prevent military support for the rebellion, also suggesting in some areas perhaps some units might be returning to the government -- rebel units of the army returning back to what they say is the legitimate government. let's bring in hashem ahelbarra. did i get that right, in some areas commanders have said they are going to turn back and support what they describe as the legitimate government; is that right? >> reporter: absolutely. this follows a call to top military commanders in yemen who are still affiliated with the forces of ali abdullah saleh. they want them to join the forces supporting hadi. the top commander of the military establishment abandoned saleh and the houthis today. the spokesmann of the saudi-lead

coalition confirms that some top military commanders have been in touch with the saudis letting them know they are joining the forces of hadi. we have to see how this translating on the ground. because there are still army units based across the country, still loyal ali abdullah saleh. they played an instrument in allowing the houthis to take over most of the country. it remains to be seen whether those units will finally abandon their leader saleh. if that happens we'll see a dramatic change in yemen. >> and also some surrendered themselves to the popular committees. how -- can we believe this? do we have any confirmation of this kind of information? >> well basically, yes, he is

talking about dozens of houthi fighters, and forces -- soldiers loyal to ali abdullah saleh since yesterday, because of the air strikes, and the push for forces loyal to hadi. and on their way back some were captured by forces loyal to president hadi the popular committees, this is why the saudis are telling them these people should be treated humanely and should be referred to courts in yemen. >> thanks very much indeed hashem, and plenty more on our website on this any time. and we'll have more news for you in around half an hour. thanks so much for watching. see you then. a south carolina police officer facing murder charges after shooting a black man who was running away. an american service member shot and killed in afghanistan when

an afghan soldier opens fire and a new balance of political power in ferguson, why they say reforming the police is their number one priority. ♪ this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm randall pinkston. activists in south carolina are demanding justice one day after police arrested one of their own for murder. this morning protesters gathered at city hall in north charleston demanding answers. >> what was that officer doing that he ran? he ran! he ran for fear of his life! and was that fear justified that he ran! that was a justifiable fear!

>> reporter: the officer said scott initiated the attack by grabbing his taser, but a bystander's video paints a different story. some may find this video disteshing. >> reporter: saturday what started as a routine traffic stop for a broken taillight ended with an officer shooting and killing the driver 50-year-old michael scott. >> i don't want this to become an ferguson. >> hopefully it was done for the right reasons, you know? >> reporter: newly released video seems to indicate otherwise. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: eight shots fired at the back of a fleeing scott who reportedly had already been hit with a taser. he falls to the ground. he officer places him in hand motionless.

he would later state in his report scott tried to gain control of his taser, but while no weapon was ground on scott, the officer appears to develop an object of some kind near scott's body. the report says they performed cpr on scott, but the video does not show that. >> this officer gunned down an unarmed man who was not a threat. >> reporter: shaken authorities in north charleston agreed. >> i can tell you as a result of that video, and the bad decision made by our officer, he will be charged with murder. >> reporter: scott's family is gratified the truth came out. >> i don't think that all police officers are bad cops but there

are some bad ones out there. and i don't want to see anyone get shot down the way that my brother got shot down. what if there was no video? what if there was no witness or hero as i call them to come forward. >> thank you lord. >> then this wouldn't have happened, because you can see the initial reports stated something totally different. >> reporter: he joined the force in 2009. he was denied bond on tuesday. the attorney he had yesterday, had dropped him as a client. walter scott's family spoke on abc's good morning america today. his mother calls the video shocking. >> when i looked at that tape that was the most horrible thing i have ever seen. i am very very upset concerning

it. i almost couldn't look at it. to see my son running defenselessly, being shot it just tore my heart to pieces and i pray that this never happens to another person. this has got to stop. >> reporter: walter scott had been arrested ten times mostly for failing to pay child support. two of the arrests were on assault charges. a u.s. service member is among the dead at a shooting in jalalabad, afghanistan. a meeting had just wrapped up when officials say an afghan soldier opened fire. the shooter is now dead. >> reporter: the fire fight happened within the provincial governor's compound while a meeting was going on between a senior u.s. official and the

governor himself. one afghan soldier was killed and one injured. we have no word on whether any of the international forces were injured. the police chief says they were american forces. nato will only confirm that a fire fight did happen between international forces and the afghan forces. the governor's compound very very secure. there were lots of police and soldiers there, so it should be a very secure area but we have seen really the instability here with the afghan military. in 2012 it was a very big problem, afghan soldiers opening fire on nato soldiers 61 soldiers were kill interested in that year a lot of protection efforts were put in place to protect the international forces. of course there are fewer

international soldiers here as the nato force draws down and fewer opportunities for the two to be together but this clash between international soldiers and afghan soldiers show how difficult the situation is here in afghanistan. for the first time jrg ferguson missouri's city council will soon have the same number of black and white numbers. voters turned out in large numbers compared to earlier elections and added two more african americans to the council. one is wesley bell. he told my colleague that police reform is one of the top issues on his agenda. >> how bad are ferguson's finances and how much worse could they become now that they are no longer trying to balance their books with fines particularly on the backs of

black people. >> well let me get sworn, but one of the things i want to do first is i went -- and i ran on this and it was about community oriented policing and police reform and we have two open meetings that i intend to be very active in filling, and i think i'm someone who can enhance that process, you know, community -- i -- whatever chief we bring in ferguson they need to be about the community. i don't think a police department should be judged by how many tickets a police officer should be judged by how many tickets he writes i would rather him be judged by how many people he knows in the community. and that's about information going in two ways not just implementing implementing policy but getting the community's input on that policy so the public are the

police and the police are the public referring back to the nine policies of policing. >> i want to ask you one more you mentioned the new police chief will be coming in there are a number of people who feel the mayor should go. in the piece that ran just before you, there was a line above the discrimination culture in ferguson and the mayor should have known about it. do you have a view about whether the major should stay or go? >> i'm going to work with whoever is on the council and whoever is filling that seat. we can't do community building only when it is easy. we have to hold back our arrows and daggers, and i need the support of my fellow council members, and so whatever the mayor decides to do as long as it's in the best interests of ferguson we're going to work together and work towards

driving this city forward, but we're not going to get into the back and forth and negative. and that's what my constituents said to me and not just me. my supporters when they came to vote so often i heard, we appreciate the positive message. we appreciate that you are trying to bring people together. so i'm not going to stop that now. that's what i ran on and what a record number of people came out in support of. >> bell and the rest of the council will be sworn in later this month. twitter shares are up slightly on rumors that google may be looking to take over the social media company. it's not the first time twitter has been rumored to be a takeover target. similar claims surfaced back in january. as the oil and gas industry's biggest deal in a decade shell as agreed to buy bg group for

$70 billion. that company does oil and gas exploration. analysts say it's an attempt to close the gap on the world's largest oil company, exxon mobil. russia and greece are pledging a new era of cooperation after a meeting of the two leaders. they talked about exports and energy cooperation. putin said tsipras did not come asking for money. >> translator: we have discussed in detail how we can boost greek exports to russia. and how we can attract russian investment into the greek economy like in tourism and infrastructure. and how we can further strengthen our ties. i once again want to say how important it is to restart and forget the past. tsipras said the meeting was not meant to antagonize the west. iran is sending two warships

to the waters off of yemen. this comes after the u.s. has pledged to step up its supply of weapons to the coalition fighting the houthi rebels. advocates here in the u.s. say the obama administration needs to do more to get u.s. citizens out of yemen. >> we're working with our partners to urge the government of our country to do something to evacuate u.s. citizens. that much smaller company, smaller military and much less diplomatic access have been able to evacuating their citizens. last week all three organizations were overwhelmed by people calling in from across the country and yemen directly saying i need help. i'm trapped. i don't know what to do.

please tell me what to do. we have received over 300 entries on the website, and we imagine there are many, many more people who either don't know about the website or don't have access yet. other nations have successfully evacuated some of their citizens including india, china and russia. up next on al jazeera america, a tail of two chicagos. rom emmanuel wins a second term as mayor, but can he bridge the economic divide in the city. and what happens when coaches a-- abuse their responsibility?

chicago now comes the hard part the mayor fengded off a challenge in a runoff election. he won nearly 56% of the vote. in his new term however, he may

have to find ways to close a $2 billion budget deficit as the city deals with pension costs. he will also have to deal with what is being called a growing economic divide in the city. some neighbors are doing well while others seem to be struck in the recession. the divide seems to be drawn along racial lines. >> reporter: the city of big shoulders is lifting its fortunes more than ever. property values tourism, and retail sales are rising nearly city wide nearly. one to the north prosperous and mostly white, the other where police activity is a daily occur, it is blighted black, and intensely poor. >> when we go north, coming back here is depressing.

all we have is liquor stores. we have to hold those who we elect accountable for why we live like we're in a third-world country. >> reporter: one possible reason this neighborhood may be home to the first black president, but chicago has had only one black majors in many its history. >> people are not willing to protect the black community's interests. we are the lost on the totem pole when it comes to construction contracts in the city of chicago. we have 88% unemployment amongst black youth right now. schools are funded by local income taxes those in wealthy neighborhoods perform better those in poorer neighbors perform worse. in illinois more black men are in prison than in college, once there, for most the chances of getting a job, any job simply

evaporate. this man has been looking for work since he left prison in 2013. >> they say do you have a criminal background in i say yes, and they say unfortunately we're not hiring anyone with a criminal background. >> reporter: there are now generations of black man struggling to work their way away from similar pasts. >> we're watching this genocide in front of our eyes not just in chicago, but nationally and we're going to ask people what is your biggest regret and they are going to look back and say that was the genocide. we would have saved all of those lives. >> people who live here live with the constant threat of violence. now to an "america tonight" investigation, the relationship

between a coach and competitive athletes can be personal and intense. we look at what happens when a complex relationship becomes abusive. >> reporter: a career in baseball is all anthony ever wanted. he spent his childhood dreaming of the big leagues and put his trust into the coach who helped him perfect his pitch along the way. >> i thought he was going to help me get to where i wanted to be in life with baseball and everything like that. and he took that all away from me. >> reporter: it wasn't long into his college career when his close relationship with the coach crossed the line. in a lawsuit filed against the coach and the university he claims the coach asked the 20-year-old to perform sex acts on camera in the coach's office and in exchange he promised

meetings with baseball scouts. >> he said you can do these videos and everything like that and if you do these videos i'll help you get to where you are going, if you don't things will go really sour for you. >> reporter: why don't you tell anybody? >> i was really embarrassed by it. >> reporter: the coach agreed to speak with "america tonight" and admits he made the sex videos. >> i regret it because it shouldn't have happened. i'm the coach. some people say i used undue influence. i don't think so. i know his lawsuits say i promised him all of these things but that's a complete lie. >> reporter: the university would not speak to "america tonight" on camera but say it fired the coach as soon as it learned of inappropriate

behavior. but they never explained to the student body why he was fired, until two years later, when the coach was arrested for having sexual relations in the back seat of a car with a 16 year old. anthony is working at a catering service, but he isn't giving up on putting the bad days behind him and some day become a coach. you can watch "america tonight" tonight at 10:00 eastern, 7:00 pacific here on al jazeera america. i'm melissa chen in california's central valley taking a look at how precious water has become because of the drought.

♪ >> the drought in california is one example of the issues affecting our fragile planet as militia chen tells, many farmers face a tough choice grow crops or sell their water. chances are you have eaten

produce grown with water from the san lewis reservoir. >> the last 18 months have been extraordinarily difficult, and the situation now is truly desperate. >> reporter: another dry season means farmers have tough choices to make let more land lie fallow or try buying water from elsewhere in the state. >> our agency is making bids other agencies are making bids so we're seeing pricing unprecedented this year and it's really just reflective of -- of how bad the situation is. but rural california's purchasing power might lose out to los angeles. the metropolitan water district is the world's largest provider of drinking water. >> they authorized me to go buy $70 million worth of water from rice farmers in northern california and we're hopeful that will turn out, but it's

unclear. if this weather stays this dry, they probably won't have water to sell. >> reporter: steve is one of the rice farmers who might have water to sell. planting starts in a few weeks, the sale depends on the water allocation. >> if we don't get full allocation from the lake in our case then we won't sell anything but if we do get full allocation, which doesn't look like it would happen right now, then we would create the opportunity as a district to sell up to 20%. >> reporter: it would mean the transfer of water from one drought-plagued part of the state, to another drought-plagued part of the state, but here is what is holding up any multi-million dollars deal. we're at one of the major reservoirs in the state. take a look at the brown bands behind me. that is a water mark and the top of that band is where the

water level used to be. take a loose at the houseboats and how low they are sitting in the water. the lake is half empty because of the drought. with the reservoir level so low, bidders may beg for water, but farmers who usually have the extra water might not have anymore to spare, and the cost of water continues to climb. >> we used to pay $200 to buy water from farmers. this year it costs us $700 and there was very little for sale. >> reporter: that's for each acre foot. such extrordanaire prices might temp rice farmers from growing all together but many year come from multi-generational farm families who care about the long-term success of the industry. >> we have got a whole infrastructure that -- that only survives if we keep farming, plus that's just what we do we

farm. >> reporter: but with farmers across the state changing their callus on how much to sell and much to plant, the drought may start to show up from the farm to the table. a woman's rights group is out with its list of contenders for place of honor on the $20 bill. more than 250,000 voted in an online poll asking who should replace andrew jackson on the 20. the top names they selected included rosa parks, and wilma mankiller, the first cherokee chief. this is al jazeera america, i'm randall pinkston in new york city rallies and protests in south carolina today over a black man shot by a white police officer, video from a bystander

shows walter scott running away when he is shot several times. the officer has been charged with murder. the mayor of north charles, south carolina and the police chief are holding a news conference at city hall on what happened. the news conference preparing to begin. let's check in with jonathan martin who arrived there this morning. it is now live in north charleston. >> reporter: good afternoon, ran del. we have heard from the mayor and police chief from the very beginning, yesterday, saying that despite the initial investigation moving quickly, but the officer being arrested and charged with