>> eric garner, michael brown, shut the whole system down. >> protests from coast-to-coast after a police officer was cleared in the death of eric garner after an apparent chokehold in new york city. we have reaction from the family, local leaders and people taking toll streets. >> the justice department is launching a federal civil rights investigation as president obama demands every american be treated equally regardless of race. >> we're just moments away from

the launch of the orion deep space capsule, the first step toward sending a crew to mars. >> record rainfall in drought stricken california, roads turning into rivers, schunk holes swallowing streets. >> vehicular traffic in the middle of pedestrian traffic. >> chants of i can't breathe and black lives matter, protestors angry after the grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer involved in the death of an unarmed black man. >> that officer was caught on video apply ago chokehold during an arrest. a medical examiner later concluded the move which has been banned for decades by the nypd contributed to garner's death. welcome to aljazeera. >> nasa's new space capsule is set to blast off heading into deep orbit. it was going to happen just a few minutes from now, but nasa

just tweeted the launch was delayed because of a boat in the launch area. we're going to bring you that event live when and if it happens. >> that is a look at the launch pad. they've got about a 2:49 window for that launch, so there is still time to get that off the ground. let's begin in new york city. thousands of protestors took to the streets there last night, demanding justice for the death of eric began pepper 30 people were arrested, but unlike ferguson, the family problem station remained relatively peaceful. >> e pitzi joins us live from times square. give us a sense of how emotional things got in the aftermath of the grand jury non-decision.

>> demonstrators shutting down streets in times square to disrupts the christmas tree lighting, hundreds shouting "i can't breathe" across the city. >> i can't breathe. i can't breathe! >> it all terms from the decision not to indict new york city police officer daniel palestinian ipantaleo. >> he should have been indicted. i really feel disappointed. >> this cell phone video captured the final moments of his life. the father pleaded to police for trying to arrest him for illegally selling cigarettes. he was brought down with a chokehold that the medical

examiner said contributed to the death. new york's mayor called it a painful and emotional day. >> we're grieving again over the loss of eric garner, who was a father, a husband, a son, a good man, a man who should be with us and isn't. that pain, that simple fact is felt again so sharply today. >> the stanton island grand jury was made up of 23 people, 14 white, nine non-white. they met for are two months looking at evidence and hearing testimony including from the officer himself. >> i can't believe that in the 21st century in the united states of america we cannot get a simple indictment for the murder of a man that was caught on tape. >> officer pantaleo is not off the hook. the justice department announced on wednesday it would launch a civil rights investigation into the officer's actions, who also

faces discipline over the chokehold maneuver, a practice banned 20 years ago. >> we were embedded inside one of those several protests overnight. we're going to bring you some of the personal stories of these protestors, their reasons for participating. >> are you getting a sense we will see more protests today? >> yes, absolutely. there is a protest planned for 5:30 tonight, the area where the courthouses are. we can expect hundreds of people, if not thousands, even hundreds of thousands because overnight, there were several protests all over the city. this is one planned protest, expect to see a lot of people coming out. >> thank you very much.

>> the officer, daniel pantaleo is apologizing, saying i blame a police officer to help people and protect those who can't help themselves. it is never my intention are harming everyone and i feel very bad about the death of mr. garner. we are live in stanton island where garner lived and died. a lot of people in that community certainly not happy with this decision. what are you seeing going on there? >> stephanie, all is quiet on bay street and 17 to know island, a morning after, there were protests here around the country rewarding the grand jury decision. we do have the memorial to the life of a man who lost his life here, flowers and candles celebrate the 43-year-old father of six. of course, after this decision, eric garner's family say they are outraged, saying that the

justice system has failed them. eric garner's wife, mother and relatives appeared with reverend al sharpton wednesday shortly after the announcement. his widow is determined to get justice for her husband. she reacted to officer pantaleo's statement made after the grand jury's decision that he felt bad about garner's death. >> no, i don't accept his apology, no, i could care less about his condolences, no, i can care less, he is still working and getting a paycheck, still feeding his kids and my husband is six feet under. >> i am truly disappointed in the grand jury decision this evening. i don't know what video they were looking at. evidently, it wasn't the same one the rest of the world was looking at. >> it will not get too cold, it will not snow too high, this is

going to be a winter that we're going to freeze out police brutality in this country. >> at that press briefing yesterday, al sharpton reiterated that he would like for federal prosecutors to take over in situations where police brutality is involved, saying that he doesn't think that there's enough separation between the police and prosecutors for them to be unbiased in those situations. >> what is next for garner's family? are they seeking other legal recourse? >> they are. in october, his family and their attorneys announced an intention to file a damages suit against the city of new york and new york police department. we see no evidence that that will not go forward as planned. since we're talking about future plans, last night, reverend sharpton announced his intention to form a marsh on washington,

d.c., a marsh against police brutal if i to freeze out please brutality in america. >> john henry smith on stanton island for us, thank you. >> let's go to libby casey now live in washington, d.c. the reaction to the grand jury decision extending to lawmakers there, as well. >> that's right, del. we saw new york lawmakers gather on capitol hill to put into words the frustration that many lawmakers were feeling not just from new york over the fact that there is video of eric garner's death and yet still no indictment. >> from new york to seattle to washington. >> what do we want? justice! >> what do we want it? >> now! >> frustration over not indicting police officer pantaleo.

>> not to iict in the death of eric garner is a miscarriage of justice, it's an outrage, a disgrace. >> this is not a black problem, this is a problem we have in our great country. >> the grand jury won't have the final say. >> now that the local investigation has concluded, i'm here to announc that the justice department will proceed. >> he pledged a full and fair investigation. similar to the decision in ferguson, missouri not to indict white police officer darren wilson, who shot and killed black teenager michael brown. >> mr. garner's death is one of several recent incidents across our great country that have tested the sense of trust that must exist between law enforcement and the communities their charged to serve and to

protect. this is not a new york issue, nor a ferguson issue alone. >> president obama has formed a task force to deem with the issue a understand says it is something the entire country must confront. >> this is an american problem. when anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, that's a problem. it's my job as president to help solve it. >> earlier this week, president obama announced the creation of a task force on 21st century policing. he also announced proposals of $263 million spending package including funding for more body cameras, numbers 50,000 to be used by police and police reforms. >> yet this was caught on tape. also the justice democratic announcing another federal civil rights probe, but he's on his way out. how is that going to affect this case? >> that's right, but the woman president obama has tapped to replace him, loretta lynch, it's

her u.s. attorney's office that will oversee this investigation, so that's who the president has tapped to be next in line. she clearly will be onboard with eric holder's initial plan. now the attorney general is by no means a lame duck attorney general at this point. he is hosting a series of conversations across the country, looking to end racial profiling. he'll go to cleveland today, that is a significant location to go, because just last month, a 12-year-old boy there, african-american was shot by police for having a toy gun. the attorney general was in atlanta, at the civil rights landmark, ebeneezer baptist church. he is continuing to make this a priority. >> libby casey live in washington, d.c., thank you very much. >> let's bring in aljazeera's legal contribute or jami floyd. good morning. let's talk about the charges the grand jury could have indicted this officer on. >> most people think first of murder, but that was never on

the table here. the charges they move looked at were assault and there are three different degrees of assault from first to the lightest of assaults, third degree, reckless endangerment, again, three different possible degrees, first, second and third. criminally negligent homicide an option, involuntary manslaughter, manslaughter, options, none of which they took. >> the medical examiner ruled this a homicide. you're a former defense attorney. are you surprised that they couldn't find a single charge? >> it was homicide, tied to the chokehold by the medical examiner, although they did also mention the preexisting condition. >> asthma, right? >> asthma, but once you have a police officer testifying, the grand jury is going to consider his version of events and of course his defenses, which are extraordinary for a police officer. >> we saw thousands taking to the street before ferguson,

before that, trayvon martin, now this one. is the system broke? >> i think the whole criminal justice system is broken and that is no more -- nowhere more so clear than the division between law enforcement and communities of color. the question is whether or not a grand jury can act independently and there's no judge in there, right? there's no cross examination of witnesses, even of the police officer when he gives his version of events, so that isn't to say we should throw the pros out altogether, but i have real questions about it when the defendant is a police officer and a prosecutor, who works in a cozy relationship with police officers and police departments every other day of the year is now asked to try and bring an indictment in a confidential setting against a alive and a police department with whom he works every day. >> those are the same issues we talked about with ferguson. >> yes, and i feel we're going

to be talking about again and again unless we try to fix this system. >> we thank you for being our aljazeera legal contributor this morning, thank you very much. >> speaking of ferguson, michael brown's stepfather is apologizing for what he said the night a grand jury cleared a police officer in brown's death. >> that fellow in the middle, with the green sleeves was lewis head, the night it was announced there would be no indictment. he said he screamed words he shouldn't have in the heat of the moment. ferguson police are investigating whether those comments invited rioting. >> a 12-year-old shot and killed by police was laid to revert, huge crowd on hand for the funeral with that the little boy shot by a rookie cleveland police officer. he was just holding a pellet gun. authorities say the officer believed that he had a real weapon. the boy's uncle called for

changing police training and called for peaceful protest. >> we must now be his voice. through us, he will be heard from the grave, through us to prevent these deaths from happening not only in cleveland, but the nation. >> >> there's no information about the officer who shot and killed rice, the 2012 letter from officer tim low man's file called his handgun performance dismal and recommended he be released from the independence police department. low man later moved to join the force in cleveland. >> in five minutes, we'll talk with a former sheriff and get his perspective on what police did right and wrong in this case and why the grand jury cleared officer pantaleo. >> we are keeping on eye on the launch pad in cape canaveral. the launch window opens, it has

opened, it's about a minute into the launch with in dough. that does not mean that they will launch right away, because the weather has to be just right and speaking of weather. >> tracking the weather for us all morning in that region, is it going to cooperate? >> the weather in florida this morning is picture-perfect, temperatures 70 degrees. i looked at the wind, those are very light, not a lot of cloud cover, so i would say they'll be able to get that off without a problem. it is a good thing, but that is not taking off from california where we've had a much different story. you can see some of the rain, the heavy stuff northward yesterday and southerly flow, still some big totals. this goes pack 24 hours from now. places like sacramento, almost two inches in the last 24 hours, but if you look at yesterday as just a day, 2.2. a lot of places set records yesterday off the day before and

some on both days. continuing across the state, this has been beneficial rain. the energy hitting the state continues to move interior. we'll have another system behind that. as we put this into the outlook, we'll see more rain move in. this is a northerly system, so not as likely that southern california will get hit. flooding in san francisco, record rain set, over 3.5-inches the last couple of days, 10 times the monthly total on average, but still under average for the year, because of the drought. >> we're hearing more about the launch or no launch. >> they have a 2:39 window. they still have a lot of time to get this rocket off the ground. nasa sent out a tweet saying there has been a wind launch violation, so there may be a

wind factor at this moment. we'll continue to monitor. that would be the first launch of the orion rocket into deep space. >> call for body cameras on police officers. why the eric garner case has some now wondering whether that is worth the cost. we'll talk to a former police official. >> signs that iran is helping the coalition fight against isil. what u.s. surveillance uncovered and why tehran is denying it. >> part two of our exclusive investigation, the dangers of war zone burn pits used to get rid of waste. a veteran says they left him permanently disabled.

>> i can't breathe! >> protests last night, part of larger demonstrations around the country after the grand jury decided not a indict a police officer in the death of eric garner. 83 people were arrested. unlike ferguson last week, these

demonstrations remind relatively peaceful. >> mayor bill deblasio said all of new york city is grieving with the family. he said the decision was not what many new yorkers wanted. he talked of his son and how his family has dealt with issues of race and police. >> history still hangs over you the, the dangers he may face. we've had to literally train him on how to take special care in any encounter he has with police officers, who were there to protect him. >> leo mcguire is board member of the former sheriff's association and former sheriff in new jersey. i want to get your reaction to what the mayor said about his own son, who is african-american and that he has to talk to him about how to deal with police. what does it say that the mayor of this city himself has to warn

his kids about confrontations with police. >> i think as parents, we've all had conversations with our children. i have two daughters, adult daughters now and their interaction as responsible adults is the conversation, not necessarily do this, don't do this in the face of law enforcement, but he's being a good parent. >> you don't think it's about race? >> it shouldn't be. i'd like to say it's not, obviously in this climate for the past several months with the garner case, as well as the wilson and brown cases in missouri, it is becoming about race rather than about the societal ills that need to be addressed. >> what about the values of the human race. as that tape was playing and you hear him laying 11 times i can't breathe. >> yes. >> is it more about the fact that the officers themselves did not recognize that a man was dying as opposed to trying to make an arrest? is there something missing here. >> law enforcement is trained

about something called positional asphyxia. look at the size of mr. garner. he is a huge individual, morbidly obese. it took several officers to bring him down to get him to submit to the lawful arrest. he can't breathe, he can't breathe, so the officers, once they got him under control, they should have sat him up, got him to be able to inhale properly and then gave him the medical treatment he needed. his very own weight contributed to his demise. >> based on what you just said, something was done wrong. at some point, they should have realized he couldn't breathe and sat him up. >> absolutely. >> who should be held accountable? no one's been held accountable. >> when you have the g.m. process, it's about not only reasonableness but having enough probable cause and in tent. your previous guest talked about the grand jury process with that we're not going to get into all of that, but the fact is the grand jury exists not just for

police officers, but anyone accused of a crime to find if there's probable cause to move forward. >> you take an oath as an officer are to serve and protect the public, but when these instances come up, why is it so many officers seem to be protecting the police and not the guy who died? >> that seems to be the issue, that thin blue line and that wall of silence, but, you know, that has gone away. we are going to talk about body worn cameras and that will give insight into the perspective of the police officer and the environment they're thrust into. in the garner case. >> efforts just selling loose cigarettes. >> he could have been just doing this or just doing that. it doesn't matter, he's still breaking the law and we are a nation of laws. >> if your son was shot for selling loose cigarettes or crushed to death in a woke hold for selling loose cigarettes, how would you feel about police. >> my son or daughters wouldn't be resisting arrest.

when he was trying to get a breath, he started to struggle even further, probably in order to try to camp a breath, which the officers incorrectly may have assumed was resisting, so it's a slippery slope where you feel all this tension going on and instead, he's dying. >> thank you so much for your insights sir. >> we'll talk to jason johnson, his reaction to the grand jury decision and the message he believes it sense to minorities in new york and beyond. >> nasa trying to launch the spacecraft, it is unmanned and will spend four and a half hours high above the earth. put into context the importance of today's mission. >> the anticipation of this

launch is killing me. it was supposed to go up 20 minutes ago, delayed for various reasons. nasa is calling this an historic day. this is the first step for the space agency in true deep space exploration. if this launch goes ahead, there is a 2:30 window, so we're hoping it does, it will go six kilometers, 14 times higher than the international space station testing the stress of this capsule. it's about testing for radiation when it comes back after its mission, after it's circled the planet twice. the heat shields will be super heated before it slashes down in the pacific ocean. nasa, i haven't seen this much excitement here in years. i covered the shuttle program. when that ended, morale was low. you sense they are entering a new era. all the roads are packed with tourists waiting for this to happen. it's a long process, this is an unhand test flight.

it might be 15 years before we get four astronauts onboard, but that could potentially take us to the planet mars. >> i covered the last space flight, too. andy gallagher for us in cape canaveral florida, thank you. >> the country continues to react to the grand jury decision in the new york city chokehold case. we'll take you inside the protests to show you how they developed. >> a federal court halts the planned execution of a mentally ill death row inmate in texas. we are live with the details on the state's next move. >> the deadly gun battle in chechnya, why this attack may have been designed to affect russian president vladimir putin.

>> protestors planning more marches today after a night of peaceful demonstrations in new york after a decision not to indict a police officer in the death of eric garner are. >> the protestors marched through times square. that's where e pitzi is this morning. >> no protestors, but there are tourists, as well as residents making their way to work, but overnight, certainly this area was packed with protestors as well as many areas across the city, including major roadways, highways, bridges, just a couple of mails from here. we walked along with one group of protestors along one of the

main arteries here in new york city, a highway along the hudson river called the west side highway. we met up with a couple of young women from cleveland, ohio. they live here in new york now, just recently moved here. that is the city where just a couple of weeks ago, a cleveland police officer shot and killed 12-year-old tamir rice. they have been protesting that incident as well as the grand jury decision in ferguson as well as the one here on stanton island. they say all of these incidents are deeply personal for them. >> you can get straight a's, be the top of your class, go to a grade school, get a great job, it doesn't matter what you do, you're always less are than somebody else unless you take a stand. >> unless we take a stand together and everyone shows them we are serious, nothing will

ever change. around the country, you are seeing everyone of every different color, able, gender, is that progress? >> of course it's progress. there needs to be more of everything. it's not just about black people, it's about everyone, man, woman, black, white, everyone needs to stand together. >> what more needs to happen? >> it's not enough to stand in the streets, not enough to talk about it on facebook, this needs to be a law. this needs to be the rule that it is not ok. we have to show everyone, the entire world that we will not stand for it anymore, forever. >> black rights are human rights no matter who you are. >> they plan to join in the protest which is happening later today, about 5:30 at foley's square in front of the courthouses in downtown manhattan. >> i know you'll be back with us

in the next hour. we'll see you then. >> also walking alongside demonstrators in new york city last night. >> the hope to keep the memory of eric garner alive. >> what do we want? justice! when do we want it? now! >> protestors' signs showed their disappointment. >> i can't breathe! >> chants reflected anger over the grand jury decision not to indict the officer. it shows him wrapping his arm around garner's neck. he died moments later. >> unarmed black men like myself are being killed over and over again and there is no consequences for it. there aren't any trials for it. i don't think we would stand for the same thing if it was white people being killed. >> the protestors moved on, making their way toward rockefeller center, numbers growing. they threatened to shut down it aconnic annual lighting of the

christmas tree set for 7:00, but swarms of police kept them away. blocked off, protestors marched north, others went east. at times they walked so fast, we struggled to keep up. >> it's about 9:15 p.m. now. protestors are still marching through the streets. they've been stopping traffic. they say the police keep trying to disperse them. they cut off the streets and then they move to other streets, so these protestors have been out here for hours. this is justin. why are you out here tonight? >> eric garner, right now, police brutality going on, trying to get it stop, no peace, no justice right here in new york city. >> you're a white man and eric garner is a black man. >> yes. >> how much do you think race is a factor in the grand jury's decision tonight? >> 90%. 90%. i'm not here to support black people, white people, i'm here

about black people tortured by the police in new york city needs to be stopped. >> bringing traffic on the west side highway to a standstill, an intense standoff with police. >> if you do not recover yourself from the roadway, you will be placed under arrest. >> 30 arrests were reported across the city wednesday night, but the rallies were largely peaceful. demonstrators plan to protest again thursday. aljazeera, new york. >> we're joined by our aljazeera contributor jason johnson from ohio. thanks for being with us. will anything change? >> that remains to be seen. it depends on if the department of justice head eric holder and soon to be attorney journal lynch of committed to getting some sort of indictment and real investigations of these police departments. justice moves very slowly.

there were officers convicted of civil rights violations in 2011 for having committed crimes in new orleans during hurricane katrina. the likelihood of progress soon is unlikely. >> the 1960's radical once told me racism was as american as apple pie. is he right? is that why we are seeing something to engrained in american society that no matter what, it's not going to change? >> yeah. this is not a new crazy of murders, this isn't some brand new phenomenon, this is how the american justice system has always worked. the pass sit acceptance of death or abuse of minority people in this country is not new. the key is this is not an issue for reform. we need to fundamentally change how our legal system operates, especially in the cases of minority citizens. >> i want to get to something

some people are saying, suggest that go recent grand jury decisions signal open season on young black men. what do you say to people who feel that way? >> their feelings are relatively justified. one of the things we have to remember is that a grand jury is simply deciding whether there are enough questions to go to trial, and the fact that in the death of eric garner and some of those other cases that the prosecutors who inherently have a conflict of interest if they're trying to vet cops can't even bring a in this to say maybe this is worth investigating regardless of results. yes, it does seem like open season on many african-american men in this country. >> jason johnson, as always, thank you for being with us. we'll have much more on the grand jury decision in new york and protests that followed in our next hour. >> taking a look at other stories, new town connecticut has taken control of the home where school shooter adam lanza

once lived. he shot an killed his mother in the house before chilling 26 people at the school. he then turned the gun on himself. >> the execution of a mentally ill death row inmate is on hold this morning. he was set to be put to death yesterday for killing his in-laws, but a federal appeals court needs more time to consider the questions. we are live outside the prison where he was set to be executed. tell us mar about how this all came down to the wire yesterday. >> the state came down less than four hours before he was set to die, which gives this panel of very conservative judges on this appeals court time to whether whether he is legally competent to be executed. the last time he had a legal assessment was 2007, at which time a federal court did find him to be competent.

his attorneys say his illness has only worsened. >> 56-year-old scott lives another day, avoiding execution by mere hours. in a two sentence opinion, the fifth circuit court of appeals is staying the execution to allow it to fully consider the late arriving and complex legal issues. he was diagnosed witness a paranoid schizophrenic at age 20. medication didn't work. he was hospitalized more than a dozen times. then in 1992, he shot and killed his wife's parents. >> we did so believing that this was a fight between good and evil and in killing them, he was getting rid of the devil. >> that dissent never made it into evidence, because he was allowed to represent himself at trial. he dressed as a cowboy, tried to subpoena god an j.f.k. and told jurors an alter ego named

sergeant was responsible for the murders. dr. seth silverman was hired by his legal team to assess competency in 2007. he felt the man did not have a rational understanding of his punishment. >> he has one of the more severe forms of schizophrenia that i've ever seen. >> his attorneys are grateful for the decision to post pone the execution as more evidence is reviewed. they argue the eighth amendment protects severely mentally ill prisoners from execution because it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. that question is still before the u.s. supreme court. >> the state argues that pinetti is lucid and intelligent. his attorneys say that he lacks

a rational understanding that his punishment is connected to his crime. >> what's the time line? what happens next? >> it's widely expected to the u.s. supreme court will wait until the fifth circuit has oral arguments before the high court weighs in. the case refined the legal standard for competency to be executed and now it is the first case to test that standard. >> live for us in huntsville, texas, heidi, thank you. >> in chechnya, gun battles left 10 officers dead along with nine tackers, all of them coming after a school on the same day russian president vladimir putin was delivering his state of the nation address in moscow. some analysts believe that attack was focused to draw attention from the speech. >> isil has set up training camps in eastern libya.

there could be a couple hundred fighters being trained there. >> this as iran is said to be stepping up involvement in fighting isil in iraq. we have more from washington. >> this video shot by aljazeera last week shows a fighter jet providing air support to iraq forces retaking the town. the fuzzy image shows the profile of an f4 phantom, american made fighter sold to iran back in the days of the shaw. military analysts say it is evidence iran has joined the air war against isil, something tehran is denying but the pentagon says is probably true. >> we have no indication that the reports are not true, that iranian aircraft have conducted airstrikes in the last several days against isil targets in eastern iraq. >> the pentagon declined to say whether ires attacks against a common foe were a good thing or bad thing, but secretary of state john kerry was more forthright. >> if iran is taking on isil in

some particular place, and it's confined to taking on isil and it has an impact, it's going to be a net effect is positive, but that's not something that we're coordinating. >> the obama administration keeps stressing that point, no coordination with iran, a nation the u.s. has accused in the past of meddling in iraq. >> we are flying missions over iraq. we coordinate with the iraqi government. it's up to the iraqi government to deconflict that air space. >> that suggests the u.s. is coordinating in a fashion albeit with one degree of accept operation with an intermediary, iraq. iraq's prime minister al abadi stated it's no longer a secret iran has advisors helping the iraqi government, said their presence is just like that of american another vicars but flatly denied there are any iranian fighters on iraqi soil. >> the minnesota teen convicted

of trying to join isil is back in custody. the judge ruled he is a flight risk and danger to the community. he can be freed if the community agrees to watch him. the 18-year-old was plan to go join isil in syria. >> burn pits left soldiers with severe health problems. one vet said exposure has made his life a day to day struggle. >> worldwide reaction to the decision in the eric garner case, how it's making headlines around the world, caught in our global net.

>> protests for eric garner spreading from coast-to-coast,

dozens marching in seattle in a mostly peaceful rally, the city experiencing protests following last week's grand jury decision in ferguson, missouri. >> the atlanta journal constitution calls an nypd tweet tone deaf, it read the nypd is committed to rebuilding public trust. the response on line was not pretty. one person tweeted back what a joke. another said you didn't hear him gas spinning for breath? the nypd has not tweeted since. >> the grand jury decision is a big low to president obama's call for body cameras. there was footage of the incident but didn't lead to an indictment. president obama and others have argued that body cameras would make it easier to know just what happened. in this case, it seemed the grand jury did. >> an overseas paper draws attention to president obama's call to treat all americans

equally. that's what he said last night. he didn't address the garner decision directly. he did say it's his job to solve inequality under the law. he said it is time for us to make more progress than we've made. people are looking for tangible action now on the president's part. more to our aljazeera exclusive we first shared with you this story yesterday. thousands of american veterans say they became seriously ill after serving in iraq and afghanistan. >> the pits were continued to be used after they were outlawed. >> a law passed by congress in 2009 was designed to protect the health of servicemen and women and the contractors working alongside them. >> if you have over 100 people at a base and you're there for more than 90 days, you need to

start developing plans to get rid of your burn pits. >> gene was tasked with inspecting how the u.s. spent its money in afghanistan. the department of defense had a legal obligation to invest in incinerators that burn trash at higher temperatures with less toxic pollution, but he said not only did the military not follow the law, it wasted more than 20 million of the taxpayers dollars. >> it all goes back to one thing, poor management oversight and holding people accountable by the army corps of engineers. >> the u.s. army corps of engineers i should contracts for 19 in 16 raters to be installed and operated on u.s. bases in afghanistan. the office of the special inspector general is investigating why that didn't happen. susan burke is a lawyer representing hundreds of veterans and former military contractors who say their health

has been permanently harmed from toxic smoke from burn pits, she is suing the military contractor hired by the government to take care of trash on bases in iraq. >> the taxpayers, the government paid all of this money to accompany k.b.r., formerly halliburton in order to handle waste disposal in a manager that was safe. instead they used open air burning. >> america tonight wanted to talk to k.b.r., responsible for burn pits and incinerators, the company declined to comment. the office of the special attorney general for special reconstruction looked into the practice in afghanistan and reds several reports on the continued use of open air burn pits there by other contractors. among them, a february report from air base found a burn pit, while incinerators sat unused in the background.

>> why do you think these were installed and not used? >> improper planning, i'm proper operation and maintenance and not holding contractors accountable for poor and slip shod work. >> it is inaccusable. >> lawyer susan burke said given the health risks associated with burn pits, their continued use is mind boggling. >> leroy torres is an iraqi war veteran whose health is impacted by exposure to those burn pits. he and his wife rosy join us from texas this morning via skype. you were supposed to be with us yesterday and you felt very unwell and could not be on camera, so this is still impacting your health. can you describe what you were going through at this time yesterday morning? >> it's every morning now, high headaches, aside from the lung

issue, i suffer from these massive headaches, cluster headaches. at times, they are bearable and i just have to be lying down. medication is not fully helping me at this time. >> cluster headaches being the most severe headaches that one can have. can you go back a little bit, what were you exposed to the burn pits and for how long? >> i was deployed to iraq in 2007 and there until november 2008. >> how were you exposed to them? did you live near one. >> yes, yes, our quarters were very close to the burn pits, as well as our work station were located pretty close to the burn pit. a lot of times, we were down wind from the actual burn pit. >> can you describe how son you saw health symptoms?

>> as soon as i returned back to texas, actually, i made a trip to the emergency room within two weeks after i returned. i was having respiratory issues and a severe cough. i was diagnosed with bronchitis a couple of times as a matter of fact after i returned. i made a couple of trips to the emergency room. >> you were diagnosed with bronchitis. now you are suffering from an incurable lung disease. >> that's correct. in 2010, i had underwent a lung biopsy and was diagnosed with constrictive bronchialitis. >> how has this changed your life?

>> we had a give up our careers, it's impacted our children's live, trips to the doctor, constantly calling 911 to take leroy to try and just help him ease the pain when he's having these symptoms, and then just doing our best to give him a good quality of life, but it seems to me that his health is just deteriorating from the time he returned from iraq. >> leroy and rosy torres, i hope you get the answers that you need. thanks for joining us this morning on aljazeera. >> you can watch america tonight airing this spheres weeknights at 9:00 p.m. eastern, 6:00 p.m. pacific right here on aljazeera. >> a story we've been telling you about, it's ok to feed the homeless again in fort lauderdale, a state judge blocking the law that made it illegal. a 90-year-old led the efforts

against the ordinance. he has repeatedly violated the ban. abbot and the city had been ordered to go to mediation to find a solution. abbot said he was going to keep on doing it no what ther what they decided to do. >> let's get another check of the forecast. >> we have the big system out west. we're getting a built of a break in that action another area will come in. in the central section of the country, we're seeing rain showers missouri into illinois, maybe some chances you'll see freezing precipitation on the northern side of this, but this is how all this moves out. the smaller disturbance, we get that reinforcement from moisture coming through the west and into the day especially tomorrow, much more widespread area that we're going to be dealing with. this continues on the move for the weekend. it's going to be soggy in the west coast. south of all of this, dense

areas of fog this morning. fortunately, not in florida, where they're trying to get the launch off, the weather is pretty pleasant there. this is a balance, the one part of the country that has the warmest temperatures, so you deal with the fog but get temperatures in the 70's versus 20's and 30's on the northern side of that one system. >> in new york, they have a saying the show must go on and it did, the holiday tradition in new york city went as scheduled despite eric garner protests happening nearby. officials turned on the lights for the christmas tree last night. demonstrators were blocked by police. >> we'll have much more on the eric garner place. there's been outrage over a grand jury decision not a indict the police officer who put him in a chokehold. >> we'll talk to a journalist in close contact with garner's family.

>> the legal system tries to determine the fate of a mentally ill man scheduled for execution. >> we will be back with more morning news. i can't talk this morning. >> it's dizzy today. 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

on tech know, >> i landed head first at 120 mph >> a shocking new way to treat brain injuries >> transcranial direct stimulation... don't try this at home... >> but some people are... >> it's not too much that we'ed fry any important brain parts... >> before you flip the switch, get the facts...

>> to say that passing a low level of current is automatically safe, is not true >> every saturday, go where technology meets humanity... >> sharks like affection >> tech know, only on al jazeera america >> a police officer cleared in the choking death of eric garner. >> a race against time, al-qaeda threatens to kill an american hostage within days in yemen. the demands the group is making to set him free. >> nasa prepares to send the

orion spacecraft into space. we have more on the planned mission. welcome to al jazeera america. >> anger erupted in new york city overnight in the streets and may continue today. thousands marched past major landmarks demanding justice after a grand jury cleared a police officer in the chokehold death of eric garner. >> they were chanting i can't breathe and black lives matter. 83 were arrested, but the demonstrations remained relatively peaceful. attorney general eric holder said the federal justice democratic has launched a probe into garner's death. >> we begin our coverage in times square. erika, things are calmer this morning after a night of anger and frustration. >> yes, certainly a lot calmer here this morning. it's really just a normal hustle

and bustle of tourists in times square along with residents headed to work. overnight, there were hundreds of protestors who came out to really just vent their frustration over the in this decision. even though protests were mostly peaceful, the message was cloud, clear and sometimes angry that they want justice. >> hands up, don't shoot! >> thousands spilled on to the streets in protest in new york city. for hours, they marched through manhattan and beyond, shutting down major roads, highways and bridges. >> black lives matter! >> this comes after the grand jury decision not to indict the nypd police officer who put eric garner in an apparent chokehold that led to his death during this confrontation in july. >> born a understand raised in brooklyn, kevin bishop devoted his night to this cause.

>> what we are doing right now does matter p.m. i'm black, i'm a man, i'm a father, i have kids. i have a stable job. i have a degree. i have an education, a bachelors in electrical engineering, i have all those things and just another list on the name of martyrs, another black man dead because justice don't have our back? >> when you look at these officers, who look like their preparing for arrest, what does that make you feel? >> all i see is on moss city. >> do you feel targeted? >> i feel like that every day. i'm driving my car, but every time the police are behind me, i'm nervous, like i said, i have no criminal record. >> because of your race? >> yes, driving while black, that's what it's called. >> people of every color walked with bishop in the protests, some chanting the last words garner uttered before he died "i

can't breath!" >> ." >> in this one night, elizabeth caught a glimpse of what she said is an unnecessarily aggressive police presence. >> right now with their batons, we are sitting here and this has been a peaceful protest tonight and they still feel the need to intimidate us, they were pushing us and shoved a woman to the ground you. >> this working father of two said he wants his kids to grow up free of racial profiling and police brutality. i asked protestors about the federal investigation and pretty much every single person that i talked to said they really feel like they are just losing faith in the system altogether. they don't really think that the federal investigation will really give them the results they are looking for, either so said they will continue to protest until they feel that justice will be served, at least down the road.

>> the bar for bringing civil rights charges is even higher than the grand jury. you were in the middle of those protests clearly last night. how heavy was the police presence where you were and did you witness any confrontations? specifically on the highway near the hudson representative, we saw police in full riot gear like you saw from the story there. while we didn't see confrontations, physical contact between the protestors and police, the protestors definitely did get up into the faces of the officers and had some things to say, but the officers just merely stood there. >> in contrast to ferguson, new york city police are used to dealing with large demonstrations. >> there were protests from

coast-to-coast. >> dozens marched through seattle in a mostly peaceful rally. that city experienced protests following last week's grand jury decision in ferguson, missouri. >> hands up, don't shoot! >> hands up don't shoot! >> a similar scene in atlanta, 100 people marching through the city chanting and holding signs protesting the same decision. >> protests in washington, d.c., reaction to the grand jury's decision came from the highest levels of government in this case. what did the president have to say? >> that's right, president obama spoke yesterday fairly quickly after word of no indictment came out. he used an appearance at an annual tribal nations summit to say that this isn't a black problem, brown problem or native american problem, that it's a national problem and as long as one group is treated unequally under the law, it's a problem that needs to be addressed. >> i'm not interested in talk. i'm interested in action, and i am absolutely committed as

president of the united states to making sure that we have a country in which everybody believes in the core principle that we are equal under the law. >> you the u.s. attorney general eric holder announced a civil rights investigation into eric garner's death. the attorney general said that he spoke yesterday with garner's widow and that he's in contact with the president and new york city's mayor. >> what else do we know about this federal probe into garner's death? >> this is specifically a civil rights probe and it's in addition to a look at the justice department is doing into new york's investigation, so they'll be probing into that, as well. now this comes as the attorney general has called for a look at racial profiling, trying to end that practice, and he is doing a series of round tables across the country. today he goes to cleveland, ohio, that is a significant destination because just last month, police there killed a 12-year-old african-american boy who was carrying a toy gun.

>> thank you very much. >> let's continue live this morning in stanton island at a makeshift memorial at the spot eric garner died. how is the community there reacting? >> you get the impression from the other protests outside the community that they had been more focused on the greater issue of relations between the black community and police force but here it's much more personal. you look at that memorial right on the spot where police took eric garner down, you see messages written. they call him an angel, a wonderful man. he had a lot of friends, a lot of love here and not the least of those who loved him was his family who along with al sharpton spoke last night.

>> park at the national action headquarters, eric garner's family expressed outrage about the decision not to indict a new york police officer in his death. >> how could we put out trust in the justice system when they fail us like this? i'm determined to get justice for my husband, because he shouldn't have been killed in that way. he he shouldn't have been killed in any way. >> reverend sharpton again made a call for federal prosecutors to take over in cases involving alleged police brutality. >> we have no confidence in local, state prosecutions, because state prosecutors work hand-in-hand with the local police. >> the officer who had been facing indictment put out a statement after the grand jury ruling, saying:

>> no, i don't accept his apology, no, i couldn't care less about his co condolences. he is still working and feeding his kit and my husband is six feet under and i am looking for a way to feed my children now. >> even if the law don't kick in, after 11 times of i can't breathe, when does your humanity kick in? >> of course the family of eric garner, they announced back in october that they will be pursuing a six suit against the city of new york and the new york police department. we hope to be joined in a few moments by city councilman and state departmentably men elect charles barrett to speak more on the case. >> we'll go back to you when you get that.

>> dominic carter is a reporter covering the garner case from start to finish. he interviewed members of garner's family. you got the only question in last night asking about the officer's prayers for the family and whether they accepted his remorse. take a listen to what his widow said: >> hell no! the time for remorse would have been when my husband was yelling to breathe! that would have been the time for him to show some type of remorse or some type of care for another human being's life, when he was screaming 11 times that he can't breathe! so there's nothing that him or his prayers or anything else will make me he feel any different. >> you have talked you to the family several times. they eight that they will still work for justice. what would justice look like for the family?

>> first of all, good morning and i want to say in talking to the family repeatedly, it's very difficult, the raw emotion that you saw displayed in public last night is what i often see when i sit down and interview with the families from this case to the illinois bircher case, i've been covering these cases for 30 years. justice for this family, obviously they want the police officer indicted. it's still possible, highly unlikely, he's been cleared by a grand jury, but it is still possible from a historical point of view, new york city has been down this road before in terms of a choking case. it was the anthony baez case, officer cleared by a state judge, the feds came in on civil rights. they will receive a large settlement, financial settlement from the city of new york, there's no doubt about that. the trend is, the city has been settling these cases rapidly, but they want some type of

justice from the criminal justice system. >> just the fact that you had that laundry list of cases, all of them unarmed black men, in some cases unarmed black children have been killed by police. what does that say that new york city is dealing with the same problem acknowledge very diverse community that they're dealing with in ferguson, missouri. >> i wish i had the million dollar answer to this question to stop all of this. it's troubling as a journalist. thirty years i've been covering these cases and it's almost always the same outcome. there's something that hasn't been talked about a lot. we are just excusing and saying the grand jury rules. that is accurate, but you have to look at where this case was held. that's extremely important. stanton island is a community that consists of a lot of new york city police officers, a lot of family members of new york city police officers, and that

means that police officers are going to be given the benefit of the doubt. you switch this case from stanton island to the bronx, and i guarantee you, you would have got an indictment. >> the only politicians that came out in support of the police officer was represent graham. >> of stanton island, yes. >> what happens next? do you believe officer pantaleo will ever don the uniform of a new york city police officer again? >> highly unlikely. the case is so controversial, he may lose his job from department hearings. that's number one. he may lose his job. it's probably highly unlikely that he will ever, ever return to patrol or ever be given his firearm again, from the new york city police department. >> dominic carter, thank you for your context this morning. >> john henry smith is in stanton island. take it away.

>> >> first we congratulate the city councilman now elected to the state assembly. we want to refer to you as assemblyman. sir, as someone who has represented the city of new york through high profile cases like these, like the sean bell shooting, what was your reaction to what we've seen over the last 24 hours? >> predictable. when you have a grand jury that has 14 whites out of 23 in stanton island, it was predictable. that's why it should have never gone to a grand jury. it should have been a preliminary probable cause hearing that would allow for the public to see how the wheels of justice turn. we would have seen how the prosecutor presented the case, how the prosecutor cross examined the police officer, who probably went up there crying and tearing. we would have seen that. this is predictable, as predictable as the racial explosion that is going to occur

if we don't get justice. michael vick was convicted for killing dogs and i'm an animal rights believer and we can't get a conviction for a black man being killed? videotape seeing it clearly? >> sir, i want to hit on that one point you just made. you talk about there's an explosion come. you're someone with a lot of experience, you've been in the political theater for many years, been a former black panther. what do you mean by that explosion? >> i think people are going to tear this country up if they don't start getting justice. they've had enough. it's going to break out all over the country as it did in 1967 when remember the kearner commission in 1967 when the so-called riots, we call themup vising broke out, it was police brutality, police killing in los angeles, detroit, newark, the black month was on fire, literally, because people

couldn't receive justice. >> we'll end with this quickly. what would you like to see happen from here in the eric garner case, very quickly? >> i'd like to see the adjustment justice democratic get a civil rights indictment and most importantly, this is a license for us to say brat 10 must go and take your broken windows theory with you. >> thank you so much for your time. >> sadly, one of the legacies also of the 1960's were that there were social fabric torn apart and much of that not yet radar. thank you very much. >> we have other news here, an appeals court says there are complex liam question that must be answered before a texas man can be put at a death, so it stayed the execution of scott pinetti convicted of murdering his in-laws in 1992. he suffers paranoia and schizophrenia and his layer said doesn't understand his punishment. we are live outside the prison

where he was set to be executed. why was it such a last minute decision yesterday? >> one of the reasons for the delay is that the state did not in form his attorneys when his execution date was set and it wasn't until two weeks later when those attorneys read about it in the newspaper that they found out and began taking legal action. scott pinetti has suffered severe mental illness, diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic at age 20 and hospitalized 15 times prior to shooting and killing his wife's parents. now, no doubt this crime was heinous, no doubt that pinetti was responsible. his attorney say he committed him while living out a delusion. that theory never made it to trial, because pinetti was allowed to represent himself. he did so trying oh subpoena god, j.f.k. and jesus, telling jurors that it was an alter ego

named sergeant who committed the crime. the verdict was swift and guilty. >> the supreme court has already weighed in on this case in 2007. was it a surprise that this circuit court stepped in yesterday? >> before the supreme court, at that time, the specific question of whether pinetti was legally competent for execution was not the question before the high court, rather than they used to case to redefine the legal standard for that determination and it was remanded back to the lower courts, made its way back up and now the new appeal looks at the case specifically whether he had not only a factual but also a rational understanding of his punishment. >> live in huntsville, texas, thank you. >> coming up at 8:50 eastern, we talk to a psychiatrist who evaluated scott pinetti in 2007. we'll get his opinion on whether pinetti is not fit to be

executed. >> residents in southern california getting a break from that week long rainstorm hardest felt in the foothills and mountains. hill sides scorched by wildfires gave way to all that rain, creating mudslides. the storm broke records in several cities. los angeles saw more rain than since 1961. >> you were talking about the southern end of this. tuesday, end to end in the state, we were covered with rain. many pictures, this is out of the san francisco area, so much rain and flooding. there's different reporting locations, the airport and downtown in san francisco, one place set a record on tuesday, but not wednesday, the other place set them in opposite order, so pretty much heavy rain around the region,istic we were just looking at that big sinkhole and a couple started up in the region, over 3.5 inches of rain is what we saw, which is 10 times the normal amount for november, or at least at this

point in november. we talked about the southern portion, this broke into two particles yesterday. more of that is in arizona, spotty stuff, mid california northward. we are getting a little bit of a break. this is from yesterday just in the last 24 hours, a lot of places northward seeing two inches. this is a warmer break for today, another system comes in, this is more the northern portion of the state and the northwest into tomorrow and the weekend, so it's not over yet for some places. >> dumping or soaking this time? >> i would say a soaking versus the dumping. >> ok, nicole, thank you very much. >> an american hostage in yemen, militants reportedly give them days to live. jami mcintire is monitoring the story in washington and joins us live after the break. >> no go in the launch of the orion spacecraft. why it's so important for the future of sprays travel. >> more on the protests in the wake of the grand jury decision in the choking death of eric garner.

only on al jazeera america

>> time now for videos captured

by sit journalists. protests in new york city over the grand jury decision in the eric garner death. >> demonstrations across the country for 43 missing students in mexico. protests like this one in austin texas trying to promote peace as an alternative to mexico's drug wars. >> israel demolishing 20 palestinian owned stores in a refugee camp. israel claims the buildings were built without the necessary permits. >> al-qaeda fighters making threats against an american hostage they've taken, a photo journalist born in britain was captured a year ago. what do we know about the new threat against him? >> this video is reminiscent of those that have come from isil

fighters in iraq and syria. in it, a local al-qaeda leader is reading a statement where he makes unspecified demands against the united states and says unless they are met, the hostage 33-year-old luke somers will meet his fate, not saying what that fate is. he worked for a local newspaper in yemen and appears in the video. he looked healthy but stressed, saying he fears for his life and asking anything that can be done to help his situation be done. this video apparently was in reaction to a rescue attempt that happened last month involving forces in yemen. in that operation, eight captives were freed, but not any

americans and some of the captives moved just before the raid and somers may have been one of them. >> isil fighters are spreading into libya setting up training camps. how is the u.s. responding? >> this came up yesterday at a pentagon briefing when the four star general in charge of that area of the word, david rodriguez, was talking about ebola and mentioned that they were seeing in eastern libya training camps being set up. he set it was in the very early stages and they had mixed reports. here's a little of what he said from that pentagon briefing. >> it's mainly about people coming for training and logistics support for training sites, that's what we see now. as far as a huge command and control network, i've not seen

that yet. the numbers are somewhere around a couple hundred is the estimate, but we don't have a specific precise assessment of that right now. >> general rodriguez was stress that go there's mixed intelligence reports about what's going on. he said it's possible that in sort of the wild west that libya has become that militias are rebranding themselves as isil to try to get more support. he was asked whether the u.s. might target isil in libya if that was a legitimate target. he said there were no plans to do that. >> a kurdish general in iraq is calling on his soldiers to adhere to international law after a video emerged showing peshmerga forces who are allied with the u.s. shooting a captured isil fighter. >> the kurdish fighters are accused of war crimes. we should warn you some of these images are disturbing. >> an isil fighter lice on the

ground captured by kurdish forces in a battle saw the of kirkuk. they should take him prisoner. instead that follows could be scribbled as a war trial, a perve fighter shouts he's still alive, so the fighter on the left opens fire, then the others follow suit. in another video, given to us by a peshmerga fighter, they are seen dragging isil bodies around. >> as peshmerga, we are always trying to operate under international law, and protect the lives of soldiers at war. >> we challenged this, saying the peshmerga have been filmed killing captured isil fighters. >> what often happens is they ask us to come to them or approach us in civilian clothes

and detonate suicide bombs. >> these peshmerga soldiers south of kirkuk say they aren't fighting a regular early. isil forces are ready to blow themselves up, killing all those close by so they cannot take chances. >> the bridge in the distance is now the isis front line. this is how close the fighters are to this peshmerga forward position, but this constant flow of people going from kirkuk back to their homes in villages that are held by isis makes the fighters here injury jumpy. >> the peshmerga don't know if there are isil sympathizers among them. when the camera was switched off, he said there was no life under isil. >> the peshmerga say they are keeping the gateway open, bewant to help the people to show they are a humanitarian force.

this image will be damaged if they don't eradicate rogue prisoner abuse. >> we are learning that a new batch of iraqi peshmerga fighters are joining the fight in kobane. >> abu dhabi arrested a suspect in the murder of an american teacher at a shopping mall. this is video of the suspect covered from head to toe. police say the suspect also planned to plant a bomb in front of an american residence home and that's the teacher, she first stabbed inside a bathroom at the mall. >> residents in the philippines are bracing for a typhoon. nicole mitchell has more. good morning, nicole. >> you remember last year in november, haiyan hitting the philippines. this latest storm could hit similar areas. winds are estimated to 180 miles per hour. as we continue out there, what we're going to see is the way they do this, unlike in the united states, where we actually

have planes that fly right into these storms and take measurements, that's what i do with my military job, here it is satellite estimates, because we don't have those actual readings. you see how symmetrical the storm is, this will brush past the islands as a very strong storm. continuing back to the united states, a little more quiet at least comparatively here, but the big system still bringing rain now to new places like a's. >> ok, nicole mitchell, talk. >> thousands taking to the streets across the u.s. abangry over the decision not to indict a police officer in the choking death of eric garner. erica pitzi is getting reaction from new yorkers. >> gun battles erupting in chechnya as peace gives way to violence. the intense fighting there. >> thousands gather in germany to remember a good samaritan and her act of kindness.

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>> taking a live look at times square, business at usual this morning following overnight protests in response to the in this decision in the eric garner case. good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. ahead in our next half hour, nasa entering the next phase of space exploration, hoping to do that today. we'll have a live report from cape canaveral on the orion spacecraft launch. >> the complete dinosaur skeleton and insight the bones may offer. >> isil may be establishing a food hold in libya, the head of the u.s. command saying they may be training fighters there. the details are sketchy. >> the execution of that mentally ill inmate in texas on hold, the appeals court granting scott pinetti a last minute stay yesterday. the court said the case presents complex legal issues, his lawyer it is he suffers paranoia and

schizophrenia and doesn't understand his punishment. >> protests around the country after a white new york city police officers was cleared for the deadly chokehold of an unarmed black man. the justice department is launching a federal investigation. eric garner's fate allen counter with police was caught on tape. there are new questions about body cameras. >> accused of selling cigarettes on streets, a crime in new york, police officers wrestled him to the ground. police claim no chokehold was used, garner never in distress. the video shows that's not true. he repeats this cry several times. >> i can't breathe. >> then he falls still. a coroner ruled it a death by homicide.

choke holds have been banned by 1993 but not illegal. >> the shooting of michael brown, an unarmed african-american teenager in ferguson, missouri, that officer was not indicted, as well. protestors took to the streets. the demonstrations were scattered, loud and disruptive. president obama spoke after the judgment was announced, he insists this isn't a black problem or white problem, but an american problem. >> i'm not interested in talk, i'm interested in action and i am absolutely committed as president of the united states to making sure that we have a country in which everybody believes in the core principle that we are equal under the law. >> the nation's top law enforcement officer said there will be a federal investigation. >> our prosecutors will conduct an independent, thor re, fair

investigation. in addition to our work, the department will conduct a complete review of the material gathered during the local investigation. >> president obama announced a task force to look into policing, but one of those he pointed is himself, accused of brutality during his tenure as police chief of washington, d.c. the president has called for more funding for police body cameras, but the garner case points out even those who feel they have a clear cut case of police brutality caught on camera, they may not have enough evidence to bring a police officer to trial. >> erica pitzi joins us from times square. what ever protestors been telling you? >> >> they certainly really wanted to get out there and vent their frustration about this grand

jury decision. it's a much different scene here, was, but last night, there were hundreds in times square, thousands marching to protest this grand jury decision shutting down major roadways and bridges. one group say their biggest concern is the lack of accountability when it comes to what they call police brutality. >> they put him in a chokehold. he said nine times "i can't breathe." what part of that do you not understand? >> when you ask people that are supposed to uphold and enforce these laws and they don't have the same kind of accountability and they can break the laws, what am i sending my kids out into? into a world where they're going to be always intimidated, always under pressure, always scared. >> that's why these protestors say they are not impressed with this proposal of body cameras

for police. they say if the cell phone video in this garner case did not indict the police officer, then with a will. >> how did police handle the protestors in the situation? >> it seemed like they really kept calm. we certainly saw some angry protestors and at one point, along the west side highway there, we actually saw protestors get right up in the faces of the police officers, but they just stood there stoic and allowed people to speak their mind. >> they were not equipped with riot gear until they he felt necessary. >> the number of police involved killings reported to the f.b.i. and what's reality, the wall street journal said 500 police killings from 2007-2012 were not

counted in the tally. while a number of police officers turn over the numbers to the f.b.i., they are not required to do so. >> intense fighting between heavily armed chechnya rebels and police overnight, a building was set on fire. the fire erupting hours before russian president vladimir putin gave his state of the nation speech. >> hundreds turning out to pay respects to a brave young woman. >> she was allegedly beaten up trying to stop a group of men from harassing two teen girls. many are honoring her legacy. >> they call her a good samaritan, champion of the weak, a woman who dared to stand up against violence. she first studying to be a teacher and died on her 23r 23rd birthday after two weeks in a coma.

during that time and since her death friday, she has become front page news for stopping boys from harassing two teenage girls at mcdonalds after she heard their screams. >> she first very brave and she's become a role model. we demand a stop to violence. >> an 18-year-old male is in custody over the attack in a mcdonalds parking lot in germany. after stopping the boys, she was struck once and hit her head as she fell. she would never recover. >> this is the residence of germany's president. over the weekend, he wrote to her parents, saying your daughter showed courage and exemplary moral fortitude. he said he was seriously considering a petition signed by over 100,000 people calling for her to be awarded germany's highest civilian honor. >> her aunt and uncle remember a woman who was strong minded and fearless, a model in life and

death. >> my children say we will be like her, we will do the same thing that she did. at their mother i am proud of them and really proud of her for showing real courage. >> one leading newspaper wrote that her death proved wrong the stereo type that people of immigrant backgrounds are a source of crime and that she will not have died in vain if germans notice that immigrants, too, want to change society for the better. >> it's unclear if she was hit in the head by the attacker or if she suffered the blow during her fall. >> a nice remembrance, nonetheless. >> there's a new report out from the pentagon showing the number of reports on sexual assaults in the military are rising, 5400 rapes and assaults reported in 2014, up 8% from the year before. they say the number of men and women assaulted is down, about 30%. pentagon officials say the increase shows the victims are more comfortable reporting assault.

>> 17 states have filed a lawsuit against the obama administration. texas governor elect greg abbot is leading the effort, sake the president's executive action on immigration is illegal. they want the courts to force him to work through congress. >> ford is recalling 38,000 vehicles due to air bag concerns opinion the move follows chrysler's announcement that it, too, is expanding a u.s. recall of vehicles with takata airbags. 16 million cars have now been recalled worldwide. airport bags have been linked to five deaths. >> takata said the mass recalls are not needed. a senior executive said cars will be recalled in high humidity. he cited prolonged heat as a possible cause for airbags to explode and did promise they will fix the problems. >> make no mistake, we will take all actions necessary to advance the goal of safety for the driving public, including

working to produce additional replacement parts. >> at a kass at a insist federal authorities have no power to fort them to do a recall, only the automakers can do that. >> the court prevented a mentally ill inmate from being put to death. >> we'll be speaking to the psychiatrist who was evaluating him on whether or not he was fit to be executed. >> learning more about the creatures that once roamed the earth. researchers hope to unlock all the secrets. >> plenty of reaction following the grand jury decision not to indict a new york city police officer in the choking death of eric garner. >> one saying:

>> the man behind those words looking to calm the ager of an entire city, when we come right back.

>> who said this: >> our big quote is from new york city mayor bill deblasio looking to calm anger following the grand jury decision in the eric garner choking death. >> we are awaiting the orion to blast off. that's a live look. the launch has been delayed several times this morning. the spacecraft doesn't have anyone onboard, and when it finally launches, it will spend four and a half hours high above the earth. this is an important first step toward eventually sending astronauts to mars. we have had delays this morning,

what's going on? >> we're keeping our fingers crossed. i don't know what else to tell you. we've had several delays, we had a boat in the water, then high winds, now an engineering problem and we have about 55 minutes left of this two and a half hour window, but nasa seems to be fairly confident that they can get the capsule off the ground. when it does launch, it should be fairly spectacular and a new era for nasa. they are saying that this unmanned mission is the first big step towards deep space exploration. it's many years away, but there will be two test lights and in 15 years time, they think astronauts will eventually go to the planet mars. this is a new era. there's a lot of excitement and anticipation here, but also ultimately, a little bit of frustration, because we've been waiting since 705 this morning and there's been one delay after another and we are still waiting for that next launch window with

baited breath. >> you and i both covered these launches and they usually have cameras that show them going through the atmosphere and into space. are you expecting to see those pictures if and when we do see that launch this morning? >> i think we will. the figures for this launch are spectacular. this thing will go into orbit 14 times higher than the international space station. basically, it's a stress test for the capsule. there are sensors onboard, it will go through the belt full of radiation. on the way book, the heat shields will be super heated before it splashes down in the pacific ocean off the coast of mexico. it is a big stress test. the next test launch won't be for two and a half years. it's a long pros. it may be 15 years before we see astronauts climbing onboard this

thing. >> andy, thank you. >> a texas court put on hold the execution of a mentally ill inmate, saying there are legal questions dealing with his mental health that needs to be answered. joining us now is psychiatrist seth silverman. he diagnosed pinetti in 2007. what were our observations and do you still believe that scott pinetti is mentally ill? >> >> evaluated him and he had extremely pressured speech, very differ to interrupt. he had intensity with his speech and his thoughts that i've never seen before. i reviewed all his medical records, which is over 12 hospitalizations all speaking to the fact that he had a psychotic illness and he never malingered,

he never faked his symptoms, the severity of the symptoms nor his thought content. >> there are a lot of people that believe inmates sit in jail cells all day long and dream up ways to fool people like you. how do you know you are not being snookered. >> that's an excellent question. you can't maintain that intensity over three hours confirmed by other mental health professionals. you just can't do that. plus his medical records are totally consistent with that. before he went to death row and for a long long time, he was clearly severely mentally ill. as -- and i can't imagine that he is less so now. he hasn't had medication since he's been on death row, and he can think all he wants, i've evaluated hundred was patients, probably at least 10 on death row, no one comes close to the

severity of his mental illness. >> is it that he is mentally ill or so mentally ill that he can't understand what is getting ready to happen to him? >> there are two questions, and they're being confused. the first question is does he know the right reason he he's being executed. now there's a second question on the table, which is is he so severe he doesn't have the capability of understanding other things, as well. when mr. pin nettie, originallyt was just the first question. >> the state said we believe today's ruling is the first step in a process which will clearly demonstrate that mr. pinette is too severely ill to be executed. based on your observations, do you agree? >> well, depends on the ruling,

but it looks like that's the case. >> where do we go from here? what happens next, in your opinion, what should happen next? >> well obviously it's going to go to the supreme court. now the supreme court has ruled in the past that there's special considerations to be given to defendants as to whether or not they should be killed or executed, and mental retardation has come up as something that says well, they didn't really appreciate the severity of the crime, therefore it would be disproportionate to execute them. now, are there other ks, and the answer's yes. is mental illness one of them? yes. how severe is his mental illness? that's something the supreme court has to decide and they have to decide not only is he severely mentally ill, does that severity interfere with his ability to understand how significant the act was.

i think that it helps a lot of people who have severe mental illness to see how culpable they are for their behaviors. >> doctor, thank you very much. >> the f.d.a. is revamping drug warnings for pregnant women. owl new prescription drugs will have to clearly state a summary of the risks to a mother and her unborn child. the current label use a letter system to denote risk, but health officials say that is vague and confusing. >> trying to unravel the mysteries of a new dinosaur skeleton. >> they hope to learn more about the lifestyle of this iconic creature. >> meet sophie, 150 million years old, a vegetarian from north america, and as dinosaur lovers will know from the row of plates on her back, she's a stag

in a sour russ. it's almost impossible to tell if it is mail or female. the donor who gave the money to buy the fossil wanted to name it after his daughter. sophie is the size of a small elephant or large rhino but would have acted like a could you, grazion on low lying shrubs just to feed her massive body. the fossil is an absolute bonanza for scientists. soon to be published, an article

on how much it would have weighed. how fast did they walk and how strong were the plates, and what were they used for are questions. >> the most common one is maintaining her body temperature, either losing or gaining heat very quickly. another option, that it was for defense. >> it's not only scientists who will benefit. she's likely to inspire a new generation of paleontologists. >> what was your favorite thing in the museum? >> dinosaur. >> how about you? >> dinosaur. >> aljazeera, london. >> going to take some time to study that dinosaur. the skeleton is comprised of more than 350 bones. >> three science geeks, all of us like this, nicole mitchell as well. >> you should have heard this during the story, that's my favorite one, me, too. del going oh, boy.

moving across the country, little breaks for california, not the heavy persistent rain. in the midsection of the country, this will be where we get our more decent rain. tomorrow, this is when this moves a little more to places from missouri through the great lakes into the northeast for the weekend. you'll have to watch that. otherwise if you want the warm stuff, head to florida, where we are watching for that shuttle to launch. >> coming up in two minutes from doha, more on the deadly attacks this morning in chechnya. >> we're following the reaction to the grand jury decision in new york city. >> that's it for us here in new york. >> we leave you with the images of the day, protests across the country in reaction to the grand jury decision not to he be do it a police officer for the choking death of eric garner. >> the protests here in new york as well as major cities nationwide, more are planned for today. >> we'll see you right back here

tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m.

>> the russian president accuses the west of seeking to dismantle russia and says he won't allow it. >> as vladimir putin speaks, the chechnyaen city burns. >> this is aljazeera live from hour headquarters i in doha. also on the program: >> 83 arrests in new york, protests after