the status of a dwarf planet. john hendren, al jazeera. and just a quick reminder you can always keep up to date with all of the news and sport by going to our website, aljazeera.com. ♪ president obama's visiting a federal prison in oklahoma to push for changes to the u.s. criminal justice system. and as the president takes congressional support on the nuclear deal with iran we will take a closer look at what the lifting of sanctions will really mean for iran's economy. and we have gotten an inside look at the mexican prison and escape route for one of the world's most notorious drug lords. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm david shuster. we are following some breaking news out of tennessee. there has apparently been a shooting in chattanooga. details are a bit sketchy, but we're hearing reports of shots fired at a naval reserve center. the mayor confirmed that a policeman was hit. the mall is on lockdown and a hospital is on shut down. the mayor referred to it as: and witnesses are describing something driving a ford must taken who are firing shots at the naval reserve center. we'll stay on top of this story as bring more details as we get them.

president obama has now done what no other sitting u.s. president has done before in american history. this morning mr. obama visited the inside of a federal prison. his tour near oklahoma city has included visits with inmates and talking with law enforcement officials. this hour he is expected to deliver a public speech from the prison. it's part of his effort to reform the nation's criminal justice system. mike how significant is it for the white house to have the president there at this federal prison? >> reporter: well, as you said he's making history being the first president to conduct such a visit. this is one of those moments in this time a tipping point where republicans and democrats are coming together over an issue where you really think they could don't that and that is federal sentencing reform federal prison reform. the violent crime rate in this country is at the lowest rate it has been since the 1970s, and yet the rate of incarceration

still near or at record highs, and that includes federal and state prisons. the president in this federal facility is keeping up a theme that he has kept up all week long, on monday commuting the sentences of some 46 individuals, mostly non-violent offenders, tuesday evening makes a speech to the naacp, and now on thursday, with many events in between, concerning the deal with iran, the president making this undprentsed trip to a federal prison facility. >> how important was it that they choose this prison? >> reporter: well, you put your finger right on it. the president is trying to focus on non-violent offenders. a lot of people put the source of the overpopulation in prison problem in this country to the

so-called war on drugsover the '80s. the mandatory minimums and what is curious about that is you now have republicans jumping on board trying to institute reforms themselves. yes, they are concerned with what also of this is costing, it's costing billions of dollars, some 7 billion just on the federal level each year but john boehner the speaker of the house said this morning, some of these folks are put away on flimsy pretenses. >> i think we should remind our audience we're going to be brings the president's speech outside of the prison when he delivers it. the security situation for the president is actually easier at this particular event, as opposed to a public event. >> right david and we have been to countless presidential

represents where everyone in the public is swept. i guess you literally have a captive population there, where presumably everybody is considered to be without weapons or without anything to potential i will harm the president. >> mike thank you. the united states has the highest incarceration rate in the world, but as the u.s. prison population grows, so does evidence of its harmful social impact and not just in terms of money it costs. one u.s. state is already aggressively exploring alternative models of justice. >> reporter: as the second whitest state in the u.s. maine is not renowned for its ethnic diversity, but here amongst the buildings, a program is underway routed in global indigenous cultures. it asks fundamental questions about the nature and purpose of criminal justice in the u.s. prisoners are being released early so they can learn from

their crimes. >> it hurts the family. it hurts, you know, the surroundings, such as the community. >> reporter: the key is talking within a circle. >> are kind of five keystone questions that we think about. what happens? what were folks thinking or feeling at the time? what have they been thinking or feeling related to it since it has taken place? who has been affected and in what ways have they been affected? and what needs to be done to make things as right as possible. >> reporter: juvenile offenders can escape incarceration all together. >> there are too many people in prison. >> reporter: charlotte is a gallery owner who chose to confront the two boys who robbed here to make them understand why what they did was wrong, instead of having their lives potential lived by jail time. >> just had the feeling that the kids who had done that had never

really felt connected with -- with the community. >> reporter: restorative justice began to catch on as incarceration levels reached records. in some states modern u.s. law enforcement is looking to aboriginal tradition. >> it was in their best interest to bring them to the center and say you have really messed up and we have got to figure out a way for you to learn from your misbehavior to make it up to the people you have harmed and to return to being a functional productive member of our community. >> reporter: this boy would still be locked up had it not been for the restorative justice program. he broke into and vandalized a house when he was 12 years old. he since worked for the home owners and paid them restitution. >> the first meeting was really emotional, because he was telling us how much damage we caused.

>> reporter: he is returning to school soon. he is clear about his goal. it's on your arm. >> yeah i just got that the other day, actually. rrpg and those like him are less likely to reoffend and almost all of those offended against feel justice has been served. and now to theclear deal with iran. vice president joe biden is back on capitol hill again today, trying to convince u.s. lawmakers to go along with the agreement. he'll talk with democrats on the foreign relations committee today. nancy pelosi said this morning that she will support the deal. grait britain's foreign secretary says the deal with iran ensures that the country will remain peaceful. >> we believe removing the threat of a uranium bomb which we are confident this agreement

does, while allowing iran to reengage with the international community is the best and perhaps the only way to build overtime the trust that will allow a dialogue on the many other issues we have with iran. >> the british foreign secretary jest met with one of the harshest and most vocal critics, israeli prime minister benjamin netenyahu. mr. mr. iranians say they have high hopes for their country once sanctions are lifted. ali velshi met with business owners and entrepreneurs with dollar signs in their eyes. and for them choosing money over nuclear ambitions was a no-brainer. >> translator: we need to have relations with the world. we need to export what we make, and import some things that are not worth creating in house. >> reporter: this is an executive in a car parts factory

west of tehran. he is hesitant to talk politics but eager to tell us that given a choice between iran's nuclear am bigses and the country's economic prosperity, he would choose integrating iran back into the world economy. >> translator: in this you yeek moment in time, iran needs to move away from its oil exporting base. >> reporter: this is part of iran's auto industry, one of the largest in asia. it is second onlying to iron's oil and gas industry. he said the sanctions forced him to make parts instead of importing them. now that sanctions are about to be lifted he thinks iran is ready to export cars to the world. in addition to oil and cars sanction taken a bite out of the persian car tet industry. this is a trader working from his small shop. a few years ago business was so good, he was sending a shipping

container full of carpets to the united states every week. but the sanctions stopped that. >> translator: some 20% of our population is involved in this industry. we have coloring workshops, sellers, dealers, when we can't export our product abroad we have to depend on local demand. if sanctions get lifted we'll see a boom in our industry. >> reporter: the sanctions imposed are amongst some of the tougherest ever imposed on a country and the effect has been rampant inflation. in my hands i have 3 million real of the currency unit divided into 5,000 notes. this is worth $100. and three years ago this was worth $250. one way iranians try to hedge the inflation is to buy gold that's why this man says his jewelry business tends to do well in good times and bad, still he says iran's plummeting

currency poses challenges. >> translator: program of 18 carat gold we have in one day. and in one hour we have so many different prices. it causes us many problems. >> reporter: despite the hardships sanctions pose for most local high-tech entrepreneurs tell us they offered opportunities that otherwise wouldn't have been there for them. this man is founder of saba idea, a technology firm that has taken off with a youtube-like product. >> translator: sanctions increased our cost of research and development, because we weren't allowed to collaborate with foreign companies abroad but we also benefited from the sanctions, because they forced us to develop products and services on our own. still i think once sanctions are lifted, we will be able to deliver our product with more efficiency. >> reporter: and now that a deal

on iran's nuclear program is in place, many in iran are hopeful that the chances for opportunity and economic prosperity will only grow. ali velshi al jazeera. we want to bring you up to date on some of the breaking news coming out of tennessee. there has been a shooting in chattanooga. here is what we know now. the u.s. navy says there was a shooting at a navy recruitment center, which is near a highway. there had been initial reports it was a u.s. naval reserve center. but that is not accurate. you can see the police tape there. local malls and a nearby community college have been locked down. a hospital nearby is also onaid to have received victims. the major confirmed that it was a police officer who was shot. >> we have got an officer down. we had somebody out there shooting at our army reserve center. this is one -- this is a very

very terrible situation, and we need to go figure out how we can handling it. >> police are not sure if the gun plan has been -- exactly where the gunman is. but in any case the manager of the broadly square mall where this happened confirmed that the mall is on lockdown. and this particular mall does house a tennessee national guard recruiting center. and it was put on lockdown. the u.s. navy says that an earlier tweet that this happened at a naval reserve center was incorrect. it did happen at a navy recruitment center and you saw the report that the bradley mall has been put on lockdown and there are several reports about the police effort to try to find the gunman responsible. but a lot of facilities have been put on lockdown as a

precaution. police have closed several roadways and highways. as we get more information we'll bring it to you. now to greece that country is getting a cash infusion less than 24 hours after lawmakers agreed to reforms and deep cuts. european creditors have agreed to a $7 billion bring loan. the head of europe's central bank says it's the first step towards getting the greek banks back open. the european union ministers will start a discussion on a bailout for the nation. simon mcgregor-wood has more on the developments. >> reporter: with this announcement it's sweetening the bitter pill for mr. tsipras who pushed through this deeply contentious package of laws last night at great political cost to himself. it is a little bit of relief a little bit of reward from the

european creditors, if you would like, to allow a little bit more money into the system. we are even hearing rumors that some banks may reopen as soon as monday. so it's a little bit of breathing space. we're by no means out of the woods yet. one of the things he did say that was encouraging for the greeks as well i think, was he spoke very confidently about the greek government paying back a $3.3 billion interest payment on a european central bank loan which falls due on monday. in that would suggest, the experts say, that this bridging finance of about 7 billion euros that the greeks desperately need in the next few days is pretty much going to be confirmed probably tomorrow. so, again, the connection that mr. tsipras can make to a very skeptical greek public we take these difficult situations and they are connected to our situation being made slightly

easier. mexican drug lord joaquinel chapo guzman is still on the run, and now we're getting an up close look at how he escaped. >> reporter: behind me is the maximum security prison where many of mexico's more dangerous or high profile criminals are locked up, and none of them are morneau torturous than joaquin guzman who was captured and taken here in february of 2014. cell number 20 was home to the world's most wanted drug lord for 16 months until last saturday evening, in which he sat down on the bed of his cell and put on his shoes. he then got up and went into this area which is one of the only areas in this cell where the cameras can't see him, and he then knelt down and kept going lower and lower until he

actually disappeared into this hole which then goes down into a tunnel which extends for 1.5 kilometers. it is worth noting that this prison is a huge maze and we passed through so many corridors and so many security doors just to get to this cell that it's impossible to know where exactly you are inside. and that makes it even more amazing and suspicious that el chapo's residue team new exactly where their tunnel had to come up. and behind me is the building where joaquin guzman eventually emerged after going 1.5 kilometers in his underground tunnel. a luxury tunnel that has ventilation, electric lighting and even a motor bike. there is now a manhunt throughout the country to try to catch him. mexican authorities are

offering a nearly $4 million reward for his arrest. george h.w. bush is in the hospital after breaking a bone in his neck. his office released a statement saying the elder bush never lost consciousness. he is the oldest living former living president in the united states. the plan according to doctors is to let the injury heal on its own without surgery. the 91 year old will wear a neck brace and stay in a hospital for physical therapy. just ahead we'll get the latest from chattanooga, tennessee where there has been a naval shooting.

bring you up to date on some of the breaking news out of tennessee. there has been a shooting in chattanooga. here is what we know so far. the u.s. navy says there was a shooting at one of its building

on the highway, and the navy says this was a navy recruitment center. local malls and a nearby community college have been locked down. a hospital has apparently been put on lockdown and has been warned to receive potential victims. the mayor confirmed that it was a police officer who was shot. >> we have got an officer down. we have somebody out there shooting at our army reserve center. this is one -- this is a very very terrible situation, and fwheed to go figure out how we can handle it. >> some of the eyewitnesss say it was somebody driving a car with a high powered rifle who was shooting from the car at the recruitment center and because it was a military office per se that was shot a number of military recruitment centers in the area have also been essential i will warned including the bradley square

mall. the manager of that mall says that his series of stores have been put on lockdown because there is a tennessee national guard recruitment center there. and it's not clear if that is where the shooting was or just a mall nearby where people are taking precautions. police still looking for somebody who apparently filed shots at a navy recruitment center in chattanooga and injured an police officer in the process. as more information comes in we'll bring any latest information to you as it develops. nasa has developed -- has released some stunning new pictures of the surface of pluto, the photos were captured by the new horizon space probe and showed the planet covered with huge mountains, and scientists believe they were actually made of ice. and that is a sign that pluto

has water. there are also no obvious impact kralters, meaning that pluto is less than 100 million years old. >> yesterday america's space program took another historic leap for human kind. today the new horizon's team is bringing what was previously a blurred point of light into focus. >> the spacecraft traveled for more than nine years and 3 billion miles to get to pluto. speaking of outer space just 14 men, all american have walked on the moon and some of them took home souvenirs, now several astronauts and their families are auctioning off what they found. and it has prompted some serious legal fights and a presidential intervention. adam may reports.

>> reporter: apollo astronauts. they won the space race beating the soviets to the moon, and captivated the world. they were heros with the right stuff, bringing home moon rock and mementos souvenirs of their historic journeys. nearly half a century later, space artifacts and memorabilia from the apollo missions are worth a small fortune, with some items tells for tens even hundreds of thousands of dollars. >> last call. sold $50,000. >> right now, space is the most popular collectible. >> robert perlman is the founder and editor of collectspace.com. >> so if you have a pecking

order, that is at the top level. >> is that the most valuable? >> that is the most valuable and was it stained with moon dust. one of the checklists on their wrist almost every page is coated in moon dust and reportedly sold to a private entity for $2 million. >> but who owns and who can tell this moon swag has until recently been up in the air. ed mitchell put the camera he use up for auction in 2011. the space agency sale. mitchell turned over the camera. but apollo astronauts pushed back. saying there was an informal agreement allowing them to hang on to their space souvenirs. and president obama quietly signed hr 4158 into law. it allows apollo astronaut to

keep and cash in on items they brought home. but the newing law only benefited the apollo astronauts and didn't do anything for astronauts who came later. proof that once again, the apollo astronauts have the right stuff. adam may, al jazeera, houston, texas. >> we want to take you back to the breaking news out of tennessee where authorities say there is an active shooting scene this chattanooga. the u.s. navy says that there was a shooting at its recruitment center on the highway, local malls and a nearby community college have been put on lockdown place as you can see have put up some of the tape and we believe that is the site of the shooting this morning. a hospital has been warned to take precautions. nearby community college has told students to stay inside. and the mayor confirmed that a

police officer has been shot. >> we have got an officer down. we have got -- we had somebody out there shooting at our army reserve center. this is a very very terrible situation and we need to go figure out how we can handle it. >> one of the things they are trying to handle now is whether this is indeed still an active shooting, which would suggest that this person may be on the loose or whether this was simply the effort of a shooter to fire shots at the recruitment center and take off, and that's the end of it. but police have not been able to make any arrests, apparently. you can see the video there. they have closed down several roadways, and they have told people in the area to take precautions. we'll bring you more information as we get it. i'm david shuster. thanks for watching al jazeera america. ♪

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♪ ♪ greece gets emergency cash to keep it's businesses afloat. >> i am lauren taylor, live from london, also coming up. >> celebrations in adan after fighters are pushed out and members of the compiled government begin to return. the egyptian ship erupts in flames after being targeted by fighters. also, it is bigger than we thought.