conditions for investment some news just in - . >> and a quick reminder keep up to date with news and opinion on the website at aljazeera.com. >> ladies and gentlemen, doing the right thing is the hardest thing to do. >> the south carolina house votes to take down the confederate flag, after 13 hours of passionate debate stretching into the early morning. >> baltimore's police commissioner loses his job fired by the mayor as the city sees a big spike in violence and murders. we will talk to a family. >> a new review for police

killings in new york state. the governor appoints a special prosecutor after in this's fail to indict officers for killing unarmed black men. >> after more than a half century, the confederate flag will soon no longer fly on the grounds of the south carolina state capitol. a bill to remove it from the statehouse grounds was approved by state representatives overnight. the bill cleared the state senate early this week. we are litsch in the state capitol this morning. this vote marks a stunning reversal for the state. >> absolutely, randall this is a state that's very proud of its history and particularly its role in the civil war.

there's a real reference here for a lot of the monuments and icons surrounding that period, but over the past few years there's been a movement to take the flag down. people feel that it's a very divisive symbol and that sentiment was galvanized last month when those nine people were shot in charleston. you're right this has been really a stunning reversal. >> one republican's call for the flag's removal really standing out. >> absolutely. there was a time last night when a lot of us didn't think this was actually going to happen, that there was going to be a vote this week, might be moved to next week, because there were 25 amendments tacked on to the bill. one representative in particular delivered a very i am passed speech. let's take a listen to what she had to say. >> i cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body

to do something meaningful such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on friday. >> it's really amazing randall with.we heard a lot of sentiment like that. >> there were others that insisted that that flag did not represent hate. there are african-americans who for decades have been saying in fact that flag represented slavery. what comes next? >> absolutely. what is going to come next is that it has to be -- the bill has to be ratified in both houses and then go on to the governor's desk for signature. she actually pushed for this bill, so she will sign it, and we could see the flags come down within the next 24 hours. it could be down by this weekend.

>> diane, thank you. >> there's renewed pressure on congress to approve tougher gun control measures. the families of the charleston church massacre and religious leaders came together wednesday in washington asking congress to vote on legislation to expand required background checks for those who buy firearms. >> a coalition of muslim groups is raising money to support african-american church damaged by fires in the south. at least eight churches have been burned in the three weeks since the massacre to emanuel a.m.e. church in charleston. the muslim groups have raised more than $33,000 and will give the money to the churches next week. >> the executive director of the arab association of new york, speaks to us. >> one third of muslims of african-american, number one our extended families are christians, many of whom grew up in the church. we align in a lot of issues around civil rights concerns

that we have, both as black americans and muslim americans and people don't understand that islam has been in this country sipsens the days of the safe trade. there's an inner connected history, including that they are members of the muslim community. >> they hope to be able to raise $100,000 to give to the churches. >> the deputy commissioner is in charge of the baltimore police department. the mayor fired the commissioner after a spike in violence and murders in the city. the dismissal follows the suspicious death of freddie gray an unarmed african-american man in police custody. >> at a news conference late wednesday afternoon mayor blake thanked commissioner anthony bats for his service and sent him packing. >> we need a change. this was not an easy decision, but it is one that is in the

best interests of the people of baltimore. the people of baltimore deserve better. >> the mayor said that an ongoing spike in murders demanded a change in leadership. the firing comes two and a half months after baltimore plunged into violence following the death of freddie gray. after the riots died down, arrests in the city plum melted and city homicide rate spiked. in may there were 42 homicides a 25 year high. that's called it a crisis and called for help from the federal government. >> this is an all hands on deck. all hands every single resource, every single body, every single personnel on the streets of baltimore. >> tuesday night gunmen opened fire near the university of maryland baltimore. three people were killed and a fourth injured. even amid soaring crime the mayor stood by her commissioner until now even defending him in the face of criticism from his

own force. on tuesday baltimore's police union released its own report on the response to the riots following the death of freddie gray. it pointed the finger squarely at police leadership, saying protests grew into full scale rioting because police were ordered not to engage. it reads in part these riots were without question preventable, however commanders famed to meet professional standards on all levels. as a result, chaos and lawlessness ensued. tensions between the force and commissioner have been running high ever since the protests. the charges brought by baltimore states more than against six officers in the death of freddie gray only deepened divisions. some officers reportedly said the charges made them hesitant to make arrests. at her news conference, the mayor said that tuesday's police report had nothing to do with giving bats the boot but it was time for him to go. al jazeera, new york.

>> the attorney for freddie gray's family joins us from baltimore this morning. attorney gray, thanks for joining us. can you tell us what is the reaction of the gray family to the dismissal of commissioner bats? >> this has happened so fast, and developing news has kept us from dealing with the family about this, but i doubt that they're upset about it, because he was unable to make the changes in police culture to eliminate the racist bias in law enforcement that has existed since baltimore was established and he wasn't able to knock down that blue wall of silence that enables this culture to continue with its immoral behavior, and punishes police officers who are good when they tell on police

officers who are bad. he was not able to get rid of the racist entrenched leadership that continues to implement these old policies and resist change and the union is part and parcel of that. >> you've just reached a question that i wanted to put to you. this report that the union put out criticized not only bats, but also his commander for what they said allows the demonstrations over the freddie gray to morph into riots and arson. to what extent could every done anything about it and does this firing support the union's charge? >> no, it really doesn't. when you have an entrenched older group of police officers that are used to doing it in the same old rotten way and that blue wall of silence which keeps

other police officers from bringing them to justice and you have a command structure that is on the lower levels, has to the new command structures that backs implement it, you have a department that's at war with itself and is doing everything on the lower levels below bats's command struggle to resist these changes. this is a failed effort to reform this department. it will take more than a new commissioner to do it. >> bats was in office for less than two years. was that enough time for anyone to make changes. if you only change one person, what's going to happen with his replacement? is he going to be able to do better. >> it's resistant to change, not impossible to change.

more has to be done than i think any commissioner dan do. you've got entrenched racial discrimination withinnen the department. the black officers have sued the white structure many times about hiring, testing, they have complained about promotions, they have complained about an overall culture of racism that causes police officers to have to arrest innocent black people who aren't committing any crimes just to make the numbers look better. >> i'm sorry, in the time we have remaining i must ask you could you point to one or two things that can be done to deal with these lingering complaints over the years we know they are lingering problems, but what to do. >> there's one simple solution and we're on the verge of it. it just takes an investigation to do it. the federal government has to

come in and take over this department and put it under strict penalties for this officer and with a brand new cultural approach with new rules and new policies. the mayor can step up and say look, enough is enough, you got to come in and you've got to take over this department. i don't want to wait any longer. do it now and if she asks for a consent decree put in this democratic under federal control, then and only then will we get the progress that's necessary for real radical change. >> billy murphy, the attorney for freddie gray's family on the situation in the baltimore police department, thank you for your insights sir. >> new york governor is establishing a federal prosecutor to pursue cases in which a police officers kills a civilian. it's rare for officers anywhere in the united states to be charged. how is the commissioner going to

work? >> community leaders have been saying for years now that because regular prosecutors are too close to the police to act objectively, that something needs to be done. governor andrew cuomo said that has undermined the public confidence especially in cases like the death of eric garner. >> i can't breathe! >> reacting to criticism that prosecutors are too close to officers to hold them accountable, away unusual step is announced. >> the attorney general will be a standing prosecutor to handle any case where a law enforcement officer kills an unarmed civilian, or kills a civilian and there is a question as to whether or not the civilian is armed and dangerous. >> with the governor's order new york takes a very important step forward in this process of ensuring that our system of

justice does provide equal justice under law. >> cuomo said a series of police brutality cases in new york and around the country have made the special measure necessary. >> this situation that we're addressing is a crisis. it's a crisis in this state and it is a crisis nationwide. it is a crisis of confidence in the criminal justice system. >> on hand for the announcement were relatives of some of those killed in police encounters, including the mother of an 18-year-old shot inside his grandmother's home in 2012. >> we know there is much work to be done to ensure that our children our family members and new yorkers are not unjustly killed by police in the first place. >> the announcement was less welcome among police officers. one police union leader issued a statement saying: the rules of law apply regardless to who is

investigating a case but our concern is there will be pressure on a special prosecutor to indict an officer for the sake of public perception and that does not serve the ends of justice. >> with public tuesday towards police violence changing quickly, cuomo defend said his decision. >> i know that this law and this executive order. justice is to be color blind. >> the governor's order is set to last for one year. before it expires cuomo says he will ask the legislature to put a permanent prosecutor or an independent oversight body in place. randall. >> thank you, john henry. >> the clock is ticking for negotiators to finalize a deal with iran. the next deadline is just about 16 hours away, midnight eastern time. in the u.s., if the administration does not hand

congress an agreement by then, the review period will double to 60 days. ali velshi is live for us. negotiators are there is this suggesting we are about to see something happen? >> rarely does one cover something where the information coming from the various parties is entirely contrary. there are reports circulating around iran that a draft has been reached an agreement a draft has been reached and everybody is consulting to get final word on it. on the other hand, in addition to this conference call that president obama has had with negotiators, there is unofficial word out of washington that he has said that the chance of a deal is less than 50-50. there are two kinds of ways of looking at this from washington. if there isn't a deal submitted

to congress by midnight tonight congress then has twice the length of time to review it, 60 days. that's important to washington. that seems to be less important to iranians, but there is really conflicting information. russians are saying that there are no substantive matters to overcome at this point and a deal reached. an op ed in the times today said there are political decisions to be made, but closer than ever before, so very, very unclear what all of this means. lots of leaks coming out of vienna. there was a report that the iranian foreign minister and john kerry were in a room together and got so heated that one of kerry's aids had to come in and say we hear you yelling outside and had to calm things down. some say that's bad others say we're getting down to business now, we've got to close this deal. no particular hint. there's contrary information

coming out of all the camps. >> there have been several missed deadlines. how significant is friday's deadline? >> >> well, so as you know, the main deadline is today but the iranians continues to they didn't set these deadlines in the first place and are not agreeing to anything until they get what they need. iranian media is reporting there is an extension until january 13 for these negotiations. american officials have on background said that's simply not true. again, even the deadline, we can't settle on what the deadline is. the iranians maintained they are not racing toward a deadline. they want the deal they want and will get it when they get it. sanctions are remarkably tough here but they've been used to them for sometime. >> thank you. >> rebounding from financial disaster coming up, atlantic city's casinos say they are doing better, but not everyone

is benefiting.

>> on the money beat this morning, trying to turn around atlantic city, four casinos closed last year. less competition means the remaining gambling halls have seen an uptick. many former workers say any rebound is leaving them behind. >> no justice no peace. >> tensions are escalating. the stakes high in atlantic city, new jersey. casino workers arrested. protesting cuts to their

benefits and salaries. >> the city is making a comeback, but workers say they're being left in the dust. >> it's unbelievable, like wow it's really going to happen, is it really? you still have that faith that it won't happen, like it won't close. >> a mother of two young children, she was a housekeeping assistant. her husband was a cook. both lost their jobs last year, after four of the city's casinos shut down. >> what did you tell your kids. >> >> i told them that my casino was closing and they're like mommy, why why are they closing down? then the little one said where are the people that were working there? i told them we'll be ok. it's going to be ok. i mean, i don't know what to tell them. >> atlantic city has lost more than half of its casino jobs

since 2003 hemorrhaging more than 21,000 jobs. tough times on the boardwalk have left old icons like the trump plaza empty. dreams of a luxurious reinvention, now moth balled, casting a long shadow of disappointment across downtown atlantic city. the mayor remains optimistic. >> when people talk about the failure, that big beautiful building sitting empty has got to be soar for you to look at. >> absolutely. it represents at least 3,000 jobs that we don't have and some of the best restaurants and clubs and bars that we had so we're doing everything we can to try to get it open again. >> there is a silver lining to the casino closures. the ones that remain are rebounding, with revenues up, thanks to less competition. still, the atlantic city area

has an unemployment rate three times the national average. >> after talking with you over the last year, your plan to me sounds like diversification. is gaming still going to be the backbone of this economy though? >> there's no single answer to make our city great. everything's going to be important. cool bars and fine dining and fun dining and clubs is all part. >> an in tox indicating dream but one that may not include all of the city's long time workers. adam may, al jazeera atlantic city. >> are you prepared to sacrifice your morning coffee? coming up, how global warming could soon impact your cup of joe.

>> the washington redskins plan to appeal a federal ruling that canceled their trademark. the judge called the red since name disparaging. le ruling would not prevent using the name, but would allow others to use the logo and team colors without having to pay the team. >> parts of northern nevada are trying to clean up after days of heavy rain led to severe flashing flooding. fire crews south are reno had to rescue people from cars stuck in the waters. some roads are still closed.

>> we've talked about climate change affecting the polar ice caps animals in coastal cities, but there's another threat that could directly impact your morning routine. let's bring in nicole mitchell for today's environmental impact and climate change affecting coffee. >> that gets people's attention first thing in the morning as you're having your cup of joe with that around the world about 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed. this is a huge product it's our most valuable tropical export and become of climate change, we could have reductions in the suitable areas for the coffee growing, in fact, already starting to see that. there's been precipitation exextremes droughts causing prices to push up. here's a look at the top 25 growing countries around the world. as you can see they're mostly equatorial. the temperatures are between

64-70 degrees, trollical elevations usually and if you get warmer than that, they ripen faster degrading the quality of the bean. that's not the only problem. if we have to grow in different areas, it could change the flavor that you like so much. different elevations cause different flavors lower elevations more bland upper more fruity. the warmer temperatures adding to this bug that eats the coffee called the berry botherrer is already causing logies of about 500 million a year, being able to expand its territory because of the warmer temperatures. not just costing more with your coffee cups because of the lack of it, but this produces 120 million around the world depend on it for personal income so it's a big impact. >> thank you nicole. >> on the science beat, a new view of blue toe.

this photo of the dwarf planet was taken by the horizon probe. a 3 billion-mile journey began nine years ago. stephanie sy up next.

>> take a symbol of hate off these grounds on friday! >> history made in south carolina. the state legislature votes to take the confederate flag down from the capitol grounds. >> baltimore's top cop is off the force fired by the mayor amid a spike in violent crime and murders. months after rioting sparked by the death of freddie gray. >> i'm on the island of maui

where a new category of electricity consumer is defecting from the grid entirely. i'll have a report in a few minutes. >> good morning live from new york city, i'm receive as i. the confederate flag will no longer fly on the south carolina state capitol. state legislators approved taking it down. the debate stretched 13 hours passionate and contentious. the statehouse voted overwhelmingly 94-20 to take it down. this marks a rapid reversal in the state. >> this is a state that honors its place in history and

especially its place in the civil war and a lot of the people who live here revere the monuments and icons to that time, but in the last few years there's been a movement to take the flag down. it was galvanized last month when those nine people were slain in charleston. >> the final vote came about 1:00 a.m. and followed more than 13 hours of often contentious debate. >> there has been an absolute evidence of a double standard or dual standard shown to me today. >> grace is not something that we earn. grace is something that comes to us unearned. >> the push to remove the flag followed the killings of nine black church goers last month. jenny horn attended the funeral for one victim. in one of the most emotional speeches, she said it was time

for her colleagues to act. >> and for the widow of senator pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury, and i will not be a part of it. >> it has been a striking change in a state where the confederate flag has flown on or at the capitol for decades its status protected by a law that required super majority of both house to say take the flag down. >> the flag has to be removed 24 hours after the governor's signature. that should happen today. >> any of idea where it will go from here once it comes down? >> it sounds like it's going to be going to a museum here in columbia that has a war relic room. we toured that and there are several flags from the civil war hanging in there.

that's the likely place that it will be put. >> reporting from the capital of south carolina, thank you. >> the deputy commissioner is in charge of the baltimore police. the mayor fired the long time commissioner, and the they betz after a spike in violence and murders in the city. it's the latest twist in a city plagued by unrest since the death of an african-american man in police custody. paul beban reports. >> at a news conference late wednesday afternoon mayor stephanie recallings blake thanked commissioner anthony batts for his service and sent him packing. >> we need a change. this is not an he says decision but one that is in the best interest of the people of baltimore. >> she said spike in murders demanded a change in leadership. batts' firing comes two months after baltimore plunged into

violence following the death of freddie gray. arrests in the city plummeted and the homicide rate spiked. in may there were 42 homicides a 25 year high. batts called it a crise and called for help from the federal government. >> this is an all hands on deck, all hands every single resource, every single body, every single personnel on the streets of baltimore. >> tuesday night gunmen jumped out of two vans and opened fire near the university of maryland, baltimore. two were killed. the mayor stood by her commissioner until now defending him from his own force. on tuesday, baltimore's police union released its own report on the response to the riots following the death of freddie gray. it pointed the finger squarely at police leadership, saying protests grew into full scale rioting because police were ordered not to engage.

it reads in part, "these riots were without question preventable, however commanders famed to meet professional standards on all levels. as a result, chaos and lawlessness ensued." tensions between the force and commissioner have been running high ever since the protests. the charges brought by baltimore states attorney moseby against six officers in the death of freddie gray only deepened divisions. some officers reportedly said the charges made them hesitant to make arrests. at her news conference, the mayor said that tuesday's police report had nothing to do with giving batts the boot but it was time for him to go. al jazeera, new york. >> we spoke with the attorney for freddie gray's family. he is not surprised the commissioner was fired.

>> he was unable to make the changes in police culture to eliminate the racist bias in law enforcement that has existed since baltimore was established, and he wasn't able to knock down that blue wall of silence that enables this culture to continue with its immoral behavior, and punishes police officers who are good when they tell on police officers who are bad. >> murphy says it will take more than a new commissioner to reform the baltimore police department. he wants the federal government to put its own monitor in place. >> new york's governor is establishing a permanent special prosecutor to pursue cases in which a police officer kills a civilian. john henry smith is here with details. as we've seen, it's pretty rare even in high profile cases for police to be criminally charged. >> that's exactly right. community leaders say that's because regular prosecutors are too close to the police to act objectively. governor andrew cuomo said that has undermind the public's

confidence especially in cases like the death of eric garner. >> i can't breathe! >> reacting to criticism that prosecutors are too close to police to hold officers accountable, new york governor andrew cuomo announced an unusual step. >> the attorney general will be a standing prosecutor to handle any case where a law enforcement officer kills an unarmed civilian, or kills a civilian and there is a question as to whether or not the civilian is armed and dangerous. >> with the governor's order new york takes a very important step forward in this process of ensuring that our system of justice does provide equal justice under law. >> cuomo said a series of police brutality cases in new york and around the country have made the special measure necessary. >> this situation that we're

addressing is a crisis. it's a crisis in this state and it is a crisis nationwide. it is a crisis of confidence in the criminal justice system. >> on hand for the announcement were relatives of some of those killed in police encounters, including the mother of an 18-year-old shot inside his grandmother's home in 2012. >> we know there is much work to be done to ensure that our children, our family members and new yorkers are not unjustly killed by police in the first place. >> the announcement was less welcome among police officers. one police union leader issued a statement saying: "the rules of law apply regardless of who is investigating a case but our concern is there will be pressure on a special prosecutor to indict an officer for the sake of public perception and that does not serve the ends of justice."

>> with public tuesday towards police violence changing quickly, cuomo defended his decision. >> i know that this law and this check order will go a long way to what we needed to do, black white, rich, poor, justice is to be color blind. >> the governor's order is set to last one year. before it expires, he said he will ask the legislature to put a permanent prosecutor or oversight body in place. >> up to wonder if other states are considering the same. >> the family of a teenager with out six filed an excessive force lawsuit against the nypd, alleging two officers stopped him outside his home and questioned him before throwing him on the ground and punching him in the face. the 18-year-old was taken into custody and released without charges. >> now to the debt crisis in greece.

the government is finalizing plans for a new proposal to e.u. creditors. leaders say they will prevent details ahead of an emergency summit this weekend. wednesday, the governor requested a new three year bailout program in exchange for immediate reforms. the country needs to move fast as greek banks are running out of cash. those banks will stay closed until monday. >> the prolonged greek banking crisis which has now been extended to monday, the closure of banks and capitol controls that withdraw limits of up to 60 euros each day are now beginning to hurt the greek economy invisible and palpable ways. the athens chamber of commerce said particularly imported meat and grains are being enough sold into the greek wholesale market on a rationed base. you can no longer bias great a supply as you want. secondly, we're hearing that medicines are beginning to run out. certain types of medicines, in

particular. the greek wholesalers association, the multi-national drug makers who sell into the market that association now is saying that three major multi-national drug makers are refusing to sell them the quantity of medicines that they require. this despite the fact that greek wholesalers pay in cash up front for all orders, so those drugs are now beginning to slow down. their supply is slowing down into the greek market, and we have heard from various people who have got relatives and friends in hospital, that some medicines really are becoming difficult to find and certainly we've heard that the hospital system the national health system is no longer providing them for free. it's asking patients to go out and find them. that's definitely in contravention of knoll health

coverage rules, but it is happening. finally, we're beginning to hear that the banking crisis is preventing socially sensitive institutions from accessing their money, one charity a foster care home for 365 abandoned children, the smile of the child is telling us that they cannot make their july payroll. they will therefore not necessarily be able to care, as they would wish for the children in their homes as of july, because they can no longer pay their 400 employees to staff those homes on a regular base. they simply cannot access their money. >> the people of greece feeling the pinch. john for us in athens. asian stock markets rose as beijing took measures to avert sell offs. the nikkei inched up half a%. today's close puts the brakes on

three weeks of a falling market in china. more than $3 trillion in value happen wiped away. marry snow has more on the impact to the global economy. >> the losses have been staggering china's main stock index has lost more than 30% since the middle of june, and markets around the globe are rattled. the question being asked from the streets of beijing to the white house what's next? >> we do live in an age where the -- where our global financial markets are inter connected and interrelated, and activity that we do see in one market could have an impact on other markets. that's something that we carefully monitor. >> put simply, if consumers in china, the world's second largest economy slow their spending, the pain will be felt far outside its borders but just how bad can it get for the u.s.? >> can china if they have a really sharp throwdown can that exert some slowing influences on the u.s. economy? yes, but as a slowdown in china

going to cause another recession here in the united states? probably not. >> then there's the dollar. it's been rising against the backdrop of worry not only coming from china but also from the seemingly imminent default of greece. it's in response to the fear investors continue to seek safety and park money in treasuries and even cash, the dollar could continue to strengthen. that has the potential to hurt exporters hoping to sell their goods abroad. marry snow, al jazeera. >> geosecurities representative thinks we have seen the bottom of the slide. >> i believe the correction actually at one third of the gain this year is really over since the middle of june to this week. i think it's really time for consolidation and the market to stop falling. i think it is time for the

market to stabilize around this level. >> moon says the government has launched various initiatives to stop the selloff but only today did investors really believe it has the resources to prevent a further free-fall. >> a significant and painful milestone, the united nations says the number of syrians who have fled their war-torn country now tops 4 million. the u.n. refugee agency said turkey has had to bear the brunt with 1.8 million people there. lebanon has 1.2 mill syrian ref vees. 1 million others having to jordan, iraq and egypt. a million have fled in the past 10 months, the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation. nearly a quarter million people have been killed in syria since the war began four years ago. >> israel said two citizens are held against their will in gaza. at least one is in hamas custody. israel's military revealed the details wednesday but would not comment further.

at least one of the people was taken captives 10 months ago. it's not clear why squeal is revealing details now. a spokesman for hamas desidelined to comment. >> the marine general said if confirmed, he wants to reassess the u.s. strategy against isil. >> general motors is recalling 200,000 hummers. they have an electrical problem that could cause a fire inside the dashboard. >> medicare plans to pay doctors to counsel patients about end of life care. it's something many medical groups including the american medical association have long recommended. the program will begin next year. >> racing against the clock world leaders scramble to reach a deal to shush iran's nuclear program as another deadline looms in the u.s. >> it's good for the environment, but not for the electric company. why solar panels are creating a unique problem in hawaii.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 8:19 eastern.

officials in ohio are asking for help finding three sisters who went missing during a hiking trip. the women ranging from 16-25 in age were supposed to check in with family members sunday as they traveled through wyoming. their car was found yesterday 20 miles from jackson. >> in washington, the house of representatives has approved changes to the no child left behind law. the measure prevents the federal government from setting academic achievement standards. it gives local districts more control over school and teacher assessments. the senate is considering a similar measure. >> it could soon be easier to stream videos in the sky than in your home. virgin america is launching a wi-fi service speeds 10 times faster than the competition fast enough to watch videos. the service will be able on some planes this fall. >> this is cautious optimism in vienna as negotiators work to limit iran's nuclear exhibits.

key players are at the table. the deadline is 16 hours away, midnight eastern time in the u.s. if the administration does not hand congress a deal by then, the review appeared doubles so as i could days. president obama reportedly told a group of democratic senators there is less than a 50-50 chance that there will be a deal. is the president just managing expectations for is there still political will around this deal? >> >> very unclear as to who's managing what. this morning the iranian foreign minister published and op ed in the financial times sounding optimistic. he reality rated that they are closer to a deal than ever before. at this point it's about political decisions to be made, not technical decisions. this is actually important because there's been a lot of struggle on the technical level

how things are interpreted rules, dates times levels. it seems that the world powers are saying it's down to politics, down to negotiators going back home and saying to their leaders is this deal good enough. there have been rumors that a draft agreement has been made, and it's all but the approvals that we're waiting for. the optimism around here is higher than i've seen in the last two weeks that i've been here and yet in the united states it seems like as you said, president obama is tam ping down expectations. remember, this deadline is more important to president obama because of congressional approval. the way it works if he doesn't hand it to congress by midnight tonight, congress then has two months to approve it by virtue of the break it takes then if they don't, president obama gets to veto it, another 12 days, we're looking at a much longer time period president i.

no definitive information as to whether these talks are actually coming to a close. >> when it comes to these deadlines, which really are beyond this congressional period seem somewhat arbitrary, there is a report on iranian t.v. saying the deadlines could be extended until monday. what have up heard as far as that and is it possible we are just looking at open ended negotiations at this point? >> well, the big tall hotel you see behind me is the hotel i'm staying at. in the last 48 hours a number of international journalists have arrived that is where the head of the international atomic agency was. i was in the hotel a little while ago, watching t.v. and i saw a report of the extension. i started checking in with people. there does not seem to be evidence of this.

western diplomats are saying that is not the case. iranians continues to they are moving toward some type of closure on this, that there isn't a deadline and if they have to talk for a few more days, so be it. western diplomats are tamping down expectations. p5 plus one powers indicate the longer this drags out the less chance of likelihood. no confirmation that the deadline has been moved again to the 13th but that is in the iranian media. >> are the sticking points still the same today as three days ago? >> there seems to be a new thing going on. it's about the lifting of the u.n. embargo and conventional arms missiles basically that iran wants.

it's been under embargo for a long time on that front. there are a lot of different embargoes and sanctions here. the sanctions that are most meaningful for iran are the economic sanctions particularly the swift banking system sanctions that you and i talked about a couple of days ago. iran is saying and they've always said it but it's come to the fore that they want the ability to buy and sell non-nuclear weapons. the western countries in vienna are not interested in that. they think that will contribute to more arms directed into this air, contributing to the unseize in the middle east. russia and china are not on side with that. they are supportive of the lifting of the arms embargo russia interested in doing more business with arms with iran. that might be a ploy to divide the negotiating powers, but that seems to be a sticking point. until now it's nuclear inspections, interviews with iranian scientists, and now

this, the arms embargo. it's very unclear and muddled what's happening in vienna, but this may be the emerging sticking points. >> still waiting for that break through. thank you. >> new controversy for hillary clinton over the use of her personal email account. she said she was never subpoenaed by a house committee over the email but the canning man leading the investigation of the 2012 benghazi attacks denies that. representative tree gaudy said he did subpoena her in marsh and reireissued it wednesday. >> we have to be a lot more productive workforce participation has to rise from its all time modern lows. people need to work longer hours

and gain more income for their families. >> democrats pounced on bush's comments saying americans on average work more hours than any other large industrialized nation. >> new senses bureau numbers show la tone niece account for the largest group in california. in 1990, just over 19 million lived in california compared to 17 million whites. california joins hawaii and new mexico as the only states with a non-white majority. >> the washington redskins plan to appeal now that a federal judge canceled their trademark. the judge sided with native american groups, calling the redskins' name disparaging. the ruling would not prevent the team using the name but would allow others to use the logo and team colors without paying them. >> a coalition of muslim groups are raising money to support

african-american church damaged by fire in the south. eight church have been burned in the three weeks since the massacre at emanuel a.m.e. church in charleston. the f.b.i. is investigating. the muslim groups have raised more than $33,000 and will give the money to the churches next week. the executive director of the arab american association of new york, one of the groups raising money for the damaged churches. >> one third of muslim americans are african-american, our extended families are christians and many grew up in the church. we align in a lot of issues around civil rights concerns that we have, both as black americans and muslim americans and people don't understand that is policeman has been in this country since the days of the slave trade. muslims came here and were slaves, so there's an interconnected history and alliance between us and black communities, including that they are members of the muslim community. >> they hope to raise $100,000 to give to the churches.

>> marking four years of independence south sudan celebrates its freedom amid violence and the threat of famine. >> the growing threat from a designer drug. synthetic marijuana is more dangerous than the natural kind.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. it is 8:31 eastern. the confederate flag could be coming down at south carolina state capitol within days. the house of representatives voted to remove the flag. the bill now goes to the governor. she said she will sign it. >> new york's governor is authorizing the state attorney general to investigate case of deadly police course, coming the year after the death of eric garner in new york city. the officers involved were cleared of criminal wrongdoing. that case was handled by the

local prosecutor. >> the greek government is finalizing its latest proposal for a bailout. european leaders gave them until today to present a formal plan. the government revealed it will request a three year program in exchange for immediate reforms. >> it was four years ago today that south sudan became a new country. today, national security advisor susan rice called the situation heartbreaking. she harshly criticized its government, saying they are directly responsible for a return to war. the nation has been in civil war since 2013. the death toll is believed to be between 10,000 and 50,000 people and the economy on the verge of collapse. some residents say their own government is killing them. >> she was fetching firewood northeast of here. she said she was ambushed by government soldiers.

they allegedly stabbed and shot her multiple times before she was rescued and airlifted to this red cross health center. her brother says the security situation is not what he expected, but he celebrated independence from sudan four years ago. >> if you get independence and you are still dying you can't be happy. if the conflict was not happening, i wouldn't be here, so how can i celebrate. >> having a medical checkup she is days old and her mother says she just wants her child to grow up in peace. >> i want the two sides to come together. it's only the leadership that can bring peace so our children can have a good future. >> there is relative calm in this part of the oil rich upper

nile state but many are poor. the few aid agencies have trouble getting supplies from the capital city. >> some have walked for hours to get here. most of them have been displaced from areas that are far from here where fighting is still going on. >> opposition leaders have been traveling across the continent that and shuttled diplomacy. the rebel leader says he is still committed to the peace process. >> i'm always hopeful that peace will come. if it quits -- if he resigns this is peace. normally, if we look into the history of wars, the president that causes a war is never the person who brings about peace. >> as in government controlled

areas, life is tough for everyone here. food prices have more than doubled. tough restrictions imposed by the ethiopian government at the border crossing have made it more difficult to import supplies. many cautiously hope that this time around, the talks will bring them lasting peace. al jazeera in rebel-held south sudan. >> an independent journalist joins us from south so dan's capital. the opposition leader gave an ultimatum to the president to resign by midnight wednesday. that deadline has elapsed and that hasn't happened. how are people reacting and has it altered the security situation in any meaningful way? >> well, i can give you have they've reacted to it in the same way that they've ranged to

it in previous ultimatums. it's not the first time that the former vice president has given an ultimatum to the president herehere to step down. the president said the former vice president is a rebel, we have no need to listen to him and has completely ignored his ultimatum. speaking to people on the street, there is a lot of hope for south sudan to get out of this crisis. the fight that brought them independence from their northern neighbor, from is a dan was an incredibly brutal fight that lasted more than two decades. there is a sense of optimism on the street, but a sense of, you know a sense that they are very far apart in reaching an agreement. >> you spent time where some of the worst fighting has been. talk about some of your impressions of how often this war is affecting the people, because in that peace, there is

not a whole lot of optimism, ben. >> >> no, not at all. the capital of upper nile state is one of the three states that has been incredibly impact by the civil war here. to give you an idea, to paint you a picture of what it looks like it's the capital of the state but is completely empty of civilians. the up to has changed hands nine times since fighting erupted in december of 2013. most recently, the government army has reclaimed it, but the fighting has been so brutal, that everybody single civilian in that area has sought protection inside a united nations peacekeeping camp. more than 30,000 are in that camp and the conditions are very bad. the health situation is very bad. as the rapey season comes up, it is muddy diseased and a lack of

proper shelter is becoming a greater and greater issue. >> and you also talk about the ethnic tensions within those camps. i want to ask you this. on this anniversary of the birth of sudan a birth which john kerry once said the u.s. mid wifed, national security advisor susan rice said the government and rebels are committing appalling crimes against innocent women children and the elderly, they and their cronies are personally responsible for this new war and self inflict kass and only leaders on both sides can end the violence. what do you make of her statement? >> i would say that the people which south sudan very much agree with that statement. there is a sense that it is a highly political agreement disagreement at the top that has

led to a civil war that has spun out of everyone's control. people here know that it is up to the president and former vice president to reach an agreement. as of right now, they are nowhere near making a deal. >> ben moran, thank you for your in sights. >> russia reverses to describe a massacre during the bass mean war as genocide, voluntary teeing a draft resolution of the u.n. security council condemning the 19 find five massacre. bosnian serbs killed 8,000 people mainly muslim men and boys at a u.n. protected site. two international courts have called the killings genocide. >> pope francis is in bolivia today. he was greeted at the airport wednesday. the president welcomed the catholic leader as an ally in his fight against poverty. he spent a few hours in the

capital. he will address thousands at an outdoor mass in santa cruz. >> on the healthbeat, the c.d.c. is calling synthetic marijuana an emerging public health threat. between january and may poison centers across the country say 15 people died from ingesting coin shuttic cannabis, compared with five in 2014. since last year, there has been a more than 200% increase in people poisoned from ingesting synthetic cannabis. the drug doesn't contain pot. it's dried plant material and chemical additives. >> what are some of the stories that you are hearing about what happens to people on this drug? >> let me first be clear that we oftentimes talk about this drug as if it's a untear thing. the point is, is that you have some underground chemists in

another country who are creating a new chemical they are spraying on material. it's sold at synthetic marijuana, but it really isn't marijuana. nobody knows anything about this chemical. someone takes it, sure they can tell you well i bolt something that looked like spice or k.2 but they have no idea what they took. the only person who knows what was in that batch was the chemist. there's no f.d.a. approval process for this, known knows what this new chemical does to the brain and human body. i can't tell that you a particular chemical that is often in this, what it does, but it runs the gamut depending upon the person and the dose and the environment and what actually chemical was in it. i've been doing this type of research for 40 years. i've never seen anything like it. you used to be able to call a laboratory and say do a drug test for the following drugs. now the tests don't even exist

for these new chemicals. what happens is someone comes into the emergency room, and they know that the person says they took something like this. they are acting unusual but what happens is they don't have a test to even diagnose it. people can't even keep up with this. >> synthetic marijuana is obviously a misnomer in this case, because you don't normally associate violent behavior which has been reported with release to this drug, called spike on the street. is the synthetic drug business gone beyond where public health officials and law enforcement know how to address it? >> every weekend we get media reports of youth coming into the emergency room and some people are dying other having bizarre symptoms. it's hard to keep up with it. it's hard to identify. >> it doesn't even show up in normal drug tests. >> no, it doesn't. we're doing my nearing research

on this. we have to wait for the drug test makers to make a test that we can use. >> how do you do research? you get blood from people that have been arrested for the drug? is that what you do? >> actually, we do urine testing. basically we found that urine test results from high risk people in the criminal justice system often time, the results from those tests fore shadow drug use in the greater community, so what we do is we go out and we collect some urine specimens that the criminal justice system may have collected from those monitored and they test them for five or six drugs and we submitted it for a test of 75 drugs. in order to create the test panel, we have to call toxicologists around the world to find out what is out there and wait for the tests to become available. we have done spedding in washington, d.c. and tampa. we find this among adult

offenders, among juvenile offenders. in fact in the same city, you can find different metabolites in the synthetic cannabinoids for the adult offenders as well as in the juvenile. >> is it worse than other 16 they goetics, bath salts and the like? >> we haven't found in all of our testing any of the synthetic stimulants. it seems like there's just a lot more people using the synthetic cannabinoids. using the term synthetic marijuana probably enhances use as it becomes legalized in the united states, they say it's synthetic, it must be like marijuana. they are deadly wrong. they are playing russian roulette. they do not know how it's going to affect them. it may have been fine with a different batch or friend but may all change when they take

it. >> thank you so much for your expertise on this issue. >> thank you. >> when it comes to green energy in the u.s., hawaii is one of the biggest producers. a lot of homes there have solar panels. that's having an unintended consequence, forcing homeowners off the grid. >> when the owner of this multi-million dollars mansion told his solar installer that he wanted to get off the electrical grid, it was a first. >> it shocked me. i've never seen that before. when the crew came out to do it, they had the exact same response. what they said was here goes our jobs. >> cutting ties to the electric company was not the original plan. with plentiful sun and highest electric rates in the nation, solar seems easy here and the client just wanted to rely on the grid for backup power. hawaii is a complicate place. hawaii is one of the most isolated centers of population in the world. as a result, it's incredibly complicated to provide power. you can't borrow power from the

next state over. you can't borrow power from the next island, they are separated by water too deep. yod a solar power to the mix and things get very complicated. >> these are some screens that show how the grid is operating. >> that means his utility has to closely monitor how much solar power is on his grid by forcing customers to apply for permission to add rooftop systems. >> here in oahu, we have almost 300 megawatts of rooftop solar collectively and that impact or volume of solar that we have is twice the size, almost twice the size of the largest power plant on the side. >> rooftop solar systems that feed into the grid are the problem. the key to defecting from the grid instead that batteries. the luxuries of this house are powered by this bank of batteries. each one of them weighs

2,000 pounds and costs about $5,000. the whole system i also about $40,000 all told. >> these were originally forklift batteries what's what they were kind for and now upped as a solar power retention system. >> john says the batteries solve hawaiian's electric's unpredictable power problem and the utility approved connecting the system to the grid as a learning opportunity. >> when we got it all finished and bath everything, they said we can't do it. i said why. they said because they're not ready for it. they haven't researched it enough. >> it's that sort of cautious bureaucratic attitude that causes customers to defect from the grid. it may not be for everyone, but a handful of ultra russia homeowners seem to be demonstrating the future of household energy. al jazeera hawaii. >> we've talked about climate change affecting polar ice caps and coastal cities, but there's

another threat that could impact your morning routine. let's bring in nicole mitchell. we are talking about coffee. >> a lot of people that don't take climate thank seriously get nervous when you talk about their coffee. over 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day. you might be sharing one as you watch us right now. this is one of the biggest exports of tropical exports around the earth. with climate change, we could have reductions in areas suitable for growing that coffee starting to see it already, but by 2050. we've already seen precipitation extremes, droughts more of that damages crops and pushes those prices up. the top 25 producing countries many are equatorial. arabica tree wants temperatures

64-70. if higher, they ripen faster, reducing the quality. flavors can change. if we have to move them out of these altitudes, if you go to lower at that time tuesday you get more of a bland flavor, upper altitudes more throughouty. there's a coffee bug with that warm temperatures has allowed it to expand. it likes the warm weather. we're losing a half billion a year because of the coffee bug. so many people depend on growing coffee for a living. >> that's true. the other angle is the massive coffee trade contributes to carbon emissions. >> yes. >> fascinating, thank you. >> an amazing new view of pluto. take a look at this deep space snapshot. this photo of the planet was

taken by a probe several miles away from pollute toe after a 3 billion-mile journey that began nine years ago a family of whales gave an alaskan family the thrill of a lifetime. >> i hear them! [ laughter ] >> they were out for a quiet day of fishing when more than a dozen whales greeted them. the pod rocked the boat over as they submerged but no one was hurt. once just for comfort now a status symbol. we take a look at how sneakers have become much more than footwear.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 8:52 eastern, taking a local today's top stories. vladimir putin is hosting a meeting with leaders of emerging nations involving brazil, russia india chain and south africa. they will discuss the economic crisis in greece, isil threat

and ukraine. boko haram offered to release 219 school girls held captive for more than a year in exchange for detained leaders of the group. the offer is similar to one made last year and that fell through at the last minute. >> fifa banned a once top american soccer official for corruption. chuck blazer pleaded guilty in may. he also was key to the u.s. indictment of more than a dozen other officials on those same charges. >> new details about two envelope players injured by fireworks. his right 15er was amputated. tampa bay buccaneers nears corner back wilson lost two fingers. it's not clear if he will return to the game. >> on the tech beat, big questions today over how jobs are advertised on google.

a new study suggestion the search giant is promoting gender discrimination. >> the study was done at carnegie melon university. they used take profiles to visit the top 100 job sites. the profiles had the same basic information. the only difference was the gender. researchers now found gender set to female were shown fewer ads to high paying jobs for males. ads for executive jobs paying $200,000 or more were shown to men 1,852 times. the same ads were shown to women just 318 times. that's about six times more for men. when you put it into the bigger context of men and women in the workforce, it brings to mind the gender breakup across america. the out stores of the study say

it's hard to pinpoint the cause of the gender discrimination. it involves algorithms and way they target ads. >> facebook has made a slight change in design that may say something big to women. icons the text giant uses have always placed women in the background until now. the woman is now in the for front, slightly smaller and no longer has a literal chip on her shoulder. both men and women also received a new hair do. >> on the culture beat, there's a tribute to the rises of the sneaker culture. we have more. >> revered by rappers coveted by consumers. >> a crowd of shoppers rushing

through the entrance at eastland mall. >> nikes reebok, converse and adidas are now also the subject of an exhibition at the brooklyn museum, called the rise of sneaker culture. the first pairs date back to the 1800s and the development of rubber soles for sports shoes. in 1984 when basketball legend michael jordan teamed up to mike key to produce the first air jordans to sneakers became synonymous with status. >> it has become global, but its origin were urban. basketball itself is a very important urban game. the shoe remains some of the central form of footwear for sneaker culture. >> run d.m.c. immortalized their song and favorite shoe, further slid filing the sneaker's place in urban style. >> run d.m.c., the first to

usher in the sneaker culture. they made people recognize that we as young people had a voice and had power. >> forget the fashion statement. this show chronicles techological innovations giving a snug if it to the latest model made from reclaimed plastics. >> still it's the snazzy designs that catch your eye. he remembers the first sneakers he fell in love with. >> a pair of nikes. so colorful. i love colors. i just had to have them. i got a job as a paper boy. i saved up. i think they were 250, 300 and i finally got them one day. i think i wore them every day for two years. >> some make a political statement, others a fashion one. this exhibit makes it clear wearing sneakers like this is saying something. al jazeera, brooklyn, new york.

>> thanks for watching. more news coming up from doha.

>> you have to taste chocolate all day long. >> how one man's passion... >> you take a piece of chocolate and you break it and you listen. >> led to a lifelong obsession... >> i owe my life to chocolate. >> and a dark warning. >> the world will run out of chocolate by 2020. >> i lived that character. >> we will be able to see change.

>> welcome to the news hour. i'm russia care in doha. coming up, the family of an israel believed to be held captive in gaza asks for international help to free him. the number of syrian refugees now tops 4 million. >> in greece, the government extends capital controls. the latest from