>> it could save a species... >> i feel like we're making an impact >> techknow's team of experts show you how the miracles of science... >> i'm standing in a tropcal wind storm... >> ...can effect and surprise us... >> wow, these are amazing... >> techknow, where technology meets humanity! only on al jazeera america hello everybody, this is al jazeera america, live from new york city i'm david shuster. just ahead, air strikes in syria, the pentagon is expanding its bombing campaign. military leaderings say this is about isil not president assad. president obama just unveiled a plan to reduce carbon emissions by double digits many states don't like it and are already planning to file lawsuits. the tech world is not happy with some people in philadelphia. a hick hiking robot lasted only

a few hours in the city of brotherly love before getting attacked. ♪ we begin this hour with the expansion of u.s. military actions in syria. the stepped-up rhythm of u.s. attacks comes amid some new reminders about the dangers for civilians in syrian's civil war. a fighter jet crashed into a market killing at least 27 people. meanwhile an independent monitoring group called air wars says u.s.-lead air strikes against isil fighters in syria and iraq have killed more than 450 civilians. the u.s. military says since the strikes began a year ago, only two civilians have been killed. there are concerns the policy

could make the u.s. more directly engaged with the regime of syrian president, bashar al-assad, and that's something the obama administration has pledged to avoid. jamie macintyre joins us live from the pentagon with the latest. jamie? >> reporter: david, the u.s. has said all along, once the fighters it trained to take on isil got into harm's way it would have a moral obligation to come to their aid, but it stopped short of saying what form that aid could take until this past friday when the u.s. authorized air strikes to support the new syrian forces on the ground. smoke rises over the northern syrian city as a result of multiple u.s. zone strikes friday that help repel an attack on a group of syrian opposition fighters which included just over 50 members of what has been dubbed the new

the pentagon says they were co-located with other syrian rebels. at least one u.s.-trained fighter was killed and two division 30 commanders were captured by the al-nusra front. the air strikes the pentagon says made good on the promise to provide air defensive power if the forces came under attack by anyone. but a pentagon spokesperson down played the idea that u.s. air power was broadly backing rebels fighting the go. >> we are not at war with the regime. this is not something we view as inviting confrontation with assad in any way. >> that's not the way it is seen by russia who called the policy

counterproductive. air strikes can be conducted against any forces because it's hard to tell who is fighting who. pentagon officials said while it is possible assad forces could come under air attack it's unlikely. assad is in control of an ever-smaller part of his country. >> we have cautioned syrian forces in the past not to become engaged with aircraft. on capitol hill john mccain had the opposite criticism, that the air strikes limited to supporting only the handful of troops directly trained by the u.s. don't go nearly far enough. in a statement mccain said it is disappointing that the support we provide appears limited only to northern syria, and will not extend to syrian troops righting isil in the south and other parts of the country.

pentagon sources say as of now, all of the armed strikes carried out in syria have been done by drones, because the u.s. has not neutralized syrian air defenses. in addition the pentagon announced the first armed drones are flying out of the air base in turkey and in a few weeks man flights will be taking place out of there as well. but the plan now is for those manned flights to hit targets in iraq. jamie mcentire thank you. as we mentioned at the top of the broadcast at least 27 people died today when a syrian war plane crashed into a small town held by rebel forces. >> reporter: this girl is looking f rescued, wounded, and in shock. in the chaos after the destruction, the helpers didn't

seem sure where to take them for help. >> translator: it is a popular market that is packed with vendors who you can see are under the debris. the war plane, its pilot and rocket hit the market and damaged it completely. >> reporter: more than a dozen were reportedly killed and many more wounded. when it carried out the air strike the war plane immediately went down. bodiesover people are still under the rubble. at a makeshift hospital nearby the injured were treated. most hospitals have been destroyed. act vis -- atavists say it is a deliberate tactic. the town was under attack by the syrian air force at the time of the crash. rebelled posts message that they shot down the plane, some witnesses think the jet may have

developed a fault. >> translator: when the pilot fired two missiles on civilians in the popular market his aircraft got technical problems so it fell where it carried out the air strike. >> reporter: it crashed in the center of the town and left a trail of destruction, homes, shops, and market stalls were all destroyed. >> translator: i was with my nephew on the sidewalk and felt a huge explosion. the guards came to rescue me. >> reporter: this is no longer a syrian government strong hold much line much of idlib. that's why since may government attacks have intensified and hundreds of civilance have been killed. in jerusalem thousands of israelis took to the streets to protest two stunning murderers that are being called hate crimes. meanwhile there was a funeral

today for one of the two murder victims, an israeli teenager killed at a gay pride parade. stephanie decker has the latest. >> reporter: the vigil took place here and people gathered to remember the 16-year-old girl. her family issued a statement who said she was killed basically because she was there to support people's rights to live. they said they would be donating her organs to save another life. her friends family and supporters rathered. they lit candles, and played her favorite songs. really pressure coming out to do more to tackle these jewish extremists. the orthodox man who carried out this attack did it ten years ago a and was released from prison just a few weeks ago.

however, also of course less than 24 hours later, we had the separate attack arson attack on a palestinian home in the occupied west bank so very strong language coming out from the israeli government calling these acts of terrorism, and that they will be doing everything to bring them to justice. the israeli security cabinet said they will call israeli jewish detention for suspects. what does it mean? we spoke to a human rights lawyer. she told us it has always been the case they just haven't really implemented it. so we'll have to wait and see when it goes to the israeli parliament. they will be convening on tuesday to discuss the bigger

to assure leaders of skeptical gulf nations that the nuclear deal with iran is a good one. >> reporter: a delicate mission for the u.s. secretary of state. john kerry is trying to convince long-standing allies that rooirn's nuclear deal with world powers will bring peace and prosperity. >> translator: the five other european countries have technology and knowledge in the nuclear field, the countries of the council welcomed it on this basis, and on what john kerry demonstrated about iran's development of nuclear weapons and also the direct inspection to stop them of obtaining nuclear weapons. we hope for more from this. >> reporter: in a bid to allay their fears, the u.s. has offered to sell advanced weapons

and upgrade the region's defense capabilities. >> today my counterparts and i discussed the steps that we will take, and how we intend to build an even stronger more enduring and more strategic partnership with particular focus on our cooperative counter terrorism, counter insurgency and also on our cooperation in countering the destabilizing activities taking place in the region. >> reporter: the predominantly sunni muslim gulf countries need more than just reassurances. they accuse iran of backing their shia proxies and interfering in the region. accusations dismissed by iran which has recently called for more cooperation with its neighbors. russia could be the country to bridge differences between iran and itself arab neighbors.

foreign minister sergey lavrov says russia is willing to help negotiate political deals in syria and yemen. >> translator: we have always been in favor of the bloodshed stopping in syria, and we are not giving any kind of unconditional support to anybody except the syrian people. and the main threat in that country, to our mind and in the middle east as a whole, is that which emanates from the so-called islamic state. >> reporter: an agreement between all sides in doha could put an end to the war in syria and increased fighting in yemen. >> reporter: the policy of the united states is clear. we believe assad, and the assad regime long ago lost legitimacy. in part because of hisinst syrian people themselves. and that has been a magnet for

foreign fighters drawing them to syria, fuelling the rise of daesh, and other violent extremist groups and since there is no military solution to syria's challenges there has to obviously be a political solution. >> reporter: the u.s. says iran's nuclear deal is a good one, but arab leaders feel the opposite. their biggest concern is iran building strong ties with the west and with positioning it's a as the most powerful country in the region. saudis have warned they will do whatever it takes to match iran's military capabilities. president obama today unveiled a major plan to confront climate change. speaking at the white house he said he wants a massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from coal-burning power plants. it would assign each state a target for reducing its carbon emissions.

by setting these standards we can speed up our plan to a cleaner safer future. carbon emission from our power plants will be 32% lower than a decade ago. >> the president says no other issue poses a threat to our future than climate change. joining us now is the director of american energy policy. what is your reaction to the president's plan? >> well it's exciting. it's the single most ambitious plan that any president, not just president obama has taken on to address this urgent threat of climate change. and it is going to set our country on the course towards a cleaner, lower carbon energy future. >> is it fair to also say it is going to cost a lot of jobs of a lot of people who work in coal-fired power plants.

>> i disagree. the coal industry has been suffering from market forces for many years, well before the clean power plan was even proposed. and the clean power plan offers states the opportunity to create new jobs in clean energy which are jobs that may be outsourced. >> we may disagree about whether the coal fired power plants should have been shut years ago, but this is going to expedite the process, right? of causes some of these power plants to close. >> coal is the dirtiest form of energy that we use today. and to meet our emission targets, we are going to have to find cleaner ways to burn -- to generation electricity, and that is going to mean cleaner natural gas, solar and other renewable sources of energy and fortunately those sources of energy are cost competitive now. >> what about the argument we

heard from several republicans about if this is such a great idea why didn't he go through congress? >> the republican majority in congress is unwilling to do that given who they receive campaign contributions from, the coke brothers and others, therefore, he is taking the most significant plant that he can. until today, power plants were able to emit unlimited amounts of pollution, and that is not acceptable. >> why not go after some of the other emissions across the country as well the electric power sector is the largest source of carbon pollution in the united states, and therefore, the most important one for us to tackle head on. energy is integrated throughout

our economy, and until we address how we generate energy in this country, we're not going to make much progress. >> allison thanks for coming on. we appreciate it. >> thank you. still ahead, crews in california are battling a string of dangerous wildfires. we'll take you to the front lines, where drought and lack of water have forced the firefighters to get creative.

♪ ♪ ♪ get excited for the 1989 world tour with exclusive behind the scenes footage all of taylor swift's music videos interviews, and more. xfinity is the destination for all things taylor swift.

credit giant moodies now says that puerto rico is in default after the u.s. territory failed to make a bond payment this past weekend. they were supposed to make a $58 million payment on saturday. they were only able to pay $628,000. the governor says the island's debt needs to be restructures.

some are urging the island to declare bankruptcy but the goveng-term fiscal plan ready by the end of this month. in greece the stock exchange opened for the first time in five weeks, and market prices promptly plunged. david greece's financial tragedy hit another low point today. the stock market in athens opened and the main point plunged 28% at the open. since june 30th greece has agreed on a new bailout deal with his creditors. but the deal has yet to be implemented and could get derailed in the coming weeks. today's route of the greek stock

market was mostly lead by bank shares. they have seen their deposits severely depleted over recent months. but because of strict capital controls imposed in the wake of greece's default in june deposits withdrawn by greeks can't be used to buy shares on the stock market. so the huge losses today, losses that amounted to 16% by the time the market closes -- closed more than anything the stock market's tumble reflects the deep uncertainty that still plagues greece's economy. that is expected to shrink by as much as 4% this year spending greece out of recession. believe it or not, greece had come out of recession, but it looks like the makings of a true greek tragedy. >> ali velshi to thank you very much. general motors is now

offering to give the families of 120 people killed in ignition switch crashes at least $1 million each. all accidents appear to have been caused by faulty switches. about 17 victims suffering life-altering injuries will also be compensated. right now there are 21 wildfires burning in california. the biggest one the rocky fire has consumed more than 60,000 acres with a containment report of only 12%. what is being done to try to gain control of the fire? >> reporter: this really i you can see behind me. the firefighters here represent california's finest from all across the state. we're talking over 2,000

personnel, and essentially it's just defensive action. they are using -- trying to use the freeway as natural barrier. if the fire jumps that barrier, there is no barrier beyond it. >> and jerry brown says drought conditions and extreme weather have made california a tinderbox. how are those factors coming into play here? >> reporter: they are a huge part of it. veterans are saying they have never seen anything like this. by day 2 they expected this to peak. instead they found themselves stalled and the fire gaining strength. it's because there is no water here. the drought has made the trees die or dry out at a rate that makes them incredibly powerful fuel. and fire is coming back and burning the area again. so we're seeing as governor

brown says a tinderbox here. >> we were just talking in our last segment about the white house which has unveiled an aggressive new climate change. what connection can be drawn tweeze the fires and climate change? >> reporter: there are all of the immediate factors that affect the lives of these firefighters. things like difficult ter terrain and obviously the sdrouth a huge problem. but there are also global connections. the warming waters have meant that the cool nights with a lot of humidity that you typically get here nights these firefighters rely on to tamp down the flames those do not exist. it is a hot and dry kind of night that they are seeing here so they don't get a break. the fires would typically sort of die down overnight, and give them a chance to get it under control, all of that is gone. >> jake we know the state has

been grappling with water conservation efforts, and i understand that the drought is forcing some creativity by these fire crews. tell us a little bit about that. >> reporter: it's unbelievable to watch, david. you see them come in with tanks and helicopters and dipping into any water association they can find. there were ponds being dredged and dumping. they are taking anything they can. they will take it from golf courses and what would be drinking water for cows in this case on our way back we saw fire ungel fing those same areas where they were drawing water. so the creativity of these firefighters is pretty extraordinary in trying to battle something with none of the resources they are used to. >> jake thank you. straight ahead, policing in america, big city police chiefs

from across the united states talk about the challenges facing officers as they try to keep the streets safe. and the fight over planned parenthood the latest push from republicans.

the u.s. military is expand expanding its bombing campaign in sar -- syria. the pentagon says it is fulfilling a pledge to protect the forces it has trained. but the movement has raised concern with possible direct engagement with fighters for president bashar al-assad. this is part of the effort to rely more on the drones and give them more free reign in their attacks. joining us is the former

secretary of defense. ambassador korb by defending the syrian rebels, isn't the itself effectively wade going syria's civil war. >> technically, yes, but realistically no. because assad is not coming after these forces. he is still fighting the people they want to overthrow them. these forces we have trained are there to go after isis and it will be only be on the defensive mode. it's only offensive if assad was foolish enough to threaten the troops. >> is there a danger though that assad decides to engage? >> well there's always a danger, but i think it's much more to send a singal to those people on the ground who we have had a great deal of difficulty in recruiting that we have their

backs. particularly last week al-nusra did come in and seize their leader. >> is it very difficult to try to identify and separate out those groups that are just battling isil as opposed to those groups which have a vested interest in the outcome of whether assad stays in power? >> well yeah i mean in addition to that you have the different kurdish groups that the turks are attacking now. so yeah it's very, very very difficult. but our air force right now are supporting these people on the ground, against people they are fighting on the ground. if assad should come in it will probably be with his air force or missiles so we would go after him. but up until now he has shown no tendency to get involved in this fight. >> russia has stepped up its criticism of the u.s. air strikes. it says it will increase chaos

in the middle east. what is your thought on that? >> russia is backing assad, the russians and the iranians are keeping him in power, and i think what the russians are looking for is some sort of negotiated solution to end this mess because right now you don't just have assad and the people trying to get rid of him, you have an al-qaeda group in there, and isis in there, and the turks trying to set up a safe zone along their border. the russians do not want us to some after assad, because that would put them in the position of are they going to rescue him. john mccain is praising the u.s.'s decision to get more involved but says it is not enough. any truth to his criticism? >> well mccain has wanted -- mechanic cane and a

lot of his colleagues have wanted us to get more involved in the fight against isis not only in syria, but in -- in iraq so therefore, he would like to see us take the offensive. he would even like to see some american ground troops there with these troops that we have trained. it's -- that's not going to happen. at least as long as president obama is in office. in fact it took him a month even to allow this defensive, you know operation to occur. and as i say, it's much more so question get recruits, because if they feel they don't be protected they might not go in or a lot have already defected? the suspect wanted in the shooting death of memphis police officer is in custody. he turned himself in. he is accuseded of shooting the officer several times after he apparently interrupted a

low-level drug deal. police say he was an ex-con on supervised release. he is now facing a charge of first degree murder. three major u.s. cities are still reeling after a weekend of horrifying gun violence. in chicago there was a series of shootings that killed three people and wounded 37 others. in new york city ten separate shootings left three people dead and 19 others wounded. and in baltimore gun violence climbed the lives of two people and injured nine. john you are down the road in baltimore. what have they discovered today? >> reporter: good evening to you. it is no coincidence whatsoever that the major cities chiefs associate has been meeting in washington, d.c. today to discuss this spike in violence that has been going on. 70 people were here at the

museum in downtown d.c. representing all 30 of the cities that the major cities chiefs represent. including baltimore and chicago, and there and places across the country, they are only too aware of what is going on. francis slay is the major of st. louis, and he says his city has seen a major spike in violence ever since ferguson broke out a year ago. but after discussions with everybody present it became clear there isn't one single thing that you need to do to try to stop this. >> this is a time to asubscribe a single solution to it. >> reporter: now that being said

the chiefs did come up with four things that they say will help if you do them. for example, referencing guns enhanced crimes also better community partnership, prosecution and sentencing reforms, particularly, they said regarding repeat offenders, and synthetic drugs. apparently these new synthetic drugs are out there. there isn't regular testing for them. and they want increased testing, because they say synthetic drugs cause erratic and dangerous behavior. >> are there a lot of people who think that this is the result of police abandoning their posts or perhaps overreacting. >> yeah it's called the ferguson effect. there's a feeling in the country that some police are walking away from their responsibilities while others

are even overreacting which causes a spike in violence. well, no evidence of that according to kathy lanier the d.c. police chief. >> the national narrative of the ferguson effect and officers just not working or being involved in too many uses of excessive force, if you compare it to the small number of police shootings, i think it doesn't support that narrative. >> reporter: now, all of those police chiefs and their elected guests apart from kathy lanier who lives here are heading home. and down the road from the museum at the white house, we are told that president obama is taking a very keen interest in all of this particularly in what is happening in baltimore, which is not far away. and according to josh earnest, he says the president has instructed the doj to stay focused on anything that can be

done to try to stop this violence. >> john terrett in washington. thanks as was. in colorado a jury said they do want to consider the death penalty for james holmes. the jury returned a -- unanimous vermont. if one juror would have disagreed disagreed holmesav without possibility of parole. a comedian and u.s. senator joined forces today. amy schumer joined her cousin to unveil a plan to make it harder for criminals and the mentally ill to obtain guns. she made the outpouring after two people were shot and killed

during the debay of her movie "train wreck." >> there is a way to stop them. preventing dangerous people from getting guns is very possible. >> senator schumer's legislation would reward states for increasing background checks. wal-mart and others have agreed to pay more than $300,000 for violating a law preventing the sale of real-looking toy guns. kristen saloomey has the story. >> reporter: not one of the guns in this arsenal is real but it can be difficult to tell. that's why new york passed laws requiring bright colors at the

tip. >> year after year we have shown that wal-mart and kmart close profit over safety. >> reporter: an investigation found more than 6,000 cases in the last two years of retailerings like wal-mart sears and samson still selling the realistic guns online and in the case of kmart in stores. each has agreed to pay thousands of dollars in fines, and comply with even tougher standards. wal-mart.com has revised its policy. it said in a statement: the move comes on the heels of the shooting of 12 year old ta mere rice who was playing with a pellet gun in a park when he was killed by a cleveland police officer last november. in the last 20 years, there have been 63 shootings in new york

state because of toy guns. eight of them fatal. a half dozen states, puerto rico and district of columbia bee have laws on the books regarding toy guns. the irony is the consumer protection agency has no say when it comes to the sale of real deadly weapons. gun safety advocates applaud new york's efforts but say more to be done to protect the public. >> it's a real public health crisis and the fact that congress has chosen not to regulate this very pervasive and lathal product is a great tragedy. >> reporter: real guns kill more than 33,000 americans a year. in the u.s. senate republicans tried and failed earlier today to advance a bill to cut federal funding for

planned parenthood. the organization has been in the spotlight because of secretly recorded material that allege it sold fetal material for profit. >> reporter: republicans have been mobilized by this series of videos by an anti abortion group. they secretly taped planned parenthood -- officials. one of the videos shows a doctor meeting with people talking about selling cells of fetuses. planned parenthood said this is part of a setup and the organization does not make money fromeplicans are pushing forward.

the republican from texas was among many who called this action cavalier. >> our collective conscious was shocked by videos discussing the harvesting and sale of the organs of unborn babes. >> reporter: david, planned parenthood has not been charged with doing anything illegal, and a federal judge has banned the release of any more videos. democrats say they republicans are just trying to defund an organization conservatives have been trying to attack for years. >> the republicans and their extreme allies have been out to get planned parenthood for decades. >> reporter: center barbara boxer said the fight over the tissue sale played out decades

ago. and she points out it has contributed to finding vaccines for things like polio and chickenpox. >> they didn't get the support they needed to move it forward. so what is the politics here? >> reporter: they certainly see it as an opportunity to capitalize over genuine outrage over these videos. and the first republican presidential debate hosted by fox news is on thursday and this gives republicans momentum to have a big talking point as they go back home. it's not just the g.o.p. using this issue. hillary clinton has been talking a lot about planned parenthood in recent days. she is calling for its full funding. this is a preview of another fight we may see in the fall when congress comes back from the long august recess and some hard line republicans are saying they may try to shut down the

government over this issue. democrats say they don't want to shut down the government but that is a fight they are more than willing to take on because they believe they will win in the public's opinion. sdaifd? >> libby thank you. up next many of the republican presidential candidates are gathered in new hampshire. but we'll explain why donald trump did not make the trip. plus he was a robot that relied on the kindness of strangers and then he went to philadelphia.

most of the 2016 republican presidential candidates are gathered this evening in new hampshire. they will event in a voter's issues agenda. michael shure joins us live and michael what is the format of

tonight's event, and why is it so significant? >> well it's fairly different than anything we generally see. it's not a debate because a candidate will come up and speak with the new hampshire union leader a popular paper in new hampshire. they have about four minutes to answer questions, but they don't debate each other. >> three of the candidates are not there including donald trump, why would he skip something like this. >> start with the premise that donald trump is a showman and this isn't a showman's forum. he knows what is coming up on thursday. there's a little bit of a battle going on between he and that paper. he says i will probably not that an endorsement from that paper.

so you don't cross the donald it seems, and donald said i'm just not going to go to our event. >> michael on the democratic race there has been a lot of nervousness among hillary clinton supporters. and this has triggered rumors of vice president joe biden possibly getting into the race. how do you envision a biden nomination campaign going and perhaps altering this race? >> it will certainly alter the race. what i have heard is there's a lot of encouragement. his people are getting together. ron cline, who was -- ron cline was one of his advisors chief of staff at the white house. he then went on to become this ebola czar.

he has been talk to the hilary campaign. so i take from that that biden will probably not be running, but the facts are that joe biden could position himself just to the left of hillary clinton, somewhere as a compromise between bernie sanders and hillary clinton. a lot of democrats say we really need a back up quarterback, and bernie sanders may not be that person. and that is what this is about to an extent. biden has some things working against him. a poll also showed that only 9% of democratic voters would never vote for hillary clinton. that's a pretty impressive number. so look at what joe biden can bring. he can bring an association with the obama administration that democrats absolutely love but he sacrifices because of his

gender, he sacrifices gender that's an advantage that the to exploit in this election. there are a lot of reasons he may want to run, but also you saw it with mitt romney a lot of people wanted mitt romney to run, he said no. i think there's a lot of flattery involved, but in the end it is really the vice president's decision. >> michael always a pleasure thank you. for a look at what is coming up at the top of the hour john siegenthaler is here. >> hi david. coming up tonight at 8:00 out of control wildfires in california. thousands of firefighters working to stop them. we'll take a look at the technology the changing weather patterns that made the situation worse, and look at the capability and safety of prisoners being ordered to help fight the flames. also more than 800 feet high outside of the atlanta, a famous monument to the confederacy could be in for a makeover.

>> it's over 280 years old. and yet the confederacy was only four years of that. so the confederacy seems to dominate the perception of what is historic georgia, and that is really far from the case. >> we'll talk about the options being considered. other news to tell you about, running for president, that's what joe biden is said to be considering with his staff. when would he announce his decision? how could this affect the relationship he has with his friend and former colleague, hillary clinton. we'll talk about that. also the pewty of our planet. we'll look at the winning pictures from this year's "national geographic" photo contest. it was supposed to be a test of american hospitality, turns

out america may have failed. hitch bot was relying on average joes to help him hitchhike across the united states. but just like the fresh prince in bellaire hitch bot quickly found out that philadelphia isn't always full of brotherly love. in a city this has long struggled with his reputation from attacks on santa claus to snowballs, it now has a reputation as a robot killer. it was known as hitch bot, a collection of plastics and electronic junk that canadian researcher brought to life. it was part of a social experiment relying on people to pick him up and drop him off on his hitchhiking adventure. >> somehow it came to me.

>> reporter: hitch bot has been globe trotting for more than a year. >> i need your help crossing all of the items off of my list. >> reporter: last year he made it safely across canada germany, and the netherlands, last month he began in boston. he went site seeing in rhode island and connecticut and a ride through manhattan's time square but apparently it was no match for the mean streets of philadelphia. >> somebody put a lot of work and money into that robot, and it has been all over the world, and welcome to philly let us kill you. >> reporter: within hours of arriving in philadelphia he was brutally decapitated. >> why are you going to do that? what did the robot to do to anybody? >> these two popular youtube prankers were the last to see

him live. they say they dropped him off in philly's old city neighborhood hoping somebody would take him to dc. >> we drove him around philly for a while. i tweeted to our friends if anyone wants to take it to the next destination. >> sadly the next destination was the great big mother board in the sky. they wrote: philadelphia police say they are not investigating the killing, because nobody filed a police report. but those youtubers who have nearly 8 million followers say they have located surveillance video of the attack and the fatal kick or two that had to happen, of course in philadelphia. georgia guthrie is the executive director of a

non-profit education group one of several who have offered to rebuilt hitch bot. the fact that it was philadelphia how embarrassing is it to your city? >> it's another sad story, unfortunately. it seems like there's a lot of good stuff that happens in philly but so many negative things get coverage and this is definitely one more. >> one of the positive things could be if you and others are able to rebuild this hitchhiking robot. is that a very difficult task? >> well i only have a partial list from what i have been able to gather online and what other people have gathered too. so there's not a ton of components some of the biggest ones are a pc tablet and some ardwinopanels and boards but

none of that is hard for us to get our hands on and the code is all only line. it seems feasible we can put it back together or make a new one, and send it on its way. >> can you make it bigger and stronger like the $6 million man, or do you have to stay within certain specks. >> that i don't know. the creators of the project have been fielding a lot of inquinn rirs today, and i got an official message from them and they said they are going to consider their options and have an official announcement on wednesday. but we have had such a huge response here. so many people want to help out, or see something good happen so we are convening a meeting this thursday at our usual weekly project night. we call it drop in and do and we're going to figure out what we want to do together because we can do something fun and

interesting with our skills. >> yeah and maybe redeem philadelphias reputation on this matter. i understand there is a kick starter campaign that has already happened and how much money have you brought insofar? >> actually the kickstarter campaign was somebody else. their goal was $1,200 and they raised at least 1700 today, and then this evening, the founder of that campaign emailed me and said, yeah let's work together because i reached out to them earlier in the day. and the hack tree has raised about $700 and there's been a number of people who said they will pay for all of the parts or donate a tablet for us so we need to figure out what specks would work best for us and hopefully channel the efforts into something great. >> how angry are you at the people who did this? >> i'm not that angry.

i'm not that surprised. those people are everywhere. it's not just philly. >> we have got to leave it right there. i'm david shuster. thanks for watching. john siegenthaler is up next.

hi everyone this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. western wildfires. emergen california. >> as we look at the amount of fire activity we have already had this year we have a long road ahead of us. fog of war, controversy over new u.s. support for syrian rebels fighting isil. and more civilians getting caught in the cross fire. set in stone,