sound in just a moment. [bell ringing] there it is. [bell ringing] okay. and there you have it. okay, we didn't hear it but there is the gavel. if you were just joining us the dow dropped more than a thousand points this morning shortly after the market opened. at one point this afternoon it almost entirely rebounded if you can believe that. but as you can see here is where we stand right now. the dow down 584 points on the day. now, the big swings on wall street today followed a sell off overnight in markets on the globe and shanghai closed down more than 8% over fears the economy in china is slowing and oil prices plummeting as well

and at six-year lows, 585 points in negative territory for the dow and ali what do you make of it? >> we talked about this earlier. i mean i have not seen something like this happen in all of the years i covered things with a thousand-point drop on the dow at the top of the day which is really quite hard to believe and happened very, very quickly with great velocity and through to about 1:00 in the afternoon you just saw slow improvements to the point that we weren't even a percentage point down. we were in the hundreds. a number that started with a one. and then slowly through the afternoon the velocity and the losses increased to the point we are closing again on a down tick. this is what happened on friday, about the same number to close the day on a down tick and that worries me because a down tick means we are not done with the selling and it picks up possibly overnight in asia and going into

europe and tomorrow and means we are not finished and something weird happened here. the market sold off which is something people have been expressing a desire and need for because markets have to pull back a little bit in order to keep going up, sold off and some investors decided it's time to buy stocks and spent the morning doing that and for some reason i guess as the stocks go up in value other investors who own those stocks have said wow, i don't have the stomach for it and i'm going to sell it. an example you saw apple sell off this morning. apple sold off, a number of people who said i didn't get a chance to get into apple as it was going off. >> who sells off apple. >> it goes up and other people who hold apple say it's my chance to get out. people are rotating and cycling through the market right now. >> who sells off apple? i mean, it doesn't make sense to me but i don't know it as well as you do so i guess my next question. >> the s&p and the dow were both down x percent and nasdaq tends to be off more because stocks in

the nasdaq the tech players have been bigger players and have been up higher in terms of comparison to how much those companies earn so a lot of people are trying to get out of them and take their winnings if you will and other people said they miss the opportunity to get so them. this is the beauty of the market, one man's garbage is another man's treasurer is what we see playing out today and means this is not necessarily over. this is a correction. a lot of people have said. >> you are using the c word and using the word correction. >> now it's a correction and we have not really seen one. we saw one in 2011 a little bit but largely from 2009 until now this market has been charging forward. markets over time always end up going up but they don't always do it steadily an orderly and that is what we are seeing right now. so not a lot of people are worried this is indicative of something bigger, indicative of a global meltdown. it's a fairly aggressive sell off. >> okay, so to what extent does

this market sell off tell us anything about the strength or weakness of the u.s. economy? >> very little actually. that is an interesting disconnect. the u.s. economy we have a low interest rates and we have jobs having been created for about 50 straight months with a 5.3 unemployment rate, we have mortgages at low prices. we have home prices going up. we are wages going up, not at a great rate but going up and different than 2008 when we saw the market collapse when none of those things were happening and economically everything is bad. the u.s. is good but more than half of the revenues and profits of the companies on the dow or the s&p 500 come from outside of america. so when there are slow downs in the economy in europe and china and in other places it does actually play directly into the profits of these companies which is why you see the stock market react. the bottom line is this tells us something about concerns about global economic growth. it tells us virtually nothing

about u.s. economic growth. >> let me pick up on that point, i've read where the suggestion was it's an emerging markets problem and you seem to be echoing that so is what is needed here an emerging markets fix? >> so the problem is that everybody med -- meddles with the markets and they are pouring money in and artificially keeping interest rates low and because they are low people don't invest in bonds and invest in stocks and real estate, the two things you buy when interest rates are low. in china they have for a week and that is what triggered this they have been subduing the value of the u.n., their currency. and what that means is that their manufactured goods will become more competitive in the world and be cheaper and they will buy chinese goods over other goods and the factories will fire up and get more employment in china and they are struggling and everyone fiddles with their own economy, this is

not a natural crisis. this is people fiddling with their own economy in the sense that needs to be done and now we are feeling the effect of it. so there is something of a global slow down going on. it's not catastrophic but that's what is happening. >> so tell me what the average investor, look i have been working 20, 25 years and have a 401(k) and don't think we have to touch it. >> if you don't have to touch it it's okay, if you got spooked when it was a thousand points and sold your stocks you would have lost more than until noon and less if you held on to the end of the day but the rest of us have other jobs and don't sit and trade stocks, leave the stuff to the pro fermprofession. it's exciting and adrenalyn driven and the answers are boring and the answers for regular investors are to have stayed in balance and reba balb

your portfolio and the truth is that is what has to happen because over the last six years if you had taken energy and tech and paired back on them a little bit and invest in some of the losers your net result would be a lot better. so take today as a lesson to know how to log into your 401(k) and read a book and talk to a financial advisor and have understanding you should rebalance as regularly as you go to the dentist and then days like this don't effect you as badly. generally speaking let's say this was september 29th of 2008 and you lost as much as you did you would have actually gained it all back if you had time in the market. if you have time in the market you too will see this all erased. >> good stuff as always, appreciate it sir and can't wait to see your program tonight. thank you. let's bring in rick newman, a senior financial writer for yahoo finance and rick good to see you. let's piggyback on some of what ali was talking about here, what in your mind from your desk at

yahoo what is driving this sort of market sell off? >> the markets have been going sideways for most of 2015 and if you go back a couple of months, let's remember what everybody was worried about, greece. that is what everybody was paying attention to. you know, greece what happened in greece was really no surprise. i think you could fairly call that a known, unknown. we didn't know what the outcome was going to be but we knew we had to pay attention to it. we got through that and what is happening now with china you might call an unknown, unknown and this sort of came out of no where and i think two things are going on. first i think there are some problems within this shanghai stock market which is not a real stock market the way we think of it. it's kind of a closed stock market. >> wait, when you say a closed stock market and there are some things going on, some things that we weren't aware of, is that what you're suggesting? >> foreign investors for the most part can't plan the stock market and have been able to see what is going on in the market but didn't anticipate the activities of the chinese

government getting involved in basically doing things like encouraging people to buy more stocks. >> yeah. >> then doing things that sort of encouraged them to sell and then putting you know telling companies they can't or buyers they can't trade stocks, they have to stop. there has been a level of involvement there and we just don't understand it, we are not used to it and trying to sort that out number one. number two trying to see if this tells us what we didn't know about weakness in the chinese economy that might be worse than we think. and i think that is really the biggest thing that is going on here. the thing to watch for the next few days or maybe weeks or months is what more do we learn about the real chinese economy, not just investing in the stock market and real chinese economy, does it turn out to be a lot weaker than we thought or does it turn out to be over blown? china has managed to almost one time after another to have what economist call a soft landing and looks like things will implode and they get over it and

some moves may work or might not and will tell us where markets go in the short term. >> the other bit of analysis i'm hearing today and i want you to weigh on this is what is happening with markets in the united states right now, this sell off has nothing to do with the real u.s. economy. >> it doesn't. >> explain that to me. >> yeah, i think ali got it right and that is good news. i think that tells you i mean that is why you are hearing people on the floor of the exchanges for instance saying it's not that big of a deal, we have known we are due for a correction. the only thing we didn't know is what would trigger the correction. i mean, this is absolutely nothing like 2008. just to make a few quick comparisons. back then we had big banks threatening to close. >> that's right. >> we had bank runs almost beginning and would have had bank runs and full blown depression if the government and federal reserve had not stepped in and that is not going on now.

the economy is in good shape and growing and banks are doing fine and people are buying homes and cars. what is going to happen is whenever there are headlines about the stock market plunging and we tend to overstate it a little bit in the media but this will harm consumer confidence a little bit but most ordinary americans their finances don't depend on the day-to-day movement of the stock market and as long as people feel secure in the jobs this will dampen consumer confidence and i'm not sure if people will cutback on spending or anything like that because people feel pretty secure in their jobs and companies are not laying people off and we are getting to a point where people expect they will be earning a little more. >> if you keep your wits about yourself you may look at it in a day or so and see a buying opportunity. >> you are hearing that on wall street for sure, when is the right time to get in? that is the game everybody is playing at this point.

nobody knows until it's over and i can't predict this. one way to think of this and ali mentioned we saw a dip something like this back this 2011. when you look at the year of your value of your portfolio or look at the shock chart look at a five and a ten-year chart and not a five-day chart or one month because in historical context you will see, sure, on the way up stocks do have these dips along the way and you just have to let it ride unless you are in some kind of position where you need that money and if you need that money it shouldn't be in stocks in the first place. >> all right rick, all right, i may have to keep a close eye on the piggy bank and may be an opportunity to buy something and he is a senior writer at yahoo exchange and thank you for your time. still to come on the program special coverage of a wild day on wall street and we will tell you how the drop in the dow is playing in the world of politics plus we will go live to the floor of the new york stock

exchange for a wrap of the day's historic events.

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is comcast business. comcast business. built for business. >> america tonight opens the case... >> never thought that he would be killed for that. >> that started the push for racial justice. >> that was the first step in the modern civil rights movement. >> could new evidence uncover the truth about that gruesome night? >> i wanted people to hear the true story of till. ♪ let's do this and take a look at the big board after a really, really volatile day today. the dow opened at down a thousand points. it was the start of the day. back and forth throughout the day. real roller coaster ride. a nice rebound.

around midday. nice rebound around midday as you can see. things are coming back and bang at the end of the day another sell off and here we are at the close, down, i can see the numbers right here, down 588 points on the day. the nasdaq and s&p 500 big losses. asia and european markets also huge losses today and we will continue with the story on today's business news, as you might imagine it's having a ripple effect in politics and david is here on that. >> there are complex reasons why the market is crashing and for the most part the political 2016 candidates have stayed away from this but there have been notable exceptions starting with you probably guessed it donald trump. donald trump issued a tweet today and aggressive saying markets are crashes by poor planning and allowing china and

asia to dick tit and this could get messy and vote trump and he had a message on instagram, watch this. >> i have been telling everybody for a long time they are taking our jobs, taking our money, be careful they will bring us down. you have to know what you are doing. we have nobody that has a clue. >> now that gets right to one of donald trump's and publically perceived strength is when you look at the polling most americans believe that donald trump is best equipped to handle the economy so for him this is essentially a no-brainer to try and reenforce that message saying our leaders don't have a clue, i know how to handle something like this. on the democratic side bernie sanders the senator from vermont weighed in today and did it on twitter saying we need jobs to invest in the job creating economy and don't need speculation with the american economy hanging in the balance and they are speculating on wins and losses and may cause some trouble has been the constant

theme for bernie sanders and warning the size of america's banks could put america at risk and this is bernie sanders from over the weekend. >> my view is that if they are too big to fail they are too big to exist, let's break them up. [applause] to the extent economic concerns become a bigger issue in this campaign that could essentially boost the political leverage in terms of political power brokering of elizabeth warren the massachusetts senator made it clear she is not going to run for the president of the united states and this is a picture of her latest swearing in she and the vice president got together not on the floor of the senate but at the residence in washington and aids not describing the conversation. however, biden has been taking several steps to try to figure out what his economic message might be if he were to run for president and elizabeth warren represents the strong wind of the democratic party and by the way in addition with the meeting with warren they invited donors

to the navel observatoyy. and let's go to the new york stock exchange and mary is there and take it away, what is the feeling there minutes after the close? >> i asked the trader how would you sum up this day and he said wild and crazy and has been so turbulent throughout this day and saw that 1,000 point drop in minutes, the largest drop in points in one single day. the market started recovering at midday and then the losses accelerated to close down 588 points on the dow. but here to explain it with me and lived through this is steven managing director of deep value. steven, for people at home wondering what just happened, how would you explain this trading day so volatile? >> let's try to tell them just that there is a global economic situation regarding demand and

health of china's economy and impacting markets across the globe including the united states because our corporations sell stuff in china and in emerging markets so it really does matter. and now you have this perceived loss of wealth, now when people check their 401(k) accounts it will effect them and the market has been on thin ice and right now this is what we are seeing. >> in terms of wild swings i checked in with you midday and the market had recovered dramatically. is there a sense that people are just looking for a direction, is that to speak to the nervousness in the market? >> nervousness and looking for direction but there are reasons for the moves, influx at the bottom from other country, came across our border. we had margin calls that worked against the market today. then we had the girations in the bell and forces working against each other and the volumes are really high. >> talking to veteran traders who said they have never seen

that drop they saw this morning until today, that they did not panic but how much of the computerized trading accounts for those wild swings? >> the fact that algorithms do the majority of the trading and human beings for point of sale don't do as much trading it goes to volatility and sharper moves where you go one way and one minute later you go the other way and humans don't think like that and they slow down and think about it and make the trade and volumes are higher and the moves are sharper and this is a perfect example of that. having said that now the question that everybody wants to know is what do we expect going forward? we can't predict what will happen in the market but what can people expect generally though? >> they can expect velocitity, things will be dangerous for you financially through the fed meeting in september. >> it sounds ominous and dangerous. >> put a happy face on it. >> people shouldn't be panicking. >> you shouldn't panic but you

should be prepared, that from day-to-day your 401(k) statement it may not look the same. >> somebody said it's always good to have a shopping list for your stocks and have a plan b, right? >> i think i know who might have said that because we are friends and you should always have a shopping list of stocks you believe in and if you believe in them and they are the prices you like why not. >> fasten the seat belt and more wild rides ahead, right? >> i think so. >> thank you for sharing insights with us and tony such a dramatic day but again the fact the dow is down 588 points and that is an improvement from where we started this morning it really tells you so much. >> thank him for us, mary, that was good, mary snow for us on the floor of the new york stock exchange and good stuff and we will have a complete wrap up on a wild day on wall street with analysis and a look ahead to the overseas markets, that is all starting tonight at 7:00 and 4:00 pacific right here on al jazeera america and there is other news to tell you about this afternoon, straight ahead the men who broke up an attack

on a train in europe are given francis highest honor on the news and that story coming up, next.

north and south korea reached an agreement to resolve resent tensions and north korea will apologize for the resent use of military force including land

mine blasts that left two south korean soldiers badly injured this month and the south will stop with the propaganda targeting pyongyang. preventing an attack on a high-speed train and he pinacle metals on national guardsmen alex and u.s. airman spencer stone and college student anthony saddler and a british business man and chris norman the honor is the highest honor and they tackled a gunman who opened fire on a train bound for paris on friday. >> translator: we are gathered here to honor four people, four men who made it possible thanks to their courage to save lives and gave an example of what can be done in dramatic circumstances. >> reporter: also praised two other men who will receive the honor at a later date, an unnamed french citizen and french american man who was shot in the neck during the incident, his injury is still being

treated. wildfire in washington state is the largest in the state's history, the complex of fires now covers 400 square miles and it is expected to grow in the coming days more than 1200 firefighters are battling the blaze. the fires are about 10% contained at this time and much of the north central region of the state is under air pollution advisories. president obama is speaking about the environment today and promoting his climate agenda. he will address the national clean energy summit in las vegas. the president plans to announce new executive actions aimed at making it easier for homeowners and businesses to invest in solar energy like rooftop solar panels. wall street today after a wild ride and opening well at least a thousand points and i don't want to say more than a thousand, a thousand is bad enough. rebounding a bit during the day and a pretty steep sell off late in the trading day and closing

down 588 points and we will have more on the newscast at 7:00 p.m. and thanks for joining us. fault lines is next. and decay... there's always a risk of flooding. >> now, new cutting edge technology that could help prevent future disasters... >> the system has really evolved. >> and what it means for new orleans. >> our big take away is new orleans is on a good track, but the job is not done here. >> techknow investigates 10 years after katrina.

>> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. >> ...as if there were no cameras here, would be the best solution. >> this goes to the heart of the argument >> to tell you the stories that others won't cover. how big do you see this getting? getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> we're here to provide the analysis... the context... and the reporting that allows

you to make sense of your world. >> ali velshi on target only on al jazeera america >> joint military exercises between united states and south korea are regular occurrences. this one, codenamed max thunder - took place in november at the kunsan air force base, 150 miles south of seoul... >> this type of exercise takes place every year, but for the north korean government they consider this a provocation and a threat. >> north korea is still a flash point.

we're still at a state of war with north korea. this is 1953 armistice. >> if there was someday heaven forbid a real war here we would need to work very closely. we are always practicing together, always working together >> thankfully we have helped stabilize and ensure the security of the peninsula for the last 61 years, but in spite of that long time we have to be ready to fight tonight and that really is our mantra. >> north korea is under new leadership. >> kim jong-un looks funny, he is overweight, and sometimes does strange things. but he is smart. when his father died, 7 top officials, 4 generals and 3 civilian bureaucrats, walked next to the coffin of his father in december 2011. in two years time, none of them was alive and in a high level position.

>> when it comes to international relations, kim jong-un's rule has been described as erratic. since coming into power, he's launched a long-range rocket and carried out a nuclear test. most recently, the u.s. accused the north of orchestrating a cyber attack on sony pictures last fall, fault lines was granted rare access inside the country. we went to understand what, if anything, has changed since kim jong un came to power, and how u.s-north korean relations look from the other side. >> our visit to north korea was part of a highly controlled press tour sponsored by the government. our guides decided where we went, who we spoke to and they were with us at all times. >> "my name is kang _ó"

[korean-on loud speaker] >> so we have to wear this to identify ourselves as international press, and we have to use it while working on the streets. the kim family and the worker's party have ruled north korea for over 6 decades. apparently today is the 17th anniversary that kim jong il was elected secretary of the party, and people are coming to these

statues to pay their respects." >> a lot of people from different walks of life. army soldiers. they come... north korea has one of the largest standing armies in the world. men are conscripted for up to 10 years. it's because of the idea of "songun", which means "military first." >> we are headed to the border between north and south korea. it's one of the most heavily fortified border areas in the world. we just passed three checkpoints but we were not allowed to film because of security concerns

we went to meet lt. colonel nam tong ho, of the korean people's army >> on this side is north korea and the other is united states and south korea. >> the west is always saying north korea has to dismantle their nuclear weapons program... north korea has to do this... ...and has to do that... what would it take?

we were told the nuclear deterrent - as they call it - means the government can focus on other things, like development. >> we are building more fancy looking buildings on the river. a man who has made a success or achievement for the society - then he will be kind of a priority to go there. >> our guides brought us to one of these new buildings that we were told is for families of professors at kim il sung university. sin gyong-ju lives there with her daughter, son in law, and grandson. she was worried about the health of kim jong un, who had not appeared in public for several weeks.

>> you're going to cry too we're all crying >> then the conversation turned to the united states. she told us the americans provoke and threaten north korea regularly, but she is certain they will not attack - because they would lose. >> do you think that there's the possibility that there can be a war again? >> throughout our visit, it was difficult to know where the propaganda ended and genuine

sentiment began. to try and get a fuller picture of life under kim jong un, we had to leave the country.

>> in north korea, we spoke only to people chosen by the government, so to get a sense of what life was really like under kim jong un, at least for some, we traveled to seoul. we're on our way to meet a couple from north korea who've left the country after kim jong un came to power.

the husband apparently has just arrived to south korea. neither of them have spoken to the media before. kim jong un has tightened border security. and less north koreans have managed to defect in recent years. we've been asked not to reveal their identities or where they live because even though they have left the country, they are still afraid. we are changing their names and distorting their voices at their request. kim min-su ("kim min soo") and ahn su-bin (on soo bin") escaped separately across the river to china. >> did you ever feel in danger?

>> su-bin told us she had wanted to leave north korea ever since her father was swept up in a purge when she was 14. >> she said after her father disappeared, her family was exiled from pyongyang. >> the government

only allowed us to speak to people that were approved by them. of the people you know, what is the general feeling among the population? >> in 2013, the united nations released a groundbreaking report on human rights abuses in north korea, concluding their abuses - including forced labor, deliberate starvation, torture, and the complete denial of the right to freedom of thought quote "have no parallel in the contemporary world"

when he was only 9 years old, kang chol kwan said he was imprisoned at the yoduk political prison camp with his family. when he was released 10 years later, he escaped to the south >> so there are entire families kept in these places? >> 80 to 120,000 people are reported to be held in these camps on life sentences. the north korean government denies that political prisons exist.

>> we wanted to raise the issue of human rights while on our visit to north korea >> you're all welcome to korea, to see the reality of korea. which will be different for you from what you've heard. by the way, have you found people that have horns, and red face? >> (laughs) no, we haven't. we were given one chance to sit down and ask questions with party members. our guides insisted it wasn't an interview, just a conversation >> in the western world, especially in the united states, there is a lot of criticism of this country about what happens to those who oppose the government, so we wanted to know his opinion about what other countries say about human rights here in this country.

>> in december, the un general assembly voted to refer north korea to the international criminal court for alleged crimes against humanity. the question is now on the permanent agenda of the security council. kim il sung square was filled with thousands of people in a government rally against the united states and the united nations.

>> andrei lankov is a historian who has studied north korea for decades. >> north korea is a notorious human rights abuser. arguably, the world's worst human rights abuser. having said that, these resolutions have no impact whatsoever. because they understand: it's official now: if they lose, they are not going to be spared. so they are going to fight, and they are going to be even more repressive, not less. >> in seoul, kim ji-woo ("kim jee oo") - not her real name - told us she had been arrested and tortured by the north korean security police

after she was falsely accused of being a spy. she said she defected in 2013 and that her family is still in north korea. ji-woo told us that when kim jong il died, many people had a secret hope his son would bring change, but she says it could not be said publicly and they had to

fake their grief but she said that hope didn't last long. >> did you ever see something like that? did you see executions?

>> there is a small dirty secret. there is very little resistance in an efficient and sufficiently brutal dictatorship state. resistance is possible when repression doesn't work properly. and if you have a well-run repressive state, nobody dares to say anything. >> i think we're into something that's bigger than us >> that's the pain your mother feels when you disrespect her son... >> me being here is defying all odds >> they were patriots, they wanted their country back >> al jazeera america presents the passion.. >> onward! pain... >> it's too much though... >> and triumph... >> inspirational real life stories... >> all these labels the world throws at you, that's what drives me to push... >> of ordinary people >> i tasted the american dream.

i liked it... >> living extraordinary lives... >> if we could multiply this program, we could change the world... >> from the best filmmakers of our time, >> i give al jazeera tremendous credit, because it's not traditionally what broadcast journalism does... >> the new home for original documentaries al jazeera america presents only on al jazeera america >> welcome everyone to al jazeera america. i'm tony harris in new york.

there is a bit of a scrum going on right now in ferguson, missouri. we're about to bring a news conference from ferguson. on the resignation of the city's police chief. thomas jackson would be the sixth city employee to either step down or be fired in the wake of last week's scathing justice department report. now that report followed the police shooting death of michael brown and uncovered a history of racial bias in policing. we talk about some of the details, and we certainly learned that racist e-mails from city officials, the report found that the police department discriminated against african-americans, that blacks were stopped more often than whites, and blacks were ticketed and treated differently in court. in the aftermath of all this, the court clerk, her name is mary ann twitty. she resigned.

the police captain, rick hennick, and william mudd all resigned. john shaw, and municipal judge ronald brockmeyer also resigned. let's take you back now to ferguson. there you see the mayor , james knowles iii. he'll make the announcement. let's listen in. >> good afternoon, the city of ferguson and police chief thomas jackson have agreed to a mutual separation which involves the police chief's resignation. this was a mutual decision both by the chief of police and the city's administration. chief jackson will receive a sel severance payment with health insurance for one year.

the lt. col. will resume the duty as acting chief of police as of march 15th, 2015. in search of our new city

. >> announcer: this is al jazeera. hello there. i'm felicity barr, and this is the newshour live from london. coming up, north and south korea reached a deal to step back from conflicts on the border. we look at what it means after weeks of growing tension global stock markets fear a chinese slowdown and falling commodity markers. austerity policies are