joining us. >> big policing problems - the justice department calls for widespread changes in philadelphia after a review finds officers in the city of brotherly love routinely shot at civilians. a critical meeting. afghanistan's president comes to washington trying to mend fences and hoping for more u.s. help trying to fight the taliban and i.s.i.l. >> vanity plates - the supreme

court and a battle over licence plates adorned with confederate flags. and a miraculous weekend - pope francis takes on the mafia while adored by nuns and receiving a special delivery good evening, i'm antonio mora this is al jazeera america. tonight, the philadelphia police department is promising big changes after a federal review criticized how officers dealt with the community. police-involved shootings happen almost every week in the city. investigations are often shrouded in secrecy. >> pushing, shoving, throwing chairs. the chaotic scene at a town hall meeting in philadelphia. this was supposed to be a chance for city officials to explain why criminal charges had not been filed against an officer who shot a young black man in the back of the head in december. instead it devolved into shouts

and scuff lipping as years -- scufling as years of mistrust boiled over. in the wake. deaths of unarmed black men in ferguson and new york city charles ramsay emerged as a leading voice about police reform leading a white house task force unveiling recommendations this month. >> we have a great opportunity coming out of great conflict and tragedy to really transform how we think about community law enforcement relations, so that everybody feels safe. >> reporter: monday in philadelphia ramsay responded to the justice department view that he asked for of his own department. we have nothing to fear. we contacted d.o.j. i knew it wouldn't be a report to come out, talking about how

great the philadelphia police department is and every aspect of its operation. i never pretended to have all the answers. i don't think i was selected because the president thought we had the perfect police department. the report says that during the past seven years philadelphia police shot at people nearly once a week. it did not allege racial bias. 80% of police shooting victims in philadelphia were african-americans, and were more likely than not to be unarmed. ramsay says the numbers. >> 85% of whom sid. 95% were african-american. in case you hadn't noticed, i'm black myself. i'm not real proud of the fact that i'm a disproportionate amount of crime in african american communities. >> judging by the frak as black communities are full of fear and

frustration, evidence in a city where the mayor, police chief, distribute attorney and u.s. attorney are black. repairing relations with the communities will not be easy in milwaukee police officials say a white officer did break the rules before shooting an unarmed black man, the panel ruling that christopher mani initiated a pad down on dontre hamilton leading to an altercation where mani shot and killed hamilton. mani was fired and the panel decided it was the proper discipline police have suspended a probe into a rape in virginia unable to find evidence to support a claim detailed in a "rolling stones" magazine article. a student at the magazine said she was gang-raped at a fraternity party in 2012.

police could not find prove that it happened. >> i want to be clear. that doesn't mean something terrible happened to jacky on the evening of september 28, 2012. we are not able to gather sufficient facts to conclude what that may have been. >> police say the case is suspended until they find more information or someone comes forward with more evidence. jacky, herself, didn't cooperate with the investigation. "rolling stone" magazine apologised for the article which it admits had serious fraud u.n. and afghan leader are laying the foundation for a new relationship. they met with john kerry and secretary of defense ashton carter. a big topic of discussion was the future of u.s. troops in afghanistan. >> reporter: it's designed as a show of unity and commitment

from both sides. three days in washington for american leaders as they prepare to leave the country. after a day of high-level meetings at camp david, defense secretary connor mcdavid made a new commitment american funding of an afghan force of 352,000. >> by pinning one thing down which is the number - over all number in 2017, that's a way of providing some stability to the afghan security forces and a perspective into the future. >> that money, an estimated $4 billion, must be approved by congress. it's the number of american troops that is now in question. afghan president ashraf ghani is asking for a slower drawdown, keeping current levels around 10,000. the plan is to cut the number in half. ashraf ghani is expected to get his answer from president obama at the white house tuesday.

>> two years ago there were 130,000 u.s. and international troops in afghanistan. now there are around 12,000. there is one part of the plan president obama said he will not change. u.s. troops will be out by 2017. it's an arbitrary deadline. in a statement, it's been warned without a u.s. troop presence afghanistan risks becoming another iraq. >> we must not repeat this mistake. that is what will happen if president obama insists on withdrawing from afghanistan - whether the job is done or not. monday, the white house stood firm. the president is mindful of making a substantial troops to afghanistan. again, it's not in our national security interest. >> ashraf ghani sounded an alarm in its speech - i.s.i.l. has its sights set on afghanistan.

the principal foe it taliban, and they plan to open talks soon. overall, the goal for afghanistan is to stand on its own two feet. >> yemen's president asked for help stopping rebels from taking over the country. shia houthis control the capital sanaa, calling for an offensive against president hardy, holed up with supporters in the south. he asked for other nations to fight back. this weekend yemen took over the third-largest city moving closer to civil war the pentagon is warning 100 u.s. service members to be vigilant, their names on an i.s.i.l. hit list posted online. military officials notified the service members about the threat. as jamie mcintyre reports, it's not clear who was behind it. >> the pentagon says at this point it's not clear that the group that posted the information online was connected

directly to i.s.i.l. in iraq or syria. it's called the islamic state hacking division. names, addresses, photographs was harvested from publicly available social media sites and other websites. here is what the white house press secretary said about it. >> we take the safety and security of personnel seriously. at this point there was no indication that there was a data breach involved here. it appears that the information that was distributed by i.s.i.l. was information that was available through social media on the internet. >> at this point the federal bureau of investigation is investigating to see if it can figure out where the posts came from, trace it to the course. it could be difficult. if this is more of a - what we would call a psych logical operation, rather than propaganda - something that is generally not true this is a

case where they have gotten real information, if this information is available, and they are using it in an attempt to unnerve u.s. troops jamie mcintyre at the pentagon. thank you the trial of a u.s. marine charged with murder is under way in the philippines. joseph scott pendleton is charged with gillkilling a transgender changed woman. ted cruz announced his candidacy, no exploratory committee or thinking about it. he jumped in. the freshman republican put his credentials on display. >> it is a time to reclaim the constitution of the united states. >> staged at the nation's biggest christian school.

the conservative liberty university, the speech took advantage of the optics of thousands of students at the mandatory event. >> i believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of america. that is why today, i am announcing that i'm running for president of the united states. [ cheering and applause ] >> reporter: the speech spinning a narrative of the son of a cuban immigrant, who got through princeton and harvard law school by taking a job and student loans. he called for religious conservatives and g.o.p. values. in his two years in the senate he ruffled feathers including the g.o.p. when he bucked conventional wisdom. his 21 hour talk-a-thon filibuster led to a government shutdown on the floor.

and some members of his own party criticized them. senator john mccain called him a wacko berg and some are dismissing his bit, like this u.s. senator writing: cruz hopes to capitalize on outsider status rarely found in washington, like he did beating a republican for his senate seat. he peared his in-person presidential announcement with twitter, combining social media with a traditional campaign look. it will take a new generation to make america great. >> reporter: one of the advantages of ted cruz is a full

audience, students are required to attend. it's mandatory. that's what this works they are fined $10 if they don't go. some student protested. if you scan the audience you see red t-shirts stand with ranked. a shout out to rand paul expected to get into the presidential contest against ted cruz. the question in the coming weeks and months, if ted cruz doesn't have a packed house, can he hold the audiences, raise the money and withstand a long campaign season. >> former secretary of state hillary clinton was at the white house meeting with president obama privately. on capitol hill there were calls for hillary clinton to answer questions on the aback in benghazi. the "new york times" said the times of the attack show no evidence of mishandling the issue, but reveal a strong concern over how the incident

would affect rer image. >> -- her image controlial cases at the supreme court. justices allow a free speech law to stand. now they are taking on free speech and the confederate plan. >> they said "if you know what is good for you, you will not use the terms climate change global warming, sea level rise or sustainability. >> florida state employees say that politics clashed with science, and that science is losing.

wisconsin's new voter i.d. law is moving ahead now that the supreme court is turning out the latest attempt to block it. the law requires voters to show voter i.d. it's been shown to disenfranchise 300,000 residents, many that don't have a state i.d. joining us is a supreme court reporter in atlanta. some levels of voter i.d. laws are in place or being considered. it's an important issue, why did the supreme court pass up the chance to hear the challenge and establish a clear precedence? >> well, there's no way to answer that question. what we got was a long line order saying certiari denied in

the case which is frank v walker. the court gave no explanation. all that the denial means is there weren't more justices that wanted to hear the case. there doesn't need to be any more reasoning than that behind it. the court says and we need to believe. it has no implications on the issue. >> by not granting cirt what does it mean. what precedent does it set for other states. can they move forward? >> it sets no precedent at all. there are states with voter i.d., they are under the courts of appeals, which will decide the first cases, and one of them will make its way to the supreme court. a lot of people believe it's the texas case and there'll be four

justices that want to hear it. there's speculation that some of the more liberal justices want a delay, bringing the cases forward as long as they can, particularly to get the texas case in front of them. in that case the lower court found that the texas legislature intense alley and consciously discriminated by race. so it not only violates the voting rights act and the 15th amendment. that would be a difficult case to defend if the finding holds up. >> facts could make a difference. let's talk about another topic, it was a texas case. confederate flags on licence place. the lone star state said it would not issue licence plates with the confederate flag on it even though they allow hundreds of unique states. nine others let drivers choose licence plates featuring the

confederate flag. justices have a lot of trouble with both sides. texas is arguing that it shouldn't be forced to put something on a licence plate that is seen as offensive. 11 states are backing texas, it seems to make sense. on the other hand texas allows anything on licence plates. you were there, were the justices buying texas's art? >> i think that this case is very much in the balance. texas made the statement. what they are asking the court to decide is that there are no first amendment limits on what they can include on a licence plate, or exclude. literally it is a new doctrine called government speech in which the government is immune to first amendment considerations, and this gave the justices a lot of pause. justice kagan asked the solicitor-general of texas,

mr scott keller - could texas issue a licence plate saying vote republican but refuse to issue one that says vote democratic. he had no good answer. basically the implication of his position was yes, we could do that the first amendment does not apply. >> on the other hand for the other side we have the lawyers of the sons of confederate veterans. they filed suits arguing it's free speech for the individual that owns the car. they were backed into the corner by the justices because it forced the lawyers to say that their free speech position allowed for swat stickers or calls. are there limits to free speech under the circumstances? >> well, that was the answer that the justices really wanted from mr george repeating the confederate veterans and justice kagan put it to him

saying imagine the worst racial slur you can think of. does the state have a duty to put it on a licence plate on request - and mr george said yes, there were no limits. the individual a speak, they can say what they want and say it on a state-owned licence plate. either way they looked they were looking into the abyss. it was a sobering argument. >> sounds like the abyss. pleasure to have you with us thank you most scientists say humans are changing the earth's climate. it's a concern in florida. as jonathan betz explains state workers are not allows to talk about it. >> from south florida shores. kristina watched the seas change. on the surface the oceans are

rising and beneath nature is dying. i cannot believe that everything is gone. >> you are surprised by what you see? >> absolutely. >> warmer water is killing florida's reefs. where colour and life bloomed, emptiness insists. >> people saying climate change is not real. you say what? >> it is absolutely real. people are absolutely changing the environment. >> yet, she says in florida state government the words climate change are not to be subpoena. subpoena. -- spoken. >> ultimately we are the governor's agency and we'll portray the message they want us to portray. >> the governor is skeptical. shortly after election many were ordered not to use certain words. >> sea level rise was to be referred to as nuisance

flooding. which i thought was laughable. >> reporter: christopher was an attorney for the state, working to help the waterways. >> they said if you know what is good for you you will not use the word climate change sea level rise or sustainability illy. >> reporter: f.e.m.a. has stepped in issuing guidelines demanding states consider climate change when planning for disasters or risk losing funding. governor scott repeatedly insisted there's no policy against mentioning climate change. >> my goal is instead of talking, let's do something. >> reporter: doing something like spending millions protecting the environment and defending florida from storms. bird lost his job in 2013. told he no longer fit with the department's new direction. >> some may look at this and say

maybe a disgruntled employee with an axe to grind. >> sure many people might think that. that was two years ago. i have no axe to grind. >> reporter: crit ibs say they are avoiding -- critics say they are avoiding words and reality, dangerous in a state like florida. have you felt the effects of this in your work? >> absolutely, they said if we sell the package, we better choose better language. frustrated. she left her job with the state in december. >> you could say the water is getting hotter. we couldn't talk about why, or what we'll do to make that situation better. >> fixing the problem, she said became too difficult, because no one could talk about it clearly. >> big weekend for pope francis from overzealous nuns to the mafia.

how he made headlines on his roadtrip to naples. the n.f.l. is making changes to the tv blackout rules - what that means for football fans.

pope francis had a whirlwind weekend. the 78-year-old pontiff fearlessly took on the mob, but had to be rescued from a pack of nuns. he performed what catholics

called a minor miracle. john terrett is here. he topped it off with pizza. >> he topped it off. it's the story of the day, a miracle. enzo of a pizza reeo it's a wonder he wasn't arrested when he ran to the pope-mobile to deliver a pie. he wasn't. it topped up the weekend. >> reporter: even the archbishop was unable to stop the gift-carrying nuns from rushing pope francis much to the delight of onlookers inside the cathedral and the pontiff himself. sisters - please we are busy. said a cardinal. one nun held on to the pope as long as she could. that moment one in a string of

highlights during a trip to naples in the same cathedral. church leaders claim the pope performed a miracle. >> in a sign that the pope is loved, neopol tan, the pope is one of us. >> reporter: the dried blood kept in this relic, turning to liquid after pope francis kissed the 14th century glass container. it is known to lickquify three times a year. there are skeptics. before performing miracles and being mobbed by nuns he was taking on crime. he warned residents not to be enticed by the mafia. >> react to organizations exploiting and corrupting the young people.

the poor and the week with drug trafficking and crimes. don't let them rob you of hope. >> what would a trip be without a slice or two of pizza. that is what was delivered to the pope-mobile. one white and yellow pizza with yellow cherry tomatoes and movementsa relo. >> the pope took it. what is true is that in case you were wondering white and yellow are the official colours, and weeks ago the pope complained not going outside the vatican to get the pizza. that's why they stepped up. something to see the face when the nuns were around it. every n.f.l. team will have home games televised. the league voting it suspend the blackout policy. the rules require a team to sell

out a home game to air it. the league planning to visit the policy at the end of the season. >> you can head to aljazeera.com. "inside story" is up next. have a great night. hello, i'm ray suarez good news a local billionaire wants to keep your sports franchise in town. there's a hitch - he wants you and your neighbours to find the bill for the shiny new luxury boxes and expressway exit and doesn't want to pay much rent. may not sound like a great deal but over and over cities are muscled into municipally funded sp