has to be careful at treading very carefully diplomatically. >> thank you very much. >> in nigeria, 40 people were killed in an attack on a bus station. five government soldiers were

among the dead. no group has claimed responsibility, but the area has been targeted by boko haram in the past. >> nigeria's importantlier president accusing goodluck jonathan of underestimating the threat of boko haram, saying jonathan allowed them to grow. he is urging good luck jonathan not to run for reelection in three months. >> stormy weather impacting a large chunk of the west coast. nicole mitchell is back with more. >> we've had system after system in this region. we've had different watches and warnings up for potential flooding areas. the flow off the coastline was a little farther to the north. you can see oregon and northern portions of california are having the best chances of weather or at least heavy rain. this flow funneling over a

ridge, that's why places like minnesota, wisconsin will have moisture. look at how much of the country is very dry, so we really have quiet weather, which is great for a holiday weekend with so many traveling after the not so great start wednesday. as we get into the next couple days, washington to oregon, three or four inches through the weekend. most of the region one or two inches at least and this does spread farther to the south, so at leas least about hy into california. this is great news because the region is in drought. portions of the northern sierra, big sky, so many more ski resorts came open in time for the holidays, they are loving to see the snow and the moisture is very, very beneficial in general. >> thank you. >> british prime minister david cameron tackling a hot button issue, dealing with the growing in that of immigrants.

>> u.s. special forces carrying out a daring mission in an al-qaeda stronghold in yemen. we have a former navy seal joining us live to break down the mission. >>

>> a conflict that started 100 year ago, some say, never ended... revealing... untold stories of the valor... >> they opened fire on the english officers... >> sacrifice...

>> i order you to die... >> and ultimate betrayal... drawing lines in the sand that would shape the middle east and frame the conflict today >> world war one: through arab eyes only on al jazeera america >> you're taking a live look at new york city on a cold black friday as people across the country head out to find some deep discounts. good morning and welcome to al jazeera america. ahead in our next half hour, a major break through in the fight against ebola, as an experimental vaccine appears to be safe. we'll go live to liberia for an update on the progress in fighting the virus there. >> big bet on gambling back firing following a run of bad luck. the changes to stop the losing streak. >> these are stories we're following. protestors in ferguson, missouri are marching through the streets

and stores, calling for a boycott and some trying to shut down major retailers to draw attention to the death of motion in the stores this time. today is officially black friday, but the shopping frenzy off to an early start. millions of shoppers hitting the stores and logging on to grab good deals. it's estimated that 30 million americans did their shopping on thanksgiving day instead of black friday. >> pope francis arriving in turkey earlier this morning for his first visit to that country, his trip aimed at interfaith dialogue with muslims and christian minorities. the pope is scheduled to meet with the turkish president later today. >> syria is hitting back after the latest round of airstrikes. government officials are denying they targeted civilians in those attacks, saying washington should criticize militant activity instead. earlier this week, the state department said it was horrified by bombings which killed 90

civilians. >> we're learning the details of the secret u.s. mission that freed hostages in yemen this week. two dozen members of seal team six took part. they were looking for an unnamed american but he was moved before the raid. u.s. officials saved eight hostages. a former navy seal and company founder of seal team consulting and c.e.o. joins us from florida. thanks for being with us this morning. a hostage rescue attempt in yemen with only one american at risk. does that pass the smell test to you? >> actually, it does. our policy has always been to go and return americans to american soil whenever they've been taken hostage. the murky waters come into play when we don't know, you know,

where this person is for a certain amount of time or they're moved frequently and we don't know where they are, so, you know, i think that it's always been our policy to get people, whether one person or 10 or 100, just figuring out the way to do it is always the conundrum and seal team six that ha that down to a science. >> what are your sources telling you, is it a journalist or somebody else? >> there's a lot of speculation and i don't want to put my -- because it would be my personal assessment of who this person is, and let's face it, i'd probably be wrong, so. [ laughter ] >> we'll leave it at that then. the hostages british, saudi, ethiopian, why not a multi-national attempt? >> they are particular what

forces they allow in. u.s. special operations command is unique in that we've been working with a nation of special operations forces they call them sofs. there is a sof roster of sorts where we can work with other countries and others can work with us. i'm guessing yemen is very particular with who they allow to operate from a military stand point inside their own borders. >> some of the western hostages may have been missed in the raid. if those reports are true, do you expect to see u.s. special forces on the ground again in yemen? >> without a doubt, absolutely. absolutely. if there was a fumble, there about be a fumble recovery, absolutely. >> i want to switch gears to ferguson. we have heard from officer darren wilson, saying he was just doing his job. you trained for years in those shoot-don't shoot exercises. does his explanation that he felt his life was in danker pass

muster? >> you know, on the outside, someone looking at it from the surface, it's hard to owe open it's hard to put yourself in that situation and know definitelyively what to do, as an outside person looking in, you have this large man coming after an authority figure, who he should be listening to and things have a way of expediting very, very quickly. i think he made the right decision in that situation. i'm sure he felt that his life was in jeopardy. it's always easy to arm chair quarterback. i think looking at the facts and how they've been presented, and the fact that the grand jury did not indict him on monday tells a much clearer story, that it was in fact justified and warranted. >> let me me ask you a question on this. what happens when a sale takes a life? how much pressure is there on you guys to get it right all the

time? >> the pressure is immense. we are still -- we can be investigated by the f.b.i. if we take a life and it's not warranted, so, you know, i don't know if many people know he that, but we are still privy to the u.s. judicial system, not privy, but prone to it. we he don't just have cart blanche to go out there and shoot anyone we want to. the taking of a life is always very, very serious and very precise. we are held to i would say we are held to even a higher standard than some police officers are, than most police officers are. >> i want to get one thing cleared up before you go. these law enforcement officers are now using the gear that was specifically made for units like yours. in your opinion, are the vast majority of police departments across the country equipped emotionally and filly to handle these weapons of with a are that we see in so many police departments? >> that was the early concern

that they were getting all these toys, but they didn't have the training necessary. what i'm seeing now is i'm seeing a creep of a special forces veterans and police departments and combat veterans in the police departments and the quality of the police officers actually increasing, because you have people who are combat tested and they know the equipment, they know the mentality that you have to have and they have the ability to turn it on and turn it off, which is what you need in community policing. i think the fact that they have this equipment is actually good. we've got some underlying issues in this country that could present themselves very soon. i think if police officers don't have these types of equipment, we're in trouble. >> as always, thank you for being with us. he is a former navy seal joining us from florida. >> u.s. oil futures belonged $6 a barrel overnight, the lowest since may of 2010.

it comes after opec decided against cutting output. led by saudi arabia, opec left production where it is, 30 million-barrels a day. that's good no, sir news for drivers, but means the u.s. shale oil industry may lose money. >> a symbolic vote by the european parliament to break up google. on thursday, lawmakers passed a non-binding resolution that calls on the e.u. to consider a measure for search engines to separate commercial services for their businesses. google was not mentioned by name. lawmakers are concerned some tech companies are trying to mo nothing lies the market. >> uber operations suspended, a judge barring the company from operating in the state, putting nearly 1,000 drivers in nevada out of work. nevada's attorney general saying the multi-billion dollar company intentionally broke the law in a highly regulated taxi state.

>> the black friday shopping frenzy, we have mary snow inside macy's here in new york city. she joins us now as a special guest. good morning, mary. >> good morning, erika. joining us right now is the chairman and c.e.o. have macy's. good to have you with us. >> thank you. >> you haven't gotten much clean, have you? >> not much sleep, it's the superbowl of retailing, so i'm happy to be here. >> you opened the store on at 6:00 on thanksgiving. is it worth it to bring all these workers in? do you get that many people. >> apparently so, we listen to our customers and they wanted to be here last night. we had 15,000 customers waiting to get in. i try to think like the customers. clearly they wanted to be here to shop last night. >> some backlash over opening on thanksgiving. do you have any qualms about opening on the holiday. >> i'd like to not do it, that's

my choice, i'm here with my employees. if my employees are going to be here, i'm here. i don't try to make decisions for how i personally feel, but how our customers and employees do. the employees didn't have to work. we hired 85,000 additional employees just for november and december. i asked my employees, you get first choice, because we may you time and a half if you work the holiday and 85 positions were filled. they wanted to be here. they said i'm happy to have that shift, because then i'm going to go shopping on black friday with my friends and family. now i'm going to have that day off and thanks for paying me time and a half. >> black friday has been the shopping day of the year. is it eroded, is it that significant anymore? >> look around, here we are. we've been open for a long time already and these customers are still here. i think it's a different customer than who we had last night. very international, very

diverse. then i was back to walking around at midnight. very young, a millennial customer in their 20's. here we are again with the local consumer i think in this market shopping. i think we're getting different bites at the apple. i still think it's going to be a very, very busy black friday. >> how tough of a landscape is it now? >> very tough, very challenging. i walked through the stores, walked through malls and i think plastered, you know, a huge percent off the stores. gas prices, people have been talking about are at a very, very good price for consumers, anyway, and you talk about unemployment, certainly in america, the rates are low and also pure jobs, people actually purely working now asks 2008 is up, so there's good fundamentals

in place for a good recovery. we're all waiting to see it and i think now is the time for us to begin to see the benefits of what's been happening over the last several months in our economy. >> retailers like yours are relying on those savings at the gas pump. >> sure. in new york city, you don't see it much, but outside in suburb i can't, people are driving, making decisions, used to be making decisions on one stop or two stop to get the most you can get out of my tank of gas. when you can have multiple stops, you're simply saving money and you're seeing that in your own pocketbook. you now have to spend on another handbag or another pair of boots. that's obviously got to be good for us. >> any indication so far how sails have been? you talked about the people, the numbers of people coming in, but what about sales? any indications? >> so far so good for us. this is a long day and it's going to continue to build. our day always continues to build this time of day, starts

off strong, but the purchases actually build to the core of the day, so -- by the way, our stores in california are three hours behind, our stores in hawaii are barely open. we've got a lot of business still to do yet, but so far, so good. >> thank you for your time, we appreciate it. >> most retailers more than ever we've seen retailers opening on thanksgiving as the competition among stores to get these shoppers in through their doors and get their cash. >> all right, thank you so much. obviously customers want that. one single store, 15,000 people lined up 6:00 p.m. on thanksgiving. >> nasa contracted a rocket headed to the international space station but it burst into flames right after liftoff, dashing the dreams of four young iraqi refugees. >> they had a science experiment onboard but now are getting a second chance. we have their story. >> 5-4-3-2-1.

and we have liftoff. >> when an unmanned nasa rocket launched from eastern virginia last october, the dreams of these iraqi refugees from metro detroit took flight. >> i was so excited, like oh, my god, our experiment is in that rocket and going up. >> moments later, disaster, the rocket explodes just after takeoff. in it, commercial supplies and over a dozen science experiments, one of which belonged to the eighth graders. >> if you told me it's blowed up, i was like no, it just went fast, we can't see it, but then i realized it and i started crying. >> the middle school students developed a tool that can test the effect that iodine tablets can have on ecoally bacteria in zero gravity.

nasa is giving them a second chance to see if the experiment could offer new ways to make dirty water clean here on earth and in space. >> they want to improve the world. they want to give back to their country. >> over a year ago, regina, farah, mer yell and ezra fled iraq with their families. thief witnessed death and destruction, life experience that became the at lift for their science experiments. >> when i was in iraq, we didn't have clean water. it wasn't clean that much, like maybe sometimes people get sick or some of them die. >> madison superintendent randy speck said there is a lesson for everyone. >> you see what the results of possibly cleaning water could ever for their lives personally. that's a big deal, but also for our school community to say

science and technology, engineering and math are big and important things for this generation of students. >> i really love this school. this school made me better, a better person, and maybe my future will start from here, from these experiments. >> they hope to make a difference and believe that the sky's the limit. bisi onile-ere, aljazeera, detroit. >> officials say they've seen numbers triple in just the past five years with 140 iraqi students enrolled. >> today marks the 50t 50th anniversary of the spacecraft launch, the ship first to complete a fly by of another planet and sent back the first up-close images of the red planet. nearly 90,000 messages will be beamed to mars, including from

george takei. >> checking the progress in the fight against ebola. >> the whopper one burger king employee found in a backpack left behind.

>> british foreign minister david cameron getting tough on immigration in the u.k., laying out a plan that requires migrants to work four years before receiving benefits. it is aimed at reducing the growing immigration population in the u.k. last year 260,000 more people came to britain than left, a 43% increase over last year. >> france's president is head to go africa hit hard by ebola in guinea. he will be the first non-african leader to visit countries struggling with ebola. he will tour health care facilities, take part in a round

table discussion and meet with guinea's penalty. >> there may be a way soon to prevent ebola. >> there's a new experimental vaccine. as we report, health officials say it is showing promising results. >> researchers in maryland have been working on an ebola vaccine for years, as the virus has spread in recent months, they stepped up efforts. they say this one seems the most promising. they gave varying amounts to 20 volunteers. within a month, all developed antibodies needed to fight ebola. >> the results with the higher dose were quite favorable. >> ebola kills 70% of the people it infects. it's taken nearly 5500 lives so far, mostly in west africa. the world health organization says sierra leone will soon displace liberia as the worst hit country. scientists have been scrambling

to find ways to cure the virus, fast tracking drugs like zmapp, but the experimental vaccine is the first tested on people. the researchers will continue to test it internationally, like at this clinic in switzerland. >> it is safe for the volunteers. it is safe as well for the people who manipulate their biology samples. >> they also plan to expand their research to health care workers in lie bear i can't starting in january. >> we're hoping to start this much, much larger efficacy trial in first liberia to determine if it actually works. >> the scientists face big hurdles. the vaccine needs to be kept at 112 degrees please in a country with an unreliable power system. the scientists are optimistic. >> maybe by the mid to end of the summer of 2015, hopefully, we'll get enough good data to be able to determine if the vaccine

works for not. >> the british drug company's vaccine is based on a cold virus found in chimpanzees. they can produce 1 million doses a month by next year. it produces no serious side effects. >> joining us now from liberia is a missionary worker. reverend, good morning. the treatment for ebola, what problem are you seeing there? >> there are lots of things happening here in liberia. you have the u.s. military, and now the chinese. just across the street, about 2,000 feet away, you have the chinese that have also set up a unit. there are several units being built by the u.s. military around the country. there are enough units that have been set up, we still need more professional helpers and you do

need more aid, as well as the nutritional aspect to go along with the treatment of the virus. >> you talk about the extra health care facilities there. are those actually helping in the treatment of the virus? >> oh, definitely, and now there's no excuse. you find out someone has the symptoms, you do have a place you can take people. no one should be turned away from a unit. there is more space in the unit than -- occupied at this time. >> let's talk about new approaches to curb the outbreak. are you seeing any new approaches that the doctors and health care workers are taking to do that? >> sorry, i didn't get you clear, the noise is here in the back. >> no problem, reverend. we are wanting to talk about any new approaches that the doctors and health care workers are taking to try to curb the virus.

>> well, they had used h.i.v. treatment in some of the places when medications weren't available and i'm sure people are still using the basics that they are getting. there is really nothing new, people hope the new vaccine will be made available especially for health workers. that's the major need right now is how you can get this and very fast to help health workers. there's really no new treatments on the ground. >> reverend, let's talk about ping ponging, no idea where rural villagers go for treatment and return to the have you also spreading virus. do you think this can be stopped especially with the difficulty of tracking the virus in remote areas? >> people need to be able to man the checkpoints more, but definitely what you are also seeing here i think has to do with just public health and how we do nutrition. a lot of people here are trying to survive on a daily basis, so

are going to move from one point to the next where they feel they can get the basics of food and water. over here is the u.s. military, rural point to another rural point. >> change for joining us live from liberia. >> the region of macao is compared to las vegas. we report on local workers now worried about a sharp decline in the only game in town. >> it is the school that trains the people who keep the casinos running. casino work is just about the only game in town, so the industry's losing streak that everyone alarmed. >> there are very few alternatives for local people. macau needs to be more

diversified or face tremendous >> business is heavily reliant on china allowing heavy streams of gamblers across the border. >> morning at the crossing, there is no shortage of day trippers from mainland china. what's lacking are the high rollers. china's crack down on corruption means it's not wise to be seen flaunting cash and the big money has been staying away. >> they don't want to be implicated. they'd rather not coming and then especially those who are really we call them the big shots, the high rollers. >> it has made the industry review its expansion plans here, a move welcomed by many workers. dealers have been protesting

wage that is can't keep pace with inflated property prices in the overheating economy. for dealers, the predicted doubling of casinos in the next few years had filled him with dread. >> it is extremely hard for local people to maintain their living standards. the slowdown will give macau time to adjust instead of being dominated by the gaming industry. >> a reputation as a clean yea back water before casinos arrived, macau can pause to remember what that was like. aljazeera, macau. >> macau is the only place in china where casinos are legal. >> a man in a whopper king spotted a backpack left behind.

they found money, a deposit slip and marijuana. >> what would you have done if you got that bag? >> the manager did the right thing. he called the police. >> let's check in with nicole mitchell for a last look at your return home from the thanksgiving holiday this morning. >> we had such a rough start on wednesday. it's nice to be able to quiet things down for the rest of the holiday weekend. as we look out there today, we had a bit of a ridge in place funneling moisture in wisconsin and a couple of disturbances moving through the lake. the northwest is going to stay more active. a similar moisture forecast into the day tomorrow is what we have today. look at how much real estate across the country is dry. most of the midsection, the southwest not just dry, also

warm, very pleasant. the sunday return forecast, again, it's kind of that northern tear of the country with the better chances, not a lot of our busiest travel hubs and places better suited to deal with the snow. cool in the east coast now and milder in the northwest by sunday. that reverses its pattern. >> all right, getting warmer on our part of the coast. thank you, nicole. >> that's it for us here in new york. >> thank you for joining us. stay tuned for "edge of 18". >> we leave you with a look at all the madness of the black friday rush. >> experts predict that this black friday weekend will be the best one since before the recession hit eight years ago. >> we will see you right back here again tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. until then, go out and try to make a merchant happy.

>> the death toll could be much higher than anyone known. >> posing as a buyer... >> ...people ready then... >> mr. president >> who should answer for those people >> hi bae. in my school, no one gives a (bleep) if i'm gay or not. but at home, it's just harder to be myself. >> i really want my father to just tell me. i support you and i love my gay son. >> i go to lubbock high school, which is really intense and rigorous. first, i wanted to pursue maybe science or law, but i can't imagine my life without dance.