andrew thomas al jazeera, new castle australia. if you want more on the stories we have been telling you about head to our web page and you can see our lead story there, the elections in sudan, it's updated around the clock. >> a police camera catches the fatal shooting of an african-american man. the deputy said he thought he was pulling out his taser not a gun. >> voters head to the polls in sudan for a presidential election that most of the

countries political parties say is a sham. >> this is aljazeera america. good morning live from new york city. for democrats today is date one of the 2016 presidential campaign. hillary clinton is heading to iowa in a van nicknamed scooby, one day after formally announcing her second run for the white house. in 2008, iowa was a stumbling block for the former secretary of state and clinton is taking a different campaign approach this time. >> i'm running for president. >> hillary clinton made the announcement without any cheering crowds or spot lit stage. the message delivered instead in a glossy, two minute video features a mix of americans voicing their personal hopes for the future. >> every day americans need a

champion and i want to be that champion. >> her first campaign stop is iowa to win the popular caucus there. it's where upstart barack obama beat her in 2008, with a grass root effort that showed her route to the white house should not have been taken for granted. parents watching over their children play football told us hillary ought to do better if she doesn't campaign like the inevitable winner. >> she has to act like a second tear candidate and play it hard if she wants to win it. that's going to be her challenge. if she really wants it, she's going to have to show it. >> she will frame her message through home style gatherings, focus on women said workplace issues and narrowing the countries economic disparities. opponents are attacking what they see as her vulnerabilities. >> the thing about the clintons is there's a certain sense that

they think they're above the law. i think there's a grand hypocrisy for the clintons, this war on women thing they like to talk about yet hillary clinton has taken money from countries that rape victims. >> so far no major can't date has emerged to formally challenge her. >> with this state's caucuses nine months away, clinton will be back many more times to nail down a win with or without a serious opponent. tom ackermann dough money iowa, al jazeera. >> there is world reaction on social media. former french penalty nicholas sarkozy said: >> margic johnson showed his support, as well and comedian conan o'brien writing:

>> republicans are reacting many with criticism over clinton's past and tie to say president obama. >> hillary clinton represents the failed policies of the past. does america want a third obama term or are we ready for strong, conservative leadership to make america great again? >> we must do better than the obama-clinton foreign policy that has damaged relationships with our allies better than their big government policies a grow our debt and stand in the way of economic growth and prosperity. i believe it's conservative ideas that will renew america. >> clinton's announcement set or a flurry of fund raising for republicans. bothed to cruz and jeb bush called on supporters to raise money. >> another republican contender is expect to make it official today, florida senator marco

rubio will announce his run for the white house. we look at his career in the gop. >> branded a rising star in the republican party marco rook yo was given the top honor of introducing mitt romney at the 2012 national convention. >> my daled used to tell us. [ speaking spanish ] >> in this country you're going to accomplish all the things we never could. >> he is the envy of many of his republican colleagues, he's a very attractive candidate to some republicans who feel that youth is being served with him. >> his political dreams became a reality at 26. he won his first election for the miami city commission and served in the florida house of representatives, working his way up to speaker of the house.

>> is it possible for there to truly be democracy. >> it was a big accomplishment for the send of immigrants. marco rubio was born in miami. after attending the university of florida he received a law degree from the university of miami. he's married to former miami dolphins cheerleader. by 2009, he set his sight on national politics, taking on a florida political giant charlie crist in a race for senate. he came under fire. >> my parents lost everything, their home, family, friends even their country. >> rubio representedly claimed his parents fled cuba during fidel quatros rule but had actually come to the united states that years before. rubio admitted the dates i have given rewarding my family's history have always been based on my parents' recollection. i was not made aware of the exact dates until very recently.

in a three way split he won the florida senate race with 49% of the vote. he is now one of three latinos serves in the senate. politico said he was -- it didn't go as planned. >> nothing has frustrated me more than false choices like the one the president laid out tonight. >> the watergate for marco rubio was hardly a career breaker. in fact, he tried to put a positive spin on it. his campaign committee ended up selling marco rubio water bottles after that and they made light of it, too. it does show that he does have a bit of political savvy that perhaps some other political candle dates wouldn't have had in what was an unfortunate moment. >> rubio pressed on with his

agenda in the senate, fighting for limit government and a free enterprise. >> this is the road this president has placed us on, a government that controls our health care choices to now even the internet. >> he's long been an opponent of obamacare, even introducing a bill to allow employers to opt out of mandatory coverage for birth control for religious reasons. >> he fights for what he calls an effort to restore the american dream fighting for reforming social security and medicare. >> having a good job pays enough to own a home, feed your family and save for retirement, about the flexibility to work and spend time with your family. >> rubio is a senator trying to count on his youthful message much like a young senator from illinois did back in 2008. >> now to to oklahoma where prosecutors this morning are considering possible criminal

charges against a white deputy sheriff who shot and killed a black man. the deputy shot and killed 43-year-old eric harris earlier this month in tulsa. authorities this weekend released video of what happened. take a look. >> on your stomach now! >> that video was recorded by deputies with sunglass cameras. police say the deputy thought he was reaching for his taser but used his gun instead. police say the suspect was running after he allegedly tried to sell an illegal gun to an undercover officer. he was treated by medics and eventually died at the hospital. >> in yemen, three military

camps are controlled by militants. at least 648 civilians have been killed since saudi-led airstrikes on houthi rebels began. >> people in sudan have begun voting in presidential and parliamentary elections. the elections will last for three days. long time president omar bashir is expected to win despite the fact he says the world's only sitting leader wanted on genocide charges. opposition parties are boycotting the vote. catherine has more from kartoum. >> it's very slow, people have been coming very slowly, a few people. it's very quiet. we've made phone calls to other polling stations here and they're staying very low-key, as well. it's important to note that a couple of weeks ago voting was canceled in eight electoral districts because of security

reasons, but that said, it's still takes time. the major political opposition parties are calling for a boycott of the elections and are telling people not to show up and vote. they are saying that the environment is not con dossive for multi-party elections. they are talking about omar al bashir and crack down on the opposition muzzling of the press, as well.

>> 800,000 children have been forced from their home because of boko haram. children unable to attend school, 1.5 million nigerians have been made homeless in race years. >> turkey recalled its ambassador to the vatican over comments by pope francis describing genocide during world war i. armenia said over 1.5 christians were murdered. turkey said the deaths were part of a civil conflict. ronald sunni studies the region. >> when the pope makes this kind of comment it has a kind of rippling effect throughout the world. this pope already has made his mark as someone who is extending the role of the church into areas which traditionally have been somewhat marginalized and now taken this moral political stand to recognize three great

tragedies of the 20th century the armenian genocide, killing in stalinist russia and nazi genocide. by talk about them, he's made it possible for those still suffering because of the young healed wounds of those 1950 events making it possible for them to finally come to terms with their own grieving. >> the pope made those remarks during a mass at st. peter's basilica. armenia was the first country to adopt christianity as its state religion. >> hundreds of thousands of people across brazil taking to the streets call for the president to step down. demonstrators accuse rousseff and her worker's party of widespread corruption and not doing enough to help the sagging economy. polls give her historically low

approval ratings. >> an ohio community in a tug of war for its water supply, and residents are losing to fracking. >> congress returns to work today, and has less than 48 hours to change how medicare pays for treatment.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. it's 7:45 eastern. taking a look now at today's stop stories. an investigation underway at disney world after one died at the park this weekend. part of a racing attraction crashed into a guardrail. the accident killed the passenger and injured the driver. the passenger reportedly the operations manager for the track. >> four former security guards for black water will be sentenced today for their role in the shooting of iraqi civilians in 2007. 14 iraqis were killed in what prosecutors call an unprovoked attack. one former guard faces a life sentence found guilty of first degree murder. >> sentencing begins today for 10 of the educators convicted of cheating in atlanta. a jury earlier this month found they changed students' test scores. another teacher gave birth over

the weekend. her sentence will be delayed until august. >> a small community in ohio is fighting back against big energy. when tracking arrived in barnsville ohio be it brought new jobs and opportunity, but now there are serious concerns about the impact on the town's water. bisi onile-ere has more. >> what did you see last fall? >> well, i saw the lowest water levels i've ever seen and i've lived here most of my life. >> jill and terrace live off the banks of slope creek providing drinking water to 13,000 people living in or near the small town of barnsville, ohio. it also served as a source of water for ohio's emerging energy industry. >> i can feel the vibration and it keeps me up some nights. i used to be able to only hear the creek just like today through the yard, but there's lots of times now where it feels

like i'm next to an airport. >> when water levels dropped to dangerous levels after a dry summer last year, they became concerned. >> we need water to survive. i nope the industry has to have it but i wish they could find it somewhere else and leave our reservoir alone because on its ours. >> part of the problem is gulf port energy, a fracking company. david cassel leads a group called the concerned barnsville area residents. they started a petition drive asking gulf port to move its drilling pales further from the creek. >> ohio's really been terrible in terms of regulation. they've in fact begun to deregulate. the regulations are less stringent than they were before the oil and gas city came. >> my question is who has final say over what is actually in this plan, is it the community? >> it is, but it's more the

village of barnsville. >> gulf port energy is suing barnsville over the water deal it cut with ontaro resources offering priority to withdraw water below barnsville's own specified health and safety level. >> why not just leave it as it is and not sell any water at all if there are concerns of the water level dropping. >> that's something we have to look into, but we've got a signed contract now. we're going to court over it and we'll see what the judge says and go from there. >> it just seems like a joke to me. so many cases where the village or people in authority are just tiptoeing around and they don't want to offend industry and they really are not putting the people first. >> two fracking companies, one reservoir and residents worried they will be left high and dry.

bisi onile-ere barnsville, ohio. >> the senate has a day and a half to take up a bill overhauling how medicare payments are made. the measure sailed through the house last month. if the is not does not pass its version by wednesday doctors who treat medicare patients could see their fees cut by more than 20%. we have a report. >> don't look now but we are actually governing. >> in a rare show of bipartisanship the house overwhelmingly approved the act more commonly known as the dock fix bill. in 1997, the balanced budget act mandated medicare positions be compensated as sustainable growth rate to keep reimbursements from exceeding changes in gross domestic

product. every year singles health care exceeded that. congress voled numerous times and spent $150 billion to approve a so-called dock fix a temporary delay to the medicare cuts. >> we've patched this problem 17 times over the last 11 years and i decided about a year ago that i had had enough of it. >> the house has sent the senate a bill that repeels it and takes medicare away from the fee for service system if my which they say spurred fraud. >> we will move from volume based system to one that ensures the accuracy of payment and improves the quality of care. with this legislation we give american seniors confidence. >> doctors would receive rewards or penalties based on patient health outcomes compared with physician developed performance thresholds. while there's little argument

that the current payment system needed changes some are concerned this may not be the best way to do it president the measure passed by the house would cost $214 billion and add $141 billion to the federal did he have silt in the next 10 carries. in order to get it passed, nancy policy agreed to let more affluent seniors split some of the bill. seniors making between 133,000 and $160,000 would pay 65% of medicare premium costs up from 50%. those making between $160,000 and $240,000 would have to pay 80%, rather than 65%. however, a program to help lower income medicare beneficiaries would be extended. chip the children's health insurance program would see funding extended for two more years. more than $7 billion would be ear marked for community health centers set up through the affordable care act.

president obama has indicated he would sign the bill if it can make it through the senate, on recent until april 13. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell seems optimistic. >> it was encouraging that this paled the house with such a large bipartisan majority and i want to reassure everyone will move to it clever quickly when we get back. >> conservatives in the senate may demand the measure's fully paid for before that he approve. >> we'll have more on that debate coming up in our next hour. >> coming up next, keeping the bees alive. >> in california american bee keepers hope the government steps in to regulate the pesticides that may be to blame for the decline in bee population. i'll explain in a moment.

>> you can see an example of it, this came from an almond grow,

they rent out bee for growers. when it came back, this frame had been covered in part by this that is essentially a protective barrier bees use to warn teen off whatever they think is a threat to their group. so they're seeing this kind of very strange self defense behavior all over the place. bee keepers say it's because of a new generation of pesticides put into the very water that goes into plants, get sucked up into the root structure and lasts for generations sometimes multiple crops over the course of let's say a decade. what these bee keepers want is for the white house which is expected to -- which formed a task force to sort of investigate this problem begin to regulate it. they want the white house to protect these bees. bee keepers are lovely people, but they're not organized as a political lobby and don't wine and dine politicians.

they formed this crucial link in major agriculture but are getting pushed around when it comes to the implementation of these new pesticides. they hope regulation could do what the europein has done, outlawed a class of pesticides and that begun to see bee populations come back to a certain extent. that is the action bee keepers are hoping will come out of the what the white house announces. >> you can watch the full report coming up tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> celebration have begun across southeast asia for the buddhist new year. in thailand, it means the world's biggest water fight three days of soaking wet chaos. the festival marks the start of the traditional new year, it is believed to watch away evil and provide a clean for the start year ahead. >> a new fabric can power devices, harnessing static

electricity, rubbing together to create a low current making just enough energy for low power devices like l.e. deed, but not enough for your iphone.

>> hillary clinton's presidential campaign off and running, heading to iowa one day after announcing her second bid for the white house. >> stop right there! >> a deadly encounter captured on camera. an unarmed african-american man killed when an officer pulled his gun. the pope sets off a diplomatic dispute after calling the killing of armenians in turkey genocide. >> the clock is ticking for the

way mud care is funded. we dive deeper into the week ahead. this is aljazeera america live from new york city. i'm steph as i. this morning, hillary clinton is on the road, the former secretary of state is kicking off her presidential campaign in a van nicknamed scooby, driving to iowa. it's a very different kind of campaign from her opponents ted cruz and and powell and a different strategy from 2008, no big speeches to cheering fans. instead, clinton is focusing on small are events and social media. her big announcement came in an on line video. >> i'm getting ready to do something, too. i'm running for president. americans have fought their way back from tough economic times but the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top.

everyday americans need a champion and i want to be that champion. >> it is fair to say the clinton announcement has been anticipated ever since she left the state department. libby casey explains why her campaign decided to make a so-called soft launch. >> hillary clinton's campaign is riding the wave of attention to sunday's launch. it went with an intentionally understated approach. we didn't three supporters chanting clinton's name, instead the focus was on the american voters and their hopes and needs, not the hopes and needs of hillary clinton. >> a presidential campaign rollout not on the stage in front of cheering crowds but on line through a video. >> i'm running for penalty. >> with that, hillary rodham clinton jumped into the race after losing to president obama. the video's tone one of optimism and a focus on diverse americans rather than the candidate

herself. >> every day we're trying to get more and more ready and more prepared. >> big boy coming your way. >> tapping into the populism that was not her president the presidency two times. >> so i'm hitting the road to all the way your vote, because it's your time, and i hope you'll join me on this journey. >>less hillary clinton kept mum about her plans a fundraising machine grew around her with the pack for hillary laying the groundwork in key states like iowa where clinton's 2008 primary bid rode off the rails and she came in a disappointing third place. the clinton campaign plans to combine the old fashioned community events and copies of traditional grassroots campaigns with modern social media as she did use twitter to spread the word about her candidacy in english and in spanish. the much-anticipated announcement of this first

official democratic candidate drew immediate fire from republican con tenders eager to cappallize on the attention. >> hillary clinton represents the worst of the washington machine. >> after months of speculation and waiting, there is no doubt the race for 2016 is on. >> hillary clinton hits the campaign trail in iowa this week for small town gatherings, no big events planned. the campaign will wait until next month to do a formal kickoff event and by then hopes to gain momentum and set its own tone. >> world leaders and some famous people reacting on social immediately i can't. former french president nicolas sarkozy tweeting: >> madeleine albright called her exfellow secretary of state smart and determined. basketball star magic johnson showed his support, as well and

conan o'brien wrote: >> as we mentioned too republicans are already in the race for the white house. texas senator ted cruz kicked off his campaign last month and rand paul entered the field last week. marco rubio cuts a high pro tile in the rupp party. his youth and personal history prompted him to introduce mitt romney in his campaign. he was considered a potential running mate. this year, he has courted campaign donors through reclaim america, his political action committee and the visited states to promote his book "american dreams." it details his experience as the son of cuban immigrants. >> america doesn't owe me anything but i have a debt to

america that i will never be able to repay. for me, america isn't just a country, it's the place that literally changed the history of my family. >> it's this narrative the young senator hopes to leverage, and it's a story that could appeal to hispanic americans a crucial voting block that's been increasingly siding with democrats. rubio is linked to immigration reform a top latino concern. he co sponsored a bill known as the gang of eight their legislation called for tighter border security. legal status for some undocumented workers was included and perhaps the most controversial part, a pathway to citizenship. many republicans compared it to amnesty and were infuriated at rubio. this year, the biggest conservative conference, he spoke to sean hannity.

>> it wasn't very popular, i don't know if you know that, but a million people a year come to this country legally no other country comes close to that. it's all based on whether or not you have a family member here and it can't continue to be based on family alone it has has to be mer require the and economic contribution. >> the bill rubio co out shored was not considered in the house. he has distanced himself from his own legislation. >> you have 10 million people or 12 million people, i get all that but what i've learned is you can't even have a conversation about that until people believe and know, not just believe but it's proven to them that future illegal immigration will be controlled. >> he is identified against abortion rights, opposes same sex marriage and rejects aggressive gun control. he is outspoken on national security issues and hawkish on

isil and iran. >> this is the road this president has placed us on and a foreign policy that treats the eye toll i can't in iran with more respect than the prime minister of israel. >> that a the obama administration began the process of reestablishing diplomatic ties with cuba, rubio called the president the single worst negotiator we have had in the white house in my lifetime. >> the white house has conceded everything and gained little. they gained no commitment on the part of the cuban regime to freedom of press or freedom of speech or elections. >> rubio is likely to be competing directly against former florida governor jeb bush and that may be his biggest obstacle. bush backed rubio during his 2010 run appearing alongside him at many campaign stops but with bush's larger network of political donors nationwide and in florida rubio could have trouble funding a competitive

campaign beyond the early primary contest. >> rubio insists that both candidates offer a unique message and that jeb bush will not hurt his chances. david shuster, al jazeera. >> coming up in half an hour, we'll speak with a former clinton advisor and former adviser to george h.w. bush about the campaigns. >> there are questions about the police shooting death of an unarmed black man in tulsa oklahoma. a deputy opened fire. morgan rod ford is here with more. >> 4040-year-old eric harris accused of trying to sell an illegal gun to an undercover officer made a run for it when he was pulled over and then this happened. >> >> roll on your stomach now! [ gunshot ]

>> i'm sorry. >> now just to be clear that is what you just heard a gunshot rings out and you hear a police officer say oh, i shot him i'm sorry. then the suspect said he shot me oh my god and complains he's losing his breath. the officer's eply, f. your breath. the white squares block out the officer involved. authorities say the shooter was 73-year-old reserve deputy sheriff robert baits who meant to shoot with his stun gun but used his real gun hence the i'm sorry you heard. the suspect was unarmed. he did have a previous criminal record and this incident happened when police say he was trying to sell a nine-millimeter semiautomatic pistol to undercover officers. the police sergeant maintains harris was a threat when officers tried to arrest him. he was pronounced dead about an hour later and the officer has not been charged. >> tell us more about this

officer. >> local media reports are actually saying that he was a former insurance executive and he was effectively a pay to play cop. he was a wealthy guy who donated money to do ride alleges. the real question was should he have been in such a dangerous situation in the first place. the harris family said we do not believe it is reasonable or responsible for tvso to accept gifts from a wealthy citizen who wants to be a pay to play cop. >> part of a sting operation at the end of the day. thank you. >> in yemen tribal forces have taken control of three military camps. they now belong to forces loyal to former president ali abdullah saleh, who is caused of colluding with the houthis. at least 648 civilians have been killed since and you had led airstrikes on houthi rebels began. >> john kerry will meet with members of congress today asking them to hold their fire on the iranian nuclear deal, calling

for patience until there is a final agreement. >> i think we've earned the right through what we've achieved in the interim agreement and laid out in this parameter that has been set forth, we've anticipated the right to try to complete this without interference and certainly without partisan politics. >> senator terry said the obama administration needs to negotiate without interference until the june 30 deadline. >> one year ago today, boko haram kidnapped more than 200 school girls in morn nigeria. despite government promises and a military campaign, they are still missing. parents and activists are hopeful a new government will help change that. we have a report. >> this boy is three years old. all he seems to understand is that school girls were kidnapped by boko haram a long time ago. his parents aren't far. they've been meeting am every day for a yearual with other concerned nigerians. they don't want the girls

forgotten. >> it's not ok. something terrible happened in nigeria and we nigerians should unit and demand fortress skew of those girls. as long as our children are out there, our children look at us and they know. >> boko haram fighters attacked a government school in the northern borno state and abduct more than 200 school girls. their families say every girl taken wanted to achieve something in life. that's why they went to school. even though boko haram leaders forbid western education. the attack led to a global twitter campaign to free the girls with the hash tag bring back our girls trending around the world. the new president will be sworn in in may. some hope his administration will find the girls. others are skeptical. >> the government is going to use the same army that the former government have used, and

there are many -- >> a year is a long time, slowly reality is sinking in for some families. even if some of the girls are found alive their parents don't know what condition they'll be in, how many of them are pregnant or already have children or how many them are safe. >> president good luck jonathan's outgoing administration kept telling nigerians the girls would be rescued soon, but for this father brothers and sisters soon turned into weeks months, and now 365 days. many haven't given up hope of finding all of them alive and ask the world to keep up the pressure and not abandon the

school girls. >> also in nigeria a woman dead after being mistaken for a boko haram bomber. she was beaten by a mob and set on fire as hundreds of people watched. her family said she suffered from a mental illness. those who witnessed hear death say no bombs were found on her body. >> on the agenda today dozens of suspects will be in court today in turkey over a mining disaster that killed 300. 45 people are on trial including eight former manage is from the company that ran that mine. the foreign foreign ministers meet today to discuss the fighting in eastern ukraine. >> french lawmakers begin deep bite on new surveillance legislation today. critics argue the law would give white pours without strong enough oversight. >> turkey recalled its ambassador to the vatican after comments by pope francis. the pope calmed the deaths ofar

meanens genocide. >> on sunday, pope francis said this: >> in the past century our human people has lived through three massive tragedies the first widely considered the first genocide of the 20th 20th century struck our own armenian people. >> turkey objected in advance after learning the pope would use the word genocide. the president of armenia welcomed his comments. >> we are getting messages from all over the world armenians

are touched. there are significant results. >> more than 20 countries acknowledge the genocide. turkey has long maintained the deaths were the result of civil war and general unrest. it's allies including the u.s. and italy have refused to recognize the genocide. turkey's foreign minister says turks will not recognize the pope's statement. >> to be honest, i don't support the word genocide used by a greet religious figure because it is a serious allegation. >> you can't say it happened. you can't say it didn't happen. my personal opinion yes it did. when you look at history there's proof of it, yes, there was a massacre on both sides. >> the vatican has annual would the armenian genocide skins a declaration was signed in 2001.

>> german noble laureate gunter grass has died. he was famous for the tin drum which he published in 1959. he served in the german military and after the fall of the berlin wall was a vocal opponent of german reunification. he was 87. >> coming up, the rum war. why a thawing of relations with cuba is heating up a corporate battle with an iconic cuban brand. >> college scholarships marked for a different kind of athlete where they never take to the field.

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>> welcome back to aljazeera america. it is 8:20 eastern. taking a look at today's top stories. investigators in colorado are trying to figure out what caused a train derailment. it left multiple cars on their sides in colorado springs. >> an investigation underway at disney world after one died at

the park this weekend. police say a car that was part of a racing attraction crashed and injured the driver and killed the track's operation manager. >> 10 aid indicators accused of cheating in atlanta to be sentenced today. they were found to change test scores. another teacher's sentencing is delayed until august. >> cuban leaders call for an embarring gore to be lifted without the ok of congress. the leaders spoke at the summit of the americas, the first time the penalties of the two countries have met since 1958. the thawing of relations could open the door to one iconic product returning to u.s. shelves, cuban rum. we have more in today's money

beat. >> in this new york city tavern, there's a growing thirst. u.s. rum imports have increased by a third in the last five years to keep pace with a new american demand, but to stay competitive, he is on the lookout for vintage and hard to get brands in order to tempt customers. >> there's been a huge fascination with havana club because you can't get it. there's a huge demand for it. that's going to change now because of what's happening in cuba. >> havana clue, cuba's most recognizable rum brand has been veil in europe, but a warming of relations between cuba and the u.s. has some planning a trip with the idea of stocking up. he's doing that in spite of a u.s. trade embargo that prohibits resale of products in

the united states. >> if i can, i would like to actually send as much as possible back. i'd like to see if i could get cases of it. [ laughter ] >> that's exactly what may have bacardi a little concerned a growing underground supply of cuban rum in u.s. markets. >> part of the reason for that concern is ownership. in 1997, they bought the rights for the name follow an exiled cuban family who's distilling company was nationalized under fidel castro. rum wars may be heating up as more cuban rum sneaks into

american bars. >> you get the sense of a time warp in havana. there are relics to the past here including this building. you can still see the b. on the wall and that is for bacardi. you can get a sense of why there's such an emotional attachment to this property and all over this island for those exiles who left this country more than half a century ago. >> $6 billion worth of america assets were seized, triggering the u.s. trade embargo that's lasted more than half a century. u.s. losses those american claims have to be resolved before the trade embargo can be lifted. bar owners plan to stock up on this forbidden cuban rum which under the new u.s. policy just became a little more accessible. al jazeera, new york. >> wind and rain could damp today's launch to the international space station. it is set for launch from

florida at 4:30 p.m. eastern today, but showers and clouds in the forecast could pose a challenge. it is carrying 4300 pounds of food supplies and experiments. >> it's a new kind of sports scholarship designed for players off the fields. one university in chicago is offering money to those who play video games. scholarships are award to the cream of the crop of athletes. for the first time, r.m.u. awarded varsity letters and substantial scholarship money to video game players. no sneakers required, a computer is all they need. competitors, 32 men and women are some of the nation's top ranked players. they play league of legends with

27 million players logging on each day. like their counterparts, they practice 16 hours a week in a custom built arena with coaches monitoring technique and strategy. this freshman was ranked 163 in north america when he was recruited to play league of electeds on a 50% tuition and room and board scholarship. >> you got recruited. >> yes. when he first approached me i was like what are you talking about? it's video games. then he comes in and he explains the whole thing. i show it to my parents and they looked at the website and it's actually a good school. >> while some scoff at the idea of calling video game play a varsity sport. the sport coordinator who coaches women's soccer also say these player bring skill sets they look for in players of traditional sports.

>> you can hear girls saying i'm open pass here, same thing in that game. that clicked with me that it's a team game and why can't we do the same as we would for any other sport and try to get the best players to our school. >> having he sports teams means publicity, sponsor ships and the way of getting in in the ground level. while they may be the first to offer scholarships, 197 colleges have teams including princeton cornell and m.i.t. like other athletes, derrick knows he needs to strike a balance between make the game and making the grades. >> it's a good thing to practice. it's also a good thing to not get too wrapped up in it. >> he has a perfect four-point owe and after school is the possibility of going pro. al jazeera chicago. >> still to come, the 2016 race

for president. >> in myanmar we'll explain how children in villages like this end up going to the big cities to work and support their families. >> climbing with confidence, the french spiderman scales a new skyscraper with just chalk and tape. tape.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. it is 8:30 eastern. hillary clinton is in a van nicknamed scooby this morning heading for iowa. it is the first stop on her presidential campaign. she announced in an on line video and is for going large crowds for now with small events planned. >> later today in florida represent senator marco rubio is set to launch his white house bid, the third republican to join the race this year alongside ted cruz and rand

paul. let's put this announcement into a little more perspective. the former seen nor aid to hillary clinton joins us and joe watkins served in the white house of president gore george h.w. bush. clinton is in iowa, which some described at her waterloo during the 2008 campaign. what do you think she'll do differently? >> i think overall you'll see a different clinton campaign. some of the criticism of the 2008 campaign was that the campaign was too pledge rent to the media. there were criticisms that she was detached. she has continued to defy her critics and i think in this particular campaign, you'll see more intimacy, more individual

action with voters even though presidential cam pages are in the air in terms of media driven but you'll see more intimacy a better relationship with the media. i think she'll start to highlight a lot of things that she may have shied away from in 2008. a lot of issues, particularly, i think the issue of gender. >> we're going to get into that. let me get joe's impression on iowa and the fact that hillary seems to be striking a populace town at this point in the campaign. how do you think republican contenders can most effectively respond to that, joe? >> i think that secretary clinton has some challenges, one being that she has to really define herself still to the iowa voters. a lot of people know her but certainly those people born after 1992 don't know her very, very well and this will be the opportunity for her to tell them what she would do as president of the united states. she says got to define herself

to the new voters. she can't take for granted even though she's really the only person on the ticket, there are others out there that have thought about the possibility of warren and others but she is running against herself. republicans for the most part are fighting for what is an ever shrinking piece of the republican pie. there are so many candidates right now, three announced a third one being marco rubio today. you've got the lead held by jeb bush and scott walker number two right now who haven't announced. >> the thing they all have in common is they all attacked clinton. how do they balance attacking the democratic candidate when they have to target each other for the nomination? >> i suppose it's just a way for them to get a little bit of free publicity with the base and

cement the base or their share of the base but they're going to be fighting for a pie that's going to be very, very crowded and it's going to be hard. rubio has the advantage of not being as polarizing in a general election as perhaps a cruz or rand paul might be. he doesn't have the money or the organization of bush who's way ahead of everybody in terms of fund raising. >> let's look at the republican field with rubio in it. he is young. he is telegenic. could he be the perfect foil to clinton? >> i'm not sure. i'm wondering if he can move the grassroots of the party in a way rand paul would although paul might be more of a problem in terms of being able oh get out

of a primary. rubio and jeb bush are better general election candidates but not sure -- i'm not sure that rubio has articulated a vision why he should be president. >> you alluded to the fact that clinton down played her gender in 2008. do you think that's going to be different this time around? she described herself as an advocate or women and girls's rights and that is the distinguishing factor for her. >> context is important. in 2008, president obama down played race. there were very key attributes to those candidates that they down played a lot in that early campaign. now with a little bit more of an opening, you can -- you can count on hillary clinton to talk about gender issues. it's not just about being the first woman to become president of the united states. i think this also is about reforming, reshaping recasting what it means to be a democratic

in 2016. i think you'll hear some of that come out more. >> do you think on women's issues, hillary clinton has a clear edge over the republican candidates? >> not a clearer edge in terms of where she stands on those issues, but clearly she has a stance. she's not going to overplay the fact that she would be the first woman penalty of the united states but that's a huge issue and factor for voters. what makes her race compelling is as potential lip the first woman president of the united states there are not only democratic women who will vote for her but independence and republican women will give her a strong look. she's going to have to work hard to get their vote but she has a shot to do that based on making history. she's a candidate with substance, so she's a real threat in this 2016 cycle. >> joe watkins former advice other to president bush and

former aid to hillary clinton. >> congress is back on capitol hill today and the senate has a day and a half to take up a bill overhauling how medicare payments are made. it sailed through the house last month. if the senate does not pass a version, doctors who treat medicare patients could see fees cut by more than 20%. >> it's time now for our regular look at the week ahead. the senate returns from a two week recess today and will have a day and a half to take up a bill that would completely overhaul how medicare payments are made. the measure sailed through the house in late march by a vote of 392-37. if the senate does not pass its own version doctors could see their fees cut by 21%. medicare is one of the largest safety nets in the u.s., an estimated 54 million elderly and

disabled people rely on it. the ranking senator in the finance committee tells doctors not to worry about this week's deadline saying they'll be able to be paid leally after the big is passed. senators will likely focus on the $141 billion impact on the deficit over the next 10 years but the congressional budget was a says a net savings will be noticeable in the following decade. let's bring in assistant professor at columbia university and -- >> thank you for joining us. how important is this issue that it actually brought both parties together, you know, supporting this bill together on a level like we've never seen before? >> medicare is one of the most important and largest issues that we pay for as a national government. it's a huge issue. we've known for quite a long time that folks on both sides of

the ail hate the way medicare is paid for now as do doctors and medicare beneficiaries. this is a rare issue in our national discourse that actually brings together multiple sides on the same conversation. >> take us back to 1997. why was this mandated in the first place? >> the volume of physician services under medicare has been growing for many, many years and some worried that because of the way we pay doctors in the traditional program which is on a piece work base, as if you were paying cobblers to make shoes based on every pair of shoes that they made regardless whether people wanted to buy those shoes and regardless whether the shoes were any good, so the incentives were for doctors to do more and more and more because they got paid on this piece work basis and the rates of those were going way way up. congress said enough, we have to come up with some kind of a formula where if the volume of services really does go up,

doctors will get paid less so that the combined expenditure wouldn't be as great. that would have dictated these big cuts in physician payments, 17 different times congress avoided those cuts, because the degree of cuts were going to be so big because these expenditures were going up so rap hidy. >> take us through the current pros now just to let people know what goes on if you're a doctor treating medicare patients, how do they get paid? >> a doctor will see a patient log what they dew and then bill for those services. medicare will then pay the doctor for services after the fact. this is the way that it works. now you can imagine, this be causes consternation because doctors are thinking if you don't pass this thing i'm not going to get paid for what i already did and can't trust

medicare. they say i can find people who are insured and take care of them and they'll pay me for sure because it's not this big political football so i'll stop taking medicare patient. someone who is elderly may not be able to drive farther and this limits their care. they can move to a different payment plan now paid on the health of a group of patients that they see. you can imagine that when their goal is to improve a population's health rather than to do as many services as they can, that changes the ensentives and brings down costs. >> two out of three are still in this traditional program where this fee for service dynamic reveils. we need to mooch away from that as a country and if we spend a lot of time year by year doing a dock fix we can't focus on the many innovative ways to pay physicians. we need to test many more models

of paying for value not for volume. in the best case scenario, if we really do move to a system where we're paying doctors in a much smarter wear and really incentivizing them to make medicare beneficiaries healthier, then we will save money over the long haul, so we could get caught up in a kind of a narrow fight about adding to the deficit over 10 years but really what we need to do is revamp the program. we've already seen per person medicare spending very low for the last couple of years in terms of the rate of increase. we really needle it to be falling, because we have so many more people who are going to be enrolling in medicare as a consequence of the aging of the baby boom generation, so over the long haul, if we can come up with a better way to pay physicians for value not for sam, we will save money even though we're going to be spending more over the next 10 years to get ourselves to that

point. >> do you agree? >> we all agree that medicare provides a fantastic service to our nationed elderly and a service we all want to benefit from when we get there hopefully. ultimately it's about lowering its cost. we need to think about how we actually get physicians to do the right thing the best thing by their patients and also be able to come out making a good living. i think this moves us in that direction. i think it's an important first step in that respect. >> thank you all so much. coming up in the week ahead on monday general election begins in sudan incumbent president omar al bashir is expected to win. iraq's prime minister will meet with barack obama and they will discuss a range of issues including isil and cooperation inside iraq.

wednesday marks 150 years since president abraham lincoln was assassinated. the morgan library in york is opening a new exhibit featuring letters and speeches written by lincoln. >> presidential and parliamentary elections have begun in sudan. despite being accused of genocide the long time president bashir is expected to win. opposition parties are boycotting the vote calling the elections a charade. it is the first election since the south became south sudan in 2011. >> in the year since independence south sudan says past has not been easy. thousand us have been killed and more than a million left homeless. in this week's fault lines a correspondent traveled to the war-torn nation. >> four years ago a new country was born. after decades of civil war with the north of sudan, it was meant to be a dream come true.

today, south sudan has disas i understand greated into chaos. the new president and vice president had gone to war with each other. it's a war with an ethnic dimension, causing 2 million people to leave their homes and tens of thousands have been killed asifieding continues across the country. we're heading to a town that's changed hands more than six times since fighting began in december 2013. most commercial airlines stopped flying when the war started so we're traveling with soldiers on united nations flights. the u.n. based there was an attack here. several u.n. workers were kidnapped. now there's heavy security everywhere. >> this was a town of 150,000 people and now feels like a

ghost town. we've come to find out how a country that was born of so much promise has turned into such a nightmare and also to ask were there warning signs that this could happen. >> thanks for being with us. >> good morning. >> you actually spoke with a number of former u.s. state department officials who served during the sudanese civil war in the 1990's. did those that created this nation of south sudan did they see it coming? did they see warning signs. >> we talk about in the film that u.s. officials when independence happened talked about mid wifing this country. u.s. officials a lot of people with that the u.s., we talked to a lot of these people in the film who are in d.c. today, out of power played a key role in supporting the rebels who used

to be rebels fighting the government in kartoum and are now in power. it's a telling story about what happens when the thinking around a country is dominated by ideas of good versus evil. the rebels are supposed to be the good guys, so for years the u.s. has supported the rebels against an authoritarian government in kartoum supported their struggle. >> against bashir? >> the point is now these rebels are the government forces and they are committing atrocities against their own people, terrible atropical storm cities. since 2013 has been a massive power struggle between the president and his former vice president. there's no actual formal tally of the dead, but the international crisis group last year estimated that the number could be as high as 50,000. they said that's probably a conservative estimate. people are living in over 2 million people have been displaced, 1.5 million inside the country half a million

outside the country. >> that's comparable to syria right now and that issue has gotten a lot of attention. these people that you were with in refugee camps in south sudan have been through years and years of civil war and even to them this is as bad as it's ever been. >> i spoke to people living in refugee camps some protectioned civilian sites and others living in any safe area they can find in the parts of the country where the conflict has been raging for minute months and a lot of older people who lived through both of the prior civil wars were really devastated. they people a deep sense of betrayal and anger. they've been through struggles. they saw this new country being

born. a thief seen incredible amounts of brutality. >> what do you think the u.s. needs to be doing now given the fact that there are no clear good guys and bad guys again? >> it's a difficult question as to what the u.s. needs to be doing and it's something that the u.s. has been doing at the u.n. security council is they drafted the resolution that was passed unanimously laying out a framework for sanctions. the african union had a commission of inquiry into when happened, what led to the recent round of violence and the leaked report recommends an appointed government through which the current leaders of both the government and the rebel forces would be disallowed. i think what a lot of people on the ground want to see is some kind of accountability and stop to the fighting and if the u.s. account contradict to that, that would be a step forward. >> thank you so much. you can watch south sudan

country of dreams tonight at 10:00 p.m. easter here on aljazeera america on fault lines. >> after five decades of military dictatorship, myanmar is expanding quickly but activists worry much of the recovery is being built on the backs of children. we visited myanmar and we have one child's story. >> a lot of children as young as eight in villages like this myanmar drop out of school and go to work. they can earn $15 a month tending cows here or working in the nearby rice fields, but in the cities, they can earn twice as much. that's where he ended up. he's only 12 and turned into a breadwinner. >> when york, sometimes my family is all right but sometimes they're not. it dependency on whether my stepfather can find work. he doesn't have a steady job. >> some children find jobs through friends and relatives. others find work through brokers, who take a cult of the children's wages. >> tonight with the use of an

undercover camera we'll show you how this business works. a lot of people here tell us putting children to work in this country is pretty much normal, but children's rights activists say if the cycle of poverty sentenced addressed the path to democracy will be in jeopardy. al jazeera myanmar. >> you can watch the full report tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on aljazeera america. >> china imposed new restrictions on however citizens can visit hong kong. the move is aimed at stopping parallel trading when people buy goods in hong kong and resell them on the mainland. protests erupted over the practice last year. economists predict the economy may be hurt. >> up next, harnessing the power of the sun why this field of mirrors stands to revolutionize the energy industry.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. hillary clinton is on her way to iowa for her first event as a candidate. she lunched her bid with an on line video. today florida republican senator marco rubio is set to announce his candidacy in an event this afternoon. prosecutors in oak on the ground are considering criminal charges against a white sheriff's deputy who shot and killed a black man. video shows him chasing after the suspect earlier this month in tulsa. he says he confused his gun for his taser. >> what is believed to be world war ii code breaker's only surviving manuscript up for auction today. the 56 major manuscript focuses on breaking nazi germany's code. >> in australia scientists are

looking as harp necessary be the power of its deserts. they could be the hotbed for a revolution in solar energy. >> it looks almost like an active worship but this is science. mirrored panels turn in unison toward a tower. they direct a powerful glow of sunlight. this could revolutionize the way the sun creates electricity. it's the latest frontier for solar power. >> these types of projects are where you can push the boundaries a little but also demonstrate the potential of the technology. >> the technology works by concentrating sunlight on a single point. liquid there is heated to extreme temperatures, almost 600 degrees celsius creating super critical steam. that drives a turbine at high speed and high pressure to create power. the steam and turbine part of

the technology isn't new. it's the use of the sun's energy to create the steam to power it that is. >> something like 90% of the world's electricity comes from making that hot fluid today and expanding it through some sort of turbine. all we're doing here is changing the front end and having concentrated sun to have that hot fluid replacing the normal heat production which comes from coal or bass or even nuclear. >> the potential is enormous. it wouldn't take huge areas of sun baked land to create big quantities of power. this is just a prototype. the hope is there should be fields of mirrors in deserts all over the world, one just 50 kilometers by 50 kilometers could provide enough electricity for a quarter of australia's needs. >> the technology is very expensive and recent falls in

fossil fuels don't make it competitive. this technology could represent the best chance for solar to play a big role in electricity production. al jazeera newcastle australia. >> a new name wears golfs biggest crown jordan speith, leading every round of the event. tiger woods was the youngest to win the masters edging speith by five months. >> the french spiderman has done it again climbing one of dubai's tallest buildings today scaling the tower using chalk and sticky tape. it took him an hour and 10 minutes to reach the top. >> that's it for us. i'm stephanie sy. thanks so much for watching.

>> tonight - a climate emergency. >> those species could not be here in 10 years. >> nasa steps in to help protect the future of the planet. >> the tropics regulate our climate. >> techknow heads to costa rica to see how one rainforest is fighting back. >> wow! some of these are amazing. >> techknow's team of experts show you how the miracles of science... >> this is my selfie, what can you tell me about my future? >> can affect and surprise us. >> don't try this at home. >> "techknow" - where technology meets humanity. tonight, 6:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> part of al jazeera america's >> special month long evironmental focus fragile planet

>> there's heavy security everywhere >> mass killings... government corruption... misguided influence? >> i wanted people to know, this regime, was evil... >> fault lines investigates the impact of the u.s. involvement in south sudan >> 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... >> we have to get out of here... south sudan: country of dreams only on al jazeera america >> coming up in the next 60 minutes: >> the sound of gunfire echos across aden as the battle for yemen's south intensifies. >> voting begins in sudan in an election expect to return president omar bashir back to power. millions of dollars pretend but only a quarter of the money has shown up, the struggle