>> from shutting down new york's brooklyn bridge closing off the chicago streets, a second night of protests following a grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death of eric garner. changes the nypd is making. >> federal investigators accuse cleveland police of a pattern of excessive force and say officials there did little to stop it. it's the same city where police shot and killed a 12-year-old boy wielding a pellet gun on a

play ground. >> isil engaging with assad attacking a key area. the latest move to expand its territory. >> round two for nasa, another attempt to launch the deep space other ryan i don't know capsule. we're just a few moments away from the next try. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. >> it was another night of civil unrest from coast-to-coast, people fed up with police brutality giving voice to frustrations. >> thousands took to the streets of new york and other major cities, upset over the grand jury decision not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death of eric garner. it comes the same day a scathing just department scathing report

involving the cleveland police department. a 12-year-old was shot to death by a cleveland cop. >> john henry smith in in lower manhattan now. it looks calm right now, but was flooded with hundreds of protestors last night on the brooklyn bridge. >> stephanie, it certainly started out at hundreds but before the night was done, thousands gathered down here in lower manhattan, many coming over there very brooklyn bridge that i'm standing on that take part in what most observers agree was a very well organized and well behaved protest of police brutality. >> they shut down the brooklyn bridge as protestors took to the streets of new york for a second night. >> what i appreciate is not just black here, people of all nationalities and backgrounds fighting for justice. >> though most were peaceful, there were still dozens of arrests.

>> you going to chokehold me? >> protestors expressing anger about the decision not a indict a white police officer in the eric garner case. >> i can't breathe! i can't breathe! >> a familiar chance, one that garner repeats 11 times in this video. >> i can't breath! >> with his deadly encounter with police officer pantaleo. the grand jury heard from 52 witnesses, including 22 civilians in nine weeks. one was garner's friend. she shot this cell phone video. >> i told meme exactly what i saw, exactly what they said. the grand jury decision outraged garner's family. >> he shouldn't have been killed in that way. >> who believes there is enough evidence for an indictment. >> please just leave me alone. i told you the last time, please adjusted leave me alone. >> in the video, the officer appears to use a chokehold, a

move band by the nypd years ago. >> you can't resist arrest, because resisting arrest leads to confrontation, i don't know frontation leads to tragedy. >> the relationship between police and community has to change. >> new york city's mayor is announcing that nypd officers will complete a new tree day training course focused on deescalating conflicts. >> people need to know that black lives and brown lives matter as much as white lives. it's what we still have to aspire to. >> with all the talk of how peaceful and well behaved the protestors are, it should be noted that the police by all accounts acquitted themselves with restraint last night, as well. >> let's go now to the kennedy

space center in florida where the count down to launch for nasa's orion space craft is now underway. the unmanned cap suing it due to orbit the earth twice, it is expected to travel 3600 miles into space. the spacecraft is equipped with 1,000 sensors. here it comes. >> lift off at dawn, the dawn of orion and a new era of american space exploration. >> with that, i will say this is a new era for the space program. this is an unmanned rocket launch, however, it is the first

flight by this orion aircraft, the first test flight made by lockheed more tin and it will go into deep space which we haven't seen since the apollo missions. let's go live to andy gallagher, joining us from florida. tell us what it was like to see that launch? >> it's amazing. i'm still hearing the sound, it's only reaching us. we are four miles from the pad. unfortunately, the clouds are quite low today, so it's already disappeared into the clouds. thousands are gathered here to watch this monumental event. yesterday, we had three different post ponements for various different reasons, but here we are, this is the start of something new for nasa. this is an unhand mission of the orion capsule, but extremely important. there it is high in the sky. over the next four and a half hours, it will travel to an

orbit 14 times higher than that of the international space station. this is basically a stress test for this capsule, engineers monitoring every moment. the craft itself will orbit around the earth twice before slashing back down into the pacific ocean. after a frustrating day yesterday, here we are at the start of a new era for the space agency. >> andy gallagher live in florida, let's go strict to former astronaut who has flown on space shuttle missions and served as the commander of the international space station. leroy, how would you characterize this event we're seeing right now? >> this is a big milestone for the program, orion has been in development for nearly nine years, and for it to go fly on its first flight test is a monumental achievement by all the teams. it's going to test some important systems, including the

heat shield and parachoose deployed, characterize radiation environment of higher orbit, 3600 miles. it's going to come back down a little faster than the normal spacecraft in lower orbit, so the heat shield will be higher. this is an exciting day. >> we are seeing live pictures from the nasa feed. that's one of the cool things about the space agency is they have these great digital cameras. we are watching this spacecraft enter deep space. what could go wrong? >> we're still under powered flight so have fuel being burned. this rocket has launched many times before. we have experience and confidence in it. the orion needs to separate cleanly from the rocket. there's a lot of things that still have a work correctly, but there's every reason to believe they will, everything thoroughly

tested. in space flight, you do the best you can and cross your fingers. >> let's draw the distinction between low earth other pit, which is where i understand the i.s.s. is where you have been. >> right. >> and what this spacecraft is doing. >> sure, yeah, i.s.s. is orbiting around 280 to 300 nautical miles and so the orion's going to go up to 3600 miles, so it's going about 10 times higher. the reason it's doing that, it's not going to enter around orbit, it's going to go up there just like an airplane would be streaking up into the sky so that it can come down at that faster speed. when we come back from low earth orbit, we enter the earth's atmosphere, orion's going to come back at 20,000 miles an hour to simulate a lunar reentry. will stress the heat shield. when we came back, we got up to 3,000 degrees, the orion is

going to get up to 4,000 degrees. >> it's testing the heat shield, right? that's one of the things that this test is about. can you see the nasa feed right now? what exactly are we seeing? >> you're seeing a camera -- rocket engine, you're looking back at the earth as orion, the vehicle has heated over and now speeding up to gain orbit velocity. it will release the orion with the upper stage. the upper stage is another rocket engine, they'll go up to a higher orbit still. >> a few minutes ago, viewers, you saw the orion spacecraft lift on that. it is now making its way into deep space and we'll continue to follow its troughjectry. thank you so much. >> >> new york was not the only place protestors took to the

streets thursday. in minneapolis, thousands shut down a busy interstate. the largely non-black crowd marched and went upstairs to the offices of city council members. no arrests were made. >> in chicago, hundreds of demonstrators swarmed the streets during rush hour. one group sprinted into the dan ryan expressway, briefly blocking traffic. police tried to keep protestors from disrupting the entrance to soldier field where the bears-cowboys game was taking place. >> an oakland, california protestors marched peacefully for more than four hours. hundreds made their way to the station where oscar grand, an unarmed black man was shot to death by a police officer in 2009. >> in cleveland, there are calls for sweeping changes within the police department, this after a

federal investigation found officers there frequently use excessive force. attorney general eric holder himself visited cleveland thursday to deliver the results. the justice department report found police rarely discipline any officers suspected of overstepping. it says in some cases, supervisors even endorsed it. >> we have determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that the cleveland division of public police engages in a pattern and practice of using excessive force, and as a result of systemic deficiencies. >> the justice department is pushing for an independent monitor to oversee that department. the report comes after last month's police shooting of a 12-year-old boy holding a pellet gun in a park when he was shot and killed. >> much more on the report in cleveland and the protest over the eric garner decision. we'll talk about police training with former sure i have leo

mcguire. >> let's bring libby casey in live in washington, d.c. live this morning. the u.s. attorney out of new york will head the federal civil rights probe into eric garner's death. could that pose a problem for her when she sits for confirmation next year? >> this falls under her jurisdiction, so she'll be dealing with this, as she goes up for the confirmation process. lynch is making the rounds on capitol hill meeting one-on-one with democrats and republicans behind closed doors. this is the custom, because she'll need their approval to become the next attorney general. we don't know yet when she would go before the senate judiciary committee, it hasn't been put on the books, but likely after the new year when republicans take control of the senate. you will see quite a bit of pushback and concern about general policies the obama administration is putting forward. when it comes to this specific

case, lynch will likely say she can't talk specifics because it will be in process. there are a lot of conservatives coming out and expressing grave concern about the garner case. rand paul of kentucky saying watching that video was horrifying. so this isn't gathering quite the conservative concern as for example the case in ferguson, missouri with mike brown. what is more likely to be the tempest in the tea pot when she goes before the senate are issues like the president's executive action on immigration, which the attorney general has something to say about, so those will likely be bigger issues. >> we hear the president will announce his defense secretary pick with that what can you say about that? >> that's right, ash carter, worst kept secret in washington finally being made official by the white house this morning. the president will announce it today, flanked by the current defense secretary. ash carter has experience at the d.o.d., most recently served at deputy secretary overseeing a

budget of more than $600 billion. this is considered to be a fairly safe pick, because he has gotten approval of the senate before. he has not served in the military himself, which is raising some concerns, but we'll be watching it. another confirmation process in the coming weeks and months over in the senate. >> all right. that should be interesting. libby casey for us live in washington, thank you. >> president obama is meeting with the king of jordan at the white house today, king abdullah asking for aid for his struggling economy. the two are expected to discuss how to deal with refugees from syria and iraq, what they can do to calm tensions in jerusalem and the fight against isil. barnard smith joins us live now from turkey not far from the syrian border and kobane. bring us up to date where that battle stands now. >> good morning, we're on day 82 of this battle for kobane and it remains pretty much at a

stalemate. any minor strategic value this town may have had is gone. it's more a symbolic battle really for kobane. isil pouring in fighters to try and take this town face their stiffest resistance here compared to other parts of iraq and syria that in return, the forces rained against isil, the kurdish syrian fighters in kobane, now the peshmerga and back to u.s. airstrikes are trying to push isil back. neither side has gained much territory, but you can see how important it is to the u.s. coalition. there have been 14 airstrikes since december 1 at least in syria and all of them around this area of kobane. compare that to 11 airstrikes in the same time period since december 1 in all of the parts of iraq controlled by isil. you can see why they're concentrating so much. >> they are concentrating on isil fighters trying to control

the military base in eastern syria. why is that battle so significant? >> much of the province is controlled by isil, but the air field controlled by assad's forces, he's been using that to attack opposition fighters around the area. isil wants to take control of it, but also around that air field are rich oil fields. control the air fields, you control the oil fields. >> bernard smith live for us in turkey, thank you. >> house republicans are saying no to president obama's executive action on immigration. the house voted 219-197 to prohibit the president from taking any action. the vote came mostly down along party lines. the measure won't even be considered in the senate. >> days of rain in california leads to flooding and a massive 80-foot wide mud slide. >> lets bring in nicole mitchell

for the latest on that. >> numerous places reporting extra accidents that they were having to respond to, and imagine trying to even respond to this, if you're one of the responders, as we head to riverside, california, that is just east of the los angeles area. there you go, this was just one of five different vehicles in that 80-foot mud slide. that is in the mud. and this area that is just east of the los angeles in some places, rain was coming down at over an inch an hour. that was the problem, bringing all that into gear. they had to rescue 14 different people. that is one system. this is pulling out. we have the other one off the coastline. you can already see this funneling moisture into california. this will push northward. the coastline will get spotty rain, but most of this up into washington and oregon. some places in california are

very happy to dry out. one system goes through and by the end of the weekend, another is on top. we will still see heavy rain northern parts of california over the next couple of days could see two or three-inches, so not at much, but still a decent soaking for that drought. >> fighting reasonables in syria. >> isil going after a government base and this is the forces of president assad and the rebels against him are all battling for position. why the area is considered strategic to all three groups. >> recent death at the hands of police have sparked calls for change in democrats from coast-to-coast. we'll speak with one former police official about whether enough training can prepare an officer for the heat of the moment. >> new gun laws in effect in washington state. some say they are confusing and could make it illegal to even give a gift to a family member. >> 41,200,000,000 is the big number of the day. why investors are willing to take a ride with uber.

>> uber announced it's raked in another $1.2 billion from investors. the money will build its workforce and fight back against competitors. rates are growing at a rate of more than 40% every quarter. >> isil fighters ever seized from of a village next to a key military air base and now trying to take control of the base. >> the fighting has left 19 syrian soldiers dead. there's a lot at stake in this battle. >> this is the aftermath of an air strike. this part of the city is controlled by fighters from isil, making it a main target for the air forces of president bashar al assad. this area is close to a government-controlled air base. from there, assad's air units can attack all of the city and much of the wider area of the province.

the strategic importance of the area is not just military. in the countryside around the city are oil fields, which once supplied considerable revenue for the syrian economy. control of them has been forced over by all sides, since the start of the civil war in 2011. last year, the al-nusra front was active here, but more recently, their influence has waned. in june, the free syrian army sent a convoy of its men through the streets of the city as a show of force. now, it's isil fighting for ascendancy. one of their main target is the ammunition depot, containing heavy weapons and government soldiers. on thursday, isil uploaded pictures to social media from the nearby village offal jafra. they humiliate a captured government soldier.

the man is taunted and asked where is bashar to help you. >> if the government forces were to lose their air base and arms depot in the area, it would be a serious blow, which explains why the fighting here in so intense and why so many casualties are being taken. >> president bashar al assad is vowing to defeat the rebels trying to out of the him. he said he will not be driven from power. the death toll in the civil war now tops 200,000. >> significant change is coming to the new york city police department in the wake of the eric garner chokehold death. police commissioner said the department will provide three days of retraining for all its officers. that will include new procedures and protocols about interacting with the public. activists say there needs to be an overhuman in the way police deaths are investigated. >> leo mcguire is a former board member of the national sheriffs

association, former sure i have in new jersey. joining us now, thank you so much. let's talk about that retraining. >> three days of retraining is not going to be enough to handle all the issues law enforcement has to handle on a daily basis. remember, we are called in people's worst times. we're not called when it's a happy birthday party, usually. we're called in the worst times. in the eric garner case, police were called because he was doing something illegal. minor illegal, agreed, but illegal nonetheless. >> we talk about eric garner and you talked about how he resisted arrest and that led to a chain every vents. i want to take another look at that cell phone video of garner. >> i'm minding my business,

please leave me alone. i told you the last time, please leave me alone. >> this video continues. the lay person looking at this video, leo, does not necessarily see he a man resist be arrest. i want to ask you how do you define that? what is the threshold. >> you can see by his demeanor that he's already taken an aggressive stance, his voice inflection, and he is drawing the line in the sand saying i'm not doing this anymore. the officers told him in a deescalation attempt you've been through this before. we've done this, let's just get through it. >> did you say his aggressive demeanor and what he said, that's enough to be considered resisting arrest? >> no, i didn't say that. >> clarify? that. >> it's a context. what you're seeing developing here is the overall totallity of circumstances, so not just a snippet in time of a video or snapshot. look at the totallity of circumstances.

that's what the grand jury did, they looked at the totallity of circumstances. the officers were reasonable in their actions. >> you clearly see he does have his hands up at one point. in addition to that, there is a time where he is saying i can't breathe, maybe misconstrued to be resisting arrest there, so there's two things there. >> he had already resisted arrest. once the officer went to put his hands on him to get him to submit to a lawful arrest, because they were completely lawful all the way through, there was no use of force, it was verbal commands, he refused those verbal commands and now you escalate to the next step, which is going hands on. >> this is a gray area. we talk about training and the need for training. is it clearly defined what resisting arrest is? is it clearly defined for officers not to escalate a

situation that did not start out violently and ended in the death of a man. >> again, everything is situational. everything has to do with the actions that have individual. if mr. garner had said yes, i've been through this before, i know this is a minor case, put the handcuffs on my, i'll pay my fine and we can go home. this never would have happened. this was garner's own resistance and attitude that contributed. to your point about him not breathing, that's a whole different situation that needs to be looked at because they didn't act the way they were trained to do based on the man's size, his weight and positional asphyxia which is the thing that did kill him. >> the philippines bracing for a powerful typhoon. the storm named ruby is supposed to hit land sometime this weekend. thousands of people have been evacuated. last november, 6,000 people were killed when enter typhoon haiyan

hit the philippines. >> let's bring in nicole mitchell, nicole. >> good morning, yesterday at this time, we had a very potent storm with winds about 180 miles per hour. now, this has diminished somewhat to 145 miles per hour. that is still very intense, what we would consider a category four hurricane. they measure the symmetry of the storm. this is what it does into the day tomorrow, so into the afternoon hours, still diminishing, but still what we would consider a major hurricane, so it is definitely going to cause damage here. >> all right, thank you, nicole mitchell. >> questions over race relations after the recent deaths of junk men at the hands of police. >> it was a black cop, it was a black 911 caller, and i said who cares what color he is or what color the caller was? >> we'll go to louisiana where some say the problem is not

about race, but who was carrying a badge and gun. >> the pentagon opening up about a failed attempt to rescue an american hostage in yemen and why that journalist may only have a few days left to live. >> concern about this year's flu vaccine, it may not protect you from the most prevalent strain of the virus. >> allowing athletes to pick what team they'll play for based on what gender they identify this w. that's one of the stories caught in our global net.

>> the location of numerous protests, our coverage of the nypd officer cleared in the choking death of a stanton island man continues this morning. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. ahead, both al-qaeda and isil putting on hostage videos. are they competing for the public's attention? >> russian president vladimir putin is blaming the west for his country's economic problems.

>> in our next hour, the former u.n. ambassador to norway talks about what qualifies an american diplomat. >> first, let's look at our latest headlines this morning. orion lifted off from cave canaveral 25 minutes ago and now is on the first of two planned orbits before it slashes back down to earth in four hours. it is testing a capsule that could one day carry humans to mars. >> the justice department is pushing for a monitor for the cleveland police department after police have frequently used excessive force. it found supervisors encourage the the practice. city leaders are committed to making changes. protests continued over a grand jury decision not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death innerric garner. in new york, thousands shut down

the brooklyn bridge last night. traffic was disrupted in chicago, minneapolis and washington, d.c. >> the garner decision is drawing new attention to how police handle conflict especially with minorities, america tonight looks at one case near new orleans that involves a black officer who shot and killed a black teen. >> cameron tillman, a high school freshman age 14 with a 3.7g.p.a., a talented athlete, with no reputation for trouble and no record, shot dead on a tuesday afternoon. we spoke to his mom. >> one of the neighbors came banging on my door, like tika, cameron has been shot. i fell to the ground in disbelief. i fell immediately. >> the tuesday afternoon in september, it's just after 5:00, it's daylight. someone makes a 911 call and

said that she'd seen armed men with guns. shortly after, two sheriff's deputies pull up. they get out of the car with weapons drawn, walk into the sidewalk and into that car port. almost everything that happens after that is in dispute. >> the sheriff insists his officers identified themselves when they knocked on the door. one of those in the house, cameron's older brother, andre. >> i was sitting down, we was on our phones and stuff. we heard a knock. >> in the weeks since his brother's death, andre has tried to lose himself on the basketball court. like the three other teens there, andre said the police knocked, didn't identify themselves and when cameron came to the door, opened fire. in the hours after he was shot, neighbors shocked, gathered in the streets. a rumor went through the crowd

that the officer who killed the 14-year-old was white, and anger rose. >> that deputy only identified as an african american mail. >> the officer who shot norman, a seven year veteran was african-american. >> it was a black cop, it was a black 911 caller. i said who cares what color he is or what color the caller was, it didn't matter to me, you shot a 14-year-old kid. >> for the community and for the family, it was about bad policing in a place where they believe teens of color are singled out by police. >> our black kids are targeted more than other kids. >> some of the parents don't even want the kids to leave out the house or from in front the yard, like the kids, really, really scared. one of the kids came up to me

like miss tika what's going to happen? am i going to make it to 18? i was speechless. i didn't know what to tell him. >> what do we want? justice! >> the police are conducting an investigation into tillman's death, the young men with him say they have yet to be interviewed. >> in south carolina, a grand jury indicted a white officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black man. richard combs is the former police chief in orangeburg not far from charleston. he fatally shot bernard daily in the town hall parking loot during an argument in 2011. the two were fighting about a traffic ticket he issued to bailey's daughter. >> mr. bail lay was unarmed. whether race had anything to do with it at the time remains to be proven and remains to be seen. >> we were disappointed it was so slow in coming to court itself, but we're glad now that it is, and people would very much like to let justice occur.

>> combs argued he feared for his life. last month, a judge threw out his self defense claim. the trial is tentatively scheduled in january. >> a woman under arrest in a murder in abu dhabi targeted a woman. she was stabbed in a mall restroom. the suspect is accused of trying to kill an american doctor with a makeshift bomb. >> the family of a u.s. journalist held hostage in yemen is bigging for mercy. they've put out a video calling for the release of luke somers. al-qaeda vowed wednesday to kill him by this weekend. it did not state any specific demands. u special forces attempted to rescue the 33-year-old last week but he had been moved before they got there. eight other hostages were freed in the raid. >> this is an al-qaeda video,

not an isil video. al-qaeda did this first with the beheading of journalist, danny worked for the wall street journal, beheaded in 2002 in a horrible video. recently we have not seen these videos from al-qaeda. why now? >> there are a couple things going on. first, within syria, isil beheaded someone and then al-nusra, the al-qaeda affiliate in syria decided not to behead, but to release their host acknowledge. that seemed as if that was sort of trying to position against isil, because their competitors, the al-qaeda and isil are both combating each other, as well as assad for power. now we shift down to yemen, a different country. there is the al-qaeda affiliate aqap, but they're run by their own people and a different organization. since that original beheading, the u.s. has gone after all of them, isil, al-qaeda, anyone

associated with extremism, and so, what's happened is unfortunately when you attack everyone, they sort of band together. al-qaeda and isil who have been enemies are now cooperating because their both under pressure. in the case of yemen, a particular country with particular problems, there is a long history of kidnapping, usually for ran sam. this is also the grube to tried to blow up an american airliner. >> you say al-qaeda and isil are somewhat collaborating, but do you think they are somewhat competing to strike fear in the mindset of westerners? >> they're certainly competing against each other as organizations, and i think what you've seen maybe a little here is that the beheading by isil had such a large emotional and political impact in the u.s., too large some might say, but real and understandable, and

since isil is on the rise in the region in terms of their prestige and ability to recruit workers, certainly it's possible that some al-qaeda affiliates who are in competition with them would say well, we need to copy these tactics and put our receivers back on the map and compete with these guys in order to draw new recruits. >> let's look at the fact that this is happening in yemen. what is al-qaeda's ability to capture western journalists in yemen say about what is happening in that country and whether al-qaeda is resurging in a country. >> long before you had problems, this is a common story in the middle east, you had a long material dictator who ruled by force. as a result, there were rebel groups that grew up in opposition to him. eventually, he was pushed out. that left the rebel forces on the one hand, al-qaeda if i am

yet and on the other hand, an ethnic minority called the who tee. those are the only guys left with guns. they start battling each other and also trying to take over the government. while the u.s. has been successful in its counter terrorism operations aimed at al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, the broader context is the thing is starting to unravel because there isn't a strong popular government. that's sort of a weak government with two strong armed rebel groups attacking each other and that's a recipe for chaos. >> unfortunately we've seen this before. jim walsh, thank you. >> the american couple cleared in the death of their 8-year-old daughter are back home in los angeles this morning. they spent two years fighting for clemency in qatar. they have not stopped smiling since they arrived. the woes were charged with starving their adopted daughter to death. a court in qatar threw out their sentence over the weekend and an editorial note here, aljazeera

is owned by qatari interests but maintain editorial control. >> in the united states it is more difficult to purchase a gun. a law requires background checks on almost every purchase. >> almost 60% of voters backed the change, but gun buyers and sellers call the law confusing. >> a custom-made short barrel amy automatic rifle, pretty in pink was supposed to be a christmas surprise. >> a wrapped case on christmas morning happened to be this amazing oh my god present under the tree, but i can't do that. >> under the new law in washington state, that gift had his girlfriend could be considered a firearms transfer, illegal without a criminal background check through a licensed gun dealer. in this house, a frustration. >> i would love for politicians and lawmakers to focus on the people breaking the law and quit going after me. >> the law extends criminal

background checks through gun showers and on line sails. it could make handing a gun to a friend to shoot a at a range like this one illegal and could ever implications for businesses that use guns. >> in washington in the armed licensed professions, most companies own the firearms their employees use, they check them out to employees. now private security contractors, investigators and bail recovery agents are wondering if the way they've been doing business is now a string of felonies. >> it's a 45 caliber semiautomatic pistol, i'm carry one right now. >> gun range manager said his rental business probably won't be affected. he supports the concept of background checks for sales. >> you cannot vote as a felon, i don't see why you should own a firearm. i think that's a safe and reasonable precaution. >> what he's hearing is confusion about exactly what customers can and can't do without breaking the law. >> it's the transfers, the big

transfers language and ambiguity and uncertainty with that is what upsets the majority of people in this community. >> lax's organization backed the initiative, calling concerns about gun transfers nonsense, just a smoke screen and the says prosecutors aren't going to bother with christmas gift rifles. >> hard right gun owning zealots that brought up this issue to get away from the main point, the main point is this is an important first step to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have guns. >> that's little comfort forker iraq and erin and other who see gun ownership as constitutional rights. >> if it wasn't the intention to criminalize otherwise normal transfer of tire arms, why is it made law? >> it's going to be very hard to break. plus it's pink. >> it is pink. >> aljazeera, seattle. >> gun advocates backed by the

n.r.a. pledge to overturn the rules. those who support it say they want to expand the regulations, possibly allowing police to take guns from people with mental health issues. >> comedian bill cosby is fighting back against the latest sexual assault allegations against him. she a woman accused him of drugging and raping him while she was underage. >> his latest accuser is said to be trying to extort money. coz byes lawyers claimed she tried to get $250,000 out of him just a month ago. she tried to sell her story to a tabloid 10 years ago, but nobody was buying it back then. his lawyers say her suit was filed after mr. cosby objected the outrageous demands for money. she claims when she was 15 she met cosby in 1974 and that he drugged and assaulted her during a visit to the playboy mansion.

if his team can prove extortion from 10 years ago, it would certainly undermine her case. perhaps winning this one case will be too little too late for mr. cosby. the most recent organization to cut ties with him is the u.s. navy, which revoked his honorary title of chief petty officer. the lapd said it will investigate any claim it receivers against cosby. so far, none has been filed. >> if you've got the flu vaccine, it may not work that well this season. the c.d.c. said this year's dose is not a good match for the actual virus going around. scientists develop vaccines months before the virus appears so they are making predictions about what strain will go around. health officials say americans should still get vaccinated. >> let's look at other stories caught in our global net. this is happening in a lot of towns, the state of minnesota is letting transgender high school students has are athletes choose the sports team that they best

identify with. iit was a packed hearing, severl people addressing the issues. there are concerns that transgender girls that become boys may have a disadvantage on sports team, that plays in. 33 other states have made the same decision. >> we have d.n.a. pioneer scientist james watson put his medal on the auction block thursday. it sold for $4.1 million. "the new york times" said it was a symbol of his redemption in the scientific community. he made harsh sharp comments seven years ago about african genetics being inferior that he then apologized. >> what a fall from grace. >> the james bond film series shaking and stirring things up. 50-year-old actress monica is making history as the oldest bond girl. she does not look 50.

she is actually a very famous and talented italian actress. >> and absolutely beautiful. that skin, that skin. >> right. >> russian president vladimir putin trying to put a positive spin on the state of his country in his annual address. he blames the west for crippling economic sanctions. we'll speak with a professor about whether those sanctions are working. >> the shocking way that an electric eel captures its prey by controlling its mind. >> that is one of today's discoveries.

>> despite crippling economic weighs, vladimir putin blamed

the west for his problems. >> the president accused the west of wanting to see russia broken up, dismantled, he he said. >> despite the fact we have been treating our enemies of yesterday as close friends and allies, the support of russia from abroad, was absolutely obvious. there is no doubt that loved to see the yugoslavia scenario of collapse for us. we did not allow it. >> he said the military supremacy must be guaranteed. national pride and sovereignty of a necessary condition for russia's survival. he said the west was using crimea and ukraine as an excuse to cripple russia. >> speaking about the sanctions, this is not just a nervous reaction of the united states and their allies to our stance

in regard to the events and coup in ukraine. not even in regard to the crimea spring. they would come up with another reason to take over russian exhibits to use it for its own goals. >> putin announced special measures to protect small businesses that he believes will help lead the economy out of recession. >> here now to discuss sanctions affecting russia and putin's

state of the nation remarks is associate professor of international affairs in new york. the russian currency, let's talk about that, the economics of this, it has plummeted against the dollar. in marsh, a dollar worth about 36 rubles. after putin's speech, losing a third of its value. a dollar can only buy 56 rubles. making that worse for putin at this point and sort of unrelatedly, russian oil prices are down to $70 a barrel. how much pain, though, is the average russian feeling in reaction to these western sanctions? >> not as much as one would think at this time, because it was actually quite a big reserve for the time being and they were trying to, the government is really trying to force money into various businesses, so they

wouldn't feel the pain and they wouldn't go to the streets. the further you go from moscow to st. petersburg to bigger cities, the further you can feel it's quite bad for the public, because the stores are closing. the stores are half empty, russians are going back to eating potatoes, because there's no more leafy greens available. this is really something that russians are shocked about. >> does president putin have a point in bringing up yugoslavia. >> the sanctions are there and hurting the people, so the west is hurting the russian people, but wait, this is not enough for the west to damage russia, because a much grander strategy is actually to destabilize russia and break it up, so he's really pushing the further rhetoric to sort of the warmongering rhetoric as far as he can. >> it's ironic that he's talking

about the breakup of russia when he's also picking off parts of our countries like ukraine and the crimea annexation example, you can see that. >> not necessarily for him, the reason he's picking off other places is he is trying to prevent the western menacing strategy that it is out to break out russia and make russia what yankees is now, former yankees is now, a lot of the countries in bad shape, a lot of them being discussed whether they should be part of the european union, whether to be closer to russia and what not. that's what he's preparing the russians for, prepare for more hardship, because if you're not, the west is going to break you up. >> thank you so much. >> it's time for were you ever today's discoveries. the south american electric eel can remotely control its prey.

the underwater predator first uses a less paralyzing jolt just to find it. scientists say the eel sends out pulses of electricity that forced the hiding fish to involuntarily move, revealing its location. >> we're going to start this morning places in the midsection of the country, that moisture that had moved across all the way from the west coast hitting somewhere like st. louis this morning. you can hardly see the top of the arch. in fact, we can't. we've got the rain that has moved through the area. here's where it's all sitting now as we continue to watch all of that move across the country. it's going to impact eventually as it moves along, even into the northeast, so that would be into tomorrow, so widespread area of dense fog along with this, too,

slowing things down this morning. >> thank you so much. >> ahead, we'll take a closer look at the next legal steps in the eric garner case. >> his family plans to file a $75 million suit. >> we'll be right back. >> the cast sytem is alive and well in america >> a city divided >> this is the third shooting in 24 hours in baltimore >> raveged by violence... > for any black community it's always been a recession >> can a community break the cycle? >> the way the game is rigged... they can't win... >> fault lines, al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> today they will be arrested... >> ground breaking... they're firing canisters of gas at us... emmy award winning investigative series... baltimore anatomy of an american city 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 >> accusations of excessive force by the cleaved police department, a new d.o.j. report slamming its practices in the wake of the deadly shooting of a 12-year-old boy by one of the city's officers. >> we've come a long way. it goes to show how much further we have to go. >> lebron james speaking out on the spring of shootings involving black men in america. more an what he has to say and why he is speaking up as thousands take to the streets

again. >> give us an opportunity to see our luke again. >> an emotional plea from a mother to the militants holding her son hostage. the family of an american held by al-qaeda begs for his relevancy. >> liftoff after problems delay the initial launch, nasa takes the first step in man's efforts to make it to mars. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. another police department under fire this morning, this time it's the cleveland police accused of systematically using excessive force. >> that is the finding of a justice department investigation blasting the cleaved p.d. saying some police supervisors let it happen and in some cases encouraged it. this is the same city where police shot and killed a 12-year-old carrying a pellet gun in the park. bisi onile-ere is live in cleveland. how is the public reacting to the scathing report by the

attorney general? >> good morning, reaction is mixed. many residents i've talked to support the justice department's report. on the other hand, one police union official spoke out against it saying that it's disappoint forego people to look back and criticize police actions. one thing's for certain, change is on the way here in cleveland. against the backdrop of officers being cleared in the deaths of michael brown in ferguson and eric garner in new york city and in the wake of a deadly shooting involving a 12-year-old boy armed with a toy gun in cleveland, attorney general eric holder said that city's department has engaged in a pattern of excessive and unnecessary force. those findings coming from the just democratic's 19 month investigation that says it all amounts to a system take failure. >> the department of justice and the city of cleveland have come together, have come together to set in motion a process that

will remedy these issues in a comprehensive and in a court-enforceable manager. >> among the findings of the d.o.j. civil rights division, cleveland police have engaged in excessive use of deadly force, shootings and head strikes with weapons, including guns, excessive use of tasers, mace, and rough treatment of the mentally ill. >> one theme was that too often, officers escalated confrontations with individuals that they were interacting with, instead of using accepted tactics to deescalate some of those encounters. >> the investigations were sparked by several deadly incidents, including one car chase in november, 2012 that involved 62 police cruisers and 100 officers. the chase ended with the deaths of two unarmed people after more than 130 shots were fired at them. cleveland's mayor while acknowledging changes need to be

made isn't calling it a system take failure. >> there are problems in the division of the cleveland police acknowledge review has demonstrated some of those problems. >> holder, the mayor and police chief say those problems are fixable, agreeing to work together on the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee reform in the department. >> cleveland's mayor does not fully support this report, but says that the decide will work with the federal government to improve the cleveland police department, while a federal monitor is on the way, the police chiefs will continue to have authority over his department. >> what's the time line for this? when do we know the monitor will be appointed and how long will the departmenten overseen by that person? >> we know that negotiations between the city and federal investigators will begin soon and they will begin to negotiate the scope of the reforms.

however, we are told that while they'll be talking about what is next for the police department, then we should know sometime within the next couple of weeks when that federal monitor is on the way. >> ok, bisi onile-ere live for us in cleveland, thank you. >> the cleveland report came the same day that demonstrations erupted for a second night in new york and other major cities. protestors still upset over the grand jury decision not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death of eric garner. it comes amid a war of words between the new york mayor and police union officials. john henry smith is live for us in lower manhattan this morning. good morning to you. what sparked this clash between the mayor and police union chief? >> i don't know if it's been a spark as much as it's been a steady burn to get it to this point. the mayor and the police force, i think i can say this on this chilly morning, the relations

have been frosty since he took over the mayorship in the beginning of this year. among other things, the mayor has ended the policy of stop and frisk that the police used for so long. now at a press conference on wednesday, mayor deblasio pledged that he was going to retrain the entire nypd, 20,000 strong on deescalating situations with the public. apparently the head of the program's benevolent organization took offense at that. >> what police officers felt yesterday is that they were thrown under the bus. that they were out there doing a difficult job in the middle of the night protecting the rights of those to protest, protecting our sons and daughters, and the mayor was behind microphones like this, throwing them under the bus. >> people need to know that black lives and brown lives matter as much as white lives.

it's what we still have to aspire to. >> it should be noted that even though the police report that there were 200 arrests, observers report that really there was a -- there was a stand down type of attitude with the police last night in as much as you didn't see police out here in riot gear. you didn't see them taking an aggressive stance as much as other places like ferguson, missouri, and certainly that attitude probably contributed to much more peaceful proceedings going on last night here in lower manhattan. >> let's talk about those protests. obviously behind you there is the brooklyn bridge. we saw thousands of demonstrators there last night, as well as in countless other place across the city. how exactly are they mobilizing these protests? >> it seems like with everything these days, social media was the key at mobilizing this force so

quickly. i've talked to a few people here and they talk about the beginning of last night's activity. they say about a few hundred people came over the brooklyn bridge and not trickling in, but coming over together, coming over organized and once they got here, it was apparent there were definite leaders out there, people shouting instructions about where we were going, where they were going next. at one point, some of the leaders were even trying to teach protestors new chants, which apparently did not go very well, but certainly a very organized session organized through social media last night. >> all right, thanks, john. >> the family of an american journalist held in yemen is pleading for his captors to spare his life, this one day after al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula threatened to kill luke somers within days. he is a freelance photographer kidnapped last year. now we've learned that u.s. special forces had tried to

rescue him last week. let's go to libby casey live in washington. good morning. the family appears to be in a race against time to save his life. >> that's right, because al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula released a video this week saying they would essentially kill luke somers in three days time unless the u.s. government met its demands, which aren't specified in the video. his family's has been silent about his abduction, but his mother and brother have released their own video. >> please show mercy and give us an opportunity to see our luke again. he is all that we have. luke, if you are able to hear or see us, please know that we're doing everything possible to help you. our hearts are with you. we miss you, and we love you and all we want to do is see you

again and have our -- have you safely in our armsal together again. >> he is a photo journalist and his family said he has no involvement for actions taken by the u.s. government. >> the white house has also acknowledged a secret mission to try and rescue somers. it did not go as planned. tell us what happened. >> that's right. this was new news that this attempt had been made. the u.s. government is acknowledging it. they say that it was launched in cooperation with yemen forces. u.s. special ops went in and were able to rescue some hostages successfully, however, somers had been moved. >> as soon as the u.s. government had reliable intelligence and an operational plan, the president authorized the department of defense to conduct an operation to rescue

mr. somers. regrettably, when the operation was executed, luke was not present. though hostages of other nationalities were present, they were rescued. >> the video from al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula warns against anymore what they call foolish action by the u.s. government. >> libby casey for us in washington, d.c., thank you. >> this white house note, president obama is expected to nominate ash carter as the new defense secretary. carter previously served as the pentagon's number two. if confirmed, he will replace chuck hagel who announced his resignation last month. stay with aljazeera for live coverage of that announcement. >> carter will inherit a number of global conflicts involving the u.s. this morning, a huge explosion rocked kobane and syria. the blast is believed to be from coalition airstrikes on isil. militants are trying to take control there. the fight in kobane is stuck in

a stalemate. >> day 82 of the battle for kobane and it remains pretty much a stalemate, both sides have 50-50 control, isil mainly to the eastern side of the city, syrian occurreddish fighters to the peshmerga and western side. this is really more a symbolically important than strategically important battle for both sides. isil faced the if i havest resistance they faced anywhere and have poured for iters into this battle. for the u.s. coalition, the syrian kurdish fighters and peshmerga fighter, it is important that they try to regain control of kobane. the u.s. have launched 14 airstrikes since december 1. all of those they say centered around here, around kobane. compare that to 11 airstrikes across all of the parts of iraq controlled by isil forces and you can see that the u.s. military wants to maintain the

pressure on kobane to try and push those isil fighters out of this town. >> isil fighters are also trying to take control of a syrian military base in the east. >> new details in the murder of an american in abu dhabi. she was targeted because of her nationality. >> david shuster reports officials are trying to unravel the plat that led to her death. >> she moved to abu dhabi last year with her 10-year-old twin boys, teaching in a school through a program called footprints which places teachers abroad. on the company's website, she wrote that they are travel was unique, because i wanted to experience the arab world and their culture and daily life. that all changed monday afternoon. ryan visited the upscale boutique malwhere she was stabbed to death with a butcher knife in a public bathroom. finding her killer seemed a

challenge. surveillance police showed the suspect wearing a gown and face veil. thursday morning, authorities announce add break in the case. >> late at night and after strong efforts of investigation, the main branch of our police and security forces arrested the female suspect. today, i want to give you the good news, the female suspect is in police custody. >> authorities also say that soon after killing ryan at the mall, the suspect planted a crude bomb in front of the house of an american doctor who lives in abu dhabi. authorities found bomb making material when the suspect was arrested. in october, the u.s. embassy in egypt issued a security warning after a recent anonymous posting in a jihadist website encouraged attacks against american and western schools and teachers in the middle east. this week, the state department said it was unclear if ryan was killed because she was an american teacher. >> we shouldn't jump to any

conclusions, we just don't have all the fact here yet. >> with a suspect in custody and investigation advancing, the motive is becoming clearer. >> the suspect tarted the victim for citizenship and color only and not for personal reasons. david shuster, aljazeera, new york. >> abu dhabi was the fourth country ryan has taught in the last 15 years. >> a joyous return for an american couple back on u.s. soil. mat three and grace wong landed in los angeles yesterday after a two year legal procedure in qatar. they were not allowed to leave the country until wednesday. a family spokesman said they have not stopped smiling since they arrived back in the u.s. >> the navy is investigating a sailor for reporting video of female officers as of the showers onboard a submarine.

it happened on the uss white soxing. that sub recently returned to from the pacific. female officers ever served on the vessel since 2012. >> a long awaited investigative report finds no conclusive effort that governor chris christie knew about the reported lane closings on the george washington bridge, but said that he had opportunity to gain knowledge about it and said he wasn't truthful when his staff told him they knew nothing about the closings. >> the philippines bracing for a powerful storm. thousands evacuated their homes seeking shelter in various places. a typhoon is due to hit land this weekend. the philippines is at high rusk for tropical storms. last november, 6,000 people were killed in storm haiyan. >> the tomorrow has weakened from yesterday. yesterday it was 180 miles per hour and haiyan had made it up

to 195. today, it's at 145. it's weakened significantly. still at 145, still intense, what we would consider a category four and making its way toward the philippines. it will continue to lose intensity. the storm is going to cause problems, but it might not make a direct per pin dick larr hit, a little more of a sideways hit and that minimizes somewhat the amount of water that pushes along with that. when it does make landfall tomorrow, still expected to be what we would consider the equivalent of a category three. this is going to cause problems and we are looking later into the day our time tomorrow. >> weaker but still a very strong storm. >> yes. >> thank you, nicole. >> thousands of americans taking tole streets in the wake of the eric garner decision from new york city to oakland. demonstrators expressing their outrage. pastor mcbride joins us with what's the end goal of these marches. >> the king of basketball

speaking out on the eric garner case. what lebron james is saying about a string of deadly police shootings of unarmed black men. >> one oil worker firing off a hot shot on this rig. that video burning up the web and the others captured by our citizen journalists around the world.

>> taking to the streets in chicago for higher pay, protestors outside a mcdonald's, workers looking to boost pay to $15 an hour. >> keeping an unruly passenger from getting out of control during a flight. this is video of a man shouting and cursing. he was restrained by staff. >> you can call him a hot shot. this worker shooting off a flair to ignite the gas steaming out of the rig. the practice is long seen as an honor by those working on rigs. >> it was another night of civil unrest from coast-to-coast,

protestors still angry over the grand jury decision in the death of eric garner. in new york, protestors came out in force for a second straight night. thousands shut down the brooklyn bridge and disrupted traffic along manhattan's west side highway. 200 people were arrested. >> a similar scene in chicago where hundreds of demonstrators swarmed the streets during rush hour. one group sprinted on to the dan ryan expressway, briefly blocking traffic. please had to hold off protestors trying to disrupt the entrance outside soldier field where the bears-cowboys game was taking place. >> in oakland, california protestors marched for four hours. hundreds made their way to the area where oscar grant was shot to death by a police officer in

2009. pastor mcbride joins us from oakland. you've been going to ferguson to take part in protests. to have this decision in new york city was that a surprise to you or is this par for the course at this point? >> thanks for having me. sadly, not only is the par for the course, but it is still very crushing, and it is indeed a surprise. it continues, i think for many of us in our communities to be a cascading series of traumas, being enacted upon us by a country where we have deep ancestry, certainly a mixed history around race, but it is indeed declaring to many of us that our lives do not seem to matter. i this i part of what we're seeing across the country is a declaration that black lives do matter and the level of demonstration is very encouraging. until those who are unaffected

are as outraged as those affected, justice is not served. >> you say several meaningful things. first the trauma that you talk about, that the african-american community has experienced as a result of these grand jury decisions. talk more about that and how you as a man of god addresses that in your church. >> well, i think it's important for everyone to continue to remember that these decisions, these yous declarations that our lives seem to be i didn't have yell, to be diminished causes many of us to have to reenact our own incidents of trauma and engagement with the criminal justice system. i myself was physically and sexually assaulted by police officers. it is in many respects an

opportunity for all of us to have a cathartic release all at the same time, and i believe that as people of faith, certainly as a clergy leader, we must continue to not only stand in solidarity, but speak the truth to the powers of our country and say that our lives do matter, god ma created us in the image of god, we all are endued with in alienable rights and even if the documents of our country, the constitution declare you are only 3/5 of a human being, there was never a time our god saw us as inferior. we are in solidarity to help facilitate healing. >> how do you start to heal the relationship between law enforcement and the african-american community? >> the first step is to have both sides be champions of justice. we're not looking for a preference under the law. we're looking for equal

protection under the law. it is indeed the case that healing cannot happen when we were still being injured. malcolm x says that you can't take a knife that is stabbed in my back and pull it out three inches and declare i'm healed he. >> maybe the true sign of healing is when you see a lot of police officers taking parted in these protests for equal justice. pastor michael mcbride, sir, thank you. >> the grand jury decisions in new york and ferguson have drawn a lot of attention from the public and celebrities. it's led to the on the field protests from athletes. now lebron james is speaking out. michael eaves reports the nba star is putting his support behind the protestors. >> lebron james made his most recent comments in new york, before his cleaved cavaliers team faced the knicks, while both cities deal he with the aftermath of deaths by police.

james grew up in akron, 40 miles outside cleveland but says that geographic connection to the death of tamir rice doesn't necessarily make it more trouble. >> it doesn't matter. it's more troubling that it's happening in our country. families are losing loved ones and i'm not pointing the blame at anybody that's making it happen. it's just society, we've come a long way, but it shows much further we have to go. >> while james continues to put his support to the protests, he's animate that answering the wrongs with similar tactics should not be tolerated. >> violence is not the answer, and retaliation is not a solution. as a society, we just have to do better. i pray for the families that have lost loved ones, but obviously anytime you lose someone, it is a downer for the whole family. >> his approach is more measured than that of former nba star turned broadcaster charles

barkley who has cited with the police in the brown and garner cases. >> we ever to be careful with the cops. if it wasn't for the cops, weeding living in the wild wild west in our neighborhoods. we can't pick out certain incidences that don't go our way and act like the cops are all bad. >> during the 1968 olympics, american medal winners tommy smith and john carlos each raised one gloved fist during the playing of the national anthem. they were subsequently kicked out of the olympic village in mexico city and sent home. iconic moment boosted the civil rights and black how are movements, but the shaming was used by agents, managers and others to persuade athletes not to get involved in social causes. >> if you feel passionate about it or it hits home, you have a right to speak upon it. >> james has more than 25 million followers on twitter and instagram. his post last week on the

protest in ferguson was retweeted nearly 300,000 times. >> parts of the midwest are in for a soaking today. nicole mitchell is back with more. >> we've already got it and gloomy start to the day, fog associated with this. this is part that have band of rain. this was into yesterday in the west coast, moved to the southwest and now has continued to move into the trail portion of the beyond. a soaker that morning in places like st. louis. we looked at that sample earlier and you could hardly see the top of it. that's what it's looking like during the course of the day today. all the areas that you see in gray, anywhere from iowa way down into portions of the gulf coast, that's fog. the atmosphere was very moist, now more low clouds, could see flight delays because of this. that this continues through the course of the day and this puts it into tomorrow, so this ending

frame here is about saturday night. if you were heading out to paint the town red, hopefully you have the red rain slicker to go with all of it. >> i do, actually. nicole mitchell, thank you. >> the justice department issuing a scathing report on a pattern of abuses by the cleveland police department. bisi onile-ere is live in cleveland with the accusations laid out against the officer. >> the second time proving to be the charm. there it is. we go live to cape canaveral on the successful launch of the orion spacecraft. >> investors riding high, the staggering new prays evaluation that has uber riding in the fast lane.

primetime news. >> welcome to al jazeera america. >> stories that impact the world, affect the nation and touch your life. >> i'm back. i'm not going anywhere this time. >> only on al jazeera america. >> welcome back to aljazeera america. ahead in our next half hour, the political drama of political appointments as the white house feels the heat from the fallout of recent appointments. the former ambassador to norway weighing in on what it takes to represent the u.s. abroad. >> real money's patricia joins us to break down the jobs report. >> lift off for nasa's orion spacecraft, the ship taking off

about 90 minutes ago and is currently orbiting the earth. the mission is testing a capsule that could one day carry human to say mars. another night of protests in new york city and across the country follows a grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the death of eric garner. in addition to new york, demonstrators disrupted traffic in chicago, oakland and washington, d.c. >> cleveland promising changes after a report blasting the police department found the use of excessive force by officers and said supervisors encouraged it. >> what does the justice department say caused the problems? >> the cleveland police department is broken, the report found that oftentimes, officers

used excessive force and many times this behavior was tolerated and supported by supervisors. holder said these problems were long in the making and that something needs to be done now to correct these wrongs. >> accountability, and legitimacy are essential for communities to trust their police departments, and for their to be genuine collaboration between police and the citizens that they serve. as the brother of a retired police officer, i know in a very personal way how brave these public servants are. it is for their sake, as well, that we must seek to how many the breakdowns that we have seen. >> cleveland's mayor also spoke out, saying that he doesn't fully support the justice democratic's report, but says that the city will cooperate with the federal government to make sure that these changes go through. >> back to you. >> what changes will they have to make to fix the democratic?

>> it's going to be interesting. i'm told that the word that i've been hearing a lot is there needs to be cooperation with all involved. we know that it was back in 2004 when the cleveland police department underwent an independent overhaul, but people said clearly that wasn't effective, so there certainly is a whole lot more optimism now that the federal government has their hands in the situation. >> bisi onile-ere live for us in cleveland, thanks. >> in new york, the next step for the eric garner family could be a lawsuit. they filed a claim seeking $75 million in civil damages over his death. the notice was filed against the city of new york, the new york police department, and the various officers. city officials are now reviewing the claim. here to talk about it is jonathan ryder, specializing in wrongful death lawsuits, an attorney. let's get right into it here.

the garner family put in a notice of claim against the city for a $75 million lawsuit. exactly what could the city be liable for? >> in this particular case, the wrongful death claim is a very, very substantial one. there are actually three elements to the damages in this case. one is the pain and suffering case, which i'll address. one is the economic loss, and one is what we call loss of nurture, care and guidance of the children. obviously, the biggest portion of this claim is the loss of nurture, care and guidance. eric garner had six children, is my understanding. the law recognizes that the loss of a parent is an economic loss, and the loss of the moral guidance, the upbringing, the

effect that a father's love and care has on a child has a huge effect on the child's future and this is recognized by the law, so the kinds of damages that have been sustained by appellate court and this is really the key to understanding this, juries can award hundreds of millions of dollars, but jury verdicts are reviewed by the appellate courts and the courts have the right to reduce those awards to amounts they feel are fair and reasonable. the kinds of awards that have been sustained for loss of nurture, care and guidance, awards in the nature of 1.5 to $2 million have been sustained, one in particular where for example a jury awarded $8 million for one child was reduced to $1.8 million. here you have six children, so starting just with that element, you have a very, very large claim, potentially, you know, an

eight figure claim. >> wow, that's pretty big. do the ages of the children matter? he has a seven-month-old. >> yeah, the typically obviously the longer period of time, meaning that the young evident child, that childs case is worth more than the older child, but in a case like this, it becomes a very soft kind of thing. it's not an absolute calculation in that reward. the jury would be entitled to make an award considering that factor, the age of the child. >> i'm sure you have even the video, the cell phone video of eric began pepper let's talk about the liability factor here. we know that he spent seven

minutes on the ground. >> the failure to provide medical attention is a violation of his civil rights. that could be an element of a civil rights lawsuit. just to put this in perspective, because i didn't address the pain and suffering part of it that you're referring to, with respect to the damages, this other element of pain and suffering, because this is a very remarkable case in which we have a video actually showing a man suffering before his death, gas spinning for air saying i can't breathe, i can't breathe, this is something that is very rare and cases where people have lived for only brief periods of time, that element alone has brought in a million or a million plus damages. in aviation cases where people sustain let's say 12 seconds of fear -- >> we're going to have to leave i did there. thank you so much. >> ok. there's a lot to be said about

this. >> absolutely. >> you can call uber the $41 billion company now. that's what investors say the car sharing service is worth. at that evaluation, it is the biggest market capital sedation for any private term. it collected another $1.2 billion from venture capitalist this is week and that money will go toward helping fight off competitors and adding more drivers. >> a possible delay in a major class action lawsuit against apple. two people leading the case my not own the ipods. steve jobs will testify as part of this trial. the jury will hear a tape of him recorded six months before his death. >> this could be a very expensive addition to your next bowl of pasta. what is that you ask no it's the world's largest white truffle going up for auction. the if you know gus weighs more than four pounds, the average about the size of a walnut.

this could go for up wards of $1 million. whoever buys it will have to use it quickly because the mushrooms spoil in 20 days. >> $321,000 new jobs created crushing wall street expectations. >> that's good news. patricia will analyze these numbers. >> this was an absolute blockbuster of a report, 321,000 jobs added to the economy last month. that was far in excess of what most economists were expecting. the unemployment rate antlabor force participation rate remained unchanged, but a very, very strong and good signal in this employment report where average hourly wages rose 9 cents. we want to see more of that, wages going up, money in people's pockets so that they have more to spend and the more

they spend, the more they grow the economy. >> digging deeper, manufacturing jobs, those are great jobs, because manufacturing jobs have a multiplier effect. in other words, a manufacturing jobs creates more jobs around they will. we added 28,000 of those last month, 17,000 of which were in durable goods, designed to last three years or more. very strong uptick in construction jobs, 20,000 jobs added in construction, so overall with very, very strong, very, very positive report. this is november, so there's seasonal adjustments that goes on with this november report, but this all in all, positive. >> put into context this 10 month winning streak of payroll growth by more than 200,000. >> yes, we've been seeing this, the economy is slowly improving. we wanted to see quality jobs added and we want to see an uptick in wages. those were very encouraging.

the question is how much of this now is seasonal adjustment, because it's very difficult to gauge the numbers in november. >> yeah. >> so we'll have to see if this maintains. if we continue to see more of an uptick in hourly wages. >> thanks so much for joining us. >> tune in for real money weeknights at 7:00 p.m. eastern. >> from jobs in the u.s. to stagnant wages in the u.k. >> we have more on the struggles that some people face in the u.k. >> first thing in the morning and workers are trying to get people interested in their struggle. many earn close to the minimum wage in a country which is supposed to have made such an astounding recovery. that feels pretty strange. >> most of us get by from week to week. >> do you think that that situation's going to get any better?

>> no, i can't see it. >> janet isn't only worried for hers. her son's job in a supermarket guarantees him just eight hours a week. poverty it seems is becoming generational. >> he lives a working live at the behest of a sympathetic supervisor that will give him extra hours to help him just pay his rent and live, not a life of luxury, not have a car, he doesn't own a car web just has a bicycle. it's -- there is no prospects. >> christmas is coming and people are feeling poorer. bristol is traditionally a wealthy city, yet here more than 50% of children now live in poverty. filled with no guarantee of work, public sector cuts have helped feed shareholders in the financial markets, but less and less wealth is trickling down. >> profits are reaching record levels, despite very low rates in investment.

despite fouling productivity. they are just paying people less. you pay people less, it's easier to get more profits out the other side. >> this is how it plays out, volunteers packing food for those who don't have any. the government here said its economic plan has worked, but for whom? why are these people having to feed the poorest. >> >> the evidence is huge if we care to look and the i think the general public are get that go now, the welfare reforms are driving poor people into complete definite tuition. >> it's becoming increasingly clear that the new poverty here, the deeply insecure low paid contracts that characterize many people's working lives are all here to stay. the question that many people are asking themselves is this: if britain's such a rich country, and this is so unfair, then where exactly are the politicians with the will to do something about it all?

>> many now see the u.k. as having split into two identities, london with it's seemingly permanent boom and another country entirely, people struggling on the edges. it looks permanent and increasingly, it's all about the kindness of strangers. aljazeera, bristol. >> the global wage report found the asia pacific region outperformed the rest of the world, incomes rose 6% last year. >> it's not what you know, it's who you know. >> in some cases, it is. in washington, it's also who you raise money for. the quid pro quo of political appointments after questions are raised about two new u.s. ambassadors. >> the justice report on abuses by the cleaved police department. >> one top official in washington offers his take, saying: who's behind that in

sight, next.

>> who said accountability and legitimacy are essential for communities to trust their police departments and for there to be genuine collaboration between police and the citizens they serve? >> attorney general eric holder dog the d.o.j. report about abuses by the cleveland police department. >> nasas orion is about 90 minutes into a planned four and a half hour test mission. >> 5-4-3-2-1. >> the unmanned capsule lifted off a short time ago, orion expected to travel 3600 miles into space, orbiting the earth twice. it will then splash down into the pacific ocean off

california. how are things looking so far on orion? >> you joined us perfect timing this morning 20 seconds before launch. it is pretty much a perfect mission so far. we are 1444 minutes into a four hour mission. it will orbit 14 times higher than the international space station. this is an unhand mission, basically a stress test for the capsule. 1200 sensors are onboard, the engineers on the ground will monitor each second of this vital mission at testing things like radiation going through twice and then crucially as it goes down to splash into the pacific ocean, a test of the heat she'd. they will be super heated as it comes back down into the earth's atmosphere, but a great start for nasa. i think certainly if you speak to anyone here, there's a sense of excitement and a sense that

america is back in the game and back in the space race. >> all right, you know, this is eventually going to be a manned spacecraft, right? so this -- is this the first of a number of tests before we see that? >> this is the first among tests, there will be another in two and a half years time. i think by 2020, we may see four astronauts climbing onboard the orion for that very important historical mission. taking astronauts to asteroids and potentially mars, there are exciting types ahead at the kennedy space center. >> thank you so much. >> political favors are coming under fire on capitol hill, specifically two ambassador ships just awarded to people with questionable credentials. >> is anyone really surprised by this? >> surprised, no, i don't think so, because the reason for are

that is the practice of awarding ambassador ships as political favor is nothing new. there is partisan that outrage given the importance of these two posts, argentina and hungary are. >> calling bell a hollywood soap opera producer was just appointed to be ambassador to hungary. another was appointed to argentina. >> i am not against political appointees. i am not against. i understand how the game is played. >> while senator john mccain is not against political appointees, he is concerned about these two appointments, argentina because of current disputes over debt. >> here we are, a nation on the verge of creeing its sovereignty

to a neofascist dictator getting in bed with vladimir putin and we're going to send the producer of the bold and beautiful as our ambassador. >> more worrisome to critics, they fared poorly during confirmation hearings earlier this year. >> of strategic interests in terms of our key priorities. >> bell was unable to explain any strategic interests of the u.s. in hungary and mamot admitted he'd never been to argentina and spoke little spanish. white house press secretary seemed hard pressed to explain bell's qualifications. >> she is somebody who retains the confidence -- well let me say it this way, ambassador bell hat president's confidence that she will do an excellent job of representing the united states and maintaining the important relationship the united states has with the government and people of hungary. >> many raised questions about

former child star shirley temple was appointed to ambassador of ghana and later to czechoslovakia. sceptics decried caroline kennedy's appointment to japan by president obama last year. >> needless to say, republicans are having a built of a field day with this. the r.n.c. putting out this graphic with steps to becoming an ambassador that include bundle money for the obama campaign, find your appointed country on a map and learn the language with rosetta stone. both bell and momot were able to raise over $1 million for the president's campaign fund. she is an international t.v. producer, used to negotiating major international contracts, so that's a great start right there. >> those are good points. thank you, john. let's go to benson whitney, the former u.n. ambassador to norway. he joins us this morning. what a pleasure to have you on

the program to talk about this issue. what kind of qualifications does one need to become a u.s. ambassador? >> there are many possible qualifications. some may depend on the post you're being sent to, but different ambassadors bring different skills. some are subject matter experts, some people are good communicators, some maybe good negotiators. there are a variety of ways you can do a good job, and it may depend on the issues you are going to face in that country. >> you were appointed by president george w. bush. it was a political appointment. why do you think people are making hay about these specific appointments today if every other president does the fact same thing? >> i mean, the tradition of political appointees and if you want to say citizen diplomats isn't just it is united states, it occurs in many countries

around the world, perhaps somewhat more here. i think in this case, the major issue has been that these -- this of these designates had a difficult time during their hearing. it's made it a much more public affair being televised. it's fair enough that when one considers the qualifications of anyone, how they perform, there's a reason that there's a senate confirmation and there's a reason there's a senate confirmation hearing. that shouldn't be the only try at her i can't from which they're judged, but it's not an irrelevant one. >> i want to speak about the new ambassador to hungary, a nato ally. there is concern it could fall into the russian sphere of influence. this woman is clearly a successful hollywood producer. the bold and the beautiful, i'm told is huge in hungary. is there a possibility that there's an upside to having somebody that maybe is viewed as

a government outsider in this position? >> well, it's one of the reasons that countries themselves want diplomats, because they have a closer connection to the president in the white house so if the need occurs directly to go to the white house, sometimes political appointees bill have stronger personal relationships, so countries with i will see that as an asset. all countries are strategic to the united states. america is everywhere in the world and there is a lot to do, having someone -- i mean it's easy to in some ways for people to mock ms. bell because of her background, but i don't think that alone is a certainly a disqualifying factor. there are many other things that have to be considered in her appointment. >> benson with it thee, former ambassador to norway, thank you for your time. >> let's get a final check of

the forecast with nicole mitchell. >> we're getting a little bit of a break heading to the west coast. while we have that break now, the next system is pushing in, so already cloud shield into parts of california. more will push northward and into the northwest, as well, but can't rule out some of the california coastline, could get showers with this. we are going to see the northwest getting that rain and after this system, another one late into the weekend, so not as potent, but still wet. >> not much release, though. thank you nicole. >> that is it for us here in new york. >> we leave you with a look of our images of the day, people gathering in south africa, marking one year since the death of nelson mandela. >> they are holding vigils and laying wreaths, remembering mandiva, the man who built the modern south africa and brought the end to apartheid. >> see i tomorrow morning at

7:30 a.m.

>> the international criminal court drops charges against kenya's president. ♪ hello, this is al jazeera, live from doha. also ahead, barack obama picks former pentagon official ashton carter to be the next u.s. defense secretary. a pitiful response to a refugee crisis amnesty international accuses the world of abandoning syria's most vulnerable people.