we could change the world... >> from the best filmmakers of our time, >> i give al jazeera tremendous credit, because it's not traditionally what broadcast journalism does... >> the new home for original documentaries al jazeera america presents only on al jazeera america >> this is aljazeera america live from new york, i'm tony harris. moving thing in south carolina as more states are in the controversy snowfall. >> the white house is reportedly ready to legalize ransom payments for hoss tams. critics warn that it could put more americans in danger and end inequality in organ transplant. taking the allocation out of life saving body parts.

south carolina has taken a major step toward removing the confederate flag from the grounds of the statehouse in columbia one day after governor nikki haley called for the flag to be moved. the state lawmakers began taking up the issue. and diane westabrook joins us from charleston. and how quickly are they expected to act here? >> reporter: well, as you know tony, sometimes government moves very slowly so the south carolina legislature may not take up this issue for a month, sometime in july. this has become a very divisive issue, and today hundreds turned out at the state capital. some in support of the confederate flag, but most people saying take it down. they said this a nag that represents the people of south carolina. today in charleston, i was

talking to some people on the street. and one woman said that this is a very hurtful flag. >> it means like slavery to me, and we so being oppressed by that flag, and it's not representing us at all. >> reporter: and it doesn't need to be a confederate flag, they already have a flag, in south carolina. >> so diana all of this comes as major companies are phasing out confederate flags and related merchandise. >> we heard yesterday from wal-mart and we heard from sears and ebay andettes

see.com. and it has become a temporary symbol of racism. and since amazon decided to stop selling the flag, in the last 24 hours, the sales of the stars and bars and the emblem rose 8,000%, so maybe people tig that amazon was going to stop selling the flags and the merchandise, so they're going to order it before the sales stop. >> diane westabrook in virginia. governor terry mccall you have said that he wants to phase out the license plates featuring the confederate nag and he called it hurtful. objectionable lies the plates. and he said that they do not count as private speech. marcus simon is a virginia state delegate. and he joins us from washington

d.c. so do you agree with governor mccollough's call to phase out the confederate flag? >> yes i think that he made the right call on this. and its something that they considered doing before the government made his announce many. the stars and bars really has no place on the virginia license plates or any other government sponsored speech. and it is in fact when we put it on the license plate. it's divisiveness and racism and white supremacy, something that [ audio difficulties ]

dmv to remove the confederate flag from the license plate. you know it better than i do,

and what kind of debate are you anticipating? >> the house speaker said that he's okay with the flagging removed from the license plate. so i don't think that it's going to be terribly controversial in virginia. i've been pleased on both sides of the aisle. virginia really does need to put forward an image that we are a new dominion that's welcoming to all kinds of people in the 21st century. and i think it's important to attract businesses and investment in virginia, and i think that we need to put a new face forward for virginia, and this will help do that. i think that the governor was right. [ audio difficulties ] >> so let me play the rolling

rolldoggone it, you've over reached and over stepped. the activism, i don't like it, and it represents something very important to me, my extended family fought in the civil war, and believed in the heritage, what do you say to them? >> those folks who want to put a bumper sticker on their car and they can express that heritage in a number of different ways, but what they can't do is compel me or anyone else in virginia to condone that or endorse it by putting it on a state license plate or something that the state produces. if they want that, it's part of our past that went to put behind us.

>> the flag on the license plate in virginia today maybe tomorrow, it's about the monuments, the statues honoring confederate leaders what is it [ audio difficulties ]

insists that this part of the policy was never under review, and

>> he says that he may have been injured when the police van he was in slowed down, and called it a homicide because the police failed to follow safety procedures. they condemned the reports. and they are described as candid. the u.s. holds frank talks on china and cyber security. and plus, billions more in budget cuts. why these new austerity measures could be a different sell.

>> there were quite a if you friction points, and the cyber attacks on the u.s. which affected millions of people. the u.s. has not formally accused china but they suspect that chinese hackers were behind that. and the "reclamation project" in the south where they're building islands and waterways which they will use as a military outpost, -- but in his opening statements in the talks today, vice president biden said that the relationship between washington and beijing is too important. and the world depends [ audio difficulties ] >> i recognize that our two countries had clear disagreements on important issues, but that's not a new phenomenal.

[ audio difficulties ] we gain by working together where interests align and addressing our differences candidly and constructively where they do not and places where they will not align. >> china's premier expressed a similar sentiment. saying that the two countries can get along as long as we respect core principles. they haven't had any breakthroughs, but later on. >> the u.s. military capabilities but china is advancing, if you can believe by leaps and bounds, but the

pentagon complains to be -- it's annual report, the chinese military concludes over the last ten years china has been increasing it's military spending by almost so% a year, and they're making great headway with stealth and a much better reconnaissance technology and missile technology. so the pentagon, they're not saying that china is threatening the u.s., but it's pointing out that china is moving forward at a great pace, while the pentagon feels like it's not able to keep up. and the gap between it and the united states is closing quickly. >> jamie mcintyre, and thank you, and with time running out for greece and it's creditors the euro zone said that an agreement could be reached in days. new taxes. as john psaropoulos reports ideas on how things are being

received in agent epps. >> reporter: they have heard the latest news from brussels, and they don't like it. after five months of tensions, they suggest that the government is proposing to take $8 billion more from a shrinking economy this year and the next. pensioners are no longer safe from cuts. complications. >> the latest proposals have divided lawmakers. they don't want to bring down the government. but they have also promised never to pass more austerity measures. greece's choice, a bad deal or no deal. >> the city's leading back beverager, likely to scuttle party unity if he gets a whiff of what the government brings back. he's about numbers. >> you were is a new liberal

europe, and this europe needs a fundamental change. people need hope for the future. greece is fighting this battle, to win the new liberal kabul and the union and if greece succeeds, all of europe succeeds. >> the government would likely have to hold new leaks ushering in more of the uncertainty that has been there this year, and there are divisions and conflicts elsewhere. earlier in downtown athens, clashes, and it's increasingly obvious in the last days of talks. >> they promised that our lives would change for the better, and for five months, we're living on the edge of our seats. we cannot plan for the future or even feel hopeful. >> the approval ratings are high and it might well risk an

election without a deal, and no financing from its partners, but that would likely lead to default on the last day of the month, followed by capital from banks. a devastating economic landscape and an exodus from the euro might be closer than ever. aljazeera, athens. >> coming up on the program the south carolina church shooting turns into a bebait over the nag but is it just a diversion? and what isdiversion

>> last week's deadly shooting at a church in south carolina has sparked a huge debate over the confederate flag. but the fight over the flag may be a diversion from a bigger issue. gun control. and morgan, what are people in

charleston saying about guns in the wake of the shooting in. >> well, it's interesting tenney. a lot of people here are processing their grief. and in fact, just behind me, you can hear singing praise, chanting and people sharing scriptures, but it's interesting, out of this have come two conversation busy two separate debates the flag and the gun control. and he said that both debates are deserving of our national attention. as calls echo across south carolina to take down the confederate flag at the state capital -- >> it's time for south carolina to get past it's history. history belongs in a place. it belongs in a museum. >> reporter: here at emanuel ame church, some are asking that the controversy is disguising another issue gun control. >> there's no reason that he should have had a gun in his hands. >> that's why i asked if it's time to shift the conversation

beyond the bars and stars. >> is it one big distraction from the real issue which is gun control. >> that's an issue too. the matter of guns is going to be part of it. and that's something that our country hasn't been able to deal with yet. and we have to. it's just not -- it doesn't make any sense. >> reporter: an equal part of the issue just like the confederate flag, but is it an equal issue? some say that the flag didn't kill people, the guns did. >> whether it's equal or one more important than the other but they're both issues that require further national discourse and action. >> so what does that look like in practice? is it putting the limit on the number of guns that people can buy? is it stricter background checks?

>> that's something that people have the need to discern, but we have to do it. >> i think it's easier to take down a flag than to take away everyone's guns. >> that may be true. it might be harder to take those guns because it's so easy to get them. to buy a gun in south carolina from a licensed dealer, all you have to do is pass a background check, but you don't need to have a background check if you get a gun from a private sale. guns seem to be woven into the state. most people adamantly supported the removal of the confederate flag. but when it came to gun control, it was a different story. take steve griffin whose brother was shot and killed in. >> what do you think about gun laws in south carolina? >> i think it's who is behind

the gun. >> you don't think that the gun law should change. >> it's second amendment and sometimes you have to protect yourself. >> they said that today it's less about politics and about people. >> do you think that the issue of the confederate flag being taken down is the bigger issue. >> the issue is the heart control. when we deal with the heart i believe that we can get gun control under control. and the confederate flag will come down easily, because everyone will have a heart to love everybody and treat everybody the way they want to be treated. >> and that deserves an amen. >> reporter: it's interesting here tony, here in the heart of ame people aren't talking about gun control in the way than you would expect. and in fact, they're talking more about taking down the flag, and they agree, it's all about the people. >> morgan radford in south carolina.

thank you. native americans opposed to the wash redskins name and trademark said that their case is bolstered by the recent supreme court decision. it said that texas has the right to show the flag. and the redskins are battling in a lawsuit to try to cancel their registration. president obama is one day away from approval. libby casey, this is one of the top priorities for this president in his second term. >> reporter: that's right tony. certainly it's a legacy that he wants to see as part of his last years in office. the trade deal looked essentially dead until it was revived thanks to republicans. now, it has created -- majority

leader, mitch mcconnell on the same side as president obama. >> this has been a long and rather twisted path to where we are today. but it's a very, very important comp pleasure. for the country. >> reporter: today the senate took a procedural vote, and it's not final passage of what is known as fast track authority for the president but they had to reach a high of 60 votes and they just barely got that. we were watching democrats, 13 of whom voted with the republicans, generally those for pro-trade. but a lot of the democrats are pushing back from the fast track authority because they see it as the gateway for future trade deals. one of the vocal opponents democratic presidential candidate, bernie sanders. >> i strongly disagree with the majority leader who called it a great day for america.

it's a great day for business, and not for working families. >> a lot of symbolism. >> is it over? is it a done deal? >> reporter: it is not a done deal. they have to take a final vote tomorrow and president obama another trade bill, one to help american workers displaced by global itization. it has all gotten pulled apart because of the political process. coming down the pike is a massive trade deal with asia. a dozen nations in the transpacific partnership. that wasn't being voted on this week at all. but it certainly loomed large in a lot of member's minds because granting the president fast track authority generally on trade does create a path forward for this deal with asia tony. >> wait a minute, libby before

i let you go, presidential candidate, bernie sanders stands against this, and where does this leave other presidential candidates some. >> in a tricky spot if your name is hilliary clinton because the former secretary of state supported this trade deal with asia when she was part of the president's candidate and touring the world on behalf of the united states and the obama administration, but now she's seeing a lot of democratic act vests, pro union liberals, concerned about fast track trade included. so she has had to walk a bit of a tightrope these last couple of weeks. and she finally weighed in and said that she would finally not give president obama this fast track, but tony, that's pretty much procedural, because it's going to be a much bigger debate about the asian trade deal in the coming months ago. >> libby casey for us in washington, thank you. exxon mobile has stopped

it's drilling operations off of the coast of southern california. crippled the pipeline, back in may it burst spilling tens of thousands of gallons of oil into the pacific organization. santa barbara county rented the proposal to pratt the oil by truck while it's being repaired and exxon said that the shutdown is just temporary. workers in france created chaos today. they caused traffic jams outside of the tunnel that connects friends of the uk. and them they tried to break into the stalled cars and trucks. >> reporter: a blaze blocking the tracks of one of europe's moster important rail links. halted in callet by striking french ferry workers. >> heading out to the tunnel

entrance. >> the strike led to a traffic jam with trucks, with dozens of migrants taking advantage, and some managing to jump onboard. the driver chases the group away after noticing them trying to break into the back of his truck. elsewhere, french police tried in vain to keep them away from roads. workers from ferry company my ferry link, have been blockading both the port and the channel tunnel. >> we went to blockade the tunnel until 10 a.m. when we were removed. >> this is in paris and passengers expecting to ride the train were stranded. >> we arrived here, expecting to get up here only to find that it was closed and we read

on the sign that everything has been postponed. >> back in callet, they cleared the tracks. stopping migrants from boarding trucks is an increasing problem. drivers are being advised to stick together and make sure that all of their doors are locked. around 3,000, in callet, waiting for their chance to make it across the english channel. >> the killer heatwave in pakistan is now being blamed for the deaths of nearly 700 people across the southern province, and most are in the southern city of karachi where the temperatures have reached 115° fahrenheit. normally the temperature is 95 to 100° so, you can see what a heatwave it is. the military has asked the government to help with the crisis.

>> southern pakistan is sweltering. three days of high temperatures that caused widespread heat stroke in karachi. doctors are treating hundreds of patients for heat related ailments including dehydration and exhaustion. >> her blood pressure shot up because of the intense feet. and it affected her hand and leg. >> most of the victims have been the elderly. this is the week of ramadan and they abstain from food and water during the daylight hours, and to make matters worst, the power grid collapsed. many are criticizing the government. >> i'm greatly worried that i have no water and no power in my home. i've been waiting here for an hour to find ice and after trying hard, i got a little ice. >> the government is

responsible for this crisis. the houses are deprived of power, and there's no ice ice on the market. it's unbearable and the elderly are dying in the heat. >> they have set up heat stroke centers around karachi and schools and government are closed until the temperatures cool down. many are hoping for relief in the clouds with rain predicted in the coming days. >> well, tornadoes have devastated part of the midwest. and now severe storms are moving toward the northeast. kevin is here with the latest from new york city, and it has been raining heavy. >> it has been heavy. and they have had it worse in the south and i'll get to that in a moment. we have had severe weather on sunday and monday, as well as a lot of wind damage. i'll take you to northern illinois 24 hours ago, and i'll show you what happened here yesterday.

we saw in coalsy illinois, an ef3 tornado pushing toward the city. and 100 mile-per-hour winds were in that tornado. people had to be rescued out of their homes because of the damage there. and also, they were hit a couple of years ago with any ef-2 tornado. and they're still recovering there. across the northeast as tony said, we are watching the systems go through right now. for new york it city, we need rain and parts of washington, the northeast connector for amtrak was actually suspended between dc and philly. and you can see the thunderstorms pushing to the south. parts of massachusetts, and for boston we do have a tornado watch just outside of boston for them. in pennsylvania, we're still looking at tornado watches for

part of new hampshire as well as into maine. down to the south, it has been the heat. and we're looking at very warm temperatures. the temperatures have come down now, but look at the heat index that we saw earlier today. inner birmingham and charlotte as well. and tree port felt more like 104. and that heat is going to continue for the next few days. >> kevin appreciate it, thank you. tom brady quarterback of the new england patriots, spent the day at headquarters here in new york appealing his suspension over inflategate. the league suspended brady for his alleged role in the use of deflated footballs in an afc championship game. after hearing the arguments roger goodell with brady's

suspension. too often of course the difference between life and death depends on where a patient lives.

>> there are more than 123,000 americans waiting for organ transplants, and every day more of them die because they don't get an org began in team. and too often an organ's availability depends on location but doctors are trying to change that. >> tyler was getting ready to start college when an unexpected illness caused him to drop 35 pounds in three weeks. >> it was really rough. i couldn't eat or sleep no matter the time of day or night. >> his doctor said that he's lucky to be alive.

>> his liver was barely functioning, and he was near death. >> the kansas native immediately went on the liver transplant wait list, and within 20 days, a donor was identified and tyler was in surgery. >> i've never had anything serious, just minor stuff and that was a big change. >> touchdown was able to get his liver relatively quickly but unknown to many people, there's a heated debate about the wait. >> a lot of people are worried that there's going to be from the southeast up to the northeast. >> liver sharing the organization that manages the liver transplant system held a meeting in chicago perfect livers around the country. >> the current measures we have right now don't allocate and distribute livers in a way so that everyone has optimal or equal access, and we're trying

to fix that disparity. >> there's talk of shipping from the higher donor regions to the lower donor regions. >> in the area which the organs are moving, to less deaths in thes which they go. >> they're currently transplanted into 11 reems and they're considering moving it to eight or four, to better serve the areas that have fewer donors. dr. shown shawn kumar said that it's a problem a seemingly finite number of donors >> so you're shufflinglings across the board. like moving the chairs on the titanic. the only way to do that is to reese the donor awareness. >> in the kansas city area, educating high school students

early on about the benefits of organ donation through campaigns like the gift of life, have increased numbers. >> we have a very small experiment, and again, it's because they have the right information to make that informed decision. >> that has been a problem in places like new york and california. a study said that organ donation rates from deceased donors are lowest in new york 60%, where the other parts of the country, 85 to 90%. among rights, 18-39 it's 75% in new york, and 82% in the highest areas. >> one of the things that has been nice for the consequence of this project to try to reduce the disparity is to recognize that we haven't done anything substantive that has increased organ donation in a meaningful way in the last

seven years. >> for tyler it came quickly. >> it gave us hope at a time that he didn't have a lot. we're very very happy to be on this side of the transplant. >> the committee discussions and model analysis is ongoing. and it could be months before a proposal is reached. for now life and death depending on the part of the country that the patient lives in. >> the white house has made scientific study of medical marijuana much easier. and the move is being hailed by those in favor of legalization and those that oppose it. jacob ward has the details and what exactly did the administration do here? >> what the officials did here is remove a unique and basically regulatory restraint that was placed only on marijuana and the study of marijuana and it made it very hard and impossible to study it. i spent a lot of time with both

the users of marijuana and those who want to study it, finding themselves in limbo because of the regulation. aaron hayne was 18 years old when he went to fight in iraq. >> a couple of people in my company got killed. >> as with so many others, the trauma of war followed him home. >> i would be march and all of a sudden, my brain would be wandering around and what would the scene be like if a bomb dropped on it. >> he used alcohol to cope with anxiety and nightmares, and then he started using.. >> it allows me to focus on daily tasks and my life hayne is one of 20 million americans who use marijuana on a regular basis, but even though states are passing laws, they're based on anecdote because federal law has stifled research.

we don't know how pot affects pregnancy or anything, and if it can treat ptsd. >> it's hard to understand. right now, i could go out and tell a doctor that i'm in need of marijuana and i could get it and bring it back to my office and use it legally, but if i want to study it and it's affect on the brain and body, that would take me years and that's really countries. >> heroin, cocaine lsd ecstasy, all of these drugs are much easier to study than marijuana. >> brad bird works to study pot nationwide. >> to study aspirin or prozac or lsd that's it. all we have to do is get the drug and start the study. but for marijuana we go into a whole different study of reviews. >> they need approval from a

multitude of agencies, and review, unique to pot, that could stall research for years. >> the pressure on the federal government right now is greater than it has ever been to allow this research to go forward. and that's setting up a political opportunity now for the obama administration to step in. >> if i didn't have pot as a coping mechanism, if you took it away, i would have turned to alcohol or something harder and might have started inflicting self-harm. >> tony, it's not to suggest to you that we know anything about the therapeutic benefits of marijuana and there of been studies coming out but it's very hard to study. it's impossible to study it because it's considered to be dangerous, because it has been so hard to get the move al that approval

lifted, and researchers can start studying it once and for all. >> based on science and research, jake ward, here's what's coming up at the top of the hour. john seigenthaler is here. >> coming up tonight at 8:00, we're going to continue the conversation about the confederate flag, and we talked to south carolina congressman james clyburn and he says that the south carolina legislature should not only remove the flag from the capital grounds but he wants it to come down from the citadel in charleston. >> the citadel was created two blocks from the emanuel ame church for the express purpose of maintaining slavery. now, the citadel to this day flies that confederate flag in its chapel. that flag needs to come out of

the cimarron chapel. and it needs to come off of the public grounds all over this state. >> we're going to hear more from congressman clyburn in white. but also from hawaii, the big concern over use of pesticides in that paradise, when a developer of soy beans what they're doing to the land. >> see you then. oscar-winning composer, james horner, has died. died ♪ he brought that song to life and others from titanic and as well as countless other films. he was nominated for ten academy awards. horner's plane we want down in california. he was 60. and actor dick van patton has died.

he was best-known for his tv work, including the series, eight is enough. and he died from complications from diabetes. he was 86 years old. that's all the time for this news hour. tony harris in new york. and john is back in a couple of minutes.

>> hi everyone this is al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler. the next step, the debate intensifies. will removing the confederate flag from the south carolina capitol grounds be enough? >> that flag is subject to rounds all over this state. >> we talked to congressman james clyburn. face to face. >> we do not fear china's rise. we want to see china rise. >> high level meetings between the u.s. and china and a new