bombing in an alabama church that killed four schoolgirls and said now is the time to substitute courage for caution, -- quoting the late dr. martin luther king, jr. let's go to mike viqueira in washington. what has been the reaction? >> first of all giving us information that i hadn't considered or heard reported and that is that both he and michelle obama who the pastor who was murdered overnight, new members of that congregation striking remarkably close to home here from president obama. i think that was clear from his tone. michelle obama's family on her father's side hails from the country of south carolina, george georgetown, south carolina, a long history there, including her great, great grandfather, in particular, a slave in

charleston, south carolina. anger when he talked about the lack of political action political will political opinion to back stricter gun control laws ever since the expiration of the brady bill even in the wake of the unspeakable crime at sandy hook with the murder of young school children. and then the president largely throwing in the towel, saying the political winds just aren't -- the political avenues are closed as we put it towards more gun control, admonishing the congress talking about the society at large. i think you saw the president largely admitting that further gun control simply isn't going to go anywhere. but the tone that he took saying that he has come out here and made statements like this before -- i have had to make statements like this too many times, says president obama.

clearly angry, and you saw him and reported and heard on the historical antecedents, an unfortunate black history, particularly the church there president obama noted that opened its doors to everyone and unfortunately opened its doors to someone who is obviously villainous, the suspect now in custody. >> what instruct me the most when he said quote, this type of mass violence doesn't happen in other advanced countries. >> right. >> this sounded like a get it together, america kind of speech. it looked like he was sitting down talking to america shaking us by the shoulders, and saying now -- now is the time to get it together. but it's interesting, because he department -- didn't use the words gun control. >> yeah he was unfiltered in that respect. he talked about this doesn't

happen in other societies. that's a familiar argument we have heard throughout the gun control debate. i have never heard him take it on that directly people are going to say look what happened in norway several years ago, but clearly the statistics point out that developed countries on par with the united states have stricter gun-control laws and do not suffer from the same kind of horrific crimes that we just witnessed here over the course of the last 24 hours, and mass killings that have occurred by one count some 21 times during the course of the last six and a half years during the obama administration, morgan. >> 21 times. mike thanks so much for being with us. let's go now to a quick break, and remember, you can always follow us on line at aljazeera.com.

surprise us... >> wow, these are amazing... >> techknow, where technology meets humanity! only on al jazeera america the supreme court has ruled that license plates are in fact government speech. in a 5-4 decision the justices said that texas can refuse to

issue certain groups vanity plates. there was a battle over the right of states to let drivers choose specialty license plates which bare memorial confederate flags. texas deemed the plates offensive. jonathan betz has more on the controversy. >> no hate in our state! no hate in our state! >> reporter: exercising the right to free speech versus what others call offensive -- >> white power! >> reporter: and even hateful. the latest battles about what can appear on your license plate. this specialty plate is at the center of the u.s. supreme court case. >> different courts have come to different conclusions about how much freedom the authors of specialty plates are permitted under the first amendment. >> reporter: the organization, the sons of confederate veterans in texas proposed the design

but the department of transportation rejected it. at the heart of the issue is free speech. >> the question in this case is whether a specialty license plate that is designed by a private person but approved by the government counts as government speech of private speech. >> reporter: this attorney represents the sons of confederate veterans told the court, quote: the group says texas has a history of honoring confederate vets. confederate hero's day is a state holiday in texas. but scott keller contends the states makes the plates and owns them. so these plates are government speech and aren't protected by the first amendment. keller says:

specialty license plates are a big business for texas, bringing in over $17 million last year. the state has approved over 400 different messages on specialty plates, from fight terrorism, to choose life. >> the real question is whether texas really has to allow every license plate, and so at the oral argument a bunch of example were raised for example, can you have a license plate that says jihad? and they said question. the fast-track trade bill has cleared a key procedural hurdle in the house. partly reversing a defeat less than a week earlier. in that move is a boost of president obama's goal of strengthening u.s. ties with

asia. let's go to libby casey on capitol hill for us this afternoon nch libby good afternoon of you, what is different about the republican approach today? >> reporter: they are focused on just passing fast track authority, giving president obama the ability to negotiate trade deals and then congress votes yes or no. that has passed the house, a bit of a close vote. now it goes to the senate. democrats had wanted to make sure the fast track authority was paired with legislation that would help workers get assistance if they had been hurt by globalization. and now we're going to have to watch and see whether democrats in the senate will be willing to separate them out, and let this fast track authority which is a republican priority and a priority of president obama go forward. they'll have to get assurances from republican leadership that

the worker's assistance component will be dealt with later. this issue has created some strange friends, because president obama wants fast track authority, republicans want to give it to him, and it is prounion democrats who have been standing in the way until now. >> libby you said 218-208 now going to the senate is it surprising that obama has made this such a priority now? >> it's not in the big picture. he wants the administration to sign on to massive trade deal with asia and he sees that as a key part of his legacy. he says there are worker's protections built into this. but he is being fought by a group of democrats, liberals and pro-union democrats who are very concerned and say it doesn't go far enough to help workers.

they are concerned it will be a revisit of nafta, which a lot of them say hurt american workers, so that's why we have this strange relationship being built, and john boehner held a press conference saying this has really been an odd handful of weeks, seeing both the republicans and democrats trying to get on board with something, has created some unusual dynamics here on capitol hill. >> all right. libby casey joining us live from capitol hill. libby, always a pleasure. rescue crews are searching for a 2 year old girl who was swept away last night in oklahoma flood waters. tropical depression bill is now moving towards missouri hitting some area with a foot of rain and closing several roads. look at that. in that storm already inundated texas. >> reporter: flooded streets and roadways filled the small texas

town after tropical depression bill made an unwelcome visit. even law enforcement got stuck in a ditch. an afternoon flash flood warning was the latest blow to a town that saw a wave of storms passing through the area. the creek is normally dry. >> we experienced for the last 24 hours, 9.5 inches of rain in that short period of time. >> at least a foot and a half higher. the water has gone down tremendously. >> reporter: a lifelong resident of the town rushed to his daughter's house to rescue her and her family from rising flood waters. so they had to evacuate? did they have to get out quickly? >> yes when i got here i said look at my running boards on my truck, about ten minutes they come back and i said now look at it he said oh god, we have

got to hurry. >> reporter: the flood waters narrowly missed their home but emotions ran deep. >> it's rough. it means a lot to everybody. of course my family is very important, so i have got to make sure that everybody is safe and sound. down the road this yard has turned into a small lake. >> we could probably go fishing here. >> reporter: but it's nowhere near the devastation that struck central texas three weeks ago, dozens of homes were flooded, some washed away. more than a dozen people died during the deadly round of memorial day storms. this time texas governor warned residents to be vigilant. >> this event is not over. there will be a lot of rainfall that will still come, and could be potential tornados. people please do not drive into rising water. >> reporter: advise well-taken

by residents like this who is hoping the worst is over. >> hopefully it won't be as bad as it has been. financial turmoil, coming up on al jazeera, greece has just two weeks to reach a deal with its creditors. we'll explain what that means for the rest of us, next. ♪

♪ you are watching al jazeera america. let's go back to our top story today. the suspect wanted for killing nine people, six men, and three women, at a prominent, south carolina church is in police custody. 21-year-old dylann roof pictured there was brought in north carolina earlier today. the massive manhunt began after wednesday's night shooting in charleston south carolina. police say that roof sat with that prayer group another the church's wednesday night bible study for about an hour before he opened fire.

the justice department has opened a hate crime investigation, and president obama says this tragedy hits very close to home. >> michelle and i know several members of emmanuel ame church. we knew their pastor who along with eight others gathered in prayer and fellowship and was murdered last night, and to say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families and their community, doesn't say enough to convey the heart ache and the sadness, and the anger that we feel. >> the president reiterated what the said many times before and that's that gun violence like this, does not happen in other countries. speaking of the money beat in other countries, european finance ministers are in lucks

semiberg today. greece east finance minister said a deal was unlikely long before these meetings began. >> yeah he said that yesterday. it is crunch time right now. there has been finger pointing going on over who is responsible for the delay. the imf piled the pressure on athens today, saying it would consider greece in default if it fails to make the payment on time. anti-austerity demonstrators took to the streets, urging their government to hold the line on new pension cuts and tax hikes europe is demanding in exchange for a deal. this came the same day that the central bank urged the prime minister to accept europe's conditions, warning that the country could crash out of the

euro zone and possibly believe the european union if it defaults on its debts. now the uncertainty has hammered greek markets this week and greeks have rushed to withdraw their savings from banks, but the fallout of a greek debt default could stretch beyond greece and europe a point underscored yet by janet yellen who warned that the global economy could experience significant disruptions if greece and its creditors fail to reach a deal. >> you are talking about crashing out of the euro zone here. what does that mean? >> all eyes are trained on next week because the consensus is it has to be leaders who hammer out a deal. there is a meeting scheduled next week. if greece does default on its debt it does not automatically leave the euro zone but it

could set in motion a chain of events that could lead to the exit of the euro zone. >> thank you so much. world oil prices have climbed back up following months of decline, but they are still lower than previous years. and daniel lak reports, alberta is struggling with a lack and jobs and businesses. >> reporter: an empty factory, now with prices low, almost everyone has been laid off. by june when this final project is complete, there will be no one here at all. >> very disappointing to have all of that growth chopped off right at the knees, right when things were just getting good. we were getting a good reputation, and we had a very good crew that had been working together for years, so they were become very efficient. >> reporter: at the local food

bank they are worried that donated supplies of groceries won't match demand. >> here 80 to 90% of our clients are still -- are clients that have been laid off. pretty much everybody that is coming to us has been laid off. >> reporter: more than 30,000 have lost jobs already, more layoffs and closures are expected even if prices continue to stabilize, and here is part of the impact too, on politics a provincial election in early may brought a landslide victory for the socialist new democratic party, a surprising end to 44 years of conservative government. >> if you look at alberta's history, one thing really stands out, when there have been changes in government and even when there have been periods in which there was more political unrest with say the rise of an opposition party, those periods

do tend to correlate with economic hard times, and in alberta that usually means low oil prices. >> reporter: through boom and bust oil is part of its heritage commemorated here at the site of the strike in 1947. there is optimism that oil prices will rise again, and good times will return. >> we are seeing layoffs happen but we know once again this will change. it's just a matter of timing. >> reporter: low prices don't stop or even slow the extraction of oil, which it's the tar sands of the north of conventional wells, companies produce more to keep their cash flow up canada's reliance on this controversial resource isn't going to change any time soon.

300 u.s. and canadian firefighters are arriving in alaska to help battle growing wildfires. two of them are near anchorage, and another on the peninsula continue to burn. but there are many smaller fires raging across the state. many have evacuated their homes, and an indefinite ban on fireworks is now in place. the pope is weighing in on climate change. claudia reports. >> reporter: it's judgment day on the causes of climate change. the vatican will leave the long letter called the ensickling written by pope francis, embracing the theory that global warming is mainly caused by

human activity. in the 184-page document, pope francis calls for dramatic changes in lifestyle, production, and consumption of what he calls: and accusing governments of not doing enough to tackle the problem. this is an answer to prayers from environmentalists. >> translator: it's important that the pope says climate change carries an ethical and moral burden we agree. climate change affects the poor who are also those who bear less responsibility. we also hope that it will push politicians to act. >> reporter: while pope francis based his conclusions on global warming on the findings by the international scientific community, the vatican claims it was among the first institutions

to believe thatting global warming is caused by human activities. it was the first exclusive scientific academy in the world. among its first members who was later tried for heresy, but the director says they have full faith in science. >> translator: they say we follow what the american scientists are saying but it was us through our academy members who first claimed in the 1990s, that the disproportion at it use of fossil fuel caused global warming. >> reporter: they are aiming at becoming the world's first carbon neutral state, not an impossible task for the small estate in the world with no industries. ironically it pollutes the most on the day a new pope is elected. >> time to take out the trash. >> reporter: the encyclical has

become a blockbuster. a non-profit organization even released a hollywood style trailer in it. now the real pope is being urged to use his power of persuasion to make the world a cleaner place. nbc is expected to make lester hope the permanent anchor of his tonight show broadcast. williams was taking off air after revelations that he exaggerated a story back in 2003. lester holt has been anchoring the broadcast for several monthings. as women try to join the gaming industry some are finding themselves targets of

assaults and harassments. >> reporter: a quick look around the e3 gaming expo shows how white world dominated the gaming industry is. there are new women gaming designers. >> right now we have about 50% of game players are women, but only about 20% of game makers are women. >> reporter: it is an issue that has been debated within the industry for years, with little to show in the way of diversification, but as more games made to appeal to women are made the content is slowly changing. >> the 50-year-old guy in his basement playing call of duty is still very prominent. but we're maturing quickly. >> reporter: the gender problem was thrown into sharp relief last year when female game designers were subjected to an

organized campaign of online harassment that included death threats. in that became known as gamer gate. this blogger was harassed after writing about the depiction of women in games as sex objects, and the predominance of macho male game characters. >> i have had death threats. the intense vitreal has been in part due to the fact that the industry is changing. they are throwing these aggressive tantrums to stop the progress of us having conversations about representations of women, of having more people of color in games. >> reporter: international game developers association director kate edwards said the harassment came out of a hate movement

lurking in the industry's dark under belly. >> i have gone to countless events where we talk about issues but nothing happens, well, i think because of gamer gate we're finally going to see change happen. people said enough of this. >> reporter: critics like this say the industry is changing but very slowly. industry officials say they are taking steps to encourage more women to work in gaming and that their goal is having those who create the game better reflect those who play them. for the first time in more than a century a u.s. bill will feature a woman. the face of the $10 bill will be replaced in 2020. the new bill will include the image of someone who has contributed to and represent the values of american democracy. i'm morgan radford, thanks

for joining us. stay tuned. the news continues next from london. ♪ ♪ police say a suspect has been arrested over the shooting. >> once again, innocent people were killed in part, because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun. >> oh what. >> live from london, also coming up, the u.n. says war and persecution has force add record 60 million people from their homes. there is no race period or two month delay as i have se